Evening star., 1924-02-11
The Magnificent Adventure
4 A Stirring Story Of the Northwest.
BY EMERSON HOUGH,
Copyright by
BY EMERSON HOUGH,
A Stirring Story Of the Northwest


was vibrant with the passion of youth
and romance. Yonder in the west
there might be fame and fortune for
any man with courage to adventure.
The world had not yet settled down
to inexorable grooves of life, from
which no human soul might fight its
way out save at cost of sweetness
and content and hope. The chance of
one man might still equal that of an
othc:-yonder. in that vast new world
along the Mississippi, beyond the Mis-
sissippi more than Il hundred years
ago.
Into that world there now pressed
flowing, Seething, restless mass,
new population seeking new; avenues
of hope and life. of adventure and OPP
portunity. Riflemen, axmen, fighting
, men. riding men. boatmen, ploWmen
they made ever out and on. laugh
ing the Cossack laugh at the mere
thought of any man or thing with
standing them.
over this new world. alert. restless.
full of Homeric youth, full of the
lust of life and adventure, floated
three flags The old war of France
and Spain still smoldered along the
great waterway into the south. The
itself to the north. The flag Of our
republic had not yet advanced.
! Those who made the western popu-
lation at that time cared little
enough about flags or treaty rights.
They concerned themselves rather
with possession. Let any who liked
observe the laws. The strong made
/ their own laws from day to day, and
wrote them in one general. codeX of
adventure and full-blooded, roister-
! ing life. The world was young. Buy
land? No, why buy it when taking
it was so much more simple and de-
lightful?
Based on this general lust of con-
quest, this Saxon zeal for new ter
iritories, must have been that inspira-
ture of the far northwest. He saw
there the splendid vision of his ideal
republic. He saw there q citiZenry
no longer riotous and roistering, not
yet frenzied or hySterical, but strong,
sober and constant. His was glo-
realized his dream.
There We're three flags afloat here
or there in the western country then,
and none knew what land rightly be-
deed, over the heart of that region
now f'oated all the three banners at
the same time-that of Spain, pass
ing but still proud, for a gener ration
actual governor if not actual owner
of all country beyond the Mississippi,
SO far as it had any government at
all; that of France, owner of the one
great seaport, New Orleans, settler
| of the valley for generation; and
that of the new republic only just
arriving into the respect of men
either of the east or the west-a re-
public which had till recently exacted
respect chiefly through the stark
deadliness of its fighting and march
ing men.
1t was splendid game in which
these two beys. Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark-they scarcely
were more than boys-noW were en-
| tering. And, with the superb uncon-
, seriousness and self-trust of youth,
they played it with dash and con-
! fidence, never doubling their success
! The prediction of William Clark
/; none the less came true. In this mat
ter of flags autocratic Spain was not
disposed to yield. De LasSuS, Span
| ish commandant for so many years
would not let the young travellers go
! beyond ST. Louis, even SO far as
Charette. He must be sure that his
country-which, by right or not, he
| had ruled so long-had not only been
| sold by Spain to France, but that
the cesSion had been duly confirmed
and, Furthermore, he must be sure
that the cession by France to the
United States had also been concluded
formally.
Traders and trappers had been
passing through from the plains
country. yes-but this was a differ
ent matter. Here was a flotilla under
a third fiag-it must not pass. Span
ish official dignity was not thus to be