"You will be lost in the mountains; you will perish in the snows," said Eells.
"My first duty is to my country. I am not expatriated by becoming a missionary," said Whitman, rising before them.
"Doctor, Doctor, it is madness. Even the trappers remain in camp until the snows are gone. Think of the famished wolves on that wintry waste; think of the frozen streams, the lack of food, the howling storms, the hostile tribes that will cut you off. Doctor, three thousand miles "
"Say no more," cried the hero of that winter ride, closing his eyes and shaking his hand at the speaker. " I am ready, not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem, or in the snows of the Rocky Mountains, for the name of the Lord Jesus or my country. I must go, even if I sever with the mission."
Who could stand against the will of Whitman! He bore down every objection, just as six years before he bore down every objection to his coming on a mission to the Indians. Through her tears Narcissa Whitman smiled. "He is right. He is right. Let him go," she said. Reluctantly, seeing that he would go anyway, they gave consent. Like Samson of old, he snapped the withes that bound him and passed from their control.
"It will never do to let the Hudson's Bay Company know what I am after," said Whitman in a lower tone, as if the very walls might hear and tell the message. " Delegate me to Boston. I'll take care of the rest."
There was a day of hurried preparation. There was a ride to Fort Walla Walla to purchase certain necessaries. "I am going to Boston on business, Mr. McKinley. I would like to leave my wife in your
