3 18 McLOUGHLIN AND OLD OREGON
At this another "ha! ha! "went round the table.
"Enemies need bayonets," said Captain Parke, as they rose from their wine- cups.
"But, my dear fellow, these are not enemies," insisted Dr. McLoughlin. "They are simply settlers, quiet, peaceable, industrious."
"And like their fellow-countrymen always smoking and chewing and spitting, eh, doctor? I 'd rather meet a grizzly than a settler."
That night Dr. McLoughlin wrote a letter to some one high in British authority, pleading against war. Somewhere, still, that letter may lie in English archives.
At the instance of the officers additional guns were mounted. The night-watch was doubled. The hourly " All is well "sounded like a cry of danger.
For eighteen months Her Majesty's warship " Modeste "lay like a policeman in the river. Five hundred men, sailors and marines, performed their daily evolutions on the green esplanade in front of the fort. A barrel of silver dollars dealt out for their pay was the first money ever seen in Oregon. Before that, barter ruled in skins and wheat.
The red-coats, running over the country with their glittering arms, might have made trouble had not Dr. McLoughlin kept up a constant counsel of peace.
"Whatever we do here will make no difference with the final outcome of the question," he kept saying. " It is better for us to keep on good terms with the settlers. These inoffensive, peaceable people are not the ones to fight."
Nevertheless the colonists had their fears.
"They'll turn the Indians loose upon us yet. I Ve seen their blacksmiths working all winter. They say they 're making axes for the trappers. No such thing;
