One morning, however,
all my dreams of further pleasure were dispelled. I was just meditating
upon my first declaration of love, when our old servant arrived with
four Indian guides. He had left the settlement seven days, and had come
almost all the way by water. He had been despatched by my father to
bring me home, if I had not yet left Monterey. His intelligence was
disastrous; the Prince had been murdered by the Crows; the Shoshones had
gone on a war expedition to revenge the death of the Prince; and my
father himself, who had been daily declining, expected in a short time
to rejoin his friend in a better world. Poor Isabella! I would have
added, poor me! but the fatal news brought had so excited me, that I had
but few thoughts to give to pleasure and to love. My immediate return
was a sacred duty, and, besides, the Shoshones expected me to join with
them on my first war-path. The old Governor judged it advisable that I
should return home by sea, as the Arrapahoes Indians were at that moment
enemies of the Shoshones, and would endeavour to cut me off if I were to
ascend the Buona Ventura. Before my departure I received a visit from an
Irishman, a wild young fellow of the name of Roche, a native of Cork,
and full of fun and activity. He had deserted on the coast from one of
the American vessels, and in spite of the promised reward of forty
dollars, he was never discovered, and his vessel sailed without him.
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