Accordingly, towards the end of March, 1812,
the three parties launched canoes and ascended the
river. Trouble met them at the Long Narrows.
The Indians of the village of Wishram above the
Narrows, noted for their arts of treachery and
piracy, fell upon the canoes. A fight followed;
and, before the white men were masters of the
field, two Indians had been killed and Reed had
been clubbed and wounded and his shining tin box
had been stolen. His condition and the loss of
the letters canceled the overland expedition for
the time being. He and his party kept on to the
Okanogan with Robert Stuart and, after some days
at the fort there, turned back downstream with
the two Stuarts. Not far from the Long Narrows
they descried on the bank of the river two naked
white men who, on nearer approach, proved to be
Ramsay Crooks and John Day. To their old com-
panions it seemed that they had risen from the grave.
They had made their way from the Snake canyon
through terrible hardship and had recently been
stripped of their clothes and moccasins by the
Indians at Wishram. The two unfortunates were
taken aboard the canoes, fed, and clothed like chiefs
in blankets and furs. On the 11th of May they
were all back at Astoria.

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