“When I returned to St. Louis I made no report of this affair, leaving it to the clerk, whose wife’s honor had been protected, to lay the matter before his father. Instead of reporting the facts he represented that I had treated the bourgeois with uncalled-for severity, and that such things ought not to be allowed to go on. He said nothing of the real cause of the trouble, although his wife, a refined, cultured, and beautiful woman, drove to my house as soon as she returned, and told my wife how thankful she was for what I had done. “A few days after my return from Union I was summoned to the office, and was there informed that the men in the upper country thought me altogether too hard on them, and that, to avoid future difficulty, it was best to terminate our relations. I replied that I felt so fully justified in my action that I should retire from their service with the utmost willingness if such was their view of the affair. This was in the fall of 1856, and was the last time that I worked for the Company. [Sidenote: THE TRUTH DISCLOSED.] “Three years later I was again called to the office and thus addressed by the father of my ungrateful clerk: “‘I have called you in to scold you for your conduct.’ “‘Why so, Mr. ----?’ “‘You remember the cause of the trouble in 1856 that led to our separation?’ “‘Very distinctly.’ “‘Why did you not defend yourself? Why did you not make me a full report?’ “‘I thought, sir, it was your son’s place to lay the matter before you, as the whole trouble had been on his and his wife’s account. I had promised you that I would protect her, and all I did was in fulfillment of that promise. I am glad that you now know the truth of the matter.’ “‘Perhaps you are right; it was my son’s place to tell me; but he was influenced by others and never mentioned it.’ “The old gentleman was very indignant over the affair, and ever after treated me with the greatest consideration.” [Sidenote: LEAVES AMERICAN FUR CO.’S SERVICE.] As has been stated already, this was the last service of Captain La Barge for the American Fur Company. Many years of the most active part of his life had been spent in their interest. They never had a pilot on whom they could more confidently rely, and his careful management of their expeditions was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. But their hard and exacting ways, often sullied with open injustice, gave rise to misunderstandings, which on several occasions virtually compelled him to quit their service and finally led to permanent separation. CHAPTER XVIII. THE HEAD OF NAVIGATION REACHED.