After the business was completed at Fort Union the _Ben Johnson_ turned her prow downstream and proceeded homeward by leisurely stages, stopping at the various camps, agencies, and military posts. The property remaining on the boat was put off partly at Yankton, partly at Sioux City, and partly at Omaha. At Sioux City it was put off at night. Captain La Barge knew nothing of it. Hearing the noise of unloading he arose and went to see what was going on, and found the crew unloading freight. He asked by whose orders they were doing this, and they replied, those of the Commission. He said no more. It was clearly the intention to conceal this move from him, and again he saw how mercenary was the patriotism of many of our government officials. The boat pursued her way safely to St. Louis, where she arrived late in August. [Sidenote: THE “OCTAVIA” FINISHED.] Captain La Barge turned over the steamer to her owners and took possession of his new boat, the _Octavia_, brought her to the wharf, finished her construction, and left on her first trip October 1. He ran in the lower river the rest of the season, and then on the Mississippi until ice closed in. He laid up the boat for the winter at Kimmswick, twenty miles below St. Louis. CHAPTER XXXIV. THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN SPEAR. The voyage of the _Octavia_ in the summer of 1867 was one of the most successful and important in all Captain La Barge’s career on the river. It was unhappily marred by a most revolting crime, committed on board, but in other respects passed off without any untoward incident. Its narrative will be presented in the Captain’s own words. “Early in the spring of 1867 I started in the Weston and St. Joseph trade, and about April 1 advertised for a trip to Benton. Business on the river seemed rather dull at this time, and people ridiculed me for attempting a trip. But within two weeks my boat was filled; in fact it was the largest trip I ever had up the river. I remember that one morning, about two days prior to our departure. Captain Walker S. Carter, a merchant of St. Louis, who was on the levee, said to me, ‘Have you got a trip?’ I replied, ‘More than I can carry.’ ‘It is astonishing,’ said he. ‘Anybody else than you could not have got half a trip.’ ‘That shows the value of a reputation,’ I replied. “This trip of the _Octavia_ was a very profitable one. The cargo was composed entirely of private freight, Mr. W. M. McPherson having been the successful bidder for government contracts. I had freight for nearly every firm in Helena, besides a good list of passengers, among whom was Green Clay Smith, newly appointed Governor of Montana, and also the Surveyor General for the same Territory, Thomas E. Tutt, now of the Third National of St. Louis, and Robert Donnell, now a New York banker. [Sidenote: GENERAL SHERMAN.] [Sidenote: THE MCPHERSON CONTRACT.] [Sidenote: THE SHERMAN CONTRACT.]