Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/128

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hats go up with huzzas. It was like getting home again. Arriving opposite the house, the party was soon discovered by their comrades at the station, and a small boat was sent to ferry them across. It took several trips to bring them over. The mules swam with their heads supported in the boat.

Ralph Morton found that the party at the house had been carefully managed in his absence. No collisions with the Indians had occurred, and a considerable quantity of furs had been collected by trade. Loading these furs on the animals, several of which had been left at the station, the tools were left in the house, which was locked up and then abandoned; and the united party, about twenty-five strong, set out for Mortonia, which they reached without the loss of a man in the whole expedition.

From the time Henry Morton returned from his first expedition beyond the mountains, the governor began to change his plans as to the territory he should acquire by charter, and his determination was fixed by what he saw on his long journey. At first he intended to obtain a charter for the territory bounded on the east by the Chesapeake Bay, on the north by the fortieth parallel, and on the south and west