Ledyard waited till night. Then he went to her private
apartments and found her reading with the broad-rimmed, horn-framed
spectacles of those days. He took her hands. "Look at me," he said.
One glance was enough. Then he shut the door; and the door remains
shut to the world on what happened there.
That was the end of British soldiering for Ledyard. He never returned
to the marines. He betook himself to Hartford, where he wrote an
account of Cook's voyage. Then he set himself to move heaven and earth
for a ship to explore that unknown coast from New Spain to Alaska.
This was ten years before Robert Gray of Boston had discovered the
Columbia; twenty years before the United States thought of buying
Louisiana, twenty-five years before Lewis and Clark reached the
Pacific. Many influences worked against him. Times were troublous.
The country had not recovered sufficiently from the throes of the
Revolution to think of expanding territory. Individually and
collectively, the nation was desperately poor. As for private sailing
masters, they smiled at Ledyard's enthusiasm.
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