Pierre’s insistence, and Marie’s own position on the matter, overcame them.

The arrangement that was ultimately reached — Pierre as interpreter, Marie as part of the expedition — reflected the fur-trade world’s pragmatic recognition that skilled interpreters often came with attached families, and that separating an interpreter from his family was not always worth the disruption it caused.

The trade had been running on these arrangements for generations.

Mixed families were part of the fabric of the enterprise.

What Hunt could not have predicted in 1810, when he made the decision to include Pierre and Marie, was that Marie would prove to be one of the most capable individuals in the entire expedition, and that her capabilities would ultimately be tested in conditions far beyond anything the overland journey to Fort Astoria had presented.