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diff --git a/old/64903-0.txt b/old/64903-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6238431..0000000 --- a/old/64903-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8273 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Opening the West with Lewis and Clark, by -Edwin L. Sabin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Opening the West with Lewis and Clark - By Boat, Horse, and Foot up the Great River Missouri, Across the - Stony Mountains and on to the Pacific when in the Years 1804, 1805, - 1806 - -Author: Edwin L. Sabin - -Illustrator: Charles H. Stephens - -Release Date: March 22, 2021 [eBook #64903] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND -CLARK *** - - - - - OPENING THE WEST WITH - LEWIS AND CLARK - - - - -[Illustration: DID THEY SET THE PRAIRIE AFIRE JUST TO BURN HIM, A BOY?] - - - - - OPENING THE WEST - WITH - LEWIS AND CLARK - - BY BOAT, HORSE AND FOOT UP THE GREAT RIVER MISSOURI, - ACROSS THE STONY MOUNTAINS AND ON TO THE PACIFIC, WHEN - IN THE YEARS 1804, 1805, 1806, YOUNG CAPTAIN LEWIS THE - LONG KNIFE AND HIS FRIEND CAPTAIN CLARK THE RED HEAD - CHIEF, AIDED BY SACAJAWEA THE BIRD-WOMAN, CONDUCTED - THEIR LITTLE BAND OF MEN TRIED AND TRUE THROUGH THE - UNKNOWN NEW UNITED STATES - - - BY - EDWIN L. SABIN - - AUTHOR OF “THE GOLD SEEKERS OF ’49,” - “WITH SAM HOUSTON IN TEXAS,” ETC. - - - _FRONTISPIECE BY_ - CHARLES H. STEPHENS - - - [Illustration] - - - PHILADELPHIA & LONDON - J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY - - TWELFTH IMPRESSION - - - PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - - TO THE - - WESTERN RED MAN - - WHO FIRST OWNED FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, - BUT WHOM THE WHITE MEN THAT CAME AFTER LEWIS - AND CLARK TREATED NEITHER WISELY NOR WELL - - - - - “Our Country’s glory is our chief concern; - For this we struggle, and for this we burn; - For this we smile, for this alone we sigh; - For this we live, for this we freely die.” - - - - -FOREWORD - - -As time passes, the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, fathered by the -great President Jefferson, should shine brighter and brighter amidst -the other pages of American history. - -The purchase of the Province of Louisiana was opposed by many -citizens. They were ignorant and short-sighted; they asserted that -here was a useless burden of waste land fitted only to the Indian and -the fur-trader; that the people of the United States should occupy -themselves with the land east of the Mississippi. - -But wiser men prevailed. The expedition launched boldly out into the -unknown, to carry the flag now into the new country, and perhaps to -make possible the ownership of still a farther country, at the Pacific -Ocean. - -Time proved the wisdom of President Jefferson’s preparations made -even before the territory had been bought. Just at the right moment -the trail across the continent was opened. Louisiana Territory was -valued at its future worth; the people were informed of its merits and -possibilities; after the return of the explorers, the American citizens -pressed forward, to see for themselves. And in due course the flag -floated unchallenged in that Oregon where, also, the Lewis and Clark -men had blazed the way. - -I should like to have been under Captain Meriwether Lewis, turning -thirty, and Captain William Clark, scant thirty-four. They were true -leaders: brave, patient, resourceful and determined. And the company -that followed them were likewise, brave, patient, resourceful and -determined. These qualities are what bound them all together――the -American, the Frenchman, the Indian――as one united band, and brought -them through, triumphant. - - EDWIN L. SABIN - -DENVER, COLORADO - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - THE EXPEDITION AND THE COUNTRY 11 - THE RANK AND FILE 13 - I. MAKING READY 19 - II. THE START 29 - I. THE COMING OF THE WHITE CHIEFS 41 - II. PETER GOES ABOARD 55 - III. PETER MEETS THE CHIEFS 65 - IV. TO THE LAND OF THE SIOUX 79 - V. BAD HEARTS 92 - VI. THE CAPTAINS SHOW THEIR SPUNK 102 - VII. SNUG IN WINTER QUARTERS 112 - VIII. EXCITEMENT AT FORT MANDAN 121 - IX. PETER WINS HIS SPURS 135 - X. THE KINGDOM OF THE “WHITE BEARS” 148 - XI. WHICH WAY TO THE COLUMBIA? 160 - XII. SEEKING THE BIRD-WOMAN’S PEOPLE 170 - XIII. HORSES AT LAST 185 - XIV. ACROSS STARVATION MOUNTAINS 194 - XV. HOORAY FOR THE PACIFIC! 206 - XVI. THE WINTER AT FORT CLATSOP 217 - XVII. FRIENDLY YELLEPT, THE WALLA WALLA 227 - XVIII. THE PIERCED NOSES AGAIN 236 - XIX. BACK ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 244 - XX. CAPTAIN LEWIS MEETS THE ENEMY 254 - XXI. THE HOME STRETCH 263 - - - - -THE EXPEDITION - - - The Purpose To get information upon the - unexplored country extending - from the interior of - present Missouri to the - mouth of the Columbia River - in present Washington. - - The Start At St. Louis, Monday, May - 14, 1804. - - The Finish At St. Louis, Tuesday, September - 23, 1806. - - Time Consumed Two years, four months, and - nine days. - - Distance Travelled To the mouth of the Columbia: - 4134 miles. Back to - St. Louis: 3555 miles. - Counting side trips: 8000 - miles, total. - - Methods Employed Boats, horses and afoot. - - The Route Up the Missouri River to its - sources in present Montana; - across the Bitter Root Mountains - into present Idaho; by - way of the Clearwater River, - the Snake River and the - Columbia River to the Pacific - Ocean. - - The Party Out of St. Louis Forty-five. - - The Party Who Went Through Thirty-three: the two captains, - twenty-three American - soldiers, five French-Canadian - and French-Indian - boatmen and interpreters, - one negro servant, one Indian - woman guide, and one - baby. - - Deaths One. - - Seriously Injured One. - - Desertions One accomplished, one attempted; - both early. None - from the final party. - - -THE COUNTRY EXPLORED - - The New Territory of Louisiana Stretched from the Mississippi - River to the summit of - the Rocky Mountains. - Owned first by France. By - France ceded to Spain, 1762. - By Spain secretly ceded back - to France, 1800. In April, - 1803, purchased from France - by the United States for - $15,000,000. - - The Columbia Country The Northwest lying between - California and Canada, - and the Rocky Mountains - and the Pacific Ocean. - In 1792 visited by Captain - Robert Gray of the American - ship _Columbia_ from Boston, - who entered and named the - Columbia. The same year - visited by Captain George - Vancouver, an English navigator. - Claimed by both the - United States and England. - Awarded to the United - States by treaty of 1846. - - - - -THE RANK AND FILE - - -_Captain Meriwether Lewis_ - -(The Long Knife) - -Born August 18, 1774, of Scotch ancestry, on the Ivy Creek plantation -near Charlottesville, Albemarle Co., Virginia, and three miles from -Monticello, the estate of Thomas Jefferson. - -Father――William Lewis. - -Mother――Lucy Meriwether. - -Having fought bravely through the Revolution, after the successful -siege of Yorktown ending the war, his father dies, in 1782. - -In due time his mother marries a friend of the family, Captain John -Marks, and removes to Georgia. - -Little Meriwether is reared, with his brother Reuben and his sister -Jane, younger than he, at Locust Hill, the family home, and also -spends much time at “The Farm,” of his uncle Nicholas Lewis, adjoining -Monticello. - -A lad of bold spirit, at eight years of age he is accustomed to sally -forth alone with his dogs, at night, and hunt. - -At thirteen, is placed in a Latin school, under Parson Maury, to study. - -At eighteen, in 1792, he volunteers to Thomas Jefferson, then -President Washington’s Secretary of State, to explore up the Missouri -River to the Pacific Coast for the American Philosophical Society. A -distinguished scientist, André Michaux, is selected, but the plan is -given up. - -At twenty, volunteers in the militia, at the call of President -Washington for troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Western -Pennsylvania. Is soon commissioned a lieutenant in the regular army. - -At twenty-three, commissioned captain. - -At twenty-seven, in 1801, is appointed by President Jefferson his -private secretary. - -At twenty-nine, in 1803, is appointed by the president to head the -government exploring expedition up the Missouri River and on across to -the Pacific Ocean. - -Leaves Washington July 5, 1803. - -1804—1805—1806 is engaged in the exploration. The Indians name him the -Long Knife. - -1807, appointed governor of Louisiana Territory, with headquarters in -St. Louis. - -October 10, 1809, on his way by horse from St. Louis to Washington, -while at a settler’s cabin in present Lewis Co., Tennessee, 72 miles -southwest of Nashville, he is shot, either by himself or by an -assassin, and dies the next day, October 11. He is there buried. A -monument has been erected over his grave. - - -_Captain William Clark_ - -(The Red Head) - -Born August 1, 1770, in Caroline Co., tide-water Virginia. - -Father――John Clark, of old Virginia Cavalier stock. - -Mother――Ann Rogers, descendant of John Rogers, the “Martyr of -Smithfield” burned at the stake in 1555, in England, for his religious -beliefs. - -William is the ninth of ten children, two others of whom have red hair. -Five of his brothers enlist in the Revolution. One of these was the -famous General George Rogers Clark, the “Hannibal of the West,” who -saved Kentucky and the Ohio country from the British and Indians. - -The Clarks and the Lewises are well acquainted. George Rogers Clark was -born at Charlottesville, and members of the Clark family frequently -ride over there. - -Little William early shows a love for frontier life. - -After the close of the Revolution the Clarks remove, by horse and -wagon, from Caroline Co., Virginia, to Western Kentucky, and establish -themselves in a stockade and blockhouse overlooking the Ohio River, -three miles below Louisville, then known as the Falls of the Ohio; -Mulberry Hill, the new home is christened. - -Young William wears buckskins and moccasins, shoots deer and buffalo, -takes many trips with the famous Kentucky frontiersmen, and has for -friend and teacher Daniel Boone. - -In 1788, at seventeen years of age, he is commissioned ensign in the -regular army. - -Accompanies his brother, General George Rogers Clark, on the campaign -to prevent the Indians from keeping the whites east of the Ohio River, -and the Spaniards from closing the Mississippi to American commerce. - -1790, acts as captain of militia. - -In 1791 is commissioned first lieutenant, Fourth Sub-Legion of the -army. Serves under “Mad Anthony” Wayne against the Indians in Ohio. -Leads a charge at the battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794, where -the celebrated chief Tecumseh is defeated. - -Because of ill health, he retires from military service, in 1796, and -lives at Mulberry Hill, to help his brother, the general, in business -matters. - -In July, 1803, accepts an offer from his friend and fellow officer, -Captain Meriwether Lewis, requesting his company and assistance on -an exploring trip up the Missouri River, through the Province of -Louisiana, for the Government. - -Is commissioned by President Jefferson second lieutenant of artillerists. - -In October, 1803, he leaves with part of the expedition for St. Louis. - -1804—1805—1806 is engaged in exploring to the Pacific Ocean and back. -The Indians name him the Red Head. - -1806, resigns his commission in the army. - -1807, appointed by President Jefferson brigadier-general of the militia -of Louisiana Territory and Indian agent for the Territory. Is very -popular with the Indians, who revere his justness and honesty. - -In 1808 marries Julia Hancock. - -In 1813 is appointed governor of the Territory of Missouri. - -In 1821 marries Harriet Kennerly-Radford, but is defeated in his -candidacy for the governorship of the new State of Missouri. - -1822, appointed by President Madison superintendent of Indian Affairs, -an office which he holds until he dies. - -1824 is appointed surveyor-general of Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas -Territory. - -Dies September 1, 1838, at St. Louis, his long-time home, aged 68 -years. - - -ENLISTED FOR THE TRIP. - -At Pittsburg, by Captain Lewis: - - ┌ - Soldiers │John Collins of Maryland. Went through. - from │George Gibson of Mercer Co., Pennsylvania. Went through. - Carlisle ┤Hugh McNeal of Pennsylvania. Went through. - Barracks │John Potts of Pennsylvania. Went through. - │Peter Wiser of Pennsylvania. Went through. - └ And - George Shannon, aged seventeen, born in Pennsylvania, - reared in St. Clair Co., Ohio. Went through. - -At Mulberry Hill, Kentucky, by Captain Clark: - - ┌ - │Charles Floyd of Kentucky. Was elected sergeant. - │ Died August 20, 1804, while on the trip. - The │Nathaniel Pryor of Kentucky. Was elected sergeant. - Nine │ Went through. - Young │Joseph Whitehouse of Kentucky. Went through. - Men ┤John Colter of Kentucky. Went through. - From │William Bratton of Virginia. Went through. - Kentucky │John Shields of Kentucky. Went through. - │Reuben Fields ┐_┌ brothers from Kentucky. Went - │Joseph Fields ┘ └ through. - │William Werner of Kentucky. Went through. - └ And - York, Virginia negro, the captain’s servant. - Went through. - -At Kaskaskia Post, Illinois, by Captain Lewis: - - ┌ - │Patrick Gass, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. - │ Was elected sergeant. Went through. - Soldiers ┤John Ordway of New Hampshire. Was elected - │ sergeant. Went through. - │Robert Frazier of Vermont. Went through. - │Thomas P. Howard of Massachusetts. Went through. - └ - -At Fort Massac of Illinois, by Captain Clark: - - ┌ - │Silas Goodrich of Massachusetts. Went through. - Soldiers ┤Hugh Hall of Massachusetts. Went through. - │Alexander H. Willard of New Hampshire. Went through. - │Richard Windsor. Went through. - └ And - John B. Thompson, civilian surveyor from Vincennes, - Indiana. Went through. - -Probably at St. Louis: - - John Newman. Did not go through. Was punished and sent back. - -Others enrolled in the party: - - Chief Hunter George Drouillard (called “Drewyer”) of Kaskaskia - and St. Louis. Part French, part Indian. Went through. - - Head Boatman Pierre Cruzatte of St. Louis. Went through. - - Boatman François Labiche of St. Louis. Went through. - - Boatman ―――― Liberté of St. Louis. Deserted. - - Trader Baptiste Lepage of the Mandan Indian town. Enlisted - there to take the place of the deserter Liberté. Went through. - - Trader Toussaint Chaboneau of the Mandan Indian town, where he - was living with the Minnetarees. Enlisted as interpreter. Went - through. - - Sa-ca-ja-we-a the Bird-woman, his Sho-sho-ne Indian wife, aged - sixteen. Went through. - - Little Toussaint, their baby. Went through. - - -ENGAGED FOR PART OF THE TRIP - -At St. Louis: - - Corporal Warfington and six privates, to go as far as the first - winter’s camp. - - Nine French boatmen, to go as far as the first winter’s camp. - -On the way up from St. Louis: - - Trader Pierre Dorion, to go as far as the Sioux. - - - - -I - -MAKING READY - - -When in 1801 Thomas Jefferson became third President of the United -States the nation was young. The War for Independence had been won only -twenty years previous. George Washington himself had been gone but a -year and four months. The Capitol was being erected on the site that he -had chosen. And the western boundary of the nation was the Mississippi -River. - -Beyond the Mississippi extended onward to the Rocky Mountains the -foreign territory of Louisiana Province. New Orleans was the capital of -its lower portion, St. Louis was the capital of its upper portion. It -all was assumed to be the property of Spain, until, before President -Jefferson had held office a year, there spread the rumor that by a -secret treaty in 1800 Spain had ceded Louisiana back to France, the -first owner. - -Almost another year passed. The treaty transferring Louisiana Province -from Spain to France seemed to be hanging fire. The Spanish flag still -floated over New Orleans and St. Louis. Then, in October, 1802, the -Spanish governor at New Orleans informed the American traders and -merchants that their flat-boats no longer might use the Mississippi -River. New Orleans, the port through which the Mississippi River -traffic reached the Gulf of Mexico, was closed to them. - -From the west to the east of the United States swelled a vigorous cry -of indignation against this decree that closed the Mississippi to -American commerce. Hot words issued, threats were loudly spoken, and -the people of the Ohio Valley, particularly, were ripe to seize New -Orleans and re-open the big river by force of arms. - -However, the Spanish governor was not within his rights, anyway. By -that secret treaty, the Island of New Orleans (as it was called), -through which the currents of the Mississippi flowed to the Gulf, was -French property. So instead of disputing further with Spain, President -Jefferson, in January, 1803, sent Robert R. Livingston, United States -minister to France, the authority to buy the New Orleans gateway for -$2,000,000, or, if necessitated, to offer $10,000,000. - -President Jefferson was a gaunt, thin-legged, sandy-haired, homely man, -careless of his clothes and simple in his customs, but he passionately -loved his country, and he had great dreams for it. His dreams he made -come true. - -He long had been fascinated by the western half of the continent. -His keen hazel eyes had pored over the rude maps, largely guesswork, -sketched by adventurers and fur-hunters. These eyes had travelled -up the water-way of the uncertain Missouri, to the Stony Mountains, -as they were called; thence across the Stony Mountains, in search -of that mysterious Columbia River, discovered and christened by an -American. Twice he had urged the exploration of the Columbia region, -and twice explorers had started, but had been turned back. Now, as -President, he clung to his dream of gaining new lands and new commerce -to the American flag; and scarcely had Minister Livingston been sent -the instructions to open the Mississippi, than President Jefferson -proceeded with plans for opening another, longer trail, that should -reach from the Mississippi to the Pacific. - -He had in mind the person who could lead on such a trip: young Captain -Meriwether Lewis of the First Infantry, U. S. A.; his private secretary -at $500 a year, and to him like an own son. They were together day and -night, they loved each other. - -A Virginian, of prominent family, was Captain Lewis, and now barely -twenty-nine years of age. Slim, erect, sunny-haired, flashing -blue-eyed, handsome and brave, he had volunteered before to explore -through the farthest Northwest, but had been needed elsewhere. This -time President Jefferson wisely granted him his wish, and asked him to -make an estimate of the expenses for a Government exploring expedition -by officers and men, from St. Louis up the Missouri River and across -the mountains to the Pacific Ocean. - -Young Captain Lewis figured, and soon handed in his estimate. He -was of the opinion that at an expense of $2500, which would cover -everything, a party of eighteen men might travel across-country -from the Mississippi River, over the mountains, and to the Pacific -Ocean and back again! He had figured very closely, had young Captain -Lewis――perhaps because he was so anxious to go. - -President Jefferson accepted the estimate of $2500, and in his message -of January 18, 1803, to Congress, he proposed the expedition. He urged -that at this small expense a party of soldiers, well led, could in two -summers map a trail clear to the western ocean; bring back valuable -information upon climate, soil and peoples, and make Americans better -acquainted with their own continent; also encourage the traders and -trappers to use the Missouri River as a highway to and from the -Indians, thus competing with the British of Canada. - -Congress voted to apply the $2500 on the proposed expedition. We may -imagine how the tall, homely President Jefferson beamed――he, who so -firmly believed in the expansion of American trade, and the onward -march of the American flag. And we may imagine how young Captain Lewis -glowed with joy, when now he might be definitely named as the leader to -carry the flag. - -President Jefferson advised him to go at once to Philadelphia, and -study botany, geology, astronomy, surveying, and all the other sciences -and methods that would enable him to make a complete report upon the -new country. At Lancaster, nearby, the celebrated Henry flint-lock -rifles were manufactured, and he could attend to equipping his party -with these high-grade guns, turned out according to his own directions. - -There should be two leaders, to provide against accident to one. Whom -would he have, as comrade? He asked for his friend, William Clark, -younger brother to the famed General George Rogers Clark, who in -the Revolution had won the country west of the Alleghanies from the -British and the Indians, afterward had saved the Ohio Valley from the -angry redmen, and then had defied the Spaniards who would claim the -Mississippi. - -As cadet only seventeen years old, and as stripling lieutenant -appointed by Washington, William Clark himself had fought to keep -this fertile region white. “A youth of solid and promising parts and -as brave as Cæsar,” was said of him, in those terrible days when the -Shawnees, the Mohawks and all declared: “No white man’s cabin shall -smoke beyond the Ohio.” - -He, too, was a Virginian born, but raised in Kentucky. Now in this -spring of 1803 he was verging on thirty-three years of age. He was -russet-haired, gray-eyed, round-faced and large-framed――kindly, firm, -and very honest. - -He had retired from the army, but by rank in the militia was entitled -captain. For the purposes of the expedition President Jefferson -commissioned him second lieutenant of artillery. - -Captain Clark was at the Clark family home of Mulberry Hill, three -miles south of Louisville, Kentucky; Captain Lewis pursued his studies -at Philadelphia. Meanwhile, what of Minister Livingston and the -purchase from France of New Orleans――the mouth of the Mississippi? - -The famous Napoleon Bonaparte was the ruler of France. He, like -President Jefferson, had his dreams for the Province of Louisiana. -He refused to sell the port of New Orleans. Here he intended to land -soldiers and colonists, that they might proceed up-river and make of -his Province of Louisiana another France. - -Trouble loomed. Congress appointed James Monroe as Envoy Extraordinary -and on March 8 he started for France to aid Minister Livingston. He -arrived at Paris on April 12; but, lo, on the day before he arrived, a -most astonishing new bargain had been offered by Napoleon and Minister -Livingston was ready to accept. - -The dream of Napoleon had faded. For war with England was again upon -him; the British held Canada, their men-of-war were assembling off the -Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana Province and New Orleans would be seized -before ever France could muster a force there to resist. So rather than -let England gain all this territory and wax more powerful, Napoleon, -on April 11, directed his ministers to proffer to the United States -not only New Orleans, but all Louisiana Province――and the deal must be -closed at once! - -“Take all, at 80,000,000 francs, or $15,000,000, or take nothing,” was -the astounding proposal from Minister Marbois. - -“I am authorized to buy New Orleans,” replied Minister Livingston. - -There was no time in which to inform President Jefferson and Congress. -News crossed the ocean only by slow sailing vessels. Envoy Monroe -arrived; he and Minister Livingston consulted together; Napoleon was -impatient, they should act quickly―――― - -“We must do it,” they agreed. “Our country shall not lose this -opportunity.” - -Little minds are afraid of responsibilities; great minds are not -afraid. They prefer to act as seems to them they ought to act, rather -than merely to play safe. Monroe and Livingston were true patriots. -They thought not of themselves, but of their country, and risked rebuke -for exceeding their instructions. - -On April 30 they signed the papers which engaged the United States -to purchase all of Louisiana. The French ministers signed. On May 2 -Napoleon signed. The papers were immediately mailed for the approval of -Congress. - -And Congress did approve, on October 17. Thus, for less than three -cents an acre, the United States acquired from the Mississippi River -to the summits of the Rocky Mountains. The amount paid over was -$11,400,000; $3,750,000 was applied on French debts. - -The ship bearing the papers signed by Ministers Livingston and Monroe, -and by the government of France, did not reach the United States -until July. Down to that time President Jefferson had no knowledge of -the fact that his expedition, as planned, was to explore not French -territory, but American. But when the news broke, he was all ready for -it――he needed only to go ahead. That is one secret of success: to be -prepared to step instantly from opportunity to opportunity as fast as -they occur. The successful, energetic man is never surprised by the -unexpected. - -Captain Lewis had been kept very busy: studying science at Philadelphia, -inspecting his flint-locks at Lancaster, storing them and gathering -supplies at the arsenal of Harper’s Ferry. June 20 he received his -written instructions. - -He was to ascend the Missouri River from St. Louis to its source, and -by crossing the mountains and following down other streams, endeavor -to come out at the mouth of the Columbia on the Pacific coast. It -was hoped that he would find a way by water clear through. He was to -make a complete record of his journey: noting the character of the -country, its rivers, climate, soil, animals, products, and peoples; and -particularly the Indians, their laws, languages, occupations――was to -urge peace upon them, inform them of the greatness of the white United -States, encourage them to sell us their goods and to visit us. - -When he reached the Pacific Ocean, he was to ship two of his party by -vessel, if he found one there, for the United States, by way of Cape -Horn, of South America, or the Cape of Good Hope, of Africa, and send -a copy of his notes with them. Or he and all his party were at liberty -to return that way, themselves. He was given letters to the United -States consuls at Java, and the Isles of France off the African coast, -and the Cape of Good Hope, and one authorizing him to obtain money, in -the name of the United States, at any part of the civilized world. - -All this was a large order, placed upon the shoulders of a youth of -twenty-nine years; but who knew where the Missouri River trail might -lead? No white man yet had followed it to its end. - -Captain Lewis was at Washington, receiving those final instructions. -On July 5 he should start for the west. On July 3 he wrote a farewell -letter to his mother in Virginia, bidding her not to worry, and -assuring her that he felt he should return safely in fifteen to -eighteen months. - -He did not dream――President Jefferson, his friend and backer, did not -dream, or, at least, had not voiced that dream――but even while the -loving letter was being penned, into the harbor of New York had sailed -a ship from France, bringing the dispatches of Ministers Monroe and -Livingston. The next day the news was announced at Washington. The -Province of Louisiana had been bought by the United States! - -This was a Fourth of July celebration with a vengeance. - -Captain Lewis scarcely had time to comprehend. To-morrow he was to -start, and his mind was filled with the details of preparation. But a -glowing joy must have thrilled him as he realized that he was to be the -first to carry the flag through that new America now a part of his own -United States. Hurrah! - -He had no occasion for delaying. His instructions required no change. -He was eager to be off. Therefore on July 5, this 1803, he set out, and -from the White House President Jefferson wished him good-speed. - - - - -II - -THE START - - -By boat up the Potomac River from Washington hastened young Captain -Lewis, to pack his arms and supplies at Harper’s Ferry, and forward -them by wagon for Pittsburg. He got to Pittsburg ahead of them; and -there remained until the last of August, overseeing the building of a -barge or flat-boat. He enlisted some men, too――six of them, picked with -care, and sworn into the service of the United States Army. - -On August 31, with his recruits, on his laden flat-boat he launched -out to sail, row, and float, towed by oxen (a “horn breeze,” this was -termed), down the Ohio. - -At Mulberry Hill, near Louisville, Captain William Clark was -impatiently awaiting. He had enlisted nine men, all of Kentucky, the -“dark and bloody ground.” If any men could be relied on, they would -be Kentuckians, he knew. His negro servant, York, who had been his -faithful body-guard since boyhood, was going, too. - -Captain Clark took charge of the barge, to proceed with it and the -recruits and York down the Ohio into the Mississippi, and thence up -the Mississippi to St. Louis. Captain Lewis turned across country, by -horse, on a short cut, to pick up more men along the way. - -He struck the Mississippi River fifty miles below St. Louis, where the -United States Army post of Kaskaskia faced the Province of Louisiana -across the river. Here he enlisted four men more, selected from a score -that eagerly volunteered. Word of the great expedition had travelled -ahead of him, and he could have filled the ranks seven times over. But -only the strongest, and those of clean reputation, could qualify for -such a trip. These thought themselves fortunate. - -Now up along the river, by military road, hastened Captain Lewis, for -the old town of Cahokia, and crossed the river to St. Louis at last. He -was in a hurry. - -“We’ll winter at La Charette, Captain,” he had said to Captain Clark, -“where Daniel Boone lives. Boone can give us valuable information, and -we’ll be that far on our journey, ready for spring. Charette will be -better for our men than St. Louis.” - -Glad was Captain Clark to spend the months at La Charette. Daniel -Boone had been his boyhood friend in Kentucky――had taught him much -wood-craft. But when, in mid-December, Captain Clark, the redhead, -anxious to push on to La Charette, seventy miles up the Missouri, -before the ice closed, with York and his nine Kentuckians and five -other recruits whom he had enlisted from Fort Massac at the mouth of -the Ohio tied his keel-boat at the St. Louis levee, he was met by -disagreeable information. - -“We’ll have to winter here,” informed Captain Lewis. “The Spanish -lieutenant-governor won’t pass us on. He claims that he has not been -officially notified yet to transfer Upper Louisiana to the United -States――or, for that matter, even to France. So all we can do is to -make winter camp on United States soil, on the east side of the river, -and wait. I’m sorry――I’ve engaged two more boats――but that’s the case.” - -“All right,” assented Captain Clark. “Both sides of the river are ours, -but I suppose we ought to avoid trouble.” - -So the winter camp was placed near the mouth of Wood River, on the east -bank of the Mississippi, about twenty miles above St. Louis. Log cabins -were erected; and besides, the big keel-boat was decked fore and aft, -and had a cabin and men’s quarters. Consequently nobody need suffer -from the cold. - -Captain Lewis stayed most of the time in St. Louis, arranging for -supplies, studying medicine, astronomy, botany and other sciences, and -learning much about the Indians up the Missouri. Captain Clark looked -after the camp, and drilled the men almost every day. - -St. Louis was then forty years old; it contained less than 200 houses, -of stone and log, and about 1000 people, almost all French. The -lieutenant-governor, who lived here in charge of Upper Louisiana of -“the Illinois Country” (as all this section was called), was Don Carlos -Dehault Delassus, also of French blood, but appointed by Spain. - -Indignant now was Spain, objecting to the new ownership by the United -States, and asserting that by the terms of the bargain with France -that government had promised not to dispose of the province to any -other nation. But this evidently had made no difference to Napoleon. - -Not until November 30, of 1803, while Captain Lewis was on his road -from Kaskaskia to St. Louis and Captain Clark was toiling with his -keel-boat up from the mouth of the Ohio (both captains thinking that -they had a clear way ahead), was the Spanish flag in New Orleans hauled -down, and the French flag hoisted. On December 20 the representative of -the French government there, Monsieur Pierre Clement Laussat, and his -men, saluted the hoisting of the Stars and Stripes, formally delivered -Lower and Upper Louisiana to the United States. - -Nevertheless, Lieutenant-Governor Delassus, of Upper Louisiana, waited -for official instruction. Distances were great, he wished to receive -orders what to do. In St. Louis Captain Lewis waited; in the camp at -Wood River Captain Clark waited; the Missouri froze over and they could -not go on anyway. - -Christmas was celebrated, and the memorable year 1803 merged into the -new year 1804. Finally, by letter, date of January 12, 1804, from -Monsieur Laussat at New Orleans, Lieutenant-Governor Delassus was -notified that dispatches were on the road to Captain Amos Stoddard, -of the United States Artillery, and commanding at Fort Kaskaskia, -empowering him to represent France at St. Louis and take over from -Spain the district of Upper Louisiana. He was then to turn it over to -himself as representative of the United States. - -On February 25 Captain Stoddard announced that he was ready to receive -Upper Louisiana in the name of France. March 9 was set as the day. -Captain Lewis was invited to be present at the ceremony, as an official -witness. Captain Clark probably came over; perhaps some of the men, for -all the countryside gathered at the great event. - -A number of Indians from up the Mississippi and up the Missouri, and -out of the plains to the west, had witnessed the ceremony of transfer. -They did not understand it all. They said that the United States had -captured St. Louis. On March 12 their good friend, Lieutenant-Governor -Delassus, issued an address to them, explaining that now they had a new -father, and he introduced to them the new United States chiefs who had -come――Captain Stoddard and Captain Lewis. - -But the Delawares, the Sacs, the Osages, and others――they still were -dissatisfied, and especially the Osages. Captain Lewis was particularly -anxious to please the Osages, for they were the first of the powerful -tribes whom he might encounter, up the Missouri. He tried to talk with -the chiefs in St. Louis; by a trader sent a letter on to the Osage -village, asking the head chiefs to meet him at the river and exchange -peace presents. - -Beyond the Osages dwelt the Otoes, the Missouris, the ’Mahas (Omahas), -the Sioux, the Arikaras, the Mandans, the Minnetarees; and then, who -could say? Few white men, even the French traders, had been farther. -How would all these tribes, known and unknown, receive the strange -Americans? - -Spring had come, the ice was whirling down, in rotted floes, out of the -north, the channel of the crooked Missouri was clearing, and every man -in the expedition was keen to be away, following the honking geese into -this new America over which the flag of the United States waved at last. - -Now the expedition had grown to full strength. There were the two -captains; the fourteen soldiers enlisted at Pittsburg, Fort Massac -and Fort Kaskaskia; the nine Kentuckians, enrolled at Mulberry Hill -near Louisville; George Drouillard (or Drewyer, as he was called), -the hunter from Kaskaskia who had been recommended by Captain Clark’s -brother the general; Labiche and one-eyed old Cruzatte, French -voyageurs or boatmen engaged by Captain Lewis at St. Louis; nine other -boatmen, and Corporal Warfington and six privates from the Kaskaskia -troops in St. Louis, who were to go as far as the next winter camp, and -then return with records and trophies; and black York, Captain Clark’s -faithful servant, who was going just as far as his master did. - -So forty-five there were in all, to start. Except York, those who were -going through had been sworn in as privates in the United States Army, -to serve during the expedition, or until discharged on the way, if so -happened. Charles Floyd, one of the young Kentuckians; Nathaniel Pryor, -his cousin, and John Ordway, enrolled at Kaskaskia from among the New -Hampshire company, were appointed sergeants. - -For outfit they had their flint-lock rifles, especially manufactured; -flint-lock pistols, hunting knives, powder contained in lead canisters -or pails to be melted into bullets when emptied, tents, tools, -provisions of pork, flour, etc., warm extra clothing for winter, old -Cruzatte’s fiddle, George Gibson’s fiddle, medicines, including the new -kine-pox with which to vaccinate the Indians, the captains’ scientific -instruments, a wonderful air-gun that shot forty times without -reloading, and a cannon or blunderbuss. - -Seven large bales and one emergency box had been packed with their -stores; and there were fourteen other bales and one sample box of -gifts for the Indians: gay laced coats, flags, knives, iron tomahawks, -beads, looking-glasses, handkerchiefs (red and blue), paints (yellow, -blue and crimson), not forgetting three kinds of medals――first-class -and second-class, of silver, and third-class, of pewter――for chiefs -to hang about their necks as token of friendship from their new great -white father at Washington. The knives and tomahawks had been made at -Harper’s Ferry. - -Three boats were ready: the keel-boat built at Pittsburg, and two -pirogues bought at St. Louis. The keel-boat or batteau was to be the -flag-ship. It was a kind of flat-boat or barge, fifty-five feet long; -of heavy planks, with bow overhanging and a little pointed, and square -overhanging stern fitted with a keel and with a tiller rudder. It had -places for eleven oars on a side, and carried a sail. Along either -gunwale was a plank path or walking-board, from which the men might -push with poles. - -Much ingenuity and care had Captain Lewis spent on this flag-ship. -Under a deck at the bows the crew might sleep; and under the deck -at the stern was the cabin for the officers; in the middle were -lockers, for stowing stuff――and the lids when raised formed a line of -breastworks against bullets and arrows! The blunderbuss was mounted in -the bows, the flag floated from a staff. The boat drew only three feet -of water. - -The two pirogues were smaller, open flat-boats or barges; one painted -red, the other white; one fitted with six oars, the other with seven. -They also had sails. - -At Harper’s Ferry Captain Lewis had ordered the steel framework of -a canoe. This was “knocked down,” in sections, and stowed in the -keel-boat, later to be put together and covered with bark or skins, for -use in the shallow waters far up-river. - -And there were two horses, which should accompany the boats by land, -for scouting and hunting purposes. - -April passed; May arrived. The Missouri was reported free of ice, and -was rising rapidly. The trees had budded and greened, the grasses -were getting high, game would be plentiful, the Indians would be -leaving their villages for their spring hunts, and ’twas time that -the expedition should start. In their camp at Wood River the men drew -on the supply of quill pens, ink horns and paper and wrote farewell -letters home. In St. Louis Captain Clark and Captain Lewis were given -farewell dinners. By Doctor Saugrain, the learned physician and -scientist under whom he was studying, Captain Lewis was presented with -a handful of matches――curious little sticks which, when briskly rubbed -against something, burst into flame. The Indians would marvel at these. - -Shortly before four o’clock in the afternoon of May 14, this 1804, the -start was made. The St. Louis people gathered along the river bank on -that side, to watch the boats move up. The blunderbuss was discharged, -in salute; the cannon of the fort answered. Captain Clark, bidding -goodbye from the deck of the keel-boat, was in full dress uniform of -red-trimmed blue coat and trousers, and gold epaulets, his sword at his -belt, his three-cornered chapeau on his red head. The sails swelled in -the breeze, the men at the oars sang in French and shouted in English. -Drewyer the hunter rode one horse and led the other. All, save Captain -Clark, were dressed for business――Corporal Warfington’s squad from St. -Louis in United States uniform, the nine Kentuckians in buckskins, the -fourteen soldiers and civilians, enlisted at the posts, in flannel -shirts and trousers of buckskin or coarse army cloth, the French -boatmen in brightly fringed woollens, with scarlet ’kerchiefs about -their heads. Rain was falling, but who cared! - -Captain Lewis did not accompany. He was detained to talk more with the -Osages who had come down. He hoped yet to make things clear to them. -But he would join the boats at the village of St. Charles, twenty miles -above. - -In the sunshine of May 16 they tied to the bank at St. Charles. At the -report of the cannon――boom!――the French villagers, now Americans all, -came running down and gave welcome. - -Sunday the 20th Captain Lewis arrived by skiff from St. Louis, and with -him an escort of the St. Louis people, again to cheer the expedition -on its way. Not until Monday afternoon, the 21st, was the expedition -enabled to tear itself from the banquets and hand-shakings, and onward -fare in earnest, against the wind and rain. - -Tawny ran the great Missouri River, flooded with the melted snows -of the wild north, bristling with black snags, and treacherous with -shifting bars. On either hand the banks crashed in, undermined by the -changing currents. But rowing, poling, hauling with ropes, and even -jumping overboard to shove, only occasionally aided by favoring breeze, -the men, soldiers and voyageurs alike, worked hard and kept going. On -leaving St. Charles the two captains doffed their uniforms until the -next dress-up event, and donned buckskins and moccasins. - -Past La Charette, the settlement where Daniel Boone lived――the very -last white settlement on the Missouri, toiled the boats; now, beyond, -the country was red. Past the mouth of the Osage River up which lived -the Osage Indian; but no Osages were there to treat with them. Past the -mouth of the Kansas River, and the Little Platte; and still no Indians -appeared, except some Kickapoos bringing deer. Rafts were encountered, -descending with the first of the traders bringing down their winter’s -furs: a raft from the Osages, shouting that the Osages would not -believe that St. Louis had been “captured,” and had burnt the Captain -Lewis message; from the Kansas, from the Pawnees up the Big Platte, -from the Sioux of the far north. - -Off a Sioux raft old Pierre Dorion, one of the traders, was hired by -the captains to go with the expedition up to the Sioux, and make them -friendly. He had lived among the Yankton Sioux twenty years. - -Through June and July, without especial incident, the expedition -voyaged ever up-river into the northwest, constantly on the look-out -for Indians with whom to talk. - -The two captains regularly wrote down what they saw and did and -heard; a number of the men also kept diaries. Sergeant Charles Floyd, -Sergeant John Ordway, Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor, Private Patrick Gass, -Private Joseph Whitehouse, Private Robert Frazier and Private Alexander -Willard――they faithfully scrawled with their quill pens, recording -each day’s events as they saw them. The journals of Floyd, Gass, and -Whitehouse have been published, so that we may read them as well as the -journals of the captains. - -Not until the first of August, and when almost fifty miles above the -mouth of the Platte River, was the first council with the Indians -held. Here a few Otoes and Missouris came in, at a camping-place on -the Nebraska side of the Missouri, christened by the two captains the -Council-bluffs, from which the present Iowa city of Council Bluffs, -twenty miles below and opposite, takes its name. - -Now in the middle of August the expedition is encamped at the west -side of the river, about fifteen miles below present Sioux City, Iowa, -waiting to talk with the principal chiefs of the Otoes and the Omahas, -and hoping to establish a peace between them. But the Omahas had fled -from the small-pox, and the Otoes were slow to come in. - -The voyageur Liberté and the soldier Moses Reed were missing from the -camp; a party had been sent out to capture them as deserters. - -Eight hundred and thirty-six miles had been logged off, from St. Louis, -in the three months. - -Here the story opens. - - - - -OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK - - - - -I - -THE COMING OF THE WHITE CHIEFS - - -“They are many,” reported Shon-go-ton-go, or Big Horse, sub-chief of -the Otoes. - -“How many?” asked We-ah-rush-hah, or Little Thief, the head chief. - -“As many,” replied Big Horse, “as five times the fingers on two hands.” - -“Wah!” gravely grunted the circle, where the chiefs and warriors -squatted in their blankets and buffalo robes. - -For August, the Ripe Corn month, of 1804, had arrived to the Oto -Indians’ country in present Nebraska beyond the Missouri River; but -now at their buffalo-hunt camp north of the River Platte the chiefs of -the combined Oto and Missouri nations sat in solemn council instead of -chasing the buffalo. - -Through a long time, or since the month when the buffalo begin to shed, -the air had been full of rumors. Five moons back, when the cottonwood -buds first swelled, down at the big white village of “San Loui’” there -had been a ceremony by which, according to the best word, all this -vast land watered by the Missouri River had changed white fathers. -The Spanish father’s flag had been hauled down, and a different flag -had been raised. Indians had been there and had seen; yes, Shawnees, -Saukies, Delawares, Osages――they had been there, and had seen. The -Spanish governor, whose name was Delassus, had made a speech, to the -white people. He had said: - - PROCLAMATION - - March 9, 1804. - - _Inhabitants of Upper Louisiana_: - - By the King’s command, I am about to deliver up this post and - its dependences! - - The flag under which you have been protected for a period of - nearly thirty-six years is to be withdrawn. From this moment - you are released from the oath of fidelity you took to support - it. - -The speech was hard to understand, but there it was, tacked up on the -white man’s talking paper. Moreover, the good governor had made a talk -for the Indians also, his red children. He had said: - - Your old fathers, the Spaniard and the Frenchman, who grasp by - the hand your new father, the head chief of the United States, - by an act of their good will, and in virtue of their last - treaty, have delivered up to them all these lands. They will - keep and defend them, and protect all the white and red skins - who live thereon. - - For several days we have fired off cannon shots to announce to - all the nations that your father, the Spaniard, is going, his - heart happy to know that you will be protected and sustained by - your new father, and that the smoke of the powder may ascend to - the Master of Life, praying him to shower on you all a happy - destiny and prosperity in always living in good union with the - whites. - -Up the great river and into the west, by traders and runners had come -the tidings. - -Who were these United States? What kind of a man was the new white -father? He was sending a party of his warriors, bearing presents -and peace talk. They already had ascended the big river, past the -mouth of the Platte. They had dispatched messengers to the Otoes and -the Missouris, asking them to come in to council. But the Otoes and -Missouris had left their village where they lived with their friends -the Pawnees, in order to hunt the buffalo before gathering their corn, -and only by accident had the invitation reached them. - -Then Shon-go-ton-go and We-the-a and Shos-gus-can and others had gone; -and had returned safe and satisfied. They had returned laden with -gifts――paint and armlets and powder, and medals curiously figured, -hung around their necks by the two white chiefs themselves. They had -hastened to seek out We-ah-rush-hah, the head chief, in his camp, and -report. - -The white chiefs were waiting to treat with him, as was proper, and -they had sent to him a bright colored flag, and ornaments, and a medal. - -“What do the white chiefs want?” queried We-ah-rush-hah. - -“They say that the new white father will be generous with the Otoes and -Missouris, and wishes us to be at peace with our enemies.” - -“Will he protect us from those robbers, the Omahas?” - -“He wishes us to make peace with the Omahas. The United States would -go with us to the Omahas, but we told them we were afraid. We are poor -and weak and the Omahas would kill us.” - -“Good,” approved We-ah-rush-hah. - -“There are two of the white chiefs,” added We-the-a, or Hospitable One, -the Missouri chief. “They wear long knives by their sides. Their hair -is of strange color. The hair of one is yellow like ripe corn; the hair -of the other is red as pipe-stone. The Red Head is big and pleasant; -the yellow-haired one is slim and very straight, and when he speaks he -does not smile. Yes, the Red Head is a buffalo, but the other is an -elk.” - -“They have three boats,” added Shos-gus-can, or White Horse, who was -an Oto. “One boat is larger than any boat of any trader. It has a gun -that talks in thunder. Of the other boats, one is painted white, one is -painted red. The chiefs are dressed in long blue shirts that glitter -with shining metal. The party are strong in arms. They have much guns, -and powder and lead, and much medicine. They have a gun that shoots -with air, and shoots many times. It is great medicine. They have a man -all black like a buffalo in fall, with very white teeth and short black -hair, curly like a buffalo’s. He is great medicine. They carry a white -flag with blue and red borders. Red, white and blue are their medicine -colors. The flag is their peace sign. There are French with them, from -below, and another, a trader from the Sioux. They received us under a -white lodge, and have named the place the Council-bluffs. They must be -of a great nation.” - -“I will go and see these United States, and talk with them,” -announced Little Thief, majestically. “Their presents have been good, -their words sound good. It is unwise to refuse gifts laid upon the -prairie. If indeed we have a new father for all the Indians, maybe by -listening to his chiefs we can get more from him than we did from our -Spanish father. I will go and talk, at the burnt Omaha village. Let -the four white men who have come with gifts and a message, seeking -brothers-who-have-run-away, be well treated, so that we shall be well -treated also.” - -Then the council broke up. - -On the outskirts, a boy, Little White Osage, had listened with all his -ears. The affair was very interesting. A hot desire filled his heart to -go, himself, and see these United States warriors, with their painted -boats and their marvelous guns and their black medicine-man and their -two chiefs whose hair was different, like his own hair. - -His own hair was brown and fine instead of being black and coarse, and -his eyes were blue instead of black, and his skin, even in its tan, was -light instead of dark. Sometimes he was puzzled to remember just how -he had come among the Otoes. He did not always feel like an Indian. To -be sure, he had been bought from the Osages by the Otoes; but away, -’way back there had been a woman, a light-haired, soft-skinned woman, -among the Osages, who had kissed him and hugged him and had taught him -a language that he well-nigh had forgotten. - -Occasionally one of those strange words rose to his lips, but he rarely -used it, because the Osages, and now the Otoes, did not wish him to use -it. - -The Otoes called him Little White Osage, as a kind of slur. Nobody -kissed him and hugged him, but in their ill-natured moments the Oto -squaws beat him, and the children teased him. The squaws never beat the -other boys. Antoine, the French trader, was kinder to him. But Antoine -had married an Oto woman, and all his children were dark and Indian. - -“At the burnt Omaha village,” had said Chief Little Thief. - -Little White Osage knew where this was. The United States chiefs, -by their messengers, had invited Little Thief to meet them at the -principal Omaha Indian village, so that peace might be made between -the Omahas and the Otoes. But the village had been smitten by a -sickness――the smallpox, old Antoine had named it, and the frightened -Omahas had burned their lodges and had fled, such as were able. Only -the site of the village remained, and its graves. - -It would be of no use to try to go with the chief’s party. They would -not want boys, and especially a boy who was not like other Indian boys, -and bore a name of the hated Osages. Therefore, this night, in the -dusk, he slipped from under his thin blanket in the skin lodge, where -slumbered old Antoine and family, and scuttled, bending low, out into -the prairie. - -He would have sought the four white men who had come from the United -States chiefs’ camp, but they had left, looking for two other men who -had strayed. And besides, he didn’t feel certain that they would help -him. - -The prairie was thick with high grasses, and with bushes whereon -berries were ripening; he wore only a cloth about his waist, on his -feet moccasins, but he did not mind, for his skin was tough. He carried -his bow, of the yellow osage wood, and slung under his left arm his -badger-hide quiver containing blunt reed arrows. - -The damp night air was heavy with smoke, for the prairies had been -fired in order to drive out the game. Now and then he startled some -animal. Eyes glowed at him, and disappeared, and a shadowy form loped -away. That was a wolf. He was not afraid of any cowardly wolf. Larger -forms bolted, with snorts. They were antelope. To a tremendous snort -a much larger form bounded from his path. That was an elk. But he -hastened on at a trot and fast walk, alert and excited, his nostrils -and eyes and ears wide, while he ever kept the North Star before him on -his left. - -It seemed long ere in the east, whither he was hurrying, the stars were -paling. On his swift young legs he had covered many miles. None of the -Oto or Missouri boys could have done better, but he simply had to -rest. The dawn brightened; he should eat and hide himself and sleep. So -he paused, to make plans. - -“Wah!” And “Hoorah!” “Hoorah!” was one of those strange words which -would rise to his lips. Far before him, although not more than three or -four hours’ travel, was a low line of trees marking the course of the -big river. He took a step; from a clump of brush leaped a rabbit――and -stopped to squat. Instantly Little White Osage had strung bow, fitted -arrow, and shot. The arrow thudded, the rabbit scarcely kicked. Picking -him up, Little White Osage trotted on, his breakfast in hand. - -Now he smelled smoke stronger, and scouting about he cautiously -approached a smouldering camp-fire. Omahas? But he espied nobody -moving, or lying down. It was an old camp-fire. Around it he discovered -in the dust that had been stirred up, the prints of boots. The white -men had been here――perhaps the messengers to the camp of Little Thief. -Good! He might cook his rabbit; and sitting, he did cook it after he -had built the fire into more heat. He ate. Then he curled in the grass, -like a brown rabbit himself, and slept. - -When he wakened, the sun was high. He stretched; peered, to be safe; -drank from a nearby creek, and set forward again. Nearer he drew to -the big river, and nearer; and he had to move more carefully lest the -Omahas should be lurking at their village, and sight him. The Omahas -would be glad to capture anybody from the Otoes. There was no peace -between the two peoples. - -The ruined village lay lifeless and black, with its graves on the hill -above it. He circled the village, and found a spot whence he could gaze -down. - -The broad big river flowed evenly between its low banks; curving amidst -the willows and cottonwoods and sand-bars, it was the highway for the -great white village of “San Loui’,” at its mouth many days to the -south. It led also up into the country of the Mandans and the fierce -Sioux, in the unknown north. And yonder, on a sand sprit above the -mouth of the Omaha Creek, was the white chiefs’ camp! - -With his sharp eyes Little White Osage eagerly surveyed. Three boats -there were, just as said by Shos-gus-can: one painted white, and one -painted red, and one very large, fastened in the shallows. On the sand -were kettles, over fires, and many men moving about, or lying under a -canopy; and a red, white and blue flag flying in the breeze. - -A party were leaving the camp, and coming toward him. They could not -see him――he was too cleverly hidden in the bushes, above. Wading -through the grasses waist high they made for the creek and halted -where the beavers had dammed it into a pond. These were white men, -surely. They numbered the fingers on two hands, and three more fingers. -They carried guns, and a net of branches and twigs; and one, a tall -straight man, wore at his side a long knife in a sheath which flashed. -He had on his head a queer three-cornered covering. He was the leader, -for when he spoke and pointed, the other men jumped to obey. - -They walked into the water, to net fish. They hauled and tugged and -plashed and laughed and shouted; and when they emerged upon the bank -again their net was so heavy that the leader sprang to help them. He -tossed aside his head covering. His hair was bright like ripe corn. One -of the two chiefs, he! - -What a lot of fish they brought out! Hundreds of them sparkled in the -sun. This sport continued until near sunset, when the men all went -away, to eat and sleep. - -At dusk Little White Osage stole down to the creek. Some of the fish -were scattered about, but they were stiff and dull; he could not eat -them without cooking them and he was afraid to risk a fire. So he -gathered mussels and clams, and these were pretty good, raw. - -That night the camp-fires of the “’Nited States” warriors blazed on the -beach at the river; in the grasses of a hollow above the creek Little -White Osage finally slept. - -Therefore another morning dawned and found him still here, waiting to -see what the new whites would do next. But he must not be caught by -Chief Little Thief and old Antoine, or they would punish him. - -The United States were eating. Almost could he smell the meat on the -fires. After eating, the camp busied itself in many ways. Some of the -men again walked up the creek. Others raised a pole, or mast, on the -largest boat. Others swam and frolicked in the river. Evidently the -camp was staying for the arrival of We-ah-rush-hah. - -But that meat! The thought of it made the mouth of Little White Osage -to water. Well, he must go and find something and cook it where he -would be safe, and then return to those women and children who did not -like him. He had seen the “’Nited States,” and their chief with the -yellow hair. Maybe he had seen the red-hair chief, too. - -He crept on hands and knees, until he might trudge boldly, aiming -northward so as not to meet with Little Thief. When after a time he -looked back, toward the river, he saw a great smoke rising. The United -States had set the prairie afire! - -Hah! That they had! Did they set the prairie afire just to burn him, a -boy? Had they known that he was watching them, and had that made them -angry? The smoke increased rapidly――broadened and billowed. The prairie -breeze puffed full and strong from the southeast, and the pungent odor -of burning grasses swept across his quivering nostrils. The fire was -pursuing him. It had cut off any retreat to the big river waters; it -was swifter than an antelope, on his trail. Very cunning and cruel were -those “’Nited States” men. - -Through the tall dry grasses strained Little White Osage, seeking -refuge. He sobbed in his husky throat. If he might but reach that line -of sand hills, yonder, they would break the wall of fire and save him. -It was such a big fire to send after such a small boy. Now the sun was -veiled by the scudding smoke, and the wind blew acrid and hot. Before -him fled animals――racing antelope and bounding elk, galloping wolves -and darting birds. They were fast; but he――alas, he was too slow, and -he was weak and tired. Was he to be burned? He threw aside his quiver, -and next his bow. They felt so heavy. - -The fire was close. He could hear the crackle and the popping as it -devoured everything. The sand hills were mocking him; they seemed to -sneak backward as he toiled forward. Suddenly, panting and stumbling, -he burst into a little clearing, where the grasses were short. In the -midst of the clearing lay the carcass of a buffalo bull. - -With dimmed staring eyes Little White Osage, casting wildly about for -shelter, saw. He saw the carcass, partially cut up; the meat had been -piled on the hide, as if the hunters had left, to get it another time; -and on the meat was planted a ramrod or wiping-stick, with a coat hung -on it, to keep off the wolves. But nobody was here. - -Not in vain had Little White Osage been trained to look out for -himself. Now he knew what he could do. He staggered for the meat-pile; -frantically tore it away, but not to eat it. He barely could lift the -great hide, but lift it he did; wriggled underneath, drew it over him, -and crouched there, gasping. - -Crackle, pop, roar――and the wall of fire charged the clearing, dashed -into it, licked hotly across it, and snatched at the robe. He felt -the robe shrivel and writhe, and smelled the stench of sizzling flesh -and hair. He could scarcely breathe. Over him the buffalo hide was -scorching through and through. How the fire roared, how the wind -blew; but neither fire nor wind could get at him through that tough, -inch-thick canopy. Almost smothered by heat and smoke, Little White -Osage cringed, waiting. He was a wee bit afraid. - -Soon he knew that the fire had passed. He ventured to raise an edge of -the hide and peek from under. Smoke wafted into his face and choked -him. Black lay the cindered land around; the fire was surging on to the -west, where the sand hills would stop it, but it had mowed a path too -hot to walk on, yet. He must stay awhile. - -He reached out a hand and dragged to him a piece of the charred -bloody buffalo meat, and nibbled at it. Over him the buffalo hide -had stiffened, to form a pup-tent; and really he was not so very -uncomfortable. He ate, and stretching the best that he might, pillowed -his face on his bended arm. Next, he was asleep――tired Little White -Osage. - -He slept with an ear open, for voices and tread of feet aroused him. -People were coming. He craned his neck to peer about――and ducked -further inside, like a turtle inside its shell. - -Two persons had arrived in the clearing. They were walking straight -toward him. They were white men. They were some of those United States -warriors! - -A moment more, and a heavy foot kicked the hide――thump!――and hands -ruthlessly overthrew it. Exposed, Little White Osage sprang erect, -gained his feet at a bound, stood bravely facing the two warriors of -the “’Nited States.” He would not show them that he feared. - -“B’gorry,” exclaimed a voice, “here’s a quare pea in a pod!” - - - - -II - -PETER GOES ABOARD - - -Little White Osage did not understand the words, but they were said -with a laugh. He could only stare. - -Two, were these United States men. The one who had spoken was short -and broad and quick, like a bear. He had a lean freckled face and -shrewd twinkling grey eyes. He wore a blue shirt, and belted trousers, -and boots, and on his head a wide-brimmed black hat. Leaning upon a -long-barrelled flint-lock gun, he laughed. - -The other man was younger――much younger, almost too young to take the -war path. He was smooth-faced and very blue-eyed. He wore a blue shirt, -too, and fringed buckskin trousers, and moccasins, and around his black -hair a red handkerchief, gaily tied. - -But as his hair was black, he could not be one of the chiefs. The short -man’s hair was not black, but it was the color of wet sand――and so he -could not be one of the chiefs. - -Now the young warrior spoke and his voice was sweet. - -“Who are you, boy?” - -This Little White Osage did understand. The words penetrated through as -from a distance. There had been a long time since he had heard such -words. His throat swelled to answer. - -“Boy,” he stammered. - -“I see. What boy? Oto?” - -Little White Osage shook his head. - -“Missouri?” - -Little White Osage shook his head. - -“’Maha?” - -Little White Osage shook his head more vigorously. - -“What tribe, then?” - -Little White Osage struggled hard to reply in that language. But his -throat closed tight. The young warrior was so handsome and so kind, -and the broad warrior was so homely and so alert, and he himself was -so small and so full of hopes and fears, that he choked. He could not -speak at all. - -“See what you can make out of him, Pat,” bade the young warrior. “He -seems afraid of me. But he understands English.” - -“Faith, now,” drawled the bold warrior, “sure, mebbe he’s wan o’ them -Mandan Injuns, from up-river. Haven’t they the eyes an’ complexion same -as a white man?” And he addressed Little White Osage. “Mandan?” - -Little White Osage again shook his head. - -“Well, if you’re not Oto or Missouri or ’Maha or Mandan, who be ye? My -name’s Patrick Gass; what’s your name?” - -The throat of Little White Osage swelled. He strove――and suddenly out -popped the word, long, long unused. - -“Kerr.” - -“What?” - -“Kerr――white boy.” - -“Holy saints!” exclaimed Patrick Gass, astonished. “Did you hear that, -George, lad? An’ sure he’s white, an’ by the name o’ him Irish! Ye’ll -find the Irish, wherever ye go. An’ what might be your first name, me -boy? Is it Pat, or Terry, or Mike?” - -That was too much talk all at once, for Little White Osage. The man -called George helped him out. - -“How can he understand your villainous brogue, Pat! Let me talk to -him.” And he invited, of Little White Osage: “Kerr, you say?” - -Little White Osage nodded. - -“You are white?” - -“Yes.” - -“Where’d you come from?” - -“Oto.” - -“Where are you going?” - -A boldness seized upon Little White Osage. - -“You,” he said. “Up big river――with ’Nited States.” - -“Oho!” laughed Patrick Gass. “Another recruit, is it? Does your mother -say you might?” - -Little White Osage shook his head. Somehow, a lump rose in his throat. -“Mother?” What was “mother?” That soft white woman, who away back in -the Osage village had hugged him and kissed him and taught him these -words which thronged inside him, must have been “mother.” - -“No mother. No f-f-father.” He carefully felt his way. “Ken――Kentucky. -Peter――Peter Kerr. Go up river with ’Nited States.” And he managed -another word. “Please.” - -“An’ we set the prairie afire to call in the Injuns, an’ here’s what we -caught,” ejaculated Patrick Gass. “Peter Kerr, be it? Likely that was -his father’s name, an’ he’s young Peter. Well, what’ll we do with him?” - -“We can take him back to the boats with us, I suppose,” mused George. -“But as for his going on with the expedition, Pat, I don’t know what -the captains would say, or the Otoes, either. He’s from the Otoes, he -claims.” - -“Ah, sure ain’t he an Irishman from Kentucky?” reminded Pat. “An’ ain’t -we Irish, too? Mebbe we can buy the young spalpeen, for a trifle o’ -paint an’ powder.” - -George didn’t think so. - -“I doubt if the Otoes would sell him. How long have you been with the -Otoes, Peter?” - -Little White Osage had been listening as hard as he could, trying to -guess what these long speeches were about. That last question, to him, -awakened an answer. - -“Al-ways,” he uttered, slowly. “First Osage, then Oto.” - -“Do you know where Kentucky is?” - -Little White Osage shook his head. - -“No.” But he pointed to the east. “There.” - -“Where are your father and mother?” - -“There,” and Little White Osage pointed to the sky. - -“Do you know where St. Louis is?” - -“There,” and he pointed south. - -“Do you know where we’re going?” - -“There,” and he pointed north. - -“When did you leave the Otoes?” - -“Two days.” - -“Why?” - -“Me――white; you white. I ’Nited States.” And Little White Osage -stiffened proudly. - -“Bedad, spoken like a good citizen,” approved Patrick Gass. “Faith, -George, lad, ’twould be a shame to return him to the Injuns――to them -oncivilized rascals. Can’t we smuggle him aboard? An’ then after we’re -all under way the two captains can do with him as they plaze.” His gray -eyes danced at the thought, and he scanned George questioningly. - -George’s blue eyes were twinkling. - -“I dare say that on our way up river we’ll meet more traders coming -down, and he can be sent to St. Louis that way. But we’re liable to be -in a scrape, Pat, if we’re found out.” - -“What’s an Irishman without a scrape?” laughed Pat “Listen, now,” he -bade, to Little White Osage, who had been attending very keenly. -“After dusk ye slip aboard the big boat. Understand?” - -Little White Osage nodded. They had planned something good for him, and -he was willing to agree to whatever it was. - -“Slip aboard the big boat,” and Pat pointed and signed, to make plain, -“an’ hide yourself away for’d down among the supplies. Kape quiet till -after the council, or the Otoes’ll get ye. I’ll be findin’ ye an’ -passin’ ye a bit to ate. An’ when we’re a-sailin’ up the big river -wance more, then ye’ll have to face the captains, an’ what they’ll say -I dunno, but I’ll bet my hat that Cap’n Clark’ll talk the heart o’ -Cap’n Lewis, who’s an officer an’ a gintleman, into lettin’ ye stay if -there’s proof ye have no-wheres else to go.” And Patrick Gass chuckled. -“Sure, they can’t set ye afoot on the prairie.” - -There were too many strange words in this speech, but Little White -Osage caught the import. - -“I hide,” he said, obediently. “In big boat.” - -“Right-o!” encouraged George. “And if you’re found, stand up for -yourself.” - -“No tell,” blurted Little White Osage. “Talk to ’Nited States chiefs. -No tell.” - -“B’jabbers, there’s pluck!” approved Patrick Gass. “Now, we be goin’ to -take some o’ this meat back wid us, but we’ll lave you enough to chew -on. You have plenty fire. ’Twas only for signal to the Injuns to come -in to council. We had no thought o’ burnin’ annywan, ’specially a boy. -No, or of burnin’ me own coat, nayther, till I see the wind changin’.” -He and George rapidly made up a parcel of the meat, blackened and -charred though the hunks were. “But we cooked our supper by it. Goodbye -to ye. Chance be we’ll see ye later.” With airy wave of hand he trudged -away. - -“His name is Patrick Gass. My name is George Shannon,” emphasized -George, lingering a moment. “Yours is Peter Kerr. All right, Peter. -Watch out for the Otoes, that they don’t spy you when you come in after -dark.” - -“I come,” answered Peter, carefully. “Oto no catch.” - -Away they hastened, toward the river. Standing stock-still, Peter -watched them go. Good men they were. They were white; he was white. -They were ’Nited States; he was to be ’Nited States, too. - -He did not pause to eat now. He grabbed a chunk of the buffalo meat -left for him, and trotted for the nearest sand-hill. The fire had -burned before him, and the earth was still warm, but the sand-hills -were untouched. - -He drank, at last, from a branch of the Omaha Creek; and among the -sand-hills he stayed all day. - -In the afternoon he heard, from off toward the United States camp at -the river, a rumble like thunder. It was the big gun! At dusk he saw -a glow redly lighting the eastern horizon over the river. Maybe the -United States were having a war-dance. At any rate, the man named Pat -had told him to come; this seemed to be the best time; and, guided by -the glow, he hurried for the river. - -When he had struck the river well above the camp, the boats and the -beach were ruddy. People had gathered about a huge fire. They were -making music and dancing; and some were white men and others were -Indians: Otoes! Chief Little Thief had arrived. - -Somewhat fearing, but very determined, Peter cautiously waded out into -the water, and from waist-deep slipping into the current silently swam -down, down, outside the edge of the firelight, until obliquing in he -might use the big boat as a shield. With his hand he felt along it; -encountered a rope stretched taut from boat to water. Wah! Or――hoorah, -he meant. - -As neatly as a cat he swarmed up the rope and hoisted himself over the -gunwale. Sprawling in, he dropped flat, to cower in the shadow of the -mast. A dark figure, with a gun, had seen him――was making for him, from -down the deck. - -“Hist, Peter!” huskily spoke a voice. “’Tis Pat. Ye’re all right. Stay -where ye are, now!” - -Yes, except for Pat, the sentry, all the big boat was deserted. -There was a great time ashore. Crouched panting and dripping, Peter -witnessed, from behind the mast. The shore was bright, the figures -plainly outlined. There were the two white chiefs. Of this he was -certain. They had on their heads the queer hats; they wore long tight -blue shirts that glittered with ornaments; they carried the long -knives, in sheathes at their sides; the one was the chief with the -yellow hair, and the other was the chief with the red hair. - -The ’Nited States were giving a feast and dance, evidently. Two of them -were making music by drawing a stick across a box held to their chins; -and the others, and the Indians, sat in a circle, around the fire, -watching the dances. - -It was now the turn of the Otoes, for they sprang up, and into the -centre, to dance. Peter knew them, one by one: Head Chief Little Thief, -Big Horse, Crow’s Head, Black Cat, Iron Eyes, Bix Ox, Brave Man, and -Big Blue Eyes――all Otoes except Crow’s Head and Black Cat, who were -Missouris. - -They danced. It was the Oto Buffalo Dance. The ’Nited States warriors -cheered――and on a sudden cheered louder and clapped their hands -together, for into the centre had leaped a new figure, to dance by -himself. - -He was the black medicine man! - -His eyes rolled white; his teeth were white; but all the rest of him -was black――and he was very large. Assuredly, the ’Nited States must be -a great and powerful nation, with such medicine men, decided little -Peter, watching. - -Along the deck Patrick Gass hissed and beckoned. - -“Here,” he bade. Peter scurried to him. “Get down in for’d,” and Pat -pointed to the open door of the forecastle or wooden house that had -been built in the bows, under a higher deck. “Stow yourself away an’ -kape quiet. Ye’ll find a place.” - -Peter darted in. It was a room lined with beds in tiers from floor -to ceiling: the white warriors’ sleeping-room. Clothing was hanging -against the far end; down the centre was a narrow table. Like a cat -again, Peter sprang upon the table, scrambled into the highest of the -bunks on this side, and came to the far-end wall. The wall did not -meet the roof; it was a bulkhead partition dividing off the room from -the remainder of the bows. Peter thrust his arm in over the top, and -could feel, there beyond, a solid bale on a level with the bunk. He -wriggled in over, landed cautiously, explored with hands and feet, in -the darkness――and stretched out in a space that had been left between -the ballast of extra supplies and the deck above. Good! - -That warm August night the “’Nited States” men of Captains Lewis and -Clark slept on the sand, in the open air, by the river; and in the -tent of the captains slept Chief Little Thief. But Patrick Gass, when -relieved from guard duty, slept in the forecastle, near Peter――that -being, as he yawned, “more convanient.” - - - - -III - -PETER MEETS THE CHIEFS - - -The hour was early when Pat stuck his head over the partition, and to -Peter said: “Whisht! Are ye awake, Peter?” - -“H’lo,” answered Peter. - -“I’ll fetch ye a bite to eat, an’ wather to drink,” said Patrick. “An’ -ye best lie hid till we start, when the Injuns go. ’Twon’t be long.” - -“Aw-right,” answered Peter. - -Patrick passed in to him some dried meat and a canteen of water. After -that the day seemed to move very slowly. Here on the boat all was -quiet, particularly in Peter’s end. However, outside on the shore there -was a constant sound of voices, from the ’Nited States camp. - -The sun rose high, as betokened by the close warmth where Peter lay -hidden. He felt as though he must get out and see what was going on. So -he peered over the top of the partition, to find whether the forecastle -was empty. It was. He slipped down into it, and stealing through and -worming flat across the deck, peeped through a crack in the gunwale. - -Little Thief and his Otoes and Missouris had not yet gone. They were -holding another council with the ’Nited States. More talk! The ’Nited -States chiefs and warriors were sitting, and the Otoes and Missouris -were sitting, all forming a great circle. - -One after another the Otoes and the Missouris arose and talked, and the -white chiefs replied; but of all this talk Peter understood little. -After a time he grew tired; the sun was hot, and he went back into his -nook. He still had meat and water enough. - -It was much later when he awakened, to hear people in the room beyond -his partition. There were white men’s voices――one voice sounded like -that of his other friend, George Shannon. And there were groans. -Soon the white men left――all except the man who groaned. He stayed. -Evidently one of the white men was sick, and had been put into a bed. - -Dusk was falling, and Peter thought that he might venture out and -stretch his legs. The sounds from the sick man had ceased; maybe -he slept. Peter peered over. Everything was quiet; and forth he -slipped――only to discover that in the open door was sitting, amidst the -dusk, a watcher. It was the United States warrior, George Shannon. He -saw Peter, poised about to leap down, and smiled and beckoned. Peter -lightly went to him. - -George Shannon looked worn and anxious. - -“Are you all right, Peter?” - -“Yes. Aw-right.” - -“A soldier――very sick,” said George, and pointed to a bunk. - -“What name?” asked Peter. - -“Charles Floyd. He danced and got hot. Lay down on the sand all night -and got cold. Now very sick.” - -“Huh,” grunted Peter. “Mebbe get well?” - -“I don’t know,” said George, soberly. - -That was too bad. Why didn’t they call in the black medicine-man? - -Except for George and the sick Charles Floyd, the boat was deserted; -for on the shore another dance and feast were in progress. Chief Little -Thief and his Indians were staying, and the ’Nited States appeared to -be bent upon giving them a good time. - -All that night the sick Charles Floyd moaned at intervals, in the bunk; -and George Shannon and Patrick Gass and others kept watch over him; -while Peter, on the other side of the partition, listened or slept. -Toward morning, when Peter next woke up, he had been aroused by tramp -of feet over his head, and splash of water against the boat, and orders -shouted, and a movement of the boat itself. - -They were starting, and he was starting with them! Hoorah! Now he was -not hungry or thirsty or tired; he was excited. - -Yes, the boat was moving. He could hear the plashing of oars, and the -creak as the sail was raised. And in a few minutes more the boat leaned -and swerved and tugged, and the river rippled under its bow. - -Peter waited as long as he possibly could stand it to wait. Patrick -Gass had said for him to lie hidden until Chief Little Thief had left, -and the boat had started. Very well. - -All was silent in the room beyond. He peered, and could see nobody. -Over the partition he once more squirmed, into the top-most bunk; and -feeling with his toes let himself down. The door was shut, but it had a -window in it that he might look out of; and if anybody opened, he would -dive under the table or under a bunk, until he saw who it was. - -The sick man in the bottom bunk opposite suddenly exclaimed. He was -awake and watching. - -“Who are you?” he challenged weakly. - -With his feet on the floor, Peter paused, to stare. He saw a pale, -clammy countenance gazing at him from the blanket coverings――and at -that instant the door opened, and before Peter might so much as stir, -the chief with the red hair entered. Peter was fairly caught. He drew -breath sharply, and resolved not to show fear. - -The chief with the red hair was all in buckskin, and wore moccasins on -his feet, and on his head a round hat with the brim looped up in front. -His face was without hair and was very tanned, so that it was reddish -brown instead of white, and his two eyes were clear, keen gray. His -hair was bound behind in a long bag of thin skin. He had rather a large -nose, and a round chin; and was heavy. - -“Well!” he uttered. He glanced swiftly from Peter to the sick man’s -bunk, and back again to Peter. “What’s this?” - -“He stole down from above, Captain,” said the sick man. - -“How are you, Sergeant? Any better?” - -“No, sir. I’m awful weak, sir.” - -“Much pain?” - -“Yes, sir. I’ve been suffering terribly.” - -“I’m sorry, my man. We’ll do all we can for you.” Now the chief spoke -to Peter. “Who are you? How’d you come here?” His voice was stern and -quick. - -“I hide,” said Peter. - -“Where?” - -Peter pointed. - -“Who brought you here?” - -“I come. Night. Swim down river. Hide.” For Peter had no notion of -telling on Patrick Gass and George Shannon. - -“Humph! You did!” And the chief with the red hair grunted. “Ran away, -eh? Who was your chief?” - -“We-ah-rush-hah. First Osage, then Oto, but me white.” - -“Where’s your mother?” - -Peter shook his head. - -“Where’s your father?” - -Peter shook his head. - -“Here’s a pretty pickle,” muttered the chief with the red hair――and -Peter wondered what he meant. “Well, you come along with me.” And he -added, to the sick man, “I’ll be back directly, Charley; as soon as -I’ve turned this stow-away over. Do you want anything?” - -“No, sir. I’m sleepy. Maybe I’ll sleep,” and the sick man’s voice -trailed off into a murmur. - -“Come here,” bade the red-haired chief to Peter, beckoning with his -finger. And Peter followed Captain William Clark, of the United States -Artillery, and second in command of this Captains Lewis and Clark -government exploring expedition up the Missouri River, through the -doorway, into the sunshine and the open of the great barge’s deck. - -Captain Clark led straight for the stern, but on the way Peter, keeping -close behind him, with his quick eyes saw many things. The white -warriors, in buckskins or in cloth, were busy here and there, mending -clothes and tools and weapons and assorting goods, or viewing the river -banks――and all paused to gaze at him. The big sail was pulling lustily, -from its mast. At the stern two warriors were steering. In the barge’s -wake were sailing the two smaller barges, the red one and the white -one. They followed gallantly, the river rippled, the banks were flowing -past. Nothing was to be seen moving on the banks, and the site of the -Omaha village, and the sand sprit where the council with Little Thief -had been held, were gone. Good! - -Before the cabin in the stern of the barge were standing the slim, -yellow-haired chief and Patrick Gass, and they were watching Peter -coming. The slim chief was dressed in his blue clothes and his odd -hat, and wore his long knife by his side. His hair hung in a tail. -Patrick Gass was dressed as always. His eyes twinkled at Peter, as if -to say: “Now, what are you going to do?” - -Peter knew what he was going to do. He was going to stay with the -’Nited States. - -But the slim chief’s face betrayed no sign. He simply waited. For this -Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the First United States Infantry, the -leader of the exploring expedition sent out by President Jefferson and -Congress, was not much given to smiles, and was strong on discipline. A -thorough young soldier, he, who felt the heavy responsibility of taking -the expedition safely through, with the help of Captain Clark. - -“Here’s what I’ve found, Merne,” announced Captain Clark, with half a -laugh. - -“Who is he, Will?” Captain Lewis’s query was quick, and his brows -knitted a trifle. - -“He says he’s white. I found him in the forec’sle when I went in to see -about Floyd.” - -“How is Floyd?” - -“No better.” - -“How’d that boy get there?” - -“Ran away from the Otoes, he says, and hid himself in the bows beyond -the bulkhead. Like as not he’s been there a day or two.” - -“What’s your name?” demanded the Long Knife Chief, of Peter. - -“Peter.” - -“What else?” - -“Peter――Kerr.” - -“Where did you live?” - -“Oto. No like Oto. No like Indian. White boy.” - -“Hah! Did the Otoes steal you?” - -“Osage. Oto buy me.” - -“Where did the Osage get you?” - -“Do――not――know,” said Peter, slowly, trying to speak the right words. -“Kill――father. Take mother. She die. Long time ago. Me――I white.” - -“Sure, Captain, didn’t we hear down St. Louis way of a family by the -same name o’ Kerr bein’ wiped out by the Injuns some years back,” spoke -Patrick Gass, saluting. “’Twas up country a bit, though I disremember -where, sorr.” - -“Yes, but there was no boy.” - -“There was a bit of a baby, seems to me like, sorr,” alleged Sergeant -Gass. “An’ the woman was carried off, sorr.” - -Captain Lewis shrugged his shoulders impatiently. - -“Very well, Pat. You go forward and you and Shannon see if you can -do anything for Floyd. Don’t let him move much. He’s liable to be -restless.” - -“Yes, sorr.” Patrick Gass saluted but lingered a moment. “If I might be -so bold, sorr――――” - -“What is it?” - -“Seein’ as how the boy’s Irish――――” - -“Irish! He’s as black as an Indian!” - -“Yes, sorr. But the eyes an’ hair of him, sorr. An’ sure he has an -Irish name. An’ I was thinkin’, beggin’ your pardon, sorr, if you -decided to kape him a spell, Shannon an’ me’d look after him for ye, -sorr. We Irish are all cousins, ye know, sorr.” - -Young Captain Lewis’s mouth twitched; he shot a glance at Captain -Clark, who smiled back. - -“Does that sound to you like an Irish name, Captain? More like good old -English, to me!” - -“I was thinkin’ again, sorr,” pursued Pat, “that more like it’s -_O_’Kerr.” - -“That will do, Gass. Go forward and find Shannon, and the two of -you tend to Floyd.” Patrick saluted and trudged away. Captain Lewis -continued, to Captain Clark: “There’s something back of this, Will. -Gass is too willing. I’ll wager he and Shannon know more than we do.” - -“Oh, it’s the Irish in him, Merne. Do you think they smuggled the lad -aboard?” - -“If they did――――who brought you on this boat?” demanded the Long Knife -Chief of Peter. - -Peter shrugged _his_ shoulders. - -“I come,” he said. - -“Why?” - -“Go with ’Nited States. Up big river.” - -“Who taught you to speak English?” - -“My――mother,” stammered Peter. “No English; ’Merican; Ken-tuck-y.” - -“Kentuckian!” blurted Captain Clark. “He is white, sure enough. That -comes pretty close to home-folks, Merne. I know some Kerrs there, -myself.” - -“But the question is, what are we to do with him?” reminded Captain -Lewis, sharply. “We can’t cumber ourselves with useless baggage, and we -can’t start out by stealing children from the Indians.” - -“No; and yet it sort of goes against the grain to let the Indians keep -any children they’ve stolen,” argued Captain Clark. - -“Yes, I agree with you there, Will,” answered Captain Lewis. “But the -President instructed us to make friends with all the tribes. We could -have shown the Otoes they were wrong, and could have offered to buy the -boy or have made them promise to send him to St. Louis if we couldn’t -send him ourselves. This looks like bad faith.” - -“Shall we stop and put him ashore, Merne?” - -“If we put you ashore will you go back to We-ah-rush-hah?” queried the -Long Knife Chief, of Peter. - -Peter had not comprehended all that had been said, but he had listened -anxiously――and now he did understand that they were talking of putting -him off. - -“No!” he exclaimed. “No go back to We-ah-rush-hah. ’Maha catch me; -Sioux catch me; Oto whip me. No Indian; white.” And he added: “I follow -boat.” - -“If you give the order, Merne, we’ll stop and send him back with an -escort,” teased Captain Clark, who knew very well that Captain Lewis -would do no such thing. “And we’ll tell the Otoes to forward him on -down to St. Louis. You think they’d do it, do you?” - -Captain Lewis tapped uneasily with his foot. - -“Oh, pshaw, Will,” he said. “We can’t stop and waste this fine breeze, -even to send back a boy. When we land for dinner will be the proper -time. We may meet some traders, bound down, and he can be started back -with them, to St. Louis. Meanwhile Gass and Shannon must take care of -him.” - -“He can be sent down river with the first party that take back the -dispatches,” proffered Captain Clark. - -Patrick Gass came clumping up the deck and again saluted. - -“Sergeant Floyd wishes might he speak with Cap’n Clark, sorrs.” - -“How is he, Pat?” - -“Turrible weak, sorr, but the pain be not so bad.” - -“Go ahead, Will,” bade Captain Lewis. “You enlisted him. He knows you -better. If I can do anything, call me.” - -The Red Hair Chief hastened away. The Long Knife Chief spoke to Patrick -Gass. - -“You’ll take charge of Peter until we send him back, Patrick. Draw on -the commissary for such clothes as he needs. We can’t have him running -around naked, this way, if he’s white.” - -“Yis, sorr,” replied Patrick Gass. “Come, Peter, lad; come with your -cousin Pat, an’ we’ll make your outside as white as your inside.” - -Peter gladly obeyed. He was rather afraid of the handsome young Long -Knife Chief, but he was not afraid of Patrick Gass――no, nor of the Red -Hair. - -When dressed in the clothes that Patrick found for him, Peter was a -funny sight. There was a red flannel shirt――to Peter very beautiful, -but twice enough for him, so that the sleeves were rolled to their -elbows, and the neck dropped about his shoulders. And there was a pair -of blue trousers, also twice enough for him, so that the legs were -rolled to their knees, and the waist was drawn up about his chest, and -the front doubled across where it was belted in. - -“Niver you mind,” quoth Patrick, while the ’Nited States men gazed on -Peter and howled with merriment. “Sure, I’m a bit of a tailor an’ if -we can’t fit you with cloth we’ll fit you with leather. Let ’em laugh. -Laughin’s good for the stomick.” - -And Peter did not mind. These were white people’s clothes, and he was -proud to wear them, although they did seem queer. - -The sun had passed the overhead. At some orders the barge was swung in -for shore; the two smaller boats followed. Now would he be sent back, -or left; or――what? Landing was made on the right-hand side, which was -the country of the Iowas and of the Sioux: not a good place, Peter -reflected, for _him_. But scarcely had the barge tied up, and Peter’s -heart was beating with anxiety, when Captain Clark hastily emerged from -the forecastle; another soldier trod close behind. - -Captain Clark went to Captain Lewis; the soldier proceeded slowly, -speaking to comrades. He arrived where Patrick was keeping friendly -guard over Peter. - -“Charley’s gone,” he said, simply, his face clouded, his voice broken. - -“Rest his soul in pace,” answered Patrick. “Sure, I’m sorry, Nat. Did -he say anything?” - -“He knew. He asked the Captain to write a letter for him, to the folks -at home. After that he went to sleep and did not wake again, here.” - -“Faith, he gave his life for his country,” asserted Patrick. - -So the sick man had died. This much Peter easily guessed. It turned -dinner into a very quiet affair. Nothing more was said of leaving Peter -ashore, nor of sending him back; but as soon as the dinner was finished -the boats all pushed out and headed up river, along a bank surmounted -by rolling bluffs. - -After about a mile by sail and oars, everybody landed; and the body of -Sergeant Charles Floyd, United States Army, the first of the expedition -to fall, was buried on the top of a bluff. Captain Clark read some -words out of a book, over the grave; and upon the grave was set a cedar -post with the name, Sergt. C. Floyd, and the date, Aug. 20, 1804, -carved into it. Then three volleys from the rifles were fired. - -The boats proceeded on for a camping-place, which was found about a -mile up, on the right-hand or north side, near the mouth of a little -river. The bluff of the grave was referred to as Floyd’s Bluff, and -the little river was called Floyd’s River. - -All the men, including Peter, felt sorry for Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor. -Floyd had been his cousin. They felt sorry for those other relatives -and friends, back at the Floyd home in Kentucky. - -Fifty years later, or in 1857, the grave of the sergeant was moved a -few hundred feet, by the Sioux City, Iowa, people, so that it should -not crumble into the Missouri River; and in 1895 a monument was placed -over it. To-day Floyd’s Bluff is part of a Sioux City park. - -The camp this evening was only thirteen miles above the Omaha village -and the place where Chief Little Thief had come in to council, so that -Peter very easily might have been sent back. But the death of Sergeant -Charles Floyd seemed to be occupying the thoughts of the two captains; -it made the whole camp sober. To-night there was no dancing or music, -and Peter slept aboard the barge with nobody paying especial attention -to him. Of this he was glad, because he feared that, once ashore, he -would be left behind――the ’Nited States would try to sail on without -him. - - - - -IV - -TO THE LAND OF THE SIOUX - - -“Fust we have to pass the Sioux Injuns,” explained Patrick Gass, to -Peter. “Ye know the Sioux?” - -“They bad,” nodded Peter. “Fight other Injuns.” - -“Yis,” said Patrick. “But we aim to make everybody paceful with -everybody else. An’ after the Sioux, we talk with the ’Rikaras.” - -“’Rees bad, too,” nodded Peter. For the Otoes were afraid of the -northern tribes. - -“Yis,” said Patrick. “An’ after the ’Rikaras we come, I’m thinkin’, to -the Mandans, an’ by that time ’twill be winter, an’ with the Mandans -we’ll stay. I hear tell they have white skins an’ blue eyes an’ their -hair trails on the ground.” - -Sometimes sailing, sometimes rowed, and sometimes towed by heavy ropes -on which the men hauled, from the banks, the three boats had been -steadily advancing up-river. Peter was feeling quite at home. Everybody -was kind to him――especially Pat, who had been elected sergeant in place -of Charles Floyd, and young George Shannon, who was only seventeen. - -Two horses followed the boats, by land, for the use of the hunters. -George Drouillard, a Frenchman, who had lived with the Omahas, was -chief hunter. At the evening camps Pierre Cruzatte, a merry Frenchman -with only one eye, and a soldier by the name of George Gibson, played -lively music on stringed boxes called violins. Each night the two -captains, and Pat and other soldiers, wrote on paper the story of -the trip. York, the black man, was Captain Clark’s servant. Early in -the morning a horn was blown to arouse the camp. During the days the -captains frequently went ashore, to explore. - -It was well, thought Peter, that Pierre Dorion, a trader who lived with -the Sioux, was aboard the boats, for the fierce Sioux Indians did not -like strangers. Still, who could whip the United States? - -In the afternoon of the eighth day after leaving Chief Little Thief, -old Pierre, from where he was standing with the two captains on the -barge and gazing right and left and before, cried aloud and pointed. - -“Dere she is!” - -“What, Dorion?” - -“De Jacques, w’at is also call de Yankton River; my people de Yankton -Sioux lif on her. Mebbe soon now we see some.” - -The barge, flying its white peace flag, bordered with red and blue, -ploughed on. All eyes aboard were directed intently before. The mouth -of the river gradually opened, amidst the trees. - -“We’ll halt there for dinner,” ordered Captain Lewis. “That looks like -a good landing-place just above the mouth, Will.” - -Captain Clark nodded, and the barge began to veer in; the two pirogues -or smaller boats imitated. - -“I see one Injun,” said Peter. “You see him, Pat?” - -“Where, now?” invited Patrick Gass. - -“He is standing still; watch us, this side of Yankton River.” - -“Faith, you’ve sharp eyes,” praised Pat, squinting. “Yis, sure I see -him, by the big tree just above the mouth.” - -Others saw him. And as the barge hove to, and led by Captain Clark the -men leaped for the shore, to cook dinner, the Indian plunged into the -water and swam across. - -“’Maha!” quoth Peter, quickly, when, dripping, the Indian had plashed -out and was boldly entering the camp. - -“Oh, is he, now?” murmured Patrick Gass. - -Pierre Dorion translated for him, to the captains. He said that he was -an Omaha boy, living with the Sioux. While he was talking, two other -Indians came in. They indeed were Sioux――straight, dark, and dignified, -as befitted members of a great and powerful nation. - -“Dey say de Yanktons, many of dem, are camp’ to de west, one short -travel,” interpreted Dorion. “Dey haf hear of our comin’, an’ will be -please’ to meet de white chiefs.” - -“All right, Dorion. You go to the camp with these fellows, and tell the -chiefs that we’ll hold council at the river. I’ll send Sergeant Pryor -and another man along with you,” instructed Captain Lewis. “You’ll -find us again about opposite where their camp is.” - -“Good,” approved Pierre Dorion. “Now mebbe I get my wife an’ fam’ly one -time more. My son, he dere, too, say dese young men.” For Pierre had -married a Sioux woman. - -The two Sioux, and Pierre, and Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor and Private -John Potts left on foot for the camp of the Yanktons; but the Omaha boy -stayed. Peter preferred to keep away from him. The Omahas, to him, were -not to be trusted. - -From the mouth of the Yankton River, which is to-day called the James -River of South Dakota, the boats continued on up the Missouri, to the -council ground. The red pirogue ran upon a snag, so that it almost sank -before it could be beached. Then all the goods had to be transferred to -the white pirogue. This took time, and it was not until nearly sunset -that Captain Lewis ordered landing to be made and camp pitched. - -The camp of the Sioux was supposed to be somewhere across the river. In -the morning no Sioux had yet appeared for council, and Captain Lewis -anxiously swept the country to the north with his spy-glass. However, -Indians could not be hurried, as Peter well knew. But about four -o’clock there spread a murmur. - -“Here they come!” - -“De Sioux! Dey come. Now for beeg talk an’ beeg dance! Hoo-zah!” - -“Oui!” added George Drouillard, the hunter. “Mebbe fat dog feast, too!” - -“Oh, murther!” gasped Pat. And, to Peter: “Did ye ever eat dog, Peter?” - -Peter shook his head, disgusted. Not he; nor the Otoes, either. Only -the northern Indians ate dog. - -“There’s a t’arin’ lot of ’em, anyhow,” mused Patrick Gass. “I’m after -wishin’ George was here. Sure, he’s like to get into trouble, wanderin’ -about the country where all those fellows are.” - -For two days back George Shannon had been sent out to find the horses -that had strayed from camp, and he had not returned. - -The Sioux made a brave sight indeed. They looked to be almost a -hundred――ahorse and afoot, with gay streamers and blankets flying. -Pierre Dorion and Sergeant Pryor and Private Potts were to be seen, -mounted and riding with the principal chiefs in the advance. So -evidently everything was all right. - -They halted on the bank opposite the United States camp. Sergeant Pryor -waved his hat, and the captains sent the red pirogue across for him. -He and Pierre and Private Potts returned in it. They brought with them -young Pierre, who was old Pierre’s son. He was half Sioux, and traded -among the Tetons; but just now he was visiting among the Yanktons. - -“They are friendly, are they, Sergeant?” inquired Captain Lewis. - -“Yes, sir. They treated us very handsomely, and the head chief is -yonder, waiting to talk with you,” informed Sergeant Pryor. - -“Very good. You and young Dorion go back to them――we’d better send -along some presents, hadn’t we, Will?――and tell the chiefs that we’ll -speak with them in the morning. ’Twon’t do to let them think we’re in -any more of a hurry than they are.” - -“Yes, sir,” answered Sergeant Pryor. - -He took over presents of corn and tobacco and iron kettles, with young -Pierre to do the translating for him, and returned. Both camps settled -down for the night. - -“Did yez have a rale good time with the Sioux, Nat?” queried Patrick -Gass, that night around the fire, after a hearty supper on cat-fish. -During the day a number of huge cat-fish had been caught, some of them -weighing sixty pounds. Now all the men were curious to hear more from -Nat Pryor and John Potts. - -“Tremendous,” declared Nat. “They wanted to carry us into camp in a -blanket, but we told ’em we were not chiefs. They could wait and carry -the captains. They gave us a fat dog, though, boiled in a pot――and I -swear he was good eating.” - -“None for me, thank ye,” retorted Sergeant Pat. “An’ how far is their -camp, an’ what kind is it?” - -“It’s about nine miles back, near the Jacques. All fine buffalo hide -lodges――some elk hide, too――painted different colors. Fact is, they’re -about the best Indians we’ve met yet.” - -“Ye didn’t learn anything of Shannon or the horses, then?” - -“Not a word. But I think he’ll be safe if only the Sioux find him.” - -The next day dawned so foggy that nobody could see across the river. -The captains made preparations for the grand council. A pole was set -up, near to a large oak tree, and a new flag hoisted to the top of it. -The flag was striped red and white; in a corner was a blue square, like -the sky, studded with stars. ’Twas the great flag of the United States -nation――and Peter thought it beautiful. - -The two captains dressed in their best. Captain Lewis wore a long coat -of dark blue trimmed with light blue, down its front bright brass -buttons, and on its shoulders bright gold-fringed epaulets. Captain -Clark’s coat was dark blue faced with red; it, too, had the brass -buttons and the bright epaulets. Both wore their cocked hats, and their -long knives, or swords. - -The men also were ordered to put on their best, and to clean up even if -they had no “best.” Presents were laid out. By the time the fog lifted, -at eight o’clock, the camp was ready. - -Now it could be seen that over in the Sioux camp, also, the chiefs and -warriors were preparing. - -“They’re painting and polishing, Merne,” remarked Captain Clark, who -had levelled the spy-glass, to peer. - -That was so. Peter needed no spy-glass. He could make out figures of -the chiefs and warriors sitting and plaiting their hair and painting -their faces and chests and arms. - -The two captains waited until nearly noon. Then the red pirogue was -dispatched, under Sergeant Pryor, accompanied by old Pierre, to bring -the chiefs and warriors. The white pirogue was loaded with goods, but -the red pirogue had been emptied for repairs. Even then the Sioux so -crowded it that it scarcely could be rowed. A number of the young Sioux -waded into the river and swam across. - -Now there were more Sioux than white men in the United States camp. -But they were armed mainly with bows and arrows, while the United -States were armed with rifles; and Peter’s sharp eyes observed that the -cannon in the bow of the barge was pointed right at the camp, ready for -business. - -Broad-chested and sinewy were these Yankton Sioux, and evidently great -warriors. What struck Peter and the soldiers, especially, were the -necklaces of claws stitched in bands of buckskin or red flannel, and -hanging low on those broad chests. Many warriors wore them. - -“D’you mean to say those are b’ar claws!” exclaimed John Shields, one -of the Kentuckians. - -“Oui, my frien’,” assured Drouillard, the hunter. “Dey claw of great -white bear――so we call heem. Beeg! More beeg dan one ox. An’ ’fraid? He -not ’fraid of notting. To keel one white bear make Injun beeg warrior.” - -“And where do those critters live, then?” queried John. - -“Up river. We meet ’em pret’ queeck, now. Sometime w’en we land――woof! -Dere coom one beast――beeg as one ox――mouth he open; an’ mebbe eat us, -if brush so t’ick we not see heem soon ’nough.” - -The listening Kentuckians and other soldiers scratched their heads, as -if a little doubtful. - -“Faith,” said Patrick Gass, “some o’ them claws are six inches long, -boys. ’Tis a country o’ monsters that we’re goin’ into.” - -A group of the Sioux had been staring at black York, who, larger than -any of them, was gaping back. Suddenly one stepped to him, wet his -finger and swiftly drew it down York’s cheek; then looked to see if the -black had come off. - -“Hey, you man!” growled York. “Wha’ foh you done do dat?” - -Another Sioux deftly snatched off York’s hat, and clutched the -black curly wool underneath; but it would not come off, either. -Much impressed, the circle widened respectfully, and Sioux murmured -gutturally to Sioux. - -“That’s all right, York,” warned Captain Clark, who had noted; for his -own red hair had been attracting much attention. “They say you’re great -medicine.” - -“Oui; he black buffalo,” affirmed young Dorion. - -After that York strutted importantly, alarmed the Indians by making -fierce faces, and was followed about by a constant admiring procession. - -The council was held at noon, under the great oak tree beside which -floated the United States flag. The chiefs and the leading warriors sat -in a half circle; the two captains sat facing them, Pierre Dorion stood -before them as interpreter; and the soldiers and French boatmen sat -behind in another half circle. - -Captain Lewis made a welcoming speech――and a fine figure he was, -standing straight and slim, in his tight-fitting, decorated coat, his -cocked hat with black feather, his sword at his side. - -“The land has changed white fathers,” he said. “The great nation of -the Sioux, and all the other Indians, have a new white father, at -Washington. That is his flag, the flag of the United States nation, -which has bought this country. The new father has sent us, who are his -children, to tell his red children that he wants them to be at peace -with one another. I have given flags and peace gifts to the Otoes and -the Missouris, and have sent word to the Osages and the Omahas and the -Pawnees and the Kickapoos and other Indians, that there must be no more -wars among the red children. I will give you a flag and gifts, too, so -that you will remember what I say.” - -Then the gifts were distributed. To the head chief, Weucha, or Shake -Hand, a flag, and a first-grade silver medal, and a paper that -certified the United States recognized him as the head chief, and -a string of beads and shells, and a “chief’s coat,” which was a -red-trimmed artillery dress-coat like Captain Clark’s, and a cocked hat -with red feather in it. Weucha was immensely pleased; he put on the -coat and hat at once. - -The four other chiefs also were given gifts. Chief Weucha produced -a long peace-pipe of red stone, with reed stem; it was lighted, he -puffed, Captain Lewis and Captain Clark puffed; the four lesser chiefs -puffed. After that the chiefs solemnly shook hands with the captains, -and withdrew into a lean-to of branches, to consult on what they should -reply to-morrow. - -The Sioux stayed at the camp during the afternoon. The captains gave -them a dressed deer-hide and an empty keg, for a dance drum. The -deer-hide was stretched taut over the head of the keg; and that night, -by the light of the fires, the Sioux thumped on the drum and shook -their rattles, and danced. One-eyed Cruzatte and George Gibson played -on their violins, and the United States warriors danced. But the Sioux -kept it up almost all night, and nobody got much sleep. - -In the morning after breakfast Weucha and his three sub-chiefs sat -before the oak tree; each held a peace pipe in front of him, with the -stem pointing at the spot where the captains were to sit. The names of -the other chiefs were White Crane, Struck-by-the-Pawnee, and Half Man. - -“He ver’ modes’,” explained One-eyed Cruzatte. “He say ‘I am no -warrior, I only half a man.’” - -Weucha spoke first, standing clad in his artillery coat and cocked -hat. He said that the Yanktons were willing to be at peace, but were -very poor. - -White Crane, and Struck-by-the-Pawnee and Half Man likewise spoke. They -agreed with what Shake Hand had said. They wanted powder and ball, and, -their great father’s “milk”――which was whisky. - -That evening the Sioux went back, across the river, well satisfied. -Pierre Dorion and young Pierre went with them. Old Pierre promised that -in the spring he would take some of the chiefs to Washington, that they -might meet their new father. - -Just as the Yanktons were leaving, Captain Lewis beckoned Peter to him. - -“You had better go with Pierre. He will take you down river in the -spring, if not before.” - -“No, please,” objected Peter. “I rather stay.” - -“But we’re going clear to the Pacific Ocean, my boy,” spoke Captain -Clark. “It will be a hard trip.” - -“I will go, too,” declared Peter. “Do not want to stay with Sioux. I am -white.” - -“What will you do, along with us, Peter?” - -“I work. I can talk sign language,” answered Peter, proudly. - -“There’s something in that, Merne,” laughed Captain Clark. “Now with -Dorion gone we’ll need an interpreter to help Drouillard. I fancy Peter -knows almost as much as he does.” - -“You’ve got a kind heart, Will,” replied Captain Lewis, his eyes -softening. “But game’s plenty; we’ll have meat enough――and that’s the -main question. All right, Peter. You can come as far as the Mandan -village, anyway. And in the spring we’ll see.” - -Whereupon Peter resolved that he would make himself useful, so that -they would take him clear to the Pacific Ocean, which lay, according to -Patrick Gass and the other men, many, many days’ travel, far beyond the -western mountains. - - - - -V - -BAD HEARTS - - -Work, work, work! Through this the month of September, 1804, the boats -had been toiling on up the sluggish Missouri River, in the present -State of South Dakota. With the rains, the winds, and the shallows, -everybody, even the captains, was wet all the day, from hauling on the -tow-ropes, in and out of the water. - -The weather turned cold and raw. Shelters of deer hides were stretched -over the two pirogues, and in the camps the men made themselves hide -coats and leggins and moccasins. Patrick and old Cruzatte together -fitted Peter with a buckskin suit that felt much better to him than his -other, clumsy garments. - -After having been gone over two weeks, George Shannon appeared at last, -riding through the rain, with only one horse. He had been lost, and had -almost starved, and the other horse had broken down. All were glad to -see George again. - -But where, now, were the Teton Sioux? George reported that he had seen -none. - -The last week in September a great smoke was sighted in the distance; -and that night three Indian boys swam the river, to enter the camp. -They were Tetons, from two villages a few miles above. - -“Give them some tobacco,” directed Captain Lewis. “Tell them to say to -their chiefs that we will hold a council to-morrow morning, near the -villages.” - -On the way up, Reuben Fields, who had been hunting, horseback, returned -afoot and signalled to be taken aboard. He said that some Indians had -stolen his horse while he was dressing an elk. - -“Oui,” chirped Drouillard. “Dose Tetons haf bad hearts. We best look -sharp or dey take scalps, too.” - -“We mustn’t let them have the idea they can plunder us,” spoke Captain -Lewis, reddening. “This leaves us without horses.” - -“Aren’t those several Indians, on the bank ahead?” presently queried -Captain Clark. - -Captain Lewis peered through his spy-glass. - -“Five of them. We’ll stop and hail them, and hear what they have to -say.” - -“Do you think they’re the fellows who stole your horse, Fields?” asked -Captain Clark. - -“I can’t tell, sir,” answered Reuben. “I had only a glimpse of the -thieves, and these Injuns mainly look alike, sir, till you get to know -’em.” - -The five Indians on the bank stolidly waited, while the barge hove to, -opposite. - -“Are they Tetons, Drouillard?” inquired Captain Lewis. - -“Oui,” nodded Drouillard. “Dey Tetons. Eh, Cruzatte?” - -“Mais, oui,” confirmed One-eyed Cruzatte. “Beeg rascals.” - -“All right. Tell them that some of their young men have stolen a horse -from their great father at Washington, and we want it returned or we -will hold no council. We’re willing to be friends, but we aren’t afraid -of them.” - -“I do not know much of dees Sioux tongue, but I will try,” engaged -Drouillard. And by signs and a few words he delivered the message. - -The Indians consulted a moment together; then one of them replied. - -“I t’ink dey say dey haf not seen a hoss,” translated Drouillard. “But -if it is found it will be return’.” - -“I t’ink so, too,” added the funny Cruzatte――although everybody was -aware that he did not understand a word of Sioux. - -However, by the signs that were made, Peter would have interpreted -the same as Drouillard. He and the Oto boys had practiced for hours, -talking sign language. - -The boats stopped for the night off the mouth of a river on the left -or the south. This night only a few men were allowed ashore, to guard -the cook fires; the remainder slept aboard the boats, with their guns -ready. The captains named the river Teton River, but it was soon -renamed Bad River, for very good reason. - -In the morning everybody, except the boat guards, landed. The -captains ordered the United States flag hoisted, again, on a pole, -and the awning was stretched, as at the camp where the Otoes had been -entertained. All the soldiers ashore were formed in rank, under arms, -facing the flag-pole and the canopy; and soon the Tetons came in to -council, from their village two miles up-river. - -There were about sixty of them. They were not nearly so good-looking as -the Yanktons, being smaller, with slim crooked legs and lean arms, and -eyes set over high cheek-bones. - -The council did not pass off very satisfactorily, because Drouillard -knew little Teton talk, and scarcely could make himself understood when -he talked for Captain Lewis. Still, the head chief, Black Buffalo, -was given a medal, and a United States flag, and a red coat decorated -with white lace, and a cocked hat with red feather. The second chief, -Tor-to-hon-ga or Partisan, and the third chief, Buffalo Medicine, were -given medals and beads and tobacco. Two warriors, Wah-zing-go, and -Mat-o-co-que-pa or Second Bear, also were rewarded. - -“What do you suppose those raven scalps signify?” asked George Shannon. -For the two warriors wore each two or three raven skins fastened to -their waists behind, with the tails sticking out, and on their heads -was another raven skin, flattened with the beak to the fore. - -“Dey special soldier,” explained old Cruzatte. “W’at you call――marshal. -Oui. Dey boss. Obey nobody but chief.” - -Then the captains took them all aboard the barge to show them the -cannon and the air-gun that shot forty times, and other wonders. -Captain Clark brought them ashore again in the red pirogue. - -No sooner had the cable been carried on shore, to be held by Patrick -Gass and Reuben Fields and George Shannon while the load was landed, -and Captain Clark had stepped out, than three of the Indians grabbed -it, and Wah-zing-go, the warrior, put his arms about the mast, as if to -keep the boat there. Tor-to-hon-ga began to talk in a loud and angry -voice. Captain Clark flushed. - -“What does he say, Peter?” he appealed. For Drouillard was on the -barge, and only Peter was near. When the five men had started to row -the pirogue ashore, with the chiefs and Captain Clark, he had slipped -in, too. - -“The chief say you cannot go away till you give them more presents,” -translated Peter, boldly; for he had picked up some Sioux words and he -could read the gestures, also. - -“What!” And Captain Clark was angry indeed. He had only five men, two -in the boat and three ashore, but he was not afraid. “You tell him we -will go on, and he can’t stop us. We are not squaws, but warriors. Our -great father has medicine on those boats that will wipe out twenty -Sioux nations.” - -“The chief says he has plenty warriors, too,” interpreted Peter. - -And at that moment the chief sprang for Captain Clark; the warriors -spread right and left, jerked arrows from quivers and fitted them to -strung bows. Out whipped Captain Clark’s bright sword――the long knife; -and Chief Tor-to-hon-ga dodged. Captain Clark’s face was redder than -his hair. He acted like a great chief. - -“Watch out, Sergeant!” he cried, to Patrick Gass. “Rally on the boat; -never mind the rope. Face them and stand together, men!” - -Captain Lewis’s voice rang high and stern, from the barge. Out of the -white pirogue a dozen men plashed into the shallows and wading and -plunging, hastened to reinforce the red pirogue. Corporal Warfington -and the six St. Louis soldiers who had been sent along to help as far -as the Mandans were with them. - -“Steady!” warned Captain Lewis. “Look sharp, Will.” And now the black -muzzle of the cannon in the bows of the barge swung full at the shore. -Behind it stood Gunner Alexander Willard, with lighted match. - -This was enough. Head Chief Black Buffalo shouted an order, and his men -left the cable and the pirogue and fell back. The “medicine” of the -great father at Washington was, they realized, strong medicine. - -To show that he was not afraid, and that he wished to be friendly, -Captain Clark offered to shake hands with Black Buffalo and Partisan; -but they surlily refused. So the captain laughed, and ordered the red -pirogue to return to the barge. Then Black Buffalo and Partisan, and -the warriors Wah-zing-go and Second Bear ran after, through the water, -and climbed aboard, to go on the barge also. - -“Rather a close shave, Will,” remarked Captain Lewis. “An instant more -and I’d have helped you out with a round of grape.” - -“They wished to try our metal,” smiled Captain Clark. - -“We were afraid the white chiefs would go on and not stop at our -village to show our squaws and boys the great father’s boats,” alleged -Chief Black Buffalo. - -“Tell him we are willing to be friends, and will stop,” directed -Captain Lewis. “The soldiers of the great father do not fear the Sioux.” - -“If head chief he not tell dat raven soldier to let go mast, he hang on -till cut in leetle pieces,” was saying Cruzatte. - -In the morning the boats were moved up to the village, and Captain -Lewis went ashore. Truly, the Red Head and the slim Captain Lewis were -brave men. Peter was proud to have been by Captain Clark’s side, in the -fracas. It was fine to be a United States. - -When Captain Lewis returned on board, he told Captain Clark that -everything was all right, and that the Tetons were waiting for the Red -Head. - -“You’re a bigger man than I am, Will, after the stand you made -yesterday,” he laughed. - -And it seemed to be that way, for when Captain Clark landed he was -met by ten young warriors, with a gaily decorated buffalo robe. They -carried him upon it, and then bore him, sitting in it, to the council -house. This was great honor. - -“You’re nixt, Cap’n,” ventured Patrick Gass. “There they are, back for -ye, sorr.” - -“Be alert, Sergeant,” bade the captain, as he vaulted from the barge -into the pirogue. “They may appear friendly, but we mustn’t take any -chances. Don’t let the men lay aside their arms for a minute, and keep -them together.” - -“Yis, sorr. I will, sorr,” promised Patrick Gass. He was the oldest -soldier in the company, and the captains relied upon him. - -Captain Lewis likewise was borne to the council house; and the men of -the expedition, except the boat guards, marched after. - -The council lasted a long time, and was concluded with a feast of the -dog-meat from a pot, and of buffalo meat and hominy and ground-potato. -Buffalo meat was given to the white chiefs as a present. The Tetons -claimed to be poor, but they weren’t. This was a powerful and rich -village, as anybody might see. Before the dance that had been planned -for the evening, the men were permitted to roam about a little. Peter -and Patrick Gass and their party discovered a string of scalps hanging -from a pole, and a number of Omaha squaws and children who appeared -very miserable. - -Peter talked with them a little. They were prisoners. The Tetons had -attacked their village down the river, and had burned forty lodges and -killed seventy-five warriors. - -When dusk fell the dance was started, by the light of a fire, in -the middle of the council house. The Sioux warriors danced, and the -Sioux women danced; but at midnight the captains told the chief that -everybody was tired and it was time to go to bed. - -“The chief he say: ‘Ver’ well. Now sleep. To-morrow more Sioux come, -to talk with de great father.’ He want you to stay,” interpreted -Drouillard. - -“We will stay and see these other Sioux,” answered Captain Lewis. “What -do you think, Will?” - -“If you say so, Merne,” replied Captain Clark. “But there’s some trick -in this. We mustn’t be caught off guard――and of course we mustn’t show -that we’re afraid, either.” - -But no visiting Sioux turned up, although the boats waited all day. At -night another dance was given. - -“We in bad feex,” asserted One-eyed Cruzatte. “Dose Teton, dey keep us. -I t’ink dey plan mischief. I wish we go on.” - -Everybody was nervous. - -“Now I wonder if we’re in for a fight,” spoke Corporal Warfington. - -“Sure,” said Patrick Gass, “we can lick ’em.” - -Amidst the dusk ashore, while Peter, tired of the noise and dancing, -was wandering a few steps, a low voice hailed him, in Oto. - -“Hist! You Oto?” It was one of the Omaha squaws. How could she have -guessed that he had been an Oto? - -“No. White,” responded Peter. - -“Tell your chiefs the Sioux are bad. They will not let the big boats -go. They play you a trick.” - -“I will tell,” responded Peter. “You speak Oto well.” - -“I am Omaha, but I was in Oto village once. I saw you.” And the squaw -vanished. - - - - -VI - -THE CAPTAINS SHOW THEIR SPUNK - - -Peter believed that the Omaha woman spoke the truth. The captains ought -to be told at once. But the dancing was still in progress in the lodge -of Chief Black Buffalo, where sat the two captains and the chiefs, -watching. A boy would not be admitted. So Peter sought out Sergeant -John Ordway, who was in charge of the shore guard. John Ordway was -not from Kentucky; he was from a place called New Hampshire, in the -northeast of the United States. - -“You don’t say!” replied John Ordway, when Peter had told him of the -warning from the Omaha woman. “Well, anybody might suspect as much. -I’ll get word to the captains, first chance.” - -The dancing continued until late, again. Peter curled in the bows of -the waiting pirogue, and went to sleep. He had done his duty and could -trust to John Ordway. By the stars it was midnight when he awakened at -the approach of the captains. They and two Indian guests and the guard -clambered in, and the pirogue was rowed for the barge. - -The shore was silent and dark――but how alert were those Sioux! The -pirogue ran against the anchor cable of the barge, in the darkness, and -broke it. The barge was adrift. The captains cried loudly, ordering -the oars to be manned and the barge held until a cable could be passed -ashore――and instantly the two Indians in the pirogue shouted excitedly, -in the Sioux tongue, summoning the village. - -“Here! Quick!” they called. “To the boats! Come!” - -The whole village burst into an uproar; the warriors poured forth to -the water’s edge. It was very plain that they feared the white men were -leaving. The captains could pay little attention until a cable had been -carried from the barge and fastened to a tree on the bank, and the -barge pulled in out of the current. Then―――― - -“Ask Tor-to-hon-ga what’s the meaning of all this alarm,” bade Captain -Lewis, tersely, of Drouillard. Tor-to-hon-ga was one of the two guests. - -“He say de Tetons ’fraid de ’Maha warriors haf come up an’ attack de -boats of de great white father,” interpreted Drouillard. - -“Nonsense!” muttered Captain Lewis. - -And anybody might see how foolish was this excuse of the Tetons: that -the Omahas would attack boats defended by guns, when the Sioux were the -real enemies. After the village was quiet again, at least sixty Teton -warriors remained there on the bank, all night, ready for action. - -“I t’ink,” commented Drouillard, “mebbe we have leetle trouble, in -mornin’.” - -“We’re in a bad box,” quoth Sergeant Ordway. “Now we’re tied up close -to the bank, under direct fire. We may have a hard time casting off.” - -Strong guards were kept under arms, on all the boats. There was -little sleep. Both captains were constantly about, peering through -the darkness, and listening. Early in the morning the Tetons were -assembled; and while Patrick Gass and a detail were dragging from a -pirogue, trying to find the barge’s anchor, several chiefs and warriors -waded out to the barge and climbed aboard. - -The anchor could not be found. - -“Never mind,” said Captain Lewis. “We’ll go on without it. Send those -fellows ashore, Will. Sergeant Pryor, take a squad with you and cast -off that rope.” - -The Indian visitors did not wish to go ashore, but Captain Clark -ordered them pushed into the pirogue which was to bear Sergeant Pryor -and squad. Chief Black Buffalo still refused to go. Sergeant Pryor -released the rope from the tree on the bank and returned. The sail on -the barge was being hoisted――and at the instant laughter and shouts -mingled, both ashore and from the boats. - -A number of the Sioux had sat upon the rope, holding it! - -Captain Lewis flared into hot rage. - -“Take charge of the pirogues, Will,” he ordered. “Down behind the -gunwale, men. Advance your rifles. See that the priming’s fresh, -Ordway and Gass. Stand to your swivel, Willard!” And, to Chief Black -Buffalo: “My young men are ready for battle. If your young men do not -release the rope we will fire.” - -“He say de young men want leetle more tobac’,” translated Drouillard. - -“Tell him we have given all the presents that we’re going to give,” -crisply answered Captain Lewis. “No――wait. Here!” And snatching a roll -of tobacco, Captain Lewis threw it at Black Buffalo’s feet. “Tell him -there is his tobacco, on the prairie. He says he is a great chief. -Among the white men great chiefs are obeyed. If he is a great chief let -him order his young men to release that rope and they will obey him. -But we do not believe he is a great chief. He is a squaw, and the young -men laugh at him.” - -“Wah!” grunted Chief Black Buffalo, when he heard. He seized the -tobacco and leaped from the boat, to surge for the shore. There he -tumbled his young men right and left, snatched the rope and hurled it -out into the water. - -“Go,” he bawled. Thus he proved himself to be the great chief. - -The soldiers cheered. The barge’s sail caught the breeze, the barge -moved. Just in time Captain Clark leaped from the pirogue, into which -he had transferred, and gained the gunwale, and the deck. - -“Well done, Merne,” he panted. - -“Golly!” babbled York. “Dat chief mighty brash when he get started.” - -The barge and the pirogues gained the middle of the river. Rapidly the -Teton village was left behind. Patrick Gass waved his hat derisively. - -“Bad luck to yez,” he said. “Sure, an’ if we’d stayed a minute longer -we’d ha’ put your town into mournin’. We’re not so paceful as we -look.” And he added: “The ’Rikaras nixt. We’ll hope they be gintlemen. -Annyhow, we’ve no horses left for ’em to stale.” - -Just what was to be expected from the Arikaras nobody might say, but -although they were warlike they were thought to be not so mean as the -Teton Sioux. The boats forged on, and the month changed to that of -October. - -“How far to the ’Rikara villages, sir?” asked Captain Lewis, of a -trader named Valle who came aboard the barge for a talk. - -“By river about 100 miles, captain.” - -From an excursion ashore with Captain Clark and squad, York returned -tremendously excited. - -“We done found one o’ dem white b’ars,” proclaimed York. “Yessuh, me -an’ Marse Will. Oof!” - -“Where’bouts, York?” - -“Whar’s his scalp?” - -“Did you get a shot at him?” - -Questions were volleyed thick and fast. York wagged his woolly head and -rolled his eyes. - -“Nossuh. Didn’t get no shot at him. We des seen his track, in dem -bushes yonduh near de mout’ ob de ribber. Oof! Marse Will he set his -moccasin cl’ar inside, an’ dat track it stuck out all ’round. ’Spec’ -dis chile ain’t got bus’ness wif dem critters. Oof!” - -“Yes,” agreed George Shannon. “According to Drouillard even the Indians -won’t tackle one of those white bears, except in a crowd of six or -eight. And if they don’t shoot him through the head or heart he’s -liable to out-fight them all. Before they go after him they make big -medicine, same as if they were going to war with a whole nation.” - -“He’s ’special fond of black meat, too, I hear tell,” slyly remarked -John Thompson. - -York rolled his eyes, and muttered. But the Kentuckians, some of -whom had hunted with Daniel Boone, fingered their rifles eagerly and -surveyed the low country at the mouth of the river, as if hoping to see -York’s monster stirring. - -The next day the first Arikara Indians came aboard, from their lower -village. Captain Lewis went with some of them to return the visit. -He was accompanied back by Mr. Tabeau and Mr. Gravelines, two French -traders who lived with the Arikaras. Mr. Gravelines spoke the Arikara -language. - -There were three Arikara villages, so that the captains ordered camp -made on the north side of the river, across from the villages. - -The Arikaras were tall, handsome people――much superior, thought -Patrick Gass and the rest of the men, to the Sioux. Chiefs -Ka-ka-wis-sas-sa or Lighting Crow, Fo-cas-se or Hay, and Pi-a-he-to or -Eagle’s Feather, were introduced by Mr. Gravelines, and the camp soon -filled with the Arikara warriors, and even squaws who rowed across in -little skin boats of a single buffalo hide stretched over basket-work. - -York held a regular reception, for he appeared to astonish the Arikaras -as much as he had astonished the Sioux. - -“Hey, Marse Tabeau,” he called, to the French trader. “Des tell dese -people I’se bohn wil’, an’ my young marster done ketched me when I was -runnin’ in de timber an’ tamed me. Tell ’em I used to eat peoples bones -an’ all. I’se a sorter g’riller.” And thereupon York seized a thick -stick, and snapped it in his two hands, and howled and gritted his -teeth. He was very strong, was York. - -“Huh!” grunted the Arikaras, respectfully falling back from him. - -“That will do, York,” cautioned Captain Clark, trying not to laugh. - -But York, of much importance, thoroughly enjoyed himself. - -The Arikaras were splendid entertainers and exceedingly hospitable――“’Mos’ -like white folks,” asserted York. They did not beg, as the Sioux had -begged; they gave lavishly out of their store of corn and beans and dried -squashes, and accepted thankfully the gifts from the great father; they -would not drink any whisky――“We are surprised that the great father -should send us liquor to make fools of us,” said Chief Lighting Crow. -Their houses were built close together, of a willow frame plastered with -mud, and were entered through a covered passage-way that kept out the -wind. Around each village was a fence of close upright pickets, for -defense. They were well armed, too, with guns. - -When it came time, after the councils had been held, to leave the -friendly Arikaras, all the men of the expedition hated to go. John -Newman, who had enlisted at St. Louis, was the most out-spoken. - -“Look here,” he uttered, boldly, among his comrades at the last camp -fire. “Why should we go on, up to those Mandans? Why can’t we spend the -winter where we are? The Mandan village is nigh on 200 miles yet, and -I’m tired of working my hands raw in this cold weather, hauling the -boats over sand-bars.” - -“Orders be orders,” reminded Patrick Gass. “An’ up to the Mandans we -go, I’m thinkin’.” - -“Not if we show a little spunk and say we want to stay,” retorted John. - -“Whisht, now!” cautioned Patrick. “Would ye spoil a good record? -Faith,” he added, “if the captain heard ye he’ll have ye on the carpet -for mutiny, b’gorry.” Captain Clark had strode hastily by, wrapped in -his cloak. “It’s mutiny ye’re talkin’,” scolded Patrick Gass. “An’ I -want no more of it.” - -Captain Clark had heard, for at breaking camp in the morning, John was -placed under arrest and confined in the forecastle aboard the barge. - -That night, at camp, twenty-five miles above the Arikara villages, a -court-martial was held on the case of John Newman. He was found guilty -of mutinous speech and sentenced to received seventy-five lashes, and -be suspended from the company. The next noon the boats stopped in the -rain, at a sand-bar in the middle of the river, everybody was ordered -out, and John was roundly whipped on the naked back with ramrods and -switches. - -Chief Ah-ke-tah-na-sha of the Arikaras, who was going with the -expedition up to the Mandans, to make peace between the Mandans and -the Arikaras, squatted on the sand-bar, to watch. Evidently he did not -understand, for he began to weep. - -“Why does Ah-ke-tah-na-sha cry?” asked Captain Clark. - -Ah-ke-tah-na-sha, who could speak some Sioux, explained to Drouillard, -and Drouillard explained to the captains. - -“He say de ’Rikara dey punish by death, but dey never whip even de -children. He weep for Newman.” - -“Tell him what the matter is, and that this is the white man’s way of -punishing disobedience,” directed Captain Clark, to Drouillard. - -Drouillard did; and reported. - -“He say mebbe so, but ’mong Injuns to whip men make women of dem. If -dees is white man way, all right. Men ought to obey deir chiefs.” - -“Now aren’t ye ’shamed o’ yourself, when even an Injun cries over ye?” -reproved Patrick Gass, of John Newman, who was painfully donning his -shirt and coat. - -“Well, I am,” admitted John. “I guess I deserved what I got. I don’t -harbor any grudge, and I’ll do my duty.” - - - - -VII - -SNUG IN WINTER QUARTERS - - -The weather had grown much colder, with squalls of snow and sleet and -high winds; the wild geese were flying high, headed into the south; and -the river, falling rapidly, was split with bars and narrow channels, -when, two weeks after the punishment of John Newman, the barge and the -two pirogues anchored off the first of the Mandan villages, in the -centre of present North Dakota. - -“Five long months we’ve been travelin’, an’ for sixteen hundred crooked -miles,” quoth Patrick Gass. “Sure we desarve a bit o’ rist. Now what -will the Mandans say, I wonder?” - -“Did you see that young fellow who’d lost the halves of two fingers?” -queried George Shannon. “Well, he’d cut ’em off, on purpose, because -some of his relatives had died! That’s the Mandan way of going into -mourning.” - -“’Twould be better to cut the hair, I’m thinkin’,” said Pat. “They most -of ’em nade it――an’ hair’ll grow again.” - -The Mandans had swarmed aboard, and were examining every object -with much curiosity. They were an odd people, wrinkled and of low -stature――many of the women with brown hair, but others with gray hair -which flared almost to the ground. However, their voices were gentle, -and they brought gifts of corn and vegetables, in earthen jars. - -Mr. Jessaume, a French trader among them, also came aboard; so did a -Scotchman named Hugh McCracken, from a British fur company post far -north. - -“They’re frindly, be they, Pierre?” asked Pat, of One-eyed Cruzatte, -who was hobbling past after a lively conversation with Mr. Jessaume. - -“Oui,” answered Cruzatte, with a grimace of pain. “I t’ink we stay an’ -spen’ one winter. Dey glad. We protect’ dem ’gainst de Sioux. My poor -leg, he carry me not furder, anyway.” - -For Cruzatte had the rheumatism in both knees. Reuben Fields was laid -up with the rheumatism in his neck; and Captain Clark had been so -bothered with a stiff neck that he could not move around until Captain -Lewis had applied a hot stone wrapped in red flannel. - -“Hi!” cackled big York, strutting as usual. “Dese heah Mandans done gif -me name Great Medicine, Mistuh McCracken say. Dey wants me foh a chief.” - -“There’s coal in the banks, yonder,” spoke George Shannon. “See it, -Peter?” - -“What is coal?” ventured Peter. - -“Black stuff, like a rock, that will burn.” - -“It’ll make fine fuel for my forge,” put in John Shields, who was -clever at fashioning things out of metal. “Expect I’ll be busy all -winter, smithing, while you other fellows are hunting and dancing.” - -The Mandan villages were three in number. There was a village -of Minnetarees, also; and a village of Ar-wa-cah-was and -Ah-na-ha-ways――Indians whom neither Drouillard nor Cruzatte knew. - -“Ah, well, now, belike there be plenty Injuns on ahead, too, that ye -never heard of,” declared Pat. “Yis, an’ lots of other cur’osities -before we get to the Paycific Ocean.” - -The head chief of all the Mandans was Pos-cap-sa-he, or Black Cat. The -chief of the lowest village was Sha-ha-ka, or Big White. The chief of the -second village was Raven Man. The chief of the Ar-wa-cah-was was White -Buffalo Robe. The chief of the Ah-na-ha-ways was Cherry-on-a-Bush, or -Little Cherry, but he was very old. The chief of the Minnetaree village -was Black Moccasin. And the chief of the upper Mandan village, across -from the Minnetaree village, was Red Shield. - -The two captains met in council with all the villages together, and -smoked the pipe of peace and distributed gifts. During the speeches old -Cherry-on-a-Bush, the Ah-na-ha-way chief, rose to go, because, he said, -his son was on the war-trail against the Sho-sho-nes, or Snakes, and -his village was liable to be attacked. - -“Shame on you, for an impolite old man,” rebuked Sha-ha-ka, Big White. -“Do you not know better than to show such bad manners before the chiefs -from the great white father?” - -And poor Cherry-on-a-Bush sat down mumbling. - -The Arikara chief who had come up on the barge was well received. The -Mandans promised to observe peace between the two nations. - -“We did not begin the war,” they said. “We have been killing those -’Rees like we kill birds, until we are tired of killing. Now we will -send a chief to them, with this chief of theirs, and they can smoke -peace.” - -Camp was made at a spot picked out by Captain Clark, across the river, -below the first Mandan village, and everybody not on guard duty was -set at work erecting winter quarters. Captain Clark had charge of the -camp, but Patrick Gass “bossed” the work. He was a carpenter. Axes -rang, trees were felled and under Patrick’s direction were trimmed and -notched, to form the walls and roofs of the cabins. - -There were to be two rows of cabins, joined so as to make four rooms, -below, on each side, and four rooms above, entered by ladders. The -walls were of hewn logs tightly chinked with clay; and the ceilings, -seven feet high, were of planks trimmed with adzes――and covered with -grass and clay to make a warm floor for the lofts. The roofs slanted -inward, which made the outside of the rows eighteen feet high, so that -nobody could climb over. Every down-stairs room had a fire-place, and a -plank floor. The two rows met, at one end, and were open at the other; -and across this opening was to be stretched a high fence of close, -thick pickets, entered by a stout gate. - -The Mandans and their Indian friends marveled much at the skill of -the white men, and at the strength of York, the Great Medicine. They -admitted that these white men’s houses were better even than the -Mandan lodges――although the Mandan lodges were also of heavy timbers, -plastered with earth, and banked with earth at the bottoms; had doors -of buffalo hide, and fireplaces in the middle. - -Mr. Jessaume, the French trader, moved to the camp, with his Mandan -wife and child; and so did another French trader named Toussaint -Chaboneau. He had two wives: one was very old and ugly, but the other -was young and handsome. She was a Sho-sho-ne girl, from far-off. The -Minnetaree Indians had attacked her people and taken her captive, and -Chaboneau had bought her as his wife. She and the old wife did not get -along together very well. - -Mr. Jessaume and Chaboneau could speak the languages, and were hired by -the captains to be interpreters for the camp. - -“My young wife come from ze Rock mountains,” said Chaboneau――who was a -dark little man, his wrinkled face like smoked leather. “One time I was -dere. I trade with Minnetaree.” - -“You never were over the mountains, Toussaint, were you?” asked -Sergeant Pryor. - -“Me, Monsieur Sergeant?” And Toussaint shuddered. “Ma foi (my word), -no! It is not ze possible. Up dere, no meat, no grass, no trail, -notting but rock, ice, cold, an’ ze terrible savages out for ze scalp.” - -The cabins were erected rapidly, for the cottonwood logs were soft -and easily split. The first trees were felled on November 3, and on -November 20 the walls were all in place. The men moved in before the -roofs were put on, but buffalo hides were stretched over. - -The two captains occupied one cabin, at the head of the angle. And -six or seven men were assigned to each of the other cabins. Sergeant -Patrick Gass, Privates George Shannon, Reuben Fields and Joseph -Fields, who were great hunters, George Gibson, who played the violin, -John Newman, who now was no longer mutinous, but worked with a will, -and Peter formed one mess; Corporal Warfington and his six soldiers -from St. Louis formed another; Drouillard, the hunter, and five of -the French boatmen another; One-eyed Cruzatte and five other boatmen -another; and so forth. Jessaume and Chaboneau had erected their own -lodges. - -It was high time that the cabins were completed. The weather turned -very cold and windy, and ice floated in the river. The roofs were -hastened, and the picket fence ought to be erected soon, for the -Mandans were not yet satisfied with the presence of the white men. - -Black Cat and Big White were frequent visitors. One day after Black -Cat had spent the whole morning talking with the captains, Chaboneau -reported the bad news. - -“Mebbe now dere is troubles,” he uttered, as he sat toasting his shins -at the fire in the Patrick Gass cabin. He had entered with a gay “Bon -soir (good evening), messieurs,” and had brought a draft of icy air -with him. “Mebbe now dere is troubles.” - -“What’s the matter, Toussaint?” - -“I interpret for ze Black Cat an’ ze captains. Ze Black Cat say ze -Sioux dey much enrage’, ’cause ze ’Rees make ze peace with ze Mandan. -Dey sen’ ze word dat someday dey come up an’ take ze scalp of all ze -’Ree an’ ze Mandan an’ ze white soldier. Dey sorry dey did not kill ze -white soldier down-river, for ze white soldier carry bad talk. Black -Cat fear. He fear mebbe ze ’Ree get scare’ an’ help ze Sioux, an’ he -been tol’, too, dat ze white soldiers build strong fort, to stay an’ -try to make slaves of ze Mandan, an’ soon ze whole country he be Sioux.” - -“That sounds like the British,” remarked George Shannon. “They -naturally don’t want the United States in here, taking away their -trade. They’d like to have us driven out.” - -“An’ what did the captains say?” inquired Patrick Gass. - -“Dey say Black Cat must not open hees ears to such talk,” answered -Toussaint. “Ze United States speak only truth, an’ if ze Mandan listen -ze white soldiers will protec’ dem ’gainst all deir enemies. Black Cat -say dere been a council held, on ze matter, an’ ze Mandan will wait an’ -see.” - -Much was yet to be done before the fort was secure. The barge ought -to be unloaded and its goods stored in the two store-cabins. The -men in the Gass cabin spent their time evenings braiding a large -rope of elk-skin, by which the barge might be hauled up on the bank, -farther out of the ice. Big White and Little Raven and other chiefs -and warriors brought meat, on the backs of their squaws. Big White’s -village was across the river, and he and his wife came over in their -buffalo-hide boat. She followed him to the fort, with 100 pounds -of meat at a time on her back. She was delighted with the gift of -a hand-ax, with which to cut wood for the lodge fire. The captains -presented the Mandan nation with an iron mill for grinding corn. This -pleased the women. - -The weather turned warm, and Captain Lewis took a squad of men, to -pay a visit to the villages. Only one chief was unfriendly. He, named -Mah-pah-pa-pa-ra-pas-sa-too, or Horned Weasel, refused to see the -captain at all. - -“And we know the reason why,” asserted Sergeant Pryor, who had been -along. “Seven traders of the British Northwest Company have just come -down with dog-sleds from the north country, and are giving out British -flags and medals and telling the chiefs we aren’t true men.” - -When Mr. Francois Larocque, the captain of the traders, paid a visit -to the fort, Captain Lewis informed him very strongly that the United -States would not tolerate any flags and medals except those authorized -by the President. This was now United States territory. - -This day Sergeant Pryor dislocated his shoulder while helping to take -down the mast of the barge. - -Now cold weather set in again, and the river was closed by ice. The -snow fell for a day and a night, and lay thirteen inches deep. But -fortunately the roofs were on the cabins, the stone chimneys drew well, -and there was plenty of meat and dried corn. - - - - -VIII - -EXCITEMENT AT FORT MANDAN - - -“Ho! Hi! Hi-o!” - -It was the morning after Sergeant Pryor had hurt his shoulder, and -the Northwest Company traders had been talked to by Captain Lewis; a -bitterly cold morning, too, with a stinging north wind blowing across -the snow and ice. The shrill call drifted flatly. - -“Hi! Hi-o!” - -“Sergeant of the guard,” summoned William Bratton, who in beaver-fur -cap, buffalo-fur coat and overshoes and mittens was walking sentry -outside the opening of the two lines of cabins. - -Sergeant John Ordway came running. All the men stopped their -after-breakfast tasks at the barge and in the street and in the timber, -to gaze and listen. On the opposite bank of the river an Indian stood, -wrapped in his buffalo-robe, with his hands to his mouth, calling. The -river, frozen from shore to shore, was only 400 yards wide, and the -voice carried clearly. - -“I dunno what he wants, but he wants something,” informed Sentry -Bratton. - -“Hi! Hi-o!” And then signs and a jangle of Indian words. - -“He wants to talk with us,” explained Peter, who read the signs, to -George Shannon. - -“Where’s Chaboneau?” demanded Sergeant Ordway. “Here, Toussaint! What’s -he saying?” - -“Hi!” called back Chaboneau, with lifted hand. And listened to the -answer. “He say he have somet’ing ver’ important to tell to ze Long -Knife an’ ze Red Head. He want to come over.” - -The Indian crossed on the ice. The sergeant and Chaboneau accompanied -him to the headquarters cabin at the head of the street. The Indian -was not closeted there very long. Out from the cabin bustled Sergeant -Ordway again, and hastened down to the barge. - -“Oh, Gass! Here――you’re to take twenty men, Pat, and go with Captain -Clark. See that they’re well armed, and in marching order. The captain -means business.” - -“That I will,” replied Pat, dropping his armful of supplies. “B’gorry, -I hope it’s a bit of a fight.” - -“What’s up, John?” queried half a dozen voices. - -“The Sioux have tried to wipe out a party of Mandans, down to the -southwest, and Big White’s afraid the village is going to be attacked. -So now’s the time for us to help Big White and show these Mandans our -hearts are good.” - -“Hooray!” cheered Pat. “All right.” - -Out from the headquarters cabin strode Captain Clark, in his furs, and -buckling his sword about his waist outside of his buffalo overcoat. -Usually he did not wear his sword. He was known as the Red Head. -Captain Lewis was known as the Long Knife, because he was rarely -without his sword. - -Behind Captain Clark came Chaboneau, and York, agrin, carrying his -rifle, and looking indeed like a black buffalo. - -Peter thrilled. He was wild to go, himself. He ran after Pat, and -clutched him by his skirt. - -“I go, Pat.” - -“By no orders o’ mine, bedad,” rebuked Pat. “Ah, now,” he added. “Sure, -it’s the Irish blood in ye――an’ if ye snake after an’ the cap’n doesn’t -see ye, I’ll not send ye back. But ye can’t go furder’n the village. -Mind that.” - -“York can go. I can go,” asserted Peter, for York was no soldier, -either, although sometimes he pretended to be. So Peter ran to York. - -“You get out, boy,” rebuked York, strutting about while the men were -being formed at Sergeant Pat’s sharp orders. “Dis am wah! Dis am berry -seryus bus’ness when Cap’n Will done buckle on his sword. Yessuh. -’Tain’t no place foh chillun.” - -“Did Captain Clark say you could go?” challenged Peter. - -“’Twa’n’t necessitous, chile,” retorted York. “Marse Will gwine to take -keer ob his soldiers; I go to take keer ob Marse Will. He cain’t get -along wiffout Yawk. I raise him from a baby.” - -But when the little column pressed forward, Captain Clark and -Chaboneau, the interpreter, in the lead, Sergeant Pat conducting the -double file of men, and York toiling behind, Peter trotted at the heels -of York. - -York glanced over his shoulder, and grunted. - -“Huh! ’Spec’ you think you gwine to help carry Marse Will’s scalps.” - -The ice was firm and snow-covered. Captain Clark led straight across. -No sounds except the barking of dogs issued from the site of the Big -White village, above. The Sioux had not yet attacked. Not an Indian -was to be seen; in the distance before, the smoke from the lodges -streamed in the wind. The captain made a half circuit of the village, -and entered it on a sudden, from the land side. At the approach of the -little company the Mandan dogs barked furiously――women screamed――the -village seemed to be alarmed; but Chief Big White, and Chief O-hee-naw, -a captive Cheyenne, and Chief Sho-ta-haw-ro-ra or Coal, issued to see -what was the matter. - -“We have come to protect our friends the Mandans,” announced Captain -Clark. - -“The Red Head chief is welcome,” bade Big White, breathless――for he was -rather fat. His hair, pure white, bushed out all around his head. “Let -my brothers come to the council lodge.” - -Peter had done well to stick by York; for York was Great Medicine, and -of course was gladly admitted into a council. Peter sidled in beside -him. If he had tried to get in alone, the chiefs would have ordered him -out. Councils were no places for boys. - -Captain Clark made a speech. - -“We have heard that the Sioux have not kept our peace talk in their -hearts,” he said, “but have attacked our friends, the Mandans, and have -stained the prairie with blood. So we armed at once and are here to -lead the Mandan warriors against the Sioux and punish them for their -treachery.” - -“Wah!” grunted the chiefs and warriors, approving. They spoke together, -in their half circle, a few minutes; and O-hee-naw, or Big Man, the -Cheyenne, arose and dropped his robe, to answer. - -“We see now,” said Big Man, “that what you have told us before is true. -When our enemies attack us, you are ready to protect us. But, father, -the snow is deep, the weather is very cold, and our horses cannot -travel far. The murderers have gone off. In the spring, when the snow -has disappeared, if you will conduct us we will follow you to the Sioux -and the ’Ricaras with all our warriors.” - -When the council dispersed, the Mandans were in a very good humor. -Chief Big White accompanied Captain Clark back to the river, and hugged -him, at parting. - -“We love our white fathers,” he declared. “My village has been weeping -night and day for the young man slain by the Sioux; but now my people -will wipe their eyes.” - -Across the ice Captain Clark marched his men, to the fort again. - -“Huh!” grumbled York. “Dose Mandans, dey ain’t gwine to fight when -’tain’t comf’table to fight.” - -“Sure, I’m thinkin’ that was jest a Mandan trick, to try our mettle,” -asserted Patrick Gass. - -“De Mandans now our heap frien’s,” assured Drouillard. - -Colder grew the weather, until at the close of the first week in -December the mercury of the thermometer stood at 10 above zero. The -earth was freezing so rapidly that the men had hard work to set the -pickets of the fence which was to enclose the open end of the fort. - -Now on the morning of December 7, Patrick Gass paused in his work of -aligning the fence stringers to which the pickets were being spiked, -and swung his arms and puffed. His breath floated white in the biting -wind. He had peeled his overcoat, and was working in his flannel shirt. -Sha-ha-ka the Mandan chief shuffled business-like through the opening -left for the gate. He was muffled from chin to ankles in a buffalo -robe; and above it protruded his bushy white hair framing his solemn -but good-humored wrinkled face. - -“Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, Big White,” hailed Pat. “What’s the good -news, this fine day?” - -“Ooh!” grunted Big White, scarcely checking his stride. “Where Red -Head? Long Knife? Heap buffs.” And he passed on. - -“Hooray!” cheered Patrick Gass. “Buff’lo, does he say?” - -Suddenly, through the thin air drifted a distant medley of shrill -shouts, across the river. - -“Listen!” bade Cruzatte. “Dey hunt boof’lo! De boof’lo haf come out on -de prairie!” - -The uproar increased. Sha-ha-ka had disappeared in headquarters; but -out burst York, and Chaboneau, and Jessaume, armed and running for -horses. Out issued Captain Clark and Sha-ha-ka, followed by Captain -Lewis. Baptiste Lepage, a new interpreter, yelled in French to -Jessaume, and Jessaume excitedly answered. - -“Gran’ boof’lo hunt,” proclaimed Baptiste, running also. “Ever’body -hunt ze boof’lo.” - -Tools were dropped, but Captain Clark’s voice rang clearly. - -“Pryor!” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Take a dozen men who aren’t otherwise engaged and join the Indians -across the river in that buffalo hunt. Get all the meat you can. Use -what horses you need, but don’t wait for me.” - -“Yes, sir. I will, sir.” And rejoiced, Sergeant Pryor, whose arm had -healed, called off the names as he bustled hither-thither. - -“Arrah!” mourned Patrick Gass. “That laves us out, fellows. ‘Not -otherwise engaged,’ said the captain. An’ here we are with our fince -not finished.” - -Captain Clark and Chief Big White were hurrying for the river, and the -village beyond. - -“Don’t you want your rifle, Will?” called Captain Lewis, after. - -“No, Merne. I’ll hunt as the Indians do. We’ll beat them at their own -game.” - -Already the Sergeant Pryor detachment were mounting. There were -scarcely horses enough to go around, for only enough had been hired -from the Mandans to supply the regular hunters. - -“There are more at the village, lads,” called Captain Lewis. - -The men without mounts went running, plodding, laughing, across the -snowy ice, for the village. York was pressing after the captain and -the chief. He carried a rifle and had a large knife belted around his -soldier’s overcoat. Peter delayed not, but scurried, too. - -“I stay by Marse Will,” was declaring York. “We show dem Injuns.” - -In mid-river the sounds from the hunt were plainer. To thud of hoofs -the squad under Sergeant Pryor raced past with a cheer and flourish of -weapons. At the village the squad afoot were met by squaws, holding -ponies. A young squaw who had frequently smiled on York tendered him -the hide rope of a splendid black. - -“Great Medicine heap kill ’um,” she urged. - -“Huh! Dey all like Yawk,” chuckled York, scrambling aboard. - -The other men were grabbing ropes and mounting. A very old and ugly -squaw with a spotted pony yelped at Peter (who knew better than to push -forward) and signed. She thrust the pony’s thong at him. - -“Boy go,” she cackled, grinning toothless. She signed “Wait,” and -shuffled away, fast. - -All the men except Peter and York left, hammering their ponies with -their overshoes, in haste to join the fray. Yonder, about a mile, a -snow dust hung in the wind, and under it black figures plunged and -darted. Reports of fire-arms boomed dully. - -Captain Clark and Chief Sha-ha-ka had disappeared in the chief’s -lodge, before which stood a squaw holding two horses. Peter’s squaw -came trotting back, with a bow and quiver of arrows. Grinning, she -extended them to Peter, and signed: “Go! Shoot!” Peter thankfully -accepted――slung the quiver at his waist, strung the bow. He never had -killed a buffalo, but he had shot rabbits; now he would kill a buffalo. -The bow was a strong little bow, but after these weeks of work he had a -strong little arm. - -“Golly!” chuckled York. “Cap’n Clark done got a bow, too.” - -For the captain and Sha-ha-ka had emerged from the chief’s lodge. -Sha-ha-ka was muffled in a buffalo robe; so was the captain. He had -shed his overcoat, and his cap, had bound about his brow a scarlet -handkerchief, Indian fashion, and his red hair flowed loose to his -shoulders. He carried a bow; doubtless underneath his robe was the -quiver. - -As quick as the chief he snatched the hide rope from the squaw’s -willing fingers, and vaulted upon the pony’s back, and he and Big White -pounded off together. - -“Come on, boy,” bade York; and he and Peter launched in pursuit. - -“Never mind me, York,” yelled the captain, over his shoulder. “I’ll -take care of myself. This gray is the best buffalo horse in the -village.” - -“Marse Will done been brung up by Dan’l Boone,” explained York, to -Peter. “Yessuh; done shot wif bow’n arrer, too, back in ol’ Kaintuck. -Reg’lar Injun, Marse Will is.” - -The Indian ponies were saddled only with a buffalo-hide pad, from which -hung thong loops into which the rider might thrust his feet, if he -wished. Peter could not reach the loops. And the ponies were bridled -only with a single thong which looped around the lower jaw. But Peter -had ridden in this fashion many a time before. - -York clung like a huge ape. To ride bareback was nothing new to him. -Before, the captain sat as if glued fast. Sha-ha-ka could sit no firmer -than the Red Head. - -The breeze was keen, whistling past one’s ears and stinging one’s -cheeks. But see! The buffalo! There were hundreds, in a writhing, -surging, scampering, bewildered mass. They had come out of the -sheltered bottoms to feed in the open, and the Indians had espied them. -Now around and around them sped the Indians, yelling, volleying arrows, -stabbing with lances, working at the mass, cutting out animals and -pursuing them to the death. The hunters from the fort were at work, -also. Guns puffed little clouds, which mingled with the greater cloud -of snow. - -Here and there were lying buffalo carcasses, reddening the snow. The -captain and Sha-ha-ka, and then Peter and York, began to pass some, and -the blood-stains were frequent. Before, other buffalo were staggering, -or whirling and charging. Indians on their ponies dodged, and plied -their arrows. Peter glimpsed One-eyed Cruzatte, and Chaboneau――they -could hardly be told from the Indians, so cleverly they managed their -ponies. Sergeant Pryor had been thrown, and was running afoot, a great -bull after him. Ah! - -Chief Sha-ha-ka whooped shrilly, and dropped his buffalo-robe about his -thighs. Captain Clark dropped his, and laid arrow on bow. Their ponies -quickened, as if understanding. - -“Gwan, you hoss! Gwan!” implored York, hammering his black mount. The -spotted pony also leaped eagerly. - -With a loud shout Captain Clark charged straight at Sergeant Pryor’s -bull. The gray horse bore him close alongside, on the right――the proper -place. When even with the bull the captain drew bow, clear from hand -to shoulder, loosed string――and the arrow, swifter than sight, buried -to the feathers just back of the bull’s foreleg. The stung bull jumped -and whirled; on raced the gray horse, and wheeled; the bull, his head -down, lunged for him――and the gray horse sprang aside――the bull forged -past, the captain was ready with another arrow――twang! thud!――the gray -horse leaped again, to follow up――but the great bull halted, faltered, -drooped his head, his tail twitched and lashed, still his head slowly -drooped, he straddled, and began to sink. - -“Catch your horse, Pryor. Quick!” ordered the captain. “You can’t hunt -afoot.” And before the bull’s body had touched the snow he was away -again, in the wake of the frantic herd, his red hair flaming on the -wind. - -“Fust kill foh Marse Will,” jubilated York. He and Peter scarcely had -had time to check their horses. “He done beat Big White. Come on, boy!” - -In a twinkling all was confusion, of buffalo bellowing, fleeing, -charging; of horsemen shouting, pursuing, dodging, shooting; of flying -snow and blood and steaming breaths and reek of perspiring bodies. -Peter speedily lost York; he lost Sha-ha-ka and Captain Clark――but -occasionally he sighted them, now separated, now near together, as -if they were rivals. He lost everything but himself and pony and the -buffalo. He shot, too; he saw his arrows land, he left wounded buffalo -behind and chased others; and ever and again he saw the red hair of the -captain. - -The captain was in his buckskin shirt; Sha-ha-ka was in buckskin; many -of the Indians rode half naked――excitement kept them warm. Peter felt -no cold, through his buckskin and his flannel shirt. He had been more -thinly clad in the Oto village and was used to weather. But bitter was -the wind, nevertheless, and the wounds of the prone buffalo almost -instantly froze. - -The chase had proceeded for a mile――and on a sudden Chief Big White, -from a little rise in a clear space, shouted high and waved his -robe. It was the signal for the hunt to cease. The turmoil died, the -frightened herd rushed on, and the horsemen dropped behind, to turn -back. The squaws from the village already had been at work with their -knives, cutting up the dead buffalo. They must work fast, on account of -the cold. They carefully pulled out the arrows and laid them aside, so -that it might be told to whom that buffalo belonged. The arrows of each -hunter bore his mark, in paint on the shaft or the feathers. - -Captain Clark rode in, panting and laughing, with Sha-ha-ka. His quiver -was empty, his buffalo-horse frost-covered from eye-brows to tail. -Sha-ha-ka treated him with great respect; and so did the other Indians. - -“Dey say de Red Head one great chief. He ride an’ shoot like Injun,” -explained Chaboneau, as the company from the fore assembled. - -“Marse Will kill more buff’los dan all the rest ob dem put togedder,” -prated York. “Only he done run out ob arrers. Den he try to choke ’em -wif his hands!” - -Five buffalo were credited to the captain――his arrows were in them. -Five more were credited to the soldiers, who had been hampered by their -unsaddled horses and by the big overcoats. York claimed three of the -five――but nobody could believe York. The interpreters――Chaboneau and -Lepage and Jessaume――had made their own kills, for their families. - -“How many do you claim, Peter?” inquired the captain, with a smile. - -“The old squaw who gave me the horse and bow, she owns what I kill,” -answered Peter, carefully. - -For there she was, cutting up a fat cow, from which one of Peter’s -arrows protruded. Peter rode over to her. - -“Mine,” he signed, proudly. - -But she only grinned and shook her head, and pointed to his pony and -his bow. Then she handed one of his arrows to him. - -“Keep,” she said. “Keep bow. Make big hunter.” - -Understanding, Peter rode away. There seemed to be plenty of meat, but -a good bow and quiver was a prize. So he was willing to trade. - - - - -IX - -PETER WINS HIS SPURS - - -To twenty-one, and then to thirty-eight below zero dropped the -thermometer. The captains forbade the men to venture far from the fort, -and the sentinels were relieved every half hour. The air was so filled -with ice haze that two suns seemed to be shining. - -Of course not much work could be done out of doors, in such weather. -However, with the first warm spell, at twenty above, Pat, the boss -carpenter, hustled his squad to complete the fence. Lustily chopping -with broad-axes they rapidly turned out pickets that were two feet -wide, four inches thick, twelve feet long and sharpened at both ends. -These were set upright in a shallow ditch and spiked, edge against -edge, to the stringers. - -Finally Pat swung the heavy gate to and fro on its leathern hinges; -it closed perfectly, and the bar that fastened it dropped easily into -place. That was the last touch, and Pat heaved a sigh of relief. - -“’Tis a good job well done, lads,” he complimented. “An’ jest in time. -To-morrow we cilibrate.” - -“Why, Pat?” queried Peter. - -“Sure, ain’t to-morrow Christmas?” rebuked Pat. “That’s a new wan to -ye, mebbe?” And Peter needs must have “Christmas” explained to him. - -Yes, the captains had decided to celebrate. They instructed Chaboneau -to tell the Mandans that on the morrow the white men were to have a -great medicine day, and that no Indians should come near. That night, -in the mess cabin, Patrick Gass passed another word. - -“It’s all o’ yez up ’arly in the mornin’, boys,” he said. “We’ll wake -the captains with thray rounds, so they’ll know we’ve not forgot.” And -he winked. - -In his bunk Peter was roused with a jump, amidst the grayness, by a -thunderous noise. He sprawled to the floor――he heard a voice giving -sharp orders, and before he could reach the door there was another -thunder. Had the Sioux come? No! It was Christmas, and the celebration -had begun. He opened the door――powder smoke wafted into his nostrils, -the men had formed two lines down the middle of the street, their -rifles were leveled, and “Whang!” they all spoke together. - -“Hooray!” now the men cheered. - -“Christmas Day in the mornin’!” shouted Pat, waving his cap. The door -of the captains’ cabin opened and the captains stood gazing out; York’s -black face peering over their shoulders. “Merry Christmas to yez, -sorrs,” welcomed Pat, with a bow and a scrape. “It’s only welcomin’ the -day, we are, an’ christenin’ the flag with a bit o’ powder.” For from -the flag-staff in the street floated the United States flag. - -“Very good,” approved Captain Lewis. “Merry Christmas to each of you. -You may dismiss the men for the day, Sergeant.” - -What a jolly day this day of Christmas proved to be. Nobody worked, -everybody was merry. After breakfast in the mess hall, which was a -cabin with a table down the centre seating twenty on a side, and a huge -fireplace at one end, and a loft for the cooks and their supplies, -the table was moved, One-eyed Cruzatte and George Gibson tuned their -fiddles, and the men danced and capered. - -There was a big dinner, of juicy meats, stewed corn, stewed dried -pumpkin, with plum pudding at the close. The captains were present, in -uniform. There was more dancing, and story-telling; not until late at -night was the fort quiet. All the Indians had kept away. - -Thus was passed Christmas Day, 1804, at this first United States fort -west of St. Louis, 1600 miles up the River Missouri, in the centre of a -North Dakota yet to be named. - -“When do we have another Christmas, George?” asked Peter, eagerly. - -“Not for a long time, Peter,” laughed George. “Christmas comes only -once a year.” - -For, you see, Peter had a great deal to learn. - -Now Fort Mandan settled down to a winter routine. The United States -flag floated. The swivel cannon from the barge had been planted in the -street, its muzzle commanding the entrance. Just outside the gate a -sentry constantly paced, by day; another sentry walked a beat on the -top of a mound of earth that half circled the rear of the fort and -banked the store-rooms against the cold. John Shields, the blacksmith, -established his forge――and that, also, was great medicine. The Indians -crowded about to watch the bellows fan the charcoal into ruddy heat. -Even the interpreters were astonished, when John set to work. - -“Ma foi!” exclaimed Toussaint Chaboneau. “I go get my squaw’s kettle. -She haf one hole in him.” - -Away he ran, and returned with Sa-ca-ja-we-a, bringing her kettle. A -gentle little woman was the girlish Sa-ca-ja-we-a, or Bird-woman, of -the far distant Snake nation; everybody was fond of her. John Shields -willingly took the kettle, and patched the hole in it; and beaming with -smiles the Bird-woman hastened to put it on her fire again. - -But the wife of Jessaume had a kettle which could _not_ be mended; and -very indignant and jealous she left the fort, with her kettle and her -children, and went across the river to her own people. - -“Huh!” said Jessaume, shrugging his shoulders. “She be so bad, guess I -get ’nodder wife.” - -John Shields not only mended kettles for the women, but he mended the -battle-axes and tomahawks of the men. From scraps of sheet-iron and -tin he manufactured a marvelous variety of articles――hide-scrapers, -punches, arrow points, and occasionally a whole battle-ax. For these, -the Indians from the villages traded corn and beans and dried -pumpkins, so that John proved to be a valuable workman. - -William Bratton and Alexander Willard sometimes helped him; and as they -were gun-smiths too, they repaired the rifles of the expedition and the -few fusils of the Indians. - -The weather blew warm, and cold again. There were hunting excursions; -and on January 1, 1805, which, Peter learned, was called New Year’s, -there was another celebration, like that of Christmas. - -“Ze Mandan, dey reques’ we pay visit to deir village an’ show ze squaw -an’ boys how ze white mans dance,” informed Chaboneau, in the morning, -after a call from Big White. - -So the captains gave permission for Cruzatte and George Gibson to take -their violins, and for York and Patrick Gass and a dozen others to go, -and entertain the village of Big White. - -They trapsed gaily across the river, and in the lodge of Chief Black -Cat, who lived at this village, Francois Labiche, one of the boat-men -from Cahokia, opposite St. Louis, danced on his head to the music of -the two fiddles, and thereby greatly astonished the Indians. - -The village rewarded the dancers with buffalo robes and corn; and that -evening Head Chief Black Cat brought to the fort another quantity of -meat packed on his wife’s back. - -“Let the white medicine dancers visit my other villages, or there will -be jealousy,” he urged. - -“I will haf no more hair,” complained Francois Labiche. - -Forty below zero sank the thermometer. John Newman froze his feet so -badly that he was unable to walk in, and a rescue party with horses -were sent to get him. - -Captain Clark, with Chaboneau as guide, led a hunting party down-river, -with the thermometer eighteen below. Chaboneau returned alone, to say -that Captain Clark had obtained some meat, but that the horses could -not carry it on the slippery ice. - -“Your wife is ill, Chaboneau,” informed Captain Lewis. And Chaboneau -rushed for his lodge. - -Forth he darted again. - -“My wife she ver’ seeck,” he cried, wringing his hands. “W’at s’all I -do? I fear she die, ma pauvre Sa-ca-ja-we-a (my poor Sa-ca-ja-we-a).” - -“I’ll try to tend to her, Toussaint,” said Captain Lewis; and got out -the medicine chest. - -But all that night, and part of the next day the groans of the little -Bird-woman could be heard. - -“Dere is one remedy I hear of,” spoke Jessaume. “I sorry my wife lef’. -But sometime de Injun gif de rattle of de rattlesnake.” - -“Let’s try that, then,” bade Captain Lewis. - -So the captain broke open the specimen bales in the store-room -and found a dried rattlesnake skin. With Chaboneau jumping about -imploringly, he crumbled two of the rattles into water, and this the -suffering Bird-woman drank. Everybody at the fort was interested. - -Soon from the lodge of Chaboneau issued a new sound――a feeble, shrill, -piping wail. But the groans of Sa-ca-ja-we-a had ceased. Out again -darted Chaboneau, his leather face beaming. - -“One fine boy,” he shouted, capering. “It is all right. One fine boy. I -t’ink he look like me.” - -The next day, which was February 12, the hunting party returned, having -left their meat in a pen to protect it from the wolves. - -“I have the honor to announce a new recruit, Captain,” reported Captain -Lewis, saluting Captain Clark, a twinkle in his eyes. - -“What’s his name, Merne? Chaboneau?” demanded Captain Clark, smiling -broadly, with cold-reddened face. - -“He is leetle Toussaint,” proclaimed Chaboneau. “One fine boy who look -so han’some as me.” - -“B’gorry,” uttered Sergeant Pat, “an addition to our number, is it? -Faith, he has good lungs, but I thought it was a weasel chasin’ a -rabbit.” - -The next morning four men and three horses to haul sleds were sent down -to get the meat; but at evening they came back empty-handed. A hundred -Sioux had robbed them. Captain Lewis set out at sunrise, to punish the -robbers. Only three or four Mandans went. Chief Black Cat said that -his young men were out hunting, and the villages had few guns, so his -people could not help the white soldiers. - -Captain Lewis was gone six days. He did not overtake the Sioux, but he -brought up the meat――part of it on a sled drawn by fifteen men. - -Mr. Gravelines, the trader, arrived from the Arikara nation. The Sioux -sent word by the Arikaras that they would hereafter kill the white -soldiers whenever they caught them. - -But nobody at the fort minded these threats. February slipped into -March, and all thoughts were turned upon the onward journey as soon as -the river opened. - -The thermometer rose to forty above zero. A flock of ducks were seen, -flying up stream. - -“The first sign,” quoth Sergeant Gass. - -The weather was “open an’ shet,” as said Pat, with wind, sunshine, -and snow flurries. But the ice in the river began to move, a little; -another sign of spring. The captains decided that the barge was to be -sent back to St. Louis, with the specimens, and the Corporal Warfington -squad and other extra men. Under the direction of Captain Clark and -Patrick Gass, the carpenter, boat timber was cut, and small pirogues, -or canoes, were built, to take the place of the barge. John Shields was -busy all the days long, making battle-axes to trade for a fresh supply -of corn. - -The store-room was ransacked and the clothing and such damp stuff -was hung out to dry. Great strings of geese and swans and ducks -passed, northward bound. The rising river burst into a channel; down -it floated ice cakes, carrying buffalo, elk and deer. The Indians, -running out across the firmer ice, killed them with spears. The canoes -were finished and brought out of the timber, and to the bank at the -fort. All hands were put at work loading. - -This was an anxious time for Peter. Was he to be sent down with the -barge, or was he to be taken on, with the captains and Pat and all? - -“I go,” announced Chaboneau. “I engage’ as one interpreter, for ze -journey to ze Rock Mountains an’ ze salt ocean. I take my young wife, -an’ my baby, but I leave my ol’ wife.” - -“Do I go, Pat?” queried Peter. - -“Well, now, I dunno,” drawled Pat, pausing to wink at Toussaint. “An’ -what would we do with a boy, yonder up amongst the white bear an’ the -two-headed Injuns? For I hear there be giants, wearin’ two heads on -their shoulders. Sure, they’d ate a boy with only one o’ their mouths.” - -“I hunt,” asserted Peter. - -“Would ye kill bear an’ buff’lo with the bow an’ arrer?” teased Pat. -“Ain’t we got Drouillard an’ Fields an’ the captains an’ meself, all -handy with the gun?” - -“I show you, Pat,” exclaimed Peter. - -Two steps he made, and grabbed his bow and quiver, where they were -lying on the gunwale of the barge. The quiver was full of iron-pointed -arrows, which John Shields had equipped for him. Out he ran, upon the -ice of the river. His quick eye had noted a black object floating down -the channel aboard a floe. No Indian was after it, yet. He would show -that he was as good a hunter as any Indian. - -Buffalo? Elk? Deer? Wah! It was crouching, and he could not yet tell. -But fast he ran, in the slush, dodging air-holes, and with the ice -weaving and bending beneath him. Suddenly, as he approached, heading -off the floe, the creature stood. It was no buffalo, or elk, or deer; -it was a bear. - -Wah, again! Also, hooray! Voices were shouting at him, to turn back; -but, no, he would not turn back, even for a bear. He was a hunter. He -ran faster, because he was afraid that some of the men would come with -guns. - -He reached the edge of the channel. The bear stiffened, lowered its -head, and bristled, showing every fang. No “white bear” was it, -evidently. It was a brown bear, but an old one, large and cross. Below, -a few yards, the channel narrowed; the floe might lodge there, or the -bear be enabled to spring from it to the other ice. Peter must act -quick. He knelt and bent his bow――drew the arrow clear to the iron -point, so that his arm holding the bow was straight and the hand of the -other arm was against his shoulder. That was the way to shoot. The bear -was right in front of him, balancing on the ice cake. Twang-thud! The -arrow struck true――was buried to the feathers where the bear’s neck -met shoulder. - -Now another! Up reared the bear, roaring and clawing, and the floe -swerved in toward the channel’s edge. Peter in his haste to pluck a -second arrow, string it and launch it, slipped and fell sideways――and -on the instant the floe had touched the channel edge, where the channel -narrowed; roaring, the bear had sprung ashore, and roaring he was -coming, the arrow feathers dripping red and his tongue dripping red, -and crimsoned froth slathering his open jaws. The bristles on his back -were full six inches high. - -All this Peter saw in a twinkling. He had time only to launch his -arrow. But he took good aim, there on his knees; whang-thud!――his -second arrow landed near the first; and away he ran. From the bank at -the fort men, both white and red, were running, too; running to help -him. They waved their arms and weapons, shouted loudly. - -Peter changed his course. They should _not_ help him. He would show -Pat, and the captains, and everybody, what he could do. He glanced over -his shoulder. The bear was close. A bear could easily outrun a boy, or -a man, and for a short distance, a horse. Aside leaped Peter, digging -in his moccasined heels, for foothold in the soft spots; another arrow -was on the bowstring; with scratching of claws and furious growl the -bear slid past. But Peter had turned in a flash, and while turning had -drawn his bow. Whang-thud! The arrow sank almost out of sight in the -bear’s ribs, forward where the heart should be. - -“Hooray!” cheered the shouting men. - -The blow had knocked the bear down. He went sliding, in a struggling -heap. Now he roared indeed, and twisting his head bit at the arrow. Up -he rose, sighted Peter, and on he came. Peter lost a moccasin, his foot -slipped. He stood his ground, held his breath, and took very careful, -cool aim――bending his bow till it quivered in his grasp. A moment more, -and the bear would rear, to strike him――and he loosed the taut string. -The arrow struck the bear right in the nape of the burly neck; his head -was low, bear fashion, and Peter had taken the chance. Down sprawled -the bear, as if smitten by lightning, for the arrow point had cut his -spine. He shivered, and was still. The four feathered ends jutted from -his hide. He was a dead bear. - -“Glory be!” panted Sergeant Pat, arriving. “An’ ye did it all by -yourself! But, sure, I thought I see ye ’aten up entoirely.” - -“Huh!” grunted Little Raven, second Mandan chief, prodding the lax, -furry carcass with his spear. “Heap boy. Make big hunter.” - -All together they dragged the bear, at the end of Pat’s belt, to the -barge. Peter, of course, said nothing. But when Captain Clark clapped -him roundly on the shoulder, and Captain Lewis said, “Well done, -Peter,” he knew that he stood a good chance of being taken up-river. -The Long Knife was not much given to idle words; but he appreciated -deeds. The bear proved to be very old, very thin, with tusks worn to -stubs. Hunger had driven him out of his winter hole early. The hair of -his hide was loose. Nevertheless he was a large specimen. - -“We’ll send his head to the President,” remarked Captain Lewis to -Captain Clark. “No such bear as this can be found in Virginia or -Kentucky.” - - - - -X - -THE KINGDOM OF THE “WHITE BEARS” - - -April was ushered in by a great thunder-storm of rain mingled with -hail. That speedily cleared the river. The rotted ice went swirling -down, and soon from bank to bank the Missouri was free. - -“De trail is open,” said old Cruzatte. - -“How far to the Rock Mountains, Pat?” asked Peter. - -“Another thousand miles, I hear tell. An’ after that, another thousand -miles to the big ocean.” - -“How do we get over the mountains, Pat?” - -Pat scratched his carroty thatch, and reflectively rubbed his stubbled -chin. - -“Faith, an’ I dunno. Trust to the commandin’ officers, I guiss. That’s -the proper way for soldiers. We’ll find a gate some’ers. There be some -tremenjous falls to get around, fust, say the Injuns.” - -“Sa-ca-ja-we-a know,” proudly asserted Chaboneau. “Her peoples lif -dere, in ze mountains, beyond dose falls. She speak ze Snake tongue.” - -“I gwine to kill one ob dem white b’ars,” boasted York. - -All the fort was in a fever of impatience――the down-river men to be -on their way “back to the United States,” as they expressed it; the -up-river men to be on their way into a new country never explored -by white foot. Long letters were being scrawled, for the “folks at -home,” telling them of the past year’s adventures; Captain Lewis was -busy preparing his report to the President; Captain Clark was laboring -nights, by fire-light, putting final touches on a map of the Missouri, -based upon a ruder map sketched by Little Raven, the Mandan, with -charcoal on a buffalo hide. Baptiste Lepage and Chaboneau helped, for -they, also, had been many days’ travel westward, trading with the -Cheyennes and the Minnetarees. - -Only John Newman was sad at heart. Captain Lewis had decreed that he -be returned to St. Louis at the first opportunity. The opportunity -was near. John pleaded to be permitted to go on with his comrades. He -wanted to make good. Already he had showed that he was repentant of his -brief bad conduct. Had he not worked faithfully, and even frozen his -feet? - -Captain Clark might have yielded to him, but Captain Lewis was sterner. - -“No, John,” he said, again. “I must make an example of you. I cannot -run the risk of any more mutinous talk. We have two thousand miles -before us, and the party must all work together. You will return to -St. Louis on the barge. Later, if your good conduct continues, I will -request the President to overlook your offense and you will be granted -an honorable discharge.” - -“Yes, sir,” replied John Newman, saluting. “But it’s pretty tough, -sir. I’d rather take another lickin’, sir.” - -However, in time, John did receive honorable discharge, and was granted -the 320 acres of land and the extra pay allowed to the other men. - -April 7 was the day for breaking camp. By five o’clock in the afternoon -the boats, loaded and manned――the barge for down-river, the six canoes -and the two pirogues for up-river――were being held at the bank, waiting -only for the captains’ orders. - -“Ready, barge?” called Captain Lewis. - -John Newman gripped the last of the hands extended to him by his former -comrades, and clambered aboard. He and five of the Corporal Warfington -privates from St. Louis were the guard. The sixth private, Moses B. -Reed, was being returned as a prisoner, for he had attempted to desert, -with his musket and other government equipment. Corporal Warfington was -in command. Trader Gravelines was the pilot. Two French boatmen were -the crew. Chief Brave Raven, and two other Arikaras who had accompanied -Mr. Gravelines up from the Arikara village, also were aboard. They were -going on to Washington to see their great white father. - -For President Jefferson were being sent Captain Clark’s journal and -map, and Captain Lewis’s report to this very date. And many hide and -wooden boxes of specimens and trophies: two stuffed antelope, a white -weasel pelt entire, squirrels that had been brought by the Minnetarees -clear from the Rocky Mountains, dried prairie dogs, mountain sheep -and elk and deer horns, a painted buffalo robe picturing a battle of -Mandans and Minnetarees against Sioux and Arikaras, a beautiful shield -made and decorated by Chief Black Cat especially for the great white -father, Peter’s bear head, a yellow bear hide and other furs, Indian -shirts and leggins and moccasins, a Mandan bow and battle-ax, and even -an ear of the red Mandan corn. And three cages containing a live ground -squirrel, a prairie hen, and four magpies. - -Not until ten months later did these wonders arrive at Washington. - -“All ready, sir,” responded Corporal Warfington, to the captain. - -“Give way.” - -Out pushed the barge. Captain Lewis drew his sword. - -“Present! Ready! Fire!” he shouted. And every rifle, of canoes and -pirogues, cracked in a volley. - -“For the United States,” murmured Patrick Gass. “Arrah――but good luck -to ’em.” - -Then into the white pirogue sprang Captain Lewis. - -“Give way,” he cried, standing beside Captain Clark; and out were -shoved the eight boats together. Captain Lewis nodded at Gunner Willard. - -“Boom!” spoke the swivel cannon, in farewell to the shore. - -Sha-ha-ka and other Indians had come over in skin canoes to bid the -Long Knife and the Red Head goodby. They stood, and gazed, and made no -sign. They would wait, and take care of the white fathers’ fort. - -“We’ll be back,” declared the buoyant George Shannon, as he bent to an -oar. “Stay where you are, old fort. We’ll be back in the fall and light -your winter fires again.” For the captains thus had figured. - -“We locked the gates, but sure the Injuns’ll be climbin’ over the fince -before we’re out o’ sight,” grunted Sergeant Pat. - -The wind was almost dead ahead. With oars and paddles the men settled -to their work. Now the party numbered thirty-three, and Peter. - -There were the two captains――Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain -William Clark (to each other “Merne” and “Will”), from Virginia and -Kentucky; and Sergeants John Ordway, of New Hampshire, Nathaniel Pryor -and Patrick Gass; and Privates William Bratton of Captain Lewis’s -state (Virginia); Alexander Willard from John Ordway’s state, and -John Shields, of Kentucky, the three smiths; Reuben Fields and Joseph -Fields, brothers, John Colter, Joseph Whitehouse, William Werner, who -like Pryor and Shields, were from Captain Clark’s state, Kentucky; John -Collins, of Maryland; John Thompson, the surveyor, from Indiana; Robert -Frazier, of Vermont; the handsome, merry George Shannon from Ohio and -Pennsylvania both; George Gibson, the fiddler, Hugh McNeal, John Potts, -Peter Wiser, all from the same place as Pat and George――Pennsylvania; -Silas Goodrich and Thomas Howard and Hugh Hall, of Massachusetts; Dick -Windsor, said to hail also from Massachusetts. - -Peter knew them all; fine men; but he liked Pat and George Shannon the -best. - -Then, there were the Frenchmen: gay old Cruzatte, with his one eye and -his lively fiddle; Francois Labiche, the boatman who danced on his -head; Baptiste Lepage, who joined at the Mandan villages to take the -place of one Liberté who had run away; George Drouillard, the hunter; -Chaboneau and Sa-ca-ja-we-a, the Bird-woman, who was to help the -party into the mountains and make friends of the Snakes. And little -Toussaint, the beady-eyed baby――a great pet. - -And York, black, enormous York, the great medicine, whom all the -Indians so highly respected. - -Yes, this was a glorious company, from which a boy might learn much. - -So, in a line, the eight boats proceeded up the Missouri, through -present North Dakota. The wind blew sometimes fair, sometimes adverse; -sometimes so strong that it lifted the fine sand in dense clouds -above the river and the men’s eyes were made sore. Captain Lewis’s -tightly-cased watch stopped and would not run. - -At the end of the first week, when the night’s camp was breaking up, -for the day’s journey, George Shannon espied a black animal slinking -through the grass. - -“Wolf!” uttered Pat. “An’ a black wan, for the captains’ collection. -Wait till I draw a bead on him.” - -“No! That’s a dog, Pat!” And George whistled. “Don’t shoot.” - -The black animal crept toward George, stomach to earth, tail wagging. - -“Assiniboine dog,” pronounced Chaboneau. “He sled dog. Draw ze sled in -winter, an’ ze travois――ze lodge pole, in summer. He from dat ol’ camp -we see yesterday. Mus’ be los’, poor leetle dog.” - -“He’s only a puppy, and nigh starved,” said George, patting him. - -So the black shaggy little dog was taken along. - -That night at camp Lepage and Chaboneau consulted together. - -“I never been up-river furder dan dees,” announced Baptiste. “I t’ink -once I stop right at dees spot, an’ turn back. Chaboneau, he stop once -’bout t’ree mile below.” - -“Then it’s our own trail from here on,” spoke John Shields. - -Where North Dakota and Montana meet, George Drouillard was sent out to -explore south up the Yellowstone River. He returned with report of many -sand-bars and much coal. - -Beyond the mouth of the Yellowstone, in the morning of October 26, -while the boats were slowly sailing on up the Missouri, Captain Lewis -suddenly appeared, at a clear spot on the bank, and signaled with a -rifle-shot. - -“Faith, the cap’n’s been in a hurry,” observed Patrick Gass, as the -boats turned in. - -And so he evidently had. He was still out of breath. - -“We’ve killed a large white bear,” he panted. “Some of you men come and -help Drouillard bring him down.” - -“Good work, Merne,” called Captain Clark. And enough men tumbled ashore -to carry half a dozen bears. - -Cruzatte ran, Peter ran, the Fields brothers ran; all ran. Back a few -hundred yards they found Drouillard working with his knife on the -carcass of a bear. - -“No! Let’s fetch him down entire, for the whole crowd to see,” cried -Reuben Fields. “He’s a sockdologer. Look at him, Joe!” - -“He not so ver’ beeg――but he beeg plenty,” averred Cruzatte. - -“Who shot him, Drouillard?” - -“De cap’n an’ me, both,” answered Drouillard. “Dere was two. De one we -woun’, he get away. Dis odder we woun’, an’ my gracious, he chase de -cap’n. He chase him seventy, eighty yard, but he bad hurt, could no run -quite so fas’ as de cap’n. De cap’n load hees gun while he run, an’ -shoot again――bang! Bear no fall. I come, aim queeck――bang! Dis time -bear fall. But my gracious, he ver’ tough to keel.” - -They dragged the huge carcass to the shore. It weighed 300 pounds. -“Young bear,” declared Drouillard. Everybody crowded about, to examine -its fur (which was not white at all, but was yellowish), its long claws -and tusks, its little, deep-set black eyes. - -“Dis chile dunno,” stammered York, his own eyes popping. “Mebbe he -ain’t gwine to look foh dis kind ob b’ar. If he jes’ a young b’ar, what -mought his daddy be? Hoo!” - -“Don’t you or the men take any chances with these animals, Will,” -cautioned Captain Lewis, to Captain Clark. “There are lots of signs of -them now.” - -Captain Clark and Reuben Fields did take a chance, a few days later. In -the dusk they met a monster brown bear (which was a better name for it -than white bear, although grizzly bear is better still) not far from -the evening camp. When they shot together, he roared so loudly that the -very air shook, but fortunately he tried to escape. They followed him -and shot him eight times more; and even then he swam clear into the -middle of the river, and died on a sand-bar. - -It was quite a job to get him into camp. He weighed about 600 pounds. -The captains measured him. From his hind feet to his nose was eight -feet, seven and a half inches; he was five feet, seven and a half -inches around the chest, three feet, eleven inches around the neck, and -one foot, eleven inches around the fore-legs! His heart was as large as -an ox-heart, and his claws four and one-half inches in length. - -But William Bratton “caught” the worst bear, to date. About five -o’clock the boats were just being landed, for night camp, when a great -crashing and shouting were heard; out from the brush burst William, and -bolted, staggering and gesturing, for the nearest boat. He had lost his -hat, his buckskin suit was torn, he could scarcely speak. - -“Another man in a hurry,” quoth Patrick Gass, as everybody reached for -a gun. “Injuns, mebbe?” - -“He-he-help!” panted William, lunging into the shallows and fairly -falling across the gunwale of the white pirogue. - -“Speak, man! What’s the matter?” demanded Captain Lewis. - -William heaved and gasped. - -“Bear! White bear! Chasing me――close behind.” Puff. Puff. “Shot -him――chased me――mile and a half――almost caught me. Look out!” - -“Whereabouts? Which direction?” - -“Down river――back in brush, sir.” - -“Hah!” exclaimed the captain. “I’ll go after him. Drouillard, the two -Fields, Willard, Potts, Shields, Pryor, come with me. Bratton’s found -another bear. Want to go, York?” - -“Nossuh, nossuh!” asserted York, with decisive emphasis. “I’d like to -go mighty well, Marse Merne, but I got to stay right hyah an’ take keer -ob Marse Will.” - -Away hastened Captain Lewis and the seven men. All eyes scanned the -shore, and many tongues plied the exhausted hunter with questions. -He said that after shooting the bear he had run a mile and a half, -with the bear roaring and floundering behind him, but unable quite to -overtake him because of its wound. - -In about an hour back came the hunting party, into camp――Alec Willard -and John Shields, who were the two largest members, weighted down with -an enormous hide and a great quantity of fat. - -They all said that after following Bratton’s trail back, for a mile, -they had come upon the bloody trail of the bear. He had turned aside -and had gone another mile, until he had stopped, to dig a hole or bed -two feet deep and five feet long. There they had killed him. - -“An’ he ought to’ve been dead long before,” declared John Shields. -“Bratton had shot him straight through the chest. He was a tough one.” - -“Faith, as the cap’n says, it’s safer to fight two Injuns together than -wan white b’ar by hisself,” proclaimed Pat. - -The fat of this bear yielded eight gallons of oil, for greasing the -guns and keeping the men’s hair slick. - -On the third day after, six of the men had a pitched battle with -another bear. He put them all to flight――almost caught several of them; -and did not fall until he had been shot eight times. And while this was -going on at the shore, Cruzatte’s canoe, out in the stream, narrowly -escaped a fatal upset. - -A gust of wind struck the sail, while Chaboneau was steering. -Chaboneau lost his head, dropped the oar, began to cry aloud with -fright. The canoe tilted, tilted, water flowed in――and over on its side -turned the boat. The sail’s rope had been jerked out of Cruzatte’s hand. - -“Seize de rudder, Toussaint! Ketch de rope――queeck! Pull on de sail! -We all drown! Do de right t’ing or I shoot you!” ordered Cruzatte, -scrambling along the gunwale. - -Only young Sa-ca-ja-we-a was calm. Holding her baby, she reached right -and left and gathered the articles that were floating off. In a moment -more the canoe righted, but was full of water. Baling and rowing, the -men got her beached just in time. - -“Dat stupid Chaboneau! Hees wife is better man dan heem,” scolded -Drouillard. “He near los’ all de fine instruments an’ de papers of the -captains. Mebbe drown ever’body, too.” - -As it was, a great deal of medicine had been spoiled by the soaking. - -The six victors over the one bear brought him in at last. Because of -the battle, this place was known as Brown-bear-defeated Creek. - - - - -XI - -WHICH WAY TO THE COLUMBIA? - - -“Wirrah, but tired I am!” groaned Patrick Gass. - -It was June 3, and in the nineteen days they had come more than 300 -miles from Brown-bear-defeated Creek. What with the constant wading and -tugging to conquer the narrow, swift current and the strong head winds, -well might all groan. - -Night alarms had disturbed the camps. Once the men had been aroused -only just in time to drag the captains’ hide lodge away from a spot -upon which a burning tree was about to fall; and, again, a stupid -buffalo bull had charged through, and only the little black dog had -saved the camp from much damage. - -But the Rock or Shining Mountains were nearer. On Sunday a week ago -Captain Lewis, climbing a hill, had seen them, to the west. The -Sho-sho-nes or Snake Indians might be expected any day. Their country -was near, also. - -Now the river had split: one branch for the north, one for the -southward; and the captains did not know which branch to follow. So -they ordered camp here at the forks, below present Fort Benton in north -central Montana. - -A travel-worn camp it was, too――of bearded, long-haired men, their -buckskin and elk-hide suits shriveled by water, their moccasins in -tatters, their hands blistered and their feet sore from rocks and the -prickly-pear cactus. - -“De nort’ branch――she de true Missouri,” asserted old Cruzatte. “See -how swift an’ muddy she is, jus’ like de Missouri. Ain’ dat so, -Drouillard?” - -Drouillard nodded. - -“I sartin she true Missouri. I lif on Missouri most my life, an’ I -know. De odder stream too clear an’ smooth.” - -“For that very r’ason it comes out o’ the Rock Mountains, ’cordin’ -to the cap’ns,” put in Pat. “An’ the bed of it be round stones, the -same as are fetched down out o’ the mountains. Not but what I favor -the north branch myself, as the more likely direction. We’ll find the -Columby across to the north, an’ not to the south, I’m thinkin’.” - -“The Minnetarees down at the Mandan town told us the Missouri was -clear, at its head, didn’t they?” queried George Shannon. “And there -are some big falls to pass.” - -“Mebbe de nort’ branch get clear, in leetle time,” argued Drouillard. -“She de true Missouri, for de Columby.” - -“Oui. So t’ink we all,” agreed Cruzatte and Chaboneau and Lepage and -Labiche. “De odder branch go too far sout’.” - -This was the opinion of the majority of the men. But―――― - -“We’ve got to be might careful,” argued George. “The Missouri and the -Columbia are supposed to head right near each other, the one on this -side the mountains, the other on ’tother side. It would be a bad mess -if we crossed and found we were in the wrong place. We haven’t any time -to lose.” - -Evidently so thought the captains. For the next day Captain Lewis took -Drouillard, Sergeant Nat Pryor and several others, to explore by foot -up the north fork. Captain Clark took Chaboneau, Sergeant Pat and -several others, to explore up the south fork. Peter and the rest of the -men remained at camp, together with Sa-ca-ja-we-a and little Toussaint. - -This gave them the opportunity to sit in their bare feet, mend their -moccasins and leggins, and pick green wild currants and ripe wild -gooseberries. Sa-ca-ja-we-a, who was always busy, dressed a doe-skin -for herself and little Toussaint. - -The Captain Clark party returned on the third day, in the rain. They -had gone up along the south branch about forty miles――had walked about -100 miles, all told, said Pat, with a wry face and a limp; Reuben had -been chased so shrewdly by a big bear, after his gun had missed fire, -that in climbing a tree he kicked the bear’s mouth, and as nobody could -get to the tree the bear had kept Reuben there for an hour; rain and -snow both had made the trip uncomfortable――but the river appeared to -lead west of south, and the captain was convinced that it was the true -Missouri. - -“He’s the commandin’ officer; still I don’t agree with him,” said Pat. -“An’ I hope he’s wrong, for the other river’s the ’asier. I’d rather -sail in a boat than on foot, any day.” - -“Did you sight any falls, Pat?” asked Joe Fields. - -“Niver a fall――but I felt some,” answered Pat. - -Captain Lewis was yet out. He and his party did not return this -evening, nor the next day; and on the following day everybody was -worried about them. But that afternoon at five o’clock they came -toiling in, hungry, soaked with the cold rain, and weary after a five -days’ tramp of 120 miles. - -“I’m glad to see you, Merne,” exclaimed Captain Clark, his face -lighting up amidst his thick red hair and shaggy red beard. “What’s the -news?” - -“We’ve been along the north fork sixty miles and it doesn’t head toward -any mountains. I don’t believe it’s the Missouri, although Drouillard -insists it must be.” - -“I don’t believe so, either, Merne. The south fork looks the better of -the two, to me.” And they paced together to their lodge. - -It was a cheery crowd, in spite of the dangers and discomforts and the -hard work. That evening the sky had cleared, there was a big supper of -venison, the feet of the men who had stayed in camp were about well, -and Cruzatte tuned up his fiddle for a dance. - -Toward noon of the next day, Sunday, June 9, a parade was ordered, -to hear what the captains had decided. The men left their tasks -of dressing skins and repairing weapons, and fell in, under their -sergeants. - -Captain Lewis stood straight and slim before them, in his fringed but -stained buckskin suit. His bright hair was tied in a queue behind, and -he, like Captain Clark, had grown a beard――yellow as his hair. - -“Captain Clark and I have consulted together, men,” he said. “We have -examined our maps, and compared our notes; and we believe that the -southern fork is the true Missouri. It has all the signs of a mountain -stream, the Indians never have mentioned passing any south fork in -order to proceed on to the great falls, and this south fork certainly -bears off for those snowy mountains to the southwest which are -undoubtedly the Rock Mountains that divide the waters of the Missouri -and the Columbia. Accordingly we will take the south fork. That we have -chosen as the Missouri; the north fork I have had the honor to entitle -Maria’s River, as a tribute to my cousin in Virginia, Miss Maria Wood, -of Charlottesville.” - -“Do you wish to hear from any of the men, Captain?” inquired Captain -Clark. “Some of them may have an opinion to offer.” - -“Well, they favor the north fork, I understand,” answered the captain, -with a smile. “I’ll be glad to hear what they may say.” - -Who was to speak? Patrick Gass, of course. Pat coughed, and saluted. - -“What is it, Sergeant? Go ahead. Speak up, man.” - -“It’s this way, sorr――Captain, sorr. Yez are the commandin’ officers――ye -an’ Cap’n Clark, an’ if yez say the south fork be the Missouri, o’ -course the Missouri it is, an’ we’ll all follow yez, sorr. Sure, all -we’re afraid of, sorr, is that we get down yonder at the foot o’ the -snowy mountains, an’ on the other side there won’t be anny C’lumby at -all, sorr. But we’ll go with yez, sorr, if that’s where yez go. Thank -yez, sorr.” And Patrick saluted again, quite out of breath. - -“Captain Clark and I will take the responsibility. We’ll try the south -fork, men,” declared Captain Lewis. “Parade is dismissed.” - -“Thray cheers for the captains, boys,” shouted Patrick Gass. And as the -parade broke, into the air was flung every cap and hat and every voice -rang true. - -Immediately preparations were begun. The heavy baggage and the extra -supplies were to be left here, and so was one of the pirogues. Men -were set at work digging a large hole in which to store the goods. It -was to be kettle shaped――small at the top, then hollowed out, round, -until it was six or seven feet deep. The soil was dumped upon blankets -and robes, and thrown into the river, so that there should be no trace -of any digging, lest the Indians find and rob. The bottom and sides -were to be lined with dry brush and hides, to keep the moisture from -the goods. The storehouse was called a _cache_, from the French word, -“_cacher_,” to conceal. - -The red pirogue was to be hidden on an island at the mouth of Maria’s -River. - -John Shields, the blacksmith, and Alec Willard worked at bellows and -forge, repairing tools and spontoons; and William Bratton repaired -broken guns. - -However, the captains were still cautious regarding the right route to -strike the Columbia on the other side of the mountains; and early the -next morning, June 11, Captain Lewis took Drouillard, John Shields, -George Gibson and Si Goodrich, to scout ahead up that south fork. He -promised to send back word to Captain Clark, who was to follow, with -the boats and party, as soon as the cache was completed. - -On the morning of the twelfth the white pirogue and the six canoes -headed up the south fork, before a fair wind. - -“We’re off,” exulted Sergeant Pat. - -Everybody was in high spirits――everybody except Chaboneau and -Sa-ca-ja-we-a. - -“Sa-ca-ja-we-a she seeck,” announced Chaboneau. “I do not know what is -matter. Mebbe stomick, or mebbe she ketch col’ in all dat rain.” - -Yes, the little sixteen-year-old Bird-woman was feeling very ill. Now -for almost a thousand miles she had carried baby Toussaint, had tended -the lodge fire and done other Indian woman work; sometimes she had been -wet, frequently cold and foot-sore, but she never had complained or -lagged. - -“You must let her rest, Chaboneau,” said Captain Clark, that evening -at camp. “Keep her in bed. York, you look after her. Never mind me. -Make her some broth. Peter, you help her with little Toussaint. Hold -him, if she’ll let you.” - -So Peter took charge of baby Toussaint――who really was a very good -baby. He rarely cried, and even rarely smiled. He lay in his swathings -of skins and stared with his bright black eyes. - -The day had been an easy one for nobody. The river soon had run -swiftly; it was broken with many sand-bars and gravel-bars, and by -boulders upon which several times the canoes almost capsized. - -The next day’s voyage was as bad, and worse. Snow mountains appeared -on the south as well as at the west. There were numerous islands, more -shoals and boulders, and the tow-lines were used. Sa-ca-ja-we-a, lying -on a couch of skins in the white pirogue, had not improved. She moaned, -and tossed, and babbled strange words. Peter and York watched over her -and the baby, although occasionally York had to tumble out and haul on -the tow-line. - -“Pshaw!” muttered Captain Clark, that night, gazing, non-plussed, at -Sa-ca-ja-we-a, who did not recognize him. “We mustn’t lose our little -Bird-woman. She’s to be our guide to her own people, so that they -will show us the way across the mountains. In fact, the fate of the -expedition may depend upon her.” - -“I ver’ worried,” confessed Chaboneau. “Never see her dees way before.” - -The next day the rapids were more severe. Wading breast-deep in the -cold water and slipping on the rocky bottom, the men scarcely could -haul the boats against the current. All the morning was consumed in -making six miles. Just at noon, when halt was ordered, for dinner, a -figure was seen, ahead, hurrying down along the banks. - -It was John Shields, from Captain Lewis. As he approached, he swung his -hat. - -“Hurrah, boys!” he shouted. “We’re all right. This is the trail. The -captain’s found the falls!” He came panting and puffing into camp. -“It’s the true Missouri.” - -“How far up are the falls, Shields?” asked Captain Clark, eagerly. - -“About twenty miles, sir. But you can’t get to them with boats.” - -And that was so. The next day the rapids of the river were more -furious, and the men were constantly dodging rattlesnakes on the banks. -Shields was sent ahead to tell Captain Lewis that the party were on -their way. Captain Clark ordered a noon halt near a large spring of -sulphur water, to wait for Captain Lewis. The roaring of the falls had -already been heard above the noise of the river. - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a was carried to the sulphur spring. She drank quantities -of it and soon felt much better. - -“Now be very careful what she eats, Chaboneau,” warned Captain Clark. - -At two o’clock Captain Lewis arrived from above. He was enthusiastic -over the falls, but he had had several narrow escapes from death, -according to Drouillard. - -He had been seriously ill, and only choke-cherry tea had cured him. -When he had neglected to reload his rifle after shooting a buffalo, a -huge “white bear” had charged him, driven him into the river, but had -retreated before the captain’s leveled pike or spontoon. That same -day three buffalo bulls at once had run at him, heads down, until he -fortunately had turned on them, whereat they also turned. And that -night he slept with a rattlesnake over four feet long coiled on a log -just above his head. - -“I t’ink de cap’n haf plenty excitement, in one day,” declared -Drouillard. - - - - -XII - -SEEKING THE BIRD-WOMAN’S PEOPLE - - -There was a series of five falls, said Captain Lewis, connected by -cataracts; and in the top of a tall cottonwood tree on an island at -the foot of the uppermost fall an eagle had built her nest. The lowest -fall was only five miles above the camp; but the boats would have to be -carried around all the falls. - -Captain Clark took some of the men, to explore across country, from the -camp to the head of the falls, and stake the best route for the portage -or carry. - -A big cottonwood tree near camp was cut down. Its trunk was twenty-two -inches through, and cross-sections were sawed off, to supply wheels -for wagons on which the boats should be loaded. The mast of the white -pirogue was brought ashore, for wagon axles. The white pirogue was -hidden in some willows, and a hole was started, as another cache where -more goods were to be left. - -The men were told to double-sole their moccasins, because the -prickly-pear cactus grew thickly all along the line of march. And -hunters were sent out, to get meat and skins. - -The captain had fixed upon a spot above the upper fall, opposite -several islands, for the end of the portage. It was eighteen miles. - -“I dunno,” commented black York, shaking his woolly head dubiously. “A -monster white b’ar done hab dat place already.” - -For York had been chased clear into camp by a bear; and when the -captain had taken three men and gone out to find the bear it had driven -another of the hunters, John Collins, into the river. - -“Nice quiet place to camp,” spoke Dick Windsor. - -A quantity of the baggage and one canoe were loaded upon one of the -little wagons, and led by the two captains, the men ranged themselves -before and behind, to haul and push. Away they went, with the wagon -jolting and creaking, and threatening to fall apart. - -Chaboneau and York and Peter had been left here at Portage Creek to -care for Sa-ca-ja-we-a again. The Bird-woman had improved so much that -she was able to walk about――but thereupon she had eaten a lot of dried -fish and little ground apples (_pomme blanc_: white apple, Chaboneau -called it), which had made her ill once more and also had made the -captains very angry at Chaboneau and at Peter too. The Bird-woman was -hard to control; she thought she ought to eat, to get well. - -In the morning Captain Clark came back down with all the men except -Sergeant Pat, Joe Fields and John Shields, after another load. The -wagon had broken on the trip up, and they had had to carry the baggage -half a mile on their backs. They were very tired. - -“Dat cactus so bad it steeck my moccasin to my feets,” complained -Cruzatte. - -There was quite a bit of news, time to time, from the White-bear -Islands camp, where Patrick Gass and a few other men under Captain -Lewis stayed to cover the frame of an iron canoe with skins. The bears -were bad. Joe Fields had met three at once and had been chased into the -river; had fallen, cut his hand and knee on the rocks and bent his gun. -Drouillard and Reuben Fields had climbed a tree, and from it Drouillard -had killed a bear with one shot through the head. The bear’s nose was -as large as an ox’s, his front foot measured nine inches wide, his -hind foot measured nearly twelve inches long, not counting the claws. -That same night another bear entered the camp and carried away some of -the buffalo meat. The little black dog was kept busy all the nights, -growling and barking. - -“Dose islands full of bear,” said old Cruzatte. “I never know bear so -mean. Mebbe if we don’ go in dere an’ clean dem out, dey eat some of -us. I sleep on my gun de whole night.” - -“One good thing: that pesky swivel’s been cached at the foot of the -first falls,” quoth Robert Frazier. “We don’t have to lug a cannon -around any more.” - -By the last of June all the stuff had been moved from Portage Creek. -But there had been a rain, making the trail soft; so part of the final -two wagon-loads was dumped about four miles on the way, and camp was -made, with the rest, at Willow Run Creek, two miles further along, -inland from the Great Falls. - -In the morning everybody except Captain Clark, York, Peter, and the -Chaboneau family went back, with one of the two carts, to bring on the -baggage that had been left behind on the plain. - -“Wouldn’t Sa-ca-ja-we-a like to see the Great Falls?” asked the -captain, kindly. - -The little Bird-woman grinned at the Red Head’s notice of her. He was, -to her, a big chief. Of course she would like to see the wonders of -this medicine river that roared. - -“I t’ink I like to see, myself,” ventured Chaboneau. “I been so busy I -see notting yet.” - -And that was so, not only with Chaboneau, but with others of the men; -for the Portage Creek end of the trail was below the falls and the -White-bear Islands end was above the falls, and the trail itself cut -across several miles from the river. - -“We’ll go over, while the baggage is being brought up,” said the -captain. “York, you come if you want to.” He surveyed Peter――anxious -Peter. “Peter, I’ll have to detail you to guard the baggage here. You -must be a soldier. I’ll lend you my pistol. You won’t need to use it. -But keep the stuff spread out to dry. We’ll be back soon. It’s only -three or four miles.” - -Away they hastened, the Bird-woman carrying small Toussaint in a net -on her back. Watching them go, Peter gulped. Was he never to see the -roaring falls? Still, he felt proud to be left on guard, like any -soldier. - -How hot and sultry was the morning! All the landscape of rock and -prickly pear and low stiff brush lay smothering, and no sound was to be -heard save the dull booming of the river, unseen in the north. Peter -sat down, in the shade of the baggage on the wagon. - -Presently a black cloud welled over the crests of the shining snow -mountains in the west. More rain? Peter watched it vigilantly. It grew -swiftly, and rolled into mid-sky. Peter rose with haste and covered the -baggage with buffalo hides again. It was a fearful looking cloud, as it -bellied and muttered, and let fall a dense veil. - -On swept the veil, hanging from the cloud; under the wagon crept Peter. -A moment more――and whish! crackle! r-r-r-r-r-r! Wind! Rain! Hail! The -air turned black! Such wind! Such rain! But such hail!! - -Listen to the shouts! See! The party sent for the baggage were legging -to camp! They had left, trudging gaily, laughing and gamboling and -stripped to the waist, because of the heat and the work ahead. And here -they were, a confused crowd, heads down, naked shoulders high, beating -through the storm for shelter while the fierce hail lashed their skins. - -It was rather funny――and it was serious, too. The hail pelted like -grape-shot; some of the hailstones were as large as Peter’s fist. Ah! -One-eyed Cruzatte was down. He could not see very well, anyway, and -the hail had knocked him flat and sprawling. Down were George Gibson -and John Potts, and Nat Pryor――only, all, to stagger to their feet and -lurch onward again. - -In charged the crowd, blinded and bleeding, to dive frenziedly -underneath the wagon, or to grab right and left for shirts and robes, -and crouch, gasping but covered. - -“I t’ought I was knock’ dead,” panted old Cruzatte. - -“Feel as though I’d had a lickin’,” panted William Werner. - -The hail was followed by a furious deluge of rain. The sky cleared――and -here came the captain and squad. What a sight they were, not only -drenched, but muddy from head to feet. They had been caught in a -ravine, near the Great Falls, where they had sought the protection of -shelf-rock. But in a twinkling the ravine had filled with water――a -rushing mass carrying stones and drift-wood. They tried to climb. The -water rose almost as fast as they climbed. The captain and Chaboneau -helped the Bird-woman. She lost her net, but saved little Toussaint. -The captain lost his compass and an umbrella that he had carried; -Chaboneau lost his gun and bullet-pouch and tomahawk. York was up on -the plain hunting buffalo, and although badly bruised, fared the best -of anybody, except Peter. So, after all, Peter was satisfied that he -had not been along. - -Willow Run had risen six feet, and now was impassable. Because of that, -and the mud, two more days were required, to take all the baggage into -the White-bear Islands camp. - -That evening, July 2, the captains ordered an attack on the largest -island, ruled by a king of the white bears. - -“Sure, they’re so sassy we got to tache ’em a lesson,” quoth Pat. - -But although the island was thoroughly searched, by all hands, -including Peter, only one bear fell. Drouillard shot him through the -heart as he was charging, and he died without doing any damage. - -“Have ye seen the falls, boy?” queried Pat, of Peter, the next morning. -Peter shook his head. “Well, nayther have I,” continued Pat. “I’ve -been workin’ too hard――an’ so’ve ye. But with the permission of the -commandin’ officers we’ll jest take a day off, b’gorry, an’ make a tour -of inspection. We’ll lave the other lads to finish the iron boat.” - -And inspect the falls they did, from end to end. It was a marvelous -spectacle――ten miles of rush and roar and spray and foam. The eagle -was on her nest in the top of the lone cottonwood on the island. The -Indians at the Mandan and Minnetaree villages had said there would be -an eagle. - -“An’ ten thousand buff’lo!” exclaimed Sergeant Pat, surveying from the -brink of one of the falls. “Ten thousand grazin’, an’ another thousand -drowned in the rapids. Sure, they’re bein’ carried down like chips.” - -To the south and west and north were the mountains, those to the -northward snowy, those to the southward more bare. - -“An’ those are the wans we have to cross, I reckon,” sighed Patrick. - -But the iron boat did not prove a success. After days of labor at -dressing skins, both elk and buffalo, and stretching them over the -frame, and cementing the seams with a mixture of beeswax, buffalo -tallow and pounded charcoal, she leaked so that she had to be taken -apart again and buried. - -So Captain Clark, with most of the men, went out in search of trees -from which canoes might be hollowed; and it was the middle of July -before the expedition was fairly on its way again. - -“Faith, we’ll be lucky if we reach the Paycific before winter,” -remarked Sergeant Pat. - -The river led southwest, toward the mountains. It grew swifter and -shallower, and was frequently broken by islands. There were days of -arduous wading, hauling, struggling, sometimes in rain and hail, and -again in the hot sun with the thermometer at eighty and above. - -The mosquitoes and flies bothered. The shores grew rougher, and higher, -until at one spot the river boiled down, 150 paces wide, through a gap -in solid cliffs 1200 feet high, black granite below, creamy yellow -above. The channel was too deep for wading, or for the poles; and the -boats were rowed, a few inches at a time, with the oars. This gap was -named the Gate of the Mountains. - -“I told you we’d find a gate,” reminded Pat, to Peter. “Now what’s -inside, an’ where be the Snakes?” - -For this was the Sho-sho-ne country, at last. The Sho-sho-nes were -horse Indians. The captains counted on getting horses from them, and -leaving the canoes. The firing of guns was limited, lest the Snakes -should hear and be alarmed. Indian trails and abandoned camps were -passed. The snowy range of the Shining Mountains was nearer, in the -west. Captain Clark took Chaboneau and Joe Fields and York and John -Potts, and set out ahead, by land, to find some Indians, if possible. - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a began to remark familiar places, where she and other -Sho-sho-ne women had been, before she was captured by the Minnetarees. -Now little flags were hoisted on the canoes, to tell the Sho-sho-nes -that the United States soldiers were coming in peace. - -“Soon de river make t’ree forks, Sa-ca-ja-we-a say,” informed old -Cruzatte, at the evening camp after Captain Clark had been gone almost -nine days. - -“An’ which is the trail then, I wonder,” mused Sergeant Pat. “Sure we -ought to be crossin’ the mountains before we get much furder south. -It’s near August, already.” - -At breakfast time the next morning, July 27, the crew hauling the -leading boat against the stiff current suddenly cheered, frightened the -big-horn sheep that had been following along the tops of the cliffs -and peeping over curiously, watching the strange white men. - -“De Sho-sho-nes!” gasped Lepage, who was on the line of the second -boat, wherein Peter sat, fending with an oar. This was Peter’s job, -when the current was very swift. - -“Hooray!” cheered the men all. - -Everybody expected to see Captain Clark waiting with some of the -Snakes. But the first crew had not cheered because of any Indians. -They had cheered because the cliffs ceased, and now there extended -a broadly-rolling green meadow-land rimmed about with high mountain -ranges white and gray. The mountains closed in behind, on the east and -north and west; and the meadow lay before, on the east and south and -west. All lovely it looked in the sunrise. - -First, a river came in on the left, from the southeast. While breakfast -was being cooked Captain Lewis, climbing a rocky outcrop on the bank of -this river, saw, beyond, two other forks――a middle fork and a southwest -fork, where the Missouri again split. - -“The Three Forks, Sa-ca-ja-we-a?” he inquired. - -The Bird-woman nodded, smiling. - -“We’ll breakfast and go on to those upper forks, men,” informed the -captain. “We may find word there from Captain Clark, as to which is the -better. Sa-ca-ja-we-a doesn’t know.” - -So they proceeded. But deserted lay the meadow-land. However, at the -juncture of those forks was found a note, stuck in a cleft pole planted -on the bank. Captain Clark said that the southwest fork was the better. - -Captain Lewis ordered camp made a short distance up this fork, until -Captain Clark should return. Right glad were all, including Peter, to -rest awhile; eat, sleep, mend the tow-ropes and repair moccasins, and -kill meat. - -The Bird-woman was especially delighted. - -“She say here on dis spot is where de Snake camp was surprise’ by de -Minnetaree, five year ago, an’ chase’ into de timber. De Minnetaree -keel four warrior, an’ capture four boys an’ all de women,” explained -Drouillard. “Sa-ca-ja-we-a was capture’, too.” - -That noon Captain Clark returned, with Chaboneau, Joe Fields, John -Potts and York. They had not seen a single Indian; but they had had -a hard tramp. Chaboneau’s feet had given out several times, and the -captain was sick. He thought that he had drunk too much cold water -while he was hot. - -The first fork was named Gallatin’s River, in honor of the secretary -of the treasury of the United States. The middle fork was named -Madison River, in honor of James Madison, the secretary of state, at -Washington. But the southwest fork was named the Jefferson, in honor of -the President himself. - -The two captains agreed that the Jefferson River was the main fork of -the Missouri; and up the Jefferson they all went. - -“Arrah!” groaned Pat. “An’ how d’ye like it, Peter? Bad cess to that -Bird-woman. Didn’t she say we’d meet her people, an’ where be they?” - -“Those Snakes are a wandering tribe, Pat,” answered Sergeant Pryor. -“And Sa-ca-ja-we-a hasn’t been here since she was a girl, five years -ago, remember.” - -But Sa-ca-ja-we-a was remembering. This was her home country. She -pointed out a high shoulder of rock not far from the river, to the -west, and exclaimed. - -“Dat she say is w’at ze Snakes call ze Beaver’s Head,” explained -Chaboneau. “Ze Snakes spen’ deir summer ’cross ze mountains jes’ ze -odder side, an’ she t’ink some sure to be on dis side, too. She t’ink -we meet some of dem on dees river, furder up a leetle way.” - -“To-morrow I’m going in yonder and not come back till I find the Snakes -and their horses, Will,” declared Captain Lewis. - -Immediately after breakfast Captain Lewis resolutely slung his knapsack -on his back, donned his cocked hat, and with Drouillard, John Shields -and Hugh McNeal, struck into the west. - -“Keep traveling up river, Will,” he directed, as last word. “I’ll stay -out this time till I find Indians and horses. You won’t see me again, -before.” - -This was August 9. For a week the canoes were hauled and pushed on up -the crooked, rapid Jefferson, with never a word from the search party. - -“We’ll all be turnin’ into fishes,” groaned Pat. “Me toes are webbed -like a beaver’s, already. Sure, it’s an awful empty country; an’ we’re -thray thousand miles from home.” - -On August 16 they approached where the river forked once more. It was -always forking, decided Peter. Before, not many miles, was a gap in the -mountain range. The river seemed to lead for the gap. Were they going -to follow it in? And then where would they be? The trees were ceasing. -There were only three in sight. What would the camps do for wood? Ahead -were brush and rocks; and this night the camp fires were made from -willow branches. Whew, but the water was cold――the source of the river -evidently was near, in the melting snow. - -The river doubled in a great curve, before it reached the forks. -Captain Clark had sent Reuben Fields and George Shannon ahead, to the -forks, but they reported no news. In the morning he set out, with -Chaboneau and Sa-ca-ja-we-a, to walk across the bend, while the boats -were hauled around by way of the river. - -As all were hauling and puffing, somebody cried aloud. It was Sergeant -Ordway, on the foremost rope. - -“Look, lads!” he bade. “The captain’s sighted something!” - -“Look at Sa-ca-ja-we-a! Has she gone crazy?” - -“Hooray!” cheered Patrick Gass. “Tis the Injuns they’re meetin’. I see -some on horseback. Hooray! Heave, lads, on the lines.” - -For Sa-ca-ja-we-a had run ahead of the captain――she was dancing――back -she ran to him, and danced about him, her fingers in her mouth. Little -Toussaint bobbed in his net. - -“She suck her finger,” proclaimed old Cruzatte. “Dat mean she see her -own peoples! Now she point. Dere dey come, on de hoss. Hooray!” - -“Chaboneau swings his cap! The captain makes the peace sign!” - -“Frinds, lads!” croaked Pat. “Heave, now; heave on the lines, or -they’ll get away from yez!” - -How the men tugged, even Peter laying his weight sturdily to the rope. -Yonder, ahead to the left, inside the curve (and a long, vexatious -curve it was), half a dozen Indians were galloping for the captain’s -squad. They met Sa-ca-ja-we-a first, then Chaboneau, then the captain; -all mingled together. The Indians were singing and prancing, and taking -the captain up toward the forks. One jumped to earth and made the -captain sit the horse. Hooray! - -“There’s a village beyant,” gasped Patrick. “Heave, lads, or else we’re -dreamin.” - -“I see Drouillard dere, with dose Injuns,” asserted Labiche, whose eyes -were keen. “He dress jes’ like Injun. I guess he trade clothes.” - -“Heave, lads!” - -The Indian camp grew plainer, as the boats rounded the curve. More -Indians were flocking out, afoot and ahorse. Sa-ca-ja-we-a and another -woman had rushed together; they were hugging each other. But before -the canoes could arrive at the bank, the captain and Chaboneau and -Sa-ca-ja-we-a had disappeared into a large willow lodge and most of the -Indians had flowed in after. - -Hugh McNeal met the boats, at the landing, and he had a long story to -tell. - - - - -XIII - -HORSES AT LAST - - -“Are they Snakes, Hugh?” - -“Yes, of course. But we put in the dag-gonedest time you ever saw, -catchin’ ’em,” responded Hugh. “First we had ’em, then we didn’t, next -they had us!” - -“What’s that around your neck? Where’s your hat?” - -“Faith, ye look like a Borneo ape,” added Pat. - -Hugh almost blushed through his coat of tan and whiskers. He was -bare-headed, and about his neck was a curious object like a tippet or -boa. In fact, it was very similar to the fur boas worn by women of -to-day. One end was a nose and eyes, the other end was a tail; and all -along the edge dangled small rolls of white fur sewed to a white band -and hanging eighteen inches long――forming a kind of tassel cloak. The -collar itself was brown otter, the border and tassels were ermine. But -it was an odd-looking rig. - -“Shucks,” apologized Hugh. “We traded clothes with the Injuns, to show -good feelin’. The other fellow’s wearin’ my hat. Shields traded his -shirt, too. The chief’s got on the captain’s cocked hat. And you ought -to see Drouillard. He’s painted, to boot. With all that, we had a -narrow squeak, I reckon.” - -“How far you been?” - -“Across the mountains, boys, to the Columby side. We followed up the -Missouri, through yonder gap, till it got so small I stood with one -foot on each bank. And we went on over, up an Injun trail. Where the -waters flowed west we drank of the Columby!” - -“Didn’t you meet any Injuns on this side?” - -“Yes. I’ll tell you.” - -And so he did. On the third day out, the captain had sighted an Indian, -through his spy-glass. The Indian was horseback, and looked as though -he might be a Snake. But when the captain, calling “Tabba bone,” -meaning, in Sho-sho-ne, “white man,” and stripping back his sleeve -to show his white skin, was just about to talk with the Indian, John -Shields foolishly came in and the Indian galloped away. The captain -gave John a proper “dressing down,” for this. - -A number of horse tracks were seen, and the captain kept on advancing, -following a sort of a road, into the mountains. He ordered a United -States flag to be carried, on a pole. Next, two squaws were frightened, -and ran away――but only a mile on, down the road, an old woman and a -young woman and a little girl were discovered, on a sudden, digging -roots. The young woman ran, but the old woman and the little girl -squatted and covered their heads, expecting to be killed. - -The captain raised them up and gave them presents, and got Drouillard -to talk with them in sign language. The young woman came back; and -after the captain had painted the cheeks of the three with vermilion, -in token of peace, the two parties started on, for the village. - -Pretty soon, up the road charged sixty other Indians――warriors, on -horses, ready for a fight; but the women went ahead, to talk peace, and -the captain followed, alone, carrying the flag; and as soon as they -knew what to expect, the Indians jumped from their horses and hugged -the white men and rubbed faces with them. - -“Ah hi e, ah hi e!” said the Indians; meaning: “Glad to see you.” - -The chief was Ca-me-ah-wait. In the village the men were given salmon -trout to eat, so they knew that they were on the Pacific side of the -mountains. The village was friendly, but when the captain asked the -Indians to return with him to the east side and meet the other white -chief and men, they were afraid again――said the white men might be -spies for the Minnetarees. Finally Ca-me-ah-wait was persuaded, and -started, with eight warriors. - -The women wept and wailed, but after a few hours the village followed. - -“Well, our troubles began again,” continued Hugh. “To get those Snakes -down here was like haulin’ the barge up-stream in some of those rapids. -They turned so suspicious that we traded clothes with ’em. We gave ’em -our flag to carry. The cap’n had told ’em that the other white chief -was to be found at the forks――but when we sighted the forks, the boats -weren’t to be seen, and that made matters worse. Where was the other -white chief? Of course, we’d calkilated you fellows might be slow, -’cause of the rapids, but we’d hoped. - -“Now we gave over our guns, and the cap’n told the chief to have us -shot if there was any ambush. We were terrible afraid the whole pack -of Injuns’d skip and leave us stranded without hosses, or guns either. -The cap’n sent Drouillard and an Injun down to the forks, to get a note -that had been stuck on a pole there, for Captain Clark. They brought -back the note, and the cap’n pretended it was a note put there by the -other white chief, sayin’ he was comin’, but had been delayed. The -cap’n wrote another note, by light of a brush fire, telling Captain -Clark to hurry. Drouillard and an Injun were to take it down river in -the morning. - -“That night the Snakes hid out, all ’round us, in the brush, for -fear of a trap, while the chief and four or five warriors bunked -close beside us. Our scalps felt mighty loose on our heads――and the -mosquitoes were powerful bad, too, so we none of us slept much. The -cap’n was pretty near crazy. It was touch-and-go, how things’d turn -out. The Snakes were liable to skeedaddle, the whole pack of ’em, and -carry us off with ’em. The only reason they were stayin’ now, was that -Drouillard had told ’em we had one of their women in the main party, -and a big black medicine man.” - -“Hoo! Dat am me,” asserted York, proudly. “Dis eckspedishun can’t get -’long wiffout Yawk.” - -“Next mornin’ we were on the anxious seat. The fate of the expedition -hung on whether you fellows arrived pretty soon at those forks and -proved that the cap’n had spoken truth. The chief sent out a lot of -scouts; and Drouillard and one Injun started early with the note, to -find you. They hadn’t been gone more than two hours by sun, when in -came a scout at a gallop, makin’ signs. He said he’d seen men like us, -with skin color of ashes, travelin’ up-river in boats, and they weren’t -far away. Hooray!” - -“Hooray!” cheered the listeners. - -“That settled the business. Old Ca-me-ah-wait hugged us, and the other -Injuns danced and sang, and away raced a gang of ’em――and next thing -Drouillard and a crowd met Captain Clark. And now here you all are. So -I reckon we’re fixed. They’ll trade us hosses.” - -The council was still in progress; but while camp was being made under -direction of Sergeant Ordway, out from the council lodge came Shields -and Drouillard, to the camp. Drouillard was grinning and capering, -evidently very happy. His swarthy cheeks were painted with vermilion, -he wore a Snake tippet and decorated shirt; he looked exactly like an -Indian. - -“What news, Drouillard?” - -“Ever’t’ing is all right. We are ’mong frien’s. Dey all glad to haf -Sa-ca-ja-we-a, an’ she speak well for us. She find one woman who was -capture’ same time as she but escape’. An’ dat chief, he her brudder. -Dey haf recognize’, an’ haf weep togedder under one blanket. I mos’ -weep too.” - -“A princess, be she?” exclaimed Sergeant Pat. “Well, well! Good for the -little Bird-woman. An’ what of hosses?” - -“Plenty hoss. No more drag canoe.” - -The captains came down. They also were dressed as Indians; in their -hair had been tied little shells from the “stinking lake,” as the -Snakes called the far-off Pacific Ocean. The shells had been bought -from other Indians and were considered very valuable. A canopy of -boughs and sails was ordered erected; under this another council was -held. Chief Ca-me-ah-wait promised to furnish horses. The Indian women -set about repairing the men’s moccasins. They appeared to be a kindly -tribe――they wondered much at York, and the battered boats, and the -guns, and even at the smartness of the little black dog. But they shook -their heads when questioned about the country west of the mountains. - -“Dey say it is not ze possible for ze white mans to make travel down ze -Columbee by boats, an’ ze trail for ze hoss an’ ze foot is ver’ bad,” -declared Chaboneau. - -“What’s the matter with Sa-ca-ja-we-a, Toussaint?” queried George -Shannon, for the Bird-woman’s eyes were red and swollen. - -“She much cry. Mos’ all her fam’ly dead while she been away.” - -In the morning Captain Clark took Sergeant Pat and ten other men, and -started over the mountains to explore beyond the Snake village, in -hopes of finding a route by water. They were to send back a man to the -Snake village, to meet Captain Lewis there and tell him what had been -discovered. - -Chief Ca-me-ah-wait and all his people except two men and two women -started also for the village, with Sa-ca-ja-we-a and Chaboneau, to -bring down horses, for Captain Lewis. - -Everybody in the camp was put at work making pack-saddles from oar -handles and pieces of boxes tied firmly with raw-hide! Out of sight -of the Indians a hole was dug in which to cache more of the baggage, -especially the specimens that had been collected. - -Five horses were purchased, at six dollars each in trade; the canoes -were sunk by rocks in the bottom of the river――and the Snakes promised -not to disturb them, while the white men were away. On August 24 -the march was begun for the village on the other slope of what are -to-day the Bitter Root Mountains. The five horses were packed with the -supplies; Sa-ca-ja-we-a and little Toussaint rode on a sixth horse that -Chaboneau had bought. - -Although this was August, the evenings and nights were so cold that the -ink froze on the pens when the journals were being written. The village -was reached in the late afternoon of August 26. John Colter was here, -waiting. He brought word from Captain Clark that canoes would be of no -use; the country ahead was fit for only horse and foot, as far as the -captain had gone. - -“We had an old Injun for guide who’d been living in another village -further west,” related John. “He says we can’t go to the south’ard, -for the land’s bare rocks and high mountains without game, and the -horses’ hoofs’d be cut to pieces, and the Broken Moccasin Indians would -kill us. ’Tisn’t the direction we want to go, anyhow. The Injuns we -met said winter was due, with big snows, and soon the salmon would be -leaving for lower country. So the captain decided to turn back and -advise Captain Lewis that we’d better tackle another road he’d heard of -from the guide, farther to the north, into the Tushepaw country on the -big river. After we’d struck the big river, which like as not is the -Columby, we could follow it down to the Pacific. Anyhow, the Tushepaws -might know.” - -Captain Lewis immediately began to bargain for twenty horses. The -prices were being raised, so that soon a young horse cost a pistol, 100 -balls, some powder and a knife. - -Sergeant Pat arrived from Captain Clark’s camp below, to ask how -matters were shaping. - -“’Tis a hard road ahead, lads,” he confirmed. “Cruzatte will tell you -that. Sure, wance he was almost lost, himself. I was sint up here to -inquire about the prospect of hosses; but what I want to learn, myself, -is: are we have the pleasure of the comp’ny of the little Bird-woman?” - -“Yes, she’s going.” - -For Sa-ca-ja-we-a was. She preferred the white men to her own people. - -“Sa-ca-ja-we-a will go. She wants to see the big water,” she had said. - -All were pleased that Sa-ca-ja-we-a, the Bird-woman, would take little -Toussaint and continue on with them to the Pacific Ocean. - -On the last day of August there was a general breaking up at the -village. The Sho-sho-nes under Chief Ca-me-ah-wait rode east over the -pass which is to-day Lemhi Pass of the east fringe of the Bitter Root -Mountains, to hunt the buffalo on the plains of the Missouri. With -twenty-seven horses and one mule the white chiefs’ company, guided by -the old Sho-sho-ne and his four sons, set out in quest of the Columbia -and the Pacific. - -The men named the old guide “Toby.” - - - - -XIV - -ACROSS STARVATION MOUNTAINS - - -“Sure,” said Patrick Gass, “if I wasn’t so sore in me feet an’ empty in -me stomick I could close my eyes an’ think myself back in a Pennsylvany -barnyard, with the chickens all a-cluckin’.” - -“But instead, we’re four thousand miles from old ‘Pennsylvany,’ Pat, -and in a country where even the dogs are so hungry they eat your -moccasins while you sleep,” retorted George Shannon. “The pesky brutes -stole my best pair last night.” - -This was the day of September 5. Ca-me-ah-wait and Toby and John Colter -and Pat had spoken truly when they had predicted a tough trip. The -region west from the Sho-sho-ne village proved impassable. Old Toby -had led northward, by hard trail up and down. The two captains rode in -the advance; the hunters scouted for game but found little; York’s big -feet had failed him and he needs must ride until well; Sa-ca-ja-we-a, -of course, rode, carrying on her back baby Toussaint; everybody else -trudged afoot, each man leading two pack-horses. - -The horses soon were worn out by scrambling amidst rain and snow, and -falling on the sharp rocks. - -What with hauling and shoving and chasing them, the men had decided -that boats were easier, after all. - -The route had crossed the crooked range, to the east side again, and -here had struck a Tushepaw Indian camp of thirty-three lodges. Now the -company were lying around, waiting and resting, while the captains -traded for more horses. - -“I can not onderstan’ one word,” complained Chaboneau. “Neider can -Sa-ca-ja-we-a.” - -Old Toby himself scarcely was able to interpret for the captains. The -language was a curious mixture of grunts and cries. Nevertheless, a -kind and hospitable people were these light-skinned Oo-tla-shoots, of -the great Tushepaw or Flat-head nation. They were rich in horses, and -generous with their roots and berries; and fearing that these strange -white men, who rode without blankets, had been robbed, they threw about -their guests’ shoulders handsome bleached buffalo robes. - -These Oo-tla-shoots, who were on their way eastward to hunt the -buffalo, signed that the best trail for the big water beyond the -mountains was the Pierced Nose trail, northward still. If the white men -crossed the mountains by that trail, they would come to a swift river -that joined the Big River, down which were falls and a big water where -lived other white men. - -Old Toby, winking his eyes violently, said that he knew. He once had -been upon that trail of the Pierced Noses, by which they hunted the -buffalo. His four sons had left him, several days back; but another -son had appeared, and he asserted that they two would guide the white -chiefs, by the Pierced Nose trail onward from the No-Salmon River, and -so to the stinking lake under the setting sun. - -“What white men do we find, at the Pacific Ocean, George?” asked Peter; -for both the Snakes and the Flat-heads spoke of “white men” down the -Columbia, which was known only as the Big River. - -“Traders, Peter. White men from the United States, and from other white -nations――England and Russia――who sail there in large boats and trade -for furs. Perhaps we’ll all return to the United States by one of those -boats.” - -“At No-Salmon River is where we enter the Pierced Nose trail, is it?” -mused Sergeant Nat Pryor. “I reckon that’s a correct name. ’Cordin’ to -Chaboneau and Drouillard the salmon aren’t to be found in any waters -east of the Rock Mountains. They all stay west.” - -“Oh, murther, an’ aren’t we west o’ the mountains, yet?” exclaimed Pat. - -Still north pushed the company, down through the Bitter Root Valley of -western Montana, with the line of mountains on the left rising ever -colder and higher. In four days’ journey was reached a broad Indian -trail, along a river running east. It was the Pierced Nose trail, said -old Toby, and the river was the No-Salmon River. The Indian road was to -be followed westward, over the mountains, but on the way there would be -no game. - -So the captains called the No-Salmon (to-day the Lou Lou) River, -“Traveler’s Rest Creek,” because here camp was made while the men -hunted and mended clothes before again climbing the mountains. - -The Pierced Nose trail was plain at first, but on the Idaho side of -these the Bitter Root Mountains it soon was lost amidst many other -trails, and the snows and the thick timber and the bare rocks. Old Toby -himself was well-nigh confused; he had not been along the main trail -for many years. - -The mountains were very broad, very wild. The jumble of high ridges was -steep, and constantly drear with rain and snow. The horses strayed, -and went lame, and fell down and broke things. The hunters sometimes -brought in a lean deer, sometimes a few grouse, and frequently nothing, -so then for all hands there were only a sip of canned soup, and berries. - -It was on September 14 that the first of the colts was killed, to be -eaten. The soup and the berries were making the men ill. He was a nice -little black colt, and Peter hated to have him killed; but what else -could be done? On this day, also, they arrived at a clear, rocky river -down which extended the Indian road. - -“Is this the Big River?” asked Captain Lewis, hopefully, of old Toby. -“Is this the Big River, with the falls and the white men?” - -“Koos koos kee,” grunted old Toby. And that was all he would say. - -So “Koos-koos-kee” was the river named. - -“Dat one funny name,” chuckled Chaboneau. “Ze ‘Some-odder-river.’” And -he laughed. Not for considerable time did he explain to his comrades -that “koos koos kee” was only Indian for “This is not the river; it is -some other river.” - -But the Kooskooskee or Clearwater River does the stream remain unto -this day. - -“More mountains! Wirrah, more mountains!” lamented Patrick Gass, when -the Indian road left the banks of the stony Kooskooskee and through the -roughest kind of a country started upward again. “Will we niver be out -into some place where it’s open enough to see ’round a corner?” - -“Nebber so col’ in mah life befoh,” chattered York, plodding on in -frozen moccasins, with snow to his ragged knees. “We got to follow -Marse Will an’ Marse Merne――but how do dis hyar Tobe know whar he -gwine?” - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a pointed ahead from her pony’s back. She had learned to -understand even York’s speech. She was very smart and quick. - -“Pony rub bark,” she said. For, as anybody ought to be able to -perceive, the snow-covered trail was marked above by places where -Indian pony packs had scuffed low-hanging branches. This to Peter was -very plain. - -This night the brown colt was killed, for supper. - -“I slept with me heels higher’n me head,” in the morning announced Pat. -“’Tis a fine country where a man can’t find a level spot to stretch -his bones over.” - -The next day the spotted colt was killed. Some of the men were growing -discouraged. After supper Captain Clark, lean but ruddy, his eyes tired -but steady, made a speech, with Captain Lewis seconding him. - -“We’re doing the best we can, men,” he said. “We’re bound to break our -way out into the lower country where there’ll be warmth and game and -friendly Indians. Why, it may be only a few miles ahead! We can’t turn -back. Behind us would be only disgrace. Before is glory, and the honor -of the flag. To-morrow I’m to scout for a better game country than we -are finding. The level grassy plains are the places for game; and I’ll -send you back word, and as like as not some fat meat, too.” - -“Hooray,” agreed the men, feebly. - -“Our hearts be strong but our stomicks be weak,” sighed Pat. - -“We’re nearly at the end of the colts,” added Alec Willard. “I’d as -soon eat my moccasins as chaw old hoss.” - -The next morning early Captain Clark, with Drouillard, Joe Fields, -Alec, John Colter, Hugh McNeal and George Shannon, the strongest of the -men, and good hunters all, rode ahead on picked horses to find, as they -expressed, “a level spot and game.” - -Old Toby and his son continued to guide. They were doing the best they -could, too. But surely this Pierced Nose trail was long and difficult. - -Now the only food left was some soup and bear-oil. Everybody was -feeling weak and miserable. But once the men started a cheer, for -they glimpsed, distant before, through a gap, a large broad valley or -plain――perhaps the end of the mountains and perhaps the country of the -Nez Percés or Pierced Noses. Then the mountains closed again and the -valley was swallowed up. - -On the third day, about ten o’clock, another shout was given. To a tree -beside the trail (the trees were getting larger, showing that the trail -was leading downward), in a little draw was hanging the carcass of a -horse; and to it was pinned by a splinter a note from Captain Clark: - - I am going on to some plains to the southwest. - Will find Indians and collect provisions for you. - - W. C. - -Sturdy Captain Clark, the Red Head chief! He could always be depended -upon. Captain Lewis’s thin face brightened under his tattered hat. - -“Load the meat, lads,” he ordered. “We’ll have a rousing dinner, this -day.” - -Ah, but at noon that horse tasted good, after soup and bear-oil! The -head was cut off and tossed aside; then with their knives everyone -slashed off thick steaks and roasted them on ramrods, over the fires. -Peter got his share. - -However, just as the march was about to proceed, the captain, who, as -usual, had paused to cast his eyes keenly along the line, exclaimed -sharply: - -“Where’s my pack animal, Cruzatte?” - -For Cruzatte was supposed to look after this horse and another. - -“I t’ought he follow,” stammered Cruzatte, who was quite sick. “I no -see heem. My gracious! Mebbe he in brush.” - -“Pshaw!” muttered the captain. Then he spoke energetically. “I must -have those saddle-bags. They’re of the utmost importance. Fields (and -he addressed Reuben), you’re pretty fit. Take a horse and another man -and go clear back to where we loaded the meat this morning. That’s -likely where the animal strayed, while we halted. Look for his tracks -and find him. Be sure and get the saddle-bags, in all events. Their -contents are valuable.” - -“Yes, sir,” responded Reuben. He looked about him doubtfully. And Peter -did an unexpected thing. Peter felt equal to any man. He was young -and wiry; his life among the Otoes had accustomed him to all kinds of -outdoor hardships. He had not had so much flesh and bones to carry as -had the men; he had walked lightly and straight-footed, as Indians -walked. - -“Take me, Reuben,” he said. “I’m all right. I find the horse.” - -“Faith,” supported Patrick Gass, “ye might do worse, Reub. Sure, the -lad’s as good as the best.” - -“If the captain has no objections――――?” proffered Reuben, with a grin, -“I think we’d make out first-rate.” - -“An excellent plan,” agreed the captain. “Take Peter, by all means. He -wants to do his part, and when it’s his turn to ride he’ll be easy on -the horse. He’s a regular woodsman, too. Look to your laurels, Reuben.” - -“Yes, sir,” grinned Reuben. - -So they set off; Reuben, with his rifle, at first on the horse; Peter, -with his bow and quiver, trotting alongside, holding to the saddle -thongs. After a time, they changed off; Peter rode and Reuben walked. - -They had left about three o’clock. It was dusk when they arrived at the -noon camp spot, on the other side of the high ridge. Not even a bird -had they seen, to kill for food. They had started in such a hurry that -they had brought nothing. But the horse’s head was still lying here, -untouched. - -“We’ll have to make shift with the head, Peter,” quoth Reuben. - -So they built a fire, and roasted the horse’s head, and ate it even to -the ears. Then they rolled in Reuben’s blanket and slept together. - -“We’ll find that hoss or bust,” declared Reuben, as in the morning -early, having finished the horse-head scraps, they again took the back -trail. Soon they arrived at the place where the horse carcass had been -packed――and sure enough, in the brush at one side were the tracks of a -horse that had wandered. - -They followed the tracks carefully, and soon they came to the saddle -bags, which had been scraped off from the horse’s back. Reuben put them -aboard the other horse. - -“Now for the critter himself,” he said. - -The tracks led on and on; and not until almost noon did they sight -the loose horse, grazing in a small open spot. He was too weak to be -wild, and they caught him easily by his dragging neck rope. Reuben -transferred the saddle bags, and clambered stiffly on. - -“We’ve a hoss apiece, anyhow, Peter,” he proclaimed. “But I’m so empty -I don’t cast a shadow. Come on, let’s take the cap’n his saddle bags.” - -Empty! Anyway――hooray! And now for “home.” - -Reuben, who was leading, suddenly pulled his horse short. He slipped -off, and resting his rifle on the horse’s back, took long aim. Two -grouse were sitting on a limb, craning their necks foolishly. Peter -could see the rifle muzzle waver; he himself felt as though he could -not draw his bow. The rifle cracked――the grouse went hurling. Good! -Reuben swiftly reloaded, and aimed――and down spun the other grouse. But -when they were picked up, both were in a pulp, from which dangled the -heads and legs. Reuben shook his own head dolefully. - -“And once I could clip off a bird’s head at fifty paces. Well, I was -lucky to hit ’em at all, for I can’t hold steady.” - -The two grouse made scarcely a couple of mouthfuls, so much of the -meat had been shot away. The next morning the horses had disappeared, -leaving only the saddle bags. Reuben finally shouldered them. - -“If we stay looking longer,” he said, “we’ll starve. I’ll tote these as -far as I can, Peter; and you can tote ’em as far as _you_ can. Between -us we’ll manage, for the cap’n’s got to have his saddle bags.” - -“You bet,” agreed Peter. - -That _was_ a journey! They struggled all day. The saddle bags, vowed -Reuben, gasping, weighed a ton――and what a ton might be, Peter did not -know, but at any rate it must be very heavy. Only toward late afternoon -did they sight, below and ahead, the captain’s party, on the edge of a -plain――_the_ plain. - -The party were moving briskly, as if encouraged. The captain was in -advance. Reuben and Peter quickened at their best. Would they never -overtake the other men? - -“Smoke, ain’t it, yonder?” panted Reuben. - -“Pierced Nose village, maybe, Reuben,” answered Peter. - -“Don’t I see Joe, with that crowd? Yes, and a strange Injun, too!” -panted Reuben. - -They hastened, dragging their numb legs, and lugging those saddle bags. -The party saw them, and halted; gave them a cheer. - -“Bully for yez!” greeted Pat. “We’ve arriv, in a land o’ plenty, -’mongst the Pierced Noses. Yez are in time.” - -Reuben saluted the captain, who had turned back. - -“The saddle bags, Cap’n, but we lost the hosses again.” - -“You’ve done well, both of you, lads,” praised the captain. “Joe’s -brought us some fish and roots, from Captain Clark. He’s waiting close -ahead, with the Pierced Noses. Get on a horse, each of you, and eat as -you ride. I think our troubles are over.” - -Within an hour they all were at the village of the Pierced Noses, -here on the open, fertile prairie of the kamass roots that tasted -like pumpkin; and Captain Clark and Chief Twisted-hair made them all -welcome. - - - - -XV - -HOORAY FOR THE PACIFIC! - - -How beautiful was this broad prairie beyond the mountains, here where -lived the Cho-pun-nish or Pierced Nose Indians while they caught salmon -in the rivers and the women dug the kamass roots! But the fish and the -roots were given so generously that all the party were made ill. - -The village was near the banks of the Koos-koos-kee. Twisted-hair, who -was the head chief, drew a map with charcoal on a white robe. He showed -that not far below, the Koos-koos-kee joined another river, and that -this river joined another river from the north, and the two combined -flowed west to the big water. - -“Tim-tim-m-m-m!” crooned all the Indians, imitating the noise of some -great falls that would be met. From the region of these falls and -below, came the beads and the brass ornaments traded to Indians by -white men. - -’Twas time to change from horses to canoes again. Five canoes were -hollowed by fire from tree trunks――for only a few of the men were -strong enough to swing an adze. All the horses were branded with the -army brand which bore the name “Capt. M. Lewis, U. S.,” and left in -charge of the Pierced Noses. Chief Twisted-hair promised that the -horses should be well taken care of, and would be waiting when the -white men asked for them again. - -“Well, I for one am glad to be away,” said George Shannon, when in the -morning of October 7 the canoes, laden and manned, their oar-blades -flashing, headed into mid-stream. “These Nez Percés are a good -people――’bout the best looking Injuns we’ve seen――but they’re mighty -independent. They don’t give anything for nothing.” - -“No. And they even hold us to small account because we eat dogs,” quoth -Joe Fields. “But if a man wants meat, in their village, it’s eat fish, -hoss or dog――an’ dog’s the only stuff with any strength.” - -That was true. Lacking better meat, the captains finally were buying -the Pierced Noses’ work-dogs――for dog-meat had been found good, back at -the Sioux camps on the Missouri. Drouillard and Cruzatte and the other -Frenchmen preferred it even to deer. But the Pierced Noses sneered at -the white “dog-eaters.” - -Why they were called “Pierced Noses” nobody could tell. However, old -Toby claimed that below there were other, real Pierced Noses, and also -real Flat-heads. - -Chief Twisted-hair and a second chief, Tetoh, were aboard the captains’ -canoe, to help the white men pass through the other villages, into the -“Tim-tim-m-m” river. - -As for old Toby and his son, on the third day out, during a halt they -suddenly were espied running away at top speed, and did not so much as -turn their heads. - -“They’re leaving without their pay! Send and get them, so we can pay -them,” cried Captain Lewis. - -Chaboneau grinned. - -“Dey ’fraid of ze tim-tim rapids. Ze chief say no use to pay dem, -anyhow. His people take ever’t’ing from dem when dey go t’rough -village.” - -Down, down, down with the swift current. The Koos-koos-kee joined the -other river, which, the captains figured, was the same river on whose -head-waters, far, far eastward, the camp of Chief Ca-me-ah-wait and -his Snakes had been located. The Lewis River did they name it, but on -modern maps it is the Snake. - -Now on down, down, down the rushing Snake. There were rapids, where -once or twice a canoe or two was wrecked; but this sort of travel -was easier than travel over the mountains, and easier than travel -_up_ stream. Many Indians were seen, fishing for the salmon. They -were friendly, and much astonished. They sent runners to other -villages, below, telling of the coming of white men; sometimes Chiefs -Twisted-hair and Tetoh also ran ahead, along the bank, that the -Indians might be ready. And on shore the Indian women made much of -Sa-ca-ja-we-a and little Toussaint. - -“If these white strangers travel with a woman and a baby, they cannot -be a war party,” reasoned the Indians. - -Down, down; until soon after dinner, on October 16, this 1805, the -course of another large river, coming in from the north, was sighted -before. The Columbia! It must be the Columbia, at last! Hooray! Hooray! -Hooray! Old Cruzatte, in the leading canoe, struck up a gay French -boat-song; Drouillard and Lepage and Labiche and Chaboneau chimed in. -Faster flashed the paddles. - -“We’ll land yonder,” shouted Captain Lewis, pointing to the right. “At -the junction. A lot of Indians seem to be waiting for us.” - -“Thanks to Twisted-hair,” jubilated Pat. “Sure, I see him――an’ the -other wan, too. When they left they said they’d meet us at the Tim-tim, -didn’t they? An’ it’s a big river, by the looks.” - -A great throng of Indians collected by Chiefs Twisted-hair and Tetoh -had collected on the shore just above where the two rivers joined. A -council, opened by a procession with drums, was held. These were Sokulk -Indians. They claimed to be kins-folk of the Twisted-hair Pierced -Noses, but their foreheads were flattened back so that their heads -ended in a peak, and therefore they were more like Flat-heads. They -were kind――and not very attractive, because their eyes were sore from -water glare and sun glare, and their teeth were bad from eating fish -and roots. - -Yes, this was the Columbia. The two captains measured it, and the -Snake. The width of the Snake was 575 yards, but the width of the -Columbia was 960 yards. - -“A noble stream,” remarked Captain Lewis. “I wonder how far to the -north it penetrates.” - -“Did you ever see so many fish, dead and alive, in all your life, -Merne?” exclaimed Captain Clark. “Why, the water swarms with them, and -I understand that the Indians use dried ones for fuel.” - -“We’ll buy more dogs, nevertheless, Will,” smiled Captain Lewis. “The -men can’t row and make portages on fish flesh alone.” - -A day and a half was spent with the curious Sokulks, here where -in southeastern Washington the Snake River unites with the mighty -Columbia, in the midst of a flat and pleasant plain. On October 18 the -five canoes swept out and down the Columbia itself. - -“How far now, Pat?” asked Peter. “To the big ocean?” - -“Thirty-siven hunderd miles have we come, by the captains’ reckonin’,” -answered Pat. “An’ belike ’tis four hunderd more to the Paycific.” - -“What do we do then, Pat?” - -“If there aren’t anny ships we’ll have to stay the winter. An’ in the -spring, barrin’ better luck, ’tis back we track over the four thousan’ -moils ag’in.” - -From the Sokulks had been procured another map, of the Columbia. It -showed many bad places――rapids and falls. Around some of these the -canoes had to be carried; through others they had to be hauled by hand, -or carefully lowered with ropes. The Indians ashore seemed very timid, -and hid. - -Captain Clark returned in high humor, from a walk ahead with Chaboneau -and Sa-ca-ja-we-a, and Chiefs Twisted-hair and Tetoh. He had shot a -white crane, and a teal duck, and then had entered an Indian house -that had been closed against him. The Indians had bowed before him, -and covered their heads. When he had lighted his peace-pipe with his -sun-glass, they had cried aloud in terror. - -“They thought me a god, Merne,” he laughed. “They had heard the gun, -had seen the two birds drop, and believed that I had dropped, too. -When I brought fire out of the sky, that finished the business. But I -quieted them with presents.” - -However, near the mouth of a river, Chief Yellept of the Walla Walla -Indians welcomed the white men, and wished them to stay. Captain Lewis -said that they would visit him on their way back. - -Chiefs Twisted-hair and Tetoh were sent ahead again, to assure the -Indians that the white men intended no harm. - -The first big falls, reached on October 23, were not the Tim-tim. The -Tim-tim was still below. But Chief Twisted-hair said that the Indians -down there were strangers to him, and unfriendly. He had heard that -they were planning to attack the white men. And as he could not speak -their language he wished to return to his own people. - -He was persuaded to stay――and Tetoh also――until the passage of the -Tim-tim. - -These first falls or rapids were very difficult; but the captains and -old Cruzatte consulted together, and decided to run them with the boats. - -“If ever’body follow me an’ do as I do, we get t’rough,” promised -Cruzatte, head boat-man. - -So, with Cruzatte leading, down through the wild channel of the first -rapids in the Dalles of the Columbia raced the canoes. And from -the rocky shores the Eneeshur Indians opened their mouths wide in -astonishment. - -“The Irish an’ Frinch together can lick the world,” boasted Pat. - -But the place of Tim-tim, or “Timm,” for short, was close ahead. It was -reached the next evening, and they camped above it, at a village of the -Echeloots, or Chinook Indians, who also flattened their hats, and spoke -more cluckingly than did even the Oo-tla-shoots. - -They were the enemies of the Pierced Noses, but they agreed upon peace, -in a council with Chief Twisted-hair. Now, after a final “smoke,” -Chiefs Twisted-hair and Tetoh left, on horses, for their home. They had -been good and faithful guides. - -The place of Timm, at the foot of the Dalles of the Columbia, is to-day -called the Long Narrows. It was three miles long and in some stretches -only fifty yards wide. But the canoes, guided by Cruzatte, went through -without one being wrecked. They had been badly battered, however, by -the many rocks; and the next day was spent in caulking them. That -night Cruzatte brought out his fiddle, a dance was held, about the -fire, and the Echeloots appeared much entertained. - -In the middle of the night, soon after the camp had gone to bed, Peter -was awakened by Pat’s suddenly squirming out of the blanket. - -“The fleas are ’atin’ me entoirely,” declared Pat. “Into the river goes -ivery stitch o’ me clothes.” - -Peter was glad to follow the example. By morning nearly all the men -were stripped, and needs must stalk about in blankets while their -clothing was being cleaned. - -“’Twas the mosquitoes east of the mountains,” laughed George Shannon. -“Now ’tis the fleas west of the mountains.” - -But the fleas were a slight matter, when amidst grand scenery the -Columbia River ever bore the canoes onward, toward the ocean and the -end of the long, long journey. - -After the Echeloots (whom the violin and the dancing had so entertained), -more Indians were met. The banks of this Columbia were thickly populated. -These Indians lived in wooden houses, too――houses walled and raftered -with planks faced and trimmed by fire or by knives and little axes. The -houses were furnished with bedsteads. - -“As good houses as some settlers’ houses back in the Illinois country,” -declared Captain Clark, who was constantly exploring among them. - -The canoes that the Indians cleverly managed were large, hollowed from -a single log, with high bows curving upward; farther on down, bows and -sterns both were high, and had figures of men and beasts. Some of the -Indians owned articles of white men’s manufacture, which they said came -from below. - -“What you say dese hyar Injuns call demselves, Marse Will?” York was -heard to ask. - -“Skilloots, York.” - -“An’ what were dose we met ’foh we met dese Galoots?” - -“The Chilluckittequaws, York.” - -“Jes’ so,” gasped York. “But _I_ ain’t gwine to say it.” - -On November 2 the canoes were partly carried around, partly slid -through, the rapids which formed the foot of other rapids termed by the -captains the Great Shute. Presently the river opened two miles wide, -and smooth and placid. That night the water rose nine inches on a stake -set at the river’s edge in front of the camp. - -“We’re in tidewater, lads!” announced Captain Lewis. “The ocean tides -ascend this far. That means there are no more rapids; the ocean itself -can’t be very distant.” - -Each night after this a stake was set out and the rise measured. Each -day the men sniffed for the smell of salt water and listened for the -sound of the surf. Sa-ca-ja-we-a was very much excited; she had come -especially to see the big water. - -During the night of November 4 the rise from the tide was two feet; -the next night’s rise was four feet. Ducks and geese were many. But it -rained almost every day, and every morning a fog hung low. - -On the morning of November 7 the camp rose and breakfasted in a wet -mist so dense that it hung on all sides like a gray curtain. - -“At this rate,” quoth Pat, as the canoes headed out into the silence, -“we’re liable to get half way to Chiny afore we know we’re on the -Paycific at all.” - -“I do believe I smell salt, though,” asserted George Shannon, -sniffing. “Sa-ca-ja-we-a’s been insisting, too, that she could hear a -‘boom-boom.’” - -“Listen!” bade Pat――and they paused on their oars. Peter thought that -he also could hear a “boom-boom,” low and dull, but he wasn’t certain. -They went on. - -The captains’ boat was being piloted by a Wah-kia-cum Indian, now: a -squat ugly man who wore a queer round jacket that, according to the -men, had come from a ship. The river was growing wider, the fog was -thinning and lifting――on a sudden the crew of the captains’ boat waved -their hats, pointed before, cheered wildly. The cheer passed from boat -to boat. For the fog ahead had swirled into fragments, and below it was -an expanse of tumbling gray water on which the sun was trying to shine. -Occasionally sounded a muffled “boom,” like the faint growl of summer -thunder. - -The Pacific Ocean! But they did not reach it this day; the fog closed -in again, and the rain. They did not reach it the next day, although -the waves were so high in this, the mouth of the Columbia, that half -the party were seasick; and the water was salty. They did not reach -it the next day, nor the next. Wind and rain kept beating them back. -Sa-ca-ja-we-a was frightened. - -“The spirits are angry. They do not want us here,” she whimpered, -crouching over little Toussaint, under a grass mat raised on a pole. - -“The only way we’ll reach the sea is to be washed into it,” groaned -Pat. “Sure, don’t the very stones an’ logs come a-rollin’ down the -hills? Now for the first time I wish I hadn’t started, an’ here I am at -the ind!” - -Yes, miserable were they all. There was no chance to dry clothing and -food, and scarcely an opportunity to stir. The mouth of the river -formed a wind-swept bay miles wide. The captains thought that if camp -might only be moved around a point ahead, and to a high sand beach, -it would be more comfortable. A deserted Indian village stood there, -with no inhabitants “except fleas”; and, as Pat said: “We’ll be all the -warmer for the exercise they give us.” - -Not until the afternoon of November 15 did the opportunity to move -come. The sky cleared, the wind suddenly dropped; the canoes were -reloaded in a hurry, and the point was rounded. - -Now the ocean was in full sight, outside the bay; from the boards of -the Indian houses rude cabins were erected; hunters and explorers were -sent out. - - - - -XVI - -THE WINTER AT FORT CLATSOP - - -But no ships from the United States or any other nation were to be -found. Only the long gray swells appeared, as far as eye could see, -rolling in to burst thunderously upon the white sands and the naked -rocks; and the only people ashore were the Indians. Ships and white men -had been here, said the Indians, during the summer; and many of the -Indians spoke a curious mixture of English and native words. Captain -Lewis discovered a place, in the bay, where white men had camped. - -A high point overlooking the lonely ocean was given the name Cape -Disappointment. - -“Now, wouldn’t it have been a fine end to our trip from the Mississippi -clane to the Paycific if a nice big ship all stocked with flour an’ -p’taties an’ boots an’ socks had been waitin’ for us,” quoth Pat. -“Sure, mebbe the United States has forgotten us.” - -“We’ll have to build winter quarters at once, Will,” said Captain -Lewis. “The rain is rotting all our goods and clothes, and spoiling our -provisions. We must get under cover. There’ll be no ships before next -summer, according to the Indians.” - -“Timber for cabins, wood for fires, game and fresh water for the -messes, and shelter from the ocean tides――let’s look about, then,” -answered Captain Clark. “The Indians say that skins and meat are -abundant a little way south.” - -Captain Lewis found it――a good site, on the south side of the bay -formed by the mouth of the Columbia, and three miles up a little river -called to-day the Lewis and Clark River. It was back ten miles from the -ocean, and in the midst of tall pines, with great shaking bogs near, on -which elk fed. - -The first fair morning, which was December 7, camp was moved to the new -grounds. - -The walls of the seven cabins rose fast; and when it came time to put -on the roofs, Pat, the boss carpenter, was delighted to find a species -of pine that split into boards ten feet long, and two feet wide, with -never a knot or crack. - -“The finest puncheons I iver have seen,” he asserted, “for floors -an’ roofs both. We’ll be snug an’ dry in a jiffy, an’ all ready for -Christmas.” - -“It’s a far cry back to last Christmas, Pat,” spoke George. “We’ve come -through a lot of country.” - -“An’ here we are,” reminded Pat. - -Yes; Christmas――Peter’s first Christmas――was indeed a long way behind. -That Christmas of 1804 had been celebrated in new Fort Mandan among -the Mandans and Minnetarees beside the snowy Missouri River. What were -Chiefs Big White and Black Cat doing now? Was Fort Mandan being kept -ready for the return of the Long Knife and the Red Head? - -This Christmas of 1805 was celebrated in new Fort Clatsop, among the -flat-headed Clatsops and Chinooks and Cathlamets at the mouth of the -rainy Columbia River. The men fired a volley, before breakfast, and in -front of the captains’ door old Cruzatte, accompanied by Drouillard and -the other Frenchmen, sang a lively Christmas song. But there was no -feast, because the only food in stock was some roots, pounded fish, and -lean elk meat. The captains distributed a little tobacco to the men who -smoked, and Peter and the men who did not use tobacco received each a -handkerchief. - -The rain poured all day, but the cabins were tight above and below, so -that everybody stayed dry and warm. - -Now the expedition might settle down to the winter’s routine. Chimneys -were yet to be put up for the men’s cabins――fires were tried, in open -hearths in the middle of the rooms, Indian fashion, and proved too -smoky. A fence of high, close pickets, as at Fort Mandan, needs must be -erected to guard against attack. - -The captains’ cabin had been built around a large stump, smoothly -sawed; this was their writing table, on which they spread their maps -and journals. Captain Clark had traded with the Indians for a panther -skin seven feet long; this made a good rug. York occupied the same -cabin. Chaboneau was the captains’ cook; he and Sa-ca-ja-we-a and -little Toussaint lived in another room, built on. The men were divided -into four messes, each with a cook, and the supplies were doled out -from the storehouse every morning. - -Drouillard, the chief hunter, and George Shannon, John Collins, -Francois Labiche and Reuben Fields were sent out to hunt for elk and -deer; but the meat spoiled so quickly, even although smoked, in this -damp climate, that Joe Fields, William Bratton, Alec Willard, George -Gibson and Peter Wiser were ordered to the seashore with kettles, to -make salt. - -They built a furnace or fireplace, of stones, and boiled down -kettlesful of salt water. They brought back a gallon of good salt, for -table use and for preserving the meat. All winter the salt-makers were -kept at work. Peter served his turn. - -The hunters were constantly out, chasing elk over the bogs. The meat -not eaten was salted and smoke-dried; from the tallow, candles were -run, in reed moulds; and from the hides the men made shirts and -trousers and moccasins, in preparation for the next journey. The -captains determined that the whole party should return by land, as soon -as the travel season opened. No ship was to be expected. - -The captains led out exploring parties. Captain Clark gained a great -reputation as a shot; with a single ball no larger than a pea he -clipped off the heads of geese and ducks. - -“Kloshe musquet! Kum-tux musquet!” exclaimed the Indians. “Very good -musket! Do not understand this kind of musket!” - -Their own guns were rusty flint-locks, loaded with poor powder and -gravel. Their bows were beautiful and true, but were not strong enough -for killing elk. They were not nearly so strong as the bows of the -Otoes and the Sioux, decided Peter; not nearly so strong as his own -Mandan bow. - -The Indians from all around visited the fort. The Chinooks, under Chief -Com-com-ly, who had only one eye (“Same as me,” chuckled Cruzatte), -lived on the north side of the bay; on this south side lived the -Clatsops, under Chief Co-bo-way. Nearer the sea lived the Tilla-mooks. -Up the Columbia River lived Cath-lam-ets. These all looked much alike, -being small, ugly, and flat-footed and crooked-legged from squatting so -much in their canoes and by their fires. - -They were well acquainted with white men. One squaw had the name “J. -Bowman” tattooed on her arm. The captain spent much time talking with -them, and learned of the ships and the white traders who had been in -here. - -“Tyee (chief) Haley; so many mast (and Chief Com-com-ly held up three -fingers); stay long.” - -And―――― - -“Callalamet; wood leg; trader.” - -And―――― - -“Tyee Davidson; three mast; hunt elk.” - -And so forth, all of which the captains, particularly Captain Lewis, -carefully wrote down. - -The visitors brought provisions and goods to trade: fish, a little elk -and deer, high-crowned hats woven of grass and bark, grass bowls that -held water, so tight they were; grass mats, furs. Some of the chiefs -wore splendid robes of sea-otter skin. These were priced very dear, for -the Indians were shrewd traders. They wanted fish-hooks, knives, and -files, in exchange for ordinary articles; but only blue beads would buy -the otter-skin robes. - -For one otter-skin robe Captain Clark offered a watch, a handkerchief, -a dollar, and a bunch of red beads. - -“No, no! Tyee ka-mo-suck!” refused the Indian. “Chief beads.” - -But Sa-ca-ja-we-a gave to the captain her own girdle of blue “chief -beads,” and for it he bought a robe. - -There were several new roots that the men grew to like. One root, -sha-na-taw-hee, was a thistle root, purple after it had been roasted. - -“Tastes like a parsnip, only swater,” declared Pat. - -Another root was cul-whay-ma; two feet long and slender. It also was -sweet and wholesome. But the best root was the wappatoo――“a rale Irish -p’tatie,” said Pat. - -This was brought down by Skilloots and the Wah-ki-a-cums, from -up-river. It was a species of lily, and grew in the lakes. The Indian -women waded in, breast-deep, and poking with their toes loosened the -bulbs, which rose then to the surface. That was cold work. - -The wappatoo roots were held at a rather stiff figure, because they -could be traded to the other Indians, if not to the white men. - -The Clatsops were the best Indians. The Cath-lam-ets were treacherous; -one would have killed Hugh McNeal had not a Chinook woman warned Hugh. -The Chinooks were thievish. - -“No Chinook shall be admitted into the fort without special invitation,” -finally ordered Captain Lewis. - -So after that when Indians appeared outside they always shouted: “No -Chinook. Clatsop.” Or “Skilloot,” or whatever they chanced to be or -pretended to be. Another order was issued that no Indians should remain -in the fort over night. - -The Indians brought many fleas, too――“the wan thing for which we’ve -nothin’ to trade,” as said Pat. - -The greatest excitement of the winter was the arrival of a whale. Chief -Co-bo-way of the Clatsops came with the news, and also with three dogs -and some blubber. He said that the whale had been stranded ashore near -the Tillamooks’ village down the coast. He was given a pair of old -satin breeches, and went away much pleased. - -Joe Fields and George Gibson appeared at the fort with the gallon of -salt from the salt camp, and with some more of the whale blubber. They -said that the Indians all were flocking to the whale and cutting it up. -The blubber, when cooked, looked and tasted like beaver tail――it was -very good; and Captain Clark immediately organized a party to go to -the spot and get what blubber they might. - -Naturally, everybody was anxious to see the whale. - -“You’d better take Peter, hadn’t you, Captain?” suggested Captain -Lewis. “He’s a boy――he ought to see what there is to be seen.” - -“By all means,” agreed Captain Clark. “Do you know what a whale is, -Peter?” - -“A big fish,” answered Peter, eagerly. - -“Yes; a big warm-blooded fish; a fish bigger than a buffalo.” - -Now, Sa-ca-ja-we-a had heard; she had helped Chaboneau cook the blubber -for the captains. But she had not been invited to go. In fact, all this -time the Bird-woman had not been even so far as the big water. She had -worked in the fort. - -Suddenly she did a very surprising thing, for an Indian woman. When she -believed that she was to be left out of the sightseeing party, she wept. - -“Why you want to go?” scolded Chaboneau. “Ze capitaines no haf time to -wait for woman with baby. You stay by ze lodge fire; dat is place for -womans.” - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a tilted her chin at him and went straight to Captain Clark. - -“Capitin! I speak a leetle.” - -“What is it, Sa-ca-ja-we-a?” - -“I come long way, capitin. I carry baby, I cold, hungry, wet, seeck, -I keep up an’ I no complain. I show you trail; when you no know which -way, I say ‘Snake people here,’ an’ you find Snakes. When Indians see -me, dey say: ‘Dis no war party,’ an’ dey kind to you. When you get -hungry for bread, I gif you one leetle bit I carry all way from Mandan -town, so you can taste. When you want otter robe, I gif you my belt, -an’ you get otter robe. I been here all dis time, an’ I not yet go near -de big water dat I travel many days to see. Now dere is a big fish; -odders go, Chaboneau say I mus’ stay an’ care for Toussaint an’ help -cook. I feel bad, capitin――I――I――――” and poor little Bird-woman hid her -face in her shawl and sobbed. - -The captain placed his hand kindly upon her shoulder. - -“You shall go, Sa-ca-ja-we-a. You shall go with us and see the ocean -and the big fish; and Chaboneau can stay by the fire and tend to the -baby.” - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a smiled and dried her eyes. Very proud, she made ready. -But Chaboneau went, too――because he, likewise, wished to inspect the -great wonder which had been cast ashore. - -The whale was 105 feet long. The busy Indians had stripped it to the -bones, and with difficulty Captain Clark managed to buy 300 pounds of -blubber and some oil. - -Thus, with hunting, trading, and making garments of leather, the winter -passed. An astonishingly mild winter it was, too, of little frost and -wet snow, but of much rain and fog which gave the men rheumatism, and -which, by spoiling the food and cutting down exercise, gave them boils -and stomach complaint, also. - -The captains were constantly hoping for a ship and fresh supplies. None -was sighted. - -So February merged with March. The elk were retiring from the low -country to the high, following the grass. On some days the fort had -only one day’s provisions in store. - -“I can find no elk, notting,” complained Drouillard, the chief hunter. - -The Indians hoarded their own food very close, to make it last until -the salmon began to run again, in the spring. - -“Six blue blankets, wan red wan, five striped wans that used to be our -big United States flag, some old breeches an’ waistcuts, an’ Cap’n -Clark’s artillery dress-coat an’ hat――faith, that’s all we’ve got an’ -at prisent prices they wouldn’t buy a square meal,” reported Patrick -Gass. “We’ll be atin’ ourselves naked.” - -“Dose t’ings be need’ for boats an’ hosses,” said Cruzatte. “Of de -leetle t’ings we haf scarce one hat full. How we go back four t’ousand -miles I do not know.” - - - - -XVII - -FRIENDLY YELLEPT, THE WALLA WALLA - - -“Drouillard,” spoke Captain Lewis, “we must have another canoe. These -Indians down here won’t sell us any. Try what you can do up the river.” - -It was the middle of March. The captains had intended to wait until -at least the first of April, before starting on the back trail, so as -not to arrive at the mountains until June. Then the snows would have -melted, and there would be game. But meat already was extremely scarce -around Fort Clatsop; the expedition would better start at once, and -hunt along the way. - -“I try de Cath-lam-et――dey haf canoes,” answered Drouillard. “But dey -will hol’ dem dear. I t’ink I must take de best t’ings we haf. Mebbe -you let me take your lace coat, capitaine?” - -“What! My only dress uniform?” exclaimed Captain Lewis. “Why not that -artillery coat?” - -“But that’s mine!” laughed Captain Clark. - -“One day a Cath-lam-et see your lace coat an’ like it. I sure I get -canoe for it,” persisted Drouillard. - -“All right,” sighed Captain Lewis. “Another canoe we must have. I’ll -hold councils in my leather clothes.” - -So the canny Drouillard, who was half Indian himself, went up the -Cath-lam-ets and traded the laced dress-coat for a canoe. - -Sergeant Pat was ordered to count the moccasins in stock. He reported -338 pairs, manufactured during the winter from the hides of the 131 elk -and twenty deer that had been killed. - -To Chief Co-bo-way (or Com-mo-wool), of the Clatsops, was given the -fort and all its furniture. He had been exceedingly friendly; and now -he appeared to appreciate the gift very much. - -“I will make my home in the house where the white chiefs lived,” he -declared. - -Captain Lewis and Captain Clark and several of the men had long before -carved their names into trees, as a record for other white men to see. -And there, on a rock, also was “PETER.” During the winter Peter had -made great progress in reading and writing. However, something more -official and explanatory than only inscriptions on trees was needed, -that the trading ships which came in might know and might carry -the news to the world. Therefore the captains wrote out statements -containing the names of the party and maps of the country explored. The -notices said: - - The object of this list is, that through the medium of some - civilized person, who may see the same, it may be made known to - the world that the party consisting of the persons whose names - are hereunto affixed, and who were sent out by the government - of the United States to explore the interior of the continent - of North America, did penetrate the same by the way of the - Missouri and Columbia Rivers, to the discharge of the latter - into the Pacific Ocean, where they arrived on the 14th day of - November, 1805, and departed the 23rd day of March, 1806, on - their return to the United States, by the same route by which - they had come out. - -One copy was pasted up on a smooth post in the headquarters cabin. -Other copies were given to the Clatsops and the Chinooks, who promised -to hand them to white traders. - -“Sure, we’ll beat the news home,” asserted Sergeant Pat. “For the -ships’ll be a long time makin’ it, by Chiny an’ the inds o’ the world, -while it’s straight across we go.” - -And this proved truth. Had the captains only known, at the very time -the notices were being written, the American trading brig Lydia, of -Boston, Captain Hill, was cruising along the coast, and in the first -week of April anchored in the mouth of the Columbia. But the other -Americans had been gone two weeks, and Chief Coboway was ruler of Fort -Clatsop. So Captain Hill took one of the statements, carried it to -China with him, and delivered it at Boston not until May, 1807. - -At 1 o’clock of March 23, this 1806, Fort Clatsop was abandoned; out -into the little river that flowed past it the five canoes glided, and -headed down for the Columbia――thence eastward which was _homeward_! - -The men swung their hats, of tattered felt, of furs, and of Chinook -weave from grass and bark; and cheered. - -“De nex’ winter we spen’ in de United States,” rejoiced Cruzatte. “I -play my feedle at Cahokia an’ make de pleasure dere.” - -“We’ve come away with plenty powder and lead, and plenty salt; that’s -one good job,” remarked Pat. - -The powder, sealed in lead canisters, had kept splendidly. Now there -were 140 pounds of it. And as to salt――twelve gallons had been packed. - -“It’s been not such a bad winter, after all, even if we did have only -six clear days in six months,” laughed George Shannon. “Now we’ll soon -be rid of our rheumatism.” - -Spring had arrived; for although the weather continued wet and raw, -wild fowl were feeding in the ponds, the gooseberry and honeysuckle -were leaving forth in the parks, and the frogs were croaking in the -marshes. Many Indians were met; they were gathering along the river, to -wait for the salmon to run up from the sea. - -“Next full moon,” said the Indians. “No salmon till next full moon.” - -“The second of May, that is,” figured Captain Lewis. “Well, we can’t -wait. We’ll have to depend on our guns; for if we wait, winter will -overtake us on the Missouri. Where there’s nothing to shoot, we can -live for a time on dogs and horses.” - -The Indians seemed poor and starving. Captain Clark was told of a -large river emptying from the south: the Multnomah, which is the -Willamette. He ascended it a short distance, and there found some of -the Neer-cho-ki-oo tribe. They refused to sell him any wappatoo roots. -But he tossed a match into a fire; it blazed and frightened them. He -placed a magnet on his compass, and whirled the compass needle ’round -and ’round. The women and children crawled under the bed-covers, and -the men piled wappatoo roots at his feet. The captain liked to do this -sort of thing. - -He returned from among the Multnomahs with roots and five dogs. - -The Indians were not all friendly, especially those new tribes who had -traveled to await the salmon. The Clah-clel-lahs threw stones at the -canoes, and stole things; John Shields had to defend himself with his -hunting-knife. The Wah-clel-lahs stole the little black Assiniboine -dog. Captain Lewis, who was very fond of the little dog, immediately -sent Sergeant Pryor, Drouillard and Hugh McNeal to get it even if they -had to shoot the thieves. The thieves ran off and left the dog. And in -the village of the Skilloots Captain Lewis knocked down an Indian who -was carrying off a valuable piece of iron. - -Among the Skilloots, here, quite a number of articles were lost; so -that Captain Lewis made a speech, to say that he and his men were not -afraid and were able to burn the village if necessary to stop the -thieving. - -“Yessuh! Dese hyah Galloots’d better watch out,” agreed York. “Marse -Merne an’ Marse Will are offishurs of the ’Nited States ahmy.” - -However, from the Skilloots ten horses were purchased with blankets -and Captain Clark’s artillery coat and two kettles, and two more were -borrowed. William Bratton was too ill to walk, and rode one of the -horses. Nine others were loaded with the baggage, to take it around the -rapids. One horse was stolen, and Captain Clark rode the twelfth up to -the village of the E-nee-shurs. - -Three of the canoes were broken up for fuel. The captains hoped soon to -travel altogether by horses; canoe work, against the current, was slow, -hard work. - -“An amazin’ disagrayable people,” commented Sergeant Pat, on the -Skilloots. “But Twisted-hair and his Pierced Noses’ll be gintlemen.” - -The E-nee-shurs were no better in manners and honesty. The horse -Chaboneau was leading ran away, and spilled his pack; an E-nee-shur -made off with a fine robe, and before it was returned Captain Lewis had -to utter more threats. - -All in all, the trip up-river was very vexing, until, finally having -collected enough horses for the baggage, so as to do without any -canoes, the party arrived on April 27 at the Walla Walla village where -lived Chief Yellept who last October had wanted them to stay longer -with him. - -“We will visit you on our way back,” had promised Captain Clark. Now -here they were――and Chief Yellept was glad indeed to see them. - -He met them a few miles below the village. - -“Come and stay with me three or four days,” he said to the captains. -“You shall have more horses, and plenty food. I am wearing the little -medal given me from my white father; I hope that you will give me a -bigger one.” - -The village was six miles above, opposite the mouth of the Walla Walla -River. Chief Yellept made good his word. He called his people together, -to tell them that they must be hospitable to the white strangers; and -he set an example by bringing the captains an armful of wood and a -platter of three baked fish. Then all the Walla Walla squaws busied -themselves with gathering wood for their guests. Dogs were offered at -reasonable prices. - -“Dese Wallow-wallows ’mos’ like home folks,” declared York. - -Forsooth, it was difficult to get away from the village, so friendly -were Chief Yellept’s people. The chief appeared to have taken a great -fancy to the Red Head, and presented him with a noble white horse. - -“If the Red Head will give me a kettle, for my lodge, I will be happy,” -said Yellept. - -Among the Walla Wallas there was a Snake Indian prisoner, with whom -Sa-ca-ja-we-a, much to her delight, could talk in Sho-sho-ne; and the -Snake could translate for her the Walla Walla speech. - -“Tell the Sho-sho-ne to tell Chief Yellept that we have no kettles to -give,” directed Captain Clark, to the little Bird-woman. “But we will -be pleased to give him something else.” - -“Yellept say he take what you gif,” interpreted Sa-ca-ja-we-a. - -“He’s a fine fellow. You’ll have to give him your sword, Will,” -suggested Captain Lewis. “He’s been wanting it, you know.” - -“All right. Believe I’ll do it. I couldn’t transfer it to better -hands,” quoth Captain Clark. “That’s the last of my official garb, -Merne――and you haven’t much left yourself!” - -Chief Yellept’s eyes shone as he accepted the prized “long knife”; and -shone again when to it were added powder and a hundred bullets for his -gun. Now he was a big chief, indeed. - -The Bird-woman had spread the word that the white chiefs were great -workers in medicine: with their magic box and their wonderful knowledge -they healed all sicknesses. Now to Captain Clark and Captain Lewis -the Walla Wallas brought broken arms, stiff knees, and sore eyes, for -treatment. The captains did their best. - -Not until the second morning, following a grand dance by the Indians, -at the camp, might the expedition start onward. Chief Yellept had -informed them of a short cut, across country, from the mouth of the -Walla Walla River to the Pierced Nose country at the Kooskooskee; a -Skilloot, who had been guiding the expedition by land, said that he -knew the trail, and a Pierced Nose who, with his family, was returning -home from a visit below, volunteered to help also; Chief Yellept lent -the captains two canoes, for crossing the Columbia to the south side at -the mouth of the Walla Walla, where the new trail began. - -“The most hospitable, honest and sincere Indians we have met since -leaving the United States, Merne,” asserted Captain Clark, when they -had been overtaken, a day’s journey out, by three Walla Walla young men -who had hastened after to restore to them a beaver-trap that had been -forgotten. - - - - -XVIII - -THE PIERCED NOSES AGAIN - - -“The white men are coming back! The white men are coming!” sped the -glad word among the Cho-pun-nish or Pierced Noses, in their villages -100 miles up, on the Kooskooskee. “They will make us well.” - -And the white men were indeed coming, by the trail from the Walla Walla, -with the Snake Indian prisoner and Sa-ca-ja-we-a as interpreters; with -the Skilloot and the three Walla Walla young men as guides (for the -Pierced Nose and family had taken another trail); with some twenty -horses, for the baggage, and for William Bratton, and for the men who -had sore feet; and with the healing medicine box containing, especially, -the celebrated eye-water. - -“Let us wance get the horses we left with Twisted-hair an’ we’ll all -ride, b’gorry,” quoth Sergeant Pat, limping along. - -“On ze Kamass Prairie dere will be plenty root, plenty game,” rejoiced -Chaboneau. “An’ mebbe dere we rest, while leetle Toussaint get well.” -For little Toussaint seemed to be ailing. - -First they were met, before reaching any village, by an old friend, -Chief We-ah-koo-nut, and ten warriors. We-ah-koo-nut was called the -Bighorn, because he always wore, hanging from his left arm, the horn -of a mountain ram. - -“We have heard that you were coming, and have ridden to greet you,” -said Bighorn. “The sight of you makes our sore eyes well. We have -no food for you here, but to-morrow you will reach a lodge where -everything will be supplied.” - -Before breakfast, in the morning, the lodge was found, on the bank of -the Lewis or Snake River; but the families living there could supply -only two dogs and some root bread. - -Next was met Chief Tetoh, or Sky――the honest fellow who, with -Twisted-hair, had helped the expedition get through from the Kamass -Prairie to the Timm falls of the Columbia. - -“Glad to see you. You are welcome,” exclaimed Tetoh. - -“Where is Chief Twisted-hair? We have come to visit our friends, the -Pierced Noses, again, and to get our horses,” explained Captain Lewis. - -“You must cross the Kin-oo-e-nim (Snake River), here, and go to -the Kooskooskee,” replied Chief Tetoh. “There you will find the -Twisted-hair, who has your horses.” - -So they crossed, in canoes lent to them by Tetoh, and arrived at the -Kooskooskee or Clearwater. - -“Eye-water, eye-water,” begged the Indians. Captain Clark traded a -small bottle of the eye-water for a gray mare. - -“You’re the doctor, Will,” laughed Captain Lewis. “From now on we’d -better charge a fee. We’ll get more meat that way than with our guns or -goods.” - -Accordingly Captain Clark, who handled the medicines, exchanged his -services for provisions. But the Indians appeared to be very poor, and -the “doctor’s” fees in dogs and horses and roots did not amount to much. - -“Marse Will won’t nebber make a libbin’ at doctorin’, dat’s suah,” -finally admitted York, with a shake of his head. “Anyhow, he ain’t -killed anybody yet.” - -Chief Twisted-hair’s village was up the Kooskooskee some miles. Chief -Sky, and another chief named Cut-nose, rode along with the captains. -When questioned about the horses and the saddles, they would give no -straight answer; but―――― - -“S’pose no get ’um horse, no get ’um saddle,” said Sa-ca-ja-we-a. - -“Why is that?” - -“Sho-sho-ne say he hear saddles gone, horses gone.” - -That was alarming news. - -“An’ Twisted-hair seemed like a fine gintleman,” bemoaned Sergeant Pat. - -“We can get more horses, can’t we, Pat?” queried Peter. “We see lots of -horses.” - -“Yes, an’ how’ll we buy ’em, when each man of us is down to a couple o’ -needles, a bit of thread an’ a yard or so of ribbon, with a pinch o’ -paint for an extry?” retorted Pat. “We’ll have to cut the buttons off -our clothes, I guess. Cross the mountains on foot ag’in we won’t an’ -can’t. They’re waist-deep in snow.” - -For the mountains were looming ahead, white and wintry, although this -was May. - -“The Twisted-hair,” announced Chief Sky, pointing before. And Chief -Twisted-hair, with six men, met the procession. - -Twisted-hair was not at all in a good humor. He refused to shake hands, -he scarcely noticed the captains, and suddenly he and Cut-nose (a very -ugly man whose nose had been laid open by a Snake lance, in battle) -were quarreling in a loud voice. - -“What’s this all about, Chaboneau?” demanded Captain Lewis. “Ask -Sa-ca-ja-we-a to have the Sho-sho-ne interpret.” - -“Ze Sho-sho-ne will not,” reported Chaboneau. “He say dees is quarrel -between two chiefs an’ he haf no right to interfere.” - -“We’ll go on a bit and camp and hold a council, Will,” directed Captain -Lewis to Captain Clark. “Then we’ll get at the bottom of this business. -There’s evidently something wrong with the horses and saddles we left.” - -At camp the captains first smoked and talked with Twisted-hair. He said -it was true that the horses were scattered, but Cut-nose and another -chief, the Broken-arm, were to blame. They had been jealous of him -because he had the white men’s horses; and being an old man, he had -given up the horses. Some were near, and some were at the village of -the Broken-arm, a half-day’s march east. As for the saddles, the cache -had fallen in and they might have been stolen, but he had hidden them -again. - -Then the Cut-nose talked. He said that the Twisted-hair was a bad old -man, of two faces; that he had not taken care of the horses but had -let his young men ride them, to hunt, until the Broken-arm, who was a -higher chief, and he, Cut-nose, had forbidden. - -“It is not well that the chiefs quarrel,” reproved Captain Lewis. “Only -children quarrel. We will take what horses there are here and we will -go on to the village of the Broken-arm, for the other horses.” - -This seemed to satisfy everybody. Twisted-hair’s young men brought in -twenty-one of the forty-three horses and half the saddles, besides some -of the powder and lead that had been buried, also. That night Cut-nose -and Twisted-hair slept together. - -The Broken-arm and his Nez Percés lived in one large straw-and-mud -house 150 feet long. Over it was flying the United States flag that had -been given to the nation on the way down last fall. Broken-arm ordered -a hide tent erected for the white chiefs; his women hastened there with -roots and fish; and when the captains offered to trade a lean horse for -a fat one which might be killed, Broken-arm declined. - -“When our guests come hungry, we do not sell them food,” he declared. -“We have many young horses. All those you see on these plains belong -to me and my people. Take what you need for food.” - -“Niver before did we have the Injuns offer us somethin’ for nothin’,” -gasped Patrick Gass. “At laste, niver before were we told to go help -ourselves!” - -“The Walla Wallas were as obliging. Don’t forget the Walla Wallas, and -Yellept,” reminded George Shannon. - -Two weeks were spent near the big house of the Broken-arm, for whom -another name was Black Eagle. Captain Clark was appointed official -doctor; he had fifty patients at a time. Captain Lewis held a council, -and told the warriors about the United States. They promised to make -peace with the Sho-sho-nes. Labiche killed a bear. - -“These are great hunters. They kill the bear, alone,” exclaimed the -Pierced Noses. - -Hunters were sent out every day, to get bear, and deer, and -elk――whatever they could. The other men were sent out to trade for -roots and fish. - -Little Toussaint grew better. William Bratton could not walk, but he -was put into a hut of boughs and blankets built over a hole in which -there had been a fire. Water was sprinkled into the hole. The hot -steam soaked William through and through. He was then plunged into -cold water, and sweated again in the hut. This was Indian treatment, -not white man’s. And it cured Bratton, after even Doctor Red Head had -failed. - -Most of the saddles and all the horses except two were delivered. These -two, said Broken-arm, had been stolen last fall by old Toby and his son -on their way back to Chief Ca-me-ah-wait. There now were sixty-five -horses on hand――enough for the baggage and for the men. Everybody -might ride. So much food had been purchased, that buttons (as Pat had -predicted) were being traded in, and John Shields, blacksmith, was -making awls out of the links of a beaver-trap chain. - -“We must start on, or we won’t reach Fort Mandan before winter,” -announced Captain Lewis. - -“No, no,” objected Twisted-hair and Sky, and all. “Too much snow. Much -water come down. The trail over the mountains is not open. Wait till -the next full moon, and the snows will have melted.” - -“The salmon will soon be running up the river. Wait, and you shall have -food,” said Cut-nose. - -“If the white chiefs are hungry, let them kill and eat my horses,” said -Chief Ho-has-til-pilp, the Red Wolf, with a wave of his arm. - -“We thank the Red Wolf. But we shall need guides. Will the chiefs send -some young men with us, to show us the way over the mountains?” asked -Captain Lewis. - -“When there is grass for the horses, on the Road-to-the-Buffalo, we -will send young men,” promised Chief Broken-arm. “But not until after -the grand council of all the Pierced Nose nation, on the Kamass -Prairie. In the summer we will all go to the buffalo plains of the -Missouri, if the white chiefs will protect us from the Snakes and -Pahkees.” - -“Hold high the peace flag we have given you, and it will turn your -enemies into friends,” instructed Captain Lewis. - -The Grand Council was not to be held for two or three weeks yet. By the -close of the first week of June the river had fallen six feet, showing -that the snows were partially melted. The captains decided to push -along without guides. - -“We cannot wait till July and the full moon, boys,” declared Captain -Lewis, in an address to the company. “It’s only 160 miles from the -Kamass Prairie to our old camp on the other side at Traveler’s Rest -Creek, and there we’ll be done with the snow. If no guides overtake us, -Drouillard and Labiche and some of the rest of you are as good trailers -as the Indians, and can lead us through.” - -“Hooray!” cheered all. They were as anxious as the captains to go. -They were in fine fettle. They had been playing prisoner’s base, among -themselves, and had been running foot-races with the Nez Percés, to -harden their muscles. In the races only one Indian had proved as fast -as Peter and John Colter, the American champions. - -Now on June 10 camp was broken, and the march to the mountains begun. - -“Ten days’ll see us through,” confidently declared Pat. - - - - -XIX - -BACK ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS - - -Traveler’s Rest Creek, at last! But Pat’s “ten days” had lengthened -into twenty, for this was June 29. - -There had been good reason. To be sure, the Kamass Prairie had been -found all abloom with the kamass, so that the host of pale petals had -made it look like a lake. The wild roses were in flower; the ground -squirrels were busy, and supplied tender tidbits. But when the company -tried to climb they encountered snow fifteen feet deep, covering the -grass and the trail, and the air was that of winter. Game was very -scarce. - -The captains shook their heads, and called a council of the company. - -“We can’t go on in this fashion, men,” said Captain Lewis. “Already -we’re short of food, and so are the horses. Even if we knew the trail, -and could travel at our best, we’ve four days yet until we reach grass -on the other side. If we lost the trail, in the snow, we’d be lost, -too. So Captain Clark and I have decided that we all must return to the -Kamass Prairie, kill more meat, and see if the Nez Percés won’t furnish -us with guides. The snow holds the horses up, and with experienced -guides we can make good time. Failing of guides, we’ll try again, -anyway――sending our best woodsmen ahead to note the marks on the -trees and to blaze the trail. But first, Drouillard and Shannon will -start back immediately, to the Nez Percé grand council, which is now -in session, and offer two guns for some guides. They’ll join us on the -prairie.” - -This sounded sensible, although everybody did hate to retrace steps. -The going down, amidst snow-hidden rocks and timber, was cruel work. - -Drouillard and George Shannon were gone for almost a week. When they -reappeared they brought three young Nez Percés warriors as guides. Then -a quick trip was made. The first day out the guides set fire to the -timber, in order, they said, to “make fair weather.” They led rapidly. -They never missed the trail. Whenever the snow thinned, in spots, -there, underfoot, was the trail, plain to be seen――the great Nez Percé -Road-to-the-Buffalo, from the west of the mountains to the east. Even -Drouillard and Sa-ca-ja-we-a exclaimed with approval of such accurate -guiding. - -All the old camps of the fall before were passed. The Hungry Creek -camp, where Captain Clark had left the horse hung up, and where Peter -and Reuben Fields had supped on the horse’s head; the camp of September -17, from which Captain Clark had set out ahead to find the Nez Percés; -the camp of September 16, where the spotted colt was killed; the camp -of September 14, where the black colt was killed. - -“Sure, I’m glad we’re goin’ the other way,” remarked Pat. “I’ve no -pleasant recollections of the first trip, when we were afoot an’ -starvin’.” - -And the other men agreed with him. - -On the fifth day the mountains had been crossed. On the sixth day the -snow had ceased, and the head of Traveler’s Rest Creek was reached. -On the next day, June 30, they hastened down the creek, and soon were -camped again at its mouth――the camping spot of September 11, before! - -“Here we are, back in the Missouri country, boys,” cheered Captain -Clark. “We’ve been clear through to the Pacific and not lost a man!” - -“An’ nebber killed an Injun,” added York. “But we mighty nigh had to.” - -“May have a fight yet,” quoth George Gibson. “We ought to have met some -of the Oo-tla-shoots hereabouts. The guides are afraid to go on. They -claim their friends have been wiped out by the Pahkees or Blackfeet.” - -“Dey much ’fraid,” spoke Drouillard. “Dey see de tracks of two Injuns -barefoot.” - -As Peter himself knew, Indians who were barefoot were likely to be -Indians in distress. - -However, the captains did not appear to be alarmed. The news was spread -that the company were to be divided. Captain Clark and party were to -travel southward, along this, the east side of the mountains, get the -canoes and other stuff where they had been hidden at the first meeting -place with Chief Ca-me-ah-wait’s Sho-sho-nes. Then half the party, -under Sergeant Ordway, were to descend the Jefferson, from there, -with the canoes and other stuff, into the main Missouri and on to the -White-bear Islands camp at the Great Falls. - -The other half of the party, under Captain Clark, were to cross -eastward, by land, to the Yellowstone River, and descend that to its -mouth in the Missouri. - -The Captain Lewis party were to continue eastward from this present -camp on Traveler’s Rest Creek, and try to follow the Pierced Nose -Road-to-the-Buffalo to the Great Falls of the Missouri; there they were -to meet Sergeant Ordway, and at the mouth of the Yellowstone they all -were to meet Captain Clark. - -Now, with which party did Peter wish to go? The Captain Clark trip -sounded very interesting――down that Yellowstone River, where no white -men had been. Sa-ca-ja-we-a was to guide him, too, across country. But -the Captain Lewis trip also sounded interesting――all by land, through -another unknown country, to the wonderful falls again. On this trip -there would be good hunting――and possibly the Blackfeet Indians. - -The Sergeant Ordway trip sounded the least interesting, for it meant -merely floating down the same rivers that they had toiled up. - -However, Peter was a soldier and had no choice. So he waited anxiously -while the captains made their selections. It was like choosing sides in -the game of prisoner’s base. - -For Captain Clark: Sergeant Ordway, Sergeant Nat Pryor, John Shields, -George Shannon, William Bratton, Dick Windsor, George Gibson, Hugh -Hall, Francois Labiche, John Colter, the fast runner, John Collins, -Tom Howard, John Potts, Baptiste Lepage, Alex Willard, Joe Whitehouse, -Peter Wiser, Old Cruzatte, York, Chaboneau, and the Bird-woman. - -For Captain Lewis: Sergeant Pat, Joe Fields and Reuben Fields, -Drouillard, the hunter, William Werner, Rob Frazier, Hugh McNeal, John -Thompson and Si Goodrich. - -Then where was Peter? Nobody seemed to want him. But Sergeant Pat made -a scrape and a salute. - -“Beg your pardon, sorr,” to Captain Lewis; “but are we to lave Peter -here till we come ag’in?” - -“’Pon my word!” exclaimed the captain. “No! He’s to come along with us, -of course. He’s in your charge, Pat, remember.” - -“Yis, sorr. Thank ye, sorr,” answered Pat. - -And Peter was glad. - -So the parties separated, Captain Clark to the south, and the place -where the canoes and goods had been left last August; Captain Lewis to -the east and the Great Falls. - -“Good luck, boys,” was the final word. “We’ll all meet at the Missouri. -Then down we’ll go, for home.” - -The Pierced Noses who had guided across the mountains went with Captain -Lewis a short distance still, to show him the shortest route along -the Road-to-the-Buffalo. Before they quit, in order to look for their -friends the Oo-tla-shoots or Flat-heads, the captain gave them presents -of meat, and exchanged names with the leader, who was a young chief. - -The young chief was henceforth to be known as the Long Knife, and -Captain Lewis was to be known as Yo-me-kol-lick, or White Bear-skin -Unfolded. - -It proved to be only nine days’ travel to the White-bear Islands camp -at the head of the Falls of the Missouri, and during all the way not an -Indian was sighted, although fresh sign was discovered――“Blackfeet!” -asserted Drouillard. “De Gros-ventres of de Prairie.” - -“Those Big-bellies must be bad Injuns, I’m thinkin’, by the way -everywan’s afraid of ’em,” said Pat. - -“Very bad,” asserted Peter. For even the Otoes of the south feared the -northern “Gros-ventres” as much as they did the Sioux. - -There had been plenty of buffalo, bellowing all the nights; but there -had been a tremendous amount of mosquitoes, too, which bit so that even -the little black dog howled with pain. - -Now, here at the old camp were the “white bears,” as pugnacious as -before. One treed Hugh McNeal and kept him treed near half a day, after -Hugh had broken his gun over the bear’s head. - -Nobody had disturbed the articles that had been left here last summer. -Some things had spoiled from dampness; but the frame of the iron canoe -was all right, and so were the cottonwood wagon-wheels. - -“Gass, I’m going to leave you in charge, here,” said the captain. “You -will wait till the Ordway party come with the canoes; then you will -move the canoes and baggage, by the portage trail, to the foot of the -falls, and proceed on down the river. I shall take Drouillard and the -two Fields, scout northward and strike the Maria’s River, which I wish -to follow down to the Missouri. I will meet you at the mouth of the -Maria’s River on the fifth day of August――if all goes well.” - -“Sure, Cap’n, do ye think three men’ll be enough for ye?” blurted Pat. -“Ye’re goin’ up where the bloody Big Bellies live. Give me Peter alone, -an’ take the rist. Peter an’ I are plenty for this camp, till Ordway -comes.” - -“With Drouillard and the two Fields I’ll stand off the Blackfeet,” -laughed Captain Lewis. “Eh, lads?” And he sobered. “If my life is -spared, Pat, I’ll meet you on August 5. But if you don’t hear from us, -you wait till the first day of September. Then if there’s no word, you -will proceed on to Captain Clark at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Tell -him that my directions as commanding officer are for him to carry out -our program and return to the United States, for I and my party have -been destroyed. He already knows that I have planned this side trip to -the Maria’s.” - -Pat saluted. - -“Yis, sorr. An’, sorr (his voice was husky), I hope to meet ye safe an’ -sound at the mouth o’ the Maria’s.” - -The next morning, which was July 16, the captain took Drouillard, and -the two Fields, and six horses, and rode away, for the upper Maria’s -River in the country of the Gros-ventres of the Prairie. - -“Well, boys,” spoke Pat; “we’re now siven men an’ four hosses, an’ we’d -better be busy fixin’ the carts an’ trainin’ the hosses to drag ’em, -ferninst the day when Ordway arrives with the canoes. I’ve no fancy for -playin’ hoss myself, when we’ve got the rale animals.” - -Nothing especial happened, except the mosquitoes, until the arrival of -Sergeant Ordway and party. One trip was made to the lower end of the -portage, to examine the white pirogue, and the caches; they all were -safe. Harness was manufactured, out of elk hide, for attaching the -horses to the wagons. - -Sergeant Ordway appeared at three o’clock in the afternoon of July -19. He had with him Colter, Cruzatte, Collins, Potts, Lepage, Howard, -Willard, Whitehouse, and Peter Wiser; the six canoes that had been sunk -in the Jefferson River, and most of the goods that had been buried in -the cache, when last August the company under Captain Lewis had set out -to follow Chief Ca-me-ah-wait to the Sho-sho-ne camp on the other side -of the pass. Nothing had been stolen or injured. - -The Sergeant Ordway party had separated from Captain Clark and party at -the Three Forks, and had come on down without adventure. The captain -probably was now on his way down the Yellowstone. - -“An’ how were Sa-ca-ja-we-a an’ the little spalpeen?” asked Pat. - -“Fine and hearty. The Bird-woman said she knew the way to the -Yellowstone. She’d been all through that country, when the Sho-sho-nes -hunted the buffalo.” - -When the canoes were loaded upon the carts, the horses pulled very -well, for buffalo-horses; but, just as a year ago, the rain and the mud -interfered, the carts broke; besides, Pat was taken ill; so that five -days were required for carrying canoes and baggage around the series of -falls, to the old Portage Creek camp at the lower end. - -One canoe was worthless, but the others were placed in the water; so -was the white pirogue; the blunderbuss or swivel cannon was unearthed -and mounted in its bows, as before. - -“Faith, we’re gettin’ all our plunder together, wance ag’in,” -congratulated Pat. “An’ there’s more of it, an’ the red pirogue, -remember, at the mouth o’ the Maria’s, where we’re to meet Cap’n Lewis. -Do you be takin’ the canoes down, Ordway, an’ Peter an’ I’ll ride by -land with the hosses.” - -The mouth of the Maria’s was not far――fifty miles by river, according -to Pat’s journal, written on the way up, but less by land. The Maria’s, -as Peter recalled, was the fork of the Missouri where camp had been -made while the captains debated which route led to the Columbia. -Captain Lewis had explored up the Maria’s and he and Captain Clark had -decided that the other fork was the right channel――the “true” Missouri. - -Peter and Pat covered thirty miles this first day. They saw thousands -of buffalo, and a pack of wolves chasing an antelope. Pat shot an -antelope, with his rifle, and Peter killed a buffalo with his arrows; -the next morning they killed, together, six antelope and seven -buffalo――which was all the meat that they could pack, although, as -declared Pat, they might have killed a hundred. - -Shortly after noon they came in sight of the mouth of the Maria’s. -Sergeant Ordway’s party with the canoes already were there, and ashore. - -“An’ ain’t that Drouillard, too?” exclaimed Pat. “Yis! An’ the cap’n, -b’gorry! An’ the two Fieldses! Somethin’ must have fetched ’em back in -a hurry. ’Tis only July 28; they’re a week ahead o’ time.” - -He quickened his horse into a trot, and leading each a horse packed -high with meat and hides, he and Peter hastened forward to learn the -news. - - - - -XX - -CAPTAIN LEWIS MEETS THE ENEMY - - -The party seemed to be overhauling the cache here as if in a great -hurry to go on; but the captain waved greeting, and Joe Fields -straightened up, to grin. - -“Yez got back mighty quick,” accused Pat. “Didn’t yez go? An’ where are -the hosses?” - -“Sure we went,” retorted Joe. “Hosses? We’ve turned ’em loose, of -course; and you’ll be turnin’ yours loose, too, in a minute. So tumble -off and I’ll help you unpack. There’s no time to waste. You ought to’ve -been along, Pat. We had a beautiful brush with the Injuns.” - -“Didn’t I tell yez?” reminded Pat. “Annywan hurt?” - -“None of us. We wiped two of them out, though――and a ball cut the -captain’s ha’r. ’Twas this way,” continued Joe, as he tugged at a rope -end, to release the pack of meat: “On the fust day, ’fore we’d gone -more’n twenty mile from the falls, we struck Injun sign in shape of -a wounded-buffler trail; and after that we kept guard all night, for -fear of our hosses. When we got to the Maria’s we turned down, after -scoutin’ ’round a bit. Found a lot of old Injun lodges, but didn’t see -any Injuns till the 26th. Then the cap’n sighted a bunch o’ hosses, -thirty of ’em, through his spy-glass――and next several Injuns, on a -hill, lookin’ at Drouillard, who was across the river. - -“’Bout half the hosses were saddled, which meant more Injuns somewhere -near. Our hosses were too tuckered to run far, and of course we -couldn’t leave Drouillard; so the cap’n said: ‘We’ll go right on -to those Injuns, boys; put on a bold front, and we’ll have it out -with ’em. Don’t let ’em think we’re afraid. They may not be the -Gros-vent’s.’ When the Injuns fust saw us comin’, they acted like -they were more afraid of us than we were of them. But we finally got -together, the cap’n made the peace sign, and told ’em our other man -had the pipe and after he’d come in we’d smoke. So Reub and one of the -Injuns went after Drouillard. - -“There were only eight of ’em. They were the Big-bellies, all right, -but they had nothin’ except two guns, and clubs and bows and arrers. We -thought we could take care of ourselves; and that night we all camped -together. The cap’n told us in case of trouble to stick up and keep -together and save the baggage. - -“We slept in the same lodge with ’em. The cap’n had given three of ’em -a flag and a medal and a handkerchief; but he put Reub on guard for -the night, and told him to watch sharp and wake us quick, so’s to look -after the hosses, if the Injuns tried to sneak out. He and Drouillard -lay down with the Injuns, and Reub and I stayed at the fire in the -lodge entrance. - -“I went to sleep. Just at sunrise I woke up with a jump. Reub had -yelled――and there was an Injun runnin’ off with my gun and his, and -Reub in chase. Drouillard was up and yellin’, too――‘Let go my gun! Let -go my gun!’ he bawled, and I see him wrestlin’ with another Injun, and -the cap’n aimin’ at another with his pistol. But I had to have my gun, -so I ran after Reub and the fust Injun. Before I got there, Reub had -caught him and knifed him, and had both guns. Drouillard had his gun by -this time, and all the Injuns came pourin’ out of the lodge, makin’ for -the hosses, with the cap’n and his pistol followin’ the third Injun. - -“We drew a bead on the fellow, but he dropped the cap’n’s gun, and -the cap’n wouldn’t let us shoot. ‘Look out for those other rascals!’ -he ordered. ‘They’re trying to drive off the hosses!’ So Reub and -Drouillard and I ran after six who were roundin’ up the most of the -hosses; and the cap’n set out after his Injun and another who were -drivin’ away a bunch. He made ’em leave twelve, but they kept on, with -his hoss, and that he was bound to get. He didn’t have his bullet pouch -or his hat; and when they were just ’bout to disappear in a little -gully he told ’em to surrender the hoss or he’d fire. With that they -turned on him, and fire he did, downin’ one of ’em slick as a whistle, -but the fellow had life enough to fire back an’ sent a ball through the -cap’n’s ha’r. - -“The cap’n had only his pistol, now, so he quit, and the other Injun -made off with the hoss. Drouillard had turned back to help the -cap’n, but Reub and I follered our Injuns till we got four of our own -critters, and then we let the rest go. Didn’t matter, ’cause there were -the twelve left by the Injuns, so we’d come out ahead in the little -game. Besides, we had the lodge, four shields, two bows and quivers, -and a gun. Likewise the flag we’d given, and the medal――but we left the -medal on the neck of the Injun Reub had killed, so as to show what kind -of people we were. - -“Well, we didn’t hang ’round there long, you bet. The Injuns had said -the main band was only a day and a half away, and when the cap’n had -invited ’em to bring their chiefs to council he of course told ’em -where our camp was――at the mouth of the Maria’s. Now we were desperate -afraid the Injuns’d out-foot us and attack you-all at the river. We -took four best horses, and only what meat we could carry, rode a -hundred miles, with an hour and a half of rest, camped at two in the -mornin’, then rode another twenty miles and struck Ordway comin’ down -with the canoes. We got aboard and here we are――and the cap’n is in a -powerful hurry to join Cap’n Clark below.” - -That was true; for, as said Drouillard: “Dose Blackfeet now will hold -all white men as enemies.” - -This cache had caved in, and much of the supplies had spoiled. The red -pirogue also was found to be worthless, except for its spikes. Captain -Lewis hustled the work of loading, the rest of the horses were turned -loose, and down the river again voyaged all. Sergeant Ordway was in -charge of the five canoes, Sergeant Pat and squad had charge of the -white pirogue, which was the flagship. - -A sharp lookout was kept for the Big Bellies on the banks. However, -nothing happened. The mouth of the Yellowstone was several days ahead; -and when it was reached, no Captain Clark or others of that party -appeared in sight. When halt was made, to look for sign, traces of the -captain’s camp were found, and in the sand Lepage discovered the scrawl: - - W. C. a few miles further down on right hand side. - -“When was that written, Lepage, do you think?” queried Captain Lewis. - -“Mebbe two, mebbe t’ree day ago,” said Baptiste. “De rain haf washed -it.” - -“At any rate, he’s safe,” uttered the captain, with much satisfaction. -“I expect the mosquitoes drove him out of here. Whew!” For the -mosquitoes were worse than ever. “We’ll overtake him to-morrow.” - -But they did not overtake the captain’s party on the morrow, nor on the -next day. On the third day, which was August 11, the canoes stopped to -take aboard some meat; the white pirogue continued on, until Captain -Lewis espied a herd of elk in some willow brush, near the shore. - -“Turn in, boys,” he bade. “Wait here. Come on, Cruzatte. We’ll get a -few of those fellows.” - -Out he leaped, gun in hand; and he and One-eyed Cruzatte disappeared in -the brush. - -“Faith, let’s hope there aren’t Injuns there, too,” quoth Sergeant Pat. -“It’s a likely place for an ambush.” - -“Hardly stands to reason there’d be elk whar there are Injuns,” -remarked Alec Willard. - -Everybody waited anxiously; gazed and listened. Two rifle-shots were -heard, distant. - -“There’s meat, I reckon,” said Alec. - -Presently another shot; and in about ten minutes out from the willow -brush and to the sandy shore burst Captain Lewis. He was running, -limping, staggering――he’d been wounded――the left thigh of his leather -breeches was stained red! - -“To your arms, boys!” cried Sergeant Pat. - -Captain Lewis staggered on, to the white pirogue. - -“I’ve been shot, men,” he panted. “Not mortally, I think. Indians are -in that thicket. Cruzatte is somewhere there, too.” - -“Did you see any Injuns, cap’n?” - -“No; the ball came from ambush, just as I was aiming at an elk. Gass, -take the men and follow me. We must rescue Cruzatte. I’d lost sight of -him.” - -“Willard, you and the two Fields,” roared Pat, springing into the -shallows. “The bloody Big-bellies ag’in!” - -But Peter went also, with his bow and arrows. Nobody objected. The -captain led on for about one hundred steps, when his leg gave out and -he almost fell. - -“I can’t travel,” he gasped. “I’ll return to the boat. If you’re -overpowered, Sergeant, keep your men together and retreat in good -order, and we’ll fight from the river.” - -“Yis, sorr.” And Pat gallantly plunged ahead, into the brush. “Kentucky -an the Irish ag’in the redskins, lads,” he cheered. “But mind your -eyes.” - -This was exciting. The willows were thick――good hiding-place. Where was -Cruzatte――poor old Cruzatte with the one eye? Peter stuck close behind -Pat. His nostrils were wide, his eyes roved, his every sense was on the -alert. He was Oto once more. Now was heard a crashing, before. Elk? -Indian? Hah! - -“That’s a mighty quare sort o’ Injun, to be makin’ all that noise,” -muttered Pat, peering, his rifle advanced at a ready. - -And through a little open space here came Cruzatte! He was striding -along, with stained hands, his rifle on his shoulder, making for the -boats and plainly much satisfied with himself. - -“Hist!” said Pat. “Cruzatte! ’Asy now.” - -Cruzatte started, and crouched. - -“Have ye seen Injuns?” - -“Non,” answered Cruzatte. “I shoot one elk, follow ’nodder.” - -“Come back to the boats with us, an’ step lively,” ordered Pat. “There -be Injuns ’round. They shot the cap’n in the leg.” - -“My gracious!” stammered Cruzatte. “But I see no sign.” - -“Nayther do we. Sure, it’s powerful suspicious,” muttered Pat. - -They found the captain all prepared to defend himself in the pirogue. -He had laid out his rifle, pistol and pike, and was propped behind the -air-gun that could shoot forty times. - -“What did you discover?” he challenged. - -“Not a thing, sorr,” reported Pat. “An’ Cruzatte, here, knows no more -about the Injuns than the rist of us.” - -“Where have you been, Cruzatte?” - -“I shoot wan elk, same time you shoot. Den I see nodder in brush, I -shoot at heem, he vaneesh an’ I try to find heem, but he get away.” - -“Oh, you did! How much of him did you see when you shot?” - -“B’gorry, you shot the cap’n!” bellowed Sergeant Pat. “That’s what you -did. Ye’re blind as a mole! B’gorry, you shot the cap’n――ye shot your -commandin’ officer, an’ by that ye’re to be coortmartialed an’ shot -yourself!” - -“Non, non!” wailed old Cruzatte, wringing his hands. “I no mean to -shoot heem. I see wan leetle brown spot in brush――look jus’ like wan -elk-fur, long way off; I take aim, bang!――I t’ink I see elk run, an’ -I run to ketch heem. I no mean to shoot my capitaine. It wan grand -mistake.” - -“Didn’t you hear me call?” demanded the captain. “I suspected maybe -that ball came from your rifle and I hallooed as loud as I could. Why, -by the shock you couldn’t have been more than forty paces!” - -“I hear notting. I hear not one word,” protested Cruzatte. - -“The ball coming from so close, and you not answering, I of course -thought of Indians,” continued the captain. - -“B’gorry, give me wan chance at him an’ I’ll close his other eye,” -besought Pat; and all the men murmured angrily, while poor Cruzatte -shivered with fright. - -“I no mean to shoot my capitaine,” he babbled. - -“Never mind, men,” said the captain. “It was an error. My leather -breeches are just the shade of an elk hide, remember. Let’s dress the -wound. I doubt if it’s serious.” - -The ball had passed clear through his left thigh, and had furrowed the -right; but it seemed not to have touched the bone or any artery. After -the wounds had been dressed and lint stuffed into the holes, the canoes -with the other elk hunters arrived; and not waiting to explain much the -captain insisted upon them all pushing along, to catch up with Captain -Clark. - -Now that he himself was laid up, this was more necessary than before. -All he could do was to rest, half sitting, in the stern of the white -pirogue. His leg had so stiffened that he could scarcely move it. - - - - -XXI - -THE HOME STRETCH - - -Captain Clark was safe and well, with all his men, and only a short -distance down river! This was learned the next day from two white -trappers――the first Americans met in over a year. Their names were -Hancock and Dickson. They had left Illinois, of the United States, in -the summer of 1804, and had been trapping in the upper Missouri country -ever since. - -They said that Captain Clark’s party had passed them yesterday, but -had lost all the horses, by Indians, and were traveling in two wooden -canoes and two hide canoes. The captain had the idea that Captain Lewis -and party were ahead of him. - -Trappers Hancock and Dickson had other news, also. They had seen the -barge, under Corporal Warfington, on its way from Fort Mandan, last -summer, to St. Louis. All aboard were well. Brave Raven, the Arikara -chief, was there, bound for Washington; and so were several Yankton -Sioux chiefs, with old Pierre Dorion. But the Mandans and Minnetarees -were at war with the Arikaras; and the Mandans and the Assiniboines -were at war, too; and the Sioux were “bad.” So that the peace talks by -the captains had not buried the hatchet very deep. - -Anyway, soon after noon, this day, Captain Clark’s camp was sighted, -before. - -“What’s the matter here?” demanded Captain Clark, the instant that the -pirogue grounded. He saw Captain Lewis lying in the stern. - -“Nothing serious, Will. Merely a gun wound, in the thigh. Cruzatte shot -me by accident.” - -“De capitin shot!” cried Sa-ca-ja-we-a, running to him. - -“I not mean to,” repeated Cruzatte, still in much distress. “I t’ink I -see one elk in brush.” - -“That’s all right, Cruzatte,” consoled Captain Lewis. - -Yes, Captain Clark’s party all were here, so that the whole company -were united again. The captain had had a successful trip down the -Yellowstone. The Bird-woman (who now was applying some Indian salve -to Captain Lewis’s wound) had proved a valuable guide across country. -Captain Clark was emphatic in his praise of her. George Gibson had -fallen on a sharp piece of timber and driven it two inches into his -thigh. Indians had early stolen twenty-four horses, and had left only a -worn-out moccasin in exchange. Labiche had trailed them, but had been -obliged to give up. - -The Yellowstone was a fine stream, with many beaver, and many bear. At -the Missouri the mosquitoes had been so pestiferous that only brief -camps could be made. Little Toussaint was bitten so severely that his -eyes were puffed shut, and the mosquitoes settled so thickly on the -captain’s gun-barrel as to prevent his taking aim! - -“We achieved one important thing,” laughed the captain. “We named a -river for York!” - -“Yessuh!” gabbled York. “Yessuh! Dar’s a ribber up yahnduh ’long de -Yallerstone named foh me: Yawk’s Dry Ribber.” - -Sergeant Pryor, George Shannon, Hugh Hall and Dick Windsor had been -detailed to drive the remaining fifty horses overland to the Mandan -town; but the first night, Indians had stolen every one of these, also, -and the squad were obliged to turn back. On the way, while the sergeant -was asleep in camp a wolf had bitten him through the hand, and had -tried to seize Dick, but George Shannon had shot just in time. Back -again at the Yellowstone they had manufactured two round canoes, like -Mandan canoes, from buffalo hides stretched over basketry, with hoops -as top and bottom. In these they had finally caught up with Captain -Clark. - -“You’re in command now, Will,” said Captain Lewis. “I can’t do much――I -can’t even write the records. But we’re in the home stretch. Let’s push -on as fast as we can.” - -The two free-trappers, Hancock and Dickson, came down in their canoe to -go with the company as far as the Mandan town. - -“Sure, we’ll be there in a jiffy,” proclaimed Sergeant Pat. “’Tis -wonderful good fortune we’ve had――clane across to the Paycific an’ nigh -home ag’in, an’ only wan man lost an’ nobody bad hurt but the cap’n.” - -Now Sa-ca-ja-we-a, the Bird-woman, was much excited; for she was near -home, too. The first day eighty-six miles were covered. The next day, -in the morning, they arrived once more at the Minnetaree village, and -the village of the Mandans opposite. - -“Boom!” signaled the blunderbuss. And then again, and again. The -Minnetarees, the Ah-na-ha-ways or Wassoons, and the Mandans flocked to -the river banks. - -“Our white fathers are back!” they cried, one to another. - -The Indians seemed delighted. It was a great triumph――it really was -like getting home. Sa-ca-ja-we-a hardly could wait for the boats to -land. Landing was made among the Ah-na-ha-ways, but headquarters -were immediately established among Chief Black Cat’s Mandans. The -Bird-woman, carrying little Toussaint, proudly accompanied Chaboneau -to the Minnetarees――which was _her_ village――to invite them to council -with the white chiefs. Drouillard was sent down to get Jessaume and Big -White. - -Captain Clark held a council in the Black Cat’s village. He invited -the chiefs to go with him to Washington, and call on the great white -father. Black Cat and Le Borgne, the one-eyed Minnetaree head chief, -and old Cherry-on-a-Bush and others answered. They said that the -Sioux would kill any of them who ventured down the river. The captain -answered that all would be protected against the bad Sioux, and -would return safe, escorted by United States warriors and loaded with -presents. - -At last Big White agreed to take his wife and child and accompany the -Red Head and the Long Knife. - -So much corn was brought to the boats that it all could not be loaded. -Captain Clark presented the swivel cannon to the Minnetarees. - -“With this big gun we have announced the great white father’s peace -words to his red children, all the way up the Missouri,” he said, to Le -Borgne. “Whenever it is fired, it will remind you of these good words, -and you will think upon them, and live at peace with your neighbors.” - -“My ears will always be open to the words of the great white father,” -promised One-eyed. - -Then the cannon was discharged, and the Minnetarees, much pleased, bore -it into their village. - -The start was to be made the next day. But John Colter was not -going. He had asked permission to turn back, up the Missouri again, -with the two trappers, Hancock and Dickson, to hunt the beaver. And -Sa-ca-ja-we-a and Chaboneau were not going. The Bird-woman wished to -go――she wished to go on with the Red Head, to the country of the white -people, and learn more of their ways. Captain Clark offered to take her -and little Toussaint and Chaboneau, and put little Toussaint at school -when he grew up. However, Chaboneau shook his head. - -“I t’ank you, capitaine,” he replied. “But in San Loui’ I haf no -’quaintance, I would haf no means of makin’ my support. I mus’ stay -here, where I am known.” - -So everybody bid goodby to John Colter, to Chaboneau, Sa-ca-ja-we-a, -and little Toussaint, now nineteen months old. - -“Good luck!” to John. - -Five hundred dollars in wages, and the blacksmith tools, to Chaboneau. - -To Sa-ca-ja-we-a the captains said: - -“The nation of the United States will not forget Sa-ca-ja-we-a, the -Bird-woman, who never complained, who carried her baby clear to the -Pacific Ocean, who made friends for us wherever she went, and who -helped us across the Rock Mountains.” - -Sa-ca-ja-we-a wept. - -At the village of Sha-ha-ka, the Big White, the chief was found -sitting surrounded by weeping women, and taking a final smoke with his -relatives and friends. They all feared that they never should see him -again. To them, it was a long, dangerous journey for him to take. Chief -Le Borgne of the Minnetarees requested that the white chiefs take good -care of Big White. And they solemnly promised. - -The canoes were lashed together two and two, in order to be steadier -and to travel faster. Big White and his wife and child stepped aboard -the pirogue. Jessaume and his wife and two children were to accompany -Big White and speak for him to the great white father at Washington. - -With a farewell volley and a cheer the boats entered the current. The -Indians had crowded to watch them leave. - -“A month more, lads, an’ we’ll be in St. Louis,” jubilated Pat. -“Barrin’ accident, we’re good for sixty miles a day.” - -Fort Mandan, opposite, was passed; but only a few pickets, and one -cabin, were standing. All the rest had been burned in a timber fire. -Three traders were met, coming up-river. Two of them were the same who -had been at the Mandan town in the winter of 1804. They said that the -Sioux were on the war-path against the Mandans and Minnetarees――had -already set out, 700 warriors. - -“Do not tell Sha-ha-ka,” ordered Captain Lewis, to Jessaume. “He would -wish to turn back.” - -This same day the Arikara villages were reached. Some Cheyennes were -here, too. Captain Clark held a council with both tribes. They all were -very friendly. Big White addressed them, and they listened. They were -willing to be at peace with the Mandans and Minnetarees. The Arikaras -said that they had refused to join the Sioux, on the war-path. They -wished to send more chiefs to the great white father at Washington, but -were waiting until Brave Raven, who had gone down on the barge last -year, came back with the white father’s words. The Cheyennes said that -they were afraid of the white people’s medicine, but they hoped that -the new father would send traders and trappers into their country, to -show them how to live and how to catch the beaver. - -On the last day of the council, or July 22, Captain Lewis was able to -walk about a little, for the first time since he had taken to the boat. - -Rapidly traveled the boats. Wild turkeys were seen; ripe wild plums -were found; the grasses were high and luxurious. - -“We gettin’ down into lower country,” chattered Drouillard, happily. - -There were signs of many buffalo. On July 29, 20,000 in one herd -darkened the plain. The day following, halt was made in a wild plum -orchard. Everybody ate. But this was Sioux country, and below the wild -plum orchard sudden exclamations arose from the boats. - -“De Sioux!” - -“Look at the bloody rascals!” - -“Tetons, aren’t they?” - -“Mebbe Yankton. They act like they want to talk.” - -Some twenty Indians had appeared on a high bank opposite. One man with -them wore a blanket-coat and a ’kerchief around his head. He might be -a French trader. A short distance farther down almost a hundred other -Indians emerged, to the shore; from their guns they fired a salute. -They all were well armed. - -“Answer the salute, Captain,” directed Captain Lewis. “It may be a -peace signal. And you might go near them and talk.” - -Captain Clark took Drouillard, Jessaume and Cruzatte and crossed to a -sand-bar. The Indians who met him there said that they were Tetons, -under Chief Black Buffalo. Black Buffalo had been the chief who had -made trouble two years ago, so Captain Clark declined to have anything -more to do with him. He came back and ordered the boats to prepare for -an attack and proceed. - -“I’d like wan shot at them,” muttered Sergeant Pat. - -“Do not fire unless you are fired upon,” enjoined the captains. - -As they passed the Sioux collected on the hill, Second Chief Partisan -invited them to land. But they knew better; and as they continued, the -Partisan struck the earth three times with the butt of his gun, and all -the Indians yelled abuse. - -“Dey make vow to kill ev’ry white man,” declared Drouillard. - -That night camp was pitched on a bare sand-bar in the middle of the -river, so as to be safe from attack; but a terrific thunderstorm blew -two of the canoes clear across the river. However, no Tetons turned up, -which was fortunate. - -“The Yanktons next, I suppose,” remarked George Shannon. “They were a -pretty good set, two years ago.” - -A number of lodges of the Yanktons were indeed waiting. They proved -very friendly, and Captain Clark held a council with them. They even -took Chief Sha-ha-ka by the hand and asserted that they were obeying -the words of the great white father and were at peace with the Mandans. -They said that as a token they had kept the flag-pole standing, by the -big tree of the council ground below, where they had first talked with -the white men. And sure enough, when the boats passed the spot opposite -the mouth of the James River, the flag-pole showed plainly. - -Soon another white man was met. He was James Airs, a trader on his way -up from St. Louis, to the Sioux. Being so lately from the United States -he gave the captains much news, and they sat up nearly all night with -him. - -Now the region was very familiar ground, to Peter. The Omaha village -was close before. Soon after leaving Mr. Airs they sighted the bluff -where Sergeant Charles Floyd had been buried. They landed, to pay the -grave a visit, and found that the Indians had opened it. The captains -ordered the earth filled in again. That night camp was made on the -sand-sprit, at the old Omaha village――the very spot where the council -had been held with Chief Little Thief and his Otoes and Missouris, and -where Peter had “come aboard.” How long ago that seemed! - -The Omaha village was still deserted. In the morning Captain Clark -called Peter. - -“Well, Peter, would you like to go to the Otoes again? Are you tired of -being white?” - -“No, please,” begged Peter. He had been afraid of this――afraid that he -would be sent to the Otoes. “I want to go to St. Louis, please.” - -“Go you shall,” assured the captain. “Go you shall, Peter, and I’ll -attend to you myself.” - -Hooray! But, reflected Peter, supposing that Chief Little Thief should -appear before they started on. However, no Chief Little Thief, or other -of the Otoes and Missouris did appear. - -More white traders were encountered. On August 12 there hove in sight -two pirogues; aboard them were none other than Trader Gravelines -himself, and old Pierre Dorion! Mr. Gravelines said that he had taken -Chief Brave Raven, of the Arikaras, clear to Washington, and that -the chief had seen the President, but had died just when about to -return home. Now Mr. Gravelines was going up to the Arikaras with the -President’s words, and with presents. Old Pierre Dorion was on his way -to the Yankton Sioux again, hoping to get six more of them and take -them to Washington. - -“The United States has given all you people up for lost,” declared -Trader Gravelines. “Nothing has been heard from you since you left Fort -Mandan. The President and everybody are very anxious. We were asked to -inquire about you, among the Indians.” - -“Faith, an’ our welcome’ll be the more hearty,” asserted Sergeant Pat, -to his fellows. - -Boats containing trading parties were met constantly. Surely, thought -Peter, St. Louis cannot be very far ahead. At a fifty-miles-a-day clip -the boats proceeded. Soon the captains did not stop even to hunt; and -camp was broken before daylight! - -August 20 another glad shout arose. - -“Cows, boys! Look at the cows! We’re near the settlements.” - -“’Tis the best sight I’ve seen in better’n two years,” proclaimed -Sergeant Pat. “Faith, I’m in that state o’ mind when I could kiss a cow -on the nose!” - -“What is cow, Pat?” invited Peter, staring. - -“Oh, murther, an’ ye don’t know!” bewailed Pat. “The cow be the buff’lo -civilized, Peter. She be the white man’s buff’lo. She gives us milk to -drink an’ butter to ate, an’ the breath of her is swater’n the prairie -breeze an’ the voice of her is beautiful.” - -“La Charette! I see La Charette!” cried old Cruzatte. - -La Charette was the first white man’s village! The captains ordered -guns to be fired, and told the men to cheer. Down to the shore hastened -the inhabitants. They, too, cheered. They talked part in French, part -in United States. What a chatter sounded! They almost carried the men -to the houses. - -“We nefer expec’ to see you again!” they exclaimed. “We t’ink you all -scalped. Haf you been far?” - -“To the Pacific Ocean,” was the answer. - -“My gracious! Come an’ tell us.” - -Drouillard and Cruzatte and Lepage and Labiche were well-nigh beside -themselves with joy. They greeted numerous old friends. - -“Dees is the best part of all de trip,” they laughed, again and again. - -Assuredly, the villages of the white men of the United States must be -pleasant places, thought Peter. - -Sixty-eight miles had been rowed, this day. With difficulty could -the men get away from hospitable La Charette, but on the next day -forty-eight miles were covered, to another village, St. Charles. Here -occurred more excitement, of greetings, and dinners, and good beds. -The captains, and all the men, in their elk-hide clothes, and their -beards, and their tan, were treated as heroes; and Peter was not -overlooked――not by any means. Nor was Sha-ha-ka, the Big White. He, -like Peter, for the first time was seeing how the white people lived. - -“Sha-ha-ka say de white people evidently a ver’ good people,” announced -Jessaume. “But he anxious to get on to de beeg village of San Loui’.” - -“How far to St. Louis, Pat?” asked Peter, eagerly. - -“Only twenty miles. With an ’arly start we’ll ate our dinner there.” - -Twenty miles! The last twenty of more than 8000! No wonder that all the -men were impatient. They made great plans. At St. Louis they were to be -paid off and discharged. - -“Extry pay an’ 320 acres of land do we each get,” repeated Patrick -Gass. “An’ we’ve earned it. It’s glad I am not to be with John Colter -this minute, trapsin’ for the Yellowstone ag’in.” - -“What’ll you do, Pat, after we get to St. Louis?” - -“Faith, have my whiskers trimmed an’ get my journal published.” - -“I’ve sold my journal to the captains for ten dollars!” boasted -Sergeant Ordway. “It’s more’n you’ll make with yours, Pat.” - -“I mean to try for an officer’s commission, in the army,” said Sergeant -Nat Pryor. - -“As soon as I get cleaned up, I’ll strike straight for old New -Hampshire, and spin my yarns to the home folks,” said Ordway. - -“I intend to study law. Think I’ll go to college,” said George Shannon. - -“I stay at San’ Loui’ for wan time. Den mebbe I haf money to enter de -fur trade,” said Drouillard. - -“Captain Clark will send me to school,” piped Peter. - -“That’s right, Peter,” encouraged George. “You and I’ll go to school.” - -Those were long twenty miles. First, the captains did not leave St. -Charles until mid-morning, because of the rain and the entertainments. -Then, three miles below, was found a big camp of other United States -soldiers, and here the captains stopped for the day, at the log house -which was the principal quarters. - -They took Sha-ha-ka ashore; and when he was next seen by the company, -he had been dressed in new clothes――white man’s clothes! Of these he -was very proud. He strutted more than York had strutted among the Sioux -and the Arikaras and Mandans. - -“An’ why shouldn’t he?” demanded Pat. “He’s better dressed for polite -sassiety than the rist of us!” - -Seventeen miles to go! The start was made soon after an early -breakfast. All eyes strained ahead; the men pulled lustily on the oars. -Houses and small settlements were passed. People ashore cheered. Toward -noon another large river was sighted, ahead; its course was marked by -lines of trees. The Missouri emptied into it. - -“The Mississippi!” cried the men. And then―――― - -The captains stood up in the white pirogue. Captain Clark looked back, -at the canoes, and waved his hat, and smiled. Before, on the right, was -a great collection of houses set amidst trees――and at the river bank, -near where the two rivers joined, loomed a huge (at least, to Peter it -seemed huge) whitish stone fort, flying the United States flag. Many -boats plied the current. St. Louis! - -Captain Clark lifted his hand and called an order. But already every -rifle in pirogue and canoes had been leveled, on every trigger was a -tense finger――and “Bang!” spoke all together. - -“Hooray!” - -Before the boats had touched the landing, the people of St. Louis had -gathered there like magic; they were running, shouting, jostling. -Exclamations sounded again and again. The air trembled with the -excitement. In the boats, the men were agrin――waving, calling, and old -Cruzatte capering. Only the captains and Big White stood motionless, as -proper for chiefs, waiting until the pirogue made landing. - -“Eet ees Lewis an’ Clark!” - -“Dey haf return’ from de dead!” - -“Huzza! Huzza! Welcome home!” - -“Where you been, these two years and a half?” - -Important personages pressed forward, to grasp the captains and shake -their hands vigorously. - -“What news, Captains? What news from beyond the Mandan town? Did you -succeed in crossing the mountains?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“And how much farther?” - -“To the Columbia and the Pacific!” - -“Marvelous! Any fatalities?” - -“Only the death of Sergeant Floyd, by disease.” - -“And what distance traveled?” - -“About eight thousand miles.” - -“Remarkable! The world shall ring with your story.” - -“Yis, we’ve borne the greatest flag in the world to the other side the -greatest country in the world; an’, b’gorry, we’re all here to tell the -tale,” pronounced Pat, as following the captains the men (and Peter!) -sprang to the waiting arms. - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes: - - ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). - - ――Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. - - ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. - - ――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND -CLARK *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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