Part 34 (1/2)

William Clark, silent, stood once ard face which was turned toward hiht of the folded paper crushed between Lewis's fingers He asked no questions, but he knew

”Enough!” broke out Meriwether Lewis hoarsely ”No one! Are the men ready? Why do we delay? Why are we not away for the journey home?”

So impatient, so incoherent, did his speech seem that for a tiht have been affected But he only stood looking at Lewis, ready to be of such aid as ht be

”In two hours, Merne,” said he, ”ill be on our way”

It was now near the end of March They dated and posted up their bulletins They had done their task They had found the great river, they had found the sea, they had lorious work had gloriously been done

Such was their joy at starting ho current of the great waters--they sang at the paddles, jested Only their leader was silent and uns, and he drove theh before they reached the mouth of the Walla Walla, where they found friendly Indians who gave theood food

The Nez Perces, whose country was reached next beyond the Walla Wallas, offered guides across the Bitter Roots, but now the snow lay deep, the horses could not travel For weeks they lay in ca horse

It was the middle of June before they made the effort to pass the Bitter Roots Sixty horses they had noith abundance of jerked horse uides By the third of July--just three years from the date of the Louisiana Purchase as it was made known at Mr Jefferson's simplicity dinner--they were across the Bitter Roots once more, in the pleasant valleys of the eastern slope

”That way,” said Sacajawea, pointing, ”big falls!”

Sheof the bohich would lead over the Continental Divide direct to the Great Falls of the Missouri

Both the leaders had pondered over this short cut, which the Nez Perces kneell

”We must part, Will,” said Meriwether Lewis ”It is our duty to learn all we can of this wonderful country I will take the Indian trail straight across Do you go on down the e came Pick up our caches above the three forks of the Missouri, and then cross over the mountains to the Yellowstone Make boats there, and come on down to the mouth of that river You should precede me there, perhaps, by some days Wait then until I come”

With little more ado these self-reliant men parted in the middle of the vast mountain wilderness They planned a later junction of their two parties at the mouth of a river which then was less known than the Coluh a pass which none of the theeant Gass, the two Fields boys, Drouillard and Cruzatte, the voyageurs Sacajawea, in spite of her protest, ree of the country again proved invaluable This band advanced directly to the southward by easy and pleasant daily stages

”That way short path over th, at one point of their journey

She pointed out the Big Hole Trail and as later known as Clark's Pass over the Continental Divide They carass was good; but Sacajawea still pointed onward

”That way,” said she, ”find boat, find cache!”

She showed theap in the hills, as yet unknown; and so led them out by a short cut directly to the caches on the Jefferson!

But they could not tarry long Boots and saddles again, pole and paddle also, for now soht on the horses At the Three Forks rendezvous they es, for here the boats e to the eastward to find the Yellowstone, of which the Indian girl had told hih a notch in the lofty mountains, they would come to the river, which ran off to the east

Not one of theap in the hills; there was no one to guide theirl, whose memory had hitherto been so positive and so trustworthy They trusted her implicitly

”That way!” she said

Always she pointed on ahead confidently; and always she was right She was laying out the course of a railroad which one day should come up the Yellowstone and cross here to the Missouri

They found it to be no hteen or twenty miles, Sacajawea's extraordinary short cut between the Missouri and the Yellowstone They struck the latter river below the ood tiout canoes Two of these, soth, when lashed side by side, served to carry all their goods and some of their party The rest--Pryor, Shannon, Hall and one or two others--were to come on doith the horses

The ht the Crows stole all their horses, and left them on foot in the middle of the wilderness