The Captain's Dog (14 page)

Captain Lewis was awake, writing by the light of a candle. "There's some meat," he said.

Charbonneau's appetite had not suffered during his ordeal. He ate every scrap and gnawed the bones until they shone. When he finished he let out a long satisfied belch, then said in his labored English, "Captain, I'm glad we finally have this moment for a private conversation."

The Captain looked up from his journal. "What's on your mind, Charbonneau?"

"It's my wife, Sacagawea."

"I see."

"Let me get right to the point."

"If you would. I'm tired and we need to get an early start in the morning."

"Of course ... well ... after we meet with the Shoshones I'm wondering if you'll be needing Sacagawea any longer."

"First we have to find the Shoshones."

"My wife insists they are near here."

"I'm comforted. What do you want, Charbonneau?"

"Of course ... uh ... What I want is to winter with the Shoshones and meet up with you when you return."

"I see. And how does Sacagawea feel about this?"

"She and the boy will stay with me, of course."

"Of course." Captain Lewis pushed a stick into the embers. "I was under the impression that Sacagawea wanted to travel with us all the way to the Pacific."

"She's a stubborn woman!"

Captain Lewis chuckled. "Don't mistake stubbornness for strength."

"My real concern is for the boy." Charbonneau looked off into the darkness toward the west. "Those mountains."

"Pomp seems to fare better than any of us," the
Captain said. "I envy him sometimes, strapped to his mother, protected and fed ... But if you want to stay on this side of the mountains, you may."

"Thank you, Captain," Charbonneau said. "But it will take more than your permission, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?"

"Sacagawea will stay only if you and Captain Clark order us to stay."

"Ahhh, now I understand."

"I knew you would."

"But I cannot oblige you."

"Why not?"

"Because Sacagawea is a member of the Corps, just as you are. She has suffered along with us and she deserves to complete the journey if she chooses. I'll give you permission to stay, but I will not order you to stay or interfere in your private affairs unless it somehow threatens the others."

"But, Captain—"

"I'm going to sleep, Charbonneau. This subject is closed. And that is an order. Good night."

August 8, 1805

We walked ahead of the canoes for several days. Charbonneau slowed us down considerably, complaining that his feet were sore. I gave him and Sergeant Gass our packs, and Drouillard and I struck out ahead at a rapid pace. It was to no avail, as we saw no sign of the Shoshones.

When we returned to the canoes we found everything in disarray. Captain Clark's ankle is still in a bad way, though the infection is draining steadily, and Private Shannon has gotten himself lost once again. Drouillard and Reubin Fields went out searching for him, but neither had any luck.

Not far from here is a hill the Indians call the Beaver's Head. Sacagawea tells us that this place is very near her people's summer encampment. Tomorrow I will walk ahead with Drouillard, Shields, and McNeal, and will not return until I find the Shoshones....

SHANNON RETURNED
the next morning. Once again he thought the main party was ahead of him and walked for several days upriver before realizing his mistake. He came back to camp with three deerskins, having fared much better than the last time he got lost.

Our small group proceeded on ahead of the canoes for two days and saw no Indians, but their scent was everywhere and I knew it was just a matter of time before we discovered them or they discovered us.

On the morning of the third day Captain Lewis decided to search the prairie for an Indian road, hoping it would lead us to the Shoshones. To cover more ground he sent Drouillard out to the right and Private Shields to the left. Private McNeal and I stayed in the middle with the Captain.

"If you find a road, put your hat on the barrel of your rifle and hold it above your head," the Captain instructed.

We hadn't gone far when I picked up the scent of a horse. It was very fresh. Nose to the ground, I started following it, getting more excited with every step as the scent became sharper.

"Hold it, Sea," the Captain said.

I looked back at him. He and McNeal had stopped and were shielding their eyes from the morning sun. Standing on a low rise a couple miles in front of us was a mounted Indian brave. Captain Lewis took his eagle eye out and aimed it at the horse and rider.

"He certainly has a different look about him and his horse is a magnificent specimen. I believe we halve found a Shoshone." He handed the eagle eye to McNeal.

"What do you want to do, Captain?"

"We'll walk up to him and pray he doesn't run off."

We walked slowly toward the Indian, and after a while he started walking his horse toward us. Under his breath the Captain said, "That's it ... We are friendly."

When we drew to within a mile of one another the Indian pulled his horse up. The Captain stopped, unrolled his blanket, raised it above his head three times, then spread it on the ground in front of him to signal his friendly intentions and his desire to trade. But the Indian did not seem interested in the Captain's invitation to sit on the blanket. He appeared to be staring at a point somewhere in back of us.

"What the devil is he looking at?" The Captain turned around. Drouillard and Shields were a mile behind, walking up on our flanks. "Fools! They're going to scare him off."

"I could try to holler at them to stop," McNeal offered.

"No! The brave might think we're up to something and leave." The Captain gave his rifle to McNeal and pulled out a handful of trinkets from his pack. "You wait here."

He advanced on the Indian and held the trinkets up in the air while shouting, "
Tab-ba-bone! Tab-ba-bone!
"
which he understood from Bird Woman was the Shoshone word for "white man." He drew to within two hundred paces, but the Indian still seemed more interested in Drouillard and Shields, who were gaining ground quickly. The Captain stopped and waved at the two men to stop. Drouillard stopped immediately, but Shields continued forward as if he had not seen the signal.

The Captain started forward again. "
Tab-ba-bone! Tab-ba-bone!
"

At 150 paces the Captain, now nearly frantic to get the warrior's attention on him and off Shields, pulled up the sleeve of his deerskin shirt to his elbow and pointed to his forearm, which had not been darkened by the sun. "
Tab-ba-bone!
"

At one hundred paces the Indian turned his horse around and whipped it. A moment later they were gone from view. Captain Lewis stopped and stared at the empty prairie in disbelief. Shields walked up to him without a clue that he had done anything wrong.

"Why didn't you stop?" Captain Lewis shouted.

"I didn't realize—"

"You may have just scared off our only hope of getting over the mountains alive, Private! That Indian is going to tell his tribe we're here and there is a good chance they will go into hiding, all because you were not paying attention. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir, but—"

"All because a man was daydreaming!" The Captain threw the trinkets on the ground in disgust.

After spending a miserable night on the wet prairie without much in the way of food, we set out again the next morning. We found a well-traveled trail, which was encouraging, but after following it for twenty very hungry miles our hopes were all but gone. We had seen no game and no Shoshones, though I had been picking up their scent all day long.

That night the Captain and his men were very dejected, especially Private Shields.

"If there's a tribe of Shoshones around here," Drouillard commented, "I'd love to know what they are eating."

As soon as the men went to sleep I went in search of food and came back two hours later without so much as a mouse. What
were
the Shoshones eating?

It turned out they were eating roots. The following morning we spotted a group of two Indian women, an old man, and their skinny dogs in the distance. They were pushing long sticks into the ground, digging up plants. Captain Lewis gave his rifle to Shields and told the men to wait where they were.

The old man ran off as soon as he saw the Captain, and the women were not far behind. They disappeared behind a hill. The dogs were somewhat bolder. One of
them slunk up to me. The Captain tried to grab it, but it scooted out of reach. The Captain wanted to tie a few trinkets around the dog's neck with a kerchief, hoping the Indians would see them and realize our intentions were good. He made a second lunge for the dog, but missed again. The dog ran away with his tail flat against his belly like a frightened prairie wolf.

The Captain signaled the men to join us. "We'll follow their tracks."

We hadn't been on the trail long when we suddenly came upon three different Indian women, not more than thirty paces away. One of them immediately ran. The remaining two, an old woman and a youngster, sat down on the ground and bowed their heads, trembling with fear. The Captain put his rifle down and slowly approached them.

"
Tab-ba-bone,
" he said quietly, trying to calm them. "
Tab-ba-bone.
" When he reached the old woman he gently encouraged her to stand. She did so, but her legs were shaking so badly they barely supported her frail body. "
Tab-ba-bone.
" The Captain pulled his sleeve up. "
Tab-ba-bone.
"

The old woman didn't understand what he was saying, but she was clearly curious about the white skin of his forearm. The Captain gave her some blue beads. The fear left her face and her legs stopped shaking.

The Captain called Drouillard over. "Ask her to call the girl who ran away. I suspect she's hiding nearby. I
don't want her to run off and alarm the tribe until we have a chance to explain ourselves."

It took some fancy hand-talk, but Drouillard managed to get his meaning across. The old woman called out for the girl and a moment later she returned, out of breath from fear. Captain Lewis gave her a handful of beads, then painted all the women's faces with vermilion, a kind of red paint, which Bird Woman had said was a sign of peace to the Shoshones.

"Are they Shoshones?" Shields asked.

"I believe they are," the Captain said. Shields was very relieved. "Ask them to take us to their camp."

Drouillard made the signs and the old woman led us down the trail. We hadn't gone two miles when sixty mounted Shoshone warriors rode toward us at full speed. Hurriedly, before they reached us, Captain Lewis put his rifle down and pulled an American flag out of his pack. He held the flag over his head as he walked forward, followed by the old woman and two girls. When they got up to the riders, the old woman showed the chief the blue beads she had been given and explained that the Captain had come in peace.

The chief's stern face broke into a wide grin. He jumped off his horse and embraced the Captain, shouting, "
Ah-hi-e! Ah-hi-e!
" which I learned later meant "I am much pleased! Much rejoiced to see you!" The other Shoshones followed the chief's lead, jumping from their horses and hugging the Captain and the other
men as if they were long-lost brothers. I even got a few pats and hugs.

Captain Lewis painted vermilion on their faces and the Indians responded by tying a few small seashells in the men's and my hair.

The Captain spread his blanket on the ground, started a parley, and passed the pipe around. The chief confirmed that he and his men were from the Shoshone tribe. He told us his name was Cameahwait. Captain Lewis gave him the American flag he was carrying.

August 15, 1805

We have finally found the Shoshones. They are friendly and have more than enough horses to get us over the mountains, but there isn't a scrap of meat in their camp. This morning we took half of our flour and mixed it with a few berries for breakfast. This we shared with Cameahwait and he was overjoyed with this pitiful meal. I'll delay here a few days to give Captain Clark a chance to reach the fork of the Jefferson River.

Drouillard and I met with Cameahwait and asked him about the route over the mountains. What he told me was very disturbing and I can only hope he is mistaken....

CAPTAIN LEWIS,
Drouillard, and several Shoshones sat in a circle outside Cameahwait's brush lodge. The chief told them that they would not be able to take the Jefferson River through the mountains. That in fact there was no floatable river through the mountains. He drew
a map in the dust with a stick, piling up mounds of dirt to depict the terrible mountains. He explained that his tribe had never been on the other side of the mountains because the journey was too dangerous.

"He must be mistaken," the Captain said to Drouillard.

"I don't think so, Captain. His people have been living here for a long time."

Captain Lewis stared at the shells tied into Drouillard's bushy hair, then pulled off one of the shells in his own hair and held it out to Cameahwait. "Ask him where he got this seashell."

Drouillard made the signs and Cameahwait nodded and gave a long discourse in hand-talk.

"He says that the shells came from the Nez Percé tribe on the west side of the mountains," Drouillard explained. "They get them from Indians downriver, who get them from Indians farther downriver. The Nez Percé and Flathead tribes come over to this side of the mountains to hunt buffalo and to trade. They also come over to fight the Blackfeet Indians, who steal from them and take their women and are very bad people."

We had heard this about the Blackfeet from every tribe we had talked with. It was said that they had gotten muskets from the French trading post to the north and that they knew how to use them.

"If Nez Percé and Flatheads can cross the mountains," the Captain said, "we can cross the mountains. The chief must be exaggerating the difficulties."