Wea woke. Was that a sound outside her tent? She lay still and listened. Yes, there it was again; like the sound of a dry leaf being stepped on. Was it man or animal? Slowly she reached out and grasped the tomahawk that lay beside her pallet. There the sound was again. Then she heard a snuffling. And smelled the stench. Wolf!!!! The tomahawk might not be a good weapon against wolves but it was all she had. The snuffling continued for several minutes then came the sound of leaves rustling as the wolves moved away. They must not have been hungry enough yet to attack humans. She lay with her heart pounding until it finally slowed enough for her to drift into an uneasy sleep. The next morning, she told Captain Lewis about the wolves. “Captain Lewis , the snow has come on the higher elevations, driving the elk and moose down lower. The wolves follow the prey. They aren’t hungry enough now to attack humans but later they might be. We must hurry and move over the Continental Divide before winter sets in.”
Wea you had a close call said a worried William Clarke next morning when he heard about the visit by a wolf. What you say about moving over the Continental divide into warmer conditions makes sense but mine and Captain Lewis's mission is to explore and map the central and north west of our continent and if possible find a passage that bridges the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.................
Wea, I trust your judgement about the three French men joining us. Why go home to Madame Guilotine. Joining us is their best option and will give them credentials to live free in our few united states. I'd like them to join and aid us and in return I will vouchsafe for them in our joint American States. The brave new world. Of course all Land claimed is to the American United States with POTUS Jefferson's seal of officialdom. I have the papers. Our's is a noble cause, tell them that Wea and again, I trust your judgement. Wea, thank you so much again for your uncanny senses and knowledge of the Wolves about, following their meals. It makes sense. So the Great Divide party will include our 3 Frenchmen and Capt Clark's 3 hidden boats by Lake Jefferson. That's fine. Thirty tough n smart men and us to lead them. The last bad leg and probably the toughest. I studied topology at Yale and will use that skill to help find any NW rivers William, let me explain over a bottle of your Napoleon brandy. What hubris to name a lovely brandy after yourself. Napoleon. We should invite our 3 Frenhmen for a drink. Hah! That'd be fun and enlightening, I bet another silver dollar they'd refuse your Napoleon Brandy. For them and you I have some very fine and aged Kentucky Bourbon as needed. Happy to open several bottles. We should ask Toussaint and Sacagawea too. I'll have Reed to prepare some herbal tea for Wea and open a fine Shiraz Red for all who like to sip and smell the bouquet. I prefer any Whiskey. Seems Reed is improving now our Surgeon Watson says. Still he is drawing some beautiful maps from your Surveying William. Colored too with water paints.
Tous: That night I made boudin blanc, a sausage made with stuffed buffalo intestines, for the men. They proclaimed it delicious. They ate heartily of it along with roasted wapato and squash. Wea had picked wild currants and I made a dessert of them mixed with dried, ground wapato. Having satisfied their hunger with the food and their thirst with good spirits, they retired to their bunks. Early the next morning, we started on our journey. We left the fort stocked with enough supplies and wood to survive the winter. As we traveled, the Frenchmen earned their keep by helping with the labo(u)r. We made good time but our supplies were becoming very low. We soon came to a stream and the Frenchmen caught eulachon, a kind of fish. They roasted it over a fire and it proved to be a favorite of the men. We saw wolves from time to time but they never approached us closely.
One Frenchman got too close to a female Black Bear he was attempting to follow and kill for food and paid with his life. He bled to death in minutes from a dozen brutal mauls. He was buried quite quickly.. our preacher said some words over his funeral and we departed thereafter for Lake Jefferson.. still some 15 miles distant...
It would seem hunting bears is a dangerous pursuit. Let us abstain from it Captain Clark? There are deer, moose, beavers, Rabbits, fish, nuts and berries to sustain us, and the Buffalo. They are too big for a single hunter. Foraging parties is safety in numbers. Poor Alfred, Rest in Peace. He was too keen to prove his worth. Bless him Lord Holy. So, we must continue. Lead us on Captain Clark. Death doth seek out the brave.
Sacagawea, thank you for your observations of our new found French companions. I concur with your astute perspectives about their character and worth. Their Sgt. Gerard is almost as big as that Grizzly Bear whose skin is now your soft mattress. He's a colourful character as is our flamboyant aristocrat Lt. Francis Monet. His Cpl George excels in foraging I've heard. I've encouraged Francis' men to learn basic English and Francis is keen to help. Even writing! Little and old Cprl. George seems to be a quick learner and keeps a journal in written French. He let Wea read it, which she did, and it backed up their version of events. Tous helped her considerably. Some nice drawings and maps too which I had Reed copy in English. I believe he knows French. Thank you Wea and Tous too for that lovely meal last night.You spoil us. It was truly delicious. I love sausages, so exotic. Our President Jefferson has fueled the fires of the Westward expansion of our United free States which we serve. We seek the NW Americas by land or sea. Still no major waterways north have we found. Using the Mathematics of Topology we should keep going over these Rocky Mountains with ever an eye open to Northerly Seaways such as these rivers and lakes locally. Sadly, none so far fit the bill. There will many accolades for all if we find a way westward, even by land, to the Pacific Ocean. For you and Tous too of course. I pledge that.
The following morning we reached the shores of Lake Jefferson recovered the three row boats installed the pirouge sails and set off north westward towards the great unknown of the United States. Only Major Robert Rodgers of the famous Rogers' Rangers had been this far north back in1760 but as his mission was a military one no land was mapped. By dusk we had sailed some 60 miles and decided to settle for the nite. As we were nearing shore we noticed movement among a row of fir trees that lined the shoreline. Now who could this be.. Indians...............
"To arms men, there is movement ahead." Can you see what it is Captain Clark? Here, use my spy glass with your keen eyesight. I bet it's either Wolves or Indians. Let us all be on full alert and not land on the shore too hastily. What say you Wea and Tous?
Wea: I don't smell wolves. If it was Indians, you would not be likely to see movement. I think it is probably grizzly bears. It would be best if we land on the opposite shore.
That sounds like sage advice Wea, but to find a NW river we must skirt Lake Jefferson's northern shore as the most likley answer. Still, I value your advice and so let us make a night camp on the southern shore, or an island? A silver dollar to anyone seeing an island first. William, please pardon my confusion about Alfredo's untimely death by that Black Bear's mauling. He should not have hunted by himself with such powerful beasts about. Those Grizzly bears sound formidable. Although he had a thick accent and spoke some French, he was actually Spanish, having fled his past masters in Mexico to serve our united free states. I thought at first you meant little cpr George. My mistake. Your black slave is a good fellow as well you know. You treat him very well. Might you one day free him? I once read some anti slavery papers and about some Rabble rouser in England. Wilderforce...?
Meriwether hand me your spy glass. What I saw did not look like animals.. as they appeared to be tall vertical figures. Yes they are humans and they are waving at us obviously to get our attention. On reaching the shoreline we found out that the mysterious humans were survivors from their small boat which had hit a submerged object five days earlier and had sunk in minutes........
Well spotted William, use my spyglass please, how about we turn back to them in a slow staggered formation and still with all weapons at the ready for musket broardsides? Maybe stop at 100 yards to look see, yell, Talk??
The survivors turned out to be more Frenchmen. They were sent on an exploratory journey as we were. With Wea interpreting, they told us that they lost all their supplies when their boat overturned. They had been surviving on roots and berries since then. Wea gave them directions on how to reach Fort Jefferson and we gave them as many of our supplies as we could spare. They should be able to reach the fort before winter sets in. We will pick them up on our return journey. So we began the last leg of our journey. We have one last mountain to climb. Our supplies are short because we shared with the stranded Frenchmen.
Better French than English I'm happy to say. I will write a letter of passage for them, as will Lt Francis Monet for them. Before they leave us for Fort Jefferson, I'd like to quiz them more with your help Wea and that of Lt Francis as translators. Do they have any maps Reed can copy? Their junior Lt Callumi was very forthcoming and mentioned a SW headed medium river their Capt Mitterond chose to map, called the Yellowstone river, but choose to ignore. Callumi went on to describe the massive falls over the Missouri. Attempting a portage many had died and they were the only survivors. Would some of them like to join us as auxiliaries under Lt Monet's command? What say you William?