lance. "You fear they won't let you go with the
expedition. Why not follow their trace, and join their party in the
Pawnee country? This young lieutenant is your friend, you say. He will
be sure to take you into camp."

Simple as was this stratagem, it had not occurred to me in all my
scheming. Yet it was so practicable that I at once assured Mr. Boone I
would, if need were, carry out the suggestion. A few minutes later he
landed me at Belle Fontaine, and we parted with a warm handshake. Though
deprived by litigation of the bulk of his Spanish grant on the Femme
Osage, as he had been in the early nineties of his Kentucky lands, Mr.
Boone remains one of the most even-tempered and kindliest men I know.

Upon reaching the cantonment, my first intention had been to seek out
General Wilkinson. But within a few paces I caught sight of a company of
the Second Infantry on parade, and one glance was enough to tell me that
the officer in command was my friend Lieutenant Pike. Though I could see
only his trim back, there was no mistaking the odd manner in which he
stood with his head so bent to the right that the tip of his chapeau
touched his shoulder.

Before many minutes he dismissed the company, and turning about, saw me
waiting within a dozen paces. In another moment he was grasping my hand,
his blue eyes beaming and his fair cheeks flushing like a girl's beneath
their sunburn.

"Good fortune, John!" he cried. "I feared you had gone on down to settle
in New Orleans. The General spoke of meeting you in Natchez."

"Did he tell you the cause of that meeting--and the outcome?"

"Surely you cannot blame him!"

"No, no, Montgomery!--since it was you who had forestalled me!"

"Yet you must have had your heart set upon leading the expedition."

"It was to obtain the leadership that I went on to Washington."

"No!"

"A wild goose chase, as you see. But, worst of all, I am now more than
ever anxious to go."

"Yet--even if the General should remove me--"

"He would not give the place to me. Nor could I ask your removal. Yet I
_must_ go with you, Montgomery!"

"You are not in the Service."

"I will offer myself as a volunteer."

"Nothing could give me greater pleasure! And we need a surgeon. Still--"

"I am aware that the General does not regard me with favor. Yet if you
should second my application--"

"By all means! Have you met the General's son, Lieutenant James
Wilkinson?" I shook my head. "Here he comes. I wil