hardy Western men upon the free use of the
Mississippi and its tributaries. He easily could agree with Aaron Burr
that, had the fleet of Napoleon ever sailed from Haiti--had Napoleon
ever done otherwise than to cede Louisiana to us--then these boats
from the Ohio and the Mississippi would at this very moment, perhaps,
be carrying armed men down to take New Orleans, as so often they had
threatened.

There came, however, to his mind not the slightest thought of
alteration in his own plans. With him it was no question of what might
have been, but of what actually was. The cession by Napoleon had been
made, and Louisiana was ours. It was time to plot for expeditions,
not down the great river, but across it, beyond it, into that great
and unknown country that lay toward the farther sea.

The keen zest of this vast enterprise came to him as a stimulus--the
feel of the new country was as the breath of his nostrils. His bosom
swelled with joy as he looked out toward that West which had so long
allured him--that West of which he was to be the discoverer. The
carousing riffraff of the wharfs, the flotsam and jetsam of the river
trade, were to him but passing phenomena. He shouldered his way among
them indifferently. He walked with a larger vision before his eyes.

Now, too, he had news--good news, fortunate news, joyous news--none
less than the long-delayed answer of his friend, Captain William
Clark, to his proposal that he should associate himself with the
Volunteers for the Discovery of the West. Misspelled, scrawled, done
in the hieroglyphics which marked that remarkable gentleman, William
Clark's letter carried joy to the heart of Meriwether Lewis. It
cemented one of the most astonishing partnerships ever known among
men, one of the most beautiful friendships of which history leaves
note. Let us give the strange epistle in Clark's own spelling:

DEAR MERNE:

Yours to hand touching uppon the Expedishon into the
Missourie Country, & I send this by special bote up the
river to mete you at Pts'brgh, at the Foarks. You convey a
moast welcome and appreciated invitation to join you in an
Enterprise conjenial to my Every thought and Desire. It will
in all likelyhood require at least a year to make the
journey out and Return, but although that means certain
Sacrifises of a personal sort, I hold such far less than the
pleasure to enlist with you, wh. indeed I hold to be my duty