t talk, so he told it in beads, and
jockeyed along till he got a half dozen to start back with him. So on
August 16th he got back to this place here again, east of the summit,
right where we're camped now, and he had plenty Indians now--and nothing
to feed them.

"But he waited to find Clark, and he didn't know how far downstream
Clark was, and he was afraid he'd lose his Indians any minute. So he
writes a note to Clark, and gives it to his best man, Drewyer, to carry
downstream fast as he can go. Lewis had promised to trade goods for
horses, but the Shoshonis didn't see any boats, and so they got
suspicious.

"Well, it was night. Lewis had the head man and about a couple of dozen
others in camp. He was plumb anxious. But next day, the 17th, he tells
Drewyer to hot-foot down the river, with an Indian or two along with
him. About two hours, an Indian came back and said that Lewis had told
the truth, for he had seen boats on the river.

"Now between seven and eight o'clock that morning, Clark and Chaboneau
and the Indian girl, Sacagawea, all were walking on ahead of the boats,
the girl a little ahead. All at once she begins to holler. They look up,
and here comes several Indians and Drewyer with the note from Lewis.
There's nothing to it, after that."

"Go on, Uncle Dick; you tell it now!" demanded Jesse, all excited.

"You mean about Sacagawea?"

"Yes, sir."

"It sounds like a border romance--and it was a border romance,
literally.

"Here, on the river where she used to live, a young Indian woman ran out
of the crowd and threw her arms around Sacagawea. It was the girl who
had been captured with her at the Three Forks, six years or more ago, by
the Minnetarees! They had been slaves together. This other girl had
escaped and got back home, by what miracle none of us ever will know.

"But now, when Sacagawea had told her people how good the white men
were, there was no longer any question of the friendship all around. As
Billy expresses it, there was nothing to it, after that.

"You'd think that was asking us to believe enough? But no. The girl
rushes up to Cameahwait, the chief, and puts her arms around him, too.
He's her brother, that's all!

"Well, this seemed to give them the entree into the best Shoshoni
circles. Beyond this it was a question of details. Lewis stayed here
till August 24th, trading for horses for all he was worth. He got five,
for five or six dollars each in goods. They _cached_ what goods