hundred and ninety to two hundred miles,
that's all! What Lewis and Clark needed was our boat and a few outboard
kickers. It took them till June 7th, twenty-three days, to get to this
point. We've gained, you might say, three weeks on their time."

"Yes, but they got three bears at this camp, and we've got nothing! We
don't dare kill even a squirrel, though I'm sure we could get some sort
of game in this rough country not far back." John spoke ruefully.

"Don't kick, John," advised Jesse, sagely. "I'll take care of you.
Besides, look at the big help the wind was to-day. Clark says he had
only a 'jentle breese' in here."

"Or words to that effect," smiled Rob. "The main thing is, we travel
many times faster than they possibly could. Even so, she's a long trail
ahead."

"All we know is that we'll get through!" said John. "We always have."

"We're discovering romance," said Uncle Dick. "We're discovering
America, too. Jesse, take down your Flag from the bow staff--don't you
know the Flag must never be allowed to fly after sunset?"

They were now lying in their blankets in their tent, on a wind-swept
point. "I wonder if Captain Clark took down the flag. Now, I wonder----"

But what Jesse wondered was lost, for soon he was asleep.

CHAPTER VII

THE GATE OF THE WEST

Nearly a week had passed since the last recorded camp of the crew of the
_Adventurer_--spent in steady progress across the great and beautiful
state of Missouri and its rich bottom lands, its many towns, its farms
and timber lands and prairies. Many an exclamation at the wild beauty of
some passing scene had been theirs in the constant succession of
changing river landscapes.

Their own adventures they had had, too, with snags and sweepers and the
dreaded "rolling sands" over which the current boiled and hissed
ominously; but the handlers of the boat were well used to bad water on
their earlier trips together, in the upper wildernesses of the
continent, so they made light of these matters.

"I don't believe that Patrick Gass put down all the bears they got,"
said Jesse. "Clark says they got a lot, sometimes two a day, and they
'jurked' the meat, the same as vension. Gee! I wish I'd been along!"

Rob smiled. "I expect the hunters had a hard time enough. They had to
work through heavy weeds and vines in these bottoms, and if they got
back in very far they had to guess where the boat would be. And even
Lewis complains of ticks and mosquitoes a