f the boat. And that same
evening R. Field brought in two deer on a horse, and another deer was
shot from the boat; and they all saw elk standing on a sand bar, and
several prairie wolves. And the very next day, don't you remember, you
saw great herds of buffalo? Oh, now you're in the Plains! Everybody now
is 'jurking meat.' What more do you want, son?"

"Aw, now!" said Jesse. "Well, anyway, we're about in town."

CHAPTER XI

AMONG THE SIOUX

"Now we are leaving the Pawnees and passing into the Sioux country!"
said Rob.

They were passing under the great railroad bridge which connected
Council Bluffs, Iowa, with Omaha, Nebraska. The older member of the
party nodded gravely. "And can't you see the long lines of the
white-topped covered wagons going west--a lifetime later than Lewis and
Clark, when still there was no bridge here at all? Can't you see the
Mormons going west, with their little hand carts, and their cows hitched
up to wagons with the oxen? Look at the ghosts, Rob! Hit her up. Let's
get out of here!"

"She's running fine," Rob went on. "Somehow I think this must be better
water, above the Platte. You know, Lewis and Clark only averaged nine
miles a day, but along in here for over two hundred miles they were
beating that, doing seventeen and one-quarter, twenty and one-quarter,
seventeen, twenty-two and one-half, seventeen and one-half, sixteen,
seventeen, twenty and one-half, twenty and one-half, fifteen, ten and
three-quarters, fifteen, ten--not counting two or three broken days.
They seem to have got the hang of the river, somehow."

"So have we," nodded the other. "I'll give you five days to make Sioux
City."

As a matter of fact, the stout little ship _Adventurer_ now began to
pick up on her own when they had passed that Iowa city, going into camp
on the evening of June 4th well above the town. They purchased bread,
poultry, eggs, and butter of a near-by farmer, and opened a jar of
marmalade for Jesse, to console him for the lack of buffalo.

"It's my birthday, too, to-day," said Jesse. "I was born on the fourth
day of June, fourteen years ago. My! it seems an awful long time."

"Well, Captain Meriwether Lewis was not born on this day," said his
uncle, "but his birthday was celebrated on this spot by his party, on
August 18, 1805, and they celebrated it with a dance, and an 'extra gill
of whiskey.'"

"We'll issue an extra gill of marmalade to the men to-night, and
conclude our day o