The Captain's Dog (20 page)

Colter shakes his head. "That was a hard thing, going back down that mountain. Remember my horse falling? That was the worst spill I ever took. Lucky I didn't break my blame neck or the horse's."

"Potts was the unlucky one," Drouillard says. "The fool cut his thigh with his knife and I thought he'd bleed out."

CAPTAIN LEWIS
stemmed the blood flow with a tourniquet and we proceeded farther down the mountainside and set up a camp in a small glade with barely enough grass to keep the horses alive. The hunters brought in a single deer, and some small fish were caught in a stream. The next day a bear in poor flesh was taken, and another deer.

This was the first time since our journey began that we had been forced to retreat.

June 21, 1806

On the way down the mountain we met two young Indians who were on their way into the mountains. We asked them if they would guide us, but they are reluctant to do so....

ONE OF THE YOUNG
Indians was Mountain Dog! He and his friend were on a vision quest to the mountain, where they would fast and pray, and with luck, find their
wyakins.
Obtaining a spirit helper is of the utmost importance to the Nez Percé, so Mountain Dog and his companion were reluctant to guide us over the mountains, but they did agree to delay their quest a day or two. They set up a camp a little east of us. I was happy for the extra time with him and spent most of my time lying by his fire.

Two days later Mountain Dog and his friend headed up into the mountains to find their
wyakins.
When I got back to our camp the men had gathered the horses and
were getting ready to leave. Drouillard and Shannon had returned an hour earlier with three Nez Percé who had agreed to guide us over the mountains for the price of three rifles.

To my delight we caught up with Mountain Dog the next afternoon, and seeing as we were all going in the same direction, he and his friend decided to travel with us at least as far as Traveler's Rest.

June 26, 1806

Arrived at the scaffolds today and repacked our gear but didn't linger long, as our guides insisted that we keep moving....

Colter looks up from the red book. "I got to tell you, Mountain Dog. We wouldn't have made it over them mountains if it hadn't been for you and the others."

Drouillard nods in agreement as he translates the words.

"You fellas knew exactly how far and where we had to go to find enough grass for the horses. I don't know if the Captain's ever thanked you properly for that, but I'm thanking you now."

Mountain Dog smiles.

June 29, 1806

Arrived at the hot springs this evening....

MOUNTAIN DOG
and the other Nez Percé showed the men the proper way to bathe in the pools. It consisted of stripping down to nothing, sitting in the steaming water up to your neck until you were ready to scream in agony, jumping out of the water like a boiled fish, then plunging into the ice-cold creek, at which point it was just fine to scream. The men did so loudly and with a great deal of merriment. I happily joined them.

June 30, 1806

We have reached Traveler's Rest. Those tremendous mountains are behind us....

"
IT'S DOWNHILL
from here, boys!" Colter shouted at the top of his lungs.

Having conquered the mountains once again, the men's spirits were high. Even the Captain was smiling—an expression I thought he had lost permanently along the Columbia River.

He told the guides about his plan to explore Maria's River, which they thought was about the most foolish idea they had ever heard. They tried everything they could to talk him out of the plan, but the Captain would not listen.

"Are you saying you won't guide us there?" the Captain asked.

"We will take you a little way and point you in the
right direction. But we are afraid of the Blackfeet and you should be, too."

Mountain Dog and his friend decided to delay their quest a few more days and accompany us as far as the guides were willing to take us. They did this to help their friends, knowing they would be safer from attack if they traveled back to the mountains in a bigger band.

Before we left Traveler's Rest I took a ramble with Mountain Dog to the place where I had first laid eyes on him. When we arrived, Mountain Dog looked up at the boulder he had been sitting on and said, "The next time I go up there I will find my
wyakin
"

As we started back down I heard the familiar call.

"
Caw! Caw! Caw!
"

I turned to look and saw White Feather sitting on Mountain Dog's boulder. I barked.

"Come, Yahka," Mountain Dog called. "The men are getting ready to leave."

As I followed Mountain Dog down the steep hillside White Feather continued to call.

July 3, 1806

We have divided our party and we are on our way to explore Maria's River via White Bear Island. My party consists of nine men and our Nez Percé guides....

AND A DOG WHO
knew with every fiber in his being that we were heading for trouble up on Maria's River.

That night we camped next to a small stream. The mosquitoes were thick and very hungry. The guides told the Captain that this was as far as they were willing to go. Once again they asked him to reconsider his plan. The Captain refused.

At noon the next day Mountain Dog and the other guides headed back to the mountains.

July 15, 1806

We have reached White Bear Island and the caches we left. Nearly everything has been ruined by the high water—everything but the skeleton of my
experiment
....

"The Captain underlined the word twice," Colter says.

Twisted Hair asks what this experiment was.

"A boat that would not float," Watkuweis explains.

...I expected to leave this evening for Maria's River, but McNeal whom I sent to the lower portage camp, has not returned with my horse.

The mosquitoes are terrible. My dog howls with the torture he experiences from them. They are so numerous we get them caught in our throats when we breathe....

IT WASN'T THE
mosquitoes, it was the number of grizzlies and wolves in the vicinity that had me riled—that and the prospect of going back to Maria's River.

McNeal didn't return until after dark The Captain was upset, until McNeal explained the reason for his delay.

"I was checking the pirogue at the lower portage and a grizzly snuck up on me. Your horse bucked me off and I landed right in front of the beast!

"The bear reared up on its hind legs, which gave me a chance to scramble out from under him and stand up. I clubbed him in the head with my rifle as hard as I could swing it. Must've hurt him, 'cause he grabbed his head with his paws and started rolling on the ground. I took the opportunity to climb a willow tree, and that bear sat under that tree until the sun went down."

"That's about the best excuse for being late I've ever heard, Private," the Captain said.

July 18, 1806

Arrived at Maria's River this evening. With me are Drouillard and the Fields brothers. We will meet the other men at the mouth of Maria's River when we finish here. We are all taking turns standing sentry duty....

WE HAD PROCEEDED
north, cutting across a treeless prairie. On the way we came across a buffalo that was leaking a lot of blood. Knowing that we had not wounded it, Captain Lewis sent Drouillard after the buffalo to see if it was the work of Blackfeet.

After talking with Mountain Dog and the other Nez Percé, the Captain no longer wanted to encounter the Blackfeet with such a small party of men. Drouillard returned and said he could not find the buffalo.

July 20, 1806

Very few trees. We walked along the top of the bluff, which was nearly 200 feet above the river. Made 28 miles.

July 22, 1806

After 29 miles we arrived at a grove of cottonwood in the river bottom. I can see 20 miles ahead, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. We will camp here so I can make the necessary observations with my instruments. The game here is very shy, an indication that there are Indians in the vicinity hunting them.

July 26, 1806

We have met a group of Blackfeet Indians.

Colter closes the red book. "That's all the Captain wrote." He looks at Drouillard.

"But that's not the end of the story," Drouillard says. It's clear that Mountain Dog, Watkuweis, and the others all want to hear what happened when we met the Blackfeet...

"We had gone as far up Maria's River as Captain Lewis wanted. We had just turned south and were heading back across the prairie toward the Great Falls...," Drouillard begins.

DROUILLARD WAS
riding along the bank of a small river, hunting, and we were above him walking on the prairie. We had climbed a hill above the river and stopped to look around.

"Horses," Captain Lewis said. "About a mile distant."

Joe Fields followed the Captain's gaze. "Sure enough. A whole herd of them."

The Captain took his eagle eye out for a closer look. "Indians," he said. "But I don't think they see us yet They seem to be looking down at the river bottom."

"Drouillard," Reubin said.

The Captain frowned. "There are at least thirty horses. If there are as many Indians we may be in for an unpleasant time, gentlemen."

"Blackfeet?" Reubin asked.

"That's my assumption, Private, and it looks like a couple of them are carrying rifles. We can't leave Drouillard down there.

"We'll try to make the best out of this situation. Joe,
get that flag out. Let's see if we can get their attention off our friend in the river bottom."

It worked. One of the Blackfeet saw the flag and whipped his horse forward in our direction. Captain Lewis calmly climbed off his horse and stood waiting for the Blackfeet's approach.

The brave was disconcerted by the Captain's reaction to the charge and brought his horse to a stop a hundred paces away. Captain Lewis held his hand out to him, and the brave wheeled his horse around and galloped back to the others.

"I only count eight of them," Joe said, greatly relieved.

The Blackfeet were mere boys—younger than Mountain Dog and his friends.

"But there may be more." The Captain climbed back up on his horse. "Several of the horses have saddles on them. We'll walk up to them, but if there is trouble I plan to resist to my dying breath."

"We're with you, Captain," the Fields brothers said in unison.

When we got within a few paces, the Captain had the brothers stop. He approached the boy who had charged us alone. When the Captain got up to him, he put his hand out again. This time the boy shook it.

Joe and Reubin let out long breaths of pure relief, and rode up behind the Captain.

With poor hand-talk, the Captain explained that
the man in the river bottom was with us and suggested that Reubin and one of the Blackfeet ride down and bring him up.

"I was pretty surprised when Reubin rode up to me with an Indian behind him," Drouillard explains. "When we got to the top we were met by Captain Lewis and the others. The sun was just going down, and the Captain said that he had invited the Blackfeet to camp with us...."

BEFORE WE MET
Drouillard, the Captain had given the Blackfeet the medals he had with him, a handkerchief, and the flag.

We found a good spot to camp at a bend in the river. The Blackfeet made a domed shelter out of sticks, threw some tanned buffalo hides over it, then invited the Captain inside for a parley. Drouillard did the hand-talking.

They said they were from a large band of Blackfeet about a day's march away. They also told us that another band of Blackfeet was out hunting buffalo and would arrive at the mouth of Maria's River in a few days, which was not welcome news, as our men were near the mouth getting the pirogue and our supplies ready to go down the Missouri.

The talk lasted late into the night. Captain Lewis gave his speech about their great white father, and told them that it would be to their tribe's advantage to cooperate with us. He asked them where they had gotten their muskets. They told him they had traded furs for them at the British fort to the north.

"Ask them if they'll come with us to the mouth of Maria's River," the Captain told Drouillard. "Ask if a couple of them would like to go with us even farther, to Saint Louis."

Drouillard made the signs, but the boys didn't respond. We got their answer the next morning.

Captain Lewis was afraid the Blackfeet might try to steal our horses during the night. We were all exhausted and the Fields brothers had the late sentry duty.

I lay down next to the Captain, closed my eyes, and didn't open them until I heard Drouillard shout—

"Damn you! Let go of my gun!"

It was just dawn. Drouillard was in a tug-of-war with the Blackfeet who had his rifle. Captain Lewis jumped up and reached for his rifle, but found it gone. We saw one of the Blackfeet boys running away with it. The Captain pulled the horse pistol out of his holster and ran after him.

The boy stopped. Captain Lewis pointed the pistol at him and motioned for him to lay the rifle on the ground. The boy started to do so, when the Fields
brothers came running up with their rifles loaded and cocked.

"Don't shoot him!" Captain Lewis shouted at them.

The boy dropped Captain Lewis's rifle and ran. As Captain Lewis retrieved it, the Fields brothers explained that a Blackfeet had stolen their rifles when they weren't looking.

"We chased after the Indian who took our rifles," Reubin said. "I pulled my knife on him and stabbed him in the heart He's lying dead right over there—"

For a moment the men and I were stunned. We had been traveling for months through Indian territory and there had been some tense moments, but none before this had led to a death. Then I noticed the Blackfeet were trying to scatter our horses. I started barking.