The Captain's Dog Read Online Free PDF

Because of his excitement, I wondered if the animal he was holding was one of the buffalo we were all so eager to see, but one sniff of its musky carcass told me it wasn't.
    "I shot it near a stream that runs into the river up ahead," Joseph explained. "It put up quite a ruckus-growling and carrying on. It had no idea what a rifle was. Didn't back off an inch when I pointed the barrel at it. What do you think it is, Captain Lewis?"
    "I don't know." Captain Lewis laid the animal on the ground and examined it closely.
    One of the French boatmen came over. "It's what we call a badger."
    The creature seemed to make Captain Lewis happy, which did not go unnoticed by the men. From that day on all of them were on the lookout for new animals and plants to bring the Captain.
    After Captain Lewis had eaten and participated in the birthday festivities, he quietly slipped away to the keelboat. In the dim lantern light he measured, skinned, and tanned the badger, writing down notes-like how many teeth it had—in the official journal he and Captain Clark were keeping. He offered me some of the meat from the carcass, but I didn't like it. It tasted sour. He threw the meat into the river but kept some of the badger's bones and its skull. He then took the still-wet skin and sewed it back together again, stuffing the body with cotton. I was to see him do this many times with different animals during the course of our journey, but I never understood the purpose. The results were much less satisfactory than the original animal had been.

    For two days we stayed at this camp, which the captains named Council Bluff in anticipation of the parley we were to have with the Otos there. I used the time to take several rambles across the prairie to investigate the grass
sea. My most interesting discovery was a small wild dog. I found the den where she had whelped, and a mile later I found her—a sleek, buff-colored beauty with long pointed ears and a bushy tail—and her two young ones. She caught wind of me as I approached, and she and her pups disappeared into the tall grass, which matched the color of their fur. I gave chase, but they were too quick, and I soon lost sight of them. I would not have done her any harm. I wished she had stayed around long enough to learn my intentions.

August 2, 1804
This evening we were visited by a group of natives and a French trapper who is living with them. They said they are part of a band of about 250 Oto and Missouri Indians. Their main chief, a man called Little Thief, is away hunting buffalo, but they said that several lesser chiefs are in the area. We have invited them to parley with us tomorrow morning....
    THE MEN WERE excited at the prospect of meeting their first large group of Indians. They were also nervous and made sure all the guns were loaded and ready in case there was trouble. That night extra sentries were posted around camp, but we didn't need them, as most of the men were too anxious to sleep.
    In the morning the men were up before the sun rose, donning their best uniforms and getting ready for the parley.
    Captain Lewis spent most of the morning writing down what he was going to say to the Otos. A "speech," he called it. After he had scratched the words down he sat by himself and said them out loud, even though there was no one to hear him but me.
    Captain Clark broke out a bundle filled with gifts for the Otos. Inside the bundle were red leggings, fancy dress coats, blue blankets, flags, beads, small looking glasses, and medals with President Thomas Jefferson's likeness stamped on them.
    Not long after the sun melted the morning fog, about a hundred Otos walked into camp, led by a half dozen chiefs. It looked like they had gotten dressed up for the occasion as well. Our men fixed up the mainsail of the keelboat as an awning to protect the delegation from the hot sun.
    When everyone was settled in, the sergeants had the men march with their rifles. It was an impressive display, with