. Pathfinders of the West; being the thrilling story of the adventures of the men who discovered the great Northwest. Lewis and Clark had passed over travelledground. Now they had set sail for the a week they had passed the Little Missouri,the height of land that divides the waters of the Mis-souri trom those of the Saskatchewan, and the greatYellowstone River, first found by wandering Frenchtrappers and now for the first time explored. Thecurrent of the Missouri grew swifter, the banks steeper,and the use of the tow-line more frequent. The voyagewas no more the ho
. Pathfinders of the West; being the thrilling story of the adventures of the men who discovered the great Northwest. Lewis and Clark had passed over travelledground. Now they had set sail for the a week they had passed the Little Missouri,the height of land that divides the waters of the Mis-souri trom those of the Saskatchewan, and the greatYellowstone River, first found by wandering Frenchtrappers and now for the first time explored. Thecurrent of the Missouri grew swifter, the banks steeper,and the use of the tow-line more frequent. The voyagewas no more the holiday trip that it had been all theway from St. Louis. Hunters were kept on the banksto forage for game, and once four of them came sosuddenly on an open-mouthed, ferocious old bear thathe had turned hunter and they hunted before guns 314 PATHFINDERS OF THE WEST could be loaded; and the men saved themselves onlyby jumping twenty feet over the bank into the river. For miles the boats had to be tracked up-stream bythe tow-line. The shore was so steep that it offeredno foothold. Men and stones slithered heterogene-. Tracking Up-stream. ously down the sliding gravel into the water. Moc-casins wore out faster than they could be sewed ; andthe mens feet were cut by prickly-pear and rock as ifby knives. On Sunday, May 26, when CaptainLewis was marching to lighten the canoes, he hadjust climbed to the summit of a high, broken cliff when LEWIS AND CLARK 315 there burst on his glad eyes a first glimpse of the far,white Shining Mountains of which the Indianstold, the Rockies, snowy and dazzling in the morningsun. One can guess how the weather-bronzed, raggedman paused to gaze on the glimmering one other explorer had ever been so far west inthis region — young De la Verendrye, fifty years before ;but the Frenchman had been compelled to turn backwithout crossing the mountains, and the two Ameri-cans were to assail and conquer what had proved animpassable barrier. The Missouri
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