2
THK" CHEMAWA AMERICAN
by a squall, and on the point of being: over'
turned, Chabonneau, who with Sacajawea,
was on board, had the steering oar, and
struck with fear"Went howlingto theGods."
Thie boat filled to the gunwale and was
saved from an overturn only at the last mo
ment, her precious cargo floating out up
on theatre am, But the Bird-woman, with
her wits all at hand, saved not only her
self and baby, but grasping right and left
At the escaping packages rescued what wa
indispensable. It was the first conspicuous
exhibition of her presence of mind and
handiness, which later were constantly
shown.
As the summer waned the party ap
proached the gates of the mountains, where
the canoes must be forsaken, and the
horses obtained, with which it would be
possible to croNS . the divide to the head of
the springs of the Columbia. Thus far
line leaving the Mandans, there had been
neither sight nor sound of man; nor as the
mountains roe before them was there a
trace 01 numan Demgs except in camps oe
sorted .months before. The captains
ranged far ah a J of their men; but though
at Jast glimpse were obtained of Indians
at a distance, these at once hurried away,
Avoiding all contact. Caution, for those
mountain tribes, in facf, wan the price of
existence. When the case of Lewis and
Clark was growing desperate, and the possi
bility appeared that the attempt must be
abandoned and the expedition go back, the
Bird-woman began to dance and sing. She
was once more among the haunts of her peo
ple; she has recognized the valley into which
they had penetrated as the place w here five
or six years before she had been taken cap
tive. Presently some Indian women were
brought in, who abandoned by the men , had
been left to fall into the hands of the
strangers. As the creatures cowered be
fore their captors, bending their heads to
receive their deathblow, suddenly a young
girl, catching sight of Sacajawawea, rushed
toward her. She was a iribeswoman, who
having been captured at the same time with
the Bird-woman, had for a time undergone
with her the pains of bondage. Escaping,
however, the friend had found her peopl
again. Now a second time losing her free
dom, as she supposed, she descried among
the newcomers no other than her old com
panion. The two squaws embraced tender
ly. The Shoshone women acting as guides
and intercessors, brought back the war
riors. It was the very band of the Bird wo
man that at last had been reached, an 1
when presently at the council she began
to interpret the speech of the chief, lo, it
was her own brother whose wordB ihe was
translating! A firm friendship was at once
established between the party and theSho
shones, the Indian girl had m id further
progress possible.
Henceforth the way was emoolM.
Horses and guides were furnished; t lie
friendly Shoshones passed the white nun
on to the fktbeads and they in turn lo the
Nez Perces. At the councils Sacajawen
was alwayB the most important one in the
'line of interpreters. The Captains specu
lated, amused as to what kind of reprob
ation it was that at last reached the moun
ain men, when their speech, done into
French for Chabonneau, rendered by him
into Minnetaree for Sacajawea, filtered on
from her Shoshone into Chopunnii'i,
Ootlashoot or whatever barb.iric dialect
might be at hand. But 8om6 message wa
conveyed, and through the Indian uirltlnw
remotest wilds first heard of the grrsinuu
of Uncle Sam and the good things he medit
ated for his newly gained children ofth?
forest. Nor was it solely as an iute p e tr
that she was useful. As the party paw it
from tribe to tribe, who were lwi
timorous at the first encounter, disposnl to
fly like frightened deer, the sight of StCHj't
wea with her papoose, riding with tlieC.ip
tains, was reassuring. It could he no war
party if. a squaw and her baby were am n
them.
The Pacific was safely reached before win
ter set in, and the journals record the wil
der of the squaw before the great ocean, an I
the mighty whale which its water In I
cast upon the beach. With th tribe. nr
the coast there might have been much b.."
r; but Lewis and Clark had now quite n
(Continued on page seven.)