The Greatest Works of Emerson Hough – 19 Books in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Emerson Hough
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very high. I doubt if we can do much better than have an even keel, but if she’ll kick all right, keep her down all you can in front, for if we ever do ride a log, we’ll strip off the propellers, and maybe the end of the boat, too. Better be safe than sorry, always.”
“They didn’t have as good a boat as ours, did they?” John spoke with a good deal of pride as he cast an eye over the long, racy hull of the Adventurer, whose model was one evolved for easy travel upstream under oars.
“Well, no, but still they got along, in those days, after their own fashion. You see, they started out with three boats. First was a big keel boat, fifty-five feet long, with twenty-two oars and a big square sail. She drew three feet of water, loaded, and had a ten-foot deck forward, with lockers midship, which they could stack up for a breastworks against Indian attacks, if they had to. Oh, she was quite a ship, all right.
“Then they had a large red perogue — must have been something like ours, a rangy river skiff, built of boards; certainly not like the little cypress dugouts they call ‘peewoogs’ in Louisiana.
“Now they had a third boat, the ‘white peroque,’ they spell it. It was smaller, carrying six oars. The red skiff carried the eight French voyageurs — — ”
“We ought to have all their names, those fellows,” said Frank.
“Well, write them down — I’ve got the Journal handy. Here Captain Clark gives them, as they were set into squads, May 26th, far up the river. You see, they were a military party — there were twenty-nine on the official rolls as volunteers, not mentioning Captains Lewis and Clark, or York, Captain Clark’s negro body servant, who all traveled on the big boat:
“‘Orderly Book: Lewis.
Detachment Orders
May 26th, 1804.
The Commanding Officers Direct, that the three Squads under the command of Sergts. Floyd, Ordway and Pryor, heretofore forming two messes each, shall untill further orders constitute three messes only, the same being altered and organized as follows (viz:)
| Sergt. Charles Floyd | Sergt. Nathaniel Pryor |
| Privates | Privates |
| Hugh McNeal | George Gibson |
| Patric Gass | George Shannon |
| Reuben Fields | John Shields |
| John B. Thompson | John Collins |
| John Newman | Joseph Whitehouse |
| Francis Rivet and | Peter Wiser |
| (French) | Peter Crusat and |
| Joseph Fields | Francis Labuche |
| Joseph Fields | Francis Labuche |
| Sergt. John Ordway | Patroon, Baptist |
| Privates | Deschamps |
| William Bratton | Engagés |
| John Collen | Etienne Mabbauf |
| Moses B. Reed (Soldier) | Paul Primant |
| Alexander Willard | Charles Hebert |
| William Warner | Baptist La Jeunesse |
| Silas Goodrich | Peter Pinant |
| John Potts and | Peter Roi and |
| Hugh Hall | Joseph Collin |
| Corpl. Richard | |
| Warvington | |
| Privates | |
| Robert Frazier | |
| John Boleye | |
| John Dame | |
| Ebinezer Tuttle and | |
| Isaac White |
The Commanding Officers further direct that the messes of Sergts. Floyd, Ordway, and Pryor shall untill further orders form the crew of the Batteaux; the Mess of the Patroon La Jeunesse will form the permanent crew of the red Peroque; Corpl. Warvington’s men forming that of the white Peroque.’
“There it all is, just as Captain Lewis wrote it, capitals and all. How many would it be, Rob — not forgetting the two captains and the negro York, Clark’s body servant, who is not mentioned in the list?”
“I make it forty-one names here in the messes,” answered Rob, after counting, “or forty-four with the others added. That does not include Chaboneau or the Indian girl, Sacágawea, whom they took on at Mandan.”
“No, that’s another list. It usually is said there were forty-five in the party at St. Louis. You see the name ‘Francis Rivet and (French).’ That would make forty-five if French were a man French and not a Frenchman. But they always spoke of the voyagers as ‘the French.’ Anyhow, there’s the list of May 26, 1804.”
“Maybe they lost a man overboard somewhere,” suggested John.
“Not yet. They had a deserter or two, but that was farther up the river, and they caught one of these and gave him a good military trimming and expulsion, as we’ll see later. But this I suppose we may call the actual party that found our Great West for us. They are the Company of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery.”
The three boys looked half in awe as they read over the names of these forgotten men.
“Yes. So there they were,” resumed Uncle Dick, gravely. “And here in the Journal the very first sentence says the party was ‘composed of robust, healthy, hardy young men.’ Well, that’s the sort I’ve got along with me, what?”
“But Uncle Dick — Uncle Dick — ” broke in Jesse, excitedly, “your book is all wrong! Just look at the way the spelling is! It’s awful. It wasn’t that way in the copies we had.”
“That’s because this is a real and exact copy of what they really