Preparations were accordingly made at once to carry out the
arrangement. . . ."
"In order to relieve the men of Captain Clark's party from the heavy
weight of their arms, provisions, and tools, we exposed a few articles
to barter for horses, and soon obtained three very good ones, in
exchange for which we gave a uniform coat, a pair of leggings, a few
handkerchiefs, three knives, and some other small articles, the whole
of which did not, in the United States, cost more than twenty dollars;
a fourth was purchased by the men for an old checkered shirt, a pair
of old leggings, and a knife. The Indians seemed to be quite as well
pleased as ourselves at the bargain they had made. We now found that the
two inferior chiefs were somewhat displeased at not having received a
present equal to that given to the great chief, who appeared in a dress
so much finer than their own. To allay their discontent, we bestowed on
them two old coats, and promised them if they were active in assisting
us across the mountains they should have an additional present. This
treatment completely reconciled them, and the whole Indian party, except
two men and two women, set out in perfect good humor to return to their
home with Captain Clark."
Chapter XIV -- Across the Great Divide
Captain Clark had now left the water-shed of the Missouri behind him,
and was pressing on, over a broken, hilly country, to the lands from
which issue the tributaries of the Columbia. The Indian village which
Captain Lewis had previously visited had been removed two miles up the
stream on which it was situated, and was reached by Clark on August 20.
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