Sacajawea (93 page)

The expedition had set up their temporary camp opposite the village of Rooptahee, where old Black Cat was chief.

After a few days of rest, Clark asked Jussome to try to talk one of the important men of the villages into going to Washington. Jussome left grumbling that maybe Charbonneau ought to do some of this hard work also. But soon he was back in a cheerful mood with good news. One subchief had consented to go. It was Sheheke—Big White, as the Northwesters called him because of his blue eyes and nearly white hair. Big Whitehad agreed to go if he could take along his woman, Yellow Corn, and his youngest son, White Painted Horse, and if Jussome and his woman. Broken Tooth, and their two children, Toussaint and Jeanette, went.

Captain Lewis limped around his camp pondering on those terms. No other chief would go downriver with the expedition. Finally Lewis said, “This is probably the only way the expedition is going to get a member of the five Upper Missouri tribes to meet Jefferson.”

When Sacajawea heard that Jussome and Broken Tooth were going to Washington, she knew Charbonneau would not be needed as interpreter on the downriver trip. She knew, too, that Jussome had seen the grand welcoming given Charbonneau, who was now a big man with the Mandans, and that Jussome was jealous. So—what else? He had arranged with Big White so that he could also be thought of as a big man.

A few days later, Sacajawea learned of one of the men from the expedition taking advantage of opportunity. John Colter asked Clark if he could leave the expedition to go with two trappers, Joe Dickson, from Illinois country, and Forest Hancock, from Daniel Boone’s settlement on the Lower Missouri, back to the Yellowstone.
¹
Dickson and Hancock were glad to have Colter accompany them and share their trappings. He would be a useful guide, having just come from that country, which was all new to them.

Colter had gotten used to being called Seehkheeda, White Eyebrows, by the Indians of the Five Villages, and he knew he would be politely considered eccentric by the whites in any city. He had become “bushed,” meaning that he was used to the unending struggle against the elements and the hard physical work it took to live in the beauty of the unspoiled wilderness. He could not live away from the majesty and dignity of plains and mountains, the greatness of it, nor its challenge.

Captain Clark explained to the other men that they would grant this special privilege to Colter only if all the others agreed to finish the journey into Saint Louis—except Charbonneau, who had made arrangements to stay in his old lodge in the Minnetaree village where the captains had found him.

The men agreed. They were all eager to go home.

When Colter got around to leaving, there was none of the ritual of formal farewells. The men all came to say good-bye. Sacajawea was there with Pomp and Charbonneau. A handshake, a “So long,” an occasional
“au revoir,”
or even a casual nod or wave of the hand sufficed. These men and the woman and child were his close friends, and by now they had become as taciturn and undemonstrative as any native, so Colter understood their sincerity thoroughly, regardless of fanfare or display. He needed no other proof that they were his friends than the fact that they had made an effort to see him off.

“I have not forgotten the most important lesson of the expedition.” Colter nudged Charbonneau. “An outfit never takes a woman with them except on peaceful business. I think we need to find a woman to accompany us. Do you think she’d go?” He bent his head toward Sacajawea.

The men guffawed. Sacajawea suppressed her grin. Charbonneau shifted restlessly, and his bright, pinpoint eyes searched every face to make sure no one was making sport of him.

All day Otter Woman asked endless questions. She asked about the Shoshonis and the Blackfeet. She asked about the mountains, trees, and water. She barely listened as Sacajawea told of the men so hungry they ate horsemeat and even dogs. Otter Woman was thinking what to ask next when Sacajawea told about the water people, the seals, sliding up and off the rocks. Then she told of the skeleton of the great whale. Otter Woman did not know what things to believe, and so she asked more questions. To her these events were unimaginable.

Pomp seemed happy to have an older brother and followed Tess around like a shadow.

Charbonneau was happy to be back in his old lodge where Otter Woman would take off his boots and bathe his feet. “By gar, one of these days I am going to Big White’s village and give him some advice for living with the white men, and then I will see if Corn is willing to leave her
maman
and
papa
to come back here with me.”

The next day was hot; by afternoon it was depressing. Charbonneau opened the lodge door and called inside,
“Les capitaines
will leave, and you will not have said your last
merci, femme.
Come on out here.”

Sacajawea scooped up Pomp and followed Charbonneau, who was winding his way through the curving streets to the water’s edge. Charbonneau wore a dark scowl on his fat, bearded face. He was obviously disappointed over Clark’s decision to take Jussome as interpreter on the Saint Louis-bound trip, so that Big White would go along.
²
He did not think how he had told Clark he planned to stay in the Minnetaree village and trap and act as interpreter for the incoming traders, a life he was already accustomed to.

On the street of the village they were joined by some Minnetarees, some Mandan warriors, women, and children—who all looked at Charbonneau and chanted in unison, “Whoohoo, whoohoo!” Charbonneau stopped, and his worried face lost its scowl, his features forming a great half-moon reaching from the bottom of his ears to his chin, all wrinkled with laughter. He waved and tossed his head in the sunlight. “They are glad I am back! They call me Chief of the White Men’s Canoes. I told them how I poled to keep the canoes on a straight path and how I prevented them from shipping water by keeping out of rapids. See, I am a big man among these Five Villages!” Others ran past calling, “Whoohoo!” They waved to Charbonneau, who continued along ahead of his woman as the crowd at their heels cried happily, “Whoohoo!”

They passed the village of Mahawha and walked across the freshly broken camp of the expedition. Sacajawea was not sure she could keep her tears back. They went to the canoes, which were almost loaded. Sacajawea could see Captain Lewis half reclining in one canoe with an account book in one hand. Pomp pulled away and ran toward Captain Clark, who was supervising the last-minute loading. He caught the child and tossed him in the air, catching him with a kiss as he fell back into his arms. “Go, go, good-bye,” the child squealed in English. Clark put him down and began explaining sadly that Pomp would not be able to go on this trip.

Clark’s Journal:

Saturday 17th of August 1806

Settled with Touisant Chabono for his services as an enterpreter the price of a horse and Lodge purchased of him for public Service in all amounting to 500$ 33⅓ cents—I offered to take his little son a butifull promising child who is 19 months old to which they both himself and wife wer willing provided the child had been weened, they observed that in one year the boy would be sufficiently old to leave his mother and he would then take him to me if I would be so friendly as to raise the child for him in such a manner as I thought proper, to which I agreed etc.

Bernard devoto
, ed.,
The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1953, pp. 457-58.

“H
ey, Charbonneau!” Captain Lewis waved. “You are just the man we want to see. We want to settle with you.”

Charbonneau sauntered to the canoe.

“You have quite a sum coming. Not only for services rendered at twenty-five dollars a month, but we owe you for the leather tent and a horse that the elusive Crows ran off with. Man, we sure made good use of that tent—wore it out. Clark and I figure you earned five hundred dollars and thirty-three cents. Is that satisfactory?”

“Mon dieu!”
exclaimed Charbonneau.

Lewis made out a government money order. As he reached for it, Charbonneau’s eyes gleamed. He had never had that much money at one time before.

“You have to take it to a United States trading post or to a bank in a town to get the actual cash, you know. That will buy a lot,” Lewis explained. He grasped Charbonneau’s arm and looked into his face. His eyes narrowed against the glare. “We have completed our journey. There is nothing but thankfulness in my heart.”

Charbonneau turned away when he saw Jussome push Broken Tooth and their boy and girl into the next canoe. But Lewis’s slim hand tightened its grip. “Surely you feel happiness and some sense of accomplishment.”

“Capitaine, do not think that I feel any resentment that I cannot complete the trip to Saint Louis.”

Lewis dropped his hand. “We owe you nothing!” he cried angrily. “You stated you’d be more at home among the Minnetarees. We gave you friendship, and now you have been fairly paid for your services. There is no reason to become sulky. Can’t we part happily?”

“Maybe we can talk him into coming to Saint Louis and buying a parcel of land with that money order,” said Captain Clark cheerfully, coming to supervise the fastening together of two of the canoes with poles tied across them so that Big White and his family and the Jussomes would have a place to ride together.

“That’s nice,” said Charbonneau, staring blankly at

Lewis for an instant. “I’m not certain what to do with it yet.”

“Here is your Army discharge,” said Lewis, handing Charbonneau another paper. “That might come in handy if you ever want to buy land in the States. You can show them that you worked for the government in the capacity of an interpreter for the U.S. Army. That ought to make a good character reference.”

“I was thinking about the blacksmithing tools,” Clark said. “Charbonneau can have those. We have no further need of them.” Lewis nodded his agreement.

“Wish we could show our appreciation to your
femme,
Janey. If anyone deserves compensation—for interpreting, and caring for all those sick natives, and keeping up the general good spirits of the men—she does. But we can’t list a woman on our Army payroll — no way.”

“Oh, that is all right,” said Charbonneau sullenly, watching his woman talking with the other men. “She is a squaw; she don’t need nothing.”

“Well, there is something else I’ve been thinking. Why don’t you change your mind and come with us? We’ll make room. We could, couldn’t we, Lewis?”

But before Lewis could answer, Clark was speaking again with Charbonneau. “Come on and try to live among the whites. I’ll take you down to the Illinois. You can buy a piece of good land and farm—horses and cattle. Or you could hire out on the river boats; or you and I could be partners in some sort of small-scale fur trade.”

Charbonneau’s eyes were on Jussome, who was pushing Big White here and there. Charbonneau’s shoulders sagged. “As a voyageur I have no real prestige with the whites.”

Sacajawea had come next to Charbonneau and now tugged at his arm. “This is opportunity,” she said.

“You’d be better off than among these Indians,” said Clark. “Even Janey knows some of the white ways now, and she can speak fair English and French. It will be hard for her to be content anymore among the Minnetarees and Mandans.”

“Ai,”
said Sacajawea, pulling at Charbonneau’s arm until he stepped away.

“Non, non,”
he said, scratching his shaggy head. “I have no acquaintance or prospect to make a living below. I know no business except trading with Indians. We starve in Saint Louis.” He continued to watch Jussome. “I—I stay and live in the way I have done—with the Minnetarees!” Charbonneau cried in sudden consternation. “I have said this before.”

Clark had been watching Sacajawea, who was slightly taller and much slimmer than Charbonneau. Her face was better proportioned, with its shapely nose, black eyes, bronze skin, and dark hair. Clark knew that Charbonneau regarded her only as a possession, a symbol of wealth. He knew that she had learned to be intensely perceptive; she was intelligent. He was aware that he could find prettier women — to the white man’s standards—in a ten-minute stroll down the streets of Saint Louis, but there would be none who would adore him so. And she was the squaw of one of his employees. She had become quite indifferent to Charbonneau, but she was devoted to her child.

Clark had also grown fond of the child. “Think! I offer you a better life, not only for you but for your child. Yes, let me give him an education. Let me raise him, send him to school, like a white child.”

Sacajawea pulled her child close, not in fear but in bewilderment. She knew now for certain that Chief Red Hair felt a deep tenderness for her child, for why else would he offer such a great thing? But she knew, too, it would break her heart to send her son away alone if Charbonneau would not go himself and permit her to go also.

Lewis shifted uncomfortably in the canoe, his wound still bothering him. What is the matter with Clark? he thought. He should know that Janey won’t give up that child. Does he hope by that kind of ruse to get her to come to Saint Louis? I knew he was fond of her, but not this much. Lewis could not see her face, but it had become transfused with yearning. She longed for her son to have the advantages Clark had had himself as a child, as the bears long for spring to ripen the berries, or as buffalo trapped in the mountains hunger for the plains.

Charbonneau answered, “When the boy is weaned, you ask me again.”

There was silence. Clark raised his head and stared at the men, some of whom had left smoldering ashes and were walking slowly toward the canoes.

“I will tell you something because I know in your heart you respect me,” said Clark, wiping his forehead with his leather sleeve. “You have asked for help, looked for servility, and demanded special privileges. The men have secretly laughed many times at your wild scrambling, but never when you were eager to join and do your share. They were sorry for your tortured hands and miserable condition, but they were proud when you showed the least doggedness and courage. There were times they deliberately tested your daring, and there were times you showed you could stand up like a man.”