Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/45

42, for the spring was one of the sources of the Lewis River, one of the arms of the Columbia, which they were seeking. After an extended detour Captain Lewis and his three men in company with some Indians returned to the Forks of the Jefferson, where they met Captain Clark and party. When Sacajawea saw the Indians. "she began to dance and show every mark of the most extravagant joy, sucking her fingers and pointing to the Indians to indicate that they were of her native tribe."

Sacajawea Discovers the Chief to be Her Brother. The dramatic meeting of Sacajawea and her brother, which took place on the Jefferson River, August 17th, is described by Mrs. Eva Emery Dye in the "Conquest" as follows:

"Sacajawea could not wait In her anxiety she begged to walk along shore, and with her husband went up to the rivulet of her childhood. She flew ahead. She turned, pirouetting lightly on her beaded moccasins, waving her arms and kissing her fingers. Her long hair flew in the wind and her beaded necklace sparkled.

"Yes, there were the Indians, and Lewis among them, dressed like an Indian too. The white men had given everything they had to the Indians, even their cocked hats and red feathers, and taken Indian clothes in exchange, robes of the mountain sheep and goat

"An Indian girl leaned to look at Sacajawea. They flew into each other's arms. They had been children together, had been captured in the same battle, had shared the same captivity. One had escaped to her own people; the other had been sold as a slave in the Land of the Dakotahs. As girls will, with arms around each other they wandered off and talked of the wonderful fortune that had come to Sacajawea, the wife of a white man.

"A council was immediately called. The Shoshones spread white robes and hung wampum and pearls in the hair of the white men.

"Sacajawea. Bring her hither," called Lewis.