Page:The pioneer boys of the Missouri or In the country of the Sioux.djvu/86

62 ashore every night to camp, I don't think we'd ever come up with those French Canadian voyageurs who handle the three boats Captain Lewis has with him. You remember how we followed them all one morning when they passed here, and how badly we felt after they had disappeared around the big bend above. And it seems almost too good to be true to think that we are going after them, perhaps to be in their company a long time."

"But answer my question, please, Dick; if not by boat, then how shall we overtake the expedition, which must be a hundred or more miles away by now?"

"There is only one way, Roger. Our fathers have decided that we shall start out with horses, one each to ride, and another for a pack animal, to carry some of the things we may want on the long journey. I did not think we would need these last; but I said nothing, for it pleases our mothers to think that we may carry plenty of good things along. But between us, Roger, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we had to abandon our packhorses before we've been a week on the trail, and trust to the fleetness of our own animals' heels to keep ourselves from being made prisoners by some