The Captain's Dog by Roland Smith

Author:Roland Smith [Smith, Roland]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Extratorrents, Kat
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CAPTAIN LEWIS sent Joe Fields downriver with a letter for Captain Clark, telling him we had found the Falls and suggesting a location for the lower portage camp. Then he and I set off for a ramble.

We walked past the Falls, which the Captain was particularly drawn to. There was a small island between two of the upper falls. In the center of the island was a dead tree towering above the others with a gigantic bird nest perched in the top branches.

"Bald eagle."

A large black bird with a white head and a yellow beak sat on the edge of the nest feeding her brood. We were close enough to see the downy eaglets open their black beaks for the food she offered. The Captain brought out the red book and tried to capture this scene, but again he ended up ripping pages out of his journal.

"Let's go, Sea. I'm more skillful with a rifle than I am with a pen."

We walked up to the last falls, from where we could see an immense flat prairie cut in two by the meandering Missouri River. Ahead of us was a smaller river that flowed into the Missouri, with a thousand buffalo grazing next to its shore.

"Perhaps we should shoot some dinner in case we don't have time to make it back to camp before dark."

A brisk wind blew toward us. Not being able to pick up our scent, the buffaloes continued to graze, unconcerned at our approach. The Captain picked a young cow out of the group. He steadied his rifle on his espontoon and fired. She was hit squarely, but she didn't fall over. The herd moved a short distance away from her and continued grazing. As we watched her bleeding out, the fur on my back came to attention. I turned my head. There was a grizzly behind us, not twenty steps away. My barking brought him up on his hind legs. Captain Lewis snapped his rifle to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. There was a sickening click He had forgotten to reload after he shot the buffalo.

"Run, Sea!"

The grizzly was right on our heels. We ran to the river. The Captain splashed into the water up to his waist, then turned around and pointed his espontoon at the grizzly. I thought surely the bear would come in after us, but when he saw the espontoon he skidded to a stop, turned, and ran away.

"That was a bit of good luck."

That was a miracle. The grizzly continued to run, glancing back every once in a while to make sure we weren't chasing him.

"I think we'll leave the buffalo cow for Mister Grizzly."

We rambled over the smaller river and explored it for a few hours. On our way back across the prairie an animal we hadn't seen before came out of its burrow and snarled at us. It looked like a cross between a wolf and a cat. Captain Lewis fired at it, but it disappeared back into its den and didn't come out again.

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