"'Take aim but don't fire,' Lewis told his men.
"The next second those Indians were looking into the muzzles of about twenty-five guns."
"That's the stuff!" shouted Skinny, swinging his arms and then pretending to shoot. "Did they kill them all?"
"I am afraid that you boys are a little bloodthirsty," said Mr. Norton. "They didn't shoot at all. When the Indians saw the pointed guns they dropped the cable and pretended that all they wanted was to do some more trading. The white men were glad enough to let it go at that and get away as quickly as possible.
"It soon became necessary to go into camp for the winter. An island in the river was chosen for the purpose and they spent the winter there. The Indians in the vicinity proved to be friendly. They never had seen white men before, possibly that was the reason. Some of the things which are very common to us seemed wonderful to them. Do you remember how I lighted the fire one day, when we wanted to cook dinner on Bob's Hill and had forgotten the matches?"
"With a sunglass," I told him.
"Well, that didn't seem very astonishing to us because we were used to it, but the Indians had never seen a sunglass. They started their fires by rubbing two sticks together. Even the whites had to use a flint and steel, for the art of making matches hadn't been discovered. Captain Clark carried a sunglass in his pocket. One day he went to an Indian village, intending to smoke a peace pipe with the chief. As he was entering the village, he saw some wild geese flying over and shot one. The Indians heard what seemed to be thunder and saw the goose fall, and it scared them. They ran into their wigwams and closed the skin doors. Soon after Captain Clark came up to the wigwam of the chief, without thinking he was doing anything out of the ordinary, he pulled out his sunglass and lighted his pipe with it.
"The frightened Indians were peeking out of their wigwams, and when they saw the white man start a blaze in his pipe by holding up one hand, they felt sure that he was a spirit. The Redskins gave one yell and ran into the woods. It was a long time before they could be made to understand.
"Spring came at last and the impatient party started up the river again. The way grew more and more difficult. They were now a long distance from the mouth of the river, and the water was shallow in places and filled with dangerous rocks. Often they had to get out and wade, pulling the boats along by the cables.
"May 26 they passed the mouth of the Yellowstone River and for the first time saw the Rocky Mountains in the distance, covered with snow and looking very grand. They were then in Montana, or what we now call Montana.