He took with him, in his two boats, one of the head soldiers, Sergeant Joe Ballenger; the soldiers John Boley, Sam Bradley, Sol Huddleston, and John Wilson; the Osage man and woman who had come this far, and corn and meat for twenty-one days.
Head soldier Sergeant Bill Meek marched the Pike men up-river, but Stub stayed with Lieutenant Pike, the doctor, and Baroney, to see the Wilkinson men leave. He had no fear of being put aboard, now, for Chief Pike always spoke the truth.
Lieutenant Wilkinson shook hands all ’round, stepped into the boat, made of four buffalo hides and two elk hides, and with his crew pushed off, after the other boat. The floating ice did not matter.
Lieutenant Pike watched them out of sight, in a bend. Then he turned his horse toward the west.
“Come,” he said.
He and Doctor Robinson led; Baroney and Stub followed.
“Now to the mountains,” cheered Baroney. “Huzzah!”
“Huzzah!” Stub echoed.
The mountains were far, through Comanche country, maybe through Spanish country, perhaps into Utah country; and after that, what? Nobody had said. Winter was here, as if the Great Spirit were still angry. The men had shivered, this morning, in their thin clothes; but nobody had seemed to care. Young Chief Wilkinson, with a few men, was going one way, on an unknown trail; young Chief Pike, with the rest of the men, was going the other way, on another unknown trail. So, huzzah! To be an American one must be brave.