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and fetch it."
    Captain Lewis took a deep breath. "Yes, go ahead, but in the future be more careful. We can't be leaving our tools strewn all over the countryside."
    "Yes, sir."
    "And don't dawdle. I want you back before we leave tomorrow morning."
    "Yes, sir. I'll be back bright and early."
    I knew Private Moses Reed had not left his knife at Council Bluff. An hour earlier I had seen him carve his initials in a tree trunk with his knife.

August 11, 1804
Private Moses Reed has not returned from Council Bluff. Captain Clark and I are certain that he has deserted—one of our worst fears. We have sent Drouillard, Reubin Fields, and several other men to apprehend him, with orders to put him to death if he resists.
    The search party will also make contact with the Otos again and see if Little Thief has returned from hunting buffalo.
    This afternoon we walked up to an abandoned Omaha village above the river. Dorion told us that smallpox killed all the inhabitants....
    "THE OMAHA were once a thriving nation," Dorion said to Captain Lewis as they surveyed the village. "Along with our trinkets we carried disease. Didn't turn out to be a very good trade for them, did it?"
    The men poked around the ruins. Scattered inside the crumbling earth-mound lodges were woven baskets, grinding stones, arrowheads, and old skins stiffened by weather and neglect. Dorion pointed out a large mound with an eight-foot pole in the middle of it. He said an Omaha chief called Black Bird was buried there, mounted on his horse. The men attached an American flag to the pole.
    On the outskirts of the village I picked up the scent of the skittish canine from Council Bluff. Her trail led me all the way back to our previous camp, where I discovered she and her pups had been feeding on our leftover food scraps. This time, though she didn't let me too near, she did not run away. I settled down to eat some scraps myself and to enjoy her company.

    The following afternoon, as I rode with the Captain in the keelboat, the wild dog appeared on the bank and barked at us. The little fool!
    "What is it?" Captain Clark asked.
    "Too small for a gray wolf," Captain Lewis said. "Must be a prairie wolf—the gray's little cousin. Are those pups with her? Row the boat over so we can take a closer look."
    The two pups were about twenty yards in back of her, huddled near some bushes. As we approached she turned and made a noise at them. They skedaddled, but she stayed right where she was.
    The captains grabbed their rifles with the intention
of putting her in the collection. I could not allow that. I jumped into the water and began barking at her.
    "No, Sea!" the Captain shouted.
    I pretended I didn't hear him and continued barking and swimming toward her. This finally got her moving, but it didn't prevent the captains from firing their rifles. Fortunately they both missed. Captain Lewis was cross with me for the rest of the day.

August 15, 1804
Fish Camp. The course of the river has started to bop back on itself. On the 12th we made 18¾ miles by boat. After we set up camp that evening I sent a man on foot back to our previous camp, and he reported it was a mere 974 yards away by land
.
    We have decided to stay here a few days to await the arrival of Drouillard and the other men. I do hope they have had success in apprehending Private Reed
.
    Captain Clark and some of the men constructed a net out of willow bark. They dragged this trap down the stream and caught nearly 800 fish....
    I WAS NOT particularly fond of the fish the men were eating. I managed to snap up a couple mice, but this was not nearly enough to cure my hunger. By the second morning at Fish Camp I was near to starving and started thinking about all the meat we had left at the previous camp, which was only a few miles away. I also started thinking about that pretty little prairie wolf. I regretted not getting to know her better and wondered if she was still feeding at our abandoned camps.
    An exhausted