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to be dug out of a single tree trunk. Like some kind
of project in woodshop that got way out of control.
    “Don’t let him ride in there if he’s going
to fall out! The president says to be careful!”
    It’s Mr. Howard. Even with the rain, you can
still tell he’s sweaty — you can see the difference between what
he’s putting out and what the clouds are dropping.
    “Yes sir,” Floyd agrees, with a smile.
    Seaman scampers back up, drops the ball from
his mouth, then shakes out his fur, spraying us all with more
water.
    Mr. Howard looks completely unamused.
    “The boy is to return in the spring, with
the artifacts you send back down river. He is to come back with the
lizard man!”
    “ Yes , sir,” Floyd nods. A kind of nod
where you can tell he doesn’t really think there is a “lizard
man.”
    “And you!” Howard has turned away and found
Lewis, dragging him away from a conversation he was having with
Clark and York. “The president says you are to keep special watch
over this boy! You, and not your men!”
    And wiping his face, he adds, “And mind that
dog of yours, too.”
    Lewis doesn’t wipe his face at all, letting
the water run down his nose and over his mouth as he speaks. “Mr.
Howard. May I remind you that my orders are to explore a continent,
not act as nursemaid to some runaway squire.”
    “His safety is in your hands!”
    “Yes, well, given the high odds against the
entire party returning in one piece, you may want to consider other
hands. Mine are full. Though the boy is welcome.” Lewis looks at
me, and through the gray dampness, I can see that he’s almost
smiling. Which for him is like breaking into a full grin. “After
all, if the boy is an omen or portent of some sort, we might as
well have him working for us instead of against us. Assure the
president that he will be every bit as safe as any member of the
Corps of Discovery.”
    Rrrrooowf!
    “Including Seaman.”
    This answer doesn’t quite satisfy Mr.
Howard, and he turns to make a beeline for Clark, who sees him
coming, and, along with York, suddenly gets busy loading more
crates into the keelboats.
    It’s Jefferson’s fault — from Mr. Howard’s
perspective — that I am here, being sent along with the Corps. Or
at least, it can be blamed on Jefferson’s permission.
    I took a chance with him during our
conversation in the tent. He seemed pretty reasonable, for a
president. “I know who that terrible, orange-eating lizard is,” I
said, after Mr. Howard brought him the news from Banglees, the fur
trapper. My voice was only a little shaky.
    “How? Have you met him? Tracked him,
perhaps? Are you in fact a young fur trapper then, come down from
Canada? Perhaps that is why you referred to your hat as a ‘Seals’
cap.”
    “I have… journeyed with him. The
lizard.”
    “In the unexplored lands? So the stories are
true? These bones we’re finding, the bones of giant creatures —
huge elephants and tigers. They still live? In the wilds? I knew my
studies of them would not be in vain!” Jefferson was getting
excited and began pacing. “I believe many kinds of giants once
lived in America, and many more may yet roam the West!” He spun and
faced me. “Are you a Welsh Indian?”
    “A what? Sir?”
    Turned out he was referring to a legend
about a tribe of “white Indians” that were supposed to be descended
from some Welsh prince, or something, though no one’s ever seen
them. But I guess a lot of people back then believed funny things.
They didn’t have the Comnet — not even radio or TV — to help them
figure things out.
    “I’m not a Welsh Indian, Mr. President,” I
told him. “But the lizard and I do come from… a distant land.”
    “Earlier, you talked about the moon.”
    “Closer than the moon, sir.” I decided not
to complicate things by telling him about Saurius Prime, or the
Fifth Dimension. “We came in a ship.”
    “Then you have discovered a northwest
passage? A direct water route to the