CHAPTER XIV
THE GUESTS OF A NATION
"Attention, men!"
The company of Volunteers for the Discovery of the West fell into linein front of the stone fortress of old St. Louis. A motley crew theylooked in their half-savage garb. They were veterans, fit for anydifficult undertaking in the wilderness. Shoulder to shoulder they hadlabored in the great enterprise. Now they were to disband.
Their leaders had laid aside the costume of the frontier and assumedthe uniforms of officers in the army of the United States. Fresh fromhis barber and his tailor, Captain Lewis stood, tall, clean-limbed,immaculate, facing his men. His beard was gone, his face showed palerwhere it had been reaped. His hair, grown quite long, and done now informal cue, hung low upon his shoulders. In every line a gentleman, anofficer, and a thoroughbred, he no longer bore any trace of thewilderness. Love, confidence, admiration--these things showed in thefaces of his men as their eyes turned to him.
"Men," said he, "you are to be mustered out today. There will be givento each of you a certificate of service in this expedition. It willentitle you to three hundred and twenty acres of land, to be selectedwhere you like west of the Mississippi River. You will have double payin gold as well; but it is not only in this way that we seek to showappreciation of your services.
"We have concluded a journey of considerable length and importance.Between you and your officers there have been such relations as onlycould have made successful a service so extraordinary as ours hasbeen. In our reports to our own superior officers we shall have nowords save those of praise for any of you. Our expedition hassucceeded. To that success you have all contributed. Your officersthank you.
"Captain Clark will give you your last command, men. As I say farewellto you, I trust I may not be taken to mean that I separate myself fromyou in my thoughts or memories. If I can ever be of service to any ofyou, you will call upon me freely."
He turned and stepped aside. His place was taken by his associate,William Clark, likewise a soldier, an officer, properly attired, andall the figure of a proper man. Clark's voice rang sharp and clear.
"Attention! Aim--fire! Break ranks--march!"
The last volley of the gallant little company was fired. The lastorder had been given and received. With a sweep of his drawn sword,Captain Clark dismissed them. The expedition was done.
So now they went their way, most of them into oblivion, great thoughtheir services had been. For their officers much more remained to do.
The progress to Washington was a triumph. Everywhere their admiringcountrymen were excited over their marvelous journey. They were fetedand honored at every turn. The country was ringing with their praisesfrom the Mississippi to the Atlantic as the news spread eastward justahead of them.
When at last they finished their adieux to the kindly folk of St.Louis, who scarce would let them go, they took boat across the riverto the old Kaskaskia trail, and crossed the Illinois country by horseto the Falls of the Ohio, where the family of William Clark awaitedhim. Here was much holiday, be sure; but not even here did they pauselong, for they must be on their way to meet their chief at Washington.
Their little cavalcade, growing larger now, passed on across Kentucky,over the gap in the Cumberlands, down into the country of the Virginiagentry. Here again they were feted and dined and wined so long as theywould tarry. It was specially difficult for them to leave ColonelHancock, at Fincastle. Here they must pause and tell how they hadnamed certain rivers in the West--the one for Maria Woods; another forJudith Hancock--the Maria's and Judith Rivers of our maps today.
Here William Clark delayed yet a time. He found in the charms of thefair Judith herself somewhat to give him pause. Soon he was to takeher as his bride down the Ohio to yonder town of St. Louis, for whosefame he had done so much, and was to do so much more.
Toward none of the fair maids who now flocked about them couldMeriwether Lewis be more than smiling gallant, though rumors ran thateither he or William Clark might well-nigh take his pick. He was aliketo all of them in his courtesy.
One thought of eager and unalloyed joy rested with him. He was soon tosee his mother. In time he rode down from the hilltops of oldAlbemarle to the point beyond the Ivy Depot where rose the gentleeminence of Locust Hill, the plantation of the Lewis family.
Always in the afternoon, in all weathers, his mother sat looking downthe long lane to the gate, as if she expected that one day a certainfigure would appear. Sometimes, old as she was, she dozed anddreamed--just now she had done so. She awoke, and saw standing beforeher, as if pictured in her dream, the form of her son, in bodilypresence, although at first she did not accept him as such.
"My son!" said she at length, half as much in terror as in joy."Merne!"
He stooped down and took her grayed head in his hands as she looked upat him. She recalled other times when he had come from the forest,from the wilderness, bearing trophies in his hands. He bore nowtrophies greater, perhaps, than any man of his age ever had broughthome with him. What Washington had defended was not so great as thatwhich Lewis won. It required them both to make an America for ushaggling and unworthy followers.
"My son!" was all she could say. "They told me that you never wouldcome back, that you were dead. I thought the wilderness had claimedyou at last, Merne!"
"I told you I should come back to you safe, mother. There was nodanger at any time. From St. Louis I have come as fast as anymessenger could have come. Next I must go to see Mr. Jefferson atWashington--then, back home again to talk with you, for long, longhours."
"And what have you found?"
"More than I can tell you in a year! We found the mysterious river,the Columbia--found where it runs into the ocean, where it starts inthe mountains. We found the head of the Missouri--the Ohio is but acreek beside it. We crossed plains and mountains more wonderful thanany we have ever dreamed of. We saw the most wonderful land in all theworld, mother--and we made it ours!"
"And you did that? Merne, was _that_ why the wilderness called to you?My boy has done all that? Your country will reward you. I should notcomplain of all these years of absence. You are happy now, are younot?"
"I should be the happiest of men. I can take to Mr. Jefferson, ourbest friend, the proof that he was right in his plans. His great dreamhas come true, and I in some part helped to make it true. Should I notnow be happy?"
"You should be, Merne, but are you?"
"I am well, and I find you still well and strong. My friend, WillClark, has come back with me hearty as a boy. Everything has beenfortunate with us. Look at me," he demanded, turning and stretchingout his mighty arms. "I am strong. My men all came through withoutloss or injury--the splendid fellows! It is wonderful that in riskssuch as ours we met with no ill fortune."
"Yes, but are you happy? Turn your face to me."
But he did not turn his face.
"I told my friend, William Clark," he said lightly, as he rose, "tojoin me here after an hour or so. I think I see his party coming now.York rides ahead, do you see? He is a free negro now--he will havestories enough to set all our blacks idle for a month. I must go downto meet Will and our other guests."
William Clark, bubbling over with his own joy of life, set all thehousehold in a whirl. There was nothing but cooking, festivity,dancing, hilarity, so long as he remained at Locust Hill.
But the mother of Meriwether Lewis looked with jealous eye on WilliamClark. Success, glory, honor, fame, reward--these now belonged toMeriwether Lewis, to them both, his mother knew. But why did not hislaugh sound high like that of his friend? Her eyes followed her sondaily, hourly, until at last she surrendered him to his duty when hedeclared he could no longer delay his journey to Washington.
Spick and span, cap-a-pie, pictures of splendid young manhood, the twocaptains rode one afternoon up to the great gate before the mansionhouse of the nation. Lewis looked about him at scenes once familiar;but in the three years and a half since he had seen it last the rawtown had changed rapidly.
W
orkmen had done somewhat upon the Capitol building yonder, certainimprovements had been made about the Executive Mansion itself; but theold negro men at the gate and at the door of the house were just as hehad left them. And when, running on ahead of his companion, he knockedat Mr. Jefferson's office door--flinging it open, as he did so, withthe freedom of his old habit--he looked in upon a familiar sight.
Thomas Jefferson was sitting bent over his desk, as usual litteredwith a thousand papers. The long frame of his multigraphcopying-machine was at one side. Folded documents lay before him,unfinished briefs upon the other side; a rack of goose quills and anopen inkpot stood beyond. And on the top of the desk, spread out longand over all, lay a great map, whose identity these two young meneasily could tell--the Lewis and Clark map sent back from the Mandancountry! Thomas Jefferson had kept it at his desk every day since ithad come to him, more than two years before.
He turned now toward the door, casually, for he was used to theinterruptions of his servants. What he saw brought him to his feet. Hespread out his arms impulsively--he shook the hand of each in turn,drew them to him before he motioned them to seats. Never hadMeriwether Lewis seen such emotion displayed by his chief.
"I could hardly wait for you!" said Mr. Jefferson. He began to paceup and down. "I knew it, I knew it!" he exclaimed. "Now they willcall us constitutional, perhaps, since we have added a new world toour country! My son, that was our vision. You have proved it. Youhave been both dreamer and doer!"
He came up and placed a half playful hand on Meriwether Lewis'sshoulder.
"Did I know men, then?" he demanded.
"And did I, Mr. Jefferson? Captain Clark----"
"You do not say the title correctly! It is not Captain Clark, it isnot Captain Lewis, that stand before me now. You are to have sixteenhundred acres of land, each of you. You, my son, will be GovernorLewis of the new Territory of Louisiana; and your friend is notCaptain Clark but General Clark, agent of all the Indian tribes of theWest!"
In silence the hand of each of the young men went out to thePresident. Then their own eyes met, and their hands. They were not tobe separated after all--they were to work together yonder in St.Louis!
"Governor--General--I welcome you back! You will come back to your oldrooms here in my family, Merne, and we will find a place for yourfriend. What we have here is at the service of both of you. You arethe guests of the nation!"
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