Next day, August 12, 1806, the party, slowly descending the river, were overjoyed to see below them the little flotilla of Captain Lewis and his men.  But they were alarmed when they discovered that Lewis was not with them; as the boats landed at the shore, the captain was not to be seen.  Captain Clark’s party, on coming up with their friends, were told that Lewis was lying in the pirogue, having been accidentally wounded.  The whole party were now happily reunited, and they were soon joined by the two Illinois traders whom they had met up the river; these men wished to accompany the expedition down the river as far as the Mandan nation, for the purpose of trading; they were more secure with a large party of white men than they would be if left to themselves.

Chapter XXVI —­ The End of a Long Journey

The reunited party now set out for the lower river and proceeded rapidly down-stream, favored with a good wind.  They made eighty-six miles on the first day, passing the mouth of the Little Missouri early in the forenoon, and camping at Miry River, on the northeast side of the Missouri.  On the second day they arrived at the principal village of the Minnetarees, where they were received with cordial welcome by their old friends.  The explorers fired their blunderbuss several times by way of salute, and the Indian chiefs expressed their satisfaction at the safe return of the white men.  One of the Minnetaree chiefs, however, wept bitterly at the sight of the whites, and it was explained by his friends that their coming reminded him of the death of his son, who had been lately killed by the Blackfoot Indians.

Arriving at the village of the Mandans, of which Black Cat was the chief, a council was called, and the chiefs of the expedition endeavored to persuade some of the leading men of the tribe to accompany them to Washington to see “the Great Father.”  Black Cat expressed his strong desire to visit the United States and see the Great Father, but he was afraid of the Sioux, their ancient enemies, through whose territory they must pass on their way down to the white man’s country.  This chief, it will be recollected, was given a flag and a medal by the two captains when they passed up the river on their way to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast.  The flag was now brought on and hoisted on the lodge of Black Cat.  On that occasion, also, the commanders of the expedition had given the Indians a number of useful articles, among them being a portable corn-mill.  But the Indians had other uses for metal, and they had taken the mill apart and used the iron for the purpose of making barbs for their arrows.  From the Omahas, who were located here, the white men received a present of as much corn as three men could carry.  Black Cat also gave them a dozen bushels of corn.

Their days of starvation and famine were over.  They were next visited by Le Borgne, better known as One-eye, the head chief of all the Minnetarees, to whom Lewis and Clark also extended an invitation to go to Washington to see the Great Father.  The journal says:—­