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William Clark

36 The day we chose to depart was Monday, April 7. At 4:00 p.m. we
sent the keelboat back down the river. Your father and mother—and
you, a baby held in your mother’s arms—would be the only new
additions to our Corps of Discovery.

37 Were we fearful before we set out up the river? Perhaps we might
have been. The unknown lay ahead of us. All contact with the civilized

world would now be left far behind. Should disaster overtake us, we
might vanish into that great unmapped wilderness without a trace. Yet
all we felt was excitement. There was perfect harmony and good

understanding among us. Such harmony and understanding I have
never seen again in any group like our small party of adventurers. My
dear friend Meri felt just as I did. We were about to voyage into the
unknown.

38 He grasped me by the shoulder as we stood watching our men ready
the boats for our departure. We looked at our little fleet of six small
canoes and the two large pirogues.

39 “Billy,” he said with a smile, “behold our little fleet.”
40 “Not quite as respectable as Columbus,” said I.
41 “Nor Captain Cook,” Meri replied with a laugh. “Think of it. We are
about to penetrate into a country two thousand miles wide, on which
the foot of civilized man has never trodden. All the good or evil it has in
store for us is for experiment yet to determine. Those little vessels of

ours contain every article by which we are to expect to subsist or defend
ourselves. Yet I do believe we shall succeed.”

42 “And I believe the same,” I said, my smile as broad as his.
43 We took an early supper. That night we chose to sleep in a tent made
in the Indian style, of the dressed skins of buffalo. Setting up the tent
was your mother’s responsibility, and she made it seem an easy one.

civilized Something that is civilized is considered advanced in its development
and customs.

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