After this meeting Charbonneau and Sacajawea were taken to the camp of the Shoshones. Anything that the white men wanted was easily secured now. Fifty horses were bartered for and delivered to them, so the expedition was able to proceed. Sacajawea was eager to go to the coast to see the “big water” and the “monster fish,” but the time of parting had come. Charbonneau was paid five hundred dollars and thirty-three cents for two years’ service, and the little Bird Woman, Sacajawea, was given nothing but the gratitude and respect of the white man. The party proceeded with other guides and finished the hard journey through the mountains to the Columbia River and to the Pacific. They brought back to the American public a romantic story of strange animals, of prairies, of rivers, of waterfalls, of mountains, and, above all, of Indians with their weird, barbaric customs, their strength, and their eagerness to learn. As a result of the travels of Lewis and Clark, and of other explorers and early settlers who followed them, a strong interest in the West sprang up among the people of the East. Many adventure-seeking boys left homes of comfort in the older states during the next fifty years in search of larger opportunities in the opening West. But these glowing tales of Indian tribes, and of wealth easily gained, had another effect besides that of luring high-spirited boys to seek new fortunes beyond the Mississippi; there was also kindled a flame of missionary endeavor in the churches of the East. Some of the great chapters of American history are written about the men who gave their lives to the task of carrying the gospel to the Indians, and to establishing churches in the new settlements scattered over almost half a continent. Growing up as he did in a Christian home, William Van Orsdel heard the stories of the brave pioneers of the Cross as well as those of explorers and hunters. It is not strange that as a young man he should respond with enthusiasm to the calls that were being made throughout the churches of the East for strong, energetic, and devoted men to enlist for Christian service in these new and difficult fields.