"I remember perfectly," asserted John, solemnly. "I can see them going by right now! Pretty soon we pick up old man Dorion, coming down from the Sioux, and hire him to go back as an interpreter for us." "Could catch a lot of catfish and 'jurk' the meat, the way Captain Clark did venison," said Jesse, at length. According to their usual custom when on the trail, they were off by sunup, the exhaust of the double motors making the wooded shore echo again. They made their third encampment at the mouth of a stream which they took to be that called Good Woman River in the _Journal_--a name no longer known on their map. "Whew!" complained Uncle Dick, as he got out and stretched his legs. "This is cramping me as bad as the trenches in the Argonne. You fellows'll 'do me in,' as the British used to say, if I don't look out! How far do you think we've come in the three days, Rob?" "Let's see. I figure about one hundred and ninety to two hundred miles, that's all! What Lewis and Clark needed was our boat and a few outboard kickers. It took them till June 7th, twenty-three days, to get to this point. We've gained, you might say, three weeks on their time." "Yes, but they got three bears at this camp, and we've got nothing! We don't dare kill even a squirrel, though I'm sure we could get some sort of game in this rough country not far back." John spoke ruefully. "Don't kick, John," advised Jesse, sagely. "I'll take care of you. Besides, look at the big help the wind was to-day. Clark says he had only a 'jentle breese' in here." "Or words to that effect," smiled Rob. "The main thing is, we travel many times faster than they possibly could. Even so, she's a long trail ahead." "All we know is that we'll get through!" said John. "We always have." "We're discovering romance," said Uncle Dick. "We're discovering America, too. Jesse, take down your Flag from the bow staff--don't you know the Flag must never be allowed to fly after sunset?" They were now lying in their blankets in their tent, on a wind-swept point. "I wonder if Captain Clark took down the flag. Now, I wonder----" But what Jesse wondered was lost, for soon he was asleep. CHAPTER VII THE GATE OF THE WEST Nearly a week had passed since the last recorded camp of the crew of the _Adventurer_--spent in steady progress across the great and beautiful state of Missouri and its rich bottom lands, its many towns, its farms and timber lands and prairies. Many an exclamation at the wild beauty of some passing scene had been theirs in the constant succession of changing river landscapes. Their own adventures they had had, too, with snags and sweepers and the dreaded "rolling sands" over which the current boiled and hissed ominously; but the handlers of the boat were well used to bad water on their earlier trips together, in the upper wildernesses of the continent, so they made light of these matters.