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The Saga Of Josh and Little Bird
by
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Dazed by what I had been told, I
stumbled down the narrow street and pushed through the Pig and Whistle’s door
to be greeted by a blast of what passed for air in a roadhouse, a heavy mix of
wood and tobacco smoke laced with the fumes of spilled beer. I pushed my way
through the crowd to where my friends were gathered around a table laden with
mugs of ale.
My drinking comrades shouted
greetings and made way for me at the beer stained table. I sat down and a mug
of ale slid to a stop in front of me.
I waited for a pause in the loud
conversations swirling around me before making my announcement. “I’m going on a
trip,” I said, “I’m going to back track Lewis and Clark, maybe go all the way
out to the
My friends roared with laughter
at my pronouncement. John Midden, my best friend
since we had played together as children, was the first to reply.
“You’ve had to
much booze,” he said. “Get on the warm side of that red haired bar maid and by
tomorrow you will have forgotten all about traipsing around the country.
Someone else clapped me on the
back. “Hells bells, Josh, I’ll bet you’ve never spent even one night out of
doors.”
“Or rode a horse or shot a gun,
for that matter,” Wieland added. “The first redskin
you meet will cut of your pecker,” and they all roared.
“So,” I said, “who’s going to
come with me? Don’t be bashful, I’ll be glad for the
company.”
This brought another peal of
laughter.
But John Midden
had been watching me closely, and he wasn’t laughing. “You’re serious, aren’t
you,” he said, in a low voice. You don’t know a damned thing about traveling
and camping, cooking your own food, but you would still go. Why in hell would
you want to do that? You are no explorer, you’re a
clerk at Comie and Finch, for Gods sake!”
“I can learn to do those things,”
I said impatiently, waving away his comments. “You know my brother Bill, and
you know he went west with Lewis and Clark, but didn’t come back. Tonight I
buttonholed Meriwether Lewis on his way into the hall, and he told me that they
caught Bill sleeping on guard duty out there in Indian country and kicked him
out of camp with nothing but the clothes on his back. But outside the hall one
of his men took me aside and said that it was just that Merriweather
got pissed over something and court marshaled him. They left him way up the
But I’m going to go look for him.
If it was me out there in that kind of trouble, I would just hunker down, find
a dry spot and sit tight, wait for Bill to come for me. Cause he would if he
was still alive.”
None of them were laughing now,
just standing and staring at me with open mouths. But no one offered to join
me.
“What about your job?” John
asked, “you’re due to get promoted one of these days.”
“Monday morning I’ll give notice
I said. “I have the money we got when we sold the house. I’ll do like Lewis and
Clark did. Go to
If only I was as confident as I
sounded, I thought to my self.
When we parted I could tell by
their somber faces that they were beginning to believe that I was serious.
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About the Book
His brother went west with the Lewis and Clarke expedition, but didn’t come back. Now Josh, the younger brother, decides it is his duty to try and find him.
Josh is a city boy, just eighteen, never ridden a horse, shot a gun, slept outside, never built a fire or cooked a meal.
And what an adventure! Hostile Indians (and some female Indians not so hostile,) wolves and bears and miles of buffalo, Elk and deer, the west as it was two hundred years ago.
A long, cold, and lonely winter spent in a camp dug into a bluff along side the Missouri river, his first contact with Little Bird, who would become the love of his life, at his side when he waded in the Pacific Ocean and latter when they visited the White House at the invitation of President Madison.
In the end they returned to the wilderness they loved and established the first trading post and the first school on the Yellowstone River.
About the Author
I was born in the depth of the depression in the small town
of Brainerd
About the time WW 2 started my Dad was first sent to
As soon as we could after the war was over we moved back to
We were always an outdoor oriented family, camping and fishing,
something I continued to enjoy when I had my own family. We lived in
In
I am now working on three other books plus a book of short stories about life on Uncle Jim and Aunt Nora’s farm.