The prickly pear,
piercing his feet, had not dispelled at every moment the illusion.
He at last reached the party, who had been very anxious for his safety,
and who had already decided on the route which each should take
in the morning to look for him. Being much fatigued, he supped,
and slept well during the night."
On awaking the next morning, Captain Lewis found a large rattlesnake
coiled on the trunk of a tree under which he had been sleeping.
He killed it, and found it like those he had seen before,
differing from those of the Atlantic States, not in its colors,
but in the form and arrangement of them. Information was
received that Captain Clark had arrived five miles below,
at a rapid which he did not think it prudent to ascend,
and that he was waiting there for the party above to rejoin him.
After the departure of Captain Lewis, Captain Clark had remained
a day at Maria's River, to complete the deposit of such articles
as they could dispense with, and started on the twelfth of June.
Four days later, Captain Clark left the river, having sent
his messenger to Captain Lewis, and began to search for a
proper portage to convey the pirogue and canoes across to
the Columbia River, leaving most of the men to hunt, make wheels
and draw the canoes up a creek which they named Portage Creek,
as it was to be the base of their future operations.
The stream is now known as Belt Mountain Creek.
