o cross the barrier that was so soon to lie between my lady and myself.
My main hope lay in the possibility of obtaining Lieutenant Pike's
permission to join his expedition as a volunteer. But he was so strict
in his adherence to the most rigid requirements of his position as an
officer, that there was grave reason to doubt whether he would accept my
services without an order from the General.

There were other plans to be considered, one of which was that I should
throw in my fortunes with Senor Liza and his creole fellows. The idea
was distasteful, yet, reflecting on what little I had learned of the
plans of Colonel Burr and his friends, I was not so sure but that Liza's
party were quite as loyal. At the least, I could see no harm in aiding
Liza to carry a trading expedition into Santa Fe. So far as my own plans
were concerned, the venture would promise more at the other end than if
I joined Pike's party. If I reached that other end, I should be going
among the people of New Spain in company with persons of their own
blood.

There remained the most desperate plan of all. I could set out alone,
and trust to my unaided craft and single rifle to carry me safe across
the hundreds of miles of desert and the snowy mountains of which
Alisanda had spoken. I had travelled the wilderness traces and the
trackless forests too often alone to have any fear of wild beasts. But
there was the uncertainty of being able to kill enough meat to keep from
starving in the Western wilds, and on the other hand the certainty of
encountering bands of the little-known Pawnees and Ietans.

Rather than not go at all, I was resolved to attempt this desperate
venture. But my plan was to seek first to attach myself to my friend's
party, and, failing that, to open negotiations with Liza.

After a brief stop at Kaskaskia, that century-old trading post of the
French, we undertook the last run to St. Louis with much spirit. The
greater part of the crew were eager to reach St. Louis in time for the
celebration of Independence Day. In this we were disappointed, being so
set back by headwinds that we did not tie up to the home wharf until the
evening of the sixth of July.

My first inquiries relieved me of my fear that Lieutenant Pike had
already started. He was waiting with his party, fourteen or fifteen
miles upstream, at the Cantonment Belle Fontaine, established the
previous year by General Wilkinson. I had already learned at Kaskaskia
that the Gen