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CHAPTER TWO Winter
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16 Little more than three weeks after Toussaint Charbonneau met Lewis and Clark, the explorers were haggling over his services with an agent of the North West Company. Traders from the fur-trading company and the Hudson’s Bay Company were following their usual schedule. Pelts were in prime condition from fall into early spring, and that was when the traders came to bargain with the Indians.1 On November 24, Francoise-Antoine Laroque stopped by at Toussaint’s Hidatsa village. Although Laroque was only twenty years old, this was not the first time he had made the long trip to the Knife River from Quebec. He had hired Charbonneau as an interpreter before, and wanted to again. But a Hudson’s Bay trader was already on hand in the village, and told him the interpreter had moved to Fort Mandan to work for Lewis and Clark. The next morning, Laroque saddled up and headed for the Americans’ fort. As it turned out, he met Lewis on the way. Laroque had been educated partly in the United States and had CHAPTER TWO Winter Winter 17 adopted English as his preferred language, so their quarter-hour conversation went easily. Lewis invited Laroque to his cabin and, the trader thought, seemed friendly. Already, though, there were signs of strain. The Hidatsas had heard rumors that the Americans were going to attack them, and their suspicions deepened when Toussaint moved into Fort Mandan. Clark thought they might have deepened further when Laroque’s interpreter, Baptiste LaFrance, “took it upon himself to speak unfavorably of our intentions.” Lewis told the Indians there was no truth to the rumors, and Clark made it clear to Laroque that he wanted no more such talk.2 Laroque still needed someone to interpret for him, particularly as the Hudson’s Bay traders already had an interpreter who spoke the Hidatsas’ language. He asked Toussaint to join him. Toussaint said he could not do so without Lewis’s permission, and Laroque should speak to Lewis. Lewis and Clark had their own work for their interpreter to do, but said it was all right for him to help Laroque at times when they did not need his services. Because they were still suspicious of Laroque’s attitude toward Americans , they cautioned Toussaint sternly not to say anything unfavorable about the United States or its citizens, even if Laroque ordered him to. Toussaint agreed.3 Laroque thought this settled the matter, and returned to the Mandan village to await his interpreter. Two days later Toussaint still had not arrived. It was snowing hard and blowing by now, and Laroque thought that was probably the reason for the delay. But when the weather cleared on the evening of November 29 and Toussaint still did not come, he set off to find out what the trouble was.4 Laroque arrived at Fort Mandan just as Lewis and Clark were dispatching a man to fetch him. They had heard disturbing news that the North West Company agent planned to give flags and medals to the Indians. They impressed upon Laroque that he was [54.85.255.74] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 02:41 GMT) Chapter Two 18 in American territory, and no foreign flags or medals were to be given. Laroque told them he had no flags or medals and so “Ran no Risk of disobeying those orders.” Clark seemed unconvinced. He noted in his journal only that Laroque “gave fair promises.”5 The next day, Laroque returned to the Indian village. But just as Toussaint was setting off to join him, the interpreter’s orders were changed. A band of Sioux had killed a Mandan the day before . Clark was taking twenty-three men to help the Mandans repulse their enemies, and Toussaint was ordered to accompany him. When they reached the Mandans’ village, the Indians told them the Sioux had already gone home. They said they would be glad to join the Americans in pursuit of them in the spring, after Reconstructed Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark’s camp for the winter of 18041805 . Sergeant Patrick Gass, a carpenter by background, supervised its construction of cottonwood trees stuffed with rags, grass and mortar. (Courtesy of the National Park Service, Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, Great Falls, Montana) Winter 19 the snow had melted. Clark, feeling that his show of force had merely made him ridiculous in the Mandans’ eyes, counseled a more peaceful course and went back across the river to the explorers...