"I will haf no more hair," complained Francois Labiche.
Forty below zero sank the thermometer. John Newman froze his feet so badly that he was unable to walk in, and a rescue party with horses were sent to get him.
Captain Clark, with Chaboneau as guide, led a hunting party down-river, with the thermometer eighteen below. Chaboneau returned alone, to say that Captain Clark had obtained some meat, but that the horses could not carry it on the slippery ice.
"Your wife is ill, Chaboneau," informed Captain Lewis. And Chaboneau rushed for his lodge.
Forth he darted again.
"My wife she ver' seeck," he cried, wringing his hands. "W'at s'all I do? I fear she die, ma pauvre Sa-ca-ja-we-a (my poor Sa-ca-ja-we-a)."
"I'll try to tend to her, Toussaint," said Captain Lewis; and got out the medicine chest.
But all that night, and part of the next day the groans of the little Bird-woman could be heard.
"Dere is one remedy I hear of," spoke Jessaume. "I sorry my wife lef'. But sometime de Injun gif de rattle of de rattlesnake."
"Let's try that, then," bade Captain Lewis.
So the captain broke open the specimen bales in the store-room and found a dried rattlesnake skin. With Chaboneau jumping about imploringly, he crumbled two of the rattles into water, and this the suffering Bird-
