There were others in Washington who did not sleep that night. A light burned until sunrise in the little office-room of Thomas Jefferson. Spread upon his desk, covering its litter of unfinished business, lay a large map--a map which today would cause any schoolboy to smile, but which at that time represented the wisdom of the world regarding the interior of the great North American continent. It had served to afford anxious study for two men, these many hours.
"Yonder it lies, Captain Lewis!" said Mr. Jefferson at length. "How vast, how little known! We know our climate and soil here. It is but reasonable to suppose that they exist yonder as they do with us, in some part, at least. If so, yonder are homes for millions now unborn. Had General Bonaparte known the value of that land, he would have fought the world rather than alienate such a region."
The President tapped a long forefinger on the map.
"This, then," he went on, "is your country. Find it out--bring back to me examples of its soil, its products, its vegetable and animal life. Espy out especially for us any strange animals there may be of which science has not yet account. I hold it probable that there may be yonder living examples of the mastodon, whose bones we have found in Kentucky. You yourself may see those enormous creatures yet alive."
Meriwether Lewis listened in silence. Mr. Jefferson turned to another branch of his theme.
"I fancy that some time there will be a canal built across the isthmus that binds this continent to the one below--a canal which shall connect the two great oceans. But that is far in the future. It is for you to spy out the way now, across the country itself. Explore it--discover it--it is our new world.
"A few must think for the many," he went on. "I had to smuggle this appropriation through Congress--twenty-five hundred dollars--the price of a poor Virginia farm! I have tampered with the Constitution itself in order to make this purchase of a country not included in our original territorial lines. I have taken my own chances--just as you must take yours now. The finger of God will be your guide and your protector. Are you ready, Captain Lewis? It is late."
Indeed, the sun was rising over Washington, the mists of morning were reeking along the banks of the Potomac.
"I can start in half an hour," replied Meriwether Lewis.
"Are your men ready, your supplies gathered together?"
"The rendezvous is at Harper's Ferry, up the river. The wagons with the supplies are ready there. I will take boat from here myself with a few of the men. Not later than tomorrow afternoon I promise that we will be on our way. We burn the bridges behind us, and cross none until we come to them."