Seaman and the Great Northern Adventure Read online

  We know a lot about this epic journey because Lewis, Clark, and several other members of the expedition kept detailed journals—journals that we can still read today. The other human characters in this story were real people, too. York was a slave who belonged to Captain Clark’s family. Sacagawea was a young Shoshone woman who joined the expedition as their interpreter (and she did have a baby!). The “troublemakers” Moses Reed and John Newman were both members of the expedition who really were punished for bad behavior, including desertion and mutiny. François-Antoine Larocque was a trader for the North West Company (a Canadian fur-trading business)—and an explorer in his own right—who met Lewis and Clark on their journey.

  The dangers that Seaman and the time dogs face in my story are based on real events. Lewis and Clark’s men had several encounters with grizzly bears. Antelope swam across the river to escape from wolves, and Seaman really was bitten very badly on the leg by a beaver. A rogue buffalo charged through the camp in the middle of the night. One of the boats was caught up in a gust of wind and almost sank. Lewis describes how Sacagawea saved supplies from being washed away. An important compass was lost (and found again!)—although in real life, this did not happen in the boat accident. It happened when several of the group were on foot and they were caught in a rainstorm on the river. They had a narrow escape and some of their possessions were damaged or washed away (including the baby’s carrier). Coyotes, wildcats, rattlesnakes, hailstones, grass fires, and mudslides were all real hazards. The journals often mention the irritations of mosquitoes and prickly pear spines. Similarly, there are several reports of the men having rather too much whiskey and getting into fights.

  The real events that inspired this book happened over many months. For the purposes of the story, I have squashed the time dogs’ adventures into a few days in the summer of 1805. At this time, the expedition was traveling along the Missouri River in what is now Montana. However, the locations in the book do not correspond to specific places, and I have imported some events that happened earlier in the journey. Reed and Newman had both been dismissed and sent back to St. Louis by the spring of 1805. The meeting with Larocque and his party took place earlier in the expedition, at Fort Mandan, where the men spent the winter of 1804–05. Although the two groups spent some time together, and there were some misunderstandings, I invented the incident in which the fight broke out between them. Similarly, as far as I know, Larocque didn’t have a lady friend who trained dogs for the stage!

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Helen Moss is the author of many best-loved books for children. She lives near Cambridge, England, with her family—including a menagerie of dogs, hens, gerbils, and lizards. When not writing, she can be found taking the dogs for long walks, climbing trees, playing badminton, and climbing up or skiing down mountains. helenmoss.org.uk, or sign up for email updates here.

  Misa Saburi was born in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She currently lives in Brooklyn where she illustrates children’s books, including Monster Trucks, written by Joy Keller, and Bearnard’s Book, written by Deborah Underwood. misasaburi.com, or sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  1. The Squeaky, Freaky Flying Machine

  2. No Dogs Allowed

  3. Duckzilla!

  4. The Wrong Trail

  5. Now or Never

  6. The Right Moment

  7. Goodboy, Hero

  8. Dangerous!

  9. Look Before you Leap

  10. No other Options

  11. Bad Attitude

  12. Tall Tales

  13. The Magic Nose

  14. Nothing but Trouble

  15. Shadows on the Wall

  16. Vanished

  17. Brainstorm

  18. Teamwork

  19. The Parting of Ways

  20. All Clear

  Author’s Note

  About the Authors

  Copyright

  Text copyright © 2019 by Helen Moss

  Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Misa Saburi

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955698

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  First hardcover edition, 2019

  eBook edition, June 2019

  eISBN 9781250186362