 Book 1 Chapter 12 of the Crossing by Winston Churchill. This Levervox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 12 the campaign begins. Davey, take care of my Tom, cried Polly Ann. I can see her now standing among the women by the great Cune gateposts with little Tom in her arms, holding him out to us as we filed by. And the vision of his little round face haunted Tom and me for many weary miles of our tramp through the wilderness. I have often thought since that that march of the volunteer company to join Clark at the falls of the Ohio was a superb example of confidence in one man and scarce to be equaled in history. In less than a week, we have kept inherits little company stood on a forest clad bank, gazing spellbound at the troubled waters of a mighty river. That river was the Ohio and it divided us from the strange North country whence the savages came. From below the angry voice of the great falls cried out to us unceasingly. Smoke rose through the treetops of the island opposite and through the new gaps of its forest, cabins could be seen. And presently at a signal from us, a big flat boat left its shore, swung out and circled on the polished current and grounded at length in the mud below us. A dozen tall boatmen, buckskin clad, dropped the big oars and leaped down on the bank with a yell of greeting. At the head of them was a man of huge frame and long light hair falling down over the collar of his hunting shirt. He rung Captain Harrod's hand. That there's Simon Kitten, Davey, said Cowan as we stood watching them. I ran forward for a better look at the backwoods, Hercules, the tales of whose prowess had helped to quail away many a winter's night at Harrod's town station. Big featured and stern, yet he had the kindly eye of the most indomitable of frontier fighters. And I doubted not the truth of what was said of him, that he could kill any red skin hand to hand. Clark's there, he was saying to Captain Harrod, God knows what his pluck is. He ain't said a word. He doesn't say where he's going, said Harrod. Not on ocean, answered Kitten. He's the greatest man to keep his mouth shut, I ever saw. He kept at the Governor of Virginia till he gave him 1,200 pounds in Continentals and power to raise troops. Then Clark fetched a circle for Fort Pitt, raised some troops there and in Virginia and some about Redstone, and come down the Ohio here with them and a lot of flat boats. Now that you got here, the Kentucky boys is all in. I come over with Montgomery and Dillard's here from the Holston country with a company. Well, said Captain Harrod, I reckon we'll report. I went among the first boatload and as the men strained against the current, Kitten explained that Colonel Clark had brought a number of immigrants down the river with him, that he purposed to leave them on this island with a little force, that they might raise corn in provisions during the summer, and that he had called the place Corn Island. Sure, there's the Colonel himself, cried Terrence McCann, who was in the bow, and indeed I could pick out the familiar figure among the hundred frontiersmen that gathered among the stumps of the landing place. As our keel scraped, they gave a shout that rattled in the forest behind them, and Clark came down to the water side. I knew that Harrod's town wouldn't fail me, he said, and called every man by name as we waited ashore. When I came splashing along after Tom, he pulled me from the water with his two hands. Colonel, said Terrence McCann, we brought you a drummer barry, would have no luck at all without him, said Cowan, and the men laughed. Can you walk a hundred miles without food, Davey? Asked Colonel Clark, eyeing me briefly. Faith, he's lean as a wolf, and no stomach to hinder him, said Terrence, seeing me look troubled. I'll not be missing the bit of food the likes of him would eat, and asked for the heft of him, added Cowan. Mac, and I'll not feel it, Colonel Clark laughed. Well, boys, he said, if you must have him, you must. His excellency gave me no instructions about a drummer, but we'll take you, Davey. In those days, he was a man that wasted no time, was Colonel Clark, and within the hour, our little detachment had joined the others, felling trees and shaping the log ends for the cabins. That night, as Tom and Cowan and McCann and James Ray lay around their fire, taking a well-earned rest, a man broke excitedly into the light with a kettle-shaped object balanced on his head, which he sat down in front of us. The man proved to be Swinn-Polson, in the object a big drum, and his straight way began to beat upon it a tattoo with improvised drumsticks. A redstone man, he cried. A redstone man, he had it in the flat boat. It is for Tavey. The Saints be good to us, said Terence, if it isn't the king's own drum he has. And sure enough, on the head of it gleamed the royal arms of England, and on the other side, as we turned it over, the device of a regiment. They flung the sling about my neck, and the next day, when the little army drew up for parade among the stumps, there I was at the end of the line, and prouder than any man in the ranks. And Colonel Clark, coming to my end of the line, paused and smiled and patted me kindly on the cheek. You put this man on the roll, Harrod, says he. No, Colonel, answers Captain Harrod, amid the laughter of the men at my end. What, says the Colonel, what an oversight. From this day, he is drummer-boy and orderly to the commander-in-chief. Beat the retreat, my man. I did my best, and as the men broke ranks, they crowded around me, laughing and joking, and Cowan picked me up, drumming all, and carried me off. I, rapping furiously the while. And so I became a kind of handy boy for the whole regiment from the Colonel down, for I was willing and glad to work. I cooked the Colonel's meals, roasting the turkey breasts and saddles of venison that the hunters brought in from the mainland, and even made him journey cake, a trick which Polly Ann had taught me. And when I went about the island, if a man were loafing, he would seize his axe and cry, here's Davey, you'll tell the Colonel on me. Thanks to the joke of Terrence McCann, I gained an owl-like reputation for wisdom amongst these superstitious backwoodsmen. And they came verily to believe that upon my existence depended the success of the campaign. But day after day passed, and no sign from Colonel Clark of his intentions. There's a good lad, said Terrence. He'll be telling us where we're going. I was asked the same question by a score or more, but Colonel Clark kept his own counsel. He himself was everywhere during the days that followed, superintending the work on the blockhouse we were building and eyeing the men. Rumor had it that he was sorting out the sheep from the goats, silently choosing those who were to remain on the island and those who were to take part in the campaign. At length the blockhouse stood finished, amid the yellow stumps of the great trees, the trunks of which were its walls. And suddenly the order went forth for the men to draw up in front of it by companies, with the families of the immigrants behind them. There was a picture to fix itself in a boy's mind, and one that I have never forgotten, the line of backwoodsmen, as fine a lot of men as I ever wished to see, bronzed by the dune sun, strong and tireless as the wild animals of the forest, stood expected with rifles grounded, and beside the tallest at the end of the line was a diminutive figure with a drum hung in front of it. The early summer wind rustled in the forest, and the never-ending song of the great foals sounded from afar. Apart, square-shouldered and indomitable stood the young man of twenty-six. My friends and neighbors, he said in a firm voice, there's scarce a man standing among you today who has not suffered at the hands of savages. Some of you have seen wives and children killed before your eyes or dragged into captivity. None of you can today call the home for which he has risked so much his own. And who, I ask you, is to blame for this hideous war? Whose goal is it that buys guns and powder and lead to send the Shawnee and the Iroquois and the Algonquin on the warpath? He paused, and a horse murmur of anger ran along the ranks. Whose goal but George's, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain and Ireland? And what minions distributed avid at Kaskaskia for one? And Hamilton had Detroit the hair buyer for another. When he spoke Hamilton's name, his voice was nearly drowned by implications. Silence cried Clark sternly, and they were silent. My friends, the best way for a man to defend himself is to maim his enemy. One year since, when you did me the honor to choose me, Commander-in-Chief of your militia in Kentucky, I sent two scouts to Kaskaskia. A dozen years ago, the French owned that place in St. Vincent and Detroit, and the people there are still French. My man brought back word that the French feared the long knives, as the Indians call us. On the 1st of October, I went to Virginia, and some of you thought again that I had deserted you. I went to Williamsburg and wrestled with Governor Patrick Henry and his counsel, with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Mason and Mr. White. Virginia had no troops to send us, and their men were fighting barefoot with Washington against the armies of the British King. But the governor gave me 1,200 pounds in paper, and with it, I've raised the little force that we have here. And with it, we will carry the war into Hamilton's country. On the swift waters of this great river which flows past us have come tidings today, and God himself is sent them. Tomorrow would have been too late. The ships and armies of the French King are on their way across the ocean to help us fight the turret. And this is the news that we bear to the Kaskaskias. When they hear this, the French of those towns will not fight against us. My friends, we're going to conquer an empire for liberty, and I can look onward, who cried in a burst of inspired eloquence, sweeping his arm to the northward towards the forest on the far side of the Ohio. I can look onward to the days when these lands will be filled with the cities of a great republic, and who among you will falter at such a call? It was a brief silence, and then a shout went up from the ripes that drowned the noise of the falls, and many fell into antics, some throwing their coonskin hats in the air, and others cursing and scalping Hamilton and mockery, while I pounded on the drum with all my might. And when we had broken ranks, the rumor was whispered about that the Holston Company had not cheered, and indeed the rest of the day these men went about plainly morose and discontented. Some sang openly, and with much justice that we failed to see it then, that they had their own families and settlements to defend from the southern Indians and Chippamonga bandits, and could not undertake Kentucky's fight at that time. And when the enthusiasm had burned away a little, the disaffection spread, and some even of the Kentuckians began to murmur against Clark, that faith or genius was needful to inspire men to his plan. One of the malcontents from Boonesboro came to our fire to argue, he's mad as a medicine man is Clark to go into that country with less than 200 rifles, and he'll force us, will he? Not as leaf had the king for a master. He brought every man in our circle to his feet, Ray, McCann, Cowan, and Tom. But Tom was nearest, and the words not coming easily to him, he fell on the Boonesboro man instead, and they fought it out for ten minutes in the firelight with half the regiment around them. At the end of it, when the malcontents were carrying their champion away, they were stopped suddenly at the sight of one bursting through the circle into the light, and a hush fell upon the quarrel. It was Colonel Clark. Are you hurt, Machessie? He demanded. I reckon not much, Colonel, said Tom, grinning as he wiped his face. If any man deserts this camp tonight, cried Colonel Clark, swinging around, I swear by God to have him chased and brought back and punished as he deserves. Captain Herod set a guard. I passed quickly over the rest of the incident. Now the host and men and some others escaped in the night in spite of our guard and swam the river on logs. How at dawn we found them gone, and Kenton and Herod and brave Captain Montgomery sat out in pursuit with Cowan and Tom and Ray. All day they rode, relentless, and the next evening returned with but eight weary and sullen fugitives of all those who had deserted. The next day the sun rose on a smiling world, the polished reaches of the river golden mirrors reflecting the forest green, and we were astir with the light, preparing for our journey into the unknown country. At seven we embarked by companies in the flat boats, waving a farewell to those who were to be left behind. Some stayed through inclination and disaffection, others because Colonel Clark did not deem them equal to the task. But when Paulson came, with tears in his little blue eyes, he had begged the Colonel to take him, and I remember him well on that June morning, his red face perspiring under the white bristles of his hair as he strained at the big oar. For we must needs pull a mile up the stream, ere we could reach the passage in which to shoot downward to the falls. Suddenly Paulson dropped his handle, causing the boat to swing round in the stream, while the men damned him. Paying them no attention, he stood pointing into the blinding disk of the sun. Across the edge of it, a piece was bitten out in blackness. My God, he cried, the world is being ended just now. The holy saints remember us this day, said McCann, missing a stroke to cross himself. Would you pull your damn Dutchman, or will be the first to slide into hell? This is no kind of a place at all at all. By this time the men along the line of boats had seen it, and many faltered. Clark's voice could be heard across the waters, urging them to pull, while the bows swept across the current. They obeyed him, but steadily the blackness ate out the light, and a weird gloaming overspread the scene. River and forest became stern, the men silent. The more ignorant were in fear of a cataclysm, the others taking it for an omen. Shucks, said Tom, when appealed to. I've seen it before, and it come all right again. Clark's boat rounded the show. Next our turn came, and then the whole line was gliding down the river, the rising roar of the angry waters with which we were soon to grapple, coming to us with an added grimness. And now but a faint rim of light saved us from utter darkness. Big Bill Cowan, undaunted in war, stared at us with fright, written on his face. And what did he think of it, Davey? He said. I glanced at the figure of our commander in the boat ahead and took courage. It's Hamilton's scalp hanging by a lock. I answered, pointing to what was left of the sun. Soon it'll be off, and then we'll have light again. To my surprise, he snatched me from the fort and held me up with a shout, and I saw Colonel Clark turn and look back. Davey says the hair by our scope hangs by the lock, boys. He shouted, pointing at the sun. The word was cried from boat to boat, and we could see the men pointing upwards and laughing. And then as the light began to grow, we were in the midst of the tumbling waters, the steersmen straining now right now left to keep the prowls and the smooth reaches between rock and bar. We gained the still pools below. The sun came out once more and smiled on the landscape, and the spirits of the men reviving burst all bounds. Thus I earned my reputation as a prophet. Four days and nights we rode down the great river, our oars double manned for fear that our coming might be heralded to the French towns. We made our first camp on a green little island at the mouth of the Cherokee, as we then called the Tennessee. And there I set about cooking a turkey for Colonel Clark, which Ray had shot. Chancing to look up, I saw the Colonel himself watching me. How is this, Davey? Said he. I hear that you've saved my army for me before we met the enemy. I did not know it, sir. I answered. Well, said he. If you have learned to turn an evil omen into a good sign, you know more than some generals. What hails you now? There's a probe, sir. I cried, staring and pointing where, said he, alert all at once. Here, Manchester, take a crew and put out after them. He had scarcely spoken. Air Tom and his men were rowing into the sunset, the whole of our little army watching from the bank. Presently, the other boat was seen coming back with ours. And five strange woodsmen stepped the shore, our men pressing around them. But Clark flew to the spot, the men giving back. Who's the leader here? He demanded a tall man stepped forward. I am, said he, bewildered but defiant. Your name? John Duff. He answered as though against his will. Your business? Hunters, said Duff. And I reckon we're in our rights. I'll judge of that, said the colonel. Where are you from? That's no secret neither. Kaskasky, ten days gone. At that, there was a murmur of surprise from our company. Clark turned. Get your men back, he said to the captains who stood about them, and all of them not moving. Get your men back, I say. I'll have it known who's in command here. At that, the man retired. Who commands at Kaskasky? He demanded of Duff. Monsieur Rochebleve, a French ear holding a British commission, said Duff. And the British governor Abbott has left post St. Vincent and gone to Detroit. Who be you? he added suspiciously. Be you rebels? Colonel Clark is my name, and I'm in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Duff uttered an exclamatory oath, and his manner changed. Be you Clark, he said with respect. And you're going after Kaskasky? Well, the military is prime, and the Indian scouts is keeping a good lookout. But Colonel, I'll tell you something. The French is eternal a fear to the long knives. My God, they've got the notion that if you catch them, you'll burn and scalp them same as the red sticks. Good was all that Clark answered. I reckon I don't know much about what the rebels is fighting for, said John Duff. But I like your looks, Colonel. And wherever you're going, there'll be a fight. Me and my boys would kind of like to go along. Clark did not answer at once, but looked John Duff and his men over carefully. Will you take the oath of allegiance to Virginia and the Continental Congress? He asked at length. I reckon it won't pass on us, said John Duff. Hold up your hands, said Clark, and they took the oath. Now my men, said he, you will be assigned to companies. Does anyone among you know the old French trail from Massacre to Cascascale? Why exclaimed John Duff? Why Johnny Sanders here can tread it in the dark like the road to the grog shop. John Sanders, loose-limbed, grinning sheepishly, shuffled forward, and Clark shot a dozen questions at him one after another. Yes, the trail had been blazed. The Lord knew how long ago by the French and given up when they left Massacre. Look you, said Clark to him. I'm not a man to stand trifling. If there's any deception in this, you'll be shot without mercy. And good riddance, said John Duff. Boys will rubble now, steer clear of the hair-buyer. This is the end of chapter 12. Book one, chapter 13 of The Crossing by Winston Churchill. This Leaver Vox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 13, Cascascale. For one more day, we floated downward on the face of the waters between the forest walls of the wilderness. And at length we landed in a little gully on the north shore of the river. And there we hid our boats. Davey, said Colonel Clark, let's walk about a bit. Tell me where you learned to be so silent. My father did not like to be talked to, I answered. Except when he was drinking, he gave me a strange look. Many of the stroll I took with him afterwards when he sought to relax himself from the cares which the campaign had put upon him. This night was still and clear, the west all yellow with a departing light and the mist coming on the river. And presently, as we strayed down the shore, we came upon a strange sight, the same being a huge fort rising from the water side, all overgrown with brush and saplings and tall weeds. The palisades that held its earthen work were rotten and crumbling, the mighty bastions of its corners sliding away. Behind the fort, at the end fathers from the river, we came upon graveled walks hidden by a rank groove where the soldiers of his most Christian majesty once paraded. Lost in thought, Clark stood on the parapet, watching the water gliding by until the darkness hit it. Nay, until the stars came and made golden dimples upon its surface. When we went back to the camp again, he told me how the French had tried once to conquer this vast country and failed, leaving to the Spaniards the endless stretch beyond the Mississippi called Louisiana and this part to the English. And he told me likewise that this fort in the days of its glory had been called Massacre from a bloody event which had happened there more than three score years before. Three score years, I exclaimed longing to see the men of this race which had set up these monuments only to abandon them. And I, lad, he answered, before you and I were born, before our fathers were born, the French missionaries and soldiers threaded this wilderness and they called this river La Belle Revere, a beautiful river. And shall I see that race at Kaskaskia? I asked, wondering, shall he cried with a force that left no doubt in my mind. In the morning we broke camp and started off for the strange place which we hoped to capture. A hundred miles it was across the trackless wilds and each man was ordered to carry on his back provisions for four days only. Their gut cried Swind Paulson from the bottom of a flat boat once he was tossing out venison flitches for day and what is it be eat then? French is sure, said Terrence. There'll be plenty of them for a season. Faith I do hear, there are tenders lambs. You'll know set tooth in the French's, the pessimistic McAndrew put in. Three five thousand redskins about and they're lying in wait. The Colonel's no very mindful of that, I'm taking. Will you hush your ill omen town? cried Cowan angrily. Pitch him in the creek, Mack. Tom was diverted from this duty by a loud quarrel between Captain Herod and five men of the company who wanted scalp duty. And on the heels of that came another turmoil occasioned by Cowan's dropping my drum into the water. While he and McCann and Tom were fishing it out, Colonel Clark himself appeared, quelled the mutiny that Herod had on his hands and bade the men sternly to get into ranks. What foolishness is this? He said, eyeing the dripping drum. Sure, Colonel, said McCann, swinging it on his back. He would have no heart in us at Kaskasky without the rattle of it in our ears. Bill Cowan and me will not be feeling the heft of it between us. Get into ranks, said the Colonel, amusement struggling with the anger in his face as he turned on his heel. His wisdom well knew when to humor a man and when to chastise. Yeah, said Terence as he took his place. That has soon leave me gone behind as Davey and the drum. He thinks I can see now as I write the long file of Woodsman with their swinging stride planting one foot before the other, even as the Indian himself threaded the wilderness. Though my legs were short, I had both sinew and training, and now I was at one end of the line and now at the other. And often with a laugh, some giant would hand his gun to a neighbor, swing me to his shoulder, and so give me a lift for a weary mile or two. And perchance whispered to me to put down my hand into the wallet of his shirt where I would find a choice of morsel which he had saved for his supper. Sometimes I trotted beside the Colonel himself listening as he talked to this man or that, and thus I got the greatest notion of the daring of this undertaking and of the dangers ahead of us. This North country was infested with Indians, allies of the English and friends of the French, their subjects, and the fact was never for an instant absent from our minds that our little band might at any moment run into a thousand warriors, be overpowered and massacred, or worst of all, that our coming might have been heralded to Kaskaskia. For three days we marched in the green shade at the primeval wood, nor saw the sky save in blue patches here and there. Again we toiled for hours through the coffee-colored waters of the swamps. But the third day brought us to the first of those strange clearings which the French call prairies, where the long grass ripples like a lake in the summer wind. Here we first knew raging thirst and longed for the loam-speckled water we had scorned as our tired feet tore through the grass. For Saunders our guide took a line across the open and plain sight of any eye that might be watching from the forest cover. But at length our column wavered and halted by reason of some disturbance at the head of it. Conjectures in our company, the rear guard, became wife at once. Ron, David Arlen, and see what the trouble is, said Terrence. Nothing loath I made my way to the head of the column where Bowman's company had broken ranks and stood in a ring up to their thighs in the grass. Nothing standing on one foot before our angry colonel was Saunders. Now what does this mean, demanded Clark? My eyes on you, and you've boxed the compass in this last hour, Saunders' jaw dropped. I'm guiding you right. He answered with that sullenness which comes to his kind from fear. But a man will slip his bearings sometimes in this country. Clark's eyes shot fire on the stock of his rifle with a thud. By eternal God, he cried, I believe you're a traitor. I've been watching you every step and you've acted strangely this morning. I came from the men around him. Silence, cried Clark, and turned again to the cowering Saunders. You pretend to know the way to Kaskaskya. You bring us to the middle of the Indian country where we may be wiped out at any time and now you have the damned effrontery to tell me that you've lost your way. I'm a man of my word. He added with a vibrant intensity and pointed to the limbs of a giant tree which stood at the edge of the distant forest. I'll give you half an hour, but as I live, I will leave you hanging there. The man's brown hand trembled as he clutched his rifle barrel. It is a hard country, sir, he said. I'm lost. I swear it on the evangils. A hard country, right, Clark? A man would have to walk over it but once to know it. I believe you're a damn traitor and perjurer in spite of your oath. A British spy, Saunders wiped the sweat from his brow on his buckskin sleeve. I reckon I could get the trace, Colonel, if you'd let me go a little way into the prairie. Half an hour, said Clark, and you'll not go alone. In his eye over Bowman's company, he picked out a man here and the man there to go with Saunders. Then his eye lighted on me. Where's Nechesney, he said. That's Nechesney. I ran to get Tom and seven of them went away with Saunders in the middle. Clark watching them like a hawk while the men sat down in the grass to wait. 15 minutes went by and 20 and 25 and Clark was calling for a rope when someone caught sight of the squad in the distance returning at a run and when they came within hail it was Saunders voice we heard shouting brokenly. I've struck it, Colonel. I've struck the trace. There's a pecan at the edge of the bottom with my own blaze on it. May you never be as near death again, said the Colonel grimly as he gave the order to march. The fourth day passed and we left behind us the patches of forest and came into the open prairie as far as the eye could reach a long level sea of waving green. The scanning provisions run out. Hunger was added to the pangs of thirst and weariness and here and there in the straggling file, discontent smoldered and angry undertone was heard. Kaskaskir was somewhere to the west and north, but how far? Clark had misled them and in addition it were foolish to believe that the garrison had not been warned. English soldiers and French militia and Indian allies stood ready for our reception. Of such was the talk as we lay down in the grass under the stars on the fifth night. For in the rank and file an empty stomach is not hopeful. The next morning we took up our march silently with the dawn, the prairie grouse queering ahead of us. At last as afternoon drew on a dark line of green edged the prairie to the westward and our spirits rose. From mouth to mouth rend the word that these were the woods which fringed the bluff above Kaskaskir itself. We pressed ahead and the destiny of the new republic for which we had fought made us walk unseen. Excitement keyed us high. We reached the shade plunged into it and presently came out staring at the bastioned corners of a fort which rose from the center of a clearing. It had once defended the place but now stood abandoned and dismantled. Beyond it at the edge of the bluff we halted, astonished. The sun was falling in the west and below us was the goal for the sight of which we had suffered so much. At our feet across the wooden bottom was the Kaskaskir river and beyond the peaceful little French village with its low houses and orchards and gardens colored by the touch of the evening light. In the center of it stood a stone church with its belfry but our searching eyes alighted on the spot to the southward of it near the river. There stood a rambling stone building with the shingles of its roof weathered black and all around it a palisade of pointed sticks thrust in the ground and with a pair of gates and watchtowers. Drooping on its staff was the standard of England. North and south of the village the emerald common gleamed in the slanting light speckled red and white and black by grazing cattle. Here and there in untidy brown patches were Indian settlements and far away to the westward the tawny father of waters gleamed through the cottonwoods. Through the waning day the men lay resting under the trees talking and under tones. Some cleaned their rifles and others lost themselves in conjectures of the attack. The man himself tireless stood with folded arms gazing at the scene below and the sunlight on his face illumined him to the lad standing at his side as the servant of destiny. At length and even tide the sweet toned bell of the little cathedral rang to Vespers a gentle message of peace to war. Colonel Clark looked into my upturned face and said, David, you know what day this is? He asked. No, sir, I answered. Two years have gone since the bells peeled for the birth of a new nation your nation, David, and mine the nation that is to be the refuge of the oppressed of this earth. The nation which is to be made of all peoples out of all time and this land for which you and I fight tonight will belong to the west until the sun sets on the sea again. He put his hand on my head. You will remember this when I'm dead and gone, he said. I was silent awed by the power of his words. Darkness fell and still we waited impatient for the order and when at last it came the men bustled hither and thither to find their commands and we lay on the unseen road that led down the bluff, our hearts thumping. The lights of the village twinkled at our feet and now and then a voice from below was caught and born upward to us. Once another noise startled us followed by an exclamation Donner Blitzen and a volley of low curses from the company. Poor Swin Polson had loosed a stone which had taken a barbarating flight Riverward. We reached the bottom and the long file turned and hurried silently northward searching for a crossing. I try to recall my feelings as I trotted beside the tall forms that loomed above me in the night. The sense of protection they gave me stripped me of fear and I was not troubled with that. My thoughts were chiefly on Polly Ann and the child in the fort now so far to the south of us. And in my fancy I saw her cheerful ever helpful to those around her despite the load that must rest on her heart. I saw her simple joy at our return but should we return my chest tightened and I sped along the ranks of Harrod's company and caught Tom by the wrist. Baby, he murmured and ceasing my hand and his strong grip pulled me along with him. For it was not given to him to say what he felt but as I hurried to keep pace with his stride Polly Ann's words rang in my ears. Davy, take care of my Tom. And I knew that he too was thinking of her. A hail aroused me the sound of a loud rapping and I saw in back relief a cabin ahead. The door opened a man came out with a horde of children cowering at his heels a volley of frightened words pouring from his mouth and a strange tongue. John Duff was plying him with questions in French and presently the man became calmer and lapsed into broken English. Kaskaskia, yes cheers, prepared many spies gone out across the river but now they all sleep. Even as he spoke the shout came faintly from the distant town. What is that? demanded Clark sharply. The man shrugged his shoulders off a denigre to entree. The negro, you dance maybe are you the ferryman? said Clark. We, I have some boat we crossed the hundred and fifty yards of British water squad by squad and in the silence of the night stood gathered expected on the father bank. Midnight was at hand. Commands were cast about and men ran this way and that jostling one another to find their place in a new order. But at length our little four stood in three detachments on the river's bank. Their captains repeating again and again none might mistake his duty. The two larger ones were to surround the town while the picked force by Simon Kenton himself was to storm the fort. Should he gain it by surprise and without battle three shots were to be fired in quick succession. The other detachments were to start the war hoop while Duff and some with a smattering of French were to run up and down the streets proclaiming that every habit home house would be shot. No provision being made for the drummer boy. I had left my drum on the heights above. I chose the favorite column the head of which Tom and Cowan and Ray and McCann were striding behind Kenton and Colonel Clark. Not a word was spoken. There was a kind of cow path that rose and fell and twisted along the river bank. This we followed and in ten minutes we must have covered the mile darkened village. The starlight alone outlined against the sky the houses of it as we climbed the bank. Then we halted breathless in the street. But there was no sound save that of the crickets and the frogs. Forward again and twisting a corner we beheld the indented edge of the stockade. Still no hail nor have our moccasin feet betrayed us as we sought the river outside of the fort and drew up before the big river gates of it. Simon Kenton bore against them and tried the little poster that was set there. But both were fast. The spikes towered a dozen feet overhead. Quick, muttered Clark, a light man to go over and open the poster. Before I guessed what was in his mind Cowan seized me. Send the lad, Colonel, said he. Aye aye, said Simon Kenton coarsely. In a second, Tom was on Kenton's shoulders and they passed me up with as little trouble as though I had been my own drum, feverishly searching with my foot for Tom's shoulder. I seized the spikes at the top, clamored over them, paused, surveyed the empty area below me, destitute even of a century, and then let myself down with the aid of the crossbars inside. As I was feeling vainly for the bolt of the poster, rays of light suddenly shot my shadow against the door. And next, as I got my hand on the bolt head, I felt the weight of another on my shoulder and a voice behind me said in English in the devil's name I gave the one frantic pull the bolt slipped and caught again. Then Colonel Clark's voice rang out in the night open the gate open the gate in the name of Virginia and the Continental Congress. Before I could cry out the man gave a grunt, leaned his gun against the gate and tore my fingers from the bolt handle. A astonishment robbed me of breath as he threw open the poster. In the name of the Continental Congress he cried and seized his gun. Clark and Kenton stepped in instantly no doubt as astounded as I and had the man in their grasp. Who are you? said Clark. Name a scheme from Pennsylvania said the man. By the Lord God ye shall have the fort. You looked for us? said Clark. Faith nevertheless said the Pennsylvania. The one century is at the main gate and the Governor Rochebleve said the Pennsylvania. He sleeps yonder in the old Jesuit house in the middle. Clark turned to Tom Nechesty who was at his elbow and said, Corporal said he swiftly secure the center at the main gate. You, he added turning to the Pennsylvania. Lead us to the Governor. But mine if you betray me I'll be the first to blow out your brains. The man seized a lantern and made swiftly over the level ground until the rubble work of the old Jesuit house showed in the light. Nor Clark nor any of them stopped to think of the danger our little house was silent. We halted and Clark threw himself against the rude panels of the door which gave to inward blackness. Our men filled a little passage and suddenly we found ourselves in a low ceiling groom in front of a great foreposter bed. And in it upright, leaking at the light were two odd french-ified figures in tasseled nightcaps. Astonishment and anger and fear struggled in the faces of Mansour de Rocheblav and his lady. A regard for truth compels me to admit that it was Madame who first found her voice and no uncertain one it was. First came a streak that might have roused the garrison. Villains, maddeners, outrageous of decency. She cried with spirit pouring a heap of invectives now in French, now in English, much to the discomforture of our back woodsman who peered at her helplessly. Mansour de Rocheblav cried the commandant when his lady's breath was gone. What does this mean? It means, sir, answered Clark promptly, that you are my prisoner. Then who are you? Dassed the commandant. George Rogers Clark, Colonel in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He held out his hand restrainingly for the furious Mansour de Rocheblav made an attempt to rise. You will oblige me by remaining in bed, sir, for a moment. C'est qu'il qu'à de les couches, sweet the lady. Madame, said Colonel Clark politely, the necessities of war are often cruel. He made a bow and, paying no further attention to the torrent of her reproaches of the threats of the helpless commandant, he calmly searched the room with the lantern and, finally, pulled out from under the bed a metal dispatch box. Then he lighted a candle in a brass candlestick that stood on the simple walnut dresser and bowed again to the outraged couple in the fore poster. Now, sir, he said, you may dress. We will retire. Haudu said to commandant in French a hundred thousand tanks. We had scarcely closed the bedroom door when three shots were heard. The signal, exclaimed Clark, immediately a pandemonium broke on the silence of the night that must have struck cold terror in the hearts of the poor creoles sleeping in their beds. The warhook, the scalpelu in the dead of the morning with the hideous winding notes of them that reached the bluff beyond and echoed back were enough to frighten a man from his senses. In the intervals, in Backwood's French, John Duff and his companions were heard in terrifying tones, crying out to the habitats to venture out at the peril of their lives. Within the fort, a score of lights flew up and down like Willow the Wisp and Colonel Clark standing on the left of the governor's house gave out his orders and dispatched his messengers. Me, he sent speeding through the village to tell Captain Bowman to patrol the outskirts of the town that no runner might get through to warn Fort Chart and co-hosts, as some called Cahokia. None stirred save the few Indians left in the place and these were brought before Clark in the fort, so on and defiant and put in the guardhouse there. And Rocheblav, when he appeared, was no better and was put back in his house under guard. As for the papers in the dispatch box, they revealed I know not what briberies of the savage nations and plans of the English, but of other papers we found none, though there must have been more. Madame Rocheblav was suspected of having hidden some in the invaluable portions of her dress. At length, the cocks crowing for the day proclaimed the morning and while yet the blue shadow of the bluff was on the town, Colonel Clark saled out of the gate and walked abroad. Strange it seemed that war had come to this village so peaceful and remote and even stranger it seemed to me to see these Arcadian homes in the midst of the fierce wilderness, the little houses with their sloping roofs and wide porches, the gardens ablaze with color, the neat palings, all were restful sight for our weary eyes. And now I scarcely knew our commander, but we had not gone far, air timidly, a door opened and a mile visaged the man in the simple work-a-day smock that the French war stood waiting on the steps. The odd thing was that he should have bowed to Clark who was dressed no differently from Bowman and Harrod and Duff. And the man's voice trembled piteously as he spoke. It needed not John Duff to tell us that he was pleading for the lives of his family. He will sell himself as a slave if your excellency will spare them, said Duff and Clark stared at the man sternly. I will tell them my plans at the proper time, he said, and when Duff had translated this, the man turned and went silently into his house again closing the door behind him. And before we had traversed the village, the same thing had happened many times. We gained the fort again, I wondering greatly why he had not reassured the people. It was Bowman who asked this question, he being closer to Clark than any of the other captains. Clark said nothing then and began to give out directions for the day. But presently he called the captain aside. Bowman, I heard him say, with 150 men to hold a province bigger than the whole of France and filled the city. I must work out the problem for myself. Bowman was silent. Clark with that touch which made men love him and die for him laid his hand on the captain's shoulder. Have the man called in by detachments, he said, and fed. God knows they must be hungry and you, suddenly I remembered that he himself had had lost to the kitchen door. I came unexpectedly upon Swann Polson, who was face to face with the Lindsay Woolsey clad figure of Moshe Roushblav's Negro Cook. The early sun cast long shadows of them on the ground. By Tam, my friend was saying, so I will eat. I am chose like an ox for three days on two grass, is it? Mopal Papa said the cook with the terrified roll of his white eyes. Hair good, cried Swann Polson. I am red face. Hair good, I think I am not a nigger. When my hair is bristles, yes, Davey, spying me. I think, oh God, it is not fooled. Let us in the kitchen go. I'm come to get something for that I, pushing past the slave through the open doorway. Swann Polson followed and here I struck another contradiction in his strange nature. He helped me light the fire in the great stone chimney place and we soon had a pot of hominy on the crane and turning on the spit a piece of buffalo steak which we found in the larder. Nor did a mouthful pass his lips until I had sped away with a portion to find the kernel. By this time the man had broken into the storehouse and the open place was dotted with their breakfast fires. Clark was standing alone by the flagstaff his face care worn but he smiled as he saw me coming. What's this? says he. Your breakfast, sir. I answered. I sat down the plate and the pot before him and pressed the spoon into his hand. Davey said he. Sir? said I. What did you have for your breakfast? My lip trembled for I was very hungry and the rich steam from the hominy was as much as I could stand. Then the kernel took me by the arms as gently as a woman might set me down on the ground beside him and taking a spoonful of the hominy forced it between my lips. Then he took it to fainting at the taste of it. Then he took a bit himself and divided the buffalo steak with his own hands. And when from the campfires they perceived the kernel and the drummer boy eating together in plain sight of all, they gave a rousing cheer. Swim pulse and help get your breakfast, sir, and would eat nothing either. I ventured. Be younger when you're twenty. I hope I shall be bigger, sir. I answered gravely. End of Chapter 13 Book 1 Chapter 14 of The Crossing by Winston Churchill this lever box recording is in the public domain Chapter 14 how the Kaskaskians were made citizens never before had such a day upon Kaskaskia. With July fierceness the sun beat down upon the village but man nor woman nor child stirred from the darkened houses. What they awaited at the hands of the long knives they knew not. Captivity, torture, death perhaps. Through the deserted streets stalked a squad of back woodsmen headed by John Duff and two American traders found in the town who were besturing themselves on our behalf, knocking now at this door and anon at that. The colonel bid you come to the fort he said and was gone. The church bell rang with slow ominous strokes far different from its gentle desperate appeal of yesterday. Two companies were drawn up in the sun before the old Jesuit house and presently through the gate a procession came grave and mournful. The tone of it was somber in the white glare for man had donned their best as they thought for the last time cloth of camlet and cadiz and limb board white cotton stockings and brass buckled shoes. They came like captives led to execution but at their head a figure held our eye a figure that spoke in courage of trials born for others. It was the village priest in his robes. He had a receding forehead and a strong pointed chin but benevolence was in the curve of his great nose. I have many times since seen his type of face in the French Prince. He and his flock halted before our young colonel even as the citizens of Calais in a bygone century must have stood before the English King. The scene comes back to me. On the one side not the warriors of a nation that had made its mark in war but peaceful peasants who had sought this place for its remoteness from persecution to live and die in harmony with all mankind on the other the sinewy advanced guard of a race that knows no peace whose goddess of liberty carries her hand a sword the plow might have been graven on our arms but always the rifle. The silence of the trackless wilds rained while Clark gazed at them sternly and when he spoke it was with the voice of a conqueror and they listened as the conquered listened with heads bowed all saved the priest. Clark told them first they had been given a false and a wicked notion of the American cause and he spoke of the tyranny of the English King which had become past endurance to a free people as for ourselves the long knives we came in truth to conquer and because of their hasty judgment the Cascascans were at our mercy the British had told them that the Kentuckians were a barbarous people who believed. He paused that John Duff might translate and the gist of what he had said sink in but suddenly the priest had stepped out from the ranks faced his people and was himself translating in a strong voice when he had finished a tremor shook the group but he turned calmly and faced Clark once more citizens of Cascassia Colonel Clark went on the king whom you renounced when the English conquered you the great king of France has judged for you and the French people knowing that the American cause is just he is sending his fleets and regiments to fight for it against the British King who until now has been your sovereign again he paused and when the priest had told him this a murmur of astonishment came from the boldest citizens of Cascassia know you that the Long Nives come not to massacre as you foolishly believed but to release from bondage we have come not against you who have been deceived but against those soldiers of the British King who have bribed the savages to slaughter our wives and children you have but to take the oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress to become free even as we are to enjoy the blessings of that American government under which we live and for which we fight the face of the good priest kindled as he glanced at Clark he turned once more and though we could not understand his words the thrill of his eloquence moved us and when he had finished there was a moment's hush of inarticulate joy among his flock and then such transports as moved strangely the sternest men in our ranks the simple people fell to embracing each other and praising God the tears running on their cheeks out of the group came an old man a skullcap rested on his silvered hair and he felt the ground old headed stick Man sure he said cremulously you will pardon an old man if he show feeling I'm born 70 years ago in Gascon I inhabit this country 30 years and last night I think I not live any longer last night we make our peace with the good God and come here today to die we know you not he cried with a sudden and surprising vigor we know you not they told us lies and we were humble and believed but now we are Americans he cried his voice pitched high as he pointed with a trembling arm to the stars and strikes above him my fault we are Americans we will not show the clock save your heart the listening village heard the shout and wondered and when it had died down Colonel Clark took the old Gascon by the hand and not a man of his but saw that this was a master stroke of his genius my friends he said simply I thank you I would not force you and you will have some days to think over the oath of allegiance to the Republic go now to your homes and tell those who are awaiting you what I have said and if any man of French birth wish to leave this place he may go of his own free will save only three whom I suspect are not our friends they turned and in an ecstasy the boy quite pitiful to see went trooping out of the gate but scarce could they have reached the street and we have broken ranks when we saw them coming back again a priest leading them as before they drew near to the spot where Clark stood talking to the captains and halted expectantly what is it my friends ask the Colonel forward and bowed gravely I am pure give all sir he said curie of Koskowsky he paused serving our commander with a clear eye there is something that still troubles the good citizens and what is that sir said Clark the priest hesitated if your excellency will only allow the church to be opened the group stood fearful that their boldness had displeased expectant of reprimand my good father said Colonel Clark an American commander has but one relation to any church and that is he added with force to protect it for all religions are equal before the Republic the priest gazed at him intently by that answer said he your excellency has made for your government loyal citizens in Koskowsky then the Colonel stepped up to the priest and took him likewise by the hand I have arranged for a house in town said he as refused to dine with me there will you do me that honor father with all my heart your excellency said father and turning to the people he translated what the Colonel had said then their cup of happiness was indeed full and some ran to Clark and would have thrown their arms about him had he been a man to embrace hurrying out of the gate they spread the news like wildfire and presently the church bell clanged in tones of unmistakable joy sure davey dear it puts me in mind of the saint's day at home said Terrence as he stood leaning against a picket fence that bordered the street saving the presence of the negros and ten red divils with blankets and scows as would turn the milk sour in the pale he had stopped beside two Koskowsky warriors in scarlet blankets who stood at the corner watching with silent contempt the antics of the French inhabitants now and again one or the other gave a grunt and wrapped his blanket more tightly about him who are said Terrence faith I talk that language myself when I have trouble the warrior stared at him with what might be called historical surprise does the holy father pray to you with them words we hear heathens for Gora tis I wonder you wouldn't have washed yourselves he added making a face wouldn't muddy water to be had for the asking we moved on through such a scene as I have seldom beheld the village had darned its best women in cap and gown were hurrying hither and thither some laughing and some weeping men embraced each other children of all colors flung themselves against Terrence's legs dark-haired creoles little negroes with woolly pats and naked Indian lads with bow and arrow Terrence dashed at them now and then and they fled screaming into door yards to come out again and mimic him when he had passed while mothers and fathers and grandfathers smiled in the nature of his Irish face presently he looked down at me comically why wouldn't you be doing the like Davey he asked a musher tis me self that wants to run and hop and skip with the children you put me in mind of a whizzing old man that said all day making shoes in Kalarney all saving the fringe he had on his chin a soldier must be dignified the saints barred at word from heaven said Terrence trying to pronounce it come we'll go to mass or me mother will be visiting me this night we crossed the square and went into the darkened church where the candles were burning it was the first church I had ever entered and I heard with all the voice of the priests and the fervent responses but I understood not a word of what was said afterwards father mounted to the pulpit and stood for a moment with his hand raised above his flock and then began to speak what he told them I had learned since and this I know that when they came out again into the sunlit square they were Americans it matters not when they took the oath as we walked back towards the fort we came to the little house with the flower garden in front of it and there stood Colonel Clark himself by the gate he stopped us with a motion of his hand Davey said he we're to live here for a while you and I what do you think of our headquarters he did not wait for me to reply but continued can you suggest any improvements you'll be needing a soldier to be on guard in front sir Colonel the Chesney is too valuable a man I'm sending him with Captain Bowman to take Cahokia would you have Terence sir I ventured while Terence grinned where upon Colonel Clark sent him to report to his captain that he was detailed for orderly duty to the commanding officer and within half an hour he was standing guard in the flower garden making grimaces for the children in the street Colonel Clark sat at a table in the little front room and while two of Montsour Rochebleve's Negroes cooked his dinner he was busy with a scorer of visitors organizing, advising planning and commanding there were disputes to settle now that alarm had subsided and at noon three excitable gentlemen came in to inform against certain Montsour-Sarray merchant and traitor then absent at St. Louis when at length the Colonel had succeeded in bringing their denunciations to an end and they had departed he looked at me comically as I stood in the doorway Navy said he all I ask of the good lord is that he will frighten me incontinently for a month before I die I will find that difficult sir I answered then there's no hope for me he answered laughing for I have observed that fright alone brings a man into a fit spiritual state to enter heaven what would you say to those slanderers of Montsour-Sarray not expecting an answer he dipped his quill into the ink pot and turned it to his papers I should say that they owed sure-coray money I replied the Colonel dropped his quill and stared as for me I was puzzled to know why he gad said Colonel Clark most of us get by hard knocks what you seem to have been born with he fell to musing a worried look coming on his face there was no stranger to me later and his hand fell heavily on the loose pile of papers before him Davey says he I need a commissary general what would that be sir I asked a John Law who will make something out of nothing who will make money out of this blank paper who will weedle the Creole traders into believing they're doing us a favor and making their everlasting fortune by advancing us flower and bacon and doesn't Congress make money sir I asked that they do Davey by the ton he replied and so must we as the rulers of a great province for mark me though the men are happy today in four days they will be grumbling and trying to desert in dozens we were interrupted by a knock at the door there stood Terence McCann his reverence he announced and bowed low as the priest came into the room I was bit by Colonel Clark to sit down and dine with them on the good things which Moshe Rose Blaves Cook had prepared after dinner they went into the little orchard behind the house and sat drinking in the French fashion the commandant's precious coffee which had been sent to him from far away New Orleans Colonel Clark applied the priest with questions of the French towns under English rule and father speaking for his simple people said that the English had led them easily to believe that the Kentuckians were cut troops I'm on sir he said if they but knew you if they but knew the principles of that government for which you fight they would renounce the English agents and the whole of this territory would be yours I know them from Quebec to Detroit to Nicolamacanac and St. Vincent's listen Montseur he cried his homely face alike I myself will go to St. Vincent's for you I will tell them the truth and you shall have the post for the asking you will go to Vincent's exclaimed Clark a hard generous journey of 100 leagues Montseur answered the priest simply the journey is nothing for a century the missionaries of the church have walked this wilderness alone with God often they have suffered and often died in tortures but gladly Colonel Clark regarded the man intently the cause of liberty both religious and civil is our cause father both continued men have died for it and will die for it and it will prosper furthermore Montseur my life has not known many wants I have saved something to keep my old age with which to buy a little house and then orchard in this peaceful place the sum I have is at your service the good congress will repay me and you need the money Colonel Clark was not an impulsive man but he felt nonetheless deeply as I know well his reply to this generous offer was almost brusque but he did not deceive the priest Montseur he said it is for mankind I give it in remembrance of him who gave everything and though I receive nothing in return I shall have my reward I shall hold in due time I know not how the talk swung round again to lightness for the Colonel loved a good story and the priest had many which he told with wit in his quaint French accent as he was rising to take his leave Pierre Gavon put his hand on my head I saw your excellence his son in the church this morning he said he laughed and gave me a pinch my dear sir he said the boys old enough to be my father the priest looked down at me with a puzzled expression in his brown eyes I would I had him for my son said Colonel Clark kindly but the lad is 11 and I shall not be 26 until next November your excellence in not 26 cried Father Gavon will you be when you are 30 the young Colonel's face clouded God knows he said Father Gavon dropped his eyes and turned to me with native tact what would you like best to do my son he asked I should like to learn to speak French said I for I had been much irritated of not understanding what was said in the streets and so you shall said Father Gavon I myself will teach you you must come to my house today and Davy will teach me said the Colonel End of Chapter 14 Book 1 Chapter 15 of the Crossing by Winston Churchill this Vapor Rocks recording is in the public domain Chapter 15 Days of Trial but I was not immediately to take up the study of French things began to happen in Cascasca in the first place Captain Bowman's company with a few scouts of which Tom was one set out that very afternoon for the capture of co-hosts or Cahokia and this despite the fact that they had had no sleep for two nights if you will look at the map you will see dotted along the bottoms and the bluffs beside the Great Mississippi the string of villages Cascasca La Paride Rocha Fort Chart St. Philip and Cahokia some few miles from Cahokia on the western bank of the father of waters was the little French village of St. Louis in the Spanish territory of Louisiana from thence eastward stretched the great waste of prairie and forest inhabited by roving bands of the 40 Indian nations then you come to Vincennes on the La Vache Fort St. Vincent the English and Canadians called it for there were a few of the latter who had settled in Cascasca since the English occupation the best map which the editor has found that this district is part two of Windsor's narrative and critical history of America page 721 we gathered on the western skirts of the village to give Beaumont's company a cheer and every man woman and child in the place watched the little column as it wound snake light over the prairie on the road to Fort Shunt until it was lost in the cottonwoods to the westward things began to happen in Cascasca it would have been strange indeed if things had not happened 175 men had marched into that territory out of which now are carved the great states of Ohio Indiana and Illinois and to most of them the thing was a picnic a jaunt which would soon be finished many had left families in the frontier forts without protection the time of their enlistment had almost expired there was a store in the village kept by a great citizen not a citizen of Cascasca alone but a citizen of the world this I'm aware sounds like fiction like an attempt to get an effect which was not there but it is true as gospel the owner of this store had many others scattered about in this foreign country had been sins at St. Louis for he resided at Cahokia he knew Michel Machanac and Catech a new audience he had been born some 31 years before in Sardinia had served in the Spanish army and was still a Spanish subject the name of this famous gentleman was Montsur Francois Vigo and he was the Rothschild of the country north of the Ohio Montsur Vigo though he merited it in a room to mention in the last chapter Clark had routed him from his bed on the morning of our arrival and whether or not he had been in the secret of frightening the inhabitants into making their wills and then throwing them into transports of joy I know not Montsur Vigo's store was the village club it had neither glass in the window nor an attractive display of goods so he sat down on a weedy sun-baked plot the stuffy smell of skins and furs came out of the doorway within when he was in Cascasca Montsur Vigo was want to sit behind his rough walnut table writing with a fine quill or dispensing the news of the villages to the priest and other prominent citizens or haggling with persistent blanketed braves over canoe loads of ill-smelling pelts which they brought down from the green forest of the north Montsur Vigo's clothes were the color of the tobacco he gave in exchange his eyes were not unlike the black beads he traded but shrewd and kindly with all set in the square saffron face that had the contradiction of a small chin as the days wore into Montsur Vigo's place very naturally became the headquarters for our army if army it might be called of a morning a dozen would be sitting against the logs in the black shadow and in the midst of them always squatted an unsavory Indian squall a few braves usually stood like statues in the corner and in front of the door another group of hunting shirts without was the paper money of the continental congress again the good tapia and tobacco of Montsur Vigo one day Montsur Vigo's young Creole clerk stood shrugging his shoulders in the doorway I stopped right him Swin Polson was crying to the clerk as he waved a worthless script above his head bought his money this definition the clerk not being a doctor Johnson was unable to give off hand what are you choose is it America demanded Polson while the others looked on some laughing some serious and bitch citizen are you since you are ours please give me one carrot of tobacco and he thrust the script under the clerk's nose the clerk stared at the uneven lettering on the script with disdain money he exclaimed she is not money pastry Spanish dollar didn't I give you carrot by God shouted Bill Cowan he will take Virginia money and congress paper or else I reckon we'll have a drink and tobacco boys take or no take or a bill you're right cried several of our men lay me in here said Cowan but the frightened Creole blocked the doorway suckery he cried and then Voluse the excitement drew a number of people from the neighborhood may it seemed as if the whole town was ringed about us Bravo Jules they cried God to the port a bus less Boston days a bus less ballooners damn such monkey talk said Cowan facing them suddenly I knew him well and when the giant lost his temper it was gone irrevocably until a fight was over call a man a square name hey Frenchy another of our men put in stalking up to the clerk I reckon this year stores iron if we're mind to take it I allow you give us the room in the back come on boys in between him and the clerk leaked a little Robin like man with a red West Coast beside with rage Bill Cowan and his friends stared this diminutive Frenchman open mouth as he poured forth a veritable torrent of unintelligible words plentifully mixed with which he ripped out like snarls I would have soon have touched him as a ball of angry bees or a pair of fighting wildcats not so Bill Cowan when that were they recovered from the rise he seized whole of some of the man's twisting arms and legs and lifted him bodily from the ground as he would have taken a perverse and struggling child there was no question of a fight Cowan picked him up I say and before anyone knew what happened he flung him on the hot roof of the store the ease were about two feet above his head and there the man stuck clinging to a loose shingle playing and coughing and spitting with rage there was a loud gust of goo falls from the woodsman and oaths like whip cracks from the circle around us menacing growls as it surged inward and our men turned to face it a few citizens pushed through the outskirts of it and run away and in the hush that followed we heard them calling wildly the names of father Holt and Clark and the Vigo himself Cowan thrust me past the clerk into the store where I stood listening to the little man on the loop scratching and clutching at the shingles and coughing still but there was no fight shouts of Montchavigo they all see Montchavigo were heard the crowd parted respectfully and Montchavigo in his snuff colored suit stood glancing from Cowan to his pallid clerk he was not in the least excited come in my friends he said it is too hot in the sun and he set the example by stepping over the sill onto the hard baked earth of the floor within then he spied me ah he said the boy of Montchavigo and how you call my son he added kindly Davey sir I answered ha he said and a brave soldier no doubt I was flattered as well as astonished by this attention but Montchavigo knew men and he had given them time to turn around by this time Bill Cowan and some of my friends had stooped through the doorway followed by a prying cascass skin brave as many Creoles as could crowd behind them Montchavigo was surprisingly calm it may caught whether my friends said he I can I serve you misuse and the Congress got authority here said one I'm happy to say answered Montchavigo rubbing his hands for I think much of your principle then said the man we come here to trade with Congress money ain't that money good in cascass there was an anxious pause then Montchavigo's eyes twinkled and he looked at me what do you say Davey he asks the money would be good if you took it sir I said not knowing what else to answer Supristi exclaimed Montchavigo looking hard at me who teach you that well and sir said I staring in my turn and if Congress lose and not pay where am I Montchavigo hold finance demanded Montchavigo with the palms of his hands outward you would be in good company sir said I at that he threw back his head and laughed and Bill Cowan and my friends laughed with him he said Montchavigo echo Gauguin what a boy it is I never said his beat for wisdom Mr. Vigo said Bill Cowan now in good humor once more at the prospect of rum and tobacco and I found out later that he and the others had actually given to me the credit of this coup he never failed us yet ain't that truth boys ain't we going on to St. Vincent because he seen the hair buyer sculpt on the Ohio the rest assented so hardly but with all so greatly that I am between laughter and tears over the remembrance of it at noon you come back said Montchavigo I think till then about rate of exchange and talk with your colonel David you stay here I remained while the others filed out and at length I was alone with him and jewels his clerk Davey how you like to be traitor asked Montchavigo it was a new thought to me and I turned it over in my mind to see the strange places of the world and the stranger people to become a man of wealth and influence such as Montchavigo and I feared I loved it best to match my brains with others at a bargain I turned it all over slowly gravely in my boyish mind rubbing the hard dirt on the floor with the toe of my moccasin and suddenly the thought came to me that I was a traitor to my friends a deserter from the little army that loved me so well at the end said Montchavigo I shook my head but in spite of me I felt the tears welling into my eyes and brushed them away shamefully at such times of stress some of my paternal scotch crept into my speech I will no be leaving Colonel Clark and the boys I cried not for all the money in the world congress money said Montchavigo with a queer expression it was then I laughed through my tears and that cemented the friendship between us it was a lifelong friendship though I little suspected it then in the days that followed he never met me on the street that he did not stop to pass the time of day and ask me if I had changed my mind he came every morning to headquarters where he and Colonel Clark sat by the hour with brows and knit Montchavigo was as good as his word and took the congress money though not at such a value as many would have had him I've often thought that we were all children then and knew nothing of the ingratitude of republics Montchavigo took the money and was all his life many many thousand dollars the poorer Father Gebolt advanced his little store and lived to feel the fangs of want and Colonel Clark but I must not go beyond the troubles of that summer and the problems that vexed our commander one night I missed him from the room where we slept and walking into the orchard found him pacing there where the moon cast only shadows on the grass by day as he went around among the men his brow was unclouded though his face was but now I surprise the men so strangely moved that I yearned to comfort him he had taken three turns before he perceived me Davey he said what are you doing here I missed you sir I answered staring at the furrows in his face come he said almost roughly and seizing my hand led me back and forth swiftly through the wet grass where I know not how long the moon dipped to the uneven line of the ridgepole and slipped behind the stone chimney all at once he stopped dropped my hand and smote both of his together I will hold on by the eternal he cried I will let no American read his history and say that I abandoned this land let them desert and men be found who will stay I will hold a place for the Republic will not Virginia and the Congress send you men sir I asked wonderingly he laughed a laugh that was all bitterness Virginia and the Continental Congress no little and care less about me he answered someday you will learn that foresight sometimes comes to men but never to assemblies but it is often given to one man to work out the salvation of a people and be destroyed forth Davey we've been up too long at the morning parade from my wanted place at the end of the line I watched him with astonishment reviewing the troops as usual for the very first day I had crossed the river with Terrence find the heights to the old fort and returned with my drum but no sooner had I beaten the retreat than the men gathered here and there in groups that smoldered with mutiny and I noted that some of the officers were amongst these once in a while a sentence like a flaming brand was flung out their time was up their wives and children for all they knew sculpted by the red barnits and by the eternal Clark or no man living could keep them I said one as I passed here's Davey with his drum he'll be leading us back to cantuck in the morning I cried another man in the group I reckon he's had his full of tyranny too I stopped my face blazing red shame on you for those words I shouted shrilly shame on you you fools to desert the man who would save your wives and children with skins to be beaten if they're not cowed in their own country for I had learned much at headquarters they stood silent astonished no doubt at the sight of my small figure a tremble with anger I heard Bill Cowan's voice behind me there's truth for you he said that will slink home when a things half done you needn't talk Bill Cowan as well enough for you I reckon your wife scared any red skin off her clearing men is the time she scared me said Bill Cowan and so the matter went by with a laugh but the grumbling continued and the danger was that the French would learn of it the day passed yet the embers blazed not into the flame of open mutiny but he who has seen service knows how ominous is the gathering of men here and there the low humming talk the silence when the dissenter passes there were fights too that had to be quelled by company captains and no man knew when the loud quarrel between the two races at Vigo store would grow into an ugly battle what did Clark intend to do this was the question that hung in the minds of mutiny and faithful alike they knew the desperation of his case without money save that which the generous Creoles had advanced upon his personal credit without apparent resources without authority save that which the weight of his character exerted how could he prevent desertion they eyed him as he went from place to place about his business erect thoughtful undisturbed and dared to set their will against a multitude when there are no fruits to be won Columbus persisted and found a new world Clark persisted and won an empire for thoughtless generations to enjoy that night he slept not at all but sat while the candles flickered in their sockets pouring over maps and papers I dared not disturb him the darkness through with staring eyes and when the windows on the orchard side showed a gray square of light he flung down the parchment he was reading on the table it rolled up of itself and he pushed back his chair I heard him call my name and leaping out of bed I stood before him usually likely Davey he said I think to try me I did not answer fearing to tell that I had been awake watching him I had one friend at least said to Colonel you have many sir I answered as you will find when the time comes the time is come said he today I shall be able to count them Davey I want you to do something for me now sir I answered overjoyed as soon as the sun strikes that orchard he said pointing out of the window you have learned how to keep things to yourself now I want you to impart them to others go out and tell the village that I'm going away that you're going away sir I repeated that I'm going away he said with my army save the mark with my army and my drummer boy and my paper money my faith in the loyalty of the good people of these villages to the American cause that I can safely leave the flag flying over their heads with the assurance that they will protect it I stared at him doubtfully for at times a pleasantry came out of his bitterness I he said go have you any love for me I have sir I answered by the Lord I believe you he said and picking up a small hunting shirt he flung it at me put it on and go on the sun rises as the first shaft of light over the bluff revealed the diamonds in the orchard grass I went out wondering suspecting would be a better word for the nature I had inherited but I had my orders Terrence was pacing the garden his leggings turned black with the dew I looked at him here was a vessel to disseminate Terrence the colonel is going back to Virginia with the army him cried Terrence dropping the stock of his décor to the ground and back to Kentucky a rot is a said to be joking before a man has a bit in his stomach bad cest here pleasantry before breakfast I'm telling you what the colonel himself told me I answered and ran on David Arlen I heard him calling after me as I turned the corner but I looked not back there was a single sound in the street a thin bronzed Indian lads squatted against the pickets with his fingers on a reed his cheeks distended he broke off with a wild mournful note to stare at me a wisp of smoke stole from a stone chimney and the smell that corn tone and bacon leave was in the air a boat was slammed back a door creaked and stuck was flung open with a a cotton clad urchin was cast out of the house and fled into the dusty street breathing the morning air in the doorway stood a young woman in a cotton gown a saucepan and hand she had inquisitive eyes a pointed prying nose and I knew her to be the village gossip the wife of jewels Mansur Vigo's clerk she had the same smattering of English as her husband now she stood regarding me narrowly between half closed lives what do you do so early the garrison is getting ready for Kentucky today I answered jewels is it true what you say the visage of jewels surmounted by a light cap and heavy with sleep appeared behind her he said what news have you I repeated whereupon they both began to lament and why is it persisted jewels he has such faith the loyalty of the Cascaskians I answered Harrod-like we shall perish we shall be as the Akkadians and loyalty she will not save us no other doors creaked other inhabitants came in varied costumes into the street to hear the news lamenting if Clark left the day of judgment was at hand that was certain between the savages and the Britain not one stone would be left standing on another madam jewels forgot her breakfast and fled up the street with the tidings and then I made my way to the fort where the men were gathering about the campfires talking excitedly Terrence relieved from duty had done the work here and he as little as a fox with all that in him when he perceived me walking demurely past the century David here come here and tell the boys am I a liar David's monstrous cute said Bill Cowan I reckon he knows as well as me the Colonel Hanna going to do no such tomfool thing as leap he is I cried for the benefit of some others he's fair sick of grumblers that haven't got the grit to stand hold by the Lord said Bill Cowan and I'll not blame him he turned fiercely his face reddening shame on you all your lives he shouted you'll be making the best man that ever led a regiment take the back trail you'll fetch back to Cantuck and draw every red skin in the north wood sucking after you like leaves in a hurricane wind there ain't a man of you in the heart of this little shaver that beats the drum I wish to God and my Chesney was here he turned away to cross the parade ground followed by the faithful Terrence and myself others gathered about him McAndrew who for all his sourness was true Swin Polson who would have died for the Colonel John Duff and some 20 more including Saunders who's affection had not been killed though Clark had nearly hanged him among the prairies Big God said Terrence Davy has influenced with his excellency it's Davy was in praying him not to leave the French alone with their loyalty it was agreed and I was to repeat the name of every man that sent me departing on this embassy I sped out of the gates of the fort but as I approached the little house where Clark lived the humming of a crowd came to my ears and I saw with astonishment that the street was blocked it appeared that the whole of the inhabitants of Cascaskia were packed in front of the place wiggling my way through the people I had barely reached the gate when I saw Montreux Vigo and the priest three Creole gentlemen uniform and several others coming out of the door they stopped and Montreux Vigo raising his hand for silence made a speech in French to the people what he said I could not understand and when he had finished they broke up into groups and many of them departed before I could gain the house Colonel Clark himself came out with Captain Helm and Captain Herod glanced at me and smiled parade Davey he said and walked on I ran back to the fort and when I had gotten my drum the three companies were falling into line the men murmuring in undertones among themselves they were brought to attention Colonel Clark was seen to come out of the commandant's house and we watched him furtively as he walked slowly to his place in front of the line a tremor of excitement went from sergeant to drummer boy the centuries closed the big gates of the fort the Colonel stood for a full minute surveying us calmly a disquieting way he had when matters were at a crisis then he began to talk I've heard from many sources that you are dissatisfied that you wish to go back to Kentucky if that be so I say to you go and God be with you I will hinder no man we have taken a brave and generous people into the fold of the republic and they have shown their patriotism by giving us freely of their money and stores he raised his voice they have given the last proof of that patriotism this day yes they come to me offered to take your places to finish the campaign which you have so well begun and wish to abandon today I shall enroll their militia under the flag for which you have fought when he had ceased speaking a murmur ran through the ranks but if there be any he said who have faith in me and in the cause for which we have come here who have the perseverance and the courage to remain I will re-enlist them the rest of you shall march for Kentucky he cried as soon as Captain Bowman's company can be relieved at Cahokia the regiment is dismissed for a moment they remained in ranks as though stupefied it was Cowan who stepped out first snatched his coon skin hat from his head and waved it in the air who say for Colonel Clark he roared I'll follow him into Kennedy and stand up to my lick log they surrounded Bill Cowan not the twenty which had flocked to him in the morning but four times twenty and they marched in a body to the commandant's house to be re-enlisted the Colonel stood by the door and cried in his eyes as he regarded us they cheered him again thank you lads he said remember we may have to whistle for our pay damn the pay cried Bill Cowan and we echoed the sentiment we'll see what can be done about land grads said the Colonel and he turned away at dusk that evening I sat on the back doorstep meaning his rifle the sound of steps came from the little passage behind me and a hand was on my head baby said a voice it was Monser the Goals do you know what is a coup d'etat no sir ah you execute one today is it not so Monser the Colonel I reckon he was in the secret said Colonel Clark did you think I meant to leave Kaskaskia Davey no sir he's not so easy fool Monser the Goal put in you tell me paper money good if I take it Cess la haute finance Colonel Clark laughed and why didn't you think I meant to leave said he because you bade me go out and tell everybody I answered no one exclaimed Monser the Goal yesterday Colonel Clark had stood alone the enterprise for which he had risked all on the verge of failure by a master stroke his ranks were repeated his position recovered his authority secured once more few men recognize genius when they see it Monser the Goal was not one of these end of chapter 15