CHAPTER X.

The next morning Lucilla woke early--as was usual with her--and
presently joined her father upon the deck. He greeted her, as was his
custom, with a smile and a tender caress, asking if she were quite
well and had passed a comfortable night.

"Yes, papa," she said; "I slept as soundly as possible, and feel
perfectly well this morning; as I hope you do."

"I do, for I also enjoyed a good night's rest and sleep."

The yacht was moving, and Lucilla remarked it with some surprise.

"I thought we were lying at anchor," she said.

"So we were through the night," replied her father, "but now we are
travelling toward Fort Meigs--or perhaps I should rather say its
ruins."

"Oh, that will be an interesting spot to visit!" exclaimed Lucilla.
"Just where is it, papa?"

"On the Maumee River, opposite Maumee City, situated at the head of
river navigation, eight miles from Toledo."

"Wasn't it somewhere in that region that Wayne fought one or more of
his battles with the Indians?"

"Yes; he took possession of and fortified the place where St. Clair
was defeated, and called it Fort Recovery. That was in 1794. On the
30th of June he was attacked by about a thousand Indians with some
British soldiers and Canadian volunteers, who assailed the garrison
several times. Fifty-seven Americans were killed, wounded, and
missing; also 221 horses. The Indians said they lost more than in
their battle with St. Clair.

"A few weeks later Wayne was joined by Major-General Scott with 1600
mounted volunteers from Kentucky, and two days later he moved forward
with his whole force toward the Maumee. Remembering the sad fate of
St. Clair and his men, Wayne moved very cautiously; so slowly and
stealthily that the Indians called him the 'Black Snake.' He had
faithful, competent scouts and guides, and he moved by unfrequented
ways, with perplexing feints. Twenty-five miles beyond Fort Recovery
he built Fort Adams. Again he moved forward for four days, then
encamped on a beautiful plain at the confluence of the Maumee and
Auglaize rivers, on the site of the present town of Defiance; I
presume from the fort Wayne built there, and which he called Fort
Defiance. He found there a deserted Indian town with at least a
thousand acres of corn growing around it. Wayne was now in full
possession of power to subjugate and destroy the Indians, but,
unwilling to shed blood unnecessarily, he sent them a message with
kind words. 'Be