Wells, from Fort Wayne?" he said, lifting
his cap as he spoke.

"It is," was the reply, "and I am very glad to find that you still hold
Fort Dearborn."

The other's frank and boyish face darkened slightly, as if at an
unpleasant memory.

"'T is no fault of some," he muttered hastily; then he checked himself.
"We are glad to greet you, Captain Wells," he added, in a more formal
tone, glancing about upon us, "and your party. I am Ensign Ronan, of
the garrison; and if you will kindly pass between my guard lines, you
will find Captain Heald awaiting you within."

Thus we rode freely forward, with the guarding soldiery on either side
of us, their faces to the howling savages; we passed in at the great
southern gate, and halted amid the buildings of old Fort Dearborn.

CHAPTER XI

OLD FORT DEARBORN

It makes my old head dizzy to recall the events of that hour across the
years that have intervened. Possibly I, as I write these words, am the
only person living who has looked upon that old stockade and taken part
in its tragic history. What a marvellous change has less than a century
witnessed! Once the outermost guard of our western frontier, it is now
the site of one of the great cities of two continents. To me, who have
seen these events and changes, it possesses more than the wonderment of a
dream.

That day, as I rode forward, I saw but little of the Fort's formation,
for my eyes and thoughts were so filled with those frenzied savages that
hemmed us about, and the cool deployment of the few troops that guarded
our passage-way, that everything else made but a dim impression. Yet the
glimpse I obtained, even at that exciting moment, together with the
subsequent experiences that came to me, have indelibly impressed each
detail of the rude Fort upon my memory.

It stands before me now, clear-cut and prominent, its outlines distinct
against the background of blue water or green plains. In that early day
the Fort was a fairly typical outpost of the border, like scores of
others scattered at wide and irregular intervals from the Carolina
mountains upon the south to the joining of the great lakes at the north,
forming one link in the thin chain of frontier fortifications against
Indian treachery and outbreak. It bore the distinction, among the
others, of being the most advanced and exposed of all, and its small
garrison was utterly isolated and alone, a forlorn hope in the heart of
the great wilderness.