who was said to have
hired the Indians to murder the American settlers, and Clark was much
disturbed by the news. He must be quick to act, or all that he had won
would be lost.

He had a terrible task before him. The winter was near its end and the
Wabash had risen and overflowed its banks on all sides. For hundreds of
square miles the country was under water, and Vincennes was in the
centre of a great shallow lake. It was freezing water, too, for this was
no longer the warm spring time, as it had been in the march to
Kaskaskia, but dull and drear February. Yet the brave colonel knew that
he must act quickly if he was to act at all. Hamilton had only eighty
men; he could raise twice that many. He had no money to pay them, but a
merchant in St. Louis offered to lend him all he needed. There was the
water to cross, but the hardy Kentucky hunters were used to wet and
cold. So Colonel Clark hastily collected his men and set out for
Vincennes.

A sturdy set of men they were who followed him, dressed in
hunting-shirts and carrying their long and tried rifles. On their heads
were fur caps, ornamented with deer or raccoon tails. They believed in
Colonel Clark, and that is a great deal in warlike affairs. As they
trudged onward there came days of cold, hard rain, so that every night
they had to build great fires to warm themselves and dry their clothes.
Thus they went on, day after day, through the woods and prairies,
carrying their packs of provisions and supplies on their backs, and
shooting game to add to their food supply.

This was holiday work to what lay before them. After a week of this kind
of travel they came to a new kind. The "drowned lands" of the Wabash lay
before them. Everywhere nothing but water was to be seen. The winter
rains had so flooded the streams that a great part of the country was
overflowed. And there was no way to reach the fort except by crossing
those waters, for they spread round it on all sides. They must plunge in
and wade through or give up and go back.

We may be sure that there were faint hearts among them when they felt
the cold water and knew that there were miles of it to cross, here
ankle- or knee-deep, there waist-deep. But they had known this when they
started, and they were not the men to turn back. At Colonel Clark's
cheery word of command they plunged in and began their long and
shivering journey.

For nearly a week this terrible journey went on. It was a frightful
experience.