you think has come? Monsieur John and Madame
John, all the way from Fort Winnebago on foot!"

Soon we were in the arms of our dear, kind friends. A messenger was
dispatched to "the garrison" for the remaining members of the family,
and for that day, at least, I was the wonder and admiration of the whole
circle, "for the dangers I had seen."

CHAPTER XVII.

CHICAGO IN 1831.

Fort Dearborn at that day consisted of the same buildings as at
present.[21] They were, of course, in a better state of preservation,
though still considerably dilapidated. They had been erected in 1816,
under the supervision of Captain Hezekiah Bradley, and there was a story
current that, such was his patriotic regard for the interests of the
Government, he obliged the soldiers to fashion wooden pins, instead of
spikes and nails, to fasten the timbers of the buildings, and that he
even called on the junior officers to aid in their construction along
with the soldiers, whose business it was. If this were true, the captain
must have labored under the delusion (excusable in one who had lived
long on the frontier) that Government would thank its servants for any
excess of economical zeal.

The fort was inclosed by high pickets, with bastions at the alternate
angles. Large gates opened to the north and south, and there were small
posterns here and there for the accommodation of the inmates. The bank
of the river which stretches to the west, now covered by the light-house
buildings, and inclosed by docks, was then occupied by the root-houses
of the garrison. Beyond the parade-ground, which extended south of the
pickets, were the company gardens, well filled with currant-bushes and
young fruit-trees.

The fort stood at what might naturally be supposed to be the mouth of
the river. It was not so, however, for in those days the latter took a
turn, sweeping round the promontory on which the fort was built, towards
the south, and joining the lake about half a mile below. These buildings
stood on the right bank of the river, the left being a long spit of land
extending from the northern shore, of which it formed a part. After the
cutting through of this portion of the left bank in 1833 by the United
States Engineers employed to construct a harbor at this point, and the
throwing out of the piers, the water overflowed this long tongue of
land, and, continually encroaching on the southern bank, robbed it of
many valuable acres; while, by the same ac