the Iroquois and Algonquin on the warpath?"

He paused, and a hoarse murmur of anger ran along the ranks.

"Whose gold but George's, by the grace of God King of Great Britain and
Ireland? And what minions distribute it? Abbott at Kaskaskia, for one,
and Hamilton at Detroit, the Hair Buyer, for another!"

When he spoke Hamilton's name his voice was nearly drowned by
imprecations.

"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, and St. Vincent, and Detroit, and the
people there are still French. My men brought back word that the French
feared the Long Knives, as the Indians call us. On the first 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 council, with Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Mason and Mr. Wythe. Virginia
had no troops to send us, and her men were fighting barefoot with
Washington against the armies of the British king. But the governor gave
me twelve hundred pounds in paper, and with it I have 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 to-day, and God Himself has sent them.
To-morrow 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 tyrant, 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 are
going to conquer an empire for liberty, and I can look onward," he cried
in a burst of inspired eloquence, sweeping his arm to the northward
toward the forests on the far side of the Ohio, "I can look onward
to the day when these lands will be filled with the cities of a Great
Republic. And who among you will falter at such a call?"

There was a brief silence, and then a shout went up from the ranks 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
in mockery, while I pounded on the drum with all my might. But when we
had broken ranks the rumor was whispered abou