y times since
seen his type of face in the French prints. He and his flock halted
before our young Colonel, even as the citizens of Calais in a bygone
century must have stood before the English king.

The scene comes back to me. On the one side, not the warriors of a
nation that has made its mark in war, but peaceful peasants who had
sought this place for its remoteness from persecution, to live and die
in harmony with all mankind. On the other, the sinewy advance guard of a
race that knows not peace, whose goddess of liberty carries in her hand
a sword. The plough might have been graven on our arms, but always the
rifle.

The silence of the trackless wilds reigned while Clark gazed at them
sternly. And when he spoke it was with the voice of a conqueror, and
they listened as the conquered listen, with heads bowed--all save the
priest.

Clark told them first that they had been given a false and a wicked
notion of the American cause, and he spoke of the tyranny of the
English king, which had become past endurance to a free people. As for
ourselves, the Long Knives, we came in truth to conquer, and because of
their hasty judgment the Kaskaskians were at our mercy. The British had
told them that the Kentuckians were a barbarous people, and they had
believed.

He paused that John Duff might translate and the gist of what he had
said sink in. But suddenly the priest had stepped out from the ranks,
faced his people, and was himself translating in a strong voice. When
he had finished a tremor shook the group. But he turned calmly and faced
Clark once more.

"Citizens of Kaskaskia," Colonel Clark went on, "the king whom you
renounced when the English conquered you, the great King of France, has
judged for you and the French people. Knowing that the American cause is
just, he is sending his fleets and regiments to fight for it against the
British King, who until now has been your sovereign."

Again he paused, and when the priest had told them this, a murmur of
astonishment came from the boldest.

"Citizens of Kaskaskia, know you that the Long Knives come not to
massacre, as you foolishly believed, but to release from bondage. We are
come not against you, who have been deceived, but against those soldiers
of the British King who have bribed the savages to slaughter our
wives and children. You have but to take the oath of allegiance to
the Continental Congress to become free, even as we are, to enjoy the
blessings of that