this man when he
reached the copse, and was led before our lean, square-shouldered
commander. Yes, monsieur, he was a friend of les Americains. Did
Governor Hamilton know that a visit was imminent? Pardieu (with many
shrugs and outward gestures of the palms), Governor Hamilton had said if
the Long Knives had wings or fins they might reach him now--he was all
unprepared.

"Gentlemen," said Colonel Clark to Captains Bowman and McCarty and
Williams, "we have come so far by audacity, and we must continue by
audacity. It is of no use to wait for the gunboat, and every moment we
run the risk of discovery. I shall write an open letter to the
inhabitants of Vincennes, which the prisoner shall take into town. I
shall tell them that those who are true to the oath they swore to Father
Gibault shall not be molested if they remain quietly in their houses.
Let those who are on the side of the Hair Buyer General and his King go
to the fort and fight there."

He bade me fetch the portfolio he carried, and with numbed fingers wrote
the letter while his captains stared in admiration and amazement. What a
stroke was this! There were six hundred men in the town and
fort,--soldiers, inhabitants, and Indians,--while we had but 170, starved
and weakened by their incredible march. But Clark was not to be daunted.
Whipping out his field-glasses, he took a stand on a little mound under
the trees and followed the fast-galloping messenger across the plain; saw
him enter the town; saw the stir in the streets, knots of men riding out
and gazing, hands on foreheads, towards the place where we were. But, as
the minutes rolled into hours, there was no further alarm. No gun, no
beat to quarters or bugle-call from Fort Sackville. What could it mean?

Clark's next move was an enigma, for he set the men to cutting and
trimming tall sapling poles. To these were tied (how reverently!) the
twenty stands of colors which loving Creole hands had stitched. The
boisterous day was reddening to its close as the Colonel lined his little
army in front of the wood, and we covered the space of four thousand.
For the men were twenty feet apart and every tenth carried a standard.
Suddenly we were aghast as the full meaning of the inspiration dawned
upon us. The command was given, and we started on our march toward
Vincennes. But not straight,--zigzagging, always keeping the ridges
between us and the town, and to the watching inhabitants it seemed as if
thousands were c