were gathered at Fort Pitt and Wheeling and were
carried down the Ohio to "the Falls," opposite the site of Louisville.
The real object of the expedition was concealed until this point was
reached. On learning of the project, the men were surprised, and some
refused to go farther. But in a few weeks one hundred and seventy-five
men, organized in four companies, were in readiness. The start was made
on the 24th of June. Just as the little flotilla of clumsy flatboats was
caught by the rapid current, the landscape was darkened by an eclipse of
the sun. The superstitious said that this was surely an evil omen. But
Clark was no believer in omens, and he ordered the bateaux to proceed.
He had lately received news of the French alliance, and was surer than
ever that the habitants would make common cause with his forces and give
him complete success.

To appear on the Mississippi was to run the risk of betraying the
object of the expedition to the defenders of the posts. Hence the wily
commander decided to make the last stages of his advance by an overland
route. At the deserted site of Fort Massac, nine miles below the mouth
of the Tennessee, the little army left the Ohio and struck off northwest
on a march of one hundred and twenty miles, as the crow flies, across
the tangled forests and rich prairies of southern Illinois.

Six days brought the invaders to the Kaskaskia River, three miles above
the principal settlement. Stealing silently along the bank of the stream
on the night of the 4th of July, they crossed in boats which they seized
at a farmhouse and arrived at the palisades wholly unobserved. Half of
the force was stationed in the form of a cordon, so that no one might
escape. The remainder followed Clark through an unguarded gateway into
the village.

According to a story long current, the officials of the post were that
night giving a ball, and all of the elite, not of Kaskaskia alone but of
the neighboring settlements as well, were joyously dancing in one of
the larger rooms of the fort. Leaving his men some paces distant, Clark
stepped to the entrance of the hall, and for some time leaned unobserved
against the door-post, grimly watching the gayety. Suddenly the air was
rent by a warwhoop which brought the dancers to a stop. An Indian brave,
lounging in the firelight, had caught a glimpse of the tall, gaunt, buff
and blue figure in the doorway and had recognized it. Women shrieked;
men cursed; the musicians lef