whites, with a few Indians.

Clark now had at Kaskaskia a band of slightly over a hundred men. He
understood Hamilton's army to number five or six hundred. The outlook
was dubious, until Francois Vigo, a friendly Spanish trader of St.
Louis, escaping captivity at Vincennes, came to Kaskaskia with the
information that Hamilton had sent away most of his troops; and this
welcome news gave the doughty Kentuckian a brilliant idea. He would
defend his post by attacking the invaders while they were yet at
Vincennes, and before they were ready to resume operations. "The case is
desperate," he wrote to Governor Henry, "but, sir, we must either quit
the country or attack Mr. Hamilton." He had probably never heard of
Scipio Africanus but, like that indomitable Roman, he proposed to carry
the war straight into the enemy's country. "There were undoubtedly
appalling difficulties," says Mr. Roosevelt, "in the way of a midwinter
march and attack; and the fact that Clark attempted and performed the
feat which Hamilton dared not try, marks just the difference between a
man of genius and a good, brave, ordinary commander."

Preparations were pushed with all speed. A large, flat-bottomed boat,
the Willing, was fitted out with four guns and was sent down the
Mississippi with forty men to ascend the Ohio and the Wabash to a place
of rendezvous not far from the coveted post. By early February the
depleted companies were recruited to their full strength; and after the
enterprise had been solemnly blessed by Father Gibault, Clark and
his forces, numbering one hundred and thirty men, pushed out upon the
desolate, windswept prairie.

The distance to be covered was about two hundred and thirty miles. Under
favorable circumstances, the trip could have been made in five or six
days and with little hardship. The rainy season, however, was now at
its height, and the country was one vast quagmire, overrun by swollen
streams which could be crossed only at great risk. Ten days of wearisome
marching brought the expedition to the forks of the Little Wabash. The
entire region between the two channels was under water, and for a little
time it looked as if the whole enterprise would have to be given up.
There were no boats; provisions were running low; game was scarce; and
fires could not be built for cooking.

But Clark could not be turned back by such difficulties. He plunged
ahead of his men, struck tip songs and cheers to keep them in spirit,
played