might have with them, he always appeared to them quite
unafraid and confident that he could take care of himself. His boldness
and firmness, even when surrounded by red warriors greatly outnumbering
his own small force, had a profound effect upon them.

[Illustration: Wampum Peace Belt.]

Once he told them that he could appeal to the Thirteen
Council-Fires--meaning, of course, the thirteen States--and that they
could send him men enough to darken the land. The Indians began to fear
him and to look upon him as a mighty warrior, and when he held up to them
the red wampum belt of war and the white of peace for them to choose which
they would have, they chose peace and left the settlement.

But there was still another very serious difficulty which Clark had to
face. It caused even greater anxiety than the danger from the Indians, for
it was within his own company. You remember that when his men started out
they did not know that they were to go so far away from home. Now, when
their time of service was up, they threatened to leave him and return to
their homes. By means of presents and promises Clark persuaded about a
hundred to stay eight months longer. The others left for home.

A weaker man might have been quite helpless if left with so small a force.
Not so Clark. He had wonderful power over people, and soon the creoles of
the French villages had become so loyal that their young men took the
places of the woodsmen who went away. Clark thoroughly drilled them all
until they were finely trained for any service he might ask.

It was well he did so. For Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at
Detroit, who had charge of the British forces throughout the vast region
which Clark was trying to conquer, was a man of great energy. Soon after
getting news of what Clark had done at Kaskaskia and Vincennes, he began
preparing for an expedition against the latter place.

Early in October (1779) he set out from Detroit with one hundred and
seventy-seven soldiers and sixty Indians. By the time he had reached
Vincennes so many other Indians had joined him that his entire force
numbered about five hundred. The fort at Vincennes, as you remember,
contained only a handful of men, and it easily fell into Hamilton's hands
(December 17, 1779).

If Hamilton had at once marched on to Kaskaskia, he might have captured
Clark or driven him out of the northwest. But that same tendency to "put
off," which had already cost the British many