He did not know whether they would be admitted to that aristocratic body, for the position of Kentucky was still an anomalous one and its people were looked upon as semibarbarous frontiersmen. They were correct in supposing that the assembly would not open its doors to representatives of the Wild West, but Patrick Henry, who was then governor of Virginia, received them kindly, and took steps for the formation of Kentucky into a county of Virginia. As such some provision for its defence was deemed necessary, and a supply of gunpowder was sent to Pittsburg and thence down the Ohio, reaching its destination after running the gauntlet of hostile Indians on both banks of the river.

Meanwhile the war of the Revolution, which was proceeding actively in the East, began to make itself felt in the West. The Indians north of the Ohio had become murderously hostile and Clark was satisfied that the British garrisons at the forts in the West were instigating them to this dreadful work, supplying them with arms and ammunition and paying them for scalps. Clark, when assured that this was the case, determined to do what he could to stop it.

There were three military posts-Detroit, on the lakes, and Vincennes and Kaskaskia, in the interior country, which were centres of the Indian incursions. Formerly French settlements, these now were under British control, and there was excellent reason to believe that their new masters were at the bottom of the cruel raids on the settlers.

Major Clark, to give him the title which he now bore, believed that these forts could be captured, and his spirit of adventure led him to undertake the enter

prise. Hitherto, while the war had been going on in the East, he had been engaged in surveying, his leisure time being employed in hunting excursions with Boone and others of the settlers, but his ambition was now aroused in the interest of his struggling country. Making his way back to Virginia, he called on his former friend, Governor Henry, told him about his plan and how hopeful it was, and asked his aid in an expedition against the British forts. Patrick Henry, a stalwart patriot, was highly pleased with the plan, and knew enough of Clark to be satisfied that he would make a suitable leader. He therefore supplied him with the necessary funds, and commissioned him as colonel, instructing him to recruit four companies among the daring hunters and pioneers of the frontier. His orders were to "proceed to the defence of Kentucky," this being a ruse to keep his real purpose a secret. Clark made all haste in his work and in the spring of 1778 set off with one hundred and fifty men in boats down the Ohio. When about fifty miles above the river's mouth the party left their boats and started on a long and difficult wilderness journey towards Kaskaskia.

On the 4th of July of that year, the second anniversary of American independence, a merry dance was going on in the fort at that border settlement. It was thought so far away and so safe that its defence had been left to a French officer and a company of French soldiers, and these light-hearted fellows were dancing gayly away to the sounds of a fiddle and by the light of torches thrust into the chinks of the wall. On the floor lay an Indian, looking on with lazy eyes.

Suddenly the savage sprang to his feet with a shrill

war-whoop. He had seen a tall young man, dressed in a woodland garb that was evidently not French, enter the door, and in an instant suspected something wrong. The dancers huddled together with alarm as the wild cry broke out, some of them running for their guns.

"Don't be scared. Go on with your dance," said the stranger quietly. "But remember that you are dancing under the rule of Virginia and not of England."

As he spoke a number of men dressed like himself glided into the rooms, spread quickly about, and laid hands on the guns of the soldiers. The fort had been taken without a blow. The French officer, Rocheblave, was in bed while this was going on. But his wife was wide awake and was quick to learn what was afoot, and hastened to thrust his papers into the fire. Enough of them was found, however, to prove what Clark suspected, that the English were seeking to stir up the Indians against the settlers. The papers were sent to Virginia, and with them went Rocheblave and perhaps his wide-awake wife.

The capture of Kaskaskia was but the beginning of Clark's enterprises. About one hundred and fifty miles to the east, in what is now the State of Indiana, was another fort called Vincennes. It lay on the Wabash River, far to the south of Detroit.

Colonel Clark wanted this fort, too, but had not men enough to take it by force, so he tried the effect of stratagem. By the aid of a French priest he persuaded the people of Vincennes that they would find the Americans better friends than the English. This they were ready enough to believe, for they had not much love for the English, who had conquered them not many years before. Persuaded by the priest, they

forced the commander of the fort to surrender, hauled down the British flag and raised the stars and stripes, and Vincennes became an American fort. Colonel Clark went back to Kentucky, leaving only two men in charge of the fort, and thinking that he had won the Northwest for the Americans very easily.

He might have known what he soon found out, that the British would not let themselves be driven out of the country in this easy fashion. When Colonel Hamilton, the English commander at Detroit, heard of what Clark had done, he led his men down to Vincennes and easily took back the fort with its garrison of two. He proposed the next spring to recapture Kaskaskia and then march south and drive the American settlers out of Kentucky. Such was the disturbing news that reached Colonel Clark that winter.

The tidings gave him great concern. He was in danger of losing all he had won. And this Colonel Hamilton was said to be the man who hired the Indians to murder the American settlers, so if he were left alone the dreadful work of the savages would go on worse than before. Something must be done quickly or it might be too late to do anything at all.

But the task before the bold Colonel Clark was far worse than before. The winter was nearly over when the news reached him, and with it came the tidings that the Wabash River had risen and overflowed its banks and the country for hundreds of square miles was under water. Vincennes lay in the centre of a great shallow lake of chilly water and could only be reached by miles of wading. But Clark had to act quickly if he was to act at all. Hamilton had only eighty men with him and it was easy to raise twice

that many against him. Now was the time to strike, before he could be reinforced from Canada.

Clark had no money to pay his men, but a merchant of St. Louis offered to lend him all he needed, so he got together his company of hardy Kentuckians and set out on his long and difficult journey. As the sturdy fellows, dressed in hunting garb and carrying their trusty rifles, trudged onward through wet woods and over soaking prairies, the heavens poured down rain day after day, and they had to dry and warm themselves every night by blazing bivouac fires.

When they reached the "drowned lands" of the Wabash it was still worse. Water spread everywhere and only by wading through this great lake could the fort be reached. There were miles of it to cross, now ankle-deep, now knee-deep, and in places waistdeep. And shivering water it was, for the freezing chill of winter had barely passed. No doubt there were faint hearts among them, but Colonel Clark led the way and his men followed, for they had confidence in his courage and ability. For nearly a week they trudged dismally onward, finding here and there islands of dry land to rest their limbs on by day or to build fires upon at night. Game was very scarce and their food ran short, so that for two days they had to go hungry.

At the mouth of White River, where it enters the Wabash, they met Captain Rogers, who had been sent with forty men and two small cannon up stream to that point. Here they joined company, dragging or rowing the boat through the overflow. They had still the worst of their journey to make, for around the fort lay a lake of water four miles wide and deeper