The Adair County news., 1922-09-05
CHAPTER XIII

party OF four Shawnees heard their
coming through the woods, and, lying
like snakes in the underground, peered
out and saw them pass. Then they
rose, and Crooked Lightning looked
at Black Wolf and, with a grunt of
angry satisfaction, led the way home
ward. And to the village they bore
the news that White Arrow had made
good his word and, side by side with
the big chief of the Long Knives, was
leading a war party against his tribe
and kinsmen. And Early Morn car
| ried the news to her mother, who lay
sick in wigwam.
The miracle went swiftly, and Kas-
kaskia fell. Stealthily a Gordon of
hunters surrounded the little town.
The rest stole to the walls of the fort.
Lights yflickered from within, the
sounds of viOlins and dancing feet
came through creVice and window.
Clark's tall figure stole noiselessly into
the great hall, where the Creoles were
making merry and leaned silently with
folded arms against the doorpost, look
ing on at the revels with grave smile.
The light from the torches f1ickered
across his face, and an Indian lying
on the floor sprang to his feet with a
curdling war-whOop. Women screamed
and men rushed toward the door. The
stranger stood motionless and his grim
smile was unchanged.
dance onI" he commanded cour-
teOusly, "but remember he added
sternly, ''you dance under Virginia and
not Great Britainr'
There was great noise behind him.
Men dashed into the fort, and Roche
blave and his officers were prisoners
By daylight Clark had the town dis
armed. The French, Clark said next
day, could take the oath of allegiance
to the republic, or depart with their
he had nothing to do with any church
save to protect it from insult. So that
the people who had heard terrible sto-
ries of the wild woodsmen and who
expected to be killed or made slaves,
| jOyfully became Americans. They
even gave Clark a volunteer company
to march with him upon Cahokia, and
that village, too, soon became Ameri-
can. Father Gibault volunteered to
! go to Vincennes. Vincennes gathered
in the church to hear him, and then
| flung the Stars and Stripes to the
winds of freedom above the fort. Clark
sent one captain there to take COM
mand. With a handful of hardy men
who could have been controlled only
by him, the dauntless one had con-
quered land as big as any European
kingdom. Now he had to govern and
protect it. He had to keep loyal an
I alien race and hold his own against
the British and numerous tribes of In
dians, bIoodthirsty, treacherous and
deeply embittered against all Ameri-
cans y He was hundreds of miles from
any American troops; farther still
from the seat of government, and
could get no advice or help for per-
haps a year. ...
And those Indians poured into Ca
hokia-a horde of them from every
tribe between the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi-chiefs and warriors of
every Importance; but not before
Clark had formed and drilled four
companies of volunteer Creoles.
watch him!" said Dave, and Frs
kline did, marveling at the mans
knowledge of the Indian. He did not
live in the fort, but always on guard,
always seemingly confident, stayed
openly in town while the savages, sui
len and grotesque, strutted in full war
panOply through the struggling streets,
inquisitive and insolent, their eyes
burning with the lust of plunder and
murder. For days he sat in the midst
of the ringed warriors and listened.
On the second day Erskine saw Kah-
too in the throng and Crooked Light
ming and Black Wolf. After dusk that
day he felt the fringe of his hunting
shirt pIucked, and an Indian, with face
hidden in a blanket, whispered as he
passed:
"Ten the big chief" he said in
Shawnee, ito be on guard tomorrow
night" He knew it was some kindly
tribesman, and he wheeled and went
to Clark, who smiled. Already the big
chief had guards concealed in his
little house, who seized the attacking
Indians, while two minutes later the
townspeople were under arms The
captives were put in irons, and Frs
kline saw among them the crestfallen
faces of Black Wolf and Crooked
Lightning. The Indians pleaded that
they were trying to test the friendship
Of the French for Clark, but Clark,
refusing all requests for their release,
remained silent, naughty, Indifferent,
FEARLESS. He still refused to take ref
uge in the fort, and called in a number
of ladies and gentlemen to his house,
where they danced all night amid the
counciEfires of the bewildered saw
ages. Next morning he stood in the
center of their ringed warriors with
/ the tasseled shirts of his rifemen
massed behind him, released the cap