ioo The Winning of the West 



could yet easily detain the volunteers for a few days 

 longer ; and he kept up the spirits of the whole com- 

 mand by his undaunted and confident mien. The 

 canoes were nearly finished ; and about noon a small 

 boat with five Frenchmen from Vincennes was cap- 

 tured. From these Clark gleamed the welcome in- 

 telligence that the condition of affairs was un- 

 changed at the fort, and that there was no suspicion 

 of any impending danger. In the evening the men 

 were put in still better heart by one of the hunters 

 killing a deer. 



It rained all the next day. By dawn Clark began 

 to ferry the troops over the Wabash in the canoes 

 he had built, and they were soon on the eastern bank 

 of the river, the side on which Vincennes stood. 

 They now hoped to get to town by nightfall; but 

 there was no dry land for leagues round about, 

 save where a few hillocks rose island-like above the 

 flood. The Frenchmen whom they had captured 

 said they could not possibly get along; but Clark 

 led the men in person, and they waded with infinite 

 toil for about three miles, the water often up to 

 their chins; and they then camped on a hillock for 

 the night. Clark kept the troops cheered up by 

 every possible means, and records that he was much 

 assisted by "a little antic drummer," a young boy 

 who did good service by making the men laugh with 

 his pranks and jokes. 27 



27 Law, in his "Vincennes" (p. 32), makes the deeds of the 

 drummer the basis for a traditional story that is somewhat 

 too highly colored. Thus he makes Clark's men at one time 

 mutiny, and refuse to go forward. This they never did ; the 



