The scanty provisions ran out, hunger was added to
the pangs of thirst and weariness, and here and there in the straggling
file discontent smouldered and angry undertone was heard. Kaskaskia was
somewhere to the west and north; but how far? Clark had misled them.
And in addition it were foolish to believe that the garrison had not been
warned. English soldiers and French militia and Indian allies stood
ready for our reception. Of such was the talk as we lay down in the
grass under the stars on the fifth night. For in the rank and file an
empty stomach is not hopeful.
The next morning we took up our march silently with the dawn, the prairie
grouse whirring ahead of us. At last, as afternoon drew on, a dark line
of green edged the prairie to the westward, and our spirits rose. From
mouth to mouth ran the word that these were the woods which fringed the
bluff above Kaskaskia itself. We pressed ahead, and the destiny of the
new Republic for which we had fought made us walk unseen. Excitement
keyed us high; we reached the shade, plunged into it, and presently came
out staring at the bastioned corners of a fort which rose from the centre
of a clearing. It had once defended the place, but now stood abandoned
and dismantled. Beyond it, at the edge of the bluff, we halted,
astonished. The sun was falling in the west, and below us was the goal
for the sight of which we had suffered so much.
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