Chapter VI
ON TO KASKASKIA
When night fell, Colonel Clark ordered his men to march. Led by two soldiers who had been scouting the woods all afternoon, they followed the bank of the Kaskaskia River until they came to a farmhouse. Here several boats were moored at the river bank. Clark ordered some of his men to surround the house and others to seize the family living in it.
A very frightened Frenchman, his wife and their several children came out of the house, holding their hands high in the air. The soldiers brought the father to Colonel Clark who began questioning him about the town of Kaskaskia.
The man said the town had been expecting an attack from the direction of the Mississippi River. This alarm had died down, he thought, because now there was no extra militia at Kaskaskia. He also said most of the Indians loitering there had left and gone to Cahokia.
Jim shivered at the mention of Cahokia and wondered if Chief Minnemung and his Potawatomis had arrived there, or if they were still searching for him.
When Clark got the information that the town was quiet, he permitted the French family to return to their home, and ordered his men to start ferrying the army across the river. Since he had well over a hundred men, they must make many trips back and forth in the few boats on the river bank. Jim and Simon Kenton were to go with the first group.
As Jim climbed into one boat, he stumbled over a boy about his own age who was trembling and cowering in the bottom. Kenton, just behind Jim, pointed his rifle at the boy. “Who are you?” he asked gruffly. “What are you doing here?”
The frightened boy did not reply but stared up at the rifle.
“Come, boy,” Kenton repeated, “what are you doing here?”