“Is something wrong, Colonel?”
Clark stopped and turned toward Jim. “Hello, Jim. I didn’t hear you come in. Yes, I’ve just received some bad news.”
“From the gentleman who was leaving as I came into the house?”
“Oh, did you see him? That was Francis Vigo, a Spanish merchant from St. Louis. I had asked him to see about Captain Helm’s supplies, since he was going on a merchandising trip to Vincennes.”
“Yes, sir.” Jim waited, seeing Colonel Clark was quite upset.
“I’ve had no word from Captain Helm for a long time,” Clark continued. “And that’s not like Helm, so I was a bit uneasy. Vigo told me that he himself was captured and taken to Fort Sackville. There he was confronted by Lieutenant Governor Hamilton. You see, Jim, Hamilton captured Fort Sackville on the seventeenth of December and Captain Helm is now his prisoner. The British are again in control of Fort Sackville and Vincennes.”
Jim gasped. “Do you mean Hamilton from Detroit?”
“The very same. He took all of Vigo’s merchandise from him and wouldn’t release him until Vigo promised not to return to Kaskaskia on his way home to St. Louis.” Clark smiled wryly. “Vigo kept his promise too. He went home to St. Louis, then came over here immediately to tell me about Helm.”
Jim looked puzzled. “What does it mean for us now that Hamilton is in Vincennes?”
“Vigo told me Hamilton plans to attack Kaskaskia as soon as the weather permits, some time in the spring. He’s supposed to have an army of eight hundred men, counting the Indians and his prisoners.”