When our people learned that Monsieur Rocheblave had been sent away with a whole skin, for, as I have said, all the preparations for his departure were made with the utmost secrecy and he and his wife smuggled on board the boat, there was something very like mutiny in the camp, and Major Clarke had quite as big a job to quiet the men as he could well handle; but the volunteers soon settled down quietly, promising themselves that the time would come when they might have more voice in deciding the fate of the Frenchman.
Having seized the outpost, it was as if Major Clarke counted on loitering in Kaskaskia without making any further effort toward capturing the other possessions of the king's on the Mississippi River.
During three days we remained quietly in the settlement, amusing ourselves as best we might, and many of the company indulged in much grumbling because of the inactivity.
We had come to open the river for our own people, they said, and it was little short of a crime to loiter when there were so many garrisons near at hand which should come into our possession.
Before the three days were passed, however, we came to understand our commander's purpose. He had not disturbed the French settlers whom we found in Kaskaskia; but, on the contrary, showed his intention of protecting them as he would those who were bound to us by ties of blood, and the result was that the people began to realize how much had been gained by this change of governors.
The savages were no longer welcome to hold their hideous pow-wows there, and the soldiers could not rob the settlers as had been done when Monsieur Rocheblave was in command. In every respect the people were the gainers by our coming, and fully appreciated the fact.
The next British outpost up the river above Kaskaskia, was Cahokia, a settlement where considerable trade was carried on, and a depository of British arms for distribution among the savages.
It had been occupied by the Caoquias, a tribe of Illinois Indians, long before the discovery of the Mississippi. The French settled there shortly after La Salle descended the river, and it was said to contain not less than forty families in addition to the garrison of about sixty soldiers.
This was the post Major Clarke had counted on capturing when he left Corn Island, and we soon came to know that he had not changed his intentions, but was busily engaged perfecting his plans at the very time when some of us accused him of spending the days in idleness.
Between these two outposts were three small villages which the king claimed as his own, and these it would be necessary to capture before arriving at the larger settlements.