"I do, for I also enjoyed a good night's rest and sleep."
The yacht was moving, and Lucilla remarked it with some surprise.
"I thought we were lying at anchor," she said.
"So we were through the night," replied her father, "but now we are travelling toward Fort Meigs—or perhaps I should rather say its ruins."
"Oh, that will be an interesting spot to visit!" exclaimed Lucilla.
"Just where is it, papa?"
"On the Maumee River, opposite Maumee City, situated at the head of river navigation, eight miles from Toledo."
"Wasn't it somewhere in that region that Wayne fought one or more of his battles with the Indians?"
"Yes; he took possession of and fortified the place where St. Clair was defeated, and called it Fort Recovery. That was in 1794. On the 30th of June he was attacked by about a thousand Indians with some British soldiers and Canadian volunteers, who assailed the garrison several times. Fifty-seven Americans were killed, wounded, and missing; also 221 horses. The Indians said they lost more than in their battle with St. Clair.
"A few weeks later Wayne was joined by Major-General Scott with 1600 mounted volunteers from Kentucky, and two days later he moved forward with his whole force toward the Maumee. Remembering the sad fate of St. Clair and his men, Wayne moved very cautiously; so slowly and stealthily that the Indians called him the 'Black Snake.' He had faithful, competent scouts and guides, and he moved by unfrequented ways, with perplexing feints. Twenty-five miles beyond Fort Recovery he built Fort Adams. Again he moved forward for four days, then encamped on a beautiful plain at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, on the site of the present town of Defiance; I presume from the fort Wayne built there, and which he called Fort Defiance. He found there a deserted Indian town with at least a thousand acres of corn growing around it. Wayne was now in full possession of power to subjugate and destroy the Indians, but, unwilling to shed blood unnecessarily, he sent them a message with kind words. 'Be no longer deceived or led astray by false promises and language of bad white men at the foot of the rapids; they have neither the power nor the inclination to protect you.'
"He offered them peace and tranquillity, and invited them to send deputies to meet him in council without delay.