"No; only an insignificant village, hardly twenty years old; and there were many miles of wilderness, or very thinly populated country, between it and the larger settlements. All the supplies for our men, except the timber for the vessels, had to be brought from a distance, with great labor."
"Captain, was it not at Erie that General Wayne died?" asked Grandma
Elsie.
"Yes," he said. "In 1794 General Wayne established a small garrison there and caused a blockhouse to be built at the lake shore of Garrison Hill. He returned there after his victory over the Indians in the Maumee Valley, and occupied a loghouse near the blockhouse, where he died of gout. At his own request he was buried at the foot of the flag-staff."
"Is his grave there now, papa?" asked Elsie.
"No," replied the captain; "his remains were removed to Pennsylvania in 1809. The first building there was a French fort, supposed to have been erected in 1749. I think some of its remains—ramparts and ditches—are still to be seen upon a point overlooking the entrance to the harbor. When Canada became an English possession the fort was allowed to go to decay."
"Why, papa?" asked Ned.
"Because it was no longer needed, my son. The blockhouse built by General Wayne fell into decay and was replaced by a new one in the winter of 1813-14, and a second one was built on the point of the peninsula of Presqu' Isle. The old one was burned by some mischievous person in 1853."
"Well, my dear, I highly approve of your expressed intention to take us to Erie to-morrow," said Violet in a lively tone, as the captain seemed to have come to the end of his account. "I am sure that I for one shall be greatly interested in everything there connected with the past history of our country."
All present seemed to be of the same opinion, and before separating for the night every arrangement was made for an early start next morning.
The yacht was again in motion at an early hour—even before any of her passengers were out of their beds. The sun had not yet appeared above the horizon when the captain was joined upon the deck by Percy Landreth.