are studied, and especially when the track of their memorable march is picked out and followed, one can fancy the clear, bright picture of the Clark of 1779 and, happily, believe for the moment that there is no connection between him and the later Clark whom the Spaniards knew. It is plain that the French were charmed by the dashing Virginian and his Vincennes chimera. The record Clark left of the expedition—written ere the grasshopper was a burden or those were darkened who stood at the windows—clearly implies that the expedition was launched with a levity that it is sure all did not feel, though it may have been perfectly assumed; and as the days passed we shall see that Clark hurried on in order to get his men too far to turn back. His diplomatic endeavors, throughout those marvelous fifteen days, to lure his men on, to lift their thoughts from their sufferings and incite them to their almost superhuman tasks, are perhaps without parallel in the history of marching armies in America.
Departing from the two days' camping-place, three miles from Kaskaskia, the course, for almost the entire first day, lay through
