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.

"But they rejected his overtures, and said in reply, 'Stay where you
are for ten days, and we will treat with you; but if you advance we
will give you battle.'

"Wayne was, however, too wise and wary to be deceived by them. He saw
that nothing but a severe blow would break the spirit of the tribes
and end the war, and, as Lossing says, he resolved to inflict it
mercilessly.

"On the 15th of August his legion moved forward, and on the 18th took
post at the head of the rapids, near the present town of Waterville,
where they established a magazine of supplies and baggage, protected
by military works, and named it Fort Deposit. There, on the 19th,
Wayne called a council of war and adopted a plan of march and battle
proposed by Lieutenant Harrison."

"Afterward general, papa?"

"Yes, nineteen years later he had become general-in-chief, and
performed gallant exploits in this same valley of the Maumee.

"The next morning after that council, at eight o'clock, Wayne advanced
according to that plan. They had gone forward about five miles when
the advance corps, under Major Price, was terribly smitten by heavy
volleys from the concealed foe and compelled to fall back. The enemy
was full 2000 strong--composed of Indians and Canadian volunteers,
and they were arranged in three lines within supporting distance of
each other.

"Wayne's legion was immediately formed in two lines, principally in a
dense wood on the borders of a wet prairie, where a large number of
trees had been prostrated by a tornado, which made the movements of
cavalry very difficult, besides affording a fine covert for the enemy.
But Wayne's troops fell upon them with fearful energy, soon making
them flee, like a herd of frightened deer, toward Fort Miami."

"The fort the British had built upon our ground without so much as
saying by your leave?"

"The very same. They reached it by a hasty flight of two miles through
the thick woods, leaving forty of their number dead on the way, by the
side of each of whom lay a musket and bayonet from British armories.

"Three days and three nights Wayne and his army remained below the
rapids, making such desolation as seemed necessa