dashed at them now and then, and
they fled screaming into dooryards to come out again and mimic him when
he had passed, while mothers and fathers and grandfathers smiled at the
good nature in his Irish face. Presently he looked down at me comically.

"Why wuddent ye be doin' the like, Davy?" he asked. "Amusha! 'tis mesilf
that wants to run and hop and skip wid the childher. Ye put me in mind
of a wizened old man that sat all day makin' shoes in Killarney,--all
savin' the fringe he had on his chin."

"A soldier must be dignified," I answered.

"The saints bar that wurrd from hiven," said Terence, trying to
pronounce it. "Come, we'll go to mass, or me mother will be visitin' me
this night."

We crossed the square and went into the darkened church, where the
candles were burning. It was the first church I had ever entered, and I
heard with awe the voice of the priest and the fervent responses, but
I understood not a word of what was said. Afterwards Father Gibault
mounted to the pulpit and stood for a moment with his hand raised above
his flock, and then began to speak. What he told them I have learned
since. And this I know, that when they came out again into the sunlit
square they were Americans. It matters not when they took the oath.

As we walked back towards the fort we came to a little house with a
flower garden in front of it, and there stood Colonel Clark himself by
the gate. He stopped us with a motion of his hand.

"Davy," said he, "we are to live here for a while, you and I. What do
you think of our headquarters?" He did not wait for me to reply, but
continued, "Can you suggest any improvement?"

"You will be needing a soldier to be on guard in front, sir," said I.

"Ah," said the Colonel, "McChesney is too valuable a man. I am sending
him with Captain Bowman to take Cahokia."

"Would you have Terence, sir?" I ventured, while Terence grinned.
Whereupon Colonel Clark sent him to report to his captain that he was
detailed for orderly duty to the commanding officer. And within half an
hour he was standing guard in the flower garden, making grimaces at the
children in the street. Colonel Clark sat at a table in the little front
room, and while two of Monsieur Rocheblave's negroes cooked his dinner,
he was busy with a score of visitors, organizing, advising, planning,
and commanding. There were disputes to settle now that alarm had
subsided, and at noon three excitable gentlemen came in to inform
against a