wading-miles of it-which well-nigh exhausted the courage and strength of the half-famished men. A lucky capture of an Indian canoe, in which there was a quarter of buffalo, some corn, tallow, and kettles, was made in the nick of time. Hot broth soon revived the spirits of the troop-one quarter of beef never having been made to go so far before.

When Clark led his men to the attack, the chances all seemed to be in favor of Hamilton. He was inside a strong fort, he had cannon, and there was a sufficient garrison, although his foes outnumbered him heavily. He might reasonably expect his war parties to return soon, and thus the Americans might be taken between two foes. There was no danger of famine, but his weakness lay in the faintheartedness of his own men. The American marksmen picked off the British gunners through the port-holes; the guns could not be served; and the British commander lost hope. When only six or eight of the garrison had been disabled, he gave up the contest. Clark had but one man wounded and

none killed.

Seventy-nine prisoners were taken, and were paroled, with the exception of Hamilton and twenty-six others, who were sent to Virginia, where Governor Jefferson put Hamilton in irons.

The vast Northwest had been thus won by a heroic band of volunteers, led by one of the most dauntless warriors that ever risked life for country. That Great Britain was foiled, that the Amer

icans took possession, and held the conquered empire under the final treaty of peace made at Paris, was due almost wholly to this one magnificent patriot and soldier, George Rogers Clark.

Randolph, of Roanoke, with pardonable exaggeration, called the great Virginian the "Hannibal of the West."

The first fort which the Americans built and held on the Mississippi was put there by Clark at the instance of Jefferson, and was named "Fort Jefferson." 1

1 The closing years of the life of Clark are involved in gloom and contradictions. It is certain that he became intemperate in his habits, that he lost influence on the border, and that he bitterly resented the failure of Virginia to vote him some substantial reward for his services. When her messenger came to his Western home bringing the honorary sword which the Legislature of his native State had awarded him, it is said that he broke the sword in a fit of anger, exclaiming passionately against the irony of such a gift.

Clark was living in a cabin, opposite Louisville, attended by one servant, when, either in an epileptic fit or in a state of intoxication, he fell into the fire and was so badly burned that one of his legs had to be amputated.

His sister, Mrs. William Croghan (mother of the young hero of Fort Stephenson), took him to her home, near Louisville (1812), where he lived, tenderly cared for, till his death in 1818. Clark left a large landed estate, which was inherited by his nephews and nieces.

CHAPTER XXIII

IN RETIREMENT

THE years 1781 and 1782 were the most sorrowful of Mr. Jefferson's life. Calamity after calamity fell upon him with bewildering frequency and staggering force.

First came Arnold's invasion in January, 1781, and the censure which it aroused. Although Mr. Jefferson had done everything that was in his power, his enemies could not allow so choice an opportunity to pass, and they made him suffer.

Then, in June of the same year, came Tarleton's inroad, the narrow escape of Mr. Jefferson from Monticello, and the administrative chaos of the next few days.1

Again the Governor was not to blame; but again he was severely censured.

His family had refugeed to Poplar Forest, his estate in Bedford County; his Elk Hill plantation had been wrecked; more than a score of his slaves were dying or missing. On top of all this tribulation came the threat of impeachment! To a man of

In his Jeffersonian Calendar, Mr. William Eleroy Curtis states that Mr. Jefferson resigned the governorship. He did not resign,

his proud, sensitive nature this was probably the most unkindest cut of all.

He accepted the challenge, had himself elected to the Legislature in order that he might be able to meet his accusers face to face, won an easy victory from critics who failed to appear, and was soothed by a vote of confidence which lauded his ability, integrity, and rectitude. Nevertheless, Mr. Jefferson carried a sore heart with him to Poplar Forest; and neither his young disciple, Madison, nor his young neighbor, Monroe, could prevail upon him to quit his retirement.

Then, in April, 1781, he was stricken with the grief whose infinite pain none but parents realize -he lost an infant daughter.

But the worst of all was yet to come. tember, 1782, he lost his wife.

In Sep

This cherished companion had suffered in sympathy with her husband during these trying years; had felt the terror of sudden danger when the British raided her home and forced her into flight with a babe in her arms.

In May, 1782, she gave birth to her sixth child, and was never well again.

How tenderly her husband nursed her, how devotedly he stayed with her night and day during the months of her decline, what anguish he suffered when all hope was gone, how he fainted away as he was led from the room after the closing scene,

how he was as one distracted for weeks and weeks, and how he sunk into a melancholy from which nothing seemed able to arouse him-no words could describe without a parade of a grief which is best treated by the silence which respects it as sacred.

On her death-bed Mrs. Jefferson asked her husband not to give their children a stepmother, and he promised.

Forty-four years later, when he himself had finished the long walk, there were found in the secret drawer of his private cabinet locks of hair and other souvenirs of his wife and of each of his children, those living and those dead. The envelopes which contained these were all marked, in his beautiful writing, with words of identity and endearment, and these envelopes had the appearance of having been often handled.

The loved and loving wife had given birth to six children during a brief married life of ten years. Not robust at any time, the repeated ordeal of maternity sapped her constitution. Nature's warnings were not understood, and, with the sixth child, there remained at length no reserve of strength.

Amid the resurrection of so many old publications, why is it that no trump awakes to new life Jefferson's Notes on Virginia?

Strike from it the dry statistics, cull its choice. passages, illustrate it with scenery and portraits,