disclosed to his men the real object of his expedition. The Kentuckians,
and those who had come down the river with him, hailed the adventure
with eager enthusiasm, pledged him their hearty support, and followed
him with staunch and unflinching loyalty. But the Holston recruits, who
had not come under the spell of his personal influence, murmured against
him. They had not reckoned on an expedition so long and so dangerous,
and in the night most of them left the camp and fled into the woods. The
Kentuckians, who had horses, pursued the deserters, with orders to kill
any who resisted; but all save six or eight escaped. Yet they suffered
greatly for their crime, and endured every degree of hardship and
fatigue, for the Kentuckians spurned them from the gates of the wooden
forts, and would not for a long time suffer them to enter, hounding them
back to the homes they had dishonored. They came from among a bold and
adventurous people, and their action was due rather to wayward and
sullen disregard of authority than to cowardice.

When the pursuing horsemen came back a day of mirth and rejoicing was
spent between the troops who were to stay behind to guard Kentucky and
those who were to go onward to conquer Illinois. On the 24th of June
Clark's boats put out from shore, and shot the falls at the very moment
that there was a great eclipse of the sun, at which the frontiersmen
wondered greatly, but for the most part held it to be a good omen.

Clark had weeded out all those whom he deemed unable to stand fatigue
and hardship; his four little companies were of picked men, each with a
good captain. [Footnote: The names of the four captains were John
Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard Helm, and William Harrod. Each
company nominally consisted of fifty men, but none of them was of full
strength.] His equipment was as light as that of an Indian war party,
for he knew better than to take a pound of baggage that could possibly