This plan was carried out. Four days and nights of rowing brought them to a point on the Ohio below the mouth of the Tennessee River, known as Fort Massac, a former French stronghold that had been abandoned. This place had formerly been connected with Kaskaskia by an old French military road that was now mostly obliterated, and this was to be Clark's land route, though it seems to have been little better than no road. Fortunately, at their debarking place, they fell in with a party of hunters, and one of these was utilized as a guide over the obscure trace. As there were no pack horses, the men had to carry such impedimenta as was necessary to their maintenance on the way, and thus handicapped, suffering sometimes form thirst and hunger, they marched for six days over a rough wilderness country. On the evening of the Fourth of July, they approached their goal, after ten consecutive of strenuous labor and hardships, having been without food the latter part of the march. They entered the place by night, undiscovered, found access to the garrison, which "was so fortified that it might have successfully fought a thousand men," and without the firing of a gun captured town, fort and soldiers. The surprise of the garrison was as sudden and complete as that of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen, and the boldness with which Clark took control of the streets of the town cowed the French inhabitants utterly. Among the latter, the belief had been fostered that Americans were little better than savages. Nothing short of savage treatment and expulsion from their homes was anticipated, and the next day a delegation of citizens, headed by the priest, waited humbly upon Clark with the pathetic request that they be allowed to take leave of each other; that families be not separated, and that the women and children be permitted to keep their clothes and a small quantity of provisions. The conqueror diplomatically let this fear work for a while, then deftly won them over and strengthened his position by the assurance that they might have all the rights and liberties of American citizens, further imparting to them the news that the king of France had joined with the Americans in this war with England. As a result of this, Clark tells us, "The scene was changed form an almost mortal dejection to that of joy in the extreme - the bells ringing, the church crowded, returning thanks; in short, every appearance of extravagant joy that could fill a place with almost confusion."