the passengers, as being English traders, were seized, dragged through the water, beaten, reviled, marched to the prisonlodge, and there stripped of their clothes and confined.

"Of the English traders that fell into the hands of the Indians, at the capture of the fort, Mr. Tracy was the only one who lost his life. Mr. Ezekiel Solomons and Mr. Henry Bostwick were taken by the Ottawas, and, after the peace, carried down to Montreal, and there ransomed. Of ninety troops, about seventy were killed; the rest, together with those of the posts in the Bay des Puants, and at the river Saint Joseph, were also kept in safety by the Ottawas, till the peace, and then either freely restored, or ransomed at Montreal. The Ottawas never overcame their disgust at the neglect with which they had been treated, in the beginning of the war, by those who afterward desired their assistance as allies."

CHAPTER V.

ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS.

THE peculiarities of the Indian character will readily explain to us the part which the Ottawas played in this transaction. They deemed it a gross insult that the Ojibwas had undertaken an enterprise of such vast importance without consulting them or asking their assistance. They had, therefore, rescued Henry and his companions in tribulation from the hands of their captors and borne them back to the fort, where they had, to the dismay of the Ojibwas, taken possession not only of the fort, but of the other prisoners also. This, however, was purely out of revenge to the Ojibwas, and not from any good will towards the prisoners. After the council of which Henry has told us, some of the prisoners, among whom was Henry, were given up, but the officers and several of the soldiers were retained and carried by the Ottawas to L'Arbre Croche. Here, owing probably to the influence of Father Janois, they were treated with kindness. From this point Ethrington despatched two letters, one by Janois to Major Gladwyn, at Detroit, and the other by an Ottawa Indian to Lieutenant Gorell, at Green Bay. Both of these letters contained a brief account of the massacre, and an earnest entreaty for assistance. The one addressed to Gorell was as follows:

"MICHILIMACKINAC, June 11, 1763.

"DEAR SIR: This place was taken by surprise on the fourth instant by the Chippewas, (Ojibwas,) at which time Lieutenant Jamette and twenty men were killed, and all the rest taken prisoners; but our good friends the Ottawas have taken

Lieutenant Leslie, me, and eleven men out of their hands, and have promised to reinstate us again. You'll therefore, on the receipt of this, which I send by a canoe of Ottawas, set out with all your garrison, and what English traders you have with you, and come with the Indian who gives you this, who will conduct you safe to me. You must be sure to follow the instruction you receive from the bearer of this, as you are by no means to come to this post before you see me at the village, twenty miles from this. I must once more beg you'll lose no time in coming to join me; at the same time be very careful, and always be on your guard. I long much to see you, and am, dear sir, your most humble servant,

*

*

"J. GORELL, Royal Americans."

"GEO. ETHRINGTON.

When Father Janois reached Detroit he found the place closely besieged, and consequently no assistance could come from that quarter, but at Green Bay the case was otherwise. With seventeen men Lieutenant Gorell had taken possession of that post in 1761, and, by a system of good management, had succeeded in allaying the hostility of the savages and securing the friendship of at least a part of the tribes around him. On receiving Ethrington's letter Gorell told the Indians what the Ojibwas had done, and that he and his soldiers were going to Michilimackinac to restore order, adding that, during his absence, he commended the fort to their care. Presents were distributed among them, and advantage taken of every circumstance that could possibly be made to favor the English cause, so that when the party was ready to embark ninety warriors proposed to escort the garrison on its way.

Arriving at L'Arbre Croche, where Captain Ethrington, Lieutenant Leslie, and eleven men were yet detained as prisoners, Gorell received an intimation that the Ottawas intended to disarm his own men also, but he promptly informed them that such an attempt would meet with a vigorous resistance and the Indians desisted.

Several days were now spent in hold

ing councils. The Indians from Green Bay requested the Ottawas to set their prisoners at liberty, to which the latter at length assented. Thinking only of how they might escape the presence of their troublesome and treacherous foes, they prepared to depart. One difficulty, however, yet remained. The Ojibwas had declared that they would prevent the English from passing down to Montreal, and again they had recourse to a council. A reversion of feeling, as we shall soon see, had already taken place among the Ojibwa chiefs, and at length, though reluctantly, they yielded the point. On the eighteenth day of July, escorted by a fleet of Indian canoes, the English left L'Arbre Croche, and on the thirteenth day of August all arrived in safety at Montreal, leaving not a British soldier in the region of the lakes, except at Detroit.

Let us now go back, in point of time, and hear our old friend Henry to the end of his story.

"In the morning of the ninth of June, a general council was held, at which it was agreed to remove to the island of Michilimackinac, as a more defensible situation in the event of an attack by the English. The Indians had begun to entertain apprehensions of a want of strength. No news had reached them from the Potawatamies, in the Bay des Puants, and they were uncertain whether or not the Monomins would join them. They even feared that the Sioux would take the English side. This resolution fixed, they prepared for a speedy retreat. At noon the camp was broken up and we embarked, taking with us the prisoners that were still undisposed of. On our passage we encountered a gale of wind, and there were some appearances of danger. To avert it a dog, of which the legs were previously tied together, was thrown into the lake—an offering designed to soothe the angry passions of some offended Manito.

"As we approached the island two women in the canoe in which I was began to utter melancholy and hideous cries. Precarious as my condition still remained, I experienced some sensations of alarm from these dismal sounds, of which I could

not then discover the occasion. Subsequently I learned that it is customary for the women, on passing near the burial-places of relations, never to omit the practice of which I was now a witness, and by which they intend to denote their grief.

"By the approach of evening we reached the island in safety, and the women were not long in erecting our cabins. In the morning there was a muster of the Indians, at which there were found three hundred and fifty fighting men. In the course of the day there arrived a canoe from Detroit, with ambassadors, who endeavored to prevail on the Indians to repair thither, to the assistance of Pontiac, but fear was now the prevailing passion. A guard was kept during the day and a watch by night, and alarms were very frequently spread. Had an enemy appeared all the prisoners would have been put to death, and I suspected that, as an Englishman, I should share their fate.

"Several days had now passed when, one morning, a continued alarm prevailed, and I saw the Indians running in a confused manner towards the beach. In a short time I learned that two large canoes from Montreal were in sight.

"All the Indian canoes were immediately manned, and those from Montreal were surrounded and seized as they turned a point, behind which the flotilla had been concealed. The goods were consigned to a Mr. Levy, and would have been saved if the canoe-men had called them French property, but they were terrified and disguised nothing.

"In the canoes was a large proportion of liquor—a dangerous acquisition, and one which threatened disturbance among the Indians, even to the loss of their dearest friends. Wawatam, always watchful of my safety, no sooner heard the noise of drunkenness which, in the evening, did not fail to begin, than he represented to me the danger of remaining in the village, and owned that he could not himself resist the temptation of joining his comrades in the debauch. That I might escape all mischief, he therefore requested that I would accompany him to the mountain, where I was to remain hidden till the