call again the next day. Their motive, as it afterward appeared, was no other than the very artful one of discovering, by requesting to see them, the particular places of their deposit, so that they might lay their hands on them in the moment of pillage with the greater certainty and dispatch.

"At night, I turned in my mind the visits of Wawatam; but, though they were calculated to excite uneasiness, nothing induced me to believe that serious mischief was at hand. The next day, being the fourth of June, was the king's birthday."

CHAPTER XI

HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE: HIS ESCAPE AND ADVENTURES

A

LEXANDER HENRY is one of the many interesting characters whose names are indelibly inscribed in the records of Old Mackinaw and Mackinac Island. To continue the story of his experiences, at the time of the

massacre:

"The morning was sultry. A Chipeway came to tell me that his nation was going to play at bag'gat'iway, with the Sacs or Saäkies, another Indian nation, for a high wager. He invited me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the Chipeways. In consequence of this information, I went to the commandant, and expostulated with him a little, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end in view; but, the commandant only smiled at my suspicions.

"Baggatiway, called by the Canadians, le jeu de la crosse, is played with a bat and a ball.1 The bat is about four feet in length, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket. Two posts are planted in the ground, at a considerable distance

1 The game of La Crosse has always been a favourite with the Indian tribes of the North American continent. A full reference to its early history will be found in the Bulletins of the Essex Institute, Vol. XVII, p. 89. Indian Games; an Historical Research, by Andrew McFarland; to its modern development in Lacrosse, the National Game of Canada, W. G. Beers, 1875.

from each other, as a mile, or more. Each party has its post, and the game consists in throwing the ball up to the post of the adversary. The ball, at the beginning, is placed in the middle of the course, and each party endeavors as well to throw the ball out of the direction of its own post, as into that of the adversary's.

"I did not go myself to see the match which was now to be played without the fort, because, there being a canoe prepared to depart, on the following day, for Montreal, I employed myself in writing letters to my friends; and even when a fellow-trader, Mr. Tracy, happened to call upon me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from Detroit, and proposing that I should go with him to the beach, to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained, to finish my letters; promising to follow Mr. Tracy in the course of a few minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from my door, when I heard an Indian war-cry, and a noise of general confusion.

"Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of Indians, within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. In particular, I witnessed the fate of Lieutenant Jemette.

"I had, in the room in which I was, a fowling-piece, loaded with swan-shot. This I immediately seized, and held it for a few minutes, waiting to hear the drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval I saw several of my countrymen fall, and more than one struggling between the knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this manner, scalped him, while yet living.

"At length, disappointed in the hope of seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible, of course, that no effort of my own unassisted arm, could avail against four hundred

Indians, I thought only of seeking shelter. Amid the slaughter which was raging, I observed many of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort, calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians, nor suffering injury; and, from this circumstance, I conceived a hope of finding security in their houses.

"Between the yard-door of my own house, and that of M. Langlade, my next neighbour, there was only a low fence, over which I easily climbed. At my entrance, I found the whole family at the windows, gazing at the scene of blood before them. I addressed myself immediately to M. Langlade, begging that he would put me into some place of safety, until the heat of the affair should be over; an act of charity by which he might perhaps preserve me from the general massacre; but while I uttered my petition, M. Langlade, who had looked for a moment at me, turned again to the window, shrugging his shoulders, and intimating that he could do nothing for me: 'Que voudriezvous que j'en ferais?"

"This was a moment of despair; but the next, a Pani 2 woman, a slave of M. Langlade's, beckoned to me to follow her. She brought me to a door, which she opened, desiring me to enter, and telling me that it led to the garret, where I must go and conceal myself. I joyfully obeyed

2 Pani is another form of Pawnee, which was the name of a tribe of Indians of Caddoan stock, occupying the present State of Nebraska, along the Platte river, and its tributaries. They were constantly at war with the surrounding tribes, and appear to have been true Ishmaelites. When captured they were retained and frequently sold to Indians at a distance, so that the common name for an Indian slave was Pani, though Choctaws, Osages, and others from the West and South were included in the title. The capitulation at Montreal, September 8th, 1760, provides that the negroes and Panis of both sexes should remain in their condition of slavery. Mr. J. C. Hamilton has compiled an interesting account of this people which is published in the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, series 3, vol. I,

her directions; and she, having followed me up to the garret door, locked it after me, and with great presence of mind took away the key.

"This shelter obtained, if shelter I could hope to find it, I was naturally anxious to know what might still be passing without. Through an aperture, which afforded me a view of the area of the fort, I beheld, in shapes the foulest and most terrible, the ferocious triumphs of barbarian conquerors. The dead were scalped and mangled; the dying were writhing and shrieking, under the unsatiated knife and tomahawk; and, from the bodies of some ripped open, their butchers were drinking the blood, scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, and quaffed amid shouts of rage and victory. I was shaken, not only with horror, but with fear. The sufferings which I witnessed, I seemed on the point of experiencing. No long time elapsed, before every one being destroyed, who could be found, there was a general cry of 'All is finished!' At the same instant, I heard some of the Indians enter the house in which I was.

"The garret was separated from the room below, only by a layer of single boards, at once the flooring of the one and the ceiling of the other. I could therefore hear everything that passed; and, the Indians no sooner in, than they inquired whether or not any Englishmen were in the house? M. Langlade replied that 'He could not say he did not know of any;'-answers in which he did not exceed the truth; for the Pani woman had not only hidden me by stealth, but kept my secret, and her own. M. Langlade was therefore, as I presume, as far from a wish to destroy me, as he was careless about saving me, when he added to these answers, that "They might examine for themselves, and