charcoal and grease, only that a white spot, of two inches in diameter, encircled each eye. This man, walking up to me, seized me with one hand by the collar of the coat, while in the other he held a large carving knife, as if to plunge it into my breast; his eyes, meanwhile, were fixed steadfastly on mine. At length, after some seconds of the most anxious suspense, he dropped his arm, saying, 'I won't kill you! To this he added that he had been frequently engaged in wars against the English, and had brought away many scalps; that on a certain occasion, he had lost a brother, whose name was Musinigon, and that I should be called after him. A reprieve upon any terms placed me among the living, and gave me back the sustaining voice of hope; but Wenniway ordered me down stairs, and there informed me that I was to be taken to his cabin, where, and indeed everywhere else, the Indians were all mad with liquor, death again was threatened, and not as possible only, but as certain. I mentioned my fears on this subject to Mr. Langlade, begging him to represent them to my master. Mr. Langlade, in this instance, did not withhold his compassion, and Wenniway immediately consented that I should remain where I was, until he found another opportunity to take meaway."

CHAPTER X.

ADVENTURES OF ENGLISH TRADERS AT MICHILIMACKINAC-THEY ARE RESCUED BY THE OTTAWAS TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS HENRY'S ESCAPE - CANNIBALISM - REDUCTION OF ALL THE WESTERN OUTPOSTS EXCEPT DETROIT.

HENRY had not enjoyed an hour's peace when an Indian came to the house where he was and ordered him to follow him to the Ojibwa camp. Henry knew this man, and suspected treachery, but there was no alternative. Following him through the gate his suspicions were soon confirmed. The Indian, instead of proceeding to the camp, turned in the direction of the woods. At this Henry refused to follow, and openly charged him with his design. The Indian acknowledged that his intention was to take his life, and at the same moment drew his kaife to strike the fatal blow. At this instant the trader stepped aside, and escaping the stroke he ran for his life. Entering the gate of the fort he observed Wenniway standing in the centre of the area, and he called out to him for assistance. The chief ordered the Indian to desist; but the enraged savage would not obey him, and continued the pursuit, striking at him with his knife as they ran round and round the chief. Observing the door of Mr. Langlade's house open, Henry ran, escaped through it, and once more found himself alone in his garret prison. Early in the night, as he lay asleep on his rude couch, the door was opened, and he was ordered to descend. He did so, when, to his great joy, he found in the room below, Capt. Etherington, Lieut. Leslie and Mr. Bostwick, a trader, together with Father Jonois, the Jesuit priest from L'Arbre Croche.

The Indians being now about to enjoy a drunken carouse upon the liquor they had seized, and the chiefs, fully aware of the danger to which the prisoners would be exposed during

these revels, had conveyed them all into the fort and placed them in charge of the Canadians. "Including officers, soldiers and traders, they amounted to about twenty, this handful being all that escaped the massacre." When Henry entered the room he found his three companions discussing a very important question. The Indians had already retired to their village, and the fort was actually in the hands of the white people-twenty Englishmen and about three hundred French Canadians. To close the gates and take possession of the fort would be an easy matter, and it would have been attempted had not the Jesuit discouraged the plan. He represented that perhaps the French would prove treacherous, and that, should they fail in their plans, every Englishman in the place would meet certain death. The idea was therefore abandoned. The night passed in quiet, and in the morning several warriors came to the house and summoned Henry to follow them. He was led to a house in which two traders and a soldier were imprisoned. These were released and ordered to join the company. They were then led to the lake shore, where they were to embark for the Isles du Castor. "A chilling wind blew strongly from the northeast, and the lake was covered with mists and tossing angrily. Henry stood shivering on the beach, with no other upper garment than a shirt, drenched with the cold rain. He asked Langlade, who was near him, for a blanket, which the latter with cold-blooded inhumanity refused to furnish unless security was given for payment. Another Canadian proved more merciful, and Henry received a covering from the weather. With his three companions, guarded by seven Indians, he embarked in the canoe, the soldier being tied by his neck to one of the cross-bars of the vessel. The thick mists and the tempestuous weather compelled them to keep along the shore, close beneath the wet, dripping forests. In this manner they had proceeded about eighteen miles, and were approaching L'Arbre Croche, when an Ottawa Indian came out of the woods and called to them from the beach, inquiring the news and asking who were their prisoners. Some conversation followed, in the course of which the canoe approached the shore where the water was very shallow." At this juncture a loud yell was heard, and a

hundred Ottawas, rising from the shrubbery, rushed into the water and seized upon the canoe and prisoners. The astonished Ojibwas remonstrated, but to no purpose. The prisoners were all taken from them, and conducted to the shore in safety. This interference was the result of a jealousy which the Ottawas entertained against their brethren, the Ojibwas, for entering into the war without consulting them and giving them an opportunity to share in the plunder.

The Ottawas now assured the rescued prisoners that the Ojibwas were carrying them to the Isles du Castor merely to kill and eat them. They were then placed in Ottawa canoes, and were soon on their way back to the fort. They were accompanied by a large fleet of canoes and a strong band of Ottawa warriors. Before the day was over all had arrived at Michilimackinac. Landing their canoes, the Ottawas marched, in Indian file, into the fort, and took possession of it, while at a short distance hundreds of Ojibwa warriors looked on in astonishment. The night passed without any important event, but on the following morning the Ojibwa chiefs invited the principal men of the Ottawas to hold a council with them in a building within the fort. A valuable present of goods was placed upon the floor, it being a part of the plunder they had taken; and their great war chief, Minavavana, who had conducted the massacre, rose and addressed the Ottawas. "Your conduct," he said, "has greatly surprised me. You have betrayed our common cause, and opposed the will of the Great Spirit, who has decreed that every Englishman must die. Excepting you, all the Indians have raised the hatchet. Pontiac has taken Detroit, and every other fort has also been destroyed. The English are meeting with destruction throughout the whole world. The King of France has awakened from his sleep." In conclusion he exhorted them no longer to espouse the cause of the English, but, like their brethren, to lift the hatchet against them.

According to the Indian custom, when the Ojibwa chief concluded his speech, the council adjourned till the next day, when it was again convened. At this meeting the Ottawas expressed a willingness to settle the affair, which they did by

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dividing the prisoners and the plunder. The Ottawas retained the officers and the soldiers while the traders were given up to their conquerors. The prisoners taken by the Ottawas were treated with kindness.

The prisoners that were given back to the Ojibwas were taken by the latter to one of their villages in the vicinity of Michilimackinac and imprisoned in the council house. They were securely bound together and to the posts that supported the lodge. No sooner had the traders been thus confined than the building was filled with savages who seemed to take great delight in jeering the captives. At the head of the lodge sat the great war chief of the Ojibwa nation, with Wenniway at his side. Henry was among the prisoners. Turning round he noticed Wawatam, his friend, entering at the door. This was the same Indian who visited Henry on the day before the massacre and endeavored to persuade him to leave the fort. He now passed Henry, stopping only to shake him by the hand, and took a seat beside Wenniway at the head of the lodge. After he had smoked with them a while in silence he rose and went out again, but soon returned, followed by his squaw, who brought with her a valuable present, which she laid at the feet of the two chiefs. Wawatam then addressed them in the following language: "Friends and relations, what is it that I shall say? You know what I feel. You all have friends, and brothers, and children, whom as yourselves you love; and you-what would you experience did you, like me, behold your dearest friend-your brother-in the condition of a slave; a slave, exposed every moment to insult, and to menaces of death? This case, as you all know, is mine. See there, (pointing to Henry) my friend and my brother among slaves-himself a slave! You all well know that, long before the war began I adopted him as my brother. From that moment he became one of my family, so that no change of circumstances could break the cord which fastened us together. He is my brother, and because I am your relation he is therefore your relation, too; and how, being your relation, can he be your slave? On the day on which the war began, you were fearful lest, on this very account I should