ns left
with promises to come again to smoke the calumet with the English when
all their chiefs should assemble after the winter's hunt.

After visiting Detroit, Pontiac sent swift-footed runners to all the
tribes in the neighboring country, calling the chiefs to a council to be
held in the village of the Pottawottomies.

When the day for the great council arrived, all the women were sent away
from the village so that they could not overhear the plans of the
chiefs. At the door of the great bark lodge where the chiefs met,
sentinels were posted to prevent interruption.

When all had taken their places in the council room Pontiac rose and
laid before his trusted chiefs his crafty plans. On the seventh of May
the young warriors should gather on the green near Detroit to play ball,
while the older men lay on the ground looking on, or loitered in and
about the fort. The squaws should go about the streets with guns and
tomahawks hidden under their blankets, offering mats and baskets for
sale, or begging. Later Pontiac, with the principal chiefs would arrive,
and ask to hold a council with the commander and his officers. While
speaking in the council he would suddenly turn the wampum belt that he
held in his hand. At that signal the chiefs should throw off the
blankets that hid their weapons and war paint, and butcher the English
before they could offer resistance. When the Indians outside heard the
clamor within the council house they should snatch the guns and knives
that the squaws carried, fall upon the surprised and half-armed
soldiers, kill them and plunder and burn the fort, sparing only the
French.

From the Indians' point of view this seemed a brave plot. No one
objected to the treachery. All the guttural sounds that broke from the
throng of listeners were made for approval and applause.

VI. THE SEVENTH OF MAY

The Indians kept their secret well. A Canadian saw some Indians filing
off their guns to make them short enough to hide under their blankets.
But if his suspicions were aroused he held his peace and said no word of
warning to the English. The appointed seventh of May was at hand and no
alarm had been taken at the garrison.

But on the evening of the sixth, Major Gladwin talked long in secret
with his officers, then ordered half the garrison under arms. He doubled
the guard and himself went from place to place to see that every man was
at his post. The soldiers did not know the reason for this