unusual
watchfulness, but they understood that it meant danger.

It is said that in the afternoon an Indian girl who was deeply attached
to the English Major had brought him a pair of moccasins she had been
embroidering for him. She lingered at the fort and seemed unwilling to
leave. At last she begged Gladwin to go away from the fort for a day or
two. Her conduct and request excited suspicion. The Major questioned her
closely and discovered Pontiac's plot.

[Illustration: BETRAYAL OF PONTIAC'S PLOT]

Be that as it may, on the night of the sixth Major Gladwin was on the
alert.

Nothing disturbed the peace of the mild May night. In the morning one
watchman on the walls said to another, "See, yonder they come."

The man addressed looked up the stream and saw many birch canoes rapidly
approaching the fort. "A perfect fleet!" he exclaimed.

"Yes; plenty of boats, but not many Indians; only two or three in each
canoe," replied the first.

"That's true. But see how deep the canoes are in the water, and what
heavy paddling those fellows are doing! A dozen beaver skins to one,
every canoe's got a load of those red rascals stretched on their backs
well out of sight."

"You may be right," said the other, shaking his head. "It looks as if
there might be some ugly work before us. They say the Major has ordered
the whole garrison under arms. Even the shops are closed and the traders
armed to the teeth."

Most of the Indians who came in the boats went to a green near the fort
and began a game of ball. Soon Pontiac himself was seen approaching
along the river road at the head of sixty of his chiefs. They wore
blankets and marched in single file without a word. When they reached
the gate Pontiac, with his accustomed dignity, asked that he and his
chiefs might meet their English brothers in council to discuss important
questions.

In answer to his request the gates swung open. Lines of armed soldiers
appeared on either side. The Indians, trained to read signs, knew at
once that their plot was discovered. Perhaps they felt that the
treachery they had planned would be visited on their own heads. But if
they feared, they gave no token; they said no word. They walked
undaunted through the narrow streets, meeting armed soldiers at every
turn.

At the council house they found Major Gladwin, his assistant, Captain
Campbell, and other officers already assembled and waiting for them. If
any Indian had doubted the discovery of thei