ch at that time he said: "I speak in the name of all the
nations westward, of whom I am the master. It is the will of the Great
Spirit that we should meet here to-day; and before him I now take you by
the hand. I call him to witness that I speak from my heart; for since I
took Colonel Croghan[56] by the hand last year, I have never let go my
hold, for I see that the Great Spirit will have us friends.

"Moreover, when our great father, of France, was in this country, I held
him fast by the hand. Now that he is gone, I take you, my English
father, by the hand, in the name of all the nations, and promise to keep
this covenant as long as I shall live."

But he did not speak from the heart; on the contrary, only from the
head. Leaving the Oswego conference, "his canoe laden with the gifts of
his enemy," Pontiac steered homeward for the Maumee; and in that
vicinity he spent the following winter. From now on for some two years
the great Ottawa chief disappeared as if lost in the forest depths.

In April, 1769, he is found at Fort St. Louis, on the west side of the
Mississippi, where he gave himself mainly to the temporary oblivion of
"fire-water," the dread destroyer of his race. He was wont to cross the
"Father of Waters" to the fort on the British side at Cahokia, where he
would revel with the friendly creoles. In one of these visits, in the
early morning, after drinking deeply, he strode with uncertain step into
the adjacent forest. He was arrayed in the uniform of a French officer,
which apparel had been given him many years before by the Marquis of
Montcalm. His footsteps were stealthily dogged by a Kaskaskia Indian,
who in the silence and seclusion of the forest, at an opportune moment,
buried the blade of a tomahawk in the brain of the Ottawa conqueror, the
champion of his race.

The murderer had been bribed to the heinous act by a British trader
named Williamson, who thought to thus rid his country (England) of a
dangerous foe. The unholy price of the assassination was a barrel of
liquor. It was supposed that the Illinois, Kaskaskia, Peoria, and
Cahokia Indians were more or less guilty as accomplices in the horrible
deed. That an Illinois Indian was guilty of the act was sufficient. The
Sacs and Foxes, and other Western tribes friendly to Pontiac and his
cause were aroused to furious revenge. They went upon the warpath
against the Illinois Indians. A relentless war ensued, and, says
Parkman, "over the grave of Ponti