ers of France would come again to help them. At any rate, certain
white men told them this would happen, and they were believed. If only
they could find a leader!

Gradually, but with convincing proof, it dawned upon the unhappy
Indians that a great leader had arisen among them, and was ready to
deal the decisive blow that should set them free. To tribe after tribe
and to village after village came messengers bearing broad belts of
wampum and the crimson hatchet of war. They came in the name of
Pontiac, war chief of the fierce Ottawas, head medicine man of the
powerful Metai, friend of Montcalm, stanch ally of the French during
the recent war, and leader of his people at the battle of the
Monongahela, where stubborn Braddock was slain with his redcoats, and
even the dreaded "long-knives" from Virginia were forced to fly.

Far and wide travelled the messengers of this mighty chieftain, and
everywhere was his war hatchet eagerly accepted. Far and wide went
Pontiac himself, and wherever his burning words were heard the children
of the forest became crazed with the fever of war. Finally, the fierce
plan was perfected. The blow was to be struck at every British post
west of Niagara on the same day. With the fall of these, the
triumphant forest hordes were to rush against the settlements and visit
upon them the same cruel destruction that had overtaken their own
villages whenever the white man had seen fit to wipe them from his
patch.

While this movement had gained ground until the fatal storm was just
ready to burst, it had been conducted with such secrecy that only one
white man even suspected its existence, and his name was Graham Hester.

CHAPTER VII

THE MAJOR RE-ENTERS ACTIVE SERVICE

On the breaking out of the French war, Major Hester accepted his
friend's invitation to remove his family to Johnson Hall, and make that
his home during the troublous times that would render Tawtry House an
unsafe place of residence. This he did the more readily on account of
his wife's health, which was so precarious that, while the major was
confident he could defend his forest fortress against any ordinary
attack, he feared lest the excitement of such an affair might prove too
much for the frail woman who was dearer to him than life.

Alas for his precautions! During the wearisome eastward journey, the
travellers were drenched by a fierce storm of rain and hail that was
followed by a chilling wind. So furious w