roops and traders as
they left the fort would be plundered and slaughtered.
He rejected Pontiac's demands, and advised him to disperse
his people and save his ammunition for hunting.

At this critical moment Detroit was undoubtedly saved by
a French Canadian. But for Jacques Baby, the grim spectre
Starvation would have stalked through the little fortress.
Baby was a prosperous trader and merchant who, with his
wife Susanne Reaume, lived on the east shore of the river,
almost opposite the fort. He had a farm of one thousand
acres, two hundred of which were under cultivation. His
trading establishment was a low-built log structure eighty
feet long by twenty wide. He owned thirty slaves--twenty
men and ten women. He seems to have treated them kindly;
at any rate, they loyally did his will. Baby agreed to
get provisions into the fort by stealth; and on a dark
night, about a week after the siege commenced, Gladwyn
had a lantern displayed on a plank fixed at the water's
edge. Baby had six canoes in readiness; in each were
stowed two quarters of beef, three hogs, and six bags of
meal. All night long these canoes plied across the
half-mile stretch of water and by daylight sufficient
food to last the garrison for several weeks had been
delivered.

From day to day the Indians kept up a desultory firing,
while Gladwyn took precautions against a long siege. Food
was taken from the houses of the inhabitants and placed
in a common storehouse. Timber was torn from the walks
and used in the construction of portable bastions, which
were erected outside the fort. There being danger that
the roofs of the houses would be ignited by means of
fire-arrows, the French inhabitants of the fort were made
to draw water and store it in vessels at convenient
points. Houses, fences, and orchards in the neighbourhood
were destroyed and levelled, so that skulking warriors
could not find shelter. The front of the fort was
comparatively safe from attack, for the schooners guarded
the river gate, and the Indians had a wholesome dread of
these floating fortresses.

About the middle of the month the _Gladwyn_ sailed down
the Detroit to meet a convoy that was expected with
provisions and ammunition from Fort Schlosser. At the
entrance to Lake Erie, as the vessel lay becalmed in the
river, she was suddenly beset by a swarm of savages in
canoes; and Pontiac's prisoner, Captain Campbell, appeared
in the foremost canoe, the savages thinking that the