tered a hut where a number of British soldiers were
bound hand and foot, and brutally murdered five of them.
The Ottawas, it will be noted, had taken no part in the
capture of Michilimackinac. In fact, owing to the good
offices of their priest, they acted towards the British
as friends in need. A party of them from L'Arbre Croche
presently arrived on the scene and prevented further
massacre. Etherington and Leslie were taken from the
hands of the Chippewas and removed to L'Arbre Croche.
From this place Etherington sent a message to Green Bay,
ordering the commandant to abandon the fort there. He
then wrote to Gladwyn at Detroit, giving an account of
what had happened and asking aid. This message was carried
to Detroit by Father du Jaunay, who made the journey in
company with seven Ottawas and eight Chippewas commanded
by Kinonchanek, a son of Minavavna. But, as we know,
Gladwyn was himself in need of assistance, and could give
none. The prisoners at L'Arbre Croche, however, were well
treated, and finally taken to Montreal by way of the
Ottawa river, under an escort of friendly Indians.

On the southern shore of Lake Erie, where the city of
Erie now stands, was the fortified post of Presqu'isle,
a stockaded fort with several substantial houses. It was
considered a strong position, and its commandant, Ensign
John Christie, had confidence that he could hold out
against any number of Indians that might beset him. The
news brought by Cuyler when he visited Presqu'isle, after
the disaster at Point Pelee, put Christie on his guard.
Presqu'isle had a blockhouse of unusual strength, but it
was of wood, and inflammable. To guard against fire,
there was left at the top of the building an opening
through which water could be poured in any direction.
The blockhouse stood on a tongue of land--on the one side
a creek, on the other the lake. The most serious weakness
of the position was that the banks of the creek and the
lake rose in ridges to a considerable height, commanding
the blockhouse and affording a convenient shelter for an
attacking party within musket range.

Christie had twenty-four men, and believed that he had
nothing to fear, when, on June 15, some two hundred
Wyandots arrived in the vicinity. These Indians were soon
on the ridges, assailing the blockhouse. Arrows tipped
with burning tow and balls of blazing pitch rained upon
the roof, and the utmost exertions of the garrison were
needed to extinguish the fires