nd then closed in half pistol-shot, his
laconic account of the victory to his superior officer, the ships
stripped of their spars and canvas, the groans of the wounded, and the
mournful spectacle of the burial on the lake shore.
Our next stopping-place was at Detroit, the metropolis of Michigan, on
the river of the same name, the colony of the old Frenchman De la Mothe
Cadillac, the colonial Pontchartrain, the scene of Pontiac's defeat and
of Hull's treachery, cowardice, or incapacity, grandly seated on the
green Michigan shore, overlooking the best harbor on the Great Lakes,
and with a population of more than one hundred thousand. Two stormy days
kept us within doors most of the time. The third day we were again "on
board," steaming up Detroit River into Lake St. Clair. On and on we
kept, till the green waters of Huron sparkled beneath the keel of our
steamer. All the way over the lake we kept the shores of Michigan in
sight, beaches of white sand alternating with others of limestone
shingle, and the forests behind, a tangled growth of cedar, fir, and
spruce in impenetrable swamps, or a scanty, scrubby growth upon a sandy
soil. Two hours were spent at Thunder Bay, where the steamer stopped for
a supply of wood, and we went steaming on toward Mackinaw, a hundred
miles away. At sunset of that day the shores of the green rocky island
dawned upon us. The steamer swept up to an excellent dock, as the
sinking sun was pouring a stream of molten gold across the flood, out of
the amber gates of the west.
"At last Mackinaw, great in history and story," announced the Historian
leaning on the taffrail and gazing at the clear pebbly bottom and
through forty feet of water.
"My history consists of a series of statues and tableaux--statues of the
great men, tableaux of the great events," said Vincent. "Were there any
such at Mackinaw?"
"Yes," answered Hugh, "two statues and one tableau--the former Marquette
and Mae-che-ne-mock-qua, the latter the massacre at Fort
Michilimakinack."
"The event happened during Pontiac's war, I believe," I hastened to
observe. "The Indians took the place by stratagem, did they not?"
"They did. It was on the fourth of July, 1763. The fort contained a
hundred soldiers under the command of Major Etherington. In the
neighborhood were four hundred Indians apparently friendly. On the day
specified the savages played a great game of ball or baggatiway on the
parade before the fort. Many of the soldi
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