ers went out to witness it and
the gate was left open. During the game the ball was many times pitched
over the pickets of the fort. Instantly it was followed by the whole
body of players, in the unrestrained pursuit of a rude athletic
exercise. The garrison feared nothing; but suddenly the Indians drawing
their concealed weapons began the massacre. No resistance was offered,
so sudden and unexpected was the surprise. Seventy of the soldiers were
murdered, the remainder were sold for slaves. Only one Englishman
escaped. He was a trader named Henry. He was in his own house writing a
letter to his Montreal friends by the canoe which was just on the eve of
departure, when the massacre began. Only a low board fence separated his
grounds from those of M. Longlade, a Frenchman, who had great influence
with the savages. He obtained entrance into the house, where he was
concealed by one of the women, and though the savages made vigorous
search for him, he remained undiscovered. You can imagine the horrible
sight the fort presented when the sun went down, the soldiers in their
red uniforms lying there scalped and mangled, a ghastly heap under the
summer sky. And to just think it was only a short time ago, a little
more than a hundred years."

We could hardly realize it as we gazed up the rocky eminence at the
United States fort, one hundred and fifty feet high, overlooking the
little village. And yet Mackinaw's history is very little different from
that of most Western settlements and military Stations. Dark,
sanguinary, and bloody tragedies were constantly enacted upon the
frontiers for generations. As every one acquainted with our history must
know, the war on the border has been an almost interminable one. As the
tide of emigration has rolled westward it has ever met that fiery
counter-surge, and only overcome it by incessant battling and effort.
And even now, as the distant shores of the Pacific are wellnigh reached,
that resisting wave still gives forth its lurid flashes of conflict.

Mackinaw Island is only about three miles long and two in breadth, with
a circuit of nine miles in all. It rises out of the lake to an average
height of three hundred feet, and is heavily wooded with cedar, beech,
maple, and yew. Three of its sides are bold and rocky, the fourth slopes
down gradually toward the north to meet the blue waters of the lake. The
island is intersected in all directions with carriage-roads and paths,
and in the bay