er's young men standing in the street with their guns?"

"It is best that my young men be exercised as soldiers, or they will
grow lazy and forget," answered the major.

Ha! Pontiac knew. Somehow his plans had been betrayed; his game was
up, unless he chose an open fight.

His chiefs and warriors sat uneasily. They all feared death. By
Indian law they ought to be killed for having intended to shed blood in
a calumet council.

Pontiac started his talk. He acted confused, as though he was not
certain what course to pursue.

Once he did seem about to offer the belt wrong end first, as the
signal--and Major Gladwyn, still sitting, slightly raised his hand.
Instantly from outside the door sounded the clash of arms and the quick
roll of a drum, to show that the garrison was on the alert. The
officers half drew their swords.

Pontiac flushed yet darker. He stammered, and offering the belt right
end first, closed his talk, and sat down again.

Major Gladwyn made a short reply. He said that the English were glad
to be friends, as long as their red brothers deserved it; but any act
of war would be severely punished.

That was all. The major let the Indians file out again. Pontiac knew.

He was too great a leader, in the Indian way, to be balked by one
defeat. He actually proposed another council; he actually persuaded
the foolish major to send out to him two officers, for a peace talk.
One of the officers barely escaped from captivity, the other never came
back.

Then Pontiac boldly besieged Detroit, in white race fashion--the
closest, longest siege ever laid by Indians against any fort on
American soil.

His two thousand Indians swarmed in the forest, held the fences and
walls and buildings of the fields, peppered the palisade with bullets
and arrows, shot fire into the town; captured a supply fleet in the
river, ambushed sallying parties, cut to pieces a column of
reinforcements.

The siege lasted six months. The orders to attack went out. On May 16
Fort Sandusky, at Lake Erie in northern Ohio, was seized by the
Wyandots and Ottawas, during a council.

On May 25, Fort St. Joseph of St. Joseph, Michigan, on Lake Michigan
across the state from Detroit, was seized in like manner by the
Potawatomis. On May 27, Fort Miami, near present Fort Wayne of
Indiana, commanded by Ensign Holmes who had discovered the Bloody Belt,
was forced to surrender to the Wyandots. Ensign Holmes himself was
decoyed into t