obliged to
stand out again; but the Indians followed, and by their incessant fire,
killed or wounded almost every man on board of her, and at length
boarded and took possession. As they were climbing up the shrouds and
over the gunnel of the vessel, the captain of the vessel, who was a most
determined man, and resolved not to fall into the hands of the Indians,
called out to the gunner to set fire to the magazine, and blow them all
up together. This order was heard by one of Pontiac's chiefs acquainted
with English; he cried out to the other Indians, and sprang away from
the vessel; the other Indians followed him, and hurried away in their
canoes, or by swimming as fast as they could from the vessel. The
captain took advantage of the wind and arrived safe at the fort; and
thus was the garrison relieved and those in the fort saved from
destruction by the courage of this one man."

"You say that Pontiac is now dead, at least Martin Super told us so.
How did he die, Captain Sinclair?" inquired Mrs Campbell.

"He was killed by an Indian, but it is difficult to say why. For many
years he had made friends with us and had received a liberal pension
from the government; but it appears that his hatred against the English
had again broken out, and in a council held by the Indians, he proposed
assailing us anew. After he had spoken, an Indian buried his knife in
his heart, but whether to gratify a private animosity or to avoid a
further warfare with those who had always thinned their tribes, it is
difficult to ascertain. One thing is certain, that most of the Indian
animosity against the English is buried with him."

"Thank you, Captain Sinclair," said Mary Percival, "for taking so much
trouble. I think Pontiac's history is a very interesting one."

"There was much to admire and much to deplore in his character, and we
must not judge the Indian too harshly. He was formed for command, and
possessed great courage and skill in all his arrangements, independent
of his having the tact to keep all the Lake tribes of Indians
combined,--no very easy task. That he should have endeavoured to drive
us away from those lands of which he considered himself (and very
correctly, too) as the sovereign, is not to be wondered at, especially
as our encroachments daily increased. The great fault of his character,
in our eyes, was his treachery; but we must remember that the whole art
of Indian warfare is based upon stratagem."

"But hi