n example, which, added to
his power of purpose, "disconcerted the disloyal." In proof of this fact
Detroit and Queenston Heights were splendid examples.

It was this spirit of unrest among the people of Quebec that moved Sir
James Craig to keep Brock within easy reach until the growing discord in
Upper Canada called for the presence of a man of tact and resolution,
one to whom all things seemed possible--and Brock knew no such word as
"impossible." On one occasion the "faithful sergeant-major" had ventured
to declare that a certain order was "impossible." "'Impossible!'"
repeated Brock, "nothing should be 'impossible' to a soldier. The word
'impossible' must not be found in a soldier's vocabulary."

CHAPTER X.

THE MASSACRE AT MACKINAW.

It was while stationed in Montreal that our hero met Alexander Henry,
ex-fur-trader and adventurer and _coureur de bois_--then a merchant and
King's auctioneer--a notable personage and leader in many a wild exploit
in the far West, an old though virile man after Isaac's own heart.

From Henry he learned much of the Indian wars in the West, and the
strategic value of various points on the frontier, possession of which
in the event of war he foresaw would be worth a king's ransom. Not least
were details respecting Michilimackinac, the Mackinaw already referred
to. Nearly half a century before, Henry, a native of New Jersey, of
English parents--his ambition fired by tales of the fabulous fortunes to
be made in the fur trade--obtained from the commandant at Montreal a
permit to proceed west as a trader. He outfitted at Albany, and the
following summer set out for Mackinaw.

Meanwhile the Indian allies, under control of the great Pontiac, were
fighting immigration and civilization. Between Fort Pitt--Pittsburgh--
and the Fox River, in Wisconsin, the home of the Sacs and Foxes, they
had captured nine out of thirteen military posts, and were secretly
planning the downfall of Fort Mackinaw. This was regarded as an
impregnable post and vulnerable only through strategy--in Indian
parlance another name for duplicity. Fort Mackinaw, as Brock well knew,
was the most important trading _entrepot_ west of Montreal. It served a
territory extending from the Missouri in the west to the far
Kissaskatchewan in the north.

On Henry's arrival his friendship was sought by an Indian chief,
Wawatam. Between these two men a remarkable attachment developed. They
became brothers by mutual adoption.