tiac hated the English, though after the
surrender of Quebec, some years after Braddock's defeat--finding that the
French had been driven from Canada, he acquiesced in the surrender of
Detroit to the English, and persuaded four hundred Detroit Indians, who
were lying in ambush, intending to cut off the English there, to
relinquish their design.

"But he hated the English, and in 1762 he sent messengers to every tribe
between the Ottawa and the Mississippi to engage them all in a war of
extermination against the English."

"Americans too, papa?" asked little Elsie, who, sitting upon his knee, was
listening very attentively to his narrative.

"Yes," he replied, "our States were English colonies then, for the War of
the Revolution did not begin until about thirteen years later. The
messengers of Pontiac carried with them the red-stained tomahawk and a
wampum war-belt, the Indian fashion of indicating that war was purposed,
and those to whom the articles were sent were invited to take part in the
conflict.

"All the tribes to whom they were sent joined in the conspiracy, and the
end of May was decided upon as the time when their bloody purpose should
be carried out, each tribe disposing of the garrison of the nearest fort;
then all were to act together in an attack upon the settlements.

"On the 27th of April, 1763, a great council was held near Detroit, at
which Pontiac made an oration detailing the wrongs and indignities the
Indians had suffered at the hands of the English, and prophesying their
extermination.

"He told also of a tradition that a Delaware Indian had been admitted into
the presence of the Great Spirit, who told him that his race must return
to the customs and weapons of their ancestors, throw away those they had
gotten from the white men, abjure whiskey, and take up the hatchet against
the English. 'These dogs dressed in red,' he called them, 'who have come
to rob you of your hunting-grounds and drive away the game.'

"Pontiac's own particular task was the taking of Detroit. The attack was
to be made on the 7th of May. But the commander of the fort was warned of
their intentions by an Indian girl, and in consequence when Pontiac and
his warriors arrived on the scene they found the garrison prepared to
receive them. Yet on the 12th he surrounded the fort with his Indians, but
was not able to keep a close siege, and the garrison was provided with
food by the Canadian settlers."

"They supplied the I