Meanwhile the white flag had again been raised by the Indians upon the
bomb-proof; and this having been readily met by a corresponding signal
from the fort, a numerous band of savages now issued from the cover
with which their dark forms had hitherto been identified, and spread
themselves far and near upon the common. On this occasion they were
without arms, offensive or defensive, of any kind, if we may except the
knife which was always carried at the girdle, and which constituted a
part rather of their necessary dress than of their warlike equipment.
These warriors might have been about five hundred in number, and were
composed chiefly of picked men from the nations of the Ottawas, the
Delawares, and the Shawanees; each race being distinctly recognisable
from the others by certain peculiarities of form and feature which
individualised, if we may so term it, the several tribes. Their only
covering was the legging before described, composed in some instances
of cloth, but principally of smoked deerskin, and the flap that passed
through the girdle around the loins, by which the straps attached to
the leggings were secured. Their bodies, necks, and arms were, with the
exception of a few slight ornaments, entirely naked; and even the
blanket, that served them as a couch by night and a covering by day,
had, with one single exception, been dispensed with, apparently with a
view to avoid any thing like encumbrance in their approaching sport.
Each individual was provided with a stout sapling of about three feet
in length, curved, and flattened at the root extremity, like that used
at the Irish hurdle; which game, in fact, the manner of ball-playing
among the Indians in every way resembled.
Interspersed among these warriors were a nearly equal number of squaws.
These were to be seen lounging carelessly about in small groups, and
were of all ages; from the hoary-headed, shrivelled-up hag, whose eyes
still sparkled with a fire that her lank and attenuated frame denied,
to the young girl of twelve, whose dark and glowing cheek, rounded
bust, and penetrating glance, bore striking evidence of the
precociousness of Indian beauty. These latter looked with evident
interest on the sports of the younger warriors, who, throwing down
their hurdles, either vied with each other in the short but incredibly
swift foot-race, or indulged themselves in wrestling and leaping; while
their companions, abandoned to the full security they felt to be
attached to the white flag waving on the fort, lay at their lazy length
upon the sward, ostensibly following the movements of the several
competitors in these sports, but in reality with heart and eye directed
solely to the fortification that lay beyond. Each of these females, in
addition to the machecoti, or petticoat, which in one solid square of
broad-cloth was tightly wrapped around the loins, also carried a
blanket loosely thrown around the person, but closely confined over the
shoulders in front, and reaching below the knee. There was an air of
constraint in their movements, which accorded ill with the occasion of
festivity for which they were assembled; and it was remarkable, whether
it arose from deference to those to whom they were slaves, as well as
wives and daughters, or from whatever other cause it might be, none of
them ventured to recline themselves upon the sward in imitation of the
warriors.
When it had been made known to the governor that the Indians had begun
to develop themselves in force upon the common unarmed, yet redolent
with the spirit that was to direct their meditated sports, the soldiers
were dismissed from their respective companies to the ramparts; where
they were now to be seen, not drawn up in formidable and hostile array,
but collected together in careless groups, and simply in their
side-arms. This reciprocation of confidence on the part of the garrison
was acknowledged by the Indians by marks of approbation, expressed as
much by the sudden and classic disposition of their fine forms into
attitudes strikingly illustrative of their admiration and pleasure, as
by the interjectional sounds that passed from one to the other of the
throng. From the increased alacrity with which they now lent themselves
to the preparatory and inferior amusements of the day, it was evident
their satisfaction was complete.
Hitherto the principal chiefs had, as on the previous occasion,
occupied the bomb-proof; and now, as then, they appeared to be
deliberating among themselves, but evidently in a more energetic and
serious manner. At length they separated, when Ponteac, accompanied by
the chiefs who had attended him on the former day, once more led in the
direction of the fort. The moment of his advance was the signal for the
commencement of the principal game. In an instant those of the warriors
who lay reclining on the sward sprang to their feet, while the
wrestlers and racers resumed their hurdles, and prepared themselves for
the trial of mingled skill and swiftness. At first they formed a dense
group in the centre of the common; and then, diverging in two equal
files both to the right and to the left of the immediate centre, where
the large ball was placed, formed an open chain, extending from the
skirt of the forest to the commencement of the village. On the one side
were ranged the Delawares and the Shawanees, and on the other the more
numerous nation of the Ottawas. The women of these several tribes,
apparently much interested in the issue of an amusement in which the
manliness and activity of their respective friends were staked, had
gradually and imperceptibly gained the front of the fort, where they
were now huddled in groups at about twenty paces from the drawbridge,
and bending eagerly forward to command the movements of the
ball-players.
In his circuit round the walls, Ponteac was seen to remark the
confiding appearance of the unarmed soldiery with a satisfaction that
was not sought to be disguised; and from the manner in which he threw
his glance along each face of the rampart, it was evident his object
was to embrace the numerical strength collected there. It was moreover
observed, when he passed the groups of squaws on his way to the gate,
he addressed some words in a strange tongue to the elder matrons of
each.
Once more the dark warriors were received at the gate by Major
Blackwater; and, as with firm but elastic tread, they moved across the
square, each threw his fierce eyes rapidly and anxiously around, and
with less of concealment in his manner than had been manifested on the
former occasion. On every hand the same air of nakedness and desertion
met their gaze. Not even a soldier of the guard was to be seen; and
when they cast their eyes upwards to the windows of the blockhouses,
they were found to be tenantless as the area through which they passed.
A gleam of fierce satisfaction pervaded the swarthy countenances of the
Indians; and the features of Ponteac, in particular, expressed the
deepest exultation. Instead of leading his party, he now brought up the
rear; and when arrived in the centre of the fort, he, without any
visible cause for the accident, stumbled, and fell to the earth. The
other chiefs for a moment lost sight of their ordinary gravity, and
marked their sense of the circumstance by a prolonged sound, partaking
of the mingled character of a laugh and a yell. Startled at the cry,
Major Blackwater, who was in front, turned to ascertain the cause. At
that moment Ponteac sprang lightly again to his feet, responding to the
yell of his confederates by another even more startling, fierce, and
prolonged than their own. He then stalked proudly to the head of the
party, and even preceded Major Blackwater into the council room.
In this rude theatre of conference some changes had been made since
their recent visit, which escaped not the observation of the
quick-sighted chiefs. Their mats lay in the position they had
previously occupied, and the chairs of the officers were placed as
before, but the room itself had been considerably enlarged. The slight
partition terminating the interior extremity of the mess-room, and
dividing it from that of one of the officers, had been removed; and
midway through this, extending entirely across, was drawn a curtain of
scarlet cloth, against which the imposing figure of the governor,
elevated as his seat was above those of the other officers, was thrown
into strong relief. There was another change, that escaped not the
observation of the Indians, and that was, not more than one half of the
officers who had been present at the first conference being now in the
room. Of these latter, one had, moreover, been sent away by the
governor the moment the chiefs were ushered in.
"Ugh!" ejaculated the proud leader, as he took his seat
unceremoniously, and yet not without reluctance, upon the mat. "The
council-room of my father is bigger than when the Ottawa was here
before, yet the number of his chiefs is not so many."
"The great chief of the Ottawas knows that the Saganaw has promised the
red skins a feast," returned the governor. "Were he to leave it to his
young warriors to provide it, he would not be able to receive the
Ottawa like a great chief, and to make peace with him as he could wish."
"My father has a great deal of cloth, red, like the blood of a pale
face," pursued the Indian, rather in demand than in observation, as he
pointed with his finger to the opposite end of the room. "When the
Ottawa was here last, he did not see it."
"The great chief of the Ottawas knows that the great father of the
Saganaw has a big heart to make presents to the red skins. The cloth
the Ottawa sees there is sufficient to make leggings for the chiefs of
all the nations."
Apparently satisfied with this reply, the fierce Indian uttered one of
his strong guttural and assentient "ughs," and then commenced filling
the pipe of peace, correct on the present occasion in all its
ornaments, which was handed to him by the Delaware chief. It was
remarked by the officers this operation took up an unusually long
portion of his time, and that he frequently turned his ear, like a
horse stirred by the huntsman's horn, with quick and irrepressible
eagerness towards the door.
"The pale warrior, the friend of the Ottawa chief, is not here," said
the governor, as he glanced his eye along the semicircle of Indians.
"How is this? Is his voice still sick, that he cannot come; or has the
great chief of the Ottawas forgotten to tell him?"
"The voice of the pale warrior is still sick, and he cannot speak,"
replied the Indian. "The Ottawa chief is very sorry; for the tongue of
his friend the pale face is full of wisdom."
Scarcely had the last words escaped his lips, when a wild shrill cry
from without the fort rang on the ears of the assembled council, and
caused a momentary commotion among the officers. It arose from a single
voice, and that voice could not be mistaken by any who had heard it
once before. A second or two, during which the officers and chiefs kept
their eyes intently fixed on each other, passed anxiously away, and
then nearer to the gate, apparently on the very drawbridge itself, was
pealed forth the wild and deafening yell of a legion of devilish
voices. At that sound, the Ottawa and the other chiefs sprang to their
feet, and their own fierce cry responded to that yet vibrating on the
ears of all. Already were their gleaming tomahawks brandished wildly
over their heads, and Ponteac had even bounded a pace forward to reach
the governor with the deadly weapon, when, at the sudden stamping of
the foot of the latter upon the floor, the scarlet cloth in the rear
was thrown aside, and twenty soldiers, their eyes glancing along the
barrels of their levelled muskets, met the startled gaze of the
astonished Indians.
An instant was enough to satisfy the keen chief of the true state of
the case. The calm composed mien of the officers, not one of whom had
even attempted to quit his seat, amid the din by which his ears were so
alarmingly assailed,--the triumphant, yet dignified, and even severe
expression of the governor's countenance; and, above all, the
unexpected presence of the prepared soldiery,--all these at once
assured him of the discovery of his treachery, and the danger that
awaited him. The necessity for an immediate attempt to join his
warriors without, was now obvious to the Ottawa; and scarcely had he
conceived the idea before it was sought to be executed. In a single
spring he gained the door of the mess-room, and, followed eagerly and
tumultuously by the other chiefs, to whose departure no opposition was
offered, in the next moment stood on the steps of the piazza that ran
along the front of the building whence he had issued.
The surprise of the Indians on reaching this point, was now too
powerful to be dissembled; and, incapable either of advancing or
receding, they remained gazing on the scene before them with an air of
mingled stupefaction, rage, and alarm. Scarcely ten minutes had elapsed
since they had proudly strode through the naked area of the fort; and
yet, even in that short space of time, its appearance had been entirely
changed. Not a part was there now of the surrounding buildings that was
not redolent with human life, and hostile preparation. Through every
window of the officers' low rooms, was to be seen the dark and frowning
muzzle of a field-piece, bearing upon the gateway; and behind these
were artillerymen, holding their lighted matches, supported again by
files of bayonets, that glittered in their rear. In the block-houses
the same formidable array of field-pieces and muskets was visible;
while from the four angles of the square, as many heavy guns, that had
been artfully masked at the entrance of the chiefs, seemed ready to
sweep away every thing that should come before them. The guard-room
near the gate presented the same hostile front. The doors of this, as
well as of the other buildings, had been firmly secured within; but
from every window affording cover to the troops, gleamed a line of
bayonets rising above the threatening field-pieces, pointed, at a
distance of little more than twelve feet, directly upon the gateway. In
addition to his musket, each man of the guard moreover held a hand
grenade, provided with a short fuze that could be ignited in a moment
from the matches of the gunners, and with immediate effect. The
soldiers in the block-houses were similarly provided.
Almost magic as was the change thus suddenly effected in the appearance
of the garrison, it was not the most interesting feature in the
exciting scene. Choking up the gateway, in which they were completely
wedged, and crowding the drawbridge, a dense mass of dusky Indians were
to be seen casting their fierce glances around; yet paralysed in their
movements by the unlooked-for display of a resisting force, threatening
instant annihilation to those who should attempt either to advance or
to recede. Never, perhaps, were astonishment and disappointment more
forcibly depicted on the human countenance, than as they were now
exhibited by these men, who had already, in imagination, secured to
themselves an easy conquest. They were the warriors who had so recently
been engaged in the manly yet innocent exercise of the ball; but,
instead of the harmless hurdle, each now carried a short gun in one
hand and a gleaming tomahawk in the other. After the first general
yelling heard in the council-room, not a sound was uttered. Their burst
of rage and triumph had evidently been checked by the unexpected manner
of their reception, and they now stood on the spot on which the further
advance of each had been arrested, so silent and motionless, that, but
for the rolling of their dark eyes, as they keenly measured the
insurmountable barriers that were opposed to their progress, they might
almost have been taken for a wild group of statuary.
Conspicuous at the head of these was he who wore the blanket; a tall
warrior, on whom rested the startled eye of every officer and soldier
who was so situated as to behold him. His face was painted black as
death; and as he stood under the arch of the gateway, with his white
turbaned head towering far above those of his companions, this
formidable and mysterious enemy might have been likened to the spirit
of darkness presiding over his terrible legions.
In order to account for the extraordinary appearance of the Indians,
armed in every way for death, at a moment when neither gun nor tomahawk
was apparently within miles of their reach, it will be necessary to
revert to the first entrance of the chiefs into the fort. The fall of
Ponteac had been the effect of design; and the yell pealed forth by
him, on recovering his feet, as if in taunting reply to the laugh of
his comrades, was in reality a signal intended for the guidance of the
Indians without. These, now following up their game with increasing
spirit, at once changed the direction of their line, bringing the ball
nearer to the fort. In their eagerness to effect this object, they had
overlooked the gradual secession of the unarmed troops, spectators of
their sport from the ramparts, until scarcely more than twenty
stragglers were left. As they neared the gate, the squaws broke up
their several groups, and, forming a line on either hand of the road
leading to the drawbridge, appeared to separate solely with a view not
to impede the action of the players. For an instant a dense group
collected around the ball, which had been driven to within a hundred
yards of the gate, and fifty hurdles were crossed in their endeavours
to secure it, when the warrior, who formed the solitary exception to
the multitude, in his blanket covering, and who had been lingering in
the extreme rear of the party, came rapidly up to the spot where the
well-affected struggle was maintained. At his approach, the hurdles of
the other players were withdrawn, when, at a single blow from his
powerful arm, the ball was seen flying into the air in an oblique
direction, and was for a moment lost altogether to the view. When it
again met the eye, it was descending perpendicularly into the very
centre of the fort.
With the fleetness of thought now commenced a race that had ostensibly
for its object the recovery of the lost ball; and in which, he who had
driven it with such resistless force outstripped them all. Their course
lay between the two lines of squaws; and scarcely had the head of the
bounding Indians reached the opposite extremity of those lines, when
the women suddenly threw back their blankets, and disclosed each a
short gun and a tomahawk. To throw away their hurdles and seize upon
these, was the work of an instant. Already, in imagination, was the
fort their own; and, such was the peculiar exultation of the black and
turbaned warrior, when he felt the planks of the drawbridge bending
beneath his feet, all the ferocious joy of his soul was pealed forth in
the terrible cry which, rapidly succeeded by that of the other Indians,
had resounded so fearfully through the council-room. What their
disappointment was, when, on gaining the interior, they found the
garrison prepared for their reception, has already been shown.
"Secure that traitor, men!" exclaimed the governor, advancing into the
square, and pointing to the black warrior, whose quick eye was now
glancing on every side, to discover some assailable point in the
formidable defences of the troops.
A laugh of scorn and derision escaped the lips of the warrior. "Is
there a man--are there any ten men, even with Governor de Haldimar at
their head, who will be bold enough to attempt it?" he asked. "Nay!" he
pursued, stepping boldly a pace or two in front of the wondering
savages,--"here I stand singly, and defy your whole garrison!"
A sudden movement among the soldiers in the guard-room announced they
were preparing to execute the order of their chief. The eye of the
black warrior sparkled with ferocious pleasure; and he made a gesture
to his followers, which was replied to by the sudden tension of their
hitherto relaxed forms into attitudes of expectance and preparation.
"Stay, men; quit not your cover for your lives!" commanded the
governor, in a loud deep voice:--"keep the barricades fast, and move
not."
A cloud of anger and disappointment passed over the features of the
black warrior. It was evident the object of his bravado was to draw the
troops from their defences, that they might be so mingled with their
enemies as to render the cannon useless, unless friends and foes (which
was by no means probable) should alike be sacrificed. The governor had
penetrated the design in time to prevent the mischief.
In a moment of uncontrollable rage, the savage warrior aimed his
tomahawk at the head of the governor. The latter stepped lightly aside,
and the steel sank with such force into one of the posts supporting the
piazza, that the quivering handle snapped close off at its head. At
that moment, a single shot, fired from the guard-house, was drowned in
the yell of approbation which burst from the lips of the dark crowd.
The turban of the warrior was, however, seen flying through the air,
carried away by the force of the bullet which had torn it from his
head. He himself was unharmed.
"A narrow escape for us both, Colonel de Haldimar," he observed, as
soon as the yell had subsided, and with an air of the most perfect
unconcern. "Had my tomahawk obeyed the first impulse of my heart, I
should have cursed myself and died: as it is, I have reason to avoid
all useless exposure of my own life, at present. A second bullet may be
better directed; and to die, robbed of my revenge, would ill answer the
purpose of a life devoted to its attainment. Remember my pledge!"
At the hasty command of the governor, a hundred muskets were raised to
the shoulders of his men; but, before a single eye could glance along
the barrel, the formidable and active warrior had bounded over the
heads of the nearest Indians into a small space that was left
unoccupied; when, stooping suddenly to the earth, he disappeared
altogether from the view of his enemies. A slight movement in the
centre of the numerous band crowding the gateway, and extending even
beyond the bridge, was now discernible: it was like the waving of a
field of standing corn, through which some animal rapidly winds its
tortuous course, bending aside as the object advances, and closing
again when it has passed. After the lapse of a minute, the terrible
warrior was seen to spring again to his feet, far in the rear of the
band; and then, uttering a fierce shout of exultation, to make good his
retreat towards the forest.
Meanwhile, Ponteac and the other chiefs of the council continued rooted
to the piazza on which they had rushed at the unexpected display of the
armed men behind the scarlet curtain. The loud "Waugh" that burst from
the lips of all, on finding themselves thus foiled in their schemes of
massacre, had been succeeded, the instant afterwards, by feelings of
personal apprehension, which each, however, had collectedness enough to
disguise. Once the Ottawa made a movement as if he would have cleared
the space that kept him from his warriors; but the emphatical pointing
of the finger of Colonel de Haldimar to the levelled muskets of the men
in the block-houses prevented him, and the attempt was not repeated. It
was remarked by the officers, who also stood on the piazza, close
behind the chiefs, when the black warrior threw his tomahawk at the
governor, a shade of displeasure passed over the features of the
Ottawa; and that, when he found the daring attempt was not retaliated
on his people, his countenance had been momentarily lighted up with a
satisfied expression, apparently marking his sense of the forbearance
so unexpectedly shown.
"What says the great chief of the Ottawas now?" asked the governor
calmly, and breaking a profound silence that had succeeded to the last
fierce yell of the formidable being just departed. "Was the Saganaw not
right, when he said the Ottawa came with guile in his heart, and with a
lie upon his lips? But the Saganaw is not a fool, and he can read the
thoughts of his enemies upon their faces, and long before their lips
have spoken."
"Ugh!" ejaculated the Indian; "my father is a great chief, and his head
is full of wisdom. Had he been feeble, like the other chiefs of the
Saganaw, the strong-hold of the Detroit must have fallen, and the red
skins would have danced their war-dance round the scalps of his young
men, even in the council-room where they came to talk of peace."
"Does the great chief of the Ottawas see the big thunder of the
Saganaw?" pursued the governor: "if not, let him open his eyes and
look. The Saganaw has but to move his lips, and swifter than the
lightning would the pale faces sweep away the warriors of the Ottawa,
even where they now stand: in less time than the Saganaw is now
speaking, would they mow them down like the grass of the Prairie."
"Ugh!" again exclaimed the chief, with mixed doggedness and fierceness:
"if what my father says is true, why does he not pour out his anger
upon the red skins?"
"Let the great chief of the Ottawas listen," replied the governor with
dignity. "When the great chiefs of all the nations that are in league
with the Ottawas came last to the council, the Saganaw knew that they
carried deceit in their hearts, and that they never meant to smoke the
pipe of peace, or to bury the hatchet in the ground. The Saganaw might
have kept them prisoners, that their warriors might be without a head;
but he had given his word to the great chief of the Ottawas, and the
word of a Saganaw is never broken. Even now, while both the chiefs and
the warriors are in his power,--he will not slay them, for he wishes to
show the Ottawa the desire of the Saganaw is to be friendly with the
red skins, and not to destroy them. Wicked men from the Canadas have
whispered lies in the ear of the Ottawa; but a great chief should judge
for himself, and take council only from the wisdom of his own heart.
The Ottawa and his warriors may go," he resumed, after a short pause;
"the path by which they came is again open to them. Let them depart in
peace; the big thunder of the Saganaw shall not harm them."
The countenance of the Indian, who had clearly seen the danger of his
position, wore an expression of surprise which could not be dissembled:
low exclamations passed between him and his companions; and, then
pointing to the tomahawk that lay half buried in the wood, he said,
doubtingly,--
"It was the pale face, the friend of the great chief of the Ottawas,
who struck the hatchet at my father. The Ottawa is not a fool to
believe the Saganaw can sleep without revenge."
"The great chief of the Ottawas shall know us better," was the reply.
"The young warriors of the Saganaw might destroy their enemies where
they now stand, but they seek not their blood. When the Ottawa chief
takes council from his own heart, and not from the lips of a cowardly
dog of a pale face, who strikes his tomahawk and then flies, his wisdom
will tell him to make peace with the Saganaw, whose warriors are
without treachery, even as they are without fear."
Another of those deep interjectional "ughs" escaped the chest of the
proud Indian.
"What my father says is good," he returned; "but the pale face is a
great warrior, and the Ottawa chief is his friend. The Ottawa will go."
He then addressed a few sentences, in a tongue unknown to the officers,
to the swarthy and anxious crowd in front. These were answered by a
low, sullen, yet assentient grunt, from the united band, who now
turned, though with justifiable caution and distrust, and recrossed the
drawbridge without hinderance from the troops. Ponteac waited until the
last Indian had departed, and then making a movement to the governor,
which, with all its haughtiness, was meant to mark his sense of the
forbearance and good faith that had been manifested, once more stalked
proudly and calmly across the area, followed by the remainder of the
chiefs. The officers who were with the governor ascended to the
ramparts, to follow their movements; and it was not before their report
had been made, that the Indians were immerging once more into the heart
of the forest, the troops were withdrawn from their formidable
defences, and the gate of the fort again firmly secured.