228 QUESTIONS OF FRONTIER DEFENCE. 



accounts say that Gladwin, rising from his seat, went 

 over, and drawing back the chief's blanket, exposed 

 the hidden gun, and informing him that all was known, 

 sternly rebuked him for his treachery. 



Other accounts say that the commandant (and this 

 seems to be the more correct version of the story), not 

 wishing to force a rupture, remained motionless, awaiting 

 with unflinching hardihood to see what would come 

 next; while Pontiac in confusion and amazement, soon 

 sat down, perplexed and speechless. Gladwin then 

 arose and, in a brief reply, assured the chiefs of his 

 continued desire for friendship, but at the same time 

 he sternly menaced them with swift and ample ven- 

 geance, upon the occurrence of the first act of aggression 

 on their parts. And so the council ended, and the 

 baffled savages withdrew^, completely non-plussed at 

 the untoward turn the affair had taken. * 



The military questions involved in the defence of 

 the frontier against the forest Indians, which had to 

 be encountered by our great-grandfathers in America, 

 were of the most difficult and perplexing nature. But 

 both the British and the French (while their colonial 

 power in Canada lasted) endeavoured to meet them in 

 a similar way namely, by the erection of small forts 

 garrisoned by feeble detachments of troops, located at 

 important strategic points, widely separated from each 

 other by an expanse of wild country, about which very 

 little was known. In the Hudson Bay Territory, and 

 in British Columbia where the tribes were generally 

 friendly, this system has been maintained with con- 

 siderable success, till quite recent days: indeed it still 



* See (among other authorities) History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 

 by Francis Parkman, 1885, Vol. i, pp. 216 227. 



