1763.1 WAR PARTIES. 199 



hunter, weak and emaciated, would come in from 

 the forest, and relate that his companions had been 

 butchered in the Indian villages, and that he alone 

 had escaped. Next succeeded vague and un- 

 certain rumors of forts attacked and garrisons 

 slaughtered ; and soon after, a report gained 

 ground that every post throughout the Indian 

 country had been taken, and every soldier killed. 

 Close upon these tidings came the enemy himself 

 The Indian war-parties broke out of the woods 

 like gangs of wolves, murdering, burning, and 

 laying waste ; while hundreds of terror-stricken 

 families, abandoning their homes, fled for refuge 

 towards the older settlements, and aU was misery 

 and ruin. 



Passing over, for the present, this portion of 

 the war, we will penetrate at once into the heart 

 of the Indian country, and observe those pas- 

 sages of the conflict which took place under the 

 auspices of Pontiac himself, — the siege of Detroit, 

 and the capture of the interior posts and gar- 

 risons. 



