224 TREACHERY OF PONTIAC. [1763, May. 



with an air of assumed indifference, they would 

 move towards the gate. They were all admitted ; 

 for Gladwyn, who, in this instance at least, showed 

 some knowledge of Indian character, chose to con- 

 vince his crafty foe that, though their plot was 

 detected, their hostility was despised.^ 



The whole garrison was ordered under arms. 

 Sterling, and the other English fur-traders, closed 

 their storehouses and armed their men, and all in 

 cool confidence stood waiting the result. 



Meanwhile, Pontiac, who had crossed with the 

 canoes from the eastern shore, was approaching 

 along the river road, at the head of his sixty chiefs, 

 all gravely marching in Indian file. A Canadian set- 

 tler, named Beaufait, had been that moraing to the 

 fort. He was now returning homewards, and as he 

 reached the bridge which led over the stream then 

 called Parent's Creek, he saw the chiefs in the act 

 of crossing from the farther bank. He stood aside 

 to give them room. As the last Indian passed, 

 Beaufait recognized him as an old friend and 

 associate. The savage greeted him with the usual 

 ejaculation, opened for an instant the folds of his 

 blanket, disclosed the hidden gun, and, with an 

 emphatic gesture towards the fort, indicated the 

 purpose to which he meant to apply it.^ 



At ten o'clock, the great war-chief, with his 

 treacherous followers, reached the fort, and the 

 gateway was thronged with their savage faces. 



1 Penn. Gaz. No. 1808. 



2 This incident was related, by the son of Beaufait, to General Cass. 

 See Cass, Discourse before the Michigan Historical Society, 30. 



