1763, Mat.] CAMPBELL MADE PRISONER. 241 



of the danger in which he was placed, resolved fully 

 to ascertain his true position, and, rising to his feet, 

 declared his intention of returning to the fort. 

 Pontiac made a sign that he should resume his seat. 

 " My father," he said, '' will sleep to-night in the 

 lodges of his red children." The gray-haired sol- 

 dier and his companion were betrayed into the 

 hands of their enemies. 



Many of the Indians were eager to kill the cap- 

 tives on the spot, but Pontiac would not carry his 

 treachery so far. He protected them from injury 

 and insult, and conducted them to the house of M. 

 Meloche, near Parent's Creek, where good quarters 

 were assigned them, and as much liberty allowed 

 as was consistent with safe custody.^ The peril 

 of their situation was diminished by the circum- 

 stance that two Indians, who, several days before, 

 had been detained at the fort for some slight offence, 

 still remained prisoners in the power of the com- 

 mandant.^ 



1 Meloche's Aocount, MS. Penn. Gaz. No. 1808. In a letter of James 

 MacDonald, Detroit, July 12, the cu'cumstanoes of the detention of the 

 officers are related somewhat differently. Singularly enough, this letter 

 of MacDonald is identical with a report of the events of the siege sent by 

 Major Robert Rogers to Sir WilUara Johnson, on the 8th of August, 

 Rogers, who was not an eye-witness, appears to have borrowed the whole 

 of his brother officer's letter without acknowledgment. 



2 Extract from a MS. Letter — Sir J. Amherst to Major Gladwyn. 



. " New York. 22nd June, 1763 

 " The Precautions you took when the Perfidious Villains came to Pay 

 you a Visit, were Indeed very wisely Concerted ; And I Approve Entirely 

 of the Steps you have sinc>e taken for the Defence of the Place, which, I 

 hope, will have Enabled You to keep the Savages at Bay untill the Rein- 

 forcement, which Major Wilkins Writes me he had sent you, Arrives with 

 you. 



"I most sincerely Grieve for the Unfortunate Fate of Sir Robert 



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