1763, May.] CONDITION OF THE FORT. 261 



force of regular troops might be sent to his aid ; 

 and Gladwyn, on his side, had ordered one of the 

 vessels to Niagara, to hasten forward the expected 

 convoy. The schooner set sail; but on the next 

 day, as she lay becalmed at the entrance of Lake 

 Erie, a multitude of canoes suddenly darted out 

 upon her from the neighboring shores. In the 

 prow of the foremost the Indians had placed their 

 prisoner. Captain Campbell, with the dastardly 

 purpose of interposing him as a screen between 

 themselves and the fire of the English. But the 

 brave old man called out to the crew to do their 

 duty, without regard to him. Happily, at that 

 moment a fresh breeze sprang up ; the flapping 

 sails stretched to the wind, and the schooner bore 

 prosperously on her course towards Niagara, leav- 

 ing the savage flotilla far behind.^ 



The fort, or rather town, of Detroit had, by this 

 time, lost its wonted vivacity and life. Its narrow 

 streets were gloomy and silent. Here and there 

 strolled a Canadian, in red cap and gaudy sash ; 



1 Penn. Gaz. No. 1807. MS. Letter— Wilkins to Amherst, June 18. 



This incident may have suggested the story told by Mrs. Grant, in 

 her Memoirs of an American Ladij. A young British officer, of noble birth, 

 had been living for some time among the Indians, and having encountered 

 many strange adventures, he was now returning in a canoe with a party 

 of his late associates, — none of them, it appears, were aware that hostili- 

 ties existed, — and approached the schooner just before the attack com- 

 menced, expecting a friendly reception. Sir Robert D , the young 



officer, was in Indian costume, and, wishing to surprise his friends, he 

 made no answer when hailed from the vessel, whereupon he was instantly 

 fired at and killed. — The story is without confirmation, in any contem- 

 porary document, and, indeed, is impossible in itself. Sir Robert Davers 

 was killed, as before mentioned, near Lake St. Clair ; but neither in his 

 character, nor in the mode of his death, did he at all resemble the 

 romantic adventurer whose fate is commemorated by Mrs. Grant. 



