268 ROUT OF CUTLER'S DETACHMENT. [1763, May. 



apart, wailing and moaning in maudlin drunken- 

 ness, others were maddened to the ferocity of wild 

 beasts. Dormant jealousies were awakened, old 

 forgotten quarrels kindled afresh, and, had not the 

 squaws taken the precaution of hiding all the 

 weapons they could find before the debauch began, 

 much blood would, no doubt, have been spilt. As 

 it was, the savages were not entirely without means 

 of indulging their drunken rage. Many were 

 wounded, of whom two died in the morning ; and 

 several others had their noses bitten off, — a singular 

 mode of revenge, much in vogue upon similar occa- 

 sions, among the Indians of the upper lakes. The 

 English were gainers by this scene of riot ; for late 

 in the evening, two Indians, in all the valor and 

 vain-glory of drunkenness, came running directly 

 towards the fort, boasting their prowess in a loud 

 voice ; but being greeted with two rifle bullets, they 

 leaped into the air like a pair of wounded bucks, 

 and fell dead on their tracks. 



It will not be proper to pass over in silence the 

 fate of the unfortunate men taken prisoners in this 

 affair. After night had set in, several Canadians 

 came to the fort, bringing vague and awful reports 

 of the scenes that had been enacted at the Indian 

 camp. The soldiers gathered round them, and, 

 frozen with horror, listened to the appalling narra- 

 tive. A cloud of deep gloom sank down upon the 

 garrison, and none could help reflecting how thin 

 and frail a barrier protected them from a similar 

 fate. On the following day, and for several succeed- 

 ing days, they beheld frightful confirmation of the 



