"
This answer made the Indians still more uneasy, but after some
hesitation they all sat down on the floor. Then with due ceremony
Pontiac rose, and holding the belt of peace in his hand began
to speak. His words were fair. They had come, he said, to tell of
their love for the English, "to smoke the pipe of peace, and make
the bonds of friendship closer."
As he spoke his false and cunning words, the officers kept a watchful
eye upon him. Would he give the signal or not, they asked themselves.
He raised the belt. At that moment Gladwin made a quick, slight
signal. Immediately from the passage with out came the sound of
grounding arms, and the rat-tat of a drum. Pontiac stood rigid, as
one turned to stone. Then after a moment's deathly silence he sat
down.
In the silence Gladwin sat looking steadily and fearlessly at the
Indians. Then he replied shortly to Pontiac's fine speech, "The
friendship of the British should be theirs," he said, "so long as
they deserved it."
The Council was at an end. The gates of the fort which had been
closed were now thrown open again, and the savages, balked in their
treachery, stalked back to their wigwams.
But Pontiac was not yet beaten, and again he tried to master the
fort by treachery. And when he found the gates of the fort shut
against him, his rage was terrible. Then seeing they could not win
Fort Detroit by treachery, the Indians attacked it in force.
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