The date was the 14th of September, and the Indians concerned were the Senecas, who alone among the Six Nations took part in Pontiac’s rising. A small escort convoying empty wagons from the landing above the falls to the fort below was attacked and cut off; and two companies sent to their rescue from the lower landing were ambushed at the same spot, the ‘Devil’s Hole’, where the path ran by the precipice below the falls. Over 80 men were killed, including all the officers, and 20 men alone remained unhurt. Nor was this the end of disasters on the lakes. In November a strong force from Niagara, destined for Detroit, started along Lake Erie in a fleet of boats; a storm came on: the fleet was wrecked: many lives were lost: and the shattered remnant gave up the expedition and returned to Niagara. Detroit, however, was now safe. When October came, various causes induced the Indians to desist from the siege. The approach of winter warned them to scatter in search of food: the news of Bouquet’s victory had due effect, and so had information of the coming expedition from Niagara, which had not yet miscarried. Most of all, Pontiac learnt by letter from the French commander at Fort Chartres that no help could be expected from France. Accordingly, in the middle of October, Pontiac’s allies made a truce with Gladwin, which enabled the latter to replenish his slender stock of supplies; at the end of the month Pontiac himself made overtures of peace: and the month of November found the long-beleaguered fort comparatively free of foes. In that same month Amherst returned to England, being succeeded as commander-in-chief by General Gage, who had been Governor of Montreal. [Sidenote: Plan of campaign for 1764.] Before Amherst left he had planned a campaign for the coming year. Colonel Bradstreet was to take a strong force along the line of the lakes, and harry the recalcitrant Indians to the south and west of that route, as far as they could be reached, while Bouquet was to advance from Fort Pitt into the centre of the Ohio valley, and bring to terms the Delawares and kindred tribes, who had infested the borders of the southern colonies. [Sidenote: Bradstreet.]