"And so she is, stranger," said a fine looking man, who after watching them closely, stepped up beside them. His speech and manners showed education, though he wore a hunting shirt of buckskin, and blue cloth trousers with fringes on the seams. A skin cap, beaded moccasins, and a silver-handled hunting knife in his belt completed his costume. He went on talking in the same frankly friendly manner, telling of the first invasion of Canada, across the Detroit River, by General Hull, with twenty-five hundred American troops. "He sent us a proclamation--'To the People of Canada'--telling them to choose between the 'peace, liberty, and security' he'd give them if they'd hurry in and be annexed, and the 'war, slavery, and destruction' they'd get if they didn't.' Canada didn't seem to want his 'peace and liberty', especially after he had given us a sample of them by raiding on the Canadian side. Then Brock left York with three hundred regulars, four hundred militia, and five guns, and near Detroit he met Tecumseh with seven hundred Shawanese." "Excuse me," said Ned, "but we don't know who these people are." "The Ohio river Indians--they've been scrapping with the Yankees all along, and Tecumseh, their chief, thought if we were fighting them too they might as well join hands with us." "I've heard of the Ojibways and Mohawks," said Ned. "My father is a trader in York, and he wrote me that Upper Canada would raise six thousand militia, and her Indians could send in four thousand men as well." "Canadian Indians are all right," said their friend. "They're under our government and laws, but Indians don't fight like white men, and as the Shawanese are only our allies, we mayn't always be able to control them. But it will be all right as long as Brock's at the head of things. On August 15, with only fourteen hundred men, half of them Indians, he moved to attack Detroit, and Hull with twenty-five hundred in a strong fort, capitulated." "He was a coward," exclaimed Ned. "Not so fast, son. He had Detroit with its women and children to think of. He knew what it would mean if it was stormed by Indians. In his place I'd have surrendered to any decent white man." "Well, that's one victory for us," said Ned. "We would have had more, but Sir George Prevost, the Governor-General, made an armistice with the Yankees. He hoped to make peace, but they wouldn't meet him, and only used the time to arm their ships on the lakes. And now, I suppose I may introduce myself, I'm James Edgar, of York, and I'm down here to meet Ned, my son." * * *