On the evening of the 13th of August the garrison was cheered by the arrival from Fort Wayne of Captain William Wells, a famous Indian fighter and uncle of Mrs. Heald, the commander’s wife. This man had had a most romantic life. Born in Kentucky, he had been stolen when a boy of twelve by the Indians and adopted by a chief of the Miamis, whose daughter he had married. He had grown up with the Indians and fought their battles with them as a matter of course, taking part in the engagements with General Harmar and General St. Clair. Discovered by his Kentucky kindred and convinced that he was brother of Captain Samuel Wells, he had been persuaded after a time to return to his own people. He had bidden his Indian father-in-law a dramatic farewell, telling him that in the past they had been friends, but henceforth they must be enemies; but as a matter of fact he had always kept in friendly relation with his former chief and had on one occasion saved his family from being taken prisoners. He had been one of Wayne’s most valuable scouts, and had since occupied the position of Indian agent, first at Chicago and now at Fort Wayne, where he was living with his Indian wife. Hearing of the probable evacuation of Fort Dearborn he had marched thither with all haste, bringing a party of thirty friendly Miamis in the hope that he could be of assistance to his friends and especially to his favorite niece, Mrs. Heald. On the morning of the 15th of August, at nine o’clock, the soldiers left the fort for their journey of two hundred and eighty miles to Detroit. Without a sign of ill-feeling the Indians bade them good-by, and the little party started along the lake shore. Captain Wells with half his Miamis, all mounted on Indian ponies, led the line. The soldiers of the garrison with the wagons, in which sat the twelve women and twenty children, followed directly behind them, and the remainder of the friendly Miamis brought up the rear. The escort of five hundred furnished by the neighboring tribes kept abreast of the troops until they reached the sand-hills, a quarter of a mile from the fort. There they struck out suddenly into the prairie and disappeared, hurrying forward to prepare an ambuscade.