But this story would hardly be complete if we did not point out that Pontiac’s plot for the surprise of Detroit was not a merely local attack, but was part of a comprehensive plan for the surprise of all the forts held by the English against which, as far as possible, a simultaneous attack was to be made so that it would be difficult for the English to help the garrisons and impossible for the forts to help one another. The most striking of these attacks was that on Fort Michillimackinac. On June 4th the English garrison planned to celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of George III. Games were to be held on the plain outside the fort and the Chippewas and Sacs asked that they be allowed to take part and give the garrison the pleasure of seeing the great Indian national game of lacrosse played by experts. This was granted and a great crowd gathered. The game was well played and so warmly contested that the excitement was intense. Player pursued player, tripping and slashing in true Indian fashion. When the game was at its height a player threw the ball at a point near the gate of the fort. There was a wild rush for the ball, and when they reached the gate lacrosse sticks were thrown aside and the closely blanketed squaws who were there in large numbers opened their blankets and threw out tomahawks and knives to the braves. Madly they rushed in, took possession of the fort, fell upon the garrison and the traders, butchered some and carried off the others as prisoners. Smaller trading posts were taken in like fashion by cunning or by direct attack when cunning failed, and for a short time it looked as if the English would have a difficult task to capture and hold the Mississippi Valley. But the rebellion ceased with the fall of the genius who had conceived it, the last great Indian chief of New France. CHAPTER VIII. THE GRAY GOWNS AND THE BLACK. “My boatmen sit apart, Wolf-eyed, wolf-sinewed, stiller than the trees. Help me, O Lord, for very slow of heart And hard of faith are these. Cruel are they, yet Thy children. Foul are they, Yet wert Thou born to save them utterly. Then make me as I pray, Just to their hates, kind to their sorrows, wise After their speech, and strong before their free Indomitable eyes.” MARJORIE PICKTHALL. THE GRAY GOWNS AND THE BLACK.