Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/224

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214
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

inaw.) They had assisted at the siege of Detroit, and came to muster as many recruits for that service as they could. For my own part, I was soon informed that, as I was the only Englishman in the place, they proposed to kill me, in order to give their friends a mess of English broth to raise their courage. This intelligence was not of the most agreeable kind, and in consequence of receiving it, I requested my friend to carry me to the Sault de Saint Marie, at which place I knew the Indians to be peaceably inclined, and that M. Cadotte enjoyed a powerful influence over their conduct. They considered M. Cadotte as their chief, and he was not only my friend, but a friend to the English. It was by him that the Chippeways of Lake Superior were prevented from joining Pontiac."

His friend and brother Wa-wa-tam was not slow in exerting himself for his preservation, and leaving Mackinaw during the night, he proceeded with him to Isle aux Outardes, on the route to Sault Sainte Marie. Here Nonen, the wife of Wa-wa-tam, falling sick, they were obliged to remain for some days, in the greatest fear of hostile Indians, who were now daily expected to pass on the route to Missisaukie, or Straits of Niagara, for the purpose of carrying on the war against the British. A return to Mackinaw was to incur certain destruction, and it was with the greatest pleasure that the distressed traveller at last saw a canoe approaching the island, which he knew must be manned by Canadians, by the manner in which the paddles were managed, and the whiteness of the sail. On entering the lodge of his adopted brother, elated with the news of the approach of white men, he says:—

"The family congratulated me on the approach of so fair an opportunity of escape, and my father and brother (for he was alternately each of these) lit his pipe, and presented it to me, saying, 'my son, this may be the last time that ever you and I shall smoke out of the same pipe. I