food to last the garrison for several weeks had been
delivered.

From day to day the Indians kept up a desultory firing,
while Gladwyn took precautions against a long siege. Food
was taken from the houses of the inhabitants and placed
in a common storehouse. Timber was torn from the walks
and used in the construction of portable bastions, which
were erected outside the fort. There being danger that
the roofs of the houses would be ignited by means of
fire-arrows, the French inhabitants of the fort were made
to draw water and store it in vessels at convenient
points. Houses, fences, and orchards in the neighbourhood
were destroyed and levelled, so that skulking warriors
could not find shelter. The front of the fort was
comparatively safe from attack, for the schooners guarded
the river gate, and the Indians had a wholesome dread of
these floating fortresses.

About the middle of the month the _Gladwyn_ sailed down
the Detroit to meet a convoy that was expected with
provisions and ammunition from Fort Schlosser. At the
entrance to Lake Erie, as the vessel lay becalmed in the
river, she was suddenly beset by a swarm of savages in
canoes; and Pontiac's prisoner, Captain Campbell, appeared
in the foremost canoe, the savages thinking that the
British would not fire on them for fear of killing him.
Happily, a breeze sprang up and the schooner escaped to
the open lake. There was no sign of the convoy; and the
_Gladwyn_ sailed for the Niagara, to carry to the officers