"Father," spoke out Pontiac, with the usual Indian term of respect, "I have always loved the French. We have often smoked the calumet together, and we have fought battles together against misguided Indians and the English dogs."
St. Ange de Bellerive looked at the dejected chief and thought of Le Moyne de Bienville, now an old man living in France, who was said to have wept and implored King Louis on his knees not to give up to the English that rich western domain which Marquette and Jolliet and La Salle and Tonty and many another Frenchman had suffered to gain, and to secure which he himself had given his best years.
"The chief must now bury the hatchet," he answered quietly.
"I have buried it," said Pontiac. "I shall lift it no more."
"The English are willing to make peace with him, if he recalls all his wampum belts of war."
Pontiac grinned. "The belts are more than one man can carry."
"Where does the chief intend to go when he leaves this post?"
Pontiac lifted his hand and pointed east, west, north, south. He would have no settled abode. It was a sign that he relinquished the inheritance of his fathers to an invader he hated. His race could not live under the civilization of the Anglo-Saxon. He would have struck out to the remotest wilderness, had he foreseen to what a burial place his continual clinging to the French would bring him. For Pontiac was assassinated by an Illinois Indian, whom an English trader had bribed, and his body lies somewhere to-day under the pavements of St. Louis, English-speaking men treading constantly over him. But if the dead chief's ears could hear, he would catch also the sound of the beloved French tongue lingering there.
A cannon thundered from one of the bastions. St. Ange stood up, and Pontiac stood up with him.
"The English are in sight," said St. Ange de Bellerive. "That salute is the signal for the flag of France to be lowered on Fort Chartres."
12mo, cloth, xvi + 303 Pages, illustrated, 75 cents.
This volume has been prepared to meet the need of the sixth grade of the grammar school for a short and simple introduction to the history of the United States to accord with the recommendations of the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association. In a clear, straightforward story full of interest for young readers it tells about some of the events that make up the history of Europe from the days of Greece and Rome to the colonization of America. The wealth of pertinent illustrations adds to the interest and value of the book, and the open, attractive type page makes easy reading. Teachers will find the material well arranged for class purposes, each section being of suitable length for one lesson and fully provided with helps in the way of suggestive questions and references for further reading in class.