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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buffalo Runners, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Buffalo Runners
+       A Tale of the Red River Plains
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Illustrator: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23372]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUFFALO RUNNERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Buffalo Runners, A tale of the Red River Plains, by R.M. Ballantyne.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+Here once again Ballantyne is on familiar ground.  The theme is the
+trials and tribulations suffered by the early settlers, the pioneers, in
+the lands to the east of the Rockies, in particular in the Red River
+basin, where it flows northwards into Lake Winnipeg.  There are problems
+with bad men of their own settlement; bad men from the other main fur
+company (our heroes worked with the Hudson Bay Company), the
+Nor'westers; Sioux and Salteaux Indians; a plague of grass-hoppers; a
+plague of mice; storms that destroyed fishing-gear such as nets; Cree
+Indians as well as the other two tribes; bad decisions and actions by
+the advisors of Lord Selkirk, who was in charge of the whole operation
+of settlement; accidental wounds.  The heroes of the tale are two young
+boys, one of whom is "disabled" and weak, but both are shining examples
+of goodness and bravery.  The women of the tale are of course all
+beautiful and devoted members of their various households.  The men of
+the tale vary between the competent and the incompetent; the lazy and
+idle, and the industrious;  the cunning, and the stupid.
+
+It might be quite a good idea to read the book more than once, so that
+you can get it clear in your mind who is on whose side!
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+THE BUFFALO RUNNERS; A TALE OF THE RED RIVER PLAINS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+A TALE OF THE RED RIVER PLAINS.
+
+HELP!
+
+A blizzard was blowing wildly over the American prairies one winter day
+in the earlier part of the present century.
+
+Fresh, free and straight, it came from the realms of Jack Frost, and
+cold--bitterly cold--like the bergs on the Arctic seas, to which it had
+but recently said farewell.
+
+Snow, fine as dust and sharp as needles, was caught up bodily by the
+wind in great masses--here in snaky coils, there in whirling eddies,
+elsewhere in rolling clouds; but these had barely time to assume
+indefinite forms when they were furiously scattered and swept away as by
+the besom of destruction, while earth and sky commingled in a smother of
+whitey-grey.
+
+All the demons of the Far North seemed to have taken an outside passage
+on that blizzard, so tremendous was the roaring and shrieking, while the
+writhing of tormented snow-drifts suggested powerfully the madness of
+agony.
+
+Two white and ghostly pillars moved slowly but steadily through all this
+hurly-burly in a straight line.  One of the pillars was short and broad;
+the other was tall and stately.  Both were very solid--agreeably so,
+when contrasted with surrounding chaos.  Suddenly the two pillars
+stopped--though the gale did not.
+
+Said the short pillar to the tall one--
+
+"Taniel Tavidson, if we will not get to the Settlement this night; it
+iss my belief that every one o' them will perish."
+
+"Fergus," replied the tall pillar, sternly, "they shall _not_ perish if
+I can help it.  At all events, if they do, I shall die in the attempt to
+save them.  Come on."
+
+Daniel Davidson became less like a white pillar as he spoke, and more
+like a man, by reason of his shaking a good deal of the snow off his
+stalwart person.  Fergus McKay followed his comrade's example, and
+revealed the fact--for a few minutes--that beneath the snow-mask there
+stood a young man with a beaming countenance of fiery red, the flaming
+character of which, however, was relieved by an expression of ineffable
+good-humour.
+
+The two men resumed their march over the dreary plain in silence.
+Indeed, conversation in the circumstances was out of the question.  The
+brief remarks that had been made when they paused to recover breath were
+howled at each other while they stood face to face.
+
+The nature of the storm was such that the gale seemed to rush at the
+travellers from all quarters at once--including above and below.  Men of
+less vigour and resolution would have been choked by it; but men who
+don't believe in choking, and have thick necks, powerful frames, vast
+experience, and indomitable wills are not easily choked!
+
+"It blows hard--whatever," muttered Fergus to himself, with that
+prolonged emphasis on the last syllable of the last word which is
+eminently suggestive of the Scottish Highlander.
+
+Davidson may have heard the remark, but he made no reply.
+
+Day declined, but its exit was not marked by much difference in the very
+feeble light, and the two men held steadily on.  The moon came out.  As
+far as appearances went she might almost as well have stayed in, for
+nobody saw her that night.  Her mere existence somewhere in the sky,
+however, rendered the indescribable chaos visible.  Hours passed by, but
+still the two men held on their way persistently.
+
+They wore five-feet-long snow-shoes.  Progress over the deep snow
+without these would have been impossible.  One traveller walked behind
+the other to get the benefit of his beaten track, but the benefit was
+scarcely appreciable, for the whirling snow filled each footstep up
+almost as soon as it was made.  Two days and a night had these men
+travelled with but an hour or two of rest in the shelter of a copse,
+without fire, and almost without food, yet they pushed on with the
+energy of fresh and well-fed men.
+
+Nothing but some overpowering necessity could have stimulated them to
+such prolonged and severe exertion.  Even self-preservation might have
+failed to nerve them to it, for both had well-nigh reached the limit of
+their exceptional powers, but each was animated by a stronger motive
+than self.  Fergus had left his old father in an almost dying state on
+the snow-clad plains, and Davidson had left his affianced bride.
+
+The buffalo-hunt had failed that year; winter had set in with unwonted
+severity and earlier than usual.  The hunters, with the women and
+children who followed them in carts to help and to reap the benefit of
+the hunt, were starving.  Their horses died or were frozen to death;
+carts were snowed up; and the starving hunters had been scattered in
+making the best of their way back to the Settlement of Red River from
+which they had started.
+
+When old McKay broke down, and his only daughter Elspie had firmly
+asserted her determination to remain and die with him, Fergus McKay and
+Daniel Davidson felt themselves to be put upon their mettle--called on
+to face a difficulty of the most appalling nature.  To remain on the
+snow-clad prairie without food or shelter would be death to all, for
+there was no living creature there to be shot or trapped.  On the other
+hand, to travel a hundred miles or so on foot--and without food, seemed
+an impossibility.  Love, however, ignores the impossible!  The two young
+men resolved on the attempt.  They were pretty well aware of the extent
+of their physical powers.  They would put them fairly to the test for
+once--even though for the last time!  They prepared for the old man and
+his daughter a shelter in the heart of a clump of willows, near to which
+spot they had found a group of the hapless hunters already dead and
+frozen.
+
+Here, as far from the frozen group as possible, they made an encampment
+by digging down through the snow till the ground was reached.  As much
+dried wood as could be found was collected, and a fire made.  The young
+men left their blankets behind, and, of the small quantity of provisions
+that remained, they took just sufficient to sustain life.  Then, with
+cheery words of encouragement, they said good-bye, and set out on their
+journey to the Settlement for help.
+
+The object at which they aimed was almost gained at the point when we
+introduce them to the reader.
+
+"Taniel!" said Fergus, coming to a sudden halt.
+
+"Well?" exclaimed the other.
+
+"It iss sleepy that I am.  Maybe if I wass to lie down--"
+
+He ceased to speak.  Davidson looked anxiously into his face, and saw
+that he had already begun to give way to irresistible drowsiness.
+Without a moment's hesitation he seized the Highlander by the throat,
+and shook him as if he had been a mere baby.
+
+"Iss it for fightin' ye are?" said Fergus, whose good-nature was not
+proof against such rough and unexpected treatment.
+
+"Yes, my boy, that's just what I am for, and I think you'll get the
+worst of it too."
+
+"What iss that you say?  Ay, ay!  You will hev to bend your back then,
+Taniel, for it iss not every wan that can give Fergus McKay the worst of
+it!"
+
+Davidson made no reply, but gave his comrade a shake so violent that it
+put to flight the last vestige of his good-humour and induced him to
+struggle so fiercely that in a few minutes the drowsiness was also, and
+effectually, driven away.
+
+"You'll do now," said Davidson, relaxing his grip and panting somewhat.
+
+"Ay, Taniel, I will be doin' now.  An' you're a frund in need whatever,"
+returned the restored Highlander with a smile of appreciation.
+
+About an hour later the travellers again stopped.  This time it was
+Davidson who called a halt.
+
+"Fergus," he said, "we have been successful so far, thank God.  But we
+must part here.  Half-an-hour will take me to my father's house, and I
+want you to go down to the hut of Francois La Certe; it is nearer than
+our house, you know--and get him to help you."
+
+"Surely, Tan, that will be wasted time," objected the Highlander.  "Of
+all the lazy useless scamps in Rud Ruver, Francois La Certe iss the
+laziest an' most useless."
+
+"Useful enough for our purpose, however," returned Davidson.  "Send him
+up to Fort Garry with a message, while you lie down and rest.  If you
+don't rest, you will yourself be useless in a short time.  La Certe is
+not such a bad fellow as people think him, specially when his feelings
+are touched."
+
+"That may be as you say, Tan.  I will try--_whatever_."
+
+So saying, the two men parted and hurried on their several ways.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A LAZY COUPLE DESCRIBED--AND ROUSED.
+
+Francois La Certe was seated on the floor of his hut smoking a long clay
+pipe beside an open wood fire when Fergus McKay approached.  His wife
+was seated beside him calmly smoking a shorter pipe with obvious
+enjoyment.
+
+The man was a Canadian half-breed.  His wife was an Indian woman.  They
+were both moderately young and well matched, for they thoroughly agreed
+in everything conceivable--or otherwise.  In the length and breadth of
+the Settlement there could not have been found a lazier or more
+good-natured or good-for-nothing couple than La Certe and his spouse.
+Love was, if we may venture to say so, the chief element in the
+character of each.  Love of self was the foundation.  Then, happily,
+love of each other came next.  Rising gracefully, the superstructure may
+be described as, love of tobacco, love of tea, love of ease, and love of
+general comfort, finishing off with a top-dressing, or capital, of
+pronounced, decided, and apparently incurable love of indolence.  They
+had only one clear and unmistakable hatred about them, and that was the
+hatred of work.  They had a child about four years of age which was
+like-minded--and not unlike-bodied.
+
+In the wilderness, as in the city, such individuals are well-known by
+the similarity of their characteristics.  It is not that they can't
+work, but they won't work--though, of course, if taxed with this
+disposition they would disclaim it with mild indignation, or an
+expression of hurt remonstrance, for they are almost too lazy to become
+enraged.  "Take life easy, or, if we can't take it easy, let us take it
+as easy as we can," is, or ought to be, their motto.  In low life at
+home they slouch and smile.  In high life they saunter and affect
+easy-going urbanity--slightly mingled with mild superiority to things in
+general.  Whatever rank of life they belong to they lay themselves out
+with persistent resolution to do as little work as they can; to make
+other people do as much work for them as possible; to get out of life as
+much of enjoyment as may be attainable--consistently, of course, with
+the incurable indolence--and, to put off as long as may be the evil day
+which, they perceive or suspect, must inevitably be coming.
+
+The curious thing about this race of beings is, that, whether in high or
+low station, they are never ashamed of themselves--or of their position
+as drones in the world's hive.  They seem rather to apologise for their
+degradation as a thing inevitable, for which they are not accountable--
+and sometimes, in the case of the rich, as a thing justifiable.
+
+"I'm glad I did not go to the plains this fall," said La Certe, stirring
+the logs on the fire with his toe and emitting a prolonged sigh of
+mingled smoke and contentment, while a blast from the bleak nor'-west
+shook every blackened rafter in his little hut.
+
+"Heel hee!" responded his wife, whose Indian name--translated--was
+Slowfoot, and might have been Slowtongue with equal propriety, for she
+was quite an adept at the art of silence.  She frequently caused a
+giggle to do duty for speech.  This suited her husband admirably, for he
+was fond of talking--could tell a good story, sing a good song, and
+express his feelings in a good hearty laugh.
+
+"Yes, it will be hard for the poor boys who have gone to the plains, the
+weather is so awful, to say nothing of the women."
+
+"Ho," replied Slowfoot--though what she meant to express by this no
+mortal knows--nor, perhaps, cares.  It meant nothing bad, however, for
+she smiled seraphically and sent forth a stream of smoke, which,
+mingling with that just emitted by her husband, rose in a curling
+harmony to the roof.
+
+Slowfoot was not a bad-looking woman as North American Indians go.  She
+was brown unquestionably, and dirty without doubt, but she had a
+pleasant expression, suggestive of general good-will, and in the budding
+period of life must have been even pretty.  She was evidently older than
+her husband, who might, perhaps, have been a little over thirty.
+
+"I should not wonder," continued La Certe, "if the buffalo was drove
+away, and the people starved this year.  But the buffalo, perhaps, will
+return in time to save them."
+
+"Hm!" responded the wife, helping herself to some very strong tea, which
+she poured out of a tin kettle into a tin mug and sweetened with maple
+sugar.
+
+"Do you know if Cloudbrow went with them?" asked the half-breed, pushing
+forward his mug for a supply of the cheering beverage.
+
+"No, he stopped in his house," replied the woman, rousing herself for a
+moment to the conversational point, but relapsing immediately.
+
+The man spoke in patois French, the woman in her native Cree language.
+For convenience we translate their conversation as near as may be into
+the English in which they were wont to converse with the Scotch settlers
+who, some time before, had been sent out by the Earl of Selkirk to
+colonise that remote part of the northern wilderness.
+
+La Certe's father was a French Canadian, his mother an Indian woman, but
+both having died while he was yet a boy he had been brought or left to
+grow up under the care of an English woman who had followed the fortunes
+of the La Certe family.  His early companions had been half-breeds and
+Indians.  Hence he could speak the English, French, and Indian languages
+with equal incorrectness and facility.
+
+"You don't like Cloudbrow," remarked the man with an inquiring glance
+over the rim of his mug.  "Why you not like him?"
+
+"Hee! hee!" was Slowfoot's lucid reply.  Then, with an unwonted frown on
+her mild visage, she added with emphasis--
+
+"No!  I _not_ like him."
+
+"I know that," returned the husband, setting down his mug and resuming
+his pipe, "but why?"
+
+To this the lady answered with a sound too brief to spell, and the
+gentleman, being accustomed to his wife's little eccentricities, broke
+into a hilarious laugh, and assured her that Cloudbrow was not a bad
+fellow--a capital hunter and worthy of more regard than she was aware
+of.
+
+"For," said he, "Cloudbrow is willing to wait till spring for payment of
+the horse an' cart I hired from him last year.  You know that I could
+not pay him till I go to the plains an' get another load of meat an'
+leather.  You will go with me, Slowfoot, an' we will have grand times of
+it with buffalo-humps an' marrow bones, an' tea an' tobacco.  Ah! it
+makes my mouth water.  Give me more tea.  So.  That will do.  What a
+noise the wind makes!  I hopes it won't blow over the shed an' kill the
+horse.  But if it do I cannot help that.  Cloudbrow could not ask me to
+pay for what the wind does."
+
+There came another gust of such violence, as he spoke, that even
+Slowfoot's benignant expression changed to a momentary glance of
+anxiety, for the shingles on the roof rattled, and the rafters creaked
+as if the hut were groaning under the strain.  It passed, however, and
+the pair went on smoking with placid contentment, for they had but
+recently had a "square" meal of pemmican and flour.
+
+This compost when cooked in a frying-pan is exceedingly rich and
+satisfying--not to say heavy--food, but it does not incommode such as La
+Certe and his wife.  It even made the latter feel amiably disposed to
+Cloudbrow.
+
+This _sobriquet_ had been given by the half-breeds to a young Scotch
+settler named Duncan McKay, in consequence of the dark frown which had
+settled habitually on his brow--the result of bad temper and unbridled
+passion.  He was younger brother to that Fergus who has already been
+introduced to the reader.  Having been partially trained, while in
+Scotland, away from the small farm-house of his father, and having
+received a better education, Duncan conceived himself to stand on a
+higher level than the sedate and uneducated Fergus.  Thus pride was
+added to his bad temper.  But he was not altogether destitute of good
+points.  What man is?  One of these was a certain reckless
+open-handedness, so that he was easily imposed on by the protestations
+and assurances of the sly, plausible, and lazy La Certe.
+
+The couple were still engaged in smoking, quaffing tea, and other
+intellectual pursuits, when they heard sounds outside as of some one
+approaching.  Another moment, and the door burst open, and a man in
+white stepped in.  He saluted them with a familiar and hasty
+"_bonjour_," as he stamped and beat the snow vigorously from his
+garments.
+
+"What?  Antoine Dechamp!" exclaimed La Certe, rising slowly to welcome
+his friend; "you seem in hurry?"
+
+"Ay--in great hurry!  They are starving on the plains!  Many are dead!
+Davidson has come in!  He is more than half-dead!  Can hardly tell the
+news!  Drops asleep when he is speaking!  Luckily I met him when going
+home in my cariole!  Okematan, the Indian, was with me.  So he got out,
+and said he would pilot Davidson safe home!  He said something about
+Fergus McKay, which I could not understand, so I have come on, and will
+drive to Fort Garry with the news!  But my horse has broke down!  Is
+yours in the stable?"
+
+Dechamp was a sturdy young half-breed and an old playmate of La Certe.
+He spoke with obvious impatience at the delay caused by having so much
+to tell.
+
+"Is your horse in the stable?" he demanded sharply a second time, while
+his friend began, with exasperating composure, to assure him that it
+was, but that the horse was not his.
+
+"Cloudbrow is its owner," he said, "and you know if anything happens to
+it he will ---.  Stay, I will get you lantern--"
+
+He stopped, for Dechamp, observing a large key hanging on the wall, had
+seized it and rushed out of the hut without waiting for a lantern.
+
+"Strange, how easy some men get into a fuss!" remarked La Certe to his
+surprised, but quiet, spouse as he lighted a large tin lantern, and went
+to the door.  Looking out with an expression of discomfort, he put on
+his cap, and prepared to face the storm in the cause of humanity.  He
+held the lantern high up first, however, and peered under it as if to
+observe the full extent of the discomfort before braving it.  Just then
+a furious gust blew out the light.
+
+"Ha!  I expected that," he said, with a sigh that was strongly
+suggestive of relief, as he returned to the fire to relight the lantern.
+
+On going the second time to the door he observed the form of his friend
+leading the horse past--both of them looking dim and spectral through
+the driving snow.
+
+"Dechamp have good eyes!" he remarked, halting on the threshold.  "There
+is light enough without the lantern; besides--ha! there, it is out
+again!  What a trouble it is!  Impossible to keep it in--such a night!"
+
+"Hee! hee!" giggled Slowfoot, who was busy refilling her pipe.
+
+La Certe was still standing in a state of hesitancy, troubled by a
+strong desire to help his friend, and a stronger desire to spare
+himself, when he was thrown somewhat off his wonted balance by the
+sudden reappearance of Dechamp, leading, or rather supporting, a man.
+
+Need we say that it was Fergus McKay, almost blind and dumb from
+exhaustion, for the parting from Dan Davidson which we have mentioned
+had proved to be the last straw which broke them both down, and it is
+probable that the frozen corpse of poor Dan would have been found next
+day on the snow, had he not been accidentally met by Dechamp, and taken
+in charge by the Indian Okematan.  Fergus, having a shorter way to go,
+and, perhaps, possessing a little more vitality or endurance, had just
+managed to stagger to La Certe's hut when he encountered the same man
+who, an hour previously, had met and saved his companion further down
+the Settlement.
+
+The moment Fergus entered the hut, he looked wildly round, and opened
+his mouth as if to speak.  Then he suddenly collapsed, and fell in a
+heap upon the floor, scattering flakes of snow from his person in all
+directions.
+
+La Certe and his wife, though steeped in selfishness, were by no means
+insensible to the sufferings of humanity when these were actually made
+visible to their naked eyes.  Like many--too many--people, they were
+incapable of being impressed very deeply through their ears, but could
+be keenly touched through the eyes.  No sooner did they behold the
+condition of Fergus--who was well-known to them--than they dropped their
+apathetic characters as though they had been garments.
+
+In her haste Slowfoot let fall her pipe, which broke to atoms on the
+floor--but she heeded it not.  La Certe capsized his mug of tea--but
+regarded it not; and while the former proceeded to remove the shawl from
+Fergus's neck and chafe his cold hands, the latter assisted Dechamp to
+drag the exhausted man a little nearer to the fire, and poured a cup of
+warm tea down his throat.
+
+Their efforts, though perchance not as wisely directed as they might
+have been, were so vigorously conducted that success rewarded them.
+Fergus soon began to show signs of returning animation.  A hunter of the
+western wilderness is not easily overcome, neither is he long of
+reviving, as a rule, if not killed outright.
+
+They set him up in a sitting posture with his back against a box, and
+his feet towards the fire.  Heaving a deep sigh, Fergus looked round
+with a bewildered, anxious expression.  In a moment intelligence
+returned to his eyes, and he made a violent attempt to rise, but Dechamp
+held him down.
+
+"Let me up!" he gasped, "life and death are in the matter--if it iss not
+death already--"
+
+"Be still, Fergus McKay," said Dechamp, with that firmness of manner and
+tone which somehow command respect; "I know all about it.  Take one bit
+of bread, one swig more of tea, and you go with me to Fort Garry, to
+tell the Gov'nor what you know.  He will send help at once."
+
+Great was the relief of Fergus when he heard this.  Submitting to
+treatment like an obedient child, he was soon fit to stagger to the
+sleigh or cariole, into which he was carefully stuffed and packed like a
+bale of goods by La Certe and his wife, who, to their credit be it
+recorded, utterly ignored, for once, the discomforts of the situation.
+
+Fergus was asleep before the packing was quite done.  Then Dechamp
+jumped in beside him, and drove off in the direction of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's establishment, Fort Garry, while our worthy couple returned to
+their hut to indulge in a final and well-earned pipe and a mug of the
+strongest possible tea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+TO THE RESCUE.
+
+Winnipeg city, with its thousands of inhabitants, now covers the spot to
+which Antoine Dechamp drove his friend Fergus McKay.
+
+At the time we write of, the only habitation there was Fort Garry, a
+solitary stone building of some strength, but without regular troops of
+any kind, and held only by a few employes of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+who were there only in the capacity of fur-traders.
+
+Here the Governor of the colony received the unexpected guests with
+hospitality; heard the tale of Fergus with a sympathetic ear, and at
+once organised a rescue-expedition with dog-sledges and provisions.
+
+While this was being done at the fort, Dan Davidson was similarly
+employed at Prairie Cottage, the residence of his mother, who, since the
+death of her husband--a farmer from the Scottish Lowlands--had managed
+her farm with the aid of her two sons, Dan and Peter; the latter being a
+youth of seventeen.  She was also assisted by her only daughter, Jessie,
+who was over thirteen years of age, and already esteemed an authority on
+the subjects of poultry, cookery, and dairy produce.  A small servant--a
+French half-breed named Louise--completed the household of the widow
+Davidson.
+
+On reaching home, Dan, like Fergus McKay, experienced difficulties that
+he had not counted on, for his overtaxed strength fairly broke down, and
+he found himself almost incapable at first of telling his tale of
+disaster.  Then, when he tried to go about the needful preparations for
+rescue, he found himself unable to resist drowsiness, and if he ventured
+to sit down for a moment he fell sound asleep at once.
+
+Those who have experienced this condition know how overwhelming and
+intensely disagreeable it is, especially if resistance to it is rendered
+imperative by a matter of life or death.  Davidson struggled bravely
+against it of course, but the struggle had already been so long
+continued that his efforts were now in vain.
+
+Starting up from the supper which Jessie had spread before him, and
+which he was languidly attempting to eat, he said, almost fiercely,
+"Where is the wash-tub, Louise?"
+
+The surprised little domestic pointed to the article in question.
+
+"Here; fetch some cold water."
+
+"It is full," said Louise with a strong French accent and a pretty lisp.
+
+Without the ceremony even of throwing back his collar Dan plunged his
+head into the water, and, after steeping it for a few seconds, drew it
+out refreshed.
+
+His younger brother entered the room at that moment.
+
+"Peter," he said, drying his head violently with a jack-towel, "have you
+got the sledge ready, and the provisions packed, and the empty sledge
+wi' the buffalo-robes?"
+
+"Ay--all ready," answered the other, for he was a sprightly, willing
+youth, who rejoiced in any unexpected demand on his superabundant
+energies.  "But I say, Dan, you are quite unfit to start off again
+without rest."
+
+He looked in his brother's face anxiously, for Dan had seated himself
+once more to his food, but seemed unable to deal with it properly.
+"Why, you've got the knife and fork in the wrong hands, Dan!  You _must_
+have an hour's rest before we start."
+
+"Impossible," returned the other with a dazed look, as he seized a mug
+of water and drank it off.  "An hour's delay may mean death to Elspie
+and old Duncan McKay."
+
+"But let _me_ start off at once," returned Peter, eagerly.  "I've a
+pretty good guess, from your description, where you left them.  Besides,
+the gale is not so bad now.  After an hour's sleep you will be able to
+start fresh, maybe overtake me.  Jess will be sure to waken you in--"
+
+He stopped, for his brother's head had bent slowly forward while he was
+speaking, and now rested on his arms on the table.  The worn-out man was
+sound asleep.
+
+"Just leave him, Peter, and be off wi' the dogs," said Mrs Davidson.
+"Okematan will keep you in the right track.  I'll be sure to wake him in
+time to catch you up."
+
+"No, mother, not without his leave," said the youth, firmly.  "Dan!
+Dan! rouse up, old boy!  Shall we start without you?"
+
+"Yes, yes--I'm ready," said the poor fellow, starting up and swaying to
+and fro like a drunken man; "but--I say, Peter, I'm done for.  I depend
+on you, lad, to keep me up to the scratch.  Lay the dog-whip across my
+shoulders if I try to lie down.  Promise me that.  D'ee hear!"
+
+"Yes, I understand," returned the youth with intense earnestness.  "Now
+look here, Dan, you know me: will you trust me?"
+
+"Of course I will," answered Dan with a languid smile.
+
+"Well, then; come along, we'll rescue Elspie--you may depend on that.
+Okematan and I will look after you and see that all goes right.  Come."
+
+He took his brother by the arm, and led him unresistingly away, followed
+by the dark-skinned Indian, who, with the usual reticence of his race,
+had stood like a brown statue, silently observing events.
+
+Jessie Davidson, who was a fair and comely maiden, touched him on the
+arm as he was passing out--
+
+"Oh! take care of him, Okematan," she said, anxiously.
+
+Okematan replied "Ho!" in a sort of grunt.  It was an expressively
+uttered though not very comprehensible reply; but Jessie was satisfied,
+for she knew the man well, as he had for a considerable time been, not
+exactly a servant of the house, but a sort of self-appointed hanger-on,
+or unpaid retainer.  For an Indian, he was of a cheerful disposition and
+made himself generally useful.
+
+When they were outside, it was found that the gale had abated
+considerably, and that the moon was occasionally visible among the
+clouds which were driving wildly athwart the heavens, as though the
+elemental war which had ceased to trouble the earth were still raging in
+the sky.
+
+"Peter," said the brother, as they stood for a moment beside two Indian
+sledges, one of which was laden with provisions, the other
+empty--"Peter, don't forget your promise.  Lay the whip on heavy.
+Nothing else will keep me awake!"
+
+"All right!  Sit down there for a moment.  We're not quite ready yet."
+
+"I'd better not.  No!  I will stand till it's time to start," returned
+Dan with a dubious shake of his head.
+
+"Didn't you say you would trust me?"
+
+"Yes, I did, old boy."
+
+"Does it look like trusting me to refuse the very first order I give
+you?  What an example to Okematan!  I am in command, Dan.  Do as you're
+bid, sir, and sit down."
+
+With a faint smile, and a still more dubious shake of the head, Dan
+obeyed.  He sat down on the empty sledge and the expected result
+followed.  In a few seconds he was asleep.
+
+"Now we'll pack him in tight," observed his brother, as he and the
+Indian stretched the sleeper at full length on the sledge, wrapped him
+completely up in the warm buffalo-robes, and lashed him down in such a
+way that he resembled a mummy, with nothing visible of him except his
+mouth and nose.
+
+Four strong large dogs were attached to each sledge in tandem fashion,
+each dog having a little collar and harness of its own.  No reins were
+necessary.  A track beaten in the soft snow with his snow-shoes by the
+Indian, who stepped out in front, was guide enough for them; and a
+tail-line attached to the rear of each sledge, and held by the drivers,
+sufficed to restrain them when a stretch of hard snow or ice tempted
+them to have a scamper.
+
+The road thus beaten over the prairie by Okematan, though a
+comparatively soft one, was by no means smooth, and the rough motion
+would, in ordinary circumstances, have rendered sleep impossible to our
+hero; but it need hardly be said that it failed to disturb him on the
+present occasion.  He slept like an infant throughout the whole night;
+cared nothing for the many plunges down the prairie waves, and recked
+not of the frequent jerks out of the hollows.
+
+Hour after hour did Peter Davidson with his silent companion trudge over
+the monotonous plains--hope in the ascendant, and vigour, apparently,
+inexhaustible.  The dogs, too, were good and strong.  A brief halt now
+and then of a few minutes sufficed to freshen them for every new start.
+Night passed away, and daylight came in with its ghostly revelations of
+bushes that looked like bears or buffaloes, and snow-wreaths that
+suggested the buried forms of frozen men.
+
+Then the sun arose and scattered these sombre visions of early morning
+with its gladdening, soul-reviving rays.
+
+At this point the rescue-party chanced to have reached one of those
+bluffs of woodland which at that time speckled the plains--though they
+were few indeed and far between.
+
+"Breakfast," said Peter, heaving a profound sigh as he turned about and
+checked the teams, for at that point he happened to be in advance
+beating the track.
+
+Okematan expressed his entire concurrence with an emphatic "Ho!"  The
+wearied dogs lay down in their tracks, shot out their tongues, panted,
+and looked amiable, for well they knew the meaning of the word
+"breakfast" and the relative halt.
+
+The sudden stoppage awoke the sleeper, and he struggled to rise.
+
+"Hallo!  What's wrong?  Where am I?  Have the Redskins got hold o' me at
+last?"
+
+"Ay, that they have.  At least one Red-skin has got you," said Peter.
+"Have a care, man, don't struggle so violently.  Okematan won't scalp
+you."
+
+The sound of his brother's voice quieted Davidson, and at once restored
+his memory.
+
+"Cast me loose, Peter," he said; "you're a good fellow.  I see you have
+brought me along wi' you, and I feel like a giant refreshed now, tho'
+somewhat stiff.  Have we come far?"
+
+"I don't know how far we've come, but I know that we've been pegging
+along the whole night, and that we must have breakfast before we take
+another step.  It's all very well for you, Dan, to lie there all night
+like a mere bag o' pemmican enjoying yourself, but you must remember
+that your brother is mortal, and so are the dogs, to say nothing o' the
+Red-skin."
+
+While he was speaking, the youth undid the fastenings, and set his
+brother free, but Dan was far too anxious to indulge in pleasantries
+just then.  After surveying the landscape, and coming to a conclusion as
+to where they were, he took a hurried breakfast of dried meat--cold.
+The dogs were also treated to a hearty feed, and then, resuming the
+march, the rescuers pushed on with renewed vigour--Dan Davidson now
+beating the track, and thus rendering it more easy for those who came
+behind him.
+
+All that day they pushed on almost without halt, and spent the next
+night in a clump of willows; but Dan was too anxious to take much rest.
+They rose at the first sign of daybreak, and pushed on at their utmost
+speed, until the poor dogs began to show signs of breaking down; but an
+extra hour of rest, and a full allowance of food kept them up to the
+mark, while calm weather and clear skies served to cheer them on their
+way.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+TELLS OF LOVE, DUTY, STARVATION, AND MURDER.
+
+Pushing on ahead of them, with that sometimes fatal facility peculiar to
+writers and readers, we will now visit the couple whom Dan and his party
+were so anxious to rescue.
+
+A single glance at Elspie McKay would have been sufficient to account to
+most people for the desperate anxiety of Daniel Davidson to rescue her
+from death, for her pretty sparkling face and ever-varying expression
+were irresistibly suggestive of a soul full of sympathy and tender
+regard for the feelings of others.
+
+Nut-brown hair, dark eyes, brilliant teeth, and many more charms that it
+would take too much time and room to record still further accounted for
+the desperate determination with which Dan had wooed and won her.
+
+But to see this creature at her best, you had to see her doing the
+dutiful to her old father.  If ever there was a peevish, cross-grained,
+crabbed, unreasonable old sinner in this world, that sinner was Duncan
+McKay, senior.  He was a widower.  Perhaps that accounted to some extent
+for his condition.  That he should have a younger son--also named
+Duncan--a cross ne'er-do-weel like himself--was natural, but how he came
+to have such a sweet daughter as Elspie, and such a good elder son as
+Fergus, are mysteries which we do not attempt to unravel or explain.
+Perhaps these two took after their departed mother.  We know not, for we
+never met her.  Certain it is that they did not in the least resemble
+their undeparted father--except in looks, for McKay senior had been a
+handsome man, though at the time we introduce him his good looks, like
+his temper, had nearly fled, and he was considerably shrivelled up by
+age, hard work, and exposure.  The poor man was too old to emigrate to a
+wilderness home when he had set out for the Red River Colony, and the
+unusual sufferings, disappointments, and hardships to which the first
+settlers were exposed had told heavily on even younger men than he.
+
+Elspie's love for her father was intense; her pity for him in his
+misfortunes was very tender; and, now that he was brought face to face
+with, perhaps, the greatest danger that had ever befallen him, her
+anxiety to relieve and comfort him was very touching.  She seemed quite
+to forget herself, and the fact that she might perish on the bleak
+plains along with her father did not seem even to occur to her.
+
+"It wass madness to come here, _whatever_," said the poor old man, as he
+cowered over the small fire, which his son Fergus had kindled before
+leaving, and which Elspie had kept up with infinite labour and
+difficulty ever since.
+
+The remark was made testily to himself, for Elspie had gone into the
+surrounding bush, axe in hand, to find, if possible, and cut down some
+more small pieces of firewood.  When she returned with an armful of dry
+sticks, he repeated the sentiment still more testily, and added--"If it
+wass not for Tuncan, I would have been at home this night in my warm
+bed, wi' a goot supper inside o' me, instead o' freezin' an' starvin'
+oot here on the plain among the snow.  It's mischief that boy wass
+always after from the tay he wass born."
+
+"But you know that poor Duncan could not guess we were to have such
+awful weather, or that the buffalo would be so scarce.  Come now, dear
+daddy," said the cheery girl, as she heaped on wood and made a blaze
+that revived the old man, "I'll warm up some more of the tea.  There's a
+very little left--and--and--it surely won't be long till God sends
+Daniel and Fergus back to us with food."
+
+Old McKay was somewhat mollified by her manner, or by the fire, or by
+the prospect of relief held out, for his tone improved decidedly.
+
+"Try the bag again, lass," he said, "maybe you'll find a crumb or two in
+the corners yet.  It will do no harm to try."
+
+Obediently poor Elspie tried, but shook her head as she did so.
+
+"There's nothing there, daddy.  I turned it inside out last time."
+
+"Wow! but it's ill to bear!" exclaimed old Duncan, with a
+half-suppressed groan.
+
+Meanwhile his daughter put the tin kettle on the fire and prepared their
+last cup of tea.  When it was ready she looked up with a peculiar
+expression on her face, as she drew something from her pocket.
+
+"Look here, daddy," she said, holding up a bit of pemmican about the
+size of a hen's egg.
+
+The old man snatched it from her, and, biting off a piece, began to chew
+with a sort of wolfish voracity.
+
+"I reserved it till now," said the girl, "for I knew that this being the
+second night, you would find it impossible to get to sleep at all
+without something in you, however small.  If you manage to sleep on this
+and the cup of hot tea, you'll maybe rest well till morning--and then--"
+
+"God forgive me!" exclaimed the old man, suddenly pausing, as he was
+about to thrust the last morsel into his mouth; "hunger makes me
+selfish.  I wass forgettin' that you are starvin' too, my tear.  Open
+your mouth."
+
+"No, father, I don't want it.  I really don't feel hungry."
+
+"Elspie, my shild," said old Duncan, in a tone of stern remonstrance,
+"when wass it that you began to tell lies?"
+
+"I'm telling the truth, daddy.  I did feel hungry yesterday, but that
+has passed away, and to-day I feel only a little faint."
+
+"Open your mouth, I'm tellin' you," repeated old Duncan in a tone of
+command which long experience had taught Elspie promptly to obey.  She
+received the morsel, ate it with much relish, and wished earnestly for
+more.
+
+"Now, you'll lie down and go to sleep," she said, after her father had
+washed down the last morsel of food with the last cup of hot tea, "and
+I'll gather a few more sticks to keep the fire going till morning.  I
+think it is not so cold as it was, and the wind is quite gone.  They
+have been away five days now, or more.  I think that God, in His mercy,
+will send us relief in the morning."
+
+"You are a goot lass, my tear," said the old man, allowing himself to be
+made as comfortable as it was in his daughter's power to accomplish;
+"what you say is ferry true.  The weather feels warmer, and the wind is
+down.  Perhaps they will find us in the mornin'.  Goot-night, my tear."
+
+It was one of the characteristics of this testy old man, that he
+believed it quite possible for a human being to get on quite well enough
+in this world without any distinct recognition of his Maker.
+
+Once, in conversation with his youngest son and namesake Duncan junior,
+he had somehow got upon this subject, not by any means in a reverential,
+but in an argumentative, controversial spirit, and had expressed the
+opinion that as man knew nothing whatever about God, and had no means of
+finding out anything about Him, there was no need to trouble one's head
+about Him at all.
+
+"I just go about my work, Tuncan," he said, "an' leave preachin' an'
+prayin' an' psalm-singin' to them that likes it.  There's Elspie, now.
+She believes in God, an' likes goin' to churches an' meetin's, an' that
+seems to make her happy.  Ferry goot--I don't pelieve in these things,
+an' I think I'm as happy as hersel'."
+
+"Humph!" grunted the son in a tone of unconcealed contempt; "if ye _are_
+as happy as hersel', faither, yer looks give the lie to your condeetion,
+_whatever_.  An' there's this great dufference between you an' her, that
+she's not only happy hersel', but she does her best to mak other folk
+happy--but you, wi' your girnin' an' snappin', are always doin' the best
+ye can to mak everybody aboot ye meeserable."
+
+"Tuncan," retorted the sire, with solemn candour, "it iss the same
+compliment I can return to yoursel' with interest, my boy--what_ever_."
+
+With such sentiments, then, it is not remarkable that Duncan McKay
+senior turned over to sleep as he best could without looking to a higher
+source than earth afforded for help in his extremity.  Happily his
+daughter was actuated by a better spirit, and when she at last lay down
+on her pile of brushwood, with her feet towards the fire, and her head
+on a buffalo robe, the fact of her having previously committed herself
+and her father to God made her sleep all the sounder.
+
+In another clump of wood not many miles distant from the spot where the
+father and daughter lay, two hunters were encamped.  One was Duncan
+McKay, to whom we have just referred as being in discord with his
+father.  The other was a Canadian named Henri Perrin.
+
+Both men were gaunt and weakened by famine.  They had just returned to
+camp from an unsuccessful hunt, and the latter, being first to return,
+had kindled the fire, and was about to put on the kettle when McKay came
+in.
+
+"I've seen nothing," remarked McKay as he flung down his gun and then
+flung himself beside it.  "Did you see anything?"
+
+"No, nothing," answered Perrin, breaking off a piece of pemmican and
+putting it into the pot.
+
+"How much is left?" asked McKay.
+
+"Hardly enough for two days--for the two of us; four days perhaps for
+one!" answered the other.
+
+McKay looked up quickly, but the Canadian was gazing abstractedly into
+the pot.  Apparently his remark had no significance.  But McKay did not
+think so.  Since arriving in the colony he had seen and heard much about
+deception and crime among both Indians and half-breeds.  Being
+suspicious by nature, he became alarmed, for it was evident enough, as
+Perrin had said, that food to last two men for three days would last one
+man for six, and the one who should possess six days' provisions might
+hope to reach the Settlement alive, even though weakened by previous
+starvation.
+
+The dark expression which had procured for Duncan McKay junior the
+_sobriquet_ of Cloudbrow from La Certe and his wife, deepened visibly as
+these thoughts troubled his brain, and for some time he sat gazing at
+the fire in profound abstraction.
+
+Young McKay was not by any means one of the most depraved of men, but
+when a man is devoid of principle it only requires temptation strong
+enough, and opportunity convenient, to sink him suddenly to the lowest
+depths.  Starvation had so far weakened the physique of the hunters that
+it was obviously impossible for both of them to reach the Settlement on
+two days' short allowance of food.  The buffalo had been driven away
+from that neighbourhood by the recent storm, and the hope of again
+falling in with them was now gone.  The starving hunters, as we have
+said, had broken up camp, and were scattered over the plains no one
+could tell where.  To find them might take days, if not weeks; and, even
+if successful, of what avail would it be to discover groups of men who
+were in the same predicament with themselves?  To remain where they were
+was certain and not far-distant death!  The situation was desperate, and
+each knew it to be so.  Yet each did not take it in the same way.
+McKay, as we have said, became abstracted and slightly nervous.  The
+Canadian, whatever his thoughts, was calm and collected, and went about
+his culinary operations as if he were quite at ease.  He was about to
+lift the pot off the hook that suspended it over the fire, when his
+companion quietly, and as if without any definite purpose, took up his
+gun.
+
+Perrin observed the action, and quickly reached out his hand towards his
+own weapon, which lay on the ground beside him.
+
+Quick as lightning McKay raised his gun and fired.  Next moment his
+comrade lay dead upon the ground--shot through the heart!
+
+Horror-struck at what he had done, the murderer could scarcely believe
+his eyes, and he stood up glaring at the corpse as if he had been frozen
+to death in that position.  After standing a long time, he sat down and
+tried to think of his act and the probable consequences.
+
+Self-defence was the first idea that was suggested clearly to him; and
+he clung to it as a drowning man is said to cling to a straw.  "Was it
+not clear," he thought, "that Perrin intended to murder me?  If not, why
+so quick to grip his gun?  If I had waited it would have been me, not
+Perrin, that would be lying there now!"
+
+His memory reminded him faithfully, however, that when he first thought
+of taking up his gun, Conscience had sternly said,--"Don't."  Why should
+Conscience have spoken thus, or at all, if his motive had been innocent?
+
+There are two ways in which a wicked man gets rid of conscientious
+troubles--at least for a time.  One way is by stout-hearted defiance of
+God, and ignoring of Conscience altogether.  The other is by sophistical
+reasoning, and a more or less successful effort to throw dust in his own
+eyes.
+
+Duncan McKay took the latter method.  It is an easy enough method--
+especially with the illogical--but it works indifferently, and it does
+not last long.
+
+Conscience may be seared; may be ignored; may be trampled on, but it
+cannot be killed; it cannot even be weakened and is ever ready at the
+most unseasonable and unexpected times to start up, vigorous and
+faithful to the very end, with its emphatic "Don't!" and "No!"
+
+Dragging the body out of the camp, McKay returned to take his supper and
+reason the matter out with himself.
+
+"I could not help myself," he thought; "when I took up my gun I did not
+intend to kill the man."
+
+Conscience again reminded him of its "Don't!"
+
+"And would not every man in Rud Ruver justify me for firing first in
+self-defence?"
+
+Conscience again said "No!"
+
+Here the hunter uttered a savage oath, to which Conscience made no
+reply, for Conscience never speaks back or engages in disputation.
+
+We need not attempt further to analyse the workings of sophistry in the
+brain of a murderer.  Suffice it to say that when the man had finished
+his supper he had completely, though not satisfactorily, justified
+himself in his own eyes.  There was, he felt, a disagreeable
+undercurrent of uneasiness; but this might have been the result of fear
+as to how the Canadian half-breeds and friends of the slain man would
+regard the matter in the event of its being found out.
+
+There was reason for anxiety on this head, for poor Perrin was a great
+favourite among his comrades, while Cloudbrow was very much the reverse.
+
+Having finished the supper which he had purchased at such a terrible
+price, the young man gathered his things together, packed the provisions
+on his back, put on his snow-shoes and left the scene of the murder.
+
+Although a dark night, there was sufficient moon-light to enable him to
+pick his steps, but he had not advanced more than two miles when he came
+upon the track of a party that had preceded him.  This rendered the
+walking more easy, and as he plodded along he reflected that the wolves
+would soon find Perrin's body, and, by tearing it to pieces render
+recognition of the victim impossible.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to him that if any of the scattered band of hunters
+should come on the camp before the wolves had time to do their work, the
+print of his snow-shoes might tell a tale--for snowshoes were of various
+shapes and sizes, and most of his companions in the Settlement might be
+pretty well acquainted with the shape of his.  The danger of such a
+_contretemps_ was not great, but, to make quite sure that it should not
+occur, he turned round and walked straight back on his track to the camp
+he had just left--thus obliterating, or, rather, confusing the track, so
+as to render recognition improbable.  As he walked over it a third time,
+in resuming his march to the Settlement, all danger on this ground, he
+considered, was effectually counteracted.  Of course, when he reached
+the tracks of the party before mentioned, all trace of his own track was
+necessarily lost among these.
+
+That "murder will out" is supposed to be an unquestionable truism.  We
+nevertheless question it very much; for, while the thousands of cases of
+murder that have been discovered are obvious, the vast number, it may
+be, that have never been found out are not obvious, however probable.
+
+The case we are now describing seemed likely to belong to the class
+which remains a mystery till altogether forgotten.  Nevertheless Nemesis
+was on the wing.
+
+While Duncan McKay junior was thus pushing his way over the plains in
+the direction of Red River Settlement, two poor half-breed women were
+toiling slowly over the same plains behind him, bound for the same haven
+of hoped-for and much-needed rest and refreshment.  The poor creatures
+had been recently made widows.  The husband of one, Louis Blanc, had
+been killed by Indians during this hunt; that of the other, Antoine
+Pierre, had met his death by being thrown from his horse when running
+the buffalo.  Both women were in better condition than many of the other
+hunters' wives, for they had started on the homeward journey with a
+better supply of meat, which had not yet been exhausted.
+
+It happened that Marie Blanc and Annette Pierre came upon McKay's camp
+soon after he left it the second time.  Here they prepared to spend the
+night, but, on discovering marks of fresh blood about, they made a
+search, and soon came on the unburied corpse of the murdered man, lying
+behind a bush.  They recognised it at once, for Perrin had been
+well-known, as well as much liked, in the Settlement.
+
+Neither of the women was demonstrative.  They did not express much
+feeling, though they were undoubtedly shocked; but they dug a hole in
+the snow with their snow-shoes, and buried the body of the hunter
+therein--having first carefully examined the wound in his breast, and
+removed the poor man's coat, which exhibited a burnt hole in front, as
+well as a hole in the back, for the bullet had gone quite through him.
+
+Then they returned to the camp, and made a careful examination of it;
+but nothing was found there which could throw light on the subject of
+who was the murderer.  Whether a comrade or an Indian had done the deed
+there was nothing to show; but that a murder had been committed they
+could not doubt, for it was physically almost impossible that a man
+could have shot himself in the chest, either by accident or intention,
+with one of the long-barrelled trading guns in use among the
+buffalo-hunters.
+
+Another point, justifying the supposition of foul play, was the
+significant fact that Perrin's gun, with his name rudely carved on the
+stock, still lay in the camp _undischarged_.
+
+"See--here is something," said one woman to the other in the Cree
+tongue, as they were about to quit the camp.
+
+She held up a knife which she had found half buried near the fire.
+
+"It is not a common scalping-knife," said the other woman.  "It is the
+knife of a settler."
+
+The weapon in question was one of the large sheath-knives which many of
+the recently arrived settlers had brought with them from their native
+land.  Most of these differed a little in size and form from each other,
+but all of them were very different from the ordinary scalping-knives
+supplied by the fur-traders to the half-breeds and Indians.
+
+"I see no name on it--no mark," said the woman who found it, after a
+critical inspection.  Her companion examined it with equal care and
+similar result.
+
+The two women had at first intended to encamp at this spot, but now they
+determined to push forward to the Settlement as fast as their exhausted
+condition permitted, carrying the knife, with the coat and gun of the
+murdered man, along with them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+SAVED.
+
+Duncan McKay senior was dreaming of, and gloating over, the flesh-pots
+of Red River, and his amiable daughter was rambling over the green
+carpet of the summer prairies, when the sun arose and shone upon the
+bushes which surrounded their winter camp--Starvation Camp, as the old
+man had styled it.
+
+There is no saying how long Duncan would have gloated, and the fair
+Elspie wandered, if a hair of the buffalo robe on which the former lay
+had not entered his nostril, and caused him to sneeze.
+
+Old McKay's sneeze was something to be remembered when once heard.
+Indeed it was something that could not be forgotten!  From the
+profoundest depths of his person it seemed to burst, and how his nose
+sustained the strain without splitting has remained one of the mysteries
+of the Nor'-West unto this day.  It acted like an electric shock on
+Elspie, who sat bolt upright at once with a scared look that was quite
+in keeping with her tousled hair.
+
+"Oh! daddy, what a fright you gave me!"  Elspie said, remonstratively.
+
+"It iss goot seventeen years an' more that you hev had to get used to
+it, whatever," growled the old man.  "I suppose we've got nothin' for
+breakfast?"
+
+He raised himself slowly, and gazed at Elspie with a disconsolate
+expression.
+
+"Nothing," returned the girl with a look of profound woe.
+
+It is said that when things are at the worst they are sure to mend.  It
+may be so: the sayings of man are sometimes true.  Whether or not the
+circumstances of Elspie and old McKay were at the worst is an open
+question; but there can be no doubt that they began to mend just about
+that time, for the girl had not quite got rid of her disconsolate
+feelings when the faint but merry tinkle of sleigh-bells was heard in
+the frosty air.
+
+The startled look of sudden surprise and profound attention is
+interesting to behold, whether in old or young.  It is a condition of
+being that utterly blots out self for a brief moment in the person
+affected, and allows the mind and frame for once to have free
+unconscious play.
+
+Elspie said, "Sh!--" and gazed aside with wide and lustrous eyes, head a
+little on one side, a hand and forefinger slightly raised, as if to
+enforce silence, and her graceful figure bent forward--a petrifaction of
+intensely attentive loveliness.
+
+Old McKay said "Ho!" and, with both hands resting on the ground to prop
+him up, eyes and mouth wide open, and breath restrained, presented the
+very personification of petrified stupidity.
+
+Another moment, and the sound became too distinct to admit of a doubt.
+
+"Here they are at long last!" exclaimed the old man, rising with
+unwonted alacrity for his years.
+
+"Thank God!" ejaculated Elspie, springing up and drawing a shawl round
+her shoulders, at the same time making some hasty and futile attempts to
+reduce the confusion of her hair.
+
+It need scarcely be said that this was the arrival of the rescue-party
+of which Daniel Davidson was in command.  Before the starving pair had
+time to get fairly on their legs, Daniel strode into the camp and seized
+Elspie in his arms.
+
+We need not repeat what he said, for it was not meant to be made public,
+but no such reticence need trouble us in regard to old Duncan.
+
+"Hoot!  Taniel," said he, somewhat peevishly, "keep your coortin' till
+efter breakfast, man!  It iss a wolf that will be livin' inside o' me
+for the last few tays--a hungry wolf too--an' nothin' for him to eat.
+That's right, Okematan, on wi' the kettle; it iss yourself that knows
+what it iss to starve.  Blow up the fire, Peter Tavidson.  You're a
+cliver boy for your age, an' hes goot lungs, I make no doubt."
+
+"That I have, Mr McKay, else I should not be here," said the lad,
+laughing, as he knelt before the embers of the fire, and blew them into
+a blaze.
+
+"Wow!  Dan, hev ye not a pit pemmican handy?" asked McKay.  "It iss
+little I care for cookin' just now."
+
+"Here you are," said Dan, taking a lump of the desired article from his
+wallet and handing it to the impatient man; at the same time giving a
+morsel to Elspie.  "I knew you would want it in a hurry, and kept it
+handy.  Where is Duncan?  I thought he was with you."
+
+"So he wass, Taniel, when you left us to go to Rud Ruver, but my son
+Tuncan was never fond o' stickin' to his father.  He left us, an' no wan
+knows where he iss now.  Starvin', maybe, like the rest of us."
+
+"I hope not," said Elspie, while her sire continued his breakfast with
+manifest satisfaction.  "He went off to search for buffalo with Perrin
+and several others.  They said they would return to us if they found
+anything.  But, as they have not come back, we suppose they must have
+been unsuccessful.  Did you meet any of the poor people on the way out,
+Dan?"
+
+"Ay, we met some of them," replied the hunter, in a sad tone.  "All
+struggling to make their way back to the Settlement, and all more or
+less starving.  We helped them what we could, but some were past help;
+and we came upon two or three that had fallen in their tracks and died
+in the snow.  But we have roused the Settlement, and there are many
+rescue-parties out in all directions now, scouring the plains."
+
+"You hev stirred it enough, Okematan," said old McKay, referring to the
+kettle of food which was being prepared.  "Here, fill my pannikin: I can
+wait no longer."
+
+"Whenever you have finished breakfast we must start off home," said
+Davidson, helping Elspie to some of the much-needed and not yet warmed
+soup, which was quickly made by mixing pemmican with flour and water.
+"I have brought two sleds, so that you and your father may ride, and we
+will carry the provisions.  We never know when the gale may break out
+again."
+
+"Or when heavy snow may come on," added Peter, who was by that time busy
+with his own breakfast.
+
+Okematan occupied himself in stirring the contents of the large kettle,
+and occasionally devouring a mouthful of pemmican uncooked.
+
+An hour later, and they were making for home almost as fast as the
+rescue-party had travelled out--the provisions transferred to the strong
+backs of their rescuers--old McKay and Elspie carefully wrapped up in
+furs, reposing on the two sledges.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+DISCORD AND DECEIT, ETCETERA.
+
+It was found, on their arrival at the home of Duncan McKay senior, that
+Duncan junior had got there before them, he having been met and brought
+in by one of the settlers who had gone out with his cariole to do what
+he could for the hunters.  The two women who discovered the body of
+Perrin, however, had not yet arrived, and nothing was known of the
+murder in the Settlement.
+
+"It iss little troubled _you_ wass, what came over us," remarked old
+Duncan angrily, on entering his house, and finding his younger son
+engaged with a pipe beside the kitchen fire.
+
+"An' how could _I_ know where you wass; efter I had been huntin' for
+nothin' for two days?" retorted his son.  "Wass I to think you would be
+stoppin' in the lame camp till you died?  Wass it not more likely that
+some wan would find you an' bring you in--as they did?"
+
+"No thanks to you that they did, Tuncan, what_ever_.  Where did you
+leave the other boys?"
+
+"How should I know?" returned the son sharply; "they dropped off--wan
+here an' wan there--sayin' they would try for a buffalo in wan place or
+another, or, that they would rest awhile; an' so I wass left by myself.
+I found it quite enough to look efter number wan."
+
+"It hes _always_ been as much, that, as ye could manitch, Tuncan, even
+when things wass goin' easy," said the old man with a sarcastic laugh,
+that induced the young man to rise and quit the room.
+
+He went towards a small shop, or store, as such places were styled in
+the Nor'-West.  It fell to his lot in the family arrangements to look
+after and manage this store.  Indeed the youth's anxiety for the ease
+and comfort of "number wan" had induced him to select the post as being
+a part of the family duties that was peculiarly suited to himself.
+
+On reaching the store he went straight to a large roll of Canadian twist
+tobacco, cut off a piece, refilled his pipe, and, sitting down on a bale
+began or, rather, continued to smoke.  He had not been seated long when
+the door opened, and the head of a half-breed peeped cautiously in with
+an uncommonly sly look.
+
+"That you, Francois La Certe?" said McKay rather sternly, for he knew
+the man well.  "What iss it you will be wantin' now?"
+
+Francois wanted many things--things almost too numerous to mention; but,
+first, he would pay his debts to Cloudbrow.
+
+"Come, that's something new," said McKay with a cynical laugh.  "You
+must have come by a fortune, or committed a robbery before ye would be
+so honest.  How much are you goin' to pay?"
+
+"The sledge that you lent me, I have brought back," said the half-breed
+with a deprecatory air.
+
+"So, you call returning a loan paying your debts?" said Duncan.
+
+La Certe did not quite say that, but he thought it bore some resemblance
+to a payment to account, and at all events was proof of his good
+intentions.
+
+"And on the strength of that you'll want plenty more credit, I hev no
+doubt."
+
+"No--not plenty," said La Certe, with the earnest air of a man who is
+exposing his whole soul to inspection, and who means to act this time
+with the strictest sincerity, to say nothing of honesty.  "It is only a
+little that I want.  Not much.  Just enough to keep body and soul from
+sayin' good-bye."
+
+"But you have not paid a fraction of your old debt.  How will you be
+expectin' to meet the new one?"
+
+Oh!  La Certe could easily explain that.  He was going off immediately
+to hunt and trap, and would soon return with a heavy load, for there
+were plenty of animals about.  Then in the spring, which was near at
+hand, he meant to fish, or go to the plains with the hunters, and return
+laden with bags of pemmican, bales of dried meat, and buffalo-robes
+enough to pay off all his debts, and leave something over to enable him
+to spend the winter in luxurious idleness.
+
+"And you expect me to believe all that nonsense?" said McKay, sternly.
+
+La Certe was hurt.  Of course he expected to be believed!  His feelings
+were injured, but he was of a forgiving disposition and would say no
+more about it.  He had expected better treatment, however, from one who
+had known him so long.
+
+"A trip to the plains requires more than powder and shot," said the
+store-keeper; "where will you be goin' to get a horse an' cart? for you
+can hev mine no longer."
+
+"Dechamp, he promise to sole me a horse, an' Mrs Davis'n will loan me a
+cart," returned the half-breed, with lofty independence.
+
+"Hm! an' you will be returnin' the cart an' payin' for the horse when
+the hunt is over, I suppose?"
+
+Yes, that was exactly the idea that was in La Certe's brain, and which,
+he hoped and fully expected, to reduce to practice in course of time--if
+Duncan McKay would only assist him by making him a few advances at that
+present time.
+
+"Well, what do you want?" asked McKay, getting off the bath.
+
+The half-breed wanted a good many things.  As he was going off in the
+course of a few days, and might not be able to return for a long time,
+he might as well take with him even a few things that he did not
+absolutely need at the moment.  Of course he wanted a good supply of
+powder, shot, and ball.  Without that little or nothing could be done.
+Then a new axe, as his old one was much worn--the steel almost gone--and
+it was well-known that a trapper without an axe was a very helpless
+creature.  A tin kettle was, of course, an absolute necessity; and the
+only one he possessed had a small hole in it.  A few awls to enable him
+to mend his bark canoe when open water came, and a couple of steel
+traps, some gun-flints, and, O yes, he had almost forgotten a most
+essential thing--twine to make a net, and some fish-hooks.
+
+"It iss a regular outfit you will be wanting," remarked the
+store-keeper, as he handed over the various articles.
+
+O no--not a regular one--only a very little one, considering the length
+of time he should be away, and the wealth with which he would return.
+But again he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something else.
+
+"Well, what iss it?"
+
+Some glover's needles and sinews for making leather coats and moccasins.
+Needles and thread and scissors, for it was quite clear that people
+could not live without suitable clothing.  A new capote, also, and--
+and--a yard or two of scarlet cloth with a few beads.
+
+As he made the last request, La Certe attempted to speak insinuatingly,
+and to look humble.
+
+"Come, that iss pure extravagance," said McKay, remonstrating.
+
+La Certe could not, dare not, face his wife without these articles.  He
+pleaded earnestly.  "Slowfoot is so clever wi' the needle," he said.
+"See! she send you a pair of moccasins."
+
+The wily man here drew from the breast of his capote a pair of
+beautifully made moccasins, soft as chamois leather, and richly
+ornamented with dyed quills of the porcupine.
+
+McKay laughed; nevertheless he swallowed the bait and was pleased.  He
+finally handed the goods to La Certe, who, when he had obtained all that
+he could possibly squeeze out of the store-keeper, bundled up the whole,
+made many solemn protestations of gratitude and honest intentions, and
+went off to cheer Slowfoot with the news of his success.
+
+It chanced that Antoine Dechamp, the very man about whom he had been
+talking to Duncan McKay, had dropped in to see him and his spouse, and
+was sitting beside the fire smoking when he entered.  Displaying his
+possessions with much pride, he assured Dechamp that he had paid for the
+whole outfit, and meant to return in the spring a rich man with means
+enough to buy a horse and cart, and start with the buffalo-hunters for
+the plains.
+
+"You have a horse to sell--they say?" he remarked to his friend in a
+careless way.
+
+"Yes--and a good one too," answered Dechamp.
+
+"Well, if you will loan him to me in the spring, I will pay for him when
+I come back.  It takes all I have to fit me out to start, you see."
+
+Dechamp did not quite see his way to that--but there was plenty of time
+to think over it!
+
+"Have you heard," said Dechamp, willing to change the subject, "there is
+some talk that Perrin has been killed?  George McDermid was out, like
+many others, huntin' about for the starvin' people, an' he came across
+the wives of Blanc and Pierre--poor things! they're widows now, for
+Blanc and Pierre are both dead.  Well, the women had well-nigh given in.
+I had dropped down, they were so tired, and were crawlin' on their
+hands and knees when McDermid found them.  I didn't hear all the outs
+and ins of it, but there is no doubt that poor Perrin has been murdered,
+for he was shot right through the breast."
+
+"Perhaps he shot hisself," suggested La Certe.
+
+"No--that could not be, for the women have brought his coat, which shows
+that the ball went in at the breast and came _straight_ out at the back.
+If he had shot himself he must have pulled the trigger with his toe,
+an' then the ball would have slanted up from his breast to somewhere
+about his shoulders."
+
+"It was a Saulteaux, may be," said Slowfoot, who had been listening with
+all the eagerness of a gossip.
+
+"There were no marks of Redskins' snow-shoes about," returned Dechamp,
+"an' the tracks were too confused to make them out.  A knife was found,
+but there were no marks about it to tell who owned it--only it was a
+settler's knife, but there are lots of them about, an' many have changed
+hands since the settlers came."
+
+At the time we write of, the colony of Red River of the north was in a
+very unhappy and disorganised condition.  There were laws indeed, but
+there was no authority or force sufficiently strong to apply the laws,
+and discord reigned because of the two great fur companies--the Hudson's
+Bay, and the Nor'-West--which opposed each other with extreme
+bitterness, carrying fire-water, dissension, and disaster all over the
+wilderness of Rupert's Land.  Happily the two companies coalesced in the
+year 1821, and from that date, onward, comparative peace has reigned
+under the mild sway of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+But at the period which we describe the coalition had not taken place,
+and many of the functionaries of the Hudson's Bay Company in Red River,
+from the Governor downward, seem to have been entirely demoralised, if
+we are to believe the reports of contemporary historians.
+
+Some time previous to this, the Earl of Selkirk--chiefly from
+philanthropic views, it is said--resolved to send a colony to Red River.
+At different times bands of Scotch, Swiss, Danes, and others, made
+their appearance in the Settlement.  They had been sent out by the
+agents of the Earl, but there was a great deal of mismanagement and
+misunderstanding, both as to the motives and intentions of the Earl.
+The result was that the half-breeds of Red River--influenced, it is
+said, by the Nor'-West Company--received the newcomers with suspicion
+and ill-will.  The Indians followed the lead of the half-breeds, to whom
+they were allied.  Not only was every sort of obstruction thrown in the
+way of the unfortunate immigrants, but more than once during those first
+years they were driven from the colony, and their homesteads were burned
+to the ground.
+
+There must have been more than the usual spirit of indomitable
+resolution in those people, however, for notwithstanding all the
+opposition and hardship they had to endure, they returned again and
+again to their farms, rebuilt their dwellings, cultivated their fields,
+and, so to speak, compelled prosperity to smile on them--and that, too,
+although several times the powers of Nature, in the shape of grass
+hoppers and disastrous floods, seemed to league with men in seeking
+their destruction.
+
+Perhaps the Scottish element among the immigrants had much to do with
+this resolute perseverance.  Possibly the religious element in the
+Scotch had more to do with it still.
+
+The disastrous winter which we have slightly sketched was one of the
+many troubles with which not only the newcomers, but all parties in the
+colony, were at this time afflicted.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+VIXEN DELIVERED AND WOLVES DEFEATED.
+
+With much labour and skill had the Davidsons and McKays erected two
+timber cottages side by side in the land of their adoption.
+
+These two families were among the first band of settlers.  They were
+very different in character--one being Highland, the other Lowland
+Scotch, but they were more or less united by sympathy, intermarriage,
+and long residence beside each other on the slopes of the Grampian
+Hills, so that, on the voyage out, they made a compact that they should
+stick by each other, and strive, and work, and fight the battle of life
+together in the new land.
+
+All the members of the Davidson family were sterling, sedate, hearty,
+and thorough-going.  Daniel and Peter were what men style "dependable"
+fellows, and bore strong resemblance to their father, who died almost
+immediately after their arrival in the new country.  Little Jessie was
+like her mother, a sort of bottomless well of sympathy, into which
+oceans of joy or sorrow might be poured without causing an overflow--
+except, perchance, at the eyelids--and out of which the waters of
+consolation might be pumped for evermore without pumping dry.  The idea
+of self never suggested itself in the presence of these two.  The
+consequence was that everybody adored them.  It was rather a selfish
+adoration, we fear, nevertheless it was extremely delightful--to the
+adorers, we mean--and doubtless not unpleasant to the adored.
+
+The love of God, in Christ, was the foundation of their characters.
+
+Of the McKay family we cannot speak so confidently.  Elspie, indeed, was
+all that could be desired, and Fergus was in all respects a sterling
+man; but the head of the family was, as we have seen, open to
+improvement in many respects, and Duncan junior was of that
+heart-breaking character which is known as ne'er-do-weel.  Possibly, if
+differently treated by his father, he might have been a better man.  As
+it was, he was unprincipled and hasty of temper.
+
+Little wonder that, when thrown together during a long voyage--to an
+almost unknown land--Elspie McKay and Daniel Davidson should fall into
+that condition which is common to all mankind, and less wonder that,
+being a daring youth with a resolute will, Daniel should manage to
+induce the pliant, loving Elspie, to plight her troth while they were
+gazing over the ship's side at the first iceberg they met.  We may as
+well hark back here a little, and very briefly sketch the incident.  It
+may serve as a guide to others.
+
+The two were standing--according to the report of the bo's'n, who
+witnessed the whole affair--"abaft the main shrouds squintin' over the
+weather gangway."  We are not quite sure of the exact words used by that
+discreditable bo's'n, but these are something like them.  It was
+moon-light and dead calm; therefore propitious, so far, to Daniel's
+design--for Daniel undoubtedly had a design that night, obvious to his
+own mind, and clearly defined like the great iceberg, though, like it
+too, somewhat hazy in detail.
+
+"What a glorious, magnificent object!" exclaimed Elspie, gazing in
+wonder at the berg, the pinnacles of which rose considerably above the
+mast-head.
+
+"Yes, very glorious, very magnificent!" said Daniel, gazing into the
+maiden's eyes, and utterly regardless of the berg.
+
+"I wonder how such a huge mass ever manages to melt," said Elspie--for
+the human mind, even in pretty girls, is discursive.
+
+"_I_ wonder it does not melt at once," said Dan, with pointed emphasis.
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked, turning her eyes in considerable
+astonishment from the berg to the man.
+
+"I mean," said he, "that under the influence of your eyes the iceberg
+ought to melt straight away.  They have melted my heart, Elspie, and
+_That_ has been an iceberg, I find, till now."
+
+He seized her hand.  It had all come on so suddenly that poor Elspie was
+quite unprepared for it.  She turned as if to fly, but Daniel put his
+arm round her waist and detained her.
+
+"Elspie, dearest Elspie, it _must_ be settled now--or--."  He would
+not--could not--say "never."
+
+"O Daniel, don't!" entreated Elspie.
+
+But Daniel _did_.
+
+"Bray-vo!" exclaimed the bo's'n with enthusiasm, for he was a
+sympathetic man, though unprincipled in the matter of eavesdropping.
+
+That cut it short.  They retired precipitately from the weather gangway
+abaft the main shrouds, and sought refuge in a sequestered nook near the
+companion-hatch, which was, in name as well as in every other way, much
+more suited to their circumstances.  The steersman had his eye on them
+there, but they fortunately did not know it.
+
+Apologising for this reminiscence, we return to the thread of our story.
+
+Mrs Davidson was seated at breakfast one morning, with all her family
+around her in Prairie Cottage.  She had named it thus because, from one
+of the windows, there was to be had a peep of the prairies lying beyond
+the bushes by which it was surrounded.
+
+Old McKay had named his cottage Ben Nevis, either because the country
+around was as flat as a pancake, or out of sheer contradictiousness.
+
+"Have they found out anything more about the murder of that poor fellow
+Perrin?" asked Mrs Davidson.  "More than four months have passed since
+it happened."
+
+"Nothing more, mother," said Dan, who now filled his father's chair.
+"As you say, four months have passed, and one would think that was time
+enough to discover the murderer, but, you see, it is nobody's business
+in particular, and we've no regular police, and everybody is far too
+busy just now to think about it.  In fact, not many people in these
+parts care much about a murder, I fear."
+
+"Ah if they went to see Perrin's old mother," said Jessie, "it would
+oblige them to care a great deal, for he was her only son."
+
+"Ay, her only child!" added Mrs Davidson.
+
+While she was yet speaking, it so happened that Duncan McKay junior
+himself entered the room, with that over-done free-and-easiness which
+sometimes characterises a man who is ill at ease.
+
+"Whose only child are you speaking about, Mrs Davidson?" he asked
+carelessly.
+
+"Mrs Perrin's," she replied, with a familiar nod to the visitor, who
+often dropped in on them casually in this way.
+
+The reply was so unexpected and sudden, that McKay could not avoid a
+slight start and a peculiar expression, in spite of his usual
+self-command.  He glanced quickly at Dan and Peter, but they were busy
+with their food, and had apparently not noticed the guilty signs.
+
+"Ah, poor thing," returned the youth, in his cynical and somewhat nasal
+tone, "it _iss_ hard on her.  By the way, Dan, hev ye heard that the
+wolves hev killed two or three of McDermid's horses that had strayed out
+on the plains, and Elspie's mare Vixen iss out too.  Some of us will be
+going to seek for her.  The day bein' warm an' the snow soft, we hev a
+good chance of killin' some o' the wolves.  I thought Peter might like
+to go too."
+
+"So Peter does," said the youth, rising and brushing the crumbs off his
+knees: "there's nothing I like better than to hunt down these sneaking,
+murderous brutes that are so ready to spring suddenly unawares on friend
+or foe."
+
+Again Duncan McKay cast a quick inquiring glance at Peter, but the lad
+was evidently innocent of any double meaning.  It was only a movement,
+within the man-slayer, of that conscience which "makes cowards of us
+all."
+
+"Louise!" shouted Dan, as he also rose from the table.
+
+"Oui, monsieur," came, in polite deferential tones, from the culinary
+department, and the little half-breed maiden appeared at the door.
+
+"Did you mend that shot-bag last night?"
+
+"Oui, monsieur."
+
+"Fetch it here, then, please; and, Jessie, stir your stumps like a good
+girl, and get some food ready to take with us."
+
+"Will you tell me the precise way in which good girls stir their
+stumps?" asked Jessie; "for I'm not quite sure."
+
+Dan answered with a laugh, and went out to saddle his horse, followed by
+his brother and Duncan McKay.
+
+"Rescuing seems to be the order of the day this year," remarked Peter,
+as they walked towards the stable behind the cottage.  "We've had a good
+deal of rescuing men in the winter, and now we are goin' to rescue
+horses."
+
+"Rescuing is the grandest work that a fellow can undertake," said Dan,
+"whether it be the body from death or the soul from sin."
+
+"What you say iss true--whatever," remarked McKay, whose speech,
+although not so broad as that of his father, was tinged with similar
+characteristics.  "It will be better to rescue than to kill."
+
+This was so obvious a truism that his companions laughed, but Duncan had
+uttered it almost as a soliloquy, for he was thinking at the moment of
+poor Perrin, whose body had long since been brought to the Settlement
+and buried.  Indeed thoughts of the murdered man were seldom out of his
+mind.
+
+Meanwhile, far out on the lonesome and still snow-covered prairie the
+steed which they were going to rescue stood on a low mound or undulation
+of the plain surrounded by wolves.  It was a pitiful sight to see the
+noble mare, almost worn-out with watching and defending herself, while
+the pack of those sneaking hounds of the wilderness sat or stood around
+her licking their chops and patiently biding their time.
+
+They formed a lean, gaunt, savage-looking crew, as they sat there,
+calculating, apparently, how long their victim's strength would hold
+out, and when it would be safe to make a united and cowardly rush.
+
+One wolf, more gaunt and rugged and grey than the others, with black
+lips and red tongue and bloodshot eyes, moved about the circle uneasily
+as if trying to screw up its craven spirit to the sticking point.  The
+others evidently regarded this one as their leader, for they hung back
+from him a little, and kept a watchful eye on his movements.  So did
+Vixen, the mare.  She kept her tail always turned towards him, looking
+savagely back at him with her great eyes glittering, her ears laid flat,
+and her heels ready.
+
+Poor Vixen!  Elspie had given her the name when in a facetious frame of
+mind, as being descriptive of the very opposite of her character, for
+she was gentle as a lamb, tender in the mouth, playful in her moods, and
+sensitive to a degree both in body and spirit.  No curb was ever needed
+to restrain Vixen, nor spur to urge her on.  A chirp sent an electric
+thrill through her handsome frame; a "Quiet, Vic!" sufficed to calm her
+to absolute docility.  Any child could have reined her in, and she went
+with springy elasticity as though her limbs were made of vivified steel
+and indiarubber.  But she was getting old, and somehow the wolves seemed
+to be aware of that melancholy fact.  They would not have troubled her
+in the heyday of her youth!
+
+An impatient howl from one of the pack seemed to insinuate that the grey
+old leader was a coward.  So he was, but evidently he did not relish
+being told so, for he uncovered his glittering fangs and made a sudden
+dash at the mare.
+
+With a whisk of the tail worthy of her best days, she lashed out behind
+and planted both her pretty little feet on the ribs of the grey chief
+with such a portentous whack that he succumbed at once.  With a gasp,
+and a long-drawn wail, he sank dead upon the snow; whereupon his amiable
+friends--when quite sure of his demise--tore him limb from limb and
+devoured him.
+
+This was a fortunate respite for Vixen, most of whose remaining strength
+and pluck had been thrown into that magnificent fling.  Old Duncan, had
+he seen it, would probably have styled it a "goot Highland fling."
+
+But the respite was not of long duration.  Their leader formed but a
+mouthful to each of the pack.
+
+When done, they returned to encircle their victim again, lick their
+chops, and wait.
+
+Evening was drawing on, and a sort of grey desolation seemed to be
+creeping over the plains.
+
+A decided thaw had been operating all that day, rendering the snow soft.
+If the mare had only known the advantage thus given to her, a
+successful effort at escape might have been made.  When snow on the
+prairie is frozen with a hard crust on the surface, the light wolf can
+run easily on the top of it, while the heavy horse breaks through at
+every stride and is soon knocked up.  The case is reversed when a thaw
+softens the surface, for then the short-legged wolf flounders helplessly
+in its depths, while the long-limbed and powerful horse can gallop
+through it with comparative ease.  But the good mare, intelligent though
+she was, did not consider this fact, and the wolves, you may be sure,
+did not enlighten her.  Besides, by that time she was well-nigh
+worn-out, and could not have made a vigorous run for life even over a
+good course.
+
+Gradually, a worthy lieutenant of the old grey chief began to show
+symptoms of impatience, and the hungry circle closed in.  Vixen looked
+up and whinnied slightly.  It seemed a pitiful appeal for help from the
+human friends who had cared for her so well and so long.  Perchance it
+was the last wail of despair--a final farewell to the green fields and
+the flowering plains of memory.
+
+Whatever it was, an answer came in the form of several dark specks on
+the horizon.  Vixen saw them, and whinnied again in a decidedly
+different tone.  The wolves also saw them, and moved about uneasily.
+
+On came the black specks, increasing in size as they drew near.  The
+wolves looked at each other inquiringly, moved still more uneasily,
+appeared to hold a consultation, and finally drew off to a neighbouring
+knoll, as if to await the result of this unlooked-for interruption, and
+return to business when it was past.
+
+The intelligence of the lower animals is great--in some cases very
+great--but it does not amount to reason.  If it did, those wolves would
+not have sat there, in the pride of physical strength and personal
+freedom, calmly awaiting their doom, while Daniel and Peter Davidson,
+Duncan McKay junior, Okematan the Cree Indian, another Indian named
+Kateegoose, and Jacques Bourassin, a half-breed, came thundering down
+towards them like infuriated centaurs.
+
+At last they seemed to realise the truth that "discretion is the better
+part of valour," and began to retire from the scene--slowly at first.
+
+Vixen, recognising friends, trotted off with reviving strength, and a
+high head and tail to meet them.  Seeing this, Dan, who led the party,
+drew rein so as to allow the steeds to recover breath before the final
+burst.
+
+The wolves, with that presumption which is usually found to be the
+handmaid of ignorance, halted, and sat down again to watch the progress
+of events.  Fatal self-confidence!  They little knew the deep duplicity
+of man!
+
+"O you stupid brutes!" murmured Dan to himself, advancing in a somewhat
+sidling manner as if he meant to pass them.  They evidently believed
+this to be his intention until they saw the six horsemen turn their
+steeds straight in their direction and charge them at full gallop with a
+yell that drove rapid conviction to their brains.
+
+Then, with tails between legs and ears flat they fled.  But it was too
+late.  The horses scattered the soft snow with comparative ease.  The
+wolves plunged through it with difficulty.  First to overtake them was
+Peter Davidson.  He put the muzzle of his gun to the side of the grey
+lieutenant, and shot him through the heart.  His brother Dan, selecting
+another of the pack, pointed at the ear and blew out its brains.
+Okematan, partial to the weapons of his forefathers, sent an arrow
+through the ribs of a third, while Kateegoose transfixed a fourth.
+Duncan McKay shot a fifth, and Bourassin knocked over a sixth at
+comparatively long range, his horse being too poor or too tired to come
+fairly up with the pack.
+
+There was no wasting of powder, shot, or shaft in this affair.  Each man
+was an expert with his weapon, and cool as the proverbial cucumber,
+though considerably excited.  Loading as they ran, they fitted and shot
+again, stretching six more of the enemy on the plain.  Then they pulled
+up and suffered the rest to escape, being afraid to leave Vixen out of
+sight behind them, for that happy creature, following and enjoying the
+sport as long as she could, found that her powers were too much
+exhausted to permit of her keeping up with the chase.
+
+"She's not fit to travel another mile," said Dan, stroking her glossy
+neck and allowing her to rub her nose affectionately on his shoulder.
+
+"That iss true, whatever," assented Duncan.  "I think we could not do
+better than camp on the nearest bluff."
+
+This was agreed to by all.  Provision for one meal, it will be
+remembered, had been prepared at Prairie Cottage in the morning.  A
+hunter's meal, when properly divided, makes two or three average meals,
+and a hunter's powers of endurance are proverbial.  Each man had his
+blanket strapped to his saddle.  Branches of various kinds of trees make
+a good mattress, and the air of the prairie is well-known to conduce to
+appetite and slumber.
+
+With such environment it is scarcely necessary to add that the hunters
+enjoyed themselves, and that Vixen had a restful night, probably without
+even a dream about hungry wolves.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+STIRRING EVENTS DESCRIBED.
+
+The proverbial slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, and the well-known
+uncertainty of all human affairs, received striking illustration in the
+person and prospects of our hero, Daniel Davidson, not long after the
+events narrated in the last chapter.
+
+Up to this period the unfortunate colonists of the Red River Settlement
+had led a life chiefly of disappointment and disaster.  Although
+everything had been done for them by their patron the Earl of Selkirk
+with the best intentions, the carrying out of his plans had been
+frustrated by the feuds of the rival fur companies, the
+misunderstandings and the jealousies of Indians and half-breeds, and, to
+some extent, by the severity of the climate.  An open rupture took place
+between them and the North-westers.  Encounters between the contending
+parties occurred, in which several on both sides were killed, and at
+last the North-Westers, attacking the settlers in force, drove them from
+the colony and burnt their dwellings and homesteads.
+
+Retreating to the north end of Lake Winnipeg, the colonists found refuge
+at Jack River--three hundred miles distant.  From this place they were
+ultimately recalled by the Hudson's Bay Company, which took them under
+its protection.  Returning to Red River, the unfortunate but persevering
+people proceeded to resume their farming operations.  But the prospect
+before them was gloomy enough.  The lawless proceedings of the rival
+companies had convulsed the whole Indian country, and the evil seemed to
+culminate in the Red River Colony, to which retired servants of the
+fur-traders, voyageurs, adventurers, and idlers gravitated as to a
+centre; so that there was little prospect of their being allowed to
+prosecute their agricultural operations in peace.
+
+The dissensions at last became so great that a large proportion of the
+new settlers, including many of the Scotch Highlanders, dispersed to
+seek a precarious livelihood among the Indians, on the prairies
+bordering the waters of the Missouri, or to sustain themselves and their
+families by fishing in the distant lakes, and hunting on their shores.
+
+On the advent of spring, however, most of these returned to the colony,
+with renewed hope in agriculture, and set to work--every man, woman, and
+child--to get some seed into the ground.
+
+But at this point an event occurred which threw the colony into great
+consternation, and induced vigorous action on the part of Lord Selkirk,
+which was the first step towards more peaceful times.
+
+The North-West party, consisting chiefly of half-breeds, had augmented
+to upwards of three hundred warriors.  It would be more correct,
+perhaps, to style them banditti; for they had penetrated through every
+part of Rupert's Land, set law at defiance, pillaged and destroyed many
+of the establishments of their rivals, and kept the whole country in a
+state of ferment and alarm.
+
+One band of these men, numbering between sixty and seventy, advanced
+upon Red River Colony.  They were a motley crew, all mounted on
+horseback and armed with guns, spears, tomahawks, bows, and
+scalping-knives, besides which they were painted and plumed _a la
+sauvage_, and were in the habit when rushing to battle, of yelling like
+the Red-men whose blood mingled with that of the White-man in their
+veins.
+
+What was the precise intention of these men at this time it is difficult
+to say, but it was not difficult to see that peace was not their object.
+
+Governor Semple, of the Hudson's Bay Company, a mild, just, and much
+respected man, was in charge of the colony at the time.
+
+Daniel Davidson was engaged in a very important conversation with old
+Duncan McKay at the time the formidable troop of North-Westers swept
+through the settlements.  The old man was seated in the hall, parlour,
+drawing-room--or whatever you choose to call it--of Ben Nevis House.  It
+was an uncarpeted, unpainted, unadorned room with pine plank flooring,
+plank walls, a plank ceiling, a plank table, and a set of plank chairs.
+Ornament was dispensed with in the hall of Ben Nevis House; for although
+Elspie would fain have clothed it with a little feminine grace, its
+proprietor would not hear of such proposals.
+
+"Stick as many gimcracks as you like about your own room, Elspie," he
+had remarked when the first attempt was made, "but leave me my hall in
+peace.  It iss quite pleased with it I am as it iss."
+
+Opposite the door of the hall there was a large open fireplace without a
+grate.  Doors all round the walls of the hall opened into the other
+rooms of the establishment.  Above what would have been the mantelpiece,
+had one existed, there was a row of tobacco pipes.  Old Duncan was a
+great smoker.  Indeed he would have been almost unrecognisable without
+his pipe.  He was smoking when Daniel Davidson visited him, in order to
+hold the very important conversation to which we have referred.
+
+"It iss as you say, Taniel," remarked the old man, frowning at his pipe,
+which was not drawing properly.  "Marrit life iss more to be desired
+than single blessedness, whatever, an' it is a my opeenion that you will
+do more work with Elspie helpin' you, than by yourself.  When iss it you
+will be wantin' to call me your father?"
+
+The old man asked the question with a somewhat humorous smile, for he
+was, to say truth, not a little proud of the staid, sensible, and strong
+young fellow who aspired to his daughter's hand--besides, the pipe was
+drawing well by that time.
+
+"As soon as you like," answered Dan, "or, rather, as soon as Elspie
+likes.  You see, things are beginning to look a little more hopeful now.
+People who seem to know best--or seem to think they do--tell us that
+the Nor'-Westers are beginning to see that a colony here won't interfere
+in any way with their business; a good deal of seed has been sown, and,
+if all goes well, we may look for a better year than we have yet had;
+therefore I don't see why we should wait any longer."
+
+"Your observations are ferry true.  There iss just wan little word you
+mention that requires consideration," returned the old man with a brow
+wrinkled so as to suggest profound sagacity of thought.  "You said `if
+all goes well.'  But supposin', for the sake of argument, that all does
+_not_ go well--what then?"
+
+"Why, then," answered the young man with a laugh, "we shall be no worse
+off than other people, who have to make the best of things as they find
+them."
+
+"No doubt--no doubt--that iss the true an' pheelosophical way to look at
+the matter.  But don't you think, Taniel, that it would be as well to
+putt off till our munister arrives?  I would not be havin' my daughter
+marrit without a munister if I can help it.  An' you know his Lordship
+has promised more than wance to send us wan.  He will not be long o'
+coming now."
+
+"Yes, a minister has been promised again an' again," returned Dan,
+somewhat bitterly, "an' I suppose he will go on promising again and over
+again, but I have not much faith in these promises.  The Earl has too
+many agents who are not as true as himself.  I would rather not delay my
+marriage on that account.  What ails you at Mr Sutherland?"
+
+"Well, Taniel, I hev nothing to say against Muster Sutherland.  He iss a
+ferry goot man--I will not be denyin' that, but--he iss not an ordained
+munister."
+
+"What of that?" retorted Dan.  "He is an ordained elder of the Church of
+Scotland, and that is much the same thing.  And he is a good, Christian
+man, respected by every one in the Settlement."
+
+"Well, well, Taniel; hev it your own way," returned old Duncan with a
+resigned look.  "Of course, it would have been pleesanter if he had been
+a regular munister, whatever; but, as you say, my boy, `what of that?'
+So, as things look a little more peaceable than they wass--though not
+ferry much--I will be--"
+
+He was interrupted at this point by the sudden entrance of Jacques
+Bourassin with the astounding intelligence that a band of North-Westers
+had gone up the Settlement to attack Fort Garry.
+
+"Hoot! nonsense, man!" exclaimed old McKay, starting up and flinging his
+pipe away in the excitement of the moment.
+
+"No--not nonsense!" said Bourassin in broken English; "it be true.  I
+knows it.  I come to say that we go to the fort to help them."
+
+"Right, boy, right!" exclaimed the old man, hastily belting on his
+capote.  "Fergus!  Tuncan!--Elspie! where are these boys?"
+
+"In the stable, father.  I saw them just--"
+
+"Let them saddle all the nags--quick," cried the old man.  "Taniel, you
+better--"
+
+He stopped; for Daniel had already run out to saddle and mount his own
+horse.
+
+In a few minutes a cavalcade of a dozen powerful young fellows, headed
+by old Duncan McKay, and armed with guns, were galloping at full speed
+in the direction of Fort Garry.
+
+But before this cavalcade had set out, the rencontre at the fort had
+already taken place, and been fatally decided.
+
+The approach of the enemy had been announced to those nearest the scene
+of action by the women and children of that part of the Settlement, who
+were seen running about in frantic alarm trying to hide themselves, and
+some of them seeking refuge in the fort.
+
+Among these were two brothers named Sinclair.  One of them, Archie by
+name, was a stout healthy fellow of twelve or thereabouts, the other was
+a thin delicate boy of ten, whose illness, whatever it was, had reduced
+him to skin and bone, taken all the colour out of his cheeks, and
+rendered him quite unable to run or play like other boys.  They had
+recently become orphans, their father and mother, who were among the
+most recent arrivals, having died suddenly within a few weeks of each
+other.  When the alarm of the threatened attack was given, the brothers
+were amusing themselves on the sunny side of the cottage which had been
+for only one year their happy home.
+
+In a moment Archie took his brother on his back and scampered away with
+him to a place near the river, and hid him in a hollow under the bank,
+where they had been wont to play at grizzly bears and hunters.
+
+Meanwhile Governor Semple, with several gentlemen and attendants, walked
+out to meet the party of half-breeds and Indians, not to offer battle,
+but for the purpose of parlance and conciliation.  It is admitted,
+however, that Governor Semple committed a grave error of judgment in
+allowing his small party to carry arms.  They numbered only twenty-eight
+in all, and, being untrained, could have had no chance in an open fight
+with such opponents.  If the Governor had gone out unarmed with only one
+or two attendants, he would, it was thought, have appealed irresistibly
+to the honour of the party.
+
+As it was, when the Hudson's Bay party drew near they thought the look
+of their opponents so suspicious that the Governor halted his men, and
+they stood in a group as if in consultation.  Seeing this, the
+half-breeds divided themselves into two bodies, and commenced firing
+from behind some willows--at first a shot or two, and then a merciless
+volley.  No fewer than twenty-one of the twenty-eight fell to rise no
+more, among whom were the Governor himself; Mr Wilkinson, his
+secretary: Captain Rogers, a mineralogist; Mr White, the surgeon; Mr
+Holt, of the Swedish navy, and Mr McLean, a principal settler.
+
+Indeed the whole party would have probably been killed and the settlers
+massacred at that time, but for the courageous interposition of the
+chief of the half-breeds, Cuthbert Grant, who, at the risk of his life,
+stood between the settlers and their foes, only one of which last was
+killed.
+
+When old McKay and his party drew near to the scene, the massacre was
+completed, and most of his little band--which had been slightly
+augmented on the way up--turned right-about, and rode away to defend
+their respective homes.
+
+But the warrior spirit of old McKay and his sons had been roused.  They
+refused to turn tail, and, in company with Dan and Peter Davidson, made
+a furious charge into a detached party of the half-breeds which they
+chanced to encounter.  They scattered them like sheep, though they did
+not succeed in killing any.  Then they also wheeled round and galloped
+back to their respective homes.
+
+"Come, Elspie, tear," said the old man as he dismounted, "putt what ye
+value most in your pocket an' come away.  The duvles are down on us, and
+we are not able to hold out in Ben Nevis.  The settlers must choin
+altogether, an' do the best we can to defend ourselves."
+
+While he was speaking, the Highlander was busy stuffing some of the
+smaller of his household goods into his pockets--amongst them a large
+quantity of tobacco.
+
+Meanwhile Fergus hastened to the stable to saddle Vixen for Elspie,
+while the poor girl ran to her room and secured some small objects which
+she valued--among them a miniature portrait of her mother, and a Bible
+which the good lady had given to her a short time before her death.
+There was no money, and no valuable documents had to be looked after, so
+that preparations for fight were soon completed.
+
+Now there was a member of old Duncan McKay's household who has not yet
+been introduced to the reader, but whose character and influence in the
+household were such as to demand special notice.  This member was an old
+woman named Peg.  Probably this was an abbreviation of Peggy, but we
+cannot tell.  Neither can we say what her surname was, for we never
+heard it, and no one spoke of the old creature by any other name than
+that of "Old Peg."
+
+Although Old Peg was by no means feeble--indeed, judged by her
+capacities, she might have been pronounced middle-aged, for she could
+walk about the house all day, actively engaged in miscellaneous
+self-imposed duties, and could also eat like a man and sleep like a
+dormouse--she was, nevertheless, withered, and wrinkled, and grey, and
+small.  Her exact age nobody knew--and, for the matter of that, nobody
+seemed to care.
+
+Extreme amiability and self-obliteration were the chief characteristics
+of Old Peg.  She was silent by nature, and deaf as a post--whether by
+art or nature we know not; probably both.  Well, no--on second thoughts,
+not quite as deaf as a post, for by means of severe shouting she could
+be made to hear.
+
+Smiles and nods, however, were her chief means of communication with the
+outer world.  When these failed, a yell might be tried with advantage.
+
+No one of the McKay household ever thought of giving Old Peg anything in
+the shape of work to do, for the very good reason that, being an
+extremely willing horse, she was always working; and she possessed a
+peculiar faculty of observation, which enabled her to perceive, long
+before any one else, what ought to be done, and the right time to do it,
+so that, when any one bounced round with the sudden intention of telling
+her to do anything, Old Peg was found to have done it already, or to be
+in the act of doing it.  It is almost superfluous to say that she
+patched and mended the household garments, washed the most of things
+washable, sewed the sewable, darned the sock, and, generally, did-up the
+whole McKay family.  When not engaged in definite or specific work, she
+had a chronic sock-knitting which helped to fill up and round off the
+corners of her leisure hours.
+
+Old Peg had been the nurse, consecutively, of Fergus, Elspie, and Duncan
+junior.  She was now equivalent to their second mother, having nursed
+their first mother to the end with faithful untiring affection, and
+received from the dying woman a solemn commission never to forsake
+Duncan senior or his progeny.
+
+No sentiment of a religious nature ever escaped Old Peg, but it was
+observed that she read her Bible regularly, and was occasionally found
+asleep on her knees--greatly to the amusement of that irritable old
+rascal, Duncan senior, and to the gratification of Elspie, who came to
+the conclusion that the old woman must have learned well off by heart
+such words as--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do; do it with thy
+might."  "Do good to all men as thy hand findeth opportunity."  "Be
+clothed with humility."  "Trust in the Lord at all times."  Probably
+Elspie was right, for she judged of people in the old-fashioned way,
+namely, "by their fruits."  Her judgment of the two Duncans on this
+principle, by the way, could not have been very exalted, but we cannot
+tell.  She was much too loyal and loving a daughter and sister to give
+any sign or opinion.
+
+At the time of the sudden call to flight just described, the McKay
+family had totally forgotten Old Peg in their hurry.  Elspie was the
+first to miss her.
+
+"Old Peg!" she exclaimed--almost screamed--while Fergus was assisting
+her to mount Vixen, "where is she?"
+
+"I'll find her," said Fergus, "and bring her on in the cart.  You be off
+after father.  We've no time to lose."
+
+"Be _sure_ you bring her, Fergus," said Elspie.
+
+"All right; no fear!"
+
+Thus assured, Elspie was about to gallop away after her father--who had
+started in advance, to overtake and stop the Prairie Cottage family, so
+that they might travel in one band--when the clatter of hoofs was heard,
+and next moment Dan Davidson galloped round the corner of the house.
+
+"I came back for you, Elspie," he said, pulling up.  "Why did you not
+come on with your father?"
+
+"I expected to overtake him, Dan.  You know Vixen is swift.  Besides, I
+missed Old Peg, and delayed a few minutes on her account.  Is she with
+your party?"
+
+"No--at least I did not see her.  But she may have been in the cart with
+Louise.  Shall I look for her while you gallop on?"
+
+"No; Fergus has promised to find and bring her after us.  Come, I am
+ready."
+
+The two galloped away.  As they did so young Duncan issued from the
+stable behind the house, leading out his horse.  He was in no hurry,
+having a good mount.  At the same time Fergus came out at the back-door
+of the house shouting, "Old Peg!  Hallo! old woman, where are ye?"
+
+"Hev ye seen her, Duncan?" he asked impatiently.
+
+"It iss seekin' high an' low I hev been, an' it iss of no use shoutin',
+for she hears nothin'."
+
+"I'm sure I saw her in the cart wi' the Davidsons," said Duncan.
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Fergus.
+
+"Weel, I did not pass quite close to them, as I ran up here for my horse
+on hearin' the news," replied Duncan; "but I am pretty sure that I saw
+her sittin' beside Louise."
+
+"Hm! that accoonts for her not being here," said Fergus, running into
+the stable.  "Hold on a bit, Duncan.  I'll go with ye in a meenit."
+
+In the circumstances he was not long about saddling his horse.  A few
+minutes more, and the brothers were galloping after their friends, who
+had got a considerable distance in advance of them by that time, and
+they did not overtake them till a part of the Settlement was reached
+where a strong muster of the settlers was taking place, and where it was
+resolved to make a stand and face the foe.
+
+Here it was discovered, to the consternation of the McKay family, that
+Old Peg was not with the Davidson party, and that therefore she must
+have been left behind!
+
+"She _must_ be found and rescued," exclaimed Elspie, on making the
+discovery.
+
+"She _must_!" echoed Dan Davidson: "who will go back with me?"
+
+A dozen stout young fellows at once rode to the front, and old McKay
+offered to take command of them, but was overruled and left behind.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+OLD PEG.
+
+Meanwhile, accustomed to think and act for herself, Old Peg, on the
+first alarm, had made up her mind to do her fair share of work quietly.
+
+She did not require to be told that danger threatened the family and
+that flight had been resolved on.  A shout from some one that
+Nor'-Westers were coming, coupled with the hasty preparations, might
+have enlightened a mind much less intelligent than that of the old
+woman.  She knew that she could do nothing to help where smart bodily
+exercise was needed, but, down by the creek close by, there was a small
+stable in which a sedate, lumbering old cart-horse dwelt.  The horse,
+she felt sure, would be wanted.  She could not harness it, but she could
+put a bridle on it and lead it up to the house.
+
+This animal, which was named Elephant on account of its size, had been
+totally forgotten by the family in the hurry of departure.
+
+Old Peg found the putting of a bridle on the huge creature more
+difficult work than she had expected, and only succeeded at last by dint
+of perseverance, standing on three or four bundles of hay, and much
+coaxing--for the creature had evidently taken it into its head that the
+old woman had come there to fondle it--perhaps to feed it with sugar
+after the manner of Elspie.
+
+She managed the thing at last, however, and led the horse up towards the
+house.
+
+Now, while she had been thus engaged the family had left, and the
+half-breeds--having combined their forces--had arrived.
+
+Ben Nevis was the first house the scoundrels came to.  Dismounting, and
+finding the place deserted, they helped themselves to whatever was
+attractive and portable--especially to a large quantity of Canada twist
+tobacco, which old Duncan had found it impossible to carry away.  Then
+they applied fire to the mansion, and, in a wonderfully short time Ben
+Nevis was reduced to a level with the plain.  Another party treated
+Prairie Cottage in a similar manner.
+
+It was when the first volume of black smoke rose into the sky that Old
+Peg came to the edge of the bushes that fringed the creek and discovered
+that Ben Nevis had suddenly become volcanic!  She instantly became fully
+aware of the state of matters, and rightly judged that the family must
+have escaped, else there would have been some evidence of resistance.
+
+Fortunately the old woman had not yet passed quite from the shelter of
+the bushes.  She drew back with a degree of caution worthy of a
+Red-skin, leading the horse with her.  When well out of sight she paused
+for the purpose of meditation.  What was now to be done!  As we have
+said, she possessed decision of character in an eminent degree.  She
+never at any time had taken long to make up her mind; she was not going
+to begin now, though the position was probably the most perplexing that
+she had ever experienced.  Suddenly she raised her head and laughed.
+
+In the circumstances it would not have been surprising had hysteria
+seized Old Peg, but there was nothing hysterical in her nature.  Calm,
+cool, calculating courage dominated her every thought and feeling, but
+the idea of what she was driven to in her old age had tickled her fancy.
+Leading the big cart-horse close up to a bank, she prepared to mount
+him--having previously broken off a good strong switch from a
+neighbouring bush.
+
+Never before in her life had Peg mounted a steed of any kind whatever.
+She knew the lady's position on horseback by sight, of course, but not
+by practice.  To attempt it even with a side-saddle would have been
+impossible; but Elephant was barebacked.  Fortunately he was fat and
+broad, and without a visible back-bone.  Old Peg at once made up her
+mind, and, climbing the bank, scrambled on his back in gentleman's
+position.  It was more comfortable than she had dared to hope.
+
+But now an unexpected difficulty met her.  Elephant declined to move!
+She pulled at his bridle, and he turned sluggishly, but he would not
+advance.  Peg administered a sounding whack with the switch.  She might
+as well have hit a neighbouring tree.  Elephant's hide was like that of
+his namesake, and he had no feelings to speak of that could be touched,
+or hurt, or worked upon.
+
+In this dilemma the old woman had recourse to a weapon with which her
+broad bosom was at all times furnished.  She drew a large pin, and drove
+the point into Elephant's flank.  The result was instantaneous.  Up went
+his hindquarters, and Peg found herself sprawling on his bushy mane.
+She held on to that, however, and, gradually working her way back,
+regained her old position--thankful that she had not been thrown to the
+ground.
+
+Another result was that Elephant condescended to walk.  But this was not
+enough.  Escape at such a pace was impossible.  Old Peg prodded him
+again--this time on the shoulder, for she rightly conjectured that he
+could not well kick up with his fore-legs.  But he might rear!  The
+thought caused her to grasp the bushy mane with both hands and hold on.
+He did not rear, but he trotted, and poor Old Peg came to the conclusion
+that there were disagreeable novelties in life, even for her.
+
+When Elephant at length burst out of the fringe of wood and gained the
+track that followed the course of the river, she was immediately seen by
+the plunderers, who laughed at the strange rider but did not follow her,
+with the exception of one man--an Indian, painted and feathered,--who
+started in pursuit, hoping, possibly, for an easy scalp.
+
+He soon came close up, and, being armed with a bow, sent an arrow in
+advance of him.  The shaft was well aimed.  It grazed the flank of
+Elephant, inflicting a painful wound.  This woke up the old horse
+surprisingly, so that it not only broke into a gallop, but set off at
+racing speed as it used to do when young.  The Indian was badly mounted,
+and gradually lost ground, whereupon he sent after the fugitives several
+more arrows which all fell wide of the mark.
+
+The change to Old Peg was as a reprieve from death!  The trot had almost
+dislocated her bones, and shaken her up like an addled egg, and the
+change to racing speed afforded infinite relief.  She could scarcely
+credit her senses, and she felt a tendency to laugh again as she glanced
+over her shoulder.  But that glance removed the tendency, for it
+revealed the Indian warrior, in all his paint and feathers and streaming
+scalp-locks, in hot pursuit, while the whiz of another arrow close past
+her ear convinced our heroine that it was not a dream.
+
+The jolting to which the poor old creature was subjected had disturbed
+her costume not a little.  Her shawl came nearly off, and, holding on by
+one pin, fluttered like a flag of defiance.  Her slippers, which were of
+the carpet pattern, were left behind on the prairie to perplex the
+wolves, and her voluminous hair--once a rich auburn, but now a pearly
+grey--having escaped its cap and fastenings, was streaming out gaily in
+the breeze, as if to tempt the fingers and knife of the pursuer.
+
+A stern-chase is a long one, whether ashore or afloat.  Pursuer and
+pursued went rapidly down the Settlement until they came in sight of the
+band which had come to rescue Peg.  They received her with a wild cheer
+of surprise and joy, which turned the Red-skin to the right-about, and
+sent him back to his friends much faster than he had come.
+
+On receiving his report, the half-breeds at once dashed off in pursuit
+of the settlers, and did not draw rein until they reached the place
+where the Scotchmen had made a stand.  The latter were greatly
+outnumbered, at least in fighting men, but they showed such a resolute
+front, that Cuthbert Grant, the half-breed leader, again interfered to
+prevent bloodshed if possible.  After calming his men, and advising
+forbearance, he turned to Duncan McKay senior, who was the settlers'
+spokesman, and said--
+
+"If you will go peaceably away out of the colony, we will spare you, but
+if you show fight your blood be on your own heads, for I cannot restrain
+my men much longer."
+
+"Iss it sparin' us you will be talkin' of, Cuthbert Grant?" answered the
+Highlander, with scorn.  "Wow! but if it wass not for the weemen an'
+children that's with us, you would hev a goot chance o' bein' in need o'
+sparin' yoursels; an' it iss not much o' the blood o' the Grants,
+either, that's in _your_ veins, or ye would scorn to consort wi' such
+fire-raisin' cut-throats.  It iss the fortune of war--whatever, and we
+can't affoord to leave our weemen an' bairns defenceless.  So we accept
+your terms, if we are not hindered from carryin' away our arms."
+
+"Carry away whatever you like," replied Grant, quietly, "only be off at
+once, or I'll not answer for the consequences."
+
+Thus the angry Highlander was dismissed, and in the end the unfortunate
+settlers, being a second time driven into exile, took refuge, as before,
+at Jack River.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+ARCHIE AND LITTLE BILL DO WONDERS.
+
+We change the scene now to the margin of a small lake embosomed like a
+gem in the great wilderness of the Far North.
+
+It is autumn.  The sun is bright, the air is calm and clear.  There is a
+species of warm haze which, paradoxically, does not seem to interfere
+with the clearness, and a faint zephyr which appears rather to emphasise
+than break the calm.  It sends a soft cat's-paw now and then across
+parts of the lake, and thus, by contrast, brings into greater prominence
+the bright reflection of trees and cloudland mirrored in its depths.
+Instead of being the proverbial "dead" calm, it is, if we may so put it,
+rather a lively, cheerful calm.
+
+The liveliness of it is vastly increased by hundreds of water-fowl,
+which disport themselves on the surface of the lake, as if coquetting
+with their own reflections, or whistle round its margin while busy on
+the feeding-grounds.
+
+Myriads of mosquitoes were wont there to murmur their maddening career
+in search of blood, but, happily, at the period we write of, an
+incidental and premonitory night-frost had relegated these to the graves
+of their forefathers, or to the mansions of Hiberna--we know not, and
+care not, which.
+
+We have styled the lake a "little" one, but we must remind the reader
+that we use the expression in an American sense, and that where lakes
+are two and three hundred miles long, a little one can well afford to be
+twenty or thirty miles in diameter, with, perchance, a boundless
+horizon.  The lake in question, however, was really a little one--not
+more than two miles in length or breadth, with the opposite shore quite
+visible, and a number of islets of various sizes on its bosom--all more
+or less wooded, and all, more rather than less, the temporary homes of
+innumerable wild-fowl, among which were noisy little gulls with pure
+white bodies and bright red legs and bills.
+
+On the morning in question--for the sun was not yet much above the
+horizon--a little birch-bark canoe might have been seen to glide
+noiselessly from a bed of rushes, and proceed quietly, yet swiftly,
+along the outer margin of the bed.
+
+The bow-paddle was wielded by a stout boy with fair curly hair.  Another
+boy, of gentle mien and sickly aspect, sat in the stern and steered.
+
+"Little Bill," said the stout boy in a low voice, "you're too light.
+This will never do."
+
+"Archie," returned the other with a languid smile, "I can't help it, you
+know--at least not in a hurry.  In course of time, if I eat frightfully,
+I may grow heavier, but just now there's no remedy except the old one of
+a stone."
+
+"That's true, Little Bill," responded Archie with a perplexed look, as
+he glanced inquiringly along the shore; "nevertheless, if thought could
+make you heavier, you'd soon be all right, for you're a powerful
+thinker.  The old remedy, you see, is not available, for this side of
+the lake is low and swampy.  I don't see a single stone anywhere."
+
+"Never mind, get along; we'll come to one soon, I dare say," said the
+other, dipping his paddle more briskly over the side.
+
+The point which troubled Archie Sinclair was the difference in weight
+between himself and his invalid brother, which, as he occupied the bow,
+resulted in the stern of the light craft being raised much too high out
+of the water.  Of course this could have been remedied by their changing
+places, but that would have thrown the heavier work of the bow-paddle on
+the invalid, who happened also to be the better steersman of the two.  A
+large stone placed in the stern would have been a simple and effective
+remedy, but, as we have seen, no large stone was procurable just then.
+
+"It didn't much matter in the clumsy wooden things at Red River," said
+Archie, "but this egg-shell of Okematan's is very different.  Ho!
+there's one at last," he continued with animation as they rounded a
+point of land, and opened up a small bay, on the margin of which there
+were plenty of pebbles, and some large water-worn stones.
+
+One of these having been placed in the stern of the canoe, and the
+balance thus rectified, the voyage was continued.
+
+"Don't you think that breakfast on one of these islets would be nice?"
+said Billie.
+
+"Just the very thing that was in my mind, Little Bill," answered his
+brother.
+
+It was a curious peculiarity in this sturdy youth, that whatever his
+invalid brother wished, he immediately wished also.  Similarly, when
+Billie didn't desire anything, Archie did not desire it.  In short
+Billie's opinion was Archie's opinion, and Billie's will was Archie's
+law.  Not that Archie had no will or opinion of his own.  On the
+contrary, he was quite sufficiently gifted in that way, but his love and
+profound pity for the poor and almost helpless invalid were such that in
+regard to him he had sunk his own will entirely.  As to opinions--well,
+he did differ from him occasionally, but he did it mildly, and with an
+openness to conviction which was almost enviable.  He called him Bill,
+Billie, or Little Bill, according to fancy at the moment.
+
+Poor boys!  The sudden death of both parents had been a terrible blow to
+them, and had intensified the tenderness with which the elder had
+constituted himself the guardian of the younger.
+
+When the Scotch settlers were banished from the colony, pity, as well as
+friendship for their deceased parents, induced the Davidson family to
+adopt the boys, and now, in exile, they were out hunting by themselves
+to aid in replenishing the general store of provisions.
+
+It need scarcely be said that at this period of the year the exiled
+colonists were not subjected to severe hardships, for the air was alive
+with wild-fowl returning south from their breeding-grounds, and the
+rivers and lakes were swarming with fish, many of them of excellent
+quality.
+
+"This will do--won't it?" said Archie, pointing with his paddle to an
+islet about a hundred yards in diameter.
+
+"Yes, famously," responded Little Bill, as he steered towards a shelving
+rock which formed a convenient landing-place.
+
+The trees and shrubs covered the islet to the water's edge with dense
+foliage, that glowed with all the gorgeous colouring for which North
+American woods in autumn are celebrated.  An open grassy space just
+beyond the landing-place seemed to have been formed by nature for the
+express purpose of accommodating picnic parties.
+
+"Nothing could have been better," said Archie, drawing up the bow of the
+canoe, and stooping to lift his brother out.
+
+"I think I'll try to walk--it's such a short bit," said Billie.
+
+"D'ye think so? well, I've no doubt you can do it, Little Bill, for
+you've got a brave spirit of your own, but there's a wet bit o' moss
+you'll have to cross which you mayn't have noticed.  Would you like to
+be lifted over that, and so keep your moccasins dry?"
+
+"Archie, you're a humbug.  You're always trying to make me give you
+needless trouble."
+
+"Well, have it your own way, Little Bill.  I'll help you to walk up."
+
+"No, carry me," said Billie, stretching out his arms; "I've changed my
+mind."
+
+"I will, if you prefer it, Little Bill," said Archie, lifting his
+brother in his strong arms and setting him down on the convenient spot
+before referred to.
+
+Billie was not altogether helpless.  He could stand on his weak legs and
+even walk a little without support, but to tramp through the woods, or
+clamber up a hill, was to him an absolute impossibility.  He had to
+content himself with enjoyments of a milder type.  And, to do him
+justice, he seemed to have no difficulty in doing so.  Perhaps he owed
+it to his mother, who had been a singularly contented woman and had
+taught Billie from his earliest years the truth that, "contentment, with
+godliness, is great gain."  Billie did not announce his belief in this
+truth, but he proclaimed it unwittingly by the more powerful force of
+example.
+
+Breakfast is a pleasant meal at any time if the operator be hungry, but
+who shall describe the delights of breakfast when eaten in company with
+several thousand wild-fowl, in a romantic wilderness with fresh air
+laden with the perfumes of the vegetable kingdom encircling the person;
+the glorious sunshine dazzling the eyes; the sweet songs of animated
+nature thrilling the ears, and the gentle solicitations of an expectant
+appetite craving within?  Words are wasted in such an effort.  We feel
+constrained to leave it--as we have not seldom left many a thing before
+now--to the reader's more or less vivid imagination.
+
+A blazing fire of pine-logs boiled two tin kettles and roasted two fat
+wild-ducks.  In one of the kettles Archie compounded and stirred
+robbiboo--of which, perhaps, the less said the better.  In the other,
+Billie infused a small quantity of tea.  The roasting ducks--split open,
+impaled on sticks and set up before the fire--looked after themselves
+till they began to burn, when they were turned by Archie and again
+neglected for a few minutes.
+
+It was a glorious meal in all respects, and even Billie, whose appetite
+was moderately strong, enjoyed it immensely--none the less that he had
+asked a blessing on it before beginning, and all the more that he
+sympathised fully with his brother in his possession of an amazing--a
+shamelessly robust--capacity for food.
+
+"Now, we'll go to work," remarked Archie, wiping his mouth with a sigh
+of contentment, (he had nothing else to wipe it with!) after finishing
+the last spoonful of robbiboo, the last limb of duck and the last mug of
+tea.
+
+Such a remark at such a period in the entertainment caused Billie to
+laugh.
+
+"Why, Archie, you've been at work this half-hour, and there's nothing
+left to go to work upon now."
+
+"You know quite well, Little Bill, that I refer to the _day's_ work.
+What is it to be?  Provisions must be got if the camp is not to starve,
+and you and I are bound to do our share.  Shall we go to Willow Point
+and shoot ducks and geese, or cross the lake and trawl for fish?"
+
+"Both," answered the invalid with decision.  "We'll do both.  We will
+paddle to Willow Point, and try for jack-fish on the way."
+
+"Just so--the very thing, Little Bill.  Are you ready to start?"
+
+Billie professed himself quite ready.  Archie took him on his back,
+replaced him in the stern of the canoe in company with the big stone,
+and then stepped gently into his own place at the bow, where a common
+trading gun, with the old-fashioned flint lock and single barrel, rested
+against the gunwale.  Pushing off they soon left Breakfast-isle far
+behind them, and crept swiftly along by the margin of the reeds.
+
+On the way Billie cast out his fishing-line.  It was a strong cod-line,
+with a great cod-hook attached and a lump of fat pork on it; for Archie,
+in the fervour of hope coupled with piscatorial ignorance and a sanguine
+disposition, had strongly advised his brother to err, if err he must, on
+the safe side, and be prepared for anything, from a great lake-serpent
+to a fresh-water whale.
+
+No civilised fish would have deigned to give a second thought to the
+obvious deception which a mass of indigestible pork presented, but fish
+of the backwoods--especially in the early years of this century--were
+not suspicious.  An enormous pike, or "jack-fish," coveted that bait and
+took it.  Not only so, but it took the great cod-hook and ten inches of
+the line besides.
+
+A shout such as Billie had not uttered for many months announced the
+fact.
+
+"Hi! hold on, Archie!  Back water!  I say, I'd believe I had hanked the
+bottom if it didn't tug in such a lively way!"
+
+"Pay out line, Little Bill!" cried the other, looking over his shoulder
+with blazing eyes, but unable to render any assistance owing to the
+small size and crank nature of the canoe.  "Stay, I'll turn about and
+become steersman, while you play the--whew!  It's a whale!  I say--ease
+off!"
+
+"Ease off!" cried Billie in desperation; "how can I ease off, with only
+a few yards o' the line left?"
+
+"Pitch the reel back to me then.  I'll manage it!" cried Archie, who had
+converted the bow of the canoe into the stern--both ends being alike--by
+the simple process of turning himself round and sitting with his face
+towards his brother.
+
+What Archie had styled the reel was simply a piece of stick with the
+line wound round it.  His brother pitched it to him with one hand while
+the desperate jerking of the other--indeed of his whole body--told at
+once of the size and the impatience of the fish.
+
+Unwinding the line in haste, Archie fastened the extreme end of it to
+two spare paddles and flung them overboard.
+
+"Now, Little Bill," he said; "you may let him have his head, and if you
+can't hold on without risking the line just let it go."
+
+As he spoke the captive made another rush--not very frantic indeed, for
+the pike is a sluggish creature in all waters--but with a steady
+persistency that meant resolution of purpose.  In a few seconds our
+invalid was compelled to let go, and, the line tightening, the paddles
+disappeared with a jerk.
+
+Soon after they reappeared, and the boys paddled towards them with a
+cheer, picked them up and the battle was renewed.
+
+It would be tedious to recount all the incidents of that fight.  We can
+only say that after a struggle that lasted an hour--according to the
+younger brother; two hours and a half, according to the elder--a pike of
+about four feet in length was hauled into the canoe.
+
+"That's enough of fishing for one day," remarked Billie, wiping his
+heated brow.
+
+"Quite enough," assented the other; "shall we make for Willow Point now,
+Little Bill?"
+
+"Yes.  We will try the shooting now."
+
+In accordance with this plan, the direction of the canoe was changed,
+and, early in the afternoon, the young hunters found themselves
+alongside of a low point of rocks which stretched well out into the
+lake, leaving a deep bay on either side.  The extreme end of the point
+consisted of naked rock, but the greater part of it was covered with a
+dense under-growth of low willow bushes.
+
+Here they disembarked, and Archie, as before, carried his brother to the
+highest part of the low point, where a piece of green sward, free from
+bushes, formed an attractive resting-place.
+
+"Sit there now, Billie, till I get some brush, an' make yourself useful
+by cutting out goose heads.  See, here are some branches o' the right
+sort ready to hand.  No doubt some Redskins have been at work here
+before us."
+
+He picked up some pieces of wood which Nature had formed more or less to
+resemble the heads and necks of geese.  By a very slight use of the
+knife Billie converted these into excellent portraits.  When he had
+finished half-a-dozen of them, his brother had cut and brought to the
+spot a number of bushy branches about two or three feet high.  These
+were soon stuck into the ground in a small circle so as to resemble a
+growing bush, behind, or, rather, in the midst of which, they could
+effectually conceal themselves by crouching.
+
+While this was being constructed the elder brother went down to the edge
+of the water and made half-a-dozen mud-heaps well within gunshot, which
+when the artificial heads and necks were attached to them, formed such
+exact counterparts of geese that the wild birds might well be excused
+for mistaking them for friends.  Indeed tyros at this work have been
+known to fire at such decoys believing them to be genuine birds.
+
+Even while they were thus engaged one and another flock of ducks and
+geese passed them on their way to warmer climes; of course sheering off
+as they passed.  But when the arrangement was completed, and the two
+boys, crouching low, gazed at the horizon with eager looks, the wild
+birds no longer avoided the spot.  On the contrary, seeing the decoys,
+they rather inclined to pass close to the place.
+
+In flying down a river, or along the margin of a lake, wild birds may
+diverge a little to follow the sinuosities of bank or shore, but they
+will not get out of the way of a projecting promontory; they rather make
+a short cut by crossing over it.
+
+The young hunters had not to wait long.
+
+"There's a flock of geese coming," said Archie in a whisper, though the
+birds were at the moment some miles away.  "Take the first shot, Little
+Bill."
+
+They had only one gun between them.
+
+"I don't like to," said Billie, "that thing gave me such an awful kick
+last time, and I can't stand it now."
+
+"O! there's no fear, I put in only a small charge of powder-and-shot, on
+purpose.  It won't kick hard this time.  Try."
+
+"Well, I'll try," said Billie, taking the gun.
+
+"Aim well in advance, Bill.  They fly fast, and primin' gets damp
+sometimes."
+
+A flock of small geese was approaching.  The boys became dumb, but they
+had remarkably speaking eyes.
+
+Animated by curiosity, the flock descended to observe the decoys.  How
+often that feeling of curiosity has proved fatal--not only to feathered
+geese!
+
+Little Bill raised his gun.  Puff! went the priming.  Bang! went the
+charge.  One of the birds, describing a beautiful curve, fell with
+bursting violence on the ground.
+
+"Well done, Billie," cried his brother enthusiastically as he leaped
+over the sheltering brush and ran to secure the prize.  "A few like that
+will give a supper to the whole camp.  Now, then," he added on
+returning, "you'll try again."
+
+"No, Archie.  It's your turn now--and the thing _did_ give me a
+tremendous kick."
+
+"But I will put in still less powder this time, Little Bill, and less
+shot too, so you'll have to be careful of your aim.  See, there's
+another flock coming--there, take it, and down with you.  I do believe
+they are big fellows."
+
+Thus encouraged, Billie took the gun and crouched low.  His brother was
+right.  It was a flock of the great grey geese of Canada which now
+approached.  The hearts of both boys beat high, for they were not only
+actuated by what is termed the sporting tendency, but by the desire to
+contribute their fair share to the general larder of their friends, who
+were encamped a considerable distance off at the other end of the lake.
+
+"Okematan will open his eyes if we take back a goose or two like these;
+why, they are swans almost!" whispered Archie, as the birds approached
+in the form of an angle.  "Take the big fat one on the left--the one now
+squintin' down at the decoys."
+
+Billie obeyed, and fired.  The result was, in a manner, threefold.
+First, the boy's aim was so good that the big fat fellow dropped like a
+stone not three yards from their position.  Second, the hitherto silent
+and symmetrically arranged flock went into dire confusion and sheered
+off in trumpeting convulsions; and, third, a scattering shot, having
+found its billet in the head of another goose immediately behind the
+first one, caused it to plunge right into the camp, straight for the
+head of Little Bill.  Archie, ignorant of this, was in the very act of
+leaping over the brush to secure the first goose, and had fortunately
+got in front of his brother at the right moment when the second goose
+caught him on the shoulder and knocked him into the poor invalid's arms.
+
+He was stunned at first, and rose in a few moments in some degree of
+mental confusion; but he was not much the worse for the accident and
+greatly rejoiced at his fortunate escape, as well as the splendid
+shooting, of Little Bill.
+
+It must not be supposed that the brothers continued to shoot at this
+rate.  Comparatively few flocks of geese passed over Willow Point that
+day, but numerous flocks of wild-ducks did, and before evening had put
+an end to their work, they had secured a fair canoe-load of game.
+
+That night they lighted their camp-fire among the neighbouring willows;
+feasted luxuriously on part of the day's hunt; lay down side by side
+under one blanket, with the upturned canoe partially covering them;
+dreamed at first of Okematan, gazing in wonder at their load, and,
+afterwards, of being knocked head over heels by an enormous grey goose
+whose persistent pugnacity was only equalled by its strange incapacity
+to achieve its murderous ends.
+
+Ultimately Oblivion came to their rescue, and the young hunters fell
+into a dreamless slumber, with the smoking camp-fire sending an
+occasional gleam of ruddy light on their recumbent forms, and the dark
+sky with its hosts of twinkling stars serving for a gorgeous canopy.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+SHOWS SOME OF THE TROUBLES OF PIONEER COLONISTS.
+
+Okematan was not the only person who opened his eyes on the return of
+the Sinclair boys to camp next day with their heavily laden canoe.  The
+Davidson and McKay families were much more emphatic in their
+astonishment, for the boys, they knew, had not hitherto performed any
+exploits in shooting.  They had not supposed them gifted with even
+ordinary powers as sportsmen, and had imagined that the poor invalid
+little Bill was utterly helpless.  On the other hand, Okematan was not
+unacquainted with the sudden rise to unexpected celebrity of Indian boys
+in his tribe, and knew something about the capacity of even cripples to
+overcome difficulties when driven by that stern taskmaster, Necessity.
+
+The abundant supply of provisions thus unexpectedly received was very
+acceptable, because during the day on which the boys were absent, a
+fresh band of immigrants had arrived on their way to Red River, and one
+party of these, hailing from Switzerland, had come on to the little lake
+where our Scotch friends were encamped, for the purpose of consulting as
+to their future movements--for it was evident that it would be dangerous
+as well as useless for them to proceed to Red River in the existing
+state of affairs.  The leader of the party was a fair-haired youth, who
+could speak English very well.
+
+The Scotch families were having their mid-day meal around the
+camp-fires, when the Switzers arrived and introduced themselves.  Of
+course they were made heartily welcome by Mr Sutherland, who acted as
+spokesman for his countrymen.
+
+"We are unfortunate," said the leader of the new arrivals, whose name
+was Andre Morel.  "We hoped that the severe climate would be our only
+foe to fight with--especially in a land where the people are so few."
+
+Sutherland--whose sedate and quiet manner was consistent with his
+position as an elder and spiritual guide of his countrymen at that
+time--smiled gravely, shook his head, and stroked his chin.
+
+"You will find," he said, "that whatever part of this world you go to,
+the passions of man are always more deadly in their consequences than
+surroundings, or climates, or anything else."
+
+"H'm! what you say iss ferry true," remarked old McKay, who was busy
+picking the drum-stick of a wild-goose at the moment.  "If it wass not
+for the jealousy an' ill-will o' the North-Westers we should hev been at
+this goot hour in our comfortable houses amang the green fields of Rud
+Ruver."
+
+"Wheesht! faither!" interposed Duncan junior, "Mr Sutherland wass
+speakin', an' ye've stoppit him."
+
+"An' what if I hev, Tuncan?  Can he not continoo to speak when I hev
+done?" retorted the old man, resuming his drum-stick.
+
+"You are right, Mr McKay," said the elder.  "But for the unfortunate
+jealousies of the two Companies, we might have been in very different
+circumstances to-day.  If the North-Westers could only see that the
+establishment of a colony in Red River would in no way hinder the
+fur-trade, we could all get along peaceably enough together.  But it
+seems to have been ordained that man shall reach every good thing
+through much tribulation."
+
+"I do not agree wi' you at all, Muster Sutherland," said old McKay.
+"There iss many of rich people in this world, who hev all that hert can
+wush, an' are born to it without hevin' any treebulation at all."
+
+"But I did not say `all that heart could wish,' Mr McKay.  I said
+`_every_ good thing'."
+
+"Well, an' iss not wealth a goot thing, Muster Sutherland?"
+
+"Only if God's blessing goes along with it," returned the elder.  "If it
+does not, wealth is a curse."
+
+"H'm!  I wush I had a little more o' that curse--whatever," answered the
+irreverent old man.
+
+"Besides," continued Sutherland, not noticing the remark, "the rich are
+by no means exempt from tribulation.  They are sometimes afflicted with
+bad children; not infrequently with bad health, which doctors, at two or
+three guineas a visit, cannot cure, and many of them are much troubled
+with poverty!"
+
+"You are talking in ruddles now, Muster Sutherland," said old Duncan,
+who, having finished the drum-stick and its duplicate, was preparing his
+pipe for action.
+
+"It is not much of a riddle, Mr McKay.  I suppose you consider a man
+with ten thousand a year rich, and a man with two hundred poor."
+
+"Well, yes; I wull not be denyin' that."
+
+"Well--if the rich man spends ten thousand and fifty pounds a year and
+never has anything to spare or to lay by, is he not miserably poor--poor
+in spirit as well as in purse?  For, at the end of the year his purse is
+empty, and he is in debt.  On the other hand, if the man with two
+hundred a year spends one hundred and fifty, gives away twenty, and lays
+by thirty every year, is he not rich?"
+
+"Ferry true, Muster Sutherland," said McKay, with a peculiar smile, as
+he emitted his first whiff.  "I wull not be arguin' wi' you, for you
+always get the best of it.  Nevertheless, it is my opeenion that we've
+had treebulation enough in Rud Ruver since we came oot, an' I would be
+ferry gled of a luttle prosperity now--if only by way of a pleesant
+change."
+
+Recurring to this subject a few days later, young Morel asked Dan
+Davidson, while they were paddling back to camp together one evening
+with the proceeds of a day's hunt: "Has your life in the colony, since
+the beginning, been as bad as old McKay made it out the other day?"
+
+"Well, making due allowance for the old man's use of strong language,
+his account of matters has not been much overdrawn," answered Dan, who,
+in virtue of his superior canoe-craft, acted the part of steersman.
+"You see, when we came out here we expected, like you, that all would be
+plain sailing, except as regarded climate and ordinary difficulties, but
+our eyes were soon opened to the true state of things.  Instead of the
+wilderness, with a few peaceful inhabitants living under the mild sway
+of the Hudson Bay Company, we found another company, apparently as
+strong as the Hudson's Bay one, in violent opposition.  They regarded
+our coming as likely to ruin their trade, for Lord Selkirk was a share
+holder in the Hudson's Bay Company, and it was supposed his object in
+planting the colony was to advance his scheme of monopolising the whole
+fur-trade of the Far West.  I cannot myself see how this colony could
+injure the fur-trade; but, anyhow, I know that the opposition has
+affected the colonists very severely, for we have been deceived by the
+contending parties, and misled, and delayed or thwarted in all our
+operations.
+
+"At the very outset, on our arrival, a band of the Nor'-Westers,
+composed of half-breeds and Indians, warned us that our presence was
+unwelcome, and tried to frighten us away by their accounts of the savage
+nature of the natives.  Then the fear of perishing for want of food
+induced a lot of us to take their advice, leave the farms allotted to
+us, and go to a place called Pembina, about seventy miles distant from
+the colony, there to spend the long and hard winter in tents, according
+to the Indian fashion, and live on the produce of the chase."
+
+"I should have thought that was a pleasant way of spending the first
+winter," remarked Andre Morel, who, besides being young, was strong and
+enthusiastic.
+
+"So thought some of us at first," returned Dan, "but when we found that
+the thermometer fell to somewhere between 40 and 50 degrees below zero;
+that walking in snow-shoes, trapping, hunting buffalo, and shooting,
+were not to be learned in a few days; and when we saw our women and
+children dependent sometimes on the charity of Indians, and reduced
+almost to starvation, we changed our minds as to the pleasure of the
+thing.  However, if the school was rough, it made the scholars all the
+quicker, and now I think that most of us are equal to the Redskins
+themselves at their own work.
+
+"When that winter came to an end," continued Dan, "we returned to Red
+River, in the month of May, wiser men, thoroughly determined to plant
+and sow, and make ourselves independent of the savages.  But hunger
+followed us, for fish were scarce that season; so were roots and
+berries; and, if it had not been for a kind of parsnip which grows wild
+in the plains, and a species of eatable nettle, I do believe some of us
+would have gone under altogether."
+
+"And did your first sowing turn out well?" asked the young Swiss, who
+having been bred a watchmaker, had only hazy notions as to farming.
+
+"Ay, there was a gleam of prosperity there that led us to hope great
+things for the future," answered Dan; "but the gleam did not continue.
+Why, one fellow, not far from our place, sowed four quarts of wheat, and
+reaped twelve and a half bushels; but we had terrible trouble to save
+our crops from the birds.  In the Spring and Fall, blackbirds and wild
+pigeons pass over the prairies on their way north or south, in immense
+numbers.  They pass in such numbers that they could, I do believe,
+swallow our whole harvest, if they got only a grain a-piece.  The
+berries failed them that year, an' men, women, and children had to work
+hard wi' guns, bird-nets, and rattles, from morning to night, to say
+nothing o' scarecrows.  We had resolved never to go near Pembina again,
+but what we saved of the harvest was little more than enough for seed,
+so we were forced to try it for another winter.  Troubles again awaited
+us there.  The half-breeds and Indians--who had been kind at first--
+became jealous.  A plot was discovered to murder two of our party who
+had undertaken to hunt, so we were obliged to buy our provisions at a
+high price, and even to barter away our clothing to avoid starvation,
+and we returned half-naked to the Settlement the following spring.
+Then, coming upon us in armed bands and superior numbers, they drove us
+out of the Settlement altogether at last, and we came here to Jack River
+to spend the winter as we best could.  After that we went back and
+struggled on for some time, but now, here have they a second time
+banished us!  What the end is to be, who can tell?"
+
+"Truly, if such be the country I have come to, I will go back to my
+native land and make watches," remarked the Swiss in a tone from which
+the sanguine element had almost entirely disappeared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+ROUND THE CAMP-FIRES.
+
+Had any one been watching the camp-fires of the banished colonists that
+night, the last idea that would have entered the observer's mind would
+have been that of suffering or distress.
+
+The night was brilliantly fine, and just cold enough to make the blazing
+fires agreeable without being necessary--except, indeed, as a means of
+cooking food.  The light of these fires, shining through the green,
+yellow, and golden foliage, and illuminating the sunburnt faces of men,
+women, and children, gave to the scene a strain of the free, the wild,
+and the romantic, which harmonised well with the gypsy-like appearance
+of the people, and formed a ruddy contrast to the pure cold light of the
+innumerable stars overhead, which, with their blue-black setting, were
+reflected in the neighbouring lake.
+
+Over every fire pots and kettles were suspended from tripods, or rested
+on the half-burned logs, while impaled wild-fowl roasted in front of it.
+Food being in great abundance, hearts were light in spite of other
+adverse circumstances, and men and women, forgetting to some extent the
+sufferings of the past and the dark prospects of the future, appeared to
+abandon themselves to the enjoyment of the present.
+
+The children, of course, were full of glee, and not altogether empty of
+mischief; and there were fortunately no infants of age so tender as to
+induce a squalling protest against the discomforts of a situation which
+could be neither understood nor appreciated.
+
+"It iss a pleesant night, whatever," remarked old McKay, lighting his
+pipe with a brand plucked from the fire which his family and the
+Davidsons shared in common; "an' if it wass always like this, it iss
+myself that would not object to be a rud savitch."
+
+"I don't know that a rud savitch is much worse than a white wan,"
+growled Duncan junior, in an under-tone.
+
+"What iss that you say?" demanded the old man with a look of suspicion,
+for his hearing was imperfect.
+
+"Surely the water must be boiling now, daddy?" said Elspie, by way of
+checking the conversation.
+
+"I don't know whuther it iss boilin' or not," answered Duncan senior,
+applying another brand to his pipe.
+
+"Archie, boy!" exclaimed Dan Davidson, "you're letting that goose roast
+to a cinder."
+
+"No, Dan, I'm not--but Billie can't a-bear meat underdone, so it's
+better to blacken the outside than have the inside raw."
+
+"Who iss that singing?  Wheesht, boys," said Fergus McKay, turning his
+head a little on one side as if to listen.
+
+There was profound silence for a few moments as a rich manly voice was
+heard to swell forth from the neighbourhood of one of the camp-fires.
+
+"It comes from the camp of the Switzers, I think," said Elspie McKay.
+
+"I know it," said Jessie Davidson, who was seated on a log beside her
+friend.  "It is Francois La Certe.  He came to our meeting-place in Red
+River, you know, just after Cuthbert Grant and his men left us, and,
+hearing that we were starting off to Jack River again, he resolved to
+follow.  I heard him tell Slowfoot to get ready to go along with us."
+
+"I wonder why he came?" said Mrs Davidson, coming out of her tent at
+the moment, and joining the party round the fire.
+
+"He did not say," answered Jessie.
+
+"He did not require to say," remarked Duncan McKay, with a sarcastic
+laugh.  "Every wan knows that wherever there iss a chance of gettin'
+ammunition and plenty of victuals for nothing, there La Certe iss
+certain to be found.  He knew that we would be sure to hev plenty at
+this season o' the year, an' that we would not see him an' his wife
+sterve when our kettles wass full.  Iss not that so, Okematan?  You know
+him best."
+
+Thus appealed to, the Indian, whose usual expression was one of intense
+gravity, shut his eyes, opened his mouth, displayed his superb teeth,
+and uttered a low chuckle, but made no further reply.
+
+It was enough.  Those who understood Okematan and his ways were well
+aware that he thought La Certe uncommonly sly.
+
+The half-breed had indeed followed the expelled colonists in the belief
+that they would certainly possess plenty of powder and shot--which he
+had not the means of purchasing.  He also knew that the whole of
+Rupert's Land swarmed with game in autumn and spring, and that the
+Scotch were an open-handed race when approached in the right way.
+Putting these things together, he carefully gummed his canoe, put his
+wife and child into it--also some of the provision which had been
+supplied to him by Duncan McKay junior--and followed the settlers over
+Lake Winnipeg to Jack River.
+
+Here, finding that a new party of immigrants had arrived, who were
+necessarily unacquainted with his little peculiarities, La Certe
+attached himself to them and made himself agreeable.  This he could do
+very well, for the Switzers understood his bad French, as well as his
+good tuneful voice, and appreciated his capacity for telling a story.
+
+"Did you never," he said to Andre Morel, after his song was finished,
+"hear of how my old mother saved her whole tribe from death one time in
+the Rocky Mountains?"
+
+"Never," Morel replied with a somewhat sceptical but good-natured smile.
+
+"No!  I wonder much, for every one in this land heard about it, an' I
+thought the news must have spread over Europe and--and, perhaps Africa.
+Well, I will tell you.  Where is my baccy-bag?"
+
+"Never mind, fill your pipe from mine," said Morel, tossing him a little
+bag of the coveted weed.
+
+"Thank you.  Well, you must know that my mother had a beautiful voice--
+O! much more beautiful than mine.  Indeed, I do not joke, so you need
+not laugh.  It was so sweet that men were always forced to listen till
+she was done.  They could not help it."
+
+"Did they ever want to help it?" asked Morel quietly.
+
+"O yes--as you shall hear.  Well, one day my mother was living with all
+our tribe--I say _our_ tribe because my mother was an Indian--with all
+our tribe, in a great dark gorge of the Rocky Mountains.  The braves had
+gone out to hunt that day, but my mother stayed behind with the women
+and children.  I was a little foolish child at that time--too young to
+hunt or fight.  My father--a French Canadian--he was dead.
+
+"We knew--my mother and I--that the braves would be home soon.  We
+expected them every minute.  While we were waiting for them, my mother
+went into the bush to pick berries.  There she discovered a war-party of
+our enemies.  They were preparing to attack our village, for they knew
+the men were away, and they wanted the scalps of the women and children.
+But they did not know the exact spot where our wigwams were pitched,
+and were just going, after a feed, to look for it.
+
+"My mother ran home with the news, and immediately roused the camp, and
+made them get ready to fly to meet the returning men.
+
+"`But, my daughter,' said an old chief, who had stayed in camp, `our
+enemies are young and active; they will quickly overtake us before we
+meet our men.'
+
+"`No,' said my mother, `I will stop them.  Get ready, and set off
+quickly.'
+
+"She then ran back on her trail--my mother was a tremendous runner--
+superb!  She came to a narrow place where our enemies would have to
+pass.  A very thick tree grew there.  She climbed it, and hid among the
+branches.  It projected beyond a precipice and overhung a stream.  Soon
+after that she saw the enemy advancing, step by step, slowly,
+cautiously, like men who dread an ambush, and with glances quick and
+solemn from side to side, like men who see a foe in every stump and
+stone."
+
+La Certe paused at this point.  He was an adept at story-telling.  His
+voice had slowed by degrees and become increasingly deep and solemn as
+he proceeded.
+
+"Now," continued he, in a higher tone, "my mother did not fear that they
+would see her if they looked up when they passed the tree.  She was too
+well hidden for that; but she was not sure what the effect of her voice
+would be, for she had never tried it in that way before.  However, she
+was full of courage.  She resembled me in that--bold as a lion!  She
+began to sing.  Low and soft at the beginning, like a dream of song.
+
+"At the first note the Indians halted--every man; each in the position
+in which he was fixed.  If a foot was up he kept it up.  If both feet
+were down he left them down.  The feet that were up came slowly to the
+ground when the Indians got tired, but no one took another step.  My
+mother's voice was a weird voice.  It sounded as if the place from which
+it came was nowhere--or anywhere--or everywhere!  Slowly the painted
+heads turned from side to side as far as they could go, and the glaring
+eyes turned a little further.  A creeping fear came over them.  They
+trembled.  They turned pale.  That could be easily seen through the
+paint.  My mother saw it!  She became more courageous and sang out in
+her most pathetic strain.  The Indians wept.  That was quite visible.
+My mother saw it.  Her great object was to delay the attack until our
+men had time to arrive.  She tried a war-song, but that was not so
+successful.  It was too commonplace.  Besides, in her energy she shook
+the branches, and that drew attention to the tree.  My mother thought
+that she was in danger then; but fortune favoured her.  It always
+favours the brave.  I know this from experience.
+
+"She had just come to a terrific whoop in the war-song when she slipped
+off her branch and the whoop increased to a death-yell as she went
+crashing headlong through the branches and down into the stream at the
+foot of the precipice.
+
+"Water! water!" exclaimed La Certe at this point, holding out both
+hands.  "I can never pass this part of my story without burning thirst!"
+
+A mug of water was handed him.
+
+"Poor fellow--have some brandy in it," said a sympathetic hearer,
+hastily getting out his bottle.
+
+La Certe held out his mug impatiently for the brandy, drained the mug,
+and cleared his voice.
+
+"Was--was your mother killed?" asked the sympathiser, earnestly.
+
+"Killed?  No.  Impossible!  My mother could not be killed because her
+destiny was not yet fulfilled.  No: there was a deep pool right under
+the tree.  She fell into that with a plunge that echoed from cliff to
+cliff.  The Indians were profoundly superstitious.  All Indians are not
+so, but these Indians were.  They waited not for more.  They turned and
+fled as if all the evil spirits in the Rocky Mountains were chasing
+them.  They reached their wigwams breathless, and told their squaws that
+one of the spirits of a mountain stream had sat among the branches of a
+tree and sung to them.  It had told them that the right time for
+attacking their foes had not yet come.  Then it sang them a war-song
+descriptive of their final victory, and, just after uttering a
+tremendous war-whoop, it had dived back into its native stream."
+
+"Well done!" exclaimed an enthusiastic Canadian.
+
+"But what became of your mother?" asked Morel.
+
+"Oh! she swam ashore.  My mother was a splendid swimmer.  I know it, for
+she taught me."
+
+"Was it a long swim?" asked a sceptical sailor, who was one of the
+emigrants.
+
+"How?--what mean you?" demanded La Certe, sternly.
+
+"I only want to know if she took long to swim ashore out o' that pool,"
+said the sceptic, simply.
+
+La Certe cast on him a glance of suspicion, and replied that his mother
+had found no difficulty in getting out of the pool.
+
+"Is the old lady alive yet?" asked the pertinacious sceptic.
+
+"Of course not.  She died long long ago--thirty years ago."
+
+"What! before you was born?  That's strange, isn't it?"
+
+"No, but you not understand.  I suppose my speech is not plain to you.
+I said _three_ years ago."
+
+"Ah! that's more like it.  I only missed what you said," returned the
+sceptic, whose name was Fred Jenkins, "for I've lived a while in France,
+and understand your lingo pretty well.  Pass that goose, Morel, if you
+have left anything on it.  This air o' the wilderness beats the air o'
+the sea itself for givin' a fellow a twist."
+
+The remarks of Jenkins, while they did not absolutely destroy the
+confidence of the Swiss party, shook it enough to show the wily
+half-breed that he must do something if possible to re-establish his
+credit.  He therefore volunteered another song, which was gladly
+accepted and highly appreciated; for, as we have said, La Certe
+possessed a really good and tuneful voice, and these immigrants were a
+musical people.
+
+While this was going on at the Swiss camp-fires an incident occurred at
+the fire round which the McKay-Davidson party was assembled, which
+deserves particular notice.
+
+Old McKay was giving some directions to Fergus; Duncan junior was seated
+opposite Dan Davidson, smoking his pipe, and Elspie had gone into her
+tent, when Slowfoot, the spouse of La Certe, drew near.
+
+"Come along, old girl," exclaimed McKay senior.  "It iss some baccy you
+will be wantin', I'll wager."
+
+Slowfoot did not reply in words, but the smile upon her face was
+eloquent.
+
+"Come away, then," continued the hospitable Highlander.  "You shall hev
+a pipe of it, whatever."
+
+He handed her a large plug of tobacco, and the woman, sitting down close
+to young Duncan, produced her pipe, and drew out a knife for the purpose
+of cutting up the tobacco.
+
+"Hallo!" exclaimed Duncan, "where did you get hold o' my knife?"
+
+He stopped abruptly--a little confused in spite of himself.  For the
+moment he had quite forgotten that the knife had been left in the camp
+where he had slain Perrin, and the sudden sight of it had thrown him off
+his guard.  It was now too late to unsay the words, but not too late to
+mislead his hearers.
+
+"I got it from Marie Blanc," said Slowfoot with a look of surprise.
+"Does the knife belong to Cloudbrow?"
+
+"I think it does.  I'm almost sure it iss mine.  Let me see it,"
+returned Duncan, taking the knife from the woman's hand, and examining
+it with cool and critical deliberation.
+
+"No," continued he, "it iss not mine, but very like one that I lost--so
+like that I felt sure at first it wass mine."
+
+Men who lie, usually overact their part.  Duncan glanced suspiciously at
+Dan to see how he took the explanation as he returned the knife to
+Slowfoot, and Dan observed the glance, as being uncalled for--
+unnatural--in the circumstances.
+
+Dan was by no means of a suspicious nature, nevertheless the glance
+haunted him for many a day after that.  Suspicion once aroused is a
+ghost which is not easily laid.  He tried to shake it off, and he
+carefully, loyally, kept it confined in his own breast; but, do what he
+would, he could not banish entirely from his mind that Duncan McKay--the
+brother of his Elspie--had some sort of guilty knowledge of the murder
+of poor Henri Perrin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+DIFFICULTIES OF VARIOUS KINDS OVERCOME.
+
+When the bright warm days and cool starry nights of the Indian summer
+gave place to the sharp days and frosty nights of early winter--when
+young ice formed on the lakes and rendered canoeing impossible, and the
+ducks and geese had fled to warmer climes, and the Frost King had sent
+his first messengers of snow to cover the wilderness with a
+winding-sheet and herald his return to the Winter Palace--then it was
+that the banished Red River settlers began to feel the pinch of poverty
+and to understand the full extent of the calamity that had befallen
+them.
+
+We have not space to follow them through all the details of that winter
+at Jack River.  Some died, all suffered more or less; but they had to
+endure it, for escape from the country to the civilised world was even
+more difficult and hopeless than escape from the dreaded wilds of
+Siberia.  The men hunted, fished under the ice, trapped, and sustained
+themselves and their families in life during the long, dreary winter;
+the only gain being that they became more or less expert at the
+Red-man's work and ways of life.
+
+Only two of the Indians remained with them to help them over their
+difficulties--namely, Okematan and Kateegoose, with their respective
+squaws.  These last were invaluable as the makers of moccasins and
+duffle socks and leathern coats, without which existence in such a
+climate would have been impossible.  They also imparted their knowledge
+in such matters to the squaws of the white men.
+
+There was one friend, however, who did not remain with the settlers when
+things began to look dismal around them.  This was the amiable, musical,
+story-telling La Certe.  That tender-hearted man could not endure the
+sight of human distress.  If he could not relieve it, he felt
+constrained to shut his eyes to it and to flee from it.  At the first
+indication of the approach of winter he had come to old McKay with that
+peculiarly mild, humble, deprecatory expression of countenance with
+which he was wont to preface an appeal for assistance of some sort.
+
+"What iss it you will be wantin' _now_?" demanded the old man, rather
+testily, for he had an aversion to the half-breed's sneaking ways.
+"Surely you will not be wantin' more powder an' shot efter the supply I
+gave you last week?"
+
+O no! nothing could be further from the mind of La Certe.  He had plenty
+of ammunition and provisions.  He had only come to say that he was going
+back to--to--Red River.
+
+"Weel, weel," returned the Highlander, "there is no call for hesitation,
+man, in tellin' me that.  I will not be breakin' my heart when ye are
+gone.  I suppose that now ye hev got the best the season can supply, ye
+think the comforts o' the Settlement will be more to your taste."
+
+The remonstrative expression on La Certe's face deepened.  The idea of
+his own taste or comfort had not once entered his head: but he had a
+wife and child whom he was bound to consider, and he had a hut--a home--
+in Red River which he felt constrained to look after.  Besides, he had
+social duties of many kinds which claimed attention.
+
+"I've no doubt ye hev," said McKay, with a short sarcastic laugh, "an'
+ye will attend to them too--I'll be bound.  But ye did not come here, I
+suppose, to take a tender farewell o' me.  What iss it you will be
+wantin'?  Oot wi' it, man!"
+
+"There is a canoe--" said La Certe, with some hesitation.
+
+"There iss many a canoe!" returned McKay with a peculiar grin.
+
+"True, but there is one on the shore now, close to the flat rock
+which--"
+
+"My own canoe!" interrupted the other, "what will ye be wantin' wi'
+that?"
+
+La Certe did not wish to appear greedy, but the season was late, and his
+own canoe was not in a very fit condition to carry a family round the
+shores of a lake so large as Lake Winnipeg.  Would the white father lend
+his canoe to him?  It could not be wanted much longer that Fall, and the
+one he would leave behind him was an excellent canoe for ordinary
+fishing and hunting purposes.  He would be quite willing to hire the
+canoe or to pay the full price for it if any accident should happen to
+it.
+
+"No," said McKay, firmly.  "No, La Certe; your hiring means borrowing,
+and your payin' means owin' a debt for the remainder o' your natural
+life.  I will see you at the bottom o' Lake Winnipeg before I will be
+lending you my canoe."
+
+La Certe smiled sadly, and gazed at the cap with which his hands played,
+as if appealing to it for sympathy.
+
+With an aspect of the profoundest resignation he made his bow and left
+the Presence.
+
+But La Certe was not in the least put out by this failure.  He went to
+his tent, and recounted the interview to his squaw, who, when he
+entered, was in the act of giving her child, a creature of about four
+years of age, one or two draws of her pipe, to let it taste how nice it
+was.
+
+Smoking in calm placidity, the amiable pair discussed the subject.  The
+conclusion they came to was, as usual, harmonious.
+
+"I think he will agree to lend it next time I go to him," said La Certe,
+hopefully.
+
+"He will give in," replied Slowfoot, decidedly.
+
+The four-year-old could not understand the subject, and made no comment;
+but it howled for another smoke, and got it.
+
+La Certe was wrong, and his wife was right--as usual.  Old McKay did not
+agree to "lend" his canoe the "next time," or the next again, but he did
+"give in" at last, more, perhaps, to get rid of the half-breed's
+importunity than because of good-will, and sold the canoe to him--on
+credit.
+
+When that winter was over, the Hudson's Bay Company again encouraged the
+settlers to return, under promise of protection, and the spring found
+the persevering people, in spite of all difficulties and previous
+failures, busy putting into the ground what little seed they possessed,
+and otherwise cultivating the soil.
+
+Some of them there were, however, who, after lending a hand in this
+work, determined to provide second strings to their bows by following
+the buffalo-hunters to the plains.  These were chiefly the young and
+strong men, such as Dan Davidson and his brother Peter, Fergus McKay,
+Antoine Dechamp, and Jacques Bourassin, among many others.
+
+La Certe also went, as well as his squaw and the four-year-old.  He
+managed the thing characteristically thus.
+
+When the half-breeds were making preparations for their spring hunt, he
+paid a visit to Duncan McKay, who was busy at the time helping his
+father and brother to rebuild their house.  Indeed the edifice was
+almost rebuilt, for the erection of small wooden houses does not usually
+take long.
+
+"You've come to beg, borrow, or steal, no doubt," said Cloudbrow, who
+was worthy of his nickname, for he was as short of temper as Duncan
+senior.
+
+No, La Certe had come to do none of these things, he said, with a
+conciliatory smile.
+
+"Well, then, you can't have come to buy or to ask advances," growled
+Duncan; "for you see that our store and all we possessed has been burnt
+by your precious countrymen."
+
+La Certe knew this, and professed himself profoundly grieved as well as
+indignant with his countrymen.  No, he did not come to buy or to borrow,
+but to hire.  The McKays had still some horses left, and carts.  Could
+they not spare a horse and cart to him on hire?
+
+"No, we can do nothing of the sort," said Duncan shortly, resuming his
+axe and work.  "You can go to the Company.  Perhaps they will trust
+you--though they are fools if they do."
+
+La Certe was regretful, but not cast down.  He changed the subject,
+commented on the building that was going on, the prospects of a good
+harvest, and finally took refuge in that stale old subject, the weather.
+Then he said in a casual way--as if it had just occurred to him--
+
+"By the way--that knife that my wife got from Marie Blanc--"
+
+Young McKay stopped, and looked quickly up for a moment, with a slight
+flush, but instantly resumed work.
+
+"Well," he said, quietly, "what about the knife?"
+
+"Would you like to have it--my wife bade me inquire?"
+
+"Why should _I_ like to have it?" he asked carelessly.
+
+"Oh!  I thought it was yours," said La Certe.
+
+"You are mistaken.  I said it was very like mine.  But it is _not_
+mine--and I have no wish for what does not belong to me."
+
+"Of course not.  Well, I must be going," said the half-breed, preparing
+to leave.  "I wished much to have your horse and cart, for they are both
+good, and I would offer you 4 pounds for the trip, which, you know, is
+double the usual charge, for I never grudge a good price for a good
+thing."
+
+"Yes, all the more when you hev no intention to pay it," said McKay with
+a laugh.  "However, since you seem so anxious, and offer so good a
+price, I am willing to oblige you this time, in the hope that you are
+really becoming an honest man!"
+
+The half-breed was profuse in his thanks, and in his assurance that
+Cloudbrow's hopes would certainly not be disappointed.
+
+Having thus attained his chief object, our arch-beggar went off to
+obtain provisions.  Those which had been supplied him the previous
+autumn by young McKay had been quite consumed by himself and his
+friends--for the man, you see, had a liberal heart and hand.
+
+But his first attempts were unsuccessful.  He wanted ammunition.  To go
+to the plains without ammunition was obviously useless.  He wanted
+food--sugar, tea, flour, pork.  To go to the plains without these would
+be dreary work.  But men knew La Certe's character, and refused him.
+One after another he tried his friends.  Then he tried them again.  Then
+he tried comparative strangers.  He could not try his enemies, for,
+strange to say, he had none.  Then he went over them all again.
+
+At last, by indomitable perseverance, he managed to wear out the
+patience of one of his friends, who believed in the restoration of the
+incorrigible, and he found himself fully equipped to take the field with
+his hard-working comrades.
+
+It may be remarked here that the buffalo runners generally went on the
+credit system, trusting to a successful hunt to pay off their debts, and
+leave them supplied with food for the winter.  But, then, most of these
+men were in earnest, and meant to pay off their debts loyally.  Whereas
+La Certe--good, humorous, easy-going man--had not the slightest
+intention of paying his debts at all!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+TREACHERY IN THE AIR.
+
+At this time the half-breeds of the colony of Red River formed a small
+party compared with the numbers to which they multiplied in after years,
+and the band of hunters who annually went to the plains to chase the
+buffalo was proportionally small.  Nevertheless, they were numerous
+enough to constitute a formidable band, capable of holding their own,
+when united, against any band of wandering Indians who might feel
+disposed to attack them.  They were a brave, hardy race of men, but of
+course there were some black sheep among them like La Certe.
+
+About sixty or a hundred miles from the Settlement, the party, under
+command of Antoine Dechamp, found the buffalo, and preparations were at
+once made to attack them.  It was dusk, however, when the herds were
+discovered, so that the hunt had to be postponed to the following day.
+
+A small clump of bushes afforded wood enough for camp-fires.  The carts
+were ranged in a circle with the trains outward.  Sentries were posted;
+the horses were secured; the kettles put on; pipes lighted; and noise,
+laughter, song and story, mingled with the shrill voices of children,
+were heard far on into the night.
+
+Among the children, if we may venture so to class them, were Archie and
+Billie Sinclair--though we suspect that Archie would have claimed, and
+with some reason, to be classed with the men.  They belonged to the
+camp-fire, which formed a centre to the party composed of Dan and Peter,
+Fergus, Dechamp, and Fred Jenkins the sailor.  The latter, who it was
+thought had come out to the country by way of a skylark rather than as a
+settler, had followed the hunters, bent, he said, on firing a broadside
+into a buffalo.  He had brought with him a blunderbuss, which he averred
+had been used by his great-grandfather at the battle of Culloden.  It
+was a formidable old weapon, capable of swallowing, at one gulp, several
+of the bullets which fitted the trading guns of the country.  Its powers
+of scattering ordinary shot in large quantity had proved to be very
+effective, and had done such execution among flocks of wild-fowl, that
+the Indians and half-breeds, although at first inclined to laugh at it,
+were ultimately filled with respect.
+
+"I doubt its capacity for sending ball straight, however," remarked Dan
+to Jenkins, who was carefully cleaning out the piece, "especially if
+charged with more than one ball."
+
+"No fear of it," returned the sailor, with a confident air.  "Of course
+it scattered the balls about six yards apart the only time I tried it
+with a lot of 'em, but that was at fifty yards off, an' they tell me
+that you a'most ram the muzzle against the brutes' sides when chasin'
+buffalo.  So there's no room to scatter, d'ee see, till they get inside
+their bodies, and when there it don't matter how much they scatter."
+
+"It's well named a young cannon by La Certe," said Peter Davidson, who,
+like the seaman, was out on his first buffalo-hunt.  "I never heard such
+a roar as it gave that time you brought down ten out of one flock of
+ducks on the way up here."
+
+"Ay, Peter, she barked well that time," remarked the sailor, with a
+grin, "but, then there was a reason.  I had double-shotted her by
+mistake."
+
+"An' ye did it too without an aim, for you had both eyes tight shut at
+the time," remarked Fergus.  "Iss that the way they teach ye to shoot at
+sea?"
+
+"In course it is," replied Jenkins, gravely.  "That's the beauty o' the
+blunderbuss.  There's no chance o' missin', so what 'ud be the use o'
+keepin' yer eyes open, excep' to get 'em filled wi' smoke.  You've on'y
+got to point straight, an' blaze away."
+
+"I did not know that you use the blunderbuss in your ships at all," said
+Dechamp, with a look of assumed simplicity.
+
+"Ho yes, they do," said Jenkins, squinting down the bell-mouthed barrel,
+as if to see that the touch-hole was clear.  "Aboard o' one man-o'-war
+that I sailed in after pirates in the China seas, we had a blunderbuss
+company.  The first-leftenant, who was thought to be queer in his head,
+he got it up.
+
+"The first time the company was ranged along the deck he gave the order
+to load with ball cartridges.  There was twenty-six of us, all told.
+
+"`We've got no cartridges for 'em, sir,' whispered the man nearest him.
+
+"`If you don't obey orders,' growled the leftenant 'tween his teeth,
+`I'll have ye strung up for mutiny every man Jack of you--_load_!' he
+repeated in a kind of a yell.
+
+"We had our or'nary belts and pouches on, so we out wi' the or'nary
+cartridges--some three, some four,--an', biting off the ends, poured in
+the powder somehow, shoved in the balls anyhow, an' rammed the whole
+consarn down.
+
+"`Present--fire!' roared the leftenant.
+
+"Bang! went the six an' twenty blunderbusses, an' when the smoke cleared
+away there was fourteen out o' the twenty-six men flat on their backs.
+The rest o' us was raither stunned, but hearty.
+
+"`Take these men below,' cried the leftenant, `an' send fourteen strong
+men here.  We don't want weaklings for _this_ company.'
+
+"After that we loaded in moderation, an' got on better."
+
+"And the pirates--what did _they_ think o' the new weapon?" asked Peter
+Davidson, with an amused expression.
+
+"O! they couldn't stand it at all," answered the sailor, looking up from
+his work, with a solemnity that was quite impressive.  "They stood fire
+only once.  After that they sheered off like wild-cats.  I say, Mistress
+La Certe, how long is that lobscouse--or whatever you call it,--goin' to
+be in cookin'?"  Slowfoot gave vent to a sweet, low giggle, as she
+lifted the kettle off the hook, and thus gave a practical answer to the
+question.  She placed before him the robbiboo, or pemmican, soup, which
+the seaman had so grievously misnamed.
+
+During the time that the hunters were appeasing their appetites, it was
+observed that Antoine Dechamp, the leader of the expedition, was
+unusually silent and thoughtful, and that he betrayed a slight look of
+anxiety.  It therefore did not surprise Dan Davidson, when the supper
+was nearly ended, that Dechamp should rise and leave the fire after
+giving him a look which was a silent but obvious invitation to follow.
+
+Dan obeyed at once, and his leader, conducting him between the various
+camp-fires, led him outside the circle of carts.
+
+A clear moon lit up the prairie all round, so that they could see its
+undulating sweep in every direction.
+
+"Anything wrong, Antoine?" asked Dan in a low voice, when they were out
+of earshot of the camp.
+
+"Nothing wrong, Dan."
+
+"Surely," continued the other, while Dechamp paused as if in perplexity,
+"surely there can be no chance of Red-skins troubling us on a clear
+night like this.  I can distinguish every bush for miles around."
+
+"There is no fear o' Red-skins.  No, I am not troubled about them.  It
+is matters concerning yourself that trouble me."
+
+"How's that?  What do you mean, Antoine?"
+
+"Is your brother-in-law-to-be, Duncan McKay, coming to join us this
+spring?" asked Dechamp.
+
+"I believe he is--after he has helped his father a bit longer wi' the
+farm.  Why do you ask?"
+
+"Well, to say truth, I can't give you a very good reason for my bein'
+anxious.  Only I can't help havin' my ears open, and I've heard some
+talk among the lads that makes me fear for the young man.  They say, or
+hint, that he knows more about the murder o' poor Perrin than he chooses
+to tell.  I've not been quite able to find out what makes them suspect
+him, but they do suspect him, an' it would be well to warn him not to
+come here, for you know there are many opportunities to commit murder on
+a buffalo-hunt!"
+
+The incident of the knife, and of Duncan McKay's significant glance, at
+once flashed across Davidson's mind, and he felt a terrible sinking of
+the heart when the suspicion, once before roused within him, seemed now
+to be confirmed.  He resolved, however, to reveal his thoughts to no
+one--specially not to Elspie.
+
+"I think it a shame," he said, "that men should allow such rumours to
+circulate, when nothing certain has arisen to rouse suspicion.  That
+affair of the knife was clearly explained when young McKay declared that
+it was not his, though it looked like it.  If he knew anything about the
+murder, would he not have been certain to have told us long ago?  And,
+surely, you cannot suppose that Duncan killed Perrin with his own hand?
+Speak, Dechamp!  Why do you shake your head?"
+
+"I know nothing," returned the leader.  "What right have I to suppose
+anything?  I only know that men's deeds are often mysterious and
+unaccountable, and that our men have strong suspicion.  For myself, I
+have no opinion.  Duncan McKay is probably innocent, for he and Perrin
+were not enemies.  I hope he is so, but I advise you to stop his coming
+to the camp just now if you can.  His life may depend on it."
+
+"I cannot stop him," returned Dan, with a perplexed look.  "He is
+headstrong, as you know, and if he has made up his mind to come, nothing
+will stop him."
+
+"Perhaps if he knew his life would be in danger--that might stop him."
+
+"I doubt it; but I will give him the chance.  I will ride back to Red
+River without delay, and warn him."
+
+"Good.  When will you start?"
+
+"To-night.  The moon is clear and will not set till morning.  I shall be
+well on my way by that time."
+
+"Will you ride alone?"
+
+"No, there may be bad Indians about.  I will ask Okematan or Fergus
+McKay to ride with me.  Why did you not speak to Fergus instead of to
+me?"
+
+"Because he has not been spoken to by any one," answered Dechamp; "and I
+would not be the first to put suspicion into his head about his own
+brother.  Besides, your head is clearer; and your interest in Duncan,
+for Elspie's sake, is greater than his, no doubt."
+
+"Well, you may be right, Antoine.  At all events if I take Fergus with
+me I shall send him back before reaching the Settlement, and say nothing
+whatever about my reason for going there.  `Pressing business,' you
+know, will be sufficient."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that," returned Dechamp with a laugh.  "Men are apt
+to want to know the nature of `pressing business.'  However, it may be
+as well to take Fergus.  At any rate you cannot have Okematan, for he is
+not in camp, he left soon after we pitched, and I know has not yet
+returned."
+
+"It matters not.  Fergus will do better.  He is more companionable."
+
+Returning to camp, Dan Davidson made the proposal to Fergus McKay.  That
+worthy was, as he said, ready for anything, and the two were soon
+mounted.  They were also well armed, for the risk of meeting a party of
+hostile Indians was not altogether out of the question, though
+improbable.  Each horseman carried his blanket and provision wallet, his
+gun, a long knife almost equal to an ancient Roman sword, and a cavalry
+pistol--revolvers not having been invented at that time: at least they
+had not come into general use.  Thus provided for all contingencies,
+they set forth.
+
+As we have said, the night was clear and fine, so that the plains were
+open to view in all directions, save where a few scattered clumps of
+willows and small trees grew like islets in the ocean.
+
+"It iss this that I like better than farming," said Fergus, as the fresh
+horses carried them swiftly and lightly over the prairie waves, and down
+into the grassy hollows, now swerving to avoid a badger-hole, or
+clearing a small shrub with a little bound.  "I do think that man wass
+intended to live in the wilderness, an' not to coop himself up in the
+cities like rabbits in their holes."
+
+"Why, Fergus, you should have been born a savage," said Dan.
+
+"Ay, it iss savitch I am that I wass not born a savitch," returned
+Fergus with a grim smile.  "What in all the world iss the use of
+ceevilisation if it will not make people happy?  A man wants nothing
+more than a goot supper an' a goot bed, an' a goot shelter over him, an'
+it is a not five hunderd pound a year that we will want to buy that--
+whatever."
+
+"But surely man wants a little more than that, Fergus.  He wants
+breakfast and dinner usually, as well as supper, and a few comforts
+besides, such as tea and sugar--at least the women do--besides pipes an'
+baccy--to say nothing of books."
+
+"Oo ay, I will not be denyin' that.  But we've no need for wan half the
+luxuries o' ceevilisation.  An' ye know ferry weel, Tan, that my sister
+Elspie would be content to live wi' you in a ferry small hoose, and the
+bare necessaries of life, but here you are forced to put off the
+merritch because our hooses wass burnt, and you are obleeged to wait
+till you get a sort o' palace built, I suppose, and a grand farm set
+a-goin'."
+
+"Indeed, Fergus, you touch me on a sore point there, but with all your
+scorn of luxury, I'm sure you'd be the last man to let his sister marry
+a fellow who could take her only to a hut or a wigwam."
+
+"You are right, Tan.  Yet I hev spent many a comfortable night in a hut
+an' a wigwam since I came to Red River.  I wish the place wass more
+peaceable."
+
+"It will never be more peaceable as long as there are two rival
+companies fighting for the furs," said Davidson; "but there's worse than
+that goin' on, for some of the Indians, it seems, are mad at the
+agreement made between them and Lord Selkirk."
+
+"Wow! that iss a peety.  Where heard ye that?"
+
+"I heard it from La Certe, whose wife Slowfoot, you know, is a Cree
+Indian.  It seems that the Crees have always claimed Red River as their
+lands; but when Lord Selkirk came to make a treaty with the natives he
+found some Saulteaux livin' on the soil, an' his lordship, in ignorance,
+gave them an interest in the treaty, though they were mere visitors--an'
+indeed don't even claim to be owners of the soil--their lands lying far
+to the east of Red River."
+
+"Well," continued Dan, guiding his horse carefully down the next hollow,
+for the moon had gone behind a cloud just then, "when the Crees found
+out what had been done, they were naturally very angry--an' I don't
+wonder--an' they threaten now to expel the Saulteaux from Red River
+altogether, an' the white men along wi' them, unless the names of the
+Saulteaux chiefs are wiped out o' the contract, an' the annual payment
+made to the Crees alone."
+
+"That iss bad, Taniel, ferry bad," said Fergus, as they reached the
+bottom of the hollow and began to ascend the succeeding undulation, "an'
+I am all the more sorry to hear it because our goot frund Okematan is a
+Cree."
+
+"Ay, Fergus, he is a great chief of the Crees, and a man of considerable
+influence among his people.  I should not like to have him for an
+enemy."
+
+"Stop!" said Fergus in a whisper at that moment, laying his hand on
+Davidson's arm.
+
+Dan drew rein at once and looked at his friend, but could not clearly
+see his face, for the moon was still behind thick drifting clouds.
+
+They had just risen high enough on the prairie wave, which they had been
+ascending, to be able to see over it, and Dan could perceive by the
+outstretched neck of his companion that he was gazing intently at
+something directly in front.
+
+"What do you see, Fergus?" he asked in a low voice.
+
+"Do you see nothin', Taniel?" was the Highlander's reply.
+
+"Why, yes.  I see the plains stretching away to the horizon--an' dark
+enough they are, too, at this moment.  I also see a few small clumps
+that look like bushes here an' there."
+
+"Don't you see the clump that's nearest to you--right foment your nose?"
+said the other.
+
+"Of course I do," and he stopped abruptly, for at that moment he saw a
+spark in the clump referred to--a spark so small that it might have been
+taken for a glow-worm, had such a creature existed there.
+
+"Savitches!" whispered the Highlander.  "Let's get into the hollow as
+fast as we can."
+
+This retrograde movement was soon effected, and the friends dismounted.
+
+"Now, Fergus, what's the best thing to be done?"
+
+"I will be leavin' that to you, Taniel, for you've a clearer head than
+mine."
+
+"We dare not ride forward," said Dan, as if communing with himself, "an'
+it would be foolish to make a long detour to escape from something until
+we know there is something worth escaping from.  My notion is that we
+hobble or picket our horses here, and go cautiously forward on foot to
+see what it is."
+
+"You'll be doin' what ye think best, Captain Taniel, an' you will find
+that private Fergus will back you up--whatever."
+
+This being settled, the two men picketed their steeds in the hollow,
+fastened their guns to the saddles, as being too cumbrous for a creeping
+advance, and, armed only with their long knives and pistols, reascended
+the prairie wave.  With feet clothed in soft moccasin, and practised by
+that time in the art of stealthy tread, they moved towards the summit
+noiseless as ghosts.
+
+On gaining the ridge they sank slowly down into the tall grass and
+disappeared.
+
+After a prolonged and somewhat painful creep on hands and knees the two
+men reached the edge of the clump of bushes already referred to.
+
+Before reaching it they discovered, from the sound of voices, that a
+party of some kind was encamped there; but, of course, as they knew not
+who, it became needful to proceed with extreme caution.  When they
+gained the edge of the clump, and raised their heads over a low
+bush-covered bank, they beheld a sight which was not calculated to cheer
+them, for there, in the centre of the bush, encircling a very small
+fire, sat a war-party of about fifty painted and befeathered braves of
+the Cree Indians.  They were engaged in council at the moment.
+
+A creeping sensation about their scalps was experienced by the two
+eavesdroppers on observing that they had passed not a hundred yards from
+a sentinel who occupied a low knoll on their left.
+
+Neither Dan nor Fergus dared to speak--not even to whisper.  Still less
+did they dare to move; for a few moments after they reached the bank
+just referred to, the moon came out from behind the clouds and flooded
+the whole scene as with the light of day.
+
+There was nothing left for it, therefore, except to lie still and
+listen.  But this gave them small comfort; for, although quite within
+earshot of the war-party, the language spoken was utterly unintelligible
+to either of them.
+
+Their eyes, however, were not so useless as their ears, for they could
+clearly see each warrior as he rose to harangue his comrades, and, from
+the vindictive expression of their faces as well as their frequent
+pointing in the direction of the buffalo-hunters it was abundantly
+evident that an attack upon them was being discussed.
+
+At last, after many braves had spoken, a chief of tall and noble mien
+arose.  His back was towards the two spies, but the moment they heard
+his voice they turned their heads and gazed at each other in speechless
+amazement, for the voice was quite familiar.
+
+No word did they dare to utter, but Fergus made formations with his lips
+of a most extravagant nature, which, however, clearly spelt "Okematan."
+When he had finished, he nodded and turned his gaze again on the Crees.
+
+Both men now understood that treachery was in the wind, and that a night
+attack was highly probable; and, of course, they felt desperately
+anxious to jump up and fly back to the camp to warn their comrades--for
+their only fear was a surprise.  The half-breeds being far more numerous
+than the Indians, and well entrenched, there could be no fear for them
+if prepared.
+
+Just then, as if to favour them, the moon retired behind a huge black
+cloud.
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Dan began to creep away back, closely
+followed by Fergus.  They gave a wide berth of course to the sentinel,
+and soon regained the hollow where the horses had been left.  Here they
+breathed more freely.
+
+"Who would have thought this of Okematan?" muttered Dan, as he hastily
+tightened his saddle-girths.
+
+"The _rascal_!" exclaimed Fergus, in deep tones of indignation.
+
+"You must gallop back to camp at once, Fergus," said Dan, as they
+mounted.  "I will go on to Red River alone."
+
+"What! will you not be coming with me?" asked the Highlander, in some
+surprise.
+
+"There is no need, for there will be no fighting," returned the other.
+"Our fellows far outnumber the Red-skins, and when the latter find that
+we have been warned, and are on our guard, they won't attack us, depend
+on it.  But you'll have to ride fast, for when such fellows make up
+their minds to strike they don't usually waste time in delivering the
+blow.  My business presses, I _must_ go on."
+
+A minute later, and Dan Davidson was galloping towards the Settlement
+alone, while Fergus made the best of his way back to the camp of the
+buffalo runners.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED.
+
+Whether or not Okematan was as thorough a rascal as Fergus McKay thought
+him will be best shown by harking back, and setting down a little of
+what was said by some of the Cree braves at the time that Fergus and Dan
+were eavesdropping.
+
+Standing in a dignified attitude worthy of an ancient Roman, with his
+blanket thrown toga-fashion over one shoulder, one of the braves looked
+round on the warrior band with a dark scowl before he began.  His
+comrades were evidently impressed by his looks.  Whether owing to a
+freak of fancy, a spice of eccentricity, or simple vanity, we know not,
+but this brave had, among other ornamental touches to his visage,
+painted his nose bright red.  The effect on his brother braves was
+solemnising.  It was not so impressive to his white observers, as it
+suggested to them the civilised toper.
+
+"The great white chief," began Rednose, with a slow deliberation that
+was meant to convey a settled and unalterable conviction, "is a fool!"
+
+"Waugh!" exclaimed the audience with emphasis, for the language was
+strong, and uttered with intense vigour, and that quite accorded with
+their tastes, so they agreed with the sentiment without regard to its
+signification.  This species of rhetoric, and its effects, are sometimes
+observed in connection with civilised gatherings.
+
+The great white chief thus irreverently referred to, we regret to say,
+was Lord Selkirk.
+
+"The great white chief," continued Rednose, availing himself of the
+force of emphatic repetition, "is a fool!  He is a child!  He knows
+nothing!  He comes across the great salt lake from the rising sun, with
+the air and aspect of an owl, thinking to teach us--the great Cree
+nation--wisdom!"
+
+"Waugh!" from the audience, one of whom, having a cold in his head,
+sneezed inadvertently, and was scowled at by the orator for full two
+minutes in absolute silence.  If that Cree warrior--he was on his first
+war-path--possessed anything akin to the feelings of the Paleface he
+must have suffered martyrdom.
+
+"Every one knows," continued the orator, resuming, "that the Crees are
+wise.  They can tell a fox from a buffalo.  They understand the
+difference between fire and water.  No Paleface sage needs to come from
+the rising sun to tell them to eat when they are hungry--to drink when
+they are dry.  But this Paleface chief comes with the eyes of the great
+northern owl, and says he comes to do us good.  And how does he begin to
+do us good?"
+
+Here there was a very decided "Waugh!" as though to say, "Ay, that's the
+question," and then a solemn pause for more--during which the man with
+the cold drew the reins very tight.
+
+"How does he begin to do us good?" proceeded the orator.  "By entering
+into an agreement with _us_ for the use of _our_ lands--and asking our
+enemies the Saulteaux to take part in that agreement!"
+
+The sounds of indignation and ferocity that followed this statement are
+not translatable.  After a gaze of unutterable meaning round the circle
+Rednose went on--
+
+"This, _this_ is the way in which the owl-eyed chief of the Palefaces
+begins to do us good!  If this is the way he begins, in what way will he
+continue, and,"--here his voice deepened to a whisper--"_how will he
+end_?"
+
+The ideas suggested by his question were so appalling that for some
+minutes the orator appeared unable to find words to go on, and his
+audience glared at him in dread anticipation, as though they expected
+him to explode like a bomb-shell, but were prepared to sit it out and
+take the consequences.  And he did explode, after a fashion, for he
+suddenly raised his voice to a shout that startled even the sentinel on
+the distant knoll, and said--
+
+"I counsel war to the knife!  The great white chief--the owl-eyed
+fool!--will not blot from our agreement the names of the Saulteaux
+chiefs--chiefs! there are no Saulteaux chiefs.  All their braves are
+cowards, on the same dead level of stupidity, and their women are--are
+nothing, fit for nothing, can do nothing, and must soon come to nothing!
+What then?  The duty of Cree warriors lies before us.  We will drive
+the Saulteaux into Lake Winnipeg and the Palefaces off the face of the
+earth altogether!  Waugh!"
+
+Having thus given vent to the opinions and feelings that consumed him,
+Rednose sat down, his audience breathed freely, the distant sentinel
+recovered his composure, and the young novitiate brave with the cold in
+his head sneezed with impunity.
+
+It would be tedious to recount all that was said at that council of war.
+The next brave that rose to "address the house" very much resembled the
+first speaker, both in sentiment and personal appearance, except that he
+had chosen sky-blue for his nose instead of red.  The only additional
+matter that he contributed worth noting was the advice that they should
+begin their bloody work by an immediate attack, in the dead of night, on
+the camp of the buffalo runners.
+
+This advice was hailed with a good many "Waughs," as well as approving
+nods and looks, and it seemed as if the plan were about to be carried
+into action without delay, when, as we have seen, Okematan arose to
+address the assemblage.
+
+Okematan was a great chief--much greater in the estimation of his tribe
+than the whites with whom he had been associating in Red River were
+aware of.  He had purposely reserved his address till near the
+conclusion.
+
+"The Cree warriors," he said, with an air of quiet dignity that was far
+more effective than the more energetic tones and gestures of the
+previous speakers, "know very well that the Cree nation considers itself
+the wisest in creation.  Far be it from Okematan to say otherwise, for
+he does not know.  Okematan is a child!  His eyes are only beginning to
+open!"
+
+He paused at this point, and looked round with solemn dignity; and the
+braves, unaccustomed to such self-depreciative modes of address, gazed
+at him with equal solemnity, not unmingled with surprise, though the
+latter feeling was carefully concealed.
+
+"When the last great palaver of the Cree braves was held on the
+Blue-Pine Ridge," continued Okematan, "the chiefs chose me to go to Red
+River, and learn all that I could find out about the Palefaces and their
+intentions.  I went, as you know.  I attached myself to a family named
+Daa-veed-sin, and I have found out--found out much about the Palefaces--
+much more that I did not know before, though I _am_ a chief of the Cree
+nation."
+
+Okematan looked pointedly at Rednose as he said this.  After a brief
+pause he continued--
+
+"The great white chief," (meaning Lord Selkirk), "is _not_ a fool.  It
+is true that he is not a god; he is a man and a Paleface, subject to the
+follies and weaknesses of the Palefaces, and not quite so wise as it is
+possible to be, but he is a good man, and wishes well to the Indian.  I
+have found weaknesses among the Palefaces.  One of them is that their
+chiefs plan--sometimes wisely, sometimes foolishly--but they leave the
+carrying out of their plans to other men, and sometimes these other men
+care for nobody but themselves.  They tell lies, they mislead the great
+white chief, and tell him to do what is wrong.
+
+"So it was when our agreement came to be made.  The great white chief
+found, when he came to Red River, a few families of Saulteaux whom we
+had permitted to hunt on our lands.  He thought the land belonged to the
+Saulteaux as well as to the Crees.  He was mistaken, ignorant; he knew
+no better, and the Palefaces who did know, did not put light into him;
+so the names of Saulteaux chiefs were put in the writing.  Then the
+great white chief went away across the great salt lake to the lands of
+the rising sun, leaving his small chiefs to carry out his plans.  Some
+of these are _very_ small chiefs, unfit to carry out any plans.  Others
+are bad small chiefs, that will carry out only such plans as are sure to
+benefit themselves.  It is these men with whom we have to deal.  It is
+these who deserve to be swept off the face of the earth."
+
+A number of emphatic nods and "waughs" at this point showed that
+Okematan had at last touched a key-note with which his braves could
+shout in harmony.
+
+"But," resumed the chief impressively, "we cannot sweep them off the
+earth; we cannot even sweep them off the banks of Red River.  We might
+easily sweep the Saulteaux into Lake Winnipeg if we thought it worth
+while to try, but the Palefaces--never!  Okematan has travelled far to
+the south and seen the Palefaces there.  They cannot be counted.  They
+swarm like our locusts; they darken the earth as our buffaloes darken
+the plains.  They live in stone wigwams.  I have seen one of their
+wigwams that was big enough to hold all the Crees' wigwams bundled
+together.  If we killed or scalped all the Palefaces in Red River the
+great white chief would come over the great salt lake with an army that
+would swallow us up as the buffalo swallows up a tuft of grass.
+
+"Besides," continued Okematan, with a slight touch of pathos in his
+tone, "there are good and bad men among the Palefaces, just as there are
+good and bad among ourselves.  I have dwelt for many moons with a tribe
+called Scosh-min.  Okematan loves the Scosh-min.  They speak a wonderful
+language, and some of them are too fond of fire-water; but their braves
+fear nothing, and their squaws are pretty and work hard--almost as hard
+as our squaws--though they are not quite as good-looking as ours.  They
+are too white--their faces are like buffalo fat!"
+
+A "Waugh," which might be translated "Hear, hear," greeted this
+statement of opinion.
+
+"Now," continued our chief, "if we swept away all the people of Red
+River, we would sweep away the good Scosh-min, which would be foolish,
+and we would gain nothing in the end, but would bring worse trouble on
+our heads.  My counsel, therefore, is for peace.  I advise that we
+should let the buffalo runners and the people of Red River alone; send a
+message with our grievances to the great white chief; ask him to come
+back over the great salt lake to put things right, and, in the meantime,
+wait with patience; attend to our own business; hunt, fish, eat, drink,
+sleep, and be happy."
+
+Having delivered his harangue, Okematan sat down amid murmurs of mingled
+applause and disapprobation.  It was evident that he had created a
+serious division of opinion in the camp, and it seemed as if on the
+impression made by the next speaker would depend the great question of
+peace or war.
+
+Presently an old warrior arose, and a profound silence followed, for
+they held him in great respect.
+
+"My braves," said the old man sententiously, "I have lived long, and my
+fighting days are nearly over.  If wisdom has not accumulated on my head
+it must be my own fault, for I have had great experience both of war and
+peace--more of war, perhaps, than of peace.  And the opinion that I have
+come to after long and very deep consideration is this: if there is
+something to fight for, fight--fight well; if there is nothing to fight
+for, don't fight--don't fight at all."
+
+The old man paused, and there were some "Waughs" of approval, for the
+truth contained in his profound conclusion was obvious even to the
+stupidest Red-skin of the band--supposing that a stupid brave among
+Crees were possible!
+
+"I have also lived to see," continued the old man, "that revenge is
+nothing--nothing at all, and therefore not worth fighting for."
+
+As this was flying straight in the face of the most cherished of
+Red-skins' beliefs, it was received in dead though respectful silence.
+
+"My young braves do not believe this.  I know it.  I have been young
+myself, and I remember well how pleasant revenge was to me, but I soon
+found that the pleasure of revenge did not last.  It soon passed away,
+yet the deed of revenge did not pass away, and sometimes the deed became
+to my memory very bitter--insomuch that the pleasantness was entirely
+swallowed up and forgotten in the bitterness.  My young braves will not
+believe this, I know.  They go on feeling; they think on feeling; they
+reason on feeling; they trust to feeling.  It is foolish, for the brain
+was given to enable man to think and judge and plan.  You are as foolish
+as if you were to try to smell with your mouth and eat with your nose.
+But it is the way of youth.  When experience teaches, then you will come
+to know that revenge is not worth fighting for--its pleasantness will
+pass away, but the bitter it leaves behind will never pass away.
+
+"What is the meaning of revenge?" continued this analytical old savage.
+"What is the use of it?  Does it not mean that we give up all hope of
+getting what we want, and wildly determine to get what pleasure is still
+possible to us by killing those who have thwarted us?  And when you have
+killed and got all the pleasure there is, what does it come to?  Your
+enemy is dead, and scalped.  What then?  He does not know that he is
+dead.  He does not care that he is dead and scalped.  You cannot keep
+him alive for ever killing and scalping him.  But you have made his wife
+and children miserable.  What of that?  It was not his wife and children
+who opposed you, therefore you have revenged yourself on the wrong
+persons.  He does not know that you have rendered his wife and children
+miserable, and does not care; therefore, I ask, why are you pleased?  If
+your enemy was a good man, your revenge has only done him a kindness,
+for it has sent him to the happy hunting grounds before his time, where
+you will probably never meet him to have the pleasure of being revenged
+on him there.  If he was a bad man, you have sent him to the world of
+Desolation, where he will be waiting to receive you when you get there,
+and where revenge will be impossible, for men are not allowed to kill or
+scalp there.  At least if they are I never heard of it--and I am an old
+man now.
+
+"There is nothing, then, to fight for with the Palefaces of Red River,
+and my counsel is, like that of Okematan, that we should decide on
+peace--not war."
+
+Whatever may have been the private opinion of the braves as to this new
+and very unexpected style of address, the effect of it was pacific; for,
+after a little more palaver, the peace-party carried the day--or, rather
+the night--and, next morning, the Cree warriors went back to their tents
+and hunting avocations, leaving Okematan to return to the camp of his
+friends the buffalo runners.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+AN EVENING IN THE CAMP.
+
+It was daybreak when Fergus McKay galloped into camp with the startling
+news that an attack by hostile Indians might be expected that day or the
+following night.  He was, of course, unaware of the fact that the
+peace-making Okematan had been unwittingly following his tracks at a
+more leisurely pace.
+
+Some readers may think that the Indian, with his traditional power of
+following a trail, should have observed and suspected the fresh track of
+the hunter, but it must be remembered that some hundreds of buffalo
+runners had passed over the same track a day or two previously, and that
+Hawkeye, or Pathfinder himself, would have become helpless in the midst
+of such trampled confusion.  Besides, Okematan had no reason to suspect
+that he had been followed; still less that the camp of the war-party had
+been accidentally discovered.
+
+"Now, boys," said Fergus, after detailing his adventures during the
+night, "we will hev to give up all notion o' buffalo runnin' this day
+an' putt the camp in a state o' defence."
+
+There was a good deal of grumbling at this, especially among some of the
+younger men; for they were very keen to commence the sport, and had not
+much belief in the power of a small band of savages to do them harm.
+Some of them even suggested that half of their number should remain
+behind to guard the camp while the other half should go after the
+buffalo.  This proposal, however, was not received with favour, as it
+would certainly be a matter of disagreement which half was to go out,
+and which to remain behind!
+
+"Where is Kateegoose?" asked Dechamp at this crisis.
+
+"Stuffin' 'imself, of course!" said Fred Jenkins, amid a general laugh.
+"I've noticed, since we set sail on this trip, that Kateegoose always
+turns out at daybreak, lights the galley fire, an' begins the dooties o'
+the day by stuffin' 'imself."
+
+"Ay, and I've noticed," observed one of the young hunters, "that it
+takes a deal o' stuffin' to fill him out properly, for he keeps on at it
+most part o' the day."
+
+"Except," remarked another, "when he stops to smoke what o' the stuffin'
+has been already shoved down."
+
+"Moreover," added the seaman, "I've noticed that Francois La Certe
+always keeps 'im company.  He's a sympathetic sort o' man is Francois,
+fond o' helpin' his mates--specially when they're eatin' an' smokin'."
+
+At this moment Kateegoose, having been called, came forward.  He was an
+ill-favoured savage, with various expressions on his ugly visage which
+were not so much Nature's gifts as the result of his own evil passions.
+Jealousy was one of them, and he had often turned a green eye on
+Okematan.  There were indications about his mouth and fingers, as he
+came forward, that justified the commentaries on his habits, and
+betrayed recent acquaintance with fat pork.
+
+"You hear the reports that have just been brought in?" said Dechamp.
+
+"Kateegoose hears," was the laconic answer.
+
+"Kateegoose is a Cree," continued Dechamp; "he knows the spirit that
+dwells in the hearts of his tribe.  What does he think?"
+
+"The thoughts of the Indian are many and deep.  He has for many moons
+watched the behaviour of Okematan, and he has long suspected that the
+heart of the serpent dwells in the breast of that chief.  Now he is
+sure."
+
+"But what about your people?" demanded the camp-chief.  "They are not at
+war with us.  Are they all villains because one among them turns out to
+be bad?"
+
+Kateegoose drew himself up with a look of dignity, and pouted his greasy
+lips as he replied--
+
+"The Crees have always been a brave and true and upright people.  They
+never attack friends until, by their conduct, these friends have become
+enemies.  But the Crees are human.  They are not perfect--neither are
+the Palefaces.  There are bad men among them--a few; not many--as well
+as young men and foolish.  Sometimes, when on the war-path, a clever bad
+man can reason with them till he blinds them, and they are ready to do
+wrong.  It may be so now.  Okematan is clever.  Kateegoose does not know
+what to advise."
+
+"Kateegoose was not asked to advise," returned Dechamp sternly.  "He may
+return to his tent."
+
+Thus summarily dismissed, this hanger-on or camp-follower returned to
+his pork and pipe with a feeling that somehow he had failed to make the
+exact impression on the leader that he desired.  La Certe, however,
+consoled him, and helped him to continue the duties of the day.
+
+"Come with me, McKay," said Dechamp, after giving all needful directions
+regarding the safety of the camp.  "I don't believe that rascal
+Kateegoose.  He's a greedy idler, something like La Certe, but by no
+means so harmless or good-natured.  Moreover, I find it hard to believe
+that Okematan has turned traitor."
+
+"I agree with you," said Fergus.  "It iss ferry hard to believe that a
+man who has been so long among us, and got such a good character, should
+suddenly turn against us--an' that, too, without provocation.  But what
+will you be sayin' to what Taniel and myself has seen with our two
+eyes?"
+
+"It looks bad, I confess," answered Dechamp, as they paced to and fro in
+a retired part of the camp; "but you must remember that your two eyes
+are not your two ears, and that you heard nothing that you could
+understand."
+
+"Fery true, Dechamp.  But the language of the eye is sometimes as clear
+and understandable as the language of the ear.  No wan could mistake the
+meanin' o' some o' the warriors when they scowled an' pointed in the
+direction of our camp here, an' gripped the handles o' their scalpin'
+knives and tomahawks.  Moreover, Okematan also pointed in the same
+direction, though I am bound to say he did not grip his knife.  Whether
+he scowled or not I do not know, for he was standin' wi' his back to
+us."
+
+"Well, I cannot tell.  I'm not willin' to believe Okematan a traitor;
+but what you have seen is enough to make me put the camp in defence
+instead of startin' out to hunt--"
+
+At that moment the sharp click of a gun was heard as a neighbouring
+sentry put his piece on full cock.
+
+Dechamp and Fergus hastened towards him.
+
+"Have a care, Andre; don't be too quick with your gun," said the former.
+"I see only one man coming.  He can do us no harm."
+
+As the approaching figure drew near, it was seen to be that of an Indian
+on horseback.  He rode carelessly at a jog-trot.
+
+"It looks like Okematan!" said Dechamp, glancing at his companion in
+surprise.
+
+"It iss Okematan," returned Fergus.
+
+Before another word could be spoken, a shot was heard in the camp, and
+horse and man were seen to roll upon the ground.  The latter rose
+immediately, but the horse lay stiff--evidently shot dead.  For a few
+seconds profound silence followed the incident, as if men were too much
+taken by surprise to think and act.  Then, when the dismounted Indian
+was seen to walk leisurely, as if unhurt, towards them, there was a
+hubbub in the camp, while men, women, and boys ran towards the spot
+whence the shot seemed to have been fired, but no one was to be found
+there.  Only a very faint puff of smoke overhead told where the marksman
+had stood.  It had been a well-chosen spot, where a low bush or two
+mingled with several carts that had been rather carelessly drawn up, and
+several horses had been picketed together.  These had afforded
+concealment enough for at least a few moments.
+
+The tent of La Certe was not far from this corner.  At the time the shot
+was heard, the self-indulgent half-breed was inside, recumbent on his
+back in the enjoyment of a pipe.
+
+"That's odd," he said to Slowfoot, who was seated opposite to her lord
+scraping the remnants of something out of a tin kettle with the point of
+a scalping-knife.  "Somebody's gun gone off by accident, I suppose.  I
+hear some one at our fire.  Look out, Slowfoot, and ask what has
+happened."
+
+Slowfoot finished the scraping of the kettle before obeying; then lifted
+the curtain that closed the opening of their tent, and peeped out.
+
+"It is Kateegoose--loading his gun, I think."
+
+La Certe got up, with a sigh of regret at the necessity for exertion,
+and, lifting the curtain-door, stepped out.
+
+"What are they firing at, Kateegoose?"
+
+The Indian did not know.  Some one, he thought, might have let off his
+gun by accident.  He thought it wise, however, to be ready, and had just
+sent the ramrod down the barrel of his gun to make sure that it was
+loaded with ball.  To make still surer that all was ready, the Indian
+shook the priming out of the pan of his gun, wiped it, and re-primed.
+Then he laid the weapon down by his side, and resumed the pipe which he
+had apparently laid down to enable him to perform these operations more
+conveniently, and, at the same time, with more safety.
+
+At that moment Dechamp walked smartly towards the fire in front of La
+Certe's tent.
+
+"Does Kateegoose know who fired that shot?" he asked with a keen glance,
+for his suspicions had been aroused.
+
+"Some one over there," answered the Indian languidly, as he pointed in
+the right direction.
+
+"It does not need a medicine-man to tell me that," said Dechamp,
+sternly.  "I heard the shot, and saw the smoke.  Have you any idea who
+fired it, La Certe?"
+
+"I have not," replied the half-breed.  "I was lying in my tent when I
+heard it.  Kateegoose was smoking beside the fire.  We both thought it
+was an accident, or some one trying his gun, till we heard the shouting
+and running.  Then I jumped up, seized my gun, and sprang out to see
+what it was all about.  I found Kateegoose equally on the _qui vive_.
+He was shoving his ramrod down to make sure his gun was loaded when you
+came up.  What is it all about?"
+
+"Only that the horse of Okematan has been shot under him by some one,
+and that there is a would-be murderer in the camp."
+
+"Okematan!  Has the traitor ventured to return?" exclaimed Kateegoose,
+with an expression of surprise that was very unusual in an Indian.
+
+"Ay, he has ventured," responded Dechamp, "and some one has ventured to
+fire at him with intent to kill.  By good luck he was a bad shot.  He
+missed the man, though he hit and killed the horse.  But I shall find
+the rascal out before long--he may depend on that!"
+
+So saying, the commandant left the spot.
+
+"Do you know anything about this?" asked La Certe, turning full on the
+Indian.
+
+"Kateegoose is not a medicine-man.  He cannot be in two places at once.
+He knows nothing."
+
+For a sly man La Certe was wonderfully credulous.  He believed the
+Indian, and, returning to his tent, lay down again to finish the
+interrupted pipe.
+
+"Kateegoose was trying his gun to see if it was loaded," he said to his
+better half.
+
+"That's a lie," returned Slowfoot, with that straightforward simplicity
+of diction for which she was famous.
+
+"Indeed!  What, then, was he doing, my Slowfoot?"
+
+"He was _loading_ his gun--not trying it."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Am I sure that our little child loves tobacco?"
+
+"Well, I suppose you are.  At any rate, the child often asks you for a
+pipe, and gets it too.  Hm! if Kateegoose fired that shot he must be a
+bad man.  But our chief is sure to find it out--and--it is no business
+of mine.  Fetch me the tobacco, Slowfoot."
+
+That same morning, Archie Sinclair was seated beside his brother, Little
+Bill, in the tent that was shared by Fred Jenkins and several young
+half-breeds.  He was alone with his brother, Jenkins having gone out
+with the blunderbuss to assist, if need be, in the defence of the camp.
+He was manufacturing a small bow for his brother to amuse himself with
+while he should be away "seein' the fun," as he said, with the hunters.
+The instant the sailor left, however, he looked at Billie mysteriously
+and said, in a low voice--
+
+"Little Bill, although you're not good for much with your poor little
+body, you've got a splendid headpiece, and are amazing at giving advice.
+I want advice just now very bad.  You've heard what they've all been
+saying about this shot that was fired at Okematan, and some o' the men
+say they think it must have been Kateegoose that did it.  Now, Billie, I
+am _sure_ that it was Kateegoose that did it."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Little Bill, making his eyes and mouth into three round
+O's.  "How d'ye know that?  Did you see him do it?"
+
+"No--it's that that bothers me.  If I had seen him do it I would have
+gone straight and told Dechamp, but I didn't quite see him, you see.  I
+was in Lamartine's cart at the time, rummagin' about for a piece o' wood
+to make this very bow, an' the moment I heard the shot I peeped out, an'
+saw--nothing!"
+
+"That wasn't much," remarked Little Bill, innocently.
+
+"Ay, but I soon saw something," continued Archie, with increasing
+solemnity; "I saw Kateegoose coming slinking round among the carts, as
+if he wanted not to be seen.  I saw him only for a moment--gliding past
+like a ghost."
+
+"It's a serious thing," said Little Bill, musing gravely, "to charge a
+man with tryin' to kill another man, if that's all you've got to tell,
+for you know it's a way the Red-skins have of always glidin' about as if
+they was for ever after mischief."
+
+"But that's not all, Little Bill," returned his brother, "for I'm almost
+certain that I saw a little smoke comin' out o' the muzzle of his gun as
+he passed--though I couldn't exactly swear to it."
+
+Archie had overrated his brother's powers in the way of advice, for,
+although they talked the matter over for some time, they failed to
+arrive at any satisfactory conclusion.
+
+Meanwhile Okematan, having entered the camp, was met by Dechamp, and led
+by him to a retired part.
+
+"You have an enemy here, Okematan," he said, inquiringly.
+
+"It would seem so," returned the Indian gravely.  "Friends do not shoot
+each other's horses; and if the poor horse had not tossed his head when
+the shot was fired, his rider would have bit the dust."
+
+"I fear it looks something like that," said Dechamp; "but I hope
+Okematan believes that _I_ know nothing of the matter--nor can I tell
+who the cowardly villain is that did it."
+
+"Okematan knows that," answered the Indian, sternly.  "No half-breed
+fired the shot."
+
+"There is no Indian in the camp but Kateegoose," rejoined the other,
+quickly; "surely you don't think that a man of your own tribe would try
+to kill you?"
+
+"I know not.  Kateegoose hates me.  No other man in the camp hates me."
+
+"It is strange--unaccountable," returned Dechamp.  "If the Indian did
+it, he shall forfeit his horse and leave the camp.  But tell me,"--here
+the half-breed commandant turned a searching gaze on his companion, "why
+did Okematan leave us, and spend all night alone on the prairie?  Did he
+spend the night in conversation with the buffalo--or in the company of
+his departed forefathers?"
+
+No sign of surprise, or of any other emotion, was visible on the
+countenance of the Red-man as he replied: "Okematan went out to meet a
+party of his tribe on the war-path."
+
+Dechamp was not so successful in concealing his own surprise at this
+answer.
+
+"Does the Cree chief," he asked, with something of doubt in his tone and
+look, "choose the hours of night to consult with warriors about secret
+assaults and surprises on friends?"
+
+"He does not!" answered the Indian, decidedly but calmly--though he was
+unquestionably astonished at being questioned so pointedly and correctly
+as to his recent proceedings, and felt that he must have been followed.
+He was not the man, however, to betray his feelings, or to commit
+himself in any way; therefore he took refuge in silence.
+
+"Come now, Okematan," said his companion in a confidential tone.  "Don't
+let a misunderstanding arise between you and me.  What is this that I
+have heard?  You spent last night, as you admit, with a party of Crees
+on the war-path.  You were seen and heard, and the men of the camp think
+you have turned traitor, and they are even now expecting an attack from
+this war-party.  Is it true that we are to be attacked?"
+
+"You say I was _heard_," answered the Indian, looking the half-breed
+straight in the face.  "If so, those who heard must know what I said."
+
+"Nay, they did indeed hear, but they did not understand, for they know
+not your language; but they know the language of signs, and, by the
+looks and gestures of the warriors, they guessed what was said and
+planned."
+
+"Is it likely," asked the Indian in a low voice, "that Okematan would
+return to your camp alone, and put himself in your power, if an attack
+was intended?"
+
+"True, true," returned Dechamp with a hearty air; "and, to say truth, I
+myself did not--do not--believe you false.  If you tell me the truth,
+Okematan, and give me your word that this report is a mistaken one, I
+will believe you and trust you."
+
+The Indian seemed pleased with the assurance thus heartily given, but
+still maintained his dignified gravity, as he said--
+
+"Okematan _always_ tells the truth.  He had hoped that the folly of some
+young braves of his tribe should never have been known to any one; but
+since it has been found out, he will tell all he knows to his pale-faced
+brother."
+
+Hereupon he related all that had transpired at the council of war, and
+the final success of his own speech, with that of the old warrior, in
+producing a peaceful solution.
+
+"But are you sure they will follow your advice?" asked Dechamp.
+
+"Yes, Okematan is quite sure."
+
+"Well, then, as I said, I will trust you," returned Dechamp, extending
+his hand, which the Indian gravely grasped; "and I will give you
+undeniable proof, by giving my young men orders to start after the
+buffalo at once--without further delay."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+THE BUFFALO-HUNT.
+
+In accordance with the assurance given to Okematan Antoine Dechamp at
+once gave orders to make preparation for an immediate start after the
+buffalo--much to the satisfaction of the hunters, especially the young
+ones.
+
+Buffaloes--or, to speak more correctly, bisons--roamed over the North
+American prairies at the time we write of in countless thousands; for
+the Indians, although extremely wasteful of animal life, could not keep
+their numbers down, and the aggressive white-man, with his deadly gun
+and rifle, had only just begun to depopulate the plains.  Therefore the
+hunters had not to travel far before coming up with their quarry.
+
+In a very brief space of time they were all drawn up in line under
+command of their chosen leader, who, at least up to the moment of giving
+the signal for attack, kept his men in reasonably good order.  They had
+not ridden long when the huge ungainly bisons were seen like black
+specks on the horizon.
+
+Still the horsemen--each armed with the muzzle-loading,
+single-barrelled, flint-lock gun of the period--advanced cautiously,
+until so near that the animals began to look up as if in surprise at the
+unwonted intrusion on their great solitudes.
+
+Then the signal was given, the horses stretched out at the gallop, the
+buffalo began to run--at first heavily, as if great speed were
+impossible to them; but gradually the pace increased until it attained
+to racing speed.  Then the hunters gave the rein to their eager steeds,
+and the long line rushed upon the game like a tornado of centaurs.
+
+From this point all discipline was at an end.  Each man fought for his
+own hand, killing as many animals as he could, so that ere long the
+plain was strewn with carcases, and the air filled with gunpowder smoke.
+
+We have said that all the hunters set out, but this is not strictly
+correct, for three were left behind.  One of these had fallen sick; one
+had sprained his wrist, and another was lazy.  It need scarcely be told
+that the lazy one was Francois La Certe.
+
+"There is no hurry," he said, when the hunters were assembling for the
+start; "plenty of time.  My horse has not yet recovered from the
+fatigues of the journey.  And who knows but the report of the buffalo
+being so near may be false?  I will wait and see the result.  To-morrow
+will be time enough to begin.  Then, Slowfoot, you will see what I can
+do.  Your hands shall be busy.  We will load our cart with meat and
+pemmican, pay off all our debts, and spend a happy winter in Red River.
+What have you got there in the kettle?"
+
+"Pork," answered Slowfoot with characteristic brevity.
+
+"Will it soon be ready?"
+
+"Soon."
+
+"Have you got the tea unpacked?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Send me your pipe."
+
+This latter speech was more in the tone of a request than a command, and
+the implied messenger from the opposite side of the fire was the baby--
+Baby La Certe.  We never knew its name, if it had one, and we have
+reason to believe that it was a female baby.  At the time, baby was
+quite able to walk--at least to waddle or toddle.
+
+A brief order from the maternal lips sent Baby La Certe toddling round
+the fire towards its father, pipe in hand; but, short though the road
+was, it had time to pause and consider.  Evidently the idea of justice
+was strongly developed in that child.  Fair wage for fair work had
+clearly got hold of it, for it put the pipe which was still alight, in
+its mouth and began to draw!
+
+At this the father smiled benignly, but Slowfoot made a demonstration
+which induced a rather prompt completion of the walk without a
+reasonable wage.  It sucked vigorously all the time, however, being
+evidently well aware that Francois was not to be feared.
+
+At that moment the curtain of the tent lifted, and little Bill Sinclair
+limped in.  He was a favourite with La Certe, who made room for him, and
+at once offered him the pipe, but Billie declined.
+
+"No, thank you, La Certe.  I have not learned to smoke yet."
+
+"Ha! you did not begin young enough," said the half-breed, glancing
+proudly at his own offspring.
+
+We may explain here once for all that, although he had lived long enough
+in the colony to understand French, Billie spoke to his friend in
+English, and that, although La Certe understood English, he preferred to
+speak in French.
+
+"What have you been doing?" he asked, when the boy had seated himself.
+
+"I've been shooting at a mark with my bow and arrow--brother Archie made
+it for me."
+
+"Let me see--yes, it is very well made.  Where is brother Archie?"
+
+"Gone after the buffalo."
+
+"What!--on a horse?"
+
+"He could not go very well after them on foot--could he?" replied the
+boy quietly.  "Dan Davidson lent him a horse, but not a gun.  He said
+that Archie was too young to use a gun on horseback, and that he might
+shoot some of the people instead of the buffalo, or burst his gun, or
+fall off.  But _I_ don't think so.  Archie can do anything.  I know, for
+I've seen him do it."
+
+"And so he has left you in camp all by yourself.  What a shame, Billie!"
+
+"No, Francois, it is not a shame.  Would you have me keep him from the
+fun just because I can't go?  _That_ would indeed be a shame, wouldn't
+it?"
+
+"Well, perhaps you're right, Billie."
+
+"I know I'm right," returned the boy, with a decision of tone that would
+have been offensive if it had not been accompanied with a look of
+straightforward gentleness that disarmed resentment.  "But, I say,
+Francois, why are you not out with the rest?"
+
+"Oh, because--because--Well, you know, my horse is tired, and--and, I'm
+not quite sure that the buffalo really have been seen as near as they
+say.  And I can go to-morrow just as well.  You see, Billie, there is no
+need to hurry oneself."
+
+"No, I don't see that.  I think there's always need for hurry, specially
+with men like you.  I know the reason you don't go out better than
+yourself, Francois."
+
+"Yes--what is it?" asked the half-breed with a slight laugh.
+
+"It's laziness.  That's what it is, and you should be ashamed of
+yourself."
+
+The large mild eyes and low voice, and pale earnest face of the
+plain-spoken invalid were such that it would have been impossible for
+any one to be offended with him, much less La Certe, whose spirit of
+indignation it was almost impossible to arouse.  He winced a little at
+the home-thrust, however, because he knew it to be true.
+
+"You're hard on me, Little Bill," he said with a benignant look, as he
+picked a stick from the fire and inserted its glowing end in his pipe.
+
+"No, I'm not hard," returned the boy gravely.  Indeed he was always
+grave, and seldom laughed though he sometimes smiled faintly at the
+jokes and quips of his volatile brother and Fred Jenkins the seaman:
+"I'm not half hard enough," he continued; "I like you, Francois, and
+that's the reason why I scold you and try to get you to mend.  I don't
+think there's such a lazy man in the whole Settlement as you.  You would
+rather sit and smoke and stuff yourself with pork all day than take the
+trouble to saddle your horse and get your gun and go out with the rest.
+Why are you so lazy, Francois?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, Little Bill, unless it be that I'm born to be
+lazy.  Other people are born, I suppose, to be active and energetic.
+They like activity and energy, and so they do it.  I like repose and
+quiet, and--so I do that.  Not much difference after all!  We both do
+what we like best!"
+
+Little Bill was perplexed.  Although philosophical in tendency he had
+not had sufficient experience in sophistical reasoning to enable him to
+disentangle the sinuosities of bad logic.  But he was a resolute little
+fellow, and not easily quelled.
+
+"What would happen," he asked, "if everybody in the world did as you
+do?"
+
+"Well, I suppose everybody would enjoy themselves.  There would be no
+more fightings or wars, or any trouble of that sort, if everybody would
+only take things easy and smoke the pipe of peace."
+
+"Hm!  I don't know about that," returned the boy, doubtfully; "but I'm
+quite sure there would not be much pemmican in Red River this winter if
+all the hunters were like you.  I wonder you're not ashamed, Francois.
+Sometimes I think that you're not worth caring about; but I can't help
+it, you know--we can't force our likings one way or other."
+
+La Certe was a good deal taken aback.  He was not indeed unaccustomed to
+plain speaking, and to the receipt of gratuitous abuse; but his
+experience invariably was to associate both with more or less of a stern
+voice and a frowning brow.  To receive both in a soft voice from a
+delicate meek-faced child, who at the same time professed to like him,
+was a complete novelty which puzzled him not a little.
+
+After a few minutes' profound consideration, he put out his pipe and
+arose quickly with something like an appearance of firmness in his look
+and bearing.
+
+Slowfoot, whose utter ignorance of both French and English prevented her
+understanding the drift of the recent conversation, was almost startled
+by the unfamiliar action of her lord.
+
+"Where go you?" she asked.
+
+"To follow the buffalo," answered La Certe, with all the dignity of a
+man bursting with good resolutions.
+
+"Are you ill?" asked his wife, anxiously.
+
+To this he vouchsafed no reply, as he raised the curtain and went out.
+
+Little Bill also went out, and, sitting down on a package, watched him
+with his large solemn eyes, but said never a word until the half-breed
+had loaded his gun and mounted his horse.  Then he said: "Good luck to
+you, Francois!"
+
+La Certe did not speak, but with a grave nod of his head rode slowly out
+of the camp.  Little Bill regarded him for a moment.  He had his bow and
+a blunt-headed arrow in his hand at the time.  Fitting the latter
+hastily to the bow he took a rapid shot at the retreating horseman.  The
+arrow sped well.  It descended on the flank of the horse with
+considerable force, and, bounding off, fell to the ground.  The result
+was that the horse, to La Certe's unutterable surprise, made a sudden
+demivolt into the air--without the usual persuasion--almost unseated its
+rider, and fled over the prairie like a thing possessed!
+
+A faint smile ruffled the solemnity of Little Bill at this, but it
+vanished when he heard a low chuckle behind him.  Wheeling round, he
+stood face to face with Slowfoot, whose mouth was expanded from ear to
+ear.
+
+"Clever boy!" she said, patting him on the back, "come into the tent and
+have some grub."
+
+She said this in the Cree language, which the boy did not understand,
+but he understood well enough the signs with which the invitation was
+accompanied.  Thanking her with an eloquent look, he re-entered the tent
+along with her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+ADVENTURES OF ARCHIE AND THE SEAMAN.
+
+Meanwhile the buffalo-hunt progressed favourably, and the slaughter of
+animals was considerable.
+
+But there were two members of that hunt whose proceedings were not in
+exact accord with the habits and laws of the chase, as usually conducted
+on the Red River plains.  These were the seaman Jenkins and Archie
+Sinclair.
+
+A mutual attachment having sprung up between these two, they had
+arranged to keep together during the chase; and when the signal for
+attack was given by Dechamp, as before related, they had "set sail,"
+according to Jenkins, fairly well with the rest.  But they had not gone
+more than a few hundred yards when the boy observed that his nautical
+friend was hauling at both reins furiously, as if desirous of stopping
+his horse.  Having a gun in one hand he found the operation difficult.
+
+Archie therefore reined in a little.
+
+"Bad luck to it!" growled Jenkins, as his young friend drew near, "the
+jaws o' this craft seem to be made o' cast-iron, but I'll bring him to
+if I should haul my arms out o' the sockets.  Heave-to, my lad!  Maybe
+he'll be willin' to follow a good example."
+
+Archie pulled up, and, as the seaman had hoped, the hard-mouthed steed
+stopped, while the maddened buffalo and the almost as much maddened
+hunters went thundering on, and were soon far ahead of them.
+
+"What's wrong, Jenkins?" asked Archie, on seeing the sailor dismount.
+
+"Not much, lad; only I want to take a haul at the main brace.  Here,
+hold my gun a bit, like a good chap; the saddle, you see, ain't all
+right, an' if it was to slew round, you know, I'd be overboard in a
+jiffy.  There, that's all right.  Now, we'll up anchor, an' off again.
+I know now that the right way to git on board is by the port side.  When
+I started from Red River I was goin' to climb up on the starboard side,
+but Dan Davidson kep' me right--though he had a good laugh at me.  All
+right now.  Hand me the gun."
+
+"Do you mean to say, Jenkins, that you never got on a horse till you
+came to Red River?" asked Archie, with a laugh, as they galloped off in
+pursuit of the hunters, who were almost out of sight by that time.
+
+"Well, you've no occasion to laugh, lad," returned the seaman.  "I've
+bin at sea ever since I was a small shaver, scarce half as long as a
+handspike, so I ain't had many opportunities, d'ee see, for we don't
+have cavalry at sea, as a rule--always exceptin' the horse marines.
+
+"Then I'm afraid you'll find runnin' the buffalo somewhat difficult,"
+returned the boy.  "Not that I know anything about it myself, for this
+is the first time I've been out; an' even now Dan won't let me use a
+gun; but I've often heard the men talkin' about it! an' some o' them
+have complained that they have found it uncommon difficult to load when
+at full gallop--specially when the horse is hard in the mouth."
+
+"I make no manner o' doubt you're right, lad, but I've got my sea-legs
+on now, so to speak; leastwise I've got used to ridin' in the trip out
+here, as well as used to steerin' wi' the tiller-ropes in front, which
+seems to me right in the teeth o' natur', though I couldn't see how it
+could well be otherwise.  But I confess that my chief difficulty is the
+ordnance, for it interferes a good deal wi' the steerin'.
+Hows'ever--`never ventur' never win,' you know.  I never expected to
+take up a noo purfession without some trouble."
+
+As he spoke, the seaman's horse--a large brown chestnut--put its foot in
+a hole, and plunged forward with great violence, barely escaping a fall.
+
+"Hold on!" shouted Archie in alarm.
+
+"Hold on it is!" sang out the sailor in reply.
+
+And hold on it was, for he had the chestnut round the neck with both
+arms.  Indeed he was sitting, or lying, on its neck altogether.
+
+"It ain't an easy job," he gasped, while he struggled to regain the
+saddle, "when a fellow gets hove on to the bowsprit this way, to git
+fairly back on the main-deck again.  But a Jenkins never was beaten in
+fair fight.  That's all right.  Now then, Archie, you're an obleegin'
+cove.  Do git down an' pick up the gun for me.  You see, if I git down
+it's a tryin' job to git up again--the side o' this here craft bein' so
+steep an' so high out o' the water.  Thank'ee; why, boy, you jump down
+an' up like a powder-monkey.  It ain't broke, is it?"
+
+"No.  It seems all right," answered the boy, as he handed the gun to its
+owner.  "But if you let it go like that often, it won't be much worth
+when the run's over."
+
+"Let it go, boy?" repeated the sailor.  "It was either let it or myself
+go, an' when it comes to a toss up o' that sort, Fred Jenkins knows how
+to look arter number one."
+
+It will be seen from all this that our seaman was not quite so much at
+home on the prairie as on the sea.  Indeed, if the expression be
+permissible, he was very much at sea on that undulating plain, and did
+not take so kindly to the green waves of the rolling prairie as to the
+heaving billows of the restless ocean; but, as Archie remarked, he was
+fast getting broke in.
+
+The incidents which we have mentioned, however, were but the
+commencement of a series of disasters to poor Jenkins, which went far to
+cure him of a desire to excel in the "noo purfession," and to induce a
+somewhat violent longing for a return to his first love, the ocean.
+
+"I can't think what ever could have made you want to come out here,"
+said Archie, as they continued to follow up the still distant hunters.
+
+"What was it made yourself want to come out, lad?" asked the sailor.
+
+"It wasn't me that wanted to come.  It was father, you know, an' of
+course I had to follow," said the boy in a tone which induced his friend
+to say hastily, and in a tone of sympathy--
+
+"Ah, poor lad, I forgot you was a orphing.  Well, you see, I think it
+must ha' bin a love o' change or a love o' discontent, or suthin' o'
+that sort, as brought me cruising in these here waters, for I can't say
+what else it was.  You see I was born a sort o' ro-oh--"
+
+"Look out! a badger-hole!" shouted the boy.
+
+His warning would have been too late, but the chestnut fortunately
+leaped over the danger instead of stumbling into it, and its rider was
+only partially shaken out of his seat.
+
+"It's well," he said, when fairly settled down again to an easy gallop,
+"that the tiller-ropes are stout else I'd ha' bin over the starn this
+time instead of out on the bowsprit.  Let me see, what was I sayin' of?"
+
+"Somethin' about your bein' born a sort of `ro-oh--,' though what _that_
+may be I haven't a notion."
+
+"Ah! jist so--I was born a sort o' rover (when this long-legged brute
+took the badger-hole), an' I've bin to every quarter o' the globe
+a'most, but if I'd lived to the age o' Methooslum I'd never ha' thought
+o' comin' here,--for the good reason that I knowed nothin' o' its
+existence,--if I hadn't by chance in a furrin port fallen in wi' Andre
+Morel, an' took an uncommon fancy to him.  You see, at the time, I was--
+well, I was no better nor I should be; p'raps a deal wuss, an' Morel he
+meets me, an' says--`Hallo, my lad,' says he, `where away?'
+
+"I looked at him gruff-like a moment or two, for it seemed to me he was
+raither too familiar for a stranger, but he's got such a pleasant,
+hearty look with him--as you know--that I couldn't feel riled with 'im,
+so `I'm goin' on the spree,' says I.
+
+"`All right,' says he, `I'm with 'ee, lad.  D'ye know the town?'
+
+"`No more than a Mother Carey's chicken,' says I.  `Come along, then,'
+says he; `I'll tak' 'ee to a fust-rate shop.'
+
+"So off we went arm in arm as thick as two peas, an' after passin'
+through two or three streets he turns into a shop that smelt strong o'
+coffee.
+
+"`Hallo! mate,' says I, `you've made some sort o' mistake.  This here
+ain't the right sort o' shop.'
+
+"`O yes, it is,' says he, smilin', quite affable-like.  `The best o'
+tipple here, an' cheap too.  Come along.  I've got somethin' very
+partikler to say to you.  Look here, waiter--two cups o' coffee, hot an'
+strong, some buttered toast, an' no end o' buns, etceterer.'
+
+"Wi' that he led me to a seat, an' we sat down.  I was so took aback an'
+amused that I waited to see what would foller an' what he'd got to say
+that was so partikler--but, I say, Archie, them buffalo runners has got
+the wind o' us, an' are showin' us their heels, I fear."
+
+"Never fear," returned the boy, rising in his stirrups and shading his
+eyes to look ahead.  "They do seem to be leavin' us a bit, but you see
+by the dust that the buffalo are holdin' away to the right, so if we
+keep still more to the right an' cut round that knoll, I think we'll be
+safe to catch them up.  They're doin' good work, as the carcasses we've
+passed and the rattle o' shots clearly show.  But get on wi' your story,
+Jenkins."
+
+"Well, it ain't much of a story, lad.  What Morel had to say was that
+he'd arranged wi' an agent o' Lord Selkirk to come out to this country;
+an' he was goin' out wi' a lot o' his relations, an' was beatin' up for
+a few good hands, an' he liked the look o' me, an' would I agree to go
+wi' him?
+
+"Well, as you may believe, this was a poser, an' I said I'd think over
+it, an' let him know next day.  You see, I didn't want to seem to jump
+at it too eager-like, though I liked the notion, an' I had neither wife,
+nor sweetheart, nor father or mother, to think about, for I'm a orphing,
+you see, like yourself, Archie--only a somewhat bigger one.
+
+"Well, when we'd finished all the coffee, an' all the buns, an' all the
+etceterers, he began to advise me not to ha' nothin' more to do wi'
+grog-shops.  I couldn't tell 'ee the half o' what he said--no, nor the
+quarter--but he made such a impression on me that I was more than
+half-convinced.  To say truth, I was so choke-full o' coffee an' buns,
+an' etceterers, that I don't believe I could ha' swallowed another drop
+o' liquor.
+
+"`Where are ye goin' now?' says he, when we'd done.
+
+"`Back to my ship,' says I.
+
+"`Come an' ha' tea to-morrow wi' me an' my sister,' says he, `an' we'll
+have another talk about Rupert's Land.'
+
+"`I will,' says I.
+
+"`Six o'clock, sharp,' says he.
+
+"`Sharp's the word,' says I.
+
+"An', sure enough, I went to his house sharp to time next day, an' there
+I found him an' his sister.  She was as pretty a craft as I ever set
+eyes on, wi' a modest look an' long fair ringlets--just borderin' on
+nineteen or thereaway--but you know her, Archie, so I needn't say no
+more."
+
+"What! is that the same woman that's keeping house for him now in Red
+River?"
+
+"Woman!" repeated the sailor, vehemently; "she's not a woman--she's a
+angel is Elise Morel.  Don't speak disrespectful of her, lad."
+
+"I won't," returned Archie with a laugh; "but what was the upshot of it
+all?"
+
+"The upshot of it," answered the seaman, "was that I've never touched a
+drop o' strong drink from that day to this, an' that I'm now blown
+entirely out o' my old courses, an' am cruisin' arter the buffalo on the
+plains o' Rupert's Land."
+
+At this point, their minds being set free from the consideration of past
+history, they made the discovery that the buffalo runners were nowhere
+to be seen on the horizon, and that they themselves were lost on the
+grassy sea.
+
+"What _shall_ we do?" said the boy, when they had pulled up to consider
+their situation.  "You see, although I came out here a good while before
+you did," he added, half apologetically, "I've never been out on the
+plains without a guide, and don't know a bit how to find the way back to
+camp.  The prairie is almost as bad as the sea you're so fond of, with a
+clear horizon all round, and nothing worth speaking of to guide us.  An'
+as you have never been in the plains before, of course you know nothing.
+In short, Jenkins, I greatly fear that we are lost!  Why, what are you
+grinning at?"
+
+The terminal question was induced by the fact that the tall seaman was
+looking down at his anxious companion with a broad smile on his handsome
+sunburnt countenance.
+
+"So we're lost, are we, Archie?" he said, "like two sweet babes on the
+prairie instead of in the woods.  An' you think I knows nothin'.  Well,
+p'r'aps I don't know much, but you should remember, lad, that an old
+salt wi' a compass in his wes'kit-pocket is not the man to lose his
+reck'nin'.  I've got one here as'll put us all right on that score, for
+I was careful to take my bearin's when we set sail, an' I've been
+keepin' an eye on our course all the way.  Make your mind easy, my boy."
+
+So saying, the sailor pulled out the compass referred to, and consulted
+it.  Then he pulled out a watch of the warming-pan type, which he styled
+a chronometer, and consulted that also; after which he looked up at the
+clouds--seamanlike--and round the horizon, especially to windward, if we
+may speak of such a quarter in reference to a day that was almost quite
+calm.
+
+"Now, Archie, boy, the upshot o' my cogitations is that with a light
+breeze on our starboard quarter, a clear sky overhead, an' a clear
+conscience within, you and I had better hold on our course for a little
+longer, and see whether we can't overhaul the runners.  If we succeed,
+good and well.  If not, why, 'bout-ship, and homeward-bound is the
+sailin' orders.  What say 'ee, lad?"
+
+"I say whatever you say, Jenkins.  If you're sure o' the way back, as
+I've no doubt you are, why, there couldn't be greater fun than to go
+after the buffalo on our own account.  And--I say, look there!  Isn't
+that somethin' like them on the top o' the far bluff yonder?  A fellow
+like you, wi' sharp sailor-eyes, ought to be able to make them out."
+
+"You forget, lad, that I ain't a buffalo runner, an' don't know the cut
+o' the brutes' jibs yet.  It does look like somethin'.  Come, we'll go
+an' see."  Putting their horses to the gallop, the two curiously matched
+friends, taking advantage of every knoll and hollow, succeeded in
+getting sufficiently near to perceive that a small herd was grazing
+quietly in a grassy bottom between two prairie waves.  They halted at
+once for consultation.
+
+"Now, then, Archie," said the sailor, examining the priming of his gun,
+"here we are at last, a-goin' to begin a pitched battle.  There's this
+to be said for us, that neither you nor me knows rightly how to go to
+work, both on us havin' up to this time bin trained, so to speak, on
+hearsay.  But what o' that?  In the language o' the immortial Nelson,
+`England expec's every man to do his dooty.'  Now it seems to me my
+dooty on the present occasion is to lay myself alongside of a buffalo
+an' blaze away!  Isn't that the order o' battle?"
+
+"Yes.  But don't go for a bull, and don't go too close for fear he turns
+sharp round an' catches you on his horns.  You know the bulls are apt to
+do that sometimes."
+
+"Trust me, lad, I'll keep clear o' the bulls."
+
+"And you understand how to re-load?" asked the boy.
+
+"O yes, all right.  Dan put me thro' the gunnery practice on the way
+out, an' I went through it creditably.  Only a slight hitch now and
+then.  Two or three balls in the mouth ready to spit into the gun--"
+
+"Not all at once, though, Jenkins."
+
+"In course not, lad: one at a time: no ramming; hit the butt on the
+saddle; blaze away; one down, another come on--eh?"
+
+"That's it," said Archie, eager for the fray.  "How I wish Dan had let
+me have a gun!"
+
+"Safer not, lad.  An' keep well in rear, for I may be apt to fire wide
+in the heat of action."
+
+With this final caution, the mariner put his gun on full cock, shook the
+reins, and trotted quietly forward until he saw that the buffalo had
+observed him.  Then, as he afterwards expressed it, he "clapped on all
+sail-stuns'ls alow and aloft, and sky-scrapers--and went into action
+like a true blue British tar, with little Archie Sinclair full sail
+astern."
+
+He did not, however, come out of action with as much _eclat_ as he went
+into it, but justice obliges us to admit that he came out victorious.
+
+We cannot do better than give his own description of that action as
+related beside the camp-fire that night, to a circle of admiring
+friends.
+
+"Well, you must know," he began, after finishing his supper and lighting
+his pipe, "that long-legged frigate o' mine that Dan calls a chestnut--
+though a cocoanut would be more like the thing, if you take size into
+account--he's as keen for the chase as a small boy arter a butterfly,
+an' before I could say `Jack Robinson,' a'most, he had me into the
+middle o' the herd an' alongside o' the big bull.  Any one could tell it
+was him, in spite o' the dust we kicked up, by reason o' the side-glance
+o' his wicked little eye, his big hairy fore'id, an' his tail stickin'
+out stiff like a crook'd spankerboom.
+
+"In course I was not a-goin' to fire into him, so I gave the frigate a
+dig wi' my heels--tho' I'd got no irons on 'em--an' tried to shove up
+alongside of a fat young cow as was skylarkin' on ahead.  As we went
+past the bull he made a vicious dab wi' his horn, and caught the frigate
+on her flank--right abaft the mizzen chains, like.  Whew! you should ha'
+seen what a sheer she made right away to starboard!  If it hadn't bin
+that I was on the look-out, I'd ha' bin slap overboard that time, but I
+see'd the squall comin', an', seizin' my brute's mane, held on like a
+monkey wi' hand an' leg.
+
+"Well, before I knew where I was, the cocoan--I mean the chestnut, had
+me alongside the cow.  I stuck the muzzle a'most into her ribs, and let
+drive.  Down she went by the head, fairly scuttled, an' I could hear
+young Archie givin' a wild cheer astern."
+
+"`That's the way to go it, Jenkins!' he yelled.  `Load again.'
+
+"But it was easier said than done, I can tell you.  You see, I've bin
+brought up to cartridges all my life, an' the change to pullin' a
+stopper out o' a horn wi' your teeth, pourin' the powder into your left
+hand, wi' the gun under your left arm, an' the pitchin' o' the frigate,
+like as if it was in a cross sea, was raither perplexin'.  Hows'ever, it
+had to be done, for I was alongside of another cow in a jiffy.  I nigh
+knocked out two o' my front teeth in tryin' to shove the stopper in my
+mouth.  Then, when I was pourin' the powder into my hand, I as near as
+could be let fall the gun, which caused me to give a sort of gasp of
+anxiety, when two o' the three bullets dropped out o' my mouth, but I
+held on to the third wi' my teeth.  Just then a puff o' wind blew the
+powder out o' my hand into the buffalo's eyes, causin' her to bellow
+like a fog-horn, an' obleegin' me to pour out another charge.  I did it
+hastily, as you may well believe, an' about three times what I wanted
+came out.  Hows'ever, I lost a deal of it in pourin' it into the gun;
+then I spat the ball in, gettin' another nasty rap on the teeth as I did
+so, but I'd bit the ball so that it stuck half-way down.
+
+"It was no time to think o' trifles.  I gave the butt an extra bang on
+the pommel to send the ball home, shoved the muzzle right in among the
+hair an' pulled the trigger.  There was a bang that sounded to me as if
+the ship's magazine had blown up.  It was followed by a constellation o'
+fire-works and--Archie Sinclair must tell you what happened arter that,
+for I misremember the whole on it.  The fire-works closed the scene to
+me."
+
+Archie, nothing loath, and with glistening eyes, took up the narrative
+at this point, while the hero of the hour rekindled his pipe.
+
+"The fact is," he said, "the gun had burst--was blown to atoms; not a
+bit o' the barrel left, and a great lump o' the stock struck Jenkins on
+the head, stunned him, and tumbled him off his horse."
+
+"That was the magazine explosion and fire-works," explained Jenkins.
+
+"But the queer thing was," continued Archie, "that the buffalo fell
+dead, and, on examining it, we found that a bit o' the barrel had been
+driven right into its brain."
+
+"Ay, boy, but it was queerer still that none o' the pieces struck me or
+my horse 'cept that bit o' the stock.  An' I'm none the worse, barrin'
+this lump on the head, that only serves to cock my hat a little more to
+one side than seems becomin' to a sober-minded man."
+
+"We were sorry to be able to bring away so little o' the meat," said
+Archie, with the gravity of an old hunter; "but, you see, it was too
+late to send a cart for it after we got back."
+
+"Never mind," said Dan Davidson, when the narrative was brought to a
+close, "you have done very well for a beginning."
+
+"Moreover," added Fergus, "it iss a goot feast the wolves will be havin'
+on the plains this night, an' so, Archie, I'll be wishin' ye better luck
+next time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+BRIGHT HOPES TERMINATE IN FURIOUS WAR.
+
+Turning once again to the colony at Red River, we introduce the reader
+to the Scotch settlers in the autumn of the year--at a time when there
+was some appearance of the commencement of a season of prosperity, after
+all the troubles that had befallen and surrounded, and well-nigh
+overwhelmed them in time past.
+
+The Davidson and McKay families had re-established themselves on their
+farms, rebuilt their houses and planted their fields, and splendid crops
+of all kinds were now flourishing, ready for spade and sickle.
+
+The soil was found to be excellent.  In after years, forty-fold was no
+uncommon return.  In one case, for a bushel of barley sown, fifty-six
+bushels were reaped; and from a bushel of seed potatoes were obtained
+one hundred and forty-five bushels!  Industry, however, had not at that
+time been rewarded with such encouraging results, but there was
+sufficient to indicate cheering prospects in the near future, and to
+gladden the hearts of the pioneer settlers.
+
+As a good number of these had, under the depressing influence of
+disappointment and failure in the past, neglected to sow extensively,
+not a few families were forced again to winter at Pembina, and draw
+their supplies from the chase to avoid consuming all the seed which
+alone ensured them against famine.  Among these were the Swiss families,
+most of whom, being watch and clock makers, pastry-cooks, mechanics and
+musicians, were not well adapted for agricultural pursuits.  Perhaps
+they were as ill-adapted for the chase, but seed takes time to sow and
+grow, whereas animals need no prolonged nursing--at least from man--and
+are quickly killed if one can shoot.
+
+The young leader of the Switzers, however, Andre Morel, soon left his
+party at Pembina under the care of his lieutenant, and returned to Red
+River Settlement, bent on mastering the details of husbandry, so as to
+be able afterwards to direct the energies of his compatriots into a more
+profitable occupation than the chase.
+
+For this purpose, he sought and obtained employment with the Davidsons
+in the new and enlarged edition of Prairie Cottage.  His sister, Elise,
+was engaged by old McKay to act as companion and assistant to his
+daughter Elspie.  Both the curly-haired Andre and the fair, blue-eyed
+Elise, proved to be invaluable acquisitions in the households in which
+they had found a home, for both were lively, intelligent companions,
+hard workers at whatever they undertook, and were possessed of sweet
+melodious voices.  Andre also performed on the violin, an instrument
+which has played a prominent part in the wild Nor'-West ever since the
+white-man set down his foot there.
+
+"What do you think, Elspie, of my brother's plan, of taking the farm
+just below this one, after he has had enough experience to be able to
+work it himself?" asked Elise.
+
+"It will be very nice to have him settled so near us.  Do you think he
+will take the whole of it?"
+
+"I think so.  You see, the terms on which the Earl has granted the land
+are so easy, and the supplies of goods, oatmeal, clothing, and farm
+implements sent us so generous, that Andre finds he will have money
+enough to enable him to start.  Then, that strong, good-natured seaman,
+Fred Jenkins, has actually agreed to serve as a man on the farm for a
+whole year for nothing, except, of course, his food and lodging.  Isn't
+it generous of him?"
+
+"Do you know why he is going to serve him for nothing?" asked Elspie,
+with a quick look and smile.
+
+"No--I do not," returned fair little Elise with an innocent look.  "Do
+you?"
+
+"O no--of course I don't; I can only guess," replied her companion with
+a light laugh.  "Perhaps it is because he knows his services as a farm
+servant can't be worth much at first."
+
+"There you are wrong," returned Elise, stoutly.  "No doubt he is
+ignorant, as yet, about sowing and reaping and the like, but he is
+wonderfully strong--just like a giant at lifting and carrying-and he has
+become quite knowing about horses, and carting, and such things.  All
+that he stipulates for is that he shall board in our house.  He says
+he'll manage, somehow, to make enough money to buy all the clothes he
+wants."
+
+"What a delightful kind of servant," said Elspie, with an arch look,
+which was quite thrown away on Elise, "and so disinterested to do it
+without any reason."
+
+"O! but he must have some reason, you know," rejoined Elise.  "I
+shouldn't wonder if it was out of gratitude to my brother who was very
+kind to him--so he says--the first time they met."
+
+"Did he say that was his reason?" asked Elspie quickly.
+
+"No, he did not say so, but he has said more than once that he feels
+very grateful to my brother, and it has just occurred to me that that
+may be his reason.  It would be very natural--wouldn't it?"
+
+"Oh, very natural!--very!" returned the other.  "But d'you know, Elise,
+I don't like your brother's plan at all."
+
+"No! why?"
+
+"Because, don't you see, foolish girl, that it will take you away from
+me?  You will, of course, want to keep house for your brother, and I
+have become so used to you, short though our intercourse has been, that
+I don't see how I can get on at all without you?"
+
+"Never mind, Elspie, dear.  It will be a long while before Andre is
+ready to take the farm.  Besides, by that time, you know, you and Dan
+will be married, so you won't miss me much--though I confess I should
+like you to miss me a little."
+
+Elspie sighed at this point.  "I suspect that our marriage will not be
+so soon as you think, Elise," she said.  "Dan has tried to arrange it
+more than once, but there seems to be a fate against it, for something
+_always_ comes in the way!"
+
+"Surely nothing will happen this time," said the sympathetic Elise.
+"Everything begins to prosper now.  The crops are beautiful; the weather
+is splendid; the house is ready to begin to--all the logs are cut and
+squared.  Your father is quite willing, and Dan wishing for the day--
+what more could you desire, Elspie?"
+
+"Nothing; all seems well, but--" She finished the sentence with another
+sigh.
+
+While the two friends were thus conversing in the dairy, old McKay and
+Dan Davidson were talking on the same subject in the hall of Ben Nevis.
+
+"It iss a curious fact, Taniel," said the old man, with a pleased look,
+"that it wass in this fery room in the old hoose that wass burnt, and
+about the same time of the year, too, that you would be speakin' to me
+about this fery thing.  An' I do not think that we will be troubled this
+time wi' the Nor'-Westers, whatever--though wan never knows what a tay
+may bring furth."
+
+"That is the very reason, sir," said Davidson, "that I want to get
+married at once, so that if anything does happen again I may claim the
+right to be Elspie's protector."
+
+"Quite right, my boy, quite right; though I must say I would like to
+wait till a real munister comes out; for although Mr Sutherland iss a
+fery goot man, an' an elder too, he iss not chust exactly a munister,
+you know, as I have said before.  But have it your own way, Tan.  If my
+little lass is willin', old Tuncan McKay won't stand in your way."
+
+That night the inhabitants of Red River lay down to sleep in comfort and
+to dream, perchance, of the coming, though long delayed, prosperity that
+had hitherto so often eluded their grasp.
+
+Next day an event occurred which gave the poor settlers new cause for
+grief amounting almost to despair.
+
+Dan Davidson and Elspie were walking on the verandah in front of Ben
+Nevis at the time.  It was a warm sunny afternoon.  All around looked
+the picture of peace and prosperity.
+
+"Does it not seem, Dan, as if all the troubles we have gone through were
+a dark dream--as if there never had been any reality in them?" said
+Elspie.
+
+"It does indeed seem so," responded Dan, "and I hope and trust that we
+shall henceforth be able to think of them as nothing more than a
+troubled dream."
+
+"What iss that you will be sayin' about troubled dreams?" asked old
+McKay, coming out of the house at the moment.
+
+"We were just saying, daddy, that all our troubles seem--"
+
+"Look yonder, Tan," interrupted the old man, pointing with his pipe-stem
+to a certain part of the heavens.  "What iss it that I see?  A queer
+cloud, whatever!  I don't remember seein' such a solid cloud as that in
+all my experience."
+
+"It is indeed queer.  I hope it's not what Fred Jenkins would call a
+`squall brewin' up,' for that wouldn't improve the crops."
+
+"A squall!" exclaimed Jenkins, who chanced to come round the corner of
+the house at the moment, with a spade on his shoulder.  "That's never a
+squall--no, nor a gale, nor a simoon, nor anything else o' the sort that
+I ever heard of.  Why, it's growin' bigger an' bigger!"
+
+He shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked earnestly at the object in
+question, which did indeed resemble a very dense, yet not a black,
+cloud.  For some moments the four spectators gazed in silence.  Then old
+McKay suddenly dropped his pipe, and looked at Dan with an expression of
+intense solemnity.
+
+"It iss my belief," he said in a hoarse whisper, "that it is them wee
+deevils the grasshoppers!"
+
+A very few minutes proved old McKay's surmise to be correct.  Once
+before, the colony had been devastated by this plague, and the memory of
+the result was enough to alarm the most courageous among the settlers
+who had experienced the calamity, though the new arrivals, being
+ignorant, were disposed to regard the visitation lightly at first.
+McKay himself became greatly excited when the air became darkened by the
+cloud, which, ever increasing in size, rapidly approached.
+
+"Haste ye, lads," he cried to some of the farm-servants who had joined
+the group on the verandah, "get your spades, picks, an' shovels.  Be
+smart now: it is not possible to save all the crops, but we may try to
+save the garden, whatever.  Follow me!"
+
+The garden referred to was not large or of great importance, but it was
+a favourite hobby of the Highlander, and, at the time, was in full
+bloom, luxuriant with fruit, flower, and vegetable.  To save it from
+destruction at such a time, McKay would have given almost anything, and
+have gone almost any lengths.  On this occasion, not knowing what to do,
+yet impelled by his eagerness to do something, he adopted measures that
+he had heard of as being used in other lands.  He ordered a trench to be
+cut and filled with water on the side of his garden nearest the
+approaching plague, which might--if thoroughly carried out--have been of
+some use against wingless grasshoppers but could be of no use whatever
+against a flying foe.  It would have taken an army of men to carry out
+such an order promptly, and his men perceived this; but the master was
+so energetic, so violent in throwing off his coat and working with his
+own hand at pick and shovel, that they were irresistibly infected with
+his enthusiasm, and set to work.
+
+Old Duncan, did not, however, wield pick or shovel long.  He was too
+excited for that.  He changed from one thing to another rapidly.  Fires
+were to be kindled along the line of defence, and he set the example in
+this also.  Then he remembered that blankets and other drapery had been
+used somewhere with great effect in beating back the foe; therefore he
+shouted wildly for his daughter and Elise Morel.
+
+"Here we are, father: what can we do?"
+
+"Go, fetch out all the blankets, sheets, table-cloths, an' towels in the
+house, girls.  It iss neck or nothin' this tay.  Be smart, now!  Take
+men to help ye."
+
+Two men were very busy there piling up little heaps of firewood, namely,
+Dan Davidson and Fred Jenkins.  What more natural than that these two,
+on hearing the order given about blankets and table-cloths, etcetera,
+should quit the fires and follow Elspie and Elise into the house!
+
+In the first bedroom into which they entered they found Archie and
+Billie Sinclair, the latter seated comfortably in an arm-chair close to
+a window, the former wild with delight at the sudden demand on all his
+energies.  For Archie had been one of the first to leap to the work when
+old McKay gave the order.  Then he had suddenly recollected his little
+helpless brother, and had dashed round to Prairie Cottage, got him on
+his back, run with him to Ben Nevis Hall, placed him as we have seen in
+a position to view the field of battle, and then, advising him to sit
+quietly there and enjoy the fun, had dashed down-stairs to resume his
+place in the forefront of battle!
+
+He had run up again for a moment to inquire how Little Bill was getting
+on, when the blanket and sheet searchers found them.
+
+"All right," he exclaimed, on learning what they came for; "here you
+are.  Look alive!  Don't stir, Little Bill!"
+
+He hurled the bedding from a neighbouring bedstead as he spoke, tore
+several blankets from the heap, and tumbled rather than ran down-stairs
+with them, while the friends he had left behind followed his example.
+
+By that time all the inmates and farm-servants of Prairie Cottage had
+assembled at Ben Nevis Hall, attracted either by sympathy or curiosity
+as to the amazing fracas which old McKay was creating.  Of course they
+entered into the spirit of the preparations, so that when the enemy at
+last descended on them they found the garrison ready.  But the defenders
+might as well have remained quiet and gone to their beds.
+
+Night was drawing near at the time, and was, as it were, precipitated by
+the grasshoppers, which darkened the whole sky with what appeared to be
+a heavy shower of snow.
+
+The fires were lighted, water was poured into the trench, and the two
+households fought with blanket, sheet, counterpane, and towel, in a
+manner that proved the courage of the ancient heroes to be still
+slumbering in men and women of modern days.
+
+But what could courage do against such overwhelming odds?  Thousands
+were slaughtered.  Millions pressed on behind.
+
+"Don't give in, lads," cried the heroic and desperate Highlander,
+wielding a great green blanket in a way that might have roused the
+admiration if not the envy of Ajax himself.  "Keep it up, Jenkins!"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" responded the nautical warrior, as he laid about him with
+an enormous buffalo robe, which was the only weapon that seemed
+sufficiently suited to his gigantic frame; "never say die as long as
+there's a shot in the locker."
+
+Elise stood behind him, lost in admiration, and giving an imbecile flap
+now and then with a towel to anything that happened to come in front of
+her.
+
+Elspie was more self-possessed.  She tried to wield a jack-towel with
+some effect, while Dan, Fergus, Duncan junior, Bourassin, Andre Morel,
+and others ably, but uselessly, supported their heroic leader.  La
+Certe, who chanced to be there at the time, went actively about
+encouraging others to do their very best.  Old Peg made a feeble effort
+to do what she conceived to be her duty, and Okematan stood by, calmly
+looking on--his grave countenance exhibiting no symptom of emotion, but
+his mind filled with intense surprise, not unmingled with pity, for the
+Palefaces who displayed such an amount of energy in attempting the
+impossible.
+
+That self-defence, in the circumstances, was indeed impossible soon
+became apparent, for the enemy descended in such clouds that they filled
+up the half-formed ditch, extinguished the fires with their dead bodies,
+defied the blanket-warriors, and swarmed not only into the garden of old
+Duncan McKay but overwhelmed the whole land.
+
+Darkness and exhaustion from the fight prevented the people of Ben Nevis
+Hall and Prairie Cottage from at first comprehending the extent of the
+calamity with which they had thus been visited, but enough had been seen
+to convince McKay that his garden was doomed.  When he at last allowed
+the sad truth to force itself into his mind he suffered Elspie to lead
+him into the house.
+
+"Don't grieve, daddy," she said, in a low comforting tone; "perhaps it
+won't be as bad as it seems."
+
+"Fetch me my pipe, lass," he said on reaching his bedroom.
+
+"Goot-night to you, my tear," he added, on receiving the implement of
+consolation.
+
+"Won't you eat--or drink--something, daddy dear?"
+
+"Nothing--nothing.  Leave me now.  We hev had a goot fight, whatever,
+an' it iss to bed I will be goin' now."
+
+Left alone the old man lay down in his warrior-harness, so to speak,
+lighted his pipe, smoked himself into a sort of philosophical contempt
+for everything under the sun, moon, and stars, and finally dropped his
+sufferings, as well as his pipe, by falling into a profound slumber.
+
+Next morning when the people of Red River arose, they became fully aware
+of the disaster that had befallen them.  The grasshoppers had made what
+Jenkins styled a clean sweep from stem to stern.  Crops, gardens, and
+every green herb in the settlement had perished; and all the sanguine
+hopes of the long-suffering settlers were blighted once more.
+
+Before passing from this subject it may be as well to mention that the
+devastating hosts which visited the colony at this time left behind them
+that which turned out to be a worse affliction than themselves.  They
+had deposited their larvae in the ground, and, about the end of the June
+following, countless myriads of young grasshoppers issued forth to
+overrun the fields.  They swarmed in such masses as to be two, three,
+and--in some places near water--even four inches deep.  Along the rivers
+they were found in heaps like sea-weed, and the water was almost
+poisoned by them.  Every vegetable substance was devoured--the leaves
+and even bark of trees were eaten up, the grain vanished as fast as it
+appeared above ground, everything was stripped to the bare stalk, and
+ultimately, when they died in myriads, the decomposition of their dead
+bodies was more offensive than their living presence.
+
+Thus the settlers were driven by stress of misfortune once again to the
+plains of Pembina, and obliged to consort with the Red-men and the
+half-breeds, in obtaining sustenance for their families by means of the
+gun, line, trap, and snare.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+LITTLE BILL BECOMES A DIFFICULTY.
+
+We must now pass over another winter, during which the Red River
+settlers had to sustain life as they best might--acquiring, however, in
+doing so, an expertness in the use of gun and trap and fishing-line, and
+in all the arts of the savages, which enabled them to act with more
+independence, and to sustain themselves and their families in greater
+comfort than before.
+
+Spring, with all its brightness, warmth, and suggestiveness had returned
+to cheer the hearts of men; and, really, those who have never
+experienced the long six-or-eight-months' winter of Rupert's Land can
+form no conception of the feelings with which the body--to say nothing
+of the soul--opens up and expands itself, so to speak, in order to
+receive and fully appreciate the sweet influences of spring.
+
+For one thing, seven or eight months of cold, biting, steely frost
+causes one almost to forget that there ever was such a thing as summer
+heat, summer scents, summer sounds, or summer skies.  The first thaw is
+therefore like the glad, unexpected meeting of a dear old friend; and
+the trumpet voice of the first goose, the whirring wing of the first
+duck, and the whistle of the first plover, sounds like the music of the
+spheres to one's long unaccustomed ears.  Then the trickle of water
+gives one something like a new sensation.  It may be but a thread of
+liquid no thicker than a pipe-stem faintly heard by an attentive ear
+tinkling in the cold depths far under the ice or snow, but it is liquid,
+not solid, water.  It is suggestive of motion.  It had almost been
+forgotten as a sound of the long past which had forsaken the terrestrial
+ball for ever.
+
+It does not take a powerful imagination to swell a tiny stream to a
+rivulet, a river, a lake, a mighty ocean.  Shut your eyes for a moment,
+and, in memory, the ice and snow vanish; the streams flow as in the days
+of old; flowers come again to gladden the eyes and--but why trouble you,
+good reader, with all this?  We feel, sadly, that unless you have tasted
+the northern winter no description, however graphic, will enable you to
+drink in the spirit of the northern spring.
+
+About this time Okematan, the Cree chief, took it into his head that he
+would go a-hunting.
+
+This last word does not suggest to a dweller in the wilderness that
+crossing of ploughed lands on horseback, and leaping of hedges,
+etcetera, which it conveys to the mind of an Englishman.  The Cree
+chief's notion of spring-hunting was, getting into a birch-bark canoe,
+with or without a comrade, and going forth on the lakes and rivers of
+the wilderness with plenty of powder and shot, to visit the native home
+of the wild-goose, the wild-duck, the pelican, the plover, and the swan.
+
+For such a trip not much is essential.  Besides the gun and ammunition
+referred to, Okematan carried a blanket, a hatchet, several extra pairs
+of moccasins, a tin kettle in which to boil food, a fire-bag for steel,
+flint, and tinder, with a small supply of tobacco.
+
+On hearing of his intention, Dan Davidson resolved to accompany him.
+Dan had by that time associated so much with the chief that he had
+learned to speak his language with facility.  Indeed nearly all the
+settlers who had a turn for languages had by that time acquired a
+smattering more or less of Indian and French.
+
+"You see," said Dan to the chief, "there is not much doing on the farm
+just now, and I want to see a little of the country round about, so, if
+you don't object to my company, I'd like to go."
+
+"The Cree chief will be proud to have the company of the Paleface
+chief," replied the Indian, with grave courtesy.
+
+Dan wanted to say "All right," but was ignorant of the Cree equivalent
+for that familiar phrase; he therefore substituted the more sober and
+correct, "It is well."
+
+"But," said he, "you must not call me a Paleface chief, for I am only an
+ordinary man in my own land--what you would call one of the braves."
+
+"Okematan is thought to have a good judgment among his people," returned
+the Indian, "though he has not the snows of many winters on his head,
+and he thinks that if Dan'el had stayed in the wigwams of his people
+beyond the Great Salt Lake, he would have been a chief."
+
+"It may be so, Okematan, though I doubt it," replied Dan, "but that is a
+point which cannot now be proved.  Meanwhile, my ambition at present is
+to become a great hunter, and I want you to teach me."
+
+The chief, who was gratified by the way in which this was put, gladly
+agreed to the proposal.
+
+"There is another man who would like to go with us," said Davidson.  "My
+friend, Fergus McKay, is anxious, I know, to see more of the lands of
+the Indian.  You have no objection to his going, I suppose?--in another
+canoe of course, for three would be too many in your small canoe."
+
+Okematan had no objection.
+
+"Three would not be too many in the canoe," he said, "but two are better
+for hunting."
+
+"Very good.  But we will want a fourth to make two in each canoe.  Whom
+shall we invite?"
+
+"Okematan's counsel is," answered the chief, "to take a brave who is
+young and strong and active; whose eye is quick and his hand steady;
+whose heart never comes into his throat when danger faces him; whose
+face does not grow pale at the sight of approaching death; whose heart
+is as the heart of the grisly bear for courage, and yet tender as the
+heart of a Paleface squaw; whose hand can accomplish whatever his head
+plans, and whose tongue is able to make a sick man smile."
+
+Davidson smiled to himself at this description, which the chief uttered
+with the sententious gravity that would have characterised his speech
+and bearing in a council of war.
+
+"A most notable comrade, good Okematan; but where are we to find him,
+for I know nobody who comes near to that description."
+
+"He dwells in your own wigwam," returned the chief.
+
+"In Prairie Cottage?" exclaimed the other with a puzzled air.  "You
+can't mean my brother Peter, surely, for he is about as grave as
+yourself."
+
+"Okematan means the young brave who loves his little brother."
+
+"What!  Archie Sinclair?" exclaimed Dan, with a surprised look.  "I had
+no idea you had so high an opinion of him."
+
+"Okematan has seen much of Arch-ee: has watched him.  He sees that he
+thinks nothing of himself; that he thinks always for the sick brother,
+Leetle Beel, and that he will yet be a great chief among the Palefaces."
+
+"Well, now you come to mention it, there _is_ something about Archie
+that puts him high above other boys; and I suppose his unselfishness has
+much to do with it; but don't you think he's too young, and hardly
+strong enough?"
+
+"He is not young.  He is fifty years old in wisdom.  He is very strong
+for his size, and he is _willing_, which makes his strength double."
+
+"But he will never consent to leave Little Bill," said Dan.
+
+"Okematan had fears of that," returned the Indian, with, for the first
+time, a look of perplexity on his face.  "If Arch-ee will not go without
+Leetle Beel, Leetle Beel must go too."
+
+It was found, on inquiry, that they were right in their surmise.  When
+the proposal was made to Archie that afternoon by Dan, the boy's eyes
+seemed to light up and dance in his head at the prospect.  Then the
+light suddenly went out, and the dancing ceased.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Archie?" asked his friend.
+
+"Can't go.  Impossible!" said Archie.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Who's to look after Little Bill, I should like to know, if I leave
+him?"
+
+"Elspie, of course," said Dan, "and Elise, to say nothing of Jessie,
+mother, and brother Peter."
+
+Archie shook his head.
+
+"No," he said, "no!  I can't go.  Elspie is all very well in her way,
+and so is Elise, but _they_ can't carry Little Bill about the fields and
+through the bush on their backs; and Peter wouldn't; he's too busy about
+the farm.  No--ever since mother died, I've stuck to Little Bill through
+thick and thin.  So I _won't_ go."
+
+It was so evident that Archie Sinclair's mind was made up and fixed, and
+also so obvious that a delicate little boy would be a great encumbrance
+on a hunting expedition that Dan thought of attempting the expedient of
+winning Little Bill himself over to his side.  He had no difficulty in
+doing that, for Billie was to the full as amiable and unselfish as his
+brother.  After a short conversation, he made Billie promise to do his
+very best to induce Archie to go with the hunters and leave him behind.
+
+"For you know, Little Bill," said Dan in conclusion, and by way of
+consoling him, "although nobody could take such good care of you as
+Archie, or make up to you for him, Elspie would take his place very well
+for a time--."
+
+"O yes, I know that well enough," said the poor boy with some
+enthusiasm; "Elspie is always very good to me.  You've no notion how
+nice she is, Dan."
+
+"Hm! well, I have got a sort of a half notion, maybe," returned Dan with
+a peculiar look.  "But that's all right, then.  You'll do what you can
+to persuade Archie, and--there he is, evidently coming to see you, so
+I'll go and leave you to talk it over with him."
+
+Billie did not give his brother time to begin, but accosted him on his
+entrance with--"I'm so glad, Archie, that you've been asked to go on
+this hunting expe--"
+
+"O! you've heard of it, then?"
+
+"Yes, and I want you to go, very very much, because--because--"
+
+"Don't trouble yourself with _becauses_, Little Bill, for I won't go.
+So there's an end of it--unless," he added, as if a thought had suddenly
+occurred to him, "unless they agree to take you with them.  They might
+do worse.  I'll see about that."
+
+So saying, Archie turned about, left the room as abruptly as he had
+entered it, and sought out Okematan.  He found that chief sitting in La
+Certe's wigwam, involved in the mists of meditation and tobacco-smoke,
+gazing at Slowfoot.
+
+That worthy woman--who, with her lord and little child, was wont to
+forsake her hut in spring, and go into the summer-quarters of a wigwam--
+was seated on the opposite side of a small fire, enduring Okematan's
+meditative gaze, either unconsciously or with supreme indifference.
+
+"Hallo!  Oke,"--thus irreverently did Archie address the chief--had any
+one else ventured to do so, he might possibly have been scalped--"Hallo!
+Oke, I've been huntin' for you all round.  You're worse to find than an
+arrow in the grass."
+
+It may be said, here, that Archie had learned, like some of the other
+settlers, a smattering of the Cree language.  How he expressed the above
+we know not.  We can only give the sense as he would probably have given
+it in his own tongue.
+
+"Okematan's friends can always find him," answered the Indian with a
+grave but pleased look.
+
+"So it seems.  But I say, Oke, I want to ask a favour of you.  Dan
+Davidson tells me you want me to go a-hunting with you.  Well, I'm your
+man if you'll let me take Little Bill with me.  Will you?"
+
+"Leetle Beel is not strong," objected the Indian.
+
+"True, but a trip o' this sort will make him strong perhaps.  Anyhow, it
+will make him stronger."
+
+"But for a sick boy there is danger," said the chief.  "If Arch-ee
+upsets his canoe in a rapid, Arch-ee swims on shore, but Leetle Beel
+goes to the bottom."
+
+"Not as long as Arch-ee is there to hold him up," returned the boy.
+
+"Waugh!" exclaimed the Indian.
+
+"Humph!" remarked the boy.  "What d'ye mean by `Waugh,' Oke?"
+
+"Okematan means much that it is not in the power of the tongue to tell,"
+replied the Indian with increasing gravity; and as the gravity increased
+the cloudlets from his lips became more voluminous.
+
+"Arch-ee hopes, nevertheless, that the tongue of Oke may find power to
+tell him a little of what he thinks."
+
+This being in some degree indefinite, the chief smoked in silence for a
+minute or two, and gazed at Slowfoot with that dreamy air which one
+assumes when gazing into the depths of a suggestive fire.  Apparently
+inspiration came at last--whether from Slowfoot or not we cannot tell--
+for he turned solemnly to the boy.
+
+"Rain comes," he said, "and when sick men get wet they grow sicker.
+Carrying-places come, and when sick men come to them they stagger and
+fall.  Frost often comes in spring, and when sick men get cold they die.
+Waugh!"
+
+"Humph!" repeated the boy again, with a solemnity quite equal to that of
+the Red-man.
+
+"When rain comes I can put up an umbrella--an _umbrella_.  D'you know
+what that is?"
+
+The Indian shook his head.
+
+"Well it's a--a thing--a sort of little tent--a wigwam, you know, with a
+stick in the middle to hold on to and put it up.  D'you understand?"
+
+An expression of blank bewilderment, so to speak, settled on the chief's
+visage, and the lights of intelligence went out one by one until he
+presented an appearance which all but put the boy's gravity to flight.
+
+"Well, well, it's of no use my tryin' to explain it," he continued.
+"I'll show it to you soon, and then you'll understand."
+
+Intelligence began to return, and the chief looked gratified.
+
+"What you call it?" he asked--for he was of an inquiring disposition--"a
+bum-rella?"
+
+"No, no," replied the other, seriously, "an um_brella_.  It's a clever
+contrivance, as you shall see.  So, you see, I can keep the rain off
+Little Bill when he's in the canoe, and on shore there are the trees,
+and the canoe itself turned bottom up.  Then, at carryin' places, I can
+carry Little Bill as well as other things.  He's not heavy and doesn't
+struggle, so we won't leave him to stagger and fall.  As to frost--have
+we not hatchets, and are there not dead trees in the forest?  Frost and
+fire never walk in company, so that Little Bill won't get cold and die,
+for we'll keep him warm--waugh!"
+
+When human beings are fond of each other disagreement seldom lasts long.
+Okematan had taken so strong a fancy to Archie that he felt it
+impossible to hold out; therefore, being a man of strong common sense,
+he did not attempt the impossible.
+
+Thus it came to pass that, two days later, a couple of birch-bark canoes
+were launched on the waters of Red River, with Dan Davidson in the stern
+of one and Fergus McKay acting as his bowman.  Okematan took the stern
+of the other, while Archie Sinclair wielded the bow-paddle, and Little
+Bill was placed in the middle on a comfortable green blanket with the
+celebrated "bum-rella" erected over him to keep off, not the rain, but,
+the too glorious sunshine.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+AN AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING AND SUSPICIOUS ENDING.
+
+Let loose in the wilderness!  How romantic, how inexpressibly
+delightful, that idea seems to some minds!  Ay, even when the weight of
+years begins to stiffen the joints and slack the cords of life the
+memory of God's great, wild, untrammelled, beautiful wilderness comes
+over the spirit like a refreshing dream and restores for a time
+something like the pulse of youth.
+
+We sometimes think what a joy it would be if youth could pass through
+its blessings with the intelligent experience of age.  And it may be
+that this is to be one of the joys of the future, when man, redeemed and
+delivered from sin by Jesus Christ, shall find that the memory of the
+sorrows, sufferings, weaknesses of the past shall add inconceivably to
+the joys of the present.  It may be so.  Judging from analogy it does
+not seem presumptuous to suppose and hope that it will be so.
+
+"Sufficient unto the day," however, is the joy thereof.
+
+When the two canoes pushed off and swept rapidly over the fair bosom of
+Red River, the heart of Archie Sinclair bounded with a feeling of
+exultant joy which it would have been very hard indeed to convince him
+was capable of increase, while the bosom of his invalid brother was
+filled with a sort of calm serenity which constituted, in his opinion at
+the time being, a quite sufficient amount of felicity.
+
+When we add that the other hunters were, in their several ways, pretty
+much in the same condition as the boys, we have said enough to justify
+the remark that their circumstances were inexpressibly delightful.
+
+Proceeding some distance up stream they finally diverged into a minor
+tributary which led to waters that were swarming with water-fowl and
+other game.
+
+"This is a grand burst, Little Bill," said Archie, as he plied his
+paddle vigorously, and glanced over his shoulder at the invalid behind
+him.
+
+"Prime!" answered Billie.  "Isn't it?" he added, with a backward glance
+at Okematan.
+
+"Waugh!" replied the reticent savage.
+
+"Ay, `Waugh!' that's all you'll get out of him when he's puzzled," said
+Archie; "though what he means by it is more than I know.  You must speak
+respectable English to a Red-skin if you want to convince him.  Why, if
+he had understood you literally, you know--and obeyed you--he'd have had
+something to do immediately with the lock of his gun."
+
+"I have often wondered, Archie," returned his brother with a languid
+smile, "what a lot you manage to say sometimes with nothing in it."
+
+"Ha! ha!--ho! ho! what a wag you're becoming, Little Bill.  But I thank
+'ee for the compliment, for you know it's only philosophers that can say
+an awful lot without a'most sayin' anything at all.  Look at Oke there,
+now, what a depth of stupidity lies behind his brown visage; what
+bucketsful of ignorance swell out his black pate, but he expresses it
+all in the single word `Waugh!' because he's a philosopher.  If he was
+like La Certe, he'd jabber away to us by the hour of things he knows
+nothin' about, and tell us long stories that are nothin' less than big
+lies.  I'm glad you think me a philosopher, Little Bill, for it takes
+all the philosophy I've got to keep me up to the scratch of goin' about
+the world wi' you on my back.  Why, I'm a regular Sindbad the Sailor,
+only I'm saddled with a young man o' the plains instead of an old man of
+the sea.  D'ee understand what I'm saying, Oke?"
+
+The chief, who understood little more than that his own name and that of
+La Certe were mentioned, nodded his head gravely and allowed the corners
+of his mouth to droop, which was his peculiar way of smiling--a smile
+that might have been unintelligible to his friends had it not been
+relieved and interpreted by a decided twinkle in his eyes.
+
+While they were conversing, the two canoes had rounded a rocky point and
+swept out upon a lake-like expanse in the river, which was perfectly
+smooth and apparently currentless.  Several islets studded its calm
+breast and were reflected in the clear water.  These were wooded to the
+water's edge, and from among the sedges near their margin several flocks
+of wild-fowl sprang up in alarm and went off in fluttering confusion.
+
+It chanced that just then a trumpet-like note was heard overhead, as a
+flock of wild geese passed the spot and came suddenly close within range
+of the canoes which had been concealed from them by the bushes that
+fringed the river.
+
+Guns were seized at once by the bowmen in each canoe, but Archie was
+smarter than Fergus.  Before the Highlander had got the weapon well into
+his hands the boy fired and one of the flock fell into the river with a
+heavy plunge.
+
+Little Bill signalised the successful shot with a high-toned cheer, and
+the Indian with a low-toned "Waugh," while Fergus made a hurried and
+therefore bad, shot at the scared flock.
+
+"That wass a fery good shot, Archie," remarked Fergus, as the canoes
+ranged up alongside of the dead bird.
+
+"Yours was a very good one, too, Fergus," returned the boy; "only not
+quite straight."
+
+The smile on the face of Okematan proved that he understood the drift of
+the reply, and that this was the style of humour he appreciated so
+highly in his young friend.  We civilised people may wonder a little at
+the simplicity of the savage, but when we reflect that the chief had
+been born and bred among the solemnities of the wilderness, and had been
+up to that time wholly unacquainted with the humours and pleasantries
+that sometimes accompany juvenile "cheek," our wonder may perhaps be
+subdued.
+
+"This would be a splendid place to camp for the rest of the day,"
+suggested Davidson, while they rested on their paddles after the goose
+had been secured.  "We must lay in a small stock of fresh provisions,
+you know, if we are to push on to-morrow or next day to our hunting
+ground.  What say you, Okematan?" he added in Cree, turning to their
+guide.
+
+"The will of the Paleface chief is the wish of Okematan.  Let him
+speak."
+
+"Well, then, I vote for encamping on the small island over there, in the
+middle o' the lake--for it's far more like a lake than a river
+hereabouts--that one over which the hawk is hovering."
+
+"I vote for it too," said Archie.
+
+"So do I," chimed in Little Bill.
+
+"I will be sayin' ditto to that," put in Fergus.
+
+"Moreover," suggested Dan, "I vote for roasting the goose at once."
+
+"Ay, and eating him right away," said Archie.  As the invalid followed
+this up with a feeble cheer, the proposal was carried into effect
+without delay.
+
+The islet was low and flat, and so thickly covered with bush that it
+afforded a most enticing spot for a night-encampment.  There was also
+plenty of dead wood on it, with which to replenish the fire, and various
+peeps through sundry openings afforded exquisite views of woodland and
+river with which to charm the eyes.  Over all, the sun was pouring his
+noontide rays in a glorious flood.
+
+We need not waste time in going into the details of the feast that
+followed: how the goose was delightfully plump and tender--especially
+tender to teeth that would have scarcely observed the difference if it
+had been tough--how, in addition to the goose, they had wild-ducks
+enough--shot earlier in the day--to afford each one a duck to himself,
+leaving a brace over, of which Okematan ate one, as well as his share of
+the goose, and seemed to wish that he might eat the other, but he
+didn't, for he restrained himself; how they drank tea with as much gusto
+and intemperance as if it had been a modern "afternoon"; and how, after
+all was over, the Red-man filled the pipe-head on the back of his iron
+tomahawk and began to smoke with the air of a man who meant business and
+regarded all that had gone before as mere child's-play.
+
+The afternoon was well advanced when the feast was concluded, for
+appetites in the wilderness are not easily or soon satisfied.
+
+"I feel tight," said Billie with a sigh and something of pathos in his
+tone, when he at last laid down his knife--we cannot add fork, for they
+scorned such implements at that time.
+
+"That's right, Little Bill," said Archie, "try another leg or wing--now,
+don't shake your head.  We've come on this trip a-purpose to make you
+fat an' strong.  So you must--here, try this drum-stick.  It's only a
+little one, like yourself, Billie."
+
+"True, Archie, but I'm too little to hold it.  I feel like an egg now."
+
+"Hallo!  Oke, are you overcome already?" asked Archie.
+
+"The sun sinks to rest at night and the birds go to sleep.  If we intend
+to hunt we must begin now."
+
+"It's always the way," returned the boy with an air of discontent;
+"whenever a fellow gets into a state of extreme jollity there's sure to
+be something bothersome to come and interrupt us.  Obfusticate your
+faculties with some more smoke, Oke, till Billie and I finish our tea.
+We can't shoot with half-empty stomachs, you know."
+
+"They must be three-quarters full by this time--whatever," remarked
+Fergus, wiping his clasp-knife on the grass.
+
+Just then, Dan Davidson, who had gone to explore the islet, returned
+with the information that some hunters must have recently visited the
+same place, for he had discovered the remains of an encampment at the
+extreme eastern side, which looked as if it had been recently occupied,
+for bones of wild-fowl were scattered about, the meat on which was
+neither dried nor decayed.
+
+On hearing this, Okematan rose quickly, put out his pipe, and stuck the
+tomahawk in his belt.  The sluggish good-natured air of contentment with
+which he had been smoking vanished; the half-sleepy eyes opened, and a
+frown rested on his brow as he said, shortly--
+
+"Okematan goes to look."
+
+"May I go with you?" asked Dan.
+
+"No.  Okematan goes alone.  It is known that a band of Saulteaux have
+been seen.  They are roused just now by the actions of the great white
+chief and the words of my Nation.  Rest here till I come.  Go on eating.
+If they are here they may be watching us now."
+
+"D'ee hear that, Little Bill?  You've got to go on eating," said Archie.
+"Our guide commands it.  If you disobey, the rascally Saulteaux will
+come down upon us somehow."
+
+But Archie's light-heartedness was not shared by his older companions.
+They knew too well that the disturbed state of the country at the time,
+and especially the ill-will engendered between the Crees and Saulteaux
+by the ill-advised action of Lord Selkirk's agents, rendered an
+explosion not improbable at any time, and a certain feeling of
+disappointment came over them when they reflected that the hunting
+expedition, which they had entered on with so much enthusiastic hope,
+might perhaps be brought to an abrupt close.
+
+"If there's to be any fighting I shall only be in your way," said the
+invalid in a tone in which there was much of sadness, though none of
+fear.
+
+"Not a bit of it, Little Bill," returned Dan, quickly.  "You'll be in
+nobody's way in the canoes.  You're as light as a feather.  If we had
+even to take to the bush, Archie could run with you; an' when he gets
+tired, Fergus and I would think no more o' you than a grasshopper."
+
+"Iss it carryin' him you will be taalkin' of?" said Fergus.  "Ay, ay!  I
+would be forgettin' that he wass on my back if I had him there."
+
+As he spoke, the Indian returned to the camp with the cat-like tread so
+characteristic of the Red-man.
+
+"A big band has been here," he said.  "They slept on the island last
+night, and the signs show that they do not come as friends."
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked Dan.
+
+"Okematan is sure of nothing.  Even the sun may not rise to-morrow."
+
+"Had we not better, then, return at once to the Settlement, and tell
+what we have seen?" said Dan.
+
+"If we did, the Saulteaux would see us and give chase.  Their canoes are
+big and have strong men in them.  They would overtake us soon and our
+scalps would be swinging at their belts to-morrow."
+
+"Not pleesant to think of--whatever," said Fergus.
+
+"What, then, do you advise?" asked Dan.  "You understand the ways of the
+wilderness, and we will follow your lead."
+
+The chief appeared to think for a few moments.
+
+"We will remain where we are," he said; "only we will send the boys off
+in one of the canoes, as if to shoot some ducks for us.  The Saulteaux
+will think that we are lazy, idle men, who like to lie in camp and sleep
+or smoke while the boys hunt for us.  When night comes we will escape in
+the dark and go down the river to warn the settlers."
+
+"But what if they attack us before night comes on?" asked Dan.
+
+"They will not do that," answered the Indian, gravely.  "They know that
+we are well supplied with powder and shot.  They know that some one must
+lead in every attack, and that such leaders would be doomed to death.
+Saulteaux do not love death.  They prefer life.  They will not come till
+it is dark."
+
+"Ha! ha!" laughed Fergus, who seemed greatly tickled with the latter
+part of the chief's observation, "fery goot! ho! fery goot!--they do not
+love death, an' it iss life they will be preferrin'.  Ay, ay!  It iss
+the Heelandman that will be of much the same opeenion, only, when
+fightin' hes got to be done, he's not afraid to do it in daylight."
+
+"He may not be afraid, Fergus," said Dan, "yet I suspect that the
+Red-man's tactics are often the wisest, for what would be the use of
+making an attack in daylight, at the cost of several lives, when the
+attack might be made quite as well, if not better, at night, without the
+loss, perhaps, of any life at all?"
+
+"I will not be sayin'," returned Fergus, who was of an argumentative
+disposition, "anything at all about attackin' by day or by night.  I
+will only be remarkin' that the Heelandman iss like the savitch in that
+he prefers life to death."
+
+"Come along to the fire, Fergus," said Dan, laughing; "I will argue that
+out with you."
+
+"It will be difficult to argue, then, for there iss no argument in it at
+all.  It is only a statement of opeenion."
+
+"Well, but surely it is possible to controvert your opinion!  Besides,
+we are somewhat exposed where we stand.  Even an arrow might reach us
+from the near bank."
+
+"Never you fear, Tan.  They will not be so foolish as to fire now,
+instead of attack at night.  They are sly--whatever."
+
+While the two friends were thus conversing, the Cree chief was arranging
+the smaller of the canoes for the use of the young hunters--that is, he
+took out all the lading, making it so light that it would skim over the
+water like an egg-shell with the slightest impulse of the paddle.
+
+"You'll have to put a big stone in the stern, Oke," said Archie, "to
+make up for Little Bill's lightness--"
+
+"For your heaviness, you mean," interrupted the invalid.
+
+"No; I mean what I say, Billie, for you are light-headed as well as
+light-hearted--a sort o' human balloon, ready to go up like a rocket at
+any time--so that even an or'nary man like me weighs you down.  Besides,
+Oke, he steers better than me and I shoot better than him.  Also, I like
+the hardest work, so I always take the bow."
+
+Arranging things according to directions, the Indian held the canoe
+steady while the brothers stepped carefully in--for they had learned
+from experience that the birch-bark canoe, besides being easily broken,
+is apt to overturn on small provocation.
+
+"Let not Arch-ee go near the river-bank on either side," said the chief
+in a warning voice, as he was about to shove the frail bark out upon the
+glassy water.  "The Saulteaux might catch him.  And let him not go far
+up or down stream.  Let him keep among the reeds round the island.
+There are many ducks there.  Shoot plenty, as if Arch-ee had no
+suspicion--no fear of Indians."
+
+"I say, Oke," demanded the lad, with what was meant for an overwhelming
+frown, "do you mean to hint that I _have_ any fear of the Indians?"
+
+"Okematan has the belief that Arch-ee never knew fear at all," returned
+the chief, earnestly; "that he has the courage of the young
+buffalo-bull."
+
+"Well, I'm not quite so sure o' that," returned the boy, with a modest
+look.  "I would not myself put it quite so strong, you know.  But you're
+a wise chief, and I hope you've got a lot of brothers as wise as
+yourself.  Good-bye, Oke--shove off.  Now, then, mind how you steer,
+Little Bill."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+CIRCUMVENTING THE RED-SKINS.
+
+For some time the brothers paddled about the sedgy shore of the small
+islet on which the camp had been pitched, now setting up a flock of
+ducks and then slipping into the heart of some reeds and concealing
+themselves until a good chance was obtained at a passing flock of geese.
+
+Archie Sinclair soon laid in enough provision to serve the party for a
+few meals, for his hand was steady and his eye true.
+
+"Little Bill," he said, looking back after one of his successful shots,
+"you must take a shot now.  We will go right-about-face, and convert the
+bow into the stern in the usual way.  See, catch hold of the gun."
+
+"No, Arch-ee, as Oke calls you, I won't; I'm quite content to look on,
+for your gun kicks like a Mexican mule.  Besides, it's easy work to
+steer, and seeing you panting and toiling in the bow makes it seem all
+the easier.  Just you keep blazin' away, old man.  But, I say, where
+shall I steer to now?  I'm tired o' steering among the reeds.  Let us
+push out into the clear water."
+
+"You heard what Oke said," objected Archie; "we must keep well clear o'
+both shores."
+
+"I know that," returned Billie, "but he did not forbid us to try the
+reeds round the other islands; there's a much bigger one, not a quarter
+of a mile up stream.  I think there are some beautiful sedges there
+where geese are likely to live.  I'm sure I would choose to live in such
+a place if I was a goose."
+
+"O! then, we must go, Little Bill, for I think it would be hard to keep
+any one out of his native home."
+
+So saying, he dipped his paddle with vigour, and the light bark shot
+swiftly over the glancing water.
+
+The sun was beginning to descend towards the western horizon when they
+drew near to the island, and several flocks of water-fowl had already
+sprung alarmed from the reeds, when Archie caught sight of a
+black-and-red-painted visage peering at him from among the bushes.
+
+The boy's heart seemed to bound into his throat and his first impulse
+was to turn the canoe and fly, but Archie's mind was quicker even than
+his hand or eye.  All he had ever heard or read of the cool stoicism of
+the Red-man seemed to flash across his memory, and, with a violent
+effort, he crushed back the shout that rose to his lips.  He could not
+indeed suppress the look of sudden surprise that swept across his
+expressive face, but he cleverly adapted it to circumstances.
+
+"Look, look!  Little Bill," he exclaimed, eagerly, pointing right over
+the Indian's head at a flock of geese that opportunely appeared at the
+moment in the far distance.  "Crouch, Bill, lie low, I'll call them.
+Steer a little more to the left and keep her so."
+
+Thereupon he began a vociferous imitation of the sounds with which
+Indians are wont to call to geese that may chance to be flying past at a
+distance.  The obedient Billie steered as directed, and thus the canoe
+was slowly sheered off a little from the shore.  It was cleverly done.
+Whether the savage was deceived or not we cannot tell, but he showed no
+sign of intention to move or act, though he was within easy range of the
+boys.
+
+"Little Bill," said Archie, in a low voice, such as one might use when
+anxious not to alarm game, "can you do what you're bid _at once_ and
+_exactly_?"
+
+"I can try," was the quiet answer.
+
+"Well, then, try your best, Little Bill; for our lives may depend on our
+action now.  Keep your eyes fixed on that flock o' geese as long as
+they're in sight.  _Don't_ look at the shore, whatever I do or say.
+Look at anything you like, but _not at the shore_.  There's a Red-skin
+there.  I've seen him, though he thinks I haven't.  Now, steer right
+round and go back the way we have just come, only keep always edging a
+little off-shore."
+
+As he said this Archie raised himself from his crouching attitude, laid
+down his gun and resumed his paddle, and in his ordinary free-and-easy
+tones exclaimed--
+
+"We've lost that chance, Little Bill--more's the pity."
+
+"Never mind," answered Billie in the same tone, being resolved to act
+his part well, "there's lot's more where these came from.  Better luck
+next time.  Where away now?"
+
+"Keep her just as you go, you're far enough out now.  We should start
+some ducks here."
+
+Thus speaking, and with the air of a leisurely man enjoying himself--
+with infinite contentment on his ruddy countenance, and with much
+concern in his agitated soul--Archie took the canoe straight past the
+very spot where the Indian lay concealed.  He felt that audacity was the
+safest line of action, for he knew that if the savage meant mischief, to
+pretend absolute ignorance of his existence would be less likely to draw
+a shot than sudden flight--which, however swiftly carried out, could by
+no means equal the flight of a bullet.  Besides, it was of the utmost
+importance that he should reach the encampment and report what he had
+seen without the Indian becoming aware that he had been discovered.
+
+In order to effect his purpose, he not only repassed the hiding-place of
+the savage but actually shot and picked up another duck while still
+within range of the enemy's gun.  Then he directed his brother to steer
+still more off the island, but very slowly.
+
+"We're in no hurry, you see, Little Bill; you haven't looked at the
+shore, I hope?"
+
+"Never once."
+
+"Ha! ha!" laughed Archie in high glee at the success of this his first
+experiment in backwoods warfare; "you're a trump, Little Bill!"
+
+"I'd rather be a trump than a trumpet, Archie.  If there are more
+Red-skins about, laughing like that will be sure to rouse them."
+
+"Never fear, Billie, my boy.  You do as I tell 'ee.  We must keep up the
+game a bit longer yet.  It won't do to hurry back till the sun is lower,
+so we'll go over to that small island there an' have a try for another
+duck.  There's sure to be nobody on such a small island as that.
+Afterwards we'll drop down in an off-hand, idle-like way to the
+encampment.  It'll be natural to do this when the evenin's beginning to
+set in, an' so we'll stump them Red-skins at their own game.  D'ee
+understand?"
+
+"Yes.  You're a clever chap, Archie."
+
+In pursuance of this deeply laid plan, the brothers crossed over to the
+small islet referred to, and, after apparently amusing themselves there
+for a short time, dropped down stream in a leisurely way, reaching the
+encampment before the evening had fairly set in.
+
+A council of war was immediately held.
+
+"You were right in your guess, Okematan," said Davidson.  "The reptiles
+will be down on us to-night no doubt.  What course does the Cree chief
+advise?"
+
+"Okematan advises that the kettle be boiled, the duck roasted, and a
+good big supper eaten."
+
+"It iss fery pleasant advice, no doubt," said Fergus with a broad and
+rather sarcastic grin, "but it iss not warlike!"
+
+"It seems not a bad preparation for war, anyhow," said Dan; "and what
+after that?"
+
+"The two boys will sleep and rest while food is preparing," continued
+the chief.  "The moon will set before we have done eating, and it will
+be very dark.  The Saulteaux will not attack while the light lasts.
+When it is quite dark we will go."
+
+"If we fix to leave and they chance to attack at the same time, it iss
+meetin' them we will be, Okematan," said Fergus.
+
+To this remark the Indian vouchsafed no reply.
+
+"Well, well, Muster Okematan, it iss your own business; you will know
+best yourself.  I will see to stowin' away my supper--whatever."
+
+By the time supper was over, the moon had descended into a bank of black
+clouds on the horizon, and profound darkness brooded over land and
+water.  It was a night such as an attacking party would hail as being
+most suitable for its work, and of course was proportionately unsuitable
+for the attacked.  The Indian chief displayed no more concern about it
+than if nothing unusual were pending.  After supper, however, he
+directed that the canoes should be launched and loaded.  At the same
+time he gathered together as much wood as he could, and heaped it on the
+fire.
+
+"You seem determined to give them plenty of light to do their work,"
+remarked Davidson.
+
+"They will wait till our fire burns low," said the chief.  "By that time
+they will think we are asleep.  A sleeping foe is not dangerous.  They
+will come--slowly; step by step; with wide eyes glancing from side to
+side, and no noise, sly as foxes; timid as squaws!  But by that time we
+will be far on our way back to Red River!"
+
+"Ay--if we do not meet them comin' to attack us," said Fergus.
+
+"And how shall we proceed!" asked Dan.
+
+"As we came," answered the chief.  "Okematan, with the two boys, will
+lead.  Dan-ell an' Fergus will follow.  Come."
+
+Led by their guide, the party passed out of the firelight into the dense
+thicket by which the spot was encompassed almost completely, so that the
+only visible sign of the encampment from outside was the forks of flame
+and sparks which rose high above the bushes.
+
+On reaching the shore they found the two boys holding the canoes, close
+to the land.  So intense was the darkness that they could not see the
+boys or canoes at all till close beside them.  Without uttering a word,
+or making a sound with their moccasined feet, they stepped into the
+canoes, pushed gently off and glided, ghost-like, into the vast
+obscurity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A MIDNIGHT CHASE, AND DAN IN EXTREMITY.
+
+For some time they advanced in absolute silence, dipping their paddles
+so as to make no noise whatever; Dan following as close as possible in
+the wake of the chief, for it was one of those nights which people
+describe as being so dark that one cannot see one's hand before one's
+face.
+
+On reaching the lower end of the lake-like expansion where the river
+narrowed suddenly and the stream began to be felt, it was discovered
+that the enemy was in advance of them--that, anticipating some such
+attempt at escape, they had stationed an ambush at the narrows to cut
+off their retreat.
+
+Archie was naturally the first to make this discovery, being in the bow
+of the canoe.  He heard no sound, but suddenly there loomed out of the
+darkness another canoe close to them--so close that they were on the
+point of running into it when the sharp-witted boy saw it, and, with an
+adroit turn of his paddle prevented a collision.  Then he ceased to
+paddle, and held his breath.  Not knowing what to do next he wisely did
+nothing, but left matters to Oke and fate!
+
+As they passed, the steersman in the strange canoe uttered something in
+a low tone.  Evidently he mistook them for his friends.
+
+"Sh!" was Okematan's prompt reply--or the Indian equivalent for that
+caution.
+
+They glided silently and slowly past, but the suspicion of the strange
+Indian had obviously been aroused, for the paddles of his canoe were
+heard to gurgle powerfully.  Hearing this, Okematan made a stroke that
+sent his canoe ahead like an arrow, and Archie, who appreciated the
+situation, seconded the movement.
+
+"Stop!" exclaimed the strange Indian, in the Saulteaux tongue, but the
+Cree chief did not feel the duty of obedience strongly upon him just
+then.  On the contrary, he put forth all his strength, but quietly, for
+he remembered that Dan Davidson was behind.
+
+As there was now no need for concealment, the pursuer uttered a shrill
+war-whoop which was immediately answered and repeated until the woods
+rang with the fiendish sound, while half-a-dozen canoes dashed out from
+the banks on either side, and sought to bar the river.
+
+"Now, Arch-ee," said the Cree chief in a low voice, "paddle for your
+life and be a man!"
+
+"I'll be two men, if you like, Oke," answered the boy, whose courage was
+of that type which experiences something almost like desperate glee in
+the presence of imminent danger.
+
+The canoe, obedient to the double impulse and the power of the current,
+was soon out of hearing of the pursuers.
+
+"O! if I only had a paddle I might help you," said Little Bill eagerly.
+
+"Yes, an' bu'st your biler, or explode your lungs, or something o' that
+sort," said his brother.  "No, no, Little Bill; you sit there like a
+lord or an admiral, an' leave men like Oke an' me to do all the dirty
+work."
+
+While he spoke thus flippantly it is but justice to say that Archie was
+never more anxiously in earnest in his life, and that he strained at his
+paddle with a degree of energy that made him, perhaps, more than equal
+to many an average man.  So that the canoe forged well ahead of the
+pursuers and finally got to a part of the river where three islets
+divided it into several channels, rendering further pursuit in the dark
+useless if not impossible.
+
+Their comrades, however, were not so fortunate.  Left behind by the
+sudden spurt of his leader, Davidson and his companion exerted
+themselves to overtake him, but the canoes of the enemy, which were just
+too late to cut off the retreat of Okematan, were in time to intercept
+the second canoe.  In this emergency Dan swerved aside, hoping to get to
+the bank before the Saulteaux could discover his exact whereabouts.  His
+intentions were thwarted by the want of caution in his companion.
+
+"Iss it to the land ye are going?" asked Fergus.
+
+"Yes--it's our only chance," whispered Dan.
+
+"It iss my opeenion--" murmured the Highlander.
+
+"Hush!" ejaculated Dan.
+
+But the caution came too late.  A listening Red-skin overheard the
+sounds, and, with a sudden dash was alongside of them.  He did not,
+however, know the vigour of the men with whom he had to deal.  While he
+was in the very midst of a triumphant war-whoop, Dan cut him over the
+head with the paddle so violently that the instrument became splinters,
+and the whoop ceased abruptly.  At the same time Fergus caught hold of
+the bow of the enemy's canoe with an iron grasp, and, giving it a heave
+that might have put Samson to shame, fairly overturned it.
+
+"Ye can wet your whustle now--whatever," he muttered.
+
+As he spoke, the canoe ran with extreme violence against the invisible
+bank.  At the same moment a random volley was fired from the canoes in
+rear.  Fear lest they should wound or kill a comrade probably caused
+them to send the whizzing bullets rather high, but for one instant the
+flame revealed the position of the fugitives, and those who had reserved
+their fire took better aim.
+
+"Take to the bush, Fergus!" cried Dan, as he grasped his gun and leaped
+into the shallow water.
+
+The Highlander stooped to lay hold of his weapon, which lay in the bow
+of the canoe, just as another volley was fired.  The act was the means
+of saving his life, for at least half-a-dozen bullets whizzed close over
+his head.  Before he could recover himself a strong hand grasped his
+neck and flung him backwards.  Probably a desperate hand-to-hand fight
+would have ensued, for Fergus McKay had much of the bone, muscle, and
+sinew, that is characteristic of his race, but a blow from an unseen
+weapon stunned him, and when his senses returned he found himself bound
+hand and foot lying in the bottom of a canoe.  He could tell from its
+motion, that it was descending the river.
+
+Meanwhile Dan Davidson, under the impression that his comrade was also
+seeking safety in the bush, did his best to advance in circumstances of
+which he had never yet had experience, for, if the night was dark on the
+open bosom of the river, it presented the blackness of Erebus in the
+forest.  Dan literally could not see an inch in advance of his own nose.
+If he held up his hand before his face it was absolutely invisible.
+
+In the haste of the first rush he had crashed through a mass of small
+shrubbery with which the bank of the stream was lined.  Then on passing
+through that he tumbled head over heels into a hollow, and narrowly
+missed breaking his gun.  Beyond that he was arrested by a tree with
+such violence that he fell and lay for a minute or two, half-stunned.
+While lying thus, experience began to teach him, and common sense to
+have fair-play.
+
+"A little more of this," he thought, "and I'm a dead man.  Besides, if
+it is difficult for me to traverse the forest in the dark, it is equally
+difficult for the savages.  My plan is to feel my way step by step, with
+caution.  That will be the quietest way, too, as well as the quickest.
+You're an excited fool, Dan!"
+
+When a man begins to think, and call himself a fool, there is some hope
+of him.  Gathering himself up, and feeling his gun all over carefully,
+to make sure that it had not been broken, he continued to advance with
+excessive caution, and, in consequence, was ere long a considerable
+distance from the banks of the river, though, of course, he had but a
+hazy idea as to what part of the country he had attained, or whither he
+was tending.
+
+As the first excitement of flight passed away, Dan began to feel uneasy
+prickings of conscience at having so hastily sought safety for himself,
+though, upon reflection, he could not accuse himself of having deserted
+his comrades.  Okematan and the boys, he had good reason to believe--at
+least to hope--had succeeded in evading the foe, and Fergus he supposed
+had landed with himself, and was even at that moment making good his
+escape into the forest.  To find him, in the circumstances, he knew to
+be impossible, and to shout by way of ascertaining his whereabouts he
+also knew to be useless as well as dangerous, as by doing so he would
+make his own position known to the enemy.
+
+He also began to feel certain pricking sensations in his right leg as
+well as in his conscience.  The leg grew more painful as he advanced,
+and, on examination of the limb by feeling, he found, to his surprise,
+that he had received a bullet-wound in the thigh.  Moreover he
+discovered that his trousers were wet with blood, and that there was a
+continuous flow of the vital fluid from the wound.  This at once
+accounted to him for some very unusual feelings of faintness which had
+come over him, and which he had at first attributed to his frequent and
+violent falls.
+
+The importance of checking the haemorrhage was so obvious, that he at
+once sat down and did his best to bind up the wound with the red cotton
+kerchief that encircled his neck.  Having accomplished this as well as
+he could in the dark, he resumed his journey, and, after several hours
+of laborious scrambling, at last came to a halt with a feeling of very
+considerable, and to him unusual, exhaustion.
+
+Again he sat down on what seemed to be a bed of moss, and began to
+meditate.
+
+"Impossible to go further!" he thought.  "I feel quite knocked up.
+Strange!  I never felt like this before.  It must have been the tumbles
+that did it, or it may be that I've lost more blood than I suppose.
+I'll rest a bit now, and begin a search for Fergus by the first streak
+of dawn."
+
+In pursuance of this intention, the wearied man lay down, and putting
+his head on a mossy pillow, fell into a profound sleep, which was not
+broken till the sun was high in the heavens on the following day.
+
+When at last he did awake, and attempted to sit up, Dan felt, to his
+surprise and no small alarm, that he was as weak as a child, that his
+leg lay in a pool of coagulated gore, and that blood was still slowly
+trickling from the wound in his thigh.
+
+Although disposed to lie down and give way to an almost irresistible
+tendency to slumber, Dan was too well aware that death stared him in the
+face to succumb to the feeling without a struggle.  He therefore made a
+mighty effort of will; sat up; undid the soaking bandage, and proceeded
+to extemporise a sort of tourniquet with it and a short piece of stick.
+
+The contrivance, rude as it was, proved effectual, for it stopped the
+bleeding, but Dan could not help feeling that he had already lost so
+much blood that he was reduced almost to the last stage of exhaustion,
+and that another hour or two would probably see the close of his earthly
+career.  Nothing, perhaps, could have impressed this truth upon him so
+forcibly as his inability to shout when he tried to do so.
+
+In the faint hope that Fergus might be within call, he raised his voice
+with the full knowledge that he ran the risk of attracting a foe instead
+of a comrade.  The sound that complied with the impulse of his will
+would have made him laugh if he had not felt an amazing and
+unaccountable disposition to cry.  Up to that period of his life--almost
+from his earliest babyhood--Dan Davidson's capacious chest had always
+contained the machinery, and the power, to make the nursery or the
+welkin ring with almost unparalleled violence.  Now, the chest, though
+still capacious, and still full of the machinery, seemed to have totally
+lost the power, for the intended shout came forth in a gasp and ended in
+a sigh.
+
+It was much the same when he essayed to rise.  His legs almost refused
+to support him; everything appeared to swim before his eyes, and he sank
+down again listlessly on the ground.  For the first time, perhaps, in
+his life, the strong man had the conviction effectually carried home to
+him that he was mortal, and could become helpless.  The advantage of
+early training by a godly mother became apparent in this hour of
+weakness, for his first impulse was to pray for help, and the resulting
+effect--whether men choose to call it natural or supernatural--was at
+least partial relief from anxiety, and that degree of comfort which
+almost invariably arises from a state of resignation.
+
+After a brief rest, the power of active thought revived a little, and
+Dan, again raising himself on one elbow, tried to rouse himself to the
+necessity of immediate action of some sort if his life was to be saved.
+
+The spot on which he had lain, or rather fallen down, on the preceding
+night happened to be the fringe of the forest where it bordered on an
+extensive plain or stretch of prairie land.  It was surrounded by a
+dense growth of trees and bushes, except on the side next the plain,
+where an opening permitted of an extensive view over the undulating
+country.  No better spot could have been chosen, even in broad daylight,
+for an encampment, than had been thus fallen upon by the hunter in the
+darkness of night.
+
+But the poor man felt at once that this advantage could be of no avail
+to him, for in the haste of landing he had thought only of his gun, and
+had left his axe, with the bag containing materials for making fire, in
+the canoe.  Fortunately he had not divested himself of his powder-horn
+or shot-pouch, so he was not without the means of procuring food, but of
+what use could these be, he reflected, if he had not strength to use
+them?
+
+Once again, in the energy of determination, he rose up and shouldered
+his gun with the intention of making his way across the plain, in the
+hope that he might at all events reach the wigwam of some wandering
+Indian, but he trembled so from excessive weakness that he was obliged
+to give up the attempt, and again sank down with feelings akin to
+despair.
+
+To add to his distress, hunger now assailed him so violently that he
+would have roasted and eaten his moccasins--as many a starving man had
+done before him, though without much benefit--but even this resource was
+denied him for the want of fire, and raw moccasin was not only
+indigestible but uneatable!
+
+Still, as it seemed his only hope, he gathered a few dry twigs and
+sticks together, drew the charge from his gun and sought to kindle some
+mossy lichen into flame by flashing the priming in the pan of the lock.
+Recent rains had damped everything, however, and his attempts proved
+abortive.  Fortunately the weather was warm, so that he did not suffer
+from cold.
+
+While he was yet labouring assiduously to accomplish his purpose, the
+whir of wings was heard overhead.  Glancing quickly up, he perceived
+that a small flock of willow-grouse had settled on the bushes close to
+him.  He was not surprised, though very thankful, for these birds were
+numerous enough and he had heard them flying about from time to time,
+but that they should settle down so near was exceedingly opportune and
+unexpected.
+
+With eager haste and caution he rammed home the charge he had so
+recently withdrawn--keeping his eyes fixed longingly on the game all the
+time.  That the birds saw him was obvious, for they kept turning their
+heads from side to side and looking down at him with curiosity.  By good
+fortune grouse of this kind are sometimes very stupid as well as tame.
+They did not take alarm at Dan's motions, but craned their necks and
+seemed to eye him with considerable curiosity.  Even when he tried to
+take aim at them their general aspect suggested that they were asking,
+mentally, "What next?"
+
+But Dan found that he could not aim.  The point of the gun wavered
+around as it might have done in the hands of a child.
+
+With a short--almost contemptuous--laugh at his ridiculous incapacity,
+Dan lowered the gun.
+
+Stupid as they were, the laugh was too much for the birds.  They spread
+their wings.
+
+"Now or never!" exclaimed Dan aloud.  He pointed his gun straight at the
+flock; took no aim, and fired!
+
+The result was that a plump specimen dropped almost at his feet.  If he
+had been able to cheer he would have done so.  But he was not, so he
+thanked God, fervently, instead.
+
+Again the poor man essayed to kindle a fire, but in trying to do this
+with gunpowder he made the startling discovery that he had only one more
+charge in his powder-horn.  He therefore re-loaded his gun, wiped out
+the pan and primed with care, feeling that this might be the last thing
+that would stand between him and starvation.  It might have stood
+between him and something worse--but of that, more hereafter.
+
+Starving men are not particular.  That day Dan did what he would have
+believed to have been, in him, an impossibility--he drank the blood of
+the bird and ate its flesh raw!
+
+"After all," thought he, while engaged in this half-cannibalistic deed,
+"what's the difference between raw grouse and raw oyster?"
+
+It is but right to add that he did not philosophise much on the subject.
+Having consumed his meal, he lay down beside his gun and slept the
+sleep of the weary.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+A DESPERATE SITUATION.
+
+Awaking next morning much refreshed, but with a keen appetite for more
+grouse, Dan Davidson sat up and reflected.  He felt that, although
+refreshed, the great weakness resulting from excessive loss of blood
+still rendered him almost helpless, and he knew that making new blood
+was a process that required good feeding and considerable time.  What,
+then, was to be done?
+
+He had scarcely asked himself the question when a rustle in the bushes
+near him caused him to look quickly round and seize his gun.  But the
+noise was not repeated, and nothing could be seen to justify alarm.
+Still Dan felt that the sound justified caution; he therefore kept his
+gun handy, and loosened in its sheath the scalping-knife which he always
+carried in his belt--for eating purposes, not for scalping.
+
+Thus he sat for nearly an hour with an uncomfortable sensation that
+danger of some sort lurked near him, until he almost fell asleep.  Then,
+rousing himself he proceeded to breakfast on the bones and scraps of the
+previous night's supper.
+
+While thus engaged he tried to make up his mind what course he ought to
+pursue--whether to remain where he was until his friends should have
+time to find him--for he felt sure that Okematan would escape and reach
+the Settlement, in which case a search for him would certainly be set on
+foot--or whether he should make a desperate effort to stagger on, and
+ultimately, if need be, creep towards home.  The pain of his wound was
+now so great as to render the latter course almost impossible.  He
+therefore resolved to wait and give his friends time to institute a
+search, trusting to another shot at willow-grouse for a supply of food.
+
+He had scarcely made up his mind to this plan when the rustling in the
+bushes was repeated again.  Seizing his gun, which he had laid down, Dan
+faced round just in time to see the hindquarters and tail of a large
+grey wolf disappearing in the bushes.
+
+To say that he felt considerable alarm when he saw this is not to stamp
+him with undue timidity, for he would have rejoiced to have had the wolf
+in his clutches, then and there, and to engage in single combat with it,
+weak though he was.  What troubled him was his knowledge of the fact
+that the mean spirited and sly brute was noted for its apparent sagacity
+in finding out when an intended victim was growing too feeble to show
+fight--either from wounds or old age--and its pertinacity and patience
+in biding the time when an attack could be made with safety.
+
+Had this horrible creature discerned, by some occult knowledge, that the
+sands in his glass were running low?  Was it to be his fate to face his
+glaring murderer until he had not vital power left to grapple with it,
+or to guard his throat from its hideous fangs?  These were questions
+which forced themselves upon him, and which might well have caused the
+stoutest heart to shrink from the threatened and terrible doom.
+
+In the strength of his emotion he had almost fired at a venture at the
+spot where the brute had disappeared; but luckily the remembrance that
+it was his last charge of ammunition came to him in time, and he had the
+resolution to restrain himself even when his finger was on the trigger.
+
+Dan now perceived that he must not venture to remain on the spot where
+he had passed the night, because, being surrounded on three sides by
+shrubbery, it afforded his grisly foe an opportunity to approach from
+any quarter, and spring on him the moment he should find him off his
+guard.
+
+There was a natural bank of earth out on the plain about three or four
+hundred yards off, with neither trees nor bushes near it.  The bank was
+not more than four feet high, and the top slightly overhung its base, so
+that it afforded some slight protection from the sun.  To this spot Dan
+resolved to betake himself, and immediately began the journey--for a
+journey it surely was, seeing that the hunter had to do it on hands and
+knees, lifting his gun and pushing it before him, each yard or so, as he
+went along.  The inflammation of his wound rendered the process all the
+slower and more painful, and a burning thirst, which he had no means of
+slaking, added to his misery.
+
+By the time he had passed over the short distance, he was so much
+exhausted that he fell at the foot of the bank almost in a swoon.
+
+Evidently the wolf imagined that its time had now come, for it sneaked
+out of the wood when the hunter fell, and began cautiously to advance.
+But Dan saw this, and, making a desperate effort, arose to a sitting
+posture, leaned his back against the bank, and placed his gun across his
+knees.
+
+Seeing this, the wolf sat down on its haunches, and coolly began to bide
+its time.
+
+"Ha! you brute!" muttered Dan, "I could easily stop your mischief if my
+strength wasn't all gone.  As it is, I dare not give you my last shot
+till you are so close that you can look down the barrel o' my gun."
+
+From this point a watch of endurance began on both sides--the brute, of
+course, unaware of the deadly weapon which its intended victim held, and
+the man fully aware of the fact that if he should venture to lie down
+and sleep, his doom would be sealed.
+
+It is impossible for any one who has not had trial of similar
+experiences to imagine the rush of thought and feeling that passed
+through the brain and breast of Dan Davidson during the long dreary
+hours of that terrible day.  Sometimes he fell into a half-dreamy
+condition, in which his mind leaped over forests and ocean to bonnie
+Scotland, where his days of childhood were spent in glorious revelry on
+her sunny banks and braes.  At other times the memory of school-days
+came strong upon him, when play and lessons, and palmies were all the
+cares he had; or thoughts of Sabbaths spent with his mother--now in the
+church, now in the fields, or at the cottage door learning Bible stories
+and hearing words of wisdom and the story of the crucified One from her
+lips.  Then the scene would change, and he was crossing the stormy
+ocean, or fighting with Red-skins, or thundering after the buffalo on
+the wide prairies.  But through all the varied fabric of his thoughts
+there ran two distinct threads, one golden, the other black.  The first
+we need hardly say was Elspie McKay; the second was that awful wolf
+which sat there glaring at him with a hang-dog expression, with the red
+tongue hanging out of its mouth, and from which he never for a moment
+allowed his eyes to wander.
+
+As evening began to draw on, the situation became terrible, for Dan felt
+that the little strength he had left was fast sinking.  The efforts by
+which he had succeeded in rousing himself in the earlier parts of the
+day were failing of their effect.  Then a strange and sudden change
+occurred, for, while he knew that the end of the trial was rapidly
+approaching, he began to experience a feeling of indifference--the
+result, no doubt, of excessive weariness--and almost a wish that all was
+over.  Nevertheless, whenever that wolf moved, or changed its position
+ever so little, the instinct of self-preservation returned in full
+force, and Dan, pulling himself together, prepared to defend himself
+desperately to the last gasp.
+
+While the two were thus glaring at each other, Dan was startled and
+thoroughly aroused from his irresistible lethargy by a loud report.
+
+Next moment he saw the wolf extended dead upon the plain.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+ADVENTURES OF FERGUS AND HIS FRIENDS.
+
+In order to account for the sudden death recorded in the last chapter,
+we must turn aside to follow for a little the fortunes of Fergus McKay.
+
+It will be remembered that the vigorous Highlander, after overturning
+the Indian canoe and running his own canoe on shore, was seized by the
+neck, while in the act of reaching forward to grasp his gun, and
+captured.
+
+Now, Fergus was of an unusually knowing and wily nature.  He possessed
+what some would call more than his share of readiness in action and
+sagacity in counsel, though his ordinary reticence and sluggishness of
+manner concealed those qualities to some extent.
+
+Being endued, also, with more than the average allowance of that bodily
+strength for which his countrymen are famous, his first impulse was to
+exert his powers and show fight, but he had been taken suddenly at a
+disadvantage and thrown on his back into the bottom of the canoe, and at
+least three pair of very muscular hands grasped his throat and other
+parts of his person.  That they were strong hands he felt; that they
+belonged to big strong savages he had every reason to believe--though it
+was too dark to see--and that scalping-knives and tomahawks were handy
+to them he knew to be highly probable.  He therefore promptly made up
+his mind as to his course of action, and at once began to play his part.
+Making a very feeble resistance--just enough, in short, to deceive--he
+begged for mercy in soft, rather tremulous and very abject tones.  True,
+his language was English--at least that sort of English to which the
+mountaineers of Scotland are addicted--but he trusted to the tone and
+manner of his speech, not to the sense, which Saulteaux, he knew, could
+not be expected to understand.
+
+"Oh! then, don't be hard on me.  Don't kill me, goot shentlemen," he
+whined.  "It iss a poor worthless thing I am--whatever!"
+
+These remarks, and a few similar appeals for mercy, were accompanied
+with many dismal groans, as his captors were dragging him up the bank of
+the stream.  Pausing for a moment, one of them produced a cord, with
+which they proceeded to bind their cowardly and unresisting prisoner.
+
+Whether the Indians were deceived by their victim's tones and manner,
+and the soft condition of his carefully relaxed muscles, we cannot tell,
+but it seemed as if such were the case, for some of the brief remarks
+made by his captors had in them a smack of undisguised contempt, and
+when the cord was being put round his arms he felt that the grip of his
+captors was slightly relaxed.
+
+Now or never was his chance!  Hurling the men on either side of him
+right and left, he delivered two random blows in front, one of which
+happily took effect on a savage chest, the other on a savage nose, and
+cleared the way in that direction.  With a bound like that of one of his
+own mountain deer, he cleared the bank, and plunged into the river.
+
+In ordinary circumstances an attempt of this kind would have been worse
+than useless, for the Indians would not only have jumped into their
+canoes and overtaken the fugitive, but some of them would have run down
+the bank of the stream to prevent a landing.  Some such attempt was
+indeed made on the present occasion, but the intense darkness was in
+favour of Fergus, and the searching canoes only ran into each other,
+while the searchers on land were still more at a disadvantage.
+
+Now, Fergus McKay was as much at home in water as an otter or a
+musk-rat.  Indeed he had been known among his playmates in the old
+country as the "Water-rat."  When, therefore, he plunged into the river,
+as described, he took care to hold his breath as if for a long dive, and
+drifted with the current a considerable distance as motionless as a dead
+man.  The Indians listened intently, of course; for his coming to the
+surface; for the breathing, and, it might be, for the splashing that
+would be natural after such a leap, but no breathing or splashing met
+their ears, for when Fergus put up his head, far down the stream, he
+only let out his nose and mouth for a gentle inspiration, and sank
+again.
+
+"It iss circumventin' you at your own trade, fightin' you wi' your own
+claymore, that I will be doin'," he thought, as he rose a second time,
+and swam softly with the stream.
+
+Fergus had the advantage of being well acquainted with the river in
+which he was swimming, as well as with the lands in its neighbourhood,
+and he knew that there was a certain bend in the stream which it would
+take the canoe of Okematan a considerable time to traverse.  By cutting
+across a narrow neck of land there was, therefore, a possibility of his
+intercepting the canoe.
+
+The Saulteaux, of course, might have also taken advantage of this
+circumstance, but they could have done so only on foot, and they knew
+that without canoes they could not arrest the progress of the fugitives.
+
+Reaching the spot where he wished to land, by intuition almost, the
+Highlander soon found himself on the bank, squeezed the water out of his
+garments, and set off as quickly as he dared in such darkness.  By good
+fortune he happened to cross a hunter's track or path--like a
+sheep-run--with which he was familiar, and, by following it, was able to
+advance much more rapidly.  In a short time he again came out on the
+left bank of the river.  There he sat down on a boulder to listen.
+Profound was his attention to every sound--as profound, almost, as his
+anxiety, for he knew that if the canoe should have already passed he
+would be obliged to make his way back to the Settlement on foot by a
+straight course, which meant a slow, toilsome march, scrambling through
+pathless woods, wading morasses, and swimming across rivers.
+
+He had been seated thus for about half-an-hour, and in his impatience
+was giving way to despondency, when the plash of water smote upon his
+ear.  Cocking the said ear attentively, he was rewarded with another
+smite, and, in a few minutes, distinctly heard the sound of paddles.
+
+He put his hands to his mouth forthwith, and uttered a peculiar cry.
+
+Instantly the sound of the paddles ceased as Archie Sinclair, looking
+over his shoulder, said--
+
+"Did you hear that, Oke?"
+
+Before Oke could reply, the cry was repeated.
+
+"It is Fer-gus," said the Indian, answering to the cry, and steering in
+the direction whence it came.  "Are you sure, Oke?"
+
+"Okematan never speaks till he is sure--waugh!"
+
+"H'm!  I'm not so sure o' _that_," muttered the boy to himself.
+
+A few seconds put the matter at rest, for the voice of the Highlander
+was heard, as they cautiously drew near, saying--
+
+"Iss it _you_?"
+
+"I think it is!" replied Archie; "why, man, where are you?  I can see
+nothing."
+
+"Wow! man, but I am gled," said Fergus; "just follow your nose, Archie,
+an' you'll be all right."
+
+Another moment, and the canoe was checked by Fergus, who had stepped
+into the water to prevent its being injured against the stones.
+
+"You better gie me the paddle, Archie, an' sit beside Little Bill.  It
+iss tired o' paddlin' you will be by now."
+
+"But where is Dan?" asked Archie as he complied with this request.
+
+"That iss more than I can tell you, boy, but he's safe enough I doubt
+not, for I heard him gie a cheer as he jamp into the wuds, an' it's
+beyont the power o' a mortal Red-skin to chase an active man on a night
+like this."
+
+Thereupon Fergus gave a brief account of all that had happened after the
+canoes were parted--as far as he knew it--and then an earnest council of
+war was held as to what was the best course to pursue in the
+circumstances.  Being the youngest brave, (for Little Bill was ignored
+in this matter), Archie was invited to give his opinion first.  This was
+well, because, being enthusiastic and irrepressible, he would probably
+have given his opinion first at any rate.
+
+"My opinion is," he said, promptly, "that we turn right-about, and go
+back to find Dan, even though we should have to fight the whole
+Saulteaux nation!"
+
+"That iss well spoken," said Fergus with something of sarcasm in his
+tone; "but as we hev only two guns amang us, a tomahawk, an' a knife or
+two, without any claymores at all, I would like to know what we are to
+fecht with?  Moreover, what is to become o' Little Bill when we are
+fechtin'?  It iss _my_ opeenion that we put the command o' our
+expeedition in the hands of Okematan, an' leave him to do what he thinks
+best."
+
+"Arch-ee is a true brave," said the Indian, "but he is young.  When the
+wrinkles of age are on his brow he will be a great chief.  Okematan's
+heart is with him to turn back and fight, but wisdom says, go to the
+Settlement, get men, and return as fast as you can."
+
+"Then the sooner we set about it the better, for when wan's mind is made
+up, talk iss only lost time."
+
+With that he shoved the canoe off into the stream, and paddling was
+resumed with redoubled vigour.
+
+They proceeded in silence till the blush of rosy day in the east
+dispelled the intense darkness.  Then, pulling ashore, they kindled a
+small fire, and, while the chief re-gummed the seams of the canoe, which
+leaked a little, the others prepared and ate a hasty breakfast.
+
+They were still engaged with this meal, and discussing, not very
+hopefully, the possibility of reaching Red River Settlement and
+returning in time to render relief to Dan--supposing that he should
+require relief--when the sound of fast-dipping paddles was heard beyond
+the bend of the river just below them.
+
+Another moment, and four large canoes, each manned by eight men, swept
+into view, their red sides glowing in the morning sun, and their
+occupants driving the water behind them in foam by the vigour of their
+strokes.
+
+At first it was supposed that this was another band of Indians
+proceeding, possibly, to join that from which they had just escaped; but
+the fugitives were speedily undeceived by the appearance of the men as
+they drew nearer.
+
+"I would be thinkin' that the man in the bow o' the first canoe is
+Antoine Dechamp," said Fergus, as he stood peering over the bushes at
+the advancing brigade.
+
+"I'm sure it's Dechamp.  I'd know him a mile off," said Archie.
+
+"Ay, an' they hev got sight o' the smoke of our fire, too," added
+Fergus.
+
+"It is Dechamp," said Okematan, decisively, as he stepped into the open
+and held up his hand to the new arrivals.
+
+A cheer was raised by those in the canoes when the Cree chief was
+recognised, and the flotilla, coming on at full speed, soon reached the
+bank.
+
+Explanations were speedily exchanged, and our fugitives learned that
+news had been carried to the Settlement of the approach of the very band
+of Saulteaux whom they had encountered, and a band of fiery young men,
+led by Dechamp, had come out to meet them for the purpose of asking them
+whether they meant their visit to be friendly, or whether they wished to
+measure their strength with the men of Red River; as, if so, a sample
+had come out for the express purpose of accommodating them!
+
+On hearing the news that Okematan and Fergus had to give, the men--most
+of whom were half-breeds connected with Cree families--gave a cheer and
+voted for an immediate advance against the Saulteaux.  This, after very
+brief palaver, was unanimously agreed to.
+
+"You'll not object to return with us, I suppose?" asked Dechamp of
+Fergus.
+
+"Iss it objectin' to a fecht you will mean?"
+
+"Well--it's not unlikely that there may be something of the sort going
+if we meet."
+
+"Did you ever hear of a McKay objectin' to a fecht, Antoine?"
+
+Dechamp laughed.
+
+"Well," he said, "I know Okematan won't object to turn back, and show us
+the way to the place where he met the reptiles."
+
+"Okematan was on his way to seek for help," said the Indian quietly.
+
+Every one being agreed on this point, the whole band re-embarked, and
+proceeded on their way up the river.  They advanced rapidly, for
+although the stream was against them it was so sluggish as to be
+scarcely appreciable, and by keeping near to the banks they were not
+delayed by it at all.
+
+Towards the afternoon the place where the struggle had taken place was
+reached, but no Saulteaux were to be seen.  They had taken their
+departure, and, from the fact that several small things belonging to
+them had been left behind, it seemed not unlikely that they had obtained
+information of the expedition sent out against them, and had departed in
+haste.
+
+"It iss of no use," said Fergus, when this became evident, "for us to
+keep up a stern-chase after them.  They have got too much of a start, so
+it seems to me, boys, we could not do better than follow up the tracks
+of Daniel Davidson an' make sure that he has got clear away from them."
+
+To this proposal there was much objection at first, for it involved some
+of the party quitting the canoes and journeying no one could tell how
+far through the woods on foot.
+
+"Besides," said one, "Dan is quite able to take care of himself, and if
+he got off in the dark, as you tell us he did, there's not a man in the
+Saulteaux nation could come up with him either in dark or light."
+
+"That may be all fery true, my frund," returned Fergus, "nevertheless
+I'm goin' to follow up his track, for it is sure that he took no
+proveesions wi' him, an' it was too dark for me to see if he escaped wi'
+his gun.  Dan is a strong man, but the strongest man will be findin'
+himself in diffeeculties without grub.  It iss followin' up his trail I
+will be doin', wi' some proveesions on my back, if wan or two o' you
+will go wuth me."
+
+"I will go," said Archie Sinclair, promptly, "if some o' you will
+promise to take care o' Little Bill."
+
+A laugh greeted this offer, and half-a-dozen of the men at once agreed
+to take good care of the invalid.
+
+"Moreover," said Dechamp, "whoever goes need not go further than the
+Pine Portage.  The party on foot will have found out, before the canoes
+reach that, whether Dan has got clear off, and they can rejoin the
+canoes at the Portage.  So, Fergus, I'll join your party too.  Who else
+will go?"
+
+Okematan and Jacques Bourassin here stepped forward, but none of the
+others seemed disposed to undertake the tramp.
+
+"There iss enough of us--whatever," remarked the Highlander as he and
+the others put some provisions into their wallets and shouldered their
+guns.  "You will be our leader, Antoine Dechamp.  It iss yourself that
+knows the outs an' ins o' the land better than any of us--except
+Okematan, may be--but I dar' say he's not as weel acquaint wi' the Red
+River woods as wi' the plains."
+
+The chief bowed a dignified assent to this proposition, which, however,
+he hardly understood.
+
+Dechamp, being accustomed to lead, accepted the position at once,
+stepped off on the trail of Dan, which had been made distinctly visible
+when he went crashing through the underwood the day before.  Fergus
+followed, and Bourassin came third.
+
+"Now, then," said Archie, looking into the chief's face, "come along,
+Oke.  You and I will form the rearguard, which is the position of danger
+and honour in warfare o' this sort--at least if it isn't, it ought to
+be.  Take care o' yourself, Little Bill.  We'll soon find Dan.
+Good-bye."
+
+So saying, the rearguard of the column vanished into the forest, and the
+others, returning to their canoes, began to descend the river.
+
+Archie was nearer the mark than he imagined when he said they would soon
+find Dan.  The distance which it had taken our hero so long to traverse
+in the dark was comparatively short, and the light was only beginning to
+fade when they came to the edge of the wood where Dan had spent the
+night.
+
+Dechamp, of course, was first to come upon his encampment, and the
+instant he entered it he observed the open space giving a view of the
+plain beyond.  He also saw the wolf sitting on his haunches about two
+hundred yards off.
+
+Quick as the lightning flash his gun flew to his shoulder.  Dechamp was
+a first-rate shot.  He fired, and, as we have seen, the wolf stretched
+himself in death upon the plain.
+
+Thus was Dan Davidson rescued at almost the eleventh hour.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+HOME-COMING AND BARGAINING.
+
+The return of the hunting party to Red River Settlement was an
+illustration of the uncertainty of all human affairs.  They went forth
+rejoicing in all the strength of youth and manhood; they returned in
+sorrow, with one at least of the strong men reduced to the last stage of
+weakness.
+
+We would not be understood to refer to this in a pessimistic spirit.  On
+the contrary, the optimistic view suggests the very same idea of
+uncertainty, though in a pleasant aspect; for does not many a day that
+dawns in cloud and rain progress to brilliant sunshine? while equally
+true it is that many a life which begins in sorrow culminates in joy.
+
+Okematan, who was intensely philosophical and inquisitive, had been
+carrying on a semi-speculative conversation with Billie on this very
+subject while descending the Red River towards Prairie Cottage--much to
+the perplexity of the invalid, who scarce knew how to answer the chief's
+queries, and greatly to the interest of Archie, who wondered at Little
+Bill's powers of reply.
+
+"By the way," said Archie, "when you two have settled that knotty point,
+will you tell me who is to take the news of Dan's accident to Mrs
+Davidson?  We'll have to carry him up to the house, you know, on a
+blanket 'tween two poles, an' she'll be sure to think that he's dead, or
+has been killed, an' that'll half-kill _her_, it'll give her such a
+fright.  Somebody will have to go on ahead and tell her."
+
+"I will, if you like," said Billie; "if you'll only carry me up to the
+garden gate and set me down, I can easily walk up the path."
+
+This proposal had just been agreed to when the whole flotilla of canoes
+paddled up alongside of the bank close under Prairie Cottage.
+
+It was evening at the time.  The Davidson family was at supper, and as
+the canoes had approached very quietly, with Dan in the leading one, no
+person stood on the bank to welcome them.
+
+"It's as well they don't know," said Archie, jumping on shore.  "Now,
+Little Bill, come along, and I'll carry you to the gate while they're
+arranging matters for Dan."
+
+Seated at the foot of the family table was Peter Davidson.  He could see
+the garden path through the window.
+
+"Hallo! mother," he exclaimed, dropping his knife and fork, "there is
+Little Bill or his ghost coming up the track."
+
+"Impossible, Peter," said the good lady, with, however, a look of
+anxiety which showed she believed that, or something else, to be quite
+possible.
+
+"Look for yourself, mother," cried Peter, springing up and running out.
+
+"It _is_ Billie," said Jessie, reflecting her mother's anxiety; "what
+can have brought them back so soon?"
+
+Peter re-entered at the moment with Little Bill in his arms.  He set the
+boy down and again ran out.
+
+Taking the widow's trembling hand in both of his, Billie addressed her
+as "mother," like the rest of the family.
+
+"Dan has been hurt," he said, in his soft way, "and he's come home to
+get well.  They will bring him up directly."
+
+"Is he too ill to walk?" asked the widow.
+
+"No, not too ill--but too weak," answered the matter-of-fact Billie.
+"Indeed he is not ill at all, but he has lost a _heap_ of blood, for
+they shot him."
+
+Jessie waited to hear no more, but immediately followed Peter, and the
+small servant Louise followed suit; leaving the widow in a half-fainting
+condition with the boy.  But she did not remain long thus, for just then
+old Duncan McKay entered by the back-door.
+
+"It will be bad news you've been hearin', Mrs Davidson," he said, in
+some surprise, pouring out a glass of water as he spoke, and
+considerately handing it to the widow.
+
+"Yes--O yes!  I've just heard that Dan has been shot."
+
+"Bless my soul!" exclaimed the horrified old man, almost falling into a
+chair.  "Iss--iss he tead?"
+
+"No, thank God--only weak from loss of blood.  He'll be here directly."
+
+"That iss goot news--whatever; for as long as there's life there's
+hope."
+
+Trying to comfort himself, as well as his friend, with this truism, the
+old man staggered out of the house in search of those who had gone
+before.
+
+Soon a sad procession was seen coming up the path, led by Archie.  Four
+men carried Dan on a rudely-extemporised litter.  His bloodless face and
+lips gave him the appearance of death, but the glow in his eyes told of
+still unexhausted life.
+
+"I'll be all right, mother," he said feebly, as they laid him on his
+bed.  "I only want food and rest.  Thank God--home at last!"
+
+As he spoke, a quiet step was heard, and Elspie, with a face as pale as
+his own, knelt by his bedside and took his hand.
+
+That touch was the first impulse the youth received towards decided
+recovery.  Old McKay perceived the change in his countenance.
+
+"Yes, yes! ay, ay!" he exclaimed, pacing violently up and down the room,
+"he wants nothin' but victuals an' rest--steaks an' shops, and plenty o'
+whusky an' water--hot.  Don't be croodin' about him an' botherin' him.
+Come away, and leave him to his mother, an' send for the doctor.  Has no
+wan gone for him yet?"
+
+"Yes; Peter has just started.  I heard the clatter of his horse's feet,"
+said Jessie.
+
+"It iss not the doctor that will put him right, whatever," muttered the
+old man, as he left the room, followed by most of the family.
+
+And the doctor himself held the same opinion; for he said, on returning
+to the reception hall after seeing his patient--
+
+"It will be a considerable time before he recovers, for the fountain of
+life had been well-nigh drained when he fortunately extemporised that
+tourniquet.  But there's no fear of him: all that he wants is food,
+rest, and peace of mind."
+
+"An' whusky, doctor," added old McKay.  "Don't forget the best pheesic;
+an' I hev goot store of it, too, in my cellar at Ben Nevis."
+
+"I'm not so sure about the whisky, Mr McKay," returned the doctor with
+a laugh.  "I think we shall manage to pull him through without that."
+
+The other requisites for recovery were applied without stint at Prairie
+Cottage; for, despite the misfortune which had attended the cultivation
+of the soil, the Davidsons had a little money, which enabled them to buy
+provisions and other necessaries, obtainable from the Hudson Bay
+Company, and thus tide over the disastrous year in greater comfort than
+fell to the lot of many of the other settlers.
+
+Thus Dan was well looked after.  His brother Peter found the food--at
+least much of it--on the prairie and in the woods; his sister Jessie
+cooked it; Louise helped, looked on, and learned; home afforded rest;
+Elspie supplied the peace of mind--at least as much of it as it was
+possible for a fellow-mortal to supply; and his mother superintended
+all.  Add to this that Archie Sinclair cheered him with miscellaneous
+gossip; that Little Bill read to him, or entertained him with serious
+talk and grave speculation; that Andre Morel and his sister often
+entertained him with song; that on such occasions Jenkins, the sailor,
+frequently amused him with nautical tales; that old Peg sometimes came
+from Ben Nevis to gaze at him tenderly; and that Okematan came to glare
+at him more or less affectionately--and we have said enough to warrant
+the conclusion that Dan Davidson had a pretty good time of it in spite
+of his weak condition.
+
+Nevertheless Dan was not quite happy.  He could not get rid of the
+memory of Henri Perrin's murder, and the terrible thought that Elspie's
+brother Duncan had some sort of guilty knowledge of it.  These thoughts
+he buried deep, however, in his own breast, and even tried to forget
+them.  Vain effort! for does it not stand to reason that the thing we
+strive most earnestly to forget is the very thing which, by that effort,
+we are fixing with a deeper stamp on memory?
+
+Francois La Certe was somewhat exercised about the same question, about
+the same time.
+
+That estimable member of the colony was seated one fine day on the banks
+of the river fishing for goldeyes--a small fish about the size of a
+plump herring.  His amiable spouse was helping, or rather fishing with
+him.  It was a fine healthy, contemplative occupation; one that
+admirably suited their tendency to repose, and at the same time filled
+them with that virtuous sensation which awaits those who know that they
+are engaged in useful occupation--for were not goldeyes the best of
+eating?
+
+Branches of trees were their primitive rods, twine their simple lines,
+grasshoppers their bait, and a violent jerk their method.
+
+"Slowfoot!" said La Certe.
+
+"My husband!" or some such Indian phrase, answered the woman.
+
+"I have been wondering for a long time now why--hi!--no!  I thought
+there was something at my bait--but it was deception.  Nothing is so
+unreal as the bite of the goldeye--when it is not there.  It brings to
+mind the lights in the sky of winter, which dance and shoot--and yet
+they are not.  Hi! ho!--I have him.  I was mistaken.  I thought the fish
+_was_ not--but it was."
+
+While speaking La Certe sent a small fish with bursting violence on the
+grass behind him.  Almost at the same moment Slowfoot landed another,
+with less violence and more coolness.
+
+"What was I saying, Slowfoot?" asked the half-breed, when the hooks had
+been re-baited, and their eyes were riveted on their respective floats.
+
+"Nothing that any one could remember," answered his truthful spouse.
+
+"Now I remember--ho! was that another?"
+
+"No, it was not," answered his matter-of-fact helpmate.
+
+"Where is our child?" asked the father, with that wayward wandering of
+mind which is a not uncommon characteristic of genius.
+
+"Smoking in the tent," answered the mother.
+
+"And with my pipe, no doubt," said the father, laying down his rod and
+searching in the bag in which he was wont to carry, among other things,
+his pipe and tobacco.
+
+A cry of pain from the tent in question--which was close behind the
+pair--apprised the parents that something was wrong.  Immediately their
+first and only one issued with a tobacco pipe in one hand and a burnt
+finger on the other.  It came to the father for sympathy, and got it.
+That is to say, La Certe put the burnt finger in his mouth for a moment,
+and uttered some guttural expressions of sympathy.  Having thus
+fulfilled duty and relieved conscience, he exchanged the finger for the
+pipe-stem, and began to smoke.  The spoiled, as well as despoiled, child
+uttered a howl of indignation, and staggered off to its mother; but she
+received it with a smile of affectionate indifference, whereupon the
+injured creature went back to the tent, howling, and, apparently, howled
+itself to sleep.
+
+Again La Certe broke the piscatorial spell that had settled down on
+them, and, taking up the thread of discourse where he had dropped it,
+repeated his statement that he had been wondering for a long time why
+Cloudbrow, _alias_ young Duncan McKay, was so sharp and fierce in
+denying that he knew anything about the murder of Henri Perrin.
+
+"Hee! hee!" was Slowfoot's significant reply.
+
+"Can Slowfoot not guess?" he asked, after attending to a hopeful nibble,
+which came to nothing.
+
+"Slowfoot need not guess; she _knows_," said the woman with an air of
+great mystery.
+
+"What does Slowfoot know?"
+
+The woman's answer to this was a look of exceeding slyness.  But this
+did not content her lord, who, after repeated questions, and a threat to
+resort to extreme measures in case of continued refusal, drew from her a
+distinct answer.
+
+"Slowfoot knows that Cloudbrow _killed_ Perrin."
+
+"Sh!" exclaimed La Certe, with a look of real concern, "I am not yet
+tired of you, Slowfoot; and if old McKay hears you say that he will
+shoot you."
+
+"Slowfoot is not a fool," retorted the woman: "the old man will never
+hear her say that.  What has Slowfoot got to do with it?  She can hold
+her tongue!"
+
+"She can do that, for certain," returned her husband with good-natured
+sarcasm.  "In that, as in many things, she excels other women.  I would
+never have married her had it not been so.  But how do you come to be so
+sure?"
+
+"I know the knife," returned the woman, becoming more literal as she
+went on, "and Marie Blanc knows it.  Her husband once got the loan of it
+from Cloudbrow, and she looked at it with care, because she had never
+seen such a knife before.  She knew all its marks.  Why does Cloudbrow
+deny that it is his?  Because it was Cloudbrow who killed Perrin.  If it
+had been anybody else he would have known it, and he would have said
+so--for he was _there_."
+
+"How know you that he was there?"
+
+"Marie Blanc knows.  She netted the snowshoes that Cloudbrow wore, and
+she saw the footprints."
+
+"But pairs of snowshoes are very like each other," objected La Certe.
+
+"Very like.  Yes; but did ever two shoes have the same mends in the same
+places of the netting, where it had been broken, and the same marks on
+the frames?"
+
+"Never.  It will go hard with Cloudbrow if this is true."
+
+"It will go hard with him whether it is true or not," returned the
+woman; "for some of the friends of Perrin believe it to be true, and
+swear--"
+
+The disappearance of Slowfoot's float at this moment stopped her
+swearing, and brought the conversation to an abrupt end.  The landing of
+another goldeye prevented its resumption.
+
+Having caught more than enough for a good supper, this easy-going pair
+leaned their rods against a tree, and ascended the bank towards their
+tent, which was an ordinary conical Indian wigwam, composed partly of
+leather and partly of birch-bark, with a curtain for a door and a hole
+in the top for a window; it also served for a chimney.
+
+On the way they encountered one of the poor Swiss immigrants, who,
+having a wife and family, and having been unsuccessful in
+buffalo-hunting, and indeed in all other hunting, was in a state which
+bordered on starvation.
+
+"You have been lucky," said the Switzer, eyeing La Certe's fish
+greedily.
+
+"Sometimes luck comes to us--not often," answered the half-breed.  "Have
+you caught any?"
+
+"Yes, two small ones.  Here they are.  But what are these among three
+children and a wife?  I know not how to fish," said the mountaineer
+disconsolately.
+
+The fact was not surprising, for the poor man was a watchmaker by trade,
+and had never handled rod or gun till he was, as it were, cast adrift in
+Rupert's Land.
+
+"I will sell you some of my fish," said La Certe, who on all occasions
+had a keen eye for a bargain.
+
+"Good!  I am ready to buy," said the poor fellow, "but I have not much
+to spend.  Only last week I gave my silver watch for eight gallons of
+wheat.  I meant it for seed, but my wife and children were starving, so
+we were have no seed and only five shillings to spare."
+
+"Well, my friend," said La Certe, "fish is very scarce just now, but you
+may have five goldeyes for your five shillings."
+
+"O! that is too much," remonstrated the Switzer.
+
+"No, no," interrupted the half-breed, amiably, "by no means--but if you
+really think it too much fish for the money I will give you four
+goldeyes!"
+
+"Come, you know I don't mean that," returned the other, with a cynical
+smile.  "Make it six, and I will agree.  And here is a pinch of snuff in
+to the bargain."
+
+He pulled out a box as he spoke, and opened it.
+
+"Ha!" said La Certe, helping himself.  "I love snuff, and so does my
+wife.  Do you not?"
+
+Slowfoot answered, "Hee! hee!" and helped herself to as much as a good
+broad finger and thumb could grasp, after which she sneezed with
+violence.
+
+"Now, behold! my friend--a-wheesht!" said La Certe, sneezing a bass
+accompaniment to Slowfoot's treble.  "I will give you a catfish--a whole
+catfish for--a-wheesht!--for that box and snuff."
+
+The Switzer shook his head.
+
+"Nay," he said.  "The snuff you may have, but the box was the gift of a
+friend, and I am loath to part with it.  Besides, the box is of little
+real value."
+
+"You may have the head of the catfish for the snuff, and the whole
+catfish for the box," said La Certe, with the firmness of a man who has
+irrevocably made up his mind--for there are none so firm of purpose as
+the weak and vacillating when they know they have got the whip-hand of
+any one!  "And, behold!  I will be liberal," he added.  "You shall have
+another goldeye into the bargain--six goldeyes for the five shillings
+and a whole catfish for the box and snuff--voila!"  The poor Switzer
+still hesitated.
+
+"It is a great deal to give for so little," he said.
+
+"That may be true," said the other, "but I would not see my family
+starve for the satisfaction of carrying a snuff-box and five shillings
+in my pocket."
+
+This politic reference to the starving family decided the matter; the
+poor Switzer emptied his pockets with a sigh, received the fish, and
+went on his way, leaving La Certe and Slowfoot to return to their wigwam
+highly pleased with their bargain.  As must have been noted by the
+reader long ere now, this like-minded couple did not possess a
+conscience between them--at least, if they did, it must at that time
+have been a singularly shrunken and mummified one, which they had
+managed to keep hidden away in some dark and exceedingly un-get-at-able
+chamber of the soul.
+
+Commercially speaking, however, they had some ground for satisfaction;
+for at that time the ordinary price of a catfish, which is a little
+larger than a haddock, was threepence.
+
+Awakening the juvenile La Certe to the blissful realisation that a good
+"square" meal was pending, Slowfoot ordered it to fill and light the
+pipe for the father, while she set about preparing the fish for supper.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+VISIT FROM SIOUX BROUGHT TO A DISASTROUS CLOSE.
+
+Happening to hear of the bargain which we have just described, and being
+under the impression that it might be good for La Certe's spirit to
+receive a mild reproof, Mr Sutherland paid him a visit.
+
+The Scotch Elder was, for a long time, the only man fitted to perform
+the duties of a minister to his countrymen in that out-of-the-world
+colony, and, being a true man of God, he could not hear of gross
+injustice, or heartless conduct, without some slight attempt to open the
+other's eyes to his sin.
+
+It may well be understood that, in the nature of things and the state of
+the country, the solitary Elder's duties were by no means light or
+agreeable.  Indeed he would have had no heart to cope with them and with
+the difficulties they entailed, had he not remembered that the battle
+was not his, but the Lord's, and that he was only an instrument in the
+all-powerful hand of the Spirit of God.  His own weapons were the Word,
+Prayer, and the name of Jesus.
+
+But it was not given to him to see much fruit of his visit to La Certe
+at that time.  The half-breed, besides asserting himself to be a
+"Catholic," (by which he meant a Roman Catholic), and, therefore, in no
+way amenable to Sutherland's jurisdiction, received his remonstrances
+with philosophical arguments tending to prove that men were meant to
+make the best of circumstances as they found them, without any regard to
+principles--which, after all, were not very seriously held or practised
+by any one, he thought--especially in Red River.
+
+As for Slowfoot, she listened with evident interest and curiosity to the
+strange teaching and exhortations of the Elder, but when appealed to for
+some sort of opinion on the various points touched, she replied with an
+imbecile "Hee! hee!" which was not encouraging.
+
+However, the good man had sown the seed faithfully and kindly.  The
+watering thereof and the sprouting were, he knew, in the hands of the
+Master.
+
+Rising to take leave, the Elder put his hand in his pocket and pulled
+out a large clasp-knife.
+
+"Why, that's my knife that I lost!" exclaimed La Certe in surprise;
+"where did you find it?"
+
+"I found it on my table at home, where you left it that time you came to
+ask for some tobacco.  Now, observe, if I did not seriously hold and
+practise the principle of honesty, I would have made the best of
+circumstances as I found them, and would have put the knife in my pocket
+instead of returning it to you."
+
+La Certe laughed, and Slowfoot said, "Hee! hee!" while the juvenile La
+Certe availed itself of the opportunity to draw the pipe gently from its
+father's hand and have a whiff.
+
+"I have a message to you from the Governor," continued the Elder, taking
+a piece of paper out of his pocket.
+
+"For me!" exclaimed La Certe, in surprise.
+
+"Yes.  He heard that you are hard up just now, and that you are going up
+the river a considerable distance to hunt--is not that so?"
+
+"Yes, that is true.  We start off to-morrow."
+
+"Well, then, he gave me this order for some supplies of powder and shot,
+twine and hooks, with some cloth, beads, and such like for Slowfoot."
+
+"That is very good of the Governor--very considerate," said La Certe
+with a pleased look.
+
+"Very good," said Sutherland.  "Now, La Certe, suppose it true that men
+are meant to make the best of circumstances as they find them, and that
+I was a man without any regard to principle, I might have drawn these
+supplies from the store for you, and used them myself, and you would not
+have been a bit the wiser."
+
+Again the half-breed laughed, and admitted the truth of the proposition,
+while Slowfoot expressed her belief, (whatever it was), in a more than
+usually emphatic "Hee! hee!"
+
+Returning home from his apparently useless errand, Sutherland met Fred
+Jenkins with a gun on his shoulder.  The seaman was accompanied by
+Archie Sinclair.
+
+"Well, Jenkins," he said, heartily, "you must be like a fish out o'
+water in these regions.  Don't you feel a longing, sometimes, for the
+roar of the gale and the smell o' the salt sea?"
+
+"Can't say as I does, Mr Sutherland.  I've bin used to accommodate
+myself to circumstances, dee see, ever since I was a small shaver; so
+nothin' comes exactly amiss to me--"
+
+"O Fred! how can you tell thumpers like that?" interrupted the forward
+Archie.  "Isn't Elise Morel a miss to you? and Elspie, and Jessie
+Davidson?"
+
+"Clap a stopper on your mug, you young scape grace!" retorted the
+seaman, who had some doubt as to whether the boy's putting Elise Morel's
+name first was intentional or an accident.  "As I was a-going to say,
+sir, I was always fond o' changes, an' the rollin' plains come to me as
+pleasant, though not quite so familiar, as the rollin' sea."
+
+"That's a satisfactory state o' mind, anyhow," returned the Elder.  "But
+where away now?--to cater for the pot, I dare say."
+
+"Well, no, not exactly--though I've no objection to do that too in the
+by-goin'.  But we've heard a report that a band o' Sioux are goin' to
+visit the Settlement, and as there's a lot o' their enemies, the
+Saulteaux, knocking about, I've bin sent to the fort by old McKay to see
+if they've heard about the Sioux comin', an' if there's likely to be a
+scrimmage, so as we may clear for action, d'ee see?"
+
+"I see; and I hope there will be no need to clear for action.  I'm glad
+to see Archie with you too," said Sutherland, "but surprised; for I
+don't remember when I saw him without Little Bill on his back or at his
+side."
+
+"O, as to that, Little Bill has forsaken me," said Archie, "or I have
+forsaken him--I'm not sure which--since Dan Davidson's accident, for he
+does little else but sit at Dan's bedside, readin' to him or talking
+with him."
+
+"The dear little fellow could not be better employed," remarked the
+Elder.
+
+"The dear little fellow could be _much_ better employed," retorted the
+boy, with unexpected decision.  "He could be rambling about the plains
+or in the bush with me, getting strength to his muscles and fresh air to
+his lungs, an' health to his body--to say nothing of his soul."
+
+"Why, you are becoming jealous, lad," said Sutherland, with a laugh.
+
+"No, I'm not _becoming_ jealous; I'm jealous already," returned the boy,
+with an air that was half jocular, half serious.  "However, I'll
+exercise patience a little longer, but I'm determined not to let Little
+Bill be sacrificed for the sake of sick-nursing."
+
+With this announcement of his unalterable resolve to stand to his guns,
+and a "Brayvo, youngster!" from Jenkins, they parted and went on their
+several ways.
+
+It was found, when Fort Garry was reached, that the rumour of a visit
+from the Sioux Indians was correct, and that some preparation was being
+made for their reception, as well as precautions against any mischief
+that might be contemplated, though there was not much to be apprehended
+on that score, for the Sioux were believed to be among the bravest as
+well as the most powerful of the nations east of the Rocky Mountains,
+and less addicted to treachery or cruelty than most other tribes.
+
+Two days later the Sioux made their appearance.  They formed only a
+small band of warriors, but were a wild-looking though fine set of men;
+erect, muscular, tall fellows, with the free bearing of practised
+warriors, and in all the paint, charcoal, feathers, and leather-costume,
+bear-claw collars, etcetera, peculiar to the western wilderness.
+
+Their object, they said, was to smoke the pipe of peace with their
+enemies the Saulteaux, and to see with their own eyes the wonderful
+things that by report the Palefaces were doing in Red River.
+
+"The Sioux have heard," said their principal chief, at a palaver with
+the Governor, "that the Palefaces are building wooden Wigwams in number
+like the stones on the shores of Lake Winnipeg; that they are growing
+much grain; that they have set up many strange things which they compel
+the wind to work for them, and so grind their grain; that they have
+great heaps of powder and ball, and big wigwams that are bursting with
+things that the Sioux love to exchange for the meat and skins of the
+buffalo and other beasts great and small.  We have come to see all this
+with our own eyes, for most of us are young men who have only heard of
+such things from our fathers.  Waugh!"
+
+Of course everything was said to encourage this laudable desire for
+knowledge.  The visitors were shown over the fort.  Food was given to
+them, and tobacco; then the pipe of peace was smoked with a band of
+Saulteaux, which chanced to be on a friendly visit to the settlement at
+the time, after which, as was customary on such occasions, both parties
+mixed together and strolled about to see the settlers.
+
+One party of them found their way to Prairie Cottage.  At some of the
+houses nearer the fort they had learned the method of lifting the latch
+of a door so as to obtain entrance.  Finding no one outside at the
+cottage, they entered the central hall with the soft, quiet tread of the
+panther.  As no one chanced to be there, they continued their
+explorations with childlike simplicity, and thus most unexpectedly found
+themselves in the bedroom of Dan Davidson, where Little Bill had just
+read himself and his brother-invalid into a sound sleep.  Both wakened
+up at once, and the boy sat bolt upright in blazing astonishment, but
+Dan, who had heard of their arrival in the Settlement, received them
+with a few words of welcome.
+
+Fortunately for all parties, Okematan presented himself just then,
+having, while at work in the garden, seen the party of Sioux arrive.  He
+did his best to act the host, explaining to the visitors the cause of
+Dan's weakness, and, by Dan's directions, offering them tobacco and
+pipes.
+
+While they were thus engaged, old McKay entered.
+
+"I saw you comin', lads," he said, heartily.  "What cheer? what cheer?"
+he added, shaking hands with them all round.
+
+The Sioux were obviously much pleased with their reception, especially
+when Mrs Davidson, Jessie, and Elspie, who had been out walking,
+returned and joined the party.
+
+After showing the Indians everything in the house, old McKay--who
+constituted himself their guide,--took them out to see the live stock
+and the farm.  He led them first into the garden.
+
+It chanced at this time that there was a "snake in the grass" not far
+off.  This was no other than the bad Indian Kateegoose.
+
+Why some people are what we call naturally bad, like Kateegoose, while
+others are what we call naturally good, like Okematan, is a mystery the
+investigation of which we propose postponing to a more convenient
+season.  Of course no sane person will maintain that this mystery frees
+fallen man from responsibility.  If it did, we could no longer hang for
+murder.  It would be the bounden duty of every judge, in that case, to
+acquit every murderer with "Poor fellow, it was his fate; he could not
+help it!" and send him away with a pat on the shoulder, and an order for
+coffee and buns, perhaps, in his pocket.  As none but sane persons,
+however, will read my book, it is not necessary to enlarge further on
+this head.
+
+Certain it is that Kateegoose was "bad"--obdurately bad--had been so
+from his very cradle, if he ever had one, which is doubtful, and bade
+fair to continue so to his grave.  Sutherland had button-holed him more
+than once, but apparently in vain.  It is only fair to the savage to say
+that he listened patiently to the Elder's remonstrances, and attentively
+to his exhortations, and assumed an aspect of mild contrition that might
+or might not have been sincere--as far as appearance went.
+
+Now, it unfortunately happened that among the Sioux braves there was a
+man who had done Kateegoose a deadly injury of some sort, which nothing
+short of blood could wipe out.  Kateegoose, in familiar parlance,
+spotted him at once, and dogged his steps through the Settlement,
+watching his opportunity for revenge.  In savage life this dogging
+process would not have been possible, but in a comparatively crowded
+settlement, and in the midst of all the surprising novelties that
+surrounded the Palefaces, it was all too easy; for Kateegoose took care
+to keep as much as possible in the background, and well under cover of
+houses, cottages, carts, stacks, and wigwams; besides which he had
+painted his face in such a manner, and so modified his costume, that his
+own acquaintances among the settlers--he had no friends--failed to
+recognise him.  They, in their comparative ignorance of savage life, set
+him down as one of the visitors, while the visitors, if they noticed him
+at all, esteemed him one of the cross-breeds of the Settlement.
+
+The only man who saw through the disguise of Kateegoose was Okematan,
+who could not understand why he had adopted it, and who resolved to keep
+a sharp eye on him.
+
+The enemy of Kateegoose was one of the younger Sioux chiefs.  He led the
+party which visited Prairie Cottage.
+
+The garden of the Cottage, at its lower end towards the river,
+approached close to the confines of a thick coppice.  It formed the
+extremity of a belt of woodland which at that time bordered the river.
+There a small summer-house had been erected by Dan and Peter Davidson
+for the benefit of their mother and their sister Jessie.
+
+Kateegoose, while dogging his foe, recognised this as a spot very
+suitable for his fell purpose, as the contiguous wood afforded a ready
+means of escape after the deed should be done.
+
+While old McKay was conducting the Sioux slowly through the garden,
+Kateegoose glided swiftly through the thicket to the spot where the
+summer-house stood, and took up a position behind it, so that the party
+in making the round of the garden would necessarily pass close to him.
+
+From the window of Dan's room, Little Bill observed part of these
+mysterious movements and suspected mischief.  Without uttering a word he
+left the room, opened the front door, and gave a low whistle, which had
+been set up as a private signal between him and Okematan.  In a few
+seconds the Cree chief was by his side.
+
+"Oke, there's mischief intended.  You'll have to be quick," he said,
+quickly explaining what he had seen.
+
+"Rejoin the party at once," he added, "and look out--sharp."
+
+The chief nodded and walked away.  So swift, yet so quiet, had been his
+movements that none of the whites of the party had observed his
+departure from them.  The Sioux, however, had noticed it, and their
+suspicions were aroused, especially when they saw him rejoin the party,
+and observed that he walked rather closer to them than before.  But they
+were proud warriors and refused by word, look, or movement, to indicate
+their suspicions.  They carried bows in their hands, arrows in their
+quivers, tomahawks and scalping-knives in their belts, but they scorned
+to make any visible demonstration of being on guard in the midst of
+Paleface friends, though they gave intense and undivided attention to
+the movements of Okematan.
+
+This concentration of attention on the wrong man was, of course, rather
+favourable to the designs of Kateegoose, so that, when the party passed
+the summer-house, he was enabled to spring upon his enemy, unobserved
+for the first moment, with knife upraised.  But the stab from which the
+Sioux chief could not have escaped was rendered harmless by the prompt
+action of Okematan, who threw up his left arm, turned the blow aside,
+and received a slight wound in doing so.
+
+There was no time to repeat the blow.  With a yell of mingled defiance
+and disappointment the would-be assassin leaped the garden fence,
+bounded into the thicket, and disappeared.  A flight of Sioux arrows
+entered the bush almost the moment after.  The young chief and his
+friends also leaped the fence, and followed in pursuit.
+
+The Sioux were swift and agile undoubtedly, but so was Kateegoose, and
+he had the advantage of knowing the ground, while the trail--by which,
+in ordinary circumstances, the Red-man can track his enemy through the
+forest--was not available there in consequence of its being so mingled
+up with the crossing and re-crossing of the innumerable tracks of
+settlers.  The result was that Kateegoose made his escape.
+
+The Colonists were very indignant at the perpetration of this cowardly
+act, for it compromised their character for hospitality; and, if they
+could have laid hands on the savage at the time, it is not impossible
+that Lynch-law might have been applied to him.  The Governor also was
+greatly annoyed, and in the afternoon of the following day made the
+visitors a number of presents, besides providing for them a feast; but
+all his good intentions were spoiled by Kateegoose, who had the audacity
+to come forward and deliberately shoot his foe while the Sioux were at
+meat.  The ball passed quite through the Sioux chief's body, and wounded
+the man who was next to him.  After this dastardly act the villain fled,
+and again got safe away.
+
+The enraged Sioux, seizing their weapons, would have wreaked their
+vengeance on the Saulteaux, if they could have discovered any; but these
+wily savages had cleared away at the first note of alarm, and not one
+was to be found.  To have attacked the whites with so small a party
+would have been useless as well as unjust.  They therefore left the
+colony in fierce anger.
+
+It chanced that La Certe had pitched his tent the day before on a stream
+not far-distant from the colony.  The Sioux had to pass that way, and,
+espying the wigwam, turned aside to wreak their vengeance on whomsoever
+it might contain.  Fortunately the owner of the mansion and his wife had
+gone out fishing in a canoe, and taken the child with them.  All that
+the Sioux could do, therefore, was to appropriate the poor man's goods
+and chattels; but as the half-breed had taken his gun, ammunition, and
+fishing-tackle with him, there was not much left to appropriate.  Having
+despoiled the mansion, they set fire to it and went their way.
+
+Returning in the evening, La Certe found his house a heap of ashes, and
+himself reduced to a state of destitution.  This being his normal state,
+however, he was not profoundly affected.  Neither was his wife; still
+less was his child.
+
+He said no word, but carried the contents of the canoe on shore.  His
+wife, equally reticent, helped him.  His child, lighting its father's
+pipe, sat down to smoke and look on.
+
+They turned the canoe bottom up to serve as a partial shelter; they
+kindled a huge fire before it; they set up three large fat ducks to
+roast in front of it, and were soon busy with a simple but satisfying
+supper.  After washing this down with an unstimulating draught of pure
+water, they put the baby to bed under the bow of the canoe, filled their
+pipes, and sat down before the ruddy blaze to mingle their hopes, joys,
+prospects, and sorrows in a halo of smoke--the very personification of
+primitive contentment and felicity.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+VERY PERPLEXING INTERVIEWS WITH LITTLE BILL.
+
+Things in the colony had at this time come to what may be styled a
+complicated pass, for distress and starvation were rampant on the one
+hand, while on the other hand the weather was superb, giving prospect at
+last of a successful harvest.
+
+The spring buffalo-hunt had been but partially successful, so that a
+number of the buffalo runners had to make arrangements to support
+themselves by fishing during the autumn in lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba.
+
+In these great fresh-water seas there is an unlimited quantity of rich
+and finely flavoured whitefish, or Titameg, besides other fish.  But
+Titameg are only to be caught in large quantities during autumn, and of
+course much of the success of fishing depends on weather--one gale
+sometimes visiting the fishermen with ruin--ruin all the more complete
+that the nets which may be carried away have in many cases to be paid
+for out of the produce of the season's fishing.
+
+In addition to the buffalo-hunters, who were obliged to support
+themselves by fishing, there was a large number of idle half-breeds, of
+a much lower type than these plain hunters, who had to betake themselves
+to the same pursuit.  These were the "ne'er-do-weels" of the colony; men
+who, like La Certe, with more or less--usually less--of his good-nature,
+seemed to hold that all the industrious people in the world were created
+to help or to support them and their families.  Of course when the
+industrious people were unsuccessful, these idlers were obliged to work
+for their living, which, being unaccustomed to do anything energetic,
+they found it hard and difficult to do, and generally regarded
+themselves as the harshly used victims of a tyrannous fate.
+
+There was one thing, however, at which these idlers were very expert and
+diligent--they begged well, and with persistency.  No wonder; for their
+lives often depended on their persistent and successful begging.  The
+Company and the private storekeepers were always more or less willing to
+risk their goods by advancing them on credit.  Before the summer was
+over, most of these people had got their supplies and were off to the
+fishing grounds, regardless of the future, with large quantities of tea
+and tobacco, and happy as kings are said to be--but never are, if
+history be true!
+
+Among these, of course, was La Certe.  That typical idler had made the
+most of his misfortunes.  Everybody had heard what the Sioux had done to
+him, and everybody had pitied him.  Pity opens the heart, and that opens
+the hand; and, when the poor man entered a store with the polite manner
+of a French Canadian and the humble aspect of a ruined man, he scarcely
+required to beg.  One man lent him a tent.  Another lent him a canoe.
+From the Company's store at Fort Garry he received a fair outfit of
+nearly all that he could require.  Further down the Settlement there was
+a private store-keeper with a jovial countenance.
+
+"O it was a sad, sad sight!" he said to this man on entering the
+store--"so very sad to see my tent in ashes, and nothing left--nothing--
+absolutely!"  The jovial man was moved.  He gave La Certe what he asked
+for--even pressed things on him, and also bestowed on him a considerable
+"gratuity."
+
+Still further down the Settlement the unfortunate man found the store,
+or shop, of another friend.  This man was saturnine of countenance, but
+moderately liberal of heart.  La Certe approached him with an air so
+pitiful that the saturnine man melted like snow in the sunshine or wax
+under heat.
+
+"I have heard of your loss," he said, "and I will give you credit _this_
+time, La Certe, though you _are_ so bad at paying your debts.  But I
+won't give you much."
+
+"I do not want much," returned the afflicted man in tones of deep
+humility--"only a little--a very little."
+
+By asking much more than he required, La Certe obtained as much as he
+wanted from the saturnine man, and thus he finally started for Lake
+Winnipeg with a canoe laden, almost to sinking, with the good things of
+this life.
+
+The fineness of that summer brought forth the fruits of the earth in
+great luxuriance, and it really seemed as if at last the Scotch settlers
+were going to reap some reward for all their prolonged perseverance and
+industry.  The long rest, the good feeding, the sunshine of nature, and
+the starlight of Elspie's eyes had a powerful effect on Dan Davidson's
+health, so that, by the time autumn arrived and the prospects of a
+splendid harvest became more certain every day, he had recovered much of
+his usual strength of body and vigour of mind.
+
+Little Bill also felt the genial influences around him, and, to the
+intense joy of Archie, became visibly fatter and stronger, while his
+large blue eyes lost some of that wistfully solemn appearance with which
+they had been wont to gaze inquiringly into people's faces.
+
+One afternoon Billie, having walked to the summer house in the Prairie
+Cottage garden, along with Archie, was left alone there at his own
+request, for, unlike other boys, he was fond of occasional solitary
+meditation.
+
+"Now mind, Little Bill--you whistle if you want me," said Archie, when
+about to leave him.  "I'll hear you, for I'm only going to the
+carpenter's shed."
+
+"I will, Archie, if I want you; but I don't think I shall, for I can
+walk by myself now, quite easily, as far as the house."
+
+But Little Bill was not destined to be left to solitary meditations that
+day, for his brother had not left him more than a few minutes when a
+footstep was heard on the path outside, and next moment Fred Jenkins
+presented himself at the opening of the summer-house.  The face of the
+mariner betrayed him, for he was too honest by nature to dissemble
+effectively.
+
+"Well, Fred, how are you?  You seem a little disappointed, I think."
+
+"Not exactly disappointed, Little Bill, but sort o' ways scumbusticated,
+so to speak--perplexed, if I may say so.  Kind o' ways puzzled, d'ee
+see?"
+
+There was something very amusing in the manner of the strapping seaman
+as he sat down beside the puny little boy, with a bashful expression on
+his handsome face, as if he were about to make a humiliating confession.
+
+"What troubles you, Jenkins?" asked Billie, with the air of a man who is
+ready to give any amount of advice, or, if need be, consolation.
+
+The seaman twisted his eyebrows into a complex form, and seemed
+uncertain how to proceed.  Suddenly he made up his mind.
+
+"Was you ever in love, Little Bill?" he asked abruptly, and with a smile
+that seemed to indicate a feeling that the question was absurd.
+
+"O yes," answered the boy quite coolly.  "I've been in love with brother
+Archie ever since I can remember."
+
+Jenkins looked at his little friend with a still more complicated knot
+of puzzlement in his eyebrows, for he felt that Billie was scarcely
+fitted by years or experience to be a useful confidant.  After resting
+his hands on his knees, and his eyes on the ground, for some time, he
+again made up his mind and turned to Billie, who sat with his large eyes
+fixed earnestly on the countenance of his tall friend, wondering what
+perplexed him so much, and waiting for further communications.
+
+"Little Bill," said Jenkins, laying a large hand on his small knee, "in
+course you can't be expected to understand what I wants to talk about,
+but there's nobody else I'd like to speak to, and you're such a knowin'
+little shaver that somehow I felt a kind of--of notion that I'd like to
+ask your advice--d'ee see?"
+
+"I see--all right," returned Billie; "though I wonder at such a man as
+you wanting advice from the like of me.  But I'll do what I can for you,
+Jenkins, and perhaps I know more about the thing that troubles you than
+you think."
+
+"I'm afraid not," returned the seaman, with a humorous twinkle in his
+eye.  "You see, Billie, you never wanted to get spliced, did you?"
+
+"Spliced!  What's that?"
+
+"Well, I should have said married."
+
+"O no!  I don't think the thought of that ever did occur to me.  I'm
+sorry, Jenkins, but I really cannot give you advice on that subject."
+
+"H'm!  I'm not so sure o' that, Little Bill.  You're such a practical
+little chap that I do believe if you was put to it you'd be able to--
+see, now.  If you happened to want to marry a nice little gal, what
+would you do?"
+
+"I would ask her," said Little Bill, promptly.
+
+"Jus' so; but that is what I have not got courage to do."
+
+Jenkins laughed at the expression of blazing surprise with which the boy
+received this statement.
+
+"Have not got courage!" he repeated; and then, after a pause--"Have all
+the stories you have told me, then, been nothing but lies!"
+
+"What stories, Billie?"
+
+"Why, such as that one about the pirates in the Java seas, when ten of
+them attacked you and you were obliged to kill four, and all the rest
+ran away?"
+
+"No, Billie--that was no lie: it was quite true.  But, then, these
+blackguards were cowards at bottom, and they saw that I'd got a brace o'
+double-barrelled pistols in my belt, and was pretty well up in the
+cutlass exercise."
+
+"And that time when you led a storming party against the fort in South
+America, and was the only one left o' the party, and fought your way all
+alone in through the breach till the troops came up and carried you on
+with a rush, and--and--was all about that untrue?"
+
+"Not a bit of it, Billie, though I wouldn't have you think I was
+boastin' about it.  I only gave you the bare facts, which, like bare
+poles, is as much as a ship can stand sometimes."
+
+"An' that time you jumped overboard in Port Royal among the sharks to
+save the little girl?"
+
+"That's a fact, if ever there was one," said the seaman quickly, "for
+the dear child is alive this good day to swear to it if need be."
+
+"Yet you tell me," continued Little Bill, "that you have not the courage
+to ask a nice little girl to marry you?"
+
+"That's exactly how the matter stands, Billie."
+
+It was now Billie's turn to look perplexed.
+
+"Who is this nice little girl?" he asked abruptly, as if the answer to
+that question might help to explain the enigma.
+
+"Well--it's Elise Morel; an', mind, not a soul knows about that but you
+an' me, Little Bill."
+
+"But--but Elise is _not_ a little girl.  She's a big woman!"
+
+Jenkins laughed as he explained that seamen sometimes had a habit--
+mistaken, it might be--of calling even big women "nice little gals" when
+they chanced to be fond of them.
+
+"And are you _really_ afraid to ask Elise to marry you?" asked the boy,
+earnestly.
+
+"I suspect that's what's the matter wi' me," replied the sailor, with a
+modest look.
+
+"I always thought that nothing could frighten you," said Billie, in a
+somewhat disappointed tone, for it seemed to him as if one of his idols
+were shaking on its pedestal.  "I can't understand it, for _I_ would not
+be afraid to ask her--if I wanted her."
+
+At this Jenkins again laughed, and said that he believed him, and that
+Billie would understand these things better when he was older.
+
+"In the meantime, Little Bill," he continued, "I haven't got the heart
+of a Mother Carey's chicken.  I could stand afore a broadside without
+winkin', I believe; I think I could blow up a magazine, or fight the
+French, as easy as I could eat my breakfast a'most, but to ask a pure,
+beautiful angel like Elise to marry _me_, a common seaman--why, I hasn't
+got it in me.  Yet I'm so fond o' that little gal that I'd strike my
+colours to _her_ without firin' a single shot--"
+
+"Does Elise want to marry _you_?" asked Billie.
+
+"Oh, that's the very pint!" said the seaman with decision.  "If I could
+only make sure o' that pint, I'd maybe manage to come up to the scratch.
+Now, that's what I wants you to find out for me, Little Bill, an' I
+know you're a good little shaver, as'll do a friend a good turn when you
+can.  But you must on no account mention--"
+
+He was going to have said, "You must on no account mention that I was
+blabbing to you about this, or that I wanted to find out such a thing,"
+when the sudden appearance of Elise's lap-dog announced the fact that
+its mistress was approaching.
+
+With a flushed face the bold seaman sprang up and darted out, as if to
+attack one of those pirates of the Java seas who had made so powerful an
+impression on Little Bill's mind.  But his object was escape--not
+attack.  Lightly vaulting the garden fence, he disappeared into the same
+thicket which, on another occasion, had afforded opportune refuge to
+Kateegoose.  A few moments later Elise turned into the walk, and stood
+before the summer-house.
+
+"You here, Little Bill!" she exclaimed on entering, "I am very glad to
+find you, for I have been alone all the morning.  Everybody is away--in
+the fields, I suppose--and I don't like being alone."
+
+"Was you ever in love, Elise?" asked the boy with a solemn countenance.
+
+The girl laughed heartily, and blushed a little.
+
+"What a strange question, Billie," she said; "why do you ask?"
+
+"Well, it's not easy to explain all at once; but--but I want to know if
+you want to be married?"
+
+Elise laughed again, and, then, becoming suddenly grave, asked seriously
+why Billie put such foolish questions.
+
+"Because," said Little Bill, slowly, and with an earnest look, "Jenkins
+is _very_ anxious to know if you are fond of him, and he actually says
+that he's afraid to ask you to marry him!  Isn't that funny?  I said
+that even _I_ would not be afraid to ask you, if I wanted you--How red
+you are, Elise!  Have you been running?"
+
+"O no," replied the girl, sheltering herself under another laugh; "and
+what did he say to that?"
+
+"He said a great many things.  I will try to remember them.  Let me
+see--he said: `I haven't got the heart of a Mother Carey's
+chicken,'--(he didn't tell me who Mother Carey is, but that's no matter,
+for it was only one of her chickens he was speaking of);--`I could stand
+afore a broadside without winkin','--(I give you his very words, Elise,
+for I don't quite understand them myself);--`I could blow up a
+magazine,' he went on, `or fight the French, as easy as I could eat my
+breakfast, a'most, but to ask a pure an' beautiful angel like Elise'--
+yes, indeed, you needn't shake your head; he said these very words
+exactly--`a pure an' beautiful angel like Elise to marry _me_, a common
+seaman, why, I hasn't got it in me.  Yet I'm so fond o' that little gal
+that I'd strike my colours to her without firin' a single shot.'  Now,
+do you understand all that, Elise? for I don't understand the half of
+it."
+
+"O yes, I understand a good deal of it, though some of it is indeed
+puzzling, as you say.  But how did you come to recollect it all so well,
+Little Bill?"
+
+"Because he said he wanted me to help him, and to find out if you wanted
+to marry him, so I paid particular attention to what he said, and--"
+
+"Did he tell you to tell me all this?" asked Elise abruptly, and with
+sudden gravity.
+
+"O dear, no; but as he wanted me to find it out for him, and said that
+not a soul knew about the matter but me, I thought the simplest way
+would be to tell you all he said, and then ask you straight.  He was
+going to tell me something more, very particularly, for he was just
+saying, in a very solemn tone, `You must on no account mention--' when
+your little dog bounced in and Jenkins bounced out, leaving the rest of
+it unsaid."
+
+"Then he has just left you?" said Elise.
+
+"Just a moment or two before you came up.  I think he must have seen
+some sort of beast in the wood, and gone in chase of it, he bolted in
+such a hurry, so I don't know yet what I was not to mention."
+
+"Now, Little Bill," said Elise with great seriousness of tone and
+manner, "you must not tell Mr Jenkins one word of the conversation that
+you and I have had just now."
+
+"What! not a single word?"
+
+"Not one.  You understand?"
+
+"Yes, but, if he asks me, I must answer something, you know, and I must
+not tell lies."
+
+"Quite true, Billie.  You must not tell lies on any account whatever.
+Now, listen.  If he asks you about our conversation this morning, you
+must say that I told you you were never to open your lips about the
+subject again either to me or to him or to anybody.  Mr Jenkins is an
+honourable man, and will not ask you a single question after that."
+
+"Then I'm not to tell him whether you want to marry him?"
+
+"How can you tell him what you don't know?"
+
+"Well, but, I mean that you're not going to tell me, so that I might
+tell him?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Not a word to him and not a word to you--nor to anybody!  Not even to
+Archie!"
+
+"Yes.  That is exactly what you must promise me."
+
+"This is a very unpleasant state of things," said Little Bill, with a
+sad and puzzled countenance, "but of course I promise, for it is your
+affair, you know."
+
+It was a notable fact, which Little Bill did not fail to note--but did
+not dare to mention--that after that date there was a distinct change of
+demeanour in Elise Morel towards the handsome sailor--whether in his
+favour or otherwise it was impossible to tell.
+
+Meanwhile, events were pending which were destined to exercise a very
+powerful influence over the fortunes of the Red River Colony, and,
+indeed, over the condition of the whole of Rupert's Land.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+THE FISHERY DISASTERS.
+
+One fine day, when summer had merged into autumn, and things in Red
+River appeared to be advancing favourably, and Dan Davidson had
+recovered his strength, and Little Bill was fairly well, it occurred to
+Okematan that he would like to go to Lake Winnipeg, and see how the
+settlers who had gone to the fishery there, were getting on.
+
+You see, the Cree chief was an observant savage, and, before returning
+to his tribe, had made up his mind to see all the phases in the life of
+the new Palefaces who had thus come to take possession of the land.
+
+He was a remarkably independent fellow, and as he served the Davidsons
+for nothing except his food--which he did not count, as he could easily
+have supplied himself with victuals by means of his line, bow, and gun--
+he did not deem it necessary to ask leave of absence.  He merely went to
+the house one morning, and announced his intention of going to Lake
+Winnipeg to fish.
+
+"I will go with you," said Dan, to whom the announcement was made.
+
+"An' so will I," said Fred Jenkins, who chanced to be conversing with
+Dan at the time--"that is, if they can spare me just now."
+
+"The canoe of Okematan," said the chief, "holds no more than three.  He
+wishes to take with him Arch-ee and Leetil Bill."
+
+"Very well," returned Dan, "there's no objection to that, for there is
+not much doing on the farm at this moment, and Archie has worked hard
+all the summer, so he deserves a holiday.  We will just make up the same
+party that started last time, only that Fergus and I will take a
+somewhat bigger canoe so as to accommodate you, Jenkins."
+
+"Thankee.  Though I am big--unfort'nitly--I can stow myself away in
+small compass, an' I've larned how, when there ain't overmuch grub, to
+git along fairly well on short allowance.  When d'ee trip your anchor?--
+I mean, when do ye start?"
+
+"When to-morrow's sun touches the tree-tops in the east," said the
+Indian chief.
+
+"All right, Okematan, I'm your man--after layin' in a breakfast-cargo."
+
+According to this arrangement the two canoes pushed off at daybreak the
+following morning, from the wharf at the foot of the garden of Prairie
+Cottage, and began the descent of the Red River, which, after flowing
+between twenty and thirty miles northward, enters the mighty bosom of
+Lake Winnipeg.  Okematan and Archie occupied their old places in the
+stern and bow of the chief's canoe, with Little Bill in the middle--this
+time using a paddle, for his strength had greatly increased.  The other
+canoe was steered by Dan; Fergus acted bowman, and Jenkins sat between
+them, also wielding a paddle.
+
+That night they encamped on the banks of the river, for their progress
+had been slow, owing to sundry visits which had to be paid to settlers
+on the way down.
+
+"Well, now," observed the sailor, as he stood by the camp-fire smoking
+his pipe contemplatively, "I find that as circumstances change about in
+this world men's minds are apt to go 'bout-ship along wi' them."
+
+"That sounds a terribly profound speech, Fred," said Archie, who was
+busy at his very usual occupation of whittling an arrow for his brother.
+"Did your father teach it you, or did you crib it from a copy-book?"
+
+"No, I raither think," retorted the seaman quietly, "that I got it from
+your grandmother by the father's side."
+
+"What may be the circumstance that has caused your mind to go about-ship
+just now?" asked Dan, stirring the fire under the robbiboo-kettle.
+
+"Well, it's in regard to them there canoe-paddles.  Although they do
+seem small, compared with oars, I find they're quite big enough to do
+the work, and although I've bin trained from a youngster to handle the
+oar, an' go like a crab with my back the way I'm pullin', it do seem
+more sensible-like to sit wi' one's face to the front and drive ahead;--
+anyhow, it's more comfortable and satisfactory."
+
+"Look out, Jenkins!" exclaimed Little Bill, "else your duck won't be
+satisfactory--it's burnin' now."
+
+"O, never mind," remarked Fergus, lighting his pipe.  "It iss havin' it
+well done he would be fond of."
+
+"Ay, but not over-done," cried the seaman, snatching the duck in
+question from before the blaze and turning its other side--for they used
+no spits in the Nor'-West in those days, but cooked one side at a time--
+nay, even carved off and ate part of the cooked side while the other
+side was roasting.
+
+Next day they came out on the ocean-like expanse of the great lake, and
+steered along its western shores until they reached the fishery, where
+numbers of rudely-constructed wigwams and a few tents sheltered the
+fishing community.
+
+They had just returned from a successful visit to the nets when the
+visitors arrived, and all was animation and rejoicing at the successful
+take.  Jacques Bourassin was the first man they met on landing, and he
+was enthusiastic about the prospects before them.  Slowfoot was the
+first woman, and she was quite satisfied--in that amiable state of
+mental and physical felicity in which it is so easy to believe that "all
+is for the best."  Her husband soon after appeared.  He, of course, was
+also greatly pleased.  He had joined the fishers because he believed
+that plenty of food, tea, and tobacco would be going amongst them.  He
+was not mistaken.
+
+"You will come to my tent," he said, in the wealth of his hospitality;
+"we have plenty of good fish, a very little meat, some tobacco, and
+oceans of tea!"
+
+The six visitors accepted the invitation, and were soon made acquainted
+with all the gossip of the community.
+
+"Does it always smoke?" whispered Little Bill to his brother.
+
+The "it" referred to was Baby La Certe, which had, as usual, possessed
+itself of its father's pipe when the mother was not watching.
+
+"I'm not sure, Little Bill, but I think that it does its best."
+
+It was observed, especially by Fred Jenkins, that the tea-drinking which
+went on at this place was something marvellous.
+
+"There's that squaw sittin' there," he said, "she's bin an' swigged
+three pannikins o' tea while I've bin looking at her--an' it's as black
+as ink.  What's that brown stuff they put into it, does any one know?"
+
+"That?  Why, it is maple sugar," answered Archie, "an' capital stuff it
+is to eat too."
+
+"Ah, I know that, for I've ate it in lump, but it can't be so good in
+tea, I fancy, as or'nary brown or white sugar; but it's better than fat,
+anyhow."
+
+"Fat!" exclaimed Little Bill, "surely you never heard of any one taking
+fat in tea, did you?"
+
+"Ay, that I did.  Men that move about the world see strange things.  Far
+stranger things than people invent out o' their own brains.  Why, there
+was one tribe that I saw in the East who putt fat in the tea, an'
+another putt salt, and after they'd swallowed this queer kind of
+tea-soup, they divided the leaves among themselves an' chawed 'em up
+like baccy."
+
+The evident delight with which these half-breeds and more than
+half-Indians swallowed cup after cup of the blackest and bitterest tea,
+proved beyond question their appreciation of the article, and afforded
+presumptive evidence at least that tea is not in their case as poisonous
+as we are taught to believe.
+
+But it was not, as Jenkins remarked, all fair weather, fun, and tea at
+the fishery.  After the six visitors had been there for a week, shooting
+and assisting in the canoes, and at the nets, there came a night when
+the forces of Nature declared war against the half-breeds and those
+settlers who had cast in their lot with them at that time.
+
+Jenkins, Okematan, and Archie had been out with their guns that day--the
+last having been promoted to the use of the dangerous weapon--and in
+their wanderings had about nightfall come upon a family of half-breeds
+named Dobelle, a good-natured set, who lived, like La Certe, on the
+_laissez faire_ principle; who dwelt in a little log-hut of their own
+construction within the margin of the forest, not far from the shore of
+the great lake.
+
+This family, though claiming to be Christian and civilised, was little
+better than vagrant and savage.  They were to some extent as independent
+as the brute creation around them--though of course they betrayed the
+inherent weakness of mankind in being unable to exist happily without
+tea, sugar, and tobacco.  For the rest, their wants were few and easily
+satisfied.  Snares provided willow-grouse and rabbits; traps gave them
+furs and the means of purchasing guns and powder.  Their log-hut was
+only an occasional residence.  Wherever night overtook them they were at
+home.  They camped on the open plains, in the woods, among the rocks,
+and on the margins of rivers and lakes.  Healthy, happy, and heedless,
+the Dobelle family cared for nothing apparently, but the comfort of the
+passing hour; regarded the past as a convenient magazine from which to
+draw subjects for gossip and amusement, and left the future to look
+after itself.
+
+There were in the hut, when the three visitors entered, old Dobelle, his
+wife, a daughter of eighteen, another of four, and two sons of twenty
+and twenty-two respectively.
+
+"It looks like dirty weather," said Jenkins on entering; "will you let
+us come to an anchor here for a bit?"
+
+"Give us shelter?" explained Archie, who doubted old Dobelle's ability
+to understand nautical language.
+
+"You are welcome," said the half-breed, making way politely, and
+pointing to places on the floor where the visitors were expected to
+squat.  For there was no furniture in that mansion; the fire was kindled
+in the middle of its one room; the family sat around it on deer and
+buffalo skins, and the smoke alike of pipe and fire found egress at the
+crevices in the roof.
+
+With kind hospitality Madame Dobelle poured some black tea into cups of
+birch-bark, and, on plates of the same material, spread before them the
+remains of a feast of roasted fish.
+
+While eating this, various questions were put as to the success of the
+fishery.
+
+"Yes--we have been very successful," said old Dobelle.  "No bad weather
+to speak of, and plenty of fish.  Our good fortune is great."
+
+"But it won't last long," said the eldest son, who seemed to be the only
+growler in the family.
+
+"_N'importe_--we will enjoy it while it lasts," said the younger son.
+
+"Yes, truly we will," remarked Madame Dobelle.  Whereupon the daughter
+of eighteen smiled, and the daughter of four giggled.
+
+"What does Okematan think?" asked the host.
+
+Thus appealed to, the chief gave it as his opinion that something was
+going to happen, for the sky in the nor'-west looked uncommonly black.
+Having given utterance to this cautious remark he relapsed into silence.
+
+As if to justify his opinion, a tremendous clap of thunder seemed to
+rend the heavens at that moment, and, a few minutes later, a heavy
+shower of rain fell.
+
+"Well that we got inside before that came on," said Archie.  "I hope it
+won't come on to blow, else we shall be storm-stayed here."
+
+The weather seemed to be in a lively mood that night, for as the thunder
+had promptly answered to Okematan's observation, so now the wind replied
+to Archie's remark, by rushing up the natural avenue which extended from
+the hut to the lake and almost bursting in the door.
+
+"See to the ropes, boys," said old Dobelle, glancing uneasily at the
+roof.
+
+The young men arose, went out, regardless of weather, and secured with
+additional care a couple of stout ropes with which the tendency of the
+roof to fly away was restrained.
+
+"Did it ever come off?" asked Archie with some curiosity, as the young
+men returned and resumed their pipes.
+
+"Yes--twice, and both times it was night," answered Madame Dobelle, "and
+we were flooded out and had to camp under the trees."
+
+"Which was not comfortable," added the old man.  Another clap of thunder
+seemed to corroborate what he said, and a blast of wind followed, which
+caused the whole fabric of the hut to shudder.  Jenkins looked
+inquiringly at the roof.
+
+"No fear of it," said old Dobelle; "the ropes are strong."
+
+Thus assured, the visitors continued their meal with equanimity,
+regardless of the storm that soon began to rage with great fury,
+insomuch that the door required a prop to keep it up and rain began to
+trickle in through crevices in the roof and drop here and there upon the
+party.  When one such drop chanced to fall on old Dobelle's nose, his
+younger son arose, and, fastening a piece of birch-bark to the rafters,
+caught the drop and trained it with its followers to flow towards an
+unoccupied place in one corner, which, being accidentally lower than the
+rest of the floor, formed a convenient receptacle for superfluous water.
+
+At the same time Madame Dobelle made a shakedown of pine-branches in
+another corner for her visitors, for it was obvious that they would have
+to spend the night there, even although their own tent was not
+far-distant.
+
+By that time the storm was raging with unwonted violence.  Nevertheless
+the Dobelle family smoked on in placid contentment.  When the time for
+repose arrived, Madame Dobelle and her eldest girl retired to a box-bed
+in a corner of the hut which was screened off--not very effectually--by
+a curtain of birch-bark.  The two brothers lay down in another corner.
+The three visitors disposed themselves in the third, and, as the fourth
+was monopolised by the rain-rivulet, old Dobelle lay down on one side of
+the fire in the centre of the room, while the four-year-old girl reposed
+on the other.
+
+During the night the accumulation of tobacco-smoke with fire-smoke
+produced a suffocating effect, but no one was capable of suffocation
+apparently, for they all smoked on--except Archie, who, as we have said,
+had not acquired the habit.  Even the four-year-old girl, like Baby La
+Certe, had a pull now and then at its father's pipe, and, from sundry
+white emanations from the crevices in the bark curtains, it was evident
+that the ladies behind these were enjoying themselves in the same way
+during the intervals of repose.
+
+Next morning was fine, and the three sportsmen returned to the fishery
+to find that the storm had made an almost clean sweep of the nets.  It
+had carried most of them away; torn others to pieces, and almost ruined
+the whole colony of fishermen; the ruin being all the more complete that
+most of the nets had been received on credit, and were to be paid for
+chiefly by the results of the autumn fishery.
+
+La Certe was one of the chief sufferers; nevertheless, to judge from his
+looks, La Certe did not suffer much!  He had brought a considerable
+amount of provision with him, as we have said, and, finding that one of
+his nets had been washed ashore, he proceeded very leisurely to mend it,
+while he smoked and assisted Slowfoot to consume pemmican and tea.
+
+About this time a mysterious message was sent to Dan Davidson from Red
+River by an Indian, requiring his immediate return.  The sender of the
+message was Elspie McKay; the summons was therefore obeyed at once.
+
+As nothing further could be done at the fishery that autumn, the other
+members of the expedition, and most of the fishers, returned with Dan to
+the colony.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+THE TRIAL FOR MURDER.
+
+"Dan," said Elspie, as, seated in the summer-house after the arrival of
+the sportsmen, these two held a meeting, "I have called you back to tell
+you of a very terrible thing which has been said of my dear brother
+Duncan, and which you must contradict at once, and then find out how it
+was that the false report arose, and have the matter cleared up."
+
+"Dear Elspie," returned Dan, "I think I know what you are going to tell
+me."
+
+"Have you heard the report, then?" said Elspie, turning pale, "and--and
+do you believe it?"
+
+"I have suspected--I have--but let me hear first what the report is, and
+who it came from."
+
+"I got it from Annette Pierre, and I am sure she would not have told it
+me if she did not think it true; but, then, poor Annette is not very
+intelligent, and she may be--must be--mistaken.  She says that it was
+Duncan who killed poor Henri Perrin, and that some of the half-breeds
+are determined to avenge the death of their comrade.  Now, it cannot be
+true; and I want you at once to go and ferret out the truth, so as to
+prove the report false."
+
+"Have you spoken to Duncan on the subject?" asked Dan.
+
+"No, I cannot bear to let him imagine even for a moment that I could
+believe him guilty of murder--that I even suspected him of it.  But you
+say you have heard something, Dan--that you suspect something.  What is
+it?"
+
+"It is difficult to say, Elspie dear.  I, too, have heard the rumour
+that has come to your ears, and I have seen--but it is useless talking
+of our mere conjectures.  I will go at once and ferret out all about it
+if possible.  My first business will be to see Annette and get from her
+all that she knows.  Where is Duncan?"
+
+"In the wheat-field.  They have begun to shear to-day, and, as the crop
+is heavy, they will be glad of your help."
+
+Dan went to the field, after visiting Annette Pierre, and lent good
+assistance to the shearers, but, like Elspie, he found that he had not
+courage to say anything to Duncan that would indicate his suspicion.  He
+longed to put the question straight to him, but could not prevail on
+himself to do so.
+
+Next morning, however, he and Elspie were both saved the necessity of
+doing such violence to their feelings, by the arrival of two men from
+Fort Garry.  They were members of a sort of police force that the
+Company had enrolled, and had come to arrest Duncan McKay junior, on the
+charge of murder!
+
+There was not much of law in the colony at that time, but it was felt
+that something had to be done in the way of governing a settlement which
+was rapidly increasing, and in which Lynch and mob law would certainly
+be applied if regularly constituted authority did not step in.  As the
+murder of Perrin had created great indignation among the half-breeds,
+and the feeling about it was increasing, the Company resolved to clear
+the matter up by having the supposed murderer tried.  Duncan was
+accordingly lodged in one of the bastions of Fort Garry, where, when
+visited by the Governor, he firmly denied his guilt.
+
+The arrest of his younger son on such a charge fell very heavily on poor
+Duncan McKay senior--more heavily than those who knew him would have
+expected.  It touched not only his feelings but his pride; for was he
+not a lineal descendant of that Fergus McKay who had been a chief in one
+of the Western Isles of Scotland--he could not tell which, but no
+matter--at that celebrated period of Scottish history when the great
+Norse king, Harold Fairhair, had made a descent on the Scottish coast
+and received one of the few thorough thrashings that darkened his
+otherwise successful career?
+
+"O!  Tuncan, Tuncan, my boy!" cried the old man, shoving his hands
+deeper into his breeches pockets, and apostrophising his imprisoned son
+as he walked up and down in the privacy of his own bedroom.  "O that wan
+o' the name should come to such disgrace!  An' it's denyin' it you will
+be, whether you are guilty or innocent.  O Tuncan, Tuncan! you wass ever
+notorious for tellin' lies--an' a troublesome boy all round--whatever."
+
+But when the old man went to Fort Garry and visited his son, he stifled
+his pathetic feelings, and appeared before him with all the offended
+dignity of an injured member of the great clan McKay.
+
+"Are you guilty, Tuncan?" he asked, sternly.
+
+"No, I'm innocent," answered the youthful Highlander, with a brow quite
+as stern and a manner as dignified as the old one.
+
+"You will hev to prove that--whatever."
+
+"No--they will hev to prove me guilty," retorted the son.
+
+"I wish I could believe ye, Tuncan."
+
+"It iss not of much consequence whether ye believe me or not, father.
+You are not to be my chudge--whatever."
+
+"That is goot luck for you, Tuncan, for if I wass your chudge I would be
+bound to condemn you--you wass always so fond o' tellin' lies."
+
+"It iss true what you say, father.  It iss a chip o' the old block that
+I am--more's the peety."  At this point the door of the prison opened,
+and Elspie was ushered in.
+
+"You here, father!" she exclaimed in evident surprise.  "I had hoped to
+see Duncan alone."
+
+"It iss alone with him you'll soon be," replied the Highlander, putting
+on his hat.  "Goot tay, Tuncan, my boy, an' see that you'll be tellin'
+the truth, if ye can, when ye come to be tried."
+
+To this the youth made no reply.
+
+"O Duncan!" said the girl, when her father had retired, "how came they
+to invent such lies about you?"
+
+The tender way in which this was said, and the gentle touch on his arm,
+almost overcame the stubborn man, but he steeled himself against such
+influences.
+
+"What can I say, Elspie?" he replied.  "How can I tell what iss the
+reason that people tell lies?"
+
+"But it _is_ lies, isn't it, Duncan?" asked the poor girl, almost
+entreatingly.
+
+"You say that it iss lies--whatever, an' I will not be contradictin'
+you.  But when the trial comes on you will see that it cannot be proved
+against me, Elspie--so keep your mind easy."
+
+With this rather unsatisfactory assurance, Elspie was fain to rest
+content, and she returned home a little, though not much, easier in her
+mind.
+
+To make the trial quite fair and regular, a jury of twelve men, chosen
+by lot from a large number, was empanelled, and as many witnesses as
+possible were examined.  These last were not numerous, and it is
+needless to say that Annette Pierre and Marie Blanc were the chief.  But
+despite their evidence and the strong feeling that existed against the
+prisoner, it was found impossible to convict him, so that in the end he
+was acquitted and set free.  But there were men in the colony who
+registered a vow that Cloudbrow should not escape.  They believed him to
+be guilty, in spite of the trial, and made up their minds patiently to
+bide their time.
+
+It now seemed as if at last a measure of prosperity were about to dawn
+upon the farmers in that distant land, and, as usual on such occasions
+of approaching prosperity, Dan Davidson and Duncan McKay senior began to
+talk of the wedding which had been so long delayed.
+
+"I wass thinkin', Tan," remarked the old man one morning, while walking
+in the verandah with his after-breakfast pipe, "that I will be getting
+in the crops pretty soon this year, an' they're heavy crops too, so that
+we may look forward to a comfortable winter--whatever."
+
+"True, and as our crops are also very good, thank God, I begin now to
+hope that Elspie may see her way to--"
+
+"See her way!" exclaimed McKay with some asperity: "she will hev to see
+her way when I tell her to open her eyes an' look!"
+
+"Nay, but there are two to this bargain," said Dan, good-humouredly.  "I
+would not consent to have her on such terms.  She must fix and arrange
+everything without constraint from any one--not even from you, Duncan
+McKay."
+
+"Oh! fery goot!" retorted the old man with a touch of sarcasm; "you know
+fery well what Elspie will be sayin' to that, or you would not be so
+ready to let it rest with her.  Yes, yes, she is safe to see her way to
+go the way that you want her to go."
+
+It was a strange coincidence that at the very time these two were
+conversing on this subject in the verandah of Ben Nevis Hall, Mrs
+Davidson and Elspie were discussing the very same subject in an upper
+room of Prairie Cottage.  We refrain from giving the details, however,
+as it would be unpardonable to reveal such matters.  We will merely
+state that the conclusions to which the ladies came were very similar to
+those arrived at by the gentlemen.
+
+But delay was still destined to be an element in the cup of this
+unfortunate couple.
+
+When the harvest had been gathered in that year, there came what old
+McKay called a visitation which, with its consequences, recalls
+irresistibly the words of our great Scottish poet--"the best-laid
+schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley."  This visitation was a plague
+of mice.  The whole colony was infested with them.  Like the
+grasshoppers, the mice devoured everything.  The grain after being
+stacked was almost totally destroyed by them.  The straw, the very
+stubble itself, was cut to atoms.  The fields, the woods, the plains,
+seemed literally alive with this new visitor, and the result would have
+been that most of the settlers would again have been driven to spend
+another dreary winter in trapping and hunting with the Indians at
+Pembina, if it had not been for the fortunate circumstance that the
+buffalo runners had been unusually successful that year.  They returned
+from the plains rejoicing,--their carts heavily laden with buffalo-robes
+and innumerable bags of pemmican.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+RETRIBUTION.
+
+Owing to the success of the buffalo runners, the winter passed away in
+comparative comfort.  But, as we have said, some of the settlers who had
+been ruined by the failure of the fisheries and the depredations of the
+mice, and who did not share much in the profits of the autumn hunt, were
+obliged once again to seek their old port of refuge at Pembina.
+
+Among these was the Swiss family Morel.  Andre went, because he did not
+wish to remain comparatively idle in the colony during the long months
+of winter.  Elise went for the purpose of keeping house--perhaps we
+should say keeping hut--for Andre.  Fred Jenkins went because he wanted
+to learn more about Indian ways and customs, as well as to perfect
+himself in the art of hunting the buffalo--that was all!
+
+There were some who did not believe what the bold seaman said.  Elise
+Morel was one of these--perhaps the most unbelieving amongst them.
+
+Indeed, she laughed quite hilariously when his motive was reported to
+her by Billie Sinclair the day before they started.
+
+"Why do you laugh so?" inquired Little Bill, who was always more or less
+in a state of surprise when he got upon this subject with Elise.
+
+"It is not easy to say, Billie," answered the girl, with another
+pleasant little laugh, "but it is so funny that a sailor should take
+such a fancy to come out here, so far away from his native element, and
+find so much interest in snow-shoe walking and Indian customs."
+
+"Yes, isn't it?" responded the boy, "and him such a fine big man, too,
+who has gone through so much, and seen so many lands, and been in such a
+lot o' fights with pirates, and all that kind of thing.  I can't
+understand him at all.  I wish I understood him better, for I like him
+very much.  Don't you?"
+
+Elise was so much taken up with what she was doing at the time that she
+could not answer the question, and Billie was in such a wandering state
+of mind that he neglected to press it!
+
+Daniel Davidson also went to Pembina that winter, because he could not
+bear to press the subject of his marriage just after the destruction of
+his and old McKay's crops by mice--a disaster which told rather heavily
+on both families.  When winter had passed away, he, along with many
+others, returned to the colony and made preparations for going out to
+the plains for the spring hunt with the buffalo runners.
+
+"You will better not be goin' wi' them," said Duncan McKay senior to his
+younger son, some days before the hunters had arranged to set out.  "It
+will not be safe after your trial, for the half-breeds are mad at you,
+Tuncan."
+
+If the old man had been wise enough to have left his son alone, Duncan
+junior would probably have remained where he was; but the mere offer of
+advice roused in him the spirit of opposition, and that reference to the
+half-breeds decided him.
+
+"If all the half-breeds in Rud River wass to go as mad as buffalo-bulls
+wi' their tails cut off, I would go," said Duncan junior, with quiet
+decision of tone and manner, as he lighted his pipe.
+
+"Ay, it iss that same you would do if you wass to be hanged to-morrow
+for doin' it, Tuncan," returned the old man testily, as he fired
+cloudlets in rapid succession from his compressed lips.
+
+Duncan junior was equally firm in replying to his sister's remonstrances
+later in the day.
+
+"You know, dear Duncan," she said, "that, although I believe you to be
+quite innocent, most of the half-breeds are of the opposite opinion, and
+some of them are very revengeful, especially when they think they have
+been deceived or unjustly treated."
+
+"I do not fear the half-breeds," replied the youth gruffly.
+
+"Of course you don't, Duncan, but you know that, though most of them are
+good, trusty men, some are mean fellows, who would not hesitate to shoot
+you in the smoke and confusion of the hunt.  Do give up the idea, for my
+sake, dear."
+
+"I would do much for your sake, Elspie, but not this, for it iss showin'
+the white feather I am, they will be sayin', and, as father often says,
+that iss what must never be true of a McKay."
+
+Accordingly, Duncan junior mounted his horse, and accompanied Dan,
+Peter, Fergus, Okematan, Morel, Jenkins, and others to the plains, where
+they found that the main body of the hunters, under Antoine Dechamp, had
+arrived just before them.  Kateegoose was also there, and La Certe, who
+once more tried his fortune at the chase under all the advantages of a
+new cart and horse, a new gun, and a new outfit--all received on
+credit--to be paid for by the proceeds of the chase, as the creditors,
+hoping against hope, tried to believe; never to be paid for at all, as
+the easy-going La Certe more than half suspected--though he was far too
+honest a man to admit that even to himself.
+
+Of course, Slowfoot was with him--amiable, meek, and silent as ever.
+And so was Baby La Certe, a five-year-old by that time, and obviously a
+girl with a stronger penchant than ever for tobacco!
+
+"The buffalo have been found already," said Dechamp to Dan Davidson, as
+the latter rode into camp at the head of his party.  "Bourassin has just
+come in with the report that they are in great numbers away to the
+nor'-west, so we will make a fair start first thing in the morning."
+
+As he spoke, Dechamp glanced with evident surprise at Duncan McKay.
+
+"Why did you let him come?" he said in an under-tone to Dan, as they
+were tying up the horses.
+
+"How could I prevent him?" replied Dan.
+
+Next morning all was bustle, eager expectation, and lively conversation
+in the camp.  Archie was there again, promoted to the condition of a
+full-fledged hunter by the possession of a gun.  Little Bill was there
+also.  He had improved so much in health and strength that he was
+permitted to ride with the runners on a pony; but was to content himself
+with viewing the battle from afar--that is, well in rear.
+
+"Now, Little Bill," said Archie, with the seriousness of a grandfather,
+as they galloped with the hunters over the rolling plains, across which
+were streaming the first beams of the rising sun, "you must promise me
+to keep well in rear, and on no account to join in the chase.  It's of
+no use to go in without a gun, you know, and there is great risk when in
+the thick of it, that you may come across a bullet or two.  You'll have
+all the fun without the danger, Little Bill."
+
+"All right, old boy; I'll do my best."
+
+"Hallo, Archie!" cried Jenkins, galloping up alongside, with the
+blunderbuss in his left hand, "I've bin lookin' for you, lad.  It's not
+easy to spy out a friend in such a shoal o' queer craft.  Are 'ee goin'
+to sail alongside o' me this bout?"
+
+"Of course I am, Fred.  A man that can steer his way by compass over
+such a sea o' grass is worth holding on to."
+
+"Well, then, heave ahead.  We'll hunt in couples.  I see they're gettin'
+into line o' battle, which means that the enemy's in view."
+
+The sailor was right.  Buffalo were seen grazing in the far distance,
+and the cavalcade was getting into line so as to advance in good order.
+
+As on a former occasion, they approached at a slow pace until the
+animals began to lift their heads and throw inquiring glances in the
+direction from which the mounted host came.  Then the word was given to
+trot, and, finally, to charge.
+
+The rush on this occasion was even more tremendous than on the former,
+for there were considerably more men, and a larger herd of buffalo.
+
+The lumbering heavy gait of the latter at the first start did not
+suggest the racing speed to which the clumsy creatures attained when
+they were hard pressed.  Soon the dropping shots of the fast riders
+swelled into the rattling musketry of the real fight, and ere long the
+plain became strewed with dead and wounded animals, while smoke and dust
+obscured the air.
+
+There was no order maintained after the first onset.  Every man seemed
+to fight for his own hand.  Crossing and re-crossing and firing
+recklessly in all directions, it seemed a very miracle that no fatal
+accidents occurred.  Minor ones there were.  Archie and his nautical
+comrade witnessed a few of these.
+
+"I say, look at Bourassin!" exclaimed the former, pointing to the left
+with his nose--both hands being fully engaged with gun and bridle.
+
+The seaman's eye turned in the direction indicated, and he beheld
+Bourassin's horse stopped by the hairy forehead of a buffalo-bull, while
+Bourassin himself was in the act of describing a magnificent parabolic
+curve over the buffalo's back.  He alighted on his back, fortunately on
+a low bush, a yard or two beyond the buffalo's tail.
+
+"Killed!" exclaimed Jenkins, anxiously, as he turned his horse in the
+direction of the fallen man.
+
+But the seaman was wrong.  The hunter did indeed lie flat and motionless
+for a few seconds--which was just as well, for it gave the bull time to
+toss off the horse, turn, and leap over the prostrate man in continuing
+its flight; but in another moment Bourassin was on his feet, soon caught
+his trembling horse, remounted, and continued the chase.
+
+A little further on they saw Peter Davidson's horse put his foot in a
+badger-hole, the result of which was that the horse rolled over in one
+direction, while the expert Peter, tumbling cleverly to one side, rolled
+away in another direction like a Catherine-wheel.  Both horse and man
+arose unhurt, and, like Bourassin, continued the chase.
+
+"Necks ain't easy broke in this here country," remarked the seaman, as
+Archie pushed past him in pursuit of a fat young cow.
+
+"Not often.  Necks are tough, you see, and ground is mostly soft," cried
+Archie, as he fired and dropped the cow.
+
+"Who's that away to the right, ridin' like a madman after a calf?" asked
+Jenkins, overtaking Archie, who was recharging his gun at the gallop.
+
+"Who--where?" cried the boy, looking impatiently round.
+
+"Keep cool, lad!  Whatever condition you chance to be in, whether of
+danger or safety, always keep cool.  For why?--it makes you comfortable,
+or more fit for action, as the case may be.  See, the fellow over there
+half-hidden by smoke."
+
+"Why, that's Duncan McKay.  You might know him by his hat."
+
+"I ain't a good judge o' hats," remarked the seaman, as he fired at a
+bull and missed it.  "Ha! that comes o' firin' at long range," he said.
+"It was at least six yards off, an' I can't count on the old blunderbuss
+beyond five.  Better luck next time!"
+
+"Hallo!  Jenkins, did you hear that?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"That shriek?  I'm sure some one has been hurt."
+
+"Very likely, lad.  There's many a cropper a-goin' on just now, an' we
+can't all expect to come off scot-free."
+
+"The voice sounded like that of Fergus," said Archie, "but I can see
+nothing for smoke now.  Is that a man on the ground over there?"
+
+"Don't know, Archie.  Out o' the way, lad; there's another chance.  Must
+get closer this time."
+
+The tide of the chase swept on with irresistible fury, and not one of
+all the band saw that the man who had fallen did not rise.
+
+Following close in rear, and profoundly excited with this new and wild
+experience of life, came Little Bill, galloping along on his pony.
+
+The poor boy had either greatly benefited by his recent adventures, or a
+change had taken place in his constitution, for he rode with ease, and
+found that he could walk considerable distances without the old weary
+feeling of exhaustion.
+
+As Little Bill passed over the prairie, which resembled a field of
+battle where, not men, but buffaloes had been the combatants, he came
+suddenly upon the dismounted hunter, who lay prone upon his face.
+
+"Poor man!" thought Little Bill, pulling up and dismounting, "he seems
+to have been badly stunned."
+
+Stooping down he turned the fallen man over on his back with some
+difficulty, and then discovered, to his consternation, that it was young
+Duncan McKay, and that blood was flowing from a wound in his side.
+
+The shock at first deprived Billie of the power to do anything, but in a
+very few minutes his strong common sense returned, and his first act was
+to open Duncan's coat and stanch the wound.  This he accomplished by
+means of a strip torn off the poor man's cotton shirt, and the long red
+worsted belt with which the hunter's capote was bound.  Then he took
+from his pocket a small bottle of water, with which he had provided
+himself in case of need, and poured a little into Duncan's mouth.
+
+The result of these operations was that the fallen man opened his eyes
+after a while, raised himself on one elbow, and looked round in a dazed
+manner.
+
+"What iss it that has come over me?" he asked, faintly.
+
+"You have fallen off your horse, I think," answered the boy, "and I--I'm
+afraid a bullet has wounded you in the side."
+
+"Bullet!  Side!" exclaimed Duncan, looking quickly down at the bandage,
+and attempting to rise.  "Little Bill, you must--"
+
+He stopped; seemed to grow faint, and fell down; but quickly raised
+himself again on one elbow and looked round.
+
+"Shot!--dying!" he muttered; then turning to the boy--"Stay by me,
+Little Bill.  Don't leave me here all alone."
+
+"No, I won't leave you, unless--perhaps it would be better if I rode
+back to camp for help."
+
+"True, true.  It's my only chance," said the poor man, faintly.  "Go,
+Billie, and go quick.  Put something under my head.  And--stay--leave
+your gun with me."
+
+"I'm so sorry I haven't got one, but here is my bottle of water; you may
+want that, and--"
+
+He stopped, for Duncan had evidently fainted again.
+
+The poor boy was terribly alarmed at this.  He had wit enough to
+perceive that prompt action was needed, for his friend was in very great
+danger, while the buffalo runners were by that time out of sight in
+front, and the camp was far behind.  In this crisis Billie acted with
+decision.  First making the bandage over the wound more secure, and
+pouring a little more water into the mouth of the wounded man, he went
+to a clump of willows, and cut a stout switch, then, remounting, he
+turned on his track and made straight for the camp as fast as his
+willing pony could be made to lay hoof to the ground.
+
+Arrived there, to his great relief he found the Cree chief Okematan, for
+that eccentric individual had, owing to some unknown reason, refrained
+from joining in the hunt that day.  La Certe was also there.
+
+In a few minutes, mounted on a fresh horse, Little Bill was galloping
+over the prairie, acting as guide to Okematan, while La Certe followed
+them, driving a cart with a couple of buffalo-robes in it.
+
+That night, instead of rejoicing in the camp of the buffalo runners
+after their successful hunt, there was uneasiness and gloom, for Duncan
+McKay lay in his tent dangerously wounded, and it was generally believed
+that the shot which laid him low had been fired not by accident, but
+with deliberate intent to kill.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+SUFFERING AND ITS RESULTS.
+
+When the news that young Duncan had been shot was brought to Ben Nevis,
+the effect on his father was much more severe than might have been
+expected, considering their respective feelings towards each other.
+
+It was late in the evening when the news came, and the old man was
+seated in what he styled his smoking-room, taking his evening glass of
+whisky and water.
+
+"Elspie," he said, in a subdued voice, on being told, "help me up to my
+bed."
+
+This was so very unusual a request that Elspie was somewhat alarmed by
+it, as well as surprised--all the more so that the old man left the room
+without finishing either his pipe or glass.  Still, she did not suppose
+that anything serious would come of it.  A night's rest, she thought,
+would do away with the evils of the shock.
+
+"Dear father," she said, as she kissed him at parting, "do believe that
+God is waiting to be gracious: that He really means it when He says,
+`Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
+you rest.'  And, consider--we have no reason to suppose that dear
+Duncan's wound is very dangerous."
+
+"Goot-night, Elspie," was all the reply.
+
+Next morning McKay did not make his appearance at the usual
+breakfast-hour, and, on going to his room, they found him lying
+speechless in his bed, suffering under a stroke of paralysis.
+
+He soon recovered the power of speech, but not the use of his limbs, and
+it became evident ere long that the poor man had received a shock which
+would probably cripple him for life.  Whatever may have been his secret
+thoughts, however, he carefully concealed them from every one, and
+always referred to his complaint as, "this nasty stiff feeling about the
+legs which iss a long time of goin' away--whatever."
+
+In a few days, Fergus returned from the plains, bringing his brother in
+a cart, which had been made tolerably easy by means of a springy couch
+of pine-branches.  They did not tell him at first of his father's
+illness, lest it should interfere with his own recovery from the very
+critical condition in which he lay.  At first he took no notice of his
+father's non-appearance, attributing it to indifference; but when he
+began slowly to mend, he expressed some surprise.  Then they told him.
+
+Whatever may have been his thoughts on the subject, he gave no sign, but
+received the information--as, indeed, he received nearly all information
+at that time--in absolute silence.
+
+Fortunately, the bullet which struck him had passed right through his
+side, so that he was spared the pain, as well as the danger, of its
+extraction.  But, from his total loss of appetite and continued
+weakness, it was evident that he had received some very severe, if not
+fatal, internal injury.  At last, very slowly, he began to grow a little
+stronger, but he was a very shadow or wreck of his former self.
+Nevertheless, the more sanguine members of the family began to entertain
+some faint hope of his recovery.
+
+Of course, during these first days of his weakness his sister Elspie
+nursed him.  She would, if permitted, have done so night and day, but in
+this matter she had to contend with one who was more than a match for
+her.  This was Old Peg, the faithful domestic.
+
+"No, no, dearie," said that resolute old woman, when Elspie first
+promulgated to her the idea of sitting up all night with Duncan, "you
+will do nothin' of the sort.  Your sainted mother left your father an'
+Fergus an' yourself to my care, an' I said I would never fail you, so I
+can't break my promise by letting you break your health.  I will sit up
+wi' him, as I've done many a time when he was a bairn."
+
+It thus came to pass that Elspie nursed her brother by day, and Old Peg
+sat up with him at night.  Of course the duties of the former were
+considerably lightened by the assistance rendered by various members of
+the family, as well as friends, who were ever ready to sit by the
+bedside of the wounded man and read to or chat with him.  At such times
+he was moderately cheerful, but when the night watches came, and Old Peg
+took her place beside him, and memory had time to commence with him
+undisturbed, the deed of which he had had been guilty was forced upon
+him; Conscience was awakened, and self-condemnation was the result.
+Yet, so inconsistent is poor humanity that self-exculpation warred with
+self-condemnation in the same brain!  The miserable man would have given
+all he possessed to have been able to persuade himself that his act was
+purely one of self-defence--as no doubt to some extent it was, for if he
+had not fired first Perrin's action showed that he would certainly have
+been the man-slayer.  But, then, young McKay could not shut his eyes to
+the fact that premeditation had, in the first instance, induced him to
+extend his hand towards his gun, and this first act it was which had
+caused all the rest.
+
+Often during the wakeful hours of the night would the invalid glance at
+his nurse with a longing desire to unburden his soul to her, but
+whenever his eye rested on her calm, wrinkled old visage, and he thought
+of her deafness, and the difficulty of making her understand, he
+abandoned his half-formed intention with a sigh.  He did not, indeed,
+doubt her sympathy, for many a time during his life, especially when a
+child, had he experienced the strength and tenderness of that.
+
+After attending to his wants, it was the habit of Old Peg to put on a
+pair of tortoise-shell spectacles and read.  Her only book was the
+Bible.  She read nothing else--to say truth, at that time there was
+little else to read in Red River.  The first night of her watch she had
+asked the invalid if he would like her to read a few verses to him.
+
+"You may if you like, Peg," he had replied.  "You know it iss little I
+care for releegion, for I don't believe in it, but you may read if you
+like--it may amuse me, an' will help to make the time pass--whatever."
+
+Thus the custom was established.  It was plain that the old woman
+counted much on the influence of the simple Word of God, without
+comment, for every time she opened the Bible she shut her eyes and her
+lips moved in silent prayer before she began to read.
+
+The invalid was greatly tickled with this little preliminary prayer, and
+would have laughed aloud if he had not been too weak to do so.  As time
+went on, however, he became interested in the Gospel narratives in spite
+of himself, and he began to experience some sort of relish for the
+evening reading--chiefly because, as he carefully explained to Elspie,
+"the droning o' the old wumman's voice" sent him to sleep.
+
+Meanwhile the other invalid--Duncan senior--progressed as slowly as did
+his son.  The nursing of him was undertaken chiefly by Jessie Davidson--
+the sympathetic Jessie--who was established as an inmate of Ben Nevis
+_pro tem_, for that very purpose.  She was ably seconded--during part of
+each day--by Billie Sinclair, between whom and the old Highlander there
+grew up at that time a strong friendship.  For many weeks poor old McKay
+was confined to his bed, and then, when allowed to rise, he could only
+walk across his room with the aid of the strong arm of his stalwart son
+Fergus.  To sit at his open window and look out at his garden was his
+principal amusement, and smoking a long clay pipe his chief solace.
+Like Duncan junior, old Duncan was quite willing to hear the Bible read
+to him now and then, by Jessie Davidson and more especially by Little
+Bill; but the idea of deriving any real comfort from that book never for
+a moment entered his head.
+
+One day Elspie came to him and said:
+
+"Daddy, Dan wants to see you to-day, if you feel well enough."
+
+"Surely, my tear.  It iss not the first time he will be seein' me since
+I got the stroke."
+
+"He has brought you a present--something that he has made--which he
+hopes will be useful to you."
+
+"What is it, Elspie?"
+
+"You shall see.  May I tell him to come in and bring it with him?"
+
+"Surely, my tear.  Let him come in.  It iss always goot for sore eyes to
+see himself--whatever."
+
+Elspie went out.  A few minutes later there was heard in the passage a
+strange rumbling sound.
+
+"What in all the world iss that?" said the old man to Little Bill, who
+happened to be his companion at the time.
+
+"It sounds like wheels, I think," said Billie.
+
+The door opened as he spoke, and Dan Davidson entered, pushing before
+him an invalid chair of a kind that is familiar enough in the civilised
+world, but which was utterly unknown at that time in those regions.
+
+"Goot-mornin', Tan; what hev you got there?  Iss it a surprise you will
+be givin' me?"
+
+"It is a chair, sir, which will, I hope, add a good deal to your
+comfort," said Dan.  "I made it myself, from the memory-model of one
+which I once saw in the old country.  See, I will show you how it acts.
+Push me along, Jessie."
+
+Dan sat down in the chair as he spoke, and his sister Jessie, who
+entered at the moment, pushed him all about the room with the greatest
+ease.
+
+"Well, well!" said the amused invalid.  "Ye are a clever man, Taniel.
+It iss a goot contrivance, an' seems to me fery well made.  Could Little
+Bill push it, think ye?  Go an' try, boy."
+
+Little Bill found that he could push Dan in the chair as easily as
+Jessie had done it.
+
+"But that is not all," said Dan.  "See--now I will work the chair
+myself."
+
+So saying he laid his hands on the two large wheels at either side--
+which, with a little wheel behind, supported the machine--and moved it
+about the room, turned it round, and, in short, acted in a very
+independent manner as to self-locomotion.
+
+"Well, now, that _iss_ goot," exclaimed the pleased invalid.  "Let me
+try it, Tan."
+
+In his eagerness the poor man, forgetting for a moment his helpless
+condition, made an effort to rise, and would certainly have fallen off
+the chair on which he was seated if Elspie had not sprung to his
+assistance.
+
+"Come, there's life in you yet!" said Dan as he assisted the old man
+into the wheel-chair.  "Put your hands--so.  And when you want to turn
+sharp round you've only to pull with one hand and push with--"
+
+"Get along with you," interrupted the old man, facetiously giving the
+chair a swing that caused all who stood around him to leap out of his
+way: "will you hev the presumption to teach a man that knew how to scull
+a boat before you wass born?  But, Taniel," he added, in a more serious
+tone, "we must hev one like this made for poor Tuncan."
+
+As this was the first reference which McKay had made to his younger son
+since his illness--with the exception of the daily inquiry as to his
+health--it was hailed as an evidence that a change for the better was
+taking place in the old man's mind.  For up to that period no one had
+received any encouragement to speak of, or enter into conversation
+about, Duncan junior.
+
+"You are right," returned Dan.  "I have been thinking of that, and have
+even laid in the wood to make a similar chair for him.  But I fear he
+won't be able to use it for some time to come.  Elspie was thinking, if
+you don't object, to have your bedroom changed to one of the rooms on
+the ground floor, so that you could be wheeled into the garden when so
+inclined."
+
+"Yes, daddy," said Elspie, taking up the discourse; "we can put you into
+the room that corresponds with Duncan's room at the other end of the
+house, so that you and he will be able to meet after your long illness.
+But there is another contrivance which Dan has been making for us--not
+for you, but for Old Peg.  Tell daddy about it, Dan."
+
+"Like the chair," said Dan, "it is no novelty, except in this
+out-o'-the-way place.  You see, I have noticed that Old Peg is rather
+deaf--"
+
+"Well, Tan," interrupted old McKay with a benignant smile, "it iss not
+much observation that you will be requirin' to see that!"
+
+"Just so.  Well, I also observed that it gives Duncan some trouble to
+speak loud enough to her.  So I have invented a sort of ear-trumpet--a
+tin pipe with an ear-piece at one end and a mouth-piece at the other,
+which I hope may make things easier."
+
+"Hev ye not tried it yet?" asked McKay.
+
+"Not yet.  I've only just brought it."
+
+"Go down, lad, an' try it at wanse, an' let me know what the upshot
+iss."
+
+Down they all went accordingly, leaving Duncan senior alone.
+
+They found Old Peg in the act of administering beef-tea refreshment--or
+something of that sort--to the invalid.  Peter Davidson and Archie
+Sinclair were there also, paying him a visit.
+
+"Hallo, Little Bill!" said Archie as his brother entered.  "You here!  I
+guessed as much.  Your passion for nursing since you attended Dan is
+outrageous.  You do more nursing in this house, I do believe, than
+Elspie and Jessie and Old Peg put together.  What d'ee mean by it, Bill?
+I get no good of you at all now!"
+
+"I like it, Archie, and I'm training myself to nurse you when you get
+ill or old!"
+
+"Thank 'ee for nothin', Little Bill, for I don't mean to become either
+ill or old for some time to come; but, I say, are they goin' to perform
+an operation on Old Peg's head?"
+
+This was said in consequence of Elspie shouting to the old woman to let
+her put something into her ear to cure deafness.
+
+"Cure deafness!" she exclaimed, with a faint laugh, "nothin' will ever
+cure _my_ deafness.  But I can trust _you_, dearie, so do what you
+please."
+
+"Shut your eyes, then."
+
+"And open your mouth!" said Archie to Little Bill in a low voice.
+
+Old Peg did as she was bid.  Dan, approaching behind her, put the small
+end of the tube into her right ear--which was the best one--and Elspie,
+putting her mouth to the other end, spoke to her in her soft, natural
+voice.
+
+The effect was amusing.  Old Peg dropped into her chair as if paralysed,
+and gazed from one to another in mute amazement.
+
+"Eh! dearie.  Did I ever think to hear the sweet low voice o' Elspie
+like as it was when she was a bairn!  Most amazin'!" she said.  "Let me
+hear't again."
+
+The operation was repeated, and it was finally found that, by means of
+this extemporised ear-trumpet, the poor creature once more became a
+conversable member of society.  She went about the house the remainder
+of that day in a quite excited state, asking questions of everybody, and
+putting the end of the instrument to their mouths for an answer.  Archie
+even declared that he had caught her alone in the back-kitchen shoving
+the cat's head into the mouth-piece of the instrument, and pinching its
+tail to make it mew.
+
+It was two days after the occurrence of these incidents that the old
+woman was seated by Duncan's bedside, gazing through her tortoise-shell
+glasses at the well-thumbed Bible, when her patient, who had been very
+restless, looked up and spoke.
+
+"Can I do anything for ye, dearie?" said Old Peg, putting the
+trumpet-end into her ear, and handing the mouth-piece to Duncan.
+
+"You--you hear much better now, Old Peg?" said the sick man, in his
+natural voice.
+
+"Ay, much, much better; thanks to the Lord--and to Mr Daniel."
+
+"If Daniel had not thought of it," said the invalid, quite gravely, "do
+you think that the Lord would hev sent the machine to you?"
+
+"He might or He might not," returned the old woman, promptly.  "It's not
+for me to say, nor yet to guess on that point.  But this I do know for
+certain--if the Lord hadna' thought upon Mr Daniel, then Mr Daniel
+wouldna' have been here to think upon _me_."
+
+Duncan made no reply, and for some time remained quite silent.  Then he
+spoke again.
+
+"Peg, what wass it that you would be reading to me last night--something
+about a malefactor, I'm thinking."
+
+"Ay, it was about the robbers that was crucified on each side o' the
+Lord.  One o' them reviled the Lord as he was hangin' there, the other
+found forgiveness, for he was led to see what a lost sinner he was, and
+repented and confessed his sins."
+
+"That is fery strange," said Duncan, after a few moments' thought.  "Do
+you think, Peg, that the robber that was forgiven wass a--a murderer?"
+
+"I have little doubt o't," answered Peg, "for I've heard say that they
+think very little o' human life in them Eastern countries.  But whatever
+he was, the blood of Jesus Christ was able to cleanse him."
+
+"Ay, but if he was a murderer, Peg, he did not _deserve_ to be
+forgiven."
+
+"My bairn," said the old woman, with something of motherly tenderness in
+her tone, "it's not them that _deserve_ to be forgiven that _are_
+forgiven, but them that see that they _don't_ deserve it.  Didna' this
+robber say that he was sufferin' for his sins justly?  That, surely,
+meant that he deserved what he was getting, an' how is it possible to
+deserve both condemnation an' forgiveness at the same time?  But he
+believed that Jesus was a king--able and willing to save him though he
+did _not_ deserve it, so he asked to be remembered, and he _was_
+remembered.  But lie down now, bairn, an' rest: Ye are excitin'
+yoursel', an' that's bad for ye."
+
+A week or so after the conversation above recorded, Dan brought a
+wheel-chair for Duncan, similar to the one he had made for his father.
+As Duncan had been getting out of bed for several days before, Dan found
+him dressed and sitting up.  He therefore lifted him into the chair at
+once, and wheeled him out into the garden, where a blaze of warm
+sunshine seemed to put new life into the poor invalid.
+
+It had been pre-arranged that old McKay should be brought down that same
+day to his new room, and that he should also be wheeled into the garden,
+so as to meet his son Duncan, without either of them being prepared for
+the meeting.
+
+"I don't feel at all sure that we are right in this arrangement," Elspie
+had said; but Dan and Fergus, and Mrs Davidson and Jessie had thought
+otherwise, so she was overruled.
+
+Archie was deputed to attend upon Duncan junior, and Little Bill
+obtained leave to push the chair of old McKay.  The younger man was
+wheeled under the shade of a tree with his back to the house, and left
+there.  Then the family retired out of the way, leaving Archie to attend
+the invalid.
+
+A few minutes after young Duncan had been placed, Little Bill pushed his
+charge under the same tree, and, wheeling the chair quickly round,
+brought father and son suddenly face to face.
+
+The surprise was great on both sides, for each, recollecting only the
+man that _had been_, could hardly believe in the reality of the ghost
+that sat before him.
+
+"Father!" exclaimed Duncan at last.
+
+But the old man answered not.  Some strong feeling was evidently surging
+within him, for his mouth was tightly pursed and his features worked
+strangely.  Suddenly he burst into tears, but the weakness was
+momentary.  With an effort that seemed to concentrate the accumulated
+energy of all the McKays from Adam downwards, he again pursed his mouth
+and looked at his younger son with a stern persistent frown, worthy of
+the most rugged of Highlanders in his fiercest mood.
+
+Duncan was inexpressibly touched.
+
+"Father," said he again, "I've been a baad, baad son to _you_."
+
+"Tuncan," retorted the old man, in a husky but firm voice, "I've been a
+baad, baad father to you."
+
+"Let us shake hands--whatever," said the son.
+
+The two silently grasped each other's hands with all the little strength
+that remained to them.  Then old McKay turned suddenly to his henchman.
+
+"Little Bill," said he, in a tone that was not for an instant to be
+disregarded, "shove me down to the futt of the garden--you _rascal_!"
+
+With a promptitude little short of miraculous the Highlander was wheeled
+away, and thus the momentous meeting was abruptly brought to a close.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+MATRIMONIAL PLANS AND PROSPECTS.
+
+Time passed by, as time is rather apt to do, and still the feud between
+the rival fur companies continued, to the detriment of the Indians and
+the fur-trade, the unsettling of Red River Settlement, and the
+demoralisation more or less of all concerned.
+
+Men who would gladly have devoted all their energies to the arts of
+peace, became more or less belligerent in spirit, if not in act, and
+many were forced to take sides in the controversy--some siding with the
+Nor'-Westers and others with the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+With the merits of their contentions we do not propose to meddle.  We
+confine ourselves to facts.
+
+One important fact was that our hero Daniel Davidson took the side of
+the Hudson's Bay Company.  Being a stout fellow, with a good brain, a
+strong will, an independent spirit, and a capable tongue, he was highly
+appreciated by the one side and considerably hated by the other,
+insomuch that some of the violent spirits made dark suggestions as to
+the propriety of putting him out of the way.  It is not easy, however,
+or safe, to attempt to put a strong, resolute man out of the way, and
+his enemies plotted for a considerable time in vain.
+
+The unsettled state of the colony, and the frequent failure of the crops
+had, as we have seen, exerted an evil influence for a long time on poor
+Dan's matrimonial prospects, and at last, feeling that more settled
+times might yet be in the remote future, and that, as regarded defence
+and maintenance, it would be on the whole better both for Elspie and
+himself that they should get married without delay, he resolved to take
+the important step, and, as old McKay remarked, have it over.
+
+"You see, Taniel," said the old man, when the subject was again
+broached, "it iss of no use hangin' off an' on in this fashion.
+Moreover, this nasty stiff leg o' mine is so long of getting well that
+it may walk me off the face o' the earth altogether, an' I would not
+like to leave Elspie till this matter iss settled.  Tuncan also iss a
+little better just now, so what say you to have the weddin' the month
+after next?  Mr Sutherland will be back from the Whitehorse Plains by
+then, an' he can tie the knot tight enough--whatever.  Anyway, it iss
+clear that if we wait for a munister o' the Auld Kirk, we will hev to
+wait till doomsday.  What say you, Taniel?"
+
+It need hardly be said that Dan had nothing whatever to say in objection
+to this scheme.  It was therefore settled--under the proviso, of course,
+that Elspie had no objection.  Dan went off at once to see Elspie, and
+found that she had no objection, whereupon, after some conversation,
+etcetera, with which we will not weary the reader, he sought out his
+friend Fred Jenkins, to whom he communicated the good news, and treated
+him to a good many unanswerable reasons why young people should not
+delay marriage when there was any reasonable prospect of their getting
+on comfortably in life together.
+
+The sailor agreed with effusive heartiness to all that he said, and Dan
+thought while he was speaking--orating--as one of the American settlers
+would have expressed it--that Jenkins wore a peculiar expression on his
+manly countenance.  Attributing it to unusual interest in the event, he
+continued--
+
+"Now, Fred, I want you to be my best-man--"
+
+"Unpossible--quite unpossible," interrupted the seaman with a grave
+shake of the head.
+
+"How--impossible!"
+
+"Ab-so-lutely unpossible."
+
+"But why?  Explain yourself, Fred."
+
+"'Cause it's only a bachelor as can be a best-man to a bachelor--ain't
+it?"
+
+"I believe so, though I'm no authority in such matters; but surely that
+is a matter of no importance, for _you_ are a bachelor, you know."
+
+"True, that's what I am to-day, but I won't be that long, for I am goin'
+to be married next month, so I won't be available, d'ee see, the month
+after."
+
+"You--married!--to whom?" exclaimed Dan in amazement.
+
+"Well, that's a point blank shot right between wind an' water.
+Hows'ever, I suppose I can't go wrong in tellin' you, Dan, for it's all
+settled, though not a soul knows about it except Little Bill, an'
+yourself, an' her brother."
+
+"But I _don't_ know about it yet," returned Dan.  "Who is it?"
+
+"A angel--pure an' unmixed--come straight down from heaven a-purpus to
+marry poor, unedicated, sea-farin' Fred Jenkins, an' her terrestrial
+name is Elise Morel!"
+
+Dan laughed while he congratulated the modest seaman, and admitted the
+strength of his difficulty.
+
+"D'you know, Fred, I've had a suspicion for some time past that you had
+a leaning in that direction?"
+
+"So have I, Dan, had an uncommon strong suspicion for a very long time
+past, not only that I had a leanin' that way, but a regular list to
+port, an' now I'm fairly over on my beam-ends!"
+
+"But, surely, it must have come upon you very sudden at last," said Dan.
+"How was it?"
+
+"Sudden!  I should just think it did--like a white squall in the
+Mediterranean, or a hurricane in the China seas.  This is how it was.
+I'd bin cruisin' about her--off an' on--for a considerable time, tryin'
+to make up my mind to go into action, an' screwin' my courage up to the
+stickin' pint by recallin' all the fine sentiments that has carried
+Jack-tars through fire an' smoke, shot and shell since the world
+began--`England expects every man to do his dooty,'--`Never say
+die,'--`Hookey Bunkum,' an' such like.  But it warn't no manner o' use,
+for I'm an' outrageous coward wi' the gals, Dan.  So, in a sort o'
+despair, I sailed away this very mornin' into the plantation at the futt
+o' your garden, intendin' to cool myself an' think over it, when, who
+should I see almost hull down on my lee bow but the enemy--Elise
+herself!
+
+"Well, I changed my course at once; bore straight down on her, an' soon
+overhauled her, but the nearer I came the more did my courage run out,
+so I gradooally begun to take in sail an drop astarn.  At last I got
+savage, `You're a fool, Jenkins!' says I to myself.  `That's a fact!'
+says su'thin' inside o' me.
+
+"Now, if that su'thin' had kep' quiet, I do believe that I'd have gone
+about-ship an' showed her my heels, but that su'thin', whatever it was,
+set up my dander.  `Now then,' says I, `haul taut the main brace!  Up
+wi' the t'gall'nt-s'ls an' sky-scrapers!  "England expects," etceterer!'
+
+"Afore you could say Jack Robinson, I was along side--grapplin'-irons
+hove into her riggin', and a broadside fired.  The way I gave it her
+astonished even myself.  Nelson himself could scarce ha' done it better!
+Well, she struck her colours at the first broadside, an' somehow--I
+never could make out exactly how--we was sittin' on the stump of a tree
+with her head on my rough unworthy buzzum.  Think o' that!  Dan, _her_
+head--the head of a Angel!  Give us your flipper, mate."
+
+"I congratulate you, Jenkins, with all my heart," said Dan, grasping the
+seaman's flipper, and giving it a hearty shake.  "So now, I must look
+out for another best-man.  Morel will do for me, I think, and you can
+have my brother Peter, no doubt.  But could we not manage to have both
+weddings on the same day?"
+
+"Impossible," answered the seaman, promptly.  "Couldn't wait."
+
+"But we might compromise the matter.  I might have mine a little sooner
+and you could have yours a little later."
+
+Still Jenkins shook his head.  "Not fair-play," he said.  "All the
+advantage on your side.  However, we might consider it.  Hold a sort o'
+drum-head court-martial over it, with Elise and Elspie as judges."
+
+When the said court-marital--as Dan called it--was held, the compromise
+was agreed to, and it was finally fixed that six weeks thereafter the
+two couples should be united in Ben Nevis Hall.
+
+But the current of these parallel streams of true love was not yet
+destined to run smooth--as the next chapter will show.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+A NEW DISASTER.
+
+"I mean to go off to-morrow on a shooting trip to the lake," said Dan
+Davidson to Archie Sinclair.  "I've had a long spell at farming
+operations of late, and am tired of it.  The double wedding, you know,
+comes off in six weeks.  So I want to have one more run in the
+wilderness in all the freedom of bachelorhood.  Will you go with me?"
+
+"`Unpossible,' as Jenkins would say," answered Archie.  "Nothing would
+please me better, but, duty before pleasure!  I've promised to spend a
+week along wi' Little Bill at the Whitehorse Plains.  Billie has taken a
+great fancy to that chief o' the half-breeds, Cuthbert Grant, and we are
+goin' to visit him.  I've no doubt that Little Bill would let me off,
+but I won't be let off."
+
+"Then I must ask Okematan to go with me," said Dan.
+
+"You needn't trouble yourself, for I heard him say that he was goin' off
+to see some o' his relations on important business--a great palaver o'
+some sort--and Elise told me this morning that she saw him start
+yesterday."
+
+"Morel is too busy with his new farm to go," rejoined Dan, "and Jenkins
+is too busy helping Morel.  Perhaps Dechamp or Bourassin may be more at
+leisure.  I will go see."
+
+But on search being made, neither Dechamp nor Bourassin was to be found,
+and our hero was returning home with the intention of taking a small
+hunting canoe and going off by himself, when he chanced to meet with La
+Certe.
+
+That worthy seemed unusually depressed, and returned Dan's greeting with
+very little of his habitual cheerfulness.
+
+"What's wrong with you, Francois?" asked Dan, anxiously.
+
+"Domestic infelicity," answered La Certe, with a sorrowful shake of the
+head.
+
+"What! surely Slowfoot has not taken to being unkind to you?"
+
+"O no!  Slowfoot could not be unkind, but she is unhappy; she has lost
+her cheerful looks; she does not take everything as she once did; she
+does not now let everything go anyhow with that cheerful resignation
+which was once her delightful characteristic.  She no longer hands the
+pipe of peace to our little one--indeed she refuses to let it have the
+pipe at all, though the poor child cries for it, and comes to me
+secretly, when Slowfoot is out of the way, to beg for a draw.  Then, she
+scolds me--no, she does not scold.  Slowfoot cannot scold.  She is too
+amiable--but she remonstrates, and that is worse than scolding, for it
+enlists myself against myself.  O!  I am now miserable.  My days of
+peace are gone!"
+
+"This is all very sad, La Certe," said Dan, in a tone of sympathy.
+"What does she remonstrate about?"
+
+"About my laziness!  She does it very kindly, very gently--so like her
+old self!--but she _does_ it.  She says, `Husband; we have gone on this
+way too long.  We must change.  _You_ must change.  You are lazy!'"
+
+"Well, La Certe," said Dan, "I'm afraid that Slowfoot is right."
+
+"I know she is right!" retorted the half-breed, with more of
+exasperation in his manner than his friend had ever before seen in him.
+"When that which is said of one is false, one can afford to smile, but
+when it is true what can one say?  Yet it is hard--very hard.  _You_ are
+full of energy; you love to expend it, and you search for work.  It is
+natural--and what is natural _must_ be right.  So, I am full of
+laziness.  I love to indulge it, and I search for repose.  That is also
+natural, and what is natural _must_ be right.  Voila!"
+
+"Then I suppose your love for repose," returned Dan, "will oblige you to
+decline an offer which I thought of making to you."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"To go with me on a shooting expedition to Lake Winnipeg for a week or
+two."
+
+"O no!  I will not decline that," returned La Certe, brightening up.
+"Shooting is not labour.  It is amusement, with labour sufficient to
+make after-repose delightful.  And I will be glad to leave my home for a
+time, for it is no longer the abode of felicity."
+
+This having been satisfactorily arranged, preparations made, and
+Slowfoot advised of her husband's intention, Dan went to Ben Nevis Hall
+next morning to bid farewell to Elspie for a brief period.  He found
+only old McKay in the Hall, Elspie having gone up the Settlement, or
+down the Settlement--the man did not know which--to call on a friend.
+
+"See that ye will not be long o' comin' back, Tan," he said.  "There
+will be a good many arranchments to make, you see."
+
+"I hope to be back in three weeks at latest," said Dan, "if all goes
+well."
+
+"Ay, if all goes well," repeated the old man, thoughtfully.  "As Elspie
+says sometimes, `We never know what a day may bring furth.'  Well, well,
+see that you will not be upsetting your canoe, for canoes are cranky
+things--whatever."
+
+In a short time our hero and La Certe found themselves floating once
+more on the calm breast of the mighty inland sea.
+
+It was afternoon.  The circumstances were eminently conducive to the
+felicity which is derivable from repose, and thus admirably suited to
+the tastes of La Certe.  An unruffled sheet of glassy water lay spread
+out to the north-western horizon, which not only doubled the canoe and
+its occupants, but reflected the golden glory of the sun, and mirrored
+every fleecy cloudlet in the bright blue sky.  A mere dip of the paddles
+now and then served to give impulse to the light, and literal, bark.
+Genial warmth pervaded the atmosphere, and little white gulls floated
+almost motionless on outspread wings, or sloped hither and thither with
+lazy flap, while ever and anon the whistling wings of passing wild-fowl
+gave promise of occupation to their guns, to say nothing of their
+kettles.
+
+On their third day out, towards evening, they went ashore on the
+lee-side of a rocky point where some bushes and trees seemed to offer
+firewood and shelter.
+
+"This will do," said Dan, as he stepped lightly out on a shelving rock
+and held the canoe while his companion took out the lading.  "Plenty dry
+sticks and lots of moss for bedding."
+
+"Truly, that is so," returned La Certe.  "It is a place in which
+Slowfoot would rejoice to repose, and the little one to smoke its pipe."
+
+"You forget," said Dan.  "The little one is no longer allowed that
+luxury."
+
+"No, I forgot not.  But I reflect that it is possible to give her many a
+draw on the sly."
+
+The fire was soon kindled, ducks were roasting in front of it, and the
+kettle boiling above it.  The tea had been infused, and La Certe, while
+filling his pipe, was blinking good-will at all around, when the notes
+of a voyageur-song were heard like an echo in the far distance.
+
+Gradually the song grew louder, and soon a canoe rounded the point, and
+came in sight of the camp-fire.  It was what used to be called a
+north-canoe, of the largest size, made of birch-bark, and contained a
+crew of ten men.
+
+The song and the paddling stopped simultaneously when the camp was
+observed, and the men appeared to hold a consultation.  Their
+hesitation, however, was very brief.  Suddenly, breaking again into
+song, they ran the canoe to shore, and landed.
+
+"We are bound for Red River," said their chief to Dan.  "Just come from
+Canada.  We suppose you don't object to our camping beside you.  It is a
+convenient spot."
+
+Of course the two hunters had no objection whatever to fraternise with
+the strangers from Canada, and in a short time another large fire was
+sending its myriad sparks up into the darkening sky like a gigantic
+roman-candle.
+
+During supper the strangers made themselves very agreeable.  After
+supper, two of the stoutest of them arose, as if to go into the bush for
+more firewood.  Suddenly these threw themselves upon and seized Dan and
+his comrade, who were reclining quietly on the ground.  Before either
+could make even an attempt at self-defence they were overpowered by the
+Canadians, and held forcibly down, while their arms were securely bound
+to their sides with strips of deerskin.
+
+"It is useless to struggle, Dan Davidson," said the chief, when this was
+being accomplished.  "We know you as a bitter opponent of the
+Nor'-westers, and we intend to carry you where your power to do mischief
+will be ended."
+
+"Who are you? and under whose authority do you act?" demanded Dan,
+angrily.
+
+"Who I am is a matter of no interest to you, Dan.  I act under my own
+authority, and I may just as well tell you, at the beginning, that if
+you and your comrade choose to submit peaceably, we will treat you
+reasonably well;--if not, we will find means to quiet you, even though
+we should be driven to do it wi' that."
+
+The man pointed significantly to a gun which leant against a
+neighbouring tree.  His meaning could not be misunderstood.
+
+That night, Dan and La Certe were fastened to a tree by cords which
+allowed of their moving about freely within a small space, but their
+arms were not unbound.  Here they were allowed to make themselves as
+comfortable as possible in the circumstances.  Their bed, being mossy,
+was well enough, but the distracted state of their minds--especially
+Dan's--may be imagined.
+
+"La Certe," said Dan, when the camp-fire had burned low, and the stars
+were shining on them through the leaves, and all was still, save an
+occasional snore from the Nor'-westers.
+
+La Certe groaned in reply.
+
+Poor Dan was not in a mood to comfort him or anybody else at that
+moment, and did not follow up his remark.
+
+"La Certe," he said again, after a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Do you remember John Bourke?"
+
+"Yes, yes.  I remember him, but I care not for him.  My own sorrows are
+too great."
+
+"Do you recollect," continued Dan, regardless of this despairing remark,
+"that a good while ago the Nor'-westers took him prisoner, when he was
+wounded after a skirmish with them, and carried him to Canada--treating
+him with great barbarity on the way.  There he was put in jail, but, as
+nothing could be proved against him, he was liberated, and then tried to
+return to his family in Red River, but the Nor'-westers caught him
+again, imprisoned him, sent him a second time to Canada, and had him
+tried at the Court of the King's Bench, although his only crime was that
+of resisting the North-West Company.  He was acquitted, and, after
+terrible sufferings from which he never quite recovered and a three
+years' absence, he rejoined his family in Red River."
+
+"Yes, O yes!  I know it all," groaned La Certe.
+
+"Well," continued Dan, bitterly, "his fate is not unlikely to be ours."
+
+The poor half-breed made no reply to this.  For some time he lay quite
+still, and his comrade had almost fallen into an uneasy slumber, when he
+was awakened by La Certe breaking out into a soliloquy in which he
+apostrophised his absent wife.
+
+"O my Slowfoot!" he murmured.  "Shall we never meet again on earth?
+Yes, you are right.  I have been lazy!  I _am_ lazy.  I suppose that
+this is punishment for my sin.  But it is hard to bear, and very heavy--
+is it not?--for only following one's nature in longing for repose.  O!
+why was I born?  Why was our little one born, to enjoy for so brief a
+time the delights of smoke, and then have it denied her--except on the
+sly, when with her miserable father, who will never see her more--
+perhaps."
+
+He paused for a few minutes, and then broke out again.
+
+"Yes, my Slowfoot--you are right.  I must reform.  I will cast off my
+sloth as a garment--even--even though I should go naked all the rest of
+my days!  I will work--energise!  I will--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, La Certe, and listen," said Dan in a low, stern
+voice.
+
+"I am all attention," returned the poor man in a similarly low tone.
+
+"Are you game to fight, if you get the chance?"
+
+"Game to fight!" echoed the other--"to fight for my Slowfoot, my little
+one, my smoke, and my repo--I mean my--my--new--"
+
+"Speak lower, man, and listen to a plan I have in my head."
+
+Here Dan spoke so low that he could not be heard at all, save only by
+his companion; but that is of little consequence, for the plan, whatever
+it might have been, was never carried out.
+
+Next day the Nor'-west party with their two prisoners paddled away
+towards the mouth of the grand turbulent Winnipeg River, and began to
+traverse the weary wilderness-route of rivers and lakes, which at that
+time formed the only direct means of communication between the frontiers
+of Canada and "Rupert's Land."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+THE LAST.
+
+Eagerly, earnestly, doggedly, did Daniel Davidson and Francois La Certe
+watch for a favourable opportunity to escape from their captors, but
+they waited and watched in vain, for their captors were cruel, suspected
+them of the intention to escape, and were consequently careful to
+prevent even an attempt being made.  They never freed their wrists from
+strong cords; kept knives and axes out of their way; tethered them to a
+tree each night, and watched them continually.
+
+Can it be wondered at that, in the circumstances, our unfortunate hero
+became almost insane?  The wedding-day had been fixed before he left Red
+River; preparations were being made for the great event, and it was
+pretty well understood that Dan had gone off hunting with the view,
+chiefly, to be out of people's way till the day should arrive.  They
+would scarcely begin to notice his prolonged absence till the day
+approached.  Then, no doubt, when too late, and he should be far on the
+way to Canada, they would in some alarm send out parties to search for
+him.
+
+Dan became desperate, but he was gifted with an unusual power of
+self-control, so that, beyond a very stern expression, his countenance
+betrayed no sign of the terrible conflict that was raging within--a
+conflict in which mortal hatred of mankind in general and an
+overwhelming desire to kill or be killed formed elements.  Ah! reader,
+poor human beings have many and many a time in the past been brought to
+this terrible condition.  God grant that we and ours may never know what
+it is to tremble on the brink of madness because of the combined
+influence of gross injustice and horrible cruelty.  To do the
+Nor'-westers justice, they were unaware of the intensity of the pain
+they were inflicting.  They had only captured a powerful enemy, and
+meant, by keeping a tight hold of him, to render him powerless in the
+future--that was all!
+
+As for La Certe, they had no intention of taking him to Canada.  They
+only meant to carry him so far on the road, that, when set free, it
+would be impossible for him to get back to the colony in time to give
+effective warning to Dan's friends.
+
+One afternoon the voyagers put ashore at one of the numerous portages
+which obstruct the navigation of that route to Canada, and, after
+unloading the canoe and lifting her out of the water, they proceeded to
+carry the lading across to the still water above the rapids which
+rendered this portage necessary.
+
+Although bound, the prisoners were by no means freed from labour.  The
+cords had been so arranged that they could use the paddle while in the
+canoe; while, on the portages, although unable to load themselves, they
+were quite able to carry a load which others placed on their shoulders.
+On this occasion Dan was first sent off with a load, and then La Certe
+and some of the others followed.  When he reached the upper end of the
+portage, Dan flung down his load, and, from his elevated position, gazed
+wistfully down the valley through which the waters of the Winnipeg River
+roared and seethed among jagged rocks as far as the eye could reach.  It
+was a wild majestic scene, but no thought of its grandeur touched the
+mind of the poor prisoner.  He thought only of escape.  His intimate
+knowledge, however, of the terrific power of rushing water told him that
+there could be no escape in that direction.
+
+"Oh! if my arms were only free, I would risk it!" he murmured, as he
+raised his hands and looked at the powerful thongs of hide with which
+they were bound--thongs which were always drawn tighter when he landed,
+to render an attempt at escape more hopeless.  Then he glanced at the
+rushing river beside him.  A sheer precipice of full thirty feet
+descended from the spot on which he stood to the edge of the flood.
+Just below there was a whirlpool, and beyond that began the first of the
+series of falls and rapids which were avoided by means of the portage.
+Half-mad though he was, he did not dream of attempting such a leap with
+bound hands.  He would wait, and continue to hope for a more favourable
+opportunity, but the possibility of such an opportunity was now growing
+very faint indeed, for even if he did escape, and had a canoe to use, it
+was by that time barely possible to accomplish the journey in time for
+the wedding-day.  But although his hope of being in time had pretty well
+died out, his whole heart was still concentrated on the simple desire to
+escape.
+
+A rush of despair came upon the poor youth just then, and the idea of
+ending his misery by taking his own life occurred to him for a fleeting
+moment, as he gazed wistfully around on water, wood, and sky, and
+observed the laden and toiling men who were slowly clambering up the
+steep towards him--La Certe being in front.
+
+Just then an object among the grass at his feet attracted his attention.
+Stooping, he picked it up and found it to be a scalping-knife!--
+dropped, probably, long before by some passing Indians or voyageurs, for
+it was very rusty.
+
+With a bounding heart and a wild rush of blood to his temples, he sprang
+towards a tree: stuck the point of the knife into it; held the handle
+with his teeth; sawed the thongs across its edge once or twice--and was
+free!
+
+His first impulse was to bound into the woods, but the thought of his
+comrade arrested him.  La Certe was already close at hand.  Running
+towards him he said, quickly, "Drop your load!  Now or never!" and cut
+his bonds at once.  Then, turning, he sprang towards the woods.  But
+from the very opening through which he meant to plunge into the tangled
+thicket, there issued the leader of the Nor'-westers and two of his men.
+The chief was armed with a gun, which he immediately presented.  With
+the instinct of bush-warriors the two prisoners dodged behind rocks, and
+made for the higher ground which Dan had recently quitted.  Here a sheer
+precipice barred further progress.  There was no way of escape but the
+river.  They ran to the edge and looked down.  La Certe shrank back,
+appalled.  Dan glanced quickly round to see if there was any other
+opening.  Then there came over his spirit that old, old resolve which
+has, in the moment of their extremity, nerved so many men to face danger
+and death, from the days of Adam downward.
+
+"Now, La Certe," he said, grasping his comrade's hand: "Farewell!  Death
+or Freedom!  Tell Elspie my last thoughts were of her!"
+
+Almost before the half-breed could realise what was said, Dan had leaped
+over the cliff and disappeared in the raging torrent.  A few seconds
+later he was seen to rise in the whirlpool below the first cataract, and
+to buffet the stream vigorously, then he disappeared a second time.
+Before La Certe could make out whether his friend rose again, he was
+seized from behind, and dragged from the brink of the precipice.
+
+Swift as the hunted stag springs from his covert, and bounds over every
+obstacle with speed and apparent ease, so sprang the chief of the
+Nor'-westers down the rugged path which led to the foot of the series of
+rapids, and the lower end of the portage.  There was good grit in the
+man, morally and physically, for he was bent on a rescue which involved
+considerable danger.
+
+Throwing off his capote, and tightening his belt, he stood on a ledge
+just below the last fall, intently watching the water.
+
+The fall was not high, but it was deep, and rushed into a large dark
+basin with terrible velocity, causing the tormented foam-speckled water
+to circulate round its edges.  In a few moments the form of Dan was seen
+to shoot down the fall and disappear in the basin.  The chief stooped,
+but did not spring until, not far from him, the apparently inanimate
+form reappeared on the surface and began to circle slowly round among
+the flecks of foam.  Then he plunged, swam out with powerful strokes,
+and quickly returned to the shore with Dan in his grasp.
+
+Soon they were surrounded by the other voyageurs, who had left La Certe
+to look after himself,--not caring much, in the excitement of the
+moment, whether he escaped or not.
+
+"He is dead," said one; "he breathes not; and see how his face is
+bruised and cut."
+
+"And his chest, too," said another.  "I think his ribs have been broken.
+Poor fellow!  It was a wild, a reckless jump!"
+
+"Keep back, and let him have air," said the chief, who was doing his
+best, according to his knowledge, to resuscitate Dan.
+
+Presently La Certe arrived, panting.
+
+"O! he is gone!  My comrade, my friend, is dead!" he exclaimed,
+clenching his hands, and gazing at the pale, bruised face.
+
+"You are wrong," exclaimed the chief, testily.  "Out of the way, man!
+See! his eyelids quiver."
+
+And so they did; and so also quivered his lips, and then a sigh came--
+faint and feeble--then stronger, and at last Dan opened his eyes and
+thanked God that his life had been spared.  But when he recovered
+sufficiently to realise his true position as being again a captive, the
+feeling of despair returned.
+
+That night they encamped a mile above the upper end of the portage.  At
+supper the two prisoners were allowed to sit by the camp-fire and eat
+with their hands free.
+
+"Monsieur," said the guide to Dan, respectfully, "you see it is
+impossible to escape.  Why compel us to bind you?  Give me your word of
+honour that you will not try, and your limbs may then remain as free as
+mine."
+
+"I give you my word of honour," answered Dan, with a sardonic smile,
+"that till after breakfast to-morrow I will not try, for I need rest and
+food; but after that, I give you my word that I will never cease to
+try."
+
+With this promise the guide was fain to rest content, and that night Dan
+and his friend were allowed to sleep untethered, which they did soundly.
+
+Next morning they were roused in gentler tones than usual, and not
+required to work--as had been the case hitherto--before breakfast.  In
+short, there was an evident change in the feelings of their captors
+towards them, founded largely, no doubt, on admiration of Dan's reckless
+courage; but that did not induce them in the least degree to relax their
+vigilance, for the moment the hour of truce had passed, the chief
+advanced towards Dan with the thongs to bind him.
+
+For one moment Dan felt an impulse to knock the man down, and then fight
+the whole party until death should end the matter; but the good-humoured
+look on his jailer's face, the fact that the man had saved his life the
+day before, and the certainty of defeat with such odds against him,
+induced him to quell the evil spirit and to hold out his hands.
+
+"Pardon, Monsieur," said the chief, with the politeness of a French
+half-breed.  "I am sorry you refuse to give me your parole.  I would
+rather see you like the rest of us; but my orders are strict, and I must
+obey."
+
+Before Dan could reply, a sound struck on their ears, which caused the
+whole party to listen, immovable and in perfect silence.
+
+It was the wild, plaintive, beautiful song of the voyageur which had
+floated to them on the morning air, softened by distance to a mere echo
+of sweet sound.  After listening intently for a few moments, the guide
+said gently: "Voyageurs."
+
+Again they listened to the familiar sound, which increased in volume and
+strength as it approached, proving that the voyageurs were descending
+the river towards them.  As yet nothing could be seen, for a
+thickly-wooded point intervened.  Presently the song burst on them in
+full resonant chorus; at the same moment two large north-canoes--in all
+the brilliancy of orange-coloured bark, painted bows and sterns,
+red-bladed paddles, with crews of scarlet-capped or bare-headed men
+swept round the point with quick stroke, in time to the rapid measure.
+
+A cheer was the irrepressible impulse of the men on shore, causing the
+newcomers to stop and listen.
+
+"Perhaps," said Dan, "they may be your foes of the Hudson's Bay
+Company."
+
+"That may be so," returned the Nor'-west Chief, gravely.
+
+The unfurling of an "H.B.C." (Hudson's Bay Company) flag proved that it
+was so, to a certainty, and the depressed Nor'-westers did not cheer
+again; but the H B C men came on, paddling with wild vigour and cheering
+hilariously.
+
+"They seem in great spirits," growled the Nor'-west leader.  "We are
+almost as strong as they, boys, and have the advantage of woods and
+cliffs.  Shall we fight and keep our prisoners?"
+
+"What is that white thing in the bow of the first canoe?" said one of
+the men.
+
+"It looks like a flag," said another.
+
+"If so, it is a flag of truce," observed Dan.  "They have something to
+say, and do not want to fight."
+
+"That may be trite, but we won't let _you_ be at the conference,"
+returned the leader, sternly.  "Come, four of you, lead them out of
+earshot.  Take your guns, and use them if need be."
+
+Four powerful fellows at once obeyed the order, and led the prisoners,
+who had been once more bound, into the woods.  Once again Dan was
+tempted to offer fierce resistance, but he knew that the Hudson's Bay
+men were yet too far off to be able to hear shouts--at least to
+understand the meaning of them--and that it would be useless to resist
+such a guard.  He therefore submitted to be led a mile or so into the
+woods, and finally was permitted to sit down with La Certe under a tree
+to await the result of the conference.
+
+They had not to wait long.  In less than half-an-hour one of the younger
+among the Nor'-westers came bounding towards them, waving his cap and
+shouting.
+
+"You are free, Messieurs--free!" he cried, seizing both prisoners by the
+hands.  "We are no longer enemies!"
+
+"Free!  What do you mean?" demanded Dan, who fancied that the young man
+must have gone mad.
+
+"The companies have joined!" he cried, excitedly.  "They are one!  We
+are all friends now; but come and see and hear for yourself."
+
+Filled with wonder, and some small degree of hope, Dan and La Certe
+followed the young man, accompanied by their guards, who were not less
+mystified than themselves.  Arrived at their camping-place, they found
+that the canoes had brought a Chief Trader--or officer of the Hudson's
+Bay Company--who was conveying to Red River, and the interior of
+Rupert's Land generally, the good news of a momentous historical event,
+namely, the union of the two companies.
+
+The important event here referred to, namely, the coalition between the
+two great rival companies, which took place in 1821, was the death-blow
+to party strife over the whole of Rupert's Land, and also inaugurated
+the dawn of lasting prosperity in the Red River Colony.
+
+"Cut their bonds," said the Chief Trader, as the prisoners approached.
+
+No touch of the surgeon's knife ever effected a cure more speedily.
+
+"I congratulate you, young sir," said the Trader, grasping Dan's hand:
+"you are now free, for I understand that your loss of liberty had
+nothing to do with crime, and the rival companies are no longer
+opponents; they are friends.  Indeed, we have been married, so to speak,
+and are now one.  I am on my way to Red River with the good news."
+
+"When do you start?" asked Dan, abruptly.
+
+"Well, if you mean from this spot," answered the Trader, somewhat
+surprised as well as amused at the eagerness of the question, "I start
+at once.  Indeed, I would not have landed here had I not seen your
+party.  You appear to be anxious.  Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because it is of the utmost importance to me that I should be in Red
+River on a certain date, and I fear that that is all but impossible
+now."
+
+Dan then explained, as briefly as possible, his circumstances.
+Fortunately, the Trader was a sympathetic man.  He ordered his crews to
+embark at once and bade the two captives take a brief, if not an
+affectionate, farewell of their late captors.
+
+"I cannot promise you to push on," he said, "at a rate which will
+satisfy you--or even accomplish the end you have in view--but I will do
+the best I can, without overworking my men.  I fear, however, that you
+will have to make up your mind to a delayed wedding!"
+
+"If you will only do your best for a day or two," said Dan, "until we
+reach the mouth of this river, that will do, for there my own hunting
+canoe was left; and, once in that, La Certe and I can go ahead and tell
+them you are coming."
+
+"Nay, that would be requiting me ill--returning evil for good--to take
+the wind out of my sails and make my news stale," returned the Trader,
+with a good-natured laugh.
+
+"True, I did not think of that," said Dan.  "Then we will say not a word
+about it until you arrive."
+
+"Yes, we will be dumb," added La Certe.  "Even Slowfoot shall fail to
+drag it out of me!"
+
+And thus it was arranged.  The (late) Nor'-westers continued their
+voyage to Canada, and the Hudson's Bay men resumed their descent of the
+Winnipeg River.
+
+Arrived at the great lake, the anxious pair did not wait even to rest,
+but at once embarked in their little hunting canoe.
+
+"I'm sorry you are such an unpresentable bridegroom," said the Trader,
+when they were about to separate.  He referred to the cuts and bruises
+with which poor Dan's countenance was temporarily disfigured.
+
+"Never mind," returned our hero, with a laugh, "wait till you see the
+bride; she will more than make up for the shortcomings of the groom.
+Adieu!--_au revoir_!"  They pushed off, and now began a race against
+time, which, in the matters at least of perseverance, persistency, hard
+labour, and determination, beat all the records of bicyclists and
+horsemen from the beginning of time.  Cyclists have frequent down-hills
+to help and rest them; Dan and his friend had no such aids.  It was all
+either dead level or upstream.  Dick Turpin and the rider to Ghent, (we
+forget his name), only killed their horses.  Dan and Francois nearly
+killed themselves--not only with hard work and no rest, but with
+profound anxiety, for the wedding hour was rapidly approaching and they
+were still far from home!
+
+While these events were transpiring in the wilderness, things were going
+smoothly enough in the Colony.
+
+"I will be thinkin'," said old Duncan McKay, one fine evening as he sat
+in his invalid chair, beside Duncan junior, who was woefully reduced and
+careworn, despite the attentions of the sympathetic Jessie Davidson, who
+was seated near him on a rustic seat beside Elspie--
+
+"I will be thinkin' that Tan an' La Certe are stoppin' longer away than
+iss altogither seemly.  Tan should have been here two or three days
+before the weddin'."
+
+"He will likely be time enough for his own weddin'--whatever," remarked
+Duncan junior.  "Don't you think so, Miss Jessie?"
+
+"I think it likely," answered the girl with a smile.
+
+"He is _sure_ to be in time," said Elspie, with emphasis.
+
+"We niver can be sure of anything in this world, my tear," remarked old
+Duncan, becoming oracular in tone.  "How do you know he iss so sure?"
+
+"Because Dan never breaks his word," returned Elspie, with an air of
+decision that would have gratified Dan immensely had he been there to
+see it.
+
+"Fery true, my tear," rejoined the Highlander, "but there are many other
+things that interfere with one's word besides the will.  He might tie,
+you know, or be trowned, or his gun might burst and render him helpless
+for life, if it did not kill him altogither.  It iss an uncertain world
+at the best--whatever."
+
+Archie Sinclair, who joined them--with his brother, Little Bill, by his
+side, not on his back--was of the same opinion as Elspie, but Billie
+shook his head, looked anxious, and said nothing--for he felt that his
+friend was running things much too close.
+
+At a later hour that same evening, the other members of the two
+families--who dropped in to make inquiries--began to express anxiety,
+and Okematan, who called just to see how things were getting on, shook
+his head and looked owlish.  Old Peg said nothing, but she evidently
+thought much, to judge from the deepening wrinkles on her forehead.
+
+As for Fred Jenkins, he was too much taken up with Elise Morel to think
+much about anything, but even he at last grew anxious, and when the
+wedding morning finally dawned, and no Dan made his appearance,
+something like consternation filled the hearts of all within the walls
+of Ben Nevis Hall and Prairie Cottage.  Elspie appeared to feel less
+than the others, but the truth was that she only controlled herself
+better.
+
+"He only wants to take us by surprise," she said, and, under the
+strength of that opinion, she robed herself for the wedding.  Only her
+gravity and the pallor of her cheeks told of uneasiness in her mind.
+
+"Muster Sutherland said he would come soon after breakfast," observed
+old Duncan, uneasily.  "He should hev been here now,--for we need his
+advice sorely."
+
+"Here he iss," exclaimed Fergus, starting up and hurrying forward to
+welcome the good old Elder.
+
+Mr Sutherland's advice was decided, and promptly given.  Both weddings
+should be deferred and all the young men must turn out in an organised
+search without a moment's delay!
+
+It was amazing to find that every one had been of exactly the same
+opinion for some time past, but no one had dared to suggest a course of
+action which implied a belief that Dan might be in imminent danger, if
+not worse.
+
+Now that the ice had been broken, however, all the youth of the
+neighbourhood volunteered for service, and a plan of search was being
+hastily formed under the direction of the Elder, when two men in a canoe
+were seen to paddle very slowly to the landing-place at the foot of the
+garden.  After hauling the end of their canoe on shore, they walked, or
+rather staggered, up towards the house.
+
+One of them tripped and fell, and seemed from his motions as if he
+thought it was not worth while to rise again.  The other, paying no
+attention to his companion, came on.
+
+"Pless my soul!" exclaimed old McKay, "it iss Tan--or his ghost--
+whatever!"
+
+And so it was!  Dirty, bruised, scratched, battered, and soaking wet,
+Daniel Davidson appeared to claim his beautiful bride.  And he did not
+come in vain, for, regardless of propriety and everything else, Elspie
+ran forward with a little shriek and flung herself into his arms.
+
+"I have kept my promise, Elspie."
+
+"I knew you would, Dan!  I _said_ you would."
+
+"Tan, you rascal! come here."
+
+The youth obeyed, languidly, for it was evident that he was thoroughly
+exhausted.
+
+"My poy," said the Highlander, touched by Dan's appearance, "you hev
+been in the watter!"
+
+"Not exactly, father, but last night's thunderstorm caught us, and we
+had no time to seek shelter."
+
+"An' it iss fightin' you hev been?"
+
+"With water and rocks only," said Dan.
+
+"Well, well, go into the house now, and change your clo'es.  Dry
+yourself, an' get somethin' to eat, for you are used up altogither."
+
+Elspie took his hand, and led him away.  Meanwhile La Certe, having
+gathered himself up and staggered to the front, was seized upon and
+questioned unmercifully.  Then he also was taken into the house and fed;
+after which both men were made to lie down and rest.
+
+Having slept for six hours Dan awakened, and rose up to be married!
+Fred Jenkins and Elise were--as the jovial tar expressed it--turned off
+at the same time.
+
+It was customary in Rupert's Land at that time, as it is customary in
+many remote lands, no doubt, at the present day, to celebrate every
+wedding with a feast and a dance.  Feasts are very much alike in
+substance, if not in detail, everywhere.  We refrain from describing
+that which took place in Ben Nevis Hall at that time, further than to
+say that it was superb.  The dancing was simple: it consisted chiefly of
+the Highland Fling danced by the performer according to taste or
+imagination.
+
+But that it was eminently satisfactory to all concerned was clearly
+evinced by the appearance of the whole party--the elegant ease with
+which Fergus McKay did it; the tremendous energy with which Jacques
+Bourassin tried it; the persistent vigour with which Andre Morel studied
+it; the facility with which Elise acquired it--under Elspie's tuition;
+the untiring perseverance with which Archie and Little Bill did
+something like it--for the latter had quite recovered, and was fit to
+hold his own, almost, with any one; the charming confusion of mind with
+which Fred Jenkins intermingled the sailor's hornpipe with it; the
+inimitable languor with which La Certe condescended to go through it;
+the new-born energy with which Slowfoot footed it; the side-splitting
+shrieks with which Old Peg regarded it; the uproarious guffaws with
+which the delighted old Duncan hailed it; the sad smile with which that
+weak and worn invalid Duncan junior beheld it; and, last, but not least,
+the earnest mental power and conspicuous physical ability with which Dan
+Davidson attempted something which Charity personified might have
+supposed to bear a distant resemblance to it.
+
+The music was worthy of the dancing, for the appointed performer had,
+owing to some occult cause, failed to turn up, and a volunteer had taken
+his place with another fiddle, which was homemade, and which he did not
+quite understand.  A small pig with feeble intellect and disordered
+nerves might have equalled--even surpassed--the tones of that violin,
+but it could not hope to have beaten the volunteer's time.  That,
+performed on a board by the volunteer's foot, automatically, beat
+everything that we have ever heard of in the musical way from the days
+of Eden till now.
+
+Only four members of the two households failed to take a violently
+active part in that festive gathering.  Jessie Davidson had conveniently
+sprained her ankle for the occasion, and thus was set free to sit
+between the wheeled chairs of the two Duncans, and act as a sympathetic
+receptacle of their varied commentaries.  Her mother, being too stout
+for active service, sat beside them and smiled universal benignity.  Her
+little maid, Louise, chanced to be ill.  Peter Davidson's case, however,
+was the worst.  He had gone off in company with Okematan to visit a camp
+of Cree Indians, intending to be back in time, but his horse had gone
+lame while yet far from home, and as it was impossible to procure
+another at the time, he was fain to grin and bear it.  Meanwhile Antoine
+Dechamp had been pressed into the service, and took his place as
+best-man to Fred Jenkins--a position which he filled to admiration,
+chiefly owing to the fact that he had never served in such a capacity
+before.
+
+Late on the following evening La Certe sat by his own fireside, somewhat
+exhausted by the festivities of the day before, and glaring
+affectionately at Slowfoot, who was stirring something in a pot over the
+fire.  The little one--rapidly becoming a big one, and unquestionably by
+that time a girl--crouched at her father's side, sound asleep, with her
+head resting on his leg.  She no longer cried for a pull at her father's
+pipe.
+
+"Have you heard that Kateegoose is dead?" asked Slowfoot.
+
+"No--how did he die?"
+
+"He was met on the plains by enemies, killed, and scalped."
+
+"That is sad--very sad," said La Certe.
+
+"The world is well rid of him," observed Slowfoot; "he was a bad man."
+
+"Yes," responded her lord; "it is necessary to get rid of a bad man
+somehow--but--but it is sad--very sad--to kill and scalp him."
+
+La Certe passed his fingers softly among the locks of his sleeping child
+as if the fate of Kateegoose were suggestive!  Then, turning, as from a
+painful subject, he asked--
+
+"Does our little one never smoke now?"
+
+"No--never."
+
+"Does she never wish for it?"
+
+"Slowfoot cannot tell what our little one wishes," was the reply, "but
+she never gets it."
+
+La Certe pondered for some time, and then asked--
+
+"Does my Slowfoot still like _work_?"
+
+"She likes it still--likes it better."
+
+"And she _does_ it--sometimes?"
+
+"Yes, often--always."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because Mr Sutherland advises me--and I like Mr Sutherland."
+
+"Does my Slowfoot expect me to like work too, and to _do_ it?" asked La
+Certe with a peculiar glance.
+
+"We cannot like what we don't like, though we may do it," answered the
+wife, drawing perilously near to the metaphysical, "but Slowfoot expects
+nothing.  She waits.  My Francois is not a child.  He can judge of all
+things for himself."
+
+"That is true, my Slowfoot; and, do you know," he added, earnestly, "I
+have had hard work--awfully hard work--killing work--since I have been
+away, yet it has not killed me.  Perhaps you will doubt me when I tell
+you that I, too, rather like it!"
+
+"That is strange," said Slowfoot, with more of interest in her air than
+she had shown for many a day.  "Why do you like it?"
+
+"I think," returned the husband, slowly, "it is because I like Dan
+Davidson.  I like him very much, and it was to please him that I began
+to work hard, for, you know, he was very anxious to get home in time to
+be at his own wedding.  So that made me work _hard_, and now I find that
+hard work is not hard when we like people.  Is it not strange, my
+Slowfoot?"
+
+"Yes.  Your words are very like the words of Mr Sutherland to-day.  It
+is very strange!"
+
+Yet, after all, it was not so very strange, for this worthy couple had
+only been led to the discovery of the old, well-known fact that--"Love
+is the fulfilling of the law."
+
+There was yet another of those whose fortunes we have followed thus far
+who learned the same lesson.
+
+About the same time that the events just described took place in Red
+River, there assembled a large band of feathered and painted warriors in
+a secluded coppice far out on the prairie.  They had met for a grave
+palaver.  The subject they had been discussing was not war, but peace.
+Several of the chiefs and braves had given their opinions, and now all
+eyes were turned towards the spot where the great chief of all was
+seated, with a white-man beside him.  That great chief was Okematan.
+The Paleface was Peter Davidson.
+
+Rising with the dignity that befitted his rank, Okematan, in a low but
+telling voice, delivered himself, as follows:
+
+"When Okematan left his people and went to live for a time in the
+wigwams of the Palefaces, he wished to find out for himself what they
+wanted in our land, and why they were not content to remain in their own
+land.  The answer that was at first given to my questions seemed to me
+good--a reply that might have even come from the wise heads of the Cree
+Nation; but, after much palaver, I found that there was contradiction in
+what the Palefaces said, so that I began to think they were fools and
+knew not how to talk wisely.  A Cree never reasons foolishly--as you all
+know well--or, if he does, we regard him as nobody--fit only to fight
+and to die without any one caring much.  But as I lived longer with the
+Palefaces I found that they were not all fools.  Some things they knew
+and did well.  Other things they did ill and foolishly.  Then I was
+puzzled, for I found that they did not all think alike, as we do, and
+that some have good hearts as well as good heads.  Others have the heads
+without the hearts, and some have the hearts without the heads--Waugh!"
+
+"Waugh!" repeated the listening braves, to fill up the pause here, as it
+were, with a note of approval.
+
+"The Palefaces told me," continued Okematan with great deliberation, as
+if about to make some astounding revelations, "that their land was too
+small to hold them, and so they came away.  I told them that that was
+wise; that Cree Indians would have done the same.  But then came the
+puzzle, for they told me that there were vast tracts of land where they
+lived with plenty of lakes, rivers, and mountains, in which there was
+nobody--only fish and birds and deer.  Then I said, `You told me that
+your land was too small to hold you; why did you not go and live on
+these mountains, and fish and shoot and be happy?'  To this they
+answered that those fine lands were claimed by a few great chiefs, who
+kept them for their own shooting and fishing, and drove out all the
+braves with their wives and families and little ones to crowd upon the
+shores of the great salt-water lake, and live there on a few fish and
+shells--for even there the great chiefs would not allow them to have all
+the fishing, but kept the best of it for themselves!  Or, if they did
+not like that, the poor braves were told to go and live in what they
+called cities--where there are thousands of wigwams crowded together,
+and even piled on the top of each other,--but I think the Palefaces were
+telling lies when they said that--Waugh!"
+
+Again there were many "Waughie" responses, mingled with numerous "Ho's!"
+of astonishment, and a few other sounds that seemed to indicate
+disbelief in Okematan's veracity.
+
+"What," continued Okematan, with considerable vehemence, "what would my
+braves do if Okematan and a few of the Cree chiefs were to take all the
+lands of Red River, and all the buffalo, and all the birds and beasts to
+themselves, and drive the braves with their families to the shores of
+Lake Winnipeg, to live there on fish, or die, or leave the country if
+they did not like it!  What would they do?"
+
+Okematan's voice increased in fervour, and he put the finishing question
+with an intensity that called forth a chorus of "Waughs!" and "Ho's!"
+with a glittering of eyes, and a significant grasping of scalping-knives
+and tomahawks that rendered further reply needless.
+
+"Would you not scorn us," he continued, "scalp us, tear out our eyes,
+roast us alive?--but no--the Cree Nation loves not cruelty.  You would
+merely pat us on the head, and tell us to go and make moccasins, and
+boil the kettle with the squaws!
+
+"Then, when I began to know them better, I found that all the Paleface
+chiefs over the great salt lake are not greedy and foolish.  Some are
+open-handed and wise.  I also found that there is a tribe among them,
+who lived chiefly in the mountain lands.  These are very kind, very
+brave, very wise, and very grave.  They do not laugh so loud as the
+others, but when they are amused their eyes twinkle and their sides
+shake more.  This tribe is called Scos-mins.  I love the Scos-mins!  I
+lived in the wigwam of one.  He is old and fierce, but he is not bad,
+and his heart is large.  In his house were some other Scos-mins--braves
+and squaws.  They were very kind to me.  This is one of them."
+
+The flashing eyes of the entire party were turned upon Peter Davidson,
+who, however, had presence of mind enough to gaze at the cloudless
+heavens with immovable solemnity and abstraction.
+
+"There are two others, whom I look upon as sons.  One is named Arch-ee;
+the other Leetil Beel.  Now," continued Okematan, after a pause, "my
+advice is that we should teach the Paleface chiefs over the great salt
+lake a lesson, by receiving the poor braves who have been driven away
+from their own lands and treating them as brothers.  Our land is large.
+There is room for all--and _our_ chiefs will never seize it.  Our hearts
+are large; there is plenty of room there too.
+
+"The Great Spirit who rules over all inclines my heart to go and dwell
+with the Palefaces until I understand them better, and teach them some
+of the wisdom of the Red-man.  I shall return to Red River to-morrow,
+along with my Paleface brother whose name is Pee-ter, and while I am
+away I counsel my braves and brothers to dwell and hunt and fish
+together in love and peace."
+
+How it fared with Okematan on his self-imposed mission we cannot tell,
+but we do know that from 1821--the date of the auspicious coalition
+before mentioned--the sorely tried colony began steadily to prosper,
+and, with the exception of the mishaps incident to all new colonies, and
+a disastrous flood or two, has continued to prosper ever since.
+Civilisation has made rapid and giant strides, especially during the
+later years of the century.  The wave has rushed far and deep over the
+old boundaries, and now the flourishing city of Winnipeg, with its
+thousands of inhabitants, occupies the ground by the banks of the Red
+River, on which, not many years ago, the old Fort Garry stood, a sort of
+sentinel-outpost, guarding the solitudes of what was at that time
+considered a remote part of the great wilderness of Rupert's Land.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buffalo Runners, by R.M. Ballantyne
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