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+Project Gutenberg's Annette, The Metis Spy, by Joseph Edmund Collins
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Annette, The Metis Spy
+
+Author: Joseph Edmund Collins
+
+Posting Date: October 2, 2014 [EBook #6668]
+Release Date: October, 2004
+First Posted: January 12, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNETTE, THE METIS SPY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Avinash Kothare, Juliet Sutherland, Charles
+Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ANNETTE, THE METIS SPY:
+
+A HEROINE OF THE N.W. REBELLION.
+
+BY
+
+EDMUND COLLINS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LE CHEF FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE HALF-BREED MAIDEN.
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ANNETTE FORMS AN HEROIC RESOLVE.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LITTLE MAIDEN'S BRAVERY.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ANNETTE'S LOVER IN DANGER.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DIVERS ADVENTURES FOR OUR HEROINE.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A DARING ESCAPE.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FIGHT; A CAPTURE; AND THE GUARDIAN SWAN.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STARS ARE KINDLY TO LE CHEF.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE STARS TAKE A NEW COURSE.
+
+NOTES.
+
+ADDENDUM.
+
+NANCY, THE LIGHT-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER.
+
+
+
+
+ANNETTE;
+
+THE METIS SPY.
+
+A HEROINE OF THE N.W. REBELLION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+LE CHEF FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE HALF-BREED MAIDEN.
+
+
+The sun was hanging low in the clear blue over the prairie, as two
+riders hurried their ponies along a blind trail toward a distant
+range of purple hills that lay like sleepy watchers along the banks
+of the Red River.
+
+The beasts must have ridden far, for their flanks were white with
+foam, and their riders were splashed with froth and mud.
+
+"The day is nearly done, mon ami," said one, stretching out his arm
+and measuring the height of the sun from the horizon. "How red it is;
+and mark these blood-stains upon its face! It gives warning to the
+tyrants who oppress these fair plains; but they cannot read the
+signs."
+
+There was not a motion anywhere in all the heavens, and the only
+sound that broke the stillness was the dull trample of the ponies'
+hoofs upon the sod. On either side was the wide level prairie,
+covered with thick, tall grass, through which blazed the purple,
+crimson and garnet blooms, of vetch and wild pease. The tiger lily,
+too, rose here and there like a sturdy queen of beauty with its great
+terra cotta petals, specked with umber-brown. Here and there, also,
+upon the mellow level, stood a clump of poplars or white oaks--prim
+like virgins without suitors, with their robes drawn close about
+them; but when over the unmeasured plain the wind blew, they bowed
+their heads gracefully, as a company of eastern girls when the king
+commands.
+
+As the two horsemen rode silently around one of these clumps, there
+suddenly came through the hush the sound of a girl's voice singing.
+The song was exquisitely worded and touching, and the singer's voice
+was sweet and limpid as the notes of a bobolink. They marvelled much
+who the singer might be, and proposed that both should leave the path
+and join the unknown fair one. Dismounting, they fastened their
+horses in the shelter of the poplars, and proceeded on foot toward
+the point whence the singing came. A few minutes walk brought the two
+beyond a small poplar grove, and there, upon a fallen tree-bole, in
+the delicious cool of the afternoon, they saw the songstress sitting.
+She was a maiden of about eighteen years, and her soft, silky, dark
+hair was over her shoulders. In girlish fancy she had woven for
+herself a crown of flowers out of marigolds and daisies, and put it
+upon her head.
+
+She did not hear the footsteps of the men upon the soft prairie, and
+they did not at once reveal themselves, but stood a little way back
+listening to her. She had ceased her song, and was gazing beyond
+intently. On the naked limb of a desolate, thunder-riven tree that
+stood apart from its lush, green-boughed neighbours, sat a thrush in
+a most melancholy attitude. Every few seconds he would utter a note
+of song, sometimes low and sorrowful, then in a louder key, and more
+plaintive, as if he were calling for some responsive voice from far
+away over the prairie.
+
+"Dear bird, you have lost your mate, and are crying for her," the
+girl said, stretching out her little brown hand compassionately
+toward the crouching songster. "Your companions have gone to the
+South, and you wait here, trusting that your mate will come back, and
+not journey to summer lands without you. Is not that so, my poor
+bird? Ah, would that I could go with you where there are always
+flowers, and ever can be heard the ripple of little brooks. Here the
+leaves will soon fall, ah, me! and the daisies wither; and, instead
+of the delight of summer, we shall have only the cry of hungry
+wolves, and the bellowing of bitter winds above the lonesome plains.
+But could I go to the South, there is no one who would sing over my
+absence one lamenting note, as you sing, my bird, for the mate with
+whom you had so many hours of sweet love-making in these prairie
+thickets. Nobody loves me, woos me, cares for me, or sings about me.
+I am not even as the wild rose here, though it seems to be alone, and
+is forbidden to take its walk; for it holds up its bright face and
+can see its lover; and he breathes back upon the kind, willing,
+breeze-puffs, through all the summer, sweet-scented love messages,
+tidings of a matrimony as delicious as that of the angels."
+
+She stood up, and raised her arms above her head yearningly. The
+autumn wind was cooing in her hair, and softly swaying its silken
+meshes.
+
+"Farewell, my desolate one; may your poor little heart be gladder
+soon. Could I but be a bird, and you would have me for a companion,
+your lamenting should not be for long. We should journey, loitering
+and love-making all the long sweet way, from here to the South, and
+have no repining."
+
+Turning around, she perceived two men standing close beside her. She
+became very confused, and clutched for her robe to cover her face,
+but she had strayed away among the flowers without it. Very deeply
+she blushed that the strangers should have heard her; and she spake
+not.
+
+"Bonjour, ma belle fille." It was the tall commanding one who had
+addressed her. He drew closer, and she, in a very low voice, her
+olive face stained with a faint flush of crimson, answered,
+
+"Bonjour, Monsieur."
+
+"Be not abashed. We heard what you were saying to the bird, and I
+think the sentiments were very pretty."
+
+This but confused the little prairie beauty all the more. But the
+gallant stranger took no heed of her embarrassment.
+
+"With part of your declaration I cannot agree. A maiden with such
+charms as yours is not left long to sigh for a lover. Believe me, I
+should like to be that bird, to whom you said you would, if you
+could, offer love and companionship."
+
+The stranger made no disguise of his admiration for the beautiful
+girl of the plains. He stepped up by her side, and was about to take
+her hand after delivering himself of this gallant speech, but she
+quickly drew it away. Then, turning to his companion,
+
+"We must sup before leaving this settlement, and we shall accompany
+this bonny maiden home. Go you and fetch the horses; Mademoiselle and
+myself shall walk together." The other did as he was directed, and
+the stranger and the songstress took their way along a little grassy
+path. The ravishing beauty of the girl was more than the
+amorously-disposed stranger could resist, and suddenly stretching
+out his arms, he sought to kiss her. But the soft-eyed fawn of the
+desert soon showed herself in the guise of a petit bete sauvage. With
+an angry scream, she bounded away from his grasp.
+
+"How do you dare take this liberty with me, Monsieur," she said, her
+eyes kindled with anger and hurt pride. "You first meanly come and
+intrude upon my privacy; next you must turn what knowledge you gain
+by acting spy and eavesdropper, into a means of offering me insult.
+You have heard me say that I had no lover to sigh for me. I spoke the
+truth: I _have_ no such lover. But you I will not accept as one." And
+turning with flushed cheek and gleaming eyes, she entered a cosy,
+clean-kept cottage. But she soon reflected that she had been guilty of
+an inhospitable act in not asking the strangers to enter. Suddenly
+turning, she walked rapidly back, and overtook the crest-fallen wooer
+and his companion, and said in a voice from which every trace of her
+late anger had disappeared.
+
+"Entrez, Messieurs."
+
+The man's countenance speedily lost its gloom, and, respectfully
+touching his hat, he said:
+
+"Oui, Mademoiselle, avec le plus grand plaisir." Tripping lightly
+ahead she announced the two strangers, and then returned, going to
+the bars where the cows were lowing, waiting to be milked. The
+persistent stranger had not, by any means, made up his mind to desist
+in his wooing.
+
+"The colt shies," he murmured, "when she first sees the halter.
+Presently, she becomes tractable enough." Then, while he sat waiting
+for the evening meal, blithely through the hush of the exquisite
+evening came the voice of the girl. She was singing from _La Claire
+Fontaine_.
+
+  "A la claire fontaine
+   Je m'allais promener,
+   J'ai trouve l'eau si belle
+   Que je me suis baigne"
+
+Her song ended with her work, and as she passed the strangers with
+her two flowing pails of yellow milk, Riel whispered softly, as he
+touched her sweet little hand:
+
+"Ah, ma petite amie!"
+
+The same flash came in her eyes, the same proud blood appeared red
+through the dusk of her cheek, but she restrained herself. He was a
+guest under her father's roof, and she would suffer the offence to
+pass. The persistent gallant was more crest-fallen by this last
+silent rebuke than by the first with its angry words. The first, in
+his vanity, he had deemed an outburst of petulance, instead of an
+expression of personal dislike, especially as the girl had so
+suddenly calmed herself, and extended hospitalities.
+
+He gnashed his teeth that a half-breed girl, in an obscure village,
+should resent his advances; he for whom, if his own understanding was
+to be trusted, so many bright eyes were languishing. At the evening
+meal he received courteous, kindly attention from Annette; but this
+was all. He related with much eloquence all that he had seen in the
+big world in the East, during his school days, and took good care
+that his hosts should know how important a person he was in the
+colony of Red River. To his mortification, he frequently observed in
+the midst of one of his most self-glorifying speeches that the girl's
+eyes were abstracted. He was certain that she was not interested in
+him, or in his exploits.
+
+"Can she have a lover?" he asked himself, a keen arrow of jealousy
+entering at his heart, and vibrating through his veins. "No, this
+cannot be. She said in her musings on the prairie, that she had
+nobody who would sing a sad song if she were to go to the South.
+Stop! She may love, and not find her passion requited. I shall stay
+here until the morrow, and let the great cause wait. Through the
+evening I shall reveal who I am, and then see what is in the wind."
+
+During the course of the evening the audacious stranger was somewhat
+confounded to learn that the father of his fair hostess was none
+other than Colonel Marton, an ex-officer of the Hudson Bay Company, a
+man of wide influence among all the Metis people, and one of the most
+sturdy champions of the half-breed cause. Indeed he was aware that
+Colonel Marton was at this very time about preaching resistance to
+the people, organising forces, and preparing to strike a blow at the
+authority of the Government in the North-West.
+
+"It is discourteous, perhaps, Mademoiselle, that I should not
+disclose to you who I am, even though the safety of my present
+undertaking demands that I should remain unknown."
+
+"If Monsieur has good reasons, or any reasons, for withholding his
+name, I pray that he will not consider himself under any obligation
+to reveal it."
+
+"It would be absurd to keep such a secret, Ma petite Brighteye, from
+the beautiful daughter of a man so prominent in our holy cause as
+Colonel Marton. You this evening entertain, Mademoiselle, none other
+than Louis Riel, the Metis chief."
+
+"Monsieur Riel," exclaimed the girl in astonishment, and somewhat in
+awe. "Why, we thought that Monsieur was far beyond the prairie,
+providing ammunition for the troops."
+
+"I have been there Mademoiselle, and seen every trusty Metis armed,
+and ready to follow when the leaders cry Allons!"
+
+Paul, the girl's brother, believed that there had never lived a hero
+so brave and so mighty as the man now under his father's roof. As for
+poor Annette, she bethought of her outburst of temper and lack of
+respect toward the chief; and she trembled to think that she might
+have given offense to a man so illustrious, and one who was the head
+of the sacred cause of her father and of her people.
+
+"But why should he address a poor simple girl like me?" she mused;
+and then as she reflected that the leader had a wife and children in
+Montana, and if report spoke true, a half-breed bride in a prairie
+village besides, a round red spot came into each cheek and burned
+there like a little fire.
+
+The chief watched the changing colour in the maiden's face, and saw
+also in the great dark, velvety eyes, the reflection of her thoughts
+as they came and went, plainly as you may see the shadows upon an
+autumn day chase each other over the prairie meadows.
+
+Paul went out for a little; the chief's companion had retired to his
+couch; and Riel was left alone with the girl.
+
+"Mademoiselle must not shrink from me; she is too beautiful to be
+unkind. Ah ma petite Amie, those adorable lips of yours are made to
+kiss and kiss, not to pout and cry a lover nay. Through this wide
+land there is many a maid who would glory in the love, my beautiful
+girl, that I offer you." He advanced towards the maid, trembling with
+his passion, and dropped upon his knee.
+
+"You would not let me kiss your lovely lips; pray sweet lady of my
+heart, let me take your sweet little hand."
+
+The girl was trembling like a bird when the eagle's wings hover over
+its nest. "O, why does a great hero like Monsieur address such words
+to me? I am only a simple girl, living here upon the plains; besides,
+if I could give the brave leader my heart, it would be wrong to do
+so, for he is already wedded."
+
+"Do not speak of the ceremonies which men have muttered, binding man
+and woman, when the _heart_ cries out. Do not deny me your love my sweet
+girl," and the villain once more seized the maiden's waist, and sought
+to kiss her lips. But she screamed, and struggled from his embrace.
+
+"Paul, Paul, mon frere, come to me." Her cries speedily brought her
+brother. But Monsieur Riel had taken his seat, and he lowered upon
+the girl who sat like a frightened fawn upon her chair, her great
+eyes glimmering with starting tears.
+
+"What is wrong Annette?" the boy asked, leaning affectionately over
+his sister.
+
+"She is not brave Paul. A shadow passed the window which was nothing
+more than my own, and she believed it to be that of a hostile Indian."
+
+"What a silly girl you are, Annette," her brother said, softly
+smiting her cheek with his finger-tips.
+
+The maiden did not make any explanation, but in a very wretched and
+embarrassed way arose and said, "Good night."
+
+Nothing was said about the matter in the morning, and as the girl
+passed on her way to milk the cows Riel murmured,
+
+"Mademoiselle will not say anything of the cause of her out-cry last
+night?"
+
+"I will not Monsieur; if you will promise not to address any words
+of love-making to me again."
+
+"I promise nothing, foolish maiden; but I have to ask that you will
+not make of Louis Riel an enemy."
+
+When breakfast was ended he perceived Annette rush to the window,
+and then hastily and with a dainty coyness withdraw her head from the
+pane; and at the same moment he heard a sprightly tune whistle'd.
+Looking down the meadow he saw a tall, well-formed young white man, a
+gun on his back, and a dog at his heels, walking along the little
+path toward the cottage.
+
+"This is the lover," he muttered; "curses upon him." From that
+moment he hated with all the bitterness of his nature the man now
+striding carelessly up towards the cottage door.
+
+"Bonjour, mademoiselle et messieurs" the newcomer said in cheery
+tones, as he entered, making a low bow.
+
+"Bonjour, Monsieur Stephens, was the reply. Louis Riel, intently
+watching, saw the girl's colour come and go as she spoke to the
+visitor. The young man stayed only for a few moments, and the chief
+observed that everybody in the house treated him as if in some way he
+had been the benefactor of all. When he arose to go, Paul, who knew
+of every widgeon in the mere beyond the cottonwood grove, and where
+the last flock of quail had been seen to alight, followed him out of
+the door, and very secretly communicated his knowledge. Annette had
+seen a large flock of turkeys upon the prairie a few moments walk
+south of the poplar grove, and perhaps they had not yet gone away.
+
+"When did you see them, ma chere demoiselle?" enquired Stephens. "You
+know turkeys do not settle down like immigrants on one spot, and wait
+till we inhabitants of the plains come out and shoot them. Was it
+last week, or only the day before yesterday?" There was a very merry
+twinkle in his eye as he went on with this banter. Annette affected
+to pout, but she answered.
+
+"This morning, while the dew was shining upon the grass, and you, I
+doubt not, were sleeping soundly, I was abroad on the plains for the
+cows. It was then I saw them. I am glad, however, that you have
+pointed out the difference between turkeys and immigrants. I did not
+know it before." He handed her a sun-flower which he had plucked on
+the way, saying,
+
+"There, for your valuable information, I give you that. Next time I
+come, if you are able to tell me where I can find several flocks, I
+shall bring you some coppers." With a world of mischief in his eyes,
+he disappeared, and Annette, in spite of herself, could not conceal
+from everybody in the house a quick little sigh at his departure.
+
+"It seems to me this Monsieur Stephens is a great favourite with
+you folk?" said M. Riel, when the young man had left the cottage.
+"Now had I come for sport, no pretty eyes would have seen any flocks
+to reserve for me." And he gave a somewhat sneering glance at poor
+Annette, who was pretending to be engaged in examining the petals of
+the sun-flower, although she was all the while thinking of the
+mischievous, manly, sunny-hearted lad who had given it to her. M.
+Riel's words and the sneer were lost, so far as she was concerned.
+Her ears were where her heart was, out on the plain beyond the
+cottonwood, where she could see the tall, straight, lithe figure of
+young Stephens, and his dog at his heels.
+
+"Oui, Monsieur," returned Paul, "Monsieur Stephens is a very great
+favourite with our family. We are under an obligation to him that it
+will be difficult ever to repay."
+
+"Whence comes this benefactor," queried M. Riel, with an ugly sneer,
+"and how has he placed you under such an obligation?" Then,
+reflecting that he was showing a bitterness respecting the young man
+which he could neither explain nor justify, he said:
+
+'"Mais, pardonnez-moi. Think me not rude for asking these questions.
+When pretty eyes are employed to see, and pretty lips to tell of,
+game for one sportsman in preference to another, the neglected one
+might be excused for seeking to know in what way fortune has been
+kind with his rival."
+
+"Shall I tell the whole story, Annette" enquired Paul, "or will you
+do so?"
+
+"O, I know that you will not leave anything out that can show the
+bravery of Mr. Stephens," replied the girl.
+
+"Well, last spring, Annette was spending some days with her aunt, a
+few miles up Red River. It was the flood time, and as you remember,
+the river was swollen to a point higher than it had ever reached
+within the memory of any body in the settlement. Annette is
+venturesome, and since a child has shown a keen delight in going upon
+boats, or paddling a canoe; so, one day, during the visit which I
+have mentioned, she went into a birch that swung in a little pond,
+formed behind her uncle's premises by the over-flowing of the
+stream's channel. Untying the canoe, she seized the blade and began
+to paddle about in the lazy water. Presently she reached the eddies,
+which, since a child, she has always called the 'rings of the
+water-witches,' wherever she learned that term. Her cousin Violette was
+standing in the doorway as she saw Annette move off, and she cried
+out to her to beware of the eddies; but my sister, wayward and
+reckless as it is her habit to be in such matters, merely replied
+with a laugh; and then as the canoe began to turn round and round in
+the gurgling circles she cried out.
+
+"I am in the rings of the water-witches. C'est bon! bon! C'est
+magnifique! O I wish you were with me, Violette, ma chere. It is so
+delightful to go round and round." A little way beyond, not more than
+twice the canoe's length, rushed by roaring, the full tide of the
+river.
+
+"Beware, Annette, beware, for the love of heaven, of the river. If
+you get a little further out, and these eddies must drag you out, you
+will be in the mad current, and no arm can paddle the canoe to land
+out of the flood. Then, dear, there is the fall below, and the fans
+of the mill. Come back, won't you! But my sister heeded not the
+words. She only laughed, and began dipping water from the eddies with
+the paddle-blade, as if it were a spoon she had in her hand. 'I am
+dipping water from the witches-rings,' she cried. 'How the drops
+sparkle! Every one is a glittering jewel. I wish you were here with
+me, Violette!' Suddenly and in an altered tone, she cried, 'Mon Dieu!
+My paddle is gone.' The paddle had no sooner glided out into the
+rushing, turbulent waters than the canoe followed it, and Annette saw
+herself drifting on to her doom. Half a mile below was the fall, and
+at the side of the fall, went ever and ever around with tremendous
+violence, the rending fans of the water-mill. Annette knew full well
+that any drift boat, or log, or raft, carried down the river at
+freshet-flow, was always swept into the toils of the inexorable
+wheels. Yet, if she were reckless and without heed a few minutes
+before, I am told that now she was calm. Violette gave the alarm that
+Annette was adrift in the river without a paddle, and in a few
+seconds every body living near had turned out, and was running down
+the shore. Several brought paddies, but it took hard running to keep
+up with the canoe, for the flood was racing at a speed of eight miles
+an hour. When they did get up in line each one flung out a paddle.
+But one fell too far out, and another not far enough. About fifteen
+men were along the banks in violent excitement, and every one of them
+saw nothing but doom for Annette. As the canoe neared a point about
+two hundred yards above the falls, a young white-man--all the rest
+were bois-brules--rushed out upon the bank, with a paddle in his
+hand, and without a word sprang into the mad waters. With a few
+strokes he was at the side of the canoe, and put the paddle into
+Annette's hand. 'Here;' he said, 'Keep away from the mill; that is
+your only danger; and steer sheer over the falls, getting as close as
+possible to the left bank.' The height of the fall, as you are aware,
+was not more than fifteen or eighteen feet, and there was plenty of
+water below, with not very much danger from rocks. 'Go you on shore
+now and I will meet my doom, or achieve my safety,' my sister said;
+but the young man answered, 'Nay, I will go over the fall too: I can
+then be of some service to you.' So he swam along by the canoe's side
+directing my sister, and shaping the course of the prow on the very
+brink of the fall. Then all shot over together. The canoe and
+Annette, and the young man were buried far under the terrible mass of
+water, but they soon came to the surface again, when the heroic
+stranger seized my sister, and through the fury of the mad churning
+flood, landed her unhurt upon the bank. That young man was Philip
+Edmund Stephens, whom you saw here this morning. Is it any wonder,
+think you, Monsieur, that when Annette sees wild turkeys upon the
+prairie, she keeps the knowledge of it to herself till she gets the
+ear of her deliverer?
+
+"A very brave act, indeed, on the part of this young man," replied
+the swarthy M. Riel. "He has excellent judgment, I perceive, or he
+would not so readily have calculated that no harm could come to any
+one who could swim well, by being carried over the Falls."
+
+Annette's eyes flashed a little at this cold blooded discounting of
+the generous, uncalculating bravery of her young preserver; but she
+made no reply.
+
+"This Monsieur Stephens is, if I mistake not, Mademoiselle, a very
+zealous servant of Government, and his chief duty now is to keep
+watch over the assemblies held by the Half-breed people. I cannot
+suppose that Colonel Marton is aware of the intimacy between a deadly
+enemy of our cause and the members of his household."
+
+"Indeed, Monsieur, there is no intimacy more than what you have
+seen," the girl replied, the roses now out of her cheek. "Thrice,
+since rescuing me, Mr. Stephens has been at our home, and I believe
+that, henceforth, his duty will take him to a distant part of the
+territory." As she said these words her eyes fell, and her bosom
+heaved a little.
+
+Riel was upon his feet. "If I find this young spy anywhere about
+this settlement again, I shall see that he is cared for." Then as
+Paul and his companion went out, he drew himself to his full height
+and continued:
+
+"Annette, get your heart away from this young man; such love can
+only bring you ruin. From me you shall hear again, and hear soon.
+Farewell." As the girl put out her hand, he drew her suddenly into
+his arms, and before she could cry or struggle, kissed her upon the
+mouth.
+
+Then he was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ANNETTE FORMS AN HEROIC RESOLVE.
+
+
+All day long Annette was in sore trouble, for she felt that the
+words of the rebel chief boded no good to herself or to her deliverer.
+
+"Why should he think that I loved Captain Stephens?" the girl
+murmured, as a soft tinge of crimson stole into her cheek. "I am sure
+that I behaved in no way to him, that a girl should not act towards
+the man who had risked his life to save hers."
+
+With the dusk came her father, his horse covered with foam; for he
+had ridden fast and far.
+
+"Why is my daughter's cheek so pale?" he asked as he came into the
+sweet, tidy cottage, with its trailing morning glories, and bunches
+of mignonette.
+
+"I have been a little disturbed, papa. The Metis chief and one of
+his friends stayed here last night. O, I do fear that we are now very
+near an outbreak. Is it not so, my father? Will you not tell me?"
+
+"It is even so, child. Already nearly a thousand men, including
+Bois-Brule's and Indians have arms in their hands, and await the
+words of their leaders."
+
+"But, papa, can good really come of this insurrection which you
+propose? I mean, mon pere, can you and Monsieur Riel, with your
+scattered followers, who have no money, no garrisons, no means of
+holding out in a long struggle, hope to overcome the numerous trained
+soldiers of the Government, with the money and the enthusiasm of a
+nation at their back?"
+
+"You talk, my daughter, as if some friend of Government had been
+pouring his tale into your ear. Now, Annette, child, I love you very
+dearly, and I am grateful to this young man who has saved your life;
+but as the opinions which you have expressed could only have come
+from him I must ask that further intercourse between you and him
+ceases till this great issue has been fought out and settled."
+
+"Captain Stephens, mon pere, has never uttered a word to me about
+these matters; and the opinions which I have, worthless though they
+be, are my own. Ah, papa, you surely have not forgotten the last
+struggle. Monsieur Riel, then, had some sort of right to set up his
+authority in a province which for a time came not under the
+jurisdiction of the Company or of the Dominion; the clergy were at
+his back; he had possession of the strongest Fort in the North-West
+Territories, and provisions enough to supply his forces for a year.
+Yet, at the very beating of the soldiers' drums he fled like a felon,
+and was obliged to beg a mouthful of food in his flight to exile. The
+circumstances now are not nearly so auspicious. How, then, can you
+hope to succeed?"
+
+"You are not familiar, child, with affairs in these territories; and
+you neither know the extent of the discontent, nor the causes which
+have led to it. The Half-Breed people and the Indian tribes have been
+treated by government and their agents, worse than we would use our
+dogs. Instead of sending honest and capable men to rule here, they
+appoint adventurers whose only object is to make money during their
+residence, at the expense of the people. You are not wholly ignorant
+of the conduct of Lieutenant-Governor Tewtney. Since his arrival in
+the territories he has never been known to give a patient hour to
+hearing the grievances of the half-breed people; but he is forever
+abroad grabbing up plots of choice land, and securing timber and
+mineral leases; or furthering the schemes of knots of friends and
+advisers gathered about him. I shall relate one instance which has
+just came to light, and it will serve as an example of this man's
+career. Some time ago a friend of his imported a large quantity of
+meat, but upon arrival it was found to be unwholesome and foul. This
+man went to Governor Tewtney and he said.
+
+"'All my consignment of meat is spoilt. Isn't that a great loss?'
+
+"'No loss at all my dear friend,' replied the Governor: 'give it to
+the Indians and half-breeds.' Now you are aware that government had
+undertaken to give relief to the Indians and to the Metis, with
+employment that would bring them food. Well, this meat was given to
+both, and for every pound of the foul meat the wretched Breed or
+Indian was charged fifteen, cents. One of the chief's and also a
+Metis, went to the Governor and complained that the meat was vile and
+unwholesome; but they only received this in reply:
+
+"'You are becoming very choice, you fellows. You will eat this meat,
+or starve and be d--d.'
+
+"Year after year, the half-breed who has toiled upon his holding, has
+applied for a grant of this holding under the law, but has applied in
+vain; and a friend of Mr. Tewtney coming in may drive him off his
+farm, and profit by his toil and skill.
+
+"All these things have been represented at Ottawa by the priests and
+the people; and the only reply that has been obtained, in effect, is
+this:
+
+"'What a troublesome, noisy set these savages and half-breeds are!
+Cease pestering us. We will not, and cannot, do more for you than we
+have done.'
+
+"When a new minister of these Territories was appointed, our priests
+waited at his office and besought him for God's holy sake, to listen
+to the people's wrongs; and to enquire into the doings of Governor
+Tewtney; but it is a fact that he actually went asleep in his chair,
+while the delegates were stating their case. Instead of making
+enquiry into the grievances, he hastily packed his trunks and went
+away to England to obtain a knighthood, which had been promised to
+him. While he was running back and forth between his lodgings and
+Downing street, the officials here were laying upon our backs the
+last weight that our endurance could bear."
+
+While he was speaking there suddenly arose, outside, a jingling of
+bells, and a clashing of cymbals; and looking through the window
+father and daughter beheld a numerous band of painted Indians
+advancing, brandishing tomahawks, and singing war songs.
+
+"I hope these savages will not make a bungle of things," the Colonel
+said; "I wonder who has started them upon the war-path?" Then going
+to the door he raised his voice.
+
+"Where go my friends the Crees?"
+
+The chief, a tall and magnificent savage, put his finger on his lips
+and advanced:
+
+"Me speak inside with the colonel. Chief Louis Riel has ordered our
+braves to surround the Hickory Bush, when the moon rises. Captain
+Stephens, police spy, and heap of other spies there. Take em all and
+put em in wigwam a long way off. Mebbe shoot em. Tall Elk comes to
+see if Great Colonel would like to come too."
+
+"Thank you, chief; I would rather not be at the capture of Captain
+Stephens. You know he saved la Reina here, from being drowned in the
+whirlpool."
+
+The "Queen" was the name by which Annette was known among all the
+Indians and Metis that lived upon the plain. "But," continued the
+Colonel, "I hope that Tall Elk and his braves will do no harm to
+Stephens. He is not with us, but he is a brave, good man, and love
+our people. In acting against us he is only doing his duty."
+
+"Ugh! It is well," grunted the chief. "Will look after Stephens
+myself."
+
+But this assurance did not satisfy Annette, who stood, during the
+dialogue, with throbbing heart and pale cheek. The threats of the
+Rebel Chief still lingered in her ear; and she knew that her
+deliverer's life would not be safe in the hands of the terrible man.
+She said naught, but a bold resolution passed like a flame through
+her brain. In a little while the chief departed, and at the head of
+his painted warriors struck out across the dark prairie in the
+direction of Hickory Bush. The Bush was about twelve miles distant,
+and the rising of the moon would be in two hours.
+
+In a little while the girl said, "Papa, I am so disturbed to-night
+that I cannot sit up with you as long as usual: good-night." Then she
+kissed her father who caressed her silken hair; and she left the room.
+
+Now, Annette had as a companion or attendant, an orphan girl, named
+Julie. She was not tall and graceful like Annette, but her olive face
+was stained with delicate carnation, and her little mouth resembled a
+rose just about to open. She was intelligent, active and
+affectionate; and the great aim of her existence was to serve a
+mistress whom she almost adored.
+
+"Come to me, Julie," Annette whispered as she passed the girl.
+
+"Well, mademoiselle, what can Julie do?"
+
+"Captain Stephens, as you are aware, ma petite Julie, is to be
+captured to-night by those savages who have just left our house.
+Monsieur Riel hates my deliverer, and I shudder to think that he
+should fall into his hands. I mean to-night to warn him of his danger.
+
+"Brava!" exclaimed the girl; "c'est bon! It is so like my brave
+mistress. Ah, mademoiselle, I have seen Monsieur le Chef look upon
+you; and there was great love in his eye. But it was not the good,
+the _holy_ kind. Ah! It was bad. He hates le Capitaine, because
+he saved you from the chute.
+
+"Ah, then my little Julie, you know? Yes, it is all as you say; and
+this is why my heart flutters so for the fate of Monsieur Stephens. I
+want my bay saddled and led quietly out to the poplar bush; and I
+shall come there in a little."
+
+Julie kissed the forehead of her mistress, and then tripped away
+daintily and softly as a fawn to do the bidding.
+
+Before ten minutes had elapsed, an Indian boy, of lithe and graceful
+figure, walked swiftly down the path toward the bush. As he reached
+the little grove, another figure emerged from the shadow and said in
+a low tone:
+
+"Tres bien!" This was Julie, and the Indian boy was Annette,
+disguised so perfectly that her father could not have guessed the
+truth were he standing by. She wore a buff coat and deer skin
+leggings; and about her waist was a belt in which were stuck a long
+knife and a pair of pistols. She patted her pony, took the bridle in
+her little brown hand, and vaulted lightly into her seat. "There now,
+Julie; return quickly, and go to your room."
+
+"Au plaisir, portez-vous bien, ma maitresse."
+
+"I shall take care of myself. Adieu;" and she galloped down the
+grassy knoll, and out upon the prairie.
+
+Although the plain was a great, dusky blur, this observant maiden
+knew the route as accurately as if the meridian sun were shining; and
+her horse, guessing that his mistress was on an errand of life and
+death, flew lightly over the level sod, as if he were a thing woven
+of the winds. She was aware that her horse could outdistance an
+Indian pony; and after half an hour's ride knew that the band must
+now be fully a couple of miles in the rear. But she kept on till she
+judged that fifteen minutes more must bring her to the encampment at
+Hickory Bush. Then through the hush of the night came to her ear a
+far off, indistinct sound, which resembled galloping thunder. She
+knew not what it could mean, unless indeed it was the tumult of some
+distant waterfall, borne hither now because, mayhap, a storm was
+brewing, and the dense air was a better carrier of the sound. The
+moon was now pushing its wide yellow edge above the plain, and she
+was enabled to see objects for a considerable distance around. But
+nothing met her view, save here and there a hummock or a clump of
+poplars. She rode on marvelling what the sound might be, for the
+noise was constantly becoming louder, and growing
+
+  "Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before"
+
+when lo! out of the west come what seemed a dim shadow moving across
+the plain. With hushed breath she watched the dark mass move along
+like some destroying tempest and, as it seemed to her, with ten
+thousand devils at its core. Chained to the ground with a terrible
+awe, she stood fast for many minutes, till at last in the dim light
+she saw eye-balls that blazed like fire, heads crested with rugged,
+uncouth horns and shaggy manes; and then snouts thrust down, flaring
+nostrils, and rearing tails.
+
+"My God, a buffalo herd!" she exclaimed. Close at hand was a tall
+boulder in the shelter of which she instantly secured her horse; then
+running a few paces to where stood a tall, sturdy poplar, she
+clambered into its branches.
+
+Then the tremendous mass, headed by maddened bulls, with blazing
+eyes and foaming nostrils, drove onward toward the south, like an
+unchained hurricane. Some of the terrified beasts ran against the
+trees, crushing horns and skull, and fell prone upon the plain to be
+trampled to jelly by the hundreds of thousands in rear. The tree upon
+which the girl had taken refuge received many a shock from a crazed
+bull; and it seemed to Annette from her perch in the branches, as if
+all the face of the plains was being hurled toward the south in the
+wildest turmoil. Hell itself let loose could present no such
+spectacle as this myriad mass of brute life sweeping over the lonely
+plain under the elfin light of the new-risen moon. Clouds of steam,
+wreathing themselves into spectral shapes rose from the dusky,
+writhing mass, and the flaming of myriad eyeballs in the gloom
+presented a picture more terrible than ever came into the imagination
+of the writer of the Inferno.
+
+The spectacle, as observed by the girl some twenty feet from the
+ground, might be likened somewhat to a turbulent sea when a sturdy
+tide sets against the storm, and the mad waves tumble hither and
+thither, foiled and impelled, yet for all the confusion and
+obstruction moving in one direction with a sweep and a force that no
+power could chain.
+
+Circling among and around the strange dusk clouds of steam that went
+up from the herd were scores of turkey buzzards, their obscene heads
+bent downward, their sodden eyes gleaming with expectancy. Well they
+knew that many a gorgeous feast awaited them wherever boulder, tree
+or swamp lay in the path of the mighty herd. At last the face of the
+prairie had ceased its surging; no lurid eye-ball light gleamed out
+of the dusk; and the tempest of cattle had passed, and went rolling
+out into the unbounded stretches of the dim, yellow plain.
+
+When the ground was clear she descended from the tree, every limb
+trembling, lest in the delay the Indians should have accomplished
+their object. When she reached her horse, she found near by a heap of
+dead and struggling buffalo, which in their headlong race had run
+over the bluff front of the boulder. When she resumed her gallop she
+observed that the great amplitude of rich grasses was like unto a
+ploughed field. The herbage had been literally crushed into mire, and
+this the innumerable hoofs had churned up with the soft rich soil.
+The leguminous odors of the trodden clover and the rank masses of
+wild pease, together with the dank earthy smell of the broken sod,
+rose offensively in the girl's face. Her course now lay along an
+upland covered with straggling copses of white oak and poplar. In the
+dim valley beyond, lying drunken under the moonlight, was Hickory
+Bush. Upon the solid crest of the little hill the hoofs rang out
+sharply; but the girl's quick ear detected noises besides those which
+came from the trample of her horse. Still she swept on, with a long
+swing, resembling the flight of a swallow. A small grove lay in
+front, and as she swerved around this a horseman sprang suddenly
+before her.
+
+"Stop!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LITTLE MAIDEN'S BRAVERY.
+
+
+She pulled her rein, but her eye flashed and she grasped the butt of
+her pistol.
+
+"Who dares call upon me to stop? Have I not the right of way on
+these prairies?"
+
+"I call you to stop," replied the horseman, riding up close to the
+girl, and pushing back his hat. "_I_ do. Look and see if you know me?"
+Full well she knew who the interceptor was. The first sound of his voice
+had gone with a shiver to her heart. "Ah, you know the Metis chief?"
+
+"But I wish to pass on, monsieur. Even you, le grand Chef, have no
+right to stop me without cause; and I now ask you again to let me
+pass."
+
+"I will not because I have reason."
+
+"What is it, monsieur?"
+
+"You are a spy. You are an enemy to the cause."
+
+"Even to you, monsieur, I say it is a lie. I will pass;" and she
+struck her heels into her horse's flank. The animal bounded forward,
+but the rebel chief seized the bridle, as he cried:
+
+"You are an enemy to the cause; and you go now to the enemy. I know
+you, mademoiselle Annette." And a terrible light blazed in his eyes,
+as he looked the disguised maiden in the face.
+
+"Ay, monsieur! you are quick at penetrating disguises. I am
+Mademoiselle Annette; and I go to the enemy. Nor can monsieur hinder
+me." As she spoke these words she suddenly drew a pistol, and cocking
+it placed the cold, glittering barrel within a foot of the leader's
+face.
+
+"Unhand my bridle or by our Holy Lady I fire." The coward hand
+quivered, the fingers relaxed, and the bridle was free.
+
+"Now I advise monsieur to meddle with me no more this night. I will
+not suffer any bar to my project; I have sworn it." So saying her
+horse sprang forward, and she disappeared down the slope, leaving the
+baulked chief sitting upon his horse still as a stone. Away, away out
+over the soft grassy plain she sped, swiftly and as lightly as a bird
+might fly. Three minutes brought her in sight of Hickory Bush, a
+grove of trees straggling up from the flat in the moonlight, and
+resembling a congregation of witches with draggled hair, suffering
+torture. Beyond the trees shone a cluster of white camps; and the
+girl's heart gave a great bound as she saw by the order prevailing
+there, that the inmates had been so far unmolested. She sprang into
+the midst of the camps and shouted,
+
+"Awaken! Arise! Quick! The Crees are bound hither to make you
+captives. Allons! Allons!"
+
+A tall supple figure sprang from one of the tents. How readily she
+recognised his manly step, his proud head, his bright eye, his
+musical voice.
+
+"Who are you? Why this attack?"
+
+"I am you friend. Away, if you value your liberty, and mount your
+horse. I await to lead you from the danger." With motion quick and
+noiseless as the movements of night birds, the inmates of the tents
+armed themselves, strapped their knapsacks, and got into the saddle.
+No one questioned the graceful Indian boy further. There was
+something so appealing in his voice, so impatient in his gestures as
+he waited for their departure, that suspicion could not lurk in any
+mind.
+
+"Hark!" cried the unknown. "They come. Hear you not the dull trample
+of their hoofs?"
+
+"By the saints in heaven, yes, and I see them too," said one of the
+party, looking from his saddle through a night-glass.
+
+
+"Away, away," cried the Indian boy. "Follow me;" and as the savages
+behind surrounded the empty tents with their hellish cries, he led
+the rescued ones at full speed down the valley, around the northern
+edge of Hickory Ridge, and out toward the Chequered Hills. After half
+an hour's ride, he drew bridle and the company gathered about him.
+Captain Stephens was the first to speak.
+
+"Brave lad, we owe our liberty to you; yet wherefore, I am sure, I
+cannot tell."
+
+But the boy only raised his hand, as if imposing silence upon that
+point.
+
+"You are by no means safe from the Indians yet. They will scour the
+plains, and on this untrodden prairie you cannot conceal your trail.
+My advice is that you make no delay, but push on to Fort Pitt, which
+is only about twelve miles distant."
+
+"Of all points this is the one that I should most desire to be at,"
+responded Stephens; "but I do not know that I can find Pitt."
+
+One of the number had been at the Fort a few years before; but he
+could not make it again from this unknown part of the prairie.
+
+"Follow me, then," answered the unknown. "I shall take you through
+the hills by a short route to the river. Then you need but to follow
+the bank to find the fort;" and as he spoke he once more dashed his
+heels into his horse's flanks and set off towards the center of the
+group of hills, that resembled in the distance a row of Dutchwomen in
+heavy petticoats.
+
+Several times as the party followed their deliverer, Stephens would
+exclaim,
+
+"Where have I heard that voice? The tone is familiar to me, but I
+cannot give the slightest guess as to the boys' identity."
+
+"Do you think he is an Indian?" enquired one.
+
+"His voice is certainly finer and sweeter than any Indian's that I
+have ever heard. And his French is perfect.
+
+"True, captain, and notice the delicate little hands that he has,
+and the proud, dainty poise of his head. He is evidently in disguise;
+and what is equally plain, he does not relish our attempts at
+penetrating his identity." Upon the crest of a round hill, the guide
+stayed his horse and pointed eastward.
+
+"A few minutes ride will take you to the river; half an hour then to
+the north and you are at Pitt. Before I leave, just a word. Tall Elk
+put on paint to-day, and before the set of to-morrow's sun, there is
+not a Cree in all the region who will not be on the war-path. To-morrow
+the chief goes to Big Bear, to press him to dig up the hatchet;
+so Messieurs, look to your guns in the Fort, as you will have more
+than three hundred enemies under the stockades before the
+rising of the next moon. Au revoir."
+
+Before any of the group could utter a word of thanks, the mysterious
+boy was off again to the north-west with the speed of the wind.
+
+"That voice!" exclaimed Stephen striking his forehead. "I know it
+surely; whose _can_ it be?" and bewildered past hope of enlightenment,
+he turned his horse down the slope, and dashed towards the Saskatchewan.
+His followers and himself were admitted readily enough by Inspector
+Dicken, a son of the great novelist, and destined afterwards to be one
+of the heroes of the war.
+
+When Annette rode away from Louis Riel to give warning to her lover,
+the rebel chief ground his teeth and swore terrible oaths.
+
+"It is as well" he muttered; "I have now justifiable grounds for
+depriving her of liberty." Putting a whistle to his mouth he blew a
+long blast, which was immediately answered from a clump of
+cottonwood, about a quarter of a mile distant. Then came the tramp of
+hoofs, and a minute later a horseman drew bridle by his chief.
+
+"The spy has escaped me, Jean, and he was none other than I
+supposed, ma belle Demoiselle. She did not deny that she was on a
+mission hostile to our interests, and when I remonstrated, she held a
+pistol in my face and swore by the Virgin that she would fire. This
+is reason enough, Jean, for her apprehension. Let us away."
+
+The chief led along the skirt of the upland, till he entered the
+mouth of a wide, darksome valley. Upon either side straggled a growth
+of mixed larch and cedar; in the centre was a dismal bog, through
+which slowly rolled a black, foul stream. As they passed along the
+shoulder of solid ground, troops of birds rose out of the wide sea of
+bog, and the noise of their wings made a low, mournful whirring as
+they passed in dark troops upwards into the ever-deepening dusk.
+
+Then out of the gloom came a Ding Dong, like the low, solemn beat of
+a bell. Jean crossed himself and exclaimed,
+
+"Mon Dieu! What is that Monsieur?"
+
+"What, afraid Jean? That is no toll for a lost soul, but the crying
+of the dismal bell bird."
+
+"I never heard it before Mon Chef."
+
+"And may never hear it again. It lives only in the most doleful and
+solitary swamps, and I doubt if there is another place in all the
+wide territories save here, where you may hear its voice."
+
+It had now grown so dark that the horses could only tread their way
+by instinct, and at every noise or cry that came from the swamp,
+Jeans' blood shivered in his veins. He had no idea where his master
+was leading him, and had refrained from 'asking all along, though the
+query hung constantly upon his tongue. Then a pair of noiseless wings
+brushed his cheek, paused, and hovered about his head; while two red
+eyes glared at him.
+
+"In the name of God what is it?" he screamed, smiting the creature
+with the handle of his whip. "Where are you leading me Mon Chef?"
+
+"Peace Jean, I did not believe that you were such an arrant coward.
+You shall soon see where I go. It is seldom that man is seen or heard
+in this region, and the strange creatures marvel. That was one of the
+large night-hawks which so terrified your weak senses. Do you see
+yonder light?"
+
+From a point which appeared to be the head of the valley, came a
+piercing white light, and its reflection fell upon the wide, black,
+shining stream that ran through the valley, like the links of a
+golden chain.
+
+"Yonder, Jean, is the abode of Mother Jubal--thither am I bound."
+
+"What, to Madame Jubal, the Snake Charmer, the witch, the woman that
+comes to her enemies when they sleep at nights, and thickens their
+blood with cold? I thought, Monsieur, that she lived in hell, and
+only appeared on earth when she came to do harm to mankind."
+
+"You will find her of the earth, Jean; but she has ever been willing
+to do my behests."
+
+By the reflection of the light could be seen a hut standing in a
+cup-shaped niche at the head of the valley. It was ringed around with
+draggled larch and cedars; and a belt of dark hills encircled it. No
+moonlight penetrated here, save toward the dawn, when pale beams fell
+slantwise across the ghostly swamp.
+
+As the horses, drew near there was heard to come from the hut a low,
+suppressed yelp, half like the bark of a dog, yet resembling the cry
+of a wolf. The door was open, and by a low table, upon which burned
+the clear, unflickering light which the two had seen so far down the
+valley, sat the old woman. Upon hearing the approach of footsteps,
+she blew out this light, and through the hideous gloom the Too whit,
+Too whoo of an owl came from the cabin. Then several pairs of eyes
+began to gleam at the intruders out of the dusk, and all the while
+several throats went on repeating in ghostly tones Too whit, Too whoo.
+
+The chief pulled up his horse, while his companion shivered from
+head to foot. Then raising his voice, he cried:
+
+"Jubal, relight your lamp; I have come far to see you. You know me,
+Jubal. Monsieur le chef?"
+
+"Pardonnez moi," croaked the hag, as she struck the light. Then came
+in quavering tones:
+
+"Entrez."
+
+What a brushing of soft wings and gleaming of eyes! The hut was
+literally filled with living creatures.
+
+"These are my children," the old woman said, with a horrible quaking
+laugh, as she pointed to the perches. Rows of pert ravens stood upon
+tip-toe along the bars looking with bright eyes upon the strangers;
+while here and there an owl opened his crooked beak and said Too
+whit, Too whoo. A strange creature, with wolfish head and limbs,
+crouched by the hearth; but after three or four furtive glances at
+the intruders, he skulked back into a dark corner of the cabin. From
+this retreat he continued to glare with shy, treacherous eyes.
+
+The old woman was short, and stooped; but her eyes were wonderfully
+bright. Nay, when she looked from the dark corner, phosphorescent
+jets seemed to break from them.
+
+"Come, mother, toss the cup and tell me what Fortune has in store
+for me this time," said the chief, who had seated himself upon a low,
+creaking stool in the corner.
+
+"I will," she replied; "why should I not when I am honoured so much
+as to receive a visit from le grand chef de Metis." And hobbling
+away, she took from a nook a large cup without a handle, black on the
+outside and white within. Tea was brewed which the Rebel chief drank,
+leaving naught but the dregs. Then Jubal muttered some words, which
+her visitors could not understand, and threw up the cup. She had no
+sooner done this than the crows began to chatter and caw, and the
+owls to cry; and each time that the cup ascended, they all raised
+themselves upon their feet and elevated their wings. When the cup
+came into her hand from the ceiling the third time, she looked toward
+the perches and said:
+
+"Peace children." Then turning to the dark, oily chief, she said,
+"Listen, O Monsieur, while I read. Here are bands of men hurrying
+across the prairie into the gorges, and concealing themselves in the
+wood. There is the flash of sabres, and the smoke of cannon.
+Everywhere a bloody war is raging; and Indians are tearing away men,
+and women, and children from their homes to captivity.
+
+"Ah! what is this I see here? A girl. Monsieur woos her, but she is
+turned away. The maiden flies; Monsieur follows, and he overtakes the
+maiden. Then he bears her away with guards around her, through a deep
+valley, till he reaches a hut. Now he hands her over to an ugly
+hag--and the name of that hag is Jubal. Is it not so, Monsieur?" and
+the crone, turning from the cup, looked with a hideous grin in the face
+of the Rebel chief.
+
+"Oui, Jubal. You have guessed aright. To-morrow or the next day,
+Jean will bring hither a young woman. She is to be strictly guarded
+in that room where you kept--....
+
+"Jubal remembers; Monsieur need not mention names."
+
+"C'est bon! Well, Jubal, you need not exercise any severity towards
+the maiden, save that of a rigid confinement to her room. Me you
+shall hear from again."
+
+"Is the maiden a pretty bird?" the crone asked with a chuckle.
+
+"That matters not, Jubal," the chief replied, somewhat haughtily.
+"She is a dangerous young person, and has been playing the traitor to
+our cause. The only means of proceeding against the girl, is to take
+her liberty away. I am in hopes of persuading her to a right frame of
+mind, and with this end in view, I shall be obliged to pay some
+visits here during her captivity."
+
+"I understand," quavered the hag; and the gleam in her eyes, as she
+laid her hand upon the chiefs shoulder, was most diabolical to see.
+"My poor simple son is down to the village with the pony for some
+provisions for my little cabin. Ma belle I shall be able to use
+handsomely, when she comes." Fetching then a black bottle, around
+which were many tangles of cob-web, she set it before; her visitors.
+The chief took a long draught. Jean swallowed enough to enable him to
+stand boldly up and stare at the owls, and the bright-eyed ravens.
+
+"Let us away, Jean," cried the chief now in high spirits as the old
+Jamaica began to race through his veins; and flinging himself into
+his saddle, he rode of at a fleet pace.
+
+Jean opened not his mouth till he found himself once more upon the
+plain, in the light of the honest moon. The Rebel chief now checking
+his pony's gait said:
+
+"I suppose you have control enough over your fears now to listen to
+me?"
+
+"Oui Monsieur."
+
+"You will be able to-morrow night to find the den that we have left?"
+
+"Without difficulty, Mon Chef."
+
+"Well; to-morrow you ride away to Tall Elk, and give him this
+message from me.
+
+"Colonel Marton is abroad, and his daughter, Annette, the enemy of
+the Indian and the Half-breed, is at home. She must be secured this
+evening before the moon rises. Bring up twenty braves; approach the
+house carefully, and fetch the maiden where directed. You will see
+that the braves make no noise, for this girl is as wary as the wild
+goose, and that little minx, Julie, her maid, is almost as wide-awake."
+
+And as Jean rode away, the villain muttered to himself, "We shall
+see my proud bird how long you will gainsay Louis Riel after I get
+you under Jubal's bolt and lock. Go with you from Canada as my wife,
+and fly the honours with which this revolution will crown my brows?
+No, by the Mater purissima. You have been too scornful my pretty
+maiden; you have not concealed your preference for this English dog;
+you have held your rebellious pistol in my face. Ah, no, ma petite
+Annette; but I shall amuse myself, sometimes, after the brunt of the
+day's labour, by riding up the dismal valley, and stroking your
+broken wings. When I have served my mood, played to the full with the
+caged bird, Jubal can let it go to attract some new mate. Holy
+virgin, but my triumph will be very sweet! Yea, Annette, to have you
+in one's own power is a sweet thing; nothing can be sweeter except
+the vengeance which shall feast itself at the same source as my
+passion."
+
+He raised his arm in the direction of White Oaks, where lay the
+girl's cottage, and cried like a triumphant fiend.
+
+"Bonsoir. Adieu, ma belle Annette. Sweet dreams about your lover
+to-night. To-morrow I shall bathe my face in the coils of your silken
+hair." And he was away.
+
+When Jean rode away from his master he fell into a train of musing.
+"Methinks," he said aloud after a long pause, "that we had better
+kill two birds with one stone to-morrow. If the master take the
+mistress, I do not see why the man should not have the maid." And as
+the fellow reached this conclusion his little weasel eyes brightened
+as if each were the point of a glow worm; and he smote the flank of
+his horse with his heavy heel. "You one day turned up your sweet,
+haughty nose, Julie, when I told you how beautiful you were, and that
+I would like to kiss the dew off your red lips. Well, Julie, my plan
+for the morrow is to denounce you to Tall Elk as a spy; and after I
+have got possession of you, my pretty one, with a brave at one side
+of your pony, and myself at the other, we shall march to the
+cottonwood where the door of ma mere stands always open to her son,
+and that which belongs to him." So, chuckling over the fair prospects
+of the morrow, the fellow urged his pony to the full of its speed,
+down to the little village of St. Ignace.
+
+Just as the sun went down like a shield of burning brass over the
+gray line of the prairie on the morrow, a cringing, stealthy-looking
+man might be seen riding a sorrel pony towards the verge of Alka
+Swamp, near which were camped the painted warriors of Tall Elk. As he
+drew near the squaws began to clap their hands, and the lean, ugly
+dogs gave several short yelps. Tall Elk came to the door of his
+wigwam, wherein sat several pretty young Cree wives sewing beads and
+dainty work upon his war jacket; and going to the horseman he said:
+
+"The messenger from the great chief is welcome. What is his command
+for Tall Elk?"
+
+When the savage had heard the orders of the rebel chief, and the
+additional instructions of Jean, he grunted: "Ugh; sorry to do this.
+The two girls were always kind to the Indians; and our braves will
+not like to do this against La Reine. But we must obey the orders of
+le grand chef."
+
+"It is well. Let your braves be ready to start when the gopher comes
+out of his burrow." Fastening his horse to a cottonwood tree, this
+miscreant emissary began to whistle a tune, and walked about among
+the lodges, seeking to attract the attention of some pretty Indian
+maiden, of which there were many in the tents. The braves were abroad
+a little way, some looking for elk and others for muskrat, so that
+the impudent Metis might go about seeking to break hearts without any
+risk of getting a broken head.
+
+When night had fallen over the prairie, and the bull-frog and the
+cricket filled the lower air with a confusing din of small sounds,
+thirty dusky warriors, mounted upon their ponies, with Tall Elk and
+Jean at their head, crossed over the ridge and struck out for White
+Oaks. An hour's ride brought them to an elevation from which they saw
+a light twinkling through the grove. Jean's small eyes were gleaming
+with foul expectation--he was thinking of his lovely booty, safe
+under the lock and key of his hideous little Metis mother.
+
+"Let us spread our force now, chief," he whispered to Tall Elk. And
+we leave them drawing their circle of horses, stealthily and swiftly,
+around the silent cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ANNETTE'S LOVER IN DANGER.
+
+
+When Annette parted from Captain Stephens and his companions, she
+returned homeward through a region of the prairie over which lay no
+trail. She approached her cottage with noiseless tread; but the quick
+eyes of Julie saw her coming, and she stole forth like a kitten.
+
+"Welcome mademoiselle;--is he safe?"
+
+"Oui Julie. He is now--they are now--in Fort Pitt."
+
+"Bon, Bon! To-morrow all the warriors upon the plain and all the
+Breeds arise; and your father leads them. Oh, such throngs as came
+around our house since you went away mademoiselle, beating drums,
+dancing in the ring, and singing chansons de guerre. And, O
+mademoiselle, there was among the Crees one chief, so tall, and so
+noble-looking; and he will some day come back again to, to--see me."
+She squirmed very gently, and poised upon one dainty foot, till her
+pretty hip curved outward; and she pecked at her little forefinger
+with her rosy mouth as she made this pretty speech: "I think I like
+the chief so much mademoiselle; I know he is brave, and I do not
+think that he is altogether un sauvage."
+
+"Oh! has my little Julie lost her heart? I hope your chief has left
+a little for me."
+
+"I like mon chef, a good deal, but I love mademoiselle better than
+anybody in the world;" and the sweet, round, dimpled little maiden
+put her smooth arms closely and tenderly about the neck of her
+mistress.
+
+"But how came about this sudden captivation of heart?" They were now
+in Annette's sweet tasty bed chamber, fresh and cool with the night
+air, and delicately fragrant with the breath of prairie flowers.
+
+"You will not wonder when I tell you mademoiselle. You know I went
+away, shortly after the arrival of the warriors, to the little gray
+fountain. I sat here listening to the gurgle of the water, for my
+heart was sad, and filled with troublesome forebodings about you, and
+your deliverer 'Ah, I said, before ma maitresse fell into the freshet
+river, she wanted no stranger's love but mine. Now he who delivered
+her from death below the Chute, has crept into her heart; and she may
+think no more of her fond, and faithful Julie."
+
+"What an absurd, sweet, little creature it is," murmured Annette.
+
+"There I sat, dabbling my fingers in the babbling water when I saw a
+straight, tall, handsome man approaching me. He walked direct to the
+fountain and lifting his cap said:
+
+"'Pardonnez, ma chere Julie.' His large eyes were very bright, but
+the light shining in them was a great tenderness.
+
+"I did not know what to reply, but I rose to go, saying.
+
+"'Monsieur le chef will excuse me. It is late; and I must return.'
+
+"He folded his arms across his breast, and turned so that the
+moonlight shone full upon his face.
+
+"'Does not the sweet Julie remember?'
+
+"I looked at him in astonishment, but could not see any familiar
+likeness in his face."
+
+"'Does little Julie remember many years ago? Wild men stole her away
+from her home, and a Cree chief rode to the village of the robbers,
+and smote them in their tents. Then he took upon his saddle a little
+girl with skin like the peach, and lips like the rose in bud. He
+carried her to his home upon the banks of the Saskatchewan, and she
+lived two years in his tent. During the summer days she played among
+the flowers, or hooked gold-fish in the river. She had a companion
+who was ever at her side, the chief's son, whom the people called
+Little Poplar. He loved the maiden, and when they took her away to
+her home upon the far prairie, he mourned by day and by night, and
+vowed that he would leave no house or wigwam unsearched till he saw
+his maid again. To-night as he came to this cottage he saw the face
+that he has sought in vain for so many years. He now stands before
+the maiden of his heart. Sweet, ma Julie, do you forget your little
+boy lover of the sunny Saskatchewan?'
+
+"Ah, my mistress, what could I say when it all came back so plain,
+and told in his rich, deep, musical voice? I do not know whether it
+was wrong or no; but without speaking any word to my beautiful chief
+I went up to him and laid my head against his breast. And he kissed
+me, and kissed me again, and stroked my hair; and whispered in my ear
+that when the war was over he would come and wed me, and fetch me
+wherever my heart desired. But I said that I would not live apart
+from you; that I had consecrated my life to the service of my sweet
+mistress.
+
+"'I have seen her,' he replied. 'Her face is beautiful and good;'
+and then, mademoiselle, the silly chief said a great big untruth, but
+I know he only did so because he loves me so much. He declared, ma
+belle mademoiselle, that I was just as pretty as my mistress."
+
+"Your beauty is only equalled by your naivete;" Annette exclaimed,
+fondly brushing back a stray lock from the forehead of the little
+maid.
+
+"I have no doubt that your chief is good, brave, and handsome; but
+he should be all these in a high degree before he is worthy to get
+such a girl as yourself, ma Julie. Now, away to your bed, and sleep
+of your lover. I go, too, for I am tired."
+
+With the morrow's sun all the neutral tribes were astir and mixing
+their paint; and long before Annette or her little maid had risen,
+Colonel Marton had saddled his horse, and ridden towards the
+rendez-vous at Burnt Hills.
+
+The bright, windless day passed over the prairie, and whenever
+Annette spoke of the bravery of Captain Stephens, Julie would tell
+some praises of the chief with the graceful loins and the great
+luminous eye.
+
+"Your lover has said that he would come to see you, Julie, but, ah
+me, in these troublesome times Captain Stephens can no more return to
+our cottage. Do you know, my little friend, that I cannot bear being
+cooped up here during all this strife and tumult, when brave men and
+defenceless women are at the mercy of savages and ill-advised men of
+our own class. There have been evil and oppressive doings by
+government and its agents, but I do not think that Monsieur Riel and
+my father have taken the prudent course to remove the wrongs. It will
+not be fair or honorable war; for when the savage and cruel instincts
+of the red men are once aroused, they will treat the innocent like
+the guilty, and neither woman nor child will be safe from their
+horrible vengeance. Therefore, Annette, I have made up my mind to go
+forth tomorrow in my Indian-boy disguise.
+
+"I shall not betray my people or bur friends, but I shall pass from
+one force to the other, and whenever I can warn the loyal troops, or
+apprise their people of danger, I shall do it. You Julie I shall
+leave in the care of my aunt at the Portage; for it is not safe for
+you, it would not be safe for you and me together, to remain in this
+deserted cottage alone during these looting and lawless times."
+
+The two maidens were now alone, save for the presence of a Cree
+drudge; for Paul had mounted a pony and followed his father, with
+pistols in his holster-pipes, and a large bowie knife stuck into his
+belt.
+
+So as evening drew on Annette had packed, in little, portable
+parcels all the valuables about the house; and when she sat down to
+supper with Julie at her side, she said that everything was now
+ready, and that they needed but to get into the saddle in the
+morning. Little did these two girls know, as they sat quietly eating
+their supper, that there was at this very moment a band of painted
+enemies hurrying across the dim prairie toward their cottage!
+Everything was perfectly still in the house, and the tick-tack of the
+clock smote the silence. The heart of each girl was far away, and the
+eyes of both were on the white, sweet floor.
+
+Annette was the first to raise her eyes, and a short cry of terror
+burst from her lips. For there in the entrance of the little dining-room
+stood the tall, straight figure of an Indian chief. The cry brought
+Julie to her senses, and she too looked up: but she gave no cry; the
+blood came surging into her sweet head till her cheeks, and her smooth
+throat, and her little shell-like ears, became the color of a blown
+carnation.
+
+"Little Poplar," she exclaimed. "Mademoiselle," turning toward her
+mistress, "it is about him that I have told you;" and the dainty
+maiden crept softly as a kitten over to the side of the handsome
+chief. He smiled, stooped, and touched her forehead with his lips.
+Then he rose to the height of his splendid stature again, and took
+off his cap.
+
+"There is danger to mademoiselle and to ma Julie. Just now a band of
+painted Crees with Tall Elk and Jean, Le Grand Chef's man, at their
+head are coming to make you prisoners. Follow me instantly."
+
+In a few moments the two girls were gliding swiftly from the house
+toward the corral where their horses stood tethered, the chief
+bearing the little packages of valuables in his arms. There was no
+time to be lost, and as the trio rode away from the corral, the
+neighing of the enemies' ponies close at hand burst in a wild shower
+upon their ears.
+
+"Follow me," whispered the chief, and as he rode around the shoulder
+of the gloomy hill, the cries of the disappointed Indians were borne
+upon the night. When they reached the level prairie the chief reined
+in his horse, and the three paced along side by side.
+
+"How can we thank the brave chief enough for his care and help,"
+Annette said in the heartiest tones of her sweet voice.
+
+"I was passing through the village of Tall Elk at the set of sun,
+and heard the great chief's man, Jean, say, 'It will be a good catch
+to-night for master and man, won't it? I take Julie; Le Grand Chef
+gets the other.' I then enquired of Tall Elk, and he told me of their
+plans. The house was to be surrounded before moonrise; mademoiselle
+was to be seized and taken away to the hut of the hag Jubal, and
+Julie was to be borne to the cabin of Jean's mother." As he spoke
+these words a terrible light gleamed in his eyes, and he muttered,
+
+"Had this man. Jean, succeeded I should have hunted him down and
+taken out his heart."
+
+When they were far beyond the enemy's reach, Annette said,
+
+"Will the chef ride to yonder cottonwood and wait there until his
+Julie and myself have put on apparel more suited to our present
+inclinations?" Tall Poplar rode away; but when he joined the maidens
+again a great look of dismay came into his eyes.
+
+"Where are--" but before he ended the words, the truth flashed
+across him, and he burst out in a tone of mirth and approval: "Brava,
+brava: there is not a man in all the plains that can name these two
+Indian boys."
+
+Annette remained during the balance of the night with her aunt; but
+she arose before the dew was dry, and with the other lad at her side,
+for Julie would not remain behind her mistress, was off at a brisk
+canter towards Fort Pitt. The news which she had heard lent speed to
+Annette. From far and near the Crees had come to enroll themselves
+under the banner of the blood-thirsty chief, Big Bear; and the
+murderous hordes were at that very moment, she knew, menacing the
+poorly garrisoned fort with rifle, hatchet and fire.
+
+All over the territory, I may say, the Indians had now begun to sing
+and dance, and to brandish their tomahawks. Their way of living
+during late years has been altogether too slow, too dead-and-alive,
+too unlike the ways of their ancestors, when once at least in each
+year, every warrior returned to his lodge with scalp locks dangling
+at his belt.
+
+Les Gros Ventres for the time, forgot their corporosity, and began
+to dance and howl, and declare that they would fight till all their
+blood was spilt with M. Riel, or his adjutant M. Marton.
+
+The Blackfeet began to hold pow-wows, and tell their squaws that
+there would soon be good feasts. For many a day they had been casting
+covetous eyes upon the fat cattle of their white neighbours. Along
+too, came the feeble remnant of the once agile Salteaux, inquiring if
+it was to be war; and if so, would there be big feasts?
+
+"Oh, big feasts, big feasts," was the reply. "Plenty fat cattle in
+the corrals; and heaps of, mange in the store." So the Salteaux were
+happy, and, somewhat in their old fashion, went vaulting homewards.
+
+Tidings of fight, and feast, and turmoil reached the Crees, and they
+sallied out from the tents, while the large-eyed squaws sat silent,
+marvelling what was to come of it all.
+
+High into the air the Nez Perce thrust his nostril; for he had got
+scent of the battle from afar. And last, but not least, came the
+remnant of that tribe whose chief had shot Custer in the Black Hills.
+The Sioux only required to be shown where the enemy lay; but in his
+enthusiasm he did not lose sight of the fat cattle grazing upon the
+prairies.
+
+But we return for a time to Captain Stephens and his party. When
+their deliverer, the Indian boy, departed, they rode along the bank
+of the Saskatchewan, according to the lad's instructions, and in half
+an hour were in sight of Pitt. Inspector Dicken was glad enough to
+receive this addition to his little assistance; and informed Captain
+Stephens that he had resolved to fight it out against the forces
+menacing him.
+
+"What is the number of the enemy?" enquired Stephens.
+
+"About a hundred armed braves I should judge," Inspector Dicken
+replied. "Big Bear accompanied by a dozen wives came under the
+stockade this morning, and invited me to have a talk. With the
+coolest effrontery he informed me that if I would leave the fort,
+surrender my arms, and accompany him, with my men, into his wigwams,
+that he would give me a guarantee against all harm. If I refused
+these terms, he said he would first let his young men amuse
+themselves by a couple of days' firing at our forces; and that
+afterwards he would burn the Fort and put the inmates to death.
+
+"I expostulated with the greasy, swaggering ruffian, but he only
+swore, and reiterated his threats. Then I told him to be gone for an
+insolent savage, and that if I found him prowling about the Fort
+again, I should send my men to take charge of him. Thereat his squaws
+began to jeer, and cut capers; and squatting upon the sod in a row
+they made mouths, and poked their fingers at me. Then they arose
+yelling and waving their arms, and followed the savage. It appears
+that after the chief left me, he went to the people of our town and
+proposed the same terms; for an hour later, to my horror, I saw the
+chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company, his wife and daughters, and
+several others following the Indian to his wigwams. Had these people
+put themselves under our protection, and the men aided us in defence,
+we might have laughed defiance at the five score of the enemy who
+threaten."
+
+"But," returned Stephens, "I fear that you do not count at its full
+the force preparing itself to attack. From all I can gather a hundred
+or so of Plain Crees will come here to-day under Tall Elk; while the
+total strength of the Stonies, who will rise at Big Bear's call,
+cannot be less than five hundred."
+
+Inspector Dicken looked grave; but he was a brave man and busied
+himself in making preparations. The total number of his force,
+including mounted police and civilians was 24; and each man had a
+Winchester and about twenty rounds of ammunition.
+
+"Two of my scouts are abroad," he said, "reconnoitering; they should
+be here by this time." While he was yet speaking a storm of yelling
+came from the wigwams of Big Bear, and three or four score of braves
+were seen pouring from their tents, like bees bundling out of a hive.
+Each one had a gun in his hand, and a hatchet in his belt. The cause
+of this sudden commotion was soon apparent: about half a mile
+distant, two police scouts were riding leisurely along the plain
+towards the Fort, and evidently not suspecting the danger which
+menaced them. They advanced to a point about two hundred yards from
+the stockades; then a yell went up from a body of prostrate savages,
+and immediately half a hundred rifles were discharged. One of the men
+fell from his horse, dead, upon the prairie; but the other rode
+through the storm of lead to the Fort, and entered struck by half a
+dozen bullets.
+
+"The devils have begun!" muttered the Inspector, and he quivered
+from head to foot, but not with fear.
+
+The first taste of blood set the savages in a high state of
+exultation. They gathered yelling and dancing, and flashing their
+weapons in the sun around the door of the chief. Big Bear pulled off
+his feathered cap and threw it several times in the air. Then turning
+to his wives he told them to make ready for a White Dog feast; and he
+bade his braves go and fetch the animals.
+
+So a large fire was built upon the prairie, a short distance from
+the chief's lodge, and the huge festival pot was suspended from a
+crane over the roaring flames. First, about fifteen gallons of water
+were put in; then Big Bear's wives, some of whom were old and
+wrinkled, others being lithe as fawns, plump and bright-eyed, busied
+themselves gathering herbs.
+
+Some digged deep into the marsh for "bog-bane," others searched
+among the knotted roots for the little nut-like tuber that clings to
+the root of the flag, while a few brought to the pot wild parsnips,
+and the dried stalks of the prairie parsley. A coy little maiden whom
+many a hunter wooed, but failed to win, had in her sweet little brown
+hands a tangle of wintergreen vines, and maiden-hair.
+
+Then came striding along the young hunters with the dogs. Each dog
+selected for the feast was white as the driven snow. If a black hair,
+or a blue hair, or a brown hair was discovered anywhere upon his body
+he was taken away; but if he were _sans reproche_ he was put into the
+pot just as he was, with head, and hide, and paws, and tail, his throat
+simply having been cut.
+
+Six dogs were thrown in, and the roots and stalks of the prairie
+plants, together with salt, and bunches of the wild pepper-plant, and
+of swamp mustard, were added for seasoning. Through the reserves
+round about for many miles swarthy heralds proclaimed that the great
+Chief Big Bear was giving a White Dog feast to his braves before
+summoning them to the war-path. The feast was, in Indian experience,
+a magnificent one, and before the young men departed they swore to
+Big Bear that they returned only for their war-paint and arms, and
+that before the set of the next sun they would be back at his side.
+
+True to their word the Indians came, hideous in their yellow paint.
+If you stood to leeward of them upon the plain a mile away you could
+clearly get the raw, earthy smell of the ochre from their hands and
+faces. Some had black bars streaked across their cheeks, and hideous
+crimson circles about their eyes. Some, likewise, had stars in
+pipe-clay painted upon the forehead, and others were diabolical in the
+figures of horrid beasts, painted with savage skill upon their naked
+breasts.
+
+The beleaguered could notice all these preparations with their
+glasses; and the men spoke to each other in low tones. Savages seemed
+to be gathering from all points of the compass, and massing upon the
+plateau round about the camps of the Cree Chief. But several bands
+were stationed around the Fort, in such a manner as to cut off
+retreat from the stockades should escape be attempted.
+
+Close to the fort was the shining, yellow Saskatchewan; and for
+miles, with a glass, you could see the bright coils of its leisurely
+waters, as that proud river pierced its way through the great stretch
+of plain till it became lost in the haze of the distance.
+
+"If you were only upon the river in yonder flat boat," said Captain
+Stephens, "you might drop quietly down to Battleford. The
+reinforcement would come quite opportunely to Morrison."
+
+"I do not care to leave here without giving the rebels a little of
+our lead," the Inspector replied. "But even though I desired to do
+so, now, the thing as you see is impossible."
+
+Night fell, and when it came there was not a star in the sky. A
+heavy mass of indigo-coloured cloud had risen before the set of sun,
+in the south east, and crept slowly over the whole heavens, widening
+its dark arms as it came. So when night fell there was not a point of
+light to be seen anywhere in the heavens.
+
+"It would seem," murmured one, "as if God were going to aid the
+savages with His darkness."
+
+Shortly after dark the wind began to wail like a tortured spirit
+along the plain; and in the lull between the blasts the cry of
+strange night-birds could be heard coining from each little thicket
+of white oak or cottonwood.
+
+Louder and louder grew the screaming of the tempest, and it shrieked
+through the ribs of the stockade, like a Titan blowing through the
+teeth of a giant comb.
+
+Inspector Dicken, with Captain Stephens at his side, was standing at
+the edge of the stockade. Not a sound came from the plateau, and not
+a glimmer of light appeared in the darkness. Then the great, wide,
+black night suddenly opened its jaws and launched forth an avalanche
+of blinding, white light. The two men bounded in their places; then
+came a roll of mighty thunder, as if it were moving on tremendous
+wheels and destroying all the heavens.
+
+No enemy yet!
+
+But the besieged had hardly breathed their breath of relief, before
+there arose upon the dark air, a din of sound so diabolical that you
+might believe the gates of hell had suddenly been thrown open. From
+every point around the fort went up a chorus of murderous yells, and
+then came the irregular flash and crack from rifles.
+
+The Inspector ran hastily back among his men:
+
+"Don't waste your ammunition," he said, "in the dark. Part of their
+plan is to burn the fort. Wait till they fire the torches, and then
+blaze at them in their own light."
+
+Every man clenched his rifle, and the eyes of the brave band
+glimmered in the dark.
+
+Crack! crack! crack! went the rifles of the savages, and now and
+again a sound, half like a snarl, and half like a sigh, went trailing
+over the fort. It was from the Indians' bullets.
+
+"Keep close, my men," shouted the Inspector; "down upon your faces."
+
+Drawn off their guard by the silence of the besieged, the enemy
+became more reckless, and lighting flambeaux of birch-bark, they
+began to wave them above their heads. The spluttering glare showed
+scores of savages, busy loading and discharging their rifles.
+
+"Now, my men; ready! There, have at them." Crack, crack, crack, went
+the rifles, and in the blaze of the torches several of the enemy were
+seen writhing about the plain in their agony. Together with the
+exultant whoop, came cries of pain and rage; and perceiving the
+mistake that they had made, in exposing themselves to the guns of the
+garrison, the savages threw down their torches and fled for cover.
+
+The conduct of some of the savages who received slight wounds was
+exceedingly ludicrous. One who had been shot, _in running away,_
+began to yell in the most pitiable way; and he ran about the plain in
+the glare of the light kicking up his heels and grabbing at the
+wounded spot.
+
+Thereafter the enemy's firing was more desultory, but it was kept up
+for several hours, during which not a rifle flash came from the Fort.
+Then there arose the sharp yelp of a wolf through the night, and
+instantly the firing ceased. Not a sound could be heard anywhere,
+save the uneasy crying, and the occasional howls of the wind.
+
+"The attack is to commence in right earnest now," Stephens whispered
+to Mr. Dicken; but in what shape the hovering assault was to come
+would be hard to guess.
+
+They were not to be kept long in suspense, however. The pandemonium
+cry again went suddenly through the night and the storm; and an
+assault of axes was heard against the stockades.
+
+"That is their game is it?" muttered the Inspector. "Now then, my
+lads, get your muzzles ready;" for the Indians had lighted a couple
+of torches for the benefit of those engaged chopping.
+
+"Fire carefully, picking them off singly. Off you go!" Away went the
+rifles, and three more savages sprawled in the light of the torches.
+But others came into their places and chopped, and hacked, and smote
+like fiends, yelling, jumping, and frequently brandishing their axes
+above their heads; their eyes all the while gleaming with the very
+light of hell!
+
+"Pick away at them boys," cried the inspector; "they must not be
+allowed to get through." But the men needed no urging; each one
+loaded nimbly, fired with deliberation, and hit his man. This part of
+the contest continued for fully ten minutes, but sturdy as were the
+posts, it was plain that they must soon give way. Sometimes, it is
+true, the savages would draw rearward from their work, terrified at
+the heap of dead and wounded now accumulating about them; but it was
+only to return, as the waves that fall from the beach on the sea-shore
+come back to strike, with added fury. Meanwhile a number of
+lights had begun to appear upon the plateau, and the Inspector,
+turning to Captain Stephens said in a low grave voice:
+
+"It cannot last much longer. See, they are coming with torch and
+faggot." Scores of Indians were revealed in the blaze, hastening down
+the hill; and troops of squaws were perceived dragging loads of brush
+wood. Then one of the posts gave way and another was seen to totter.
+In the gloom of the Fort, the paling of many a brave man's cheek was
+noticed.
+
+"They will be here instantly, my lads," said Inspector Dicken in the
+same calm, firm voice. "But we will sell our lives like men. Hurrah!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DIVERS ADVENTURES FOR OUR HEROINE.
+
+
+We left Annette and her little companion speeding along the banks of
+the Saskatchewan bound for Pitt. They dare not come near the
+stockades, for the Indians had invested the high ground overlooking
+the Fort, and would be sure to make embarrassing enquiries of the two
+strange Indian boys.
+
+"My plan is this Julie," Annette said. "We shall camp in the valley
+beyond Turtle Hill, and when it grows dark, we can come in and see
+the state of affairs about the garrison."
+
+"Oui Mademoiselle; and Tall Poplar is to be at the stockade facing
+the river half an hour after sun-set. He said he would be there, in
+case that we should in any way need his assistance."
+
+"Bon, ma Julie. It seems to me that your fine chef may be of some
+use to us before these troubles end."
+
+Then the two dismounted, and tethering their horses set at work to
+pitch their tent. Annette had brought a tent, strapped to her saddle,
+from her aunt's; and the two sweet maidens opened out the folds, set
+up the white cotton in a cleared plot, in the centre of a copse of
+white oak, where it was securely screened from passing eyes. Julie
+took from her pony's back a thick, large rug, which was to serve the
+two for a coverlet; and going forth a short way the four little brown
+hands busied themselves breaking soft branches from the trees.
+
+"There," Annette said, as she put down her armful in the tent; "that
+will make a pillow as cosy as a sack of mallard's down. Now, Julie,
+we shall eat, then sleep till the afternoon; for I suspect that there
+will be little rest for us while the sun is below the prairie."
+
+Julie opened the hamper, and the winsome pair fell to, making a
+hearty meal from home-made bread, cold quail, and butter with the
+very perfume of the prairie flowers. A little way beyond a jet of
+cold, clear water came gurgling out of the rocks; and tripping away
+Julie fetched a cup. Then they fastened their hamper, put their
+pistols by their side, laid themselves down together, and fell asleep
+to the music of the little spring, and the bickering of gold finches
+in the leaves.
+
+When Annette awoke, it was the mellow afternoon, and the sun shone
+like a great yellow shield low in the west. Annette stepped quietly
+out, her dainty little feet hardly crushing the flowers as she went,
+to take a peep at the horses. They, too, had lain down; but upon
+seeing the pair of large, bright, peering eyes, they arose, stretched
+themselves, whisked their tails, and began again feasting on the
+crisp, luscious grass.
+
+When the sun's upper rim lay like a little semi-circle of fire over
+the far edge of the prairie, the two adventurers girded on their
+belts, and taking their revolvers, started away like a pair of prying
+fawns toward the Fort. Twilight does not tarry long upon the plains;
+and when the maidens reached the confines of the Fort, the stockades
+and the enclosed buildings were a mere dusky blur. Moving cautiously
+along the side facing the river, they perceived a straight, tall
+figure, awaiting them; and the handsome chief stepped up.
+
+"I had been anxious, and was afraid for the safety of ma Julie and
+Mademoiselle."
+
+"Will they attack the Fort to-night?" Annette eagerly asked.
+
+"This will be a bad night for the Fort. The braves have had a White
+Dog feast; and the Indians have assembled from far and near to fight
+for Big Bear. They attack in half an hour."
+
+"Can they hold out inside?"
+
+"Twenty-four men against five hundred!" the chief replied. "First
+they will cut a breach in the stockade; then they will go in and burn
+down the Fort. Big Bear has asked the Inspector to surrender, but he
+has refused."
+
+"What is to be done, good chief? I have in there a white friend who
+saved my life; and I would like also to help the Inspector and his
+followers."
+
+The chief mused.
+
+"My braves follow, and will be here before the first blow is struck.
+Perhaps I shall be able, at the last moment, to meet the wishes of
+Mademoiselle." Julie took two or three dainty steps, and nestled her
+head in the breast of her lover. Again he stroked her hair, kissed
+her bright face, and murmured sweet words in her little ear. Then he
+said,
+
+"I must go among the lodges, for if I am not present to join in the
+counsels of the leaders, I may be suspected. Wait, Mademoiselle, in
+the shelter of the bank till I come to you." There was then a little
+sound like the explosion of a bubble, and Annette saw the chief raise
+his head from Julie's face.
+
+"You little rogue," she said, "how your love affairs profit by this
+war." Then she tripped off to the point designated by the chief, and
+lay down in the shadow with Julie at her side. It was while they lay
+nestling here that the storm of yells described in another chapter
+burst out. Annette shuddered and grasped the hand of her companion.
+
+Then came the onslaught of musketry, the glare of flambeaux, and the
+response from the besieged. Through the wailing of the storm came,
+too, the thud, thud, thud of the choppers at the stockade, and the
+straggling shots of the brave twenty-four in the Fort.
+
+"The stockade cannot stand long," Annette whispered; "I wonder what
+delays your chief?" But while the words were yet quivering upon her
+lips, a figure moved swiftly towards them and whispered,
+
+"Come." And when they joined him: "I only wish to have Mademoiselle
+satisfied of the escape of her deliverer and of his friends."
+
+In a minute they were at the edge of the stockade; and, at a signal
+from the chief, a little postern opened, and they were admitted.
+
+"Follow me," he said, as he advanced, waving a small white cloth,
+and the two, close at his heels, found themselves at the door of the
+Fort. "Friends are here," he whispered, through his tubed hand, to a
+policeman who had been watching the advancing trio from his sentry
+post; "let us enter."
+
+The policeman retreated, and in a moment reappeared with the
+Inspector and Captain Stephens at his side.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the Inspector in a low voice.
+
+"Friends." Then Annette said, in a distinct voice:
+
+"Monsieur Stephens may remember me?"
+
+"The Indian boy who warned me of my danger!" he exclaimed, turning
+to the Inspector. "You may admit them." In a moment Tall Elk was
+inside.
+
+"I am a Cree chief, and twenty of my braves are friendly. When the
+Indians break through the stockade I shall guard this door, and you
+can pass out. Go directly to the river, and at the pier you will find
+a boat waiting. Then the river is clear before you to Battleford."
+Saying these words the chief was gone, the two Indian boys following
+him.
+
+At this moment a chorus of yelling, more infernal than any which had
+been heard before, arose, and, brandishing their weapons, the horde
+of infuriated savages began to pour through a large gap in the
+stockade.
+
+"Follow me, my men," whispered the Inspector, and with Stephens at
+his side he descended into the yard where the smoke from burning
+torches was so dense that the whole party passed through the group of
+friendly braves without attracting the attention of the hostile
+savages. They very speedily gained the river and found a large York
+boat, of shallow draught, which they pushed out into the slow sweep
+of tide. The chief was nowhere to be seen; but the two mysterious and
+beautiful Indian boys hovered along the gloomy brink of the river,
+frequently turning apprehensive eyes towards the Fort. As the boat
+moved downward so did they, flitting along like a pair of guardian
+angels. Immediately beside them they perceived a fierce-looking
+Indian, glaring through the dark upon the water.
+
+He had evidently just perceived the boat, for, uttering a loud
+alarm-yell, he turned and was making off toward the Fort to give
+the tidings.
+
+"Stop," shouted Annette, in clear, thrilling Cree.
+
+The savage stood a moment, and glared at this handsome lad of his
+tribe.
+
+"If you move a step I shoot you. Drop to the ground."
+
+The Indian stood irresolute, but the girl made a sudden bound
+forward and held the glittering barrel of her revolver in his face.
+
+"You are a Cree?" he inquired, in a voice quivering with an odd
+mixture of fear and rage.
+
+"I am."
+
+"Why don't you let me alarm the braves? The police are escaping."
+
+"The Cree boy will not give his reasons; but his brother must obey."
+The Indian stood looking upon Annette as if endeavouring to scan her
+features; and as if to help him in his object, a flash of flame from
+a burning building in the Fort shone for a moment upon the boy, and
+showed the cowardly warrior a pair of large, soft eyes, fringed with
+long lashes; a sweet oval face, and a delicate little hand. The
+sudden observation seemed to fill him with contempt and courage, and
+turning he bounded away with another wild yell.
+
+Annette did not lower her arm, but she shut one of her eyes and
+fired, once, twice at the running savage. Up went the wretch's arms
+and he fell upon the plain.
+
+"Let us away Julie, the shots may bring some stragglers," and the
+two girls bounded along for nearly half a mile, when they were again
+in line with the barge.
+
+"Boat ahoy," shouted Annette. "When you near the first island keep
+away to your right. There is a bar with sharp rocks in your way." A
+low musical,
+
+"Merci mon petit ami" came to the shore; and Annette whispered:
+
+"It is Monsieur Stephens who gives me thanks." Then straightening
+herself up, "It is time we got our horses; come." They hastened away
+to the little grove, folded the tent, saddled the horses, and in a
+few moments were galloping again towards the river. As they neared
+the bank they heard a tempest of yelling up the plain toward the
+Fort: and after listening for a moment, Annette said,
+
+"The savages have discovered the flight, and they are now in
+pursuit. Can you speak much Cree, Julie?"
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Well, then you are to be my brother and a dummy; for I must meet
+the Indians."
+
+"Mademoiselle must not put herself in danger. The Indians may know
+that you fired at the brave; perhaps he has given the alarm."
+
+"Fear not, Julie. That poor savage has told no tales. But Monsieur
+Stephens must be saved, and if this band is not checked, both he and
+his friends are doomed. Half a mile below there are a hundred canoes
+upon the bank, and thither those screaming fiends are bound. Now,
+follow me, unless you care to ride back again to the hollow. I will
+impose no duty upon you except to remain dumb."
+
+Then she struck her heels into her horse and rode full for the
+yelling band. As she drew near she raised her hand and shouted in
+perfect and musical Cree.
+
+"Let the braves stand and hear their brother."
+
+Big Bear who was leading, surrounded by two or three of his wives,
+stopped, and shouted to his braves to be still.
+
+"What has our little brother to say?"
+
+"Myself and my dumb brother have just escaped a great army of
+soldiers at Souris Creek."
+
+The chief's eyes became blank with fright.
+
+"Where were the white braves going?"
+
+"Marching for Fort Pitt; and they will be here in fifteen minutes,
+for they are mounted on swift horses. If you go down to fight yonder
+boat, you will be attacked in rear."
+
+"The boy speaks well," muttered the chief to his prettiest wife who
+was standing by his side; and that dainty Cree was feasting her eyes
+upon the beautiful face of the Indian lad. It might not have been so
+well for Annette had the chief seen the way in which his young wife
+stared at the little Indian scout.
+
+"My braves will turn back," shouted Big Bear, "and when we get to
+the lodges we will hold a council. The little Cree brave and his dumb
+brother will come to o tents."
+
+"Nay, brave chief," replied Annette, "my mother is on the way
+hither, and I must return and see that she is safe from harm." And
+despite the beseeching eyes of the chief's prettiest wife, the daring
+spy turned her horse and rode away followed by her dumb brother.
+
+"Now Julie, we must see how it fares with the boat," and the two
+horses went at a long, swinging gallop down the banks of Saskatchewan.
+With the boat all was right, and in her clear, bird-like voice,
+Annette informed the fugitives that Big Bear and his braves had
+returned to their lodges.
+
+"What turned then back?" enquired the same low, musical voice.
+
+Annette hesitated, for she was not a girl that boasted of her
+achievements. There are enough of maids white and brown, of lesser
+character, to do that sort of thing.
+
+"I told a story; I said that a great body of soldiers were close at
+hand."
+
+"Brava, brava," and the girl heard many words of warm commendation
+spoken in the boat. Then letting her luminous eyes linger for a
+moment with a tender longing upon the barge, she raised her voice,
+saying,
+
+"Bon voyage Messieurs," and was off through the dark like a swallow.
+
+Meanwhile tidings of atrocities committed by Indians upon
+unoffending settlers, began to set the blood shivering in the veins
+of persons throughout the continent; and one horrible circumstance,
+bearing upon the story, I shall relate. At the distant settlement of
+Frog Lake, at the commencement of the tumult, when night came down,
+Indians, smeared in hideous, raw, earthy-smelling paint, would creep
+about among the dwellings, and peer, with eyes gleaming with hate,
+through the window-panes at the innocent and unsuspecting inmates. At
+last one chief, with a diabolical face, said,
+
+"Brothers, we must be avenged upon every white man and woman here.
+We will shoot them like dogs." The answer to this harangue was the
+clanking of barbaric instruments of music, the brandishing of
+tomahawks, and the gleam of hunting-knives. Secretly the Indians went
+among the Bois-Brules squatting about, and revealed their plans; but
+some of these people shrank with fear from the proposal. Others,
+however, said,
+
+"We shall join you." So the plan was arranged, and it was not very
+long before it was carried out. And now runners were everywhere on
+the plains, telling that Marton had a mighty army made up of most of
+the brave Indians of the prairies, and comprising all the dead shots
+among the half-breeds; that he had encountered heavy forces of police
+and armed civilians, and overthrown them without losing a single man.
+
+"Now is our time to strike," said the Indian with the fiendish face,
+and the wolf-like eyes.
+
+Therefore, the 2nd day of April was fixed for the holding of a
+conference between the Indians and the white settlers. The malignant
+chief had settled the plan.
+
+"When the white faces come to our lodge, they will expect no harm.
+Ugh! Then the red man will have his vengeance." So every Indian was
+instructed to have his rifle at hand in the lodge. The white folk
+wondered why the Indians had arranged for a conference.
+
+"We can do nothing to help their case," they said. "It will only
+waste time to go." Many of them, therefore, remained at home,
+occupying themselves with their various duties, while the rest,
+merely for the sake of agreeableness, and of showing the Indians that
+they were interested in their affairs, proceeded to the place
+appointed for the pow-wow.
+
+"We hope to smoke our pipes before our white brothers go away from
+us," was what the treacherous chief, with wolfish eyes, had said, in
+order to put the settlers off their guard.
+
+The morning of the fateful day opened gloomily, as if it could not
+look cheerily down upon the bloody events planned in this distant
+wilderness. Low, indigo clouds pressed down upon the hills, but there
+was not a stir in all the air. No living thing was seen stirring,
+save troops of blue-jays which went scolding from tree to tree before
+the settlers as they proceeded to the conference. Here and there,
+also, was a half-famished, yellow, or black and yellow dog, with
+small head and long scraggy hair, skulking about the fields and among
+the wigwams of the Indians in search for food.
+
+The lodge where the parley was to be held stood in a hollow. Behind
+was a tall hill, crowned with timber; round about it grew poplar,
+white oak, and firs; while in front rolled by a swift dark stream.
+Unsuspecting harm, two priests of the settlement, Oblat Fathers,
+named Fafard and Marchand, were the first at the spot.
+
+"What a gloomy day," Pere Fafard said, "and this lodge set here in
+this desolate spot seems to make it more gloomy still. What, I
+wonder, is the nature of the business?" Then they knocked, and the
+chief was heard to say,
+
+"Entrez." Opening the door, the two good priests walked in, and
+turned to look for seats. Ah! What was the sight presented! Eyes like
+those of wild beasts, aflame with hate and ferocity, gleamed from the
+gloom of the back portion of the room. The priests were amazed. They
+knew not what all this meant. Then a wild shriek was given, and the
+chief cried,
+
+"Enemies to the red man, you have come to your doom." Then raising
+his rifle, he fired at Father Marchand. The levelling of his rifle
+was the general signal. A dozen other muzzles were pointed, and in
+briefer space than it takes to relate the two priests lay weltering
+in their blood, pierced each by half a dozen bullets.
+
+"Clear away these corpses," shouted the chief, and "be ready for the
+next." There was soon another knock, and the same wolfish voice
+replied as before,
+
+"Entrez." This time a tall, manly young fellow, named Charles Gowan,
+opened the door and entered, Always on the alert for Indian
+treachery, he had his suspicion now, before entering suspected
+strongly, that all was not right. He had only reached the settlement
+that morning, and had he returned sooner he would have counselled the
+settlers to pay no heed to the invitation. He was assured that
+several had already gone up to the pow-wow, so being brave and
+unselfish, he said,
+
+"If there is any danger afoot, and my friends are at the meeting
+lodge, that is the place for me, not here." He had no sooner entered
+than his worst convictions were realized. With one quick glance he
+saw the bloodpools, the wolfish eyes, the rows of ready rifles.
+
+"Hell hounds!" he cried, "what bloody work have you on hand? What
+means this?" pointing to the floor.
+
+"It means," replied the chief, "that some of your paleface brethren
+have been losing their heart's blood there. It also means that the
+same fate awaits you." Resolved to sell his life as dearly as lay in
+his power, he sprang forward with a Colt's revolver, and discharged
+it twice. One Indian fell, and another set up a cry like the
+bellowing of a bull. But poor Gowan did not fire a third shot. A tall
+savage approached him from behind, and striking him upon the head
+with his rifle-stock felled him to the earth. Then the savages fired
+five or six shots into him as he lay upon the floor. The body was
+dragged away, and the blood-thirsty fiends sat waiting for the
+approach of another victim. Half an hour passed, and no other rap
+came upon the door. An hour went, and still no sound of foot-fall.
+All this while the savages sat mute as stones, each holding his rifle
+in readiness.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted the chief, "no more coming. We go down and shoot em
+at em houses." Then the fiend divided his warriors into four
+companies, each one of which was assigned a couple of murders. One
+party proceeded toward the house of Mr. Gowanlock. Creeping
+stealthily, they reached within forty yards of the dwelling without
+being perceived. Then Mrs. Gowanlock, a young woman, recently
+married, walked out of her abode, and gathering some kindling wood in
+her apron, returned again. When the Indians saw her, they threw
+themselves upon their faces, and so escaped observation. No one
+happened to be looking out of the window after Mrs. Gowanlock came
+back; but about half a minute afterwards several shadows flitted by
+the window, and immediately six or seven painted Indians, with
+rifles cocked, and uttering diabolical yells, burst into the house.
+The chief was with this party; and aiming his rifle, shot poor
+Gowanlock dead. Another aimed at a man named Gilchrist, but Mrs.
+Gowanlock heroically seized the savage's arms from behind, and
+prevented him for a moment or two. But the vile murderer shook her
+off, and falling back a pace or two, fired at her, killing her
+instantly.
+
+The York boat, with its brave little band, reached Battleford in
+safety, and the two handsome Indian boys pitched their tents aloof
+upon the prairie, about, a mile distant from the Fort, selecting a
+little cup shaped hollow, rimmed around with scrubby white oak. The
+horses fed in the centre, and at the edge of the bushes gleamed the
+white sides of the tent.
+
+That evening, as the two entered the town, they perceived a tall
+Indian standing by the gate.
+
+"It is Little Poplar," whispered Julie; and seeing the two maidens
+about the same time, the chief stepped forward.
+
+"Cruel work," he said, "reported from Frog Lake. Captain Stephens
+and two others were sent an hour ago with fast horses to enquire if
+the story is true. But he had not long passed this gate when I
+noticed Jean, the great chief's man, and a dozen of the Stoney Crees
+ride after him. I am sure that they are plotting him harm."
+
+"What route did they take?" asked Annette, while her eyes grew large
+and bright.
+
+"They went upon the muskeg trail. It leads directly to Frog Lake."
+
+"Thank you again, chief; I go immediately." Julie likewise turned
+about.
+
+"Nay, you must not encounter this peril with me; already you have
+ventured more than I should have permitted;" but a look of sorrowful
+reproach came into the little maiden's eye.
+
+"Is Julie of no use, that her mistress will not consent for her to
+come? Did the faithful follower not say in the beginning that
+wherever her mistress went, there she would go? that the dangers of
+the mistress should be borne also by the maid?"
+
+"Well, since you wish to come, dear girl, I will not gainsay you.
+But what thinks your chief about his darling courting all these
+dangers?"
+
+"Little Poplar," the Indian replied, "is proud to see his sweetheart
+brave; and if she were not so brave, he could not love her half so
+much." And stooping, the noble chief kissed and kissed the maiden's
+forehead; and then, once, and very tenderly, her two red lips.
+
+The pair now swiftly returned to the hollow, once again folded the
+tent, closed their hamper, saddled the horses, and struck out swiftly
+for the trail. They had practised eyes, and were soon convinced that
+both parties had gone by this route. Their horses were fairly fresh
+and they pushed on at high speed.
+
+Their course lay over a long stretch of sodden marshes, brown with
+the russet of Indian pipes and the bronze of their leafage. Here and
+there a dry ridge lifted itself lazily out of the spongy flat, and
+afforded solid, buoyant footing. But a dull gray began to fall upon
+the plains. It was fog and they knew that less than half an hour of
+clear skies, and the sight of landscape, remained to them. So they
+sped on, now sinking deep in a mass of sodden liverwort, glistening
+in the most exquisite of green, again treading down a tangle of
+luscious, pale-yellow "bake-apples." The huge, noiseless mass soon
+reached the swampy plain; and it rolled as if upon wheels of floss,
+shutting out the sun and smothering the bluffs. The gloom was now so
+great that they could not see more than twenty paces on any hand, and
+every object in view seemed many times greater than its natural size,
+and distorted in shape. Miles and miles they went through swamp and
+tangle, till they heard the far-off, sullen roar of water. The land
+now also began to dip, and fifteen minutes' ride brought them to a
+low-lying region of swamp, sentinelled with dismal larches. Close at
+hand they heard the moaning of a slow stream; beyond was the muffled
+thunder of some tremendous waterfall. They were soon convinced that
+they were on the confines of the Styx River, a dreary, forbidding
+stream of ink-black water which wallowed through a larch swamp for
+many miles till it reached the face of a bold cliff down which its
+flood went booming with the sound of thunder. At every step now the
+horses sank almost to the knee; but as the trail was yet visible they
+pushed on, keeping close to the banks of the stream.
+
+Beyond was a bluff of poplar and white oak, and as the riders passed
+round it, the gleam of a camp-fire about a quarter of a mile distant
+shone through the trees.
+
+"Hist; here they are. We shall go behind this clump and pitch our
+tent; then we can see how affairs stand."
+
+The horses were corralled, the tent pitched, a fire lighted; and
+Julie was busy breaking branches for pillows. Annette prepared the
+supper.
+
+"What is your next step, my ingenious hero mistress?"
+
+"To steal up near the camp-fire and see to which party it belongs;
+or whether the worst has happened." Her fingers trembled a little as
+she ate; but her heart was as brave as a lion's.
+
+"Take your pistol, Julie, and let us go." The night was pitchy dark,
+although the fog had rolled away; for the moon had not yet risen, and
+no light came from the few feeble stars that were out. Over swamp and
+tangle, across bare marsh, and through dense wood they went, lightly
+as a pair of fawns, till the warm, ruddy glare of the strange camp-fire
+shone on their faces.
+
+"Lie you here," whispered Annette, "while I go forward." She was not
+absent many minutes, but when she returned her cheeks were pale and
+her voice quivered a little. "As I expected. Captain Stephens and his
+two companions are prisoners. He is lying upon the ground without any
+cover over him, and his hands are bound behind his back. I see only
+one other, and he is wounded;--the other must have been killed."
+
+"But there is no use in waiting here to-night. The band is divided
+into watches; and one division has lain down to sleep. From some
+words that I heard one of the braves say I judge that they will carry
+the prisoners to Beaver Mountain, where there is a Cree stronghold.
+Here they will be held to abide the will of le chef. The march will
+last at least three days. But as they advance they will grow less
+cautious; then we may be able to accomplish something. Come, let us
+get back to our tent."
+
+Stretching themselves upon the fresh, fragrant boughs, they drew the
+rug over their two sweet, tired bodies, and fell into a restoring
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A DARING RESCUE.
+
+
+When they awoke the sun was up, the mists had rolled out of the
+hollow, and every bush and blade of grass glittered as if set in
+diamonds. Hard by the tent ran a little brook, leaping, rushing,
+eddying, gurgling, sparkling down the incline, to join the larger
+stream whose slow moaning had sounded so terrible in the fog and dark.
+
+"It is full of fish," gleefully exclaimed Julie; and casting a fly
+(for they had not come without tackle), she soon landed a trout about
+a pound weight. It was a blending of pink and silver on the belly,
+and was mottled with dots of brown. "One apiece," she cried, as
+another beauty curled and leaped upon the grass, by one of Annette's
+deftly booted little feet.
+
+The kit supplied two or three flat pans that could be stowed
+conveniently; and into one of these the fish were put.
+
+"Now, Julie, while you prepare the breakfast, I shall go and take a
+look at how things stand in the next camp."
+
+She crept noiselessly through bush and brake, and perceived the band
+just making ready for a start. Captain Stephens was put upon a horse
+in the centre of the cavalcade, and his companion, pale and
+blood-stained, rode next behind.
+
+Annette and Julie cautiously followed, drawing close to the party
+when it rode through the bush, but keeping far in the rear when the
+course lay over the plain. Towards the set of sun, they observed a
+horseman about a mile behind them, riding at high speed. They waited
+till the man drew near, and perceived that he was a Cree Indian.
+
+"Message from Little Poplar," the brave said, as he reined in his
+splashed and foam-flecked pony, "The Great Chief rages against
+mademoiselle, and has braves searching for her through every part of
+the territory." Producing a paper, he handed it to Annette. Upon it
+were written in bold letters the following:
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+Any one bringing to my presence a young person, disguised as a Cree
+spy, and riding a large gray mare, will receive a reward of $500.
+This spy and traitor is usually accompanied by another person of
+smaller stature, and also disguised as a Cree boy. Rides a black
+gelding. These traitors have heard our secret counsels as friends,
+and have gone and disclosed our plans to the enemy. They gave warning
+of our approach to a band of government officers; they procured the
+escape of the oppressors from Fort Pitt; and they turned away Big
+Bear and his braves from pursuit of the fugitives, by lies. Our first
+duty is to capture them. No injury is to be done to the chief
+offender, who is to be immediately brought to my presence.
+
+LOUIS DAVID RIEL.
+
+"Tell your brave chief, mon ami," Annette said, "that we shall take
+care to avoid the followers of le grand chef, and of unfriendly
+Indians."
+
+The Indian turned his pony, and was about retracing his steps, when
+Julie rode up to him, and in her exquisitely timid little way, said
+in a soft voice,
+
+"Faites mes amities a monsieur, votre chef." The Indian replied,
+"Oui, oui," and urged his pony to the height of its speed. When Julie
+joined her mistress there was a little rose in each cheek, and a
+gleam in her faintly humid eye.
+
+"Sending a message to her chief?" Annette said, looking at the
+bright, brown beauty. "She need not have blushed at giving her
+message to the brave; he thought that she was an Indian lad."
+
+"Oh, I forgot," Julie murmured; and she pressed her deftly booted
+feet against the flanks of her pony.
+
+The savage was, evidently, not enamoured of the lonesome journey
+back to his chief, for rumour had peopled every square mile of all
+the plains with warriors, and with hidden assassins. And spread
+across that arc of the sky where the sun had just gone down, were
+troops of clouds, of crimson, and bronze and pink; and in their
+curious shapes the solitary rider saw mighty horses, bestrode by
+giant riders, all congregated to join in the war. He knew that these
+were the spirits of chiefs who had ruled the plains long before the
+stranger with the pale face came; they always assembled when great
+battles were to be fought; and when their brothers began to lose
+heart in the fray, they would descend from the clouds and give to
+each warrior the heart of the lion, and the arm of the jaguar.
+
+His heart swelled with a wild war-fever as these thoughts passed
+through his brain. Then the darkness began to creep over the plains;
+it came softly and as remorselessly as the prairie panther; and a
+fear grew upon the savage. The horsemen in the sky had come nearer to
+the earth; some of them had trooped across through the dusk, till
+they stood directly above his head; and he fancied that several of
+the figures had lowered themselves down till they almost touched him.
+In the deepening dusk he could not observe what they were doing. They
+at last actually reached the earth;--and three giants stood before
+his horse.
+
+"Mon Dieu," shrieked the terrified creature, and his hand lost
+control over the reins. His pony did not heed the spectres, but
+walked straight on. Nay, he passed so close to one of the dread
+things that the Indian's arm brushed the goblin. Its touch was hard.
+The man shrieked, and in a terror that stopped the beating of his
+heart fell to the ground. When he arose, he found that the spectre
+was not from the sky; but only a tall prairie poplar.
+
+Pray, readers, do not laugh at the unreasonable terror of this
+untutored savage. I have seen some of yourselves just as unreasonable.
+
+While the Indian was suffering the sunset clouds to fill him, now
+with enthusiasm, and again with dread, Annette and Julie were keeping
+their ponies at their fleetest pace to regain sight of the party.
+
+"Do you know, Julie, I feel a presentiment that an opportunity for
+the rescue will come to-night. The captors will not dream of pursuit
+so far from the frequented grounds and known trails, and they will be
+off their guard. See! yonder they camp;" and while she was yet
+speaking, a pyramid of scarlet flame, scattering showers of sparks,
+shot up from a recess in the bluff lying directly before them.
+
+"Rein in, Julie, we must find a bluff a safe distance off for our
+horses. Should they get scent or sight of the ponies in yonder camp,
+and whinny, all would be lost."
+
+So swerving to the left, and taking a course at right angles to
+their late one, they rode slowly and silently till a bluff rose from
+the prairie, a short distance in front, like a hill.
+
+"We shall tether our horses here, Julie; but I believe our stay will
+not be a long one." And the pair dismounted, tied their tired beasts,
+and swiftly raised the white sides of their tent.
+
+"Ee-e-e-e!" it was Julie who gave the shriek. The thicket was
+swarming with soft, noiseless wings, and a bird with burning eyes had
+brushed the face of the maiden with its pinion. "What is it, ma
+maitresse? It has two bright eyes, and it touched my face. Ee-e-e. O!
+There it is again."
+
+"What is the matter, Julie? Do you want to bring Jean and his
+Indians here, with this pretty screaming of yours?"
+
+"But it brushed me in the face twice, mademoiselle."
+
+"These are only night hawks, Julie; they gather sometimes like this
+in our own poplar-grove."
+
+"O-o that's what it was? Pardonnez-moi. What a simpleton I am, my
+mistress. Do you think they heard me?" and her sweet voice was now so
+low, that the locust, dozing among the spray of the golden-rod, could
+scarcely have heard her tones. The thicket was literally swarming
+with these noiseless birds; and wondering they flew round and round
+the figures of the intruders, but most of all did they marvel at the
+great mound of white that had been raised amongst them. Some of them,
+in alarm, rose high above the bluff, wheeling and darting hither and
+thither, and the girls could hear their c-h-u-n-g as if some hand,
+high up in the air, had smote the bass chord of a violoncello. But
+when the flame from the camp fire arose, terror seized every
+feathered thing in the bluff, and they all flew, in wild haste, away
+from the bewildering light.
+
+Annette was now away wandering through the grove, gathering dry and
+fallen limbs for the fire; and as Julie bustled about through the
+long prairie grass, preparing the meal, she was startled with a
+little cry.
+
+"Mon Dieu, what is it?" Julie hastened away to her mistress, her
+bright eyes widened and gleaming with alarm.
+
+"What has happened my mistress?"
+
+"Oh! is that all it is? Why Julie, I am just as silly as you are. I
+stooped to pick up what I thought a little bramble, but when I laid
+my hand upon it, it moved; and then went under the ground. It was a
+gopher. I am now rebuked for chiding the fears of my little maid."
+
+"But anybody would scream at touching a live thing like that on the
+ground. It was foolish, though, to be frightened at a bird."
+
+Generous, sweet little Julie!
+
+They now busied themselves with their supper, brewing some tea in a
+shallow pan; and when they had spread their store of provisions they
+sat down by the side of the fire, and ate their meal of home-made
+bread and cold meat. It would have gladdened the heart of the most
+withered monk to see those two healthy, plump little maidens in the
+flickering fire light, their garments loosened, their eyes glowing,
+their cheeks and lips in hue like the cherry, eating slice after
+slice of bread and meat, and draining cup after cup of the fragrant
+tea.
+
+"Now Julie," Annette said rising, after the precious maiden had
+eaten enough to make some miserable philosopher ill for a week of
+dyspepsia, "I shall creep out and make a reconnaissance." And
+buckling on her belt, with its large bright-bladed knife, and her
+ready revolver, she went away softly and cunning as a cat. The very
+field-mouse could have known nothing of her coming till her sweet
+foot was upon its head: and when she came in sight of the hostile
+camp fire with the dull scarlet glow that the mass of dying embers
+threw out, she stooped so low that a spectator near by would have
+imagined that the dark thing moving across the level was a prairie
+dog.
+
+At last she was at the very edge of the bluff, and was peering
+between the branches at the party, about the flight of an arrow
+within. Captain Stephens was there, full in the light, his arms and
+legs fast bound, and tied to a sturdy white oak tree. Near a poplar,
+a few paces distant, lay his comrade, likewise bound and fastened to
+a tree. Most of the Indians were asleep; the remainder lolled about,
+showing no evidence of keeping vigil. Jean she could not perceive;
+and she believed, and was no doubt right, that he was sleeping.
+
+"It is well," the maiden ejaculated in a little whisper; and she
+returned swiftly and noiselessly as a shadow to her own camp fire.
+
+"Most of them sleep; and presently there will not be an open eye
+among the braves. Ah, Julie, if you but saw how they have _him_
+bound--both of the captives, I mean." And her eyes flashed, while her
+hand made a little blind, convulsive motion toward her pistol. "We
+have no time now to waste; help me to pack." In the space of a few
+minutes everything was ready for a start, and the horses led away to
+another bluff which loomed up about five hundred yards distant. Julie
+could not divine the reason for this precaution, but Annette
+whispered,
+
+"Child, the light of our fire might, at the first moment of flight
+lead to recapture, should any of my plans fail; and it would take us
+a half an hour to extinguish the embers by fetching water in our
+little pans."
+
+Yes, Julie saw a little of what her mistress was aiming at; and
+reposed perfect trust in Annette's ability to do everything with
+skill and success. The beasts were tethered, and dark as was that
+prairie night, these two girls with skill as unerring as the instinct
+of a pair of night-hawks could come back and find them. Then they
+struck out through the long grass, and made for the bluff where lay
+the Stonies and their prisoners.
+
+"Now, if we can find their ponies!" Annette said.
+
+"Wherefore look for their ponies, mademoiselle?"
+
+"You soon shall see. Ah, here they are; stay you there, Julie, I
+will come to you again presently." But Julie followed her mistress. A
+little shudder passed through her heart as she saw the dull glitter
+of something in her mistress' hand.
+
+"I don't like to do this cruel thing; but then I spill only brute
+blood; and I do so to save the shedding of human blood." Julie now
+surmised what her mistress was about; and drew her own knife. Annette
+had already passed from one of the ponies, after pausing for a few
+seconds stooped by its hinder legs, to another; and with the knife
+still gleaming in her hand, performed upon the second beast what she
+had done to the first.
+
+"You just cut the tendons of the hinder legs, I suppose,
+mademoiselle?" Julie enquired in a whisper.
+
+"What, are you at work too, Julie?"
+
+"Oui mademoiselle; I have cut yonder one, and yon;" and she darted
+away to continue the work of mutilation. In a few minutes the uncanny
+task was ended, and with a shudder at their hearts the girls wiped
+their knives and led away from the flock of lamed and bleeding beasts
+the horses of Captain Stephens and his brother captive. These they
+tethered beside their own, and again returned. They then proceeded
+with noiseless tread towards the hostile camp.
+
+The fire had burnt lower, but the glow was still strong enough to
+reveal the condition of the camp. After Annette had counted every
+Indian, and convinced herself that one and all were soundly sleeping,
+and that Jean in his tent was the deepest slumberer of all, she
+whispered softly.
+
+"Remain you here, Julie. Should I be discovered fly instantly and
+take horse. Don't tarry for me. Peace, ma petite amie; I go."
+
+And softly as sleep she went away, and in among the trees till she
+stood within a pace of where her deliverer lay. He had been on the
+border land that divides the world from the realm of dreams; but
+through the wavering senses of his eye and ear, he was sensible of
+the faintest stir among the leaves, of a shadow moving near him.
+Instantly his eyes were wide open; and the dull glow of the embers
+revealed standing above him with his finger on his lips, the figure
+of the beautiful Indian boy who had saved his life before. The next
+moment, the boy is leaning over him; in another moment his bonds are
+severed, and he is free.
+
+"Go," whispered the boy, pointing toward the bluff; "no noise."
+These words were as low and as fine as the little whisper that you
+hear among the leaves of the alder when a faint wind comes out of the
+west on a summer's evening and moves them. And while he yet remained
+bewildered by the suddenness of the boy's appearance, his own
+deliverance, and the order that had been given to him, he perceived
+the lad stooping over his companion in captivity, and severing the
+thongs that bound him. Stephens now moved hastily away a short
+distance, and then turned. The captive was upon his feet, and his
+deliverer was beside him; but at the same moment he saw a tall savage
+bound to his feet, with hatchet uplifted, and make towards the two.
+At the same time he uttered the fierce alarum-yell of the Stoney
+tribe.
+
+"Fly!" shouted the Indian boy to the white. "Away!" and then he
+turned to face the approaching foe. The savage came on, and when, as
+it seemed to Stephens, his hatchet was about to cleave the boy's
+skull, there was a pistol report, and the Indian fell with a
+convulsive toss of his arms. This was accomplished in the space of a
+couple of heart-beats; but the time was long enough to bring Jean and
+the entire party to their feet.
+
+"Fly!" repeated the Indian boy, and he bounded swiftly out of the
+bluff, joining Stephens, his companion and Julie, who all four now
+led off across the dark prairie towards the horses.
+
+"Ought we not get our horses," Stephens enquired in a low hurried
+tone, for the noise of the pursuit from the camp was close, and
+tumultuous as a broken bedlam.
+
+"You will get your horses, Monsieur," Annette replied, and Captain
+Stephens implicitly relied upon the word of the beautiful youth. The
+grass upon the prairie was thick and high, and in some places lay in
+heavy tangles, making slow the progress of the refugees; but they
+were able to keep their distance ahead of the Indians, who with
+flaring flambeaux were following their trail like bloodhounds. Out of
+the darkness came a series of sharp whinnies, and the next moment
+they found themselves among the horses. The beasts were ready for
+mounting, and without delay or bungle, the party were instantly in
+the saddles and cantering briskly across the prairie. As they rode
+along cries of baffled rage came to their ears; and they knew that
+the Indians had discovered the plight of their ponies.
+
+But when they had ridden beyond the sound of the enemies' voices,
+they slacked their pace, and Captain Stephens said,
+
+"Brave lad, is it your intention to ride all night?"
+
+"No, Monsieur; I purpose resting at the first suitable place, till
+moon-rise. It is not safe for our horses' legs travelling among the
+gopher-burrows in the dark. At any rate Monsieur le Capitaine and his
+companion must be hungry."
+
+"During my captivity I have eaten nothing save a piece of an elk's
+heart raw; and I do not believe that Phillips has taken anything."
+
+The truth is that Phillips had been severely wounded; and besides
+several shot wounds in his side, his left arm was at this moment in a
+sling, having been nigh severed from his body with a hatchet blow.
+
+"No, I have not eaten; and I think it was as well while the fever of
+my wounds was upon me."
+
+"But," continued Captain Stephens, "I am most anxious to rest that I
+may hear how came you, my brave lad, and your heroic companion, to
+get knowledge of our capture; how it is that fate seems to have
+singled you out to be my constant guardian-angel and deliverer. I
+trust that you will not refuse the explanations as you did on a
+former occasion. A man who has been thrice rescued from probable
+death, has good excuse for seeking to know all about the person who
+has delivered him."
+
+"I would much rather that Monsieur did not press me upon the point,"
+the boy replied in a low voice.
+
+"But I will, my heroic lad. I believe that we met somewhere before
+under different circumstances; for several times I have noticed a
+familiar accent in your voice."
+
+"It is only a delusion, Monsieur," she replied in the same low tone.
+"But, here is a bluff wherein we shall be likely to find some place
+to rest for a little;" and turning her horse, she led the way along a
+grassy lane which seemed, in the night, as regular as if it had been
+fashioned with human hands. As she halted and while her hand lay upon
+her horse's neck, she said:
+
+"I have a tent which I regret I cannot offer to share with you; but
+we can prepare a comfortable supper upon the grass; and you can rest
+cosily in the warmth of the fire." With these words she dismounted.
+
+In a few minutes the white of the tent loomed through the dusk; and
+presently a fire was roaring and scattering about a spray of scarlet
+sparks.
+
+Annette had some moments with Julie in the tent, while Stephens was
+busy making a comfortable resting-place for his wounded companion.
+
+"Julie, I cannot longer keep this secret; when we have eaten, I
+shall tell him. But oh! I think it will nearly kill me to do it. I am
+so ashamed; our dress, you know, Julie." And by the dull glimmer of
+the camp-fire Julie could see that her mistress' face was like a
+freshly-blown carnation.
+
+"I would not mind telling mon chef, ma maitresse; Monsieur Stephens
+will prize you all the more for your bravery. And then it is so
+becoming;" and this sweetest of maids looked admiringly at the
+exquisite curves and grace of outline in her mistress. And she came
+to her softly as a mouse, taking the still blushing face into her
+brown hands, and looking lovingly into the luminous eyes.
+
+"Ah Julie, your chief, or our own Metis, might admire us in this
+costume, but the ladies of Captain Stephens' acquaintance would
+shrink from doing that in which we see naught amiss. He may think it
+indelicate and--." Once more the blood came stinging with a thousand
+sharp points in her temples; but Julie interposed:
+
+"Nay, mademoiselle; if you have done anything unlike what white
+ladies do, it was for the sake of Captain Stephens; and if you did
+not adopt disguise, you could not have saved him."
+
+"True, sweet Julie; you fill me with courage;" and then she set
+about preparing the meal.
+
+Captain Stephens was amazed at the deftness with which the young
+scout prepared the repast; and he lay upon the grass, with his eyes
+rivetted upon the nimble, noiseless, graceful lad. It puzzled him
+that the mysterious youth should persistently keep his head averted,
+and he was the more strongly decided to discover his identity. When
+the meal was ended Annette whispered,
+
+"Julie will come with us; I never could tell him in the light of the
+fire." Then turning towards Captain Stephens, with eyes looking
+timidly down, "If monsieur will walk forth a little with me and mon
+frere, I shall tell him something."
+
+Certainly, he would go, and was upon his feet beside the mysterious
+boy, whose colour had now become most fitful, changing from pale
+olive to the dye of the damask rose. They went beyond the bluff, and
+out upon the prairie, Stephens marvelling much, though speaking no
+word, what the handsome boy had to say to him.
+
+"Monsieur," she began in a soft, trembling voice, "has wondered who
+I am, and thinks he has heard my voice before. He has heard it--at
+the cottage of my father."
+
+Captain Stephens turned around and gazed with amazement at the lad.
+
+"He has heard it elsewhere, too," Annette went on--"he heard it on
+the brimming river; he saved me from death below the chute."
+
+"Heavens, Annette Marton! Sweet, generous, noble girl, why had I not
+guessed the truth," and he stood rapt with gratitude and admiration
+before her. Kindly dusk of the starless prairie that hid the blushes
+and confusion of the girl!
+
+Then in a low tone, as they walked aimlessly about upon the plain,
+she told him the story of her adventures, all of which my reader
+already knows. Then they returned; and when they neared the camp
+fire, Annette with a shy little run disappeared into her tent,
+murmuring softly,
+
+"Au revoir, Monsieur."
+
+Her dreams were bewildering, yet delicious, that night; but there
+ran through them all a feeling of shame that he should have detected
+her in those unwomanly clothes. Indeed, the embarrassment went
+further than this; and once she imagined, the dear maiden, that she
+was by the edge of an amber-green pool fringed with rowan bushes and
+their vermillion berries, and that as she was about to step into it
+for a bath, there occurred what happened in the case of Artemis and
+her maids, the one upon whom her heart was set taking the place of
+Actaon. She gave a great scream and awoke, to find Julie sitting up
+and looking with wide affrighted eyes through the dusk at her
+mistress.
+
+"Oh, I had such a horrid dream, Julie," and nestling her head upon
+the bosom of her maid, she was soon asleep and wandering again in
+spirit with her lover through the prairie flowers.
+
+They were astir early in the morning, and Annette, as was the habit
+of the Metis women, had about her shoulders a blanket of Indian red
+and Prussian blue. [Footnote: It is customary for Metis women, even
+the most coquettish and pretty of them, to wear blankets; and the
+hideous "fashion" is the chief barbaric trait which they inherit from
+their wild ancestry. Annette, of course, donned the robe under a
+mental protest. E.C.] Captain Stephens had gone abroad upon the
+prairie in the morning, and with his pistol shot a pair of chickens.
+These he handed to Annette as he returned, saying,
+
+"Here my little hero deliverer; and take this, too," handing her a
+tiger lily, moist with dew. "Now, in what way can I assist the Cree
+boy who has twice saved my life?" and he looked wistfully into the
+eyes of the brown maiden.
+
+"If monsieur will just sit there upon the grass, petite and myself
+will get the meal;" and straightway she began to pluck and prepare
+the chickens which Stephens had given her. The sun burned through the
+cobalt blue of the prairie sky, and there was not anywhere in the
+great, blue dome an atom of cloud. The sun and the rays from the fire
+combined made the heat unbearable, and Annette with no little
+confusion laid by her blanket. Perceiving her discomfiture, Stephens
+arose and wandered about the prairie, picking flowers; and only
+returned in obedience to the call of Julie's little silver whistle.
+
+Very soon, the party was in motion along the trail, Annette leading,
+Captain Stephens riding in rear beside Phillips, who was again
+feverish with his wounds.
+
+They rode till the post meridian sun became too warm, and then
+obtaining shelter in a bluff, they lunched and rested for several
+hours. They then resumed their march and continued it till the set of
+sun. During the day Stephens rode frequently by the side of Annette,
+but she invariably made her horse mend its pace, and rode alone.
+Despite his admiring glances, and his deep expressions of gratitude,
+Stephens gradually began to resume his old playful manner of address.
+He referred to her as "the little Cree boy," and in speaking of her
+to Julie or Phillips, always used the word "he." Annette took no heed
+of this; she led the party through mazes of woodland, across
+stretches where there was no trail, or selected the camping-ground.
+
+"The moon rises to-night about twelve, monsieur," she said to
+Stephens when supper had been ended, "and we had better resume our
+march then. There is a Cree village not far from here, and the braves
+are everywhere abroad. I do not think that travelling by day would be
+safe; for all the Indians must have read the proclamation."
+
+About midnight a dusky yellow appeared in the south-east, and then
+the luminous, greenish-yellow rim of the moon appeared and began to
+flood the illimitable prairie with its wizard light.
+
+"So this miscreant has been hunting you, Annette?" said Stephens,
+for both had unconsciously dropped in rear. "I suppose, ma petite, if
+I had the right to keep you from the fans of the water-mill, that I
+also hold the right of endeavouring to preserve you from a man whose
+arms would be worse than the rending wheel?" She said nothing, but
+there was gratitude enough in her eye to reward one for the most
+daring risk that man ever ran.
+
+"You do not love this sooty persecutor, do you, ma chere?"--and
+then, seeing that such a question filled her with pain and shame, he
+said, "Hush now, petite; I shall not tease you any more." The
+confusion passed away, and her olive face brightened, as does the
+moon when the cloud drifts off its disc.
+
+"I am very glad. Oh, if you only knew how I shudder at the sound of
+his name!"
+
+"There now, let us forget about him," and reining his horse closer
+to hers, he leaned tenderly towards the girl. She said nothing, for
+she was very much confused. But the confusion was less embarrassment
+than a bewildered feeling of delight. Save for the dull thud, thud of
+the hoofs upon the sod, her companion might plainly have heard the
+riotous beating of the maiden's heart.
+
+"And now, about that flower which I gave you this morning. What did
+you do with it?"
+
+"Ah, Monsieur, where were your eyes? I have worn it in my hair all
+day. It is there now."
+
+"Oh, I see. I am concerned with your head,--not with your heart. Is
+that it, ma petite bright eye? You know our white girls wear the
+flowers we give them under their throats--upon their bosom. This they
+do as a sign that the donor occupies a place in their heart."
+
+He did not perceive in the dusky light that he was covering her with
+confusion. Upon no point was this maiden so sensitive, as the
+revelation that a habit or act of hers differed from that of the
+civilized girl. Her dear heart was almost bursting with shame, and
+this thought was running through her mind.
+
+"What a savage I must seem in his eyes." Her own outspoken words
+seemed to burn through her body. "But how could I know where to wear
+my rose? I have read in English books that gentle ladies wear them
+there." And these lines of Tennyson [Footnote: I must say here for
+the benefit of the drivelling, cantankerous critic, with a squint in
+his eye, who never looks for anything good in a piece of writing, but
+is always in the search for a flaw, that I send passages from
+Tennyson floating through Annette's brain with good justification.
+She had received a very fair education at a convent in Red River. She
+could speak and write both French and English with tolerable
+accuracy; and she could with her tawny little fingers, produce a true
+sketch of a prairie tree-clump, upon a sheet of cartridge paper, or a
+piece of birch rind. I am constrained to make this explanation
+because the passage appeared in another book of mine and evoked
+censure from one or two dismal wiseacres.--E.C.] came running through
+her head:
+
+  "She went by dale, and she went by down,
+  With a single rose _in her hair_."
+
+These gave her some relief, for she thought, after all, that he
+might be only jesting. When the blood had gone from her forehead, she
+turned towards her lover, who had been looking at her since speaking,
+with a tender expression in his mischievous eyes.
+
+"Do white girls never wear roses in their hair? I thought they did.
+Can it be wrong for me to wear mine in the same place?"
+
+"Ah, my little barbarian, you do not understand me. If an ancient
+bachelor, whose head shone like the moon there in the sky, were to
+give to some blithe young belle a rose or a lily, she would, most
+likely, twist it in her hair; but if some other person had presented
+the flower, one whose eye was brighter, whose step was quicker, whose
+laugh was cheerier, whose years were fewer; in short, ma chere
+Annette, if some one for whom she cared just a little more than for
+any other man that walked over the face of creation, had presented it
+to her, she would not put it in her hair. No, my unsophisticated one,
+she would feel about with her unerring fingers, for the spot nearest
+her heart, and there she would fasten the gift. Now, ma Marie,
+suppose you had possessed all this information when I gave you the
+flower, where would you have pinned it?"
+
+"Nobody has ever done so much for me as Monsieur. He leaped into the
+flood, risking his life to save mine. I would be an ungrateful girl,
+then, if I did not think more of him than of any other man;
+therefore, I would have pinned your flower on the spot nearest my
+heart."
+
+Then, deftly, and before he could determine what her supple arms and
+nimble brown fingers were about, she had disengaged the lily from her
+hair, and pinned it upon her bosom.
+
+"There now, Monsieur, is it in the right place?" and she looked at
+him with a glance exhibiting the most curious commingling of naivete
+and coquetry.
+
+"I cannot answer. I do not think that you understand me yet. If the
+act of saving you from drowning were to determine the place you
+should wear the rose, then the head, as you first chose, was the
+proper spot. Do you know what the word Love means?"
+
+"O, I could guess, perhaps, if I don't know. I have heard a good
+deal about it, and Violette, who is fond of a young Frenchman, has
+explained it so fully to me, that I think I know. Yes, Monsieur, I
+_do_ know."
+
+"Well, you little rogue, it takes one a long time to find out
+whether you do or not. In fact I am not quite satisfied on the point.
+However, let me suppose that you do know what love is; the all-consuming
+sort; the kind that sighs like the furnace. Well, supposing
+that a flower is worn over the heart only to express love of this
+sort, where would you, with full knowledge of this fact, have pinned
+the blossom that I plucked for you this morning?"
+
+"Since I do not understand the meaning of the word love with very
+great clearness,--I think Monsieur has expressed the doubt that I do
+understand it--I would not have known where to pin the flower. I
+would not have worn it at all. I would, Monsieur, if home, have set
+it in a goblet, and taking my stitching, would have gazed upon it all
+the day, and prayed my guardian angel to give me some hint as to
+where I ought to put it on."
+
+"You little savage, you have eluded me again. Do you remember me
+telling you that some day, if you found out for me a couple of good
+flocks of turkeys, I would bring you some coppers?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Well, if you discovered a hundred flocks now I would not give you
+one." And then he leaned towards her again as if his lips yearned for
+hers. For her part, she took him exactly as she should have done. She
+never pouted;--If she had done so, I fancy that there would have been
+soon an end of the boyish, sunny raillery.
+
+"Hallo! Petite, we are away, away in the rear. Set your horse going,
+for we must keep up with our escort." Away they went over the level
+plain, through flowers of every name and dye, the fresh, exquisite
+breeze bearing the scent of the myriad petals. After a sharp gallop
+over about three miles of plain, they overtook the main body of the
+escort, and all rode together through the glorious night, under the
+calm, bountiful moon.
+
+"When this journey is ended we shall rest for a few days at my
+uncle's, my brave Cree," Stephens said. "Running through the grounds
+is a little brook swarming with fish. Will you come fishing with me
+there, petite?"
+
+"Oui, avec grand plaisir, Monsieur."
+
+"Of course, you shall fish with a pin-hook. I am not going to see
+you catch yourself with a barbed hook, like that which I shall use."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur! Why will you always treat me as a baby!" and there
+was the most delicate, yet an utterly indescribable, sort of reproach
+in her voice and attitude, as she spoke these words.
+
+"Then it is not a baby by any means," and he looked with undisguised
+admiration upon the maiden, with all the mystic grace and the perfect
+development of her young womanhood. "It is a woman, a perfect little
+woman, a fairer, a sweeter, my own mignonnette, than any girl ever
+seen in these plains in all their history."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur is now gone to the other extreme. He is talking
+dangerously; for he will make me vain."
+
+"Does the ceaseless wooing of the sweet wild rose by soft winds,
+make that blossom vain? or is the moon spoilt because all the summer
+night ten thousand streams running under it sing its praises? As
+easy, Annette, to make vain the rose or the moon as to turn your head
+by telling your perfections."
+
+"Monsieur covers me with confusion!" and the little sweet told the
+truth. But it was a confusion very exquisite to her. It was like
+entrancing music in her veins; and gave her a delightful delirium
+about the temples. How fair all the glorious great round of the
+night, and the broad earth lit by the moon, seemed to her now, with
+the music of his words absorbing her body and soul. Everything was
+transfigured by a holy beauty, for Love had sanctified it, and
+clothed it in his own mystic and beautiful garments. It was with poor
+Marie, then, as it has some time or other been with us all: when
+every bird that sang, every leaf that whispered, had in its tone a
+cadence caught from the one loved voice. I have seen the steeple
+strain, and rock, and heard the bells peal out in all their
+clangorous melody, and I have fancied that this delirious ecstacy of
+sound that bathed the earth and went up to heaven was the voice of
+one sweet girl with dimples and sea-green eyes.
+
+The mischievous young Stephens had grown more serious than Annette
+had ever seen him before.
+
+"But, my little girl, what is to become of you during this period of
+tumult. It may continue long, and it is hard to say what the chances
+of war may have in store for your father."
+
+"I know not; though my heart is with the cause of my father and of
+his people, yet, I do not desire to see them triumph over your
+people. A government under the hateful chief would be intolerable;
+and whenever I can warn the white soldiers of danger, I shall do it."
+
+"What a hero you are Annette! How different from what I supposed on
+that day when I saw you sitting in your canoe in the midst of the
+racing flood."
+
+She was glad that Monsieur held what she had done in such high regard.
+
+"Why dear girl, the story of your bravery will be told by the
+writers of books throughout all Christendom. Ah, Annette, I shall be
+so lonely when you go from me!"
+
+Stephens was all the while growing more serious, and even becoming
+pathetic, which is a sign of something very delicious, and not
+uncommon, when you are travelling under a bewitching moon in company
+with a more bewitching maiden.
+
+But there was so much mischief in his nature that he would rebound
+at any moment from a mood of pathos or seriousness to one of levity.
+"Well, Annette," and he leaned yearningly towards her, "when you
+leave me to take the chances of this tumultuous time, the greatest
+light that I have known will have gone out of my life."
+
+"When I am absent from Monsieur, perhaps he never thinks of me."
+
+"What a little ingrate it is! Yesterday morning, while you were
+getting breakfast, I was upon the prairie, doing--what think you?"
+
+How was Annette to know?
+
+"Well, I was making verses about ma petite. I was describing her
+eyes, and her ears, and all her beautiful face."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur!" and again came the blood to her face till her cheeks
+rivalled the crimson dye of the vetch at their ponies' feat. Then in
+a little,
+
+"What did Monsieur say about my ears? They are like those of all the
+Metis girls; and I do not think that they are as pretty as Julie's."
+
+Then he replied with the lines,
+
+"Shells of rosy pink and silver are most like her dainty ears;
+Shells wherein the fisher maiden the sad Nereid's singing hears."
+
+"Oh, indeed Monsieur, my ears are not at all beautiful like that;
+indeed they're not." Then slightly changing her tone, "Perhaps le
+capitaine made these about some white maiden whose ears _are_, like
+that."
+
+"What an ungrateful little creature it is!"
+
+"No, but Monsieur cannot make me believe that my ears resemble
+shells, coloured in pink and silver. In his heart he is comparing my
+brown skin with the snow-white complexions of some of his Caucasian
+girls, and thinking how horrid mine is."
+
+"Why, you irreconcilable little wretch, it is your complexion that
+most of all I adore. It is not 'brown;' who told you that it was? The
+colour of your skin I described in these lines, though you do not
+deserve that I should repeat them to you:"
+
+"In the sunny, southern orchard fronting on some tawny beach,
+Exquisite with silky softness hangs the downy silver peach; But as
+dainty as the beauty of the bloom whereof I speak--Rain, nor sun, nor
+frost can change it--is the bloom on Annette's cheek."
+
+"Oh, monsieur! I do not know what to say, if you really made these
+verses about me. If you did, they are not true; I am sure they are
+not;" and her confusion was a most exquisite sight to see.
+
+"But I have not described your eyes yet; here are the two lines that
+I made about them:
+
+   "Annette's eyes are starlight mingled with the deepest dusk of
+  night;--
+  Eyes with lustre rich and glorious like some sweet, warm, southern
+  light."
+
+"Oh, no, no, monsieur, they are not true; I don't want you to say
+any more of them to me," and she put her hand over her face; for the
+dear little one's embarrassment was very great.
+
+"That is all I wrote about you; but I may write some more. You say,
+petite, that they are not true. I confess that they are not--true
+enough. Why, sweet, brave, and most lovely of girls, they fall far
+short of showing your merits in the full. I have so far tried to
+explain only what is beautiful in your face; but, darling, you have a
+nobleness of soul that no language of mine could describe.
+
+"I believe, my heroic love, that you have regarded yourself as a
+mere plaything in my eyes. Why, ma chere, all of my heart you have
+irrevocably. One of your dear hands is more precious to me, than any
+other girl whom mine eyes have ever seen. Do you remember the
+definition of love that I tried to give you? Well, I gave it from my
+own experience. With such a love, my prairie flower, do I adore you.
+It is fit now that we are so soon to part, that I should tell you
+this: and you will know that every blow I strike, every noble deed I
+do, shall be for the approbation of the dear heart from whom fate
+severs me. And though the hours of absence will be dreary there will
+lie beyond the darkest of them one hope which shall blaze like a star
+through the night, and this is, that I shall soon be able to call my
+Annette my own sweet bride. Now, my beloved, if that wished-for time
+had come, and I were to say, 'Will you be mine, Annette,' what would
+your answer be?"
+
+"I did not think it was necessary for Monsieur to ask me that
+question," she answered shyly, her beautiful eyes cast down; "I
+thought he knew."
+
+"My own little hunted pet!" He checked his horse, and seized the
+bridle of Annette's pony, till the two animals stood close together.
+Then he kissed the girl upon her dew-wet lips, murmuring low,
+
+"My love!"
+
+Later on, they were in sight of the spot where they must part, and
+Phillips and Julie were awaiting them there. The light of the moon
+was wan now upon the prairie, for the dawn was spreading in silver
+across the eastern sky.
+
+"My beloved must run no more risk, even for me," he said, leaning
+tenderly towards her.
+
+She would be prudent, but she would always for his sake warn his
+friends of danger when she had knowledge of the same.
+
+Again he breathed a low "Good-bye, my love," his eyes wistful,
+mournful and tender; and with Phillips at his side, then rode down a
+small gorge at the bottom of which were tangles of cedar and larch.
+
+And as they rode suspecting naught of danger, several Indians hidden
+in the draggled bush arose and stealthily followed them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FIGHT; A CAPTURE; AND THE GUARDIAN SWAN.
+
+
+ANNETTE with a tear in the corner of each eye, and Julie at her
+side, rode on till the two came within sight of the shining waters of
+the indolent Saskatchewan. As they rode leisurely along its banks,
+Annette, now sighing and now Julie, they heard the trample of hoofs,
+and turning saw approaching an Indian chief, well mounted.
+
+"Ah, your chef, ma petite," Annette said, looking at Julie.
+
+But Julie was well aware who the fast riding stranger was; and she
+was covered with the most becoming of blushes when her lover drew
+rein beside them.
+
+"No time; Indians in pursuit of you. I said I would come ahead of
+braves to keep watch upon your movements. Ride to the south, and
+unless you find good bluffs to the east, don't rest till you reach
+Souris." And he was about to go; but Julie, who had quietly managed
+to so work her left heel as to make her horse perform a right pass
+till its side touched that of the chief's pony, turned towards him,
+her face having the expression of a large note of interrogation,
+which if put in words would say, Are you going away without giving
+your Julie a kiss? while her lips would remind you of the half-opened
+rose that awaits the hovering shower.
+
+The chief may have interpreted the mute and delicious appeal, but he
+was too full of alarm to accept the invitation, even though he could
+have conquered his sense of delicacy enough to do it before Annette.
+
+"There now, I must be away, he said; and you must be off too." Julie
+put down her head till her chin touched her bosom; but she turned her
+dusky eyes up towards her lover with irresistible effect, as she said,
+
+"Won't you before you go? Ma maitresse will not mind." It is not in
+the nature of man, even before the cannon's mouth, to resist such an
+appeal as there was upon the half-pouting, half-yearning lips of that
+Metis girl. He stooped suddenly, kissed her once, twice, thrice, and
+then was away.
+
+Annette and Julie at the same moment turned their horses, and rode
+at a swift pace along the Saskatchewan; but they had barely started
+when a shower of fierce yells came to them, and turning in their
+saddles they saw a band of painted savages not more than five hundred
+paces distant, mounted on fleet ponies, and making for them at high
+speed. As for Julie's chief there was nothing to be seen of him.
+
+"Where can the chief have gone, ma maitresse? Will the braves not
+know that he has played them false? Oh it was so selfish not to think
+of him;" and she turned again in her saddle, and once more scanned
+the plains for sight of her lover.
+
+"Julie need not fear for the chief. He is very likely in that
+cottonwood bluff near where we parted."
+
+"He could hide safely there, think you mademoiselle?" and she gave
+her reins a joyous fling. Then in an altered tone, "But he must think
+me indifferent, that I did not ask him how he was to conceal from the
+braves knowledge of what he had done."
+
+"There is not much fear that he will think petite indifferent,"
+Annette replied in a playful tone. "A sweet girl that asks a lover to
+kiss her is not _indifferent_."
+
+"Oh, there now, mademoiselle; please don't! Oh, it was such a
+dreadful thing for me to do. Perhaps he will not like me for it;" and
+this wretched darling was the colour of a new-blown poppy.
+
+"Why, Julie, they are closing upon us," Annette exclaimed, as she
+turned to look at the pursuers. "Their ponies are fresh, and our
+horses cannot keep up a long run, I fear. Spur on, Julie," and the
+girls put their horses at the top of their speed.
+
+"There, we are holding our distance now Julie; and I think gaining a
+little," she added after a few moments. "See, some of their ponies
+are falling out of the chase," and a glance revealed four savages now
+several hundred yards in advance of the main body which were
+evidently unwilling to join further in the pursuit.
+
+"These four Julie, must in the end overtake us. Note their lithe,
+large ponies, and what a buoyant spring they have."
+
+"How soon, mademoiselle, will they catch us? and what will we do
+then?"
+
+"You must not ask two questions at once, Julie. I mean, you must not
+get frightened. As to the first question,"--the sentences were now
+and again broken by the swift galloping--"they will catch us probably
+in half an hour."
+
+"Oh, goodness," Julie said.
+
+"As to the second, we must fight them."
+
+"Mon Dieu, they will kill us mademoiselle."
+
+"Perhaps; but they will have to try hard. See yon valley with the
+tangles of bush?"
+
+"Oui, mademoiselle."
+
+"I know that valley. Was there once with mon pere. Unless they keep
+directly upon our trait, I shall lead them into a pretty mess."
+Altering her course, suddenly, for a bluff intervened and hid the
+movements of the girls from the savages, Annette followed by Julie
+made rapidly for the bottom of the valley, crossing through a belt of
+straggling cedar and larches, and then held her way along the skirt
+of the opposite ridge.
+
+Faint, far-off yells told the girls that they had been again
+discovered, but they had the consolation of knowing that their
+pursuers must have lost almost a quarter of a mile. But the best part
+of the matter was that, as Annette had expected and planned, the
+Indians descended into the valley at a point much higher than that
+chosen by the pursued. They knew not of the stretch of quaking,
+treacherous bog, with its population of designing beaver; indeed,
+they would be certain to be lured by the bright, glittering green of
+the liverwort that clad the level where the ground was most
+unsubstantial.
+
+Although I am not certain as to the prevalence of this weed in the
+swampy places of the North-West, I can affirm that I have scarcely
+ever seen a very dangerous quagmire that has not been covered with
+this exquisite little plant; and if I could credit the stories of the
+nursery, I would be able to believe that those malignant fairies who
+live about dangerous springs and shaking swamps, cover the ground
+with these dainty sprays of green to lure men to their destruction.
+Perhaps the fairies were as interested in the fortunes of Annette and
+Julie as, at my heart, I am; and that they decked this swamp in its
+cover of glistering green to hide the death beneath.
+
+Well, whether the fairies did this thing or not, the savages were
+taking such a course that, in order to regain the trail of the
+fugitives, they must cross some portion of the treacherous bog.
+Annette's eye was upon their movements now.
+
+"Pull rein, Julie;" and both brought their horses to a standstill.
+
+"Well, ma maitresse, what now?" and the pet's hands trembled, and
+the roses were out of her cheek.
+
+"See; they near the swamp, and will be able, after a struggle, to
+get through it. Now, Julie, I wish to ride down when they get fairly
+in the toils; but I would prefer that you should go in the direction
+we were pursuing. If everything is right, I shall soon overtake you."
+
+"Oh, I go with ma chere maitresse, to do whatever she does."
+
+"Brava, Julie; I do not think we have much to fear. Ha, they are in
+the toils. In fifteen minutes they will be out. Let us away." While
+she guided her horse with her bridle hand, Julie perceived her
+unbutton her holster pipe, and seize and cock a Colt's revolver.
+
+"I have one, too," muttered Julie; "so I guess I'll do the same
+thing." Not a bit of cowardice did the sweet exhibit now.
+
+They were now within a hundred paces of that portion of the swamp
+wherein the braves were tangled. And if ever savages, or anything
+else, were in a mess, these painted warriors now were. They had
+reached the centre of the bog, and were floundering in it up to their
+horses' bellies. Their excitement was so intense that they had eyes
+for no other place than the spot where their horses floundered and
+writhed; and did not notice the approach of the fugitives. Nay, the
+two had reached the very edge of the quagmire before the Indians
+noticed the Cree boys. The yell that then went up from their throats
+was most comical.
+
+Annette's arm was extended, and her revolver was pointed at the
+nearest savage; seeing which, Julie drew hers, and covered the next
+brave. But before she had the lid over her left eye, Annette had
+fired, and fired to effect, for the brave had gone over upon his
+back, and sprawled and splashed among the liverwort and the bog.
+
+Julie next fired, and when she saw, as the result of her shot, the
+arm of the savage hang useless at his side, she cried--
+
+"Bon, bon!" and cocked her pistol again.
+
+"We must wing them, Julie," Annette said, who had her arm extended
+once again. "I don't like to kill the wretches." Then came a voice
+crying from the swamp, in dismal Cree--
+
+"Don't fire any more; we won't follow the little scouts. We swear it
+by the Sun, and by the God of Thunder;" and laying his hand upon his
+hatchet, the terrified wretch faced the Sun and swore the oath: then
+turning towards the clouds wherein the Thunder God resides, he
+repeated his avowal with the same forms and solemnity of gesture.
+Still Annette kept her arm extended.
+
+"The braves talk with forked tongues, and we do not believe them,"
+she replied, in the Cree language.
+
+"But we have sworn it," the miserable savage replied, in a doleful
+voice.
+
+"False men, swearing by false gods!" Annette replied. "No; we will
+not trust them. But let the braves listen. We do not want to kill
+them, and have decided to wing them instead."
+
+"Oh, oh!" groaned the poor red-skins.
+
+"There is no time to lose; the braves must not hide behind their
+ponies in that way, or we shall be obliged to fire at their bodies
+and kill them. They must come out so that we can shoot them in the
+legs."
+
+The reader who has reached this point will likely say, "Well, Mr.
+Author, you are a bright individual. Why did not the Indians fire?"
+The truth is, they had no firearms, being supplied only with hatchets
+and spears; and they were not aware that the scouts had pistols.
+
+"But we have nothing more to fear from them, mademoiselle," Julie
+said, "wherefore need we fire at them?"
+
+"Nor do I intend to do so, Julie; I am only bent now on so
+frightening them that they will no more attempt pursuit. Moreover, I
+am anxious that they shall convey tidings of our bloodthirstiness
+among all the tribes; for when such rumour obtains circulation, we
+shall be harassed less by pursuit."
+
+"C'est bien, ma maitresse; c'est bien."
+
+"No more delay," shouted Annette. "Let the two braves stand up," But
+each one lay close under the lee of a struggling horse, holding the
+animal fast by the head, in order to keep him sure in the swamp.
+
+"Put you up your pistol, Julie; leave this work to me." And once
+more presenting her little round, ferocious arm, she fired, hitting
+one of the shielding horses upon the fore shoulder. Maddened with
+pain, the brute flung himself out of his predicament, and left the
+Indian exposed, upon which Annette immediately fired. The savage
+uttered a terrible cry, flung up his arms, and fell without a move
+among the liverwort.
+
+"Did you kill him, after all, mademoiselle?"
+
+"No, Julie; the wretch is only shamming. I fired yards away from
+him. Now let the other brave stand up, or the same fate awaits him,"
+the girl cried; and, presenting a picture of abject terror, the
+unfortunate redskin, who believed the third one shot at to be dead,
+drew himself out of his covert, and, putting his leg upon the horse,
+exposed himself to the pistol. Once more the bloodthirsty little
+scout fired, and with an agonized yell, the Indian sprawled in the
+marsh-mire. His leg he seized just above the knee, as if the bullet
+had entered at that point.
+
+"Is he hit?" whispered Julie.
+
+"No, silly petite; he is also making believe. How well the two
+rascals act their part. See the one playing dead. Well, we shall wait
+long enough to see his imposture exposed. He is sinking fast in the
+quagmire. His head is almost under now." She had scarce ceased, when
+the redskin gave a convulsive start, resembling a dying spasm, and
+got once more safely above the hungry swamp.
+
+"He will continue to have the spasms right along," Julie whispered,
+"while we stay here."
+
+"Yes; but for the sake of the two wounded ones--I believe mine is
+badly hurt--we shall ride away. But we must keep watch to-night,
+Julie. I believe these two men will follow; and if they find us
+sleeping, they will brain us." Then, turning to the tangle of
+struggling horses and Indians, she said in a stern voice--
+
+"Some of you may only pretend that you have been wounded, and
+purpose following us. But we shall keep strict watch, and woe unto
+any one of you that we catch in pistol range again. We now leave
+you." With these words the two sanguinary girls turned their horses,
+and briskly rode away.
+
+"What idiots they must have been to follow without fire-arms," Julie
+said.
+
+"Had we been armed only with hatchets, how different the case would
+have been, enfant naif. You, child, may have considered this shedding
+of blood unnecessary, and therefore cruel."
+
+Oh, no; Julie did not think it so. La maitresse knew better than she
+did.
+
+"But there was only the choice between taking the method adopted,
+and openly meeting the four Indians on _terra firma_, when probably all
+the savages would have been killed; or, in the hurried shooting, we
+might have missed the mark, and been cloven or speared."
+
+"Where shall my mistress camp to-night?"
+
+"I know an extensive bluff, and we could penetrate it far enough to
+be tolerably safe from the braves."
+
+When the upper rim of the sun burned like a semi-circlet of yellow,
+quivering flame, above the far flat prairie, the girls turned their
+horses towards a stretch of sombre wood that stood like a vast and
+solemn congregation of cloaked men upon the level.
+
+It was not considered prudent that night to kindle a fire; for one
+wandering spark might prove a signal to the foe. So they ate their
+meal, and Julie rolled herself up in her blanket, while Annette
+seated herself outside of the tent to keep vigil during the first
+watch.
+
+"My mistress must not let me sleep too long; she ought not to sit up
+at all. What did I come for--if--not--to--to--." Here the tired,
+drowsy pet stopped, for she was asleep.
+
+Annette sat upon her blanket, and heard no sound save the breaking
+of the grass and the grinding of the horses' teeth, as the hungry
+beasts fed. Her heart was not in the wood; it was away with her
+lover, and once more her blood tingled, and a delicious sensation
+made her heart warm as the words which he spoke when they rode
+together passed through her brain.
+
+"Oh, what nice verses he made about my eyes and ears, and my skin.
+Ah, if he were only playing with me." An arrow now quivered for a
+moment in her heart. "But no; he has the two ways--he can be playful,
+and say all manner of teazing things; but, oh, he can be sincere. He
+never could have spoken in such a tone, with such a light in his
+eyes, with such an expression in his face, if all had not come from
+the bottom of his heart. And he will take me away, away out to the
+far east, where white men dwell, and put into some great mansion,
+and make me its mistress. Oh, it will be all so sweet. But the
+dearest part of all is that he will love me, and me alone. How proud
+I shall be that no other girl can say, that his heart is hers.
+
+"Ah, Annette, just for your sweet sake, I trust that the future over
+which your heart now gloats will fit itself to such a dream. I think,
+somehow, that it will; for he seems true, and, darling, you are
+worthy. But you know it does not always happen in the way that you
+have fashioned it in your dear head. Some other girl _does_
+sometimes come with sly, soft feet and steal away hearts from
+trusting and adoring wives, and they have no remorse either in doing
+the cruel deed. Indeed, believe me, I have known them in their heart
+to glory that they had done this thing. You will, therefore, have to
+take your chance."
+
+While Annette was in the midst of her reverie, her round dimpled
+cheek resting on her hands, one of the horses tossed his head and
+whinnied. "Julie, awake," she cried, quickly touching the sleeping
+girl; and then seizing her pistol took position behind a tree,
+whispering Julie to join her there. And as that frightened maiden
+hurried out from her warm nest, a voice came through the poplars
+saying,
+
+"Fear not, Little Poplar comes."
+
+"It is _his_ voice, Mademoiselle," and immediately the sleep flew out of
+Julie's eyes, and left them luminous as the stars shining beyond the
+tree-tops.
+
+"The chief is welcome," Annette replied; and Julie was upon her feet
+making a little voyage now in this direction, and now in that, in the
+endeavour to find him. All the while she kept saying, "This way! this
+way!" but in a tone so low that he could not have heard her at a
+distance of ten lengths of this small maiden. At last his tall,
+straight figure, resembling in very truth a little poplar, was seen
+moving towards the tent; and with a shy run Julie was at his side.
+
+"I followed the four braves who were bent on your capture, and saw
+the affair in the swamp. When you rode away, one whom I supposed
+dead, arose and joined with another whose leg I had thought was
+broken in getting out the horses. One brave was really dead, and he
+has by this time sunk in the bog. A fourth had a broken arm, and he
+went away with the other two. They will not pursue again, so you may
+sleep in peace till the rise of sun. I shall put my blanket here.
+Should one approach, the ears of Little Poplar are as keen while the
+spirit of sleep hovers over him as while he is awake."
+
+Julie's dreams were very happy that night.
+
+On the morrow Little Poplar informed them that his heart was not now
+as much with the white people as it had been some little time ago. He
+was aware that the braves were for the most part unreasonable, and
+that they were easily led into wrong as well as to right doing.
+
+"They have, I admit, committed some excesses; but it never can be
+forgotten that strangers have taken possession of their hunting
+grounds, and that, if they have no substitute to offer, the red
+children of the plains must die. My tongue could not tell,
+mademoiselle, nor your brain conceive, the sufferings that I have
+seen among our people in the long bitter winters, with only the snow
+for wrappers, and pieces of dried skins for food. Will the white man
+die of hunger while food is within his reach? No, he will beg it
+first, and then he will take by violence; but I have seen the young
+maiden and the withered crone gasp their last breath away upon the
+snow, while ranches teeming with cattle lay not an hour's march away.
+
+"If an Indian, with a wife, and a lodge full of children dying on a
+bitter winter's day of hunger, turn a calf from some nigh herd of
+white man's cattle, alarming tidings fly to the east, and white men
+and women learn, in their sumptuous houses, that the Indians do
+naught but plunder. But they would have no need, I repeat, to lay
+hands upon the ranchers' cattle if the white man had not come and
+stripped them of their boundless heritage, and put them upon
+reservations where a buffalo may never come. [Footnote: The words in
+the mouth of this chief are not exaggerations, and it is God's own
+truth that during late winters dozen after dozen of Indians, men and
+women and children, perished in the snow after they had devoured the
+skins that covered them. Yet these poor people are said to be under
+"the paternal care of Government." Alas, our public men are only
+concerned in playing their wretched political game, and they sit
+intriguing, while the helpless creatures committed to their care
+perish like dogs, of hunger, in their lodges.--E.C.]
+
+"And some of the soldiers who have come here from the east are more
+bent on earning reputation than on making peace. Some of their
+leaders do not want the cheap glory of 'killing a lot of Indians;'
+and I have with my own ears heard one of the Ontario magistrates,
+Col. Denison, declare that he did next come here to kill, but to
+prevent killing. If military affairs were now to be given into the
+hands of some men like him it would prove better for all concerned.
+
+"But there is another officer, Major Beaver, who has made amazing
+marches; his men, in fact, have travelled like March hares. But give
+me a bluff, and fifty braves, and not one of all his rash and rushing
+followers will get back again to Ontario to boast of their deeds of
+daring.
+
+"Some of our men have been guilty of excesses, but Government gave
+them its solemn pledge that if they returned to their reserves no
+harm should come to them. All of my braves have gone back, because I
+gave them the assurance that some of the officers gave to me. Yet, if
+I mistake not, Major Beaver is at this moment planning an attack upon
+us. His young men want to kill a few Indians, provided the thing can
+be done without any risk; and then they will be described as great
+heroes in the newspapers. They would fare very badly if they had to
+return without having 'a brush,' as the more war-like of them have
+put it, in the hearing of some of my friends."
+
+"Yes, mon chef," Annette replied, "but you say that Colonel Denison
+and others advocate a healing of the present sores, and pacific
+measures. Then there are others who have always sympathized with the
+Indian, like Mr. Mair. Mon pere tells me that he has been for some
+time engaged on a beautiful poem, intended to show the injustice that
+has been heaped upon the children of the plains. With good counsels
+like these, surely no outrage will be done unto your people."
+
+"And now, where do the two brave scouts purpose going?" the chief
+enquired, as they came in sight of a small settlement nestling around
+the edge of a coil in the Saskatchewan.
+
+Annette was going to see her aunt, and Julie was coming with her.
+They would remain there for a day or two to rest, and then they would
+go wherever their services were needed most.
+
+"Oh! not to mademoiselle's aunt's. Le grand chef and his followers
+have twice been there looking for the scouts, and he has spies among
+the neutral braves who would speedily bring him the news of your
+arrival."
+
+"Then, what would the chief advise? Our hampers are exhausted now,
+and we must replenish them."
+
+The chief would go after the gopher had sought his burrow, and fetch
+all that the maidens needed. Beyond a wooded knoll, plain to the
+view, was a lake, and in the wood skirting the water would be a
+suitable camping ground. The chief advised the maidens to ride
+thither, as they must now be tired and hungry; he would fetch them
+the provisions and other things needed when the stars came out.
+Annette then scribbled a note to her aunt, and mentioned those little
+things that she needed. She would some day show her gratitude to sa
+tante for her kindness, and "made" her love and duties as girls of
+her race do with such grace. And the chief was away.
+
+"Is Julie very tired?"
+
+"Pas beaucoup, mademoiselle. If you want not to pitch tent now, I
+should be well able to ride for a couple of hours yet."
+
+"I want to hear what tidings there may be of Captain Stephens,
+Julie," and her voice trembled a little. "I do not think that the
+braves who go in and out of the village can all be hostile. Those who
+are up to mischief have their paint on."
+
+Turning their horses towards the village, they perceived two braves
+riding towards them.
+
+"I think I know one of these, Julie. Is not the taller one he who
+brought us the proclamation of le grand chef?"
+
+"Oh, yes; the very one. How quick ma maitresse is in remembering
+persons." The Indian rode rapidly towards the two little scouts, and
+as he drew near he raised his hand.
+
+"It is not safe down here," he said, in Cree, "for the scouts. A
+runner from the Stonies saw you both, and Little Poplar with you,
+this morning, and swiftly carried the news. It is likely that le
+grand chef knows of it before this. Little Poplar, who is now
+disguised as a medicine man, is yonder in the valley, and he charged
+me to come and warn the two scouts, his friends, to follow out the
+instructions that he gave them without any delay. He has got some
+tidings, too, about Stephens, le capitaine. Not good tidings, I
+think; a brave saw several of le chef's men steal after him down the
+Valley of the Snakes."
+
+A short cry escaped from Annette's lips, and the blood shrunk
+chilled to her heart.
+
+"Are there any tidings of a capture?"
+
+"No; perhaps le capitaine escaped. Upon clear ground the white men's
+horses could easily outdistance the braves, who, it is said, were not
+mounted."
+
+Unsatisfactory as this intelligence was, it left room to hope. But
+the beauty of the silvery lake, with its fringe of berried bushes;
+the scolding of the kingfisher as he gadded from one riven tree to
+another; the goblin laughter [Footnote: I borrow this most expressive
+phrase from my friend, Prof. Roberts, as vividly descriptive of the
+cry of the loon. John Burroughs applies the epithet "whinny," which
+is good; but it misses the sense of supernatural terror with which,
+to me, the cry of this bird in the moonlight is always associated.]
+of the stately loon, as he held his way across the wide stretch of
+shining, richly tinted water, might all as well have never been; for
+Annette saw them not. Julie was busy trying to cheer her.
+
+"Be not down at heart, sweet my mistress. These territories are now
+invested by numerous soldiers from the East, and tidings of this
+capture, if such there has been, would speedily reach them. Throw
+away your care, and rest to-night. With the sun we shall rise to-morrow,
+ourselves restored, our horses fresh, and ascertain the facts.
+Inspector Dicken will know; and him we can reach in a two hours'
+ride."
+
+"Sweet girl, in the hour of pain you always can give me consolation.
+Indians have also skulked after us; and it may be that the braves
+were only watching whither Captain Stephens went."
+
+"My view precisely, mademoiselle; but we shall talk no more about it
+now. Sit beside me here upon the bank, and look at the peace and the
+beauty of all this scene." Under the shadow of the bank, with its
+matted growth of trees, the water was a pure myrtle green; midway in
+the expanse it was purple, and beyond, in the last faint light of the
+sun, it was an exquisite violet. The sand at their feet alternated in
+veins of umber brown, and ashes of roses; while the vermillion of the
+rowan berries made a vivid and gorgeous contrast to the glaucous
+green of the leafage.
+
+Little ripples came upon the bright, pink sand that fringed the
+unvarying tide-mark.
+
+"What causes the ripple now, Julie, when no breath of wind is in the
+heavens, and neither oar nor paddle is on the lake?"
+
+"Stay; I thought that I heard it a moment ago! Yes, I hear it again.
+Hear you not the note of some waterfowl?"
+
+Yes, Annette did hear it; but she could not say from what kind of
+bird the singing came.
+
+"Well, my sweet mistress, the ripples which you now see swinging in
+upon the sand come from the same bird whose song you hear. The bird
+itself is the swan, made sacred to love."
+
+"Oh, I remember something of the legend, Julie. Repeat it to me,
+s'il vous plait."
+
+"Well; there was once a beautiful maiden of the plains, whom many of
+the bravest and most noble of the chiefs adored; but she disdained
+their wooing, for she loved with a passion that absorbed her soul and
+body a young man with hair like the corn leaves when, after rain, the
+sunlight is shot through the stalks. He stayed some days in the lodge
+of the chief, her father; and while his heart was yet full of love
+for the peach-skinned, star-eyed maiden, he was obliged to go away
+with his white brethren, who had come from over seas to trace the
+source and flow of some of our mighty rivers. The parting of the
+lovers was like the breaking of heart-strings. The maiden pined, and
+through all the summer sat among the flowers sighing for her darling
+with the amber-tinted hair. Her sleep refreshed her not, for through
+the night she dreamt of naught but the parting, and of the sorrow in
+his sky-blue eyes. In the day, her eyes were ever looking wistfully
+along the trail by which he had come, or gazing, with a woe past
+skill to describe, out along the stretch by which he had gone from
+her sight. Late in the autumn, when the petals of the rose and the
+daisy began to fall, and summer birds prepared for the flight to the
+south, the Great Spirit came softly down from a cumulus cloud and
+stood beside the maiden, as she sat upon the fading prairie. He told
+her of a glorious land out in the heavens, where spring endured for
+ever, and true lovers were joined to have no more parting; and when
+she looked yearningly towards the region at which he pointed, he
+asked her if she would go thither with him. With joy unutterable she
+consented, and giving her hand into his, the two rose in the air and
+disappeared through a piled mass of rosy cloud. When she reached
+paradise, knowledge was given to her of the loves of maidens upon the
+earth, and reflecting how bitter her lot had been, she besought the
+God of Thunder, and the Ruler of the Spheres, to permit her to pass a
+portion of each year upon the earth, in order to watch over and
+console love-sick virgins who were separated from their betrothed. To
+her request the god consented, giving to the maiden the figure of a
+swan. Since that time she visits the earth a short time after
+midsummer day; and you can hear her singing upon our great inland
+waters during the night, at any place between the lonesome stretches
+of the far north to the great southern lakes, from the middle of
+summer till the first golden gleam comes in the maple leaf. Then she
+arises, and the hunter marvels at the beautiful bird with the white
+pinions which flies up into the heavens, and passes beyond the
+highest clouds."
+
+"Harken now, mademoiselle; it sings again." And lo! from over the
+hushed face of the water came the notes of the guardian maiden.
+
+"The song is not plaintive and sorrow-laden, as I have been told the
+swan's song is, Julie."
+
+"No; the singing of the swan soothes and consoles. Hark again to it."
+
+"Oh, it is divine, Julie, and creeps into my heart, filling me with
+comfort and exquisite peace."
+
+"I doubt not, mademoiselle, that the maiden came to this lake to
+cheer your sorrowful spirit, and to give you surety that neither you
+nor your lover stand in danger."
+
+"Ah, Julie; it is so sweet to think this. And this it is which the
+song tells me through the delightful quiet of my heart."
+
+"Yes, my sweet mistress; and I had forgotten the most delicious
+tidings in the legend. The maiden's singing is always a guarantee
+that no harm can come to either of the lovers." And while Annette was
+feasting her spirit upon this new joy, the song of the swan, which
+for a minute or two had been hushed, suddenly was resumed close by;
+and looking, the two maidens saw a bird, beautiful, and endowed with
+grace of motion past description, move by, sending divers shining
+rings of water before it. Then a sudden darkness fell and hid the
+bird; but the song came at frequent intervals to the girls from the
+midst of the lake, and whenever a shadow passed over Annette's
+spirit, the singing was resumed. [Footnote: There is a legend among
+some of the Indian tribes of the North-West territories that the swan
+is a metamorphosed love-sick maiden, whose function and prerogative is
+to watch over all young virgins who have given away their hearts. It
+is a fact that the Indian hunters long refrained from killing the
+white swan in deference to a belief in this legend.--E.C.]
+
+There was now a stir among the brambles near the girl's tent, and to
+Annette's "Qui vive?" came the response--
+
+"It is Little Poplar."
+
+"Oh, I am so glad that he is come," Julie said, and the eyes of this
+minx grew instantly larger, and ten times more bright.
+
+Some of my fair readers may now desire to know "exactly" what this
+Indian chief, who is so conspicuous in the story "looked like." Well,
+he was just such a man as always finds an easy access to a woman's
+heart. It is true that he was "a savage," but if merit there be in
+"blood,"--and for my own part I would not have a dog unless I was
+sure about his pedigree,--he was descended of a long and illustrious
+line of chiefs, whose ancestors, mayhap, were foremost in that
+splendid civilization, that has left us an art mighty and full of
+wonders, centuries before the destroying sails of Cortez were spread
+upon the deep.
+
+He was tall, and straight, and lithe; and he had a certain
+indefinable grace of gesture and address which fits itself only to
+one who, by descent and breeding, has been "to the manner born." His
+hair was dark, and almost silky fine; and the poise of his head would
+be a theme for the pen or the pencil of Rossetti. His eye was dark as
+night, but it revealed an immense range of expression; a capacity for
+great tenderness, and passion without bound. His nose approximated
+the aquiline type; his firm mouth was a bow of Cupid, and his skin
+was a light nut-brown. His dress was like that of a cow-boy, and was
+devoid of barbaric gauds. I suppose that is enough to say about him.
+[Footnote: I may say that when afterwards, through the fortunes of
+war, this same chief was brought as a prisoner before a certain
+paunchy officer, the attempt of the latter to show his dignity was a
+clumsy failure. The proud and splendid chief, with arms folded across
+his breast, and head slightly bowed, looked singularly out of place
+arraigned before the stumpy judge.--E. C.]
+
+"And now," said the chief, putting down the hamper, "We shall see
+what your aunt has sent." Nimble fingers soon opened it, and found,
+besides le cafe and le the, as they were labelled, several petits
+pains--"Rolls!" cried Julie, smacking her hungry lips--a bunch of
+saucisses; of le fromage about a pound, and of la patisserie enough
+for a meal for the hungry girls.
+
+"There now, Julie, we have coffee, and tea, and rolls, and sausage;
+a pound of cheese, fully, and pie enough for one delicious meal." Her
+sweet mouth was "watering," and when she came to un gigot de mouton,
+she cried, "What a sweet aunt she is! But when can we eat this whole
+leg of mutton?"
+
+Oh, Julie was very hungry, and so was her chief; and Annette herself
+was like a bear. After all, very little would be left for the prairie
+dog.
+
+"Does the chief think that Captain Stephens was in danger of capture
+by those Indians?" Annette ventured to ask. This is the question that
+had been upon her lips since the arrival of the chief, but she could
+not summon courage enough to ask it sooner.
+
+"When last seen, mademoiselle, le capitaine and his wounded friend
+were moving slowly through the swampy bottom of the ravine; and many
+braves, with arms in their hands, were in close pursuit. But le
+capitaine may have gone upon the high ground and escaped; he easily
+could have done so."
+
+There was not much consolation in this for Annette's foreboding
+heart; but as she lay down in her blanket, with Julie at her side,
+there came once more, through the stillness, from the bosom of the
+lake, the soothing song of the swan.
+
+"Do you hear it again, Julie?"
+
+Yes, Julie heard it: It was, without any doubt, singing to quiet the
+groundless apprehensions of sa maitresse. Then both the maidens
+slept. And whenever through the night Annette awoke, and began to
+think of her lover's peril and probable captivity, the soft, scented
+night wind bore to her ears a note or two of reassuring music from
+the throat of the maiden-bird.
+
+Before the sun had cleared the horizon on the morrow the breakfast
+was ended, the tent rolled; and the saddles were upon the horses.
+Then the trio set out at a brisk trot; the chief to join his people
+upon their reserve, the girls to find Inspector Dicken at Battleford.
+
+I do not like "breaking threads," but it is necessary that, for the
+present, I should allow my two Metis maidens to journey without my
+company, while I go back to where I left Captain Stephens in the
+gulch.
+
+The route of the two horsemen lay through alternating swamp and
+grassland, and as the path was not much traversed, bush tangles here
+and there almost blocked the way. They had no misgiving as they rode,
+and expected to be soon with Inspector Dicken. The lower end of the
+gulch was not so cheerful as that portion where they had entered. The
+trees grew thicker; swamps composed the greater portion of the
+ground, and the long groping shores of the trees might be traced far
+through the black bog, till they found anchoring place at the skirt
+of the upland. At last they reached a point where the swamp extended
+across the entire valley; and further progress by the level was
+impossible.
+
+"I fear, Phillips, that we shall be obliged to try the edge of the
+upland; but how our horses can make their way through the dense bush
+I am unable to see. Nevertheless, we must try it." As they turned
+their horses' heads, a din of yells burst upon their ears from the
+bushes round about; and immediately a score of savages with tomahawks
+uplift, headed by a Metis with snaky eyes, surrounded them.
+
+"Surrender, messieurs; resistance is useless."
+
+Stephens looked about him, and at one glance mastered the situation.
+Phillips was too ill of his wounds to be able to use his right arm,
+even though a dash down the trail by which they had come were
+practicable. For himself, he had a pair of Colt's revolvers; but
+before he could fire twice the savages would be enabled to brain him
+with their tomahawks.
+
+"I surrender," he said, nodding to the hateful boisbrule; and the
+detestable eyes of the man gleamed as he said--
+
+"Bind the prisoners."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STARS ARE KINDLY TO LE CHEF.
+
+
+Ah! can it be that the swan sings, and soothes through the night the
+maiden with its song, when the lover is in the toils that jealousy
+and hate have set!
+
+The party of braves, with the Metis at its head, turned and marched
+swiftly back over the path taken by Stephens, till they reached a
+point from which the bank was easily accessible. In a bluff upon the
+level the savages had tethered their ponies, which were speedily
+mounted. Then the party set out for "le corps de garde," as the Metis
+put it, of "le grand chef."
+
+"Had le chef then a guard-house?" Stephens asked.
+
+"Monsieur, the spy, and enemy of the half-breeds, will learn these
+things soon enough." He had scarcely ended, however, before he seemed
+to regret the tone that he had adopted, and hastened to mend the
+matter. "I have instructions to be guarded about making known the
+affairs of le grand chef, monsieur, or I should be pleased to answer
+your question. I hope that the thongs are not hurting you."
+
+"I wonder what this rattlesnake would be at now?" Stephens asked
+himself, and then turning to the bois-brule--
+
+"I do not much mind the binding, but you would do me a favour by
+relaxing those of my companion. He has been severely wounded, and
+inflammation has set in. If you were to remove his bonds altogether
+you would run no risk."
+
+"I shall do as you suggest, monsieur," and in a minute Phillips was
+unbound.
+
+"Now, if monsieur le capitaine will fall a little in rear with me, I
+should like some private conversation." Stephens was fast bound, but
+play enough was left to one hand to guide his horse.
+
+"Of course," began the half-breed, "you know something of those two
+Cree boys who go riding about the prairies and fighting with the
+Indians."
+
+"Yes; to one of these I twice owe my deliverance."
+
+"Ah, yes; to mademoiselle Annette. Now, monsieur, we know--I know--who
+the two are. The other is the demoiselle Julie, maid to demoiselle
+Annette."
+
+"Well, what if you do happen to know these facts?"
+
+"I will tell monsieur. I love Julie very much, and if le capitaine
+will procure me an interview with the maiden, at some place where I
+shall name, I may be useful to him in the hour of peril."
+
+"I think," replied Stephens, "that I am now talking with the
+confidential friend, secretary and adviser of M. Riel. You are the
+Jean of whom I have heard mention?"
+
+"Oui, monsieur. I am Jean."
+
+"I fear, Jean, that I will be unable to procure this interview."
+
+"Oh, do not say so. A note written by you to the maiden is all that
+I should need, setting forth the time and the place. A neutral brave
+could be procured to fetch it to the house of mademoiselle's aunt."
+
+"Now, Jean, wherefore do you seek this interview with the girl?"
+Stephens asked, with a slight curl of contempt upon his lip.
+
+"I want to tell her that I love her; and to arrange to have further
+meetings with la petite."
+
+"Why, Jean, I had been under the impression that once before you
+told this girl that you loved her, and that she turned up her pretty
+nose in disdain. But whether this be true or not, there is another
+fact which forms an insuperable barrier to your object. Julie loves
+another." The eyes of the half-breed snapped and flamed with jealous
+rage.
+
+"Some worthless vagabond, I suppose?" he said, fairly spitting the
+words out of him.
+
+"O, no," Stephens replied, with exasperating composure; "but a brave
+and illustrious Indian chief. A nobler looking man I have never laid
+my eyes upon. You could walk under his legs."
+
+"O, do you think so?" the little Metis replied, with a very ugly
+glance. "Now, monsieur, you have refused my offer, and listen to what
+you gain by doing so. By some means or other these two traitorous
+jades will be captured. Then le grand chef takes yours away up the
+dismal valley to Jubal's hut. I take your fine Indian chief's down to
+ma mere's ready cottage. As for you, if the maiden retain her reputed
+preferences she will be able, when the spring arrives, to come out
+upon the prairie and plant daisies, or any other blossom to her
+liking, above you."
+
+Stephens had been prepared for malignity, but of such devilish
+brutality as this he had not deemed any man living capable. He was so
+overwhelmed with horror and disgust that he simply waved his bridle
+hand, imposing peace. Thereat Jean pushed forward and gave some
+instructions to a savage, who immediately put the bonds again upon
+Phillips, tying the thongs so tight that the wounded man groaned with
+pain. Then the cavalcade resumed a brisk trot, slacking not until the
+prisoners found themselves before the stronghold of the rebel chief.
+
+It is necessary to pause a moment here and point out that M. Riel
+had actually formed a provisional government, and succeeded by his
+passionate eloquence in deluding the Metis and Indians into the
+belief that he was exercising a lawful authority, inasmuch as the
+territories had not, within the interpretation of the law, passed
+from the Hudson Bay Company under the jurisdiction of Canada. Subject
+to this doctrine he laid down the right to establish tribunals of
+law, to try, and punish offenders against his authority, and do all
+other things that made for the stability and peace of the new regime.
+
+A prominent white settler named Toltbon, had raised a company of
+volunteers and gone against the forces of the Metis leader; but his
+men were captured like a flock of sheep, and he himself locked up in
+the strongest room in the guard house.
+
+Now at the very time that Jean and his prisoners drew up before the
+rebel stronghold, the chief himself was striding up and down his room
+with dishevelled hair and gleaming eye.
+
+"If Jean cannot bring me either the girl or Stephens within the
+coming forty-eight hours, I shall go abroad myself, and scour the
+plains. What if after all they should come together, marry, and
+escape me. Curses, eternal curses upon them. Maledictions eternal
+upon my own worthless followers. By the Holy Mary, if Jean cannot
+catch one or other I shall put him to death for treason." While these
+hot words were upon his lips the door opened and Jean entered.
+
+"I bring mon chef good news."
+
+"Ah, what is it? Any tidings of Stephens?"
+
+"He is at this very moment in the fort. I caught him in Larch Swamp
+on his return after being set free by Mademoiselle. He was most
+insulting to myself, and used very abusive language respecting you. I
+think, Monsieur, you have cause sufficient against him."
+
+"Bon! bon! He shall not escape me this time," and rising, he began
+to stride up and down the floor, his eyes flaming with joy and
+vengeance.
+
+"Now, Jean, give me your attention. At once go and put Toltbon in
+irons. I shall attend presently and declare that he is to be shot
+to-morrow. Suppliants will come beseeching me to spare his life; but at
+first I shall refuse to do so, and say that I am determined to carry
+out my sentence. At the last I shall yield. So far, so good. I do not
+know, now, whether you understand my methods."
+
+"I think I do, mon chef," and there was a knowing twinkle in the eye
+of the ugly scoundrel.
+
+"Well, this Stephens has an unbridled tongue, and is pretty certain
+to use it. If he does not, a little judicious goading will set him
+on. If possible, it would be well for one of the guards to provoke
+him to commit an assault. Could you rely upon any one of your men for
+such a bit of business?"
+
+"Oui, Monsieur; I have such a man."
+
+"Bon! let him be so provoked, and after his violence has been
+thoroughly trumpeted through the fort, make a declaration of the same
+formally to me. I will then direct you to try him by court martial.
+You are aware of how I desire him to be disposed of. When the news
+gets abroad that he is to be shot, some will be incredulous, and
+others will come to sue for his life. I shall reply to them: 'This is
+a matter of discipline. The man has deserved death, or the court?
+martial would not have sentenced him. I spared Toltbon's life, and
+already I have as fruits of my leniency increased turbulence and
+disrespect. My government must be respected, and the only way to
+teach its enemies this fact, is to make an example of one of the
+greatest offenders.' Lose no time in completing the work. We know
+not, else, what chance may rob our hands of the fellow. You
+understand? I am least of all mixed up in the matter, being more
+concerned with weightier affairs."
+
+"Oui, Monsieur," and making an obeisance the murderous tool
+departed. Exactly as planned, it all fell out. Captain Toltbon was
+put in irons, and Riel declared that for the sake of peace and order
+he must be shot. Many people came and implored him to spare the
+condemned man's life; but he was inexorable. "At the eleventh hour,"
+however, as the newspapers put it, yielding to solicitation, Riel
+said:
+
+"He is spared."
+
+Jean presented himself before his leader.
+
+"Monsieur, I think it will not be necessary to employ stratagem in
+working our man to violence. He has been showering reproaches upon
+the guards, and loading your name with ignominious reproach. The
+guards knew my feelings; so during the night they put chains upon him.
+As the foremost one advanced with the manacles, the prisoner raised
+his arm, and dealt him a blow on the head, which felled him to the
+ground."
+
+"Bon! bon!" Riel cried, while he rubbed his hands. "Without applying
+the little goad, he fulfils our will."
+
+"Well, not in the strictest sense, mon chef. Luc had certain private
+instructions from me, and he carried them out in a very skilful
+manner."
+
+"N'importe, Jean, n'importe how the thing came about; we have the
+cause against him, and that suffices. What do you now propose to do,
+for you are aware, Jean--" there was now a tone of diabolical
+raillery in his words--"that this matter is one in which I cannot
+concern myself, you being the best judge of what is due rebellious
+military prisoners?"
+
+"Merci, mon chef! I shall endeavour to merit your further regard. My
+intention is to proceed forthwith to try him. Already, I have
+summoned the witnesses of his guilt; and he and you shall know our
+decision before another hour has passed." Then the faithful Monsieur
+Jean was gone.
+
+"No, ma chere Annette. You shall never deck your nuptial chamber
+with daisies for Edmund Stephens. You will find occupation for your
+sweet little fingers in putting fresh roses upon the mound that
+covers him. For a _feu-de-joie_ and the peal of marriage bells,
+I will give you, ma petite chere, the sullen toll that calls him to
+his open coffin, and the rattle of musketry that stills the tongue
+which uttered to you the last love pledge."
+
+For an hour did he pace up and down the floor gloating over his
+revenge. Meanwhile, I shall leave him and follow the
+"adjutant-general," as Jean was known under the new regime. He
+proceeded to the private room of the military quarters, and entering
+found his subordinates assembled there.
+
+"Messieurs," he said, "We know what our business is. We must lose no
+time in despatching it. But before commencing, let me say a few
+words. Monsieur Riel is so overweighted with other affairs that the
+matter of dealing with the man Stephens rests entirely in our hands.
+I have just left him, after endeavouring in vain to induce him to be
+present at the trial: but he could not spare the time to come. By
+skilfully sounding him, however, I discovered that his sentiments
+regarding the prisoner are exactly the same as those entertained by
+myself. What these are I need hardly say. It is now a struggle
+between the authority of the Provisional Government and a horde of
+rebellious persons of which the defendant is the most dangerous. The
+eyes of our followers are upon us; and if we permit the authority of
+Government to be defied, its officers reviled, and insult heaped upon
+us, depend upon it we shall speedily lose the hold we have gained
+after so many bitter struggles; and become a prey to the conspiracy
+which our enemies are so actively engaged in promoting. The very fact
+that this man Stephens leagued himself with our enemies, is an
+offence worthy of death; but I shall ask these persons who are here
+as witnesses to show you that since his capture he has merited death
+ten times over at our hands. With your permission, gentlemen, I will
+proceed:
+
+"Edmund Stephens, of Prince Albert, stands charged before this
+court-martial  with treasonable revolt against the peace and welfare of
+the colony; with having leagued himself with an armed party, whose object
+was the overthrow of authority as vested in our Provisional Government.
+He is likewise charged with having attempted criminal violence upon
+lawfully delegated guards appointed over him, during his incarceration;
+and likewise with inciting his fellow-prisoners to insubordination and
+tumult contrary to the order and well-being of this community.
+
+"Luc Lestang."
+
+That person came forward:
+
+"Relate all you know in the conduct of the prisoner Stephens that
+may be regarded as treasonable and criminal."
+
+"I have seen him in armed revolt against the authority of Monsieur
+le chef."
+
+"Will you please state what have been his demeanour and conduct as a
+prisoner."
+
+"He has been insulting and disorderly in the last degree."
+
+"Will you specify a few particular examples?"
+
+"I have frequently heard him describe the Provisional Government and
+its supporters as a band of mongrel rough-scruffs; a greasy, insolent
+nest of traitors; and a lot of looting, riotous, unwashed savages. He
+has used language of this sort ever since his imprisonment. Likewise,
+I have heard him say that he would have the pleasure of assisting in
+hanging Monsieur Riel to a prairie poplar; and in putting tar and
+feathers upon his followers."
+
+"Has he been guilty of any acts of violence?"
+
+"He has been guilty of acts of violence. When he became unbearably
+insubordinate I found it my duty to put irons upon him. As I
+approached him with the handcuffs he smote me twice in the face, and
+I yet carry the mark that he gave me. [Here the precious witness
+pointed to his right eye, which was a dusky purple.] This black eye I
+received from one of his blows."
+
+"That will do, Luc."
+
+Another witness with the movements of a snake, and eyes as black as
+sloes, was called. He gave evidence which tallied exactly with that
+sworn to by Lestang. This, of course, was not an extraordinary
+coincidence, for he had been present while the first miscreant was
+giving his evidence. Yet poor Stephens, whose life was the issue of
+all the swearing, was not permitted to be present, but was kept in a
+distant room, chained there like a wild beast.
+
+"The Court," said the Adjutant-General, "has heard the accusation
+against this man; and its duty is now to consider whether the safety
+and the peace of the district demand that the extreme penalty should
+be visited upon this enemy of both. The question is, whether he is
+worthy of death, or not. You will retire, gentlemen,--" there were
+four of them, exclusive of witnesses, and the clerk--"and find your
+verdict."
+
+They were absent about two minutes. The foreman then advancing, said:
+
+"Monsieur l'Adjutant, WE FIND THE PRISONER EDMUND STEPHENS, GUILTY."
+
+Then drawing upon his head a black cap, the adjutant said:
+
+"After due and deliberate trial by this Court, it has been found
+that the prisoner Edmund Stephens, is 'Guilty.' _I do, therefore,
+declare the sentence of this court-martial to be, that the prisoner
+be taken forth this day, at one o'clock, and shot_. And may God in
+His infinite bounty have mercy upon his soul."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE STARS TAKE A NEW COURSE.
+
+
+Monsieur Riel had been all this while pacing up and down his room. A
+tap came upon his door.
+
+"Entrez. Ah, it is you, mon adjudant!"
+
+"Oui, mon president."
+
+"What tidings?"
+
+"C'est accompli. The court-martial has found the prisoner guilty;
+and he is condemned to be shot at one o'clock this day."
+
+"Monsieur is expeditious! Monsieur is zealous. C'est bon; c'est bon;
+merci, Monsieur." And the miscreant walked about delirious with his
+gratification. Then he came over to where his adjutant stood, and
+shook his hand; then he thrust his fingers through his hair, and half
+bellowed, his voice resembling that of some foul beast.
+
+"La patrie has reason to be proud of her zealous son," and he again
+shook the hand of his infamous lieutenant. Then with a very low bow
+Jean left the room, saying, as he departed.
+
+"I shall endeavour to merit to the fullest the kindly eulogy which
+Monsieur le President bestows upon me." The news of Stephens'
+sentence spread like fire. Some believed that the penalty would not
+be carried out, but others thought it would.
+
+"If this prisoner is pardoned, people will treat the sentences of
+the provisional authorities as jokes. Riel must be aware of this;
+therefore Stephens is likely to suffer the full penalty." Several
+persons called upon the tyrant and besought him to extend mercy to
+the condemned man; but he merely shrugged his shoulders!
+
+"This prisoner has been in chronic rebellion. He has set bad example
+among the prisoners, assaulted his keeper, and loaded the Government
+with opprobrium. I may say to you, Messieurs, however, that I have
+really nothing to do with the man's case. In this time of tumult,
+when the operation of all laws is suspended, the court-martial is the
+only tribunal to which serious offenders can be referred. This young
+man Stephens has had fair trial, as fair as a British court-martial
+would have given him, and he has been sentenced to death. I assume
+that he would not have received such a sentence if he had not
+deserved it. Therefore I shall not interfere. There is no use,
+Messieurs, in pressing me upon the matter. At heart, I shall grieve
+as much as you to see the young man cut off; but his death I believe
+necessary now as an example to the hundreds who are desirous of
+overthrowing the authority which we have established in this
+district." The petitioners left the monster with sorrowful faces.
+
+"My God!" one of them exclaimed, "it is frightful to murder this
+young man, whose only offence is resistance to insult from his
+debased half-breed keeper. Is there nothing to be done?"
+
+No, there was nothing to be done. The greasy, vindictive tyrant was
+lord and master of the situation. When Riel was alone, he began once
+more to walk his room, and thus mused aloud:
+
+"I shall go down to his cell. Perhaps he may tell me where she is to
+be found."
+
+"Yes," he was sure that he would succeed: "I shall get his secret by
+promising pardon; then I will spit upon his face and say, 'Die, dog;
+I'll not spare you.'" So forth he sallied, and made his way to the
+cell where the young man sat in chains.
+
+"Well, malignant tyrant, what do you here? Whatever your business
+is, let it be dispatched quickly; for your presence stifles me. What
+dishonourable proposal have you now to make?"
+
+"Monsieur Stephens, it seems to be a pleasure to you to revile me.
+Yet have I sought to serve you;--yea, I would have been, would now
+be, your friend."
+
+"Peace; let me hear what it is that you now propose?"
+
+"You are aware that it is ordered by court-martial, of which I was
+not a member, that you are to be shot at one o'clock this day? It is
+now just forty-five minutes of one. I can spare your life, and I will
+do it, upon one condition."
+
+"Pray let me hear what dishonour it is that you propose? I ask the
+question out of a curiosity to learn, if possible, a little more of
+your infamy."
+
+"And I reply to you that I shall take no notice of your revilings,
+but make my proposal. I simply ask you to state to me where this
+maiden Annette has betaken herself?"
+
+"Where you will never find her. That's my answer, villain and
+tyrant; and now begone."
+
+"Perhaps you imagine that the sentence will not be carried out. I
+ask you to choose between life and liberty, and an almost immediate
+ignominious death."
+
+"I care not for your revenge, or your mercy. Once more I say, get
+you gone." Then the ruffian turned round, rushed at the chained
+prisoner, and dealt him a terrific kick in the side, after which he
+spat upon his face.
+
+"She shall be mine!" he hissed, "when your corpse lies mouldering in
+a dishonoured, traitor's grave." The young man was chained to a heavy
+table, but with a sudden wrench, he freed himself, raised both arms,
+and was about bringing down his manacled hands upon the tyrant
+miscreant--and that blow would have ended the rebellion at Prince
+Albert,--when Luc burst into the room, seized the prisoner, and threw
+him. While his brute knee was on Stephens' breast, and his greasy
+hand held the victim's throat, Riel made his escape, and turned back
+to his own quarters.
+
+As for poor Stephens, when the tyrant and the brutal guard had left
+the cell, he began to pace up and down, sorely disturbed. He had
+somehow cherished the hope that the miscreant would be induced to
+commute the sentence to lengthy imprisonment. But the diabolical
+vengeance which he had seen in the tyrant's eye undermined all hope.
+Some friends were admitted to his cell, and they informed him that
+they had pleaded for him, but in vain.
+
+And now we go back to Annette and Julie. Their horses soon took them
+to the post, wherein Inspector Dicken had taken up his abode for the
+nonce.  They soon learnt that Captain Stephens and his friend had
+been captured, and that both had been hurried off to the stronghold
+of the rebel chief.
+
+"Have any steps been taken for his rescue, monsieur?" Annette asked.
+
+"None, I regret, have so far been practicable. I am detained on duty
+here with twenty men; and expect an attack hourly. I would surrender
+the fort and hasten to the rescue of my friend, but that the lives of
+more than a hundred women and children here depend upon my remaining."
+
+"And where, monsieur, are the nearest troops? Holy Mother of God!"
+she exclaimed, "surely they will not permit le chef to put him to
+death without making an effort to save him."
+
+"Anything possible will be done, my brave lad. The nearest troops
+are those of Colonel Denison. Here I will write you a note to the
+Colonel. He is an officer whom I much admire. He is quick at
+conceiving, and prompt and firmhanded in achievement. His force is
+mounted and a few of his troopers thundering into the rebels' nest
+would scatter them like rats."
+
+"Speed, speed, monsieur," she cried, as she perceived the Inspector
+pause to consider the terms in which he should address the Colonel.
+"Let it be simply an introduction; and a mere statement that I have
+rendered service to you and to your forces."
+
+"So be it," he replied; and then rapidly pencilled the note, which
+he put into her hand. A quick "Merci, merci," and the two were gone,
+and speedily upon their horses' backs. They had not ridden far before
+they espied a mounted party, evidently reconnoitering. Instead of
+pursuing its course, the party, upon perceiving the two Indian boys,
+turned their horses and rode towards the pair.
+
+"Oh, Julie, I hope that they will not detain us. They judge, I
+suppose, that we are enemies."
+
+"But you can tell them that we are not, mademoiselle."
+
+"Ah, Julie, the world is not as truthful and as free from guile as
+you. They might not believe us. But I can at any rate show them the
+Inspector's note."
+
+"Who goes there?" shouted the officer of the approaching party.
+
+"Friends, who want to see Colonel Denison immediately.
+
+"Consider yourselves in my charge now," the officer said, fitting
+very high and straight upon his horse.
+
+"But will monsieur l'officier take us straightway to Colonel Denison?"
+
+"In good time we shall see that officer," the starchy commander
+replied.
+
+"But, monsieur, I pray you to make haste. It is a matter of the
+gravest importance that I should see him as speedily as possible. We
+were riding at a mad pace before you joined us, as witness our
+horses' flanks. This note I bear from Inspector Dicken to Colonel
+Denison."
+
+The officer took it, opened it slowly, and cast his eye over the
+writing.
+
+"I do not know whether this has been written by Dicken or not," he
+said, "as I have never seen his writing." Then folding the note he
+put it into his pocket.
+
+"But that is my note, monsieur, my passport to Colonel Denison's
+attention. Wherefore do you keep it?"
+
+The officious military gentleman did not feel called upon to explain
+why he had retained it. Now, all the while the party was at a halt,
+and the agony that poor Annette was suffering may be imagined.
+
+"Monsieur, I repeat," the girl said in a tone of agony, "it is of
+the utmost importance that I should reach Colonel Denison without
+delay. The life of one of your most valuable allies may depend upon
+your haste."
+
+"Would you favour me with the name of this valuable ally?"
+
+"Captain Stephens: he who has been made prisoner by the personal
+followers of the rebel chief."
+
+"I have not heard anything about this capture," said Lieutenant
+Unworthy; "and it seems to me, if the thing occurred word must have
+reached us." This conceited block-head had not yet made a start.
+
+"I implore you once again, monsieur, either to accompany us to the
+presence of the Colonel or to let us go alone. I do not see that you
+have any right to detain us. If harm comes to Captain Stephens you
+will remember that his blood must be upon your head. You are either
+stupid beyond words to describe, or bent upon showing your authority.
+Will you come, or let me go, to the Colonel?"
+
+"I want neither lectures nor impertinent speeches," replied the
+numb-skull, putting on an air of severe dignity; nevertheless it was
+plain that Annette had frightened him.
+
+"Forward, march--tro-o-o-t!" and the troop set out for Camp Denison.
+Whenever the word "W a-a-a-lk" came, the heart of the girl sank; but
+despite the anxiety and annoyance, the camps of Colonel Denison at
+last were in sight.
+
+"Well, Unworthy," the Colonel said, "who are these boys you have
+brought in?" The Colonel was intently reading the faces of the little
+scouts, with his penetrating dark-grey eyes, as he asked the question.
+
+"The largest of the two has a story about the capture of Captain
+Stephens, and declares a profuse interest in the affairs of that
+officer. I have taken the story with a pinch of salt; as I regard the
+two a pair of spies."
+
+"May I speak, Colonel Denison?" the girl said, touching the brim of
+her broad hat respectfully.
+
+"Most certainly, my lad. I shall be glad to hear anything that you
+have to say." Then turning to Unworthy,--"He looks no more like a spy
+than you do, man. Are you any judge of faces?"
+
+"Well, monsieur," the girl began, her voice quivering, "l'officier,"
+pointing to Unworthy, "says he believes that I am a spy. He has no
+ground for such a belief, but he _has_ proof which must have taught him
+otherwise. Inspector Dicken gave me a note of introduction to you. This
+note l'officier has in his pocket, having rudely taken it away from me."
+
+"Please, Mr. Unworthy, hand me this note." And as the officer did
+so, Colonel Denison, knitting his brows, said, "Pray, sir, why was
+this not handed to me at once?"
+
+"Because I believe it is a forgery."
+
+"Allow me, if you please, sir, to settle that point for myself."
+Then hastily reading the note, he said, "Yes, my spirited lad, I have
+already heard of your brave and noble deeds, and of yours, too,"
+turning to Julie. "I am extremely sorry that any officer of the
+militia force should so lack discrimination as to have acted towards
+you as Mr. Unworthy has done."
+
+Then the sweet girl, with a bounding heart, told him that she had
+come to him for a force of twenty men; that if he gave these, she
+could take them in a line as the bird flies to the stronghold of the
+rebel chief.
+
+"Your suggestion is good," Colonel Denison replied; "and I will give
+you thirty men. Browninge," he shouted, calling to a clerical looking
+officer who was standing among a group of brother officers, "get
+thirty men in the saddle at once, and follow these scouts."
+
+Browninge saluted, and went speedily to make preparations.
+
+"Will you not dismount and take refreshments," the Colonel asked in
+a kindly tone, advancing a step nearer the two boys.
+
+Annette could not eat anything. She felt excited till the troop got
+in motion. But Julie would not mind if she ate something. She was
+hungry now because she had not taken much breakfast; and the sweet
+gourmand was soon at work upon the choicest food in the Colonel's
+larder.
+
+"If my experience of character during the years that I have spent
+upon the bench be of any value," the Colonel remarked in a low tone
+to some of his officers, "I could give you some interesting
+information about that scout," looking towards Annette, "and this
+other one as well," meaning Julie. "These boys, trust my word, are no
+more Crees than I am. Note the fineness of their features, and the
+well-bred air and the grace of the one on horseback." The remarks of
+the Colonel were brought to an end by the appearance of Browninge,
+who saluted, and announced that he was ready to go.
+
+Julie jumped up, like a kitten, from her feasting, vaulting into the
+saddle; and while her mouth was yet half full of meat, thanked the
+Colonel for his hospitality. Annette simply said;
+
+"Colonel Denison, my words fail me now to thank you. But I wish you
+knew my heart." He simply waved his hand, and wished the party _bon
+voyage_. Then striking spurs into her horse, Annette led away across the
+level prairie towards the stronghold of the hateful Metis chief.
+
+"I shall now give you my opinion, gentleman," Colonel Denison said,
+as the horses disappeared over a knoll; "these two lads were not what
+they seemed. They were girls."
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Well, we shall some day know. What is more, I am satisfied that the
+larger one has more than an ordinary interest in Stephens. She has
+twice already saved his life; and I should not be surprised if she
+were now to lay him once more under the obligation. Ha, truant," he
+said, turning to one of his staff who had come from a nigh tree-clump,
+where he had been writing, "you should have been here to see the
+beautiful Metis maiden. She was in disguise, but her beauty was
+not less divine than that of your own Iena. Fancy the feelings of
+Stephens, when his own fortunes are bright, to have that beautiful
+girl straying about this wilderness. I can imagine him asking, in
+that passage which you gave me yesterday from your poem--
+
+  'My little flower amongst a weedy world,
+  Where art thou now? In deepest forest shade?
+  Or onward where the Sumach stands arrayed
+  In autumn splendour, its alluring form
+  Fruited, yet odious with the hidden worm?
+  Or, farther, by some still sequestered lake,
+  Loon-haunted, where the sinewy panthers slake
+  Their noon-day thirst, and never voice is heard
+  Joyous of singing waters, breeze or bird,
+  Save their wild waitings.'"
+
+[Footnote: This passage is from the pages of the recently-published
+Canadian drama, "Tecumseh."--E. C. ]
+
+Further conference was cut short by the hasty approach of a coureur
+du bois. The colonel approached as the man dismounted.
+
+"Captain Stephens has been tried by le chef's court martial, and is
+condemned to be shot. Le chef has only a few braves and bois-brules
+about him; and I could fetch you to the nest in an hour and a half by
+hard riding."
+
+When the coureur learnt that the force had been dispatched he rode
+away again. And we shall likewise bid good-bye to the poet and the
+colonel, and join Browninge.
+
+"Now, then, my good lad," the lieutenant said, "we have turned out a
+large force at your bidding to-day. Are you certain (_a_) that Captain
+Stephens is at Chapeau Rouge; (_b_), that Riel is there; (_c_), that
+there is such a stronghold at all?"
+
+"Certainement, monsieur."
+
+"It is well. Now, my men, keep in shelter of yonder bluff; for under
+cover of it only can we approach the den unperceived. We are now
+within three miles of the place." The men received the intelligence
+with enthusiasm, and put their horses at best speed.
+
+
+When only fifteen minutes more remained to poor Stephens, the
+clergyman signed to the others to leave the room; and then, with his
+hands folded before him, asked the condemned man if he had any
+message to leave, or any peace to make with God.
+
+No; he was not afraid to meet his God. He had wronged no man, and
+kept within the bounds of the laws set for his kind. But he had a
+message to leave--it was enclosed in a letter which he put into the
+hand of the minister.
+
+"It is for Annette Marton. Oh, my God. We have been only two days
+betrothed. It is very hard to die."
+
+"This doom was ordained for you, and you must try to meet it like a
+man."
+
+"Oh, it is not death I fear. That is nothing. But, ah, to leave my
+love." After he had passed his hands across his temples, as if to
+clear his understanding, he said, in a voice grown low and calm--
+
+"There is also upon the table a note to my sister, Aster. That is
+all I have to say."
+
+"Will you not pray with me awhile?"
+
+"No; my heart is right; the rest matters not."
+
+There was now a rude bustling at the door; the rusty key was plied,
+and with a harsh scream the bolt flew back. Then the evil-looking Luc
+entered, followed by three others, all of whom seemed partially
+intoxicated.
+
+"Your hour has come, young man," Lestang said, in a brutal voice.
+"Let us be jogging."
+
+Stephens then bade good-bye to the visitors who had re-entered; to
+the clergyman, and to one or two prisoners detained for minor
+offences. His face was deathly pale, but his eye was steadfast and
+his step firm.
+
+Beyond the entrance to the building, about an arrow's flight, was
+drawn up a firing party; and midway between these and one of the
+bastions of the fort was an open coffin. Thither Luc and his guard
+led the condemned man.
+
+"Stop a moment till I bind you," Luc said, taking a hempen cord from
+about his waist. Then he fastened Stephens' hands behind his back,
+and with the most devilish cruelty tied the cord far tighter than
+might be needed for the most refractory culprit. Indeed, his arms
+were almost dislocated at the shoulders, and when the brutal jailer
+saw the corners of his mouth twitch under the torture, he said, with
+a bestial sneer--
+
+"It'll not hurt long. Should be patient."
+
+These words had barely escaped the fellow's lips when a terrified
+cry went up from a score of throats gathered about; and immediately a
+scene of the wildest confusion prevailed.
+
+"Les soldats! Les soldats!" shouted one and all: and immediately the
+little Cree scout was seen upon the earthworks, the eyes of her horse
+gleaming, spray drifting from his open jaws. Close following Annette
+came Lieutenant Browninge waving his sword above his head, and
+shouting,
+
+"Down with the rebels!" at the same time slashing the scurrying
+enemy in such a fashion with his sword as would gladden one's heart.
+
+As for Annette, her quick eye at once showed her how the situation
+stood: her lover, his hands bound, a black cap over his eyes, a
+coffin beside him. Luc, the jailer, and chief of the executioners,
+remained at his post as long as possible; and at the first outburst
+of the din had called upon his party to fire. But these
+mahogany-complexioned executioners scurried like rats at the first cry.
+Most of them carried their arms with them, but Luc perceived a musket
+lying in a corner of the drill square. This he seized and levelled at
+Stephens, pulling the trigger, after careful aim. The rusty weapon
+missed fire, and the intrepid half-breed began hastily to chip the
+flint with the back of his sheath-knife; but while he was engaged in
+this laudable preparation, Annette came over the earthworks like a
+bird, smote him with the handle of her whip upon the crown, and sent
+him sprawling in the dust. With another bound she was at her lover's
+side; and slipping from her horse, she pulled off the hideous cap,
+cut his thongs,--and then the hero-darling waited to be taken to his
+heart.
+
+The change in his fortunes was so sudden, and so amazing,--passing
+at one bound from the grave's edge back to freedom and love, that he
+was for some seconds unable to realize it, and his eyes and brain
+swam with a sense of happiness that reached delirium. But gradually
+it all began to grow clear: the scurrying figures of his captors and
+jailers; the shouting of mounted soldiers; the wistful eyes of his
+beloved looking at him.
+
+"Ah, Annette; you again; my guardian angel!"
+
+It took but a few minutes to restore order. It was ascertained that
+Riel and Jean had made their escape while Browninge's horse was yet
+half a mile away from the post; but they made their exit in secrecy.
+
+"If we give the alarm," Kiel muttered, as he prepared to get into
+the saddle, "there will be an instant stampede, and the execution
+will be stayed."
+
+"I agree with the decision of mon chef. Let Luc remain; he has
+courage enough to have the thing done with the soldiers at the very
+stockades." And the two rode away helter-skelter, till a dozen miles
+lay between them and their treason nest.
+
+"The rebel chief is gone; he skurried away half an hour ago," was
+the tidings that one of the men brought to Browninge. That officer
+was not surprised; and ordered that the prisoners, which numbered
+about a dozen in all, be put in carts, and escorted by a guard of
+cavalry back to Camp Denison.
+
+They were all tired, and it was resolved that the horses be
+permitted to rest for a couple of hours before returning.
+
+"I can find the way back to your colonel's camp, monsieur Browninge,
+as easily by night as in the daylight." Riel and his greasy followers
+lived like so many swine in a sty; but several brace of quail and
+chicken, and quarters of elk were found, which the two Cree boys at
+once began to prepare. A few loaves of bread were found, and a
+tolerable side of bacon, from all of which, with the pure, cold water
+that gurgled out of the side of a nigh ridge, a sumptuous meal was
+promised.
+
+Stephens objected to the Cree boys doing the drudgery, but Annette
+besought ham so sweetly with her eyes to let "the little scouts" do
+it, that he desisted. His glance, as he followed every movement of
+the maiden, had as much of mute adoration, reverent and tender, as
+ever has been seen in the eyes of a man. How little he had known the
+worth of this girl, when he toyed with her hair and put a straw into
+her dimples at her father's house! I suppose he regarded her as
+thoughtful men regard most girls before they become enslaved either
+to their fascination or their gifts. I do not care to write an
+ungallant speech, but I do say that I have so far in life looked upon
+men much as I do upon women; and I assume every man to be a fool till
+he has proven himself otherwise to _me_.
+
+The sun was setting when the order to saddle was given; and with the
+two scouts leading, the party set out along nearly the same route by
+which they had come in the morning. A darkness that, without a flight
+of imagination, might be called "dense," pressed upon the prairie,
+and only a few small and feeble points of star-light were to be seen.
+But on a sudden a mellow, green-tinted light burst out of the
+northern sky with a brightness that showed the startled expression
+upon every face. The horses pricked up their ears, and looked for a
+moment at the radiant, quivering, northern sky.
+
+I have not bothered my readers with much description so far, and I
+trust that they will forgive me if I pause for a moment to do so now.
+After this great, aerial conflagration had continued for the space of
+five minutes, the light went out from the whole sky as suddenly and
+as entirely as though it were a lamp which some one had extinguished.
+After a few seconds of darkness, here and there a long rib of yellow
+light appeared; then these disappeared, and once more the party was
+in the pitchy dusk. Suddenly, however, fully half the heavens burst
+into flame again.
+
+In the south the light was soft, and seemed unconnected with that of
+the east and north. The whole would remain for a few seconds
+quiescent, save for some slight, erratic pulsations, but all would at
+once madly undulate and quiver from end to end. It seemed at such
+times like a mighty cloth woven of the finest and softest floss,
+being violently shaken at both ends by invisible hands. But the most
+curious part of the phenomena was the noise, like the cracking of
+innumerable whips, which accompanied the pulsations in the auroral
+flame. [Footnote: Captain Huysbe mentions having heard this peculiar
+noise during auroral displays in the North-West; and Mr. Charles Mair
+and other authorities add their testimony to the same fact.--E. C.]
+The corruscations were produced in the valleys, among the bluffs, and
+far out over the face of the prairie. To lend terror to the
+stupendous and awful beauty of the scene, a ball of fire came out of
+the southern sky, passed slowly across the belt of agitated flame,
+and disappeared over the crest of a distant hill.
+
+Above, the heavy masses of auroral cloud now began to assume the
+shape of a mighty umbrella, the enormous ribs of weird light forming
+in an apex above the heads of the party, and radiating towards all
+points of the compass. Sometimes these ribs would all shake, and then
+blend; but they would speedily rearray themselves in perfect and
+majestic symmetry. It was a most weirdly-beautiful sight, riding
+along the still and boundless prairie, when the merry dancing ceased
+for a moment, to see this stupendous dome of fluffy, ghost-like light
+suspended over their heads. For an hour they continued looking upon
+it; upon the yellow of the level prairie, and the yellow and gloom of
+the knolls and hollows. Then there was a universal flash so sudden as
+to be terrible; then a darkness equally as sudden. Not the faintest
+glow was there anywhere in all the wide heavens. It seemed as if God
+had blown out the mysterious light.
+
+Stephens rode beside his love; and when the light went out of the
+sky, if Lieutenant Browninge had been concerned with the doings of
+the leaders, he would have been amazed to see the rescued captain
+lean over and deliberately kiss the Cree scout upon the lips. When
+the white sides of the tents of Capt. Denison appeared in view,
+Annette halted, and said that she and her brother must now ride in
+another direction.
+
+"My brave boy, if by that term I rightly address you," Browninge
+said, "I wish that you would accept the hospitalities of our camp;"
+but the scout refused, and after a few moments in conversation with
+Captain Stephens, rode away.
+
+Meanwhile affairs had fallen out much as Little Poplar predicted.
+Captain Beaver, after thorough consideration of the matter, decided
+that it would never do to allow his men to return to Ontario without
+having a "brush with the Indians." He therefore opened correspondence
+with Major Tonweight, pointing out the expediency of making an attack
+upon Little Poplar. "He is upon his reserve, it is true," Beaver
+wrote, "but he has gathered his men together for the purpose of
+marching on Hatchet Creek, and there effecting a junction with the
+rebel Metis. If you permit me to run down and give them a good
+trouncing, it will make an end of the contemplated league."
+
+"Our policy," replied Tonweight, "is not to antagonize but to
+conciliate; to treat all as friends till they prove themselves to be
+enemies."
+
+"But you will pay dear for your generous theory if this man, Little
+Poplar, succeeds in joining the rebels. And I assure you that the
+savage is now making ready to march.".
+
+"The matter is in your own hands, then," Tonweight replied. "If all
+be as you say, you must consult your own judgment, and shoulder the
+responsibilities."
+
+"Hurrah!" Beaver shouted. "Hurrah! Now then, boys, you'll have a
+brush. Get ready for a march. You know I am only supposing a case
+against these Indians," he said turning to a brother officer.
+
+"Good God! is this outrage to occur!" Col. Denison exclaimed, when a
+Coureur-des-bois brought him the tidings.
+
+And so, the sanguinary Beaver made ready to start.
+
+"How much provisions do we need, Sir?" the purveyor asked.
+
+"You do not need any. Let each man eat a hearty meal, and put some
+bread into his pocket. It is only going to be a short job. I'll kill
+a hundred or so," he said aside to a subordinate officer, "and then
+come straight back." Then he put himself at the head of his column,
+and swooped towards his prey.
+
+So when Little Poplar, on the morning after the rescue of Captain
+Stephens, met the two maidens, there was great sorrow in his face.
+
+"I have to fight your friends," he said, "but there is nothing else
+left me for choice. Beaver and his men are at this moment marching
+towards my reserve, though all my braves went back to peaceful
+occupation upon the assurance from English officers that no harm
+would come to them; but, as I have already stated, Beaver and his
+young men want to kill a lot of Indians, and return home great
+heroes. But they will make a grievous mistake. I shall lead them into
+a defile of swamp and bush tangle, where every one of the number will
+be at my mercy. I believe that this foolhardy man regards my
+followers as a band of dogs, whom he can kill as they run. But my men
+know not what fear is." Then kissing Julie, and bowing sorrowfully to
+Annette, this chief went away.
+
+That very day, when midway upon his march, Captain Beaver was joined
+by two Cree scouts, one of whom besought him for a moment's interview.
+
+He had no time to waste; but if the scout had anything very
+important to communicate he would listen.
+
+"Then, Monsieur," Annette began, "my advice is that you call a halt
+of your troops. Little Poplar is in strong position upon his reserve;
+the swamps approaching his ground are quagmires; the bush is a tangle
+through which the rabbit may scarcely pass. The chief's men are
+numerous, and war is their occupation. They will destroy Monsieur's
+force."
+
+"Indeed, I am at a loss to know why I should be an object of such
+solicitude to an Indian scout, whose sympathy and interest must be
+with those savages, against whom I now march." And without further
+parley he dismissed the lad.
+
+That afternoon mirrors flashed signals from bluff to bluff; our men
+were surrounded by the enemy; and at the set of sun their lives lay
+at the-mercy of the men whom they had come to trounce. Julie was at
+the side of her lover, and tears were in her eyes.
+
+"I beseech my chief for the sake of his love for me to desist, and
+allow these rash soldiers to depart." Her chief stood with arms
+folded upon his breast. There was sorrow on his face; but there was
+scorn there, too, as he turned affectionally to the sweet pleader.
+
+"These men came down to massacre my people, that they might
+henceforth be clad with glory. They have not destroyed any of my men;
+but their dead strew the plain. They are at my mercy; so utterly,
+too, that if I desire it, not a man of all the host shall return to
+give tidings to his friends. You ask me to stay my hand. Ah! It is
+hard. But you ask it; you, my little lover-playmate of the sunny
+Saskatchewan. I consent!" Then he strode down among his men, and
+ordered them to cease. Naught-but the ascendancy which the splendid
+chief had gained over his followers, through his wisdom and his
+prowess, could have prevailed upon them to stay their hand, now that
+the men who had broken solemn faith were at their mercy. But they
+unstrung their bows, shouldered their muskets, and permitted the
+invaders to depart. Then Julie knelt at her lover's feet, and kissed
+his hand with reverent gratitude; and he laid his hand upon her head,
+and bade her arise.
+
+Before I leave this feature of my narrative I may state that Captain
+Beaver subsequently sought to justify this wanton breach of faith
+with the Indians, upon the ground of military policy; affirming that
+the "punishment" which he inflicted upon the chief prevented the
+latter joining forces with the rebel Metis. As to the punishment
+there was very little inflicted upon the Indians;--it was
+emphatically conferred in another direction. As to the statement that
+the attack prevented Poplar from joining the rebel forces at Hatchet
+Creek, the same is absurdly untrue. Little Poplar did actually set
+out, after the attack, to join the bois-brules, and he deliberately--I
+was going to say contemptuously--exposed himself to the flank attack
+by Beaver's men, of which movement, we are told, he had been so much
+in dread. In due time, as the chief was pursuing his march, tidings
+came to him that the Metis had been overwhelmed. Then he
+surrendered;--and thereafter for many a dreary month there was no
+happiness for Julie. I may as well anticipate events, and say that this
+dear girl brought it emphatically to the knowledge of the authorities
+that her beloved chief early in the war had served the white people in
+the hour of peril; and that the offence for which he stood committed
+now had been forced upon him by the bad faith of a Canadian militia
+officer. At last he was released; and holding his hand, apparelled in
+proper attire, she walked out by his side to a little cottage wherein
+a priest stood waiting to wed the two. Her happiness was very great,
+as may be guessed when I state that in each of her beautiful eyes a
+tear glimmered like you see a drop of rain glitter upon the thorn
+bush, when the storm has ended, and the sun shines. Her lover took
+her many miles up the Saskatchewan, where she said she would remain
+till Annette got "settled." A friend has lately been at her cottage,
+and he tells me that she has a "cherub of a baby," absurdly like
+herself in all save its skin, which is rather of a mahogany cast. The
+chief and his petite wife are very happy; and many a time under the
+blossoms of their own orchard, or when the wind howls like a belated
+wolf, they discuss the alternation of sorrow and joy which fell to
+their lot when the two maidens went disguised as scouts over the
+unbounded prairie. My great wish is that all the pretty and
+noble-harted girls of my acquaintance may be as happy as my sweet
+Julie.
+
+As for Annette, when the battle of Saw-Knife Creek ended, she was
+waiting for Julie to join her. Her hand was upon her horse's neck,
+and she was leaning against the animal thinking of her lover.
+
+"Ah, at last!" The terrible words and the voice were but too plain.
+Turning she saw the rebel chief, triumph, passion, and revenge in his
+eyes. By his side were several Metis with muskets presented, ready to
+fire at the girl if she uttered a cry, or made resistance. Then they
+bound her arms, and set her upon her horse, which one of the chief's
+followers led by the bridle. They rode as fast as the ponies could
+travel across the prairie; and Annette's heart sank, and all hope
+seemed to die out of her life, as she realized, that the miscreants
+were hurrying towards the valley of Dismal Swamp where abode Jubal,
+the hideous hag.
+
+As the party hurried along the skirt of the ridge flanking the swamp
+and the inky stream, lo! there came to her ears the notes of a bird's
+song. It was the guardian swan; and joy and hope crept into the
+maiden's bosom.
+
+"Hear you yonder singing, my pretty bird?" the hideous chief asked,
+with a foul sneer. "Its song is always intended to console and
+reconcile maidens to their lovers."
+
+But she turned her head away with loathing, and answered him not.
+Then came a sudden trampling; swords gleamed; eyes flashed in the
+dusk; and before the helpless girl could gather her routed senses,
+the beastly chief was sent sprawling from his horse with a sabre-blow;
+his followers were routed; and she was free.
+
+"My own beloved," were the words whispered in her ear, and warm lips
+were pressed upon her mouth. "We no more part, my darling--never,
+never more."
+
+They rode along through the night, he telling of his love, and
+fashioning the future; she listening with bright eyes, and a
+happiness too great for words.
+
+"You have asked me, darling, why I love _you_ so? How it comes that of
+all the girls whom I have known, I should give my heart to you entire
+and for ever? Well, darling, I shall say naught of your heroism, which
+would alone make you illustrious and beloved in our historic annals for
+all time to come; but I shall regard you as a maiden who has never seen
+the brunt of battle, or done a deed of warlike valour. You have still
+enough of sterling worth to win my heart ten thousand times. You are
+beautiful, dear, and you are good as you are beautiful. You are true,
+because in you there is naught of affectation or of desire _to act a
+part;_ and there is on your lips no speech that is not the true
+expression of your thought. This I conceive to be the highest
+tribute-gift that man can offer a woman."
+
+After all the turmoil and the besetting dangers this was very sweet
+to her;--and it was sweet to him.
+
+In a little the rebellion ended, and Stephens came to the house of
+Annette's aunt, and wedded his beloved there. Then he took her to
+wild, sweet places in the Territories; and after the lapse of a few
+weeks, went with her to the east, where both pleaded for the life of
+Colonel Marton. All men worshipped her when she came to our cities;
+and when she had obtained the boon for which she had come amongst us,
+she went away to the west again. She is happy now as woman can be,
+and my latest information is that Julie has prevailed upon her chief
+to change his place of abode and come with her to live, for the
+remainder of their days, close to the abode of her beloved mistress.
+
+Annette is now the most popular woman in the North-West Territories.
+Her beauty seems to have attained a fuller development since we knew
+her as a maiden. Her mole is a deeper brown, I really believe, and
+her dimple deeper. But best of all her happiness is as well assured
+as her beauty.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+The preceding story lays no claim to value or accuracy in its
+descriptions of the North-West Territories. I have never seen that
+portion of our country; and to endeavour to describe faithfully a
+region of which I have only a hearsay knowledge would be foolish.
+
+I have, therefore, arranged the geography of the Territories to suit
+my own conveniences. I speak of places that no one, will be able to
+find upon maps of the present or of the future. Wherever I want a
+valley or a swamp, I put the same; and I have taken the same liberty
+with respect to hills or waterfalls, The birds, and in some instances
+the plants and flowers of the prairies, I have also made to order.
+
+I present some fiction in my story, and a large array of fact. I do
+not feel bound, however, to state which is the fact, and which the
+fiction.
+
+I have not aimed at dramatic excellence in this book. Change of
+scene, incident and colour are the points which I had in view. There
+is not any sham sentiment in the book.
+
+I have introduced a few passages, with little change from a small
+volume, entitled "The Story of Louis Riel." These passages in no way
+effect the current of my story; but as I thought that they had some
+merit, I had no compunction in diverting them to present uses. The
+most notable authors have done this sort of thing; and chief amongst
+them I may mention Thackeray.
+
+I beg likewise to say a word with respect to the book known as "The
+Story of Louis Riel." That volume has been quoted as history; but it
+is largely fiction. There is no historic truth in the story therein
+written by me that Louis Riel conceived a passion for a beautiful
+girl named Marie; and that he put Thomas Scott to death, because the
+maiden gave her heart to that young white man. I have seen the story
+printed again and again as truth; but there is in it not one word of
+truth. This much I am glad to be able to say in justice to the memory
+of the miserable man, who has suffered a just penalty for his
+transgressions. I never intended that the work in question should be
+taken as history; and I should have made that point clear in an
+introduction, bearing my name, but that I was unwilling to take
+responsibility for the literary slovenliness, which was unavoidable
+through my haste in writing, and through Mr. D. A. Rose's hurry in
+publishing, the work. It occupied me only seventeen days; and I did
+not see my proofs.
+
+Once more: one of the leading characters in that book, Mr. Charles
+Mair, is most unjustly treated. Him I held as one of the prime agents
+in the rebellion of 1869; but nothing could be further from the fact.
+His pen and his voice had always advocated justice and generosity
+towards the Indians and the Metis. As to his sentiments respecting
+the Indians, I need but refer to the drama of his "Tecumseh," which
+Canadians have received with such enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+
+NANCY, THE LIGHT-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER.
+
+BY EDMUND COLLINS.
+
+
+"Yes, that is a picture of Grace Darling, but I can tell you a story
+of great bravery, too, which the world has never heard, about the
+daughter of a light-keeper who lived on the shore of one of our
+Canadian lakes." These words were spoken to me by an old Canadian
+fisherman in whose house I was spending a few nights while out for my
+autumn shooting.
+
+"The girl's name was Nancy and her father was keeper of a small
+wooden light-house which stood chained to a ledge lying close to the
+harbour's mouth. The girl and her father lived alone upon the rock,
+but when the water was smooth they went every day to the mainland in
+their little boat. One day in the late autumn the keeper was obliged
+to make a journey to a distant town, and as he could not reach home
+again till some hours after dark, he left the lighting of the light
+to Nancy. The girl and a number of others went among the hills in the
+afternoon to pick bake-apples, and they remained till the sun was
+only "a hand high" in the west. Then the party turned their steps
+toward the coast.
+
+"There will be a heavy gale to-night," the girl said, looking at the
+sky; for a mass of dark cloud resembling a ragged mountain had
+appeared up the coast and begun to roll rapidly toward the harbour.
+It is only those who live near the lakes, that know how suddenly
+sometimes a terrible hurricane will come out of a sky which was the
+most peaceful of azure only a few moments before. The tempest first
+moved along the level shore, casting an awful shadow upon the
+landscape for miles before it; then it smote the sea in its full fury.
+
+To describe the tumult of sound as the gale drove onward would be
+impossible. A sad cry would swell out like the voice of a mother
+wailing for her child; then, pitched in a low, loud key, would come a
+noise like the howling of a soul condemned; while above the confusing
+din could be heard shrill whistles and cross pipings as if a host of
+mad spirits were signalling one another through the storm.
+
+Nancy hurried to the shore where lay her little boat, and several
+fishermen were gathered about the dock.
+
+"Girl," said one, a hardy sailor who had been on the lakes in the
+roughest weather, "no boat would live now to reach the reef. Better
+wait till your father returns."
+
+"But if some ship, unable to clear the land with this ingale, should
+be obliged to run for the harbour, she could never enter without the
+light."
+
+"I was on the look-out a few moments ago, and there was nothing in
+sight. But, even if there was, it would be madness to launch a boat
+now. Look at these seas!"
+
+The whole face of the gulf between the reef and the shore was a
+wilderness of raging water. The fisherman had hardly ceased speaking,
+when another of the coast people was seen hurrying down from the look-out.
+
+"There is a ship about eight miles to the sou'west, with canvas
+close hauled; but I don't think that she will be able to weather the
+point."
+
+"If she cannot, then she must run for the harbour, and there will be
+no light," Nancy exclaimed; and the colour faded out of her brown
+cheek. Then borrowing a telescope from one of the fishermen, she set
+out for the top of the look-out. While she held the glass in her
+trembling hands she saw the ship wear and turn her head toward the
+harbour. Gathering her plaid shawl hastily about her shoulders, she
+ran down the steep and returned to the dock.
+
+"The ship is running for the harbour, and there _must_ be a light. Here,
+help me to launch my boat."
+
+"Is the girl mad!" two or three voices exclaimed at once.
+
+"Girl," said the old man who had spoken before, "no small boat that
+ever swam can reach yonder ledge now. Why do you want to throw away
+your life? It cannot save the ship."
+
+"The boat is light," Nancy replied, "and the canvas covering will
+keep it from filling, if I can only manage always to meet the sea
+head on. If I had a pair of after oars as well as my own there would
+not be much difficulty." As she spoke these words, she looked at the
+group, as if calling for a volunteer: but nobody took her hint. They
+all cowered in the face of the gale, and some of them began to move
+away from the dock.
+
+"Then I must go alone," the girl said, as she threw off her shawl,
+and hastily tied up her mane of soft, black hair. "You will surely
+help me to launch the boat." But no hand would help her. They saw the
+impetuous girl going to doom, and they would not be a party to her
+madness. Getting three or four round pieces of driftwood, which were
+slippery with water-slime, she laid them along the dock; two other
+billets she placed under the boat's keel. Then gathering her strength
+for one pull, she sent the boat into the churning surf. One of the
+fishermen advanced to detain her, but she waved him back with a
+gesture so determined and imperious that he hesitated. He then held
+consultation with his friends. Two or three now hurried down to the
+water's edge, but the boat had shot out beyond their reach, and was
+already rising like some great sea-bird over the mad waves. The girl
+had seized her oars and was rowing at a brisk rate toward the ledge.
+Sometimes a huge, green, glittering wave would arise and roll towards
+the shell, and the fishermen would close their eyes; but in response
+to the rower's quick wrist, the little skiff would turn and climb
+over the roaring crest of the terrible billow. Sometimes the boat was
+nowhere to be seen, and one of the spectators would say to another,
+
+"It is all over!"
+
+Presently, however, the cockle would rise out of the trough and
+appear upon the summit of a breaking sea, looking like a large,
+crouching, sea-gull. On, steadily, the mite of a craft held its way,
+sometimes heading directly for the reef, again swerving to the right
+to mount a rampant billow. Smaller, and smaller grew the little
+figure, till it became a mere white speck away in the driving mist.
+The fishermen still remained huddled together in the dock; and as
+one, with the telescope in his hand, announced that the girl was now
+within a cable's length of the reef, a great look of shame came into
+their faces, that not one had shown courage enough to go with her. As
+for Nancy, in the midst of the ravening turmoil, she was cool of head
+and steady of arm, pulling with a sturdy stroke, and constantly
+turning her face to note the waves to be met with the full front of
+the skiff. Sometimes the cross wash from a sea would smite the boat
+upon the quarter, and for a moment expose it to destruction; but in
+response to the girl's quick judgment and steady wrist, the bold
+little prow would be instantly brought again in the face of the
+tempest. In one continuous storm the spray drove over her, and the
+skiff was more than half full of water. It was growing dark, and she
+could barely distinguish the opposite shore. But the danger of the
+passage was at last over, and her tiny craft was in the shelter of
+the gloomy reef.
+
+There was a windlass bolted to the rock, with which she drew the
+skiff beyond the reach of the waves. Nimbly then she climbed the reef
+till she reached the door of the tower. A few seconds later all the
+fishermen saw the warm, yellow glare of the light streaming over the
+turbulent water.
+
+Nancy was happy now, and her large eyes strained through the lantern
+of the tower to catch sight of the ship. She had not long to wait.
+Between the reef and the long stretch of eastern shore, a red light
+pulsed upon a wave, moving towards the harbour.
+
+"Good!" the girl cried out, "she is midway in the channel and safe."
+Then she descended to the basement, where she brewed a cup of tea,
+and sat down to a supper of cold sea-fowl, and juicy, white bread of
+her own baking.
+
+The sleeping rooms were upon the middle story, but the girl began to
+grow uneasy at the increasing violence of the hurricane, and would
+not go to bed. Taking a book, she went to the lantern and sat upon a
+box to read. The whistling of the wind around the glass and the dome
+of zinc, the booming of the sea against the rock, and the brawling of
+the waters around her produced such a tumultuous din that persons
+speaking in the tower would be unable to hear each other.
+
+Then dawned a new terror; and she looked upon the floor with
+wide-opened eyes and blanched lips. Twice since its establishment,
+during winter gales, had the tower been swept off the rock. It is true
+the present structure was substantially built, and was firmly secured
+to long iron "stringers" bolted to the solid rock; yet the sea was
+already surging against the base of the tower, and at every blow the
+edifice quivered till the machinery of steel and brass rang like a
+number of little bells. Upon the grated, iron pathway running around
+the lantern inside, she took her stand, and, thence, looked out. The
+light streamed far beyond the ledge and revealed the full fury of the
+sea. The agitated waters would recede from the reef upon the windward
+side like a jumper who runs backward, that he may be able to leap
+with greater force; then gathered up to the stature of a hill and
+crowned with roaring foam, it would return with soft tread, but
+terrible might, scaling the rock, and flinging its white arms around
+the waist of the tower. Throughout the tumult, flocks of sea-birds,
+driven from the surface, and bewildered in the dense darkness of the
+storm, would fly for the light and smite the lantern; and then they
+would fall backward into the surf, as if struck with a thunderbolt.
+Other creatures flew with more care; and Nancy shuddered as she saw
+the gleaming eyes of huge fish hawks outside, and beheld their dusky
+wings waving at the panes.
+
+Many an hour of terror passed with no employment for the trembling
+watcher, save when the lamps grew dim and she moved from her standing
+place to snuff the wick and turn more flame. Stepping nervously down
+to the basement she found that it lacked only a quarter of four
+o'clock. In half an hour it would be dawn, and she was cheered by the
+thought as she re-ascended.
+
+But how could a frail, wooden tower withstand these terrible shocks!
+As she trod the spiral stairs, the whole edifice trembled and
+creaked. Once, under a tremendous surge, she felt it reel. She
+hurried again to the iron pathway and looked out. Billow after billow
+came sweeping up the ledge, and did not pause till it smote the very
+lantern with its soft foam.
+
+"Oh! merciful God deliver me!" the girl cried, as she espied far out
+a wave far more terrible and gigantic than any other which her
+frightened eyes had seen. Before it reached the reef, she believed
+that its storming crest was on a level with the lantern. Then it
+seemed as if the whole ocean, aroused to strike one overwhelming
+blow, fell in thunder upon the tower. Nancy was conscious of being
+hurled rapidly through space; then followed a crashing sound, an
+overturning and a confusion that no pen could describe. The tower was
+in the sea.
+
+She could never explain how it came about, but when she recovered
+from the shock she was floating close by one of the tower floors. The
+dawn had broken in glaring gray, and she was enabled to perceive her
+situation. The lower part of the tower was uppermost, and the lantern
+with its weight of machinery was beneath. Yes, God had heard her
+supplication; and, comparatively safe from the billows, she clung to
+a piece of timber, projecting above the floor. She was certain that
+the storm was abating; yet the wreck was drifting rapidly toward the
+inexorable rocks. Wave after wave passed over the uppermost part of
+the tower, and sometimes the water smote her so that her head reeled,
+and her senses became dimmed for some moments. A coil of rope hung
+from a spike in the wall, and fastening an end of it around her slim
+waist, she bound herself to a stout piece of timber.
+
+A young man, passenger in the ship which the girl had saved, heard
+of the heroism of the light-keeper's daughter. As soon as light came,
+through promise of a liberal reward, he induced one of the sailors to
+come with him in the launch. Near the shore they met the floating
+tower, and saw lying upon the top, and bound there with a rope, the
+girl who had risked her life to save the vessel. They believed that
+she was dead, so pale was her beautiful face; and the coils of her
+soft hair were trailing in the surging water. But she was not dead,
+and, placed in the warm cabin of the delivered ship, soon opened her
+great, timorous eyes.
+
+Now, that my story may seem like a novel, I may add that the brave
+young fellow who rescued Nancy was often seen afterwards about the
+girl's home. Indeed I doubt if the two were ever parted.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Annette, The Metis Spy, by Joseph Edmund Collins
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Annette, The Metis Spy, by Joseph Edmund Collins
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+Title: Annette, The Metis Spy
+
+Author: Joseph Edmund Collins
+
+Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6668]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on January 12, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNETTE, THE METIS SPY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Avinash Kothare, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+This file was produced from images generously made available by the
+Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions.
+
+
+
+
+
+ANNETTE, THE METIS SPY:
+
+A HEROINE OF THE N.W. REBELLION.
+
+BY
+
+EDMUND COLLINS.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LE CHEF FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE HALF-BREED MAIDEN.
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ANNETTE FORMS AN HEROIC RESOLVE.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LITTLE MAIDEN'S BRAVERY.
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ANNETTE'S LOVER IN DANGER.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DIVERS ADVENTURES FOR OUR HEROINE.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A DARING ESCAPE.
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FIGHT; A CAPTURE; AND THE GUARDIAN SWAN.
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STARS ARE KINDLY TO LE CHEF.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE STARS TAKE A NEW COURSE.
+
+NOTES.
+
+ADDENDUM.
+
+NANCY, THE LIGHT-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER.
+
+
+
+
+ANNETTE;
+
+THE METIS SPY.
+
+A HEROINE OF THE N.W. REBELLION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+LE CHEF FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE HALF-BREED MAIDEN.
+
+
+The sun was hanging low in the clear blue over the prairie, as two
+riders hurried their ponies along a blind trail toward a distant
+range of purple hills that lay like sleepy watchers along the banks
+of the Red River.
+
+The beasts must have ridden far, for their flanks were white with
+foam, and their riders were splashed with froth and mud,
+
+"The day is nearly done, mon ami," said one, stretching out his arm
+and measuring the height of the sun from the horizon. "How red it is;
+and mark these blood-stains upon its face! It gives warning to the
+tyrants who oppress these fair plains; but they cannot read the
+signs."
+
+There was not a motion anywhere in all the heavens, and the only
+sound that broke the stillness was the dull trample of the ponies'
+hoofs upon the sod. On either side was the wide level prairie,
+covered with thick, tall grass, through which blazed the purple,
+crimson and garnet blooms, of vetch and wild pease. The tiger lily,
+too, rose here and there like a sturdy queen of beauty with its great
+terra cotta petals, specked with umber-brown. Here and there, also,
+upon the mellow level, stood a clump of poplars or white oaks--prim
+like virgins without suitors, with their robes drawn close about
+them; but when over the unmeasured plain the wind blew, they bowed
+their heads gracefully, as a company of eastern girls when the king
+commands.
+
+As the two horsemen rode silently around one of these clumps, there
+suddenly came through the hush the sound of a girl's voice singing.
+The song was exquisitely worded and touching, and the singer's voice
+was sweet and limpid as the notes of a bobolink. They marvelled much
+who the singer might be, and proposed that both should leave the path
+and join the unknown fair one. Dismounting, they fastened their
+horses in the shelter of the poplars, and proceeded on foot toward
+the point whence the singing came. A few minutes walk brought the two
+beyond a small poplar grove, and there, upon a fallen tree-bole, in
+the delicious cool of the afternoon, they saw the songstress sitting.
+She was a maiden of about eighteen years, and her soft, silky, dark
+hair was over her shoulders. In girlish fancy she had woven for
+herself a crown of flowers out of marigolds and daisies, and put it
+upon her head.
+
+She did not hear the footsteps of the men upon the soft prairie, and
+they did not at once reveal themselves, but stood a little way back
+listening to her. She had ceased her song, and was gazing beyond
+intently. On the naked limb of a desolate, thunder-riven tree that
+stood apart from its lush, green-boughed neighbours, sat a thrush in
+a most melancholy attitude. Every few seconds he would utter a note
+of song, sometimes low and sorrowful, then in a louder key, and more
+plaintive, as if he were calling for some responsive voice from far
+away over the prairie.
+
+"Dear bird, you have lost your mate, and are crying for her," the
+girl said, stretching out her little brown hand compassionately
+toward the crouching songster. "Your companions have gone to the
+South, and you wait here, trusting that your mate will come back, and
+not journey to summer lands without you. Is not that so, my poor
+bird? Ah, would that I could go with you where there are always
+flowers, and ever can be heard the ripple of little brooks. Here the
+leaves will soon fall, ah, me! and the daisies wither; and, instead
+of the delight of summer, we shall have only the cry of hungry
+wolves, and the bellowing of bitter winds above the lonesome plains.
+But could I go to the South, there is no one who would sing over my
+absence one lamenting note, as you sing, my bird, for the mate with
+whom you had so many hours of sweet love-making in these prairie
+thickets. Nobody loves me, woos me, cares for me, or sings about me.
+I am not even as the wild rose here, though it seems to be alone, and
+is forbidden to take its walk; for it holds up its bright face and
+can see its lover; and he breathes back upon the kind, willing,
+breeze-puffs, through all the summer, sweet-scented love messages,
+tidings of a matrimony as delicious as that of the angels."
+
+She stood up, and raised her arms above her head yearningly. The
+autumn wind was cooing in her hair, and softly swaying its silken
+meshes.
+
+"Farewell, my desolate one; may your poor little heart be gladder
+soon. Could I but be a bird, and you would have me for a companion,
+your lamenting should not be for long. We should journey, loitering
+and love-making all the long sweet way, from here to the South, and
+have no repining."
+
+Turning around, she perceived two men standing close beside her. She
+became very confused, and clutched for her robe to cover her face,
+but she had strayed away among the flowers without it. Very deeply
+she blushed that the strangers should have heard her; and she spake
+not.
+
+"Bonjour, ma belle fille." It was the tall commanding one who had
+addressed her. He drew closer, and she, in a very low voice, her
+olive face stained with a faint flush of crimson, answered,
+
+"Bonjour, Monsieur."
+
+"Be not abashed. We heard what you were saying to the bird, and I
+think the sentiments were very pretty."
+
+This but confused the little prairie beauty all the more. But the
+gallant stranger took no heed of her embarrassment.
+
+"With part of your declaration I cannot agree. A maiden with such
+charms as yours is not left long to sigh for a lover. Believe me, I
+should like to be that bird, to whom you said you would, if you
+could, offer love and companionship."
+
+The stranger made no disguise of his admiration for the beautiful
+girl of the plains. He stepped up by her side, and was about to take
+her hand after delivering himself of this gallant speech, but she
+quickly drew it away. Then, turning to his companion,
+
+"We must sup before leaving this settlement, and we shall accompany
+this bonny maiden home. Go you and fetch the horses; Mademoiselle and
+myself shall walk together." The other did as he was directed, and
+the stranger and the songstress took their way along a little grassy
+path. The ravishing beauty of the girl was more than the amorously-
+disposed stranger could resist, and suddenly stretching out his arms,
+he sought to kiss her. But the soft-eyed fawn of the desert soon
+showed herself in the guise of a petit bete sauvage. With an angry
+scream, she bounded away from his grasp.
+
+"How do you dare take this liberty with me, Monsieur," she said, her
+eyes kindled with anger and hurt pride. "You first meanly come and
+intrude upon my privacy; next you must turn what knowledge you gain
+by acting spy and eavesdropper, into a means of offering me insult.
+You have heard me say that I had no lover to sigh for me. I spoke the
+truth: I _have_ no such lover. But you I will not accept as one." And
+turning with flushed cheek and gleaming eyes, she entered a cosy,
+clean-kept cottage. But she soon reflected that she had been guilty of
+an inhospitable act in not asking the strangers to enter. Suddenly
+turning, she walked rapidly back, and overtook the crest-fallen wooer
+and his companion, and said in a voice from which every trace of her
+late anger had disappeared.
+
+"Entrez, Messieurs."
+
+The man's countenance speedily lost its gloom, and, respectfully
+touching his hat, he said:
+
+"Oui, Mademoiselle, avec le plus grand plaisir." Tripping lightly
+ahead she announced the two strangers, and then returned, going to
+the bars where the cows were lowing, waiting to be milked. The
+persistent stranger had not, by any means, made up his mind to desist
+in his wooing.
+
+"The colt shies," he murmured, "when she first sees the halter.
+Presently, she becomes tractable enough." Then, while he sat waiting
+for the evening meal, blithely through the hush of the exquisite
+evening came the voice of the girl. She was singing from _La Claire
+Fontaine_.
+
+  "A la claire fontaine
+   Je m'allais promener,
+   J'ai trouve l'eau si belle
+   Que je me suis baigne"
+
+Her song ended with her work, and as she passed the strangers with
+her two flowing pails of yellow milk, Riel whispered softly, as he
+touched her sweet little hand:
+
+"Ah, ma petite amie!"
+
+The same flash came in her eyes, the same proud blood appeared red
+through the dusk of her cheek, but she restrained herself. He was a
+guest under her father's roof, and she would suffer the offence to
+pass. The persistent gallant was more crest-fallen by this last
+silent rebuke than by the first with its angry words. The first, in
+his vanity, he had deemed an outburst of petulance, instead of an
+expression of personal dislike, especially as the girl had so
+suddenly calmed herself, and extended hospitalities.
+
+He gnashed his teeth that a half-breed girl, in an obscure village,
+should resent his advances; he for whom, if his own understanding was
+to be trusted, so many bright eyes were languishing. At the evening
+meal he received courteous, kindly attention from Annette; but this
+was all. He related with much eloquence all that he had seen in the
+big world in the East, during his school days, and took good care
+that his hosts should know how important a person he was in the
+colony of Red River. To his mortification, he frequently observed in
+the midst of one of his most self-glorifying speeches that the girl's
+eyes were abstracted. He was certain that she was not interested in
+him, or in his exploits.
+
+"Can she have a lover?" he asked himself, a keen arrow of jealousy
+entering at his heart, and vibrating through his veins. "No, this
+cannot be. She said in her musings on the prairie, that she had
+nobody who would sing a sad song if she were to go to the South.
+Stop! She may love, and not find her passion requited. I shall stay
+here until the morrow, and let the great cause wait. Through the
+evening I shall reveal who I am, and then see what is in the wind."
+
+During the course of the evening the audacious stranger was somewhat
+confounded to learn that the father of his fair hostess was none
+other than Colonel Marton, an ex-officer of the Hudson Bay Company, a
+man of wide influence among all the Metis people, and one of the most
+sturdy champions of the half-breed cause. Indeed he was aware that
+Colonel Marton was at this very time about preaching resistance to
+the people, organising forces, and preparing to strike a blow at the
+authority of the Government in the North-West.
+
+"It is discourteous, perhaps, Mademoiselle, that I should not
+disclose to you who I am, even though the safety of my present
+undertaking demands that I should remain unknown."
+
+"If Monsieur has good reasons, or any reasons, for withholding his
+name, I pray that he will not consider himself under any obligation
+to reveal it."
+
+"It would be absurd to keep such a secret, Ma petite Brighteye, from
+the beautiful daughter of a man so prominent in our holy cause as
+Colonel Marton. You this evening entertain, Mademoiselle, none other
+than Louis Riel, the Metis chief."
+
+"Monsieur Riel," exclaimed the girl in astonishment, and somewhat in
+awe. "Why, we thought that Monsieur was far beyond the prairie,
+providing ammunition for the troops."
+
+"I have been there Mademoiselle, and seen every trusty Metis armed,
+and ready to follow when the leaders cry Allons!"
+
+Paul, the girl's brother, believed that there had never lived a hero
+so brave and so mighty as the man now under his father's roof. As for
+poor Annette, she bethought of her outburst of temper and lack of
+respect toward the chief; and she trembled to think that she might
+have given offense to a man so illustrious, and one who was the head
+of the sacred cause of her father and of her people.
+
+"But why should he address a poor simple girl like me?" she mused;
+and then as she reflected that the leader had a wife and children in
+Montana, and if report spoke true, a half-breed bride in a prairie
+village besides, a round red spot came into each cheek and burned
+there like a little fire.
+
+The chief watched the changing colour in the maiden's face, and saw
+also in the great dark, velvety eyes, the reflection of her thoughts
+as they came and went, plainly as you may see the shadows upon an
+autumn day chase each other over the prairie meadows.
+
+Paul went out for a little; the chief's companion had retired to his
+couch; and Riel was left alone with the girl.
+
+"Mademoiselle must not shrink from me; she is too beautiful to be
+unkind. Ah ma petite Amie, those adorable lips of yours are made to
+kiss and kiss, not to pout and cry a lover nay. Through this wide
+land there is many a maid who would glory in the love, my beautiful
+girl, that I offer you." He advanced towards the maid, trembling with
+his passion, and dropped upon his knee.
+
+"You would not let me kiss your lovely lips; pray sweet lady of my
+heart, let me take your sweet little hand."
+
+The girl was trembling like a bird when the eagle's wings hover over
+its nest. "O, why does a great hero like Monsieur address such words
+to me? I am only a simple girl, living here upon the plains; besides,
+if I could give the brave leader my heart, it would be wrong to do
+so, for he is already wedded."
+
+"Do not speak of the ceremonies which men have muttered, binding man
+and woman, when the _heart_ cries out. Do not deny me your love my sweet
+girl," and the villain once more seized the maiden's waist, and sought
+to kiss her lips. But she screamed, and struggled from his embrace.
+
+"Paul, Paul, mon frere, come to me." Her cries speedily brought her
+brother. But Monsieur Riel had taken his seat, and he lowered upon
+the girl who sat like a frightened fawn upon her chair, her great
+eyes glimmering with starting tears.
+
+"What is wrong Annette?" the boy asked, leaning affectionately over
+his sister.
+
+"She is not brave Paul. A shadow passed the window which was nothing
+more than my own, and she believed it to be that of a hostile Indian."
+
+"What a silly girl you are, Annette," her brother said, softly
+smiting her cheek with his finger-tips.
+
+The maiden did not make any explanation, but in a very wretched and
+embarrassed way arose and said, "Good night."
+
+Nothing was said about the matter in the morning, and as the girl
+passed on her way to milk the cows Riel murmured,
+
+"Mademoiselle will not say anything of the cause of her out-cry last
+night?"
+
+"I will not Monsieur; if you will promise not to address any words
+of love-making to me again."
+
+"I promise nothing, foolish maiden; but I have to ask that you will
+not make of Louis Riel an enemy."
+
+When breakfast was ended he perceived Annette rush to the window,
+and then hastily and with a dainty coyness withdraw her head from the
+pane; and at the same moment he heard a sprightly tune whistle'd.
+Looking down the meadow he saw a tall, well-formed young white man, a
+gun on his back, and a dog at his heels, walking along the little
+path toward the cottage,
+
+"This is the lover," he muttered; "curses upon him." From that
+moment he hated with all the bitterness of his nature the man now
+striding carelessly up towards the cottage door.
+
+"Bonjour, mademoiselle et messieurs" the newcomer said in cheery
+tones, as he entered, making a low bow.
+
+"Bonjour, Monsieur Stephens, was the reply. Louis Riel, intently
+watching, saw the girl's colour come and go as she spoke to the
+visitor. The young man stayed only for a few moments, and the chief
+observed that everybody in the house treated him as if in some way he
+had been the benefactor of all. When he arose to go, Paul, who knew
+of every widgeon in the mere beyond the cottonwood grove, and where
+the last flock of quail had been seen to alight, followed him out of
+the door, and very secretly communicated his knowledge. Annette had
+seen a large flock of turkeys upon the prairie a few moments walk
+south of the poplar grove, and perhaps they had not yet gone away.
+
+"When did you see them, ma chere demoiselle?" enquired Stephens. You
+know turkeys do not settle down like immigrants on one spot, and wait
+till we inhabitants of the plains come out and shoot them. Was it
+last week, or only the day before yesterday?" There was a very merry
+twinkle in his eye as he went on with this banter. Annette affected
+to pout, but she answered.
+
+"This morning, while the dew was shining upon the grass, and you, I
+doubt not, were sleeping soundly, I was abroad on the plains for the
+cows. It was then I saw them. I am glad, however, that you have
+pointed out the difference between turkeys and immigrants. I did not
+know it before." He handed her a sun-flower which he had plucked on
+the way, saying,
+
+"There, for your valuable information, I give you that. Next time I
+come, if you are able to tell me where I can find several flocks, I
+shall bring you some coppers." With a world of mischief in his eyes,
+he disappeared, and Annette, in spite of herself, could not conceal
+from everybody in the house a quick little sigh at his departure.
+
+"It seems to me this Monsieur Stephens is a great favourite with
+you folk?" said M. Riel, when the young man had left the cottage.
+"Now had I come for sport, no pretty eyes would have seen any flocks
+to reserve for me." And he gave a somewhat sneering glance at poor
+Annette, who was pretending to be engaged in examining the petals of
+the sun-flower, although she was all the while thinking of the
+mischievous, manly, sunny-hearted lad who had given it to her. M.
+Riel's words and the sneer were lost, so far as she was concerned.
+Her ears were where her heart was, out on the plain beyond the
+cottonwood, where she could see the tall, straight, lithe figure of
+young Stephens, and his dog at his heels.
+
+"Oui, Monsieur," returned Paul, "Monsieur Stephens is a very great
+favourite with our family. We are under an obligation to him that it
+will be difficult ever to repay."
+
+"Whence comes this benefactor," queried M. Riel, with an ugly sneer,
+"and how has he placed you under such an obligation?" Then,
+reflecting that he was showing a bitterness respecting the young man
+which he could neither explain nor justify, he said:
+
+'"Mais, pardonnez-moi. Think me not rude for asking these questions.
+When pretty eyes are employed to see, and pretty lips to tell of,
+game for one sportsman in preference to another, the neglected one
+might be excused for seeking to know in what way fortune has been
+kind with his rival."
+
+"Shall I tell the whole story, Annette" enquired Paul, or will you
+do so?"
+
+"O, I know that you will not leave anything out that can show the
+bravery of Mr. Stephens," replied the girl.
+
+"Well, last spring, Annette was spending some days with her aunt, a
+few miles up Red River. It was the flood time, and as you remember,
+the river was swollen to a point higher than it had ever reached
+within the memory of any body in the settlement. Annette is
+venturesome, and since a child has shown a keen delight in going upon
+boats, or paddling a canoe; so, one day, during the visit which I
+have mentioned, she went into a birch that swung in a little pond,
+formed behind her uncle's premises by the over-flowing of the
+stream's channel. Untying the canoe, she seized the blade and began
+to paddle about in the lazy water. Presently she reached the eddies,
+which, since a child, she has always called the 'rings of the
+water-witches,' wherever she learned that term. Her cousin Violette was
+standing in the doorway as she saw Annette move off, and she cried
+out to her to beware of the eddies; but my sister, wayward and
+reckless as it is her habit to be in such matters, merely replied
+with a laugh; and then as the canoe began to turn round and round in
+the gurgling circles she cried out.
+
+"I am in the rings of the water-witches. C'est bon! bon! C'est
+magnifique! O I wish you were with me, Violette, ma chere. It is so
+delightful to go round and round." A little way beyond, not more than
+twice the canoe's length, rushed by roaring, the full tide of the
+river.
+
+"Beware, Annette, beware, for the love of heaven, of the river. If
+you get a little further out, and these eddies must drag you out, you
+will be in the mad current, and no arm can paddle the canoe to land
+out of the flood. Then, dear, there is the fall below, and the fans
+of the mill. Come back, won't you! But my sister heeded not the
+words. She only laughed, and began dipping water from the eddies with
+the paddle-blade, as if it were a spoon she had in her hand. 'I am
+dipping water from the witches-rings,' she cried. 'How the drops
+sparkle! Every one is a glittering jewel. I wish you were here with
+me, Violette!' Suddenly and in an altered tone, she cried, 'Mon Dieu!
+My paddle is gone.' The paddle had no sooner glided out into the
+rushing, turbulent waters than the canoe followed it, and Annette saw
+herself drifting on to her doom. Half a mile below was the fall, and
+at the side of the fall, went ever and ever around with tremendous
+violence, the rending fans of the water-mill. Annette knew full well
+that any drift boat, or log, or raft, carried down the river at
+freshet-flow, was always swept into the toils of the inexorable
+wheels. Yet, if she were reckless and without heed a few minutes
+before, I am told that now she was calm. Violette gave the alarm that
+Annette was adrift in the river without a paddle, and in a few
+seconds every body living near had turned out, and was running down
+the shore. Several brought paddies, but it took hard running to keep
+up with the canoe, for the flood was racing at a speed of eight miles
+an hour. When they did get up in line each one flung out a paddle.
+But one fell too far out, and another not far enough. About fifteen
+men were along the banks in violent excitement, and every one of them
+saw nothing but doom for Annette. As the canoe neared a point about
+two hundred yards above the falls, a young white-man--all the rest
+were bois-brules--rushed out upon the bank, with a paddle in his
+hand, and without a word sprang into the mad waters. With a few
+strokes he was at the side of the canoe, and put the paddle into
+Annette's hand. 'Here;' he said, 'Keep away from the mill; that is
+your only danger; and steer sheer over the falls, getting as close as
+possible to the left bank.' The height of the fall, as you are aware,
+was not more than fifteen or eighteen feet, and there was plenty of
+water below, with not very much danger from rocks. 'Go you on shore
+now and I will meet my doom, or achieve my safety,' my sister said;
+but the young man answered, 'Nay, I will go over the fall too: I can
+then be of some service to you.' So he swam along by the canoe's side
+directing my sister, and shaping the course of the prow on the very
+brink of the fall. Then all shot over together. The canoe and
+Annette, and the young man were buried far under the terrible mass of
+water, but they soon came to the surface again, when the heroic
+stranger seized my sister, and through the fury of the mad churning
+flood, landed her unhurt upon the bank. That young man was Philip
+Edmund Stephens, whom you saw here this morning. Is it any wonder,
+think you, Monsieur, that when Annette sees wild turkeys upon the
+prairie, she keeps the knowledge of it to herself till she gets the
+ear of her deliverer?
+
+"A very brave act, indeed, on the part of this young man," replied
+the swarthy M. Riel. "He has excellent judgment, I perceive, or he
+would not so readily have calculated that no harm could come to any
+one who could swim well, by being carried over the Falls."
+
+Annette's eyes flashed a little at this cold blooded discounting of
+the generous, uncalculating bravery of her young preserver; but she
+made no reply.
+
+"This Monsieur Stephens is, if I mistake not, Mademoiselle, a very
+zealous servant of Government, and his chief duty now is to keep
+watch over the assemblies held by the Half-breed people. I cannot
+suppose that Colonel Marton is aware of the intimacy between a deadly
+enemy of our cause and the members of his household."
+
+"Indeed, Monsieur, there is no intimacy more than what you have
+seen," the girl replied, the roses now out of her cheek. "Thrice,
+since rescuing me, Mr. Stephens has been at our home, and I believe
+that, henceforth, his duty will take him to a distant part of the
+territory." As she said these words her eyes fell, and her bosom
+heaved a little.
+
+Riel was upon his feet. "If I find this young spy anywhere about
+this settlement again, I shall see that he is cared for." Then as
+Paul and his companion went out, he drew himself to his full height
+and continued:
+
+"Annette, get your heart away from this young man; such love can
+only bring you ruin. From me you shall hear again, and hear soon.
+Farewell." As the girl put out her hand, he drew her suddenly into
+his arms, and before she could cry or struggle, kissed her upon the
+mouth.
+
+Then he was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ANNETTE FORMS AN HEROIC RESOLVE.
+
+
+All day long Annette was in sore trouble, for she felt that the
+words of the rebel chief boded no good to herself or to her deliverer.
+
+"Why should he think that I loved Captain Stephens?" the girl
+murmured, as a soft tinge of crimson stole into her cheek. "I am sure
+that I behaved in no way to him, that a girl should not act towards
+the man who had risked his life to save hers."
+
+With the dusk came her father, his horse covered with foam; for he
+had ridden fast and far.
+
+"Why is my daughter's cheek so pale?" he asked as he came into the
+sweet, tidy cottage, with its trailing morning glories, and bunches
+of mignonette.
+
+"I have been a little disturbed, papa. The Metis chief and one of
+his friends stayed here last night. O, I do fear that we are now very
+near an outbreak. Is it not so, my father? Will you not tell me?"
+
+"It is even so, child. Already nearly a thousand men, including Bois-
+Brule's and Indians have arms in their hands, and await the words of
+their leaders."
+
+"But, papa, can good really come of this insurrection which you
+propose? I mean, mon pere, can you and Monsieur Riel, with your
+scattered followers, who have no money, no garrisons, no means of
+holding out in a long struggle, hope to overcome the numerous trained
+soldiers of the Government, with the money and the enthusiasm of a
+nation at their back?"
+
+"You talk, my daughter, as if some friend of Government had been
+pouring his tale into your ear. Now, Annette, child, I love you very
+dearly, and I am grateful to this young man who has saved your life;
+but as the opinions which you have expressed could only have come
+from him I must ask that further intercourse between you and him
+ceases till this great issue has been fought out and settled."
+
+"Captain Stephens, mon pere, has never uttered a word to me about
+these matters; and the opinions which I have, worthless though they
+be, are my own. Ah, papa, you surely have not forgotten the last
+struggle. Monsieur Riel, then, had some sort of right to set up his
+authority in a province which for a time came not under the
+jurisdiction of the Company or of the Dominion; the clergy were at
+his back; he had possession of the strongest Fort in the North-West
+Territories, and provisions enough to supply his forces for a year.
+Yet, at the very beating of the soldiers' drums he fled like a felon,
+and was obliged to beg a mouthful of food in his flight to exile. The
+circumstances now are not nearly so auspicious. How, then, can you
+hope to succeed?"
+
+"You are not familiar, child, with affairs in these territories; and
+you neither know the extent of the discontent, nor the causes which
+have led to it. The Half-Breed people and the Indian tribes have been
+treated by government and their agents, worse than we would use our
+dogs. Instead of sending honest and capable men to rule here, they
+appoint adventurers whose only object is to make money during their
+residence, at the expense of the people. You are not wholly ignorant
+of the conduct of Lieutenant-Governor Tewtney. Since his arrival in
+the territories he has never been known to give a patient hour to
+hearing the grievances of the half-breed people; but he is forever
+abroad grabbing up plots of choice land, and securing timber and
+mineral leases; or furthering the schemes of knots of friends and
+advisers gathered about him. I shall relate one instance which has
+just came to light, and it will serve as an example of this man's
+career. Some time ago a friend of his imported a large quantity of
+meat, but upon arrival it was found to be unwholesome and foul. This
+man went to Governor Tewtney and he said.
+
+"'All my consignment of meat is spoilt. Isn't that a great loss?'
+
+"'No loss at all my dear friend,' replied the Governor: 'give it to
+the Indians and half-breeds.' Now you are aware that government had
+undertaken to give relief to the Indians and to the Metis, with
+employment that would bring them food. Well, this meat was given to
+both, and for every pound of the foul meat the wretched Breed or
+Indian was charged fifteen, cents. One of the chief's and also a
+Metis, went to the Governor and complained that the meat was vile and
+unwholesome; but they only received this in reply:
+
+"'You are becoming very choice, you fellows. You will eat this meat,
+or starve and be d--d.'
+
+"Year after year, the half-breed who has toiled upon his holding, has
+applied for a grant of this holding under the law, but has applied in
+vain; and a friend of Mr. Tewtney coming in may drive him off his
+farm, and profit by his toil and skill.
+
+"All these things have been represented at Ottawa by the priests and
+the people; and the only reply that has been obtained, in effect, is
+this:
+
+"'What a troublesome, noisy set these savages and half-breeds are!
+Cease pestering us. We will not, and cannot, do more for you than we
+have done.'
+
+"When a new minister of these Territories was appointed, our priests
+waited at his office and besought him for God's holy sake, to listen
+to the people's wrongs; and to enquire into the doings of Governor
+Tewtney; but it is a fact that he actually went asleep in his chair,
+while the delegates were stating their case. Instead of making
+enquiry into the grievances, he hastily packed his trunks and went
+away to England to obtain a knighthood, which had been promised to
+him. While he was running back and forth between his lodgings and
+Downing street, the officials here were laying upon our backs the
+last weight that our endurance could bear."
+
+While he was speaking there suddenly arose, outside, a jingling of
+bells, and a clashing of cymbals; and looking through the window
+father and daughter beheld a numerous band of painted Indians
+advancing, brandishing tomahawks, and singing war songs.
+
+"I hope these savages will not make a bungle of things," the Colonel
+said; "I wonder who has started them upon the war-path?" Then going
+to the door he raised his voice.
+
+"Where go my friends the Crees?"
+
+The chief, a tall and magnificent savage, put his finger on his lips
+and advanced:
+
+"Me speak inside with the colonel. Chief Louis Riel has ordered our
+braves to surround the Hickory Bush, when the moon rises. Captain
+Stephens, police spy, and heap of other spies there. Take em all and
+put em in wigwam a long way off. Mebbe shoot em. Tall Elk comes to
+see if Great Colonel would like to come too."
+
+"Thank you, chief; I would rather not be at the capture of Captain
+Stephens. You know he saved la Reina here, from being drowned in the
+whirlpool."
+
+The "Queen" was the name by which Annette was known among all the
+Indians and Metis that lived upon the plain. "But," continued the
+Colonel, "I hope that Tall Elk and his braves will do no harm to
+Stephens. He is not with us, but he is a brave, good man, and love
+our people. In acting against us he is only doing his duty."
+
+"Ugh! It is well," grunted the chief. "Will look after Stephens
+myself."
+
+But this assurance did not satisfy Annette, who stood, during the
+dialogue, with throbbing heart and pale cheek. The threats of the
+Rebel Chief still lingered in her ear; and she knew that her
+deliverer's life would not be safe in the hands of the terrible man.
+She said naught, but a bold resolution passed like a flame through
+her brain. In a little while the chief departed, and at the head of
+his painted warriors struck out across the dark prairie in the
+direction of Hickory Bush. The Bush was about twelve miles distant,
+and the rising of the moon would be in two hours.
+
+In a little while the girl said, "Papa, I am so disturbed to-night
+that I cannot sit up with you as long as usual: good-night." Then she
+kissed her father who caressed her silken hair; and she left the room.
+
+Now, Annette had as a companion or attendant, an orphan girl, named
+Julie. She was not tall and graceful like Annette, but her olive face
+was stained with delicate carnation, and her little mouth resembled a
+rose just about to open. She was intelligent, active and
+affectionate; and the great aim of her existence was to serve a
+mistress whom she almost adored.
+
+"Come to me, Julie," Annette whispered as she passed the girl.
+
+"Well, mademoiselle, what can Julie do?"
+
+"Captain Stephens, as you are aware, ma petite Julie, is to be
+captured to-night by those savages who have just left our house.
+Monsieur Riel hates my deliverer, and I shudder to think that he
+should fall into his hands. I mean to-night to warn him of his danger.
+
+"Brava!" exclaimed the girl; "c'est bon! It is so like my brave
+mistress. Ah, mademoiselle, I have seen Monsieur le Chef look upon
+you; and there was great love in his eye. But it was not the good,
+the _holy_ kind. Ah! It was bad. He hates le Capitaine, because
+he saved you from the chute.
+
+"Ah, then my little Julie, you know? Yes, it is all as you say; and
+this is why my heart flutters so for the fate of Monsieur Stephens. I
+want my bay saddled and led quietly out to the poplar bush; and I
+shall come there in a little."
+
+Julie kissed the forehead of her mistress, and then tripped away
+daintily and softly as a fawn to do the bidding.
+
+Before ten minutes had elapsed, an Indian boy, of lithe and graceful
+figure, walked swiftly down the path toward the bush. As he reached
+the little grove, another figure emerged from the shadow and said in
+a low tone:
+
+"Tres bien!" This was Julie, and the Indian boy was Annette,
+disguised so perfectly that her father could not have guessed the
+truth were he standing by. She wore a buff coat and deer skin
+leggings; and about her waist was a belt in which were stuck a long
+knife and a pair of pistols. She patted her pony, took the bridle in
+her little brown hand, and vaulted lightly into her seat. "There now,
+Julie; return quickly, and go to your room."
+
+"Au plaisir, portez-vous bien, ma maitresse."
+
+"I shall take care of myself. Adieu;" and she galloped down the
+grassy knoll, and out upon the prairie.
+
+Although the plain was a great, dusky blur, this observant maiden
+knew the route as accurately as if the meridian sun were shining; and
+her horse, guessing that his mistress was on an errand of life and
+death, flew lightly over the level sod, as if he were a thing woven
+of the winds. She was aware that her horse could outdistance an
+Indian pony; and after half an hour's ride knew that the band must
+now be fully a couple of miles in the rear. But she kept on till she
+judged that fifteen minutes more must bring her to the encampment at
+Hickory Bush. Then through the hush of the night came to her ear a
+far off, indistinct sound, which resembled galloping thunder. She
+knew not what it could mean, unless indeed it was the tumult of some
+distant waterfall, borne hither now because, mayhap, a storm was
+brewing, and the dense air was a better carrier of the sound. The
+moon was now pushing its wide yellow edge above the plain, and she
+was enabled to see objects for a considerable distance around. But
+nothing met her view, save here and there a hummock or a clump of
+poplars. She rode on marvelling what the sound might be, for the
+noise was constantly becoming louder, and growing
+
+  "Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before"
+
+when lo! out of the west come what seemed a dim shadow moving across
+the plain. With hushed breath she watched the dark mass move along
+like some destroying tempest and, as it seemed to her, with ten
+thousand devils at its core. Chained to the ground with a terrible
+awe, she stood fast for many minutes, till at last in the dim light
+she saw eye-balls that blazed like fire, heads crested with rugged,
+uncouth horns and shaggy manes; and then snouts thrust down, flaring
+nostrils, and rearing tails.
+
+"My God, a buffalo herd!" she exclaimed. Close at hand was a tall
+boulder in the shelter of which she instantly secured her horse; then
+running a few paces to where stood a tall, sturdy poplar, she
+clambered into its branches.
+
+Then the tremendous mass, headed by maddened bulls, with blazing
+eyes and foaming nostrils, drove onward toward the south, like an
+unchained hurricane. Some of the terrified beasts ran against the
+trees, crushing horns and skull, and fell prone upon the plain to be
+trampled to jelly by the hundreds of thousands in rear. The tree upon
+which the girl had taken refuge received many a shock from a crazed
+bull; and it seemed to Annette from her perch in the branches, as if
+all the face of the plains was being hurled toward the south in the
+wildest turmoil. Hell itself let loose could present no such
+spectacle as this myriad mass of brute life sweeping over the lonely
+plain under the elfin light of the new-risen moon. Clouds of steam,
+wreathing themselves into spectral shapes rose from the dusky,
+writhing mass, and the flaming of myriad eyeballs in the gloom
+presented a picture more terrible than ever came into the imagination
+of the writer of the Inferno.
+
+The spectacle, as observed by the girl some twenty feet from the
+ground, might be likened somewhat to a turbulent sea when a sturdy
+tide sets against the storm, and the mad waves tumble hither and
+thither, foiled and impelled, yet for all the confusion and
+obstruction moving in one direction with a sweep and a force that no
+power could chain.
+
+Circling among and around the strange dusk clouds of steam that went
+up from the herd were scores of turkey buzzards, their obscene heads
+bent downward, their sodden eyes gleaming with expectancy. Well they
+knew that many a gorgeous feast awaited them wherever boulder, tree
+or swamp lay in the path of the mighty herd. At last the face of the
+prairie had ceased its surging; no lurid eye-ball light gleamed out
+of the dusk; and the tempest of cattle had passed, and went rolling
+out into the unbounded stretches of the dim, yellow plain.
+
+When the ground was clear she descended from the tree, every limb
+trembling, lest in the delay the Indians should have accomplished
+their object. When she reached her horse, she found near by a heap of
+dead and struggling buffalo, which in their headlong race had run
+over the bluff front of the boulder. When she resumed her gallop she
+observed that the great amplitude of rich grasses was like unto a
+ploughed field. The herbage had been literally crushed into mire, and
+this the innumerable hoofs had churned up with the soft rich soil.
+The leguminous odors of the trodden clover and the rank masses of
+wild pease, together with the dank earthy smell of the broken sod,
+rose offensively in the girl's face. Her course now lay along an
+upland covered with straggling copses of white oak and poplar. In the
+dim valley beyond, lying drunken under the moonlight, was Hickory
+Bush. Upon the solid crest of the little hill the hoofs rang out
+sharply; but the girl's quick ear detected noises besides those which
+came from the trample of her horse. Still she swept on, with a long
+swing, resembling the flight of a swallow. A small grove lay in
+front, and as she swerved around this a horseman sprang suddenly
+before her.
+
+"Stop!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE LITTLE MAIDEN'S BRAVERY.
+
+
+She pulled her rein, but her eye flashed and she grasped the butt of
+her pistol.
+
+"Who dares call upon me to stop? Have I not the right of way on
+these prairies?"
+
+"I call you to stop," replied the horseman, riding up close to the
+girl, and pushing back his hat. "_I_ do. Look and see if you know me?"
+Full well she knew who the interceptor was. The first sound of his voice
+had gone with a shiver to her heart. "Ah, you know the Metis chief?"
+
+"But I wish to pass on, monsieur. Even you, le grand Chef, have no
+right to stop me without cause; and I now ask you again to let me
+pass."
+
+"I will not because I have reason."
+
+"What is it, monsieur?"
+
+"You are a spy. You are an enemy to the cause."
+
+"Even to you, monsieur, I say it is a lie. I will pass;" and she
+struck her heels into her horse's flank. The animal bounded forward,
+but the rebel chief seized the bridle, as he cried:
+
+"You are an enemy to the cause; and you go now to the enemy. I know
+you, mademoiselle Annette." And a terrible light blazed in his eyes,
+as he looked the disguised maiden in the face.
+
+"Ay, monsieur! you are quick at penetrating disguises. I am
+Mademoiselle Annette; and I go to the enemy. Nor can monsieur hinder
+me." As she spoke these words she suddenly drew a pistol, and cocking
+it placed the cold, glittering barrel within a foot of the leader's
+face.
+
+"Unhand my bridle or by our Holy Lady I fire." The coward hand
+quivered, the fingers relaxed, and the bridle was free.
+
+"Now I advise monsieur to meddle with me no more this night. I will
+not suffer any bar to my project; I have sworn it." So saying her
+horse sprang forward, and she disappeared down the slope, leaving the
+baulked chief sitting upon his horse still as a stone. Away, away out
+over the soft grassy plain she sped, swiftly and as lightly as a bird
+might fly. Three minutes brought her in sight of Hickory Bush, a
+grove of trees straggling up from the flat in the moonlight, and
+resembling a congregation of witches with draggled hair, suffering
+torture. Beyond the trees shone a cluster of white camps; and the
+girl's heart gave a great bound as she saw by the order prevailing
+there, that the inmates had been so far unmolested. She sprang into
+the midst of the camps and shouted,
+
+"Awaken! Arise! Quick! The Crees are bound hither to make you
+captives. Allons! Allons!"
+
+A tall supple figure sprang from one of the tents. How readily she
+recognised his manly step, his proud head, his bright eye, his
+musical voice.
+
+"Who are you? Why this attack?"
+
+"I am you friend. Away, if you value your liberty, and mount your
+horse. I await to lead you from the danger." With motion quick and
+noiseless as the movements of night birds, the inmates of the tents
+armed themselves, strapped their knapsacks, and got into the saddle.
+No one questioned the graceful Indian boy further. There was
+something so appealing in his voice, so impatient in his gestures as
+he waited for their departure, that suspicion could not lurk in any
+mind.
+
+"Hark!" cried the unknown. "They come. Hear you not the dull trample
+of their hoofs?"
+
+"By the saints in heaven, yes, and I see them too," said one of the
+party, looking from his saddle through a night-glass.
+
+
+"Away, away," cried the Indian boy. "Follow me;" and as the savages
+behind surrounded the empty tents with their hellish cries, he led
+the rescued ones at full speed down the valley, around the northern
+edge of Hickory Ridge, and out toward the Chequered Hills. After half
+an hour's ride, he drew bridle and the company gathered about him.
+Captain Stephens was the first to speak.
+
+"Brave lad, we owe our liberty to you; yet wherefore, I am sure, I
+cannot tell."
+
+But the boy only raised his hand, as if imposing silence upon that
+point.
+
+"You are by no means safe from the Indians yet. They will scour the
+plains, and on this untrodden prairie you cannot conceal your trail.
+My advice is that you make no delay, but push on to Fort Pitt, which
+is only about twelve miles distant."
+
+"Of all points this is the one that I should most desire to be at,"
+responded Stephens; "but I do not know that I can find Pitt."
+
+One of the number had been at the Fort a few years before; but he
+could not make it again from this unknown part of the prairie.
+
+"Follow me, then," answered the unknown. "I shall take you through
+the hills by a short route to the river. Then you need but to follow
+the bank to find the fort;" and as he spoke he once more dashed his
+heels into his horse's flanks and set off towards the center of the
+group of hills, that resembled in the distance a row of Dutchwomen in
+heavy petticoats.
+
+Several times as the party followed their deliverer, Stephens would
+exclaim,
+
+"Where have I heard that voice? The tone is familiar to me, but I
+cannot give the slightest guess as to the boys' identity."
+
+"Do you think he is an Indian?" enquired one.
+
+"His voice is certainly finer and sweeter than any Indian's that I
+have ever heard. And his French is perfect.
+
+"True, captain, and notice the delicate little hands that he has,
+and the proud, dainty poise of his head. He is evidently in disguise;
+and what is equally plain, he does not relish our attempts at
+penetrating his identity." Upon the crest of a round hill, the guide
+stayed his horse and pointed eastward.
+
+"A few minutes ride will take you to the river; half an hour then to
+the north and you are at Pitt. Before I leave, just a word. Tall Elk
+put on paint to-day, and before the set of to-morrow's sun, there is
+not a Cree in all the region who will not be on the war-path. To-morrow
+the chief goes to Big Bear, to press him to dig up the hatchet;
+so Messieurs, look to your guns in the Fort, as you will have more
+than three hundred enemies under the stockades before the
+rising of the next moon. Au revoir."
+
+Before any of the group could utter a word of thanks, the mysterious
+boy was off again to the north-west with the speed of the wind.
+
+"That voice!" exclaimed Stephen striking his forehead. "I know it
+surely; whose _can_ it be?" and bewildered past hope of enlightenment,
+he turned his horse down the slope, and dashed towards the Saskatchewan.
+His followers and himself were admitted readily enough by Inspector
+Dicken, a son of the great novelist, and destined afterwards to be one
+of the heroes of the war.
+
+When Annette rode away from Louis Riel to give warning to her lover,
+the rebel chief ground his teeth and swore terrible oaths.
+
+"It is as well" he muttered; "I have now justifiable grounds for
+depriving her of liberty." Putting a whistle to his mouth he blew a
+long blast, which was immediately answered from a clump of
+cottonwood, about a quarter of a mile distant. Then came the tramp of
+hoofs, and a minute later a horseman drew bridle by his chief.
+
+"The spy has escaped me, Jean, and he was none other than I
+supposed, ma belle Demoiselle. She did not deny that she was on a
+mission hostile to our interests, and when I remonstrated, she held a
+pistol in my face and swore by the Virgin that she would fire. This
+is reason enough, Jean, for her apprehension. Let us away."
+
+The chief led along the skirt of the upland, till he entered the
+mouth of a wide, darksome valley. Upon either side straggled a growth
+of mixed larch and cedar; in the centre was a dismal bog, through
+which slowly rolled a black, foul stream. As they passed along the
+shoulder of solid ground, troops of birds rose out of the wide sea of
+bog, and the noise of their wings made a low, mournful whirring as
+they passed in dark troops upwards into the ever-deepening dusk.
+
+Then out of the gloom came a Ding Dong, like the low, solemn beat of
+a bell. Jean crossed himself and exclaimed,
+
+"Mon Dieu! What is that Monsieur?"
+
+"What, afraid Jean? That is no toll for a lost soul, but the crying
+of the dismal bell bird."
+
+"I never heard it before Mon Chef."
+
+"And may never hear it again. It lives only in the most doleful and
+solitary swamps, and I doubt if there is another place in all the
+wide territories save here, where you may hear its voice."
+
+It had now grown so dark that the horses could only tread their way
+by instinct, and at every noise or cry that came from the swamp,
+Jeans' blood shivered in his veins. He had no idea where his master
+was leading him, and had refrained from 'asking all along, though the
+query hung constantly upon his tongue. Then a pair of noiseless wings
+brushed his cheek, paused, and hovered about his head; while two red
+eyes glared at him.
+
+"In the name of God what is it?" he screamed, smiting the creature
+with the handle of his whip. "Where are you leading me Mon Chef?"
+
+"Peace Jean, I did not believe that you were such an arrant coward.
+You shall soon see where I go. It is seldom that man is seen or heard
+in this region, and the strange creatures marvel. That was one of the
+large night-hawks which so terrified your weak senses. Do you see
+yonder light?"
+
+From a point which appeared to be the head of the valley, came a
+piercing white light, and its reflection fell upon the wide, black,
+shining stream that ran through the valley, like the links of a
+golden chain.
+
+"Yonder, Jean, is the abode of Mother Jubal--thither am I bound."
+
+"What, to Madame Jubal, the Snake Charmer, the witch, the woman that
+comes to her enemies when they sleep at nights, and thickens their
+blood with cold? I thought, Monsieur, that she lived in hell, and
+only appeared on earth when she came to do harm to mankind."
+
+"You will find her of the earth, Jean; but she has ever been willing
+to do my behests."
+
+By the reflection of the light could be seen a hut standing in a
+cup-shaped niche at the head of the valley. It was ringed around with
+draggled larch and cedars; and a belt of dark hills encircled it. No
+moonlight penetrated here, save toward the dawn, when pale beams fell
+slantwise across the ghostly swamp.
+
+As the horses, drew near there was heard to come from the hut a low,
+suppressed yelp, half like the bark of a dog, yet resembling the cry
+of a wolf. The door was open, and by a low table, upon which burned
+the clear, unflickering light which the two had seen so far down the
+valley, sat the old woman. Upon hearing the approach of footsteps,
+she blew out this light, and through the hideous gloom the Too whit,
+Too whoo of an owl came from the cabin. Then several pairs of eyes
+began to gleam at the intruders out of the dusk, and all the while
+several throats went on repeating in ghostly tones Too whit, Too whoo.
+
+The chief pulled up his horse, while his companion shivered from
+head to foot. Then raising his voice, he cried:
+
+"Jubal, relight your lamp; I have come far to see you. You know me,
+Jubal. Monsieur le chef?"
+
+"Pardonnez moi," croaked the hag, as she struck the light. Then came
+in quavering tones:
+
+"Entrez."
+
+What a brushing of soft wings and gleaming of eyes! The hut was
+literally filled with living creatures.
+
+"These are my children," the old woman said, with a horrible quaking
+laugh, as she pointed to the perches. Rows of pert ravens stood upon
+tip-toe along the bars looking with bright eyes upon the strangers;
+while here and there an owl opened his crooked beak and said Too
+whit, Too whoo. A strange creature, with wolfish head and limbs,
+crouched by the hearth; but after three or four furtive glances at
+the intruders, he skulked back into a dark corner of the cabin. From
+this retreat he continued to glare with shy, treacherous eyes.
+
+The old woman was short, and stooped; but her eyes were wonderfully
+bright. Nay, when she looked from the dark corner, phosphorescent
+jets seemed to break from them.
+
+"Come, mother, toss the cup and tell me what Fortune has in store
+for me this time," said the chief, who had seated himself upon a low,
+creaking stool in the corner.
+
+"I will," she replied; "why should I not when I am honoured so much
+as to receive a visit from le grand chef de Metis." And hobbling
+away, she took from a nook a large cup without a handle, black on the
+outside and white within. Tea was brewed which the Rebel chief drank,
+leaving naught but the dregs. Then Jubal muttered some words, which
+her visitors could not understand, and threw up the cup. She had no
+sooner done this than the crows began to chatter and caw, and the
+owls to cry; and each time that the cup ascended, they all raised
+themselves upon their feet and elevated their wings. When the cup
+came into her hand from the ceiling the third time, she looked toward
+the perches and said:
+
+"Peace children." Then turning to the dark, oily chief, she said,
+"Listen, O Monsieur, while I read. Here are bands of men hurrying
+across the prairie into the gorges, and concealing themselves in the
+wood. There is the flash of sabres, and the smoke of cannon.
+Everywhere a bloody war is raging; and Indians are tearing away men,
+and women, and children from their homes to captivity.
+
+"Ah! what is this I see here? A girl. Monsieur woos her, but she is
+turned away. The maiden flies; Monsieur follows, and he overtakes the
+maiden. Then he bears her away with guards around her, through a deep
+valley, till he reaches a hut. Now he hands her over to an ugly hag--
+and the name of that hag is Jubal. Is it not so, Monsieur?" and the
+crone, turning from the cup, looked with a hideous grin in the face
+of the Rebel chief.
+
+"Oui, Jubal. You have guessed aright. To-morrow or the next day,
+Jean will bring hither a young woman. She is to be strictly guarded
+in that room where you kept--....
+
+"Jubal remembers; Monsieur need not mention names."
+
+"C'est bon! Well, Jubal, you need not exercise any severity towards
+the maiden, save that of a rigid confinement to her room. Me you
+shall hear from again."
+
+"Is the maiden a pretty bird?" the crone asked with a chuckle.
+
+"That matters not, Jubal," the chief replied, somewhat haughtily.
+"She is a dangerous young person, and has been playing the traitor to
+our cause. The only means of proceeding against the girl, is to take
+her liberty away. I am in hopes of persuading her to a right frame of
+mind, and with this end in view, I shall be obliged to pay some
+visits here during her captivity."
+
+"I understand," quavered the hag; and the gleam in her eyes, as she
+laid her hand upon the chiefs shoulder, was most diabolical to see.
+"My poor simple son is down to the village with the pony for some
+provisions for my little cabin. Ma belle I shall be able to use
+handsomely, when she comes." Fetching then a black bottle, around
+which were many tangles of cob-web, she set it before; her visitors.
+The chief took a long draught. Jean swallowed enough to enable him to
+stand boldly up and stare at the owls, and the bright-eyed ravens.
+
+"Let us away, Jean," cried the chief now in high spirits as the old
+Jamaica began to race through his veins; and flinging himself into
+his saddle, he rode of at a fleet pace.
+
+Jean opened not his mouth till he found himself once more upon the
+plain, in the light of the honest moon. The Rebel chief now checking
+his pony's gait said:
+
+"I suppose you have control enough over your fears now to listen to
+me?"
+
+"Oui Monsieur."
+
+"You will be able to-morrow night to find the den that we have left?"
+
+"Without difficulty, Mon Chef."
+
+"Well; to-morrow you ride away to Tall Elk, and give him this
+message from me.
+
+"Colonel Marton is abroad, and his daughter, Annette, the enemy of
+the Indian and the Half-breed, is at home. She must be secured this
+evening before the moon rises. Bring up twenty braves; approach the
+house carefully, and fetch the maiden where directed. You will see
+that the braves make no noise, for this girl is as wary as the wild
+goose, and that little minx, Julie, her maid, is almost as wide-awake."
+
+And as Jean rode away, the villain muttered to himself, "We shall
+see my proud bird how long you will gainsay Louis Riel after I get
+you under Jubal's bolt and lock. Go with you from Canada as my wife,
+and fly the honours with which this revolution will crown my brows?
+No, by the Mater purissima. You have been too scornful my pretty
+maiden; you have not concealed your preference for this English dog;
+you have held your rebellious pistol in my face. Ah, no, ma petite
+Annette; but I shall amuse myself, sometimes, after the brunt of the
+day's labour, by riding up the dismal valley, and stroking your
+broken wings. When I have served my mood, played to the full with the
+caged bird, Jubal can let it go to attract some new mate. Holy
+virgin, but my triumph will be very sweet! Yea, Annette, to have you
+in one's own power is a sweet thing; nothing can be sweeter except
+the vengeance which shall feast itself at the same source as my
+passion."
+
+He raised his arm in the direction of White Oaks, where lay the
+girl's cottage, and cried like a triumphant fiend.
+
+"Bonsoir. Adieu, ma belle Annette. Sweet dreams about your lover
+to-night. To-morrow I shall bathe my face in the coils of your silken
+hair." And he was away.
+
+When Jean rode away from his master he fell into a train of musing.
+"Methinks," he said aloud after a long pause, "that we had better
+kill two birds with one stone to-morrow. If the master take the
+mistress, I do not see why the man should not have the maid." And as
+the fellow reached this conclusion his little weasel eyes brightened
+as if each were the point of a glow worm; and he smote the flank of
+his horse with his heavy heel. "You one day turned up your sweet,
+haughty nose, Julie, when I told you how beautiful you were, and that
+I would like to kiss the dew off your red lips. Well, Julie, my plan
+for the morrow is to denounce you to Tall Elk as a spy; and after I
+have got possession of you, my pretty one, with a brave at one side
+of your pony, and myself at the other, we shall march to the
+cottonwood where the door of ma mere stands always open to her son,
+and that which belongs to him." So, chuckling over the fair prospects
+of the morrow, the fellow urged his pony to the full of its speed,
+down to the little village of St. Ignace.
+
+Just as the sun went down like a shield of burning brass over the
+gray line of the prairie on the morrow, a cringing, stealthy-looking
+man might be seen riding a sorrel pony towards the verge of Alka
+Swamp, near which were camped the painted warriors of Tall Elk. As he
+drew near the squaws began to clap their hands, and the lean, ugly
+dogs gave several short yelps. Tall Elk came to the door of his
+wigwam, wherein sat several pretty young Cree wives sewing beads and
+dainty work upon his war jacket; and going to the horseman he said:
+
+"The messenger from the great chief is welcome. What is his command
+for Tall Elk?"
+
+When the savage had heard the orders of the rebel chief, and the
+additional instructions of Jean, he grunted: "Ugh; sorry to do this.
+The two girls were always kind to the Indians; and our braves will
+not like to do this against La Reine. But we must obey the orders of
+le grand chef."
+
+"It is well. Let your braves be ready to start when the gopher comes
+out of his burrow." Fastening his horse to a cottonwood tree, this
+miscreant emissary began to whistle a tune, and walked about among
+the lodges, seeking to attract the attention of some pretty Indian
+maiden, of which there were many in the tents. The braves were abroad
+a little way, some looking for elk and others for muskrat, so that
+the impudent Metis might go about seeking to break hearts without any
+risk of getting a broken head.
+
+When night had fallen over the prairie, and the bull-frog and the
+cricket filled the lower air with a confusing din of small sounds,
+thirty dusky warriors, mounted upon their ponies, with Tall Elk and
+Jean at their head, crossed over the ridge and struck out for White
+Oaks. An hour's ride brought them to an elevation from which they saw
+a light twinkling through the grove. Jean's small eyes were gleaming
+with foul expectation--he was thinking of his lovely booty, safe
+under the lock and key of his hideous little Metis mother.
+
+"Let us spread our force now, chief," he whispered to Tall Elk. And
+we leave them drawing their circle of horses, stealthily and swiftly,
+around the silent cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ANNETTE'S LOVER IN DANGER.
+
+
+When Annette parted from Captain Stephens and his companions, she
+returned homeward through a region of the prairie over which lay no
+trail. She approached her cottage with noiseless tread; but the quick
+eyes of Julie saw her coming, and she stole forth like a kitten.
+
+"Welcome mademoiselle;--is he safe?"
+
+"Oui Julie. He is now--they are now--in Fort Pitt."
+
+"Bon, Bon! To-morrow all the warriors upon the plain and all the
+Breeds arise; and your father leads them. Oh, such throngs as came
+around our house since you went away mademoiselle, beating drums,
+dancing in the ring, and singing chansons de guerre. And, O
+mademoiselle, there was among the Crees one chief, so tall, and so
+noble-looking; and he will some day come back again to, to--see me."
+She squirmed very gently, and poised upon one dainty foot, till her
+pretty hip curved outward; and she pecked at her little forefinger
+with her rosy mouth as she made this pretty speech: "I think I like
+the chief so much mademoiselle; I know he is brave, and I do not
+think that he is altogether un sauvage."
+
+"Oh! has my little Julie lost her heart? I hope your chief has left
+a little for me."
+
+"I like mon chef, a good deal, but I love mademoiselle better than
+anybody in the world;" and the sweet, round, dimpled little maiden
+put her smooth arms closely and tenderly about the neck of her
+mistress.
+
+"But how came about this sudden captivation of heart?" They were now
+in Annette's sweet tasty bed chamber, fresh and cool with the night
+air, and delicately fragrant with the breath of prairie flowers.
+
+"You will not wonder when I tell you mademoiselle. You know I went
+away, shortly after the arrival of the warriors, to the little gray
+fountain. I sat here listening to the gurgle of the water, for my
+heart was sad, and filled with troublesome forebodings about you, and
+your deliverer 'Ah, I said, before ma maitresse fell into the freshet
+river, she wanted no stranger's love but mine. Now he who delivered
+her from death below the Chute, has crept into her heart; and she may
+think no more of her fond, and faithful Julie."
+
+"What an absurd, sweet, little creature it is," murmured Annette.
+
+"There I sat, dabbling my fingers in the babbling water when I saw a
+straight, tall, handsome man approaching me. He walked direct to the
+fountain and lifting his cap said:
+
+"'Pardonnez, ma chere Julie.' His large eyes were very bright, but
+the light shining in them was a great tenderness.
+
+"I did not know what to reply, but I rose to go, saying.
+
+"'Monsieur le chef will excuse me. It is late; and I must return.'
+
+"He folded his arms across his breast, and turned so that the
+moonlight shone full upon his face.
+
+"'Does not the sweet Julie remember?'
+
+"I looked at him in astonishment, but could not see any familiar
+likeness in his face."
+
+"'Does little Julie remember many years ago? Wild men stole her away
+from her home, and a Cree chief rode to the village of the robbers,
+and smote them in their tents. Then he took upon his saddle a little
+girl with skin like the peach, and lips like the rose in bud. He
+carried her to his home upon the banks of the Saskatchewan, and she
+lived two years in his tent. During the summer days she played among
+the flowers, or hooked gold-fish in the river. She had a companion
+who was ever at her side, the chief's son, whom the people called
+Little Poplar. He loved the maiden, and when they took her away to
+her home upon the far prairie, he mourned by day and by night, and
+vowed that he would leave no house or wigwam unsearched till he saw
+his maid again. To-night as he came to this cottage he saw the face
+that he has sought in vain for so many years. He now stands before
+the maiden of his heart. Sweet, ma Julie, do you forget your little
+boy lover of the sunny Saskatchewan?'
+
+"Ah, my mistress, what could I say when it all came back so plain,
+and told in his rich, deep, musical voice? I do not know whether it
+was wrong or no; but without speaking any word to my beautiful chief
+I went up to him and laid my head against his breast. And he kissed
+me, and kissed me again, and stroked my hair; and whispered in my ear
+that when the war was over he would come and wed me, and fetch me
+wherever my heart desired. But I said that I would not live apart
+from you; that I had consecrated my life to the service of my sweet
+mistress.
+
+"'I have seen her,' he replied. 'Her face is beautiful and good;'
+and then, mademoiselle, the silly chief said a great big untruth, but
+I know he only did so because he loves me so much. He declared, ma
+belle mademoiselle, that I was just as pretty as my mistress."
+
+"Your beauty is only equalled by your naivete;" Annette exclaimed,
+fondly brushing back a stray lock from the forehead of the little
+maid.
+
+"I have no doubt that your chief is good, brave, and handsome; but
+he should be all these in a high degree before he is worthy to get
+such a girl as yourself, ma Julie. Now, away to your bed, and sleep
+of your lover. I go, too, for I am tired."
+
+With the morrow's sun all the neutral tribes were astir and mixing
+their paint; and long before Annette or her little maid had risen,
+Colonel Marton had saddled his horse, and ridden towards the
+rendez-vous at Burnt Hills.
+
+The bright, windless day passed over the prairie, and whenever
+Annette spoke of the bravery of Captain Stephens, Julie would tell
+some praises of the chief with the graceful loins and the great
+luminous eye.
+
+"Your lover has said that he would come to see you, Julie, but, ah
+me, in these troublesome times Captain Stephens can no more return to
+our cottage. Do you know, my little friend, that I cannot bear being
+cooped up here during all this strife and tumult, when brave men and
+defenceless women are at the mercy of savages and ill-advised men of
+our own class. There have been evil and oppressive doings by
+government and its agents, but I do not think that Monsieur Riel and
+my father have taken the prudent course to remove the wrongs. It will
+not be fair or honorable war; for when the savage and cruel instincts
+of the red men are once aroused, they will treat the innocent like
+the guilty, and neither woman nor child will be safe from their
+horrible vengeance. Therefore, Annette, I have made up my mind to go
+forth tomorrow in my Indian-boy disguise.
+
+"I shall not betray my people or bur friends, but I shall pass from
+one force to the other, and whenever I can warn the loyal troops, or
+apprise their people of danger, I shall do it. You Julie I shall
+leave in the care of my aunt at the Portage; for it is not safe for
+you, it would not be safe for you and me together, to remain in this
+deserted cottage alone during these looting and lawless times."
+
+The two maidens were now alone, save for the presence of a Cree
+drudge; for Paul had mounted a pony and followed his father, with
+pistols in his holster-pipes, and a large bowie knife stuck into his
+belt.
+
+So as evening drew on Annette had packed, in little, portable
+parcels all the valuables about the house; and when she sat down to
+supper with Julie at her side, she said that everything was now
+ready, and that they needed but to get into the saddle in the
+morning. Little did these two girls know, as they sat quietly eating
+their supper, that there was at this very moment a band of painted
+enemies hurrying across the dim prairie toward their cottage!
+Everything was perfectly still in the house, and the tick-tack of the
+clock smote the silence. The heart of each girl was far away, and the
+eyes of both were on the white, sweet floor.
+
+Annette was the first to raise her eyes, and a short cry of terror
+burst from her lips. For there in the entrance of the little dining-room
+stood the tall, straight figure of an Indian chief. The cry brought
+Julie to her senses, and she too looked up: but she gave no cry; the
+blood came surging into her sweet head till her cheeks, and her smooth
+throat, and her little shell-like ears, became the color of a blown
+carnation.
+
+"Little Poplar," she exclaimed. "Mademoiselle," turning toward her
+mistress, "it is about him that I have told you;" and the dainty
+maiden crept softly as a kitten over to the side of the handsome
+chief. He smiled, stooped, and touched her forehead with his lips.
+Then he rose to the height of his splendid stature again, and took
+off his cap.
+
+"There is danger to mademoiselle and to ma Julie. Just now a band of
+painted Crees with Tall Elk and Jean, Le Grand Chef's man, at their
+head are coming to make you prisoners. Follow me instantly."
+
+In a few moments the two girls were gliding swiftly from the house
+toward the corral where their horses stood tethered, the chief
+bearing the little packages of valuables in his arms. There was no
+time to be lost, and as the trio rode away from the corral, the
+neighing of the enemies' ponies close at hand burst in a wild shower
+upon their ears.
+
+"Follow me," whispered the chief, and as he rode around the shoulder
+of the gloomy hill, the cries of the disappointed Indians were borne
+upon the night. When they reached the level prairie the chief reined
+in his horse, and the three paced along side by side.
+
+"How can we thank the brave chief enough for his care and help,"
+Annette said in the heartiest tones of her sweet voice.
+
+"I was passing through the village of Tall Elk at the set of sun,
+and heard the great chief's man, Jean, say, 'It will be a good catch
+to-night for master and man, won't it? I take Julie; Le Grand Chef
+gets the other.' I then enquired of Tall Elk, and he told me of their
+plans. The house was to be surrounded before moonrise; mademoiselle
+was to be seized and taken away to the hut of the hag Jubal, and
+Julie was to be borne to the cabin of Jean's mother." As he spoke
+these words a terrible light gleamed in his eyes, and he muttered,
+
+"Had this man. Jean, succeeded I should have hunted him down and
+taken out his heart."
+
+When they were far beyond the enemy's reach, Annette said,
+
+"Will the chef ride to yonder cottonwood and wait there until his
+Julie and myself have put on apparel more suited to our present
+inclinations?" Tall Poplar rode away; but when he joined the maidens
+again a great look of dismay came into his eyes.
+
+"Where are--" but before he ended the words, the truth flashed
+across him, and he burst out in a tone of mirth and approval: "Brava,
+brava: there is not a man in all the plains that can name these two
+Indian boys."
+
+Annette remained during the balance of the night with her aunt; but
+she arose before the dew was dry, and with the other lad at her side,
+for Julie would not remain behind her mistress, was off at a brisk
+canter towards Fort Pitt. The news which she had heard lent speed to
+Annette. From far and near the Crees had come to enroll themselves
+under the banner of the blood-thirsty chief, Big Bear; and the
+murderous hordes were at that very moment, she knew, menacing the
+poorly garrisoned fort with rifle, hatchet and fire.
+
+All over the territory, I may say, the Indians had now begun to sing
+and dance, and to brandish their tomahawks. Their way of living
+during late years has been altogether too slow, too dead-and-alive,
+too unlike the ways of their ancestors, when once at least in each
+year, every warrior returned to his lodge with scalp locks dangling
+at his belt.
+
+Les Gros Ventres for the time, forgot their corporosity, and began
+to dance and howl, and declare that they would fight till all their
+blood was spilt with M. Riel, or his adjutant M. Marton.
+
+The Blackfeet began to hold pow-wows, and tell their squaws that
+there would soon be good feasts. For many a day they had been casting
+covetous eyes upon the fat cattle of their white neighbours. Along
+too, came the feeble remnant of the once agile Salteaux, inquiring if
+it was to be war; and if so, would there be big feasts?
+
+"Oh, big feasts, big feasts," was the reply. "Plenty fat cattle in
+the corrals; and heaps of, mange in the store." So the Salteaux were
+happy, and, somewhat in their old fashion, went vaulting homewards.
+
+Tidings of fight, and feast, and turmoil reached the Crees, and they
+sallied out from the tents, while the large-eyed squaws sat silent,
+marvelling what was to come of it all.
+
+High into the air the Nez Perce thrust his nostril; for he had got
+scent of the battle from afar. And last, but not least, came the
+remnant of that tribe whose chief had shot Custer in the Black Hills.
+The Sioux only required to be shown where the enemy lay; but in his
+enthusiasm he did not lose sight of the fat cattle grazing upon the
+prairies.
+
+But we return for a time to Captain Stephens and his party. When
+their deliverer, the Indian boy, departed, they rode along the bank
+of the Saskatchewan, according to the lad's instructions, and in half
+an hour were in sight of Pitt. Inspector Dicken was glad enough to
+receive this addition to his little assistance; and informed Captain
+Stephens that he had resolved to fight it out against the forces
+menacing him.
+
+"What is the number of the enemy?" enquired Stephens.
+
+"About a hundred armed braves I should judge," Inspector Dicken
+replied. "Big Bear accompanied by a dozen wives came under the
+stockade this morning, and invited me to have a talk. With the
+coolest effrontery he informed me that if I would leave the fort,
+surrender my arms, and accompany him, with my men, into his wigwams,
+that he would give me a guarantee against all harm. If I refused
+these terms, he said he would first let his young men amuse
+themselves by a couple of days' firing at our forces; and that
+afterwards he would burn the Fort and put the inmates to death.
+
+"I expostulated with the greasy, swaggering ruffian, but he only
+swore, and reiterated his threats. Then I told him to be gone for an
+insolent savage, and that if I found him prowling about the Fort
+again, I should send my men to take charge of him. Thereat his squaws
+began to jeer, and cut capers; and squatting upon the sod in a row
+they made mouths, and poked their fingers at me. Then they arose
+yelling and waving their arms, and followed the savage. It appears
+that after the chief left me, he went to the people of our town and
+proposed the same terms; for an hour later, to my horror, I saw the
+chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company, his wife and daughters, and
+several others following the Indian to his wigwams. Had these people
+put themselves under our protection, and the men aided us in defence,
+we might have laughed defiance at the five score of the enemy who
+threaten."
+
+"But," returned Stephens, "I fear that you do not count at its full
+the force preparing itself to attack. From all I can gather a hundred
+or so of Plain Crees will come here to-day under Tall Elk; while the
+total strength of the Stonies, who will rise at Big Bear's call,
+cannot be less than five hundred."
+
+Inspector Dicken looked grave; but he was a brave man and busied
+himself in making preparations. The total number of his force,
+including mounted police and civilians was 24; and each man had a
+Winchester and about twenty rounds of ammunition.
+
+"Two of my scouts are abroad," he said, "reconnoitering; they should
+be here by this time." While he was yet speaking a storm of yelling
+came from the wigwams of Big Bear, and three or four score of braves
+were seen pouring from their tents, like bees bundling out of a hive.
+Each one had a gun in his hand, and a hatchet in his belt. The cause
+of this sudden commotion was soon apparent: about half a mile
+distant, two police scouts were riding leisurely along the plain
+towards the Fort, and evidently not suspecting the danger which
+menaced them. They advanced to a point about two hundred yards from
+the stockades; then a yell went up from a body of prostrate savages,
+and immediately half a hundred rifles were discharged. One of the men
+fell from his horse, dead, upon the prairie; but the other rode
+through the storm of lead to the Fort, and entered struck by half a
+dozen bullets.
+
+"The devils have begun!" muttered the Inspector, and he quivered
+from head to foot, but not with fear.
+
+The first taste of blood set the savages in a high state of
+exultation. They gathered yelling and dancing, and flashing their
+weapons in the sun around the door of the chief. Big Bear pulled off
+his feathered cap and threw it several times in the air. Then turning
+to his wives he told them to make ready for a White Dog feast; and he
+bade his braves go and fetch the animals.
+
+So a large fire was built upon the prairie, a short distance from
+the chief's lodge, and the huge festival pot was suspended from a
+crane over the roaring flames. First, about fifteen gallons of water
+were put in; then Big Bear's wives, some of whom were old and
+wrinkled, others being lithe as fawns, plump and bright-eyed, busied
+themselves gathering herbs.
+
+Some digged deep into the marsh for "bog-bane," others searched
+among the knotted roots for the little nut-like tuber that clings to
+the root of the flag, while a few brought to the pot wild parsnips,
+and the dried stalks of the prairie parsley. A coy little maiden whom
+many a hunter wooed, but failed to win, had in her sweet little brown
+hands a tangle of wintergreen vines, and maiden-hair.
+
+Then came striding along the young hunters with the dogs. Each dog
+selected for the feast was white as the driven snow. If a black hair,
+or a blue hair, or a brown hair was discovered anywhere upon his body
+he was taken away; but if he were _sans reproche_ he was put into the
+pot just as he was, with head, and hide, and paws, and tail, his throat
+simply having been cut.
+
+Six dogs were thrown in, and the roots and stalks of the prairie
+plants, together with salt, and bunches of the wild pepper-plant, and
+of swamp mustard, were added for seasoning. Through the reserves
+round about for many miles swarthy heralds proclaimed that the great
+Chief Big Bear was giving a White Dog feast to his braves before
+summoning them to the war-path. The feast was, in Indian experience,
+a magnificent one, and before the young men departed they swore to
+Big Bear that they returned only for their war-paint and arms, and
+that before the set of the next sun they would be back at his side.
+
+True to their word the Indians came, hideous in their yellow paint.
+If you stood to leeward of them upon the plain a mile away you could
+clearly get the raw, earthy smell of the ochre from their hands and
+faces. Some had black bars streaked across their cheeks, and hideous
+crimson circles about their eyes. Some, likewise, had stars in
+pipe-clay painted upon the forehead, and others were diabolical in the
+figures of horrid beasts, painted with savage skill upon their naked
+breasts.
+
+The beleaguered could notice all these preparations with their
+glasses; and the men spoke to each other in low tones. Savages seemed
+to be gathering from all points of the compass, and massing upon the
+plateau round about the camps of the Cree Chief. But several bands
+were stationed around the Fort, in such a manner as to cut off
+retreat from the stockades should escape be attempted.
+
+Close to the fort was the shining, yellow Saskatchewan; and for
+miles, with a glass, you could see the bright coils of its leisurely
+waters, as that proud river pierced its way through the great stretch
+of plain till it became lost in the haze of the distance.
+
+"If you were only upon the river in yonder flat boat," said Captain
+Stephens, "you might drop quietly down to Battleford. The
+reinforcement would come quite opportunely to Morrison."
+
+"I do not care to leave here without giving the rebels a little of
+our lead," the Inspector replied. "But even though I desired to do
+so, now, the thing as you see is impossible."
+
+Night fell, and when it came there was not a star in the sky. A
+heavy mass of indigo-coloured cloud had risen before the set of sun,
+in the south east, and crept slowly over the whole heavens, widening
+its dark arms as it came. So when night fell there was not a point of
+light to be seen anywhere in the heavens.
+
+"It would seem," murmured one, "as if God were going to aid the
+savages with His darkness."
+
+Shortly after dark the wind began to wail like a tortured spirit
+along the plain; and in the lull between the blasts the cry of
+strange night-birds could be heard coining from each little thicket
+of white oak or cottonwood.
+
+Louder and louder grew the screaming of the tempest, and it shrieked
+through the ribs of the stockade, like a Titan blowing through the
+teeth of a giant comb.
+
+Inspector Dicken, with Captain Stephens at his side, was standing at
+the edge of the stockade. Not a sound came from the plateau, and not
+a glimmer of light appeared in the darkness. Then the great, wide,
+black night suddenly opened its jaws and launched forth an avalanche
+of blinding, white light. The two men bounded in their places; then
+came a roll of mighty thunder, as if it were moving on tremendous
+wheels and destroying all the heavens.
+
+No enemy yet!
+
+But the besieged had hardly breathed their breath of relief, before
+there arose upon the dark air, a din of sound so diabolical that you
+might believe the gates of hell had suddenly been thrown open. From
+every point around the fort went up a chorus of murderous yells, and
+then came the irregular flash and crack from rifles.
+
+The Inspector ran hastily back among his men:
+
+"Don't waste your ammunition," he said, "in the dark. Part of their
+plan is to burn the fort. Wait till they fire the torches, and then
+blaze at them in their own light."
+
+Every man clenched his rifle, and the eyes of the brave band
+glimmered in the dark.
+
+Crack! crack! crack! went the rifles of the savages, and now and
+again a sound, half like a snarl, and half like a sigh, went trailing
+over the fort. It was from the Indians' bullets.
+
+"Keep close, my men," shouted the Inspector; "down upon your faces."
+
+Drawn off their guard by the silence of the besieged, the enemy
+became more reckless, and lighting flambeaux of birch-bark, they
+began to wave them above their heads. The spluttering glare showed
+scores of savages, busy loading and discharging their rifles.
+
+"Now, my men; ready! There, have at them." Crack, crack, crack, went
+the rifles, and in the blaze of the torches several of the enemy were
+seen writhing about the plain in their agony. Together with the
+exultant whoop, came cries of pain and rage; and perceiving the
+mistake that they had made, in exposing themselves to the guns of the
+garrison, the savages threw down their torches and fled for cover.
+
+The conduct of some of the savages who received slight wounds was
+exceedingly ludicrous. One who had been shot, _in running away,_
+began to yell in the most pitiable way; and he ran about the plain in
+the glare of the light kicking up his heels and grabbing at the
+wounded spot.
+
+Thereafter the enemy's firing was more desultory, but it was kept up
+for several hours, during which not a rifle flash came from the Fort.
+Then there arose the sharp yelp of a wolf through the night, and
+instantly the firing ceased. Not a sound could be heard anywhere,
+save the uneasy crying, and the occasional howls of the wind.
+
+"The attack is to commence in right earnest now," Stephens whispered
+to Mr. Dicken; but in what shape the hovering assault was to come
+would be hard to guess.
+
+They were not to be kept long in suspense, however. The pandemonium
+cry again went suddenly through the night and the storm; and an
+assault of axes was heard against the stockades.
+
+"That is their game is it?" muttered the Inspector. "Now then, my
+lads, get your muzzles ready;" for the Indians had lighted a couple
+of torches for the benefit of those engaged chopping.
+
+"Fire carefully, picking them off singly. Off you go!" Away went the
+rifles, and three more savages sprawled in the light of the torches.
+But others came into their places and chopped, and hacked, and smote
+like fiends, yelling, jumping, and frequently brandishing their axes
+above their heads; their eyes all the while gleaming with the very
+light of hell!
+
+"Pick away at them boys," cried the inspector; "they must not be
+allowed to get through." But the men needed no urging; each one
+loaded nimbly, fired with deliberation, and hit his man. This part of
+the contest continued for fully ten minutes, but sturdy as were the
+posts, it was plain that they must soon give way. Sometimes, it is
+true, the savages would draw rearward from their work, terrified at
+the heap of dead and wounded now accumulating about them; but it was
+only to return, as the waves that fall from the beach on the sea-shore
+come back to strike, with added fury. Meanwhile a number of
+lights had begun to appear upon the plateau, and the Inspector,
+turning to Captain Stephens said in a low grave voice:
+
+"It cannot last much longer. See, they are coming with torch and
+faggot." Scores of Indians were revealed in the blaze, hastening down
+the hill; and troops of squaws were perceived dragging loads of brush
+wood. Then one of the posts gave way and another was seen to totter.
+In the gloom of the Fort, the paling of many a brave man's cheek was
+noticed.
+
+"They will be here instantly, my lads," said Inspector Dicken in the
+same calm, firm voice. "But we will sell our lives like men. Hurrah!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DIVERS ADVENTURES FOR OUR HEROINE.
+
+
+We left Annette and her little companion speeding along the banks of
+the Saskatchewan bound for Pitt. They dare not come near the
+stockades, for the Indians had invested the high ground overlooking
+the Fort, and would be sure to make embarrassing enquiries of the two
+strange Indian boys.
+
+"My plan is this Julie," Annette said. "We shall camp in the valley
+beyond Turtle Hill, and when it grows dark, we can come in and see
+the state of affairs about the garrison."
+
+"Oui Mademoiselle; and Tall Poplar is to be at the stockade facing
+the river half an hour after sun-set. He said he would be there, in
+case that we should in any way need his assistance."
+
+"Bon, ma Julie. It seems to me that your fine chef may be of some
+use to us before these troubles end."
+
+Then the two dismounted, and tethering their horses set at work to
+pitch their tent. Annette had brought a tent, strapped to her saddle,
+from her aunt's; and the two sweet maidens opened out the folds, set
+up the white cotton in a cleared plot, in the centre of a copse of
+white oak, where it was securely screened from passing eyes. Julie
+took from her pony's back a thick, large rug, which was to serve the
+two for a coverlet; and going forth a short way the four little brown
+hands busied themselves breaking soft branches from the trees.
+
+"There," Annette said, as she put down her armful in the tent; "that
+will make a pillow as cosy as a sack of mallard's down. Now, Julie,
+we shall eat, then sleep till the afternoon; for I suspect that there
+will be little rest for us while the sun is below the prairie."
+
+Julie opened the hamper, and the winsome pair fell to, making a
+hearty meal from home-made bread, cold quail, and butter with the
+very perfume of the prairie flowers. A little way beyond a jet of
+cold, clear water came gurgling out of the rocks; and tripping away
+Julie fetched a cup. Then they fastened their hamper, put their
+pistols by their side, laid themselves down together, and fell asleep
+to the music of the little spring, and the bickering of gold finches
+in the leaves.
+
+When Annette awoke, it was the mellow afternoon, and the sun shone
+like a great yellow shield low in the west. Annette stepped quietly
+out, her dainty little feet hardly crushing the flowers as she went,
+to take a peep at the horses. They, too, had lain down; but upon
+seeing the pair of large, bright, peering eyes, they arose, stretched
+themselves, whisked their tails, and began again feasting on the
+crisp, luscious grass.
+
+When the sun's upper rim lay like a little semi-circle of fire over
+the far edge of the prairie, the two adventurers girded on their
+belts, and taking their revolvers, started away like a pair of prying
+fawns toward the Fort. Twilight does not tarry long upon the plains;
+and when the maidens reached the confines of the Fort, the stockades
+and the enclosed buildings were a mere dusky blur. Moving cautiously
+along the side facing the river, they perceived a straight, tall
+figure, awaiting them; and the handsome chief stepped up.
+
+"I had been anxious, and was afraid for the safety of ma Julie and
+Mademoiselle."
+
+"Will they attack the Fort to-night?" Annette eagerly asked.
+
+"This will be a bad night for the Fort. The braves have had a White
+Dog feast; and the Indians have assembled from far and near to fight
+for Big Bear. They attack in half an hour."
+
+"Can they hold out inside?"
+
+"Twenty-four men against five hundred!" the chief replied. "First
+they will cut a breach in the stockade; then they will go in and burn
+down the Fort. Big Bear has asked the Inspector to surrender, but he
+has refused."
+
+"What is to be done, good chief? I have in there a white friend who
+saved my life; and I would like also to help the Inspector and his
+followers."
+
+The chief mused.
+
+"My braves follow, and will be here before the first blow is struck.
+Perhaps I shall be able, at the last moment, to meet the wishes of
+Mademoiselle." Julie took two or three dainty steps, and nestled her
+head in the breast of her lover. Again he stroked her hair, kissed
+her bright face, and murmured sweet words in her little ear. Then he
+said,
+
+"I must go among the lodges, for if I am not present to join in the
+counsels of the leaders, I may be suspected. Wait, Mademoiselle, in
+the shelter of the bank till I come to you." There was then a little
+sound like the explosion of a bubble, and Annette saw the chief raise
+his head from Julie's face.
+
+"You little rogue," she said, "how your love affairs profit by this
+war." Then she tripped off to the point designated by the chief, and
+lay down in the shadow with Julie at her side. It was while they lay
+nestling here that the storm of yells described in another chapter
+burst out. Annette shuddered and grasped the hand of her companion.
+
+Then came the onslaught of musketry, the glare of flambeaux, and the
+response from the besieged. Through the wailing of the storm came,
+too, the thud, thud, thud of the choppers at the stockade, and the
+straggling shots of the brave twenty-four in the Fort.
+
+"The stockade cannot stand long," Annette whispered; "I wonder what
+delays your chief?" But while the words were yet quivering upon her
+lips, a figure moved swiftly towards them and whispered,
+
+"Come." And when they joined him: "I only wish to have Mademoiselle
+satisfied of the escape of her deliverer and of his friends."
+
+In a minute they were at the edge of the stockade; and, at a signal
+from the chief, a little postern opened, and they were admitted.
+
+"Follow me," he said, as he advanced, waving a small white cloth,
+and the two, close at his heels, found themselves at the door of the
+Fort. "Friends are here," he whispered, through his tubed hand, to a
+policeman who had been watching the advancing trio from his sentry
+post; "let us enter."
+
+The policeman retreated, and in a moment reappeared with the
+Inspector and Captain Stephens at his side.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the Inspector in a low voice.
+
+"Friends." Then Annette said, in a distinct voice:
+
+"Monsieur Stephens may remember me?"
+
+"The Indian boy who warned me of my danger!" he exclaimed, turning
+to the Inspector. "You may admit them." In a moment Tall Elk was
+inside.
+
+"I am a Cree chief, and twenty of my braves are friendly. When the
+Indians break through the stockade I shall guard this door, and you
+can pass out. Go directly to the river, and at the pier you will find
+a boat waiting. Then the river is clear before you to Battleford."
+Saying these words the chief was gone, the two Indian boys following
+him.
+
+At this moment a chorus of yelling, more infernal than any which had
+been heard before, arose, and, brandishing their weapons, the horde
+of infuriated savages began to pour through a large gap in the
+stockade.
+
+"Follow me, my men," whispered the Inspector, and with Stephens at
+his side he descended into the yard where the smoke from burning
+torches was so dense that the whole party passed through the group of
+friendly braves without attracting the attention of the hostile
+savages. They very speedily gained the river and found a large York
+boat, of shallow draught, which they pushed out into the slow sweep
+of tide. The chief was nowhere to be seen; but the two mysterious and
+beautiful Indian boys hovered along the gloomy brink of the river,
+frequently turning apprehensive eyes towards the Fort. As the boat
+moved downward so did they, flitting along like a pair of guardian
+angels. Immediately beside them they perceived a fierce-looking
+Indian, glaring through the dark upon the water.
+
+He had evidently just perceived the boat, for, uttering a loud alarm-
+yell, he turned and was making off toward the Fort to give the tidings.
+
+"Stop," shouted Annette, in clear, thrilling Cree.
+
+The savage stood a moment, and glared at this handsome lad of his
+tribe.
+
+"If you move a step I shoot you. Drop to the ground."
+
+The Indian stood irresolute, but the girl made a sudden bound
+forward and held the glittering barrel of her revolver in his face.
+
+"You are a Cree?" he inquired, in a voice quivering with an odd
+mixture of fear and rage.
+
+"I am."
+
+"Why don't you let me alarm the braves? The police are escaping."
+
+"The Cree boy will not give his reasons; but his brother must obey."
+The Indian stood looking upon Annette as if endeavouring to scan her
+features; and as if to help him in his object, a flash of flame from
+a burning building in the Fort shone for a moment upon the boy, and
+showed the cowardly warrior a pair of large, soft eyes, fringed with
+long lashes; a sweet oval face, and a delicate little hand. The
+sudden observation seemed to fill him with contempt and courage, and
+turning he bounded away with another wild yell.
+
+Annette did not lower her arm, but she shut one of her eyes and
+fired, once, twice at the running savage. Up went the wretch's arms
+and he fell upon the plain.
+
+"Let us away Julie, the shots may bring some stragglers," and the
+two girls bounded along for nearly half a mile, when they were again
+in line with the barge.
+
+"Boat ahoy," shouted Annette. "When you near the first island keep
+away to your right. There is a bar with sharp rocks in your way." A
+low musical,
+
+"Merci mon petit ami" came to the shore; and Annette whispered:
+
+"It is Monsieur Stephens who gives me thanks." Then straightening
+herself up, "It is time we got our horses; come." They hastened away
+to the little grove, folded the tent, saddled the horses, and in a
+few moments were galloping again towards the river. As they neared
+the bank they heard a tempest of yelling up the plain toward the
+Fort: and after listening for a moment, Annette said,
+
+"The savages have discovered the flight, and they are now in
+pursuit. Can you speak much Cree, Julie?"
+
+"Not much."
+
+"Well, then you are to be my brother and a dummy; for I must meet
+the Indians."
+
+"Mademoiselle must not put herself in danger. The Indians may know
+that you fired at the brave; perhaps he has given the alarm."
+
+"Fear not, Julie. That poor savage has told no tales. But Monsieur
+Stephens must be saved, and if this band is not checked, both he and
+his friends are doomed. Half a mile below there are a hundred canoes
+upon the bank, and thither those screaming fiends are bound. Now,
+follow me, unless you care to ride back again to the hollow. I will
+impose no duty upon you except to remain dumb."
+
+Then she struck her heels into her horse and rode full for the
+yelling band. As she drew near she raised her hand and shouted in
+perfect and musical Cree.
+
+"Let the braves stand and hear their brother."
+
+Big Bear who was leading, surrounded by two or three of his wives,
+stopped, and shouted to his braves to be still.
+
+"What has our little brother to say?"
+
+"Myself and my dumb brother have just escaped a great army of
+soldiers at Souris Creek."
+
+The chief's eyes became blank with fright.
+
+"Where were the white braves going?"
+
+"Marching for Fort Pitt; and they will be here in fifteen minutes,
+for they are mounted on swift horses. If you go down to fight yonder
+boat, you will be attacked in rear."
+
+"The boy speaks well," muttered the chief to his prettiest wife who
+was standing by his side; and that dainty Cree was feasting her eyes
+upon the beautiful face of the Indian lad. It might not have been so
+well for Annette had the chief seen the way in which his young wife
+stared at the little Indian scout.
+
+"My braves will turn back," shouted Big Bear, "and when we get to
+the lodges we will hold a council. The little Cree brave and his dumb
+brother will come to o tents."
+
+"Nay, brave chief," replied Annette, "my mother is on the way
+hither, and I must return and see that she is safe from harm." And
+despite the beseeching eyes of the chief's prettiest wife, the daring
+spy turned her horse and rode away followed by her dumb brother.
+
+"Now Julie, we must see how it fares with the boat," and the two
+horses went at a long, swinging gallop down the banks of Saskatchewan.
+With the boat all was right, and in her clear, bird-like voice,
+Annette informed the fugitives that Big Bear and his braves had
+returned to their lodges.
+
+"What turned then back?" enquired the same low, musical voice.
+
+Annette hesitated, for she was not a girl that boasted of her
+achievements. There are enough of maids white and brown, of lesser
+character, to do that sort of thing.
+
+"I told a story; I said that a great body of soldiers were close at
+hand."
+
+"Brava, brava," and the girl heard many words of warm commendation
+spoken in the boat. Then letting her luminous eyes linger for a
+moment with a tender longing upon the barge, she raised her voice,
+saying,
+
+"Bon voyage Messieurs," and was off through the dark like a swallow.
+
+Meanwhile tidings of atrocities committed by Indians upon
+unoffending settlers, began to set the blood shivering in the veins
+of persons throughout the continent; and one horrible circumstance,
+bearing upon the story, I shall relate. At the distant settlement of
+Frog Lake, at the commencement of the tumult, when night came down,
+Indians, smeared in hideous, raw, earthy-smelling paint, would creep
+about among the dwellings, and peer, with eyes gleaming with hate,
+through the window-panes at the innocent and unsuspecting inmates. At
+last one chief, with a diabolical face, said,
+
+"Brothers, we must be avenged upon every white man and woman here.
+We will shoot them like dogs." The answer to this harangue was the
+clanking of barbaric instruments of music, the brandishing of
+tomahawks, and the gleam of hunting-knives. Secretly the Indians went
+among the Bois-Brules squatting about, and revealed their plans; but
+some of these people shrank with fear from the proposal. Others,
+however, said,
+
+"We shall join you." So the plan was arranged, and it was not very
+long before it was carried out. And now runners were everywhere on
+the plains, telling that Marton had a mighty army made up of most of
+the brave Indians of the prairies, and comprising all the dead shots
+among the half-breeds; that he had encountered heavy forces of police
+and armed civilians, and overthrown them without losing a single man.
+
+"Now is our time to strike," said the Indian with the fiendish face,
+and the wolf-like eyes.
+
+Therefore, the 2nd day of April was fixed for the holding of a
+conference between the Indians and the white settlers. The malignant
+chief had settled the plan.
+
+"When the white faces come to our lodge, they will expect no harm.
+Ugh! Then the red man will have his vengeance." So every Indian was
+instructed to have his rifle at hand in the lodge. The white folk
+wondered why the Indians had arranged for a conference.
+
+"We can do nothing to help their case," they said. "It will only
+waste time to go." Many of them, therefore, remained at home,
+occupying themselves with their various duties, while the rest,
+merely for the sake of agreeableness, and of showing the Indians that
+they were interested in their affairs, proceeded to the place
+appointed for the pow-wow.
+
+"We hope to smoke our pipes before our white brothers go away from
+us," was what the treacherous chief, with wolfish eyes, had said, in
+order to put the settlers off their guard.
+
+The morning of the fateful day opened gloomily, as if it could not
+look cheerily down upon the bloody events planned in this distant
+wilderness. Low, indigo clouds pressed down upon the hills, but there
+was not a stir in all the air. No living thing was seen stirring,
+save troops of blue-jays which went scolding from tree to tree before
+the settlers as they proceeded to the conference. Here and there,
+also, was a half-famished, yellow, or black and yellow dog, with
+small head and long scraggy hair, skulking about the fields and among
+the wigwams of the Indians in search for food.
+
+The lodge where the parley was to be held stood in a hollow. Behind
+was a tall hill, crowned with timber; round about it grew poplar,
+white oak, and firs; while in front rolled by a swift dark stream.
+Unsuspecting harm, two priests of the settlement, Oblat Fathers,
+named Fafard and Marchand, were the first at the spot.
+
+"What a gloomy day," Pere Fafard said, "and this lodge set here in
+this desolate spot seems to make it more gloomy still. What, I
+wonder, is the nature of the business?" Then they knocked, and the
+chief was heard to say,
+
+"Entrez." Opening the door, the two good priests walked in, and
+turned to look for seats. Ah! What was the sight presented! Eyes like
+those of wild beasts, aflame with hate and ferocity, gleamed from the
+gloom of the back portion of the room. The priests were amazed. They
+knew not what all this meant. Then a wild shriek was given, and the
+chief cried,
+
+"Enemies to the red man, you have come to your doom." Then raising
+his rifle, he fired at Father Marchand. The levelling of his rifle
+was the general signal. A dozen other muzzles were pointed, and in
+briefer space than it takes to relate the two priests lay weltering
+in their blood, pierced each by half a dozen bullets.
+
+"Clear away these corpses," shouted the chief, and "be ready for the
+next." There was soon another knock, and the same wolfish voice
+replied as before,
+
+"Entrez." This time a tall, manly young fellow, named Charles Gowan,
+opened the door and entered, Always on the alert for Indian
+treachery, he had his suspicion now, before entering suspected
+strongly, that all was not right. He had only reached the settlement
+that morning, and had he returned sooner he would have counselled the
+settlers to pay no heed to the invitation. He was assured that
+several had already gone up to the pow-wow, so being brave and
+unselfish, he said,
+
+"If there is any danger afoot, and my friends are at the meeting
+lodge, that is the place for me, not here." He had no sooner entered
+than his worst convictions were realized. With one quick glance he
+saw the bloodpools, the wolfish eyes, the rows of ready rifles.
+
+"Hell hounds!" he cried, "what bloody work have you on hand? What
+means this?" pointing to the floor.
+
+"It means," replied the chief, "that some of your paleface brethren
+have been losing their heart's blood there. It also means that the
+same fate awaits you." Resolved to sell his life as dearly as lay in
+his power, he sprang forward with a Colt's revolver, and discharged
+it twice. One Indian fell, and another set up a cry like the
+bellowing of a bull. But poor Gowan did not fire a third shot. A tall
+savage approached him from behind, and striking him upon the head
+with his rifle-stock felled him to the earth. Then the savages fired
+five or six shots into him as he lay upon the floor. The body was
+dragged away, and the blood-thirsty fiends sat waiting for the
+approach of another victim. Half an hour passed, and no other rap
+came upon the door. An hour went, and still no sound of foot-fall.
+All this while the savages sat mute as stones, each holding his rifle
+in readiness.
+
+"Ugh!" grunted the chief, "no more coming. We go down and shoot em
+at em houses." Then the fiend divided his warriors into four
+companies, each one of which was assigned a couple of murders. One
+party proceeded toward the house of Mr. Gowanlock. Creeping
+stealthily, they reached within forty yards of the dwelling without
+being perceived. Then Mrs. Gowanlock, a young woman, recently
+married, walked out of her abode, and gathering some kindling wood in
+her apron, returned again. When the Indians saw her, they threw
+themselves upon their faces, and so escaped observation. No one
+happened to be looking out of the window after Mrs. Gowanlock came
+back; but about half a minute afterwards several shadows flitted by
+the window, and immediately six or seven painted Indians, with
+rifles cocked, and uttering diabolical yells, burst into the house.
+The chief was with this party; and aiming his rifle, shot poor
+Gowanlock dead. Another aimed at a man named Gilchrist, but Mrs.
+Gowanlock heroically seized the savage's arms from behind, and
+prevented him for a moment or two. But the vile murderer shook her
+off, and falling back a pace or two, fired at her, killing her
+instantly.
+
+The York boat, with its brave little band, reached Battleford in
+safety, and the two handsome Indian boys pitched their tents aloof
+upon the prairie, about, a mile distant from the Fort, selecting a
+little cup shaped hollow, rimmed around with scrubby white oak. The
+horses fed in the centre, and at the edge of the bushes gleamed the
+white sides of the tent.
+
+That evening, as the two entered the town, they perceived a tall
+Indian standing by the gate.
+
+"It is Little Poplar," whispered Julie; and seeing the two maidens
+about the same time, the chief stepped forward.
+
+"Cruel work," he said, "reported from Frog Lake. Captain Stephens
+and two others were sent an hour ago with fast horses to enquire if
+the story is true. But he had not long passed this gate when I
+noticed Jean, the great chief's man, and a dozen of the Stoney Crees
+ride after him. I am sure that they are plotting him harm."
+
+"What route did they take?" asked Annette, while her eyes grew large
+and bright.
+
+"They went upon the muskeg trail. It leads directly to Frog Lake."
+
+"Thank you again, chief; I go immediately." Julie likewise turned
+about.
+
+"Nay, you must not encounter this peril with me; already you have
+ventured more than I should have permitted;" but a look of sorrowful
+reproach came into the little maiden's eye.
+
+"Is Julie of no use, that her mistress will not consent for her to
+come? Did the faithful follower not say in the beginning that
+wherever her mistress went, there she would go? that the dangers of
+the mistress should be borne also by the maid?"
+
+"Well, since you wish to come, dear girl, I will not gainsay you.
+But what thinks your chief about his darling courting all these
+dangers?"
+
+"Little Poplar," the Indian replied, "is proud to see his sweetheart
+brave; and if she were not so brave, he could not love her half so
+much." And stooping, the noble chief kissed and kissed the maiden's
+forehead; and then, once, and very tenderly, her two red lips.
+
+The pair now swiftly returned to the hollow, once again folded the
+tent, closed their hamper, saddled the horses, and struck out swiftly
+for the trail. They had practised eyes, and were soon convinced that
+both parties had gone by this route. Their horses were fairly fresh
+and they pushed on at high speed.
+
+Their course lay over a long stretch of sodden marshes, brown with
+the russet of Indian pipes and the bronze of their leafage. Here and
+there a dry ridge lifted itself lazily out of the spongy flat, and
+afforded solid, buoyant footing. But a dull gray began to fall upon
+the plains. It was fog and they knew that less than half an hour of
+clear skies, and the sight of landscape, remained to them. So they
+sped on, now sinking deep in a mass of sodden liverwort, glistening
+in the most exquisite of green, again treading down a tangle of
+luscious, pale-yellow "bake-apples." The huge, noiseless mass soon
+reached the swampy plain; and it rolled as if upon wheels of floss,
+shutting out the sun and smothering the bluffs. The gloom was now so
+great that they could not see more than twenty paces on any hand, and
+every object in view seemed many times greater than its natural size,
+and distorted in shape. Miles and miles they went through swamp and
+tangle, till they heard the far-off, sullen roar of water. The land
+now also began to dip, and fifteen minutes' ride brought them to a
+low-lying region of swamp, sentinelled with dismal larches. Close at
+hand they heard the moaning of a slow stream; beyond was the muffled
+thunder of some tremendous waterfall. They were soon convinced that
+they were on the confines of the Styx River, a dreary, forbidding
+stream of ink-black water which wallowed through a larch swamp for
+many miles till it reached the face of a bold cliff down which its
+flood went booming with the sound of thunder. At every step now the
+horses sank almost to the knee; but as the trail was yet visible they
+pushed on, keeping close to the banks of the stream.
+
+Beyond was a bluff of poplar and white oak, and as the riders passed
+round it, the gleam of a camp-fire about a quarter of a mile distant
+shone through the trees.
+
+"Hist; here they are. We shall go behind this clump and pitch our
+tent; then we can see how affairs stand."
+
+The horses were corralled, the tent pitched, a fire lighted; and
+Julie was busy breaking branches for pillows. Annette prepared the
+supper.
+
+"What is your next step, my ingenious hero mistress?"
+
+"To steal up near the camp-fire and see to which party it belongs;
+or whether the worst has happened." Her fingers trembled a little as
+she ate; but her heart was as brave as a lion's.
+
+"Take your pistol, Julie, and let us go." The night was pitchy dark,
+although the fog had rolled away; for the moon had not yet risen, and
+no light came from the few feeble stars that were out. Over swamp and
+tangle, across bare marsh, and through dense wood they went, lightly
+as a pair of fawns, till the warm, ruddy glare of the strange camp-fire
+shone on their faces.
+
+"Lie you here," whispered Annette, "while I go forward." She was not
+absent many minutes, but when she returned her cheeks were pale and
+her voice quivered a little. "As I expected. Captain Stephens and his
+two companions are prisoners. He is lying upon the ground without any
+cover over him, and his hands are bound behind his back. I see only
+one other, and he is wounded;--the other must have been killed."
+
+"But there is no use in waiting here to-night. The band is divided
+into watches; and one division has lain down to sleep. From some
+words that I heard one of the braves say I judge that they will carry
+the prisoners to Beaver Mountain, where there is a Cree stronghold.
+Here they will be held to abide the will of le chef. The march will
+last at least three days. But as they advance they will grow less
+cautious; then we may be able to accomplish something. Come, let us
+get back to our tent."
+
+Stretching themselves upon the fresh, fragrant boughs, they drew the
+rug over their two sweet, tired bodies, and fell into a restoring
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A DARING RESCUE.
+
+
+When they awoke the sun was up, the mists had rolled out of the
+hollow, and every bush and blade of grass glittered as if set in
+diamonds. Hard by the tent ran a little brook, leaping, rushing,
+eddying, gurgling, sparkling down the incline, to join the larger
+stream whose slow moaning had sounded so terrible in the fog and dark.
+
+"It is full of fish," gleefully exclaimed Julie; and casting a fly
+(for they had not come without tackle), she soon landed a trout about
+a pound weight. It was a blending of pink and silver on the belly,
+and was mottled with dots of brown. "One apiece," she cried, as
+another beauty curled and leaped upon the grass, by one of Annette's
+deftly booted little feet.
+
+The kit supplied two or three flat pans that could be stowed
+conveniently; and into one of these the fish were put.
+
+"Now, Julie, while you prepare the breakfast, I shall go and take a
+look at how things stand in the next camp."
+
+She crept noiselessly through bush and brake, and perceived the band
+just making ready for a start. Captain Stephens was put upon a horse
+in the centre of the cavalcade, and his companion, pale and blood-
+stained, rode next behind.
+
+Annette and Julie cautiously followed, drawing close to the party
+when it rode through the bush, but keeping far in the rear when the
+course lay over the plain. Towards the set of sun, they observed a
+horseman about a mile behind them, riding at high speed. They waited
+till the man drew near, and perceived that he was a Cree Indian.
+
+"Message from Little Poplar," the brave said, as he reined in his
+splashed and foam-flecked pony, "The Great Chief rages against
+mademoiselle, and has braves searching for her through every part of
+the territory." Producing a paper, he handed it to Annette. Upon it
+were written in bold letters the following:
+
+PROCLAMATION.
+
+Any one bringing to my presence a young person, disguised as a Cree
+spy, and riding a large gray mare, will receive a reward of $500.
+This spy and traitor is usually accompanied by another person of
+smaller stature, and also disguised as a Cree boy. Rides a black
+gelding. These traitors have heard our secret counsels as friends,
+and have gone and disclosed our plans to the enemy. They gave warning
+of our approach to a band of government officers; they procured the
+escape of the oppressors from Fort Pitt; and they turned away Big
+Bear and his braves from pursuit of the fugitives, by lies. Our first
+duty is to capture them. No injury is to be done to the chief
+offender, who is to be immediately brought to my presence.
+
+LOUIS DAVID RIEL.
+
+"Tell your brave chief, mon ami," Annette said, "that we shall take
+care to avoid the followers of le grand chef, and of unfriendly
+Indians."
+
+The Indian turned his pony, and was about retracing his steps, when
+Julie rode up to him, and in her exquisitely timid little way, said
+in a soft voice,
+
+"Faites mes amities a monsieur, votre chef." The Indian replied,
+"Oui, oui," and urged his pony to the height of its speed. When Julie
+joined her mistress there was a little rose in each cheek, and a
+gleam in her faintly humid eye.
+
+"Sending a message to her chief?" Annette said, looking at the
+bright, brown beauty. "She need not have blushed at giving her
+message to the brave; he thought that she was an Indian lad."
+
+"Oh, I forgot," Julie murmured; and she pressed her deftly booted
+feet against the flanks of her pony.
+
+The savage was, evidently, not enamoured of the lonesome journey
+back to his chief, for rumour had peopled every square mile of all
+the plains with warriors, and with hidden assassins. And spread
+across that arc of the sky where the sun had just gone down, were
+troops of clouds, of crimson, and bronze and pink; and in their
+curious shapes the solitary rider saw mighty horses, bestrode by
+giant riders, all congregated to join in the war. He knew that these
+were the spirits of chiefs who had ruled the plains long before the
+stranger with the pale face came; they always assembled when great
+battles were to be fought; and when their brothers began to lose
+heart in the fray, they would descend from the clouds and give to
+each warrior the heart of the lion, and the arm of the jaguar.
+
+His heart swelled with a wild war-fever as these thoughts passed
+through his brain. Then the darkness began to creep over the plains;
+it came softly and as remorselessly as the prairie panther; and a
+fear grew upon the savage. The horsemen in the sky had come nearer to
+the earth; some of them had trooped across through the dusk, till
+they stood directly above his head; and he fancied that several of
+the figures had lowered themselves down till they almost touched him.
+In the deepening dusk he could not observe what they were doing. They
+at last actually reached the earth;--and three giants stood before
+his horse.
+
+"Mon Dieu," shrieked the terrified creature, and his hand lost
+control over the reins. His pony did not heed the spectres, but
+walked straight on. Nay, he passed so close to one of the dread
+things that the Indian's arm brushed the goblin. Its touch was hard.
+The man shrieked, and in a terror that stopped the beating of his
+heart fell to the ground. When he arose, he found that the spectre
+was not from the sky; but only a tall prairie poplar.
+
+Pray, readers, do not laugh at the unreasonable terror of this
+untutored savage. I have seen some of yourselves just as unreasonable.
+
+While the Indian was suffering the sunset clouds to fill him, now
+with enthusiasm, and again with dread, Annette and Julie were keeping
+their ponies at their fleetest pace to regain sight of the party.
+
+"Do you know, Julie, I feel a presentiment that an opportunity for
+the rescue will come to-night. The captors will not dream of pursuit
+so far from the frequented grounds and known trails, and they will be
+off their guard. See! yonder they camp;" and while she was yet
+speaking, a pyramid of scarlet flame, scattering showers of sparks,
+shot up from a recess in the bluff lying directly before them.
+
+"Rein in, Julie, we must find a bluff a safe distance off for our
+horses. Should they get scent or sight of the ponies in yonder camp,
+and whinny, all would be lost."
+
+So swerving to the left, and taking a course at right angles to
+their late one, they rode slowly and silently till a bluff rose from
+the prairie, a short distance in front, like a hill.
+
+"We shall tether our horses here, Julie; but I believe our stay will
+not be a long one." And the pair dismounted, tied their tired beasts,
+and swiftly raised the white sides of their tent.
+
+"Ee-e-e-e!" it was Julie who gave the shriek. The thicket was
+swarming with soft, noiseless wings, and a bird with burning eyes had
+brushed the face of the maiden with its pinion. "What is it, ma
+maitresse? It has two bright eyes, and it touched my face. Ee-e-e. O!
+There it is again."
+
+"What is the matter, Julie? Do you want to bring Jean and his
+Indians here, with this pretty screaming of yours?"
+
+"But it brushed me in the face twice, mademoiselle."
+
+"These are only night hawks, Julie; they gather sometimes like this
+in our own poplar-grove."
+
+"O-o that's what it was? Pardonnez-moi. What a simpleton I am, my
+mistress. Do you think they heard me?" and her sweet voice was now so
+low, that the locust, dozing among the spray of the golden-rod, could
+scarcely have heard her tones. The thicket was literally swarming
+with these noiseless birds; and wondering they flew round and round
+the figures of the intruders, but most of all did they marvel at the
+great mound of white that had been raised amongst them. Some of them,
+in alarm, rose high above the bluff, wheeling and darting hither and
+thither, and the girls could hear their c-h-u-n-g as if some hand,
+high up in the air, had smote the bass chord of a violoncello. But
+when the flame from the camp fire arose, terror seized every
+feathered thing in the bluff, and they all flew, in wild haste, away
+from the bewildering light.
+
+Annette was now away wandering through the grove, gathering dry and
+fallen limbs for the fire; and as Julie bustled about through the
+long prairie grass, preparing the meal, she was startled with a
+little cry.
+
+"Mon Dieu, what is it?" Julie hastened away to her mistress, her
+bright eyes widened and gleaming with alarm.
+
+"What has happened my mistress?"
+
+"Oh! is that all it is? Why Julie, I am just as silly as you are. I
+stooped to pick up what I thought a little bramble, but when I laid
+my hand upon it, it moved; and then went under the ground. It was a
+gopher. I am now rebuked for chiding the fears of my little maid."
+
+"But anybody would scream at touching a live thing like that on the
+ground. It was foolish, though, to be frightened at a bird."
+
+Generous, sweet little Julie!
+
+They now busied themselves with their supper, brewing some tea in a
+shallow pan; and when they had spread their store of provisions they
+sat down by the side of the fire, and ate their meal of home-made
+bread and cold meat. It would have gladdened the heart of the most
+withered monk to see those two healthy, plump little maidens in the
+flickering fire light, their garments loosened, their eyes glowing,
+their cheeks and lips in hue like the cherry, eating slice after
+slice of bread and meat, and draining cup after cup of the fragrant
+tea.
+
+"Now Julie," Annette said rising, after the precious maiden had
+eaten enough to make some miserable philosopher ill for a week of
+dyspepsia, "I shall creep out and make a reconnaissance." And
+buckling on her belt, with its large bright-bladed knife, and her
+ready revolver, she went away softly and cunning as a cat. The very
+field-mouse could have known nothing of her coming till her sweet
+foot was upon its head: and when she came in sight of the hostile
+camp fire with the dull scarlet glow that the mass of dying embers
+threw out, she stooped so low that a spectator near by would have
+imagined that the dark thing moving across the level was a prairie
+dog.
+
+At last she was at the very edge of the bluff, and was peering
+between the branches at the party, about the flight of an arrow
+within. Captain Stephens was there, full in the light, his arms and
+legs fast bound, and tied to a sturdy white oak tree. Near a poplar,
+a few paces distant, lay his comrade, likewise bound and fastened to
+a tree. Most of the Indians were asleep; the remainder lolled about,
+showing no evidence of keeping vigil. Jean she could not perceive;
+and she believed, and was no doubt right, that he was sleeping.
+
+"It is well," the maiden ejaculated in a little whisper; and she
+returned swiftly and noiselessly as a shadow to her own camp fire.
+
+"Most of them sleep; and presently there will not be an open eye
+among the braves. Ah, Julie, if you but saw how they have _him_
+bound--both of the captives, I mean." And her eyes flashed, while her
+hand made a little blind, convulsive motion toward her pistol. "We
+have no time now to waste; help me to pack." In the space of a few
+minutes everything was ready for a start, and the horses led away to
+another bluff which loomed up about five hundred yards distant. Julie
+could not divine the reason for this precaution, but Annette
+whispered,
+
+"Child, the light of our fire might, at the first moment of flight
+lead to recapture, should any of my plans fail; and it would take us
+a half an hour to extinguish the embers by fetching water in our
+little pans."
+
+Yes, Julie saw a little of what her mistress was aiming at; and
+reposed perfect trust in Annette's ability to do everything with
+skill and success. The beasts were tethered, and dark as was that
+prairie night, these two girls with skill as unerring as the instinct
+of a pair of night-hawks could come back and find them. Then they
+struck out through the long grass, and made for the bluff where lay
+the Stonies and their prisoners.
+
+"Now, if we can find their ponies!" Annette said.
+
+"Wherefore look for their ponies, mademoiselle?"
+
+"You soon shall see. Ah, here they are; stay you there, Julie, I
+will come to you again presently." But Julie followed her mistress. A
+little shudder passed through her heart as she saw the dull glitter
+of something in her mistress' hand.
+
+"I don't like to do this cruel thing; but then I spill only brute
+blood; and I do so to save the shedding of human blood." Julie now
+surmised what her mistress was about; and drew her own knife. Annette
+had already passed from one of the ponies, after pausing for a few
+seconds stooped by its hinder legs, to another; and with the knife
+still gleaming in her hand, performed upon the second beast what she
+had done to the first.
+
+"You just cut the tendons of the hinder legs, I suppose,
+mademoiselle?" Julie enquired in a whisper.
+
+"What, are you at work too, Julie?"
+
+"Oui mademoiselle; I have cut yonder one, and yon;" and she darted
+away to continue the work of mutilation. In a few minutes the uncanny
+task was ended, and with a shudder at their hearts the girls wiped
+their knives and led away from the flock of lamed and bleeding beasts
+the horses of Captain Stephens and his brother captive. These they
+tethered beside their own, and again returned. They then proceeded
+with noiseless tread towards the hostile camp.
+
+The fire had burnt lower, but the glow was still strong enough to
+reveal the condition of the camp. After Annette had counted every
+Indian, and convinced herself that one and all were soundly sleeping,
+and that Jean in his tent was the deepest slumberer of all, she
+whispered softly.
+
+"Remain you here, Julie. Should I be discovered fly instantly and
+take horse. Don't tarry for me. Peace, ma petite amie; I go."
+
+And softly as sleep she went away, and in among the trees till she
+stood within a pace of where her deliverer lay. He had been on the
+border land that divides the world from the realm of dreams; but
+through the wavering senses of his eye and ear, he was sensible of
+the faintest stir among the leaves, of a shadow moving near him.
+Instantly his eyes were wide open; and the dull glow of the embers
+revealed standing above him with his finger on his lips, the figure
+of the beautiful Indian boy who had saved his life before. The next
+moment, the boy is leaning over him; in another moment his bonds are
+severed, and he is free.
+
+"Go," whispered the boy, pointing toward the bluff; "no noise."
+These words were as low and as fine as the little whisper that you
+hear among the leaves of the alder when a faint wind comes out of the
+west on a summer's evening and moves them. And while he yet remained
+bewildered by the suddenness of the boy's appearance, his own
+deliverance, and the order that had been given to him, he perceived
+the lad stooping over his companion in captivity, and severing the
+thongs that bound him. Stephens now moved hastily away a short
+distance, and then turned. The captive was upon his feet, and his
+deliverer was beside him; but at the same moment he saw a tall savage
+bound to his feet, with hatchet uplifted, and make towards the two.
+At the same time he uttered the fierce alarum-yell of the Stoney
+tribe.
+
+"Fly!" shouted the Indian boy to the white. "Away!" and then he
+turned to face the approaching foe. The savage came on, and when, as
+it seemed to Stephens, his hatchet was about to cleave the boy's
+skull, there was a pistol report, and the Indian fell with a
+convulsive toss of his arms. This was accomplished in the space of a
+couple of heart-beats; but the time was long enough to bring Jean and
+the entire party to their feet.
+
+"Fly!" repeated the Indian boy, and he bounded swiftly out of the
+bluff, joining Stephens, his companion and Julie, who all four now
+led off across the dark prairie towards the horses.
+
+"Ought we not get our horses," Stephens enquired in a low hurried
+tone, for the noise of the pursuit from the camp was close, and
+tumultuous as a broken bedlam.
+
+"You will get your horses, Monsieur," Annette replied, and Captain
+Stephens implicitly relied upon the word of the beautiful youth. The
+grass upon the prairie was thick and high, and in some places lay in
+heavy tangles, making slow the progress of the refugees; but they
+were able to keep their distance ahead of the Indians, who with
+flaring flambeaux were following their trail like bloodhounds. Out of
+the darkness came a series of sharp whinnies, and the next moment
+they found themselves among the horses. The beasts were ready for
+mounting, and without delay or bungle, the party were instantly in
+the saddles and cantering briskly across the prairie. As they rode
+along cries of baffled rage came to their ears; and they knew that
+the Indians had discovered the plight of their ponies.
+
+But when they had ridden beyond the sound of the enemies' voices,
+they slacked their pace, and Captain Stephens said,
+
+"Brave lad, is it your intention to ride all night?"
+
+"No, Monsieur; I purpose resting at the first suitable place, till
+moon-rise. It is not safe for our horses' legs travelling among the
+gopher-burrows in the dark. At any rate Monsieur le Capitaine and his
+companion must be hungry."
+
+"During my captivity I have eaten nothing save a piece of an elk's
+heart raw; and I do not believe that Phillips has taken anything."
+
+The truth is that Phillips had been severely wounded; and besides
+several shot wounds in his side, his left arm was at this moment in a
+sling, having been nigh severed from his body with a hatchet blow.
+
+"No, I have not eaten; and I think it was as well while the fever of
+my wounds was upon me."
+
+"But," continued Captain Stephens, "I am most anxious to rest that I
+may hear how came you, my brave lad, and your heroic companion, to
+get knowledge of our capture; how it is that fate seems to have
+singled you out to be my constant guardian-angel and deliverer. I
+trust that you will not refuse the explanations as you did on a
+former occasion. A man who has been thrice rescued from probable
+death, has good excuse for seeking to know all about the person who
+has delivered him."
+
+"I would much rather that Monsieur did not press me upon the point,"
+the boy replied in a low voice.
+
+"But I will, my heroic lad. I believe that we met somewhere before
+under different circumstances; for several times I have noticed a
+familiar accent in your voice."
+
+"It is only a delusion, Monsieur," she replied in the same low tone.
+"But, here is a bluff wherein we shall be likely to find some place
+to rest for a little;" and turning her horse, she led the way along a
+grassy lane which seemed, in the night, as regular as if it had been
+fashioned with human hands. As she halted and while her hand lay upon
+her horse's neck, she said:
+
+"I have a tent which I regret I cannot offer to share with you; but
+we can prepare a comfortable supper upon the grass; and you can rest
+cosily in the warmth of the fire." With these words she dismounted.
+
+In a few minutes the white of the tent loomed through the dusk; and
+presently a fire was roaring and scattering about a spray of scarlet
+sparks.
+
+Annette had some moments with Julie in the tent, while Stephens was
+busy making a comfortable resting-place for his wounded companion.
+
+"Julie, I cannot longer keep this secret; when we have eaten, I
+shall tell him. But oh! I think it will nearly kill me to do it. I am
+so ashamed; our dress, you know, Julie." And by the dull glimmer of
+the camp-fire Julie could see that her mistress' face was like a
+freshly-blown carnation.
+
+"I would not mind telling mon chef, ma maitresse; Monsieur Stephens
+will prize you all the more for your bravery. And then it is so
+becoming;" and this sweetest of maids looked admiringly at the
+exquisite curves and grace of outline in her mistress. And she came
+to her softly as a mouse, taking the still blushing face into her
+brown hands, and looking lovingly into the luminous eyes.
+
+"Ah Julie, your chief, or our own Metis, might admire us in this
+costume, but the ladies of Captain Stephens' acquaintance would
+shrink from doing that in which we see naught amiss. He may think it
+indelicate and--." Once more the blood came stinging with a thousand
+sharp points in her temples; but Julie interposed:
+
+"Nay, mademoiselle; if you have done anything unlike what white
+ladies do, it was for the sake of Captain Stephens; and if you did
+not adopt disguise, you could not have saved him."
+
+"True, sweet Julie; you fill me with courage;" and then she set
+about preparing the meal.
+
+Captain Stephens was amazed at the deftness with which the young
+scout prepared the repast; and he lay upon the grass, with his eyes
+rivetted upon the nimble, noiseless, graceful lad. It puzzled him
+that the mysterious youth should persistently keep his head averted,
+and he was the more strongly decided to discover his identity. When
+the meal was ended Annette whispered,
+
+"Julie will come with us; I never could tell him in the light of the
+fire." Then turning towards Captain Stephens, with eyes looking
+timidly down, "If monsieur will walk forth a little with me and mon
+frere, I shall tell him something."
+
+Certainly, he would go, and was upon his feet beside the mysterious
+boy, whose colour had now become most fitful, changing from pale
+olive to the dye of the damask rose. They went beyond the bluff, and
+out upon the prairie, Stephens marvelling much, though speaking no
+word, what the handsome boy had to say to him.
+
+"Monsieur," she began in a soft, trembling voice, "has wondered who
+I am, and thinks he has heard my voice before. He has heard it--at
+the cottage of my father."
+
+Captain Stephens turned around and gazed with amazement at the lad.
+
+"He has heard it elsewhere, too," Annette went on--"he heard it on
+the brimming river; he saved me from death below the chute."
+
+"Heavens, Annette Marton! Sweet, generous, noble girl, why had I not
+guessed the truth," and he stood rapt with gratitude and admiration
+before her. Kindly dusk of the starless prairie that hid the blushes
+and confusion of the girl!
+
+Then in a low tone, as they walked aimlessly about upon the plain,
+she told him the story of her adventures, all of which my reader
+already knows. Then they returned; and when they neared the camp
+fire, Annette with a shy little run disappeared into her tent,
+murmuring softly,
+
+"Au revoir, Monsieur."
+
+Her dreams were bewildering, yet delicious, that night; but there
+ran through them all a feeling of shame that he should have detected
+her in those unwomanly clothes. Indeed, the embarrassment went
+further than this; and once she imagined, the dear maiden, that she
+was by the edge of an amber-green pool fringed with rowan bushes and
+their vermillion berries, and that as she was about to step into it
+for a bath, there occurred what happened in the case of Artemis and
+her maids, the one upon whom her heart was set taking the place of
+Actaon. She gave a great scream and awoke, to find Julie sitting up
+and looking with wide affrighted eyes through the dusk at her
+mistress.
+
+"Oh, I had such a horrid dream, Julie," and nestling her head upon
+the bosom of her maid, she was soon asleep and wandering again in
+spirit with her lover through the prairie flowers.
+
+They were astir early in the morning, and Annette, as was the habit
+of the Metis women, had about her shoulders a blanket of Indian red
+and Prussian blue. [Footnote: It is customary for Metis women, even
+the most coquettish and pretty of them, to wear blankets; and the
+hideous "fashion" is the chief barbaric trait which they inherit from
+their wild ancestry. Annette, of course, donned the robe under a
+mental protest. E.C.] Captain Stephens had gone abroad upon the
+prairie in the morning, and with his pistol shot a pair of chickens.
+These he handed to Annette as he returned, saying,
+
+"Here my little hero deliverer; and take this, too," handing her a
+tiger lily, moist with dew. "Now, in what way can I assist the Cree
+boy who has twice saved my life?" and he looked wistfully into the
+eyes of the brown maiden.
+
+"If monsieur will just sit there upon the grass, petite and myself
+will get the meal;" and straightway she began to pluck and prepare
+the chickens which Stephens had given her. The sun burned through the
+cobalt blue of the prairie sky, and there was not anywhere in the
+great, blue dome an atom of cloud. The sun and the rays from the fire
+combined made the heat unbearable, and Annette with no little
+confusion laid by her blanket. Perceiving her discomfiture, Stephens
+arose and wandered about the prairie, picking flowers; and only
+returned in obedience to the call of Julie's little silver whistle.
+
+Very soon, the party was in motion along the trail, Annette leading,
+Captain Stephens riding in rear beside Phillips, who was again
+feverish with his wounds.
+
+They rode till the post meridian sun became too warm, and then
+obtaining shelter in a bluff, they lunched and rested for several
+hours. They then resumed their march and continued it till the set of
+sun. During the day Stephens rode frequently by the side of Annette,
+but she invariably made her horse mend its pace, and rode alone.
+Despite his admiring glances, and his deep expressions of gratitude,
+Stephens gradually began to resume his old playful manner of address.
+He referred to her as "the little Cree boy," and in speaking of her
+to Julie or Phillips, always used the word "he." Annette took no heed
+of this; she led the party through mazes of woodland, across
+stretches where there was no trail, or selected the camping-ground.
+
+"The moon rises to-night about twelve, monsieur," she said to
+Stephens when supper had been ended, "and we had better resume our
+march then. There is a Cree village not far from here, and the braves
+are everywhere abroad. I do not think that travelling by day would be
+safe; for all the Indians must have read the proclamation."
+
+About midnight a dusky yellow appeared in the south-east, and then
+the luminous, greenish-yellow rim of the moon appeared and began to
+flood the illimitable prairie with its wizard light.
+
+"So this miscreant has been hunting you, Annette?" said Stephens,
+for both had unconsciously dropped in rear. "I suppose, ma petite, if
+I had the right to keep you from the fans of the water-mill, that I
+also hold the right of endeavouring to preserve you from a man whose
+arms would be worse than the rending wheel?" She said nothing, but
+there was gratitude enough in her eye to reward one for the most
+daring risk that man ever ran.
+
+"You do not love this sooty persecutor, do you, ma chere?"--and
+then, seeing that such a question filled her with pain and shame, he
+said, "Hush now, petite; I shall not tease you any more." The
+confusion passed away, and her olive face brightened, as does the
+moon when the cloud drifts off its disc.
+
+"I am very glad. Oh, if you only knew how I shudder at the sound of
+his name!"
+
+"There now, let us forget about him," and reining his horse closer
+to hers, he leaned tenderly towards the girl. She said nothing, for
+she was very much confused. But the confusion was less embarrassment
+than a bewildered feeling of delight. Save for the dull thud, thud of
+the hoofs upon the sod, her companion might plainly have heard the
+riotous beating of the maiden's heart.
+
+"And now, about that flower which I gave you this morning. What did
+you do with it?"
+
+"Ah, Monsieur, where were your eyes? I have worn it in my hair all
+day. It is there now."
+
+"Oh, I see. I am concerned with your head,--not with your heart. Is
+that it, ma petite bright eye? You know our white girls wear the
+flowers we give them under their throats--upon their bosom. This they
+do as a sign that the donor occupies a place in their heart."
+
+He did not perceive in the dusky light that he was covering her with
+confusion. Upon no point was this maiden so sensitive, as the
+revelation that a habit or act of hers differed from that of the
+civilized girl. Her dear heart was almost bursting with shame, and
+this thought was running through her mind.
+
+"What a savage I must seem in his eyes." Her own outspoken words
+seemed to burn through her body. "But how could I know where to wear
+my rose? I have read in English books that gentle ladies wear them
+there." And these lines of Tennyson [Footnote: I must say here for
+the benefit of the drivelling, cantankerous critic, with a squint in
+his eye, who never looks for anything good in a piece of writing, but
+is always in the search for a flaw, that I send passages from
+Tennyson floating through Annette's brain with good justification.
+She had received a very fair education at a convent in Red River. She
+could speak and write both French and English with tolerable
+accuracy; and she could with her tawny little fingers, produce a true
+sketch of a prairie tree-clump, upon a sheet of cartridge paper, or a
+piece of birch rind. I am constrained to make this explanation
+because the passage appeared in another book of mine and evoked
+censure from one or two dismal wiseacres.--E.C.] came running through
+her head:
+
+  "She went by dale, and she went by down,
+  With a single rose _in her hair_."
+
+These gave her some relief, for she thought, after all, that he
+might be only jesting. When the blood had gone from her forehead, she
+turned towards her lover, who had been looking at her since speaking,
+with a tender expression in his mischievous eyes.
+
+"Do white girls never wear roses in their hair? I thought they did.
+Can it be wrong for me to wear mine in the same place?"
+
+"Ah, my little barbarian, you do not understand me. If an ancient
+bachelor, whose head shone like the moon there in the sky, were to
+give to some blithe young belle a rose or a lily, she would, most
+likely, twist it in her hair; but if some other person had presented
+the flower, one whose eye was brighter, whose step was quicker, whose
+laugh was cheerier, whose years were fewer; in short, ma chere
+Annette, if some one for whom she cared just a little more than for
+any other man that walked over the face of creation, had presented it
+to her, she would not put it in her hair. No, my unsophisticated one,
+she would feel about with her unerring fingers, for the spot nearest
+her heart, and there she would fasten the gift. Now, ma Marie,
+suppose you had possessed all this information when I gave you the
+flower, where would you have pinned it?"
+
+"Nobody has ever done so much for me as Monsieur. He leaped into the
+flood, risking his life to save mine. I would be an ungrateful girl,
+then, if I did not think more of him than of any other man;
+therefore, I would have pinned your flower on the spot nearest my
+heart."
+
+Then, deftly, and before he could determine what her supple arms and
+nimble brown fingers were about, she had disengaged the lily from her
+hair, and pinned it upon her bosom.
+
+"There now, Monsieur, is it in the right place?" and she looked at
+him with a glance exhibiting the most curious commingling of naivete
+and coquetry.
+
+"I cannot answer. I do not think that you understand me yet. If the
+act of saving you from drowning were to determine the place you
+should wear the rose, then the head, as you first chose, was the
+proper spot. Do you know what the word Love means?"
+
+"O, I could guess, perhaps, if I don't know. I have heard a good
+deal about it, and Violette, who is fond of a young Frenchman, has
+explained it so fully to me, that I think I know. Yes, Monsieur, I
+_do_ know."
+
+"Well, you little rogue, it takes one a long time to find out
+whether you do or not. In fact I am not quite satisfied on the point.
+However, let me suppose that you do know what love is; the all-consuming
+sort; the kind that sighs like the furnace. Well, supposing
+that a flower is worn over the heart only to express love of this
+sort, where would you, with full knowledge of this fact, have pinned
+the blossom that I plucked for you this morning?"
+
+"Since I do not understand the meaning of the word love with very
+great clearness,--I think Monsieur has expressed the doubt that I do
+understand it--I would not have known where to pin the flower. I
+would not have worn it at all. I would, Monsieur, if home, have set
+it in a goblet, and taking my stitching, would have gazed upon it all
+the day, and prayed my guardian angel to give me some hint as to
+where I ought to put it on."
+
+"You little savage, you have eluded me again. Do you remember me
+telling you that some day, if you found out for me a couple of good
+flocks of turkeys, I would bring you some coppers?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Well, if you discovered a hundred flocks now I would not give you
+one." And then he leaned towards her again as if his lips yearned for
+hers. For her part, she took him exactly as she should have done. She
+never pouted;--If she had done so, I fancy that there would have been
+soon an end of the boyish, sunny raillery.
+
+"Hallo! Petite, we are away, away in the rear. Set your horse going,
+for we must keep up with our escort." Away they went over the level
+plain, through flowers of every name and dye, the fresh, exquisite
+breeze bearing the scent of the myriad petals. After a sharp gallop
+over about three miles of plain, they overtook the main body of the
+escort, and all rode together through the glorious night, under the
+calm, bountiful moon.
+
+"When this journey is ended we shall rest for a few days at my
+uncle's, my brave Cree," Stephens said. "Running through the grounds
+is a little brook swarming with fish. Will you come fishing with me
+there, petite?"
+
+"Oui, avec grand plaisir, Monsieur."
+
+"Of course, you shall fish with a pin-hook. I am not going to see
+you catch yourself with a barbed hook, like that which I shall use"
+
+"Oh, Monsieur! Why will you always treat me as a baby!" and there
+was the most delicate, yet an utterly indescribable, sort of reproach
+in her voice and attitude, as she spoke these words.
+
+"Then it is not a baby by any means," and he looked with undisguised
+admiration upon the maiden, with all the mystic grace and the perfect
+development of her young womanhood. "It is a woman, a perfect little
+woman, a fairer, a sweeter, my own mignonnette, than any girl ever
+seen in these plains in all their history."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur is now gone to the other extreme. He is talking
+dangerously; for he will make me vain."
+
+"Does the ceaseless wooing of the sweet wild rose by soft winds,
+make that blossom vain? or is the moon spoilt because all the summer
+night ten thousand streams running under it sing its praises? As
+easy, Annette, to make vain the rose or the moon as to turn your head
+by telling your perfections."
+
+"Monsieur covers me with confusion!" and the little sweet told the
+truth. But it was a confusion very exquisite to her. It was like
+entrancing music in her veins; and gave her a delightful delirium
+about the temples. How fair all the glorious great round of the
+night, and the broad earth lit by the moon, seemed to her now, with
+the music of his words absorbing her body and soul. Everything was
+transfigured by a holy beauty, for Love had sanctified it, and
+clothed it in his own mystic and beautiful garments. It was with poor
+Marie, then, as it has some time or other been with us all: when
+every bird that sang, every leaf that whispered, had in its tone a
+cadence caught from the one loved voice. I have seen the steeple
+strain, and rock, and heard the bells peal out in all their
+clangorous melody, and I have fancied that this delirious ecstacy of
+sound that bathed the earth and went up to heaven was the voice of
+one sweet girl with dimples and sea-green eyes.
+
+The mischievous young Stephens had grown more serious than Annette
+had ever seen him before.
+
+"But, my little girl, what is to become of you during this period of
+tumult. It may continue long, and it is hard to say what the chances
+of war may have in store for your father."
+
+"I know not; though my heart is with the cause of my father and of
+his people, yet, I do not desire to see them triumph over your
+people. A government under the hateful chief would be intolerable;
+and whenever I can warn the white soldiers of danger, I shall do it."
+
+"What a hero you are Annette! How different from what I supposed on
+that day when I saw you sitting in your canoe in the midst of the
+racing flood."
+
+She was glad that Monsieur held what she had done in such high regard.
+
+"Why dear girl, the story of your bravery will be told by the
+writers of books throughout all Christendom. Ah, Annette, I shall be
+so lonely when you go from me!"
+
+Stephens was all the while growing more serious, and even becoming
+pathetic, which is a sign of something very delicious, and not
+uncommon, when you are travelling under a bewitching moon in company
+with a more bewitching maiden.
+
+But there was so much mischief in his nature that he would rebound
+at any moment from a mood of pathos or seriousness to one of levity.
+"Well, Annette," and he leaned yearningly towards her, "when you
+leave me to take the chances of this tumultuous time, the greatest
+light that I have known will have gone out of my life."
+
+"When I am absent from Monsieur, perhaps he never thinks of me."
+
+"What a little ingrate it is! Yesterday morning, while you were
+getting breakfast, I was upon the prairie, doing--what think you?"
+
+How was Annette to know?
+
+"Well, I was making verses about ma petite. I was describing her
+eyes, and her ears, and all her beautiful face."
+
+"Oh, Monsieur!" and again came the blood to her face till her cheeks
+rivalled the crimson dye of the vetch at their ponies' feat. Then in
+a little,
+
+"What did Monsieur say about my ears? They are like those of all the
+Metis girls; and I do not think that they are as pretty as Julie's."
+
+Then he replied with the lines,
+
+"Shells of rosy pink and silver are most like her dainty ears;
+Shells wherein the fisher maiden the sad Nereid's singing hears."
+
+"Oh, indeed Monsieur, my ears are not at all beautiful like that;
+indeed they're not." Then slightly changing her tone, "Perhaps le
+capitaine made these about some white maiden whose ears _are_, like
+that."
+
+"What an ungrateful little creature it is!"
+
+"No, but Monsieur cannot make me believe that my ears resemble
+shells, coloured in pink and silver. In his heart he is comparing my
+brown skin with the snow-white complexions of some of his Caucasian
+girls, and thinking how horrid mine is."
+
+"Why, you irreconcilable little wretch, it is your complexion that
+most of all I adore. It is not 'brown;' who told you that it was? The
+colour of your skin I described in these lines, though you do not
+deserve that I should repeat them to you:"
+
+"In the sunny, southern orchard fronting on some tawny beach,
+Exquisite with silky softness hangs the downy silver peach; But as
+dainty as the beauty of the bloom whereof I speak--Rain, nor sun, nor
+frost can change it--is the bloom on Annette's cheek."
+
+"Oh, monsieur! I do not know what to say, if you really made these
+verses about me. If you did, they are not true; I am sure they are
+not;" and her confusion was a most exquisite sight to see.
+
+"But I have not described your eyes yet; here are the two lines that
+I made about them:
+
+   "Annette's eyes are starlight mingled with the deepest dusk of
+  night;--
+  Eyes with lustre rich and glorious like some sweet, warm, southern
+  light."
+
+"Oh, no, no, monsieur, they are not true; I don't want you to say
+any more of them to me," and she put her hand over her face; for the
+dear little one's embarrassment was very great.
+
+"That is all I wrote about you; but I may write some more. You say,
+petite, that they are not true. I confess that they are not--true
+enough. Why, sweet, brave, and most lovely of girls, they fall far
+short of showing your merits in the full. I have so far tried to
+explain only what is beautiful in your face; but, darling, you have a
+nobleness of soul that no language of mine could describe.
+
+"I believe, my heroic love, that you have regarded yourself as a
+mere plaything in my eyes. Why, ma chere, all of my heart you have
+irrevocably. One of your dear hands is more precious to me, than any
+other girl whom mine eyes have ever seen. Do you remember the
+definition of love that I tried to give you? Well, I gave it from my
+own experience. With such a love, my prairie flower, do I adore you.
+It is fit now that we are so soon to part, that I should tell you
+this: and you will know that every blow I strike, every noble deed I
+do, shall be for the approbation of the dear heart from whom fate
+severs me. And though the hours of absence will be dreary there will
+lie beyond the darkest of them one hope which shall blaze like a star
+through the night, and this is, that I shall soon be able to call my
+Annette my own sweet bride. Now, my beloved, if that wished-for time
+had come, and I were to say, 'Will you be mine, Annette,' what would
+your answer be?"
+
+"I did not think it was necessary for Monsieur to ask me that
+question," she answered shyly, her beautiful eyes cast down; "I
+thought he knew."
+
+"My own little hunted pet!" He checked his horse, and seized the
+bridle of Annette's pony, till the two animals stood close together.
+Then he kissed the girl upon her dew-wet lips, murmuring low,
+
+"My love!"
+
+Later on, they were in sight of the spot where they must part, and
+Phillips and Julie were awaiting them there. The light of the moon
+was wan now upon the prairie, for the dawn was spreading in silver
+across the eastern sky.
+
+"My beloved must run no more risk, even for me," he said, leaning
+tenderly towards her.
+
+She would be prudent, but she would always for his sake warn his
+friends of danger when she had knowledge of the same.
+
+Again he breathed a low "Good-bye, my love," his eyes wistful,
+mournful and tender; and with Phillips at his side, then rode down a
+small gorge at the bottom of which were tangles of cedar and larch.
+
+And as they rode suspecting naught of danger, several Indians hidden
+in the draggled bush arose and stealthily followed them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FIGHT; A CAPTURE; AND THE GUARDIAN SWAN.
+
+
+ANNETTE with a tear in the corner of each eye, and Julie at her
+side, rode on till the two came within sight of the shining waters of
+the indolent Saskatchewan. As they rode leisurely along its banks,
+Annette, now sighing and now Julie, they heard the trample of hoofs,
+and turning saw approaching an Indian chief, well mounted.
+
+"Ah, your chef, ma petite," Annette said, looking at Julie.
+
+But Julie was well aware who the fast riding stranger was; and she
+was covered with the most becoming of blushes when her lover drew
+rein beside them.
+
+"No time; Indians in pursuit of you. I said I would come ahead of
+braves to keep watch upon your movements. Ride to the south, and
+unless you find good bluffs to the east, don't rest till you reach
+Souris." And he was about to go; but Julie, who had quietly managed
+to so work her left heel as to make her horse perform a right pass
+till its side touched that of the chief's pony, turned towards him,
+her face having the expression of a large note of interrogation,
+which if put in words would say, Are you going away without giving
+your Julie a kiss? while her lips would remind you of the half-opened
+rose that awaits the hovering shower.
+
+The chief may have interpreted the mute and delicious appeal, but he
+was too full of alarm to accept the invitation, even though he could
+have conquered his sense of delicacy enough to do it before Annette.
+
+"There now, I must be away, he said; and you must be off too." Julie
+put down her head till her chin touched her bosom; but she turned her
+dusky eyes up towards her lover with irresistible effect, as she said,
+
+"Won't you before you go? Ma maitresse will not mind." It is not in
+the nature of man, even before the cannon's mouth, to resist such an
+appeal as there was upon the half-pouting, half-yearning lips of that
+Metis girl. He stooped suddenly, kissed her once, twice, thrice, and
+then was away.
+
+Annette and Julie at the same moment turned their horses, and rode
+at a swift pace along the Saskatchewan; but they had barely started
+when a shower of fierce yells came to them, and turning in their
+saddles they saw a band of painted savages not more than five hundred
+paces distant, mounted on fleet ponies, and making for them at high
+speed. As for Julie's chief there was nothing to be seen of him.
+
+"Where can the chief have gone, ma maitresse? Will the braves not
+know that he has played them false? Oh it was so selfish not to think
+of him;" and she turned again in her saddle, and once more scanned
+the plains for sight of her lover.
+
+"Julie need not fear for the chief. He is very likely in that
+cottonwood bluff near where we parted."
+
+"He could hide safely there, think you mademoiselle?" and she gave
+her reins a joyous fling. Then in an altered tone, "But he must think
+me indifferent, that I did not ask him how he was to conceal from the
+braves knowledge of what he had done."
+
+"There is not much fear that he will think petite indifferent,"
+Annette replied in a playful tone. "A sweet girl that asks a lover to
+kiss her is not _indifferent_."
+
+"Oh, there now, mademoiselle; please don't! Oh, it was such a
+dreadful thing for me to do. Perhaps he will not like me for it;" and
+this wretched darling was the colour of a new-blown poppy.
+
+"Why, Julie, they are closing upon us," Annette exclaimed, as she
+turned to look at the pursuers. "Their ponies are fresh, and our
+horses cannot keep up a long run, I fear. Spur on, Julie," and the
+girls put their horses at the top of their speed.
+
+"There, we are holding our distance now Julie; and I think gaining a
+little," she added after a few moments. "See, some of their ponies
+are falling out of the chase," and a glance revealed four savages now
+several hundred yards in advance of the main body which were
+evidently unwilling to join further in the pursuit.
+
+"These four Julie, must in the end overtake us. Note their lithe,
+large ponies, and what a buoyant spring they have."
+
+"How soon, mademoiselle, will they catch us? and what will we do
+then?"
+
+"You must not ask two questions at once, Julie. I mean, you must not
+get frightened. As to the first question,"--the sentences were now
+and again broken by the swift galloping--"they will catch us probably
+in half an hour."
+
+"Oh, goodness," Julie said.
+
+"As to the second, we must fight them."
+
+"Mon Dieu, they will kill us mademoiselle."
+
+"Perhaps; but they will have to try hard. See yon valley with the
+tangles of bush?"
+
+"Oui, mademoiselle."
+
+"I know that valley. Was there once with mon pere. Unless they keep
+directly upon our trait, I shall lead them into a pretty mess."
+Altering her course, suddenly, for a bluff intervened and hid the
+movements of the girls from the savages, Annette followed by Julie
+made rapidly for the bottom of the valley, crossing through a belt of
+straggling cedar and larches, and then held her way along the skirt
+of the opposite ridge.
+
+Faint, far-off yells told the girls that they had been again
+discovered, but they had the consolation of knowing that their
+pursuers must have lost almost a quarter of a mile. But the best part
+of the matter was that, as Annette had expected and planned, the
+Indians descended into the valley at a point much higher than that
+chosen by the pursued. They knew not of the stretch of quaking,
+treacherous bog, with its population of designing beaver; indeed,
+they would be certain to be lured by the bright, glittering green of
+the liverwort that clad the level where the ground was most
+unsubstantial.
+
+Although I am not certain as to the prevalence of this weed in the
+swampy places of the North-West, I can affirm that I have scarcely
+ever seen a very dangerous quagmire that has not been covered with
+this exquisite little plant; and if I could credit the stories of the
+nursery, I would be able to believe that those malignant fairies who
+live about dangerous springs and shaking swamps, cover the ground
+with these dainty sprays of green to lure men to their destruction.
+Perhaps the fairies were as interested in the fortunes of Annette and
+Julie as, at my heart, I am; and that they decked this swamp in its
+cover of glistering green to hide the death beneath.
+
+Well, whether the fairies did this thing or not, the savages were
+taking such a course that, in order to regain the trail of the
+fugitives, they must cross some portion of the treacherous bog.
+Annette's eye was upon their movements now.
+
+"Pull rein, Julie;" and both brought their horses to a standstill.
+
+"Well, ma maitresse, what now?" and the pet's hands trembled, and
+the roses were out of her cheek.
+
+"See; they near the swamp, and will be able, after a struggle, to
+get through it. Now, Julie, I wish to ride down when they get fairly
+in the toils; but I would prefer that you should go in the direction
+we were pursuing. If everything is right, I shall soon overtake you."
+
+"Oh, I go with ma chere maitresse, to do whatever she does."
+
+"Brava, Julie; I do not think we have much to fear. Ha, they are in
+the toils. In fifteen minutes they will be out. Let us away." While
+she guided her horse with her bridle hand, Julie perceived her
+unbutton her holster pipe, and seize and cock a Colt's revolver.
+
+"I have one, too," muttered Julie; "so I guess I'll do the same
+thing." Not a bit of cowardice did the sweet exhibit now.
+
+They were now within a hundred paces of that portion of the swamp
+wherein the braves were tangled. And if ever savages, or anything
+else, were in a mess, these painted warriors now were. They had
+reached the centre of the bog, and were floundering in it up to their
+horses' bellies. Their excitement was so intense that they had eyes
+for no other place than the spot where their horses floundered and
+writhed; and did not notice the approach of the fugitives. Nay, the
+two had reached the very edge of the quagmire before the Indians
+noticed the Cree boys. The yell that then went up from their throats
+was most comical.
+
+Annette's arm was extended, and her revolver was pointed at the
+nearest savage; seeing which, Julie drew hers, and covered the next
+brave. But before she had the lid over her left eye, Annette had
+fired, and fired to effect, for the brave had gone over upon his
+back, and sprawled and splashed among the liverwort and the bog.
+
+Julie next fired, and when she saw, as the result of her shot, the
+arm of the savage hang useless at his side, she cried--
+
+"Bon, bon!" and cocked her pistol again.
+
+"We must wing them, Julie," Annette said, who had her arm extended
+once again. "I don't like to kill the wretches." Then came a voice
+crying from the swamp, in dismal Cree--
+
+"Don't fire any more; we won't follow the little scouts. We swear it
+by the Sun, and by the God of Thunder;" and laying his hand upon his
+hatchet, the terrified wretch faced the Sun and swore the oath: then
+turning towards the clouds wherein the Thunder God resides, he
+repeated his avowal with the same forms and solemnity of gesture.
+Still Annette kept her arm extended.
+
+"The braves talk with forked tongues, and we do not believe them,"
+she replied, in the Cree language.
+
+"But we have sworn it," the miserable savage replied, in a doleful
+voice.
+
+"False men, swearing by false gods!" Annette replied. "No; we will
+not trust them. But let the braves listen. We do not want to kill
+them, and have decided to wing them instead."
+
+"Oh, oh!" groaned the poor red-skins.
+
+"There is no time to lose; the braves must not hide behind their
+ponies in that way, or we shall be obliged to fire at their bodies
+and kill them. They must come out so that we can shoot them in the
+legs."
+
+The reader who has reached this point will likely say, "Well, Mr.
+Author, you are a bright individual. Why did not the Indians fire?"
+The truth is, they had no firearms, being supplied only with hatchets
+and spears; and they were not aware that the scouts had pistols.
+
+"But we have nothing more to fear from them, mademoiselle," Julie
+said, "wherefore need we fire at them?"
+
+"Nor do I intend to do so, Julie; I am only bent now on so
+frightening them that they will no more attempt pursuit. Moreover, I
+am anxious that they shall convey tidings of our bloodthirstiness
+among all the tribes; for when such rumour obtains circulation, we
+shall be harassed less by pursuit."
+
+"C'est bien, ma maitresse; c'est bien."
+
+"No more delay," shouted Annette. "Let the two braves stand up," But
+each one lay close under the lee of a struggling horse, holding the
+animal fast by the head, in order to keep him sure in the swamp.
+
+"Put you up your pistol, Julie; leave this work to me." And once
+more presenting her little round, ferocious arm, she fired, hitting
+one of the shielding horses upon the fore shoulder. Maddened with
+pain, the brute flung himself out of his predicament, and left the
+Indian exposed, upon which Annette immediately fired. The savage
+uttered a terrible cry, flung up his arms, and fell without a move
+among the liverwort.
+
+"Did you kill him, after all, mademoiselle?"
+
+"No, Julie; the wretch is only shamming. I fired yards away from
+him. Now let the other brave stand up, or the same fate awaits him,"
+the girl cried; and, presenting a picture of abject terror, the
+unfortunate redskin, who believed the third one shot at to be dead,
+drew himself out of his covert, and, putting his leg upon the horse,
+exposed himself to the pistol. Once more the bloodthirsty little
+scout fired, and with an agonized yell, the Indian sprawled in the
+marsh-mire. His leg he seized just above the knee, as if the bullet
+had entered at that point.
+
+"Is he hit?" whispered Julie.
+
+"No, silly petite; he is also making believe. How well the two
+rascals act their part. See the one playing dead. Well, we shall wait
+long enough to see his imposture exposed. He is sinking fast in the
+quagmire. His head is almost under now." She had scarce ceased, when
+the redskin gave a convulsive start, resembling a dying spasm, and
+got once more safely above the hungry swamp.
+
+"He will continue to have the spasms right along," Julie whispered,
+"while we stay here."
+
+"Yes; but for the sake of the two wounded ones--I believe mine is
+badly hurt--we shall ride away. But we must keep watch to-night,
+Julie. I believe these two men will follow; and if they find us
+sleeping, they will brain us." Then, turning to the tangle of
+struggling horses and Indians, she said in a stern voice--
+
+"Some of you may only pretend that you have been wounded, and
+purpose following us. But we shall keep strict watch, and woe unto
+any one of you that we catch in pistol range again. We now leave
+you." With these words the two sanguinary girls turned their horses,
+and briskly rode away.
+
+"What idiots they must have been to follow without fire-arms," Julie
+said.
+
+"Had we been armed only with hatchets, how different the case would
+have been, enfant naif. You, child, may have considered this shedding
+of blood unnecessary, and therefore cruel."
+
+Oh, no; Julie did not think it so. La maitresse knew better than she
+did.
+
+"But there was only the choice between taking the method adopted,
+and openly meeting the four Indians on _terra firma_, when probably all
+the savages would have been killed; or, in the hurried shooting, we
+might have missed the mark, and been cloven or speared."
+
+"Where shall my mistress camp to-night?"
+
+"I know an extensive bluff, and we could penetrate it far enough to
+be tolerably safe from the braves."
+
+When the upper rim of the sun burned like a semi-circlet of yellow,
+quivering flame, above the far flat prairie, the girls turned their
+horses towards a stretch of sombre wood that stood like a vast and
+solemn congregation of cloaked men upon the level.
+
+It was not considered prudent that night to kindle a fire; for one
+wandering spark might prove a signal to the foe. So they ate their
+meal, and Julie rolled herself up in her blanket, while Annette
+seated herself outside of the tent to keep vigil during the first
+watch.
+
+"My mistress must not let me sleep too long; she ought not to sit up
+at all. What did I come for--if--not--to--to--." Here the tired,
+drowsy pet stopped, for she was asleep.
+
+Annette sat upon her blanket, and heard no sound save the breaking
+of the grass and the grinding of the horses' teeth, as the hungry
+beasts fed. Her heart was not in the wood; it was away with her
+lover, and once more her blood tingled, and a delicious sensation
+made her heart warm as the words which he spoke when they rode
+together passed through her brain.
+
+"Oh, what nice verses he made about my eyes and ears, and my skin.
+Ah, if he were only playing with me." An arrow now quivered for a
+moment in her heart. "But no; he has the two ways--he can be playful,
+and say all manner of teazing things; but, oh, he can be sincere. He
+never could have spoken in such a tone, with such a light in his
+eyes, with such an expression in his face, if all had not come from
+the bottom of his heart. And he will take me away, away out to the
+far east, where white men dwell, and put into some great mansion,
+and make me its mistress. Oh, it will be all so sweet. But the
+dearest part of all is that he will love me, and me alone. How proud
+I shall be that no other girl can say, that his heart is hers.
+
+"Ah, Annette, just for your sweet sake, I trust that the future over
+which your heart now gloats will fit itself to such a dream. I think,
+somehow, that it will; for he seems true, and, darling, you are
+worthy. But you know it does not always happen in the way that you
+have fashioned it in your dear head. Some other girl _does_
+sometimes come with sly, soft feet and steal away hearts from
+trusting and adoring wives, and they have no remorse either in doing
+the cruel deed. Indeed, believe me, I have known them in their heart
+to glory that they had done this thing. You will, therefore, have to
+take your chance."
+
+While Annette was in the midst of her reverie, her round dimpled
+cheek resting on her hands, one of the horses tossed his head and
+whinnied. "Julie, awake," she cried, quickly touching the sleeping
+girl; and then seizing her pistol took position behind a tree,
+whispering Julie to join her there. And as that frightened maiden
+hurried out from her warm nest, a voice came through the poplars
+saying,
+
+"Fear not, Little Poplar comes."
+
+"It is _his_ voice, Mademoiselle," and immediately the sleep flew out of
+Julie's eyes, and left them luminous as the stars shining beyond the
+tree-tops.
+
+"The chief is welcome," Annette replied; and Julie was upon her feet
+making a little voyage now in this direction, and now in that, in the
+endeavour to find him. All the while she kept saying, "This way! this
+way!" but in a tone so low that he could not have heard her at a
+distance of ten lengths of this small maiden. At last his tall,
+straight figure, resembling in very truth a little poplar, was seen
+moving towards the tent; and with a shy run Julie was at his side.
+
+"I followed the four braves who were bent on your capture, and saw
+the affair in the swamp. When you rode away, one whom I supposed
+dead, arose and joined with another whose leg I had thought was
+broken in getting out the horses. One brave was really dead, and he
+has by this time sunk in the bog. A fourth had a broken arm, and he
+went away with the other two. They will not pursue again, so you may
+sleep in peace till the rise of sun. I shall put my blanket here.
+Should one approach, the ears of Little Poplar are as keen while the
+spirit of sleep hovers over him as while he is awake."
+
+Julie's dreams were very happy that night.
+
+On the morrow Little Poplar informed them that his heart was not now
+as much with the white people as it had been some little time ago. He
+was aware that the braves were for the most part unreasonable, and
+that they were easily led into wrong as well as to right doing.
+
+"They have, I admit, committed some excesses; but it never can be
+forgotten that strangers have taken possession of their hunting
+grounds, and that, if they have no substitute to offer, the red
+children of the plains must die. My tongue could not tell,
+mademoiselle, nor your brain conceive, the sufferings that I have
+seen among our people in the long bitter winters, with only the snow
+for wrappers, and pieces of dried skins for food. Will the white man
+die of hunger while food is within his reach? No, he will beg it
+first, and then he will take by violence; but I have seen the young
+maiden and the withered crone gasp their last breath away upon the
+snow, while ranches teeming with cattle lay not an hour's march away.
+
+"If an Indian, with a wife, and a lodge full of children dying on a
+bitter winter's day of hunger, turn a calf from some nigh herd of
+white man's cattle, alarming tidings fly to the east, and white men
+and women learn, in their sumptuous houses, that the Indians do
+naught but plunder. But they would have no need, I repeat, to lay
+hands upon the ranchers' cattle if the white man had not come and
+stripped them of their boundless heritage, and put them upon
+reservations where a buffalo may never come. [Footnote: The words in
+the mouth of this chief are not exaggerations, and it is God's own
+truth that during late winters dozen after dozen of Indians, men and
+women and children, perished in the snow after they had devoured the
+skins that covered them. Yet these poor people are said to be under
+"the paternal care of Government." Alas, our public men are only
+concerned in playing their wretched political game, and they sit
+intriguing, while the helpless creatures committed to their care
+perish like dogs, of hunger, in their lodges.--E.C.]
+
+"And some of the soldiers who have come here from the east are more
+bent on earning reputation than on making peace. Some of their
+leaders do not want the cheap glory of 'killing a lot of Indians;'
+and I have with my own ears heard one of the Ontario magistrates,
+Col. Denison, declare that he did next come here to kill, but to
+prevent killing. If military affairs were now to be given into the
+hands of some men like him it would prove better for all concerned.
+
+"But there is another officer, Major Beaver, who has made amazing
+marches; his men, in fact, have travelled like March hares. But give
+me a bluff, and fifty braves, and not one of all his rash and rushing
+followers will get back again to Ontario to boast of their deeds of
+daring.
+
+"Some of our men have been guilty of excesses, but Government gave
+them its solemn pledge that if they returned to their reserves no
+harm should come to them. All of my braves have gone back, because I
+gave them the assurance that some of the officers gave to me. Yet, if
+I mistake not, Major Beaver is at this moment planning an attack upon
+us. His young men want to kill a few Indians, provided the thing can
+be done without any risk; and then they will be described as great
+heroes in the newspapers. They would fare very badly if they had to
+return without having 'a brush,' as the more war-like of them have
+put it, in the hearing of some of my friends."
+
+"Yes, mon chef," Annette replied, "but you say that Colonel Denison
+and others advocate a healing of the present sores, and pacific
+measures. Then there are others who have always sympathized with the
+Indian, like Mr. Mair. Mon pere tells me that he has been for some
+time engaged on a beautiful poem, intended to show the injustice that
+has been heaped upon the children of the plains. With good counsels
+like these, surely no outrage will be done unto your people."
+
+"And now, where do the two brave scouts purpose going?" the chief
+enquired, as they came in sight of a small settlement nestling around
+the edge of a coil in the Saskatchewan.
+
+Annette was going to see her aunt, and Julie was coming with her.
+They would remain there for a day or two to rest, and then they would
+go wherever their services were needed most.
+
+"Oh! not to mademoiselle's aunt's. Le grand chef and his followers
+have twice been there looking for the scouts, and he has spies among
+the neutral braves who would speedily bring him the news of your
+arrival."
+
+"Then, what would the chief advise? Our hampers are exhausted now,
+and we must replenish them."
+
+The chief would go after the gopher had sought his burrow, and fetch
+all that the maidens needed. Beyond a wooded knoll, plain to the
+view, was a lake, and in the wood skirting the water would be a
+suitable camping ground. The chief advised the maidens to ride
+thither, as they must now be tired and hungry; he would fetch them
+the provisions and other things needed when the stars came out.
+Annette then scribbled a note to her aunt, and mentioned those little
+things that she needed. She would some day show her gratitude to sa
+tante for her kindness, and "made" her love and duties as girls of
+her race do with such grace. And the chief was away.
+
+"Is Julie very tired?"
+
+"Pas beaucoup, mademoiselle. If you want not to pitch tent now, I
+should be well able to ride for a couple of hours yet."
+
+"I want to hear what tidings there may be of Captain Stephens,
+Julie," and her voice trembled a little. "I do not think that the
+braves who go in and out of the village can all be hostile. Those who
+are up to mischief have their paint on."
+
+Turning their horses towards the village, they perceived two braves
+riding towards them.
+
+"I think I know one of these, Julie. Is not the taller one he who
+brought us the proclamation of le grand chef?"
+
+"Oh, yes; the very one. How quick ma maitresse is in remembering
+persons." The Indian rode rapidly towards the two little scouts, and
+as he drew near he raised his hand.
+
+"It is not safe down here," he said, in Cree, "for the scouts. A
+runner from the Stonies saw you both, and Little Poplar with you,
+this morning, and swiftly carried the news. It is likely that le
+grand chef knows of it before this. Little Poplar, who is now
+disguised as a medicine man, is yonder in the valley, and he charged
+me to come and warn the two scouts, his friends, to follow out the
+instructions that he gave them without any delay. He has got some
+tidings, too, about Stephens, le capitaine. Not good tidings, I
+think; a brave saw several of le chef's men steal after him down the
+Valley of the Snakes."
+
+A short cry escaped from Annette's lips, and the blood shrunk
+chilled to her heart.
+
+"Are there any tidings of a capture?"
+
+"No; perhaps le capitaine escaped. Upon clear ground the white men's
+horses could easily outdistance the braves, who, it is said, were not
+mounted."
+
+Unsatisfactory as this intelligence was, it left room to hope. But
+the beauty of the silvery lake, with its fringe of berried bushes;
+the scolding of the kingfisher as he gadded from one riven tree to
+another; the goblin laughter [Footnote: I borrow this most expressive
+phrase from my friend, Prof. Roberts, as vividly descriptive of the
+cry of the loon. John Burroughs applies the epithet "whinny," which
+is good; but it misses the sense of supernatural terror with which,
+to me, the cry of this bird in the moonlight is always associated.]
+of the stately loon, as he held his way across the wide stretch of
+shining, richly tinted water, might all as well have never been; for
+Annette saw them not. Julie was busy trying to cheer her.
+
+"Be not down at heart, sweet my mistress. These territories are now
+invested by numerous soldiers from the East, and tidings of this
+capture, if such there has been, would speedily reach them. Throw
+away your care, and rest to-night. With the sun we shall rise to-morrow,
+ourselves restored, our horses fresh, and ascertain the facts.
+Inspector Dicken will know; and him we can reach in a two hours'
+ride."
+
+"Sweet girl, in the hour of pain you always can give me consolation.
+Indians have also skulked after us; and it may be that the braves
+were only watching whither Captain Stephens went."
+
+"My view precisely, mademoiselle; but we shall talk no more about it
+now. Sit beside me here upon the bank, and look at the peace and the
+beauty of all this scene." Under the shadow of the bank, with its
+matted growth of trees, the water was a pure myrtle green; midway in
+the expanse it was purple, and beyond, in the last faint light of the
+sun, it was an exquisite violet. The sand at their feet alternated in
+veins of umber brown, and ashes of roses; while the vermillion of the
+rowan berries made a vivid and gorgeous contrast to the glaucous
+green of the leafage.
+
+Little ripples came upon the bright, pink sand that fringed the
+unvarying tide-mark.
+
+"What causes the ripple now, Julie, when no breath of wind is in the
+heavens, and neither oar nor paddle is on the lake?"
+
+"Stay; I thought that I heard it a moment ago! Yes, I hear it again.
+Hear you not the note of some waterfowl?"
+
+Yes, Annette did hear it; but she could not say from what kind of
+bird the singing came.
+
+"Well, my sweet mistress, the ripples which you now see swinging in
+upon the sand come from the same bird whose song you hear. The bird
+itself is the swan, made sacred to love."
+
+"Oh, I remember something of the legend, Julie. Repeat it to me,
+s'il vous plait."
+
+"Well; there was once a beautiful maiden of the plains, whom many of
+the bravest and most noble of the chiefs adored; but she disdained
+their wooing, for she loved with a passion that absorbed her soul and
+body a young man with hair like the corn leaves when, after rain, the
+sunlight is shot through the stalks. He stayed some days in the lodge
+of the chief, her father; and while his heart was yet full of love
+for the peach-skinned, star-eyed maiden, he was obliged to go away
+with his white brethren, who had come from over seas to trace the
+source and flow of some of our mighty rivers. The parting of the
+lovers was like the breaking of heart-strings. The maiden pined, and
+through all the summer sat among the flowers sighing for her darling
+with the amber-tinted hair. Her sleep refreshed her not, for through
+the night she dreamt of naught but the parting, and of the sorrow in
+his sky-blue eyes. In the day, her eyes were ever looking wistfully
+along the trail by which he had come, or gazing, with a woe past
+skill to describe, out along the stretch by which he had gone from
+her sight. Late in the autumn, when the petals of the rose and the
+daisy began to fall, and summer birds prepared for the flight to the
+south, the Great Spirit came softly down from a cumulus cloud and
+stood beside the maiden, as she sat upon the fading prairie. He told
+her of a glorious land out in the heavens, where spring endured for
+ever, and true lovers were joined to have no more parting; and when
+she looked yearningly towards the region at which he pointed, he
+asked her if she would go thither with him. With joy unutterable she
+consented, and giving her hand into his, the two rose in the air and
+disappeared through a piled mass of rosy cloud. When she reached
+paradise, knowledge was given to her of the loves of maidens upon the
+earth, and reflecting how bitter her lot had been, she besought the
+God of Thunder, and the Ruler of the Spheres, to permit her to pass a
+portion of each year upon the earth, in order to watch over and
+console love-sick virgins who were separated from their betrothed. To
+her request the god consented, giving to the maiden the figure of a
+swan. Since that time she visits the earth a short time after
+midsummer day; and you can hear her singing upon our great inland
+waters during the night, at any place between the lonesome stretches
+of the far north to the great southern lakes, from the middle of
+summer till the first golden gleam comes in the maple leaf. Then she
+arises, and the hunter marvels at the beautiful bird with the white
+pinions which flies up into the heavens, and passes beyond the
+highest clouds."
+
+"Harken now, mademoiselle; it sings again." And lo! from over the
+hushed face of the water came the notes of the guardian maiden.
+
+"The song is not plaintive and sorrow-laden, as I have been told the
+swan's song is, Julie."
+
+"No; the singing of the swan soothes and consoles. Hark again to it."
+
+"Oh, it is divine, Julie, and creeps into my heart, filling me with
+comfort and exquisite peace."
+
+"I doubt not, mademoiselle, that the maiden came to this lake to
+cheer your sorrowful spirit, and to give you surety that neither you
+nor your lover stand in danger."
+
+"Ah, Julie; it is so sweet to think this. And this it is which the
+song tells me through the delightful quiet of my heart."
+
+"Yes, my sweet mistress; and I had forgotten the most delicious
+tidings in the legend. The maiden's singing is always a guarantee
+that no harm can come to either of the lovers." And while Annette was
+feasting her spirit upon this new joy, the song of the swan, which
+for a minute or two had been hushed, suddenly was resumed close by;
+and looking, the two maidens saw a bird, beautiful, and endowed with
+grace of motion past description, move by, sending divers shining
+rings of water before it. Then a sudden darkness fell and hid the
+bird; but the song came at frequent intervals to the girls from the
+midst of the lake, and whenever a shadow passed over Annette's
+spirit, the singing was resumed. [Footnote: There is a legend among
+some of the Indian tribes of the North-West territories that the swan
+is a metamorphosed love-sick maiden, whose function and prerogative is
+to watch over all young virgins who have given away their hearts. It
+is a fact that the Indian hunters long refrained from killing the
+white swan in deference to a belief in this legend.--E.C.]
+
+There was now a stir among the brambles near the girl's tent, and to
+Annette's "Qui vive?" came the response--
+
+"It is Little Poplar."
+
+"Oh, I am so glad that he is come," Julie said, and the eyes of this
+minx grew instantly larger, and ten times more bright.
+
+Some of my fair readers may now desire to know "exactly" what this
+Indian chief, who is so conspicuous in the story "looked like." Well,
+he was just such a man as always finds an easy access to a woman's
+heart. It is true that he was "a savage," but if merit there be in
+"blood,"--and for my own part I would not have a dog unless I was
+sure about his pedigree,--he was descended of a long and illustrious
+line of chiefs, whose ancestors, mayhap, were foremost in that
+splendid civilization, that has left us an art mighty and full of
+wonders, centuries before the destroying sails of Cortez were spread
+upon the deep.
+
+He was tall, and straight, and lithe; and he had a certain
+indefinable grace of gesture and address which fits itself only to
+one who, by descent and breeding, has been "to the manner born." His
+hair was dark, and almost silky fine; and the poise of his head would
+be a theme for the pen or the pencil of Rossetti. His eye was dark as
+night, but it revealed an immense range of expression; a capacity for
+great tenderness, and passion without bound. His nose approximated
+the aquiline type; his firm mouth was a bow of Cupid, and his skin
+was a light nut-brown. His dress was like that of a cow-boy, and was
+devoid of barbaric gauds. I suppose that is enough to say about him.
+[Footnote: I may say that when afterwards, through the fortunes of
+war, this same chief was brought as a prisoner before a certain
+paunchy officer, the attempt of the latter to show his dignity was a
+clumsy failure. The proud and splendid chief, with arms folded across
+his breast, and head slightly bowed, looked singularly out of place
+arraigned before the stumpy judge.--E. C.]
+
+"And now," said the chief, putting down the hamper, "We shall see
+what your aunt has sent." Nimble fingers soon opened it, and found,
+besides le cafe and le the, as they were labelled, several petits
+pains--"Rolls!" cried Julie, smacking her hungry lips--a bunch of
+saucisses; of le fromage about a pound, and of la patisserie enough
+for a meal for the hungry girls.
+
+"There now, Julie, we have coffee, and tea, and rolls, and sausage;
+a pound of cheese, fully, and pie enough for one delicious meal." Her
+sweet mouth was "watering," and when she came to un gigot de mouton,
+she cried, "What a sweet aunt she is! But when can we eat this whole
+leg of mutton?"
+
+Oh, Julie was very hungry, and so was her chief; and Annette herself
+was like a bear. After all, very little would be left for the prairie
+dog.
+
+"Does the chief think that Captain Stephens was in danger of capture
+by those Indians?" Annette ventured to ask. This is the question that
+had been upon her lips since the arrival of the chief, but she could
+not summon courage enough to ask it sooner.
+
+"When last seen, mademoiselle, le capitaine and his wounded friend
+were moving slowly through the swampy bottom of the ravine; and many
+braves, with arms in their hands, were in close pursuit. But le
+capitaine may have gone upon the high ground and escaped; he easily
+could have done so."
+
+There was not much consolation in this for Annette's foreboding
+heart; but as she lay down in her blanket, with Julie at her side,
+there came once more, through the stillness, from the bosom of the
+lake, the soothing song of the swan.
+
+"Do you hear it again, Julie?"
+
+Yes, Julie heard it: It was, without any doubt, singing to quiet the
+groundless apprehensions of sa maitresse. Then both the maidens
+slept. And whenever through the night Annette awoke, and began to
+think of her lover's peril and probable captivity, the soft, scented
+night wind bore to her ears a note or two of reassuring music from
+the throat of the maiden-bird.
+
+Before the sun had cleared the horizon on the morrow the breakfast
+was ended, the tent rolled; and the saddles were upon the horses.
+Then the trio set out at a brisk trot; the chief to join his people
+upon their reserve, the girls to find Inspector Dicken at Battleford.
+
+I do not like "breaking threads," but it is necessary that, for the
+present, I should allow my two Metis maidens to journey without my
+company, while I go back to where I left Captain Stephens in the
+gulch.
+
+The route of the two horsemen lay through alternating swamp and
+grassland, and as the path was not much traversed, bush tangles here
+and there almost blocked the way. They had no misgiving as they rode,
+and expected to be soon with Inspector Dicken. The lower end of the
+gulch was not so cheerful as that portion where they had entered. The
+trees grew thicker; swamps composed the greater portion of the
+ground, and the long groping shores of the trees might be traced far
+through the black bog, till they found anchoring place at the skirt
+of the upland. At last they reached a point where the swamp extended
+across the entire valley; and further progress by the level was
+impossible.
+
+"I fear, Phillips, that we shall be obliged to try the edge of the
+upland; but how our horses can make their way through the dense bush
+I am unable to see. Nevertheless, we must try it." As they turned
+their horses' heads, a din of yells burst upon their ears from the
+bushes round about; and immediately a score of savages with tomahawks
+uplift, headed by a Metis with snaky eyes, surrounded them.
+
+"Surrender, messieurs; resistance is useless."
+
+Stephens looked about him, and at one glance mastered the situation.
+Phillips was too ill of his wounds to be able to use his right arm,
+even though a dash down the trail by which they had come were
+practicable. For himself, he had a pair of Colt's revolvers; but
+before he could fire twice the savages would be enabled to brain him
+with their tomahawks.
+
+"I surrender," he said, nodding to the hateful boisbrule; and the
+detestable eyes of the man gleamed as he said--
+
+"Bind the prisoners."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE STARS ARE KINDLY TO LE CHEF.
+
+
+Ah! can it be that the swan sings, and soothes through the night the
+maiden with its song, when the lover is in the toils that jealousy
+and hate have set!
+
+The party of braves, with the Metis at its head, turned and marched
+swiftly back over the path taken by Stephens, till they reached a
+point from which the bank was easily accessible. In a bluff upon the
+level the savages had tethered their ponies, which were speedily
+mounted. Then the party set out for "le corps de garde," as the Metis
+put it, of "le grand chef."
+
+"Had le chef then a guard-house?" Stephens asked.
+
+"Monsieur, the spy, and enemy of the half-breeds, will learn these
+things soon enough." He had scarcely ended, however, before he seemed
+to regret the tone that he had adopted, and hastened to mend the
+matter. "I have instructions to be guarded about making known the
+affairs of le grand chef, monsieur, or I should be pleased to answer
+your question. I hope that the thongs are not hurting you."
+
+"I wonder what this rattlesnake would be at now?" Stephens asked
+himself, and then turning to the bois-brule--
+
+"I do not much mind the binding, but you would do me a favour by
+relaxing those of my companion. He has been severely wounded, and
+inflammation has set in. If you were to remove his bonds altogether
+you would run no risk."
+
+"I shall do as you suggest, monsieur," and in a minute Phillips was
+unbound.
+
+"Now, if monsieur le capitaine will fall a little in rear with me, I
+should like some private conversation." Stephens was fast bound, but
+play enough was left to one hand to guide his horse.
+
+"Of course," began the half-breed, you know something of those two
+Cree boys who go riding about the prairies and fighting with the
+Indians."
+
+"Yes; to one of these I twice owe my deliverance."
+
+"Ah, yes; to mademoiselle Annette. Now, monsieur, we know--I know--
+who the two are. The other is the demoiselle Julie, maid to
+demoiselle Annette."
+
+"Well, what if you do happen to know these facts?"
+
+"I will tell monsieur. I love Julie very much, and if le capitaine
+will procure me an interview with the maiden, at some place where I
+shall name, I may be useful to him in the hour of peril."
+
+"I think," replied Stephens, "that I am now talking with the
+confidential friend, secretary and adviser of M. Riel. You are the
+Jean of whom I have heard mention?"
+
+"Oui, monsieur. I am Jean."
+
+"I fear, Jean, that I will be unable to procure this interview."
+
+"Oh, do not say so. A note written by you to the maiden is all that
+I should need, setting forth the time and the place. A neutral brave
+could be procured to fetch it to the house of mademoiselle's aunt."
+
+"Now, Jean, wherefore do you seek this interview with the girl?"
+Stephens asked, with a slight curl of contempt upon his lip.
+
+"I want to tell her that I love her; and to arrange to have further
+meetings with la petite."
+
+"Why, Jean, I had been under the impression that once before you
+told this girl that you loved her, and that she turned up her pretty
+nose in disdain. But whether this be true or not, there is another
+fact which forms an insuperable barrier to your object. Julie loves
+another." The eyes of the half-breed snapped and flamed with jealous
+rage.
+
+"Some worthless vagabond, I suppose?" he said, fairly spitting the
+words out of him.
+
+"O, no," Stephens replied, with exasperating composure; "but a brave
+and illustrious Indian chief. A nobler looking man I have never laid
+my eyes upon. You could walk under his legs."
+
+"O, do you think so?" the little Metis replied, with a very ugly
+glance. "Now, monsieur, you have refused my offer, and listen to what
+you gain by doing so. By some means or other these two traitorous
+jades will be captured. Then le grand chef takes yours away up the
+dismal valley to Jubal's hut. I take your fine Indian chief's down to
+ma mere's ready cottage. As for you, if the maiden retain her reputed
+preferences she will be able, when the spring arrives, to come out
+upon the prairie and plant daisies, or any other blossom to her
+liking, above you."
+
+Stephens had been prepared for malignity, but of such devilish
+brutality as this he had not deemed any man living capable. He was so
+overwhelmed with horror and disgust that he simply waved his bridle
+hand, imposing peace. Thereat Jean pushed forward and gave some
+instructions to a savage, who immediately put the bonds again upon
+Phillips, tying the thongs so tight that the wounded man groaned with
+pain. Then the cavalcade resumed a brisk trot, slacking not until the
+prisoners found themselves before the stronghold of the rebel chief.
+
+It is necessary to pause a moment here and point out that M. Riel
+had actually formed a provisional government, and succeeded by his
+passionate eloquence in deluding the Metis and Indians into the
+belief that he was exercising a lawful authority, inasmuch as the
+territories had not, within the interpretation of the law, passed
+from the Hudson Bay Company under the jurisdiction of Canada. Subject
+to this doctrine he laid down the right to establish tribunals of
+law, to try, and punish offenders against his authority, and do all
+other things that made for the stability and peace of the new regime.
+
+A prominent white settler named Toltbon, had raised a company of
+volunteers and gone against the forces of the Metis leader; but his
+men were captured like a flock of sheep, and he himself locked up in
+the strongest room in the guard house.
+
+Now at the very time that Jean and his prisoners drew up before the
+rebel stronghold, the chief himself was striding up and down his room
+with dishevelled hair and gleaming eye.
+
+"If Jean cannot bring me either the girl or Stephens within the
+coming forty-eight hours, I shall go abroad myself, and scour the
+plains. What if after all they should come together, marry, and
+escape me. Curses, eternal curses upon them. Maledictions eternal
+upon my own worthless followers. By the Holy Mary, if Jean cannot
+catch one or other I shall put him to death for treason." While these
+hot words were upon his lips the door opened and Jean entered.
+
+"I bring mon chef good news."
+
+"Ah, what is it? Any tidings of Stephens?"
+
+"He is at this very moment in the fort. I caught him in Larch Swamp
+on his return after being set free by Mademoiselle. He was most
+insulting to myself, and used very abusive language respecting you. I
+think, Monsieur, you have cause sufficient against him."
+
+"Bon! bon! He shall not escape me this time," and rising, he began
+to stride up and down the floor, his eyes flaming with joy and
+vengeance.
+
+"Now, Jean, give me your attention. At once go and put Toltbon in
+irons. I shall attend presently and declare that he is to be shot
+to-morrow. Suppliants will come beseeching me to spare his life; but at
+first I shall refuse to do so, and say that I am determined to carry
+out my sentence. At the last I shall yield. So far, so good. I do not
+know, now, whether you understand my methods."
+
+"I think I do, mon chef," and there was a knowing twinkle in the eye
+of the ugly scoundrel.
+
+"Well, this Stephens has an unbridled tongue, and is pretty certain
+to use it. If he does not, a little judicious goading will set him
+on. If possible, it would be well for one of the guards to provoke
+him to commit an assault. Could you rely upon any one of your men for
+such a bit of business?"
+
+"Oui, Monsieur; I have such a man."
+
+"Bon! let him be so provoked, and after his violence has been
+thoroughly trumpeted through the fort, make a declaration of the same
+formally to me. I will then direct you to try him by court martial.
+You are aware of how I desire him to be disposed of. When the news
+gets abroad that he is to be shot, some will be incredulous, and
+others will come to sue for his life. I shall reply to them: 'This is
+a matter of discipline. The man has deserved death, or the court?
+martial would not have sentenced him. I spared Toltbon's life, and
+already I have as fruits of my leniency increased turbulence and
+disrespect. My government must be respected, and the only way to
+teach its enemies this fact, is to make an example of one of the
+greatest offenders.' Lose no time in completing the work. We know
+not, else, what chance may rob our hands of the fellow. You
+understand? I am least of all mixed up in the matter, being more
+concerned with weightier affairs."
+
+"Oui, Monsieur," and making an obeisance the murderous tool
+departed. Exactly as planned, it all fell out. Captain Toltbon was
+put in irons, and Riel declared that for the sake of peace and order
+he must be shot. Many people came and implored him to spare the
+condemned man's life; but he was inexorable. "At the eleventh hour,"
+however, as the newspapers put it, yielding to solicitation, Riel
+said:
+
+"He is spared."
+
+Jean presented himself before his leader.
+
+"Monsieur, I think it will not be necessary to employ stratagem in
+working our man to violence. He has been showering reproaches upon
+the guards, and loading your name with ignominious reproach. The
+guards knew my feelings; so during the night they put chains upon him.
+As the foremost one advanced with the manacles, the prisoner raised
+his arm, and dealt him a blow on the head, which felled him to the
+ground."
+
+"Bon! bon!" Riel cried, while he rubbed his hands. "Without applying
+the little goad, he fulfils our will."
+
+"Well, not in the strictest sense, mon chef. Luc had certain private
+instructions from me, and he carried them out in a very skilful
+manner."
+
+"N'importe, Jean, n'importe how the thing came about; we have the
+cause against him, and that suffices. What do you now propose to do,
+for you are aware, Jean--" there was now a tone of diabolical
+raillery in his words--"that this matter is one in which I cannot
+concern myself, you being the best judge of what is due rebellious
+military prisoners?"
+
+"Merci, mon chef! I shall endeavour to merit your further regard. My
+intention is to proceed forthwith to try him. Already, I have
+summoned the witnesses of his guilt; and he and you shall know our
+decision before another hour has passed." Then the faithful Monsieur
+Jean was gone.
+
+"No, ma chere Annette. You shall never deck your nuptial chamber
+with daisies for Edmund Stephens. You will find occupation for your
+sweet little fingers in putting fresh roses upon the mound that
+covers him. For a _feu-de-joie_ and the peal of marriage bells,
+I will give you, ma petite chere, the sullen toll that calls him to
+his open coffin, and the rattle of musketry that stills the tongue
+which uttered to you the last love pledge."
+
+For an hour did he pace up and down the floor gloating over his
+revenge. Meanwhile, I shall leave him and follow the "adjutant-
+general," as Jean was known under the new regime. He proceeded to the
+private room of the military quarters, and entering found his
+subordinates assembled there.
+
+"Messieurs," he said, "We know what our business is. We must lose no
+time in despatching it. But before commencing, let me say a few
+words. Monsieur Riel is so overweighted with other affairs that the
+matter of dealing with the man Stephens rests entirely in our hands.
+I have just left him, after endeavouring in vain to induce him to be
+present at the trial: but he could not spare the time to come. By
+skilfully sounding him, however, I discovered that his sentiments
+regarding the prisoner are exactly the same as those entertained by
+myself. What these are I need hardly say. It is now a struggle
+between the authority of the Provisional Government and a horde of
+rebellious persons of which the defendant is the most dangerous. The
+eyes of our followers are upon us; and if we permit the authority of
+Government to be defied, its officers reviled, and insult heaped upon
+us, depend upon it we shall speedily lose the hold we have gained
+after so many bitter struggles; and become a prey to the conspiracy
+which our enemies are so actively engaged in promoting. The very fact
+that this man Stephens leagued himself with our enemies, is an
+offence worthy of death; but I shall ask these persons who are here
+as witnesses to show you that since his capture he has merited death
+ten times over at our hands. With your permission, gentlemen, I will
+proceed:
+
+"Edmund Stephens, of Prince Albert, stands charged before this court-
+martial  with treasonable revolt against the peace and welfare of the
+colony; with having leagued himself with an armed party, whose object
+was the overthrow of authority as vested in our Provisional Government.
+He is likewise charged with having attempted criminal violence upon
+lawfully delegated guards appointed over him, during his incarceration;
+and likewise with inciting his fellow-prisoners to insubordination and
+tumult contrary to the order and well-being of this community.
+
+"Luc Lestang."
+
+That person came forward:
+
+"Relate all you know in the conduct of the prisoner Stephens that
+may be regarded as treasonable and criminal."
+
+"I have seen him in armed revolt against the authority of Monsieur
+le chef."
+
+"Will you please state what have been his demeanour and conduct as a
+prisoner."
+
+"He has been insulting and disorderly in the last degree."
+
+"Will you specify a few particular examples?"
+
+"I have frequently heard him describe the Provisional Government and
+its supporters as a band of mongrel rough-scruffs; a greasy, insolent
+nest of traitors; and a lot of looting, riotous, unwashed savages. He
+has used language of this sort ever since his imprisonment. Likewise,
+I have heard him say that he would have the pleasure of assisting in
+hanging Monsieur Riel to a prairie poplar; and in putting tar and
+feathers upon his followers."
+
+"Has he been guilty of any acts of violence?"
+
+"He has been guilty of acts of violence. When he became unbearably
+insubordinate I found it my duty to put irons upon him. As I
+approached him with the handcuffs he smote me twice in the face, and
+I yet carry the mark that he gave me. [Here the precious witness
+pointed to his right eye, which was a dusky purple.] This black eye I
+received from one of his blows."
+
+"That will do, Luc."
+
+Another witness with the movements of a snake, and eyes as black as
+sloes, was called. He gave evidence which tallied exactly with that
+sworn to by Lestang. This, of course, was not an extraordinary
+coincidence, for he had been present while the first miscreant was
+giving his evidence. Yet poor Stephens, whose life was the issue of
+all the swearing, was not permitted to be present, but was kept in a
+distant room, chained there like a wild beast.
+
+"The Court," said the Adjutant-General, "has heard the accusation
+against this man; and its duty is now to consider whether the safety
+and the peace of the district demand that the extreme penalty should
+be visited upon this enemy of both. The question is, whether he is
+worthy of death, or not. You will retire, gentlemen,--" there were
+four of them, exclusive of witnesses, and the clerk--"and find your
+verdict."
+
+They were absent about two minutes. The foreman then advancing, said:
+
+"Monsieur l'Adjutant, WE FIND THE PRISONER EDMUND STEPHENS, GUILTY."
+
+Then drawing upon his head a black cap, the adjutant said:
+
+"After due and deliberate trial by this Court, it has been found
+that the prisoner Edmund Stephens, is 'Guilty.' _I do, therefore,
+declare the sentence of this court-martial to be, that the prisoner
+be taken forth this day, at one o'clock, and shot_. And may God in
+His infinite bounty have mercy upon his soul."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE STARS TAKE A NEW COURSE.
+
+
+Monsieur Riel had been all this while pacing up and down his room. A
+tap came upon his door.
+
+"Entrez. Ah, it is you, mon adjudant!"
+
+"Oui, mon president."
+
+"What tidings?"
+
+"C'est accompli. The court-martial has found the prisoner guilty;
+and he is condemned to be shot at one o'clock this day."
+
+"Monsieur is expeditious! Monsieur is zealous. C'est bon; c'est bon;
+merci, Monsieur." And the miscreant walked about delirious with his
+gratification. Then he came over to where his adjutant stood, and
+shook his hand; then he thrust his fingers through his hair, and half
+bellowed, his voice resembling that of some foul beast.
+
+"La patrie has reason to be proud of her zealous son," and he again
+shook the hand of his infamous lieutenant. Then with a very low bow
+Jean left the room, saying, as he departed.
+
+"I shall endeavour to merit to the fullest the kindly eulogy which
+Monsieur le President bestows upon me." The news of Stephens'
+sentence spread like fire. Some believed that the penalty would not
+be carried out, but others thought it would.
+
+"If this prisoner is pardoned, people will treat the sentences of
+the provisional authorities as jokes. Riel must be aware of this;
+therefore Stephens is likely to suffer the full penalty." Several
+persons called upon the tyrant and besought him to extend mercy to
+the condemned man; but he merely shrugged his shoulders!
+
+"This prisoner has been in chronic rebellion. He has set bad example
+among the prisoners, assaulted his keeper, and loaded the Government
+with opprobrium. I may say to you, Messieurs, however, that I have
+really nothing to do with the man's case. In this time of tumult,
+when the operation of all laws is suspended, the court-martial is the
+only tribunal to which serious offenders can be referred. This young
+man Stephens has had fair trial, as fair as a British court-martial
+would have given him, and he has been sentenced to death. I assume
+that he would not have received such a sentence if he had not
+deserved it. Therefore I shall not interfere. There is no use,
+Messieurs, in pressing me upon the matter. At heart, I shall grieve
+as much as you to see the young man cut off; but his death I believe
+necessary now as an example to the hundreds who are desirous of
+overthrowing the authority which we have established in this
+district." The petitioners left the monster with sorrowful faces.
+
+"My God!" one of them exclaimed, "it is frightful to murder this
+young man, whose only offence is resistance to insult from his
+debased half-breed keeper. Is there nothing to be done?"
+
+No, there was nothing to be done. The greasy, vindictive tyrant was
+lord and master of the situation. When Riel was alone, he began once
+more to walk his room, and thus mused aloud:
+
+"I shall go down to his cell. Perhaps he may tell me where she is to
+be found."
+
+"Yes," he was sure that he would succeed: "I shall get his secret by
+promising pardon; then I will spit upon his face and say, 'Die, dog;
+I'll not spare you.'" So forth he sallied, and made his way to the
+cell where the young man sat in chains.
+
+"Well, malignant tyrant, what do you here? Whatever your business
+is, let it be dispatched quickly; for your presence stifles me. What
+dishonourable proposal have you now to make?"
+
+"Monsieur Stephens, it seems to be a pleasure to you to revile me.
+Yet have I sought to serve you;--yea, I would have been, would now
+be, your friend."
+
+"Peace; let me hear what it is that you now propose?"
+
+"You are aware that it is ordered by court-martial, of which I was
+not a member, that you are to be shot at one o'clock this day? It is
+now just forty-five minutes of one. I can spare your life, and I will
+do it, upon one condition."
+
+"Pray let me hear what dishonour it is that you propose? I ask the
+question out of a curiosity to learn, if possible, a little more of
+your infamy."
+
+"And I reply to you that I shall take no notice of your revilings,
+but make my proposal. I simply ask you to state to me where this
+maiden Annette has betaken herself?"
+
+"Where you will never find her. That's my answer, villain and
+tyrant; and now begone."
+
+"Perhaps you imagine that the sentence will not be carried out. I
+ask you to choose between life and liberty, and an almost immediate
+ignominious death."
+
+"I care not for your revenge, or your mercy. Once more I say, get
+you gone." Then the ruffian turned round, rushed at the chained
+prisoner, and dealt him a terrific kick in the side, after which he
+spat upon his face.
+
+"She shall be mine!" he hissed, "when your corpse lies mouldering in
+a dishonoured, traitor's grave." The young man was chained to a heavy
+table, but with a sudden wrench, he freed himself, raised both arms,
+and was about bringing down his manacled hands upon the tyrant
+miscreant--and that blow would have ended the rebellion at Prince
+Albert,--when Luc burst into the room, seized the prisoner, and threw
+him. While his brute knee was on Stephens' breast, and his greasy
+hand held the victim's throat, Riel made his escape, and turned back
+to his own quarters.
+
+As for poor Stephens, when the tyrant and the brutal guard had left
+the cell, he began to pace up and down, sorely disturbed. He had
+somehow cherished the hope that the miscreant would be induced to
+commute the sentence to lengthy imprisonment. But the diabolical
+vengeance which he had seen in the tyrant's eye undermined all hope.
+Some friends were admitted to his cell, and they informed him that
+they had pleaded for him, but in vain.
+
+And now we go back to Annette and Julie. Their horses soon took them
+to the post, wherein Inspector Dicken had taken up his abode for the
+nonce.  They soon learnt that Captain Stephens and his friend had
+been captured, and that both had been hurried off to the stronghold
+of the rebel chief.
+
+"Have any steps been taken for his rescue, monsieur?" Annette asked.
+
+"None, I regret, have so far been practicable. I am detained on duty
+here with twenty men; and expect an attack hourly. I would surrender
+the fort and hasten to the rescue of my friend, but that the lives of
+more than a hundred women and children here depend upon my remaining."
+
+"And where, monsieur, are the nearest troops? Holy Mother of God!"
+she exclaimed, "surely they will not permit le chef to put him to
+death without making an effort to save him."
+
+"Anything possible will be done, my brave lad. The nearest troops
+are those of Colonel Denison. Here I will write you a note to the
+Colonel. He is an officer whom I much admire. He is quick at
+conceiving, and prompt and firmhanded in achievement. His force is
+mounted and a few of his troopers thundering into the rebels' nest
+would scatter them like rats."
+
+"Speed, speed, monsieur," she cried, as she perceived the Inspector
+pause to consider the terms in which he should address the Colonel.
+"Let it be simply an introduction; and a mere statement that I have
+rendered service to you and to your forces."
+
+"So be it," he replied; and then rapidly pencilled the note, which
+he put into her hand. A quick "Merci, merci," and the two were gone,
+and speedily upon their horses' backs. They had not ridden far before
+they espied a mounted party, evidently reconnoitering. Instead of
+pursuing its course, the party, upon perceiving the two Indian boys,
+turned their horses and rode towards the pair.
+
+"Oh, Julie, I hope that they will not detain us. They judge, I
+suppose, that we are enemies."
+
+"But you can tell them that we are not, mademoiselle."
+
+"Ah, Julie, the world is not as truthful and as free from guile as
+you. They might not believe us. But I can at any rate show them the
+Inspector's note."
+
+"Who goes there?" shouted the officer of the approaching party.
+
+"Friends, who want to see Colonel Denison immediately.
+
+"Consider yourselves in my charge now," the officer said, fitting
+very high and straight upon his horse.
+
+"But will monsieur l'officier take us straightway to Colonel Denison?"
+
+"In good time we shall see that officer," the starchy commander
+replied.
+
+"But, monsieur, I pray you to make haste. It is a matter of the
+gravest importance that I should see him as speedily as possible. We
+were riding at a mad pace before you joined us, as witness our
+horses' flanks. This note I bear from Inspector Dicken to Colonel
+Denison."
+
+The officer took it, opened it slowly, and cast his eye over the
+writing.
+
+"I do not know whether this has been written by Dicken or not," he
+said, "as I have never seen his writing." Then folding the note he
+put it into his pocket.
+
+"But that is my note, monsieur, my passport to Colonel Denison's
+attention. Wherefore do you keep it?"
+
+The officious military gentleman did not feel called upon to explain
+why he had retained it. Now, all the while the party was at a halt,
+and the agony that poor Annette was suffering may be imagined.
+
+"Monsieur, I repeat," the girl said in a tone of agony, "it is of
+the utmost importance that I should reach Colonel Denison without
+delay. The life of one of your most valuable allies may depend upon
+your haste."
+
+"Would you favour me with the name of this valuable ally?"
+
+"Captain Stephens: he who has been made prisoner by the personal
+followers of the rebel chief."
+
+"I have not heard anything about this capture," said Lieutenant
+Unworthy; "and it seems to me, if the thing occurred word must have
+reached us." This conceited block-head had not yet made a start.
+
+"I implore you once again, monsieur, either to accompany us to the
+presence of the Colonel or to let us go alone. I do not see that you
+have any right to detain us. If harm comes to Captain Stephens you
+will remember that his blood must be upon your head. You are either
+stupid beyond words to describe, or bent upon showing your authority.
+Will you come, or let me go, to the Colonel?"
+
+"I want neither lectures nor impertinent speeches," replied the numb-
+skull, putting on an air of severe dignity; nevertheless it was plain
+that Annette had frightened him.
+
+"Forward, march--tro-o-o-t!" and the troop set out for Camp Denison.
+Whenever the word "W a-a-a-lk" came, the heart of the girl sank; but
+despite the anxiety and annoyance, the camps of Colonel Denison at
+last were in sight.
+
+"Well, Unworthy," the Colonel said, "who are these boys you have
+brought in?" The Colonel was intently reading the faces of the little
+scouts, with his penetrating dark-grey eyes, as he asked the question.
+
+"The largest of the two has a story about the capture of Captain
+Stephens, and declares a profuse interest in the affairs of that
+officer. I have taken the story with a pinch of salt; as I regard the
+two a pair of spies."
+
+"May I speak, Colonel Denison?" the girl said, touching the brim of
+her broad hat respectfully.
+
+"Most certainly, my lad. I shall be glad to hear anything that you
+have to say." Then turning to Unworthy,--"He looks no more like a spy
+than you do, man. Are you any judge of faces?"
+
+"Well, monsieur," the girl began, her voice quivering, "l'officier,"
+pointing to Unworthy, "says he believes that I am a spy. He has no
+ground for such a belief, but he _has_ proof which must have taught him
+otherwise. Inspector Dicken gave me a note of introduction to you. This
+note l'officier has in his pocket, having rudely taken it away from me."
+
+"Please, Mr. Unworthy, hand me this note." And as the officer did
+so, Colonel Denison, knitting his brows, said, "Pray, sir, why was
+this not handed to me at once?"
+
+"Because I believe it is a forgery."
+
+"Allow me, if you please, sir, to settle that point for myself."
+Then hastily reading the note, he said, "Yes, my spirited lad, I have
+already heard of your brave and noble deeds, and of yours, too,"
+turning to Julie. "I am extremely sorry that any officer of the
+militia force should so lack discrimination as to have acted towards
+you as Mr. Unworthy has done."
+
+Then the sweet girl, with a bounding heart, told him that she had
+come to him for a force of twenty men; that if he gave these, she
+could take them in a line as the bird flies to the stronghold of the
+rebel chief.
+
+"Your suggestion is good," Colonel Denison replied; "and I will give
+you thirty men. Browninge," he shouted, calling to a clerical looking
+officer who was standing among a group of brother officers, "get
+thirty men in the saddle at once, and follow these scouts."
+
+Browninge saluted, and went speedily to make preparations.
+
+"Will you not dismount and take refreshments," the Colonel asked in
+a kindly tone, advancing a step nearer the two boys.
+
+Annette could not eat anything. She felt excited till the troop got
+in motion. But Julie would not mind if she ate something. She was
+hungry now because she had not taken much breakfast; and the sweet
+gourmand was soon at work upon the choicest food in the Colonel's
+larder.
+
+"If my experience of character during the years that I have spent
+upon the bench be of any value," the Colonel remarked in a low tone
+to some of his officers, "I could give you some interesting
+information about that scout," looking towards Annette, "and this
+other one as well," meaning Julie. "These boys, trust my word, are no
+more Crees than I am. Note the fineness of their features, and the
+well-bred air and the grace of the one on horseback." The remarks of
+the Colonel were brought to an end by the appearance of Browninge,
+who saluted, and announced that he was ready to go.
+
+Julie jumped up, like a kitten, from her feasting, vaulting into the
+saddle; and while her mouth was yet half full of meat, thanked the
+Colonel for his hospitality. Annette simply said;
+
+"Colonel Denison, my words fail me now to thank you. But I wish you
+knew my heart." He simply waved his hand, and wished the party _bon
+voyage_. Then striking spurs into her horse, Annette led away across the
+level prairie towards the stronghold of the hateful Metis chief.
+
+"I shall now give you my opinion, gentleman," Colonel Denison said,
+as the horses disappeared over a knoll; "these two lads were not what
+they seemed. They were girls."
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Well, we shall some day know. What is more, I am satisfied that the
+larger one has more than an ordinary interest in Stephens. She has
+twice already saved his life; and I should not be surprised if she
+were now to lay him once more under the obligation. Ha, truant," he
+said, turning to one of his staff who had come from a nigh tree-clump,
+where he had been writing, "you should have been here to see the
+beautiful Metis maiden. She was in disguise, but her beauty was
+not less divine than that of your own Iena. Fancy the feelings of
+Stephens, when his own fortunes are bright, to have that beautiful
+girl straying about this wilderness. I can imagine him asking, in
+that passage which you gave me yesterday from your poem--
+
+  'My little flower amongst a weedy world,
+  Where art thou now? In deepest forest shade?
+  Or onward where the Sumach stands arrayed
+  In autumn splendour, its alluring form
+  Fruited, yet odious with the hidden worm?
+  Or, farther, by some still sequestered lake,
+  Loon-haunted, where the sinewy panthers slake
+  Their noon-day thirst, and never voice is heard
+  Joyous of singing waters, breeze or bird,
+  Save their wild waitings.'"
+
+[Footnote: This passage is from the pages of the recently-published
+Canadian drama, "Tecumseh."--E. C. ]
+
+Further conference was cut short by the hasty approach of a coureur
+du bois. The colonel approached as the man dismounted.
+
+"Captain Stephens has been tried by le chef's court martial, and is
+condemned to be shot. Le chef has only a few braves and bois-brules
+about him; and I could fetch you to the nest in an hour and a half by
+hard riding."
+
+When the coureur learnt that the force had been dispatched he rode
+away again. And we shall likewise bid good-bye to the poet and the
+colonel, and join Browninge.
+
+"Now, then, my good lad," the lieutenant said, "we have turned out a
+large force at your bidding to-day. Are you certain (_a_) that Captain
+Stephens is at Chapeau Rouge; (_b_), that Riel is there; (_c_), that
+there is such a stronghold at all?"
+
+"Certainement, monsieur."
+
+"It is well. Now, my men, keep in shelter of yonder bluff; for under
+cover of it only can we approach the den unperceived. We are now
+within three miles of the place." The men received the intelligence
+with enthusiasm, and put their horses at best speed.
+
+
+When only fifteen minutes more remained to poor Stephens, the
+clergyman signed to the others to leave the room; and then, with his
+hands folded before him, asked the condemned man if he had any
+message to leave, or any peace to make with God.
+
+No; he was not afraid to meet his God. He had wronged no man, and
+kept within the bounds of the laws set for his kind. But he had a
+message to leave--it was enclosed in a letter which he put into the
+hand of the minister.
+
+"It is for Annette Marton. Oh, my God. We have been only two days
+betrothed. It is very hard to die."
+
+"This doom was ordained for you, and you must try to meet it like a
+man."
+
+"Oh, it is not death I fear. That is nothing. But, ah, to leave my
+love." After he had passed his hands across his temples, as if to
+clear his understanding, he said, in a voice grown low and calm--
+
+"There is also upon the table a note to my sister, Aster. That is
+all I have to say."
+
+"Will you not pray with me awhile?"
+
+"No; my heart is right; the rest matters not."
+
+There was now a rude bustling at the door; the rusty key was plied,
+and with a harsh scream the bolt flew back. Then the evil-looking Luc
+entered, followed by three others, all of whom seemed partially
+intoxicated.
+
+"Your hour has come, young man," Lestang said, in a brutal voice.
+"Let us be jogging."
+
+Stephens then bade good-bye to the visitors who had re-entered; to
+the clergyman, and to one or two prisoners detained for minor
+offences. His face was deathly pale, but his eye was steadfast and
+his step firm.
+
+Beyond the entrance to the building, about an arrow's flight, was
+drawn up a firing party; and midway between these and one of the
+bastions of the fort was an open coffin. Thither Luc and his guard
+led the condemned man.
+
+"Stop a moment till I bind you," Luc said, taking a hempen cord from
+about his waist. Then he fastened Stephens' hands behind his back,
+and with the most devilish cruelty tied the cord far tighter than
+might be needed for the most refractory culprit. Indeed, his arms
+were almost dislocated at the shoulders, and when the brutal jailer
+saw the corners of his mouth twitch under the torture, he said, with
+a bestial sneer--
+
+"It'll not hurt long. Should be patient."
+
+These words had barely escaped the fellow's lips when a terrified
+cry went up from a score of throats gathered about; and immediately a
+scene of the wildest confusion prevailed.
+
+"Les soldats! Les soldats!" shouted one and all: and immediately the
+little Cree scout was seen upon the earthworks, the eyes of her horse
+gleaming, spray drifting from his open jaws. Close following Annette
+came Lieutenant Browninge waving his sword above his head, and
+shouting,
+
+"Down with the rebels!" at the same time slashing the scurrying
+enemy in such a fashion with his sword as would gladden one's heart.
+
+As for Annette, her quick eye at once showed her how the situation
+stood: her lover, his hands bound, a black cap over his eyes, a
+coffin beside him. Luc, the jailer, and chief of the executioners,
+remained at his post as long as possible; and at the first outburst
+of the din had called upon his party to fire. But these mahogany-
+complexioned executioners scurried like rats at the first cry. Most
+of them carried their arms with them, but Luc perceived a musket
+lying in a corner of the drill square. This he seized and levelled at
+Stephens, pulling the trigger, after careful aim. The rusty weapon
+missed fire, and the intrepid half-breed began hastily to chip the
+flint with the back of his sheath-knife; but while he was engaged in
+this laudable preparation, Annette came over the earthworks like a
+bird, smote him with the handle of her whip upon the crown, and sent
+him sprawling in the dust. With another bound she was at her lover's
+side; and slipping from her horse, she pulled off the hideous cap,
+cut his thongs,--and then the hero-darling waited to be taken to his
+heart.
+
+The change in his fortunes was so sudden, and so amazing,--passing
+at one bound from the grave's edge back to freedom and love, that he
+was for some seconds unable to realize it, and his eyes and brain
+swam with a sense of happiness that reached delirium. But gradually
+it all began to grow clear: the scurrying figures of his captors and
+jailers; the shouting of mounted soldiers; the wistful eyes of his
+beloved looking at him.
+
+"Ah, Annette; you again; my guardian angel!"
+
+It took but a few minutes to restore order. It was ascertained that
+Riel and Jean had made their escape while Browninge's horse was yet
+half a mile away from the post; but they made their exit in secrecy.
+
+"If we give the alarm," Kiel muttered, as he prepared to get into
+the saddle, "there will be an instant stampede, and the execution
+will be stayed."
+
+"I agree with the decision of mon chef. Let Luc remain; he has
+courage enough to have the thing done with the soldiers at the very
+stockades." And the two rode away helter-skelter, till a dozen miles
+lay between them and their treason nest.
+
+"The rebel chief is gone; he skurried away half an hour ago," was
+the tidings that one of the men brought to Browninge. That officer
+was not surprised; and ordered that the prisoners, which numbered
+about a dozen in all, be put in carts, and escorted by a guard of
+cavalry back to Camp Denison.
+
+They were all tired, and it was resolved that the horses be
+permitted to rest for a couple of hours before returning.
+
+"I can find the way back to your colonel's camp, monsieur Browninge,
+as easily by night as in the daylight." Riel and his greasy followers
+lived like so many swine in a sty; but several brace of quail and
+chicken, and quarters of elk were found, which the two Cree boys at
+once began to prepare. A few loaves of bread were found, and a
+tolerable side of bacon, from all of which, with the pure, cold water
+that gurgled out of the side of a nigh ridge, a sumptuous meal was
+promised.
+
+Stephens objected to the Cree boys doing the drudgery, but Annette
+besought ham so sweetly with her eyes to let "the little scouts" do
+it, that he desisted. His glance, as he followed every movement of
+the maiden, had as much of mute adoration, reverent and tender, as
+ever has been seen in the eyes of a man. How little he had known the
+worth of this girl, when he toyed with her hair and put a straw into
+her dimples at her father's house! I suppose he regarded her as
+thoughtful men regard most girls before they become enslaved either
+to their fascination or their gifts. I do not care to write an
+ungallant speech, but I do say that I have so far in life looked upon
+men much as I do upon women; and I assume every man to be a fool till
+he has proven himself otherwise to _me_.
+
+The sun was setting when the order to saddle was given; and with the
+two scouts leading, the party set out along nearly the same route by
+which they had come in the morning. A darkness that, without a flight
+of imagination, might be called "dense," pressed upon the prairie,
+and only a few small and feeble points of star-light were to be seen.
+But on a sudden a mellow, green-tinted light burst out of the
+northern sky with a brightness that showed the startled expression
+upon every face. The horses pricked up their ears, and looked for a
+moment at the radiant, quivering, northern sky.
+
+I have not bothered my readers with much description so far, and I
+trust that they will forgive me if I pause for a moment to do so now.
+After this great, aerial conflagration had continued for the space of
+five minutes, the light went out from the whole sky as suddenly and
+as entirely as though it were a lamp which some one had extinguished.
+After a few seconds of darkness, here and there a long rib of yellow
+light appeared; then these disappeared, and once more the party was
+in the pitchy dusk. Suddenly, however, fully half the heavens burst
+into flame again.
+
+In the south the light was soft, and seemed unconnected with that of
+the east and north. The whole would remain for a few seconds
+quiescent, save for some slight, erratic pulsations, but all would at
+once madly undulate and quiver from end to end. It seemed at such
+times like a mighty cloth woven of the finest and softest floss,
+being violently shaken at both ends by invisible hands. But the most
+curious part of the phenomena was the noise, like the cracking of
+innumerable whips, which accompanied the pulsations in the auroral
+flame. [Footnote: Captain Huysbe mentions having heard this peculiar
+noise during auroral displays in the North-West; and Mr. Charles Mair
+and other authorities add their testimony to the same fact.--E. C.]
+The corruscations were produced in the valleys, among the bluffs, and
+far out over the face of the prairie. To lend terror to the
+stupendous and awful beauty of the scene, a ball of fire came out of
+the southern sky, passed slowly across the belt of agitated flame,
+and disappeared over the crest of a distant hill.
+
+Above, the heavy masses of auroral cloud now began to assume the
+shape of a mighty umbrella, the enormous ribs of weird light forming
+in an apex above the heads of the party, and radiating towards all
+points of the compass. Sometimes these ribs would all shake, and then
+blend; but they would speedily rearray themselves in perfect and
+majestic symmetry. It was a most weirdly-beautiful sight, riding
+along the still and boundless prairie, when the merry dancing ceased
+for a moment, to see this stupendous dome of fluffy, ghost-like light
+suspended over their heads. For an hour they continued looking upon
+it; upon the yellow of the level prairie, and the yellow and gloom of
+the knolls and hollows. Then there was a universal flash so sudden as
+to be terrible; then a darkness equally as sudden. Not the faintest
+glow was there anywhere in all the wide heavens. It seemed as if God
+had blown out the mysterious light.
+
+Stephens rode beside his love; and when the light went out of the
+sky, if Lieutenant Browninge had been concerned with the doings of
+the leaders, he would have been amazed to see the rescued captain
+lean over and deliberately kiss the Cree scout upon the lips. When
+the white sides of the tents of Capt. Denison appeared in view,
+Annette halted, and said that she and her brother must now ride in
+another direction.
+
+"My brave boy, if by that term I rightly address you," Browninge
+said, "I wish that you would accept the hospitalities of our camp;"
+but the scout refused, and after a few moments in conversation with
+Captain Stephens, rode away.
+
+Meanwhile affairs had fallen out much as Little Poplar predicted.
+Captain Beaver, after thorough consideration of the matter, decided
+that it would never do to allow his men to return to Ontario without
+having a "brush with the Indians." He therefore opened correspondence
+with Major Tonweight, pointing out the expediency of making an attack
+upon Little Poplar. "He is upon his reserve, it is true," Beaver
+wrote, "but he has gathered his men together for the purpose of
+marching on Hatchet Creek, and there effecting a junction with the
+rebel Metis. If you permit me to run down and give them a good
+trouncing, it will make an end of the contemplated league."
+
+"Our policy," replied Tonweight, "is not to antagonize but to
+conciliate; to treat all as friends till they prove themselves to be
+enemies."
+
+"But you will pay dear for your generous theory if this man, Little
+Poplar, succeeds in joining the rebels. And I assure you that the
+savage is now making ready to march.".
+
+"The matter is in your own hands, then," Tonweight replied. "If all
+be as you say, you must consult your own judgment, and shoulder the
+responsibilities."
+
+"Hurrah!" Beaver shouted. "Hurrah! Now then, boys, you'll have a
+brush. Get ready for a march. You know I am only supposing a case
+against these Indians," he said turning to a brother officer.
+
+"Good God! is this outrage to occur!" Col. Denison exclaimed, when a
+Coureur-des-bois brought him the tidings.
+
+And so, the sanguinary Beaver made ready to start.
+
+"How much provisions do we need, Sir?" the purveyor asked.
+
+"You do not need any. Let each man eat a hearty meal, and put some
+bread into his pocket. It is only going to be a short job. I'll kill
+a hundred or so," he said aside to a subordinate officer, "and then
+come straight back." Then he put himself at the head of his column,
+and swooped towards his prey.
+
+So when Little Poplar, on the morning after the rescue of Captain
+Stephens, met the two maidens, there was great sorrow in his face.
+
+"I have to fight your friends," he said, "but there is nothing else
+left me for choice. Beaver and his men are at this moment marching
+towards my reserve, though all my braves went back to peaceful
+occupation upon the assurance from English officers that no harm
+would come to them; but, as I have already stated, Beaver and his
+young men want to kill a lot of Indians, and return home great
+heroes. But they will make a grievous mistake. I shall lead them into
+a defile of swamp and bush tangle, where every one of the number will
+be at my mercy. I believe that this foolhardy man regards my
+followers as a band of dogs, whom he can kill as they run. But my men
+know not what fear is." Then kissing Julie, and bowing sorrowfully to
+Annette, this chief went away.
+
+That very day, when midway upon his march, Captain Beaver was joined
+by two Cree scouts, one of whom besought him for a moment's interview.
+
+He had no time to waste; but if the scout had anything very
+important to communicate he would listen.
+
+"Then, Monsieur," Annette began, "my advice is that you call a halt
+of your troops. Little Poplar is in strong position upon his reserve;
+the swamps approaching his ground are quagmires; the bush is a tangle
+through which the rabbit may scarcely pass. The chief's men are
+numerous, and war is their occupation. They will destroy Monsieur's
+force."
+
+"Indeed, I am at a loss to know why I should be an object of such
+solicitude to an Indian scout, whose sympathy and interest must be
+with those savages, against whom I now march." And without further
+parley he dismissed the lad.
+
+That afternoon mirrors flashed signals from bluff to bluff; our men
+were surrounded by the enemy; and at the set of sun their lives lay
+at the-mercy of the men whom they had come to trounce. Julie was at
+the side of her lover, and tears were in her eyes.
+
+"I beseech my chief for the sake of his love for me to desist, and
+allow these rash soldiers to depart." Her chief stood with arms
+folded upon his breast. There was sorrow on his face; but there was
+scorn there, too, as he turned affectionally to the sweet pleader.
+
+"These men came down to massacre my people, that they might
+henceforth be clad with glory. They have not destroyed any of my men;
+but their dead strew the plain. They are at my mercy; so utterly,
+too, that if I desire it, not a man of all the host shall return to
+give tidings to his friends. You ask me to stay my hand. Ah! It is
+hard. But you ask it; you, my little lover-playmate of the sunny
+Saskatchewan. I consent!" Then he strode down among his men, and
+ordered them to cease. Naught-but the ascendancy which the splendid
+chief had gained over his followers, through his wisdom and his
+prowess, could have prevailed upon them to stay their hand, now that
+the men who had broken solemn faith were at their mercy. But they
+unstrung their bows, shouldered their muskets, and permitted the
+invaders to depart. Then Julie knelt at her lover's feet, and kissed
+his hand with reverent gratitude; and he laid his hand upon her head,
+and bade her arise.
+
+Before I leave this feature of my narrative I may state that Captain
+Beaver subsequently sought to justify this wanton breach of faith
+with the Indians, upon the ground of military policy; affirming that
+the "punishment" which he inflicted upon the chief prevented the
+latter joining forces with the rebel Metis. As to the punishment
+there was very little inflicted upon the Indians;--it was
+emphatically conferred in another direction. As to the statement that
+the attack prevented Poplar from joining the rebel forces at Hatchet
+Creek, the same is absurdly untrue. Little Poplar did actually set
+out, after the attack, to join the bois-brules, and he deliberately--I
+was going to say contemptuously--exposed himself to the flank attack
+by Beaver's men, of which movement, we are told, he had been so much
+in dread. In due time, as the chief was pursuing his march, tidings
+came to him that the Metis had been overwhelmed. Then he surrendered;
+--and thereafter for many a dreary month there was no happiness for
+Julie. I may as well anticipate events, and say that this dear girl
+brought it emphatically to the knowledge of the authorities that her
+beloved chief early in the war had served the white people in the
+hour of peril; and that the offence for which he stood committed now
+had been forced upon him by the bad faith of a Canadian militia
+officer. At last he was released; and holding his hand, apparelled in
+proper attire, she walked out by his side to a little cottage wherein
+a priest stood waiting to wed the two. Her happiness was very great,
+as may be guessed when I state that in each of her beautiful eyes a
+tear glimmered like you see a drop of rain glitter upon the thorn
+bush, when the storm has ended, and the sun shines. Her lover took
+her many miles up the Saskatchewan, where she said she would remain
+till Annette got "settled." A friend has lately been at her cottage,
+and he tells me that she has a "cherub of a baby," absurdly like
+herself in all save its skin, which is rather of a mahogany cast. The
+chief and his petite wife are very happy; and many a time under the
+blossoms of their own orchard, or when the wind howls like a belated
+wolf, they discuss the alternation of sorrow and joy which fell to
+their lot when the two maidens went disguised as scouts over the
+unbounded prairie. My great wish is that all the pretty and
+noble-harted girls of my acquaintance may be as happy as my sweet
+Julie.
+
+As for Annette, when the battle of Saw-Knife Creek ended, she was
+waiting for Julie to join her. Her hand was upon her horse's neck,
+and she was leaning against the animal thinking of her lover.
+
+"Ah, at last!" The terrible words and the voice were but too plain.
+Turning she saw the rebel chief, triumph, passion, and revenge in his
+eyes. By his side were several Metis with muskets presented, ready to
+fire at the girl if she uttered a cry, or made resistance. Then they
+bound her arms, and set her upon her horse, which one of the chief's
+followers led by the bridle. They rode as fast as the ponies could
+travel across the prairie; and Annette's heart sank, and all hope
+seemed to die out of her life, as she realized, that the miscreants
+were hurrying towards the valley of Dismal Swamp where abode Jubal,
+the hideous hag.
+
+As the party hurried along the skirt of the ridge flanking the swamp
+and the inky stream, lo! there came to her ears the notes of a bird's
+song. It was the guardian swan; and joy and hope crept into the
+maiden's bosom.
+
+"Hear you yonder singing, my pretty bird?" the hideous chief asked,
+with a foul sneer. "Its song is always intended to console and
+reconcile maidens to their lovers."
+
+But she turned her head away with loathing, and answered him not.
+Then came a sudden trampling; swords gleamed; eyes flashed in the
+dusk; and before the helpless girl could gather her routed senses,
+the beastly chief was sent sprawling from his horse with a sabre-blow;
+his followers were routed; and she was free.
+
+"My own beloved," were the words whispered in her ear, and warm lips
+were pressed upon her mouth. "We no more part, my darling--never,
+never more."
+
+They rode along through the night, he telling of his love, and
+fashioning the future; she listening with bright eyes, and a
+happiness too great for words.
+
+"You have asked me, darling, why I love _you_ so? How it comes that of
+all the girls whom I have known, I should give my heart to you entire
+and for ever? Well, darling, I shall say naught of your heroism, which
+would alone make you illustrious and beloved in our historic annals for
+all time to come; but I shall regard you as a maiden who has never seen
+the brunt of battle, or done a deed of warlike valour. You have still
+enough of sterling worth to win my heart ten thousand times. You are
+beautiful, dear, and you are good as you are beautiful. You are true,
+because in you there is naught of affectation or of desire _to act a
+part;_ and there is on your lips no speech that is not the true
+expression of your thought. This I conceive to be the highest tribute-
+gift that man can offer a woman."
+
+After all the turmoil and the besetting dangers this was very sweet
+to her;--and it was sweet to him.
+
+In a little the rebellion ended, and Stephens came to the house of
+Annette's aunt, and wedded his beloved there. Then he took her to
+wild, sweet places in the Territories; and after the lapse of a few
+weeks, went with her to the east, where both pleaded for the life of
+Colonel Marton. All men worshipped her when she came to our cities;
+and when she had obtained the boon for which she had come amongst us,
+she went away to the west again. She is happy now as woman can be,
+and my latest information is that Julie has prevailed upon her chief
+to change his place of abode and come with her to live, for the
+remainder of their days, close to the abode of her beloved mistress.
+
+Annette is now the most popular woman in the North-West Territories.
+Her beauty seems to have attained a fuller development since we knew
+her as a maiden. Her mole is a deeper brown, I really believe, and
+her dimple deeper. But best of all her happiness is as well assured
+as her beauty.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+The preceding story lays no claim to value or accuracy in its
+descriptions of the North-West Territories. I have never seen that
+portion of our country; and to endeavour to describe faithfully a
+region of which I have only a hearsay knowledge would be foolish.
+
+I have, therefore, arranged the geography of the Territories to suit
+my own conveniences. I speak of places that no one, will be able to
+find upon maps of the present or of the future. Wherever I want a
+valley or a swamp, I put the same; and I have taken the same liberty
+with respect to hills or waterfalls, The birds, and in some instances
+the plants and flowers of the prairies, I have also made to order.
+
+I present some fiction in my story, and a large array of fact. I do
+not feel bound, however, to state which is the fact, and which the
+fiction.
+
+I have not aimed at dramatic excellence in this book. Change of
+scene, incident and colour are the points which I had in view. There
+is not any sham sentiment in the book.
+
+I have introduced a few passages, with little change from a small
+volume, entitled "The Story of Louis Riel." These passages in no way
+effect the current of my story; but as I thought that they had some
+merit, I had no compunction in diverting them to present uses. The
+most notable authors have done this sort of thing; and chief amongst
+them I may mention Thackeray.
+
+I beg likewise to say a word with respect to the book known as "The
+Story of Louis Riel." That volume has been quoted as history; but it
+is largely fiction. There is no historic truth in the story therein
+written by me that Louis Riel conceived a passion for a beautiful
+girl named Marie; and that he put Thomas Scott to death, because the
+maiden gave her heart to that young white man. I have seen the story
+printed again and again as truth; but there is in it not one word of
+truth. This much I am glad to be able to say in justice to the memory
+of the miserable man, who has suffered a just penalty for his
+transgressions. I never intended that the work in question should be
+taken as history; and I should have made that point clear in an
+introduction, bearing my name, but that I was unwilling to take
+responsibility for the literary slovenliness, which was unavoidable
+through my haste in writing, and through Mr. D. A. Rose's hurry in
+publishing, the work. It occupied me only seventeen days; and I did
+not see my proofs.
+
+Once more: one of the leading characters in that book, Mr. Charles
+Mair, is most unjustly treated. Him I held as one of the prime agents
+in the rebellion of 1869; but nothing could be further from the fact.
+His pen and his voice had always advocated justice and generosity
+towards the Indians and the Metis. As to his sentiments respecting
+the Indians, I need but refer to the drama of his "Tecumseh," which
+Canadians have received with such enthusiasm.
+
+
+
+
+NANCY, THE LIGHT-KEEPER'S DAUGHTER.
+
+BY EDMUND COLLINS.
+
+
+"Yes, that is a picture of Grace Darling, but I can tell you a story
+of great bravery, too, which the world has never heard, about the
+daughter of a light-keeper who lived on the shore of one of our
+Canadian lakes." These words were spoken to me by an old Canadian
+fisherman in whose house I was spending a few nights while out for my
+autumn shooting.
+
+"The girl's name was Nancy and her father was keeper of a small
+wooden light-house which stood chained to a ledge lying close to the
+harbour's mouth. The girl and her father lived alone upon the rock,
+but when the water was smooth they went every day to the mainland in
+their little boat. One day in the late autumn the keeper was obliged
+to make a journey to a distant town, and as he could not reach home
+again till some hours after dark, he left the lighting of the light
+to Nancy. The girl and a number of others went among the hills in the
+afternoon to pick bake-apples, and they remained till the sun was
+only "a hand high" in the west. Then the party turned their steps
+toward the coast.
+
+"There will be a heavy gale to-night," the girl said, looking at the
+sky; for a mass of dark cloud resembling a ragged mountain had
+appeared up the coast and begun to roll rapidly toward the harbour.
+It is only those who live near the lakes, that know how suddenly
+sometimes a terrible hurricane will come out of a sky which was the
+most peaceful of azure only a few moments before. The tempest first
+moved along the level shore, casting an awful shadow upon the
+landscape for miles before it; then it smote the sea in its full fury.
+
+To describe the tumult of sound as the gale drove onward would be
+impossible. A sad cry would swell out like the voice of a mother
+wailing for her child; then, pitched in a low, loud key, would come a
+noise like the howling of a soul condemned; while above the confusing
+din could be heard shrill whistles and cross pipings as if a host of
+mad spirits were signalling one another through the storm.
+
+Nancy hurried to the shore where lay her little boat, and several
+fishermen were gathered about the dock.
+
+"Girl," said one, a hardy sailor who had been on the lakes in the
+roughest weather, "no boat would live now to reach the reef. Better
+wait till your father returns."
+
+"But if some ship, unable to clear the land with this ingale, should
+be obliged to run for the harbour, she could never enter without the
+light."
+
+"I was on the look-out a few moments ago, and there was nothing in
+sight. But, even if there was, it would be madness to launch a boat
+now. Look at these seas!"
+
+The whole face of the gulf between the reef and the shore was a
+wilderness of raging water. The fisherman had hardly ceased speaking,
+when another of the coast people was seen hurrying down from the look-
+out.
+
+"There is a ship about eight miles to the sou'west, with canvas
+close hauled; but I don't think that she will be able to weather the
+point."
+
+"If she cannot, then she must run for the harbour, and there will be
+no light," Nancy exclaimed; and the colour faded out of her brown
+cheek. Then borrowing a telescope from one of the fishermen, she set
+out for the top of the look-out. While she held the glass in her
+trembling hands she saw the ship wear and turn her head toward the
+harbour. Gathering her plaid shawl hastily about her shoulders, she
+ran down the steep and returned to the dock.
+
+"The ship is running for the harbour, and there _must_ be a light. Here,
+help me to launch my boat."
+
+"Is the girl mad!" two or three voices exclaimed at once.
+
+"Girl," said the old man who had spoken before, "no small boat that
+ever swam can reach yonder ledge now. Why do you want to throw away
+your life? It cannot save the ship."
+
+"The boat is light," Nancy replied, "and the canvas covering will
+keep it from filling, if I can only manage always to meet the sea
+head on. If I had a pair of after oars as well as my own there would
+not be much difficulty." As she spoke these words, she looked at the
+group, as if calling for a volunteer: but nobody took her hint. They
+all cowered in the face of the gale, and some of them began to move
+away from the dock.
+
+"Then I must go alone," the girl said, as she threw off her shawl,
+and hastily tied up her mane of soft, black hair. "You will surely
+help me to launch the boat." But no hand would help her. They saw the
+impetuous girl going to doom, and they would not be a party to her
+madness. Getting three or four round pieces of driftwood, which were
+slippery with water-slime, she laid them along the dock; two other
+billets she placed under the boat's keel. Then gathering her strength
+for one pull, she sent the boat into the churning surf. One of the
+fishermen advanced to detain her, but she waved him back with a
+gesture so determined and imperious that he hesitated. He then held
+consultation with his friends. Two or three now hurried down to the
+water's edge, but the boat had shot out beyond their reach, and was
+already rising like some great sea-bird over the mad waves. The girl
+had seized her oars and was rowing at a brisk rate toward the ledge.
+Sometimes a huge, green, glittering wave would arise and roll towards
+the shell, and the fishermen would close their eyes; but in response
+to the rower's quick wrist, the little skiff would turn and climb
+over the roaring crest of the terrible billow. Sometimes the boat was
+nowhere to be seen, and one of the spectators would say to another,
+
+"It is all over!"
+
+Presently, however, the cockle would rise out of the trough and
+appear upon the summit of a breaking sea, looking like a large,
+crouching, sea-gull. On, steadily, the mite of a craft held its way,
+sometimes heading directly for the reef, again swerving to the right
+to mount a rampant billow. Smaller, and smaller grew the little
+figure, till it became a mere white speck away in the driving mist.
+The fishermen still remained huddled together in the dock; and as
+one, with the telescope in his hand, announced that the girl was now
+within a cable's length of the reef, a great look of shame came into
+their faces, that not one had shown courage enough to go with her. As
+for Nancy, in the midst of the ravening turmoil, she was cool of head
+and steady of arm, pulling with a sturdy stroke, and constantly
+turning her face to note the waves to be met with the full front of
+the skiff. Sometimes the cross wash from a sea would smite the boat
+upon the quarter, and for a moment expose it to destruction; but in
+response to the girl's quick judgment and steady wrist, the bold
+little prow would be instantly brought again in the face of the
+tempest. In one continuous storm the spray drove over her, and the
+skiff was more than half full of water. It was growing dark, and she
+could barely distinguish the opposite shore. But the danger of the
+passage was at last over, and her tiny craft was in the shelter of
+the gloomy reef.
+
+There was a windlass bolted to the rock, with which she drew the
+skiff beyond the reach of the waves. Nimbly then she climbed the reef
+till she reached the door of the tower. A few seconds later all the
+fishermen saw the warm, yellow glare of the light streaming over the
+turbulent water.
+
+Nancy was happy now, and her large eyes strained through the lantern
+of the tower to catch sight of the ship. She had not long to wait.
+Between the reef and the long stretch of eastern shore, a red light
+pulsed upon a wave, moving towards the harbour.
+
+"Good!" the girl cried out, "she is midway in the channel and safe."
+Then she descended to the basement, where she brewed a cup of tea,
+and sat down to a supper of cold sea-fowl, and juicy, white bread of
+her own baking.
+
+The sleeping rooms were upon the middle story, but the girl began to
+grow uneasy at the increasing violence of the hurricane, and would
+not go to bed. Taking a book, she went to the lantern and sat upon a
+box to read. The whistling of the wind around the glass and the dome
+of zinc, the booming of the sea against the rock, and the brawling of
+the waters around her produced such a tumultuous din that persons
+speaking in the tower would be unable to hear each other.
+
+Then dawned a new terror; and she looked upon the floor with wide-
+opened eyes and blanched lips. Twice since its establishment, during
+winter gales, had the tower been swept off the rock. It is true the
+present structure was substantially built, and was firmly secured to
+long iron "stringers" bolted to the solid rock; yet the sea was
+already surging against the base of the tower, and at every blow the
+edifice quivered till the machinery of steel and brass rang like a
+number of little bells. Upon the grated, iron pathway running around
+the lantern inside, she took her stand, and, thence, looked out. The
+light streamed far beyond the ledge and revealed the full fury of the
+sea. The agitated waters would recede from the reef upon the windward
+side like a jumper who runs backward, that he may be able to leap
+with greater force; then gathered up to the stature of a hill and
+crowned with roaring foam, it would return with soft tread, but
+terrible might, scaling the rock, and flinging its white arms around
+the waist of the tower. Throughout the tumult, flocks of sea-birds,
+driven from the surface, and bewildered in the dense darkness of the
+storm, would fly for the light and smite the lantern; and then they
+would fall backward into the surf, as if struck with a thunderbolt.
+Other creatures flew with more care; and Nancy shuddered as she saw
+the gleaming eyes of huge fish hawks outside, and beheld their dusky
+wings waving at the panes.
+
+Many an hour of terror passed with no employment for the trembling
+watcher, save when the lamps grew dim and she moved from her standing
+place to snuff the wick and turn more flame. Stepping nervously down
+to the basement she found that it lacked only a quarter of four
+o'clock. In half an hour it would be dawn, and she was cheered by the
+thought as she re-ascended.
+
+But how could a frail, wooden tower withstand these terrible shocks!
+As she trod the spiral stairs, the whole edifice trembled and
+creaked. Once, under a tremendous surge, she felt it reel. She
+hurried again to the iron pathway and looked out. Billow after billow
+came sweeping up the ledge, and did not pause till it smote the very
+lantern with its soft foam.
+
+"Oh! merciful God deliver me!" the girl cried, as she espied far out
+a wave far more terrible and gigantic than any other which her
+frightened eyes had seen. Before it reached the reef, she believed
+that its storming crest was on a level with the lantern. Then it
+seemed as if the whole ocean, aroused to strike one overwhelming
+blow, fell in thunder upon the tower. Nancy was conscious of being
+hurled rapidly through space; then followed a crashing sound, an
+overturning and a confusion that no pen could describe. The tower was
+in the sea.
+
+She could never explain how it came about, but when she recovered
+from the shock she was floating close by one of the tower floors. The
+dawn had broken in glaring gray, and she was enabled to perceive her
+situation. The lower part of the tower was uppermost, and the lantern
+with its weight of machinery was beneath. Yes, God had heard her
+supplication; and, comparatively safe from the billows, she clung to
+a piece of timber, projecting above the floor. She was certain that
+the storm was abating; yet the wreck was drifting rapidly toward the
+inexorable rocks. Wave after wave passed over the uppermost part of
+the tower, and sometimes the water smote her so that her head reeled,
+and her senses became dimmed for some moments. A coil of rope hung
+from a spike in the wall, and fastening an end of it around her slim
+waist, she bound herself to a stout piece of timber.
+
+A young man, passenger in the ship which the girl had saved, heard
+of the heroism of the light-keeper's daughter. As soon as light came,
+through promise of a liberal reward, he induced one of the sailors to
+come with him in the launch. Near the shore they met the floating
+tower, and saw lying upon the top, and bound there with a rope, the
+girl who had risked her life to save the vessel. They believed that
+she was dead, so pale was her beautiful face; and the coils of her
+soft hair were trailing in the surging water. But she was not dead,
+and, placed in the warm cabin of the delivered ship, soon opened her
+great, timorous eyes.
+
+Now, that my story may seem like a novel, I may add that the brave
+young fellow who rescued Nancy was often seen afterwards about the
+girl's home. Indeed I doubt if the two were ever parted.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Annette, The Metis Spy, by Joseph Edmund Collins
+
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