The Frontier Fort

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER NINE.

  So resolutely carried on was the attack of the Indians, that CaptainMackintosh could not help fearing that it must succeed. Two of his menhad been killed, and both his sons were wounded, although they refusedto retire, and continued firing through the loop-holed walls. Thefiercest attack was made on the gate, which Mysticoose evidently hopedto break open, and to force his way in. Loraine undertook to defend itto the last. Captain Mackintosh, knowing that he would do so, was ableto turn his attention to other points.

  Notwithstanding the desperate manner in which they came on to theattack, the assailants were kept at bay; but so much powder had atlength been expended, that Captain Mackintosh found to his dismay thatthe stock was running short.

  "We must manage to hold out until daylight, and then, through Heaven'smercy, the savages may be induced to give up the attempt," he observedto Sandy, who brought him the alarming information.

  "Ay, sir, that we will; and when the powder is done, we will take to ourpikes and bayonets. The Redskins will have no mind to face them."

  The savage chief seemed resolved, however, to succeed. Again and againhe and his followers rushed up to the gate, which they assailed withtheir axes, hewing at the stout wood in the expectation of cutting itthrough. Many fell in the attempt by the hot fire kept up on them fromeither side.

  At last they were driven back, and the garrison gave vent to a loudcheer, confident that the enemy were about to take to flight.

  For a short interval the fighting ceased; but the savages, urged byMysticoose, again came on, this time to make another effort to scale thepalisades. Some stood on the backs of their companions, trying to reachthe summit; others tugged away at the stout timbers, endeavouring topull them down; but they resisted all their efforts.

  The defenders of the fort rushed here and there, striking fierce blowswith their axes wherever an Indian showed himself, thrusting with theirpikes, and hurling back their assailants. Still, it was too likely thatnumbers would prevail. On either side the Indians were swarming up, andone man had often to contend with a dozen before others of the defenderscould come to his assistance. Several more of the garrison had beenwounded; but no one, while he had strength to wield a weapon, retiredfrom his post. At last the Indians, finding that so many of their partyhad fallen, and that, in spite of all their efforts, they were unable toclimb over the palisades, desisted from the attempt, and again retiredout of gunshot. Though they could not be seen, their voices were heardon three sides of the fort, showing that they had not altogetherabandoned the attempt.

  "I wonder what they will do next?" said Hector to his brother. "Do youthink they have had enough of it?"

  "If that fellow Mysticoose has escaped, I'm afraid he'll urge them tocome on again," answered Norman. "It still wants an hour to daylight,and they are up to some trick or other, you may depend upon that.Perhaps they are creeping round to try and get in at the rear of thefort by climbing up on that side, thinking that we should not guard itso carefully as the front. Come along, let us try and find out whatthey are about."

  They accordingly hurried up to the ramparts overlooking the river; butwhen they peered down through the gloom, they could see nothing moving.They urged the men on guard to keep a watchful look-out.

  "No fear about our doing that," was the answer. "The Redskins have hadenough of climbing over for the present. They are more likely again totry and beat down the gate."

  Still the shouts and shrieks in the distance continued.

  Hector and Norman returned to their posts in front. They had scarcelygot there when Hector's sharp eyes perceived some dark objects movingalong the ground. He would have taken them, under other circumstances,for a herd of buffalo, so shapeless did they seem.

  He immediately warned the rest of the garrison. The objects came nearerand nearer. It was evident that they were men carrying loads on theirbacks, who, bounding on before a fire could be opened on them, got closeup to the gates at the foot of the palisades. The next instant a numberof Indians were observed making off at full speed. They were fired at;but so rapid were their movements, that most of them effected theirescape without being hit.

  Scarcely had the firing ceased, than small flames were seen rising outof the loads left close to the fort, which it was now discovered werefaggots, brought by the savages for the purpose of burning down thepalisades.

  Loraine, on seeing this, volunteered to head a party to drag away thefaggots before the flames should have time to blaze up; but just as hewas about to set out, and the gates were being opened, some moreIndians, protected by a band of horsemen, were seen approaching, ladenwith an additional supply of faggots, with which, using them as shields,they endeavoured to protect themselves from the fire of the garrison.But by this time many of the men, having only a round or two ofammunition remaining, were unwilling to expend it, and the savages asbefore escaped with slight loss.

  "The faggots may blaze up, my boys," cried Captain Mackintosh; "but itwill take some time to burn down our palisades." His heart, however,began to sink, as he thought that too probably the enemy would succeedin their design.

  Loraine, seeing the fearful danger to which the fort was exposed, againoffered to rush out at the head of a party of men, and endeavour to dragaway the burning branches. There was a risk, however, that while theywere so engaged, the enemy might make a rush for the gate. Already theflames were ascending. As they burned brightly, their glare wouldexpose him and his followers to view. Still, the position of affairsrequired that the risk, great as it was, should be run. Dense volumesof smoke were coming through the interstices of the palisades, and thecircle of flame which rose up round the fort showed that no time must belost.

  Captain Mackintosh sent those who had most ammunition to fire away atthe enemy, should they approach. The gates were opened, and Loraine,with his followers, issued forth armed with pikes, to drag away theburning mass. Those at the gate were soon hurled to a distance. Theythen began to labour away at those spots where the greatest danger wasthreatened to the palisades.

  So rapid were their movements that it was some time before their objectwas discovered by the Indians, who, however, at length perceived whatthey were about, and, uttering a war whoop, came rushing towards them.

  In vain the party from above endeavoured to keep the savages in check.Loraine ran a fearful risk of being cut off.

  Captain Mackintosh, seeing the danger to which he was exposed, shoutedto him to retire, while the men within stood ready to close the gatesthe moment he and his companions had entered. Although warned that theenemy were drawing near, he laboured on to the last, when, turninground, he saw, by the light of the flames, the savages, with tomahawksuplifted, scarcely a dozen paces from him.

  His first impulse was to stop and encounter Mysticoose; but by so doinghe would delay, he knew, the closing of the gate, and the savages mightsucceed in entering.

  A tomahawk whirled by his head. In another moment he would have a dozenenemies upon him. He sprang back after his companion, and the gate wasclosed against their assailants, who at once, to wreak their vengeance,began to throw back the blazing faggots against it.

  A few shots were fired at the enemy, and then not a single report washeard. Every grain of powder in the fort had been expended.

  The Blackfeet had in the mean time been collecting a fresh supply offaggots, and now, finding themselves unmolested, brought them up to thestockades. At length the stout gate, having caught fire, showed signsof giving way, while the forked flames appeared in all directionsbetween the palisades. In vain the bold hunters sprang here and therewith buckets of water--for the fort was well supplied--and dashed itagainst the burning timbers. It was too evident that ere long the wholefront of the fort would be one mass of fire.

  "Never fear, lads," cried old Sandy Macpherson, as he saw to a certaintywhat would happen. "Even when the walls come down, the Redskins won'tbe in a hurry to make their way over them. We may still keep the`varmints' at ba
y for a good time longer, and then just take shelter inthe big house, and they'll no get into that in a hurry, while we makegood play with our pikes and bayonets."

  If Sandy did not forget that the savages, as soon as they got into theinner part of the fort, would set fire to the buildings, he thought itprudent not to say so.

  In the mean time, Loraine began to fear that notwithstanding the heroicefforts he and his companions were making, the helpless ones, whom theywere ready to sacrifice their lives to protect, would fall into thepower of the savages. Language, indeed, cannot describe his feelings.Rather would he have seen his beautiful Sybil dead than carried off bythe Indian. "Would it not be possible to get through the back of thefort, and to place the ladies in the boat, then either to carry themdown the river, or enable them to make their escape to the northward?"he asked of Captain Mackintosh. "Surely it would be safer thandefending them in the house."

  "I much fear that the savages, though we do not see them, are watchingthe banks, and that the attempt would be unsuccessful; yet, as a lastresource, we must try it," answered Captain Mackintosh. "I will committhem to your charge."

  Loraine's feelings prompted him eagerly to accept the office, and yet,influenced by a high motive, he replied--

  "I would propose that your sons should escort them. They are wellacquainted with the navigation of the river, and would be more likely tofind their way across the country than I should."

  "My boys and I must remain at our posts and defend the fort to thelast," said Captain Mackintosh. "You must go, my friend. We have but ashort time to prepare. Old Sandy shall accompany you. The boat willhold no more. Go on, and let my wife and poor girls know what we havedecided, and I will make the required arrangements."

  "I will do as you desire," answered Loraine.

  In building the fort, the timbers had been so placed that an openingcould easily be formed on such an emergency as now occurred. CaptainMackintosh, summoning Sandy, they together removed part of thewood-work. Sandy was about to step through the opening, when hehurriedly drew back, and replacing the timbers exclaimed--

  "The Redskins have found us out. I saw half a score of them creepingalong the bank. Quick, quick, captain, and stop up the gap!"

  All hope of enabling the ladies to escape as he proposed had to beabandoned, and Captain Mackintosh, with a sad heart, leaving Sandy towatch the spot, went back to tell them of the impossibility of carryingout their projected plan.

  Scarcely had he reached the building than the towers on either side ofthe gate, which were blazing furiously, and a large portion of thefront, fell down outwards with a loud crash.

  A fearful yell of exultation was uttered by the savages, but theencircling flames and the burning timbers still kept them at bay. In ashort time, however, the flames would burn out, and they might springover the smouldering logs.

  Disheartened by the desperate way in which their attacks had been met,and not aware that the garrison were destitute of ammunition, they keptat a distance, feeling confident that their prey could not escape them.

  As the flames decreased, Captain Mackintosh ordered the men to retreatinto the two chief buildings, urging them to hold out bravely to thelast. He feared, however, with too much reason, that although theymight prolong their resistance, their ultimate destruction wasinevitable. Every moment the flames in front were decreasing, althoughon either side they were creeping along the stockades, threateningeverything with speedy destruction.

  The savages, hovering round, had been waiting for the moment when theymight force their way over the burning ruins. It came at last. Againuttering their fearful war whoops, they came rushing on, confident ofsuccess, when a cheer was heard from the left, followed by a rattlingfire of musketry. The fierce warriors turned and fled. Their chiefhimself, who was distinguished by his tall figure and waving plume, wasseen to fall. Some of his followers endeavoured to lift him from theground, but fled with the rest, and in another minute a large body ofhorsemen galloped up, who were seen, as the glare of the burningstockades fell on them, to be mostly half-breed hunters, led by a whiteman.

  "Hurrah! Hurrah! It's Allan Keith," cried Hector, who had been on thelook-out through one of the barricaded windows.

  In an instant the door was thrown open. The men of the garrison rushedto the burning walls, some with axes to cut them down, others withbuckets of water to extinguish the flames.

  While the half-breeds were pursuing the flying foe, another partyappeared on the right, and in a short time Dr McCrab and Dan Maloney,who had led them, were heartily greeting Captain Mackintosh and hiscompanions, and congratulating them on their narrow escape.

  "Faith, my boy, I'm mighty glad that we've come just in the nick oftime, and that we shouldn't have done, I'm after thinking, if it hadn'tbeen for falling in with old Isaac Sass, and his impish follower, MasterGreensnake," exclaimed Maloney, as he shook Hector's hand. "He told usif we wanted to save you, to put our best feet foremost while he showedus the course to take. It's my belief, too, that he afterwards managedto fall in with Allan Keith and his party, or it's possible they mighthave arrived as we should have done, just in time to be too late."

  The men belonging to the fort had been successful in extinguishing theflames, though the whole front was either in ruins or presented afearfully shattered and blackened appearance.

  Dr McCrab, with coat off and sleeves tucked up, was busily employed inattending to the wounded men, while Loraine was assisting Sybil and MrsMackintosh in calming the fears of poor Effie, who, not seeing AllanKeith among those who had just arrived, had feared that some accidenthad happened to him. He soon, however, with his active horsemen, havingdriven the enemy to a distance, arrived unhurt, and his appearancequickly tranquillised her mind.

  "We must not, however, forget our friend Mr Harvey," exclaimed CaptainMackintosh. "The Blackfeet may possibly direct their course towards hisstation and revenge themselves for their failure here by attempting itsdestruction."

  On hearing this remark, Allan Keith and Loraine offered to lead a partyof men to the assistance of the missionary, and about thirty of thehunters having volunteered to accompany them, fresh horses were broughtacross the river, and they immediately set out.

  Norman and Hector, notwithstanding their wounds, wished to go, but theDoctor refused to allow them, and insisted on their turning in andgetting the rest they greatly needed. Not an hour was lost incommencing the repairs of the fort, that it might be in a condition toresist any further attack which the Indians might venture to make on it.A few men were also sent to bury the Blackfeet, who had fallen eitherin the attack or flight. Among the bodies that of Mysticoose himselfwas found, his followers being unable to carry him away. He was buriedin the common grave at a distance from the fort.

  Of course a watch was kept at night, though it was not thought probablethat the Indians, even should they discover the absence of Loraine andKeith, would renew the attack.

  A week passed by. The sawyers and carpenters had worked soenergetically, that already the fort had assumed its former appearance,with some improvements to add to its strength. There was no time to belost, as winter was approaching, and most of the men who had arrivedunder Dan Maloney and Dr McCrab, had to return to Fort Edmonton.

  Sybil and Effie had at first kept up their spirits, but they weregrowing anxious at the non-appearance of Loraine and Keith.

  Evening was approaching, when a shout was raised by the sentry on thewestern watch-tower, that a large train was coming across the prairie,on which Norman and Hector, with several other inmates of the fort,hastened up the platform to take a look at it.

  "I am much mistaken, if they are not Loraine and Keith and their party,"exclaimed Hector.

  "They have carts with them, so there can be no doubt about their beingwhite men," said Norman.

  Hector getting a telescope soon discovered that he was right in hisconjectures. As the train drew nearer, the gates were opened, and alarge party hurried out to meet the newcomers, w
ho proved to be not onlythose who were expected, but Mr Harvey and his family, with severalIndians who had accompanied them.

  "He came," he said, "to ask for protection for himself and his wife andchildren, as well as for the converts, until it could be ascertainedthat the Blackfeet had finally left the district."

  It need not be said that Loraine and Keith had warmly urged him to takethis step.

  Captain Mackintosh, giving him a hearty welcome, assured him of the usehe would be to the inmates of the fort.

  "In truth, my dear friend," he observed, "I believe you can do more realgood among my half heathen people, than you could to any of the fewIndians who would visit you during the winter."

  Mr Harvey, besides his wife, had two daughters, nearly grown up, and ason, who, there could be no doubt, would prove a great addition to thesociety at the fort, the inmates of which had little chance of enjoyingmuch communication with the outer world for many months to come.

  Soon after his arrival, Mr Harvey inquired for Isaac Sass. "I halfexpected to have found him here," he observed to Captain Mackintosh,"though he left without saying in what direction he was going. I amthankful to believe that his visit to me was of spiritual benefit tohim; for, opening his heart, he confessed that he had been a carelessliver, having endeavoured, though in vain, to put God out of histhoughts. I was the instrument of bringing his mind into a betterstate, and I trust that in a contrite spirit he sought forgiveness fromGod through the gracious means He has offered to sinners. Beforeleaving me, he put into my hands a packet to be delivered to you; andfrom what he said, I suspect that he is deeply interested in the younglady whom I believed to be your daughter, until he assured me that suchwas not the case. He had recognised her by her likeness to one whom hetruly loved, but who had been lost to him for ever, though, I conclude,you will learn his history from the contents of the packet which I nowgive you."

  Captain Mackintosh, on opening the packet, found it contained a longmanuscript written in a large but somewhat shaky hand. It would occupytoo much space were it to be copied. His life, like that of manyothers, had been an adventurous one. His true name was Hugh Lindsay,and his family was an old and good one. Having left home at an earlyage, he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and had everyreason to expect to become one of its leading members, when his familyso strongly expressed their annoyance at hearing of his marriage with abeautiful half-Cree girl, that he ceased to hold any communication withthem. He had not long after this quarrelled with his employers, when heleft their service, and commenced the life of a free trader and trapper.For some time he had considerable success, and as his wife hadpresented him with a daughter, whom he devotedly loved, he was doublyanxious to gain the means of supporting and educating her in the rank ofa lady. Neither he nor her mother, however, could bear to part withher.

  At an early age she was seen and admired by Donald Grey, a young clerkin the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, who sought for and obtainedher hand. He, however, had managed, as his father-in-law had done, toquarrel with the chief officer of the fort where he was stationed, andhaving some means of his own, had taken up his residence at the RedRiver Settlement.

  After living there a year, and becoming the father of a little girl, hereceived intelligence from England that he had inherited a goodproperty. He had embarked with his young wife and child and a Creenurse, intending to proceed through the Lake of the Woods, across LakeSuperior to Canada. From that day, weeks, months, and years went by,and the old trapper, still supposing that they had arrived safely inEngland, waited in vain to receive intelligence of them.

  It is necessary here to remark that when the superintendent at thecompany's post on the Sault Saint Marie made inquiries of the chieffactors and other officers throughout the north-west territory, theyreplied that no person connected with them was missing, or had crossedLake Superior at the time he mentioned. From the American traders alsohe could obtain no information. Not until Isaac Sass, or more properly,Hugh Lindsay, heard Captain Mackintosh describe the way Sybil had beendiscovered, did he suspect the fate of his daughter and son-in-law. Hehad accounted for never having received a letter from them, by supposingthat on reaching the old country, and occupying a new sphere of life,they had forgotten him, or had not taken the trouble to write. Hiswife, dying soon after their daughter's marriage, he had taken to thewild life he had from that time forward led, believing that he himselfwas forgotten by his kindred, and endeavouring in a misanthropicalspirit to banish from his mind all thoughts of the past.

  On seeing Sybil, a chord had been struck in his heart, and on hearingher history, he was at once convinced, from her extraordinary likenessto his own child, that she was her daughter though fairer, and of a morerefined beauty, such as mental culture gives; but for her sake he wasunwilling to make himself known, believing that neither she nor Lorainewould be gratified at finding that she was the grand-daughter of a roughold trapper. He especially fancied that the gentlemanly youngEnglishman would object to him, and having himself a bad opinion ofhuman nature, he supposed that it might even cause him to give up Sybil.Still, after he had been brought to a better state of mind by MrHarvey, he could not resist the temptation of writing a sketch of hishistory, and by informing his grand-daughter of her birth and parentage,enable her, as he hoped, to gain the property which would have been herfather's. He added all the information he possessed for the discoveryof Ronald Grey's family, and whether or not he had ever arrived inEngland.

  While listening to this narrative which Captain Mackintosh read to him,Loraine exclaimed, "Grey was my mother's name, and I remember hearingthat a cousin of hers had gone out to the north-west territory, in theservice of the Hudson's Bay Company, and that although property had beenleft him he had not returned to claim it, and has never since been heardof. Ultimately it came to my mother, through whom it forms a portion ofthe fortune I possess, and I will willingly resign it to the rightfulheiress."

  "I don't suppose that she, with equal willingness, will deprive you ofit," said Captain Mackintosh, laughing.

  Mr Harvey again expressed his regret that the old man had not remainedbehind with him, though he added, "I felt confident he has embraced thetruth as it is in Christ Jesus, and I fully expect to see him againbefore long."

  The wounded men having recovered under the care of Dr McCrab, he andDan Maloney returned, with a portion of their followers, to FortEdmonton, while the half-breeds set off eastward for their homes at theRed River. Allan Keith, much to his own satisfaction, having hadpermission to remain at Fort Duncan with the rest, to reinforce itsgarrison.

  It was fully expected that the old trapper would some day make hisappearance, but time went by, and no tidings could be gained of him.

  Before Mr Harvey returned in the spring to his mission station, heunited Sybil and Effie to the two gentlemen to whom they had given theirhearts.

  Loraine and his bride immediately set off for the Red River, intendingto proceed from thence to Canada, on their way to England, while AllanKeith took his to a fort, to the charge of which he had been appointed.

  Loraine, by means of the information Captain Mackintosh had given him,and such as he was able to obtain at the Red River, was able to provethat his wife was the daughter of Ronald Grey, but was saved a vastamount of legal expenses by her refusal to claim the property of whichhe was already in possession.

  Some time afterwards, Allan Keith and Effie came over to pay them avisit. They brought some deeply interesting information. Search hadfor a long time been fruitlessly made for the old hunter, until atlength, Norman and Hector Mackintosh, when on an exploring expedition,had discovered on a tree-covered hill, overlooking a calm lake, asolitary grave. Over it had been placed, in regular order, a pile ofhuge logs, cut by an Indian axe. Searching further, they found in a huthard by, a hump-backed Indian, life apparently ebbing fast away.

  He pointed above. "I am going," he whispered, "to that heaven of whichmy friend and protector, he who lies yonder, has to
ld me, through themerits of One who died for sinful men. I have fulfilled his last wish,which was to be buried, and but yesterday finished my task. It has beena long one, for the trees were hard to cut down, and now I go with joyto meet him, in the happy land from which there is no return. I amthankful that you have come to know where he is laid."

  In the hopes of resuscitating the poor lad, Norman and Hectorendeavoured to make him take some nourishment, but he was in tooexhausted a condition to swallow the food, and he breathed his last justas the setting sun cast a bright glow across the calm waters on the oldtrapper's grave.