The Buffalo Runners: A Tale of the Red River Plains

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER SIX.

  DISCORD AND DECEIT, ETCETERA.

  It was found, on their arrival at the home of Duncan McKay senior, thatDuncan junior had got there before them, he having been met and broughtin by one of the settlers who had gone out with his cariole to do whathe could for the hunters. The two women who discovered the body ofPerrin, however, had not yet arrived, and nothing was known of themurder in the Settlement.

  "It iss little troubled _you_ wass, what came over us," remarked oldDuncan angrily, on entering his house, and finding his younger sonengaged with a pipe beside the kitchen fire.

  "An' how could _I_ know where you wass; efter I had been huntin' fornothin' for two days?" retorted his son. "Wass I to think you would bestoppin' in the lame camp till you died? Wass it not more likely thatsome wan would find you an' bring you in--as they did?"

  "No thanks to you that they did, Tuncan, what_ever_. Where did youleave the other boys?"

  "How should I know?" returned the son sharply; "they dropped off--wanhere an' wan there--sayin' they would try for a buffalo in wan place oranother, or, that they would rest awhile; an' so I wass left by myself.I found it quite enough to look efter number wan."

  "It hes _always_ been as much, that, as ye could manitch, Tuncan, evenwhen things wass goin' easy," said the old man with a sarcastic laugh,that induced the young man to rise and quit the room.

  He went towards a small shop, or store, as such places were styled inthe Nor'-West. It fell to his lot in the family arrangements to lookafter and manage this store. Indeed the youth's anxiety for the easeand comfort of "number wan" had induced him to select the post as beinga part of the family duties that was peculiarly suited to himself.

  On reaching the store he went straight to a large roll of Canadian twisttobacco, cut off a piece, refilled his pipe, and, sitting down on a balebegan or, rather, continued to smoke. He had not been seated long whenthe door opened, and the head of a half-breed peeped cautiously in withan uncommonly sly look.

  "That you, Francois La Certe?" said McKay rather sternly, for he knewthe man well. "What iss it you will be wantin' now?"

  Francois wanted many things--things almost too numerous to mention; but,first, he would pay his debts to Cloudbrow.

  "Come, that's something new," said McKay with a cynical laugh. "Youmust have come by a fortune, or committed a robbery before ye would beso honest. How much are you goin' to pay?"

  "The sledge that you lent me, I have brought back," said the half-breedwith a deprecatory air.

  "So, you call returning a loan paying your debts?" said Duncan.

  La Certe did not quite say that, but he thought it bore some resemblanceto a payment to account, and at all events was proof of his goodintentions.

  "And on the strength of that you'll want plenty more credit, I hev nodoubt."

  "No--not plenty," said La Certe, with the earnest air of a man who isexposing his whole soul to inspection, and who means to act this timewith the strictest sincerity, to say nothing of honesty. "It is only alittle that I want. Not much. Just enough to keep body and soul fromsayin' good-bye."

  "But you have not paid a fraction of your old debt. How will you beexpectin' to meet the new one?"

  Oh! La Certe could easily explain that. He was going off immediatelyto hunt and trap, and would soon return with a heavy load, for therewere plenty of animals about. Then in the spring, which was near athand, he meant to fish, or go to the plains with the hunters, and returnladen with bags of pemmican, bales of dried meat, and buffalo-robesenough to pay off all his debts, and leave something over to enable himto spend the winter in luxurious idleness.

  "And you expect me to believe all that nonsense?" said McKay, sternly.

  La Certe was hurt. Of course he expected to be believed! His feelingswere injured, but he was of a forgiving disposition and would say nomore about it. He had expected better treatment, however, from one whohad known him so long.

  "A trip to the plains requires more than powder and shot," said thestore-keeper; "where will you be goin' to get a horse an' cart? for youcan hev mine no longer."

  "Dechamp, he promise to sole me a horse, an' Mrs Davis'n will loan me acart," returned the half-breed, with lofty independence.

  "Hm! an' you will be returnin' the cart an' payin' for the horse whenthe hunt is over, I suppose?"

  Yes, that was exactly the idea that was in La Certe's brain, and which,he hoped and fully expected, to reduce to practice in course of time--ifDuncan McKay would only assist him by making him a few advances at thatpresent time.

  "Well, what do you want?" asked McKay, getting off the bath.

  The half-breed wanted a good many things. As he was going off in thecourse of a few days, and might not be able to return for a long time,he might as well take with him even a few things that he did notabsolutely need at the moment. Of course he wanted a good supply ofpowder, shot, and ball. Without that little or nothing could be done.Then a new axe, as his old one was much worn--the steel almost gone--andit was well-known that a trapper without an axe was a very helplesscreature. A tin kettle was, of course, an absolute necessity; and theonly one he possessed had a small hole in it. A few awls to enable himto mend his bark canoe when open water came, and a couple of steeltraps, some gun-flints, and, O yes, he had almost forgotten a mostessential thing--twine to make a net, and some fish-hooks.

  "It iss a regular outfit you will be wanting," remarked thestore-keeper, as he handed over the various articles.

  O no--not a regular one--only a very little one, considering the lengthof time he should be away, and the wealth with which he would return.But again he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something else.

  "Well, what iss it?"

  Some glover's needles and sinews for making leather coats and moccasins.Needles and thread and scissors, for it was quite clear that peoplecould not live without suitable clothing. A new capote, also, and--and--a yard or two of scarlet cloth with a few beads.

  As he made the last request, La Certe attempted to speak insinuatingly,and to look humble.

  "Come, that iss pure extravagance," said McKay, remonstrating.

  La Certe could not, dare not, face his wife without these articles. Hepleaded earnestly. "Slowfoot is so clever wi' the needle," he said."See! she send you a pair of moccasins."

  The wily man here drew from the breast of his capote a pair ofbeautifully made moccasins, soft as chamois leather, and richlyornamented with dyed quills of the porcupine.

  McKay laughed; nevertheless he swallowed the bait and was pleased. Hefinally handed the goods to La Certe, who, when he had obtained all thathe could possibly squeeze out of the store-keeper, bundled up the whole,made many solemn protestations of gratitude and honest intentions, andwent off to cheer Slowfoot with the news of his success.

  It chanced that Antoine Dechamp, the very man about whom he had beentalking to Duncan McKay, had dropped in to see him and his spouse, andwas sitting beside the fire smoking when he entered. Displaying hispossessions with much pride, he assured Dechamp that he had paid for thewhole outfit, and meant to return in the spring a rich man with meansenough to buy a horse and cart, and start with the buffalo-hunters forthe plains.

  "You have a horse to sell--they say?" he remarked to his friend in acareless way.

  "Yes--and a good one too," answered Dechamp.

  "Well, if you will loan him to me in the spring, I will pay for him whenI come back. It takes all I have to fit me out to start, you see."

  Dechamp did not quite see his way to that--but there was plenty of timeto think over it!

  "Have you heard," said Dechamp, willing to change the subject, "there issome talk that Perrin has been killed? George McDermid was out, likemany others, huntin' about for the starvin' people, an' he came acrossthe wives of Blanc and Pierre--poor things! they're widows now, forBlanc and Pierre are both dead. Well, the women had well-nigh given in.I had dropped down, they were so tired, and were crawlin' on theirhands and knee
s when McDermid found them. I didn't hear all the outsand ins of it, but there is no doubt that poor Perrin has been murdered,for he was shot right through the breast."

  "Perhaps he shot hisself," suggested La Certe.

  "No--that could not be, for the women have brought his coat, which showsthat the ball went in at the breast and came _straight_ out at the back.If he had shot himself he must have pulled the trigger with his toe,an' then the ball would have slanted up from his breast to somewhereabout his shoulders."

  "It was a Saulteaux, may be," said Slowfoot, who had been listening withall the eagerness of a gossip.

  "There were no marks of Redskins' snow-shoes about," returned Dechamp,"an' the tracks were too confused to make them out. A knife was found,but there were no marks about it to tell who owned it--only it was asettler's knife, but there are lots of them about, an' many have changedhands since the settlers came."

  At the time we write of, the colony of Red River of the north was in avery unhappy and disorganised condition. There were laws indeed, butthere was no authority or force sufficiently strong to apply the laws,and discord reigned because of the two great fur companies--the Hudson'sBay, and the Nor'-West--which opposed each other with extremebitterness, carrying fire-water, dissension, and disaster all over thewilderness of Rupert's Land. Happily the two companies coalesced in theyear 1821, and from that date, onward, comparative peace has reignedunder the mild sway of the Hudson's Bay Company.

  But at the period which we describe the coalition had not taken place,and many of the functionaries of the Hudson's Bay Company in Red River,from the Governor downward, seem to have been entirely demoralised, ifwe are to believe the reports of contemporary historians.

  Some time previous to this, the Earl of Selkirk--chiefly fromphilanthropic views, it is said--resolved to send a colony to Red River.At different times bands of Scotch, Swiss, Danes, and others, madetheir appearance in the Settlement. They had been sent out by theagents of the Earl, but there was a great deal of mismanagement andmisunderstanding, both as to the motives and intentions of the Earl.The result was that the half-breeds of Red River--influenced, it issaid, by the Nor'-West Company--received the newcomers with suspicionand ill-will. The Indians followed the lead of the half-breeds, to whomthey were allied. Not only was every sort of obstruction thrown in theway of the unfortunate immigrants, but more than once during those firstyears they were driven from the colony, and their homesteads were burnedto the ground.

  There must have been more than the usual spirit of indomitableresolution in those people, however, for notwithstanding all theopposition and hardship they had to endure, they returned again andagain to their farms, rebuilt their dwellings, cultivated their fields,and, so to speak, compelled prosperity to smile on them--and that, too,although several times the powers of Nature, in the shape of grasshoppers and disastrous floods, seemed to league with men in seekingtheir destruction.

  Perhaps the Scottish element among the immigrants had much to do withthis resolute perseverance. Possibly the religious element in theScotch had more to do with it still.

  The disastrous winter which we have slightly sketched was one of themany troubles with which not only the newcomers, but all parties in thecolony, were at this time afflicted.