XI FORT DOUGLAS
"Where do we land, Louis?" asked Walter.
"At Fort Douglas, where Governor Sauterelle lives."
"I thought the Governor's name was Mc-something."
"It is McDonnell, but people call him Governor Grasshopper because, theysay, he is as great a destroyer as those pests."
"What do they mean?"
"They do not like their Governor, these colonists. You will soon hear allabout him."
A few cabins, set down hit or miss, less well kept than those on the westbank, and interspersed with several Indian lodges, came in view on theeast shore. Black haired, dark skinned men and women, and droves ofchildren and sharp nosed dogs were running down to the river.
"_Bois brules_," Louis explained, using the name he had given himself. Itmeans "burnt wood" and is descriptive of the dark color of thehalf-breed.
The boat made a turn to the east, following a big bend in the river."This is Point Douglas, and there is the fort," said Louis, pointing tothe roofs of buildings, the British flag and that of the Hudson BayCompany flying over them. Point Douglas had been burned over many yearsbefore, and was a barren looking place. The fort, like York Factory andNorway House, was a mere group of buildings enclosed within a stockade.
When Laroque's boat reached the landing, the shore was lined with people;Hudson Bay employees, white settlers, and _bois brules_. As each craftdrew up to the landing place, the boatmen sprang out to be embraced andpatted on the back by their friends. The new settlers' warmest receptioncame from a group of bearded, bold eyed, rough looking, white men. Whenone of these men spoke to Walter in German, and another in unmistakablySwiss French, the boy's face betrayed his astonishment.
The first man, a red-faced fellow with untrimmed, sandy beard, laughedand switched from German to French. "Oh, I am a Swiss like you," heexplained, "though I have not seen Switzerland for many a year. I am asoldier by trade, and I served the British king. We DeMeurons are thepick of many countries."
Walter did not like the man's looks. He had seen swaggering, mercenarysoldiers of fortune before, and he was not sorry when his bold-manneredcountryman turned from him to make the acquaintance of his companions.
The voyageurs were hastily unloading. They had reached the end of thejourney and were in a hurry to be paid off. Murray did not even wait forthe unloading. Carrying his big bundle, he strode quickly towards thefort. Louis looked after him, swung a bale of goods to his back, andtrotted up the slope.
Seeing no reason why he should stand idle when there was work to do,Walter shouldered a package and followed. As he reached the gate, threemen came through, and he stepped aside to let them pass. The leadingfigure, a red-faced man of middle age and important air, cast a sharpglance at the boy. Walter's clothes betrayed him.
"Ye're na voyageur." The man spoke peremptorily in Scotch soundingEnglish. "Put down that packet and follow me. I've a few words to say toa' of ye."
Walter had learned enough English to understand, and the tone warned himthat obedience was expected. He left his load lying on the ground, andfollowed down the slope towards the river. From the red-faced man'sdictatorial manner, the boy guessed him to be Alexander McDonnell, the"Grasshopper Governor." He was obeyed promptly, but the sullen, evenangry, looks on the faces of the half-breeds and Scotch settlers who madeway for him, showed that he was not popular. Only the ex-soldiers seemedboldly at their ease in his presence.
The new colonists were quickly gathered together so that the Governormight address them. To make his meaning plain, he used both English andFrench. His manner was abrupt, yet what he said was reasonable enough,discouraging though it was to the newcomers. After a few words of welcometo the Selkirk Colony and an expression of hope that the Swiss would beindustrious and would prosper accordingly, he told them frankly that theyhad come at an unfortunate time. The settlement was ill prepared forthem. The grasshoppers had utterly destroyed the crops. The food supplyfor the coming winter was inadequate. There was not enough to feed thecolonists already established. Most of the settlers, old and new, mustspend the winter farther up the Red River at Fort Daer, the Colony postat the mouth of the Pembina. Game animals, especially the buffalo uponwhich the people must depend for food until new crops could be grown,were much more abundant and easily reached near Fort Daer. Pemmican couldbe obtained there from the _bois brules_ and the Indians. Some of thesettlers had already gone. Every one of the newcomers able to endure thejourney must leave on the morrow. They might pitch their tents near FortDouglas for the night. Fuel for their fires would be supplied and foodfor the evening meal and for the journey to the Pembina. More than thisthe Governor could not promise. At the Pembina they would find timber forcabin building, game for the hunting. Some other necessaries might bebought at Fort Daer. In the spring they could return, and land forfarming would be assigned to them. The Swiss had arrived at a bad timewhen the Colony could do little for them. They would have to do the bestthey could for themselves.
It was a sober and depressed group of immigrants who listened to GovernorMcDonnell's speech. In spite of what they had heard and seen of theravages of the locusts, they had clung to the hope that their worsttroubles would be over when they reached Fort Douglas. They had expectedto be housed and fed for a little while at least, until they could makehomes for themselves on their own land. Now that dream was over. Theymust go on,--all of them who could go on. And when they reached astopping place at last, it would be only a temporary one, with thedoubtful prospect of depending on hunting for a living, and perhapsstarving before spring. No wonder discouragement and foreboding restedheavily upon their hearts. Even Walter Rossel, young and strong andhopeful, was dismayed at the Governor's words.
The Swiss were a steadfast and courageous people. They soon rousedthemselves to make the best of a bad situation. Food and fuel for thenight at least had been promised them. They left the future toProvidence, and set about pitching camp. Heretofore the voyageurs haddone part of that work. Now, having reached the end of their journey,having unloaded the boats and been paid off, they joined their ownfriends at Fort Douglas or crossed the river to the _bois brule_settlement on the east bank. Only Louis Brabant lingered to lendencouragement and help to those whom the long journey had made hisfriends.
After their first curiosity, the old settlers showed little interest inthe new. To the Scotch and Irish, the Swiss were foreigners in speech andways. The colonists knew from experience the hardships of the voyageacross the ocean and of the wilderness trip from Fort York. They couldunderstand the discouraging situation in which the newcomers foundthemselves, but they could do little or nothing for them. They were nothard hearted, but, pinched for food themselves, they could not beoverjoyed at the coming of all these additional hungry mouths to be fed.Had the Swiss been actually starving, the old settlers would have sharedwith them the last pint of meal and ounce of pemmican, yet they couldscarcely help resenting the arrival of the strangers. Why did the heirsof Lord Selkirk keep on sending settlers without providing for them eventhe barest necessities? No wonder the old colonists grumbled and growled.If their attitude towards the new was not actually unfriendly, it was farfrom cordial or encouraging. Only the ex-soldiers mingled freely with theSwiss, and even invited certain families to their cabins.
Walter did not like the appearance and manner of these men, but theyaroused his curiosity. "Who are the DeMeurons?" he asked Louis. "How didthey come here, and why do they call themselves by that name?"
"They came with Lord Selkirk when he recaptured Fort Douglas from theNorthwesters. They were soldiers brought over from Europe to fight forthe King in the last war with the Americans. After the war they weredischarged and Lord Selkirk engaged about a hundred of them to protecthis colony. Because most of them had belonged to a regiment commanded bya man named DeMeuron, the settlers call them all DeMeurons. Lord Selkirkgave them land along the _Riviere la Seine_, which comes into the Redabout a mile above here, but they do
little farming, those DeMeurons.They would rather hunt. I blame them not for that. The other colonistshave no love for them."
"I don't like their looks myself," Walter replied, "but they seem kinderto strangers than anyone else here is."
"The DeMeurons are all bachelors," Louis explained with a grin. "Theyseek wives to keep their houses and to help them farm their lands, andperhaps they think Swiss girls will work harder than _bois brules_. Sothey are kind to the fathers and brothers that they may not be refusedwhen they propose marriage to daughters and sisters. Soon there will beweddings I think."
"I should hate to see a sister of mine marry a DeMeuron," was Walter'semphatic comment. He changed the subject. "Have you found out," he asked,"if it is true that Lord Selkirk is dead?"
"Yes, it is true. He died, they say, a year ago last spring."
"Then who owns the Colony now, the Hudson Bay Company?"
"I don't quite understand about that," was the doubtful reply. "I askedone of the Company clerks at the fort and he said that the land andeverything belong to Lord Selkirk's heirs. But M'sieu Garry, theVice-Governor of the Company, as they call him, was here during thesummer, and with him was M'sieu McGillivray, a big man among theNorthwesters, and now, since the two companies are one, of the Hudson Bayalso. They were much interested in the settlement, the clerk said, andmade plans about what should be done."
"Lord Selkirk was one of the owners of the Company, wasn't he?" Walterquestioned. "Then his heirs must own part of it. Perhaps the Company isgoing to run the Colony for them. Does Governor McDonnell belong to theCompany?"
"That I don't know. It was Lord Selkirk who made McDonnell governor.Truly it is _he_ who runs the Colony now, with a high hand."
Mention of Governor McDonnell brought Walter's own personal problemuppermost in his thoughts. "Do you suppose they will really send us on upthe river to-morrow?" he asked.
"Yes, truly. It is the only place for you to go. Here you would starvebefore spring. Perhaps a few may stay, those the DeMeurons have takeninto their cabins. You, Walter, will go of course, and I am glad. Pembinais my home, and we go together."
"But I can't go until the Periers come," the Swiss boy protested. "Iintend to stay with them wherever they are, and I ought to wait forthem."
Louis shook his head. "I think the Governor will not let you. What goodwould it do? As soon as the second brigade arrives, they will be sent onto Pembina. You can wait for them there as well as here. Come with meto-morrow. My mother will make you welcome, and we will find a place foryour friends. Perhaps we can have a cabin all ready for them. They wouldbe glad of that."
South from Hudson Bay: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys Page 12
