Читать книгу Mine Inheritance - Frederick Niven - Страница 28

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In May Captain Macdonell decided that he must act. Some of our people had seen heavy-laden canoes going down Red River in the night very quietly and suspiciously. They were probably, we decided, North-West canoes on their way to Winnipic for the Saskatchewan country with pemican. He sent an armed party some way up the Assiniboine to watch for North-Westers coming down; but they discovered nothing save that their movements were being watched by spies from Fort Gibraltar.

Only from Peguis’s band could we obtain any of the much needed pemican. A watch was kept day and night for more canoes going down river, running the contraband out of our territory, but none appeared. It was conceivable that, knowing they were being watched, the North-Westers were sending pemican to their northern posts across country from Qu’Appelle instead of following the water routes of Red River, Winnipic, Saskatchewan.

So the Governor sent Sheriff Spencer and a Mr. Howse for his lieutenant with some men up river again to make further investigations, see what they might see. In but a few days they returned, Spencer very cheerful, pleased with himself.

“Well, Captain,” he chanted, coming breezily into the accounting-room, “good news!”

Captain Macdonell put down his pen and awaited it.

“We have four hundred bags of pemican,” Spencer announced.

“Four hundred! Purchased from whom—North-West Company, Hudson’s Bay Company, or both?”

“We had them from the North-West Company,” replied Spencer after a second’s hesitation.

“And were you able to obtain them without discord?” asked the Governor.

“Discord!” Spencer laughed. “We took them.”

“Took them! They refused to sell?”

“We went up to the Souris River and waiting there saw that supplies of pemican were coming to the North-West fort both down the main Assiniboine and down the Souris. One day we saw a laden batteau arrive. After the boatmen had unloaded it and gone I went with our men to Fort la Souris. They would not open. There is a man called John Pritchard in charge there. I showed him a copy of the embargo through a grill in the gate which was fast shut. He told us that he could not give us entrance and that he must also refuse to recognise your order.”

“What did you say to him?” asked Macdonell.

“There was no more to say. It was incumbent upon me then to act. I had to do so, Captain. I told him I must have the pemican. He said it was being held there, was not being shipped out. So I left him at the gate and bade my men remove three pickets from the stockade to allow us to get through. We went in and took the pemican from the storehouse.”

“Was the storehouse locked?”

“Yes. It was locked.”

Miles Macdonell nodded.

“We broke the lock,” explained Spencer. “We took the four hundred bags and carried them on to the Hudson’s Bay post, Brandon House, and gave half to Mr. Fidler there to hold for us. He has none, truly none to spare. He tells me that all the local hunters have been influenced by the Nor’-Westers to trade entirely with them. The other half we brought down here—two hundred bags, Captain. At Fort Gibraltar they were evidently watching for us. These Nor’-Westers, I feel convinced, are able to get Indian runners to carry messages speedily for them. They were watching for us. But we were very fierce and prepared of aspect, muskets in hand, as we came by. So they just watched us come and returned to their fort.”

“Tell me this,” said Macdonell: “When you took the stakes from the stockade at la Souris, and when you broke the lock of the storehouse, was no resistance offered at all?”

“None. They offered no resistance. They went into their quarters and stared at us from the doors—that was all. They were afraid to engage us.”

I could see the Governor doubted it was fear that restrained them, and was of opinion they were thus inactive by an arranged policy. He did in fact later on remark to me that these enemies of the Settlement might be hoping for us to take such action as would be definitely against us in a court of law.

“You did offer to buy it from them?” he inquired.

“I did,” said Spencer.

“I am glad of that,” said the Governor.

“But they refused. So what was I to do but what I did?” Spencer went on, as in self-defence, perhaps reading doubt of the wisdom of his action on Macdonell’s face.

The Governor made no reply to that. He was meditating, I feel sure, from that remark he made to me afterwards, on what a court of law—despite the claims of Lord Selkirk—might have to say to the Sheriff’s well-intentioned action of the picket drawing and the lock breaking, and thinking, also, of word we had had of a new agent at Fort Gibraltar. We had been told he was a person both plausible and strategic. He had come to take the place of Mr. Willis who was retiring from the service of the North-West Company by reason of ill-health, though not leaving the country.

The agents at Fort Gibraltar had not only control there but were the advisory heads for all their Company’s proceedings in the farther Indian Countries westward. This new man, Duncan Cameron his name, had probably received minute instructions regarding procedure from the Montreal partners. Beyond doubt they had been kept aware of all that was happening by Red River since our arrival and the ceremony of taking seizen.

“They offered no resistance at all,” repeated Spencer. “It was all as easy as kiss my hand!” and he laughed.

Captain Macdonell nodded, and almost in a whisper:

“Too easy,” said he.