CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
A HAPPY ENDING.
PONOKO RECOVERS--TIME Pa.s.sES WITHOUT FURTHER ATTACK--AND MEAT HAS TO BE PROCURED--RED SQUIRREL AGAIN SENT ON SCOUT--RETURNS PURSUED BY SIX BLACKFEET--TIMELY RESCUE--POOR RED SQUIRREL IS QUITE EXHAUSTED--THE BLACKFEET RETURN IN LARGE NUMBERS--PONOKO GOES OUT TO MEET THEM--EFFECT OF HIS APPEARANCE ON THE TRIBE--HE RETURNS WITH A WHITE MAN--ROSE FINDS A FATHER--AND BOTH FIND A WIFE AND MOTHER--ALL ENDS HAPPILY AT LAST.
Day after day went by, and the Blackfeet did not appear. Ponoko, never having indulged in the pernicious fire-water, was rapidly recovering under my father"s judicious care and the attention he received from Rose and the rest of the family. We had not yet told her of the possibility that her father had escaped and might be restored to her. I suspect that she would not have understood us had we done so, for she looked upon Uncle Donald as her father, though she called him "Uncle" as Hugh and I did. Indeed, all the events of her life which had occurred before the fearful night of the ma.s.sacre appeared to have faded from her memory.
At length, as the Blackfeet had not shown themselves, we began to hope that they would allow us to remain at peace, and Uncle Donald already talked of returning home. He proposed that my mother and father and the rest of the family should accompany him, but my father replied that nothing should induce him to quit his post, unless driven away by the savages, and that he would then retire, with his converts, to some spot among more friendly tribes further north.
Among others signs of returning spring was the appearance of a herd of buffalo pa.s.sing in the far distance, and as our provisions were again running short, Uncle Donald was compelled to allow the hunters to set off for the purpose of killing some of the animals. Hugh and I wanted to accompany them, but he would only allow Pierre, and Corney, and four of the most active red men to go on the expedition.
As soon as they set out, he sent off Red Squirrel to try and ascertain the whereabouts of the Blackfeet camp, with directions to come back should he discover that they were on the move.
We waited day after day for Red Squirrel"s expected return, but he did not appear, and we began to have serious apprehensions that he had been captured.
The hunters, however, had come back with a good supply of buffalo meat, so that we should be well prepared in case we should be besieged.
At last, one evening as I was looking out towards the south, I saw several objects moving across the prairie. At first I thought that they might be deer or wolves, or even smaller game. One was leading considerably ahead of the rest. They were coming towards the fort.
Besides the first I counted six others. I called the attention of my companion to them.
"They are men!" exclaimed Ponoko. "Those six are of my tribe; they are in pursuit of the first! He must run fast, or before he can reach the fort they will overtake him. Already I see by his movements that he is fatigued."
I had little doubt but that the leader was Red Squirrel. I asked Ponoko, whose keen eyes could distinguish his dress better than the rest of us could do.
"Yes, he is your young friend," he answered. "See, see! he is increasing his speed, he may still escape, and my people will go back disappointed. They will not dare to come within range of your rifles."
"Then we will go out and meet them!" I exclaimed, hurrying down. I told Uncle Donald what Ponoko had said. Taking our rifles, and buckling on our snow-shoes, Hugh, Alec, Pierre, Corney, and I hurried out of the fort, and set off running faster, I think, than we had ever run before, to meet the hard-pressed fugitive.
Once more his pursuers were gaining on him; before long their scalping knives might be about his head. He was the first to perceive us approaching, and it seemed to add fresh nerve to his legs. Soon afterwards the Blackfeet caught sight of us. The instant they did so they sprang forward, making a last desperate effort to overtake our friend; but perceiving that we had rifles ready, they well knew that, even should they succeed, we should make them pay dearly for the act.
Giving up the chase, therefore, they stopped, and turning round, ran off at a rate which soon placed them beyond our reach.
In a few moments Red Squirrel was up to us, but so hard-pressed had he been that he was unable to tell us what had happened. We supported him, not without difficulty, to the fort, when his snow-shoes being taken off, had he not been resting in our arms, he would have sunk fainting to the ground. We delivered him over to his mother, who chafed his limbs, and used every other means she could devise for restoring his strength.
It was some time before he could speak. He had ably fulfilled his mission, having watched the enemy"s camp until the previous day, when finding that they were about to move northward, he had set off to bring us tidings of their approach.
He was, however, observed, and six of their fleetest runners had pursued him. Hour after hour he had continued his flight, though he confessed that, had we not come to his a.s.sistance, he should, he believed, have fallen even in sight of the fort.
That night was an anxious one. Frequent alarms were raised that the enemy were upon us. At length the morning broke, and as the sun rose above the eastern prairie his beams fell on the plumed heads and trappings of several hundred warriors, who came on, confident in their numbers, and believing that our small garrison would easily become their prey.
They halted when considerably beyond range of our weapons, and having sung a war-song, gave utterance to one of those terrible whoops which are said to paralyse even horses and cattle. Ponoko had in the meantime, dressed himself in the costume in which he had been discovered when lying wounded, and the gate being opened, he sallied forth with feeble steps, very different from his once elastic tread. The gates of the fort were closed behind him, and he proceeded towards the warriors drawn up in battle array. We watched him as he approached them. At length he stopped and stretching out his arms, addressed his people.
The effect on his tribe of what he said was almost electrical. They looked upon him as one restored from the dead, for they had long mourned him as lost. We watched him until he was among them, when, after some time, he reappeared, leading by the hand a person who, though dressed in Indian costume, we saw was a white man. Together they approached the fort, when the gate was opened to receive them.
The stranger gazed round with looks of astonishment, evidently endeavouring to find the words to express himself. At last he said--
"I can scarcely believe my senses. A few minutes ago I was a prisoner, and threatened by the Indians with a cruel death should they again be defeated."
"We are truly thankful that you have escaped," answered Uncle Donald, advancing and taking his hand.
"You owe your preservation to our friend Ponoko here."
"I am indeed grateful to him," said the stranger. "He preserved my life when so many of my companions were ma.s.sacred. He has ever since continued my protector, but when it was supposed that he was killed, his people threatened to avenge his death by murdering me. Grateful as I am to him and to you, I am restored to liberty a ruined and a childless man, while I know not what has become of my poor wife, who was providentially absent from the settlement at the time of the ma.s.sacre, but will have supposed that I, as well as our little girl, shared the common fate," answered Mr Kennedy, for such he told us was his name.
"Should your child have escaped, do you believe you would recognise her?" asked Uncle Donald.
"Among a hundred!" answered the stranger. "I should know her, however much grown, from her likeness to her mother."
As he spoke my sisters and Rose approached. The stranger glanced at the group, then rushing forward, gazed earnestly into Rose"s countenance.
"You would not deceive me!" he exclaimed. "Say, how did this young girl come to be with you? Rose, do you recollect me? Speak, my child, are you not Rose Kennedy?"
"Kennedy! Kennedy!" murmured Rose, looking greatly astonished and somewhat frightened. "Kennedy! Yes, that was my papa"s name."
"You are my own child!" he exclaimed, kissing her brow and cheeks again and again while he held her in his arms.
The lookers-on were greatly moved. It was some time, however, before Rose could fully comprehend that the stranger was her father, and that she belonged to him rather than to Uncle Donald.
Mr Kennedy now eagerly inquired whether we could give him any tidings of his wife.
"Extraordinary as it may seem, I think I am able to do so," said my father. "On stopping at the Red River settlement on our way hither, I met a Mrs Kennedy, whose husband and child had, I heard, been murdered by the Indians."
I should like to prolong my history, but I must be brief. Ponoko, after remaining a day or two with us, went among his tribe, and persuaded them that it would be to their advantage to live peaceably with their neighbours. Not many years after they entered into a treaty with the Canadian Government, and the fearful state of warfare which for so long a period had existed in that fair northern region almost entirely ceased.
We were very, very sorry to lose Rose, but Mr Kennedy was, of course, most anxious to join his wife. As soon as he could travel he set off for the Red River. He promised to return and bring his wife and Rose with him, having accepted an invitation from Uncle Donald to settle at Clearwater.
In course of time, Hugh, Alec, and I established in its neighbourhood several fairly flourishing farms, of one of which Hugh, with Rose as its mistress, became the owner. My father laboured for many years among the heathen, greatly aided by Ponoko.
The entire country, including the Rocky Mountains over which we pa.s.sed, now forms part of the great Canadian dominion, and probably, before another generation has pa.s.sed away, the whole region, from east to west, will be the home of happy and flourishing communities.
THE END.