Stephens then bade good-bye to the visitors who had re-entered; to the clergyman, and to one or two prisoners detained for minor offences. His face was deathly pale, but his eye was steadfast and his step firm.
Beyond the entrance to the building, about an arrow"s flight, was drawn up a firing party; and midway between these and one of the bastions of the fort was an open coffin. Thither Luc and his guard led the condemned man.
"Stop a moment till I bind you," Luc said, taking a hempen cord from about his waist. Then he fastened Stephens" hands behind his back, and with the most devilish cruelty tied the cord far tighter than might be needed for the most refractory culprit. Indeed, his arms were almost dislocated at the shoulders, and when the brutal jailer saw the corners of his mouth twitch under the torture, he said, with a b.e.s.t.i.a.l sneer--
"It"ll not hurt long. Should be patient."
These words had barely escaped the fellow"s lips when a terrified cry went up from a score of throats gathered about; and immediately a scene of the wildest confusion prevailed.
"Les soldats! Les soldats!" shouted one and all: and immediately the little Cree scout was seen upon the earthworks, the eyes of her horse gleaming, spray drifting from his open jaws. Close following Annette came Lieutenant Browninge waving his sword above his head, and shouting,
"Down with the rebels!" at the same time slashing the scurrying enemy in such a fashion with his sword as would gladden one"s heart.
As for Annette, her quick eye at once showed her how the situation stood: her lover, his hands bound, a black cap over his eyes, a coffin beside him. Luc, the jailer, and chief of the executioners, remained at his post as long as possible; and at the first outburst of the din had called upon his party to fire. But these mahogany- complexioned executioners scurried like rats at the first cry. Most of them carried their arms with them, but Luc perceived a musket lying in a corner of the drill square. This he seized and levelled at Stephens, pulling the trigger, after careful aim. The rusty weapon missed fire, and the intrepid half-breed began hastily to chip the flint with the back of his sheath-knife; but while he was engaged in this laudable preparation, Annette came over the earthworks like a bird, smote him with the handle of her whip upon the crown, and sent him sprawling in the dust. With another bound she was at her lover"s side; and slipping from her horse, she pulled off the hideous cap, cut his thongs,--and then the hero-darling waited to be taken to his heart.
The change in his fortunes was so sudden, and so amazing,--pa.s.sing at one bound from the grave"s edge back to freedom and love, that he was for some seconds unable to realize it, and his eyes and brain swam with a sense of happiness that reached delirium. But gradually it all began to grow clear: the scurrying figures of his captors and jailers; the shouting of mounted soldiers; the wistful eyes of his beloved looking at him.
"Ah, Annette; you again; my guardian angel!"
It took but a few minutes to restore order. It was ascertained that Riel and Jean had made their escape while Browninge"s horse was yet half a mile away from the post; but they made their exit in secrecy.
"If we give the alarm," Kiel muttered, as he prepared to get into the saddle, "there will be an instant stampede, and the execution will be stayed."
"I agree with the decision of mon chef. Let Luc remain; he has courage enough to have the thing done with the soldiers at the very stockades." And the two rode away helter-skelter, till a dozen miles lay between them and their treason nest.
"The rebel chief is gone; he skurried away half an hour ago," was the tidings that one of the men brought to Browninge. That officer was not surprised; and ordered that the prisoners, which numbered about a dozen in all, be put in carts, and escorted by a guard of cavalry back to Camp Denison.
They were all tired, and it was resolved that the horses be permitted to rest for a couple of hours before returning.
"I can find the way back to your colonel"s camp, monsieur Browninge, as easily by night as in the daylight." Riel and his greasy followers lived like so many swine in a sty; but several brace of quail and chicken, and quarters of elk were found, which the two Cree boys at once began to prepare. A few loaves of bread were found, and a tolerable side of bacon, from all of which, with the pure, cold water that gurgled out of the side of a nigh ridge, a sumptuous meal was promised.
Stephens objected to the Cree boys doing the drudgery, but Annette besought ham so sweetly with her eyes to let "the little scouts" do it, that he desisted. His glance, as he followed every movement of the maiden, had as much of mute adoration, reverent and tender, as ever has been seen in the eyes of a man. How little he had known the worth of this girl, when he toyed with her hair and put a straw into her dimples at her father"s house! I suppose he regarded her as thoughtful men regard most girls before they become enslaved either to their fascination or their gifts. I do not care to write an ungallant speech, but I do say that I have so far in life looked upon men much as I do upon women; and I a.s.sume every man to be a fool till he has proven himself otherwise to _me_.
The sun was setting when the order to saddle was given; and with the two scouts leading, the party set out along nearly the same route by which they had come in the morning. A darkness that, without a flight of imagination, might be called "dense," pressed upon the prairie, and only a few small and feeble points of star-light were to be seen.
But on a sudden a mellow, green-tinted light burst out of the northern sky with a brightness that showed the startled expression upon every face. The horses p.r.i.c.ked up their ears, and looked for a moment at the radiant, quivering, northern sky.
I have not bothered my readers with much description so far, and I trust that they will forgive me if I pause for a moment to do so now.
After this great, aerial conflagration had continued for the s.p.a.ce of five minutes, the light went out from the whole sky as suddenly and as entirely as though it were a lamp which some one had extinguished.
After a few seconds of darkness, here and there a long rib of yellow light appeared; then these disappeared, and once more the party was in the pitchy dusk. Suddenly, however, fully half the heavens burst into flame again.
In the south the light was soft, and seemed unconnected with that of the east and north. The whole would remain for a few seconds quiescent, save for some slight, erratic pulsations, but all would at once madly undulate and quiver from end to end. It seemed at such times like a mighty cloth woven of the finest and softest floss, being violently shaken at both ends by invisible hands. But the most curious part of the phenomena was the noise, like the cracking of innumerable whips, which accompanied the pulsations in the auroral flame. [Footnote: Captain Huysbe mentions having heard this peculiar noise during auroral displays in the North-West; and Mr. Charles Mair and other authorities add their testimony to the same fact.--E. C.]
The corruscations were produced in the valleys, among the bluffs, and far out over the face of the prairie. To lend terror to the stupendous and awful beauty of the scene, a ball of fire came out of the southern sky, pa.s.sed slowly across the belt of agitated flame, and disappeared over the crest of a distant hill.
Above, the heavy ma.s.ses of auroral cloud now began to a.s.sume the shape of a mighty umbrella, the enormous ribs of weird light forming in an apex above the heads of the party, and radiating towards all points of the compa.s.s. Sometimes these ribs would all shake, and then blend; but they would speedily rearray themselves in perfect and majestic symmetry. It was a most weirdly-beautiful sight, riding along the still and boundless prairie, when the merry dancing ceased for a moment, to see this stupendous dome of fluffy, ghost-like light suspended over their heads. For an hour they continued looking upon it; upon the yellow of the level prairie, and the yellow and gloom of the knolls and hollows. Then there was a universal flash so sudden as to be terrible; then a darkness equally as sudden. Not the faintest glow was there anywhere in all the wide heavens. It seemed as if G.o.d had blown out the mysterious light.
Stephens rode beside his love; and when the light went out of the sky, if Lieutenant Browninge had been concerned with the doings of the leaders, he would have been amazed to see the rescued captain lean over and deliberately kiss the Cree scout upon the lips. When the white sides of the tents of Capt. Denison appeared in view, Annette halted, and said that she and her brother must now ride in another direction.
"My brave boy, if by that term I rightly address you," Browninge said, "I wish that you would accept the hospitalities of our camp;"
but the scout refused, and after a few moments in conversation with Captain Stephens, rode away.
Meanwhile affairs had fallen out much as Little Poplar predicted.
Captain Beaver, after thorough consideration of the matter, decided that it would never do to allow his men to return to Ontario without having a "brush with the Indians." He therefore opened correspondence with Major Tonweight, pointing out the expediency of making an attack upon Little Poplar. "He is upon his reserve, it is true," Beaver wrote, "but he has gathered his men together for the purpose of marching on Hatchet Creek, and there effecting a junction with the rebel Metis. If you permit me to run down and give them a good trouncing, it will make an end of the contemplated league."
"Our policy," replied Tonweight, "is not to antagonize but to conciliate; to treat all as friends till they prove themselves to be enemies."
"But you will pay dear for your generous theory if this man, Little Poplar, succeeds in joining the rebels. And I a.s.sure you that the savage is now making ready to march.".
"The matter is in your own hands, then," Tonweight replied. "If all be as you say, you must consult your own judgment, and shoulder the responsibilities."
"Hurrah!" Beaver shouted. "Hurrah! Now then, boys, you"ll have a brush. Get ready for a march. You know I am only supposing a case against these Indians," he said turning to a brother officer.
"Good G.o.d! is this outrage to occur!" Col. Denison exclaimed, when a Coureur-des-bois brought him the tidings.
And so, the sanguinary Beaver made ready to start.
"How much provisions do we need, Sir?" the purveyor asked.
"You do not need any. Let each man eat a hearty meal, and put some bread into his pocket. It is only going to be a short job. I"ll kill a hundred or so," he said aside to a subordinate officer, "and then come straight back." Then he put himself at the head of his column, and swooped towards his prey.
So when Little Poplar, on the morning after the rescue of Captain Stephens, met the two maidens, there was great sorrow in his face.
"I have to fight your friends," he said, "but there is nothing else left me for choice. Beaver and his men are at this moment marching towards my reserve, though all my braves went back to peaceful occupation upon the a.s.surance from English officers that no harm would come to them; but, as I have already stated, Beaver and his young men want to kill a lot of Indians, and return home great heroes. But they will make a grievous mistake. I shall lead them into a defile of swamp and bush tangle, where every one of the number will be at my mercy. I believe that this foolhardy man regards my followers as a band of dogs, whom he can kill as they run. But my men know not what fear is." Then kissing Julie, and bowing sorrowfully to Annette, this chief went away.
That very day, when midway upon his march, Captain Beaver was joined by two Cree scouts, one of whom besought him for a moment"s interview.
He had no time to waste; but if the scout had anything very important to communicate he would listen.
"Then, Monsieur," Annette began, "my advice is that you call a halt of your troops. Little Poplar is in strong position upon his reserve; the swamps approaching his ground are quagmires; the bush is a tangle through which the rabbit may scarcely pa.s.s. The chief"s men are numerous, and war is their occupation. They will destroy Monsieur"s force."
"Indeed, I am at a loss to know why I should be an object of such solicitude to an Indian scout, whose sympathy and interest must be with those savages, against whom I now march." And without further parley he dismissed the lad.
That afternoon mirrors flashed signals from bluff to bluff; our men were surrounded by the enemy; and at the set of sun their lives lay at the-mercy of the men whom they had come to trounce. Julie was at the side of her lover, and tears were in her eyes.
"I beseech my chief for the sake of his love for me to desist, and allow these rash soldiers to depart." Her chief stood with arms folded upon his breast. There was sorrow on his face; but there was scorn there, too, as he turned affectionally to the sweet pleader.
"These men came down to ma.s.sacre my people, that they might henceforth be clad with glory. They have not destroyed any of my men; but their dead strew the plain. They are at my mercy; so utterly, too, that if I desire it, not a man of all the host shall return to give tidings to his friends. You ask me to stay my hand. Ah! It is hard. But you ask it; you, my little lover-playmate of the sunny Saskatchewan. I consent!" Then he strode down among his men, and ordered them to cease. Naught-but the ascendancy which the splendid chief had gained over his followers, through his wisdom and his prowess, could have prevailed upon them to stay their hand, now that the men who had broken solemn faith were at their mercy. But they unstrung their bows, shouldered their muskets, and permitted the invaders to depart. Then Julie knelt at her lover"s feet, and kissed his hand with reverent grat.i.tude; and he laid his hand upon her head, and bade her arise.
Before I leave this feature of my narrative I may state that Captain Beaver subsequently sought to justify this wanton breach of faith with the Indians, upon the ground of military policy; affirming that the "punishment" which he inflicted upon the chief prevented the latter joining forces with the rebel Metis. As to the punishment there was very little inflicted upon the Indians;--it was emphatically conferred in another direction. As to the statement that the attack prevented Poplar from joining the rebel forces at Hatchet Creek, the same is absurdly untrue. Little Poplar did actually set out, after the attack, to join the bois-brules, and he deliberately--I was going to say contemptuously--exposed himself to the flank attack by Beaver"s men, of which movement, we are told, he had been so much in dread. In due time, as the chief was pursuing his march, tidings came to him that the Metis had been overwhelmed. Then he surrendered; --and thereafter for many a dreary month there was no happiness for Julie. I may as well antic.i.p.ate events, and say that this dear girl brought it emphatically to the knowledge of the authorities that her beloved chief early in the war had served the white people in the hour of peril; and that the offence for which he stood committed now had been forced upon him by the bad faith of a Canadian militia officer. At last he was released; and holding his hand, apparelled in proper attire, she walked out by his side to a little cottage wherein a priest stood waiting to wed the two. Her happiness was very great, as may be guessed when I state that in each of her beautiful eyes a tear glimmered like you see a drop of rain glitter upon the thorn bush, when the storm has ended, and the sun shines. Her lover took her many miles up the Saskatchewan, where she said she would remain till Annette got "settled." A friend has lately been at her cottage, and he tells me that she has a "cherub of a baby," absurdly like herself in all save its skin, which is rather of a mahogany cast. The chief and his pet.i.te wife are very happy; and many a time under the blossoms of their own orchard, or when the wind howls like a belated wolf, they discuss the alternation of sorrow and joy which fell to their lot when the two maidens went disguised as scouts over the unbounded prairie. My great wish is that all the pretty and n.o.ble-harted girls of my acquaintance may be as happy as my sweet Julie.
As for Annette, when the battle of Saw-Knife Creek ended, she was waiting for Julie to join her. Her hand was upon her horse"s neck, and she was leaning against the animal thinking of her lover.
"Ah, at last!" The terrible words and the voice were but too plain.
Turning she saw the rebel chief, triumph, pa.s.sion, and revenge in his eyes. By his side were several Metis with muskets presented, ready to fire at the girl if she uttered a cry, or made resistance. Then they bound her arms, and set her upon her horse, which one of the chief"s followers led by the bridle. They rode as fast as the ponies could travel across the prairie; and Annette"s heart sank, and all hope seemed to die out of her life, as she realized, that the miscreants were hurrying towards the valley of Dismal Swamp where abode Jubal, the hideous hag.
As the party hurried along the skirt of the ridge flanking the swamp and the inky stream, lo! there came to her ears the notes of a bird"s song. It was the guardian swan; and joy and hope crept into the maiden"s bosom.
"Hear you yonder singing, my pretty bird?" the hideous chief asked, with a foul sneer. "Its song is always intended to console and reconcile maidens to their lovers."
But she turned her head away with loathing, and answered him not.