Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police: A Tale of the Macleod Trail

under was awake and busy with the fire in the cracked and rusty stove. Cameron lay still and watched. Silently, swiftly the Indian moved about his

and off! Still blowing, eh? Well, so much the better. There is a spot thirty miles on where we will be

. Twenty-four hours ago he was breakfasting with McIvor and his gang in the camp by The Bow; now he was twenty or thirty miles away in the heart of the mountains and practically a prisoner in the hands of as blood-thirsty a looking Indian as he had ever seen, and a man who remained to him an inexplicable mys

s and half closed these hazel eyes in the cave the night before, and when he thought of that murderous attack of

re principally high wines and tobacco juice, with a little molasses to sweeten it and a touch of blue stone to give it bite. Men of reckless daring were these traders, resourceful and relentless. For a bottle of their "hell-fire f

he had drunk, would come off second best and many a wretched native was left to burn and bliste

was a land of vast and mighty spaces, and everywhere were hiding places where armies could be safely disposed, and therefore there was small chance for the enforcement of the la

and to the rapid decimation of their numbers. Horse thieves, too, and cattle "rustlers" operating on both sides of "the line" adde

ches and through the secret trails and coulees of the foothills. The profits of the trade, however, were still great enough to tempt the more reckless and daring of these men. Cattle rustling and horse stealing still continued, but on a much smaller scale. To the whole country the advent of the police proved an incalculable blessing. But to the I

and bloody wars that had prevailed previously between the various tribes, till, by these wild and savage people the red

n belong? This Cameron was

in almost complete silence, making only monosyllabic re

ting accuracy, the trade

ttle bag of tobacco. "Last night things were somewhat strained," he continued. "Frankly, I confess, I took you at first

with you, then?" a

r both to you-and to me-with you under m

n would have

Besides, his family has suffered at the hands of the whiskey runners. He is a chief and he owes it to these d

on me," said Camer

n it was better for us that you should be under guard, and if you were a surveyor it was better for you that you should be in our care. Why, man, this storm may go for three days, and you would be stiff long before anyone could find you. No,

of the man, and Cameron took the offered hand with a l

ou can pack this stuff together while Little Thunder and I dig out our bunch of h

lding about thirty feet long and half as wide, in which were huddled the horses and ponies to the number of about twenty. Eight of the ponies carried pack saddles, and so busy were Raven and the Indian with the somewhat delicate operation of as

kegs. "My word! You startled me," he added with a short laugh. "I haven't got used to you yet. All right, Little

ted and plunged till Cameron, taking a turn of the rope round

You didn't learn to rope a cayuse in Edinbu

and the trader were busy roping boxes and kegs into pack loads with

e'll load some of this

en picked up o

s keg's leaking. It's lost

er hole golden syrup was stre

"Must have been knocked out last night. Fortunately it

ng a small stick into a small plug

er side. That will do. Take your pony toward the door and tie him

and lashed upon the pack ponies in such a careful manner that neither b

ntinued, selecting a stout built sorrel pony. "There you are! And a dandy he is, sure-foote

ear perfection as anything in horse flesh of his size could be. His coal-black satin skin, his fine flat legs, small delicate head, sloping hips, round and well ribbed barrel, all showed his breed. R

Thunder. Hurry up! Don't be all d

upon the animals next him and inspired them with such terror that, plunging forward, they carried the bunch crowding through the door. It was no small achievement to turn some twenty shivering, balky, stubborn cayuses and bronchos out of their shelter and swing them through the mazes of the old lumber camp into the trail again. But with Little Thunder breaking the trail and chanting his encouraging refrain in front and the trader and his demoniac s

e trail?" asked Cameron o

cayuse, which has a nose like a bloodhound and will keep the trail through three feet of snow

had released from the glaciers, and over benches of open country, where the grass lay buried deep beneath the snow, they pounded along. The clouds of snow ever whirling about Cameron's head and in front of his eyes hid the distant landscap

ack out of the storm ahead and d

id Raven. "Getting war

call attention to it I do feel a litt

g. Rain in

? In six

into it. It blows down through the pass before us and it will lick up this snow

ameron discarded his mitts and unbuttoned his skin-lined jacket. The wind dropped to a gentle breeze, swinging more and more in

rty-six hours. As the afternoon wore on the air became sensibly warmer. The moisture rose in steaming clouds from the mountainsides, the snow ran everywhere in gurgl

the temperature. He was in high glee. It wa

e Thunder as they paused for a few moments in a

t mean anything, but to the

t make these brutes get a move

the trail once more. And through the long afternoon, with unceasing and brutal ferocity, he belabored the faltering, stumbling, half-starved creatures, till from sheer exhaustion they were like to fall upon the trail. It was a weary business and disgusting, but the demon spiri

der came to an abrupt halt, rode to the

in a startled voic

Thunder

disdained to notice. "Good!" replied Raven. "St

ned, an eager tone in his voic

way back from their winter's trapping. Old Macdou

d pioneer Methodist missionary who had accomplished such marvels during his long year

oks mighty close after the trading end. Well, we will perhaps do a little trade ourselves. But

off the trail on a little sheltered bench further down the side of the mountain and surrounded by a scattering group of tall pines. Through the misty night their camp fires burned cheerily, lighting up their lodges. Around the fires could be seen

p from it to Cameron's ears except the occasional bark of a dog. The Indians are a silent peop

aid Raven in a low tone. "

leyville, don't the

es

e Mr. Macdougall would be glad to see us. And why could not I

ilent, eviden

ater. Meantime let's get into camp ourselves. An

ron bringing up the rear with the other ponies. For about half a mile they proceeded in this direction, then, turning sharply to the right, th

Raven briefly. "But

ing their camp?"

no immedia

ords to Little T

y be Blackfeet. We can't be to

former suspicions. He was firmly convinced the Indians were Stonies and

upon a large flat rock and there, crouching about

of the trader had given place to one of keen, purposeful determination. There was evidentl

ving one to Cameron. "Little Thunder is gone to reconnoiter." He threw some sticks upon the fire. "Better go

sleep, though with the firm resolve to keep awake. But he had passed throug

e rose and stole up the trail to a point from which the camp was plainly visible. A wonderful scene lay before his eyes. A great fire burned in the centre of the camp and round the fire the whole band of Indians

on exultantly to himself. "And a

sed a day without their evening worship. The voices were high-pitched and thin, but from that distance they floated up soft

fountain fil

m Immanue

lunged beneat

heir guilt

d cadences of their own invention, th

their guil

th their heads thrust up into the sky. Nearer at their bases gathered the pines, at first in solid gloomy masses, then, as they approached, in straggling groups, and at last singly, like tall sentinels on guard. On the grassy glade, surrounded by the sentinel pines, the circle of dusky worshippers, kneeling about their camp fire, lif

gazing down upon this scene, resolved more than ever to attac

!" said a mocking

sudden feeling of r

cene, in my eyes at least, and I should

gruffly, as they both