The Expedition--The Lake of the Woods--A Night Alarm--A close
Shave--Rainy River--A Night Paddle--Fort Francis--A Meeting--The Officer
commanding the Expedition--The Rank and File--The 60th Rifles--A
Windigo--Ojibbeway Bravery--Canadian Volunteers.
The feast having been concluded (I believe it had gone on all night, and
was protracted far into the morning), the sails and oars were suddenly
reported ready, and about midday on the 31st July we stood away from the
Portages du Rat into the Lake of the Woods. I had added another man to
my crew, which now numbered seven hands, the last accession was a French
half-breed, named Morrisseau. Thomas Hope had possessed himself of a
flint gun, with which he was to do desperate things should we fall in
with the French scouts upon the lake. The boat in which I now found
myself was a large, roomy craft, capable of carrying about three tons of
freight; it had a single tall mast carrying a large square lug-sail, and
also possessed of powerful sweeps, which were worked by the men in
standing positions, the rise of the oar after each stroke making the
oarsman sink back upon the thwarts only to resume again his upright
attitude for the next dip of the heavy sweep.
This is the regular Hudson Bay Mackinaw boat, used for the carrying
trade of the great Fur Company on every river from the Bay of Hudson to
the Polar Ocean. It looks a big, heavy, lumbering affair, but it can sail
well before a wind, and will do good work with the oars too.
That portion of the Lake of the Woods through which we now steered our
way was a perfect maze and network of island and narrow channel; a light
breeze from the north favoured us, and we passed gently along the rocky
islet shores through unruffled water. In all directions there opened out
innumerable channels, some narrow and winding, others straight and open,
but all lying'-between shores clothed with a rich and luxuriant
vegetation; shores that curved and twisted into mimic bays and tiny
promontories, that rose in rocky masses abruptly from the water, that
sloped down to meet the lake in gently swelling undulations, that seemed,
in fine, to present in the compass of a single glance every varying
feature of island scenery. Looking through these rich labyrinths of tree
and moss-covered rock, it was difficult to imagine that winter could ever
-stamp its frozen image upon such a soft summer scene. The air was balmy
with the scented things which grow profusely upon the islands; the water
was warm, almost tepid, and yet despite of this the winter frost would
cover the lake with five feet of ice, and the thick brushwood of the
islands would lie hidden during many months beneath great depths of snow.
As we glided along through this beautiful scene the men kept a sharp
look-out for the suspicious craft whose presence had caused such alarm at
the Portage-du-Rat. We saw no trace of man or canoe, and nothing broke
the stillness of the evening except the splash of a sturgeon in the
lonely bays. About sunset we put ashore upon a large rock for supper.
While it was being prepared I tried to count the islands around. From a
projecting point I could see island upon island to the number of over a
hundred--the wild cherry, the plum, the wild rose, the raspberry,
intermixed with ferns and mosses in vast variety, covered every spot
around me, and from rock and crevice the pine and the poplar hung their
branches over the water. As the breeze still blew fitfully from the north
we again embarked and held our way through the winding channels--at times
these channels would grow wider only again to close together; but there
was no current, and the large high sail moved us slowly through the
water. When it became dark a fire suddenly appeared on an island some
distance ahead. Thomas Hope grasped his flint gun and seemed to think the
supreme moment had at length arrived. During the evening I could tell by
the gestures and looks of the men that the mysterious rovers formed the
chief subject of conversation, and our latest accession painted so
vividly their various suspicious movements, that Thomas was more than
ever convinced his hour was at hand. Great then was the excitement when
the fire was observed upon the island, and greater still when I told
Samuel to steer full towards it. As we approached we could distinguish
figures moving to and fro between us and the bright flame, but when we
had got within a few hundred yards of the spot the light was suddenly
extinguished, and the ledge of rock upon which it had been burning became
wrapped in darkness. We hailed, but there was no reply. Whoever had been
around the fire had vanished through the trees; launching their canoe
upon the other side of the island, they had paddled away through the
intricate labyrinth scared by our sudden appearance in front of their
lonely bivouac. This apparent confirmation of his worst fears in no way
served to reanimate the spirits of Hope, and though shortly after he lay
down with the other men in the bottom of the boat, it was not without
misgivings as to the events which lay before him in the darkness. One man
only remained up to steer, for it was my intention to run as long as the
breeze, faint though it was, lasted. I had been asleep about half an hour
when I felt my arm quickly pulled, and, looking up, beheld Samuel bending
over me, while with one hand he steered the boat. "Here they are," he
whispered, "here they are." I looked over the gunwale and under the sail
and beheld right on the course we were steering two bright fires burning
close to the water's edge. We were running down a channel which seemed to
narrow to a strait between two islands, and presently a third fire came
into view on the other side of the strait, showing distinctly the narrow
pass towards which we were steering, it did not appear to be more than
twenty feet across it, and, from its exceeding narrowness and the
position of the fires, it seemed as though the place had really been
selected to dispute our outward passage. We were not more than two
hundred yards from the strait and the breeze was holding well into it.
What was to be done? Samuel was for putting the helm up; but that would
Have been useless, because we were already in the channel, and to run on
shore would only place us still more in the power of our enemies, if
enemies they were, so I told him to hold his course and run right through
the narrow pass. The other men had sprung quickly from their blankets,
and Thomas was the picture of terror. When he saw that I was about to run
the boat through the strait, he instantly made up his mind to shape for
himself a different course. Abandoning his flint musket to any body who
would take it, he clambered like a monkey on to the gunwale, with the
evident intention of dropping noiselessly into the water, and seeking, by
swimming on shore, a safety which he deemed denied to him on board. Never
shall I forget his face as he was pulled back into the boat; nor is it
easy to describe the sudden revulsion of feeling which possessed him
when: a dozen different fires breaking into view showed at once that the
forest was on fire, and that the imaginary bivouac of the French was only
the flames of burning brushwood. Samuel laughed over his mistake, but
Thomas looked on it in no laughing light, and, seizing his gun, stoutly
maintained that had it really been the French they would have learnt a
terrible lesson from the united volleys of the fourteen-shooter and his
flint musket.
The Lake of the Woods covers a very large extent of country. In length it
measures about seventy miles, and its greatest breadth is about the same
distance; its shores are but little known, and it is only the Indian who
can steer with accuracy through its labyrinthine channels. In its
southern portion it spreads out into a vast expanse of open water, the
surface of which is lashed by tempests into high-running seas.
In the early days of the French fur trade it yielded large stores of
beaver and of martens, but it has long ceased to be rich in furs. Its
shores and islands will be found to abound in minerals whenever
civilization reaches them.
Among the Indians the lake holds high place as the favourite haunt of the
Manitou. The strange water-worn rocks, the islands of soft pipe-stone
from which are cut the bowls for many a calumet, the curious masses of
ore resting on the polished surface of rock, the islands struck yearly
by lightning, the islands which abound in lizards although these reptiles
are scarce elsewhere--all these make the Lake of the Woods a region
abounding in Indian legend and superstition. There are isles upon which
he will not dare to venture, because the evil spirit has chosen them;
there are promontories upon which offerings must be made to the Manitou
when the canoe drifts by their lonely shores; and there are spots watched
over by the great Kennebic, or Serpent, who is jealous of the treasures
which they contain. But all these things are too long to dwell upon now;
I must haste along my way.
On the second morning after leaving Rat Portage we began to leave behind
the thickly-studded islands and to get out into the open waters. A
thunder-storm had swept the lake during the night, but the morning was
calm, and the heavy sweeps were not able to make much way. Suddenly,
while we were halted for breakfast, the wind veered round to the
north-west and promised us a rapid passage across the Grande Traverse to
the mouth of Rainy River. Embarking hastily, we set sail for a strait
known as the Grassy Portage, which the high stage of water in the lake
enabled us to run through without touching ground. Beyond this strait
there stretched away a vast expanse of water over which the white-capped
waves were running in high billows from the west. It soon became so rough
that we had to take on board the small canoe which I had brought with me
from Rat Portage in case of accident, and which was towing astern. On we
swept over the high-rolling billows with a double reef in the lug-sail.
Before us, far away, rose a rocky promontory, the extreme point of which
we had to weather in order to make the mouth of Rainy River. Keeping the
boat as close to the wind as she would go, we reeled on over the tumbling
seas. Our lee-way was very great, and for some time it seemed doubtful if
we would clear the point; as we neared it we saw that there was a
tremendous sea running against the rock, the white sprays shooting far up
into the air When the rollers struck against it. The wind had now
freshened to a gale and the boat laboured much, constantly shipping
sprays. At last we were abreast of the rocks, close hauled, and yet only
a hundred yards from the breakers. Suddenly the wind veered a little, or
the heavy swell which was running caught us, for we began to drift
quickly down into the mass of breakers. The men were all huddled together
in the bottom of the boat, and for a moment or two nothing could be done.
"Out with the sweeps!" I roared. All was confusion; the long sweeps got
foul of each other, and for a second every thing went wrong. At last
three sweeps were got to work, but they could do nothing against such a
sea. We were close to the rocks, so close that one began to make
preparations for doing something--one didn't well know what--when we
should strike. Two more oars were out, and for an instant we hung in
suspense as to the result. How they did pull! it was the old paddle-work
forcing the rapid again; and it told; in spite of wave and wind, we were
round the point, but it was only by a shade. An hour later we were
running through a vast expanse of marsh and reeds into the mouth of Rainy
River; the Lake of the Woods was passed, and now before me Lay eighty
miles of the Rivière-de-la-Pluie.
A friend of mine once, describing the scenery of the Falls of the Cauvery
in India, wrote that "below the falls there was an island round which
there was water on every side:" this mode of description, so very true
and yet so very simple in its character, may fairly-be applied to Rainy
River; one may safely say that it is a river, and that it has banks on
Either side of it; if one adds that the banks are rich, fertile, and well
wooded, the description will be complete--such was the river up which I
now steered to meet the Expedition. The Expedition, where was it? An
Indian whom we met on the lake knew nothing about it; perhaps on the
river we should hear some tidings. About five miles from the mouth of
Rainy River there was a small out-station of the Hudson Bay Company kept
by a man named Morrisseau, a brother of my boatman. As we approached this
little post it was announced to us by an Indian that Morrisseau had that
morning lost a child. It was a place so wretched looking that its name
of Hungery Hall seemed well adapted to it.
When the boat touched the shore the father of the dead child came out of
the hut, and shook hands with every one in solemn silence; when he came
to his brother he kissed him, and the brother in his turn went up the
bank and kissed a number of Indian women who were standing round; there
was not a word spoken by any one; after awhile they all went into the
hut in which the little body lay, and remained some time inside. In its
way, I don't ever recollect seeing a more solemn exhibition of grief
than this complete silence in the presence of death; there was no
question asked, no sign given, and the silence of the dead seemed to
have descended upon the living. In a little time several Indians
appeared, and I questioned them as to the Expedition; had they seen or
heard of it?
"Yes, there was one young man who had seen with his own eyes the great
army of the white braves."
"Where?" I asked.
"Where the road slants down into the lake, was the interpreted reply.
"What were they like?" I asked again, half incredulous after so many
disappointments.
He thought for awhile: "They were like the locusts," he answered, "they
came on one after the other." There could be no mistake about it, he had
seen British soldiers.
The chief of the party now came forward, and asked what I had got to say
to the Indians; that he would like to hear me make a speech; that they
wanted to know why all these men were coming through their country. To
make a speech! it was a curious request. I was leaning with my back
against the mast, and the Indians were seated in a line on the bank;
every thing looked so miserable around, that I thought I might for once
play the part of Chadband, and improve the occasion, and, as a speech was
expected of me, make it. So I said, "Tell this old chief that I am sorry
he is poor and hungry; but let him look around, the land on which he sits
is rich and fertile, why does he not cut down the trees that cover it,
and plant in their places potatoes and corn? then he will have food in
the winter when the moose is scarce and the sturgeon cannot be caught."
He did not seem to relish my speech, but said nothing. I gave a few plugs
of tobacco all round, and we shoved out again into the river. "Where the
road comes down to the lake" the Indian had seen the troops; where was
that spot? No easy matter to decide, for lakes are so numerous in this
land of the North-west that the springs of the earth seem to have found
vent there. Before sunset we fell in with another Indian; he was alone in
a canoe, which he paddled close along shore out of the reach of the
strong breeze which was sweeping us fast up the river. While he was yet a
long way off, Samuel declared that he had recently left Fort Francis, and
therefore would bring us news from that place. "How can you tell at this
distance that he has come from the fort?" I asked. "Because his shirt
looks bright," he answered. And so it was; he had left the fort on the
previous day and run seventy miles; he was old Monkman's Indian returning
after having left that hardy voyageur at Fort Francis.
Not a soldier of the Expedition had yet reached the fort, nor did any man
know where they were.
On again; another sun set and another sun rose, and we were still running
up the Rainy River before a strong north wind which fell away towards
evening. At sundown of the 3rd August I calculated that some four and
twenty miles must yet lie between me and that fort at which, I felt
convinced, some distinct tidings must reach me of the progress of the
invading column. I was already 180 miles beyond the spot where I had
counted upon falling in with them. I was nearly 400 miles from Fort
Garry.
Towards evening on the 3rd it fell a dead calm, and the heavy boat could
make but little progress against the strong running current of the river,
so I bethought me of the little birch-bark canoe which I had brought from
Rat Portage; it was a very tiny one, but that was no hindrance to the
work I now\ required of it. We had been sailing all day, so my men were
fresh. At supper I proposed that Samuel, Monkman, and William Prince
should come on with me during the night, that we would leave Thomas Hope
in command of the big boat and push on for the fort in the light canoe,
taking with us only sufficient food for one meal. The three men at once
assented, and Thomas was delighted at the prospect of one last grand feed
all to himself, besides the great honour of being promoted to the rank
and dignity of Captain of the boat. So we got the little craft out, and
having gummed her all over, started once more on our upward way just as
the shadows of the night began to close around the river. We were four in
number, quite as many as the canoe could carry; she was very low in the
water and, owing to some damage received in the rough waves of the Lake
of the Woods, soon began to leak badly. Once we put ashore to gum and
pitch her seams again, but still the water oozed in and we were wet. What
was to be done? with these delays we never could hope to reach the fort
by daybreak, and something told me instinctively, that unless I did get
there that night I would find the Expedition already arrived. Just at
that moment we descried smoke rising amidst the trees on the right shore,
and soon saw the poles of Indian lodges. The men said they were very bad
Indians. firom the American side--the left shore of Rainy River is
American territory--but the chance of a bad Indian was better than the
certainty of a bad canoe, and we stopped at the camp. A lot of half-naked
redskins came out of the trees, and the pow-wow commenced. I gave them
all tobacco, and then asked if they would give me a good canoe in
exchange for my bad one, telling them that I would give them a present
next day at the fort if one or two amongst them would come up there.
After a short parley they assented, and a beautiful canoe was brought out
and placed on the water. They also gave us a supply of dried sturgeon,
and, again shaking hands all round, we departed on our way.
This time there was no mistake, the canoe proved as dry as a bottle, and
we paddled bravely on through the mists of night. About midnight we
halted for supper, making a fire amidst the long wet grass, over which we
fried the sturgeon and boiled our kettle; then we went on again through
the small hours of the morning. At times I could see on the right the
mouths of large rivers which flowed from the west: it is down these
rivers that the American Indians come to fish for sturgeon in the Rainy
River. For nearly 200 miles the country is still theirs, and the
Pillager and Red Lake branches of the Ojibbeway nation yet hold their
hunting-grounds in the vast swamps of North Minnesota.
These Indians have a bad reputation, as the name of Pillager implies, and
my Red River men were anxious to avoid falling in with them. Once during
the night, opposite the mouth of one of the rivers opening to the west,
we saw the lodges of a large party on our left; with paddles that were
never lifted out of the water, we glided noiselessly by, as silently as a
wild duck would cleave the current. Once again during the long night a
large sturgeon, struck suddenly by a paddle, alarmed us by bounding out
of the water and landing full upon the gunwale of the Canoe, splashing
back again into the water and wetting us all by his curious manoeuvre. At
length in the darkness we heard the hollow roar of the great Falls of the
Chaudiere sounding loud through the stillness. It grew louder and louder
as with now tiring strokes my worn-out men worked mechanically at their
paddles. The day was beginning to break. We were close beneath the
Chaudiere and alongside of Fort Francis. The scene was wondrously
beautiful. In the indistinct light of the early dawn the cataract seemed
twice its natural height, the tops of pine trees rose against the pale
green of the coming day, close above the falls the bright morning star
hung, diamond-like, over the rim of the descending torrent; around the
air was tremulous with the rush of water, and to the north the
rose-coloured streaks of the aurora were woven into the dawn. My long
solitary journey had nearly reached its close.
Very cold and cramped by the constrained position in which I had remained
all night, I reached the fort, and, unbarring the gate, with my rifle
knocked at the door of one of the wooden houses. After a little, a man
opened the door in the costume, scant and unpicturesque, in which he had
risen from his bed.
"Is that Colonel Wolseley?" he asked.
"No," I answered; "but that sounds well; he can't be far off."
"He will be in to breakfast," was the reply.
After all, I was not much too soon. When one has journeyed very far along
such a route as the one I had followed since leaving Fort Garry in daily
expectation of meeting with a body of men making their way from a distant
point through the same wilderness, one does not like the idea of being
found at last within the stockades of an Indian trading-post as though
one had quietly taken one's ease at an inn. Still there were others to be
consulted in the matter, others whose toil during the twenty-seven hours
of our continuous travel had been far greater than mine.
After an hour's delay I went to the house where the men were lying down,
and said to them, "The Colonel is close at hand. It will be well for us
to go and meet him, and we will thus see the soldiers before they arrive
at the Fort;" so getting the canoe out once more, we carried her above
the falls, and paddled up towards the Rainy Lake, whose waters flow into
Rainy River two miles above the fort.
It was the 4th of August-we reached the foot of the rapid which the river
makes as it flows out of the Lake. Forcing up this rapid, we saw
spreading out before us the broad waters of the Rainy Lake.
The eye of the half-breed or the Indian is of marvellous keenness; it.
can detect the presence of any strange object long before that object
will strike the vision of the civilized man; but on this occasion the
eyes of my men were at fault, and the glint of something strange upon the
lake first caught my sight. There they are! Yes, there they were. Coming
along with the full swing of eight paddles, swept a large North-west
canoe, its Iroquois paddlers timing their strokes to an old French chant
as they shot down towards the river's source.
Beyond, in the expanse of the lake, a boat or two showed far and faint.
We put into the rocky shore, and, mounting upon a crag which guarded the
head of the rapid, I waved to the leading canoe as it swept along. In the
centre sat a figure in uniform with forage-cap on head, and I could see
that he was scanning through a field-glass the strange figure that waved
a welcome from the rock. Soon they entered the rapid, and commenced to
dip down its rushing waters. Quitting the rock, I got again into my
canoe, and we shoved off into the current. Thus running down the rapid
the two canoes drew together, until at its foot they were only a few
paces apart.
Then the officer in the large canoe, recognizing a face he had last seen
three months before in the hotel at Toronto, called out, "Where on earth
have you dropped from?" and with a "Fort Garry, twelve days out, sir," I
was in his boat.
The officer whose canoe thus led the advance into Rainy River was no
other than the commander of the Expeditionary Force. During the period
which had elapsed since that force had landed at Thunder Bay on the
shore of Lake Superior, he had toiled with untiring energy to overcome
the many obstacles which opposed the progress of the troops through the
rock-bound fastnesses of the North. But there are men whose perseverance
hardens, whose energy quickens beneath difficulties and delay, whose
genius, like some spring bent back upon its base, only gathers strength
from resistance. These men are the natural soldiers of the world; and
fortunate is it for those who carry swords and rifles and are dressed in
uniform when such men are allowed to lead them, for with such men as
leaders the following, if it be British, will be all right--nay, if it be
of any nationality on the earth, it will be all right too. Marches will
be made beneath suns which by every rule of known experience ought to
prove fatal to nine-tenths of those who are exposed to them, rivers will
be crossed, deserts will be traversed, and mountain passes will be
pierced, and the men who cross and traverse and pierce them will only
marvel that doubt or distrust should ever have entered into their minds
as to the feasibility of the undertaking. The man who led the little army
across the Northern wilderness towards Red River was well fitted in
every respect for the work which was to be done. He was young in years
but he was old in service; the highest professional training had
developed to the utmost his ability, while it had left unimpaired the
natural instinctive faculty of doing a thing from oneself, which the
knowledge of a given rule for a given action so frequently destroys. Nor
was it only by his energy, perseverance, and professional training that
Wolseley was fitted to lead men upon the very exceptional service now
required from them. Officers and soldiers will always follow when those
three qualities are combined in the man who leads them; but they will
follow with delight the man who, to these qualities, unites a happy
aptitude for command, which is neither taught nor learned, but which is
instinctively possessed.
Let us look back a little upon the track of this Expedition. Through a
vast wilderness of wood and rock and water, extending for more than 600
miles, 1200 men, carrying with them all the appliances of modern war, had
to force their way.
The region through which they travelled was utterly destitute of food,
except such as the wild game afforded to the few scattered Indians; and
even that source was so limited that whole families of the Ojibbeways had
perished of starvation, and cases of cannibalism had been frequent
amongst them. Once cut adrift from Lake Superior, no chance remained for
food until the distant settlement of Red River had been reached. Nor was
it at all certain that even there supplies could be obtained, periods of
great distress had occurred in the settlement itself; and the disturbed
state into which its affairs had lately fallen in no way promised to give
greater habits of agricultural industry to a people who were proverbially
roving in their tastes. It became necessary, therefore, in piercing this
wilderness to take with the Expedition three month's supply of food, and
the magnitude of the undertaking will be somewhat under stood by the
outside world when this fact is borne in mind.
Of course it would have been a simple matter if the-boats which carried
the men and their supplies had been able to sail through an unbroken
channel into the bosom of Lake Winnipeg; but through that long 600 miles
of lake and river and winding creek, the rocky declivities of cataracts
and the wild wooded shores of rapids had to be traversed, and full
forty-seven times between lake and lake had boats, stores, and
ammunition, had cannon, rifles, sails, and oars to be lifted from the
water, borne across long ridges of rock and swamp and forest, and placed
again upon the northward rolling river. But other difficulties had to be
overcome which delayed at the outset the movements of the Expedition. A
road, leading from Lake Superior to the height by land (42 miles), had
been rendered utterly impassable by fires which swept the forest and
rains which descended for days in continuous torrents. A considerable
portion of this road had also to be opened out in order to carry the
communication through to Lake Shebandowan close to the height of land.
For weeks the whole available strength of the Expedition f had been
employed in road-making and in hauling the boats up the rapids of the
Kaministiquia River, and it was only on the 16th of July, after seven
weeks of unremitting toil and arduous labour, that all these preliminary
difficulties had been finally overcome and the leading detachments of
boats set out upon their long and perilous journey into the wilderness.
Thus it came to pass that on the morning of the 4th of August, just three
weeks after that departure, the silent shores of the Rainy River beheld
the advance of these pioneer boats who thus far had "marched on without
impediment."
The evening of the day that witnessed my arrival at Fort Francis saw also
my departure from it; and before the sun had set I was already far down
the Rainy River. But I was no longer the solitary white man; and no
longer the camp-fire had around it the swarthy faces of the Swampies. The
woods were noisy with many tongues; the night was bright with the glare
of many fires. The Indians, frightened by such a concourse of braves, had
fled into the woods, and the roofless poles of their wigwams alone marked
the camping-places where but the evening before I had seen the red man
monarch of all he surveyed. The word had gone forth from the commander to
push on with all speed for Red River, and I was now with the advanced
portion of the 60th Rifles en route for the Lake of the Woods. Of my old
friends the Swampies only one remained with me, the others had been kept
at Fort Francis to be distributed amongst the various brigades of boats
as guides to the Lake of the Woods and Winnipeg River; even Thomas Hope
had got a promise of a brigade-in the mean time pork was abundant; and
between pride and pork what more could even Hope desire?
In two days we entered the Lake of the Woods, and hoisting sail stood out
across the waters. Never before had these lonely islands witnessed such a
sight as they now beheld. Seventeen large boats close hauled to a
splendid breeze swept in a great scattered mass through the high running
seas, dashing the foam from their bows as they dipped and rose under
their large lug-sails. Samuel Henderson led the way, proud of his new
position, and looked upon by the soldiers of his boat as the very acme
of an Indian. How the poor fellows enjoyed that day! no oar, no portage
no galling weight over rocky ledges, nothing but a grand day's racing
over the immense lake. They smoked-all day, balancing themselves on the
weather-side to steadv the boats as they keeled over into the heavy seas.
I think they would have-given even Mr. Riel that day a pipeful of
tobacco; but Heaven help him if they: had caught him two days later on
the portages of the Winnipeg! he would have had a hard time of it.
There has been some Hungarian poet, I think, who has found a theme for
his genius in the glories of the _private soldier. He had been a soldier
himself, and he knew the wealth of the mine hidden in the unknown and
unthought of Rank and File. It is a pity that the knowledge of that
wealth should not be more widely circulated.
Who are the Rank and File? They are the poor wild birds whose country
has cast them off, and who repay her by offering their lives for her
glory; the men who take the shilling, who drink, who drill, who march to
music, who fill the graveyards of Asia; the men who stand sentry at the
gates of world-famous fortresses, who are old when their elder brothers
are still young, who are bronzed and burned by fierce suns, who sail
over seas packed in great masses, who watch at night over lonely
magazines, who shout, "Who comes there?" through the darkness, who dig
in trenches, who are blown to pieces in mines, who are torn by shot and
shell, who have carried the flag of England into every land, who have
made her name famous through the nations, who are the nation's pride in
her hour of peril and her plaything-in her hour of prosperity--these
are the rank and file. We are a curious nation; until lately we bought
our rank, as we buy our mutton, in a market; and we found officers and
gentlemen where other nations would have found thieves and swindlers.
Until lately we flogged our files with a cat-o'-nine-tails, and found
heroes by treating men like dogs. But to return to the rank and file.
The regiment-which had been selected for the work of piercing these
solitudes of the American continent had peculiar claims for that service.
In bygone times it had been composed exclusively of Americans, and there
was not an Expedition through all the wars which England waged against
France in the New World in which the 60th, or "Royal Americans," had not
taken a prominent part. When Munro yielded to Montcalm the fort of
William Henry, when Wolfe reeled back from Montmorenci and stormed
Abraham, when Pontiac swept the forts from Lake Superior to the Ohio, the
60th, or Royal Americans, had ever been foremost in the struggle. Weeded
now of their weak and sickly men, they formed a picked 'body, numbering
350 soldiers, of whom any nation on earth might well be proud. They were
fit to do anything and to go any where; and if a fear lurked in the minds
of any of them, it was that Mr. Riel would not show fight. Well led, and
officered by men who shared with them every thing, from the portage-strap
to a roll of tobacco, there was complete confidence from the highest to
the lowest. To be wet seemed to be the normal condition of man, and to
carry a pork-barrel weighing 200 pounds over a rocky portage was but
constitutional and exhilarating exercise--such were the men with whom, on
the evening of the 8th of August, I once more reached the neighbourhood'
of the Rat Portage. In a little bay between many islands the flotilla
halted just before entering the reach which led to the portage. Paddling
on in front with Samuel in my little canoe, we came suddenly upon four
large Hudson Bay boats with full crews of Red River half-breeds and
Indians-they were on their way to meet the Expedition, with the object of
rendering what assistance they could to the troops in the descent of the
Winnipeg river. They had begun, to despair of ever falling in with it,
and great was the excitement at the sudden meeting; the flint-gun was at
once discharged into the air, and the shrill shouts began to echo through
the islands. But the excitement on the side of the Expedition was quite
as keen. The sudden shots and the wild shouts made the men in the boats
in rear imagine that the fun was really about to begin, and that a
skirmish through the wooded isles would be the evening's work. The
mistake was quickly discovered. They were glad of course to meet their
Red River friends; but somehow, I fancy, the feeling, of joy would
certainly not have been lessened had the boats held the dusky adherents
of the Provisional Government.
On the following morning the seventeen boats commenced the descent of the
Winnipeg river, while I remained at the Portage-du-Rat to await the
arrival of the chief of the Expedition from Fort Francis. Each succeeding
day brought a fresh brigade of boats under the guidance of one of my late
canoe-men; and finally Thomas Hope came along,-seemingly enjoying life to
the utmost--pork was plentiful, and as for the French there was no need
to dream of them, and he could sleep in peace in the midst of fifty white
soldiers. During six days I remained at the little Hudson Bay Company's
post at the Rat Portage, making short excursions into the surrounding
lakes and rivers, fishing below the rapids of the Great Chute; and in the
evenings listening to the Indian stories of the lake as told by my worthy
host, Mr. Macpherson, a great portion of whose life had been spent in the
vicinity.
One day I went some distance away from the fort to fish at the foot of
one of the great rapids formed by the Winnipeg River as it runs from the
Lake of the Woods. We carried our canoe over two or three portages, and
at length reached the chosen spot. In the centre of the river an Indian
was floating quietly in his canoe, casting every now and then a large
hook baited with a bit of fish into the water. My bait consisted of a
bright spinning piece of metal, which I had got in one of the American
cities on my way through Minnesota. Its effect upon the fish of this
lonely region was marvellous; they had never before been exposed to such
a fascinating affair, and they rushed at it with avidity. Civilization on
the rocks had certainly a better time of it, as far as catching fish
went, than barbarism in the canoe. With the shining thing we killed three
for the Indian's one. My companion, who was working the spinning bait
while I sat on the rock, casually observed, pointing to the Indian, "He's
a Windigo."
"A what?" I asked.
"A Windigo."
"What is that?"
"A man that has eaten other men."
"Has this man eaten other men?"
"Yes; a long time ago he and his band were starving, and they killed and
ate forty other Indians who were starving with them. They lived through
the winter on them, and in the spring he had to fly from Lake Superior
because the others wanted to kill him in revenge; and so he came here,
and he now lives alone near this place."
The Windigo soon paddled over to us, and I had a good opportunity of
studying his appearance. He was a stout, low-sized savage, with coarse
and repulsive features, and eyes fixed sideways in his head like a
Tartar's. We had left our canoe some distance away, and my companion
asked him to put us across to an island. The Windigo at once consented:
we got into his canoe, and he ferried us over. I don't know the name of
the island upon which he landed us, and very likely it has got no name,
but in my mind, at least, the rock and the Windigo will always be
associated with that celebrated individual of our early days, the King
of the Cannibal Islands. The Windigo looked with wonder at the spinning
bait, seeming to regard it as a "great medicine;" perhaps if he had
possessed such a thing he would never have been forced by hunger to
become a Windigo.
Of the bravery of the Lake of the Woods Ojibbeway I did not form a very
high estimate. Two instances related to me by Mr. Macpherson will suffice
to show that opinion to have been well founded. Since the days when the
Bird of Ages dwelt on the Coteau-des-Prairies the Ojibbeway and the Sioux
have warred against each other; but as the Ojibbeway dwelt chiefly in the
woods and the Sioux are denizens of the great plains, the actual war
carried on between them has not beena unusually destructive. The
Ojibbeways dislike to go far into the open plains; the Sioux hesitate to
pierce the dark depths of the forest, and the war is generally confined
to the border land, where the forest begins to merge into the plains.
Every now and again, however, it becomes necessary to go through the
form of a war-party, and the young men depart upon the war-path against
their hereditary enemies. To kill a Sioux and take his scalp then becomes
the great object of existence. Fortunate is the brave who can return to
the camp bearing with him the coveted trophy. Far and near spreads the
glorious news that a Sioux scalp has been taken, and for many a night the
camps are noisy with the shouts and revels of the scalp dance from
Winnipeg to Rainy Lake. It matters little whether it be the scalp of a
man, a woman, or a child; provided it be a scalp it is all right. There
is the record of the two last war-paths from the Lake of the Woods.
Thirty Ojibbeways set out one fine day for the plains to war against the
Sioux, they followed the line of the Rosseaui river, and soon emerged
from the forest. Before them lay a camp of Sioux. The thirty braves,
hidden in the thickets, looked at the camp of their enemies; but the more
they looked the less they liked it. They called a council of
deliberation; it was unanimously resolved to retire to the Lake of the
Woods: but surely they must bring back a scalp, the women would laugh at
them! What was to be done? At length the difficulty was solved. Close by
there was a newly-made grave, a squaw had died and been buried. Excellent
idea; one scalp was as good as another. So the braves dug up the buried
squaw-, took the scalp, and departed for Rat Portage. There was a great
dance, and it was decided that each and every one of the thirty
Ojibbeways deserved well of his nation.
But the second instance is still more revolting. A very brave Indian
departed alone from the Lake of the Woods to war against the Sioux; he
wandered about, hiding in the thickets by day and coming forth at night.
One evening, being nearly starved, he saw the smoke of a wigwam; he went
towards it, and found that it was inhabited only by women and
children, of whom there were four altogether. He went up and asked for
food; they invited him to enter the lodge; they set before him the best
food they had got, and they laid a buffalo robe for his bed in the
warmest corner of the wigwam. When night came, all slept; when midnight
came the Ojibbeway quietly arose from his couch, killed the two women,
killed the two children, and departed for the Lake of the Woods with
four scalps. Oh, he was a very brave Indian, and his name went far
through the forest! I know somebody who would have gone very far to see
him hanged.
Late on the evening of the 14th August the commander of the Expedition
arrived from Fort Francis at the Portage-du-Rat. He had attempted to
cross the Lake of the Woods in a gig manned by soldiers, the weather
being too tempestuous to allow the canoe to put out, and had lost his way
in the vast maze of islands already spoken of. As we had received
intelligence at the Portage-du-Rat of his having set out from the other
side of the lake, and as hour after hour passed without bringing his boat
in sight, I got the canoe ready and, with two Indians, started to light a
beacon-fire on the top of the Devil's Rock, one of the haunted islands of
the lake, which towered high over the surrounding isles. We had not
proceeded far, however, before we fell in with the missing gig bearing
down for the portage under the guidance of an Indian who had been picked
up en route.
On the following day I received orders to start at once for Fort
Alexander at the mouth of the Winnipeg River to engage guides for the
brigades of boats which had still to come--two regiments of Canadian
Militia. And here let us not-forget the men who, following in the
footsteps of the regular troops, were now only a few marches behind their
more fortunate comrades. To the lot of these two regiments of Canadian
Volunteers fell the same hard toil of oar and portage which we have
already described. The men composing these regiments were stout athletic
fellows, eager for service, tired of citizen life, and only needing the
toil of a campaign to weld them into as tough and resolute a body of men
as ever leader could desire.