PONOKO RECOVERS--TIME PASSES 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 massacre 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 passing 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 assistance, 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 massacred. 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 massacre,
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 passed,
now forms part of the great Canadian dominion, and probably, before
another generation has passed away, the whole region, from east to west,
will be the home of happy and flourishing communities.