With great satisfaction, and gratitude for the dangers we had escaped,
our eyes once more rested on the silvery waters of the Red River, as it
wound its way through the rich plains of the settlement, towards the
lengthened expanse of Lake Winnipeg. Malcolm and I, putting our spurs
into our mustangs' flanks, galloped on eager to announce our arrival to
Sam Dawes. He was labouring by himself, putting up a fence to a new
field. He saw us coming, and, throwing down his axe, hurried forward to
meet us. Never was there a more happy meeting. He had a great deal to
tell us, as we had to tell him. Gathering up his tools, he walked by
our sides to the hut; a hut though it was no longer, for by his
persevering industry he had converted it into a very comfortable
residence; while he had replaced, though in a somewhat rough fashion,
nearly all the furniture we had lost. My brother and I felt ashamed at
having deserted him for so long, while he was labouring for our benefit.
"Well, dear masters, I did ofttimes feel sad and lonely like while you
were away, but now I've got you back safe all that seems as light as a
feather," he exclaimed, pressing our hands and looking into our faces
with the affection of a parent. He told us that great changes had taken
place in the settlement during our absence, that a clergyman had settled
near us, that a church was built and a school established, and that many
new colonists had bought land along the banks of the river for many
miles towards the south as well as to the north of us. The good
clergyman had also induced several families of Indians to settle in the
neighbourhood, and that they seemed to have accepted with joy the glad
tidings of salvation which he had been the means of offering them.
"I wish that Sigenok would come and join them then," exclaimed Malcolm
warmly; "so brave and energetic a man would bring many others over to
the truth."
The next day Sigenok himself came in to see us. Malcolm opened the
subject of which he had been speaking. Sigenok listened attentively,
and said that he would go and hear what the missionary had to say. He
did so.
The winter set in, and the river and lake were frozen over, and the
ground was covered with snow, and sleighs had taken the place of carts,
and thick buffalo-skin coats of light dress, and stoves were lighted and
windows closed, and the whole face of Nature seemed changed. Sigenok
came to us. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "when I knew you first my heart was
like the great prairie when the fire has passed over it, all black and
foul; now it is white like that field of glittering snow on which we
gaze. I am a Christian; I look with horror on my past life, and things
which I considered before praiseworthy and noble, I now see to be
abominable and vile."
Day after day, in spite of cold and wind and snow, did Sigenok come up
to the missionary's house to receive instruction in the new faith which
had brought such joy to his heart. Many followed in his footsteps, and
there now exists a whole village of Christian Indians in the settlement
who have put away and for ever their medicine men and their charms, and
their false Manitou, and their cruelties and bloodthirstiness, and are
worshippers of the true God in sincerity and simplicity of faith.
Several of the Indian boys brought up at the school have obtained a
considerable amount of learning, and some are ordained ministers of the
gospel, and others catechists and schoolmasters at various missionary
stations scattered throughout the wide extent of Rupert's Land.
You may like to hear something more about that wonderful land, that
_terra ignota_ of British Central America. At the time of which I have
been speaking it was supposed that the only fertile land was to be found
on the banks of the Red River, but it is now ascertained that an
extremely rich and fertile belt extends from the Red River right across
the continent, for eight hundred miles or more, to the base of the Rocky
Mountains, where it unites with the new province of Columbia. This
fertile belt is capable of supporting innumerable herds of cattle,
flocks of sheep, and droves of horses, and of giving employment and
happy homes to millions of the human race. It produces wheat and
barley, and oats, and Indian corn, or maize, in great perfection, and
potatoes and a variety of other roots and vegetables of all sorts, and
the finest grass for hay, and hemp and tobacco, and many other plants
with difficulty grown in England. The rivers are full of fish, and game
of all sorts abound. The climate is very uniform throughout, like that
of Upper Canada--warm in summer and very cold in winter, but dry and
healthy in the extreme.
When, as I hope the case may be before long, those lakes and rivers
along which we travelled on our journey from Lake Superior to the Red
River are made navigable for steamers, this country will become the
great highway to British Columbia, to China, Japan, and the
wide-spreading shores and isles of the Pacific. With a line of
settlements established across it, the journey may easily be performed,
and some day, Harry, you and I will run over, and we will pay a visit to
the very scenes which I have been describing to you; but instead of
roving savages, murdering and scalping in every direction, living by
hunting and fishing, I hope that we may find the Indians settled down as
Christian men, and persevering cultivators of the soil which Providence
will compel to yield a rich return for their labour. You will wish to
know more of your uncle Malcolm's and my proceedings. We soon became
acquainted with the good clergyman I have mentioned, and after a time he
suggested to us that, as our education was far from perfect, it would be
wise if we recommenced our studies. This we did, and though we
continued to help Sam Dawes in his farm labours even more efficiently
than before, so steady was our application when engaged with our books
under our kind tutor, that we made considerable progress in our studies.
For three years or more we lived on very happily, with nothing to
change our course of life, when we received notice from England that a
relation of our father's especially wished us to return. On consulting
our friend the clergyman, he strongly recommended us to accept the
invitation offered us. As we expected speedily to return we left Sam
Dawes in charge of the farm, though he was almost heart-broken at
parting from us. He would, indeed, never have consented to remain had
he not believed that it was for our interest to do so. On reaching
England great was our surprise to find that our relative intended to
leave us his property. On ascertaining our attainments in knowledge, he
insisted on our both going to the university. Your uncle Malcolm took
high honours, and entered into holy orders. I became, as was our
relative, a merchant, and without allowing business to absorb me, I have
considerably increased the small portion he left me. Your uncle Malcolm
and I have constantly talked of going over to visit Sam Dawes, but
circumstances have prevented us. We long ago made over the farm to him,
and he has greatly increased and improved it. He is, we hear, a hale
old man. And now, Harry, I have told you a long story enough for
to-day. Some other time I will tell you more about the wonders of
Rupert's Land.