64 My Dogs in the Northland 



were running, were these favours granted to 

 the people, and appealing to the chiefs, I 

 tried to show them what an injury it would 

 be to them as a community, when by and 

 by settled on their reserves, if, say, when 

 they ought to be planting potatoes or sew- 

 ing their grain, they were off riding through 

 the country on these railroads. Why, they 

 would soon be starving for food. This ar- 

 gument and the fact that, in all probability, 

 the chiefs themselves would have " passes," 

 for their business visits to the Governor, 

 brought them over to my side of thinking, 

 and so from them we had some most amus- 

 ing impromptu orations on the dire disaster 

 that might occur at critical times, because 

 the people were off gadding about the coun- 

 try, instead of being at home minding their 

 own business. 



About midnight the council ended, after 

 the calumet had made its rounds again, and 

 words of thanks had been uttered to the 

 white brother : " who," they said, " had come 

 so far to quiet their minds, and whose heart 

 was so good towards them." Then the In- 

 dians, one after another, withdrew, and with 

 my men I was left alone in the council 

 house. Near the smouldering embers of the 



