PERMANENTLY APPOINTED TO GOVERNMENT 195 



nor I could stand it for a year and they told me it is wise for me 

 to get out. Forty feet!" 



At the end of our second day, the half-breed pointed out a bend 

 about two hundred yards away, where he intended staying all 

 night. Both of the boys sat down and moved no further for the 

 next half hour. Our third day was uneventful and we reached 

 the vicinity of Brandon before dark, and, as soon as the boys saw 

 it, they sat down again. We did not reach the city until after 

 dark. I never saw the boys so tired in my life. 



The next day, we took the train for Winnipeg and I may say 

 we all enjoyed the ride. I was only a few hours in the city until 

 John McTavish, the Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 called upon me and said that His Excellency, the Marquis of Lome, 

 had left an invitation for me to go up to Silver Heights for break- 

 fast the next morning. Silver Heights was the residence of 

 Donald A. Smith (Lord Strathcona). Early the next morning, 

 Mr. McTavish called for me with his carriage and took me up, 

 fourteen miles, to Silver Heights. 



At breakfast, there were the Marquis, Mr. Smith and myself, 

 and we, of course, enjoyed the talk very much. The Marquis 

 wished to thank me for the information I had given him the pre- 

 ceding winter and stated that he had followed the route that I 

 had given him, the whole of the past season and found I was 

 right in every particular. When Mr. Smith heard him say this, 

 he turned with great unction and said: "Your Excellency, Mr. 

 Macoun and myself are the only two men that have the right 

 opinion about this country." I was almost prompted to say: 

 "You old rascal, six years ago you wrote that the statements I 

 had made about the growth of the wheat at Fort Chipewyan were 

 all lies, and that I was untrustworthy in the statement I had made 

 about it to the Government." In 1875 he was head of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company and now, in 1881, he was acting the patriot 

 for the Government in power. 



It was fortunate that I kept my temper and now I related 

 to the Marquis why it was that I had my right hand bound up 

 and told him the circumstances by which I was eased of my pain. 

 He was so pleased with my story that he wrote the whole matter in 



