II 



who lived with the tribe knowing that they would be mas- 

 sacred as soon as they set foot on shore tried to save their 

 lives without endangering her own ; she went to a small island 

 two or three miles above the fort to stop the voyageurs on 

 their way home, but unfortunately it was too late to see her 

 and she could not succeed in making them hear her when they 

 passed. As soon as they reached the fort the Indians killed 

 them and took flight. 



Tourangeau the half breed was behind the Canadians and 

 only arrived at the fort the next day. He was surprised on 

 landing not to see anyone about the shore. He went directly 

 towards the gate to see what was the cause of the silence 

 which reigned everywhere. The first object that met his eyes 

 was the corpse of one of his companions who had been stabbed 

 with a knife. By the time he reached the centre of the en- 

 closure he found the others and at last the body of the Com- 

 missioner already decomposed. As there was not a living 

 creature left he could get no explanation of this terrible 

 butchery. The thought came to him that perhaps the Indians 

 were in ambush waiting for him and that he would share the 

 same fate as his friends. Even at that moment they might, 

 be aiming at him Wild with fear he ran to his canoe, pushed 

 it free and paddled with all his strength in the direction of 

 the next post. He proposed to paddle all night so as to put 

 the Indians off the pursuit. Towards ten or eleven in the 

 evening he saw on the shore a large fire banked around with 

 earth, but the distance was so great that it was impossible to 

 distinguish whether they were friends or foes. When he came 

 opposite to the camp he spoke a word in French in order to 

 find out if they were not employees from a neighboring fort 

 and great was his joy when they answered in the same lan- 

 guage. They were the Company's men carrying provisions 

 to some distant posts. Tourangeau hastened to cross the river 

 and describe to them the frightful scene that he had witnessed. 



Such were the dangers which the voyageurs had to run 

 at this time in the service of their Company in the immense 

 solitudes of the West. This life offered but little attraction 

 to a woman accustomed to the quiet life of the Canadian 

 country. 



Madame Lajimoniere wintered for four consecutive years 

 at the Fort of the Prairies, arriving at that post in the autumn 

 of 1808 she only returned to Red River in the spring of 181 1. 

 During the winters her husband was absent the greater part 



