11 



nipeg, and seeking Hudson Bay, as if the broad continent 

 had no room for ever so small a band of peaceful and indus- 

 trious settlers, tell their own tale. 



"Cuthbert Grant again appears upon the scene, and along 

 with him figure also the leading chiefs of the Nor'-westers. 

 The return of the settlers to their homes in 1815 had filled 

 the minds of their enemies with rage. The contempt of the 

 wild hunters of the plains for the peaceful tillers of the soil 

 can hardly be conceived. They despised them for their 

 manual labor ; they named them, by way of reproach, " the 

 workers in gardens ; " and their term " pork-eaters," formerly 

 applied to the voyagcurs east of Fort William, was now used 

 in derision to the Scotch settlers. During the whole winter 

 the fiery cross of the Nor'-westers had been flying; and they 

 looked forward to a grand gathering in the spring at " The 

 Forks," to give a final blow to the infant colony. 



"We have seen how the refugees returned to their devas- 

 tated homes. Fortunately the crops sown by them had not 

 all been destroyed ; and under Colin Robertson, and with 

 their new friends from Scotland, they settled down to endure 

 in the following year the fear and uncertainty of continued 

 threatenings, at last to have the ciisis reached in atrocious 

 acts of bloodshed, and to be again driven from their unfortu- 

 nate settlement. 



"The expeditions were both to come from the east and 

 west. Fort Qu'Appelle, some 350 miles west of Red River, 

 w'as the rendezvous of the force expected from the west. 

 The Bois-Brules wherever found during the whole winter 

 throughout the territories, at the most distant posts, ex- 

 hibited signs of unmistakeable hostility. A party of these 

 warlike Metis were reported as coming from the far-off Fort 

 des-Prairies, on the Saskatchewan ; while from the east, a 

 leading partner, McLeod, was journeying all the way from 

 Fort William, with a strong band to assist in the complete 

 extinction of the colony. 



"Of the western levies Grant was, as has been alreadysaid, 

 the ruling spirit. He was the leader of the " New Nation." 



