turers, appeared upon the
landing-place. A select detachment, I presume, of the "men not afraid to
fight'" boarded the boat and commenced to ransack her from stem to stern.
While the confusion was at its height, and doors, etc., were being broken
open, it became known to some of the searchers that two persons had left
the boat only a few minutes previously. The rage of the petty Napoleon
became excessive, he sarceed and stamped and swore, he ordered pursuit on
foot and on horseback; and altogether conducted himself after the manner
of rum-drunkenness and despotism based upon ignorance and "straight
drinks."

All sorts of persons were made prisoners upon the spot. My poor companion
was seized in his house twenty minutes after he had reached it, and,
being hurried to the boat, was threatened with instant hanging. Where had
the stranger gone to? and who was he? He had asserted himself to belong
to Her Majesty's Service, and he had gone to the Lower Fort.

"After him!" screamed the President; "bring him in dead or alive."

So some half-dozen men, half-breeds and American filibusters, started out
in pursuit. It was averred that the man who left the boat was of
colossal proportions, that he carried arms of novel and terrible
construction, and, more mysterious still, that he was closely followed by
a gigantic dog.

People shuddered as they listened to this part of the story-a dog of
gigantic size! What a picture, this immense man and that immense
dog--stalking through the gloom-wrapped prairie, goodness knows where!
Was it to be wondered at, that the pursuit, vigorously though it
commenced, should have waned faint as it reached the dusky prairie and
left behind the neighbourhood and the habitations of men? The party,
under the leadership of Lepine the "Adjutant-general," was seen at one
period of its progress besides the moments of starting and return. Just
previous to daybreak it halted at a house known by the suggestive title
of "Whisky Tom's," eight miles from the village of Winnipeg; whether it
ever got farther on its way remains a mystery, but I am inclined to
think that the many attractions of Mr. Tom's residence, as evinced by
the prefix to his name, must have proved a powerful obstacle to such
thirsty souls.

Daylight breaks early in the month of July, and I had been but little
more than three hours on the march when the first sign of dawn began to
glimmer above the tree tops of the Red River. When the light becam