y the Indians on that occasion is nevertheless
remarkable. Here is the story:

One morning the people in the fort beheld a small party of Blackfeet on a
high hill at the opposite side of the Saskatchewan. The usual flag
carried by the chief was waved to denote a wish to trade, and accordingly
the officer in charge pushed off in his boat to meet and hold converse
with the party. When he reached the other side he found the chief and a
few men drawn up to receive him.

"Are there Crees around the fort?" asked the chief.

"No," replied the trader; "there are none with us."

"You speak with a forked tongue," answered the Blackfoot--dividing his
fingers as he spoke to indicate that the-other was speaking falsely.

Just at that moment something caught the traders eye in the bushes along
the river bank; he looked again and saw, close alongside, the willows
swarming with naked Blackfeet. He made one spring back into his boat, and
called to his men to shove off; but it was too late. In an instant two
hundred braves rose out of the grass and willows and rushed into the
water; they caught the boat and brought her back to the shore; then,
filling her as full as she would hold with men, they pushed off for the
other side. To put as good a face upon matters as possible, the trader
commenced a trade, and at first the batch that had crossed, about forty
in number, kept quiet enough, but some-of their number took the boat back
again to the south shore and brought over the entire band; then the wild
work commenced, bolts and bars were broken open, the trading-shop was
quickly cleared out, and in the highest spirits, laughing loudly at the
glorious fun they were having, the braves commenced to enter the houses,
ripping up the feather beds to look for guns and tearing down calico
curtains for finery. The men of the fort were nearly all away in the
plains, and the women and children were in a high state of alarm.
Sometimes the Indians would point their guns at the women, then drag them
off the beds on which they were sitting and rip open bedding and
mattress, looking for concealed weapons; but no further violence was
attempted, and the whole thing was accompanied by such peals of laughter
that it was evident the braves had not enjoyed such a "high old time" for
a very long period. At last the chief, thinking, perhaps, that things had
gone quite far enough, called out, in a loud voice, "Crees! Crees!" and,
dashing out of the fort, was qui