d do
the manual labour of at least two men we can well believe. Years after
the date on which this tribute was written by Jarvis I met Steele in the
foothills of the Rockies, and in his tall, powerful figure, deep-chested
proportions and massive shoulders, he suggested prodigious strength to
the onlooker. And that Steele not only could but would do two men's work
if it seemed his duty, goes without saying to those who knew him.
Lieut.-Colonel J. B. Mitchell, of the 100th Grenadiers in Winnipeg, one
of the original '73 men of the Mounted Police, tells us that when he
went to Kingston to take an artillery course, before the Police Force
was organized, he was told by Battery Sergt.-Major John Mortimer that
some of the sergeants might try to take advantage of him, as he was new
at the business but Mortimer added, "You can always rely on Sergeant Sam
Steele." And the certificate of that grizzled old Sergt.-Major never had
to be cancelled.

And thus we have seen the Mounted Police come upon the stage and take
their positions at the end of extraordinary marches. It will be our
place and privilege to follow them as they play their large and serious
part in nation-building in Western Canada.

CHAPTER V

BUSINESS IN THE LAND OF INDIANS

Orders from Ottawa had disposed the Mounted Police into four different
locations, although, as we have seen, the fourth had become only
necessary at Dufferin, because there was neither shelter nor adequate
provision for headquarters at Fort Pelly. But, when we look back into
the situation, we can readily see that the Assistant Commissioner,
Colonel MacLeod, had the most difficult and dangerous situation of all.
They had all reached their destination after tremendous hardships, the
Edmonton detachment perhaps most of all. But the three detachments,
namely those at Edmonton under Jarvis, Fort Pelly under Garvell, and
Dufferin under the Commissioner, had shelter and reasonable provision.
But MacLeod was out in the open with the winter coming on and no shelter
from the blizzards that blow at times even across that foothill country.
He was hundreds of miles away from any possibility of help in men or
substance from Canadian sources, and he had only three troops of fifty
men each in the midst of a turbulent gang of outlaw whisky-peddlers and
horse-thieves. He was completely surrounded by thousands of the most
warlike of Western Indians, with some thousands still more warlike just
over the l