and unscrupulous. They resorted to all sorts of stratagems to
injure each other, and wherever one built a fort, the other soon
established a second within sight. Often their employees, made wild
with strong drink, broke out into open violence and many lives were
lost, and a number of forts sacked and burned in the course of the
bitter struggle.

Now, the Nor-Westers, as they were called for short, regarded the
advent of the Scotch folk with lively animosity. They suspected it to
be a shrewd device of their rivals to get a firmer grip upon the
country. The new-comers would not be rovers like themselves, but
settlers, who would build houses, and till the rich soil, and multiply
in numbers until they became a power in the land.

This far-seeing scheme must be nipped in the bud, and forthwith they
set themselves to do it.

The strange part of the whole affair was that they ran slight risk of
interference with their nefarious design from their hated rivals, for
the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, although, of course, they
would take no part against the immigrants, were little more in favour
of their coming than the Nor-Westers. They did not want the country
settled. They had much rather it should remain a hunters' paradise,
and they were not disposed to lift a finger on behalf of the newcomers.

The first morning after the settlers' arrival seemed full of kindly
promise. Summer was just giving way to autumn. The prairie air was
clear and bracing without being too cool. The sun shone from an azure
sky upon a vast expanse of golden-hued turf almost as level as a floor,
that only required to be turned over by the plough to be ready for fall
seeding.

The hardy Scotch folk, accustomed to the rocky uplands and stony
meadows of their 'ain countree,' looked with wonder and delight at the
rich inheritance into which they had come.

'Eh, mon! but it's grand, grand!' ejaculated Saunders Rowan, in a tone
of unqualified appreciation. He was the senior member of the party,
and had been rather given to 'croaking,' but this glorious morning his
doubts and fears were all dispelled.

The women busied themselves preparing the morning meal, while the
children and dogs romped and rolled joyously in the rich, soft grass.
It was altogether a pretty picture, that seemed to be a happy augury of
the good times in store.

Suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, this scene of gladness and peace
changed to one of terror and st