The purport was serious enough, and his normally grave countenance grew
graver still as the meaning became clearer to him.

In brief, it was an order to quit! Having at last reached their haven,
after so long and perilous a journey over sea and land, they were
summarily commanded to depart, and that without delay.

CHAPTER VII

How Hector Got His Nickname

At first, Mr. Macrae refused to credit his own intelligence. The idea
was too appalling, and in his slow, deliberate way he made the Indian
leader repeat and reiterate his sinister communication.

Then, calling aside the seniors of his party, who had all been watching
the parley with intent, anxious faces, he told them the startling truth.

Naturally enough, they likewise were at the outset incredulous, and
stirred to righteous wrath. What had this howling mob of painted and
befeathered Indians to do with them? They were not the lords of the
land now, whatever they might have been before the coming of the white
man. Lord Selkirk was the rightful owner of the broad, rich acres to
which they had made so painful a pilgrimage, and they, the settlers,
were the possessors in his name. Not one step would they budge. They
had come to stay.

All this, and more, Mr. Macrae repeated to the Indian leader with the
utmost emphasis, but he might as well have spared his breath.

'Non--no--non!' the fellow responded in his hybrid jargon. 'Must go
way. No stay here. No food, no fire, no tepee. Go way down there,'
and he pointed due south.

While this parley was proceeding, the other members of his party had
been quietly forming a circle about the band of settlers, drawing
steadily closer until they were almost within touch of them. As it
happened, little Ailie, her first fright having passed off, grew
interested in the gay trappings of the Indians, and, ere her mother
noticed, sidled towards one of them, in order to touch the feathers
that adorned his leggings.

She was just beside his stirrup, when, with a quick movement, he
reached down, grasped her under the arms, and swung her up before him,
saying, in what was meant to be a soothing tone:

'Ma jolie petite. You like ride--eh?' Ailie gave a scream of terror,
that reached the ears of her mother and Hector at the same moment. The
former stood transfixed, but Hector, whose position was somewhat behind
the Indian, with the spring of a panther reached the pony's withers,
and the next moment had the In