PRAIRIES--ATTACKED BY DACOTAHS--DEATH OF HIS COMPANIONS--RESCUED BY
THE OLD TRAPPER--PRAIRIE ON FIRE--RIDE FOR LIFE.

The remote forts, as the trading posts of that region are called, were
exposed at that period to numerous vicissitudes. When the buffalo, in
large herds, came northward from the wide prairies in the south, and
fish could be caught in the neighbouring lakes and rivers, provisions
were abundant. But at other times, as all articles of food had to be
brought many hundred miles in canoes, along the streams which intersect
the country, or overland by carts or sleighs, notwithstanding all the
forethought and precaution of the officers in charge, they were
occasionally hard pressed for means of supporting life.

At the period we are describing, the frost had set in earlier than
usual, and the neighbouring streams and lakes had been frozen over
before a supply of fish could be caught for the winter store.
Grasshoppers, or locusts, as they should be more properly called, coming
in vast hordes from the south, had settled on the fields, and destroyed
the crops of maize and barley; while the buffalo had not migrated so far
to the northward as in other years. The hunters who had gone forth in
chase of the moose, elk, bears, and other animals, had been less
successful than usual.

Mr Ramsay, as the winter drew on, dreaded that famine would visit the
fort. He had sent for supplies to headquarters, which he was daily
expecting to arrive by a train of dog-sleighs, and had again despatched
his hunters in all directions, in the hopes that they might bring in a
sufficient number of wild animals of the chase to provision the garrison
till their arrival.

Laurence slowly recovered his strength. Mrs Ramsay took care that he,
at all events, should be well supplied with nourishing food.

"For his father's sake, I wish you to do all you can for the poor lad,"
said Mr Ramsay to his wife. "I owe him a debt of gratitude I can never
repay, though he appears unwilling to be my creditor, by speaking of the
matter as an every-day occurrence. I was travelling some years back,
with a small party of half-breed hunters and Crees from the Red River to
Chesterfield House, when, a fearful storm coming on, we were compelled
to encamp in the open prairie. A short time before we had passed a
small stream, on the banks of which grew a few birch and willows. The
country was in a disturbed state, and we had heard that several war
partie