sure, I had Father Holland's boisterous
good cheer as a counter-irritant; for the priest had remained at Fort
Douglas, and was ministering to the tribes of the Red and Assiniboine.
But it was on her, who had been my guiding star and hope and inspiration
from the first, that I mainly depended. As hard, merciless winter closed
in, I could not think of those shelterless colonists driven to the lake,
without shuddering at the distress I knew they must suffer; and I
despatched a runner, urging them to return to Red River, and giving
personal guarantee for their safety. Among those, who came back, were
the Sutherlands; and if my quest had entailed far greater hardship than
it did, that quiet interval with leisure to spend much time at the
Selkirk settlement would have repaid all suffering. After sundown, I was
free from fort duties. Tying on snow-shoes after the manner of the
natives, I would speed over the whitened drifts of billowy snow. The
surface, melted by the sun-glare of mid-day and encrusted with brittle,
glistening ice, never gave under my weight; and, oddly enough, my way
always led to the Sutherland homestead. After the coming of the De
Meurons, Frances used to expostulate against what she called my
foolhardiness in making these evening visits; but their presence made no
difference to me.

"I don't believe those drones intend doing anything very dreadful, after
all, sir," I remarked one night to Frances Sutherland's father,
referring to the soldiers.

Following his daughter's directions I had been coming very early, also
very often, with the object of accustoming the dour Scotchman to my
staying late; and he had softened enough towards me to take part in
occasional argument.

"Don't believe they intend doing a thing, sir," I reiterated.

Pushing his spectacles up on his forehead, he closed the book of
sermons, which he had been reading, and puckered his brows as if he were
compromising a hard point with conscience, which, indeed, I afterwards
knew, was exactly what he had been doing.

"Aye," said he, "aye, aye, young man. But I'm thinking ye'll no do y'r
company ony harm by speerin' after the designs o' fightin' men who make
ladders."

"Oh!" I cried, all alert for information. "Have they been making
ladders?"

He pulled the spectacles down on his nose and deliberately reopened the
book of sermons.

"Of that, I canna say," he replied.

Only once again did he emerge from his readings. I had risen to go.