n the twenty of us mounted, filed through the
gates and rode off to the north. Among those chosen--it was my
suggestion--were Luke Hutter and Carteret. I was up in front, with
Lieutenant Boyd and his fellow officers.

Our destination, Lagarde's store, was a stoutly-built log house standing
quite by itself, and near a lonely trail that led into the wilderness.
It had been erected a few years before, and served the Northwest people
for a small trading post until they constructed larger
ones. Then it was turned over to Pierre Lagarde, one of their own men,
who ran it as a combined supply store and lodging house for passing
voyageurs and hunters. It was a rough place in these times of ill
feeling, and was avoided by Hudson Bay Company men. I knew a good bit
about it myself, and what more there was to know Lieutenant Boyd
vouchsafed as we rode along.

"It was natural that the ruffians should break their journey there," he
concluded. "They will probably be sleeping, and I don't anticipate any
trouble in getting the prisoner into our hands. As for Lagarde, he is a
blustering fellow, but a coward at heart."

"They won't show light if they are seven to twenty," said I. "But do you
really believe they have dared to capture one of our couriers?"

"They would dare anything, these Northwest Company scoundrels," replied
the lieutenant. "And Walker's information, I assure you, is always
accurate."

By this time we had left Port Garry a couple of miles behind us, and far
off to our right a couple of twinkling lights on the horizon marked the
little settlement. On we went at a rattling pace, the hoofs of our
horses ringing on the hard, frozen snow. The night was dark and bitterly
cold; the stars shone in the steely vault of the sky, but there was no
moon.

Presently we dipped into a heavy forest, which made the road gleam
whiter by contrast. When we had come within a mile of our goal, we
settled down to a trot, and a little later the word to halt and dismount
was passed along the line in a whisper.

"I don't want to give the rascals any warning," the lieutenant
explained. "It will be far the wisest plan to take them by surprise,
before they can show fight. We are less than a quarter of a mile from
the store now."

The men were quickly out of the saddle, and three of them were told off
to guard the horses, which we tethered to saplings by the side of the
road. Then the rest of us--seventeen in number--looked to our muskets
and