ation of Indian custom. He at the same time wounded a
younger son. Spurred by the hag-like mother and nerved to the deed with
alcohol, the Deschamps undertook to avenge their father's death by
killing all the whites of the fur post. One man had fallen when the
alarm was carried to Fort Union.

Twice had the Deschamps robbed Fort Union. Many trappers had been
assassinated by a Deschamps. Indians had been flogged by them for no
other purpose than to inflict torture. Beating on the doors of Fort
Union, the wife of their last victim called out that the Deschamps were
on the war-path.

The traders of Fort Union solemnly raised hands and took an oath to
exterminate the murderous clan. The affair had gone beyond MacKenzie's
control. Seizing cannon and ammunition, the traders crossed the prairie
to the abandoned fort of the Rocky Mountain trappers, where the
murderers were intrenched. All valuables were removed from the fort.
Time was given for the family to prepare for death. Then the guns were
turned on the house. Suddenly that old harpy of crime, the mother,
rushed out, holding forward the Indian pipe of peace and begging for
mercy.

She got all the mercy that she had ever given, and fell shot through the
heart.

At last the return firing ceased. Who would enter and learn if the
Deschamps were all dead? Treachery was feared. The assailants set fire
to the fort. In the light of the flames one man was espied crouching in
the bastion. A trader rushed forward exultant to shoot the last of the
Deschamps; but a shot from the bastion sent him leaping five feet into
the air to fall back dead, and a yell of fiendish victory burst from the
burning tower.[29]

Again the assailants fired a volley. No answering shot came from the
fort. Rushing through the smoke the traders found Francois Deschamps
backed up in a corner like a beast at bay, one wrist broken and all
ammunition gone. A dozen rifle-shots cracked sharp. The fellow fell and
his body was thrown into the flames. The old mother was buried without
shroud or coffin in the clay bank of the river. A young boy mortally
wounded was carried from the ruins to die in Union.

This dark act marked the last important episode in the long conflict
among traders. A decline of values followed the civil war. Settlers were
rushing overland to Oregon, and Fort Union went into the control of the
militia. To-day St. Louis is still a centre of trade in manufactured
furs, and St. Paul yet recei