em to make sure that they went upon their long voyage.
McLeod's party then pushed on with great glee to Fort Douglas and were
received with discharges of artillery and firearms. McLeod now took
command of the captured Fort.

Huerter, the discharged soldier, formerly mentioned, went to the field
of Seven Oaks about a week after the fight and confirmed Pambrun's
account.

A.N. McLeod now became the superior officer in the Fort and made
preparation for defending it. He himself occupied the late Governor
Semple's quarters and passed out compliments to white and native alike,
praising them for their daring, their adroitness and their success. A
great meeting was then gathered in the Governor's apartments and a levee
was held at which all of the servants and employees of the Company were
present, and in a speech McLeod told the audience that the English had
no right to build upon their lands without their permission--a new
doctrine surely.

Leaving Fort Douglas McLeod with his officers and the Bois-brules all
mounted, made an imposing procession up to the site of old Fort
Gibraltar. Here Peguis, now the chief of the Saulteaux who had shown
such kindness to the settlers was camped, and to him and his followers
McLeod showed his great displeasure. The Indian always loved the
British-man, whom on the west coast he called, "King Shautshman," or
King George's man.

The Indian is taciturn, unemotional, and cautious. He knew that the
Bois-brules had assumed their garb and committed the outrage of Seven
Oaks, and therefore the tribe were unwilling to be under the stigma
being thrown upon them. When McLeod had failed in his appeal, he laid
many sins to their charge. They had allowed the English to carry away
Duncan Cameron to Hudson Bay, they were a band of dogs, and he would
count them always as his enemies if they should hold to their English
friends. Peguis, who was a master diplomat, looked on with attention and
held his peace.

It was now about a week from the time of the massacre. Huerter, the
discharged soldier spoken of, rode down with a party from the Fort to
the field of Seven Oaks. He saw a number of human bodies scattered on
the plain, and in most cases the flesh had been torn off to the bone,
evidently by dogs and wolves.

Far from discouraging the talkative half-breeds, whose blood was up with
the sights of carnage, McLeod and his fellow-officers expressed their
approbation of the deeds done, and the Bois-brules