uff of grey smoke came from the Nor'westers' cover.
The shot went wide. Then John Bourke, the {76} store-keeper, heard a
bullet whiz by his head, and narrowly escaped death. The colonists at
once seized their arms and answered the Nor'westers' fire. In the
exchange of volleys, however, they were at a disadvantage, as their
adversaries remained hidden from view. When the Nor'westers decamped,
four persons on the colonists' side had been wounded.

Apparently there was no longer security for life or property among
those still adhering to Lord Selkirk's cause at Colony Gardens. Duncan
Cameron, employing a subterfuge, now said that his main object was to
capture Governor Macdonell. If this were accomplished he would leave
the settlers unmolested. In order to safeguard the colony Macdonell
voluntarily surrendered himself to the Nor'westers. Cameron was
jubilant. With the loyal settlers worsted and almost defenceless, and
the governor of Assiniboia his prisoner, he could dictate his own
terms. He issued an explicit command that the settlers must vacate the
Red River without delay. A majority of the settlers decided to obey,
and their exodus began under Cameron's guidance. About one hundred and
forty, inclusive of women and children, stepped into the canoes of the
North-West Company to be borne away {77} to Canada. Miles Macdonell
was taken to Montreal under arrest.

The forty or fifty colonists who still clung to their homes at Colony
Gardens were left to be dealt with by Alexander Macdonell, who was
nothing loath to finish Cameron's work of destruction. Once more
muskets were brought into play; horses and cattle belonging to the
settlers were spirited away; and several of the colonists were placed
under arrest on trumped-up charges. These dastardly tactics were
followed by an organized attempt to raid the settlement. On June 25 a
troop of Bois Brules gathered on horseback, armed to the teeth and led
by Alexander Macdonell and a half-breed named Cuthbert Grant. The
settlers, though mustering barely one-half the strength of the raiders,
resolved to make a stand, and placed themselves under the command of
John M'Leod, a trader in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. The
Bois Brules bore down upon the settlement in menacing array. The
colonists took what shelter they could find and prepared for battle.
Fighting coolly, they made their shots tell. The advancing column
hesitated and halted in dismay at the