se of action.

The weather was comparatively mild, and the Indians sat
around on the snow that before many days was to disappear
before the sudden spring thaw. Their red, white, and grey
blankets against the dull-hued tepees [Footnote: Wigwams.]
and the white wintry landscape, gave colour and relief
to the scene. Two o'clock in the afternoon and the sun
shone brightly down as he always does in these latitudes.
Riel knew exactly how long it would continue to shine,
for had not the almanac told him and all the world--with
the exception of the ignorant half-breeds and Indians
whom he was addressing--that there was to be an eclipse
that day. The arch rebel knew how strongly dramatic effect
appealed to his audience, so he was prepared to indulge
them to the full in this respect, and turn the matter to
account. Being an educated man there was a good deal of
method in his madness.

The red-bearded, self-constituted prophet of the _metis_
[Footnote: Half-breeds.] stood on a Red River cart and
spun out his pleasant prognostications concerning that
happy coming era in which unlimited food, tobacco and
fire-water would make merry the hearts of all from the
Missouri in the south, to the Kissaskatchewan in the
north, if only they would do as he told them. As for Pere
Andre and his fulminations against him, what did they
want with the Church of Rome!--he, Louis David Riel, was
going to start a church of his own! Yes, St. Peter had
appeared to him in a vision, and told him that the Popes
had been on the wrong tack long enough, and that
he--Riel--was to be the new head of all things spiritual
and temporal. He promised them a good all-round time when
this came about, as it certainly would before long.

He wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and looked
anxiously at the sun. What if, after all, the compilers
of the almanac, or he himself, had made a mistake, and
he had called this his most vital meeting on the wrong
day? The bare idea was too terrible. But, no, his keen
eyes detected a dark line on the outer edge of the great
orb, and he knew that the modern astrologers had not
erred. His grand opportunity had come, and he must seize
it. He stretched out his hands and dramatically asked--

"But O, my people, tell me, how can I make manifest to
you that these things shall be as I say? Shall I beg of
the Manitou, the Great Spirit, to give to you a sign that
He approves of the words his servant speaketh, and that
these thin