The army halted. The circumstance was reported to the commanding officer
and instructions asked whether they should kill the royal beast or march
round him. The orders were to march round him. I have never thought of
the incident here related without recalling the cool bravery of the king
of beasts; but I always award the superiority to my friend, Captain
Jones.

HOW THE CAPITAL WAS SAVED.

The ancestors of Joe Rolette, the leading character in the story which I
am about to relate, emigrated at a very early day from Normandy, in
France, to Canada. It is believed that the celebrated Montcalm was one
of this party. Many of these emigrants became disheartened by the
hardships they encountered, and returned to France; but not so the
Rolettes. Jean Joseph Rolette, the father of our Joseph, was born in
Quebec, on Sept. 24, 1781. He was originally designed for the
priesthood, but fortunately for that holy order his inclinations led him
in another direction, and he became an Indian trader. His first venture
in business was at Montreal, next at Windsor opposite Detroit, finally
winding up at Prairie du Chien, about the year 1801 or 1802.

In the war of 1812, with Great Britain, the Americans captured Prairie
du Chien in 1814, and built a stockade there, which was called Fort
Shelby. The British, under Colonel McKay, besieged it, Rolette having
some rank in the attacking party. He was offered a captaincy in the
British army for his good behavior in this affair, but declined it. He
continued his Indian trade successfully up to 1820, when John Jacob
Astor offered him a leading position in the American Fur Company, which
he accepted, and held until 1836, when he was succeeded by Hercules L.
Dousman. He died at Prairie du Chien, Dec. 1, 1842, leaving a widow and
two children, a son and daughter. His daughter married Captain Hood of
the United States army, and was a very superior woman. His son was the
hero of this story. Rolette senior was called by the Indians, "Sheyo"
("The Prairie Chicken"), from the rapidity with which he travelled. Joe
was called "Sheyo chehint Ku" ("The Prairie Chicken's Son").

Joe Rolette was born on Oct. 23, 1820, at Prairie du Chien. He received
a commercial education in New York, but having inherited the free and
easy, half-savage characteristics of his father, he soon gravitated to
the border, and settled at Pembina, on the Red River of the North, near
the dividing line between the United Stat