All day long Annette was in sore trouble, for she felt that the
words of the rebel chief boded no good to herself or to her deliverer.
"Why should he think that I loved Captain Stephens?" the girl
murmured, as a soft tinge of crimson stole into her cheek. "I am sure
that I behaved in no way to him, that a girl should not act towards
the man who had risked his life to save hers."
With the dusk came her father, his horse covered with foam; for he
had ridden fast and far.
"Why is my daughter's cheek so pale?" he asked as he came into the
sweet, tidy cottage, with its trailing morning glories, and bunches
of mignonette.
"I have been a little disturbed, papa. The Metis chief and one of
his friends stayed here last night. O, I do fear that we are now very
near an outbreak. Is it not so, my father? Will you not tell me?"
"It is even so, child. Already nearly a thousand men, including Bois-
Brule's and Indians have arms in their hands, and await the words of
their leaders."
"But, papa, can good really come of this insurrection which you
propose? I mean, mon pere, can you and Monsieur Riel, with your
scattered followers, who have no money, no garrisons, no means of
holding out in a long struggle, hope to overcome the numerous trained
soldiers of the Government, with the money and the enthusiasm of a
nation at their back?"
"You talk, my daughter, as if some friend of Government had been
pouring his tale into your ear. Now, Annette, child, I love you very
dearly, and I am grateful to this young man who has saved your life;
but as the opinions which you have expressed could only have come
from him I must ask that further intercourse between you and him
ceases till this great issue has been fought out and settled."
"Captain Stephens, mon pere, has never uttered a word to me about
these matters; and the opinions which I have, worthless though they
be, are my own. Ah, papa, you surely have not forgotten the last
struggle. Monsieur Riel, then, had some sort of right to set up his
authority in a province which for a time came not under the
jurisdiction of the Company or of the Dominion; the clergy were at
his back; he had possession of the strongest Fort in the North-West
Territories, and provisions enough to supply his forces for a year.
Yet, at the very beating of the soldiers' drums he fled like a felon,
and was obliged to beg a mouthful of food in his flight to exile. The
circumstances now are not nearly so auspicious. How, then, can you
hope to succeed?"
"You are not familiar, child, with affairs in these territories; and
you neither know the extent of the discontent, nor the causes which
have led to it. The Half-Breed people and the Indian tribes have been
treated by government and their agents, worse than we would use our
dogs. Instead of sending honest and capable men to rule here, they
appoint adventurers whose only object is to make money during their
residence, at the expense of the people. You are not wholly ignorant
of the conduct of Lieutenant-Governor Tewtney. Since his arrival in
the territories he has never been known to give a patient hour to
hearing the grievances of the half-breed people; but he is forever
abroad grabbing up plots of choice land, and securing timber and
mineral leases; or furthering the schemes of knots of friends and
advisers gathered about him. I shall relate one instance which has
just came to light, and it will serve as an example of this man's
career. Some time ago a friend of his imported a large quantity of
meat, but upon arrival it was found to be unwholesome and foul. This
man went to Governor Tewtney and he said.