features of the
country through which I was passing. Another hour passed, and still I
held on my way. I had said to myself that for three hours I must keep up
the same rapid stride without pause or halt. In the meantime I was
calculating for emergencies. If followed on horseback, I must become
aware of the fact while yet my enemies were some distance away. The black
capote flung on the road would have arrested their attention, the
enclosed fields on the right of the track would afford me concealment, a
few shots from the fourteen shooter fired in the direction of the party,
already partly dismounted deliberating over the mysterious capote, would
have occasioned a violent demoralization, probably causing a rapid
retreat upon Fort Garry, darkness would have multiplied numbers, and a
fourteen-shooter by day or night is a weapon of very equalizing
tendencies.

When the three hours had elapsed I looked anxiously around for water, as
I was thirsty in the extreme. A creek soon gave me the drink I thirsted
for, and, once more refreshed, I kept on my lonely way beneath the waning
moon. At the time when I was searching for water along the bottom of the
Middle Creek my pursuers were close at hand--probably not five minutes
distant--but in those things it is the minutes which make all the
difference one way or the other.

We must now go back and join the pursuit, just to see what the followers
of M. Riel were about.

Sometime during the afternoon preceding the arrival of the steamer at
Fort Garry, news had come down by mounted express from Pembina, that a
stranger was about to make his entrance into Red River.

Who he might be was not clearly discernible; some said he was an officer
in Her Majesty's Service, and others, that he was somebody connected
with the disturbances of the preceding winter who was attempting to
revisit the settlement.

Whoever he was, it was unanimously decreed that he should be captured;
and a call was made by M. Riel for "men not afraid to fight" who would
proceed up the river to meet the steamer. Upon after-reflection, however,
it was resolved to await the arrival of the boat, and, by capturing
captain, crew, and passengers, secure the person of the mysterious
stranger.

Accordingly, when the "International" reached the landing-place beneath
the walls of Fort Garry a strange scene was enacted.

Messrs. Riel, Lepine, and O'Donoghue, surrounded by a body-guard of
half-breeds and a few American adven