carried on extensively at the fort,
and a blacksmith's forge is also kept going. My business with the officer
in charge of Edmonton was soon concluded. It principally consisted in
conferring upon him, by commission, the same high judicial functions
which I have already observed had been entrusted to me before setting out
for the Indian territories. There was one very serious drawback, however,
to the possession of magisterial or other authority in the Saskatchewan,
in as much as there existed no means whatever of putting that authority
into force.

The Lord High Chancellor of England, together with the Master of the
Rolls and the twenty-four judges of different degrees, would be perfectly
useless if placed in the Saskatchewan to put in execution the authority
of the law. The Crees, Blackfeet, Peagins, and Sircies would doubtless
have come to the conclusion that these high judicial functionaries were
"very great medicines;" but beyond that conclusion, which they would have
drawn more from the remarkable costume and head-gear worn by those
exponents of the law than from the possession of any legal acumen, much
would not have been attained. These considerations somewhat mollified the
feelings of disappointment with which I now found myself face to face
with the most desperate set of criminals, while I was utterly unable to
enforce against them the majesty of my commission.

First, there was the notorious Tahakooch-murderer, robber, and general
scoundrel of deepest dye; then there was the sister of the above, a
maiden of some twenty summers, who had also perpetrated the murder of two
Black foot children close to Edmonton; then there was a youthful French
half-breed who had killed his uncle at the settlement of Grand Lac, nine
miles to the north-west; and, finally, there was my dinner companion at
Saddle Lake, whose crime I only became aware of after I had left that
locality. But this Tahakooch was a ruffian too desperate. Here was one of
his murderous acts. A short time previous to my arrival two Sircies came
to Edmonton. Tahakooch and two of his brothers were camped near the fort.
Tahakooch professed friendship for the Sircies, and they went to his
lodge. After a few days had passed the Sircies thought it was time to
return to their tribe. Rumour said that the charms of the sister of
Tahakooch had captivated either one or both of them, and that she had not
been insensible to their admiration. Be this as it may, it was tim