plied with. The position
was critical. Great tact was required to retain the friendship of the
Indians, while not complying with their request.

In Lower Canada there was still discord among the French Canadians. The
Governor, Sir James Craig, in a dying condition, relinquished office. In
answer to Brock's application for leave, still hoping for a staff
appointment in Portugal, the Governor-General implored him to remain.

"I must," he told him, "leave the country in the best state of security
I can; your presence is needed here. I am sending you as a mark of my
sincere regard my favourite horse, Alfred." This was a high-bred animal,
and our hero's charger in the war that followed.

It was not, however, until war was regarded as unavoidable, and not
until after he was promoted to be a major-general and appointed
President and Administrator of Upper Canada, as successor to Governor
Gore, that Isaac Brock became reconciled to life in Canada, and with set
purpose assumed the duties of his high calling.

* * * * *

Our hero had passed his _third_ milestone.

FOOTNOTE:

[2] Miss Carnochan, as the Curator of the Niagara Historical Society the
custodian of many relics of the war of 1812, has in her keeping this
identical cocked hat. It arrived "shortly after Brock's death, and was
given by his nephew to Mr. George Ball, near whose residence the 49th
was stationed. The hat measures twenty-four inches inside, and was used
at the funeral obsequies of 1824 and 1853, when many old soldiers
requested, and were permitted, to try it on." The usage that the cocked
hat then received has not improved its appearance.

CHAPTER XII.

MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK, GOVERNOR OF UPPER CANADA.

The appointment of Brock--with his exceptional military attainments--to
the chief command in Upper Canada, at the point of greatest danger, was
a rare piece of good fortune for the colony. Of the American military
leaders, Generals Howe, Dearborn and Wadsworth were all examples of a
common standard; even Sir George Prevost, the new Governor-General of
Canada and Commander-in-Chief, was tuned in a minor key.

Isaac Brock was the man of the hour. His star was in the ascendant.
Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, was anxious to meet the
soldier whose despatches had stirred the War Office. The Duke of York
was ready to give him a brigade under Wellington, while the Governor of
Jamaica, the Duke of Manchester,