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quarantined cattle, attending sick animals, milch cows, and at the
expiration of their term in quarantine driving them long distances by
trail, loading on trains and conveying them to their different
destinations; in Manitoba they are engaged in enforcing the customs
laws, aiding the regular customs officials, whose duties they at times
perform, and executing the Crown Timber and Dominion Land regulations;
and, in addition to this work of a special nature, everywhere carrying
out their regular duties of detecting crime, aiding the administration
of justice, acting as prairie fire and game guardians, and maintaining a
patrol system which covers weekly some 1,200 miles." No wonder Perry
adds, "Such extended duties test the capacities of the Force and their
successful performance illustrates the diversity of attainments in the
personnel of the North-West Mounted Police." And those of us who have
seen them under many circumstances can vouch for their being not
stereotyped officials, but all-round adaptable men. There are flashes of
humour all through the reports of Police Officers. Sometimes they may
have been unintentional, but humour is a saving grace and men who were
facing tragedies almost every day would have given way under the strain
if they had not put a little comedy into life even in their reports.
Here, for instance, is an item from a report by Inspector Z. T. Wood,
who later on did such splendid work in the Yukon. Writing from Calgary
in 1894 he reports a case by saying, "On the night of July 5 a man named
Wilson took his effects from a C.P. Railway car and started north
without going through the usual form of paying the freight thereon. He
was caught, brought back and committed for trial." Superintendent Deane
exposes one of the peculiar technicalities of law when he says, "On the
15th of August a traveller had a pair of field glasses stolen from his
buckboard at a ranch about 12 miles from Lethbridge. We know who took
them, but the one witness who could convict the thief had disappeared."
The same officer elsewhere observes, "On the 15th of September last, in
the Pot Hole country, a saddle was stolen from the back of a piqueted
horse whose rider had dismounted to shoot some ducks. We know who is
responsible for this piece of impudence, but shall be lucky if we
succeed in recovering the saddle." Deane saw humour in the situation,
but was evidently rather sceptical about the ways of law. These examples
of wit c