ily, and of the
rich blooded "buffalo lilac," together with the dank,
earthy smell from the broken sod, were disagreeable and
oppressive. Lord Selkirk's heart sank within him at seeing
the ruin.

"I fear me," he said, "to plant a colony here. A herd of
these beasts coming upon a settlement would be worse than
ten thousand spears." But some of his guides had before
seen the impetuous rushing of the herds, and they assured
him that this might not occur again in this portion of
the prairie for a quarter of a century to come.

"At any rate," they persisted, "the buffalo keeps away
from regions that send up chimney-smoke. The chief regret
by-and-by will be that the herds will not come near enough
to us." And the Earl was reassured and proceeded with
the steps preliminary to founding the colony. It need
not be said that the place we have been describing was
the prairie on the banks of the Red River.

In a little while ships bearing numbers of sturdy Scotchmen
began to cross the sea bound for this famous colony,
where the land was ready for the plough, and mighty herds
of wild cattle grazed knee-deep among gorgeous flowers
and sweet grasses. They brought few white women with
them, the larger number being young men who had bade
their "Heeland" lassies good-bye with warm kisses,
promising to come back for them when they had built
homesteads for themselves in the far away wilds of the
West.

But when Lord Selkirk planted here his sturdy Scotchmen,
wild beasts and game were not the only inhabitants of
the plains. The Crees, a well-built, active, war-loving
race, had from ages long forgotten roamed over these
interminable meadows, fishing in the streams, and hunting
buffalo. Here and there was to be found one of their
"towns," a straggling congregation of tents made of the
skins of the buffalo. Beautiful, dark-skinned girls, in
bare brown, little feet, sat through the cool of evening
in the summer days sewing beads upon the moccasins of
their lovers, while the wrinkled dame limped about,
forever quarrelling with the dogs, performing the household
duties.

But the Crees liked not the encroachment upon their
territories by these foreign men with pale faces; and
they held loud pow-wows, and brandished spears, and swept
their knives about their heads till their sheen gleamed
many miles over the prairie. Then preparing their paint
they set out to learn from the pale-faced chief what was
his justification for the invasion.