ards long, five or six feet in width, and only three or
four feet high." The objective point of Major-General
Middleton's march was Batoche's Crossing, where Riel had
several large pits sunk, and fortifications thrown up,
for a grand and final encounter with our troops. The line
of march lay sometimes along the Saskatchewan's banks,
but more frequently through the open prairie. The position
of the rebels prior to the battle was this: Dumont, with
250 half-breeds and Indians, had been retreating slowly
before General Middleton's right column on the east bank
of the river, their scouts keeping them informed of the
General's movements. Dumont appears to have thought of
waiting for the troops to attack him on Thursday night;
at least that is the belief of the scouts, who saw some
of his mounted men signalling to him all afternoon on
Thursday. However that may be, he lay waiting for our
men at the edge of a big _coulee_ near Fish Creek, early
on Friday morning, his forces being snugly stowed away
behind boulders, or concealed in the dense everglades of
hazel, birch, and poplar. From day to day, almost from
hour to hour, this veteran buffalo hunter had learned
every tidings of the General's troops that keen observation
made from clumps of bush along the prairie could give
him. So when he learnt that the General himself, with
his officers, were near at hand, his eyes fairly gleamed
with enthusiasm.

"My men," he said, as he went from covert to covert, from
bluff to bluff, "you know the work that lies before you;
I need not repeat it to you. Do not expose yourself, and
do not fire unless you have a tolerable target." Then he
arranged a system of signals, chiefly low whistles and
calls, by which the men would be able to know when to
advance, retire, lie close, make a dash, or move from
one part of the ground to another.

"They will at first fall into an ambush," he said, "then,
my men, be nimble. In the panic there will be a rich
harvest for you. Bring down the General if you can.
Wherever an officer is in range, let him have a taste of
your lead in preference to the privates." Then he lay
close and watched, and listened, many times putting his
ear to the ground. At last he gave an exclamation. It
was in a whisper; but the silent rebels who lay there,
mute as the husht trees around them, could well hear the
words, "they come!"

Let me now briefly describe the position which the rebel
had chosen for himself. About five