which he meant, "You're
right."

But Elsie had no barley to give him. She tried to find out what he
wanted to do with the barley, but Peegwish was not communicative. The
gleam of cunning faded from his mahogany countenance, and he relapsed
into a state of impenetrable wisdom, in which condition he retired, and
betook himself to the upper part of the settlement, near Fort Garry, in
quest of "bally." Here he found the people in a state of considerable
excitement owing to the sudden and unusual rise of the river.

At Fort Garry the Assinaboine River joins the Red River, and flows with
it into Lake Winnipeg. At the period of which we write, (the month of
May), both rivers were yet covered with the icy garment--between four
and five feet thick--under which they had gone to rest five or six
months before. The vast accumulation of snow which had fallen that
winter was melted so fast that the Red River had risen with terrible
rapidity, and it was obvious, from the ominous complainings of the
"thick-ribbed ice," that a burst-up of unwonted violence was impending.
The strength of the ice, however, was so great that it rose with the
swelling waters without breaking until nearly on a level with the top of
the river banks. In some places, where the banks were low, the pent-up
floods broke forth and swamped the land, but as yet little damage had
been done.

Of course the alarm of the settlers was considerable. Rumours of former
floods which had devastated the surrounding plains were rife, and those
of the people whose houses stood on the lower grounds began to remove
their goods and chattels to higher places. Others delayed doing so in
the belief that the river would not rise much higher, at all events that
it would subside as soon as the ice broke up and cleared away to Lake
Winnipeg. Some there were whose dwellings stood on high ground, and who
professed to have no belief in floods at all.

In other circumstances Peegwish would have noted the state of things
that prevailed, but at that time his faculties were steeped in beer.
For some days past they had been in this condition, but his supply was
exhausted, and people who knew his propensity refused to give him more.
Peegwish, therefore, being a somewhat resolute savage, resolved to adopt
a course which would render him independent. Chuckling to himself at
the depth and cunning of his intended course of action, he went among
the farmers begging for "bally"! Some to w