l _en route_ with the man, who
spoke of "French brag" and was only dissuaded from his purpose by the
raft suddenly teetering at an angle of forty-five degrees with the
water, which threatened to toboggan us all into mid-river; how I was
then stationed in the centre and the other men distributed equally on
each side of the raft to maintain balance; how we swung out into the
Red, rocking with each shifting of the crew and were treated to a volley
of objurgations from the red-faced man--I do not intend to relate. This
sort of melodrama may be seen wherever there are drunken men, a raft and
a river. The men poled only fitfully, and we were driven solely by the
current. It was dark long before we had neared Fort Douglas and the
waters swished past with an inky, glassy sheen that vividly recalled the
murky pool about the beaver-dam. And yet I had no fear, but drifted
along utterly indifferent to the termination of the freakish escapade in
which I had become involved. Nature mercifully sets a limit to human
capacity for suffering; and I felt I had reached that limit. Nothing
worse could happen than had happened, at least, so I told myself, and I
awaited with cynical curiosity what might take place inside the Hudson's
Bay fort. Then a shaft of lantern light pierced the dark, striking
aslant the river, and the men began poling hard for Fort Douglas wharf.
We struck the landing with a bump, disembarked, passed the sentinel at
the gate and were at the entrance to the main building.

"You kick me here," said Louis. "I pay you back here!"

"What are you going to do with him?" asked the soberest man of the
red-faced leader.

"Hand him over to Governor Semple for a spy."

"The governor's abed. Besides, they don't want him about to hear H. B.
secrets when the Nor'-West brigade's a-coming! You'd better get sobered
up, yez hed! That's my advice to yez, before going to Governor Semple,"
and the prudent trapper led the way inside. To the fore was the main
stairway, on the right the closed store, and on the left a small
apartment which the governor had fitted up as a private office. For some
unaccountable reason--the same reason, I suppose, that mischief is
always awaiting the mischief-maker--the door to this office had been
left ajar and a light burned inside. 'Twas Louis, ever alert, when
mischief was abroad, who tip-toed over to the open door, poked his head
in and motioned his drunken companions across the sacred precincts of
Govern