in my blood, so I have not that passionate
devotion to the wild daring of _l'ancien regime_, in which many of my
rugged companions under _Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest_
gloried; but he would be very sluggish, indeed, who could not look back
with some degree of enthusiasm to the days of gentlemen adventurers in
no-man's-land, in a word, to the workings of the great fur trading
companies. Theirs were the trappers and runners, the _Coureurs des Bois_
and _Bois-Brules_, who traversed the immense solitudes of the pathless
west; theirs, the brigades of gay _voyageurs_ chanting hilarious
refrains in unison with the rhythmic sweep of paddle blades and
following unknown streams until they had explored from St. Lawrence to
MacKenzie River; and theirs, the merry lads of the north, blazing a
track through the wilderness and leaving from Atlantic to Pacific lonely
stockaded fur posts--footprints for the pioneers' guidance. The
whitewashed palisades of many little settlements on the rivers and lakes
of the far north are poor relics of the fur companies' ancient grandeur.
That broad domain stretching from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean,
reclaimed from savagery for civilization, is the best monument to the
unheralded forerunners of empire.

RUFUS GILLESPIE.

WINNIPEG--ONE TIME FORT GARRY
FORMERLY RED RIVER SETTLEMENT,
_19th June, 18--_

Transcriber's note: Minor typos have been corrected.

CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTER I.
WHEREIN A LAD SEES MAKERS OF HISTORY 9

CHAPTER II.
A STRONG MAN IS BOWED 23

CHAPTER III.
NOVICE AND EXPERT 38

CHAPTER IV.
LAUNCHED INTO THE UNKNOWN 55

CHAPTER V.
CIVILIZATION'S VENEER RUBS OFF 70

CHAPTER VI.
A GIRDLE OF AGATES RECALLED 92

CHAPTER VII.
THE LORDS OF THE NORTH IN COUNCIL 99

CHAPTER VIII.
THE LITTLE STATUE ANIMATE 118

CHAPTER IX.
DECORATING A BIT OF STATUARY 131

CHAPTER X.
MORE STUDIES IN STATUARY 144

CHAPTER XI.
A SHUFFLING OF ALLEGIANCE 163

CHAPTER XII.
HOW A YOUTH BECAME A KING 181

CHAPTER XIII.
THE BUFFALO HUNT 200

CHAPTER XIV.
IN SLIPPERY PLACES 220

CHAPTER XV.
THE GOOD WHITE FATHER