is time to write Finis. A few more words and the curtain will drop on
the story of my life. That night, to my secret delight and to the
factor's great relief, Captain Rudstone effected his escape. He dropped
from the window of the room in which he was confined, scaled the
stockade and vanished in the wilderness. No search was made for him, and
I have heard nothing of him from that day to this. I often think of him,
and I would give much to see him once again. He is probably dead, for if
he were living now he would be more than eighty years of age.

But to return to Fort Garry. Within a week Flora and I were married, and
a fortnight later we started for Quebec, accompanied by Christopher
Burley. We reached England toward the close of the summer, and my case
was so clear that in a comparatively short time

I was in full possession
of my father's birthright--the title and estates of the Earl of
Heathermere. The years rolled on, rich in happiness for my wife and
myself, until now three decades separate us from the early life of the
Canadas--of that life which we recall so well and love dearly to talk
of.

In conclusion, I may say a word or two about the rival companies. In
June of 1816 a sharp conflict was fought at Fort Douglas, near Fort
Garry, Governor Semple, of the Hudson Bay Company, and twenty-two of his
men were killed by the Northwest Company's force, who themselves
suffered little loss. The next year Lord Selkirk came to Canada, raised
a force, and arrested most of the leading officials of the Northwest
Company, sending them to Quebec for trial. And how the Hudson Bay
Company held its own against rivalry and intrigue, how it protected its
rights, the reader will find set down in the records of history.

THE END.

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Transcriber's Notes:

1. This text appeared in several publications:
"The Cryptogram. A Story of Northwest Canada."
- Army and Navy Weekly No. 27-35 (1897-98)
- Half Holiday No. 1-9 (5 Feb-2 Apr. 1898)
- New York: Street and Smith (Medal Library No. 26), 1899.
- Philadelphia: David McKay, 1899.
2. This text is from the 1899 Street and Smith edition.
3. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.
4. Printer's errors corrected in text:
- the great beast came down with a c[r]ash. (crash)
- Capta[i]n Rudstone, who was standing (Captain)
- For Miss Hathers