an Assiniboine orator, who had been constantly
making fine speeches to me, had told the interpreter that, in spite of
him, the Indians would kill and rob me.

{111}

When I had barely made out their intentions I failed to realize that I
ought to have taken their arms from them. [To frighten them] I seized
hold of a blazing brand, broke in the door of the powder magazine, and
knocked down a barrel of gunpowder. Over this I held the brand, and I
told the Indians in an assured tone [through the interpreter] that I
expected nothing at their hands, and that even if I was killed I should
have the glory of subjecting them to the same fate. No sooner had the
Indians seen the lighted brand, and the barrel of gunpowder with its
head staved in, and heard my interpreter, than they all fled out of the
gate of the fort. They damaged the gate considerably in their hurried
flight. I soon laid down my brand, and then I had nothing more
exciting to do than to close the gate of the fort.

Soon after this incident with the Assiniboines, Saint-Pierre gave up
his half-hearted attempt to find a route to the Western Sea, and
returned to Montreal. He had proved himself a brave man enough. He
did not, however, understand, and made no attempt to understand, the
character of the Indians, and, as an explorer, he was a complete
failure. In {112} a couple of years he managed to undo all the work
which La Verendrye had accomplished. After he abandoned the West, the
forts which had been built there with such difficulty and at such great
expense soon fell into decay. The only men who had the knowledge and
the enthusiasm to make real La Verendrye's dream of exploration, his
own sons, were denied the privilege of doing so; and no one else seemed
anxious even to attempt such a difficult task.

The period of French rule in Canada was now rapidly drawing to a close.
Instead of adding to the territories of France in North America, her
sons were preparing to make their last stand in defence of what they
already possessed. Half a dozen years later their dream of western
exploration, and of a great North American empire reaching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, came to an end on the Plains of Abraham. It
was left for those of another race who came after them to turn the
dream of their rivals into tangible achievements. It must never be
forgotten, however, that, although Pierre de La Verendrye failed to
complete the great object of his ambiti