n arrested; of these the leader was William
Sayer. He was the half-breed son of an old French bourgeois of the
Northwest Company. He had been liberated on bail, and was to come up for
trial in May. The charge against him was of buying goods with which to
go on a trading expedition to Lake Manitoba.

Possibly the case would be easily disposed of, and most likely dismissed
with a trifling fine, although it was true that Sayer had made a stiff
resistance on his being arrested. This violent resistance was but an
example of the bitter and dangerous spirit that was developing among the
Metis.

A brave and restless man was now growing to have a dominating influence
over the French half-breeds. This was Louis Riel, a fierce and noisy
revolutionist, ready for any extremity. He was a French half-breed, was
owner of a small flour mill on the Seine River, and he was the father of
the rebel chief of later years. The day fixed for the Sayer trial by the
legal authorities was a most unfortunate one. It was on May 17th, which
on that year was Ascension Day, a day of obligation among the Catholic
people of the Settlement. It was noticeable that there was much ferment
in the French parishes. Louis Riel, who was a violent, but effective
speaker, of French, Irish and Indian descent, busied himself in stirring
up resistance. The fact that it was a Church day for the Metis made it
easy for them to gather together. This they did by hundreds in front of
the St. Boniface Cathedral, where, piling up their guns, with which all
the men were armed, at the Church door, they then entered and performed
their sacred duties. At the close of the service, Riel, "the miller of
the Seine," made a fiery oration, advocating the rescue of their
compatriot Sayer, who was to be held for trial at the Court House. A
French sympathizer said of this public meeting: "Louis Riel obtained a
veritable triumph on that occasion, and long and loud the hurrahs were
repeated by the echoes of the Red River."

And now, under Riel's direction, by a concerted action, movement of the
whole body was made to cross the Red River and march to the Court House,
which stood beside the wall of Fort Garry. To allow the five hundred men
to cross easily, Point Douglas was selected, and here by ferry boats,
said to have been provided by James Sinclair, the English half-breed
leader of whom we have spoken, the party crossed, and worked up to the
highest pitch of excitement, stalked up the m