clared Macdonell, 'ready to burst on the rascals who
deserve it; little do they know their situation. Last year was but a
joke. The New Nation under their leaders are coming forward to clear
their native soil of intruders and assassins.' A few words written at
the same time by Cuthbert Grant show how the plans of the Bois Brules
were maturing. 'The Half-breeds of Fort des Prairies and English River
are all to be here in the spring,' he asserted; 'it is to be hoped we
shall come off with flying colours.'

Early in 1816 Governor Semple, who had been at Fort Daer, returned to
Fort Douglas. Apparently he entertained no wholesome fears of the
impending danger, for, instead of trying to conciliate his opponents,
he embittered them by new acts of aggression. In April, for the second
time, Colin Robertson, acting on the governor's instructions, captured
Fort {87} Gibraltar. Again was Duncan Cameron taken prisoner, and this
time he was held. It was decided that he should be carried to England
for trial. In charge of Colin Robertson, Cameron was sent by canoe to
York Factory. But no vessel of the Hudson's Bay Company was leaving
for England during the summer of 1816, and the prisoner was detained
until the following year. When at length he was brought to trial, it
was found impossible to convict him of any crime, and he was
discharged. Subsequently Cameron entered a suit against Lord Selkirk
for illegal detention, asking damages, and the court awarded him L3000.

Shortly after Colin Robertson had departed with his prisoner, Governor
Semple decided to dismantle Fort Gibraltar, and towards the end of May
thirty men were sent to work to tear it down. Its encircling rampart
was borne to the river and formed into a raft. Upon this the salvage
of the demolished fort--a great mass of structural material--was driven
down-stream to Fort Douglas and there utilized.

The tempest which Alexander Macdonell had presaged burst upon the
colony soon after this demolition of Fort Gibraltar. The {88}
incidents leading up to an outbreak of hostilities have been narrated
by Pierre Pambrun, a French Canadian. In April Pambrun had been
commissioned by Governor Semple to go to the Hudson's Bay fort on the
Qu'Appelle river. Hard by this was the Nor'westers' trading-post,
called Fort Qu'Appelle. Pambrun remarks upon the great number of
half-breeds who had gathered at the North-West Company's depot. Many
of them had come from a great d