ed vigorously of his treatment since leaving Scotland, and was
in favour of accepting the terms which Cameron, as a partner in the
North-West Company, offered. As many colonists as desired it, said
Cameron, would be transported by the {72} Nor'westers free of charge to
Montreal or other parts of Canada. A year's provisions would be
supplied to them, and each colonist would be granted two hundred acres
of fertile land. Tempting bribes of money were offered some of them as
a bait. An influential Highlander, Alexander M'Lean, was promised two
hundred pounds from Cameron's own pocket, on condition that he would
take his family away. Several letters which were penned by the sham
officer during the winter of 1815 can still be read. 'I am glad,' he
wrote to a couple of settlers in February, 'that the eyes of some of
you are getting open at last ... and that you now see your past follies
in obeying the unlawful orders of a plunderer, and I may say, of a
highway robber, for what took place here last spring can be called
nothing else but manifest robbery.'

As yet Duncan Cameron had refrained from the use of force, but as
winter wore on towards spring he saw that, to complete his work, force
would be necessary. The proportion of settlers remaining loyal to Lord
Selkirk was by no means insignificant, and Cameron feared the pieces of
artillery at Colony Gardens. He decided on a bold effort to get these
field-pieces into his possession. {73} Early in April he made a
startling move. Miles Macdonell was away at Fort Daer, and Archibald
Macdonald, the deputy-governor of the colony, was in charge. To him
Cameron sent a peremptory demand in writing for the field-pieces, that
they might be 'out of harm's way.'

This missive was first given into the hands of the traitor George
Campbell, who read it to the settlers on Sunday after church. Next
day, while rations were being distributed, it was delivered to the
deputy-governor in the colony storehouse. About one o'clock on the
same afternoon, George Campbell and a few kindred spirits broke into
the building where the field-pieces were stored, took the guns outside,
and placed them on horse-sledges for the purpose of drawing them away.
At this juncture a musket was fired as a signal, and Duncan Cameron
with some Bois Brules stole from a clump of trees. 'Well done, my
hearty fellows,' Cameron exclaimed, as he came hurrying up. The guns
were borne away and lodged within the preci