he Kaministikwia river enters Thunder Bay. This post became
their chief fur emporium west of Montreal, and was given the name Fort
William as a tribute to William M'Gillivray, one of the leading
partners in the company.

{80}

CHAPTER VIII

COLIN ROBERTSON, THE AVENGER

Three years of self-sacrificing effort seemed to have been wasted. The
colony of Assiniboia was no more; its site was free to wandering
redskins and greedy traders. Yet, at the very time when the colonists
were being dispersed, succour was not far off. Lord Selkirk had
received alarming news some time before, and at his solicitation Colin
Robertson had hired a band of voyageurs, and was speeding forward with
them to defend the settlement. Since 1811, when we saw him recruiting
settlers for Lord Selkirk in Scotland, Colin Robertson had been in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Having been a servant of the
Nor'westers he knew the value of Canadian canoemen in the fur trade,
and, on his advice, the Hudson's Bay Company now imitated its rival by
employing voyageurs. In temperament Colin was dour but audacious, a
common type among the men of the Outer {81} Hebrides, and he had a
grievance to avenge. He was sprung from the Robertson clan, which did
not easily forget or forgive. He still remembered his quarrel with
Crooked-armed Macdonald on the Saskatchewan. In his mind was the
goading thought that he was a cast-off servant of the North-West
Company; and he yearned for the day when he might exact retribution for
his injuries, some of them real, some fancied.

It thus happened that before the final crisis came help was well on the
way. When the party of rescuers arrived, the charred and deserted
dwellings of Colony Gardens told their wordless story. They had come
too late. It is quite possible that the newcomers had met by the way
the throng of settlers who were bound for Canada, or at least had heard
of their departure from the Red River. It is less likely that before
arriving they had learned of the destruction of the settlement. A
portion of the colonists still remained in the country, and Colin
Robertson thought that he might yet save the situation. He had done
all that Lord Selkirk had instructed him to do, and he now took further
action on his own initiative. At his command the sun-tanned voyageurs
descended to the {82} river bank and launched their light canoes on the
current. Down-stream, and northward along Lake Win