The Frontier Fort | Page 5

which was sufficiently deep for the
purpose.
The twilight had faded away into darkness before the whole party were
seated round the camp-fires, discussing their suppers with such
appetites as few fail to obtain while travelling in that region. Supper
was over; and "early to bed, and early to rise" being a standing order,
those of the party who enjoyed the luxury of tents retired within, while
the rest lay down, wrapped in their blankets, beneath the carts arranged,
as usual, in a circle to serve as a defence against any attacks of hostile
Indians. Although Burnett did not expect any annoyance of the sort, he
considered it his duty to take the precautions which no traveller at that
period omitted to make. Two or three men were also stationed as
sentries to keep watch, especially on the horses.
Loraine had seen Hector, who shared his tent, fall fast asleep; but not
being inclined to close his own eyes, he stepped out of his tent to take a
look at the stars which shone from the heavens, undimmed by a single
cloud. Happening to turn his eyes towards the summit of the knoll, he
was somewhat surprised to see what he felt sure was a human figure,
the outline being distinctly marked against the sky. The man was
evidently taking a survey of the camp. Loraine, thinking it possible that
he might be a scout sent out by a party of Blackfeet, made his way to
the nearest sentry to tell him to be on the watch, and to ask his opinion
on the subject. By the time he had reached the sentry, however, the
figure had disappeared. The sentry thought he might have been

mistaken; but when Loraine made him understand what he had seen, he
went round to the other men on watch, and urged them to be on the
alert and to keep the horses well together. Loraine was just going back
to his tent, when he heard a shout. It was answered by the sentry on the
south side of the camp; and a conversation in a language he could not
understand took place. On going up to them, he could dimly distinguish
an Indian of somewhat diminutive size and of deformed figure.
"What does he want?" inquired Loraine.
"He says, as far as I can make out, that his chief, who will be here
directly, sent him to find out who we are; for he thought at first, when
he saw our camp-fire, that we might be Crees, or a party of Blackfeet,
for such he knows are at present out on the war-path," answered the
sentry.
"Tell him that we shall be glad to see his chief, whoever he is, if he
comes as a friend," said Loraine. "Until I know his business, I will not
arouse Mr Burnett, who requires a good rest; and I dare say it will keep
until to-morrow morning."
The sentry spoke to the hump-backed Indian, who quickly disappeared
in the gloom; and Loraine walked up and down, waiting for his return.
"You must not be thrown off your guard, Pierre, lest some trick should
be intended," he remarked, recollecting the numberless tales of Indian
treachery he had heard.
"I know the coquins (rogues) too well for that," answered Pierre.
In a short time, Loraine saw through the gloom two persons on
horseback, with a couple of led horses, approaching. They rode
fearlessly up to the camp. The first, from the white hair hanging down
under his fur cap, and his snowy beard, and wrinkled, weather-beaten
features, though he sat upright and firmly in his saddle, was apparently
an old man. His costume, consisting of a leathern coat and leggings,
fringed in the usual fashion, and the rifle slung at his back, showed that
he was one of the free white hunters, or trappers, who have been wont

for many a year to roam amid the prairies and forests in the north-west
in search of peltries. The other person, leading the two pack horses,
Loraine recognised as the hump-backed Indian who had just before
come to the camp.
"I am glad to have fallen in with you, friends," said the old man,
dismounting. "You keep early hours and a careful watch. I expected to
have seen you carousing, and quaffing the accursed fire-water, as so
many of you travellers from the Far East are wont to do. To say the
truth, when I first caught sight of your camp-fires, I was uncertain
whether they were those of Crees or Blackfeet; and as I had no fancy to
fall in with the one or the other, I sent on my lad Greensnake to learn
the state of the case."
"Then he was the person I saw at the top of the hillock