The Red Mans Revenge | Page 3

gentleman knew that this particular savage was a chief, and had
visited the colony for the purpose of making inquiries into the new
religion reported to be taught by certain white men in black garments;
and Mr Ravenshaw, besides having very little regard for missionaries,
had a very strong contempt for those Indians who became their
disciples. He therefore relieved himself on the red man.
"What do you want here, Petawanaquat?" he demanded sternly, in the
language of the Indian.
"The Little Wolf," replied the Indian, referring to himself, for such was
the interpretation of his name, "wishes to see how his white brothers
shoot."
"Let the Little Wolf put his tail between his legs and be gone," cried the
angry old man. "He is not wanted here. Come, be off!"

The chief looked straight in the eyes of the trader with a dark scowl,
then, turning slowly on his heel, stalked solemnly away.
There was an irrepressible laugh at this episode as the group of
marksmen returned to their former position. Mr Ravenshaw, however,
soon left them and returned home. Here he found Miss Trim in a state
of considerable agitation; she had just encountered the redskin! Miss
Trim was a poor relation of Mrs Ravenshaw. She had been invited by
her brother-in-law to leave England and come to Red River to act as
governess to Tony and assistant-companion in the family. She had
arrived that autumn in company with a piano, on which she was
expected to exercise Elsie and Cora. Petawanaquat, being the first
"really wild and painted savage" she had seen, made a deep impression
on her.
"Oh, Mr Ravenshaw, I have seen such an object in the garden!" she
exclaimed, in a gushing torrent--she always spoke in a torrent--"and it
was all I could do to stagger into the house without fainting. Such eyes!
with black cheeks and a red nose--at least, it looked red, but I was in
such a state that I couldn't make sure whether it was the nose or the
chin, and my shoe came off as I ran away, having broken the tie in the
morning. And such a yell as it gave!--the creature, not the shoe-tie--but
I escaped, and peeped out of the upper window--the one in the gable,
you know, with the green blind, where you can see the garden from end
to end, and I found it had disappeared, though I can't understand--"
"Tut, tut, Miss Trim; how you do gallop! Was it a beast?" asked the old
trader.
"A beast? No; a man--a savage."
"Oh! I understand; it was that scoundrel Petawanaquat," said Sam
Ravenshaw, with a laugh; "he's Little Wolf by name, and a big thief by
practice, no doubt. You needn't fear him, however, he's not so
dangerous as he looks, and I gave him a rebuff just now that will make
him shy of Willow Creek.--Ha, Tony, you rascal! Come here, sir."
Tony came at once, with such a gleeful visage that his father's intended

chastisement for the recent practical joke ended in a parental caress.
Bitterly did Ian Macdonald repent of his agreeing to join the shooting
party that day. Owing to some defect in his vision or nervous system,
he was a remarkably bad shot, though in everything else he was an
expert and stalwart backwoodsman, as well as a good scholar. But
when his friend Victor invited him he could not refuse, because it
offered him an opportunity of spending some time in the society of
Elsie Ravenshaw, and that to him was heaven upon earth! Little of her
society, however, did the unfortunate teacher enjoy that day, for
handsome Louis Lambert engrossed not only Elsie, but the mother and
father as well. He had beaten all his competitors at the target, but, to do
him justice, did not boast of that; neither did he make any reference to
the fact that Ian had twice missed the target, though he did not spare the
bad shooting of some of the other youths; this, no doubt, because he
and Ian had been fast friends for many years. Jealousy--at least on the
part of Ian--now seemed about to interfere with the old friendship.
Moreover, Lambert had brought to Mrs Ravenshaw a gift of a collar
made of the claws of a grizzly bear, shot by himself in the Rocky
Mountains. Elsie admired the collar with genuine interest, and said she
would give anything to possess one like it. Cora, with the
coquettishness of sixteen, said, with a laugh and a blush, that she would
not accept such a ridiculous thing if it were offered to her. Ian
Macdonald groaned in spirit, for, with his incapacity to shoot, he knew
that Elsie's wish could never be gratified by him.
Seeing that Lambert was bent on