Goveror Semple was prepared to find misery
at Pembinaw, but the reality was beyond his

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

expectations. On his arrival, when he asked where
the town might be, his attendants pointed to thirty
or forty wretched huts, scattered along the bank
for a mile. Cameron's house, and the buildings
in the Company's fort above, were, indeed, comfortable;
for they had been erected by Canadian
hands; but those built by the Scotch and Swiss,
seemed about to fall with their own weight. Everything
wore the garb of poverty. The colonists
were ragged, and their sunken faces and hollow
eyes told a tale of dearth and distress. The
people angling, or drawing nets in the river, and
the heaps of the offals of fishes before the doors,
shewed how the inhabitants had for a long time
subsisted. The very dogs seemed conscious of
the general desolation. In a camp of half-breeds
and gens libres, hard by, there were no such appearances.
Dirt there was, and to spare, about
their leathern tents; but nothing looked like starvation.
They had of late found no buffaloes, but
they took the beaver, otter, muskrat, and other
animals, whose flesh, though not acceptable to a
well educated palate, goes down very well with
the rangers of the prairie. The poor emigrants,
unaccustomed to such circumstances, were compelled
to buy meat of these people at enormous
prices, or go without. The fishery was their main
dependence.

The meeting between Flora and her father was
far from joyful. She flung herself on his neck
and wept. He was highly displeased when he
heard that Gordon had been passing his time
at Fort Douglass. `I did not think,' he said,

[figure description] Page 148.[end figure description]

`when they told me he was gone to the hunting,
what game he was after. And I dare to say, you
were very glad to be so near him.' But when
he was informed that our hero's deportment toward
her had been distant; and that he had rendered
the party a great service, on their journey,
he was somewhat mollified.

Once installed in her new habitation, Flora discovered
to whom her father was indebted for it.
She found her name carved in several places on
the timber, and on inquiry learned who had built
the house. Yet she did not communicate her
discoveries to her parent.

On his part, he found no opportunity to turn
his agricultural acquirements to advantage: he
was unused to the climate, and the colonists would
not follow his advice with regard to their preparations
for the ensuing season.

Famine soon stared the settlers in the face.
The river closed, and Governor Semple promulgated
an edict, directing that a part of all provisions
passing through the territory should be taken
for the use of the settlers. In pursuance of this
law, Deputy Governor M'Donald seized a large
quantity of provision, that an agent of the North-west
Company was taking down the Assinneboin
River, and sent a part of it to Pembinaw. The
whole country was in a blaze, in consequence, and
the partners of the aggrieved company met to devise
measures of retaliation.

But as the food thus obtained did not last long,
though sparingly distributed, Governor Semple
hired fifty half-breeds to hunt for the colonists.

[figure description] Page 149.[end figure description]

He advised the latter to accompany the hunters
into the plains. That they might comply with
his counsel, he furnished them with lodges, bought
of the Indians, to encamp in; and with horses and
carts to transport their families and baggage.

A herd of cattle was known to be at the river
Aux Parcs, and thither the hunters were directed
to go and encamp, and afterwards follow the animals
in their migrations, like Indians. The procession
was a curious one. There was a long
line of upwards of an hundred rudely constructed
carts, each conducted by a man on foot. They
were laden with tents, bedding, &c. On the
tops were seated the women and children. The
spouses of the emigrants had found it expedient
to adopt the costume of the half-breed females,
as better adapted to the country than their own.
It consists of a short waisted upper garment, cut
and shaped like a hussar jacket, and a skirt, with
a pair of leggins; all of cloth. A pair of moccasins,
sometimes ornamented with porcupine's
quills, a knife stuck in the girdle, and the hair
hanging down the back in a queue as thick and
as long as a large Bologna sausage, completed the
toilet. Some of these ladies wore caps, some
men's hats, and others were bare headed. At
least twenty distinct languages were spoken in the
cavalcade; all nations seeming to have sent their
representatives, excepting the United States; for,
strange to say, there was not a Yankee there. The
half-breeds had indeed heard of a shrewd, swapping,
bargaining race, called the Bostonois; but
none could tell in what part of the world they

[figure description] Page 150.[end figure description]

resided, or who was their king. Not the least
amusing of the appurtenances to our travellers,
were the dog sledges, (for there was a light snow
on the ground) each drawn by three or four large,
wolfish dogs, tandem; their harnesses ornamented
with ribbons and hawk-bells. The running
horses too, the finest of the breed, were caparisoned
after the Indian fashion. Some of them
were decorated with collars of scarlet cloth; rewards
bestowed on the animals by their owners
for exertions in the chase. Altogether, a painter
might go far before he would find so picturesque
a subject for his pencil as the group we have attempted
to describe.

Cameron accompanied the hunters; and his
daughter, notwithstanding his remonstrances, resolved
to go with him. When told that they
might be attacked by the Sioux, she replied, that
those who remained, were in still more danger
from the myrmidons of the Northwest Company.
When the hardships and privations of Indian life
were urged on her consideration, she said, that
her father's advanced age and infirmity rendered
her attentions the more necessary, under such circumstances.

Gordon rode with the hunters. In two days
they reached the river Aux Parcs, and encamped
near a large herd of cattle. It was decided that
a hunt should take place the next morning, and
guns were cleaned, and knives sharpened accordingly.

At sunrise, the hunters mounted and divided into
parties, of which each had its allotted duties.

[figure description] Page 151.[end figure description]

The women ascended a rising ground to witness
the sport. The animals were peacefully grazing,
a league to the northward of the camp. There
was a slight western breeze, and to avoid being
scented (14) by the buffaloes, those whose part it
was to raise them, made a circuit eastward, so
that they might run toward the camp. They advanced
first on horseback, and then on foot, leading
their steeds by the bridles. When within two
hundred yards, the animals ceased feeding, and
gazed attentively. `Mount!' cried our hero, and
in an instant each was in his saddle. The buffaloes
started, and the hunters followed, not however
at full speed. When within a mile of the
camp, other horsemen started from the hollows on
the flanks, and the firing commenced. Each hunter
carried his balls in his mouth, and the aperture
of his horn was made large, that the powder
might escape freely.

The party in the rear now closed on the herd.
The buffalo, when urged to speed, has the gait of
the swine, that is, the fore and hind legs are lifted
alternately, and together, producing a motion something
like that of a rocking-horse. The horses
trained to the chase acquire a similar pace, and
run beside the victim just far enough from him to
get out of the way of his horns when he turns
upon them, which he commonly does, when
wounded. The rider, holding his piece stiffly
with both hands, fires at the heart, and at the report
the horse sheers off. The hunter loads again
at full speed. When a buffalo is struck, it becomes
the property of him who has inflicted the wound,

[figure description] Page 152.[end figure description]

and is left to be despatched at leisure. Though
the sport is in appearance very dangerous, few
accidents occur.

All these evolutions were witnessed by Flora
from the stand she had taken with her father.
Her cheek grew pale, for her lover was the foremost
of the riders. Apart from this, the scene
was terrific for a woman to look upon: the thundering
tramp of the drove, the distended nostrils
of the horses, as they fled from the wounded animals,
the shouts of the hunters at each successful
aim, the reports of the guns, and the whistling of
bullets were too much for the nerves of Flora
Cameron. An incident occurred that affected
her yet more.

Reckless of hoofs and horns, Gordon had nine
times ridden into the centre of the herd, and had
each time brought down a buffalo. As the chase
drew nigh the spot where Flora stood, he naturally
became anxious to signalize his courage and
dexterity before her eyes. There was among the
rest a bull, three years old, that had turned repeatedly
on the pursuers, and given them no little
trouble, and Gordon resolved to attack him. Attached
to the neck of his steed was a long hair
rope, such as the Indians use to tether their running
horses. Our cavalier dashed at the bull and
fired, but the ball missed the heart, and passed
through a sensitive part of the intestines. The
beast rushed upon him, with a frightful roar; but
the horse, true to its training, swerved, and would
have carried him off clear, had not the rope above

[figure description] Page 153.[end figure description]

mentioned slipped from its fastening, and trailed
on the ground thirty feet behind. At the end was
a running noose, into which the bull put his hoof,
going near to throw the horse at every bound.
At this sight Flora screamed, and fell to the ground
senseless.

Gordon's horse, thus entangled, plunged forward,
and the buffalo followed, the one unable to
lessen, and the other to increase the distance between
them. In this deadly peril, although his
steed reeled and was thrice thrown upon its knees,
the bois brulé did not lose his seat or his presence
of mind. Shifting his gun to his left hand, he
unsheathed his knife with his right, and stooping
on his courser's neck, severed the rope. The
bull continued his furious course, and pitched with
a tremendous bellow, headlong to the ground, so
near to Flora that the blood spouted from his nostrils
upon her dress in a stream. The animal
made a few convulsive struggles, and expired.

Gordon sprang from his horse, and ran to where
Cameron was standing over his daughter, wringing
his hands in utter anguish. Snatching a cup
from one of the women, he ran with the speed of
a frighted cabri (15) to where a hole had been
cut in the ice of the river. In less than two minutes
he returned, and raising Flora on his knee,
he sprinkled her face with water. A faint sigh
announced that she was reviving, and the first
word she pronounced was his name. The women
now cried that they would bring a dog sledge
to convey her to the camp, but Gordon spared

[figure description] Page 154.[end figure description]

them the trouble. He took her in his arms and
carried her to her father's lodge.

The hunt had terminated, and the women, accustomed
to such service, harnessed the dogs and
draught horses, and proceeded to where the men
were employed in cutting up the buffaloes they had
killed. The carts were filled with meat. The
dog sledges were laden, (at the rate of an hundred
pounds to each dog,) and all returned happy
to the lodges. An hundred buffaloes had that
day been slain.

Now came the joys of boiling and roasting.
The humps, esteemed the best part of the buffalo,
were cooked for immediate use, and not to
be forgotten are the tongues, still less the delicious
marrow bones; to taste which is worth a journey
across the Atlantic. The next business was to
cure the meat, which was accomplished by a very
simple process. It was cut into very thin slices
and hung up in the smoke of the lodges. In this situation
it soon becomes perfectly exsiccated, and as
hard as wood. The worst parts were reserved
for pemican. When the meat was perfectly cured,
several cart loads were sent to Pembinaw.
More chases took place, and consequently more
remittances of provisions. The camp was repeatedly
moved, in order to keep nigh the buffalo.
At last, they thought they had collected food
enough for the winter. But a new herd arriving
in the vicinity, they could not resist the temptation,
and resolved to have one more hunt before
they departed.

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