Half an hour, and they were in the fort. Flora
flew to her father's bed side, and was dreadfully
shocked at his reduced and miserable appearance.
At her entrance the old man turned his eyes, that
shone with a feverish brilliancy, and beheld his
daughter. `And are you here, my dear child, at
last?' said he. You are just in time to close the
eyes of your old father.'

`No, no, my father, do not say so,' said Flora,
speaking as fast as her sobs would let her.

`Not so, my child, my days, nay, my hours, are
numbered. No man ever recovered from such a
wound as mine. Perhaps you will be an orphan
before sunset. But have done sobbing, and listen
to the last command that I shall utter. I have
promised that Gordon shall marry you. Do not
turn away your head; this is no time to play the
coquette. Send for My Lord, he is a magistrate;
and let me see you have a protector instantly.

[figure description] Page 185.[end figure description]

Send for him and Gordon, and let the ceremony
be performed; and then I can depart in peace.'

There was no need to send for Gordon: he had
stood at the door and heard all. He advanced to
the bed side. `Father,' said he, `if I have had
evil thoughts of you, they are now removed. Believe
me, your child shall never have cause to repent
your goodness.'

`But father,' said Flora, `this is no time for
marrying, or giving in marriage. Consider the
shortness of the notice.'

`But me no buts; what need have you of any
more preparation. There is many a high born
dame who would be glad to change looks with you,
and give gold into the bargain, simple as you stand
there. Obey me, I charge you. Come hither,
young man, and take her hand. God bless you
both. May your lives be happier than mine, and
that your end may not be the same, leave this accursed
country, where God is not feared, nor his
image respected. But I feel my end draw nigh:
go, William, for his lordship; or I shall not see
myself obeyed.'

Gordon left the weeping bride to seek the Earl
of Selkirk.

When the Earl entered, he took Flora in his
arms, and imprinted a paternal kiss on her forehead.
He then congratulated her on her escape
from the Indians, which he attributed entirely to
the gallantry and perseverance of her lover, who,
he said, had fairly won her in the fashion of the
days of chivalry.

The old man now said to his lordship that he

[figure description] Page 186.[end figure description]

felt his breath failing fast, and desired him to proceed
with the ceremony. When it was completed,
the parties most interested turned towards him.
They spoke to him, but he did not answer. He
was dead.

During Gordon's absence, the myrmidons of the
Northwest, under the command of M'Leod, had
taken the Company's fort at Pembinaw. They
had plundered the stores, and destroyed the implements
of husbandry belonging to the colonists;
whom they had, moreover, maltreated and menaced
with expulsion. Under these circumstances
many of the emigrants, driven to despair, and
not knowing where to go, entered the service of
the Northwest.

The Earl of Selkirk heard of these outrages at
Quebec, and took measures to put a stop to them.
He procured several magistrate's commissions
from the Governor General; with the names left
blank, in order that they might be filled at his discretion.
Making all haste to Ossinneboia, he collected
all the men that could be spared from the
Hudson's Bay Company's posts on the route, and
enlisted as many of the gens libres as he could.
The tables were now turned. Pembinaw and
other places were retaken; and his lordship succeeded
in inspiring his colonists with new hopes,
that were never to be realized. But as we have
no interest in the earl, or his plans, farther than
they are connected with our story, we will, for the
present, take leave of them.

When Mrs Gordon recovered from the shock

[figure description] Page 187.[end figure description]

of her father's death, she urged her husband to
leave the country. One consideration only prevented
him from complying: he thirsted for vengeance
on M'Leod, and information arriving that
he had gone into the plains to hunt, gave him
an opportunity to effect his purpose. To all the
remonstrances of his wife, Gordon replied that
honor bound him to see that the murderer of his
friend did not escape from justice. He then requested
Lord Selkirk to invest him with the proper
authority, and to provide him a sufficient force.
His lordship answered that the criminal had with
him a band of ruffians, and that he could not, consistently
with the safety of the colony, give him
more than ten men. He said too, that M'Leod
and his satellite Reinhard were unworthy opponents
for a man of honor: but the bois brulé was
unmoved by these arguments. `If you will not
give me a man, my Lord,' said he, `I will go by
myself. I will watch him till I find him alone:
my friend Wawnahton taught me a lesson of that
kind. He is a villain, as you say, but I do not
therefore agree with you that he should be safe
from my hands: he can feel a shot or a stab, my
lord, as keenly as you or I. Yet I do not wish
to anticipate the hangman, and I will take him
alive if I can. Reinhard is a mere brute, as much
at the command of his master as the horse he
rides; but he is a dangerous brute, and must not
be suffered to go at large. My Lord, I am resolved:
will you give me the sanction of the law,
or shall I take it into my own hands?'

Finding him immoveable Lord Selkirk gave

[figure description] Page 188.[end figure description]

him a warrant and ordered ten of the gens libres
to attend him. Indians enough could have been
hired, but the Earl thought it a dangerous precedent
to establish. With this escort then, and his
adherent Dés Champs, our hero set out.