CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
A HAPPY ENDING.
PONOKO RECOVERS--TIME PASSES WITHOUT FURTHER ATTACK--AND MEAT HAS TO BEPROCURED--RED SQUIRREL AGAIN SENT ON SCOUT--RETURNS PURSUED BY SIXBLACKFEET--TIMELY RESCUE--POOR RED SQUIRREL IS QUITE EXHAUSTED--THEBLACKFEET RETURN IN LARGE NUMBERS--PONOKO GOES OUT TO MEET THEM--EFFECTOF HIS APPEARANCE ON THE TRIBE--HE RETURNS WITH A WHITE MAN--ROSE FINDSA FATHER--AND BOTH FIND A WIFE AND MOTHER--ALL ENDS HAPPILY AT LAST.
Day after day went by, and the Blackfeet did not appear. Ponoko, neverhaving indulged in the pernicious fire-water, was rapidly recoveringunder my father's judicious care and the attention he received from Roseand the rest of the family. We had not yet told her of the possibilitythat her father had escaped and might be restored to her. I suspectthat she would not have understood us had we done so, for she lookedupon Uncle Donald as her father, though she called him "Uncle" as Hughand I did. Indeed, all the events of her life which had occurred beforethe fearful night of the massacre appeared to have faded from hermemory.
At length, as the Blackfeet had not shown themselves, we began to hopethat they would allow us to remain at peace, and Uncle Donald alreadytalked of returning home. He proposed that my mother and father and therest of the family should accompany him, but my father replied thatnothing should induce him to quit his post, unless driven away by thesavages, and that he would then retire, with his converts, to some spotamong more friendly tribes further north.
Among others signs of returning spring was the appearance of a herd ofbuffalo passing in the far distance, and as our provisions were againrunning short, Uncle Donald was compelled to allow the hunters to setoff for the purpose of killing some of the animals. Hugh and I wantedto accompany them, but he would only allow Pierre, and Corney, and fourof the most active red men to go on the expedition.
As soon as they set out, he sent off Red Squirrel to try and ascertainthe whereabouts of the Blackfeet camp, with directions to come backshould he discover that they were on the move.
We waited day after day for Red Squirrel's expected return, but he didnot appear, and we began to have serious apprehensions that he had beencaptured.
The hunters, however, had come back with a good supply of buffalo meat,so that we should be well prepared in case we should be besieged.
At last, one evening as I was looking out towards the south, I sawseveral objects moving across the prairie. At first I thought that theymight be deer or wolves, or even smaller game. One was leadingconsiderably ahead of the rest. They were coming towards the fort.Besides the first I counted six others. I called the attention of mycompanion to them.
"They are men!" exclaimed Ponoko. "Those six are of my tribe; they arein pursuit of the first! He must run fast, or before he can reach thefort they will overtake him. Already I see by his movements that he isfatigued."
I had little doubt but that the leader was Red Squirrel. I askedPonoko, whose keen eyes could distinguish his dress better than the restof us could do.
"Yes, he is your young friend," he answered. "See, see! he isincreasing his speed, he may still escape, and my people will go backdisappointed. They will not dare to come within range of your rifles."
"Then we will go out and meet them!" I exclaimed, hurrying down. Itold Uncle Donald what Ponoko had said. Taking our rifles, and bucklingon our snow-shoes, Hugh, Alec, Pierre, Corney, and I hurried out of thefort, and set off running faster, I think, than we had ever run before,to meet the hard-pressed fugitive.
Once more his pursuers were gaining on him; before long their scalpingknives might be about his head. He was the first to perceive usapproaching, and it seemed to add fresh nerve to his legs. Soonafterwards the Blackfeet caught sight of us. The instant they did sothey sprang forward, making a last desperate effort to overtake ourfriend; but perceiving that we had rifles ready, they well knew that,even should they succeed, we should make them pay dearly for the act.
Giving up the chase, therefore, they stopped, and turning round, ran offat a rate which soon placed them beyond our reach.
In a few moments Red Squirrel was up to us, but so hard-pressed had hebeen that he was unable to tell us what had happened. We supported him,not without difficulty, to the fort, when his snow-shoes being takenoff, had he not been resting in our arms, he would have sunk fainting tothe ground. We delivered him over to his mother, who chafed his limbs,and used every other means she could devise for restoring his strength.It was some time before he could speak. He had ably fulfilled hismission, having watched the enemy's camp until the previous day, whenfinding that they were about to move northward, he had set off to bringus tidings of their approach.
He was, however, observed, and six of their fleetest runners had pursuedhim. Hour after hour he had continued his flight, though he confessedthat, had we not come to his assistance, he should, he believed, havefallen even in sight of the fort.
That night was an anxious one. Frequent alarms were raised that theenemy were upon us. At length the morning broke, and as the sun roseabove the eastern prairie his beams fell on the plumed heads andtrappings of several hundred warriors, who came on, confident in theirnumbers, and believing that our small garrison would easily become theirprey.
They halted when considerably beyond range of our weapons, and havingsung a war-song, gave utterance to one of those terrible whoops whichare said to paralyse even horses and cattle. Ponoko had in themeantime, dressed himself in the costume in which he had been discoveredwhen lying wounded, and the gate being opened, he sallied forth withfeeble steps, very different from his once elastic tread. The gates ofthe fort were closed behind him, and he proceeded towards the warriorsdrawn up in battle array. We watched him as he approached them. Atlength he stopped and stretching out his arms, addressed his people.
The effect on his tribe of what he said was almost electrical. Theylooked upon him as one restored from the dead, for they had long mournedhim as lost. We watched him until he was among them, when, after sometime, he reappeared, leading by the hand a person who, though dressed inIndian costume, we saw was a white man. Together they approached thefort, when the gate was opened to receive them.
The stranger gazed round with looks of astonishment, evidentlyendeavouring to find the words to express himself. At last he said--
"I can scarcely believe my senses. A few minutes ago I was a prisoner,and threatened by the Indians with a cruel death should they again bedefeated."
"We are truly thankful that you have escaped," answered Uncle Donald,advancing and taking his hand.
"You owe your preservation to our friend Ponoko here."
"I am indeed grateful to him," said the stranger. "He preserved my lifewhen so many of my companions were massacred. He has ever sincecontinued my protector, but when it was supposed that he was killed, hispeople threatened to avenge his death by murdering me. Grateful as I amto him and to you, I am restored to liberty a ruined and a childlessman, while I know not what has become of my poor wife, who wasprovidentially absent from the settlement at the time of the massacre,but will have supposed that I, as well as our little girl, shared thecommon fate," answered Mr Kennedy, for such he told us was his name.
"Should your child have escaped, do you believe you would recogniseher?" asked Uncle Donald.
"Among a hundred!" answered the stranger. "I should know her, howevermuch grown, from her likeness to her mother."
As he spoke my sisters and Rose approached. The stranger glanced at thegroup, then rushing forward, gazed earnestly into Rose's countenance.
"You would not deceive me!" he exclaimed. "Say, how did this young girlcome to be with you? Rose, do you recollect me? Speak, my child, areyou not Rose Kennedy?"
"Kennedy! Kennedy!" murmured Rose, looking greatly astonished andsomewhat frightened. "Kennedy! Yes, that was my papa's name."
"You are my own child!" he exclaimed, kissing her brow and cheeks againand again while he held her in his arms.
The lookers-on were grea
tly moved. It was some time, however, beforeRose could fully comprehend that the stranger was her father, and thatshe belonged to him rather than to Uncle Donald.
Mr Kennedy now eagerly inquired whether we could give him any tidingsof his wife.
"Extraordinary as it may seem, I think I am able to do so," said myfather. "On stopping at the Red River settlement on our way hither, Imet a Mrs Kennedy, whose husband and child had, I heard, been murderedby the Indians."
I should like to prolong my history, but I must be brief. Ponoko, afterremaining a day or two with us, went among his tribe, and persuaded themthat it would be to their advantage to live peaceably with theirneighbours. Not many years after they entered into a treaty with theCanadian Government, and the fearful state of warfare which for so longa period had existed in that fair northern region almost entirelyceased.
We were very, very sorry to lose Rose, but Mr Kennedy was, of course,most anxious to join his wife. As soon as he could travel he set offfor the Red River. He promised to return and bring his wife and Rosewith him, having accepted an invitation from Uncle Donald to settle atClearwater.
In course of time, Hugh, Alec, and I established in its neighbourhoodseveral fairly flourishing farms, of one of which Hugh, with Rose as itsmistress, became the owner. My father laboured for many years among theheathen, greatly aided by Ponoko.
The entire country, including the Rocky Mountains over which we passed,now forms part of the great Canadian dominion, and probably, beforeanother generation has passed away, the whole region, from east to west,will be the home of happy and flourishing communities.
THE END.
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