CHAPTER XVII.
FORT MACKENZIE.
Fort Mackenzie, built in 1832 by Major Mitchell, Chief Agent to theNorth American Fur Company, stands like a menacing sentry, about onehundred and twenty paces from the north bank of the Missouri, andseventy miles from the Rocky Mountains, in the midst of a level plain,protected by a chain of hills running from north to south. The fortis built on the system of all the outposts of civilization in thewestern provinces; it forms a perfect square, each side being aboutforty-five feet in length: a ditch, eight fathoms in depth and aboutthe same in width; two substantial blockhouses; and twenty guns--suchare the defensive elements of this fortress. The buildings containedin the enceinte are low, with narrow windows, in which parchment issubstituted for glass. The roofs are flat, and covered with turf. Thegateways of the fort are solid, and lined with iron. In the middle ofa small square, in the centre of the fort, rises a mast, from whichfloats the star-spangled banner of the United States, while two gunsare stationed at the foot of the mast. The plain surrounding FortMackenzie is covered with grass, rarely more than three feet high.This plain is almost constantly invaded by Indian tribes, that cometo traffic with the Americans, especially the Blackfeet, Assiniboins,Mandans, Flatheads, Gros-ventres, Crows, and Koutnikes.
The Indians displayed a repugnance in allowing the white men to settlein their domains, and the first agent the Fur Company sent to them hada narrow escape with life. It was only by dint of patience and cunningthat they succeeded in concluding with the tribes a treaty of peaceand barter, which the latter were disposed, indeed, to break, throughthe slightest pretext. Thus the Americans were always on the watch,considering themselves in a perpetual state of siege. It still happenedat times, in spite of the Indians' protestations of amity, that some_engage_ or trapper of the Company was brought to the fort scalped andmurdered, and they were obliged, through policy, to refrain from takingvengeance for such murders, which, however, were becoming rare. TheIndians, with their greedy instincts, at length understood that it wasbetter to live in good intelligence with the Palefaces, who suppliedthem with abundant provisions, spirits, and money, in exchange fortheir furs.
In 1834, Fort Mackenzie was commanded by Major Melville, a man ofgreat experience, who had spent nearly his whole life among theIndians, either fighting or trafficking with them, so that he wasthoroughly versed in all their habits and tricks. General Jackson, inwhose army he had served, put great reliance in his courage, skill,and experience. Major Melville combined with uncommon moral energyrare physical strength; he was the very man to keep in check thefierce tribes with which he had to deal, and to command the trappersand hunters in the Company's service, thorough ruffians, onlyunderstanding the logic of the rifle and the bowie knife; he basedhis authority on inflexible severity and an irreproachable justice,which had contributed greatly to maintain the good relations betweenthe inhabitants of the fort and their crafty friends. Peace, with theexception of the mutual distrust that was its basis, appeared forsome few years past to be solidly established between the Palefacesand the Redskins. The Indians camped annually before the fort, andgenerally exchanged their peltry for spirits, clothes, gunpowder, &c.The seventy men who formed the garrison had gradually relaxed theirusual precautions, for they felt so confident of having induced theIndians to renounce their plundering inclinations by kind treatment andconcessions. Such was the respective positions of the whites and theRedskins on the day when the exigencies of our story take us to FortMackenzie.
The scenery round the fort is exquisite and charmingly varied. On theday after that in which the events we have described took place in theKenha village, a leather canoe, manned by only one rower, descendedthe Elk river, in the direction of the American fort. After followingthe numerous bends of the stream, the canoe at length entered theMissouri, and coasted the northern bank, studded with magnificentprairies at least thirty miles in depth, on which countless herds ofbuffaloes, antelopes, and bighorns were grazing, which, with earserect and startled eyes, watched the silent boat pass with gloomydissatisfaction. But the person, man or woman, in the boat seemed tooanxious to reach the destination, to waste any time in firing at theseanimals, which it would have been easy to do.
With his eyes imperturbably fixed ahead, and bowed over the paddles,the rower redoubled his energy the nearer he approached the fort,uttering at times hoarse exclamations of anger and impatience,though never checking the speed of the boat. At length an "ah!" ofsatisfaction escaped his lips on turning one of the numberless bends ofthe river: a magnificent scene was suddenly displayed before him.
Gentle slopes, with varied summits, some rounded, others flat, of apleasant green colour, occupied the centre of the picture. In theforeground were tall forests of poplars of a vivid green, and willowtrees on the banks of the river, which meandered through a prairie towhich the twilight had given a deep olive hue. A little further on, onthe top of a grassy mound, stood Fort Mackenzie, where the handsomeflag of the United States floated in the breeze, gilded by the partingbeams of the setting sun; while on one side an Indian camp, on theother, herds of horses, tranquilly grazing, animated the majestictranquillity of the scene.
The canoe drew nearer and nearer to the bank, and at last, whenarrived under the protection of the guns, was run gently ashore. Theindividual occupying it then leaped on the sand, and it was easy to seethat it was a woman. It was the mysterious being to whom the Indiansgave the name of the She-wolf of the Prairies, and who has alreadyappeared twice in this story. She had altered her dress. Although stillresembling that of the Indians in texture, as it was composed of elkand buffalo skins sown together, it varied from it in shape; and if, atthe first glance, it was difficult to recognize the sex of the personwearing it, it was easy to perceive that it was a white, through thesimplicity, cleanliness, and, above all, the amplitude of the foldscarefully draped round the strange being hidden in these garments.
After leaving the canoe, the She-wolf fastened it securely to a largestone, and without paying further attention to it, walked hastily inthe direction of the fort. It was about six in the evening; the barterwith the Indians was over, and they were returning, laughing andsinging, to their tents of buffalo hide; while the _engages_, aftercollecting the horses, led them back slowly to the fort. The sun wassetting behind the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains, casting a purplegleam, over the heavens. Gradually, as the planet of day sank in thedistant horizon, gloom took possession of the earth. The songs of theIndians, the shouts of the _engages_, the neighing of the horses, andthe barking of the dogs, formed one of those singular concerts whichin these remote regions impress on the mind a feeling of melancholyreflection. The She-wolf reached the gate of the fort at the momentwhen the last _engage_ had entered, after driving in the laggards ofhis troop.
At these frontier posts, where momentary vigilance is necessary tofoil the treachery constantly lurking in the shadows, sentinelsespecially appointed to survey the gloomy and solitary prairies, thatstretch out for miles around their garrisons, stand watching day andnight with their eyes fixed on space, ready to signalize the leastunusual movement, either on the part of animals or of men, in the vastsolitudes they survey. The She-wolf's canoe had been detected more thansix hours before, all its movements carefully watched, and when theShe-wolf, after fastening her boat up, presented herself at the gateof the fort, she found it closed and carefully bolted; not because shepersonally caused the garrison any alarm, but because the order wasthat no one should enter the fort after sunset, except for overpoweringreasons.
The She-wolf repressed with difficulty a gesture of annoyance atfinding herself thus exposed to spend the night in the open air; notthat she feared the hardship, but because she knew the importanceof her news, and desired no delay. She did not allow herself to bedefeated, however, but stooped, picked up a stone, and struck the gatetwice. A wicket immediately opened, and two eyes glistened through theopening it left.
"Who's there?" a rough voice asked.
"A friend," the She-wolf replie
d.
"Hum; that's very vague at this hour of the night," the voicecontinued, with a grin that augured ill for the success of themediation the She-wolf had commenced.
"Who are you?"
"A woman, and a white woman too, as you can see by my dress and accent."
"It may be, but the night is dark, and it is impossible for me to seeyou: so if you have no better reasons to give, good night, and go yourways; tomorrow we will meet again at sunrise."
And the speaker prepared to close the wicket, but the She-wolf checkedhim with a firm hand.
"One moment," she said.
"What's up now?" the other remarked, ill-temperedly; "I cannot pass thenight in listening to you."
"I only want to ask you one question, and one favour."
"Plague take it!" the man went on; "well, you are going on at a finerate; that's nothing, eh? Well; let me hear it; that binds me tonothing."
"Is Major Melville in the fort at this moment?"
"Perhaps."
"Answer, yes or no."
"Well, yes; what then?"
The She-wolf gave a sigh of satisfaction, hurriedly drew a ring fromher right hand, and passing it through the wicket to the unknownspeaker, said--
"Carry that ring to the Major; I will wait for your answer here."
"Mind what you are about; the Commandant does not like to be disturbedfor nothing."
"Do as I tell you. I answer for the rest."
"That's a poor bail," the other growled; "but no matter--I'll risk it.Wait."
The wicket closed. The She-wolf seated herself on the side of themoat, and with elbows resting on her knees, buried her head in herhands. By this time night had completely set in; in the distance, thefires lighted up by the Indians on the prairies shone like lighthousesthrough the gloom; the evening breeze soughed hoarsely through thetops of the trees, and the howls of the wild beasts were mingledat intervals with the strident laughter of the Indians. Not a starsparkled in the sky, which was black as ink; nature seemed covered witha cerecloth; all presaged an approaching storm. The She-wolf waited,motionless, as one of those patient sphynxes which have watched forthousands of years at the entrance of the Egyptian temples. A quarterof an hour elapsed, then a sound of bolts was heard, and the gates ofthe fort slightly opened. The She-wolf sprung up, as if moved by aspring.
"Come!" a voice said.
She entered, and the door was immediately closed after her. An_engage_--the same who had spoken to her through the wicket--stoodbefore her with a torch in his hand.
"Follow me," he said to her.
She walked after her guide, who crossed the entire length of thecourtyard, and then turning to the She-wolf, said--
"The Major is waiting for you here."
"Rap," she said.
"No, do so yourself; you no longer need me; I will return to my post."
And, after bowing slightly, he withdrew carrying the torch with him.The She-wolf remained alone in the darkness; she passed her hand overher damp forehead, and making a supreme effort--
"I must," she muttered, hoarsely.
She then struck the door.
"Come in," a voice said from within.
She turned the key, pushed open the door, and found herself in thepresence of an elderly man, dressed in uniform, and seated near atable, who gazed fixedly at her. This man, by the position he occupied,and the way in which the light was arranged, could see her perfectly;while, on the other hand, the She-wolf could not distinguish hisfeatures, hidden as they were by the gloom. The She-wolf walkedresolutely into the room.
"Thanks for having received me," she said; "I was afraid you hadutterly forgotten."
"If that is meant for a reproach, I do not understand you," the officersaid, sternly; "and I should feel obliged by a clear explanation."
"Are you not Major Melville?"
"I am."
"The way in which I entered the fort proves to me that you recognisedthe ring I sent you."
"I recognized it; for it reminds me of a very dear person," he said,with a suppressed sigh; "but how is it in your hands?"
The She-wolf regarded the Major sadly for a moment, then walked up tohim, gently took his hand, which she pressed in hers, and replied, withan accent full of tears--
"Harry, I must be changed by suffering, if you do not even recognise myvoice."
At these words a livid pallor covered the officer's face; he rose witha movement quick as lightning; his body was agitated by a convulsivetremor, and seizing, in his turn, the woman's hands, he exclaimedmadly--
"Margaret! Margaret! my sister! Have the dead come from the tomb? Do Ifind you again at last:"
"Ah!" she said, with an expression of joy impossible to render, as shesank in his arms, "I was certain he would recognise me."
But the shock she had received was too strong for the poor woman, whoseorganization was worn out by sorrow; accustomed to suffering, she couldnot endure joy, and fell fainting into her brother's arms. The Majorcarried her to a species of sofa that occupied one side of the room,and, without calling anyone to his aid, paid her all that attentionher case required. The She-wolf remained for a long time insensible;but she gradually came to herself again, opened her eyes, and, aftermuttering a few incoherent words, burst into tears. Her brother didnot leave her for a moment, following, with an anxious glance, theprogress of her return to life. When he perceived that the height ofthe crisis was past, he took chair, sat down by his sister's side,and by gentle words sought to restore her courage. At length, the poorwoman raised her head, dried her eyes--reddened by tears, and hollowedby fever--and turning to her brother, who watched her every movement,said in a hoarse voice--
"Brother, for sixteen years I have been suffering an atrociousmartyrdom, which never ceased for an instant."
The Major shuddered at this fearful revelation.
"Poor sister!" he muttered. "What can I do for you?"
"All, if you will."
"Oh!" he exclaimed, with energy, as he struck the woodwork of the sofawith his fist, "could you doubt me, Margaret?"
"No, since I have come," she answered, smiling through her tears.
"You will avenge yourself, I think?" he went on.
"I will."
"Who are your enemies?"
"The Redskins."
"Ah! ah!" he said, with a bitter smile; "I, too, have an old account tosettle with those demons. To what nation do your enemies belong?"
"To the Blackfeet. They are the Kenha tribe."
"Oh," the Major continued, "my old friends, the Blood Indians; I havelong been seeking a pretext to give them an exemplary punishment."
"That pretext I now bring you, Harry," she answered, passionately; "anddo not fancy it a vain pretext invented by hatred. No, no! 'tis therevelation of a plot formed by all the Missouri Indians against thewhites, which must break out within a few days, perhaps tomorrow."
"Ah!" the Major observed, thoughtfully, "I do not know why, but, forthe last few days, suspicions have invaded, my mind; my presentimentsdid not deceive me, then. Speak, sister, at once, I conjure you; andsince you have come to me, in order to appease your hatred of these reddevils, I promise you a vengeance, the memory of which will make theirgrandsons shudder."
"I thank you for your promise, brother, and will not forget it," sheanswered. "Listen to me, then."
"One word first."
"Speak, brother."
"Has the narrative of your sufferings any connexion with the conspiracyyou are about to reveal to me?"
"An intimate one."
"Well, it is scarce ten o'clock, we have the night before us; tell meall that has happened to you since our separation."
"You wish it?"
"Yes, for it will be by your narrative that I shall regulate mytreatment of the Indians."
"Listen, then, brother, and be indulgent to me, for I have sufferedbitterly, as you are about to hear."
The Major pressed her hand; he took a chair, sat by her side, and afterbolting the door, to preve
nt any interruption of the story, he said--
"Speak, Margaret, and tell me everything; I do not wish to be ignorantof any of the tortures you have endured during the long years that haveelapsed since our parting."