Hugh Pendexter

“ That night Chabot and Desset and Probos and a few of the men—whites—drank deeply from a ten-gallon keg of brandy and distributed much mixed rum not only to our Indians but also to those eagerly flocking across the river from the X. Y. post. An Indian can scent rum a mile, I believe. Open a keg in any open space with not a redskin in sight, and before you know it they will begin to drop in like crows calling on a dead buffalo. ”

“ Let her be ever so brainy, let her be educated in Quebec and made much of by the English and French, yet her Indian blood would be a terrific handicap when it came to handling her people. Such a woman could have a big influence with her people and swing trade to whatever post she favoured. But as trader, having charge of the debts and advances and the rum, she couldn't do it. The hunters would not respect her commands. If she refused them liquor, they would take it more evilly than if she were a white. ”

“ Desset had endeavoured to explain that the cat broke through while trying to cross the thin ice, which forms every night only to float out at midday, and had become tangled in the net and drowned. But nothing so simple as that could content a Chippewa when he could read so many signs from the curious happening. Optimistic from liquor, they read the sign favourably. The sturgeon net was the Chippewa Nation. Some of the hunters at the post were of the sturgeon gens. The lynx, of course, was a symbol for the Sioux. The Chippewas were to exterminate the Sioux. ”

“ Words are foolish as the pounding of sticks on those cursed medicine drums. If I spoke harshly, it was out of envy for your youth and health. After all, we're but a handful of white men up here and should stick together as much as the trade will allow. ”

“ I will send no man to trade, among the Indians. They must bring their hunt to the post. I agree, not because Chabot asks it, nor because I expect him to keep his agreement, but because it is the one thing a post must do if it is to exist. ”

“ Men were making carts and fashioning wheels from solid sections from three-foot trees. A smith was turning out nails. Some sick Indians were making a sturgeon net while their women smoked tongues.
On the whole I really felt rather jealous of the discipline. Those drinking were obviously entitled to their liquor and had paid high for it. Red Dearness was like Mr. Henry in that respect; the drams were for those who had earned them. Somehow I gained the impression, probably from Chabot's sneering talk, that things were at sixes and sevens in the X. Y. post. ”

“ Now a derouin—the sending of men forth to scare up trade among the Indians instead of having them bring their hunt to the posts—was generally frowned upon by rival companies. It smacked of free trading, the great sin in a company's eyes. It tended to take the control of the fur business out of the companies' hands, besides encouraging the men to do a little sly trading for themselves, or to carry part of the skins to some rival. ”

“ Flat Mouth talked glibly enough unless you touched upon something that was tabu. Finally we came to the Scratching, where our small post was in charge of a fellow called Desset. On the opposite side, hidden by a grove of strong woods, was the opposition post. When some distance above the post we could catch the din made by the Indians as they swallowed all the profits of their spring hunt; men, women and children all getting drunk as rapidly as possible.
It's nasty work, peddling rum to Indians. ”

“ The Indians were quiet, either sick or sleeping, and I saw nothing of Desset. We were near the bank when out of the early shadows upriver shot a canoe, and after a glance Flat Mouth said it was the Rat. He also pulled the casing off his gun and suggested the man was fleeing from an enemy, perhaps the Sioux; this because the Rat gave an excellent exhibition of a man in a great hurry. I pooh-poohed the Sioux notion. Even if they came in such force as to take the Pembina post there would have been a few survivors to flee down the river. ”

“ You are not to blame if Chabot is Chabot. The good God made him, as he did the skunk and white wolf. And only the good God knows why He made him."
"For the fur trade, just as He made the skunk and wolf for the fur trade," I smartly replied.
She ignored me and continued:
"The X. Y. will agree not to send men to trade in the Indian camps. It is a bad way to trade. The N. W. has been doing it on this river. If the N. W. stops it, we won't begin."
"You talk Chippewa like a native," I complimented. ”

“ A man may take many scalps and count many coups, but the really valuable man in a tribe is he who can fetch home the most stolen horses. If getting what they want above all else—high wine—results in their women being sold and debauched, that is much their own business, not the trader's.
As we drew nearer the rival posts the hooting and singing seemed to emanate impartially from both banks and I deduced it had been going on all night. No one was down at the river when we grounded our canoe. Leaving Flat Mouth to stay with the canoe, I went up to the fort to interview Desset, the clerk. ”

“ To rob a trader, kill him if need be, but get his goods at any costs, would be a great coup if not for the knowledge such treatment would cut off the supplies. There was hardly an Indian in the Northwest who would not cheerfully have cut my throat for a keg of rum, if he knew it was the only keg in the world and that there could never be any more. ”

“ Having finished his errand, the Rat ran back to his canoe and set off for the X. Y. establishment.
"Who did he meet? What's up?" I impatiently asked.
"I supposed you knew," innocently answered Desset. "Nothing's up except what happens every spring. The Pembina post brigade is going out. Mr. Chabot sends word he will be here soon and that I'm to have my packs ready to join him."
"The brigade going out?" I spluttered. "Devil's hoofs! The Rat must have lied. ”

“ Henry ruled at the Pembina post, rival brigades usually travelled to the Forks each spring in a most neighbourly fashion.
Red Dearness, enveloped in a cloak, was in the first canoe. He turned and looked back only once, and then to wave his hand to the X. Y. Fort. Dearness, I deduced, was in a serious state of health, and some sudden symptoms had forced his departure. Which of the blanketed figures was the woman who talked in English, French, and Chippewa it was impossible to determine. Angus, the clerk, stood clear of the woods on the little point and limply waved a hand in farewell. ”

“ The crude wooden saddle commonly used by the Indians was largely to blame, as it ripped the hide off a nag's back in no time. I've often seen the poor, tortured beasts turn and bite their sides till the blood streamed, once the saddle was removed. The Indians never paid any attention to their condition nor tried to correct the fault. They would throw the wooden saddle on to the raw flesh and ride them as unconcernedly as a white man would use a canoe. ”

“ They brought sixty beaver, a bale of fox, another of wolf, a few fisher and two martens; also a skin canoe loaded with bear fat, melted the fall before and poured into bags of red deerskin. They had quite a quantity of pemmican, which had spoiled because their fear of the Sioux had prevented their taking the ordinary precautions to dry out the skin canoe at least once in each twenty-four hours. The skin canoe is made of raw buffalo hides stretched over a willow frame with the hair inside. It will carry a heavy load but is no good except for floating downstream. ”

“ It's for your summer man to prick up his ears."
He grinned maliciously, fished out his orders received from the last express, placed a trembling finger on one paragraph and invited me to read. It was an order for me to remain at the Pembina post during the summer, with Probos staying at the Reed camp and keeping an eye on the Scratching River post, which was to be closed after the brigade departed. Chabot had known this all the time and had allowed me to believe I was going back east. ”

“ I paddle up to meet heem."
"You'll be sure to find him at the fort," I said. "But Mr. Dearness's girl? Could she handle the summer men?"
"Han'le summer men? She can go to han'le the deveel like she want to," he emphatically assured.
Then, as if fearing he had talked too freely, he hurried away.
Now I didn't believe there was a mixed blood in the country capable of handling the Indians. Certainly there wasn't a squaw. ”

“ He slowly turned and eyed me, to see if my words hid anything.
"He'll go as far as the Forks, where he'll wait for the Assiniboin brigade to come down. I ought to get orders from up country about his case. How did you know anything about my message?" The last savagely.
"I was here when the Crow came," I lied, not wishing to make trouble for the Indian. "Joe Pouliot was pretty lucky to make that derouin. Two hundred skins."
"Desset will never make a Northman. He talks too much. The X. Y. will hear of it and then they'll howl." ”

“ Once I had tried to follow an old Indian and French path from this patch of water to Lake of the Woods, but I soon decided the roundabout way was the quickest. For taking out packs it was the only route. ”