TROOPER AND REDSKIN IN THE FAR NORTH-WEST RECOLLECTIONS OF LIFE IN THE NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE, CANADA, 1884-1888 BY JOHN G. DONKIN LATE CORPORAL, N.W.M.P. WITH PORTRAIT AND MAP LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON Limited §lt. glunstan's $owt Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 1889 \_All rights reserved] LONDON: printed by gilbert and kivington, limited, st. John's house, clerkenwell road. E. N. T. " When fortune changed, and love fled far, And hatred's shafts flew thick and fast, Thou wert the solitary star Which rose and set not to the last. • * # # # " Still may thy spirit dwell on mine, And teach it what to brave or brook — There's more in one soft word of thine Than in the world's defied rebuke." Byron. 733 CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction i CHAPTER I. Winnipeg — An unlucky squaw — A contrast — Fort Osborne Barracks — Accepted — A reminiscence — The ups and downs of life — Off to Regina — The journey West . . 8 CHAPTER II. Extent of the North- West Territory — Regina — The Barracks — An expedition — Quarters and comrades . . .18 CHAPTER III. Organization of N.W.M.P. — General fatigue — Indian Summer — Cold — Provost guard — Prisoners — Escape of Sioux — The Broncho — All sorts and conditions of men — Horse- thieves — Pay — Fever — The irate doctor . . . .29 CHAPTER IV Winter — Volunteers for Saskatchewan — Jumpers and moc- casins — To Qu'Appelle — Intense cold — A model hotel — Tent pegs or beefsteaks ? — A terrible march . . . 43 CHAPTER V. The bear — Touchwood Hills — A native gentleman — The great salt plains — Sixty-two below zero — Played out — A viii Contents. PAGE rest — Humboldt — Timber wolves — Hoodoo — Christmas Day 60 CHAPTER VI. Leave Hoodoo — Manitchinass Hill — A splendid view— Our Christmas dinner — Batoche — The South Saskatchewan — Duck Lake — Fort Carlton 68 CHAPTER VII. Carlton to Prince Albert — Frozen wheat — A digression — A splendid grazing country — " Johnnie Saskatchewan's " palace — Brick barracks — Freedom of social life — A look round 81 CHAPTER VIII. 1885 — Inspection— Our surroundings — Clear Sky Land — Rabbits and lynx — Easy routine — A whisky desperado — Precious snow — North- West liquor law — Curling — Skating — Dog trains — An Indian swell — Mother Smoke — Night picquet — A night scene — Night thoughts . . . .88 CHAPTER IX. An unwelcome prisoner — Riel busy — Seditious meetings — Threats — The Metis— Louis David Riel— A prophet — A council of State — The provisional government — A new religion — Red Tape — Urgent despatches — Carlton strengthened — A convenient eclipse — Arrival of arms — The volunteers — Scouts— A man who wanted gore — A meddling official — The rebellion inaugurated — Officials imprisoned — A Batoche farce — Arriv.nl of Colonel Irvine — Frostbite — Snow blindness 99 CHAPTER X. Colonel Irvine departs— The fight at Duck Lake . . .11 CHAPTER XI. Prince Albert after the fight — Settlers summoned together — Church fortified— Scenes within the stockade— Exalted Contents. ix warriors — Inside the church — A sortie for grub — Aflutter in the dove-cot — The burning of Fort Carlton — A retreat — An excited Scotchman and an astonished parade — A false alarm — Inaction — Colonel Irvine . . . .123 CHAPTER XII. Dreary days — Defence organized — Strange weapons of war — Patriots — An arrival — Bad news — Battleford burnt — A fighting rig — Dead disfigured — Fighting corrals — Rumours — A sortie and a countermarch — Ice breaks up — Frog Lake massacre — Retreat from Fort Pitt — Leave barracks — Fish Creek — A Jingo Bishop — The Zoo — Battle of Batoche 134 CHAPTER XIII. Battle of Cut-Knife Creek — Painted horses — Capture of trans- port — General Middleton enters Prince Albert — " Gophers " — An invidious comparison — Martial music — Saskatchewan steamers — Departure of troops — A strange coincidence — Pursuit of Big Bear — Hot weather — Mos- quitoes — Fish — Big Bear captured — Return of Green Lake column 145 CHAPTER XIV. Troops homeward bound — Big Bear goes to Regina — Mutual Admiration Society — A good word for the police — Esprit de corps — Sioux teepes — Squaws bathing — Riel sentenced — Indian summer — The verge of the wilderness — Good- bye to Prince Albert — Batoche bu^h-fires — A pleasant camp — A chorus of coyotes 159 CHAPTER XV. Humboldt — A strange caravan — The salt plains again — The springs — An unpleasant situation — Indian camp — Chil- dren — An Indian masher — Fire bags — A game preserve — An early reveille* — Skunk Bluffs — Qu'Appelle— Lord Lansdowne — Cigars — An Indian legend — Harvest — Prairie fires — Pieapot's reserve — The great prairie— Regina — A change — Leave of absence . . . .172 x Contents, CHAPTER XVI. PACE Louis Riel in prison — The guard-room — Guard increased — Riel doomed — Duty heavy — New organization — Mud and rain — A way to take up land— A contretemps — Riel's politeness — His devotions — Apologia pro vita sua — A prophet — Pere Andre — Riel sane — St. Peter appears to Riel — An early breakfast — Exercise — The scaffold — Patrol — The execution 182 CHAPTER XVII. A miserable guard — Grand rounds — Riel's grave — Winter — 1886 — A ball — Blizzards — Their power — Electric storms — Fatalities — Newspaper amenities and fibs — Fort Macleod — Calgary — Alberta — A garden — God's country — Chi- nook winds — Spring — Usual rumours — Leave Regina — Moosejaw — A festive camp — Easter Sunday — Out on the desert — Old Wives Lake — Musings — Solitude — Wood Mountain 195 CHAPTER XVIII. Life at Wood Mountain — Unseasonable snow — Delights of roughing it — A capture — Gros Ventre Indians — Dirt— The old fort — Dust — Short rations — Fine weather — Patrols — Heat — A stampede — Antelope and sage hens — A sandhill crane — A primitive meal for a hungry man — Indian spies — Sign language — On sentry — Dawn — Gam- bling — Field-days — Indian graves — A ranche — Cowboys — A suggestion on dress — " Toughs" — Indian depredation and a skirmish 209 CHAPTER XIX. Bird life — Fireflies — Prairie fires — A surprised broncho — Sioux Indians — Indian treaties — Reserves — Agents — A Sioux beauty — Sweet grass — A lonely view — Thunder- storms — Hay-Spear grass — Winchester carbines — A mail robbery — Arrest — Sentence — A cyclone .... 225 CHAPTER XX. March from Wood Mountain — Springs frozen— Willow Bunch — Dangerous descent — Alkali Lake — No water — Big Contents. xi bluffs— A huge camp fire — Intense cold— Sufferings — Frostbites — An accident — The mirage — New riding-school — The cowboy troop — 1887— A blizzard — Drills — Blood Indians — Crees — An Indian march — " Kinneekinick " — Indian religion — Handshaking — Pipe of peace — Squaws — A Sioux lady — " Medicine " — Police fired on by Piegans — Kootenay Indians — Shuswaps . . . . . 232 CHAPTER XXI. Wet weather — A sudden order — Off to the Souris — Mud — A caboose — Broadview — A big spill of whisky — Moosomin — The Big Pipestone valley — Indians on the trail — Travoies — A lovely camp — Cannington — Moose Mountain — Game — Carlyle — Indian deserters — The sun dance — Initiation of braves — The Souris — Alameda — The frontier 246 CHAPTER XXII. Life on the Souris— Flies— Mud turtles — A lovely scene — Thunderstorms and cyclones— A tent scattered — Man lost — A cloud of mosquitoes — A narrow escape from drown- ing — Saved by a comrade 262 CHAPTER XXIII. Off to Wood End — Hill of the Murdered Scout — Crees and Blackfeet — A-storm — Long Creek— A happy valley — Wild fruit— A Helena girl and culture— Patrols — Wild horses — Wild hops— Prairie fire — Winter quarters — The Souris coal-fields — Good-bye . 274 F.SV/e\]ar,Uth TROOPER AND REDSKIN. INTRODUCTION. It is quite a fashionable trip in the tourist season now, to travel from Montreal to Vancouver via the Canadian Pacific Railway ; to gaze at the glaciers of the Rockies and the peaks of the Selkirk range ; and perhaps take a run across the Sound to the very English-looking city of Victoria. The majority journey by the beaten track, and their scope of vision is limited by the plate-glass windows of a cosy saloon carriage, or the carved veran- dah of some Western caravanserai. Many are keen observers and pleasant raconteurs of what has actually come within their field of view ; while others, from cer- tain motives, suffer strongly from a self-inflicted stra- bismus. These former are mostly personal friends of the Governor-General of Canada, while very many more are temporary guests of the mighty potentates who control the destinies of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The tribe of journalistic . globe-trotters are special favourites, so long as, by vivid word-painting and artistic pencil, they set forth the wondrous glories of the great North-West. These chosen of the gods are billeted in luxurious Pulman cars ; the perfect service of the dining-car causes all outward things to be suffused with a rosy light, and unbounded courtesy meets them at every turn. There I* 3 2 Trooper and Redskin. are even bath-rooms on these trains, and whenever the illustrious stranger pleases to alight at any of the mush- room prairie cities, every official connected with the immense bureaucracy which governs the North-West Territory hastens to do him honour, and act as his cice- rone. So, after having been transported across these limitless plains in palaces on bogies, and having been feted at every halting-place en route, they hie them back and add their testimony to the magnificence of the country. No one blames their public-spirited gratitude; but they have seen nothing of what lies behind the scenes, and they really know nothing of the vast stretch of wild and lonesome land beyond. For, from the 49th parallel of latitude to the great sub- Arctic forest on the left bank of the North Saskatchewan, ranges a terra incognita only cut by the ribbon-like line of settlement along the track of the C.P.R. Of this, I declare emphatically, these birds of passage have no knowledge. As well might some social Puritan go into a theatre for the first time ; and, having sat through a play in a private box, set up thereafter as an infallible critic of the drama, and an authority on the mysteries of the coulisses. A man may go to Bombay in a P. and O. steamer, and yet know nothing of Madagascar. Yet many of these in- vited travellers, after their arrowy flight, send forth their impressions of the unknown with as much dogmatic assertion as the Supreme Pontiff has, when dispensing an encyclical urbi et orbi. I do not think that any one, since Butler wrote his " Great Lone Land/' has thrown light on the hidden phases of existence in this vast abode of desolation. The mounted police have been organized since his soli- tary expedition. Indeed he recommended their forma- tion. Therefore I presume to make a new departure and take my indulgent readers away from the world's high- Trooper and Redskin. 3 way, into strange tracts and scenes of Western life. I shall follow no systematic plan, but simply, in the order they befell, present the things I saw. They are but the random recollections of a soldier, who had little or no opportunity of taking notes, when in weary bivouac under the comfortless summer's heat, or in icy winter camp. And if the tablets of my memory in places grow but dim, I may call in the aid of other authorities, always being careful to acknowledge my indebtedness. The Indian teepe ; the scattered tents of the mounted police ; or, perhaps, the log-house or sod shanty of some adventurous pioneer, are the only vestiges of human life out in these mighty solitudes. There is the hush of an eternal silence hanging over the far-stretching plains. In early summer, for a brief space, the prairie is green, with shooting threads of gold, and scarlet, and blue, while the odour of wolf-willow and wild-rose floats through the clear air. But, by-and-by, the sun gains power, and scorches, and withers, with a furnace heat ; and through the shimmering haze the grass lies grey and dead. And, under the merciless glare, a great silence broods over all. Is it a wonder that the lonely savage hears the voice of the Manitou in every breath of air in this weird, still desert? No tree nor bush relieves the aching eye ; there is nothing but the dim, fading ring of the horizon all around. It is truly a strange, haunting silence; — a hush that may be felt. In winter it is more awful still, covered with one unbroken mantle of pure white ; and stream and sleugh, pond and lake, are locked in the stern grasp of ice. The starved coyote prowls through the wilderness, and the howling, deathly blizzard revels in demon riot. No buffalo roam these mighty pastures now, a few deer and prairie chicken, and wild duck are all the game . B 2 4 Trooper and Redskin. There is a terrible monotony and sameness in the aspect of this " Great American Desert," as the old maps styled it. You may blindfold a man in places, and take him to another spot ioo miles away; when, on removing his bandage, I would wager he would think he had simply travelled round to his starting-point. But I shall have plenty of opportunity in the course of my narrative to illustrate the scenery through which we pass. I left Liverpool in the month of April, 1884, by the Dominion Liner Sarnia ; with no very definite idea as to where my zigzag wanderings would end. On board, there were the usual samples of migratory bipeds, of the human species, that one comes across on an out-going Atlantic steamer. I heard a good deal regarding Manitoba and the North-West from my compagnons de voyage, a few of whom were going out as " premiumed pupils " to farmers. They occasionally produced some extraordinary agree- ment, which they afterwards found not to be worth the paper upon which it was written, in spite of the penny receipt stamp. I will give the subsequent history of some of these amateur husbandmen, for which I can vouch. I think it will be interesting, and may act as a warning to the gullible. In these pages I shall abstain from all comment when possible, merely stating facts, leaving others to draw the moral. One was an ex-sergeant of the 9th Lancers, just back from India, after completing his term of service. When he arrived at the rendezvous, Brandon Hills, Manitoba, he was given a potato-shed in which to sleep, by the bucolic professor to whom he was consigned. He forthwith returned to his native county of Banff, sadder and wiser. I believe he, in his righteous wrath, fell foul of the advertising genius who had induced him Trooper and Redskin. 5 to emigrate, and the demand for pupils suddenly ceased. Another example — son of an ex-colonel of the line, joined the mounted police shortly after I did. When I left, he was bugler in A troop. A third (who displayed most wisdom) went at once from Montreal by a rapid train through the state of Vermont to New York ; and having succeeded in catch- ing that Guion greyhound, the Alaska, made a bee-line to Liverpool again. Two more, with money and brains in an inverse ratio, were pounced upon by the Manitoba representative of " the firm " as very convenient pigeons to pluck, and domesticated with his own saintly family. He was a minister of the gospel, I regret to say. The last time I saw them, they were driving commissariat teams with General Middleton's column, when he relieved us at Prince Albert during the rebellion of 1885. There was also a son of a Northumbrian vicar, whom I know ; he obtained uncongenial employment, near Winnipeg, hoeing potatoes at fifty cents per diem. At night, when we of the second class gathered to- gether for our tabak-parlemcnt, I had the wonders of the promised land so hammered into me (by these gentle- men who had never been there) that I determined to explore this " wheat-growing oasis " myself. It was here also that I heard first tidings of the corps in which I was afterwards destined to have the honour to serve. At length, travelling by way of Toronto, Owen Sound, on and across the big lakes by the magnificent new Algoma to Port Arthur, I reached Brandon in the middle of May. I hired myself to a farmer, seven miles south-east of the city in the most fertile part of the pro- vince. After a few months' trial of the practical teaching of the delights of Virgil's Georgics, I found that the 6 Trooper and Redskin. pursuit of husbandry was much too slow for me. So I left the log shanty in the Brandon Hills, one sunny afternoon about the end of August, and betook myself to town. A day or two afterwards, I was wandering along Rosser Avenue, when I suddenly saw approaching the lithe figure of a scarlet-clad warrior. A cavalry forage cap " on three hairs," two gold-lace chevrons on the arm, a pair of dark-blue riding pants with yellow stripes, long boots faultlessly clean, burnished spurs, a silver-mounted whip and white gauntlets, completed his dress. There was no mistaking the lounging swing and swagger of the " regular. '" Now, I have a tolerable acquaintance with the Army List, and an average knowledge of the distribution of her Majesty's forces. So I could not make him out. My highly intelligent " boss " out at the farm had informed me, in answer to my inquiries, that the mounted police, in the territories, were clad in 11 anything and a slouch hat," and he also confided to me that he guessed they were " hard seeds." It was not till later, that the Manitoba Government had to ask for the services of these "hard seeds" to clear their province of horse-thieves, when desperadoes were brandishing revolvers in the streets of Deloraine. This smart cavalryman was quite a conundrum to me. Having served in a cavalry corps at home, my heart warmed to him at once, and I crossed over, saying with Western freedom, * Excuse me, old man, what regiment do you belong to ? " " I belong to the North-West Mounted Police," replied the corporal, smiling. There was very little either of the half-breed or the 11 hard seed " about him ; and, after some talk, we en- tered the Grand View Hotel — the best in the city — where he was staying, and over some liquid refreshment Trooper and Redskin. 7 exchanged experiences. He was a very gentlemanly fellow, and at one time had held a commission in a Lincolnshire volunteer corps. He was enjoying the mild pleasures of Brandon, on a few days' leave. There is no freemasonry in the world equal to that which exists among soldiers. We were soon immersed in a long talk over " the service," and it ended in my forming the resolution to proceed to Winnipeg, and, if possible, become one of " The Riders of the Plains." I had experienced quite enough of clod-breaking. I had (< broken " thirteen acres of virgin prairie with a team of curse-compelling oxen (a newly coined Homeric epithet) ; I had harrowed and rolled, I had planted potatoes, and made hay ; I had hoed wild buckwheat till my spine was bent ; and had voted it a fraud. It was "not my forte," I was not cut out for a horny handed husbandman, and, having made up my mind to take a turn at soldiering again, I went down to Winnipeg to try my luck. Trooper and Redskin. CHAPTER I. Winnipeg — An unlucky squaw — A contrast — Fort Osborne Barracks — Accepted — A reminiscence — The ups and downs of life — Off to Regina — The journey West. Winnipeg, in 1871, consisted of a straggling range of wooden huts ; upon the outskirts of which stood the dingy teepe of the Indian, and the noisome tent of the half- breed. It is now a city of nearly 25,000 souls, standing upon a flat expanse at the junction of the Red River and the Assineboine. I had seen many bird's-eye views of Winnipeg in emigration pamphlets ; very florid in detail, with tramcar lines radiating in all directions along wide and magnificent streets There were steamers speeding over broad rivers, and open spaces laid out as parks. This may be the happy state of affairs in the luture ; but I was much disappointed in finding nothing of the sort. It was in a transition state in 1884 ; the dirt, drink, and debauchery of the half-breed hovel being cheek by jowl with a shining structure of brick dedicated to religion. Main Street, which is now a fine thoroughfare, was then a perfect muskeg ; and I saw an unlucky squaw, with her pony and Red River cart, firmly embedded in the glu- tinous compound which did duty as a roadway. I have had some experience of mud, and once imagined the Constantinople product could not be beaten ; but for fixity of tenure I give the palm to the cement-like mixture of the Canadian North-West. The Red River Trooper and Redskin. 9 cart is a peculiar institution, constructed entirely of wood, and drawn by an Indian pony. These native quadrupeds, in the Far West, are called cayeuses, or shagganappis. When this wondrous rheumatic vehicle is set in motion the creaking and groaning is most excruciating ; at one time it was the sole mode of trans- port across the plains in summer. Place the body upon runners, and you have the " jumper " sleigh. Instead of gay passenger craft skimming the far-famed Red River, I found a couple of steamboats laid up, owing to the shallowness of the water. The stream is but a muddy ditch, and the Assineboine is little better. There were a few lumber-mills along the sides. The stores and drinking-saloons were principally occupied by immigrants from Ontario. I must say I observed a great improvement in the city on my return in 1888. Main Street is paved with blocks of wood, buildings of brick and stone everywhere meet the eye ; the hotels are all that can be desired, while the new City Hall rears its lofty pinnacles in proud superiority. The increase in population shows more clearly the growth of a city than any other evidence, and the follow- ing figures at periods of eight years, prove the marvellous strides Winnipeg has made ; the 1000 of 1872 had risen to 6500 in 1880, and to 22,000 in 1888. I may as well mention here that the city does not stand on the margin of the huge lake of the same name. It is fully sixty miles from the shores of that inland sea, which stretches its desolate waters a length of 240 miles. It was a lovely morning — clear and slightly frosty — at the end of September, when I wended my way, past the ruins of old Fort Garry, towards Fort Osborne. Fort Garry at one time was the headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company, and was held by Riel during the first io Trooper and Redskin. rebellion, which caused Lord (then Colonel) Wolseley's expedition to the Red River. The borders of the bush along the banks of the two rivers were rich in the russet and scarlet of autumn tints, the blue sky was flecked with fleecy clouds ; and a fresh breeze came scampering from the western prairies, laden with health. Fort Osborne, in those days, was the only recruiting depot for the North-West Mounted Police. The force only consisted of 500 men ; and it was not so very easy then to obtain entry into the ranks. The strength of the corps is now 1000 ; and, since the rebellion, Ottawa has been the principal place for obtaining men ; though recruiting parties have at various times made a tour of Ontario. Men who joined in 1884 were obliged to make their own way to the capital of Manitoba ; and had abundance of time to reflect upon the undertaking before them. Now, a recruiting sergeant is not so very particular as to the antecedents of the candidates before him ; and many youths in a chronic state of joviality are shipped to Regina, who imagine that the only duty they have is to ride round the prairie in a general state of independence. On arriving at the gate of the fort, the first thing that met my eye was a strapping sentry, with his carbine at the " Support," and his revolver in holster at his side. His buttons, spurs, helmet spike, and chain glittered in the sun, his brass cartridges, peeping in even rows from his belt, gleamed with a brilliant lustre; his white helmet was pipeclayed without a speck ; while his scarlet tunic and long boots were perfect in fit. A small detachment of North- West Mounted Police was stationed here to look after certain stores belonging to the Militia Department. Government House, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, was just over the way. The barracks consisted of a series of Trooper and Redskin, 1 1 wooden huts, whitewashed, and standing in a line. On the other side of the square stood the stables. The wooded banks of the Assineboine were behind the stables ; and a few artistically painted wooden villas were scattered about the surrounding ground. On stating my errand, I was told to go across to No. 4 block ; and there I found a smart orderly, with spotless gauntlets and riding-whip, sunning himself on a bench in front of the building. He conducted me to the sergeant, a slightly-built man, with a little, fair moustache. I immediately addressed this youthful non- com, as Sergeant-Major, not on diplomatic grounds, but because I observed a gold crown above his triple chevron. In the British Service this is the badge of a troop sergeant-major, but it is worn by every sergeant in the N.W.M.P. I informed him that I wished to join the force, and he, pleasantly, told me that the doctor would not be in attendance till eleven o'clock, and that I could either wait or come back at that hour. As Fort Osborne was some distance from the city, I preferred to remain. So my booted and spurred Mercury led me to the barrack-room, where I was made to feel at home at once. I might have been a returned comrade for all the attentions I received. I was offered many seats, and many plugs of tobacco were produced, with invitations to " have a smoke." The interior of the room was just the same as any other troopers' quarters from Peshawur to Hong Kong. The floor clean, stove polished, walls white, beds in a row, bedding made up, blankets folded, and kits on shelf, according to regulation pattern, tables down the centre, men employed as usual when off duty ; with jackets off and sleeves rolled up. One engaged in burnishing ; another brushing, and a third daubing his gloves with a wet pipeclay sponge. One trooper with a 1 2 Trooper and Redskin. black moustache, sitting reading and smoking, but nearly all " chewing the rag," which is service vernacular for talking. The corporal was busy with his enigmatic " returns," which generally resolve themselves into an arithmetical puzzle. They had a pleasant time of it, these lucky ones. No drills, short stables, and very little in the way of duty. Day and night guard was the sole trouble. The guard-mounting and ornamental work was solely on account of a few obsolete field-pieces, and the representative of royalty across the way. There was a very cheery fellow polishing his car- tridges, who had been in the Scots Greys, and who informed me he would rather clean a sword and scab- bard any day than these. There are twenty Winchester and twelve Enfield cartridges in each belt, which is constructed like a bandolier. This jovial Yorkshireman gave me many hints regarding my future, and said I should meet some jolly fellows at Regina. At 10 a.m. the sergeant entered and handed me a printed paper, which he told me to read carefully. It contained a number of queries, as to whether I had served in her Majesty's service, was I married, could I read and write, was I able to give testimonials as to character, and was I accustomed to the care and management of horses. At eleven o'clock I was marched into the orderly-room, where an officer, in gold lace, forage cap and patrol jacket, was seated amid a pile of papers. He put a lot of searching questions, eyeing me keenly the while. Apparently this inquisitorial exami- nation was satisfactory, and I signed a paper, in duplicate, vowing allegiance to the powers that be, and engaging myself to serve for five years in the North-West Mounted Police. I was then introduced to the sanctum of the medico, who put me through the usual tests as to eyesight, and Trooper and Redskin. 1 3 examined my architecture generally, while I stood in puris naturalibus. During this pretty severe ordeal I observed a paper pinned to the wall above the desk which revealed to me that the previous candidate had been rejected. This made me feel rather nervous as to the result ; butl was relieved to find that I came through, with the magic word " accepted " against my name ; and here also my papers were signed by the doctor, and given me to take back to the orderly-room. After handing in my medical documents, the sergeant in- formed me I could make myself at home with the men for the remainder of the day, and that I should start the following morning for Regina. The day passed pleasantly over with jokes, yarns, laughter, and tobacco. The men all seemed to possess a good-humoured spirit of camaraderie, and all seemed content. Certainly they were well off, and led a totally different life to the others in the Territories. Many indeed applied for a transfer to head-qnarters, after a spell of this Capua, so that they might have a chance of saving money. Winnipeg and its gaieties were too much for their slender pay. A month's pay — which at the lowest is fifteen dollars, or three pounds — drawn upon a Saturday, would have entirely vanished by the following Monday. The grub at the Fort Osborne barracks was excellent. There was a rattling good dinner of tender beef, mashed potatoes, and rice pudding. But they luckily possessed the services of a female cook, each man subscribing ten cents (fivepence) daily towards the expenses of the mess. The non-coms and men messed together in the barrack-room. I slept that night once more in the narrow cot of a soldier, taking possession of the bed of a man on guard. I remember, when leaving the old regiment at the Island Bridge barracks in Dublin, the regimental 14 Trooper and Redskin. sergeant-major saying to me, on my way to the office for my discharge, " Well, tired of soldiering, eh ? " " Yes, sir, for a spell," I replied. But when I doffed the blue and white of the lancer, I certainly never dreamed of joining any band of exiles in such remote quarters as these. So, musing upon the vicissitudes of fortune, I fell asleep, and was awakened about I a.m. by a dilapidated arrival from town, who required the services of a sleepy fatigue party from the surrounding beds to remove his clothes. I was soon over once more in the land of nod, and remained there till reveille\ A defaulter of the previous day was to be my escort to Regina. We made a hasty breakfast of beefsteak, coffee, and bread and butter, and found the transport waggon ready to convey M and his baggage and myself to the station. The corporal occupied a seat in front beside the driver, and we took up our perch behind them. We jumped on board the west-bound train at 7. 30. The Canadian Pacific Railway was not at that time entirely completed. The trains only ran as far as Calgary, 839 miles west of Winnipeg. It was Fort Calgary then, and merely consisted of the Mounted Police post and a congregation of canvas dwellings. British Columbia was not so easy of access then as it is now. The early French adven- turers who first sighted the gleaming summits of the Montagnes des Rochers never imagined that a day would come when the iron horse would rush shrieking through the awful chasms, beneath their ice-clad peaks. My chum had a cargo of whisky stowed away among his baggage to take to Regina for distribution among " the boys." Each member of the force is expected by his comrades when entering the territory to bring a libation of " old rye " or " bourbon " with him, from the Trooper and Redskin . 1 5 more favoured regions. This is a pretty commentary upon the prohibition law. The car in which we were seated was peopled with a few Manitoba farmers and Winnipeg grain dealers, and one commercial "gent" in the cigar line. This latter representative of the artistic manufacture of cabbage- leaves attracted my attention from the fact that every cigar he offered for inspection was superior to the pre- ceding one, although he had pronounced each in turn to be the very climax of perfection. The usual news- paper " boy " — cetat. thirty — walked through the cars, making periodic visits with peanuts, apples, candies and other indigestible matter at fancy prices. These are fixed with a lofty disregard of the principles of political economy, and seem to be imposed specially to stop the demand. The country between Port Arthur and Winnipeg, to the east, is muskeg, rock, and forest, gloomy and rough. The scene changes marvellously on crossing the Louise bridge, over the Red River. Here, as one travels westward, the prairie stretches away flat as a billiard- table, far on either side, though in the distance, to the south, you can see the fringe of bush that denotes the windings of the sluggish Assiniboine. The only place to look for timber out here is by the banks of the streams. Log-houses are scattered about at intervals in a sort of skirmishing order, but no pleasant orchard or shady grove adds a tinge of romantic beauty to these lonely western homes. All is bleak, and cheerless, one homestead is the direct counterpart of another. A log- house thatched with straw, a cattle-shed, and corral make up the prairie farm. There are an improved class of houses now, but I am speaking of the general run of pioneer dwellings in 1884. At Carberry we make a frantic rush across to the 16 Trooper and Redskin. hotel for dinner. There were no sumptuous dining-cars attached to each train in those days, as there are now. On to Brandon again, crossing the Assiniboine by a trestle bridge. Here lies a steamboat which once suc- ceeded in reaching this spot during an exceptional spring flood ; but which can never return, save in its original fragments. A few Indian teepes stud the flats by the river. It was evening when we reached Moosomin, the first station in the North-West Territory. From here to the Rockies, a distance of 700 miles, the train runs through the Great Lone Land. There were only a couple of the Mounted Police stationed here ; and this is the extreme eastern limit of their jurisdiction. The train is supposed to be searched for whisky, but a constable or corporal merely promenades with clanking spurs down the aisles of the cars. Freight deposited at the station, however, undergoes a rigid scrutiny. My friend, the corporal, whom I had met in Brandon a month ago, was now stationed here ; and he came on board, with blue cloak reaching to his heels, for it was raining. We adjourned to the lavatory (to save scandal) where we each had a sup out of a mysterious bottle. It was dark when we reached Broadview. Here, in the dining-hall {Anglicd refreshment-room) we partook of supper consisting of a tough mallard, tea and buns. For tin's we paid sixty cents (2s. 6d.) each, police rate. Unfortunate civilians had to stump out fifteen cents more. Resuming our places on the train again, a Winnipeg banker, with a friend of his from Scotland, joined us in conversation. The stranger, — a gentlemanly man in a light ulster — was going to visit the Bell Farm, near Indian Head. This was one of the show places of the North-West, and was always paraded as one of the seven Trooper and Redskin. 1 7 wonders of the world. It is not mentioned now, in emigration pamphlets, I see. It consisted of 10,000 acres of wheat land, and was a gigantic failure ; it is now being, or has been, sold in small patches of 160 acres each. Travelling on these trains is dreary work, even now, when they run from ocean to ocean. In spite of their sleeping-cars and bath rooms, in spite of the delicacies of the dining-cars, in spite of the rich upholstering, the polished red and white mahogany and satin-wood, in spite of the adornments of antique brass — they cannot, exceed the speed of twenty miles an hour, even now. It was, if possible, worse in 1884. The engineer u guessed " he didn't care, no more did the conductor. The train was only going that night as far as Moosejaw ; about forty miles west of Regina, and the end of a section. There were only three trains a week further west. So Mr. McA., the banker, produced a pack of cards, and by the struggling light of a wobbling oil-lamp we played whist. Indian Head (where there is a reserve of Assiniboine Indians) was reached eventually, and my chum and I were left alone, till, at length, about 2 a.m. we were set down, in a drizzling rain, upon the desolate platform at Regina. 18 Trooper and Redskin. CHAPTER II. Extent of the North-West Territory — Regina— The barracks — An expedition — Quarters and comrades. The North-West Territories consist of the provisional districts of Assiniboia, Alberta, Athabasca, and Saskatchewan. The territory extends from the boundary of Manitoba on the east, to the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the west, and from the 49th parallel of north latitude on the south, to the North Pole. The area of this immense region is two million six hundred and sixty-five thousand (2,665,000) square miles. The total area of the whole of the remaining portion of Canada is only 885,207 square miles The total area of Europe is 3,900,000 square miles. The capital of the whole of the North-West Territory is Regina. When I say that, in 1884, the chief city of this region only contained 1000 inhabitants, I may convey some dim idea to the minds of my readers, of the surrounding desolation. There is a station in the town at Regina for a couple of the police ; a telephone wire connecting it with the barracks, which are two miles and a half distant to the west. A corporal and one man are quartered here, whose principal duty is to meet the various trains and despatch the various telegrams, verbally, to the barracks, as they arrive, They also do a considerable amount of shopping for the officers, who transmit orders by tele- phone. This building is a frame cottage of two rooms, with a species of loft upstairs. Trooper and Redskin. 19 We found the corporal meeting the train upon our arrival ; and we followed him across to his shanty. He was not in a very pleasant humour — qa va sans dire. So M went over to one of the hotels, to see if we could secure quarters until breakfast. His errand was fruitless. The " Assiniboia Agricultural Society " — save the mark ! — was to hold its inaugural show upon the following day, and each hostelry was full. We sat down in a couple of arm-chairs with adamantine seats, by the stove in the police office, where we nodded in uneasy slumber till day-break. I was thoroughly weary ; and thanked Heaven I was not some tender chicken, fresh from home, for the first time just taking flight, "In busy camps the art to learn Of evil natures, hard and stern." Any homesick youth would have fairly broken down at the dismal scene ; all around outside lay a great muddy expanse, with pools of water, while a soaking rain fell from a leaden sky. A few unpainted wooden houses opposite, bearing dingy sign-boards, formed Broad Street, as it is known now. A few more erec- tions of the band-box style of architecture, at right angles to the former, comprised the present South Railway Street. These houses all stood in open order, with dismal spaces of clay, and puddles intervening. The great prairie stretched away, far as the eye could reach, flat and cheerless like a ghostly sea, the railway lines and telegraph poles running to a vanishing point, far, far in the distance. A Cree squaw, with painted vermilion cheeks, gaudy blanket drawn over her unkempt head,, and bedraggled crimson leggings, was standing at the corner of the Pacific Hotel, looking utterly forlorn, though dull apathy was written on her sullen countenance. Her tepee was visible across the C 2 2 o Trooper and Redskin. railway track. These dusky beauties are periodically ordered back to their reserves ; only to reappear again as soon as they fancy the official storm has blown over. It is one of the evils which follow civilization. We crossed over to the hotel, a big, slate-coloured, wooden-frame building. The solemnity which peren- nially reigns in a North-West hotel is beyond all words. Long-faced men sit silent around the stove, only varying the grim monotony by an occasional expectoration of tobacco juice. Sometimes they may break out, and engage in the congenial pastime of "swapping lies." The bar dedicated to teetotalism (cider is sold and hop beer) makes a ghastly attempt at conviviality and jocoseness, by having an array of bottles of coloured water and cold tea marshalled upon a series of shelves and labelled, " Old Tom," " Fine Old Rye," Hennessy's " Silver Star," or " Best Jamaica." With what hideous humour do these tantalizing legends taunt the thirsty tenderfoot from u down East." We performed our ablutions in a tin basin, set upon a rickety chair in the narrow entrance passage, and wiped ourselves upon an antique towel, which seemed to have been recently fished out of the nearest slough. While we were at breakfast, the chief Pieapot drove past the window in a buckboard. This contumacious redskin wore a fur cap adorned with feathers ; his face had been cast in the usual mould which nature uses to produce the Cree ; high cheekbones, flat nose, and small, cunning eyes set closely together. After our meal, comprising tough beefsteak and turbid coffee, we sauntered back to the police quarters. The corporal, after much growling, telephoned to barracks, "Con- stable and a recruit / here. Send down a team." Then he went, snarling, to the hotel to breakfast. We lounged about, and smoked the matutinal pipe, till a Trooper and Redskin. 2 1 transport waggon drove up to the door. It was a four- wheeled vehicle, painted ordnance blue, drawn by a couple of fine greys. We took up our position on a seat behind the driver, gathered up M 's baggage at the railway depot, and set off through the "streets " of the capital. Through ponds we dashed, splashed from head to foot ; over hills whence we enjoyed an uninterrupted view through bedroom windows ; and down into hollows where we were completely hidden. And this the chief city of a territory nearly two-thirds the size of the whole of Europe ! On our voyage through the town, labouring heavily, we were hailed by a staff-sergeant at Tinning and Hoskin's store. This belaced gentleman wanted a lift, so we waited for him. What a great deal of future benefit I missed, in not knowing, at the time, that he had previously been a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Artillery at a certain northern watering-place, where I had lived. There are many repetitions in real life of Longfellow's Atchafalaya. Just a question or two, given and answered, and we should have become fast friends. I knew his colonel well. I was not aware of this till long afterwards. On driving across the railway line, we met the adjutant, a tall, fine-looking man with a long, yellow moustache, mounted upon a sorrel charger. Here, it was a case of " Eyes right ! " We now caught sight of the barracks in the distance ; the houses clustering like those of a village, with red roofs. The glorious old rag was flying bravely from a flagstaff, and figures on horseback were moving about upon the open ground. One compact body was engaged in field movements, while a few in single file were in the manege There was no covered-in riding- school then. We crossed the Wascana Creek, but it was dry. On the maps it is shown as a river ; but only contains running water for 22 Trooper and Redskin. about a fortnight, when the snow melts. Some of the Regina " boomsters " had been recently extolling the many glories of this mysterious stream, which annually vanishes in the summer heat. A savage wit thereupon burst forth in verse, in the columns of the Winnipeg Sun, regarding this exaggerated ditch, saying he had beheld all the mighty torrents of the world — " But of all the famous rivers which our orb terrestrial owns, Stands first the Great Wascana, which they terrrfthe Pile of Bones ; Stands first the Great Wascana, fair river of the plains, Which bathes august Regina where Viceroy Dewdney reigns. Wascana, in the Cree language signifies, Pile of Bones. The Hon. Edgar Dewdney was the late Lieut.-Governor of the Territory. The barracks are built entirely of wood, and are not enclosed, but stand in the centre of the endless plain. They are laid out in the form of a square, about half a mile to the north of the railway line. Scattered around, outside the cantonment, are a few small frame houses, the quarters of the married men or of civilians who obtain employment from the police. All around the inside of the square runs a side-walk of planks, raised a little above the ground, a sort of causeway in fact. The four sides of the barracks correspond with the four cardinal points of the compass. Each block of build- ings is at some little distance from the other, to minimize, if possible, the danger in case of fire. New barracks have been erected since, but in 1884 they were merely temporary, portable structures. The corps only consisted of 500 men, as I have said, and only the permanent staff and recruits occupied headquarters. In those days you entered the barracks at the south-east corner, and, on turning to the left, the first block was the officers' mess. You then passed, in succession, the orderly room and commissioner's office, guard-room, Trooper and Redskin. 23 recreation-rooms, sergeant's mess, sergeant-major's quarters and mess-room, and kitchen at the end. The flagstaff stood in front cf the guard-room. This com- pleted the south side. The whole of the west side consisted of six frame huts, at intervals, each supposed to afford accommodation for eleven troopers. At the north-west corner was a large barrack-room for twenty men, with the sergeant's quarters attached. Upon the north side there were offices for the armourer-sergeant and saddler, with a couple of two-storied houses for married officers, and the residence of the principal medical officer. Officers' quarters occupied the remainder of the square. At the rear of the men's quarters was an additional space formed by the five troop stables to the west ; blacksmith's shop and waggon-shed on the south, and coal-shed and bakehouse to the north. There was also a lavatory and bath-room behind the men's rooms. The hospital and quartermaster's store were out on the prairie to the north. And all around lay the flat expanse without tree, or bush, or mound to break the uniform monotony. On clear days, away to the south- west, might be seen sometimes the dim, low outline of the Dirt Hills, where grow the trees with a loathsome, putrid smell. The Indians have a name for the wood, which is hardly fit to bear translation here. Sometimes also, to the east, lifted in air by the mirage, could be discerned a ghostlike line of bush, which clusters like an oasis upon the slopes of the Qu'Appelle. These islands of foliage are the remains of a once mighty forest, reaching south from the Saskatchewan, through the former serried ranks of which the fire-king has ploughed his way. On our arrival, the square was dotted with the usual figures peculiar to barrack life. Men in fatigue-dress were loafing around the doorways, and smart orderlies 24 Trooper and Redskin. and non-coms, were hurrying to and fro. There was an extra amount of bustle on this occasion, as an expedition of ioo men were under orders to start for Battleford, a distant post at the confluence of the Battle River with the Saskatchewan. The small column was to take a nine-pounder brass field-piece with them, and, in consequence, all sorts of absurd rumours — the produce of imaginative minds — were floating about. The Indians had risen in the Eagle Hills, said one. Another had certain intelligence that the half-breeds had organized a razzia on the Hudson Bay post at Fort Pitt. These canards, I afterwards discovered, were of periodical birth, and were set flying upon very flimsy provocation. My companion from Winnipeg was warned for this enterprise, as soon as we descended from our chariot. I was taken at once by the orderly sergeant, to the commissioner's office. Colonel Irvine was seated at his table, glancing over my papers, which had been forwarded by mail. He was a slight man, with a keen, grey eye, and reddish beard closely trimmed. His father had been A.D.C. to Lord Gosford, when the latter was Governor- General. He himself had served in the expeditionary force to the Red River. He was one of the most thorough gentle- men whom I have ever had the honour to serve under. After replying to a few brief questions, I was sworn in, and dismissed, having been ordered to report to the sergeant-major. I found this stalwart specimen of the dragoon in his quarters. He had been formerly in the 2nd Life Guards. He directed me to proceed to No. 8 Barrack-Room, telling me to remain there till further orders. In the afternoon, he said, I should receive a supply of blankets. I was then shown to the large barrack-room at the corner of the square. Every one here was busily engaged in preparing for departure on the mcrrow. Uniforms Tj'ooper and Redskin. 25 were being brushed up ; headropes, helmets, and gauntlets pipeclayed ; spurs burnished, and boots polished. There was to be a general parade in the afternoon. I wrote a couple of letters, amid the horrid din, to relatives who probably did not care a rap about my whereabouts. The agony of epistolary composition was materially intensified by the clattering row ; but, en la guerra conto en la gnerra. Only I don't suppose that the booted and moustachioed hidalgo of Alva or the Emperor Charles who gave birth to the above remark ever troubled himself to write from noisy camp or wine-shop. The kindness of my newly acquired comrades was excessive. I had at least six different offers of paper and stamps. It was a cold raw day as we went down to the mess- room, when " dinner-up " sounded. This was a large room with a number of tables in rows, a corporal being at the head of each. One of them beckoned me to his table. He was a very nice fellow, and had at one time, been adjutant of an infantry regiment, and had served in South Africa. I found there were several in the ranks who had held commissions at home. We had a very good dinner of roast beef, potatoes, abundance of bread and tea. Tea is always the drink which accom- panies dinner. After dinner I returned to the big barrack-room, after visiting the smaller. In one of the latter, I met a man who had been in the 60th Rifles on the Red River Expedition, with Wolseley. While sitting smoking by the stove, there entered a blase individual in civilian dress with a long drooping moustache, who languidly deposited himself on a bed, and proceeded to roll up a cigarette. Then with a drawl, suggestive of Pall Mall, he uttered the following sentiment : — " There's nothing very lively and enter- 26 Trooper and Redskin. taining about those stables ! " He had joined on the previous day, and was now doing duty as stable orderly or stable guard ; and having been relieved for his dinner, had come in to take a rest. He looked very much as if he had been born tired. In the Imperial service the stable guards have their meals taken to them, and eat them generally seated on a stable bucket. The dreaded inspection parade, mounted and dis- mounted, took place at 3 p.m. The men looked very smart in scarlet tunics with pipe-clayed haversacks and white helmets, the spikes and chin-scales gleaming. A new button had just been issued, bearing a buffalo head surmounted by a crown, and a label with the letters N.W.M.P. Canada. The old buttons only bore a crown. A good number of the men on parade were simply recruits ; for, as the authorities were short of men, they were obliged to take every one available. I was assured that, had there been time for me to have received my kit, I should have been included in the gathering. I was subsequently thankful I was not ; though I was destined to take part in far harder duty. One Hibernian was in great glee. " Shure ! I've only been up foive days an' I'm on active service already/' He was called Active Service ever after ; and he very soon learnt that was the normal condition of life out here. No swaggering about town, in these parts, with a girl on your arm. We had "supper" at 6 p.m., after evening stables. This meal consisted of tea, bread, and cold meat. The Government rations are generally sufficient to provide meat three times a day. Your appetite becomes voracious out in the North-West. There was much desultory talk at night in the room ; — the usual causcrie of the caserne. The General Orders were read by the orderly sergeant when he called the roll at watch- Trooper and Redskin. 2 7 setting. I found myself " regimentally numbered 1094, posted to c B ' Troop, and taken on the strength of the force." u First Post" sounded at 9.30, " Last Post " at 10, and " Lights Out" at 10.15 p.m. The cook of the sergeants' mess occupied the next bed to mine. He had been to town, and was somewhat convivial, having discovered a particular brand of cider. In fact the sergeant-major had tackled him regarding his condition on his return, and he had replied, " It's a verra remarkable thing, sergeant-major, that a mon canna' get a wee whiff o' a cigar wi'oot bein' told he's drunk." He was a strange character, and the son of a Scottish divine. He had seen a good deal of service in the " Forty Twas." He kept me awake by confidentially declaring every now and again, in a stage-whisper, that, on the party marching out in the morning, I would " jeest see an arrmed mob ! " He was evidently a '* wee thing squiffy." The once familiar sound of the trumpet, or rather bugle here, under the windows announced reveille* at 6 a.m. I did not turn out to stables this morning. Stables are short in the Mounted Police. There is none of that " perpetual grind " — as Lord Wolseley styles it — which characterizes that duty in the Service at home. On the return of the others there were blankets and bedding rolled up in waterproof sheets and pitched into the waggons. The party marched out at 8.30, to the station, proceeding by special train west to Swift Current. From this place would lie before them a toilsome march of more than 200 miles by trail through uninhabited country and across the Eagle Hills to Battleford. They would cross the South Saskatchewan en route, a feat which actually occupied them two days. It was a miserable day of sleet and cold ; and, when the rear-guard had gone out of the barracks, I was at 28 Trooper and Redskin. once pounced upon and ordered to do " stable orderly." The barracks were almost deserted, and every available unit was utilized. The duties I had to perform were to keep the stables clean, watch the horses, fill the nose- bags noon and evening, and remain at the stables till relieved by the night guard. Luckily, there were not many horses left. Trooper and Redskin . 2 9 CHAPTER III. Organization of N.W.M.P. — General fatigue — Indian Summer — Cold — Provost guard — Prisoners — Escape of Sioux — The Broncho — All sorts and conditions of men — Horse-thieves — Pay — Fever— The irate doctor. The organization of the force, in those days, was as follows. There were five troops, each supposed to consist of 100 officers, non-commissioned officers and men. I do not think any of them, with the exception of " D " Troop, contained their full complement. Each troop was commanded by a superintendent with the relative rank of captain, and there were three inspectors as subalterns. The commissioner and assistant commis- sioner ranked as lieutenant-colonel and major respec- tively. "A" Troop had headquarters at Maple Creek, with a detachment at Medicine Hut. " B " Troop was stationed at Regina, and supplied detachments along the line of railway. " C " Troop held Fort Macleod, away in the grassy ranching country, among the Bloods and Peigans, at the foot of the Rockies. " D " Troop comprised the northern division on the North Saskatchewan. There were outposts from Battleford at Prince Albert and Fort Pitt. In the October of 1884, the hapless Fort Carlton was taken over from the Hudson Bay Company, and garrisoned by the majority of the reinforcement which had just left Regina, many of them never to return. At Calgary, in the Blackfoot country, and at the then limit of the C.P. Railway, was 30 Trooper and Redskin. " E " Troop, with detached parties up in the mountains where construction was going on. There were also out- posts at Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan ; near to which the river of that name first springs from its glacier bed. The day following the departure of the Battleford contingent was Saturday, October 4th, and a day of general fatigue. Every one was engaged in cleaning out empty rooms, and there was a general redistribution of quarters. I found myself billeted in No. 5 of the smaller rooms, which actually possessed a couple of corporals. One of these had served in the 6th Carbineers, in Afghanistan and India, and the other was formerly an officer of the Galway Militia. Poor Talbot Lowry ! he was killed at Cut-Knife Creek. Light lie the turf on his head, for a finer fellow never stepped ! This afternoon I drew my kit. I must confess, I do not think that to any other corps in the world do they supply a better outfit — if as good. Not only was the quantity abundant, but the quality was excellent. I do not know anything of the articles supplied to-day. This is a list of my rig out. 2 pairs long riding boots, 7 pairs in 5 years. 1 pair ankle boots, 3 pairs in 5 years. 3 pairs riding breeches (blue, yellow stripe) annually. 1 burnisher. 1 brush, blacking. 1 ,, polishing. 1 ,, brass. 1 „ cloth. 1 button stick. 3 pairs blankets (10 lbs. each). 1 pair blanket straps. 1 ,, braces. 1 cloak, cape, and belt (blue cloth). 1 forage cap, annually. 1 fur cap (busby shape, yellow bag). 1 helmet (white) 2 in 5 years. 1 kit bag (like a large valise, waterproof). 1 cup, plate, knife, fork, and spoon. Trooper and Redskin. 3 1 2 pairs flannel drawers, annually. 1 haversack. 1 rug. 1 buffalo overcoat (not issued now, buffalo extinct), 1 pair gauntlets. 1 ,, mitts (buckskin) annually. 2 pairs moccasins (moose) 7 pairs in 5 years. 1 hold-all with razor, comb, shaving-brush, and sponge. 2 pairs sheets. 2 „ long stockings (wool).\ 4 „ socks (wool). 1 2 over shirts, flannel. > Annually. 2 under shirts ,, j 1 tunic, scarlet serge. ' 1 „ „ cloth, 3 in 5 years. 1 tuque (red woollen nightcap). 1 waterproof sheet. 1 palliasse and pillow-case. 1 pair overalls (brown duck). 1 jacket. 1 pair steel spurs. Horse-brush and curry-comb. We were armed with the Winchester repeating carbine, holding nine rounds (-45-75) in the magazine. The Deane and Adams revolver has now been super- seded by the Enfield. We rode in the high-peaked Californian saddle made by Main and Winchester in San Francisco. While I am running through a list of dry details, I may as well give the scale of rations per man per diem. \\ lbs. beef, or 1 lb. bacon. \\ lbs. bread, or \\ lbs. flour, or \\ lbs. biscuit. \ oz. tea. I „ coffee. { „ salt. 3,, sugar. 1 „ rice. pepper. 1 lb. potatoes, or 2 ozs. dried apples, or 2 ozs. beans. 1 36 When out on the prairie, on " active service," these rations are increased one half. After a few days of biting cold, accompanied by drifting showers of sleet, the Indian summer descended 32 7 roofier and Redskin . upon us like a halo of heaven-sent glory. We enjoyed a fortnight of the most perfect weather. A soft stillness, with a thin filmy haze of gold, lay upon the slumbering plain. Nature seemed hushed in prayer, before with- standing the ice-blasts of the coming winter. Over in front of the officers' quarters the ladies amused them- selves with lawn tennis. But after this beautiful vision of a magic season the cold period began in earnest, and increased daily in intensity. We were to experi- ence the most severe winter known since the advent of settlement. After the 2ist of October you could not expose your ears to the nipping air. Fur caps were taken into wear ; and forage caps consigned to a temporary burial under the white helmets on the shelf. I found the routine to be very easy, as I was dismissed drill in about a week. Owing to the scarcity of duty men it was impossible to provide a proper barrack guard, so a provost-guard — as it is called — was mounted instead. With this guard there is no sentry posted in the day- time. There were a few prisoners, mostly Indians, confined in the guard-room cells. This was the only prison in the Territory. The names of some of our captives were highly edifying and entertaining. " Frog's Thigh," " Lizard Hips," " Blue Owl," " Cunning Funny," "Bear Door," and " Woman-who-sits-during-the-day " are a few of the poetic epithets. These prisoners were taken out to work, such as chopping wood and carrying coal around the barracks at 8.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. They were brought in for their dinner at noon ; and were each locked in a cell at night. A certain number of troopers were told off daily to attend them as escort, with loaded arms. This provost guard was a very trying piece of business, and it "caught " me twice in three weeks. The non-commissioned officer in charge of this guard was changed daily at 10 a.m. The four Trooper and Redskin, 33 men comprising the guard remained from Monday at 10 a.m. till the following Monday at the same hour. You took up your quarters in the guard-room and bid adieu to society for a week. You were not supposed to go to your room under any pretext, or to remove any article of clothing, arms, or accoutrements during your entire turn of duty. You slept upon the wooden guard- bed in turn ; being allowed to send to your room for your blankets, and your cleaning things. There was a wash-basin in the guard-room, and the prisoners per- formed the functions of attendants. One jovial little Cree, whom we called " Fatty," used to clean the boots, and, with the advantages of tuition, he became a superior boot-black. The guard-room was connected with the small prison by two grated wickets. Each one of us acted as a flying sentry during the night for three hours each. When " rations " sounded in the afternoon we took one of the prisoners to the quartermaster's store, where a supply of tea, sugar, and bread was issued which we generally indulged in at the witching hour of midnight. A prisoner was escorted to the troop kitchen for our meals. When the week was completed, and other unfortunates took your places, what a blessed relief it was ! To remove the spur-strap across the instep and draw off the boots was bliss ! To cast aside your under-garment of cobwebs and assume a change of clothing was rapture ! And to stretch your legs between clean sheets at night was simple ecstasy ! No one who has not slept in uniform for a week can appreciate the luxury, though it was only the narrow couch of a soldier. Two Sioux prisoners escaped very cleverly from the escort one dark night. He had taken them to the W.C., and thinking them, like the lad in the ballad, " lang a comin'," he kicked open the door. He found them gone, and the prison clothing provided by a D 3 \ Trooper and Redskin. paternal government disdainfully left lying upon the floor. They were never seen more, and the unfortunate escort was ordered to fill the place of one of them for a month. It is supposed they made for the Sioux camp at Moosejaw, a distance of forty miles. A party scoured the country as far as the Dirt Hills ; but the untutored noblemen had left no trail. Shortly after this, a white man — a horse-thief — had the most elaborate arrangements made to elope through the silence of the night. His plan was discovered by the corporal of the guard, who had sentries posted around the prison, ready to drop him ; but he must have scented a rat, as he failed to come up to time. A number of articles were found secreted in his cell, and he was at once decorated with a ball and chain, and continued to wear that uncomfortable piece of jewellery until sent down to Stony Mountain Penitentiary, in Manitoba, for two years. All prisoners sentenced to terms exceeding twelve months are removed thither. In the early part of November a number of remounts, young bronchos, were sent down from Calgary by rail. A party of us were marched down to bring them up to barracks. The broncho is a cross between the native cayeuse and the American horse or English thorough- bred. The majority of saddle-horses in use in the Mounted Police are of this class. They average about fifteen hands in height, and this is large enough. Indeed the standard might be lowered, as the smaller horses are better coupled. There is another point in their favour ; in travelling they are much easier on them- selves, and require less food. The best bronchos come from British Columbia and Oregon, as the breeders in those countries have been using thorough-bred stallions with the native mares for a much greater length of time than the breeders in Montana and Alberta. Trooper and Redskin. 3 5 The entire nonchalance with which a young broncho will regard a railway train is one of those things which no fellow can understand. They have been bred and reared, on horse ranches, far away, amid the waving grass of the lone prairie, and amid the strange silence of these Western plains. The playground of their youth, where they scampered in joyous herds, " Wild as the wild deer," was far distant from the puffing roar of the demon-like machine that glides swiftly along the iron rails. Yet, on their first introduction to this weird object, they will merely raise their winsome heads, and gaze at it with comic impassiveness. Yet woe to any one who suddenly approaches one of these youthful steeds, in an overcoat of shaggy buffalo skin. They have a shuddering horror of this, and will snort and strike out in abject fear. I once saw a recruit nearly get his brains knocked out, by rushing into the stall of an unbroken broncho, in one of these comfortable but uncouth coverings. The broncho has a bad name, especially among a certain class of American humorists of the Bill Nye order of litterateurs. But nowhere is there a more docile animal, if he be properly broken. Of course there are exceptions ; and a bad broncho is bad and no mistake. After he has thrown his rider, he will go for the unfortunate being, lying prostrate on the ground, with his teeth. It is from such examples as these that much of the legendary lore surrounding the name of the animal has sprung. Light, active, and wiry, they combine the sterling, serviceable qualities of mustang and thorough-bred. When we hear of men riding to Macleod and back to Calgary (200 miles) in four days, on ponies scarcely fourteen hands high, and know that they thrive and do D 2 36 Trooper and Redskin, well on prairie grass alone, even although severely worked, coming out after the hardest summer's work in the succeeding spring, after rustling all winter for a living, fat and sound, every one must agree I am writing of a notably tough and hardy race of animals. Such is the mustang, or cayeuse, or native horse, the exclusive mount of the Indian. The bronchos, bred from these, have immense powers of recuperation and endurance, and are able to travel long distances without water. In 1884, the horses in the Mounted Police consisted of a number of heavy teams from Ontario for transport requirements. There was so much trouble and risk in acclimatizing these that it was resolved to gradually supply their places with the larger specimens of bronchos, and the latter are universally driven in harness now. Our rough-riding corporal at Regina was a very pleasant young Englishman. He nows holds a com- mission. He possessed any amount of pluck, and many a bouncing toss he received in trying to subdue these fiery untamed youngsters, which we led up to barracks on a cold, bleak November day, the north wind piercing fur coat and woollen under-garment. About a dozen of us were picked out to ride these "desert-born" steeds. There was a pretty extensive circus at first. In fact one young chestnut had to be blindfolded before he would allow you to go near him with the saddle. " In the full foam of wrath and dread " the angry colt would struggle and rear in the hands of his taskmasters. We were allowed to make our choice of mounts, and, as we went over to the stables, I thus soliloquized, — " Women, pianos, cigars, razors, and horses are all, more or less, a lottery. Therefore, I shall go in for Hobson's choice." Trooper and Redskin, 3 7 So I pitched upon the first I came to, in the first stall to the left ; a little mouse-coloured beggar with a quiet, slumbering eye. He turned out as tame as one of those towel-racks which are for hire, in the season, on Scar- borough Sands. We used to take them out on the manege daily, where, at first, several were seized with a strong desire to explore the surrounding country, and visit the land of their birth. After a time they settled down to the fanciful manoeuvres of the school. After having been about two months in the corps, I was able to form some idea of the class of comrades among whom my lot was cast. I discovered there were truly "all sorts and conditions of men." Many I found, in various troops, were related to English families in good position. There were three men at Regina who had held commissions in the British service. There was also an ex-officer of militia, and one of volunteers. There was an ex-midshipman, son of the Governor of one of our small Colonial dependencies. A son of a major-general, an ex-cadet of the Canadian Royal Military College at Kingston, a medical student from Dublin, two ex-troopers of the Scots Greys, a son of a captain in the line, an Oxford B.A., and several of the ubiquitous natives of Scotland comprised the mixture. In addition there were many Canadians belonging to families of influence, as well as several from the back- woods, who had never seen the light till their fathers had hewed a way through the bush to a concession road. They were none the worse fellows on that account, though. There were none of the questionable characters then, who crept in after the Rebellion, when recruiting parties went through the slums of Ontario towns. Several of our men sported medals won in South Africa, Egypt, and Afghanistan. There was one, brother of a Yorkshire baronet, formerly an officer of a certain 38 Trooper and Redskin. regiment of foot, who as a contortionist and lion-comique was the best amateur I ever knew. There was only an ex-circus clown from Dublin who could beat him. These two woukTgive gratuitous performances nightly, using the barrack-room furniture as acrobatic " pro- perties." A sergeant and a couple of constables rode into bar- racks one clear frosty morning, after an eventful trip. Some horses had been stolen from the celebrated Bell Farm, and this non-commissioned officer and his party were detailed to follow the thieves. These of course be- longed to the'marauding gentry, who have their haunts on the frontiers of Dakota and Montana, and in the wooded fringes of the Missouri. In the bluffs, among the lakes thatncstle in the rounded hollows of the Moose Mountain, the sergeant — a smart fellow — took up the trail. Over the sparsely settled prairie, through swamp and coulee, by clumps of poplar balsam, by thetamarac- clad banks of sluggish creeks, over white patches of alkali deposit, and across desert spaces of cactus- plant and sand he followed up the hoof-marks, and ran his quarry to earth in a log shanty, standing in a gloomy thicket, a short distance from Miles City. The thieves were lodged in prison there by the United States Mar- shal ; whence a posse of free and independent citizens hauled them to the nearest convenient place of execu- tion and hanged them. In those days this crime was indulged in to a great extent all along the border. The Moose Mountain district had to be garrisoned by small detachments of redcoats scattered about in the farmers' houses, for these freebooters were the terror of the pio- neers. They went about like moving arsenals, armed with the most improved type of weapons. Making un- expected raids upon lonely stables at night, they would drive their bcoty over the line to wild fastnesses only Trooper and Redskin, 39 known to such outlaws. They would even hold up the unprotected settler at the plough, and force him to un- hitch his horses. The heinousness of the crime will be understood when the value of a team to the struggling pioneer is taken into consideration. He is cut off from the world, and his principal aid to life is taken from him. Even in Manitoba, where settlement was compa- ratively thick, the Provincial Government were obliged to ask for the services of the Mounted Police. The Turtle Mountain district was another nest of brigan- dage. About the end of November all the scattered detach- ments were called in, and returned to headquarters. Thus the barracks became pretty well occupied once more. We had a recreation-room, which was very cosy and well looked after, and attached to this was a lending library. One of the buglers had his quarters here, and kept the place in order. Weekly we received Punch, the Illustrated London News, Graphic, and the Times; also the principal daily Canadian'papers. There was a bagatelle-table in the room, and also draught-boards and cards. A large stove gave out ample heat. Penn- sylvanian coal was at that time burnt at Regina. Over on the prairie beside the railway line was a frame building of the bungalow style of architecture, painted white, with a slate-coloured roof of shingles, This was the canteen, the presiding deity being a swarthy civilian from u down East." There was a bil- liard-table, of uneven tendencies, in the saloon. All sorts, of canned goods, such as lobster, sardines, and salmon, were dispensed here at visionary prices. I call them visionary, as they were so seldom realized. Pies of quartz-like solidity and granitic cakes also adorned the counter. There was a flash bar, gorgeous with mirrors, and photographs of American danseuses with elephan- 4