But the taciturn Indian Chief coldly declined the polite proposal.  As the party passed Brandon House Pambrun saw in the North-West Fort near by, tobacco, tools and furs, which had been captured by the Nor’-Westers from the Hudson’s Bay Company fort.  When Portage la Prairie was reached—­about sixty miles from “The Forks”—­the Bois-brules cavalcade was organized.

The half-breeds were mounted on their prairie steeds and formed a company of sixty men under command of Cuthbert Grant.  Dressed in their blue capotes and encircled by red sashes the men of this irregular cavalry had an imposing effect, especially as they were provided with every variety of arms from muskets and pistols down to bows and arrows.  They were all expert riders and could equal in their feats on horseback the fabled Centaurs.

Down the Portage road which is a prolongation of the great business street of Winnipeg running to the West, they came.  On the 19th of June, 1816, they had arrived within four miles of the Colony headquarters—­Fort Douglas.  Here at Boggy Creek, called also Cat-Fish Creek, a Council of War was held.  Some importance has been attached to their action at this point, as showing their motive.  That they did not intend to attack Fort Douglas has been maintained, else they would not have turned off the Portage Road and have crossed the prairie to the Northeast.  There is nothing in this contention.  The plan of campaign was that the Fort William expedition and they were to meet at some point on the banks of Red River, before they took further action.  Showing how well both parties had timed their movements, at this very moment those coming from the East under Trader Alexander McLeod, had reached a small tributary of Red River some forty miles from Fort Douglas.  That they at present wished to avoid Fort Douglas is certainly true.  Governor Semple and his garrison were on the look-out, and the alarm being given, the party from the Fort sallied forth.  Was it to parley? or to fight?

The events which followed are well told in the evidence given by Mr. John Pritchard, who afterwards acted as Lord Selkirk’s secretary.  Mr. Pritchard was the grandfather of the present Archbishop Matheson of Rupert’s Land.  His evidence has been in almost every respect corroborated by other eye-witnesses of this bloody event: 

“On the evening of the 19th of June, 1816, I had been upstairs in my own room, in Fort Douglas, and about six o’clock I heard the boy at the watch house give the alarm that the Bois-brules were coming.  A few of us, among whom was Governor Semple—­there were perhaps six altogether—­looked through a spyglass, from a place that had been used as a stable, and we distinctly saw armed persons going along the plains.  Shortly after, I heard the same boy call out, that the party on horseback were making to the settlers.”