Georgetown--Minnesota Volunteers--The Successful Hunters-- An Indian Hag--Resolve to go to Fort Garry in Canoes-- Rumours of a Sioux Outbreak--The Half-breeds refuse to Accompany us--Prepare to Start Alone--Our Canoes and Equipment--A Sioux War Party--The Half-breed’s Story-- Down Red River--Strange Sights and Sounds--Our First Night Out--Effects of the Sun and Mosquitoes--Milton Disabled--Monotony of the Scenery--Leaky Canoes-- Travelling by Night--The “Oven” Camp--Hunting Geese in Canoes--Meet the Steamer--Milton’s Narrow Escape-- Treemiss and Cheadle follow Suit--Carried Down the Rapids--Vain Attempts to Ascend--A Hard Struggle--On Board at last--Start once more--Delays--Try a Night Voyage again--The “Riband Storm”--“In Thunder, Lightning, and in Rain”--Fearful Phenomena--Our Miserable Plight-- No Escape--Steering in Utter Darkness--Snags and Rocks-- A Long Night’s Watching--No Fire--A Drying Day--Another Terrible Storm--And Another--Camp of Disasters--Leave it at last--Marks of the Fury of the Storms--Provisions at an End--Fishing for Gold-eyes--A Day’s Fast--Slaughter of Wild-Fowl--Our Voracity--A Pleasant Awakening--Caught up by the Steamer--Pembina--Fort Garry--La Ronde--We go under Canvass 18 CHAPTER III. Fort Garry--Origin of the Red River Settlement--The First Settlers--Their Sufferings--The North-Westers--The Grasshoppers--The Blackbirds--The Flood--The Colony in 1862--King Company--Farming at Red River--Fertility of the Soil--Isolated Position of the Colony--Obstructive Policy of the Company--Their Just Dealing and Kindness to the Indians--Necessity for a proper Colonial Government-- Value of the Country--French Canadians and Half-breeds-- Their Idleness and Frivolity--Hunters and Voyageurs-- Extraordinary Endurance--The English and Scotch Settlers-- The Spring and Fall Hunt--Our Life at Fort Garry--Too Late to cross the Mountains before Winter--Our Plans-- Men--Horses--Bucephalus--Our Equipment--Leave Fort Garry--The “Noce”--La Ronde’s Last Carouse--Delightful Travelling--A Night Alarm--Vital Deserts--Fort Ellice-- Delays--Making Pemmican--Its Value to the Traveller-- Swarms of Wild-Fowl--Good Shooting--The Indian Summer--A Salt Lake Country--Search for Water--A Horse’s Instinct-- South Saskatchewan--Arrive at Carlton 36 CHAPTER IV.