"Wherever you find Thomas Scott seize him; and convey
him to Fort Garry." On the sixth of December the confidant
came into the tyrant's presence and said:
"We have caught Scott." [Footnote: I take the following
from Begg's "History of the North-West Rebellion," p.
161: "About this time (6th December), the French arrested
and imprisoned Mr. Thomas Scott, Mr. A. McArthur, and
Mr. Wm. Hallet. Mr. Scott, it appears, had been one of
the party assembled in Schultz's house, but had afterwards
left; and no other reason for his arrest is known, except
his having enrolled under Colonel Dennis. Mr. McArthur,
was, it is said, confined on suspicion of acting secretly
on behalf of Mr. McDougall; and Mr. Hallet, for his
activity in assisting and advising Colonel Dennis." ]
The Rebel leader's eye gleamed with a wolfish light.
"Is he in the Fort?"
"Yes."
"Bon! I shall be there presently." So without any delay
he proceeded to the Fort, and entered the apartment where
young Scott was confined.
"Ah, Monsieur! This is where you are?"
"Yes, you tyrannical ruffian. But I shall not be here
for long." Riel curbed the mad blood which had leaped to
his temples.
"Monsieur shall not be here long, if he chooses to accept
conditions upon which he may be free."
"Come, for curiosity sake, let us hear the proposals; I
am certain that they are foul. Yet, as I say, I am anxious
to hear them."
"Monsieur must be reasonable. There is no good purpose
to be served by railing at me."
"That is true. You are too infamous a miscreant to be
shamed or made better by reproaches."
"Nevertheless, I shall proceed to business, Monsieur.
Do you know where old Jean and his daughter have taken
up their abode?"
"I do."
"So I suspected. If you will let me know their place of
abode, that I may give them my guarantee for their personal
safety if they return to their home--as I understand that
through some unfounded fear of me they fled, and I am anxious
to stand well in the affections of all my people--I shall
permit you forthwith to leave this Fort."
"Contemptible villain, liar and tyrant, I will _not_
reveal to you. Begone. By heaven! if you stand there I
shall bury my hands in your foul, craven throat."
"Take care, Monsieur," was all M. Riel said, as he left
Scott's presence. But his eye burned like a fiend's.
The agitator, with a spirit of the most devilish rage
consuming him, nevertheless went on to forward the general
movement. His first great step was against the followers
of Colonel Dennis, who had banded together and posted
themselves in the house of Dr. Schultz, a very prominent
settler. They had gathered here with arms in their hands,
but they seemed like a lot of little children, without
any purpose. There was no moral cohesion among them, and
there was no force either to lead or to drive them. They
were not long thus ridiculously impounded, when they
began to look at one another, as if to ask:
"_Quis furores o cives?_"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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