Chapter XXIX: The Coming of the Sioux

Early in May the Perier family said good-bye to their countryfolk who were returning to Fort Douglas. Some of the Swiss tried to dissuade Mr. Perier from going farther into the interior. Others talked of following later if things did not turn out well in the Colony.

A short time after the Swiss left, something happened that threatened to upset all Mr. Perier’s plans. A party of men returning from a buffalo hunt brought disquieting news. They had met an Ojibwa scout who had told them that a large body of Sioux were on the march towards the settlement. Remembering the unfortunate affair at Fort Douglas the summer before, the people of Pembina feared the worst. Scouts were sent out to watch for the Sioux, guns were overhauled, and bullets moulded.

In the midst of the preparations for defence, two boats arrived from down river, bringing reenforcements. Rumors of the approach of the Sioux had reached the Governor, and he had sent a detachment of DeMeurons and voyageurs to meet the Indians and prevent them from going on to Fort Douglas. The Sioux were to be stopped by diplomatic methods if possible. Force was to be used only in case of necessity. With the party were Sergeant Kolbach and the Rev. Mr. West, the man who had befriended the Periers when their boat was wrecked on Lake Winnipeg. The clergyman greeted Mr. Perier cordially, but Kolbach favored his former guest with the stiffest and slightest of nods. Walter looked in vain for the red-faced DeMeuron with the sandy beard. Inquiry brought the information that Fritz Kolbach was not among the soldiers. Fritz was not in favor with the Company just then, having been accused of free trading with the Assiniboins, one DeMeuron told Walter.

The relief force arrived on Friday, and Saturday passed without alarm. Sunday morning Mr. West held service at Fort Daer, and the Periers and Walter attended. Just at the close of the service scouts came hurrying in with word that the Sioux were approaching. Armed men began to gather at the fort, the plan being to make so strong a showing that the Indians would not dare attack. The women and children were to stay north of the Pembina, where carts and boats were in readiness to carry them to Fort Douglas if there should be trouble.

Walter took Elise and Max across the river to join Mrs. Brabant. Then he returned to Fort Daer where he found Louis just arrived. The MacKays had gone to Kildonan with other colonists who had wintered at Pembina. In June Neil was to return to go south with his friends.

“They are in sight,” shouted a man who was watching from the roof of one of the buildings.

The fort gates stood open, for the Company officers intended to maintain a friendly attitude as long as possible. With others, Louis and Walter ran out to watch the coming of the Indians. There they were, a band of mounted men approaching across the prairie from the south. Walter’s heart beat fast, but he was surprised to find that he was excited and eager rather than frightened.

“There are no _travois_, only mounted men, no women,” St. Antoine remarked. “That looks bad. Yet they come openly, in the daytime. They raise no war cry. But we cannot tell. The Dakota are treacherous.” He used the name by which the Indians of the prairies called themselves—Dakota. It was their enemies, the Ojibwa, who named them Sioux.

The Indians came on at an easy pace until they were a few hundred yards from the fort. There they halted, as if waiting to see how they were to be received. A small group of white men, among them Mr. West, went out on foot to meet the strangers. Suddenly, out from the fort gate darted a slender, bronze figure, a young Indian stripped naked and without weapons. Straight towards the Sioux he ran full speed.

“He has gone crazy,” gasped Walter. “They will kill him.” He knew the fellow, an Ojibwa hunter who had recently brought his furs to the post.

“He does it to prove his courage, to show that he is not afraid of the Sioux,” explained Louis. “But what use is it to a man to be called brave, after he is dead?”

As the young Indian drew near the enemies of his people, Walter held his breath, expecting every moment that a shower of musket balls or a cloud of arrows would put an end to the rash Ojibwa. But nothing happened. Whether from admiration for his reckless bravery or because they scorned to kill an enemy so easily, the Sioux let him come on uninjured. When he was almost up to them he paused, stood still for a moment, then turned and walked back towards the white men.

How would the party from Fort Daer be received? Was it to be peace or war? In silence, every nerve tense, the watchers waited to learn. The white men drew closer and closer, without pause or hesitation. The Indians were dismounting. The two parties were mingling. They were coming towards the fort, together. Only a few of the Sioux remained behind to watch the horses. Walter drew a long breath.

The Sioux were conducted straight to the open gates. They were to be treated as guests. This was Walter’s first glimpse of Sioux. He looked on with keen interest as they were ushered into the fort. They were manly looking fellows, these Dakotas. Most of them were rather tall, taller than the majority of the _bois brulés_. They were straight and slender, lithe and wiry rather than muscular in appearance. Their faces were intelligent for the most part, strong featured, and with a look of pride and fierceness very different from the stupid expression of the Crees he had seen at Fort York. All wore fringed leggings and moccasins. The bodies of some were bare to the waist, while others were clothed in shirts of deerskin or calico, or wrapped in blankets or buffalo robes. Their black hair, adorned with feathers, hung in braids over their shoulders. Every face and bare body was hideous with paint, in streaks, patches, spots, circles, and zigzags, the favorite colors being red, yellow, and black. They were all tricked out in their best finery, beadwork, quill embroidery, necklaces of animals’ teeth or birds’ claws, and trinkets bought from the traders.

The Sioux proved restless and uncomfortable visitors. They pried into every corner of the fort. They appeared to be suspicious and acted as if they were looking for trouble. The Company officers fed them and treated them to tea, tobacco, and some liquor. That was a dangerous thing to do, Walter thought, to give them liquor, for all were armed with guns, bows, knives, or tomahawks. But the refusal to give them drink might have been taken as an insult. The Chief insisted on crossing the river to the Company fort, and the trader in charge thought it best to let him go. But he managed things so that only a few of Chief Waneta’s followers accompanied him. As soon as possible they were conducted back to Fort Daer.

All the rest of that day the Sioux lingered at Fort Daer. When night came they showed no intention of leaving. They had brought nothing to trade, but they expected all sorts of gifts. Most of the _bois brulés_ had gone back to their families, but Mr. Perier and Walter were allowed to remain at the fort with Mr. West. It was a night of anxiety and alarms. Drink had made the savage guests touchy and quarrelsome. Several times shots were fired in threat or sport, but luckily no one was hurt. The arrival of three Assiniboins, who said they had come to smoke the peace pipe with their ancient enemies, did not help matters any.

About eleven o’clock shouts and war whoops from outside the walls roused everyone. Thinking that the attack had begun, Mr. Perier and Walter rushed out of the house where they had withdrawn to keep out of the way of quarrelsome Indians. They found that the Sioux, instead of attacking, were leaving the fort in haste. There had been a fight between a Dakota and an Assiniboin. The Dakota had shot the Assiniboin and scalped him, the fallen man’s two companions had fled, and some of the Sioux had started in pursuit.

Chief Waneta had been overbearing and truculent enough himself, but he apparently did not want a general fight. Waneta was no fool. He probably realized that the white men and _bois brulés_ of Pembina were too strong for him in numbers and too well prepared for trouble. With unexpected promptness he gathered his followers together, and started for home. Before midnight the whole band had disappeared in the darkness, riding south.