Part 4 (1/2)
”Bon jour, mademoiselle et messieurs” the newco a lo
”Bon jour, Monsieur Scott,” was the reply Louis Riel, intently watching, saw the girl's colour co s of whose fate, at the hands of the rebel andthrough the veins of Western Canada
The young man stayed only for a few moments, and Riel observed that everybody in the house treated him as if in soo, young Jean, who knew of every widgeon in the rove, and where the last flock of quail had been seen to alight, followed hie
Marie had seen a large flock of turkeys upon the prairie a few rove, and perhaps they had not yet gone away
”When did you see them, ma chere mademoiselle Marie?
enquired Scott You know turkeys do not settle down like irants in one spot, and wait till we inhabitants of the plains come out and shoot them Was it last week, or only the day before yesterday that you saw them?” There was a very merry twinkle in his eye as he went on with this banter Marie affected to pout, but she answered
”This rass, and you, I doubt not, were sleeping soundly, I was abroad on the plains for the cows It was then I saw thelad, however, that you have pointed out the difference between turkeys and irants I did not know it before”
He handed her a tiger lily which he had plucked on the way, saying,
”There, for your valuable inforive you that
Next time I come, if you are able to tellyou some coppers” With a world of mischief in his eyes, he disappeared, and Mary, in spite of herself, could not conceal froh at his departure
”It seereat favourite with your folk, Monsieur?” Said M Riel, when the young e ”Now I came with my friend also for sport, but no pretty eyes had seen any flocks to reserve for lance at poor Marie, as pretending to be engaged in exah she was all the while thinking of the iven it to her M Riel's words and the sneer were lost, so far as she was concerned
Her ears here her heart was, out on the plain beyond the cottonwood, where she could see the tall, straight, lithe figure of young Scott, with his dog at his heels, its head now bobbing up frorass, and now its tail
”Oui, Monsieur,” returned Marie's father, ”Monsieur Scott is a very great favourite with our faation to him that it will be difficult for us ever to repay”
”Whence coly sneer, ”and how has he placed you under such obligation?” Then, reflecting that he was showing a bitterness respecting the young man which he could just then neither explain nor justify, he said:
”Mais, pardonnezthese questions When pretty eyes are ealected oneto knoay fortune has been kind with his rival”
”Shall I tell the whole story, Marie?” enquired the _pere_, ”or will you do so?”
”O I know that you will not leave anything out that can show, the bravery of Mr Scott, so I shall leave you to tell it,” replied the girl
”Well, last spring, Marie was spending some days with her aunt, a few miles up Red River It was the flood tiher than it had ever reached within the memory of any body in the settlement Marie is ventureso upon boats, or paddling a canoe; so one day, during the visit which I havein a little pond for of the streaan to paddle about in the lazy water Presently she reached the eddies, which, since a child, she has always called the 'rings of the water-witches,' wherever she learned that ter in the doorway, as she saw Marie move off, and she cried out to her to beware of the eddies; but hter, ard and reckless, as it is her habit to be in such h; and then, as the canoe began to turn round and round in the gurgling circles, she cried out, 'I anifique! O I wish you ith o round and round' A little way beyond, not , the full tide of the river 'Beware, Marie, beware, for the love of heaven, of the river If you get a little further out, and these eddies will drag you out, you will be in the mad current, and no arm can paddle the canoe to land out of the flood Then, dear, there is the fall below, and the fans of the hter heeded not the words She only laughed, and began dipping water up from the eddies with the paddle-blade, as if it were a spoon that she held in her hand 'I as,' she cried 'How the drops sparkle! Every one is a glittering jewel of priceless value I wish you were here with me, Violette!' Suddenly, and in an altered tone, she cried, 'Mon Dieu! My paddle is gone' The paddle had no sooner glided out into the rushi+ng, turbulent waters than the canoe followed it, and Marie saw herself drifting on to her doom Half a mile beloas the fall, and at the side of the fall, went ever and ever around with tre fans of the water-, or raft, carried down the river at freshet-floas always swept into the toils of the inexorable wheels
Yet, if she were reckless and without heed a few minutes before, I am told that now she was caly of her behaviour
Violette gave the alarm that Marie was adrift in the river without a paddle, and in a few seconds, every body living near had turned out, and were running down the shore Several brought paddles, but it took hard running to keep up with the canoe, for the flood was racing at a speed of eightout a paddle But one fell too far out, and another not far enough About fifteen men were about the banks in violent excite but doom for Marie As the canoe neared a point about two hundred yards above the fall, a young white man--all the rest were bois-brules--rushed out upon the bank, with a paddle in his hand, and, without a word, leaped into the mad waters With a few strokes, he was at the side of the canoe, and put the paddle into Marie's hand 'Here,' he said, 'Keep away froer, and steer sheer over the fall, getting as close as possible to the left bank' The height of the fall, as you are aware, was not hteen feet, and there was plenty of water below, and not very er from rocks 'Go you on shore now, and I will meet my doo o over the fall too: I can then be of so by the canoe's side directingthe course of the prow on the very brink of the fall Then all shot over together The canoe and Marie, and the young man were buried far under the terrible ain, when the heroic stranger savedwaters, landed her safe and unhurt upon the bank The youngIs it any wonder, think you, that when Marie sees wild turkeys upon the prairie, she keeps the knowledge of it to herself till she gets the ear of her deliverer? Think you, now, that it is strange he should be looked upon by us as a benefactor?”
”A very brave act, indeed, on the part of this young ment, I perceive, or he would not so readily have calculated that no har carried over the falls”
Marie's eyes flashed indignantly at this cold blooded discounting of the generous, uncalculating bravery of her young preserver
”I doubt, Monsieur, she said, whether if you had been on the bank where Monsieur Scott ju over of the fall as an exploit so free of danger as you describe it now As a matter of fact, there _were_ many half-breeds there, many of whom, no doubt, were as brave as yourself, but I should have perished in the fans of the mill if I had to depend upon the succour of any one of theht in his eye, ”I aht frohtness of your coal-black hair, that you were”
Riel's blood was nigh unto boiling in his veins, but he had craft enough to preserve a tolerably unruffled exterior