That night they marched to Broncho.
V
Broncho was in a turmoil. Already overcrowded with settlers, cow-punchers, loyal half-breeds and their several families from the surrounding district, it was daily becoming a richer prey for the bloodthirsty rebels. Appalling rumours kept it on the rack. Special trains, loaded to capacity with women, children and faint-hearted men, pulled out for the East and safety in an unending stream. The streets were full of galloping horsemen, raw bands of eleventh-hour recruits and long-faced citizens hastily organizing themselves for defence. Saloons, eating-houses, stores and stables talked War, War, War.
Through this turmoil, hailed as a troop of angels descended from Heaven to the rescue, Hector and his scarlet-coated policemen rode to Colonel Stern's headquarters. The Colonel, wearing a gunner's uniform of incredible age and an expression of the utmost calm, met them at the door.
He was obviously delighted to be back in harness.
"Well done, well done, Adair!" he exclaimed, returning Hector's salute. "You're the best thing I've clapped eyes on since I got here. Just the man I need—chose you myself! Come inside! Glad to see you—at last!"
In the office, the Colonel explained the plan of campaign—a push northwards of three columns, of which the Broncho crowd was one, as soon as the Commander-in-Chief was ready, to converge on So-and-So. The Colonel's lot was to consist of a squadron, under Hector, two battalions of militia from the East—'all the way from the lower Provinces, Adair—there's your united Canada!'—and a detachment of artillery—'Yes, they've given me a pop-gun!' The advance would take place very soon, as speed was essential if the northern settlements and Western Canada were to be saved from a general conflagration. The Colonel was having some difficulty in arming his men, with whom fire-arms had become unnecessary of late years, owing to the protection afforded the country by the Mounted Police; but that difficulty was in the course of solution.
"And I've an ideal Sergeant-Major for you; an old friend."
"An old friend?" Hector was puzzled. "Who—let me see—"
The Colonel's eyes twinkled under their deep thatch of eyebrow.