“But the queer thing was,” continued Archie, “that the buffalo fell dead, and, on examining it, we found that a bit o’ the barrel had been driven right into its brain.”
“Ay, boy, but it was queerer still that none o’ the pieces struck me or my horse ’cept that bit o’ the stock. An’ I’m none the worse, barrin’ this lump on the head, that only serves to cock my hat a little more to one side than seems becomin’ to a sober-minded man.”
“We were sorry to be able to bring away so little o’ the meat,” said Archie, with the gravity of an old hunter; “but, you see, it was too late to send a cart for it after we got back.”
“Never mind,” said Dan Davidson, when the narrative was brought to a close, “you have done very well for a beginning.”
“Moreover,” added Fergus, “it iss a goot feast the wolves will be havin’ on the plains this night, an’ so, Archie, I’ll be wishin’ ye better luck next time.”
Chapter Nineteen.
Bright Hopes terminate in Furious War.
Turning once again to the colony at Red River, we introduce the reader to the Scotch settlers in the autumn of the year—at a time when there was some appearance of the commencement of a season of prosperity, after all the troubles that had befallen and surrounded, and well-nigh overwhelmed them in time past.