But to return to Fort Garry. Within a week Flora and I were married, and a fortnight later we started for Quebec, accompanied by Christopher Burley. We reached England toward the close of the summer, and my case was so clear that in a comparatively short time

I was in full possession of my father’s birthright—the title and estates of the Earl of Heathermere. The years rolled on, rich in happiness for my wife and myself, until now three decades separate us from the early life of the Canadas—of that life which we recall so well and love dearly to talk of.

In conclusion, I may say a word or two about the rival companies. In June of 1816 a sharp conflict was fought at Fort Douglas, near Fort Garry, Governor Semple, of the Hudson Bay Company, and twenty-two of his men were killed by the Northwest Company’s force, who themselves suffered little loss. The next year Lord Selkirk came to Canada, raised a force, and arrested most of the leading officials of the Northwest Company, sending them to Quebec for trial. And how the Hudson Bay Company held its own against rivalry and intrigue, how it protected its rights, the reader will find set down in the records of history.

THE END.

Transcriber’s Notes

  1. This text appeared in several publications:
    “The Cryptogram. A Story of Northwest Canada.”
    · Army and Navy Weekly No. 27-35 (1897-98)
    · Half Holiday No. 1-9 (5 Feb-2 Apr. 1898)
    · New York: Street and Smith (Medal Library No. 26), 1899.
    · Philadelphia: David McKay, 1899.
  2. This text is from the 1899 Street and Smith edition.
  3. Table of Contents was not present in original edition.
  4. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.
  5. Printer’s errors corrected in text:
    · the great beast came down with a c[r]ash. (crash)
    · Captan Rudstone, who was standing (Captain)
    · For Miss Hatherston’s sake we must not be taken. (Hatherton’s)
    · Baptiste and I ventu[r]ed to lift our heads. (ventured)
    · A short dis[t]ance below (distance)
    · here st[r]etched the (stretched)
    · still ke[e]ping his finger on the trigger (keeping)
    · “Ay, Pantherfo[o]t,” I replied. (Pantherfoot)
    · “I will speak of these mat[t]ers later,” (matters)
    · offi[c]ers of the company (officers)
    · man[n]erism I had observed (mannerism)
    · nothing mattered the next ins[t]ant (instant)
    · we were join[e]d by half a dozen men (joined)
    · branches lopped off s[h]ort (short)
    · surprse, and knelt on the opposite side (surprise)
    · pour a hund[r]ed braves into the fort (hundred)
    · and there can be do doubt (no doubt)
    · but soun-dheaded,” said the factor. (sound-headed)
    · upperhand of him this time (upper hand)
    · important dsipatches secretly intrusted (dispatches)
    · Parchment & Tolliver (Parchmont & Tolliver)
    · into the the wilderness (repeated word)
    · speaking of Mackzenie (Mackenzie)
    · Rallying what strength a could (I could)
    · but her merely shrugged (he merely shrugged)
    · Lavinge cried out (Lavigne)
    · Lavinge’s wounded arm (Lavigne’s)
    · doubtless Lavinge’s body (Lavigne’s)
    · bceause of the Indian you shot (because)
    · across the inclossure (inclosure)
    · will carry everytihng before it (everything)
    · Northwest people fore for a small trading post (people for a)
    · fire was blazily cheerily (blazing cheerily)
    · and, morever, I felt (moreover)