KLAT. SA S SAN,

He bade him decamp | been concealed.

make an example of the man.

187

Mr. Cox held an inquest, when the body

that instant, and as the man, already more than half} was identified by one of the men, after which it was

sobered, stood staring at him, the further order was given,
that if he did not leave the camp within ten minutes, the
men might do whatever they liked to him, and he, Captain
Cox, would bear the responsibility.
anticipated effect.
leaving his blankets in his haste. After this, not an
angry word was heard amongst the men during the whole
expedition.

The men were armed with the Lancaster rifle,—very
unwisely, asit turned out. Of course breech-loaders were
hardly in use then, but even the common fowling-piece
would have proved a more handy weapon. In Indian
warfare quick firing is half the battle, and it happened
not unfrequently, that while the rifleman was engaged in

adjusting the sight for the spot where the enemy was first |

espied, the nimble Indian had materially increased the
distance, or had even entirely disappeared.

Thus armed the party set out. They left Alexandria
on the 6th of June, taking a westerly direction. They
took along with them a pack-train with a month’s
provisions. On the 10th they gained the river Chilco,
sixty-six miles from Alexandria. For the first four
days they travelled through a wooded and hilly country.
They found an Indian trail, but it was often encumbered
with fallen timber. Two axemen had therefore to go in
front of the party and clear a path through the logs.
Part of the way lay through a burnt forest. Some
great fire had swept across the country and turned
its greenness into desolation. Nothing could be seen
for miles on either hand the path, but the charred
stumps, standing in melancholy crowds—sable ghosts of
the monarchs of the wood. Amongst them the wind
made a most mournful creaking and clattering, with
many weird and curious sounds. It was with no small
feeling of relief, that our party emerged from this forest of
the dead, and gained the Chilco river!. Nothing could
exceed the beauty of the scene that lay before them as
they descended upon the valley of the Chilco. The clear
bright stream gleamed on them, as in joyous welcome.
Along its banks stretched meadows clothed with luxuriant
herbage, and richly adorned with those countless varieties
of wild flowers which form so attractive a feature of the
colony, The Chilco was a favourite camping ground of
the Indians; a branch of the Chilcoatens, under a chief
named Alexis, had their usual head-quarters there. When
our party arrived, however, there was not one to be seen.
The Indians, as was afterwards ascertained, had taken
fright, and fled. They had heard of the gathering of
armed men at Alexandria, and a rumour had arisen that
the object of the expedition was the extermination of the
natives. So they had all left their homes, and vanished,
no one knew whither. This was a great disappointment,
for the chief, Alexis, was known to be friendly, and our
party had hoped to have had his help in apprehending the
men they were in quest of.

Accordingly, finding the Chilco camp deserted, Mr.
Cox pushed on to Puntzeen, which he reached in ten
days. Here they found the marks of Indian ferocity in
the devastation of the house and property of the un-
fortunate Manning, After some search they discovered
his remains in the bed of the stream where they had

1 This river gives its name to the tribe, Chilco-atin,—people
of the Chilco.

The words had the |
The man jumped up and ran off, |

decently buried. Mr. Maclaine (a late factor of the Hud-
son Bay Company, who had joined the expedition as a
volunteer) read the Burial Service.

Mr. Cox had now advanced a considerable distance,
upwards of ninety miles, into this terra incognita, and
he seemed as far from his object as ever. After the
funeral of poor Manning, he and Maclaine, and one or
two others, discussed by their camp-fire, by Puntzeen
Lake, the important question of what was to be done
next. The natural thing was to follow up the Indians,
but how and whither? Which of all the numerous trails
diverging from Puntzeen would lead to their camp?
Even if we knew where to go, even if we tracked them
to their hiding-place, what,’ they asked each other,
“can we do with them? We cannot attack them, for we
are distinctly forbidden to make war on them. Our
orders are solely to arrest the murderers, and who is there
to point out to us, who of any natives we may capture are
the murderers?” The only way out of these difficulties
appeared to be to procure an Indian guide, who might
both show the way and point out the criminals. Mr.
Cox accordingly determined to make an effort to ascertain
where Alexis was, and if possible obtain his assistance.
For that purpose Maclaine started, June 13th, with a
small party, for the forks of Chilco river, where it is
joined by the Chesco, a point about forty-five miles to the
s.w. This being a great rendezvous of the Chilcoatens,
it was hoped that Alexis would be found there. Mr. Cox
was to await their return at Puntzeen.

The afternoon of the day Maclaine left, the party at
Puntzeen became aware of the vicinity of the Indians.
When last we saw Klatsassan, it will be remembered that

he was encamped on the summit of a wooded hill, on the |
look-out for any unfortunate whites who might pass that |

way. His position commanded a view of the converging
trails, so that, though himself unseen, he could see all
who approached. We may imagine the astonishment
with which he witnessed the arrival of our party. In
his ignorance, he was absolutely unprepared for such a
demonstration of power on the part of the whites. His
courage did not fail him, but it was, to say the least of
it, an anxious hour for him, as he saw our men defiling
round the foot of his hill, and within so short distance of
him that he could hear their voices. No eye could better
mark the points of a man, and he could easily see that in
the matter of physique these men were very different
from his fellow-countrymen. His eye fell on lithe and
stalwart frames, on countenances full of intelligence and
self-reliance. A type of character so unlike the Indian, who
alone is nothing, however brave he may be at times in
company with others, could not fail to strike our chief.
He felt that these men belonged to a race which was
destined, wherever they went, to have dominion. “ Each
man as a king and the son of a king.” No, his people
never could stand against such as these. All he could do
against them he would do, but sooner or later the Red-
skin (who in fact had been degenerating for generations
before the whites came near them) must go down.
“Yes, the sun of the Indian race is near its setting. The
days of Owhalmewha soon shall pass into eternal night.”
So thought Klatsassan, and imparted his apprehensions
to his tribe, in whose anxious faces, however, he sought in

vain—