THE MAN ON THE QU’APPELLE TRAIL

To the rimming skyline, and beyond, the wheatlands of Assiniboia spread endlessly in the sunshine. It was early October in the year 1901 one of those clear bright days which contribute enchantment to that season of spun gold when harvest bounties are garnered on the Canadian prairies. Everywhere was the gleam of new yellow stubble. In serried ranks the wheat stocks stretched, dwindling to mere specks, merging as they lost identity in distance. Here and there stripes of plowed land elongated, the rich black freshly turned earth in sharp contrast to the prevailing gold, while in a tremendous deep blue arch overhead an unclouded sky swept to cup the circumference of vision. Many miles away, yet amazingly distinct in the rarefied air, the smoke of threshers hung in funnelled smudges above the horizon like the black smoke of steamers, hull down, at sea.

On this particular autumn afternoon a certain black dot might have been observed, so lost in the immensity of landscape that it appeared to be stationary. It was well out upon the trail that wound northward from Indian Head into the country of the Fishing Lakes the trail that forked also eastward to dip through the valley of the Qu’Appelle at Blackwood before striking north and east across the Kenlis plain towards the Pheasant Hills. In reality the well kept team which drew the big grain wagon was swinging steadily ahead at a smart pace; for their load of supplies, the heaviest item of which was a new plow, was comparatively light, they were homeward bound and the going in the earlier stages of the long journey was smooth.

The driver sat hunched in his seat, reins sagging. He was a man of powerful physique, his skin deep coppered by long exposure to prairie winds and sun. In repose the face that was shadowed by the wide felt hat would have appeared somewhat deceptive in its placidity owing to the fact that the strong jaw and firm mouth were partly hidden by a heavy moustache and a thick, black beard, trimmed short.

Just now it was evident that the big farmer’s mood was far from pleasant. Forearm on knee, he had surrendered completely to his thoughts. His fists clenched spasmodically and there was an angry glint in his eyes. Occasionally he shook his head as if the matter in mind were almost too hopeless for consideration. A sudden surge of resentment made him lash his booted leg with the ends of the lines.

“Confound them!” he muttered aloud.

He had just delivered his first load of the season’s new wheat. Three nights before, by lantern light, he had backed his horses to the wagon and hauled it twenty-five miles to the railway at Indian Head. His stay there had not been conducive to peace of mind.

To reach the rails with a heavy load in favorable weather was simple enough; it merely required time. But many such trips would be necessary before his crop was marketed. Some of the farmers from beyond the Qu’Appelle would be hauling all winter; it was in winter that the haul was long and cruel. Starting at one, two or three o’clock in the morning, it would be impossible to forecast the weather with any degree of accuracy, so that often they would be overtaken by blizzards. At such times the lack of stopping-places and shelter in the sparsely settled reaches of the trail encompassed the journey with risks every whit as real as pioneer perils of marauding Indians or trailing wolf-packs.

Snow and wind, however, had no place in the thoughts of the lonely farmer at the moment. Such things he had been used to ever since he first homesteaded; this long haul with the products of his toil he had been making for many years. What immediately concerned him was the discouraging prospect of another wheat blockade instead of any improvement in conditions which had become unbearable. With the country as full of wheat as it was this year it required no great gift of prophecy to foretell what would happen.

It was happening already. The railway people were ignoring completely the car-distribution clauses of the Grain Act and thereby playing in with the elevator interests, so that the farmers were going to be just where they were before at the mercy of the buyers, their legitimate profits filched by excessive dockage, low grades, depressed prices, exorbitant storage charges, even short weights in some cases. All this in spite of the strong agitation which had led to Government action, in spite of the Royal Commission which had investigated the farmers claims and had recommended the Grain Act, in spite of the legislation on the statutes! Law or no law, the farmer was still to be preyed upon, apparently, without a single weapon left with which

The eyes of the man in the broad-brimmed hat grew grave. Scoff as he might among the men of the district when the serious ones voiced their fears to him, his own thoughts always came back to those fears. From the Red River Valley to the foothills long-smouldering indignation was glowing like a streak of fire in the prairie grass; a spark or two more and nothing could stop the conflagration that would sweep the plains country. If the law were to fail these red-blooded and long-suffering homesteaders there would be final weapons alright real weapons! It was no use shutting one’s eyes to the danger. Some fool would do something rash, and with the farmers already inflamed and embittered, there was no telling what desperate things might be attempted.

That was the fear which stirred and perplexed the solitary traveller; for he had heard things that afternoon seen things that he did not like but could not ignore. He recognized an undercurrent of feeling, a silence more ominous than all the heated talk, and that was where the danger lay. Something would have to be done, and that soon. But what? What?

So engrossed was he that beyond an occasional flip of the reins or a word to the horses he paid no heed to his surroundings. A huge jack-rabbit sprang up, almost from beneath the noses of the team, and went flying off in great leaps over the stubble. A covey of prairie chicken, fat and fit, whirred into the air and rocketed away. But he scarcely saw them. Had he looked up he might have noticed a horseman loping down a cross trail with the evident intention of heading off the wagon. But the rider had pounded almost within hailing distance before the other was aware of his approach.

It was Bob McNair of the “Two-Bar Ranch,” as he insisted upon calling his wheat farm. He waved an oil-spattered Stetson and came into the trail with a rush, pulling up the wiry broncho with a suddenness that would have unseated one less accustomed than McNair, former corporal, Royal North-West Mounted Police.

“Howdy, W. R. Thought ’twas your outfit. Good job I aint a Blackfoot on the warpath,” he laughed. “I’d sure ‘a’ had your scalp sneaked before you could draw a bead!” He swung alongside, stepped into the wagon, looped the bridle-rein over the handle of the new plow and, climbing forward, shook hands heartily and sat down.

“You’re looking fit, Bob,” welcomed the other with evident pleasure. “What brings you over this way? Everything going alright?”

“So-so,” nodded McNair. “Been over Sintaluta to see about gettin’ a car, among other things.”

“Of course you got it?”

“Sure! Oh, sure I got it got it still to get!” and McNair burst into a flow of language that did even him justice. More or less vehement at all times, the one-time corporal exhibited so much vigor in his remarks that his good-natured auditor had to laugh. “I ain’t tryin’ to be funny!” finished McNair. “I mean every dashed word of it, Motherwell. If I don’t get some of it out o’ my system I’ll bust to bits, that’s what. Say, I met Sibbold. He told me some of you fellows was meetin’ over at the Head to-day. What about it?”

“Why, yes, Johnny Millar got a few of us together to talk things over. Lot of talk alright. Some of the boys were feeling pretty hot, I can tell you! But I can’t see that anything came of it except some resolutions the usual sort, you know.”

“Pshaw! I was hopin’ it meant action of some kind.” The ex-rancher was silent for a moment. Then his right fist went into his left palm with a smack. “The only kind o’ resolution that’ll get anythin’ is made o’ lead and fits in a rifle breech! And I want to tell you, old man, if there ain’t some pretty quick right-about-facin’ in certain quarters, I’ll be dashed if I ain’t for it! An’ I won’t be standin’ alone, either!” he added grimly.

W. R. Motherwell glanced sharply at the tense face.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” he reproved quietly.

“I ain’t talkin’ nonsense. Not on your life! If I am, then I reckon I know a hundred or so hard-headed farmers who’re doin’ the identical same. An’ if I know that many in my territory, W. R., how many d’you suppose there are if we take in Manitoba and clean through to the mountains?”

“Then all I’ve got to say is: there are more and bigger fools in the country than I had any idea of.”

“What d’you mean, talkin’ like that?”

“That’s just what I’ve got to say to you, McNair,” retorted the big farmer with heat. “What do you mean, talking like that? If you’re serious in what you say

“I said I was, didn’t I?” snapped the other.

“Then you ought to be tied up on the Two-Bar and muzzled, for you’re plumb mad, McNair! It’s just that kind of firebrand talk that’s hurting our cause. The farmers have got enough enemies now, God knows, without making a lot of new ones. Doggone your hide, Mac, what’re you trying to do? Stir up another rebellion like that of ’85?”

“If it’s necessary you bet I am!” he brazened.

“You, of all men!”

“An’ why not me? Just because I’ve worn the Queen’s uniform, eh? Well, let me tell you, sir, I belonged to a body of men who stood for British justice an’ a square deal to even the meanest Injun in the Territories.” The ex-mounted policeman spoke with pride. “We’d never have handled the beggars if it hadn’t been for that. Even the Injuns were men enough to recognize justice, an’ that’s more’n these commercial blood-suckers to-day can do! If our case was in the hands of the Force it’d rest on its merits an’ us grain growers’d get justice. Instead, where is it? in the hands of a pussy-footed, hifalutin’ bunch o’ political windbags in the East who don’t care a damn about us hayseeds out West! An’ what’s more

“The Royal Mounted stood for law and order, Bob; but you’d class yourself with the half-breeds, would you? Have another little rebellion like that of ’85 with all the

“Not like ’85,” interrupted the rancher. “No, sir, this one’ll be bloodless; but it’ll knock the spots off the ‘breeds’ little shindig all the samee!”

“You spoke of rifles, McNair. Guns go off,” interpolated the other sententiously. “What’n the mischief do you expect to gain by that sort of thing?”

“A hearing, by Jingo! That’s more’n all your letters to the papers an’ your meetin’s an’ resolutions have got us. We’ll show ’em we mean business

“Rot! How did we get the Royal Commission except by those letters and meetings? That put the Manitoba Grain Act on the statutes, didn’t it? Mean to say we’re no farther ahead? We’ve got the whole grain trade under control and supervision

“Like ducks you have!” The former rancher threw back his head and laughed.

“We’ve got the privilege of loading our wheat direct on cars through the flat warehouses or any other way we like

“What’s the good o’ that if a man can’t get a car when he wants it?” demanded McNair impatiently. “The elevator gang ’ve organized to grab everything in sight. I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it, by heaven! So what’s the use o’ talkin’?”

“We’ve got to be fair, though. The elevator people have put a lot of money Say, why can’t we organize, too?” suggested Motherwell with a flash of inspiration. “We haven’t tried that yet. That’s constitutional. That’s what the livestock breeders have done,” he said eagerly.

McNair shook his head.

“I tell you, Bill, it’s too late for that sort o’ thing,” he objected. “Unless you mean organizin’ to fight

“Exactly.”

“With guns, if necessary?”

“It won’t be necessary.”

“Possibly not to shoot anybody. The showin’ mebbe’ll turn the trick. Now, look here. My idea is that if a bunch of us fellows got together on the quiet some night an’ seized a few elevators Say, wouldn’t it bring things to a head so quick we’d get action? The law’s there, but these fellows are deliberately breakin’ it an’ we got to show ’em

“The action you’d get would be the wrong kind, Mac,” protested W. R. Motherwell emphatically. “You’d land in jail!”

“Don’t see it that way,” persisted McNair. “Wouldn’t give a continental if I did so long’s it woke a few people up.”

“I tell you you’re on the wrong trail unless you want to get it where the chicken got the axe!”

“Doggone it, man! Ain’t that where we’re gettin’ it now?”

“Whereas with the right kind of organization

“Don’t believe it,” grunted McNair, starting to climb back to his horse. “The time for any more o’ these here granny tea-parties is past to my way o’ thinkin’ an’ if we can’t agree on it, we’d better shut up before we get mad.” He vaulted easily into the saddle. “But I’ll tell you one thing, W. R. there’s the sweetest little flare-up you ever saw on its way. I was talkin’ the other day to Ed. Partridge, the Railton boys, Al. Quigley, Billy Bonner and some more

“And I’ll bet they gave you a lot of sound advice, Mac!” laughed Motherwell confidently.

“That’s alright,” resented McNair, the tan of his cheek deepening a trifle. “They’re a pretty sore bunch an’ a fellow from down Turtle Mountain way in Manitoba told me

“That the mud-turtle and the jack-rabbit finally agreed that slow and steady

“Bah! You’re sure hopeless,” grinned the owner of the Two-Bar, giving his horse the rein.

“Hope_ful_,” corrected W. R. Motherwell with a laugh. “Tell Wilson, if you see him, that Peter Dayman and I are expecting him over next week, will you? And I say, Mac, don’t kill too many before you get home!” he called in final jocularity.

The flying horseman waved his hat and his “S’long” came back faintly. The other watched till horse and rider lost themselves among the distant wheat stocks. The twinkle died out of his eyes as he watched.

So McNair was another of them, eh? After all, that was only to be expected of an old Indian fighter and cow-puncher like him. Poor Bob! He had his reputation to sustain among the newcomers hard rider, hard fighter, hard drinker; to do it under the changed conditions naturally required some hard talking on occasion. While Mac had become civilized enough to keep one foot in a cowhide boot planted in the practical present, the other foot was still moccasined and loath to forget the days of war-paint and whiskey-traders, feathers and fears. Over the crudities and hardships, the dirt and poverty, the years between had hung a kindly curtain of glamor; so that McNair with his big soft kerchiefs, his ranger’s hat, his cow-puncher’s saddle and trappings and his “Two-Bar” brand was a figure to crane an Eastern neck.

Likeable enough chap too much of a man to be treated as a joke to his face, but by no means to be taken seriously not on most occasions. In the present instance, with feeling running as high as it was in some quarters, that crazy idea of seizing a few elevators at the point of a gun ! What in heaven’s name would they do with them after they got them? Nevertheless, McNair might find rattle-brained listeners enough to cause a heap of trouble. There were always a few fellows ready for excitement; they might go in for the fun of it, then before they knew it the thing would curdle over night like a pan of milk in a thunder-storm.

“He’s just darn fool enough to try some funny work,” muttered the anxious driver of the grain wagon. “Jailing him only makes a hero of him and that’s the kind of thing the beggar glories in. The son-of-a-gun!”

One by one throughout the afternoon the miles crept tediously beneath the wagon. The sun which had steeped the stubble in gold all day had turned the sky and was poising for its nightly dip below the horizon by the time the long misty blue line of the Qu’Appelle hills began to creep from the prairie. When the lone traveller at last could count the deep shadowy coulees the sun had disappeared, but the riot of after-fires still burned brightly in the west. He had passed his own place hours before, but had stopped there only for a change of horses and a brief rest; a parcel and an important message which he wished to deliver in person at Fort Qu’Appelle without delay was extending his day’s journey.

Six hundred feet below the level of the plain the grassy slopes of the Qu’Appelle Valley bowled to the blue lakes. Hugging the water’s edge, the buildings of the romantic old fort scattered in the twilight. The winding trail stood out like a white thread that reached down the valley towards the Catholic Mission of Lebret.

Before heading into the steep descent the farmer from over Abernethy way slipped on his heavy cardigan jacket; for behind the rim of the hills the sunset fires were dying and already the coolness of the October night was making itself felt. At the mouth of a coulee he spoke to a solitary Indian, standing motionless before a camp fire. The appetizing odor of roasting wild fowl reminded him that he was more than ready for the “bite to eat” which he would enjoy with the good Father Hugonard at the Indian Mission he of the dark, gentle eyes, the quick understanding, the quiet tones. There would be much to talk about.

So it proved. The hour was growing late when finally he bade good-bye to his pleasant host and resumed his journey in the starlight, refreshed and encouraged. For here in the seclusion of this peaceful valley, since the days of the great buffalo herds, Father Hugonard had ministered to the Indians, starved with them, worked patiently with them through many seasons of flowers and snows. Nevertheless, out of many discouragements and privations had this sterling man retained an abiding faith in the triumph of righteousness in all things.

In the quiet beauty of the wonderful October night was little place for the anxious thoughts of the day. Bitterness of spirit, the bickerings of men, commercial Oppression and injustice these were things far removed from the planets of the Ages that sparkled like jewels in the vault of Night. A vagrant breeze whispered in the valley sedges to the placid lake. High in the air, invisible, migrating wavies winged into the south, the distant gabble of their passing falling weirdly earthward.

The trail began to ascend sharply. Off to the right the sky was growing rapidly lighter behind a distant hill and presently a lop of yellow moon crept slowly over the edge and rose into the air like a broken chalice, chasing the shadows to their retreats.

As he watched it the driver of the grain wagon recalled again the old Indian legend that haunted this valley and had given it its name how, long ago, a young Indian chieftain was paddling his canoe through these waters on his way to win a bride when suddenly above “the night wind’s melancholy song” he heard a voice calling him through the twilight. “Qu’appelle? Qu’appelle?” he answered in French. “Who calls?” But only his own voice came back in echoes while the gloom of night deepened and a wan moon rose silently behind the distant hill. Then when he reached the Indian encampment it was only to see the death fires lighted on the shore, to hear the wail of women and to learn that just before her lips had closed forever, his beloved had called for him just at the moon-rise. Thus, ever since, the Indians claimed, strange spirit voices spoke through the lone valley at every rising of the moon.

Thrilled by the beauty of the valley scene, misty in the moonlight, the big farmer half unconsciously drew rein and listened. All he could hear at first was the impatient stamp of his horses’ feet, the mouthing of the bits as the animals tossed their heads restlessly, the clink of the trace-chains; but presently he sensed a subdued undertone of night noises that wafted mysteriously over the silver water. It was nothing that could be recognized definitely; rather was it an impression of strangely merged minor sounds that grew upon him as imagination was given play under the influence of time and place. It was easy to supply interpretations of that faint medley, even while one knew that it was merely the murmur of night airs in the dry grasses, the whisper of the water-edges, the stirring of restless water-fowl in the dying reeds.

The man who had ridden all day with his thoughts began unconsciously to apply other meanings to the sound, to people the night with dim faces and shapes that came trooping over the edge of the tablelands above toil-bent figures of old pioneer farmers, care-worn faces of women and bright eager faces of little children who were holding out their hands trustfully to the future. There seemed to be a never-ending procession faces that were apathetic from repeated disappointments, faces that scowled threateningly, brave faces tense with determination and sad faces on which was written the story of struggle hidden within many a lonely wind-buffeted shack on the great bosom of the prairie.

Was it, then, that all the years of toil and hardship were to come to naught for this great company of honest workers, these brave pioneer men and women of the soil? Was all their striving forward to find them merely marking time, shouldered into the backwater while the currents of organized commercialism swept away their opportunities? Were not these producers of the world’s bread themselves to partake of the fruits of their labor?

Yes! Surely the answer was Yes! It was their Right. Wrong could not endure forever in the face of Right; else were the world a poor place, Life itself a failure, the mystic beauty of God’s calm night a mockery.

The man from Abernethy roused himself. It would be nearly dawn before his team would reach their home stalls. He whistled to the horses and they plunged into the black shadows of the coulee up which the trail rose in steep ascent from the valley. When they emerged into the moonlight he drew rein for a moment.

Somewhere back in a forgotten arroyo a coyote yapped lonesomely. Around through the night were flung the distant glow-dots of the burning straw piles, and as he filled his lungs with the fresh sweet air the hope of better days warmed the heart of the belated traveller. The Hand which set the orbits of the universe created the laws of Truth and Justice and these never could be gainsaid. Everything would come out aright if only men were steadfast in faith and duty.

He gave the horses their heads and they were off once more through the cool night upon the wheatland sea that was bounded only by far purple shadows.