These were the quiet and friendly Assiniboines, and the first of the
tribes, being the nearest, to reach the factory that year.
De Seviere was early awake and all was astir within its walls, for this
was the great time of the four seasons. Eagerly the maids and the
younger matrons flocked down to the great gate to peer out at the
gathering craft, afloat like the leaves of autumn upon the breast of
the little river,--two braves to a canoe, the gallant front of the
young men flanking and preceding that which held the leader of the
expedition, chief of the tribe, distinguished by its flag fluttering in
the morning wind upon a pole at the stern,--at the bedizened figure of
the chief himself, and lastly those canoes which held the women, the
few children, and even a dog or two.
Thus they came, those simple children of the forest and the lakes, the
open ways and the fastnesses, of the untrammelled summers, and the
snow-hindered winters, to the doors of the white man, dependent at last
upon him for the implements of life,--the gun, the trap, the knife, the
kettle, and the blanket.
Presently Edmonton Ridgar, chief trader of Fort de Seviere, came down
the main way between the cabins, passing alone between the rows of the
populace, and went forward to the lading to receive the guests.
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