He fell likewise without uttering
a cry, and made no stir. When found afterwards there were
two bullet holes in his head, and an arrow lay lodged in
his breast. [Footnote: This fact I get from correspondence
to the Ottawa _Free Press_, a newspaper which, under the
great journalistic enterprise of Mr. J. T. Hawke, has
kept the people at the Capital well informed from day to
day on affairs at the scene of tumult.] Two other persons
were surprised in the same way, and shot down like dogs,
making a total of eleven slaughtered.
The first official confirmation of the dreadful tragedy
was given in a despatch, sent from Fort Pitt to Sir John
Macdonald, by police inspector Dickens, a son of the
immortal novelist.
CHAPTER XIII.
Perhaps, of all the acts of bravery recorded during this
late Rebellion, not one stands out more prominently than
that of Inspector Dickens, in resisting, with his little
force, a large band of blood-thirsty Crees, till he would,
with advantage and honour, retire from his ground. Fort
Pitt stands in the centre of the Cree country, and was
the scene of the treaty between the Government and the
Crees, Chippewayans, Assinniboines and the Chippewas.
There was great difficulty at the time in concluding the
terms of the treaty. Big Bear, who reigns supreme in the
district, and who was spokesman at the treaty, maintained
that hanging ought to be abolished, and the buffalo
protected.
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