of which is very well known to the reader, was one of
the unhappiest of men. Besides the matter at his heart
he lived hourly in mortal dread of bodily harm. In the
dead of night he would waken, start suddenly from his
bed and clutch at some garment hanging upon the wall,
deeming the thing to be an assassin. Mr. Begg says that
one day he went out to call upon one Charles Nolin, for
the purpose of effecting a reconciliation. While he was
sitting in the house eating supper, a man having a gun
passed the window; upon which Riel suddenly threw down
his knife and fork, and declared that he was about to be
shot. Nolin answered that he never would be shot in his
house, and immediately went out to see who the man was.
It appears that he was an Indian, seeking the way to a
comrade's lodge, and perfectly innocent of any murderous
intention. Almost immediately after this had occurred,
about forty men from the Fort arrived, and accompanied
Riel back to his quarters. His terror was so oppressive,
that he was threatened with an attack of brain fever.

Sixty miles from Fort Garry was a settlement known as
Prairie Portage. The inhabitants to a considerable extent
consisted of whitemen, and English and Scotch half-breeds.
When news reached this community that the Disturber had
taken sixty prisoners and locked them up in Fort Garry,
a feeling of the deepest indignation took possession of
all. A number of the settlers called upon Major Boulton,
a gentleman who had at one time been a captain in the
10th Regiment, and spoke to him in this wise: