women." The women tossed their heads haughtily.

"We do what is right," they said, "and they can slander
us if they will. We shall not prove, perhaps, so easy a
prey to those white gallants as they seem to suppose."
One high-spirited girl, and very beautiful, vowed that
during the run of her life, she never would speak to a
white man for this insult, or let him see her face. Yet,
if the gossip is to be trusted, before the flowers bloomed
thrice, after that, upon the prairie, she was sighing
her sweet soul away, through her great gazelle eyes, for
love of a sturdy young Englishman, who had taken up his
abode upon the plains. And better than all the young
fellow married her, and she is now one of the happiest,
not to say one of the prettiest, women in Manitoba.
Strong words of determination by a young woman are the
most conclusive evidence that I know of the weakening of
her resolve.

But Messrs Snow and Mair went on with their creditable
work, and to their other good deeds it was alleged they
added that of grabbing choice plots of land.

These two men were, of course, known to be the accredited
agents of the Minister of Public Works; and Riel succeeded
in convincing the credulous people that the Minister,
indeed the whole government, were cognizant of their acts
and approved of the same. "While public indignation was
at its height, it was announced that a Lieutenant-Governor
had been appointed for Red River, and that the man chosen