XL CONCLUSION

As guests of Joseph Renville, French bois brulé, and Colonel Jeffries, Scotchman, partners of the Columbia Fur Company, the Brabant-Perier party remained at Lake Traverse for more than a week. Guided to the spot by Louis, Renville himself went to find the abandoned carts. The vehicles were where the boys had left them, but empty and so badly wrecked that the remains were good for nothing but firewood. Tatanka Wechacheta’s band was gone. From the appearance of the camp ground, the Wahpetons’ departure had been a hurried one. Scar Face and his Ojibwas had vanished also. No doubt they had returned full speed to their own country, satisfied with their revenge and a scalp or two.

Stripped of practically all of their belongings, the Brabants and Periers were obliged to run in debt to the traders for supplies and equipment for the rest of the journey. The boys agreed,—if they could pay the debt no other way,—to work it out the next winter. With that arrangement the partners seemed satisfied.

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Of the remainder of the long journey overland and down the St. Peter,—as the Minnesota River was called in those days,—to the Mississippi, there is no room here to tell. The trip was not without hardship and adventure. Fort St. Anthony,—later to be renamed Fort Snelling,—at the junction of the St. Peter with the Mississippi, was reached at last. There a disappointment awaited the immigrants. St. Antoine, in his talks with them, had not overstated the beauty and attractiveness of the country, but his assurance that they might take possession of whatever land they chose was an error. The country was not yet open to settlement. They might squat on or near the military reservation, they found, but could not obtain title to the land or be sure of undisturbed possession. They were treated with kindness at the fort, but were not encouraged to settle near by. Instead, they were advised to go on down the Mississippi.

Neil had a chance to join a party just setting out for the Red River. After parting with him, the others went on again, traveling by river in an open boat not unlike the York boats that had taken them from Fort York to Fort Douglas. At Prairie du Chien, on the east side of the river, they disembarked. Prairie du Chien was in what was then Michigan Territory, but later became Wisconsin. The little settlement resembled Pembina in that many of its people were French Canadians and bois brulés. There were, however, some Americans who had come from farther east. There were good farms and a military post. It was not necessary at Prairie du Chien to depend entirely on hunting for a living.

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There the weary immigrants decided to try to make homes for themselves. They made friends at once, who helped them to get a start, and prospects seemed more encouraging than in the Red River Colony. The Brabants showed no desire to return, and certainly the Periers and Walter did not want to. When, late in the autumn, Louis and Walter left the settlement to work out the family debts to the Columbia Fur Company, they went well assured that those left behind would be comfortable and well cared for. Other families of the Swiss had already left the Red River and more followed, including the Scheideckers, in the next and succeeding years. Like the Periers, they took the long journey to the Mississippi, and settled at the junction of that river with the St. Peter or lower down its course in what was to become Wisconsin and Illinois.

The Brabants and the Periers had their ups and downs, but on the whole they prospered. In time Mr. Perier’s dream of an apothecary shop in the new land came true. He even had his herb garden, started from the few packets of seeds he had carried in his pockets during all his wanderings. Walter became a successful farmer on his own land and married Elise, as he had dreamed of doing. Little Max was ambitious to be a physician. He helped in his father’s shop and went to school, until he was old enough to go east to study medicine.

Louis and his mother were land owners also, but farming was less to Louis’ taste than following the river. He found employment on a Mississippi steamboat, became a skilled pilot, and in time owned the boat he captained. Of all the boys Raoul was the only one to follow the fur trade. As a clerk and trader with the American Fur Company, he traveled and traded over much of the northwest. The Brabant girls grew into bright, attractive women. Marie married a Canadian settler, Jeanne, a merchant and trader.

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Of Neil the others heard nothing for several years. Then, after the disastrous Red River flood of 1826 that almost destroyed the Selkirk Colony, he appeared at Prairie du Chien. His father still refused to leave Kildonan, but Neil had decided to emigrate to the United States. He took up land in Wisconsin, and afterwards, when the Indian lands of Minnesota were opened to settlement, moved to the Minnesota valley.

The bonds of friendship and understanding which had been knit by the long journey together and the perils and hardships undergone, remained firm and strong between the Periers, and Rossels, and Brabants, and MacKays. Even after all had their separate homes and families, they enjoyed many a reunion when they recalled the old days and told children and grandchildren of the long and perilous journey from the Red River to the Mississippi.

THE END

[320]

MYSTERY AND ADVENTURE BOOKS FOR BOYS

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Colored jackets. Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.

SOUTH FROM HUDSON BAY, by E. C. Brill

A thrilling tale of the coming of settlers from France and Switzerland to the wilderness of the Prairie country of the Red River district, and the adventures of three boys who find themselves entangled in the fate of the little colony.

THE SECRET CACHE, by E. C. Brill

The father of two boys, a fur hunter, has been seriously injured by an Indian. Before he dies he succeeds in telling the younger son about a secret cache of valuable furs. The directions are incomplete but the boys start off to find the Cache, and with the help of men from a nearby settlement capture the Indian and bring him to justice.

THE ISLAND OF YELLOW SANDS, by E. C. Brill

An exciting story of Adventure in Colonial Days in the primitive country around Lake Superior, when the forest and waters were the hunting ground of Indians, hunters and trappers.

LOST CITY OF THE AZTECS, by J. A. Lath

Four chums find a secret code stuck inside the binding of an old book written many years ago by a famous geologist. The boys finally solve the code and learn of the existence of the remnant of a civilized Aztec tribe inside an extinct crater in the southern part of Arizona. How they find these Aztecs, and their many stirring adventures makes a story of tremendous present-day scientific interest that every boy will enjoy.

[321]

SORAK JUNGLE SERIES

By HARVEY D. RICHARDS

The name Sorak means War Cry in the Malay country. He grows up among the most primitive of the Malay aborigines, and learns to combat all the terrors of the jungle with safety. The constant battle with nature’s forces develop Sorak’s abilities to such an extent that he is acknowledged the chief warrior in all his section of the jungle.

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in color. Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.

1. SORAK OF THE MALAY JUNGLE or How Two Young Americans Face Death and Win a Friend

Two boys, Dick and Jack Preston are shipwrecked off the Malay Peninsula and are rescued by Sorak. Their adventures in trying to get back to civilization make an absorbing story.

2. SORAK AND THE CLOUDED TIGER or How the Terrible Ruler of the North Is Hunted and Destroyed

A huge clouded tiger, almost human, leads a pack of red dholes into Sorak’s country, and it takes all of Sorak’s ingenuity, and the aid of his friends to exterminate the pack.

3. SORAK AND THE SULTAN’S ANKUS or How a Perilous Journey Leads to a Kingdom of Giants

Sorak and his friends are trapped by a herd of elephants, and finally run away with by the leader to an unknown valley where a remnant of Cro-Magnan race still exists. Their exciting adventures will hold the reader enthralled until the last word.

4. SORAK AND THE TREE-MEN or the Rescue of the Prisoner Queen

Captured by a band of Malay slavers, Sorak and his friends are wrecked on an island off the coast of Burma in the Mergui Archipelago. Their escape from the island with the Prisoner Queen after a successful revolution brings the fourth book of this series to an exciting and unusual conclusion.

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TOP NOTCH DETECTIVE STORIES

By WILLIAM HALL

Each story complete in itself

A new group of detective stories carefully written, with corking plots; modern, exciting, full of adventure, good police and detective work.

Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in color. Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.

1. SLOW VENGEANCE or the Mystery of Pete Shine

A young newspaper man, whose brother is on the police force, becomes strangely involved in the mysterious killing of an Italian bootblack. Suspicion points to a well-known politician but he proves that it was impossible for him to have done the deed. Then the reporter, who for a time turns detective, gets a clue revolving about a startling, ancient method of combat. He follows this up, watches a masked duelist and, with the help of a girl, catches the murderer who justifies his deed on the plea of Slow Vengeance. You will be interested in reading how the reporter got out of a tight corner.

2. GREEN FIRE or Mystery of the Indian Diamond

A golf caddy who has a leaning toward amateur detective work, together with his younger cousin, are accidentally mixed up in the strange loss, or theft, of a valuable diamond, known as Green Fire. It was once the eye of an East Indian idol. To clear his young cousin of suspicion, the older boy undertakes to solve the mystery which deepens when one man disappears and another is found murdered on the golf course. But, by a series of clever moves on the part of the young sleuth, the crime is solved and the diamond found in a most unusual hiding place. A rapidly moving, exciting tale. You will like it.

3. HIDDEN DANGER or The Secret of the Bank Vault

A young detective, who, in his private capacity, has solved several mysteries, decides to open an office in another city. He meets a young bank clerk and they become partners just when the clerk’s bank is mysteriously bombed and the cashier is reported missing. It is not until next day that it is discovered that the bank vault has been entered in some secret manner and a large sum stolen. The regular detectives declared “spirits” must have robbed the bank but the two young detectives prove that a clever gang did it and also kidnapped the aged cashier. Not a dull page from first to last. A clever story.

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NORTHWEST STORIES

By LeROY W. SNELL

A new group of stories laid in the Canadian Northwest by Mr. Snell, a master writer of the glories and the thrilling adventures of the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. Each book is an individual story, well written, beautifully bound, and contains a story that all boys will enjoy.

Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in color. Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.

1. THE LEAD DISK

Tom Baley, leaving college goes north into Canada, hoping to join the Northwest Mounted Police. His application is turned down by his own uncle, an officer on the force, but after many thrilling adventures and encounters with the Disk Gang he is able to win the coveted uniform.

2. SHADOW PATROL

Luke Myers is sent into the Caribou Mountains to solve the mystery of The Shadow, about whom many conflicting stories are told. There are struggles with the outlaws, and finally a great running battle down the fog-obscured mountain trails ... at the end of which the outlaws are captured and the mystery of The Shadow is solved.

3. THE WOLF CRY

Donald Pierce is sent to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance, into the unmapped barrens where King Stively weaves his web of wickedness, and rules a territory the size of a small empire with a ruthlessness and cunning that baffles the best of the Mounted Police. Behind all is the dread Wolf Cry which causes brave men to shudder....

4. THE SPELL OF THE NORTH

Sergeant David Stanlaw, stationed at Spirit River, is puzzled by a local killing, the disappearance of the body, the finding of a code message, and by the mystery of the “Listening Forest,” which casts a shadow of dread over the little town of Wiggin’s Creek. With the help of Jerry Bartlett they capture the leaders of the gang and solve the mystery of the “Listening Forest.”

5. THE CHALLENGE OF THE YUKON

Robert Wade whose patrol runs from Skagway on Chattam Strait north into the Yukon country follows in the wake of a stampede to a new gold strike. With the aid of his friend, Jim MacPhail, Wade frustrates the Outlaws, who try to trap the whole town behind the “Pass of the Closing Door,” and then races them to and across the breaking ice floes of the Yukon. A strong adventure story all boys will enjoy.

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THE BOMBA BOOKS

By ROY ROCKWOOD

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With Colored jacket. Price 50 cents per volume. Postage 10 cents additional.

Bomba lived far back in the jungles of the Amazon with a half-demented naturalist who told the lad nothing of his past. The jungle boy was a lover of birds, and hunted animals with a bow and arrow and his trusty machete. He had only a primitive education, and his daring adventures will be followed with breathless interest by thousands.

1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY

2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING MOUNTAIN

3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT CATARACT

4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND

5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED CITY

6. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON TERROR TRAIL

7. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE SWAMP OF DEATH

8. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE SLAVES

9. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON THE UNDERGROUND RIVER

10. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE LOST EXPLORERS

11. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN A STRANGE LAND

12. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AMONG THE PYGMIES

13. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE CANNIBALS

14. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE PAINTED HUNTERS

15. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE RIVER DEMONS

16. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AND THE HOSTILE CHIEFTAIN

These books may be purchased wherever books are sold Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York