Page 47 of The Lady of Red River Valley (Ladies of the Wilderness #2)
Chapter Twenty
T he first blush of dawn hovered over the Kaministiquia River and Fort William in anticipation of a new day.
Arran stood quietly on the wharf, awaiting the signal to advance, seeing the fort for what it was: a sleeping giant.
Thankfully, it was not at full occupancy.
If it had been, Selkirk and his two hundred soldiers would not have a chance to overtake the headquarters of the North West Company.
Even now, it would take a miracle to do what Selkirk had in mind.
With his status as Justice of the Peace, he had come with arrest warrants for McGillivray, as well as eight other partners who were still at the fort. Once they were arrested, he fully intended to occupy Fort William.
“Constables?” Selkirk called to the two men he’d appointed to carry the warrants into the fort. Behind them stood nine armed guards, along with two hundred soldiers positioned along the riverbanks and around the fort at various gates. “When ye’re ready.”
The constables nodded and then walked toward the main gate leading into the fort. It was closed, as it often was overnight.
Arran stood beside Selkirk and his two commanding officers, Captain D’Orsonnens and Lieutenant Fauche.
The small army was well-trained and impressive in their red coats and black shakos, swords and muskets at the ready.
Arran himself had become armed once again.
He carried a musket and wore a sword in a scabbard at his side.
“You say Mr. McGillivray resides in the main hall?” Captain D’Orsonnens asked.
“Aye,” Arran answered. “And the others you’re looking for will be in the North West House to the left of the main hall.
” Arran had drawn a detailed map of the fort for their use.
He had told them where the Nor’westers kept their guns, ammunition, and cannons.
He’d also advised them where there were gates and the captain had ordered guards to watch the exits, in case anyone tried to escape.
The constables pushed on the main gate facing the river but met resistance. One of them pounded. “Allow us to enter, in the name of the Honorable Lord Thomas Douglas, 5 th Earl of Selkirk.”
“Nay!” came a cry from the opposite side. “Ye are not welcome in Fort William.”
“We demand you allow us entrance,” said the other constable. “We have arrest warrants for the partners of the North West Company.”
“Ye’ll not get in here.”
The first constable motioned for the armed guards to push down the gate.
Four guards banded together and became like a battering ram.
Several people cried out their alarm and anger from within the fort, but the guards were able to push their way past the gate.
“Stand back!” one of the guards said to the occupants of the fort. “Or meet your fate.”
“Ye have no right,” they cried.
“Gentlemen?” Selkirk asked. “Shall we enter?”
Captain D’Orsonnens nodded, indicating that Arran and Selkirk should proceed them.
A whole host of voyageurs, half-bloods, and Indians stood inside the fort, shouting profanity and warnings as the soldiers entered. Up ahead, the constables went in separate directions. One walked toward the main hall, while the other went to the North West House.
“I will need to set up a space to interview the offenders,” Lord Selkirk said to Arran. “Where might I be most comfortable?”
“In the main hall, my lord. There is space enough in there for your court.”
“Thank you, MacLean. I will expect you to be present for the proceedings, and to give your own testimony.”
“Aye.” Arran would happily tell Lord Selkirk, as well as the partners of the North West Company, the atrocities he’d seen in Assiniboia. He had shared some of it with Selkirk while they were in his tent, but there had not been time enough for the whole story.
“MacLean, why don’t you take some of the soldiers and bring your men to me?” Selkirk motioned to a small contingent of soldiers standing at the ready. “We shall see you in the main hall within a quarter hour.”
“Yes, my lord.” Arran did not waste another moment.
While Selkirk walked toward the main hall with Captain D’Orsonnens and Lieutenant Fauche, Arran led the soldiers to Bell House.
Several senior clerks were just rising when Arran entered the dormitory. Their eyes grew large at the sight of the de Meuron soldiers, but no one tried to stop them.
Arran opened the door into the room he occupied with his men. James sat at the table, while Heden and Archie were still lying in bed, and Pritchard and Burke were just finishing their morning ablutions.
“Arran!” James stood, a grin on his face. “We were afraid you’d come to a bitter end.”
“I’ve brought reinforcements.” Arran was just as happy to see his friends as they appeared to see him. “Even now, the partners are being arrested. Lord Selkirk will hold investigations in the main hall this morning. He has requested your attendance, so you may tell him your side of the story.”
“Mayhap we’ll finally be vindicated,” Pritchard said.
“Aye.” Arran had not felt this much hope in a long, long time. “The sooner we get these proceedings underway, the quicker we can return to our families at Jack River House.”
Heden slowly climbed from his bed. He’d grown melancholy over the weeks and did not show the same excitement as the others at being released.
Arran suspected that he and his wife had not been happy and that he was afraid she had taken up with another man in his absence.
Arran did not blame Heden for being reluctant to return to Assiniboia.
If Arran suspected that Eleanor had left him for another, he would not want to see them together, either.
The difference between him and Heden was that he would return and fight for her.
“Let’s hasten to the main hall,” James said to the men. “And have our redemption.” He slapped Arran on the shoulder.
The soldiers made quick work of overtaking the fort.
John McDonald, one of the partners, was the only person who tried resisting arrest. He declaimed the warrant for his arrest and said Lord Selkirk had no jurisdiction over the North West Company.
Surprisingly, McGillivray gave himself up without a fight.
In the dining hall, Arran sat at a table near Lord Selkirk with the other Red River men, while the partners and clerks sat at the tables behind them. Several armed soldiers stood guard inside and out, while the remainder kept watch over the stockade and yard.
For hours, Selkirk listened to Arran and his men give their testimonies.
He was patient and thorough and had everything written down and recorded by a scribe.
The room had grown overly warm and stuffy.
They opened the windows, but black flies invaded their space.
They buzzed around everyone’s heads, and there was an occasional slap of a hand against a tabletop in an attempt to kill one of the annoying creatures.
McGillivray and the partners sat stoically, their grave faces giving away nothing.
“Do you deny these charges?” Selkirk finally asked McGillivray after Arran and his men had exhausted their stories.
“I do.”
“Was it not you who authorized McLeod’s departure from Fort William with a hundred voyageurs to aid the Bois-Br?lés in their attempt to exterminate the colony?”
“I authorized his departure.” McGillivray nodded. “To ensure our holdings in the Red River Valley. McLeod remains there now.”
“What holdings?” Selkirk asked. “Rupert’s Land is owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company and I was granted the entire basin of the Red River Valley for settlement. It is your company that invades our holdings.”
“That is not the way of the west,” McGillivray said, his face red and his jowls shaking. “The land is owned by whoever has the power to control it. That has been the way of it since the beginning of time.”
Arran watched both parties closely. Tension was high and anger boiled at the surface.
Selkirk had gone through years of hard work and spent a vast part of his fortune to legally claim the land of the Red River Valley.
But the North West Company had spent years of hard work and a vast amount of money to control it, as well.
Neither would give in to the other unless forced.
“Are we not gentlemen? Do we not live by a chivalric code that honors law and order? Selkirk shook his head in disgust. “Lawlessness and selfish gain have led to the untimely death of good people. We must agree to live by the law or bloodshed will continue.”
McGillivray did not respond.
With a sigh, Selkird said, “It has come to my attention that you have attempted to destroy evidence in advance of our arrival.”
“I dinna ken what ye mean.” McGillivray looked down his nose at Selkirk.
The earl held up half-burnt papers. “These were found in the mess-room kitchen. From what I can see, they are letters with directions to exterminate the settlers at Red River, using whatever means necessary. This is enough evidence to bring you to trial for the deaths of twenty-three Red River men, including the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company. ”
McGillivray did not speak.
“And my men have told me that large quantities of firearms and ammunition have been removed from the fort. I can only assume they are being held in reserve to make an attack on me and my men.”
McGillivray only stared.
“I have issued a search-for-arms warrant,” Selkirk added. “Already, my men have located eight barrels of gunpowder lying in a swampy place near the fort. It was evident where it was hidden from the newly trampled grass.”
Still, McGillivray did not speak.