The Third Riel Conspiracy Read Free

Steele and the other men of the North West Mounted Police were called together to serve as scouts for a company of men that would march north from Calgary and then east from Fort Edmonton to confront the rebels. Steele had stepped off the train at Calgary’s new station to a cheering crowd. Durrant had approached him late that evening at the barracks in Fort Calgary. Now, standing in the driving rain, he recalled the meeting with his superior.
    â€œYOU ASKED TO see me, sir?” Durrant held his sealskin hat in his left hand, his deformed, frostbitten right hand leaning on his silver-handled cane. He was dressed in the scarlet serge he rarely wore during regular undertakings. Durrant reported daily to Sub-Inspector Dewalt, Fort Calgary’s deputy commander, but it was to Steele that Durrant owed his allegiance.
    â€œGood of you to come, Sergeant. Sit if you like. I see you’ve given up with the crutch.”
    â€œYes, sir, except in the worst weather.”
    â€œAnd the cane?”
    â€œA gift from Garnet Moberly. He came by it after our time in Holt City. It seems that its previous owner felt a certain indebtedness to Mr. Moberly, who had no need for it.”
    â€œIndeed.” Steele stood and placed his reading glasses on the ledger laid open on the desk. He trimmed the wick on the oil lamp, and the sparse room brightened. Steele could see the scars that marred Durrant’s countenance, a grim reminder of his having been left for dead on the prairie during the bitter winter of 1881.
    â€œI can’t take you with me, Durrant.”
    Durrant tried not to betray his disappointment.
    â€œGeneral Strange, who is leading the Alberta Field Force, will have nothing to do with it and Sub-Inspector Dewalt says he can’t spare you. I know that you and Dewalt have never seen eye to eye,” continued Steele.
    â€œHe did everything in his power to prevent my reinstatement after my . . .  convalescence ,” Durrant said. “If he had had his way, I’d still be collecting the post and taking the census. I’d be an errand boy.”
    â€œ I ruled that day, and the decision to reinstate was mine. You earned it. But he’s your superior officer at Fort Calgary. If General Strange was on side, it would be another matter. He doesn’t know you as I do, Durrant.”
    â€œI understand. Thank you for delivering the news in person, sir. Better to hear it from you than from Dewalt.” Durrant stood and turned to go.
    â€œDurrant,” said the superintendent, his eyes bright in the light of the lamp. Durrant stopped and looked back. “I’ll find a way to get you into this. I promise you that. It’s just not going to be with the Scouts.”
    â€œI appreciate that.”
    â€œDon’t thank me, Sergeant. Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont are powerful, intelligent, and driven men, not to be trifled with. These ranchers and policemen I’ll be leading know this country, and are handy with their Winchesters, but the boys that are coming by train from Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax are not soldiers. Blood may well be spilled. I just hope that cooler heads prevail.”
    â€œI wouldn’t count on it, Superintendant.”
    â€œNor would I, Durrant.”
    IT HAD TAKEN Steele just two days to assemble his Scouts, but he had to wait for General Strange to form up his regulars, so it was more than a week before the entire Alberta Field Force could march north to Fort Edmonton. Once they had left, there was only a handful of North West Mounted Police left to watch over the rough city.
    At long last the man Durrant had been waiting for emerged. He yelled a good night to his companions in the bar and staggered down the muddy street.
    Durrant watched a moment and then, his crutch under his right arm for support, stepped down into the road and carefully crossed to the wooden plank sidewalk on the far side. The mud pulled at his prosthetic and the rain