by Ken Busato
Once we came to our lot, we pitched our tents and settled down to work right away. Even Liam had to do his equal share, whether it was chopping the fire wood, bringing fresh water from the river, or helping Papa to pull at the soil to get it ready for planting. Even Mama tried to help with the soil and with fishing in the river. All this work required a lot of strength, and the family needed to be well fed.
The most important need was to build a shelter to help protect us from the mosquitoes, cold nights, and violent rainfalls. I tried to do what I could to help, but much of the time I was forced to watch Calum and keep him out of harm’s way.
True to his word, Mr. Docherty helped us with our shelter. Chunks of grass and dirt were used to make the walls of our small colony house. The sod was stacked almost like bricks. It was thick, so it made the inside of our dark home cool, but it also attracted a lot of insects. We were given some wood to create a roof for our home which was also reinforced with bits of sod. When it was complete, it did not look like much, but it did protect us from the outside.
After a few weeks, it was clear to me Papa’s words could not have been truer. There was little luck with fishing. What fish we could catch were small and only good for making broth. Even more frustrating was the difficulty with the soil. Try as we could, it has been next to impossible to have our grain planted for a fall harvest.
The only thing we have been able to find in this land to eat is a type of potato called a prairie turnip. This vegetable seems to grow everywhere. It may not be much, but it at least is something to eat when there is little else. Every day, I take Calum out to gather some of these potatoes while the others work on our shelter and fields.
“Look at this,” Calum said one early morning as we went out to search for turnips. Now he has started to speak a little, it’s difficult to keep him quiet.
“What are you looking at Calum?” I gently asked as I walked over to where he was looking.
“Right here!” Pointing down, I saw the remains of a small animal, a grouse perhaps, covered in ants. Its fur was rotting, and its eyes were missing from their sockets. I immediately turned away from it in disgust. My little baby brother, however, could not seem to tear himself away from the brutal little corpse.
“Don’t touch it Calum. Leave it alone and give me your hand.”
As we walked away, I wondered to myself about what may have happened to that little animal. Unlike us, it has been here since birth. Did it die of old age without any family around? Maybe it couldn’t find anything to eat and had to die alone, cold, and starving?
A few nights later, I awoke in the middle of the night with a start. Thinking it a nightmare, I started to look around and listen to make sure I did not wake up anyone else. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a bad dream.
“Molly,” Papa commanded, “Make sure you look after your little brothers. Take this knife and use it if someone you do not know tries to come in.”
“What’s going on John?” Mama asked alertly as she quickly pulled herself off of the bed.
“I was afraid of this. They’re trying to give us a scare. You heard the gun shot right? But I will not scare. Willie, let’s get out there and get at these bastards for this.”
“I’m with you John. Let’s go.”
“Don’t do it,” Mama pleaded in a loud whisper as she reached out for Papa’s arm. “Don’t go and do anything to get yourself shot.”
“I don’t intend to,” Papa confidently replied as he grabbed at Mama’s hand to give it a squeeze. “Those men out there are trespassing and need to be set straight. That’s all.”
When the door opened, I could see a couple of lights flickering in the distance. Running towards the lights, Papa and Willie started to scream and curse wildly, like two feral animals unleashed from a painful trap and out looking for blood. Huddling closely with my brothers, I could hear the quick breathing of Liam and the quiet sobs of Calum, too young to understand why he was just woken up out of a peaceful sleep. “What’s going on Molly?” Liam quietly whispered in my ear.
“I don’t know, but I think the Metis are trying to scare us. They have no idea who they are up against. Once Papa gets a hold of one, he’ll make sure not to come around here again.”
“Did we do something wrong Molly?”
“No, we didn’t do anything wrong at all. All we’ve done is live in peace off of the land, and in return we have people pushing us off of it.”
A loud gun blast broke up our conversation. I let out a shriek fearing the worst, and Calum started to cry. Sitting on my knee, the poor boy started to wet himself as well. Mama tore open the door and called loudly for Papa and Willie to come back immediately.
“Get on!” Papa yelled out in the moonlit night towards the men who had come here to scare us. “Fiona, you get back in the house. These men have gone, but they may come back, and I don’t want you out here if that happens.”
“What have they done? Why was there a gun shot?”
“I can’t say for sure, just trying to put the scare in us. It looks like they may have tried to burn down our shed. Willie, we may as well head back inside and sit and wait.”
“We need to get some help,” Willie replied. “We need to chase after these buggers and give them a taste of what they are doing to us.” As he walked into the house, I could see the anger simmering behind my uncle’s eyes. He was ready to fight.
“They know the land better than you Willie,” Papa calmly responded. “Docherty’s house is too far away to get him. We’ll need to figure something out, but it will have to wait until morning.”
“By morning it might be too late, but I’ll take your advice John. But mark my words: if these hooligans come back, I’ll chase them all the way to hell if I have to.”
No one was going to go back to sleep easily tonight. I cleaned up Calum as best as I could while Mama stoked the embers in the fire to get the kettle going for a cup of tea. I was so scared I almost felt like I needed something a little bit stronger than tea.
Papa quietly started sipping his tea, thinking out loud about what we were going to do. “It was bad enough when those sheep herders came to Argyll and kicked us out of our croft. We are not going to have the same thing happen to us here.”
“We’ll need to organize,” Willie softly replied. “We’ll need to create a militia to defend our own. There are many good men here who would be willing to help out.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Papa replied, “But we all spend every waking hour just trying to survive. Do you think we have time to do this too?”
“It’s simple. We have to protect what is ours. We paid a huge price coming here. A price paid in sweat, tears, blood and death. No fur trader is going to get in the way of what I have paid for a hundred times over.”
“You’re damn right Willie, but before we take the law into our own hands, let’s find out from MacDonell if there are any plans put in place to help protect our land.”
As Papa and Willie talked quietly about what could be done, we heard voices approaching. Rushing up quickly from his chair, Willie tore open the door. In the slight moonlight, I thankfully made out the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Docherty and Angus.
“Robert, what are you doing here?” Papa exclaimed. “Let me guess, you were paid a visit tonight as well?”
Taking out a small flask from his pocket, Mr. Docherty took a long sip to calm his nerves. His hands were visibly shaking as he brought the flask to his lips. He was about to speak but his wife decided to answer.
“We had to leave and come here. It’s not safe where we are and now.”
“What happened Arwen?” Mama gently asked as she quickly poured her a cup of tea and gestured for her to sit down.
“We heard voices, French voices outside. I may not know many words, but I know what they were saying was no good. Robert yelled at them to go away, but there is not much you can do to defend yourself when they have a gun and you do not. When Rober
t opened the door, we could see our small shed was fully ablaze. The one thing that really troubled me was the look in their faces as they sat on horses close to the fire. I could see the paint on their faces. I don’t quite know what colours it was, but those men looked something fearful, like some kind of ghost sent from the devil himself.”
“Come now Arwen,” Mr. Docherty replied, “Don’t scare the Frasers with your wild talk of face paint and ghosts.”
“You saw it too Robert. Don’t deny those men were looking for a fight with that paint on their face?”
“It’s just paint Arwen,” Papa replied trying to calm her fears as well as my own. “I’m not worried about how they look. It’s what they are doing that disturbs me.”
“I know,” Mrs. Docherty replied. “That’s why we quietly made our way here after they rode off. I was scared walking here, but I think I would have been more scared to stay put and have those men come back again.”
“They don’t scare me,” Angus chimed in. “Let them come and I will hit them with my fists.”
Angus was dead serious, but his confident way made everyone laugh. He started to punch at the air in front of him, and soon my uncle was beside him doing the exact same thing. If anyone who was going to encourage fighting, it was going to be Willie.
“What do you intend to do when you see someone you think is causing you trouble?” my uncle playfully asked.
“I’m going to kick him between his legs, and when he’s on the ground I’ll kick him in the head.”
I looked over at Liam who was smiling brightly, proud his good friend could say such brave words. My uncle also seemed to marvel at how tough this little boy was. I know Liam and Angus play a lot of games together, games where they would fight and end up with scrapes, bruises and sometimes a bloody nose. Maybe those games might come in handy in the future.
After a while things started to settle in the house, and you could hear the soft sound of quiet breathing, of people sleeping a troubled sleep. With so many of us together we were safe, but what if these men came back in larger numbers? What if they decided to do more than simply try to scare us with a gun shot in the air and torches? Like Willie said, if we are going to survive as settlers in this new land, we’ll need more than just a shelter over our heads and food to fill our bellies: we’ll need to feel we are safe from harm. I know my family would protect me to the end, as would George. I hope that’s enough…