A Reunion and a Battle

Previously:

Meanwhile—three columns were converging on the Stockade…

From the North…

From the West…

And from the South…

THIS—could get—INTERESTING!

Season 8—Chapter 7—Traders—Episode 3:

Meanwhile—Chris, Boomer and Grey Wolf went outside… They each had a premonition—Boomer felt the presence of Daisy, Chris, of Buttons and Grey Wolf, of battle—somewhere. Not one of them could explain their feelings and yet—all three excused themselves from the meeting, separately, and found themselves together outside the stockade.

They stood in silence…

They stood in silence, Chris and Boomer looking south along the road and Grey Wolf gazing to the north, head cocked first to one side and then the other—listening.

The minutes dragged on, fifteen, then twenty—a half-hour. They made small-talk with one or another of them making a comment about something, and the others commenting; more because it was expected than to contribute to the conversation. Had they be asked what they discussed (they weren’t), not one of them would have remembered any part of the conversation—until “Buttons is coming!”

“Buttons is coming!”

Boomer looked down the road at the exact moment he heard a familiar, and loud, beagle’s bay announcing the appearance of a long-legged beagle running as fast as she could, a pair of labrador retrievers, one brown and one yellow, and finally a small white dog and a low-slung black dog wagging their tails and announcing their presence with a cocaphony of barks, bays, yips and happy whines.

They must have sensed where their humans were as Pepper, Alice and Benji ran straight for the trading post inside the stockade, and Daisy and Buttons straight to Boomer and Chris.

The dogs were followed by a column of mounties, led by Inspector MacIntyre, who immediately took note of the new signs quickly made announcing the change of ownership of the stockade, “Noo that’s a fayer sign, it is.”

Just as Larry joined Chris and company, Grey Wolf raised his hand, “Listen! I hear war-drums to the north. There is a battle…”

At the same time—a mile north of the stockade… There was indeed a battle occurring—Enyeto (Walks as Bear) war chief of the Missisauga First Nation people living nearby, had had enough of the whiskey trade, and reluctantly decided to put an end to it violently, as parley had failed.

The battle lasted less than five minutes—there were no casualties among the Missisauga warriors, and only three whiskey-traders fell wounded. Walks as Bear let the surviors escape—towards Fort Reliance. The Missiswauga would bring the wounded to the stockade.

The battle lasted less than five minutes…

To be Continued…