The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-04-20

American officer.
EYES, SIR" responded the policeman.
They're bad lot. Where is your escort sta
tioned?"
The trooper smiled family under his mustache
"Why, Scott's having his horse shod, and guess
Murrays over getting drink They'll be along in
a minute
And when presently Scott and Murray came
placidly the scene, that troop of cavalry sat on
their horses and watched the band of Indians they
had so carefully guarded. depart over the yellow
prairie under the charge of three men.
The American officer watched them dwindle to
a dot across the level. Then his feelings found
speech. well, I'm damned" he said And the
troop rode away
Again, old Piea-pot and several hundred Of his
tribe making serious trouble along the rail-
lice promptly rode out to the Indian village with
order for the tribe to break camp and take the trail
to the north, away from the line.
When the policeman explained the order to him,
Pie-a-pot laughed and turned away, The other In
dams jeered and discharged their guns In the air.
The two policemen sat still
Il will give you just Is minutes to comply with
the ORDER said the sergeant quietly,
When the Is minutes were up, he dismounted,
walked to the chiefs tepee, and with calm de-
liberation kicked out the key-pole of the lodge,
bringing the whole structure down-poles, bon
nets, drying SKINS kettles and all-in miscellane-
heap.
Pe-apot did deep and rapid thinking. A
gesture to his young men would have sent a hun
dred bullets into each of the quiet unruffed men
who systematically going through the camp.
kicking out the keypole OF each tepee. But the In
dams of the northwest had learned that sooner or
later justice done by the mounted police, and
Pie-apot never made that gesture He gave in.
and in sullen silence the camp collected its
bled effects and turned their ponies heads north
Not so fortunate was the attempt of Sergt Cole
brook to arrest fugitive Cree Indian named Al
mighty Voice.
Almighty Voice had stolen a steer, and Sergt.
Colebrook, with half-breed companion. rode across
the prairie to arrest him. The policeman IN
structed the halfbreed to tell the Indian that they
had come to arrest him, and that he must go with
them. The Cree replied: Tell him that If he ad-
vances will kill him"
Instantly the half-breed covered the Indian with
his rifle but Colebrook promptly ordered him to de-
sist, for Almighty Voice must be taken alive. Then
he rode deliberately forward upon the muzzle OF
the Cree's rife, and, sooner than submit to the
shame of arrest, Almighty Voice fired. A year Ia
ter, however, the Indian was surrounded tn phi
where he had taken refuge The police brought w
their field guns and shelled the pit killing Almighty
Voice and thus avenging Sergt Colebrook's death
The outcome of this incident served to prevent 50
rious trouble with the Indians, who were all In g
more or less sulky and unsettled mood at the time
How greatly the Indians have come to respect the
Just and impartial administration of the law by the
mounted police was shown when one of Mecastos
band escaped from the guardroom at Macleod aftel
having been tried by the police on charge of theft
and convicted When he returned to Mecastos
camp the chief who had attended the trial at which
the fugitive was convicted had been deeply i'm
pressed by the impartial nature of the proceeding
and by the fair administration of justice that h
promptly delivered him up again at the fort gate tt
the officer in command.
Perhaps the greatest achievement which the pc
lice ever undertook was accomplished when the!
persuaded Sitting Bull and his band of between
five and six thousand hostile Sioux to return AM
surrender to the United States authorities whel
they had taken refuge in Canada after the memol
able massacre Of Gen. Custer and his command
Commissioners from the United States had visite
Sitting Bull and had negotiated with the chief TO
his return and surrender. to no avail. The police
however, by infinite tact and diplomacy, and bf
cause in their previous transactions they had wO
the confidence of the Indians of the northwest. a
length succeeded in inducing Sitting Bull and hi
hostile braves to return peaceably to the Unite
States, an exploit of which any body of men Nigh
be proud.
When the Boer war broke out, England called 70
the mounted police to help her there. One-third q
them, practically the pick of the force, went ou
Very few of them ever came back. Many O
fered commissions, and some accepted. Whereve
there Is trouble, there the mounted police are tn
answer to the problem, they have been in ives
ern Canada for 30 years. from the time of the RE
rebellion up to to-day.
The story of the mounted has it's shadows Me
grew tired of the loneliness and deserted at times
men VINO ndu lOSC all-lOVe, nope, amDltlOn-Qu1etl
went away into the wilderness and blew out the
brains. The life unsettling; could ne
leave it and take up clerical work farming b.
cause adventures are not built that way.
But, shadows and all, the story of the Canada
mounted police is one of the most gorgeous tale
since the days of the Spanish Main. And the spi
1t of the force Is best embodied in that messaf
found scrawled on the orders of policeman WI
persisted in blizzard while making his way wit
dispatches to distant post. In his last momen
xu\kh bod HOW h~ hoL r,ul%ko
dead. Am trying to push ahead. Have done n
best"