Gentlemen of the North

Gentlemen of the North (1920)
by Hugh Pendexter

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[Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1920. Frontispiece by Ralph Pallen Coleman.] The time is when the fur trade wars between the North West Company and the X. Y. Company was at its peak, and no trick was too dirty for them. The protagonists—a young lad and lady in the opposing camps—have problems aplenty; including drunken Chippewas and Creed (drunk on the rum exchanged for the fur). But these are the "peaceful" Indians; out there are marauding gangs of the utterly savage Sioux and Cheyennes, just waiting...

Almost all the Indians named in the story were real characters. Old Tabashaw was killed by a Sioux war-party at Wild Rice River in the winter of 1807. Eshkebugecoshe, or Flat Mouth, chief of the Pillager Chippewas, was about thirty years old at the time of the story, and was one of Henry's hunters on Red River. He is credited with influencing the Chippewas to cease their practice of poisoning, and he refused to fight against the United States in 1812. —from the Preface

2932783Gentlemen of the North1920Hugh Pendexter

GENTLEMEN OF
THE NORTH

HUGH PENDEXTER

"I seized her hand and waited a second to make sure I was right"

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

YOUNG FISHERMEN; Or, The King Of Smugglers' Island

YOUNG LOGGERS; Or, The Gray Axeman Of Mt. Crow

YOUNG SEA-MERCHANTS; Or, After Hidden Treasure

TIBERIUS SMITH

YOUNG GEM-HUNTERS; Or, The Mystery Of The Haunted Camp

THE YOUNG TIMBER-CRUISERS; Or, Fighting The Spruce Pirates

YOUNG WOODSMEN; OR, Running Down The Squawtooth Gang

YOUNG TRAPPERS; Or, The Quest Of The Giant Moose

RED BELTS

Gentlemen
of the North

By
Hugh Pendexter

Frontispiece
by
Ralph Pollen Coleman

Garden City ⁠ New York
Doubleday, Page & Company 1920

TO
HUGH PENDEXTER, Jr.
GOOD PAL, GOOD SON,
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED

PREFACE

IN building this story I have made use of the following books for colour and historical facts: Alexander Henry's Journal, edited by the late Dr. Elliott Coues; "Lewis and Clark's Expedition," Chittenden's "American Fur Trade," H. H. Brackenridge's journal of his Missouri trip in 1811. Almost all the Indians named in the story were real characters. Old Tabashaw was killed by a Sioux war-party at Wild Rice River in the winter of 1807. Eshkebugecoshe, or Flat Mouth, chief of the Pillager Chippewas, was about thirty years old at the time of the story, and was one of Henry's hunters on Red River. He is credited with influencing the Chippewas to cease their practice of poisoning, and he refused to fight against the United States in 1812. Le Borgne is drawn after descriptions given by Brackenridge, members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Henry and others. For the sake of speeding up the action I have forced the coalition of the N. W. and the X. Y. companies by a few months. The merger was completed on November 5, 1804, and the winter express brought the news to Henry at the Pembina post on January 1, 1805.

Hugh Pendexter.

January 5, 1920.
Norway, Maine.

chapter page
I. The Ice Goes Out 3
II. The Brigade Goes Out 26
III. The Stolen Voice 51
IV. Superstition Versus Rum 66
V. The River Sets a Trap 85
VI. Besieged 113
VII. The Sioux Receive Reinforcements 121
VIII. We Meet Black Cat's People 137
IX. At the Mlnnetaree Village 162
X. Le Borgne Plans A Feast 187
XI. The Pillager Shakes the Calf's Tail 212

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1920, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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Gentlemen of the North

PREFACE

CONTENTS