Since coming to the Ottawa he had heard of the big Macdonald, and he sought to meet him.

But Macdonald avoided him once and again till LeNoir, having never known any one avoiding a fight for any reason other than fear, proclaimed Macdonald a coward, and himself "de boss on de reever." Now there was a chance of meeting his rival and of forcing a fight, for the Glengarry camp could not be far away where the big Macdonald himself would be.
So Dan Murphy, backed up with numbers, and the boss bully LeNoir, determined that for these Macdonald men the day of settlement had come.

But they were dangerous men, and it would be well to take all precautions, and hence his friendly invitation to the tavern for drinks.
Macdonald Dubh, scorning to show hesitation, though he suspected treachery, strode after Murphy to the tavern door and through the crowd of shanty-men filling the room.

They were as ferocious looking a lot of men as could well be got together, even in that country and in those days--shaggy of hair and beard, dressed out in red and blue and green jerseys, with knitted sashes about their waists, and red and blue and green tuques on their heads.

Drunken rows were their delight, and fights so fierce that many a man came out battered and bruised to death or to life-long decrepitude.