CHAPTER VIII.
NO SURRENDER.
The crisis has come.

The Colony seems to be blotted out.

The affair may appear small, being nothing more than the defence of the smithy, with one gun and the most primitive contrivances, yet as Mercutio says of his wound: "'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but it is enough." The plucky McLeod, with three men held his fort and though the dusky Bois-brules on their prairie ponies for a time hovered about yet they did not dare to approach the spiteful little field piece.

The Metis soon betook themselves westward to their own district of Qu'Appelle.
The danger being over for the present, John McLeod began to restore the Colony buildings and even to aim at greater things than had been before.
One of the most discouraging things in connection with the Selkirk Colony was the long sea voyage and the difficult land-journey necessary, not only to gain assistance, but even to receive information from the founder in Britain for the guidance of the officers in Red River settlement.

This being the case McLeod could not wait for orders and so as being temporarily in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company district at Red River, he planned a fort and proceeded at once to build a portion of it.