It thus came about that when the
Colonists arrived there were two Traders' Houses, on the site of the
City of Winnipeg of to-day, within a mile of one another, one
representing a New World, and the other an Old World type of mercantile
life. It was plain that on the Plains of Rupert's Land there would come
a struggle for the possession of power, if not for very existence.
CHAPTER II.
"A SCOTTISH DUEL."
Inasmuch as this tale is chiefly one of Scottish and of Colonial life,
the story of the movement from Old Kildonan, on the German Ocean, to New
Kildonan, on the Western Prairies--we may be very sure, that it did not
take place without irritation and opposition and conflict. The Scottish
race, while possessing intense earnestness and energy, often gains its
ends by the most thoroughgoing animosity. In this great emigration
movement, there were great new world interests involved, and champions
of the rival parties concerned were two stalwart chieftains, of
Scotland's best blood, both with great powers of leadership and both
backed up with abundant means and strongest influence. It was a
duel--indeed a fight, as old Sir Walter Scott would say, "a
l'outrance"--to the bitter end.
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