Free The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault Page B

a parishioner of mine, and a friend. He is a good man, honest and God-fearing, and I don’t wish to impugn him with my words.”
    Durrant leaned forward and rested his forearms on his legs. He looked up at the priest. “Father, Mr. La Biche has told me that on May the ninth he allowed himself to be captured for the sole purpose of entering the zareba of the Dominion Field Force to kill Reuben Wake.” The priest sat back and shook his head. “Do you doubt the veracity of my claim?”
    â€œNo. No, I do not.”
    â€œWhat I have not told you, sir, is that he insists that while he had every intention of killing Mr. Wake, he did not get his chance.”
    â€œHe says that someone beat him to it,” said Saul.
    â€œWhat can you tell us that might support Mr. La Biche’s story?” asked Durrant.
    â€œReuben Wake had many sins,” the priest began. “He has been a man of trickery, evil deeds, and many crimes over his sixty years. Mr. La Biche has known of this man’s foul nature for much of the last twenty years, but alas, La Biche is new to our congregation, and to Batoche, and so we have not had the benefit of his long history with this man to guide us. Despite this long list of complaints against Wake, I believe that it is the man’s most recent act of deception and evil that would cause Mr. La Biche to wish to end his life.
    â€œWhen Gabriel Dumont went to Sun River last May to call back his leader to advocate for the rights of the Métis, he took but a few trusted men with him. These were men who had been in the service of his cause for many years. The preparations were arduous, but when it came time to leave, the teamster for the journey could not be found. They searched everywhere, but he had disappeared.
    â€œWith time running short and other matters pressing on their minds, another man was asked to serve the mission. This was a man who had been in and around our community for some time, but that few in this area knew well. This was Reuben Wake.
    â€œAt the time, we knew him as a driver and agent who brought goods by wagon train to Batoche from Regina. He had proven himself trustworthy, and Dumont, in need of a man to handle the stock on the overland journey, brought this man into the fold for the mission to return Riel to the North West.
    â€œDumont and the others had more pressing concerns than the lineage of the teamster tending the horses: how they would get back and forth across the border, if the Red Coats . . . if the Mounted Police would allow their passage, and what response they would get when they finally met with Riel in Montana. He had been in exile all these years. A schoolteacher, with a family! They never suspected that they had signed on an agent of the enemy whose sole purpose was to undermine their efforts, both in convincing Riel and in securing safe passage.”
    â€œDid they learn of Wake’s true purpose?” Saul’s excitement was apparent.
    â€œNot until it was too late. They got as far as Sun River before they learned of Wake’s ploy.”
    â€œWhat happened in Sun River?” asked Durrant.
    â€œI’m not sure. Those who returned have vowed not to speak of it.”
    â€œWake did not return to Batoche after that?” asked Durrant.
    â€œNo! All I know is that Riel and the others returned, and Wake was never seen here again, until he arrived with the Dominion soldiers. There were rumours . . .”
    â€œWhat sort of rumours?”
    â€œI don’t know. Whispers, really, that something happened while Wake was in Sun River. But none have spoken of it. Terrance La Biche came to live among us late in July and he told us the story of Wake’s long history of evil stretching to a time when Wake was an Indian Agent on the Dakota reserve. He had violent ways in Winnipeg and Regina.”
    â€œYou don’t know what might have transpired in Sun River,