One of the most appealing incidents in the Rebellion of 1885 is the
gallant way in which Captain Seager ran the steamer Northcote through
a gauntlet of fire in order to join up with General Middleton at Batoche.
If an Archibald Forbes or a Philip Gibbs had witnessed it, it would per-
haps have been enshrined in history as one of our gallant British Empire
deeds. The event is little known now-a-days and is seldom recalled. The
Northcote had been ordered by General Middleton to join him at Batoche
at a certain hour on the morning of the 9th of May ('85). The General
was a little late, and the Northcote had to run the gauntlet.unaided, while
the rebels who lined both sides of the river were able to concentrate on
the boat. The pilot house of the boat had been barricaded with some ordi-
nary lumber and some port holes made in her hold. When the Northcote