The Outlaw by Roger Pocock (1914)

Name: The Outlaw
Author: Roger Pocock

The Outlaw by Roger Pocock recounts the story of Charcoal, a Blood warrior also known as Bad-Young-Man, whose acts of violence in 1896 set off one of the most remarkable manhunts in the history of the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. The trouble begins when Charcoal returns from a hunting trip to find his wife, the Marmot, with another warrior named Medicine-Pipe-Stem. Exercising what the Blood tribe regards as his warrior's right to defend his honor, Charcoal shoots Medicine-Pipe-Stem dead. The tribe considers the killing justified, and its members are prepared to stand by Charcoal regardless of what the agent or the police may do under white man's law. Three weeks pass before the body is discovered, and a despatch brings the news to Superintendent Steele at Fort MacLeod. When word reaches Charcoal at the ration house that he has been betrayed to the police by agent Mr. Wilson, he resolves on revenge. That evening he waits outside Wilson's house, watches the shadows moving across the window blinds, and fires when he sees Wilson's silhouette, wounding the agent in the thigh. The household extinguishes the lamps, hides Wilson behind the front door, and sends for help. The following morning Charcoal walks openly into the house with his rifle to finish what he started, but fails to find his victim concealed behind the open door and rides away into the hills. Colonel S. B. Steele commands D Troop, one hundred seventy men described as among the finest riders on the continent, and organizes a relentless pursuit across a district roughly ninety miles square. Guards are posted at all passes through the Rocky Mountains, and strong patrols comb the foothills, bush, gorges, boulder fields, and prairie without pause. The Blood and Piegan tribes use every skill of Indian craft to shelter the fugitive, and a flood of false rumors continually misleads the police. Inspector Jervis and his detachment drive themselves to the edge of collapse yet press on when fresh sightings are reported. For weeks Charcoal travels with the Marmot, and the couple turn the hunt to their advantage by following the police patrols so as to know exactly when and where the pursuers rest. They steal exhausted police horses and ride them an additional forty miles, and later steal fresh chargers directly from the stable at Boundary Creek detachment. Eventually the police discover Charcoal's winter camp in the early morning gray. The Marmot hears a sound, looks out, screams a warning, and Charcoal slashes through the back of the tent and fires from the bush, knocking the cap from an officer's head before disappearing. The tent is found stocked with beef, flour, bacon, sugar, and deerskin. The Marmot, a grown daughter, and a small son called Running Bear are taken prisoner. All of Charcoal's kinsfolk, thirty-seven in total, are subsequently arrested and jailed. Now alone and in despair, Charcoal attempts one night to steal a horse from the stable at Lee's Creek, but Corporal Armour is alerted, and Charcoal fires at him before escaping without a remount. The focus of the pursuit then shifts to Sergeant Wilde, described as universally beloved by the tribes and by his regiment, a man of striking physical beauty and distinction remembered by the narrator from his own days as a recruit. Wilde rides out on his charger Black Prince with an interpreter and Indian scouts. They spot Charcoal across a snowy plain near a line of great boulders and give chase. The Indian scouts' new rifles fail in the frozen conditions, and Wilde pulls ahead on Black Prince. Wanting to uphold the tradition of taking outlaws alive by hand rather than shooting, Wilde holsters his revolver and reaches for Charcoal's shoulder. Charcoal swerves and fires with his left hand. The bullet passes through Wilde's body, deflects off bone, traverses his forearm, exits his palm, and falls into his gauntlet. Wilde rolls from the saddle. Charcoal wheels back and fires again into the dying man. Black Prince, stopping nearby, strikes at Charcoal with his forefeet when the outlaw tries to seize the reins. After Wilde's death Charcoal can expect no mercy and no help from any quarter. His brothers Left Hand and Bear Paw, recently released from jail with the offer of a government reward for his capture, intercept him when he rides directly back to his home cabin. Left Hand embraces him, and Bear Paw ropes him to the ground. They carry him inside and wait for the police. Sergeant Macleod arrives to find Charcoal apparently lifeless in a pool of blood on the earthen floor. The prisoner has used a cobbler's awl to open the arteries of his arm in an attempt to escape capture through death. His legs are raw from ankle to groin from months of continuous riding. He is brought to the guard-room at Fort MacLeod, where he is nursed for four months while chained to the floor in severe pain. Despite twice attempting to take his own life, once with a blanket and once by swallowing a month's accumulation of cigarette stubs, he endures without a spoken complaint and wins the affection of all around him with his humility and gentleness. At his trial his counsel offers no witnesses but reads aloud Charcoal's own written defense, a document described as so sorrowful and beautifully expressed that the court itself appeals to the crown for mercy, though mercy is beyond reach. On the day of his execution the troop surrounds the barracks, the assembled tribes gather outside the fence, and Charcoal sits in a wagon opposite a masked executioner with a priest beside him. He begins to sing his death song. The priest tells him he is too brave a man for that. The song ceases, and Charcoal dies as he had lived.

By Roger Pocock · First published 1914 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Western, Adventure · 2,136 words

First lines

A. D. 1896

Dawn was breaking of a summer's day in 1896, when Green-Grass-growing-in-the-water, a red Indian scout, came trotting into Fort MacLeod with a despatch from Standoff for Superintendent Steele, of the Mounted Police. He brought news that the body of a Blood warrior, Medicine-Pipe-Stem, shot through the skull, and three weeks dead, had been found in an empty cabin.

Open reader

Similar titles

Genres

Historical Fiction — The narrative is set in 1896 and depicts actual historical events involving the Blood tribe, the North-West Mounted Police, and real figures like Colonel S. B. Steele and Sergeant Wilde, grounded in the factual history of the Canadian frontier.
Western — The story takes place in the Canadian frontier during the late 19th century, featuring elements central to the Western genre: outlaws, law enforcement, horses, wilderness pursuit, and conflict between cultures in a frontier setting.
Adventure — The narrative follows an extended pursuit across the wilderness with dramatic action sequences, horse chases, gunfights, and dangerous escapes that drive the plot forward with high stakes and physical challenges.
Crime Fiction — The story centers on the investigation and pursuit of a criminal: Charcoal commits murder and becomes a fugitive hunted by the Mounted Police, with the narrative structured around the investigation and eventual capture of the outlaw.

What this Textopian page supports

The Outlaw is listed on Textopian as a short story by Roger Pocock, dated 1914 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Short story
Author: Roger Pocock
Date: 1914 CE
Language: English
Genres: Historical Fiction, Western, Adventure, Crime Fiction, Tragedy
Length: 2,136 words
Structure: 1 section, 19 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

Good citation fit

Work identity for The Outlaw by Roger Pocock
Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
Readability and classroom-planning context
Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph