Thanks to those that gave me input. I did manage to find the problem. I decided to stop trying to deal with the .htaccess file, and start at the beginnning. Sure enough, there it was. In the httpd.conf file, AllowOverride None for the .htaccess control. Changed it to AllowOverride All, and it now prompts for login when going to https://hermes.manitobamall.net.
Next step is to see how to prevent it from accessing the page when going to http://hermes.manitobamall.net.
Aren't computers fun? <G>