Part 10 (1/2)

”Then,” cried Radisson, ”if that is so, and thou art my father, speak for me. Thou art the master of my goods; but as for that dog who has spoken, what is he doing in this company? Let him go to his brothers, the English, at the head of the Bay. Or he need not travel so far: he may, if he chooses, see them starving and helpless on yonder island: answering to my words of command.”

”I know how to speak to my Indian father,” continued Radisson, ”of the perils of the woods, of the abandonment of his squaws and children, of the risks of hunger and the peril of death by foes. All these you avoid by trading with us here. But although I am mightily angry I will take pity on this wretch and let him still live. Go,” addressing the brave with his weapon outstretched, ”take this as my gift to you, and depart. When you meet your brothers, the English, tell them my name, and add that we are soon coming to treat them and their factory yonder as we have treated this one.”

The speaker knew enough of the Indian character, especially in affairs of trade, to be aware that a point once yielded them is never recovered. And it is but just to say that the terms he then made of three axes for a beaver were thereafter adopted, and that his firmness saved the Company many a cargo of these implements. His harangue produced an immediate impression upon all save the humiliated brave, who declared that if the a.s.siniboines came hither to barter he would lay in ambush and kill them.

The French trader's reply to this was to the Indian mind a terrible one.

”I will myself travel into thy country,” said he, ”and eat sagamite in thy grandmother's skull.”

While the brave and his small circle of friends were livid with fear and anger, Radisson ordered three fathoms of tobacco to be distributed; observing, contemptuously, to the hostile minority that as for them they might go and smoke women's tobacco in the country of the lynxes. The barter began, and when at nightfall the Indians departed not a skin was left amongst them.

[Sidenote: Departure of the English.]

It was now time to think of departure. As absent men tell no tales, it was decided to despatch Bridgar and his companions first. But at the last moment some trouble seems to have arisen as to which vessel the English should have to convey them to more hospitable sh.o.r.es. Bridgar himself would have preferred to go in the s.h.i.+p, and at first his pa.s.sage had been arranged for in that craft; but it was at length settled that he should be carried with the brothers-in-law in their barque.

After numerous vicissitudes, which would need a volume to describe, the _St. Anne_ arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence.

At Tadoussac was a trading post belonging to the French: and the sight of it seems to have inspired either one or both of these conscienceless adventurers with the idea of lightening their load of furs, which consisted of above two thousand skins, though this cargo only represented about one-third of the number they had actually secured by cheating, robbery and intrigue in the country of the Bay.

Having in this nefarious manner disposed of about half of La Chesnaye's property jointly with themselves, they again set sail and arrived at Quebec on the 26th of October.

Immediately on their arrival they went to report themselves to M. de la Barre, the Governor, La Chesnaye being fortunately, or unfortunately, absent in Montreal. The Governor thought proper to return the _Susan_ to the New England merchants, with a warning not to send again to the place from which she had just come, and the Company's ill-starred Governor, Bridgar, together with young Gillam, sailed on board her for New England.

”We parted,” says Radisson with that matchless audacity of statement for which his narrative deserves to be famous, ”on friendly terms; and he (Bridgar) could testify that I let him know at the time my attachment; and yet, that I wished still to act as heartily in the service of the King and the nation as I wished to do for France.”

This hardly tallies with Bridgar's evidence before the Company, that Radisson was ”a cheat, a swindler, and a black-hearted, infamous scoundrel,” and that he was ”a born intriguing traitor.” As for the elder Gillam, he was heard to declare, when he had at length arrived on the frail and half-rotten craft which bore him and his unhappy comrades to New England, that he would not die happy until his ”hangar had dipped into the blood of the French miscreant, Radisson.”

[Sidenote: Radisson and Groseilliers leave Quebec.]

Quebec soon got too hot for both of the brothers-in-law. Between the unfortunate La Chesnaye, who saw himself some thousand crowns out of pocket, and the Governor, who had received orders from France to despatch to the Court the two adventurers who seemed bent on making trouble between the two crowns, Radisson and Groseilliers decided to leave Quebec, which they did in about a fortnight after their arrival.

The exact date of their departure was the 11th of November, 1683, and it was effected on board a French frigate which had brought troops to the colony. But though the captain of the frigate made all haste, the frail and shattered _St. Anne_, with Captain Gillam on board, arrived in Europe before them; and soon England was ringing with his story of the dastardly encroachment of the French into the realms of the Company at Port Nelson.[18]

FOOTNOTE:

[18] The material for the two last chapters has been derived chiefly from a pamphlet ent.i.tled ”French Villainy in Hudson's Bay”; Radisson's own narrative, and the ”Journal” of Gillam, the elder, supplied to Dongan. Radisson's narrative, divided into two parts, is written in a clear, legible character, and evinces that its author was a person of some education. The first part is in English, and was long the property of Samuel Pepys. Some years after Pepys' death, the ma.n.u.script was purchased for a trifle by Rawlinson, the bibliophile.

The second part, recounting the voyages to Hudson's Bay in 1682-84, is half in French and half in English; it is now in the Bodleian library.

CHAPTER X.

1684-1687.

Hays writes to Lord Preston -- G.o.dey sent to Radisson's lodgings -- La Barre's strenuous efforts -- Radisson returns to the English -- He leaves for the Bay -- Meets his nephew Chouart -- Fort Bourbon surrendered to the Company -- Radisson's dramatic return to London.

[Sidenote: Lord Preston informed of the return of Radisson and Groseilliers.]

Lord Preston, who, in the year 1684, held the post of Amba.s.sador Extraordinary of King Charles II. at the Court of Versailles, was advised of the return to Paris of the bushranger Radisson in these terms:--

”My Lord: It has just reached our ears and that of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, Governor of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, that the person who has caused all the recent trouble in the Hudson's Bay regions whereby our merchants have suffered so much at the hands of the French, is at this moment in Paris. As it is much in the interests of the nation as of the Company that there should be no repet.i.tion of these encroachments and disturbances, it might be advantageous for your Lords.h.i.+p to see this Mr. Radisson who, it is believed, could be brought over again to our service if he were so entreated by your Lords.h.i.+p. His Royal Highness, together with the other Honourable partners, are convinced from his previous conduct that it matters little to Mr. Radisson under whose standard he serves; and that, besides, he is secretly well disposed toward us, and this in spite of his late treacherous exploits which have given great offence to the nation and damage to the Company.”