Heralds of Empire

  CHAPTER XII

  M. RADISSON BEGINS THE GAME

  M. Radisson had reckoned well. His warning to prepare for instantsiege set all the young fire-eaters of our Habitation working likebeavers to complete the French fort. The marquis took a hand atsquaring timbers shoulder to shoulder with Allemand, the pilot; and LaChesnaye, the merchant prince, forgot to strut while digging upearthworks for a parapet. The leaven of the New World was working.Honour was for him only whose brawn won the place; and our youngfellows of the birth and the pride were keenest to gird for the task.On our return from the upper river to the fort, the palisaded wallswere finished, guns were mounted on all bastions, the two ships beachedunder shelter of cannon, sentinels on parade at the main gate, and along barracks built mid-way across the courtyard.

  Here we passed many a merry hour of a long winter night, the greentimbers cracking like pistol-shots to the tightening frost-grip, andthe hearth logs at each end of the long, low-raftered hall sending up aroar that set the red shadows dancing among ceiling joists. Afterward-room mess, with fare that kings might have envied--teal andpartridge and venison and a steak of beaver's tail, and moose nose asan _entree_, with a tidbit of buffalo hump that melted in your mouthlike flakes--the commonalty, as La Chesnaye designated those who satbelow the salt, would draw off to the far hearth. Here the sailorsgathered close, spinning yarns, cracking jokes, popping corn, andtoasting wits, a-merrier far that your kitchen cuddies of older lands.At the other hearth sat M. de Radisson, feet spread to the fire, a longpipe between his lips, and an audience of young blades eager for histales.

  "D'ye mind how we got away from the Iroquois, Chouart?" Radisson asksGroseillers, who sits in a chair rough-hewn from a stump on the otherside of the fire.

  Chouart Groseillers smiles quietly and strokes his black beard. Jeanstretches across a bear-skin on the floor and shouts out, "Tell us!Tell us!"

  "We had been captives six months. The Iroquois were beginning to letus wander about alone. Chouart there had sewed his thumb up, where anold squaw had hacked at it with a dull shell. The padre's nails, whichthe Indians tore off in torture, had grown well enough for him tohandle a gun. One day we were allowed out to hunt. Chouart broughtdown three deer, the padre two moose, and I a couple of bear. Thatnight the warriors came back from a raid on Orange with not a thing toeat but one miserable, little, thin, squealing pig. Pardieu! men,'twas our chance; and the chance is always hiding round a corner forthe man who goes ahead."

  Radisson paused to whiff his pipe, all the lights in his eyes laughingand his mouth expressionless as steel.

  "'Tis an insult among Iroquois to leave food at a feast. There were wewith food enough to stuff the tribe torpid as winter toads. The padrewas sent round to the lodges with a tom-tom to beat every soul to thefeast. Chouart and a Dutch prisoner and I cooked like kings' scullionsfor four mortal hours!--"

  "We wanted to delay the feast till midnight," explains Groseillers.

  "And at midnight in trooped every man, woman, and brat of theencampment. The padre takes a tom-tom and stands at one end of thelodge beating a very knave of a rub-a-dub and shouting at the top ofhis voice: 'Eat, brothers, eat! Bulge the eye, swell the coat, loosethe belt! Eat, brothers, eat!' Chouart stands at the boiler ladlingout joints faster than an army could gobble. Within an hour every bratlay stretched and the women were snoring asleep where they crouched.From the warriors, here a grunt, there a groan! But Chouart keepsladling out the meat. Then the Dutchman grabs up a drum at the otherend of the lodge, and begins to beat and yell: 'Stuff, brudders, stuff!Vat de gut zperets zend, gast not out! Eat, braves, eat!' And thepadre cuts the capers of a fiend on coals. Still the warriors eat!Still the drums beat! Still the meat is heaped! Then, one brave bowlsover asleep with his head on his knees! Another warrior tumbles back!Guards sit bolt upright sound asleep as a stone!"

  "What did you put in the meat, Pierre?" asked Groseillers absently.

  Radisson laughed.

  "Do you mind, Chouart," he asked, "how the padre wanted to put poisonin the meat, and the Dutchman wouldn't let him? Then the Dutchmanwanted to murder them all in their sleep, and the padre wouldn't lethim?"

  Both men laughed.

  "And the end?" asked Jean.

  "We tied the squealing pig at the door for sentinel, broke ice with ourmuskets, launched the canoe, and never stopped paddling till we reachedThree Rivers." [1]

  At that comes a loud sally of laughter from the sailors at the far endof the hall. Godefroy, the English trader, is singing a rhyme of AllSouls' Day, and Allemand, the French pilot, protests.

  "Soul! Soul! For a soul-cake! One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for----."

  But La Chesnaye shouts out for the knaves to hold quiet. Godefroy bobshis tipstaff, and bawls on:

  "Soul! Soul! For an apple or two! If you've got no apples, nuts will do! Out with your raisins, down with your gin! Give me plenty and I'll begin."

  M. Radisson looks down the hall and laughs. "By the saints," says hesoftly, "a man loses the Christian calendar in this land! 'Tis AllSouls' Night! Give the men a treat, La Chesnaye."

  But La Chesnaye, being governor, must needs show his authority, andvows to flog the knave for impudence. Turning over benches in hishaste, the merchant falls on Godefroy with such largesse of cuffs thatthe fellow is glad to keep peace.

  The door blows open, and with a gust of wind a silent figure blows in.'Tis Le Borgne, the one-eyed, who has taken to joining our men of amerry night, which M. de Radisson encourages; for he would have all theIndians come freely.

  "Ha!" says Radisson, "I thought 'twas the men I sent to spy if themarsh were safe crossing. Give Le Borgne tobacco, La Chesnaye. Ifonce the fellow gets drunk," he adds to me in an undertone, "thatsilent tongue of his may wag on the interlopers. We must be stirring,stirring, Ramsay! Ten days past! Egad, a man might as well be afish-worm burrowing underground as such a snail! We must stir--stir!See here"--drawing me to the table apart from the others--"here we areon the lower river," and he marked the letter X on a line indicatingthe flow of our river to the bay. "Here is the upper river," and hedrew another river meeting ours at a sharp angle. "Here is GovernorBrigdar of the Hudson's Bay Company," marking another X on the upperriver. "Here is Ben Gillam! We are half-way between them on thesouth. I sent two men to see if the marsh between the rivers is fitcrossing."

  Radisson's map.]

  "Fit crossing?"

  "When 'tis safe, we might plan a surprise. The only doubt is how manyof those pirates are there who attacked you in the woods?"

  And he sat back whiffing his pipe and gazing in space. By this, LaChesnaye had distributed so generous a treat that half the sailors wereroaring out hilarious mirth. Godefroy astride a bench played big drumon the wrong-end-up of the cook's dish-pan. Allemand attempted tofiddle a poker across the tongs. Voyageurs tried to shoot the bigcanoe over a waterfall; for when Jean tilted one end of the long bench,they landed as cleanly on the floor as if their craft had plunged. Butthe copper-faced Le Borgne remained taciturn and tongue-tied.

  "Be curse to that wall-eyed knave," muttered Radisson. "He's too deepa man to let go! We must capture him or win him!"

  "Perhaps when he becomes more friendly we may track him back to theinlanders," I suggested.

  M. de Radisson closed one eye and looked at me attentively.

  "La Chesnaye," he called, "treat that fellow like a king!"

  And the rafters rang so loud with the merriment that we none of usnoticed the door flung open, nor saw two figures stamping off the snowtill they had thrown a third man bound at M. de Radisson's feet. Themessengers sent to spy out the marsh had returned with a half-frozenprisoner.

  "We found him where the ice is soft. He was half dead," explained onescout.

  Silence fell. Through the half-dark the Indian glided towards thedoor. The unconscious prisoner lay face down.

  "Turn him over," ordered Radisson.

  As our men rolled
him roughly over, the captive uttered a heavy groan.His arms fell away from his face revealing little Jack Battle, thecastaway, in a haven as strange as of old.

  "Search him before he wakes," commanded Radisson roughly.

  "Let me," I asked.

  In the pouches of the caribou coat was only pemmican; but my handcrushed against a softness in the inner waistcoat. I pulled it out--alittle, old glove, the colour Hortense had dangled the day that BenGillam fell into the sea.

  "Pish!" says Radisson. "Anything else?"

  There crumpled out a yellow paper. M. Radisson snatched it up.

  "Pish!" says he, "nothing--put it back!"

  It was a page of my copy-book, when I used to take lessons withRebecca. Replacing paper and glove, I closed up the sailor lad's coat.

  "Search his cap and moccasins!"

  I was mighty thankful, as you may guess, that other hands than minefound the tell-tale missive--a badly writ letter addressed to "CaptainZechariah Gillium."

  Tearing it open, M. Radisson read with stormy lights agleam in his eyes.

  "Sir, this sailor lad is an old comrade," I pleaded.

  "Then'a God's name take care of him," he flashed out.

  But long before I had Jack Battle thawed back to consciousness in myown quarters, Jean came running with orders for me to report to M.Radisson.

  "I'll take care of the sailor for you," proffered Jean.

  And I hastened to the main hall.

  "Get ready," ordered Radisson. "We must stir! That younghop-o'-my-thumb suspects his father has arrived. He has sent thisfellow with word of me. Things will be doing. We must stir--we muststir. Read those for news," and he handed me the letter.

  The letter was addressed to Ben's father, of the Hudson's Bay ship,Prince Rupert. In writing which was scarcely legible, it ran:

  I take Up my Pen to lett You knowe that cutt-throte french viper Who deserted You at ye fort of ye bay 10 Years ago hath come here for France Threatening us.

  he Must Be Stopped. Will i Do It?

  have Bin Here Come Six weekes All Souls' day and Not Heard a Word of Him that went inland to Catch ye Furs from ye Savages before they Mett Governor B----. If He Proves False----

  There the crushed missive was torn, but the purport was plain. BenGillam and his father were in collusion with the inland pirates to getpeltries from the Indians before Governor Brigdar came; and theinlanders, whoever they were, had concealed both themselves and thefurs. I handed the paper back to M. Radisson.

  "We must stir, lad--we must stir," he repeated.

  "But the marsh is soft yet. It is unsafe to cross."

  "The river is not frozen in mid-current," retorted M. Radissonimpatiently. "Get ready! I am taking different men to impress theyoung spark with our numbers--you and La Chesnaye and the marquis andAllemand. But where a' devil is that Indian?"

  Le Borgne had slipped away.

  "Is he a spy?" I asked.

  "Get ready! Why do you ask questions? The thing is--todo!--do!!--do--!!!"

  But Allemand, who had been hauling out the big canoe, came up sullenly.

  "Sir," he complained, "the river's running ice the size of a raft, andthe wind's a-blowing a gale."

  "Man," retorted M. de Radisson with the quiet precision of steel, "ifthe river were running live fire and the gale blew from the inferno,I--would--go! Stay home and go to bed, Allemand." And he chose one ofthe common sailors instead.

  And when we walked out to the thick edge of the shore-ice and launchedthe canoe among a whirling drift of ice-pans, we had small hope of everseeing Fort Bourbon again. The ice had not the thickness of the springjam, but it was sharp enough to cut our canoe, and we poled our way faroftener than we paddled. Where the currents of the two rivers joined,the wind had whipped the waters to a maelstrom. The night wasmoonless. It was well we did not see the white turmoil, else M.Radisson had had a mutiny on his hands. When the canoe leaped to thethrob of the sucking currents like a cataract to the plunge, LaChesnaye clapped his pole athwart and called out a curse on suchrashness. M. Radisson did not hear or did not heed. An ice-panpitched against La Chesnaye's place, and the merchant must needs thrustout to save himself.

  The only light was the white glare of ice. The only guide across thatheaving traverse, the unerring instinct of that tall figure at the bow,now plunging forward, now bracing back, now shouting out a "Steady!"that the wind carried to our ears, thrusting his pole to right, to leftin lightning strokes, till the canoe suddenly darted up the roaringcurrent of the north river.

  Here we could no longer stem both wind and tide. M. Radisson orderedus ashore for rest. Fourteen days were we paddling, portaging,struggling up the north river before we came in range of the Hudson'sBay fort built by Governor Brigdar.

  Our proximity was heralded by a low laugh from M. de Radisson. "Look,"said he, "their ship aground in mud a mile from the fort. In case ofattack, their forces will be divided. It is well," said M. Radisson.

  The Prince Rupert lay high on the shallows, fast bound in the freezingsands. Hiding our canoe in the woods, we came within hail and called.There was no answer.

  "Drunk or scurvy," commented M. Radisson. "An faith, Ramsay, 'twouldbe an easy capture if we had big enough fort to hold them all!"

  Shaping his hands to a trumpet, he shouted, "How are you, there?"

  As we were turning away a fellow came scrambling up the fo'castle andcalled back: "A little better, but all asleep."

  "A good time for us to examine the fort," said M. de Radisson.

  Aloud, he answered that he would not disturb the crew, and he wheeledus off through the woods.

  "See!" he observed, as we emerged in full view of the stockaded furpost, "palisades nailed on from the inside--easily pushed loose fromthe outside. Pish!--low enough for a dog to jump."

  Posting us in ambush, he advanced to the main edifice behind thewide-open gate. I saw him shaking hands with the Governor of theHudson's Bay Company, who seemed on the point of sallying out to hunt.

  Then he signalled for us to come. I had almost concluded he meant tocapture Governor Brigdar on the spot; but Pierre Radisson ever tookfriends and foes unawares.

  "Your Excellency," says he, with the bow of a courtier, "this isCaptain Gingras of our new ship."

  Before I had gathered my wits, Governor Brigdar was shaking hands.

  "And this," continued Radisson, motioning forward the common sailor tooquick for surprise to betray us, "this, Your Excellency, is ColonelBienville of our marines."

  Colonel Bienville, being but a lubberly fellow, nigh choked withamazement at the English governor's warmth; but before we knew ourleader's drift, the marquis and La Chesnaye were each in turn presentedas commanders of our different land forces.

  "'Tis the misfortune of my staff not to speak English," explains PierreRadisson suavely with another bow, which effectually shut any of ourmouths that might have betrayed him.

  "Doubtless your officers know Canary better than English," returnsGovernor Brigdar; and he would have us all in to drink healths.

  "Keep your foot in the open door," Pierre Radisson whispered as wepassed into the house.

  Then we drank the health of the King of England, firing our musketsinto the roof; and drank to His Most Christian Majesty of France withanother volley; and drank to the confusion of our common enemies, witha clanking of gun-butts that might have alarmed the dead. Upon whichPierre Radisson protested that he would not keep Governor Brigdar fromthe hunt; and we took our departure.

  "And now," said he, hastening through the bush, "as no one took frightat all that firing, what's to hinder examining the ship?"

  "Pardieu, Ramsay," he remarked, placing us in ambush again, "an we hada big enough fort, with food to keep them alive, we might have baggedthem all."

  From which I hold that M. Radisson was not so black a man as he hasbeen painted; for he could have captured the English as they lay weakof the scurvy and done to them, for the saving of fort ratio
ns, whatrivals did to all foes--shot them in a land which tells no secrets.

  From our place on the shore we saw him scramble to the deck. A man inred nightcap rushed forward with an oath.

  "And what might you want, stealing up like a thief in the night?"roared the man.

  "To offer my services, Captain Gillam," retorted Radisson with a handto his sword-hilt and both feet planted firm on the deck.

  "Services?" bawled Gillam.

  "Services for your crew, captain," interrupted Radisson softly.

  "Hm!" retorted Captain Gillam, pulling fiercely at his grizzled beard."Then you might send a dozen brace o' partridges, some oil, andcandles."

  With that they fell to talking in lower tones; and M. Radisson cameaway with quiet, unspoken mirth in his eyes, leaving Captain Gillam inbetter mood.

  "Curse me if he doesn't make those partridges an excuse to go backsoon," exclaimed La Chesnaye. "The ship would be of some value; butwhy take the men prisoners? Much better shoot them down as they wouldus, an they had the chance!"

  "La Chesnaye!" uttered a sharp voice. Radisson had heard. "There aretwo things I don't excuse a fool for--not minding his own business andnot holding his tongue."

  And though La Chesnaye's money paid for the enterprise, he held histongue mighty still. Indeed, I think if any tongue had wagged twice inRadisson's hearing he would have torn the offending member out. Doingas we were bid without question, we all filed down to the canoe. Lessice cumbered the upper current, and by the next day we were oppositeBen Gillam's New England fort.

  "La Chesnaye and Foret will shoot partridges," commanded M. deRadisson. Leaving them on the far side of the river, he bade thesailor and me paddle him across to young Gillam's island.

  What was our surprise to see every bastion mounted with heavy guns andthe walls full manned. We took the precaution of landing under shelterof the ship and fired a musket to call out sentinels. Down ran BenGillam and a second officer, armed cap-a-pie, with swaggering insolencethat they took no pains to conceal.

  "Congratulate you on coming in the nick of time," cried Ben.

  "Now what in the Old Nick does he mean by that?" said Radisson. "Doesthe cub think to cower me with his threats?"

  "I trust your welcome includes my four officers," he responded. "Twoare with me and two have gone for partridges."

  Ben bellowed a jeering laugh, and his second man took the cue.

  "Your four officers may be forty devils," yelled the lieutenant; "we'vefinished our fort. Come in, Monsieur Radisson! Two can play at thegame of big talk! You're welcome in if you leave your forty officersout!"

  For the space of a second M. Radisson's eyes swept the cannon pointingfrom the bastion embrasures. We were safe enough. The full hull oftheir own ship was between the guns and us.

  "Young man," said M. Radisson, addressing Ben, "you may speak lesshaughtily, as I come in friendship."

  "Friendship!" flouted Ben, twirling his mustache and showing both rowsof teeth. "Pooh, pooh, M. Radisson! You are not talking to astripling!"

  "I had thought I was--and a very fool of a booby, too," answered M.Radisson coolly.

  "Sir!" roared young Gillam with a rumbling of oaths, and he fumbled hissword.

  But his sword had not left the scabbard before M. de Radisson sent itspinning through mid-air into the sea.

  "I must ask your forgiveness for that, boy," said the Frenchman to Ben,"but a gentleman fights only his equals."

  Ben Gillam went white and red by turns, his nose flushing and palinglike the wattle of an angry turkey; and he stammered out that he hopedM. de Radisson did not take umbrage at the building of a fort.

  "We must protect ourselves from the English," pleaded Ben.

  "Pardieu, yes," agreed M. de Radisson, proffering his own sword with agesture in place of the one that had gone into the sea, "and I had cometo offer you twenty men _to hold_ the fort!"

  Ben glanced questioningly to his second officer.

  "Bid that fellow draw off!" ordered M. Radisson.

  Dazed like a man struck between the eyes, Ben did as he was commanded.

  "I told you that I came in friendship," began Radisson.

  Gillam waited.

  "Have you lost a man, Ben?"

  "No," boldly lied Gillam.

  "Has one run away from the island against orders?"

  "No, devil take me, if I've lost a hand but the supercargo that Ikilled."

  "I had thought that was yours," said Radisson, with contempt for theruffian's boast; and he handed out the paper taken from Jack.

  Ben staggered back with a great oath, vowing he would have the scalp ofthe traitor who lost that letter. Both stood silent, eachcontemplating the other. Then M. Radisson spoke.

  "Ben," said he, never taking his glance from the young fellow's face,"what will you give me if I guide you to your father this afternoon? Ihave just come from Captain Gillam. He and his crew are ill of thescurvy. Dress as a coureur and I pass you for a Frenchman."

  "My father!" cried Ben with his jaws agape and his wits at sea.

  "Pardieu--yes, I said your father!"

  "What do you want in return?" stammered Ben.

  Radisson uttered a laugh that had the sound of sword-play.

  "Egad, 'tis a hot supper I'd like better than anything else just now!If you feed us well and disguise yourself as a coureur, I'll take youat sundown!"

  And in spite of his second officer's signals, Ben Gillam hailed usforthwith to the fort, where M. Radisson's keen eyes took in everyfeature of door and gate and sally-port and gun. While the cook waspreparing our supper and Ben disguising as a French wood-runner, wewandered at will, M. Radisson all the while uttering low laughs andwords as of thoughts.

  It was--"Caught--neat as a mouse in a trap! Don't let him spill thecanoe when we're running the traverse, Ramsay! May the fiends blast LaChesnaye if he opens his foolish mouth in Gillam's hearing! Where,think you, may we best secure him? Are the timbers of your room sound?"

  Or else--"Faith, a stout timber would hold those main gates open!Egad, now, an a man were standing in this doorway, he might jam amusket in the hinge so the thing would keep open! Those guns in thebastions though--think you those cannon are not pushed too far throughthe windows to be slued round quickly?"

  And much more to the same purpose, which told why M. Radisson stoopedto beg supper from rivals.

  At sundown all was ready for departure. La Chesnaye and the marquishad come back with the partridges that were to make pretence for ourquick return to the Prince Rupert. Ben Gillam had disguised as abush-runner, and the canoe lay ready to launch. Fools and childrenunconsciously do wise things by mistake, as you know; and 'twas such anunwitting act sprung M. Radisson's plans and let the prize out of thetrap.

  "Sink me an you didn't promise the loan of twenty men to hold thefort!" exclaimed Ben, stepping down.

  "Twenty--and more--and welcome," cried Radisson eagerly.

  "Then send Ramsay and Monsieur La Chesnaye back," put in Ben quickly."I like not the fort without one head while I'm away."

  "Willingly," and M. Radisson's eyes glinted triumph.

  "Hold a minute!" cried Ben before sitting down. "The river is rough.Let two of my men take their places in the canoe!"

  M. Radisson's breath drew sharp through his teeth. But the trap wassprung, and he yielded gracefully enough to hide design.

  "A curse on the blundering cub!" he muttered, drawing apart to give meinstructions. "Pardieu--you must profit on this, Ramsay! Keep youreyes open. Spoil a door-lock or two! Plug the cannon if you can! Mixsand with their powder! Shift the sentinels! Get the devilsinsubordinate----"

  "M. Radisson!" shouted Gillam.

  "Coming!" says Radisson; and he went off with his teeth gritting sand.

  [1] See Radisson's own account.