The Great Company Part 9

As the evening wore on, a manoeuvre suggested itself to Radisson. He resolved to bring father and son together. No sooner had he formed this amiable resolve than he revealed to Benjamin Gillam the proximity of the _Prince Rupert_ and her commander, and described the means by which an encounter might be effected without eliciting the suspicions of Governor Bridgar or any of the Company's servants. It consisted briefly in young Benjamin's disguising himself as a Frenchman and a bushranger. The scheme met with the young man's hearty approbation and the details were settled as Radisson had designed.

On the following day the party set out through the snow. Arriving at the point of land opposite to which the Company's ship lay, Radisson posted two of his best men in the woods on the path which led to the factory. He instructed them to allow the Governor to pa.s.s should he come that way, but that if he returned from the ship unaccompanied or prior to their own departure they were to seize and overpower him on the spot. With such precautions as these, Radisson felt himself safe and went on board the _Prince Rupert_ accompanied by Gillam. He introduced his two companions into the captain's room without any notice on the part of Gillam the elder, and the mate and another man he had with him. Leaning across the table, upon which was deposited a bulky bottle of rum, Radisson whispered to the honest captain that he had a secret of the highest importance to communicate if he would but dismiss the others. Gillam readily sent away the mate, but would not dismiss his second attendant until Radisson, again in a whisper, informed him that the black-bearded man in the strange head-gear was his son.

[Sidenote: Meeting of father and son.]

After communicating this intelligence the pair had their own way. The next few moments were devoted to embraces and to an interchange of news, for Captain Gillam and Benjamin had not met for two years. The sire could not refrain from imparting to his son that he was running a great risk; he declared it would be ruinous to him if it got to the Governor's ears that there was any collusion between them. Radisson again professed his friendship, but added that in his opinion neither of the parties had any right to be where they were, he having taken possession for the King of France. "This territory is all his Most Christian Majesty's," he said. "The fort we have built yonder we call Fort Bourbon, and none have any right here but such as own allegiance to Lewis XIV." He observed that nothing would cause a rupture of the friendly relations now subsisting between French and English but the trade in peltries, trade which he had too great reason to fear they hoped to initiate with the Indians in the spring.

The elder Gillam coolly responded that the ship he commanded, and the spot on which they were then a.s.sembled, luckily belonged not to himself, but to the Hudson's Bay Company.

"With regard to the trade, gentlemen," said he, "you have nothing to fear from me. Even though I don't carry a solitary beaver back to the Thames, I shall not trouble myself, being sure of my wages."

[Sidenote: Gillam nearly betrayed.]

This interview was prolonged. The healths of the Kings of France and England, Prince Rupert and M. Colbert (quite in ignorance of the death of the two last named) were drunk with zeal and enthusiasm. In the midst of all this, that which Radisson had antic.i.p.ated, occurred.

Governor Bridgar, notified of Radisson's return, came to the ship in hot haste. On his joining the group, he remarked meaningly that the fort the French had constructed must be nearer than he had been given to think, since its commandant could effect so speedy a return. He evinced himself very uneasy in mind concerning the Frenchman's intentions. Before their departure, young Gillam came very near being betrayed. He was partially recognized by one of the traders who accompanied the Governor. But the matter pa.s.sed off without serious consequences.

None too soon did the party return to young Gillam's fort on the island, for a tremendous blizzard ensued, sweeping the whole country, and forcing Radisson to remain for some days within doors. As soon as the storm had subsided, however, Radisson started off, declining Gillam's offer of his second mate to accompany him back to the French settlement.

"I managed to dissuade him," he writes, "having my reasons for wishing to conceal the road we should take. On leaving we went up from the fort to the upper part of the river, but in the evening we retraced our steps and next morning found ourselves in sight of the sea, into which it was necessary to enter in order to pa.s.s the point and reach the river in which was our habitation. But everything was so covered with ice that there was no apparent way of pa.s.sing farther. We found ourselves, indeed, so entangled in the ice that we could neither retreat nor advance towards the sh.o.r.e to make a landing. It was necessary, however, that we should pa.s.s through the ice or perish. We remained in this condition for four hours without being able to advance or retire and in great danger of our lives. Our clothes were frozen on us and we could only move with difficulty; but at last we made so strong an attempt that we arrived at the sh.o.r.e, our canoe being all broken up. Each of us took our baggage and arms, and marched in the direction of our habitation without finding anything to eat for three days, except crows and birds of prey, which are the last to leave these countries."

Fort Bourbon was reached at length. After reporting to his brother-in-law all that had pa.s.sed, Groseilliers was not long in counselling what was best to be done. In his opinion the first thing necessary was to secure possession of young Gillam's ship. Time pressed and the spring would soon be upon them, bringing with it the advent of the Indians. He argued that delay might prove fatal, inasmuch as Bridgar might at any moment learn of the presence of the New England interlopers; and in that event he would probably make an effort to capture their fort and add their forces to his own. If this were done, the success of the French in overpowering the English traders would be slight and their voyage would have been undertaken for nothing.

[Sidenote: Calamity to the Company's ship.]

It was therefore agreed that Groseilliers should remain in charge of the fort, while his kinsman should immediately return to Nelson River.

In a few days they parted once more, Radisson setting out with a fresh party and thoroughly resolved upon action. The first discovery he made, on arriving at the scene of his proposed operations, was that the Company's ship, the _Prince Rupert_, was frozen fast in the ice, and must inevitably perish when the spring floods came. He also speedily ascertained that the Governor, by no means relishing his presence in the vicinity, was already planning measures to thwart, if not to capture, his rivals, for he had sent out two sailors charged with the task of discovering the exact whereabouts of the French and the extent of their strength and equipment.

These two spies Radisson promptly captured--no difficult task indeed, for they had lost their way and were half-frozen and almost famished.

The antic.i.p.ated fate of the _Prince Rupert_ was not long delayed. The tidings shortly reached Radisson that she was a total wreck, and with it came also the news of the loss of her captain, the mate and four sailors. A subsequent report, however, declared that Gillam had escaped with his life.

Receiving this intelligence, Radisson presented himself before the Governor to see how he was affected by such a calamity.

He found Bridgar drinking heavily, but resolved to keep up appearances and to withhold from the French any knowledge of what had happened. He affected to believe the ship safe, merely observing that she had shifted her position a few leagues down the river. Radisson a.s.serts that at this time the Company's factory was short of provisions. It is impossible that this could have been the case. The a.s.sertion was probably made to cover his own depredations on the stores of the Company.

Parting from the Governor, Radisson presented himself before Gillam the younger, to whom he did not as yet choose to say anything concerning his father and the loss of his ship. Under various pretences he induced Gillam to pay him a visit at Fort Bourbon. The latter does not seem at this time to have been aware of the intention of the French towards him. But he was soon to be undeceived.

[Sidenote: Radisson's threats.]

"I remained quiet for a month," says Radisson, in the course of his extraordinary narrative, "treating young Gillam, my new guest, well and with all sorts of civilities, which he abused on several occasions. For having apparently perceived that we had not the strength I told him, he took the liberty of speaking of me in threatening terms behind my back, treating me as a pirate and saying that in spite of me he would trade in spring with the Indians. He had even the hardihood to strike one of my men, which I pretended not to notice; but, having the insolence later, when we were discussing the privileges of New England, to speak against the respect due the best of kings, I treated him as a worthless dog for speaking in that way and told him that, having had the honour to eat bread in his service, I would pray to G.o.d all my life for his Majesty. He left me, threatening that he would return to his fort and that when he was there I would not dare to speak to him as I had done. I could not expect to have a better opportunity to begin what I had resolved to do. I told this young brute then that I had brought him from his fort, that I would take him back myself when I pleased, not when he wished.

He answered impertinently several times, which obliged me to threaten that I would put him in a place of safety if he was not wiser. He asked me then if he was a prisoner. I said I would consider it and that I would secure my trade since he threatened to interrupt it. I then withdrew to give him time to be informed by the Englishmen how his father's life was lost with the Company's ship, and the bad situation of Mr. Bridgar. I left in their company a Frenchman who understood English, unknown to them. When I had left, young Gillam urged the Englishman to fly, and to go to his master and a.s.sure him that he would give him six barrels of powder and other supplies if he would undertake to deliver him out of my hands. The Englishman made no answer, but he did not inform me of the proposition that had been made him (I had learned that from the Frenchman, who had learned everything and thought it was time to act for my security)."

In the evening Radisson said nothing of what he knew of the plot. He asked those in his train if the muskets were in their places, which he had put around to act as guarantee against surprise. At the word _musket_ young Gillam, who did not know what was meant, grew alarmed and, according to Radisson, wished to fly, believing that it was intended to kill him. But his flight was arrested by his captor, who took occasion to free him from his apprehension. The next morning, however, the bushranger's plans were openly divulged. He told Gillam that he was about to take his fort and ship.

"He answered haughtily that even if I had a hundred men I could not succeed, and that his people would have killed more than forty before they could reach the palisades. This boldness did not astonish me, being very sure that I would succeed in my design."

[Sidenote: Hays' Island fort.]

Having secured Gillam the younger, it was now necessary to secure the fort of which he was master. The intrepid Frenchman started for Hays'

Island with nine men, and gaining an entrance by strategy, he cast off the mask of friendship and boldly demanded the keys of the fort and the whole stock of arms and powder. He added that in the event of their refusal to yield he would raze the fort to the ground. No resistance seems to have been attempted, and Radisson took formal possession of the place in the name of the King of France. This ceremony being concluded, he ordered Jenkins, the mate, to conduct him to the ship, and here formal possession was taken in the same fashion, without any forcible objection on the part of the crew. Some explanation of this extraordinary complaisance, if Radisson's story of the number of men he took with him be true, may be found in the commander's unpopularity, he having recently killed his supercargo in a quarrel.

Nevertheless, Benjamin Gillam was not to be altogether without friends.

A certain Scotchman, perchance the first of his race in those regions, which were afterwards to be forever a.s.sociated with Scottish zeal and labours, wishing to show his fidelity to his chief, escaped, and eluding the efforts of the fleetest of the French bushrangers to catch him, he arrived at Fort Nelson and told his tale. The Governor's astonishment may be imagined. He had hitherto no inkling of the presence of the New England interlopers, and although his captain and fellow-servant was not equally ignorant, Gillam had kept his counsel well. The Governor decided at once to head a party of relief, in which he was seconded by the elder Gillam, who was at the moment only just recovering from illness caused by exposure during the shipwreck. The _Susan_ was their first point of attack. Under the cover of night they made a determined effort to recapture her for the Company. It is possible that the attempt might have succeeded had not Radisson, suspecting the move, despatched his entire available force at the same time and completely overpowered the Governor's men. He thought at first sight that Bridgar himself was among his prisoners, but the Governor was not to be caught in that fashion; he had not himself boarded the ship. The Scotchman who accompanied him, however, was not so fortunate; he fell into Radisson's hands and suffered for his zeal.

He was tied to a post and informed that his execution would take place without ceremony on the morrow. The sentence was never carried out.

For Radisson, after exposing his prisoner to the cold all night in an uncomfortable position, seems to have thought better of his threat, and after numerous vicissitudes the Scot at length regained his liberty.

Reinforcements for the French now arrived from Groseilliers. Believing himself now strong enough to beard the lion in his lair, Radisson decided to lose no more time in rounding off his schemes. First, however, he saw fit to address a letter to the Governor asking him if he "approved the action of the Company's people whom he held prisoners, who had broken two doors and the storeroom of his ship, in order to carry off the powder."

Bridgar's reply was that he owed no explanation to a renegade employee of the Company. Radisson had not been sincere in his professions, and he had dealt basely and deceitfully with him in preserving silence on the subject of the interlopers. "As I had proper instructions,"

concluded Bridgar, in a more conciliatory strain, "on setting sail from London to seize all ships coming to this quarter, I would willingly have joined hands with you in capturing this vessel. If you wish me to regard you as sincere you will not keep this prize for your own use."

The other's response was rapid and masterly. He marched upon Fort Nelson with twelve men, and by the following nightfall was master of the English establishment. This feat nearly drove the unhappy Governor to despair, and he sought solace by applying himself to the rum cask with greater a.s.siduity than ever. In the frame of mind thus superinduced, John Bridgar, the first Governor of Port Nelson, was carried off a prisoner to Fort Bourbon.

This post was built of logs, as the others had been, but there was a bastion of stone at one end facing the river. It occupied, as nearly as one may now ascertain, the site upon which was afterwards reared York Factory. But in the course of the seventy years following the post was shifted slightly from site to site, when the exigencies of fire and other causes of destruction demanded a new building.

A few days after the Governor's arrival at Fort Bourbon, the first Indians began to appear with provisions, which were now beginning to be very sorely required. To the chief of this band Radisson related the story, properly garnished, of his exploits, realizing well how such things appeal to the savage heart. While the Indians were pondering upon his valour, great was their surprise to behold about the fort, a number of English, whom Radisson had made prisoners; and upon learning that there were others at York Factory and Hays' Island, they very handsomely offered 200 beavers for permission to go thither and ma.s.sacre them. This offer Radisson wisely declined; but it seems clear that he did his best to stir up enmity amongst his Indian friends against the English. In this he was not entirely successful.

Good news travels fast, too; and the Indians had got wind of Bridgar's boast that rather than see the trade pa.s.s into the hands of the French it was his intention to offer six axes for a beaver and as much merchandise in proportion.

They had, besides, reason to believe in the superior generosity of the English traders as compared with the French.

[Sidenote: Destruction of La Chesnaye's vessels.]

It was now April, 1683. On the 22nd a disaster little foreseen by Radisson or Groseilliers occurred, which involved the destruction of their own frail ships. The _St. Pierre_ and the _St. Anne_ had been hauled into a small stream as far as possible in the woods and there sheltered by a knoll. At ten o'clock on the night named all at Fort Bourbon were awakened by a frightful noise, caused by the breaking up of the ice. The occupants of the fort rushed outside to find the waters everywhere rising with almost incredible rapidity; and the ma.s.ses of ice blocking up the mouth of the creek caused a complete general submersion. La Chesnaye's two vessels offered no strong resistance to the flood, and presently began to crack and splinter in all parts. In a few hours all that remained sound were the bottoms, clinging fast to the ice and mud.

A similar fate was apprehended for the New England ship, and Radisson made all haste thither. She was saved only by his adopting the suggestion of Bridgar, that the ice be carefully cut all about the _Susan_, as he had heard of Governor Bailey doing on a previous occasion. The ice once cut, the vessel was only pushed by the strength of the floes to one side, where she remained aground with little damage.

The chief concern of the leaders of the French now was to get the English safely out of the country as soon as possible, before the arrival of the Company's ships. To this end Radisson and Groseilliers offered them the hull of the _St. Anne_ which, they believed, could with industry be patched up with new timber sufficiently well to withstand a voyage. When the English saw that these were the best terms they could expect, and that if they were left at the mercy of the Indians a much worse fate might be in store for them, they set to work with a will. The labour proved arduous, and they had suffered terribly. Four had died from cold and hunger, and two had been poisoned from having rashly drunk of a liquor they had found in the medicine-room chest, without knowing its nature; another had had his arm broken quite recently by a musket shot while out hunting. The Governor felt that his sole hope lay in the expected ships of the Company. He seems to have always adopted a high tone in dealing with the French, even to the last. He declared to Radisson that it was only one of three things that could oblige him to abandon the place, "the order of his masters, force, or famine." Groseilliers now counselled burning the island fort, in order to do away with the necessity of keeping perpetual guard there, and of always taking precautions to protect themselves against the Governor's intrigues.

This advice was acted upon forthwith; the fort was burned and a small lodge erected to accommodate such of the New Englanders as had not been carried to Fort Bourbon, or were not at work on the hull of the wrecked ship.

[Sidenote: Arrival of the Indians.]

Early in May the Indians began to appear in great numbers.

Bridgar--who, divested of his command and robbed of his stores, was now allowed at large--heard of their arrival with joy. He seems to have believed that their chiefs would not repudiate their treaties with the Company. He hoped in any case to be granted the privilege of a conference with them, but in this he was quickly undeceived.

Radisson went forward to meet the Indians, who had come well loaded with peltries and who were much perturbed at discovering the helpless state of the Governor and the ascendancy of the French. But they showed no disinclination to trade with the latter, in spite of their solemn covenant, provided Groseilliers and his brother-in-law would do so on the same terms as the English. Both the bushrangers, however, seem to have been determined to put an immediate stop to what they termed folly. Let the Company give six axes for a beaver if it chose; for themselves they would countenance no such wantonness; two would suffice.

The tribe being a.s.sembled and having spread out their customary gifts, consisting of beaver tails, smoked moose tongues and pemmican, one of the leading braves arose and said:--

"Men who pretend to give us life, do you wish us to die? You know what beaver is worth and the trouble we have to take it. You call yourselves our brothers and yet will not give us what those give who make no such profession. Accept our gifts, and let us barter, or we will visit you no more. We have but to travel a hundred leagues and we will encounter the English, whose offers we have heard."

On the conclusion of this harangue, silence reigned for some moments.

All eyes were turned on the two white traders. Feeling that now or never was the time to exhibit firmness, Radisson, without rising to his feet, addressed the whole a.s.semblage in haughty accents.

"Whom dost thou wish I should answer? I have heard a dog bark; when a man shall speak he will see I know how to defend my conduct and my terms. We love our brothers and we deserve their love in return. For have we not saved them all from the treachery of the English?"

[Sidenote: Radisson overawes the Indians.]

Uttering these words fearlessly, he leapt to his feet and drew a long hunting knife from his belt. Seizing by the scalp-lock the chief of the tribe, who had already adopted him as his son, he asked, "Who art thou?" To which the chief responded, as was customary, "Thy father."