Pathfinders of the West; being the thrilling story of the adventures of the men who discovered the great Northwest

Front matter

Oass UAlAcA.

. 7

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

Foreword

The question will at once occur why no mention is made of Marquette and Jolliet and La Salle in a work on the pathfinders of the West. The simple answer is — they were not pathfinders. Contrary to the notions imbibed at school, and repeated in all histories of the West, Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle did 7iot discover the vast region beyond the Great Lakes. Twelve years before these explorers had thought of visiting the land which the French hunter designated as the Pa\s d' en Haul, the West had already been discovered by the most intrepid voxageurs that France produced, — men whose wide-ranging explorations exceeded the achievements of Cartier and Champlain and La Salle put together.

It naturally rouses resentment to find that names revered for more than two centuries as the first explorers of the Great Northwest must give place to a name almost uiiktiown. It seems impossible that at this late date history should have to be rewritten. Such is the fact if ive 'would have our history true. Not Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle discovered the West, but two poor adventurers, who sacrificed all earthlv possessions to the enthusiasm for discoverv,

X FOREWORD

and incurred such bitter hostility from the governments of France and England that their names have been hounded to infamy. These were Sieur Pierre Esprit Radisson and Sieur Medard Chouart Groseillers, fur traders of Three Rivers, Quebec/

The explanation of the long oblivion obscuring the fame of these two men is very simple. Radisson and Groseillers defied, first New France, then Old France, and lastly England. While on friendly terms with the church, they did not make their explorations subservient to the propagation of the faith. In consequence, they were ignored by both Church and State. The Jesuit Relations repeatedly refer to two young Frenchmen who went beyond Lake Michigan to a "Forked River" (the Mississippi), among the Sioux and other Indian tribes that used coal for fire because wood did not grow large enough on the prairie. Contemporaneous documents mention the exploits of the young Frenchmen. The State Papers of the Marine Department, Paris, contain numerous references to Radisson and Groseillers. But, then, the Jesuit Relations were not accessible to scholars, let alone the general public, until the middle of the last century, when a limited edition was reprinted of the Cramoisy copies published at the time the priests sent their letters home to France. The contemporaneous writ-

1 I of course refer to the West as hesond the Great Lakes ; for Nicolet, in 1634, and two nameless Frenchmen — servants of Jean de Lauzon — in 1654, had been beyond the Sault.

FOREWORD xi

Ings of Marie de 1' Incarnation, the Abbe Belmont, and Dollier de Casson were not known outside tne circle of French savants until still later; and it is onl\- within recent years that the Archives ot Paris have been searched tor historical data. Meantime, the historians ot France and England, animated bv the hostility of their respective governments, either slurred over the discoveries of Radisson and Groseillers entirely, or blackened their memories without the slightest regard to truth. It would, in tact, take a large volume to contradict and disprove halt the lies written ot these two men. Instead ot consulting contemporaneous documents, — which would have entailed both cost and labor, — modern writers have, untortunately, been satisfied to serve up a rehash ot the detractions written bv the old historians. In 1885 came a discovery that punished such slovenly methods by practically wiping out the work of the pseudo-historians. There was tound in the British Museum, the Bodleian Eibrarv, and Hudson's Bay House, London, unmistakably authentic record of Radisson's voyages, written by himself The Prince Society of Boston printed two hundred and fifty copies of the collected journals. The Canadian Archives published the journals ot the two last voya2;es. Francis Parkman was too conscientious to ignore the importance of the find ; but his history of the West was already written. He made what reparation he could to Radisson's memory by appending a tootnote to subsequent edixii FOREWORD

tions of two of his books, stating that Radisson and Groseillers' travels took them to the "Forked River" before 1660. Some ten other Hnes are all that Mr. Parkman relates of Radisson ; and the data for these brief references have evidently been drawn from Radisson's enemies, for the explorer is called " a renegade." It is necessary to state this, because some writers, whose zeal for criticism was much greater than their qualifications, wanted to know why any one should attempt to write Radisson's life when Parkman had already done so.

Radisson's life reads more like a second Robinson Crusoe than sober history. For that reason I have put the corroborative evidence in footnotes, rather than cumber the movement of the main theme. I am sorry to have loaded the opening parts with so many notes ; but Radisson's voyages change the relative positions of the other explorers so radically that proofs must be given. The footnotes are for the student and may be omitted by the general reader. The study of Radisson arose from using his later exploits on Hudson Bay as the subject of the novel, Heralds of Empire. On the publication of that book, several letters came from the Western states asking how far I thought Radisson had gone bevond Lake Superior before he went to Hudson Bay. Having in mind — I am sorry to say — mainly the early records of Radisson's enemies, I at first answered that I thought it very difficult to identify the

FOREWORD xiii

discoverer's itinerary beyond the (ireat Lakes. So many letters continued to come on the subject that I began to investigate contemporaneous documents. The path followed by the explorer west of the Great Lakes — as given by Radisson himself — is here written. Full corroboration of all that Radisson relates is to be found — as already stated — in chronicles written at the period of his life and in the State Papers. Copies of these I have in mv possession. Samples of the papers bearing on Radisson's times, copied from the Marine Archives, will be found in the Appendix. One must either accept the explorer's word as conclusive, — even when he relates his own trickery, — or in rejecting his journal also reject as fictions the Jesuit Relations^ the Marine Archives^ Dollier de Casson^ Marie de V Incarnation^ and the Abbe Belmont^ which record the same events as Radisson. In no case has reliance been placed on secondhand chronicles. Oldmixon and Charlevoix must both have written from hearsay ; therefore, though quoted in the footnotes, thev are not given as conclusive proof. The only means of identifying Radisson's routes are (i) by his descriptions of the countries, (2) his notes of the Lidian tribes; so that personal knowledge of the territory is absolutely essential in following Radisson's narrative. All the regions traversed by Radisson — the Ottawa, the St. Lawrence, the (jreat Lakes, Labrador, and the Great Northwest — I have visited, some of them many times, except xiv FOREWORD

the shores of Hudson Bay, and of that region I have some hundreds of photographs.

Material for the accounts of the other pathfinders of the West has been drawn directly from the different explorers' journals.

For historical matter I wish to express my indebtedness to Dr. N. E. Dionne of the Parliamentary Library, Ouebec, whose splendid sketch of Radisson and Groseillers, read before the Royal Society of Canada, does much to redeem the memory of the discoverers from ignominy ; to Dr. George Bryce of Winnipeg, whose investigation of Hudson's Bay Archives adds a new chapter to Radisson's lite; to Mr. Benjamin Suite of Ottawa, whose destructive criticism of inaccuracies in old and modern records has done so much to stop people writing history out of their heads and to put research on an honest basis ; and to M. E'.douard Richard tor scholarly advice relating to the Marine Archives, which he has exploited so thoroughly. For transcripts and archives now out of print, thanks are due Mr. L. P. Sylvain of the Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, the officials of the Archives Department, Ottawa, Mr. F. C. Wurtele of Ouebec, Professor Andrew Baird of Winnipeg, Mr. Alfred Matthews of the Prince Society, Boston, the Hon. Jacob V, Brower and Mr. Warren Upham of St, Paul. Mr. Lawrence J. Burpee of Ottawa was so good as to give me a reading of his exhaustive notes on La Verendrye and of data found on the Radisson

FOREWORD XV

family. To Mrs. Fred Paget of Ottawa, the daughter of a Hudson's Bay Company officer, and to Mr. and Mrs, C. C. Farr of the Northern Ottawa, I am indebted for interesting tacts on life in the fur posts. Miss Talbot of Winnipeg obtained from retired officers of the Hudson's Bav Company a most complete set of photographs relating to the fur trade. To her and to those officers who loaned old heirlooms to be photographed, I beg to express my cordial appreciation. And the thanks of all who write on the North are permanently due Mr. C. C. Chipman, Chief Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company, for unfailing courtesy in extending information.

WiLDwooD Place,

Wassaic, N.Y.

Just as this volume was going to the printer, I received a copy of the very' valuable Minnesota Memoir, Vol. VI, compiled by the Hon. J. V. Brower of St. Paul, to whom my thanks are due for this excellent contribution to Western annals. It may be said that the authors of this volume have done more than any other writers to vindicate Radisson and Groseillers as explorers of the West. The very ditierences of opinion over the regions visited establish the fact that Radisson did explore parts of Minnesota. I have purposely avoided trying to say luhat parts of Minnesota he exploited, because, it seems to me, the controversy is futile. Radisson's memory has been the subject o\ controversy from the time of his life. The controversy — first between the governments of France and England, subsequently between the French and English historians — has eclipsed the real achievements of Radisson. To me it seems non-essential as to v*hether Radisson camped on an island in the Mississippi, or only visited the region of that island. The tact remains that he discovered the Great Northwest, meaning by that the region west of the Mississippi. The same dispute has obscured his explorations of Hudson Bay, French writers maintaining that he went overland to the North and put his feet in the waters of the bay, the English writers insisting that he only crossed over the watershed toward Hudson Bay. Again, the ftict remains that he did xvi FOREWORD

what others had failed to do — discovered an overland route to the bay. I am sorry that Radisson is accused in this Memoir of intentionally falsifying his relations in two respects; (i) in adding a fanciful year to the 1 65 8-1660 voyage ; (2) in saying that he had voyaged down the Mississippi to Mexico. (i) Internal evidence plainly shows that Radisson' s first four voyages were written twenty years afterward, when he was in London, and not while on the voyage across the Atlantic with Cartwright, the Boston commissioner. It is the most natural thing in the world that Radisson, who had so often been to the wilds, should have mixed his dates. Every slip as to dates is so easily checked by contemporaneous records — which, themselves, need to be checked — that it seems too bad to accuse Radisson of wilfully lying in the matter. When Radisson lied it was to avoid bloodshed, and not to exalt himself. If he had had glorification of self in mind, he would not have set down his own faults so unblushingly ; for instance, where he deceives M. Colbert of Paris. (2) Radisson does not try to give the impression that he went to Mexico. The sense of the context is that he met an Indian tribe — Illinois, Mandans, Omahas, or some other — who lived next to another tribe who told of the Spaniards. I feel almost sure that the scholarly Mr. Benjamin Suite is right in his letter to me when he suggests that Radisson' s manuscript has been mixed by transposition of pages or paragraphs, rather than that Radisson himself was confused in his account. At the same time every one of the contributors to the Minnesota Alemoir deserves the thanks of all who love true history.

ADDENDUM

Since the above foreword was written, the contents of this volume have appeared serially in four New York magazines. The context of the book was slightly abridged in these articles, so that a very vital distinction — namely, the difference between what is given as in dispute, and what is given as incontrovertible fact — was lost ; but what was my amusement to receive letters from all parts of the West all but challenging me to a duel. One wants to know "how a reputable author dare" suggest that Radisson's voyages be taken as authentic. There is no " dare " about it. It is a fact. For any " reputable" historian to suggest — as two recently have — that Radisson's voyages are a fabrication, is to stamp that historian as a pretender who has not investigated a single record contemporaneous with Radisson's life. One cannot consult documents contemporaneous with his life and not learn instantly that he was a very live fact of the most troublesome kind the governments of France and England ever had to accept. That is why it impresses me as a presumption that is almost comical for any modern writer to condescend to say that he "accepts" or "rejects" this or that part of Radisson's record. If he " rejects " Radisson, he also rejects the Marine Archi'ves of Paris, and the Jesuit Relations, which are the recognized sources of our early history.

FOREWORD xvii

Another correspondent furiously denounces Radisson as a liar because he mixes his dates of the 1660 trip. It would be just as reasonable to call La Salle a liar because there are discrepancies in the dates of his exploits, as to call Radisson a liar for the slips in his dates. When the mistakes can be checked from internal evidence, one is hardly justified in charging falsification.

A third correspondent is troubled by the reference to the Mascoutin Indians being befor.d the Mississippi. State documents establish this fact. I am not responsible for it ; and Radisson could not circle west-northwest from the Mascoutins to the great encampments of the Sioux without going far west of the Mississippi. Even if the Jesuits make a slip in referring to the Sioux's use of some kind of coal for fire because there was no wood on the prairie, and really mean turf or buffalo refuse, — which I have seen the Sioux use for fire, — the fact is that only the tribes far west of the Mississippi habitually used such substitutes for wood.

My Wisconsin correspondents I have offended by saying that Radisson went beyond the Wisconsin ; my Minnesota friends, by saying that he went bevond Minnesota; and my Manitoba co-workers of past days, by suggesting that he ever went bevond Manitoba. The feet remains that when we try to identify Radisson's voyages, we must take his own account of his journeyings ; and that account establishes him as the Discoverer of the Northwest.

For those who know, I surely do not need to state that there is no picture of Radisson extant; and that some of the studies of his life are just as genuine (.'') as alleged old prints of his likeness.

Part One Pierre Esprit Radisson

Adventures of the First White Man to explore the West, the Northwest, and the North

CHAPTER I Radisson's First \'^oyage

PAGE

The Boy Radisson is captured bv the Iroquois and carried to the Mohawk Vallev — In League with Another Captive, he slays their Guards and escapes — He is overtaken in Sight of Home — Tortured and adopted in the Tribe, he visits Orange, where the Dutch offer to ransom him — His Escape ........ 3

Chapter II

Radisson returns to Quebec, where he joins the Jesuits to go to the Iroquois Mission — He witnesses the Massacre of the Hurons among the Thousand Islands — Besieged by the Iroquois, they pass the Winter as Prisoners of War — Conspiracy to massacre the French foiled by Radisson . 43

XX CONTENTS

CHAPTER III Radisson's Third Voyage PACE

The Discovery of the Great Northwest — Radisson and his Brother-in-law, Groseillers, visit what are now Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, and the Canadian Northwest — Radisson's Prophecy on first beholding the West — Twelve Years before Marquette and Jolliet, Radisson sees the Mississippi — The Terrible Remains of Dollard's Fight seen on the Way down the Ottawa — Why Radisson's Explorations have been ignored . . o . .68

Chapter IV

The Success of the Explorers arouses Envy — It becomes known that they have heard of the Famous Sea of the North — •When they ask Permission to resume their Explorations, the French Governor refuses except on Condition of receiving Half the Profits — In Defiance, the Explorers steal off at Midnight — They return with a Fortune and are driven from New France . . . . .101

CHAPTER V Radisson renounces Allegiance to Two Crowns

Rival Traders thwart the Plans of the Discoverers — Entangled in Lawsuits, the Two French Explorers go to England — The Organization of the Hudson's Bav Fur Company — Radisson the Storm-centre of International Intrigue — Boston Merchants in the Struggle to capture the Fur Trade . 132

CONTKNTS xxi

CHAPTER \'I Radisson gives up a Carker in the Navy for the Fur Trade

PACE

Though opposed by the Monopolists of Quebec, he secures Ships for a Voyage to Hudson Bay — Here he encounters a Pirate Ship from Boston and an English Ship of the Hudson's Bav Companv — How he plays his Cards to win against Both Rivals . . . . . . .150

• CHAPTER \JI

The Last Voyage of Radisson to Hudson Bay '

France refuses to restore the Confiscated Furs and Radisson tries to redeem his Fortune — Reengaged by England, he captures back Fort Nelson, but comes to Want in his Old Age — His Character . . . . , .178

Part Two

The Search for the Western Sea, being an Account of the Discovery of the Rocky Mountains, the Missouri Uplands, and the \'alley of the Saskatchewan

CHAPTER \III

The Search for the Western Sea

M. de la Verendrye continues the Exploration of the Great Northwest by establishing a Chain of Fur Posts across the Continent — Privations of the Explorers and the Massacre of Twenty Followers — His Sons visit the Mandans and discover the Rockies — The \'alley of the Saskatchewan is next explored, but Jealousy thwarts the Explorer, and he dies in Poverty . . , . , . .193 xxii CONTENTS

Part Three

Search for the Northwest Passage leads Samuel Hearne TO THE Arctic Circle and Athabasca Region

CHAPTER IX Samuel Hearne

PAGE

The Adventures of Hearne in his Search for the Coppermine River and Northwest Passage — Hilarious Life of Wassail led bv Governor Norton — The Massacre of the Eskimo by Hearne' s Indians North of the Arctic Circle — Discovery of the Athabasca Countrv — Hearne becomes Resident Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, but is captured by the French — Death of Norton and Suicide of Matonabbee 24.1

Part Four

First across the Rockies — How Mackenzie crossed the Northern Rockies and Lewis and Clark were First TO cross from Missouri to Columbia

CHAPTER X First Across the Rockies How Mackenzie found the Great River named after him and then pushed across the Mountains to the Paciiic, forever settling the Question of a Northwest Passage . . 275

CHAPTER XI Lewis and Clark

The First White Men to ascend the Missouri to its Sources and descend the Columbia to the Paciiic — Exciting Adventures on the Canons of the Missouri, the Discovery of the Great Falls and the Yellowstone — Lewis' Escape from Hostiles 307

ILLUSTRATIONS

Stealing from the Fort b\- Night .... Frontispiece ^

PAGE

Map of the Great Fur Countrv . . . Facing i '

Three Rivers in 1757 . . . . . . . 5

Map of the Iroquois Countrv in the Days of Radisson . . 14

Albany from an Old Print . . . . . .32

The Battery, New York, in Radisson's Time . . •37

Fort Amsterdam, from an ancient engraving executed in Holland 41 One of the Earliest Maps of the Great Lakes . Facing 43-

Paddling past Hostiles ....... 50

Jogues, the Jesuit Missionarv, who was tortured hv the Mohawks 56 Chateau de Ramczav, Montreal . . . . .61

A Cree Brave, with the Wampum String .... 70

-An Old-time Buffalo Hunt on the Plains among the Sioux Facing 81 - Father Marquette, from an old painting discovered in Montreal 83 Wjyageurs running the Rapids of the Ottawa River . . 95

Montreal in 1760 . . . . . . Facing loi ■

Chateau St. Louis, Quebec, 1669 . . . . .108

A Parley on the Plains ..... Facing 1 20

Martello Tower of Refuge in Time of Indian \^'ars — Three

Skin for Skin, Coat of Arms and Motto, Hudson's Bav Company i 51 Hudson's Bay Company Coins, made of Lead melted from Teachests at York Factor v . . . . . .163

Hudson Bay Dog Trains laden with Furs arriving at Lower

Fort Garry, Red River . . . . . .187

xxiii

XXIV

ILLUSTRATIONS

Indians and Hunters spurring to the Fight . . Facing 194. '

Fights at the Foothills of the Rockies, between Crows and

Snakes ....... Facing 196 '

Each Man landed with Pack on his Back and trotted awav over

A Cree Indian of the Minnesota Borderlands . , . 200

A Group of Cree Indians ...... 207

The Soldiers marched out from Mount PvOval for the Western

Traders' Boats running the Rapids of the Athabasca River . 217 The Ragged Sky-line of the Mountains . . . .220

A Monarch of the Plains ...... 228

Fur Traders towed down the Saskatchewan in the Summer ot

1900 ......... 231

Tepees dotted the Vallev . . , . . . .236

An Eskimo Belle ........ 242

Eskimo using Double-bladed Paddle . . . . .250

Eskimo Family, taken by Light of Midnight Sun . Facing 258/

Fort Garrv, Winnipeg, a Century Ago . . . .262

Plan of Fort Prince of Wales, from Robson's drawing, 1733—

1747 ......... 266

Fort Prince of Wales . . . . . . .270

Beaver Coin of the Hudson's Bav Company . . .271

Alexander Mackenzie . . . . . , .276

Eskimo trading his Pipe, carved from Walrus Tusk, for the

Value of Three Beaver Skins . . . . ,278

Ouill and Beadwork on Buckskin . . . . .281

Fort William, Headquarters Northwest Company, Lake Superior 283 Running a Rapid on Mackenzie River . . Facing 286

Slave Lake Indians ........ 290

Good Hope, Mackenzie River, Hudson's Bay Company Fort . 301

ILLUSTRATIONS

XXV

The Mouth of the Mackenzie by the Light of the Midnight Sun

Captain Meriwether Lewis

Captain WiHiam Clark

Tracking up Stream

Typical Mountain Trapper

The Discovery of the Great Falls

Fighting a Grizzly .

Packer carrving Goods across Portage

Spying on Encmv's Fort .

Indian Camp at Foothills of Rockies

On Guard ....

Indians of the Up-country or Pays d'en Haut

3.6

Facing

3'7

Fdciiig

3«9

32+

Facing

Part I Pierrk Esprit Radisson

ADVENTURES OF THE FIRST WHITE MAN TO EXPLORE THE WEST, THE NORTHWEST, AND THE NORTH

Chapter I 1651-1653

The Boy Radisson is captured by the Iroquois and carried to the Mohawk Valley — In League with Another Captive, he slays their Guards and escapes — He is overtaken in Sight of Home — • Tortured and adopted in the Tribe, he visits Orange, where the Dutch offer to ransom him — His Escape

Early one morning in the spring of 1652 three voiing men left the Httle stockaded fort of Three Rivers, on the north bank of the St. Lawrence, for a day's hunting in the marshes of Lake St. Peter. On one side were the forested hills, purple with the mists of rising vapor and still streaked with white patches ot snow where the dense woods shut out the sunlight. On the other lav the silver expanse ot the St. Lawrence, more like a lake than a river, with mile on mile southwestward of rush-grown marshes, where plover and curlew and duck and wild geese flocked to their favorite feeding-grounds three hundred years ago just as they do to-day. Northeastward, the three mouths of the St. Maurice poured their spring flood into the St. Lawrence.

The hunters were very young. Only hunters rash with the courage of untried youth would have left the shelter of the fort walls when all the world knew that the Iroquois had been lying in ambush round the little settlement of Three Rivers day and night for the preceding year. Not a week passed but some settler working on the outskirts of Three Rivers was set upon and left dead in his fields by marauding Iroquois. The tortures suffered by Jogues, the great Jesuit missionary who had been captured by the Iroquois a few years before, were still fresh in the memory of every man, woman, and child in New France. It was from Three Rivers that Piescaret, the famous Algonquin chief who could outrun a deer, had set out against the Iroquois, turning his snowshoes back to front, so that the track seemed to lead north when he was really going south, and then, having thrown his pursuers off the trail, coming back on his own footsteps, sHpping up stealthily on the Iroquois that were following the false scent, and tomahawking the laggards.^ It was from Three Rivers that the Mohawks had captured the Algonquin girl who escaped by slipping off the thongs that bound her. Stepping over the prostrate

1 Benjamin Suite in Chronique Trijiwvienne, forms ot her sleeping guards, such a turv of revenge possessed her that she seized an axe and brained the nearest sleeper, then ekided her pursuers bv first hiding in a hollow tree and afterward diving under the debris of a beaver dam.

These things were known to every inhabitant ot Three Rivers. Farmers had flocked into the little

Three Rivers fort and could venture back to their fields only when armed with a musket.' "\'et the three young hunters rashly left the shelter of the fort walls and took the

1 It was in August of this same year, 1652, that the governor of Three Rivers was slain by the Iroquois. Parkman gives this date, 1653 ; Garneau, 1651 ; L'Abbe Tanguay, 1651; Dollier de Casson, i6i;i; Belmont, 1653. Suite gives the name of the governor Duplessis-Kerbodot, not Bochart, as given in Parkman.

very dangerous path that led between the forests and the water. One of the young men was barely in his seventeenth year/ This was Pierre Esprit Radisson, from St. Malo, the town of the famous Cartier. Young Radisson had only come to New France the year before, and therefore could not realize the dangers of Indian warfare. Like boys the world over, the three went along, boasting how they would fight if the Indians came. One skirted the forest, on the watch for Iroquois, the others kept to the water, on the lookout for game. About a mile from Three Rivers they encountered a herdsman who warned them to keep out from the foot of the hills. Things that looked like a multitude of heads had risen out of the earth back there, he said, pointing to the forests. That set the young hunters loading their pistols and priming muskets. It must also have chilled their zest; for, shooting some ducks, one of the young men presently declared that he had had enough — he was going back. With that daring which was to prove both the lodestar and the curse ot his life, young

1 Dr. Bryce has unearthed the fact that in a petition to the House of Commons, 1698, Radisson sets down his age as sixty-two. This gives the year of his birth as 1636. On the other hand, Suite has record of a Pierre Radisson registered at Quebec in 1681, aged fifty-one, which would make him slightly older, if it is the same Radisson. Mr. Suite's explanation is as follows : Sebastien Hayet of St. Malo married Madeline Henault. Their daughter Marguerite married Chouart, known as Groseillers. Madeline Henault then married Pierre Esprit Radisson of Paris, whose children were Pierre, our hero, and two daughters.

Radisson laughed to scorn the sudden change of mind. Thereupon the first hunter was joined by the second, and the two went oti" in high dudgeon. With a laugh, Pierre Radisson marched along alone, foreshadowing his after life, — a type of every pathfinder facing the dangers of the unknown with dauntless scorn, an immortal type of the world-hero.

Shooting at every pace and hilarious over his luck, Radisson had wandered some nine miles trom the tort, when he came to a stream too deep to tord and realized that he already had more game than he could possibly carry. Hiding in hollow trees what he could not bring back, he began trudging toward Three Rivers with a string of geese, ducks, and odd teal over his shoulders. Wading swollen brooks and scrambling over windfiills, he retraced his way without pause till he caught sight of the town chapel glimmering in the sunlight against the darkening horizon above the river. He was almost back where his comrades had left him ; so he sat down to rest. The cowherd had dri\en his cattle back to Ihree Rivers.' The river came lapping through the rushes. There was a clacking of wild-towl flocking down to