Heralds of Empire

by Agnes C. Laut

  CHAPTER X

  THE CAUSE OF THE FIRING

  The landing was but a part of the labyrinthine trickery in which ourleader delighted to play; for while Jean delayed the natives we ranoverland through the woods, launched our canoe far ahead of the Indianflotilla, and went racing forward to the throbs of the leaping river.

  "If a man would win, he must run fast as the hour-glass," observed M.Radisson, poising his steering-pole. "And now, my brave lads," he began,counting in quick, sharp words that rang with command, "keeptime--one--two--three! One--two--three!" And to each word the paddlesdipped with the speed of a fly-wheel's spokes.

  "One--two--three! In and up and on! An you keep yourselves in hand,men, you can win against the devil's own artillery! Speed to yourstrokes, Godefroy," he urged.

  And the canoe answered as a fine-strung racer to the spur. Shore-linesblurred to a green streak. The frosty air met our faces in wind.Gurgling waters curled from the prow in corrugated runnels. And we wererunning a swift race with a tumult of waves, mounting the swell, dipping,rising buoyant, forward in bounds, with a roar of the nearing rapids, andspray dashing athwart in drifts. M. Radisson braced back. The prowlifted, shot into mid-air, touched water again, and went whirling throughthe mill-race that boiled below a waterfall. Once the canoe aimedstraight as an arrow for rocks in mid-current. M. Radisson's steel-shodpole flashed in the sun. There was a quick thrust, answered byGodefroy's counter-stroke at the stern; and the canoe grazed past therocks not a hair's-breadth off.

  "Sainte Anne ha' mercy!" mumbled Godefroy, baling water from the canoe aswe breasted a turn in the river to calmer currents, "Sainte Anne ha'mercy! But the master'd run us over Niagara, if he had a mind."

  "Or the River Styx, if 'twould gain his end," sharply added Radisson.

  But he ordered our paddles athwart for snatched rest, while he himselfkept alert at the bow. With the rash presumption of youth, I offered totake the bow that he might rest; but he threw his head back with a loudlaugh, more of scorn than mirth, and bade me nurse a wounded hand. Onthe evening of the third day we came to the Habitation. Withoutdisembarking, M. de Radisson sent the soldiers on sentinel duty at theriver front up to the fort with warning to prepare for instant siege.

  "'Twill put speed in the lazy rascals to finish the fort," he remarked;and the canoe glided out to mid-current again for the far expanse of thebay.

  By this we were all so used to M. Radisson's doings, 'twould not havesurprised us when the craft shot out from river-mouth to open sea if hehad ordered us to circumnavigate the ocean on a chip.

  He did what was nigh as venturesome.

  A quick, unwarned swerve of his pole, which bare gave Godefroy time totake the cue, and our prow went scouring across the scud of whippingcurrents where two rivers and an ocean-tide met. The seething waveslashed to foam with the long, low moan of the world-devouring serpentwhich, legend says, is ever an-hungering to devour voyageurs on life'ssea. And for all the world that reef of combing breakers was not unlikea serpent type of malignant elements bent on man's destruction!

  Then, to the amaze of us all, we had left the lower river. The canoe wascutting up-stream against a new current; and the moan of the poundingsurf receded to the rear. Clouds blew inland, muffling the moon; and M.Radisson ordered us ashore for the night. Feet at a smouldering fire toodull for an enemy to see and heads pillowed on logs, we bivouacked withthe frosty ground for bed.

  "Bad beds make good risers," was all M. Radisson's comfort, when Godefroygrumbled out some complaint.

  A _hard_ master, you say? A wise one, say I, for the forces he fought inthat desolate land were as adamant. Only the man dauntless as adamantcould conquer. And you must remember, while the diamond and the charcoalare of the same family, 'tis the diamond has lustre, because it is_hard_. Faults, M. Radisson had, which were almost crimes; but look youwho judge him--his faults were not the faults of nearly all other men,the faults which _are_ a crime--_the crime of being weak_!

  The first thing our eyes lighted on when the sun rose in flaming dartsthrough the gray haze of dawn was a half-built fort on an island inmid-river. At the water side lay a queer-rigged brigantine, rocking tothe swell of the tide. Here, then, was cause of that firing heard acrossthe marsh on the lower river.

  "'Tis the pirate ship we saw on the high sea," muttered Godefroy, rubbinghis eyes.

  "She flies no flag! She has no license to trade! She's a poacher! Shewill make a prize worth the taking," added M. Radisson sharply. Then, asif to justify that intent--"As _we_ have no license, we must either takeor be taken!"

  The river mist gradually lifted, and there emerged from the fog astockaded fort with two bastions facing the river and guns protrudingfrom loopholes.

  "Not so easy to take that fort," growled Godefroy, who was ever ahanger-back.

  "All the better," retorted M. de Radisson. "Easy taking makes soft men!'Twill test your mettle!"

  "Test our mettle!" sulked the trader, a key higher in his obstinacy."All very well to talk, sir, but how can we take a fort mounted withtwenty cannon----"

  "I'll tell you _the how_ when it's done," interrupted M. de Radisson.

  But Godefroy was one of those obstinates who would be silent only whenstunned.

  "I'd like to know, sir, what we're to do," he began.

  "Godefroy, 'twould be waste time to knock sense in your pate! There isonly one thing to do always--only one, _the right thing_! Do it, fool!An I hear more clack from you till it's done, I'll have your tongue outwith the nippers!"

  Godefroy cowered sulkily back, and M. de Radisson laughed.

  "That will quell him," said he. "When Godefroy's tongue is out he can'tgrumble, and grumbling is his bread of life!"

  Stripping off his bright doublet, M. Radisson hung it from a tree toattract the fort's notice. Then he posted us in ambuscade with orders tocapture whatever came.

  But nothing came.

  And when the fort guns boomed out the noon hour M. Radisson sprang up allimpatience.

  "I'll wait no man's time," he vowed. "Losing time is losing the game!Launch out!"

  Chittering something about our throats being cut, Godefroy shrank back.With a quick stride M. Radisson was towering above him. CatchingGodefroy by the scruff of the neck, he threw him face down into thecanoe, muttering out it would be small loss if all the cowards in theworld had their throats cut.

  "The pirates come to trade," he explained. "They will not fire atIndians. Bind your hair back like that Indian there!"

  No sooner were we in the range of the fort than M. Radisson uttered theshrill call of a native, bade our Indian stand up, and himself enactedthe pantomime of a savage, waving his arms, whistling, and hallooing.With cries of welcome, the fort people ran to the shore and left theirguns unmanned. Reading from a syllable book, they shouted out Indianwords. It was safe to approach. Before they could arm we could escape.But we were two men, one lad, and a neutral Indian against an armedgarrison in a land where killing was no murder.

  M. de Radisson stood up and called in the Indian tongue. They did notunderstand.

  "New to it," commented Radisson, "not the Hudson's Bay Company!"

  All the while he was imperceptibly approaching nearer. He shouted inFrench. They shook their heads.

  "English highwaymen, blundered in here by chance," said he.

  Tearing off the Indian head-band of disguise, he demanded in mightyperemptory tones who they were.

  "English," they called back doubtfully.

  "What have you come for?" insisted Radisson, with a great swelling of hischest.

  "The beaver trade," came a faint voice.

  Where had I heard it before? Did it rise from the ground in the woods,or from a far memory of children throwing a bully into the sea?

  "I demand to see your license," boldly challenged Radisson.

  At that the fellows ashore put their heads together.

  "In the name of the king, I demand to see your license instant
ly,"repeated Sieur de Radisson, with louder authority.

  "We have no license," explained one of the men, who was dressed withslashed boots, red doublet, and cocked hat.

  M. Radisson smiled and poled a length closer.

  "A ship without a license! A prize-for the taking! If the rascalscomplain--the galleys for life!" and he laughed softly.

  "This coast is possessed by the King of France," he shouted. "We have astrong garrison! We mistook your firing for more French ships!" Shapinghis hands trumpet fashion to his mouth, he called this out again, addingthat our Indian was of a nation in league with the French.

  The pirates were dumb as if he had tossed a hand grenade among them.

  "The ship is ours now, lads," said Radisson softly, poling nearer. "See,lads, the bottom has tumbled from their courage! We'll not waste a poundo' powder in capturing that prize!" He turned suddenly to me--"As I liveby bread, 'tis that bragging young dandy-prat--hop-o'-my-thumb--BenGillam of Boston Town!"

  "Ben Gillam!"

  I was thinking of my assailant in the woods. "Ben was tall. The pirate,who came carving at me, was small."

  But Ben Gillam it was, turned pirate or privateer--as you choose to callit--grown to a well-timbered rapscallion with head high in air,jack-boots half-way to his waist, a clanking sword at heel, and a nosetoo red from rum.

  As we landed, he sent his men scattering to the fort, and stood twirlinghis mustaches till the recognition struck him.

  "By Jericho--Radisson!" he gasped.

  Then he tossed his chin defiantly in air like an unbroken colt disposedto try odds with a master.

  "Don't be afraid to land," he called down out of sheer impudence.

  "Don't be afraid to have us land," Radisson shouted up to him. "We'llnot harm you!"

  Ben swore a big oath, fleered a laugh, and kicked the sand with hisheels. Raising a hand, he signalled the watchers on the ship.

  "Sorry to welcome you in this warlike fashion," said he.

  "Glad to welcome you to the domain of His Most Christian Majesty, theKing of France," retorted Radisson, leaping ashore.

  Ben blinked to catch the drift of that.

  "Devil take their majesties!" he ejaculated. "He's king who conquers!"

  "No need to talk of conquering when one is master already," corrected M.de Radisson.

  "Shiver my soul," blurts out Ben, "I haven't a tongue like an eel, butthat's what I mean; and I'm king here, and welcome to you, Radisson!"

  "And that's what I mean," laughed M. Radisson, with a bow, quietlymotioning us to follow ashore. "No need to conquer where one is master,and welcome to you, Captain Gillam!"

  And they embraced each other like spider and fly, each with a free handto his sword-hilt, and a questioning look on the other's face.

  Says M. Radisson: "I've seen that ship before!"

  Ben laughs awkwardly. "We captured her from a Dutchman," he begins.

  "Oh!" says Sieur Radisson. "I meant outside the straits after the storm!"

  Gillam's eyes widen. "Were those your ships?" he asks. Then both menlaugh.

  "Not much to boast in the way of a fleet," taunts Ben.

  "Those are the two smallest we have," quickly explains Radisson.

  Gillam's face went blank, and M. Radisson's eyes closed to the watchfulslit of a cat mouse-hunting.

  "Come! Come!" exclaims Ben, with a sudden flare of friendliness, "I amno baby-eater! Put a peg in that! Shiver my soul if this is a way towelcome friends! Come aboard all of you and test the Canary we got inthe hold of a fine Spanish galleon last week! Such a top-heavy ship,with sails like a tinker's tatters, you never saw! And her hold runningover with Canary and Madeira--oh! Come aboard! Come aboard!" he urged.

  It was Pierre Radisson's turn to blink.

  "And drink to the success of the beaver trade," importunes Ben.

  'Twas as pretty a piece of play as you could see: Ben, scheming to getthe Frenchman captive; M. Radisson, with the lightnings under his browsand that dare-devil rashness of his blood tempting him to spy out thelad's strength.

  "Ben was the body of the venture! Where was the brain? It was that tookme aboard his ship," M. Radisson afterward confessed to us.

  "Come! Come!" pressed Gillam. "I know young Stanhope there"--his mightyair brought the laugh to my face--"young Stanhope there has a taste forfine Canary----"

  "But, lad," protested Radisson, with a condescension that was vinegar toBen's vanity, "we cannot be debtors altogether. Let two of your men stayhere and whiff pipes with my fellows, while I go aboard!"

  Ben's teeth ground out an assent that sounded precious like an oath; forhe knew that he was being asked for hostages of safe-conduct while M.Radisson spied out the ship. He signalled, as we thought, for twohostages to come down from the fort; but scarce had he dropped his handwhen fort and ship let out such a roar of cannonading as would havelifted the hair from any other head than Pierre Radisson's.

  Godefroy cut a caper. The Indian's eyes bulged with terror, and my ownpulse went a-hop; but M. Radisson never changed countenance.

  "Pardieu," says he softly, with a pleased smile as the last shot wentskipping over the water, "you're devilish fond o' fireworks, to wastegood powder so far from home!"

  Ben mumbled out that he had plenty of powder, and that some fools didn'tknow fireworks from war.

  M. Radisson said he was glad there was plenty of powder, there woulddoubtless be use found for it, and he knew fools oft mistook fireworksfor war.

  With that a cannon-shot sent the sand spattering to our boots and filledthe air with powder-dust; but when the smoke cleared, M. Radisson hadquietly put himself between Ben and the fort.

  Drawing out his sword, the Frenchman ran his finger up the edge.

  "Sharp as the next," said he.

  Lowering the point, he scratched a line on the sand between the mark ofthe last shot and us.

  "How close can your gunners hit, Ben?" asked Radisson. "Now I'll wageryou a bottle of Madeira they can't hit that line without hitting you!"

  Ben's hand went up quick enough. The gunners ceased firing and M.Radisson sheathed his sword with a laugh.

  "You'll not take the odds? Take advice instead! Take a man's advice,and never waste powder! You'll need it all if he's king who conquers!Besides," he added, turning suddenly serious, "if my forces learn you arehere I'll not promise I've strength to restrain them!"

  "How many have you?" blurted Ben.

  "Plenty to spare! Now, if you are afraid of the Hudson's Bay Companyships attacking you, I'd be glad to loan you enough young fire-eaters togarrison the fort here!"

  "Thanks," says Ben, twirling his mustaches till they were nigh jerkedout, "but how long would they stay?"

  "Till you sent them away," says M. de Radisson, with the lights at playunder his brows.

  "Hang me if I know how long that would be," laughed Gillam, half-puzzled,half-pleased with the Frenchman's darting wits.

  "Ben," begins M. Radisson, tapping the lace ruffle of Gillam's sleeve,"you must not fire those guns!"

  "No?" questions Gillam.

  "My officers are swashing young blades! What with the marines and thecommon soldiers and my own guard, 'tis all I can manage to keep therascals in hand! They must not know you are here!"

  Gillam muttered something of a treaty of truce for the winter.

  M. Radisson shook his head.

  "I have scarce the support to do as I will," he protests.

  Young Gillam swore such coolness was scurvy treatment for an old friend.

  "Old friend," laughed Radisson afterward. "Did the cub's hangdog of afather not offer a thousand pounds for my head on the end of a pikestaff?"

  But with Ben he played the game out.

  "The season is too far advanced for you to _escape_," says he with softemphasis.

  "'Tis why I want a treaty," answers the sailor.

  "Come, then," laughs the Frenchman, "now--as to terms----"

  "Name them," says Gillam.r />
  "If you don't wish to be discovered----"

  "I don't wish to be discovered!"

  "If you don't wish to be discovered don't run up a flag!"

  "One," says Gillam.

  "If you don't wish to be discovered, don't let your people leave theisland!"

  "They haven't," says Gillam.

  "What?" asks M. Radisson, glancing sharply at me; for we were boththinking of that night attack.

  "They haven't left the island," repeats Gillam.

  "Ten lies are as cheap as two," says Radisson to us. Then to Gillam,"Don't let your people leave the island, or they'll meet my forces."

  "Two," says Gillam.

  "If you don't wish the Fur Company to discover you, don't fire guns!"

  "Three," says Gillam.

  "That is to keep 'em from connecting with those inlanders," whisperedGodefroy, who knew the plays of his master's game better than I. "We canbeat 'em single; but if Ben joins the inlanders and the Fur Companyagainst us----"

  Godefroy completed his prophecy with an ominous shake of the head.

  "My men shall not know you are here," M. Radisson was promising.

  "One," counts Gillam.

  "I'll join with you against the English ships!"

  Young Gillam laughed derisively.

  "My father commands the Hudson's Bay ship," says he.

  "Egad, yes!" retorts M. Radisson nonchalantly, "but your father doesn'tcommand the governor of the Fur Company, who sailed out in his ship."

  "The governor does not know that I am here," flouts Ben.

  "But he would know if I told him," adds M. de Radisson, "and if I toldhim the Company's captain owned half the ship poaching on the Company'spreserve, the Company's captain and the captain's son might go hang forall the furs they'd get! By the Lord, youngster, I rather suspect boththe captain and the captain's son would be whipped and hanged for thetheft!"

  Ben gave a start and looked hard at Radisson. 'Twas the first time, Ithink, the cub realized that the pawn in so soft-spoken a game was hisown neck.

  "Go on," he said, with haste and fear in his look. "I promised threeterms. You will keep your people from knowing I am here and join meagainst the English--go on! What next?"

  "I'll defend you against the Indians," coolly capped M. Radisson.

  Godefroy whispered in my ear that he would not give a pin's purchase forall the furs the New Englander would get; and Ben Gillam looked like aman whose shoe pinches. He hung his head hesitating.

  "But if you run up a flag, or fire a gun, or let your people leave theisland," warned M. Radisson, "I may let my men come, or tell the English,or join the Indians against you."

  Gillam put out his hand.

  "It's a treaty," said he.

  There and then he would have been glad to see the last of us; but M.Radisson was not the man to miss the chance of seeing a rival's ship.

  "How about that Canary taken from the foreign ship? A galleon, did yousay, tall and slim? Did you sink her or sell her? Send down your men tomy fellows! Let us go aboard for the story."