such show of confidence on his part would emphatically jeopardize the interests of the Company.
Governor Bailey's distrust.
King Cusciddidah arrived on the following day. "His Majestie brought a retinue with him," records Thomas Gorst, the Governor's secretary, "but very little beaver, the Indians having already sent their best to Canada."
In the absence of the Governor, the occupants of the fort regarded Captain Cole as their superior. Cole did not place much confidence in the pacific mien of the savages surrounding the fort, and a guard was kept up night and day. Under cover of darkness two sailors were despatched to find the Governor; but scarcely had they departed on their quest than Cusciddidah proposed that two of his Indians should go on the same errand. The acting commandant of the fort could not well decline this offer, and on the 31st of March the second party returned, bringing with them the Governor. To the surprise of all Radisson did not accompany him. No explanation was offered; but the next day the rumour ran that they had quarrelled in the wilderness, that from words they came to blows, and that finally Radisson had attempted to shoot the Governor.
Filled with a natural alarm, Groseilliers made several attempts to obtain from Bailey the true story of the affair, but the Governor declined to affirm or confirm anything, saying that he had no doubt Groseilliers knew quite as much of the matter as himself. Groseilliers' anxiety, however, was considerably lessened when at a formal conference with the Indian king, held at the latter's wigwams near the fort, he learnt that the French had made a settlement not above eight days' journey from Rupert's River. Hither, in effect, Radisson had repaired; and afterwards from thence made his way back to Quebec. Of his subsequent adventures mention will be made later in the narrative.
First French rivalry.
Cusciddidah openly demanded the English protection. He declared his apprehension of being attacked by other Indians, whom the French had animated against the English and all who dealt with them. He even gave a description of the fort the French had erected on the banks of Moose River, and the contents of its store-house. Already the French were resorting to many artifices to hinder the natives from trading with the heretic pale-faces; they gave higher value for the furs brought them, and lost no opportunity of instilling into the minds of the Indians a far from flattering opinion of their trade rivals, the English.
One hearer received these tidings with complete equanimity. That which surprised and confounded his companions, filled the bosom of Chouart des Groseilliers with a secret joy. The Governor's high-handed deportment had oppressed, if it had not angered him; and he had, together with his brother-in-law, begun to suspect that this policy of enmity was dictated by a desire to rid himself and the Company of them both. But in the proximity of the French he found a weapon of great utility in his relations with the Governor, his superior officer.
On the third of April a council was held, to debate upon the advisability of the Company's agents removing from Rupert's to Moose River, thus to prevent their traffic being intercepted by the French. The Governor adopted a tone of great cordiality towards Groseilliers, and listened with deference to his advice. Groseilliers boldly counselled giving up the present fort and establishing themselves close to the French. Bailey, much to Captain Cole's astonishment, instantly approved of the plan. In vain did Cole protest against the course as dangerous; the Governor professed his confidence in Groseilliers' wisdom, and ordered the sloop to be got ready for the journey.
Bark Canoe of Indians on Hudson's Bay.
In the meantime the Indians in the neighbourhood of Fort Charles continued building their wigwams. They raised their wauscohegein or fort so near the English that the palisades joined. As their numbers increased, Groseilliers advised putting off their own expedition until the savages were gone hunting, so that Fort Charles and those left in charge might not be surprised in their absence. On the 20th of May, seven canoes containing more subjects of Cusciddidah arrived, bringing the news to the English that few, if any, Upland Indians might be expected to visit them that season, the French having persuaded them to journey with their goods to Canada instead. Indeed, said they, the tribes had already left, so that even if the English expedition were made, it would be fruitless.
At this depressing intelligence Bailey again sought Groseilliers' advice, and this being still in favour of advancing to Moose River, it was adopted. Before the departure, on the 27th of May, a band of about fifty men, women and children appeared, anxious to trade; but instead of furs they offered wampum, feathers, and a few small canoes, for none of which merchandise the Company's agents had need. They were of the nation called Pishapocanoes, a tribe allied to the Esquimaux, and like them, a "poor, beggarly people; by which," adds one of the party, "we may perceive the French ran away with the best of the trade."
Everything being now in readiness, the expedition started, but without Bailey. The Governor, at the last moment, decided to remain behind at Fort Charles and await their return.
First visit to Moose River.
The voyage across the Bay was made in safety, and on the very day of landing at the mouth of Moose River, a band of Tabiti Indians were encountered, from whom they obtained about two hundred pelts. The chief of this band denied that the French had bribed them or the other Indians not to trade with the English. They declared that as yet their intercourse had been almost entirely with the Jesuits, one of whom was Father Albanel, who had merely urged them to live on terms of friendship with the nations in league with the French. The chief blamed the English for trading with such pitiful tribes as Cusciddidah's and the Pishapocanoes, advising them instead to settle at Moose River, where, he asserted, the Upland Indians would come and trade with them.
One curious incident occurred in the course of this parley. The Tabiti chief, who had been for some time looking rather sharply at Groseilliers, suddenly broke off the intercourse. When Captain Cole demanded the reason, the chief declared that it was on Groseilliers' account, whom he had recognized as the Frenchman with whom he had had dealings many years before. Groseilliers, nothing loth, stepped forward, and declared that the chief might possess himself in easiness on that score, as he was now to all intents and purposes an Englishman; and that he would always trade with the Tabitis as such.
"But you drove hard bargains," returned the chief. "You took our silkiest, softest and richest furs, and you gave us but beads and ribbons. You told us the skins of the sable, and marten, and beaver were of little account to you, whereas the English give us, and the French traders as well, guns and hatchets in exchange."
This harangue does not seem to have particularly disconcerted Groseilliers; he was an old Indian trader; he returned a polite answer, renewing his expressions of amity. Nevertheless, it made a profound impression upon the other members of the party, who reported to Bailey on their return that the Indians thought Groseilliers too hard on them, and refused to deal with him. Indeed, they did not scruple to assert that the comparative failure of their expedition was owing to Groseilliers' presence; that both the Tabitis and the Shechittiwans, hard by, were really possessed of peltries which they chose to conceal.
Bailey at Moose River.
On hearing this intelligence, Bailey himself was induced to set out for Moose River. By rare good fortune, he found the Tabitis reinforced by a numerous band of Shechittiwans, who had journeyed thither some fifty leagues and were eager to trade. From this tribe, the Governor procured no fewer than fifteen hundred skins on very good terms. Charmed with his adventure, he decided to pursue his course, discover the Chechouan River, and thence coast along the west shore of the Bay, to Port Nelson, where there was, as yet, no fort.
On the 18th of July, he arrived at Chechouan River, "where no Englishman had been before," but secured little or no beaver. He treated with the chief of the tribe he found there and with his son, who exacted from him a promise that he would come with a ship and trade the next year. In return, they assured him they would provide a quantity of beaver and induce the Upland tribes to travel thence. Hardly had the sloop departed than, on the 27th, it ran upon a mass of floating ice and narrowly escaped foundering. This catastrophe precipitated the Governor's return to Rupert's River. He arrived to find Groseilliers and