if to sally from the woods. The
English imagined themselves ambushed, and called out that they were the
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. Radisson declared who he was and
that he had taken possession of the country for France. His musket was
still levelled. His men were ready to dash forward. The English put
their heads together and decided that discretion was the better part of
valor. Governor Bridgar meekly requested permission to land and salute
the commander of the French. Then followed a pompous melodrama of
bravado, each side affecting sham strength. Radisson told the English
all that he had told the New Englanders, going on board the Company's
ship to dine, while English hostages remained with his French
followers. For reasons which he did not reveal, he strongly advised
Governor Bridgar not to go farther up Nelson River. Above all, he
warned Captain Gillam not to permit the English sailors to wander
inland. Having exchanged compliments, Radisson took gracious leave of
his hosts, and with his three men slipped down the Nelson in their
canoe. Past a bend in the river, he ordered the canoe ashore. The
French then skirted back through the woods and lay watching the English
till satisfied that the Hudson's Bay Company ship would go no nearer
the island where Ben Gillam lay hidden.

Groseillers and his son looked after the trade that winter. Radisson
had his hands full keeping the two English crews apart. Ten days after
his return, he again left Hayes River to see what his rivals were
doing. The Hudson's Bay Company ship had gone aground in the ooze a
mile from the fort where Governor Bridgar had taken up quarters. That
division of forces weakened the English fort. Introducing his man as
captain of a French ship, Radisson entered the governor's house. The
visitors drained a health to their host and fired off muskets to learn
whether sentinels were on guard. No attention was paid to the unwonted
noise. "I judged," writes Radisson, "that they were careless, and
might easily be surprised." He then went across to the river flats,
where the tide had left the vessel, and, calmly mounting the ladder,
took a survey of Gillam's ship. When the irate old captain rushed up
to know the meaning of the intrusion Radisson suavely proffered
provisions, of which they were plainly in need.

The New Englanders had been more industrious. A stoutly palisaded fort
had been completed on young Gillam's island, an