, surely they would have clapped him under hatches. But he was
permitted to leave the ship, and Bridgar began the preparation of his
winter quarters on the shore.

Some days later Radisson came back. His old enemy Gillam was suspicious
and ordered him away; but Radisson came again, and this time he brought
with him the captain's son, young Ben, dressed as a wood-runner. This
was enough to intimidate the old captain, for he knew that if his son
was caught poaching on the Bay both father and son would be ruined. One
day two of Bridgar's men who had been ranging for game dashed in with
the news that they had seen a strange fort up the Nelson a few miles
away. This, of course, Bridgar thought, was Radisson's fort, and Captain
Gillam did not dare to undeceive him. Then a calamity befell the English
winterers. A storm rose and set the tidal ice driving against the
_Prince Rupert_. The ship was jammed and sunk with loss of provisions
and fourteen men, including the captain himself. So perished Captain
Zachariah Gillam, whom we first met as master of the _Nonsuch_, the
pioneer of all the ships that have since sailed into the Bay in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO NELSON and HAYES RIVERS
Map by Bartholomew]

The wreck of the ship left Bridgar helpless in his rude fort without
either food or ammunition, and he at once began to console himself for
loss of ship and provisions by deep drinking. Then Radisson knew that he
had nothing further to fear from that quarter and he sent food to the
starving Englishmen.

Ben Gillam was outwitted through defiantly accepting an invitation to
visit the French fort. Gillam visited his rivals to spy on their
weakness, and openly taunted them at the banquet table about their
helpless condition. When he tried to depart he was coolly told that he
was a prisoner, and that, with the aid of any nine Frenchmen Ben chose
to pick out from 'the helpless French,' Radisson purposed capturing the
poacher's fort and ship. The young captain had fallen into a trap.
Radisson had left French hostages at Gillam's fort for his safe return,
but these had been instructed to place firearms at convenient places and
to post themselves so that they could prevent the sudden closing of the
gates. Such precautions proved unnecessary. Radisson walked into the New
England poacher's fort and quietly took possession.

A few days later Bridgar, who had learned too late that the fort on the