n of the governor of
Quebec to lead a band of wood-runners overland to rescue Pere on the
Bay, fire the English forts, and massacre the English. Rumours of these
raids Smithsend heard in his dungeon below Chateau St Louis; and he
contrived to send a secret letter to England, warning the Company.

In England the adventurers had lodged 'Parry' in jail on a charge of
having 'damnified the Company.' Smithsend's letter of warning had come;
but how could the Company reach their forts before the ice cleared?
Meanwhile they hired twenty extra men for each fort. They presented
Radisson with a hogshead of claret. At the same time they had him and
his wife, 'dwelling at the end of Seething Lane on Tower Hill,' sign a
bond for L2000 by way of ensuring fidelity. 'Ye two journals of Mr
Radisson's last expedition to ye Bay' were delivered into the hands of
the Company, where they have rested to this day.

The ransom demanded for Hume was paid by the Company at secret sessions
of the Governing Committee, and the captain came post-haste from France
with word of La Martiniere's raid. My Lord Churchill being England's
champion against 'those varmint' the French, 'My Lord Churchill was
presented with a catt skin counter pane for his bedd' and was asked to
bespeak the favour of the king that France should make restitution. My
Lord Churchill brought back word that the king said: 'Gentlemen, I
understand your business! On my honour, I assure you I will take
particular care on it to see that you are righted.' In all, eighty-nine
men were on the Bay at this time. It proved not easy to charter ships
that year. Sir Stephen Evance advanced his price on the _Happy Return_
from L400 to L750. Knight, of whom we shall hear anon, and Red Cap
Sandford, of whom the minutes do not tell enough to inform us whether
the name refers to his hair or his hat, urged the Governing Committee to
send at least eighteen more men to Albany, twelve more to Moose, six
more to Rupert, and to open a trading post at Severn between Nelson and
Albany. They advised against attempting to go up the rivers while French
interlopers were active. Radisson bought nine hundred muskets for
Nelson, and ordered two great guns to be mounted on the walls. When
Smithsend arrived from imprisonment in Quebec, war fever against the
French rose to white-heat.

But, while all this preparation was in course at home, sixty-six swarthy
Indians and thirty-three French wood-runners, led by the Chev