n these alternative possibilities, Hamilton and I determined to
track the fugitives north. We could leave hirelings to shadow the
movements of Indian bands about Quebec. Eric could re-engage with the
Hudson's Bay and get passage north with Colin Robertson's brigade, which
was to leave Lachine in a few weeks. My uncle had been a famous
_Bourgeois_ of the great North-West Company in his younger days, and
could secure me an immediate commission in the North-West Company. Thus
we could accompany the _voyageurs_ and runners of both companies.

Hamilton's arrangements were easily made; and my uncle not only obtained
the commission for me, but, with a hearty clap on my back and a "Bravo,
boy! I knew the fur trader's fever would break out in you yet!" pinned
to the breast of my inner waistcoat the showy gold medallion which the
_Bourgeois_ wore on festive occasions. In very truth I oft had need of
its inspiriting motto: _Fortitude in Distress_.

Feudal lords of the middle ages never waged more ruthless war on each
other than the two great fur trading companies of the north at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. Pierre de Raddison and Grosselier,
gentlemen adventurers of New France, first followed the waters of the
Outawa (Ottawa) northward, and passed from Lake Superior (the _kelche
gamme_ of Indian lore) to the great unknown fur preserve between Hudson
Bay and the Pacific Ocean; but the fur monopolists of the French court
in Quebec jealously obstructed the explorers' efforts to open up the
vast territory. De Raddison was compelled to carry his project to the
English court, and the English court, with a liberality not unusual in
those days, promptly deeded over the whole domain, the extent, locality
and wealth of which there was utter ignorance, to a fur trading
organization,--the newly formed "Company of Adventurers of England,
trading into Hudson's Bay," incorporated in 1670 with Prince Rupert
named as first governor. If monopolists of New France, through envy,
sacrificed Quebec's first claim to the unknown land, Frontenac made
haste to repair the loss. Father Albanel, a Jesuit, and other
missionaries led the way westward to the _Pays d'En Haut_. De Raddison
twice changed his allegiance, and when Quebec fell into the hands of the
British nearly a century later, the French traders were as active in the
northern fur preserve as their great rivals, the Ancient and Honorable
Hudson's Bay Company; but the Englishmen kept near