slavery in Martinique, whence he
escapes to England before the summer of 1686.

But what is Jan Pere of Duluth's bushrovers doing? All unconscious of
the raid on the ships, the governors of the four {155} English forts
awaited the coming of the annual supplies. At Albany was a sort of
harbor beacon as well as lookout, built high on scaffolding above a
hill. One morning, in August of 1685, the sentry on the lookout was
amazed to see three men, white men, in a canoe, steering swiftly down
the rain-swollen river from the Up-Country. Such a thing was
impossible. "White men from the interior! Whence did they come?"
Governor Sargeant came striding to the fort gate, ordering his cannon
manned. Behold nothing more dangerous than three French forest rangers
dressed in buckskins, but with manners a trifle too smooth for such
rough garb, as one doffs his cap to Governor Sargeant and introduces
himself as Jan Pere, a woodsman out hunting.

[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY FRENCH MAP OF HUDSON BAY AND VICINITY]

England and France were at peace; so Governor Sargeant invited the
three mysterious gentlemen inside to a breakfast of sparkling wines and
good game, hoping no doubt that the wines would unlock the gay fellows'
tongues to tell what game _they_ were playing. As the wine passed
freely, there were stories of {156} the hunt and the voyage and the
annual ships. When might the ships be coming? "Humph," mutters
Sargeant through his beard; and he does n't urge these knights of the
wild woods to tarry longer. Their canoe glides gayly down coast to the
salt marshes, where the shooting is good; but by chance that night,
_purely by chance_, the French leave their canoe so that the tide will
carry it away. Then they come back crestfallen to the English fort.

Meanwhile a ship has arrived with the story of the raid on the
_Perpetuana_. Sargeant is so enraged that he sends two of the French
spies across to Charlton Island, where they can hunt or die; Monsieur
Jan Pere he casts into the cellar of Albany with irons on his wrists
and balls on his feet. When the ships sail for England, Pere is sent
back as prisoner without having had one word with Chouart Groseillers.
As for the two Frenchmen placed on Charlton Island, did Sargeant think
they were bush-rovers and would stay on an island? By October they
have laid up store of moose meat, built themselves a canoe, paddled
across to the mainland, and are speeding like wildfire overl