and to
Michilimackinac with word that Jan Pere is held prisoner at Albany. As
Jan Pere drops out of history here, it may be said that he was kept
prisoner in England as guarantee for the safety of the English crew
held prisoners at Quebec. When he escaped to France he was given money
and a minor title for his services.

The news that Pere lay in a dungeon on Hudson Bay supplied the very
excuse that the Quebec fur traders needed for an overland raid in time
of peace. These were the wild rumors of which the captive English crew
sent warning to England; but the northern straits would not be open to
the company ships before June of 1686, and already a hundred wild
French bushrovers were rallying to ascend the Ottawa to raid the
English on Hudson Bay.

And now a change comes in Canadian annals. For half a century its
story is a record of lawless raids, bloody foray, dare-devil courage
combined with the most fiendish cruelty and sublime heroism. Only a
few of these raids can be narrated here. {157} June 18, 1686, when the
long twilight of the northern night merged with dawn, there came out
from the thicket of underbrush round Moose Factory, Hudson Bay, one
hundred bush-rovers, led by Chevalier de Troyes of Niagara, accompanied
by Le Chesnaye of the fur trade, Quebec, and the Jesuit, Sylvie. Of
the raiders, sixty-six were Indians under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
and his brothers, Maricourt and Ste. Helene, aged about twenty-four,
sons of Charles Le Moyne, the Montreal interpreter. Moose Factory at
this time boasted fourteen cannon, log-slab palisades, commodious
warehouses, and four stone bastions,--one with three thousand pounds of
powder, another used as barracks for twelve soldiers, another housing
beaver pelts, and a fourth serving as kitchen. Iberville and his
brothers, scouting round on different sides of the fort, soon learned
that not a sentinel was on duty. The great gate opposite the river,
studded with brass nails, was securely bolted, but not a cannon {158}
had been loaded. The bushrangers then cast aside all clothing that
would hamper, and, pistol in hand, advanced silent and stealthy as
wild-cats. Not a twig crunched beneath the moccasin tread. The water
lay like glass, and the fort slept silent as death. Hastily each
raider had knelt for the blessing of the priest. Pistols had been
recharged. Iberville bade his wild Indians not to forget that the
Sovereign Council of Quebec offered ten crowns