[Illustration:  Hudson Bay Dog Trains laden with Furs arriving at Lower Fort Garry, Red River. (Courtesy of C. C. Chipman, Commissioner H. B. Company.)]

For five years the English kept faith with Radisson, and he made annual voyages to the bay; but war broke out with France.  New France entered on a brilliant campaign against the English of Hudson Bay.  The company’s profits fell.  Radisson, the Frenchman, was distrusted.  France had set a price on his head, and one Martiniere went to Port Nelson to seize him, but was unable to cope with the English.  At no time did Radisson’s salary with the company exceed 100 pounds; and now, when war stopped dividends on the small amount of stock which had been given to him, he fell into poverty and debt.  In 1692 Sir William Young petitioned the company in his favor; but a man with a price on his head for treason could plainly not return to France.[8] The French were in possession of the bay.  Radisson could do no harm to the English.  Therefore the company ignored him till he sued them and received payment in full for arrears of salary and dividends on stock which he was not permitted to sell; but 50 pounds a year would not support a man who paid half that amount for rent, and had a wife, four children, and servants to support.  In 1700 Radisson applied for the position of warehouse keeper for the company at London.  Even this was denied.

The dauntless pathfinder was growing old; and the old cannot fight and lose and begin again as Radisson had done all his life.  State Papers of Paris contain records of a Radisson with Tonty at Detroit![9] Was this his nephew, Francois Radisson’s son, who took the name of the explorer, or Radisson’s own son, or the game old warrior himself, come out to die on the frontier as he had lived?

History is silent.  Until the year 1710 Radisson drew his allowance of 50 pounds a year from the English Company, then the payments stopped.  Did the dauntless life stop too?  Oblivion hides all record of his death, as it obscured the brilliant achievements of his life.

There is no need to point out Radisson’s faults.  They are written on his life without extenuation or excuse, so that all may read.  There is less need to eulogize his virtues.  They declare themselves in every act of his life.  This, only, should be remembered.  Like all enthusiasts, Radisson could not have been a hero, if he had not been a bit of a fool.  If he had not had his faults, if he had not been as impulsive, as daring, as reckless, as inconstant, as improvident of the morrow, as a savage or a child, he would not have accomplished the exploration of half a continent.  Men who weigh consequences are not of the stuff to win empires.  Had Radisson haggled as to the means, he would have missed or muddled the end.  He went ahead; and when the way did not open, he went round, or crawled over, or carved his way through.