f 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.

There was an old saying among retired hunters of Three Rivers that "one
learned more in the woods than was ever found in l' petee
cat-ee-cheesm." Radisson's training was of the woods, rather than the
cure's catechism; yet who that has been trained to the strictest code
may boast of as dauntless faults and noble virtues? He was not
faithful to any country, but he was faithful to his wife and children;
and he was "faithful to his highest hope,"--that of becoming a
discoverer,--which is more than common mortals are to their meanest
aspirations. When statesmen played him a double game, he paid them
back in their own coin with compound interest. Perhaps that is why
they hated him so heartily and blackened his memory. But amid all the
mad license of savage life, Radisson remained untainted. Other
explorers and statesmen, too, have left a trail of blood to perpetuate
their memory; Radisson never once spilled human blood needlessly, and
was beloved by the savages.

Memorial tablets commemorate other discoverers. Radisson needs none.
The Great Northwest is his monument for all time.

[1] Radisson's petition to the Hudson's Bay Company gives these amounts.

[2] See State Papers quoted in Chapter VI. I need scarcely add that
Radisson did not steal a march on his patrons by secretly shipping furs
to Europe. This is only another of the innumerable slanders against
Radisson which State Papers disprove.

[3] It seems impossible that historians with the slightest regard for
truth should have branded this part of _Radisson's Relation_ as a
fabrication, too. Yet such is the case, and of writers whose books are
supposed to be reputable. Since parts of Radisson's life appeared in
the magazines, among many letters I received one from a well-known
historian which to put it mildly was furious at the acceptance of
_Radisson's Journal_ as authentic. In reply, I asked that historian
how many documents contemporaneous with Radisson's life he had
consulted before he branded so great an explorer as Radisson as a liar.
Needless to say, that question was not answered. In corrobor