Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Heralds of Empire Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade By: Agnes C. Laut (1871-1936) |
---|
![]()
Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope
Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade by A. C. LAUT Author of Lords of the North Toronto, Canada
William Briggs
1902
Entered according to Act of the
Parliament of Canada in the year 1902
By A. C. LAUT
at the Department of Agriculture
All rights reserved DEDICATED TO THE NEW WORLD NOBILITY
Now I learned how the man must have felt when he set about
conquering the elements, subduing land and sea and savagery. And in
that lies the Homeric greatness of this vast fresh New World of ours.
Your Old World victor takes up the unfinished work left by generations
of men. Your New World hero begins at the pristine task. I pray you,
who are born to the nobility of the New World, forget not the glory of
your heritage; for the place which Got hath given you in the history of
the race is one which men must hold in envy when Roman patrician and
Norman conqueror and robber baron are as forgotten as the kingly lines
of old Egypt.
CONTENTS CHAPTER Foreword
PART I I. What are King Killers?
II. I rescue and am rescued
III. Touching Witchcraft
IV. Rebecca and Jack Battle Conspire
V. M. Radisson Again
PART II VI. The Roaring Forties
VII. M. de Radisson Acts
VIII. M. de Radisson Comes to his Own
IX. Visitors
X. The Cause of the Firing
XI. More of M. Radisson's Rivals
XII. M. Radisson begins the Game
XIII. The White Darkness
XIV. A Challenge
XV. The Battle not to the Strong
XVI. We seek the Inlanders
XVII. A Bootless Sacrifice
XVIII. Facing the End
XIX. Afterward
XX. Who the Pirates were
XXI. How the Pirates came
XXII. We leave the North Sea
PART III XXIII. A Change of Partners
XXIV. Under the Aegis of the Court
XXV. Jack Battle again
XXVI. At Oxford
XXVII. Home from the Bay
XXVIII. Rebecca and I fall out
XXIX. The King's Pleasure
ILLUSTRATION Radisson's Map
HERALDS OF EMPIRE
FOREWORD I see him yet swarthy, straight as a lance, keen as steel, in his eyes
the restless fire that leaps to red when sword cuts sword. I see him
yet beating about the high seas, a lone adventurer, tracking forest
wastes where no man else dare go, pitting his wit against the intrigue
of king and court and empire. Prince of pathfinders, prince of
pioneers, prince of gamesters, he played the game for love of the game,
caring never a rush for the gold which pawns other men's souls. How
much of good was in his ill, how much of ill in his good, let his life
declare! He played fast and loose with truth, I know, till all the
world played fast and loose with him. He juggled with empires as with
puppets, but he died not a groat the richer, which is better record
than greater men can boast. Of enemies, Sieur Radisson had a plenty, for which, methinks, he had
that lying tongue of his to thank. Old France and New France, Old
England and New England, would have paid a price for his head; but
Pierre Radisson's head held afar too much cunning for any hang dog of
an assassin to try "fall back, fall edge" on him. In spite of all the
malice with which his enemies fouled him living and dead, Sieur
Radisson was never the common buccaneer which your cheap pamphleteers
have painted him; though, i' faith, buccaneers stood high enough in my
day, when Prince Rupert himself turned robber and pirate of the high
seas. Pierre Radisson held his title of nobility from the king; so did
all those young noblemen who went with him to the north, as may be seen
from M. Colbert's papers in the records de la marine . Nor was the
disembarking of furs at Isle Percée an attempt to steal M. de la
Chesnaye's cargo, as slanderers would have us believe, but a way of
escape from those vampires sucking the life blood of New France the
farmers of the revenue. Indeed, His Most Christian Majesty himself
commanded those robber rulers of Quebec to desist from meddling with
the northern adventurers... Continue reading book >>
|
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|