And it rolled out a cheer of three times three, for “Uncle Sam and the U. S. A.!” PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON: FIRST EXPLORER OF THE WEST AND NORTHWEST. (1651-1710) _Where sheldrakes dart on Lak Niege,_ _Where the lazy beaver swim,_ _He drove his blade and packed the trail,_ _By the icy snow lake’s rim._ _From the shores of Athabasca,_ _To the caves of Saguenay,_ _From the sleepy Mistassini,_ _To the marsh of Hudson Bay;_ _From the steppes of old Fort Caribou,_ _From the glades of Fon du Lac,_ _He slept and dwelt with redskins,_ _And followed the unknown track._ PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON: FIRST EXPLORER OF THE WEST AND NORTHWEST. (1651-1710) IT was at the trading post of Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence River, the year 1662, and the time, early in the morning, when the wood thrush had just begun his call. Strange things happened then, but these were frontier days when strange things used to happen, so do not be surprised when you learn what befell Pierre Radisson, son of a French emigrant to Canada, and then a youth of about seventeen years of age. With two companions, young Pierre had gone out from the stockade to shoot ducks on Lake St. Peter, not far from this first home of the French emigrants to Canada. The sportsmen were all young, for only young boys would have left the shelter of the fortification at this time, as all the Canadians knew that the dreaded Iroquois had been lying in ambush around the little settlement of Three Rivers, day and night, for a whole year. In fact, not a week passed but that some settler was set upon in the fields and left dead by the terrible redskins. Farmers had flocked to the little fortification and would only venture back to their broad acres when armed with a musket. But these were only boys, and, like all boys, they went along, boasting how they would fight when the Indians came. One kept near the edge of the forest, on the lookout for the Iroquois, while the others kept to the water in quest of game. They had gone along in this manner for about three miles, when they met a fellow who was tending sheep. “Keep out from the foot of the hills!” he called to them. “The Iroquois are there! I saw about a hundred heads rising out of the bushes about an hour ago.” The boys loaded their pistols and primed their muskets. In a short time they shot some ducks, and this seemed to satisfy one of the young men. “I have had enough,” said he. “I am going back to the stockade where I can be safe.” “And I will go with you,” said the second. But young Radisson laughed at them. “If you are afraid to go forward,” said he, “I will go ahead by myself.”