Lord Selkirk 120 Map of North America, showing various explorations 160 Red River Settlement 200 Sir James Douglas 240 Map--Showing Ogden and Ross Explorations 264 Peter Skene Ogden 272 John McLoughlin 312 Adam Thom 360 Fort Vancouver 376 Interior of Fort Garry 392 Map of North America, showing area of discovery 400 PART III--_Continued_ THE CONQUEST OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST CHAPTER XXI 1760-1810 “THE COMING OF THE PEDLARS” CONTINUED--VOYAGE UP TO FORT WILLIAM, LIFE OF WILDWOOD WASSAIL AND GRANDEUR THERE--HOW THE WINTERING PARTNERS EXPLOITED THE NORTHWEST--TALES OF THE WINTERERS IN THE PAYS D’EN HAUT It was no easier for the Nor’Westers to obtain recruits than for the Hudson’s Bay Company. French habitants were no more anxious to have their heads broken in other men’s quarrels than the Orkneymen of the Old Country; but the Nor’Westers managed better than the Hudson’s Bay. Brigades were made up as the ice cleared from the rivers in May. For weeks before, the Nor’Westers had been craftily at work. No agents were sent to the country parishes with clumsy offers of £8 bounty, which would be, of itself, acknowledgment of danger. Companies don’t pay £8 bounty for nothing. Not agents were sent to the parishes, but “sly old wolves of the North”--as one parish priest calls these demoralizers of his flock--went from village to village, gay, reckless, dare-devil veterans, old in service, young in years, clothed in all the picturesque glory of beaded buckskin, plumed hats, silk sashes, to tickle the vanity of the poor country bucks, who had never been beyond their own hamlet. Cocks of the walk, bullies of the town, slinging money around like dust, spinning yarns marvelous of fortune made at one coup, of adventures in which they had been the heroes, of freedom--freedom like kings to rule over the Indian tribes--these returned voyageurs lounged in the taverns, played the gallants at all the hillside dances, flirted with the daughters, made presents to the mothers, and gave to the youth of the parish what the priest describes as “dizziness of the head.” It needed only a little maneuvering for our “sly wolves of the North” to get themselves lionized, the heroes of the parish. Dances were given in their honor. The contagion invaded even the sacred fold of the church. The “sons of Satan” maneuvered so well that the holy festivals even seemed to revolve round their person as round a sun of glory. The curé might preach himself black in the face proving that a camp on the sand and a bed _à la belle étoile_,