The Adventures of Radisson2, Back to the New World

Martin Fournier, Peter Mccambridge

Description

fter spending two years with his new Iroquois family as described in Volume 1, Pierre-Esprit Radisson escapes and sails across the Atlantic to Holland before boarding ship to head down the west coast of France. Using his wits and the skills picked up in the New World, he makes his way up the Loire and arrives in Paris hoping to find his mother. But war for the succession of the king of France has razed the faubourg where he had lived with his family. What has happened to his mother?
Obsessed with returning to New France and the way of life he now loves, Radisson agrees to sign on with the Jesuits who are intent on evangelizing the New World. His return to the St. Lawrence Valley also means assuming responsibility for his past—his capture by the Iroquois and the death of his friends—but also honouring his commitment to the Jesuits and living a less adventurous life… at least temporarily.
But the New World is rife with challenge and conflict as cultures and economies collide. His mastery of the Mohawk language and knowledge of Mohawk culture make him a much-needed strategist and diplomat as plans are hatched to establish a new mission in the heart of Iroquois territory, which until recently was home to New France’s mortal enemy.

Sujets

• Historical
• Young-adult fiction
• French Canada
• Radisson
• Explorers
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Baraka Books
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781771860345
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

By the Same Author

The Adventures of Radisson 1, Hell Never Burns

The Adventures of Radisson 3, The Incredible Escape (forthcoming, July 2015)
The Adventures of Radisson 3, The Incredible Escape (forthcoming, July 2015) Originally published as Les aventures de Radisson – 2 | Sauver les français © 2013 Les Éditions du Septentrion, Sillery, Québec Translation copyright © Baraka Books All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-77186-026-0pbk; 978-1-77186-034-5 epub; 978-1-77186-035-2 pdf; 978-1-77186-036-9 mobi/pocket Cover by Folio infographie Cover Illustration by Vincent Partel Book design by Folio infographie Translated by Peter McCambridge Legal Deposit, 4th quarter, 2014 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec Library and Archives Canada Published by Baraka Books of Montreal. 6977, rue Lacroix Montréal, Québec H4E 2V4 Telephone: [phone] [e-mail] www.barakabooks.com Printed and bound in Quebec Baraka Books acknowledges the generous support of its publishing program from the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec (SODEC), the Govern­ment of Quebec, tax credit for book publishing administered by SODEC, and the Canada Council for the Arts. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the National Translation Program for Book Publishing for our translation activities and through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities. Trade Distribution & Returns Canada and the United States Independent Publishers Group 1-800-888-4741 (IPG1); [e-mail]
Part I
At Sea
Chapter 1
Finding his way
H alfway across the Atlantic Ocean, the Zeelhaen , a three-master loaded up with wood and furs, continued its progress across raging seas, en route to Amsterdam. Since leaving Manhattan, where Radisson and Father Poncet boarded, the ship had endured several days of bad weather. Father Poncet had found the going tough, unlike Radisson, who had enjoyed watching the crew at work, until the threatening storm had broken. Now he could see from the sailors’ faces that things were bad.
The bo’s’n, Johan Heyn, had decided his experience might be needed and replaced the helmsman. He was posted on the poop deck, the ship’s highest point, from where he could see the heavy waves that had the ship surrounded. With a confident hand, he steered the Zeelhaen through the stormy waters. The manoeuvres he ordered to secure the ship were almost over. The sailors were scurrying back down the masts, having furled all the sails, leaving only half the mainsail and mizzen unfurled to keep on course.
The men standing watch hurried to join the rest of the crew inside, in the dark, cramped quarters where they ate, slept, and rested below deck. Radisson wasn’t sure whether to follow. He wanted to stay as long as possible with the four sailors who were busy attaching the yards and fixing in place anything that might be lost overboard. Crouching in his favourite corner, his back against the quarterdeck that shielded him from the spray, he felt perfectly safe, in spite of the waves that bombarded the little Zeelhaen , a ship that had seemed so big to him when he boarded it in Manhattan compared to the birch-bark canoes he was used to.
The sea swelled and rolled, collapsing with a roar, then picking itself up again in one unending movement that Radisson, fascinated, never tired of watching. Sometimes ice-cold water spurted over his head and ran down his back from the poop deck. It mattered little: water was now working its way into every nook and cranny on board and everyone was drenched.
As long as grayish daylight remained, with more light coming up off the sea than down from the cloud-choked sky, Radisson feared nothing. He trusted Johan. But he dared not think what might happen once nightfall complicated matters for the bo’s’n, especially if the storm picked up.
He had never seen such foul conditions.
One of the sailors finished what he was doing and ran to take shelter inside. Passing by Radisson, he shouted over at him to come too. But the young man pretended not to understand and stayed where he was, even though he now had a decent grasp of the Dutch language after twenty-one days on board. Coming out the wrong way, an officer emerged from the quarterdeck at that very moment and struggled up onto the poop deck. Holding on tightly to the railing, Radisson took a few steps forward to see what he was up to. He went over to the bo’s’n and both grabbed hold of the tiller, requiring all their might against the raging sea.
Furious waves rushed at them from all sides. The ship heaved back and forth between the frothing heights where they stood and the fearsome depths that threatened to keep them for all eternity. For a time, they looked down over the dazzling sea below as it spat up thick clouds of white foam. The Zeelhaen plunged into the unfathomable night, as into the belly of a dragon. It was then that the miracle happened. The ship righted itself, cleaved through the light-filled crest of a wave, and fell back down again. Radisson was captivated by the performance, a dance in equal parts spectacular and unsettling.
The storm again picked up in strength.
Tons of water crashed against the ship’s stern, each time shaking the stern cabin, where the captain had his lodgings. Violent shocks reverberated across the ship. Radisson could feel the danger growing, unstoppably. He was about to go inside when the captain burst onto the deck. Radisson watched him clamber up the dripping-wet ladder to the poop deck and hurl abuse at Johan, waving his arms about madly. Radisson didn’t know why. The two men argued. The two helmsmen then turned the ship slightly to meet the water at an angle. This spared the captain’s cabin from the brunt of the waves, although the ship started to roll more. Radisson had trouble keeping his balance.
As he was getting ready to at last go back inside, two huge waves joined forces, coming together in an enormous pyramid that towered over the Zeelhaen . The pyramid rose to almost the full height of the masts, rolled towards the ship, and broke over it with a terrific crash. Radisson raced for shelter, but the wave outran him, bringing him down hard against the deck. The backwash flung him against something hard. Stunned, he lost his bearings. He was suffocating in the ocean as it engulfed him. Another wave threw him against the railing, which he clung to in despair. Time seemed to take an eternity to tick by. He was going to live with the fish. At last, his face resurfaced. He breathed in, dazed and in a stupor, lying on the deck, which was now almost vertical. The Zeelhaen pitched terribly. The waves continued their relentless assault. The ship had been thrown off course and was liable to be swallowed up at any moment.
The Zeelhaen righted itself, barely managing to keep afloat. Radisson wondered what had become of the captain, the bo’s’n, his assistant, and the three sailors who had remained on deck. He glimpsed a survivor clinging to the foremast. But the others were nowhere to be seen. Everything around him was wet. The sea had washed over all of it. Only a heavy yard had broken free of the mainmast and was now swinging dangerously across the deck, dangling from a piece of rope. The mainsail had been torn off. Radisson realized how lucky he was not to have been washed overboard.
The ship righted itself again. Radisson seized the opportunity to dive into the staircase to the poop deck. From up there, he could see no one, nothing but empty space swept by the wind and the spray coming up off the sea. The mizzen sail was torn. He felt miserable, all alone in the world. He had to hold on to the nearest halyard to keep his feet. The ship was starting to list again dangerously. Almost every wave threatened to lay it on its side.
Radisson at last saw the captain caught up like a rag doll between the bars of the railing on the starboard side. A strange sound reached his ears, some sort of moan apparently human in origin, mixed in with the howling of the wind and the thunderous noise of the water. He looked around. Saw nothing. Then he made out two strong arms hooked around the railing that ran along the outside of the ship. It was Johan, hanging on for dear life and shouting for help. Radisson tried to reach him, but the ship was tilted too steeply against him. As the Zeelhaen began to swing back like a pendulum, he took his chance and dashed across. But the deck tipped again, propelling him towards the sea. He threw himself flat on his stomach and flew head first into the railing, the only thing keeping him in the land of the living.
With his face pressed against the roaring waves, he clutched the bo’s’n’s arms against his chest, waiting for the Zeelhaen to right itself again before he moved. Now! He grabbed the man with all his might and hauled him in. Both men lay side by side on the deck, out of breath and frightened as the ship listed again. As soon as the Zeelhaen returned to a horizontal position, Johan stood up and pointed at the whipstaff, shouting:
“Right the ship! Quick! We have to right the ship!”
Radisson understood the Dutch command. Both men raced over to the whipstaff and pulled as hard as they could, slipping and sliding on a deck that continued to buck every which way beneath them. The heavy sailing ship had taken on too much water and resisted their efforts. The bo’s’n racked his brains for a solution. He grabbed a rope attached to the mast. Radisson cut it with his eagle-head knife and gave it to him. The bo’s’n tied it tightly to the whipstaff then held on to the mizzen mast to keep his balance. They pulled together until it felt as though their hands might fall off, contorting their