Read Online The Adventures of Radisson. Back to the New World by Martin Fournier - Free Book Online Page A

navigate in. Then as soon as the wind looked like being back in their favour, they took off again, clearing bridges, weaving their way between sandbanks, and passing by villages until they reached Tours, where a difficult stretch had become impassable.
    Carters were waiting for the boatmen, offering to tow their boats from the riverbank. Radisson jumped out onto dry land to find out more. Two carters, who seemed honest and well intentioned to him, advised him to unload the barrels and store them on their carts while they pulled to avoid damaging the bottom of the boat by dragging it along the riverbed.
    Radisson went back to explain the situation to Touchet, who got out to speak with the carters himself. The captain knew there was sometimes no getting around this solution, extreme though it was, and decided both men were honest and knew what they were doing. The main thing was to get themselves unstuck, all the while handling his precious
Louve
with care. And the price seemed fair to him. The deal was sealed quickly.
    The two men pushed their cart out onto the riverbed to make transferring the barrels of salt easier. Radisson’s strength was on show for all to see as he moved the barrels around with ease. Touchet gave him a hand, using a hoist fixed to the mast to lift them out of the barge. Once they had finished, Radisson stayed behind with the carters on the bank to watch as they stowed the merchandise and towed the barge. The irony was not lost on him that they were using the same technique as the Iroquois did whenever they had to drag their canoes out of the water and past the rapids. To pass the time as they followed the four strong horses that advanced slowly before them, he told the carters how he had helped the Indians in Canada carry their birch-bark canoes along the riverbank in much the same way.
    â€œYou’re from Canada?” asked the bigger of the two, his enthusiasm surprising Radisson.
    â€œAnd what do you know about Canada?”
    â€œThe woman I work for has a cousin over there.”
    For the past fifteen years, the nun who had founded the Ursuline convent in Québec had been sending long letters to her family back home.
    â€œShe’s always going on about it,” added the carter. “She’s completely obsessed.”
    It turned out that the lady was a great admirer of her cousin and all her work over in a country her letters described as dangerous and lacking in even the most basic necessities. Since the last worrying letter she had received, she was anxious to find out all she could about New France.
    â€œYou have to come meet her. She’s never met anyone who’s lived over there.”
    Without asking Radisson what he thought of his plans, the man had roped him in and was busy preparing his trip to the village. Radisson had no objections, but he feared Touchet would seize the opportunity to leave him behind.
    â€œI’d love to,” Radisson replied. “But my boatman will want to press on. I have to stay with him. I need to get to Paris as quickly as possible.”
    â€œI’ll hear nothing of it!” the carter retorted. “Your boatman will stop with us too! The woman I work for will make him an offer he can’t refuse! Believe me, he won’t want to turn down a piece of business like this. Come on, Hercules. Come on, boy. Faster!”
    As he urged his horses forward, the carter—Jean Roussin—began gesticulating over at Touchet. He was going to be making money hand over fist, he shouted. In fact, he was so convincing that, by the time the barge had been towed to a deeper stretch of water, Touchet was ready to drop anchor there and then and pay the lady a visit.
    Roussin and his companion Thomas brought their new friends straight to their superior. Along the way, it began to rain heavily and they were soaked by the time they arrived. After parking the carts in the stables, where they would be safe and dry, they ran for shelter