328 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
design. They knew the weakness of the place 
about to be attacked, and forgetting the rival- 
ship subsisting between them, and thinking 
only how to save their countrymen, they im¬ 
mediately dispatched a messenger to give the 
party notice of the assault that was meditated; 
they at the same time sent another messenger 
to one of their posts, desiring that instant 
succour might be sent to that belonging to the 
Hudson Bay Company, which the Indians 
were about to plunder. The detachment 
arrived before the attack commenced, and the 
Indians were repulsed; but had it not been for 
the timely assistance their rivals had afforded* 
the Hudson Bay people were fully persuaded 
that they must have fallen victims to the fury 
of the Indians. 
This single piece of service was not under¬ 
valued or forgotten by those who had been 
saved; and as the Nerth-west Companj^ was 
so much stronger, and on so much better terms 
with the Indians in this part of the country 
than its rivals, it now evidently appeared to be 
the interest of the latter to have the posts of the 
North-west Company established as near its 
own as possible. This is accordingly done for 
their mutual safety, and the two companies are 
n®w on the most friendly terms, and continue 
to carry on their trade close to each other. 
About two thousand men are employed by 
