During the centuries-long expansion of the Hudson's Bay Company throughout Canada, its initials, emblazoned on the flags it flew, became ubiquitous. There were even jokes about the symbols. "What did HBC stand for?" asked the tenderfoot. And the old trapper took another pull at his clay pipe before replying gravely, "Here Before Christ." Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling historian David Lavender, is the company's surprising and little-told story.