y," said Mr. Hunt, "giving
entertainments by way of parade, and if you do not drink raw rum, and
boiling punch as strong as sulphur, he will insult you as soon as he
gets drunk, which is very shortly after sitting down to table."

As to any "temperance captain" who stood fast to his faith, and refused
to give up his sobriety, he might go elsewhere for a market, for he
stood no chance with the governor. Rarely, however, did any cold-water
caitiff of the kind darken the doors of old Baranoff; the coasting
captains knew too well his humor and their own interests; they joined in
his revels, they drank, and sang, and whooped, and hiccuped, until they
all got "half seas over," and then affairs went on swimmingly.

An awful warning to all "flinchers" occurred shortly before Mr. Hunt's
arrival. A young naval officer had recently been sent out by the emperor
to take command of one of the company's vessels. The governor, as usual,
had him at his "prosnics," and plied him with fiery potations. The young
man stood on the defensive until the old count's ire was completely
kindled; he carried his point, and made the greenhorn tipsy, willy
nilly. In proportion as they grew fuddled they grew noisy, they
quarrelled in their cups; the youngster paid old Baranoff in his own
coin by rating him soundly; in reward for which, when sober, he was
taken the rounds of four pickets, and received seventy-nine lashes,
taled out with Russian punctuality of punishment.

Such was the old grizzled bear with whom Mr. Hunt had to do his
business. How he managed to cope with his humor; whether he pledged
himself in raw rum and blazing punch, and "clinked the can" with him as
they made their bargains, does not appear upon record; we must infer,
however, from his general observations on the absolute sway of this
hard-drinking potentate, that he had to conform to the customs of his
court, and that their business transactions presented a maudlin mixture
of punch and peltry.

The greatest annoyance to Mr. Hunt, however, was the delay to which he
was subjected, in disposing of the cargo of the ship, and getting the
requisite returns. With all the governor's devotions to the bottle,
he never obfuscated his faculties sufficiently to lose sight of his
interest, and is represented by Mr. Hunt as keen, not to say crafty,
at a bargain, as the most arrant waterdrinker. A long time was expended
negotiating with him, and by the time the bargain was concluded, the
mon