n hand. Well in a few days."

"So your live cactus is getting in his work, is he? I'm glad it wasn't
the bear you mistook for an Alaskan posy and tried to pick. I'm tired
myself," and Mr. Strong threw himself down to rest.

"Daddy, how did we come to have Alaska, anyway?"

"Well, that's a long story," said his father, "but an interesting one."

"Do tell us about it," urged Ted. "I know we bought it, but what did we
pay the Indians for it? I shouldn't have thought they'd have sold such a
fine country."

Kalitan looked up quickly, and there was a sudden gleam in his dark eyes
that Ted had never seen before.

"Thlinkits never sell," he said. "Russians steal."

Mr. Strong put his hand kindly on the boy's head.

"You're right, Kalitan," he said "The Russians never conquered the
Thlinkits, the bravest tribe in all Alaska.

"You see, Teddy, it was this way. A great many years ago, about 1740, a
Danish sailor named Bering, who was in the service of the Russians,
sailed across the ocean and discovered the strait named for him, and a
number of islands. Some of these were not inhabited; others had Indians
or Esquimos on them, but, after the manner of the early discoverers,
Bering took possession of them all in the name of the Emperor of Russia.
It doesn't seem right as we look at things now, but in those days 'might
made right,' and it was just the same way the English did when they came
to America.

"The Russians settled here, finding the fishing and furs fine things for
trade, and driving the Indians, who would not yield to them, farther and
farther inland. In 1790 the Czar made Alexander Baranoff manager of the
trading company. Baranoff established trading-posts in various places,
and settled at Sitka, where you can see the ruins of the splendid castle
he built. The Russians also sent missionaries to convert the Indians to
the Greek Church, which is the church of Russia. The Indians, however,
never learned to care for the Russians, and often were cruelly treated by
them. The Russians, however, tried to do something for their education,
and established several schools. One as early as 1775, on Kadiak Island,
had thirty pupils, who studied arithmetic, reading, navigation, and four
of the mechanical trades, and this is a better record than the American
purchasers can show, I am sorry to say.

"One of the recent travellers[6] in Alaska says that he met in the
country 'American citizens who never in their lives heard a p