he hunt of the
sea-otter. The two leaders must have had some inkling of trouble
ahead, for Medvedeff gave Korovin ten more sailors, and the two signed
a written contract to help each other in time of need.

In spring (1763) both sailed for the best sea-otter fields then
known--Oonalaska and Oomnak, Korovin with thirty-seven men, Medvedeff,
forty-nine. In order not to interfere with each other's hunt,
Medvedeff stopped at Oomnak, Korovin went on to Oonalaska. Anchoring
sixty yards from shore, not very far from the volcano caves, where
Drusenin's four fugitives were to fight for their lives the following
spring, Korovin landed with fourteen men to reconnoitre. Deserted
houses he saw, but never a living soul. Going back to the ship for
more men, he set out again and went inland five miles where he found a
village of three hundred souls. Three chiefs welcomed him, showed
receipts for tribute of furs given by the Cossack collector of a
previous ship, and gave over three boys as hostages of good
conduct--one, called Alexis, the son of a chief. Meanwhile, letters
were exchanged with Medvedeff down a hundred miles at Oomnak. All was
well. The time had not come. It was only September--about the same
time that Drusenin up north was sending out his hunters in three
detachments.

Korovin was so thoroughly satisfied all was safe, that he landed his
entire cargo and crew, and while the carpenters were building wintering
huts out of {99} driftwood, set out himself, with two skin boats, to
coast northeast. For four days he followed the very shore that the
four escaping men were to cruise in an opposite direction. About forty
miles from the anchorage he met Drusenin himself, leading twenty-five
Russian hunters out from Captain Harbor. Surely, if ever hunters were
safe, Korovin's were, with Medvedeff's forty-nine men southwest a
hundred miles, and Drusenin's thirty sailors forty miles northeast.
Korovin decided to hunt midway between Drusenin's crew and Medvedeff's.
It is likely that the letters exchanged among the different commanders
from September to December were arranging that Drusenin should keep to
the east of Oonalaska, Korovin to the west of the island, while
Medvedeff hunted exclusively on the other island--Oomnak.

By December Korovin had scattered twenty-three hunters southwest,
keeping a guard of only sixteen for the huts and boat. Among the
sixteen was little Alexis, the hostage Indian boy. The warning of