fulfilment of Czar Peter's dying wishes to extend his empire into
America. Two vessels, the _St. Peter_ and the _St. Paul_, rode at
anchor at Petropaulovsk in the Bay of Avacha on the east coast of
Kamchatka. On the shore was a little palisaded fort of some fifty
huts, a barrack, a chapel, a powder magazine. Early that morning,
solemn religious services had been held to invoke the blessing of
Heaven on the voyagers. Now, the chapel bell was set ringing. Monks
came singing down to the water's edge. Cannon were fired. Cheer on
cheer set the echoes rolling among the white domed mountains. There
was a rattling of anchor chains, a creaking of masts and yard-arms.
The sails fluttered out bellying full; and with a last, long shout, the
ships glided out before the wind to the lazy swell of the Pacific for
the discovery of new worlds.

And why not new worlds? That was the question the officers
accompanying Bering asked themselves as the white peaks of Kamchatka
faded on the offing. Certainly, in the history of the world, no
expedition had set out with greater prestige. Eight years had it {18}
taken to cross Siberia from St. Petersburg to the Pacific. A line of
forts across two continents had been built for winter quarters. Rivers
had been bridged; as many as forty boats knocked together in a single
year to raft down the Siberian torrents. Two hundred thousand dollars
in modern money had been spent before the Pacific was reached. In all,
nine ships had been built on the Pacific to freight supplies across
from Okhotsk to the eastern side of Kamchatka, two to carry Bering to
the new continent of "Gamaland" which the savants persisted in putting
on the maps, three to explore the region between Russia and Japan.
Now, Bering knew there was _no_ "Gamaland" except in the ignorant,
heady imaginings of the foolish geographers. So did Alexei Chirikoff,
the Russian second assistant. So did Spanberg, the Dane, third in
command, who had coasted the Pacific in charting Japan.

Roughly speaking, the expedition had gradually focussed to three
points: (1) the charting of the Arctic coast; (2) the exploration of
Japan; (3) the finding of what lay between Asia and America. Some two
hundred men, of whom a score had already perished of scurvy, had gone
down the Siberian rivers to the Arctic coast. Spanberg, the Dane, with
a hundred others, had thoroughly charted Japan, and had seen his
results vetoed by the authorities at St. Pet