heless,
Ledyard was given a present of fresh Chinese silk underwear, treated to
the hottest Russian brandy in the barracks, and put comfortably to bed
on a couch of otter skins. From his bed, he saw the Indians crowd in
for evening services before a little Russian crucifix, the two traders
leading prayers. These were the tribes, whom the Russians had hunted
with dogs fifty years before; and who in turn had slain all Russians on
the Island. A better understanding now prevailed.

In the morning Ledyard looked over the fur establishment; galliots,
cannon-mounted in the harbor for refuge in case of attack; the huge
lemon-yellow, red-roofed store-room that might serve as barracks or
fort for a hundred men; the brigades of eight, of nine, of eleven
hundred Indian hunters sailing the surfs under the leadership of
Ismyloff, the chief factor. Oonalaska was the very centre of the
sea-otter hunt. Here, eighteen thousand otter a year were taken. At
once, {252} Ledyard realized how he could pay the cost of exploring
that unclaimed world between New Spain and Alaska: by turning fur
trader as Radisson, and La Salle, and the other explorers had done.

Ismyloff himself, who had been out with his brigade when Ledyard came,
went to visit the Englishman; but Ismyloff had little to say, little of
Benyowsky, the Polish pirate, who had marooned him; less of Alaska; and
the reason for taciturnity was plain. The Russian fur traders were
forming a monopoly. They told no secrets to the world. They wanted no
intruders on their hunting-ground. Could Ledyard have known that the
surly, bearded Russian was to blast his new-born ambitions; could
Ismyloff have guessed that the eager, young, beardless corporal of
marines was indirectly to be the means of wresting the Pacific coast
from Russia--each might have smiled at the tricks of destiny.

Ledyard had two more years to serve in the British navy when he
returned from Cook's voyage. By another trick of destiny he was sent
out on a battle ship to fight against his native country in the
Revolutionary War. It was a time when men wore patriotic coats of many
colors. His ship lay at anchor off Long Island. He had not seen his
mother for seven years, but knew that the war had reduced her to
opening a lodging house for British officers. Asking for a week's
furlough, Ledyard went ashore, proceeded to his mother's {253} house,
knocked at the door, and was taken as a lodger by her without being