all, he was rarely balked of his way, accustomed to ride down
obstacles, to the amiable cooperation of fate. He could arrive in
Okhotsk late in September or early in October. Captain D'Wolf, who had
been detained at Sitka during his absence by the same indifference that
had operated against the completion of the Avos, would precede him and
order that all be in readiness at Okhotsk both for the ships and his
journey to Yakutsk. He could proceed at once; and, no doubt, with
twice the number or horses needed, would make the first and most
difficult stage of the journey in the usual time, and with no great
embarrassment from the rains. From Yakutsk to Irkutsk the greater part
of the travel was by water in any case, and after that the land was
flat for the most part and bridges were more numerous. The governor of
every town in Siberia would be his obsequious servant, the entire
resources of the country would be at his disposal. He was sound in
health again, as resistant against hardships as when he had sailed from
Kronstadt. And God knew, he thought with a sigh, his will and purpose
had never been stronger.

XXVI

Rezanov disembarked from the Juno at Okhotsk during the first days of
October. Had it not been for a touch of fever that had returned in the
filth and warm dampness of Sitka, he would have felt almost as buoyant
in mind and body as in those days when California had gone to his head.
The Juno had touched at Kadiak, Oonalaska, and others of the more
important settlements, and he had found his schools and libraries in
good condition, seals and otters rapidly increasing, in their immunity
from indiscriminate slaughter, new and stronger forts threatening the
nefarious Bostonian and Briton. At Okhotsk he learned that the embassy
of Count Golofkin to China had failed as signally as his own, and this
alone would have put him in the best of tempers even had he not found
his armament and caravan awaiting him, facilitating his immediate
departure. He wrote a gay letter to Concha, giving her the painful
story of the naturalist attached to the Golofkin embassy, Dr. Redovsky,
who had remained in the East animated by the same scientific enthusiasm
as that of his colleague, the good Langsdorff; parted some time since
from his too exacting master. Rezanov had written Concha many letters
during his detention in Sitka, and left them with Baranhov to send at
the first opportunity. The Chief-Manager, deeply interested