side. Of the dozen Russians stationed here only four survived;
and their hut was beset by a rabble of Aleuts drunk with vodka, drunk
with blood, drunk with a frenzy of revenge.

Cooped up in the hut, the Russians kept guard by twos till nightfall,
when, dragging a bidarkie down to the water, they loaded it with
provisions and firearms, and pushed out in the dark to the moan and
heave of an unquiet sea. Though weakened from loss of blood, the
fugitives rowed with fury for the next spur of rock, ten miles away,
where they hoped to find help. The tide-rip came out of the north with
angry threat and broke against the rocks, but no blink of light shone
through the dark from the Russian huts ashore. The men were afraid to
land, and afraid not to land. Wind and sea would presently crush their
frail craft to kindling-wood against the rocky shore.

The Russians sprang out, waded ashore, uttered a shout! Instantly
lances and spears fell about them like rain. They joined hands and ran
for the cove where the big schooner had been moored. Breathlessly they
waited for the dawn to discover where their ship lay; {42} but daylight
revealed only the broken wreckage of the vessel along the shore, while
all about were blood-stains and pieces of clothing and mutilated
bodies, which told but too plainly that the crew had been hacked to
pieces. There was not a moment to be lost. Before the mist could
lift, the fugitives gathered up some provisions scattered on the shore
and ran for their lives to the high mountains farther inland. And when
daylight came they scooped a hole in the sand, drew a piece of
sail-cloth over this, and lay in hiding till night.

From early December to early February the Russians hid in the caves of
the Oonalaska mountains. Clams, shell-fish, sea-birds stayed their
hunger. It is supposed that they must have found shelter in one of the
caves where there are medicinal hot springs; otherwise, they would have
perished of cold. In February they succeeded in making a rude boat,
and in this they set out by night to seek the ships of other Russian
hunters. For a week they rowed out only at night. Then they began to
row by day. They were seen by Indians, and once more sought safety in
the caves of the mountains, where they remained in hiding for five
weeks, venturing {43} out only at night in search of food. Here,
snow-water and shell-fish were all they had to sustain them; and again
they must build a rude r