Marching straight over to Ledyard,
they seized him roughly by the arms and arrested him for a French spy,
displaying the Empress's written orders, brought all the way from St.
Petersburg. To say that Ledyard was dumfounded is putting it mildly.
Every man in the room knew that he was not a French spy. Every man
{261} in the room knew that the arrest was a farce, instigated by the
jealous fur traders whom Ismyloff's lying letters had aroused. For
just a second Ledyard lost his head and called on Billings as a man of
honor to confute the charge. However Ledyard might lose his head,
Billings was not willing to lose his. He advised Ledyard not to
provoke conflict with the Russian authorities, but to go back to St.
Petersburg and disprove the charge. Was it a case of one explorer
being jealous of another, or had Billings played Ledyard into the fur
traders' trap? That will never be known. Certain it is, Billings made
mess enough of his own expedition to go down to posterity as a failure.
Some of the officers ran to get Ledyard a present of clothes and money.
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