The savages were then set free, and hastening up to
Kadiak, Barber levelled his cannon at the Russian fort and demanded
thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars' salvage for the rescue of
the captives and loot. Baranof haggled the Englishman tired, and
compromised for one-fifth the demand.
Two years passed, and the fur company was powerless to strike an
avenging blow. Wherever the Russians led Aleuts into the Kolosh
hunting-grounds, there had been ambush and massacre; but Baranof {311}
bided his time. The Aleut Indian hunters, who had become
panic-stricken, gradually regained sufficient courage again to follow
the Russians eastward. By the spring of 1804 Baranof's men had
gathered up eight hundred Aleut Indians, one hundred and twenty Russian
hunters, four small schooners, and two sloops. The Indians in their
light boats of sea-lion skin on whalebone, the Russians in their
sail-boats, Baranof set out in April from St. Paul, Kadiak, with his
thousand followers to wreak vengeance on the tribes of Sitka.
Sea-otter were hunted on the way, so that it was well on in September
before the brigades entered Sitka waters.
Pages:
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402