Three days the cunning savages stayed the Russian attack on pretence of
arranging hostages. Hailing the fort on the morning of the 6th and
securing no answer, Lisiansky again played his cannon on the barricade.
That night a curious sound, that was neither chant nor war-cry, came
from the thick woods. At daylight carrion crows were seen circling
above the barricade. Three hundred Russians landed. Approaching
cautiously for fear of ambuscade, they clambered over the {314}
palisades and looked. The fort was deserted. Naught of the Sitkans
remained but thirty dead warriors and all their children, murdered
during the night to prevent their cries betraying the retreat.
New Archangel, as it was called, was built on the site of the present
Sitka. Sixteen short and forty-two long cannon mounted the walls. As
many as seven hundred officers and men were sometimes on garrison duty.
Twelve officers frequently dined at the governor's table; and here, in
spite of bishops and priests and deacons who later came on the ground,
the revellers of the Russian fur hunters held high carnival.
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