Ammunition was distributed to
the fifty castaways; salmon bought from the Indians, whom Baranof's
fair treatment won from the first; once a week, rye meal was given out
for soup; and for the rest, the men had to depend on the eggs of
sea-birds, that flocked over the precipitous shores in myriads, or on
the sea-lions roaring till the surf shook on the rocky islets along the
shore.
If there is one characteristic more than another that proves a man
master of destiny, it is ability not only to meet misfortune but to
turn it to advantage when it {321} comes. While waiting for the rescue
that never came, Baranof studied the language of the Aleuts, sent his
men among them to learn to hunt, rode out to sea in their frail skin
boats lashed abreast to keep from swamping during storm, slept at night
on the beach with no covering but the overturned canoes, and, sharing
every hardship, set traps with his own hands. When the weather was too
boisterous for hunting, he set his people boiling salt from sea-water
to dry supplies of fish for the summer, or replenishing their ragged
clothes by making coats of birds' skin.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416