Throwing up
some sort of rough barricade at Nuchek Island, he sent the most of his
men off to fish and remained with only sixteen Aleuts and Russians. It
was perfectly natural that the Alaskan Indians should resent the Aleuts
intruding on the hunting-grounds of the main coast, one thousand miles
from the Aleutian Islands. Besides, the mainland Indians had now
learned unscrupulous brutality from foreign traders. Baranof knew his
danger and never relaxed vigilance. Of the sixteen men, five always
stood sentry at night.
The night of June 20 was pitch dark. Terrific seas were running, and a
tempest raged through the woods of the mainland. For safety,
Ismyloff's ship had scudded to the offing. Baranof had undressed,
thrown himself down in his cabin, and was in the deep sleep of outdoor
exhaustion, when above the howling of the gale, not five steps away, so
close it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe in the darkness,
arose the shrill war-cry of hostiles. Leaping to his feet, Baranof
rushed out undressed. His shirt was torn to shreds by a shower of
flint and copper-head arrows.
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