The signal was to be given when Naplavkof, an
officer who was master plotter, happened to be on duty. On such good
terms was the despot, Baranof, with his men, that the plot was betrayed
to him from half a dozen sources. It did not trouble Baranof. He sent
the betrayers a keg of brandy, bade one of them give a signal by
breaking out in drunken song, and at the sound himself burst into the
roomful of conspirators, sword in hand, {335} followed by half a
hundred armed soldiers. The plotters were handcuffed and sent back to
Siberia.
There was something inexcusably cruel in the termination of Baranof's
services with the fur company. He was now over seventy years of age.
He was tortured by rheumatism from the long years of exposure in a damp
climate. Because he was not of noble birth, though he had received
title of nobility, he was subject to insults at the hands of any petty
martinet who came out as officer on the Russian vessels. Against these
Baranof usually held his own at Sitka, but they carried back to St.
Petersburg slanderous charges against his honesty.
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