ed for him to cross the Pacific. What did
it matter? He would cross the Pacific with Billings in spring. He was
nearer the realization of his hopes than ever before in his life; and
surely his success in tramping twice the length of Sweden, and in
crossing two continents when almost destitute augured well for his
success in crossing from the Pacific to the Missouri.

Not for a moment was his almost childlike confidence {260} disturbed by
a suspicion of bad faith, of intentional delay in issuing the
passports, of excuses to hold him back at Yakutsk till the jealous fur
traders could send secret complaints to St. Petersburg. Much less was
he suspicious when Billings, his old friend of Cook's voyage, himself
arrived, and invited him on a sled journey of exploration up the Lena
while waiting.[2]

On sledges he went up the Lena River with a party of explorers. On the
night of February 24 two or three of the officers and Ledyard were
sitting in the mess room of Irkutsk playing cards. They might laugh
_at_ Ledyard. They also laughed _with_ him. Wherever he went, went
gayety. Gales of boisterous laughter were on the wind. Hopes as
tenuous as the wind were in the air. One of the great Bering's sons
was there, no doubt telling tales of discovery that set each man's
veins jumping. Suddenly a tremendous jingling of bells announced some
midnight arrival post-haste at the barracks' door. Before the card
players had risen from their places, two Cossacks had burst into the
room stamping snow from their feet. Marching straight over to Ledyard,
they seized him roughly by the arms and arrested him for a French spy,
displaying the Empress's written orders, brought all the way from St.
Petersburg. To say that Ledyard was dumfounded is putting it mildly.
Every man in the room knew that he was not a French spy. Every man
{261} in the room knew that the arrest was a farce, instigated by the
jealous fur traders whom Ismyloff's lying letters had aroused. For
just a second Ledyard lost his head and called on Billings as a man of
honor to confute the charge. However Ledyard might lose his head,
Billings was not willing to lose his. He advised Ledyard not to
provoke conflict with the Russian authorities, but to go back to St.
Petersburg and disprove the charge. Was it a case of one explorer
being jealous of another, or had Billings played Ledyard into the fur
traders' trap? That will never be known. Certain it is, Billings ma