e that filled him with
dismay. There had been deaths from scurvy; one of the largest ships
belonging to the Company had been wrecked and the entire cargo lost; of
a hunting party of three hundred Aleuts in one hundred and forty
bidarkas, which had gone from Sitka to Kadiak in November of the
preceding year, not one had arrived at its destination, and there was
reason to believe that all had been drowned or massacred; and the
Russians and Aleuts at Behring's Bay settlement had been exterminated
by one of the native tribes.

But the Juno was received with salvos of artillery from the fort, and
cheered by the entire population of the settlement, crowded on the
beach. Baranhov, looking like a monkey with a mummy's head in which
only a pair of incomparably shrewd eyes still lived, his black wig
fastened on his bald, red-fringed pate with a silk handkerchief tied
under his chin, stood, hands on hips, shaking with excitement and
delight. The bearded, long-haired priests, in full canonicals of black
and gold, were beside the Chief-Manager, ready to escort the
Chamberlain to the chapel at the head of the solitary street, where the
bells were pealing and a mass of thanksgiving was to be said for his
safe return.

But it was some time before Rezanov could reach the chapel or even
exchange salutations with Baranhov. As he stepped on shore he was
surrounded, almost hustled by the shouting crowd of Russians,--many of
them convicts--Aleuts and Sitkans, who knelt at his feet, endeavored to
kiss his hand, his garments, in their hysterical gratitude for the food
he had brought them. For the first time he felt reconciled to his
departure from California, and Concha's image faded as he looked at the
tearful faces of the diseased, ill-nourished wretches who gave their
mite of life that he might live as became a great noble of the Russian
Empire. But although he tingled with pleasure and was deeply moved, he
by no means swelled with vanity, for he was far too clear-sighted to
doubt he had done more than his duty, or that his duty was more than
begun. He made them a little speech, giving his word they should be
properly fed hereafter, that he would make the improvement of their
condition as well as that of all the employees of the Company
throughout this vast chain of settlements on the Pacific, the chief
consideration of his life; and they believed him and followed him to
the chapel rejoicing, reconciled for once to their lot.

After