178 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
island, and was standing towards us. I replied, 
“ Let her come ; if she is the Alexander, she will only 
order us away, 5 ’ and went to sleep again. About an 
hour later I was awakened again, with the report 
that the steamer had anchored near us, and was 
lowering a boat. I turned out, and we were boarded 
by the Governor of the island, a Lieutenant 
Gribnitsky, two Cossacks, Captain Sandman of the 
Alexander, and some others. This steamer was 
under the Russian flag, although belonging to the 
Alaska Commercial Company, an American enter¬ 
prise. 
A number of questions were asked, and our 
ship’s papers and articles examined. We were 
accused of having been on shore, and were told that 
the natives had captured several of our men, and 
that more were in the hills. I wondered how they 
knew this, but later ascertained that the village 
people had sent to Nicolski, about ten miles across 
the island, where the steamer was lying, and in¬ 
formed them of our being off the north end of the 
island. They were somewhat nonplussed to find 
that the number of hands on board agreed with the 
ship’s articles. The schooner was searched, but 
nothing found except some half-dozen sea-lion pup 
skins, belonging to the sailors. They were in a 
quandary as to what steps to take with us, so I tried 
to persuade Lieutenant Gribnitsky that the informa¬ 
tion he had received must apply to some other ship’s 
boats. Finally, they decided to take our rifles, 
the ship’s papers, and myself. I protested, but 
nevertheless thought this was an easy way out of 
the difficulty ; so, after being assured by Captain 
Sandman that I should be properly treated, I packed 
