SOME NARROW ESCAPES 203 
being aroused, the Aleuts accounting in some way 
for the absence of their chief man. 
When the chief man first came on board, a some¬ 
what comical situation arose. He always addressed 
me as Captain Miles, though how he arrived at this 
name I never knew. One of the first questions he 
asked was where we came from, and was told from 
Japan. His next was if I knew Captain Snow. I 
replied that I knew him very well, and inquired why 
he asked. He said: 66 Oh, he son of a gun ! He have 
got steamer and two schooner ; he come here catch 
seal. 55 I told him I did not think that was quite 
true. He said : “ Yes, I c savez ’—-I know. We 
look out for him. You all right—you very good 
man; Captain Snow son of a gun ! 5? As may be 
imagined, we had the greatest difficulty in restrain¬ 
ing our risible inclinations. I may mention that 
before we left Yokohama telegrams had appeared 
in the papers to the effect that an Englishman 
named Snow was fitting out a steamer and two 
schooners for the purpose of seal-hunting in the 
Bering Sea. This news had apparently travelled 
to Kamchatka and the Komandersky Islands, and 
the natives had been warned to be on the look-out. 
On October 26 we were at the Mushir Rocks 
again, where we found a number of seals hauled 
out, but it was too rough to land. Next day, how¬ 
ever, we managed with difficulty to get on to the 
rocks, and were rewarded with 172 fine seals. We 
then got under way for the Srednoy Rocks, where 
we arrived on the 29th, capturing twelve seals. 
Here a small accident happened. We had to shoot 
some of the seals with rifles, and a bullet fired 
by S. missed and struck a rock, glancing off and 
