208 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
captain of the schooner Arctic and the paymaster of 
the United States s.s. Ossipe , who was a passenger 
on board. The paymaster happened to be under 
arrest on board his ship in Yokohama Harbour for 
misappropriating funds in his charge. Some of his 
friends on shore, with the probable connivance of 
some on board the ship, arranged for his escape. A 
boat went alongside the warship at night, took off the 
paymaster and put him aboard the schooner, which 
had cleared the port and dropped outside ready to 
sail for the north on a hunting voyage. The skipper 
in charge of the schooner had been approached, and 
had agreed for a certain sum to take the paymaster 
as a passenger. All came off as arranged, but some 
days after the schooner had sailed, one of the men 
who had been instrumental in getting the paymaster 
away gave information as to what had become of 
him, and also told the authorities that the schooner 
would probably put into Shikotan on her way north. 
Acting on this information, two or three of the 
American ships sailed for the north in order to re¬ 
capture the fugitive. In the meanwhile the Arctic 
had put into Anama Bay, Shikotan. Whilst 
lying there, some warships appeared off the 
entrance to the harbour, flying the Russian flag. 
At this time the American warships on the China 
Station were all of the old-fashioned type, and 
painted black, as were also the Russian men-of-war, 
and it was easy to mistake one for the other. How¬ 
ever, the paymaster was not deceived ; he knew the 
ships, and promptly hurried ashore and took to the 
hills. One of the ships came into the harbour, and 
a party from her boarded the schooner and made 
inquiries, but could get no information. That night 
