234 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
rudder in place, and persuaded the second mate to 
refuse duty also. They left the schooner, camped 
on the beach, and did no further work. On the 
13th we fixed the rudder and picked up the anchors 
and chains. At high-water we got the vessel afloat, 
and by night had some of the ballast in, and all 
tanks and water-casks filled up. When we were 
ready for sea again, S. and the second mate 
came alongside, wanting to come on board; but I 
told them they had gone ashore to please themselves, 
and now they should stop there to please me. On 
this S. drew a revolver and fired at me, the 
bullet passing over my head. I was angry, and 
ran below for my rifle. Fortunately, when I got 
on deck again, I found S. had come on board 
and taken refuge in the forecastle. Cooling down, 
I went forward and ordered him out and into the 
boat, with his and the second mate’s belongings. 
I then sent them a supply of provisions and am¬ 
munition (they had their own rifles and a shot-gun), 
and told them I would call in there again in about 
two months’ time, and if they had not been taken 
off by then I would give them a passage to Nemuro. 
This left me without mates or hunters, as they had 
acted in both capacities. The shipkeeper was now 
the only European I had with me, so 1 turned two of 
the best of my Japanese boat-steerers into hunters. 
Not finding any otters on the northern Kurils or 
the Kamchatka coast, I decided to run up to Copper 
Island and try a reef lying some distance off its 
north-west point, outside the limits of territorial 
waters. 
On May 25 we lay becalmed between Bering 
and Copper Islands, gradually drifting towards the 
