Meanwhile Douglas and Etholine were discussing provisions and boundaries and tariffs for the Indian trade. Douglas took part in all the gayeties of the fort; at the same time he criticised them in private.
"It is not our way of doing things," he said to Rae. " These Russians are squandering all they make. What folly to appoint naval officers to the command! They know nothing of the business, yet draw pay from both the fur company and the government. Look at these establishments crowded with idle officers and men, fifteen vessels afloat, and thousands spent every year on provisions for Sitka alone. You never saw such a lazy crew around Vancouver the doctor would n't have it."
Too soon the week rolled by. The ten-league transfer was made according to the London agreement, and exchanges concluded in grain and furs. Farewells were quickly said, salutes were fired, and the little "Beaver " sped down the coast to the sandy flats of Fort Stikine. On the self-same spot where a few years ago the Russian gunboats had threatened Ogden, lay a Russian brig of thirty-two guns, ready to hand the redout over to Douglas and the English. As Rae marched out with his detachment of eighteen Canadians the Russian officer drew back.
"What! hold this fort with eighteen men! I required fifty, and you can do with no less."
"Other forts we rule with twenty men, and we can hold Stikine," said Rae, setting his lips in the firm way habitual to him.
At the mouth of the Stikine River, on a strip of sand that was an island at high tide, stood the old Russian redout, St. Dionysius, near the present Fort Wrangell. Over the log fort Rae hung out the English flag and the
