A sailor who has just come back from Japan brings word that sixteen
American sailors are in prison in Siberia for trying to kill Russian
seals, and carry away their fur to market.

The story the man tells is that in October, 1895, the American schooner
_Saitans_ was cruising in the Okhotsk Sea, off the Siberian coast. Some of
the men landed on an island, and while they were ashore a heavy gale
sprang up, and, to save herself, the _Saitans_ put out to sea, leaving the
men behind.

They remained where they were for five days, and then they were found by a
Russian man-of-war. They were accused of trying to catch seals, and were
sent to prison for five months.

The following May, one of the United States cruisers went to the port
where the men were imprisoned, and the officers saw them.

The men begged the officers to do something for them, because they had
been told that when their five months' imprisonment was over, they were to
be arrested again, and sent back to prison once more.

The officers asked the police about this, and were told that it was all
nonsense; the five months would be up in a few weeks, and the men set at
liberty. The officers were satisfied that this was the truth, and went
away.

But when the five months were up, the sailors found that their fears were
only too well grounded. They were rearrested, and sent back to prison for
eighteen months.