CHAPTER XXV.BORIS HAS A NARROW ESCAPE.
The formation of the twenty-nine new regiments which were to take partin the war had been an arduous undertaking. While Boris was in exileat Karapselka the Tsar had lost two capable assistants, as well asdear friends, in Lefort and Gordon, both of whom had died during thatinterval of time. Had these men lived to assist him at this emergency,there is no doubt that the raw peasantry now sent up for training atPreobrajensk would have emerged from their months of drill in a higherstate of efficiency than that in which they actually marched out ofMoscow in August. Nevertheless much had been done, and the Tsar hadworked as few but he could labour to make soldiers of them. In thismatter Boris was of inestimable service to him; and many a time didPeter declare that he would not for half his empire that those wolveshad not run him down in the Karapselka forest and in doing so broughthim back his bear-eater, for what could he have done without Boris atthis time?
Nancy was sensible enough to see that, happy as she had been with herhusband for three long years of country life at Karapselka, she mustaccept the inevitable, and allow him to do now as his duty and hismanhood dictated. So Boris bade farewell to his young wife, and thelittle wolf-maiden and her tiny brother, and marched away from Moscowwith a feeling that life was recommencing for him--stern, workaday,adventurous life--and that the idle paradise of Karapselka had beennothing but a dream.
The possession of Livonia and Esthonia, of Ingria and Karelia was thedarling object of Peter's ambition. He longed for the mastery of theGulf of Finland and a grip of the Baltic coast as a hungry man longsfor the food he sees in a shop window. Without some outlet to the seain this direction, he well knew that Russia could never develop hertrade and take her proper position in Europe as a European power.
But Sweden at this time was strong and courageous, and there satupon her throne a young prince who had been devoted from hisearliest infancy to the study of war and its practice in theplayground--Charles XII.; who at this very moment was proving to theallies of Russia--Poland and Denmark--that in picking a quarrel withhim they had attacked a hornet's nest. Charles had not as yet attainedto his full reputation as a soldier; but he was formidable already, andhis name was feared and respected by all who had had dealings with himin the field. For this reason, Peter knew well that he must proceedwith caution.
No sooner was war declared than he marched away towards Narva, thenearest Esthonian fortress occupied by the Swedes; for, could he butpossess himself of this stronghold, he foresaw that the Neva and theopposite coasts of the Gulf of Finland would be practically at hismercy, for both Livonia and Esthonia would be cut off from directcommunication with those parts.
Thus Narva became the first objective for the armies of Peter. But thejourney from Moscow to that fortress, undertaken at this late season ofthe year, proved long and tedious. The transport service was crude andinefficient, and the want of stores delayed the march; the roads werefrightfully bad, as any one who knows Russian roads, even at this day,may well believe; hence it was not until the first days of Novemberthat the first detachment of troops with a portion of the artilleryarrived before the walls of Narva.
The Tsar himself superintended the placing of the guns in position,and fired the first shot. It was soon found that the gun-carriages hadbeen so knocked about that they would not stand more than two or threedischarges, and then broke in pieces. By the 14th November all thepowder and shot had been used, and the troops were obliged to sit andwait for new supplies with the best grace they could muster.
During this tiresome period of waiting the garrison of Narva madeseveral gallant sorties. During one of these, Peter's own regiment,the Preobrajensk, was engaged, Boris and the Tsar both fighting attheir posts. One of the foreign officers, a certain Major Hummert, atone period of the engagement, finding himself pressed by the Swedes,became alarmed, and gave the word to retire; thereupon the wholeregiment turned and fled in sudden panic, in spite of all the effortsof the officers to keep them in their places. The Tsar was furious, andsent for Hummert in the evening, when the day's fighting was over, inorder to treat him to one of those ebullitions of passion in which heindulged on provocation. But poor Hummert could not face the ordeal,and escaping from the lines under cover of the darkness, deserted tothe enemy. Peter hung him in effigy; but the Swedes themselves improvedupon this by hanging the deserter in the flesh. Shortly after thisepisode, the Tsar left the Russian troops at Narva and departed toattend to other duties, and while he was absent a great and unexpectedmisfortune befell the Russians.
No sooner did Charles of Sweden hear of the action of Peter inlaying siege to Narva than he took ship with nine thousand troopsfor Revel and Pernau. Landing at these ports, he marched with allhis characteristic energy and marvellous expedition straight acrosscountry to Narva, falling upon the Russians from the rear like a suddenterrible tornado. The Russians, with the exception of the Preobrajenskand Semenofski--two of the veteran regiments--ran like sheep, hardlystriking a blow in self-defence. They rushed hither and thitherheadlong, shrieking that the "Germans had betrayed them," and makingmatters very unpleasant for their foreign officers, many of whom theykilled, or chased over the field. The Preobrajensk, with Boris amongthem, held out bravely, and Boris had the honour of crossing swordswith Charles XII. as the latter rode by slashing right and leftwith his weapon, and doing execution at each passage of his terribleblade. Boris barred his way, guarded a tremendous downward cut at hishelm, and lunged fiercely back, striking the Swedish king full in thebreast-plate, and causing him to grab with his left hand at the horse'smane in order to prevent himself falling over backwards. Charles wasfurious, and smote at Boris with such energy that, though Boris guardedthe blow, the sword cut his tall Preobrajensk helmet clean in two,but fortunately left his head untouched. Then the hunter's blood wasthoroughly up, and he slashed back at the king with such good will thathis Majesty was knocked clean off his horse by the force of the blows,though his body remained unwounded. At the same moment the horse itselfreceived a flesh wound and dashed away in terror and pain. But Charleswas quickly placed upon a second horse by his people, who throngedaround when they perceived his dangerous position, and the king, thoughhe endeavoured to get back to Boris, was unable, because the crowdseparated them. Charles turned in his saddle and smiled and waved toBoris. "Well done, Russian," he shouted. "I am glad there are not manyof them like you! We'll finish this another day!"
But Boris, together with the rest of his regiment, was being forcedback at this moment, fighting for every yard of ground, and he hadno time to respond to his Majesty's kind attentions. Bravely thePreobrajensk fought, but the weight of numbers drove them back surelyand steadily; and now they were upon the bridge which the Russiansthemselves had built in order to connect the two portions of theircamp, which occupied both sides of the river. Suddenly, the bridgebeing crammed at the moment with crowds of Russian soldiers andgun-carriages, all retiring face to foe, there was a terrible soundof crashing and rending timbers, which rose above the din of musketryfire, the shouting of officers, and the cries of the wounded, and in aninstant Boris found himself struggling in the half-frozen waters of theriver, one of several hundred Russians in the same predicament.
As we have had occasion to see during the course of his adventurouscareer, water had no terrors for Boris; but to the danger of drowningwas added on this occasion a far greater peril. The banks were linedwith Swedish soldiers, and these men immediately opened fire upon theunfortunate Russians in the water. As Charles wrote to a friend afterthe battle, "The greatest fun was when the bridge broke and tumbledthe Russians into the water. The whole surface of the river was crammedwith heads and legs of men and horses sticking up, and my men shot atthem as though they were ducks."
It may have been very amusing for Charles XII. to watch, but it wasvery poor fun for Boris and his unfortunate companions, who weredrowned around him in scores, while hundreds of others were killed bythe rain of bullets poured upon them from the banks.
Boris felt that
this was indeed a critical moment in his career, for ifhe allowed his head to remain a moment above the surface his life wasnot worth a moment's purchase. Accordingly, the hunter allowed himselfto sink to the bottom, and then swam under water down the current, asfast and as far as his breath would hold out. The water was freezingcold, and he was much hampered in his swimming by the numbers ofdrowning men whom he was obliged to circumvent as far as possible forfear of being seized and drowned before he could escape from the gripof despair.
Boris came to the surface some twenty yards from the bridge, but thebullets were falling upon the water like hailstones in a sharp shower,and after taking a gulp or two of air he sank once more. He wasinstantly gripped by a drowning man, who clung to his throat with bothhands. Boris felt that his last hour was come, and said the prayerof the dying; nevertheless he gripped the man by the neck also, andit became a strangling match. For ten seconds or so, which seemed aneternity, both men throttled each other in this strange and unnaturalduel, and then Boris saw the man's mouth open wide and the water pourin, and the poor fellow's grasp relaxed and let go, and he floated away.
Boris rose to the surface a second time, but little further from thebridge than before. Finding a dead body floating beside him as he rose,he used this as a screen from the fire while he took four or five deeplungfuls of air. He was used to the water now and did not feel it socold. He dived again, and this time he swam under water for a longdistance, coming to the surface far enough from the bridge to be out ofthe great crush of struggling humanity.
From this point his progress was much easier; and though he was shotat several times, none of the bullets struck him. One Swedish soldierran down the bank after him, and fired twice as he rose. Boris wasobliged to pretend that he was hit in order to rid himself of thistiresome individual. He raised his arms and gave a cry as of one sorelystruck, and sank; but came to the surface ten yards further up streamand close under the bank, whence he watched the soldier look out forhim to appear at a point lower down, his musket ready to shoot again.Presently the man, satisfied that Boris was "done for," came slowlyalong towards the bridge, and the hunter bobbed beneath the current,though he stood in shallow water close to the low bank. As he came upagain the Swedish soldier was just passing him, but he did not see him,for he was gazing towards the bridge, looking out for more Russianducks to wing. Boris could not resist the temptation, but stretchedout his arm and seized the man by the leg, pulling him violently as hedid so. The Swede slipped and fell with a cry of surprise and alarm;but Boris dragged him remorselessly down into the cold stream beforehe could recover himself, and pushing him out into deep water drownedhim then and there as a punishment for his cruelty in shooting poor,struggling Russians as they battled for life with the river.
Almost worn out, Boris, by swimming and diving, succeeded in making hisway to a turn of the stream where he was out of sight of the bridge andits tragedies, and he came to the shore for a good rest.
He was numb and cold and stiff, and finding a dead Swedish soldier hetook the liberty of divesting him of his uniform and of putting himselfinto it, leaving his own wet garments on the ground. He took the man'ssword and pistol also; and thus provided, Boris felt that, all thingsconsidered, he had come fairly well out of this adventure.
After resting a while, the hunter took careful observations from aneighbouring tree to discover in which direction the Russian army hadfled, and how best to avoid the Swedish troops which, he imagined,would be sure to have followed in close pursuit. But Boris soon foundthat he had little to fear from the Swedish forces. They had by thistime all returned to the Russian camp, and were now making free withthe Russian provisions, which they much needed, since they had marchedfor nearly three days without resting and with scarcely any food toeat, thanks to the energy and military ardour of their young king, whowas determined to reach the Russian position before rumours of hislanding should have spoiled his game.
That night every Swedish soldier in his army was drunk with Russianvodka; and had the Russians known it, they might have returned andmade short work of their late victors. But the troops of the Tsar werenow far away, heading for home as rapidly as they could get over theground, in terror for their lives, and imagining that the Swedes withthat terrible young king at their head would overtake them and cut themto pieces at any moment.
Thus Peter's first attempt to wrest a fortress from Sweden proveda terrible failure; but the experience was by no means an unmixeddisaster for Russia, because of its different effect upon the mindsof the two sovereigns concerned. Charles was puffed up with pride andvainglory, and from the day of his victory at Narva imagined himself tobe invincible, and the Russians to be mere sheep who would scatter atany time at the barking of a dog. The Tsar, on the other hand, took hisdefeat coolly and sensibly. It was an object lesson, and he recognizedit as such. His men were, he knew, mere recruits; the troops of Charleswere veterans. He studied the details of the fight as reported to himby his generals, and learned, by careful comparison, where the Swedishgeneralship had been superior to the Russian, and made a note of it."We shall learn to fight by-and-by!" he said; "and when we havelearned what Charles has to teach us, we shall practise our knowledgeupon our teacher!" Events proved that Narva was a blessing in disguiseto the vanquished Russian troops, and that this was so is due to thegreatness of Peter.