Boris the Bear-Hunter
CHAPTER XXVII.SMALL BEGINNINGS OF A GREAT CITY.
Boris lived on at Archangel during the whole of the summer of 1701;but his Majesty of Sweden did not venture to send a second force toRussia's only seaport, the first lesson having proved a salutary one.Boris had therefore plenty of time for the indulgence of his passionfor hunting, and during those pleasant months he was fully occupied inclearing the country around, including his own native village, of thebears which infested it. The peasants declared that they had sufferedfrom a plague of bears since his departure, for there had been no oneto rid the place of them. Accordingly, the hunter had a grand summer ofit among the members of the Bruin family, who must have regretted hisreappearance as fervently as the peasants rejoiced over it. Nancy withthe little ones had joined Boris at Archangel, and the pair enjoyedmany days together in the woods, days which reminded them of old Moscowtimes and recalled the three quiet years at Karapselka.
With the approach of winter, however, came letters from the Tsarappointing Boris to the command of one of the new regiments ofinfantry, and requiring his immediate attendance at the head of his mento act under the orders of General Sheremetieff, who had already hada brush with the Swedes at Rappin in Livonia, and was now waiting tofollow up his success there with a more important affair. In Januarythe opportunity arrived, and a serious engagement was fought atErestfer, Boris being present with his regiment. On this occasion theRussian troops gained a victory which went far to efface the memoryof Narva. Three thousand of the troops of Charles XII. were left deadupon the field, after both sides had fought for several hours with thegreatest courage and determination. Every officer engaged in this fightwas promoted or decorated, Sheremetieff being made field-marshal, andBoris receiving the decoration of St. Ann. The troops marched intoMoscow in triumph, and a solemn Te Deum was chanted in the nationalcathedral in the Kremlin.
The Russians followed up this success with a second brilliant victoryat Hummelshof, which decided the fate of Livonia; and this unfortunateprovince was given over to devastation, from the effects of which ittook many years to recover. Swedish prisoners became so common that aboy or a girl of fifteen years of age could be bought for the sum offourpence.
Boris was not present at this second battle, for he had at this timeaccompanied the Tsar to Archangel, whither Peter had travelled onship-building intent. Here the pair had a small adventure with abear. Boris had introduced the Tsar on this occasion to a new methodof hunting the bear--that of sitting in ambush over the carcass ofa horse or a cow, in the hope that the bear will scent the delicacyand arrive to make a meal of it. On the occasion in question the Tsarand Boris had sat up in the branches of two pine trees opposite eachother for two nights without result, and were in the midst of a third,which Peter vowed should be the last--for the carcass was by this timeso very unsavoury that nothing would induce him to sit there anothernight--when of a sudden the watchers became aware by sundry gruntingsand shufflings in the distance that the guest for whom the feast hadbeen set was approaching.
It was a moonlight night, and Peter, being anxious to secure the brutewhile he could see to shoot, sighted him as best he could, and pulledthe trigger. The bullet passed through one of the bear's ears, and onlyserved to enrage it. Seeing the smoke hanging about the tree in whichthe Tsar sat, the angry brute rightly guessed that its assailant lurkedamid the branches, and with a roar of rage and defiance it dashed tothe foot of the tree, intent upon climbing it and fetching down therash person who had dared to burn its ear with a hot iron.
The Tsar had nothing but his knife to protect himself with; andremembering this, Boris was somewhat concerned to observe the coursewhich events had taken. He was not long in making up his mind, however,that he must shoot and that quickly, for the bear was already half-wayup the trunk of the pine. Boris hastily put his gun to his shoulder andfired, but his bullet did nothing better than hit the furious brute inthe foot, redoubling its fury.
The Tsar was now in a somewhat serious position, for it is neverpleasant to be obliged to face a bear with no weapon excepting aknife, and from the insecure position of a pine branch it is even lessagreeable than on _terra firma_. Peter nevertheless drew his knife andsettled himself in his place, resolved to make things as unpleasant aspossible for the visitor, as soon as he should come within strikingdistance.
Up came Bruin, hand over hand, climbing very fast, and already the Tsarwas slashing at him, though as yet without reaching him, when suddenly,with a loud roar of rage, the bear let go his hold of the tree trunkand slipped down to the ground, clutching at the stem of the tree ashe went. Boris, seeing the Tsar's danger, had slipped down from hisperch, and with a bound just succeeded in catching hold of the bear'shind feet, from which he dangled and swung with all his weight. Thissudden mysterious tugging from below had so startled Bruin that he letgo and fell together with poor Boris to the ground, the hunter beingundermost. The bear caught him by the leg as he attempted to crawl awayfrom beneath, and inflicted a nasty wound. But just at this moment theTsar dropped from his perch to the ground, and stepping behind the bearas it tore at the poor hunter's leg, he deftly inserted his sharpblade in the brute's windpipe and ended the fray.
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Soon after this last episode, Boris having recovered from his wounds,the Tsar left Archangel with the hunter, full of plans for a great_coup_ to be directed at that portion of the Swedish king's territorywhich he coveted far more than any other. Peter went south throughthe Onega lake, thence by the river Svir to Lake Ladoga, where he metby appointment Sheremetieff with his army of thirteen thousand men,still flushed with their great victory at Hummelshof. After a few days'rest, Peter fell upon the small fortress of Noteburg, which stood upona tiny island just where the Neva flows out of Ladoga. This fortresswas attacked with great spirit, and was defended with equal gallantryby its Swedish garrison. On the second day, Peter received a letterfrom the "ladies of Noteburg," begging that they might be allowed toleave the place, the Russian fire being rather warmer than they liked.The Tsar, however, returned a characteristic reply to the effect thathe could not think of permitting the ladies to travel alone in thesetroublous times; they were quite at liberty to depart, however, if theytook their husbands with them. So on the third day of the siege, theladies actually persuaded their lords to escort them to the nearestSwedish stronghold, and the place was evacuated.
The capture of Noteburg was most important, since it furnished theTsar with the mastery of the Neva, so far as its upper waters wereconcerned, and there now remained but one small fortress between himand the open sea. This was a day of joy for Peter. The fort at Noteburgwas rechristened Schluesselburg, and the Tsar caused the key of thecastle to be fastened to a bastion as an indication that here was the_open sesame_ to the Neva, which was the gate of the sea.
Having proceeded thus far towards the attainment of his ends, theconqueror, leaving a strong force in possession of his newly-acquiredfortress of Schluesselburg, and with it our friend the hunter, hurriedaway to Voronej in order to see to the ship-building on the Don, and tokeep an eye upon the movements of Turkey, whom he suspected of designsupon his city of Azof, the Tartar stronghold whence Boris had escapedon a memorable occasion.
Boris found life at Schluesselburg very pleasant. It was winter time,and the forest in this part of the country was full of game, so thathe had ample opportunity both to enjoy himself and also to instructhis fellow officers in the delights of the chase. Wolf hunting becamethe fashionable occupation among the garrison of Schluesselburg, andmany were the exciting hunts and adventures which occurred duringthose months, not always to the final triumph of the hunters; for morethan one inexperienced sportsman met with his end at the teeth of adesperate wolf, or in the close embrace of a bear who would not bedenied the pleasure of hugging one of his Majesty's subjects. But myreaders will pardon me if I do not enter into details of these eventsin this place, for there is matter of more moment to be described.
The Tsar, having satisfied
himself that all was right in the south,returned to Schluesselburg in the early part of the year 1703, andwithout loss of time proceeded to do that which set the seal uponRussia's greatness by providing her for ever with that window intoEurope, to attain which was the main object of his life. Peter marcheddown the flat banks of the Neva with an army of twenty thousand menuntil he came to a spot where a small stream called the Ochta minglesits waters with those of the larger river. Here was situated theSwedish stronghold of Nyenkanz, which was quickly bombarded by theRussian troops, and captured the following day. Peter rechristened thisfort Slotburg, and from this small beginning there arose in a very fewyears the city of St. Petersburg, which was built around the nucleusafforded by this little fort.
Soon after the capture of this all-important _pied-a-terre_, thegarrison were startled to hear one day the sound of two cannon shotscoming from the direction of the Gulf of Finland, which opens outalmost from the very city of St. Petersburg. Peter, guessing rightlythat this was a signal from a Swedish fleet which approached inignorance that the place was in the hands of the Russians, immediatelyreplied with a similar discharge of two pieces. Within an hour arow-boat appeared, and was allowed to approach close up to the wallsof the fort, when its crew were made prisoners, to their unboundedastonishment. From these men Peter learned that the fleet consistedof nine ships of war. Soon after two large vessels were observed toleave the fleet and sail up the Neva as far as the island now formingthe northern half of the city, and known as Vasili Ostrof (William, orBasil Island). Here they anchored by reason of the darkness. They hadcome to see why their boat had not returned, and what was the meaningof the suspicious absence of the usual courtesies between garrisons andmaritime visitors.
That night Peter prepared thirty large flat-bottomed boats, and whenmorning came loaded these full with two regiments of the Guards, andmade the best of his way, by a circuitous route, towards the Swedishfrigates. The Neva, just before throwing itself into the gulf at St.Petersburg, spreads out into several branches, like the fingers ofa hand, the spaces between these fingers being occupied by islands.Hidden among these islands, the barges of the Tsar had no difficulty inkeeping themselves out of sight, and after a thorough inspection of theSwedish strength it was resolved to make a dash and, if possible, boardthe vessels. Accordingly the long oars were got out, and the bargesglided silently around the eastern end of Basil Island, massed just atthat corner where the Bourse now stands, and at a given signal dashedround the corner and were upon the astonished Swedes in a moment.Before the enemy could do anything to prevent it, boarding-ladders wereplaced at the ships' sides, and crowds of the Russian Guards swarmedup and over the bulwarks, sword in hand, Peter and Boris among theforemost.
From the first the Swedes were at a hopeless disadvantage, and inhalf-an-hour or less the sailor Tsar found himself in possession of twovery fine specimens of the warship of that day, and, what was stillbetter, the undisputed proprietor of a fine natural harbour, withoutlet to the sea, to keep them in.
There was no happier man inhabiting this planet that evening thanPeter Alexeyevitch; and if he demonstrated his delight by dancingupon the supper-table after that meal was over, we must regard withindulgence this characteristic manner of working off the exuberanceof his feelings in consideration of the momentous importance of hisachievements of the past few days. For Russia had won her first navalengagement, and from this day would commence to rank as a maritimepower, and to draw into her bosom the wealth and the commerce of othernations. Truly there was something to dance for, even though it wereamong empty bottles and upon the top of the supper-table.