CHAPTER XXXI.PEACE AT LAST.
The return to Moscow was a joyous procession. Never had the Tsar beenso merry, so indulgent to all ranks, and so absolutely free of alltraces of his evil temper. Charles had escaped into Turkish territory,indeed; but what cared Peter for that? he was harmless enough now. Asfor Mazeppa, it was a pity he had escaped; but perhaps the Sultan wouldhang him, or if he failed to perform this service, likely enough thewretched man would save others the trouble by doing it himself! In anycase he was out of mischief's way.
Peter offered up thanks for Pultowa at every shrine and church andmonastery on the route to the capital. Further, he gave way to noexcessive service of Bacchus during this time, but passed his eveningswith Boris and others of his intimates in song and laughter andtale-telling, using the vodka in moderation.
Boris became quite an expert spinner of yarns, most of them about hisadventures with bears, as befitted his title of the bear-hunter; butthe Tsar himself occasionally treated his hearers to one of his ownreminiscences, many of which were of stirring interest. He told, amongothers, of an adventure in the forest, when, having lost his way, heovertook a soldier, by whom he was not recognized. With this man hehad sought shelter in a lonely hut in mid-forest, which had turned outto be the headquarters of a gang of murderous thieves. Here, overcomewith weariness, he had fallen asleep in an outhouse, where he hadsought repose in company with his new friend. The soldier, however,suspicious of the good faith of his hosts, had preferred to remainawake and watch. During the night, this brave fellow had protected hissleeping companion from the attack of five ruffians, who ascended theladder one by one and were in turn despatched by the soldier as soon astheir heads appeared within the garret window. The Tsar added that theman's conduct when he found out whom he had rescued from assassinationwas more ridiculous than words can describe, as was his delight whenhe received his promotion to the rank of corporal, together with onethousand roubles in cash.
Right glorious was the entry into Moscow of the victorious Pultowaheroes. The church and cathedral bells clanged; flower-decked triumphalarches had been reared in every street; gorgeously robed priests andbishops met the troops and chanted litanies of praise, and sprinkledthe ranks with holy water; while the wives and children of thereturning soldiers marched alongside, singing and laughing and dancingfor joy. Nancy was there with her little ones, and Boris took both thetiny wolf-maiden and her brother upon the saddle before him; for thehunter was now a general of brigade and rode a fine black charger whoselong tail swept the ground. The children chattered in English as theyrode and told their father all the news--that Katie had caught a youngfox at Karapselka, and mother had given little Boris a new pony fromEngland which had run away with him into the forest and upset him intoa morass, spraining his ankle, but he was all right now; with otherinformation of a like nature.
Those were happy days, and there were happy years to follow. There waswar, indeed, for Charles by dint of much perseverance persuaded theTurk to enter the lists against Peter and fight his battles for him;and adventurous war too, for the troops of the Tsar suffered defeaton more than one occasion in the disastrous campaign of the Pruth,where both the Tsar and Boris himself were once well-nigh captured bythe Mussulman enemy, and Peter was obliged to surrender the fortressof Azof, the capture of which had been the first exploit of Russianarms under his flag. But in spite of all this, and of the fact that theTsar was still unable, as the years went on, to conclude a satisfactorypeace with Sweden, there was more peace than war during the five or sixyears which followed Pultowa, and the building of St. Petersburg wasthe work that occupied most of the sovereign's attention. The greaterportion of his time was spent there, superintending the erectionof fortress and city, and there he collected a large fleet of bothBritish-made and home-built vessels of war.
Boris lived in the new city with Peter, his house being one of the veryfirst to be erected. Nancy and her children joined him on the Nevabanks, and soon became as ardent sailors as the Tsar could desire hissubjects to be.
As for Boris himself, he had plenty of congenial occupation inendeavouring to thin the numbers of the wolves which infested theforests around, and even swarmed into the streets of the half-builtcity. Even as late as 1713, about ten years after the first pile ofthe new capital had been driven, wolves still occasionally entered thetown and carried away children and women during the severe weather,when starvation made them bold; and many were the exciting chases whichBoris enjoyed after such depredators, and many were the lives he savedof those who had been seized and carried off by the midnight robbers.
Little Katie, now aged twelve years, and her brother, had an excitingadventure at this time. They had been for a sail in the boat which theTsar had given them; but the wind having failed them while still in thegulf, they were somewhat late in returning, and landed at the fartherend of the city in order to avoid the necessity of rowing home againstthe current.
It was dusk of a September evening, and the streets through which theyhad to pass were unfinished and unpopulated; the open country, with theforest but a short distance away, stretching straight from the road ontheir right, while the river flowed swiftly towards the gulf on theirleft. Of a sudden they became aware of two gray wolves standing in themidst of the muddy road, blocking their passage. Neither child wasafraid of wolves or of any other wild animal that breathes; but theywere unarmed, save for the knife which little Boris, like a true sonof his father, invariably carried at his side. The children stopped toconsult: should they move on, in the hope that the brutes would giveway and allow them to pass; or would it be wiser to retire towards theboat and row homewards, in spite of the current? The wolves, however,decided the question for them by opening their savage mouths, showingtheir business-like teeth, and themselves advancing, in order to carrythe war into the enemy's country.
"Get behind me, Katie," said little Boris, "I've got my long knife;I'll take care they shan't touch you!"
But this was not Katie's way. She remained at her brother's side,catching up a thick piece of wood, one of many with which the groundwas covered preliminary to road-making.
And now occurred a most unaccountable incident. The foremost wolf madea rush at Katie, stopped, sniffed at her dress, and slunk aside. Theother brute behaved very differently. It sprang towards young Boris,who stood up to it and smote bravely at it with his knife, inflictingmore than one gash upon nose and head and shoulder. Each time it wasstruck the wolf whined but came on again, until at length, having hadenough of little Boris and his sharp knife, it too slunk away andjoined its companion, and the two trotted off towards the forest.
Nancy declared, amid sobs and kisses, as the children related theirstory, that Katie could never be hurt by a wolf, for every wolf wouldknow by some mysterious instinct of the relationship which her darlinglittle wolf-maiden bore to his kind, and would not touch her. But thatrude man, her husband, laughed loud and long at the very idea of such athing, as I daresay my reader will also; and yet I am half inclined tobelieve in Nancy's pretty theory, for want of a better.
While at St. Petersburg, Boris took part, for the first time in hislife, in a naval engagement. His rank in the navy was now lieutenant,and in this capacity Boris sailed out with the Tsar one fine morningin the flagship of "Rear-Admiral Peter Alexeyevitch" as the Tsar lovedto style himself, this being his rank in the navy at that time. ASwedish fleet had been reported in the gulf, and the Russian vesselswere now sallying forth to sight the enemy, and if possible to offerthem battle. The Tsar-admiral not only came upon the enemy, but engagedand overthrew him also, capturing the Swedish admiral in person,together with a number of his ships. With his prizes in tow, Petersailed proudly up the Neva and landed at the senate steps, wherehe was met and requested to attend and present to the authorities areport of his engagement with the enemy. After hearing this report,the senate unanimously decided that, in consideration of his services,Rear-Admiral Peter Alexeyevitch be promoted then and there to the rankof vice-admiral. Thereupon the Tsar immedia
tely hurried back to hisship and hoisted the flag of a vice-admiral. Nothing in the world couldhave made Peter happier than such recognition of his services as asailor apart from his position as Tsar.
Boris lived to take the chief part in many adventures both by sea andland. He slew many bears and wolves in all parts of the country, andwent through more terrible dangers and sufferings during an ill-omenedexpedition despatched by his master against Khiva and India, than anywhich I have narrated in the foregoing pages; but the limits of thisvolume forbid me to enter into any of these, much as I should liketo introduce my readers to the ambitions of Peter in the Indies, andthe misfortunes which overtook his arms in those distant parts of theworld. Perhaps, if the fates will it, I may find occasion to treat ofthese thrilling matters another day; but the moment has now arrivedwhen I must describe the closing scene in this present tale of theTsar's triumphs and his faithful hunter's adventures.
For many years Peter laboured his utmost to make such terms of peacewith Sweden as should secure to him those solid advantages which hisvictories and his perseverance warranted him in demanding. But ardentlyas he laboured for peace, Sweden, beaten and subdued though she was,still held out for war.
At last, when the eighteenth century was already a score of yearsold, negotiations were entered into at Nystad which promised to bringforward a satisfactory result. In feverish anxiety the Tsar saileddaily in his yacht about the placid waters of the Gulf of Finland, onthe look-out for that longed-for messenger-boat which should bring himthe news that peace was signed. One afternoon, the Tsar, with Borisand one or two others, cruised thus close to Cronstadt, when a smallvessel was observed sailing with all speed towards St. Petersburg, nowthe capital city of Russia. It was the messenger-boat, and on boardwas that treaty of peace for which the Tsar had fought and negotiatedand waited for upwards of twenty years. With this priceless documenton board, Peter's little yacht fled through the waters; and as itapproached the mouth of the Neva it fired first one gun and then many,in token of the glorious news it brought. As the yacht raced up theriver, banging its guns and flying every inch of bunting it carried,every gun in the metropolis responded, and every house mounted its flagand sent out its cheering contribution to the thronged streets of thecity; for all understood the meaning of the Tsar's noisy little vesselflitting up the Neva in this way. It meant that war was over, and thatRussia had leave to grow and prosper and develop. Oxen were roastedwhole in the large square in front of the senate, and the Tsar himselfcarved and dispensed the meat to all who came.
In the evening a display of fireworks was given, and here again Peter,in his capacity of all things to all men, personally superintendedthe fun and himself fired off the rockets. The senators assembled andproclaimed new titles for their adored sovereign, the maker of Russia:he should be known henceforth as "Emperor," in place of Tsar, and toall time he should be called "The Great," and "Father of his People."That evening there were banquets throughout the city, and the joyof the populace was shown in every way in which a happy people candemonstrate their delight; for all were weary of war and bloodshed, andlonged for peace as ardently as their sovereign himself.
Lastly, there was a grand procession to the cathedral of St. Isaac--orrather, this came first though I mention it last; a procession of afervent, thankful population. The crowds in the streets all joined inas it approached them, and the Tsar walked with the priests and sangand chanted with them as one of themselves. When the procession reachedthe steps of the cathedral, and the tall Tsar stood upon the highestand faced the multitude, a great shout of joy and praise rang out, suchas had not been heard in all Russia before that day; and when, theshouting being ended, the Tsar raised his hand and would speak to themultitude, all were silent to listen. Then Peter the Great raised botharms high over his head,--
"_Sursum corda! sursum corda!_" cried the Emperor. "Lift up yourhearts, O my people!"
And all the people with one voice made answer,--
"We lift them up unto the Lord!"
THE END.