HOW BORIS OUTWITTED THE SWEDISH ADMIRAL.
His reverse at Narva aroused the Tsar to tremendous exertions. He met
the remains of his beaten troops at Novgorod, where he ordered every
portion of the scattered army to assemble and report itself. The town
of Novgorod first, and afterwards those of Pskof and Petcherski--the
site of the famous monastery--were strongly fortified and garrisoned,
as the frontier to be defended against a possible advance of the
enemy. For the work of fortification every man, woman, and child in
the several districts was employed; the services in the churches were
suspended in order that the priests might be free to assist in the
business of national defence; houses and even churches were pulled down
if they in any degree impeded the work; the bells of cathedrals and
monasteries all over the country were melted down to supply metal for
the forging of cannon; and through it all Peter himself worked like a
common labourer in the trenches, except that he did as much work as any
three other men. His disposition towards those generals who had been
beaten at Narva was kind, and he did not this time allow his passion to
get the mastery of his judgment; so that all men worked in harmony for
the defence of the fatherland.
Gradually the troops dribbled into Novgorod, arriving sometimes in
bodies of several hundreds, and occasionally in small companies of ten
or a dozen men.
One fine afternoon a small company reached the town, bringing with
them a Swedish prisoner, whom they led straight to the Tsar as he
stood working in the trenches, exceedingly proud of their achievement
in having secured and retained the fellow, for he was a big man, much
bigger than any of themselves, and a good deal too big for his clothes.
The men marched up to the trench where the Tsar was busy with his
spade, and stood at attention. Peter looked up after a while. "Well,"
he said, "what is it?"
"A Swedish prisoner, your Majesty," said the men.
Peter was all attention immediately, for this was the first prisoner
brought in, and he might prove an exceedingly valuable source of
information as to Charles's intended movements. The Tsar fumbled in
his pocket for loose cash, intending to bestow a gratuity on those who
had effected the capture. But as he did so his eye fell upon the face
of the prisoner. Peter stared at the fellow. Suddenly his countenance
changed, and he burst into one of his loudest laughs.
"Bear-eater," he said, "I shall never believe you dead again, until
I bury you with my own hands.--Get out there, you idiots, and report
yourselves to your colonel; your prisoner is about as much a Swede as I
am.--Here, Boris, my wonderful Bear-eater, come into this ditch, if you
aren't a ghost, and tell me all about it. Don't think I am not mighty
glad to see you; but there's no time for chatting idly. Get a spade and
come in; we can talk as we dig."
So Boris was obliged to do half a day's work in the trenches while he
told the Tsar his story, part of which we know.
"At last," Boris continued, having described his adventures in the
water, and how he had travelled half the night in pursuit of the
retiring Russian troops--"at last I overtook those heroes there, who,
seeing that I was in a Swedish uniform, were at first for catching up
all they were possessed of and continuing their headlong flight; but
finding that I was but one belated man, and without a musket besides,
they gallantly surrounded me and discussed my throat as a suitable
whetstone for their swords. I informed them in my purest Russian
that I was of their own way of thinking--not as to my throat, but
politically; but they were not to be taken in, and declared that I was
a Swedish spy, and as such ought to be shot. I pointed out that, even
if this were so, it would be far better to make me a prisoner and take
me straight to the Tsar, who would give them a handsome gratuity for
their service. What would they gain by shooting me down? There would be
no nachaiok [tea-money], and no glory either; for none would believe
them, and they could not well take along my body for evidence, with
the Swedish troops in full pursuit behind them; it would hamper their
movements and prevent their escape! This last consideration decided
them, and they took me prisoner, and bound me hand and foot. One of
them had secured a horse, and as I found it awkward to walk all tied
up like a bit of boiled beef, they put me on the horse and gave me a
pleasant lift to Novgorod; and here I am."
"Well done, my Bear-eater," said the Tsar, delighted with the tale.
"I thought we could trust you to take good care of yourself, and,
believing this, I did not send word to Nancy of your death--which is
just as well. And now I have plenty of work for you!"
There was indeed work, not only for Boris but for all those who had
the safety of the country at heart. Besides the fortifying of the
frontier towns, there was much recruiting to be done. The Tsar would
have nine new regiments of dragoons formed at once; this being one of
the results of his object lesson at Narva, where the cavalry of Charles
had swept Peter's timid footmen before them like autumn leaves before
the storm-wind. Then the infantry regiments must be patched up with new
men to fill the gaps. And the drilling of all these soldiers, new and
old, must be taken in hand by men like Boris qualified to undertake
it. All this necessary work was set agoing without a moment's delay by
the never-weary Tsar; and so well did it proceed that, within a few
months after the rout at Narva, Peter found himself in possession of a
far better army than that which he had left beneath the walls of the
Swedish fortress to be cut to pieces by the enemy as soon as he had
turned his back.
Boris was as busy as man could be over his various occupations, but
found time to write continually to Moscow, where his letters comforted
and entertained his wife amazingly, whose faith in the star of Boris
was so great, that even his narrative of the adventures at and after
Narva alarmed her less than they amused her. She felt, as the Tsar had
declared that he also felt, that under any conceivable circumstances
her husband was well able to take care of himself.
But with the spring came a change for the hunter. News arrived
that the Swedish fleet meditated a descent upon Archangel as soon
as the disappearance of the ice should have rendered navigation
possible. Boris, to his delight, was sent up north to superintend the
fortification of the old town which had been the home of his boyhood
and early youth. The hunter received his new commission with joy, and
started at once, passing through those forests and villages which
were memorable by reason of his adventures with the Tsar nearly ten
years ago. Though there was no time to waste, Boris managed to enjoy a
day or two in the woods, after his old friends the bears and wolves,
and reached Archangel early in April, when he commenced the work of
fortifying the place without further delay.
And now the hunter was to experience one of the most exciting of all
the adventures of his chequered career. Scarcely was the ice away,
and the mouth of the Dwina open to navigation, than one fine day in
May there appeared a fleet of, seemingly, English and Dutch merchant
vessels, which sailed in from sea and anchored off the island of
Modiug. Suspecting nothing, a boat containing fifteen soldiers, acting
as custom-house officials, made the usual visit to the foreign ships
to collect the harbour dues, receive the reports of cargo, and go
through the ordinary commercial formalities in connection with the
port. These men did not return at once; and when night fell and they
were still absent, the authorities were obliged to conclude that the
Dutch or British skippers had proved too hospitable, and that the
officials were still occupied in drinking the health of the first
arrivals of the year. But in the middle of the night Boris, in his
capacity of commissioner of the Tsar, was awakened from his sleep by a
half-drowned, dripping person, who stated that he was one of those who
had been sent on board the supposed English and Dutch merchantmen. He
had swum ashore at Modiug, he said, having escaped from the cabin in
which the company had been confined. But the rest were still on board,
and likely to remain so; for the ships were not merchantmen but vessels
of war, and their crews were not good Englishmen and Dutchmen but
blackguardly Swedes, sailing under false colours in order to steal a
march upon the forts and capture the city unawares as soon as the first
glimmering of light should render such an enterprise possible. The man
had climbed out, by the help of his companions, through the skylight,
choosing his time when the sentry had his back turned, had crept to
the side, let himself down by means of a rope, and swum to the island.
There he found a boat, and got himself rowed quickly to the town; and
here he was! The man added that he had overheard it said that three
of the vessels would signal for a pilot in the morning, and sail into
port; the remainder of the fleet were to wait where they were, in case
of accidents, and would come on if required.
Boris made glad the heart of this dripping hero by rewarding him
handsomely in money, and promising to mention his conduct to the Tsar
at the first opportunity. Then the hunter sat down to think matters
out, and the result of his cogitations was, first, a visit to the
commandant of the fort, to whom he gave his instructions. After this
Boris got himself ready for the further development of his plans,
and took up his position in the pilot-house, whence a good view of
the foreigners would be obtained as soon as it became light enough to
see. Boris had concocted a delightful plot, and hugged himself with
joy to think how the Tsar would roar with laughter when he told him of
it, after its successful outcome. It did not occur to Boris that he
ran about as good a chance of having his own throat cut as ever man
deliberately set himself to run; but then Boris was a great believer in
his own star, and would have laughed at the very idea of danger in his
scheme.
When morning came, Boris soon observed the usual signal flying from the
deceitful flag-ship's mainmast indicating that a pilot was required.
Then he arrayed himself in an over-garment, which caused him to look as
much like a pilot as any other man, stepped into the pilot-boat, and
had himself conveyed on board the Swedish admiral's ship, to the great
astonishment of the real pilot, who could not imagine why the Tsar's
commissioner usurped his duties when he had plenty of his own to look
after.
When Boris stepped aboard the frigate, the Swedish admiral did not
pretend to be other than he really was, but roughly bade the "pilot"
take the vessel into Archangel harbour. The pilot, simulating great
fear and distress of mind, did as he was told--the frigate, followed by
its two companions, sailing gallantly forward on a light wind direct
for port.
But that deceitful pilot did not intend that those Swedish ships should
ever reach the harbour save under the Russian flag, and before a mile
of water had been covered they were all three suddenly brought up by
running straight upon a sandbank which jutted out from the island of
Modiug. When the admiral and the rest of the Swedish gentlemen who
happened to be on deck at the moment of the catastrophe had picked
themselves up from the undignified attitudes into which they had been
thrown by the shock, they learned two extremely unpleasant things.
One was that their pilot had left them the legacy of his topcoat, and
had taken a neat header into the water, whence he was now addressing
certain remarks to them in the English language, remarks of a
valedictory nature, coupled with flattering expressions of the hope
that he would soon have the pleasure of meeting them again on shore;
and the other that the forts were in the act of opening fire upon them
as they lay helpless and immovable upon the sandbank.
Within half a minute of the first discovery a dozen furious Swedes had
snatched their muskets, and a dozen Swedish bullets whistled through
the air and sent up little fountains of spray as they struck the water
somewhere near the spot where the head of that pilot had last appeared.
But the head was no longer there. When it appeared again it did so in a
direction where it was not expected; and though the bullets sought it
once more, they did not find it. The furious Swedes even went so far as
to train a gun upon the vanishing black spot, and banged away merrily
at it with musket and cannon as long as it was in sight, but never went
within several yards of the mark; for Boris dived so deftly and dodged
so cunningly that he invariably had plenty of time to fill his lungs
before he was seen and shot at.
Meanwhile the fort blazed away at the stranded ships, with such success
that these soon hauled down their colours; after which a party of
Russians from the fort put off in boats to take possession, picking up
the swimming pilot on their way. Once on board, the Russians turned the
ships' guns upon the four remaining Swedish vessels and quickly drove
them from their moorings.
Boris was not mistaken as to the Tsar's delight upon hearing of his
exploit. Peter wrote him an affectionate and appreciative letter, in
which he congratulated him on his out-foxing the old Swedish reynard,
presented him with a gratuity of two thousand roubles, and gave him a
commission in the navy. Peter himself was at this time a boatswain in
the same service, having risen, some say, from the humble position of
cabin-boy, in which capacity he had insisted upon entering the navy
in order that he might experience the duties of every grade of both
branches of the service.