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 to
Russia's only seaport, the first lesson having proved a salutary one.
Boris had therefore plenty of time for the indulgence of his passion
for hunting, and during those pleasant months he was fully occupied in
clearing the country around, including his own native village, of the
bears which infested it. The peasants declared that they had suffered
from a plague of bears since his departure, for there had been no one
to rid the place of them. Accordingly, the hunter had a grand summer of
it among the members of the Bruin family, who must have regretted his
reappearance as fervently as the peasants rejoiced over it. Nancy with
the little ones had joined Boris at Archangel, and the pair enjoyed
many days together in the woods, days which reminded them of old Moscow
times and recalled the three quiet years at Karapselka.
With the approach of winter, however, came letters from the Tsar
appointing Boris to the command of one of the new regiments of
infantry, and requiring his immediate attendance at the head of his men
to act under the orders of General Sheremetieff, who had already had
a brush with the Swedes at Rappin in Livonia, and was now waiting to
follow up his success there with a more important affair. In January
the opportunity arrived, and a serious engagement was fought at
Erestfer, Boris being present with his regiment. On this occasion the
Russian troops gained a victory which went far to efface the memory
of Narva. Three thousand of the troops of Charles XII. were left dead
upon the field, after both sides had fought for several hours with the
greatest courage and determination. Every officer engaged in this fight
was promoted or decorated, Sheremetieff being made field-marshal, and
Boris receiving the decoration of St. Ann. The troops marched into
Moscow in triumph, and a solemn Te Deum was chanted in the national
cathedral in the Kremlin.
The Russians followed up this success with a second brilliant victory
at Hummelshof, which decided the fate of Livonia; and this unfortunate
province was given over to devastation, from the effects of which it
took many years to recover. Swedish prisoners became so common that a
boy or a girl of fifteen years of age could be bought for the sum of
fourpence.
Boris was not present at this second battle, for he had at this time
accompanied the Tsar to Archangel, whither Peter had travelled on
ship-building intent. Here the pair had a small adventure with a
bear. Boris had introduced the Tsar on this occasion to a new method
of hunting the bear--that of sitting in ambush over the carcass of
a horse or a cow, in the hope that the bear will scent the delicacy
and arrive to make a meal of it. On the occasion in question the Tsar
and Boris had sat up in the branches of two pine trees opposite each
other 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 time
so very unsavoury that nothing would induce him to sit there another
night--when of a sudden the watchers became aware by sundry gruntings
and shufflings in the distance that the guest for whom the feast had
been set was approaching.
It was a moonlight night, and Peter, being anxious to secure the brute
while he could see to shoot, sighted him as best he could, and pulled
the trigger. The bullet passed through one of the bear's ears, and only
served to enrage it. Seeing the smoke hanging about the tree in which
the Tsar sat, the angry brute rightly guessed that its assailant lurked
amid the branches, and with a roar of rage and defiance it dashed to
the foot of the tree, intent upon climbing it and fetching down the
rash person who had dared to burn its ear with a hot iron.
The Tsar had nothing but his knife to protect himself with; and
remembering this, Boris was somewhat concerned to observe the course
which 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-way
up the trunk of the pine. Boris hastily put his gun to his shoulder and
fired, but his bullet did nothing better than hit the furious brute in
the foot, redoubling its fury.
The Tsar was now in a somewhat serious position, for it is never
pleasant to be obliged to face a bear with no weapon excepting a
knife, and from the insecure position of a pine branch it is even less
agreeable than on _terra firma_. Peter nevertheless drew his knife and
settled himself in his place, resolved to make things as unpleasant as
possible for the visitor, as soon as he should come within striking
distance.
Up came Bruin, hand over hand, climbing very fast, and already the Tsar
was 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 trunk
and slipped down to the ground, clutching at the stem of the tree as
he went. Boris, seeing the Tsar's danger, had slipped down from his
perch, and with a bound just succeeded in catching hold of the bear's
hind feet, from which he dangled and swung with all his weight. This
sudden mysterious tugging from below had so startled Bruin that he let
go and fell together with poor Boris to the ground, the hunter being
undermost. The bear caught him by the leg as he attempted to crawl away
from beneath, and inflicted a nasty wound. But just at this moment the
Tsar dropped from his perch to the ground, and stepping behind the bear
as it tore at the poor hunter's leg, he deftly inserted his sharp
blade in the brute's windpipe and ended the fray.
* * * * *
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 territory
which he coveted far more than any other. Peter went south through
the Onega lake, thence by the river Svir to Lake Ladoga, where he met
by 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 upon
a tiny island just where the Neva flows out of Ladoga. This fortress
was attacked with great spirit, and was defended with equal gallantry
by its Swedish garrison. On the second day, Peter received a letter
from the "ladies of Noteburg," begging that they might be allowed to
leave the place, the Russian fire being rather warmer than they liked.
The Tsar, however, returned a characteristic reply to the effect that
he could not think of permitting the ladies to travel alone in these
troublous times; they were quite at liberty to depart, however, if they
took their husbands with them. So on the third day of the siege, the
ladies actually persuaded their lords to escort them to the nearest
Swedish stronghold, and the place was evacuated.
The capture of Noteburg was most important, since it furnished the
Tsar with the mastery of the Neva, so far as its upper waters were
concerned, and there now remained but one small fortress between him
and the open sea. This was a day of joy for Peter. The fort at Noteburg
was rechristened Schlüsselburg, and the Tsar caused the key of the
castle 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, the
conqueror, leaving a strong force in possession of his newly-acquired
fortress of Schlüsselburg, and with it our friend the hunter, hurried
away to Voronej in order to see to the ship-building on the Don, and to
keep an eye upon the movements of Turkey, whom he suspected of designs
upon his city of Azof, the Tartar stronghold whence Boris had escaped
on a memorable occasion.
Boris found life at Schlüsselburg very pleasant. It was winter time,
and the forest in this part of the country was full of game, so that
he had ample opportunity both to enjoy himself and also to instruct
his fellow officers in the delights of the chase. Wolf hunting became
the fashionable occupation among the garrison of Schlüsselburg, and
many were the exciting hunts and adventures which occurred during
those months, not always to the final triumph of the hunters; for more
than one inexperienced sportsman met with his end at the teeth of a
desperate wolf, or in the close embrace of a bear who would not be
denied the pleasure of hugging one of his Majesty's subjects. But my
readers will pardon me if I do not enter into details of these events
in 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 Schlüsselburg in the early part of the year 1703, and
without loss of time proceeded to do that which set the seal upon
Russia's greatness by providing her for ever with that window into
Europe, to attain which was the main object of his life. Peter marched
down the flat banks of the Neva with an army of twenty thousand men
until he came to a spot where a small stream called the Ochta mingles
its waters with those of the larger river. Here was situated the
Swedish stronghold of Nyenkanz, which was quickly bombarded by the
Russian troops, and captured the following day. Peter rechristened this
fort Slotburg, and from this small beginning there arose in a very few
years the city of St. Petersburg, which was built around the nucleus
afforded by this little fort.
Soon after the capture of this all-important _pied-à-terre_, the
garrison were startled to hear one day the sound of two cannon shots
coming from the direction of the Gulf of Finland, which opens out
almost from the very city of St. Petersburg. Peter, guessing rightly
that this was a signal from a Swedish fleet which approached in
ignorance that the place was in the hands of the Russians, immediately
replied with a similar discharge of two pieces. Within an hour a
row-boat appeared, and was allowed to approach close up to the walls
of the fort, when its crew were made prisoners, to their unbounded
astonishment. From these men Peter learned that the fleet consisted
of nine ships of war. Soon after two large vessels were observed to
leave the fleet and sail up the Neva as far as the island now forming
the northern half of the city, and known as Vasili Ostrof (William, or
Basil Island). Here they anchored by reason of the darkness. They had
come to see why their boat had not returned, and what was the meaning
of the suspicious absence of the usual courtesies between garrisons and
maritime visitors.
That night Peter prepared thirty large flat-bottomed boats, and when
morning came loaded these full with two regiments of the Guards, and
made the best of his way, by a circuitous route, towards the Swedish
frigates. The Neva, just before throwing itself into the gulf at St.
Petersburg, spreads out into several branches, like the fingers of
a hand, the spaces between these fingers being occupied by islands.
Hidden among these islands, the barges of the Tsar had no difficulty in
keeping themselves out of sight, and after a thorough inspection of the
Swedish strength it was resolved to make a dash and, if possible, board
the vessels. Accordingly the long oars were got out, and the barges
glided silently around the eastern end of Basil Island, massed just at
that corner where the Bourse now stands, and at a given signal dashed
round the corner and were upon the astonished Swedes in a moment.
Before the enemy could do anything to prevent it, boarding-ladders were
placed at the ships' sides, and crowds of the Russian Guards swarmed
up and over the bulwarks, sword in hand, Peter and Boris among the
foremost.
From the first the Swedes were at a hopeless disadvantage, and in
half-an-hour or less the sailor Tsar found himself in possession of two
very fine specimens of the warship of that day, and, what was still
better, the undisputed proprietor of a fine natural harbour, with
outlet to the sea, to keep them in.
There was no happier man inhabiting this planet that evening than
Peter Alexeyevitch; and if he demonstrated his delight by dancing
upon the supper-table after that meal was over, we must regard with
indulgence this characteristic manner of working off the exuberance
of his feelings in consideration of the momentous importance of his
achievements of the past few days. For Russia had won her first naval
engagement, and from this day would commence to rank as a maritime
power, and to draw into her bosom the wealth and the commerce of other
nations. Truly there was something to dance for, even though it were
among empty bottles and upon the top of the supper-table.