A Trip to Russia proposed--Cousin Giles and his History--Preparations
for the Voyage--Journey to Hull--The Steamer described--The Voyage
commenced--A Fog at Sea.
"Thank you, thank you; it will be very delightful," said Fred Markham.
"It will be jolly, that it will!" exclaimed his younger brother Harry;
and home they ran as fast as their legs could carry them to find their
father and mother.
"Oh, father, father!--mother, mother!--may we go? May we go?" they
exclaimed in a breath together. "Cousin Giles has asked us, and he says
that he will take very good care of us, and that he is not joking; that
he is in real earnest, and that, if you will give us leave to go, he
wishes to set off immediately."
"But you have not told us where you wish to go to," said Captain
Markham. "If it should chance to be to Timbuctoo, to the Sandwich
Islands, or to the antipodes, I fear that I must refuse your request."
"Even should Cousin Giles be answerable for your safe return, I could
not part with you for so long a time as would be required to go to
either of those regions of the world," added their mother, smiling.
"But it is not to Timbuctoo, nor to the Sandwich Islands, nor to any
place near so far off that Cousin Giles wants to take us," replied Fred
eagerly. "It is only to Russia, and that is no distance at all, he
says."
"Only to Russia!" exclaimed Captain Markham, with an emphasis on the
only. "That country used to be thought a long way off from England in
my younger days; but railways and steamers have worked a great change in
our notions of distances. We must, however, hear what Cousin Giles has
to say before we decide on the subject."
The lads had not to endure their uncertainty very long before Cousin
Giles made his appearance, his somewhat weather-beaten countenance
beaming with a glow of benevolence and vivacity which seldom forsook it.
Now it must be understood that Cousin Giles was not really the young
Markhams' cousin, any more than he was that of several other families in
the county who called him by the same affectionate name. He was a
lieutenant in the navy, but, having received a severe wound in battle,
which incapacitated him, he considered, from doing his duty properly, he
retired from the service, though he ultimately recovered sufficiently to
travel about without inconvenience. As in the course of his
professional career he had visited the sea-coasts of nearly every part
of the world, besides taking journeys inland from them, while he made
his observations on what he saw, he possessed a large fund of
information. What was also of great consequence, he had a considerable
talent for describing what he had seen. Besides possessing these
qualifications, being the life and spirit of every juvenile party, and
the promoter of all sports and pastimes in-doors and out of doors, he
was a welcome guest, both, with old and young, at every friend's house
which he could find time to visit. More than all this, he was a
religious, honourable, generous-hearted man. He could not, therefore,
fail to be a most desirable travelling companion for his young friends.
He had been several times to sea with their father, who was himself a
captain in the navy, and who had the greatest confidence in him.
"What is all this, my dear fellow, the boys are saying about Russia?"
asked Captain Markham as he entered the room.
"Why, that I have bethought me of paying a visit this summer to the land
of the Czar; that I want companions; that I like young ones, who will
follow my ways better than old ones, who won't; that I enjoy fresh ideas
freshly expressed, and am tired of stale platitudes; in short, if you
will entrust your youngsters to me, I will take charge of them, and
point out what is mostly worth seeing and remembering at the places we
visit."
"I cannot refuse you, Fairman," replied Captain Markham. "You offer is
a very kind one, and the boys cannot fail to benefit by the excursion."
"Do not talk about that," said Cousin Giles, interrupting him. "Fred
must undertake to keep a log, and note down all our adventures."
Fred, though somewhat diffident of his powers of composition, promised
to do his best, and Mrs Markham begged that Harry might keep another
note-book for her especial edification.
"All I bargain for," she added, "is to have descriptions of scenes
written down as soon as visited, and ideas as soon as they occur."
"By all means, freshness is what we want," said Cousin Giles. "A short
sketch made on the spot is worth a volume of after-recollections."
Thus the matter was speedily arranged. Before he left the house, their
kind friend gave the young travellers a list of the things they would
require. He would allow them only a small portmanteau apiece, which
they could carry in their hands. He told them each to take a warm
greatcoat, and a complete suit of waterproof clothing, including boots
and hat. "Thus," said he, "you will be independent of the weather, and
need never be kept in the house, however hard it may rain." He told
them that, although the weather is frequently much hotter during the
summer in Russia than in England, yet that at times it is as rainy, and
cold, and variable as at that season of the year at home. Their Bibles,
a history of Russia, and a volume of travels in that country were the
only books he would let them take, advising them thoroughly to master
the contents of the history and travels before they reached Saint
Petersburg. He had got, he said, a good map of Russia, and a chart of
the Baltic, which they were to study; as also a book called, _What to
Observe; or, The Traveller's Remembrancer_, which is not only full of
useful information, but also turns a travellers attention to what is
most worth remarking abroad. Fred Markham was about fifteen; his
brother, a year younger. Both of them were fine, intelligent lads.
Cousin Giles was not far removed from fifty, thin and sinewy, though
strongly built, and not tall, with large hard hands, which gave a warm,
cordial grasp to a friend and a firm one to a rope; his heart was like
them as to size, but a great contrast to them in hardness--a more
thorough-going, honest sailor never existed.
No merrier party ever left London than the three travellers who started
by the mail train for Hull a few nights after the above conversation.
They put up at the Railway Hotel, which Cousin Giles said reminded him
of a Spanish palace. In the centre is a large court glazed over, with
an ottoman instead of a fountain in the centre, and broad flights of
stairs on either side leading to the upper chambers. The younger
travellers had never before been in so large and comfortable a hotel.
Their first care in the morning was to visit the steamer _Ladoga_, in
which they had taken their passage to Saint Petersburg. She was a
gaily-painted, sharp-built, fast-looking screw.
"She'll carry us there quickly enough, if at all," muttered Cousin
Giles. "But she's not the craft I should have chosen."
She had only a small part of her cargo on board, and yet the master
promised to sail on the following morning. The boys were incredulous.
"Modern cranes, system, and activity will work wonders," said Cousin
Giles; and he was right.
By nine o'clock the next morning the vessel was ready to sail. They
spent the interim in walking about the docks, full of vessels of all
nations,--sixteen steamers, they heard, ran between Hull and Saint
Petersburg,--in looking at the quaint old houses of the town, and in
visiting the monument raised to Wilberforce,--a lofty pillar, the first
object which greets the mariner as he returns home. At the base is a
simple inscription: "Negro Emancipation, 1832."
"How far more worthy was he of the pillar than most people who have
monuments raised to them; and yet how he would have despised such an
honour, unless it induces others to labour as he did for the benefit of
their fellow-creatures," remarked Cousin Giles. "Remember, my lads,
this monument, and endeavour to walk in that great man's footsteps."
A lovely morning found the voyagers on board the _Ladoga_, and, after
much pulling and hauling, clear of the docks, and steaming down the
Humber.
Cousin Giles face wore an expression of dissatisfaction as he found her
deck crowded with huge, heavy iron machines and bales of cotton.
"This is nothing; we are often obliged to carry twice as much deck
cargo," said the master. "Competition is so great, we must do
everything to make the vessel pay."
"Were a heavy gale to spring up, it is your underwriters would have to
pay, I suspect," answered. Cousin Giles.
"Oh, you don't know what this vessel would go through," replied the
young master.
"Humph!" remarked the old lieutenant; "I know where she would go to if
you did not heave all this deck lumber overboard."
"I presume you have been to sea before?" said the master.
"At times," answered Cousin Giles quietly.
England sends large quantities of machinery of all sorts to Russia. The
cotton had come from America to Liverpool, had been thence sent across
the country by railway to Hull, and was going to supply numerous
manufactories of cotton goods which have been established in Russia, and
fostered by high protective duties. They are chiefly managed by
Englishmen, and the foremen are mostly English or German. Manual labour
is cheaper than in England, as is the expense of erecting the buildings;
but, as all other items cost much more, the Russians have to pay very
dearly for the cotton goods they use. Even with the high duties imposed
on them, they can buy English manufactures cheaper than their own.
In addition to the cargo on deck, there were twelve fine horses which an
English groom was taking over for a Russian nobleman, who was to figure
at the approaching coronation of the Emperor. The Russians set great
value on English horses, and employ a considerable number of English
grooms, many of whom raise themselves to respectable situations, as had
the man who had charge of the horses in question.
There were several other passengers, some of whom were English merchants
who had resided in Russia for many years, and from them the friends
gained a considerable amount of valuable information. This Cousin Giles
had particularly the art of eliciting from his companions, and Fred and
Harry had abundance to do in noting it down. The cabins and saloon were
both comfortable and handsome. The latter was lined with mahogany, had
gilt mouldings, and the sofas which surrounded it were covered with
cool, clean, antibilious-looking chintz, while in the centre there was a
sociable table, with a skylight overhead. Everything, also, was
provided by the young master to conduce to the comfort of his
passengers.
On the afternoon of the day they sailed, the sky looked wildish, and the
master prognosticated either wind or heavy rain. A thunder-storm played
at a distance round the ship; the lightning flashed vividly, but
scarcely a mutter of the clouds' artillery was heard; some heavy showers
fell, then the weather cleared up. The stars shone forth brightly from
the clear sky, and the waning moon arose and shed her silvery light on
the calm water, over which the breeze played with just sufficient
strength to crisp it into silvery wavelets. It was a night for
meditation and prayer. Unhappy is the state of man who can look forth
from the deck of a ship on such a scene and not feel gratitude to the
Framer of the magnificent firmament above him,--whom it does not make
more meditative, more prayerful, than his wont,--whom it does not cause
to think of eternity.
The next day a bright silvery fog hung over the sea, yet so dense that
no eye could pierce the bowsprit's length through it. The engines were
therefore put at half their power, yet even then the vessel went nearly
seven knots through the water.
The lads were delighted with the smooth, easy way in which the vessel
glided on. They remarked it to Cousin Giles.
"You think it is very pleasant, because you see no danger, my dear
boys," he answered. "Much the same aspect does vice bear to the young,
while they shrink with fear from the storm of adversity. Now, `a wise
seaman dreads a calm near a coast where there are currents, and a fog
far more than heavy gales of wind in the open ocean.' Put that down in
your log,--it is worth remembering, as the lesson you have learned from
a calm and a fog."