Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
[Illustration: THE LONG PURSUING LINE OF WOLVES HAD BROKEN.]
Two Brave Boys
and
The Wrong Twin
BY
MARY E. ROPES
Author of
"Karl Jansen's Find," "Caroline Street," etc.
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 Bouverie Street & 65 St. Paul's Churchyard
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
[Illustration]
TWO BRAVE BOYS
CHAPTER I. THE MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM
CHAPTER II. LITTLE DETECTIVES
CHAPTER III. CAPTURED
CHAPTER IV. AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND
CHAPTER V. STEPAN MAKES COFFEE
CHAPTER VI. RED-SCAR GOES TO SLEEP—ALF AND BERT ESCAPE WITH THE PONY
CHAPTER VII. A RACE FOR LIFE—CHASED BY WOLVES
CHAPTER VIII. TRICKING THE WOLVES—THE HUT IN THE FOREST
CHAPTER IX. A WONDERFUL MEETING—HOW PAMPHIL ESCAPED FROM PRISON
CHAPTER X. THE MEETING IN THE HUT—SAFE AT HOME
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THE WRONG TWIN
CHAPTER I. THE WRONG TWIN AND THE RIGHT ONE
CHAPTER II. THE TWINS' JOKE
CHAPTER III. A DESPERATE PLAN
CHAPTER IV. BROTHER BOB
CHAPTER V. "IS IT BECAUSE YOU WENT TO THE BAD?"
CHAPTER VI. FATHER AND SON
CHAPTER VII. AN ARRIVAL, AND THE NOISE IN THE NIGHT
CHAPTER VIII. GERALDINE'S BURGLAR
CHAPTER IX. THE APPEAL
TWO BRAVE BOYS
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
THE MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM.
IT was the month of January, and the keen Russian winter had wrapped
the woods and marshes in a snowy garment, and put the rivers in prison
behind thick panes of ice glass, and dressed up the tall pines and firs
till they looked like sheeted ghosts under the cold starlight.
But in Mr. John Oliver's roomy wooden house, standing on ground
somewhat raised, and overlooked by the huge chimneys of a big mineral
oil factory, was perfect warmth and comfort, for the great stoves built
into the walls of the room, and faced with white glazed tiles, kept the
whole place of an equal temperature.
It was about eleven o'clock, and two little boys were in bed in their
nursery. Their narrow iron bedsteads were drawn close together, and
in one of them a little fair-haired lad of about ten or eleven was
fast asleep. Not so, however, his brother, who had raised himself to a
sitting posture, and now, with his dark head and eager face bent over
the sleeper, said in a whisper—
"Wake up, Bert! I want to tell you something. Do wake up!"
Bert stirred uneasily, then rubbed his eyes, yawned, and sat up.
"Oh, it's you, Alf!" he said drowsily. "I was in the middle of a dream.
What's the matter?"
"Hush! Don't talk above a whisper. I don't want Niania (nurse) to come
in before I've had time to tell you. Matter? Well, nothing yet, but
there's going to be heaps the matter if what I've heard comes true."
"What have you heard?" questioned Bert, quite wide awake now.
"I'll tell you," said Alf. "After you'd gone to bed, and I'd finished
my lessons for to-morrow, I remembered that I hadn't mended my skate
that was broken, and so I went over to our own little workshop, for I
hadn't any tools in the house. But as soon as I was inside I forgot all
about what I'd come for."
"Did you? Oh, Alf, what was it?"
"Well, you know how thin the partition is between our workshop and the
men's tool-room?"
"Yes, and it's full of cracks, too."
"But happily they're too small to see through, or I might have been
caught listening," responded Alf.
"But what did you hear?"
"I'm coming to that! There was talk going on between a man, whose voice
I did not know, and the foreman of the cooper's shop, Anton Griboff."
"Oh, I know! The chap with the suet-pudding face, the currants for
eyes, the plastered hair, and the squint!"
"Yes, that's the chap! Well, the two must have been talking lots
before I came to the workshop, for I found I'd jumped into the middle
of a plot. And this was to get up a sort of strike; not a real strike
though, but just an excuse to mutiny. They have arranged among
themselves to demand things that they know very well no manager could
give, such as nearly double wages and a six-hours day, and I don't
remember what beside. But, of course, dad won't think of it."
"Perhaps they think they can frighten him," suggested Bert.
"Then they don't know dad!" And Alf gave a soft little chuckle of pride
in the possession of such a dad.
"Well," he continued, "I stood there as still as a mouse till all was
quiet and the men had gone home, and then I crept back to the house and
went straight to dad and mother."
"And told them all about it?" asked Bert.
"Of course," replied Alf.
"And what did dad say?"
"Dad said he'd seen this mutinous spirit among the men for some time,
and that it was all brought about by a few who were trying to make
trouble for the sake of what they could get out of it."
"Was that all, Alf?"
"No; dad turned to mother and said: 'My dear, I must send you and the
boys away to England. If there's going to be trouble here, it would not
be safe for you to remain.'"
"And what did mother say?" asked Bert, with expectant, shining eyes.
"Mother? Why, she just looked up with her pretty smile and the
star-look in her eyes, and she said: 'Herbert, I fear I must disobey
you in this matter. If there is going to be danger, my place is here
by your side, and the boys cannot go away alone. No, we will all stay
together, and trust to God to bring us safely through.'"
"And what did dad say then?"
"Nothing more—not a word. But I saw the tears in his dear old eyes, and
so I thought I'd leave him and mother to themselves and come to bed;
but I couldn't sleep till I'd told you."
Here a voice from the next room said in Russian: "Why are you talking
at this time of night, children? Go to sleep—both of you—like good
little pigeons."
"Oh, Niania, I wish you'd come here a minute," said Alf. "I want to ask
you something."
Nurse gave a little grunt, but not a cross one, for she was never angry
with her children, as she called them.
"Nurse," said Alf very solemnly in Russian, "if there's going to be a
rising among the men in the zavot (factory), on whose side will you
be—on ours or on theirs?"
Old Niania threw a loving arm round each of the little lads and drew
them close.
"My darlings," she cried, "my doves, my gold and silver and diamond
children, do I not belong to you, heart and soul? Whatever happens, I
am on your side, now and ever; so help me God!"