Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 54096-h.htm or 54096-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54096/54096-h/54096-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54096/54096-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/olgaromanoff00grif Transcriber’s note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). A dtailed Transcriber’s Note is at the end. OLGA ROMANOFF * * * * * MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. * * * * * [Illustration: EVIL IN SUCH A SHAPE MIGHT BE SOMETHING MORE THAN GOOD. (_Frontispiece._) _See page 176._] OLGA ROMANOFF. by GEORGE GRIFFITH. Author of “The Angel of the Revolution,” “The Outlaws of the Air,” “Valdar the Oft-Born,” “Briton or Boer?” “The Romance of Golden Star,” etc., etc. “_And so they waited--waited while the ages-old snow and ice melted from the bare, black rocks under the fierce breath of the fire-storm; while the ocean of flame seethed and roared and eddied about them, licking up the seas and melted snows, and fighting with them as fire and water have fought since the world began; while the foundations of the Southern Pole quivered and rocked beneath their feet, and the walls of their refuge quaked and cracked with the throes of the writhing earth, and cosmos was dissolved into chaos once more._”--p. 368. With Sixteen Illustrations by Fred T. Jane. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd. 1897. Copyrighted Abroad.] [All Foreign Rights Reserved. * * * * * TO HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM THE FIRST MAN WHO HAS FLOWN BY MECHANICAL MEANS AND SO APPROACHED MOST NEARLY TO THE LONG-SOUGHT IDEAL OF AERIAL NAVIGATION THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR CONTENTS. PAGE PROLOGUE 1 CHAP. I. THE SURRENDER OF THE WORLD-THRONE 8 II. A CROWNLESS KING 14 III. TSARINA OLGA 26 IV. A SON OF THE GODS 35 V. A VISION FROM THE CLOUDS 47 VI. DEED AND DREAM 53 VII. THE SPELL OF CIRCE 66 VIII. THE NEW TERROR 75 IX. THE FLIGHT OF THE “REVENGE” 83 X. STRANGE TIDINGS TO AERIA 94 XI. THE SNAKE IN EDEN 102 XII. THE BATTLE OF KERGUELEN 110 XIII. THE SYREN’S STRONGHOLD 129 XIV. FROM THE SEA TO THE AIR 138 XV. OLGA IN COUNCIL 146 XVI. KHALID THE MAGNIFICENT 159