The Boy Allies in the Baltic; Or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the CzarHayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace)
General
The Boy Allies in the Baltic; Or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar
Hayes, Clair W. (Clair Wallace)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Baltic Sea -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations -- Juvenile fiction
At fifteen minutes to twelve Frank took his seat in a first-class
compartment. Ten minutes later a guard approached and demanded to see
his passport. Frank showed it to him. The guard departed.
Soon the train pulled out and when it was well under way Frank composed
himself to sleep; nor did he awake until the train was on the outskirts
of Klaw.
The lad alighted the moment the train came to a stop and went
immediately to a hotel a short distance away. He did not wish to attract
attention by making inquiries concerning the Czar's train, so he idled
about the hotel, where he was fortunate enough to hear what he had
expected.
"The Czar's train, I understand, will pass through soon after seven
o'clock," he heard one man tell another.
It was all Frank wanted to know.
Fifteen minutes before seven Frank returned to the station, where he
loitered about. A large crowd had assembled, for word of the Emperor's
coming had traveled swiftly and the people had turned out to catch a
glimpse of "The white father."
It was a quarter after seven when the guards began pushing the crowd
back from the track. It was a sign that the royal train was near. Frank
edged his way through the crowd as well as he could without drawing
attention to himself. The lad realized that the surest way to spoil his
plans was to attract the attention of the guards. Should they see that
he was apparently too anxious to get close, they would immediately
arrest him and hustle him away.
"I'll have to wait until the train stops and then take a chance," he
told himself.
Came the sound of a shrill whistle from up the track. The Czar's special
was approaching and the crowd cheered.
Two minutes later the train came to a stop.
The guards and what troops had been summoned were now hard put to it to
keep the crowd back. Several times they charged the crowd with drawn
sabers, so close to the train did they push. And then suddenly the crowd
became silent.
The door to a compartment which bore the royal arms opened suddenly.
Instantly two footmen stepped forward, one to either side. Three men
alighted, all garbed in military costume. The last to alight was Czar
Nicholas and again there was a mighty roar from the crowd.
For several moments the cheering continued and then died away as the
Czar raised a hand. "The little white father" was going to address his
people and the people became silent, that they might lose no word.
Quietly they listened as their Emperor addressed them in a few well
chosen words; and how they cheered when he had concluded! Then the Czar
turned to his two companions and the three walked up and down the
platform.
Frank now found himself in the front line of the crowd; but armed guards
separated him from the Czar himself, and the lad knew that it would be
instant death should he attempt to approach the Russian Emperor. As they
passed in front of him, however, less than thirty yards away, Frank made
out that one of the men with the Czar was Lord Hastings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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