FRED MARKHAM IN RUSSIA.

CHAPTER I.

A Trip to Russia proposed-Cousin Giles and his HistoryPreparations 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 very 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."

B

"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 is 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, generoushearted 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 wont; that I enjoy fresh ideas freshly expressed, and am tired by 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. "Your 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 notebook 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 great coat, 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 St. 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 traveller's attention to what is most worth remarking abroad.