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AU right* reser CONTENTS. * flflJIicE*A^ BOOK I HIDDEN TREASURE, PAGE CHAPTER I The Khamschatka Packet " What Brought You Here " " Bright Eyes and Roulette" - 13 " II Fedor s Secret - - The American Whaler The Treasure Island Pierre s Discovery - 32 " III At Sitka A Prima Donna in Dis guise First Mate McMann The Czar s Partner "I Can Wait " The Sale of an Empire 58 IV In the Sitka Church The Little Princess of Alaska Finds a Lost Lover In the Governor s Working Room The Eskimo s Story Unknown Seas The Island Survey A New Monte Cristo Olga Darine s Trust - 85 " V Prince Maxutoff s Plan The Fur King s Plot Olga s Princely Lover " I Must Be a Convict s Bride" Hand and Heart - The Silent Partner " The Island is Mine " - - - i?0 10 CONTENTS. BOOK II UNDER A NEW FLAG. PAGE CHAPTER VI Baranoffs Castle En Fete The Last Days of Empire The Foot of the Stranger Home ward Bound "French Pete" - 171 VII Paul Bradford Outwitted -- The Emperor s Furs A Volunteer Purser s Assistant " Good-Bye Sweetheart "In Two Capitals The Princess of Alaska Leaves Her Realm - 194 " VIII A Silent /ankee The Governor General s Departure Ominous Tidings Anton Phillippi s Mis sion At Dresden Vera Orlof s Surprise " I Am Your Friend For Life, For Olga s Sake " - 219 " IX- A Timely Warning Butzow s Bul- etin The Emperor s Welcome -The Nijni Novgorod Prison Pen A Missing Prince "We Must Trust To Vera " The Little Princess Loses Her Cor onet On the Farallones - - 245 * X The Confederates Paul Bradford in the Senate Anteroom A Fat Lease My Patent "Find That Man And You Find Your Fortune" Vera s Discovery The Wrath of an Empress "Bread Upon The Waters" - 268 CONTENTS II BOOK III THE CLAWS OF MIDAS PAGE CHAPTER XI The Minister s Quest Zubow s Triumph An Appeal to the Czarina s Heart The Little Princess Knightly Champion At Washington A Pact Con cluded "The Golden Island Is Mine " Bradford s New Dig nityThe Prisoner of The Far- allones At The Island The Claws of Midas Two Claim ants to Nature s Treasury - 295 " XII A Satisfactory Survey An Alarm ed Statesman French Pete s Title "Who are the Others" An Arctic Gold Placer Vera Orlof s Promotion-"He Shall be Saved " The Princess of Alas ka on The Neva The Young Chief of The Orlofs - 330 " XIII Zubow s Cruise in The Kuriles Light At Last " Hasten With The Pardon" A Beleaguered Camp The Czar s Messenger Love s Crown of Sorrows Faithful to the Last The Seal of Innocence Too Late - - 352 " XIV Vera Narychkine s Confidence An Artist s Ordeal The Princess of Alaska Olga Or lof s Imperial Friend An 12 CONTENTS. PAGE American Millionaire s Gal lery Randolph s New Order The Lost Heritage The New Russian Minister - - 378 CHAPTER XV Arthur Randolph s Discovery The Treaty A Visiting Princess The Young Chief of The Or- lofs At The Legation Ball The Emperor s Tenth Paul Bradford s Olive Branch The Princess of Alaska s Dower Countess Olga Makes a Present A Clear Title - - - 398 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES. BOOK I. HIDDEN TREASURE. CHAPTER I. THE KHAMSCHATKA PACKET. " WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?" BRIGHT EYES AND ROULETTE. "There goes the signal up on Constantine Island! To-morrow I may know what new surprise my guardian demon has in store! The corvette will be here with the morning tide! And there will be feasting! Revelry, high play and even a Grand Ball of the Emperor s officers! Three years ago, I would have been the official star, Fedor Orlof, of the Guards, Chief Aid of the Minister of the Interior! To-day" ? The speaker turned from the darkening river and gazed at his coarse, gray garb. His voice sank into a sneer, as he dropped on the mossy turf beside a huge bronze gun, ready for mounting. "To-day, I am only No. 24190, and I wear the convict patch! Could Gregory Orlof s grand-nephew sink lower?" The evening breeze swept down the great Amur, on whose gray bosom a wooded island lay in front of the growing fortress town of Nikolaevsk. The Siberian summer was at its height, 13 14 THE PRINCESS OK ALASKA. and the fragrant incense of the virgin forests on the banks of the mighty stream scented the twilight zephyrs. The lonely dreamer gazed with repulsion at his squalid attire, his coarse mujik boots and browned, ungloved hands. In the East, a thick bank of fog hung over the shallows where the Amur pours out the mingled waters of the Shilka, Arguin, Sungari and Ussuri a mighty flood into the shallow Gulf of Saghalien. "I wonder where they will send me now! I have trodden every foot of the twenty-five hundred miles of the Amur banks, and unless I am tied for life to the dim Hades of Saghalien Island, the power of Alexander can send me but in two farther regions. The one is Khamschatka, and the other dreary Aliaska! If it were not for the cursed port guards on board, I might escape any day on one of these Yankee whalers!" The young man sprang up and paced the interior of the unfinished battery. Behind him, the lights were already twinkling in the low log houses of the straggling town stretching back into the primeval forest. "If I had gold, even here, I might do something!" the young man mused, "but, alas! I have nothing left! Not a thing!" He started as he mechanically lit a cigarette, for on his hand glittered a slender gold band which held together three superb turquoises. "Ah yes! Olga Darine s ring! I have this fatal re minder of that last wild night on the Island. My poor Olga! When the beauty gave it to me, it was before all the gay fellows of our mess! It will bring you luck, Fedor, she laughed! It has brought me luck! Some author says: In every human nature, there is the highest heaven and the lowest hell ! That witch woman s eyes lured me down into a gulf I never dreamed of! and here, a military convict, I toil without hope or reward THE PRINCESS Ol ALASKA. 15 my lips silenced, as a mere instrument of the will of any petty sub-commander! "It is a living Hell!" He stopped his wolf strides! " Shall I end it all now?" He drew out a keen blade, a peasant s wood knife, and glared around in impotent rage. His eye took a last sweep over the silent river, the scattered red mounds, where grinning tiers of Russian heavy guns waited for the hated English, the lonely forests, and the fortified settlement wherein every free man was his master! He suddenly sprang up on the low battery parapet and hurled the knife far out into the chill depths of the Amur, for his gloomy glances at the river showed him the American flag, fluttering proudly at the tapering mizzen of a graceful trading clipper. The sight roused him to desperation! By Heavens! I will escape! Poor, wretched, friendless, yet there is still that one flag! It is the signal of Liberty! I will serve my masters, in silence, yet an other year! Some of my old comrades may come over here on duty! They may substitute " He suddenly ceased as he glanced at the canvas lettered patch on his breast, marking him as the Czar s convict No. 24190. "If I could change my tell-tale garb with that of some dead soldier, should this quest take me to Khamschatka, or Aliaska, then, then, Fedor Orlof rnay live again! Besides, a sudden foreign war may occur! I may earn my liberty in battle, or hide on one of these whalers, when no watchful police guard has charge! Bakunin baffled the officers thus, and safely reached San Francisco! If I only had one man I knew; a con federate never so humble! I swear I will foil them yet! A free man, I have still my youth and courage! To find again the darling woman who gave me that ring! It seems I can hear the wild, joyous shouts of the foyer l6 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. again! There is but one Olga Darine! The Queen of Song!" The young man bowed his head in his hands, but rose, and sullenly plodded out of the battery pit, as a heavy gun boomed its warning signal. It was the Convict s Recall! "I must report off! The Czar never sleeps!" The wild, singing notes of a bugle sounded sweetly on the still evening air, as the young man hastened his swinging military stride. Its music wakened memories of reviews on the Champ des Mars, when he had led his grenadier company past the stand, where the eyes of Russia s Empress gazed kindly on her once favorite court page. The clarion now called him back, as a prisoner to be locked within the garrison lines at eight o clock! After that hour, the criminal, having no passport, would, perhaps, be shot down like a dog by the first heavy jawed sentinel! And there were double guards posted in these days of eighteen hundred and sixty-five, for the imperious Czar had chosen to take a bold stand in favor of the United States in its terrible civil war! A score of thousands of muscovite soldiery were spread along the Pacific Siberian coast to meet any possible English or French attack. Here, on the banks of the Amur, twenty miles from where the batteries of capes Pronge and Tebakh guarded the river s entrance, an arsenal, dockyard, foundries and military magazines were pro tected by heavy river fortifications. It was a weird scene! The lonely Amur in its savage, silent grandeur! Asia s great useless artery! The tall soldier-like convictpickedhisway through great heaps of scattered military material to the main avenue. As he turned a corner, a hoarse challenge arrested him, with his frame quivering in rage, Orlof brought his hand THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, 17 to the salute, and in a clear, ringing voice gave his number, adding " From the River Water Battery. By permission." "Pass on!" growled the leering peasant, eying maliciously "The Count," as the soldiery nicknamed the aristocratic prisoner. "This is the bitterness of death! By St. Vladimir, I will kill myself yet!" muttered Orlof, as he saw the lights twinkling in his prison log hut, a hundred yards away. Entering the low door, he threw himself down on a rude bench, and by the flickering fire of birch logs, dreamed of days when in the Winter Palace, the blushing bevy of Maids of Honor had begged him to show them the "White Room," in all its bravery decked for an Imperial Ball. His head rested on his arms, as he leaned against a table of rough plank. There, a bowl of cabbage soup, a simple dish of fish and a flinty loaf of black bread awaited him. The ex-dandy eyed it with disgust ! A door creaked, and, from a shed, an old convict hobbled in, with a single tallcw candle. Drawing a glass of tea from a battered samovar, the new comer said, humbly: " You must eat, Barin! You are to report at nine o clock!" "Who sent for me, Ivan?" the young man queried, lifting his haggard eyes to the old man. It was a dog s abode. "General Dachkof s orderly came. There is to be a great council."- "All the officers are as sembled! Orlof s eyes lightened. " I may learn something, after all! It is surely an imperial vessel, for the yellow flag and doubled headed eagle was hoisted on the signal tower!" lo THE 1 K i "The town is full of the up-rivrr officers, and couriers riding everywhere in the garrison. A steamer is lying in the stream, from above!" muttered the old man, as he eagerly attacked the supper. Fedor Orlof mutely swallowed his tea, and broke a bit of the dark rye bread. Seating himself by the fire, he glazed in its glowing embers. The light falling on his stern face, gleamed on a countenance, in which suffering and despair alone had marred the heritage of the Orlof beauty. Only thirty-four years of age, tall and gracefully knit, his blue eyes, chiselled lips and classic brow, recalled that superb Gregory Orlof whose dare-devil intrigues had made him the ruler of the great Catherine, the Semiramis, before whom forty millions of subjects crouched in fear! Fedor Orlof was as hand some as the " giant with the face of an angel, the bold favorite, who nonchalantly opened the Empress letters, with the remark, She told me to look through this !" The air of haughty insolence, the wild, fatalistic courage of the great conspirator, and the clinging elegance of the guardsman, lifted Fedor Orlof above the meaner throng of Siberian prisoners whose misery overwhelmed them! His tawny mustache and yellow crisp curls gave him a singularly youthful appearance. Leaning his head upon his hand, the brooding ex- officer saw shadow pictures of his brilliant days of the happy past, in the dancing flames. Days of a careless boyhood, merry glimpses from a youth. spent in early luxury, scenes of wild, romantic raids among the Tcherkess, and changing memory painted tableaux of that gilded circle of wit and fashion in the strange city of Peter, where a palace and a prison are on either hand of the blue Neva! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. ig In the gloomy silence of the lonely far off Siberian forest, by the river where great Genghis Khau s triumphal column speaks yet of the bloody Mongol who swept in triumph from the Amur to the Indian sea, Orlof could hear again the golden peals of the happy Easter bells of his innocent days! And all that love, and friendship, youth, wealth and hope could offer seemed to be his, once again! The days of his page hood, the happy cadet life, the gilded slavery of the "Guards," under the winning glances of tender-eyed fair aristocrats of Petersburg, all came back once more! And then, a maze of wild days, where song and wassail, the rattle of gold, the shouts of the theatre, the whirl of the race course, the clink of wine glasses, maddened him again! Music stealing back upon his mind, the echoes of an unforgotten voice thrilling his every fibre, the glances of a loving woman s deep, dark blue eyes, and even the nerve-thrilling rustle of her robes! All this came back, and in the fire, he saw again the beloved face of Olga Darine, the face which had lured him on to his ruin! For, as it vanished, the coals crackled, and the wild whirl of a night of madness, never forgotten, came back and swept over his dis ordered brain. The rich glow of the firelight fell upon his hand with the three-gemmed turquoises speaking of her still! He rose, with an oath, and rushed out into the gloom of the night, for the firelight gleams lay like blood upon the hand where the golden ring still glittered! Orlof dared not go further in this vision of these old days, now fled forever for it was the blood upon that hand which sent him here, a nameless prisoner to the far valley of the Amur! The curse of that innocent blood had divided him forever from sapphire-eyed Olga Parine, the darling 20 E i-Ri\ri;ss K.A. of the golden youth of Russia! And she, tender and helpless, too, had suffered by his mad deed. The maddening thought that he knew not even whtre she wandered now, of her possible fate after a deed he dared not own, goaded him as he paced the silent streets, like a houseless shadow, waiting till the church bell should clang out the hour for the council. Buoyed up with a new desire to escape, Fedor Orlof mused upon the few advantages of his position. Besides the arts of the courtier, the gallant, the man of the salon, he had wonderful talents as a draughtsman, military engineer, and was a special e"leve of the School of Mines. His researches while Chief Aid of the Min ister of the Interior had made him invaluable to the Siberian officials in the three years, now expired, of his terrible twenty years sentence. But he had been allowed his personal freedom of movement, and, at the factories and mines of the Baikal region, in river exploration, in military construction and metallurgic research, had rendered valuable forced service. All in vain! For the Czar had torn off the epaulettes of the aristocratic field officer, stricken him from the ranks of the nobility, escheated his estates, and given the omi nous designation 24190, to replace the world-famous name of the mighty Orlof he bore. It was the stern de cree of Draconian justice! As the young prisoner mounted the steps of General Dachkofs headquarters, he murmured: "I may be sent off on some special service, and, by sea or land, the Star of Hope still glitters! Better to stop a rifle ball in a dash for escape, than to die like a coward by my own hand! Now, for my masters! The sword-bearing slaves of our common Master! They need my brains, even here, on the wild, lonely Amur! It is a game for a life! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 21 One against many! I must try and read the dark future! Perhaps this summons may lead on to Liberty, to the Lost Love of the Past, to my Freedom! Kings enjoy not the unbroken rest of the simple American settler! That star flag in the river is my rainbow of salvation! It is the oriflamme of the aspiring of the world! " The prisoner passed the sentinels with head erect. The anteroom was thronged with a crowd of junior of ficers, who parted, making way, in respect for the mis fortunes of the stern-faced convict engineer, once an Empress court favorite! With silent lips, Fedor Or- lof s eyes alone told his gratitude to the young officers whose warm soldierly sympathy touched him, as he passed on to where the adjutant eagerly beckoned him. His hand trembled as he gravely saluted his superiors! His iron heart melted to kindness! The General s ad jutant waved him briskly forward. " Come on, Orlof," he said sharply. "The council waits for your description of the coast works!" The council chamber was filled with a throng of officers, smoking, chatting, and renewing old service friendships. At the head of a long table, gray old General Dachkof sat, his breast covered with his stars and orders. The blue uniform of the officers alternated with the long gray overcoats, astrachan trimmed and bullion laced, of the new comers, who were refreshing themselves at the generously spread table. Servants filled out wines, cor dials and the white wheat vodki whisky, while the pop ping of champagne corks indicated the little circle of autocratic generals, for there the fire of Bacchus bat talions was thickest! Plans, maps, charts and reports littered the long table, whereon, in front of each man, the huge silver tobacco box, crested with many quaint monograms, contained 2 22 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. each man s cigarette material. A giant bronze samo var in each corner of the hall served for tea, poured hiss ing hot in thin glass tumblers, metal-framed, the fra grant liquid served without milk, being heavily dashed with rum. Though the Government House was plain, only a great two-storied crib of twelve-inch squared logs, each room being walled up as thickly as the outside, it was richly furnished. From China and Japan had been brought priceless spoil of the bazaars in bronzes, enamels, porcelain and quaint antique silver. These, with abundant stores of silk, crepes, linens and rich em broideries, were easily bartered for in the superb black sables of Khamschatka, the beautiful dark sea otters of the Kurile group, or the priceless black, blue and silver foxes of the Copper Islands. While the council assem bled, the romantic strains of Verdi floated in the air, blue with the papyros smoke, from an orchestra selected from the five thousand convicts of the Littoral. There was an easy, semi-barbaric opulence in the whole head quarter menage, and a huge gallery shed in rear shel tered a noisy crowd of waiting orderlies, couriers and guards. Behind the official mansion, the quarters of a couple of sotnias of Cossack lancers were reachable by a covered passage and the chain of sentry boxes enabled a message to be rapidly repeated over the three or four square miles of the military settlement of Nikolaevsk. A luxurious camp headquarters, indeed. There were lighter elements of romantic variety in the official gathering, for a long line of tarantasses, and khi- bitkas, was already forming in the great government stables. The bright-eyed, daring military ladies of the lower Amur had gathered for the extensive festivities awaiting this grand official reunion. On the great stairway wera THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 23 crowding already merry knots of the younger officers, chatting with these animated beauties in strange attire, while from the reception room above the gay notes of a waltz were echoed in the high refrain of womanly voices to the accompaniment of a really good piano. Even in Siberia the light-hearted Russian officers lived en fete, Here, at Nikolaevsk, the Commanding General ruled, subject only to the orders of the Governor General, at far Irkutsk, on Lake Baikal, and the advisory counsel of the admiral commanding the growing naval depot at Vladivostock, seven hundred miles down the coast, on the Corean frontier. From Nikolaevsk, by signal, beacon and courier, with dispatch corvettes, the orders of the mighty Alexander I. were spread over Kham- schatka, the northern Amur regions, Saghalien, and even to lonely Aliaska, far over the wild and storm swept Ochotsk Sea. It was true that an annual licensed trader visited the Russian-American posts, from San Francisco, and that the clouds of predatory American traders and whalers darted in and out of the North Pacific inlets, but as an official Russian appanage, Aliaska was governed from the mouth of the Amur. Swift steamboats already plowed the Amur as far as Nerchinsk, in the Baikal, fifteen hundred miles from the roar of the Pacific breakers. From thence, the post road, with its stations every twenty miles, stretched to the end of the railway now beginning to crawl out from Moscow and Petersburg. By cossack pony in summer: by sleigh in winter: the Czar s dashing couriers traveled a hundred miles a day on the Emperor s bidding. It was the arrival of such a secret dispatch from the Emperor s cabinet, hurried down the river on a swift 24 THE I RINCKSS OF ALASKA. dispatch boat, aided by the five mile current, which called the notables of the Amur, around the grizzled Chief, who represented here the mighty Czar. The gathering was timely, for the Imperial ensign flying on the Island had signalled the arrival of a special corvette from San Francisco, via Sitka, and which had touched at Petropaulowski, in Khamschatka, under staled secret orders I -The flutter of all this official preparation indicated clearly that there was a personage on board of some marked distinction. Already the route across the United States was desirable for home communication, and the secret letters of Dachkof s friends, just received overland, in dicated that the new comer was charged with a special mission, that he had plenary power, and was none other than Count Fersen, a talented military favorite of the Emperor. It was, thanks to an intimate friend, in the Privy Council Chamber at the capital that Dachkof was enabled to set his house in order for the unexpected guest. By a singular coincidence, the wife of this watchful official mentor, the next winter wore a cloak and garniture of black sable, which were the envy of the proud Empress. As Fedor Orlof entered the room, he turned neither to the right nor the left, but strode up to the Com manding General and stood mute, his hand raised in salute. "Ah! Vronsky ! Clear the room now! Only Com manders are to remain!" said General Dachkof, gravely returning Orlof s salute. The Adjutant courteously led the junior officers to a grand assembly room, where service bonhomie replaced the ceremonies of the council now convening. -With a sign, Dachkof bade Orlof be THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, 25 Seated at a side table. The ex-guardsman mutely obeyed. He had been the target of the eye glances of several men who eyed with upstart insolence the once famous society lion now reduced to only a thing of numerical designation. A mere man machine, whose lips were sealed whose future was a zero! As the young man seated himself, he saw, with secret pride, arranged before him a series of sketch maps, plans and detailed reports, upon which he had painfully labored for a year. With the quick eye of a scientist, and the gifts gained in his high functions of the Interior Deparment, he had caught the salient features of the Pacific Siberian problem at a glance. ft was the crowning triumph of his own brain! The Czar would read the convict s words of prophetic wisdom! When the council was formally assembled, Fedor Orlof s eye wandered over the brilliance of epaulette and furred cape, star and jewelled gew gaws. With fingers gleaming with Asiatic gems, the commanders lifted the wine glass or twirled the never absent papelito. In his rough garb, silent and abased, Orlof felt his papers tremble in his nerveless fingers. The humiliation galled him keenly! His heart froze within him! " My God! This punishment is more than I can bear" he murmured. Stern old General Dachkof saw the agony on the handsome convict s face. " Poor devil !" he murmured, "he is a gentleman, at any rate! "Ah !" he sighed "These mad boys and these worthless women!" Dachkof s remark finished in a growl, but his attendant, at a sign, placed a bottle of champagne and the General s own cigarette case before the declasse* noble. As the servant poured a beaker, Orlof, with a red spot flaming on each cheek, straightened himself and drank with a salute, like a simple soldier. 26 nil-; i RINCtsS 01 ALASKA. . / .vi/.v <vf// done! He i; a tftor >uiil>rcd, . ny rate!" mused l>achkof, as he rapped for order. "Gentlcir.cn! said the Commander, "I have caJ ed you together to assist me in welcoming Count F> who has arrived on a special Imperial mission. Natur ally, the subject of our coast, its defences, the state of the garrisons, the proposed future of the Amur region and Khamschatka, and our relations with China and Corea, will be discussed. Japanese affairs, the Kurile Islands, the state of our convicts and assisted settlers, and all the general interests of our Imperial Master will be reviewed!" - "While not desiring to influence Count Fersen. who personally represents the Emperor, I have prepared a report on the military situation of the day, which I desire you all to hear. If any commander can offer aught of value, I request his written report, forthwith, to be handed to my Adjutant who will afford you every facility. Count Fersen will proceed at once up the Amur to Irkutsk, and thence, homeward, overland. I desire the utmost ceremony, courtesy and cordiality ob served towards his party. Each of you will be under his extraordinary orders." At a sign from the General, Fedor Orlof arose and calmly read the report which had been the harvest of his three years of convict life. Besides the military situ ation, he had added a commercial and sociological summary, with exhaustive remarks upon the gold fields and mines of that great unspoiled treasure region, the upper Amur. Murmurs of admiration attested the approbation of the man of rank, now eager to express their flattery of the Commander s able report! The mute convict held his peace, standing in prison garb, his eyes downcast! - THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 27 "// is not mine! Orlof there is the real author!" said the General. Fedor started as he heard his own, now unfamiliar, name, and all eyes were turned on him, when the Adjutant hastily entered. A throb of gratitude melted his heart! General Dachkof rose, after a few whispered words reached his ear, and cried " Order out all the carriages instantly! Gentlemen, let the papers referred to, be handed in early to-morrow. The steam launch of the " Seevoutch" is approaching the landing. I shall ask all Commanders to go to the landing with me!" Already the bugles were sounding the alert for the troops, and the Adjutant hastily left to spring, on his steed and bid the water batteries to thunder out a grim welcome. As Dachkof clasped the sable collar of his sea otter cloak around his neck, he saw the neglected Orlof standing, dejected and alone, by his table. " Remain here, Orlof," said the General, kindly, for his pity was aroused. The military convict had no legal place, even in the Siberian world. Only the prisoner s log hut and the thankless unpaid daily task. " Here, Ivan! " called the General to his head steward, make this young man comfortable for the night. Give him a room to himself. I will need you when I talk things over with Count Fersen," said General Dachkof, as he hur ried away. The cannon were booming as the four wild Siberian horses sprang away, straining their whipcord- like harness and whirling the light Victoria away like a leaf in the storm. The Emperor s trusted representa tive must be met by the Commander, bare-headed, at the floating landing. The Czar s dignity mantled the Imperial Delegate. Seated in an anteroom, listening to the ringing laugh ter of the merry women floating from above, Fedor 28 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Orlof, touched at heart by the old soldier s kindness, burst into tears as he gazed into the dancing flames on the hearth. "He dared not call me Fcdor Fedorvitch! He is an orthodox Russian, and I " Orlof started as again he saw the rosy glow upon his luckless right hand. "And I have the blood of a relative staining my brow with the mark of Cain! " In an hour the mansion was alive with a hurrying mass of humanity; without, the regimental bands sounded the Emperor s Hymn and thrilled the guests with old Boyar melodies, alternating with the weird, touching songs of the Muscovite soldiers gathered in mass by the flambeaux lighting up the great portico. Within, in the reception hall, a dozen recently arrived military beaux were the centre of bevies of the laughing, insouciante Russian ladies, and flirting, feasting and drinking advanced in a wild abandon known only to the reckless children of the White Czar. Gloomily surveying the exciting scene from the open door of his retreat, the ex-noble Fedor Orlof mingled with the throng of common orderlies, sergeants, officers of the guard and imperial couriers. Pushing roughly through the circle a stout sergeant, black Astrachan turban on head, his wooden scabbard slung diagonally, a heavy revolver chained to his belt, escorted a prisoner clad in plain, dark sailor garb. "Peter and Paul! where s the Adjutant?" cried the rude soldier, "I m to have this man kept to wait Count Fersen s orders. Go, some of you" "Another poor waif of Destiny. Some sad wreck on the shore of error, like myself," thought Orlof, as the stranger turned his face toward the light. He sprang forward a step "My God! Pierre Lefranc?" Fedor s eyes were THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 29 blazing with eagerness. The unknown made an imper ceptible movement of supplication with the eyes. And the once famous Guardsman knew that his fellow-con vict wished for present silence. He followed the retreat ing form of Pierre Lefranc, once a marked man in the Russian navy and chief constructor at the Cronstadt dock yards. The Adjutant appearing quickly, had bid den the sergeant advance with his charge. Fedor Orlof rubbed his eyes as if in a dream. Pierre Lefranc in convict garb for he, too, wore the fatal can vas badge. "The last time we met was at the grand Easter supper of the Princess Narychkine, when the golden bells of St. Isaac s Church set a million hearts mad with joy. How Vera Milutin clung to his arm in the mad mazurka we danced at three in the morning under the flowers of that fairy ball-room. Another poor wretch under the ban. The devil rules the world" Orlof, with a secret heart-hunger to know the cause of Lafranc s downfall, lingered by his dying fire in a dreary wait, for the hour was already late. Even now merry revelers were departing for the grand review of the morrow and the later inspection which would busy every man of the settlement, while the tired ladies already planned for boreal decorations to signal ize the grand ball to his excellency General Count Fer- sen. This flashing-eyed Tartar dignitary, with a wolfish mustache, piercing glance and abrupt, accusative man ner, had already convulsed the local society to its very foundations. Bluff old General Dachkof, with the frank ness of a soldier, saw a sly reserve behind the perfunc tory courtesy of the visitor. " I shall push on at once to St. Petersburg as soon as I have finished my work here, General, and I desire to be most fully informed of everything along the Amur. I will meet a courier at 3O I UINVKSS 01 ALASKA. Irkutsk with orders from Petersburg which I shall send back to Khamschatka and Aliaska by the Seevoutch. I wish you to have her instantly refitted for a voyage." General Dachkof bowed in humble compliance. The two officers were now alone in the General s working cabinet with only the Adjutant within call. The richest dainties and wines were spread before them. Selecting a superb Havana, Count Fersen said, "How is your Adjutant? Does he know the Amur? I wish to take an able officer up with me. I am ordered to especially report on the gold interests and the Emperor s Purse. Does he know anything of the new mines above on the river? " Reflecting on the fiscal value of the tenth part of all discovered gold fields reserved as the Emperor s Purse and desirous of hastening his dangerous visitor s departure Dachkof touched a bell. " I ll give you the Adjutant, your excellency," he said, respectfully. "On purely military matters, Vronsky is invaluable. I ll also send a man with you whom I have here now. You can see him at once. Send Orlof up," whispered the General to his Adjutant. As Fedor Orlof entered the splendid private apart ment he met the searching gaze of a man who had sent many a recalcitrant in mad passion before a platoon fire. Count Fersen, a lion in action, was a relentless devil when aroused. Orlof stood the scrutiny of the pitiless soldier without flinching. " Looks intelligent" said Count Fersen, coldly, as if speaking of some handsome animal. General Dachkof silently bowed, and Fedor Orlof s veins knotted on his forehead as Fersen sting- ingly let fall the words, " These smart scoundrels should be made very useful out here. Does he know the gold regions of the Amur? " " I was a year engaged in special studies and surveys THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 3! of the gold mines in the Baikal, your excellency," said Orlof, in an unmoved voice. It was so cold that even Dachkof started. Orlof, in his heart, wished to go up the mystic river with Count Fersen. " If I could only kill him then welcome the forest, the wolves, " he mut tered and ground his teeth. The visitor grinned. "He ll do" laughed Fersen. "By the way, General, there is an idle gold mine now at Sitka. You remember Olga Darine, the matchless prima donna? " Dachkof started, for a sudden convulsion agitated Orlof, making his face a hell of passion. "She is governess now to Princess Maxutoff s little girl, Irma, the Princess of Alaska. What a waste of golden notes. Let this fellow attend me. I ve got another down stairs a former naval officer named Lefranc. Put these two rogues together" Orlof followed the Adjutant in silence. As he entered his room Pierre Lefranc turned and rushed into his arms when the door closed. "What brought you here, Pierre?" cried Orlof, eagerly. "Oh, bright eyes and roulette" laughed the Frenchman. " And you? " "Murder" gasped Fedor Orlof, as he sank into a seat with a groan. 32 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER II. FEDOR S SECRET. THE AMERICAN WHALER. THE TREASURE ISLAND. PIERRE S DISCOVERY. Pierre Lefranc eyed the suffering man askance! There is a gradation even in crime! " Did you not know? " said Orlof, \vearily as he gazed into his old friend s eyes. "I have been building ships on the Aliaskan coast for four years, Fedor," replied the deli cate-faced Gaul. (i My trouble," he winced, "occurred at Sevastopol, and I was sent out to the Pacific to hide me there as a convict drudge. I have drawn a blank in the Lottery of Life!" "Ah! I never heard of your " Orlof hesitated. " Disgrace, you mean!" hotly said Lefranc. "We are in the same boat now, Fedor!" The former naval officer laughed harshly, as a man entered bearing a good supper. Even the vodki bottle and tobacco were not forgotten. " Let s make a night of it!" "First, tell me of your coming here," said Orlof, eager to hear of the woman he had once, loved! Perchance, even Lefranc knew her! She too was a prisoner! "Well, I was at Kodiak, ship-building, when the Seevoutch steamed in! This cold machine soldier, Fersen, wanted a human encyclopedia, and he took me! We rummaged all over the Aliaskan coast. He had outfitted at Sitka! There is some great change impend ing, and when we ran back to Sitka where this beast did not let me land, I heard that the Yankees are fin ishing up their great civil war! There were councils and councils at Sitka! The corvette is full of documents and reports! Some say, the Czar and the Americans THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 33 will attack England together and capture the British Columbia regions, dividing the spoil! Others, that the Emperor will sell Aliaska to the United States. " 1 can t believe it! The Romanoffs are not land ped dlers!" said Orlof. "True, but there will be a great surprise in Siberia in fifty years! The crown cannot safely hold both sides of the ocean. If we make a last ing friendship with the Americans, we can always supply Siberia and our fleets from the friendly Yankee ports of the Pacific. Why, we have seven war vessels in San Francisco now!" " You may be right, Pierre," slowly answered Pierre. "But what will Count Fersen now do with you? " The Frenchman laughed. " He has no further need of me in languages and naval matters. I am to be sent back to Kodiak or Sitka, on the corvette. "By Heavens! Orlof, if we could only be together , we might escape! / tried it once! I ll tell you of my Kayak voyage in search of a whaler, and how I failed!" "We will escape, or die together!" solemnly said Orlof. " Now," said Lefranc, " I am as hungry as a white bear. After I have eaten, you shall tell me what brought the great Orlof s heir to Nikolaevsk on the savage Amur." He attacked the supper with a wolf s appetite. " And you shall give me the story of the mischance that led General Lefranc s grandson, a French emigr noble, into the ranks of the condemned\ What a hurly burly this human struggle is! " "Ah, Fedor! It is the old story! You know the proverb, What Woman? " said the mercurial French man, as he drained a glass of vodki, and twisted a ciga rette. Orlof had watched him unmoved as he devoured the dainties. "What s your sentence?" gloomily demanded Orlof. " Ten years! I have only six left to serve if I live!" 34 Tiir PRINCESS OF ,\ I replied Lefranc, whose spirits had visibly mounted. "Andjw/, monami?" "I have been in hell for three years, and I look forward to seventeen more, unless the dark genius of evil fortune leaves my side!" said Orlof, with a hopeless groan. "Cheer tip, you must not give way! Remember the blood you hare, in your reins! 1 said the Frenchman, laying his hand kindly on his friend s arm, "You know, we Gauls take our sorrows lightly! Tell me your story! We must hasten! JI c may be sep arated at any moment! Let us concert some plan of future action! I know the whole Aliaskan coast! We have examined, on this trip, the Aleutian chain and the lonely Khamschatka peninsula! The amount of careful official scrutiny and our long conferences make me be lieve that there is really something in these rumors of the sale of Alaska! And you may be pardoned, some say! Your friends are surely working for you at home! Your Uncle Stephan" Orlof sprang up and cried: "Hold! For God s sake!" His frame was convulsed with shuddering throes of pain and agony! "Name him not! Jfe died by my hand! 1 have not a friend left in the world! " Lefranc stared at the unhappy young man, who paced the room like a tiger. He stammered: "Your Uncle Stephan your guardian the old Nestor of the nobles! Impossible! Tell me! Was it an accident? You are surely not a murderer at heart!" And yet, Fedor Orlof s jealous car caught the instant change of tone. "Listen! I must speak now, or I shall go mad! I have suffered so far in silence! I was forty days alone in the dark casemates on the Neva, until dragged before a summary court! Lefranc forced the sufferer into a seat by the fire, saying: " Hasten, there is the midnight guard changing! may soon be interrupted! Tell me all quickly!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 35 Orlof raised his eyes, wild with all the sorrow of a lost manhood! They were as fierce as the hunted wolf s when he turns at bay. The ruined noble told the story of his shame. " Pierre," he slowly said, " Do you know what it is to love a woman? " The Frenchman mused, "I cannot answer you! The lower forms of womanhood never tempted me ! I know, to my cost, the bright, hard-hearted, reckless women of our Russian society. Gay, impas sioned, as changeful as the sea, insincere, luxurious, and worn at heart! Demanding pleasures, change, a horde of lovers, and every social plaything of the hour! They carry on a ceaseless duel, in which the defence yields freely, even if the attack falters! The tiger heart under a bosom of snow! Ah! Yes! I know the court circle! The smiling devils with low cooing voices and daring eyes of mad witchery! They have ruined me! Fedor! But I never loved! I never met the woman worthy of the sacrifice of a man s life, of his honor, of his freedom! I never met one whom I would serve forever! Remem ber! We French emigre s, driven into Russia by the mad days of ninety-three, are only national sojourners! What would you have? When my father died, sword in hand for the Czar, in the Polish campaign, I was sent by the Emperor to the Naval Academy, I have lived alone! I only know the husks of womanhood! No! I never loved! And you? " "From the moment when I met her, she was all the world to me! And now, even here," said Orlof, sadly, "I can hear the rustle of her gown! It thrills my heart! I wake at night! For I feel in the land of dreams, the poor prisoner s heaven, her hand upon my brow! I can even hear, at times, her voice! The whispered word Fedor sounds yet on my ear! I wake only to 36 THt PRINCESS 01* ALASKA. misery and the agony of shame! Young, lovely and loving a very dream of beauty, with every maddening charm that Venus gave her mystic daughters! She pos sessed a soul of passionate fire! My life took on a mad wildness from the very moment I clasped her to my breast the fatal hour! when in those wonderful eyes, I saw the truth, hidden till then, that she lured me in return!" "You never met her, Pierre. When you and I parted, I was sent as special aid to the Czarevitch, for he went to the Kherson to be made Ataman of the Don Cossacks. I was the rising man of the Regiment!" The prisoner sighed heavily. "Yes!" said Lefranc, " Fedor Orlof s name was then on every tongue! The great world envied your station, your blood, your gallant bearing* and your golden future, for did not the Empress destine you to marry the Princess !" " Name her not!" sternly interrupted Olof! " Let her forget that such a wretch as Fedor Orlof ever kissed her blue-veined hand! " He continued calmly " In the suite of the Czarevitch I went to the Caucasus! I was his chosen companion in the hunt his attendant at his secret trips into those wild vales where Love and Romance cling still to the coy beauties of the wild mountaineers! I even saved the life of the Imperial heir in a mad adventure! On my return to the capital, the gilded court envied me as I dashed down the river drive, the sole companion of the Grand Duke s troika rides. You were given your splendid place at Sevasto pol and, I think, we met no more after that Easter Ball, when the Narychkine brought all the wonders of Fairy land to our icy capital to please the delicate darlings of the young patrician circle!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 37 Lefranc gloomily nodded. After a moment s silence, Orlof continued, "Then I met her! My life changed as if by magic! From a gay gallant, the chosen heir of my millionaire Uncle Stephan Orlof, the leader of the exclusive yacht club set, a bold duellist and desperate rider, I became at once an impassioned and moody lover! It seemed as if my whole soul had been merged in her own! My heart beat no longer in my own breast, it was buried in her silver bosom, her blood thrilling the inmost fibre of my being! That is a true Russian s love!" " This love soon became a mad fever I I can not bear even now to speak her name! But it was the Czarevitch who led me into her circle! It was only as his satellite, that I first knew her. My lips were, perforce, sealed! I dared not oppose the ardent imperial lover! My future career, the very safety of my family depended on my prudent silence! Uncle Stephan, the head of a. proud clan, opened his great palace to society, for me a/one, as my cousin Vera, his only child, was still in the superb Catherine Institute, sealed from the eyes of the world. I had no counsellors! None to advise! I fed upon my secret, for I dared not openly scheme to supplant my imperial master! But we loved! Out- eyes soon told the story! It was a dangerous and unspoken secret! Before her, the dark gulf of ruin yawned, if she aroused the prince s resentment! But the delicious hour of mutual avowal came! I was transplanted into an earthly Paradise! /, Fedor Orlof, was beloved by one who spurned the passion of the great Czarevitch! Besides ourselves, only her faithful maid knew of our stolen interviews in the hushed hours of the night, when the great white stars hung over the Neva! Even in this savage wilderness, I have lived over every hour of that 3 38 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. elysium! I was forced to dissemble! My personal duties chained me in the day to the Grand Duke s side. His imperious love swelled to a madness! One careless whisper, and I would have been sent to the under ground lead mines of the Baikal, to rot in a chain, torn from some other luckless fellow s carcass! Grattez le Russe! You know the rest! I could not appear with her in public, for my beloved would then have been the victim of some mysterious happening! Orlof s lip curled in a sneer. And worst of all, my darling s shining eyes and glowing beauty (heightened daily by our restrained pas sion) excited at last the fiend-like jealousy of the impe rial suitor! I was not forced to play a double part as a man of honor, for I invited none of his confidences! I took my risks honestly! But I shuddered at the dan gers hanging over the golden-haired goddess who was all the world to me!" "She was totally ignorant of the dark secrets of Rus sian higher life! She knew not of the hideous history of the lower tier cells on the Island, where the drown ing victim, chained to the stone wall, has often yelled for mercy in vain as the icy tide of the Neva rose inch by inch! The very breezes whistling past the lonely fortress strand are laden with the last sighs of slaughtered innocence! I have seen a woman s kerchief fluttering in last farewell from the dark dungeon win dow slit, while I have formed my grenadiers around her lover s scaffold there!" Orlof s brow knotted in the congestion of the blood rushing through his veins. "I have seen, Lefranc," he whispered, "the body of the patrician victim drawn forth on a hurdle, when THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 39 around the fair neck, the strangled s finger marks belied the tale of suicide! " He spoke in a hoarse whisper now: "It was to save my Olga " Lefranc started as he heard the name, "that I plotted day and night! I could not, I dared not confide in the head of my house! To loyal old Stephan Orlof, the will of the Emperor was law! I had no brother, no trusty friend, you were gone! To veil my overmastering passion, I plunged into apparent excesses! It was then I earned the name of the mad Orlof! But I lived only in Olga s love! The winter nights were my real days! I moved as if in a trance! Day by day, I saw our coming doom swing ing nearer! Detection, separation, sorrow, prison, even death by suicide, for in my heart of hearts, I feared the Grand Duke s spies! I trembled, too, for Olga, whose steady repulsion only inflamed the baffled Prince!" " I was a blind fool," cried Orlof, " not to have known that his minions would watch the one woman whom the future ruler of ninety millions could not bend to his royal will! I had lavished my fortune, always controlled by hap hazard, in secret princely gifts smuggled to my hidden mate! I had a mad joy in seeing her brow and fair neck decked with my own jewels; while the Grand Duke s costly offerings lay idle in their unopened cases! It was impos sible for me to leave Russia! In declining the personal service of the heir-apparent, I would ruin my whole line! The future would be a blank and full of unknown horrors! I dared not leave Olga! She was tied to the great city s pleasures! A thousand eyes were centered on us! The growing fever convulsed my brain! I could get no passport to leave Russia, and, alas, my Orlof face was too well known to fly! Every frontier offi- 40 TDK PRfNCESS <>i ALASKA, cial knew of the Czarevitch s jovial sliadow Fedor Orlof f" The young convict -drained a glass of vodki, as he hoarsely murmured, " The end came suddenly! We had studied every avenue of escape. A secret refuge in the house of an old steward of my dead father s was pre pared for Olga! He swore on the fealty of fifty years that he would hide my darling and smuggle her away with Archangel merchants who need no passports, for the White Sea, from there, Olga could easily reach Sweden and be, at last, safe! But, /was caught in the toils! It was natural that Stephan Orlof should be enraged at my balking the plans of the Empress for my splendid marriage! I could not, as a man of honor, sac rifice the beautiful girl whom she destined to be my bride! I dared not speak! The friendship of princes of the blood royal is fatal to their intimates! My uncle vainly tried to hold me back from the social excesses which veiled my real life! He, the most generous of men, finally refused money supplies for my wild career. I had lands, forests, mines, serfs, I was my uncle s joint heir, but the Jews alone would furnish me funds! My heart queen s brow wore the shadow of impending dis aster! The baffled Prince of the blood at last openly taxed her with favoring a rival! Each happy stolen interview terminated, as our heart embrace was broken, in the mutual oath she to fly to old Podolski and / to meet her (at any risk) at the castle of Count Oxenstiern, at Torefors, on the Gulf of Bothnia! Podolski an old Finn, was to guard the treasure of my loyal heart till we met! One fatal evening, accompanied by Ivan my serf, a foster brother, I left the Orlof Palace, after a stormy scene, to go to the Yacht Club to await the midnight THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 4! hour when I could safely baffle the Grand Duke s spies! Olga s maid was on watch for my private signal. A late visit was nothing unusual in a semi-arctic city, where the long nights are turned into day. " Go," cried Stephan, as I vainly appealed for money, "I will not feed your mad follies longer! See," (he cried in his rage) " I have a hundred thousand roubles in that cabinet! Marry! I pay your debts! This money is yours! But not a kopek shall you have for your gambling friends your insane freaks! " I left the old Boyar noble, his white head shaking in rage. 1 was carried away with a choking desire to leave Russia forever! I burned to breathe the air of freedom, to bear my darling Olga away to some calm retreat by the sculptured shores of Sicily or the dream ing islands of the Greek Sea, where we could give our hidden love its countenance openly by day, where she could be mine, nw wife, forever!" Orlof passed his hands over his aching eyes as if to shut out a haunting vision. "I reached the Yacht Club after waiting to see my uncle drive off to a ball of the noblesse. I dared not own the hideous suggestion which was lingering unframed in my mind. I knew every nook of the home of my fatherless boyhood! I would return when the lazy servants gave themselves up to their junketing, and the cabinet would easily yield to the blow of a hunting knife. Why not, aided by Ivan, be leagues away before dawn? Olga could follow! Podolski was true as death! I would send a ring she had given me, the token of supreme danger, to her by Ivan! A common sleigk could bear me over the frozen Neva to the suburb, where Podolski kept relays ready for Olga s hour of need! Alas! as I entered the Yacht Club Ivan whispered, We are followed! It was indeed true! 42 THE PRIN CF.SS OF ALASKA. Dark forms crouched in a swift sleigh close to us! Bid ding Ivan wait, I approached the club door, determined to return to my home after a social appearance and a glass of Burgundy, drop Ivan with my message for Olga and sleep at the Orlof Palace! There I would be safe. As I neared the door two muffled men approached me; one whispered, Count, all is knwn! The Czare vitch recognized the pearl necklace I would not sell him! / have told him all. The other man was a brother Israelite of the dog of a jeweler, a man to whom I owed large borrowed sums! He insolently demanded his money! Pierre , then, the devil entered my tortured heart! I strode in without a word, drank a glass of fiery brandy, filled my case with cigars and slowly drove homewards. At the Italiansky Bazaar I dropped Ivan, who clutched the fateful token. Then, with the swift ness of the wind, I drove back to the Orlof Palace. "All was dark! I dismissed the driver and entered the fateful gateway, for the last time an innocent man. I could feel my blood bounding like boiling quicksilver! Stealing to my room, I seized my revolver and a heavy knife! Ivan was to wait on the Admiralty Quai with a sleigh and a trusty driver! 11 I knew that in an hour Olga would be safe in Pod- olski s humble home! Before daylight she would be on her way to the gloomy northern forest roads, whose obscurity meant safety! I laughed softly as I stole into the dark library where old Stephan spent his days! He had sold an estate, a wood domain, and I well knew the bundle of thousand rouble notes he taunted me with. / was possessed with a devil I With a vigorous effort I pried open the rotten old mahogany cabinet, and, in a moment, the heir of the Orlofs was a thief of the night! Would to God that I had died as 1 stood there, the. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 4$ bundle of crisp notes in my hand! Hastily secreting them, I strode to the door, meaning to leave the palace by a little postern used by the dvornik alone! I had kept its key for years! Horror! As I entered the hall a man grasped me roughly. I struck home blindly! I heard a heavy fall on the floor, deadened by the tufted Persian rugs! " One hollow groan alone told me the awful truth! / knew that voice! It had been raised in blessing over my cradle! I rushed like a madman to the postern! I gained the street, and, like a shadow, fled along, my heart scarce beating, to the Quai! In five minutes we were on the river s frozen bed. The frightened Ivan only answered in monosylables. But my senses re turned with the cold air of the Neva! I found Olga s maid had led him to the woman for whose dear sake I had stained my hand with blood. I will be there, 1 she said. I could extract no more from the affrightened serf, who lashed the horses on! As I raised my hand, in the pale moonlight, I felt a warm stain upon it! // was blood! Faster! Faster!* I yelled, and away we sped into the dark forest! I drank the fiery fluid from Ivan s flask, which he forced on me! My head fell back helplessly in the furs! When I awoke I was roughly shaken! A Cossack-mounted police guard of a dozen were grouped around! My exhausted horses lay dead vs. the snow, and Ivan, tightly bound, was guarded by a soldier, naked sabre in hand! " As I struggled to my feet a rude sleigh approached from a near farm dearie, an officer urging it on! "The awful truth flashed over my mind! / was a prisoner! Was I was I a murderer? A stern police agent roughly ordered me to enter the sleigh; as I did my eyes met the gleam of faithful Ivan! He yelled 44 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. quickly, You are betr ay edf* Master! The maid warned them! The lady is a prisoner, too! I heard a scuffle, and as I twisted my head around my devoted follower lay there prone on the blood-stained snow, his head split open by a sabre stroke! "I knew nothing more till I was dragged from a cell before a summary court in the fortress. On the table lay a package of bank notes! The accursed treasure which was to be the means of bearing Olga to the para dise we dreamed of in the Greek Sea! I stood mute for I knew nothing! I heard myself condemned to the loss of all rights and twenty years penal servitude in Siberia! The murder of mv uncle was the crime! I learned from the evidence that my uncle had returned suddenly from the ball, and, hearing the noise, the brave old man had sallied forth from his sleeping rooms to meet his death at my hands unwittingly. The evi dent fact of my belief that it was only a servant, saved me from the doom of the legal death for slaying a kinsman! When asked if I had anything to say, I caught the eye of the Grand Duke s pet aide-de-camp my fellow in the Czarevitch s favors! Across my disordered brain flashed the thought of Olga, my helpless love, the idol of my manly passion, the goddess of my existence! She was now a prisoner, in the power of the haughty Prince! With her name trembling on my lips I bowed my head and murmured < Nothing! My judges exchanged sig nificant glances! I caught a pale, wintry smile of approval from the lips of the Czarevitch s boon com panion! I had been true to my order! He turned upon his heel and left the room! At least one ignominy was spared me in my downfall, the shame of betray ing the private life of the imperial master I served! " Orlof s eyes were streaming with bitter tears! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 45 "Now! Pierre, you know my secret! You alone know my rival s name! You alone can see how an overmastering passion bore me along in devious ways to my ruin! That I struck is true! But God knows my prayers have daily assailed the gate of Heaven for the forgiveness of my blind crime! / worshipped grand old Stephan! Would that I had told him of my unhappy love! Better had I gone forth alone, an honest man, to alien lands! But I was demented! The philtre of a love beyond all bounds had crazed my brain! Followed by the wail of my orphaned cousin I was haled forth to this barbaric land! I have never taken the Czare vitch s name upon my lips! / am civilly dead! I shall never mock the justice of God by daring to ask pardon of the sweet girl whose life I have clouded with a help less sorrow! I have lived as an automaton! I only knew that the little Countess Orlof is alive, the greatest heiress in Russia, and now a world-famous beauty! But, Pierre, my friend of older days, the future is a blank for me! I dream of her whom I have lost! Of the darling woman I crushed to my heart in a last embrace, and whose name I have never heard spoken since until to-night! " "You have not told me yet who she was, my poor Fedor," said Lefranc, his eyes kindling with excitement! "She was the loveliest woman in the White Czar s broad realm, and the Queen of Song!" slowly replied Orlof, who dropped his tired head upon his hands. "And a wild, wintry ocean divides us to-night on this theatre of human misery, for she too is a prisoner in a far-off land!" " The reigning Prima Donna! " echoed Lefranc. "I had heard of such a disappearance, but I fancied that she had only hidden her nightingale voice in some 46 THE T T ALASKA, favored lover s bower: " Standing up to Orlof, Lefranc energetically exclaimed: "We must escape! If we can only remain near each other! For Fedor,". he gravely said, "The Grand Duke will never forget and never for- giver "You are right! There is no hope," replied Orlof. "And the outraged orthodox nobles will hound down forever the Russian who killed a member of his own family. I swear to you, Pierre," cried Orlof, his eyes flashing, "I never dreamed of seizing the money till poor Stephan taunted me! I only coveted it to send my Olga, my defenceless darling, out of the jaws of a double tyranny! See what a slender reed we leaned on! The maid enriched herself from my bounty, spoiled my defenceless darling, and then coldly sold us both 1o ruin and sfiamt . " "It is idle to think of redressing my wrong! The car of Juggernaut will roll over me ! I have neither money, power or a single friend! I have sealed the tomb of my past life. One thought alone has sustained me! One Star of Hope has twinkled in the darkness of the years in the convict barrack! To see her again, to hear her say: Fedor! I love you. I forgive you! " "Ah, God! Pierre! Think of these four years! Her wasted life, her ruined career! Her sufferings! A queen of beauty! The child of song, to be the sport of Des tiny, the plaything of an hour!" "Was she a Russian? " said Lefrauc, anxious to re lieve Orlof s distress. "Her mother was a wonderful Hungarian child of beauty and genius, and when she died in Italy, her hus band, a rich South Russian, left the girl abroad! His death in a riot of his serfs caused her to be left penni less, for the mother was not orthodox! It was a fatal PRINCESS OF ALASKA* 47 day when my love was lured to Petersburg by the wild enthusiasm of the dwellers under the northern lights! There is nothing sweeter than love! Nothing stranger than the turns of Fortune s wheel! Nothing sadder than the iron grip of Destiny! " " Did you not hear her story at Sitka, Pierre? " eagerly asked Fedor. "Alas! No, my poor friend! " answered the French man. "This pitiless cur, Fersen, used me, in secret, to confound the officials whom he sharply catechised. I was jealously guarded At Kodiak, we only knew of the outer world by the annual visit of the one San Francisco trading brig! I was not allowed to communicate even with the occasional whalers there! I tried to drink my self to death! Strange to say, the black rum nourished me! The continued rain made outdoor holiday trips impossible, and the fierce brown bears, ravenous for the fish of the shores , were an effective guard in the long lonely days of my Kodiak captivity! I sought surcease of sorrow in my work! I was allowed sufficient rough creature comforts. My only pleasure was to learn the Aleut language and the dialect of the Aliaskans. I have kept myself from going mad, by work, stern and unre mitting, the only panacea for a broken heart!" "Were you well treated?" asked Orlof. "My jailers, as a rule, were coarsely good-humored. There was nothing to gain by torturing me! I had sunk beneath human notice. Besides, if they killed me, they lost their only naval constructor! If I died worn out, or was thrown in a dungeon, the necessary work would be paralyzed! The officials spent their time making secret hoards of rich furs, debauching the half- breed women, or drinking and gambling, When a Russian war vessel touched at Kodiak, a hell brew of 48 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. flaming rum punch kept all hands mad while the orgies could be kept up! " "And you tell me you tried once to escape! If you failed alone, how can we succeed together? I do not know if I wish now to escape ! If Olga is at Sitka she will be all the world to me! " "There will be many chances open to us in the changes to come! " said Lefranc. " If the Americans buy Alaska, the clearing out and general removal will relax the vigilance of all our guards." How to get you over there is the one present trouble! You are to go up the Amur with this brute Fersen. He needs watching! He is a cruel tyrant! Beware of rousing him! It means Death!" "So it seems," doggedly answered Orlof. "But he hates me already! He would try and thwart any wish I might dare to prefer! He may know the old story! I may not hope to win his favor! " "Then watch your own behavior every moment. Let your attitude be only one of callous indifference. I am to have necessary dealings with the Commanding-Gen eral here to fill all the requisitions of the Aliaskan re pair yards needed to put all Government property and craft in working order. If General Dachkof favors me at all, I can demand your help! I am the only capable man they have! Now, you are professionally fitted to help me! Let us conceal our friendship, and, on your return, I will boldly ask for your aid! I can feign illness and overwork. I know the Seevoutch is sorely needed on the other coast! Dachkof, naturally zealous, will hurry her departure! But beware of this Fersen, he is an icy-hearted brute! His eyes can read a prisoner s inmost soul!" "Now, Fedor, as to our secret plan!" Two years THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 49 ago, an American whaler put in at Kodiak, to land the third mate, a young fellow who was invaluable to them, for he knew every inlet of the Arctic. I was in the hos pital with him and, thanks to my English, (acquired in handling our hired British shipwrights), we could con fer safely. Raised from boy, drudge and cook, by his thirst for gold, and marvellous wit, this Aleck McMann is a singular character! He drinks not; he stores up the secrets of his trade for his future promotion, and he speaks every dialect of the Ochotsk, the Arctic and the Behring Seas. He was cast away two years among the Tchuktches on the Kamschatkan peninsula. He also knows the fur and ivory trade its every secret and he can handle the friendly, but wily Siberian coast tribes, who wait for his annual visit. We became very inti mate, as I aided him greatly!" "I burned for my freedom! I could see McMann s slyness, and bargain for bargain, / agreed to be of use to him! After a duel of wits, he finally promised to aid me in my escape! Every year, his ship leaves San Francisco in March, returning in October. He had promised to aid me to reach California, and to further my fortunes. In return, I am to watch all the Aleut and Eskimo tribes, the seal and otter hunters and the interior natives of the Yukon, for the secret source of their gold supplies! McMann has found the Aliaskan natives above Sitka, around Chicagoff Island and the Takou River, to have great quantities of grain gold, of which they do not know the value! By secret visits to Cross Sound, McMann has bartered cargoes of rum with these natives for this gold dust at an enormous profit! In order to avoid the war vessels at Sitka, and the leading Russian authorities, McMann, (who is the guiding spirit) induces his owners to make Kodiak 50 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Island their refitting port. He gets the rum from the corrupt Russian officials there, paying in American coined gold, and also taking their stolen furs, secretly robbed from the Russian Government tribute, at enormous prices. He has promised to rescue me next year, if I can find for him the source of the gold dust which the natives of Cross Sound obtain in such plenty. I see these natives for months yearly, and I have gained their confidence though they are sly and artful! He keeps all the gold dust transactions a close secret." Lefranc filled his glass. " I will be brief ! McMann is a compound of sailor, miser, trader and pirate! I know that he left the trusting natives of a Plover Bay village dead after a debauch in which he cruelly gave them barrels of poisoned rum as a present, and then, removed an enor mously valuable cargo of whalebone, their only wealth! I fear this brute McMann, so I have lied 1o him! He knows my influence over the Aliaskan natives, and 1 have magnified it! For he is my only hope! He may save both of us later !"- "Now, if I can effect your removal to Kodiak, we could easily pretend to have discovered the location of the treasure region, and it is probably some coast volcanic island, and next year, we must flatter him and escape with him. He will naturally return to California to confer with his owners! Then, once at San Francisco, we are free! We can bid, even him, defiance! On American soil, the Czar s spies can rage in vain!" "I will think it over! I might perhaps escape from here, now, into Mantchuria and Corea and finally gain China or Japan," thoughtfully said Orlof. "True! But the woods here are full of the gigantic tigers of the Amur forest! You have no help! no sup- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 51 plies! no money! no arms! You would surely perish like the thousands whose bones have been gnawed by the wolf packs of these pathless woods! It is an almost impossible task! Again, if your Olga is at Sitka, Fedor, you might be able to aid her! The little Princess of Aliaska may be able to help you both!" Lefranc smoothly said. Orlof sprang to his feet. " I am yours to the death! We must cast our lots together!" "For Olga s sake!" "I will stay with you to the very last!" pledged Lefranc, as their hands met. The two companions in misery threw themselves down at last on the fur couches, for the dying fire now told of the early morning hours. In low tones, the excited comrades, wooing sleep in vain, spoke of the prisoner s one hope a plot for liberty! " T)\& you not try to escape?" said Orlof. " Last year, McMann prepared a hiding place for me on the Reindeer, his trading vessel, and flew a signal which we had agreed on to warn me for two days before they left Kodiak. Stern and silent, he is the autocrat of his vessel. He only needs a little more practice in scientific navigation to have a separate command. He promised me to stand up and down, off St. Paul Bay, for a night, as I had concealed months before, a good Kayak or skin boat among some refuse harbor material. In furtive visits, I had stored this light thirty foot canoe with some provisions, bottles of water, hard rye bread, and dried meat and fish. A native jacket and hooded cap, a few cords and a spare double handed paddle were my list of treasures!" " Oh, God! Orlof f How I counted the crawling moments till the dark eventful day when the Reindeer stood out of the harbor! It was easy for me to leave 52 TIIF. I RINCF>S OF ALASKA. my own but at sundown, as there is no fear there of any convict quitting the mountainous island! I had only to report daily at my work. It was one of the few fair days of the year, when I marked at sundown the American bark with its tell-tale streamer flying at the mizzen, standing off and on! The lazy Russian officials deemed her only watching for bowhead whales. In the silence of a chill starlit night, I dragged the light boat to the water s edge, and I had marked out the course by the tall peaks around the bay of Chiniatskoy! I had stolen two bottles of rum, some tobacco and a flint and steel. With the vigor of despair, I put boldly to sea in the frail canoe! I had marked the movements of the stars, and well I knew the local currents! I paddled out of the harbor undetected!" " I prayed to God the God so heedless of the down trodden prison wretches of Siberia, to hold back the daylight fog! For, if at dawn the whaler was in sighf, with my spare paddle and some old red cloth, I could rig up a signal! Out alone in the darkness, my Kayak tossed hither and thither by the shore surf; I voyaged boldly on a lonely sea, in the single hope of the long delayed rescue! The natives even sleep lashed in these Kayaks, balancing with the instinct of generations of canoe men! I drifted when I could paddle no more!" I woke to renewed exertions! "I toiled manfully! In the dark silence of the night, I implored the mercy of God for one of His meanest creatures ! My arms soon became stiff, I became chilled, and even the fiery rum failed to keep me awake! The gray, wet, icy fog closed in like a pall of death around me ! My mind ran in dreams over my wasted life! I lived again the Petersburg student days ! The scenes of riot and wassail came back! The sinful hours! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 53 My wanton deeds! The shameless errors of caste and vicious impulse! The cruel whistling winds menaced me ! Dark avenging shapes seemed to pursue ! My shaken nerves lost their control of my wearied brain! On I drove through the anxious night!" "Dashed madly on in the gloom, I was in an ex alted state of mental tension, born of fatigue, exertion and mental excitement! I was again at Sevastopol! My foolish mad career among the patrician nobles of the south returned! I heard again the exciting rattle of the gold at the roulette table! I thrilled once more with the shrill laughter of those smiling vampire women who helped me to throw away the Czar s gold, after Pierre Lefranc became an embezzler and a cheat! Luxury, pampered social vice, emulation of the reckless Russian gentry, swamping me in an insensate whirl of reckless ness, all this came back to me! I woke with an icy wave drenching me!" "Alas! The airs of morning blew the fog away from my drifting Kayak, only to show me no sail in sight and, as I lifted my wretched head, the salt spray half drowned me, a miserable, drifting, helpless creature! Great clinging shapes of leaden fog wheeled and veered around. I knew then that all was lost and, in despair, I slept in utter insensibility! When I recovered my senses, I was in a shore camp of the Kodiak natives! An otter spearing party had found my stranded canoe entangled in some rocks of the headland, whither the shore current of the morning tide had swept me! Knowing my awful punishment, if detected, I glibly told them I had essayed a fishing trip in a stray kayak, and was carried out to sea! I was taken back to the settle ment and kindly received. The Reindeer was hull 4 54 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. down on the open sea! I had failed! And hope fled my breast!" My brutal superiors easily believed the tale. But the star of hope had set for another long winter in the misery of an Arctic prison! You know what that means! Tempting insanity! Now, on this year s visit, McMann, who was forced to put to sea to avoid the dangerous fog, has promised to have a boat s crew wait in a hidden inlet, and surely bear me off to the ship! He can transfer me at sea to another Yankee ship! But I must discover the secret of the Gold Island! On this hangs my salvation, unless by a prisoner s cunning I can deceive him till I am safe! All convicts are liars I and I am one of them] I owe the world my fellow man nothing now I I am a human zero ." Pierre Lefranc ceased with a start, for the heart broken Orlof slept, and the worn and haggard French man then drifted away into the land of unhappy dreams, to wake with his strangely met companion at the sound of the bugles calling the whole garrison up to meet that most captious dignitary, Count Fersen in a grand review! Two days later, the swiftest stern wheeled^ steamboat on the Amur, bore Count Fersen and his suite away from the Nikolaevsk landing. Thunderous cannon, the wild martial music, the houras of the soldiers, gave a manufactured enthusiasm to the flitting of the official stormy petrel who had stirred up the headquarters community. Fete and ball, feast and parade, marked the parting hours! Apparently careless, Count Fersen still saw Pierre Lefranc busied at his duties, as he gave his sealed orders to the corvette captain with his own hand. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. $$ "Let this naval constructor have any help he needs, General 1 Treat the fellow well! He is only repaying the Emperor for a few score of stolen thousands of roubles! His peculiar vices are quite gentlemanly pretty women and roulette! " I shall have that aristocratic murderer of yours keep my official journal as far as Nerchinsk! If he makes me as good a report as he did you, I won t grudge him a few hundred roubles to drink away the bloody visions of his crime! Why the devil did he not kill himself! He was once a noble gentleman and has really good blood in his veins! "From Nerchinsk, I shall go on day and night, by re lay imperial post sleigh, and there will then be no jour nal to keep! I know that sixty days of devilish monot ony! The wailing forest! The sparkling snow drifts! The dirty log post stations! A dash from a mad wolf pack, and a four thousand miles view of a drunken peasant driver s back! Ah, tJie service!" " But, Dachkof, you lucky dog, you will retire in three years on a double pension, with a dozen new orders and medals, and you will drop into a place in the brilliant circle of the Winter palace! You can forget in sunning yourself in the smiles of that daring, dainty bevy of the tempting women of the Court, these lonely frontier days!" Fersen sighed! He was a scientific voluptuary, and his keen, glittering Tartar eye was as unmoved by woman s helpless tears, as by the blood of the defence less men who fell victims of his relentless rage! "/, my dear Dachkof," he said, as he drew his superb fur gloves over hands sparkling with exquisitely rich rings, " I am doomed to be an official favorite of the Czar!" 56 THE PRINCESS OK A I ASKA. The Count noted Orlof, note-book and sketch book in hand, ready at his post. 11 Do your best, fellow! or you may find a hundred lashes waiting you at Nerchinsk! " This was the noble Count Fersen s encouragement! As the boat sped up the broad, rushing stream, Fedor Orlof gazed at the shores of the mighty river, and was tormented with a wild desire to snatch the gun of a guard, blow Fersen s head to pieces, and then throw himself into the crystal flood, which seen ed, gliding darkly below to tempt him to the unknown depths of the sea of Death! But he held his peace for three long weeks of un ceasing brutality, the face of a guardian angel Olga Darine, haunted his slumbers! The man who now lived but to see that dear memory-painted face once again, treasured but her dream-face, and her troth ring two reminders of his hopes of the future, the safeguards of his yet human identity! The dream-face smiled on the poor prisoner of the Amur a tyrant s victim day by day! For cheery, bustling Pierre Lefranc was already gain ing an influence over General Dachkof, who was struck with the Gallic adroitness of the talented man! Lefranc had whispered to Orlof in adieu: " I will manage to win over old Dachkof! Remember I The American whaler and free Join I " And the silent kindness of the old General touched Orlof and melted his heart when he found himself re lieved from sleeping on the open deck with the other con vict si The steamer s captain pointed to a small, but decent, lower hold mate s room, saying: " J?y the Gen eral s orders!" and therein, Orlof found a pack of fur robes, a traveler s outfit, and the personal stores com mon to the country. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 57 This charity restrained his defiant recklessness of heart! On past the wild witching beauty of the Mantchurian shores, past fort and growing settlement, under embat tled crags covered with old Tartar tombs, around the great bend, past the hostile Chinese frontier shores, from whence a dropping fire often galled them, the light boat forced its way. And, cool, cruel and sly as Count Fersen was in his deviltry, he secretly marvelled at Orlof s artistic work, his gentle, proud bearing, and the patient parrying of every insult! He was baffled by the silence of the man helpless in the grasp of fate! "You can tell General Dachkof that I say you are a superior scoundrel!" said Fersen, at parting. "Here is five hundred roubles for you! " Orlof thought of Olga, and smiled! CHAPTER III. AT SITKA A PR1MA loNNA IN DISGUISE FIRST MATE M MANN i in CZAR S r \KT\KR "i CAN \VA11 " 1 lil SALE OF AN E MI-IRE. Fedor Orlof s first impulse, when Count Fersen tossed him the bills, was to cast them back in the tyrant s face! But his good angel warned him in time to save the back of an Orlof from the prison sergeant s knout! "/ am penniless /" he reflected, as he sat on the deck of the returning boat, sweeping past the great icy peaks of the Yablanof, rising snow-capped to the north, and " these five bits of greasy green paper are concrete poicer! Should I reach Sitka, even this taunting offering of a cold brute might buy my way to helpless Olga Darine s presence! It may even serve to bribe the way for my letters!" And the ruined nobleman carefully sewed the hard won bills within the lining of the warm convict coat, which kind old Dachkof had ordered made, by covering one of his own with the prisoner s cloth and fi/a! black patch! Relieved from Fersen s exactions, delighting in the superb scenery of the Shilka, Fedor was light of heart, as the boat swept downward from the Nerchinsk. Count Fersen s secret communications to General Dachkof were borne by Adjutant Vronsky, happy in his release. With growing annoyance, the handsome young soldier had noted Count Fersen s easy conquests of the bright eyed free lances who managed to share in the splen did luxuries of the Count s semi-imperial progress. The Emperor s favorite was not aware that crcn he THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 59 was plucked, as he passed, by these wily women who had not lost the arts of the reckless coquette on the far away lonely Siberian river mirroring the polar stars! With wine and song in furtive dalliance, Fersen relaxed his tiger-like nature! A Russian to the cord It was in easy good humor, as he debarked at Ner chinsk, that Fersen turned his head away from the mis chievous dark eyes of a handsome belle, clinging to his arm and said patronizingly, " Hurry off the Seev&utch! Vronsky! tell the General he has my carte blanche! I want everything done to help Maxutoff out over in Aliaska! The Prince may not get his supplies from home next year. If the coun try is sold, Maxutoff will have to dismantle the whole territory! By the way, General Dachkof can send this fellow Or to f over to Prince Maxutoff I The scoundrel is really accomplished ! I never saw a finer report and sketches! Just have Dachkof transfer him and his offi cial papers to Maxutoff s jurisdiction ! The Prince can send him back later to Siberia with the convict detach ment which is there! Make a special note of it I" Vronsky bowed in silence, as Count Fersen, murmur ing a tender apology, gallantly aided the pet lamb he guarded into a superb carriage. The Sultana of a month had soon forgotten the lonely grave of her brave hus band, killed by fierce Mantchurians in the gloomy forests of the Ussuri! For she was being escorted home in royal state! The envy of other Siberian Phrynes! Where the gold tasselled sword of the officer glitters, the silken rustle of the richly gowned woman adventur ess is heard along Life s strange paths! Hand in hand, war and gallantry leave their traces from tropic to pole! Vronsky forgot his temporary eclipse as a military Don Juan, in sadly musing over poor Orlof s strange fate! 6o THF I KINVF.SS <>l ALASKA. The General s Adjutant treated the prisoner with a IJIMYI. sympathy, for the weird horror of his unwitting crime was known in the upper official circles! There seemed to be no hope for the victim of one mad hour! "How strange! At the mere ivJiim of a passing official, this man s whole destiny is changed!" Vronsky, gazing at Orlof, who had fifteen days of freedom before him in the downward trip to refresh his exhausted mental forces; did not dream that the tor menting caprice of relentless Fersen was leading the hopeless noble convict toward the one beloved being on earth whose lips now framed the name of Fedor Orlof forgotten by all the gay world in his saddening down fall! Past the sculptured crests of the purple Khingan mountains beyond the Mongolian frontier, the swift steamer sped away down stream in its arrowy flight! At dawn, at noon, in the pearl gray of evening, or by the pale silvery moonlight, Fedor Orlof s eyes drank in the beauties of gorge and silent river reach, of long wooded stretches of the fragrant birch and silvered maples, the air redolent with the odors of the wild Sibe rian roses! A lonely unawakened Paradise! In these blessed hours of ease, the wearied convict s heart lightened, his eye brightened, and his supple form renewed its youthful vigor. For a month and a half, he was freed from the daily brutality of the sentinels, and the hoarse bawling of the brutal sergeants! These bull-dogs of regimental life were distant! But the pris oner s life lay before him once more! < Twenty years had stunned him when the judge decreed it! Something in the virginal freedom and freshness of the great river, ever beloved by the wild Mongol Tartars, stole back into his tired heart, he forgot his sorrows, and he was again in his wonted mental poise when he THE PRINCF.SS OF ALASKA. 6l sought his poor hut, unwelcomed and unnoticed, as the steamer s fires died out at Nikolaevsk! He had trav ersed almost an Empire s borders in his thankless task. The poor outcast heart was faithful even in sleep! For that night he dreamed that he clasped the Lost Love again to his heart! He woke with a start from wild delicious dreams of golden haired Olga Darine! Through the strange scenes of the Baikal, of the Chinese border, with its savage tribes, wild beauty and varied panorama, he wandered, haunted by the darling face of his lost love! But the singing bugles of reveille called him again to the inspec tion line! It was a cruel awakening, yet he was once more near Pierre Lefranc! The very thought of the alert cunning Frenchman renewed his courage, as, in the chill air of dawn, he realized again his own felon station! "Here s our fine gentleman again" jeered the Cor poral and fierce Sergeant, and even the peasant sentinel too, had his coarse insult! The upstart is always a brute at heart: The brute at heart is a brutal taskmaster! Lingering alone, waiting for orders, in his squalid hut till noon, Orlof sprang forward nimbly, as a cossack rider reined up at the hut door, ordering him to report at once at headquarters! " Was it an eddy in the current of Fate! Whither would it bear him away!" He was in ignorance of Fersen s orders, forVronsky s military prudence had not been violated. Ready in the stream, lay the waiting " Seevoutch," her black sides gleaming, and her grinning ports open! The blue Peter at the mast head told of sailing orders. The river s bosom was alive with boats and tugs flitting about the deeply laden cruiser. And, as yet, no sign of Pierre 62 THI IKIN. I <s 01 A I \<KA. Lefranc! Hastily ushered into Geneial Dachkof s work ing room, Orlof started as hi- beheld convict Lefranc, seated at ease, working at a table with the Adjutant! The ex-naval officer was aiding the Adjutant in sealing huge bundles of those voluminous papers which the Russian official so dearly loves. The General returned Orlof s smart salute in a grave silence. Referring to the notes of his Adjutant, he broke the silence in reading, while the prisoner s very heart stopped beating! His fate awaited him! " No. 24190!" he read from a memorandum order, "you are hereby transferred to the jurisdiction of His Excellency Governor General Prince Maxutoff, oj Aliaska! You will be embarked on the corvette at nightfall. She sails on the morning tide. Adjutant Yronsky will furnish you with all the necessaries of the voyage. You are now warned that any attempt at escape will be punished with death! By the order of His Excellency Count Ferseu, Im perial Inspector of Prisons !"- Fedor Orlof bowed in silence, but met a furtive glance of Pierre Lefranc s eyes with a wild see ret joy! The path of a river life was opening out before him! Over the far storm-swept Ochotsk through the hovering fogs of Behring Sea, the furrowed wake of the swift steamer left a hopeless prison life alone behind him. But there, though he left the rich, enchanting Amur valley, draining unknown empires and destined to be the home yet of happy millions, there, over the icy unknown seas, the beacon of Olga Darine s eyes led him on to a secret happiness, a living hope! Welcome the rough mountains the glacier guarded shores, the rain-clouded clime, the lonely forests and silent rocky inlets! There in far Aliaska, peopled by THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 63 rude savages and squalid half-breds, behind the guarded doors of Baranoff s old manorial castle, perched high on its rocky hill in Sitka Bay, was imprisoned the angel faced woman whose voice thrilled yet in his heart! As he he stood waiting, General Dachkof said: "Orlof, you take a good prison character with you! On your voyage, you will assist this man in the care of the government supplies and their distribution. You will learn your duties from Lefranc, from whom you can learn much of Alaska! You will not leave your cabin here until conducted on board at sundown. Here!" the old General kindly extended a packet. When the " Seevoutch " was gliding out over the delta bar, and the shores of Siberia were fading forever from his sight, the tears came to Orlof s eyes, as he examined the little bundle! It contained a purse with a liberal rouleau of gold imperials, and the few words in the General s own handwriting were more precious than the welcome treasure ! The whole was concealed in several bundles of Dachkof s best cigars. The scrawl bore the words: " I have sent a few words to Maxutoff in your behalf. You may earn his favor! Be of good cheer! I knew and honored your fat tier!" - And keeping this a secret, even from Pierre Lefranc, Orlof would fain have thanked the warm hearted old soldier, whose fear of official spies had prevented more open kindnesses. His eyes were clouded, as he read the note. "The only human heart moved in kindness toward the saddest of men! Hail, to you! brave old Dachkof!" cried Orlof, as the staunch steamer darted over the roughened Ochotsk. He turned cheerfully to his daily work. Pierre Lefranc was admitted to the chart and navi- 64 THE PRINCESS 01 A I ISKA, gating room in the necessary freedom of his duties. Hour by hour, the re-united comrades pored over the maps of the vast North Pacific! "We must know every nook of the shores on both sides!" counseled Lefranc. " Use every moment in acquiring information! We know not where Fate may lead us! Keep your ears open in the presence of the officers! Learn even from the sailors ! We are to skirt Khamschatka on this voyage, leaving stores at Petropauloski, then by Copper Islands, sweep over to Fort Tongass, Wrangel and Sitka. The Governor General may need such a man as you as tutor to the little Princess of Alaska! I will probably be sent to close up the constructions at Kodiak. We could do nothing this winter, but I will concert with McMann, and next season we must scheme to be together! Then we can make a dash! It is now one future, one fate, one common interest, the road to Freedom! IVe must escape!" It was in the middle of September, when the "Seevoutch" drew away from the dangerous shallows of the Straits of Tartary. At a rude settlement on wild Saghalien Island, the disputed prey of Japan and Russia, Fedor Orlof marked crowds of dejected wretches toiling in the coal mines, under the guard of the most brutal of the White Czar s soldiery. Escape was there none for these poor wretches, the gloomy interior of the great Island, being peopled by the wild hairy Ainus, who were officially encouraged to bring the heads of fugitive prisoners to the camp! Only the door of the grave! the oblivion of the com mon lime pit, awaited the condemned! And the hideous mockery of the officially forced marriage of the men and women prisoners stained even the Muscovite code! The THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 65 stranger wretches of the two sexes were turned in to a common room, in equal numbers, to choose their mates for life, those remaining unmated being told off in a hasty despotic selection, after an hour by the jeering tyrants! "Yes! Yes! there are worse hells than the Baikal mines or the prison pens of the Amur!" mused Orlof, as the corvette steamed north. "The Inferno of Saghalien has no parallel in human horrors! It is the gate of an eternal hell!"- Sharing in Lefranc s singular status of the free run of the whole ship, Fedor Orlof spent his idle hours in self- commune and silently evolved his personal plans for the future! The possession of Fersen s brutally given notes and manly old Dachkof s gold would, perhaps, enable him to open communication with his long-lost love! In the first days of their voyage, Fedor keenly watched Pierre Lefranc s attitude toward the officers. The con vict noble finally decided to seal his heart-feelings from Lefranc! For, though blood-stained his hand, Orlof still retained the haughty pride of a born Russian noble! He was separated from the merely subal tern naval officers by his old caste! He scorned to seek the notice of his Commander! This stern officer knew of Orlof s rank and his untoward for tunes. With cold deference to the past social status of the unfortunate noble, he had given orders to spare "the prisoner" Orlof any unnecessary annoyance, and his word was law! Fedor was mutely grateful. "It is hard enough, poor devil," mused the Comman der, as he regarded Fedor, alone with his sorrows peer ing out into the dim gray horison of fleeting fog banks! The sailor recked not that under Fedor s melancholy, placid features the maddest fever of his unhappy life 66 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. thrilled every vein! To see beloved Olga again his lost Olga! To hear her voice once morel This was Orlof s hourly prayer, and under the blue Pole star he neared the haven of his dreams! The days sped quickly by! Leaning over the vessel s rail, watching the crystal, foammg green waves break sharply on the sturdy oaken ribs of the corvette, Fedor realized that the Star of Hope s rays, twinkling in the Arctic night, spoke only to him of the innocent woman ivlio had shared his unto ward fate! Though torn from his arms, it was his crime alone which had dragged her down, her unselfish love had brought her, in innocence, under the ban of the secret police! For Olga Darine could be no common criminal! Even in Russia her punishment with death would have been an outrage! What had been her prison life? Did secret oppressions follow her strange pathway? How had she drifted to New Archangel s old castled steep? Was it with a happy heart at relief from the course indignities of daily prison life that she ling ered, a caged song-bird, in Baranoff s stronghold on the cliff of Sitka? The unanswering stars mocked his grief! "I shall soon know the very wrst! Merciful God! Grant that 1 may not meet her ruined, degraded, her fair flower of womanhood trampled in the mire of sin!"- Fedor Orlof counted the passing hours till it seemed that in his tense mental exaltation he could bring back the one beloved face of all womanhood! They had torn away all his belongings in the police search! Her picture glowed in h is fa itJiful heart alone! With all a gentleman s scorn, he marked the degrada tion of Pierre Lefranc s personal character! The mer curial Frenchman, the grandson of a military refugee, *THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 67 was fain to flatter and fawn upon the officers of rank. It was the convict s usual downward path! Even the material comforts of the table seemed to be an object of Lefranc s daily strategy! Orlof stood haughtily aloof from this abasing attitude of Lefranc, who meanly manoeuvred for such little concessions! "I fancy his grandmother was merely some camp follower I" bitterly thought Fedor, who ate in silence of his sailor ration, the Czar s black bread, unsweetened tea and cabbage soup alone! It is the soldier and sailor s dole. "I have earned it in Siberia] I will earn it bitterly in Aliaskal What will they do with me?" But the stars answered him not! The " Seevoutch " dashed northward, her guns lashed and ports closed, to where the lazy schools of huge right whales tumbled around in the swift currents, sweeping past shovel-shaped Cape Lopatka. To the northwest a huge extinct volcano towered sixteen thou sand feet in air, hanging in a distant menace over the wild, lonely point! It was the very acme of desola tion! A forgotten land! "We are going to run into Petropauloski for Prince Serge Zubow," said the gossip Frenchman, as the two friends crouched one day under the lee of the compan ion way on the gun deck. " Who is this Zubow? " asked Orlof, wearily. " He is a rich Eastern Siberian noble," said Lefranc, " half savage, half courtier, who has long had some great speculations in fur trading along the frozen northern coasts! He and his Petersburg agent, Anton Phillippi, are now making an annual round of inspec tion. It is easy for him to work his will unrestrained here. He is enormously rich! A few thousand golden roubles lost at play to an official, a few dozen baskets 68 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. of champagne and a case of Havanas to a commander, will always carry him smoothly along! He bribes, bullies, buys and cajoles! He boasts a half dozen fol lowers from Tomsk, and some fierce attendant rene gades! A Circassian murderer and a Turkestan fanatic were his only friendly associates when he came over to Kodiak two years ago! " " You km>iv him, ///</// " said Orlof, with a vague dis trust. Something in the description chilled the proud convict. It was a premonition. "May God grant that I do not fall under his domination! " thought Fedor. "Has he any official position? " It was an anxious moment! "None, beyond the usual half dozen sinecure titles which all highly placed Russians seem to affect! " lightly said Lefranc, in reply. " I have had no direct dealings with him, but when McMann was sick in hospital, the\ had some illicit fur and rum transactions. I acted, how ever, as their confidential interpreter! He is a wild man! " "Can I really trust my fate to Lefranc?" mused Orlof, as the gunboat ran into the splendid bay of Avatcha. " His term of imprisonment has not fang to run . He is under no doom or future disability! If he ever had character, he has sunk now to be a mere lick spittle for those over him! He never had a real social position to lose! Why is he not well enough off, hover ing around any of these corrupt officials? And yet, this man may be the means of aiding my escape! He has a great latitude of movement. He will be practically unwatched. If he goes to Sitka he will be allowed the free run of the town, and /," bitterly thought Orlof, " must perhaps linger penned in a convict barrack, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 69 within the very sound of Olga s voice! I must use this man s doubtful friendship! "- In self-condemnation Orlof ground his teeth in impo tent rage, as he noticed the slight but unmistakable air of superiority daily assumed by Lefranc! It was the coarse reminder that the naval criminal was not at least a /00//-stairied felon! It was easy for the familiar Lefranc to pick up the gossip of the ship. With ready compliance he toiled at his chart work and the computations in the navigator s rooms, while the absent ward-room officers dallied over cards, cigarettes and steaming vodki punch in utter laziness! He knew how to ingratiate to wheedle! "We will only stay one day here at this port! Ah! There come the port officers! " cried Pierre, as the two convicts gazed out upon the beautiful silent valley. Hemmed in with mountains, the one considerable port of Khamschatka boasted as ornament a great Greek church, with fantastically colored roofs of red and green. Around this, the houses of the officers were bowered in straggling gardens. The government workshops and arsenals were crowded with loungers, and the shining bayonets of the sentries glittered proudly on the heavy shore batteries. The sparkling waters were alive with cod, swarming golden king salmon and great shoals of beautiful sea trout leap ing in wanton frolic into the pale sunlight. The great blue and white cross ensign of the Romanoffs swung lazily in pride from the forts. As the heavy double-banked port barge swept along side, Orlof thought of the battle day when six great French and English warships rained a storm of shot upon the heroic defenders of this poor little Arctic vil lage! When the landing parties rushed back pellmell 70 I UK 1 R1NX1.>S Of ALASKA. to their boats, six score red-coated English invaders lay dead upon the chilly moss of the roadways! A great day for the brave Russians! The glory of victory hov ered in the Arctic still! Would to God that / had died here, musket in hand, even a humble soldier, in the ranks of the Czar! For now, I wear only the convict patch, the badge oj shame I " There were bitter tears in Fedor s eyes as he hastened away, for the fur-coated visiting gentry were now throng ing the deck, as they swarmed up from the great barge. All were eager for that debauch which was destined to enliven the night hours until the corvette sailed. Here, you convict fellow I Take these down to my state room!" suddenly cried a sturdy man of thirty, whose price less black sable collar and cuffs indicated opulence. He tossed some hand bundles roughly toward Orlof, who stood stunned and motionless. The stranger s great muscular frame, heavy under face, thin moustache, piercing black eyes and bold harsh voice were the marks of an inland noble of Tartar blood. Orlof hesitated and was motionless. "Why don t you jump, hound" yelled the infuriated noble, as Fedor s face grew pale with silent rage. "I am the Czar s prisoner, not your scrrant! " quietly said Orlof, his eyes gleaming as coldly as the Pole star s wintry glinting rays. It was a challenge to fate! "I ll have you knoutcd, you scum!" raged the infuri ated Zubow, as he sprang forward, his fist clenched, to where Orlof, with folded arms, measured the distance to to the ship s side! A single blow I He would snatch the marine s musket, drive the bay onet through the brute s heart, and then, then, the green icy water was twenty fathom deep! If the guard fired THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 71 3. volley, sooner theiij Death s welcome release! For no man had ever struck an Orlof and lived to boast! Lefranc, with a skillful movement glided, between the two young men. The shore officers, the portly priest, and one or two rich peasant merchants stood aghast at the sight! The silence was broken by Commander Linieff s stern voice, crying: "Hold off! Zubowl We are on the high seas! That man is under my orders alone I He has as much right on the ship as you have! And I will protect him!" " Her el" said Lineiff to a knot of gaping sailors on the taffrail, "get all his baggage off the deck!" " May I show you now your cabin?" said the Com mander to Prince Zubow, who bowed and followed him without a word. At the door of the Commander s great saloon, the Tartar bully turned, and cast back a glance of deadly hatred at stately Orlof, leaning against a gun. "I will mark that baby face of yours yet, convict dog!" he growled, "I ve seen that countenance before at Petersburg, at the Clubs, I m sure. Wait! Wait!" he muttered. And Fedor was under the Doom of Hate! "This is most unfortunate!" murmured Lefranc, when the distant official party were gathered around their wine in the cabins. The main decks were deserted. Orlof s heart was thrilling yet with thankful gratitude to the bluff manly sailor. " See here, Pierre," he said, turning away, "You may forget you were born a gentleman! I can notT Pierre Lefranc did forget! Two days later, the fleet corvette was skimming along the white-cliffed peninsula, under the shadow of the great volcano peaks, where fretful flash and straggling 72 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. smoke told of the struggling inner fires of mother earth. There were fiercer flames burning in Fedor Orlof s heart! The light of an abject despair consumed him! He shunned the face of man, and lingered alone in the dingy boatswain s stowage closet assigned to him. With malicious wit, the resentful Prince Zubow sought out Lefranc in the evening shadows. He had a tool ready for his vengeance. "Who is this mysterious fine gentleman?" demanded the imperious Zubow. With a Frenchman s adroitness, Pierre hesitated. He would get Zubow more or less in his power! "What do you wish to know, Prince?" he hesitated. "Look here, my friend! I have a thousand rouble golden rouleau for you, if you quicken your memory! All you scoundrels are chums! You know all each other s lies and also habitually spy on your com rades!" "Let me see the gold!" whispered Lefranc, as the shades of night hid the blushes on his Judas cheek. In a few moments, the Prince thrust the gold in the con vict s hands! In half an hour his eyes glistening with victorious passion, Zubow strode back to the cabin. "Ah! I have him! I know my course-!" "An Orhfl I will see that ivory back of his, bleed under the spiked lash! Maxutoff will give him up to me! The brute! I will take the defiance out of his saucy eyes! He shall feel Zubow s heel grinding that handsome face!" And God heard this murderous oath! Mysterious His ways! Basely as Lefranc lowered himself for the Tartar s gold, he had forgotten to connect the unhappy Orlof with the witching star, now obscured by Arctic dark ness, the world-famous Petersburg prima donna! For THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 73 Zubow had only questioned him on every detail of Orlof s tragic deed! "I will keep that deed ever f res /i in his mind!" raved Zubow, he shall hear his uncle s name at every lash! " The doom of the helpless! The tryant s menace! When the gray dawn lit up the decks, where the two men, once gentlemen of an imperial mess, shared the tin pannikins of the bearded sailor peasants, Pierre Lefranc s unstable eyes dropped before Orlof s fearless gaze. The hours glided by with no reference to the imperious man, now a lurking tiger waiting a revenge! The rattling anchor dropped at last in the bay of Behring Island. The shores of the lonely mountain group were covered with a vast wallowing herd of sea bears, whose priceless fur was destined to enrich future daring schemers. In an hour, Prince Zubow landed with the Commander. Orlof, indifferent to aught but Olga Darine, deigned not to ask permission to land, but Lefranc followed slyly in the train of Zubow! It had been even so at Copper Island, the neighboring smaller isle of the Commander group! Fedor was ignorant of the growing hunger of Lefranc for more of Zubow s gold, and of the quick-witted Tartar s intention to make the talented convict useful in vast future plans not yet thoroughly formulated! It was indeed a slavish means of nearing his freedom! But Pierre thought li Me Mann may fail me! This wild, ignorant Croesus will need my brains!" And so Lefranc decided, as he fingered the jingling golden imperials: "Orlof need not know all! He is an impracticable fool!" It was easy for the Judas to find law and logic in his mean betrayal of the hapless lover! Alone, on the deck. 74 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Fedor Orlof could see on the mountain, Behring s Cross! He thought of the untoward fate of the great navigator. The fearless confidant of an Empress world-compelling schemes! After great honor and destruction signalized his name, Vitus Behring s stricken ship s company saw him perish here miserably on December 8, 1741. Held in the grasp of ice and storm, ravaged by the awful misery of the scurvy, his dying eyes closed within the very sight of his stranded bark ! The heroic Dane, hid ing in a hollow, dug to claim the friendly warmth of the earth, was half covered with the earth sliding down on him, before he closed his weary eyes! "The meed of glorious deeds," bitterly mused Orlof, "A dog s death! An incredible hardship, crossing Siberia in 1728, building with rude help the first two ships in the North Pacific at Petropauloski, Behring and Tchirikof, (self-devoted), carried out the imperial mandates of the savage genius of Peter the Great! For it was Peter s own hand, relaxing in death, which traced the plan for his lion-hearted women successors to push on in the conquest of Asia, as well as to sweep to the Dardanelles! The rude Alexander of the North had a prophetic brain! Keener in intellect than the godlike young Greek soldier, he aspired to grasp Asia, and even to rule the unprotected shores of North America. Un known seas stopped not his ambitions! Faith, imperial pride, a tyrant s greed of conquest and a dream of the mightiest future realm on earth, to be ruled by his line, under the Russian flag, led Peter to study the story of the hardy Cossack, Deschnew. The world had forgot ten the daring savage, Deschnew, who, rudely fur nished forth, burst, first, into the Arctic Ocean, through its lonely Pacific sea gates! It was in 1648, that the THE PRINCESS OP ALASKA. 75 unknown Cossack sought, though ignorant of naviga tion, for the fabled straits of Anian! He looked for the land of the great northern mystery, with "its Anian Strait and silver mountains, and divers other fabulous tales! " The lonely northern Colossus, the gigantic-minded Peter, left secret orders for the exploration which gave Vitus Behring s name later to the Cossack s discovery. Thirteen years of sailing in unknown seas, gave Behring only a lonely grave, and to-day the Straits of Deschnew bear the intrepid Dane s name! Neither found the fabled treasures! The heirship of Behring has swept Deschnew s name into the oblivion of forgetfulness. And strangers hands reaped the hidden golden har vest!" As Fedor Orlof mused, around the headland, a heavy- sparred American whaler suddenly appeared, driving along under full sail. She hoisted her colors in courtly salute to the corvette, and was soon lost in the flying scud! Orlof went to his den and sunk his head in his hands! It was the mockery of fate! When Lefranc returned, he was greatly agitated at the news of the passing whaler! "It may even have been the Reindeer\" he cried, " McMann has often run in here for a removal of hid den otter furs, seal skins and private -barter, secreted to keep off the local officers! A man should be allowed to steal who has to serve the Emperor here I But, Orlof," he continued, "I find this Prince Zubow has a vast secret influence I Phillippi tells me we are to run up to Plover Bay and Behring Straits to take on the furs, ivory and whalebone belonging to this great schemer! He must have a great hold on Maxutoff! There are some Yankee ships now along the Ochotsk Sea and on 76 HIE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the north coast of Khamschatka! These bold fools think to lay a telegraph around the coast to connect with Europe! It is a gigantic madness, but magnificent] We now may have a chance later to sneak on board of one of them at Plover Bay or the straits, but I fear the Americans might be forced to give us up again! They need to keep the good will of the Starosts of the villages and all our port governors. Only a bold adventurer like McMann can save us! He is lianJ and gfoi f with Prince Zubow! " Orlof s heart sank. " Then ^W-/MV to my liberty, * Pierre! " said Orlof. "The grave alone is open to me! This deadly man has marked me crcn now for his vengeance!" "Oh, he is but a rough Tartar brute! He will forget his rage when he lands among the complaisant beauties of Baranoff castle! No wilder, gayer bacchantes ever raised the chant of Love s madness than these dark- eyed women, social exiles, who pine in idle compan ionship around gentle Princess Beatrice Maxutoff! Zubow will be the Prince Charming of every feast and gay rout in the huge ball room on the rocky hill! He may not forgive, but he will forget!" replied Lefranc. " It is the Tartar roughness! That s all! " "/ hope so, gloomily said Orlof, as he walked away with a strange foreshadowing of future disaster. As the launch swept up, and the noisy party clattered on deck, Orlof saw Zubow s triumphant leer, when the tipsy Prince fixed a malignant glance on him. "He may not, however, be able to harm me! The Czar s prisoner will be tied to his daily toil! " A lightning dart seemed suddenly to rend his heart as he stood transfixed. " My God! Olga! There, alone, with no one to pro- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 77 tect her! Docs he know? Can he know, her history?" As he walked down the gun deck, he noted the Prince whispering to his sleek confidant, Anton Phillippi, the Fur King! They were grinning and laughing. A too faithful memory lifted the veil of Fedor s lonely convict years! Raised above all mercantile acquaintance at home, by his rank, Fedor Orlof had only distantly heard, in his Petersburg days, of the wild extravagance of the sleek speculator whose face he had marked in these last days. He slowly recognized Phillippi, bend ing over the cabin table strewn with gold, in a gambler s eagerness, as he ventured his craft against Zubow s dashing recklessness! The cabin s open door showed him the envious naval officers-watching this high play! " I have surely seen his face before! Ah! God! // was at the Opera I If he, this merchant prince, should remember O/ga!" And Orlof prayed to God that some secret order of the vengeful Czarevitch might keep Olga Darine hidden from these two powerful intriguants. " God keep my helpless beloved!" he groaned in his anguish. "Had Phillippi recognized him? Perhaps!" and the convict, with a shudder, remembered that the mad Count Fedor Orlof s name was on every one s tongue in Petersburg at that former time. This fur stealing con spirator might even know the great Jewish money lend ers who helped to betray him at the last, to the Grand Duke ! For five days, the agitated prisoner hid himself as far as it was possible, while the Seevoutch battled to the north, and the gray dawn of the sixth day showed him the vessel, at anchor, in the beautiful harbor of arctic Plover Bay, hemmed in with its high protecting moun tains. Before them on the shore, the Tchuktche tents 78 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. of whalebone ribs, covered with sewn skins, were sur rounded by groups of the savage natives, squalid, in their fur robes, and surrounded by knots of awkward, hulking reindeer! A stay of a few hours to receive furs and ivory, caused Commander Linieff to have a sudden fancy for a sketch of the outre" scene! At his personal order, Fedor Orlof, provided from the chart room with materials, toiled until the paddle wheels began to revolve after the anchor had been catted. Intent upon his work, Orlof, who had the eye of an artist, was suddenly made the centre of an admiring circle. Commander Linieff was astonished at the convict s ready skill and, turning his back, with warm approval disappeared in his cabin. While Orlof had touched up the last lights and shades, a rude hand suddenly snatched away his sketch block. Several officers colored with shame, as, with a malignant sneer, Prince Zubow handed it around. "This fellow draws well enough! Perhaps, he was a forger as well as murderer! " Orlof s face became purple with a sudden rush of blood! When the youngest officer timidly handed back the drawing, as the ship was speeding out of the har bor, as Zubow was glaring in expectancy at the tor tured noble, with a steady stride, Fedor approached the vessel s side and tossed the drawing into the foamy wake of the wheel! He then turned back, in silence, with a stony face! The Tartar rushed upon him. "Dog, you have dared I" cried Zubow, blind with passion. "Stop there, Prince!" harshly cried the dis gusted Officer of the Deck, "If I report this scene to Commander Linieff, / / will put you and I up at ten paces I Your conduct is unworthy of a man I " The Tartar ruffian strode away in silence, as the officer approached Fedor Orlof, and said: " Can you not tHE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. ?C) reproduce this from memory? Do your best, my poor man! We all wish it ! A suspicious moisture gleamed in Orlof s eye, as, with a fresh sketch block, the scene soon grew into pictured life once more, under his flying fingers. From that moment until the " Seevoutch " reached Sitka Harbor, Prince Zubow never faced the now des perate man. The corvette next day steamed into the narrow arctic inlet with its three midway islands in the thirty-seven miles of the strait through which, for the first time, Orlof gazed into the mystic waters, marked here and there with a floating iceberg, stretching in silence to the unreached North Pole! It was the un- earthy boundary of those unknown seas whose dark mysteries have tempted human sacrifice since the days when Europe was driven mad by the noble Venetian Marco Polo, whose story of Xipangu and Kublai Khan s magnificence were seemingly incredible! But Marco Polo s treasures of Cathay were visible on his return, and feasted the eyes of the brave Venetians, in the storied year 1295! To reach the fabulous wealth of Cathay and Xipangu, the world s adventurers soon dared all ! While Mendez Pinto s tales led William Adams to be the English Columbus of Japan, stout Sir Hugh Willoughby, Barentz, and other heroes had died miserably in these unknown icy seas. A fool s quest! Gold! Always Gold I Looking at East Cape s rocky hill, with its jutting spires of crags in the chill water marking Asia s ex tremity, Fedor Orlof could also turn his eyes to Cape Prince of Wales, which marked the first land of America, his new prison home,, Aliaska! For this ragged peak jutting out was joined by a stretch of low land to the 80 THK rulN CKSS OF ALASKA. forbidding rude hills of Russian America. There he would be the Czar s forgotten slave ! And Olga Three small islands, anchored in the current sweeping from the mystic Arctic Ocean, seemed to be stepping stones for great Peter s leap toward America ! And the stout hearted Empress widow had sent his flag over on its iron rule ! "Wonderful man!" mused Orlof, as the steamer s prow was turned toward Kodiak. " The treasures he sought here have been garnered only by the wily Amer icans 1 For through this n-.rrow gateway Captain Boys, in the Yankee whaler "Superior," in 1848, first led the way to the moving treasures of the ungleaned bowhead whale schools ! Three hundred vessels follow ing within two years, sailed out of Behring Strait with eighteen millions of dollars in cargoes of oil and bone ! This was the real treasure! "Where is the fool s gold?" Under the fitful gleam of the flashing Northern Lights, moody Orlof paced the deck, in marvel at the old world s mad thirst for treasure, as the ship went speeding on to Kodiak! He little recked that the "Seevoutch" was dashing on toward an inlet where the very cliffs were crumbling quartz, richly seamed with the long sought gold! The dark secret was yet hidden ! While through the gray fog of the storm swept Behring Sea, the Prybiloffs loomed up, with their beaches packed with the bellowing fur seals, Orlof wondered at the savage life of the floating ice floes. The spoils of lumbering white bears, human looking seals, their mermaid-like heads darting above the water, weird giant sea cows, and uncouth walrus, white tusked and bearded, as well as wolf, brown bear, black, blue and silver fox, had been added to the plunder of the vessel s landings! Swinging at anchor at last in Kodiak harbor, Orlof listened to Pierre Lefranc s uneasy regrets. The hand of a traitor s destiny had smit- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 8l ten him, and confidence was a thing of the past! Orlof was finally suspicious! "I am not to be permitted to land, Fedor!" the Gaul fal tered, " Prince Maxutoff has sent orders for me to be brought down to Sitka! Some future transfer of the great American Kingdom of the Czar must be in view! I may never meet McMann again! He may lose his treasure island! I may die under the rule of the jailer! Who knows if my order of release will ever come! The bustle of conference, the sound of revelry, floated off from the shores of St. Paul! Kodiak s frowning hills now hung over them. It was the last stop! Several glit tering officials now joined the noisy revellers in the ward room, as passengers, when the " Seevoutch " turned her prow to Sitka! The day of facing his fate rapidly neared Fedor Orlof, now a prey to every doubt and fear! Pierre Lefranc shunned him now at night! The open- hearted noble, living only on his sorrows, dreamed not that the debased Frenchman was nightly conspiring with Prince Zubow! // was indeed so! The impetuous Tartar million aire s brain was strong and rugged. His mental self-will was as wildly unrestrained as the breezes sweeping down the Obi and Yenisei over his native Steppes! And his ready gold enslaved Lefranc. Brooking no restraint, aware of the immense diffusion of the Czar s power, Serge Zubow had easily bought his way everywhere in victory! His molten gold, bearing the Czar s stamp, corrupted the very haughtiest officials of the Crown! " Let these official fools laugh, sun themselves in woman s flickering smile, battle over the green board, or play the water fly of gaudy court shows, / am marching straight onward to an equal rank with the Demidoffs and Galitzins! For my gold!" he laughed, " opens woman s heart, blinds 82 TIIE PRINCESS OK justice and bends these improvident officials as my pliant tools! / shall conquer." 1 Under pretense of using Lefranc to design a vessel for their future Ochotsk trade, Anton Phillippi and Prince Serge Zubow spent the evenings of the five days run from Kodiak to Sitka, closeted with the pliant Frenchman! There was a freemasonry of easy deviltry which led the partners to throw off the mask! " Gregory Maxutoff is an old friend of mine," cried Zubow, "if you serve us in devotion, I will make your prison chains golden! " " Ma foi ! Load them on, now, Prince ! 1 can bear them! " smiled Lefranc, musing on the uselessness of Fedor Orlofs companionship to him. For, as on the morn they would enter Sitka harbor, Anton Phillippi, cool and wise, mused upon the far reaching plans which the two scoundrels had laid to defraud the Imperial Treasury, as well as to scram ble for all possible rights and concessions before foggy Ali- aska would be transferred to the United States! "Any contracts, franchises, deeds or entries made under our Imperial law will hold after tJie transfer, Serge!" said Phillippi, when Lefranc sneaked back to his humble den with lonely Fedor Orlof. The ex-guardsman, proudly wrapped in the isolation of his sorrow, deigned not to question Pierre. " Giving his scientific knowledge in return for broken meats, a little wine, a handful of cigars and a few roubles! French complaisance bought with a pastry cook s bribe!" And yet, Fedor Orlof bided his time in peace, for even this parasite was his superior now! He bore no ban for life, and, on his favor, might hang the slender line of com munication with poor Olga, once the object of a Crown Prince s advances! " Mark me ! Phillippi," said Zubow, slowly, as he drained a huge glass of vodki and water, when Sitka harbor THE PRIftc/ESS OF ALASKA. 83 lights were seen twinkling in the far south, " We must separate these prisoners! Lefranc is very adroit, curse him! If we are going to hide the stolen tribute furs and get them to a foreign market, this fellow is a good navigator and in dispensable to us! As an ex-convict, no one would believe his story! I am afraid of Prince Maxutoff! He is pliant enough, but he has foolish notions about betraying the Emperor and all such nonsense! It is giant stake to play for! Besides, Beatrice Maxutoff is no fool! I never could hoodwink the Princess! Her clear, womanly eyes pierce my very soul! Devil take her? She s a good woman and diamonds will not shut her eyes! I can not manage her!" " Do not fret, Serge," answered the Fur King. This Orlof is bold and spirited. Tempt him to escape! An extra bottle of vodki, a few Imperials, and the sentinel will drop him with an ounce ball in his brain! This French scoundrel will betray him, we can leave the way ap parently open for an attempted escape! I am sorry though for Orlof! He is as brave as an eagle of the Caucasus! But his rank and high birth make him feel his shame bitterly! We only need one of these men! Mark me! He will die, but never stoop or cringe! Yes, Serge," concluded Anton, dallying with a fresh cigarette, "Kill him off, in some quiet way!" "Stay!" hoarsely cried Zubow, whose unslaked revenge was flooding his brain with a fiery tide, " McMann will run his whaler in here to get my orders about carrying off our otters and ivory lying now at Anadyr Gulf! I will not put myself in this Lefranc s power! I ll get Aleck McMann to//// Orlof out of the way! Now, first, to separate them! Gre gory Maxutoff is a lunatic on the subject of Aliaskan gold! He thinks the Emperor will make him Prince of Alaska if he finds it! He insists that the most promising fields should be located before any treaty of cession is signed. Of course, the Emperor would then only get his tenth and 84 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Maxutoff hopes to hold the grants himself and leave his wife rich, and that pretty fay, Irma, a splendid future dowry! The little Princess would be a star in Russia! It is true, there is a little gold always to be traded for among the Eskimo! I will tell Prince Gregory that this Orlof fellow is an expert in all the latest gold mining science, and has explored the Siberian gold fields! // is true! Linieff told me that Orlofs report on the rhines was a blessing to Count Fersen. Maxutoff will then send the dandy at once away on some fool s errand, if I ask! I will then reach him, reach him, if he were on ice floe in the Arctic! No man ever braved Serge Zubow, and lived!" " Don t let that Tartar fury of yours ^//Wyou, Serge! Do you forget that / have made you the Czar s partner? Siberia s furs, the Behring seals and otters, ivory and priceless fox skins the million roubles worth is almost ours! Curb your fury! We wish to ship our private divi dends to China, Japan, or even America! As for your revenge, don t be a fool! It may cost us too dear!" " I can wait," growled Zubow, as the "Seevoutch " ran into Sitka Sound and anchored for the night, before thread ing the dangerous labyrinth of sunken rocks and islands masking New Archangel. The tall form of Orlof, an uneasy watcher of the night, met Zubow s gaze, as the Fur King left him, laughingly whispering, " Now, don t be a fool! We want no midnight duel to the death! Think of that lovely prima donna in disguise!" Zubow started! The lurking devil in him, woke, as, showing his grinning, white teeth, he strode to his cabin and smilingly drained a glass of cognac, "To the Prima Donna!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 85 CHAPTER IV. IN THE SITKA CHURCH THE LITTLE PRINCESS OF ALASKA FINDS A LOST LOVER IN THE GOVERNOR S WORKING ROOM THE ESKIMO S STORY UNKNOWN SEAS THE ISLAND SURVEY A NEW MONTE CRISTO OLGA DARINE S TRUST. When Fedor Orlof awoke to the day he had long waited for in his heart hunger, he sprang eagerly to the ship s side. There in the lovely bay, below Mount Edgecumbe s snow- filled crater, lay the long jutting point, with its great three- storied castle proudly dominating the native huts stretched along a dreary lake. High perched on the rocky cliff, over Baranoffs huge stronghold, the blue and white St. An drew s cross spoke of that mighty power whose iron hand stretched thousands of miles over Siberian wastes to grasp here the closed seas of Behring! Dark masses of gloomy straggling trees clung to the castle cliffs. To the right under the protecting guns of the mansion fortress, the towers of the great cruciform Greek church arose on the thin blue air! It was a great feast day of his national creed! As the musical bells swelled out in their solemn peals, Fedor Orlof s eyes filled with tears! For he had no part in God s blessed peace! No happy voice within him whispered of a Savior s love! Forgiveness of the past he dared not hope for, as his haggard eyes rested on the hand which smote his brave old kinsman on that night of fatal madness! He was unshriven unforgiven! Not for him God s holy peace! The ship s boats were soon lowered, and the boatswain s call mustered the crew to land and swell the audience lis- 6 86 THE PRINCESS O* ALASKA. tening to the gorgeous ceremonial of the bearded Greek bishop, in his princely vestments. Fedor lingered sad at heart, his eyes turning from the quaint Eskimo, in their splendid canoes, to the beautiful gorge of Indian River, and all the varied beauties of the picturesque northern harbor. The pines on the far hills sent down their incense of peace and the air of freedom blown from American shores, now fanned the aching brow of the noble convict. In wild medley, the rejoicing crew hastened to effect a landing. Fedor Orlof started, as over his tea and hard bread, he heard the merry shouts: "All hands ashore for the church parade! " " You convicts are also to be landed! It is a legal feast day! " growled a quartermaster. And Pierre Lefranc s eyes dropped guiltily before his friend s glance, for already he was Prince Zubow s paid spy! But Orlof s heart was only thrilling with the thought of Olga Darine! His earthly divinity! There, beyond the silent waters, perchance from her prison window, she now gazed at the weather beaten corvette, grimy with its Arctic struggles with the wild waves! Did her lonely heart cling still to her lost lover? Fedor was as pale as marble in his guarded ecstasy of pain! The surrounding bay brought back to the ruined gentle man, dreams of lovely Naples, with the sweep of its blue gulf, and the silver-tipped mountains hovered over him with their everlasting benediction! Orlof thought of peerless Olga Darine as he saw her last, her eyes shining with all the tenderness of the hap less love for which she had risked the golden years of her life! He dared not breathe his hope of a meeting at Sitka, to Lefranc! His good angel sealed his impetuous lips! The Frenchman was, however, strangely jubilant! Al- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 7 ready he felt assured of his ultimate freedom, if not of a future fortune! " Why should I now complicate myself with any desper ate attempt at escape? " he mused, as the two prisoners made their hurried preparations for landing. " I may find pardon, even reinstatement, in the favor of these rich schemers! Serge Zubow seems to have a subtle influence over all governmental agents. Has he also a ring of con cealed partners at the capital? Friends, these might be his in that corrupt net work ever reaching its golden webs around the Russian throne! As for Orlof, he is only a sentimental dreamer, and his unbroken pride may lead him to a rebel prisoner s grave! I will keep out of his affairs! He is of no use to me now! And yet he knows of my earlier schemes! I must keep his confidence, and trust to fortune to finally separate us! Zubow hates him! Orlof will not be likely to follow me in the hidden service of these daring conspirators! " As the officers and crew manned the boats, the two con victs were roughly huddled in with the common sailors. Fedor s heart beat high as they glided over the glassy waves towards the beach where the fierce Kalushes entrap ped and murdered Tchirikoff s two boat s crews, in 1741. Here, in this bay, French, Spanish and English explorers for two hundred years had vaguely sought for the hidden golden northern treasures ! Keener eyed than greedy Spaniard, wiser than the ill-fated French, more discerning than the stolid English or the gold-seeking Russians, in eighteen hundred and ten, with an unheard of individual enterprise, the private flag of John Jacob Astor fluttered here on his trading ship " Enterprise! " The richest Amer ican of his generation had only followed the lead of the richest American of revolutionary times, for Astor s boat only filled itself with the rich skins and priceless furs sought for in seventeen hundred and ninety-two, by Yankee Cap- 88 TIN-: I KINCKSS ol ALASKA. tain Gray, of Boston, Massachusetts, who piloted General George Washington s ship, the " Columbia!" The Father of his Country had as keen an eye to the commercial future of the United States, as to the political principles adapted to the Republic s future in his immortal Farewell Address! He saw the star of Empire, in his dreams, on its west ward way! It was here, in Sitka sound, that the flags of England, Russia and the United States met now in the peaceful con junction of ardent territorial extension! Peter the Great, dying in 1725, in the arms of the heroic camp follower whom he had crowned as Empress the year before, left his policy clearly mapped out, of seizing Northwestern America, as a sacred legacy to his wily wife and bold daughter! Right well and truly did Catherine I. begin the now sacred work! Following to the grave in two years, the man who had made her the greatest Empress on earth, Catherine trusted the design to their brave daughter! And when the blood stained diadem of Russia glittered on Elizabeth Petrovna s brow, she loyally fiulnlled the dying mandates of her genius CTOWfttd father and mother! Tchir- ikoff s strong hand, at her bidding, seized these mystic shores, already dominated, in thought, by dead Peter s dauntless mind! The reign of the Russian knout and shackles of Musco vite force, of lust and fraud, began! The peaceful Eskimo yielded up millions as tribute paid in furs of surpassing richness some of qualities as yet unknown to European luxury! And that dark minister of Hell, gunpowder, loosened its voice here on September 26, 1745, for on the island of Agoto, Chuprofs fierce Russians shot in wanton sport, the first unsuspecting native! Murder must reign first where civilization breaks in ! Civilization s MWr bap tism ! The Czarina s flag was a herald of untold misery! Ac- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 89 cursed be the hour when Tchirikoff ploughed into these peaceful Arctic waves! Fifty years of murder and wanton arctic bloodshed rivalled even the butcheries of the relent less Spaniards in their first American forays! It was a mere brutal delight in blood which caused Feodor Solovieff, in the name of the Czarina, to butcher three thousand natives with his own hand! Nero and Caligula s grim shades would joy at meeting the dark Russian assassin! - Captive Orlof, as he stepped, an abject convict, on the strand at Sitka, shuddered as he gazed on the great wind ing stairs leading up to the frowning castle of three huge houses, stockaded and manned with a fierce soldiery, backed by ready artillery! There were fat fluttering robes of women already winding slowly down towards the great log church! From the high double tower over the porch, the sweet bells chimed on this peaceful Sabbath morn! The great cross shaped edi fice, with its bell shaped timber dome, showed bravely its gaudy green roofs and golden summit crosses in the Autumn sunlight ! And was her beloved form nearing him? He groaned in helpless suffering a prisoner! Here was the symbol of the pure orthodox Byzantine faith! Fedor Orlof, touching, first as a disgraced felon, the American strand, forced his way through a crowd of jeering soldiers, frowsy natives and idle renegades, and realized at last his degraded position! Fixing his eyes on vacancy, he mutely followed his guards, keeping step in silence with Pierre Lefranc. -- The prisoners marched swiftly along over the beach where heartless Solovieff caused to be bound twelve helpless Aleuts, and firing his heavily charged musket found to his delight that he had killed nine human beings at one shot! Blessed be the flag not stained with such hellish atroci ties ! The coming of intelligent Baranoff, in 1799, for QO [ III. I KIV ESS 01 A! .A twenty- eight years, gave at least a uniform severity to the ferocity of the Muscovite invaders. Here, before he planted a settlement, bold Baranoflf saw the Unalaska native uprising of 1762 repeated! It was while the Governor was absent, carrying out the plans of the great Shelikoff, that BaranofFs Russian garrison was suddenly butchered by a rebellion of the wild, maddened Kalushes! In 1804, returning with three heavily armed vessels, the sturdy tyrant scourged the Sitkan village wtth his heavy guns, and then builded his great castle, in grim defiance, on old chief Katalan s hill! Around this natural fortifica tion, in filth and squalor, the expiring Aleuts linger to-day, under the starry flag of our Republic, which has replaced, by purchase from a tyrant, the emblem of Russia s insolent do minion! Great Peter s lineal heir sold to us for paltry gold, the dominion of a land where fifty thousand butchered natives, scattered in unknown graves, add to the horrors clinging to that row of marble tombs in the Imperial Rus sian mausoleum on the Neva! God s judgment waits! Orlof s eyes were downcast, as past the richly dressed officials, through a line of curious strangers, the crew of the " Seevoutch" filed devoutly into the great church. Flushed with wine, his hands sparkling with gems, rich Prince Serge Zubow lazily gossiped at the door with some high officers whose breasts were covered with glittering badges of honor. Orlof caught quickly a passing scowl as Zubow s eye met his! His threatening hatred was soon forgotten, for Orlof heard in dismay a jeering inquiry, "Ah! Maxutoff, shall we today hear your hidden song bird? Or, do you keep her for your own delight alone? " Fedor Orlof, with the second nature devotion of the high born Russian, dropped on his knees, in the gloomy corner THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. QI assigned him! He was frozen with a sudden terror! " My God! This fiend knows the history of Olgd! " And as he gazed on the barbaric richness of the altar and its jeweled shrines, Fedor Orlof, the outcast felt abandoned of God and man! The mass began. As he prayed, in a helpless, mental panic, the deep musi cal voice of the Slavonic celebrant rolled out in its reso nant bass. An answering choir of boy voices swelled on high in answering childish treble. He could scarcely see the pillared dome, the great over hanging silver chandeliers, the richness of the paintings wherefrom the blessed Redeemer smiled in promise and the Holy Virgin gazed down in ineffable love! For his eyes were clouded in piteous sorrow! Before the jewelled altars with their opened gold bronze doors bearing images of saint and angel carved in purest silver, the priests in flushing vestments of princely richness, loudly implored the throne of Grace! There was a hush of expectation! The unhappy noble raised his eyes, for the Governor- General s official party had now entered, and the rustle of the robes of the ladies was faintly heard upon the smooth floor of polished white cedar. The aristocrats arranged themselves in rows in the nave, which was devoid of seats, while, with a quivering heart, OrloPs eyes were lifted to scan face after face! There was no mistake as to Prince Gregory Maxutoff! Pale of cheek, with a gentle wavering light of the eye, his air of dominion and reserve marking the easy going noble, still a certain vacillation clung to his handsome weak face. By his side, earnest eyed and serious, clad in richest robes of otter and black fox, with a priceless sable collar of state, stood the Princess Beatrice Maxutoff. Her wist ful face was pale and her dark womanly eyes gleamed over the serried mass of sailors, and, tender as a Murillo 92 THi: I KIN ALASKA. Madonna, rested on Orlof s handsome face! " Did she r. ti gnisc him? " The prisoner prayed for oblivion! "She knows of my terrible past! The curse of innocent />/cod! The ban of shame! " thought the sad convict, as he dropped his eyes and shunned the gentle lady s gaze. When he timidly glanced at her again, a beautiful girl of five years was clinging to the mother s delicately gloved hand. Fedor Orlof was in a dream as the music swelled and mingled with the chanted prayers. Around the princely Governor General of Walrussia and his stately wife, were gathered a bright and happy throng of ladies and men of evident rank. The winsome child was to be the little Princess of Alaska at the Czar s nod! So dreamed her fond sire! The transition from the squalor of the corvette s steerage, and the rude surroundings of his convict cabin on the wild Amur to this rich and stately interior, brought back to Orlof the happy olden days when he breathed the air of free dom-. when to him clung the invisible nimbus of birth and rank! He caught the vain glances of Lefranc gazing at the official cortege; all happy in the superstitious religious exultation of a Russian Church feast day! For once, the prisoners were really actuated by the same craving ft., r freedom ! " The poorest servant of one of the officers there seemed a king," so said once wretched Dostvieffsky, in his "Ten Years of Living Death." "Everything we could imagine in a free man, compared with prisoners at least! They had no irons on their limbs, their head was not shaven, they could go when, and where they liked, with no brutal soldiers to menace and escort them! " And so, across the lane left between the bond and the free, the two disgraced officers gazed in envy at happy Prince Maxutoff s guard of honor. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 93 It was but for a moment that Fedor Orlof s heart sank in a wild spasm of regret for his wasted years! The ghost of an old, lost love, of the fond, mad passion which chained him still, warmed his heart. The beautiful brown-eyed child had caught the singular beauty of OrloPs pale manly face, and it was marble white, when the Princess again fixed her eyes upon him in surprise! Orlof started forward, as the holy mystery of the mass proceeded, for from behind a veiled screen, a voice as thrillingly clear as the springing sky lark, broke on the hushed silence of the worshipers! Swelling, rising and floating in pleading melody, through the great interior, its rich accents chained the listeners with a sudden astonish ment! It was Olga the lost love of old! To Fedor Orlof, the silver strain was an angel s voice! For there, his unfaltering eyes dimmed with happy tears, he heard again the matchless music which had thrilled him often /;/ a far off world, so long forgotten now! It was Olga Darine, in very truth! Beneath the convict gray, the distracted lover s heart vainly struggled to burst the very bonds of the flesh! The same air of God s holy temple, now thrilling under her exquisite pleading, was breathed by them in peace, and her intoned prayer to the almighty filled his heart with a peace beyond all words! It was the blessed realization that she was at last near him! That her beloved spirit still clung to its framing casket, the graceful form he had so often clasped to his breast in truest love! Ah! God! To glance but once behind that cedar screen, to see the pale proud face, her golden hair crowning the fair young brow! To gaze into her dark Hungarian eyes, gleaming in tenderness, their liquid depths murmur ing her loving heart s purest passion! " With a quick gasp he recovered his self-control as the voice ceased! He would have fallen but for one lightning 94 *HE I klNCKSS OF ALASK thought! As the floating strains died upon the air, fra grant with incense, and the chorus swelled in an appeal to the Most High, broken by the resounding, deep voice of the ministering celebrant, Orlofs anxious eyes strayed anxiously to the malicious bright face of his dreaded princely enemy! There was a knowing smile and a sneer of eager deviltry playing on Serge Zubow s brutal counten ance! The Siberian palatine was whispering meaningly now to smooth Phillippi, and over his dull face settled the tiger-like expectation of the waiting villian! The prisoner shuddered. The leer of triumph betrayed the villian s thoughts! "I must be calm! Oh! God! Give me wisdom now! Guide me for her sake! " thought Fedor Orlof, steeling his heart to a stoic calmness, though his white lips whispered, " For my own innocent darling s sake! " "If I could only meet iier! But how can I, a guarded prisoner, hope to reach her here!" He glanced at the vapid, skeptical Frenchman by his side. "I will trust to the God of the friendless, not to you, paltry flatterer! cringing suppliant! " he murmured in his sudden pain. The minutes crawled slowly away, and in a grand burst of a triumphant chorus, the passion play in God s temple on these Alaskan shores, reeking with the blood of the innocent natives, was at an end! The throng of worship ers broke slowly up. A chorus of joyous salutations swelled around! For all not tabooed by the laws of honor, there were hearty handshakings and warm greetings, even to the lowest in station. But while the sailors, in holiday dress and bright side-arms, remained massed in a compact body, the officers obsequiously greeted in a throng the princely representative of the mighty Czar, Alexander II! In his august name, Prince Maxutoff smiled and bowed, the officers paying their homage to the refmedly gentle Prin- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Q5 cess with the customary salute of a kiss upon her slender hand. Of all the happy circle, Orlof and Lefranc alone stood unnoticed and despised! To the easy-going French man it was only one more petty humiliation! To Fedor Orlof it was a negation of his natural rights as a man, a Russian orthodox Christian, a noble, and a companion of the sword! Alas! he was under the ban of crime! As he stood irresolute, the Prince s pretty child cleared with a few steps the vacant space between the prisoner and the glittering official group. Attracted by the bright faced, distinctive beauty of the ruined soldier, the little girl shyly said, "And won t you too, kiss my mamma s hand?" It was as the voice of an angel! Soon, with a gentle inclination of her head, Princess Beatrice nodded to a graceful form in black, now at her side. The child s departure was noted! All eyes were turned on him! The convict noble and the budding Princess of Alaska! Fedor Orlof s very heart stopped its beating as the light step of his lost love, now strangely found again, his beloved, approached! Entering from the choir stalls it was only to receive the Princess summons to reclaim the pretty truant! She neared the man who braved a Czar s wrath for her sake! A few seconds and Olga was at his side! Bending over the willful fairy, Princess of Alaska, she whispered, "Irma! you must come with me! " and then the dreamy eyes met her lover s in one speechless glance of ravishing tenderness! It pierced Fedor Orlof s very soul! For the sweet spell was on him once again! It was a thrilling greeting! A true soul s recognition! A world of thankfulness for the fate that had brought them once more face to face, and the new pledge of a deathless love! Olga turned in silence! A rustle of her robes and she was gone! Fedor Orlof never moved, but stood, apparently, awaiting the guard s 96 THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. orders to depart! The happy worshipers filed out of the entrance, and then the smart voices of command broke the silence as the disciplined sailors marched forth to their return to the ship and their waiting feast. As Fedor fell in behind the marching column Lefranc whispered, " What a beauty! Did you see her? " 11 See whot " absently muttered Orlof, speaking as if in a dream! Lefranc shrugged his shoulders, " Orthodox fool" he muttered, " gazing at the pictured saints and forgetting the sight of this dainty Eve! " At the door the excited lover noted, as they righted the onward movement of the column, a whispered colloquy between Prince Maxutoff and his enemy, Serge Zubow, now leaning forward eagerly. He addressed the Governor General. "Thafs the fellow! The tall one! " sharply said the harsh-voiced Tartar. "Ah! I ll order him ashore to-morrow," was the response in Prince Maxutoff s lazy, restrained voice, modulated by a refined softness. The brightness of a new-found heaven of anticipation shone in Fedor s heart! Hope leaped up triumphant, for besides the promise of these cheering words, he had gazed for one happy minute wort in Olga Darine s eyes, as she stood near him, the laughing child playing with her restraining hand! Though all speech was denied them, the two loving souls, intent upon each other s heart history, could safely signal in the burning glances of their meeting eyes, "All is well! " Fedor was wildly happy at heart, for the dear one whose face had gazed so long upon his lonely dream- haunted pillow, boie still the freshness of peace and beauty on her pure brow! No sin or shame had ploughed its furrow ou tae buoyant brightness of her calm counten- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 97 ance! "Thanks be to God!" mused Orlof. " The close companionship of the noble lady has been my poor darl ing s shield in her time of danger! The little Princess has saved her! God bless the child! " And knowing now of the possible chance of his further detention at Sitka, Fedor was happy at heart, for the long, lonely day, as he sought his gloomy bulkhead on the ship. He had watched with a secret delight, Olga s graceful springing step, as she mounted the rocky slope toward Baranoff Castle. There was womanhood, life and love in her every attitude! He was thankful to God to have seen her dear face thus, once more, even though speech was denied them! And while he secretly joyed over Lefranc s partial ignorance, the Frenchman was slyly counselling with his new masters ! Prince Zubow was this day Particularly jubilant! He chuckled toPhillippi: " Maxutoff is a simple goose! He is mad as a March hare about his fabled gold mines, and will now shut himself up to study the coast maps with this convict-fellow, Orlof ! We are well rid of his sharp eyes! Haughty as he is, he is no fool! And we can now do as we please in the port, while Maxutoff moons with this convict gold hunter to be!" Poor Orlof slept all unconscious of this stroke of an in credible good fortune! The wild winds rocked him to sleep as the corvette swung at her chains! Long after the wassail in the great second story ban queting hall had ceased, beautiful Olga Darine gazed from her high window on the swinging red and green lights marking the corvette s anchorage as the graceful cruiser veered idly with the tide! Baranoff Castle was dark and still! Only the cry of the wild sea bird sailing by the impregnable rock, or the sen tinel s hoarse call broke the impressive stillness of the night! The stockade gates were closed and locked, and in the guard house casemates, two companies. of picked troops 98 Tin PRIN< ! 5S OP ALAS1 watched the lofty eyrie where Governor Maxutoff s wife and little heiress peacefully slumbered. Below the cliff, in a huge three-storied warehouse, were garnered up two million dollars worth of Imperial tribute furs! Secure in the twenty-four inch log walls, baled and bundled, were thousands of the sleek rich otter furs, the pelts of the shyest animals of the watery world! A boy at play might lift a thousand pounds worth! In light packets of fifty, cased in tin, were the weasel-like skins of priceless Russian sable, the coveted spoil of Khamschatka and far Kodiak! One oblong pair of the richest black hue, whose inch deep fur of silky softness indicated fifty years of Siberian solitude, would bring a hundred golden imperials at Petersburg! A prattling child might roll away a bale worth ten thousand pounds! An arctic treasury of spoil wrung, from the starving Aleuts ! The Czar s tribute ! Black, blue, golden and silver fox skins, ermine, by the thousand, by the million, the marten, tons of the fossil walrus ivory, huge piles of wolf, bear and river otter, rein deer, deer, beaver skins and other peltry, whalebone by the tens of thousands of pounds and scores of thousands of salted fur seal skins, filled these great storehouses with the distant Emperor s annual tribute. For of the whole world, the PrybilofTs and Komandorski groups were the chosen home of the mysterious marine wonder the "sea bears!"- Callorhinus Ursinus, the eared seal, a rover of the ocean, had long sought his peaceful breeding place in those quiet fog hidden islands! Over the future harvest of the floating treasure, Serge Zubow and sly Anton Phillippi merrily plotted in their cups, while lovely Olga Darine looked out alone in the clear starlit night! Her heart clung to her convict lover in his sad solitude! The call of Love thrilled her! Tin- past returned with all its vanished promise!- PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 99 Under her window, the tall Muscovite officers of the Guard, with knightly chivalry, closely inspected the sen tries, for at any moment, a cloud of Yankee pirate traders might swoop down on Sitka! A foreign war vessel might bring the news of a new European conflict by its hostile broadside, though the jagged rocks of Sitka Channel pre vented a quick surprise of this kind! And even the wild Kalushes, crazed with their tribal wrongs, might creep in by the exquisite vale of Indian River and put all to the sword, and destroy the Czar s tribute with the magic touch of their best friend, Fire! It had been easily done in Baranoff s time, when he left his unsuspecting garrison behind! But the Crimean War and the American Civil War had waked up the easy going Russians, and Gregory Maxutoff, though slumbering now under richest silk canopies, in the fair upper room, cedar lined, was a keen, alert dis ciplinarian! His trust was an important one! "And his child must be the Princess of Alabka!" So he kept his watch, to earn this glittering dignity! The great second floor, arranged for ceremonies, so that one vast assembly hall could be made by the removal of its partitions, was only tenanted now by the golden framed portraits of the land s rulers, haughty Czars, and beautiful Czarinas! Here, as in every room of orthodox Russia, the icons and holy pictures had the highest place of honor in a reserved corner! Tyranny and devotion side by side ! In a safe corner of the first floor, adjoining the great state chamber of the princely pair, laughing little Irma Maxutoff had closed her tired eyes in the happy sleep of childhood, guarded by the singer queen! It was the pretty snow bird s dainty nest! Ever pacing through the great halls of the castle, the warders of the night made hourly inspections, on tip toe, 100 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. lest the Czar s vice-gerent might wake! As the midnight hour sounded from the distant church, where the formal summons of a state worship seemed ever pealing on the air, Olga leaned over the sleeping girl and kissed her rosy lips! For she had now loosened her gown, and on her knees beside the prie dieu, implored the mercy of God for her unfortunate lover! Bend as she would before the gracious Saviour and the Murillo-like Virgin, framed in gems and silver, where the fragrant altar lamp alone lit up her room, warmed by the crackling birch logs blazing on the hearth, the loving woman saw only Fedor Orlof s eyes! His love alone filled her longing heart! "God help me! / love him too much to aid him! I must think! My Fedor! Poor tortured heart!" She recalled sadly that youthful whirl of passion which turned him away from his mental balance! She alone in the world knew that he was only the victim of an unhappy delirium! The sacrifice of Fate! The pale, aristocratic face of the high-souled Orlof haunted her now! It was fw mean thief who burst into the cabinet to seize by force the means to bribe her way out of Russia s menacing dangers! Her lover sinned only to save her from an Imperial volupt uary s arms! It was not for murder that Fedor struck blindly, in the night, his tiger nature at last aroused! It was to secure his freedom and her own life \ Would he not have left all his lands, fortune, titles, wealth, his high rank and even the kind favor of an Empress, to wander over the world happy alone with her! And God had spared to this time, Olga Darine, the knowledge of aught else but some unfortunate tragedy! She knew not that fatherless Vera Orlof, weeping at Stephan s tomb, dared not think, as she dropped the wreath of Russian violets on her Mre s silent breast, of the once beloved Cousin Fedor! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 1O1 The unwitting killing of his kinsman! It was a fatal chance! "How can I contrive to reach him! Where shall I see him? " cred Olga, her soft dark Magyar eyes veiled in tears. The gentle child stirred in her sleep, and reached out to her two loving arms! In an ecstasy of love and plead ing passion, Olga threw herself on her knees by Alaska s little Princess, who was gently smiling in her sleep? " May God give him to me again! My noble Fedor!" she whispered, " and while I have shared angel Beatrice MaxutofFs home in peace, my brave lover has been under the black prison ban of Siberia! Fedor! Fedor! Fedor! If these arms clasp you once again, to my bosom, we will die together! Even Fate shall not divide us !" Eight bells on the " Seevoutch," found the officers busied next morning in the mysteries of "grand tenue" toilette, for the midday feast, whereat the Governor Gen eral would formally welcome his guests! On the morrow, the "Seevoutch," emerging into dainty nautical full dress from the battering of the long Arctic voyage, would be vis ited in state, by the official cortege, headed by the debo nair Prince Maxutoff. The decks swarmed with the busy crew at work! Before stately Commander Linieff left his cabin he sent for Fedor Orlof, now a momentary prey to every anxiety! They were alone in the cabin, while Linieff, in all the splendor of his rank, sipped his coffee, after morning reports. "Sit down, Orlof," he said kindly, "I have received an order to send you on shore here, under a guard, to Baran- off Castle. For the present, you will be attached to Prince Maxutoff s person, as scientific clerk. It will be far easier than ordinary prison life, and I hope that you will be enabled to shorten your long term by future valuable ser vices to the Governor. Good luck to .you! I wish to thank 7 102 -I llK I RINX ESS OF ALASKA. you for the handsome set of drawings! Now, I ll send you ashore at once, in the dingy. Get your little things together. Here, this may be of some use!" the manly sailor held out a rouleau of gold, while his bronzed face crimsoned. Don t, don t refuse, my poor friend! It may help you in some sad hour of need? I have sent a package of Petersburg papers and some other little things into the boat, for you!" Fedor Orlof was stunned with such manly kindness, and the sudden happiness of being busied near his lost darling melted his proud heart! He brushed a tear from his eye, and brokenly said: "I thank you, commander, and I will take your gold! God bless you!" He stepped for ward, and by an impulse, their hands met. "I am sorry for you, Orlof! God knows I ami But Maxutoff s a good fellow! He will treat you with some regard to your birth and real merit! Go! Beware of Zubow! " he whispered. Ah! Gallant sailor heart, it beats generously under every flag, on every sea! The mariner stands by the help less in frank cordiality! "I am to be sent on shore, Pierre," coldly said Orlof to the Frenchman, as he gathered up his few belongings. He little knew that Commander Linieff had sent a complete outfit from the ship s stores into the boat, so that only the black patch of the convict coat told next day of his past squalor. "Blessed are the merciful!" This wreath lingers on gallant LiniefFs lonely grave to-day, in the God s acre at Nagasaki, where he was later stricken down by chol era s dread scourge. His admiral s flag was only lowered to King Death! "Oh! I will see you sooni Perhaps it is better, Fedor!" dissembled Lefranc. " They will keep me busy some days on board! Bonne chance, camaradcl" The easy familiarity grated on Orlof s ear. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 103 "Fool! Blind fool!" muttered Lefranc, as Fedor Orlof turned a last sad glance at his floating prison, " Zubow s dark eye follows you! You have doomed yourself!" and Lefranc to his morning vodki in Prince Zubow s cabin, for he was now the secret naval engineer of a vast con spiracy! He had dropped Orlof from his life, for the pres ent as a mere puppet of fate, useless and unnoticed! On through the fleet of quaint Indian canoes, each hol lowed from a single giant cedar, the man-o -war s boat sped shoreward! High-prowed, filled with rum-besotted natives, their paddles flashing in air, these painted vessels of the savages were hideously brilliant in ochres and pig ments! It was a weird scene! Past the squalid Indian villages where the uncouthly carved totem poles towered fifty feet in the air, the ship s boat glided to the rocky strand. Grinning figures sur mounted the tall masts of family symbols, or ancestral tribe, carved into rude shapes of the bear, walrus and seal! A death in life, a desolation, lay around : for the crowded graveyard was near the crumbling Indian huts! Rum, the dark minister of Hell, was at its unerring game of wholesale murder! The ivory, ostrich feathers, gold dust, furs and palm oil, the whalebone, spoils of the chase, the untainted woman hood, all the poor riches of the indigenes of the world, continually groped over by conquerors since the fifteenth century, have been sold for Hell s darkest brew, the trader s rum! Drink! Drink! Whether the silver-necked siren of Veuve Cliquot, the fiery stream of Kentucky s still, or the drugged potion of the slave trader, the mod ern freebooter, or coarse frontier sutler on this burning tide of alcohol, the undying spirit of sin, of crime, of rapine and murder, has entered the soul of reckless man or helpless woman ever since the Devil found his High Priest pf Hell ready at his hand! 104 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "Jump out, prisoner!" rudely bawled the guard, as the boat s keel grated on the sand. "Hold on, sentinel!" said a young middy. " You can come up with these natives and see these things delivered at the guard room! I will take this prisoner up mysflf to Prince Maxutoff and get a written receipt for him! " "I am ready," said the young officer, quietly, as Orlof stood chafing in useless rage on the strand, and Fedor only then realized the exquisite courtesy of the bluff Commander! Toiling up the great stairs, his eye roving over the witch ing beauty of the grand Sitka Archipelago, spread out below him, Fedor Orlof hardly dared to breathe, when his foot crossed the threshold of the castle of Baranoff ! The same roof covered them now! His long lost darling waited him here! He stood, between two sentinels, in the guard ante-room while an Adjutant reported to Prince Maxutoff! He knew the old romantic tales of wild adventures, of woe and wassail, of love s tragedies and human despair, clinging to the huge stronghold mansion fort! The rattle of gold at the gaming table, the shouts of drunken carousal, the sighs of helpless womanhood, and the last groans of sad captives led out from here to summary execution! The yells of battle wild, the proud huzzas of victory, echoed in thought through the silent rooms of the vast timber citadel! It was at once a palace, a prison, a fort and a home! To Orlof, it was to-day a jewel casket! Its old stained cedars were as holy to him as those of Lebanon, for Olga Darine s darling head was shielded from the storms of winter by their sturdy shelter! "Come on! " kindly said the returning midshipman, "the Prince will see you before the guests arrive! Orlof s heart beat high as he crossed the official wing of the huge castle and passed into the middle third, the family strong hold. From the grated windows, he could see the doubled THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. IO5 sentries pacing, heavily armed, on the long palisaded gal leries. Following his guide, he passed into a grand work ing room, with the windows giving an exquisite view of blue Sitka Sound with its thousand islands gemming the silent seas, dreaming there unflecked by a single sail! The room was richly hung with banners, imperial pictures and rare trophies of the chase! Desks, tables, couches and easy chairs littered the floor. Glass cases of curiosities, huge maps and chests and rows of reserved modern weap ons, (ready for use) lined the walls. As the young naval officer motioned to him to be seated, one of the three side doors from the interior, easily opened, and slight, aristocratic Prince Maxutoff, clad in a clinging, undulating feather weight robe of sea otter, stepped into the room. His kindly eye rested on the lithe figure of Orlof, his clean-cut face passionless, as he stood in readi ness, his uplifted hand at the soldier s salute. "Ah! yes! the prisoner Orlof" the Governor General said, with a visible embarrassment, returning the salute, " Be seated! You have the papers ready, Ensign? " He strode forward and scrawled the word " Maxutoff. That signature on the paper now gave up to him, body and soul, the mute prisoner! The young officer bowed, as the Prince, handing him the receipt for a born Russian noble, indicated that the audi ence was ended! 11 Good-bye, Major Orlof/" said the shy subaltern, as he extended his hand to the seated convict! Orlof sprang to his feet, and Olga s ring cut deep into the sailor s bronzed pal "By Heaven, he has a manly grip, poor fellow f } thought the Ensign, as he hastened away to return to the " See- voutch" and don his own gala garb. "I have a conference to-day here with an important Indian Chief," said Maxutoff, throwing himself in a chair. "Do 106 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. vflu speak any Eskimo dialect?" He eyed the convict anxiously. "Not a word, Your Excellency, I have been busied only on the Amur," said Fedor, in reply. "Ah! very well!" Maxutoff closed his eyes in dreamy thought. He was subtle, if weak! "This prisoner cannot spy out my great secret! He may be just the <V;T man! " "You know gold mining .?" his voice was anxious. " I had a special two years course at the School of Mines, and four years later practical experience in Siberia" mournfully replied Orlof. " You wrote the detailed report for General Dachkof of which he has sent me a copy! " Orlof bowed in assent. " And you can assay / " "I am an expert, I may say," simply answered the con vict. "Ah!" Maxutoff s long drawn sigh of satisfaction was not lost on Fedor, who had already learned the sad art of a. pris oners study of men and official manners. "Make yourself at home here! Wait here! You can look over these maps and charts of the coast! I may need you later this morning! I will be engaged for some time!" He rang the bell. A soldier butler appeared. " Ivan, see that this person has a good breakfast! He is to remain here! I have the reception to dispose of first. Is old Chief Thorn at hand .?" The soldier having answered with a bow, Prince Maxut off then gave a few whispered directions to the watchful orderly. "This man will provide for your present wants," said he i HE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. iO? to Fedor. " I will need to use your skill after my reception is over! " He retired with a quiet glance. " That man is a gentleman of blood; he shows it!" said the Governor.^ " It is a hard, hard fate whim brings him here!" Orlof was in a dazed stupor, as the soldier, saluting, said: "If the Bar in wants anything I am to provide itf The Star of Hope was at its zenith! "My man, I am only a prisoner /" sternly said Orlof, in some astonishment. "Yes, but I know you are a high Barinf he sturdily replied. "I am only serf born!" The old soldier left the room, after pointing out a wait ing ante-room, and an adjacent orderly room now empty, for the Governor General s mansion was walled off by the official castle building at each end. "For you!" he bowed his exit. The convict examined his surroundings. "They cannot lose me" bitterly thought Fedor, as from a jutting bay window he gazed along the exterior gallery. " Three watchful sentries at half pistol range, and a guard station at each corner, besides this Tarpeian rock! " He heard the sudden patter of childish feet, and started up as, with a merry laugh, little Irma ran into his arms, as he stooped in the curtained bay window! He had made a graceful capture! The merry little Princess of Alaska nestled in his arms! There was the sound of a light foot in pursuit, the rustle of a robe, and, peering expectantly within the recess, Fedor Orlof s burning glances rested on his beloved Olga Darine; her wistful dark eyes sparkling beneath the coronal of golden hair! He gasped and leaned against the carved cedar post, his hand pressed on his heart in the exquisite rapture of this unspeakable moment! His darling s eyes 10$ iHi: t RlNO.SS OF ALASKA. were fixed on his speechless tenderness! Her voice broke the silence of four years Death in Life! " Mouse! Your mamma wanis you I She caught up the child, and, at the door, allowed her to escape in frolic glee! As the happy fledgling Princess fled away, Olga Darine, with her slender hands clasped on her sculptured bosom, thrilled in Love s delicious pain, with a rosy finger at her lip, whispered: " Wait here, my beloved!" Fedor s quick eye glanced around the lonely room! Before he could well scan the one sheltered angle, clasped in his strong arms, Olga Darine lay once more, her delicate face pale with the intense emotion of a tortured heart! Her arms were clinging round his neck, and heart to heart, the lovers felt their throbbing pulses beat in the unison of an unearthly delight! It was the supreme moment! "Fedor! Fedor! " she murmured, "Never to be parted! " " As God wills! Darling! " whispered the tall soldier, when his lips met hers, in the pledge of a love victorious, even in the shadow of Death! They listened with wildly beating hearts! "I am to be here all day in waiting! " he whispered. " Beware! The soldier may come back! " Olga answered. "And no one must know! " He thought with lightning decision of the imperilled future! She was right! Their very life was in peril! "Irma plays here all day! The Princess will be detained at this formal breakfast! Can you trust to your self-con trol? I will come back here then! Speak only French! But, wait, wait, my love,/^r me! I will comeback the very moment they enter the reception room! The greetings, the sacouska, the feast will take time! We will have hours to ourselves! Remember always the child! She must not suspect! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. IOQ "God bless her! " he murmured, "The little angel led you to me! " And on his breast, her lips clinging to his in a silent rapture, Olga saw again the prophetic scene of the night before! The sleeping child who smiled and opened her dainty arms, while before the silent face of the Blessed Re deemer, on her knees the captive prayed for this blissful meeting to come! A distant sound was heard. " For my sake! Remember, my beloved! " And Olga was gone! Fedor was dazed as in a dream! In their future days of happiness, the parted lovers could not recall the moments fleeting by on this hazardous morn ing, the furtive confidences, the occasional visits of the soldier butler, the stolen hour spent in unrolling the scroll of Love, of tracing the long sad past! From the banquet hall, the sound of ringing laughter alone broke upon the stillness of the cabinet room! When once or twice, Prince Maxutoff entered, he found the tall prisoner gazing earnestly on the maps, or playing with the pretty child. "This whole house is her playground, you can easily see!" said Maxutoff lightly, as he smoothed the hair of his only child. "An excursion to Indian River valley, or a boat ride, are all my poor Irma s pleasures!" And the Prince turned away unsuspecting! But the charm of Love had gilded a new world with its magic touch! Serge Zubow, a skilled social tactician, soon found a pause in the feast, wherein to speak of the wonderful music of the church service. "Which of your ladies is the brilliant singer?" craftily said Zubow, the guest of honor, as he scanned the joyous wine-flushed faces of the beauties of the official suite. They were all strangers from the barracks in the town. " It was Madame Alien, my Swedish governess!" no Tin: PRI\< i R \. coldly replied Princess Beatrice, with a quick intuition. The persistent Prince continued, a hawk-like gleam light- ing up his pitiless eyes. Ah! the golden-haired beauty who was with your little Irma yesterday ! She does not grace your feast ? " There was a sinister inquiry in his voice. "Madame Alten sees no one! " pointedly remarked Princess Beatrice. " Her devotion to my child has placed me under an obligation, but her giving up her whole time to MS, as my friend, chains her heart to mine! " "And this beauty really languishes invisible? " There was a mocking ring in Zubow s harsh Tartar voice. " In my society, she is certainly free from any intrusion! defiantly remarked Princess Maxutoff, with a resolution which made even Zubow wince. "I beg pardon, Madame," he murmured, as he chal lenged Commander Linieff, with the toast of "The Russian Navy!" "The song-bird may try her wings yet, ma tres-difficile Princess, for all your sharpness! we must see about a golden cage!" And Serge Zubow, in silence, pledged the dark Hunga rian eyes, whose witchery had roused the brooding devil in his veins! " Of course, she has a story! Madame Alten, a Swede! Her eyes belie the tale! And yet, the Swedish nightin gale voice! I will reach her! Gold! Bribery! Maxutoff is as weak as My Lady seems sharp and eager! I will find a way! Zubow s way! The golden path!" When, flushed with the champagne excitement so dear to the Muscovite, Zubow questioned Phillippi as they reluctantly left the feast in the early afternoon, the Fur King stolidly replied, as they descended from the citadel. "Bother the hidden prima donna! She is a later play- 1HK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. ill tiling! First, let us get Prince Maxutoff hoodwinked! Two millions in furs!- If we can start them for Russia, we know where they will land! The Czar s silent partners!" he chuckled, "and Maxutoff will have to bear the brunt! Ifs a royal scheme! " But the princely Governor General heard not! He was now at his working table, translating the old Aleut Chief s story to Orlof. Beautiful Olga had warned Fedor not to betray in his excited manner his sudden happiness ! " All depends on your self-control! My own Fedor! " she said, clinging to his breast! " I can trust to Beatrice Max utoff, with our lives, but, only at tJie last! Be wary, and please the Prince! Get a firm hold on him as his only counsellor about these fabled gold fields! Above all, show no recognition of me! My heart beats now in your bosom! I will hover around you, and I only fear they may hear my pulses leaping in joy, as I come into your presence! Irma runs in and out over the whole mansion division of this log palace fort, and I will be always near you! Be pa tienl!"- So, Fedor Orlof bent his mind to the will of the enthusi astic Prince Maxutoff. It was a strange scene! Before them, lying on a couch, the old Indian Chief Thorn lay swathed in rich furs. His eyes were almost sightless. His heavy stunted frame was shrunken with age, and deep wrinkles carved channels in his low-browed mahogany-colored face. Straggling strands of coarse gray hair, once black and bushy, fell on his tem ples, and his knotted hands firmly clutched an idol ! He was a vindictive old rebel Kalush chief, now a prisoner! The last of the old Shamans, or ruling magicians who ate of tender human flesh before the affrighted subject tribes ! Well he was known and feared from Victoria to Point Barrow! In his wild youth, he had led his fleet of war canoes, with fifty savage natives in each, to the mouth of 112 . LASK.A. the far distant Vukon River, silently ilowing into icy Behr- ing Sea! He had seen the gloomy Arctic ocean stretching out to the Pole, from lonely Point Barrow, and had chased the fierce brown bear on the slopes of Mount Fair- weather and peerless Mount St. Elias. towering nineteen thousand feet in air! He treasured yet the golden British sovereigns given him for reaching alone Fort Selkirk and Fort Good Hope on the mystic MacKenzie River fifty years before! Sly, cruel, wise, crafty, he was more than a match for easy going Prince Maxutoff! Fedor Orlof had ample time to collect his wandering thoughts before Maxutoff gave up cross-questioning the old man-eating chief! "/ hardly know what to do with this old wretch! " cried Maxutoff, in French to Orlof. <; I can get nothing more from him than that the gold island is five days voyage pad dling from here! He has given up to me some little grain gold! He says he will have his young men get much more! But 1 cannot force the location trom him. "What does \\zfear, mon Prince? " earnestly said Orlof. " He wishes certain privileges from me for his tribe, con cessions and guarantees, which I cannot give without the Czar s approval! I can only kill him! He will not yield! The secret would then die with him! I will be frank with you, Major Orlof," said Maxutoff, "/ need your help!" Fedor drew his breath hard. He was madly excited. " I know of your great scientific attainments! I wish to secure a fortune for my wife and child! I wish to leave Irma the title of Princess of Alaska! I can ameliorate your terrible condition! Now, if I officially announce these discoveries, should we perfect them, the property belongs to the crown! If I should obtain a royal patent to these lands for myse/fthe Emperor gets but a tenth of the treas ure! I cannot honorably guarantee the old chief what he wants! / never broke my word of honor! But I can issue his tribe liberal supplies and presents! I can even give THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 113 him a store of Russian gold! I can treat him well! The real reason I cannot meet his demands is that this country called Aliaska by us will be called Alaska in a year or two by new masters! Count Fersen took the secret report home, finally advising its sale to the Americans! Gortschakoff and Seward have only waited for the close of the American war to conclude the cession! Neither power wished to defend it in a war against England! I will give you a room here in the house, you shall have a desk in my cabinet. I ask of you only co-operation, the service of a man of honor! I will induce this crafty old red-man to get me rocks and soil from the location of the gold! I will flatter him! He offers to have a council of his tribe and to do all that I wish! We may thus be able to deduce the location! " You are a geologist and savant! I may send you out with his natives! Now, all this, if I turn the country over so as to meet the Emperor s approval, may tend to your final pardon and rehabilitation! All now depends on your keeping faith and promising not to try to escape! I will treat you as one of my staff! Do you promise? " "I swear it by my mother s grave!"" "Then, Major Orlof," said Maxutoff, gleefully, "I will dismiss old Thorn for to-day! But I keep him near me! He was the head chief of Al-ak-Shak (the great land), of its half million square miles and its three thousand islands! He has seen sixty-five volcanoes blazing at once here, and his father fought Captain Cook! He is to-day the un crowned king of the fifty thousand wild savages! He worships the mystic god of the fifty miles of glacier, and communes with the spirits of the boiling and medicated springs at Gorelei! There, enthroned by the vast eighteen- mile round, boiling cauldron, he has eaten the tribute flesh of a maiden from every tribe! We must outwit him! His power is wonderful! I have seen him with five thousand Indians around him, address the inswarming fish of the 114 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. sea! Not a spear or net was lifted till the dread old Sha man gave his august permission! Through him we can gain all! He guards yet the skulls of sailors killed from the first American ship * Atahualpa, from Boston, coming here in 1802! I have vainly tried to gather ghastly relics from him! He is as wise as he has been disgustingly licentious and ferocious, and his subjects are the same! We live in constant fear! That is why I keep my wife, my child and Madam* Alien, our governess, locked safely here from these diseased, filthy, polygamous idolaters! I trust only to my guards and our ready artillery! Now, Major, the Seevoutch will soon sail! I shall treat you with reserve while the visitors are here! After that, you can be made a member of the family!* The Governor rang his bell. " Let the Captain of the Guard send for some soldiers to bear the old chief out! " cried Maxutoff, "and pray ask Madame Alten to favor me with her presence! " As he spoke, and the orderly hastened away, a signal gun from the outer island battery boomed. "A ship arriving ! " said Maxutoff, in answer to Orlof s glance of inquiry. " In five minutes, I shall have her name and description, by semaphore! // saves us going down hill! said Maxutoff laughing. Orlof sprang to his feet and stiffened into the soldier s attitude, as Olga Darine noiselessly entered from Madame Maxutoffs boudoir. "Your Highness!" she said, softly, with downcast eyes. The lover s eyes silently met! " Madame Alten, this is my new secretary, Major Orlof t of whom we spoke! I wish you to know him as he will be of my working force this winter! Pray, have the orderly room fitted up for his use! For the present, his meals will be served there! We will see later what we can do! " In all the ordeals of Fedor Orlof s sad career, no task was equal to the self-restraint of calmly answering the dark- THE PRINCJESS OF ALASKA. 115 eyed beauty, whose trembling lips murmured: "f am happy to know Major Orlof ! " The voice, sweet as the wind sighing through the summer forest, unmanned him! He respectfully kissed the lady s hand, in silence! His lips were burning as with fire, and her delicate hand was cold as ice ! A Lieutenant of the Guard entering broke the tension of the anxious moment. " The American whaler, Reindeer, for supplies and repairs!" "Tell the Port Captain that I wish to see him! Ah! Madame Alten, you, can show Major Orlof his room, and bid the servants unpack the bundles! By the way, Major, anything you wish, my butler will supply from the public stores! / will ring when I wish you! " Olga s happy eyes had read the secret of their good for tune, and standing, heart beating to heart, in the silence of the little orderly room, it seemed as if the re-united lovers were entered into Paradise ! "Only a little self-control till the corvette sails, and then Princess Beatrice shall know all! We can trust to her noble heart!" whispered the happy beauty. Fedor Orlof was glad to have a quiet hour of self-com mune. He slept the sweetest sleep of his life, dreaming now only of a golden future! Prince Maxutoff, in a half hour s evening chat, sketched out his future plans, and said: "With the two million dol lars worth of furs which I have collected, turning the last season s tribute into the same values, I can send the Emperor an enormous final present to add to the seven or eight millions in gold the Yankees gave! And, my admin istration honored, my career closed, if we can discover these mines, my good Beatrice shall be the queen of a future home, and Irma, little Irma, the richest girl in Russia! We must succeed! " A week glided by in a happiness which seemed unearthly Il6 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. to Fedor Orlof, who had been now presented by Madame Orlof to the gracious Princess Maxutoff. "When the corvette sails, Major, we are to be a family winter club! So I shall ask you to brighten our table, for my Irma has truly found a new playmate! " Handsome Orlof, now in all externals the man of rank, sarc tJie gray coat, dared not to lift his honest eyes to the Murillo-faced Russian mother! He knew but too well that his own darling, as well as her darling, had effected the magical change! Love s magic touch gilded his prison life! It was on the eve of the gunboat s departure when Prince Maxutoff said: " I must send you on board the corvette, Orlof, of course under a guard, to examine the ship s maps! It is really necessary that they should publicly observe your status! Alas! There are too many prying eyes and busy spies ready ever in Russia! You may see Lefranc there, your late companion! Be prudent! You will be only kept on board an hour! 1 As Orlof was taken in a shore boat to the war ship s side, he noted Prince Serge Zabow, Anton Phillippi and Lefranc returning in a naval boat, with several Indian chiefs and a robust-looking American mariner. Lifting his eyes in surprise, he noted the heavy-sparred Yankee whaler lying two cable lengths away, and at her side eight beautiful double-ended whale boats, slung in the davits. They were fit to ride on the curling foam of a breaker, and yet elastic enough to stand the howling gales of the Ochotsk Sea! Housed all over, with furnaces built on deck, and swarming with men, the whaler looked like an Arctic pirate flag ship, her really merited designation I After a half hour s examination of the maps, Orlof bade Commander Linieff a respectful adieu! "You find Maxutoff a fine fellow, don t you?" began hearty Linieff. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 117 He stopped, for with a scowling, evil eye, Prince Serge Zubow was gazing through the open door. "Go! God bless you! Go quickly, for your own sake!" cried the frank sailor. Fedor Orlof, unsuspecting and happy at heart, sought Pierre Lefranc s bulkhead. "Ah! I have heard of your good fortune! 1 sneered Lefranc, " / am to sail with the gunboat and be left at Kodiak! But Me Mann is here! My turn will come! That was the mate whom you saw in our boat!" Orlof asked: "Where had you been. "Oh! Zubow has bought an American bark now at Victoria, a relief whaler. McMann is going down -to bring her up, and I am to build them a brig also at Kodiak! Maxutoff fears Prince Zubow, and has made my serving him all right! When that brig leaves Aliaska, / go with her! " joyously cried Lefranc. " And Zubow?" anxiously inquired Orlof. " He will winter at Kodiak! He goes down now to Vic-- toria to outfit his new boat? The Reindeer will putf- them in a homeward-bound whaler and stand off and or* the coast till they return. By the way, I must go to him now! Adieu! Camarade! Look out for that pretty unknown of Maxutoff s! Zubow has his eye on her, and he is a devil of a fellow! " "Where were j<? on shore?" sharply said Orlof, holding out his hand in a formal good-bye. "Oh! With the old Shaman! Zubow and he are fellow- scoundrels! They have had friendly fur dealings for five years. We got to-day some rare bargains! " " How about the gold trade? " said Orlof, as he paused carelessly at the door. " It will wait till next year^ if old Shaman Thorn is liber ated, I may then find out the secret! He ajone, knowsl s n8 Tin: PKINCF.SS or ALASKA. Well! // is adieu! " coldly remarked Lefranc, as he van ished. " I am glad I did not tell him all! " said Orlof, with vague distrust. But the warning as to Zubow s penchant for the hidden singer chilled his heart! The next day when the Seevoutch was a mere blur of distant smoke on the horizon, Orlof loyally told Prince MaxutofT all! "Ah! this is dangerous! " said he, repressing his feelings! " I will watch Prince Zubow, for he has tried to force his way into my family circle! /, too, distrust the man! The Reindeer sails to-morrow! Then, we are safe! Our studies can begin, and I can ask you to my table! I must acknowledge Prince Serge Zubow s rank openly, but I fear him! My home is my own! " While Orlof watched alone for signs of the Reindeer being gotten under way, haughty Serge Zubow, invincible in his millions, drank in Madame Allen s beaut) ! He was a forced guest often at the castle! The social meeting could not be avoided! Her brief, cold replies could not efface the thrilling gleam of her sloe-black Hungarian eyes! Unsuspecting Prince Maxutoff saw nothing! "I will get this weakling Governor in my power! I will rob him of that golden-haired wonder! An angel s voice, a Hebe figure, the face of a Greuze beauty, and, a history! I will force Prince Maxutoff to give her up to me! Serge Zubow laughed coarsely, as he lit aTrabuco, while sauntering down the deep ascent. "They sail on the morning tide, Major!" cheerfully remarked the Prince as he bade the now relieved watcher good night! " I will now organize a survey of all the Islands between here and Holy Cross Sound! It will enable you to exam ine the country this fall and early next summer. The hidden key of this secret is held only by the wily old head THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. IIQ Shaman Thorn! He shall never leave the range of Baran- off Castle s guns! I will have my patrols watch the haunts of his insolent tribes ! We must, with your scientific knowledge, baffle them and find the fields of gold! / will be then rewarded for my ten lonely years in the Arctic! A self expiation! You will be yet rehabilitated, and you may be a new Monte Cristo! Let us then work together! Now, I can give you the privileges of a gentleman! The spies are gone! " Gentle Beatrice Maxutoff, sitting at her child s bedside, was astonished when Olga Darine leaned her fair head in her protectress hands and told her of Zubow s advances! There were choking tears in her voice, as she cried : " Save me from that dreadful Tartar ruffian! You saw his glances! * Throwing her arms around her, the loving Princess cried: "Olga! put your trust in me! Your life shall bt as pure as my own! " 12O THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER V. PRINCE MAXUTOFF S PLAN THE FUR KING S PLOT OLGA S PRINCELY LOVER " I MUST BE A CONVICT S BRIDE!" HAND AND HEART! THE SILENT PARTNER " THE ISLAND IS MINE! " The three happiest weeks of Fedor Orlof s life ran away in golden moments of recurring ecstasy! Prince Maxutoff soon recognized his quick administrative abil ity, and sweet Beatrice, the Lady of Baranoff Castle, lived a new social life in the hours when the cultured noble sat with Madame Alt en in the Princess boudoir! Little Irma was already devoted to the gentle-mannered guardsman. In the social circle the clouded past was never touched on, but Olga Darine s thrilling eyes kin dled as Fedor spoke often to her heart alone in veiled tenderness! Gregory Maxutoff s quiet remark, "I like my secretary always to appear in black! I despise uni form!" was a graciously hidden permission to drop the convict coat! 11 Keep your government property at hand, should a foreign or home war vessel drift in! " gently said Maxu toff. Fedor Orlof folded it away with grateful tears in his brave blue eyes, for it spoke of General Dachkof s generous sympathy! He knew now, that the General had sent a confidential letter recommending him to Prince Maxutoff! And the quiet morning walks on the great gallery of the rock fort with Olga told him all! She was now blooming in a strange beauty which startled even the calm Maxutoff! The unrestrained confidence of the time soothed her! The perfect freedom of their days was a boon of Heaven when they were alone! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 121 Prince Maxutoff, fond of the chase, often went far afield or sought the upper reaches of lovely Indian River! Days came when the princely pair and their laughing heiress, the future Princess of Sitka, would go to the distant wooded islands to give the little girl a boat ride and a run! Then, Olga and Fedor, in their solitude, played at Prince and Princess! "I am happier than / dared ever dream!" he would say, as her head lay on his breast The world s strange, hard way had joined their lives forever! " You cannot leave tlie castle, only that mark of bondage is left! " she would often murmur. " I have the whole world with me when you are by my side! Here is my kingdom, in your loving heart!" he would answer! Preparations for the secret voyage kept Maxutoff busied with the old Chief and in the labor of fitting out an old relief schooner. Orlof s hidden hand directed all, for he was now the mainstay of the Prince! Study and deduction had closed in the region of search as lying between Sitka, Mount Fairweather, the Tako River and Fort Wrangell. "I wish to get you away before Prince Serge Zubow s return! " said the Governor. "He is too high in rank for me to openly send him out of my Jurisdiction! Yet I distrust and fear him! I am told by a secret agent that he was closeted for days with Count Fersen at the Khamschatkan capital! They are cool plotters and capable of any scheme! " Poor Maxutoff forgot the two millions of his hoarded fur tribute, the proof of his official integrity! Safe now, but later? They were now walking on the gallery, gazing on the magnificent scene of Sitka Bay outspread before them. 1 ~ J Till; I i ,i A.sk A. "What Zubow wants more ships for, I cannot He has no business to be roving over Ih hring Sea, what ever hold he may have on the northern Siberian shore!" Alas! Alas! Easy-going Maxutoff did not know that cunning Serge Zubow had learned from Count 1 of the imminent transfer of Aliaska! That corrupt Count Fersen, sly Phillippi and greedy Zubow already dreamed of controlling the vast fur-seal herds of the Komandorski and Robben Islands, and that Phil lippi was to watch the cunning Yankee s who would soon grasp at the millions of dollars in glossy pelts swarming on the Prybiloffs! But his brow was unclouded, as he watched sweet Madame Alten at the angle of the walk with Irma at her side. " Do you not find her beautiful?" suddenly said the Governor. " She is a wonderful woman! " huskily said Orlof, a red spot leaping, in tell-tale crimson, to his pale cheek. He did not know that the magic touch of Love had made him as a young Greek God, a northern Apollo, for he only saw that Olga, his beloved, was fair as Aphrodite of the sea foam! To-day she was exultingly radiant in her glowing beauty! Strange tJiat I have never fathomed Jier past history," mused Maxutoff, forgetting Orlof, whose heart was beating wildly. <; Is she, is Madame Alten under restraint?" slowly faltered Orlof. "She, that graceful woman, is a mysterious pris oner!" replied the Governor. "When we outfitted at Sevastopol, on my return four years ago, my wife was authorized to select four suitable attendants, for our residence here, from the convicts waiting transportation to Saghalin!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 123 " By some mystery of woman freemasonry, the Com manding General s wife knew of Madame Alten, who was kept there in solitary confinement by a Privy Council order!" With strange and superstitious reverence, the name of the Czar never crossed Maxutoff s lips in his converse with Orlof. "At any rate, at my wife s request, I applied for her I A secret report was made in the case! She was given over to me as a personal trust of the Privy Council, for detention as a prisoner of state! It was with no charges or definite sentence, but she was to be kept detained under my own eye, subject only to the orders of the Impe rial Cabinet Secretary! The confidential statement was made to me that she was not an objectionable person, and that my sole duty was to prevent her escape, and to absolutely cut off any intercourse with strangers! My wife has learned to love her! Our child adores her! Without her, our lonely Arctic life here would have been colorless. As nurse, friend, companion, sister, and woman, my wife has grown to lean on her! And, strangest of all, I have never fathomed her past ! The continental languages she speaks with equal fluency, she is cosmopolitan in belles-lettres, and the purity of her character is as chaste as the opening rose! I have thought at times, that my wife knew more than I! Yet emotion, womanly tears in this sweet nature, I have never seen! I can fancy her though, in superb dress, covered with jewels, that wild, exquisite voice ringing out, a queen of song! What has been her past?" He mused in silence, gazing at Olga s distant flutter ing robes. "Why Orlof, she would grace a palace! But, we must now take up our work! And it was only that night, in 124 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the gloaming, as she lay in his arms, that Olga Darine told her beloved, how faithfully Beatrice Maxutoff had guarded the secret of years! Fedor thanked God for this dream of love, too sweet to last! He was buoyant and hopeful! For the social ameni ties of the gentleman eased his daily life! He had missed them in his prison life more than even his lost fortunes! True, he had never worn irons, his intellectual labors had absolutely prevented that, but he had been roughly herded with human brutes! Four years of his youth had been passed in a dark eclipse! It was as if he looked back now at another being, a pale, hopeless shade, a wandering gfwst! Even in these four weeks, he had burned his light until the small hours, devouring books, reviews, reports, old journals and the American files of journals sent up by the Russian Consul or traders, as well as the Journal de Petersburg! He was thus born again into a new life, and baptized in the holy chrism of Olga Darine s kisses! " There is nothing left, but to die together, my own, my beloved!" she whispered, "lam yours before God and men! We have the prisoner s right of hiding our joys, as well as drinking the bitter cup of our sorrows!" Orlof forgot now his four long years spent in joyless prison walls! His step became elastic, his eye flashed with a new fire, for Olga s love thrilled every fibre of his being! He was gathering in the arrears due him by untoward fate! Five weeks from the day when Zubow sailed away on the " Reindeer," the stout dispatch schooner " Baran- off " lay ready under the guns of the castle. By day, Maxutoff and his secretary toiled; at night, while the Prince varied his routine life with visits to his superior THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 125 officers, garrisoning the other wing, Fedor Orlof was the faithful knight of two gracious women who loved each other, and one of whom, adored him in secret! The battalion of troops guarding the coast, were officered by sturdy, fighting line officers, who aspired not to cross the threshold of the domain where Beatrice Maxutoff reigned, a beloved queen! The old Bishop, with his clergy, crooning over cards and wine, enjoyed their feasting in the snug house of the ecclesiastics below, adjoining the great church! They had their own retinue, their guards, and their easy luxury was quietly winked at! It was only on l great days that the Castle descended to the Church, for a chaplain said a daily prayer in the official chapel on the rock! The one element of present danger was the sudden arrival of some one of the Czar s representatives of rank, or from the gay officers of the war ships, superior in culture to the army representatives! But, with gentle dignity, beyond a few public appearances, when the great Hall was decked for a ceremonial, the Lady of Sitka was only a graceful hidden charm to the dependents of her princely husband! So it was, that on the eve of his departure, Fedor Orlof s heart was comforted when the Princess whispered kindly, 11 1 will guard your Olga! She shares my very life! She shall be sheltered in my rank! against all intru sion, and when she leaves Sitka, she goes with me, as my sister! If I should die, and the beautiful mother s voice faltered: "Olga! you alone would have the duty of keeping my memory green in Irma s childish heart! Gregory has pledged this on his unbroken word! " And there were happy tears of reverence in Orlof s eyes, as he bent in gratitude over Beatrice Maxutoff s 126 tHE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. slender hand. At sundown on the next day, the "Bar- anoff" towed by a tug, was ordered to leave the sound. A nominal commander had received the Governor s orders, but Orlof was the real master of all but his own personal liberty! "I think that my plan is good!" said the anxious Prince, as they sat alone in the last conference at the library table on the sunny morning of the departure. " You have yet a month of fine weather, and my par ties of fur hunters, secret spies and government agents will be dropped off in pairs to winter with the natives of all the shore villages of the sly, old Shaman Thorn! They will soon find out the sources of the gold supply, in a general way! During the long winter, the suspicions of the blubber eating natives will relax! I have even furnished my men extra rum to wherewith loosen their lips! Rum unlocks every tongue from the palace to the hut!" cynically said the Prince. "Drink is the national vice of our lower orders, the stain on many of our bravest and best! 1 Maxutoff sighed. He was himself a man of refined and measured tastes! "You have with you plenty of trading goods! Use them liberally! Now, as you sail with several canoes in tow, with a couple of native crews, and your general orders for any assistance to my scattered sub-stations, you can carry on both a connected island examination and shore reconnoissance ! You have my delegated power to use funds and trading goods to obtain samples of rock, gravel, earth, and varied test materials and send them to me here! Keep your own counsel! All depends on your wisdom! I have given you a brave, faithful, competent sailor, a hardy Lieutenant who has worked his way up! He will not even dream of the object of your search! Major Orlof, we must succeed! Keep an THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 127 argus eye on all around you! The secret treaty of cession will surely be closed next year! Sixty-six will see the signature, and Fersen told me that the summer of 67 would see me relieved of my trust by the Amer icans! I must get this land title to the gold regions registered and approved next year, then, if you have found the exact location of the mine, our fortunes are safe, your pardon assured! All I will have to do, is to send the two fur cargoes safely home! They are a mil lion dollars, each, in gold value! I will then settle the accounts of the Russian Fur Company, going back to 1799, dismantle the posts, and the Admiral of the Pacific Fleet will finally transport my garrison home or over to the Amur! My last official act will be to haul down the Imperial flag on Baranoff Castle! "- What becomes of the poor native people?" said Orlof,.with a real concern. "Ah! Rum and disease will soon settle that prob lem!" sadly answered Maxutoff. "They go with great Aliaska!, soon to be Alaska under the Stars and Stripes! Alas! They are doomed ! " " And your Russian subjects? " said the convict noble. " They can elect to become Americans, or will if they prefer, be sent with all their property, home to Russia! Fixtures will be paid for from Government funds, movables sent home free! All the officers and higher officials will be then retired and double pensioned for life!" " And yourself? " said Orlof, with a quick intuition of the grave change in Olga Darine s future, whom the Prince only knew as the lovely "Madame Alien!" "As for me., the will of God and the Czar s pleasure!" said the Governor, devoutly crossing himself. "Now to business! " said he briskly, "I am convinced that the 128 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. cabinets of Europe have had a secret knowledge for many years of the existence of great gold deposits, some where near the southeastern bend of Aliaska! Look at this record of their careful shore examinations. Tchirikoff and Delisle de la Croyere, in 1741, Ayalu and Quadra, in 1775, Captain Cook, in 1778, La Perouse, in 1785, Commodore Billings, in 1785-94, Liziansky, in 1805, Von Koltzebue, in 1817, Admiral Beechey, in 1826- 27, Wassielleff, in 1832, Admiral Kellett, in 1846, Admiral Collinson, in 1850, and now, in 1865, this bold Yankee, Colonel Bulkley, also pretends to be pushing a telegraph line around by Behring Straits to Russia! What hardihood ! " "They may not be searching for gold, after all, these Americans, for the wild dream of an ocean cable to Europe will never be realized. Here are Jive Russian, four English, one French, one Spaniard and one Ameri can search parties! What was their real object? Furs? No! They did not even disturb the animals! We have easily gleaned fifty million dollars in furs, unmolested, since the days of Alexieff, Tchirikoff, Bassoff, Shelikoff and Golodoff, as well as the incarnate fiend Solovief ! No one has ever yet disputed our fur trade! Was it the moving treasure of the whales? No! For it was only in 1848, less than twenty years ago, the Superior was driven into the Arctic Ocean by her fearless Yankee captain!" His voice sank into a whisper. "No! Orlof, it was gold, gold alone! " "Old Shaman Thorn tells me that his famous father handed down the secret of the mine to him, and that the old chief said the white men in the big canoes all sought only for gold! He says it has ever been so in his own time, up to the sunset of his life, and his old age! . Now, Orlof! Some one once did know, but the secret THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. I2Q has been lost! The charm is no longer potent ! Some one has made promises to the Indians which have been broken! The wily natives have then concealed in revenge the location of the beds where nature s treasures peep through the meshes of the worn earth! Find me but the region! I will get an Imperial patent to cover a palati nate in extent! Then we are safe! I fear the impending change of rulers and my sudden recall! " Look at California! Dreamy and idle, it lay two cen turies under Mexican rule! Only the wily churchmen knew of the golden river sands! They smothered the dis covery for two generations, hoping that His Most Chris tian Majesty of Spain would regain Alta California! But the revolt of Hidalgo ended all! By accident, an hum ble American mechanic, toiling as a workman for a Swiss Refugee farmer, found the precious yellow har vest! The whole world then rushed in and freely helped itself! In ten years a giant state sovereignty sprang into life, San Francisco has grown to be a princely city in less than twenty years!" What built up its homes of luxury on its many hills? Gold, only yellow gold! Now, in the Fraser River, in British Columbia, our British enemies have also found gold in abundance! It is here too! It w r as known to exist before a single grain was gath ered in California or Vancouver! You must unlock the secret of these rocky caves, the mystery of the lonely hills! / battle for my wife and child s fortune, you for life and liberty! " Maxutoff ceased, his enthusiasm had carried him away! " My wife wishes to show you some last courte sies! I have no doubt you would also wish to say adieu to Madame Alien, as well as your little playmate, my Inn a! I will go on board with you at sundown! The old Chief Thorn is already embarked, and he has 130 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. my secret orders in view of rrrrr /v^f/M- reward to bring you near to the El Dorado we seek! Remember! We fight for;;/) fortune, \our life and liberty!" - "And for /orr. " added Fedor Orlof, silently in his heart of hearts, as he grasped his princely patron s hand and vowed his best efforts to the cause! Not a disturb ing shade was on his mind, for was not brutal Zubow now, a thousand miles away 9 And, in his absence, the spirited and delicately brave Princess, Olga s sister of the heart, was ready to guard the beloved woman, whose arms were now stretched toward him, in waiting for the parting! They gathered around the board for the farewell breakfast! It was only after an hour s bright social hap piness that the Princess claimed the escort of her hus band! " It is a delightful day! " she said, " If you only go on board at nightfall, let us take the chariot and drive to Indian Point! Irma needs her usual excursion, and / wish to exchange a few greetings with the Bishop, Madame Alten! I will leave you to tell Major Orlof of our excursion to Kodiak last year! He will soon coast along the same romantic shores !"- When the lovers were alone, they blessed the gentle strategy of the noble-hearted Russian Princess! She wished to throw the mantle of perfect security around the hopeless lovers in their farewell! For Gregory Maxutoff dreamed of gold alone, only of the coveted treasures withheld by the resentful Indians, and, yet a man of the world, he might have read the lesson of heaving bosom, of moistened eye, or broken voice! As yet, the Prince Governor General, who had been years absent in Central Asia, during Olga Darim- s bright career, never dreamed that the vanished darling PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 1$1 of the Petersburg opera, was his wife s strange con fidant! He recked not of the unhappy love which, in maddening a Czarevitch, in passion s whirl, had led the imprisoned pair under the convict ban! Hand clasped in hand, in love s sweet dream, or with the golden head on his bosom, the hours fled all too swiftly, while Fedor Orlof felt his darling s heart beat against his own! A day of days! It was a happiness which passed all human hope, all earthly seeming! The flowing together of two souls in the consecration of a love for this life and beyond the grave! There was no shadow of parting on their happy hearts, for the pine-clad shores, the snowy summits, the lonely glaciers, and the still island gemmed inlets hid them, mantled with the friendly blue sea waves, from the unforgiving code of human laws and the trammels of a magnificent tyrant! The distance of their exile was their safeguard! They lived in love, for love alone, forgetting a once familiar world which }\^ forgotten them! When the sun sank to the west, Fedor Orlof left the castle of Baranoff in his gray prison coat, with the black convict patch! True, it was concealed by a fur great coat, for the sea breeze was chill; but a brace of armed sentinels marched at his side, and also an orderly officer. His heart was free, but he was still the Czar s bond man of shame! He suffered not, as he threaded the mongrel village crowd, for Maxutoff had whispered, as he pressed his hand before leaving the mansion, " I only make this public parade of your condition, for I know the Bishop and his lazy clergy can easily make secret reports on me to the great Metropolitan of Russia! And that great dignitary, the working head of the Greek Church, is the only man in the world before whom 132 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the wearer of Russia s imperial diadem trembles! Besides, Orlof, I know not what other spy, Count Fersen has left here! I fear also that beetle-browed Tartar, Prince Zubow! His smug friend, Anton Phil- lippi, too, is as much at home in Washington, as in /,<//- don, in Paris, as at Yokohama, in Berlin or } r ienna, as at St. Petersburg! He has the invincible capital of the Rothschilds behind him!" Why," said Orlof, who, though used to Russian dissimulation, was startled! " Because they already have their eyes on the fur trade of the world ! A great high junta of Israelite capitalists, dominate the Bourses of the whole world! Your cool, educated, patient, passion less Hebrew, avoiding racking toil, shunning the burdens of citizenship, trading, not manufacturing, loaning, not risking, is the high priest of the world s reigning deity, Cold! Slaves to tyrants, victors in the mart! " Orlof was tranquil at heart, for his adieu to the queen of his heart had been carefully shielded by graceful Beatrice Maxutoff. She had led her pretty child away, while Madame Alien was, all in all, her real self, Ike loving Olga Da rind In the boudoir of the Princess, Orlof gazed into the wonderful eyes for the last time, and strained the loving woman to his heart! " Go nou<, my beloved, while I am yet brave! You bear my heart in ycur bosom! " With a wonderful intuition, she kissed his lips in an adieu which silenced his protest, and resolutely took her place at the window, with the merry Princess of Alaska at her side, to see his white sails lost behind the islands dimpling the beautiful bay! The " Baranoff " bravely faced the rolling seas! There was no formal adieu whm Prince Maxutoff bade the powerful tug move the schooner out! But, he called THE PRINCESS 01 ALASKA. 133 up the noble convict, before the lines were cast off at the entrance of the channel, and, in a few last words, told Fedor of the absolute confidence of his secret part ner. Orlof saw the Prince transferred at last, to the tug, and his eye rested fondly on the distant gallery where a gleaming white signal shone like silver, in the afternoon sun! // was OlgcCs adieu, the last message of love! Fedor lost the token from view at last, as the stout schooner stood out, over the dashing crisp surge to the mystic haunts of the Kalushes! Free now in every respect, he thought of his four horrible Siberian years, of the pris oners flogged to death, closing their eyes in the mad ecstasy of pain, of the " green lane " of the regimental running the gauntlet, where the fresh cut sticks beat down the dying victim, of the cold, starvation and hor rid silence of the salt mines, where squads of groaning wretches toiled in chains, of the days when, in hospi tal, he had seen the irons struck off the senseless clay, and he realized the blessings of the fate now his own! The bliss of the re-union thrilled him, and he knew in Baranoff Castle that his promised Olga was safe! But as he blessed her gentle protectress in his heart, and swore to be true to Maxutoff s quejt, his eye fell again on his glittering turquoise ring! He shuddered, as he left the deck, for it was that hand \v\\ich made innocent Vera Orlof an orphan! It was an ominous presage! "I pray God in His Infinite Mercy that the curse of this innocent blood may not follow me! Vera! My orphaned cousin! If I could bring back your noble father, I would even bow my head to the stroke!" For the fatherless girl s face rose before him, as the gray fog whirled and drifted down upon them, and the night 134 Tl!1 MMNCfcSS i| ALASKA. winds seemed to breath an ominous burden, " is mine. 1 " saith the Lord, " I will repa\! "- The burden of Love lay heavily upon Olga Darine for the long month before the first tidings of the Baran- off s cruise reached the village of Sitka! The snows were now creeping downward on Mount Edgecunibc , and the garrison was busied in preparing for the long winter. Huge mountains of wood gathered on the rocky pla teau, the barricading of the great storehouses and the erection of moss-stuffed huts for the sentries told of the long winter s advent. The last American whaler had touched and flitted southward for the year, and a passing Russian cruiser, joining the San Francisco squadron, brought the year s final dispatches for Prince Maxutoff. In the little family circle, he had noted the pale cheeks of the woman he only knew as Madame Alten! "Beatrice!" he said with alarm, "can it be that our friend is failing, under the fogs and depression of this gloomy station! To think that you might be left here alone, deprived of womanly cheer and aid, that our child may lose her gentle governess, would tempt me to send her south, even if I answered to the Czar, for the deed! I am not willing to see her sacn Jict J. " 1 - " You forget, Gregory, that we have our c/iiM, our love, our future, that we are sustained by hope, and that the current of our lives has mingled in a union which sustains! I am hopeful that my heart has fath omed the secret! It is only the blank loneliness of her life, the mental torture of her termless captivity, the fretting of a prom! soul born for freedom! " And while Prince Maxutoff showered every mark of kind consideration on his beautiful prisoner, the Prin- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 135 cess alone knew that the smiles now fled, would return, with the roses on her pale cheeks, only when Fedor Orlof s mission was at an end! The arrival of a great canoe, manned by twenty natives, and flying the Russian naval flag, caused Prince Maxutoff to bound from his chair in excitement, when the officer of the guard reported the strange occurrence a week later: "News! News!" he cried, rushing to his wife s boudoir. "In an hour, we will know of the Baranoff s movements, for I ordered this dispatch canoe to be sent coasting homeward! But the incoming ship, I can not make her out! " " What foreign vessel comes here so late! And a sail ing merchantman, bearing the Russian flag, is also out side! It is most unusual! " An hour later, a sturdy Russian sailor delivered into the Prince s own hand a sealed dispatch. In Princess Beatrice s room, her hands clasped on her bosom, Madame Alten paced the floor in wild unrest, while the Governor General tore open the envelope and eagerly questioned the sailor. The Prince s face was beaming when he strode in from the library! He whispered a few words to his wife and then turned to the pale-faced governess, who was busied with Irma s merry pranks! "The Baranoff will return in a fortnight, and the exploration for the season is over! Major Orlof will soon make up our fourth hand at whist! " At a sign from his watchful wife, Maxutoff left the room, for Olga Darine lay, pillowed in her chair, in a senseless swoon! " She certainly is failing! What a barbarity, I must send her home! " mused Maxutoff, as he awaited the Captain of the Post, now announced. 136 THK PRINCESS OF A! \SKA. "Olga! My dear om ! " cried Princess Beatrice, who was chafing her friend s hand! He l>ra~-e. Your noble lover will yet earn his freedom- Your mysterious deten tion, too, will have its end! I may lead you home, back to Russia, to a life of renewed happiness! What do you fear?" " Nothing, darling Beatrice! My good angel! Noth ing when near you! But a presentiment hangs over my heavy heart, of some danger to Fed^r! When you know his noble character, you will see that his love for me alone blinded him! " "But you are hidden safely together now! One happy winter is assured to you! And we must look forward and. trust in God I" said Beatrice. It was the Arctic evening now, and the mysterious fires were darting in fitful flashes from the distant hori zon, which hid her lover! Can the Rose of Love bloom under these Northern Lights?" sadly murmured Olga, as her eyes sought the window from which she watched daily for her absent lover. "See! a ship, and under Russian eolors, too!" Gregory Maxutoff burst into the room in an unwonted excitement! "Beatrice! There is some foul scheme in view! The semaphore says Serge Zubow is back here on his newly purchased vessel, the Nevsky! My dis patches say that he has been made Vice- Governor of Khttmschatk&i and coadjutor of Count Ferscn. That gives the brute power over me. " The Princess sprang to her feet, and silently pointed at the sorrowing woman at the window! // was too late! As Maxutoff withdrew, ashamed of his precipitate dis closure, Olga Darine seized the delicate hands of her noble protectress! Beatrice saw before her, a shudder ing suppliant on her knees, a woman with the face of THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 137 an angel, and the voice of despair, as she cried, " // is he! TJiat Tartar fiend! My God! He has power now! Oh! I fear him! 1 Too well the agitated singer knew that in some way, Zubow had pierced the mystery of her guarded past! She knew the insolent menace of his eyes! And Fedor, the helpless prisoner! Would he, too, fall under the new official s iron tyranny? "Listen!" said the Princess, raising her friend and clasping her in her loving arms, "I will insist that Zubow shall now make his home with the Bishop! We will then have peace, and you and I can defy him! " "But, Fedor?" faltered Olga, "Gregory will shield him to the very last. Trust me! With two women watching him, Zubow must be a Machiavel to outwit us! " The Princess was confident. And yet, there was a malicious smile of triumph as Prince Serge Zubow announced next day that he would winter at Sitka! It brought a chill to Olga s heart! The next two weeks crawled away. There were anx ious faces around the Prince s board. Little Irma cried for the tall officer who had won her childish heart by ingenious puzzles, by trick and drawing, by paper toys of fantastic design. The stout burghers of Rotterdam did not await the return of their Pioneer forlorn hope vessel, the "Golden Hind," from far Xipangu, in 1588, with the news throwing open a new world to trade, as eagerly as Maxutoff awaited Fedor. "I wish he were safely back! This brute Zubow may take him out of my hands! It will all depend on the date of Zubow s commission! Am I to be robbed of the glory of my final administration? Is there some hidden scheme ? " Easy-going Maxutoff was at last alarmed! For, beyond visits far too frequent, of social courtesy, Serge Zubow, 138 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. now luxuriously installed at the Bishop s, was mute. His ready gold and luxurious private supplies made the lazy clergy his tools. "Strange," mused Prince Gregory, "in the whole Siberian administration, the prisoner finds his only real friend in the Doctor! Ministers of pafh, they soothe the sorrowing, ease the burden, cheer the dying, and in every way lighten the lot of the hopeless condemned! It is the testimony of fifty years! While the f/crgy, in cards, wine and feasting, seem to ignore the groans of the dying whose irons are struck off by the hand of the guards, only when the prisoned spirit has flown! . I fear this corrupted clergy?* Maxutoff dared not confess all his fears to his wife, who shared a secret sorrow with Madame Alten, whom the princely insolent lover knew now as Olga, the peer less Olga Darine! Alas! Anton Phillippi, at San Fran cisco, on his way to distant centres of a yet unhatched conspiracy, had gleaned from the newly arrived Russian Consul and from the gay officers of the fleet, the full story of lovely Olga s past! But one thing was hidden from the now daily importunate Lothario, it was the secret reason of her internment! The princely hands stretched toward her from the throne might even have stayed him, in his dark wiles! But, Olga was sadly alone and helpless! Refitting his ship at Victoria, in the domains of the hostile Queen of England, Zubow was safe from all offi cial Russian supervision! A winter leave of absence gave him the services of Alexander McMann as second in command of the "Nevsky. " "lean easily join the Reindeer in the spring at Kodiak," said the adventurer. Zubow mused: THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. I^L) "And I am now ready for action! I have a man who knows every inlet of the North Pacific! At Kodiak, Pierre Lefranc is under my secret orders! Phillippi, too, is well on his way to Europe! I will have the first news in the spring, from him by cipher telegram from New York to San Francisco, and our confederate, the Consul there, will send a dispatch boat on from Victoria. I can antedate the Czar s dispatches two months, for I, thanks to the magic of gold, have my private news as soon as the ink dries on the memoranda of the Privy Council! Ha, ha!" chuckled Zubow, "It is as easy to buy an Excellency as to bribe a sentinel! One wants easy gotten gold, the other is satisfied with a. flood of whiskey! I can now overcome or checkmate this placid, unsus pecting fool, Maxtitoff at will! Wait! wait! till that high-bred scoundrel who defied me returns! I will order him on the Nevsky to make charts and map copies! I shall see him triced up and his back bleeding under the lash! He shall remember the name of Zubow as long as the welts and scars quiver under the Arctic chill !"- " Place aux dames!" murmured Serge Zubow, dream ing alone, as his black eyes flamed with a tiger s feroc ity! He leaned back in his fur-padded easy chair by the birchen blaze, and drank a huge glass of fragrant Cham- bertin. " Let me see! Petropavlosk, Kodiak and Sitka are all open ports in winter! A hidden Prima Donna! She shall sing in private for Serge Zubow, Vice-General of the Pacific Siberian Realm! I wonder if Maxutoff sus pects my hidden league with Fersen! I fear him not! But that lynx-eyed Griselda, his wife, / must outwit her!" Olga Darine, returning alone from the great church, was suddenly met on the long ascent of stairs by Serge I4O THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Zubow, as a gloomy day showed her in its evening fiery glow, no silver sail entering the Sitka Sound! For the " Baranoff " still lingt-n-d at sea! They were alone, and the beautiful prisoner shuddered as she felt his breath hot upon her check! The rock s perpendicular sheer des cent was only separated by the low cedar hand rail. Vodki drinking had emboldened the brute, returning from an artful conference with the now anxious Maxutoff ! " If he means mischief, why does he not show his hand?" mused Prince Gregory. But Olga, whose prayers for Fedor Orlof s return lin gered in her heart, knew that the tiger waited for the helpless prey! It was Fedor he would first strike! And then then " Oh! God!" she screamed as Zubow seized her arm, "One step further and / will throw myself from the rock! Coward!" The panting man loosened his hold on her rounded arm, which bore the purpled marks of the brute s rough grip ! "You defy me!" Zubow firmly said, "your wings are clipped, but I can see the song bird s feathers! I know you, Olga, the peerless! When I have thrown your con vict lover to the fishes, you shall be taught to sing for me! Yes; my pretty dissembler! You alone, can save }\\m from tlie lash!" His scream, his angry threat was lost in the wild wail ing wind! Hewas ;/<>?<: alone, for Olga Darine, with the 1 of a hunted doe, was already safe above him, scaling the height. That night, the tenderness of even Beatrice Maxutoff s love could not cheer the woman, who, in an agony of sorrow, cursed her twin dower of beauty and of song! The doom was upon her! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 14! When the moon broke out in a silver flood, the stout Baranoff stood in, wing and wing, through the snow-cov ered islands, now gleaming like a fairy world in silver! Little sleep had visited Gregory Maxutoff s eyes ! He knew at last the whole story of Madame Alten, now to him Olga Darine! At daybreak he summoned the Captain of the Guard, and the drowsy sentinels on the beach were astonished to see the Governor s own barge speed ing away to the "Baranoff." In the morning s cold gray dawn, Olga Darine felt two k>ving woman arms around her neck! A sweet voice whispered, " Have you slep^ darling? " and, a white faced wraith of herself, the singer faltered, "No!" " 2 hen, wake to happiness! For Gregory has promised me that he will guard you from this fiend! As for Fedor Orlof, he is safe here now under the Imperial flag! The "Baranoff" is in! I have begged Gregory to send his own barge for Major Orlof. See, there it goes! " Springing from her couch, Olga caught up her gown of soft priceless white ermine. On her knees, by the window, she watched the boat gliding swiftly to the schooner. " Be comforted, my dear one! cried the Princess, for Olga trembled like a leaf in the storm. "Home again, in happy Russia, we will forget these sad days together! " The beauty, Madame Alten no more, darted a pas sionate glance at her gentle friend, : "Happy Russia! Happy Russia! I hear that phrase for theyfr-j/ time in my life! Wherever the Russian flag floats, the bread of bitterness, the cup of sorrow, goes as the badge of its heart slavery! Beatrice! " said Olga, her voice thrilling the tender-hearted listener, *< If God 142 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. ever delivers me from this desolation, my foot will never tread on Russian soil again! / swear if by my mother s " I would not lose you from my heart!" fondly cried Beatrice, "See, there comes the boat! Dress now quickly! It may be in Switzerland, in Germany, in Italy, in Austria, or in sunny France, we may make a happy little circle! For Irma loses her heart, her soul, when she loses you! Promise me one thing! " anxiously whispered Beatrice. "And that is, --- ?" earnestly queried Olga. "If I should be taken away, should you be near, you will be a mother to Irma!" Olga gazed in astonish ment at the Princess. "If God spares me, I will be to her what you would wish, should that dear child need my guidance! But what could a woman convict do for the Emperor s pro- tege"e, the first Princess of Alaska?" -- While the two women sat in an interchange of thoughts welling from their secret hearts, the doors opened, and Fedor Orlof was escorted into the cabinet of the Governor General. It was kindly Princess Beat rice who met him, with a meaning smile on her face. " Gregory \v\\\ see you at ten o clock! He will be busied till then! Your breakfast will be served here! " the bright- eyed lady said, as she clasped his hands, and the two guards stalked away. "Wait here! this is your own room, //// ten! I have ordered the captain of the guard to admit no one, until General Maxutoff so orders! " The lovely Princess Maxutoff fled unseen, a bright blush on her delicate cheek, for the door opened, and Olga was clasped in the arms of her anxious lover 1 There are silences too deep for the power of speech, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 143 too sweet to be broken by aught but the breathings of the beloved, breast to breast, in rapture! The minutes flew unheeded, until at last, Olga Darine, in womanly fear, told the story of the past weeks of trial! She could not conceal Zubow s open passion, his secret pursuit, his insane threats: and while the veins on his temples knotted like whipcords, Fedor Orlof forced a seeming calmness! "Our trust is in these noble friends! As for me, as God wills! For you, my darling. " Her sweet voice quivering in the earnestness of a true woman s faith, answered him: "Death before Dishonor!" They were startled as, after a pretense of touching the repast provided, the door from Princess Beatrice s boudoir was flung aside and the Princess hastily entered! "Quick, quick!" she said, "Both of you, in here! Prince Zubow and the Bishop demand an Instant audi ence with Gregory! I go to him! I fear, / know not what! Both of you must listen here, behind that cur tain, with the door partly drawn. They cannot see! You are our witnesses! I will watch at the other door! " The lovers were startled, for the happy hours had fled away uncounted. And, in Olga Darine s heaving bosom, a deadly fear froze the warm blood in the heart where but one image was enthroned! Fedor j, the man who had suffered to shield her! From the window they could see St. Michael s Church, its Greek cross in form speaking of the Blessed One who died for man, and its silvery bells sounded sweetly on the frosty air! But the old Archimandrite, in furred gown, cap and a huge golden pectoral chain and medal flashing with diamonds, was as crafty as Caiphas, as he plotted with Serge Zu bow at the Prince s table! The hidden lovers could see 144 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the merciless scowl on Serge Znbow s face as, in a con fident repose, he watched for the Governor General. "Your Highness! A/if Bishop!" cried Prince Maxu- toff, as he entered in ceremonial dress. " To what do I owe the honor of this joint and urgent visit? " Orlof and Olga noticed, with astonishment, as Serge Zubow rose and threw off his light sea-otter cloak, that he was in///// court regalia! In a cold, harsh voice, the Tartar said: "I have brought the head of His Imperial Majesty s Church here to see me read the commission which I desire you to enter, on your secret record, as my warrant of official action in these Seas!" Prince Maxutoff, w r ith face as pale as marble, listened, both standing, while the Czar s pleasure was made known; only the old Bishop remained seated, and dallied with his resplendent badge of rank. Orlof breathed more freely as Zubow concluded. It was dated a year past, and gave him the royal authority as Vice-Governor of Khamsehatka! " It will be so inscribed, Your Highness!" calmly said Maxutoff, and I will make the entries with my own hand! Will you entrust it to me for that purpose?" " Certainly!" said Zubow, in a cold, triumphant voice, as I propose to act under it forthwith!" Orlof s and Olga s eyes met, in a terrified silence! A sigh reached them from the Princess, seated at the door by which Maxutoff had entered to meet his secret foes! " I may sail within a week, to Kodiak, or Petropavlosk, to winter, or perhaps return! " began Zubow ominously, "I desire the services on board my ship Nevsky of the Siberian transferred convict No. 24190! " Orlof s strong arm alone kept the beautiful siuger from falling! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 145 "For what purpose, Prince?" politely queried the Governor General, who was toying with a Japanese dagger. To aid me in navigation, mapping and preparing reports of a secret nature! " Fedor Orlof started as the Siberian tyrant answered, in a meaning tone. "Is there anything else you ask under this extra ordinary commission? " politely rejoined the Governor General, "I must have, a minute in your own hand, to warrant such a transfer! " Olga s trembling fingers clutched Orlof s arm, as he eyed the keen toy dagger in Maxutoff s hand. He trembled like a racer at the post. "Stay! Yes, there is!" cried Zubow, with now un concealed insolence. " I wish the guard to escort the woman prisoner, known as Madame Alten, to the Church of St. Michael s where the Bishop will assign her to duty, suited to a woman convict, in the infirmary as nurse and seamstress!" There was a silence broken only by a stir, as the sound of a gentle struggle behind the curtains proved that Olga Darine swill alone kept Orlof from the room, for Maxutoff s sabre was clutched in the desperate prisoner s hand! "For my sake, wait until the last! 1 - she had whispered. "I regret that I cannot grant either of your requests, Prince!" said Gregory Maxutoff, who had sprung to his feet, his slight frame trembling with excitement. "See if you cannot find a warrant there!" cried Serge Zubow, with a loud mocking laugh, throwing down a sealed envelope. // was the supreme moment! " Read it, General, to the Bishop! He is my witness!" The Tartar s voice rang out in victory! 146 THE PRINCESS OF ALAStCA. In firm tones, Prince Maxutoff read a second docu ment, dated at Petropavlosk, two months after his depart- -ire from Sitka, signed by the all-powerful Count Fersen, Imperially Delegated Inspector, giving to Prince Serge ^ubow his full proxy in Aliaska, as well as Khamschatka! It was an infamous treason to the man he professed to respect! "You dare not disobey that?" yelled Serge Zubow, as he faced the still coldly polite Governor General. 11 When will you deliver me these two convicts?" OlgaDarine sank helpless in Orlof s arms, as the aris tocratically unmoved Prince Maxutoff returned the let ter, saying sternly: "Never! Your orders are mon strous!" " Do you dare to brave the Czar s will! Your life may answer for this!" shouted Serge Zubow, in a transport of rage. Prince Maxutoff rang his bell, and smilingly seated himself. "Send me the Captain of the Guard" he cried, as his official secretary entered in alarm at the unseemly noise. Princess Beatrice, Fedor and Olga were now a group of three, and gazed spellbound, as Zubow, blind with fury, laid his hand on his sword! "Hold, sir! At your peril!" sternly cried the fearless Maxutoff, and when the Captain entered, he coldly said: "Bid the Captain of the Port prevent all communica tion between the ship Nevsky and the shore! Man the batteries and enforce this!" It was now war to the knife! "Stay, Captain! Sound the officers call and conduct all the officers here to me! Now, sir," said Maxutoff, as he turned to the murderous Tartar, " I shall expel your ship from the harbor, sink it, if necessary, unless I know it to be a legal /y entered Russian vessel! As for convict THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 147 No. 24190, he was sent to me under a special later commission of Count Fersen, and transferred on receipt, by the Emperor s order, two months after your proxy was signed! I refuse to consider him in any way under your orders without the sign manual of His Majesty, the Emperor!" The old Bishop nodded, and plucked Zubow s sleeve! The officers began to troop in! " As for the woman convict known as Madame Alien, I will bring her before you!" Zubow smiled a hideous leer, and threw himself in Maxutoff s vacant seat, as the officers in full uniform, were ranged in a silent row by the Port Captain. Zubow with the bated ferocity of a tiger measuring his spring, waited while a whispered colloquy was heard in the Governor General s room. A woman s choking sob broke on the breathless silence of the scene. All started to their feet as Prince Maxutoff led the pallid-faced beauty, Madame Alten, into the presence of Serge Zubow, whose eyes now gleamed in triumph! At her right hand queenly Beatrice Maxutoff walked, holding the prisoner s trembling hand! And Fedor Orlof, his blue eyes set and stern, stood on her left! " / do not want that scoundrel! Take him away!" boldly said Zubow, who addressed Olga Darine, as one would chide a hound! "Come here! woman!" There was a shudder, and the two supporters alone held the half-fainting woman upright! Her eyes were set, and her marble face was as of a corpse. "Do you hear?" yelled Zubow, with coarse malignity! " Hold! Do not obey I " gravely said Prince Maxutoff, stepping between Serge Zubow and the half-fainting woman. Turning to his secretary, he said; "0-pen tht Register of Convict Marriages!" lilt PRINCESS OF ALASKA. There was a start of astonishment in the room! The tears coursed down Beatrice Maxutoff s cheeks in silence, as Zubow madly threw himself forward. "Be my <>^ n wife! J/Y bride. I offer you all! Are \\>u mud* " he hissed, attempting to seize Olga Darine s hand. Loud murmurs from the officers broke the wait ing silence. "Do you wish to marry this person?" said Prince Maxutofi, pointing sternly at the exalted Tartar Prince. "/ must be a convict s bride! " faintly fell from Olga Darine s pallid lips, and as Beatrice Maxutoff whispered to her, she added: "I refuse!" She spoke with cold disgust. "Then, gentlemen," loudly said Prince Maxutoff, "by my authority as Governor General of Aliaska and Walrussia and, under the law of the Empire, / declare the convict No. 24190, Fed or Or/of, by name, and the woman convict registered as Madam Alten, not numbered, to be man and wife, upon their expressing their choice, and they will be so registered! Do you so choose and con sent?" With a flash of fire in their eyes, as pale as the glow of the Northern Lights, the helpless prisoners gazed in each others sad faces! " We do so wish and consent!" they cried, in hollow tones. "Then, upon this registry, / so declare them!" said the Governor General. "You may retire, gentlemen! " he cried, waving his hand to the officers. "And now, the woman goes with me, married or not, she is under my orders!" thundered Zubow. "The penal code prevents the separation of convict husband and wife except for punishment, or by their own THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 149 registered wish! Hand me the law!" sternly answered Prince Maxutoff, " Am I right, Bishop ? " " You are, Excellency !" said the frightened prelate. "Then, I now order these two convicts to be entered as my servants, and so released from all penal labors and the care of the guard!" remarked Prince Maxutoff tri umphantly. " You may take your servants now," said the Governor General, gently, to Princess Beatrice, as he led his happy wife to the door, followed by the two prisoners snatched from a living hell! A strange wedding, in a strange land! In the room, the timid secretary and the old Bishop alone exchanged glances, as Prince Maxutoff said haugh tily to Serge Zubow, "Your Highness! You have entered this house for the last time, while I am in the commission of His Ma jesty, the Emperor! If you have any petty business, the Captain of the Port will have my orders! If you desire to transact any important affairs with me, they can be ad dressed to me, through the Chancellerie! You will observe that I have duly entered the Emperor s secret commission to you! It relates piirely to Khamschatka! The other document has no force to me, though it may have to you, until it is confirmed by an Imperial rescript! It will be certainly next season before that can reach me! Till then I shall obey only the verified orders! " The Governor General loudly rang his bell. To the Captain of the Guard, who appeared, he said: "You will escort His Highness, Prince Zubow, past the guards! Let no one approach in future without my per sonal order! "- There was a howl as of a maddened wild beast, when 10 150 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the Siberian, Serge Zubow left the cabinet of the Gov ernor General. His brutal ryes were blazing with an unslaked fever of revenge! Baffled at heart, he swore a frightful oath of vengeance, unheard, for exhausted with his victory, Gregory Maxutoff joined his wife, who was standing with the fated couple. - "You are now joined hand and heart! " cheerfully said Maxutoff, as they turned to him, with grateful eyes: " Beatrice, you must busy Olga with her wedding feast, and you, in an hour, Orlof, shall tell me of the Baranoff s* cruise! " When Orlof rejoined Prince Maxutoff in the cabinet, the gold and turquoise circlet gleamed no longer on his hand. "I may not claim you as my wife before the altar of God, but your ring has brought me back to you. Take it in witness of my eternal love. It is all I have left to give ! For Fedor Orlof s only wealth now is your love!" In the loving ministrations of Beatrice Maxutoff, the pale-faced prisoner bride found a womanly cheer which brought the faint flushes back to her r.heek, as delicate as the glow of the spring wild rose on bold Katalan s blood-stained rock! " God fghts for us!" cheerily cried the Governor General, at sundown. " I only wait the return of my Adjutant! See there!" They gazed from the window and saw the heavy sparred "Nevsky" now swarming with men busied loos ening her white sails. "Good!" cried Maxutoff, as the officer, returning, handed him a paper, to which he scrawled his sign manual, "Seal and enter that! Hasten, Captain! " cried th Governor. THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 15! And in an hour, while they lingered in suspense, the port s heavy steam tug drew the " Nevsky " out into the cold, gray, fog wreathed inlet! The roving trader van ished behind the islands! "So much for a black-hearted villain!" said Maxutoff, after dismissing his secretary, who reported the records correctly made, "I have just now forced Prince Serge Zubow to apply for papers describing the " Nevsky " as a private ship, still under the American flag, and bound for Petro- pavlosk to change her register to Russian. The law makes him change her flag only in a Russian home port! So that he aimed to order you on a private vessel, which is against the law! Of that I have made an official note! Also that you were legally married under the convict code, before he received my refusal to order Madame Alten to the infirmary? That fact cut off his power over her! I have also signed his ship s clearance as the American ship Nevsky \ unknown owner, Prince Serge Zubow, passenger. "- " How could you force him to this?" said Orlof, in wonder. "I had ordered the outer batteries by semaphore, to sink him, if he tried to run by without his clearance papers! He could not make an offing, either, without the tug, which also gave them their needed supply of water! I warned him officially, not to land again in my jurisdiction, until the vessel s papers had been legally changed! The Admiral would be obliged to seize his boat as a pirate! " "But his future resentment?" Orlof urged. "You have risked all this for me, -for Olga? " " Alas! my poor friend!" said the grateful noble, " we are not tried by this alone! I have other troubles! 152 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Far graver ones! I received a secret packet from a friend in America, and a Government spy came up, also, on this very ship! The Consul at Victoria is an old school fellow of mine! A network of vil lainous schemes is being woven around this Alias- kan transfer. "I dare not openly say that Count Fersen, Prince Zubow, their official friends and the great American and foreign capitalists are leagued against the Czar to rob the Crown, but I fear that it is true! To do that, they must outwit, hoodwink, baffle or destroy me! I know not which will happen, but the real reason the Government sells Aliaska is now the cause of my present danger! It is too far from Russia to be properly defended and supplied, and I cannot get a confidential dispatch bearer to Petersburg, as quick as these banded scoundrels can! Listen! To-morrow, at noon, the whole official staff will attend a special church service! At its close, I order you and your beautiful Olga to present yourselves before the Bishop for the solemn celebration of your marriage. You can appear as my secretary. Once done, it can not be undone! And it gives you the right to church registry! " "But the papers, the orthodox ante-nuptial cere monies?" said Fedor. "They are useless, there is no such formality here! You are both under my orders! The Bishop must pro nounce this benediction, and give you proper papers, for he now depends on me alone for the comfort of his clergy!" "Prince, it is useless. " groaned Fedor, his past life rising up in dark shadows! " But, / thank you! " he mur mured. "Say no more!" quietly answered the acute official, " Your wife has rights She has acted innocently^ and PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 1$$ earned them! There are no charges cited against her! She is only detained! Zubow did not know that! I could not violate the secrecy of the Privy Council s orders to confute his claim! I took the best course for your future! for Olga s! My wife has given me her whole views! She was a maid of Honor, you know! " The convict noble bowed. " Now, you are the head of your house!" Fedor sprang to his feet! It flashed over his mind that his own hand had made him the heir to the title! "Your wife is Countess Orlof!" "Spare me!" shuddered Fedor. "My friend, there are other considerations! Let me lead you in this! Attainder is impossible in Russia! The innocent may not share your burden. And there may be brighter days! " Orlof bowed in silence. "My wife has already spoken to Olgal In fact, she would not have it otherwise! Now, every leap of that vessel over the waves is bearing my bitterest enemy on to Khamschatka! If you have found aught to promise success to our mining hopes, / can execute at once the provisional formalities, send the Baranoff to Victoria, and my grant will be entered and registered at St. Peters burg, months before Zubow can counteract it! He can not suspect! " "Is this true? Have they not watched you? "anx iously said Orlof, thinking of Lefranc, and of the nightly visits of Phillippi, Zubow and the renegade to crafty old Shaman Thorn! Did they suspect the real locality of the mine? " "I can antedate them easily three months!" replied Maxutoff, earnestly. "Then," cried Orlof joyously, "We are safe! For I 154 TH1: I KIM I -SS <>F ALASKA. have located the source of the gold, within the limits of a ten mile grant . "- Maxutoff laughed! "Why! I can get fifty miles square! Can it be definitely enclosed by a survey within risible land marks? " questioned the excited Maxutoff. " I can enclose the whole area, beyond doubt! " replied Fedor. "Then," he said, "Send your working forces tp the boat now, and have the whole geological collection unloaded! My proofs are there! I will draw the plats from your maps here, on a rough enlargement!" Prince Maxutoff sprang to his bell! In an hour, the working force was staggering up the stairs, under the burden of sacks, casks and boxes laden with Orlof s mysterious specimens. Maxutoff was eager! He or dered " Draw the sketch! To-morrow, I will have the grant and application papers prepared. You must make no mistake! I will not lose a single moment! Have you absolute proofs? " "You shall see them!" Orlof proudly answered. " Wait for the boxes!" "Now! Your Highness! said Orlof, in a whisper, " Here is the mouth of the Tako! This secret has been kept by the fierce Sundown and Takou savages, under Shaman Thorn s awful curse! There is a deep canal, an inlet, the two points of the terrific mountain heads of the Tako, a large island, sixty leagues around, tim bered into the very sea, quite elevated, and near it, a small green island high and bare! A ten mile square from the mouth of the Tako includes all! The inlets are always fog-wreathed. Now, the wily old chief alone guards this secret! He would not even let the schooner enter the canal, but I was sent along to these varied points in a canoe! We met, on different days, several canoes full THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA 155 of these sly Indians! I was landed finally with only one man, an Indian, who, by signs, told me that / / was the desired spot! Following your orders, I dissembled my secret satisfaction! I spent three days alone, at different times, on this small island! I studied and plotted my work from the vessel s charts, and have written you also a secret description of the local scenery! It is on the small high green island, with scattered pine forests in its sheltered nooks! There, in the ledges and channels, I have scooped handfuls of gold horn the rotten, dampened guartz gullies! " "You are not deceiving me?" Maxutoff asked anxiously, and grasped Fedor s arms, in a nervous grip: "And the Indians?" "They think the gold is only in the black sand of the rocky shore, where the gold washed down by the torrents mingles with the heavy shore layer! But the whole island is one vast mass of gold quartz! There are millions of dol lars lying there, guarded only by the timid deer who swim the inlet to crop the tender moss and straggling grass! The decomposed quartz, in the ravines, furnished me my store! Here is the sketch: This island must be the one marked here "San Carlos," by Ayala and Quadra, and "Douglas Island" by Vancouver! I have the old draw ings and sketches, so you can not mistake! There is but one such island, but it is hard to find!" "Your first trip in the spring shall be to complete the survey, and I will make the grant for twenty miles square from the Tako Inlet! But, here are all the specimens," said Maxutoff, as the orderly officer reported. "There is only one case that I want!" whispered Orlof, I brought the rest only as a blind/" They were alone. "Can I eali the Princess and ?" 156 I HE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. " The Countess," said Maxutoff, with a smile. - r, And while the two beautiful assistants looked on, Fedor Orlof, with strong blows broke open a heavy barrel, which he had rolled in from the gallery! He knew its secret mark at once! Overturning it, he threw out one after another, a dozen raw hide ammunition pouches! They were concealed in layers of moss. Opening the first, he poured out on the polished table, a dull yellow heap of roughened golden grains, varying in size, mixed with black sand, and buried in a shower of fine golden scales! It was a precious heap of virgin gold! " There is five thousand roubles, in native gold, in each of those pouches! I brought all I dared! Every runlet and ravine has its treasure!" The ladies were clasped in each other s arms, as Max utoff threw up his arms in delight! "It is an untold fortune! It gives us all wealth!" " May it also bring us happiness!" said Orlof, solemnly, as he kissed gentle Beatrice Maxutoff s hand "And no one knows?" the Prince Governor was breathless. "The crew suspect nothing! I urged old Shaman Thorn to encourage my trade with his men! You can see the crafty old pagan and question him yourself. He told me truly that the fierce Indians of these tribes fight all others away, and gleaning the shoies of the island, divide the gold and trade it off later! They think it comes up from the sea!" "And you are sure of the quartz formation?" demand ed Maxutoff. "I have brought barrels of the rock in its raw, its pow dered, and its partly rotten state! This is not alluvial gold like the hydraulic drift of Siberia, of California, of THE PRINCESS OF* ALASKA. 157 the African, and Eastern American gold fields 1 It is quartzose and volcanic, like the Mexican, South Ameri can, Rocky Mountain, and Australian drifts, though both forms may be met at once! 1 1 The evening stars were shining in peace: and all the circle wove dreams of a happy future! "Let us conceal all this treasure, my friends!" said Maxutoff, joining their hands. "We four here present hold a golden secret! Now, I claim the rights of host! To-night, in quiet, we enjoy your wedding feast, to-mor row, the grants shall be prepared, and I will send the Baranoff to Victoria, with my sealed dispatches! My right to enter this grant is undoubted! I will stipulate for all fishing, timber, agricultural and mineral owner ship! The Czar w r ill refuse me nothing I ask!" "Before your marriage ceremony at the church to-mor row, Orlof, you shall give me the maps in quadruplicate. I will have all the entries in the archives made, and the grants will be in my name, and that of my heirs, as well as that of the Countess Orlof and her heirs! Irma, as Princess of Alaska, can protect your wife s interests! This will leave your name out of it, and the Petersburg officials will think it only a distant partnership! Fersen told me the Emperor would give me this new dignity of Prince of Alaska on my presentation when I return !"- " After that," and Maxutoff smiled, "until the spring clears away the snows so you can go and take possession for me, under pretense of a detailed survey of the Tako Lynn Channel, Admiralty Island and Douglas Island, I shall expect you, Fedor, to make my working days lighter, and my dear Olga, you have your lovely charge, Irma! If you as husband and wife, can not find happi ness under the Northern Lights, it will not be chargeable to my harshness! Try and forget! Live in your love!" 158 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. In the enchanted weeks which flrd away, secure under noble Maxutoff s protection, the lovers, now united before the altar of God, forgot the ban laid on them l>y the law! A seeming paradise was opened to them! 1 * Could any/ Aing add to our happiness?" whispered Countess Olga, now freed from Serge Zubow s ominous presence. They were walking in the silent halls of Baranoff Castle, the cedar citadel builded on the great rock, which the rich Baranoff left on his homeward voy age, going only to his sudden death! Maxutoff and his wife were dashing over the valley snows below, with willful little Irma, delighted at her wild sleigh ride! The patent and grant papers now only needed the Emperor s august Jiand, for three months had glided away in an unbroken happiness! Beautiful Olga Orlof s voice often thrilled through the great halls in happiness, and the evenings under the magical play of the glowing, flashing Northern Lights were but a pre lude to busy and contented days! Loving, lovely and beloved. Olga never heard the rustle of the robes of the beautiful, ghostly bride, the White Lady of Baranoff Castle, who was found dead, in the dim anteroom, when her princely lover waited in vain for an unwilling bride! For the mad lover of her heart had sacrificed the one dearer than life to him to save her from another, and then thrown himself on the rocks! Innocent Olga was shadowed by no foreboding as she spoke! But, even in his hours of supreme happiness, Fedor Orlof turned his eyes often to where Russia lay, beyond the rim of the gray, heaving waste of waters! There, he seemed to see again, as ever, the accusing face of the fatherless Vera Orlof, the little cousin whom he had once fondled, even as he now caressed his wife s graceful charge, Irma Maxutoff! Always, that fair young face, wistful THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 159 and saddened, in an orphan s weeds, seemed to gaze on him, the innocent 1 ps whispering: " Where is my father? " For the passing years had only told him that he could make no fitting atonement! He turned and kissed his wife in silence as she repeated her question: "If there must be retribution, let it fall on me alone!" murmured Orlof as he presssed his beloved to his haunted heart. It was seven months since Serge Zubow saw Sitka s lights fade away as he paced the " Nevsky s" deck in frantic rage, when a stout cutter drove into the sound, and Prince Maxutoff met it at the icy strand. It was the secret dispatch boat of his agent in British Colum bia, now at Victoria. By the telegraph over Europe, the steamer to New York, and telegraph to San Francisco and Portland, thence by secret message to Victoria, he awaited news of the confirmation of his concession, and the final transfer of the great American domains of the Czar! The schooner " Baranoff " was now ready to flit forth at any moment, and bear Orlof through the sea-washed gorges of the Sitkan Archipelago, over the cool, spark ling waters ot the land-locked inlets, swarming with sil very fishes, past the overhanging majesty of the great snow peaks of the wild land, to glide under the sculpt ured walls of the Ice Kings s blue crystal palace, the glacier land of eternal silence and entrancing beauty. There, the icy architecture glowed pink and golden in the marvellous sunsets, or shimmered in silvery white ness when the pale moon gleamed on the savage beauty of the wild pagan s homes! Qrlof was ready to go forth now and hold the golden l6o THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. treasure island for his princely friend, and the dear ones linked in the ambitions of the coming years. From Baranoff Castle, the Princess and her friend, the wife of a prison romance, watched the Prince and Orlof hasten ing homeward. I am filled with a strange fear! I know not why!" said Olga Orlof, as she leaned her head on her friend s breast. "There is no shadow now! Zubow will never return! He must have wintered at Kodiak or in Khamschatka. We will have glad tidings!" cried Princess Beatrice, as her husband s smiling face met her gentle, inquiring gaze. " Victory!" cried Prince Gregory, as he led the friends into his cabinet. " I have///// home dispatches and a cipher telegram. The provinces will be turned over to the Americans, in October, next year! The Czar will have six hundred thousand square miles less terri tory. And we then all will go home! I will have Orlof pardoned! I have had the land grant duly entered and sealed at St. Petersburg! The Island is forever Mine!" Joy and gladness reigned! Happiness shone on every brow! But the fair face of Countess Olga alone was shadowed with the strange sadness, as the " Baran- off s" day of sailing dawned! With a delicacy all his own, Prince Gregory arranged to give Orlof his last instructions for his month s absence, on the tug which was to accompany the schooner up the strait for some hours. "Take this last day for yourselves!" said Maxutoff. "You are free to return here, Fedor, as soon as you have recognized the island and definitely located it! Make all the legal surveys needed! You can then leave THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. l6l the Sergeant s guard to build huts, and I will send up later, supplies for a season s comfortable stay. My grant being properly recognized in the diplomatic trans fer, our labors are done! We must only file the maps at home! You will find a congenial winter s occupation in aiding me in the transfer, for I will have detailed instructions as to the evacuation by the first spring war vessel! Irma Maxutoff, with childish concern, clung to her father when the great doors of Baranoff Castle were opened, as Orlof left his love, with streaming eyes and trembling lips in the arms of Princess Beatrice! On the threshold, he turned back to clasp Olga once more in his arms, to whisper those burning words of love which sent the sudden color even now to her pallid cheeks! One last embrace, and Jie was gone! From the deck of a schooner, Fedor Orlof, a prayer on his lips, watched the last gleam of the white signal fluttering in the delicate blue-veined hands, still ting ling with his kisses! He set his face to the lonely North, and a darkness, greater than that of the grow ing night, fell on his soul, as the " Baranoff" stood away toward Tako inlet. A week of baffling navigation, days of waiting for the uncertain natives and several trips in canoes managed by strange savages, wore out the brightness of Orlof s handsome face. "Can it be that these natives have been secretly tampered with!" he mused, as he returned to the schooner s old landing place, a safe anchorage, baffled and tired out, day after day! He dared not use force, and he could not confer with the officer in com mand of the vessel upon his secret quest! It would expose the secret relations! As he arose, after a night of unrest, for one more l62 IHF PRINCESS OF ALASKA. determined effort to find in the winding channel the "small, JiigJi green island 1 he sought, he pondered on the risk of leading the schooner s long boat in himself. "One more trial of the natives!" he muttered, as he noted the courses and memoranda of the day in his journal. The sailors were chafing at the apparently useless delay in the inlet! The pen fell from his hand, in the gray of the foggy dawn, as he saw the fatal date. It was the anniversar\ of his unexpiated crime! In dejection and silence he left the " Baranoff s " side in a canoe manned by a dozen low-browed Eskimo. For hours, through the fog and changing currents, the chattering pagans pad dled him from inlet to inlet. It was the same blind riddle as before! His brain whirled with fantastic recognitions. He could not verify in the weary hours of the voyage the scenery of the year before. And over his mind to-day hung the clouded sadness of his unholy deed, the bitter memories of the prison. Even Zubow s cold malignity returned to depress him! Alone with the savages, unarmed, save with a heavy hunting knife, he noted the varied shores, fog-wreathed and changing, as the canoe whirled in the swift, green current! His mind strayed away from his task as the sweet face of Olga, his wait ing wife, the prison flower of his heart, came to distract him! Her eyes seemed to beam on him, deep in the wifely tenderness which has given to love a newer, holier name! His eyes grew fond and dreamy as he trailed his hand over the side of the light canoe to test the turning current. "Would he crcr lead the beautiful woman back to freedom and the home of her happy youth? For they had promised in their dreams of a golden future that some day, in a far-off Italian town, THE ^RIN^fiSS OF ALASKA. 163 hidden under the crags of beautiful Sorrento, they would, should Love lead the way to Liberty, retrace the paths dear to Olga Darine in her untroubled girlhood! That, hand in hand, they would walk by the purpling seas where her child-voice first broke out into song as sweet as the morning lark! Suddenly, a sullen Indian grasped his arm! The fog had blown off, and before him, half a mile away, lay the well-remembered high bare green island, with its unreaped golden harvest hidden in cleft and rusty quartz ledge! He sprang to eager action! "Ah! I have been paddling around it, and turning always to the left out through the wrong inlet! " cried Orlof, awake now to every moment s value. For with his compass and sextant he could locate from its sum mit, a few hundred feet high, the well-known headlands and even the schooner s very position! On the light canoe dashed, and, springing ashore at the nearest point, Fedor bade the crew rest and await him! He must do this vitally important work alone! He dared not risk faithless followers! From the first high knoll, as he rapidly took a round of shore bear ings, he could plainly see the schooner s top masts and fluttering signal two leagues away. // was, in very truth, the golden island! The secret of its position in the channel-head was at last explained, for he now noted several false inlets and connecting straits of the involved fiords! In a half hour he had finished his vitally necessary observations on the summit and en tered them in his note book! Oppressed with the silent loneliness, a treasure un claimed lying in the dingy rocks under his feet, he returned his steps towards the canoe s landing place. He descended slowly into the gully, in whose soft run- 164 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. let sands he had scooped up the gold which Maxutoff now treasured ! // was the future fortune of his darling wife! The bushes and low trees shaded the banks of the ravine! Suddenly, he uttered a quick exclamation of surprise, for before him on the moist sands of the creek were the/;rj7/ prints of booted feet! A vague alarm seized him! He sprang toward a knoll from whence he could see the whole channel. "Had some wandering inhaler found the Golden Island? Was there a secret party hidden near?" He \vould return and take possession with the whole force, and then send A canoe at once paddling back for reinforcements and orders! As his tall form straightened itself in the forward movement a sharp, double report rang out, and Fedor Orlof sprang into the air, crashing down in his fall, even as the forest oak! His lips trembled in the last word " Olga!" and, before the beloved name had sounded on the echoing air, with a shudder and a quiver o f the muscles, the strong man s spirit fled for ever! The echoes died away in hollow reverberations on the lonely hills! Two burly forms sprang out from the shaded copse; one was seal-skin clad and hooded, like a native! He grasped a heavy pistol ready for use in his clenched hand! // was the traitor Pierre! " It is useless! He is finished off!" growled a brutal voice, and burly Serge Zubow, clad in a Russian sailor s garb, stood gazing fiercely at the body of his prostrate foe! "What shall we do with him?" muttered Pierre Le- franc, for by the hand of his one time comrade, Fedor Orlof had died in a foul murder! And far away Olga s loving eyes were raised to Heaven in a prayer for him! "Leave him for the wild beasts!" roughly muttered THE PRINCESS Oi< ALASKA. 165 Zubow. "Here search him! // is your job! His death is the price of your freedom! I care not for the task! I am satisfied! He will brave Serge Zubow no more! Make haste! Cross over the island! I want to drop down the whaleboat with the current! But, what in the devil s name was his party doing here?" The moody brute, Zubow, a double-barrelled rifle in his hand, strode swiftly over the ridge to where his boat s crew lay Hidden on the land side of the island. 11 1 have not entered a port" he laughed, "only touched at an island!" With trembling fingers Pierre Lefranc cut away the dead man s field glasses and picked up the sextant lying by the murdered noble s side! There was a marvellous beauty in the fair manly face, waxen in death! Lefranc fled away like a madman, for the brave blue eyes gazed heavenward, as if imploring God s pardon! Fedor Orlof had made the atonement of innocent blood at last! And his beloved wife prayed for him far away on this day of gloomy memory! "I can hide this from all! Zubow will never land here again! He only followed Orlof here on this mad revenge! The secret of this place is now mine, mine alone I And when the Yankees take the land, /will be the owner of this treasure stored islet!" Pierre chuckled in glee. As he overtook Zubow, crashing through the bushes, Lefranc hoarsely cried: "Nothing but this field glass and the sextant!" "Ah! a scientific survey!" growled Zubow. "It is over! Come! Hurry on! I will get the ship out from behind Admiralty Island and fifty leagues at sea before this fellow is found! I will land you at Khamschatka, with orders to send you over to Kodiak in the first 11 1 66 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. vessel! Your pardon and discharge shall be in your pocket when \ou land! Yon have earned it!" Before the next dawn, the "Nevsky," beating to sea ward like a fierce cormorant, drove away over the rough waves of Behring Sea, bearing off moody Zubow, maddened with brandy, for he too saw the brave blue eyes of Orlof gazing clearly towards the heavens above! Pierre Lefranc, now instinctively avoiding his murderous master, clutched now the papers that made him free! A strange hallucination seized him when the effect of his daily vodki debauches left him! He could hear Orlof whisper: "We are partners, comrades! We will live or die together!" And the brute, cowering in his hammock, tried to shut out the fate of "his silent partner! " It was days before the stern naval officer, who paced the "Baranoff" deck, was met at his ship s side by bis faithful crew, bearing back Orlof s body! He had seized all the natives, and forced a search, sending a squad of armed sailors out with every canoe! In the cabin, he listened in solemn gravity to the old boatswain, who delivered him Count Orlof s note book and the small articles found on his body. On the deck, guarded by a sentinel, lay the body of the dead soldier! The Lieutenant sprang to his feet as the old sailor said: "Murdered! and by white men! For there were the tracks of two men wearing new sea boots and he was shot with a metallic cartridge rifle at short range!" In the fitful flashes of a terrible storm, the "Baranoff" was forced to run out to sea, to avoid the black squall now breaking on the dangerous coast! Sealing up all the articles delivered to him, the com mander, with all the observance due the rank of the man THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 167 now freed forever from all earthly bonds, steered into Sitka Sound, with his colors reversed in distress! Beside her chosen watch station, at the seaward window fair Olga Orlof, glass in hand, swept the blue expanse toward the north. It was on a sunny morning, when leading his silent wife, her face white with a sudden terror, Prince Gregory Maxutoff approached the waiting Olga and gently took the glasses from her hand! With one quick glance at Beatrice Maxutoff s eyes, the Countess Orlof fell prone and senseless at her friend s feet! The tidings of the semaphore were telegraphed in advance of the slowly gliding schooner, drifting down, bearing the husband lover home in the stillness of death, to the woman whose beloved name trembled on his dying lips! And so, Stephan Orlof was avenged at last! It was a month later when a graceful figure, shrouded in black, descended the winding stairs of Baranoff Castle! It was the widowed Countess Orlof, at whom the sentinel, presenting arms to the Governor General, gazed in awe! No angel carved in Parian marble, watching over a tomb, in frozen loveliness, was paler than this mute lovely mourner! She leaned on Prince Gregory s arm, and her eyes rested sadly on the tall spars of a fleet Russian frigate, the herald of the sum mer fleet! The streets of the village were thronged with officers, as the only carriage of the settlement awaited the Prince and his charges. These chivalrous Russians whispered their sympathy as the beautiful vision was lost to sight. Their hearts were touched with sorrow. 11 So strange!" 11 said Commander Linieff, now on his return, with promotion, "I am told," he turned to his executive officer, "that the Countess Orlof s pardon TIIK PRINCESS OF ILASKA. iiu hides crrry reinstatement. Prince Maxutoff has told me that he has grave fears for her health ! The mysterious murder of her husband has apparently affected her mind! She may go down to California with us on the Rurik, but I doubt if she will ever leave the Princess! It is only a year now, till we will haul down the St. Andrew s Cross forever from " Baranoff Castle!" "Ah! They will then go home ^together!" said the junior. "So I am told! Prince Gregory wishes to begin the education of that charming fairy sprite, Irma! She must be an ideal Princess of Alaska! And, I presume, the ladies will settle temporarily on the continent. It will take the Governor Maxutoff fully a ivw;- to turn over all this vast realm, and rejoin them. The land will be soon overrun with the prying Yankees and all sorts of adventurers. The American flag will draw the outcasts of the whole west hither! It is wise that the Prince sends his family circle out as soon as he can! The new era will only be a wild scramble!" "Captain! Who will fall heir to the immense fur interests and trading business here?" said the subordi nate. "Oh! tJie smartest, as the Yankees say," laughed Linieff, for he had been brightened up by friendly inter course with the American navy and occasional visits to San Francisco. "Poor Or/of!" he said, as he turned away to his boat, "he deserved a better Jate! Was it some wandering British or American thieves, fur hunt ers, who slew this man, to cover their presence? No!" thought the generous minded officer, "those adventur ous men are not of nations that boast the assassin s trade! I fear it was some dark revenge! Now, could Zubow" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 169 he dismissed the haunting idea with a frown, as he entered his waiting boat! "No! He was three thousand mi/i s awav, in Khamschatka! " But before the snows pf another winter crawled down the sides of Mount Edgecumbe, gallant Linieff was pos sessed by an innate feeling that some dastardly crime lurked behind the mystery of Fedor Orlof s untimely cutting off ! The rage of Serge Zubow, when he heard of Olga Orlof s pardon was unbounded! For a Grand Duke of Russia lay dead now in a foreign land! A stately tomb rose over the Czarevitch who had hung enthralled on Olga Darine s accents, and the beautiful woman, weeping by the grave in the exquisite valley of Indian River, was free in her widowhood to bring her unhcaled sorrows back to fair Europe! The mute singer s bonds were loosened! She was a menace to the Russian Crown no more! As she plucked the first wild rose blooming over the mound where Fedor slept, unmindful of the thundering salute of the "Rurik s" guns, Olga Orlof clasped her friend in her arms: "I will stay here, near him, with you, until we leave the land of snows and sorrows together!" "It is well!" answered Beatrice Maxutoff, "And my Gregory will guard your interests, for Fedor s note boohs and surveys have clearly indicated luckless Treasure Island! It will be watched, for us, for you, and for, perhaps, some one who in happier years may learn from you that to a dead father s sacrifice, the restored fortune of the Orlof s may be traced!" BOOK II. UNDER A NEW FLAG, CHAPTER VI. BARANOFF S CASTLE EN FETE THE LAST DAYS OF EMPIRE THE FOOT OF THE STRANGER HOMEWARD BOUND "FRENCH PETE." It was in the early days of October, in the year of our Blessed Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- seven, that two wistful-faced women gazed seaward from Baranoff Castle on a view which brought the bitter tears of the past to mingle with the joys of a coming release from the seclusion of years. Below the old stronghold, where the war flag of the Romanoff s still streamed out defiantly to the wind, a motley fleet lay anchored! The blood red flag of haughty England floated on the chill afternoon breeze, and near it sparkled the star flag of the new masters, the United States of America! There were several stout merchantmen claiming a port welcome, under the white, blue and red horizontal tri color of Russia! "The last days are quickly coming to us now, Olga!" said Beatrice Maxutoff. "See! There is the American fleet! " The Princess handed Countess Orlof the glasses she had listlessly toyed with. "Gregory will be pleased, for he is so anxious for his relief! The bureau duties of this last year have nearly exhausted him. It would have been so different if" 171 172 mi: I KixcESs OF ALASKA. The gentle Princess paused, for from the favorite win dow station, Olga Orlof, HIW the white Countess, fled in haste, as her ears caught the sound of a quavering voice! The cry <>f Fcdor Orlof s fatherless child! "It is nothing!" simply said Countess Olga, " he always seems to prefer >nc to his nurse, Katia." Below them, in stately procession, the American squadron, the heavy steamers " Ossipee " and " Resaca," with the sturdy old sloop of war "Jamestown" in tow, were now sweeping silently down, their men at the bat teries, and every port open! At each main truck, the red, white and blue streamer, and at the bow, the blue jack, told of the national character. Beside the great national ensigns, a Commodore s pen nant told that courtly McDougall was ready, with Cap tain Emmons and Bradford, to accept the indefinable sovereignty of the lonely Behring Sea, so long battled for stoutly by the heirs of Peter as "mare clausem! " The friends gazed in silence, as the stately vessels dropped anchor, and the amphitheatre of Sitka harbor echoed back the thunder of the Yankee heavy guns, saluting for the last time Alexander II, in his prison as Lord of Aliaska! The ladies were alone, for Prince Gregory Maxutoff, and his superior officers were ready, in glittering regalia, to receive and return the punctili ous visits of ceremony! Though anxious at heart to leave the narrowed theatre of the woes and hardships of the lonely years, Beatrice, beautiful and proud, burst into tears, as the guns of the new masters, in measured diapason, told that the Romance of t lie 6>/</was at an end! At her side, a growing slip of fairy girlhood, bright- eyed Irma, longed for the day when she would be borne away to the fabled delights of Home! The star-eyed THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 173 daughter of the refined, aristocratic mother was to be led over land and sea to the glittering, restless, throb bing life of great St. Petersburg! For the future heiress of Treasure Island must be nurtured in the classic seclusion of the guarded " Cath erine Institute," to sparkle as a jewel of the living orna ments of the Imperial Russian Crown! She would join that fadeless band of laughter-loving maids of honor, whose merry voices alone wake the ominous stillness of the Winter Palace! Across the heaving sea the young sisterhood of her high-born kinswomen was calling the little Arctic snow Princess home to a wider circle, to happier hours, to drink in future years of that sparkling cup of bitter sweet, Russian Society life I The life, gay and yet pathetic, where the merriest laugh sinks into a sob, where smiles and tears make the wintry rainbows of the Neva! The town was now full of eager strangers, who had filtered in, awaiting the transfer. A sudden, excited life, a mushroom extension, an incoming wave of the luxuries of the shop-keeper and publican startled the stolid soldiers of the Czar, the half-breeds and human wrecks, who had eddied in, and also filled the wonder- Aleuts, Kalushes and Eskimo with awe! Prince Gregory s brow was now deeply furrowed, his hair streaked with silver, and his eye faded. The loss of Fedor Orlof was irreparable, for the anxieties of the official transfer, the fatiguing ceremonies, and the great responsibilities of his Imperial Master s properties were all centred in him! His heart throbbed with haunting daily cares! Three millions of dollars in the fur tribute of two seasons to con vey to Russia, around the Cape of Good Hope, 174 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the care of garrisons, the moving of home-return ing subjects to Alexander, all these great trusts weighed upon him! The impending departure from his family, added to his anxieties, for beside his own loved, Fedor Orlof s wife and e/ii/d were now a legacy of honor! " I hope to see the little man righted! " the kindly Prince would say, " I may even live to see him lead his father s squadron past the Czar on the Field of Mars! He deserves to come to his own! Strange, that Countess Olga has named the boy Stephan! The head of the old line! It will serve to warn the poor orphan of the dreadful crash of passion s deadly storms!" But the beautiful, pallid widow thought alone of the past! "My Fedor s death was the expiation of innocence! A life for a life! It was all he had to give! But, in this new life given in the whiteness of unpolluted infancy, to the Orlof line, may the sad past story be forever buried! He is the child of my sadness! Let him then, be named StepkanP Few of the dignitaries swarming Sitka, in its last year of Russian sway, sat at Gregory Maxutoff s board! True, the territory swarmed with visitors, noble and mercantile! There seemed to be a mysterious flicker of Muscovite activity on the American shore of the ocean! Maxutoff vaguely distrusted all these new comers! He however opened the great hall to lavish hospitality, but the family table of his enclosed mansion was guarded always by an unbroken reserve! The beautiful wife of the Governor General, and Irma, the fairy of Katalan s Rock, were known to all! The Princess regularly vis ited the officers families in the garrison, and even labored in the hospital;**, church, she was continually seen, with her daughter, now springing into girlhood s THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA.- 175 blossom! The Czar s subjects were her own wayward children! But to the new comers, the white Countess Orlof was only a mysterious, beautiful presence denied their sight! True, on the galleries of Baranoff Caslle, a graceful form was seen pacing often, but always gazing seaward! The devout sentinels watching her gliding movements, would cross themselves and mutter: " There she walks! She is calling him home from seal The white Countess /" Only a silver haired old Russian Admiral, his Emper or s friend as well as faithful warrior, broke into the guarded seclusion of the year of mourning! Bearer of the Czar s final mandates and last orders, he sat long hours with Prince Maxutoff in his cabinet room, and the gay veteran was the ambassador of a gentle stranger! He had a beloved wife and dark-eyed laughing Russian daughters, far away in the nest even now ready for his retirement, on the romantic shores of Finland, and he, alone, was admitted to the family life of the Maxutoffs! He spent happy hours with little Irma, a fearless sprite, playing with ribboned star and order glittering on the manly breast, which he had so often bared in battle s storm for the Czar! The Officers of the Guard started, when on the gallery now known as "Countess Olga s Walk," the silent widowed beauty was seen, clinging to his arm! It was, to them, a miracle! But he had brought secretly, letters to her from the ardent girl who ruled now in Stephan Orlof s great granite palace on the Admiralty Quai! It may be that among the ladies of the Empress, some deli cate patrician, clinging to Fedor Orlof s knightly memory, had told sweet Vera Orlof all the tangled 176 1HK I KIN CESS OF intrigue of her father s death, and her handsome uncle s crime! Perchance, the romantic impulses of her own friendless youth led her to picture the face of the woman for whose love a Czarevitch sighed in rain / Youth s tender heart is filled with the sway ing enthusiasm of sympathy! The proud girl may have sorrowed to know, the last Orlof, the future head of the line, a helpless dependent on the bounty of a strange friend, raised up in adversity! There were long hours of private conference, and many days when the widowed Olga sat communing with her own heart by the cradle of her fatherless child! Prince Gregory s eyes were mutely expectant of some disclosure! But all he knew was that there were no secrets between his faithful Beatrice and the strangely met sister of her heart! He saw in an exquisite minia ture, the lovely face of Countess Vcrct Orlof, and was touched, with an unavailing storm of sad regrets, to note the startling likeness of the Flower of St. Peters burg to the unhappy man who died alone on the yet unspoiled Treasure Island! With friendly anxiety, Prince Gregory listened to the murmur of the gallant old Admiral s voice, in earnest pleading, and to the soft whispers of Olga s answers! He easily divined that the forgiving and generous- hearted Countess Vera wished to make amends for the sadness of the past, and offer to her new kinswoman the shelter of the old Orlof palace. He was fain to be con tent with the Admiral s evident great respect for the widowed Olga, and the frank friendly cordiality of their intercourse. But her proud sorrow was silent! He marked the hours of Olga s labors writing at her desk, and was satisfied when his steadfast wife said: THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 177 "All will be well, they will grow together naturally in the happy days to come! " And so it was, that only on the Lord s days and the great festivals, the dwellers of Mount Edgecumbe knew that the lovely mystery still lingered among them, for then there was a veiled, black-robed figure marked seen silently stealing to the curtained alcove whence the exquisite singing welled forth which made even the rough adventurers murmur in astonishment! A mem ory of the past, a prayer for the future! "It is the voice of an angel, 1 they cried. Olga Orlof kneeling alone before the altar of the silent, deserted church of St. Michael s, could almost see, when she turned to go, the gallant man whose heart life was linked to her own by memory s chords forever! For Fedor seemed to stand there again before her, brave, alert, his noble face glowing with the tenderness of loyal love! He never seemed to her to be dead! But only sailing far away on that unknown sea, where lay the high green island, with its rocks of gold! After the friendly Russian Admiral had swept away with his fleet, Prince Maxutoff was deeply concerned to receive letters from him, at Kodiak, from the Prybiloff s, from the Komandorski group, at Plover s Bay and far Khamschatka! A last corvette returning brought him these confidential warning letters from his friend! He had much to marvel at! Secure now, in his registered and duly entered patent for the Tako River grant, the Governor General had withdrawn even his guard posts from the vicinity of the lonely isle where Orlof died. The diary, the survey note books, even the last observa tions from the hill where his presence was unwittingly betrayed to the assassins, had enabled the Prince to enclose all the gold-bearing lands in the formal grant. 178 THI-: PRINVKSS or 1 lLAi He could not himself leave Sitka! He dared not now confide to others! lie had, however, sent back the stout Lieutenant of the "Baranoff," and had the lonely island searched and examined for any traces of the mur derers! Storms, however, had obliterated all the tracks or evidences of human presence, but two things finally rewarded the search: First, the proof that Orlof s field glasses and sextant had been carried away! And, after examining all the natives with due caution, the discov ery that a whalcboat had been seen cruising in Lynn Canal at the time of the murder! There was no whale- boat at all with the "Baranoff!" The sole explanation was that a stranger ship had touched at Admiralty Island! The ignorant natives could tell no more than that it was not a "fire ship," but a "wind ship!" That it flew no colors! Who manned that deadly pirate? The query was a hopeless one! Prince Gregory breathed freely to know his hidden mines were undisturbed; but the visit of the whalcboat lingered with him to suggest dark suspicions! A mere marauder would not have taken from the body, only the sextant and field glasses. Why were the papers and his own valuable watch, even Orlofs knife left untouched? Only an intelligent person would have stolen the glasses and instrument! Was there a need of hurry? Did some one conscience-stricken assassin fear to handle the help less corpse? Only the "Nevsky" had whaleboats, and yet t it was surely at Khainschatka! Other grave matters pressed daily on Prince Maxu- toff s mind. The town of Sitka was now thronged with eager-eyed strangers and great numbers of these had reached Tongass, Fort Wrangell, Kodiak, and there had even been the visit of a phantom-like schooner at the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 179 Prybiloffs. The first fur seal pirate! The harpies were gathering! The Indians were found to have been sup plied with rum, arms, and even fresh minted American gold, and several other lawless incursions came finally to light! The mystery was heightened when the Admiral s full secret dispatches also reported later that several valuable cargoes of seal skins had been carried away from the Komandorski, and the Prybiloff Islands, by two unknown vessels; one, a heavy whaler, the other, an armed brig, filled with a strange medley of men and flying no colors! Landing a few sailors and firing random shots, these pirates easily drove the timid natives under cover, and after robbing the unprotected fur magazines, and slaughtering some thousands of seals, had sailed away! Along the lonely Siberian coast, the wail of the plundered natives arose, for great stores of whalebones, ivory and vast values of the rare Khamsehatkan furs had been also looted by these men, who, trading drugged rum, had left the Tchuktches and Khamschatkans to starve despoiled of their only treasures I When the wearied Prince learned from his own dis patch schooners that the great annual native gathering at Icy Cape and Blossom Island had been forcibly robbed by armed men, of the whole stock of furs gathered for the yearly barter between the natives of both shores of Behring Straits, he was astonished! For near here, a Kayak can cross in safety from Asia to America! It was by this easy road that the tartar Asians wandered over to be the sires of the American Indians of the plains! " I could perhaps pierce this shadowy mystery if old Shaman Thorn were alive! " the Governor mused. But the wily old pagan s great funeral totem mast stood now high in air, within plain sight of the lonely grave of murdered Fedor Orlof, on the romantic banks of Indian l8o NIL PRINCESS OF ALASKA. River, breaking through its beautiful glen at his feet! The old Indian chief would have known all from his faithful runners! "He would have gleaned the story from the wild confessional of his uncouth devotees! " thought Maxutoff, smoking unnumbered cigarettes as he gazed, troubled in mind, on the harbor now thronged with foreign trading ships. " The secret of the island is buried with the old savage chief Thorn, and guarded only by Orlof s pallid ghost! But these depredations are ominous! Thank Heavens! The tribute furs are safe here under our strong guard! No villany can reach them I" Alas! Gregory Maxutoff, it is not given to man to read the futiu r/ nor even the crime-stained past I The Governor General, looking toward the old Indian Chief s grave, never dreamed of how easily the wily old savage had lured Fedor Orlof, unsuspectingly, into the murder ous hands of the tenants of that unknown whaleboat! He little dreamed that one keen-brained scoundrel knew the golden secret of the island, and as little dreamed that Serge Zubow s vast network of schemes was now closing in, and that even an Emperor could be robbed of his official dues! "I will have earned the enjoyment of the happiest summer of my life when I rejoin my Beatrice, after I have given up forever the keys of American Empire here for the great Czar! My new dignity of Prince of Alaska will give me the highest recognition in Russia! Then, with skilled artisans, with men of science, with the active merchants of Moscow and Petersburg, I will open the mines of the green island. My task is then, after all, a simple one! To return to the American capital with my proofs of the only private own ership of lands here, to duly register the grants there, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. l8l and have them officially acknowledged! I can then leave the gathering of the golden harvest to my associ ates! " As courtly Maxutoff reclined in his furred chair of state he mentally arranged his closing labors! The visits, ceremonies of welcome and fitting.reception of the American officials, the arrangements for the departure of his family, the settlement of the great Russian American Company s official ledger from 1799, the turning over of all the ports, the proper dispatch of the returning Russian subjects, lastly, the dispatch in safety of the two great cargoes of tribute furs, the matchless spoil of years! " After all is over, when I know that my dear ones and their guardian angel have safely reached Europe, by America; I will post home ward, over Siberia, on the fastest of the Imperial spe cial posts, to new honors, a grateful sovereign s reward and my home and happiness\ Th ere will be the crown of my labors! And the treasure island s future harvest will be safe! " The Governor General dreamed in his sleep of an Emperor s flattering notice and of this rosy future! There was no black shadow falling over the couch of state! The days of the prophets are no more! The week following the arrival of the American fleet was filled with those ceremonial festivities which marked the amity of the two great powers consummating the sale of a virgin empire for seven millions dollars in gold. Side by side, in the harbor, the Russian and American flags floated everywhere in a friendly riv alry. Each day was noted for the arrival of steamer, sailing vessel or dispatch boat laden with Ameri can soldiers, adventurers, or eager merchants! A crowd of idlers soon overran the quaint old town. The sorrowing Russians, looking back to the time of the 12 l82 THE PRINCESS Ol ALASKA. massacre, when the Archangel Gabriel was the patron saint, sadly mourned at this " going out" to far Russia, under the patronage of the unpatriotic Archan gel Michael! The hills and harbor were unusually ani mated, only a silence lingered where the great blue and white banner drooped still in pride over Baranoff Castle! Beyond the glittering circle of the American officers bidden to a welcoming fete, in the grand old cedar panelled banquet hall, the frowning castle was terra incognita to the new comers! Only the American Commander himself had been received at Prince Max- utoffs family board. In the general rejoicing, and gath ering in of these loud-voiced strangers, a few loyal unhappy hearts mourned on the bright afternoon of October i8th, 1867, when the whole Russian garrison was marshalled in state on the square of Sitka! The soldiers, citizens, and even the Indians, in gala garb, were assembled to hear the last orders read! Prince Maxutoff, with a brilliant staff, gave the momentous signal, and, as the guns of the American squadron thun dered out a national salute, the gallant Russian garrison, from shore batteries and castle, fired their last salvo in honor of their Czar, whose flag came slowly fluttering down forever from the great castle flagstaff ! It was done! As the firing ceased, and the blue wreathed smoke drifted in through the castle s windows, wistful Princess Beatrice clasped the white Countess in her arms, as she turned away and burst into tears! "We are all strangers, now, Olga, in a strange land! " the gentle lady faltered, as the music of the "Star Spangled Banner " proudly floated up from the emerald bay! The American ensign was waving over them now! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 183 " In a week we will be on our way to San Francisco, and then, homeward, to Europe !"- The wife s heart was sad and her gentle bosom dis turbed! "Have you decided on your temporary residence, Beatrice?" said Olga Orlof, with a marked interest in her tone. " Yes! Gregory thinks I had better abide at Dresden, with his relatives, the Butzows, until his year of bureau work and settlements is done! Then, Irma s education can begin at once, as my husband wishes later to take a leave of absence for two years. After that, retired and pensioned, he can travel abroad and will be free to follow up the development of island mine! " The princess smiled hopefully as she spoke, for the only return of the schemes of toilsome years had been, so far, poor Olga Orlof s widowhood I Gold at the price of blood! It was the old story! " And you? Have you decided? Will you take up again your artistic career? " "I will abide near you, near our darling, Irma! " cried the lovely widow. " I have some private matters which may call me away for a time! I can tell you, now, for I am a free woman, under the Stars and Stripes! I need not show myself to the gaping multitude for gold! I have always kept my secret, but since my little Ste- phan will be forced to take up the burden of his rank, by and by, I am glad that my mother s estates in Hun gary, and my father s lands in South Russia, will make me independent. for I will be free to go and come as I list, and to avoid the painful scenes of the Russian capital! I have a substantial fortune out of the reach of the Czar s strong hand! " 14 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "And you never told me before?" said Beatrice, reproachfully. "I had no need to, but I have now passed into free dom, and I shall at once, with your noble husband s aid, register Count Stephan Orlof, the youngest Russian nobleman in Aliaska, and also avail myself of the facili ties of the treaty to register, and return, at the govern ment s expense, to Europe! I cleave to you also, for these reasons, that I wish Stephan, my fatherless boy, to finally have my properties, as well as the reversion of the Orlof lands! So my beloved Heart s ease, Olga and her little Stephan will go in your train and abide with you till this delightful spirited girl, Vera, who writes me so warmly, has concluded all the formalities of the proper registry of our hope, the baby Count! As the Admiral kindly notifies me, she will come at once to me, for it might be awkward to have the meeting at Petersburg. And you can then be God-mother and witness for my baby! His legal papers must be per fected and registered in Russia!" "Ah! You are generous, dear one! You are trying to only blind me to the fidelity you have promised to my Irma! Happy child! with two loving mothers!" And Beatrice Maxutoff went to her duties, and the cares of the preparations for travel, happy at heart! " Gregory will now have no fear, no anxiety, while you are with me," was her last thought. "I have not forgotten that! I never will forget all that I owe to your chivalrous husband!" smiled Olga. That princely official, on the great square, was now marching arm-in-arm with the Commodore, a hero of our only battle day in Japan, and preceding the cortege of fraternizing officers to the Castle, where he was fated to deliver up, at the last grand banquet, the keys of the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, l$$ fortress and magazines to the American commander. There was only the reservation of his household, inclosed mansion and the sealed double warehouses, where faith ful American sentinels now watched jointly with the last Russian guard! On the great platform, the guards of two nations saluted the answering commanders, and in fete and was sail, the e"lite of the friendly forces present were wel comed at the Last Feast of the Czar! For Aliaska was no more! It was now Alaska! The Crown of Great Britain, through mere diplomatic jealousy, had lost her finest national extension of empire in America! Besides the gallant wearers of epaulettes, stars, and medals, and the courtly sworded chevaliers, a score of civilian gentlemen of the two nations were gathered together, and, even the Archbishop in his purple robes of the priesthood of Aaron, with all his flashing dia monded regalia, gave a solemn dignity to the last Mus covite state dinner! The music of the joined bands of the American and Russian vessels, waked the night with melodies of the lyric stage, the dreamy, delirious waltz, and deathless harmonies of the great composers, when the formality of the national airs had ceased! Beautiful Olga Orlof, walking the halls, felt her heart strangely thrilled, for the four years seemed to fade away! She was again on the scene! She saw once more the vast sea of faces, the fair women in gems and shim mering robes, the dazzling circle, the Imperial box with its bevy of attendant patrician beauties, the face of the dead Prince whose passion drove her to these lonely shores, and Fedor Orlof to his untimely death! Again, she was Marguerite, struggling to free herself from the clinging garlands thrown her by the delighted audience, ib THK 1 KIN. . i \- K \. \\iKl with frantic joy. Th* unreal scenes of the stage, ivcallrd l>y iiummv. seemed poor and thin, to th< trii.^ -ilies of lier varied suffering! Utit, walking with fairy Inna, she forgot the days of sorrow, as the death less music touclied her heart of hearts! With a start, she woke from her revery, as the laughing child fled away toward tin- magnificence of the great banquet. The Little Princess of Alaska claimed her own rights in her own land! "Irma, stay my child! Naughty rover!" she cried, in French, as her charge mischievously danced along. " Permit me ! Madame, to restore to you a captive!" said a graceful looking youth of twenty, speaking to her in the polite idiom of the Gaul. The merry girl looked at the dark, mobile face of the foreign gentleman. "/ I ike you I You shall come and play with me, like Uncle l \ dor : " With a bow, the white Countess acknowledged the friendly stranger s timely help. At the door of the banquet, Arthur Randolph met the Commodore and the Prince, who were alone to confer on some future mat ters. They sought the seclusion of the inner mansion, for the guests were waxing jovial! "It was merry in hall, and the beards wagged all!" "Do I go on board, Uncle?" said the youth. "Ah! Arthur, stay!" cried the Commander "Prince Maxutoff, allow me to present my nephew, Arthur Randolph, my guest on this voyage! " "A soldier?" kindly said the Prince, as he noted the chivalric bearing of the young man! "No; an artist I" answered the old Commodore. "When my only brother was killed in the civil war, Arthur was sent abroad, and there, the galleries and THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 187 schools of Dresden have finally turned his head! He is only on a vacation run home." " Will you not join us?" courteously entreated the hospitable Prince. And, his artist soul touched by the apparition of the beautiful stranger, Arthur Randolph followed the great dignitaries into the quaintly luxurious drawing-room, where the ladies and the restored truant awaited them. While the Prince and the Commodore quietly ar ranged the closing masques of this strange meeting of a despotism and a republic, in illogical amity, the ladies of the castle learned of all the later eddying of European fashionable life from the young pilgrim artist. They found Arthur Randolph s boyish enthusi asm a graceful harbinger of their return to civilization. His full brow, speaking eyes and flowing silken hair, the easy costume of the student traveller; and his bright word-sketches of the sparkling kaleidoscopic life of the continent, were the marks of a fairly Prince! For four long years, the stolid soldiers, stilled officers and obsequious subjects of the Czar had been their only entourage. For the common sailors and rude vicious natives were mere human apes to the lonely women. Both of them knew too well every thought of the careworn Governor, whose daily troubles were the only novelty since Fedor Orlof s ringing voice had stilled forever. It was a welcome diversion! A fore taste of a re-entry into the continental life of Europe. With the pretty child at his side, Arthur Randolph told of the latest happenings in Europe, of the golden loveliness of the matchless Empress Eugenie, the coming glories of the Paris Exposition, and all the small talk of the salon, the foyer and the studio! He was a bright herald of the morning of polite Life soon to break in joy. 1 88 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "And what tempted you to the land of the Northern Lights?" gracefully asked Princess Beatrice. "Ah! Your Highness! My sketchbook is filled with the wonders of this matchless gateway to the Arctic! I joined my uncle for this purpose only, on his telegram to me at New York! I must return, for my first picture goes to the Exhibition next year! I had hoped to make the full round to Kodiak, but I will go down on the first dispatch steamer with the news of the transfer. I must return to my studio. Art is a jealous mistress!" he smiled. "We shall meet, I hope, in Dresden, then! " said the white Countess, "for Princess Maxutoff, her child and myself leave as soon as we can get a Russian vessel. We will settle there ! " "And you will paint my picture?" challenged dainty Irma. "Ah!" said the artist wanderer, "if the Countess Olga would only permit me to essay her face, it would ensure >n\ fortune!" Years after, Arthur Randolph recalled Olga s sudden pallor, as she hastily said: " No! no! my friend! let this dainty spring blossom lead you onward and upward into fame! Not my sad features! " With ready bonhomie, Prince Maxutoff hailed the prospect of a Dresden meeting. Arthur knew well the stately Butzows, who were the stars of the brilliant Russian coterie. The pensioned diplomat was a local grandee. The Governor cordially said: "You must be our frequent visitor here in the old hall till you sail. I shall venture to charge you with a few advance commissions! " Randolph, with boyish eagerness, gladly assented! PRINCESS OF ALASKA. ig As they descended the stony stair, the marvellous beauty of Countess Olga Orlof haunted the young artist. "I must paint her! < Mary of Scotland meeting Riz- zio, Paolo and Francesca, A Venetian Night, she robed as a Duchess, this innocent Lucretia showering roses on a lover whose voice thrills the night, from a gondola drifting beneath her casement, and all these visions of storied beauty thronged his brain, while the stout old Commodore watched uneasily his ships, with a sailor s practical ideas of squalls, currents and drag ging anchors. The town was in a Walpurgis night festival! Bon fires, surging groups of rioters of varied nationalities, Indian jugglers, fraternizing polyglot convicts, all rum- exhilarated, with here and there a few amused sober lookers on, of a higher grade. "I will make a few mental notes of this mad throng for character sketches, Uncle," said the romantic young artist, his fancy kindled by the bizarre sights of the gala night. "Well, I will go on board, but Arthur, I leave you old Benson, here, as a volunteer orderly. See here! Boat swain! You will watch this madcap lad, and do not let him go astray!" The old salt tugged at his cap. "Ay, ay, sir! I know the landfall here! Been up here on the old St. Mary s twenty years ago." And the satisfied Commander sought the stately repose of his cabin! "By Heaven! I must paint the Countess! I can wait, for I wish the glow of light and happiness playing on her exquisite face." Arthur Randolph recked not of the onely grave, where the wild rose petals drifted down, by far Indian River s cypress point. 1QO THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "Hello! Just the man I Arthur, you are a Godsend to me here!" cried a man who had been idly watching the changing human medley. The speaker grasped Randolph s hand eagerly. "Well, Bradford! You are a long distance from Bohemia! Do you open a daily newspaper office to morrow? This is surely American enterprise," laughed Randolph, shaking hands. "Hush! old fellow; I wish no one to knoiv me here . Walk down on the beach with me a moment." The speaker was a man of thirty, his broad brow, neat moustache, quick eye, ready speech and air of adaptability spoke of journalism in every feature. There was but one repellant feature in Paul Bradford s conventional bonhomie. He never looked his listener squarely in the eye! His smooth-shaven cheek, with its peculiar pallor, spoke of the gambler s vigils. In his laughing nonchalance, Bradford would say "My cigars are the choicest on the coast, I can not afford to drink! That folly is reserved for millionaires, crowned heads m& fools!" A restless, wicked, ready, relentless schemer, a man of a marvellous memory, and a photographic eye, Paul Bradford exhaled the intense mental activity of New York s newspaper row. Cold-hearted, bright, suave, ingratiating, and ever watchful, his daily life was intrigue, his ruling passions, women and cards I At the bottom of every Pacific coast intrigue of note, he was found as journalist, spy, go-between and adventurer! Dropping into San Francisco unheralded, he was known there soon as a man of expedients, resolute, and reasonably honest, when well paid! Not more than a half dozen times, the ugly word "blackmail" has been used, in naming him, under a breath, for Paul Bradford, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. IQl not quite a gentleman, was keen enough to know when to fight, and was always armed ! His San Francisco habit of being conspicuously seen with certain great bankers, operators, politicians and officials, gave him a local importance, his own industry and unflagging mental activity did the rest. Arthur Randolph had easily fallen in with Paul Brad ford at the Occidental Hotel, over a practice game of billiards, in which Bradford s cool calculation was as marked, as in his all night poker games with judges, senators and the mushroom rising millionaires! But a dim suspicion of irregularity in his life made his friends wary of taking Paul Bradford to their homes. His conversation, elocution and unvaried politeness however won the hearts of the ladies he casually met! " How did you come up?" eagerly demanded Brad ford. The old man o war s man eyed them closely, for he already had classed Paul as a suave gambler. "Looks too slick" the sailor growled. " I am with my Uncle on the flagship," Arthur simply answered. "By Jove, Arthur, I must get a pass to go up to Kodiak! Now, your Uncle will do anything for you! You can fix this for me! // is vital to me!" "I am sorry, Bradford," slowly said the artist, "I am going down the coast in a few days. Now, my Uncle is a stern disciplinarian, and has orders to allow no journalist on the fleet. I owe all my career to him. I could not honestly ask this of him! Anything else, but not that! I go on straight home to Dresden. "- Bradford held out his cigar case. The moon lit up the forest of masts, and the colored battle lanterns on the war ships gleamed brightly. From the fragrant 1 92 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. pines, the night-breeze swept down, and the waves broke gently at their feet. "I ll tell you all, Arthur! I have now the chance of a lifetime! I am nominally here for a great New York journal; / / is not so in fact! Every banker, trader, miner, . land shark and schemer in California wants a finger in this new Alaska deal! There are fisheries, fur interests, trading privileges, the seal islands, and a whole lot of rich plums here. But the territory must be first organized. The great ring at San Francisco comprises about twenty well-known powerful men. It is useless to run counter to them! They know what they want, and when to act! Their interests are always held safe! They buy up Senators and even Secretaries! Now, I came here for them on a special secret mission! I must reach Kodiak to meet a fellow there, who knows a secret of vast importance! He has been for years a Russian convict! He used to be a naval officer! His time expired this summer. But he is watched and -v;/ not get away! I can aid you to a slice of this future fortune! But I must get on to Kodiak! I must help this man away from his surroundings now!"- Arthur Randolph hesitated, Bradford s innate in sincerity, the cold heartlessness of his real nature, was potent at a giance to the refined young artist, whose generous soul shrank from all scheming! Paul Bradford mistook his hesitation for cunning! He decided at once on a bold stroke. To place Arthur under the sea! of friendly confidence! "Now, listen! This man is called French Pete." He has been a man of some rank. He drinks, like all men of varied fortunes. I have been selected to negotiate with him, for my backers know that I touch a drop! " THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Bradford s teeth flashed white as a wolf s in the moonlight. . "You are my last chancel I have money, credit, full latitude! This fellow knows of the existence of an island of almost solid gold! It was discovered by a Russian, who is dead! Pete can not trust some powerful Russians he has been controlled by. They would outwit him! He dare not remain a Russian subject. The American military are soon going up to take possession! He is very poor. If I can smuggle him down to San Francisco, I can keep him th^.re till we get a title to the land, have him under control, and when he shows us the place, secure it, later! Now, can I see you in the morning ? This is private! " Arthur Randolph was fain to yield and escape. The next morning Serge Zubow s "Nevsky" lay under the guns of the "Ossipee!" IQ4 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER VII. PAUL BRADFORD OUTWITTED THE EMPEROR S FURS A VOL UNTEER PURSER S ASSISTANT GOOD HYE SWEET HEART IN TWO CAPITALS THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA LEAVES HER REALM! Before the sleepy denizens of Sitka had recovered from the Grand Fete of the Two Flags, the harbor was a scene of unwonted activity. A temporary United States customs official had noted the arrival of the Rus sian merchant ship " Nevsky," with its princely owner, Serge Zubow, on board, as well as the American whaler " Reindeer," which had put in for water, supplies, and also to land several sailors wounded in a matinee spent with a fighting "bowhead" whale. In the stream, beside the American fleet, a stout Russian sailing ship and a heavy bark rode high on the still water! A crowd of half drunken natives were shovelling canoe loads of rock ballast in these vessels. Their gleaming copper showed high in air, for they were all empty! Besides the government archives and valuables, and the national property which a proud Emperor would not sell, the two most precious fur cargoes ever risked on the deep, awaited these staunch boats! The days of Prince Gregory Maxutoff s official power were at an end! No longer Governor, he was only by courtesy the represen tative in the new American domain of Alaska, of the distant Czar! He toiled at the lading of the fur ships, while his lovely consort, with her busy retinue, was dis mantling the private mansion walled in the official castle. With great delicacy, the Commodore had estab- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 195 lished his headquarters near the official wing, on shore, so as to prevent all prying intrusion. Arthur Randolph, -sketch-book in hand, wandered over the pine-clad hills, or surrounded by the ladies, and ruled by laughing Irma, the dainty princess of Alaska; transferred the wonderful Archipelago vista to his growing album! With furtive slyness, he watched the beautiful woman, now thoughtfully musing on the future, as she flitted along, a sweet apparition, on "Countess Olga s walk." She was sketched in every exquisite variation of her beauty, as she moved in sin uous grace along the gallery! Pretty Irma s face already gleamed from a small canvas, destined to cheer Prince Gregory in the long months of absence, while busied finally transferring the upper posts and islands, or trav ersing lonely Siberia! Even on his return to Russia, he must spend a long winter alone at Petersburg, in his final accounting, while his household gods reached Odessa, via the Cape of Good Hope. The last days rapidly ran along in varied activity. For at any moment, several steamers with heavy detach ments of veteran United States soldiery were expected. They would follow on after Prince Maxutoff, receiving the different posts! The most anxious heart in Sitka was now that of the fair Countess Olga! Under the personal escort of the Russian depot Colonel, she sat often by the wild, lonely spot where Fedor Orlof slept unforgotten. The bright- faced young artist, with sympathetic touch, transferred each glowing tint and tender shade, in a memorial pict ure. For, with his thoughtful delicacy, Gregory Maxu toff had arranged to send home on a later war vessel, which would convey the artillery of all the batteries to Russia, the remains of the murdered noble. - Olga knew IQ6 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. from Beatrice Maxutoff that not a trace of the myste rious whaleboat had ever been discovered. Her woman heart shuddered at the unwelcome presence of Serge Zubow, but he was forced to limit his shore visits to the church establishment. And even there the priests were now afraid of the sinister Tartar! Olga knew that Prince Gregory had sternly refused all personal intercouse, alleging the termination of his own official functions. With quiet aversion, and secure in their height, the cir cle of Baranoff Castle waited patiently for Zubow s departure. The Governor General would have started in affright had lie known of the dark designs of the keen scoundrel and his confederates, far and near. Wistful Olga Orlof, now busied with her sturdy little one, little dreamed that the whaleboat now, hanging, in plain sight, on the "Nevsky" had bounded over the surf of Admiralty Island with Orlof s red-handed escaping murderers! But, nursing his rage and disappointment, the prying Paul Bradford vainly sought to ingratiate himself with the officers of the fleet! He was foiled at every turn. The marine guard on board sternly stopped every one, as the fleet was about to sail for the northern ports and islands. A positive written pass, from all persons not in the naval service, was demanded. And Paul, the sleuth-eyed veteran of many a dark intrigue, chafed at his inability to use Arthur Randolph s influence with the Commodore. " // is use/ess," finally replied the artist, " my uncle has told me that until all the property is transferred, and the Russian American Fur Com pany s property inventoried, no private person can go from ship to shore. Major-General Jefferson C. Davis will soon arrive and establish a system of coast police and passes. Then, you may call on him! " THE PRlNCtSS Of ALASKA. 197 "But, Arthur, the man I seek may be then gone! He may wander away in his Gallic restlessness and be lost to me forever! " Bradford was a stubborn tempter. "I will help you to a solid fortune! I must, I will reach this man! " "Paul!" said Randolph, firmly, tt I like you! In the changing waves of life, you have been tossed on many shores! I admire your dash and endeavor! But I am not free to act! I can not impose on my uncle s official responsibilities, even unwittingly! You must fight your way, under the northern lights alone!" While they talked, seated in one of the drinking booths the tall form of Mate Aleck McMann was seen, as he parted from Prince Serge Zubow, at the door. Zubow lifted his hat to the young artist whom he had met, sketching the picturesque interior of the quaint, dim, old church of St. Michaels. " Who is that?" said Bradford eagerly. "This gentleman, Prince Zubow, has a Russian trad ing ship in the harbor, of his own." "Will you present me to him?" cried the journalist, eagerly. " Certainly! " said Randolph, glad to be relieved of Paul s importunities. He followed the tall Russian noble, who was moodily gazing at the fantastic curios and tawdry Indian wealth of the bazaars. " Do you belong to the American whaler? " said Brad ford, edging up to the raw-boned young mariner who stood at the bar. " That s my ship!" answered McMann, eyeing the speaker keenly. 13 19 in. 01 ALASKA, " Where do you go from here?" continued Bradford, offering a cognac in token of amity. "We go up to Kodiak to get some native walrus hunters and ice pilots, and then make a last round to the edge of the ice after walrus and bowheads, after that down to San Francisco." " I must go to Kodiak at once. Do you sail soon? " eagerly continued Bradford. "Money s no object! Will you take me up there? " " What s your business? " frankly demanded the gray- eyed mate. " I will explain \^ private! Do you know Kodiak? " The adventurer was eager. " I may make this fellow hunt my wandering French Pete. " " I have been there every winter for fifteen years! I was landed there when the bloody pirate Shenandoah burned our whalers after Lee surrendered." "Where can I see you? P II put money in your pocket " whispered Bradford, as he saw Randolph and Prince Zubow returning. " I ll send a boat ashore tonight at the landing! Just say you want to see me, say, eight o clock." The sailor nodded and lounged out. "Now what is this fellow nosing around for? " mused McMann. He is too sly! The agent of some San Fran cisco capitalist! I ll bleed him first, and then fool him!" "He is a Godsend to me, this mariner! " gleefully cried Bradford, as he joined at a signal, the handsome artist and the brawny Tartar Prince. Serge Zubow welcomed the new acquaintance and offered to the young gentlemen the cabin hospitalities of the Nevsky." Bradford eagerly accepted, while Ran- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. IQ9 dolph, now devoted to the castle circle, gracefully excused himself from a dinner on Zubow s vessel. As the new made friends skimmed away in Zubow s waiting boat, Arthur Randolph heaved a sigh of relief. * Paul seemed to have a good circle of club friends at the bay, " mused the artist, as he climbed Kulalau s height, "yet I dislike his wily manners, his modulated self-repression! There s a bit of the sneak in him some where! And, what really brings him here? Some con templated swindle on the United States Government! This great realm is a tempting bait now to every cool shark in the financial circles of the west!" While the afternoon breeze lazily moved the new flag on Baranoffs stronghold, Bradford over vodki, cigarettes and matchless Russian tea, deftly plied Prince Zubow with questions. He gleaned a general fund of Arctic gossip legends of the wild Tunguses and Gillaks, tales of the fierce Solievief, and stories of the western sweep of the Imperial yellow flag of conquest, with its black double eagles crimsoned in the blood of the affrighted natives. But, cunning of fence as he was, Bradford could not fathom Zubow s purposes, his destination or real functions. "I have interests from Nova Zembla to Corea, and from Icy Cape to the Yenesei and Lena! Siberia is a great frozen treasure house of gems, fossil, ivory, gold and minerals! Timber, fisheries, furs and millions of acres of arable land are there! The smile of the Siber ian summer, woos a dainty luxuriance of harvest to life! And it is from its mystic forests that the great wave of Tartar conquest swept to Pekin, to India, and to the far Caspian! The hoofs of the wild horses of Genghis Khan trampled the bravest Asiatic and European bosoms. The spirit of wild bravery thrills in our very breezes, 200 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. sweeping from the unconquered altar of the Polar Ice King, whose gleaming colors stream in the northern lights." Bradford was rebuffed, as Zubow politely declined to take him farther north and land him on the Aleutian Islands. "My cruise depends on varied circumstances," he laughed, and, as Bradford was rowed away, the Prince cast a sinister glance at the "circumstances! " The two great fur ships now laden to the gunwale with the tribute torn from the suffering Eskimo, and debauched Aleuts! In all the transfer of eminent domain," the plunder of the helpless natives was not to be interrupted! It was but a change from one master, to many I But the fur ships, with their slender crews, unarmed, and only pro tected by the dignity of the Czar s name. Zubow laughed: " I would like to see this fool Max- utoff s face, when he is asked to account, next year, for these millions in glossy skins! We cannot fail! For Phillippi, Fersen and myself have fenced the field in, and our concealed employes will do our bidding." Far different to the great roomy "Nevsky" was the housed " Reindeer," its deck littered with coal, trypots, whaling gear, spare boats, and trading goods. Rows of barrels filled with vile trading whisky were ready for its final barter with the natives, already slaves to King Rum ! In the little ill-furnished cabin, crowded with arms and gear, Aleck McMann fenced politely with his guest over brandy and cigars. It was an hour before Brad ford thought that the invisible spirit of wine had thor oughly warmed McMann s heart. The grey-eyed sailor lay back like a basking shark, waiting for Bradford s ultimate proposals. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2OI Finally, he directly approached McMann! "What will you charge me to land me at Kodiak? " There was a moment of silence. 11 1 can take you up there, but I dare not land you!" said the sailor. " The Commodore orders us to take a guard of two marines on board to see that no one leaves the ship! I do not know what they fear! And I might not be able to put you ashore, for we stand off shore on our cruise." "Will you take a letter for me and find a man there, and give him some money and supplies forme?" Brad ford had grown anxious. His last chance was slipping away now. "What s the nature of the business? Smuggling? I can take no risk for my ship!" The sailor was wary of fence. "I can not explain the affair, but I will pay you well to find my man! " "Who is he?" said the simple looking sailor, as he refilled the glasses. "He is an ex-convict, slowly said Bradford, "his name is French Pete, or otherwise Pierre Lefranc. He used to be a Russian naval officer. I wish to find him." The bottle in McMann s hand never quivered, but his heart was filled with rage. " The scoundrel has betrayed me! This fellow too has the secret! Why do you not wait and meet him here? " the sailor carelessly asked. "There will be ships going up with troops soon! He is afraid to show himself in Kodiak," earnestly said Bradford. " There are some old Russian enmities! He wants tq 202 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKX. quietly escape! Once in San Francisco, I can protect him! But I must reach him at once! " The yellow gleam of Aleck McMann s deadly eye was unnoticed. " / will reach him first, you fool I " he thought as his hand closed on the heavy sheath knife which he wore, as well as a fully loaded revolver. * f Where is he? I don t want to get my ship in trou ble. If I could bring him off, what would you pay? " McMann faced Bradford with a glance of sullen in quiry. "Five thousand dollars coin!" answered Paul, bring ing his fist down on the table. " I will deposit the money with your agent, if you wish to see it. He is hiding with the Indians on Cheligoff Island. The In dians at Karlouk Point know him. All he wants to do is to get away from some old Russian entanglements." "Has he committed any crime?" stolidly said McMann, " I suppose he has killed some Indians! " " Oh! no!" answered Paul, " I only want him brought away from there." " He j//<7//be! " mused McMann, "and / // keep him /<zr away, too! I will trap this traitor! If I did not need him, I d sink him with a kedge anchor strapped to his feet! The scent grows hot! I must warn Zubowl Shall I run him off ? But to catch him first! "What will you give to communicate with him? That s as far as I feel safe! You see I might get my ship in trouble!" simply remarked the sailor, pulling at his cigar. "If you ll run in and signal the Karlouk Indians and get safely to him a sealed letter from me, I will give you one thousand dollars! " urged Bradford. The mate considered for a few moments; THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2O3 "The coast is rfat/gfrot/simd it takes some time! Make it two thousand, and / // do it I I ll send the letter which he sends back, down by our relief ship which comes here when we take on her stores there!" 11 Done I I will meet you to-morrow and the money will be ready! " " Have it ready at noon, and meet we at the Narwhal Saloon! " 11 All right! " the overjoyed journalist answered. " I have done a neat stroke of business to-night, "- ruminated Bradford, as he waved his hand, while the departing boat s oars were showering diamond sparkles in the still night air. "Now you are caught! My fancy speculator spy! I will see your French Pete, and I ll hold him where we want him, until we are ready to descend upon his gold island! How shall I keep him? Under lock and key? Ah! I see! " with a chuckled laugh over a bright thought, McMann took a night cap, and turned in! "It will take a couple of years to hide the whole thing till we get a title. As soon as the land office is opened here we will grasp the whole territory! But I must wake ?//Zubow! He dreams now only of his fur cap ture. I must get at work quickly! The two fur ships are ready to sail now, and Zubow will be after them!"- Alexander McMann, smuggler, desperado, murderer and pirate, slept the sleep of the proverbially righteous, for the doom of French Pete was already sealed! "Yes, that s the idea! A solitary confinement! The San Francisco house can fix it!" These were his last night thoughts! The old Commodore was bristling with annoyance, as he said adieu to the anxious Princess Maxutoff, a week later. 2O4 1HE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. " I am terribly harrassed," he growled to the ex-Gov ernor General. Have you had such annoyances, Prince? Here I am besieged by all kinds of adventurers uf every nationality asking for passes, permits to go north, to land at the stations, to go to the Prybiloff Islands, to establish trading posts, to do everything in the world." "Ah! we Russians do not allow our inferiors to annoy us! They are subjects, not sovereigns! " "Confound the place! I am glad to be rid of it! " vociferated the Commodore, "The army transport will be here next week. Now, Arthur," said the old officer, "I just had to positively refuse your friend Bradford the right to land at Kodiak! You can tell him he can apply afterward to the transport steamer." "Madame la Princesse!" said the courtly old sailor, " I will only keep your husband as my guest a week! I will run my flagship at full speed and formally receive the different posts, leaving an officer to turn the stations over to the army when they arrive. So it will only be au revoir! I am in haste to return to San Francisco myself. If you desire aught, Arthur will have the fleet officer attend to your slightest wish! " The " Ossipee" soon left the harbor, with a ringing salute, in honor of the princely guest, while handsome Arthur Randolph felt a new dignity, as Knight-in-charge of the old Castle Perilous! Sketching, walking the gallery with his dainty friend and patroness, Countess Olga, and some charming Russian lessons from pretty Irma, were the artist s diversions in the ten days of ab sence. " Duischka! Duischka!, Darling!" this was the extent of Arthur s gleanings in his Muscovite tuition. With moody brow, Paul Bradford avoided the youth. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2O5 " I have one iron now well in the fire! " he rejoiced, as the " Reindeer" stood to sea, two days after the flag ship left. " I wish the Commodore to be away when I land, then I shall have no trouble about your man French Pete! " said McMann, as he jingled Bradford s gold. "Trust me! You will hear by the transport!" "Fool!" sneered the whaler, as Bradford waved adieu, "The fox has trapped himself this time!" For over their cups, Prince Zubow and the mate laughed at Bradford s clumsiness. "Do not forget, McMann, you can have any help you want from our secret partners in San Francisco. Hold on to the French fool! We will use him later, when our system is established. But keep him hidden and above all silent!" "Now," mused Serge Zubow, as he saw the " Rein deer s" snowy sails fade away, " I have, at last, a clear field! Maxutoff is away, and these people at the castle will shun my footsteps! Now, to perfect my arrange ments with the magnates of the two fur ships! If the devil fights for his own, the Emperor shall never see a single skin of these priceless bales! Maxutoff s title of Prince of Alaska will never be gazetted! The scheme will net us two millions, for there will be no Arctic furs in the European market for two more years! In inno cent hands, distributed in England, Germany and Hol land, the goods cannot be traced! " He was walking the deck of his trim boat, and, as the blue smoke of his regalia floated away, he saw the flut tering robes of the ladies, on their guarded gallery. " Curse that weak-hearted fool, Maxutoff! He balked me of you, baby-faced song-bird! But I drank a sweet revenge! She will rue in silent poverty the day she 2O6 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. scorned my offers! Could I try a trap for her, here, now!" He gloated over Olga s thrilling beauty. " No! " he growled, "the stake is too great! Fresh beauties may be found; but I must keep out of sight! Maxutoff s ruin will give to me and our silent circle, the actual control of both sides of the Arctic! His child, as Princess of Alaska, would be a menace to us! She shall not be! Even Olga s bright eyes are not worth that plan s miscarriage! Gregory Maxutoff will be trapped! Doomed! The crash will come when his lips are sealed! And he will test the climate of the Neva casements! By Heaven! If I could only see him in the dungeon! The convict s friend may then remember our quarrel ! " "Now, for the directions to the fur ship s officers! " The sound of nightly feasting kept up till long after the transport, loaded with soldiers, left to garrison the northern posts. Ending at Kodiak, and returning by the seal islands, the boat would soon bring back the scattered temporary naval agents. " I am to leave you soon, Prince," said the artist, when Zubow sought slyly for news of the Governor General s return. He had his traitors all drilled in their posts. "The transport will take me to San Francisco." "And your friend, Bradford?" queried Zubow. "Oh! He went up to Kodiak, as purser s volunteer assistant," replied Arthur. "Ah! He never should have left here alive! This is really dangerous!" the Tartar mused. Prince Serge Zubow was not the only observer in Sitka who marvelled to see the aristocratic Paul Brad ford join the working crew of the old "California," as PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 07 purser s assistant. To a chance SarJ Francisco acquaintance, the journalist laughirigly remarked: "The transport is crowded and I may say I have worked myself into the best stateroom on the ship, save the Captain s! " For with six companies of artillery on board, even the officers slept on dining saloon cushions. Those devoted heroines known as the "ladies of the army," were occupants of the of the narrow staterooms. wives and mothers of uncomplaining heroes, often the young girls who married into the "old army," earned the "imperishable crown " several times before being fitted for that shadowy adornment. As long as brass buttons glitter, and gold lace gleams, the man in " regi mentals" leaves the sober-minded "cit" far in the rear! It may be that the " bank account " of the plain civilian has its merit in later and cooler days, but the sword is often wreathed with the orange blossoms of youth! Paul Bradford, pencil and notebook in hand, duly checked freight and aided his genial master, an old friend, who calmly said: "Don t worry, Paul! " when Bradford, at Sitka, explained his dilemma. "I will make a working man of you! I will enter you on the ship s papers, and all the Generals and Colonels in the world shall not keep you from landing at Kodiak!" The adventurer purposely ignored the officers of the army, lest a careless word might betray him, for his excited mind was fixed on the control of Pierre Lefranc s secret. Bradford knew not that drink, fear of Prince Zubow, and remorse due to shattered nerves had made " French Pete" a wreck on Error s shore. The convict saw the close intimacy of McMann and the Tartar Prince, in the long winter. " If I told them all," he muttered, in commune with 208 THK I KIM KSS OF \tASK his hopes, " they would butcher me, when they had the secret: as as we killed Orlof!" For Fedor s pallid ghost haunted Lefranc s pillow, even as the avenging shade of Stephan had broken the guardsman s dreams on the Amur! Awful price of human blood! of unpunished murder! When unpaid, for years, it is paid the most, in the bitter vigils of the guilty! For bed of down, bolts and bars, guards, nay, nor clinging white arms, can not shut out the unsubstantial ghost of the murdered which will not down ! There are thousands of Macbeths who never reached a crown by guilt, who meet an awful Banquo, in mystic samite, at every turn! The martial shade which stalked at Elsinore has, alas, countless prototypes! It would seem as if the earth reeked with the blood of unavenged innocence! But who may follow the awful web of the mystic fates? So, Bradford knew not of the impending wreck of Lefranc s mind, nor the real reason of his refuge among the Karlouk Indians! At any alarm, in his swift bai- dare, he could hide on the safest of a dozen moss- covered islands! For now, the murderer feared that either Serge Zubow might kill him, or wily McMann outwit him! "No! only at San Francisco, when I have gold, a hoard of gold, will I give up my secrets!" For old Shaman Thorn, now dead, had imparted to Pierre Lefranc alone, the whole story of the island treasure! The simple natives fancied that the gold grew in the gullies of the high green rock, and only every three to five years did the yellow treasures blos som to harvest! The "California" sped away, lightly laden, as the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. freight for Forts Tongass and Wrangell was left behind at Sitka, their garrisons were following to take charge by another steamer! Bradford, at any other time, would have revelled in the unique beauties of the Archipelago of Sitka! The autumn colors of the thousand islets gleamed in emerald, gold and burning crimson, shaded down to the sea shell s dainty pink! Under the shad ows of the tall green pines, troops of lithe, gray deer herded, cleaving their watery path, when startled to other mossy haunts. The balsam breath of the pines, the fragrant fir, and crisp birch, scented the cool air as the steamer plowed its way through the deep channel clefts, dashing rippling waves over the lonely shores! Mount Edgecumbe s silent crater hung far above him, snow-mantled, as its lava-channeled sides towered in the blue-vaulted air. It was an enchanting dream, but Paul Bradford saw nothing but that distant, fog-hidden gold island! The majestic sculpture of the Fairweather range in silvery turrets and faint drawn minarets flushed by them, and the steel-brown rusty hills lowered darkly to the East! A land of lonely seas and wildest shores! The unbroken silence of the Arctic seemed wafted from the blue skies, wherein Polaris gleamed on high, a warning lamp, and the northern lights glit tered around the Sea of Ice which locks the secret of the frozen Pole! Through floating, sharp-fanged ice cakes, into great Glacier Bay, the bearers of the new banner voyaged, a quaintly carved mass of nature s dainty imagery in liv ing turquoise blue, fading into the coal-green of the salt sea waves. In silent parade, cramped between its huge mountain- flanking boundaries, the King of Glaciers unrolled its matchless panorama! Hundreds of feet in height, the 210 THE PRINCESS <>l ALA-: Aladdin s palace of glittering purest ice took on every gleaming color of an artist s palette, and shaped in its calm distant reaches, every dainty fancy of a poet s brain. The thundering artillery of falling citadels of thou sands of tons of ice resounded in a distant roar, while affrighted waves fled far to sea in tremor! It was the giant s playground, a green and glittering ice field, the emerald heights took on tints of gold and rose, as the Arctic sun sank far in the gray waste of the wild Behring Sea! The castled crags of Drachenfels, in sculptured outline, waked the noblest lyric of Byron s tortured heart, but the poet of the Muir glacier must be a future crystallization of the exquisitely throbbing mother-heart of Nature! That Fairy Prince comes not yet! His master hand has never waked the chords of nature s wild wind-swept harp! At night Dome Peak, Tako Inlet and Admiralty Island, loomed to the east darkly, while the rushing paddle wheels beat their way against a stiff sea toward the great bend of Alaska. Paul Bradford, watching the distant lights of Indian encampments, wondered in what one of these gloomy fiords the unreaped gold deposits lay. " But I shall know in a day or more! " he cried, as he threw his cigar away and saw the hissing spark whirled in the sea. "And French Pete shall never leave my eye till I have secured the legal land entry to cover the gold fields! " In the darkness of the night Bradford unconsciously passed the hidden treasures which had baffled fifty seekers for a century! Sweeping through Prince Wil liam s Sound, the stout steamer sped along, aided by the current, toward Kodiak Island. In the gray of a chilly morning Paul Bradford, with a beating heart, saw THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 211 Kodiak and Afognak rising, mountain buttressed in the air, with the flashing rivers tumbling down into indented bays! In sight, Aliaska peninsula led out to the Aleu tian Islands, fencing in the lonely sea of Beavers. As the fog lifted, the steamer exchanged signals with the heavy-sparred " Ossipee " on her outward track to the Prybiloffs. "Thank Heaven!" cried Bradford, as he hastened his preparations to land. "I will find this man soon! If the Reindeer has not arrived I will get him smug gled back in this boat! " In an hour the anchor rattled down in Chiniatskoy Bay, and in a stout cutter the purser s assistant dashed away toward Karlouk! For the natives, swarming around in their skin canoes, had informed the purser that the lt Reindeer" had sailed the day before. "I am safe, at any rate!" mused Bradford, watching the leg-of-mutton sail, drawing every thread under a stiff breeze. His pockets were filled with ready gold! A good revolver and several jugs of rum were his sup porters in his dealings with the Chief of the Karlouks Bradford had caught up all the threads of information, and a Kodiak native in the cutter was the pilot. Two hours later, drenched with spray, the gold seeker en tered the squalid hut of driftwood, banked with mud, of the Karlouk Chief! Two or three crones, hovering over a fire, watched a mass of broiling fish, and in a circle of seal-skin clad, greasy natives Paul found Oo-ni-mak, the wily Eskimo who had long sheltered Pierre Lefranc, now known to trade and whaler as "French Pete" ! The corner of the hut was filled with walrus spears, whaling gear, implements of fishing and trapping and bales of skins The shaven Eskimo grunted in joy as Bradford broached a jug of "open sesame" rum. 212 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. The sight of gold, already known as the token of purchasing power, brought the natives around in a crowd. To the native pilot, a good interpreter, Brad ford confided his request to be led to "French Pete." The Kodiak native, a harpooner, had picked his English up on* several whaling and hunting cruises. After an excited dialogue with the Eskimo, the native turned a blank face to Bradford. "Gone! Carried away by Me Reindeer! McMann, Big Aleck took him!" " When?" shouted Bradford. "Three days ago! He was carried on board this whaler!" "Was the man sick?" queried the journalist spy. "No! He did not want to go, and they carried him tied to the boat, and then took him away! " Bradford was now excited: " Was there foul play? " He feared to betray his anxiety to the cunning old Aleut Chief, Escaping from the fearfully vile interior, Bradford led the interpreter up and down the beach. He then, after a half -hour s powwow, distributed the rest of his liquid largesse, and threw his tired limbs on a tarpaulin in the boat. It was four o clock next morning, when the disap pointed man sullenly rewarded his boat s crew! He had left the native pilot to verify the old Chief s astonishing story! It appeared that a violent quarrel of some kind had followed an interview of McMann with "French Pete," who had been drinking heavily. When the burly mate had seen Lefranc read the letter, which the old Chief had seen delivered, he endeavored to draw "French Pete" out of the hut with him! A long col loquy followed, which was ended by McMann summon- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 213 ing his armed boat s crew. The native described, in dumb show, how the Russian ex-convict had been bound and carried off, yelling for help, to the boat, by the sailors from the " Reindeer." And this water sprite then filled her sails and stood out toward the straits and the whaling ground. "I suppose the mystery will be solved when I get McMann s letters at Sitka, by the "Ossipee," so rumi nated the wondering Bohemian. He learned that Oo-ni-mak had sent a native down to Kodiak, with a letter prepared by McMann, while his crew guarded Lefranc in the boat at the native s little cove harbor. Bradford knew the Arctic courtesy of letter carrying, and pondered on the possible explanation. The next night, when the " California " quickly dis charged by the soldiery, glad to be on terra firma, fired her gun and turned her prow toward Sitka, Paul Brad ford was as far from the mystery of the golden island as at San Francisco! " Thank Heavens! We do not run out to the Prybil- offs!" he ejaculated, when he learned that a schooner would take the temporary military guard over to the fur seal islands. Bradford s unrest haunted him on the three days return voyage. The final report of his pilot interpreter left no doubt that "French Pete" had really been dragged away against his will, by McMann. " Did he need medical assistance? Was there some hid den danger? " But his heart sank within him, as the interpreter expressed a rude surprise at the quarrel : " They no fight before, not in one, two, three years!"" the native kept up confirmatory fingers. "But perhaps McMann did not recognize him, under the name I gavel" 14, 214 THE PRINCKSS 01 ALASKA. Bradford was puzzcd, for the natives insisted that McMann and the Frenchman were formerly good friends! When the "California" glided into Sitka Strait, three great square-rigged vessels were seen standing out to sea! In company, the fur-laden packets of the Czar were sail ing westwardly, flying the Muscovite transport flag, and the " Nevsky," lighter and swifter, had swept far ahead, in the sweep of the Japanese current! Her checkered sides marked the whaler and trader with the old imita tion gun ports. There was nothing left in Sitka Harbor, but some small vessels and the three United States war vessels. " Paul, do you go down with us? Will you still be purser s clerk, or did you make your fortuned Kodiak? " bantered the general steamer official, as the friends gave up their brandy and soda, with euchre accompaniment, at the port. "I ll tell you, / // ten minutes, after I get a letter here! I expect news!" said Paul, as they sped away to the shore. At the temporary office of the Admiral s fleet secre tary, the purser received stringent orders to reserve all the cabins on the downward trip for Prince Maxutoff s family. * Aristocratic passengers!" cried the Purser. "Well, do you go ! " he continued, as Bradford perused a heavy document handed him by Arthur Randolph, who said, "This came down marked Special, on the Ossi- pee, and was given me by my uncle as it is also marked Immediate? I sought you out." Both the Purser and Randolph marveled as, with brief thanks, Paul Bradford threw himself down at a table and called for a glass of brandy. It was unusual! He was as white as the paper he held! The two men left him. THE PklNCESS OF ALASKA. 21^ " Bradford seems sick!" said the jolly Purser. " He has not been the same man since we left Kodiak! " Arthur Randolph hastened away, for he was to be the fortunate escort to San Francisco of the two Russian ladies and his now devoted pupil, the little Princess Irma. In the old house, at once grogshop, store, and temporary customs headquarters, Paul Bradford blankly gazed at the letter, whose useless voyage to Kodiak had cost two thousand dollars! It fell out of McMann s great clumsy envelope, and its appearance showed that it had been tampered with and closed by a dirty thumb. The vague character of the mate s letter made Bradford start with impotent rage. " I return your letter! French Pete is not at Kodiak! He left Karlouk several weeks ago, and may be on some other whaler! I return the paper intact! The old Chief Oo-ni-mak saw him sail away!" A few detailed lies served to fill the sheet over the vil lain s signature at the foot! "Hound and liar! I have been tricked! But who seeks the Golden Island? This scoundrel, McMann, has surely spirited the Frenchman away! I have been fighting an unseen foe! Now, for a forlorn hope! To wait at San Francisco, board the returning whaler and take the Frenchman off on her landing! But on what pretext? " In sullen, baffled rage, Paul Bradford gathered up his belongings on shore to report to his secret backers at San Francisco. He mused "Perhaps McMann can be bought to betray his em ployers! Has Lefranc been carried away to be landed on the Siberian shore in a perpetual bondage? There is some unseen influence here!" and the shadow of defeat sat on Paul Bradford s brows, as he boarded the steamer. 2i 6 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "The French Consul believed that the story and samples of gold quartz and dust were genuine! Who is /W//WMcMann? I must watch that Company s whaling headquarters, for the island shall be found! " While the decks of the " California " were crowded with a departing motley throng, the main saloon was sacred to the Commodore and several of his ranking officers. For already, the ladies cabin was filled by the Maxutoff party, save only the wistful Princess Beatrice. Countess Olga Orlof was the especial object of the Commodore s care, and Arthur Randolph was eagerly explaining the proposed voyage to his inseparable com panion, the dashing little Princess Irma! "And you will teach me to draw and paint! Truly!" the bright eyed student asked. "This winter. Yes! At Dresden! You shall be my first lady pupil, and my model, for a young angel!" fondly said Randolph. The warning whistles, bells and signals, were recall ing all stragglers and announcing the transport s sailing. The gallant Commodore wondered at Countess Olga s unreserved coldness to the compliments of the impres sionable officers of rank. She was standing anxiously watching the great portal of Baranoff Castle. For though all the baggage and servants were now on board, though even that prince of aristocratic Sitkan chil dren, the infantile Stephan Orlof, was the charge of his watchful attendant, in the great saloon stateroom, Prince and Princess Maxutoff had lingered alone in the dis mantled halls of the old castle! They lingered behind to say adieu clasped heart to heart, once more, before a separation of long weary months! For vast re sponsibilities and tedious bureau affairs would hold Prince Maxutoff at St. Petersburg until after he had de- PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 21? livered up the Czar s last keys of American Empire ! His work was not all done, till he had returned the rich tribute of the frozen north, settled the complicated affairs of the old Russian American Company and rendered up to the Privy Council his powers and secret archives! The husband started as they heard the signal warning whistles! For the last time, Beatrice Maxutoff gazed from her favorite window, where for years she had gazed out in her yearning for the far away Russian home ! Happy Russia! Tears started to the lovely ladies eyes as she bade the exquisite panorama a last farewell in a lingering glance! Turning, she was clasped in her husband s arms in a passionate parting, and by the flick ering ashes of their hearthstone, soon to be cold forever, they thought of the happy past, the honors, the com forts, the semi-regal state of their years under tJie northern lights, reflecting the glory of the splendid Russian crown! "Beatrice! Remember my heart is with you, in your bosom! And Irma, darling Irma, whom I shall not see, until I have won for her the title of the first Princess of Alaska! Think always of me! I am with you in heart and soul! And, now, darling, one last embrace, here in the quaint old castle home! For you must be brave at the last! My own Beatrice! " With graceful dignity, the lady Princess bowed, but she smiled through tears, veiling her drooping lashes, as the American sentinel "turned out the Guard," when Maxutoff led his charming wife over the threshold for the very last time! The last Time! There is a thrill of a mysterious heart tumult in the very words : The Last Time! Parted lovers, friends estranged, loving watchers at the bed of pain, those who meet and part on the great Sea of Life, hear the sad words, The Last Time! mi-. IM as a knell rung by the cruel Fates! bright, bi.i hearted Beatrice Maxutoff, leaned upon hef princely husband s arm as the breeze blew back her rich dark tresses. " /will guard Irma, my darling" she hopefully replied. "May God guard you, and nil ice /<vr, in this year of separation! " " . lad >n\ C/ /VVVVT. " She pressed his arm with loving grasp. "Though parted, you go to new honors! To bring me your laurels where I will wait, under the roses of the Elbe valley! Think of our o\\n little one, the dainty Snow Princess, Irma, of Alaska! 1 1 " Dear old Dresden! Our happy future waits us there! A nation s honor! An Emperor s gratitude! The wel come of the stately Empress who guarded my youth! Shall I forget the day she gave me the mark of the Golden Chiffre, at the Catherine Institute! Your fidelity and wisdom have assured Irma s future! In our later years, we will look back together to this happy, romantic, quaint, old Baranoff, our loving and beloved old prison mansion! " And she kissed him fondly, with trembling lips of love ! An hour later, Gregory Maxutoff watched the "Cali fornia" turn behind the cliffs! The parting was achieved! " To my work!" he thought, with a sigh, and he little recked that in two capitals, shrewd scoundrels, in high places, worked at the plotting of his ruin! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2IQ CHAPTER VIII. A SILENT YANKEE THE GOVERNOR GENERAL S DEPARTURE OMINOUS TIDINGS ANTON PHILLIPPl S MISSION AT DRESDEN VERA ORLOP S SURPRISE " I AM YOUR FRIEND FOR LIFE FOR OLGA s SAKE." Countess Olga Orlof, leaning on the steamer s rail looked again the Olga Darine of her happiest days, as the wooing winds swept the clustering golden curls from her exquisite face. Though the lone grave by the rose-scented copse of flashing Indian River lingered in her mind, she felt a strange new joy of motherhood thrilling her bosom. " I am bearing little Stephan, born in innocence, the child of Love., back to the land where he shall live to honor the princely name of my husband, of Fedor Orlof, the unhappy, loving, loyal man, whose life was given up for me!" For in the duplicate patent of the great gold fields, now secured in joint ownership to MaxutofF and his heirs, and to Countess Olga Orlof and her descendants, she knew she carried the glittering prize for which luckless Fedor was slain! The little Princess of Alaska in the dim future could shield and guard her baby playfellow! The old Shaman treachery, Pierre Lefranc s greed and betrayal, Serge Zubow s brutal double revenge, all these led up to the murder on the "high bare green island," where the dull golden grains lay, under the foot now ot only the wild beast, and guarded by the screaming sea birds! "Stephan! my Stephan! has come unto his own! Perhaps, on some great field, he may yet lead his father s squadrons, under the Imperial eye, to a rose red victory whose golden glory shall wipe out the old, old stain! " 220 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. And with this second devotion of her life, Countess Olga cheered Princess Maxutoff, whose womanly fortitude less ened with every sweep of the surge bearing her farther from her dead husband! For the mother and the Alaskan Princess had seen their silent realm for the last time! The two ladies were much alone, save for the bright com panionship of Arthur Randolph, who was responsible for the safety of madcap Irma. Paul Bradford had not failed, before reaching San Francisco, to endeavor to ingratiate himself with the gentle voyagers! But in vain, he could not reach the charmed circle of confidence. Princess Beatrice shunned him, for his suspicious intimacy with the morose Tartar, Serge Zubow, was known to her. " I can not trust any friend of that dark villain!" the anxious wife said. "My only cloud upon these happy changes, to be, is that Serge Zubow is still in the North Pacific! He has money, friends and the strange support of Count Fersen. All this bodes no good to Gregory!" And yet, in the unaccustomed bustle of a great city, Beatrice Maxutoff s heart lightened, her spirits rose, for the first news she gained was that a Russian war vessel had already been detached to convey her husband to the mouth of the Amur. On its frozen bed, he would dart away, in the night and day express of the Imperial Courier s swift sleigh! The wondering eyes of the ladies of Baranoff were fixed on New York s marvels of kaleidoscopic life, a month later, before Prince Gregory had received the farewell oration of the denizens of Sitka! Their journeying to Eu rope was a daily round of the quickening impulses of a recivilization! It was with an anxious heart that Maxutoff prepared for his own departure. He might not hope to know before it, of the embarkation on the Atlantic of his precious host ages to fortune. His first news of the nesting of his wan derers at Dresden would be from old Excellence Butzow^ THE PRINCESS OK ALASKA. Hi who could telegraph in the Imperial cipher to far Irkutsk! It was on a chilly December night that the " Rurik " lost the lights of Sitka from view and, in the howling of the rising storm, Prince Gregory sought his care -haunted couch, on the high seas. Not even the Emperor s health given by cheery Captain Linieff, roused him from the ta- tigue of his last six months, and the grinding trials of his high station. For, in the last week, while Linieff ran to Behring Straits and picked up the last Russian officers, the Prince was busied in his deserted home, pondering over a mass of important despatches from the Privy Council, which had only reached him through the hands of Captain Linieff, who had received them officially from the Russian Consul at San Francisco. They contained the last direc tions of the Home Government, countersigned by that wily Imperial Delegate Count Fersen, now at St. Peters burg. It was true that the whole population of Sitka had given him parting salvos of cheers. That the complicated affairs of the Czar were all now honorably adjusted, that the United States officers gave him a superb banquet atthe castle, in adieu, and that the thundering cannon wished them all a noisy " God speed! " For the safety of the enormously valuable fur tribute cargoes had been a source of great past anxiety! In the wild storm of the night, Gregory Maxutoff shuddered at the thought of nearly two millions of dollars, in furs alone, ex posed to the risks of the sea. True, the Russian Crown s laws and dignity provided for no insurance. The high seas were swept now by no hostile sail. But a vague pre sentiment seized Maxutoff as he closed his eyes in the wild gale. " If they should be lost, the fur ships, I would be forever a ruined, a disgraced man! As they drove on toward the mouth of the Amur, Maxutoff examined the last dispatches received too late for effective action. By hazard his eyes rested upon the postmarks of the final 222 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. unopened envelope. He tore it open and, in the splendid cabin which he shared with the Captain, turned to LiniefT with a groan! "My God! Linieff, I atn ruined. " he cried. His face wore the pallor of death. " What has happened? " cried the loyal sailor, forcing a draught of cognac upon him. "There has been foul work somewhere! Here is a posi tive order of council for me to hold the fur ships until the arrival of a special corvette as convoy, that I must officer each of them with selected naval officers from the war ves sel sent, and a guard of twenty sailors and mariners, with four cannon on each, should be sent as a protection from the artful Malay pirates! Upon no account should I send them forth otherwise! And an implicit obedience ordered at my peril! Set! These dispatches have been delayed two months on the road, moreover, in Fersen s own hand is written: Following the detailed orders given to you by me at SitkaS" "It is unfortunate!" murmured Linieff, aghast at the possible consequences. "Linieff, I am ruined! Fersen never gave me any such orders! And these dispatches have been surely withheld for some sinister purpose! They reached San Francisco in time for me to have acted. Who are my enemies!" " I cannot tell! Let us hope that nothing will happen to the cargoes. But I believe Count Fersen and Serge Zubow both bear you ill will. Each of them, in San Francisco, was often accompanied by a silent Yankee with an inscrut able face, a middle-aged man, Eben Tomlinson by name! Now, Count Fersen was also inseparable from this man on his visit. I have found out that he sold Serge Zubow the "Nei sky" and they met at Victoria. You have told me of Fersen s previously prepared proxy to Zubow, and the Russian Consul completed this peculiar friendly THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 223 association! I have heard it rumored that Fersen and Zubow would try to control the Siberian fur trade and the seal island, and that this Tomlinson aimed at a great asso ciation licensed by the American Congress. Now, your disgrace, by the withholding of these dispatches, could be effected only by the Consul!" " Zubow certainly hates you, and I have always felt that he had a hand in poor Orlof s murder! From Serge Zubow and Anton Phillippi s past deeds in Khamschatka I know they would not even stop at murder to carry their plans, and Phillippi arrived before I sailed, from Japan and China, on his way to Washington to confer with the Russian Minister! This Eben Tomlinson has also been Phillippi s American agent for years. They might have bribed the Consul to withhold your dispatches, if Fersen could have warned them! But for what purpose? " "To make some furtive attempt on the fur cargoes! 1 see it all! Zubow swore my ruin over the Orlof quarrel! And his Nevsky has followed the two fur ships to sea! [ am helpless! " In far San Francisco, as the "Rurik breasted the Ochotsk gales, over a sumptuous table in the sacred domain of the Russian Consulate, Tomlinson and Phil lippi eagerly communed, as the officials, with sleepy eyes, watched them in satisfaction. "Well! Did Zubow get all his men on board the two ships? Have you heard? " said Phillippi, with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Yes!" briefly replied the Yankee. "I gathered up most of the men at Victoria, and sent them up on the Nevsky ! Zubow s letter by the troop ship tells me that one captain (a greedy Finn) is safe to be depended on to land one cargo in Victoria! Mixed with the exports from there, the furs can never be traced! "- <l Good! " cried Phillippi. " And the other? " 224 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. " The other Serge Zubow himself w\\\ fight for! He will reach the Kurile Islands first! And the navigator of the largest ship will pass into the strait where the Nevsky waits! " "And " Phillippi was jubilant with expectation. " Well, you may hear of an outrage by the wild Kurile Islanders, that s all! " smiled Tomlinson, leaning back to enjoy his cigar. " How Zubow hates that fool, Maxutoff! " Phillippi mused. " He will risk his very life to ruin him! " "Ah! you don t know the real reason! It is all about that princess prima donna, or prima donna princess, up there at Baranoff! They quarreled to the death, and this is Zubow s revenge! He has sworn Maxutoff s ruin! " "Well! We can trust Serge! But, Tomlinson, you must get your lease and government contracts as soon as you can!" answered Phillippi, "for Fersen and our party will be in full control by next year! Then we will be the Kings of the North Pacific, when we join forces. How do your matters progress? " Phillippi was gravely attentive. " We have had a desperate struggle to get the matter into the right hands at Washington! We may be a year later, but no one but our own circle can reach it! You can leave me your full directions at Washington with " he leaned and whispered a name. Phillippi smiled as he drank a brimming toast. " Here goes to our joint company! For Serge is true! We will make the Emperor pay himself for bribing his councillors to grant us our monopoly! Maxutoff will never reach the coveted dignity of Prince of Alaska! The tribute ships shall both be ours. You must do your part! " Captain Linieff, out at sea, pacing the quarter deck of the " Rurik " vainly tried to console Prince Maxutoff. As they communed over the future of Siberia and the domin- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 225 ion of the North Pacific, the ex-Governor unfolded his heart to his loyal friend. "You know there is much to make my home coming the occasion o popular clamor. The strange Russians, even in repression, are intensely patriotic. Our flag yet has never lost a square mile of conquered ground. This sale is looked at with general disfavor, and / will be made the scapegoat of any misfortune. I have closed up the Russian-American Company s unprofitable affairs. On the whole, there has been a very great loss! When Bassoff, in 1745, brought back his matchless treasure of the second trip, in the richest consignment of furs the world had ever seen, the days of the Russian fur craze, as mad as the South Sea Bubble fever, began! When common sailors brought home twenty years average gains, as the result of a four months trip, the popular excitement passed all bounds ! "Now, beyond the gold paid for Alaska, the greatest rev enue of fifty years is this imperial tribute, endangered while afloat! The gold will fall forgotten into the coffers of the Empire, the losses of the Trading Company will be remembered, and the sale of our great American domain will be deplored! Seward is far smarter than Gortschakoff ! Now, if any accident to the ships should happen, I would be ruined ruined! And, at a distance, my hands tied, my enemies may have laid snares! Not for myself, do I fear, but for my brave wife, my darling Irma! " "Prince Gregory, do not give up so to your idle fears! " cried hearty Linieff. "See here! Our publicists will look at the other side! Some day, the English will build a railroad to the Pacific! The Yankees are doing it now! It is almost finished! They, with their fleet could destroy our coast settlements if we had kept that trans-Pacific realm! With their Can adian railroad, they would be invincible on that side, Our 226 THK PRI\( I 5S < ! \ real point to guard the future supplies for great Siberia, will be easily effected by our friendship with the Americans! We laid them under grave obligations in their civil war! They must help us in a future civil war with England, with privateers, which will shelter in their western ports and other help! Yankee greed will do the work! They will repeat the tactics of the English traders in the mad civil war, just ended." "But I am sorry to see the great realm go to strangers! It will easily return a hundred millions of profit to the Americans in fifty years. We could not keep it! I was in Behring Sea, when the old transformed Sea King, the Shenandoah, of the Confederate States, ran into the Arctic! The great Yankee whaling fleet, chasing the * bowhead, were in the wake of their daring ocean path finders! " "Think of the Ganges in 1835, finding the real cruising ground of the valuable whale, and then stumbling into Kodiak! The Hercules and James followed in 1843, an ^ after the watery trail through Behring Strait was discovered, the stern captain of the Saratoga pushed alone up to 71 40 North, in 185 1 ! A simple mariner, reaching the highest point near the pole and shaming the costly discovery fleets! What men, these Yankees on their dollar hunting! Nothing appals them! If they could unite on a wiser policy than that chimera of equality, which will wreck them yet, they would rule North and South America! " " You do not believe in republics? " smiled Maxutofi. "No!" stoutly answered Linieff, "Russia is strong, with all its defects of code, because a hereditary crown gives a continuous policy! Germany is formidable by the ceaseless military energy of the Hohenzollerns! England s never ceasing game of acquisition and extension is handed down by every wearer of the crown! In America, the nerve activity, surface education and theoretical eqmlity PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 227 makes every tinker dream of the Presidency! I have travelled among these strange people! "The heart of a democracy may be open to equity, the head of the people very often goes astray! France is diffuse and vacillating under the republic, where as many talk as work! But the dash, the hardy bravery of these Americans, their self-dependence is wonderful! We never really ex plored the great river Yukon, that huge icy artery of Alaska! But a single American steamboat captain took the little steamer "Wilder" this year, up the unknown stream twelve hundred miles. I saw him at the mouth of the Yukon. A resolute fellow, his name, E. E. Smith! He showed a dozen times the fortitude alone, with no other man to advise, than the hugely overrated Columbus in his easy drift over the Atlantic! For every mile of this terrific journey was beset with dangers almost insurmountable! Fear, fatigue, obstacles, nothing daunts the hardy pushing American!^ " It is in such daring feats they shine! When they drop into trading they become as petty as a Greek! But their boldness! Their originality! It was in June, 1865, even after their war was really over that the Confederate Waddell made his desperate diversion in that famous Corsair run around the world! For he destroyed thirty vessels, worth two million dollars, with an old armed merchant steamer! What a sight! I will never forget it! He fired the only guns ever discharged in war in the Arctic Ocean, when he sank, burned and destroyed ten whalers, in one day, with their rich cargoes! So strange, that the flag of the rebel States should wave in triumph under the northern lights, on the 28th of June, two months after the great war was over, and the mighty Lee had gone to his home, in the heart-break of defeat! And the cunning pirate knew the war was over!" "Who but a wild American would have raced to the 228 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Arctic Ocean to make war? It was little credit to the Yankee government fleet that he ran her around the world, later in safety, to distant Liverpool. You can see from this, how the splendid English fleet would have ravaged any explored communities we had on that lonely shore! It was wise, the sale, after all! " "What a romance clings around the North Pacific!" mused Maxutoff, as he gazed toward the Siberian shore, now but a day distant. "We have left the spot where auto cracy and democracy have peacefully met, in circling the world! Which will last the longer, in the future storms to come? The prophetic policy of that wonderful genius, Peter the Great, or the resultant republican effort of the patriots of America? The world has never yet done justice to great Peter, mad with the great power of an unparalleled brain power! He impressed the Russian character indeli bly! He alone is the rock on which we are builded! And the force of his character has certainly never been equalled! Violent, an Alexander in the field and in his cups, he was self- taught, a law unto himself, and a mechanic, law-giver, states man, general, Czar! The modern world has never known his equal! The magnificent Corsican, the highest embodi ment of intellectual power, the culminating human mind of his century died in defeat and despair, at St. Helena, his plans crushed out by the mere dead weight of aroused Europe! But Peter s policy blossoms anew in the laurels of each succeeding Czar! East, west, and south, the tramp of our Russian legions moves steadily on. We threaten Europe, dominate Asia, and when Constantinople has been won and a lodgment made on the Persian Gu//, what then remains for the Romanoffs? " Maxutoff spoke with a pride which thrilled LinierT! "But one sacred duty to mark the close of the century remains to supplement Peter s policy, to extend it, to add to its grasping vigor? And that is," said the Governor THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 22Q General! "It is the great railroad to the Corean boundary on the Pacific, with its telegraphs! Then, in magnificently compact strength, Russia can gaze at England holding the seas in thrall by her dauntless fleets! For the frontier of China, the gates of India, the plains of Persia, and even Asia Minor will be menaced by the greatest Empire of the Twentieth Century! Our Holy Russia, its Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific ports impregnable, it will be impregnable in one huge continuous realm, and great Siberia, thrown open as a thoroughfare of the world, will develop its wondrous riches! The Asiatic trade will all be ours! Peter, grand, wonderful giant among kings! To your prophetic policy, the steamboat, the railway, the telegraph, have only added to the power of the Aladdin s lamp you willed to your heirs!" " It is right to draw in on the Asian shore lines! We will rule the great mother continent of the world! Even Catherine I., the doubtful daughter of a strolling Swede, the pauper orphan, a common soldier s wife, General Bauer s minion, Princess Menschikoff s servant, the play thing of Peter s passion, caught from his very enthusiasm, the spirit which, when she wore the imperial diadem he gave her, made her plant his victorious eagles in the Pacific! To the erratic child of this fantastic union, the pleasure-loving Elizabeth Petrovma, she left the sacred injunction to hoist the double-headed eagle where you have hauled it down saluted by the guns of a republic, then undreamed of , till she had lain for twelve long years in the tomb! " "The weird fancy of the wildest romance, pales before the incredible story of Catherine s elevation from drudge to Empress, before the simple woman s arts which made a cast-off menial adventuress, the wearer of Russia s ruby crown, the obscure plot, which, after Peter had slain his son Alexei, and Peter II. had been removed by small- 15 1HF, PRINCESS OF ALASKA. pox, caused an army surgeon and a French ambassador to sweep away the infant Ivan s baby fingers clutching the sceptre! " "It brought Elizabeth, Catherine and Peter s daughter, successively to the throne, though with gloomy vindictive- ness, he had decreed that each ruler should name a suc cessor! " "It is the wildest tale of history!" mused Maxutoff. " What guides the affairs of the poor human spawn who crawl upon this earth! " "The gifts of fortune were lavished upon Catherine I. as upon no other woman who had ever lived ! Mary Queen of Scots, born to the Realm of Scotland, a prospective heir ess by marriage, of the throne of France, by law of that of England, died broken-hearted in defeat, upon the block! The beautiful, stately head was bowed in shame, white with the snows of sorrow, to fall under the vulgar heads man s stroke! "- " Mistress of all arts, of diplomatic games, the match less star of beauty and of grace, her blood flowed at the nod of a queenly rival, and her dynasty disappeared in hereditary misfortunes! The sceptre was forever banished from Holyrood, where the dainty beauty roused the chival- ric Scots to a pathetic loyalty! The spider builds to-day in her love-haunted palaces! " "But this child of chance, dragged up into the fiercest light of Peter s throne, Catherine /., left the tremendous gift of Fortune s Secret to the girl she bore to Peter, and their line sways to-day, the destinies of the dwellers from the Pole to the Caspian, from the Pacific to the Baltic! You have seen me the trustee of the huge estate which the awful fates gave to Russia, at the mandate of Peter s daugh ter, through Behring and TchirikofT. In a century, ivho will be t)ie masters there? \nfive centuries, will there be a Russia, an America? Blind slaves of Fortune are we all! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 23! what can the seer foretell, which the fool may not fore stall? "And in a hundred and fifty years of trial, Peter s policy is, after all, the only successful one in European statecraft! The madman s wisdom has withstood even the assault of the grim Fates! "- " Maxutoff shivered in apprehension, as he thought of his own devious life path, stretching far away to the Neva! " What awaits me in the dim unknown future? " The stars did not answer him! And was it in mercy they were silent? The doom of Fate hangs in awful silence over all! It was on a raw wintry day that the stout corvette "Rurik" made the lights on Cape Djaore and Cape Pronge. The straits of Tartary were filled with floating ice, and the winter storm howled madly, rolling along huge breakers in the shallow channels. Prince Maxutoff, eager to meet his old friend, General Dachkof, and push on to St. Petersburg, felt that it was his very salvation to speed on, and to counteract the cabal headed by Count Fersen. u I would not attempt to land any man but you, Prince," cried gallant Linieff, as he gave orders to launch the strong steam launch, while the heavy war vessel rode sullenly along at quarter speed on the dark surge. " You will have a rough fifty mile trip to Nikolaevsk, but we Russians fear nothing, when the Czar bids us face the road! "- Tears stood in Maxutoff s eyes when he grasped Linieff s hands, in adieu. Scant ceremony was there for the part ing, as the Governor must trust to a sling noose to reach the launch, wildly pitching, as she was dragged along in tow ! " God bless you, Gregory! Trust to your Emperor to re ward you! You will forget these cares and fears in the 232 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. golden circle of the Winter Palace. Tell General Dachkof I ll stand off and on till I can bring the Rurik over the bar and safe into the river delta. Then, I can receive his orders! Don t fail to greet your delightful consort and the fairy Princess! I envy you your happy future! " Away over the heaving waste of waters, the heavy launch sped, bravely buffeting the icy waves pouring over her whaleback! Captain Linieff turned his ship out to the open sea for safety, even though the rolling seas made the strong war vessel quiver in every timber. " If the Governor has no orders, I will run out beyond the Kuriles, until the storm spends itself." Fifty miles out in the growing dusk of the evening, the deck officer reported the Saghalin guardboat signalling for closer communication! Linieff sprang to the quarter deck, signal book in hand, and in a few moments, the keen-eyed midshipman had noted the full message, though the parti-colored flags streamed wildly in the howling gale. A strange presentiment chilled the sailor s heart, as he read the transcribed message: "Russian vessel from Sitka, bound home, totally wrecked, on Yeterop Island of the Kuriles, south point. Go to assistance of crew. Met junk in La Perouse Strait steer ing for Dui for help. We cannot land at Nikolaevsk! " " My God! I hope it is not Maxutoff s fur ship!" groaned Linieff, as he dictated a brief message ordering his launch picked up, on its return, and a brief report to General Dachkof telling why he had stood out to the Kuriles! Then with a heavy heart, the Captain ordered full speed and bade his navigator shape the course for La Perouse Straits! "Alas! Poor Gregory! If it is the wreck ffear, he will hear the news soon enough at Petersburg." And so out into the howling storm, the " Rurik " sped, while Prince Gregory forgot his haunting cares in General Dachkof s royal welcome. With the habitual caution of a THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 233 diplomat, made doubly timorous by his fears, Prince Maxu- toff warily listened to General Dachkof and held back all reference to the brief, sweet and tragical love episode of the Orlofs. At noon of the next day the wild Tartar horses reared and plunged in the great furred sleigh. In the boxes beneath, every comfort for the road was stored, and the steel blue lance heads of a dozen Cossacks gleamed viciously, as the escort reined up their ponies. Revolver, carbine and sabre, with double ammunition pouches, made these men able to cope with the wild Mantchurians emerg ing from the gloomy Chinese banks of the Amur. With a chorus of wild yells, Maxutoff was whirled away, waving his turban to gallant Dachkof, who had drained the stirrup cup to the Czar and then shattered the glass! Seven thousand versts in a wild snow wilderness, haunted by wolves and the ferocious famished tigers of Mongolia, gloomy wastes infested with desperate convicts, wild Khir- gis and escaped criminals, lay between the traveler and the gracious Emperor, whose reward awaited him! He had passed Khabarofka, when the Saghalin guard boat took up the launch, and sent on Captain Linieff s dispatch to headquarters. General Dachkof fretted as he read the message from the mouth of the Amur. "Bad Luck! I need the Rurik at once! And I could have sent this important news on by the post sleigh, with Maxutoff. All seems to go wrong! But it was worst of all for the anxious Prince, who was now madly dashing along through the savage valley where Khabarof, in 1651, with a hundred and fifty volunteers held the Amur gorges against the wild archer descendants of bloody Ghenghis Khan. The whole path to Irkutsk, on the diamond jewel water of Asia, great Lake Baikal, was haunted with memories of Cossack bravery, of Cossack loyalty arid Cossack craft! Away, past the spot where the 234 TIIK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Tungus tribes yielded to the Czar s horsemen in 1639, Max- utoff passed through the scenes of the struggle with Khirghis and Mongolian, which for one hundred and sixty years made the mystic river, a vale of bloody encounter. But Peter s will conquered even here! The Little Khir ghis, in 1731, ceased to lift the lance in war, in 1781, the Central Khirghiz followed, and only in 1847 did the great Khirghiz Horde, the last ferocious sons of Genghis, yield to the prophetic mandate of that Iron Czar, now sleeping peacefully in the white marble tomb on the Neva! "Whence comes the Russian loyalty, from love or from the lash? " thought Maxutoff. " Is it pride in the onward march of the yellow flag with its black eagles? " Ivan, the Terrible, brought the hosts of Yedigee to their knees in 1555, the great Stroganoff and Demidoff families pushed over the Urals, Ivan IV grasped the Kama River, and the Stroganoffs, with the wild Don Cossacks, drove Kuchum s vast army south in China! The unlettered Cos sacks, building Tobolsk in 1587, returning the compli ment of a Tartar invasion, grasped Siberia and marched to the Pacific, for Attassof, in 1697, had brought even the silent land of ice and volcanoes, mystic Khamschatka, under the Iron Czar s rule! "Nothing withstands the Cossack!" mused Maxutoff. Leaving their own treeless plains, their wild riders became boatmen, woodsmen, fishers, sailors, hunters, and even baf fled the wily Mongolians in wit! The vagaries of overloaded technical scientific explorers seem poor and paltry before the deeds of Buza, Stadukhin and the daring Deshniew. These men conquered without maps the virgin icy desert of North Siberia! They threaded the awful frozen wastes where the mammoth and elephant, the beasts and reptiles of a pre historic age, lie still gripped in the blue crystal coffin of ice unmelted for six thousand years! There, in an eternity of Death, they lie among the flowers and fronded palms, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the giant foliage which once nodded at the congealed Sibe rian rivers! Is there any magic like the hidden chemistry of nature? Imagination can not paint a history with as many unturned leaves, with the print of the Creator fresh ^fadeless colors, as that of the atomy speck, hurled through space, which we mortals call the world! The three great Cossack explorers builded ships, with rude self-taught art, and conquered the Lena, the Yanaand the Kolyma! The bones of bold Buza are long crumbled to ashes! The wild Cossack died long before Lefort, the forgotten Genevese, taught Peter the Great the arts of civ ilization and lit the flame of the fierce mental ambitions of the Russian Czar, which, dating from 1682, blazes even brighter to-day! To the great Lefort, his teacher, to the genius of Natalia Narychkine, his patrician mother, Peter the Great owed his mental elevation! Nothing came to him from Czar Alexei Michailovitch but the right to reach out his boyish hand, for the bloodiest crown on earth! His own headlong mental courage, his imperious soul, made him at once father, creator, builder, and prophet of his barbarous land! To Peter, was given the right to make the Russian Bear s growl echo around the world! He caught up the secrets of the three roving Cossacks. He followed Buza, in mind, in his desperate voyage, eastwardly down the Lena to the Yana! The bold adventurer was " the first who ever burst into that silent sea," lapping the towering icebergs drifted from the mystic Pole ! Stadukhin carried the Cossack pennant on from the Yana to the Kolyma and builded there, an outpost city! Last of all, Deshniew, with intrepid heart, gathered his fleet of seven vessels, a phantasmal creation, and burst headlong from the Arctic into the Pa cific! The first northern discoverer! The oblivion of two hundred years covers the name of 236 THE PRINCESS OF ALA Deshniew. Nordenskiold succeeded to Behrmg s aoubtful honors when he arrived at Yokohama in later years, in 1879, having at last achieved the northeast passage! For twenty-five years, the Cossacks in their frail barks essayed it, but Deshniew at last burst the seal of the silent ages, and/6>//;/</ Khamschatka! The Russian Eagle was planted there forever! "What does not Russia owe to the strange clan of the Cossack!" Maxutoff exclaimed. " A race unknown till the tenth century, the very incarnation of military heroism, they are now the brightest jewel of the Russian crown! For to the Cossacks Buza, Stadukhin, Deshniew, Khabarof, and Attassof, the white Czar owes to-day, a land two and a half times as large as European JRussia, and twenty-five times larger than Germany! The Czarevitch is proud to grate fully accept the title of Ataman of the Don Cossacks! The StroganofTs and Demidoffs followed up these wild men and the gems, mines and riches of the Trans-Ural were soon theirs! When by Patrick Gordon s sword and Lefort s counsel, Peter finally seized the crown from his half sister, the Regent Sophia, he followed the track of the immortal five robbers with the imperial finger! When his whole family had at last bowed to his commanding genius, Peter then reached out across the sea for the New World! The Czar was tutored by the Cossack! Two hundred years later, De Long, bearing the star flag of America, miserably perished where the hardy Cossacks survived and calmly began a search for new worlds, at the mouth of the Lena! The lessons of these resolute Cossacks are monitors to a faint-hearted later world, and shame the pinchbeck explor ers of our effete century! Back from the scenes where Behring and TchirikofT car ried Peter s immortal mandates over the stormy ocean, Maxutoff sped away over the endless winter plains of Siberia! Day after day, in his ceaseless onward career, he THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 237 traversed the national line of the coming railway, a wild dream to him then, but whose construction is the opening triumph of the Twentieth Century! When Alexander III, on March 17, 1891, devoted by Imperial rescript four hundred millions of dollars to build a four thousand miles railroad to the Pacific, the august spirit of Peter s undying genius thrilled in the very nerves which guided the pen! The world itself will be a debtor to the five great Cossacks! Human oblivion is but the mental eclipse of fools! The stars shine behind the cloud! And in the Walhalla of the world s great explor ers the five Cossack chiefs are seated among the greatest! The mad, fantastic irony of fate which divorced a wife of the noble Lapoukin blood, named by his haughty mother, the cabals which shut up his sisters in convents, the dark fate which sacrificed his son Alexei, all these, led to the succession of that wonderful child of fortune, Catherine, and handed down the crown to the fruit of their ill-stained union, Elizabeth! The wily paramour who outwitted the Turks and saved defeated Peter, had the lofty spirit of sympathy and fidel ity, and to her and her child, with their brave servants, Behring and Tchirikoff, Russia owes to-day the command ing position she holds in the world. What ghastly memo ries of crime, of intrigue, what faded dreams of pomp and vanished power cling around the row of marble tombs on the island of the Neva! And r<?/, to-day, Peter s electric spirit twinkles on every Russian bayonet! Let him who sneers at woman marvel that his adventuress wife and min ion daughter carried the eagles of conquest farther east than even the Iron Czar! Heart of fire, a magnificent plaything of fortune, Peter s strangely met consort was unique! General Dachkof fretted as he daily watched the signal tower at Nikolaevsk and saw the grip of the winter king on 238 Tin-: PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the lower Amur. A month and a half had elapsed since Captain Linieff put out in the howling storm to search the Kurile Islands for the shipwrecked Russians. The Gen eral s brow was dark, for complaints had reached him of the starving natives of Khamschatka and the absence of Prince Serge Zubow, Count Fersen s delegated marshal of the north! " Confound him!" growled the veteran. " He is always absent! Roving over the North Pacific on his self-consti tuted fleet, the Nevsky* and that great lumbering brig Kodiak! " Dark stories had even reached the kind- hearted General of Zubow s rapacity, his cruelty, his garnered fur magazines, his illicit trade in rum, and the mysterious voyages of his unlicensed ships! "What can I do?" mourned the Governor General of Eastern Siberia! "My power ends at Cape Lopatka, and I have my own future to guard! If I complained Count Fersen would baffle me! He seems to be playing at Damon and Pythias with this brute Tartar! I would only have two enemies the more! Ah! Russia! land of fear and dissimulation! The spy lurks in the very anteroom of the palace, at the glittering mess, in the salons, where the white-bosomed beauties flash dangerous secrets with a wave of the fan, or a gleam from lustrous eyes! Soldiers, servants, friends, strangers, even the beggars, the clouds of police and hordes of officials, all are one great network of timorous, dangerous, rascally spies! " At last the long suspense was broken! The Saghalin guard boat brought a dispatch from Captain Linieff at Yokohama! It had been forwarded up the splendid Empress road of Niphon from the Russian Ambassador at Tokio. Linieff had found only the battered ribs of a large Russian ship! She had been stripped and entirely dis mantled by the thievish Kurile Islanders eager to obtain her fastenings and use her material for junk building. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. The closing lines were full of sad portent for the princely traveler now speeding on between Irkutsk and Tobolsk! For Gregory Maxutoff, dreaming little that black care fol lowed him fast, was well over the huge Yenesei and push ing on quickly toward the Obi! These gigantic water arteries of Siberia, their huge rivers draining alluvial wastes replete with gems and seamed with gold, are of vast immensity ! Maxutoff s wildest flight of fancy little dreamed that thirty years later, three barges with fifteen hundred tons of steel rails would be towed from Europe around North Cape into the very heart of Siberia by the Yenesei! The dreams of Cossack Buza are more than realized! The silent Lena, three thousand miles in length, flows to the delta where the American polar expedition starved, in a sheet six miles wide, a hundred miles from De Long s grave! What future magic of commerce, when a new world s high way is opened! When the iron horse follows the tracks of the bold Cossacks of the fifteenth century! Man, of all the animals, alone superior to change of habitat and essential condition, will probe the farthest antres of the Siberian wastes for that magic gold which Maxutoff dreamed of in its island treasury, as he sped on happy-hearted! He dreamed, too, of the dear faces around the samovar at Dresden, for even now, Princess Beatrice, the siren- voiced Olga and laughing Irma, were bringing the romance of Baranoff Castle into the Butzow mansion! Alas! While he dreamed, hardy old General Dachkof groaned as he threw down Linieff s dispatch! The very last clauses told him of a great disaster! " I fear," wrote Linieff, " that the lost ship was the large fur transport! The lying natives told me a vessel had taken off the crew! But of what nationality, I know not! Whatever plunder these rude thieves obtained was secreted. I am now under the orders of the admiral to wait here a month and ther^ convoy the spring fleet north to the Amur! 111K PRINCESS OF ALASKA. I fear that this mishap will bring about a serious future trouble to Prince Gregory! " "The fortu ncs of war! The cnances of peace!" said Dachkof. " We stumble along blindest when our senses are relaxed in the brief sunny glimpses of prosperity! " And the soldier sadly addressed himself to the unvary ing drudgery of his great office. "I need a ship sorely! If Serge Zubow were only available! " But he was fain to grumble in vain, for native canoes coasting around the Ochotsk brought him news that the wilfull Prince was far away on a long cruise. "Then, the Starosts and village chiefs will be in wild riot until the spring inspections!" Dachkof was heartsick. The February snows lay glistening around the fair city of the Saxons where the charming Elbe valley smiles around the Florence of Germany. The afternoon sun sparkling on the tower of the Frauenkirche, a glittering vision in crystal tracery, shone down upon Dresden, beloved of the aesthetic Teuton. The staid burghers, home-loving and prosperous, gazed with pride at the vota ries of art, the pilgrims of many lands streaming in to the magic portals of the great gallery! Lean-faced, ferret- eyed Yankee, rapt Italian, impassive Briton, turbaned Turk and ardent Gaul, in knots and groups, paused before the matchless, wistful tenderness of the Sistine Madonna, the liquid coloring of Coreggio, or the sensuous witchery of Titian s glowing visions of beauty. From patrician to ple- bian, calm, critical age to the kindling eye of youth, the varied sentient types of mankind passed in review, a mot ley procession drinking in the poetic impress of the mighty giants of art. The fifteen hundred canvases on the walls of the Gallery are a glorious triumph of time! The deli cate "visions flitting impalpably " before the chastened eye of the rapt creative artist live here to lead upward in the deathless allegories of Truth and Beauty! The turret THE PRINCESS OP ALASKA. 241 bells chiming musically, the crested heights whereon no hostile batteries now mocked God s truce of human broth erhood, the brooding peace, were all elements of the flow of civilization, in the beautiful landscape, the gentle atmos phere of homely German enthusiasm and all that speaks of the world s renaissance. Before a wondrous "Venetian Lady," Arthur Randolph, with youth s fire lighting his brow> sat and toiled in the renewed intensity of the artist fever which devours, while seeking, expression. Passing dilettantes cast a glance at the growing similitude of the copy, but their eyes soon wandered to the graceful group gathered at the artist s side. Princess Maxutoff, her fair face clouded with gently repressed anxiety, fixed her kindly eyes upon the youth intent upon his task. Restraining the eagerness of Irma, Olga Orlof gazed upon the world, in petto, passing in review! It was a dream fabric, an awakening, the return of life to her brooding heart, so long pent up with the unvarying routine of the Alaskan eyrie on Kalatan s rock! She little recked that the passing stranger found her deli cate face, with its marvellous eyes, a lovelier theme than the passive beauties "on the line! 11 The simplicity of her robes, her nameless air of distinction, the seal of nature s finest nobility, the romantic combination of her golden hair shading the matchless eyes, the Venus pose of her moulded form, caused the eyes of youth and gallant to glow with the unconscious tribute of an admiration not to be repressed. "It is time to leave! Irma! Your further art education must wait for the opening of Arthur s studio ! " said Countess Olga, as the shadows deepened in the corners of the long corridor. "And / am, at your service! " brightly cried Arthur Randolph, gathering his colors. "A few days more, and my fingers will resume their dexterity! But, when shall I 242 I HE PRINCESS ol ALASKA. have the sittings? My new studio will be all in order next week." " Not until you have jointly finished the arrangement of my winter resting place! " interjected the Princess, as the party slowly moved to the great entrance, where the carriage awaited them! "I am at your orders, Princess," gaily answered Ran dolph, " but I must beg the fulfillment of Countess Olga s promise! I shall acquit you of all the claims of a faithful servitor when my poor art is essayed to catch the ex pression of the Lady of Sitkal A month has already glided away! It seems as if we had drifted back, out from under the northern lights into another world! Countess Orlof, leaning back in the carriage, gazed fondly upon gentle Princess Beatrice. Her friend s eyes were shaded with the never absent anxiety of awaiting the telegram ot Prince MaxutorT s arrival at Nijni Novgorod. From the fair city by the Golden Gates of the blue Pacific to the gates of Dresden, in a daily increasing friendship, the Arctic pilgrims had passed on through scenes grown strangely unfamiliar to the long exiled ladies. Arthur Randolph s self-imposed task was done, when the wayfarers found a winter home prepared, with the ready aid of the Butzows, who welcomed gladly the graceful addition to the already brilliant Russian colony. It was the dawn of another life to Olga! A haven of peace and rest! And Princess Irma of Alaska, the child of snows, fluttered out in the quick expansion of eager childhood, a hovering butterfly. But in the now happy circle, for Arthur Randolph s wel come home to his beloved brethren of art, had inspired him anew, thera was but one serious face! Loving Beatrice Maxutoff s heart was hungry for tidings of the lonely man ever dashing on in snow a^d ~ f orm, /// the name of the Czar! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 243 The doors of Madame Maxutoff s home received the returning art worshipers, and, as Arthur Randolph, laugh ingly promised to return and join the hospitable Russian family circle at dinner, he noted the air of astonishment with which Countess Orlof received the butler s announce ment: "A lady stranger in the drawing-room desires to see Madame la Comtesse!" " To see me! " said Olga in wonderment. " Have you her card?" The grave servitor answered, bowing: "I was desired to say A lady from St. Petersburg?" Countess Olga was very pale, as she passed forward, while Arthur wonderingly took his departure. In all her sisterhood of years with Beatrice Maxutoff, her lips avoided framing that ominous name "St. Petersburg!" Arthur s fleeting glance caught only the outline of a graceful figure and the graces of youth, as the mysterious stranger rose. "The stride of a Diana! I must hasten the ceremonies of my toilette. Perhaps, the Russian visitor may fill a sketch-book corner! Countess Olga gazed expectantly at a silent girl of twenty who stood smiling archly, with outstretched arms! Her brown eyes were winning in their appealing glances, as she started forward with girlish impulsiveness. In puzzled surprise, Olga saw the Butzow equipage, before the door. It was impossible to resist the charm of a voice vibrating with a tender appeal, as the beauty clasped the stately Countess to her breast. " Don t you know me? I am Vera Orlof ! " And when Beatrice Maxutoff entered, at Olga s joyous summons, the light of a newly found love and an unhopedfor happiness shone in Olga s eyes! - "Here is one who has come from the Neva to welcome us home! I am so happy, Beatrice, for my little Stephan for the first time, will see an Orlof! " 244 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Olga s voice was quivering with an intensity of new feel ing, but Vera, bright and eager, won instantly Princess Maxutoff s heart, as turning her trustful eyes on the woman who had saved Fedor s wife, she whispered : " You also, must love me! I am your friend for life, for Olgds sake! " THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA, 245 CHAPTER IX. A TIMELY WARNING BUTZGW S BULLETIN THE EMPEROR S WELCOME THE NIJNI NOVGOROD PRISON PEN A MISSING PRINCE " WE MUST TRUST TO VERA" THE LITTLE PRINCESS LOSES HER COR ONET ON THE FARALLONES. Arthur Randolph, in mystified astonishment, sought for the reason of the sudden access of joyous excitement in the Maxutoff household, as he furtively examined himself in the drawing-room mirror on his return. From the upper chambers came to his ears the sound of merry laughter and feminine glee. He hastily assured himself that he was en regie, for the butler, with pardonable pride, whispered: "Monsieur Arthur! The great Countess Vera Orlof from St. Petersburg! Ah! Ciel! What a beauty! Like Mar guerite in Les Huguenots! Elle avraiement le chic! The heiress of the House of Orlof ! But, the little Count Ste- phan, it is he who, one day, will be the Orlof!" " Qu on est bien a vingt ans! " sings Beranger, and Arthur Randolph was soon the centre of the very happiest circle in beautiful Dresden! Dainty Irma had also found a new friend! Madame Maxutoff was eager to learn all the social details of the six years of her absence. The vague lore of womanhood s confidences was to be conned over, as Vera Orlof, the heiress of a rich and haughty line, the wit and darling of the circle of Maids of Honor, was so near the throne that the greatest secrets of state, as well as gossip of maid and gallant, were caught up easily by the insouciante beauty! Olga Orlof s exquisite face glowed with the pride of happy motherhood, for she had at last seen her little Stephan clinging to the breast of the impe rious beauty, now the head of the Orlof si 13 246 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. "You must let me love him, Olga," tenderly said the visitor. " For he will displace me some day! He will rule our h^iisc! You and I will losc^ but to love him more! For when he has been fitted for his station, he will go out, at the head of his command In the name of the Czar! Oh! 1 have his future already mapped out! He is mine as well as yours! I have come hither simply to weave my web around Stephan, for I must have him! I know I shall hold you! I have so much to say, to tell you! My two weeks are hardly long enough. 1 "And must you go homeward so soon? " earnestly asked Beatrice. " The Empress says that she looks forward always with pleasure to my month on duty!" gaily cried Vera. " And, so make the most of me, for I am bidden to the palace the next month! " As the vivacious girl, in loyal Russian mirth, drank to the Emperor and Empress, in mimic abandon, Arthur wondered at the union of German seriousness, Gallic wit and finish, and the sweet tenderness of the Russian maiden of rank, in the demeanor of the young Countess. It was years before he knew better the distinguishing elegance of the girl graduates of the Catherine Institute. The dreams of introducing even the polite culture of wo men into uncouth Russia, which wild Peter imparted to Martha Rabe, the unknown Swede s daughter, were handed down by her^ when, as the great Catherine /, she passed the heavy imperial crown down, to go through other hands, to Sophia of Zerbst, little " Figchen " of doubt ful paternity! Whether Frederic the Great, the elegant Betzky^ or simple Christian of Anhalt was the father of the greater Catherine //, is now of no moment\ The two Empresses rest in the great fortress church, but history rings with their great deeds! In all the wild license, the burning ambitions, and stormy THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 247 discord of Catherine II s life, it is to her honor that the " Smolni Monastyr" was made the safe treasury of Russia s promising girl children! To-day, the mystic palace school on the Neva banks is a model of womanly education. For the girl who played with the rosy peasant children in the streets of Stettin, became an Empress; even as great as Elizabeth of England! The Kaiserlinde, planted by her childish hand, has long since withered away, chubby German peasant children dance no more under that spread ing lime tree, for an Empress of Prussia and her sister of Russia treasure to-day tables made from its famous trunk! This sturdy truant girl Sophie, reaching the throne of Russia by a romantic intrigue as fanciful as Peter s own Martha Rabe, found time to plant the great Catherine Insti tute, which lives and flourishes! Its tolerance, broad mental platform and singular influ ence results to-day in a magnificent, elegant social pagan ism which marks the three hundred annual eleves as a class apart from all other Russian women! The dash, keenness, vivid passion, superb culture and mental fearlessness of the Russian woman of rank is traced to the firm hand of the dauntless " ffigchen" ever impe rious, and ever successful ! Arthur Randolph, amazed at Vera Orlof s easy conquest of the family circle, saw only the effect of a regime which heightens personal pride, family tradition, imbues all womanly seductions, and makes the girl graduates of the Golden Mark, most valuable to the Czar s family policy. The selected successful maidens, after a service as Maids of Honor, which gives a personal attachment to the reigning family, become the wives of Generals, Governors, Minis ters, Ambassadors and all the other great servants of state! Then, the code of the Catherine Institute, expanded by the vivid lessons of court life, has full sweep when the Madame La Ge ne rale, or the Russian Ambassadress, often 248 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. becomes the very cleverest of Russia s foreign agents. A deep insidious policy! The second of the two great Catherines realized that the greatest power on earth, unreachable by law, uncontrol lable by haughty man, is the influence of women, whether good or bad! For these daughters of Eve rule the rulers of the earth, and there is no plan so secret, no scheme so vast, no great interest imperilled, no forward or retrogressive movement of the refluent wave of humanity, in which woman s matchless arts have not turned the tide! The blind historian gropes to find some graver reason than a woman s melting smile, some more powerful agent than a woman s hate! The man of the study might measure the effect of these causes in any circle! For the answer to the riddle of woman s hidden sway is Circumspice! It flows through the home, the salon, the courts, the palace, the camp, and sweeps around the world, this woman influ ence, rising and falling, as truly as the heaving seas swing under the dominion of the changing moon! Unconquer able! Man (haughty and insolent), has ever underestimated woman! His day of binding her with the chains of legal inequality, or a grudged half education, are done ! The sex is quietly omnipotent! For even godlike Napoleon, grumbling over tough mutton on his rock at St. Helena might recall his constant slurs upon womanhood, and realize that Jose phine s arts made him, and Marie Louisa s callous inertia and lack of womanly faith unmade him! Had the man of Austerlitz taken a lion heart like Catherine I, of Russia, to share the glittering unreality of the stolen crown of the Empire, Waterloo would have been another Wagram! The greatest modern Caesar might have held his sway to his dying day! And, together, the imperial adventurers would have de fied the whole world in arms, even as Peter and Catherine THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 24Q curbed and checked the turbulent, unamalga.mated Rus sians! It is singular that Napoleon Bonaparte, the immortal parvenu of the world, never realized the obstinate power of womanhood! His continued roughness and coarse ness alienated a sex which he undervalued, and which thorougJiJy despised him! Long after Arthur Randolph wended his way home to his artist nest under the silver star beams, beautiful Vera Orlof sat by the feet of Olga in her apartment. The house was stilled. Laughing Irma had taken her nightly leave of the infant Stephan, who for the first time in his long existence, had been gravely addressed as " Count Orlof! " The dig nity provoked no recognition beyond the attempt of two chubby fists to capture Vera s glittering necklace, an Empress gift. And so, to the cradle of a convict s child came the honors which the unhappy father lost forever, when he struck the mad blow in his midnight passion on the Neva! It was with sudden gravity that Countess Vera answered Beatrice Maxutoff s last earnest half-despairing query for the news of the traveler over the frozen Steppes. " You will hear first from Nijni Novgorod, dear friend! " answered Vera, with a meaning glance at Olga. It was. a timely warning! "You know the military telegraph only reaches to there. Baron Butzow told me tonight, to tell you that he has carefully followed the maps, the imperial courier s trip records, and looked the whole matter over. He decides that you cannot hope to hear for a fortnight yet! And you know the delays incident to such a long sleigh voyage! All will be well! You know our Russia is the very land of < Tomorrow! Tomorrow! It is worse than Turkey for sluggishness! " When she had kissed wistful Beatrice s trembling lips, and realized that they were alone, Vera quickly said to J50 1HK I l >! ALASKA. Olga: "I will conic to you! In your room! Alone! 1 have something to tell you: Poor Beatrice: She must not hear! " "That is why I sent the carriage home, for Baron Butzow knows that I will stay with you! / was timid, Olga!" said the beauty, as she spread lovely Olga s hair in a golden shower. In her loose gown, caught up from her new-found cousin s store, impulsive Vera was verifying the beauty which had once made the heart of a Czar s heir burn with an unholy ardor. "But, you an" so kind to me, to receive me so frankly, " said the lovely and loving girl! "And we can do so much together for little Stephan! " She paused perforce, for she was clasped in an eager embrace by the tender mother, who knew at last the deli cacy and gently-forgiving love of the woman whose father s blood was avenged on the "lonely green island" of the Tako. " Let me lock the door!" whispered Vera! "I have a true Russian s fear of the servants! They are the deadly spies of Russia! Even in the Winter Palace, though we are in the golden circle, our coterie of Dames d honneur only whisper in the dark, when we steal to each other s beds! It is one continued repression, our smooth, easy life! I have not dared to keep even a letter, a single scrap of paper! And fire is my trusty friend! I burn even my private letters! You can not know how deeply the toils are laid in Russia! You are not Russian born, my beauti ful cousin! As she caressed the agitated listener, Vera said softly: " I see. and hear all at the Court! I trust no one but the Empress, and confide only in dear old Baron Butzow, who lets me call him Uncle in return for my teasing. Now, I have grave fears for Prince Maxutoff! He has powerful enemies! Yes; bitter enemies!" sadly repeated Vera. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 251 "Butzow did not wish me to tell you, for fear you would betray it to Beatrice Maxutoff ! But I can trust you! We are to be friends for life, Olga! I am all alone in the world! I have only you! And, even in your sadness, you have little Stephan! " Olga Orlof raised the glowing girl s head from her bosom, where the brown-eyed one was nestling. " And is there no l Prince Charming yet? " Rosy blushes mantled Vera s face, as she said, slowly, in affected seriousness: " There is no < Prince Charming yet, for he has four years* service with his regiment in the Caucasus! I have forgotten even his name, until he finishes that desperate service! Then, if he is sent out in the foreign diplomatic service, I may remember my promise, if I can be an Ambassadress! But, listen, my dear one, the circle is headed by Count Fersen and by Serge Zubow, that fero cious-looking Tartar Prince! Ah! You know him!" hastily said Vera. "He was at Sitka! " replied Olga. " Do not even men tion his name to Beatrice! She abhors him! " The quick-witted girl resumed, with a searching glance at Olga, who had become suddenly pale: "There is a circle of schemers who seek to control all the rich trade of the North Pacific, now that Siberia will be developed. I am only a girl. But I can hear and see! The poor Czar! He is a stranger in his own land! He hears not the voice of his people! It filters through schemers, lick-spittles and lackey servants. This Fersen and Zubow are allied with one Phillippi a low mer chant! " Vera spoke with all a patrician s disdain. "I have seen this crafty Phillippi hovering around. He bribes and cajoles the half-paid clerks and secretaries. Now, Zubow has even dared to push his coarse flatteries 252 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Vera started, for Olga Orlof strode up and down in excitement. " I dislike the man, and as he tried to force his presence on me, I also avoid Count Per sen! He has a hold on the Emperor! They were at the Cadet School together! Now, Fersen s sister was also a Maid of Honor! She gives din ners and receptions at which this Phillippi and Zubow try to push on in society! Of course, as a merchant, Phillippi could never succeed, but he has the Rothschild s money behind him! Serge Zubow is a reckless spendthrift at the Yacht Club. Helene Milutin s brother told her (she is my schoolmate in waiting on the Empress), that he vowed one night at the Club that he and Phillippi would ruin Gregory Maxutoff! He is only a tool of his smart wife! Wait till he makes his reckoning! So they boasted." "I watched this eagerly, for my heart was already attached to you, to Baby Stephan!" Now, Milutin, who is in the * White Guards, the Empress own, told his sister to tell me that some great disaster has happened to Maxutoff out in Alaska! He heard these men laughing over it at the Three Bears res taurant, where all these rich schemers spend their ill- gotten money. I am sure that Uncle Butzow knows some thing too! For when I told him, he only shook his head, and said: Poor Gregory! Poor fellow! Poor little Princess of Alaska, her future is dark enough! It is a terrible situation! Everything is soon known at Peters burg. The whole city tattles! The Ministers, the Clubs, the salons, the banks, the Palace, all is one mass of art ful gossips, whispering viciously under their breath! " "Whether they have only trumped up some trouble, or there have been grave complaints, I can not tell, but Milu tin says that Count Fersen is an open enemy of Prince Max utoff and does not hesitate to proclaim his future dis grace!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. The earnest girl paused, and, caressing Olga s hand, whereon the turquoise ring still gleamed, said : " Now, dear cousin, Uncle Butzow is old and tender hearted, he wishes you to watch over Beatrice! Be with her near her! For, if trouble should come, they are not rich! There is Irma, this pretty darling, to educate, to launch in that wild world of Court Life! If anything should happen to her husband, it would break Beatrice s heart!" The sweet girl ceased, and said solemnly: "It is terrible, the way they treat them! No one ever knows! No one has a chance to explain! I have seen an aide-de-camp dancing with a Grand Duchess in the white ball-room! Three weeks later, I saw him, his pale face haggard in anguish, in a line of men chained at the Mos cow Station! I will never forget his eyes! They haunt me! , Oh! Russia! Riissia!" The girl buried her face in her hands. Olga thought of Beatrice crying "Happy Russia! " WhenVera Orlof had finished her disclosure, she looked at the dying fire and Olga s pale face! "/ have startled you! I have brought back your own sad days! Now, it is only for Beatrice Maxutoff, that I have warned you so quickly! Butzow bade me do so! You must not grieve, my darling, for you are safe, as long as you keep away from the Russian frontier! Your rosy Stephan .too is safe, for even the Russian laws give him the family dignity, and on his majority, his father s lands! They are all held in the Orphans Court for him! For you, beloved, I have directed the Orlof steward to acknowledge your drafts and orders as my own to the extent of one-half my income!" " I have the Empress private promise that Stephan shall be named for the Page Corps and the Cadet School as soon as he reaches eight. I have seen his name entered on the list already! That alone is a full recognition of his rank! $54 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Butzow fears there may be some secret plot or dastardly attempt on Prince Maxutoff s life while traversing the Ural district! On these wild roads, Zubow and the savage nobles (his associates) are all powerful! They rule all! "Milutin told me that bets had been made at the Club that Maxutoff would never reach Petersburg! I thought it only was the mad resentment of the old Russians for the sale of Alaska is thought by them to be the seal of a national dishonor! I see now that dear old Butzow fears some dastardly crime! But I will watch like a lynx at the Court, I can warn the Baron, he will send for you and tell you alone, any news of importance! " " If Maxutoff suffers from the resentment of Zubow, on your account, on account of my dear dead Uncle Fedor, whom I loved so dearly f the sympathetic girl was sobbing, "I will gage the honor of the Orlofs, that Irma Maxutoff shall never want a friend! I would sell my last jewel to give Jier a dowry! " The lovely Russian maiden s brown eyes flashed with an undying spirit. "Vera! you are a soul of fire and flame, an angel!" faltered Olga, who felt for the first time in her life, a warm kindred woman love lighting up her lonely heart. " I am so happy that we are one in feeling! " cried Vera, as she bade her kinswoman a tender " Good night! " And the two women, now one in interest and love, slept while wifely Beatrice dreamed near them of the beloved traveler on the lonely Siberian wastes! One week after Vera Orlof s arrival at Dresden, her social conquest was complete! With rare tact, she remained domiciled at the Butzows, and her long rides with the sturdy nursling of the house enabled her to easily confer with Oiga. Their carriage was followed by the admiring glances of the preux chevaliers of the city, as the halo of Vera s court THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 255 distinction, and the fabulous reports of her wealth and rank, pointed with deeper admiration the glances of the languishing swains! They pursued her in these social cam paigns even to the easy retirement of Butzow s home, and the artful social leaders thronged ever Arthur Ran dolph s studio, where Vera s face flashed its provoking beauty from the gray cloud wreath of a sketch portrait! " I can even not do you justice" mourned Randolph, you are holding a reception always, --even here! " The lines of haunting care were marked daily deeper on Beatrice Maxutoff s brow, and the longing in her eyes touched all hearts! " He must soon be here! He must come every day! A longing, a fear, a strange terror seizes me! cried Beatrice, when she made Olga her full confidant. "See! The buds are beginning to break upon the lime trees now! Ah! my heart, my waiting heart! " And gazing at her child, the fondly cherished little Princess of Alaska, crowned so in a mother s happy dreams, her heart sank within her! But four days remained of vivacious Vera s stay, for the Imperial mistress must meet her bright protegees smile on the appointed day, when Olga Orlof brought her thrilling music to a sudden silence with a crash of keys! The sound of her glorious voice was heard again in the happy home where Stephan now began to essay his first walking tours and the roses of the Spring were glowing on the beautiful widow s cheeks! There was music in her inmost heart! For every detail of the fatherless toddler s future career was settled by a loving kindness, the blessing and the property of two tender womanly hearts. Vera Orlof, a swift Camilla, her eyes eager with a new interest, brought hope and light into the room with her! " Where is Beatrice ? " the light-footed beauty cried, as she glanced around, 256 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. " She will return in a half hour! answered Olga, delib erately imprisoning the glowing girl in her firm white arms. "You have good news, 7011 pretty witch! " "Yes! Uncle Butzowhas received a private cipher tele gram from Kazan! Prince Gregory passed Kazan yester day alone and well! He will then take the steamer to Nijni Novgorod, up the Volga. It is only two hundred miles! Butzow tells me that he had passed on before a telegram he sent could reach him, but he will get it at Nijni! Now, as Prince Gregory will surely post from Nijni to Moscow, and take the rail from there to Petersburg, 1 will see him first! It may be from Moscow that you will have his first dis patch, or from Petersburg! He will travel by imperial post faster than the letters, for he has an Imperial double speed Podrovjna order! Everything waits for him! Oh! I am so happy! I am sure that the Emperor will dignify his return! Prince and Princess of Alaska! Fersen whis pered that secret to the ladies of the Court on his first return! Prince Gregory has earned it!" And the delighted young aristocrat waltzed around the parlors with sweet Irma, whose bright face was added to the rejoicing circle! It was a delicious awakening to fair Beatrice when she returned, for even Stephan Orlof had recognized by undue blinking of his innocent blue eyes, that some great happiness had come upon them! To her own room, the scene of so many silent kneelings before the jewelled corner shrine, the devoted Princess Maxutoff fled to offer up the outpouring of a thankful heart. The gratitude of an Emperor! The welcome of the Czarina! The plaudits of the coast! "Ah! I envy you your happiness! was Vera s prophecy of the harvest of new honors! When, three days later, silver-haired old Baron Butzow pledged "the Czar} at the home feast given to mark the flit ting of merry, deep-hearted Vera, all the circle in heartfelt THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 257 joy gaily drank the wine which danced upon the crystal goblet s rim! A vision of entrancing loveliness in her furs, Stephan s fairy god-mother clung to noble Olga s bosom when the clanging bells told of a parting. "Butzow knows all, dear! I will send him at once dis patches by cipher! I shall instantly find Prince Gregory, and give your greetings to him! And, remember, Olga, I will come to you! to my little playmate, whenever you need me! But you must never cross the frontier until all the clouds are lifted! " With a laughing nod to all, the bright, happy face of the favorite maiden of the good Empress was lost to sight. The days seemed doubly long when Vera s gay laugh died upon their ears! The Maxutoff house was silent, for a strained expectancy confined Beatrice within herself. Resolute and steadfast, Olga Orlof busied herself with Irma, affected to spend much time with the growing young mis chief, Count Stephan, and escaped to meet Baron Butzow s grave face and listen to his anxious forebodings. Every hour was ominous as it was knelled from the clock. The two loving comrades of Arctic exile said: "We will hear tomorrow! " as they parted each night in silence. And Prince Maxutoff s whereabouts were yet unknown! It was passing strange! Alas! The heart of Olga Orlof was soon burdened with a double secret: " Why does not Vera write us? " whispered Beatrice, whose pale face accentuated her sunken eyes! In a gloomy, expectant silence even the servants moved around. For, close on her heart, Olga had concealed an anxious letter from Vera, and Butzow vainly lingered over the stern words of a Nijni Novgorod cipher telegram! " I now fear some hidden trouble! Something dreadful! Prince Gregory has not yet reached St. Petersburg, and even Milutin shakes his head gravely! I will find out what 258 THE PRINCESS OF A I ASKA. / can, but do, at once, telegraph me! I am so anxious! Surely, Prince MaxutofT must have come to you incognito. Ah! Poor darling Beatrice! Be very wise! Any great shock would kill her! " Such was pretty Vera s Pandora budget! And still no news of the missing Prince! Veteran Butzow, a retired ambassador, murmured with trembling lips, for he knew his Russia, " My God! He has not passed through Nijni! Then, where is he? " He dared not frame an answer, for Happy Russia had eaten up his saddened life in its desperate service! A thou sand past sad happenings flashed over the old noble s mem- ory! "/ can not tell her! Olga must! For I fear that the little Princess of Alaska has lost her father! " And the phantom coronet of honor had in truth faded from her pure young brows! Three days later, Butzow and Olga stood by the bed of a suffering one who moaned unceasing, " Gregory! My hus band! Come to me! " Alas! The truth could be concealed no longer! For Vera s cautious letters, tinged with an awful fear, finally sealed their hopes in a helpless sorrow! At St. Petersburg, Prince Maxutoff was now officially acknowledged to be missing! And no one dared even to speak of him! The prayers of the loving ones at Dresden could not reach the gloomy prison pens at Nijni Novgorod, and Baron Butzow, with streaming eyes, cried: "Olga! We must guard and save her, and our little [rma! As for help to the lost one, we must trust to Vera! Two months crawled away in an agonizing suspense un broken by positive tidings. The happy nest at Dresden was deserted by her who ruled it. The breath of early summer swept in at the open windows where Countess Olga Orlof communed alone with Arthur Randolph. The THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 259 house was quiet with a strange hush for the shadow fallen on it was clearly betokened in little Irma s black robe! Fatherless perchance, motherless, for a time, as in the Bern ese Alps, the good Butzow and his noble-hearted wife sought to lift the settled melancholy from the invalid s brow. "Arthur! What can I say to thank you for your devo tion? " murmured Olga, now the representative head of the strangely scattered family. The burden of sorrow which had been lifted from her soul, rested upon the benefactors so dear to them both. Randolph had gone into anxious manhood with a bound! The early blooming of his talent, the varied experience of a roving boyhood, and the counsels of the wise old commander, raised him to a wisdom beyond his years! Ardent in his affections, loyally attached to his friends, he had gallantly offered his services for a secret trip to St. Petersburg! Walking in the Winter Palace gardens, where the fleeting Russian summer was already presaged by the burgeon of the timid trees, he advised at length with Milutin and conferred in furtive half hours with that most dainty Maid of Honor, the Countess Vera Orlofl " It is an impenetrable mystery, Arthur! " sadly murmured Vera, as they walked where the boom of the evening gun smote on their ears, like a funeral knell, from Peters gloomy fortress! All hope died out in Arthur s breast when Countess Vera said: "The only whisper I have heard lately is that Count Fersen has preferred the most serious charges against Prince Maxutoff, touching the affairs of the Russian Fur Com pany, the Emperor s funds, and the handling of the gov ernment property! To make these matters worse, several denizens of Sitka, returned under the Treaty, now add their factious complaints! I am persuaded that, alive or dead, Maxutoffs reputation is to be ruined, for the merchant 260 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA/ Phillippi is again at his usual haunts, and loudly boasting that Prince Serge Zubow will soon arrive as the chief gov ernment witness against dear Beatrice s husband!" "God help him! He is lost then!" groaned Arthur, thinking of the coarse virulence of the Tartar, at Sitka, for he had there heard Zubow swear that Maxutoff s head should be dragged down in ruin! "I shudder to say it, Arthur," fearfully whispered the Czarina s favorite, "but I fear that Prince Gregory is detained, until this unfair inquest is over, away in the wild Volga country, in the hands of the secret police! If he should be finally disgraced or degraded, he may be sent later to the Caucasus, to Asia, or to Turkestan s burning sands, as a military slave! They would not send him back to Siberia, for it would openly disgrace the Crown s dignity! He may be held to ^f^ for ad information^ for he knows much of all these Alaskan secret transactions, in fact, //, save the hidden cabinet intrigues of Petersburg!" There were blinding tears in Countess Vera s tender eyes, as she bade adieu to the American artist knight errant! "I do not dare now to open my family house, tenter- tain you! I might be easily ruined by suspicions! Then, I could not help in any way our poor friends! Tell our Olga that I dare not write! The mail is all examined! I may even now be spied upon! I will, however, send my Ger man maid on to Dresden, if I have a vital disclosure to communicate! Uncle Butzow will send his old courier on here to me, he can take back any answers! Ah! Arthur! We must be as brother and sister now, for / have little Stephan s future in my hands, and jwa, dear Arthur, have sworn to be Irma s champion! God be with you! " The American in the gloomy gardens of the murder- haunted palace, in sight of the polygon fortress where Peter s unfortunate son, Alexei, was thrown a headless THE PRINCESS OP ALASKA. 261 corpse into a fosse, swore to the bright-eyed girl Princess his loyal fealty unto death! For Irrna s wondering eyes had asked of him: " Where is my father? " when, in mercy, Olga had bade the graceful child be silent! Her little heart would not be stilled in its wistful demand, the cravings of innocent filial Love! "Arthur!" said the singer, wnose music was now mute again when he was again at her side. " I have a charge to lay upon you! I am possessed with new fears. I know not whatl We are watched! I fear for all of us! Even for Irma, my poor little fatherless Princess of Alaska! I have written to Baron Butzow to send me one of his own brave retainers, bred in his domain, to be a vigilant guard here by night and day! I shall askjy0# to be our guest, the sen tinel of loving loyalty until the faithful man arrives! " Randolph wondered at the fair woman s pale face and faltering voice. He became, by right of generous manhood, the watchful home guardian of friendless little Irma. In his own apartments, thinking over the continued mystery of Maxutoff s vanishing from all human ken, he became heavy-hearted as the weeks passed by, and even the active Vera had no new tidings! A temporary studio enabled him to use his leisure hours, for he had given up his usual evenings at the wild artist club reunions. Armed watchful, ready, he entered into the home life, he learned to hang in rapture on Olga Orlof s exquisite voice, and the shy passion flower, Irma, daily unfolded her beautiful nature in silence at his side. Master Stephan Orlof alone rolled and gambolled around in unconscious glee! Countess Olga dared not tell the ignominy of Zubow s past personal insults to Vera, even to Arthur, and, she now shrank from giving the chivalric artist the real reason of her sudden demand for his protection! In the evening twilight, while Arthur was absent on the Neva, in sight of the dungeon where Peter s son howled under the lash of the 17 262 THi if .\ common hangman, the brutal face of Serge Zubow, mock ing in its triumph, was suddenly thrust into her presence as she walked alone! "The Prince has not \tt returned, I believe! " sneered the coward, lifting his hat in mock civility! The terror of this apparition was but increased when old Baron Butzow wrote from the invalid s place of convales cence: "Alas! my child! I now abandon all hope! I have met here in Switzerland a retired General, just arrived, who saw poor Gregory Maxutoff s agonized face, in a draft of common prisoners at Astrakan, crossing the Caspian Sea! Who has sent him to Asia? Who judges him? He must have been deported secretly down the Volga! General Ostrokoff dared not speak fully of the affair. You will soon, I fear, be forced to be a second mother to Irma, my darling little favorite, as well as to watch over your son! " While Countess Olga waited to confer on this momen tous disclosure with Vera Orlof, watching at the great centre of intrigue, she saw with her quick woman wit, that in some way, Zubow must have known of the Prince s down fall, perchance, even jeered at him in chains! "I see," she cried, "Fersen, Phillippi, Zubovv, all these three villains have conspired, but whyt What dark designs have they really to cover? " And she hastened to send Butzow s old courier over the frontier to the Winter Palace to exchange the burdens of this new certainty of sorrow with Countess Vera, her one remaining friend! In her gratitude for the old days at Baranoff, for the years of sisterhood under the northern lights, Olga Orlof swore in her gentle heart, by the memory of him who lay by Indian River s dashing waters, leaping in freedom from the blue crags, to shield helpless Irma Maxutofffrom the chill blasts of fate, the icy breath of Jlappy Russia! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 263 Far away in the wild huddle of San Francisco, a moody, irritable man now paced the city s irregular wharves, day by day, and watched every incoming trader and whaler. Paul Bradford s pale cheeks were sunken and haggard with the internal fires of a gnawing disap pointment! By day, at the Merchant s Exchange, at night, roughly clad, haunting the saloons and sailor boarding houses on the city front, or feverishly driving to the Cliff House or signal station, the journalist Bohe mian never relaxed his vigilance! He had passed long months in a maze of bitter suspicion. French Pete had vanished! In his pocket, a letter from a distinguished statesman was a continual reminder to Bradford of the huge stake for which he played, a share of the Golden Island! "Bradford! "wrote his secret master, " I know that the many fail, the few succeed! Your reward will be a glo rious one, a good share of the property, and a high political place in the new territory of Alaska, an official station, which will allow you to watch over my interests and also guard your own share! Leave no stone un turned! This convict straggler will be found on some incoming whaling vessel. Use the contingent money freely! My agent has orders to supply you! The island must be, shall be, ours! I sometimes think it may only be one of the thousand fiord headlands! It seems strange we can not find it yet! I am holding back the new territorial organization, until we are safe, and until some other matters, of no moment to you, are properly arranged. "- When Paul Bradford returned, after the "Reindeer" had put to sea on a new annual cruise, he sought his room to con over his diary and ponder again upon Aleck McMann s last words! "Can this sailor be hoodwinking me?" Bradford 264 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. watched the smoke wreath of his cigar gloomily. "I believe not," he said, as lie laid away a heavy revolver, a more constant companion than his note-book. "I would have killed him at the first sign of flinching! " - In all the stormy interviews of the "Reindeer s" re fitting days, the mate had sturdily repeated his original story, when, Bradford leaping on a tug when the whaler was sighted on her return, had reached the "Reindeer" far outside the Heads! There had been no chance for any previous communication with the shore, as the staunch little steamer had pushed far out over the bar, and not even a lateen-sailed fisher boat, with its desper ate Italian crew! dared ride the swell outside! "That s the whole story! You have it! I suppose Pete sneaked over to Japan! " bluntly insisted the mate when Paul, for once in a risible excitement, stoutly urged the seeming paradox of Chief Oo-ni-mak s later account, The mariner never blenched, and Bradford was fain to be contented. In the intervals of his duty in bring ing the ship in, McMann recounted the lying and dis honest habits of the Karlouk natives! "These fellows have learned their tricks from the Russians! Thieving and lying is their regular trade ! Jlesidcs, Bradford, the old chief himself is a notorious scoundrel! Either your missing man was run off by them to some interior reindeer camp, or he may have been spirited away by the smart fellows he served once, who wished to close his mouth forever on their nefarious secrets! He may be in Kamschatka jail, he may have been tossed overboard in the Behring Sea, or landed on some penal island, or have been put ashore on one of the Kuriles! It is my belief that he may have been run off on some other American trader or whaler! He might have taught the trading Indians some mean tricks. If THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 265 he had any enemy he might have been spirited away to save him! There is as yet, no law but cunning or force up there! The fellow was a good navigator, I am told. It is possible some one may have wanted to make a trading raid on the unguarded Russian coast! There s good pickings there," cried McMann with a broad grin. " Some flying skirmisher of a Yankee, making a run in, may have shanghaied him? " The mate laughed loudly, as he cut out a section of tobacco from a huge plug. II What is shanghaingl " moodily demanded Bradford. " Running him off &CL& forcing him to serve!" guffawed McMann. " I have often filled out a crew up there by getting the natives on board, and dosing them with rum! I have afterwards turned them loose on the first handy island! Now, if your man s in the Arctic, I ll surely find him on this cruise! I shall knock around everywhere! I will watch for him! You can trust me/" he boasted. This was the sum of Bradford s wasted year! A va ried experience of bitter disappointment! When he threw aside his note-book, he paced the room like a tiger. II 1 believe I ll go on to Washington now, and see tht Chief!" he growled. "If I could get a roving commis sion of some kind, and a little revenue cutter, I might and the gold region myself! But a thousand American miners would then swarm in! It must be a still hunt!" The baffled schemer walked the lonely streets till midnight came to clear his fevered brain. As he did, the staunch "Reindeer" was throwing the spray of the rolling swell high in air, as she forged on past the Farallones, with a nine knot breeze! McMann in sou wester and boots, binoculars in hand, gazed upon a high, gloomy granite crag rising on the starboard bow! 266 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Twenty-four miles astern, the fog bell at Fort Point was sadly booming out its heavy dull tones, but from the twenty foot brick tower on the crag, a quarter of a mile distant, every ten seconds, only a revolving white light flared out to warn the wary steersman! " Send up up two green lights at the fore peak ! " shouted McMann, as he noted the crag s position. In ten min utes, three answering red lights, twinkled, side by" side, at the base of the lantern tower! " Good!" laughed the mate, draining his flask. "My particular friend, Mr. French Pete, is all right! That brute Bradford has vainly combed the town to find him! He is safe! I will trust him with Black Duffy! He will stay on that rock till we need him! " Away into the night the "Reindeer" swept with straining sails right into the teeth of a storm! A man grumbling in maudlin quarrel stood at the light house door as the whaler scudded by! "Here s your supper and some whiskey! Now, get to your hut! "cried a rough voice, as Pierre Lefranc seized the viands and shambled away. For months, he had only seen the five bare, gray islets around the rough crag he trod on! A passing ship, a fleet of fisher boats, the myriad gulls covering the four hundred feet of ver tical height of the peak, with their huge speckled eggs, this, beyond storm and sleep, was his bestial life s horizon. On this gloomy, barren rock, visited but once a year, when supplies were left for the light-house keeper and his rough chum, Lefranc was forcibly herded like a wild boar! He was Aleck McMann s prisoner and the useless secret of the mines maddened him! " "Why are you here? " laughed Duffy. "You ll find out some day, / can t tell you! } <>// V know too much!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 267 At night, locked in a rough hut, the semi-deranged outcast dreamed only of his freedom! The lonely rock was McMann s favorite smuggling depot, and while the customs officers slept at the city, the criminal sailor fra ternity of the North Pacific used this shelter for their dark frauds! 268 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER X. THE CONFEDERATES PAUL BRADFORD IN THE SENATE ANTE ROOM A FAT LEASE MY PATENT "FIND THAT MAN, AND YOU FIND YOUR FORTUNE!" VERA*S DISCOVERY THE WRATH OF AN EM PRESS "BREAD UPON THE WATERS." Black Duffy and "Mr. Haley," his associate keeper, were snug enough in their solid martcllo light-house tower, as the night fell on the seething waste of waters around the South Farallon. The flash of the revolving light lit up the boiling black waters, and far away, Bonita Light and Punta de los Reyes, Fort Point and Alcatraz answered the cheering signals of the South Farallon! The screaming sea birds had settled in the clefts of the rocks, and the great rock towering desolate in air was lashed by the wild breakers! The blowing wrack hid the five smaller islets, and through the leaded windows, only the ghostly lantern flash of a belated coaster, or the red and green signals of a steamer, gleamed as they sought the narrow entrance of San Francisco Bay. For there, on her hills, by the superb land-locked sea, the restless panther of the west crouched on her heights, behind the grinning guns of Fort Point! The greasy cards and black bottle were on the table, as with due solemnity, Duffy opened the one-thousandth set of euchre games! "We ve done enough to-day for Uncle Sam! What a night! I m glad we ve a solid rock a mile long, and four hundred feet above that foaming storm lashed water! This is the devil s own place! Not ten days a year when THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 269 a green horn can land here safely!" Duffy winked as he took a three fingered dram. "But Aleck Me Mann can always make the trip!" "Every time!" grinned Haley. "Mac! I wonder you never are bothered here! With all the silk and opium smuggling! With all the cigars and smuggling devil ment goin on here! " "Nonsense, ye fool!" rejoined Duffy. "This place hasn t a radish growing on it! Ifs only useful to the gang! Why, in San Francisco, there s a nest of quiet robber gangs that work neatly together, each on their own baili- wick\ There s yer politicians, the brokers, the bankers, the merchants, the China trade, the whalers, the smug glers, and now, there s a great combination making up l to scoop in the whole Alaska country! They have the Senators and Congressmen with them, and they all keep off each other s heels! This smart, duck McMann has a big backin of thim rich whalers and traders! They ll run rum enough up in the Arctic in the next ten years, to get every bit of fur and pound of bone on both sides of the Sea! I ve been up there! It is a wild region! This Alaska!" "Is the place any good?" said Haley, mixing his stiff grog. "Ah! There s timber and fisheries an , perhaps, some little gold!" slowly said Duffy. "These big grabbers will get the lot of it! There s no law in the Arctic! They can do as they wish! " "What are they keepin the poor French devil so long here for? I can almost //Vy him!" said Haley. Duffy laughed softly and dealt the cards!" "Oh! I m thinkin McMann is only hidin him away from his rich backers! They re all watchin each other, till they get Governors and laws up there! An this fel- 270 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. low knows somethin that Me wants to use, by an f>y!" "Poor devil! " said Haley. "Well, he s warm enough after all with the old stuff and rags, an his fishin an wanderin round here tfocs no harm! You must watch him close when the Inspector comes! "- "Ah! Bless yer! " Over he goes, on the North Fa- rallones till they re away! An I keep the boat key tied around my neck! McMann is always sound on the pay!" And the matter-of-fact villains struggled over the painted unrealities of the cards, drinking and carous ing at will, for they were officers of a great republic!" A mighty land whose stars were neither thirteen nor forty-four, when Cabrillo, Ferrelo and the freebooters first saw the barren granite islets sharp finger raising out of the wind-lashed waters, and masking the Golden Gate! Dashing swashbuckler and wild rover, Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, was misled by them, a hundred and fifty years before Peter the Great, a dying man, gave Vitus Beh- ring the orders, which were confirmed in three days by a new ruler! Good Queen Bess lost a princely stronghold for British commerce, when Drake in doubt bore north, and thus missed peerless San Francisco Bay! By a strange fatality, Russia and England blundered, and the stones of Fort Ross and Drake s Bay remain to-day as monuments of the mistakes of great explorers, while San- Francisco Bay was finally discovered only by toilsome overland marches directed by the Marquis de Croix, Viceroy of Mexico! Cook, Bougainville and Vancouver all were baffled by the dense fog mantle of the witch of the Golden Gate! The stout "Reindeer" driving north, as the good ship settled down to a steady course, beyond the foamy bar, now long leagues behind, and bore away a happy and triumphant man in the person of Alexander McMann! THt: PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2J 1 As he plotted and smoked in his snug cabin, he mused over Bradford s utter helplessness! "By Heavens! I am sure to be able to make my terms on the mine yet! All the Russian officials are gone far away now! The American army officers will not rove around much! Mer chants and traders will not have a chance to throng north till the territory is organized. But I must have some one at once to help me locate this land and get a title! Then, * / is all right! Whom shall I work with? Zu- bow and his Russian crowd? No! They are a cold lot of thieves! By this time, they have surely got the big dismantled Russian ship out of Victoria harbor, and all their furs are safely sent off to Europe, in innocent hands! What a grand robbery! A million dollars, a good stout ship, and all her property!" McMann heaved a sigh! "I would liked to have been that big, stupid-looking Finnish mate who ran away with her! How sly Prince Zubow was to work him secretly on board! " " Poor Prince Maxutoff! He was a square man! And, by jingo, he never will know how they stole the Emper or s stuff from him! Trust these devils! Never! So that lays out Messrs. Zubow, Phillippi & Co, /This fel low, Eben Tomlinson, cold-hearted Yank is out also workingy^r the dollar! And he is too friendly with them. They are all birds of a feather! " "If I knew really who is behind Paul Bradford, I might deal with him, but his mean eye, his sneaking way, his cold, malignant gambler face! I would not trust that smooth scoundrel! It must be some heavy political influence! I suppose it is the l bank gang of ruling up starts! Can he be off to Washington? " "If I knew that to be true, I would go on there myself after this cruise, and make terms, but Paul Bradford s 272 TttE PRINCfeSS OP ALASKA. watchers would surely hound me down." Drawing off his sea boots, the wary sailor threw himself on his bunk, and laughed as he closed his eyes, for he had easily out witted the lounging San Francisco spies who drank with him at Bradford s expense! Like many other skillful weavers of toils Paul, (his mind concentrated on his own schemes), undervalued always the wit and resources of his enemy! As the son of Neptune drifted away on the uneasy sea of his dreams, lulled by the musical clang of four bells, Paul Bradford, watchful and ever suave, was pacing the library of a cosy San Francisco mansion. Its appoint ments bespoke easy wealth, and its luxurious gardens were lifted far above the haunts of trade, but the fabu lous magnificence of later "Nob Hiir was yet in the womb of the future! It was in the ante-Bonanza days! The journalist s grave manner mocked the studied ele gance of his evening apparel! A feast, a ball, rather than a conference, would have been properly the theatre for his unusual personal display. "I see nothing to do now but to go on to Washington," slowly ejaculated Bradford. You say that the Senator s dispatch is absolutely imperative!" "Yes," answered the agent, a gray-haired man of affairs of fifty. " As the steamer sails at noon to-morrow, I can safely telegraph your departure to-morrow night. Thanks to our friends next year we will have a railway from sea to sea! By the way, let me give you a check, you must have need for money! Give me a memorandum receipt here for what you need. How much?" William Herron s steady eye never quivered, as Paul handed him a receipt for a considerable sum. He gave a crisp slip of gray paper to Bradford, who nursed his cigar as they faced each other. "You are sure that you THE PRINCESS OK ALASKA. 273 can not reach this mysterious French refugee? 1 1 sharply remarked Herron. " It would be awkward for you and I if the Senator should find him rising up at the wrong time! "Lefranc is not in the State, and I have exhausted every open avenue of information! I know these Russian operators as well as all their dupes, the officials are now all in the Czars domains at home! He never reached here, wherever he did sail to on that unknown vessel from Kodiak! In dining with the French Consul to-night, I carefully covered the whole ground. I make an excuse of some Sitka inquiries to bring the old matter up again. The old functionary is on the eve of his retirement on a life pension, and is closing all up ere he finally returns to France. I intimated that a matter of some money ad vantage awaited this Pierre Lefranc! The good old man informed me that he had inserted his name in the official list of Frenchmen advertised for both at Victoria and here, and with no effect! The romantic incident of Lefranc s disclosure to the gold beds and their resultant fortunes, has become musty in the mind of the easy-going old man. I am more puzzled than ever! If violence or revenge were the object, French Pete could have been easily shot down and left for the overawed natives to bury! I do not think that the Russians intrigued to take him away! He could have been reached by them at any time before! And as no prospecting party has been fitted out here yet to operate in Alaska, I am sure, if alive, he is not following the mining matter up just yet."- "What shall you advise the Senator?" said Herron, his cold face lambent with thought. " I see nothing but for him to allow the territorial organization to be at once perfected, under the usual Senatorial dominating power in regard to all appointments. The places of Register of THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA* Leinds, and Surrcvor of the new Territory, can, by one pretext and another, be controlled or delayed. Mean while, on a revenue cutter, if I am made Special Agent, I can examine the whole coast, with unlimited power, as to my landing and at Government expense! In finding any location suiting the Frenchman s map and descrip tions, and the old Shaman s relations to the Senator s personal expert, as well as Tomlinson s story, then I should direct a patent or patents to be quietly issued to our people for all tJie land resembling the requirements." " Yon arc rig/it!" simply said Herron. "The main object of your present order East, is to prepare intelligent press matter, artfully distributed, to back the proposed fur transactions and exclusive leases! As I have told you, already, that powerful circle will co-operate with us, and keep stragglers and adventurers from getting in on the coast. One such injudicious admission might bring such a crowd as are rushing in to the Black Hills, now! So, as the Senator sorely needs your aid, this properly done, he can then have you sent north as Special Agent, with full powers to divert the Revenue Cutter at will. The many vessels going up will only be allowed to touch at Sitka, the lazy army officers will never enter the moss covered land, and you can artfully control the whole Alaskan coast until the great monopoly fur contracts go to the right people next year! It is a giant labor for our princi pal to handle. Once the inquisitive people of the coast are practically shut out of Alaska, the garrisons will give up their control and, then, turn all things over to the civil officials, all appointed in our own interest! It is un derstood that our secret circle are to have all the shore privileges, if we let the Prybiloffs alone! Are you all ready to go?" I am prepared! I wonder if, in following up th< THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 275 departing Russian officials at home, I could not close up the missing links of the chain tying down this coveted golden island to a fixed location. Champagne and a bit of ready money always loosens the Russian heart /" "Quite the same here, Bradford!" plainly said the man of business. "It is, however, a great stake to play for, and your wit and nerve must make it a success! You remem ber what the Senator said before he went East: Find me that man, and your fortune is made!" "I will find him, if alive! I never failed yet /" reso lutely said the departing journalist. "As to the public, the simple sheep whose creed is found in the oracle aping opinions of journalism, I shall be able to lead // where the chief wants * /: into the idea that Alaska is merely a desolate shore, a doubtful pur chase. " - "Correct! And, with a little manipulation at the cus tom house and steamship offices, we can hold the terri tory, under a snug regency, as long as we need to! I feel that we will surely succeed, that there is a future for us, under the northern lights! Well, the Senator s daily cipher dispatch from me will advise you of all! Good night and a safe voyage! " The midnight found William Herron at his condensed reports, for he daily reported to the great magnate who had Alaska tightly tied up until the parcelling thereof was effected! Bradford journeyed eastward to join the horde of secret schemers infesting Washington, and often, on the twenty days voyage, wondered if Princess Maxutoff had carried away any valuable secrets from Sitka! "There seemed to be more than a mere avoidance in her behavior towards me! But if the Prince knew of the gold regions himself why did he not secure them! Did he wait to receive his patent from the Czar as Prince of Alaska?" Paul had not fathomed the dark tragedy of the day when Fedor Orlof s 276 THE PRINCESS <)[ ALASKA. blood stained the springy moss, and he never fancied that in far Asia, the mysteriously concealed prisoner of an enraged Czar, Gregory Maxutoff, was to-day lost to the haunts of men, and that gentle Beatrice, with her child growing up only to a heritage of sorrow, mutely waited for some manifestation of the Czar s uplifted hand! Paul Bradford s mind was bent on the final conquest of fickle fortune, as he sauntered up through the Capitol Park at Washington four weeks later. The great dome surmounted with Freedom s allegorical figure, swung in majestic uplifted outlines over the huge marble pile, the focal point of America s wavering, flickering national life fever ! It was in the early summer, and fresh breezes moved the fragrant blossoms on the trees. Far away, over the noble Potomac, the white portico of Arlington shone out as grandly as when the mighty Washington dreamed of his country s future there in the peaceful evening of his life! There the patriot mused, perchance, over the golden words of his Farewell Address, his pro phetic mind reaching out to the troubles of, perhaps, foreign invasion, domestic discord, and even future anarchistic troubles! The sage knew that the sword of State even, if sheathed, should be ever at hand! Before he laid his tired head to rest, lulled by the rippling river he loved at Mount Vernon, did the First President ever dream of a victorious British foe, lighting the work of gifted Pierre 1 Enfant in war s conflagrations } of the stars and stripes trampled under a foreign foe s feet 1 } Did he dream of the Nullification fever? of panic and bank ruptcy? of the slavery shame s black cloud? of the rebel flag flying in pride long years after at Munson s Hall? Did he dream of the corruption of our debauched councils? of Credit Mobilier s blasting infamy? of the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 277 impeachment of one President? of the murder of the national martyr, Lincoln? His affrighted eyes would have shunned the sight of Garfield, the self-made American, assassinated in his hour of personal triumph! For the recent laurels of the forum, the unfaded wreaths of elec toral victory decked the slaughtered President s shroud! Did Washington see the coming stream of impure alien immigration, the growing class pride, the mushroom aristocracy and super- Roman luxury of the close of the first century vi American Presidents? Though he knew of royalty laying its head on the block, of a public French negation of God, of the sweep of war s baleful torch over all of defenseless Europe, and the age of unreason, did he close his eyes, in 1799, in the belief that republican simplicity would prevent future national disorders? Alas! alas! The hero and sage is no more a prophet than the court fool! Mr. Paul Bradford s mind was not fixed on Washing ton s faith in the dubious future of the United States, as he climbed the great western marble stairs! He was intent on effecting an arrangement to rob the Govern ment of a considerable portion of its valuable mineral lands! He realized that the master whose telegram had called him sharply from New York s pleasures to an interview in the Senate s anteroom, was one of the power ful uncrowned Kings of America! a product of our later time! Bradford gazed at the crowd hurrying into the noble Palace of Liberty! They seemed eagerly intent on their particular patriotic business! Like him, they ignored the grand vista, the sweep of the royal avenue, the far reaches of the blue Potomac, the great straggling city, so lately a fortress capital, at once a headquarters, a prison, and a vast hospital, and where, while battle-fields 13 278 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. and an army s graves lay within sight, the devotees of wine and wassail joyed over easy gotten public plunder ! "Are these people all on a stealing expedition?" he mused! "I wonder if Uncle Sam will ever grow poor! I sincerely hope not - until I have thrust myself into the place of a favored heir!" - As Paul Bradford passed under the great gateway of a national palace costing forty millions of dollars, his eye rested on the Long Bridge, over which, under Gen erals Mansfield and Heintzleman, dashing Colonel Dan Butterfield led the advance of the Union Army, on May 24, 1861. The long, ghastly columns of armed men then gleamed spectral under that full May moon! The stars, mirrored in the silent Potomac, shone down in pity on the graves of a half million of warring American soldiers before Lee submitted four years later, at Appo- mattox, to the invincible Grant! Then, and not till then, was the stain of slavery washed out forever in the blood of brothers from a flag left polluted by our temporizing forefathers! For the Revolutionary heroes dared not open that Pandora s box! They left it to their innocent heirs! 1 Bother the soldiers!" thought Bradford. < < They came here to die for their country! /came here, to livi by it! T\ie pen is mighty, mightier than the sword! The voice of the orator, the votes of the imperious Senator, the unscrupulous Congressman, the signature of the President in our days, deal out fortunes rivaling the gilded phantasms evoked by Aladdin s Lamp! Into the august presence of the country s virtuous leg islators, Bradford strolled, his approving eye idly rest ing, in passing, on painted victories, pictured face of hero, and chiseled bust of sage! He was a pilgrim among the busy throng who have "axes to grind!" The crowd THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 279 of grasping, fevered Americans, who covet acres, tim ber tracts, Indian lands, fisheries, mineral treasures and franchises, continually attack the guarded millions of the National Treasury, fitly builded open on all sides, and with many entrances! A truly republican strong box! Bradford, a typical lobbyist, cold, heartless, semi- educated, and conscienceless, cared naught for the equal rights, the evolution of American character, the educa tional millennium, the lightening of the burdens of real life, promised to all in the Land of the Free! He wanted only plunder! He cared little whether America became the land of the demagogue, the rioter, the base-browed alien contract laborer, or of the ward politician and armed heeler! He recked not whether strikers, walking delegates, Molly Maguires, or their ultimate development, the dynamiter, 1 terrorized the land ! He was a business man in his own peculiar way! A loyal citizen! Paul Bradford was in the seething whirlpool of the era of the "carpetbagger," the " whiskey ring, " the " Freed- men s Bureau" sham, and the days of "subsidizing rail roads!" He was fitly placed! He well knew that the acute and haughty Senator who waited his call, buttoned many a desperate secret in his breast under a decorous frock! Smooth, daring, deadly, grasping and hypocritical, the Senator held the Pacific coast grab bag," 1 tightly throttled, in his firm hand! As pliant and unscrupulous as a man could be, Paul Brad ford s little star had crawled toward the zenith, lost in the effulgence of this rising statesman? s dazzling orb! "Ah!" sneered Bradford, as he waited in the Senate ante-chamber, "How admirably arranged for rushing legislation and transacting business ! - House, Senate, Supreme Court, all under one roof! Library, palatial 28o THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. restaurant, an anonymous cash office, ready with its piles of crisp greenbacks, meeting rooms, pliant journalists, fair lobbyists, ready telegraph, truly, the Lords of the Senate are lodged like princes! And, they have the dummy President of the United States under their royal thumbs!" A page, who had borne in Bradford s card, brought him quickly a message: " The Senator will see you in a few moments." Gravely bowing, Bradford awaited the arrival of the magnate whose whisper had called him from far San Francisco, whose motioning index finger had sent him to the ice mountains of Kodiak, and whose sly schemes for the appropriation and monopolization of Alaska should enrich ///;//, the wary journalist, as well as the vague " leading citizens " who lurked behind the toga of the Sen ator! The journalist dropped into one of the people s easy chairs! "I serve now, he shall later!" growled Bradford, growing impatient in his delay! But his hypocritical face relaxed in a ready smile as the alert statesman en tered! The great man hastily greeted his pliant spy! "Just going into committee! Meet me at the east portico at five? We will drive out, and dine! I wish to have a long talk! Nothing new? I wish you to stay here with me for a month or two! Get a handy boarding house near me! I shall need you often at night." Paul s eye flashed with understanding and obedience, as he bowed and uttered a chance remark for the benefit of a group of patient, honest supplicants, vainly gazing for the "pages" who never come! "They also serve who only stand and wait!" The service of the neglected suppliant! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 2I "I will at once domicile myself !" mused Bradford, with a quiet smile. "I have three leisure hours! " He moved forth with alert strides, conscious of his future success. His eye rested on a great canvas of the First Congress of the United States! "These newer fellows have a better house than the dingy old hall where Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay and Adams prated of the future blessings of the baby Republic, and they have legislated better, for themselves, and for their friends! The country can take care of itself , but my Senator must take care of himself first, and of me! The public interest demands the conservation of the good things 1 of Alaska! " As Bradford gaily dashed down Pennsylvania Avenue, where the resounding tread of the victors waked once the echoes of the feet of the myriads who marched away to unknown graves, Paul mused on the great mad life of the war, as he had recently seen it! Around the White House, where homely Abraham Lincoln bore up his cares and Freedom s sinking cause in the gloom of four horrible years of civil war, Bradford had seen thirty- three miles of fortifications, with sixty-eight huge forts bristling with twelve hundred cannon, and the gray hosts of the rebel General Early, flushed with victory, fight ing in the limits, in the shady city gardens, by the flash of their murderous guns, pouring lead into brothers bo soms! "That was a Babylon of war! Treason, vice, cow ardice, and the seduction of a Paphian army, with every where dishonesty and cupidity! It beggared all belief! Though tough old Uncle Sam has survived it! Who says we are not a strong country? " He grinned with loyal pride! 28-2 THI-: I kiMT.ss or ALASKA. Paul merrily laughed as he thought of the new twink ling stars silvering the blue field of the sturdy young country s banner! There was no thought in his keen witted mind of the gradual crystallization of the plutoc racy, vi the invisible "death line" of fate, which would give to one u\>man a two hundred thousand dol lar diamond necklace and crown, and allot to the serving girl two dollars a week! Of days when the rising tide of molten gold would silence all social remonstrance, when the toiler must do reverence to the Gessler cap of his master, and when the greedy eyes of hungry Americans would glare wolfishly through the plate glass of million aire clubs! "This is a good town to be in, if you are on the right side! " jovially exclaimed Paul, as he rapidly sought a well-known quiet haven of rest, " I propose to aid in the development of Alaska, the furthering of the Sena tor s interests, and help all the little games now form ing, patriotically, for a valuable consideration! "- Bradford s eye gleamed with pride as he seated him self later by the Senator s side in the statesman s car riage. The easy swing of its velvety springs suggested his similar luxury of the happy future! His distin guished companion kept bolt upright, acknowledging many salutes, until the < thin fringe of magnificence gave way to the rawness of the outskirts of the capital." As they rolled on and passed the deeply scarred breasts of the hills where the ramparts were already crumbling, the Senator cautiously satisfied himself that they were alone. His coachman was actually, not conveniently, deaf! "All I need is his hands and eyes! I will manage him!" the legislator often remarked. His neatest touches of private finesse were often effected as he leaned back on the easy cushions of his splendid vehicle. A sober ele- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 283 gance marked his public state, just as a judicious sly ness veiled the steel of his unerring grasp! He was at once a development and legacy of the great conflict. The Civil War s wounds were still deep scars in the country s bosom, but the poisoned blood of its demoralization has since sapped our national life for thirty years! It was in the "War" that our statesmen found the easy way to gain their individual desires! Private thievery in a national Golgotha! Sharply glancing at the now deserted driveway, the Senator fixed his eyes on Bradford. " So you have not found that man yet! What can have occurred?" Paul briefly recounted the final efforts of his useless search. "Ah! " mused the Senator, "It is very awkward! The possible existence of that man is a standing menace to my future plans! Either dead or alive, the certainty of his fate would enable me to know how to act! I hold the whole North Policy still tied up, but I can not delay it beyond one session more! " "Why so?" guardedly remarked Bradford, anxious to see the real scheme at last unfolded! "Our friends, in interest, dare not be longer put off in the awarding of the contracts for the maritime sealing inter ests! This is an almost international arrangement, as certain people are interested on the Russian side, as well as here. And we will later make ourselves the Princes of Alaska! I have been urged by several members of the Russian Legation, and by a great Russian merchant, Phillippi, who was here, and by letters from his partner, Prince Zubow, to aid in regulating the world s fur supply, by leasing our islands, so that the general market may neither be overstocked, nor left bare! There are great 284 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. considerations of prudence involved in this! A heavy pressure has been brought to bear on me! " The Senator jingled thoughtlessly the coins in his pocket! Bradford could not repress a smile. "Now, the administration will soon act for various reasons! Some form of territorial government must be set up! It will require a Land Office there, so that pri vate claims can be established and property recorded! "Now, Bradford," said the Senator earnestly, "I have sent on to Russia, through Phillippi and this Zubow, as well as Count Fersen, the Imperial Commissioner, to find out if any grants or tracts of land were ever given to pr irate parties under the seal of the Czar s Empire! I will have the full official news soon! The archives and papers have surely reached St. Petersburg by this time! If there are none such, and the Russian Legation here knows of none yet, I shall have you named as the first Deputy U. S. Surveyor General for Alaska! I will keep the rush of miners and prospectors out till next fall, when the session of Congress opens; and then the Seal Island business will be disposed of, as arranged in our secret programme! You will then have all my journalistic direction and public opinion manufacturing finished! Sent up on a revenue cutter you will be the first official on the ground! No man can board her, unless by the authority of a high officer in San Francisco, who is our real mainstay in the Alaska regency! You will carry the machinery of your office with you, and, as the harbors do not freeze, your surveys, maps and selection can be at once made, the plats finished and ready by spring! I will have the verified admission of the Russians that there are no Muscorite grants of record! The Russian American Fur Company finally relinquished to our Gov ernment all their local rights! The ports and forts, with THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 285 the trading posts, are now national property^. I will have your surveys begin at a geographical point desig nated in the orders of the Secretary of the Interior, and quickly accepted! The grants, patents and proper title papers once legally issued to me, for our associates, then the general office can be publicly opened! We will cover the whole location of these gold depsoits by taking enough! You can hold it safely for us, and if it proves what I have reason to expect, we will then send machin ery and supplies there. After that, the vulgar herd can stream in! They will get nothing! There are, of course, some few river placers on the Stickeen River, but our own valuable locality must be first located, granted and guarded." "But how can you, who have never been in Alaska, direct this great venture?" Bradford asked, in amaze- ment at the network of vast schemes centering in the sly Senator! "This Serge Zubow, a powerful Siberian Prince, alone knows of \hzexact location of the Golden Island ! - He learned it in a secret expedition with the very French refugee whom now we vainly seek! Now, we have no one to fear but this French Pete, and should he ever be found, he must be cajoled, carefully handled and led up to the north! In your skillful hands, he would be harmless to us! If he gets there, under your guidance, you can verify Zubow s disclosures and gain what further secret knowledge he has! After that, 1 the Senator paused. He was always a prudent man! "What then?" anxiously asked Bradford, as the car riage drew up at the Senator s favorite dining resort, a cosy, embowered cottage, from whence modern Egerias often glanced anxiously for the familiar faces of the Con gressional Numas, who sought a delicious inspiration in this secluded retreat! 286 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 11 He must stay there. " firmly answered the scheming statesman, "forever! You can attend to his inter ests!" Paul Bradford s heart and soul were steeped in corruption, but he had not yet reached the black depths of cowardly assassination ! His hand shook, as he pledged the Senator: " To the Golden Island. " "How did you gain this key to the situation?" demanded Paul, now secure of the confidence of his master. "Why!" replied the Senator, glancing around the portico, where they awaited the summons to dinner. " Prince Zubow bribed an old Indian Chief, now dead, to betray Prince Maxutoff, the Russian Governor! This old savage hated the Muscovites, and was held years in bondage till the Governor General forced the secret from him ! Maxutoff evidently wished to secretly secure the grants from the Czar! Zubow, in hiding, followed the expedition sent out by Maxutoff under a Russian (\-noble! TJiis man is dead! Now, the old Chief is dead also! Maxutoff was finally baffled, for the country was suddenly turned over to us! He never saw Hie island himself. He dared not leave his post at Sitkaf His head might have answered for it! Possessed of this secreV, even Zubow could not use it, for he only learned it too late for action! The treaty was already signed! But, he has a sketch map and careful details of his own, made up from the memory and from the Chief s disclosures, and French Pete s discoveries. The find was valueless to ////;/. "- "And how does this all come to you?" slowly said Bradford, after they were seated in the privacy of a special room. "Because I am to direct the Seal Island business in tlR-ir interest, as well as ours, and effect the secret inter national co-operation, then, from Phillippi, who conies THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 287 here next winter, I will receive the maps and full sailing directions! I will locate enough land to cover a whole township! We are guarded against all that may happen but the untoward re-appearance of this French Pete, before my title is finally secured! Have you any idea of this man s real fate?" the Senator concluded, with au anxious brow. " Millions may depend on it!" He doubt ed Paul in his heart! "I believe, after hearing your recital, that the man whom we seek, feared your friend Zubow, and has only eluded him because he thought Zubow would kill him, so that he, ////// self might be the sole depositary of the key to the enigma of the Golden Island, lying to-day gleaming under the northern lights!" Bradford was carefully pondering the past. "But who could have kidnapped him?" said the Sen ator, dexterously finishing a chef-d oeuvre of bird carv ing. " McMann, the sailor, may have wormed the Prince s secret out of this drunken convict! He may have hidden him on some one of the lonely Arctic islands, and be waiting till entries may be safely made! The sly Ameri can mate was often on this Zubow s ship, at Sitka!" A light was dawning on Bradford! The clumsy mate had outwitted him! " You have solved the riddle! " the Senator cried. "The game is a royal one! That fellow McMann is backed by the smartest junta of pirate whalers who ever sent a rum cargo, up to the Arctic! I must at once perfect the title! I am supremely anxious about this!" The Senator s face glowed with keen thought, " You must not leave me, until you go west with your full official powers, meet the Reyenue steamer and then push up north at once! Tne provisional government will be loca.- 288 THK I KIM I OF ALASKA. U d at Sitka! As for the sailor, we- will head Jiim off! But, French Pete, this f.c Franc, who is at once, edu cated and crafty, he might cause us grave trouble." Never forget! " cried the Senator, as he filled Brad ford s glass, "he is the one dangerous enemy! Find that man and you find your fortune! The Pacific Railroad will be finished in the early fall ! You shall go on, and, the moment the lease is signed, and I have Phillippfs dis closure, sally out to secure the treasure island! And hold it we will, against all comers! " Mr. Paul Bradford s brain, excited with wine, contin ued, in his dreams, the fruitless search for French Pete! Through uneasy slumbers, the forbidding face of Mate McCann haunted him, and he heard him saying, "He is mine! You shall never see his face!" And under the gray Alaskan fog, the island lay far away, unclaimed in its loneliness! The summer roses were faded now r , and their dying breath made sweet the banks of the Elbe. Still, no news reached Countess Olga of her kind protector s fate! Before the fresh airs of autumn drew down from the southern mountains, kindly old Butzow led Beatrice Maxutoff back to her home, broken-hearted, to rejoin the little circle of tender hearts who loved her. There was a mute appeal in her lovely eyes, as Beat rice turned a pale face on Olga, and flashed one glance of supplication on Arthur Randolph. The sympathetic American was long haunted by that look, and in later years, a little sketch which he would never part with, bore the name of "Our Lady of Pain!" It was the Princess inmost heart agony which shone there, trans ferred to the canvas, for Randolph had often watched her fold her darling child, Irma, to her bosom, in an abandonment of grief ! The pretty little Princess of THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 289 Alaska clung even closer now, to her mother in childish affection. The mother s pale, delicate lips were silent save when she whispered "My poor, fatherless dar ling! " And the Czar was ominously silent! " I fear there {s no future hope! " sighed stout old But- zow to Countess Olga, when mother and child were re united in a transport of despair. "The doctor tells me there is nothing to expect as to her final recovery, less some facts may transpire, as to Prince Gregory s dark fate. And yet, even bad news travels fast! The black horses of Destiny always rush on, trampling down human hearts, at a mad, relentless gallop! If I am spared," cried the courtly diplomatic veteran, "you can always count on me! I have even conferred, secretly, with our resident Minister, as to the efficacy of a personal appeal to the Emperor. I was his Governor in his younger days. But a newer generation has swept me from the Czar s remembrance! Princes have short memories! My colleague, (once my junior attache), caught me in his arms and begged me to refrain! l At your peril, dear old friend I said he. It would only ruin us all! "- Already the affair Maxutoff is whispered of as one of the darkest official corruption and intrigue! I believe that there is no one bold enough to risk his own standing by asking awkward questions: suspicion, danger, and ruin, would follow any active interference! There is but one in the world, who can aid poor Beatrice now! Bright-eyed Vera Orlof is the darling of the Empress! Only the Czarina s own presence is to-day sacred from the spy in our unhappy land! The Russian heart is always right. The Czar is kindly and generous! It is the system alone which reeks with corruption at every channel of its successive communication! Alas! The nearest favorite, the successful general, the dictator of the 2QO THI PRINCESS OF \IASK\. hour, the financier of a season, all these puppets are autocratic! For they mould and handle the iron will of the Czar, who is ignorant of the wail of the oppressed! An avalanche, a multitude of official papers covers the point at issue, in erery Russian pleading . " "I must then, invoke J t-ni s aid! Will she dare to supplicate the Empress? She alone can save the future of our Little Princess of Alaska! " The Countess Olga drew the curly-headed toddler, Stephan, to her bosom, "Will it not break the golden links of Vera s bond to the gentle Czarina?" And the beautiful mother thought of her Stephan s future! "Lore may dare all . " gently said Butzow. " There is the spirit of the indomitable Orlofs in Vera. And the Empress is a gentle soul I All she daily hears is the ser vile chorus: Happy Russia . Flattering sycophants mislead our sovereigns, who are, /;/ the main, royal and warm-hearted, even in their autocratic loneliness! Now, let me think over a plan! / will see \ou to-morrow! Be careful, vigilant! You may be watched yourself, ercn here!" As the silver-haired old Butzow left her, Olga dared not tell even ////// of Serge Zubow s threatening prox imity. "Only one care the more to haunt me! He can not dream of seriously pursuing me! " Had the Countess Olga glanced in the cheval glass, she would have seen the glowing loveliness which ercn lion , tempted the reckless Tartar s passions, his yet unslaked revenge and a bitter, burning desire going hand in hand! For, as Zubow paced the aisle of the long car whirl ing him past the dreary birch woods of the Neva, at Count Fersen s call, he dreamed still of the wondrous THE PRINCESS of ALASKA; 291 fair face which had gazed seaward from old Baranoff Castle s gallery, to wait the unreturning husband of her heart! The Tartar Prince threw himself on the cush ions of his stateroom. I will be free after a few weeks! Fersen s telegram tells me the concession has been already signed! We are now ready to close with the crafty Americans! Their Congress meets in two months. And from Phillippi s letter, their great public lease competition of the fur islands is only a dumb show, Every bid, every figure, is at our secret service! And I must keep my word with the Senator! Phillippi and myself can verify the con tracts over there I He shall have the useless secrets of the island! But this woman, she seems to be quite decently lodged! Has she any money? Or did Maxutoff fill his pockets with a little Arctic plunder? If poverty would bring her my way, / would make her the Belle of Kham- schatkal By God! / would tame her haughty pride! The public ruin of Maxutoff, the confiscation, will set these people finally adrift! If I could lure her into Poland, I could have her easily spirited away to Tomsk! Bah! She s not worth it!" he cried, draining his flask. Only a revenge! To see her sue! To hear her plead! We will see! We will see! Countess Olga! " It was with a gloomy foreboding that Olga Orlof received, as she sat alone pondering Beatrice s woes, the butler s statement: "A serving woman, Madame, to see yoM,~fr0m St. Petersburg," he whispered slyly. The house was lonely, for Arthur Randolph had led his pretty friend Irma out to the enchanted land of the theatre! It was late, and Beatrice s sorrows were veiled in slumber s nepenthe. "Take her to my room, and I will join her there at once! It is from Vera and the tidings?" 2Q2 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Five minutes later, Countess Olga had finished the letters the faithful German maid had quilted in her gown. " Excuse the late hour, my lady, but Countess Vera bade me seek you at once!"- The sturdy domestic heaved a happy sigh, as she realized that she was once more in the Vaterland! "It is all right, you have done well, Bertha," kindly replied Countess Olga. " You are to wait here as my maid, while I may need you at any time! A fortnight s rest and a home visit will do you good! You must sim ply be l my new maid, and silence! as to where you came from, and all you know! " "Ah! Madame! " the maid joyously said. " We ser vants are quick to learn, in Russia! I know my lessons now! You may trust me to the last!" And the Abigail sought her rest, in a happy pride, at having borne her letters safely out past the prying Rus sian police! Beside her table, the light shining on her pale face, lit up with the thrill of newer shadows over her beloved Beatrice, Vera s letter was carefully studied by the one friend left to the missing Prince Maxutoff! "I can write but little, yet it tells the story of a life, the ;///;/ of a family s hopes the disgrace of a great name! It is public at last, that the two fur ships have utterly disappeared! One was wrecked, and the other has never been heard from! The Emperor s archives and govern mental papers are also missing! Milutin tells me that Prince Maxutoff himself is accused of a great robbery, of secret plunder and even high treason! The Princess of Alaska will ncrer come to her ill-starred kingdom! The Privy Council has called peremptorily on Count Fersen and Prince Serge Zubow for the fullest reports and details! THE PRINCESS op ALASKA. 293 And Prince Gregory Maxutoff, Governor General and Viceroy, is a disgraced a ruined man! The suspicion that he has somewhere concealed the funds, papers and valuables, is already a general one. I hasten to send my good Bertha to you! Beware of spies! Be careful of traps and snares to lure any or all of you over the frontier! Watch even your own person, and guard your home! I have seen Count Fersen and Prince Zubow busied at the Winter Palace every day this week! Milutin tells me that Fersen was closeted two hours alone with the Em peror! An inquisition is to be set on foot at once, and Count Fersen will direct all! As for poor Prince Gregory, it is clear that he is held in far Asia apart from all com munication, until the Government has exhausted all efforts in examinations of every kind! Last, and above all, I advise you to have Beatrice and Irma sent, at once, to free Switzerland! You must stay at Dresden! It might bring ruin to me, to you, to Stepharis future, for the beloved Empress has herself promised me to name him this year, on the list for special Page instruction! Keep Bertha, and let her go to Switzerland for a few months with Princess Beatrice! Act at once! A day may lose all! If Beatrice is summoned to Russia, you must trust only to good Baron Butzow s wise advice! I will get my other letters smuggled out to you, safely, by Milutin s friends going abroad. They will be all under cover to dear Uncle Butzow! Telegraph me at once; tl I am better " when Beatrice is safe in Switzerland. The Empress and all the Arch-duchesses are in a general wrath, over the loss of the Imperial Household Furs collected, in long years for the members of the Czar s family! "Alas! Alas I I must now tell poor Beatrice the whole sad story of his ruin! The two millions of furs were stolen by those banded thieves . Fersen and Zubow! / know it I Her own safety even demands the disclosure. 19 294 11IE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Switzerland is the only haven in Europe where Russia s stern mandate can not recall my poor darling! I can not bear to leave her in sorrow! As for///) 1 return to Russia. I fear it, and Zubow lurks there, like a ravening wolf! All" I can do is to pray! Pray God that I may help to shield my benefactress and guard her darling child! Forjrma, the little Princess of Sorrow s dark heritage I would die at need. I must act the very moment the day dawns! To-morrow night Beatrice and Irma must be on Swiss territory! I must save them! I must return their Bread cast upon tJie Waters! " The fair Countess blinding tears moistened her pillow, before her agitated heart finally yielded to fatigue! She slept in fevered dreams, and when the dawn lit up the home-like German city, Countess Olga, white-faced, but composed, was at her labors of preparation for the day s flitting, long before Princess Beatrice awoke to her una vailing sorrows. And Arthur Randolph learned, with blank amazement, the new troubles of his unprotected friends! "It is monstrous, a deliberate plot to ruin the innocent Maxutoffs! There has been foul play I This Fersen and Zubow " He was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Baron Butzow, shaking with excitement, who claimed instant attention? "Ah! my friends! M hat shall be done? I was early awakened by the Russian Minister, who will be here forthwith! A telegraphic order, (in cipher), directs him to seize and seal every paper of Prince Maxutoff s here, and to hold Princess Beatrice, on pain of confiscation of her rights and her child s estates, ready to obey a summons, with her child, to appear at St. Petersburg! Gregory Maxutoff has been publicly legally degraded, and his individual estates have been forfeited, to the Orphans Court, to be administered to his family, unless they are proved to be involved in his crimes! Ah! Here he comes!" BOOK III. THE CLAWS OF MIDAS. CHAPTER XL THE MINISTER S QUEST ZUBOW S TRIUMPH AN APPEAL TO THE CZARINA S HEART THE LITTLE PRINCESS KNIGHT LY CHAMPION AT WASHINGTON A PACT CONCLU DED "THE GOLDEN ISLAND IS MINE!" BRADFORD S NEW DIGNITY THE PRIS ONER OF THE FARALLONES AT THE ISLAND THE CLAWS OF MIDAS TWO CLAIMANTS TO NA TURE S TREASURY. "I think that I will retire to my room, Baron," said Arthur Randolph, whose heart could not bear to witness the helpless sufferings of Princess Beatrice Maxutoff under the crushing news of a husband s disgrace. He was at the door of the rear drawing-room as the Russian Min ister was ushered into the salon Arthur s hand was on the door-knob, when Countess Olga, her eyes aflame at the indignity of an official search, seized his wrist. She had seen the Secretary and two bearded attaches of the Legation hesitating in the hallway. "Arthur! Wait for me in your own room! I may need_y<? at any moment!" The American artist bowed and his dark eyes flashed in silent sympathy. While the Legation underlings watched each other in the hall, Randolph, slowly mounting the stairs, walked 295 296 TIIK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. with th- pride of a free-born citizen into his room and, tlK-n. with a sudden inspiration, slipped a very effective looking navy revolver into the breast of his artist blouse! It was characteristic of a nation who believe in the perpet ual handiness of that blessed invention of Colonel Colt, which has aided so many human beings into an unex pected debut* in the other world! The house was perfectly still, save for the ringing laughter of that youthful digni tary Count Stephan Orlof, who was busily engaged in a game of early romps with merry Irma. The Minister of His Imperial Highness, the Czar of all the Russias, coughed slightly and was visibly embar rassed as he greeted his old colleague. Baron Butzow sat bolt upright, his stern visage redder than the button of the Muscovite order on his coat lapel. There was an awkw r ard pause! "I regret to be obliged, Madame Orlof, to ask for an immediate interview with Princess Maxutoff," said the Minister. "But we are all Russian subjects here, and my esteemed predecessor, Baron Butzow, is aware of the gravity of this occasion. I have, in fact, asked him here to be a witness of the entire propriety of my official actions. I am directed to make an examination of all the private papers of Prince Gregory Maxutoff, and to notify the Princess of an important order of the Minister of the Interior, gravely affecting her own inter ests, as well as those of her child! Will you kindly request her to favor me with an immediate interview?" "You are aware, your Excellency, that my friend is seriously suffering, that she is unable to sustain any sudden excitements, and that she is burdened with a heavy sorrow?" There were tears in Olga Orlof s eyes, but her silvery voice thrilled with indignant scorn. "Unfortunately, Countess Orlof, / must perform my THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 297 painful duty! It is the will of the Czar!" The official laid his hand upon his heart, as he bowed low to escape Madam Orlof s flashing eyes. Her bosom rose and fell, and she trembled slightly, but she quietly moved to the door. "I will summon Madame Maxutoff ! " Olga rejoined, and passed up the stairs. With the quickness of woman s wit, she had noted the stolid-faced chancellors waiting with their portfolios under their arms, and now ready to affix the portentous seals of the Russian Legation. "Ah! I must hasten!" The singer Countess held her breath, for a sudden inspiration had seized her. Pass ing quietly into Beatrice Maxutoffs room, she laid her finger on her lips, as Randolph standing in his door, motioned to her. Every word could easily be heard below stairs, if uttered in an ordinary tone. Arthur still waited, his heart beating wildly, for he heard Olga say: "Pray do step down, at once, and see Baron Butzow, dear Beatrice. It is very important that you should go at once! I will join you in a moment!" With timid wonderment in her sad eyes, the graceful Princess descended the stairway. Her gentle voice in its alarm, had reached Randolph, who had stepped back. What can have happened ? " The gentle woman leaned heavily on the oaken baluster, as she slowly went to her fate, alone! "What can Olga mean by this conduct?" thought Arthur. "The shock of this scene may kill her!" That question was never answered, for a woman as beautiful as a springing tigress glided by the astonished artist, and entered his room. In a whisper which thrilled his very marrow, Olga pointed to a heavy leath ern dispatch box she had softly placed on the table. Her eye rested on the American camp color flag which, 298 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. in a spirit of boyish fancy, Arthur Randolph had wreathed over his bachelor mantel. "Arthur! There is the title of Inna s fortune! and of Mine! All our papers! Guard them with your life! You are a freeman!" She grasped his arm convulsively, as she pointed to the red, wliitc and blue, in its faded silken splendor! Your room cannot be legally searched! Hide them!* Quick! Quick!" and, without another word, she descended the stairway, as a woman s scream was heard in piercing agony below, with the following sound of a heavy fall. "My God! And I must stand here helpless!" Ran dolph s hot blood, the inheritance of a gallant race, was now at fever heat, but he sprang to his own wardrobe, and hastily concealed the heavy case, behind his artistic debris. He locked the closet door, and slipped the key in his pocket. From the salon below, the sound of entreaty, of expos tulation, of Baron Butzow s tremulous voice, of the Minister s grave accents in answer, floated up the hall. There was no sound near him save the movement of the neat handed Bertha, leading the youthful Stephan below. Standing in his door, Arthur, with a quick motion, warned Princess Irma, who, with girlish wonderment, was about to obey a summons to join her mother. The little Princess of Alaska smiled back at her brave young champion. The lovely woman blossom fixed her trust in Arthur, who was seated, calmly smoking by his open door, when two of the burly officials who had briefly visited the other chambers, now appeared before him. "/ beg \our pardon! This is ;;/v room!" said the artist, as he firmly planted his stalwart frame in the door way. There was a blank look of astonishment on the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 29 face of the first comer, who roughly tried to enter the room. Flung across the landing, he fell prone, while the yell of his fugitive companion brought the Minister, followed by Baron Butzow, at once to the upper landing. In the doorway they saw a remarkably calm young man, with a somewhat antiquated American guidon in his left hand, and a very modern looking revolver, cocked and ready, in his right! Do you pretend to interfere with my officers executing their duty?" snarled the representative of the Czar. Arthur Randolph thought of the beautiful child, whose future, perhaps, depended on his present coolness. He answered politely, for he knew the Minister as an accom plished art patron. A dilettante who, with all the arts of a cunning Slav, spoke English with the ease acquired in his days of attacheship at Washington. "I hope that they will only execute their duty, Your Excellency! and not go beyond it! When they do, remember that / am an American citizen, native born! I do not choose to have any one force their way in here!" He thought of Alaska s child Princess, of her imperilled inheritance, and his youthful brow grew grave and stern. The calm face of Countess Orlof lit up with pride and secret gratitude, as she flashed a glance of thankful intelligence at the resolute artist, who stood steadfast on guard with his flag in hand. Olga turned to the diplomat: "Can not this fracas be avoided? Madame Maxutoff may seriously suffer from these rough proceed ings! I beg you to spare us as far as possible! " "I insist upon satisfying myself as to the contents of this room!" rejoined the excited Minister. For his underlings now watching him, might be secret spies! 3OO THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. His own future might be endangered by any lukewarm- ness! He pressed resolutely forward. "Hold! You madman! Cross but this threshold, and I will put a ball in your heart!" the artist cried, as he levelled his ready weapon. There was no uncertain ring in the accents, for Arthur thought of Olga Orlof s last whisper: "For Irmas sake!" " I will send to the Ameri can Minister! I will summon the German police! I seek the valuable hidden papers of the Russian Govern ment!" persisted the official, with a nervous glance at Randolph s right arm, for the young man stood sternly at bay, like a soldier holding his last shot! The Princess of Alaska s dowry was in the very clutch of the enemy! "It is useless to bluster! Useless to semi to the Ameri can Minister! I am about to do that myself! " coldly answered Randolph, as he touched the hall bell for the butler. When the servant arrived, his eyes, eager with sur prise at the disturbing scene of the early morning, Arthur Randolph calmly said. "Jules, if Madame Orlof can permit you to leave, then, take the first carriage and go as quickly as you can to the American Legation. Take young Mr. Peyton this card. You can tell him it is a matter of life and death to me! He will under stand! Find him at once, if he is in Dresden ! I shall not leave here!" Before the butler s foot reached the bottom stair, the Russian Minister cried "Stay! I will see the Minister myself I Call your man back! " Irma s knight had won. " You can handle your own mouchards! Let my man alone! I will give you the pleasure of apologizing later for this outrage," quietly remarked Randolph. "Mr. Peyton shall have the plain facts before I leave this house! " THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 30! And the sound of a key vigorously turned indicated to the baffled Russian official that Mr. Arthur Randolph had private matters to occupy his attention. There was a grave convocation of physicians and attendants in the invalid s home, as the weary day wore along to the afternoon. With judicious slyness, Baron Butzow accompanied the retiring Minister, and saw a few important trifles of correspondence borne away by his triumphant underlings! The very serious gravity of First Secretary Peyton s formal bow, on leaving the house impressed the Russian Minister that Arthur Ran dolph had claimed the fullest protection! Be that as it may, the coming and going of the American artist was thereafter uninterrupted. His later departure in a closed carriage, with several paint boxes and artist cases sug gested a sketching tour! It was, however, one of very short duration, for in the gloomy salon, on his return, Randolph found Irma clinging to her protectress Coun tess Olga, in an agony of grief. "Have no fear, my dear one!" the generous young painter whispered to the sobbing girl, "/am here, and you can surely trust Countess Olga, and trust me too! Nothing shall harm you ! " The little Princess of Alaska was sobbing on her fond knight s bosom. "The papers are divided up and packed in two of my color cases, and are now secure in the vaults of the Royal Bank!" Arthur was triumphant as he made this report to the Countess. "I shall stay here continuously, and Peyton will kindly send me a daily messenger for any of my little wants. You were simply wonderful in thoughtfulness! How did you ever learn to act with such adroitness?" "Ah! my friend! Life in Russia trains the mind to meet every sudden juncture, in dissimulation! The heart 302 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. may break, but the/are learns to wear the mask of Life under the Czar! " There were warm tears of gratitude in Olga s eyes, as she pressed the gallant champion s hands: "How shall we ever repay you?" Randolph smiled curiously, " I can wait for my reward, Countess! Some day, I may ask you and Princess Beatrice, in hap pier times,"- " You shall have anything \ou ask for!" cried Irma, her girlish voice eager in sympathy. The little Princess of Alaska was dainty and regal, even in her shadowed fortunes! "We will see, Rosebud! Wait till you come into \our own inheritance!" said the artist, as he raised Countess Olga s hand to his lips. Even in her sorrow, the fair lady smiled at Irma s rash promise! "Leave us, Irma! " gently directed the Countess. "Watch over your mother till I come!" "That child will some day be a rare beauty!" softly said Olga, as the fatherless one left the room. Strangely enough, Arthur Randolph returned for answer the direct question, "And now, the results? Tell me the very worst? We must act at once, if Vera s influence can aid to soften this last blow. You dare not personally go to Russia! I can not! Princess Beatrice must not! Of course, the child is safe here, but, once over the frontier, who can tell what awaits even her innocence? Alas! She is the petted little Princess of Alaska no longer! " "But the Minister evidently was dismayed by \oitr boldness" rejoined the Countess, worn out with the day s excitements. " He only requires Princess Beatrice to remain at home here, subject to his future official requests! For the present, Baron Butzow himself will verify, once a week, her presence. Nothing of import ance was taken away! The Prince s archives were all lost on the vessels, or with his baggage, which last has THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 303 certainly been seized. Our original deeds and grants, thank God! are secure! They can not be recalled!" "Beatrice answered the few formal questions of the inquisitor with dignified prudence. She really knows nothing, and the Minister, who is a gentleman at heart, is evidently convinced of it! Her serious condition of health will prevent her removal for some weeks! But one thing now presses on my mind! What shall we do to help her? " The young American had finished his careful study of the whole situation. " I would send Bertha at once, this very night, back to St. Petersburg with a full letter to Vera! I will have a carriage ready and send her to the station two hours before the train. She can mingle there with the crowd and pay her fare only to the frontier! There, she can buy a through Russian ticket! She tells me her pass port is all en rgle for a return! Let brave Countess Vera appeal directly to the Empress to spare this poor friend less woman the ignominy of being dragged to Russia to face her absent husband s judges. Her very sickness, helplessness and approaching poverty is an excuse in itself for the Czarina s clemency! " When Olga saw the reluctant Bertha drive away, her own sorely tried strength gave way! After standing by the bedside of her gentle friend, to kiss her pale lips a fond good night, the Countess returned to Arthur. He pitied her fatigue and said: "Now, your letter is gone! You need rest! I will sleep with my doors open! The butler too has a couch in the dining room, ready at call! The day of your worst ordeal over! But, God. help the poor Princess! The uncertainty of her husband s fate, and the certainty of the family ruin, will break her proud heart! Some 364 nn - PRINCESS OF ALASKA. monstrous villainy has been secretly wrought! And if these vessels are wrecked, or have been looted, the Prince, even if alive, can never justify his administration. He has lost the Emperor s favor, and so forfeited his well- earned reward! " " // is so, Arthur! but," cried Olga, with kindling eye, "I will aid and watch over Beatrice! Countess Vera will help me, and my little Stephan," the proud mother added, "shall some day know the debt which hangs over his childhood s cradle! The unselfish devo tion of the Maxutoffs! It is only poor Irma whose future will be clouded! In Russia, this family downfall may seriously affect her, when she should properly enter society! Poor little dethroned one! " "It is just possible that she may not marry a Russian! " quietly remarked the artist. " I presume, if you continue to reside here, she will be educated in the local German schools?" "True! But my Stephan must be bred in Petersburg, to his high rank and future lofty station! I am in hopes that Vera Orlof s later married rank may give her the power to cover both Irma and myself under her secure station. She is firmly fixed as favorite in the heart of the Czarina! If Irma s rights of succession be pre served, her future might even yet be brilliant! " Two weeks later, the official notification of Princess Beatrice Maxutoffs release from further inquisition was in due form communicated by the Minister Resident. A formal expression of regret for the invasion of Arthur Randolph s rights was also made further through the American Legation. With artful wisdom, the artist hastened to take up the broken threads of his past ac quaintance with the diplomat. The American shielded himself behind the natural surprise of a man in whose land domiciliary visits were unknown! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 305 There was peace and quiet at Dresden, and Randolph s bright face bent daily over his work at his studio. For a letter from Vera Orlof announced the departure for Siberia, via America, of that dangerous enemy of the Dresden circle, Prince Serge Zubow! " There is no doubt of his departure," wrote the Maid of Honor. "He has done his very worst here! In the Privy Council Inquisition, Count Fersen and the Tartar gave evidence as to the two vessels leaving Sitka, im properly guarded, under obscure commanders, and in defiance of especial orders from the Emperor, touch ing the safety of the archives and the rich tribute car goes! " " Hold there, Arthur!" interrupted Olga, who listened carefully weighing every word. "Those orders never reached Prince Gregory! They were purposely delayed! Poor Beatrice will bear me out in this! " Randolph pursued his reading: "An especial war vessel was sent by Count Fersen s order to convoy the cargoes from San Francisco, and the two ships had unwarrantably sailed before the arrival of the needful guard-ship! Zubow has been specially charged with a final examination of and report on the whole mystery of this disappearance of millions, and the unravelling of the alleged villainies, for the Govern ment detectives have found the richest furs, with the especial Imperial Household Tribute mark on, crowding the markets of London, Leipzig and Amsterdam! " "It is openly charged by Count Fersen, that Prince Maxutoff, with some skilled American accomplices, ran the cargoes into obscure United States ports, and has also destroyed the Government archives to cover his peculations! There is no one here to battle for him! Our Irma has only us to guard her now! The Russian- 306 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. American Fur Company also boldly demand huge sums from the Czar, and bring up some startling accounts! Of course, these can have been made up in the absence of the lost records. The capital and Court are in a wild ferment, and a formal demand has been made on the American Government for duplicate papers of the details of the transfer Prince Serge Zubow has been placed in charge of the whole case, taking out instructions to the Russian Minister at Washington; and Phillippi goes with him! Fersen remains here to con duct the Government s case. Now, I am told by Milu- tin, that Prince Gregory Maxutoff has been degraded as a common private soldier, and sentenced to serve in the Punishment Battalion at Khiva! No home commu nication is allowed there, and they are shot like dogs at the slightest infraction! An Imperial Courier told my trusted one in the Caucasus that he had himself seen the ruined noble! After a long study of all, I have decided to appeal to the good Empress next week! I shall tell her the whole story of Beatrice s noble kindness to you, and beg her to shield the Princess and Irma! I fear, I shudder, to press for poor Prince Gregory *$ pardon! He has been stricken from every roll of honor, I must wait and try to have the one, I do not dare to name, endeavor to send a Circassian on to Khiva and open a secret com munication! But the family seems doomed! " " Prince Maxutoff has been summarily condemned to perpetual degradation, only the Emperors Sign Man ual could pardon him! The Czar has even forbidden his name to be mentioned! He was in a towering rage when it was proposed to produce Maxutoff to face his many accusers! This I learned from Prince Gortscha- koff s daughter! Hope and pray for my success with the Empress! I will send Bertha back with a report of THE PRTN.tfSS OF ALASKA. 307 my success! I dare not trust that to friendly hands, like this note, My heart goes out to you. I forgot to say that Phillippi has obtained the great Russian fur contracts. "- "Countess Olga!" said Randolph, " the last clause tells the whole secret story! Fersen, Zubow and Phil lippi corruptly control this huge fur venture! They must have American associates. Through them, the fur cargoes stolen were, piecemeal, sent on to Europe! The missing ships have been stolen, the archives destroyed, and Maxutoff, who would have been in charge of all this, has been made a scapegoat! It was necessary to get him out of the way!" Arthur sprang to Countess Olga s side, for her face was ashen. "Ah! my God!" You pierce my heart! I see the villainy of years! Zubow was only Fersen s spy! And they murdered my noble husband! My Fedor! " The loving widow saw the truth at last! While at Dresden, Butzow, Randolph and the Count ess Olga waited, with aching hearts, for the news of brave Vera s appeal to the Czarina s heart, the daring girl, in maiden single-heartedness, plied the gentle arts of her dainty charms upon the stately Czarina! It was with a beating heart that Vera Orlof, in the lovely gardens of Peterhof, threw herself down before the Imperial Lady, as they watched together the blue glimpses of the Gulf of Finland through the trembling trees. The fragrance of the roses was wafted by the breezes, bearing the plash of the diamond waters of the marble cascade! Keenly watching the moment when the Czarina yielded in spirit to the tenderness brought by Russia s warmly wooing summer days, the beautiful supplicant, 308 Tin; n "! AI.-\SK.\. in broken words, implored the aid of the First Lady of all the land! "Rise, my child! It can be no great secret of state which racks your young heart! You wear no crown! the stately Empress sighed. "A favor! My help! Do you wish some one particular brave young officer ordered back to Court? Is that the weighty business?" The Czarina was moved, for no telltale blushes of affection dyed the lovely Maid of Honor s cheeks! With eager flowing words, her fringed lashes trem bling with tears, the pearl of the Orlofs spoke to the woman heart of the mighty one! The Czarina s brow was very grave, as she stroked the girl s silken hair. " .lf\ Vcra! You will please bid the equerry in wait ing bring me the best bouquet he can find for you! Let me think alone over your request! I will have your answer, when you bring back my roses!" The girl, with beating heart, watched the stately Czar ina, on her return, in an agony of suspense. The Empress* eyes were gazing far away in their fixed glances! It was not the silver sails flecking the sapphire Gulf of Finland she saw. It was a picture of lonely Baranoff castle in the far distant Arctic! For with girlish eloquence, Vera had told all the story of her kinswoman s sad life at Sitka and of the generous friendship of the now ruined Maxutoff s! At a sign, the maiden knelt before her royal mistress. " Here, Vera," the Empress said, with an affectionate glance, "I can only promise Princess Maxutoff that she shall be unmolested, that her estates, her child s rights, their rank, shall be inviolate! Let her write to you any future wishes that I am able to grant! Give her this ring as a pledge of my own sympathy! The concession and patents of lands will stand good to THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 309 her and to little Irma! But, alas, I dare not even men tion her husband s name to the Emperor! I can name the Princess however as one of my Ladies in Wait ing! To be on the list will be a safeguard! Irma Maxutoff shall be named, at once as my special charge, in the Catherine Institute. There, I can protect her against all human interference! It is my sole preroga tive! Let Madame Maxutoff remain patiently at Dres den until the future will throw, perhaps, a new light on the mystery! It is almost incredible that a web of crime has been woven around the Prince as an innocent man, yet yet how little we know! You can write in my name to Countess Olga Orlof that her noble devotion to her benefactor shall seal the future of little Stephan! It is a sad romance! I shall have inquiry made into the matter of these patents you speak of, and instructions given! Now, my child, are you satisfied? You can write through my own secretary s signet to the Minister at Dresden!" The sunshine breaking through the bending foliage of the exquisite garden park seemed brighter to the kindly but careworn Czarina, when she drank in the impas sioned devotion of the grateful girl s eyes. Her rosy lips pressed kiss after kiss on the hand only raised in kindness. And the mother of the State, with her bright- eyed girl-adjutant walked back in chastened silence, to the palace where the golden facade letters blazoned the fane of mighty Peter. A human touch of love and ten derness knitted the haughty mistress and ardent little maiden even more closely together in the secret of a Czarina s pledge of honor! And once again, Fortune smiled upon the helpless waif borne on in Life s storm, cherished and loved as Little Irma* the Princess of 20 3io Till. PRINCESb -. . ALASKA. Alaska] The gleaming of the phantom coronet shone again through the dark clouds around! A week later, in the salon where he had unwillingly performed his most unpleasant duty of executing an Imperial search warrant, the Russian Minister to Sax ony, /;/ his own person, delivered to the Princess Bea trice Maxutoff a sealed letter bearing the seal of the Private Secretary of the Czarina of Russia! The func tionary s face glowed with pride, as he handed the silent sufferer the document, and his full dress and gala decorations indicated an important visit of ceremony! Baron Butzow was overjoyed at the sudden turn of offi cial intercourse! 11 1 am happy to add, Madame la Princesse, that I have also received instructions from the Private Secre tary of Her Imperial Majesty to inform you that your new appointment as Lady in ]\\u //ng gives you the right to address the Czarina directly! I shall be pleased to visa your passports for any home visits you may wish to make, and in all other things to render your residence here safe, agreeable, and to aid you in any way properly in my power! " After the official had departed, Beatrice raised her eyes from the letters. "The Czarina s kindness is truly noble! Yet, I am heart-broken, Olga, far Gregory s fate is sealed! My hus band! Afy lover! And our depleted estates, even if we retain them, will be lost to me! I am practically ruined! The lands can not be sold till Irma is of age! Her social future is to be secured, and I am now penniless! " "/am not! " cried Olga Orlof! "I never knew //// now the blessed power of my well guarded patrimony! My dear one! My White Rose! I hare eaten your bread and salt I You need not, you shall not, look forward! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. $11 Do you remember my promise in old Baranoff s halls ? Vera will steal Stephan from me to ride at the head of the Orlofs, and your Irma shall have two mothers! We will bide our time together! We must face the future, and trust to the winning witch, Vera! " And so the white wings of peace brooded over them, and in the months while Nature slowly asserted its blessed magic of heart healing, Arthur Randolph labored on that famous picture of Countess Olga which glowed upon his canvas, the incarnation of his virgin genius! Irma, standing by the impassioned artist, knew not that the delicate philtre of the wine of life, quickening her own> placid veins, was giving to her shy beauty the ex quisite glow of virginal youth and innocence! The Princess of Alaska was dowered with a delicate beauty of her own! Was it a wonder that the poet painter found the unawakened vestal wondrous fair ? The Czar could not bid the rose of innocence depart from her girlish face ! The settled melancholy of Beatrice Maxutoff was the only cloud resting now on the Dresden menage. In vain did the triumphant Vera Orlof cheer Madame Max utoff with her hopeful letters. The year to elapse be fore the finishing of the final report of Count Fersen and Prince Zubow on the disaster of the two fur ships would be only one long agony for loving Beatrice! "To see his dear face, to hear his beloved voice, even were we homeless peasants on Volga s banks, would be to me a heaven on earth! And where does he linger? In what misery? Each throb of his lonely heart is echoed in my own!" But one ray of sunshine pierced the lowering clouds of sorrow. Countess Olga was radiant when she read a sparkling 312 iiii rkiNcT.ss <r ALASKA. note of happy rejoicing from that dainty plaything of an Empress, Vera Orlof. "He is coming! His two years of dashing service in the Caucasus have won him a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and a transfer to the diplomatic service as Mili tary Attache! The Empress herself asked his recall, and he goes first to Berlin, then later to London! I shall see him /// two weeks! You shall see him too! And as the Czarina has given her consent on my Palace life ending, I can tell you now, darling Olga, that Prince Charming s name is Dimitri Narychkine! He will aid us in searching out poor Prince Maxutoffs place of inter ment, for he will be able to have direct relations through the Foreign Office! I shall insist on his doing this! And Dimitri is already warmly interested!" " I am not to be married for two years! Until he has earned his next promotion, in the new career! He will have a very powerful influence soon! Even the Empress said to me: He must be made a Minister before you marry! Do you know, my little Vera, that Natalie Narychkine, a direct ancestress of your lover, was the mother of Peter the Great! That her haughty pride and mental energy led him on to success, and that her counsels have shaped Russia s destiny! It was she who married the wild boy Czar to a Lapouchkine, and drew the great families of old Russia around the throne! Your Dimitri has thus a claim upon the Czar cemented by blood! And tojjv//, an Orlof, is due the meed of grati tude for your ancestor fostering great Catherine IPs genius! You and he can be trusted in our high affairs! But, my little Maid of Honor shall learn dignity before it is thrust upon her! Now, my Olga, when you have seen Dimitri, you will know why I love him, and am the happiest girl in Russia! " THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 31 3 il This will be a great pillar of strength for your little man s future, this high alliance! " mused Arthur. " I wonder where we will all be in ten years! Stephan, I know, will be the most dashing Imperial Page and Cadet of the Garde a Cheval, imaginable! I will not dare to say I hope to be a great artist! " " I know that you will be! " cried Olga, warmly. Randolph continued: " I feel that your return to St. Petersburg must follow the emergence of our chrysalis Vera into a grande dame! " "I fear," he sighed, that the slender cord of Prin cess Maxtitoff s life will soon snap under the certainty of the fate I fear for the Prince! Never forget, dear Countess, that I regard the Alaskan grants as a great future property forjw/, your child and for Irma! If she should be left by her mother to you, remember, you must claim from the United States the confirmed grants! I have examined the papers carefully with Baron But- zow! They clearly take precedence of any American disposition of these lands," " I do not forget, Arthur," replied the listener, "My dear Fedor died to save tliat heritage for the Governor General, and for our child! It has led to Maxutoff s quarrel with Zubow, and later to his ruin ! Dearly bought, it shall be hard held! For, as soon as Vera Orlof is Vera Naryclikine, when, as Minister, he can have weight at the Foreign Office, I shall claim for Stephan and myself the possession of the lands through the Russian Minis ter at Washington!" : "You are right as to Irma! Beloved child! I fear these future interests may be her greatest inheritance. She shall live yet to be the golden Princess of Alaska! We must save her rights! For the hopes of claiming pension, arrearages and all official dues of her father are 314 mi. 1 Ki:. lost in the destruction of the archives. She must not want!" Olga s eyes wnv \ ry tender, and the shadowy past rushed on her mind, with its record of Maxutoffs unsel fish devotion. "She shall not be a prey to bitter fortune while / draw breath!" vigorously protested Randolph, who suddenly reddened and sought his studio when fair Olga s blue eyes sought the reason of his peculiar vehemence! In his heart, he had sworn the fealty of the coming years to the shy girl beauty, tlie Princess of A Li ska! "Ah!" thought the lady, "the roses every season bring a deeper dye to Irma s cheek; the sunlight a richer tint to her golden hair! In these young natures, the subtle mysterious call of Love s magical voice awakens a new music daily in their fresh young hearts! I can trust to the happy future, to the kindly fates to shield this nestling of my heart ! Even a struggling artist can have his guarded palace of Truth, where there is but one sweet girlish voice to whisper: "Open Sesame! It is I" Beautiful Olga Orlof, lighter at heart, with a meaning smile, watched the frank association of the painter and his gentle sprite, the Ariel of the studio! "Gentlemen! You must not linger here in Wash ington!" said the Senator, as he rose at the conclusion of a last confidential interview with Phillippi and the blunt Tartar Chief Prince Zubow! It was in August, 1870, and the fashionable world had deserted the shimmering, sweltering stretch of Pennsyl vania Avenue. Only " necessary business " was trans acted at the languid Departments, half of whose ambi- tionless hirelings were now on leave. The feebly guarded Treasury, now baked in the glare of a vertical THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 315 sun, was tenanted only by listless clerks, furtive claim agents and never tiring, prowling lobbyists! The Senator s hospitalities to his associates were sumptuous, and justified the selection of the Chesapeake Bay and the rich Potomac as the happy feeding ground of the pre-Revolutionary aristocrats! All their sly faces were beaming around the splendid board where Paul Bradford s gray eye gleamed wolfishly as future millions were discussed! .With a creamy glass of Veuve Cliquot raised in air, the statesman, in the privacy of the special dining room, drank gaily: " To our association! There is .nothing to do now but to reap the harvest! Our friends, on August 3d, obtained a twenty years lease which makes them the Kings of the Arctic until 1890! You have presented the other side of the medal to the gracious Czar, and the same two decades of monopoly in Russian waters will bring us together as the Fur Kings of the world! Let us not forget that low envy might trace our (footsteps! The sooner you possess yourself of the Komandorski group, the better, for my young friend Bradford here sails on a Revenue Cutter in two weeks from San Francisco, on an important Government trust in Alaska! To prove to you that Yankees never sleep, I dispatched our San Francisco manager the moment that I saw the seal and signature, dated August 3, 1870, affixed to our contract! Before I sat down with you I had the brief words: Steamer Bonanza sails to-night for the Prybiloffs. There is nothing left for us to do, my friends, but to drink the health of the Czar! of the President, and to go our ways, to reap a sure harvest from a judicious golden silence! "- "I think our interests will bind us strictly together! No man will rob himself!" laughed Phillippi. This 316 TIIF. I KIM i I I \-K \. tiling is after all only an international grab-bag, in which we alone get all the prizes! And there is enough for all!" "Your idea is a good one, Excellency!" growled the saturnine Zubow. " I leave to-morrow! "Good! " echoed Phillippi. " I can tell my backers, the Rothschilds, that / hare seen the United States Great Seals upon the compact! I take the first Cunarder to London! You must not recognize me, Prince, if we meet on the railway, or in California! Remember that fellow McMann and his pirate associates will continually watch us all!" "Yes; he is a dangerous scoundrel I" calmly added the Senator, a scoundrel himself, not "dangerous" in the frontier sense, but far more deadly in his resentment than the whaler I "I will move a war vessel and several Revenue Cut ters at once into the Arctic, and every fur and bit of valuable trade will drift into our coffers! I must see the President to-morrow! The prowlers must be taught to respect the national flag!" Bradford was obliged to smile at the haughtv tone of public spirit with which the lordly Senator invoked the cheaply used flag to screen the private scheme of infamy he had helped to push through! As the statesman and his journalistic henchman fol lowed the returning Muscovite guests, at a safe distance, Bradford whispered: "I am glad you hastened their departure! The Newspaper Row men here are keen nosed, sharp fanged and hungry! " "Yes, it is just as well! I detest public scandal!" remarked the Senator, slipping on his invisible toga with a halo attached, and as austere in his manner as a society messalina, speaking of the last poor ballet dancer led astray! "There is entirely too much intrusion THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. on public men in our < go-as-you-please country! " The grave and reverend seignior himself lived behind a stucco mask of public virtues and conventional morality! Rich, sleek, quiet, judicious and powerful, <he moved in a mys terious way, his wonders to perform ! A harrowing tale once drifted to the Pacific coast that his prim face had been seen by accident where popping corks, the gleam of gold, the bizarre manoeuvres of the "game," the suspicious rustle of dearly bought robes and the parthian glances of laughing eyes, told of the rosy realms of Bacchus and Venus! A sober public, reading his last moral speech, refused to think that the senatorial feet could be made of clay, that they could ever wander "There is much, in decorum, and a judicious avoidance of publicity" remarked the Senator, when this unholy lampoon reached him! "My character is proof, how ever, against attack!" It was even so! And, behind the varnish and vaneer of American political greatness, the real man safely lurked, dallying with his pet vices, at heart, sensual, base, coarse, tJie very triumph of vulgar mediocrity! His peccadilloes were safe with his chosen associates of the Senate! It was high time that wealth bubbled around them in a golden flood! That sybartic feasts waited them! That provokingly pretty women played the willing Egeria to these amiable sages! Ah! Arcana imperil! Hidden under the laces of snowy bosoms, these State secrets were never divulged to the outsider! Silence, golden silence ! The Statesman s motto! "Now, my boy, you have all your orders! /have a private appointment!" The Senator softly smiled. " Come over to my rooms at midnight! You will then get the map and sketches which Zubow gave to me! I will have your ten thousand dollars ready there in currency! 31 H THE PRINCESS (1 Al \ As you take the morning train, all you have to do is to telegraph me when you will sail! And keep my agent Herron informed of all! He will give you a cipher which any one of the Fur Company s trusted agents can read! Eben Tomlinson takes sole charge for our fur associates at San Francisco, and Sitka, as well as at the Prybiloffs, our vital point! On your life, never let them know of this private dividend of mine! If you meet McMann up in the Arctic, keep him a:cay from Golden Island! Your own fortune depends on baffling this brute McMaun s curiosity! He evidently has tricked you! I have sent out a confidential hint to the Captain of the Revenue Cutter that his advancement depends on backing yon up blindly! If the mysterious claimant, tJic dangerous 1 French Pete ever appears, detain him up there by force! I ask no details of yon, Paul, only solid results! Your journalistic work this season has been royal! It has fixed the l paternalism of our Alaskan policy firmly in the mind of every good tax-payer and voter! Now, I have safely sealed up in a vault here a copy of Zubow s map and sketch! One otJier is in the Sub-Treasury at New York, in my own sealed strong box! Should any trouble occur, destroy your own set of private documents, for / can replace them!" A prudent Senator! Bradford was now ready for the seven days jaunt over the rough Pacific Railroad, where the buffalo still roamed by tens of thousands, when the joyous Senator met him at midnight! He was radiant! "There you are, my boy," cried the capitalist states man. "I have one thing only to lire for, that is to see the patent issued to me for these gold lands! Do not spare any expense to hasten on your official papers, the surrey maps, entries and your reports to me, through Herron ! The Revenue Cutter has my orders to bring your reports at THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 319 once down to San Francisco! The Collector at San Francisco owes to me this return for special favors, for he is also a fur associate! Make no mistake! I intend to put machinery worth a half million dollars on this great mine. I have just received the secret report of the Assistant Secretary of State. It appears that the possession was given and the seven millions in gold were paid on a mere interchange of notes between Secretary Seward and Baron Stoeckl, the Russian Minister, in 1867, why, I know not, for the solemn treaty was only ratified this year, and bears the legal date of March jo, 1870! Now, in this, is a clause providing that any proper claims shall be equitably settled, and that all land grants made heretofore, under the great seal of Russia, to private parties, shall hold good! There are none, I am told! None as yet on file! The Russian- American Fur Company s old charter is annulled, and the realty all thrown back in block, to the United States! There is no danger of conflict! Make the locations correctly, and the Golden Island is mine! There is nothing to fear! " But, I shall not leave the East until I have the patents, in my pocket! You must hold on to the island with your life! I have already sent the collector a positive request to have five armed sailors landed to protect you as a Government officer! You know what they are really for! Only to hold our island ! As soon as you hear that I have made the entries here and obtained the patents, you will come down at once to San Francisco, on the Revenue Cutter s return trip. I will have instructions for you from the Secretary of the Interior." The sly old modern Midas laughed. "I will meet you there! Yes! Paul, the Island is 320 Tin: PRINCESS OF M.ASKA. mine! When I gef my c/tnvs on a good bit of property, there I cling, hooked like an eagle!" " Now, Good-night! Spare nothing to give me the news I desire! Our future meeting there at San Fran cisco will then, see you raised above any frown of Fortune ! Herron will send up a brave and skilled frontier miner with you, to technically examine! Above all, let no one, land on the island until you know that my title is impregnable! You will have my despatch! Her ron will send ten men then who will hold it against all comers! If no one lias been before its, we have a prize of untold value! The golden sjeps to our princely fortunes! Not a human being is to enter an acre of land in Alaska, but this one survey! When you are done your jollification at San Francisco, you can return and leisurely open your real official headquarters at Sitka." " By that time, we can defy the President himself! The island is mine ! There is not a shadow on this golden fortune! " The stars shone down at Dresden on a loyal hearted guardian of the little Princess of Alaska, who dreamed, as he mixed his colors and bent over his easel, of the happy future day when, free to claim her rights under a patent, never to be revoked, gentle Irma Maxutoff would come unto her own! "They shall not rob her! But first, first, to sare her gallant father! " And generously, Arthur Randolph poured out the ten derness of his nature upon the gentle child whose love untroubled bosom knew the sighs only of a daughter s sorrows! The magic sceptre of Love waited to sweep in disturb ing witchery over the unquickened heart of the Princess of Snows! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 321 Two weeks later, the Revenue Cutter, " Panther," steamed out of the harbor of San Francisco on a misty afternoon. The cold gray wreaths hid lofty Tamalpais, and veiled old Monte Diablo. As the sturdy Captain sprang to his station and rang to the engine room, at the gangway, Paul Bradford exchanged a few earnest words with Herron and Tomlinson. The heavy revenue steamer forged ahead slowly as slie rounded North Point, her vertical striped flag, with its blue eagle and thirteen stars streaming out proudly! A light hawser drew a puffing tug along in the choppy green water! "Remember, all our fortunes depend on your judg ment 2&<\ fidelity, Bradford," was Herron s brief adieu. "I know it! My own, also! Trust my devotion!" said the lynx-eyed emissary. He burned to be away on the high seas! Smiling, smooth Eben Tomlinson murmured a last confidence, as the tug whistled. He was already the invisible despot of the unorganized purchased realm! "You can always count on us! It is really all tlie same pocket!" grinned Tomlinson, ignorant that even now his Senatorial partner was robbing his nefarious associates! Out on the breaking waters of the bar, the strong steamer steadily moved, her decks cumbered with the camping supplies and freight of the mighty Senator s secret expedition. The gray wet fog soon drove Brad ford from the deck. For the steamer s prow was headed for Golden Island, the unreaped scattered harvest of centuries. "That s it! Take a turn in! I ll land you safely at Tako Inlet in four days!" cried the jolly captain, as Paul saw the Golden Gate slowly vanish, hidden in the cling ing mantle of the Gray Friar! 322 TIIK TRIXCKSS or \i . \ "All is safe for a straight run, now."" 1 thought Brad ford, as he closed his eyes! "Nothing can rob me of my fortune! It is too late for that sly devil, the Senator, to trust any one else! " The secret papers were securely sewed in the journa list s coat lining. "Was I dreaming? or did the engines stop?" asked Paul when, six hours later, he found the Captain settling down to his quarter deck stride. The stars were sweep ing over them, and the "Panther" sped along on the open sea! The bar and its rollers lay fifty miles astern! Paul joined the commander in his promenade and even ing cigar. - "Yes! We slowed up, and picked up a poor devil of a castaway, clinging to a broken spar. We found him drifting away with the in shore current as we passed the Farallones. He was nearly dead from cold! The stew ards gave him a rubbing and some hot grog, and he is now sleeping in one of the firemen s bunks. He had a miglity close call I " "What will you do with him?" said the journalist. "Oh! The Government gives us revenue men a sort of general discretion in such matters! He can mess around with the sailors! I ll either turn him loose at San Fran cisco, or let him go ashore and become one of the First Citizens of your New Territory! " In the laughing collo quy the waif of the sea was soon forgotten. In four days, Paul Bradford s heart began to flutter with a strange excitement. He stood at Fortunes gates! The stern, silent coast line of Alaska now loomed up, before his eager eyes, and every turn of the screw swept him on to the frontier of the dream of years! "Can it be only some colossal humbug? a mere fancy? this Treasure Island! " thought Bradford, as the THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 323 well-remembered crags met his eye once more. Mount Edgecumbe, lifting aloft its warder peak, glittered before him! "I will know the worst or best, very soon!" mused Bradford, as he marshalled his secret party the night before Dome Peak marked the entrance of Lynn Canal, and the termination of the quest! On the " Panther" the bustle of preparation for landing busied the whole crew. A grand jollification of the mess room signalized the quick run, and Bradford, who had watched all day the superb panorama of the Fairweather mountains, joined heartily in the officers merriment! His subordi nates were all ready to carry out Herron s secret orders, and a dozen more skillful prospectors never emptied a dem ijoh n I In the fairy moonlight, Scidmore Island dreamed upon deep starlit seas, the mighty hills sleeping around the exquisite bay like couchant lions. On the decks, the sailors, with fiddle and horse play, amused themselves. As the anxious captain left the deck to his executive, he quietly said to Bradford: "I ll have you at anchor, and the steam launch ready at daybreak, to land your party! By the way, as you will camp and need help, take along that poor devil we picked up! He seems half starved, even half-witted! The sailors all torment him, and he may be of some use to you. He seems to be a a foreign er, and no one can get him to talk or tell how he got into the grip of the currents of the Farallones." Long after the cabin merriment was over, Bradford paced the deck in secret excitement. The anchor rattled down at midnight, and before them, the wild bluffs of the Tako region frowned in the still night! Paul tossed in his cabin restlessly till the crimson dawn roused him to action! Warned by wary Herron to trust no one with the object 324 THE FRWCESS OF ALASKA. of his quest, Bradford was on deck at daybreak, alert and eagerly waiting till the fog of dawn should roll away. The light glimmered down the dark ridges of Juneau, now black with silvery snow wreaths filling their deep crevices! Paul could not resist an exclamation of delight, for there before him, lay the high green island, sheltered in its triangular channels! His heart beat high as he com pared the outlines and the bearings with his treasured secret sketch! " I must be placed a mile or so farther down to verify these bearings and angles!" he mused. "Yet, it is a wonderfully accurate piece of work!" Rolling gray and yellow rock ledges breasted the sloping knolls of the island and olive green masses of stunted pines clung to the sheltered hollows and drifted soil thrown down in past ages. " There can be no mistake! The Russian s topography does not lie! Now, is the hidden golden treasure a fool s story? I shall know the truth soon" he cried. " I am at your orders! " cheerily cried the captain, as he called Bradford to the delights of morning coffee and a Government breakfast. "It is very strange, Bradford, but there is a whaler lying down in the bay a couple of miles below the island. I don t see what these fellows have to do in here! They may be trading illicit rum with the natives for furs! The fellow, however, is a fool! If a sudden blow came on, he would be thrown ashore and his ship broken up! The main coast is very rough! I ll send the launch over after I land you, and soon find out what he is doing here!" Paul Bradford s eyes gleamed with a strange fire. "A whaler? Could there be some secret expedition to THE PRINCfcSS <JF ALASKA. 325 probe the coast in search of the long talked of gold fields of the Indians?" "You can land me with my party now as soon as you wish! I will take half the men, look over the island and get a general view of the topography from Tts sum mit. You can send the launch back at sundown to our landing point. If I find good wood, water and shelter, I will choose a camp and make the mouth of the Tako the initial point for my land maps! We can see Dome Peak for fifty miles along the coast." "Good! But you had better have your men armed 11 said the captain, " these fierce brown bears, (larger than grizzlies), often swim these narrow fiords in search of the smaller animals crowding the islands!" Half an hour later, as Bradford, his private prepara tions done, stepped on board the launch, a group of sailors were tormenting the rescued castaway who now made frantic efforts to reach the boat! "Let the poor devil go along! He can carry some thing! He seems so eager to land!" And in truth the worn frame of the stranger, a straggling gray beard, restless, wolfish eyes, and a strange torrent of mingled dialects, gave a weird appear ance to the struggling man, clad now in cast-off sailor s garb! With singularly eager gesticulation, he urged the boat on, as the launch swept toward the point designated for landing! "There s a boat going back to the whaler, sir," cried a quarter-master touching his hat, as he addressed the boat officer. " Looking for fresh water, I suppose," carelessly an swered the Lieutenant in charge. "That main land is very dangerous for landing parties! " When the launch grazed the gravelly beach, Bradford 21 326 THF, 1 RINCKSS OF ALASKA. was astonished to see the wanderer of the sea, the very first to leap out, and disappear with the swiftness of a beast seeking corcr in the low bushes! "Some one of you had better look after him by and by! Singular man! " was Bradford s remark, as he sprang on shore and ran to the point to gain his first view of the inner canal, with its distant cliff shores. There, in full sight, a deeply laden whaler rested on the tranquil waters, her sides lined with boats crowding the davits! "What can they meant "the explorer reflected, as, pistol in hand, he climbed the five hundred foot peak of the island. It was a beautiful scene: the silent sylvan reaches of the low shores, the abrupt cliffs of the Tako, the trian gular blue sparkling water boundaries, and far gloomy Dome Peak rising heavenwards in giant bulk. "This is tJie very place!" Bradford whispered under his breath, as he took out his map, when he had sta tioned a guard to watch his labors, and dispersed the party to generally explore the mile long quartzose rocky island, which was the very spot of Zubow s careful sketching. Suddenly, Bradford dropped his glass. "Here, Raymond, you wait ready! I see something! Give me your rifle! " Handing the astonished prospector his pistol, Paul Bradford, with springy step, swiftly strode down the sloping sides of a hollow which his glasses had explored! "I suppose it is only some deer that has crossed the strait! thought the miner, as he quietly "interviewed" his pocket flask. But Bradford s heart was filled with a sudden rage! A man was quietly busied at work in the very canon he descended ! Something S/UHC in his hands as he bent over a water pool! "By Heavens! It is a man at work t washing gold out t THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 327 with a pan! He shall not leave this island! I sec the trick! This fellow has been landed /;w;/ the whaler!" - Paul s heart was filled with blackest thoughts as he neared the man whose back was towards him! He was carefully peering down into the shining blue iron pan in his hands ! There was here another possessor of the great secret! Another man who coveted that treasure for which the claws of Midas were now stretched out from far Washington! With a sudden start, the man turned and faced Bradford, who came leaping down the hillside. " Good God!"" cried Paul, "McMann! what are you doing here? What business have you on this island? " Bradford was enlightened at last! McMann had duped him and stolen the secret! The rough sailor glanced anxiously at Bradford s ready rifle! He was unarmed; save for his sailor s sheath knife! And the gold washer s pan lay where it had been dropped at his feet! " I have as much business here as you!" roughly replied the burly mate, springing forward to grapple the new comer ! "Not another step!" cried Bradford, throwing up his cocked rifle! " You will answer to me for this! " And with a wild halloo, he loudly called his men, who came quickly scrambling down the hill! The sentinel had already warned his fellows, who hastened to Brad ford s aid, mindful of the Captain s lurking lt bears!" "Men! Secure this trespasser! He must not leave the island!" " / // see about that! " yelled McMann! " I have sixty men on my ship here, and Y\\ pitch you into Lynn Canal! I have as much right to a claim here as you have! This is now free for all! "I have a Revenue Cutter here with a hundred men and 328 11IK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. her guns, and I will sink your damned whaler, if you resist! Don t be ayW/as well as a black-hearted liar, McMann! You stole the Frenchman away from me and so robbed me! But you are at tJie end of your rope now! Do you surrender? If you do not, I will give the order to shoot and cripple you! " Bradford was white with rage. McMann s villainy was unmasked at last ! " Throw down that knife quick!" Paul ordered. And Aleck McMann, still stubborn and defant, waited till the guns were cocked before he finally cast the glit tering blade down upon the moss! " Here! Take him. over there out of sight of the water! " ordered Bradford, who called up his secret associate, Herron s most trusted desperado! "I wish to capture his boat s crew also when they come back! Then, the Revenue Cutter can escort this whaler to Sitka, for ille gal rum trading witJi the natives! But, what shall we do with this felloiv, Raymond? He knows too much!"" " Let us think it over a bit!" Raymond said. There was a dark suggestion in his tone! McMann had thrown his huge bulk sullenly down on the soft moss. His two guards, at a few paces distance, leisurely watched him, as they lounged, pistol in hand. The silence was only broken by the scream of a soaring sea bird and the trickle of water in the runlet. While Paul, in an omin ous colloquy, was busied with Raymond, the guards did not notice the gaunt figure of the shipwrecked man, who stealthily appoached from the coppice! His tread was light as a leopard s, suddenly he caught sight of McMann, as he lay at ease! Stooping, the unknown slyly picked up something which glittered, as he sprang forward, with the inarticulate cry of a beast ! The aroused mate was on his feet too late, one fatal moment too late, for THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 329 with the howl of a madman, the stranger plunged the knife he had found, again and again, into the whaler as he fell, with an oath upon his lips! The watchers quickly tore the frenzied assailant from his prey, and Bradford, with Raymond, came rushing up to aid! "What is this? Who did this?" yelled Paul, as he saw the mate s huge prostrate frame quiver in the ap proaching agonies of death! The dying sailor beckoned to Bradford who bent and leaned over him! His eyes were already glazed. He gasped, " How did he get away? I put him on the Farallones? Who betrayed me? " Bradford was astonished! He looked at the strug gling maniac! "We picked him up at sea, floating on a log. Who is he?" The Senator s man of all work was in a dream! " Fool! That is French Pete! the man I stole away from you! Ah-h!" with a sickening leer of triumph, McMann s face relaxed as he fell back, dead! Bradford strode forward and picked up the gravel washing pan which the dead whaler had dropped! Its concave was filled with grain gold and black sand I "Saved by a Madman! The island is mine now!" cried Paul Bradford. " The story was true! " And only the screaming sea birds wailed the requiem of the dead pirate of the North! 330 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER XII. A SATISFACTORY SURVEY AN ALARMED STATESMAN - FRENCH PETE S TITLE "WHO ARE THE OTHERS?" AN ARCTIC GOLD PLACER VERA ORLOF S PROMOTION! "HE SHALL BE SAVED!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA ON THE NEVA THE YOUNG CHIEF OF THE ORLOFS! " This it an awkward business, Bradford! We must act at once! Those wild whaling boatmen may soon return heavily armed!" Raymond gazed at the stiffening form of McMann. The air was vocal with the yells and shouts of the infuri ated murderer. Bradford spoke, as he turned from hid ing the Russian iron pan with its golden witness of the mine, in a clump of bushes! "You are right! There is no law in the Arctic! Here! boys, drag this man s body / // under this vine! Now, let us all cross to the other side of the island! Tie up that fel low s arms! Search him first! Picking up the knife with which "French Pete " had revenged his own brutal captivity on the Farallones, Paul Bradford closed up the rear guard, with Raymond! His brain was in a whirl! But his fears urged him to action! "We will build a signal fire, and firing all our guns in a volley, bring the launch back at once from the ship! Then, as the Captain is the ranking United States offi cer here, he can take all our affidavits and enter these facts properly in the ship s log! To prevent any revenge or future fracas, he can order the whaler to put to sea! It was a murder by pure accident! We will land our own whaleboat with a guard now, as I wish to send the steamer THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 33* at once back to California, as soon as I can run off a tri- angulation of the island! Now, take my glasses and stay here on the summit, Raymond!" concluded the vic torious Bradford. "If you see any boat approaching from the whaler, join us at once, as soon as they near the island! I wish to run around there with the launch, capture them and properly explain the man s death! " "All right, Bradford," answered Raymond, coolly. " A dead man, more or less, makes no difference! There will be many a man killed here, before this rock gives up all its gold! It is good luck to a mining camp to have an early blood christening! "- In ten minutes, the steam launch crowded with anx ious men, was seen swiftly steaming down the western channel from the "Panther," which had already fired a gun in answer to the beacon fire signal! "Just in the nick of time! Bradford!" said Raymond, as he came crashing down through the ravine where Fedor Orlof s blood had stained the moss in the bygone years, as he sealed the title of the little Princess of Alaska to her disputed inheritance, with his life! "There s a crew coming, from the whaler! The launch can head them off and we can go over the hill and sur- round them now!"" Bradford had vainly endeavored to induce the now morose " French Pete " to speak! "This fellow is a devil!" cried one of the sailors. "We had to carry him down through the ravine, and he moaned and covered his eyes with his hands. If you don t watch him, he will kill some one else!" "How could have McMann so brutalized him as to arouse such a strange ferocity?" mused Paul. "He dragged him down, like a famished tiger! But he is price- I UK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. less here to me! The secret of the island is safe at last! How strange is Fate! How blind its decrees!" Bradford watched the approaching launch, ignorant that Lefranc had been driven to a brain-sickening mad ness by recognizing the very glen where O/gcfs lorcr ft-//, in years past under his cowardly hand! The sudden apparition of McMann drove the desper ate wretch, brutally maltreated on the lonely Farallones, to a madman s frenzy! " I must keep him from running amok any longer! The Senator shall know of this at once! But here is the safest place to keep him well guarded." In an hour, the astonished whalers bore away their dead commander, for McMann had sailed as their Cap tain on this cruise! There was no suspicion lingering with them, for near the landing whence McMann had walked to his death, were several navigating instruments which the whaler had apparently landed to adjust, by the charts and well known headlands! The Revenue cap tain learned that their present destination was the Ochotsk Sea, and then, homeward! "It will be months before they will reach San Fran cisco! You need have no uneasiness about this awkward incident!"" said the Revenue commander, as the party returned to the " Panther, leaving ten men to explore the island and clear it of any lurking wild beasts. " I will run the steamer in a half mile closer, and land your whole material and outfit to-morrow. Is this the very place you sought? There are nests of similar islands here." "It is the one particular island which I will make my basevi operations! " said Bradford, thinking of the hid den golden proofs. The gold washer s pan remained in its concealment, for the future greatness of Paul Brad- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 333 ford s fortunes now depended on no smuggled letters reaching San Francisco to bring a horde of hungry pros pectors swarming north, before the Senator s land patents were secured! "I will trust Raymond alone, and not even to him will I tell the whole story of McMann and French Pete! " By the next night, a substantial row of tents, with a rough board hut sheltering the stores, appeared on Douglas Island, and a draft of fifty men from the cutter heaved with a will at the piling up and carrying with tarpaulins of the ample stores for six months. " French Pete" languished in a secure confinement on the "Panther!" By order of the captain, the sur geon gave him his especial attention. "This man needs care and nourishment! His whole system has received a severe shock from past privation and misery! But I will attack his case vigorously. If I find him well enough in a week to leave him here, you can nurse him up by simply good food, stimulants and kind treatment! If you wish, I will take him down to the Marine Hospital, in San Francisco, Mr. Bradford." "Will he recover his mind, Doctor?-" asked Paul, care lessly knocking the ash from his cigar. "Oh! certainly, surely! With ordinary care! 1 1 the good surgeon said. "Then, I will give him a good shelter up here, with my party!" remarked Paul. He thought, "He must never leave this island. His memory of past transactions here might be dangerous! If he had any scheming friends and partners, they might be dangerous to us, later! Toiling unceasingly by day at the surveys, and at night in the ship s cabin on his maps and field work, with fifty disciplined men to help in the field, Paul 334 THE PRINCESS OF ALA Bradford completed his work of the first land location under his commission, /// a sin^/t- nn ck A specialist who had been sent up by Herron, pre pared the official maps and papers, in due form, aided by Bradford s clerk, who was an accomplished retainer of the Senator sent secretly from Washington. " I suppose he is here to spy upon me in my unguarded moments!" bitterly thought Bradford, who knew too well that there is not honor among thieves, high or low! He had proved it, to his cost, and had been often used as a mere cat s-paw! "But this time, I am a made man!" triumphantly reflected Paul, as he sealed the last document, an hour before the revenue steamer sailed. The trusted clerk was to be bearer of the vitally prec ious documents, and the mystic telegraph could then flash the welcome news of the find, to the august Senator, within a week! Raymond, the only confidant of Brad ford, had, in secret, explored all the gold-bearing resources of the high green island, now known by its chart name of Douglas Island. "It is a princely treasure, Bradford! " said the veteran prospector. " The gullies and ravines are full of coarse grain gold washed down in hundreds of years from the rotted quartz! But the grand secret is that the whole island is only one great knoll oi low grade quartz gold-bearing rock! There is no other such mine, /// the world, Brad ford! " cried Raymond. "See//iere/ A ship can lie alongside of the mine itself! The ore can then be blasted off and fall into the mills! There is an enormous water power over there! The ores which would not pay even for hoisting elsewhere will be profitable here! There is no timbering, no drainage, no////;///;/,^! Nothing to do but to roll the ore into the stamp mills, and then THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. pound out the gold! The whole island is a mass of even grade gold rock!"- Raymond pointed in triumph to the sealed cans of "specimens," each marked on a secret sketch, with the ravine or gully where it was found! " There is nothing in the world like this wonderful island! It is worth a king s ransom!" "And you shall not leave it alive, unless I have the Senator s telegram of the due legal entry of the loca tions I have mapped and made! When the United States government has sealed the patent, then, your life is safe, but not till then! I alone must keep this golden secret!" so mused Bradford, his gray eyes aflame with a greenish light, as he listened to the expert miner s revelations.- " This is the time-hoarded secret of the Arctic Witch of Gold, under the Northern Lights! It has been suspected, divined, but you and I alone, have broken the seal of ages! I will tell you a strange story after the steamer sails!" They stood alone on the point where Fedor Orlof had leaped ashore in the happiness of his glowing hopes! They had, at last, seen the "Reindeer," with its wild whalers fade from view, Jar out to the west, and when the "Panther s" crew, now slowly turning up the anchor, should guide the secret despatch boat southward, the golden island would be left in their sole keeping! "Don t get lonely, Bradford, "cried the hearty captain, "If your clerk gets to Washington and back! on time, with your fresh instructions, in five weeks from to-day, you will see the old Panther s nose stealing around that rocky headland! I think that you have everything snug here for a pleasant camp! When I bring up your 336 THE PRINCESS 01 ALASKA. expected deputy, you and I will have a royal cruise home, by Sitka and the Archipelago! " "You may trust your poor Frenchman to behave him self now, Mr. Bradford," counselled the ship s surgeon, as he gave some simple directions to the man who eyed Lefranc s recovery with anxiety. "He seems to be entirely right in his mind now, and really quite an intel- ligent and decent fellow ! Some poor wretch whose life hopes were shattered by fate and has sought oblivion, safety, peace or restored fortunes far from his old haunts. Believe me, he was once a gentleman! Try and win his confidence! He is certainly a curious ie\\ovi\ " "So he is!" answered Paul. "I will make a study of him, under the Senator s directions!" he softly concluded. Bravely flying the flag of the new rulers, the "Panther" sailed away, hard pushed, to bear the welcome tidings to the distant Midas of Washington, whose claws reached even to the Arctic. In the five weeks of busy exploration and the thorough examination of every future resource, his heart beating high at the prospect of meeting his master, and of secur ing his interest in the spoil, Paul Bradford slept under the northern lights, with the conscious rectitude of a man who was serving both his country and himself! In long walks, even with the most wooing kindness, he had failed to fathom the secret of "French Pete s" past history! The waif had referred but once to any San Francisco friends, and never mentioned the subject of gold or gold mining. Paul knew not that a frozen chill of fear now sealed Lefranc s lips, who now realized at last that he had twice stained his hands with blood on the fatal Golden Island! "I am here, locked in their power! I must dissemble! And once a^ain, I must escape!" Lefranc strained his THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 337 eyes seaward, but he failed to realize the possession o/ the mine s secrets at last by cool Bradford, and the wary Raymond! Leaping from the whaleboat lightly to the deck, when the "Panther s" gun called the islanders six weeks later to their oars, Paul darted into the commander s cabin. Even before he returned the bronzed sailor s greeting, he tore open an envelope in Herron s hand writing. It contained a yellow telegraph despatch which brought a storm of joy to Bradford s heart as he read the words: "Patents signed and sealed. Come down on steam er. Leave Raymond. You have done nobly. Full detailed instructions." "I have a mass of sealed letters for you, Mr. Brad ford!" the captain cried. "Let us go down now to breakfast!" And while they made merry; in far off Dresden, the beautiful little Princess of Alaska knew not that stranger hands had grasped her undefended her itage, the splendid prize for which her lost father had helplessly suffered, and Fedor Orlof, vainly died! The "Panther" had swung for two days on the deep green gulf of the inlet before Paul Bradford had finished his final examination of the despatches and concerted all his measures for the winter now closing in on them! A liberal consignment of winter stores and mining sup plies suitable for a busy season, with a stout yawl- rigged long boat were all landed, and prospector Raymond seemed perfectly content to spend the long dull winter on the Island! A companion selected by Herron had appeared in answer to the tidings of discovery sent jointly to San Francisco by Bradford and his doubtful lieutenant, Raymond. The captain of the Revenue Cutter chafed to return, for the floating ice cakes already 33< S "IK I KINCKSS DI- AI.A^K.v. hinted of huge fields to come, which might choke the only narrow inlet where the " Panther" could lay secure from the wild storms howling over the Behring, from the far Ochotsk! Even the last adventurous whaler had flitted southward! Paul Bradford eyed with a quiet satisfaction the substantial cabins of the squad of twenty men, now thoroughly organized under Raymond and his mysterious associate! "What shall I do with this Frenchman, Raymond!" demanded Paul, as he noted the keen interest with which Lefranc watched the " Panther s" preparations for a southward flight "We must watch him! He is dan gerous!" The two chiefs sat together in the solid office hut of heavy logs. Packed with moss at the joints, and sheathed with planks it would defy even an Arctic win ter. " You are right! He has been caught slyly prospecting over the island! That fellow is smarter than I thought! " growled Raymond. " He has surely been up here before! I will not lose him from sight, when you sail ! I will keep him busied at my side!" "That s right," replied the exultant journalist who chafed to enjoy his sudden fortune! "Now, I have prepared some legal papers, which / wish him to sign, and the captain of the steamer will then certify to them! I wish to use his name in a dummy title to the mining claims, in case the land grant should finally fail! You coax him to do this. " Bradford handed over a set of papers prepared in due form. "Oh! I can coax him, to anything, for a single bottle of whisky. / hold the infallible cur el" laughed Ray mond. " But, look here, Bradford, you can tell the Senator that I ll guard this man, with my life, and the THE PR1XCKSS OF ALASKA. 339 mine tew, but I want a decent slice when the company is organized! My story might be awkward! For / have been up here before! " " Your cried Paul. Yes ! 2 he whole thing is an old scheme! I went South to fight, at the outbreak of the war! I had lived on the Pacific coast for fifteen years. I came back with the commission of a Lieutenant of Marines in the Confederate States Navy in my pocket ! "What did you then come up hereto*!" said the astonished Bradford. " / sneaked up here, and joined Waddell on the C. S. N. cruiser * Shenandoah at the Seal Islands, the Pry- biloffs! That was my secret duty! To warn him of the rendezvous of the Yankee whaling fleet which he de stroyed! Yes, sir, I saw thirty-five whalers burned in the Arctic long after Lee had surrendered! Ten were burned and sunk, in one group! I helped to serve the last guns fired under the Stars and Bars on June 28, 1865! " "You should have been hung for that pirate trick!" coldly remarked Paul. "Yes; but we do not all get our deserts in this sinful world! " said Bradford drily. "Why we even stopped the whaler l Barracouta only two days out, from San Francisco in the middle of July! The boys wanted to burn her also, but the Commander got the newspapers telling of the crash of the Confederacy from her, he lost his nerve, and away we coasted for Liverpool after art fully disguising our ship! When we hauled down the last rebel flag, to the Donegal of Her Britannic Maj esty s Navy at Liverpool, I was left there penniless! I had sneaked along the coast from Sitka in a little seal ing schooner, on my way to the fur islands to join the daring ( Shenandoah! I had money, rum and trading goods 340 THF PRIM.TSS OF ALASKA. all furnished by Southern sympathizers at San Francisco! I learned, then, of the gold deposits here, and located it pretty nearly, for I gave the natives a grand pot latch! "- "But I was a sworn rebel spy! Without vie, Waddell would not hare destroyed the Yankee fleet! They would have been all scattered, and easily taken the alarm! I could not linger on my way! I dared not come back till that piracy business was settled ! Now, I want a recogni tion here! In five years from now, a three-hundred-stamp- mill will be pounding away here at this ten-dollar gold ore! It will not cost two dollars a ton to work it! Now, I know old crafty your Senatorial friend, and he and his money backers are quietly stealing this title! I want some of the paid up stock! I can afford to play fair! The men I brought up here are all old Confederate sol diers! They will stand by me! And there are too many of us, to assassinate! An official investigation would be ugly! I know the wily Senator, of old! When Herron posted me, I left behind me, a sealed letter in San Fran cisco, to be opened in case of my death! It would go at once to the newspapers! You know what they can do!" "Right well! " answered Bradford, grimly. " Trust to me! I will make the secret company do what is right! Get this fellow s signature! Hold on to him! " 11 We are partners now! You can bet on me!"" stoutly said Raymond. "But tell the Senator, Herron and Tomlinson to look out for some dangerous San Fran cisco backers of this French fool! That dead scoundrel McMann was also up here, for no good! He had either bul lied or juggled this secret from Frenchy! I see the whole thing, now! He had intended to make this friendless man show him the mine, and had him kept covered up, //// he could get a title! But you were here first! And THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 34! Frenchy got by accident, away! It is a pretty good plan that does not have a break somewhere! Watch! every one! everywhere! Even in long years from now you may have some trouble! But we will hold her tight, the gold island! The only thing to fear is the awaken ing of our Uncle Sam to the fact that your whole land survey is %.swindle\.Q get the title to the mine our mine. " grinned Raymond. " You are right! 1 said Paul, in humble admiration. " I wonder that you did not get hung for that fighting and plundering, after Lee^s surrender!" "We should have been all hung as pirates!" soberly said Raymond, "Yet the war ended queer -ly, after all! Lee surrendered on April gth, 1865. President Lincoln was murdered April i4th, and the Grand Review of the Armies was held on May 22nd and 23rd. It is true that Johnston surrendered April 26th, but Dick Taylor did not surrender his rebel armies till May 4th, and General E. Kirby Smith surrendered the last forces only on May 26th! This straggling wind-up saved our necks, for Mosby did not surrender his wild riders for another month, and their final pardon as outlaws helped us! " "While the North was already beating the sword into a plow-share, General Slaughter, on the old Palo Alto battle ground in Texas, fought the last pitched battle of the war, on May I3th, whipping Colonel Barrett and your blue coat Federals soundly at Palmetto Ranch! But you see, before you, the man who helped fire the last guns which thundered in war, under the Stars and Bars!" "Two days after Lee rode, broken-hearted, through his crushed and captive legions, and the shot-riddled rebel battle-flags were handed over to the victorious Yankee hosts, I sank the whalers with Confederate shot and shell in the far icy waters of the silent Arctic! Never 342 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. forget, Bradford, on both land and sea, that we had the last honors! The Southern moccasin bit deep even in its dying agonies! And what should hare brouglit me to a hatter, has led to my fortune! This is a conspicuous reward of virtue!" The preachers might make a note here for judicious Sunday School use! "Now watch every avenue! This is no world of fools? I m mistaken if you don t yet have to fight this fellow McMann s backers! Of course, the Russians are out of the struggle forever! " Paul Bradford s heart was at rest only when he looked back to see Douglas Island a mere green speck behind, wreathed in gray fog! As he stood watching the yeasty foam flying from the screw, churning away the green rollers, he marked the shore birds at last abandoning them! The Panther" was heading straight for the Golden Gate! Even in his hour of supreme success Paul anxiously thought of the mine s future! A Senator s work may be undone ! Other Senators may volunteer to participate, as Raymond has done! This would not bear public investigation! I certainly have French Pete s title in my pocket, made legal! He had to yield to Raymond! It shall be duly recorded. But who are the others? " Three weeks later, Bradford listened with pride to the great Senator s praise of his acumen. Around the secret council board, were the sharp-eyed Herron, smooth Eben Tomlinson and three other giant schemers of the money mart of the wild West! Paul knew at last every detail of the private organization! Raymond s value was also appropriately recognized, for, strange to say, a confidential agent of his, appeared to claim a share of the memorandum stock of this great mine! It was re gretfully parcelled out ! T11K i RINCESS OF ALASKA. There are wheels within wheels!" mused Paul. " This fellow now turning up, acted on letters smuggled down on the Panther! Who was it who spied on me ? Who helped Raymond?" And the journalist recognized in the ex-Confederate private even an abler mind, a bolder soul, than his own!" " But all was well, at last, for the jackals clung to gether in a solid pack nibbling at this fat carcass, the Golden Island! Bradford s share was far more generous than even he had dared to hope! < We need you, Paul, to direct our literary bureau, and in all our general operations. We are going now to keep judiciously quiet and swing the whole resources of Alaska! Herron figures that we are invincible, but, my boy," said the careful statesman, "I am not so sure about the loophole in that cursed last formal treaty of March 3, 1870! It gives a color to any old Russo- Amer ican claims prior to October 18, 1867! Anything later than that is barred by my grants and patents and our possession! But if the greedy Russians should unearth this secret, some Muscovite adventurer might unload a wagonful of papers at the State Department, and make a great public clamor ! We could not stand it ! You know, I have been a little precipitate in this title of ours! " The smug publicist smiled! "What would you do in such a case?" cried Paul, his golden eagles seeming to spread their wings, in sud den flight. Oh! Buy them in, of course! There is enough up there for us all! Compromise is the only course in all delicate affairs, from stealing a realm like Alaska, to meeting a pouting beauty s sudden raids] Our strong syndicate will be self-sustaining, quiet and effective! Soft and easy goes far, you know! Raymond and his aid-de- 344 THE PRINCESS <! A I ASKA. camp will be both trusted and watched! So, we will probably now work the island as a placer mine, till we have skimmed off enough to put up a huge stamp mill, and that will take us several years, as we wish the title to run, before investing a cool million dollars in costly machinery! Keeping all these outsiders away, though, we can head off any claimants If /am not in the Sen ate, < the mantle of Elijah will descend upon Elisha! Our syndicate is political, as well as commercial! We propose to perpetuate our secret rule in Alaska! Now, my dear boy, your apparent journalistic duties will give you an excuse for social leisure and relaxation. You have well earned a well-deserved winter of enjoyment! Be prudent in showing, in your swelling state, your sud denly acquired fortunes! Remember the wisdom of the serpent! Ah! a thought occurs to me!" the Senator smiled softly, "you are yet young impressionable!" His voice sank into a winning smoothness of personal reminiscence. "Never trust a woman; if you do, you will be betrayed! The experience of Samson, a mighty man of war, with the bright-eyed daughter of the Philistines has been extended and varied in many, alas! too many modern instances! " Paul Bradford, wandering along and jingling the double eagles in his pockets, laughed heartily at the Solon who had evidently intertwined his laurels with the fragrant myrtle! "A great statesman! A giant intellect! A colossal fraud!" mused Paul, waving his cigar, in parting salute, as his patron and partner vanished, in stately guise! "And that thing is a Senator of the United States!" was the finale of Bradford s soliloquy, as he sought in the dim recesses of "Martin s," a very raffing dinner, at which the fair owner of a pair of roguish, sparkling eyes THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 345 toasted her beloved Paul in drinking to the cruise of the "Panther!" The Senator s admonitions went the way of all advice! For Bradford varied his abstinence to please his own Deli lah, and the Senatorial warning was entirely forgotten, as lie drank the Wine of Life, with Love s sparkling bub bles breaking on the glass of Time! Bradford s sad case was another illustration of well meant counsel gone astray! It was two years after busy Raymond and his hench men began to scoop up the scattered gold, drifted into the hollows of Douglas Island, when the long, looked- for day of Vera Orlof s "promotion" brought new life to the circle that vainly waited at Dresden for even one word trom the mysterious prison place of Gregory Max- utoff! Though loyal Dimitri Narychkine had exhausted every secret channel of information; though, at faithful Vera s bidding, he had used his gold, with lavish hand, it seemed impossible to pierce the veil of secrecy which still clung to Prince Gregory Maxutoff s place of exile! 11 Alas! Asia is a human hive, Vera! " wrote the lover. "We have there fifty subordinate principalities, and a hundred outpost camps. A secret creeping onward of our merchant spies, our disguised officers and political agents always precedes the roving Cossacks who prick up sudden quarrels, thus fleshing their thirsty lance points! After them there always travels an organized force, then fort and town finally fall into our hands! It is the great Propaganda of mighty Peter and the bold-eyed Catherine, twin imperial aggressors! I do know, how ever, that the Prince is still alive! That he stoutly maintains his innocence, and, singularly enough, that no formal report TN\\\\ proofs has ever yet been filed with the j|/) I II 1. 1 UP. ALASKA. Department of Secret Justice, by Count Fersen, or that Tartar devil, Prince Serge Zubow! /.ubow has not been heard from for a year! And Count Fersen holds the mat ter tied up in the Emperor s private cabinet! I do not believe that they dare face Maxutoff, if the matter can be rightly called up! But when I come, darling, to claim you from the Empress, then, make it your last boon to beg the noble Czarina to break the seals of silence, and to have Gregory Maxutoff brought on to Petersburg for trial!" It was on his homeward journey to receive the justly earned rank of Minister Resident, that, even in the bliss of his approaching wedding to the dainty girl who was now to make, bv her marriage, Stephan Orlof, the bright, brave lad, chief of his line, that Narychkine tar ried at Dresden. With the aged Butzow, he sought now to still cheer up the pallid White Rose, and to promise her husband s restoration in due time! "You will find they must finally discharge him!" he said. "I shall not lire to see it, Dimitri," gently said the one to whom all hearts ministered. "I will meet him, only beyond the grave! I feel it! I know it!" There were tears in the pleading eyes of beautiful Countess Olga, who brought lovely Irma, now the light of the darkened home, to her mother s side. "Ah! My child! Yon will see happier days, there, by the Neva, under the gracious Czarina s care!" sighed Beatrice. "You go to the side of Russia s Em press! The years will be only an enchanted dream for you, in the bright laughing circle of the Catherine Insti tute! And, darling one, you will have Stephan, for as cadet page of the Empress, you can always receive //////. To him, the guarded doors are ever open ! And you know, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 347 my little princess of Alaska, / have promised to come, after your first year, to kiss the gentle Czarina s hand, and, //// then, Countess Olga and myself, will only have the great artist s fame to live on here! Arthur is our only mainstay now! " "My dear Princess, you must brush aside these dark forebodings! He shall be saved! Remember, I will have the Emperor s confidence! / can aid you, when / am Vera Orlof s husband, when / am a Russian Minister"! In echo of this cheery voice, Arthur Randolph, his dark eyes fixed on the gentle girl at his side, joined the gallant and earnest Narychkine in the future promise of brighter days. "I know it! I feel it, that we shall all meet again, in the happy hour when Prince Gregory shall receive justice, pardon, and regain the Czar s favor! As for Irma, the very happiest day of my life, will be when she comes to her own! For, the moment when Prince Gregory is safe, I shall secretly return to Alaska! Our Government must, duly recognize these grants and just claims, but first, we are sworn to open that prison door which we can not now find! " The years had brought to Arthur Randolph a just meed of fame, and in his secret heart, the artist whose name was rising, star-like, to the zenith, waited only for the hour of Irma s majority to speak words which would bring the rosy light of life s love-crimsoned blushes to the gentle maid en s cheek! The path which led her on to an Empress side, to the bright scenes of her court service, showed him in his dreams, a fair young face, waiting for him, with shining eyes of love! " When she has seen her father freed, when she can speak as a woman, when the public recognition of the Em press has restored her title and station, then " In his roseate dreams, Arthur Randolph nevei thought of 348 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the gulf which might separate an Empress favorite from a simple artist! But his loyal heart told him in every throb of its many life tide that the unfolding flower, the sweet Princess of Alaska, should be his alone! In her cau_e, he would fight on to the bitter end! For, even in far off Dres den, the rumors of the treasure trove at Golden Island, reached Randolph, who had secretly watched the course of the great syndicate! "Irma shall have her own, but nothing can be done until her majority, unless, her injured father can face in victory! the secret cabal, who pulled him down, in his hour of pride!" Partner of these secret plans, the fair Countess, whose world-famous picture was the star of the studio whereon Arthur, proud-hearted, followed the star of his rising fame, the grateful sister of the heart, Olga Orlof, cheered that hour when Irma and Stephan were both conducted to St. Petersburg by Dimitri Narychkine. It was in their quiet home seclusion, that the three friends marvelled over the stately festivities of the splendid nuptials which joined the great houses of Narychkine and Orlof ! The Maid of Honor was a happy bride, the fairest of the fair! Vera Orlof was now hailed as the most for tunate of all the patrician Maids of Honor of the Empress! Two weeks after the wedding, which was graced by the august mistress whose merry favorite was now a personage of state, with a strange new light on her brow, Countess Olga flashed into Arthur s studio, a vision of happy, glow ing beauty! " You have good news! " cried Randolph, as he sprang up at the sight of the beautiful Countess! "I came to you, at once, Arthur! I dared not breathe a word to Beatrice, lest there may be another cross of Fate in store! But listen! !" With her voice thrilling with eager happiness, Olga Orlof read the words of the spirited Vem ; THE PRINCESS .OF ALASKA. 34Q " This first, the very first letter, since our return from Tsarskoe Zeloe, is to tell you that Dimitri has been named Minis ter to Greece It will not be gazetted for some weeks, but the C/ar received us most graciously, and I am the very happiest woman in Russia! I went, at once, to see your Irma, who is already the favorite of the good Czarina! And to you, beloved Olga, I can say that little Stephan looks every inch an Orlof, in his dainty cadet uniform! He bids to be as handsome as my Uncle Fedor!" The filmy sheet trembled in Olga s hands. Arthur knew that her mind was far away where the husband of her heart was still sleeping in exile! In a broken voice she resumed: " I am on the eve of a last masterstroke in the matter of Prince Gregory, and Dimitri bids me to urge you to keep everything from Beatrice till we have gained the final vic tory! Life is a strange mystery! When I had joined the Empress alone, after ze/^had both been presented to receive from the Imperial Consorts the news of Dimitri s appoint ment, I was made bold by my great happiness! I threw myself at the feet of the Empress, and begged her to re member the four years of darling Beatrice Maxutoff s agony of suspense! I was headlong and successful, in my pleading, for as we left the Czar, the master of ceremonies ushered in Count Fersen, still riding on the wave of his master s favor!" "I spoke of that often-demanded report, which never yet has arrived, of the delayed trial, which may be cut off at any time by poor Maxutoff s death! When I had finished, the Empress, in the boudoir, communed a half hour with the Czar, who then, recalled Count Fersen! This I learned from Milutin, who, as Captain of the Probajenskys, was Palace Guard Officer of the Day! My dear and honored guardian Empress returned, and startled me, when she said in a gentle voice: Vera! I hope you may always render us such loyal service! // is monstrous! 350 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. I learned from the truth, at last forced out of Count Fersen by the Emperor s direct question, that Prince Serge Zubow sailed for Khamschatka from Vladivostock, last year, and only the fragments of his wrecked vessel, dashed to pieces on Cape Lopatka, have ever been found! He was drowned with all his crew! No new commission has been ap pointed! But the Emperor has now ordered Fersen to submit a summary report, with proofs, to him personally within a month, and has ordered Prince Maxutoff here for trial! It will be a secret investigation! " Fersen was dismayed at the Czar s positive orders, the Empress told me, and stammered: Sire! I know nothing, / ;/ person, of these alleged misdeeds, for / was in St. Petersburg when tliey occurred! The Czar was greatly incensed, and bluntly said: t Then a grievous wrong has been done! And I will have Gregory Maxutoff brought at once back here! If you can not criminate him, I will make a public restitution, for there seems to be even nothing to pardon! Why was this man Zubow s death con cealed from me? " " So, dearest Olga, if this blessing of God comes to us at last, you may soon have good news! Dimitri will have two months to wait here and receive instructions! He will watch this favorable opening like a lynx! And I only fear that the secret of Prince MaxutofTs downfall may have died, with this wretch, Zubow! Can it be that Count Fer sen fears the Czar s anger, now? Ah! my God! What can replace the blasted years of poor Beatrice s sad life! The innocent Prince, loaded with infamy, and bearing this injustice alone, lingers far away, in those burning Asian sands! How many aching hearts are thrilled, when the prisoner s pale lips murmur: * If the Czar only knew! I wait with bated breath for any good news, and you, now hold Beatrice Maxutoff s very life /;/ your own dear hands! She must never know until we can say to her: The long THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 351 night of sorrow is past! Gregory is free! He is proved innocent! " And together, Arthur Randolph and the fair woman with the steadfast heart of grateful love, thanked God that there was a rift in the clouds, at last! Arthur Randolph gazed with moistened eyes at the sweet face of his secretly loved Irma Maxutoff! His voice trembled as he fondly said. " May God s grace give back her father to our little Prin cess of Alaska!" "Amen!" fell from the lips of gentle Olga Orlof! 352 TIIK ! K1\< I.SS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER XIII. ZUBOW S CRUISE IN THE KURILES! LIGHT AT LAST! "HAST EN WITH THE PARDON! " A BELEAGURED CAMP THE CZAR S MESSENGER LOVfc S CROWN OF SOR ROWS ! FAITHFUL TO THE LAST! THE SEAL OF INNOCENCE TOO LATE? Two weeks after Vera Narychkine s exciting letter, the venerable Baron Butzow hobbled into the drawing-room where the Maxutoff family circle awaited the butler s sum mons to dinner. There was that, in his face, which caused the watchful Countess Olga to signal Arthur Randolph to lead Princess Beatrice to the table. Another eddy in life s strange current! " Only a moment! On your private business! " said the veteran diplomat. He was an adept at these short turns of life! When they were alone the Baron offered a blue telegraph strip. "The train d express passes at eleven o clock. You have still time! // is from Vcral You must go! " Olga Orlof gasped as she said: " To Petersburg?" and her eyes read the fateful message: " Report filed. Dimitri has made discoveries. // must be met! Come at once. Bring Arthur! Victory in sight! " The paper tape fell from her hands. " I fca, this ordeal!" she shuddered. * My dear child," gravely said Butzow, " with the Nary chkine s influence and this brute Zubow s lips sealed in death, you can boldly face Count Fersen! He has his own future at stake now. You do not know Dimitri. He is very able. A very Greek in his adroitness! Now, is your time! While Vera is in her daily association with the Empress! You have a very natural excuse for your voy- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 353 age, to visit your son. It is for the sake of Beatrice! Make this supreme effort! Think of the little Princess of Alaska! Alone in the world! For her mother is, even now, but a graceful shade!" " Shall /make your travel arrangements? W/7/ Arthur go on with you? " The old noble s eyes shone in entreaty. " I willface the past once more," Olga slowly said. " I must conquer the pledged resolutions of my bitter widow hood. The days at Baranoff, when I was friendless and alone, must never be forgotten! And as you say, dear Baron, I must be a real mother to Irma soon! " For the prophetic lights of another world shone out in Beatrice Maxutoff s brow. It was, day by day, more sadly plain to all, that the returning wave was gentler, faint ert that the current of her being, broke softly on the farther shore! " I will send Arthur at once to you, / can explain to Beatrice that a formal legal conference is necessary for Stephan s rights and future before the Narychkines go to Athens. Thus, she can not be mentally disturbed until we have passed through night to light and I will come here with my Anna Ivanowna and guard this dear helpless one till you return," said the hearty Baron, now over joyed. "Always the same dear, loyal old kinsman! " murmured Olga, with shining eyes, as she joined the now anxious Beatrice. When, at their parting, the White Rose threw her arms around the beautiful, resolute Countess, her tremulous whisper told Olga that the gentle deceit availed not against the second sight of sorrow! " Let me know the whole truth as soon as you can, dearest! All that I may hope! There is nothing left to fear now! " Soft as the falling dews of night, that gentle voice of innocence touched Olga s very inmost heart. In silence 354 " PRINCESS "i ALASKA. she drew the watcher to her throbbing bosom, and mur mured: " Our only trust is in the good Czarina! " When Countess Olga Orlof swept at last across the threshold of the great granite family keep, on the Nevsky, her heart beat wildly with memories of the olden time. At her side, Arthur Randolph stood wondering at the luxuri ance of Asiatic spoil which decked the mighty entrance hall. With exquisite delicacy, Vera Narychkine s instant welcome gave the widowed Countess not a moment to cast a glance at the spot where on the huge tiger skins, Stephan, the old Boyar, had gasped and died in the years long gone by. There was a waiting circle at the princely table, of the bright- faced women Court comrades of the most charming ambassadress in the Czar s service. While Arthur Randolph, led by the courteous Dimitri, inspected later the treasures of the old feudal mansion, Olga felt herself,/*?;- the first time, an Orlof, in very truth. There was a spirit of sisterhood in the graceful women who clustered round her, which breathed a welcome from loving hearts touched with her sad story. In the grand hall of state, Vera Narychkine paused before a rich velvet curtain. There were eagerly ex changed glances, as drawing the cord, the hostess said with gentle pride to her guests: "My Uncle Fedor! The ideal guardsman! " When through the mist of happy tears, Olga could turn her eyes from her own beloved Fedor s face, she sprang forward in delight, and turned to seek the artist Arthur. But the worker of the magic had flown! Beside the other, was an exquisite picture of the spirited little chief of the great clan, in his imperial page dress. The secret of Randolph s exclusion of his beloved chatelaine for a month, from the studio, was now told in the laughing pictured face of the gallant boy! PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 355 "To-morrow you will go to him! and to our Irma! But to-night, you belong to me! " As the brilliant circle left the grand hall, the strains of solemn music were heard. They seemed to hover near as if chanted by spirit voices in the air. " Our private chapel /" gently remarked Vera Narychkine, and her companion knew intuitively that the great library where the drama of Fedor s life reached its impressive tragedy, was hallowed in God s service by the memory of the grand old Boyar wJio had so sadly died there! The great Orlof house was all silent, when, in Vera s boudoir, the two men joined the anxious allies of distant Beatrice. The servants had departed, and in a low voice, Dimitri Narychkine told the story of the present state of MaxutofPs case. "My friends!" the young Minister began, " our action must be vigorous, immediate, and yet without a trace of resentment against Count Fersen! After the gracious Czarina has exerted her whole influence to right poor Gregory MaxutofPs wrongs, the Czar alone can decide! I have watched the Interior Department like a lynx since the order for the special report was given to Fersen! As it was marked for the Czar s personal attention alone, I learned that the report, handed iri a week ago, had been stamped and sealed, for the Privy Council, duly receipted for and numbered, and it fell to my Cousin Boris, who is a Private Chamberlain and Extraordinary Counsellor of State to open it, docket it and//#r<f it in the Portfolio of the Emperor, reserved for his personal use! "Warned by me, Boris memorized it! For his life, he dared not copy a single word! Fersen now disclaims all knowledge of any personal corruption on Governor Gen eral Maxutoff s part. In fact, he frankly states that he had just approved the accounts of the Alaskan regime of the accused! He refers impartially to the total loss of the archives when the fur ships were wrecked, and then rests "i. PfttMCtSS ftf ALASKA. his final charges on the negligence of Gregory MaxutofT, and his flat disobedience of orders in not sending an escorting frigate with the fur ships, duly placing naval officers, in charge of each, and a guard on board! This positive disobedience of orders, he alleges to have been the primal cause of their total loss! One cargo being wrecked on the Kuriles, then the other was made way with by irre~ sponsible citizens on board! The death of Zubow, who would have been able to sustain the other charges is refer red to, and also the unfortunate demise of the Russian Consul who forwarded the delayed secret instructions to Prince Maxutoff, by order of the Minister at Washington! This is all that we have to meet, and the Czar may call it up on any day now! It is a mercy of God that you, Countess Olga and Randolph, were both at Sitka, and that you can swear to the facts that the fur ships left before the war vessel Rurik arrived, with the vital delayed instructions! " "Certainly!" cried the pilgrims from Sitka. "Our returning steamer exchanged signals with the * Rurik leisurely moving north but only near San Francisco! The fleet had already gone, as Sitka Harbor was overcrowded, and the populace going home were anxious to be transfer red to Russia! The fur ships really left, at once, on our departure! And it was Captain Linieff, of this delayed vessel, the Rurik, who took Prince Maxutoff later over to th: mouth of the Amur! " " We are then saved! Please God, Prince Gregory shall stand before the Czar yet, in honor! " Dimitri grasped Countess Olga s hands in joy, "Listen! I have been in telegraphic communication with the Secretary of Legation at Athens, and I look over all the despatches at the Foreign Office daily! Two days after Vera told me of the Czar s order, I noted the arrival of the Rurik, under Captain Linieff, at Athens, bound for Sevastopol and the Crimea, to THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 357 refit it there after a long Arctic service! I wrote to Linieff, who is to come here at once for his presentation on his new rank of Commodore, and I gave him the whole facts of this mysterious trouble! Gallant fellow! He telegraphed back to me at once! I took the orders up long after the fleet and ships had sailed. Have a man on my ship now, who was with Zubow on the Kuriles! Most important. Am coming to the capital at once. Search despatch books. Foreign Office. This closes our proof of Gregory s innocence. " Acting on this hint, I got an order to be allowed to look over the Washington despatches, and the returned San Francisco Consulate Records! There, in due order, I find that the Minister at Washington positively ordered the despatches to be sent to Maxutoff by Captain Linieff. He states that The Rurik is the swiftest of the fleet! Now I have found an ordinary Consular despatch from San Francisco, to the Minister at Washington, saying: The heavy supplies for the Amur are at last on the Rurik. I have detained her here, as she is the last ship of the year. This fixes the responsibility! " " It is clear that, as the fleet sailed five weeks before the Rurik left San Francisco, Prince Maxutoff could not have received these orders! The trouble seems to have been that after they were forwarded by Imperial despatch- bearer with the Legation bags to Washington, and endorsed per Rurik] they lay for weeks in the hands of the Chancellor of the Consulate at San Francisco. Linieff alone can say w/io gave them into his hands and with what orders! On ////>, the whole case will lurn! He will be here at daybreak!" "Prince Narychkine!" cried Randolph, a light breaking in on his brain, at last, "Zubow was at San Francisco, and later at Victoria, and came in at Sitka on the Nevsky beforefae. frigate Rurik. I have heard the late Consul at San Francisco always spoken of as an able and singularly hon- 23 358 I "I. i K;\ ifiSS K ALASKA. est man, personally ! The bribing of the Chancellor to delay the stores, hold the despatches, and thus enable Zubow and Fersen to ruin Maxutoff was probably the Tartar s work! The Consul was tricked, the Czar robbed, and our poor friend Gregory, utterly ruined! " Olga, beautiful Olga, clasped Vera to her breast. The story of the past was bitterly sad! "And it was for me, for my little Stephan, that the Gov ernor General quarreled with that fiend Zubow! And also to save your Uncle Fedor, my husband, from the lash! Ah! Fatal happiness of that fleeting year! Is it thus a merciful God rewards the noble protector of the helpless? " " Wait, Olga! " the flashing-eyed Vera cried, " our Czar is just! He can pardon! The Empress too will urge our suit! But how shall we hasten the pardon? " " Go, darling, to the Palace to-morrow, with Olga and Arthur! He can wait in the great ante-chamber I know that the Empress will send at once for our Sitka proofs! I will watch every moment of the Czar s morning, and Boris shall offer him the Fersen report, with the remark that Commodore Linieff (in waiting) begs an audience to say that he can prove the Governor s innocence! / will bring Linieff up to the Winter Palace, and not leave him till the Empress has told the Czar all truth! " They parted in hopefulness to await the issue of the day of days for the lonely prisoner in the burning Asian deserts!- Olga Orlof was as beautiful and stately as a marble queen when she entered with beating heart, when the day of trial wore on, the Winter Palace, led by Vera Narychkine, whose innate bravery was but a trust in her gracious Empress! The weird dreams of her first night in the Orlof mansion left Countess Olga as pale and worn as a watcher at the tomb! In her glorious sapphire eyes trembled the reflection of tears, shed in bit- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 359 ter sorrow, for the living who bore the burden of ignominy for her sake, and for the dead who lost his life for the fleet ing joys of her heart love! And yet, sad as the past was, shadowed with sorrows, before her rose the rosy face of the robust little heir of the Orlofs, and the virginal sweet ness of the gentle Princess of Alaska, whose sorrows were swept away in the lovely circle of the patrician maids of the Catherine Institute! " Life offers to them nowite crown of roses and thorns! Its cup of gall and honey! " It was with a prayer for these bright young loved ones, in all the splendid promise of their youth, that the dethroned singer, the convict s widow, a Countess, by the waywardness of Fate, passed into the Imperial presence! Vera whispered: "Be brave now! for Linieff and Dimitri are already in audience!"" When an hour later the re-united friends sought the shelter of their stately home, bronzed and joyous, with a ring of triumph in his voice, Commodore Linieff pointed to the cross the Emperor had taken from his own breast! For loyalty to the truth! For gallant service! For unearthing the villainy of this dead fellow Zubowl He seems to have imposed on my delegate Count Fersen, Com modore, as well as upon myself! " The telegraph was already invoked to speed along from Astrakhan the full pardon of the Emperor! "I shall send an Imperial Courier to Madame Maxutoff, at Dresden, to receive such letters and greetings as she may wish to send to her injured husband! He is at the Headquarters of the Expeditionary Force at Khokan! I shall receive Prince Gregory Maxutoff in a special audience upon his arrival, and I will try to repair the past! He shall serve me long in honor, in happier days! To you, Narych- kine, I speak with pride as the son of one of my brother officers in the Guards! Your gallant father drew his sword with me for Russia, in the Caucasus! " 360 1 Ml PRINCESS OF ALASKA. With these ringing words, the autocrat of all the Russias dismissed the supplicants. "I shall have the crews of the two vessels searched out, and all returned to Sevastopol! There, I shall order an official inquest to search out every corner of this great vil lainy! The Minister of the Interior and of Foreign AfTairs shall make a special report, for it seems that Count Fersen has been s\stematically hoodwinked! " The Czar s face was very stern as he directed his secre tary to summon Count Fersen tor personal explanations. Around the table in the grand banqueting hall of the Orlof s, the circle of the evening was the happiest on the Neva. For Arthur Randolph, it was the gateway of a lover s heaven! The sturdy little chief of the Orlofs sat in state between the dainty Ambassadress and Countess Olga! The personal command of the Czarina to Madame Maxu- toff to rejoin her husband on his arrival would break up the dream which made Randolph oblivious to even the hard- ivon pardon. For, in the delicate, dreamy eyes of the little Princess of Alaska, there was a light new to the artist, who had seen the flower of her being slowly unfold, at his side. Frankly cordial, her heart thrilled with the happiness of her noble father s regained freedom, her eyes dropped shyly, and the blushes of her cheek betrayed the sweet consciousness of the awakening of life s spring! The lonely girl drinking in the artistic spirit of her companion of years, had learned, with a sudden start of self -consciousness, that an invisible Ariel with magic wand had kept them long tenderly apart! Dimitri Narychkine was diligently unravel ling the meshes of the intrigues of the past with Commo dore LiniefT, while Olga and Vera planned for the future reception of Beatrice Maxutoff. " I dare not be absent longer from her, lest the flood of this sudden good fortune overwhelms her. We will go back to Dresden to-morrow, Arthur," said the Countess, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 361 " So soon? " cried Irma, with one glance at Arthur which revealed the loving heart beating fondly behind the bosom s jealous concealment. "Only to quickly return, my Princess! gaily answered Arthur, "for we will #//be here at the home- coining fA your father! I must understand fully the secret of the missing fur cargoes, for even Beatrice will be eager to know of the methods of this villiainy." "It is simple enough!" answered the , Commodore. " Zubow had creatures of his own on each vessel. Under pretense of repairs, the first vessel put in at the lonely Kurile Island, where the Nevsky lay in waiting. The first cargo was secretly discharged and, in junks, taken to Japan, whence it safely reached Europe later in the thieves hands. Sailing in company, apparently for Nagas aki, the first vessel was run ashore designedly, and Zubow took off the crew! The merchant officers received their share of the spoil, in kind, the men were simply drafted into Zubow s service, and he took good care to leave them later in Khamschatka whence they could not depart without a home passport which he denied on varied pretexts! * Standing boldly down the Pacific, the other vessel, moored in Esquimalt Harbor, was unloaded, and the richest cargo ever sent to Europe was trans-shipped through Amer ica! It was a propitious time, for the Russian squadron never entered an English port, and there was no Muscovite official left in Alaska after the Governor s departure! The only war vessel left in the North Pacific, the Rurik, was on its way to the Amur, and the Russian Asiatic squadron had wintered in South Japan. It is clear that fear alone kept the officers and men who finally traced out Prince Zubow s villainy, silent y for he enjoyed the dignity of Governor of Khamschatka, and none of these awkward witnesses could leave the peninsula to which he had sailed with his own, and the stolen vessel. Not a soul on the Pacific ever 362 TUT, I KIXCTSS OK ALASKA. dreamed of Prince MaxutofPs dangerous position, of the secret accusations of Fersen and Zubow, and of the Gover nor General s yfr/<7/ ruin! The ignorant sailors never ques tioned the Prince s proceedings, the officers were well bribed to hold their tongues, and none of them, even, could return to European Russia, or leave the land of icy vol canoes, Khamschatka, without Zubow s own passports! " But when his ship the Nevsky was missing with him and his whole staff on board, when the fleet despatch cor vettes returned for the season, having seen the Nevsky in the stormy Ochotsk, and the last boat reporting the Governor as Missing, General Dachkof ordered me to skirt the coast at once with my powerful steamer and ascertain the fate of the Nevsky . "The few survivors who struggled through the wild breakers on the awful night when Prince Zubow perished miserably, were living on lichens and fish, with the squalid natives of gloomy Cape Lopatka! The death of fierce Zubow loosened the tongues of the men who were his bond slaves fio longer! I brought them all down to Nikolaevsk, and General Dachkof s sagacity soon penetrated the mys tery of Maxutoffs disgrace! Loving Gregory and fearing the smothering of the truth by the all-powerful syndicate of Zubow s friends, he sent the most intelligent men quietly home with me, and has since reduced the testimony of the others to writing. K<?wr letters at Sevastopol, and your warning telegram prevented me, perhaps, divulging this to those who might have warned Count Fersen and Phillifpi! The villainy of these two cormorants of the Arctic, is a disgrace to the Czar s government! The shore natives of Siberia are continually kept in terror and brutalized by these \)Q\<\ fur pirates. " There are many other crimes which stain the memory of the man whose requiem is howled by the wild winds of the Qchotsk. His own body was never found. It was ground THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 363 in the fangs of the cruel rocks of the terrible coast! But what awful secrets died with him! This man tells me that Zubow and a refugee named Lefranc dogged and spied upon Prince Maxutoff s expedition searching for gold! They landed on the island which he had selected and secretly watched his parties for days! " The Commodore abruptly ceased, for Countess Olga s fair head fell on her bosom in a sudden swoon of fright! She knew at last, the brutal revenge of Zubow! And of the coward hands that wrought Fedor Orlof s death! The sad story of the past was unravelled before the loving v?o- man sobbed herself to sleep! As Countess Olga passed out the next day from under the great granite arch of the Orlof mansion, her homeward voyage was blessed with beautiful Vera s last whispers: The sorrows of the past have now all faded away Dear one, you have broken the spell! You have brought back happiness to our Beatrice! Look at your own Ste- phan! The Empress has already asked for him at the Corps des Pages! Around our darling Irma, the Czarina s love will cling as a mantle, and she has Dimitri, you and I, as weU as Arthur!" The beaming bride finished with a mocking smile, for the artist seemed to have left his heart behind, when the great doors of the Catherine Institute swallowed up the reluctant little Princess of Alaska. " I suppose we will #//come back, when Prince Gregory arrives!" reflectively said Randolph, as he bade adieu to the provoking young ambassadress. His mird was already fixed on a certain hoped-for future meeting with Irma!-- " Naturally, the Maxutoffs must be presented together to the sovereigns who have vowed to repair the years sacri ficed to Zubow s dark crimes! " But the teasing patrician Vera said gravely: " An artist whose name is already known from Washing- 364 I UK I KIM KSS OF ALASKA. ton to the salons of Paris, Berlin, Munich and Dresden, a man whom even the Italians can say is not a slave to Ger man art, a man worthy of the best French modern schools laurels, will be kept very busy in his studio! " " I might come if you asked me ! " said t^e artist doubt fully! " All lovers are blind in their pre-occupation! " Oh, by all means then, you must come! Dimitri, you know, will be so glad to see you! He has taken a great fancy to his American brother! " The two ladies exchanged very meaning glances, as Ar thur Randolph departed without leaving any further greet ing for that glowing young beauty, the Princess of Alaska! A singular omission ! Countess Olga Orlof wondered at the strange calmness of Princess Beatrice Maxutoff herself under the joyous news of her husband s pardon! The flame of life flickered but feebly within her worn frame! Baron Butzow omin ously shook his head! " Olga, I can not understand Beatrice! She seems as if only dazed by the good news! I do not think that she will ever realize his liberation until she meets him! And then I almost fear for the result! This crowning mercy is of the kind that either kills or cures! Which will it be? Ah! Russia! Russia! I can see now that had any cool, honest man, not allied to the great Siberian schemers, gone out to the North Pacific, the innocence of Piince Gregory would have been at once manifest! Even brave old Dachkof would have ferreted it out, but he was powerless in Kham- schatka, and the treachery at San Francisco, with Zubow s holding back all his poor underlings in his own jurisdiction made it impossible to reach the truth! " Only the unexpected death of the Tartar Prince could loosen the tongues of the servile agents used in that stu pendous villainy! I can see that every movement was THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 365 planned to forestall the Czar s kindness to Maxutoff! The fatal mistake was not to have ordered two frigates to have convoyed the Governor General, his suite, the fur ships and the property home! Then, in the honorable hands of navy officers, the whole would have been safe! It is but one more proof of the utter failure of Russia s bureau sys tem! It will all be different when the telegraph and rail reach the Pacific ^at Vladivostock! The Ariel and Puck of modern civilization will then be twin defenders of the Czar s interests! Alas! Beatrice! Sweet White Rose of Sitka! Your sorrows, your appealing, accusing eyes will soon be to friend and foe but a graceful memory! For, not even haughty Peter s heir can give back these wasted years of undeserved sorrow, of unmerited shame! Not even the Czarina s necklace of half a million in matchless pearls can outweigh these years of Life and Love lost for ever! " " Better had Gregory and Beatrice lingered together, under the northern lights, reaping only the fancied harvest of Hope! Sweet Irma! Unhappy Princess of Alaska! Your sovereigns should hold you now tenderly at heart, as the ward of sorrow, a dainty child born to April s smiles and tears! " And Olga and Arthur lovingly waited, silently eyeing each other, for weary weeks to hear the summons to the home-coming in honor of poor Gregory Maxutoff! While doubts and fears reigned alternately with cheering hope, over the expectant circle at Dresden, and even Princess Maxutoff s gentle eyes bore an unvarying question in their sad gleams, far away, a thousand leagues away, a brave Russian general held with desperate valor the rude earthworks around the bazars of Khokan, against a mad struggle of the Turcomans to drive the white-capped Russ into the Jaxartes! The wild chiefs of Turkestan had met secretly in the far slopes of the Thian Shan, and led by the 366 i m PRINCESS or AI ASKA. Khan of Khokan, waited till the absence of heavy detach ments had weakened the cavalry brigade holding the very outposts of Russia s Asian frontier line! And then, the mad children of the desert swooped down, with fire and flame, on the divided invaders! Over the arid, burning, salt- crested plains, out of the alkaline bitter well pits, from be hind deserted mud-walled villages, and dashing forth from scattered oases, the wild riders triumphantly yelled, in a fierce joy, as they smote the enfeebled Muscovites with their heavy curved sabres! Assaulted at different points, the Czar s foot soldiers dug breastworks, and, from their shel ter, with their heavy rifles, decimated the ferocious brigands! The hardy Cossacks plied lance and revolver, and only died, when hacked off their horses, like tigers, fighting to the last, for the Czar! *But, starvation, thirst, and the failure of ammunition finally crippled the Russian generals! The valleys of the Oxus and Jaxartes swarmed with the manstealers in a great national revolt. The great hollow plain of the Caspian and Ural seemed lost to the Czar, and in this desert land, sweltering in tropic summer, Arctic in the fierce winters, the bare open plains gave no shelter to the organized Euro pean troops! The river meadows, the lean pastures, the scanty oases, were held by the Rebel Mohammedans, and all the western avenues to help and reinforcements were at last closed! Piles of the heads of the gallant Russian soldiers were ghastly signals ot"No Thoroughfare!" When, after the repeated failure of couriers to reach the outer columns, the Russian General shut himself up in Khokan, he realized that his two expeditionary com manders had been driven to bay like himself! With a strong hand, he seized the supplies of Khokan, expelled the rabble, and massing his mountain artillery for defense, placed the herds and animals under strong guards! II IK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 367 " It is now a siege to the bitter death! " cried the gallant General, as he rode back from a charge, his SWQI& red with blood, to his headquarters in the principal mosque! For he had loopholed the buildings, made convenient magazines of the rich mosques, and, at the sword s point, forced the treacherous Khokanese to barricade the streets and put the garden walls and cemeteries in a military fit ness for defense! "Water, a month s food, with the animals, we have! Powder, lead and our good swords! " He drove out the useless rebel population to live on his enemies, and then, issued the last decree of war, the dread order for "No Quarter! " While the Czar s flag flew proudly, in derision of the circling hosts who charged the lines daily. General Apraxin from the tallest minaret, where the Romanoff s ensign still wooed the breeze, gloomily watched at night the camp fires of the vast hosts gathered around him! It was late in the season! The harvests were all carried off or secreted, and with spear and knife, the maddened mob, expelled by his stern orders, aided in the HQvr frantic daily rush on the works where the Russians grimly killed their foes in silence! They forgot at last to cheer in victory for hope had fled! Still they swore to die for the Czar! - On the south, from the hostile Afghans, and the English , on the east, from the Chinese, no assistance could be hoped! They were secret foes exultant at this serious check to the Czar s flag! To the west, the valley of the Oxus was now firmly closed by the wild hordes of the Emir of Bokhara and the Khan of Khiva! A wild desire to sweep the Russian invaders into the Sir-Daria maddened the swarming fanatic horsemen of the plains! The conflict ceased not with day, when the Russian rifles held the fierce riders at d : stance! In the starlit nights, in the blackness of midnight, the fierce Mongol Turks charged $68 THK. PRINCESS OP ALASKA. in a terrible fury up to the very works! It was then, that the General and private fought, side by side, to repel these matchless riders of Turkestan! The children of the world s bravest fighters were drinking deeply of Russian blood! The peerless Genghis Khan, a world s hero, and his later kinsman, resistless Tamerlane, whose pyramid of skulls attested the swordsman s awful rule, had transmitted to these dauntless rebels the bravery which is the type of the Mongolidae! These hardy Turanians fought their Slavic foes with the ferocious courage common to the Uigours, as well as the Seljuk and Osmali Turks. For the Turkish Mongol, brave to a point of madness, has a common tongue and warlike nature from the Yakuts of the icy sea to the unspeakable Osmanli of Plevna! General Apraxin s brow was dark, as he gazed out on the thirsty plains where fiery Persian Iranian once met the undefeated Turanian, where Macedonian, Arab, Mongol, Russian, Chinese, Afghan and even the red-coated Eng lish, have battled since Christ s coming to hold the roof of the world, the blue-peaked Altai mountains: the key of Cen tral Asia! " I shall lose the Czar this army! I shall relax for Russia the hard won dominion of Turan!" groaned Apraxin, as he swept with his glass the lonely valley of the Jaxartes! For from the north he watched daily in vain for the gleam of Russian bayonets! He waited hopelessly for the rescuing columns from Tashkend! Day by day, the General lost the last vestige of hope! From his slender minaret he swept the eastern sandy battle plains! No sound of heavy guns boomed out to indicate the return of his two detached columns! "Even with them, I could only fight my way out! To give up Khokan is to betray the Czar! " Realizing that his knots of couriers, sent ten days before THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 369 to Tashkend had all been cut off and murdered, he closed his glass, after an hour s bitter mental struggle! "/ must call a council to-night! Either I must renew my past attempts to gain help at once from Tashkend, or blow up the magazines and retire down the Jaxartes, with these yelling hordes charging my rear guard fifty times a day! They will swarm on my flanks, despite the advance, and wear away my brave fighting men in the snapping, crackling zone of ever-living fire, which will hover moving around us! Could I hope to make the march of ninety-two miles to Tashkend, fighting my way, with my sick and wounded? " He dropped his head on his war-worn breast in de spair! Surrender meant death to all! His soldierly spirit rose, as reaching his disheartened staff, he sprang on his horse and headed a needed coun ter charge! The clouds of dust, whence red lambent flame darted out, the wild melee, with its screams of pain and yells of triumph, told that the lean brown dev ils were hurled on the lines again in their splendid recK- lessness of death! For it was a "holy war," and the white-veiled Dervishes rode to their death, knife in hand, struggling like jungle leopards in the toils! Behind a hard-held redoubt, before which lay mounds of the dead shaven Turcomans, in the gloomy silence of the night, where the only living thing heard was a stray charger who neighed ove.r his dead master, Apraxin and his officers, in whispers, counseled as to the last resort! At any moment, a mad rush of the foe might break off the conference! With ominous faces, the superiors lis tened to their stubborn General! " Any further suggestions!" the anxious chief paused, when they had all spoken. "It is one of two things, either, defense here to the last, or the continuous battle of 370 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. a moving column! If the division at Tashkend would make a forward movement so as to meet us half way, these circling hosts would soon vanish! We could pass on to recruit at Tashkend, and a strong fresh column push on //<wand hold this strong position! From Khojend, flying columns could chase off the surprised rebels! But, nothing less than a full regiment could fight its way through, and bring us help!" There was a pause. "Shall we vote, gentlemen?" Apraxin s breast was moved by an awful struggle. He had never abandoned a post in his thirty years of war! "Excellency, / have a soldier in my body guard who has once been a man of rank! " a gray-bearded Colonel said: "He has been now /cur years in the Aral valley and knows all the local dialects! He thinks that a few brave chosen men, dressed as camel drivers or buffalo herders, might descend the Jaxartes, drifting along at night on a raft, and lying in hiding by day, and well dis guised so as to deceive any wandering swordsmen! He has offered to tr\ and run the lines alone, but I would not consent! He is a very native in his appearance now! I have questioned him and he thinks the effort to push out small parties of mi I it a rv messengers on to Tashkend, was simply fatal to success! Now, if a half dozen of these disguised men were to try! He says he could get down to Tashkend alone in three davs! If he should live to meet the Russian outposts, help could be here in a wee&/\Ve could hold out till then!" "Good!" cried a dozen voices. "Let us make the attempt! Let us hold our lines firmly a week longer on the defensive, prepare our wounded, make ready, and if nothing is heard in ten days, then march out after destroy ing the defenses. " "Bring the man here!" the General ordered. "We will, at least, listen to him!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 371 And ten minutes later, in a simple soldier s ragged uniform, Gregory Maxutoff, once the Czar s proud Viceroy of Alaska, stood before the anxious circle! His stern eloquence had aroused the Colonel s faith! Now, lean and tigerlike, he thrilled the desperate officers, with the quiet decision of his plans! "I can select two or three comrades who have the same knowledge as / have! The men who have ridden the courier express for four years! I will stake my own life on the plan!" "You can do no more, even, for the Czar!" answered Apraxin. "Go! Get your men together, but only as volunteers! Return at once! Adjutant! You will see that this man has everything that can be done! Return here for your last orders/ What is your final plan?" "To dress myself as a Dervish, and underneath, wear the guise of a herdsman, taking with me a couple of skin air-bags, and then finding a log of driftwood, I can drift five miles an hour, hiding in the river s rushes by day! I will explain, if captured, that I fled from a knot of Rus sian wandering fugitives!" His sifnple earnestness impressed General Apraxin. "What is your name, my man? Your despatches will be all ready in an hour!" "I should start at once! 1 can get down to the river safely before midnight! They are quiet now! I wish to pass Khojend at night! Then, I can hide in the ravines of the Soralka and Djirhik, and reach the gardens of Tashkend safely! My companions will each follow on two hours later, taking opposite sides of the river!" The worn and wasted soldier waited the signal for action! "Stay! What is your name? 1 the General asked. " Gregory Maxutoff" replied the private. Apraxin sprang to the side of the forlorn-hope volun- 372 Tin: PRINCESS OF ALASKA. teer. " Not the man who was once a Governor?" he hoarsely whispered. Yc$i your Excellency! A convict now, reduced to the ranks!" "Go! In God s name! If yon reach Tashkent!, the Czar ////// self will reward you! You will save a Russian 11 1 will tr\ to do my duty!" simply answered the vol unteer, and, in the darkness, their hands met! They were both soldiers under fire! Two hours later, over the battlefield in its clinging shades of night, where skulker and jackal vied in prowling for prey or plunder, moving along on his hands and knees, the aristocratic Maxutoff, once a Czar s Viceroy, crawled through the nullahs, choked with the bodies of men and horses! A heavy native knife attached to his waist by a thong, a staff, a gourd for water, and the despatches concealed in his sandals soles, were the wanderer s slen der outfit for the desperate quest! The wallet of biscuit was his simple store of food for the long journey. It was three o clock, when, inflating the two skin bags he lightly carried, and clinging to a light palm trunk left stranded on a sandbar, the messenger of the Czar floated down in the current of the Sir-Daria, silently past the huddled outposts of the rebels! As he left the shore, he heard behind him only the scattering shots of night prowlers, and the howls of the jackals fighting over the grisly feast! For four long days, the roar of battle still raged around the walls and ledges of Khokan! The stubborn Russians, husbanding their own ammunition, only repelled positive assault and sallying out then, stripped the slain, and kept the rebels at bay during the day with their captured weapons and ammunition. A few well- THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 373 directed shots from the mountain rifled pieces broke up their charging columns of Turcomans! The infidel dogs are surely waiting for help . growled Abu-beg, the rebel chief, as he reined up his white Arabian to scan the daily strengthened lines ot the defenders! "But the dogs of the desert have fattened CP their dead messengers!" and he waved his fierce legions on again, in the name of Allah, to a glorious death! Through the streets of beautiful Tashkend, lying on the rich plain of the laralka, a mule-litter bore, that very day, a wounded, gasping fugitive, who, roughly bandaged, could only gasp, as his groans interrupted him. "To the General! For Life and Death! The gar rison of Khokan is beleagured! Despatches!" Before the sun was down, the great city in its ten miles of length and five of breadth, was alive with the muster ing squadrons. The hardy Russians sprang to their arms and sallied forth from the gardens and vineyards to the rescue of fighting Apraxin! Couriers at wildest speed had swept out already to consolidate the outposts, and push along a strong column to hold Khojend, until the long camel trains and mounted batteries could by morn ing be on the main road, backed up by the swinging masses of the bearded infantry soldiery! Strong guards controlled the excited bazars, and every hour the sing ing bugles told of the stern warriors departure for those fields where the sword of Peter would drink in revenge, the blood of the flower of the Asian chivalry? The brave General-in-Chief, before he rode out, leaving a grizzly lieutenant to hold the turbulent mob in an iron grasp, stood by the bedside of the wounded hero courier! "Your Excellency! He must not be disturbed! All depends, on quiet, now! He has a very deep lance 24 374 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. wound in his side, and is exhausted by fatigue and the great loss of blood." Does any one know him? He is a gallant fellow t" The Chief gazed around at his silent staff. " Attend him, as if he were the Czarevitch," he cried. "This man has saved the honor of the Russian army, if the column reaches Khokan, in time!" The Commanding General turned away, with a heavy sigh. " If he lives, he shall have the Grand Cross of St. riadimir for this! Find out his past history! The Czar shall reward him!" And the old soldier swept out to the field to smite and spare not! "He will never need earthly laurels, I fear!" said the kindly old Chief-Surgeon as the chief vanished. At the first outpost, the Governor-General found the only other survivor of the five volunteers! Three had been either captured or driven to the companionship of the desert beasts! " Who was your leader?" demanded the eager Com mander. With pride, the rescued soldier said: "The man who has given up his life to save your army over there, was once. Prince Gregory Maxutoff, the Governor- General of Alaska!" "If he lives, the Czar shall pardon him!" solemnly said the startled Chief, "I swear it! I heard that old story years ago! See that a special despatch be sent to Orenburg at once, to be telegraphed forthwith to the War Department on this subject." The Chief of Staff bowed, and calling an orderly officer wrote his instruc tions. "Forward!" ordered the Chief. "We must press on after the Cossacks I If they are thirty miles away now, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 375 by daybreak of the day after to-morrow, they will charge through that rabble! If our main body is half way over the desert, then the rebels doom will be quickly settled! The ravens had fattened on the bodies of thousands of the mad Turcomans before General Apraxiri, after his relief, gazed once more in the face of the Czar s heroic messenger, lying wounded at Tashkend! The two united outlying columns had been finally re lieved and United, and, far and near, with wild hourras , the Don Cossacks sabred the exhausted plainsmen, whose steeds were now worn out, and who were driven out to perish in the burning desert! In a great chamber of the depot hospital, a white- faced man, now fever-worn to a skeleton, lay scarcely pressing the hospital bed with his wasted frame! Gregory Maxutoff was slowly dying\ The afternoon sun streamed in through the rustling foliage of the rose- fragrant garden, an old harem of the conquered Khan! There was no sound in the bare room save the whisper of a circle of grave Generals, glittering in all the marks of the Czar s favor! It is for you, General Apraxin!" said the Com- mandef-in-Chief, "to tell him now of the Czar s pardon! Of his restored rank! You can tell him that his name will live in Russia as the man who saved a beleagured strong hold, and an exhausted veteran army! The let ter, the last message of his wife! He can not read it! Can we read it to him? " The Chief-Surgeon led the Commander aside to an ante-room. "He has only a half hour or an hour, at the most!" The General s voice was broken as he said softly: "Then, Apraxin must tell him all! He shall know of his pardon! Of his wife s undying love!" IHI. I KINVKSS 01- ALASKA. "It is well!-" the old Surgeon replied and bowed his gray head. " Hasten! for the sands of his last hour are running away! " The two victorious Generals and the Surgeon alone, bent over the pale sufferer, whose heaving breast now scarcely moved the light counterpane with his light breathing! At hand with restoratives, the eager physi cian waited with his faithful aids. "Do you know me, Prince Maxutoff!" gravely said Apraxin, as he held up in his hand the pictures of Max utoff s wife and child, the Princess of Alaska, whom another hour would make fatherless! The dying man fixed his lustrous eyes in eager mental attention upon the General who had called him "Prince" for the first time! "The Czar \\&s pardoned you! All is known at last! Your innocence is adjudged!" A gleam of light shone in the glazing eyes of the sufferer. "He sends you this!" And the brave old soldier laid his own grand cross, in Maxutoff s wasted hand! The thin fingers did not close upon it, but feebly plucked at the muslin coverlet! Maxutoff tried vainly to speak! The Surgeon sprang forward and moistened his pale lips. His glazing eyes told the story! It was 4 Too late! Hasten!" whispered the surgeon! In a tender voice Apraxin read the few burning lines of love traced by the hand of fond Beatrice Maxutoff, waiting lonely far away on the peaceful banks of the Elbe ! The glad light in the sufferer s eyes told that Love s Crown of Sorrows, the last greeting of his beloved, was silently accepted, that his heart thrilled still with her gracious memory! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 377 "Your spotless name, your heroic gallantry, will be the proud heritage of your child ! The Czar himself will be to her, a father! "- And Apraxin held up before the dying Prince, the pictures which showed him the dear one whose love had long made his earthly happiness, and the beautiful face of the little Princess of Alaska! The dying soldier struggled to rise. They lifted him gently, and, as his nerveless fingers strove to grasp the treasures offered to him, the seal of silence was at last broken! Bea trice ! Inn a ! Blessed loved ones Tell th em innocent!" and clasping in his dead fingers, the faces he had pictured in his heart for the four lonely, silent years of a convict s slavery the Czar s humblest messenger lay dead, with the light of a distant love shining on his pale soldierly face! " // is over!" said the Surgeon, as he led the stern old Commander away, whose tears now veiled the dead man s face! He was himself a husband and a father! I KIM. ESS 01 Al..\>k.\; CHAPTER XIV. VERA NARVCHKINE S CONFIDENCE AN ARTIST S ORDEAL -> THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA OLGA ORLOF s IMPERIAL FRIEND AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE S GALLERY RANDOLPH S NEW ORDER THE LOST HERIT AGE THE NEW RUSSIAN MINISTER. " I wonder what Madame Narychkine can mean by all this!" and Arthur Randolph smoothed his Vandyke beard impatiently. He was lying on a couch covered with a superb leopard skin, and his artist eye strayed idly around the most luxurious studio in Dresden! Randolph watched the white ash thicken on his cheroot before he found an answer to his own question. "I must see you at once alone! I can give you an hour, before the Ball! Come to the Legation at ten! Do not fail me!" Vera. The successful painter sprang up as lithe as a tiger, for a sudden thought had seized him. "Can it be? Let me see! It is six years since poor Maxutoff s death ! But Vera Narychkine has been stationed continuously at Athens! She will surely now see Irma soon at the Winter Palace! But, if Countess Olga is right, they have not met, since the great mockery of poor Gregory s funeral! What can it be? Some new sorrow? Does the curse of Zubow still linger?" He picked up the dainty billet of the very wittiest and most brilliant of Russia s woman champions in the world s diplomatic arena! "If there s a postscript, I suppose that the secret ot the riddle may be read there! Ah! Yes!" And, below the firm, slashing signature of Vera THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 379 Narychkine, he saw traced the astonishing words "This is to be, at once, a confidence and a warning! Not a word to Dimitri! " Randolph smiled in spite of himself! "She is finer than even Madame Ignatief, the fair Countess whose gentle manner so well covered the cool adroitness of the Muscovite diplomate. For long years, even in hostile London, that mistress of the highest ambassadorial craft, was supposed to be only a mere water lily, a graceful nullity, floating on the stagnant tide of fashion s rich flood! " He paced the room in a sudden disquietude! "It is, of course, in regard to Irma, that she would speak to me! We have no other secret! " His eyes rested lovingly on the treasures of that world- renowned studio, where even the kings of art now came to wonder and admire! Some subtle spirit of fire and flame had seemed to animate the spirited young American in his onward and upward career. Adored by his fellows of the craft, a romantic, self-contained, social mystery, Randolph was always a stranger to the swarming salons of the beau monde where the votaries of his genius would have gladly poured out the honey of their flattery ! Few men of thirty could so calmly ignore the soft advances of the haughty German aristocracy, the in cense of the women of that higher world whose cachet is a seal of modern nobility! But his splendid wolf dog, and his trusty Lithuanian blood horse,*were his only daily companions! "Is it that he absolutely hates our sex? " cried a pretty French Countess, snapping her pearl mounted fan in vexation, as Randolph turned away, at a grand ball, with grave but chilling courtesy from the whispered summons to her side, and resisted the invitation of her 380 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. sparkling eyes! The pretty Gaul seldom found the Sons of Adam callous to her charms! "He s a good fellow, Arthur, but I fancy that this studio life is not a fitting prelude to society! " answered Reginald Mowbray, of the English Legation, calmly appropriating the vacant chair. "I crossed the Atlantic once with him, when he returned from the old Admiral s obsequies! Afen find him a thorough-going character, but I fancy, Countess, that all your charming sex care for, is a man who dangles! Now, Madame, Randolph is really a serious fellow! Art is his mistress, he says, and trust me, he is spurred on by a hidden fiery ambition! For a Yankee, ver\ un communicative too! " And, so it was, that handsome, and already distin guished; a gold medallist and a man of a cosmopolitan renown, Arthur Randolph s social life was only a nul lity! A memory and a sigh! He had never reached out for newer friendships, since Countess Olga Orlof, called by new duties, left Dresden for St. Petersburg! Often, in his lonely walks, Randolph would pass the dear old house still sacred to the memory of ill-starred Princess Beatrice. Maxutoff ! It was in fulfillment of the promise made long years before under the northern lights, that Olga Orlof departed, at the wish of Princess Narychkine, to rule the storied old granite keep as its mistress! "I shall only have two children now, instead of one\ Arthur," gently answered the Countess, when Randolph dared to hint that in her own royal beauty of woman s meridian, she might link her life to that of some noble henchman of the Czar! "Alas! my friend, Love and 7 are strangers now! When Zubow struck down the head of the house of Orlof, he doomed me to a life of renunciation, to a lonely THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 381 widowhood, whose only crown of joy will be to see my poor Irma yet, a bright jewel of the Russian Court, and to know that Fedor Griefs son is the truest cavalier in the glittering ring, around the White Czar! You are the only brother of my heart! How can I ever repay you for the tender devotion of all these long years at Dres den! I shall watch your star shining on high in the skies of art, and, to my dying day, I can never forget the loyal, gallant American who defended our rights, even at the risk of his life! " From St Petersburg, Arthur Randolph learned all, in the sisterly letters of lovely Irma, now an especial pro- tege"e of the Empress: and from the constant bulletins of the magnificent Countess Olga, whose station near the Czarina was that of a lofty friendship! The famous artist sighed over the silent passing away of the White Rose of Sitka! In vain, the Czar had tendered new dignities, splendid honors, rich rewards and a most flattering public recognition to the widow of his faith ful Governor! The bond of the wedded years between the dead hero of Khokan and his tender wife was far too subtile for even the Summons of Death to sever! The beckoning of Gregory MaxutofPs loving hand called his helpmeet away to that silent land where serf and Czar are on a level of nothingness. ! It was not strange that courtly old Baron Butzow proudly exulted in the tender solicitude of the Czarina, for the orphaned Princess of Alaska. "I will warrant you, Randolph, that the loftiest alliance in Russia will be sought out by the imperial pair to recompense that blow of cruel Fate, which left the rosebud Princess alone in the cold world! Friendless, but for the one star of womanhood, Countess Olga! I have learned from her alone, to know how brave and true, how grateful and 3&2 THK. 1 KINCESS OF ALASKA. how strong of fortitude the woman nature can be!" "This will be an ordeal!" mused Randolph, musing as he dressed himself for the great Legation reception! "I can not disguise my feelings from this sparkling inquisitor! Thank Heaven! I am however free to go to Peters burg, if I should wish! Shall I see Countess Olga there and beg her aid? But what have I to offer brilliant Irma Maxutoff to replace these dignities and offset the future which she would forfeit as an artisfs wife? A man whose only life work is the simple play upon seven colors! " As Arthur leaned back In his carriage, he revolved the delegated responsibility of Countess Olga Orlof! "It is true that she would aid ///<, but as guardian of tliis orplianed girl, could she ignore lier duty? Irma is born to station, rank and to the personal favor of the sympathetic sover eigns! Even if the Countess used her own potent influence until tJie Empress, would it not finally affect StepJtans future? Heaven knows poor Maxutoff and Orlof worked hard enough together to gain a princely heritage for their children! And that has been <z//lost! The grant seems to have been entirely ignored! I might see Dimitri Narychkine, but, though Irma is nearly of age, Stephan will not be an officer of the White Guards ior four years yet! The dashing page and cadet knows as yet, nothing of business! If Irma had a personal fortune out of the limits of Russia, I might venture, but can I ask her to leave the glittering ring around the throne, and go out hand in hand with me? It would be only a sad Cindcr- rella awakening! No, I must renounce that dream! - I must!" And yet, before he left his studio, Arthur Randolph bad softly raised a silken curtain which hid from curious eyes, the serene oeauty of unhappy Beatrice Maxutoff, the splendid loveliness of the Waiting wherein Olga THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 383 Orlof s face was immortalized, and there, below these gazed tenderly on the Hebe freshness of the absent woman he loved, once, the little Princess of Alaska! His heart swelled in a lover s bosom! He saw her, before his ardent artist eyes, as the fairest of the beauties of the White Room" 1 ! But he kept his tryst! It was with a heavy sigh that he sank down, on his arrival, into the cushioned velvet chair, of the boudoir to which the old Legation butler had led him! The sound of fashion s glittering clans gathering in joy was wafted to him, for all Dresden, delighted to honor the fascinating Russian aristocrate who swept on through life a graceful conqueror! Randolph sprang up in an ecstacy of delight, as Vera Narychkine entering unperceived laid her gloved hand on his arm! Her rich robes, the glistening jewels, her provoking attitude, finger on lips, the proud, smiling beauty of her expressive face, were a realization of the highest type of womanly beauty! " Venus Victrix!"ft& painter cried. " I salute you!" and before he had drop ped the hand raised to his lips, with her old time dash, Princess Narychkine gaily motioned him to her side. "Arthur, you bewitched knight errant! I have but a few moments to give you here alone\ Now, spare me! Do not tell me I am Greek in my loveliness! Leave that for the swains of the banal salon to-night. I go to our old family stronghold for a few weeks, leaving to-morrow evening, so that I may see our noble Olga before the foreign service takes us away for another long period of six years! I had startling news here! I should otherwise have only asked you, what messages I should bear to Irma and Olga for you, but that, last night, Baron de Ribeaupierre, Dimitri s successor at Athens passed here on his way south\ I was amazed when I 7^4 THK KlNCF.ss OF ALASKA. heard him say, laughingly, that he hoped the /vr.v/lady of the Legation would be as fortunate and popular as myself! Not caring to hear a sugary compliment, I was leaving, when in answer to Dimitri s question, he replied: I shall first present my credentials as min ister, and, after my audience with the King, at once, make a formal request of the Czarina for the hand of Mademoiselle Irma Maxutoff ! As my dear dead mother shared the Czarina s palace life, in her early ivcdded da\s, I have no doubt but that the Empress will accord me the hand of the sweetest girl at Court! But I wish the Empress herself to break the ice with that stately Coun tess Or/of who, as first favorite and the inseparable friend of the Czarina, will surely not refuse our gracious sovereign! Do you know Princess Irma? he asked Dimitri. Only enough to say that she is a child of heavenly grace and a delicate noble nature. Buc my wife is most tenderly attached to her! Randolph was pacing the boudoir in a sudden agita tion! The mask of the long years was off! The stoic indifference of his self-abnegation vanished /// a moment . " Who is this Ribeaupierre? " he gloomily demanded. "Ah! You are at last awakened! The bud is no longer a mere blossom! The opening flower attracts keener eyed lovers! De Ribeaupierre is an excellent parti! Young, handsome, distinguished, he is a really exalted character, and his estate in Finland is the hand- somcst show place in all Russia! A man who will go up to the highest stations! " "You need not extol him further! I see that he has in you, a powerful ally." The hollow groan of the artist in this dismal mono logue, brought only a ringing peal of laughter from the teasing diplomat! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 385 "I thought that you were wedded only to your art!" she answered maliciously! " Now, do not be ridiculous, mon ami, you should be man of the world enough, to know that even you must not presume upon the unsolicited affections of a spirited girl! If Olga, who loves you deeply, were not singly devoted to her own duties with the Empress, as well as to that wild young chief of our clan, Stephan, who is a lively enough charge, and so engrossed by the singular friendship of the Czarina, she would have warned you herself! But young and beautiful even as she is, still she lives in Shadowland yet, with my poor Uncle s memory! It is a needless self-sacrifice! " " The dearest dream of my heart is to see Stephan the star of our young chivalry; Irma also must be made happy, and I would also be glad to see Olga finally yield to the Empress entreaties! General Apraxin will be soon made Governor General of Turkestan! At Tashkend, Countess Olga would hold almost a royal court! Apraxin has laid down his laurels at her feet, and begged her to accept the Vice-regal throne of Cen tral Asia! But ardent, loyal and mystic, Olga said only: General Apraxin, let me cherish the wreath of your devotion and friendship in my grateful lie art! But you are worthy of an affection all your own! Trust to me, my friend, when I say that a woman loves but once! " Vera gazed earnestly at Randolph who was greatly agitated! "Did//*, too, love the matchless Olga?" "Now, I have always admired you, my American cousin! Do not let my gay Dimitri know of this reve lation! For De Ribeaupierre has already poured out his confidence to my loyal husband. Dimitri is so engrossed with me" the mocking beauty cried, "that he is really blind to all other love! I warn you that this gallant 386 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. diplomatic suitor is so thoroughly unobjectionable, that even /, could not advise any personal opposition to his manly and open suit! But I know that you love this dainty child, and I warn you in time! Is it not so?" Her kindly eyes were beaming! " / do! I must not lose her! " replied Randolph, with an air of tragic earnestness. " Then, be ruled by me! Let me be the fairy godmother here! Shake off the Hamlet-like sadness which un timely warning has suddenly cast over you! A voyage to St. Petersburg will teach you how much nature has improved even your veiled picture!" Randolph crimsoned. Vera Narychkine s light foot was gaily beating in time with the exquisite dreamy music floating through the great hall of ceremony. " Yes, sir! You were out when I violated the temple of your Diana! Now, cease your useless fetich worship! I now invite you as my guest to sojourn with us at Peters burg until we go to Washington! You must come or you may lose Irma! " Arthur Randoph sprang to his feet. His ardent lover soul leaded up into a hopeful activity! Vera Narychkine bit her lips. " I am maladroite! I did not wish to tell you until the Foreign Office had gazetted us! But I shall be tl.e mistress of the Russian legation in your own strange new land for the next six years. "- "/ have a plan!" hastily cried Randolph. " I sec that there must be no thwarting of the Czarina! " In an humble tone, he entreated: "Princess Vera! You can save us all! Ask Irma to go as your guest, for a single season! I can persuade Countess Olga to go to America and look into the Ma\- tttoff grants then Her own boy s interests will s\v,iv 1 HE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 387- her! In this way, I can gain time to teaeh Irma to love me! I will go over to America! Who knows what the present value of these lands and privileges may be? Will you aid me?" The sound of laughing voices calling on the fair dip lomat was heard! Vera frowned in mock majesty. "You have been a laggard lover! You do not deserve it, but I will help you, Arthur! Come on with me to St. Petersburg, and the fairy godmother shall be your steady ally." "Do you think that Irma loves me? " ardently cried Randoph, covering the pretty hand with grateful kisses of the most unjustifiable warmth! "I think that is a question which you should ask of the young lady herself! But you may hope, I think! You will come then? " "I have been blind, -foolish! Is it too late?" cried Randolph, in a sudden tumult of feeling, as the graceful young matron vanished, her sweet face beaming from the door, in a last glance of malicious mirth! "He seems to be awake now to the fact that he has another earthly divinity besides the pulseless ideal of his art!" And Vera Narychkine resolutely proceeded to extend her personal conquests, into unknown regions , among willing legions of new adrnirers! Randolph fled away hastily from the ball and, if there had been ought of self-confidence, in his past relations with Irma Maxutoff, the sweet unrest of his dreams proved that the little Princess of Alaska sat upon a throne all her own, in his awakened heart! His trust was great in the all-compelling Vera Narychkine! "That is a wonderful woman! A modern magician! She bends all 388 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. hearts to her by the provoking witchery of her diamond intellect and ready wit! " Entered into the race for the lovely prize, Randolph became a squire of dames at a single bound! A telegram of judiciously veiled words to Countess Olga, a sin gularly formal note to Princess Irma, the rose of roses, and the homage of a superb basket of flowers, to his spirited feminine adviser, the future Ambassadress, all these were signs of a growing cardiac fever! His joyous whistle of his old-time student songs echoed through the vaulted studio, and astonished his subordinates, as he hastily made preparations to leave his sanctum for a short period! "I will not be away long. " he murmured, as he swept a few private sketches and some personal articles into an old cabinet! And yet, something in his heart told him that before the bright conjurings of his artist brain would "flit palpably" before him, there again, the answer of Irma Maxutoff s eyes would tell him whether the heart hidden longing of years would be attained! " But one thing want these banks of Rhine, thy gentle hand to clasp in mine! He suddenly ceased Byroniz- ing, as, with a breezy clatter, Hugh Wilde, gentlest and kindest of the sons of Anak, a bad artist, but a good fel low, burst into the room. " Hello! What s this? Packing up! Stop it, I say! Arthur! I have great news for you! "Take a pipe! Sit down! Collect your thoughts! And be sensible! 1 Arthur replied. "I am only going to take a run of two or three weeks, on a sketching tour to the Baltic!" Ran dolph dissembled, for he would not let his bantering friend even dream that he sallied forth to the chase of the "fair dove, the fond </<>:</" "You must stop all this! I left Bradford, the great California millionaire, THE PRINCESS OF MASKA. 389 at the Club! He says that he is *:>i old friend of \ours! Tremendously rich fellow! Gold mines and things at the North Pole! He is coming down here to see you now! 1 "Ah!" Randolph suddenly dropped a handful of sketches! "Paul Bradford! The man who was once a great newspaper power out west! Is he here?" The words l gold mine brought back Paul s strange quest at Sitka! "Why! Yes!" rattled on Hugh. "He s no end of a financial swell now! And Goupil has been nursing him at Paris! He had letters from them to me! I wish that he would buy my " Spartacus and the Gladiators!" Do you know that he married the widow of some rich Pacific Coast Senator, and thus fell into an enermouf property!" "Oh! I see now! Funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth, etc., etc., " replied Randolph, lightly. " I must see that man! Gold-mines! He may know of Treasure Island! Could I trust him? Success has sim ply fastened his egoism, I suppose, with diamond rivets! What does he want of me?" "He wishes one of your famous portraits! Of the Sena tor s widow, the well preserved architect of the fortunes of the House of Bradford! So he said! He glories as an American in your great name] Now, Arthur," and Hugh sobered down, "I would like to exchange my Spartacus for visible coin of the realm! Don t forget me! There they come! He has a stately follow ing I " "He shall certainly take away your revolted profes sional fighter! That is, if / can educate him! " Arthur glanced around, but Hugh had discreetly van ished! He knew every secret of the quaint, old den to which Randolph clung, as the theatre of his early heart struggles! "This visit means something! Let me see! It is 25 3QO THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. twelve years since we met!" and Randolph, armed in his mind, was gravely dignified as he met the man whose adverse fortunes had so strangely prospered! It was///<r same Bradford, but now set in the decorous solidity of a middle-aged First Citizen! As Paul presented his wife, Arthur rapidly inventoried the surroundings of the favored child of the fickle goddess. "A neutral shade!" he thought, as he observed the deferential pride of the late Senator s widow, now an appendage of the stern, decisive Bradford! Her staff was a hollow-eyed woman relative! " The usual depend ent!" fancied the artist, there was a Secretary, (a standing advertisement), and also a glib courier who spread his lack of knowledge over many subjects in differ ent places! "The financial lion and his train of smaller animals!" Randolph admired the perfect self-possession of the journalist capitalist, who frankly explained, in a few words, his desire to obtain a portrait of Mrs. Bradford. After the usual visit of inspection, Paul Bradford turned from a close inspection of Randolph s boyish Sitka sketches. "Do you do anything in landscape now? " he asked. "Yes; but only as a diversion! I do not have the time for natural studies! " the artist replied. "These are wonderful 7" said Bradford. "I go up there every year now to look at my mine! The toicn is very little changed!" "Are there mines in Alaska, gold mines?" queried Arthur, turning away his face, for his voice quivered! "Our company has the largest gold mill in the 7iw/</up there! Two hundred and fifty stamps hammering away night and day on Douglas Island! It is the greatest quartz mine known!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 3QI " I never heard of a gold mine on an island! What is it like ? " The blood was eagerly racing through the artist s veins! "Oh!" Paul turned to Randolph, "It is only a small, bare, green island, high and hump-shaped, like a camel s back! A few straggling pines cover the ravines, and the ore so near it is tumbled right into the mills! It is a wonder!" Bradford proudly thought of the half million dollars a year, divided now among the survivors of the "Asso ciates!" "I consolidated two interests!" he reflected, his mind reverting to the far-away mound where the defunct Sen ator now lay under a marble obelisk, bearing the most complimentary excerpts from that great man s too brief career. Arthur Randolph had recognized at once the careless descriptions of the lost island of Maxutoff and murdered Orlof ! He had carefully examined, long years before, all the papers now lying neglected in the Imperial Bank at St. Petersburg! He drew his breath hard as he thought of Irma s stolen heritage, of plundered Olga Orlof, of the fatherless Stephan, and of the dark treachery which lured Maxutoff to his death! " My God! I remember now! This man spent nights with Zubow on his ship!" And the artist mentally promised he would make a test of Bradford s nerves later! But he now only calmly said: "I presume that you purchased the mine after / left Alaska! Did you ever find your man French Pete" 1 ?" The millionaire started and cast a piercing glance at the unconscious artist! "Oh! He died later, years afterward, at the mine!" finally replied Paul. " He wandered all around the Arc- 392 I HI. IK! , //?, and Caldwell, our agent, at last bought out French ^ title for four hundred dollars! He- was a half crazed drunkard! The mine was really discovered on grants of land belonging to my wife s firit husband! I have improved and developed //, among other Alaskan interests! " "Just a bit too pompons!" fancied Randolph, in whose heart a sudden vow was registered. He watched Brad ford keenly! He reflected, " I will go to Russia! I will get the papers from Olga! I will then go on to Washington! I will secretly examine these famous grants of the late Statesman! If there should be a chance to establish the Russian patent! But I must work in silence! I will have to hoodwink this fellow! Yes; I will paint that portrait! And he shall also buy Spartacus ! This artistic vengeance as to Wilde s dreadful canvas was a fitting reward for much past iniquity! But the "mills of the gods" do grind at last! " I am going away for a fortnight, Mr. Bradford, and if it would not disarrange your plans, I could give your wife her sittings later!" " We shall be in Dresden a whole month, and you will find me, at your disposal, if I wait here even another month!" cried the delighted relict of the wary Senator. " If you will kindly come and breakfast with us to-day, we can easily arrange our future plans! " Arthur saw his good angel beckoning him on! Bradford was so decorously urgent in seconding bis wife, that Arthur finally sent a few lines to his fairy god mother] A sudden thought had seized him, as he saw the millionaire s party eagerly regarding the silken cur tain veiling his hidden treasures! He drew the cord and then narrowly watched Paul Bradford s face, in silence! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 393 " Ah! How lovely! Who is this exquisitely beautiful woman?" Mrs. Bradford enthusiastically cried. " Why, that is old Baranoff Castle!" eagerly said Paul Bradford, stepping quickly forward. That is surely the Russian Countess, the mysterious beauty! Where is she now? I thought that she was dead! Eben Tomlinson sought vainly for her at St. Petersburg! He could gain no news of her." "I painted the lady some years ago, on her return from Sitka!" quietly returned Randolph. "The pic ture has made a great success under its title of Wait ing! It was at the Paris salon!" The millionaire was keenly regarding the artist. "The Princess Maxutoff, excellent excellent! And who is this beautiful girl? ^ Bradford seemed lost in wonderment! "It is her daughter, once the pretty child whom they called < the little Princess of Alaska! " "Strange! Strange!" murmured Bradford. "They are both dead, the parents. A very sad story! I heard it in America from my partner, Phillippi." Arthur Randolph s blood boiled at the cool insolence, with which the triumphant schemer gazed at the pic tured victims of the unpunished rascality of years! He swore an oath deep in his heart, as he let the silken veiling fall! "If there is any joint in your armor, my wily friend, I will thrust home, for Irma Maxutof s sake! By Jove! I will confide in Dimitri! I will go direct by steam from Cronstadt to Hamburg, and then examine the Washing ton records, while this villain is disporting himself! " "But where are his fellow scoundrels? Are Tomlin son and Phillippi still interested in the Arctic?" care lessly asked the artist as they descended the stair, 394 I{K PRINCE >S OF ALASKA. "Oh! yes; Eben manages the whole business of the associates at San Francisco! And Phillippi is now on his annual inspecting tour." "Then, the coast is clear!" mused Arthur, as he en tered the landau. "I will have some of the Admiral s old coast survey officers copy the maps and papers. I can hold this family here in Europe, waiting for the portrait, thanks to the ladfs fancy, and I will win if Dimitri will only help inc. " " By heaven! The Emperors tenth! Yes! He can demand a hearing of the State Department! The dan gerous Senator is dead! Ah! The fairy Godmother shall help me here! If I can force a recognition of the grant, then, I can demand of Countess Olga some recom pense!" He thought of the little hand, which trembled as it lay in his own at the parting! "Do you spend much of your time at the mine?" Randolph asked, as the carriage drove up to the hotel. "I go up occasionally and take a look. We have a comfortable bungalow there. But I am not needed. The output is regular. I have some splendid photo graphs of the whole location and its varied scenery. It is exquisitely beautiful! " "Are you not ever annoyed by American miners, prospectors?" Randolph questioned. "Not a bit! We have things all our own way! We have developed the real resources of Alaska! Even the Government recognizes what we have done! " Arthur grimly set his teeth, as he vowed to have things another way, if the gracious fairy Godmother would aid! "Ah!" he smiled. "The gay queen of hearts will give me carte blanche! For the new Russian Minister at THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 395 Washington will be a great personage, and he will act under the all-compelling spell of Vera Narychkine, the imperious! When it was agreed, after the dejeuner, that the wished for portrait would be the next serious work of the famous artist. Mrs. Bradford retired jubilant, leav ing the gentlemen to their cigars. " Your plan will suit us, exactly!" the dowager gra ciously said. " We will now extend our tour to South Germany and Italy, and on your return from your vaca tion, we will stay later here in Dresden, until you need me no more! " Arthur admired the detailed views which the million aire exhibited to his eager gaze of the beautiful scenery of Lynn Canal. "Ah! here is the best one!" proudly said Bradford. "I can give you a whole set of these! For I find I have duplicates! This is the island, and our mill and its romantic water frontage! " The "high green island, bare, with its scattered pine trees," was there, and the picture trembled strangely in Arthur s eager hand! "Exquisite! " A witching scene! he murmured. "By the way, Randolph!" sharply broke in Paul; "where is that daughter of the Maxutoffs? Do you know?" "I have lost sight of them, for some years!** steadily answered the painter, as he looked squarely in Brad ford s eyes. The millionaire was uneasy. He fingered the views, as if some haunting shadows were flitting over his mem ory. Arranging a complete set of photographs for the artist, he absently spoke to himself: " I should like a good picture of the greatest gold mine in the world!" 396 iHF PRINCESS OF ALASKA. He observed Randolph attentively studying the mem ory haunted scenes! " Could you paint this particular view you approve so much, from your memory of the local colors, and aided by this picture? " "Certainly!" smiled Randolph. It is hardly high art, but" "Never mind! I wish a masterpiece, if you can create one. Call this my order! I will give you carte blanche, and take the picture, whenever you can send it! The island has made my fortune, and I can never forget it!" "And / intend that you never shall!" thought Ran dolph, as he took his leave. "My new order suits me exactly!" he gaily said at parting! "Fortune favors the brave! " laughed Vera Narych- kine, when Randolph recounted all to her. The artist was all ready for the road. " You must take O/ga at once into your confidence; we will together manage to delay the marriage offer of de Ribeaupierre! }<>//inust get all the deeds and papers! You can then run over to Washington, verify the entire facts, and, if the Russian Minister can not enforce the Czar s rights and save our Irma s dowry, / will not call him my husband! Yes; Her dowry shall be saved! They would never dare to face exposure! For the American Gov ernment might then declare the patent of their lands void." "And Irma s love?" cried Arthur. "That is a delicate subject for you alone to investigate, when she is my guest at Washington! " laughed beauti ful Yera. " For when you have finished this portrait of Madame the Millionaire, and made the island glow on your canvas for your old secret enemy, Bradford, you may come. Sir, to the Russian Legation at Washing ton." THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 397 " I will guarantee you that you will find Olga, Stephan and also your Irma there for a visit to signalize my social debut under the Stars and Stripes! The Empress will deny me nothing, and I shall artfully ask that Cadet Count Stephan be given a leave of absence too, and bring them all over! That will cut off the sighing Rus sian swains from annoying your Irma! But, Arthur, not one word, even to Dimitri, about the results of your flying trip! For, if the fact were known that the Emperor had rights also (the tenth), the island question might pass out of Dimitri s hands! We will face them all at Washington, these Yankee schemers, and I will see that the Empress aids me as far as she can! " "Vera, you are an angel!" cried Arthur, as he kissed her pretty hand. THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. CHAPTER XV. ARTHUR RANDOLPH S DISCOVERY THE TREATY A VISITING PRINCESS THE YOUNG CHIEF OF THE ORLOFS AT THE LEGATION BALL THE EMPEROR S TENTH PAUL BRADFORD S OLIVE BRANCH THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA S DOWER COUNTESS OLGA MAKES A PRESENT A CLEAR TITLE ! Ten days after Paul Bradford had given the artist lover his carte blanche for the landscape of Golden Island, a serious conference was finished at the Orlof mansion in St. Petersburg, when Randolph said to Countess Olga and the over-joyed ambassadress: "I am now ready to start for Washington! There remains nothing further for me to do here. The lawyer has finished all his researches, and / will, therefore, take the steamer for Hamburg to-morrow! So, I can continue my voyage from there, unobserved, to Washington. When I have seen the legal records at the national capital, I shall at once, return to Dresden, via England! In this way, even Bradford can find no apparent method, in my movements! "- "Are you really all ready, Arthur?" Madame Olga asked with a smile, as she saw the very prettiest of the Empress rosebuds circling by the library door, in an attempt to improve the waltzing of Cadet Count Orlof! The great hall was their improvised ball room. " Have you told Irma yet?" maliciously remarked Vera Narychkine, as the artist blushed and bowed. "Not yet! I thought" stammered Randolph, "that you would bring up, at our last dinner, the subject of our future reunion at Washington! Does not Irma know THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 399 that Countess Olga and young Stephan will grace your first Grand Ball at the Russian Legation?" He was very anxious. The room seemed strangely warm to him ! " I didte\\ her that" cheerfully rejoined Vera, "but, as to you, I supposed that you had announced to her, that after finishing the Alaskan millionaire s orders, you would close your studio and return to study the marvels of American art in Washington! Those contract statues, so satisfactory to the brass founder and stone cutter! Those singularly alarming pictured presentments of the most remarkable looking men, in scenes of varied national convulsion! But perhaps you were wise after all, for De Ribeaupierre himself returns to-morrow! So Dimitri tells me! He will, of course, see the Empress at once," For once in his life, Arthur Randolph was not gallant, in fact, he never heard the remainder of Madame Narychkine s delightfully malicious remarks! A sweet voice called him to his feet, as Irma Maxutoff, the Prin cess of Alaska, with her lovely face eager in excitement, clasped her jewelled fingers around his arm. "Cousin Arthur! You surely are not going away? What is this that Stephan says? Why! We have only begun my lessons! I am to be the only great Court Artist. " "We must finish our studies then in the spring, at Washington! " said Randolph, appealing vaguely to the two matrons, who had now walked to the other end of the great library. But Vera Narychkine seemed strangely intent on explaining a wonderful old line engraving of "Joseph and his Brethren," which had suddenly become an object of great interest to Madame Orlof! When the ladies had finished their crucial examina- 400 III) PRINCESS OF ALASKA. tion of t/us marvel cf art, the anxious artist and the Maid of Honor had mysteriously disappeared! The ser vice of tea at eleven o clock brought Madame Narych- kine to an obscure corner of the drawing rooms, with some classic stock remarks about "beauty sleep!" As Irma Maxutoff stood on the stair, and merrily bade the others "Good Night," she shyly turned, a vision of glowing beauty, and even Arthur Randolph, lost in love s dream, noted the gentle earnestness of the voice with which she faltered her adieu to him: "It seems so f/raflgv, that you are going away now! "Olga!" cheerfully whispered Vera Narychkine, as she threw her arms around her loving friend when they parted, in her- boudoir, "I fancy that we need not fear De Ribeaupierre s coming! " And the stately beauty, known now as "the wonder ful Countess Orlof," of the marble heart, (so sighed her unsuccessful lovers) laughed as she said: "Irma has discovered at last that she has a heart!" There was in fact, very little fear of this particular handsome young Russian Lochinvar lingering in Arthur Randolph s breast, as heneared New York, after a terrific winter voyage. For, though the stars of heaven were hidden by gray wrack and leaden skies, in his heart, the twin stars of Irma Maxutoff s eyes bade him "Wait and Hope!" "I will not ask her to join her life with mine, until I have made these cold, sly schemers disgorge their precious plunder, torn from this gentle orphan!" " \\ hat a mystery the North Pacific!" mused Ran dolph, as he examined the superb pictured scenery of the fiords of Holy Cross Sound. "The greed and craft of the Yankee miner supplements to-day, the dark schemes of the old time Russian///;- speculator! It is gold now THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 40! magic gold, which will make every silent recess of Alaska s canons and river gorges echo to the step of the indomitable prospector. One hundred years ago, it was the search for fur! What a history! Greed, lust, war, butchery and drunkenness followed hardy Tchirikoff s discovery of the new court fur, the priceless sea otter, in 1741 when he returned to Avatcha Bay with a load of the mysterious mandarin furs then so called! For the few samples which had reached the crowned heads of Europe up to that time, were rare diplomatic presents of the great nobles of China! They were animal stragglers, caught on the Kurile Islands, or off Korea! But, as the chase of the little sable led the Cossack robbers on towards Khamschatka, across Asia, so, from the lone peninsula of Khamschatka, the news of Tchirikoff s find of the rich furs aroused Russian greed!" Emilian Bassof, building the < Kapiton at the Siberian Avatcha Bay, ventured out, to return richly laden with sixteen hundred otter, two thousand seal and nearly three thousand precious blue fox skins ! A king s ransom ! Fast then, followed after him, the hardy mar auders, daring all; for the fur craze was now on! Fictitious values were set then on the otters, since kept up, though sixty thousand sea otter skins were later gar nered at one time in the store house of one robber company ! When Stephen Glottof, even a greater robber, built the "Yulian and crossed the Behring Sea, in 1759, he stumbled on Nagounalaska Island, with its bay of otters! He little dreamed when he landed on the Aleutian Islands, wreathed in their perpetual fogs, that within a hundred miles, a herd of fur seals worth millions of dollars awaited the butchers of the future, in lazy basking on the sandy beaches of lonely St. George and St. Paul Islands! But, on these three little rocks, not ten miles /j.02 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. long, the unreaped riches of nature were destined to be a future prize for the corsair and the speculator, and to embroil the wiseacre diplomats of three great countries! Captain Cook, in the Resolution and Discovery ! missed these floating millions, as did Marline, the Castilian sailor, later, though in 1778 and 1787, they both claimed abandoned Unalaska, the one for the King of England, and the other, in the name of His Sacred Spanish Majesty! But, ten years later great Alexander Baranoff grasped Alaska for the Russian Crown. Quick-witted, he real ized at once that the immense swarms of fur seal had some annual rendezvous! The secret of the fur seals natural habits remain even to-day unsolved! They van ish now, for half the year, as completely as in the twenty years when sly old Baranoff used their skins as a "floating bank currency" When the rapacity of his hunters thinned out the nearest seals, and also drove off the shy sea otters, a shipwrecked Aleut, storm-driven in his kayak, told Baranoff on his return, of the foggy island with its thousands on thousands, of fur seal! With true Russian craft, the great Governor decided to find the little island, which the native fancifully called tt Amik/ }t The natives, although expert in the natural history of all other Arctic animals, fancied that there was an enchantment in the spot loward which, from May to November, countless myriads of fur seals swarmed, making the waters alive as they played on the surface! And, from November to May, the cold, foggy seas were bare of even a single fur seal! The sandy shores lay all deserted and silenl! Ignorant of the habits of the valuable animals, really seeking the unbroken silence of the great sandy beaches of the Komandorski and Prybiloff group, to breed m& train their THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 4^3 young; the superstitious Aleuts thought the seal army worshiped their own god at the Island of Amik, which no mortal man would ever see again! But this return ing Aleut, led thither by the God of the Storms, was finally discredited! A case of traveler s tales! Yet, the aspiring and educated Baranoff guarded all the gossipy secrets! He forced the natives, though ignor ant of navigation, to guide several expeditions which he had sent out from 1781 to 1786! Some peculiarity of the animal, or an exceptionally favorable refuge, alone, explained to him a mystery, yet partially unsolved to-day. But, by dint of cruising in every direction, Prybiloff, the Governor s confidant, in 1786, landed, at last, on the fabulous "Amik", finding merely a fog-hidden island, which he, at once, occupied, giving to it the name of his ship, "St. George," and ultimately finding the companion rock, "St. Paul!" On these two islands, not fifty square miles in extent, Bara- noff s men the next year, easily killed a half million fur seals! Five millions of dollars in value was the catch of the first season ! The great Viceroy protected the two islands long known as"Baranoff s Bank," and it was only after he was drowned on his homeward voyage, his great wealth perishing with him, that the unlicensed butchery of the wonderful animals began! In 1805 the Czar regulated the cruel slaughter, and forty thousand a year only were taken up to 1865! " What a coincidence 7" thought Randolph, who had learned at Petersburg every secret of the royal archives, and had studied the huge musty folios of the Imperial laws and records! " Baranoff was drowned, and his vast fortune whelmed in the cruel sea! Maxutoff betrayed and sacrificed, and the Emperor s tribute stolen! A vengeance of providence seems to follow the unpunished 404 THK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. brutalities of the cruel Russians, in the Arctic! And, now, for twenty years, the associates are allowed to take a hundred thousand a year in American waters alone ! Between the greed of the Russian and American con tractors, and the robberies of the Arctic corsairs, under every flag, the sea bear or eared sea! is doomed ! " "Strange theatre of dark deeds without a name! The lawless North Pacific!" cried Randolph. "Andjr/, it has been the nursery of great wen . The simple Greek mis sionary, Innocentius Veniaminoff, who lived therein the native huts, clad as an Aleut, in 1825, became the Bishop of Alaska, and later the Metropolitan of Moscow! He was then the only man in the world to whom Russia s haughty Czar, the lord of sixty realms bowed his head in humble contrition! And to what future use will the princes of Alaska, these banded Russian and American schemers, put their wealth gleaned from the floating millions of fur seal and from the golden island, robbed from the orphaned Princess ! " It was easy for Arthur Randolph to foresee that in 1890, even the sleepy "Uncle Sam," would wake up and cut down the slaying of the helpless seal to twenty or thirty thousand a* year to prevent their final extinction! He easily divined that Russia, England and the United States would, in time, quarrel bitterly over the robbery of Nature s wonderful marine army, clad in this raiment of price. "But," he swore with a heart beating for plundered Irma s past sufferings, "by her murdered father s honest memory, these wretches who have enjoyed the golden island shall acknowledge her claims, admit Olga s rights and return the heritage of young Count Orlof! For, if / live to face them, with the records and Russian patents, they must share the golden gleanings of these THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 405 last years, and also settle with the Imperial Crown of Russia for its reserved tenth ! " As Randolph sped to Washington, on safely arriving, he dreamed of the coming final acknowledgment of the title, and that, shining on him were the eyes from which he had drank the delicious knowledge of a first love! In secret, he soon delved under the enemy s mines at the national capital. It was only two weeks after his arrival, when he was enabled to send, flashing joy into every heart of the anxious circle at Petersburg, the single word, "Victoria!" It meant that he had verified every detail of the original topography and surveys! While his dead uncle s naval associates cheerfully obtained for him every Government chart and survey, in secret, he toiled with flying fingers at the landscape sketch of Bradford s strange heritage! The revenges of Time had given to Paul, the journalistic lobbyist, not only his own share, but all that the astute Senator had struggled for! For the Senator s wife and wealth were both his now > As Arthur gazed at his finished sketch of the high, bare, green island " with its straggling cleft-hidden pines, on the eve of his departure, he received a mail secretly forwarded by his carefully instructed chief stu dent! A courtly letter from Bradford begged him to await the stately subject of the portrait, at the agreed- on time. "I shall find it necessary to be in Washington in the latter part of this winter, and Mrs. Bradford s chief treasure there will be the work of your genius /" so wrote the millionaire from Italy. "And do not for get my landscape ! I have been elected President of the Mining Company, and it will adorn my official sanc tum." "By Jove!" cried Arthur, ringing for his servant. "I will pack and take the midnight train, and catch the 23 406 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. very first steamer. This acute schemer must not dream of my lingering here! And, if he settles here for the season, the time to strike the blow is when he exhibits his "stately wife, in her enhanced splendor, the Sena tor s widow, for he has now both fortunes! "- Randolph was working with a true Bohemian celerity, when the words "Senator s widow" returned to haunt his mind! "I am a child!" he cried, as he threw him self into a chair. "She, the mining millionaire s wife, would never have these old scandals re-opened here! It would disgrace her first husband s still honored mem ory! Ah! I see it all! If if Vera Narychkine will only hold the Minister firm in our cause! " Arthur smiled in spite of his forebodings. "She is the very essence of fiery loyalty and supreme dash! Dimitri may serve the Czar, but Madame Narychkine ranks higher than the Wearer of Peter s Crown!" It was indeed true that the all-compelling beauty con~ t inn ally interpolated her personal commands into the high-sounding phrases of the Foreign Office! And Vera Narychkine always worked her mysterious will! " I will paint her a better picture of this storied island than even Bradford s carte blanc)ie can command, if, she aids me to frighten this robber into doing justice to my Irma! " Mr. Arthur Randolph, artist, did not conceal from his own inner consciousness, that in some vague, indefinite manner, he trusted to the beautiful Narychkine also to shorten the pathway to a settlement! "If the two Gov ernments begin to officially investigate the legality and priority of these claims, Irma and I may die maid and bachelor long before the diplomatic muddle would ever be finished! If I can frighten Bradford into seeing that our side has a clear and prior title l then, this resolute THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 407 scoundrel is sensible enough to avoid his public dis grace, and quietly make a just settlement! But, he must be first brought to his knees !" And he sighed for the dashing Vera s aid. On his voyage back over the wild Atlantic, Randolph waited, chafing in his heart, till he could telegraph the millionaire from England of his readiness to execute the portrait. "It will be easy for me to please him, as the island landscape will bring all his life s victories up continually. And he will fancy that I have lost no time! For the Golden Island order was ready! " There was no happier man in London than Randolph, when, at his club, he received the answers from St. Petersburg, to his dispatches sent from Liverpool to Madame Narychkine: " Meet us at the Russian Embassy in Paris! We all sail next week for Washington." Handsome Dimitri Narychkine marvelled at the many mysterious conferences which tied his fair wife and Countess Olga to the returning artist, when they happily met at the world s gay capital. "I am certainly indebted to you, Randolph, for it allows me to escort alone the very prettiest woman in Paris! " The laughing diplomat applied himself to gaining a knowledge of all the vagaries of an emancipated Maid of Honor, in closely watching the strangely jubilant little Princess of Alaska! She shyly avoided Arthur. "lam really glad, for the credit of the diplomatic corps, that she is not a member of the Legation family- * said Dimitri, "for "Your fairy protegee has purchased chiffons enough to fill the gun deck of a frigate!" 408 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Vera Narychkine looked meaningly at Countess Olga and then shook a warning finger! She well knew whose stored up wealth had indulged the beautiful orphan s every whim ! But, Narychkine, whose motto was " Pleasure first, business afterwards" though fond of dallying in delightful Paris, was finally forced to set forth to his distant post at Washington! "I travel)* la Grand Turque!" he laughed, while Randolph s pleading voice was murmuring a last adieu to Irma, at Havre. Surrounded by his three lovely representatives of patrician Russia, the new Minister sailed away in triumph, not forgetting a last, meaning reference to the magnificence of a splendid ring, which now sparkled on Princess Irma Maxutoff s slender hand! " I did not know that artists were such Aladdins! " he whispered, teasingly, at dinner, and then, regretted his gay sally, for the beautiful crimson glow on Irma s cheeks told him that he had at last fathomed the secret of the long conferences ! Afar, lonely and anxious, speeding to Dresden, Randolph reviewed every detail of his verified researches! " There is no ultimate escape for Bradford and his partners! The tide is setting homeward now, and bearing my darling Irma s ships in from sea /" He resolutely addressed himself to the painting of the portrait of Madame Bradford, when the millionaire and his train arrived from Italy. A feverish haste burned in his veins, the wild glow of an unwonted enthusiasm, for, as the glowing colors sprang to life under his genius touch, he joyously recalled that every day brought him nearer to the time when he should unmask the batteries of attack, and face the man openly, whose unjust stewardship had robbed the darling woman he so desperately loved! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 469 "I will never claim her as my wife, if \ fail!" the anxious lover confided to his own heart, as he read, at last, the letters announcing the opening glories of Madame Narychkine s social reign. The enthusiastic society reporters of Washington had already seated Madame Vera on the highest possible throne! The state and future dignity of the young Chief of the Orlofs was also a fruitful theme, for the vivacious young Count was enjoying to the full the leave of absence granted him, at the wish of the gracious Empress! * I have designedly kept our beloved Olga, and your Irma, en retraite, until your unsuspecting millionaire shall come home to face the one great ordeal of his life! / have a surprise in store for you, my dear Arthur, and OJga and I only wait now for your coming! We have received even more than the courtesies due to my Dimitri s official position; and, under pretense of recall ing our old Alaskan residence, we have personally exam ined the official maps and charts, and also the records of the Land Office! The mere name of the Minister {poor, dear, unsuspecting Dimitri ) has opened to us every record! We trust, however, to no one here! You must not betray our plan even to my husband, until we have thrown off the mask! I intend to give a Grand Ball at the Legation, on your return, and shall not intro duce Olga nor Princess Irma Maxutoff into society, until the millionaire Bradford can meet them, under the shadow of the Russian colors, in the Czar s Legation! You must quickly finish your picture, and then come at once! " " Magnificent! I shall never cease to be proud of the possession of this superb portrait!" The enthusiast was Paul Bradford, who, with a circle of admiring connoisseurs, viewed the portrait of the 410 III!. l UI\ : \voman \vlio had solidly riveted the c liains of liis fortum For, summoned by a;i urgent cablegram, the millionaire was en route to Wftshingtoti! While the Court circle of Madame Million s feminine flatterers were crowding in ecstacy around the noble finished work, Paul Bradford drew Arthur Randolph aside, into his little artist sanctum. "I have left the shipping of this gem, Randolph, to your friend\\*. Hugh Wilde, whose Spartacus I have also purchased, to please my wife ! // is a great work ! Arthur bowed to repress a smile of triumph! Hugh s old "reliable" was, in fact, the colossus of hist or u il pictures! A great work! Six by ten feet, // 7^ as /</;,> eni ifg/i to do ample justice to the revolted chief and Us motley crew! "I have, at least, made Wilde s fortune ! May I do as much for my own Inna * thought Arthur, as the millionaire regally tendered his check for the two works. "I leave for Washington to-morrow to remain until the adjournment of Congress! I am only sorry that I shall not see you there! " concluded Bradford. "I may be called there soon by very important busi ness! In that case, I should most certainly see you," answered the artist. "I hope so!" the bustling capitalist cordially said, as he seized his hat and gloves. " I have no doubt but that we shall meet /here, soon,"- gravely remarked Arthur Randolph, as he stepped out to receive the incense of the adoring women virtuosos. "I had intended to offer to you a formal dinner, Mr. Randolph," began the delighted lady of the portrait, "but we must hasten on to Liverpool, as our passages are engaged for the next Cunarder!" THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 41! " In that case, / will take the French line! " joyously cried Arthur, as he marked the last fluttering robe disap pear. " Now, clear the decks for action! " There was an eager fire burning in his veins, and his eye glittered ominously, when the huge vans of Bradford s luggage passed him in the evening, as he strolled into the great hotel to send a cabled warning to Madame Vera Narychkine. " I will know whether I am to spend my life alone in sad ness or not, before I see you again! " murmured Randolph, as he drew the curtain late that night to gaze on the pic tured loveliness of the Princess of Alaska! " Shall I go on through life worshiping you only as a sweet dream, my darling, or will you be mine, in very truth?" he sighed! And it seemed as if the pictured lips smiled in the loving answer, which his passionate heart craved! But he resolutely said: " I will win you first, my own Irma! The battle waits!" It was the crowning social excitement of the gayest season of the early eighties, which thronged the Russian Legation with the great world of Washington s most exclusive set If the blaze of lights, the shimmer of jewels and sheen of richest robes; if the magnetic hum of hundreds of voices, in delighted murmurs, could lend a further charm to Madame Narychkine s ball, there was every condition of success to accentuate the loveliness of the women who were now all eagerly discussing the one topic: " Who are they? " For, after waiting a half hour in the interminable line of carriages, Arthur Randolph finally forced his way to the front!, The great artist was already a national favorite, and as he pressed forward, his face pale, his eyes eager and gleam ing with a strange fire, he heard on all sides, the wonder excited by the matchless beauty of Countess Olga Orlof, and loveliness of the Princess Irma Maxutoff! Laughingly 412 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. declining to enlighten the gossips, Randolph at last stood before Vera Narychkine, who had firmly seized a social leadership, admitted without cavil. The minister, magnificent in his grande tenue, unbent his state to whisper to Randolph: "Remember, Arthur! You stop with us, en pelite comit6. You are to be //-;;/ a .1 cavalier! Vera has asked your friends, the Bradfords, to join us!" The hour had come! 4 - Where is Irma? " eagerly demanded the artist. " She is the queen of the ball! Your gilded American youth may lead you a hard race, my friend! She is simply ravishing in her loveliness! " And the gallant Russ sighed that he cwld not flirt, himself, with his own wife s second soul! It was a long half hour before, with a beating heart, the lover, in a lull, listened to Madame Narychkine s whis pered confidences. "At one o clock, in the small room, you must watch for my signal! " The crisis was at hand! For, on his return, Randolph had found that Paul Bradford and his wife had been drawn into the maelstrom of wiles of the " Petersburg witch! " as the envious called her! "All is ready! / will take Bradford alone into the library at the right time! Dimitri will remain with the millionairess, and Olga, too, will have all my instructions! We may need her help!" All in vain, the pleading, passionate music rose and fell around Arthur Randolph, as the kaleidoscopic beauty of the dance led on only from one exquisite tableau to another! He marked not approving eye, fluttering fan or gentle appealing glance. For a week, he had studied his role with the Queen of Hearts, Madame Narychkine, and, even now, he was not master of her whole plan! The brief glories of the night were already fading, when, with an excite ment he could not master, Randolph followed the bidding THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 413 of brave Vera s sparkling eyes! Smooth, suave, and tri umphant, Paul Bradford shone at his very best, in the little circle which was admitted to the especial favor of the patrician hostess! It was with a sudden start that Ran dolph merely bowed his assent, when Bradford had eagerly whispered to him at the door of the room: " I must see you to-morrow; about these lovely strangers? Why! this is the very little Princess Afaxuteff" whom I have sought for years! And I recognized the beautiful recluse of Baranoff, too, at once! " "Was he already alarmed?" and yet Randolph could not now manage to warn Princess Vera. Bradford eyed him closely! His eager glances followed every movement of the spirited hostess, as when the supper was concluded, with courtly grace, the ambassadress left the room, on the arm of the delighted Californian millionaire. An almost imperceptible signal from Vera s fan roused the distrait lover! In the eyes of the triumphant Irma, he read but the record of her complete victory of this happy night! Arthur had only reached the ball-room when a cloud of cavaliers bore away the " queen of the rosebud garden of girls!" A decorous voice interrupted his musing, as he stood fondly gazing at the woman he loved. A house but ler stood beside him. " Madame Narychkine begs your presence in the library, for a moment! " With a resolute step, the artist entered the room where his fair ally now breathlessly awaited him! To his aston ishment^ Bradford was already facing Madame Narychkine, like a tiger at bay, while with her face buried in her hands, Countess Orlof was seated by the table! "Will you kindly lock that door for a moment?" said Madame Narychkine to Randolph. " I would prefer not to be interrupted, until Mr. Bradford has heard you? " The Minister s wife calmly seated herself, and the regu- 1 UK PRINCESS OF ALASKA. lar movement of her fan showed that her self poise was unshaken! But Paul Bradford, in an evil moment, lost the self-control of a life, and turning to Randolph, with a voice choking with rage, harshly demanded: "What is this I hear of a demand in your hands, as to some pretended Russian claim on my company in regard to the title to our mine. " "It means, Mr. Bradford," calmly rejoined Arthur Ran dolph, " that I shall, at once, file at the State Department, on behalf of the Princess Irma Maxutoff, the verified papers of a royal Russian grant, antedating your land entry by four years? " "It is a trumped up invention, Sir!" cried Paul! "We officially corresponded with the Russian Government, which disavowed any such claims, when we made our entry! And, besides, we have the deed of the original Russian discov erer, Pierre Lefranc! French Pete, who" A hollow groan from Countess Olga brought Vera and Randolph quickly to her side, as she faltered: " /.iibows spy! The faithless comrade! The man who killed my poor husband /" Bradford stood aghast, as Arthur Randolph now turned on him, like a lion! "I see your own villainy, you cold hypocrite! \\ni conspired with those dead scoundrels to rob this orphan girl! " The two men faced each other in a wild deadly hatredl The mask was off ! "I have had the original deeds and tne Czar s patents, under my own care, since we all left Sitka! Iknowjw/ now, Paul Bradford,/^;- a cold-hearted scoundrel! " "Why were they not then recorded properly at the Rus sian capital?" sneered the millionaire in triumph! "They are base frauds! " "They were so recorded, and your accomplice, Zubow, THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 415 destroyed all the properly kept Sitkan archives, when he rob bed the fur ships! When you made your inquiries, Prince Gregory Maxutoff s rights were declared legally forfeited! But not so, those of his wife and heirs who are named also in the original patents! They were valid, for the holders were innocent! " Bradford staggered back pale, as these words smote on his ear, and stood amazed, as, her eyes flashing, Countess Olga Orlof sprang up and now faced him! Pointing her finger sternly at him, she said: " You and your murderer partner forgot that / and my child were and are named equally in the original patents! that Prince Maxutoff was pardoned and restored by the Czar to all his rights, before his death! Your villainous hand sent Maxutoff to his early grave, and your partner murdered my Fedor! " " A likely story! " triumphantly reiorted the millionaire. " There were no private claims excepted in Baron Stoeck- el s official transfer! I defy you all! " But the final treaty, solemnly executed three years later, in 1870, which is the one formally ratified by the two coun tries, expressly provides that any claim acknowledged by the Czar, shall be alloued by the Department of State, and take precedence of all subsequent American titles!" " You have no such recognition! It is too late! It is im possible! Orlof was a convict! His wife and child could have had, and gained, no rights! Andjy<?# can not bully me with basing a claim on these forged documents, where the original archives were lost at sea fourteen years ago! I will fight it to the last dollar I " Arthur Randolph s head dropped on his bosom in defeat! Then, the sound of a voice, ringing clear and sharp as a silver bell, made Bradford s blood chill, even in his mo ment of triumph! Madame Narychkine, the Minister s lovely wife, drew a. 416 THK PRIXCKSS OK ALASKA. folded paper from the bosom of her dress! She stood be fore the quaking millionaire, as the very impersonation of " an angel with a fiery sword! " You are a cool manipulator, Mr. Bradford! " she coldly said. " You play your cards well, but /will take the /as/ trick! You have spoken of Madame Orlof, the mother of my guest, Cadet Count Orlof, who is now the head of our house, as the wife of a convict! Permit me, before you leave my house forever, to say that I will give you only one chance to settle for the equal interests of the Orlof heirs, and also with the Princess Maxutoff, my dear successor as favorite Maid of Honor to the Czarina! " Bradford grew pale, and his lips trembled! He muttered: " The Czarinas friends! " as the avenging beauty remorse lessly continued: "Fedor Orlof was my beloved uncle, and the Czar has effaced all the records and pardoned the death of the last great Orlof, on the report of a legal commission, duly appointed, who reported it as the result of mere accident ! You have grossly insulted his friendless wife and child! You have refused to make restitution to the orphan, \v\\ose fa/ /ier your secret partner betrayed to shame, and whose mother died of a broken heart, after your circle had ruined the family fortunes! Do you still refuse?" she said glaring at the door. " / defy you! You can not touch an acre! You are powerless!" hissed Bradford, losing all self-control. " I then now demand a full share of the property and dividends of the island mine for each interest I have spoken of; with an accounting of such shares from the time when you began to work the mine!" resolutely repeated Vera Narychkine, with a reassuring glance at suffering Olga Orlof. Arthur Randolph stood bewildered! * You ihall never have a single cent! " roughly ejaculated Bradford. "I am ready to break this scene off!" - THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 417 "/ am not! I will now punish you for your dishonesty and insolence! " sternly said Vera, as she sharply touched the bell. " Ask Prince Nar/chkine to favor me with his company instantly, Serge!" she said, as she deliberately opened the paper, which seemed to send the thrills of ah unknown fear through the stern bosom of defiant Bradford! The ladiant Minister, glittering in the splendor of his rank, entering quickly, gazed blankly at the disturbed faces before him! He had fancied the entente cordiale to be of the very closest! " Will you kindly tell this person, Dimitri, if the docu ment which / hand you now is veritable or not? " The lady s voice was icy cold! "Most certainly! Why it is a" the Minister v/as wildly excited! "Never mind! Just tell him if it is veritable, and leave us then for a moment, mon ami! " said Vera, in her sweet est, silky tones. " It is a veritable document on which I would place the Seal of the Legation" the Minister gravely said, "if I were not forbidden to verify the signature of His Majesty the Czars official Private Secretary!" He bowed gravely and retired, with a look of cold menace at Bradford, which brought a frosty smile to Vera Narychkine s lips! Dimitri was a deadly duellist! When the door closed, Madame Vera haughtily said, as she now faced Paul Bradford, with undisguised scorn: " Her Imperial Majesty the Czarina, in answer to my prayer, obtained the grace from the Emperor of a free release of the Emperor s tenth in these legally granted mines, entered duly as the crown property, by our laws, in favor of Madame Orlof and her heirs, and also to Princess Irma Maxutoff, to whom her own share is especially given as a dower in view of her approaching marriage!"- 4iS Tin-: PRINCESS OF ALASKA. Arthur Randolph staggered as he heard these strange, words but Paul Bradford only stammered: " And the Czar has then legally recognized the patent ?" He seemed to be dazed! " You will have no trouble in finding out the truth very soon, as I shall ask the Minister to officially file this adju dicated Russian grant, at the State Department, and then proceed against you, and your associates, in our Russian Orphans Court, on behalf of the Princess Irma Maxutoff ! Madame Orlof can speak both for herself, and as Princess Max u toff s legal guardian . " "You will, undoubtedly, find your carriage waiting, sir! I had supposed that you were open to the common claims oj justice / And the fair ambassadress offered her arm to assist Countess Olga, as she rose to leave Bradford s loathsome presence. Randolph sprang forward to open the door! "One word! pleaded Bradford, as he stood helplessly quivering now, in nameless fear! " / will see our lawyers : I will call the company together! Hold back your action ! / beg of you! If this is true, / will settle! " With one glance of infinite contempt, Vera Narychkine passed, saying coldly: " You are too late, sir ! Madame Orlof is the legal guardian of the Princess Maxutoff! / shall never notice you again! There is the man whom you will have to settle with!" And, as he staggered out to his carriage, Paul Bradford knew from the steely glitter of the artist s honest e)cs, that he might hope for but little mercy! For the ladies, in leav ing the room, had passed without even one parting word ! He was trapped in his own net at last! " My God ! And my wife will be publicly disgraced!" he muttered, as he saw the Legation doors close on them forever! THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. 419 But the ambassadress had bidden the millionairess a most cordial adieu! Three weeks later, in the drawing rooms of the Czar s repre sentative, Arthur Randolph sat sadly, facing pretty Madame Vera Narychkine, and strangely unmindful of the sweet earnest glances of the beautiful Madame Orlof, who was still pale and ill from the mental agitation of the night of the Legation Ball! " / am going back liome to-morrow" quietly said Arthur Randolph! "You need me no more, and my studio duties call me at once homeward! If there is anything I can do abroad, you can command me! I had hoped to have Count Stephan bear me company, but I suppose he has extended that elastic leave of absence! The lawyers wrote me to-day that they have informed you of their acceptance of the cash and bonds offered to you both, in satisfaction of your interests! The funds are to be paid in through the Russian Legation, when the Minister certifies to the papers of the official agreement! For Bradford to have resisted your proofs further would have been only madness ! It has been a great victory! And I am also told that Paul Bradford has suddenly left town,/<?r the west! I am certainly free to return now to my land o>i pictured shadows ! I will call and say Good-bye to Princess Irma tomorrow! I am very busy to-day, with the preparations for my departure !" His voice seemed strangely changed, for in his heart of hearts lurked a sadness which even he could not control! "The Empress had presented her share of the Imperial tenth, as a wedding present, to Irma, the little Princess of Alaska!" So it was all settled! And it rang the knell of his hopes! "Ah! De Ribeaupierre will be the very happiest man in Russia! " he thought, as he rose, in some constraint. There was a silence, and the lovely women s eyes met! " You are surely not going to leave us so, Arthur? " cried 420 THE PRINCESS OF ALASKA. the loveliest of guardian Countesses, as she rose, her bosom heaving in some strange unwonted emotion ! " I wished to give you a little reminder of your loyal and gallant de votion to me, a friendless mother, and to the orphaned girt, whom you have battled for so faithfully these many long years! I hope that you will not refuse me! " Arthur Randolph s heart swelled in silent sorrow! The young man stood waiting, his head bowed in sombre thought,while Vera Narychkine sternly eyed him, in a strange silence! A light step at his side caused him to look up in quick surprise, as Countess Olga placed the slender hand of the Princess of Alaska in his own! "I wished to make you a little present, Arthur! // is this! 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