Part 1 (1/2)
Fred Markhaston
CHAPTER ONE
A Trip to Russia proposed--Cousin Giles and his History--Preparations for the Voyage--Journey to Hull--The Stea at Sea
”Thank you, thank you; it will be very delightful,” said Fred Markhaer brother Harry; and hos could carry them to find their father and o? May we go?” they exclaiether ”Cousin Giles has asked us, and he says that he will take very good care of us, and that he is not joking; that he is in real earnest, and that, if you will give us leave to go, he wishes to set off immediately”
”But you have not told us where you wish to go to,” said Captain Markham ”If it should chance to be to Timbuctoo, to the Sandwich Islands, or to the antipodes, I fear that I must refuse your request”
”Even should Cousin Giles be answerable for your safe return, I could not part with you for so long a tiions of the world,” added their
”But it is not to Timbuctoo, nor to the Sandwich Islands, nor to any place near so far off that Cousin Giles wants to take us,” replied Fred eagerly ”It is only to Russia, and that is no distance at all, he says”
”Only to Russia!” exclaimed Captain Markham, with an e way off froer days; but railways and steae in our notions of distances We must, however, hear what Cousin Giles has to say before we decide on the subject”
The lads had not to endure their uncertainty very long before Cousin Giles made his appearance, his solow of benevolence and vivacity which seldom forsook it
Now itMarkhams' cousin, any more than he was that of several other families in the county who called him by the same affectionate na received a severe wound in battle, which incapacitated hi his duty properly, he retired froh he ultimately recovered sufficiently to travel about without inconvenience As in the course of his professional career he had visited the sea-coasts of nearly every part of the world, besides taking journeys inland from them, while he e fund of inforreat consequence, he had a considerable talent for describing what he had seen Besides possessing these qualifications, being the life and spirit of every juvenile party, and the promoter of all sports and pastiuest, both, with old and young, at every friend's house which he could find tiious, honourable, generous-hearted man He could not, therefore, fail to be afriends
He had been several times to sea with their father, as hireatest confidence in him
”What is all this,about Russia?”
asked Captain Markhahta visit this summer to the land of the Czar; that I want co ones, ill folloays better than old ones, on't; that I enjoy fresh ideas freshly expressed, and am tired of stale platitudes; in short, if you will entrust your youngsters to e of the at the places we visit”
”I cannot refuse you, Fairman,” replied Captain Markham ”You offer is a very kind one, and the boys cannot fail to benefit by the excursion”
”Do not talk about that,” said Cousin Giles, interrupting hi, and note down all our adventures”
Fred, though somewhat diffident of his powers of coed that Harry ht keep another note-book for her especial edification
”All I bargain for,” she added, ”is to have descriptions of scenes written down as soon as visited, and ideas as soon as they occur”
”By all means, freshness is ant,” said Cousin Giles ”A short sketch made on the spot is worth a volume of after-recollections”
Thus the ed Before he left the house, their kind friend gave the young travellers a list of the things they would require He would allow them only a small portmanteau apiece, which they could carry in their hands He told thereatcoat, and a co boots and hat ”Thus,” said he, ”you will be independent of the weather, and need never be kept in the house, however hard it h the weather is frequently land, yet that at times it is as rainy, and cold, and variable as at that season of the year at home Their Bibles, a history of Russia, and a volume of travels in that country were the only books he would let thehly to master the contents of the history and travels before they reached Saint Petersburg He had got, he said, a good map of Russia, and a chart of the Baltic, which they were to study; as also a book called, _What to Observe; or, The Traveller's Remembrancer_, which is not only full of useful information, but also turns a travellers attention to what isabroad Fred Markhaer Both of theent lads
Cousin Giles was not far rely built, and not tall, with large hard hands, which gave a warrasp to a friend and a firreat contrast to the, honest sailor never existed
No merrier party ever left London than the three travellers who started by the hts after the above conversation