Olga Romanoff

Olga Romanoff
or The Syren of the Skies
A sequel to "The Angel of the Revolution"
by George Griffith
In view of recent events in Russia it is necessary to state that Olga Romanoff was published before they happened. For the obviously necessary alterations in the text the reader is referred to the ninth edition of The Angel of the Revolution
To
Hiram Stevens Maxim the first man who has flown by mechanical means and so approached most nearly to the long-sought ideal of aerial navigation the following pages are inscribed by the Author
CONTENTS.
PROLOGUE
THE SURRENDER OF THE WORLD-THRONE
A CROWNLESS KING
TSARINA OLGA
A SON OF THE GODS
A VISION FROM THE CLOUDS
DEED AND DREAM
THE SPELL OF CIRCE
THE NEW TERROR
THE FLIGHT OF THE "REVENGE"
STRANGE TIDINGS TO AERIA
THE SNAKE IN EDEN
THE BATTLE OF KERGUELEN
THE SYREN'S STRONGHOLD
FROM THE SEA TO THE AIR
OLGA IN COUNCIL
KHALID THE MAGNIFICENT
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE
A MOMENTOUS COMMISSION
FACE TO FACE AGAIN
THE CALL TO ARMS
THE HOME-COMING
THE EVE OF BATTLE
THE FIRST BLOW
WAR AT ITS WORST
A MESSAGE FROM MARS
SENTENCE OF DEATH
ALMA SPEAKS
THE SIGN IN THE SKY
THE TRUCE OF GOD
THE SHADOW OF DEATH
THE LAST BATTLE
THE SHE-WOLF TO HER LAIR
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE.
THE PROPHECY OF NATAS.
These are the last words of Israel di Murska, known in the days of strife as Natas, the Master of the Terror, given to the Children of Deliverance dwelling in the land of Aeria, in the twenty-fifth year of the Peace, which, in the reckoning of the West, is the year nineteen hundred and thirty.
MY life is lived, and the wings of the Angel of Death overshadow me as I write; but before the last summons comes, I must obey the spirit within me that bids me tell of the things that I have seen, in order that the story of them shall not die, nor be disguised by false reports, as the years multiply and the mists gather over the graves of those who, with me, have seen and wrought them.
For this reason the words that I write shall be read publicly in the ears of you and your children and your children's children, until they shall see a sign in heaven to tell them that the end is at hand. No man among you shall take away from that which I have written, nor yet add anything to it; and every fifth year, at the Festival of Deliverance, which is held on the Anniversary of Victory, this writing of mine shall be read, that those who shall hear it with understanding may lay its warnings to heart, and that the lessons of the Great Deliverance may never be forgotten among you.
It was in the days before the beginning of peace that I, Natas the Jew, cast down and broken by the hand of the Tyrant, conceived and created that which was known as the Terror. The kings of the earth and their servants trembled before my invisible presence, for my arm was long and my hand was heavy; yet no man knew where or when I should strike -- only that the blow would be death to him on whom it should fall, and that nowhere on earth should he find a safe refuge from it.
In those days the earth was ruled by force and cunning, and the nations were armed camps set one against the other. Millions of men, who had no quarrel with their neighbours, stood waiting for the word of their rulers to blast the fair fields of earth with the fires of war, and to make desolate the homes of those who had done them no wrong.
In the third year of the twentieth century, Richard Arnold, the Englishman, conquered the empire of the air, and made the first ship that flew as a bird does, of its own strength and motion. He joined the Brotherhood of Freedom, then known among men as the Terrorists, of whom I, Natas, was the Master, and then he built the aerial fleet which, in the day of Armageddon, gave us the victory over the tyrants of the earth.
At the same time, Alan Tremayne, a noble of the English people, into whose soul I had caused my spirit to enter in order that he might serve me and bring the day of deliverance nearer, caused all the nations of the Anglo-Saxon race to join hands, from the West unto the East, in a league of common blood and kindred; and they, in the appointed hour, stood between the sons and daughters of men and those who would have enslaved them afresh.
The chief of these was Alexander Romanoff, last of the Tsars, or Tyrants, of Russia, whose armies, leagued with those of France, Italy, Spain, and certain lesser Powers, and assisted by a great fleet of war-balloons that could fly, though slowly, wherever they were directed, swept like a destroying pestilence from the western frontiers of Russia to the eastern shores of Britain;