The Boy Scouts In Russia | Page 9

a Russian.
"Yes--but how--why--?"
"Wait! Don't talk now!" said the driver. "Wait till we're inside. We'll be
all right there, and I've got a few questions I'd like to ask, too."
There was no more danger from the mob of villagers, however. The
speed of the car, even on the steep grade, was too great to give pursuers
on foot a chance, and so its driver was able, in a few moments, to drive
it through great open gates into a huge courtyard.
"Now who are you?" he asked. "And why were those people attacking
you?"
"They thought I was English," said Fred. "I suppose England must have
declared war on Germany, too."
"She has. Aren't you English, then?"
"No, I'm American. My name's Fred Waring. You're a Russian, aren't
you?"
"Yes. My name's Boris Suvaroff. This is a summer place my father
owns here. He's away. I'm glad of that, because the Germans would

have taken him prisoner if he'd been here."
For just a moment neither seemed to catch the other's name. Then the
Russian boy spoke.
"Fred Waring--an American?" he said. "I--is it possible? I've got a
cousin called Waring in America! My father's first cousin married an
American of that name years and years ago."
"She was a Suvaroff--my mother," said Fred, but he spoke stiffly. "Her
family here disowned her--"
"Some of them--only some of them," said Boris. "Are you really my
cousin? My father wrote to your mother long ago--but he got no answer!
He has often told me of her. He was very fond of her! Are you really
my cousin?"
"I guess I am!" said Fred. "I'm glad to know that some of you will own
me! My uncle Mikail had me arrested when I went to see him in
Petersburg!"
And then while they learned about one another, the two of them forgot
the war and the danger in which they stood.
CHAPTER IV
COUSINS
"So you have seen Mikail Suvaroff!" said Boris. He shook his head.
"We have seen little of him in the last few years. He and my father do
not agree. Mikail is on the side of the men about the Czar who want no
changes, who want to see the people crushed and kept down. My father
wants a new Russia, with all the people happier and stronger."
"Then I should think they wouldn't agree," said Fred, heartily. "Mikail
is like the Russians one reads about, dark and mysterious, and always
sending people to Siberia and that sort of thing."

"It isn't as bad as that, of course," said Boris, with a laugh. "Russia isn't
like other countries, but we're not such barbarians as some people try to
make out. Still, of course, there are a lot of things that ought to be
changed. Russia has been apart from the rest of the world because she's
so big and independent. That's why there are two parties, the
conservatives and the liberals. My father is all for the Czar, but he
wants the Czar to govern through the men the people elect to the Duma.
After this war--well, we shall see! There will be many changes, I think.
You see, this time it is all Russia that fights. Against Japan we were not
united. It is the Russian people who have made this war."
"I only knew there was danger of war the night it began," said Fred. "I
suppose it is on account of Servia, though?"
"Yes. That started it. They are Slavs, like ourselves. It is as it was when
we fought Turkey nearly forty years ago. The Turks were murdering
Slavs in the Balkans, and all our people called on the Czar to fight. This
time we could not let Austria bully a nation that is almost like a little
brother to Russia."
"I can understand that," said Fred. "I suppose there's enough of the Slav
in me, from my mother, to make me feel like that, too."
"Even after the way Mikail treated you? Tell me about that. Why did he
behave so, though I suppose you may not know?"
"I don't, really. My father is dead, you know. I and my mother are alone.
She has always loved Russia, though she calls herself an American, and
is one, and has always made me understand that I am an American,
before all. But she has taught me to love Russia, too. And she has
always told me that there were estates in Russia that belonged to her,
and would belong to me. She and my father were angry and hurt
because of the way her family treated them, but she said that some time
she wanted me to take possession of the estate, and to live for a little
time each year in Russia. She