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Article PRINCE BOLTIKOFF: ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Prince Boltikoff:
What is that black thing bobbling up and down in the water 1 a hen-coop or a whale ? or a new rock shot up suddenly from beneath the waves ? No , it is a boat of some sort ; very low in the water , not unlike a raft , and there is a figure on ita man paddling . He is
, making for the shore ; slowly and surely he approaches . Closer and closer . His face is plainly visible now , and his breast through his open shirt . He handles bis little oar with skill and vigour—nearer and nearer he comes . At length—grate
, squeeze , thud , his raft has run aground , and he jumps on to the shingle . The stranger ' s first act was to throw himself upon his knees and exclaim fervently in French , " Thank God ! Safe at last !"
Then he rose and came to greet me with the bow of a finished courtier . He was in rags , he wore onl y a dilapidated shirt of coarse calico , and a pair of tattered trousers reaching just beyond his knees , made apparently from an old gray blanket ;
yet , in spite of all , he seemed a gentleman . His manner was perfect , the English in which he addressed me , though tinged with a foreign accent , pure , and in intonation decidedly well-bred . " This is a sorry plight in which I find
myself , monsieur . I am a waif cast up by the sea . I have been shipwrecked . I never dreamt I should reach the land alive !" "Shipwrecked ? " I asked . "When ? Where ? How ?"
" Yesterday I was on board my own yacht , the Feodorowna — I am Prince Boltikoff—yon know my name perhaps ?" he said , seeing that I bowed at this introduction of himself . "No ? I am a Ru . ssi ; m . I was en route for Cowes . Last ni ght the
yacht lay becalmed off the Needles , I was in my berth—half reading , half dozing , when—crack!—something crashed into the side of the yacht . I jumped from bed and rushed , as I was , on deck . It was a collision . Death stared us one and all in
the face . I snatched up the first garments I could find—you see them , " he pointed smiling , to his rags—" and jumped overboard . I am a good swimmer . At dawn I was still afloat . Then I got together a few floating spars from the wreck , made that little raft—good friend , it has done its duty , "—and as he spoke he pushed it
back into the tide— " Adieu ; go , rnou ami , go . " " May I ask , " continued the stranger , as soon as the raft had drifted away , " may I ask where I am ? Would you have the extreme complaisance to direct me to the nearest town ?"
" This is Fort Needham , " I said . « Yarchester is the nearest place—some dozen miles distant . " " So far ! I am hardly in walking trim I fear , but I must make shift to push on . " " Impossible . I caunot permit it . Yon need rest , food . My quarters are close at hand . I am the commandant of the fort "
" You are then an English officer . I might have guessed it ! You are all generous as you are brave . I was with Meuschikoff in Sebastopol , and I learnt to respect you then . " " If you are yourself a soldier , prince ,
it is the more incumbent upon me to be your host . " With this I led the way into the fort . The admission of such a tatterdemalion rather surprised the decorous sentry , but my servant , who was called in to assist at
the prince ' s toilette , soon spread the real story throughout the barracks . A bath , my razors , and a complete rigout of my clothes , made a wonderful change in the prince ' s appearance . He was evidently a person of the hi ghest distinction ,
not exactly handsome , his smoothly-shaven face was too sallow , and his cheek-bones too high , but he had good features and dark penetrating eyes . He made the mistake also of wearing hishair too short ; it was clipped so close ( hat his head looked like a round shot .
" Your clothes fit me to the marvel , mon cher M . Curruthers . It would not be indiscreet to ask your tailor's name ? He is an artist . " I was flattered , and replied readily : " Mr . Schneider will be lad to get an
g order from you , priuce . " "He shall have it . His cut is superb . " Then we sat down to lunch . The prince , although aristocratic to the finger-tips , hud the most plebeian appetite ; within a few
minutes he had cleared the table . " I have not tasted food for twenty-four hours , " he said apologetically .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Prince Boltikoff:
What is that black thing bobbling up and down in the water 1 a hen-coop or a whale ? or a new rock shot up suddenly from beneath the waves ? No , it is a boat of some sort ; very low in the water , not unlike a raft , and there is a figure on ita man paddling . He is
, making for the shore ; slowly and surely he approaches . Closer and closer . His face is plainly visible now , and his breast through his open shirt . He handles bis little oar with skill and vigour—nearer and nearer he comes . At length—grate
, squeeze , thud , his raft has run aground , and he jumps on to the shingle . The stranger ' s first act was to throw himself upon his knees and exclaim fervently in French , " Thank God ! Safe at last !"
Then he rose and came to greet me with the bow of a finished courtier . He was in rags , he wore onl y a dilapidated shirt of coarse calico , and a pair of tattered trousers reaching just beyond his knees , made apparently from an old gray blanket ;
yet , in spite of all , he seemed a gentleman . His manner was perfect , the English in which he addressed me , though tinged with a foreign accent , pure , and in intonation decidedly well-bred . " This is a sorry plight in which I find
myself , monsieur . I am a waif cast up by the sea . I have been shipwrecked . I never dreamt I should reach the land alive !" "Shipwrecked ? " I asked . "When ? Where ? How ?"
" Yesterday I was on board my own yacht , the Feodorowna — I am Prince Boltikoff—yon know my name perhaps ?" he said , seeing that I bowed at this introduction of himself . "No ? I am a Ru . ssi ; m . I was en route for Cowes . Last ni ght the
yacht lay becalmed off the Needles , I was in my berth—half reading , half dozing , when—crack!—something crashed into the side of the yacht . I jumped from bed and rushed , as I was , on deck . It was a collision . Death stared us one and all in
the face . I snatched up the first garments I could find—you see them , " he pointed smiling , to his rags—" and jumped overboard . I am a good swimmer . At dawn I was still afloat . Then I got together a few floating spars from the wreck , made that little raft—good friend , it has done its duty , "—and as he spoke he pushed it
back into the tide— " Adieu ; go , rnou ami , go . " " May I ask , " continued the stranger , as soon as the raft had drifted away , " may I ask where I am ? Would you have the extreme complaisance to direct me to the nearest town ?"
" This is Fort Needham , " I said . « Yarchester is the nearest place—some dozen miles distant . " " So far ! I am hardly in walking trim I fear , but I must make shift to push on . " " Impossible . I caunot permit it . Yon need rest , food . My quarters are close at hand . I am the commandant of the fort "
" You are then an English officer . I might have guessed it ! You are all generous as you are brave . I was with Meuschikoff in Sebastopol , and I learnt to respect you then . " " If you are yourself a soldier , prince ,
it is the more incumbent upon me to be your host . " With this I led the way into the fort . The admission of such a tatterdemalion rather surprised the decorous sentry , but my servant , who was called in to assist at
the prince ' s toilette , soon spread the real story throughout the barracks . A bath , my razors , and a complete rigout of my clothes , made a wonderful change in the prince ' s appearance . He was evidently a person of the hi ghest distinction ,
not exactly handsome , his smoothly-shaven face was too sallow , and his cheek-bones too high , but he had good features and dark penetrating eyes . He made the mistake also of wearing hishair too short ; it was clipped so close ( hat his head looked like a round shot .
" Your clothes fit me to the marvel , mon cher M . Curruthers . It would not be indiscreet to ask your tailor's name ? He is an artist . " I was flattered , and replied readily : " Mr . Schneider will be lad to get an
g order from you , priuce . " "He shall have it . His cut is superb . " Then we sat down to lunch . The prince , although aristocratic to the finger-tips , hud the most plebeian appetite ; within a few
minutes he had cleared the table . " I have not tasted food for twenty-four hours , " he said apologetically .