head of a bloody phalanx of
Muscovites, and, rising in his stirrups as he approached, would demand
of me in a voice of thunder, "Stranger, how much money have you got?"
to which I could only answer, "Sublime and potent Czar, taking the
average value of my Roaring Grizzly, Dead Broke, Gone Case, and
Sorrowful Countenance, and placing it against the present value of
Russian securities, I consider it within the bounds of reason to say
that I hold about a million of rubles!" But if he should insist upon
an exhibit of ready cash--there was the rub! It absolutely made me
feel weak in the knees to think of it. Indeed, a horrid suspicion
seized me, after I had crossed the bridge and begun to renew my search
for a cheap gasthaus on the Vassoli Ostrou, that every fat,
neatly-shaved man I met, with small gray eyes, a polished hat on his
head drawn a little over his brow, his lips compressed, and his coat
buttoned closely around his body, was a rich banker, and that he was
saying to himself as I passed, "That fellow with the slouched hat and
the knapsack is a suspicious character, to say the least of him. It
becomes my duty to warn the police of his movements. I suspect him
to be a Hungarian refugee."

[Illustration: COOPER'S SHOP AND RESIDENCE.]

With some difficulty, I succeeded at length in finding just such a
place as I desired--clean and comfortable enough, considering the
circumstances, and not unusually fertile in vermin for a city like St.
Petersburg, which produces all kinds of troublesome insects
spontaneously. There was this advantage in my quarters, in addition to
their cheapness--that the proprietor and attendants spoke several of
the Christian languages, including German, which, of all languages in
the world, is the softest and most euphonious to my ear--when I am
away from Frankfort. Besides, my room was very advantageously arranged
for a solitary traveler. Being about eight feet square, with only one
small window overlooking the back yard, and effectually secured by
iron fastenings, so that nobody could open it, there was no
possibility of thieves getting in and robbing me when the door was
shut and locked on the inside. Its closeness presented an effectual
barrier against the night air, which in these high northern latitudes
is considered extremely unwholesome to sleep in. With the thermometer
at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the atmosphere, to be sure, was a little
sweltering during the day, and somewhat thick by n