ld them each to take a warm
greatcoat, and a complete suit of waterproof clothing, including boots
and hat. "Thus," said he, "you will be independent of the weather, and
need never be kept in the house, however hard it may rain." He told
them that, although the weather is frequently much hotter during the
summer in Russia than in England, 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 them take, advising them thoroughly 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 is
most worth remarking abroad. Fred Markham was about fifteen; his
brother, a year younger. Both of them were fine, intelligent lads.
Cousin Giles was not far removed from fifty, thin and sinewy, though
strongly built, and not tall, with large hard hands, which gave a warm,
cordial grasp to a friend and a firm one to a rope; his heart was like
them as to size, but a great contrast to them in hardness--a more
thorough-going, honest sailor never existed.

No merrier party ever left London than the three travellers who started
by the mail train for Hull a few nights after the above conversation.
They put up at the Railway Hotel, which Cousin Giles said reminded him
of a Spanish palace. In the centre is a large court glazed over, with
an ottoman instead of a fountain in the centre, and broad flights of
stairs on either side leading to the upper chambers. The younger
travellers had never before been in so large and comfortable a hotel.
Their first care in the morning was to visit the steamer _Ladoga_, in
which they had taken their passage to Saint Petersburg. She was a
gaily-painted, sharp-built, fast-looking screw.

"She'll carry us there quickly enough, if at all," muttered Cousin
Giles. "But she's not the craft I should have chosen."

She had only a small part of her cargo on board, and yet the master
promised to sail on the following morning. The boys were incredulous.

"Modern cranes, system, and activity will work wonders," said Cousin
Giles; and he was right.

By nine o'clock the next m