Being thus provided, the party set off in a vessel bound to Hamburg,
where they arrived without any accident, although very sea-sick; from
Hamburg they proceeded to Lubeck, and re-embarked at Travemunde in a
brig, which was bound for Riga; the wind was fair, and their passage was
short. On their arrival they put up at an hotel, and finding themselves
in a country where English was not understood, O'Donahue proceeded to
the house of the English consul, informing him that he was going on a
secret mission to Petersburg, and showing, as evidences of his
respectability and the truth of his assertions, the letters given him by
his Royal Highness. These were quite sufficient for the consul, who
immediately offered his services. Not being able to procure at Riga a
courier who could speak French or English, the consul took a great deal
of trouble to assist them in their long journey to Petersburg. He made
out a list of the posts, the number of versts, and the money that was to
be paid; he changed some of O'Donahue's gold into Russian paper-money,
and gave all the necessary instructions. The great difficulty was to
find any carriage to carry them to the capital, but at last they found
an old cabriolet on four wheels which might answer, and, bidding adieu
to the consul, they obtained horses, and set off.

"Now, McShane, you must take care of the money, and pay the driver,"
said O'Donahue, pulling out several pieces of thick paper, some coloured
red, some blue, and others of a dirty white.

"Is this money?" said McShane, with astonishment.

"Yes, that's roubles."

"Roubles, are they? I wonder what they'd call them in Ireland; they
look like soup-tickets."

"Never mind. And now, McShane, there are two words which the consul has
told me to make use of: one is _Scoro_, and when you say that, it means
`_Go fast_,' and you hold up a small bit of money at the same time."

"_Scoro_! well, that's a word I sha'n't forget."

"But, then, there's another, which is _Scorae_."

"And what may be the English of that?"

"Why, that means `_Go faster_,' and with that you hold up a larger piece
of money."

"Why, then, it's no use remembering _Scoro_ at all, for _Scorae_ will do
much better; so we need not burden ourselves with the first at all.
Suppose we try the effect of that last word upon our bear-skin friend
who is driving!"

McShane held up a rouble, and called out to the driver--"_Scorae_!" The
fellow turned his head, smile