d, and lashed his horses until they were at
the full speed, and then looked back at them for approval.

"By the powers, that's no fool of a word! it will take us all the way to
Saint Petersburg as fast as we wish."

"We do not sleep on the road, but travel night and day," said O'Donahue,
"for there is no place worth sleeping at."

"And the 'ating, O'Donahue?"

"We must get that by signs, for we have no other means."

On that point they soon found they had no difficulty; and thus they
proceeded, without speaking a word of the language, day and night, until
they arrived at the capital.

At the entrance their passports were demanded, and the officer at the
guard-house came out and told them that a Cossack would accompany them.
A Cossack, with a spear as long as a fir-tree, and a beard not quite so
long, then took them in charge, and trotted before the carriage, the
driver following him at a slow pace.

"An't we prisoners?" inquired McShane.

"I don't know, but it looks very like it," replied O'Donahue.

This, however, was not the case. The carriage drove to a splendid
street called the Neffsky Perspective, and as soon as it stopped at the
entrance of an hotel, the Cossack, after speaking to the landlord, who
came out, took his departure.

A journey of four hundred miles, day and night, is no joke: our
travellers fell fast asleep in their spacious apartment, and it was not
till the next day that they found themselves clean and comfortable, Joey
being dressed in a rich livery, as a sort of page, and McShane doing
duty as valet when others were present, and when sitting alone with
O'Donahue, taking his fair share of the bottle.

Two days after their arrival, the landlord procured for O'Donahue a
courier who could speak both English and French as well as Russian, and
almost every other language. It was resolved by O'Donahue and McShane,
in council, to dress him up in a splendid uniform; and a carriage having
been hired for the month, O'Donahue felt that he was in a position to
present his credentials to the English ambassador and the other parties
for whom he had received letters of introduction.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

IN WHICH THERE IS SOME INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE CITY OF ST.
PETERSBURG.

For 300 roubles a month, O'Donahue had procured a drosky, very
handsomely fitted up; the shaft horse was a splendid trotter, and the
other, a beautiful-shaped animal, capered about curving his neck, until
his nose al