Page 280 - A Jacobite Exile

Saint Paul. The capital will be named alike after the patron saint and its
founder--Petersburg."

They had now reached the spot. The carriage stopped and they alighted.

Charlie saw, with astonishment, that a wide deep cut had been driven,
between the road and the river, in a straight line. Looking down into it, he
saw that it was paved with the heads of piles, and that carts were already

emptying loads of concrete down upon it.

"Every bag of cement, every stone that you see, has been brought from a
great distance," his companion said. "There is not a stone to be had within
fifty miles of this spot. The work would seem well-nigh impossible, but it is

the work of a nation. In another month, there will be a hundred and fifty
thousand peasants at work here, and well nigh as many carts, bringing

materials for the work and provisions for the workers."

"It is stupendous! But it will take years to complete, and it will surely be

terribly unhealthy here?"

"I calculate the work will occupy ten years, and will cost a hundred
thousand, maybe two hundred thousand lives," the other said calmly; "but
what is that to the making of a nation? Before, Russia was stifled, she could

not grow. Now we have a communication with the world. The island that
lies at the mouth of the Neva will be fortified, and become a great naval

arsenal and fort. Along the walls which will rise here will be unloaded the
merchandise of Europe, and in exchange the ships will carry away our
products. Some day we shall have another port on the south, but for the

present this must suffice. You will say that this is dangerously near our
frontier, but that will soon be remedied. As we have pushed the Swedes out

of Ingria, so in time shall we drive them from Livonia on the west, and
from Finland on the north.

"But I must to work."

And he motioned to a group of five or six officers, who had been standing a
short distance away, to approach him.