"How did that come in without
saluting?" he thought, "and dare to anchor immediately before my
house!"
He rang, and a valet-de-chambre came at once, running from the row
of tents which stood concealed behind the pines-trees, and where
both soldiers and servants lodged.
"Take five men in a boat," he ordered, "and hail that brig! Can you
see what country it belongs to?"
"It is Dutch, your Majesty!"
"Dutch! Bring the captain here, dead or alive. At once! On the spot!
But first my tea!"
"The household is asleep, most gracious lord."
"Then wake it up, you ass! Knock at the shutters! Break the door in!
Asleep in broad daylight!"
He rang again. A second servant appeared.
"Tea! and brandy--plenty of brandy!"
The servants ran, the household was aroused, and the Czar occupied
the interval by making notes on slate tablets. When he became
impatient, he got down, and knocked at all the shutters with his
stick. Then a voice was heard from within: "Wait a moment."
"No! that I won't; I am not born to wait. Hurry! or I will set the
house on fire!"
He went into his gardens, cast a glance at his medicinal plants,
plucked up some weeds, and watered here and there. He went into the
cattle-sheds, and looked at some merino sheep which he himself had
introduced.
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