ake about
fifty miles away, but that it would be easier to build a new boat than
to drag the English boat that distance.

"Can you do that?" asked the eager boy.

"Yes, sire," said Brandt, "but I will need many things."

"Oh, that does not matter at all," said Peter. "We can have anything."

No time was lost. Brandt, with one of his old comrades and Timmermann,
went to work at once in the woods bordering the lake, Peter working with
them when he could get away from Moscow, where he was frequently needed.
It took time. Timber had to be prepared, a hut built to live in, and a
dock to launch the boats, which were built on a larger scale than the
small English craft. Thus it was not until the following spring that the
new boats were ready to launch.

Peter meanwhile had been married. But the charms of his wife could not
keep him from his beloved boats. Back he went, aided in completing and
launching the new craft, and took such delight in sailing them about the
lake that he could hardly be induced to return to Moscow for important
duties.

In this humble way began the Russian navy, which had grown to large
proportions before Peter died. The little English boat, which some think
was one sent by Queen Elizabeth to Ivan the Terrible, has ever since
Peter's time been known as the "Grand-sire of the Russian navy." It is
kept with the greatest care in a small brick building within the
fortress at St. Petersburg, and was one of the principal objects of
interest in the great parade in that city in 1870 on the two hundredth
anniversary of Peter's birth.

It will suffice to say, in conclusion, that shortly after these events
Peter became the reigning czar, and turned from sport to earnest. Sophia
had enjoyed so long the pleasure of ruling that her ambition grew with
its exercise, and she sought to retain her position as long as possible.
It is even said that she laid a plot to assassinate Peter, so that only
the feeble Ivan should be left. The boy, told that assassins were
seeking him, fled for his life. His fright seems to have been
groundless, but it made him an undying enemy of his sister. The affair
ended in the bulk of the nobility and soldiery turning to his side and
in Sophia being obliged to leave the throne for a convent, where she
spent the remainder of her life in the misery of strict seclusion.

[Illustration: ALEXANDER III., CZAR OF RUSSIA.]

_CARPENTER PETER OF ZAANDAM._

On the banks of the river Za