The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Nihilist, by Allan Arnold

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Title: The Boy Nihilist
or, Young America in Russia

Author: Allan Arnold

Release Date: October 20, 2007 [EBook #23094]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY NIHILIST ***

Produced by Richard Halsey

THE BOY NIHILIST,
or,
Young America in Russia

By ALLAN ARNOLD.

CHAPTER I.

THE UNSUSPECTING TRAVELER.

The steamship Baltic was on the point of sailing from America to Europe.

The usual scenes were visible on the wharf--the rushing on board of
belated freight and baggage--the crush of passengers and their friends
on deck, or down in the cabins, where partings were being drunk in wine;
the crowd of steerage passengers forward, trying to keep out of the way
of the sailors, and at the same time to salute or converse with their
friends on the dock; the rattle and bustle all around; the blow of steam
from the impatient boilers; the sharp, brisk orders of the junior
officers; the rush of carriages with passengers, and the shouting of
draymen anxious to get their loads aboard--all these sights and sounds
were both felt and visible as a bright-looking young man, distinctly
American to all appearances, alighted from a cab and walked up the
steamer's gang-plank, followed by a porter and the driver with trunks
and parcels.

He was indeed a bright-looking youth, such as you will find in New York
oftener than anywhere else, and as he reached the deck his hand was
grasped by several young and enthusiastic friends who had come aboard to
see him off.

This was William Barnwell, a young New Yorker, slightly over twenty-one
years of age, who had recently inherited quite a fortune from a deceased
relative, and he was now on the point of starting on a tour which he
intended should encompass the globe.

He was now alone in the world, so far as relations were concerned,
although he had a large circle of friends to whom he was greatly
attached, as they were to him.

From boyhood up he had always been an enthusiast in almost everything,
but more especially in politics and revolution, as shown in national
struggles, and the