," said the Count; and the next morning he and the
Baron accompanied their new friend, whom they took care to ascertain was
not a professional guide, down to the quay, whence a steamboat was about
to start to their intended destination.

In little more than an hour having crossed the waters of the Y, they
landed at Zaandam. They were not disappointed with respect to the
windmills, which, as there was a fair breeze, seemed to be all very
busy, the sails whirling round and round and doing their duty with all
earnestness, as duty ought to be done. When the wind slackened it was
not their fault if they did not go as fast. They could distinguish the
flour mills, which generally had a balcony running round half-way up;
but the draining mills were smaller, and had no balcony. Zaandam,
however, did not look like a town, it more resembled a straggling
village; the houses--small, painted a bright green, with red roofs--
peeping out on the banks of the river amid the trees in all directions.

Suddenly the Count began whirling his arms about in a way which made the
Baron fancy he had gone mad.

"What is the matter?" he exclaimed.

"I cannot help it," answered the Count, still looking up at the
windmills. "How they go round and round and round in all directions; it
is enough to turn one into a windmill. I feel inclined already to
become one."

"Don't, don't!" cried the Baron, seizing his friend's arms and holding
them down. "Don't look at those whirlabout sails, but come let us go
and see the house of Peter the Great, which was the chief object of our
visit to this place."

"Peter the Great, ah, I have heard of him; how long did he live here?"
asked the Count.

"Not very long," said their friend. "Zaandam was in those days a great
ship-building place, and he came here to instruct himself in the art;
but the people found out who he was, and shocked his modesty by staring
him out of countenance, so he went away to Amsterdam, where among the
crowd he was less likely to be discovered."

Proceeding along a canal bordered by a few dilapidated houses, they
arrived before a zinc building, which has been erected to cover the hut
in which Peter the Great lived. An ancient individual, who had charge
of it, admitted them within the outside covering.

"Peter of Russia was a great man, there's no doubt about that," observed
the Baron. "But from the appearance of this edifice he must have been
contented with a very inferior st