“Everything was prepared,” his companion said.  “While the army was invading Livonia, and driving the remnant of the Swedes into Revel, thousands of carts laden with piles of wood, stone, and cement were moving towards Ingria.  Tens of thousands of workmen and peasants were in motion from every part of Russia towards this point, and, the day after Notteburg surrendered, they began their work here.  It was the opportunity in the lifetime of a nation, and we have seized it.  The engineers who had, in disguise, examined it months ago, had reported that the island was covered at high tides, and was unfit to bear the foundations of even the slightest buildings.  Piles are being driven in, as close as they will stand, over every foot of ground in it.  Over this a coating of concrete many feet thick will be laid, and on this the fortress, which is to be the centre and heart of Russia, will rise.  In the fort will stand a pile, which will be the tomb of the future czars of Russia, and there in front of us, where you see fifty thousand peasants at work, shall be the future capital of the empire.”

“But it is a swamp,” Charlie said in astonishment, alike at the vastness of the scheme, and the energy with which it was being prosecuted.

“Nature has made it a swamp,” his companion said calmly, “but man is stronger than nature.  The river will be embanked, the morass drained, and piles driven everywhere, as has been done in the island, and the capital will rise here.  The fort has already been named the Fortress of Saint Peter and 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.