Fifteen minutes before seven Frank returned to the station, where he loitered about. A large crowd had assembled, for word of the Emperor’s coming had traveled swiftly and the people had turned out to catch a glimpse of “The white father.”
It was a quarter after seven when the guards began pushing the crowd back from the track. It was a sign that the royal train was near. Frank edged his way through the crowd as well as he could without drawing attention to himself. The lad realized that the surest way to spoil his plans was to attract the attention of the guards. Should they see that he was apparently too anxious to get close, they would immediately arrest him and hustle him away.
“I’ll have to wait until the train stops and then take a chance,” he told himself.
Came the sound of a shrill whistle from up the track. The Czar’s special was approaching and the crowd cheered.
Two minutes later the train came to a stop.
The guards and what troops had been summoned were now hard put to it to keep the crowd back. Several times they charged the crowd with drawn sabers, so close to the train did they push. And then suddenly the crowd became silent.
The door to a compartment which bore the royal arms opened suddenly. Instantly two footmen stepped forward, one to either side. Three men alighted, all garbed in military costume. The last to alight was Czar Nicholas and again there was a mighty roar from the crowd.
For several moments the cheering continued and then died away as the Czar raised a hand. “The little white father” was going to address his people and the people became silent, that they might lose no word.
Quietly they listened as their Emperor addressed them in a few well chosen words; and how they cheered when he had concluded! Then the Czar turned to his two companions and the three walked up and down the platform.
Frank now found himself in the front line of the crowd; but armed guards separated him from the Czar himself, and the lad knew that it would be instant death should he attempt to approach the Russian Emperor. As they passed in front of him, however, less than thirty yards away, Frank made out that one of the men with the Czar was Lord Hastings.