Frank and Fred were quick to observe this peculiarity of the ancient capital of the Czars, and at the first opportunity they questioned the Doctor concerning it.
"What is the cause of so many contrasts here which we did not see in St. Petersburg?" one of them inquired.
"That is the question I asked on my first visit," Doctor Bronson replied. "I was told that it was due to the burning of Moscow in 1812, at the time of its capture by Napoleon."
"How much of the city was burned?" Fred asked.
"The greater part of it was destroyed," was the reply, "but there were many buildings of stone and brick that escaped. Most of the churches were saved, as the Russians were reluctant to commit the sacrilege of burning edifices which had been consecrated to religious worship. Such of the churches as were consumed in the conflagration were set on fire by neighboring buildings rather than by the hands of the Russians."
"Then it was the Russians that burned Moscow, and not the French," said Fred. "I have read somewhere that it is all a falsehood that the Russians consigned their city to the flames."
"From all I can learn, both by reading and conversation," answered the Doctor, "I do not think there is any doubt of the truth of the generally accepted story. Napoleon arrived here on the 15th of September, and intended to spend the winter in Moscow to prepare for a spring campaign against St. Petersburg. His advance under Murat came in one day earlier. As soon as Napoleon arrived he took up his quarters in the Kremlin, while his troops were mostly encamped on the hills which overlook the city on the west.
BIVOUACKING IN THE SNOW.