"There have been some eight or ten of them," the Doctor answered. "The most serious inundation of this century was in 1824, when the water of the Neva rose thirteen feet and four inches above its ordinary level. Observe that line," said he, as he pointed to a mark upon a building: "that is the point to which the waters rose in the inundation of 1824."
THE INUNDATION OF 1824.
The mark was nearly four feet above the level of the sidewalk where they stood. Frank and Fred regarded it with astonishment, while the Doctor continued:
"In a single night (November 17th) property to the value of twenty millions of dollars was destroyed, and it was estimated that not less than eight thousand people lost their lives. The flood was caused by a strong westerly wind which combined with the tide and forced the waters in from the Gulf of Finland, which is here formed like a funnel. Now suppose the flood had occurred in April, at the time when Lake Ladoga breaks up and pours its accumulated ice and water through the Neva, what would have been the result?"
"Would the city have been destroyed?" queried one of the youths.
"So it is said, by many who have studied its position. They aver that when a high tide, a westerly wind, and the breaking up of the ice in Lake Ladoga shall all come together, the streets of St. Petersburg will be not less than twenty feet under water, and Russia will be obliged to select another site for her capital. But as it is not likely that all these things will happen during our visit, we won't borrow any trouble about the matter."
"I have read," said Fred, "that in that inundation the prisoners in the fort were drowned in their cells. The lower part of the fort was flooded, was it not?"
"Yes," the Doctor answered; "but so many romances have been written on the subject that it is difficult to get at the exact truth. It is very likely that the prisoners in the lower cells of the fort were drowned, and I believe the authorities admit that such was the case. In the Paris Exhibition of 1867 there was a startling picture representing the death of a Russian princess who was imprisoned there at the time. She is represented standing on her little bed surrounded by rats that have been driven from their holes by the flood. The water is nearly up to the level of the bed, and is pouring in at the grated window. The picture haunted me for years after I saw it, and even now it occasionally comes up in my dreams. I haven't thought of it for some time, but this question of yours has revived it."