Only gradually did Daniel realize the full horror of what was going on. Only during the course of that winter did he come to understand why the Lady Eudokia had felt so in need of his presence. And he himself was not sure how he could comfort her.

As Procopy had announced, the executions of the mutinous streltsy streltsy had begun the day after Daniel's arrival. had begun the day after Daniel's arrival.

Indeed, they might have started sooner if the interrogations which had been going on down at Preobrazhenskoe had not been so difficult. For very few of the mutinous soldiers were prepared to talk, despite some extensive persuasion.

It was at that time in Russia normal procedure in all cases of this kind to give prisoners the knout to elicit a confession. The use of torture in interrogation was normal in most countries at that time, whereas it is used in far fewer countries today, but a word of explanation may be needed about the Russian method.

For it is sometimes thought that the famous Russian knout was just a kind of whip, or a flail like the English cat o' nine tails. But whereas the English navy, in the last century, would give a man a thousand lashes with the cat and reckon he might live, a twentieth of that ration with the knout would have killed him. And though, say, a Bobrov might have thrashed a peasant on his estate for some misdemeanour, he would probably have used the rods called batogs batogs, not a knout.

The knout was three and a half feet long and made of leather. Much thicker than batogs batogs, it was also very heavy. As a result, when a blow was struck, which the knout-master did by leaping forward and swinging with all his force, it actually sunk a wound, like a bar, into the victim's back for the depth of half an inch or so. The skin was completely pulverized. Blood and tissue flew with every stroke. If the knout-master worked down your back, by the second time round he would be at the bone.

In order to appreciate how thorough the Russians were in this matter, however, it should further be explained that the more severe method was first to tie the victim's hands behind his back and then haul him up by the hands with a rope over a beam. This meant not just that he hung before the knout-master but that his arms were actually dislocated from their sockets while the knouting went on. When lowered, the arms could then be forced back into their sockets again.

This was the Russian knout, with which most prisoners were interrogated.

Tsar Peter was very concerned about the mutiny of the streltsy streltsy. He had seen his own uncle hacked to pieces by them when he was a boy and he knew they were capable of overturning him and putting Sophia back in his place. The questioning was urgent, therefore. Not only the streltsy streltsy but two of Sophia's maids were stripped and knouted although Peter leniently allowed one of these a simple execution when he discovered she was pregnant. but two of Sophia's maids were stripped and knouted although Peter leniently allowed one of these a simple execution when he discovered she was pregnant.

As well as the knout, Peter in person supervised the putting of some prisoners to the rack and also had them roasted on a fire in front of him. Yet the streltsy streltsy were still so obstinate in their silence that on at least one occasion Peter tried to cure a mutineer's silence by breaking open his clenched jaws with a stick. were still so obstinate in their silence that on at least one occasion Peter tried to cure a mutineer's silence by breaking open his clenched jaws with a stick.

Procopy Bobrov was present at a number of these interrogations.

He was there for a particular reason. As soon as they arrived back, Peter had joined the young man to his newly formed government department. It was called the Preobrazhensky Prikaz Preobrazhensky Prikaz in effect, a secret police bureau. And right from the start, it would make itself feared. in effect, a secret police bureau. And right from the start, it would make itself feared.

'The streltsy streltsy aren't talking much, even under torture,' Procopy told his father. 'But we do know they planned to replace Peter and they were going to kill every foreigner in Russia too. We'll deal with them, though.' aren't talking much, even under torture,' Procopy told his father. 'But we do know they planned to replace Peter and they were going to kill every foreigner in Russia too. We'll deal with them, though.'

The executions that autumn went on for three weeks, from the last day of September to October 18.

On October 12, there was a sudden dense fall of snow, plunging Moscow directly into winter, but the daily public executions went on.

Daniel witnessed several. The victims died in various ways, though usually they were beheaded or hanged. Peter also demanded that his boyars and friends should take a hand in the executions, and Daniel heard Procopy say to his father one evening: 'The Tsar's curious to see some people beheaded in the European way, with a sword instead of an axe tomorrow. Have you a good heavy sword you could lend me?'

Daniel saw Procopy at work the next day. Someone else in the crowd told the old man that he had seen the Tsar himself behead several men.

All these events Daniel witnessed with sorrow, but not with horror. The knouting, the executions: the streltsy streltsy had rebelled and it was only to be expected that they would be punished. had rebelled and it was only to be expected that they would be punished.

His horror began one morning when they brought out the regimental priests.

It was in Red Square. There, before the great, exotic towers of St Basil's Cathedral, Peter's men had erected a huge scaffold but not just an ordinary scaffold: this one was in the shape of a cross. They led out the priests to the scaffold. Daniel braced himself to witness a monstrosity.

But what happened next took his breath away entirely. For now, to perform the hanging, came the court jester. He was dressed as a priest.

The same day, in the gardens of the Novodevichy Convent, a hundred and ninety-five more of the streltsy streltsy were hung on gibbets, near Sophia's window. were hung on gibbets, near Sophia's window.

All these corpses were to be left dangling strange, frozen spectres, for five long months through the winter.

And what was Daniel to make of all this? He thought he knew. As the months passed, he became increasingly certain. Yet even then, he did not wish to form the thought himself.

Why had Eudokia summoned him? For comfort. Because, Daniel soon realized, there was no one else she felt she could trust.

Her son was godless. Her husband, wanting success for his family, said nothing.

'You see for yourself, all around, what has come to pass,' she told him privately. 'Help me, good Daniel, to know what to do.'

Ostensibly he was there as a carpenter. And, indeed, he did some beautiful joinery in their house, so that Nikita himself soon forgot his irritation at his wife's unexpectedly sending for the fellow. The landowner would proudly show Daniel's workmanship to visitors, and had he not refused to work for anyone else, Daniel could have had many commissions.

In a way, both the Bobrovs came to be glad of this addition to their household. For while his wife was devoted to the parents, Nikita found himself delighted by the presence of the little girl.

Maryushka was, indeed, an enchanting little girl. With her bright, freckled face and shining eyes she seemed to suppose that it was only natural that all the world should be her friend.

'She's a dainty little thing,' old Nikita would marvel. 'She could be a dancer.'

Even Procopy, whose impatience with Daniel was not always concealed, used to pick her up and carry her about with him whenever he visited the house. He had a wife and two little children of his own. 'So you,' he would tell her, 'must be my sweetheart.'

'Where's your beard?' she would always, fearlessly, ask him. 'Why haven't you got a beard?'

'The Tsar tore it off,' he would laugh.

She revered her father. She knew that he was older than the fathers of the other children, but knowing also with what respect he was treated in Russka, supposed that he was therefore someone quite out of the ordinary. When she was very little, she had for some time thought that he and God the Father must be one and the same.

If Nikita was amused by Maryushka, Eudokia did indeed find the comfort she sought with Daniel and Arina. Each day, she came quietly to pray with them. Often, when Daniel was working in the house, she would stand near him, watching silently. He was, Daniel saw at once, necessary to her. And as she once confessed to him herself: 'I have been a strong woman all my life, but in this new world, I feel as if all that I have known is being taken away. Do not leave me just yet, faithful friend.'

When she could slip out undetected, she would even put on a simple peasant's cloak and go with Daniel and his family to their secret church services. And Daniel permitted himself a smile when he remarked: 'They'll think you are my wife, and that Arina is my daughter, and Maryushka our granddaughter.'

She herself was amazed to discover what Daniel had managed to learn in his first week: that these services for Raskolniki Raskolniki were taking place in secret all over Moscow. Nearly always, in the capital, they were held in private houses rather than churches. There, sometimes in the room of a modest artisan, they would take out their icons, darkened with smoke and age, place them on the walls, and pray earnestly together, making the sign of the cross with two fingers. were taking place in secret all over Moscow. Nearly always, in the capital, they were held in private houses rather than churches. There, sometimes in the room of a modest artisan, they would take out their icons, darkened with smoke and age, place them on the walls, and pray earnestly together, making the sign of the cross with two fingers.

But if Daniel brought Eudokia comfort, he found none for himself.

While the streltsy streltsy executions continued by day, Peter was still seen, by night, at the houses of his friends in the German quarter. With him, it was well known, was his mistress Anna, while his wife, despite the fact that she had given him a son, scarcely saw him at all. By late October, the executions temporarily stopped. Peter left the capital to go down to the River Don, where he was once again building a new fleet. The seven weeks of fasting that preceded Christmas began and for a time Moscow was quiet. But at Christmas, Peter was back. He and the Mock Synod paraded through Moscow and the German suburb on two hundred sleds in a wild effort at carol singing, which Daniel, then at prayer, fortunately missed. executions continued by day, Peter was still seen, by night, at the houses of his friends in the German quarter. With him, it was well known, was his mistress Anna, while his wife, despite the fact that she had given him a son, scarcely saw him at all. By late October, the executions temporarily stopped. Peter left the capital to go down to the River Don, where he was once again building a new fleet. The seven weeks of fasting that preceded Christmas began and for a time Moscow was quiet. But at Christmas, Peter was back. He and the Mock Synod paraded through Moscow and the German suburb on two hundred sleds in a wild effort at carol singing, which Daniel, then at prayer, fortunately missed.

With January and February came the traditional celebration of Epiphany and the Pre-Lent Carnival; the public executions also began again. On February 3, Peter insisted that all foreigners in the Moscow area attend to witness the execution of three hundred more of the streltsy streltsy who had wanted to murder them. who had wanted to murder them.

It was also at this time that Peter began in earnest his campaign to force his court into western clothes by personally cutting the long kaftans of the boyars at a feast, just as he had cut off their beards a few months before.

To complete his political and personal innovations, Peter now made Sophia formally take the veil as a nun; and sent his own wife who so bored him, despite her miserable protests, into a convent at Suzdal. Their son, whom Peter had not much bothered with, was now sent to his sister and given a German tutor.

It was not, however, until the carnival week just before the start of Lent that Daniel finally saw the horror of Peter's Drunken Synod.

The revellers were on their way to the sumptuous house of Lefort; at their head, as usual, was Peter's old tutor dressed as the Patriarch. Beside him went another, representing Bacchus, god of wine. He, too, wore a bishop's mitre: but that was all he wore, since he was otherwise stark naked. Some of the party carried wine and mead, others huge dishes of the offensive, the ungodly tobacco weed, which they had lit. Others yet were swinging censers which Daniel realized were also smoking not with incense but tobacco. He had heard from young Procopy that the Tsar, when he was in England, had given Lord Carmarthen a monopoly to import the evil plant into Russia. Now here were the Tsar's companions putting tobacco in church censers!

When, soon afterwards, he heard that the Tsar's friend Lefort had suddenly died, he could only say: 'It is God's judgement.'

In April, as if as a further punishment from God, food shortages began in Moscow and prices soared.

Yet all these things, Daniel soon realized, were only the advance signals of the great evil that was to come.

So far, the Tsar's attention had been directed only upon his own court and the streltsy streltsy. Now, in the months that followed, he was to turn his fearsome gaze upon his people. And Daniel was brought from shock and misery to despair.

It began one evening when Procopy strode into the courtyard and, seeing Daniel, casually remarked: 'Well, Daniel, you'll be shaving your beard off tomorrow.' And seeing the carpenter's look of amazement: 'You haven't heard? Yes, you're going to look just like me. The Tsar is issuing a ukaz ukaz tomorrow morning.' tomorrow morning.'

The ukaz ukaz: the edict. All Tsars had used them, but from Peter they would flow in a torrent. And the ukaz ukaz he issued in 1699 was devastating. All the people not just the boyars, but simple men like Daniel, even peasants were to shave their beards! he issued in 1699 was devastating. All the people not just the boyars, but simple men like Daniel, even peasants were to shave their beards!

'It's all right,' Procopy added with a grin, 'you can pay a fine instead.'

The ukaz ukaz was very simple: all except priests must shave. Anyone who refused must pay a fine and wear a bronze medallion round his neck on a chain. The scale of fines was carefully calculated. For the enserfed peasants it was a modest half was very simple: all except priests must shave. Anyone who refused must pay a fine and wear a bronze medallion round his neck on a chain. The scale of fines was carefully calculated. For the enserfed peasants it was a modest half kopek kopek. But for a free man, an artisan or even a coachman, it was a stiff thirty roubles; for a tradesman, a punishing sixty; for a noble like Bobrov, a hundred.

There was no way that Daniel could afford to pay.

Though he had been shocked by the sight of Procopy, the doings of the court nobles had always belonged in a world apart. This however was different. 'I do not know how it is for nobles,' he declared to Arina, 'but for ordinary men there is no question to shave one's beard is a mortal sin. I cannot do this thing.'

'You must not,' Arina agreed, while little Maryushka gazed at him in astonishment. She could not imagine the revered figure of her father without his grey beard.

Within the Bobrov family the ukaz ukaz also created a storm. also created a storm.

'Never,' cried Eudokia. 'The idea is unthinkable.' And when Nikita muttered irritably about the expense, she stormed: 'I'd rather give all that I have than allow such a thing.'

The next day, looking triumphant yet rather sheepish, Nikita suddenly appeared before her with only a moustache. She turned on her heel, and would not allow him near her for a month. And when he complained, she only replied coldly: 'You can beat me, if you're enough of a man, but you'll get nothing else from me.'

Meanwhile, she secretly went and bought a bronze disc for Daniel, and insisted that he accept it from her. 'At least we shall have someone who looks like a God-fearing man in the house,' she said firmly.

And so the terrible year went on until, at its end, came the events which were, at last, to take Daniel to the edge of the abyss.

Procopy was cheerful. He was busy too. The streltsy streltsy had been utterly crushed and Peter's power was unassailable. had been utterly crushed and Peter's power was unassailable.

His own position was good: the Tsar was his friend.

'And if he trusts you,' he told his father, 'he's the kindest fellow in the world.'

For it had to be admitted that, for all his brutality, Peter could be tolerant of human weakness.

'He'll forgive you almost anything as long as you never lie to him,' Procopy said. 'Once, when I was late on parade, he looked so angry I thought he was going to have me knouted, but when I told him I'd been drunk the night before and had only just woken up, he laughed and told me not to do it again.'

Above all, Procopy was cheerful because he knew that Peter was preparing for a great adventure he was going to seize the Baltic ports.

It was a secret. The Swedes were strong and it would be necessary to take them by surprise. Brandenburg, Denmark, Saxony, all wanted to attack the Swedes and share out the rich Baltic lands of the Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians amongst themselves. But Peter could not strike north until he was sure that he, in turn, would not be attacked by the Ottoman Turks in the south. All that year, therefore, he assured the Swedish envoys to Moscow that he was their friend, while his own envoy in Constantinople tried to conclude a satisfactory treaty with the Sultan.

Meanwhile, Russia was arming.

The new English flintlocks were a huge improvement on the old muskets of the streltsy streltsy, which had been completely unreliable. Equally impressive were the new bayonets from France.

'See how neatly it's done,' Procopy explained to his father and Daniel one day. 'Instead of firing and then fitting the bayonet into the barrel, and then removing it if you want to fire again, these cunning Frenchmen have thought of fitting the bayonet on to the outside of the barrel, so you can actually fire with the bayonet fixed!'

Neither man had ever seen such a weapon and even Daniel, the former Cossack, agreed that the thing was well done.

Above all, the state would need money.

'We're going to tax everything we can get our hands on,' Procopy declared. 'Even people's beards,' he laughed. 'And since trade will improve when we've got our Baltic ports, we'll make the merchants cough up too.'

'How will you do that?' Nikita asked.

'Simple,' his son replied. 'Administrative reforms.'

And he explained how Peter was now going to allow all local tradesmen to be completely free of the control of the provincial governors and let them elect their own officials. 'That will please them, I should think,' Nikita said. For though he himself had once hoped to be a governor, he knew very well how corrupt their administration was.

'Not really,' Procopy grinned. 'You see, we're doubling their taxes!'

Indeed, though many of Peter's reforms were for the ultimate good of Russia, it is certainly true that most were actually thought of originally as ways of raising revenue more efficiently.

Not only money, but men were pouring in. Procopy insisted that Nikita send a good complement from his estates, including Russka. 'And make sure they're all shaved,' he remarked. When his father observed that, for his part, he couldn't see why it mattered whether the peasant recruits were shaved or not, Procopy quickly cut in: 'Of course it does. That way we can spot deserters at once.'

There was another way of getting men as well as applying to landlords. 'We're going to make sure the peasants who've been freed by their masters don't get off,' Procopy explained. 'They're to report to the recruiting officers or lose their freedom.'

'So their freedom will be the army?'

'That's right.'

And Nikita could only shake his head at such ruthless efficiency.

But what, in the long run, did all these changes mean? This was what puzzled Nikita.

He was not shocked, as Eudokia and Daniel were. And though he found Procopy's air of superiority hurtful, he tried to be humble and to interest himself. He saw whole regiments dressed like Germans. He saw his son lead his wife out in a new German dress, in which she looked rather bashful. He saw the Church mocked and the Tsar's only son taken from his mother and given into the care of foreigners.

'And all I want to know,' he burst out to Procopy, when they were alone one day before Christmas, 'all I want you to tell me is, where are we going? Are we to stop being Russians altogether? Is that the idea? I even heard someone say the Tsar would prefer us all to speak Dutch.'

On this subject, to his surprise, his son reassured him.

'For while I dare say the Tsar would be delighted if we did speak Dutch, he won't attempt such a thing,' Procopy laughed. 'But you see, Father,' he went on, 'to understand what's going on you have to look not to Russia, but outside.'

'What for?'

'Because no one in Russia realizes how backward we have become. If you went to London or Amsterdam, you'd see at once. Didn't Tsar Alexis import foreign officers and methods in your day? Yet wasn't he a good Russian?'

'He was,' said Nikita piously.

'We Russians must use whatever seems good to us, then, and reject the rest,' Procopy continued.

'But why does the Tsar hate religion?'

'He doesn't. But the Church is so backward, so superstitious, so opposed to any change, that he cannot work with it.' He paused. 'Tsar Peter, Father, is like a giant dragging a great army up a hill. Only the army is all facing the wrong way and pulling downwards. He has to be strong. He has to be firm. He has to act, if you like, like Ivan the Terrible to achieve anything at all. Only in this way can he make Russia strong.'

'Then we are not to become westerners? We can still be Russians once we have caught up?'

Procopy put his hand on his father's arm.

'Of course. I will tell you what the Tsar said to me only last week. He said: "Procopy Nikitevich we need Europe for twenty years. Then we can turn our backs on her."'

1700.