Olga Romanoff

Olga Romanoff
or The Syren of the Skies
A sequel to "The Angel of the Revolution"
by George Griffith
In view of recent events in Russia it is necessary to state that Olga
Romanoff was published before they happened. For the obviously
necessary alterations in the text the reader is referred to the ninth
edition of The Angel of the Revolution
To
Hiram Stevens Maxim the first man who has flown by mechanical
means and so approached most nearly to the long-sought ideal of aerial
navigation the following pages are inscribed by the Author
CONTENTS.
PROLOGUE
THE SURRENDER OF THE WORLD-THRONE
A CROWNLESS KING
TSARINA OLGA
A SON OF THE GODS
A VISION FROM THE CLOUDS
DEED AND DREAM
THE SPELL OF CIRCE

THE NEW TERROR
THE FLIGHT OF THE "REVENGE"
STRANGE TIDINGS TO AERIA
THE SNAKE IN EDEN
THE BATTLE OF KERGUELEN
THE SYREN'S STRONGHOLD
FROM THE SEA TO THE AIR
OLGA IN COUNCIL
KHALID THE MAGNIFICENT
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE
A MOMENTOUS COMMISSION
FACE TO FACE AGAIN
THE CALL TO ARMS
THE HOME-COMING
THE EVE OF BATTLE
THE FIRST BLOW
WAR AT ITS WORST
A MESSAGE FROM MARS
SENTENCE OF DEATH
ALMA SPEAKS

THE SIGN IN THE SKY
THE TRUCE OF GOD
THE SHADOW OF DEATH
THE LAST BATTLE
THE SHE-WOLF TO HER LAIR
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE.
THE PROPHECY OF NATAS.
These are the last words of Israel di Murska, known in the days of strife
as Natas, the Master of the Terror, given to the Children of
Deliverance dwelling in the land of Aeria, in the twenty-fifth year of the
Peace, which, in the reckoning of the West, is the year nineteen
hundred and thirty.
MY life is lived, and the wings of the Angel of Death overshadow me
as I write; but before the last summons comes, I must obey the spirit
within me that bids me tell of the things that I have seen, in order that
the story of them shall not die, nor be disguised by false reports, as the
years multiply and the mists gather over the graves of those who, with
me, have seen and wrought them.
For this reason the words that I write shall be read publicly in the ears
of you and your children and your children's children, until they shall
see a sign in heaven to tell them that the end is at hand. No man among
you shall take away from that which I have written, nor yet add
anything to it; and every fifth year, at the Festival of Deliverance,
which is held on the Anniversary of Victory, this writing of mine shall
be read, that those who shall hear it with understanding may lay its
warnings to heart, and that the lessons of the Great Deliverance may
never be forgotten among you.

It was in the days before the beginning of peace that I, Natas the Jew,
cast down and broken by the hand of the Tyrant, conceived and created
that which was known as the Terror. The kings of the earth and their
servants trembled before my invisible presence, for my arm was long
and my hand was heavy; yet no man knew where or when I should
strike -- only that the blow would be death to him on whom it should
fall, and that nowhere on earth should he find a safe refuge from it.
In those days the earth was ruled by force and cunning, and the nations
were armed camps set one against the other. Millions of men, who had
no quarrel with their neighbours, stood waiting for the word of their
rulers to blast the fair fields of earth with the fires of war, and to make
desolate the homes of those who had done them no wrong.
In the third year of the twentieth century, Richard Arnold, the
Englishman, conquered the empire of the air, and made the first ship
that flew as a bird does, of its own strength and motion. He joined the
Brotherhood of Freedom, then known among men as the Terrorists, of
whom I, Natas, was the Master, and then he built the aerial fleet which,
in the day of Armageddon, gave us the victory over the tyrants of the
earth.
At the same time, Alan Tremayne, a noble of the English people, into
whose soul I had caused my spirit to enter in order that he might serve
me and bring the day of deliverance nearer, caused all the nations of the
Anglo-Saxon race to join hands, from the West unto the East, in a
league of common blood and kindred; and they, in the appointed hour,
stood between the sons and daughters of men and those who would
have enslaved them afresh.
The chief of these was Alexander Romanoff, last of the Tsars, or
Tyrants, of