In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XIV

  CHIOS

  A quarter of an hour after the Greek officer left the schooner Millersaid: "They are lowering a large boat from the Greek flag-ship, sir."

  Martyn brought his glass to bear upon it.

  "There is a stir on board," he said. "It looks as if the commanderwere going on shore."

  "Yes, there is some officer of importance being handed down theladder. Now she is putting off. By Jove! I believe she is coming here;at any rate she is heading straight for us. Perhaps Lykourgos himselfis coming to blow us out of the water."

  "Quite as likely he is coming to pay his respects," Miller said. "Thebetting is ten to one the fellow is a coward; and that if the officergave the message as he got it, he is impressed with the idea that thechief is an Englishman of great importance, possessed, perhaps, ofunknown powers of destruction."

  "Horace," Martyn said, "you had better tell your father. I can makeout that the fellow in the stern is got up in gorgeous uniform. Iexpect it is Lykourgos himself."

  Mr. Beveridge came up on to the quarter-deck just as the boat camealongside. Martyn went to the gangway as a Greek officer came up andannounced that Admiral Lykourgos had come to pay a visit to theEnglish lord. Lykourgos mounted to the deck.

  "I am the commandant of this craft, sir," Martyn said. "This is Mr.Beveridge, the owner."

  Lykourgos advanced with an air of great pleasure and with outstretchedhand.

  "I am delighted to make the acquaintance of an English friend ofGreece," he said.

  Mr. Beveridge bowed and shook hands with the Greek.

  "What a contrast there is between them!" Miller whispered to Horace."This theatrical-looking Greek with his oily manners, and your fatherin his quiet blue serge! Ah! he is asking him to go down into thecabin."

  The interview lasted about ten minutes, and then the two men returnedon deck. Lykourgos entered his boat and rowed away.

  "Well, sir, is it peace or war?" Martyn asked.

  "Peace, as far as we are concerned," Mr. Beveridge said. "The fellowmade no allusion to my message to him, paid me a large number ofabsurd compliments, expressed boundless admiration at the result ofMiller's action with the frigate, of which he had heard, and hopedthat he would have our assistance against the Turks. I told him what Ithought of his enterprise, and that he was bringing destruction uponthe heads of the unfortunate Christians. He assured me that I had beenmisinformed, that the Christians would join him to a man, and that heshould make short work of the Turks, and should at once besiege themin their citadel. I said that I wished him success in that part of hisundertaking, and that there would be no time to waste, as the Turkishfleet might, I understood, appear any day. But that, if he undertooksiege operations, and his own force proved inadequate, we would land aparty to assist him. He hinted that money might be required to supportthe siege. I told him that I had arranged with the central governmentthat any assistance I had to give in that way should be given throughthem; but that, if the people of the island really did rise, I shouldbe happy to furnish a thousand muskets and ammunition for their use.Seeing that nothing was to be got out of me he took his leave. He saidthe landing was to take place in half an hour."

  "Shall we send a party on shore with him, Mr. Beveridge?" Martynasked.

  "No, Martyn. He says he has got two thousand five hundred fighting menready to land, and that being the case we should be powerless tointerfere in any way. Besides, for the present I think it would bebest to keep the men on board. I don't trust the fellow in theslightest; and if he thought the vessel was left weak-handed, he isperfectly capable of making a sudden attack on her. No doubt he thinkswe have money untold below, and I should say a great proportion of hisvessels are no better than pirates, who have merely joined him in thehope of booty. I know that he has none of the Psara ships with him,for Chios lies so near their island that they would have no wish todraw the vengeance of the Turks upon themselves; and I know that they,as well as the Chiots, sent to Corinth to protest against theexpedition. I don't think he has any of the Hydriot ships with himeither. They only sail under their own admirals, and do, to a certainextent, respect the orders of the central government. His ships, Ifancy, all belong to the smaller islands, and are the sort of craftthat are honest traders one day and pirates the next if they see achance--the riffraff of the islands, in fact. If they really dobesiege the Turks in the citadel, and I see that we can be of anyassistance, we will land a party; but at any rate we will take mattersquietly until we see how things go."

  "The vessels are all lowering their boats, Captain Martyn," Tarletonreported.

  "Very well, Mr. Tarleton. Let the men go to their quarters, unloosethe guns and load with grape. It is quite upon the cards that thesefellows may make a sudden dash upon us, thinking to catch us napping."

  The boatswain's whistle was heard, and then Tom Burdett shouted out:"All hands to quarters! Cast loose the guns and load with grape!" Andin a moment a scene of animated bustle succeeded the quiet that hadreigned on board the schooner since her anchor had been dropped. In afew minutes, however, the crowded boats left the ships and rowedtowards shore.

  "That will do, boatswain; you can call the men away from the guns,"said Martyn.

  "Shall we take the cartridges out, sir?"

  "No, leave them as they are. Put a fold or two of sailcloth over thetouch-holes. It is just as well to be on guard as long as we are inthe neighbourhood of these slippery gentry. Horace, you take my glassand go aloft, and see if you can make out any Turks in theneighbourhood. It is four or five hours since the Greek fleet firsthove in sight, and there is ample time for the Turks to have come downto oppose their landing if they thought themselves strong enough tofight in the open."

  Horace ascended the shrouds, and sitting on the cap of the mainmastexamined the shore.

  "There are half a dozen horsemen riding about, a short distance fromthe shore, sir," he called down, "but I can see no signs of troopsanywhere."

  "Then it is evident they don't mean to fight," Martyn said to thefirst lieutenant. "Between ourselves, Miller, I am very glad they arenot here to oppose a landing; for if they had been, no doubt the chiefwould have wanted to fire a few shots to help cover the operations,and I should be sorry to lift even a finger to help in this wretchedbusiness. It is like a landing from one of the old buccaneer fleets onthe Spanish Main. They used to pretend they went to attack theSpaniards, while in reality they simply fought for plunder. Still,those fellows had courage--plenty of it, which is more, I fancy, thanthese Greeks are likely to exhibit when they once get in front of theTurks."

  Lykourgos, with his twenty-five hundred men, marched withoutopposition into the town of Chios, where they burnt the custom-houses,destroyed two mosques, and plundered generally the houses of theinhabitants. They occupied the houses nearest the citadel, and placingriflemen in them opened fire, while a party began to throw up abattery on a commanding position known as Turloti.

  The following morning Mr. Beveridge landed, and, accompanied by Millerand Horace, and a party of twenty sailors armed with rifle, cutlass,and pistol, proceeded to Chios. He found the streets of the town indisorder, the troops--or rather the armed men, for they were underneither discipline nor control--were wandering about, occasionallygoing within sight of the citadel, and discharging their muskets twoor three times in that direction. They looked with surprise at theorderly little party of British sailors; but as they supposed thesehad come to help them, they received them with exclamations ofgood-will. They visited Turloti, where a score or two of men wereworking lazily, and then went down to the port, where another batteryhad also been begun.

  "What on earth are they putting up a battery here for?" Miller said."At this distance they might as well fire potatoes at the citadel. Askthat officer, Horace, what they are up to?"

  The Greek replied that they were going to run their trenches forwardagainst the citadel from this point.

  "Well, then, they are fonder of work than I gave them credit for,"Miller said when
he understood the reply. "If the whole of them wereto set to work in earnest, it would take them a month to run theirtrenches from here up to the citadel, and, at the rate at which theyare working now, it would take them a couple of years."

  Returning to the town Mr. Beveridge called upon Lykourgos, who hadtaken up his quarters in the bishop's palace. The Greek received himwith an air of much greater pomposity than he had shown at their firstmeeting. He evidently believed that the work was almost accomplished,and that he was already the conqueror of the island.

  "I have been doing some good work this morning," he said. "I havedeposed the Demogeronts (the Municipal Council). You know they werepoor creatures and lukewarm, and I have appointed a RevolutionaryCommittee."

  "Indeed!" Mr. Beveridge said gravely. "And what military work have youin hand? It seems to me that the men would be much better employed inworking at the batteries than in idling about the streets."

  "The citadel will soon fall," Lykourgos said loftily. "Cut off fromall succour and surrounded by my army they must speedily surrender."

  "Undoubtedly they must, if they were so situated," Mr. Beveridge said;"but, so far as I see, there is nothing whatever to prevent the Turksfrom sending reinforcements from the mainland."

  "I am writing to ask the government at Corinth to order the fleet hereto blockade the island and oppose the Turkish fleet when they come insight."

  "That would be excellent," Mr. Beveridge said; "but the centralgovernment are not famous for speed, nor are the ships of Hydra andPsara very apt to obey orders unless these happen to suit their ownviews. Could you not send a few of those vessels of yours to preventthe Turks from sending reinforcements?"

  "That would be quite impossible," Lykourgos said decidedly. "In thefirst place, they are mere transports, the greater proportion carryingno guns, and those that do have guns of such light calibre that theycould not oppose the Turkish cruisers that would no doubt convoy anyvessels bringing Turkish troops across. In the second place, I couldnot spare a ship, for, were the Turkish fleet to arrive before theGreek fleet comes to my assistance, I should have to re-embark my armyat once. I shall soon be in a position to press the siege morevigorously. I have already received messages saying the peasantryamong the hills are about to join me."

  Mr. Beveridge, seeing that there was no prospect of any vigorousefforts to restore discipline among the Greeks, returned to theschooner. Day after day passed and nothing whatever was done. A fewsoldiers, when the fancy took them, worked for an hour or two at thebatteries, or fired away their ammunition in the direction of thecitadel. Neither Lykourgos nor his committee made any attempt tointroduce either discipline among the troops or order in the town.

  No news came from Corinth as to the movements of the Greek fleet, buta vessel arrived with a few heavy guns for siege purposes, and alsobrought several Philhellenes--as foreigners who had come to assist theGreeks were called--to direct the service of the guns.

  In consequence of the disorder in the town the position of the betterclass of Christians became intolerable. Mr. Beveridge landed butseldom. He saw that nothing could be done, and that the expeditionmust certainly end in disaster, and accordingly preferred to remain onboard and await events.

  Two of the officers generally landed every day. Some of the men werealso allowed to go on shore, but were forbidden to approach theneighbourhood of the town lest they should become involved in quarrelswith the Greeks. One day, when Horace was ashore with Tarleton, hespoke sharply to a drunken Greek soldier who ran against him.Presently Tarleton said:

  "There has been a Greek following us since you spoke to that drunkenman, Horace. He looks a respectable old card. I fancy he wants tospeak to you, having heard you talking Greek."

  "Why doesn't he speak then?" Horace said.

  "Perhaps he wants to talk to you in quiet, Horace."

  "Very well. Let us turn down this narrow street. There is no oneabout, and that will give him a chance of speaking if he wants to."

  The Greek, indeed, quickened his steps as soon as they turned down,and was soon alongside of them.

  "You speak Greek, sir?" he said to Horace. "I have been wanting tospeak to some of you officers, but this is the first time I have heardone of you speaking Greek."

  "Yes, I speak the language. Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

  "Do you belong to an English ship-of-war, may I ask?"

  "No; I belong to an armed ship, which is the property of my father,who is a Philhellene, and has fitted it out at his own expense for theservice of Greece, whose flag we now fly."

  "Your sailors are taking no part in the siege of the citadel?"

  "No, sir. My father does not think the expedition a useful one, and weare only remaining here to see what takes place, and perhaps to giveassistance to any who may need it."

  "We all need it, sir," the man said eagerly. "We have been robbed andplundered by these ruffians, who call themselves our friends, and whenthey run away, which they will do directly the Turks come, we shall beheld responsible for all their misdeeds, and a terrible vengeance willfall upon us. I was a wealthy man, sir, a fortnight ago; now I wouldgive all I possess to save the lives of my family and myself, andthere are eight or ten of my friends in the same position. We havejewels and money, and are ready to pay any sum to be taken off theisland before the Turks come. You have but to name a price, and if itis within our means we shall be happy to pay it."

  "We are not Greeks," Horace said angrily, "to make money out of themiseries of others." And then, seeing the depressed look of themerchant, he went on more mildly: "We do not wish to make money out ofyour misfortune, sir; but I will speak to my father, and I think I cananswer for him that he will be ready to afford you and your friendsand families shelter on board his ship. We lately took five hundredChristians off from Cyprus and landed them on the Ionian Isles. Wecame out to fight, but my father has since named his ship the_Misericordia_, and his desire is to help persons in distress, whetherthey be Turks or Christians. I will speak to him when I return onboard, and if you will be here to-morrow at eleven o'clock in themorning I will give you his answer."

  The merchant overwhelmed Horace with thanks.

  "What is the old chap so excited about, Horace?" Tarleton asked asthey resumed their walk.

  Horace repeated the conversation.

  "Poor beggars!" Tarleton said. "A nice position they are in! I wishwe had the crew of a man-of-war here; we would clear out the townpretty sharply of these ruffians who call themselves soldiers, andsend these peasants who are swarming about the streets back to theirmountains. I see they have got the muskets your father sent on shoreyesterday. Much good will they do them! The men had far better be athome looking after their vineyards and orchards."

  Mr. Beveridge agreed at once to afford shelter to the merchants andtheir families.

  "I thought it would come to this," he said, "and expected some of themwould come off and ask to be taken on board before; but I suppose theydid not know our real character. We shall have plenty more applyingbefore this matter is concluded; but I doubt whether Lykourgos and hiscrew will allow them to come on board so long as they have a pennyleft to be wrung out of them. The scoundrel ought to be hung, if itwas only for being named as he is. It is downright profanation to hearsuch names as Ulysses, Lycurgus, Leonidas, and Miltiades applied tomen who do not seem to possess one single good quality, not even thatof courage. Tell them, Horace, that we will carry out any arrangementsfor getting them off that they may suggest, and that at any hour bynight or day the boats shall be at the spot they appoint, and that astrong body of men shall be sent on shore to cover their embarkation."

  Martyn himself accompanied Horace the next morning to shore, as hethought it would be better that he should hear what were the plans ofthe merchant, and might be able to make suggestions as to their beingcarried out. The Christian merchant was awaiting them. When theyapproached he entered the house by the door of which he was standing,and invited them also to enter.

  "I know
the owner of this house," he said, "and arranged with him tohave a room where we could speak undisturbed. Did any of the officersor soldiers happen to come down the lane when I was speaking to you,suspicion would be at once roused that some plot or other was onfoot. Well, sir, what is your father's answer?"

  "He cordially invites you and your friends and their families to takerefuge on board his vessel, and he will land you at Athens, Corinth,or in the Ionian Isles, as you may desire."

  The Greek clasped his hands in delight. "Oh, sir, you cannot tell whata load you have taken off my mind, or what we have been suffering oflate, with the certainty that ere long the Turks will return."

  "This is Captain Martyn, who commands the vessel," Horace said; "hehas come ashore to concert measures for getting you on board, that is,if you think that there will be any obstacle in the way of your comingoff openly."

  "Certainly there will. I am sure they would not allow us to leave.Three of my friends went to Lykourgos yesterday and said they desiredto go with their families on board the Greek ships. He got into a furyand threatened to have them thrown into prison as traitors, fined thema thousand piastres each, and said that anyone leaving the islandwould be deemed a traitor to the cause of Greece and all his propertyconfiscated."

  Horace translated this to Martyn.

  "Then they must get off quietly, Horace; ask him if they have formedany plans. Tell him that I will land thirty men and bring them upclose to the town, if they can slip off and join us."

  Horace put the question.

  "We were talking it over last night," the merchant said; "it is noteasy, because we all have men who call themselves officers quarteredin our houses. We think that the best way will be for our daughtersand servants, with the exception of one or two, to slip off as soon asit becomes dark, going in pairs and carrying with them all thevaluables they can. We ourselves and our wives will remain for two orthree hours, so that the men seeing us will suspect nothing. Some ofour servants, after escorting the ladies and children beyond thetown, can return and take with them another load. It would not do totake large bundles, but the men can carry casks or barrels on theirshoulders filled with valuable clothes and stuffs, and as there wouldbe nothing unusual in a man carrying a cask of wine or a barrel offlour, they might pass without exciting suspicion. Then, at the momentagreed, we ourselves might slip away and join the rest."

  "That seems a likely plan," Martyn said when he understood thedetails. "Now it is for them to name some spot where we can beawaiting them."

  "We have arranged that," the Chiot said. "One of my friends has alarge farm-house where he and his family take up their residence insummer; it stands half a mile from the town, on the brow looking downupon the sea; it is a white house with two large store-houses for wineand produce standing behind it."

  "I know the house," Horace said; "the road passes a hundred yardsbehind it."

  "That is the house, sir. It will be dark by seven o'clock, and at thathour our servants will begin to start. It is probable that most of thechildren will be sent on there during the day. This could certainly bedone without exciting attention. We ourselves will leave our houses asthe clock strikes ten."

  "I should think, Martyn," Horace said when he had translated this,"that we might manage to make things more easy for them if we sendMarco on shore with half a dozen men directly we get back to the ship.We can tell him to hire a couple of carts and then to come to thesepeople's houses. At one they could take into the carts a dozen barrelsof wine, that is to say, wine barrels filled with valuables; atanother a dozen barrels of flour, at another a cask of currants orolives, and so on. I will go round with them, and it will merely seemas if we were buying stores for the ship. These rich merchants arecertain to have the best of everything, and it will be natural that weshould choose a time like the present to lay in a stock, and thatthey would be glad to sell cheaply. Marco and half the men could gowith one cart and I could go with the rest with the other. That way weshould attract less attention than by both going about in a crowd."

  "I think that is a capital plan, Horace; explain it to him, and getthe names and addresses of the people who are going and the housesthat each cart should go to, so that they may not cross each other onthe way."

  Horace explained the matter to the merchant.

  "That is kind indeed," he exclaimed, "and will enable us to save allour most precious goods without fear of detection. I will go round atonce to my friends and tell them to pack up their things. There areten of us who have agreed to make the attempt together, which willmake five houses for each cart to call at." And taking out hispocket-book he wrote the addresses on two slips of paper.

  There was nothing more to arrange.

  "It will take us an hour and a half to get on board," Horace said."That will be one o'clock. At two we will start, and you may expectthe carts to be at the houses somewhere about four."

  He and Martyn walked briskly back to the landing-place, where a boatmet them, having put off as soon as they were seen approaching. Mr.Beveridge warmly approved of the plan, and at two o'clock ten sailorswere landed. Zaimes as well as Marco accompanied them, and Miller alsowent to take charge of one party, as it was thought that they wereless likely to be questioned if an officer went with them. Theystopped at a farm-house by the way and hired two carts. It wasarranged that the two Greeks should purchase in the town severalcarcasses of sheep and a quantity of fruit and vegetables to place onthe carts with the other goods, so as to carry out more completely theidea that they were laying in stores for consumption on board, and ontheir way Zaimes suggested they should also get a small cask or two ofcurrants and a cask of wine for each cart. In packing the goods theseshould be placed most conspicuously, so that if necessary they couldknock in the head of the cask with currants, or bore holes in thatwith the wine, and show that the contents were what they seemed to be.

  The operation was carried out without difficulty. At each place theyvisited, casks and barrels were at once rolled out from the warehousesand placed in the carts. There had evidently been an arrangementbetween the various families as to quantity, and by the time the lasthouses were visited the carts were filled to their full capacity, andthe meat, vegetables, and fruit piled on the top of all. There wassome joking from the soldiers as the carts passed down the streets,but the sight of the meat and vegetables dispelled any suspicions, andthe Greeks joked back in return. Neither party knew how the other wasgetting on, as they had not caught sight of each other afterseparating before entering the town. Horace was first to reach thespot, a mile out, where they had agreed that whichever came firstshould await the other. In ten minutes the second party was seencoming in the distance, and when it arrived within a quarter of a mileHorace moved forward again.

  Tarleton with the three largest boats was awaiting their coming on thebeach abreast of the schooner, and by the time the contents of thefirst cart were transferred to the boats the second arrived. As soonas everything was on board the drivers of the carts were paid the sumagreed upon, and the boats rowed off to the schooner.

  "Have you had any difficulty?" Mr. Beveridge asked as they camealongside.

  "Not the slightest, father," Horace replied. "We were chaffed a littleabout our stores, but no one had the least suspicion that they werenot what they seemed."

  The casks were soon got on board and were slung down into the hold.

  "What do you suppose they contain, father?" Horace asked.

  "Well, of course all their jewels and money are in them, and no doubtall their valuable dresses. I expect that the bulk is made up of silkand brocades, most of which is extremely costly. Then there will beembroidered stuffs, some of the more valuable of which are worthalmost a fortune in themselves. Chios is an extremely rich island andits revenues are a special appanage of the Sultan and his harem, anddoubtless the merchants here supply the ladies of the court with manyof their most valued robes and embroideries."

  While the boats had been ashore the sailors had again rigged up thescreen across the
main-deck for the use of the ladies and children,and had also made a smaller compartment for the use of the merchants."There is one comfort," Miller said, "as these people are swells theyare not likely to turn the ship into such a pig-stye as that last lotdid. How many do you suppose there will be, Horace?"

  "I suppose they will run seven or eight to a family, that isseventy-five, and likely enough they may bring five or six men andwomen servants with each family; so I suppose you may calculate on ahundred and fifty, Miller."

  "Ah! well, we can manage that. I should like to see the face of thatfellow Lykourgos to-morrow morning when he finds that some of the menout of whom he had expected to make most money have slipped throughhis fingers."

  As soon as it became dark thirty men were landed, armed to the teeth.Miller took command, and Horace accompanied him with the two Greeks toassist to look after the fugitives. When they reached the farm-housethey found about thirty young children with their nurses assembledthere with some eight or ten older girls. They were evidently in astate of great alarm, but their spirits rose when Horace and theGreeks entered and told them that a guard of English sailors werewithout and that there was no longer a fear of their being discoveredby any straggling soldiers who might chance to visit the house. In ashort time the servants, accompanied by young women and boys, began toarrive. Most of them carried bundles, and their bulky appearancesuggested that they had put on a large quantity of clothes under theplain dresses they wore. The men all carried barrels or boxes. Theseall returned to the town and came back by half-past nine with anotherload.

  Some excellent wine was served out to the sailors by the man who wasin charge of the house, who told Horace that he had received ordersfrom his master that the sailors were to carry away as many barrels ofwine as they could take for the use of the schooner; and as it wascertain that its owner would never have an opportunity of drinking it,Horace did not hesitate to accept the present, and thirty barrels ofwine, each containing about five gallons, were brought out and placedin readiness for the sailors to take up.

  "What are you going to do about your loads?" Horace asked one of theservants.

  "We have orders, sir, to carry one of them as we go with you, and thenwhen the others go off to the ship to return here for the second, ifyou will consent to our doing so."

  "Certainly," Horace said. "There can be no possible objection to that,providing we all get down to the beach without any alarm being given,and of that I do not think there is any likelihood. The soldiers willhave all returned to their quarters before this. The only chance is ofour coming across parties of sailors returning to their ships. None ofthese would be strong enough to interfere with us, and even if theyreported the matter when they got on board, I should say that none ofthe captains would feel sufficient interest in the news to take anysteps about it."

  Soon after ten o'clock the merchants with their wives and grown-upsons began to arrive, and by half-past the last of the party were in.No further time was lost. Fifteen of the sailors, each with a barrelof wine on his shoulder, led the way under Lieutenant Miller. Themerchants and their families followed, then came the servants withHorace and the rest of the sailors as rear-guard. The road wasentirely deserted, and they reached the shore without encountering asingle person. As soon as they did so, Horace told the servant men toset down their burdens and start back at once. The merchants withtheir wives and families were first transferred to the schooner, thesailors on shore taking charge of the rest of the fugitives and thebaggage. Another trip conveyed the remaining Chiots to the vessel.When the boats returned the casks and barrels of wine were placed onboard, and the sailors then took their places and rowed off. Horacefound that the first party had already retired. Hammocks had beenslung for the women and children, the female attendants sleeping onthe deck. The merchants and their sons occupied a compartment screenedoff for them. The men-servants coiled themselves away between the gunson deck.

  The two Greeks had gone off in the first boat, and already preparedsome supper, to which Martyn and Horace sat down.

  "I did not wait for you," Mr. Beveridge said, "as I knew that it mustbe half-past eleven by the time you reached the shore, and anothergood half-hour before you were off. Poor people! their gratitude wasquite distressing; the men considered that it was certain they wouldbe massacred by the Turks, and their women carried off as slaves. Iwas obliged at last in self-defence to pack them off to bed. The womenall wanted to kiss my hand, which would have been well enough for youyoung fellows, for some of the girls are lovely. The Chiots arecelebrated for their good looks; but for a man my age it would havebeen simply embarrassing."

  "Perhaps they will renew the demonstrations to-morrow," Millerlaughed. "If so, I shall get Horace to explain to them delicately thatour English custom is to salute on the face and not on the hand. I didnot see any of the girls. I left it to Horace to do the politeindoors, while I kept a lookout with the men outside. I don't knowwhether he came in for any kisses; if so, he kept it to himself."

  "No," Horace laughed. "They were all too anxious about their parents'safety to think of doing the civil thing to me; but, as you say,Martyn, there will be time enough to-morrow when we see what they arelike. I expect to-morrow we shall have Lykourgos or some of hisofficers off here to protest."

  "That we sha'n't," Martyn said, "for we will get up the anchor atdaybreak and be off before anyone knows what has happened. Your fatheragrees with me that the best plan will be to get rid of this cargo atonce, and then we can come back again for another."

  "I have asked them where they would like to be landed," Mr. Beveridgesaid, "and they had already agreed among themselves to go to Corfu. Inthe first place they have no love for the Greeks of the mainland, withwhom they are furious for bringing destruction upon the island bycoming here without a sufficient force to hold the citadel even ifthey captured it, and they would vastly rather be landed under theprotection of the British flag. They will have time to settleafterwards where they will make their homes."