by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER VI
UNDER WEIGH
After seeing to a few matters that had been left till the last moment,Will Martyn returned on board again. Horace dined at the club, ofwhich he had been made an honorary member, and then went back to theFalcon. To his surprise Zaimes was standing at the door.
"Why, Zaimes, how on earth did you get here? Why, the coach does notget in till twelve o'clock."
"No, Mr. Horace, but we had everything ready to start this morning. Ofcourse your letter did not come in time for us to get over to theearly coach, but we were expecting it after what you wrote yesterday,and your father had concluded that it would be much more comfortableto post. He does not like being crowded, and it was doubtful whetherthere would be room for the two of us; and there was the luggage, sowe had arranged for a post-chaise to come for us anyhow, and westarted half an hour after your letter came in, and have postedcomfortably. Your father is in the coffee-room. He would not have aprivate room, as he did not know whether you would be taking him onboard this evening."
Mr. Beveridge was sitting at a table by himself, and had just finishedhis dinner when Horace came in. He looked up more briskly than usual.
"I am sorry I was not here to meet you, father," Horace said; "but Idid not think you could be here until the night coach."
"No; I did not expect to find you here, Horace, so it was nodisappointment. Well, you look bronzed and well, my boy, you and yourfriends seem to have done wonders in getting everything done so soon.I am quite anxious to see the ship. Are we to go on board thisevening?"
"If you don't mind, father, I would much rather you didn't go offtill morning. I said that if you came we would breakfast early and beready for the gig at half-past eight. They won't be expecting usto-night, and I am sure Martyn and the others will like to haveeverything in the best possible order when you go on board. We havebeen expecting those boxes of books you wrote about a week ago, butthey haven't turned up. It will be a horrible nuisance if, after theway we have been pushing everything forward, we should be kept waitingtwo or three days for them."
"Well, Horace, the fact is I changed my mind. The four boxes werepacked and in the hall. They really were very large boxes, and Zaimessaid: 'Well, master, what you are going to do with all those books Ican't imagine. Where are you going to put them? Why, they would fillyour cabin up solid. If I were you, sir, I would not take one of them.Just give yourself a holiday. Don't take a pen in your hand while youare away. You will have plenty to see about and to think about, and Iam sure it would do you a deal of good to give it up altogether for atime, and you will take it up freshly afterwards. Besides, you willhave people coming on board, and your advice will be asked, and youwill have to decide all sorts of things, and you know you won't beable to bring your mind out of your books if you have them on board.'He said something like it when I first began to talk of packing, butit seemed to me impossible that I could give up work altogether; butthe sight of those four great boxes staggered me. Then I said:'Zaimes, this is not like that little cabin on board the yacht. Thisis quite a large vessel in comparison.' 'Yes, sir,' he replied, 'butyour cabin won't be larger than the main cabin in the _Surf_, not solarge I should fancy.' This surprised me altogether, but he assured meit was so, and pressed me so much on the matter that I at last agreedto leave them all behind."
"That is a capital thing, father. Zaimes was quite right. Yourstate-room is a very nice cabin, but except that it is a good dealmore lofty, it is certainly not so large by a good deal as the maincabin in the _Surf_; besides, if you had your books you would bealways shut up there, and what I thought of all along, from the timeyou first spoke about coming out, was what a good thing it would befor you to have a thorough holiday, and to put aside the old workaltogether."
"You don't think it valuable, Horace?" Mr. Beveridge asked wistfully.
"I do, father. I think it most valuable, and no one can be prouderthan I am of your reputation, and that all learned men shouldacknowledge the immense value of your works to Greek students. But,father, after all, the number of men who go into all that is verysmall, and I can't see why your life should be entirely given up tothem. I think that at any rate it will be a first-rate thing for you,and extremely pleasant for me, that you should be like the rest of uswhile we are out on this expedition. As Zaimes says, you will have alot of things to decide upon, and we are going to lead an active,stirring life, and it is new Greece we shall have to think about, andnot the Greece of two thousand years ago. It is your aim to raise, notthe Greeks of the time of Miltiades, but a people who in these twothousand years have become a race, not only of slaves, but of ignorantsavages, for these massacres of unarmed people show that they arenothing better; and not only to free them, but to make them worthy ofbeing a nation again. I think, father, there will be ample scope forall your thoughts and attention in the present without giving athought to the niceties of the language spoken by Demosthenes, so I amtruly and heartily glad you decided to leave your books behind you."
"I think you are right, Horace; I am sure you are right; but it is awrench to me to cut myself loose altogether from the habits of alifetime."
"And now, father, what are you going to do about clothes?" Horacesaid, looking at him closely.
"About clothes!" his father repeated vaguely. "I have brought twolarge boxes full with me."
"Yes, father, no doubt you have clothes, but I am sure that on boardship--and you will be always living there, you know--it will be muchmore comfortable for you to have clothes fit for the sea. Frilledshirts, and ruffles, and tight breeches, and high-heeled Hessianboots, and short-waisted tail-coats are all very well on shore, butthe first time you are out in a good brisk gale, you would wish themanywhere. What you want is a couple of suits, at least, of blue clothlike mine, with brass buttons, and a low cloth cap like this that willkeep on your head whilst it is blowing, in fact the sort of suit thatthe owner of a big yacht would naturally wear. Of course when you goashore to see any of the Greek leaders, you might like to go in yourordinary dress; but really for sea you want comfortable clothes, and agood thick pea-jacket for rough weather."
"Perhaps you are right, Horace, and I did remark that my heels leftmarks upon the deck of the _Surf_."
"Certainly they did, father; and it would be agony to Will Martyn tohave the beautiful white deck of the _Creole_ spoiled."
"But it is too late now, it is half-past eight o'clock."
"Oh, I can take you to a shop where they keep this sort of thing.Besides, there are twelve hours before we start, and by paying for itone can get pretty nearly anything made in twelve hours."
Mr. Beveridge suffered himself to be persuaded. Fortunately theoutfitter had a couple of suits ordered by one of the officers of aship of war in harbour nearly completed. These he agreed to alter tofit Mr. Beveridge by the morning, and to put on extra hands to turnout fresh suits for the person for whom they were intended. The goldlace, white facings, and other distinguishing marks would be removed,and plain brass buttons substituted for the royal buttons. Two orthree pairs of shoes with low heels were also obtained. The clothescame home at seven in the morning, and Mr. Beveridge came down tobreakfast looking like the smart captain of a merchantman.
"I feel as if I were dressed for a masquerade, Horace," he said with asmile.
A DISCUSSION ABOUT CLOTHES]
"You look first-rate, father, and a lot more comfortable than usual, Ican tell you."
It was at Martyn's suggestion that Horace had urged his father to makea change in his attire.
"It would be a good thing if you could get him to put on sea-goingtogs," the sailor had said. "He is the owner of as smart a craft asever sailed out of British waters, and he will look a good deal moreat home on the deck of his own ship in regular yachtsman's dress thanhe would rigged up in his ruffles and boots."
With this Horace had agreed heartily, for his father's appearance onoccasions when he had gone out with him in the _Surf_ had struck himas being wholly incongruous with the surrou
ndings.
At half-past eight they went down to the steps, two porters carryingthe luggage under the watchful eye of Zaimes. As they were seen, thesmart gig with its six rowers, which was lying a short distance off,rowed in to the steps. Tarleton was steering. He stepped out to handMr. Beveridge into the boat.
"This is Mr. Tarleton, father, our second lieutenant."
"I am glad to meet you, sir," Mr. Beveridge said, shaking hands withthe young officer. "I hope that we shall have a pleasant cruisetogether."
"I feel sure we shall, sir. If one couldn't be comfortable on boardthe _Creole_, one couldn't be comfortable anywhere."
Tarleton took his seat in the centre to steer, with Mr. Beveridge andHorace on either side of him, Zaimes and the luggage were placed inthe bow. The bowman pushed the boat off with the boat-hook. The oars,which had been tossed in man-of-war fashion, fell with a splash intothe water, and then with a long steady stroke the gig darted away fromthe steps.
"This is certainly very pleasant," Mr. Beveridge said as they threadedthrough the anchored craft and made their way seaward. "I begin towish I had taken up yachting twenty years back."
"Well, it is not too late, father. When we have done with Greece, youcan go in for amusement if you like."
"I should never find time, Horace."
"Oh, you could make time, father. You could spare three months in theyear and be all the better for it. When you have once had a break, youwill find how pleasant it is."
Half an hour's row and Horace said: "That is the _Creole_, father,lying in there near the farther point."
"She doesn't look as large as I expected, Horace, though her mastsseem a great height."
"She is heavily sparred for her length," Tarleton said, "but she hasgreat beam; besides she is rather low in the water now, and of coursethat makes the spars look big in proportion. She will be a bit higherby the time we get out. Fifty men consume a considerable weight ofstores and water every week. You will be pleased with her, sir, whenwe get alongside. We all think she is as handsome a craft as we everset eyes on. She will astonish the Turks, I warrant, when it comes tosailing."
Another twenty minutes they were alongside. According to navaletiquette Horace mounted the ladder first, then Tarleton, and Mr.Beveridge followed. Martyn and Miller received him at the gangway, theformer introducing the first officer and the surgeon to him.
"She is a fine-looking vessel," Mr. Beveridge said, "and you havecertainly done marvels with her, Captain Martyn, for my son wrote methat she had nothing but her lower masts in her when you tookpossession, and now she is wonderfully bright and clean, and thesedecks look almost too white to walk on."
"I hope that we shall always keep her in equal order, sir. We have acapital crew, and no one could wish for a better craft under hisfeet."
Mr. Beveridge was now conducted round the ship, and expressed himselfhighly gratified with everything.
"Is it your wish that we should make sail at once, sir?" Martynasked. "We have been expecting some heavy luggage on board, but it hasnot arrived."
"I changed my mind about it, and there is nothing coming, CaptainMartyn. I am perfectly ready to start if you have everything onboard."
"There is nothing to wait for, sir; we are perfectly ready."
They returned to the quarter-deck, and as Martyn gave the orders therewas a general movement on the part of the crew. Some of the menclustered round the capstan, while others prepared to make sail, andMr. Beveridge felt a keen sense of pleasure as he watched the activefellows at their work. In five minutes the sails were set, the anchorat the cat-head, and the _Creole_ moving through the water under thelight breeze off shore.
They had favourable winds across the Bay and down the coast ofPortugal. Everything from the start had gone as smoothly as if the_Creole_ had been six months in commission--officers and men werealike pleased with the ship; the provisions for the sailors were ofthe best quality; the duties were very light, for the sails had notrequired altering from the time they had been set, although each daythe men practised for an hour at lowering and setting them, in orderto accustom them to work smartly together.
There was half an hour's cutlass drill, and for the rest of the day,beyond cleaning and polishing, there was nothing to be done. Mr.Beveridge spent the greater part of his time in a comfortabledeck-chair on the quarter-deck, for there was no poop, the deck beingflush from end to end. Horace attended to his duties as third officerregularly, and the nights were so warm and pleasant that the watchesdid not appear long to him. There was no stiffness in the cabin whenthey gathered to their meals, or in the evening, and Mr. Beveridgeproved in no way a wet blanket on their fun, as the three officers hadrather anticipated he would be. He talked but little, but wasthoroughly amused at their yarns and jests, all of which were asstrange to him as if he had lived in another world.
"You will certainly have to cut off our rations a bit, Mr. Beveridge,"Will Martyn said one day as they finished dinner. "We shall be gettingas fat as porpoises if we go on like this. I can feel my togs fillingout daily; and as for Tarleton, he will have to have all his thingslet out by the time we arrive in the Levant. For the credit of theship I shall have to give orders for us to be supplied with the samerations as the men, and go in for luxuries only on Sundays. We are notaccustomed to be tempted in this way at every meal. It is all verywell for you who do not eat much more than a sparrow to have such nicethings always put before you; but to us who have been accustomed to asteady diet of salt junk, except when we put into port and are able toget fresh meat for a change, these things are beyond our power ofresistance."
"I eat a great deal more than I did on shore," Mr. Beveridge said. "Ifind, indeed, a wonderful improvement in my appetite. It was quite aninfliction to Zaimes that I cared so little for the good things heprovided me with. I can assure you I really begin to look for my mealsnow, and it is a pleasure for me to see you all eat with good healthyappetites, and I am sure that it must be a great gratification to theGreeks to see their efforts appreciated at last."
"It is Tarleton I am thinking of principally, sir; as for Miller,nature made him square, and it would be no disadvantage if he becameround; while as to the doctor, food is simply wasted on him, he willnever do credit to your cooks. But Tarleton, with those dark eyes ofhis and his gentle sort of way, was what the ladies would consider aninteresting youth, and he would, I am sure, forfeit the good opinionof the ladies altogether if he were to return looking like a mildlyanimated sausage."
Tarleton joined in the laugh. "I do think I have gained a lot inweight the last week," he said; "but we won't always go on in thisquiet sort of way. As for what Martyn says, I believe it is onlyjealousy on his part at seeing that my angles are filling out."
On arriving at the Straits they put in at Ceuta and obtained a supplyof fresh meat and vegetables. In the Mediterranean they fell in withdead calms and were a fortnight in getting to Gozo, where they againreplenished their stock. They abstained from putting in either atGibraltar or Malta in order to avoid being questioned as to the cargoand destination of the _Creole_.
"Now, sir," Will Martyn said when they were within two days' sail ofGreece, "it is quite time to decide what port we shall make for, butwe can't decide that until we know how matters are going on. When weleft England there were very conflicting accounts of the progress ofthe revolution, and whether Corinth, Patras, Nauplia, or Athens are inthe hands of the Greeks or Turks. Well, I should say, sir, that ourbest plan would be to put in at Zante, where, as it is English, andtherefore neutral ground, we shall learn all about the state ofaffairs, and may meet some of our own people or foreigners who havebeen fighting by the side of the Greeks. Half an hour's talk with oneof them would give us a better idea how everything stands than aweek's talk with Greeks."
"I think that will be a very good plan," Mr. Beveridge agreed. "Flyingthe English flag we might go in or out of any of the harbours asneutrals; but if by any chance it leaked out what our cargo is theTurks would probably consider themselves justif
ied in laying hands onus."
"At any rate it is well not to run the risk, Mr. Beveridge, as thereis no object to be served by it. I will take the bearings of Zante andlay our course for it."
There was, indeed, no spot where they were more likely to obtainaccurate news of what was going on than Zante, lying as the islanddoes at a short distance from the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, uponwhich were three of the most important towns in Greece--Patras,Corinth, and Missolonghi. Here, too, the fugitives from the Morea, ofeither party, would naturally make their way.
It was the 8th of October when the _Creole_, flying the English flagat her peak, dropped anchor in the port. As soon as she did so acustom-house officer came on board.
"What ship is this?" he asked the first officer, who was on deck.
"This is the _Creole_, a private yacht belonging to Mr. Beveridge. Theowner is below if you wish to see him."
"You have no merchandise on board?"
"I tell you that it is a yacht," Miller said. "An English gentlemandoesn't bring out merchandise for sale in his yacht. The captain willshow you her papers."
Will Martyn came on deck.
"This is the captain," Miller said. "You had better address him."
On hearing what was required Martyn took the officer below and showedhim the ship's papers.
"I see it is mentioned here that you were bound from England toLisbon," the officer observed.
"Yes. We did not put in there, as Mr. Beveridge was anxious to getinto a warmer climate."
"I see you are strongly armed," the officer said when he came on todeck again, for after leaving Malta the eight twelve-pounders and thepivot-gun had been got up from the hold and mounted.
"Yes, we are armed, as you see. I imagine you would hardly recommendanyone to be cruising about in these waters without means of defence."
"No, indeed," the officer laughed. "The Greeks are pirates to thecore. You would be all right with the Turks, although from yourappearance I should not think they would ever get near enough totrouble you."
Half an hour later Mr. Beveridge and Horace were rowed ashore. As,except at Ceuta, Horace had never set foot ashore out of England, hewas much amused and interested by the varied population. Mingled withthe native population of the island were Greeks from the mainland;Albanians in their white pleated petticoats, bristling with armsmounted in gold and silver; a few English soldiers walking about asunconcernedly as if in a garrison town at home; and sailors of severalnationalities from ships in harbour.
"I should think, father, the proper thing would be to call upon theEnglish officer in command here and invite him to dinner. We shall geta general idea of the state of things from him."
Asking a soldier, they found that the small detachment there was underthe command of Captain O'Grady, whose house, at the entrance to thebarrack, was pointed out to them. The officer was in, and on Mr.Beveridge sending in his card they were at once shown in.
"I am the owner of a schooner-yacht, the _Creole_, that dropped anchoran hour ago," Mr. Beveridge said. "I know very little about theetiquette of these things, but it seemed to me the proper thing was tocall at once upon His Majesty's representative here."
"A very right and proper thing to do, Mr. Beveridge. I have beenwondering what that craft could be, and where she had come from. If ithadn't been for the flag and the tidiness of her I should have put herdown as a Greek pirate, though they don't often rig up their crafts asschooners."
"She has been something like a pirate in her time," Mr. Beveridgesaid, "for she was a slaver, captured and sent home as a prize. Ibought her at Plymouth and fitted her out."
"And a mighty nice way of spending money too, Mr. Beveridge. She isthe biggest thing in the way of yachts I ever saw. I don't at all seewhy a gentleman shouldn't buy a big ship and cruise about the world inher if he can afford it."
"Well, Captain O'Grady, I won't occupy your time now, but shall beglad if you will come off and dine with me at six o'clock to-day. Ihave come straight from England, and have heard nothing as to howmatters stand out here. If you will bring any of your officers offwith you I shall be very glad to see them."
"I have only two here. Mr. Lester, my lieutenant, will be on duty,and I have no doubt that Plunket will be very glad to come off with meif he has no special engagement, which is not likely, for it is amighty dull life here, I can tell you, and it is glad I shall be whenthe order comes to rejoin the regiment at Corfu."
Mr. Beveridge and Horace walked about for some time, and then returnedon board. They met their two Greeks in the town shopping, and toldthem that there would be guests at dinner. They met also Will Martynand Tarleton, who had come ashore a short time after them, Millerremaining on board in charge; a good many of the men were also ashore.
"I have warned them solemnly," Martyn said, "against drink andquarrels, but I am afraid that to-night and to-morrow night we shallhave a good many of them coming off noisy. Wine is cheap, and as theyhaven't set foot ashore for five weeks it is not in the nature of anEnglish sailor to resist temptation. I don't care much as long as theydon't get into rows with the Greeks. I have told them the boats willbe ashore at nine o'clock to fetch them, and that any who are not downthere by that hour will have their allowance of grog stopped for afortnight."
It had been arranged with Captain O'Grady that the boat should be atthe steps for him at a quarter to six. Horace went in charge of it,and brought off the two officers.
"You have comfortable quarters here, indeed," Captain O'Grady saidwhen Mr. Beveridge had introduced his officers to him and hiscompanion. "Sure I would like nothing better than to travel about in acraft like this. It is like taking a floating palace about with you."But if the officers were surprised at the fittings of the cabin theywere still more so at the excellence of the dinner. Up to the time thedessert was placed on the table they chatted as to the incidents ofthe voyage; but when the wine had gone round Mr. Beveridge beganquestioning them.
"Of course you hear everything that goes on on the mainland, CaptainO'Grady."
"Everything, do you say? It is well content I would be if that was allI heard; but the thundering lies that are told by those Greekrapscallions are enough to take one's breath away. To hear them talkyou would not think that such valiant men had ever lived since thedays of Noah; and yet, with the exception of a little skirmish, allthat they have done is to starve out those unfortunate heathens theTurks, and then after they have surrendered on promise of goodtreatment, to murder them in cold blood with their women andchildren."
"I hope that there has not been much of that," Mr. Beveridge saidgravely.
"It depends upon what you call much of it. At the very lowest estimatethere have been thirty thousand murdered in cold blood since thetroubles began; and some accounts put it much higher. There has notbeen a single exception; nowhere have they spared a Mussulman. Thepoor beggars of farmers and villagers were killed; man, woman, andchild, in hundreds of villages the whole of them were destroyedwithout resistance; and it has been the same in all the large towns.The Greeks began the work at Kalamata, which surrendered under asolemn promise of their lives to the Turks; but every soul was slain.And so it has been all along. In the district of Laconia there werefifteen thousand Mussulmans, and of these two-thirds at least wereslain. At Missolonghi there are not twenty Turks alive.
"At Navarino every soul was murdered. Tripolitza surrendered only aweek ago, and I saw by a letter from Colonel Raybonde, a Frenchofficer, who commanded the Greek artillery during the siege, thatforty-eight hours after they entered the city they collected about twothousand persons, principally women and children, and drove them up aravine and murdered them there; and altogether eight thousandMussulmans were killed during the sack. I have heard of massacres tillI am sick of listening to the stories; and though at the beginning Ihoped that the Greeks would drive the old Turks out, faith I havecome to think that if I were to hear that the whole race were utterlyexterminated I should feel more comfortable in my mind than I havebeen for some time. N
ot content with murdering the poor creatures, inmany cases the villains tortured them first. I have heard fellows whocame over here boast of it. One Albanian ruffian who told me that hehad done this, told me, sir, as if it were a thing to be proud of. Ihad the satisfaction of taking him by the scruff of his neck and thetail of his white petticoat and chucking him off the pier into thesea. When he scrambled out I offered him the satisfaction of agentleman, seeing that he was a chief who thought no small beer ofhimself. There was a deal of difficulty in explaining to him how thething was managed in a civilized country, and I never felt moresatisfaction in my life than I did next morning when I put a bulletinto the scoundrel's body."
A wet blanket seemed suddenly to fall over the party in the cabin asCaptain O'Grady was speaking. Horace saw that Miller, who was sittingopposite to him, was undergoing an internal convulsion in restraininghimself from bursting into a laugh; and Will Martyn, who was facingMr. Beveridge at the bottom of the table, looked so preternaturallygrave that Horace felt that he too was struggling to repress a smile.The doctor nodded, as if to signify that it was exactly what he hadexpected. Mr. Beveridge looked deeply concerned.
"I have heard something of this in England, Captain O'Grady, though ofcourse the Greek agents there suppress all news that would tellagainst their countrymen, but I did not think it was as bad as this.Yet although I do not for a moment attempt to defend such atrocities,you must remember how long the Greeks have been oppressed by theTurks. A people who have been in slavery for hundreds of years tostrangers, aliens in blood and in religion, and themselves in a veryprimitive state of civilization, except in the cities, would be almostcertain in the first rising against their oppressors to commithorrible excesses. The same thing happened, although, happily, on amuch smaller scale, in your own country, Captain O'Grady, in '98, andthat without a hundredth part of the excuse that the Greeks had."
"True for you, Mr. Beveridge," Captain O'Grady admitted. "There's nodenying that you have turned the tables on me there. It is mightydifficult, as you say, to hold a savage peasantry in hand."
"It was the same thing in the French Revolution. That again waspractically a revolt of slaves, and they behaved like fiends; and thenumber of persons murdered--men of their own race and religion,remember--was at least as great as that of those who have beenmassacred here. The revolt called the Jacquerie, in the middle ages,was equally ferocious, and the number of victims would probably havebeen as great had not the revolt been nipped in the bud. I regretdeeply the conduct of the Greeks; but I think it was only what was tobe expected from a people naturally fierce and revengeful under thecircumstances."
"Maybe you are right, Mr. Beveridge, though I did not look at it inthat light before."
"And who are their leaders now?"
"Faith they are all leaders. One day one hears one man's namementioned, that is hard enough to crack one's jaw; the next day he isupset and another has taken his place. Every dirty little chief ofbrigands sets himself up as a leader, and as they are about the onlychaps who understand anything about fighting they come to the front.If they only spent a twentieth part of the time in preparing for warwhich they do in quarrelling among themselves as to their share of thespoil, it seems to me they would make a much better fight than theyare likely to do. There is a fellow called Odysseus, which is theirway of pronouncing Ulysses; he used to command the MohammedanAlbanians under Ali Pasha. Now he has turned round, and fights againsthis old master. He is one of the chief of them. Then there areKolokotronis and Mavrocordatos. I should say they are the twoprincipal men just at present. Then there is a chap called PrinceDemetrius Hypsilantes. He is the brother of a fellow who got up therising up in the north of the Danube, and pretends to be the head ofall the Greeks. Demetrius says he is invested by his brother with asort of viceroyalty over Greece, and wants to have it all his own way.Then there are the Greek bishops and priests. They are pretty wellagainst all the rest, and want to keep the peasantry under theirthumb. Then there are the primates; they have got a big lot of power."
"Do you mean archbishops?" Captain Martyn asked.
"Not a bit of it. The primates are a sort of half-and-half officers.They are supposed to be chosen by the people of their own district,and of course they are always the big-wigs; the chaps with most powerand influence. Once chosen they became Turkish officers, collected thetaxes, and were each accountable for the money and for the doings oftheir district. Nicely they ground the people down and feathered theirown nests. Naturally, when the Turks went they became the localleaders. The people had no one else to look to but them and thepriests. In the Morea these two classes have all the power in theirhands. North of that we don't hear much of the primates. I don't thinkthey had any of them there. It's the Albanians, and the Klephts, thatis the brigands, and some of the fighting clans, such as the Suliotsand the bands of armatoli, which are a sort of village militia, whoare the backbone of the rising.
"All the chiefs are jealous of each other, and if one fellow proposesa plan all the others differ from him; or if there is one of the bigleaders there, and his plan is adopted, the others either march awayto their homes or do what they can to prevent it from succeeding. Thegreat thing with all the chiefs is to get spoil. The people aredifferent; they really want to fight the Turks and to win theirfreedom; and it is because they see that not one of their leaders ishonest, that their jealousies keep them from any common actions, andthat they will not unite to form any central government, that thepeople have no confidence in them, but just follow one man until theyget disgusted with him, and then go off to join another.
"Everything is wasted. The spoil they have taken has been enormous;but the people are little the better for it; it is all divided amongthe chiefs, and not a penny of it has gone to form a fund for defence.They have captured enormous quantities of ammunition, but they havefired it away like children, just to please themselves with the noise.At one place I was told by an Englishman who was there that the twomillion cartridges they captured were all wasted in what they calledrejoicings in the course of three days. What they want is a big man--afellow who will begin by hanging a hundred politicians, as manychiefs, bishops, and primates; who would organize first a governmentand then an army; and would insist that every halfpenny taken as spoilfrom the Turks should be paid into the public treasury. Then, sir, Ibelieve that the Greeks would polish off these sleepy Turks in notime, with the advantage they have in knowing every foot of themountains, in being as active as goats, and in possessing the ideathat they are fighting for freedom. Mind I don't say that the Turkswill beat them even as they are. The Turkish pashas are as incapableas the Greek leaders. Their soldiers are good, but as the Greeks haveno regular army, and no idea of standing up to fight fair, the Turkscan't get at them, and the Greeks can move about quickly and fall uponthem at their own time; and besides they will bring them to astandstill by starvation. They don't care about attacking the Turkishtroops, but they are down like a pack of wolves on a baggage train,and if the Turks venture any distance from the sea-coast they will beharassed out of their lives."
"Have the Turks still the command of the sea? There the Greeks oughtto be their match anyhow."
"Yes, the Turks still send their store-ships escorted by theirmen-of-war frigates and corvettes. The Greeks hover round them andamong them, but they take care to keep pretty well out of range ofthe Turkish guns, and their only idea of fighting seems to be tolaunch fire-ships at them. A man-of-war was burnt while at anchor ashort time back by Knaris, who is the best sailor the Greeks have got.Still, at present the Turks are so far masters of the sea that theytake their convoys where they like and can revictual their fortresseswhenever they have the energy to do so. On the other hand, the Greeksscour the seas in all directions, and not a single merchant shipflying the Turkish flag dare show her nose outside the Dardanelles."
"Is the cruelty all on one side?" Horace asked.
"Not a bit of it. Of course the Turks have not had much chance yet,but when they have had they have naturally paid the
Greeks in theirown coin. In Thessaly they have put down the rising ruthlessly. Butwhen the troops go into a place and find that the whole of theirpeople have been murdered it is not to be wondered at that they set toto play the same game on those who began the work of massacre. TheGreeks hate the Turks, and their object is to root them outaltogether. The Turks despise the Greeks, but they don't want to rootthem out by any means, because if they did there would be no longerany revenue to collect. The Turks seem to strike more at the leaders.They have strung up a lot of Greeks living in Constantinople, and asthe whole affair was got up there, and the Greeks were, most of them,taking the Sultan's pay while they were plotting against him, it isonly just that if anyone was to suffer they should be the men. What Iam afraid of is that when the news of this horrible massacre of eightthousand people at Tripolitza gets known, the Turks in Asia Minor willeverywhere retaliate upon the Greeks settled among them.
"They can't do much in Greece, for most of the people can take to themountains; but there are almost as many of them settled in Asia Minoras there are here, for they are the traders and shopkeepers in everyport, and I am afraid it will go mighty hard with them everywhere whenthe Turks come to know the atrocities that have been perpetrated overhere. If the Greeks had thought for a moment when they began theywould have seen that it was a game two could play at, and for everyTurk they could murder the Turks had in their hands three Greeks atleast that they could put an end to. To my mind it is a bad businessaltogether. Plunket will tell you that I have not put it a bit toostrongly."
"Not in the least," the young officer said. "The tales these fellowstell are ghastly. We have them over here by dozens. A man is a leaderone day and a fugitive the next; and they run over here till they seea chance of landing again and getting together a fresh band, and theyactually make a boast of the horrible massacres they have taken a partin. If the islanders here saw their way to it they would rise againstus, and as it is, it has been as much as we can do more than once toprevent their going on board neutral vessels that put into harbourwith a few wretched Turkish fugitives, and murdering them. The factis, the Greeks believe that they are Christians, but they are just asmuch pagans as they were two thousand years ago. My sympathies arealtogether with them in their struggle for liberty, and I try to makeevery allowance for their actions; and I do believe that if whatO'Grady says could be carried out and all their leaders, andpoliticians, and bishops, and primates hung, the people themselveswould carry on the struggle with ten times the chances of success theyhave at present, for they would then be forced to form a strongcentral government and might find some honest man to put at its head.They regard it in the light of a religious war rather than one fornational freedom, and I suppose that at least half the Mussulmans whohave fallen are of Greek blood, for, especially in the north, nearlyhalf the tribes have changed their religion and become Mohammedanssince their conquest."
"Are there many Europeans fighting with them? You mentioned a Frenchcolonel commanding the Greek artillery in the siege of Tripolitza."
"A good many. There are some Austrians, Frenchmen, Italians, and a fewof our own people. Among the last is a General Gordon and a navallieutenant; but although the Greeks know nothing whatever of militarymatters, they are jealous in the extreme of any interference or evenadvice from foreigners. I believe there are altogether thirty or fortyforeign officers who came over to fight for them, and only two orthree of these have got employment of any sort. As to any attempt tointroduce military discipline, or raise anything like a body ofregular soldiers, it seems impossible. They believe entirely infighting in their own way and dispersing when they choose, just as theSpanish guerilla bands did during the Peninsular War. In fact it seemsto me that the Greek character resembles the Spanish very much, thepeasantry in both countries being brave and animated by a patriotichate of their enemies, while the upper class are equally vain,cowardly, given to boasting, and absolutely faithless to theirpromises. If we had the Duke of Wellington here with a couple ofhundred good officers he would make the Greeks into as good soldiersas he did some of the Portuguese, and would as likely as not wind upthe war by driving the Turks out of Europe altogether."
At half-past ten o'clock the officers went ashore. When they had leftthe ship, the others returned to the cabin.
"I should not take it to heart, Mr. Beveridge," Will Martyn saidcheerfully, seeing how depressed his employer looked at the news hehad heard. "Of course the Greeks have behaved badly--horribly badly;but you see it is because the poor beggars are not much better thansavages, and never will be better as long as they are kept down by theTurks. All these things will right themselves in time. As you said,they are no worse than the French when they rose, or than the Spanishpeasantry whenever they got a chance, or the Irish peasantry, and wemust not look at it from our own standpoint; once they are free theywill get a settled government and become a nation again, and that iswhat we have got to help them to do. We are not going to land andtake part in massacres. All we have got to do is to look out for aTurkish ship of war, and pull down her colours whenever we get achance. But even more than that, what I want specially to do as soonas we can is to get rid of some of that cargo in our hold. That iswhat is bothering me at present."
"Thank you, Martyn," Mr. Beveridge said, holding out his hand to him."It is trying to hear of a glorious cause being disgraced by suchhorrible atrocities, but the cause remains the same, and theatrocities are, as you say, such as have occurred among other peopleswhen their blood has been heated to boiling point. This will not shakemy determination to aid Greece in her struggle for freedom."
