by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIII
THE PASHA OF ADALIA
Packed closely in the two boats of the Turkish craft the landingparty rowed for the shore. As soon as they reached it the boats weredrawn up on the strand, and in silence Martyn led his men across theroad. Then he struck off into the orchard on the other side, so as toescape the notice of any of the people in the houses by the road. Thecobbler and Horace went first, Martyn and the men followed a shortdistance behind. Half an hour's walking took them to the edge of theditch, and after a short search they found a bough that Horace andZaimes had cut off and thrown down by the side of the path, to markthe spot where they were to make the ascent.
Two sailors were posted on the path, at fifty yards above and belowthem, in case anyone should come along, although the risk of this wasexceedingly small. There was no difficulty in scrambling down intothe ditch. As soon as they did so the sailor who carried the grapneladvanced to the foot of the wall, and at the second attempt succeededin getting it to hold on the parapet. Another, with one of therope-ladders, went forward, fastened the rope to it, and the two ofthem hauled the ladder up to the block, and kept the rope taut whileMartyn mounted. He found, as he had expected, that there was aplatform behind the wall for men to stand on while firing. Taking hisplace on it he took hold of the ladder rope and told the men below toloosen their end. Holding it partly up he fastened it at the block.Then two men joined him, hauled the wooden gangway up, and planted itagainst the top of the inner wall. The rest of the men followed, andMartyn led the way across. The others soon stood beside him, allstooping down on the platform as soon as they had crossed, so thattheir heads should not show above the skyline, should anyone happen tobe looking out from the windows of the house.
Two sailors helped the cobbler across the gangway. Horace was the lastto mount, with the exception of the two sentries, whom he summonedwith a low whistle as soon as the others were up. When they reachedthe top they hauled the rope-ladder after them, and laid it ready forlowering again. By the time Horace crossed to the inner wall Martynand most of the men had already descended to the garden by the secondrope-ladder.
"That has all been managed well," Martyn said when Horace joined himbelow. "Now, you and I will go forward and reconnoitre a bit."
The house was seventy or eighty yards away. There were lights inseveral windows on the ground-floor, and at almost all the windows onthe flat above it.
"We had better take off our shoes, Horace. It is no use running anyrisks. Shove them in your sash beside your pistols."
They stole noiselessly up to the house and looked in at the windows.In one room were a group of servants sitting round a brazier, smoking;another room was empty; but in the third, which was much the largest,four Turkish officials were seated on a divan, and a Nubian slave washanding them coffee.
"That old chap is the pasha, no doubt," Martyn whispered. "He isevidently master of the house. You see he is giving some order orother to the slave. Here is the garden door into a hall; let us see ifit is open. Yes; that is all right. Well, I think now we will bring upthe men. Now, as soon as we are in, Horace, you take four men; go infirst and post them at the doors leading out of the house. I will takesix men and seize the pasha and his friends. Other four will pounceupon the servants. Your cobbler fellow had better go with them to tellthe servants that if they make the least row they will have theirthroats cut. The other men will scatter about in the passages and downstairs, and pounce upon anybody who may come along. As soon as youhave posted your men, go to the room where the servants are, and bringthe interpreter in to me. Tell the sailors to bind the fellows and laythem down, and put a couple of guards over them."
They returned to the men and told them off to their several duties.All were ordered to take their shoes off, and put them in their belts.
"Now, you can draw your cutlasses, lads," Martyn said. "Have you allloaded your pistols?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, mind they are not to be used; a pistol-shot might destroy allour plans. I hope to manage it so that there shall not be any noisewhatever."
They made their way quietly up to the house. Horace opened the doorand led the way in, followed by his four men. They passed through thehall and a long passage, from which several rooms opened; and he wassure, by the direction in which he was going, that this must lead tothe offices. At the end was a strong door; only one bolt was shot, asdoubtless the officers would be leaving by this way. He put up aheavy bar that was standing beside it, stationed two of the sailorsthere, and then retraced his steps with the others. Just as he reachedthe hall again a sailor came up to him.
"This is the way to the big door, your honour;" and turning downanother passage they arrived at a double door, which Horace had nodoubt was the one that he had seen in the court-yard. Posting the menthere he hurried back, and soon found the room where the servants hadbeen sitting. The work had already been done. The sailors had all beenprovided with short lengths of rope, and the Turks were lying boundupon the floor. Telling the cobbler to accompany him, he went into thenext room. Two sailors, with drawn cutlasses, were standing by theside of the pasha. The three officers had been bound, and were lyingon the divan, with a sailor standing over each, while the other sailorstood over the attendant, who cowered on the ground in an attitude ofabject terror. Martyn was standing facing the pasha.
"Now, Horace," he said, "tell your man what to say to the pasha."
This had been arranged between them, and Horace at once addressed thepasha.
"Do you speak Greek?"
The pasha shook his head.
"Tell him," Horace said in that language to the interpreter, "that webelong to the ship to which the officers and sailors he has in hisprison also belong, and that we have come here to fetch them away. Weare fighting under the flag of Greece; but we are Englishmen by blood,and we shall do no harm to him or his family. The prisoners, however,we will have; and unless he sends at once, with an order for theirdelivery from the prison, and hands them over to us, we shall beobliged to carry him, the three officers here, and the ladies of hisfamily and his children, off on board our ship as hostages; and if ahair of the prisoners' heads is touched, we shall be forced to hanghim and the whole of his family to the yard-arms of the ship."
THE CAPTURE OF THE PASHA]
The interpreter translated his words sentence by sentence. The Turkhad at first looked perfectly impassive; but at the threat to carryoff his women and children his expression changed, the veins stood outof his forehead, and his face flushed with fury.
"Tell him," Horace went on, "that we should deeply regret to have totake such a step, and that we sincerely trust that he will see thenecessity for his yielding to our demands. There is no possibility ofassistance reaching him, we are a well-armed body of determined men,his servants have been secured, and all the doors are guarded, as alsothe windows outside--he is completely in our power. As we came innoiselessly and unobserved, so we shall depart. If he refuses tocomply with our demands we shall, of course, be compelled to bind andgag all our captives, and to carry the ladies and children."
When the last sentence had been translated, Horace said to Martyn, "Ithink, Captain Martyn, you had better get those officers carried intothe next room, so that we can touch upon the money side of thequestion."
Martyn gave the order, and the officers and the attendant wereremoved.
"Now, pasha," Horace went on, "let us look at this thing reasonably.On the one side is the certainty that you and the ladies of thehousehold and your children will be carried away; and that unless theprisoners are given up to us in exchange for you, you will be all putto death. On the other hand, you have but to surrender prisoners whomyou did not even capture in war, but who were wrecked on your shore.We know that you have sent to Smyrna for directions concerning them.Were it not for that you would have handed them over to us withoutdifficulty; but as the pasha there, who is your superior, now knows ofit, you think that he will be angry when he hears of their escape, andthat you might fall i
nto disgrace. But I don't think that the pasha ofAnatolia, if he were placed in the same position as you are, wouldhesitate a moment in giving up a score of captives of no greatimportance one way or the other; and that if the matter were placedby you in the proper light before him, accompanied, perhaps, by apresent, nothing more would be heard about it. In any case we areready to pay you the sum of one thousand pounds as a ransom for them.We have sent your officers out of the room that they should not hearthis offer, which will be entirely between ourselves. It is not meantas a bribe to you, but as a ransom, which, if you choose to send it toSmyrna, will doubtless assist the pasha there to perceive that being,with your whole family, at our mercy, you had no resource but tocomply with our commands. We will give you five minutes to make upyour mind."
When this was translated, the pasha asked:
"How am I to know that, if the captives are restored to you, you willnot still carry me and my family away?"
"You have simply the word of English gentlemen," Horace said when thequestion was translated to him. "You see we are acting asconsiderately as we can. Your ladies upstairs are still unaware thatanything unusual is going on. Our men have touched nothing belongingto you. We are neither robbers nor kidnappers, but simply men who havecome to save their comrades from a cruel death."
"I will write the order," the pasha said firmly. "Had I been in thehouse by myself I would have died rather than do so. Being as it is, Icannot resist."
"Who will you send with the order?" Horace asked.
"One of the officers you have taken away is the colonel of theregiment. He will take it and bring the prisoners here. He is theoldest of the three."
Horace went into the next room and ordered the officer to be unboundand brought in by two of the sailors.
"You have heard, Colonel Osman, the terms that these strangers havelaid down, and that unless the prisoners are surrendered, you, the twobimbaches, myself, and the members of my family, will be carried offas hostages and hung if the prisoners are not delivered up."
"I heard that, pasha."
"What is your opinion, colonel?"
"My opinion is that you have no course but to give up the prisoners.No one would expect you to sacrifice the lives of the ladies of yourfamily and your children, to say nothing of your own and ours, merelyfor the sake of twenty shipwrecked sailors. It seems to me that itwere madness to hesitate, pasha."
"That is also my opinion," the pasha said. "Therefore, colonel, I willnow write you an order to fetch them from prison and bring them underan escort here. You will understand that it will be better thatabsolute silence should be observed about this affair. The less it istalked of the better. If the officer in special charge of them asksany questions you can intimate that, without knowing it, you believethat the messenger may have arrived from Smyrna with instructions asto their disposal. Dismiss the escort at the outer gate and bring theprisoners yourself here."
The pasha wrote the order, which he handed to the colonel, who at oncehurried off with it.
"You are sure that he will faithfully obey the order, pasha?" Horaceasked through the interpreter.
The pasha nodded.
"One of the bimbaches here is his own brother, and he would be surethat his life would be sacrificed were there any treachery."
At this moment there was a little shriek heard.
"I am afraid," Horace said, "that one of the ladies' attendants hascome downstairs and has been seized. Perhaps you will like to goupstairs and assure them that there is no cause for alarm. In themeantime I will hand you this bag, which contains the amount of theransom in gold."
"You Englishmen act nobly," the pasha said as he took the bag. "Youhad us in your power, and need have paid nothing, and you treat me asa friend rather than as an enemy. It is a pity that you fight for theGreeks. When I was a young man I fought in Egypt by the side of yourtroops."
Horace escorted him through the sailors in the passages to the foot ofthe stairs and there left him.
"Your scheme is turning out trumps and no mistake," Martyn said as hereturned to the room. "There is no fear, I hope, of that Turkishcolonel bringing all his men down on us."
"I don't think so." And Horace then repeated what the pasha had saidas to one of the officers in his hands being the colonel's brother.
"That is good, Horace. I don't think he would venture on it anyhow.Evidently the pasha has no fear. If he had he would not have sent him,because he must have known that his treachery jeopardized his ownsafety and that of his family."
"How long do you think they will be before they are back?"
"Not much above half an hour, I should think. I don't think theTurkish soldiers do much in the way of undressing, and certainly ourfellows won't. Now we will leave five men to look after the prisonershere, and we will put all the others in the offices you say look intothe court-yard, so that if by any chance this fellow does bring troopsdown with him we can give them a hot reception."
"If he does, Horace, do you take the five men in the house, rushupstairs, let one man put a pistol to the pasha's head, and let theothers snatch up any children they can find there and take them awayover the wall--pasha and all--and march them straight down to the boatand get them on board ship. Let me know when you are off with them. Wewill defend the place as long as we can, and then make a bolt throughthe garden to the ladder and follow you."
The men loaded their muskets and took their places at the windows ofthe offices. Horace and Martyn stood at the door leading from thehouse into the court-yard. The interpreter stood with them. Presentlythey heard the tramp of feet approaching. Then they heard a word ofcommand, followed by silence, and the interpreter said:
"He has ordered the soldiers to halt. The prisoners alone are to enterthe court-yard. When the gates close behind them the soldiers are tomarch back to barracks."
The gates that had been left ajar by the officer as he went outopened, and in the moonlight they saw him enter, followed by Miller,Tarleton, and the sailors. The officer himself closed and barred thegate as the last entered. Then Martyn and Horace rushed forward andgrasped the hands of their friends. These were for a time speechlesswith astonishment, but the men burst into exclamations and then beganto cheer. Martyn checked them at once.
"Hush, lads! Come in silently and quietly. We will talk and cheer whenwe get away. Pass the word inside, Horace. Tell the men to file out atonce. Form up in the garden. I will wait here till you have clearedthe house."
The greetings were hearty indeed when the two parties met in thegarden.
"March to the ladder, lads," Martyn said, "but don't begin to climb ittill we join you. Now, Horace, we will say good-bye to the old pasha.Bring the interpreter in with you."
The pasha had returned to his room again where he had been joined bythe three officers, the colonel having already liberated the othertwo.
"Tell the pasha that Captain Martyn wishes to thank him for thepromptness with which the arrangement has been carried out, and alsoto express to him his very great pleasure that this incident shouldhave terminated without unpleasantness. Captain Martyn wishes also tosay, that although, in order to rescue his officers and men, he wasobliged to use threats, yet that, as far as the ladies of the pasha'sfamily were concerned, they were threats only; for that, even had herefused, he should have respected the privacy of his apartments; andalthough he would have been obliged to carry off the pasha himself,his children, and these officers as hostages, he would have retaliatedfor the murder of the prisoners only upon the adults. No Englishofficer would use disrespect to ladies, and no English officer wouldavenge the murder even of his dearest friends upon children."
When this was translated to the pasha, he replied: "The courtesy thatthe captain and his sailors have exhibited since they entered thehouse is in itself sufficient to show me that his words are true, andthat the ladies of my household would have been respected. I feelmyself humiliated by thus having my prisoners carried off from themidst of the town, but I have no reason to complain. It is
the will ofAllah, and I shall always remember these English officers as gallantgentlemen. There are not many who would risk their lives to save a fewof their countrymen."
A few more words were exchanged, and then Martyn and his companionsjoined the sailors at the wall. Miller and Tarleton had by this timegathered from the men a short account of how their rescue had comeabout.
"Now," Martyn said briskly when he reached them, "the sooner we areoff the better. Horace, do you lead the way with ten of the men whocame with us; let the last two of that party help your interpreterover. Mr. Miller, you with your party will follow. I will bring up therear with the other ten men."
In five minutes all were over the walls. The last party had pulled upthe ladder from the garden after them, then removed and lowered downthe gangway; and after Martyn, who came last, reached the ditch, thegrapnel was shaken from its hold on the wall.
"It wouldn't do to leave these things here," he said to Horace. "Thereis no saying what yarn the pasha may set afloat. It is quite on thecards that if he gets an order from Smyrna to execute the prisoners,he will have it given out that they were marched to the court-yard ofhis house and there executed. At any rate our taking away the ladderswill leave it open to him to give his own account of the matter. Now,my lads, you will all follow me. It is of no use forming up in order,as we are going through orchards; but keep close together, don'tstraggle and don't talk. You will have plenty of time to compare noteswhen you are once on board.
"Now, Miller," he said as he started, "we are fairly out of it. I amdelighted, indeed, to see you and Tarleton again. I thought at onetime it was all up with you."
"So did we," Miller said, "and I can hardly believe we are free evennow."
"It is due to Horace and Zaimes, Miller, though it is to Horaceentirely that the credit of hitting upon the plan by which we have gotyou out belongs. However we will talk all about that when we get onboard. You will have to tell your yarn to the chief; besides, as Ihave told the men not to talk, I don't want to set a bad example."
Horace had greeted Marco warmly in the court-yard, and as soon as theystarted he fell behind with him, chatting with him in low tones.
"Zaimes couldn't come with us, Marco, for he and the doctor had tostay on board with my father to look after some prisoners there, buthe was here with me this morning and made all the arrangements for theescape. We landed at the mouth of the bay and walked here last night,both disguised in peasants' dresses we got hold of. I know it was agreat privation to him not to be able to come himself and aid in yourrescue."
Here Martyn, catching the murmur of voices, passed the word forsilence, and nothing more was said until they reached the boats whichthey had drawn up on the shore. A few minutes later they werealongside the brigantine. Mr. Beveridge hailed them as theyapproached.
"Is that you, Martyn?"
"Yes, sir. Horace's plan has worked perfectly, and we have got themall out. The boats can only carry half. He is waiting with the rest onthe beach."
"Thank God for that, Martyn! No one hurt at all?"
"No one, not even a Turk has been knocked down. The only scrimmage hasbeen with one of the pasha's wives' maids, who fought like a wild-catbefore two of our men could make her a prisoner."
Directly the rest of the party came off the anchor was weighed andsail made on the brigantine, and she was headed from the land. In halfan hour a look-out in the bow called out: "I think I can make out theschooner away on our beam, sir."
"I think it is her," Martyn said after going forward to have a look."Light that red flare-up we brought with us, Horace."
As soon as the red flame broke out, a similar signal was shown by thecraft in the distance. The brigantine was headed for her, and the twovessels rapidly approached each other. Presently a hail from TomBurdett came across the water.
"Captain Martyn ahoy!"
"Ay, ay, Tom! We have got them all. Everyone is safe and well."
A cheer broke out from the schooner, which was answered by a louderone from the brigantine.
"Throw her up in the wind, Tom," Martyn shouted, "and we will bringthis craft alongside."
In two or three minutes the vessels lay side by side. Before leavingthe brigantine its crew were released. Mr. Beveridge, in his delightat the success of the plan, made them each a handsome present for theinconvenience they had suffered. The cobbler of Adalia had not comeaboard with the boats, Horace having given him his reward oftwenty-five pounds before embarking. As soon as the crew of theschooner were all on board the head-sails were filled, and she rapidlydrew away from the brig. The boatswain was ordered to serve out aration of grog all round, and the officers then assembled in thecabin, where the Greeks placed some cold meat and wine on the table,to which all, especially Miller and Tarleton, fell to with a goodappetite. When they had done, Martyn told the story of the steps thathad been taken for their rescue.
"You see, Miller, it was entirely Horace's plan; he made the wholearrangements, and we had only to carry them out, which was thesimplest thing in the world. Now let us have your account."
"We were not very lucky," Miller said. "We overhauled five or sixcraft, but for the most part they contained little of value. One ortwo of them had some silk and other goods on board, and these weretransferred to the polacca. The weather kept fine, and thinking thatour rig would not alarm the Turks we sailed in within three miles ofAdalia. I was intending to go right into the roads and anchor there,when we saw the clouds banking up to the south. I had no barometer onboard, but it looked so bad that we headed out again for the mouth ofthe gulf.
"We had not gone far when the gale struck us, blowing like fury rightinto the bay. We did everything we could, but the old tub drifted toleeward two feet for every one we worked out. The wind got higher andhigher till it was blowing a hurricane. As soon as the water shallowedsufficiently to anchor, I let both anchors go; but the gear was allrotten, and the cables snapped like packthread. Finally we droveashore about half a mile to the east of the town.
"There was a mob there waiting us, and the pasha with a lot of troops.We tied a line to a keg and it floated on shore. They hauled on it,and then we sent a hawser and swarmed along it. The Turks behaved verypluckily, joining hands and rushing into the breakers to get usashore. As soon as they saw by our uniform who we were there was aregular hubbub, and I thought we should all have been killed then andthere. However the pasha made the troops form up round us, and marchedus into the town, and there we were stowed away in a room in that oldcastle. The prospect didn't look good, for as we went in we saw thatthe troops were in huts all round us, and that there was besides ahigh wall outside them. The window of the place we were shut up in wasabout eight feet from the ground and very strongly barred, and inaddition they kept four soldiers always on guard in the room.
"Two or three fellows came to us and spoke in different lingoes, ofwhich we could neither make head nor tail. Then a chap came who spokeItalian. I don't know much of it, but enough to make out what hemeant when he spoke very slowly. The upshot of it was that they hadsent to Smyrna for orders as to what was to be done, and that it wouldtake five or six days for the messenger to go there and back. It didnot seem to make much odds to us what the answer was. Knowing how theygo on on both sides it was a moral certainty that we should be hungeither here or at Smyrna, and it did not seem to us that there wasmuch choice between the two places.
"Of course we often talked about you. We knew you would do everythingyou could, and that when you found we did not turn up at therendezvous you would sail along the coast till you got news of us; butit did not seem likely that you could do anything to help us. We knewthat you could not land more than twenty men, and with twenty men youcould do nothing at all against about a thousand Turks with thatstrong wall in front of them. Besides, the old castle itself wascapable of defence, and there were lots of them stationed in it.Things looked about as black as they could be. We were not starved;the Turks gave us plenty of bread and a sort of thin broth.
"This evening we
stretched ourselves out as usual about nine o'clock.We were all asleep when the outer gates of the castle were opened,then there was a loud trampling of feet, then our door was unlocked.When an officer came in, followed by a lot of soldiers, we thoughtthat it was all up with us. The officer made signs that we were to gowith him, and I made so certain that we were being taken out either tobe shot or hung that I said a few words to the men, telling them thatthe end had evidently come, and that we must die as Christians andBritish sailors. We were led out, and about a hundred Turkish soldiersclosed round us. We were surprised when they marched us out of theplace, but as we went on through the streets of the town we supposedthey were taking us to some quiet spot outside the walls. Then weturned in through that gateway, and then you know the rest, Martyn. Idon't think that I am a coward, or that I felt afraid to die; butwhen you and Horace rushed out to speak to us, you could have knockedme over with a feather. It was not until I got out into the garden andfound your party formed up there that I was quite sure it was not alla dream."
When they had talked over the rescue Mr. Beveridge said: "Well, wehave had enough of cruising for the present; we will make for Athensat once, Captain Martyn; by this time probably something will be goingon there."
It was late in February when anchor was dropped in the harbour of thePiraeus. Mr. Beveridge at once went on shore with Martyn, and returnedthe next morning.
"Any news of importance, father?" Horace asked as they came on board.
"Yes, Hypsilantes is likely to be succeeded by his rivalMavrocordatos. A Samian adventurer named Lykourgos has got together afleet and has proposed a landing at Chios; there can be no doubt thathis intention is simply plunder, for even if he could drive the Turksout of Chios he could not possibly hold the island, as a large Turkishfleet will very shortly be ready to sail out of the Dardanelles. Theworst of it is that the Chiots are utterly opposed to any movement ofthe kind. They are an agricultural people, and the island has alwaysbeen mildly governed and lightly taxed; their municipal administrationis already in their own hands, and their taxes collected bythemselves. When Admiral Tombazes appeared off Chios with the Greekfleet during its first cruise, the inhabitants turned a deaf ear tohis invitation to them to rise. In fact there is no doubt that thepeople of Chios have everything to lose and nothing to gain bybecoming a part of Greece.
"They have sent urgent remonstrances against the landing of any Greektroops on the island, pointing out that there is a strong body ofTurkish troops there; that the citadel could not be captured, and thatthe attempt would only inflame the passions of the Mohammedanpopulation and end in ruin and disaster to the Christian inhabitants.Hypsilantes has written a mild letter to Lykourgos suggesting that itwould at any rate be prudent to defer the enterprise. It is feared,however, that, like Greek commanders in general, the fellow will payno attention to this, but will proceed on his own account. Martynagrees with me that it would be as well for us to cruise about theisland and see how matters go on, and endeavour to rescue some of theTurks from the fury of the Greeks, or some of the Greeks from the furyof the Turks."
"I should say the best thing to do, father," Horace said indignantly,"would be to attack the ship of this fellow Lykourgos and to hang himat his own yard-arm."
"It would be a good action, no doubt, Horace; but as he has with him afleet of seventy or eighty vessels it is probable that if we made theattempt we should decorate the yard-arms and not Lykourgos. At anyrate we will stop here for two or three days, and give the men a runon shore. Just at present, owing to the fact of our having destroyedthat Turkish frigate, they will be very popular characters, and arenot likely to get into any serious row. They have still got the moneyI paid them for their conduct at Cyprus, and when sailors have gotmoney in their pockets they are never happy until they have got achance of spending it."
Accordingly, the crew had twelve hours on shore, a third of theirnumber going each day. On the fourth day the vessel sailed for Chios.They cruised round the island for a fortnight and frequentlyoverhauled fishing-boats and had conversations with the crews. Theylearned that fresh troops had lately arrived at Chios, and that asthese bands were principally composed of volunteers, Vehid Pasha, thegovernor, had great difficulty in maintaining order among them. He hadpersuaded the Christians to raise a monthly contribution ofthirty-four thousand piastres to give regular pay and rations to thetroops and so keep them in a good temper.
On the 22d of March the schooner made out a large fleet of vesselsapproaching the island. They kept away until they saw them anchor, andthen themselves cast anchor at a short distance from them. A boat atonce put off from the ship flying the flag of Lykourgos, to demand whothey were and with what intentions they were there.
"We fly, as you see, the flag of Greece," Mr. Beveridge replied to theofficer, "and we have the authority of the Greek government to fightagainst its enemies. I do not, however, recognize any authority on thepart of your commander, unless he is acting at the present time underthe explicit orders of Prince Mavrocordatos, who is now President ofGreece, and shall therefore consult only my own feelings as to whetheror not I take any part in the proceedings on shore."
"Our admiral will know how to make you obey orders," the officer saidangrily.
"Is he an admiral?" Mr. Beveridge asked, as if for information. "I wasnot aware that he had received any commission that would authorize himto use that title either from the last president or from the presentone. When I am well assured that this is the case it will naturallymodify my views; as to compelling me, you can look round at thearmament of this craft. Three months ago we destroyed a Turkishfrigate, and I fancy that if we were interfered with we could give agood account of many of those vessels anchored there. If, therefore,Lykourgos is really bent upon the capture of Chios, I should advisehim to set about it without wasting his time in meddling with us. Youmay mention to him that I am an English gentleman who has fitted upthis vessel for the purpose of aiding Greece to achieve herindependence, and that in all honourable warfare I am ready to take mypart. If I see that the object of your expedition is honourablewarfare I shall lend all assistance in my power. If I find that it ismerely plunder and destruction, I shall also do all in my power toprevent the Greek flag from being disgraced by acts only worthy ofpirates; and, moreover, I will take care that my countrymen and thevarious nations of Europe shall obtain a fair account of what has beendone here."
The Greek was completely cowed by the calmness and confidence of theowner of the schooner, and returned to his boat without any of theswagger with which he had quitted it. Horace translated his father'sspeech to Martyn and the other two officers as soon as Mr. Beveridgehad returned to his cabin.
"The chief is a perfect brick," Martyn said enthusiastically. "Fancysending off such a message as that from this schooner to a fellowcommanding sixty or seventy sail. Sir Richard Grenville could hardlyhave sent from the deck of the _Revenge_ a more defiant message to theSpanish fleet."
Miller rubbed his hands. "Shall I get the men in readiness for makingsail and casting off the guns, Captain Martyn?"
"There will be time enough," Martyn said, "when we make out a movementamong them. We can get up sail in half the time they can. I should notbe surprised if this fellow Lykourgos knuckles down. Did you see howhis officer came down from his stilts? If this fellow had any pluck hewould be sailing to meet the Turkish fleet instead of landing topillage here, for, from what Mr. Beveridge said, that can be his onlymotive. Still, we will keep a sharp look-out on them. If we see theflag-ship signalling to the others, or her boats putting off to them,we shall know what to expect. You may as well get a buoy on theanchor-chain and have everything ready to slip. We are too near themto be pleasant if they open fire. Once under way and out of closerange we can talk to them as we like."
