The Vintage: A Romance of the Greek War of Independence by E. F. Benson
CHAPTER VI
THREE LITTLE MEN FALL OFF THEIR HORSES
It was the middle of March when Mitsos again found himself climbingthe steep hill-side into Panitza. Night had fallen two hours before;clear and keen was the sky, and keen the vigor of the mountain air. Thecrescent moon, early setting, had slipped behind the snowy spearheadof Taygetus, but the heaven was all aglow with stars burning frostily.His work had all been done quickly and well, and after he had seen thebeacon at Bassae, three nights before, shine like a glowworm to thenorth, and then shoot out a little tongue of flame and lick a low-lyingstar, he had travelled night and day, only giving himself a minimum ofsleep, and walking as much as he rode to spare the pony, that seemed,as they came into Panitza with Mitsos only resting a hand on its neck,to be the more weary of the two. He went up the village street toPetrobey's house, but found the door into the court-yard closed, andonly Osman at first answered his knocking by furious barking.
"Osman, oh, Osman," called Mitsos, "be quiet, boy, and let them hearwithin."
Osman recognized his voice and whined impatiently while Mitsos knockedagain. At last he heard the house door open, and Petrobey's voicecalling out:
"Who is there?"
"It is I, cousin," shouted the boy; "it is Mitsos."
Petrobey ran across the court-yard, and the next moment Osman tumbledout to welcome Mitsos of the clan, and he led the pony in.
"Ah, it is good to see you, little Mitsos," said Petrobey. "You havecome very quick; we did not expect you till to-morrow."
"Yes, I have come quick," said Mitsos; "and, oh, cousin, do not talk tome before I have eaten, for I am hungrier than the hares in winter, andthe pony is weaker than I for weariness."
"Give him me," said Petrobey, "and go inside; you will find supperready, and Nicholas is here."
"Nay, it is not fitting that you should look to the pony," said Mitsos.
"Little Mitsos, get you in," said Petrobey; "there are woodcocks forsupper and a haunch of roe-deer, but Nicholas and I have eaten allthe eels"; and he led the pony off, for he had heard from Nicholasof Mitsos' oath to Yanni, and how, though for a reason Nicholas didnot understand, Mitsos had been very loath to leave Nauplia, but hadgone at once; and with that fine instinct, so unreasonable and yet sobeautiful, to wait on those a man admires, he wished to do this littleservice for the boy. Nicholas and he had talked the matter over, andPetrobey said it was clear that Mitsos was in love, and Nicholas wasinclined to agree, though as to the engager of his affections theycould risk no guess.
Mitsos ate a prodigious supper, and Nicholas having given him a handfulof tobacco for his pipe, he declared himself capable of talking, andput forth to them a full account of his journey, and in turn asked whatnews.
"Much news," said Petrobey, "a little bad and a great deal good. Thebad comes first, and it is this: Nicholas is afraid that it will soonbe known at Tripoli that he is here, and that will be an unseasonablething. Four days ago he met two Turkish soldiers, and he thinks theyrecognized him. They were going to Tripoli, and it will not suit me atall if they send again to ask me to find him, for we have other work todo, and already the clan is moving up into the mountains so as to beready for the work, and to send twenty men again after Nicholas is whatI will not do."
"That is but a small thing, cousin," said Nicholas; "but it is thethought of Yanni in Tripoli which sits heavy on me. At present, ofcourse, he is perfectly safe, but supposing a message comes that youand I are ordered to be at Tripoli in three days."
Petrobey laughed.
"Mehemet Salik dare not," he said; "absolutely he dare not. How fatlittle Yanni will be when he comes out. Turks eat five times a day.They have no cause to suspect me, and if the worst comes to the worst,he can but send out men to search for you."
Mitsos yawned.
"Yet I wish Yanni were here," he said, "for I love Yanni, and I havesworn to him the oath of the clan. But I am sleepier than the winteringdormouse. When do you suppose I may go for him, cousin?"
"In a week or less, I hope, and in the interval there is the fire-shipwork for you to learn. Of that to-morrow, so get you to bed, littleMitsos."
Mitsos got up with eyes full of sleep and stretched himself.
"A bed with sheets," he said; "oh, but I thank the Mother of God forbeds."
"Also for woodcock and roe-deer," remarked Petrobey. "Good-night,little one."
The next two days Mitsos spent in learning the working of thefire-ship. Every morning before daybreak Nicholas used to leave thevillage and lie hidden in the pine-woods on the hills above, returningwith Mitsos at nightfall. But on the second evening, as they got nearthe house, they saw a Turkish soldier in the road, himself on horsebackand holding two other horses. Nicholas stepped quickly out of themoonlight into the shadow, and beckoned to Mitsos to do the same.
"This means trouble," he said; "I knew it, I knew it. Go you in,Mitsos, and I will wait in the alder clump by the mill, going out ofthe village, for there will be news for you to bring me."
And he stole along in the shadow of the wall until he was out of sight.
Mitsos waited till he was gone, and then walked unconcernedly forward,whistling the while. At the gate the soldier stopped him.
"Yassak," he said, which means "There is no passing."
Mitsos stared and stood silent a moment, running over in his mind hissmall vocabulary of Turkish abuse.
"Ugh! cross-legged one, where is your hat?" he said, rudely andcheerfully. "But why should I not see my cousin?"
"There is no passing," said the Turk, and with that he drew out hispistol.
Mitsos hesitated a moment. He was quite willing to rush in and take hischance of the bullet going wide, for he held the Turks in light esteemas marksmen since the adventure with Yanni; but he doubted the wisdomof the scheme, for there were, as the horses showed, at least two moreinside. So he turned on his heel.
"I shall go back home, then," he said. "Shall I find more little menthere saying I may not see my father? Go home, too, my little man, ifyou are as wise as you are little, and eat sweets with the women ofyour master's harem, and wash your dirty face."
The man answered nothing, for he knew well that to fire a shot ina village of the Mavromichales was to put his own head into a nestof hornets that could sting sore. He and the others had entered thevillage very quietly after dark so as not to provoke any attention,and had been fortunate enough to get to Petrobey's house without beingnoticed. Mitsos went along quietly enough till he was out of sight, andthen ran as he had never run before to the alder clump where he wouldfind Nicholas.
"Quick, quick!" he whispered; "tell me what to do. There are Turkishsoldiers at Petrobey's, and they will not let me in. Oh, uncle, thisbodes no good for Yanni! What shall I do?"
"Ah, it is even so!" said Nicholas. "Sit you, Mitsos, and let us think."
For five minutes or so they sat quite silent. At last Nicholas spoke.
"I make no doubt what has happened," he said, "and it is all bad. Thesemen have come to Petrobey from Mehemet Salik, and it means his arrest.They have him in the hollow of their hand, for if he goes not thereis Yanni in Tripoli, and go he must. What is before us is this: Yannimust be got out of Tripoli at once, and Petrobey must escape on hisway there. How shall we do it? Oh, little Mitsos, think as you thoughtbefore, and ask the blessed saints to speak to you and me."
Nicholas crushed his hands to his temples.
"And that is not all," he added. "The clan must be warned at once whathas happened, and it is useless for them to attempt the rescue ofPetros before Yanni is out of Tripoli, for so his life will be forfeit.And I, too, I must--ah, I shall give myself up to those Turks!"
"But why, Uncle Nicholas?" asked Mitsos, fairly puzzled.
"Because it is easier for two men to escape than one, and also because,if they get away from the village with me and Petrobey without alarmgiven to the clan, they will make less haste to Tripoli, for if I amwith them they will not fear that I should get to Yanni first. Oh,Mitsos,
"Then I am off for Yanni?" asked Mitsos.
"On the instant. Where is your horse?"
"At Petrobey's."
"Then go round to the house of some cousin; go to Demetri and get ahorse, and off with you. There is no time to lose. Stay, you do notknow where you and Yanni are to go from Tripoli. You must escape bynight and go straight over the hills to the edge of the upper Arcadianplain, where stands Megalopolis; there strike southward over on toTaygetus and find your way to the hill above Lada, on the top of thepass, where you watched for the beacon from Bassae. We shall be there.I shall go round the village and see that the whole clan know what hashappened and where they will join us on Taygetus; then I shall givemyself up. And now, little Mitsos, God speed; remember that we loveyou, and be very careful and very quiet. Yanni's life depends on you."
So Mitsos stole off in the darkness to go to Demetri's house, andNicholas went back to the village to warn the clan. In an hour's timemessengers had started to the villages round saying what had happened,and giving the clan to know where they were to go when the fewpreparations which remained with regard to the storing of the powderwere completed, and also definitely saying that the outbreak wouldbegin, as soon as possible, by the siege of Kalamata. Then Nicholaswent to Petrobey's house and found the soldier still in the roadopposite with the horses.
"There is no passing," he said.
"You do not know to whom you are speaking," said Nicholas, haughtily."I am Nicholas Vidalis, of whom you may have heard."
The answer was what he anticipated, and he found himself covered bythe soldier's pistol, while the latter shouted to those inside: "Hereis Nicholas Vidalis!" Then, addressing Nicholas, he said, "Move, and Ishoot."
Nicholas stood quite still, for he had no wish either to move or to beshot, while another soldier ran out from the house.
"I suppose you have authority for this," he said, "or there will be asettling between us."
"The authority of Mehemet Salik," said the second soldier, "theGovernor of Tripoli, to arrest you and Petros Mavromichales and bringyou to Tripoli."
They had been speaking in Turkish, and Nicholas, with intention, askedthe next question in Greek.
"For what am I arrested?"
"I do not know Greek," said the soldier.
"God be praised for that!" thought Nicholas, and he repeated hisquestion in Turkish.
"For seditious designs against the sovereign power of the Sultan andhis deputy in Tripoli, Mehemet Salik."
Nicholas laughed.
"That sounds serious. Shall I go inside, gentlemen? I am your prisoner,and I deliver up my arms," and he handed the soldier his pistol andknife and stepped in. "I should advise you," he added, "to come in,too, for if some of this hot-headed clan see a Turk standing therehe will not stand there long entire. Come in, friend, for though I ammaliciously accused that is no fault of yours, and I would not see yourblood nor the blood of my clan shed."
The soldier followed his advice and led the horses inside, barring thegate behind him.
Petrobey had heard Nicholas's voice, and a great wave of relief cameover him. He had been sitting there quite silent, guarded by twosoldiers, in a dumb agony of fear, not for himself, but for Yanni. Thathe himself could escape somehow or other on the way to Tripoli he didnot doubt, but his escape meant death to Yanni if still in the town,as the letter from Mehemet said; while if he delivered himself up atTripoli, the moment the war of independence began, death to both ofthem. His only consolation had been that Nicholas, at least, was safe.He would have been back an hour before, unless in some way the alarmhad been given him, and his appearance now, coming in peacefully andcalmly, must mean that he knew what had happened, and had some wisethought within him. Mitsos--and at the thought of Mitsos he looked upsuddenly at Nicholas, in the sudden hope that Mitsos had started forTripoli--and as he caught Nicholas's eye the latter nodded and smiled,and Petrobey felt certain that Nicholas had answered the question hehad silently asked him.
Nicholas sat down cheerfully and continued to speak in Turkish:
"This is some strange mistake," he said, "but I shall not be sorryto pay my respects to his Excellency in Tripoli, a duty which I havehitherto neglected."
One of the soldiers smiled.
"And his Excellency will not be sorry to see you. He sent for you, ifyou remember, last autumn, and your cousin wrote him a letter sayingthat his bastard kinsman should be sought for and sent when found."
This was a little disconcerting, but Nicholas waved his hand lightly.
"A private quarrel merely between myself and my cousin," he said,"which has long ago been made up. Eh, cousin?" Then, in Greek, "Theydon't talk Greek, God be thanked!"
Petrobey nodded assent.
"We set off to-morrow, Nicholas," he said, "and that very early in themorning. To-night we have guests with us, and it is time for supper.Please seat yourselves, gentlemen. Poor fare, I am afraid, but we didnot know that we should be honored by your presence to-night."
Petrobey clapped his hands, and the servant brought the supper. Hewas a big, strong lad of Yanni's age, the son of a small farm-holdingtenant on Petrobey's land, who had been left an orphan while stillquite a young boy. Petrobey had brought him up in his own house, ashalf servant and half companion to Yanni, exacting little service, butreceiving complete devotion.
"Put on supper," he said, in Greek, "and keep your ears well open."
The boy brought in the food, and they all sat down together. The mealhad only been prepared for three, but as Mitsos was to have been oneof the three, and the Turks were small eaters, there seemed to beplenty of food. All three soldiers, from living among the Greeks, hadrelaxed their religious abstinence from wine, where the wine was good,and the meal went on merrily enough, Nicholas, in particular, talkingand laughing with them, and speaking Turkish with wonderful fluencyand accuracy. Under pretext of Petrobey's not speaking Turkish at alleasily, it was soon arranged between him and Nicholas that he shouldspeak in Greek and Nicholas act as interpreter, translating intoTurkish the remarks he made to his guests, and his guests' conversationinto Greek; and so it came about that long before the meal was overPetrobey was fully acquainted with Mitsos' departure for Tripoli andalso Nicholas's idea for the next day, and they discussed at somelength, without arousing the least suspicion, their own manner ofescape.
This, Nicholas suggested, should be made as soon as possible on thejourney; if it could be managed, at the first halt, for Mitsos wouldhave had twelve hours' start, and should have had time to get Yannisafely out. The advantage of doing this early would be that they wouldstill be travelling in the country of the clan, who would, were itnecessary, turn out to cover their retreat; and Nicholas suggestedthat they should have recourse to a very simple expedient, which hehad tried with success once before. The lad Constantine would comewith them, he proposed, carrying food for the mid-day meal, as it wassix hours to the next village; Nicholas, Petrobey, and the boy wouldbe quite unarmed; and the Turks, secure in the knowledge that Yanniwas still hostage, would not, he thought, attempt to bind them. That,however, he would ascertain. During their meal, which should be ampleand full of wine, the boy should be instructed to cut the girths ofthe Turks' horses, and get away home as fast as might be. Then after adecent interval they should think about going on, and Petrobey and he,mounting as quick as they could, should ride cheerfully off at fullspeed across country towards Taygetus. "The soldiers," added Nicholas,with admirable gravity, "will attempt to do the same, and I wishlittle Mitsos was here to see them, for it does me good to see Mitsoslaugh."
All this was conveyed in short sentences, interpolated with Petrobey'ssupposed replies to the Turks; and Petrobey, who had taken care thatConstantine should be in the room while it was going on, said to him,carelessly, holding out his glass:
"If you completely understand, Constantine, fill my glass with water,and then go; i
Constantine took the water-jug in his hand, filled Petrobey's glass,and left the room.
Incidentally, Nicholas, while speaking in Turkish, had begged thesoldiers that they might start very early, for there would be bigtrouble, he thought, among the clan, if they saw their chief ridingoff guarded by Turks. His desire, he explained, was to get to Tripolias soon as possible, for, as they knew, Petrobey's only son was heldhostage there by Mehemet Salik, and he feared that if there was adisturbance among the Mavromichales, or if--which God forbid!--theclan were so foolish as to fire upon them, Petrobey might be heldresponsible, and it would go hardly with the son. To this theyassented, saying also that, provided their two prisoners would comeunarmed, the hostage in Tripoli should be considered security enough,and they should go like gentlemen upon a journey.
Though it was not very early next morning when they started, thevillage, following Nicholas's directions of the night before, showedno sign of life. But a closer observer might have noticed stealthyfaces at the windows hastily and suddenly withdrawn, for the clan,who would have laid their money on Nicholas and Petrobey if all theOttoman forces were out against them, and who had a keen sense ofhumor, regarded the affair as a practical joke of the most magnificentorder, for Nicholas had told them the night before what the methodof escape was to be. So the procession, with one soldier in front,Nicholas and Petrobey in the centre, guarded on the outside by theother two, with Constantine behind driving a pony laden with food andwine for their mid-day meal, went unmolested, though watched by anappreciative audience, out of the village and down the steep hill intothe plain. Nicholas relieved the tedium of the way with the most racyand delightful stories, and then all went on in the utmost harmony.
Some three hours later they were come to a large and pleasant-smellingpine-wood, and about half-way through this, where another bridle-pathjoined the one they were in, leading up towards the fartherhill-villages of Taygetus, they chanced upon a clear way-side stream,and here Petrobey proposed they should halt for their dinner. Abundanceof juicy grass grew round the water some thirty yards farther down, andtethering the horses there so that they could not stray, for they wouldbe just out of sight of the place where their masters ate, Petrobeytold Constantine to get ready the food. However, the sun shone ratherwarm on this spot, and at the suggestion of one of the soldiers theymoved a little higher up into the shade of the trees. Constantinewaited assiduously on the guests until all had eaten their fill, andthen, bringing more wine from a cold basin in the stream, where he hadput it to regain its coolness, he retired a little distance off to eatof the remains of the dinner, execute his orders, and steal homeward.
The others drank and smoked and chatted for some quarter of an hourmore, till Nicholas, observing that the sun had already passed itsmeridian, suggested that, as they had a long day before them, if theywere, as he trusted, to reach Tripoli the next night, it would be wiseto start. The soldiers assented, but drowsily, for they had again drunksomewhat freely at their prisoners' expense, and they all moved offto where they had left their horses and accoutrements. Nicholas couldnot suppress a chuckle of amusement when he saw that Constantine hadtaken the precaution of loosening the flint from the hammers of theirguns, and then saying suddenly to Petrobey, "Now!" the two ran forward,unpicketed their horses, and swinging into the saddle, spurred themthrough the belt of trees which separated them from the pathway towardsTaygetus. They heard an exclamation of dismay and surprise from thesoldiers, and the feeble click of a loose flint against the steel, andthe next moment they were off full gallop up the steep hill-road.
Then followed a scene which would have made the mouths of the clan tobe full of laughter, for the first soldier vaulted with some agilityinto the saddle and started gallantly off in pursuit, closely followedby the second, who had done the same. The first went bravely for aboutsix yards, the second for rather less, and then they rolled off rightand left, clutching wildly at their horses' manes, the one into thestream, the other into a fine furze bush. The third, a bulky man,was rather more fortunate, for, being incapable of jumping into thesaddle, he put his foot nimbly into the stirrup, only to find his horsestanding beside him barebacked and with an expression of innocentsurprise, and himself with the curious feeling experienced when we arefain to walk up a step and find there is no step to walk up.
The next half-hour went wearily and hotly for them. By sacrificingone girth they patched up the other two, and one went up the pathwaytowards Taygetus in pursuit, while the other rode on to Tripoli. Thetwo most agile, as being the lighter weights, took these tasks uponthemselves, while the heavier one, who could not ride bareback withoutpain to his person, walked sorrowfully on, a heavy saddle in one hand,his horse's bridle in the other, a three-hours' tramp to the nextvillage, where he hoped to have his dilapidations repaired.
The adventures of the first who rode after the escaped prisonerswere short. Half an hour's ride brought him to the outskirts of avillage which was all humming like a hive of bees, and the humorousMavromichales, who inhabited it in some number, and who were excellentmarksmen, sent a few bullets whistling close round him--one went alittle to the right, another slightly to the left, a third sang sweetlyover his head, and a fourth raised a little puff of dust at his feet.It occurred to him that they might perhaps be able to aim straighterif they wished, for there was a devilish precision about the closenessof the shots that made his heart turn cold, and with one more glance,sufficient however to show him Nicholas and Petrobey bowing politely inthe midst of their clan, he turned tail, and just galloped back alongthe road he had come.