The Vintage: A Romance of the Greek War of Independence by E. F. Benson
CHAPTER I
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS
During the night the wind swept the floor of heaven clean of clouds,and an hour of clear starlight and setting moon preceded dawn. Beforestarting, after an hour's halt about midnight, Petrobey called togetherthe captains of the other three camps and gave them their finalinstructions. Three companies, those from Maina, Argolis, and Laconia,were to besiege the citadel, while the company from Arcadia was to jointhe two from Messenia, which would meet them on the plain, and investthe harbor, destroy all the shipping except three or four light-builtboats which were to be kept in readiness for other purposes, andwatch for the coming of the two Turkish ships-of-war. The Messenians,with a loyal and patriotic spirit, had asked Petrobey to name them acaptain for the three companies which would be employed on this work,instead of pressing a local candidate; and in order to prevent jealousyor dissent among them, he nominated one Niketas, of Sparta, who waswell known to most of the men, popular, and had seen service on anEnglish ship, where he had worked for two years abroad, for a pricehad been placed on his head by the Turks for supposed brigandage. Hehad returned to his country a month ago from the Ionian Isles, and hadhastened to put himself in the service of the patriots.
The citadel of Kalamata stood on rising ground about a mile from theharbor, but it was small, and a large, unfortified suburb, chieflyemployed in commerce and the silk industry, had spread out southwardfrom its base, making a continuous street between harbor and citadel.The latter was defended by a complete circuit of wall, and on threesides out of the four the rocks on the edge of which the walls stoodwere precipitous for some thirty feet. Under the western of these, anddirectly below the wall, ran a torrent-bed, bringing down the streamsfrom the mountains to the north--dry in summer, but now flowing fulland turbid with the melting of the winter snows on the heights. Onthis side the town was impregnable to the Greeks, who at present hadno field-pieces or arms of any kind larger than the ordinary musketsthen in use, and similarly it would have been waste of time and livesto attack it either on the north or east. On the north, however, wasa picket-gate in the wall, communicating with a steep flight of stepscut in the rock. Petrobey's plan, therefore, was to take possession atonce of the lower undefended town and blockade the citadel from thatside, for thus with a body of men to guard the northern picket, theeast and west sides being impassable both from within and without, theblockade would be complete. Meantime the three companies, consistingof Messenians and Arcadians, would cut off the harbor from the town,leaving the Mainats, Argives, and Laconians to deal with the citadelitself.
When day broke the secrecy of their advance was favored by a thickmist, which rose some ten feet high from the plain, and under cover ofthis, manoeuvring in some fields about a mile eastward from the town,the army split in two, and one half marched straight down to the shoreof the bay, and from there, turning along the coast, ranged itselfalong the harbor shore and on the breakwater, made of large roughblocks of stone, which sheltered the harbor from southerly winds, andthe other three, leaving the citadel on their right hand, went straightfor the lower town. Half an hour afterwards the heat of the sun beganto disperse the morning mists, and as they got to the outskirts of thetown the vast vapor was rolled away, and the sentries on the citadellooking out southward saw three companies of soldiers not half a mileoff. The alarm was given at once and spread through the lower town likefire. From all the houses rushed out men, women, and children, somestill half clad or just awakened from their morning sleep, mothers withbabies in their arms, and old men almost as helpless, who ran this wayand that in the first panic terror, but gradually settled down intotwo steady streams--the one up to the citadel to find refuge there,the other to the harbor to seek means of flight. But the army cameon in silence, making its way slowly up the narrow streets towardsthe citadel, without being attacked by the terrified and unarmedinhabitants, and in its turn neither striking a blow nor firing a shot.Two companies only had entered the town, the third remaining on theoutskirts to the east, acting like a "stop" in cover-shooting, to drivethe inhabitants back again, lest any should convey the alarm to Tripoli.
From the west of the town a bridge led over the torrent, and herePetrobey stationed some hundred men to prevent any one leaving thetown across the river; but before long, wishing to concentrate all hisforces in the town, Yanni was sent to the party picketed there withorders to destroy the bridge. This was made of wood, but preparationswere in hand for replacing it with one of iron, and several girderswere lying about on the bank for the approaching work. With one ofthese as a lever, and twenty men to work it, it was an affair often minutes only to prize up some half-dozen planks of the woodenstructure, and after that to saw in half a couple of the timber poleson which it rested. The bridge thus weakened drooped towards the water,and soon was caught by the swift stream below. Then, as some monstrousfish plucks at a swimmer's limbs, it twitched and fretted against theremaining portion, and soon with a rush and swirl of timbers and planksit tore away a gap of some twenty feet across, sufficient to stop anywould-be fugitives.
Here and there in their passage up the town a house was shut and barredagainst them, but for the most part the inhabitants streamed out likeants when their hill is disturbed. Once only was resistance offered,when from the upper window of a house a Turk fired upon the soldiers,killing one man; and Petrobey, heading a charge himself, burst in thedoor, and a couple of shots were heard from inside. Then, without aword, he and the three others who had gone in with him took theirplaces again, and the column moved forward up the street.
The square of the lower town stood just at the base of the risingground leading up to the citadel, and on its north side was built a rowof big silk-mills, all of which had been deserted by their owners onthe first alarm, and in these the Maina division took up its quarters.As soon as they and the Argives had made their passage through thetown, driving the inhabitants up into the citadel, or down to theharbor, where they were taken by the Messenian division, Petrobey sentto the Laconian corps, who had been acting as a "stop" on the east toprevent the people escaping into the country, and brought them up onthe right to complete the line which they had drawn along the southfront of the citadel. The Argive corps, meantime, had been dividedinto two, one-half of which blockaded the picket-gate on the north,while the other was drawn up on the left of the Mainats, between themand the river. This done, the blockade of the citadel was complete; onthe west the besieged were hemmed in by their own impregnable rock,below which ran the current; on the south and southeast by the Greekarmy; on the east again by the precipitous crags; and on the norththeir escape through the picket-gate was impracticable, owing to thedetachment of Argives guarding it.
Three courses were open to them: to make a sortie as soon as theexpected Turkish ships would appear and regain communication with thesea; or, by engaging and defeating the Greeks, establish connectionwith Tripoli; or to support the siege until help came. In the utterconfusion and panic caused by the sudden appearance of the Greeksthe inhabitants had simply fled like a quail-flock, and the citadelwas crammed with a crowd of unarmed civilians. Each thought onlyfor himself and his own personal protection. Mixed in this crowd offugitives had been hundreds of Greek residents--some of whom, possessedmerely by the wild force of panic and without waiting to think whatthis army was, had rushed blindly with the others into the citadel; butthe larger number had joined their countrymen--men, women, and childrentogether--imploring protection with horrible tales of outrage andcruelty on their lips. All those who were fit for active service andwilling Petrobey enlisted, and employed them in making a more carefulsearch through the town for any Turks who might remain in hiding. Thesewere not to be killed or ill-treated, but merely kept as prisoners.But the wild vengeance of those who had so long been slaves burst allbounds when they saw their masters in their power, and all who werefound were secretly put to death.
The weakness of the citadel lay in its bad water supply. There wasonly one well in the place, and that was not nearly sufficien
Meantime a column of smoke, rising from the harbor, showed that theMessenians were at their work. One corps had deployed along theshore and took in hand the work of burning all the shipping, whilethe other was employed in making prisoners of the fugitives from thelower town, who hoped to escape by sea. A few of these, strikingeastward across the plain, tried to get into the mountains, and wereshot, but the majority, finding themselves between two divisions ofthe army, cut off from the citadel by Petrobey's division and fromthe sea by the Messenians, and also being unarmed, surrendered toNiketas, who, knowing no Turkish, but being proud of his English,merely said "All-a-right" to their entreaties and prayers, and hadthem incontinently stowed away in batches in the harbor buildings. TheArcadians, meantime, had ranged themselves along the breakwater, wherethey kept watch for the Turkish ships, and, having no work to hand,spent the morning in smoking and singing.
About two in the afternoon word was brought to the captain of thetroops within the citadel--one Ali Aga--that two Turkish ships hadbeen seen in the offing approaching Kalamata. A steady south breezewas blowing, and a couple of hours would see their arrival. Ali hadwatched, in white, contemptuous anger that morning, the destructionof the shipping by the Greeks. The ammunition within the walls wasvery scanty, and the water supply for this irruption of fugitives waswholly inadequate. Indeed, unless news of their straits was alreadyon the road to Tripoli--and this he could scarce hope, so swift andcomplete had been the beleaguer--unless a relief expedition was evennow imminently starting, he saw that the only chance of saving the townlay in concerted action with the approaching ships, and thus making anattack on the Greek lines from both sides--the citadel and the sea.Thus he determined to wait until the ships came up and engaged thedetachment of Greeks on the shore.
The wind still holding, in half an hour the Arcadian contingent on thebreakwater could see even from the beach the hulls of the approachingships, beyond all doubt Turkish men-of-war. The breakwater along whichthe Greeks were ranged was still only half completed, and masses ofrough masonry lay piled and tumbled on the seaward end. Niketas rubbedhis hands gleefully as he made the dispositions for their welcome, andexclaimed many times "This is very all-a-right"; then, relapsing intoGreek, he gave his orders, and mingled with them a chuckling homily.
"The Turk made the breakwater," he said, "but God and the holy saints,having the Greeks in mind, were the designers. Hide yourselves ever sothickly among these beautiful great stones, like anchovies in a barrel,and when the ship turns into the harbor we will all talk loud to ittogether. The water is very deep here; they will sail close to ouranchovy barrel, and they will see none of us till they turn the corner,for the breakwater which God planned hides us from the sea."
He called up one division of Messenians to join the Arcadian corps,leaving the other to guard the beach, and the sixteen hundred menranged themselves among the blocks of masonry along the inside of thebreakwater, so that until the ships turned the corner not one could beseen, but once round they would be exposed to a broadside of muskets atclose range from marksmen concealed by the stones. Niketas himself--forthe foremost ship was now not more than a few hundred yardsout--crawled with infinite precaution to the end of the breakwater, andsmilingly watched its unsuspicious approach. It carried, he saw, manyheavy guns; but that was a small matter.
The wind was now light, and the ship was nearly opposite the end ofthe breakwater when she began to take in sail, and a moment afterwardsher helm was put hard aport, and she slowly swung round, crumpling thesmooth water beneath her bow, and came straight alongside the wall at adistance of not more than fifty yards. Niketas had told the men to fireexactly when the ship came opposite them. She would pass slowly downthe line, and would be raked fore and aft again and again as she wentalong.
Sixteen hundred men were crowded like swarming bees among the lumpsof tumbled stone. As many muskets waited hungrily. Overhead, abovethe shelter of the breakwater, hummed the breeze; the little waveletstapped on the edge of the masonry; the stage was ready.
Tall and beautiful she came slowly on till her whole length appearedopposite the ambush. Her decks and rigging were alive with the sailors,who were swarming over the masts and furling sail, or stood ready todrop the anchor on the word of command. On the bridge stood the captainwith two other officers, and, marshalled in rows on the aft deck,about two hundred soldiers, carrying arms. Simultaneously through theambushed Greeks the same thought ran, "The soldiers first," and as thegreat ship glided steadily past the end of the breakwater the fire of ahundred men broke out, and they went down like ninepins. The ship movedon, and, like the echo of the first volley, a second swept the decks,and close on the second a third. The captain fell and two officerswith him, and a panic seized the crew. They ran hither and thither,some seeking refuge below, some jumping overboard, some standing wherethey were, wide-eyed and terror-stricken. A few of the soldiers onlyretained their presence of mind, and with perfect calmness, as if theywere practising at some sham-fight, brought a gun into position andproceeded to load it. But again and again they were mowed down by thedeadly short-range fire of the Greeks, while others took up the ramrodsand charge from their clinched hands, only to deliver it up from theirdeath-grip to others. But still the great ship went on, running thegauntlet of the whole ambush, while every moment its decks grew morepopulous with a ghastly crew of death. The well-directed and low fireof the Greeks had left the half-furled sails untouched, and the windstill blew steadily. But in a few moments more there were none left totake the helm, and, swinging round to the wind, she changed her courseand went straight for the low, sandy beach on the other side of theharbor. There, fifty yards off the shore, she grounded heavily, with aslight list to starboard, striking a sand-bank on the port side; andthere, all the afternoon, she stood, white and stately, with sailsbulging with the wind, but moving not, like some painted or phantomship with wings that feel not wind nor any gale.
Not till then did Niketas, nor indeed any of his ambushed party, givea thought to the other ship, but when the first ship with its crew ofdead turned in the wind and sailed ashore he looked round the cornerfor the other. It was still some quarter of a mile away, but thereseemed to be some commotion on deck, and he was uncertain for a momentwhether they were preparing to bring their big gun into play. Buthe was not left long in doubt, for in a couple of minutes more theship swung round and beat out to sea again. This disgraceful piece ofcowardice raised from the Greeks a howl, partly of derision and partlyof rage at being balked of their prey, and a few discharged theirmuskets at the fleeing enemy until Niketas stopped them, telling themnot to waste good powder on runaway dogs. On the first ship the bodyof soldiers had literally been destroyed, and of two hundred not morethan thirty remained. But these, with a courageous despair, after thefirst few minutes of wild confusion were over, had sheltered themselvesat different points behind the bulwarks and furniture of the ship, andwere returning the fire coolly, while others began preparing the biggun for action. But these were an easy mark for the Greeks, for theywere unprotected, and after five or six more men had been shot downthey abandoned the attempt and confined themselves to their muskets.They were, however, fighting with cruel odds against them, for themen on whom they were firing we
Meantime, from the citadel Ali Aga had watched the destruction of oneship and the flight of the other. At the moment when the first hadentered the harbor he had opened fire on the Mainat corps; but they,obeying Petrobey's direction, merely sheltered behind the mills, anddid not even take the trouble to return it. Encouraged by this, andseeing heavy fighting going on below, Ali was just preparing to make adash for the harbor with some half of the troops, in order to establishcommunication, when the firing on the shore suddenly slackened, and hesaw one ship sail off without firing a shot, while the other driftedwith half-furled sails across the bay, and then grounded. At that heresolved again to wait, for he had no intention of going to the rescueof those who should have rescued him, and indeed, without co-operationfrom the ship, the attempt would have been madness.
At dusk the firing below ceased altogether, for a boat had put offfrom the ship bearing the white flag of surrender, and all those whowere left on board were removed, their arms taken from them, and theywere put into custody. Niketas, who boarded the ship, felt a suddenunwilling admiration for the man who had gone on fighting against suchfearful odds. The deck presented a fearful sight--it was a shambles,nothing less. The list of the ship as she struck had drained theblood in oily, half-congealed streams through the scuppers, and itwas dripping sullenly into the sea. The small-arms and powder theGreeks transferred in boats to the land, where they were added to thestock, and they made several unsuccessful attempts to get out one ortwo of the larger guns, which might prove useful if Kalamata refusedto capitulate. But all their efforts, in the absence of fit tacklingand lifting apparatus, were useless, and after emptying the ship ofall that could be of service to them, including a sum of five hundredTurkish pounds, which was found in the captain's cabin, they set lightto it for fear it should be got off by its sister ship and so returninto the enemy's fleet. All night long the hull blazed, and aboutmidnight it was a pillar of fire, for the sails caught and the flameswent roaring upward, mast high. And thus ended the first day of thesiege.
All next day the blockade continued without incident, and no attemptwas made on the part of the Turks to deliver an attack, nor on thatof the besiegers to force their way into the citadel. The pass fromArcadia and that over Taygetus, across either of which any reliefexpedition from Tripoli must march, were carefully watched, and beforesuch appeared Petrobey declined to make an attack, which must beexpensive to the Greek army, when simply waiting would do their workfor them; while Ali on his side would sooner capitulate, if the worstcame to the worst, than with his fifteen hundred men, ill-suppliedwith ammunition, engage these six regiments of wolves; for such anengagement, as he knew, would only end in his utter defeat, and themassacre in all probability of all the Turks in the town.
Early on the third morning it was clear that help was not coming fromTripoli, or, at any rate, that it would come too late. The water supplyhad entirely given out and famine as well was beginning to make itselffelt. For two days and nights the citadel had been packed like a crateof figs with defenceless and civilian humanity, more than half of whomhad to lie out under the cold of the spring night exposed to the dewsand the sun, some of them barely half clad, just as they had beenawakened from their sleep when they had fled panic-stricken to thecitadel. Below in the Greek army the utmost content and harmony stillreigned. The men were well quartered and had all the supplies of thetown in their hands, and a considerable amount of booty had been taken,half of which was divided between the men and half reserved by Petrobeyfor a war fund.
The first bugle had sounded half an hour, and they were preparingtheir breakfast when a white flag was hoisted on the corner tower,the gate opened, and Ali Aga, alone and unattended, except for a pagewho carried his chibouk, walked down into the camp. Some Greeks, whohad lived under him and had felt his cruel and outrageous rule, sawhim coming and surrounded him, spitting at him and reviling him; buthere the devilish coolness of the man came to the front, a matter foradmiration, and turning round on them he cursed at them so fiercely,calling them dogs and sons of dogs, that they fell back. By the sideof the road was sitting a blind Greek, begging. Ali, with splendidunconcern, paused, threw open his red cloak trimmed with the fur ofthe yellow fox, which he had wrapped closely about him against thechill of the morning, and taking his pistol and string of amber beadsout of his belt, felt in the corners of it for some small coins, whichhe gave the man and passed deliberately on, adjusting his fez with onehand. Once again before he reached Petrobey's quarters he paused, thistime to take off one of his red shoes and shake a pebble out of it. Hadhe blanched or wavered for a moment his life would have been forfeit adozen times before he reached Petrobey's quarters, but he treated thehowling crowd as a man treats snarling curs, and he silently commandedone of the loudest-mouthed to show him the way to their commander.
Petrobey had seen Ali coming, and was sitting outside the house wherehe had taken up his quarters, and when the Turk appeared he arose andsaluted him, telling a servant to bring a pipe for him; but Ali didnot return the salute, and merely indicated with one hand that he hadbrought his own pipe with him, an insult of the most potent nature. Tohim the Greeks were "all of one bake," and he looked at Petrobey andspoke as if he were speaking to one of his own slaves.
"I find it necessary for me to capitulate," he said, in excellentGreek, "and I am here to settle the conditions."
Petrobey flushed angrily. He was not a meek man, and had no stomach forinsults; so he sat down again, leaving Ali standing, and crossed oneleg over the other.
"I make no conditions," he said, "except this one: I will order nogeneral massacre; at the same time, it would be safer for all of younot to assume insolent and overbearing airs."
Ali raised his eyebrows, and before speaking again sat down andbeckoned to the page who carried his pipe.
"You will not give us a safe conduct to Tripoli, for instance?"
"No."
"You will not allow us to retain our arms?"
Petrobey laughed.
"Such is not my intention. All I will do"--and his anger suddenlyflared up at the perfectly unassumed insolence of the man--"all I willdo is to forbid my men to shoot you down in cold blood. You will bewise to consider that, for we may not care to grant such terms, no, noryet be able to enforce obedience to them if we did, on the day whenTripoli is crushed like a beetle below our heel."
Ali shrugged his shoulders and took his chibouk from the hands of thepage who carried it.
"Oblige me with a piece of charcoal," he said to one of the Greeks whostood by, and he lit his pipe slowly and deliberately before replying.
"Your terms are preposterous," he said; "I do not, however, say that Iwill not accept them, but I wish for five hours more for consideration."
"Five hours more for relief from Tripoli, in my poor judgment,"remarked Petrobey. "I am afraid that will not be convenient to me. Irequire 'yes' or 'no'; neither more nor less."
Ali inhaled two long breaths of smoke.
"If I will give neither 'yes' nor 'no,' what then?"
"This. You shall go back in safety, and then when you are starved out,or when we take the place, I will not grant any terms. And we havea long score against you. Your rule has not been popular among mycountrymen; those who have lived here under you are full of very prettytales."
"I suppose the dogs are. I accept your terms."
Petrobey rose.
"Consider yourself my prisoner," he said, not even looking at him."Take charge of him, Christos, and Yorgi, and order all three corpsout, Yanni."<
"Another piece of charcoal, one of you," said Ali. "This tobacco is alittle damp."
In half an hour's time all the Turkish soldiers and civilians weredefiled out of the citadel unarmed between the lines of the Greeks.They were instantly divided up among the different corps, and from thatmoment became the property of the soldiers as much as the Greek slavesin the last years had been the property of their Turkish masters.Many who had friends were ransomed, many became domestic slaves, andmany, in the Greek phrase, "the moon devoured." The flag of Greece washoisted on the towers, and the work which Mitsos had cried aloud infire from Taygetus to Bassae had begun.
"MIXED WITH THE NOISE OF THE SINGING, ROSE ONE GREAT SOBOF A THANKFUL PEOPLE BORN AGAIN"]
And on that day which saw the dawning of the freedom of Greece itseemed to these enthusiastic hearts, who for years had cherished andfed the smouldering spark which now ran bursting into flame, that earthand sea and sky joined in the glory and triumph. From its throne in theinfinite blue the sun shone to their eyes with a magnificence greaterthan natural; to the south the sea sparkled and laughed innumerably,and the meadows round the fallen town that day were suddenly smittenscarlet with the blowing of the wind-flowers. And when the work ofdistributing the prisoners was over, all the army went down to theedge of the torrent-bed, and gave thanks, with singing mouths andhearts that sang, to the Giver of Victory. There, half a mile abovethe citadel, in a church of which the sun was the light, and the soft,cool north wind the incense that wafted thanksgiving to heaven,stood the first Greek army of free men that had known the unspeakablethrill of victory since the Roman yoke had bound them a score ofhundred years ago. Some were old men, withered and gray, and grounddown in long slavery to a cruel and bestial master, and destined notto see the full moon of their freedom; in some, like the seed on stonyground, a steadfast heart had no deep root, and in the times of war anddesolation, which were still to come, they were to fall away, tiringof the glorious quest; some were still young boys, to whom the eventwas no more than a mere toy; but for the time, at any rate, all wereone heart, beating full in the morning of a long-delayed resurrection.Standing on a mound in the centre were four-and-twenty priests, in thefront of whom was Father Andrea, tall, and eyed like a mountain hawk,with a heart full of glory and red vengeance. And, when lifting up themightiest voice in Greece, he gave out the first words of that hymnwhich has risen a thousand times to the clash of victorious arms, thevoice of a great multitude answered him, and the sound was as the soundof many waters. All the ardor and hot blood of the Greeks leaped likea blush to the surface, and on all sides, mixed with the noise of thesinging, rose one great sob of a thankful people born again. Petrobey,with Nicholas on one side and Mitsos and Yanni on the other, hardlyknew that the tears were streaming down his tanned and weather-beatencheeks, and to the others, as to him, memory and expectation weremerged and sunk in the present ineffable moment. There was no beforeor after; they were there, men of a free people, and conscious only ofthe one thing--that the first blow had been struck, and struck home andtrue, that they thanked God for the power He had given them to use.
And when it was over Petrobey turned to Nicholas, and smiling at himthrough his tears:
"Old friend," he said.
And Nicholas echoed his words, echoed that which was too deep forwords, and--
"Old friend," he replied.