The Vintage: A Romance of the Greek War of Independence by E. F. Benson
CHAPTER II
TWO SILVER CANDLESTICKS
For two days longer the army remained at Kalamata in an ecstasy ofsuccess. Petrobey posted several companies of men on the lower hillsof Taygetus and at the top of the plain, from which a pass led intoArcadia, in ambush for any relieving force from Tripoli, should suchbe sent. Flushed with victory as they were, nothing seemed impossible,and the spirit of the men was to march straight on that stronghold ofthe Turkish power. But Petrobey was wiser; he knew that this affair atKalamata had been no real test of the army's capacity; they had stoodwith folded arms, and the prey had dropped at their feet. To attack astrongly fortified place, competently held, was to adventure far moreseriously. At present he had neither men nor arms enough, and the onlysane course was to wait, embarking, it might be, on enterprises of thesmaller sort, till with the news of their exploit the rising becamemore general. In the mean time he remained at Kalamata in order to gettidings from the north of the Morea as to the sequel of the beaconthere, and, if expedient, to unite his troops with the contingent fromPatras and Megaspelaion. As commander-in-chief of the first army inthe field, he issued a proclamation, declaring that the Greeks weredetermined to throw off the yoke of the Turk, and asking for the aidof Christians in giving liberty to those who were enslaved to theworshippers of an alien god.
The primates and principal clergy of the Morea, it will be remembered,had been summoned to Tripoli for the meeting at the end of March, andthe scheme that the wisdom of Mitsos had hatched, to give them anexcuse for their disobedience, had met with entire success. Germanos,who both spoke and wrote Turkish, forged a letter, purporting to comefrom a friendly Mussulman at Tripoli, warning him to beware, forMehemet Salik, thinking that a rising of the Greeks was imminent, haddetermined to put one or two of the principal men to death in order toterrorize the people, and with the same stone to deprive them of theirleaders. With this in his pocket, he set out and travelled quietly toKalavryta, where he found other of the principal clergy assembled atthe house of Zaimes, the primate of the place. Germanos arrived therein the evening, and before going to bed gave the forged letter toLambros, his servant, telling him to start early next morning, ride inthe direction of Tripoli, then turn back and meet the party at theirmid-day halt. He was then to give the letter to his master, saying thathe had received it from a Turk on the road, who hearing that he wasGermanos's servant, told him, as he valued his life and the life of hismaster, not to spare spur till he had given it him, and on no accountto hint a word of the matter to any one.
Lambros, who had the southern palate for anything smacking of dramaand mystery, obeyed in letter and spirit, and at mid-day, while theprimates were halting, he spurred a jaded, foam-streaked horse up theroad, flung himself quickly off, and gave the forged communication tohis master. Germanos glanced through it with well-feigned dismay andexclamations of astonished horror, and at once read it aloud to theassembled primates, who were struck with consternation. Some suggestedone thing and some another, but every one looked to Germanos for anauthoritative word.
"This will we do, my brothers," he said, "if it seems good to you:I will send this letter to my admirable friend--or so I stillthink--Mehemet Salik, and ask for a promise of safety, a matter ofform merely. Yet we may not disregard what my other admirable friendhas said, for if, as God forbid, it is true, where would our flock bewithout their shepherds? But if it is false, Mehemet will at once sendus a promise of safety. Meantime, we must act as if the truth of thisletter were possible, and I suggest that we all disperse, and for ourgreater safety each surround himself with some small guard. And beforethe answer comes back, it may be"--he looked round and saw only thefaces of patriots--"it may be that there will be other business onhand"--and his face was a beacon.
It is probable that more than one of the primates guessed that theletter was a forgery, but they were only too glad to be supplied witha specious excuse for delaying their journey, and followed Germanos'sadvice.
Then followed those ten days of feverish inaction, while on TaygetusPetrobey collected the forces which were to be the doom of Kalamata.Evening by evening patient men climbed to the hills where the beaconfuel was stacked, questioning the horizon for the signal, and morningby morning returned to the expectant band of patriots in theirvillages, saying "Not yet, not yet," until one night the signs of fireshouted from south to north of the land, telling them that the Vintagewas ripe for harvest. At Kalavryta, where the first blow in the northwas struck, they found the Turks even less ready than at Kalamata,and little expecting the soldiers of God in their companies from themonastery; and on the 3d of April the town surrendered on receiving,as at Kalamata, a promise that there should be no massacre. The placewas one of little importance among the Turkish towns, but of the firstimportance to the revolutionists, lying as it did in the centre of therichest valley in Greece, and in close proximity to Megaspelaion, andit became the centre of operations in the north. Also, it was valuableinasmuch as several very wealthy Turks lived there, and the money thatthus fell into the hands of the Greeks was food for the sinews of war.
As soon as this reached Kalamata, Petrobey determined to move. Thewholesale success of the patriots in the north showed that they werein no need of immediate help, and to have two different armies inthe field, one driving the Turks southward, the other northward intoTripoli, the central fortress of Ottoman supremacy, was ideal to hiswishes. But more than ever now soberness and strength were needed;the men hearing of the taking of Kalavryta were wild to unite withthe northern army and march straight on Tripoli. But Petrobey, backedby Nicholas, was as firm as Taygetus; such a course could only end indisaster, for they were yet as ignorant as children of the elementsof war, and it would be an inconceivable rashness now to ventureon that which would be final disaster or the freedom of the Morea.They must learn the alphabet of their new trade; what better schoolcould there be than their camp on the slopes of Taygetus, the lowerhill-sides of which were covered with Turkish villages, and where theywould not, from the nature of the ground, be exposed to the attacks ofcavalry? So, after making great breaches in the walls of the citadelof Kalamata, and filling up the well, so that never again could it beused as a stronghold, they marched back across the blossomed plain andup to the hill camp below the beacon with the glory of success uponthem.
Three nights later Yanni and Mitsos were sitting after supper in theopen air by a camp-fire. Yanni, still rather soft from his month'sfattening at Tripoli--"And, oh, Yanni," said Mitsos, "but it is astinging affair to have fattened a little pig like you, and never havethe eating of it"--was suffering from a blister on his heel, and Mitsosprescribed spirits on the raw or pure indifference.
"If you had been cooped and fattened as I, little Mitsos," said Yanni,in an infernally superior manner, "how much running do you think youcould lay leg to? As it is, if you continue to eat as you eat, what abelly-man will Mitsos be at thirty!"
Mitsos pinched Yanni over the ribs.
"Poor Mehemet!" he said, "all that for nothing. I have a fine cousinwho is only just twenty, and if you said he was fat, man, you wouldn'tgive a person any proper notion of him."
"My blister is worse than it was yesterday," said Yanni, pulling offhis shoe.
"There was a show at Nauplia last year," continued Mitsos, lyinglengthily back and looking at the stars, "and a fat woman in it. Whenshe walked she wobbled like a jelly-fish. Just about as fat as a cousinof mine."
"Oh!"
"She wasn't married, the man said, and was to be had for the asking. Ihate fat women almost as much as I hate fat men."
Nicholas had strolled out of his hut, and was standing behind the boysas they talked.
"Now look at Uncle Nicholas, Yanni," said Mitsos, still unconscious ofhis presence, "he will be some twelve good inches taller than you, andforty years older; but I doubt if you could tie his trousers-strings."
Nicholas laughed.
"I can do it myself, little Mitsos," he said. "Come in, you two; thereis work forward."
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"A journey," he said, "for Mitsos and me? Oh, Mitsos, it is good."
"Yanni cannot walk," said Mitsos; "he has a blister, and must needs becarried like a scented woman."
"A blister?" asked Nicholas. "Don't think about it."
"So said I," answered Mitsos, "but he has no thought for aught else inGod's world."
"Well, come in," answered Nicholas, "and hear what you will hear."
The business was soon explained. The ship which had been seen atKalamata had gone back to Nauplia, so it was reported, and was totransport thence to Athens several wealthy Turkish families who werefearful for their safety. From Athens it would come back, bringing armsand ammunition, to Nauplia. The time for the fire-ship had come.
"And Nicholas says, little Mitsos," continued Petrobey, "that you knowthe bay of Nauplia like your own hand, and can take your boat about itas a man carries food to his mouth."
Mitsos flushed with pleasure.
"And in truth I am no stranger to it," he said. "When do I start?"
"To-morrow morning. The ship arrived there three days ago, but willwait another five days. The business is to be done when she is well outto sea, so that there is no time for her to get back. You will wantsome one with you. Whom would you like?"
Mitsos looked at Yanni.
"Whom but the fat little cousin?" he said.
"The little cousin doesn't mind," said Yanni, with his eyes dancing,and gave Mitsos a great poke in the ribs.
"Ugh, Turkish pig," quoth Mitsos, "we will settle that accounttogether."
"Be quiet, lads," said Petrobey, "and listen to me"; and he gave themthe details of their mission.
"Big butchers we shall be," said the blood-thirsty Mitsos when Petrobeyhad finished. "Eh, but the fishes will give thanks for us."
Yanni and he tumbled out of the hut again, sparring at each otherfor sheer delight at a new adventure, and sat talking over the fire,smoking the best tobacco from Turkish shops at Kalamata, till Nicholas,coming out late to go the round of the sentries, packed them off to bed.
All the apparatus they would require, and also the caique to serveas the fire-ship, were at Nauplia; and they started off next morningunencumbered with baggage, with only one horse, which the "scentedwoman" was to ride if his blister should tease him. A detachment ofthe clan who were not on duty, as well as Nicholas and Mitsos' father,saw them to the top of the pass, which they were to follow till theygot onto the main road at Sparta, and then go across country, givingTripoli a very wide berth, and taking a boat across the bay of Naupliaso as to avoid Argos. At Nauplia they were to put up at Mitsos' house,but keep very quiet, and remain there as little time as might be. Thecaique would be lying at anchor opposite; Lelas, the cafe-keeper, hadcharge of it.
The journey was made without alarm or danger. On the evening of thefirst day they found themselves at the bottom of the Langarda pass,with the great fertile plain of Sparta spread out before them, nowgreen, now gray, as the wind ruffled the groves of olive-trees. A milebeyond the bottom of the pass their way lay close under the walls ofthe little Turkish town of Mistra, and this they passed by quickly,in case the news of the taking of Kalamata had come and the soldierswere on the lookout for wandering Greeks. But as they skirted along afoot-path below the town Yanni looked back.
"It's very odd," he said, "but we have passed nobody going home; andlook, there are no lights in any of the houses."
"That is queer," said Mitsos; "no, there is not a single light. We'llwait a bit, Yanni."
They sat down off the path in the growing dusk, but not a sign camefrom the town; no lights appeared in the windows, it seemed perfectlydeserted, and by degrees their curiosity made a convert of theircaution.
"We will go very quietly and have a look at the gate," said Yanni. "Itwill be pleasanter sleeping in a house than in the fields, for it willbe cold before morning up here."
"That comes of living in a fine house in Tripoli," remarked Mitsos."Come on, then."
The two went very cautiously back to the road which led up to the gateand found it standing wide open.
"That ought to be shut at dark," says Mitsos; "we will go a littlefarther."
Still there was no living thing to be seen, no glimmer shone from anyhouse, and soon Mitsos stopped.
"Oh, Yanni, I see," he said. "They must have had news of the Kalamatathing, and all have fled. There's not a soul left in the place. Comeon, we'll just go to the top of the street."
They left the horse for the time in the outer court of a mosque whichstood near the gate, and advanced cautiously up the steep, cobbledroad. Everywhere the same silence and signs of panic-stricken flightprevailed. Here a silk-covered sofa blocked the doorway of a house;farther on they came upon a couple of embroidered Turkish dresses; abig illuminated Koran lay with leaves flapping in the evening wind ona door-step, and outside the old Byzantine church at the top of thestreet, which had been turned into a mosque by the Turks, stood twoimmense silver candlesticks, four feet high, and each holding sometwenty tapers. Yanni looked thoughtfully at these for a minute.
"It is in my mind," he said, "that I will eat my dinner by the lightof fine silver candlesticks. Pick up the other, cousin; I can't carryboth. Holy Virgin, how heavy they are!"
"Where are we to take them?" asked Mitsos.
"To a nice house, where we will have supper," says Yanni. "I saw such aone as I came up. There was a barrel of wine outside it, and my stomachcries for plenty of good wine. Oh, here's a woman's dress. Eh, what asmart woman this must have been!"
The house which Yanni had noticed was a two-storied cafe, standing alittle back from the street. The upper rooms were reached by an outsidestaircase from the garden, and as they went up to it a cat, the onlylive thing they had seen, looked at them a moment with mournful eyes,and then, deciding that they were to be trusted, put up an arched,confiding back against Mitsos' leg, and made a poker of her tail.Below, the house was of three rooms, the outer of which, looking overthe plain, was full of the signs of flight. A long Turkish narghile,with an amber mouth-piece, was overturned on the floor, and on one ofthe little coffee tables stood another pipe half filled with unsmokedtobacco, while the silk pouch from which it was supplied lay unrolledbeside it, and on a shelf were four or five long-stemmed chibouks. Along divan, smothered in cushions, ran round three sides of the room,and the cat, in the belief that her friends were coming back, jumpedlightly into her accustomed place and looked at the boys, blinkingand purring contentedly. The second room was full of cans of coffeeand tobacco, and on a table in the centre stood a dish with twochickens, one wholly plucked, the other but half denuded, and by itan earthenware bowl of water, in which were cool, green lettuces. Thethird room was a stable for horses; a manger full of fresh hay randown one side, and in the opposite corner were an oven and a heap ofcharcoal. The fire had gone out and was only a heap of white, featheryash, while on the extinguished embers still stood two little brasscoffee jugs, their contents half boiled away. Yanni smiled serenelywhen they had finished their examination.
"You will sup with me to-night, cousin?" he asked, pompously. "Oh,Mitsos, but this is a soft thing we have hit upon."
Mitsos walked back into the outer room, where he closed the woodenshutters and lit all the candles.
"Nice little candlesticks," he said, approvingly. "How I wish the ownerof the house could see us. Wouldn't he howl!"
Up-stairs there were two rooms--one with two beds in it, the otherwith one. The beds were still unmade, just as they had been slept in,and Mitsos pulled off the sheets disdainfully, for he would not liewhere a Turk had been. Then, while Yanni kindled the fire to boil thechickens, he rummaged in the store-room.
"A pot of little anchovies, Yanni," he remarked; "they will come firstto give us an appetite. Thus I shall have two appetites, for I have onealready. By the Virgin! there is tobacco too, all ready in the pipes.We shall pass a very pleasant evening, I hope. Oh, there's the horsestill waiti
Yanni laughed.
"Really the Turk is a very convenient man," he said. "I like wars. Wecan take provisions from here which will last to Nauplia. There willbe no skulking about villages after dark to buy bread and wine withoutbeing noticed."
Yanni put the chicken to boil, and while Mitsos fetched the horse,having nothing more to do, he amused himself by trying on the dress ofthe Turkish woman which they had found in the street. The big blackbernous concealed the deficiencies of the skirt, which only came tohis knees, and he had finished adjusting the veil, and had sat downchastely on a corner of the settee, when he heard Mitsos come up thestreet and call to him from the stable. So he got up and went on tiptoeout of the house and round to the other door, and Mitsos looking upsaw a Turkish woman peeping in, who screamed in shrill falsetto whenshe saw him. For one moment he thought that somehow or other this wasSuleima, but the next moment he had rushed after Yanni and hauled himin.
"Is not my supper ready, woman?" he cried, "and why do you not attendto your master?"
They ate their dinner in the best of spirits, for that the hated anddespised Turk, whose destruction was their mission, should board andlodge them so handsomely seemed one of the best jokes. Mitsos every nowand then broke into a huge grin as he made fearful inroads upon thefood and wine, and Yanni kept ejaculating: "Very good chicken of theTurk. The best wine of the Turk; give me some lettuce of the Turk. Iwish we could take the candlesticks, Mitsos; but perhaps two peasantboys with heavy silver sticks four feet high slung on their mules mightattract attention."
The moon had risen soon after sunset, and after dinner they sat smokingin the garden, which was planted with pomegranates and peach-trees, andfringed by a row of cypresses, which looked black in the moonlight. Allwas perfectly still but for the sleepy prattle of the stream below.Now and then a nightingale gave out a throatful of song, or some sprayof asphodel, ripe to the core, cracked and scattered its seed roundit. The cat prowled about the garden, now creeping through the shadowof the trees, or flattening herself out on the ground, and now makingsprings at some imaginary prey in the moonlight, and when they wentup-stairs she preceded them, and, jumping onto Mitsos' bed, lay purringlike a tea-kettle.