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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42096 ***
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/kingofmountains00abou
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+by
+
+EDMUND ABOUT.
+
+Translated from the French by Mrs. C. A. Kingsbury.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chicago and New York:
+Rand, McNally & Company.
+MDCCCXCVII.
+
+Copyright, 1897, by Rand, McNally & Co.
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+HERMANN SCHULTZ.
+
+
+On the 3d of July, about six o'clock in the morning, I was watering my
+flowers. A young man entered the garden. He was blonde, beardless; he
+wore a German cap and sported gold spectacles. A long, loose woolen
+coat, or paletot, drooped in a melancholy way around his form, like a
+sail around a mast in a calm. He wore no gloves; his tan leather shoes
+had such large soles, that the foot was surrounded by a narrow flange.
+In the breast-pocket of his paletot, a huge porcelain pipe bulged
+half-way out. I did not stop to ask myself whether this young man was a
+student in the German Universities; I put down my watering-pot, and
+saluted him with: "Guten Morgen!"
+
+"Monsieur," he said to me in French, but with a deplorable accent, "my
+name is Hermann Schultz; I have come to pass some months in Greece, and
+I have carried your book with me everywhere."
+
+This praise penetrated my heart with sweet joy; the stranger's voice
+seemed more melodious than Mozart's music, and I directed toward his
+gold glasses a swift look of gratitude. You would scarcely believe, dear
+reader, how much we love those who have taken the trouble to decipher
+our jargon. As for me, if I have ever sighed to be rich, it is in order
+to assure an income to all those who have read my works.
+
+I took him by the hand, this excellent young man. I seated him beside me
+on the garden-bench. He told me that he was a botanist, that he had a
+commission from the "Jardin des Plantes" in Hamburg. In order to
+complete his herbarium he was studying the country, the animals, and the
+people. His naive descriptions, his terse but just decisions, recalled
+to me, a little, the simple old Herodotus. He expressed himself
+awkwardly, but with a candor which inspired confidence; he emphasized
+his words with the tone of a man entirely convinced. He questioned me,
+if not of every one in Athens, at least of all the principal personages
+in my book. In the course of the conversation, he made some statements
+on general subjects, which seemed to me far more reasonable than any
+which I had advanced. At the end of an hour we had become good friends.
+
+I do not know which of us first spoke of brigandage. People who travel
+in Italy talk of paintings; those who visit England talk of
+manufactures; each country has its specialty.
+
+"My dear sir," I asked of my guest, "have you met any brigands? Is it
+true, as is reported, that there are still bandits in Greece?"
+
+"It is only too true," he gravely replied. "I was for fifteen days in
+the hands of the terrible Hadgi-Stavros, nicknamed The King of the
+Mountains. I speak then from experience. If you have leisure, and a long
+story will not weary you, I am ready to give you the details of my
+adventure. You may make of it what you please; a romance, a novel, or
+perhaps an additional chapter in the little book in which you have
+written so many curious facts."
+
+"You are very good," I replied, "and I am at your disposal. Let us go to
+my study. It is cooler there than in the garden and yet we can enjoy the
+odor of the sweet-peas and mignonette."
+
+He followed me, humming to himself in Greek, a popular song:
+
+    "A robber with black eyes descends to the plains;
+    His gun is heard at each step;
+    He says to the vultures: 'Do not leave me,
+    I will serve to you the Pasha of Athens.'"
+
+He seated himself on a divan, with his legs crossed under him like the
+Arabian story-tellers, took off his loose paletot, lighted his pipe and
+began his tale. I seated myself at my desk and took stenographic notes
+as he dictated.
+
+I have always been without much distrust, especially with those who have
+complimented me. Sometimes the amiable stranger told me such surprising
+things that I asked myself many times if he was not mocking me. But his
+manner was so simple, his blue eyes so limpid, that my suspicions faded
+away on the instant.
+
+He talked steadily, until half after noon. He stopped two or three times
+only long enough to relight his pipe.
+
+He smoked with regular puffs like the smoke stack of a steam-engine.
+Each time I raised my eyes, I beheld him, calm, smiling, in the midst of
+a thick cloud of smoke, like Jupiter in the 5th act of Amphitryon.
+
+We were interrupted by a servant with the announcement that breakfast
+was served. Hermann seated himself opposite me, and my trifling
+suspicions vanished before his appetite. I said to myself that a good
+digestion rarely accompanies a bad conscience. The young German was too
+good an eater to be an untruthful narrator, and his voracity restored my
+faith in his veracity. Struck with this idea, I confessed, while
+offering him some strawberries, that I had, for an instant, doubted him.
+He replied with an angelic smile.
+
+I passed the entire day with my new friend, and I found that the time
+did not drag. At five o'clock, he knocked the ashes from his pipe, put
+on his outer coat, and shaking my hand, said: "Adieu." I replied: "Au
+revoir."
+
+"No," he said, shaking his head; "I leave to-night at seven o'clock, and
+I dare not hope ever to see you again."
+
+"Leave your address. I have not yet renounced the pleasure of traveling,
+and I may, sometime, pass through Hamburg."
+
+"Unfortunately, I do not know where I shall pitch my tent. Germany is
+large; I may not remain a citizen of Hamburg."
+
+"But if I publish your story, at least I ought to send you a copy."
+
+"Do not take that trouble. As soon as the book is published, it will
+appear in Leipzig and I will read it. Adieu!"
+
+After his departure, I re-read attentively what I had written. I found
+some remarkable details, but nothing which contradicts what I had seen
+and heard during my stay in Greece.
+
+At the moment of finishing the manuscript, a scruple restrained me: What
+if some errors had crept into Hermann's statements? In my quality of
+editor was I not responsible? To publish the story of "The King of the
+Mountains," was it not to expose myself to editorial comments and
+criticisms?
+
+In my perplexity, I thought of making a copy of the original. I sent the
+first to M. Pseftis. I begged him to point out, candidly, all the
+errors, and I promised to print his reply at the end of the volume.
+
+I re-read the copy which I had retained. I changed no word in it. If I
+made myself the corrector of the young German's statements, I would
+become his collaborator. So I discreetly withdrew. It is Hermann who
+speaks to you.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+PHOTINI.
+
+
+You divine, from the appearance of my clothes, that I have not ten
+thousand francs with me. My father is an inn-keeper whom the railroads
+have ruined. In prosperous times he eats bread, in bad years potatoes.
+Add to this, that there are six children, all with good appetites. The
+day on which I received my commission from the Jardin des Plantes, there
+was a festival given in the family. My departure would not only increase
+the portion of each of my brothers, but I was to have two hundred and
+fifty francs per month and the expenses for my journey. It was a
+fortune. From that moment they ceased to call me Doctor. They dubbed me
+beef-merchant, so that I should appear rich! My brothers prophesied that
+I would be elected Professor by the University, on my return from
+Athens. My father hoped that I would return married. In his position of
+inn-keeper, he had assisted in some very romantic adventures. He cited,
+at least three times a week, the marriage of the Princess Ypsoff and
+Lieutenant Reynauld. The Princess occupied the finest apartments, with
+her two maids and her Courier, and she gave twenty florins a day. The
+French Lieutenant was in No. 17, way up under the eaves, and he paid a
+florin and a half, food included; however, after a month's sojourn at
+the hotel, he departed in a carriage with the Russian lady.
+
+My poor father, with the partiality of a father, thought that I was
+handsomer and more elegant than Lieutenant Reynauld; he did not doubt
+but that, sooner or later, I would meet a princess who would enrich us
+all. If I did not find her at a table d'hote, I would see her in a
+railway carriage. If the powers which control the railroads were not
+propitious, there was still left the steamships. The evening of my
+departure, we drank a bottle of old Rhine wine, and by chance the last
+was poured into my glass. The good man wept with joy: it was a sure
+sign, and nothing could prevent me from marrying within a year. I
+respected his superstitions, and I refrained from saying that princesses
+rarely travel third class. As for lodgings, my humble luggage would not
+permit me to choose any but modest inns, and royal families do not,
+usually, lodge in them. The fact is, that I landed in Greece without an
+adventure of any kind.
+
+The army occupying the city made everything very dear in Athens. The
+Hotel d'Angleterre, the Hotel Orient, the Hotel des Etrangers were
+inaccessible. The Chancellor of the Prussian Legation, to whom I had
+brought a letter of introduction, was kind enough to assist me in
+finding a lodging. He took me to a pastry-cook's, at the corner of the
+Rue d'Hèrmes and the Place du Palais. I found there, board and lodging
+for a hundred francs a month. Christodule was an old Palikar, decorated
+with the Iron Cross, in memory of the War of Independence. He was a
+Lieutenant in the Phalanx, he wore the National costume, the red bonnet
+with blue tassel, the silver-colored vest, the white skirt, and the
+fancy leggins, when he sold ices and cakes. His wife, Maroula, was
+enormous, like all Greek women who have passed fifty. Her husband had
+purchased her during the war, when women sold for high prices. She was
+born in the Isle of Hydra, but she dressed in the Athenian fashion:
+upper garment or jacket of black velvet, skirt of a bright color, a silk
+handkerchief tied over her head. Neither Christodule nor his wife knew a
+word of German; but their son Dimitri, who was a servant hired by the
+day, and who dressed like a Frenchman, understood and spoke a little of
+each patois of Europe. Upon the whole, I had really no need of an
+interpreter. Without having received the gift of tongues, I am a fairly
+good linguist, and I murder Greek as readily as English, Italian or
+French.
+
+My hosts were worthy people; they gave me a little white-washed room,
+with a table of white wood, two straw-bottomed chairs, a good but thin
+mattress, and some cotton quilts. A wooden bed is a superfluity which
+the Greeks easily deny themselves, and we lived a la Grecque. I
+breakfasted on a cup of arrow-root; I dined on a plate of meat with many
+olives, and dry fish; I supped on vegetables, honey and cakes. Preserves
+were not rare in the house, and occasionally I evoked memories of home
+by dining on a leg of lamb and preserves. It is useless to tell you that
+I had my pipe, and that the tobacco in Athens is better than yours. That
+which contributed to my feeling perfectly at home in Christodule's
+house, was a light wine of Santorin, which he bought, I know not where.
+I am not a judge of wines, and the education of my palate has,
+unfortunately, been neglected, but I believe, however, that this wine is
+worthy of a place on a king's table: it is of a fine topaz color,
+sparkling as the smile of a child. I see it now, in its large bulging
+carafe, on the shining linen cloth. It lighted the table and we were
+able to sup without any other illumination. I never drank much of it,
+because it was heady; and yet, at the end of a meal, I have recited some
+of Anacreon's verses and I have discovered remains of beauty in the
+moon-shaped face of the gross Maroula.
+
+I ate with Christodule and his family. There were four regular boarders
+and one table boarder. The first floor was divided into four rooms, the
+best of which was occupied by a French Archaeologist, M. Hippolyte
+Mérinay. If all Frenchmen resemble this one, you would be a sorry lot.
+He was very small; his age, as far as one could tell, anywhere between
+eighteen and forty-five, very red-haired, very mild, very loquacious,
+and never loosening his moist and warm hands, when he had once fastened
+them on a person, until he had exhausted himself talking. His two
+dominant passions were archaeology and philanthropy: he was a member of
+many literary societies and of many benevolent associations. Although he
+was an advocate of charity, and his parents had left him a fine income,
+I do not remember ever to have seen him give a sou to a beggar. As for
+his knowledge of archaeology, I believe that it was of more account than
+his love for humanity. He had received a prize from some provincial
+College, for a treatise on the value of paper in the time of Orpheus.
+Encouraged by these first successes, he had come to Greece to gather
+material for a more important work: it was nothing less than to
+determine the quantity of oil consumed in Demosthenes' lamp while he
+wrote the second Philippic.
+
+My two other neighbors were not so wise, and ancient things disturbed
+them not at all. Giacomo Fondi was a poor Maltese employed at, I know
+not what consulate; he earned a hundred and fifty francs a month sealing
+letters. I imagine that any other employment would have pleased him
+better. Nature, who has peopled the Island of Malta in order that the
+Orient should never lack porters, had given to poor Fondi the shoulders,
+arms and hands of a Milo of Crotona: he was born to handle a club, and
+not to melt sealing-wax with which to seal letters. He used, however,
+two or three sticks every day: man is not the master of his destiny! The
+islander out of his sphere, was in his element only at meal-time; he
+helped Maroula to place the table, and you will understand, without
+being told, that he always carried it at arms-length. He ate like the
+hero of the Iliad, and I shall never forget the cracking of his huge
+jaws, the dilation of his nostrils, the flash of his eyes, the whiteness
+of his thirty-two teeth, formidable mill-stones of which he was the
+mill. I ought to confess that I remember little of his conversation; one
+easily found the limit of his intelligence, but one never found the
+bounds of his appetite. Christodule had never made anything during the
+four years he had boarded him, although the Maltese had paid ten francs
+a month extra. The insatiable islander ate every day, after dinner, an
+enormous plateful of nuts, which he cracked between his first finger and
+thumb. Christodule, old soldier, but practical man, followed this
+exercise with a mixture of admiration and fear; he trembled for his
+dessert, yet he was proud to see, at his table, so huge a nut-cracker.
+The face of Giacomo Fondi would not have been out of place in one of the
+jumping-jack boxes, which so amuse children. It was whiter than a
+negro's; but it was a question of shade only. His thick locks descended
+to his eyebrows like a cap. In strange contrast, this Caliban had a very
+small foot, a slender ankle, a fine-shaped leg and as perfect as one
+finds in a statue; but these were details which one scarcely noticed.
+For whoever had seen him eat, his person began at the edge of the table;
+the rest of the body counted for nothing.
+
+I can speak only from memory of William Lobster. He was a cherub of
+twenty years, blonde, rosy and chubby, but a cherub of the United States
+of America. The firm of Lobster and Sons, New York, had sent him to the
+Orient to study the subject of exportation. He worked during the day in
+the house of Philips Brothers; in the evening, he read Emerson; in the
+early morning or at sunrise he went to Socrates' school to practice
+pistol-shooting.
+
+The most interesting person in our little colony was without doubt, John
+Harris, the maternal uncle of the little Lobster. The first time that I
+dined with this strange man, I was greatly taken with the American. He
+was born at Vandalia, Illinois. Breathing the invigorating air of the
+new world from his birth, his every movement was joyous. I do not know
+whether the Harris family was rich or poor; whether the son went to
+College, or whether he educated himself. What was certain was, that at
+twenty-eight he relied on himself alone; was astonished at nothing;
+believed nothing impossible; never flinched; was amenable to reason;
+hoped for the best; attempted everything; triumphed in everything! If he
+fell, he immediately jumped up; if he stammered, he began all over
+again; he gave himself no rest; never lost courage, and went right
+ahead. He was well-educated, had been teacher, lawyer, journalist,
+miner, farmer, clerk. He had read everything, seen everything, tried
+everything, and had traveled over more than half of the globe. When I
+made his acquaintance he was commanding a Dispatch-boat, carrying sixty
+men and four cannons. He wrote of the Orient in the Boston Review; he
+transacted business with an indigo house in Calcutta, and yet he found
+time to come, four or five times a week, to dine with his nephew,
+Lobster, and with us.
+
+A single instance, of a thousand, will serve to show his character.
+Early in the fifties he was in business in Philadelphia. His nephew, who
+was then seventeen, made him a visit. He found him near Washington
+Square, standing with his hands in his pockets, before a burning
+building. William touched him on the shoulder; he turned.
+
+"Ah: Good-morning, Bill, thou hast arrived inopportunely, my boy. There
+is a fire which ruins me; I have forty thousand dollars in that house;
+we will not save a match."
+
+"What will you do?" asked the astonished boy.
+
+"What will I do? It is eleven o'clock, I am hungry, I have a little
+money in my pocket; I am going to take you to breakfast."
+
+Harris was one of the most slender and most elegant men I have ever
+seen. He had a manly air, a fine forehead, a clear and proud eye.
+
+Americans are never deformed nor mean-looking, and do you know why?
+Because they are not bound in the swaddling-clothes of a narrow
+civilization. Their minds and their bodies develop at will; their
+schoolroom is the open air; their master, exercise; their nurse,
+liberty.
+
+I never cared especially for M. Mérinay; I looked at Giacomo Fondi with
+the indifferent curiosity with which one gazes at foreign animals; the
+little Lobster inspired me with luke-warm interest; but I conceived a
+warm affection for Harris. His frank face, his simple manners, his
+sternness which was not without sweetness, his hasty yet chivalrous
+temper, the oddities of his humor, the enthusiasm of his sentiments,
+appealed to me more strongly as I was neither enthusiastic nor hasty. We
+admire in others what we lack ourselves. Giacomo wore white clothes
+because he was black; I adore Americans because I am a German. As for
+the Greeks, I knew little of them even after four months' sojourn in
+their country. Nothing is easier than living in Athens without coming in
+contact with the natives. I did not go to a café; I did not read the
+Pandore, nor the Minerve; nor any other paper of the country; I did not
+go to the theater, because I have a sensitive ear and a false note hurts
+me more cruelly than a blow; I lived with my hosts, my herbarium, and
+with John Harris. I could have presented myself at the Palace, thanks to
+my diplomatic pass-port and my official title. I had sent my card to the
+Master and Mistress of Ceremonies, and I could count upon an invitation
+to the first Court Ball. I kept in reserve for this occasion, a
+beautiful red coat, embroidered with silver, which my Aunt Rosenthaler
+had given to me the night before my departure. It was her husband's
+uniform; he was an assistant in a Scientific Institute, and prepared the
+specimens. My good aunt, a woman of great sense, knew that a uniform was
+well received in all countries, above all if it was red. My elder
+brother had remarked that I was larger than my uncle, as the sleeves
+were too short; but Papa quickly replied, that only the silver
+embroidery would catch the eye, and that princesses would not examine
+the uniform closely.
+
+Unfortunately, the Court was not dancing that season. The winter
+pleasures were the flowering of almond, peach, and lemon trees. There
+was a vague report of a ball to be given the 15th of May; it made a stir
+in the city, as a few semi-official journals took it up; but there was
+nothing positively known about it.
+
+My studies kept pace with my pleasures, slowly. I knew, by heart, the
+Botanical Gardens of Athens; they were neither very beautiful nor very
+full; it was a subject soon mastered. The Royal Gardens offered far
+more to study: an intelligent Frenchman had collected for it all the
+riches of the vegetable kingdom, from the palms of the West Indies to
+the saxifrage of the North. I passed whole days there studying M.
+Barraud's collections. The garden is public only at certain hours; but I
+spoke Greek to the guards, and for love of the Greek, they permitted me
+to enter. M. Barraud did not seem to weary of my company; he took me
+everywhere for the pleasure of discussing Botany and speaking French. In
+his absence, I hunted up the head gardener and questioned him in German:
+it is well to be polyglot.
+
+I searched for plants every day in the surrounding country, but never as
+far from the city as I should like to have gone; there were many
+brigands around Athens. I am not a coward, the following story will
+prove it to you, but I love my life. It is a present which I received
+from my parents; I wish to preserve it as long as possible, in
+remembrance of my father and mother. In the month of April, 1856, it was
+dangerous to go far from the city: it was even imprudent to live
+outside. I did not venture upon the slopes of Lycabettus without
+thinking of poor Mme. Daraud who was robbed in broad daylight. The hills
+of Daphne recalled to me the capture of two French officers. Upon the
+road to Piraeus, I thought, involuntarily, of the band of brigands who
+traveled in six carriages as if on a pleasure tour, and who shot at
+passers by from the coach doors. The road to Pentelicus recalled the
+stopping of the Duchess de Plaisance, or the recent story of Harris and
+Lobster's adventure. They were returning from an excursion, on two
+Persian horses belonging to Harris, when they fell into an ambuscade.
+Two brigands, weapons in hand, stopped them in the middle of a bridge.
+They glanced all around and saw at their feet, in a ravine, a dozen
+rascals, armed to the teeth, who were guarding fifty or sixty prisoners.
+All who had passed that way since sunrise had been despoiled, then
+bound, so that no one could escape to give the alarm. Harris and his
+nephew were unarmed. Harris said to the young man in English: "Give up
+your money; it will not pay to be killed for twenty dollars." The
+brigands took the money, without letting go the bridles; they then
+showed the Americans the ravine and signed to them to descend. Harris
+now lost patience; it was repugnant to him to be bound; he was not the
+kind of wood of which one makes fagots. He looked at the little Lobster,
+and at the same instant, two fist blows like two chain-shots, struck the
+heads of the two brigands. William's adversary fell over on his back, at
+the same time, discharging his pistol; Harris' brigand, struck more
+forcibly, toppled over the cliff and fell among his comrades. Harris and
+Lobster were by this time quite a distance away, jamming the spurs into
+their horses. The band rose as one man and discharged their weapons. The
+horses were killed, the young men disengaged themselves, took to their
+heels, and when they reached the city, warned the police, who started in
+pursuit of the brigands the second morning after.
+
+Our excellent Christodule learned with grief of the death of the two
+horses; but he found not a word of blame for the killers. "What would
+you have?" he asked with charming simplicity, "it is their business."
+All Greeks are, more or less, of our host's opinion. It is not that the
+brigands spare their countrymen and reserve their harshness for
+strangers, but a Greek, robbed by his brother, says to himself with a
+certain resignation, that the money is all in the family. The populace
+sees itself plundered by the brigands, as a woman of the people who is
+beaten by her husband, admires him because he strikes hard. Native
+moralists complained of the excesses committed in the country, as a
+father deplores his son's pranks. He groans loudly, but secretly admires
+him; he would be ashamed if he was like his neighbor's son who never had
+to be spoken to.
+
+It was a fact, that at the time of my arrival, the hero of Athens was
+the scourge of Attica. In the salons and in the cafés, in the
+barber-shops where the common people congregated, at the pharmacies
+where the bourgeoise were to be found, in the muddy streets of the
+bazars, in the dusty square of Belle-Gréce, at the theater, at the
+Sunday concerts, and upon the road to Patissia, one heard only of the
+great Hadgi-Stavros; one swore only by Hadgi-Stavros; Hadgi-Stavros the
+invincible, Hadgi-Stavros the terror of the police, Hadgi-Stavros, "The
+King of the Mountains!" They almost composed (God pardon me) a litany on
+Hadgi-Stavros.
+
+One Sunday, a little while after his adventure, John Harris dined with
+us; I started Christodule upon the subject of Hadgi-Stavros. Our host
+had often visited him, years before, during the War of Independence,
+when brigandage was less discussed than now.
+
+He emptied his glass of Sautorin, stroked his gray mustache, and began a
+long recital, interspersed with many sighs. He informed us that Stavros
+was the son of a bishop or priest of the Greek Church, in the island of
+Tino. He was born God knew in what year; Greeks of early times knew not
+their ages, because registries of the civil state are an invention of
+the decadence. His father, who destined him for the Church, taught him
+to read. When about twenty years of age, he made a pilgrimage to
+Jerusalem, and added to his name the title, Hadgi; which means, pilgrim.
+Hadgi-Stavros, returning to his own country, was taken prisoner by a
+pirate. The conqueror found him amenable to reason and made a sailor of
+him. Thus he began to make war on Turkish ships, and, generally, on
+those which had not mounted guns. At the end of several years, he tired
+of working for others, and determined to push out for himself. He
+possessed neither boat, nor money to buy one; necessity compelled him to
+practice piracy on land. The rising of the Greeks against Turkey
+permitted him to fish in troubled waters. He never could tell exactly
+whether he was a brigand or an insurgent; whether he commanded a band of
+thieves or insurrectionists. His hatred of the Turks did not blind him
+to the degree that he could pass a Greek village without seeing it and
+sacking it. All money was good to him, whether it came from friend or
+foe, from a simple theft or a glorious pillage. Such wise impartiality
+rapidly increased his fortune. The shepherds hastened to place
+themselves under his banner, when they learned that good pay might be
+expected; his reputation brought him an army. The leaders of the
+insurrection knew of his exploits, but not of his thrift: in those
+times, one saw only the bright side of everything. Lord Byron dedicated
+an ode to him; poets and orators in Paris compared him to Epaminondas,
+and even to poor Aristides. Some sent him embroidered clothes from the
+Faubourg Saint-Germain; others sent subsidies. He received money from
+France, from England and from Russia; I will not swear that he never
+received any from Turkey: he was a true Palikar! At the end of the war,
+he was besieged, with other chiefs, in the Acropolis at Athens. He slept
+in the propyleum, between Margaritis and Lygandas, and each had his
+treasure hid in the blanket which covered him. One summer night, the
+roof fell so cleverly that it killed every one but Hadgi-Stavros, who
+was smoking his pipe in the open air. He secured his companions' money
+and every one thought that he well deserved it. But a misfortune which
+he had not foreseen checked his successful career: peace was declared.
+Hadgi-Stavros retired to the country with his spoils, and became a
+spectator of strange occurrences. The powers which had freed Greece
+attempted to found a kingdom. Some offensive words came buzzing around
+the hairy ears of the old robber; he heard rumors of government--of
+armies--of public order. He laughed when told that his possessions were
+included in one sub-prefecture. But when an employée from the Treasury
+presented himself to collect the yearly taxes, he became serious. He
+threw the man out of the door, not without having relieved him of all he
+had brought with him. Justice sought to punish him; he took to the
+mountains. It was as well, for he was tired of his house. He felt, to a
+certain extent, that he owned a roof, but on condition that he slept
+above it.
+
+His former companions-in-arms had scattered all over the kingdom. The
+State had given them lands; they cultivated them reluctantly and ate
+sparingly of the bitter bread of labor. When they learned that their
+chief was at variance with the law, they sold their farms and hastened
+to join him. As for the brigand, he rented his lands: he had the
+qualifications of an administrator.
+
+Peace and idleness had made him ill and unhappy. The mountain air
+restored his cheerfulness and health, so that in 1840 he thought of
+marriage. He was, assuredly, past fifty, but men of his temper have
+nothing to do with old age; death, even, looks at them twice before it
+attacks them. He married an heiress with a magnificent dowry, from one
+of the best families in Laconia, and thus became allied to the highest
+personages of the kingdom. His wife followed him everywhere. After
+giving birth to a daughter, she took a fever and died. He brought up the
+child himself, with all the care and tenderness of a mother. When the
+brigands saw him dancing the babe on his knees, they exclaimed with
+admiration.
+
+Paternal love gave a new impetus to his mind. In order to amass a royal
+dowry for his daughter, he studied the money question, about which he
+had previously held very primitive views. Instead of hoarding up his
+treasures in strong boxes, he put them out at interest. He learned all
+the ins and outs of speculation; he followed closely the stock-market at
+home and abroad. It is asserted that, struck with the advantages of the
+French joint-stock company, he even thought of placing brigandage on the
+market. He made many journeys to Europe, in the company of a Greek from
+Marseilles who served as interpreter. During his stay in England, he
+assisted at an election in, I know not what rotten borough of Yorkshire;
+this beautiful spectacle inspired him with profound reflections on
+constitutional government and its profits. He returned to Greece
+determined to exploit his theories and gain an income for himself. He
+burned a goodly number of villages in the service of the opposition; he
+destroyed a few others in the interests of the conservative party. When
+it was considered desirable to overthrow a ministry, it was only
+necessary to apply to him; he proved, conclusively, that the police were
+very corrupt and that safety could only be obtained by changing the
+Cabinet. But in revenge, he gave some rude lessons to the enemies of
+order in punishing them in whatever way they had sinned. His political
+talents made him so well known, that all parties held him in high
+esteem. His counsels, his election methods, were nearly always followed
+so well that, contrary to the principle of the government
+representative, who wished one deputy to express the wishes of many men;
+he was represented, he alone, by about thirty deputies. An intelligent
+Minister, the celebrated Rhalettis, suggested that a man who meddles so
+officiously in government affairs, might possibly, sometime, derange the
+machine. He undertook to bind his hands with golden cord. He made an
+arrangement to meet him at Carvati; between Hymettus and Pentelicus, in
+the country-house of a Foreign Consul. Hadgi-Stavros came, without
+escort and without arms. The minister and the brigand, who were old
+acquaintances, breakfasted together like two old friends. At the end of
+the meal, Rhalettis offered to him full amnesty for himself and his
+followers, a brevet of General of Division, title of Senator, and ten
+thousand hectares of forests. The Palikar hesitated some time, and at
+last said: "I should, perhaps, have accepted at twenty, but to-day, I am
+too old. I do not wish, at my age, to change my manner of living. Dusty
+Athens does not please me, I should go to sleep in the Senate-chamber,
+and if you should give me soldiers to command, I might discharge my
+pistols into their uniforms from force of habit. Return then, to your
+own affairs, and leave me to attend to mine."
+
+Rhalettis would not own that he was beaten. He tried to enlighten the
+brigand as to the infamy of his life. Hadgi-Stavros laughed and said
+with amiability:
+
+"My friend, the day when we shall write down our sins, which will have
+the longest list?"
+
+"You think, then, that you will cheat destiny; you will die, some day or
+other, a violent death."
+
+"Gracious Lord;" (Allah Kerin;) he replied in Turkish. "Neither you nor
+I have read the stars. But I have at least one advantage: my enemies
+wear a uniform and I recognize them afar off. You cannot say as much for
+yours. Adieu, brother."
+
+Six months afterward, the Minister was assassinated by political
+enemies; the brigand still lived.
+
+Our host did not relate to us all the exploits of his hero: the day was
+not long enough. He contented himself by relating the most remarkable
+ones. I do not believe that in any other country the rivals of
+Hadgi-Stavros had ever done anything more artistic than the capture of
+the Niebuhr. It was a steamer of the German-Lloyd which the Palikar had
+robbed on land, at eleven o'clock in the morning. The Niebuhr came from
+Constantinople; it unloaded its cargo and passengers at Calamaki, east
+of the Isthmus of Corinth. Four vans and two omnibusses took the
+passengers and merchandise to the other side of the Isthmus, to the
+little port of Loutraki, where another ship awaited them. It waited a
+long time. Hadgi-Stavros, in broad daylight, in plain view of all the
+world, in a flat and open country, relieved them of their merchandise,
+their luggage, their money and the ammunition of the soldiers who
+escorted the company.
+
+"That day's work brought two hundred and fifty thousand francs;" said
+Christodule to us in a tone of envy.
+
+"Much was said of Hadgi-Stavros' cruelties. His friend Christodule
+proved to us that he did not do wrong for pleasure. He was a sober man,
+who never became intoxicated, not even of blood. If it happened that he
+warmed, a little too much, a rich peasant's feet, it was that he might
+learn where the miser hid his écus. In general, he treated with
+kindness the prisoners for whom he hoped to receive a ransom. In the
+summer of '54, he descended one evening, with his band, to M. Voidi's
+house; he was a rich merchant from the Isle of Euboea. He found the
+family assembled, also an old judge of the Tribunal of Chalcis was
+present, taking a hand at cards with the master of the house.
+Hadgi-Stavros offered to play the magistrate for his liberty; he lost,
+and accepted with good grace. He carried off M. Voidi, his daughter and
+son; he left the wife that she might busy herself procuring the ransom.
+The day of the attack, the merchant had the gout, the daughter was ill
+of a fever, and the son was pale and puffy. They returned two months
+afterward, cured by exercise, the open air, and good entertainment. The
+whole family recovered health for a sum of fifty thousand francs: was it
+paying too high a price?"
+
+"I confess," added Christodule, "that our friend was without pity for
+poor payers. When a ransom was not paid on the appointed day, he
+promptly killed his prisoners; it was his way of protesting notes.
+However great may be my admiration for him, however warm the friendship
+between our two families, I have never pardoned him the murder of
+Mistra's two little daughters. They were twins of fourteen, pretty as
+two marble statues, both betrothed to two young men of the Leondari
+family. They resembled each other so exactly, that one thought one saw
+double and began to rub one's eyes. One morning, they went to sell
+cocoons; they carried between them a large basket, and they skimmed
+lightly over the road like two doves attached to the same car.
+Hadgi-Stavros took them to the mountain and wrote a letter to their
+mother, that he would return them for ten thousand francs, payable the
+end of the month. The mother was a well-to-do-widow, owner of fine
+mulberry groves, but poor in ready money, as we all are. She mortgaged
+her property, which is never easy to do, even at twenty per cent
+interest. It took her six weeks to gather up the sum required. When at
+last, she had the money, she loaded it on her mule and departed on foot
+for the brigand's camp. But on entering the large valley of the Taygète
+at the point where one finds seven fountains under a plane-tree, the
+mule absolutely refused to stir. Then the mother saw at the border of
+the path, her little girls. Their throats had been cut and their pretty
+heads were almost dissevered. She took the two poor creatures, put them,
+herself, upon the mule's back and carried them back to Mistra. She never
+wept; she became deranged, and died. I know that Hadgi-Stavros regretted
+what he had done; he believed that the widow was richer than she
+pretended, and that she did not wish to pay. He killed the two girls as
+an example. It is certain that, from that time, his outstanding debts
+were promptly paid and that no one dared to make him wait."
+
+"Vile beast!" cried Giacomo, bringing his fist down with a force which
+made the house tremble as from an earthquake. "If ever he falls under my
+hand, I will serve him with a ransom of ten thousand blows of the fist,
+which will enable him to withdraw himself from public life."
+
+"I," said the little Lobster with his quiet smile, "I will only ask to
+meet him at fifty paces from my revolver. And you, Uncle John?"
+
+Harris whistled between his teeth a little American air, sharp as a
+stiletto point.
+
+"Can I believe my ears?" added the good M. Mérinay in his flute-like
+voice. "Is it possible that such horrors are committed in a country like
+ours? I am convinced that the Society for the Moralization of
+Malefactors has not yet been organized in this kingdom; but while
+waiting for that, have you not police?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Christodule, "fifty officers, 152 sergeants, and
+1250 policemen, of whom 152 are mounted. It is the finest band of men in
+the kingdom after that belonging to Hadgi-Stavros."
+
+"What astonishes me," I said in my turn, "is, that the old rascal's
+daughter allows him to do such things."
+
+"She does not live with him."
+
+"Well and good: Where is she?"
+
+"At a boarding-school."
+
+"In Athens?"
+
+"You ask too much; I have known nothing of her for some time. Whoever
+marries her will receive a fine dowry with her."
+
+"Yes," said Harris. "One can say as well that Calcraft's daughter is a
+good match."
+
+"Who is Calcraft?"
+
+"The Headsman of London."
+
+At these words, Dimitri, Christodule's son, reddened to the roots of his
+hair. "Pardon, Monsieur," he said to John Harris, "there is a great
+difference between a headsman and a brigand. The business of a headsman
+is infamous; the profession of a brigand is honored. The government is
+obliged to guard the headsman of Athens in the fort Palamede or he would
+be assassinated; while no one wishes evil to Hadgi-Stavros, and the most
+respectable people in the kingdom would be proud to shake hands with
+him."
+
+Harris opened his mouth to reply, when the shop bell rung. It was the
+servant who had entered with a young girl of fifteen or sixteen, dressed
+like the latest fashion-plate in the Journal des Modes. Dimitri said, as
+he rose from his chair: "It is Photini!"
+
+"Messieurs," said the pastry-cook, "talk of something else, if you
+please. Histories of brigands are not for young girls to hear."
+
+Christodule presented Photini to us as the daughter of one of his
+companions-in-arms, Colonel Jean, commanding at Nauplie. She called
+herself then, Photini; daughter of Jean, according to the custom of the
+country, where there were, properly speaking, no family names.
+
+The young maid was ugly, as were nine-tenths of the Athenian girls. She
+had pretty teeth and beautiful hair, but that was all. Her thick-set
+body did not look well in a Parisian corset. Her feet, which were large,
+thick, and ill-shaped, were made for wearing Turkish slippers, and not
+to be compressed into the shoes of the fashionable boot-maker, Meyer.
+She was as dull-looking as if an imprudent nurse had committed the fault
+of sitting down on her face, when an infant. Fashion is not becoming to
+all women; it made the poor Photini almost ridiculous. Her flounced
+dress, extended over a huge crinoline, accentuated the clumsiness of her
+body and the awkwardness of her movements. Jewels from the Palais Royal
+with which she was decked seemed like exclamation points, destined to
+point out the imperfections of her body. You would have said that she
+was a stout and coarse servant-girl, masquerading in her mistress'
+clothes.
+
+We were not astonished to see the daughter of a simple Colonel so
+extravagantly and gorgeously arrayed, come to pass Sunday at a
+pastry-cook's. We knew enough of the country to fully realize that dress
+was the incurable evil of Greek society. Country girls pierced silver
+pieces, strung them together and wore them upon the head on gala days.
+They carried their dowries on their heads. The city girls spent their
+money in the shops and carried their dowries on their backs.
+
+Photini was in a boarding-school at Hétairie. It is, as you know, a
+school established on the model of the Legion of Honor, but regulated by
+rules broader and more tolerant. Usually, only daughters of soldiers
+were taught there, sometimes, also, brigands' heiresses.
+
+Colonel Jean's daughter knew a little French and a little English; but
+her timidity did not permit of her shining in conversation. I learned
+later, that her family counted upon us to perfect her in these foreign
+tongues. Her father, having learned that Christodule boarded honorable
+and educated Europeans, had begged the pastry-cook to allow her to pass
+her Sundays with his family, and he would see that he was recompensed.
+This bargain pleased Christodule, and above all, his son, Dimitri. The
+young man, working in a servant's place, devoured her with his eyes,
+while the heiress never perceived it.
+
+We had made arrangements to go, all together, to a concert. It is a fine
+spectacle when the Athenians give themselves up to Sunday pleasures. The
+entire population, in gala dress, turns out into the dusty fields, to
+hear waltzes and quadrilles played by a regiment band. The poor go on
+foot, the rich in carriages, the fashionable men on horseback. The Court
+would not have stayed away for an empire. After the last quadrille, each
+returned to his home, clothes covered with dust, but with happy hearts,
+and said: "We have been very well amused."
+
+It was certain that Photini counted on showing herself at the concert,
+and her admirer, Dimitri, was not ashamed to appear with her; for he
+wore a new redingote which he had just bought at the Belle-Jardiniére.
+Unfortunately, it rained so steadily, that it kept us at home. To kill
+time, Maroula offered to let us play for bonbons; it is a favorite
+amusement among the middle classes. She took a glass jar from the shop,
+and gave to each one a handful of native bonbons, cloves, anise seed,
+pepper, and chicory. Then, the cards were dealt, and the first who
+collected nine of the same color, received three sugar plums from each
+of his adversaries. The Maltese, Giacomo, showed by his eagerness, that
+the winning was not a matter of indifference to him. Chance favored him;
+he made a fortune, and we saw him gulp down six or eight handfuls of
+bonbons which he had won from the rest of us.
+
+I took little interest in the game, and concentrated my attention upon
+the curious phenomenon taking place on my left. While the glances which
+the young Athenian, Dimitri, cast upon Photini, were met with perfect
+indifference, Harris, who did not even look at her, seemed to produce a
+wonderful impression upon her, even to almost magnetize her. He held his
+cards with a nonchalant air, yawning, from time to time, with American
+freedom, or whistling Yankee Doodle, without respect for the company. I
+believe that Christodule's story had made a great impression on him, and
+that his thoughts were roving over the mountains in pursuit of
+Hadgi-Stavros. In any case, whatever his thoughts were, they were not of
+love. Perhaps the young girl was not thinking of it either, for Greek
+women nearly always have in their hearts a substratum of indifference.
+She looked at my friend John, as a lark looks at a mirror. She did not
+know him; she knew nothing of him, neither his name, his country, nor
+his fortune. She had not heard him speak, and even if she had heard him,
+she certainly was not competent to judge of his ability. She saw that he
+was very handsome, and that was enough. Formerly, Greeks adored beauty;
+it was the only one of their duties which had never had any atheists.
+The Greeks of to-day, despite the decadence, know how to distinguish an
+Apollo from a baboon. One finds in M. Fauriel's collection, a little
+song which may be translated thus:
+
+"Young man, do you wish to know; young girls, would you like to learn,
+how love enters into our hearts? It enters by the eyes; from the eyes it
+descends to the heart, and in the heart it takes root!"
+
+Decidedly, Photini knew the song; for she opened her eyes wide, so that
+love could enter without trouble.
+
+The rain did not cease to fall, nor Dimitri to ogle the young girl, nor
+the young girl to gaze, wide-eyed, at Harris, nor Giacomo to eat
+bonbons, nor M. Mérinay to relate to the little Lobster, who did not
+listen, a chapter from Ancient History. At eight o'clock, Maroula laid
+the cloth for supper. Photini had Dimitri on her left, I sat at her
+right. She talked but little and ate nothing. At dessert, when the
+servant spoke of taking her home, she made a great effort and said to me
+in a low tone:
+
+"Is M. Harris married?"
+
+I took a wicked pleasure in embarrassing her a little, so I replied:
+
+"Yes, Mademoiselle; he married the widow of the Doges of Venice."
+
+"Is it possible; how old is she?"
+
+"She is as old as the world, and as everlasting."
+
+"Do not mock me; I am a poor, foolish girl, and I do not understand your
+European pleasantries."
+
+"In other words, Mademoiselle, he is wedded to the sea; it is he who
+commands the American boat, 'The Fancy,' stationed here."
+
+She thanked me with such a flash of radiant joy passing over her face,
+that her ugliness was eclipsed, and I thought she looked absolutely
+pretty.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+MARY-ANN.
+
+
+The studies of my youth have developed in me one passion, to the
+exclusion of all others; the desire to know; or if you like the term
+better, call it curiosity. From the day when I embarked for Athens, my
+only pleasure was to learn; my only grief, ignorance. I loved science
+ardently, and no one, as yet, had disputed her claim in my heart. I must
+confess that I had little tenderness and that poetry and Hermann Schultz
+rarely entered the same door. I went about the world, as in a vast
+museum, magnifying glass in hand. I observed the pleasures and
+sufferings of others as emotions worthy of study, but unworthy of envy
+or pity. I was no more jealous of a happy household, than of two palm
+trees with branches interlaced by the wind; I had just as much
+compassion for a heart torn by love, as I had for a geranium ruined by
+the frost. When one has practiced vivisection, one is no longer
+sensitive to the quivering of the flesh. I would have been a good
+spectator at a combat of gladiators. Photini's love for Harris would
+have aroused pity in any heart but a naturalist's. The poor creature
+"loved at random," to quote a beautiful saying of Henry IV; and it was
+evident that she loved hopelessly. She was too timid to display her
+affection, and John was too indifferent to divine it. Even if he had
+noticed anything, what hope was there that he would feel any interest
+in an ugly Greek girl? Photini passed four days with us; the four
+Sundays of April. She looked at Harris from morning to night, with
+loving but despairing eyes; but she never found the courage to open her
+mouth in his presence. Harris whistled tranquilly, Dimitri growled like
+a young bull-dog, and I smilingly looked on at this strange malady, from
+which my constitution had preserved me.
+
+In the meantime, my father had written me that his affairs were not
+going well; that travelers were scarce; that food was dear; that our
+neighbors were about to emigrate; and that, if I had found a Russian
+princess, I had better marry her without delay. I replied that I had
+not, as yet, found one, unless it was the daughter of a poor Greek
+Colonel; that she was seriously in love, not with me, but with another;
+that I could by paying her a little attention become her confidant, but
+that I should never become her husband. Moreover, my health was good and
+my herbarium magnificent. My researches, hitherto restricted to the
+suburbs of Athens, would now become more extended. Safety was assured,
+the brigands had been beaten by the soldiers, and all the journals
+announced the dispersion of Hadgi-Stavros' band. A month or two later, I
+should be able to set out for Germany, and find a place which would pay
+enough to support the whole family.
+
+We had read on Sunday the 28th of April, in the Siècle of Athens, of the
+complete defeat of "The King of the Mountains." The official reports
+stated that he had twenty men wounded, his camp burned, his band
+dispersed, and that the troops had pursued him as far as the marshes
+near Marathon. These reports, very agreeable to all strangers, did not
+appear to give much pleasure to the Greeks, and especially to our host
+and hostess. Christodule, for a lieutenant of troops, showed lack of
+enthusiasm, and Colonel Jean's daughter wept when the story of the
+brigand's defeat was read. Harris, who had brought in the paper, could
+not conceal his joy. As for me, I could roam about the country now, and
+I was enchanted. On the morning of the 30th, I set out with my box and
+my walking stick. Dimitri had awakened me at four o'clock. He was going
+to take orders from an English family, who had been staying for some
+days at the Hotel des Etrangers.
+
+I walked down the Rue d'Hèrmes to the Square, Belle-Gréce, and passed
+through the Rue d'Eole. Passing before the Place des Canons, I saluted
+the small artillery of the kingdom, who slept under a shed, dreaming of
+the taking of Constantinople; and with four strides I was in the Rue de
+Patissia. The honey-flowers, which bordered either side, had begun to
+open their odorous blossoms. The sky, of a deep blue, whitened
+imperceptibly between Hymettus and Pentelicus. Before me, on the
+horizon, the summit of Parnassus rose like broken turrets; there was the
+end of my journey. I descended a path which traversed the grounds of the
+Countess Janthe Théotoki, occupied by the French Legation; I passed
+through the gardens belonging to Prince Michael Soutzo, and the School
+of Plato, which a President of the Areopagus had put up in a lottery
+some years before, and I entered the olive groves. The morning thrushes
+and their cousins-germain, the black-birds, flew from tree to tree, and
+sang joyously above my head. At the end of the wood, I traversed the
+immense green fields where Attic horses, short and squat, like those in
+the frieze at the Parthenon, consoled themselves for the dry fodder and
+the heating food of winter. Flocks of turtle-doves flew away at my
+approach, and the tufted larks mounted vertically in the sky like
+rockets. Once in a while, an indolent tortoise crawled across the path,
+dragging his house. I turned him over on his back and left him to attend
+to his own affairs. After two hours' walking, I entered a barren waste.
+Cultivation ceased; one saw upon the arid soil tufts of sickly grass,
+the Star of Bethlehem, or Daffodils. The sun lifted itself above the
+horizon, and I distinctly saw the fir-trees which grew on the side of
+Parnassus. The path which I had taken was not a sure guide, but I
+directed my steps to a group of scattered houses on the mountain side,
+and which was called the village of Castia.
+
+I leaped the Céphise Eleusinien to the great scandal of the little
+tortoises who leaped like frogs into the water. A hundred steps further
+on, the path was lost in a deep and wide ravine, worn by the storms of
+two or three thousand winters. I supposed, reasonably enough, that the
+ravine ought to be the right road. I had noticed, in my former
+excursions, that the Greeks did not trouble themselves with making roads
+where streams were liable to change them. In this country, where man
+does not oppose the works of nature, torrents are royal roads; brooks,
+are department routes; rivulets, are parish-roads. Tempests are the
+road-constructors, and rain is the surveyor of wide and narrow paths. I
+entered the ravine and walked between two river banks, which hid the
+plain from me. But the path had so many turns, that I should not have
+known in which direction I was walking, if I had not kept my back to
+Parnassus. The wisest course would have been to climb one bank or the
+other and ascertain my bearings; but the sides were perpendicular, I was
+weary, I was hungry; and I found the shade refreshing. I seated myself
+upon a bowlder of marble, I took from my box a piece of bread, some cold
+lamb, and a gourd of wine. I said to myself: "If I am on the right road,
+some one will pass and I can find out where I am."
+
+In fact, just as I had finished lunching, and was about to stretch
+myself out for the rest which follows the meal of travelers or serpents,
+I thought I heard a horse's step. I laid my ear to the ground and heard
+two or three horses coming up the ravine. I buckled my box on my back,
+and made ready to follow them, in case they were going towards
+Parnassus. Five minutes afterward, I saw coming toward me, two ladies
+mounted upon livery-horses, and equipped like Englishwomen on a journey.
+Behind them was a pedestrian, whom I had no trouble in recognizing; it
+was Dimitri.
+
+You who know the world a little, you have noticed that a traveler starts
+out without much care for his personal appearance; but if he is about to
+meet ladies, though they be as old as the Dove of the Ark, he loses, at
+once, his indifference and looks at his dusty and travel-stained
+garments with a troubled eye. Before even being able to distinguish the
+faces of the two riders, behind their blue veils, I had looked myself
+over, and I was sufficiently satisfied. I wore these garments which I
+have on, and which are even now presentable, although that was two years
+ago. I have never changed the fashion of my hair; a cap, although as
+fine and handsome a one as this, would not have protected a traveler
+from the sun. I wore, instead, a large gray felt hat, which the dust
+could not hurt.
+
+I took it off politely as the ladies passed me. My salutation did not
+appear to trouble them much. I held out my hand to Dimitri, and he told
+me in a few words, all that I wished to know.
+
+"Am I upon the road to Parnassus?"
+
+"Yes, we are going there."
+
+"I can go with you, then?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Who are these ladies?"
+
+"English! Milord is resting at the hotel."
+
+"What kind of people are they?"
+
+"Peugh! London bankers. The old lady is Mrs. Simons, of the firm of
+Barley and Co.; Milord is her brother; the young lady is her daughter."
+
+"Pretty?"
+
+"According to taste; I like Photini's looks better."
+
+"Are you going as far as the fortress?"
+
+"Yes. I am engaged for a week, at ten francs a day and board. I organize
+and arrange their trips. I began with this one because I knew that I
+should meet you. But what is the matter with them now?"
+
+The elder woman, annoyed because I was detaining her servant, had put
+her horse to a trot, in a passage where no one had ever dared to trot
+before. The other animal, filled with emulation, began to take the same
+gait, and if we had talked a few minutes longer, we would have been
+distanced. Dimitri hastened to rejoin the ladies, and I heard Mrs.
+Simons say to him, in English:
+
+"Do not go away from us. I am English, and I wish to be well served. I
+do not pay you to chat with your friends. Who is this Greek with whom
+you are talking?"
+
+"He is a German, Madame."
+
+"Ah!--What is he doing?"
+
+"He is searching for plants."
+
+"He is an apothecary, then?"
+
+"No, Madame! he is a scholar."
+
+"Ah!--Does he know English?"
+
+"Yes, Madame, very well."
+
+"Ah!----"
+
+The three "ahs!" were said in three different tones which I noticed as I
+would three notes of music. They indicated by very noticeable shades the
+progress which I had made in her esteem. She, however, addressed no word
+to me, and I followed them a few feet distant. Dimitri dared not speak
+to me; he walked ahead like a prisoner of war. All that he could do was
+to cast two or three looks in my direction, which seemed to say: "But
+these English are impertinent!" Miss Simons did not turn her head, and I
+was unable to decide in what her ugliness differed from Photini's. All
+that I could judge was, that the young English girl was large and
+marvelously well-formed. Her shoulders were broad, her waist was round,
+and supple as a reed. The little that one could see of her neck, made
+one think of the swans in the Zoological Gardens.
+
+Her mother turned her head to speak to her, and I hastened forward, in
+hope of hearing her voice. Did I not tell you that I was extremely
+curious? I came up with them just in time to hear the following
+conversation:
+
+"Mary-Ann!"
+
+"Mamma!"
+
+"I am hungry."
+
+"Are you?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Mamma, I am warm."
+
+"Are you?"
+
+"I am."
+
+You believe that this truly English dialogue made me smile? Not at all,
+Monsieur; I was under a spell. Mary-Ann's voice had worked a charm; the
+truth is that as I listened, I experienced a delicious agony, and found
+my heart beating almost to suffocation. In all my life, I had never
+heard anything so young, so fresh, so silvery as that voice. The sound
+of a golden shower falling on my father's roof would have, truly,
+sounded less sweet to me. I thought to myself: "What a misfortune that
+the sweetest songsters among birds are necessarily the ugliest." And I
+feared to see her face, and yet I was consumed with eager desire to look
+upon it, such a strong empire has curiosity over me.
+
+Dimitri had calculated upon reaching the inn at Calyvia at breakfast
+time. It was a house made of planks, loosely put together; but one could
+always find there a goat-skin bottle of resin wine; a bottle of rhaki;
+that is to say, of anise-seed cordial; some brown bread; eggs; and a
+regiment of venerable hens transformed by death into pullets, by virtue
+of metempsychosis. Unfortunately, the inn was deserted and the door
+closed. At this news, Mrs. Simons had a bitter quarrel with Dimitri, and
+as she turned around, I saw a face as sharp as the blade of a Sheffield
+knife, with two rows of teeth like a palisade. "I am English," she said,
+"and I expect to eat when I am hungry."
+
+"Madame," Dimitri piteously replied, "you can breakfast, in
+half-an-hour, in the village of Castia."
+
+I had breakfasted, and I was free to abandon myself to melancholy
+reflections upon Mrs. Simons' ugliness, and I murmured under my breath
+an aphorism in Fraugman's Latin Grammar: "Qualis mater, talis filia!"
+
+From the inn to the village, the road was particularly detestable. It
+was a narrow path, between a perpendicular rock and a precipice, which
+made even the chamois dizzy. Mrs. Simons, before starting out on this
+dangerous path, where the horses could scarcely find foot-hold, asked if
+there was no other way. "I am English," she said, "and I was not made to
+roll down precipices." Dimitri began to praise the path; he assured her
+that there were others a hundred times worse in the kingdom. "At least,"
+said the good lady, "take hold of the bridle. But who will lead my
+daughter? Go and lead my daughter's horse. Still, I must not break my
+own neck. Can you not lead both horses? This path is, truly, horrible. I
+believe that it is good enough for the Greeks, but it was not made for
+the English. Is it not so?" she added, turning graciously to me.
+
+I was introduced. Regularly or not, the presentation was made. It
+happened under the auspices of a personage well-known in the romances of
+the Middle Ages, whom the poets of the XIVth century called, Danger. I
+bowed with all the elegance of which I was master, and replied in
+English:
+
+"Madame, the path is not as bad as it appears at first sight. Your
+horses are sure-footed; I know them, as I have ridden them. You may have
+two guides, if you will permit me to lead Mademoiselle, while Dimitri
+leads you."
+
+As quickly done as said; without waiting for an answer, I boldly
+advanced and took the bridle of Mary-Ann's horse, and as her blue veil
+blew back, I saw the most adorable face which has ever enchanted the
+sight of a German naturalist.
+
+An eccentric poet, Aurelian Scholl, pretends that every man has in his
+heart a mass of eggs, in each one of which is a love. All that is needed
+to give life is a glance from a woman's eye. I am too much of a scholar
+to be ignorant of the fact that this hypothesis does not rest on sure
+foundations, and that it is in formal contradiction to all the revealed
+facts of anatomy. I ought to state, however, that Miss Simons' first
+glance caused a very acute agitation in the region of my heart I
+experienced a sensation entirely unusual, and which bore no trace of
+sadness, and it seemed to me that something gave way in the osseous
+formation of my breast, below the bone called, sternum. At the same
+instant, the blood surged through my veins, and the arteries in my
+temples beat with such force that I could count the pulsations.
+
+What eyes she had! I hope, for your peace of mind, that you will never
+meet a pair like them. They were not of unusual size, and they did not
+draw attention from the rest of her face. They were neither blue nor
+black, but of a color especially their own. It was a warm and velvety
+brown, which one sees only in Siberian garnets, and in certain garden
+flowers. I could show you a certain scabieuse, and a variety of
+holly-hock, nearly black, which resembles the marvelous shade of her
+eyes. If you have ever visited a forge at midnight, you have, doubtless,
+remarked the strange color which gleams from a red-hot steel plate, as
+it changes to a reddish brown; that too, was like her eyes. As for the
+charm in them, any comparison is useless. Charm is a gift with which few
+individuals are endowed. Mary-Ann's eyes possessed something naive and
+spiritual; a frank vivacity; sparkling with youth and health, and
+sometimes a touching languor. One read in them as in a book the
+knowledge of a woman and the innocence of a child; but it would have
+blinded one to have read the book for a long time. Her glance burned
+like fire, as truly as I call myself, Hermann. It would have ripened the
+peaches on your garden wall.
+
+Words fail when I think that that poor simpleton, Dimitri, found her
+less beautiful than Photini. In truth, love is a malady which singularly
+stupefies its victims; I, who had never lost the use of my reason, and
+who judged everything with the wise indifference of a naturalist, I
+confess to you, that the world never held as incomparable a woman as
+Mary-Ann. I would like to show you her picture as it is graven in the
+depths of my memory. You would see what long eye-lashes she had, how the
+eyebrows traced a beautiful arch above her eyes, how small her mouth
+was, how white her teeth, how rosy and transparent her little ear. I
+studied her beauty in the minutest details, because I possess an
+analytical mind and have formed habits of observation. One thing struck
+me especially, it was the fineness and transparency of her skin; it was
+more delicate than the velvety covering which envelops beautiful fruits.
+The color of her cheeks seemed made of that impalpable dust which adorns
+the wings of the butterflies. If I had not been a Doctor of Natural
+Sciences, I would have feared that the contact of her veil would brush
+off some of the luster of her beauty. I do not know whether you like
+pale women, or not, and I do not wish to hurt your feelings, if by
+chance, you have a taste for that kind of deathly looking women who have
+been the rage, during certain periods; but in my quality of savant, I
+can admire nothing without health, that joy of life. If I had become a
+doctor, I would have been a safe man to allow in any family, because it
+is certain that I should never have fallen in love with any of my
+patients. The sight of a pretty face, healthy and vivacious, gives me
+nearly as much pleasure as finding a vigorous beautiful bush, whose
+flowers open widely in the sunshine, and whose leaves have never been
+touched by butterfly or cockchafer. So that the first time that I saw
+Mary-Ann's face, I experienced a strong temptation to take her hand and
+say to her: "Mademoiselle, how happy you must be to have such good
+health."
+
+I have forgotten to tell you that the lines of her face were not
+regular, and that her profile was not that of a statue. Phidias would,
+perhaps, have refused to make a bust of her; but your Pradier would have
+begged on his knees for sittings. I must confess, at the risk of
+destroying your illusions, that she had a dimple in her left cheek, but
+none in the right; this is contrary to all laws of symmetry. Know,
+moreover, that her nose was neither straight nor aquiline, but purely
+retroussé, as French noses are. But that this rendered her less pretty,
+I will deny, even upon the scaffold. She was as beautiful as Greek
+statues are; but was entirely different. Beauty cannot be judged by one
+invariable type, although Plato affirms it. It varies according to
+times, according to peoples, and according to culture. The Venus de Milo
+was considered, two thousand years ago, the most beautiful woman of the
+Archipelago. I do not believe that, in 1856, she would have been
+considered the prettiest woman in Paris. Take her to a dressmaker's in
+the Place Vendome, or to a milliner's in the Rue de la Paix, and in
+these places she would be less of a success than some other women whose
+features were not so classical, and whose nose was not so straight. One
+could admire a woman geometrically beautiful, in the days when she was
+only an object of art destined to please the eyes, without appealing to
+the mind; a bird of Paradise at whose plumage one looks, without
+thinking of asking it to sing. A beautiful Athenian was as
+well-proportioned, as white, and as cold, as the column of a temple. M.
+Mérinay has shown to me, in a book, that the Ionic column is only a
+woman, disguised. The portico of the Temple of Erechtée, at the
+Acropolis at Athens, rests upon four Athenian women of the century of
+Pericles. The women of to-day are little, winged beings, active, busy,
+and above all, thoughtful; created, not to hold temples on their heads,
+but to awaken genius, to engage in work, to animate with courage, and to
+light the world with the flashes of their wit. What we love in them, and
+what makes their beauty, is not regularity of features; it is the lively
+and mobile expression of sentiments, more delicate than ours; it is the
+radiation of thought around that fragile envelope, which does not
+suffice to contain it; it is the quick play of a speaking physiognomy. I
+am not a sculptor, but if I knew how to use the chisel and one gave me a
+commission to make a statue of our epoch, I swear to you that she would
+have a dimple in her left cheek, and a retroussé nose.
+
+I led Mary-Ann's horse to the village of Castia. What she said to me on
+the way, and what I replied, left no more impression on my mind, than
+the flight of a swallow leaves on the air. Her voice was so sweet to
+listen to, that I probably did not listen to what she said. It was as
+if I were at the opera, where the music does not often permit one to
+hear the words. All the circumstances of that first interview made an
+ineffaceable impression on my mind. I have only to close my eyes to
+believe that I am still there. The April sun shone softly on my head.
+Above the path, and below, the resinous trees disseminated their
+aromatic odors through the air. The pines, the thugas, and the
+turpentine trees gave forth a harsh and acrid incense as Mary-Ann
+passed. She inhaled, with evident happiness, nature's odorous largess.
+Her dear little nose breathed in the fragrance; her eyes, those
+beautiful eyes, roved from object to object with sparkling joy. Seeing
+her so pretty, so lively, so happy, you would have said that a dryad had
+escaped from its wood. I can see now, the horse she rode; it was Psari,
+a white horse from Zimmerman's. Her habit was black; Mrs. Simons', which
+showed distinctly against the sky, was bottle-green, sufficiently
+eccentric to testify to her independence of taste. She also wore a black
+hat, of that absurd and ungraceful shape worn by men of all countries;
+her daughter wore the gray felt adopted by the heroines of the Fronde.
+Both wore chamois gloves. Mary-Ann's hand was not small, but admirably
+formed. I have never worn gloves, I do not like them. And you?
+
+The village of Castia was as deserted as the inn at Calyvia. Dimitri
+could not understand why. We dismounted in front of the church, beside a
+fountain. Each went from house to house knocking at the doors; not a
+soul. No one at the priest's, no one at the magistrate's. The
+authorities of the village had moved away with the residents. Each house
+consisted of four walls and a roof, with two openings, one of which
+served as door, the other as window. Poor Dimitri forced in two or three
+doors, and opened five or six shutters, to assure himself that the
+inmates were not asleep. These incursions resulted in setting free an
+unfortunate cat, forgotten by its master, and which departed like a
+flash in the direction of the wood.
+
+Soon, Mrs. Simons lost patience. "I am English," she said to Dimitri,
+"and one does not mock me with impunity. I shall complain to the
+Legation. What! I hire you for a trip to the mountains, and you make me
+travel over precipices! I order you to bring food, and you expose me to
+starvation! We were to breakfast at the inn! The inn is abandoned: I had
+the goodness to follow you, fasting, to this frightful village; and all
+the inhabitants have fled. All this is unnatural. I have traveled in
+Switzerland: Switzerland is a country of mountains; however, nothing was
+lacking there! and I had trout to eat, do you hear?"
+
+Mary-Ann tried to calm her mother, but the good woman could not and
+would not listen. Dimitri explained to her as fully as she would
+permit him, that the inhabitants of the village were nearly all
+charcoal-burners, and that their business very often took them into the
+mountains. In any case, the time was not lost: it was not later than
+eight o'clock, and they were sure to find within ten minutes' walk an
+inhabited house where breakfast would be all prepared.
+
+"What house?" demanded Mrs. Simons.
+
+"The farm at the Convent. The monks from Pentelicus have broad lands
+above Castia. They raise bees there. The good old man who carries on the
+farm always has wine, bread, honey and fowls; he will give us our
+breakfast."
+
+"He may have gone away like everyone else."
+
+"If he is away, it will not be far. The time for the swarming is near,
+and he would not wish to lose his bees."
+
+"Go and see: as for me, I have gone far enough since morning. I vow to
+you that I will not remount until after I have eaten."
+
+"Madame, you need not remount," said Dimitri, patient as are all guides.
+"We can hitch our horses to the fountain, and we shall quickly reach the
+place on foot."
+
+Mary-Ann influenced her mother to consent. She was dying to see the good
+old man, and his apiary. Dimitri hitched the horses to the watering
+trough, weighting each bridle with a huge stone. Mrs. Simons and her
+daughter looped up their habits and we started up a precipitous path,
+fit only for the goats of Castia. The green lizards which were warming
+themselves in the sun, discreetly retired at our approach, but each drew
+a piercing cry from Mrs. Simons, who had a horror of reptiles. After a
+quarter of an hour of these vocalizations, she had, at last, the joy of
+seeing an open house and a human face. It was the farmhouse and the old
+man.
+
+The house was a small one made of red bricks, topped with five cupolas,
+almost like a mosque to the village. At a distance, it possessed a
+certain elegance. Comely without and coarse within, it was a sample of
+the Orient. One saw, in the shelter of a hill covered with thyme, a
+hundred straw bee-hives, placed in a line like the tents in a camp. The
+king of this empire, the good old man, was a small, young man of
+twenty-five, round and merry. All Greek monks are honored with the title
+of "good old man," age having nothing to do with it. He was dressed like
+a peasant, except his bonnet, which was black instead of red; it was by
+this sign that Dimitri recognized him.
+
+The little man, seeing us running toward him, raised his arms to heaven,
+and appeared utterly amazed. "Here is an original," Mrs. Simons
+exclaimed; "what astonishes him so much? One would say that he had never
+seen any English people before."
+
+Dimitri, who had run on ahead, kissed the monk's hand, and said to him
+with a curious mixture of respect and familiarity:
+
+"Thy blessing, father! Wring the necks of two chickens, we will pay thee
+well."
+
+"Unhappy man: why do you come here?"
+
+"To breakfast."
+
+"Didst thou not see that the inn was deserted?"
+
+"I saw it so well, that I found no one at home."
+
+"And that the village was deserted?"
+
+"If I had met anyone, I should not have climbed up to thy house."
+
+"Thou art then in accord with them?"
+
+"Them? With whom?"
+
+"The brigands."
+
+"Are there brigands on Parnassus?"
+
+"Since day before yesterday."
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Everywhere!"
+
+Dimitri turned quickly toward us and said: "We have not a moment to
+lose. The brigands are in the mountains. Let us run for our horses. Have
+courage, Mesdames; and step out lively, if you please."
+
+"This is too hard," cried Mrs. Simons. "Without having breakfasted!"
+
+"Madame, your breakfast would cost you dear! Let us hasten, for the love
+of God!"
+
+"Is this a conspiracy? You have sworn to make me die of hunger! Behold
+the brigands! As if there were brigands! I do not believe in brigands!
+All the papers state that they are disbanded! Moreover, I am English,
+and if anyone touched a hair of my head----!"
+
+Mary-Ann was less confident. She leaned on my arm and asked me if I
+thought that we were in danger of death.
+
+"Of death? No. Of being robbed? Yes."
+
+"Of what importance is that? They are welcome to take all that I carry,
+if only they will give me my breakfast."
+
+I learned later that the poor woman was subject to a rare malady which
+the vulgar call canine appetite, and our learned men know as _boulime_.
+When hunger assailed her, she would have given her fortune for a plate
+of lentils.
+
+Dimitri and Mary-Ann each seized a hand and dragged her to the path we
+had just ascended. The little monk followed her, gesticulating. I was
+strongly tempted to push forward; but a quick and imperative tone
+stopped us suddenly.
+
+"Halt! I say!"
+
+I raised my eyes. Two mastic bushes and arbutus-trees were on the right
+and left of the path. From each bush the muzzles of three or four guns
+protruded. A voice cried in Greek: "Seat yourselves on the ground!" This
+operation was exceedingly easy for me, as my knees weakened under me.
+But I consoled myself with the thought that Ajax, Agamemnon, and the
+hot-headed Achilles, if they found themselves in a like position, would
+not have refused the seat offered them.
+
+The guns were lowered toward us. I expected to see them pushed out so
+far that their muzzles would touch each other over our heads. It was not
+that I was afraid; but I had never before realized the extraordinary
+length of Greek guns. The whole arsenal marched out into the path,
+showing the owner of each.
+
+The only difference which exists between devils and brigands, is that
+devils are less black than one expects, and brigands more squalid than
+one supposes. The eight scoundrels who surrounded us were so foul, that
+I would have preferred to give them my money with pinchers. One could
+imagine that their bonnets might once have been red; but lye itself
+could never have found the original shade of their coats. All the rocks
+of the kingdom had contributed to the color of their percale skirts, and
+their vests bore a specimen of the different soils upon which they had
+reposed. Their hands, their faces, and even their mustaches were of a
+reddish gray like the dirt which they had on their clothes. Every animal
+colors itself like the house or land it inhabits: the foxes of Greenland
+are like the snow; lions, the color of the desert; partridges, like the
+ground; the Greek brigands, the color of the paths.
+
+The chief of the little band who had taken us prisoners, was not
+distinguished by outward sign. Possibly his face, his hands, his
+clothes, were richer in dirt than those of his comrades. He bent over us
+from his great height, and examined us so closely, that I almost felt
+the touch of his gray mustache. You would have thought him a tiger who
+smelled his prey before devouring it. When his curiosity was satisfied,
+he said to Dimitri: "Empty thy pockets!" Dimitri did not make him repeat
+it the second time. He threw down, at his feet, a knife, a bag of
+tobacco, and three Mexican piastres, which made a sum of sixteen francs.
+
+"Is that all?" demanded the brigand.
+
+"Yes, brother."
+
+"Thou art the servant?"
+
+"Yes, brother."
+
+"Take one piastre. Thou must not return to the city without money."
+
+Dimitri began to haggle. "Thou mightest leave me two. I have two horses
+below; they are hired from the stable; I will have to pay for the day."
+
+"Thou canst explain to Zimmerman that we have taken thy money."
+
+"And if he insists on being paid even then?"
+
+"Tell him that he is only too happy in seeing his horses again."
+
+"He knows very well that you would not take the horses. What would you
+do with them in the mountains?"
+
+"Enough! Tell me who is this tall, thin man behind thee?"
+
+I answered for myself: "An honest German whose spoils will not enrich
+you."
+
+"Thou speakest Greek; well. Empty thy pockets!"
+
+I placed on the ground twenty francs, my tobacco, my pipe and my
+handkerchief.
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"A handkerchief."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To wipe my nose."
+
+"Why didst thou tell me that thou wert poor? Only lords wipe their noses
+with handkerchiefs. Take off the box which thou carriest on thy back.
+That is well! Now open it."
+
+My box contained some plants, a book, a knife, a small packet of
+arsenic, an almost empty gourd of wine, and the remains of my breakfast
+which brought a gleam of covetousness to Mrs. Simons' eyes. I had the
+impudence to offer them to her before my property changed hands. She
+snatched them greedily and began to devour the bread and meat. To my
+great astonishment, this gluttonous act disgusted the thieves, who
+murmured among themselves the word _heretic_! The monk made a half-dozen
+signs of the cross, according to the rite of the Greek church.
+
+"Thou probably hast a watch," said the brigand to me, "put it with the
+other things."
+
+I took off my silver watch, an heirloom, which weighed about four
+ounces. The rascals passed it from hand to hand and found it very
+beautiful. I hoped that admiration, which softens men's feelings, would
+dispose them to restore to me something of my belongings, and I begged
+the Chief to give me my tin box. He rudely told me to keep silent. "At
+least," I persisted, "give back my two écus so that I can return to the
+city." He replied with a sardonic grin: "Thou wilt have no use for
+them."
+
+Mrs. Simons' turn had come. Before putting her hand into her pocket, she
+addressed our captors in the tongue of her fathers. English is one of
+the rare languages which one can speak with one's mouth full. "Reflect
+well upon what you are doing," she said in a menacing tone. "I am an
+Englishwoman, and English subjects are sacred in every country in the
+world. What you take from me will serve you little, and cost you dear.
+England will avenge me, and you will be hung, at the very least. Now, if
+you wish my money, you have only to speak; but it will burn your
+fingers; it is English money!"
+
+"What does she say?" asked the leader of the brigands.
+
+Dimitri answered: "She says she is English."
+
+"So much the better; all the English are rich. Tell her to shell out!"
+
+The poor woman emptied her pocket; her purse contained a dozen
+sovereigns. As her watch was not in sight, and as they did not search
+us, she kept that. The kindness of these thieves left her her
+handkerchief.
+
+Mary-Ann threw down her watch and a string of charms against the evil
+eye. She took off, with mutinous grace, a shagreen-leather bag, which
+she wore slung on her shoulder. The bandit opened it with all the
+importance of a custom-house officer. He took out an English
+dressing-case, a bottle of English smelling-salts, a box of English
+Menthol pastilles and a hundred and several odd francs of English money.
+
+"Now," said the enraged beauty, "you can let us go; we have nothing more
+for you."
+
+One of the men indicated to her by a menacing gesture, that the
+interview was not yet over. The leader of the band knelt down before
+their spoils, called the monk, counted the money in his presence and
+gave to him a sum of forty-five francs. Mrs. Simons nudged me. "Do you
+see?" she whispered; "the monk and Dimitri have betrayed us into their
+hands; the bandits have divided with them!"
+
+"No, Madame," I replied, "Dimitri has received only a fraction of what
+was taken from him. It is customary everywhere. On the borders of the
+Rhine, when a traveler is ruined at roulette, the banker gives him
+enough to return home."
+
+"But the monk?"
+
+"He has only received the tithe of the spoils, according to custom from
+time immemorial. Do not reproach him, but rather be grateful to him in
+his wish to save us, when his convent would have benefited by our
+capture."
+
+This conversation was interrupted by Dimitri's departure. They had told
+him that he was free. "Wait for me," I said to him, "we will return
+together." He sadly shook his head and answered in English, so that the
+ladies could understand:
+
+"You are prisoners for a time, and you will not see Athens again until
+you have paid a ransom. I am going to inform milord. Have the ladies any
+message to send to him?"
+
+"Tell him," cried Mrs. Simons, "that he must hurry to the Ambassador,
+that he must go to Piraeus to find the Admiral, that he must complain at
+the Foreign Office, and he must surely write to Lord Palmerston! That we
+must be rescued from here by force of arms, if necessary, or by
+political authority; but that I will not hear of paying one penny for my
+liberty."
+
+"And I," I said with less anger, "I pray thee to tell my friends in
+whose hands thou hast left me. If it is necessary to have a few hundred
+drachmas to ransom a poor devil of a naturalist, they will furnish them
+without doubt. The lords of the road will not put a very high price on
+me. I wish whilst thou art still here, that thou wouldst ask them the
+price."
+
+"Useless, my dear M. Hermann, they do not fix the ransom."
+
+"Who, then?"
+
+"Their chief, Hadgi-Stavros."
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+HADGI-STAVROS.
+
+
+Dimitri descended to Athens; the monk went back to his bees; our new
+masters pushed us into the path which led to the camp of their king.
+Mrs. Simons rebelled and refused to stir a step. The brigands threatened
+to carry her in their arms; she declared that she would not let them
+carry her. But her daughter talked her into a more tractable frame of
+mind, telling that she would find the table spread and that she would be
+invited to breakfast by Hadgi-Stavros. Mary-Ann was more surprised than
+frightened. The followers who had come to arrest us, had acted with a
+certain courtesy; they had not searched us, and they had kept their
+hands from their prisoners. Instead of turning our pockets wrong side
+out, they had asked us to put down our money and valuables ourselves;
+they made no remark about the ladies' ear-rings and they did not even
+ask them to take off their gloves. We were far, it seemed, from those
+highwaymen in Spain and Italy who cut off a finger to get a ring and who
+tear out an ear-ring to possess themselves of a diamond or pearl. All
+these misfortunes were reduced to the payment of a ransom; yet was it
+not probable that we might be delivered without it? How could one
+imagine that Hadgi-Stavros would be able to hold us with impunity, at
+five leagues from the capital, from the court, from the Greek army, from
+her Britannic Majesty's battalion, at an English station. Thus reasoned
+Mary-Ann. As for me--I, involuntarily, thought of those two little
+daughters whom Mistra went to seek, and I was sad. I feared that Mrs.
+Simons, in her obstinate patriotism, only exposed her daughter to some
+great danger, and I promised myself that I would enlighten her as to her
+position. We walked in a narrow path, single file, separated from each
+other by our disagreeable companions. The journey seemed to me to be
+interminable, and I asked more than ten times, if we would not soon be
+there. The road was frightful; in the crevices of the bare rock an oak
+sapling struggled for life, or a thorny bush scratched our legs. The
+victorious bandits manifested no joy, and their triumphal march
+resembled a funeral parade. They silently smoked cigarettes as large as
+one's finger.
+
+They did not speak; one, only, now and then hummed a sort of tune. Those
+people are as lugubrious as a ruin.
+
+About eleven o'clock, a fierce barking announced the neighborhood of the
+camp. Ten or a dozen enormous dogs rushed out and hurled themselves upon
+us, showing all their teeth. Our captors drove them back with stones,
+and after a quarter of an hour of hostilities, peace was declared. These
+inhospitable monsters were the advance sentinels of the King of the
+Mountains. They scent the soldiers as a contrabandist's dog scents a
+custom-house officer. But that is not all, and their zeal is so great,
+that they, occasionally, devoured an inoffensive shepherd, a lost
+traveler, or even one of Hadgi-Stavros' band. The King kept them, as the
+old Sultans kept their Janissaries, with the perpetual fear of falling
+a victim to them.
+
+The King's camp was a plateau of seven or eight hundred metres in
+extent. I searched everywhere for our captors' tents. The brigands were
+not sybarites, and they slept under the sky on the 30th of April. I saw
+neither heaps of spoils nor a display of treasures, nothing which one
+would hope to find at the headquarters of a band of brigands.
+Hadgi-Stavros took upon himself the sale of the plunder; each man
+received his pay in silver and used it according to his fancy. Some put
+their money into commerce, others invested in mortgages on houses in
+Athens, while others bought land in their villages; no one squandered
+the proceeds of theft. Our arrival interrupted the morning meal of
+twenty-five or thirty men, who hastened to meet us, bread and cheese in
+hand. The Chief furnished his band with food: the men received, every
+day, a ration of bread, oil, wine, cheese, caviare, piment (wine mixed
+with honey and spices), bitter olives, and meat when their religion
+permitted. Gourmands who wish for mallows and other green food, can pick
+these dainties on the mountains. Brigands, as some other classes of
+people, rarely light a fire for their repasts; they eat their food cold,
+and their vegetables uncooked. I noticed that everyone was religiously
+observing the law of abstinence. We were on the eve of the celebration
+of the Ascension, and these good people, of whom the most innocent had
+at least the life of one man on his conscience, would not touch a
+mouthful of meat. Holding up two Englishwomen, at the point of a
+musket, seemed an insignificant sin; Mrs. Simons had very greatly sinned
+in eating the cold meat, the Wednesday before Ascension. The men who had
+escorted us, satisfied the curiosity of their comrades. They were
+overwhelmed with questions and they answered them all. They put down in
+a pile, the booty they had secured, and my silver watch scored yet
+another success, which added to my pride. Mary-Ann's little gold watch
+was less noticed. In that first interview, public attention fell upon my
+watch, and it reflected a little on me. In the eyes of these simple men,
+the owner of such an imposing piece of silver could be no less than a
+lord.
+
+The bandits' curiosity was annoying, but not insolent. They did not
+treat us harshly. They knew that we were in their hands and that we
+would be exchanged, sooner or later, for a certain number of gold
+pieces; but they did not think that they ought to avail themselves of
+that circumstance to maltreat us, or show a lack of respect. Good sense,
+that imperishable spirit of the Greeks, told them that we represented a
+different race, and one, to a certain degree, superior. Victorious
+barbarians render a secret homage to a conquered civilized people. Many
+of these men saw for the first time, the European dress. These walked
+around us, as the inhabitants of the new world around Columbus'
+Spaniards. They furtively felt my coat, to see of what material it was
+made. They would have been happy to have examined the articles of my
+clothing, one by one. Perhaps, even, they would have liked to break me
+in two or three pieces, in order to study the inner mechanism of a
+lord, but I am sure that they would have done it with profuse excuses,
+and not without asking pardon for the liberty.
+
+Mrs. Simons soon lost patience; she did not like to be examined so
+closely by these cheese-eaters, who offered her no breakfast. No one
+likes to be made a spectacle of. The role of "living curiosity" very
+much displeased the good woman, although she had filled it
+advantageously in all countries of the globe. As for Mary-Ann, she was
+overcome with fatigue. A ride of six hours, hunger, emotion, surprise,
+had worn out this delicate creature. Imagine this young girl, brought up
+delicately, accustomed to walk on carpets, or upon the velvety turf of
+parks. Her shoes were already nearly off her feet, worn out by the
+roughness of the path, and the bushes had torn her dress. Only the
+evening before she had taken tea in the parlors of the English Legation,
+while looking over the beautiful albums belonging to Mr. Wyse. She now
+found herself transported into a frightful country, in the midst of a
+crowd of savages, and she had not the consolation of saying: "It is a
+dream!" because she was neither in bed, nor even seated, but standing,
+in great despair, on her two weary little feet.
+
+A band now surrounded us, which rendered our position intolerable. It
+was not a band of thieves; it was worse. The Greeks carry upon their
+persons a whole menagerie of little animals, agile, capricious, not
+seizable, who cling to them night and day, give them occupation even
+when asleep, and by their jumps and their stings, accelerate the action
+of the mind, and the circulation of the blood. The fleas of the
+brigands, of which I can show some specimens in my Entomological
+collection, are very much larger, stronger and more agile than their
+city cousins; the open country air possesses virtue so powerful! I soon
+perceived that they were not content with their lot, and that they found
+more to their taste, the fine skin of a young German than the tough hide
+of their masters. An emigrating army settled upon me. I felt, at first,
+an uneasy sensation around the ankles: it was the declaration of war.
+Two minutes later, an advance guard threw itself upon the calf of my
+right leg; it reached my knee. I was out-flanked, and all resistance
+became useless. If I had been alone, I might have been more successful
+in the combat.
+
+I dared neither complain nor defend myself; I heroically hid my sorrows
+and did not raise my eyes.
+
+At last, at the end of my patience, and determined to escape, by flight,
+from the pests, I demanded to be taken before the King. This recalled
+our guides to their duty. They asked the whereabouts of Hadgi-Stavros.
+The reply was that he was at work in his offices.
+
+"At last," said Mrs. Simons, "I can seat myself in an easy chair."
+
+She took my arm, offered hers to her daughter, and walked, with a
+deliberate step, in the direction in which the crowd conducted us. The
+offices were not far from the camp, and we reached them in five minutes.
+
+The offices of the King resembled other offices, as the bandits' camp
+was like to other camps. There were neither tables, chairs nor
+furniture of any sort. Hadgi-Stavros was seated, tailor-fashion, upon a
+square of carpet, under the shade of a fir tree. Four secretaries and
+two servants sat around him.
+
+A young boy of sixteen or eighteen, was incessantly occupied in filling,
+lighting and cleaning his master's chibouk. He wore at his belt a
+tobacco bag, embroidered with gold and fine pearls, and a pair of silver
+tongs, used for taking out coals. Another servant passed his days
+preparing cups of coffee, glasses of water and syrup, destined for the
+royal mouth.
+
+The secretaries, seated on the bare rock, wrote with cut reeds, upon
+their knees. Each of them had a long copper box containing reeds, a
+knife and an inkstand. Some tin cylinders, like those in which soldiers
+keep their papers, served as a place of safety for their archives. The
+paper was not poor, for the reason that each sheet bore in capitals the
+word "Bath."
+
+The King was an old man, marvelously well-preserved, straight, thin,
+supple as a steel spring, clean and shining as a new sword. His long,
+white mustaches hung over the chin, like two marble stalactites. The
+rest of his face was scrupulously shaved, the cranium bare as far as the
+occiput, where a great mass of white hair flowed down from under his
+bonnet. The expression of his face was calm and reflective. A pair of
+small, clear blue eyes, and a square-cut chin denoted an inflexible
+will. His face was long, and the many long wrinkles added to its length.
+Every fold in his forehead seemed to break in the middle and diverge
+toward the meeting of his eyebrows; two wide and deep furrows descended
+to the corners of the lips, as if the weight of the mustaches dragged
+down the muscles of the face. I have seen a great number of
+septuagenarians, I have even dissected one who would have attained a
+hundred, if the diligence from Osnabruck had not passed over his body;
+but I never remembered having seen an old man fresher and more robust
+than Hadgi-Stavros.
+
+He wore the dress of Tino and all the islands of the Archipelago. His
+red bonnet formed a large fold around his forehead. He wore a black
+vest, heavily embroidered with black silk, immense blue trousers which
+must have taken twenty metres of cotton stuff, and large boots of Russia
+leather, solid yet supple. The only richness about his costume, was a
+belt decked with gold and precious stones, worth two or three thousand
+francs. Thrust in it, was a purse of embroidered cashmere, a Damascus
+blade in a silver sheath, a long pistol, mounted with gold and rubies,
+and a ramrod, similarly decorated.
+
+Immovable in the midst of his secretaries, the King moved only his lips
+and his fingers; his lips to dictate his letters, his fingers to tell
+off the beads of his rosary. It was one of those beautiful milk-white
+amber rosaries which serve, not only to mark the number of prayers, but
+to amuse the solemn idleness of the Turks.
+
+He raised his head at our approach, divined, by a glance, what had
+brought us to him, and said, with a gravity, not at all ironical; "You
+are very welcome! Be seated."
+
+"Monsieur," cried Mrs. Simons, "I am English, and----"
+
+He interrupted the discourse: "All in good time," he said; "I am
+occupied." He spoke in Greek and Mrs. Simons understood only English,
+but the King's face was so expressive, that the good woman easily
+comprehended what he meant without the aid of an interpreter. We sat
+down on the ground. Fifteen or twenty brigands crouched around us, and
+the King, who had no secrets to hide, dictated family letters as well as
+those pertaining to business. The leader of the band which had arrested
+us, went to him and whispered in his ear. He haughtily answered: "What
+of that? I am doing nothing wrong, and the whole world is welcome to
+hear me. Go, seat thyself; Thou, Spiro, write: it is to my daughter."
+
+After he had vigorously blown his nose, he dictated in a grave, yet
+sweet voice:
+
+     "My Dear Child:
+
+     "The preceptress of the school writes to me that thy health is much
+     improved and that the severe cold with which thou wast troubled,
+     has left thee with the cold winter weather. But she is not pleased
+     with thy lack of application, and complains that thou hast done
+     nothing with thy studies during the month of April. Mme. Mavros
+     writes that thou hast become distrait, and that thou sittest with
+     thy elbow on thy book, thy eyes looking at nothing, as if thou wert
+     thinking of something else. I know that it is unnecessary to tell
+     thee to work assiduously. Follow the example of my life. If I had
+     taken it easy, as many do, I should never have reached the position
+     which I occupy in society. I wish to have thee worthy of me, that
+     is why I make great sacrifices for thy education. Thou knowest
+     that I have never refused thee the masters nor the books for which
+     thou hast asked; but my money must profit by it. The set of 'Walter
+     Scott,' has arrived at Piraeus, also the 'Robinson,' and all the
+     other English books thou hast said that thou didst wish to read;
+     have our friends in the Rue d'Hèrmes get them from the Custom-House
+     for thee. Thou wilt receive, at the same time, the bracelet which
+     thou desirest, and that steel machine for puffing out thy skirts.
+     If the piano from Vienna is not as good as thou toldest me, and it
+     seems necessary that thou shouldst have another, thou shalt have
+     it. I shall do one or two villages, after the sales of the harvest,
+     and the Devil will be against me, if I cannot find enough money for
+     a pretty piano. I think, as thou dost, that thou must learn music.
+     Use thy Sundays in the way I have told thee, and profit by the
+     kindness of our friends. Thou must learn to speak French, English,
+     and above all, German. Because, thou art not to live forever in
+     this ridiculous country, and I would rather see thee dead than
+     married to a Greek. Daughter of a King, thou shouldst, by right,
+     marry a Prince. I do not mean, a prince of smugglers, like all our
+     Fanariot families, who pride themselves on their descent from
+     Oriental emperors, and whom I would not have for servants; but a
+     Prince, reigning and crowned. One can find some very good ones in
+     Germany, and my fortune will enable me to choose one of them. If
+     these Germans come to reign in this country, I do not see why thou
+     canst not reign there, in thy turn. Make haste, then, to learn the
+     language, and tell me in thy next letter of the progress thou hast
+     made. My child, I embrace thee tenderly, and I send thee, with thy
+     quarter's allowance, my paternal blessing."
+
+Mrs. Simons leaned toward me and whispered: "Is he dictating our
+sentence to his brigands?"
+
+I replied: "No, Madame; he is writing to his daughter."
+
+"Concerning our capture?"
+
+"Concerning a piano, a crinoline, and Walter Scott."
+
+"That takes a long time. Will he invite us to breakfast?"
+
+"There comes a servant with refreshments."
+
+The King's coffee-bearer came to us, bringing three cups of coffee, a
+box of rahat-loukoum, and a pot of preserves. Mrs. Simons and her
+daughter rejected the beverage with disgust, because it was made like
+Turkish coffee, and was like thickened milk. I emptied my cup like a
+veritable gourmand of the Orient. The pot of sweets was a rose sorbet,
+and received only a small share of our attention, as we were forced to
+eat it with one spoon. Delicate eaters are unfortunate when in this
+country of primitive simplicity. But the rahat-loukoum, cut in pieces,
+pleased the palates of the ladies, without shocking too much, their
+ordinary tastes. They took in their beautiful fingers that perfumed
+jellied paste, and emptied the box, while the King dictated the
+following letter:
+
+     "Messrs. Barley and Company,
+     "31 Cavendish Square,
+     "London.
+
+     "I see by your honored letter of the 5th of April and the current
+     account which accompanies it, that I have, at the present time,
+     22,750 livres sterling, to my credit. Please place these funds,
+     half in English three per cents, half in shares of the company,
+     before the coupons are cut. Sell my shares of the Royal Britannic
+     Bank; it is an institution in which I have no longer any
+     confidence. Take for me, in exchange, all in Bank of London. If you
+     can get 15,000 livres for my house in the Strand (it was valued at
+     that in 1852), you may buy for me, in the Vieille-Montagne, an
+     equal amount. Send to the firm, Rhalli Brothers, 100 guineas; it is
+     my subscription for the Hellenic School at Liverpool. I have
+     seriously pondered the proposition which you have done me the honor
+     to submit to me, and, after many reflections, I have decided to
+     persist in my line of conduct and transact business strictly on a
+     cash basis. Purchases in future are of a speculative character,
+     which ought to prevent any good father of a family from dealing in
+     them. I am assured that you would not expose my capital to danger,
+     and would use it with a prudence which has always characterized
+     your house; but even where the benefit of which you write, seems
+     sure, I experience, I must confess it, a certain repugnance to
+     leaving to my heirs a fortune augmented by gambling. Accept, etc.,
+
+     "Hadgi-Stavros,
+     "Proprietor."
+
+"Is it about us?" Mary-Ann whispered.
+
+"Not yet, Mademoiselle, His Majesty is investing in stocks."
+
+"In stocks! Here? I thought that was only done at home."
+
+"Is Monsieur, your father, associated with a banking establishment?"
+
+"Yes; with the firm of Barley & Co."
+
+"Are there two bankers of the same name in London?"
+
+"Not that I am aware of."
+
+"Have you ever heard that the firm transacted business with the
+Orient?"
+
+"Certainly, all over the world."
+
+"And do you live in Cavendish Square?"
+
+"No, the offices are there. Our house is in Piccadilly."
+
+"Thank you, Mademoiselle. Allow me to listen to the next. This old man's
+correspondence is very interesting."
+
+The King dictated, without stopping, a long report of the shares of his
+band. This curious document was addressed to M. Georges Micrommati,
+Officer of Ordinance, at the Palaces, that he might read it in the
+General Assembly to those interested.
+
+     "Account rendered of the operations of the National
+     Company by the King of the Mountains.
+
+     Receipts and Expenditures, 1855-56.
+     Camp of the King, April 30, '56.
+
+     Sirs:
+
+     The agent whom you have honored with your confidence, to-day, for
+     the fourteenth time, submits for your approval the report of the
+     year's transactions. Since the day when the constitutional act of
+     our society was signed in the office of Master Tsappas, Royal
+     Notary of Athens, never has our enterprise encountered more
+     obstacles, never has the progress of our labors been embarrassed by
+     more serious difficulties. It is in the presence of a strange
+     occupation, under the eyes of two armies, if not hostile, at least
+     ill-disposed, that the regular practice of an eminently national
+     institution must be carried on. Piraeus is occupied by the
+     military; the Turkish frontier is watched with a zealousness
+     without precedent in history, and this restricts our activity to a
+     very narrow circle, and confines our zeal to impassable limits.
+     Within these narrow boundaries, our resources are still more
+     reduced by the general penury, the scarcity of money, and the small
+     crops. The olive trees have not yielded as they promised; the
+     cereal harvests have been small, and the vines are not yet rid of
+     the oïdium. In these circumstances it has been difficult to profit
+     by the tolerance of the authorities and the kindness of a friendly
+     government. Our enterprise is so identified with the interests of
+     the country, that it can flourish only in the general prosperity,
+     and so repulse the counterstrokes of all public calamities; for
+     from those who have nothing, one can take nothing, or little of
+     anything.
+
+     The strangers traveling in this country, whose curiosity is so
+     useful to the kingdom and to us, have become rare. English
+     tourists, who, formerly, composed an important branch of our
+     revenue, are totally lacking. Two young Americans, stopped upon the
+     road to Pentelicus, lost us their ransom. The French and English
+     papers had inspired them with a spirit of defiance, and they
+     escaped from our hands, at a time when their capture would have
+     been most useful.
+
+     And now, gentlemen, this is our record, a report of our society
+     which has resisted the fatal crisis better than agriculture,
+     industries and commerce. Your funds, confided to my keeping, have
+     been made profitable, not as much so as I could wish, but better
+     than any one could hope for. I will say no more; I leave the
+     figures to speak for themselves. Arithmetic is more eloquent than
+     Demosthenes.
+
+     The society capital, limited at first to the modest sum of 50,000
+     francs, has increased to 120,000 by three successive issuings of
+     bonds of 500 francs.
+
+     Our gross receipts, from May 1, 1855, to April 30, 1856, are
+     261,482 francs.
+
+     Expenses as follows:
+
+     Tithes paid to churches and monasteries             26,148
+
+     Interest on capital of the legal tax of 10 per
+      cent per 100                                       12,000
+                                                        -------
+                                                         38,148
+
+     Report.
+
+     Pay and board for 80 men at 650 francs per
+     capita                                                        52,000
+
+     Material, arms, etc.                                           7,056
+
+     Repairing the road to Thebes, which had become
+     impassable and where there were no
+     travelers to hold up                                           2,540
+
+     Expense of watching the highways                               5,835
+
+     Rent for office                                                    3
+
+     Subsidizing some journalists                                  11,900
+
+     Rewards to various employes of the judicial
+     and administrative orders                                     18,000
+                                                                  -------
+         Total                                                    135,482
+
+     If this sum is deducted from the gross receipts, there are left,
+     net 126,000
+
+     According to the statutes, the above is apportioned as follows:
+
+     Reserve funds in the Bank of Athens                            6,000
+     Share belonging to Agent                                      40,000
+     Share-holders' part                                           80,000
+     333 francs, 33 c. per share.
+
+     Add to the 333 francs, 33 c., 50 francs interest and 25 francs in
+     reserve funds, and you will have a total of 408 francs, 33 c. per
+     share. Your money is then drawing nearly 82 per cent.
+
+     Such are the results, gentlemen, of the last campaign. Judge what
+     the future will be, when our country and our operations shall be
+     free from the foreign power which presses so heavily."
+
+The King dictated this without consulting any notes, without hesitating
+about a figure and without stopping to choose words. I would never have
+believed that an old man of his age could have possessed so remarkable a
+memory. He appended his seal to the three letters; it was his way of
+signing. He read easily, but he had never found time to learn to write.
+Charlemagne and Alfred the Great were, it is said, in the same
+predicament.
+
+While the Under-Secretaries of State were transcribing the letters for
+the day in order to place them in the archives, he gave audience to
+subaltern officers who had returned with their detachments, from the
+day's duty. Each man seated himself in front of him, saluted him by
+laying his right hand on his heart and making his report in a few words.
+I swear to you that Saint-Louis, under his oak, inspired no greater
+reverence among the people of Vincennes.
+
+The first who presented himself was a small man, with a bad face; a fine
+sample for the Court of Assizes. It was an islander from Corfu,
+persecuted as an incendiary: he had been well brought up, and his
+talents had advanced him. But his chief and his soldiers held him in no
+great esteem. He was suspected of keeping for his own profit a part of
+the spoils. Now the King was unreasonable on the subject of probity.
+When he found a man in fault, he ignominiously thrust him out and
+ironically said to him: "Go and make a magistrate of thyself!"
+
+Hadgi-Stavros asked the man from Corfu: "What hast thou done?"
+
+"I have just come, with my fifteen men, from the ravine of Cirondelles,
+upon the road to Thebes. I met a detachment of soldiers; twenty-five
+men."
+
+"Where are their guns?"
+
+"I left them. They were percussion muskets, which would not serve us on
+account of lack of caps."
+
+"Good! Then?"
+
+"It was market-day; I stopped the passers-by."
+
+"How many?"
+
+"One hundred and forty-two persons."
+
+"And thou hast brought----?"
+
+"About a thousand francs," naming the sum.
+
+"Seven francs per head! It is small!"
+
+"It is good. They were peasants."
+
+"They had not, then, sold their goods?"
+
+"Some had sold, others bought."
+
+The man opened a heavy sack which he carried under his arm; he spread
+out the contents before the secretaries, who began to count the amount.
+The receipts were from thirty to forty Mexican piastres, some handfuls
+of Austrian zwanzigs and an enormous quantity of copper coins. Some
+crumpled papers were among the money. They were bank notes of ten francs
+each.
+
+"Thou hast no jewels?" asked the King.
+
+"No!"
+
+"Were there no women, then?"
+
+"I found nothing worth bringing away."
+
+"What is that on thy finger?"
+
+"A ring."
+
+"Gold?"
+
+"Or copper; I do not know which."
+
+"Where didst thou get it?"
+
+"I bought it two months ago."
+
+"If thou hadst bought it, thou wouldst know whether it was gold or
+copper. Give it to me."
+
+The man took it off with bad grace. The ring was immediately locked up
+in a small coffer full of jewels.
+
+"I pardon thee!" said the King, "because of thy bad education. The
+people of thy country disgrace theft by mixing knavery with it. If I had
+only Ionians in my band, I would be obliged to place turnstiles in the
+roads as they do at the Exposition in London, so that I might count the
+visitors and the money. The next!"
+
+He, who came forward now, was a tall young man, well-proportioned, and
+with a most pleasing face. His round eyes beamed forth rectitude and
+good-nature. His lips, half-opened with a pleasant smile, showed a
+magnificent set of teeth; I was greatly taken with him, and I said to
+myself that if he had been led astray by evil associations, he must
+surely return, some day, to the right path. My face must have pleased
+him, for he saluted me very politely, before seating himself in front of
+the King.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros said to him: "What hast thou done, Vasile?"
+
+"I reached Pigadia, yesterday evening, with my six men; it is the
+village of the Senator Zimbellis."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Zimbellis was absent, as usual; but his relatives, his farmers, and his
+tenants were all at home, and in bed."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"I entered an inn; I awakened the landlord; I bought twenty-five
+bundles of straw, and for payment I killed him."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"We carried the straw to the houses, and spread it around; the houses
+are of wood or osier, and we set fire to seven places at once. The
+matches were good; the wind from the north; everything went."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"We retired quietly to the wells. The whole village awakened and rushed
+out, shouting. The men came running with their leather buckets to get
+water. We drowned four whom we did not know; the others escaped."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"We returned to the village. There was no one, only an infant forgotten
+by his parents, and who cried like a little raven fallen from its nest.
+I threw him into a burning house, and he cried no more."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Then we took fire-brands, and placed them around the olive trees. The
+thing was well-executed. We then started for the camp; we supped and
+slept about half-way here, and we arrived at nine o'clock, in prime
+condition without even a burn."
+
+"Good! The Senator Zimbellis will not discourse against us again! The
+next!"
+
+Vasile withdrew, saluting me as he passed, as politely as the first
+time; but I did not return his bow.
+
+He was soon replaced by the great devil who had taken us. By a singular
+caprice of chance, the first author of the drama in which I was called
+to play a part, was named Sophocles. At the moment when he began his
+report, I felt the blood congeal in my veins. I supplicated Mrs. Simons
+not to risk an imprudent word. She replied, that she was English, and
+that she knew how to behave herself. The King asked us to be silent, and
+allow the man to speak.
+
+He first spread out the booty which he had taken from us; then he drew
+from his belt forty Austrian ducats, which made a sum of four hundred
+and seventy francs, at the rate of 11 francs-15c.
+
+"The ducats," he said, "came from the village of Castia; the rest was
+taken from these nobles. Thou didst tell me to scour the boundaries, I
+began with the village."
+
+"Thou hast not done well," replied the King. "The people of Castia are
+our neighbors, they must not be molested. How can we live in safety, if
+we have enemies at our door? Moreover, they were brave people who have
+given us aid when occasion demanded."
+
+"Oh! I took nothing from the charcoal burners. They disappeared into the
+woods, without giving me time to speak to them. But the padre had the
+gout; I found him at home."
+
+"What didst thou say to him?"
+
+"I asked him for his money; he insisted that he had none. I shut him up
+in a sack with his cat; and I do not know what the cat did, but he began
+to cry out that his treasure was behind the house, under a huge stone."
+
+"Thou wert wrong. The padre will incite all the village against us."
+
+"Oh! no! In leaving him, I forgot to open the sack, and the cat ought to
+have fixed him by this time."
+
+"All in good time:----But listen to me well, all of you: I do not wish
+anyone to trouble our neighbors. Thou mayst retire."
+
+Our examination now began. Hadgi-Stavros, instead of having us come to
+him, gravely rose, came and seated himself on the ground in front of us.
+This mark of deference to us seemed a favorable augury. Mrs. Simons
+prepared to question him herself. As for me, perceiving too well what
+she was capable of saying, and knowing the intemperance of her tongue, I
+offered my services to the King, as interpreter. He thanked me coldly,
+and called the Corfuan, who knew English.
+
+"Madame," the King said to Mrs. Simons, "you seem to be in great anger.
+Have you any complaints to make of the men who brought you here?"
+
+"It is a horror!" she cried. "Your rascals have arrested, dragged me
+through the dirt, despoiled me, worn me out, and starved me."
+
+"Will you accept my excuses? I am forced to employ men without
+education. Believe me, my dear Madame, it is not by my orders they have
+acted thus. You are English?"
+
+"An Englishwoman from London."
+
+"I have been to London; I know and esteem the English. I know that they
+have good appetites, and you noticed that I was moved to offer you
+refreshments. I know that ladies of your country do not like to run over
+rocks, and I regret that you were not allowed to walk your own gait. I
+know that people of your nation carry, while traveling, only such things
+as are necessary, and I have not yet pardoned Sophocles for having
+robbed you, above all, if you are a person of distinction."
+
+"I belong to the best society of London!"
+
+"Deign to take back your money. You are rich?"
+
+"Assuredly."
+
+"This traveling-case is yours, is it not?"
+
+"It is my daughter's."
+
+"Take, also, all that belongs to your daughter. You are very rich?"
+
+"Very rich."
+
+"Do these things belong to Monsieur, your son?"
+
+"Monsieur is not my son; he is a German. Since I am English how could I
+have a German son?"
+
+"That is true. Have you twenty thousand francs income?"
+
+"More."
+
+"A carpet for these ladies! Are you rich enough to have thirty thousand
+francs income?"
+
+"We have more than that."
+
+"Sophocles is a villain whom I shall chastise. Logothète, tell them to
+prepare dinner for these ladies. May it be possible, Madame, that you
+are a millionaire?"
+
+"I am that."
+
+"And I--I am annoyed at the way in which you have been treated. You
+have, without doubt, fine friends in Athens?"
+
+"I know the English Minister."
+
+"Oh! Madame! You also know some merchants, some bankers?"
+
+"My brother, who is at Athens, knows many bankers in the city."
+
+"I am delighted. Sophocles, come here. Ask pardon of these ladies."
+
+Sophocles muttered some words between his teeth, I know not what
+excuses. The King replied:
+
+"These ladies are Englishwomen of distinction; they are worth a million
+or more; they have been received by the English Ambassador; their
+brother, who is in Athens, knows all the bankers in the city."
+
+"That is right!" cried Mrs. Simons. The King continued:
+
+"Thou shouldst have treated these ladies with all the regard due their
+fortune."
+
+"Good!" Mrs. Simons cried.
+
+"Have conducted them here carefully."
+
+"For what purpose?" murmured Mary-Ann.
+
+"And abstained from touching their baggage. When one has the honor of
+meeting, in the mountains, two persons of the rank of these ladies, one
+should salute them with respect, one should bring them to the camp with
+deference, one should guard them circumspectly, and one should offer
+them politely every necessary thing in life, until their brother or
+their ambassador sends us a ransom of a hundred thousand francs."
+
+Poor Mrs. Simons! dear Mary-Ann! Neither expected this termination. As
+for me, I was not surprised. I knew with what a crafty knave we had to
+do. I took up the word, and I said to him fiercely: "Thou canst keep
+what thy men have taken from me, because it is all that thou wilt get
+from me. I am poor, my father has nothing, my brothers often eat dry
+bread. I know neither bankers nor ambassadors, and if thou keepest me
+with the hope of a ransom, thou wilt reap no reward. I swear it to
+thee!"
+
+A murmur of incredulity was heard, but the King appeared to believe me.
+
+"If that is true," he said to me, "I will not keep you. I will send you
+back to the city. Madame will give you a letter for Monsieur, her
+brother, and you may even leave to-day. If, however, you need to remain
+a day or two in the mountains, I will offer my hospitality to you;
+because I suppose that you have not come as far as this, with this large
+box, in order to look over the country."
+
+This little speech gave me a profound feeling of relief. I looked around
+with satisfaction. The King, his secretaries, and his soldiers seemed
+less terrible; the surrounding rocks more picturesque, since I viewed
+them with the eye of a guest and not as a prisoner. The desire I had
+experienced to see Athens suddenly subsided, and I decided to pass two
+or three days in the mountains. I felt that my counsels would not be
+useless to Mary-Ann's mother. The good woman was in a state of
+excitement which might urge her to do something rash. If, perchance, she
+determined to refuse to pay the ransom! Before England could come to
+her aid, she would have ample time to draw dire calamity upon her
+charming head. I must not leave her until I had an opportunity to relate
+the history of Mistra's little daughters. Shall I say more? You know my
+passion for botany. The flora of Parnassus is very enticing at the end
+of April. One can find in the mountains five or six plants as rare as
+they are celebrated. One especially: Boryana variabilis, discovered and
+named by M. Bory de Saint-Vincent. Should I leave such a lacuna and
+present my herbarium to the Museum of Hamburg, without the boryana
+variabilis?
+
+I replied to the King: "I accept thy hospitality, but on one condition."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"That thou wilt return my box."
+
+"Oh well! so be it: and the condition?"
+
+"That is it."
+
+"Will you tell me of what use it is to you?"
+
+"To hold the plants which I pick."
+
+"And why do you search for plants? To sell them?"
+
+"Nonsense! I am not a merchant, I am a savant."
+
+He held out his hand to me and said with visible joy: "I am charmed.
+Science is a beautiful thing. Our ancestors were wise men. Our
+grandchildren will be, perhaps. As for us, time is lacking. Savants are
+much esteemed in your country?"
+
+"Greatly."
+
+"One gives them rank?"
+
+"Sometimes."
+
+"One pays them well?"
+
+"Enough!"
+
+"One attaches a little ribbon to their coat?"
+
+"Occasionally!"
+
+"Is it true that cities dispute as to which they belong?"
+
+"It is true in Germany!"
+
+"And one looks upon their death as a public calamity?"
+
+"Assuredly!"
+
+"What you tell me gives me great pleasure. Then you have no complaints
+to make of your fellow-citizens?"
+
+"Very much to the contrary. It is through their liberality that I was
+enabled to come to Greece."
+
+"You travel at their expense?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are well-educated?"
+
+"I am a doctor."
+
+"It is the highest grade in science?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And how many doctors are there in the city in which you live?"
+
+"I do not know exactly, but not as many doctors in Hamburg, as generals
+in Athens."
+
+"Oh! oh! I would not deprive your country of a man so rare. You shall
+return to Hamburg, Monsieur, doctor; what would they say down below if
+they knew that you were a prisoner up here in the mountains?"
+
+"They would say that it was a misfortune."
+
+"Good! Rather than lose such a man as you, the city of Hamburg would
+sacrifice fifteen thousand francs. Take back your box, haste away,
+search, gather plants, and follow your studies. Why not put that silver
+watch back in your pocket? It is yours, and I respect savants too much
+to rob them. But your country is rich enough to pay for her glory. Happy
+young man! You recognize, to-day, how much the title of doctor adds to
+your personal value. I would not have demanded a centime of ransom, if
+you had been as ignorant as I am."
+
+The King listened neither to my objections, nor to Mrs. Simons'
+expostulations. He closed the interview, and pointed out to us the
+dining hall. Mrs. Simons descended to the place, all the while
+protesting that although she would eat her breakfast, yet she would
+never pay the bill. Mary-Ann seemed more depressed; but such is the
+mobility of youth, that she cried out with joy when she saw the place
+where our meal was spread. It was a little corner of green, sheltered by
+gray rocks. Beautiful grass formed the carpet; some clumps of privet and
+laurels served as hangings and hid the rocky walls. A beautiful blue
+arch was above our heads; birds flew back and forth in the azure vault.
+In a corner of our dining-hall, a limpid stream, clear as crystal,
+silently swept along in its course, spreading over its banks, and
+falling in a silvery sheet down the side of the mountain. From this
+side, the view illimitably extended to the sides of the Pentelicus, the
+great white pile which overhangs Athens; across the sad-colored olive
+groves; the dusty plain; the gray sides of Hymettus, rounded like an old
+man's spine; and that beautiful Saronic Gulf, so blue that one might
+say that a strip had fallen from the sky. Assuredly, Mrs. Simons had not
+a mind turned to admiration, and yet, she confessed that the price for
+such a beautiful sight would be very high in London or Paris.
+
+The table was laid with heroic simplicity. Brown bread, baked in a field
+oven, smoked upon the sod and gave out a most appetizing odor. The
+clotted milk quivered in a huge wooden bowl. The large olives and green
+piments, were laid on roughly cut pieces of wood. A shaggy goat-skin
+bottle spread out its large sides next to a red copper cup, roughly
+chiseled. An ewe's-milk cheese reposed upon the cloth which had pressed
+it, and which still bore its imprint. Five or six appetizing lettuces
+promised us a delicious salad, but there were no condiments with which
+to dress them. The King had placed his traveling plate at our disposal,
+consisting of spoons cut out with a knife, and we had, as a surfeit of
+luxury, our five fingers, for forks. They had not been tolerant enough
+to serve us with meat, but the yellow tobacco of Almyros promised me an
+admirable digester.
+
+One of the King's officers served us. It was the hideous Corfuan, the
+man of the gold ring, who knew English. He cut the bread with his
+poniard and distributed it freely, praying us not to lack for anything.
+Mrs. Simons, without losing one stroke of her teeth, said to him in a
+haughty tone: "Monsieur, does your master seriously believe that we
+shall pay a ransom of a hundred thousand francs?"
+
+"He is sure of it!"
+
+"It is because he does not know the English nation."
+
+"He knows it well, Madame, and I also. At Corfu, I have associated with
+many distinguished Englishmen! judges!"
+
+"I wish you joy of it! but tell this Stavros to arm himself with
+patience, because he will wait a long time for the hundred thousand
+francs, which he has promised himself."
+
+"He told me to tell you that he would wait for them until the 15th of
+May, at noon, precisely."
+
+"And if we have not paid it the 15th of May, at noon?"
+
+"He will regret that he will be obliged to cut off your head, as well as
+Mademoiselle's."
+
+Mary-Ann dropped the bread which she was carrying to her mouth. "Give me
+a little wine," she said. The bandit handed to her a cup full; but
+scarcely had it touched her lips, before she cried out with fear. The
+poor child imagined that the wine was poisoned. I reassured her by
+emptying the cup at one draught. "Fear nothing," I said to her; "it is
+the resin."
+
+"What resin?"
+
+"Wine would not keep in these goat-skins if a certain amount of resin
+was not added, to prevent it from spoiling. The mixture is not very
+agreeable, but you may drink it without fear."
+
+Despite my example, Mary-Ann and her mother made the bandit bring water.
+The man ran to the brook and was back in an instant. "You understand,
+Mesdames," he smilingly said, "that the King would not be foolish
+enough to poison such valuable people as you are." He added, turning to
+me: "You, M. le docteur, I have orders to tell you that you have thirty
+days to pursue your studies and pay the sum. I will furnish you all with
+writing materials."
+
+"Thanks," Mrs. Simons said. "We will think of it in eight days, if we
+are not delivered before."
+
+"And by whom, Madame?"
+
+"By England."
+
+"Is it far?"
+
+"Or by the police."
+
+"For your sake, I hope you may have that luck. In the meantime, I will
+do anything in my power for you."
+
+"I wish first for a bed-chamber."
+
+"We have near here a grotto, which is called Les Etables. You would not
+like it; the sheep were kept there during the winter, and the odor still
+remains. I will get two tents from the shepherds below and you can camp
+here--until the arrival--of the gendarmes!"
+
+"I wish for a waiting-maid."
+
+"Nothing is easier. Our men will go down to the plain, and stop the
+first peasant-woman who passes,--if, however, the gendarmerie will
+permit!"
+
+"I must have clothes, dresses, linen, toilet appurtenances, soap, a
+mirror, combs, scents, a tapestry frame, a----"
+
+"A good many things, Madame, and in order to get them all, we would be
+forced to go to Athens. But one will do the best. Count on me and count
+not too much on your soldiers."
+
+"May God pity us!" Mary-Ann said.
+
+A vigorous echo replied: "Kyrie Eleison!" (Lord, have mercy upon us.) It
+was the good old man who came to visit us, and who sang while traveling
+about in order to keep in practice. He saluted us cordially, placed upon
+the grass a vessel full of honey, and seated himself near us. "Take and
+eat," he said. "My bees offer you a dessert."
+
+I shook hands with him; Mrs. Simons and Mary-Ann turned away in disgust.
+They obstinately refused to see him in any other light than as an
+accomplice of the brigands. The poor, good man knew no malice. He knew
+only how to chant his prayers, to care for his bees, to sell his goods,
+to collect the revenues of the convent, and to live at peace with the
+whole world. His intelligence was limited; his science, nothing; his
+conduct as innocent as that of a well-regulated machine. I do not
+believe that he was able to clearly distinguish good from bad, and to
+see any difference between a thief and an honest man. His wisdom
+consisted in making four meals a day, and of never getting more than
+half-seas over. He was, moreover, one of the best monks of his order.
+
+I did full justice to the present he had brought us. This half-wild
+honey resembled the kind which we eat in France, as the flesh of a roe
+resembles lamb's meat. One would have said that the bees had distilled
+in an invisible alembic all the perfumes of the mountains. I forgot, in
+eating my bread spread with the honey, that I had only a month in which
+to find fifteen thousand francs, or die.
+
+The monk, in his turn, asked permission to refresh himself a little, and
+without waiting for a reply, took the cup and turned out a bumper. He
+drank, successively, to each of us. Five or six brigands, drawn by
+curiosity, glided into the nook. He spoke to each by name, and drank to
+each, in a spirit of justice. It was not long before I cursed his
+presence. An hour after his arrival, half the band was seated in a
+circle around our viands. In the absence of the King, who was taking a
+siesta in his office, the brigands came, one by one, to cultivate our
+acquaintance. One offered his services, another brought us something,
+still a third introduced himself without pretext and without
+embarrassment, as a man who felt himself at home. The more familiar
+besought me to relate our history; the more timid held back at first but
+insensibly drew nearer. Some, having satisfied themselves with looking
+at us, threw themselves down, without courtesy for the ladies' presence,
+and immediately began to snore. And the fleas, always flying about, and
+the presence of their original master rendering them so bold that I
+surprised two or three of them on the back of my hand. Impossible to
+dispute their right to a grazing ground, I was no more a man, but a
+common pasture. At this moment, I would have given three of the most
+beautiful plants in my herbarium for a quarter of an hour of solitude.
+
+Mrs. Simons and her daughter were too discreet to impart to me their
+views, but they proved, by some involuntary starts, that we were of a
+community of ideas. I even surprised a look between them which seemed
+to say: "The gendarmes will deliver us from the thieves, but who can
+deliver us from these fleas." This mute complaint awoke in my heart a
+chivalrous sentiment. I resolutely rose and said:
+
+"Go away, all of you; the King has sent us here to live quietly until
+the arrival of our ransoms. The rent is so high that we have a right to
+remain alone. Are you not ashamed to crowd around a table, like
+parasitical dogs? You have no business here. We have no use for you; we
+do not want you here. Do you believe that we can escape? How? By the
+cascade? Or past the King's cabinet? Leave us then in peace. Corfuan,
+drive them away, and I will help you, if you wish."
+
+I added action to the word. I shoved along the loiterers, I awakened the
+sleepers, I shook the monk, I forced the Corfuan to aid me, and soon the
+troop of brigands, a troop armed with poniards and pistols, gave up to
+us the place, with lamb-like meekness, although kicking, taking short
+steps, resisting with the shoulders and twisting the head, in the
+fashion of school-boys who have to be pushed into the schoolroom, when
+recreation is over.
+
+At last we were alone with the Corfuan. I said to Mistress Simons:
+"Madame, this is our house. Will you be kind enough to separate the
+apartment into two divisions? I must have a little corner for my tent.
+Behind those trees, I shall not be badly off, and all the rest is yours,
+if that pleases you. You will have the brook at hand."
+
+My offers were accepted with sufficiently bad grace. These ladies would
+have liked to keep all and let me go to sleep with the thieves. It is
+true that British conventions might have gained something by this
+separation, but I would have lost sight of Mary-Ann. And, moreover, I
+had decided to sleep far from the fleas. The Corfuan approved of my
+proposition, which rendered his watch less difficult. He had orders to
+guard us night and day. It was necessary that he should sleep near my
+tent, but I exacted the condition of a distance of six English feet
+between us.
+
+The treaty concluded, I established myself in a corner to give chase to
+my domestic game. But I had scarcely begun, before the curious bandits
+appeared under pretext of bringing our tents.
+
+Mrs. Simons fairly screamed when she saw that her house was composed of
+a simple strip of heavy felt, pleated in the middle, fastened to the
+earth at the two ends, and opened to the wind on two sides. The Corfuan
+swore that we should be lodged like princes, save in case of rain or a
+strong wind. The entire band began to drive in stakes, to fix our beds
+and to bring bed-covers. Each bed was composed of a rug with a covering
+made of goat-skin. At six o'clock, the King came to assure himself, with
+his own eyes, that we lacked nothing. Mrs. Simons, more incensed than
+ever, replied that she lacked everything. I formally asked for the
+exclusion of all useless visitors. The King established severe
+regulations, such as we had never followed. Discipline is a French word
+hard to translate in Greek. The King and his subjects retired at seven
+o'clock, and we were to be served then with supper. Four torches of
+resinous wood lighted the table. Their red and smoky light strangely
+colored Miss Simons' pale face. Her eyes seemed to flash, become dim,
+and rekindle again, like a revolving beacon-light. Her voice, weakened
+by fatigue, took on, at intervals, a discordant tone. In listening to
+her, my mind seemed to wander in a supernatural world, and I remembered
+some very fantastic tales which I had once read. A nightingale sang, and
+I believed I saw its silvery song pouring from Mary-Ann's lips. The day
+had been a hard one for all, and even I, who had given substantial proof
+of my appetite, soon recognized the fact that I was famished only for
+sleep. I said good-night to the ladies and retired to my tent. In an
+instant, I forgot nightingale, danger, ransom, stings; I closed my eyes
+and I slept.
+
+A fearful discharge of musketry awoke me with a start. I jumped up so
+quickly that I struck my head against the poles of my tent. At the same
+moment, I heard two feminine voices crying: "We are saved! The
+gendarmes!" I saw two or three indistinct forms rush by in the night. In
+my joy, in my trouble, I embraced the first shadow which passed my
+tent--it was the Corfuan.
+
+"Halt!" he cried, "where are you running, if you please?"
+
+"Dog of a thief!" I replied, "I am going to see if the gendarmes will
+soon finish shooting your comrades."
+
+Mrs. Simons and her daughter, guided by my voice, came up to us. The man
+said to us:
+
+"The gendarmes will not travel to-day. It is the Ascension and the 1st
+of May, a double fête-day. The noise which you have heard is the signal
+for rejoicing. It is after midnight, almost morning; our companions go
+to drink wine, eat meat, dance the Romaique and burn powder. If you wish
+to see this beautiful sight, it will give me pleasure to take you to it.
+I can guard you more agreeably around the roast than at the fountain
+here."
+
+"You lie!" cried Mrs. Simons, "it is the gendarmes!"
+
+"Let us go and see," added Mary-Ann.
+
+I followed them. The tumult was so great that one could not have slept
+if one had wished. Our guide led us through the King's cabinet, and we
+climbed to the bandit camp which was all ablaze with light. Whole pine
+trees, placed at intervals, were used as torches. Five or six groups,
+seated around a huge fire, watched the lambs roasting on spits. In the
+midst of the crowd, a line of dancers wound slowly around in serpentine
+fashion, to the measures of most frightful music. Occasional volleys of
+musketry were heard. Once, it came quite near us and I felt the whizzing
+of a ball, close to my ear. I begged the ladies to hasten forward,
+hoping that, near the King, we would be farther from danger. The King,
+seated on his everlasting carpet, presided with due solemnity over the
+diversions of his people. Around him were goat-skin bottles; the sheep
+were cut up and each man took a leg or shoulder and carried it about in
+his hands. The orchestra was composed of a rude tambourine, and a shrill
+flageolet. The dancers had taken off their shoes, in order to be more
+agile. They flounced and jumped all over the spot and came near
+cracking their bones, sometimes. From time to time, they left the dance,
+drank a cup of wine, ate a piece of meat, discharged a gun, and then
+returned to the dance. All these men, except the King, drank, ate,
+hurled themselves about and jumped; I saw not one of them even smile.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros courteously excused himself for having awakened us.
+
+"It is not I who am to blame, it is the custom. If the first of May
+passed without a discharge of musketry, these worthy people would not
+believe that Spring had come. I have here only simple people, brought up
+in the country and attached to ancient customs. I have done the best for
+their education that I could do, but I shall die before they become
+civilized. Men cannot be made over in a day like silver forks and
+spoons. Even I, such as you see me, have found pleasure in these gross
+sports; I have eaten and drunk and danced like the others. I have never
+known European civilization; why should I take the trouble to travel so
+late in life? I would give much to be young and only fifty, again. I
+have ideas of reform which will never be executed; I see myself, like
+Alexander, without an heir worthy of me. I dream of a new organization
+of brigandage, without disorder, without turbulence, and without noise.
+But I have no one to second me. I ought to have the exact census of all
+the inhabitants of the kingdom, with an approximate statement of their
+wealth, personal and real. As for the strangers who land on our shores,
+an agent established at each port would learn and send to me their
+names, their itinerary, and, as nearly as possible, their fortune. In
+this way, I would know what each one could give me; and I would not make
+the mistake of asking too little or too much. I would establish on each
+road a post, with proper clerks, well brought-up and well educated;
+because, for what good, to frighten clients with disgusting behavior or
+a surly mien? I have seen, in France and in England, thieves, elegant to
+excess; and did they not certainly succeed better because of it?
+
+"I would demand of all my subordinates, exquisite manners, above all,
+from those whose business it was to accost people. I would have for
+prisoners of distinction like you, comfortable quarters in the open air,
+with fine gardens. And do not think that they would cost the occupants
+more dearly; to the contrary! If all those who traveled in this country
+were, necessarily, to fall into my hands, I could tax the passers-by for
+a very insignificant sum. So that each nation and each traveler would
+give me only a fourth per cent on their principals, I would gain upon
+the quantity. Then brigandage would only be a tax on the circulation; a
+just tax, because it would be proportional; a normal tax, because it had
+always been collected since ancient times. We could simplify it, if
+necessary, by yearly subscriptions. In consideration of a sum, once
+paid, one could obtain safe conduct for the natives, and an indorsed
+pass-port for travelers. You say that according to the terms of the
+Constitution no tax could be imposed without the vote of the Chambers.
+Ah! Monsieur, if I only had time! I would buy the whole Senate; I would
+nominate a Chamber of Deputies, friendly to me! A law would be passed,
+in a trice! One could create, if necessary, a Ministry of the Highway.
+That might cost me two or three millions, at first; but in four years I
+could square myself--, and I could keep the roads in order, into the
+bargain!"
+
+He sighed heavily, then he said: "You see with what freedom I have
+spoken to you. It is an old habit, of which I can never break myself. I
+have lived, always, in the open air and in the sunlight. Our profession
+would be shameful if exercised clandestinely. I hide nothing about
+myself, but I fear no one. When you read in the papers, that search is
+being made for me, say without hesitation that it is a parliamentary
+fiction; it is always known where I am. I fear neither Ministers, the
+Army, nor the Tribunals. The Ministers know that by a gesture I can
+change a Cabinet. The Army is on my side; it furnishes me with recruits,
+when I need them. I receive from it, soldiers; I return, officers. As
+for Messieurs, the Judges, they know my opinion of them. I do not esteem
+them, but I pity them. Poor, and badly recompensed, one cannot expect
+them to be honest. I have fed some, and clothed others; I have hung very
+few in my life; I am, then, the benefactor of the magistracy."
+
+He pointed out to me with a magnificent gesture, the sky, the sea, the
+country: "All that," said he, "is mine! Every breathing thing in the
+kingdom submits to me through fear, friendship or admiration. I have
+made many weep, and there is not one mother who would wish to have a son
+like Hadgi-Stavros. A day will come, when doctors, like you, will write
+my history, and when the isles of the Archipelago will dispute the
+honor of my birthplace. My portrait will hang on the walls of the
+houses, to keep company with the sacred images in the niches. At that
+time, my daughter's grandchildren will be reigning princes, who will
+speak with pride of their ancestor, the King of the Mountains!"
+
+Perhaps you will laugh at my German simplicity; but this strange
+discourse moved me profoundly. I admired, in spite of myself, this
+grandeur in crime. I had not, until then, ever met a majestic rascal.
+This devil of a man, who might cut off my head at the end of a month,
+almost inspired me with respect. His grand face, as if carved from
+marble, serene in the midst of the orgies, seemed to me like an
+inflexible mask of destiny. I could not restrain myself from saying:
+"Yes, you are, truly, a King!"
+
+He smilingly answered:
+
+"In truth, then, I have flatterers even among my enemies. Do not defend
+yourself; I can read faces, and you have looked at me since morning, as
+if you would like to hang me."
+
+"Since you have asked me to be frank, I confess that I have been angry.
+You have asked me a most unreasonable ransom. That you can take a
+hundred thousand francs from these ladies, who have them, is a very
+natural thing, and what might be expected of you; but that you should
+exact fifteen thousand from me, who has nothing, it is outrageous."
+
+"Nothing, however, is more simple. All strangers who come here are rich,
+because traveling costs. You pretend that you are not traveling at your
+own expenses; I would like to believe you. But those who have sent you
+here give you at least three or four thousand francs yearly. If they go
+to this expense, they have their reasons, because one does nothing for
+nothing. You represent, in their eyes, a capital of sixty to eighty
+thousand francs. Then, in ransoming you for fifteen thousand, they gain
+by it."
+
+"But the establishment which pays me has no capital; it has only
+revenues. The appropriation for the Jardin des Plantes is voted every
+year by the Senate; its resources are limited; one has never known a
+parallel case; I know not how to explain it to you--you could not
+comprehend--"
+
+"And when I did comprehend it," he replied in a haughty tone, "do you
+believe that I would take back what I have said? My words are laws; if I
+wish to have them respected, I must not violate them myself.
+
+"I have a right to be unjust; I have not the right to be weak. My
+injustices injure others; a weakness would ruin me. If I was known to be
+exorable, my prisoners would endeavor to find prayers to win me, instead
+of endeavoring to find money to pay me. I am not one of your European
+brigands who are a medley of sternness and generosity, of speculation
+and imprudence, of cruelty without cause, and comparison without excuse,
+in order to end, foolishly, on the scaffold. I have said, before
+witnesses, that I must have fifteen thousand francs for your head.
+Arrange it to suit yourself; but, in some way or other, I must be paid.
+Listen: in 1854, I condemned two little girls who were the age of my
+dear Photini. They held out their arms to me, weeping, and their cries
+made my fatherly heart bleed. Vasile, who killed them, tried many times;
+his hand trembled. And yet I was inflexible, because the ransom was not
+paid. Do you think, after that, that I would show you grace? What
+purpose would it have served me to kill them, the poor things! if one
+learned that I sent you away for nothing?"
+
+I dropped my head without a word in reply. I had a thousand reasons; but
+I knew not how to oppose them to the pitiless logic of this old
+executioner. He aroused me from my reflections with a friendly tap on
+the shoulder. "Have courage," he said to me. "I have seen death nearer
+to me than you are, and I carried myself like an oak. During the war of
+Independence, Ibrahim ordered me to be shot by seven Egyptians. Six
+balls failed of their duty; the seventh struck me on the forehead and
+glanced off. When the Turks came to pick up my body, I had disappeared
+in the smoke. You have, perhaps, a longer time to live than you think
+you have. Write to your friends in Hamburg. You have received an
+education; a doctor ought to have friends worth more than fifteen
+thousand francs. I really wish so. I do not hate you! you have never
+harmed me! your death would cause me no pleasure, and it would please me
+to believe that you will find the means for paying the money. While
+waiting, go and remain with the ladies. My people may drink a drop too
+much, and they look upon the English with eyes that say nothing good.
+These poor devils are condemned to an austere life, and they are not
+seventy years old, as I am. In ordinary times, I can keep them obedient
+by fatigue; but to-day, it is different; in an hour, I cannot answer for
+them."
+
+In truth, a menacing circle had already formed itself around Mary-Ann,
+who looked at these strange figures with innocent curiosity. The
+brigands, crouched before her, talked in loud tones, and praised her
+beauty in terms that it was well she did not comprehend. The Corfuan,
+who was making up for lost time, held out to her a cup of wine, which
+she proudly repulsed.
+
+Five or six drinkers, more inflamed than the rest, began to fight among
+themselves, as if to warm themselves up and toughen themselves for later
+and harder exploits. I made a sign to Mrs. Simons; the ladies both rose.
+But the moment I offered my arm to Mary-Ann, Vasile, red with wine,
+advanced with a staggering gait, and made as if to take hold of her. At
+this sight, I was furious. I jumped at the miserable cur and I made of
+my ten fingers a cravat for him. He clapped his hands to his belt, and
+gropingly felt for the handle of the knife; but before he could find it,
+I saw him torn from my hands and thrown ten feet away, by the powerful
+hand of the old King. A murmur arose from the crowd. Hadgi-Stavros
+raised his head and in a tone which dominated the noise, cried:
+"Silence! Show that you are Greeks and not Albanians!" He added in a low
+tone: "Make haste! the Corfuan shall not leave me; M. German, tell the
+ladies that I will sleep at the door of their tent."
+
+He went with us, preceded by his pipe-bearer, who never left him, day
+or night. Two or three men, inflamed with wine, made as if to follow us;
+he repulsed them rudely. We were not a hundred feet from the crowd, when
+a ball whizzed by us. The old Palikar did not deign to turn his head. He
+looked at me and smiled, and said in a low tone: "One must be indulgent;
+it is the day of the Ascension." Reaching the path, I profited by the
+stupidity of the Corfuan, who was tumbling along, to ask Mrs. Simons for
+a private interview. "I have," I said to her, "an important secret to
+confide to you! Permit me to come to your tent, when our spy sleeps the
+sleep of Noah."
+
+I knew not whether this Biblical comparison seemed irreverent; but she
+dryly replied that she knew enough not to have any secrets with me. I
+insisted; she was firm. I told her I had found a means of freeing
+ourselves without impoverishing us. She threw me a glance of defiance,
+consulted her daughter, and at last, acquiesced. Hadgi-Stavros made easy
+our interview, by keeping the Corfuan near him. He had his carpet spread
+at the top of the natural staircase which led to our camp, placed his
+arms near at hand, made the pipe-bearer lie down upon his right and the
+Corfuan on his left.
+
+I kept prudently within my tent until three distinct snores assured me
+that our guardians were asleep. The tumult had almost subsided. Two or
+three shots occasionally disturbed the silence of the night. Our
+neighbor, the nightingale, poured forth his song. I carefully crept
+along in the shadow of the trees, until I reached Mrs. Simons' tent.
+Mother and daughter were waiting for me, outside, on the damp grass.
+English custom forbade my entrance to the sleeping-room.
+
+"Speak, Monsieur," said Mrs. Simons, "but be quick about it. You know
+that we need rest."
+
+I replied with assurance: "Mesdames, what I have to say to you is well
+worth an hour of sleep. Would you like to be free in three days?"
+
+"But, Monsieur, we shall be to-morrow, or England will not be England.
+Dimitri ought to have apprised my brother by 5 o'clock; my brother would
+see our Minister at dinner-time; orders ought to have been given at
+once; the soldiers are already on the way, and we shall be free in the
+morning, in time for breakfast."
+
+"Let us not deceive ourselves! time passes. I do not count upon the
+gendarmes! Our captors speak too lightly of them, to fear them. I have
+always heard, that in this country, hunter and game, gendarme and
+brigand, are in collusion with each other. I suppose, strictly speaking,
+that some men may be sent to our aid; Hadgi-Stavros will see them coming
+and will drag us, by lonely paths, to another and more remote retreat.
+He knows the country, thoroughly; all the rocks are his accomplices,
+every bush his ally, the ravines his "fence" (receiver of stolen goods).
+Parnassus is leagued with him against us; he is the King of the
+Mountains!"
+
+"Bravo, Monsieur! Hadgi-Stavros is God, and you are his Prophet! He
+would be touched to hear with what admiration you speak of him! I have
+already divined that you are one of his friends, seeing how he put his
+hand on your shoulder, as if he was speaking to you in confidence. Is
+it not he who has suggested the plan of escape which you have come to
+propose?"
+
+"Yes, Madame, it is he; or rather, his correspondence. I found, this
+morning, while he was dictating to his secretaries, the infallible means
+of freeing us gratis. Will you write to Monsieur, your brother, to send
+a sum of 115,000 francs, 100,000 for you and 15,000 for me, by some safe
+person, say, Dimitri?"
+
+"By your friend, Dimitri, to your friend, the King of the Mountains?
+Many thanks, my dear Monsieur. It is for this price that we are to be
+freed for nothing?"
+
+"Yes, Madame. Dimitri is not my friend and Hadgi-Stavros would not
+scruple to cut off my head. But I will continue; in exchange for the
+money, you shall insist that the King sign a receipt."
+
+"And a fine receipt it would be."
+
+"With this paper, you would get back your 115,000 francs, without losing
+a centime, and you will see how."
+
+"Good evening, Monsieur. Do not waste time to say any more. Since we
+landed in this miserable country we have been robbed by everybody. The
+Customs-officers robbed us; the man who drove us to Athens robbed us;
+our inn-keeper has robbed us; our servant, hired by the day, who is not
+your friend, has thrown us into the hands of these thieves; we met a
+respectable monk, who shared the spoils with the brigands; all the men
+who were drinking up there are knaves; those who sleep before our tent,
+to protect us, are of the same class; you are the only honest man whom
+we have met in Greece, and your counsels are the best in the world! but
+good-evening, Monsieur! good-evening!"
+
+"In the name of heaven, Madame!--I will not attempt to justify myself,
+think what you will of me. Only permit me to tell you how you can get
+back your money."
+
+"And how do you think I can get it back, if all the soldiers of the
+kingdom cannot free us? Hadgi-Stavros is, then, no longer King of the
+Mountains? He knows no more hidden paths? The ravines, the bushes, the
+rocks, are no longer his accomplices? Good-evening, Monsieur; I can
+testify to your zeal; I will tell the brigands that you have executed
+their commission; but once for all, Monsieur, good-evening!"
+
+The good woman gave me a push by the shoulders, crying "good-evening" in
+so shrill a tone, that I trembled lest she should awaken our guardians,
+and I sorrowfully went to my tent. What a day! I went over, one by one,
+all the incidents which had occurred since the hour I left in pursuit of
+the boryana variabilis. The meeting with the Englishwomen, Mary-Ann's
+beautiful eyes, the attack of the brigands, the dogs, the fleas,
+Hadgi-Stavros, fifteen thousand francs to pay, my life at that price,
+the orgies of the Ascension, the balls whizzing about my ears, the
+drunken face of Vasile, and to crown all, Mrs. Simons' injustice. And
+then to be taken for a thief! Sleep, which consoled the others, did not
+come to my aid. All the events which had happened had over-excited me
+and I could not sleep. Day broke upon my miserable meditations. I
+followed the course of the sun as it rose in the heavens. Some confused
+noises followed, little by little, the silence of the night. I had not
+courage to look at my watch, or to turn my head to see what was passing
+around me. I was overcome with fatigue and discouragement. I believe if
+anyone had attempted to roll me down the hill, that I would not have put
+out my hands to stop myself. In this prostration of my faculties, I had
+a vision, which partook, at the same time, of a dream and an
+hallucination, because I was neither awake nor asleep, and my eyes were
+neither closed nor open. It seemed that I had been buried alive, that my
+felt tent was a catafalque, adorned with flowers, and that some one
+chanted prayers for the dead. Fears seized me; I tried to cry out; the
+words stuck in my throat, or the sound of them was drowned in the
+chants. I heard, distinctly, verses and responses, and I recognized that
+funeral services were being celebrated over me, in Greek. I made a
+violent effort to move my right arm; it was like lead. I extended my
+left; it yielded easily, striking against the tent and causing something
+like a bouquet to fall. I rubbed my eyes, I rose on my elbow, I examined
+the flowers, fallen from above, and I recognized in the superb specimen,
+the boryana variabilis. It was certainly the flower! I touched the
+lobated leaves, its gamosepalous calyx, its corolla composed of five
+oblique petals, united at the base by a staminal filament, its ten
+stamens, its ovary with its five loculaments; I held in my hand the
+queen of malvaceae! But by what chance had I found it at the bottom of
+my tomb? and how send it so far to the Jardin des Plantes at Hamburg? At
+this moment, a lively pain drew my attention to my right arm. One would
+have said that it was the prey of a swarm of invisible little animals. I
+rubbed it with my left hand, and little by little, it became normal. I
+had lain with it under my head for many hours, and it had become numb. I
+lived then, since pain is one of the privileges of life. But, then, what
+did that funeral chant, which rang obstinately in my ears, mean? I
+raised myself. Our apartment was in the same state as on the evening
+before. Mrs. Simons and her daughter were sleeping profoundly. A huge
+bunch of flowers like mine hung from the upper part of their tent. It
+occurred to me that I had heard that the Greeks had a custom of
+decorating their dwellings on the night before the first of May. These
+bouquets and the boryana variabilis came, then, from the munificence of
+the King. The funeral chant haunted me, I could still hear it. I climbed
+the staircase which led to the King's cabinet, and saw a more curious
+spectacle than any that had astonished me the evening before. An altar
+was set up and dressed, under the pine. The monk, clothed in magnificent
+pontificals, was celebrating, with imposing dignity, the divine office.
+Our drinkers of the night before, some standing, others kneeling in the
+dust, all religiously uncovered, were metamorphosed into little saints.
+One fervently kissed an image painted on wood, another made the sign of
+the cross, the most fervent bowed themselves to the ground and wiped the
+dust with their hair. The King's young pipe-bearer circulated through
+the crowd, with a plate, saying: "Give alms! He who giveth to the Church
+lendeth to the Lord!" And the centimes showered upon the plate, and the
+ring of the coins as they fell upon the copper dish made an
+accompaniment to the voice of the priest and the prayers of the
+suppliants. When I entered the assembly of the faithful, each one
+saluted me with a discreet cordiality, which recalled the primitive
+Church. Hadgi-Stavros, near the altar, made place for me at his side. He
+held a large book in his hand, and judge of my surprise, when I heard
+him recite the lessons in a loud voice. A brigand, officiating! He had
+received, in his youth, two of the lower orders; he was reader. One
+degree more, he would have been exorcist, and invested with the power of
+chasing out devils! Assuredly, I am not one of those travelers who are
+astonished at everything, and I practice, energetically enough, the nil
+admirari; but I was wonder-struck and amazed before this strange
+spectacle. Looking on at the genuflections, listening to the prayers,
+one would have supposed these actors guilty, only, of a little idolatry.
+Their faith seemed active and their conviction profound, but I who had
+seen them at work and who knew how little Christ-like they were in
+action, I could not help saying to myself: "Who is being fooled?"
+
+The office lasted until some minutes after noon. An hour afterward, the
+altar had disappeared, the men had begun to drink again, and the good
+old man (the monk) led them.
+
+The King took me one side and asked me if I had written. I promised to
+do so at once, and he gave me reeds, ink and paper. I wrote to John
+Harris, to Christodule, and to my father. I supplicated Christodule to
+intercede for me with his old comrade, and I told him it was impossible
+for me to furnish fifteen thousand francs. I recommended myself to the
+courage and imagination of John Harris, who was not a man to leave a
+friend in trouble. "If any one can save me," I wrote to him, "it is you.
+I do not know how you can do it, but I hope in you with all my soul; you
+are such a hot-headed fellow! I do not count on your finding fifteen
+thousand francs ransom; it would be necessary to borrow them of M.
+Mérinay, who lends nothing. You are, moreover, too American to consent
+to such a bargain. Do as you please; set fire to the Kingdom; I approve
+of everything in advance; but lose no time. I believe that my head is
+weak, and that my reason will be gone before the end of the month."
+
+As for my unfortunate father, I kept from him the facts. To what good to
+bring death to his soul, by telling him to what dangers I was exposed? I
+wrote to him, as always, the first of the month: that I was well, and I
+hoped my letter would find the family well. I added that I was
+sojourning in the mountains, that I had discovered the boryana
+variabilis and a young Englishwoman more beautiful and richer than the
+Princess Ypsoff, of romantic memory. I had not yet been able to inspire
+her with love, for the lack of favorable circumstances; but I would
+find, perhaps, some occasion when I could render her some great service
+or show myself to her in my Uncle Rosenthaler's uniform. But I added
+with a feeling of unconquerable sadness: "Who knows but that I may die
+a bachelor? Then, it would fall to Frantz or Jean-Nicholas to make a
+fortune for the family. My health is better than ever, and my strength
+is not yet weakened; but Greece is a traitor which makes short work of
+the most vigorous men. If I am condemned to never see Germany again and
+to die here, some unexpected death, at the end of my travels and my
+work, my last regret would be for my family, and my last thought of
+them."
+
+The King came up just as I was wiping away a tear, and I believe that
+this mark of weakness made him lose some of his esteem for me.
+
+"Come, young man, have courage! The time is not yet come to weep over
+yourself. What the devil! One would say that you had been assisting at
+your own interment. The English lady has written a letter of eight
+pages, and she has not dropped a tear. Go and keep her company for a
+little while. She needs entertainment. Ah! if you were a man of my
+temper! I swear to you that at your age and in your position, I would
+not remain long a prisoner. My ransom would be paid in two days, and I
+know full well who would furnish the funds. You are not married?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Oh, well! You do not understand? Return to your camping place and make
+yourself agreeable. I have furnished you a fine opportunity to get a
+fortune. If you do not profit by it, you will be foolish, and if you do
+not put me on the list of your benefactors, you will be an ingrate."
+
+I found Mary-Ann and her mother seated near the cascade. While waiting
+for their waiting-maid, which had been promised them, they were
+themselves endeavoring to mend their torn habits. The bandits had
+furnished them with thread, or rather with twine, and some needles
+suitable for sewing sails. From time to time they stopped their work to
+look with melancholy gaze upon the houses in Athens. It was hard to see
+the city so near, and not to be able to go there except at a cost of a
+hundred thousand francs. I asked them how they had slept. The curtness
+of their reply, proved to me that they had been discussing our
+interview. At this moment, I noticed Mary-Ann's hair; she was
+bare-headed, and after washing it at the brook, she had left it to dry
+in the sun. I would never have believed that any woman could possess
+such a profusion of soft, glossy chestnut hair. It fell in masses over
+her shoulders and down her back. But it did not hang in limp strings
+like the locks of other women who have just washed them. It fell in
+perfect waves, like the surface of a little lake rippled by the wind. I
+had never loved anyone and I ought not to have begun by falling in love
+with a girl who took me for a thief. But I confess that I wished, at the
+price of my life, to save those beautiful tresses from the clutches of
+Hadgi-Stavros. I conceived, while sitting there, a plan of escape,
+difficult but not impossible. Our apartment (so-called) had two exits,
+one upon the King's cabinet, or office; the other, over the precipice.
+To escape by the King's cabinet was absurd! It would be necessary to
+traverse the camp and pass the second line of defense, guarded by the
+dogs. There remained the precipice. In looking over into the abyss I
+saw that the rock, almost perpendicular, offered enough sinuous
+depression, with tufts of grass, with little saplings, and available
+shrubs of all kinds to permit one to descend without breaking one's
+neck. What would render flight dangerous on this side, was the cascade.
+The brook, which flowed through the place, formed, on the side of the
+mountain, a horribly glistening sheet. It would, moreover, be difficult
+to keep one's courage, while descending the side of the mountain safely,
+with a torrent of water pouring over one's head. But were there no means
+of turning the course of the stream? Perhaps. In examining more closely
+the place where we had slept, I saw that, without any doubt, the water
+had once traversed that spot. Our camping place was, then, only the dry
+bed of a torrent. I raised a corner of the carpet which was spread under
+our feet, and I discovered a thick sediment, left by the water. It was
+possible, that some day or other, an earthquake, so frequent in those
+mountains, had broken down an embankment; or a vein of rock, softer than
+the others, had given passage to the current, and the mass of waters had
+been thrown from its bed. A strip ten feet long and three wide, led to
+the side of the mountain. In order to close this sluice, open for many
+years, and imprison the waters in their first reservoir, only two hours
+work was needed. An hour more would be enough to drain off the water,
+and the night wind would soon dry the rocks. Our escape, the way thus
+prepared, would not take more than twenty-five minutes. Once at the foot
+of the mountain, we would have Athens before us, and the stars would
+serve as guides; the paths were detestable, but we would run no risk of
+meeting a brigand. When the King would come in the morning to make us a
+visit, to inquire how we had passed the night, he would see that we had
+passed it, running; and, as one can acquire knowledge at any age, he
+would learn, to his sorrow, that one cannot count on one's self, and
+that a cascade was a bad guard for prisoners.
+
+This project seemed to me so marvelous, that I, at once, imparted it to
+the ladies. They listened, at first, as prudent conspirators listen to
+an irritating agent. The younger woman, however, measured, without a
+tremor, the depth of the ravine. "One could do it," she said. "Not
+alone, but with the help of a strong arm. Are you strong, Monsieur?"
+
+I replied, without knowing why: "I shall be, if you will have confidence
+in me." These words, to which I attached no particular meaning, seemed,
+without doubt, somewhat foolish, for she blushed and turned away her
+head. "Monsieur," she replied, "it may be that we have judged you
+wrongly; misfortune embitters one. I would willingly believe that you
+are a worthy young man."
+
+She might have been able to find something more agreeable to say; but
+she gave me this half compliment in a voice so sweet and a look so
+sincere, that I was moved to the depths of my soul. So true is it, that
+if the air is pretty, the words of a song do not matter.
+
+She held out to me her beautiful hand, and I had already put my own out
+to take it, when she suddenly withdrew it, and said: "Where will you
+get the material for a dike?"
+
+"Under our feet! the turf!"
+
+"The water will wash it away."
+
+"Not under two hours. After us, the deluge!"
+
+"Good!" This time she gave me her hand and I was about to carry it to my
+lips, but she quickly withdrew it again. "We are guarded night and day,
+have you thought of that?"
+
+I had not even thought of it, but I was too well on my way to recoil
+before any obstacle. I replied with a resolution which astonished me:
+"The Corfuan? I will see to him. I will tie him to a tree."
+
+"He will cry out."
+
+"I will kill him."
+
+"And the arms to do it with?"
+
+"I will steal them." To steal! to kill! it seemed natural, since I had
+almost kissed her hand. Judge then, Monsieur, of what I might be
+capable, if ever I fell in love!
+
+Mrs. Simons listened with a certain kindness, and I believe, approved of
+my plan by look and gesture. "My dear Monsieur," she said to me, "your
+second plan is better than your first, yes, infinitely better; I would
+never consent to pay a ransom, even with the certainty of receiving it
+again, immediately. Tell me again then, if you please, what you intend
+to do?"
+
+"I will tell you the whole plan, Madame. I will procure a poniard
+to-day. To-night, our brigands will go to sleep early, and they will
+sleep soundly. I will rise at ten o'clock, I will bind our guard, I will
+gag him, and if necessary, I will kill him. It would not be murder, it
+would be an execution; he merits twenty deaths instead of one. At ten
+and a half, I will take up fifty square feet of turf, you can carry it
+to the edge of the brook, and I will construct the dam; total, one hour
+and a half. It will take till midnight. We will labor together to hasten
+the work, while the wind will dry off our path. One o'clock will come; I
+will take Mademoiselle on my left arm, we will glide carefully to that
+crevasse, we will hold ourselves up by those bushes, we will reach the
+wild fig-tree, we will stop to rest at that green oak, we will creep
+along to that prominence near those red rocks, we will get down to the
+ravine, and we shall be free."
+
+"Good! and I?"
+
+That "I" fell upon my enthusiasm like a douche of water. One is not wise
+in all things, and I had forgotten all about saving Mrs. Simons.
+Returning to help her down was not to be thought of. The ascent would be
+impossible without a ladder. The good woman noticed my confusion. She
+said to me with more pity than spite: "My poor man, you see that
+romantic projects always fail at some point. Permit me to hold to my
+first idea of waiting for the gendarmerie. I am English, and I have a
+confirmed habit of placing my confidence in the law. I know, moreover,
+the soldiers of Athens; I have seen them parade in the Palace Square.
+They are handsome fellows and quite soldiers, for Greeks. They have long
+mustaches and percussion-guns. It is they, pardon me, who will liberate
+us."
+
+The Corfuan's appearance prevented my reply. He brought a maid for the
+ladies. She was an Albanian, quite handsome, in spite of her snub nose.
+Two brigands, who were returning to the mountains, had forcibly taken
+her, as she was walking between her mother and her betrothed, all
+dressed in their Sunday clothes. She screamed with such agonizing cries
+that it would have pierced a heart of marble, but they consoled her by
+telling her that they would not only release her in fifteen days, but
+that they would also pay her. She accepted her lot bravely and almost
+rejoiced at the misfortune which would increase her dowry. Happy
+country, where the wounds of the heart are cured with five franc pieces.
+This philosophical servant was not of very great use to Mrs. Simons; of
+all the different avenues of work open to her sex, she knew only
+farming. As for me, she made life unbearable by the habit she had of
+nibbling at a clove of garlic, as a dainty bit, and through coquetry, as
+the ladies of Hamburg amuse themselves devouring bonbons.
+
+The day passed without incident. The next day seemed to all of us
+interminably long.
+
+The Corfuan left us not an instant alone. Mary-Ann and her mother
+searched the horizon for the soldiers, but saw nothing. I, who am
+accustomed to active life, fretted at the inactivity. I could have had
+the range of mountains to add to my herbarium, under guard; but a
+certain feeling, I knew not what, held me near the ladies. During the
+night, I slept little; my plan of escape obstinately haunted me. I had
+noticed the place where the Corfuan laid his dagger before going to
+sleep; but I would have considered it treachery to have saved myself
+without Mary-Ann.
+
+Saturday morning, between five and six o'clock, an unusual noise drew me
+towards the King's cabinet. My toilet was quickly made; I went to bed
+fully dressed.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros, standing in the midst of his band, was presiding at a
+noisy council. All the brigands were upon the war path, armed to the
+teeth. Ten or a dozen coffers which I had not seen before had been piled
+on some wagon-frames. I divined that they contained the baggage and that
+our captors were preparing to leave camp. The Corfuan, Vasile, and
+Sophocles were contesting something at the top of their voices, and all
+talking together. One could hear from a distance the barking of the
+outside guards. A courier, in tatters, ran toward the King, crying: "The
+gendarmes!"
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE GENDARMES.
+
+
+The King appeared to be little troubled. His eyebrows were, however,
+drawn a little nearer together than was usual, and the wrinkles on his
+forehead formed an acute angle between his eyes. He asked the courier:
+
+"Where are they?"
+
+"Near Castia."
+
+"How many companies?"
+
+"One."
+
+"Whose?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Wait!"
+
+A second messenger was seen running toward the King. Hadgi-Stavros cried
+out to him: "Is it Pericles' company?"
+
+"I do not know; I did not see their number." A shot was heard at a
+distance. "Listen!" commanded the King, taking out his watch. The men
+were silent. Four shots followed, a minute apart. The last one was
+followed by a thundering detonation which resembled platoon-firing. The
+King, with a smile, put his watch back in his pocket.
+
+"It is all right! Return the baggage to the storeroom, and serve me with
+wine of Aegina; it is Pericles' company."
+
+He saw me just as he finished the sentence. He called to me, in a
+jeering tone:
+
+"Come, Monsieur German, you are not _de trop_. It is well to rise early;
+one sees curious things. Your thirst has awakened you! Will you drink a
+glass of wine of Aegina with our brave gendarmes?"
+
+Five minutes later three enormous goat-skin bottles were brought from
+some secret hiding place. A sentinel approached the King.
+
+"Good news! They are Pericles' men!"
+
+A few of the bandits were in advance of the troops. The Corfuan, a fine
+talker, skipped along by the Captain's side, his tongue running. A drum
+was heard; then a blue flag was seen, and sixty men, fully armed,
+marched in double file to the King's Cabinet. I recognized M. Pericles,
+because I had admired him on the promenade at Athens. He was a young
+officer of thirty-five, dark, a coxcomb, admired by the ladies, the best
+waltzer at Court, and wearing his epaulets with grace. He put up his
+sword, ran to the King of the Mountains, who kissed him on the mouth,
+saying, "Good morning, godfather!"
+
+"Good morning, little one," the King replied, caressing his cheek with
+his hand. "Thou art well?"
+
+"Yes. And thou?"
+
+"As thou seest. And thy family?"
+
+"My uncle, the Bishop, has a fever."
+
+"Bring him here, I will cure him. The Prefect of Police is better?"
+
+"A little; he sends his kind regards; the Minister also."
+
+"What is new?"
+
+"A ball at the Palace on the 15th. It is decided; the 'Siècle' publishes
+it!"
+
+"Thou dancest, then, all the time? And what about the Bourse?"
+
+"There is a general fall in stocks."
+
+"Good! hast thou letters for me?"
+
+"Yes; here they are. Photini's was not ready. She will send it by the
+post."
+
+"A glass of wine: ... Thy health, little one!"
+
+"God bless thee, godfather! Who is this Frank who is listening to us?"
+
+"Nothing! A German of no consequence. Thou hast not news for us?"
+
+"The paymaster-general sends 20,000 francs to Argos. They will pass by
+the Sciromian Rocks to-morrow night."
+
+"I will be there. Will a large band be necessary?"
+
+"Yes! the coffer is guarded by two companies."
+
+"Good or bad?"
+
+"Detestable! Men who are dead shots."
+
+"I will take all my band. In my absence thou wilt guard our prisoners?"
+
+"With pleasure. Apropos, I have the most rigid orders. Thy English
+prisoners have written to their Ambassador. They have called the entire
+army to their aid."
+
+"And it is I who furnished them the paper!"
+
+"It is necessary, in consequence, that I write my report. I will recount
+a bloody battle."
+
+"We will write it out together."
+
+"Yes. This time, godfather, I must be the victor."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes! I wish to be decorated."
+
+"Thou shalt be, some other time. What an insatiable! It is only a year
+since I made thee Captain."
+
+"But understand, dear godfather, that it is for thy interest to be
+conquered. When the world shall learn that thy band is dispersed,
+confidence will be restored, travelers will again pour into the country
+and thou wilt make thy fortune."
+
+"Yes, but if I am conquered the Bourse will send up stocks, and I am
+speculating on a fall."
+
+"That is another affair! At least, let me kill a dozen men!"
+
+"So be it! That will harm no one. On my side I must kill ten."
+
+"How! One will see on our return that our company is full."
+
+"Not so! Thou shalt leave them here; I need recruits."
+
+"In that case, I recommend to thee little Spiro, my adjutant. He is a
+graduate of the military school, he has been well instructed and is
+intelligent. The poor boy gets only 78 francs a month, and his parents
+are not very well satisfied. If he remains in the army he will not
+become a sub-lieutenant under five or six years; the staffs are
+complete. But let him make himself remarked in thy troop; they will
+offer to bribe him, and he would have his nomination in six months."
+
+"Good for the little Spiro! Does he speak French?"
+
+"Passably."
+
+"I will keep him, perhaps. If he does well for me, I will include him in
+the enterprise; he might be a stockholder. Thou wilt receive our account
+rendered for the year. I give 82 per cent."
+
+"Bravo! my eight shares will bring me more than my Captain's pay. Ah!
+godfather, what career is mine?"
+
+"What dost thou risk? Thou couldst be a brigand, but for thy mother's
+notions. She has always pretended that thou hast lacked a vocation. To
+thy health! And to yours, M. German! I present to you my godson, Captain
+Pericles, a charming young man who knows many languages, and who will
+replace me during my absence. My dear Pericles, I present to thee
+Monsieur, who is a doctor and is valued at fifteen thousand francs.
+Canst thou believe that this tall doctor, all doctor as he is, has not
+yet found out how to pay his ransom through our English captives. The
+world has degenerated, little one: it was better in my day."
+
+Thereupon, he nimbly rose and hastened to give some orders for
+departure. Was it the pleasure of entering on a campaign, or the joy of
+seeing his godson? He seemed rejuvenated; he was twenty years younger,
+he laughed, he jested, he shook off his royal dignity. I would never
+have supposed that the only event capable of cheering a brigand would be
+the arrival of the gendarmerie. Sophocles, Vasile, the Corfuan and the
+other chiefs carried the King's orders through the camp. Every one was
+soon ready to depart, owing to the morning's activity. The young
+adjutant, Spiro, and the nine men chosen from among the gendarmes
+exchanged their uniforms for the picturesque dress of the bandits. This
+was a veritable lightning-change; the Minister of War, if he had been
+there, would have almost been unable to have told how it was done. The
+newly-made brigands seemed to feel no regret for their former
+employment. The only ones who murmured were those who remained under the
+old flag. Two or three veterans loudly complained that the selection had
+not been well made, and that no account had been taken of seniority. A
+few old soldiers vaunted their exploits and laid claim to having served
+the required time in brigandage. The Captain soothed them as best he
+could, and promised them that their turn should come.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros, before departing, gave all his keys to his
+representative. He showed him the grotto where the wine was kept, in the
+cave in which was the flour, the cheese packed in a crevice, and the
+trunk of a tree in which was kept the coffee. He instructed him in every
+precaution which was to be taken to prevent our escape and to keep
+possession of so splendid a sum. The handsome Pericles smilingly
+replied: "What dost thou fear? I am a stockholder."
+
+At seven o'clock in the morning the King put himself at the head of his
+band, and the men marched forth in single file. They marched toward the
+north, keeping their backs to the Sciromian Rocks. They made a long
+detour, by a path which was easy, to the bottom of the ravine which was
+below our camping place. The bandits sang at the top of their voices
+while wading through the brook formed by the waters of the cascade as
+they fell into the ravine. The war-song was a story of Hadgi-Stavros'
+youth, consisting of four verses:
+
+    "The Clephte aux yeux noirs descend dans les plaines;
+    Sonfusil doré----"
+
+"You ought to know it; the little Athenian lads sing nothing else on the
+way to Catechism."
+
+Mrs. Simons, who slept near her daughter, and who was always dreaming of
+the gendarmes, jumped up and ran to the window, that is to say, the
+cascade. She was cruelly disappointed in seeing enemies, when she
+expected to find saviors. She recognized the King, the Corfuan, and
+several others. What was the most astonishing thing to her was the
+formidable appearance and numbers of this morning expedition. She
+counted sixty men following Hadgi-Stavros. "Sixty," she thought; "there
+only remains twenty, then, to guard us?" The idea of escape, which she
+had scorned the night before, now presented itself to her with some
+favor. In the midst of these reflections she saw the rear-guard appear,
+and which she had not counted. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen,
+twenty men! Then there was no one left in the camp! "We are free!
+Mary-Ann," she cried. The men still filed past. The band itself
+consisted of eighty men; ninety marched by; a dozen dogs came behind,
+but she took no trouble to count them.
+
+Mary-Ann arose at her mother's call and came quickly from the tent.
+
+"Free!" cried Mrs. Simons. "They have all left, What did I say? all!
+Even a larger number has gone than was here. Let us hasten away, my
+daughter!"
+
+She hurried to the top of the staircase and saw the King's camp occupied
+by the soldiers. The Greek flag floated triumphantly at the summit of
+the pine tree. Hadgi-Stavros' place was occupied by M. Pericles. Mrs.
+Simons threw herself into his arms in such a transport that he had hard
+work to free himself from her embrace.
+
+"Angel of God!" she said to him, "the brigands have gone."
+
+The Captain replied in English: "Yes, Madame."
+
+"You have put them to flight?"
+
+"It is true, Madame, that but for us they would still be here."
+
+"Excellent young man! The battle must have been terrible!"
+
+"Not so! a battle without tears. I had only to say a word."
+
+"And we are free?"
+
+"Assuredly!"
+
+"We may return to Athens?"
+
+"When it pleases you."
+
+"Oh, well! let us depart at once."
+
+"Impossible, for the moment."
+
+"What would we do here?"
+
+"Our duty to our conquerors; we will guard the battle ground."
+
+"Mary-Ann, give thy hand to Monsieur."
+
+The young English girl obeyed.
+
+"Monsieur," said Mrs. Simons, "it is God who sends you here. We had
+lost all hope. Our only protector was a young German of the middle
+class, a savant who gathers herbs and who wished to save us by the most
+preposterous means. At last, you have come! I was sure that we would be
+delivered by the gendarmerie. Is it not so, Mary-Ann?"
+
+"Yes, Mamma."
+
+"Know, Monsieur, that these bandits are the vilest of men. They began by
+taking everything from us."
+
+"All?" asked the Captain.
+
+"All, except my watch, which I took the precaution to hide."
+
+"You did well, Madame. And they kept all that they took from you?"
+
+"No, they returned three hundred francs, a silver traveling case and my
+daughter's watch."
+
+"These things are still in your possession?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"They did not take from you your rings and your ear-rings?"
+
+"No, Monsieur le Capitaine."
+
+"Will you be good enough to give them to me?"
+
+"Give you what?"
+
+"Your rings, your ear-rings, the silver traveling case, two watches and
+the sum of three hundred francs."
+
+Mrs. Simons cried out: "What! Monsieur, you would take from us the
+articles the bandits returned to us?"
+
+The Captain replied with dignity: "Madame, I must do my duty."
+
+"Your duty is to despoil us?"
+
+"My duty is to collect all the articles for necessary conviction in the
+trial of Hadgi-Stavros."
+
+"He will then be tried?"
+
+"Since we have taken him."
+
+"It seems to me that our jewels and our money would serve nothing, and
+that you have sufficient testimony to hang him. First of all, he
+captured two Englishwomen; what more is necessary?"
+
+"It is necessary, Madame, that the forms of justice be observed."
+
+"But, dear sir, among the articles which you demand there are some which
+I prize highly."
+
+"The more reason, Madame, to confide them to my care."
+
+"But if I had no watch I should never----"
+
+"Madame, it will always give me pleasure to tell you the hour."
+
+Mary-Ann observed in her turn that it was disagreeable to her to be
+obliged to give up her ear-rings.
+
+"Mademoiselle," the gallant Captain replied, "you are beautiful enough
+not to need jewels. You can do better without gems than your gems can do
+without you."
+
+"You are very good, Monsieur, but my silver dressing case or necessaire
+is an indispensable article. What one calls a necessaire is a thing with
+which one cannot dispense."
+
+"You are a thousand times right, Mademoiselle. So I beg of you not to
+insist upon that point. Do not add to the regret with which I have
+already legally despoiled two so distinguished persons. Alas!
+Mademoiselle, we military men, we are the slaves of orders, instruments
+of the law, men of duty. Deign to accept my arm, I will do myself the
+honor of conducting you to your tent. There, we will proceed to the
+inventory, if you will be good enough to permit it."
+
+I lost not one word of this conversation, and I kept silent to the end;
+but when I saw this rascal of an officer offer his arm to Mary-Ann in
+order to politely plunder her, I became enraged, and I marched up to him
+to tell him what I thought of him. He must have read in my eyes the
+exordium of my discourse, because he threw a menacing look at me, left
+the ladies at the staircase of their chamber, placed a sentinel there,
+and returned to me, saying:
+
+"Between us two!"
+
+He drew me, without adding a word, to the rear of the King's cabinet.
+There, he seated himself before me, looked me straight in the eyes, and
+said:
+
+"Monsieur, you understand English?"
+
+I confessed my knowledge. He added:
+
+"You know Greek, also?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur."
+
+"Then, you are too learned. Do you understand my godfather, who amuses
+himself recounting our affairs before you? That is of no importance to
+him; he has nothing to hide; he is King, he is responsible to no one but
+himself. As for me, what the devil! put yourself in my place. My
+position is delicate, and I have many affairs to manage. I am not rich;
+I have only my pay, the esteem of my chiefs, and the friendship of the
+brigands. A traveler's indiscretion might cost me my promotions."
+
+"And you count on the fact that I will keep your infamies secret?"
+
+"When I count on anything, Monsieur, my confidence is rarely misplaced.
+I do not know that you will leave these mountains alive, and yet your
+ransom may never be paid. If my godfather would cut off your head, I
+should be satisfied you would not talk. If, on the contrary, you should
+return to Athens, I counsel you, as a friend, to keep silent about what
+you have seen. Imitate the discretion of the late Madame la Duchesse de
+Plaisance, who was taken captive by Bibichi and who died ten years later
+without having related to any one the details of her captivity. Do you
+know a proverb which runs: "The tongue cuts off the head?" Meditate
+seriously upon it, and do not put yourself in a place to exactly verify
+it."
+
+"The menace----"
+
+"I do not menace you, Monsieur, I am a man too well brought up to resort
+to threats, I warn you! If you should gossip, it is not I who would
+avenge myself. All the men in my company adore their Captain. They are
+even more warmly interested in my interests than I am myself; they would
+be pitiless, to my great regret, to any indiscreet person who had caused
+me any trouble."
+
+"What do you fear, if you have so many accomplices?"
+
+"I fear nothing from the Greeks, and, in ordinary times, I should insist
+less strongly on my orders. We have, among our chiefs, some fanatics
+who think that we ought to treat bandits like Turks; but I have also
+found some who are on the right side, in case it came to an internecine
+struggle. The misfortune is that the diplomats would interfere, and the
+presence of a stranger would, without doubt, injure my cause. If any
+misfortune happens to me through you, do you see, Monsieur, to what you
+would be exposed? One cannot take four steps in the kingdom without
+meeting a gendarme. The road from Athens to Piraeus is under the
+vigilance of these quarrelsome persons, and accidents frequently occur."
+
+"It is well, Monsieur; I will reflect upon it."
+
+"And will keep the secret?"
+
+"You have nothing to ask of me and I have nothing to promise. You have
+advised me of the danger of being indiscreet. I accept the advice and I
+will refrain from speaking of it."
+
+"When you return to Germany, you may tell whatever you please. Speak,
+write, publish; it is of no importance. The works published against us
+do no harm to any one, unless, perhaps, to their authors. You are free
+to relate the adventure. If you paint, faithfully, what you have seen
+the good people of Europe will accuse you of traducing an illustrious
+and oppressed people. Our friends, and we have many among men of sixty,
+will tax you with levity, caprice, and even of ingratitude. They will
+recall that you have been the guest of Hadgi-Stavros and mine; they will
+reproach you with having broken the holy laws of hospitality. But the
+most pleasing thing of the whole will be, that no one will believe you.
+The public will place no confidence in seeming lies. Try to persuade the
+cockneys of Paris, of London, of Berlin, that you have seen a Captain of
+the standing army, embraced by a chief of banditti. A company of choice
+troops acting as guards to Hadgi-Stavros' prisoners, in order to give
+him the opportunity of capturing the army coffers! The highest State
+functionaries founding a stock company for the purpose of plundering
+travelers! As well tell them that the mice of Attica have formed an
+alliance with the cats, and that our sheep take their food from the
+wolves' mouths! Do you know what protects us against the displeasure of
+Europe? It is the improbability of our civilization. Happily for the
+kingdom, everything which will be written against us will be too
+unnatural to be believed. I can cite to you a little book, which is not
+in praise of us, although it is accurate from beginning to end. It has
+been read, somewhat, everywhere; in Paris they found it curious, but I
+know of only one city where it seemed true! Athens! I do not prevent you
+from adding a second volume, but wait until away; if not, there possibly
+might be a drop of blood on the last page."
+
+"But," I answered, "if I should commit an indiscretion before my
+departure, how could you know that I was to blame?"
+
+"You, alone, are in my secret. The Englishwomen are persuaded that I
+have delivered them from Hadgi-Stavros. I charge myself with keeping up
+the delusion until the King's return. It will be for only two days,
+three at the most. We are forty kilometres from the Scironian Rocks;
+our friend will reach there in the night. They will make the attack
+to-morrow evening, and conquerors or conquered, they will be here Monday
+morning. We can prove to the prisoners that the brigands surprised us.
+While my godfather is absent, I will protect you against yourself by
+keeping you away from these ladies. I will borrow your tent. You ought
+to see, Monsieur, that I have a more delicate skin than this worthy
+Hadgi-Stavros, and that I ought not to expose my complexion to the
+changes of temperature! What would be said, on the 15th, at the Court
+Ball if I presented myself brown as a peasant? I must, moreover, give
+those poor captives the benefit of my society; it is my duty as their
+liberator. As for you, you will sleep here in the midst of my soldiers.
+Permit me to give an order, which concerns you. Ianni! Brigadier Ianni!
+I confide Monsieur to thy care! Place around him four guards, who will
+watch him night and day, accompany him everywhere, fully armed. Thou
+wilt relieve them every two hours. Forward!"
+
+He saluted me with ironical politeness, and humming a tune, descended
+Mrs. Simons' staircase. The sentinel shouldered arms.
+
+From that instant there began for me a purgatory of which the human mind
+can have little conception. Everyone knows or guesses what a prison
+would be; but try to imagine a living and moving prison, the four walls
+of which come and go, recede and approach, turn and return, rubbing
+hands, scratching, blowing noses, shaking, floundering about, and
+obstinately fixing eight great black eyes upon the prisoner. I tried to
+walk; my prison of eight feet regulated the step to mine. I went toward
+the front of the camp; the two men who preceded me stopped short, I
+bumped into them. This incident explained to me an inscription which I
+had often seen, without understanding it, in the neighborhood of camps:
+"Limit of Garrison" I turned around; my four walls turned like the
+scenes in a theater where a change of view is required. At last, tired
+of this way of promenading, I sat down. My prison seated itself around
+me; I resembled an intoxicated man who sees his house turn. I closed my
+eyes; the measured step of the sentinels wearied my brain. At least, I
+thought if these four soldiers would but speak to me! I spoke to them in
+Greek; it was a seductive agent which had never failed me with
+sentinels. It was clear loss of time. The walls had, possibly, ears, but
+the use of the voice was denied them; no one spoke under arms; I
+attempted bribery. I drew from my pocket the money which Hadgi-Stavros
+had returned and which the Captain had forgotten to take from me. I
+distributed it to the four cardinal points of my lodge. The somber and
+frowning walls changed to a smiling front, and my prison was illumined
+as with a ray of sunlight. But five minutes later the Brigadier relieved
+the guards; it was just two hours that I had been a prisoner! The day
+seemed long! the night, eternal! The Captain had already taken
+possession of my tent and my bed, and the rock which served me for a
+resting place was not as soft as feather. A fine penetrating rain
+cruelly convinced me that a roof was a fine invention; and that thatches
+rendered a true service to society. If at times, in spite of my
+unpleasant surroundings, I dropped off to sleep, I was almost always
+awakened by the Brigadier Ianni, who ordered a change of guards.
+Finally, what shall I say? At night and in dreams I saw Mary-Ann and her
+respectable mother in the hands of their liberator. Ah! Monsieur, how I
+began to render justice to the good old King of the Mountains! How I
+retracted all the maledictions which I had hurled against him! How I
+regretted his kind and paternal government! How I sighed for his return!
+How warmly did I breathe his name in my prayers! "My God!" I cried with
+fervor, "give the victory to thy servant, Hadgi-Stavros! Make every
+soldier in the kingdom fall beneath his hand! Bring to his hands the
+coffer, and even to the last écus of that infernal army! And let the
+bandits return, that we may be delivered from the hands of the
+soldiers!"
+
+As I finished this prayer, a well-sustained fire was heard in the midst
+of the camp. This occurred many times during the day and following
+night. It was only a trick of M. Pericles. In order the better to
+deceive Mrs. Simons and to persuade her that he was defending her
+against an army of bandits, he had ordered that volleys should be fired
+from time to time.
+
+This pretty conceit came near costing him dear. When the brigands
+arrived in camp, at dawn, on Monday morning, they believed that a fight
+was going on with a true enemy, and they began to fire some balls,
+which, unfortunately, touched no one.
+
+I had never seen a defeated army when I assisted at the return of the
+King of the Mountains. The sight had, for me, all the novelty of a
+first experience. Heaven had listened unfavorably to my prayers. The
+Greek soldiers had defended themselves with so much ardor that the
+engagement was prolonged till night. Formed in a square around the two
+mules which carried the treasure, they had, at first, returned a regular
+fire upon Hadgi-Stavros' sharp-shooters. The old Palikar, despairing of
+killing one by one, a hundred and twenty men who would not give an inch,
+attacked them with bare blades. His men assured us that he had performed
+marvels, and the blood with which he was covered testified to it. But
+the bayonet had had the last word; in other words, had won the day. The
+troops had killed forty brigands, of which one was a dog. A regulation
+bullet had arrested the advancement of young Spiro, that young officer
+with so brilliant a future. I saw march in sixty men, overcome with
+fatigue, dusty, bloody, bruised, and wounded. Sophocles had been shot in
+the shoulder; the men were carrying him. The Corfuan and a few others
+had been left on the road, some with the shepherds, some in a village,
+and others on the bare rocks beside the path.
+
+The band was sad and discouraged. Sophocles howled with grief. I heard
+some murmurs against the King's imprudence, who had exposed the lives of
+his men for a miserable sum, instead of peaceably plundering rich and
+careless travelers.
+
+The strongest, the freshest, the most content, the gayest of the lot was
+the King. His face expressed the proud satisfaction of a duty
+accomplished. He recognized me at once in the midst of my four men, and
+cordially held out his hand to me. "Dear prisoner," he said, "you see a
+badly treated King. Those dogs of soldiers would not give up the
+treasure. It was their money; my trip to the Scironian Rocks brought me
+nothing, and I have lost forty men, without counting some wounded who
+cannot live. But no matter! I am well beaten. There were too many of
+those rascals for us, and they had bayonets. Without which----. Come!
+this day has rejuvenated me. I have proved to myself that I still have
+blood in my veins!"
+
+And he hummed the first verse of his favorite song: "Un Clephte aux
+yeux, noirs----" He added: "By Jupiter (as Lord Byron said), I would not
+for twenty thousand francs have remained quietly at home since Saturday.
+That can still be put into my history. It can be said that, at more than
+sixty years of age, I fought with bare sabre in the midst of bayonets;
+that I killed three or four soldiers with my own hand, and that I
+marched ten leagues in the mountains in order to return in time to take
+my cup of coffee. Cafedgi, my child, do thy duty! I have done mine. But
+where the devil is Pericles?"
+
+The charming Captain was still resting in his tent. Ianni hurried away
+to bring him forth, half asleep, his mustache uncurled, his head
+carefully tied up in a handkerchief. I know of nothing which will so
+thoroughly awaken a man as a glass of cold water or bad news. When M.
+Pericles learned that the little Spiro and two other soldiers had been
+left behind, it was truly another defeat. He pulled off his
+handkerchief, and but for the respect he had for his person he would
+have torn his hair.
+
+"This will do for me," he cried. "How explain their presence among you?
+and in bandit dress, too! They will be recognized! The others are
+masters of the battle ground. Shall I say that they deserted in order to
+join you? That you made them prisoners? The question will be asked why I
+said nothing about it. I have waited for thy coming to make my final
+report. I wrote last evening that I had thee almost surrounded on
+Parnassus, and that all our men were admirable. Holy Virgin! I shall not
+dare to show myself Sunday at Patissia! What will be said the 15th at
+the Court Ball? The whole diplomatic corps will talk me over. They will
+convene the council. Will I yet be invited?"
+
+"To the council?" asked the bandit.
+
+"No; to the Court Ball!"
+
+"Dancer! Go!"
+
+"My God! my God! who knows what will be done? If the only trouble was
+about these Englishwomen, I would not worry myself. I would confess
+everything to the Minister of War. These English! That was enough! But
+to lend my soldiers to attack the army box! To send Spiro into the
+engagement! They will point the finger at me; I shall never dance
+again!"
+
+Who was it who rubbed his hands in glee during this monologue? It was
+the son of my father, surrounded by his four soldiers!
+
+Hadgi-Stavros, quietly seated, enjoyed his coffee in little sips. He
+said to his godson: "Thou seemest much troubled! Remain with us. I
+assure thee a minimum of ten thousand francs a year, and I will enroll
+thy men. We will take our revenge together."
+
+The offer was alluring. Two days before it would have received much
+approval. And even now it caused a faint smile among the soldiers, none
+from the Captain. The soldiers said nothing; they looked at their old
+comrades; they eyed Sophocles' wound; they thought of the deaths of the
+night before, and they turned wistful faces toward Athens, as if they
+could inhale the, to them, sweet odor of the barracks.
+
+As for M. Pericles, he replied with visible embarrassment:
+
+"I thank thee, but I would need to reflect. My habits are those of a
+city; I am delicate in health; the winters are rigorous in the
+mountains; I have already taken cold. My absence would be noticed at all
+assemblies; I would be searched for everywhere; fine marriages are often
+proposed to me. Moreover, the trouble is not so great as we believe it.
+Who knows whether the three unfortunates will be recognized? Will news
+of the event arrive before we do? I will go at once to the Ministry; I
+will find out how matters stand. No one will come to contradict me,
+since the two companies have kept on their march to Argos.... Decidedly,
+I must be there; I must face the music. Care for the wounded.... Adieu!"
+
+He made a sign to his drummer.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros rose, came and placed himself in front of me with his
+godson, whom he dominated by a head, and said to me: "Monsieur, behold a
+Greek of to-day! I! I am a Greek of former days! And the papers pretend
+that we have progressed!"
+
+At the roll of the drum the walls of my prison fell away like the
+ramparts of Jericho! Two minutes afterward I was before Mary-Ann's tent.
+Mother and daughter hastily arose. Mrs. Simons perceived me first, and
+cried out to me:
+
+"Oh, well! are we to start?"
+
+"Alas! Madame, we are not there."
+
+"Where are we then? The Captain gave us word for this morning."
+
+"How did you find the Captain?"
+
+"Gallant, elegant, charming! A little too much the slave of discipline;
+it was his only fault."
+
+"Coxcomb and scamp, coward and bully, liar and thief; those are his true
+names, and I will prove it to you."
+
+"Come, Monsieur; what have the soldiers done to you?"
+
+"What have they done to me, Madame? Deign to come with me only to the
+top of the staircase."
+
+Mrs. Simons arrived there just in time to see the soldiers defile past,
+the drummer at the head, the bandits again installed in their places,
+the Captain and the King mouth to mouth, giving the last good-bye kiss.
+The surprise was a little too much. I had not been sufficiently
+considerate of the good woman, and I was punished for it, because she
+fainted dead away and nearly broke my arms as I caught her. I carried
+her to the brook; Mary-Ann rubbed and slapped her hands; I threw a
+handful of water in her face. But I believe that it was fury which
+revived her.
+
+"Miserable wretch!" she cried.
+
+"He has plundered you, is it not true? Stole your watches, your money?"
+
+"I do not regret my jewels; he may keep them! But I would give ten
+thousand francs to get back the handshakes I have given him. I am
+English, and I do not clasp hands with every one!" This regret of Mrs.
+Simons drew from me a heavy sigh. She let fall upon me all the weight of
+her anger. "It is your fault," she said. "Could you not have warned me?
+It was only necessary to tell me that the brigands were saints in
+comparison!"
+
+"But, Madame, I advised you that you must put no faith in the soldiers."
+
+"You told me so; but you said it softly, slowly, coldly. Could I believe
+you? Could I divine that this man was only Stavros' jailer? That he
+remained here to give the bandits time to get back? That he frightened
+us with imaginary dangers? That he claimed to have been besieged in
+order to have us admire him? That he simulated the night attacks to make
+it appear that he was defending us? I see all now, but tell us if you
+have nothing to say?"
+
+"My God! Madame, I told all I knew; I did what I could!"
+
+"But, German, who are you? In your place an Englishman would have
+sacrificed his life for us, and I would have given him my daughter's
+hand!"
+
+Wild poppies are very scarlet, but I was more than that when I heard
+Mrs. Simons' speech. I was so troubled that I dared not raise my eyes,
+nor respond; neither did I ask the good woman what she meant by her
+words. Because, in a word, why should a person as harsh as she had shown
+herself to be, use such language before her daughter and before me? By
+what door had this idea of marriage entered her mind? Was Mrs. Simons
+truly a woman to award her daughter, as an honest recompense, to the
+first liberator? There were no signs of it. Was it not rather a cruel
+irony addressed to my most secret thoughts?
+
+When I examined myself I ascertained, with legitimate pride, the
+innocent warmth of all my sentiments. I render this justice to myself,
+that the fire of passion had not raised a degree the temperature of my
+heart. At each instant of the day, in order to test myself, I occupied
+myself with thinking of Mary-Ann. I built castles in Spain, of which she
+was the mistress. I planned romances, of which she was the heroine and I
+the hero. I thought of the most absurd things. I imagined events as
+improbable as the history of the Princess Ypsoff and Lieutenant
+Reynauld. I even went so far as to see the pretty English girl seated at
+my right on the back seat of a post-chaise, with her beautiful arm
+around my long neck. All these flattering suppositions, which should
+have agitated deeply a soul less philosophical than mine, did not
+disturb my serenity. I did not experience the alternatives of fear and
+hope which are the symptoms of love. Never, no, never, have I felt those
+great convulsions of the heart which are recorded in romances. Then I
+did not love Mary-Ann. I was a man without reproach. I could walk with
+uplifted head. But Mrs. Simons, who had not read my thoughts, was
+perfectly capable of deceiving herself as to the nature of my devotion.
+Who knows whether she did not suspect me of being in love with her
+daughter; whether she had not misinterpreted my trouble and my timidity;
+whether she had not let slip the word marriage, in order to force me to
+betray myself. My pride revolted against so unjust a suspicion, and I
+replied in a firm tone, without looking her in the face:
+
+"Madame, if I was sufficiently fortunate to rescue you from here, I
+swear to you that it would not be in order to marry your daughter."
+
+"And why, then?" she asked, in a tone of pique. "Is it because my
+daughter is not good enough for one to marry? I find you agreeable,
+truly! Is she not pretty enough, or of a good enough family? Have I
+brought her up improperly? Is she not a good match? To marry Miss
+Simons, my dear sir! it is a beautiful dream! and most difficult to be
+gratified!"
+
+"Alas! Madame," I replied, "you have seriously misunderstood me. I
+confess that Mademoiselle is perfect, and, if her presence did not make
+me timid, I would tell you what passionate admiration she inspired in me
+the first day. It is precisely for that reason that I have not the
+impertinence to think that any chance could raise me to her level!"
+
+I hoped that my humility would touch this dreadful mother. But her anger
+was not in the least appeased.
+
+"Why?" she cried. "Why are you not worthy of my daughter? Answer me,
+then!"
+
+"But, Madame, I have neither fortune nor position."
+
+"A fine affair! no position! You would have one, Monsieur, if you
+married my daughter. To be my son-in-law, is not that a position? You
+have no fortune! Have we ever asked money of you? Have we not enough for
+ourselves, for you, and for many others? Moreover, the man who would
+rescue us from here, would he not receive a present of a hundred
+thousand francs? It is a small sum, I confess, but it is something. Will
+you say that a hundred thousand francs is a miserable sum? Then, why are
+you not worthy to marry my daughter?"
+
+"Madame, I am not----"
+
+"Come! What is it you are not? You are not English?"
+
+"Oh! by no means!"
+
+"Eh! well! you cannot believe that we are foolish enough to make a crime
+of your birth? Eh! Monsieur, I know very well that it is not permitted
+to all the world to be English! The entire earth cannot be English--at
+least, not for many years. But one may be an honest man and a learned
+man without having really been born in England."
+
+"As for integrity, Madame, it is a virtue which we transmit from father
+to son. As for intelligence, I have just enough to be a doctor. But,
+unfortunately, I have no illusions in regard to my physical defects,
+and----"
+
+"You wish to say that you are ugly? No, Monsieur, you are not ugly. You
+have an intelligent face. Mary-Ann, is not Monsieur's face intelligent?"
+
+"Yes, mamma!" Mary-Ann replied. If she blushed as she answered her
+mother saw it better than I, for my eyes were fixed obstinately on the
+ground.
+
+"Monsieur," added Mrs. Simons, "were you ten times uglier, you would not
+then be as ugly as my late husband. And, more than that, I beg you to
+believe that I was as pretty as my daughter the day I gave him my hand.
+What have you to say to that?"
+
+"Nothing, Madame, except that you confuse me, and that it will not be my
+fault if you are not on the road to Athens to-morrow."
+
+"What do you count on doing? This time try to find a means less
+ridiculous than that the other day!"
+
+"I hope to satisfy you if you will listen to me to the end."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur."
+
+"Without interrupting me?"
+
+"I will not interrupt you. Have I ever interrupted you?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Always! Madame, Hadgi-Stavros has all his funds invested in the firm of
+Barley & Company."
+
+"With our firm?"
+
+"No. 31 Cavendish Square, London. Last Wednesday he dictated, in our
+presence, a business letter to Mr. Barley."
+
+"And you never told me before?"
+
+"You would never give me the opportunity."
+
+"But this is monstrous! Your conduct is inexplicable! We could have been
+at liberty six days ago! I will go straight to him; I will tell him our
+relations----"
+
+"And he will demand of you two or three hundred thousand francs! Believe
+me, Madame, the best way is to say nothing to him. Pay your ransom; make
+him give you a receipt, and in fifteen days send to him a statement,
+with the following note: 'Item, 100,000 francs paid, personally, by Mrs.
+Simons, our partner, as per receipt!' In this way you will get back your
+money, without the aid of the soldiers. Is it clear?"
+
+I raised my eyes and saw the pretty smile which broke over Mary-Ann's
+face as she saw through the plot. Mrs. Simons angrily shrugged her
+shoulders, and seemed moved only by ill-humor.
+
+"Truly," she said to me, "you are a wonderful man! You proposed to us an
+acrobatic escape when we had such simple means at our command! And you
+have known it since Wednesday morning! I will never pardon you for not
+having told me the first day."
+
+"But, Madame, will you not remember that I begged you to write to
+Monsieur, your brother, to send you a hundred and fifteen thousand
+francs?"
+
+"Why a hundred and fifteen?"
+
+"I mean to say a hundred thousand."
+
+"No! a hundred and fifteen. That is right! Are you sure that this
+Stavros will not keep us here when he has received the money?"
+
+"I will answer for it. The bandits are the only Greeks who never break
+their word. Do you not understand that if it happened once that they
+kept prisoners after having received the ransom, no one would ever pay
+one again?"
+
+"That is true! But what a queer German you are, not to have spoken
+sooner."
+
+"You always cut me short."
+
+"You ought to have spoken even then!"
+
+"But, Madame----"
+
+"Silence! Lead me to this detestable Stavros."
+
+The King was breakfasting on roast turtles, seated with his unwounded
+officers under his tree of justice. He had made his toilet; he had
+washed the blood from his hands and changed his clothes. He was
+discussing, with his men, the most expeditious means of filling the
+vacancies made by death in his ranks. Vasile, who was from Javina,
+offered to find thirty men in Epinus, where the watchfulness of the
+Turkish authorities had put more than a thousand bandits in retreat. A
+Laconian wished that they might get for ready money the little band
+belonging to Spartiate Pavlos, who had improved the province of Mague,
+in the neighborhood of Calamato. The King, always imbued with English
+ideas, thought of forced recruiting, and of pressing into service the
+Attic shepherds. This plan seemed to him to possess superior advantages,
+as it would require no outlay of funds and he would obtain the herds
+into the bargain.
+
+Interrupted in the midst of his deliberations, Hadgi-Stavros gave his
+prisoners a cool reception. He did not offer even a glass of water to
+Mrs. Simons, and she had not yet breakfasted; she fully realized the
+omission of this courtesy. I took upon myself the part of speaker, and,
+in the Corfuan's absence, the King was forced to accept my services as
+intermediary. I said to him that after the disaster of the evening
+before he would be glad to learn Mrs. Simons' decision; that she would
+pay, with the briefest delay possible, her ransom and mine; that the
+funds would be turned over the next day, either to a banker in Athens,
+or to some other place which he would designate, in exchange for his
+receipt.
+
+"I am much pleased," he said, "that these ladies have renounced the idea
+of calling the Greek army to their aid. Tell them that, for the second
+time, anything necessary for writing will be furnished them; but that
+they must not abuse my confidence! That they must not draw the soldiers
+here! At the sight of the very first soldier who appears on the
+mountain, I will cut off their heads. I swear it by the Virgin of the
+Megaspilion, who was carved by Saint Luke's own hand."
+
+"Do not doubt! I give my word for these ladies and myself. Where do you
+wish to have the sum left?"
+
+"At the National Bank of Greece. It is the only one which has not yet
+gone into bankruptcy."
+
+"Have you a safe man to carry the letter?"
+
+"I have the good old man! I will send to the convent for him. What time
+is it? Nine o'clock in the morning. The reverend gentleman has not yet
+drunk enough to become tipsy."
+
+"The monk will do. When Mrs. Simons' brother has turned over the sum and
+taken your receipt, the monk will bring you the news."
+
+"What receipt? Why a receipt? I have never given any. When you are at
+liberty you will readily see that you have paid me what you owe me."
+
+"I think that a man like you ought to transact business according to
+European methods. In a good administration----"
+
+"I transact business in my own way, and I am too old to change my
+methods!"
+
+"As you please! I ask it in the interest of Mrs. Simons. She is guardian
+of her minor daughter, and she must render account of her whole
+fortune."
+
+"But that will arrange itself! I care for my interests as she does for
+hers. When she pays for her daughter is it a great misfortune? I have
+never regretted what I have disbursed for Photini. Here is the paper,
+the ink and the reeds. Be good enough to watch the composition of the
+letter. It concerns your head, too!"
+
+I rose, abashed, and followed the ladies, who saw my confusion without
+knowing the cause. But a sudden inspiration made me suddenly retrace my
+steps. I said to the King: "Decidedly, you were right to refuse the
+receipt, and I was wrong in asking for it. You are wiser than I; youth
+is imprudent."
+
+"What do you say?"
+
+"You are right, I tell you. It is necessary to wait. Who knows if you
+will not experience a second defeat more terrible than the first. You
+are not as strong as at twenty years of age; you may fall a captive to
+the soldiers."
+
+"I?"
+
+"They will try you as a common malefactor; the magistrates will no
+longer fear you. In such circumstances a receipt for a hundred and
+fifteen thousand francs would be overwhelming proof. Give no weapons of
+justice to be turned against you. Perhaps Mrs. Simons or her heirs would
+join in a criminal suit to recover what had been taken from them. Never
+sign a receipt!"
+
+He replied in thundering tones: "I will sign it! and two rather than
+one! I will sign all; as many as need signing. I will sign them always
+for anyone! Ah! the soldiers imagine that they will manage me easily,
+because once, chance, and their larger force gave them the advantage! I
+fall, living, into their hands, I, whose arm is proof against fatigue,
+and whose head is proof against bullets! I seat myself on a bench,
+before a judge, like a peasant who has stolen cabbages! Young man, you
+do not yet know Hadgi-Stavros! It would be easier to pluck up Parnassus
+and place it upon the summit of Taygète, than to tear me from my
+mountains, and place me on a court bench! Write for me, in Greek, Madame
+Simons' name! Good! Yours also!"
+
+"It is not necessary, and----"
+
+"Write! You know my name, and I am sure that you will not forget it. I
+wish to have yours, to hold as a souvenir."
+
+I wrote my name as best I could in the harmonious language of Plato.
+The King's lieutenants applauded his firmness without understanding that
+it would cost him a hundred and fifteen thousand francs. I hurried with
+a light heart and much pleased with myself to Mrs. Simons' tent. I told
+her that her money had had a narrow escape, and she deigned to smile on
+learning that I had pretended to be deceived in order to rob our
+robbers. A half hour afterward she submitted for my approval the
+following letter:
+
+     "My Dear Brother:--The gendarmes whom you sent to our rescue were
+     treacherous, and fled ignominiously. I advise you to see that they
+     are hung. They will need a gallows a hundred feet high for their
+     Captain Pericles. I shall complain of him, especially, in the
+     dispatch which I intend to send to Lord Palmerston, and I shall
+     consecrate to him a portion of the letter which I shall write to
+     the editor of the "Times," as soon as you have set us free. It is
+     useless to hope anything from the local authorities. All the
+     natives are leagued against us, and the day after our departure the
+     Greeks will gather in some corner of the kingdom to divide what
+     they have taken from us. Fortunately, they will have little. I have
+     learned from a young German, whom I took at first for a spy, and
+     who is a very honest man, that this Stavros, called Hadgi-Stavros,
+     has funds placed with our firm. I beg you to verify the fact, and
+     if it is true, let nothing prevent you from paying the ransom which
+     is demanded. Turn over to the Bank of Greece 115,000 francs (4600
+     sterling) for a regular receipt, sealed with this Stavros' seal.
+     The amount will be charged to his account. Our health is good,
+     although life in the mountains may not be comfortable. It is
+     monstrous that two English women, citizens of the greatest kingdom
+     in the world, should be compelled to eat their roast without
+     mustard and without pickles and to drink pure water like any fish.
+
+     "Hoping that you will not delay in arranging for our return to our
+     accustomed habits, I am, my dear brother, very sincerely yours,
+
+     "Rebecca Simons."
+
+I carried, to the King, the good woman's letter. He took it with
+defiance, and examined it so sharply that I trembled lest he should
+understand it. I was, however, very sure that he knew no English. But
+this devil of a man, inspired me with superstitious terror, and I
+believed him capable of performing miracles. He seemed satisfied only
+when he reached the figures 4600 livres sterling. He saw, at once, that
+he was not to be troubled with the gendarmes. The letter was placed,
+with other papers, in a tin cylinder. They brought forward the good old
+man, who had drunk just enough wine to limber up his legs, and the King
+gave the box to him, with very explicit instructions. He departed, and
+my heart kept pace with him to the end of his journey. Horace did not
+follow with a more tender look the ship which bore Virgil away.
+
+As soon as the King saw the affair in train to be completed, he became
+very genial. He ordered for us a veritable feast; he distributed double
+rations of wine to his men; he went himself to look after the wounded,
+and with his own hands extracted the ball from Sophocles' shoulder.
+Orders were given the bandits to treat us with the respect due our
+money.
+
+The breakfast which I ate, without spectators, with the ladies was one
+of the happiest repasts I ever remember. All my evils were then ended; I
+should be free after two days of this sweet captivity. Perhaps even, on
+leaving Hadgi-Stavros, an adorable slavery!... I felt that I was a poet
+like Gessner. I ate as heartily as Mrs. Simons, and I assuredly drank
+with more appetite. I gulped down the white wine of Aegina, as formerly
+the wine of Santorin. I drank to Mary-Ann's health, to her mother's, to
+my good parents' and to that of Princess Ypsoff. Mrs. Simons wished to
+hear the history of that noble stranger, and by my faith, I did not keep
+it secret. Good examples are never too well known. Mary-Ann gave
+charming attention to my recital. She thought that the Princess had done
+well, and that a woman ought to take her happiness wherever she found
+it. Proverbs are the wisdom of nations, and sometimes their success. I
+was cast upon the wind of prosperity, and I felt myself borne toward, I
+know not what terrestrial paradise. Oh, Mary-Ann! the sailors who
+traverse the ocean have never had for guides two stars like your eyes!
+
+I was seated before her. Passing the wing of a fowl to her, I leaned so
+near her that I saw my image reflected in her eyes. I found I looked
+well, Monsieur, for the first time in my life! The frame set off the
+picture so well. A strange thought seized me. I felt that I had
+surprised, in this incident, a decree of destiny. It seemed to me that
+the beautiful Mary-Ann carried in the depths of her heart the image
+which I had discovered in her eyes.
+
+All this was not love, I know it well, I wish neither to accuse myself,
+nor to appropriate to myself a sentiment which I have never felt; but it
+was a firm friendship, and which would suffice, I thought, for a man
+about to enter the wedded state. No turbulent emotion stirred my heart,
+but I felt it melting slowly like a piece of wax in the warmth of a
+genial sun.
+
+Under the influence of this reasonable ecstasy, I related to Mary-Ann
+and her mother the history of my life. I described to them the paternal
+mansion, the great kitchen where we all ate together; the copper
+sauce-pans hanging on the wall according to size; the strings of hams
+and sausages which hung in the inside of the chimney; our modest, and
+often hard life: the future of each of my brothers; Henri ought to
+succeed papa; Frederic was learning the tailor's trade; Frantz and
+Jean-Nicholas had had positions since they were eighteen; the one as
+corporal, the other, as quarter-master sergeant. I told them of studies,
+my examinations, the little successes which I had enjoyed at the
+University, the beautiful future of professor to which I could lay
+claim, with three thousand francs income, at least. I do not know to
+what point my recital interested them, but I took great pleasure in it,
+and I stopped to drink from time to time.
+
+Mrs. Simons did not speak to me again about our discussion on marriage,
+and I was very happy. It is better not to say a word, than to talk in
+the air when we know ourselves so little. The day passed for me, like an
+hour; I mean as an hour of pleasure. The next day seemed long to Mrs.
+Simons; as for me, I would have liked to stop the sun in its course. I
+instructed Mary-Ann in the first principles of botany. Ah! Monsieur, the
+world does not know all the tender and delicate sentiments one can
+express in a lesson in botany.
+
+At last, on Wednesday morning, the monk appeared on the horizon. He was
+a worthy man, taken altogether, this little monk! He had risen before
+dawn in order to bring us liberty in his pocket. He brought to the King
+a letter from the president of the bank, and to Mrs. Simons a letter
+from her brother. Hadgi-Stavros said to Mrs. Simons: "You are free,
+Madame, and you may take Mademoiselle, your daughter, away. I hope that
+you will not take away from our rocks too unpleasant memories. We have
+offered you all that we have; if the bed and the table have not been
+worthy of you, it is the fault of circumstances. I had this morning an
+angry fit, which I pray you to forget; one must pardon a conquered
+general. If I dared to offer a little present to Mademoiselle, I would
+beg her to accept an antique ring which could be made to fit her finger.
+It does not come from any plunder we have taken; I bought it of a
+merchant of Nauplie. Mademoiselle will show this jewel in England, in
+relating her visit to the King of the Mountains."
+
+I faithfully translated this little speech, and I slipped the King's
+ring on Mary-Ann's finger, myself.
+
+"And I," I asked of Hadgi-Stavros, "shall I carry away nothing by which
+to remember you?"
+
+"You, dear sir? But you remain! Your ransom is not paid!"
+
+I turned toward Mrs. Simons, who held out to me the following letter:
+
+     "Dear Sister:
+
+     Verification made, I have given the 4000. liv. sterl. for the
+     receipt. I have not advanced the other 600, because the receipt was
+     not in your name, and it would be impossible to recover it. I am,
+     while waiting your dear presence,
+
+     Always yours,
+     "Edward Sharper."
+
+I had overdone my instructions to Hadgi-Stavros; to be quite
+business-like, he believed that he ought to send two receipts!
+
+Mrs. Simons said to me in a low tone: "You seem to be in great trouble!
+What good will it do to make such faces? Show that you are a man, and
+leave that grievance for a whipped cur. The best part is done, since we
+are saved, my daughter and I, without its costing us anything. As for
+you, I am not uneasy about you; you know how to save yourself. Your
+first plan, which was not feasible for two ladies, will be an admirable
+one for you alone. Come, what day may we expect a visit from you?"
+
+I thanked her cordially. She offered such a fine opportunity for me to
+show off my personal qualities and to raise myself in Mary-Ann's esteem.
+"Yes, Madame, count on me! I will leave here a man of spirit, and much
+better if I run a little danger. I am glad that my ransom has not been
+paid, and I thank Monsieur, your brother, for what he has done for me.
+You will see if a German does not know how to extricate himself from
+difficulties. Yes, I will soon bring you my own messages!"
+
+"Once out of here, do not fail to present yourself at our hotel."
+
+"Oh! Madame!"
+
+"And now beg this Stavros to give us an escort of five or six brigands."
+
+"In God's name why?"
+
+"To protect us from the gendarmes!"
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE ESCAPE.
+
+
+In the midst of our adieux, there came to us a powerful odor of garlic
+which made me ill. It was the waiting-maid who had come to the ladies,
+to call upon their generosity. This creature had been more annoying than
+useful, and since the first two days, the ladies had dispensed with her
+services. Mrs. Simons regretted, however, not being able to do anything
+for her, and asked me to inform the King how she had been robbed of her
+money. Hadgi-Stavros seemed neither surprised nor scandalized. He simply
+shrugged his shoulders, and muttered: "That Pericles!--bad
+education--the city--the court--I ought to attend to that." He added out
+loud: "Beg the ladies to not trouble themselves about anything. It is I
+who provided the servant and it is I who will pay her. Tell them, that
+if they need a little money to return to the city, my purse is at their
+disposal. I will have them escorted to the foot of the mountain,
+although they will run no kind of danger. The soldiers are less to be
+feared than one thinks. They will find breakfast, horses and a guide in
+the village of Castia: everything is provided and everything paid. Do
+you think that they will give me the pleasure of shaking hands with me,
+in token of reconciliation?"
+
+Mrs. Simons was very reluctant, but her daughter resolutely held out her
+hand to the old Palikar. She said to him in English, with roguish
+pleasantry: "It is much honor that you do us, very interesting, sir,
+because at this moment we are the Clephtes, and you are the victim!"
+
+The King replied with much confidence: "Thank you, Mademoiselle; you are
+too good!"
+
+Mary-Ann's pretty hand was colored like a piece of rosy satin which had
+been in a shop-window for three months. Believe, however, that I did not
+have to beg to kiss it. I then touched my lips to Mrs. Simons' skinny
+hand. "Courage! Monsieur," cried the old lady as she was going away.
+Mary-Ann said nothing; but she threw me a glance capable of rousing an
+army. Such looks are worth a proclamation!
+
+When the last man of the escort had disappeared, Hadgi-Stavros took me
+to one side and said to me: "Eh, well! we have then made some mistake!"
+
+"Alas! Yes, we were not clever."
+
+"This ransom is not paid. Will it be? I believe so. These English women
+seem to be friendly to you."
+
+"Be not uneasy: within three days I shall be far from Parnassus."
+
+"All right, so much the better. I have great need of money, as you know.
+Our bad luck on Monday will tax our income heavily. We must make up our
+personal and material losses."
+
+"You can complain with good grace. You have obtained a hundred thousand
+francs at one stroke!"
+
+"No, ninety! the monk has already taken his tithe. Of that sum, which
+seems enormous to you, there will be only twenty thousand for me. Our
+expenses are considerable; there are heavy charges. What would be done
+if the company of stock-holders should decide to build a Hotel des
+Invalides, as has been talked of? There are always pensions to be paid
+to the widows and orphans of the band. Fever and bullets yearly relieve
+us of thirty men, and you can see where that places us. Our expenses
+would scarcely be met; I should have to pay money out of my own pocket,
+my dear sir!"
+
+"Have you never happened to lose more than once?"
+
+"Once, only. I had received fifty thousand francs on account, of the
+society. One of my secretaries, whom I afterward hung, fled to Thessaly
+with the sum. I had to make up the deficit: I was responsible. My share
+amounted to seven thousand francs; I lost, then, forty-three thousand.
+But the knave who stole from me paid dearly. I punished him according to
+the Persian mode. Before hanging him, his teeth were pulled, one after
+the other, and they were driven, with a mallet, into his cranium--for a
+good example, you understand. I am not wicked, but I suffer no one to
+put me in the wrong."
+
+It rejoiced my heart that the old Palikar, who was not wicked, should
+lose the eighty thousand francs of Mrs. Simons' ransom, and that he
+would receive the news when my cranium and my teeth were not in his
+camp. He put his arm through mine, and said familiarly:
+
+"How are you going to kill the time till your departure? These ladies
+are gone and the house will seem large. Do you wish to look at the
+Athenian papers? The monk brought some to me. I rarely read them. I
+know exactly the price the articles are worth, since I pay for them.
+Here you will find the Gazette officielle, l'Esperance, Pallicare,
+Caricature. Each one ought to speak of us. Poor readers! I leave you. If
+you find anything curious, tell me about it."
+
+L'Esperance, printed in French, and intended to fool Europe, devoted a
+long article to denying the latest news of brigandage. It cleverly joked
+the simple travelers who saw a thief in every ragged peasant, an armed
+band in every cloud of dust, and who asked pardon of the first
+thorn-bush on which their clothes were caught. This truth-telling sheet
+vaunted the security of the roads, celebrated the disinterestedness of
+the natives, exalted the quiet and seclusion which one was sure of
+finding on all the mountains in the kingdom.
+
+The Pallicare, printed under the supervision of some of Hadgi-Stavros'
+friends, contained an eloquent biography of its hero. It recounted that
+this Theseus of modern times, the only man in our century who had never
+been vanquished, had made a sortie in the direction of the Scironian
+Rock. Betrayed by the weakness of his companions, he had withdrawn with
+small loss. But seized with profound distaste for a degenerate
+profession, he had renounced, henceforth, the practice of brigandage,
+and had left Greece; he had exiled himself in Europe, where his fortune,
+gloriously acquired, would enable him to live like a prince. "And now,"
+added the Pallicare, "go, come, travel across the plain and in the
+mountain! Bankers and Merchants, Greeks, strangers, travelers, you have
+nothing to fear; the King of the Mountains wished, like Charles V., to
+abdicate at the height of his glory and power."
+
+The Gazette officielle read as follows:
+
+"Sunday, 3d instant, at 5 o'clock in the evening, the military chest
+containing 20,000 francs, which a large company was guarding on its way
+to Argos, was attacked by the band of Hadgi-Stavros, known as the King
+of the Mountains! The brigands, to the number of three or four hundred,
+fell upon the soldiers with incredible ferocity. But the first two
+companies of the second battalion of the 4th Line, under the command of
+the brave Nicolaidis, opposed them with a heroic resistance. The
+savage attacking party were repulsed at the point of the bayonet and
+left the field covered with the dead. Report has it that Hadgi-Stavros
+was seriously wounded. Our loss was insignificant.
+
+"The same day, and the same hour, Her Majesty's troops were victors in
+another skirmish, about ten leagues distant. It was at the summit of
+Parnassus, four furlongs from Castia, that the 2d Company of the 1st
+Battalion of gendarmes defeated Hadgi-Stavros' band. There, according to
+the report of the brave Captain Pericles, the King of the Mountains was
+wounded. Unfortunately, this success was dearly bought. The brigands,
+protected by the rocks and shrubs, had killed or seriously wounded ten
+of the soldiers. A young officer, M. Spiro, graduate of the Erelpides
+School, died a heroic death on the field of battle. In the presence of
+such great misfortunes, it is no mean consolation that there, as
+everywhere, the law reigns."
+
+The journal La Caricature contained a badly printed lithograph, in which
+I recognized, however, Captain Pericles and the King of the Mountains.
+The godson and godfather were holding each other in close embrace. Below
+this cartoon, the artist had written the following sentence:
+
+"This Is How They Fought!"
+
+"It seems," I said to myself, "that I am not alone in their confidence,
+and that Pericles' secret is an open secret."
+
+I folded up the papers, and while waiting the King's return, I meditated
+upon the position in which Mrs. Simons had left me. Surely, it was fine
+to owe my freedom to no one but myself, and much braver to leave a
+prison by a feat of courage, than by a schoolboy's trick. I could, in a
+day or two, become a hero of romance, and the object of admiration of
+all the young girls in Europe. No doubt Mary-Ann would adore me when she
+saw me safe and sound after so perilous an escape. I might make a
+misstep in that slippery path. What if I broke a leg or arm! Would
+Mary-Ann look with favor on a lame and crippled man? I must, moreover,
+expect to be guarded night and day. My plan, ingenious as it was, could
+be executed only after the death of my guard. To kill a man is no small
+affair, even for a doctor. It is nothing in words, especially when one
+speaks to the woman whom one loves. But, since Mary-Ann's departure, I
+was no longer deranged. It seemed less easy to procure a weapon and to
+use it. A poniard thrust is a surgical operation which ought to make an
+honest man's flesh creep. What do you say, Monsieur? I think that my
+future mother-in-law had treated her hoped-for son-in-law very
+contemptuously. It would not have cost her much to have sent me 15,000
+francs ransom, taking them, later, out of Mary-Ann's dowry. Fifteen
+thousand francs would have been of little value to me the day of my
+marriage. It seemed of much account in the condition in which I found
+myself, on the eve of murdering a man, and descending some hundreds of
+meters by a ladder without any rungs. I cursed Mrs. Simons as heartily
+as the generality of sons-in-law curse their mothers-in-law in all
+civilized lands. As I had maledictions to spare, I directed some of them
+against my friend John Harris, who had abandoned me to my lot. I said to
+myself, that if we could have exchanged places, that I would never have
+left him eight days without news.
+
+I excused Lobster, who was very young; and Giacomo, who was not very
+intelligent, and also M. Mérinay, whose downright selfishness I fully
+understood. One easily pardons treason in such egotists, because one
+never counts on them. But Harris, who had risked his life to save an old
+negress in Boston! Was I not of as much account as a negress? I
+believed, in truth, without any aristocratic prejudices, that I was
+worth two or three times as much.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros came to change the course of my thoughts by offering a
+means of escape more simple and less dangerous. It was only necessary to
+have legs, and, thank God! I was not lacking in that particular. The
+King surprised me just as I was yawning fearfully.
+
+"Do you feel dull?" he asked. "It is the reading. I never can open a
+book without fear of dislocating my jaws. I am pleased to see that
+doctors cannot endure it any better than I. But why not employ the time
+you remain to better advantage? You came here to gather the mountain
+plants; your box has received nothing these eight days. Would you like
+to search for some, under guard of two men? I am too good a fellow for
+you to refuse this little favor. Each must pursue his course in this
+lower world. You collect plants; I, money. You can say to those who sent
+you here: 'Here are plants gathered in Hadgi-Stavros' Kingdom!' If you
+find one which is beautiful and strange, and of which one has never
+heard in your country, you must give it my name, and call it the Queen
+of the Mountains!"
+
+"But truly," I thought, "if I was a league from here, with two brigands,
+would it not be possible to out-strip them? There was no doubt but that
+danger would give me double strength. He who runs best is he who has the
+most to gain! Why is the hare the swiftest of all animals? Because he is
+the most terrified!"
+
+I accepted the King's offer, and, on the spot, he placed two guards over
+me. He gave them no minute instructions. He simply said:
+
+"Here is milord, worth 15,000 francs; if you lose him, you will have to
+bring him back or pay the sum."
+
+My attendants did not look like invalids; they had neither wounds,
+bruises, nor injury of any sort; their muscles were like steel, and it
+was not to be expected that they would be retarded by any constraint of
+their foot-gear, because they wore large moccasins, which left their
+heels bare. Passing them in review, I noticed, not without regret, two
+pistols as long as children's guns. I, however, did not lose courage. By
+reason of keeping bad company, the whizzing of bullets had become
+familiar to me. I slung my box over my shoulder and started.
+
+"Much pleasure to you!" cried the King.
+
+"Adieu! Sire!"
+
+"Not so, if you please; au revoir!"
+
+I drew my companions in the direction of Athens; it was so much gained
+from the enemy. They made no resistance, and allowed me to go where I
+wished. These bandits, much better brought up than Pericles' four
+guards, allowed me plenty of room. I did not feel, at each step, the
+point of their elbows in my ribs. They picked on the path green stuff
+for the evening meal. As for me, I appeared very eager in my work; I
+pulled up, on the right hand and on the left, tufts of grass of no
+account; I pretended to choose a sprig from the mass, and I placed it
+very carefully in the bottom of my box, taking care not to overload
+myself; it was enough of a burden that I carried. I had once known, at a
+horse race, of a jockey who was beaten because he carried a burden
+weighing five kilogrammes. My gaze seemed fixed upon the ground, but you
+can well believe that the interest was feigned. Under such
+circumstances one is not a botanist, one is a prisoner. Pellison would
+never have amused himself with spiders if he had had a file with which
+to saw his bars. I may have, perhaps, seen that day unknown plants which
+would have made a naturalist's fortune; but I troubled myself no more
+about them than as if they had been common wall-flowers. I am sure that
+I passed near a fine specimen of the boryana variabilis! It would have
+weighed a half-pound with its roots. I did not even honor it with a
+look. I saw only two things: Athens in the distance, and the two
+brigands on either side. I secretly watched the rascals' eyes, in the
+hope that something would distract their attention; but, whether they
+were right at hand or ten feet away, whether they were occupied in
+picking their salads or following the flight of the vultures, they kept
+an incessant watch on my movements.
+
+An idea came to me to give them serious occupation. We were in a narrow
+path, which evidently led towards Athens. I saw at my left a beautiful
+bunch of broom which grew on the top of a rock. I pretended to be eager
+to secure it as a treasure. I made five or six attempts to scale the
+precipitous bowlder on which it blossomed. I seemed so determined to
+reach it that one of my guards offered himself as a short ladder. This
+was not exactly what I had counted on. I felt obliged to accept his
+services, but, in climbing upon his shoulders, I hurt him so cruelly
+with my hob-nailed shoes, that he groaned with agony and let me drop to
+the ground. His comrade, who was interested in the process of the
+enterprise, said to him: "Wait! I will mount instead of milord, I have
+no nails in my shoes." No sooner said than done; he sprang up, seized it
+by the stalk, shook it, pulled it, tore it up by the root and cried out.
+I was already running away, without looking behind. Their stupefaction
+gave me a good ten seconds' advantage. But they lost no time in accusing
+each other, for I soon heard them following me. I redoubled my efforts;
+the path was a good one, even, smooth, made for me. We descended a steep
+declivity. I ran desperately, my arms pressed to my sides, without
+noticing the stones which rolled under my heels, or looking to see where
+I put my feet. I fairly flew over the path; rocks and bushes on either
+side seemed to be running in the opposite direction; I was light-footed,
+I was supple, my body weighed little; I had wings. But the four
+foot-falls wearied my ears. Suddenly, they ceased; I heard nothing more.
+Had they become weary of following me? A little cloud of dust rose ten
+steps ahead of me. A little further on, a white spot suddenly appeared
+on a gray rock. I heard two detonations at the same instant. The
+brigands had discharged their pistols! I was not hit, and I still sped
+on. The pursuit began again; I heard the breathless voices calling to
+me: "Stop! Stop!" I did not stop. I lost the path, but I still ran on,
+not knowing where I was going. A ditch as wide as a river presented
+itself; but I was flying too fast to measure distances. I jumped, I was
+saved!--my suspenders broke!--I was lost!
+
+You laugh! I would like to see you run without suspenders, holding in
+both hands the band of your trousers! Five minutes afterward, I was
+again a captive. The men hand-cuffed me, fettered my legs, and drove me
+with switches to Hadgi-Stavros' camp.
+
+The King treated me as a bankrupt who had carried away 15,000 francs.
+"Monsieur," he said to me, "I had a better opinion of you. I thought I
+knew honest men! your face deceived me. I would never have believed that
+you were capable of doing wrong, above all, after the way in which I
+have treated you. Do not be astonished if I, henceforth, use severe
+measures; you have forced me to do so. You will remain in your chamber
+until further orders. One of my officers will remain with you under your
+tent. This is only a precaution. In case of a repetition of the offense,
+it is punishment which will be given you. Vasile, it is to thee I commit
+Monsieur."
+
+Vasile saluted me with his usual courtesy.
+
+"Ah! wretch!" I thought, "it is thou who throwest infants into the fire!
+It is thou who wouldst have embraced Mary-Ann; it is thou who wouldst
+have stabbed me on Ascension Day. Oh, well! I prefer to settle with thee
+rather than with another!"
+
+I will not relate to you the details of the three days I passed in my
+tent with Vasile. The scamp gave me a dose of disgust which I do not
+wish to share with anyone. He did not wish me any ill; he even had a
+certain sympathy for me. I believe that if I had been his own prisoner,
+that he would have released me without ransom. My face had pleased him
+at first sight. I recalled to him a younger brother who had been
+condemned to death and hanged. But these friendly overtures wearied me
+a hundred times more than bad treatment. He did not wait until sunrise
+to say "good-morning" to me; at night-fall, he never missed a long list
+of successes which he wished me. He aroused me, in my deepest sleep, to
+ascertain if I was well covered. At table, he gave me good service; at
+dessert he begged of me to listen to some stories which he wished to
+relate. And always that hand was before me ready to shake mine. I
+fiercely opposed his advances. It seemed to me unnecessary to include a
+roaster of infants in my list of friends, and I had no desire to press
+the hand of a man whom I had condemned to death. My conscience permitted
+me to kill him; was it not a case of legitimate defense? but I did have
+scruples about killing him treacherously, and I ought, at least, to put
+him on his guard by hostile and menacing attitude. While repulsing his
+advances, his kindness, and repelling his polite attentions, I carefully
+watched for a chance to escape; but his friendship, more vigilant than
+hate, did not lose sight of me for an instant. When I hung over the
+cascade in order to impress upon my mind the unequal places in the bank,
+Vasile would draw me from my contemplation with maternal solicitude:
+"Take care!" he would say to me, pulling me back by the feet! "if thou
+shouldst fall by some unhappy chance, I should reproach myself all my
+life." When, at night, I stealthily tried to rise, he jumped from his
+bed, asking if I needed anything. Never was there a more watchful
+rascal. He turned around me like a squirrel in a cage.
+
+What, above everything, made me despair, was the confidence he had in
+me. I expressed, one day, a desire to examine his arms. He placed his
+dagger in my hand. It was Russian blade, of inlaid steel, from the
+famous sword factory of Toula. I drew it from its sheath, I tried the
+point with my finger, I turned it toward his breast, choosing the place
+between the fourth and fifth ribs. "Do not press on it, thou mightest
+kill me!" Truly, by pressing on it a little, I could have given him his
+just desserts, but something stayed my hand. It is to be regretted that
+honest men recoil from killing assassins, when the latter feel no
+compunctions about killing honest people. I put the weapon back into its
+case. Vasile held out his pistol to me, but I refused it, and I told him
+that my curiosity was satisfied. He cocked it, he made me look at the
+priming, he placed it on his head, and said to me: "See! thou art no
+longer guarded!"
+
+No longer guarded! eh! parbleu! that was exactly what I wished. But the
+occasion was too good a one, and the traitor paralyzed me. If I had
+killed him at such a moment, I would not have felt equal to enduring his
+last look. Much better to give the blow in the night. Unfortunately,
+instead of hiding his arms, he placed them ostensibly between his bed
+and mine.
+
+At last, I conceived a plan for escaping, without awakening him or
+killing him. The idea flashed across my mind, Sunday, the 11th day of
+May, at 6 o'clock. I had noticed, on Ascension Day, that Vasile loved to
+drink, and that it took but little wine to intoxicate him. I invited him
+to dine with me. This exhibition of friendship mounted to his brain; the
+wine of Aegina did the rest! Hadgi-Stavros, who had not honored me with
+a visit since I had lost his esteem, still acted as a generous host. My
+table was better served than his own. I could have drunk a goat-skin of
+wine or a cask of rhaki. Vasile, admitted to his share of these
+luxuries, began the repast with touching humility. He kept three feet
+from the table, like a peasant invited to his master's house. Little by
+little, the wine lessened the distance. At eight o'clock, my guardian
+explained his character to me. At nine, stutteringly related to me the
+adventures of his youth, and a series of exploits which would have made
+a Criminal Examining Magistrate's hair stand on end. At ten, he became
+philanthropic; this heart of tempered steel was dissolving in the rhaki,
+like Cleopatra's pearl in the vinegar. He swore to me that he became a
+bandit because of his love for humanity; that he would make his fortune
+in ten years, would found a hospital with his savings, and then retire
+to a monastery on Mount Athos. He promised that he would not forget me
+in his prayers. I took advantage of his good intentions in order to make
+him drink an enormous cup of rhaki. I might have offered him boiling
+pitch; he was too much my friend to refuse me. Soon, he lost his voice;
+his head swung from the right to the left, from the left to the right,
+with the regularity of a pendulum; he held out his hand to me; it
+alighted on the remains of the roast, this he shook cordially, fell over
+on his back, and slept the sleep of the Egyptian Sphinx, which the
+French cannons have never awakened.
+
+I had not an instant to lose; the minutes were golden. I took his
+pistol, which I threw to the bottom of the ravine. I seized his dagger,
+and was going to throw that down also, when the thought came to me that
+it would be useful in cutting up the turf. My watch showed eleven
+o'clock. I extinguished the two torches of resinous wood which had
+lighted our table; the light might attract the King's attention. It was
+a beautiful night. No moon at all, but the sky was studded with stars;
+it was just the kind of night for my purpose. The turf, cut in long
+strips, came up like cloth. I had a sufficient quantity at the end of an
+hour. As I carried them to the spring, I stumbled against Vasile. He
+raised himself, heavily, and through habit, asked me if I needed
+anything. I let fall my burden and seated myself near the drunken man,
+and begged him to drink one more cup to my health. "Yes!" he mumbled, "I
+am thirsty." I filled for him the copper cup for the last time. He drank
+half of it; spilled the remainder over his face and neck, attempted to
+get up, fell over on his face, with his arms extended, and moved no
+more. I ran to my dike, and novice as I was, the brook was solidly
+dammed up in forty-five minutes; it was a quarter of one o'clock. To the
+noise of the cascade succeeded a profound silence. Fear seized me. I
+reflected that the King probably slept lightly, like most old people,
+and that the unusual silence would probably awake him. In the tumult of
+thoughts which filled my mind, I remembered a scene in the Barbier de
+Seville, where Bartholo was awakened when he ceased to hear a piano. I
+glided under the trees to the staircase, and looked toward the King's
+cabinet. He was sleeping peacefully beside his pipe-bearer. I crept
+stealthily along within twenty feet of his tree, I listened; all were
+asleep. I went back to my dam, passing through a puddle of icy water,
+which was already up to my ankles, flung myself down and looked over the
+abyss. The side of the mountain had gradually become polished. There
+were, here and there, cavities in which water had formed in pools. I had
+taken accurate note; these places were where I could put my feet. I
+returned to my tent, took my box which was suspended over my bed, and
+slung it over my shoulders. In passing the place where we had dined, I
+picked up a part of a loaf, and a piece of meat which the water had not
+yet wet. I put these provisions in my box for my breakfast next morning.
+The dam still held well, the wind ought to have dried my path; it was
+nearly two o'clock. I wished, in case of an encounter with any one, to
+take Vasile's dagger, but it was under the water and I could lose no
+time searching for it. I took off my shoes, I tied them together, and
+hung them on the strap of my box. At last, after thinking of everything,
+throwing a last look at my earthworks, giving a thought to my family at
+home, and sending a kiss in the direction of Athens and Mary-Ann, I
+threw one leg over the edge, I seized with both hands a tree which hung
+over the abyss, and I started out, trusting to God to help me.
+
+It was rough work, harder than I had supposed when looking down. The
+rock, not entirely dry, gave me a feeling of clammy cold, like the
+contact of a serpent. I had not calculated distances accurately, and
+the points of support were farther apart than I had hoped. Twice I took
+a wrong course in moving to the left. I had to return, a work of
+incredible difficulty. Hope abandoned me often, but not my will. My foot
+slipped; I mistook a shadow for a projection, and I fell fifteen or
+twenty feet, clinging with my hands and body to the side of the
+mountain, without finding a place to stop myself. A root of a fig-tree
+caught me by the cuff of my coat-sleeve, you can see the marks here. A
+little further on, a bird, hidden in a little hole, on the mountain
+side, flew out between my legs so suddenly, and frightened me so, that I
+almost fell head first. I advanced with feet and hands, especially with
+my hands. My arms seemed broken, and I heard the tendons creak like the
+cords of a harp. My nails were so cruelly torn that they ceased to pain
+me. Perhaps, if I had been able to measure the distance still before me,
+I would have felt renewed strength; but when I turned my head, I became
+so dizzy that I abandoned the attempt. To sustain my courage, I talked
+to myself; I spoke out loud between my clenched teeth. I said: "One more
+step for my father! yet another for Mary-Ann! still one more for the
+confusion of the brigands and the rage of Hadgi-Stavros!"
+
+My feet at last rested on a broad ledge. It seemed to me that the soil
+had changed color. I bent my knees, I seated myself, I turned my head. I
+was only ten feet from the brook. I had reached the red rocks. The
+smooth stone, full of hollows, in which the water still stood, allowed
+me to take breath and rest a little. I drew out my watch; it was only
+half past two. I would have believed that my journey had taken three
+nights. I examined my arms and legs, to ascertain if I still possessed
+them all; in this kind of an expedition one never knows what will
+happen. I had had good luck; I had suffered some contusions and the skin
+was rubbed off in two or three places. The worst sufferer was my
+paletot. I looked up, not to thank Heaven, but to assure myself that
+nothing had moved in my camping place. I heard only the drops of water
+filtering through my dam. All was well; I was reassured; I knew where to
+find Athens; adieu to the King of the Mountains!
+
+I was about to leap to the bottom of the ravine, when a whitish form
+jumped up before me, and I heard the most furious barking which had ever
+awakened morning echoes. Alas! Monsieur, the enemies of man roamed at
+all hours around the camp, and one of them had scented me. I cannot
+describe the fury and hate which possessed me at meeting him; one does
+not detest to this degree an irrational being. I would have much
+preferred to find myself face to face with a wolf, with a tiger, or a
+white bear, noble beasts, who would have eaten me without saying
+anything, but who would not have denounced me. Ferocious beasts hunt for
+themselves; but to think of this horrible dog who was about to devour
+me, with a great uproar, in order to serve Hadgi-Stavros! I overwhelmed
+him with insults; I hurled the most odious names at him; do the best I
+could yet he spoke louder than I. I changed my tune, I tried the effect
+of kind words, I spoke to him sweetly in Greek, in the tongue of his
+fathers; he gave but one response to all my advances, and the response
+awoke the mountain echoes. A thought struck me! I was silent; he ceased
+barking. I stretched myself out among the pools of water; he crouched at
+the foot of the rock with low growls. I pretended to sleep; he slept. I
+glided, inch by inch, toward the brook; he was up with a bound, and I
+had only time to regain my platform. My hat remained in the hands of the
+enemy, or rather, in the teeth of the enemy. An instant afterward, it
+was no more than a pulp, a chewed up mass, a rag of a hat! Poor hat! I
+pitied it! I put myself in its place. If I could have escaped, less a
+few mouthfuls, I would not have considered the matter a great while, I
+would have made allowances for the dog's share. But these monsters are
+not satisfied with killing people, they eat them!
+
+I was convinced that he was hungry; that if I could find enough to
+surfeit him, he might possibly bite me, but he would not devour me. I
+had some provisions, I would sacrifice them; my only regret was that I
+did not have a hundred times more. I threw a piece of bread to him; he
+swallowed it in one mouthful; imagine a pebble which falls into a well.
+As I looked piteously at the small portion which still remained, I saw,
+in the bottom of the box, a white package, which gave me a new idea. It
+was a small amount of arsenic, used in my zoological preparations. I
+used it in stuffing birds, but no law prevented me from putting a few
+grains into the body of a dog. My speaker, with sharpened appetite,
+demanded more: "Wait," I said to him, "I am going to give thee a morsel
+of my own making!" The package contained about 35 grammes of a pretty
+powder, white and shining. I turned five or six into a small pool of
+water, and I put the remainder in my pocket. I carefully diluted a
+portion for the animal; I waited until the acid was well dissolved; I
+dipped into the solution a piece of bread, which soaked it all up, like
+a sponge. The dog sprang upon it with a good appetite and swallowed it
+at once.
+
+Why was not I provided with a little strychnine, or some other good
+poison more fearful than arsenic? It was after three o'clock, and the
+results of my experiment were not instantaneous. About half after three,
+the dog began to howl with all his strength. I had not gained much;
+barking and howling, cries of fury, or of agony, were all to the same
+purpose--that is--the awakening of Hadgi-Stavros. Soon the animal fell
+into frightful convulsions; he foamed at the mouth; he was seized with
+nausea, he made violent effort to throw off the poison. It was a sweet
+sight to me, and I enjoyed it; the death of the enemy was my only way of
+escape, and death was vanquishing him. I hoped that, conquered by the
+poison, he would permit me to leave; but he raged against me, he opened
+his foam-flecked and bloody jaws, as if to reproach me with my presents,
+and to tell me that he would not die without vengeance. I threw my
+handkerchief to him; he tore it as savagely as my hat. The sky began to
+lighten. I became convinced that I had committed a useless murder. An
+hour later, the brigands would be upon me. I looked up to that horrid
+place which I had left without expecting to return to it, and to which
+the dog's endurance was forcing me. A volume of water suddenly poured
+over the rock and threw me, face down. The icy water, filled with huge
+pieces of turf, stones, fragments of rock rolled over me. The dam had
+broken, and the whole body of water poured over my head. A trembling
+seized me! I became chilled, my blood congealed! I looked toward the
+dog; he was still at the foot of my rock, struggling with death, with
+the current, with anything, jaws open and eyes turned towards me. This
+must end. I took off my box, clutched it by the straps, and pounded that
+hideous head with such fury that the enemy left me the field of battle.
+The torrent seized him, rolled him over two or three times, and carried
+him, I know not where.
+
+I jumped into the water; it was up to my waist; I clung to the rocks; I
+went with the current; I was over the bank; I shook myself, I cried:
+"Hurrah for Mary-Ann!"
+
+Four brigands rose out of the earth! they caught me by the collar,
+saying: "Here thou art, assassin! Come! we will take thee back! the King
+will be happy! Vasile will be avenged!"
+
+It appeared, that without knowing it, I had drowned my friend, Vasile.
+
+At that time, Monsieur, I had never killed a man; Vasile was my first. I
+have fought others since, to defend myself and to save my life; but
+Vasile is the only one who has caused me any remorse, although his end
+was, probably, the result of a very innocent imprudence. You know that
+it is only the first step! No murderer, discovered by the police,
+surrounded with soldiers and led to the scene of his crime, hung his
+head more humbly than I. I dared not raise my eyes to the good people
+who had arrested me; I did not feel equal to encountering the eyes of
+these reprobates; I trembled; I presented a guilty appearance; I knew
+that I must appear before my judge, and be placed before my victim. How
+could I confront the King's frown, after what I had done? How could I
+see, without dying of shame, the inanimate body of the unfortunate
+Vasile? My knees shook; I would have fallen but for the kicks I received
+from those following me.
+
+I crossed the deserted camp, the King's cabinet, occupied by some of the
+wounded, and I descended, or, rather, I fell to the bottom of the
+staircase to my chamber. The waters had receded, leaving traces of mud
+everywhere. A small pool of water still remained where I had raised the
+dam. The bandits, the King, and the monk, stood in a circle, about a
+dark and muddy object, the sight of which made my hair stand on end: it
+was Vasile! Heaven preserve you, Monsieur, from the sight of a corpse of
+your own making! The water and the mud, rushing over him, had deposited
+on him a hideous layer. Have you ever seen a great fly which had been
+caught, three or four days before, in a large spider-web? The artisan of
+the web, not being able to rid himself of his visitor, had enveloped him
+in a tangle of gray threads, and changed him to an unformed and
+unrecognizable mass. Such was Vasile a few hours after he had dined with
+me. I found him ten feet from the path where I had bidden him farewell.
+I do not know whether the brigands had laid him there, or whether he
+had thrown himself there, in his convulsions of agony; I am inclined to
+believe, however, that death had come to him gently. Full of wine as I
+had left him, he must have succumbed, without a struggle, to some
+cerebral congestion.
+
+A menacing murmur, which was a bad augury, greeted my arrival.
+Hadgi-Stavros, with pale and contracted brow, walked up to me, seized me
+by the left wrist, and dragged me so violently that he dislocated my
+arm. He threw me into the middle of the circle with such force, that I
+almost fell on my victim; I instantly recoiled.
+
+"Look!" he cried in thundering tones, "look at what you have done!
+rejoice in your work; gaze upon your crime! Wretch! but where would you
+have stopped? Who would have said, the day I received you here, that I
+had opened my door to an assassin?"
+
+I stammered some excuses; I tried to show the judge that I was guilty
+only of imprudence. I warmly accused myself of having intoxicated my
+guardian in order to escape his watchfulness, and to flee without
+hindrance from my prison; but I defended myself from the crime of
+assassinating him. Was it my fault if the rise of waters drowned him an
+hour after my departure? The proof that I had wished him no evil, was
+that I had not stabbed him when he was dead drunk, and that I had his
+weapons at hand. They could wash the body and see that he was not
+wounded.
+
+"At least," the King replied, "confess that your act was very selfish
+and very culpable! When your life was not threatened, when you were held
+here for only a small sum, you fled through avarice; you thought only
+of saving a few écus, and you did not trouble yourself about this poor
+unfortunate whom you left to die! You never thought of me! that you were
+going to deprive me of a valuable officer! And what moment did you
+choose to betray us? The day on which all kinds of troubles assailed us;
+when I had sustained a defeat; when I had lost my best soldiers; when
+Sophocles was wounded; when the Corfuan was dying; when the little
+Spiro, upon whom I relied, was killed; when all my men were weary and
+discouraged; it was then you had the heart to relieve me of Vasile! Have
+you, then, no humane sentiments? Would it not have been a hundred times
+better to have paid your ransom honestly, as became a good prisoner,
+than to have it said you sacrificed a life for 15,000 francs?"
+
+"Eh! Zounds! You have killed people, and for less!"
+
+He replied with dignity: "That is my business; it is not yours. I am a
+brigand, and you are a doctor. I am Greek, and you are German."
+
+To that, I had nothing to reply. I felt convinced from the trembling of
+every fiber of my heart, that I had neither been born nor brought up to
+the profession of killing men. The King, angry at my silence, raised his
+voice, and said:
+
+"Do you know, miserable young man, who was the excellent man of whose
+death you are guilty? He was a descendant of those heroic brigands of
+Souli who fought fierce battles for their religion, and against Ali de
+Tebelen, Pasha of Janina. For four generations, all of his ancestors
+have either been hung or decapitated; not one has died in his bed. Only
+six years ago, his own brother perished in Epirus, having been condemned
+to death; he had killed a Mohammedan. Devotion and courage are
+hereditary in that family. Never did Vasile forget his religious duties.
+He gave to the churches; he gave to the poor. At Easter, he always
+lighted a larger taper than any one else. He would have killed himself
+rather than violate the law of abstinence, or eat meat on a fast-day. He
+economized in order to retire to a convent on Mount Athos. Did you know
+it?"
+
+I humbly confessed that I did know it.
+
+"Do you know that he was the most steadfast of all my band? I do not
+wish to detract from the personal merit of those who are listening to
+me, but Vasile possessed a blind devotion, a fearless obedience, a true
+zeal under all circumstances. No labor was too great for his courage; no
+occupation too repugnant for his fidelity. He would have killed every
+one in the kingdom if I had ordered him to do so. He would have torn out
+his best friend's eye, if I had given him a sign with my little finger.
+And you have killed him! Poor Vasile! when I shall have a village to
+burn, a miser to torture, a woman to cut in pieces, an infant to burn
+alive, who will replace thee?"
+
+All the brigands, electrified by this funeral oration, cried in one
+voice. "We! We!" Some held out their arms to the King, others unsheathed
+their daggers; the most zealous leveled their pistols at me.
+Hadgi-Stavros checked their enthusiasm: he stepped in front of me to
+shield me, and went on with his discourse in these words:
+
+"Be consoled, Vasile, thou shalt not rest without vengeance. If I
+listened only to my grief, I would offer to thy manes thy murderer's
+head; but it is worth 15,000 francs, and that thought restrains me.
+Thou, thyself, if thou couldst speak, as formerly in our councils, thou
+wouldst beg me to spare him; thou wouldst refuse so costly a vengeance.
+It is not proper, in the circumstances in which thy death has left us,
+to do foolish things, and to throw money away."
+
+He stopped a moment; I drew a deep breath.
+
+"But," the King went on, "I will know how to reconcile interest with
+justice. I will chastise the guilty one without risking the capital. His
+punishment shall be the most beautiful ornament of funeral obsequies;
+and, from above, from the homes of the Palikars, to which thy spirit has
+gone, thou shalt contemplate, with joy, an expiatory punishment, which
+shall not cost us a sou!"
+
+This peroration aroused the audience. I was the only one not charmed. I
+puzzled my brain trying to imagine what the King had in store for me,
+and I felt so little assured, that my teeth chattered. Surely, I ought
+to esteem myself happy to save my life, and the preservation of my head
+seemed no mean advantage; but I knew the inventive imagination of these
+Greeks of the highway. Hadgi-Stavros, without putting me to death, could
+inflict such chastisement as would make me hate life. The old rascal
+refused to inform me as to what punishment he had in store for me. He
+pitied my agony so little, that he compelled me to assist in the funeral
+ceremonies of his lieutenant.
+
+The body was stripped of its garments, carried to the brook, and bathed.
+Vasile's features were changed but little; his mouth, half-open, still
+bore the silly smile of the drunkard; his open eyes preserved a stupid
+look. His limbs had not lost their suppleness; the rigor mortis does not
+come, for a long time, to those who die by accident.
+
+The King's coffee-bearer and pipe-bearer proceeded to dress the dead.
+The King bore the expenses as heir. Vasile had no relatives, and all his
+property reverted to the King. They clothed the body in a fine shirt, a
+shirt of beautiful percale, and a vest embroidered with silver. They
+covered his wet locks with a bonnet which was nearly new. They put
+leggins of red silk on the legs which would never run again. Slippers of
+Russia leather were slipped on his feet. In all his life, poor Vasile
+had never been so clean nor so gorgeous. They touched his lips with
+carmine; they whitened and rouged his face as if he was a young actor
+about to step on the stage. During the whole operation, the bandit
+orchestra executed a lugubrious air, which you must have heard in the
+streets of Athens. I congratulate myself that I did not die in Greece,
+because the music is abominable, and I never could have consoled myself,
+if I had been buried to that air.
+
+Four brigands began to dig a grave in the middle of the chamber, upon
+the place where Mrs. Simons' tent stood, and on the spot where Mary-Ann
+had slept. Two others ran to the store-house to find wax-tapers, which
+they distributed. I was given one with all the others. The monk intoned
+the service for the dead. Hadgi-Stavros made the responses in firm tones
+which went to the depths of my soul. There was a light breeze, and the
+wax from my taper fell upon my hand in a burning shower; but that, alas!
+was a small thing in comparison with what awaited me. I would have
+willingly endured that trouble, if the ceremony could never have been
+finished.
+
+It was finished at last. When the last oration had been delivered, the
+King solemnly approached the bier on which the body lay, and kissed
+Vasile's lips. The bandits, one by one, followed his example. I shivered
+at the thought that my turn was coming. I tried to hide behind two who
+had already performed their duty, but they saw me and said: "It is your
+turn! Start then! You certainly owe him that!"
+
+Was this, at last, the expiation which awaited me? A just man would have
+been satisfied, at least. I swear to you, Monsieur, that it is no
+child's play to kiss the lips of a corpse, above all, when one can
+reproach one's self with being the instrument of his death. I walked
+toward the bier, I looked at the face whose eyes seemed to laugh at my
+embarrassment. I bent my head, I slightly touched the lips. A humorous
+brigand applied his hand to the nape of my neck. My mouth struck the
+cold lips! I felt the icy teeth, and seized with horror, I raised my
+head, carrying away with me I know not what terror of death, which
+seizes me at this moment! Women are very fortunate, they have the
+resource of fainting!
+
+They then lowered the body into the earth, they threw in a handful of
+flowers, a loaf of bread, an apple, and a little wine. This latter was
+the thing of which he had the least need. The grave was quickly filled,
+more quickly than I wished. A brigand observed that they must get two
+sticks for a cross. Hadgi-Stavros replied: "Be quiet! we will put up
+milord's sticks." I leave it to you to think whether my heart beat
+tumultuously. What sticks? What was there in common between sticks and
+me?
+
+The King made a sign to his pipe-bearer, who ran to the office and came
+back with two long laurel poles. Hadgi-Stavros took the funeral bier and
+laid it upon the grave. He pressed it down hard into the freshly turned
+earth, and he raised it up at one end, while the other lay in the soil,
+and he smilingly said to me: "It is for you that I am working! Take off
+your shoes, if you please!"
+
+He must have read in my eyes a question full of agony and terror, for he
+replied to the demand which I dared not address to him:
+
+"I am not wicked, and I have always detested useless severity. That is
+why I wish to inflict on you a chastisement which will be of use to us,
+inasmuch as it will dispense with any future watchfulness over you. You
+have had for several days a craze to escape. I hope, that when you have
+received twenty blows of the stick upon the soles of your feet, you will
+no longer need to be watched, and your love for traveling will cease
+for some time. I know what the punishment is; the Turks treated me to a
+dose of it in my youth, and I know, by experience, that one does not die
+of it. One suffers much from it; you will cry out, I warn you of it.
+Vasile will hear from the depths of his tomb, and he will be pleased
+with us."
+
+At this announcement, my first thought was to use my legs while I still
+had the freedom to do so. But you must believe that my will was very
+weak, for it was impossible to put one foot before the other.
+Hadgi-Stavros raised me from the ground as lightly as we pick up an
+insect in our path. I felt myself bound down and unshod, before a
+thought, leaving my brain, had time to act upon any of my members. I
+knew neither upon what they supported my feet, nor how they kept them
+from falling at the first stroke of the stick. I saw the two sticks
+lifted in the air, the one to the right, the other to the left; I closed
+my eyes and waited. I certainly did not wait the tenth part of a second,
+and yet, so short a time was sufficient to send a tender thought to my
+father, a kiss to Mary-Ann, and more than a hundred imprecations to be
+divided between Mrs. Simons and John Harris.
+
+I did not become unconscious for an instant; it is a weakness which I
+never possessed, I have told you so. There was, also, nothing to lose.
+The first blow was so terrific that I believed that those which followed
+could amount to little. It took me in the middle of the soles, under
+that small, elastic arch, just in front of the heel, which supports the
+body. It was not the foot that hurt me most that time; but I believed
+that the bones of my poor legs were breaking in pieces. The second blow
+struck lower, just under the heels; it gave me a shock, profound,
+violent, which made my whole vertebral column quiver, and filled my
+brain with a frightful tumult that almost split my cranium. The third
+was given directly on the toes and produced an acute and stinging
+sensation, which shot all over my body and made me believe, for an
+instant, that the stick had hit me on the end of the nose. It was at
+this moment that the blood flowed for the first time. The blows
+succeeded each other in the same order and in the same places, at equal
+intervals. I had enough courage to keep silent during the first two; I
+cried out at the third; I howled at the fourth; I groaned at the fifth,
+and those which followed. At the tenth, the flesh itself could suffer no
+more; I was silent. But the prostration of my physical force diminished,
+in no wise, the clearness of my perceptions. I could not have raised my
+eyelids, and yet the lightest sounds reached my ears. I lost no word of
+what was said around me. It was an observation which I shall remember
+later, if I practice medicine. Doctors do not hesitate to condemn a sick
+man, four feet from his bed, without thinking that perhaps the poor
+devil can hear them. I heard a young brigand say to the King: "He is
+dead. What good to weary two men without profit to any one?"
+Hadgi-Stavros replied: "Fear nothing. I received sixty, one after
+another, and two days afterward I danced the Romanique."
+
+"How didst thou do that?"
+
+"I used the pomade of the Italian renegade, Ludgi-Bey--Where were we?
+How many blows?"
+
+"Seventeen."
+
+"Three more, my children; and lay on the last ones hard."
+
+The stick had done its work well. The last blows fell upon a bloody but
+insentient mass of flesh. Pain had nearly paralyzed me!
+
+They raised me from the stretcher; they unbound the cords; they swathed
+my feet with compresses dipped in fresh water, and, as I had the thirst
+of the wounded, they gave me a large cup of wine. Anger returned with my
+strength. I do not know whether you have ever been bastinadoed, but I
+know nothing more humiliating than physical chastisement. In order to
+become the sovereign of the whole world, I would not, for an instant, be
+the slave of a vile stick. Born in the nineteenth century, understanding
+the use of steam and electricity, possessing a good share of the secrets
+of nature, knowing thoroughly all that science has invented for the
+well-being and security of man, knowing also how to cure fevers, how to
+prevent taking small-pox, and then, not to be able to defend one's self
+against a blow from a stick. It is a little too much, surely! If I had
+been a soldier and had submitted to corporal punishment, I should
+certainly have killed my chiefs!
+
+When I felt myself seated on the slimy ground, my feet paralyzed with
+pain, my hand useless; when I saw around me the men who had beaten me,
+the ones who had struck me and those who had seen me punished; anger,
+shame, a feeling of outraged dignity, of justice violated, of
+intelligence brutalized, swept through my enfeebled body in a wave of
+hate, of revolt, and of vengeance. I forgot everything, prudence,
+interest, discretion, the future, and I gave free vent to the thoughts
+which stifled me; a torrent of abuse poured from my lips, while an
+overflow of bile mounted to my eyes. Surely, I am no orator, and my
+solitary studies have given me no exercise in the use of words, but
+indignation, which has made some poets, lent me, for a quarter of an
+hour, the savage eloquence of those prisoners who rendered up their
+souls with insults and who breathed their last sighs in the face of the
+Roman conquerors. Everything which can outrage a man in his pride, in
+his affections, and in his dearest sentiments I said to the King of the
+Mountains. I put him in the rank with unclean animals, and I denied him
+even the name of man. I insulted him through his mother, his wife, his
+daughter, and all of his posterity. I would like to repeat to you,
+verbatim, all that I made him listen to, but words are wanting to-day,
+as I am not angry. I invented terms which are not found in the
+dictionary, but which were understood, however, for the audience of
+outcasts howled under my words like a pack of hounds under the lash of
+whippers-in. But although I kept watch of the old Palikar, eagerly
+scanning the muscles of his face, and searching for the slightest trace
+of a frown, I could discern not the slightest sign of emotion.
+Hadgi-Stavros' face was like that of a marble statue. He replied to all
+insults with a contemptuous silence. His attitude exasperated me to
+madness. I was certainly insane for a moment. A red cloud like blood
+passed before my eyes. I rose suddenly on my wounded feet. I saw a
+pistol thrust in the waist-band of one of the brigands, I pulled it out,
+I aimed it at the King, I drew the trigger, and fell back murmuring, "I
+am avenged!"
+
+It was the King himself who raised me. I looked at him with an
+astonishment as great as if I had seen him walking out of hell. He
+seemed not at all moved, and smiled as tranquilly as an immortal. And
+moreover, Monsieur, I had not missed him. My ball had touched his
+forehead, a little above the left eyebrow; a trace of blood testified to
+it. Possibly the pistol was badly loaded, or the powder poor, or it may
+be, that the ball had glanced across the bone, but whatever it was, my
+bullet had made only an abrasion.
+
+The invulnerable monster seated me carefully on the ground, leaned
+toward me, pulled my ear and said: "Why do you attempt the impossible,
+young man? I warned you that I had a head that was bullet-proof, and you
+know that I never lie. Were you not told that Ibrahim had seven
+Egyptians shoot at me and that he was unsuccessful? I hope that you do
+not pretend to be more powerful than seven Egyptians? But do you know
+that you have a nimble hand for a Northern man? Peste! if my mother, of
+whom you spoke lightly a few moments ago, had not endowed me with
+strength, I would now be a dead man. Another, in my place, would have
+died without having time to say, 'Thank you!' As for me, such things
+rejuvenate me. It recalls my best days. At your age, I exposed my life
+four times a day, and I only digested the better for it. Come, I will
+pardon you your hasty action. But as all my subjects are not proof
+against bullets, and that you may commit no new imprudence, I shall
+apply to your hands the same treatment as your feet received. Nothing
+prevents us from punishing you immediately; I will wait, however, until
+to-morrow, in the interests of your health. You see the stick is a blunt
+weapon which kills no one; you have yourself proved that one bastinadoed
+man is worth two. To-morrow's ceremony will occupy you. Prisoners do not
+know how to pass the time. It was idleness which gave you bad counsels.
+Rest easy, moreover; as soon as your ransom arrives, I will cure your
+wounds. I still have some of Ludgi-Bey's balm. There will be no signs of
+them at the end of two days, and you can dance at the ball at the
+Palace, without telling your partners that they are leaning on the arm
+of a cavalier who has been beaten."
+
+I am not a Greek, and the insults wounded me as grievously as the blows.
+I shook my fist in the old rascal's face, and cried out with all my
+strength:
+
+"No, wretch! my ransom will never be paid! No! I have not asked anyone
+for the money! Thou wilt get from me only my head, which will serve thee
+nothing. Take it quickly if it seems good to thee. It will do me a favor
+and thyself also. Thou wilt spare me two weeks of torture, and the
+disgust of looking at thee, which is the most of all. Thou wilt save my
+board for fifteen days. Do not miss it, it is the only benefit that thou
+wilt reap from me!"
+
+He smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and replied: "Ta! ta! ta! ta! Thus it
+is with young people! Extremists in everything! They throw the helve
+after the hatchet. If I listened to you, I would regret it before eight
+hours had passed, and so would you. The Englishwomen will pay, I am sure
+of it. I know women yet, although I have lived in retirement for a long
+time. What would be said if I killed you to-day, and your ransom arrived
+to-morrow? The story would go out that I had broken my word, and my
+prisoners would allow themselves to be killed like sheep, without asking
+a centime of their parents. It would spoil the trade."
+
+"Ah! thou believest that the Englishwomen will pay thee, my clever
+fellow? Yes, they will pay thee as thou meritest!"
+
+"You are very good."
+
+"Their ransom will cost thee 80,000 francs, dost thou hear? Eighty
+thousand francs out of thy pocket!"
+
+"Do not say such things. One would think that the blows of the stick had
+turned your brain."
+
+"I tell thee the truth. Dost thou recall the name of thy prisoners?"
+
+"No, but I have it in writing."
+
+"I will jog thy memory. The lady called herself Mrs. Simons."
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Partner of the firm of Barley in London."
+
+"My banker?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"How doest thou know my banker's name?"
+
+"Because thou didst dictate before me."
+
+"What matter, after all? They cannot escape; they are not Greeks, they
+are English; the courts--I will make complaint!"
+
+"And thou wouldst lose. They have a receipt!"
+
+"That is so. But by what mischance did I give them a receipt?"
+
+"Because I advised thee to do it, poor man!"
+
+"Wretch! dog wrongly baptized! heretic of hell! thou hast ruined me!
+thou hast betrayed me! Thou hast robbed me! eighty thousand francs! I am
+responsible! If they were the bankers of the company, I would lose only
+my share. But they hold only my capital; I shall lose it all. Art thou
+very sure that she is a partner of the firm of Barley?"
+
+"As I am sure of dying to-day."
+
+"No! thou shalt not die till to-morrow. Thou hast not suffered enough.
+We will make thee pay for those 80,000 francs. What punishment can we
+invent? Eighty thousand francs! Eighty thousand deaths would be little.
+What have I done to this traitor who has robbed me! Peuh! Child's play,
+a pleasantry! He has not howled two hours! I must invent something
+better. But may be there are two firms of the same name?"
+
+"Cavendish Square, No. 31."
+
+"Yes, it is the same. Fool! why didst thou not warn me instead of
+betraying me? I would have asked double the sum. They would have paid
+it; they have the means. I would not have given the receipt; I will
+never give another. No! no! it is the last time! Received a hundred
+thousand francs of Mrs. Simons! What a foolish sentence! Was it really I
+who dictated that? But I reflect now; I did not sign it. Yes, but my
+seal is equal to a signature! There are twenty letters in my name. Why
+didst thou demand this receipt? What do you expect from those ladies?
+Fifteen thousand francs for thy ransom? Selfishness, everywhere! Thou
+shouldst have confided in me; I would have let thee go without the
+ransom; I would even have paid thee. If thou art poor, as thou sayest
+thou art, thou shouldst know how good money is. Thou thinkest only of a
+sum of 80,000 francs? Dost thou know what a heap that would make in a
+room? How many pieces of gold? How much money one could make in business
+with 80,000 francs? It is a calamity! Thou hast robbed me of a fortune!
+Thou hast robbed my daughter, the only being I love in the world. It is
+for her that I work. But, if thou knowest my affairs, thou knowest that
+I scour the mountains for a whole year to gain 40,000 francs. Thou hast
+plundered me of two years' income; it is as if I had slept for two
+years!"
+
+I had then found the tender chord. The old Palikar was touched to the
+heart. I knew that there was a heavy score against me, and I expected no
+mercy, and moreover, I experienced an intense joy in seeing that
+impassable mask torn asunder and that stony face wrung with emotion. I
+rejoiced to see in his wrinkled face, the convulsive movements of
+passion, as the ship-wrecked boat lost in a raging sea, admires, afar
+off, the wave which is to engulf it. I was like the thinking reed, which
+the brutal universe crushes into a shapeless mass, and which consoles
+itself in dying with the lofty thought of its superiority. I said to
+myself, with pride: "I shall die by torture, but I am the master of my
+master, and the executioner of my execution!"
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+JOHN HARRIS.
+
+
+The King contemplated his vengeance, as a man who has fasted three days
+contemplates a bountiful repast. He examined, one by one, all the
+dishes, I mean to say all the tortures; he licked his dry lips, but he
+knew not where to commence nor what to choose. One would have said that
+excess of hunger spoiled his appetite. He struck his head with his fist,
+as if he could force out some ideas, but they came so rapidly that it
+was not easy to seize one in its passage. "Speak!" he cried to his
+subjects. "Advise me! What good are you, if you are not able to give me
+advice? Shall I await the coming of the Corfuan, or until Vasile shall
+speak from the depths of his tomb? Find for me, beasts that you are,
+some torture for the loss of 80,000 francs."
+
+The young pipe-bearer said to his master: "An idea strikes me. Thou hast
+one officer dead, another absent, and a third wounded. Put up their
+places for competition. Promise us that those who shall tell of the best
+way to avenge thee, shall succeed Sophocles, the Corfuan, and Vasile."
+
+Hadgi-Stavros smiled complacently at this stratagem. He stroked the
+young boy's chin and said to him:
+
+"Thou art ambitious, my little man! All in good time! Ambition is the
+result of courage. Agreed, for a competition! It is a modern idea, a
+European idea, that pleases me. To reward thee, thou shalt give thy
+advice, first; and if thou findest something very good, Vasile shall
+have no other heir but thee."
+
+"I would," said the child, "pull out some of my lord's teeth, put a bit
+in his mouth, and make him run, bridled, till he dropped from fatigue."
+
+"His feet are too sore; he would fall down at the first step. And you
+others? Tambouris, Moustakas, Coltzida, Milotia, speak, I am listening."
+
+"I," said Coltzida, "I would break boiling hot eggs under his arm-pits.
+I tried it on a woman of Magara, and I had much fun."
+
+"I," said Tambouris, "I would put him on the ground with a rock weighing
+five hundred pounds on his chest. It thrusts out one's tongue and makes
+one spit blood; it is fine!"
+
+"I," said Milotia, "I would put vinegar in his nostrils, and drive
+thorns under every nail. One sneezes violently and one does not know
+what to do with one's hands."
+
+Moustakas was one of the cooks of the band. He proposed to cook me in
+front of a small fire. The King's face expanded.
+
+The monk assisted at the conference, and let them talk without giving
+his advice. He, however, took pity on me, according to the measure of
+his sensibility, and helped me as far as his intelligence permitted.
+"Moustakas," he said, "is too wicked. One can torture milord finely
+without burning him alive. If you will give him salt meat without
+allowing him to drink he will live a long time, he will suffer a great
+deal, and the King will satisfy his vengeance without interfering with
+God's vengeance. It is my disinterested advice which I give you; I shall
+make nothing by it; but I wish everyone to be pleased, since the
+monastery has received its tithe."
+
+"Halt, there!" interrupted the coffee-bearer. "Good old man, I have an
+idea which is better than thine. I condemn milord to die of hunger. The
+others will do any evil to him which pleases them; I will not hinder
+them. But I would place a sentinel before his mouth, and I would take
+care that he had neither a drop of water nor a crumb of bread. Weakness
+would redouble his hunger; his wounds would increase his thirst, and the
+tortures of the others would finally finish him to my profit. What dost
+thou say, Sire? Is it not well reasoned and will it not give me Vasile's
+place?"
+
+"Go to the devil, all of you!" cried the King. "You would reason less
+calmly if the wretch had plundered you of 80,000 francs! Carry him away
+to the camp and take your pleasure out of him. But unhappy the one who
+kills him by any imprudence! This man must die only by my hand. I intend
+that he shall reimburse me, in pleasure, for all that he has taken from
+me in money. He shall shed his blood drop by drop, as a bad debtor who
+pays sou by sou."
+
+You would not believe, Monsieur, with what struggles the most wretched
+man will cling to life. Truly, I longed to die; and the happiest thing
+which could happen to me would be to end it all with one blow.
+Something, however, rejoiced me at Hadgi-Stavros' threat. I blessed the
+extension of my time. Hope sprang up in my heart. If a charitable friend
+had offered to blow out my brains I would have looked twice at him.
+
+Four brigands took me by the shoulders and legs and carried me, a
+shrieking mass, to the King's cabinet. My voice awakened Sophocles on
+his pallet. He called his companions and made them tell him the news,
+and asked to look at me closely. It was the caprice of a sick person.
+They threw me down by his side.
+
+"Milord," he said to me, "we are both very weak, but the odds are that I
+shall get well sooner than you do. It appears that they are already
+talking of my successor. How unjust men are! My place is up for
+competition. Oh, well! I wish to compete and to put myself in the race.
+You will bear witness in my favor and your groans will testify that
+Sophocles is not yet dead. You shall be bound, and I take upon myself
+the pleasure of tormenting you with one hand, as spiritedly as the
+strongest of the band."
+
+In order to please the unfortunate fellow they bound me. He turned over
+towards me and began to pull out hairs, one by one, with the patience
+and the regularity of a professional hair remover. When I saw what this
+new punishment was to be, I believed that the wounded man, touched by my
+misery, and sympathizing with me because of his own sufferings, wished
+to shield me from his comrades, and give me an hour's respite. The
+extraction of one hair is not so painful, by a good deal, as the prick
+of a pin. The first twenty came out, one after the other, without any
+discomfiture. But soon I changed my tune. The scalp, irritated by a
+multitude of imperceptible lesions, became inflamed. A dull itching
+began on my head; it became a little livelier; and at last it was
+intolerable. I would like to have raised my hands to my head; I
+understood with what intuition the wretch had had me bound. Impatience
+but aggravated the trouble; all the blood in my body rushed to my head.
+Every time Sophocles approached his hand to my scalp, a woful shivering
+seized my whole body. A thousand inexplicable stingings tormented my
+arms and legs. The nervous system, irritated at every point, enveloped
+me in a network more exasperating than Dejanire's tunic. I rolled over
+on the ground, I groaned, I cried for mercy, I regretted the bastinado.
+The executioner had pity on me only when he had completely exhausted
+himself. When he felt his eyes become dim, his head heavy, and his arm
+weary, he made a last effort, plunged his hand into my hair, seized a
+fist full, and fell over on his pallet, drawing from me a despairing
+cry.
+
+"Come with me," said Moustakas. "Thou shalt decide, in a corner by the
+fire, if I can compete with Sophocles, and whether I merit a
+lieutenancy."
+
+He raised me like a feather and carried me to the camp, in front of a
+heap of resinous wood and piled up brushwood. He took off the bonds, he
+stripped me of my clothes, leaving me only my trousers. "Thou shalt be
+my under-cook," he said. "We will make the fire and we will prepare the
+King's dinner, together."
+
+He lighted the stack of wood and laid me out on my back, about two feet
+from the mountain of flames. The wood crackled, the red cinders fell
+like hail around me. The heat became unbearable. I hitched along with my
+hands a little distance, but he came with a frying-pan in his hand, and
+pushed me back with his foot to the place where he had first laid me.
+
+"Look well, and profit by my lessons. Here are the heart, liver, and
+kidneys from three sheep; there is enough to feed twenty men. The King
+will choose the most delicate morsels; he will distribute the remainder
+to his men. Thou wilt have none of it for the present, and if thou
+tastest my cooking, it will be with the eyes only."
+
+I soon heard the bubbling in the sauce pan, and it reminded me that I
+had been fasting since the evening before. My hunger added one more
+torment. Moustakas held the pan under my eyes and made me look at the
+appetizing color of the meat. He thrust it under my nose and I smelled
+the steam of the food. Suddenly he perceived that he had forgotten the
+seasoning, and he hurried away to find the salt and pepper, leaving the
+sauce pan to my care. The first idea which came to me was to steal a
+piece of the meat, but the brigands were only ten feet away; they would
+stop me at once. "If I only had my package of arsenic," I thought. What
+could I have done with it? I had not put it back in my box. I thrust my
+hands into my pockets. I drew out a soiled paper and a handful of that
+beneficent powder, which would save me, perhaps, or at least avenge me.
+
+Moustakas returned at the instant when I was holding my open hand above
+the sauce pan. He seized me by the arm, looked me straight in the eye,
+and said in a menacing tone: "I know what thou hast done."
+
+I dropped my arm discouraged. The cook added:
+
+"Yes, thou hast thrown something over the King's dinner."
+
+"What?"
+
+"A spell. But no matter. Believe me, my poor milord, Hadgi-Stavros is a
+greater sorcerer than thou art. I am going to serve his dinner. I will
+have my part of it, but thou shalt not taste it."
+
+"Great good may it do thee!"
+
+He left me before the fire, placing me in the care of a dozen brigands
+who were crunching black bread and bitter olives. These Spartans kept me
+company for an hour or two. They attended to my fire with the
+watchfulness of sick nurses. If, at times, I attempted to drag myself a
+little further away from my torture they cried out: "Take care, thou
+wilt freeze!" And they pushed me toward the flames with heavy blows of
+the burning brushwood. My back was covered with red spots, my skin was
+raised in blisters, my eye-lashes had succumbed to the heat of the fire,
+my hair exhaled an odor of burning horn, and yet I rubbed my hands in
+glee at the thought of the King eating my cooking and that something
+startling would happen upon Parnassus before night.
+
+Very soon Hadgi-Stavros' men re-appeared in the camp, stomachs filled,
+eyes shining, faces smiling. "Go on!" I thought, "your joy and your
+health will soon fall like a mask, and you will curse each mouthful of
+the feast which I seasoned for you!" The celebrated poisoner, Locuste,
+must have passed some very pleasant moments during her life. When one
+has reason to hate men, it is pleasure enough to see a vigorous being
+who goes, who comes, who laughs, who sings, while carrying in his
+intestines a seed of death which will spring up and devour him. It is a
+little like the same joy a good doctor experiences at the sight of a
+dying man whom he is able to bring back to life. Locuste used medicine
+inversely, as I did.
+
+My malevolent reflections were interrupted by a singular tumult. The
+dogs barked in chorus, and a messenger, out of breath, appeared on the
+plateau with the whole pack at his heels. It was Dimitri, the son of
+Christodule. Some stones thrown by the bandits freed him from his
+escort. He shouted at the top of his lungs: "The King! I must speak to
+the King!" When he was about twenty steps from us, I called to him in a
+doleful tone. He was terrified at the state in which he found me, and he
+cried out: "The fools! Poor girl!"
+
+"My good Dimitri!" I said to him, "where dost thou come from? Will my
+ransom be paid?"
+
+"The ransom is well at stake, but fear nothing, I bring good news. Good
+for you, bad for me, for him, for her, for everybody! I must see
+Hadgi-Stavros. There is not a moment to lose. Until I come back, suffer
+no one to do you any harm; she would die for it! You hear, you
+wretches; do not touch milord. For your life. The King would cut you in
+pieces. Conduct me to the King!"
+
+The world is such that a man who speaks as a master is almost sure of
+being obeyed. There was so much authority in the voice of this servant,
+and his passion expressed itself in a tone so imperious that my guards,
+astonished and stupefied, forgot to keep me near the fire. I crept some
+distance away, and deliciously reposed upon the cold rock, until
+Hadgi-Stavros' arrival. He appeared not less agitated than Dimitri. He
+took me in his arms like a sick child, and carried me, without stopping,
+to that fatal chamber where Vasile was buried. He laid me on his own
+carpet with maternal solicitude; he stepped back and looked at me with a
+curious mixture of hate and pity. He said to Dimitri: "My child, this is
+the first time that I have left such a crime unpunished. He killed
+Vasile, that was nothing. He would have assassinated me, I pardoned him.
+But he robbed me, the scamp! Eighty thousand francs less in Photini's
+dowry! I sought for a punishment equal to his crime. Oh, rest easy! I
+should have found it. Unhappy that I am! Why did I not restrain my
+anger? I have treated him harshly. And she will bear the penalty. If she
+receives two blows of the stick upon her little feet I shall never see
+her again. Men do not die of it, but a woman, a child of fifteen!"
+
+He cleared the place of all the men who were crowding around us. He
+gently unwound the bloody bandages which enveloped my wounds. He sent
+his pipe-bearer for the balm of Ludgi-Bey. He seated himself on the
+damp grass in front of me, he took my feet in his hands and looked at
+the wounds. An almost incredible thing to tell! There were tears in his
+eyes!
+
+"Poor child!" he said, "you have suffered cruelly. Pardon me. I am an
+old brute, a wolf of the mountain, a Palikar. I was trained in ferocity
+from twenty years of age. But you see that my heart is good, since I
+regret what I have done. I am more unhappy than you, because your eyes
+are dry and I weep. I shall set you at liberty without a moment's delay,
+or rather, no, you cannot go away thus. I will cure you first. The balm
+is a sovereign remedy. I will care for you as for a son. Health shall
+return quickly. You must be able to walk to-morrow. She must not remain
+a day longer in your friend's hands. In the name of Heaven tell no one
+of our quarrel to-day! You know that I do not hate you! I have said so
+often. I sympathized with you and I gave you my confidence. I told you
+my most sacred secrets. Do you not remember that we were friends until
+Vasile's death? An instant's anger must not make you forget twelve days
+of good treatment. You would not wish to break a father's heart. You are
+an honest young man; your friend ought to be good like you."
+
+"But who, then?"
+
+"Who? That cursed Harris! that devilish American! that execrable pirate!
+that kidnapper of children! that assassin of young girls! that wretch
+whom I wish I held with you so that I could crush you in my hands, grind
+you together, and scatter your dust to the winds of my mountains! You
+are all the same, Europeans, a race of traitors, who dare not attack
+men, and who have courage to fight only against children. Read what he
+has written me and tell me if there are tortures cruel enough to
+chastise a crime like his!"
+
+He savagely hurled a crumpled letter at me. I instantly recognized the
+writing, and I read:
+
+     "Sunday, May 11, on board The Fancy, Bay of Salamis.
+
+     "Hadgi-Stavros:
+
+     "Photini is on board under guard of four American cannons. I shall
+     hold her as hostage as long as Hermann Schultz is prisoner. As thou
+     treatest my friend, so shall I treat thy daughter. She shall pay
+     hair for hair, tooth for tooth, head for head. Reply to me without
+     delay, otherwise I shall come to see thee!
+
+     "John Harris."
+
+On reading this letter I could not restrain my joy. "The good Harris!" I
+shouted, "I who accused him! But explain, Dimitri, why he has not
+rescued me sooner?"
+
+"He has been away, Mr. Hermann; he was chasing pirates. He returned
+yesterday morning, unfortunately for us. Why did he not remain away!"
+
+"Excellent Harris! He has not lost a single day. But where did he kidnap
+the daughter of this old scamp?"
+
+"At our house, M. Hermann. You know her, Photini. You have dined more
+than once with her."
+
+The Daughter of the King of the Mountains was then that boarding-school
+miss with the flat nose, who sighed for John Harris.
+
+I concluded from this that the abduction had been accomplished without
+violence.
+
+The pipe-bearer now came up with a package of linen and a bottle filled
+with yellow pomade. The King dressed my feet with practiced touch, and I
+experienced within an hour a certain relief. Hadgi-Stavros was, at this
+moment, a fine subject for the study of psychology. He had as much
+brutality in his eyes as delicacy in his touch. He unwound the bandages
+from my instep so gently that I scarcely felt it; but his glance said:
+"If I could only strangle thee!" He took out the pins as adroitly as a
+woman; but with what pleasure would he have thrust his cangiar into me.
+
+When he had adjusted the bandages, he stretched out his clenched fists
+and savagely roared:
+
+"I am no longer a King, since I must refrain from gratifying my anger!
+I, who have always commanded, I obey a threat! He, who has made millions
+of men tremble, is afraid! They will boast of it, without doubt; they
+will tell the whole world of it; Oh! for the means to silence those
+European gossips! They will publish it in their papers, perhaps even in
+their novels. Why did I marry? Ought such a man to have children? I was
+born to fight soldiers and not to rear up little girls! Thunder is not
+for children; cannons are not for children. If they were, they would no
+longer fear the thunder-bolts and cannon-balls. This John Harris may
+well laugh at me! What if I should declare war against him? What if I
+should capture his ship by force? I have attacked many, when I was a
+pirate, and twenty such cannons did not trouble me. But my daughter was
+not on board. Dear little one! You know her then, Monsieur Hermann? Why
+did you not tell me that you boarded with Christodule? I would have
+asked no ransom; I would have released you instantly, for love of
+Photini. Truly, I wish that she knew your language. She will be a
+princess in Germany, some day or other. Is it not true that she will
+make a beautiful Princess? I think so! Since you know her you will
+forbid your friend to do her any harm. Could you have the heart to see a
+tear fall from those dear eyes? She has never harmed you, the poor
+innocent! If anyone ought to expiate your sufferings, it is I. Tell M.
+John Harris that you bruised your feet on the paths; you may then do me
+any harm you choose."
+
+Dimitri stopped this torrent of words. "It is very unfortunate that M.
+Hermann is wounded. Photini is not safe in the midst of those heretics,
+and I know M. Harris: he is capable of anything!"
+
+The King scowled. Suspicions of a lover entered the father's heart. "Be
+off, then," he said to me; "I will carry you if necessary to the foot of
+the mountain; you can find, in some village, a horse, a carriage, a
+litter; I will furnish everything needed. But let him know, that from
+to-day, you are free, and swear to me, on the head of your mother, that
+you will tell no one of the injury which has been done you?"
+
+I scarcely knew how I could endure the fatigues of the journey; but
+anything seemed preferable to the company of my tormentors. I feared
+that a new obstacle might arise before I was free. I said to the King:
+"Let us start! I swear to you by all I hold most sacred, that they shall
+not touch a hair of your daughter's head!"
+
+He raised me in his arms, threw me over his shoulder, and mounted the
+staircase to his cabinet. The entire band rushed out in front of him and
+barred our passage. Moustakas, livid as a man attacked with cholera,
+said to him: "Where art thou going? The German has thrown a spell over
+the food. We are suffering all the pains of hell. We are frightfully
+ill, through his fault, and we wish to see him die."
+
+My hopes were dashed to the ground. Dimitri's arrival; John Harris'
+providential interference; Hadgi-Stavros' change of front; the
+humiliation of that superb head to the feet of his prisoner; so many
+events, crowded into a quarter of an hour, had turned my head; I had
+already forgotten the past, and I had rashly begun to count on the
+future.
+
+At the sight of Moustakas, I remembered the poison. I felt that any
+moment might precipitate a fearful event. I clung to the King of the
+Mountains, I wound my arms around his neck, I begged him to carry me
+away without delay. "It will redound to thy glory," I said to him.
+"Prove to these savages that thou art King! Do not reply! words are
+useless. Let us pass over their bodies. Thou knowest thyself what
+interest thou hast in saving me. Thy daughter loves John Harris; I am
+sure of it, she confessed it to me!"
+
+"Wait!" he replied. "Let us pass first! we can talk later."
+
+He laid me carefully down on the ground, and rushed, with clenched
+fists, into the midst of the bandits. "You are fools!" he shouted. "The
+first one who touches milord will answer to me. What spell do you say he
+has cast? I ate with you; am I ill? Let me pass! he is an honest man; he
+is my friend!"
+
+Suddenly, he changed countenance; his legs gave way under the weight of
+his body. He seated himself near me, leaned toward me and said with more
+grief than anger:
+
+"Imprudent! Why did you not tell me that you had poisoned us?"
+
+I seized the King's hand; it was cold. His features were convulsed; his
+marble-like face became a frightful color. At this sight, my strength
+suddenly failed me, and I felt that I was dying. I had nothing more to
+hope for in the world; had I not condemned myself, in killing the only
+man who had any interest in saving me? My head fell on my breast, and I
+sat, helpless, by the side of the livid and shivering old man.
+
+Moustakas and some of the others had, already, stretched out their hands
+to seize me and compel me to share their sufferings. Hadgi-Stavros had
+no strength to defend me. Occasionally, a terrible hiccough shook the
+King, as the wood-cutter's ax shakes an oak a hundred years old. The
+bandits were persuaded that he was dying, and that the invincible old
+man was about, at last, to be conquered by death. All the ties which
+bound them to their chief, bonds of interest, of fear, of hope, and of
+gratitude, broke like the threads of a spider's web. The Greeks are the
+most restive people in the world. Their inordinate and intemperate
+vanity was sometimes subdued, but like a steel ready to rebound. They
+knew how, in case of need, to lean upon the strongest, or how to
+modestly follow the lead of the ablest, but not how to pardon the master
+who had protected and enriched them. For thirty centuries or more, this
+nation has been composed of a people, egotistical and jealous, which
+only necessity has held together, which inclination separates, and which
+no human power could unite entirely.
+
+Hadgi-Stavros learned to his cost that one does not command, with
+impunity, sixty Greeks. His authority did not survive an instant longer
+than his moral force or his physical vigor. Without mentioning the
+wounded men who shook their fists in our faces, while reproaching us for
+their sufferings, the able-bodied grouped themselves in front of their
+legitimate king, around a huge, brutal peasant, named Coltzida. He was
+the most garrulous and most shameless of the band, an impudent blockhead
+without talent and without courage; one of those who hide during action,
+and who carry the flag after a victory; but in like situations, fortune
+favors impudent braggarts. Coltzida, proud of his lungs, heaped insults,
+by the score, on Hadgi-Stavros, as a grave-digger heaps the earth on the
+grave of a dead man.
+
+"Thou seest," he said, "a wise man, an invincible general, an
+all-powerful king, and invulnerable mortal! Thou hast not deserved thy
+glory, and we have been far-sighted in trusting ourselves to thee! What
+have we gained in thy company? How hast thou served us? Thou hast given
+us fifty-four miserable francs a month, a beggarly pittance. Thou hast
+fed us on black bread and mouldy cheese which you would not touch, while
+thou hast accumulated a fortune and sent ships loaded with gold to
+foreign bankers. What benefit have we received from our victories and
+for all the blood which we have shed in the mountains? Nothing! thou
+hast kept all for thyself, spoils, personal effects, prisoners' ransoms!
+It is true that thou hast left us the bayonet thrusts: it is the only
+profit of which thou hast not taken thy share. During the two years I
+have been with thee, I have received four wounds in the back, and thou
+hast not a scar to show! If, at least, thou hadst known how to lead us!
+If thou hadst chosen good opportunities, when there was little to risk
+and much to gain! Thou hast beaten us; thou hast been our executioner;
+thou hast sent us into the wolves' jaws! Thou hast then hastened to be
+done with us and to retire us on a pension! Thou wert longing so much to
+see us all buried near Vasile that thou deliveredst us to this cursed
+lord, who has thrown a spell over our bravest soldiers! But do not hope
+to cheat us from our vengeance. I know why thou wishest to have him go
+away; he has paid his ransom. But what dost thou wish to do with this
+money? Wilt thou carry it away to a foreign country? Thou art sick,
+opportunely, my poor Hadgi-Stavros. Milord has not spared thee, thou art
+dying also, and it is well! My friends, we are our own masters. We will
+no longer obey anyone, we will do whatever pleases us, we will eat the
+best, we will drink all of the wine of Aegina, we will burn an entire
+forest to cook whole herds, we will pillage the kingdom! we will take
+Athens and we will camp in the Palace gardens! You have only to allow
+yourselves to be led; I know the best methods! Let us begin by throwing
+the old man, with his much loved lord, into the ravine; I will then tell
+you what is necessary to do!"
+
+Coltzida's eloquence came near costing us our lives, because his
+audience applauded. Hadgi-Stavros' old comrades, ten or a dozen devoted
+Palikars, who might have come to his aid, had eaten dessert at his
+table: they were also writhing in agony. But a popular orator cannot
+elevate himself above his fellows without creating jealousies. When it
+became clear that Coltzida proposed to become chief of the band,
+Tambouris and some other ambitious ones faced about and ranged
+themselves on our side. To a man they liked better the man who knew how
+to lead them than this insolent braggart, whose incapacity repelled
+them. They urged that the King had not long to live, and that he would
+appoint his successor from among the faithful who remained around him.
+It was no ordinary affair. The odds were that the capitalists would more
+readily ratify Hadgi-Stavros' choice, than endorse a revolutionary
+election. Eight or ten voices were raised in our defense. Ours, because
+our interests were one. I clung to the King of the Mountains, and he had
+one arm around my neck. Tambouris and his fellows put their heads
+together; a plan of defense was formed; three men profited by the
+uproar to run, with Dimitri, to the arsenal, to get arms and cartridges,
+and to lay along the path a train of powder. They came back and
+discreetly mixed with the crowd. They formed into two parties; insults
+were hurled from one to the other. Our champions, with their backs to
+Mary-Ann's chamber, guarded the staircase, they made a rampart of their
+bodies for us, and kept the enemy in the King's cabinet. In the
+scrimmage, a pistol-shot rung out. A ribbon of fire ran over the ground
+and the rock flew up with a fearful noise.
+
+Coltzida and his followers, surprised by the detonation, ran to the
+arsenal. Tambouris lost not an instant; he raised Hadgi-Stavros,
+descended the staircase in two bounds, laid him in a safe place,
+returned, picked me up, carried, and laid me at the King's feet. Our
+friends intrenched themselves in the chamber, cut trees, barricaded the
+staircase, and organized a defense before Coltzida could return.
+
+Then, we counted our forces. Our army was composed of the King, his two
+servants, Tambouris with eight brigands, Dimitri, and myself; in all
+fourteen men, of whom three were disabled. The coffee-bearer had been
+poisoned also, and he began to show the first rigors of illness. But we
+had two guns apiece, and a great supply of cartridges, while the enemy
+had no arms nor ammunition except what they carried on their persons.
+They possessed the advantage of numbers and point of vantage. We did not
+know exactly how many able-bodied men they had, but we must expect to
+meet twenty-five or thirty assailants. I need not describe to you the
+place of siege: you know it. Believe, however, that the aspect of the
+place had changed a great deal since the day when I breakfasted there
+for the first time, under guard of the Corfuan, with Mrs. Simons and
+Mary-Ann. The roots of our beautiful trees were exposed, and the
+nightingale was far away. What is more important for you to know, is,
+that we were protected on the right and left by rocks, inaccessible even
+to the enemy. They could attack us from the King's cabinet, and they
+could watch us from the bottom of the ravine. On the one hand, their
+balls flew over us; on the other, ours flew over the sentinels, but at
+such long range that it was wasting our ammunition.
+
+If Coltzida and his companions had possessed the least idea of war, they
+could have done for us. They could have raised the barricade, entered by
+force, driven us into a corner, or thrown us over into the ravine. But
+the imbecile, who had two men to our one, thought to husband his
+ammunition, and place, as sharp-shooters, twenty stupid men who did not
+know how to discharge a gun. Our men were not much more skillful. Better
+commanded, however, and wiser, they managed to smash five heads before
+night fell. The combatants knew each other by name. They called to each
+other after the fashion of Homer's heroes. One attempted to convert the
+other by aiming at his cheek; the other replied by a ball and by
+argument. The combat was only an armed discussion when, from time to
+time, the muskets spoke.
+
+As for me, stretched out in a corner, sheltered from the balls, I tried
+to undo my fatal work, and to recall the poor King of the Mountains to
+life. He suffered cruelly; he complained of great thirst, and a sharp
+pain in the upper part of the abdomen. His icy hands and feet were
+violently convulsed. The pulse was irregular, the respiration labored.
+His stomach seemed to struggle against an internal execution, without
+being able to expel it. His mind had lost nothing of its vigor and its
+quickness; his bright and keen eye searched the horizon in the direction
+of the Bay of Salamis, and Photini's floating prison.
+
+He grasped my hand and said: "Cure me, my dear child! You are a doctor,
+you ought to cure me. I will not reproach you with what you have done;
+you were right; you had reason to kill me, because I swore that without
+your friend Harris I would not have allowed you to escape me. Is there
+nothing to quench the fire which consumes me? I care nothing for life; I
+have lived long enough; but if I die, they will kill you, and my poor
+Photini will be sacrificed. I suffer! Feel my hands; it seems to me that
+they are already dead. Do you believe that this American will have the
+heart to carry out his threats? What was it you told me a little while
+ago? Photini loves him! Poor little one! I have brought her up to become
+the wife of a king. I would rather see her dead, than--no, I would
+rather, after all, that she should love this young man; perhaps he may
+take pity on her. What are you to him? a friend; nothing more; you are
+not even a compatriot. One may have as many friends as one wishes; one
+cannot find two women like Photini; I would strangle all my friends if
+I found it to my advantage; I would never kill a woman who loved me. If
+only he knew how rich she is! Americans are practical, at least, so it
+is said. But the poor, little innocent knows nothing about her fortune.
+I ought to have told her. But how can I let him know that she will have
+a dowry of four millions? We are Coltzida's prisoners. Cure me then, and
+by all the saints in paradise I will crush the reptile!"
+
+I am not a physician, and all I know about toxicology is in its
+elementary treatment; I remembered, however, that arsenical poisoning
+was cured only by a method similar to "Doctor Sangrado." I used means to
+make the old man eject the contents of his stomach, and I soon began to
+hope that the poison was almost expelled. Reaction followed; his skin
+became burning hot, the pulse quickened, his face flushed, his eyes were
+blood-shot. I asked him if any one of his men knew enough to bleed him.
+He tied a bandage tightly around his arm, and coolly opened a vein
+himself, to the noise of the fusilade and while the bullets dashed
+around him. He let out a sufficient amount of blood, and asked me in a
+sweet and tranquil tone, what else there was to do. I ordered him to
+drink, to drink more, to keep on drinking, until the last particle of
+arsenic had been disposed of. The goat-skin of white wine which had
+killed Vasile was still in the chamber. This wine, mixed with water,
+brought back life to the King. He obeyed me like a child. I believe that
+the first time I held out the cup to him, his poor, old suffering
+Highness seized my hand to kiss it.
+
+Toward ten o'clock he became much better, but his pipe-bearer was dead.
+The poor devil could neither rid himself of the poison, nor revive. They
+threw him into the ravine, at the top of the cascade. All our defenders
+were in good condition, without a wound, but famished as wolves in
+December. As for me, I had been without food for twenty-four hours, and
+I was very hungry. The enemy, in order to defy us, passed the night
+eating and drinking above our heads. They threw to us some mutton bones
+and some empty goat-skin bottles. Our men replied with some shots,
+guessing at the position of our foes. We could plainly hear the cries of
+joy and the groans of the dying. Coltzida was drunk; the wounded and the
+sick howled in unison; Moustakas did not shout for a long time. The
+tumult kept me awake the entire night near the old King. Ah! Monsieur,
+how long the nights seem to him who is not sure of the next day!
+
+Tuesday morning broke gray and wet. The sky looked threatening at
+sunrise, and a disagreeable rain fell alike on friend and foe. But if we
+were wide awake enough to protect our arms and ammunition, General
+Coltzida's army had not taken the same precaution. The first engagement
+redounded entirely to our honor. The enemy was badly hidden, and fired
+their pistols with shaking hands. The game seemed so good a one, that I
+took a gun like the others. What happened I will write to you about at
+some future time, if I ever become a doctor. I have already confessed to
+murders enough for a man whose business it is not. Hadgi-Stavros
+followed my example; but his hands refused to act; his extremities were
+swollen and painful, and I announced to him, with my usual frankness,
+that this incapacity might last as long as he did.
+
+About nine o'clock the enemy, who seemed to be very attentive in
+responding to us, suddenly turned their backs. I heard heavy firing
+which was not directed to us, and I concluded that Master Coltzida had
+allowed himself to be surprised in the rear. Who was the unknown ally
+who was serving us so good a turn? Was it prudent to effect a junction
+and to demolish our barricade? I asked nothing else, but the King
+believed that it was a troop of the line, and Tambouris gnawed his
+moustache. All our doubts were soon removed. A voice which was not
+unknown to me, cried: "All right!" Three young men, armed to the teeth,
+sprang forward like tigers, broke down the barricade and fell in our
+midst. Harris and Lobster held in each hand a six-shooter. Giacomo
+brandished a musket, the butt-end in the air, like a club: it was thus
+that he knew how to use fire-arms.
+
+A thunder-bolt falling into the chamber would have produced less magical
+effect than the appearance of these men, who shot right and left, and
+who seemed to carry death in their hands. My three fellow-boarders,
+excited by the noise, elated with victory, perceived neither
+Hadgi-Stavros nor me. They only turned around in order to kill a man,
+and God knows! they did their work well. Our poor champions, astonished,
+affrighted, were overcome without having had time to defend themselves
+or to be recognized. I, who would have saved their lives, shouted from
+my corner; but my voice was drowned in the whistling of bullets, and
+the shouts of the conquerors. Dimitri, crouching between the King and
+me, vainly joined his voice to mine. Harris, Lobster, and Giacomo fired,
+ran here and there, knocked down, counting the blows, each in his own
+tongue.
+
+"One!" said Lobster.
+
+"Two!" responded Harris.
+
+"Tre! quatro! cinque!" growled Giacomo. The fifth was Tambouris. His
+head split under the blow like a fresh nut struck by a stone. The brains
+were scattered about, and the body sunk into the water like a bundle of
+clothes which a washerwoman throws in the edge of a brook. My friends
+were a fine sight in their horrible work. They killed with ferocity,
+they delighted in the justice they meted out. While running toward the
+camp, the wind had blown away their hats; their locks were disheveled;
+their glistening eyes shone so murderously, that it was difficult to
+decide whether death was dealt by their looks or by their hands. One
+could have said that destruction was incarnate in this panting trio.
+When they had removed all obstacles from their path and they saw no
+enemies but the three or four wounded men stretched on the ground, they
+stopped to breathe. Harris' first thought was for me. Giacomo had only
+one care: he wished to ascertain whether, among the number, he had
+broken Hadgi-Stavros' head. Harris shouted: "Hermann, where are you?"
+
+"Here!" I replied: and the three fighters ran at my call.
+
+The King of the Mountains, feeble as he was, put one hand on my
+shoulder, raised himself from the rock, looked fixedly at these men who
+had killed such a number to reach him, and said in a firm tone: "I am
+Hadgi-Stavros!"
+
+You know that my friends had waited for a long time for occasion to
+chastise the old Palikar. They had promised themselves to celebrate his
+death as a festival. They would avenge Mistra's little daughters; a
+thousand other victims; me, and themselves. But, however, I had no need
+to restrain them. There was such remains of greatness in this hero in
+ruins, that their anger fell from them and gave way to astonishment.
+They were all three young men, and at the age when one no longer takes
+arms against a disarmed enemy. I related to them, in a few words, how
+the King had defended me against his whole band, almost dead as he was,
+and on the same day on which I had poisoned him. I explained to them
+about the battle they had interrupted, the barricades they had broken
+down, and that strange contest in which they had interfered and killed
+our defenders.
+
+"So much the worse for them!" said John Harris. "We wear, like Justice,
+a bandage over our eyes. If the rogues performed a good deed before they
+died, it will be counted in their favor up above; I do not object to
+it."
+
+"As for the men of whom we have deprived you, do not worry about them,"
+said Lobster. "With two revolvers in our hands and two more in our
+pockets, we have each been worth twenty-four men. We have killed these;
+the others have only to come back. Is it not so, Giacomo?"
+
+"As for me, I could knock down an army of bulls!" said the Maltese; "I
+am in the humor for it. And to think that one is reduced to sealing
+letters with two such fists as these!"
+
+The enemy, however, recovered from their astonishment, had again begun
+the siege. Three or four brigands had poked their noses over our
+ramparts and saw the carnage. Coltzida knew not what to think of the
+three scourges who had struck blindly, right and left, among friends and
+foes; but he decided that either sword or poison must have freed the
+King of the Mountains. He prudently ordered the men to demolish our
+defense. We were out of sight, sheltered by the wall, about ten steps
+from the staircase. The noise of the falling barricade warned my friends
+to reload their revolvers. The King allowed them to do so. He said to
+John Harris:
+
+"Where is Photini?"
+
+"On my ship."
+
+"You have not harmed her?"
+
+"Do you think that I have taken lessons from you in torturing young
+girls?"
+
+"You are right, I am a miserable old dog; pardon me! Promise me to
+forgive her!"
+
+"What the devil do you want me to do with her? Now that I have found
+Hermann, I will send her back to you whenever you wish."
+
+"Without ransom?"
+
+"You old beast!"
+
+"You shall see whether I am an old beast!"
+
+He passed his left arm around Dimitri's neck, he extended his shriveled
+and trembling hand toward the hilt of his sword, painfully drew the
+blade from the scabbard, and marched toward the staircase where Coltzida
+and his men stood hesitating. They recoiled at sight of him, as if the
+earth had opened to allow the passage of the ruler of the infernal
+regions. There were fifteen or twenty, all armed; not one dared to
+defend himself, to make excuses, nor even to attempt to escape. They
+trembled in all their limbs, at sight of the terrible face of the
+resuscitated King. Hadgi-Stavros marched straight to Coltzida, who,
+paler and more horrified than the others, attempted to hide behind his
+companions. The King threw his arm backwards by an effort impossible to
+describe, and with one blow severed his head from his body. Instantly, a
+trembling seized him. His sword fell on the dead man and he did not
+deign to pick it up.
+
+"Let us go on," he said, "I carry an empty scabbard. The blade is no
+longer of use, neither am I; I am done for!"
+
+His old companions approached to ask pardon. Some of them begged him not
+to abandon them; they knew not what to do without him. He did not honor
+them with a word of response. He implored us to accompany him to Castia
+to find horses, and to Salamis to search for Photini.
+
+The brigands allowed us to depart without hindrance. After a few steps,
+my friends noticed that I could scarcely step; Giacomo helped me along;
+Harris asked if I was wounded. The King gave me a beseeching look, poor
+man! I told my friends that I had attempted a perilous escape, and that
+my feet had been badly wounded. We carefully picked our way down the
+mountain paths. The groans of the wounded, and the voices of the bandits
+who were discussing matters, followed us for quite a distance. As we
+approached the village, the weather changed, and the path began to dry
+under our feet. The first ray of sunlight which burst forth seemed to me
+very beautiful. Hadgi-Stavros paid little attention to the outside
+world; he communed within himself. It is something to break off a habit
+of fifty years standing.
+
+On the outskirts of Castia, we met the monk who was carrying a swarm of
+bees in a sack. He greeted us courteously, and excused himself for not
+having visited us since the evening before. The musket shots had
+intimidated him. The King saluted him and passed on. My friends' horses
+were waiting, with their guide, near the fountain. I asked them how they
+happened to have four horses. They said that M. Mérinay made one of the
+party, but that he had alighted to inspect a curious stone, and that he
+had not yet re-appeared.
+
+Giacomo Fondi lifted me to the saddle at arm's length; he could not
+resist the temptation. The King, assisted by Dimitri, painfully climbed
+into his. Harris and his nephew vaulted into theirs; Giacomo, Dimitri,
+and the guide preceded us on foot.
+
+The path widening, I rode up beside Harris, and he related to me how
+the King's daughter had fallen into his hands:
+
+"Imagine;" he said to me. "I had just arrived from my cruise, much
+pleased with myself, and very proud of having run down a half-dozen
+pirates. I anchored off Piraeus, Sunday, at six o'clock; I landed; and
+as I had been eight days tête-à-tête with my head officer, I promised
+myself a little pleasure in conversation. I stopped a fiacre, I hired it
+for the evening. I arrived at Christodule's house in the midst of a
+general hubbub; I would never have believed that so much trouble could
+be found in a pastry-cook's house. Every one was there for supper.
+Christodule, Maroula, Dimitri, Giacomo, William, M. Mérinay and the
+little Sunday girl, more tricked out than ever. William related to me
+your story. It is useless to tell you that I made a great uproar. I was
+furious with myself for not having been in the city. My nephew assured
+me that he had done all he could. He had scoured the city for fifteen
+thousand francs, but his parents had opened only a limited credit for
+him; briefly, he had not found the amount. In despair, he addressed
+himself to M. Mérinay: but the sweet Mérinay pretended that all his
+money was lent to his intimate friends, far from here, very
+far;--farther than the end of the world!
+
+"'Eh! Zounds!' I said to Lobster, 'it is in lead-money that one must pay
+the old scoundrel. For what good is it to be as dextrous as Nimrod, if
+one's talent is good only to break Socrates' prison? We must organize a
+hunt for the old Palikars! Once, I refused a journey to Central Africa:
+I have since regretted it. It is double pleasure to shoot an animal
+which defends itself. Provide plenty of powder and balls, and to-morrow
+morning we will set out on a campaign.' William took the bait, Giacomo
+brought his fist down in a crashing blow on the table; you know what
+Giacomo's fist-blows are. He swore that he would accompany us, provided
+he could find a single-barreled gun. But the most enraged of all was M.
+Mérinay. He wished to bathe his hands in the blood of those wretches. We
+accepted his services, but I offered to buy the game which he would
+bring back. He swelled out his little voice in the most comical fashion,
+and showing his fists to Mademoiselle, said that Hadgi-Stavros would
+have business to settle with him.
+
+"I laughed gleefully like those who are always gay the night before a
+battle. Lobster became very merry at the thought of showing the bandits
+the progress he had made. Giacomo could not contain himself for joy; the
+corners of his mouth went around dangerously near his ears; he cracked
+nuts with the face of a nut-cracker of Nuremburg. M. Mérinay had a halo
+around his head. He was no longer a man, but a pyrotechnic display.
+
+"Except us, the guests resembled alder trees. The pastry-cook's huge
+wife made signs of the cross; Dimitri raised his eyes to heaven,
+Christodule advised us to think twice before we provoked the King of the
+Mountains. But the girl with the flat nose, the one to whom you gave the
+name of Crinolina invariabilis, was plunged in grief which was quite
+amusing. She fetched great sighs like a wood-splitter; she did this
+only to keep herself in countenance, and I could have put in my left eye
+all the supper which she put into her mouth."
+
+"She is a good girl, Harris."
+
+"Good girl as much as you wish, but I find that your indulgence for her
+passes all bounds. I have never been able to pardon her for her dresses
+which thrust themselves obstinately under the legs of my chair, the odor
+of patchouli which she spreads around me, and the lackadaisical glances
+which she passes around the table. One would say, upon my word, that she
+is not capable of looking at a carafe without casting sheep's eyes at
+it. But if you love her, such as she is, there is nothing to be said.
+She left at nine o'clock for her boarding-school; I wished her bon
+voyage. Ten minutes afterward I shook hands with our friends, we made a
+rendezvous for the next day, I went out, I wakened my coachman and guess
+whom I found in my carriage? Crinolina invariabilis with the
+pastry-cook's servant.
+
+"She placed her finger on her lips. I entered without saying a word, and
+we started. 'Monsieur Harris,' she said in very good English, by my
+faith, 'swear to me to renounce your plans against the King of the
+Mountains.'
+
+"I began to laugh, and she began to weep. She declared that I would be
+killed; I replied that it was I who would kill the others; she objected
+to having Hadgi-Stavros killed; I wished to know why; at last, at the
+end of her eloquence, she cried out, as if in the fifth act of a play:
+'He is my father!' Upon that I began to seriously reflect; once in a way
+does not count. I thought that it might be possible to recover a lost
+friend without risking two or three others, and I said to the young
+Palikar:
+
+"'Your father loves you?'
+
+"'More than his life.'
+
+"'He never refuses you anything?'
+
+"'Nothing that is necessary.'
+
+"'And if you should write to him that you wanted M. Hermann Schultz
+would he send him to you with the message-bearer?'
+
+"'No.'
+
+"'You are absolutely sure of it?'
+
+"'Absolutely.'
+
+"'Then, Mademoiselle, I have but one thing to do. Set a thief to catch a
+thief. I will carry you on board The Fancy, and I will hold you as a
+hostage until Hermann is returned.'
+
+"'I was about to propose it to you,' she said. 'At that price papa will
+send back your friend.'"
+
+Here I interrupted John Harris' story.
+
+"Oh, well! you do not admire the poor, young girl who loves you enough
+to give herself into your hands?"
+
+"A fine affair!" he replied. "She wished to save that honest man, her
+father, and she well knew that once war was declared we would not let
+him escape. I promised to treat her with all the respect a gallant man
+ought to treat a woman. She wept until we reached Piraeus. I consoled
+her as best I could. She murmured: 'I am a lost girl!' I demonstrated
+to her by 'A' plus 'B' that she would find herself again. I made her get
+out of the carriage. I helped her and the servant into my boat, which
+now awaits us below. I wrote to the old brigand an explicit letter, and
+I sent an old woman with a little message to Dimitri.
+
+"Since that time the beautiful weeper enjoys undisputed possession of my
+apartments. Orders were given that she was to be treated like the
+daughter of a king. I waited until Monday evening for her father's
+response; then my patience failed me; I returned to my first plan; I
+took my pistols; I notified my friends, and you know the rest. Now it is
+your turn; you ought to have a whole volume to recount."
+
+"I must first speak to the King."
+
+I approached him and said to him in a low tone: "I do not know why I
+told you that Photini was in love with John Harris. Fear must have
+turned my head. I have been talking with him, and I swear to you, on the
+head of my father, that she is as indifferent to him as if he had never
+spoken to her."
+
+The old man thanked me with a motion of the hand, and I went back to
+John Harris, and related my adventures with Mary-Ann. "Bravo!" he
+exclaimed. "I find that the romance is not complete on account of the
+absence of a little love. A sufficient amount will do no harm."
+
+"Excuse me," I answered. "There is no love in it at all! A firm
+friendship on one side, a little gratitude on the other. But nothing
+more is necessary, I think, to make a reasonably suitable marriage."
+
+"Marry, my friend, and permit me to be a witness to your happiness."
+
+"You have well earned it, John Harris."
+
+"When shall you see her again? I would give much to be present at the
+interview."
+
+"I would like to surprise her and meet her by chance."
+
+"That is a good idea! After to-morrow, at the Court Ball! You are
+invited. I am, too. Your note lies on your table, at Christodule's
+house. Until then, my boy, you must remain on board my ship in order to
+recuperate a little. Your hair is scorched and your feet are wounded; we
+will have time to remedy all that."
+
+It was six o'clock in the evening when the boat belonging to Harris put
+off to The Fancy. They carried the King on deck; he could not walk.
+Photini, weeping, threw herself into his arms. It was happiness to see
+that those whom she loved had survived the battle, but she found her
+father grown twenty years older. Possibly, also, she suffered from
+Harris' indifference. He delivered her to her father in a characteristic
+American fashion, saying: "We are quits! You have returned my friend to
+me; I have restored Mademoiselle to you. An even exchange is no robbery!
+Short accounts make long friends! And now, most venerable old man, under
+what beneficent region of the earth will you search for the one who is
+to hang you?"
+
+"Pardon me," he replied, with a certain hauteur. "I have bidden adieu to
+brigandage forever. What would I do in the mountains? All of my men are
+dead, wounded or scattered. I could form another band; but these hands
+which have been so powerful, refuse to act. Younger men must take my
+place; but I defy them to equal my fortune and my renown. What shall I
+do with what few years are left to me? I know not yet; but you may be
+sure that my last days will not be idle ones. I have to establish my
+daughter to dictate my memoirs. Possibly, even, if the shocks of this
+week have not wearied my brain too severely, I will consecrate to the
+service of the State my talents and my experience. May God give me
+health and strength! before six months have passed I shall be President
+of the Ministry!"
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE COURT BALL.
+
+
+Thursday, May 15, at six o'clock in the evening, John Harris, in full
+uniform, took me to Christodule's house. The pastry-cook and his wife
+gave me a warm reception, not without many sighs on account of the King
+of the Mountains. As for me, I embraced them heartily. I was happy in
+being alive, and I saw only friends on all sides. My feet were cured; my
+hair trimmed, my stomach full. Dimitri assured me that Mrs. Simons, her
+daughter, and her brother were invited to the Court Ball, and that the
+laundress had taken a dress to the Hotel des Etrangers. I enjoyed, in
+advance, Mary-Ann's surprise and joy. Christodule offered me a glass of
+Santorin wine. In this glorious beverage I thought to drink to liberty,
+riches, happiness. I mounted the staircase to my room, but before
+retiring I knocked at M. Mérinay's door. He received me in the midst of
+a medley of books and papers. "Dear sir, you see a man overwhelmed with
+work," he said. "I found, above the village of Castia, an antique
+inscription, which deprived me of the pleasure of fighting for you, and
+which for six days has puzzled me. It is absolutely unknown, I assure
+you of that. No one has seen it; I have the honor of discovering it; I
+intend to give it my name. The stone is a small monument of shelly
+limestone, 35 centimetres in height by 22, and set, by chance, on the
+edge of the path. The characters are of the finest period of art and cut
+to perfection. Here is the inscription as I copied it in my note-book:
+
+"S. T. X. X. I. I.
+
+"M. D. C. C. C. L. I.
+
+"If I can translate it my fortune is made. I shall be made member of the
+Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres of Pont-Audemer! But the task
+is a long and difficult one. Antiquity guards its secrets with jealous
+care. I greatly fear that I have come across a monument relative to the
+Eleusinian mysteries. In that case there may perhaps be two
+interpretations to discover; the one the vulgar or demontique; the other
+the sacred or hieratique. You must give me your advice."
+
+I replied: "My advice is that of an ignorant man. I think that you have
+discovered a mile-stone such as one often sees on long roads, and that
+the inscription which has given you so much trouble can, without doubt,
+be translated thus:
+
+"Stade, 22, 1851. Good evening, my dear M. Mérinay; I am going to write
+to my father and then put on my red uniform."
+
+My letter to my parent was an ode, a hymn, a chant of happiness. The
+exuberant joy which filled my heart overflowed upon the paper. I invited
+the family to my wedding, not forgetting good Aunt Rosenthaler. I
+implored my father to sell his inn at once; I ordered that Frantz and
+Jean Nicolas should leave the service; I advised my other brothers to
+change their business. I took everything upon myself; I assumed the
+responsibility of the future of the whole family. Without losing a
+moment I sealed the letter and sent it by special messenger to Piraeus,
+to catch the German-Lloyd steamer, which sailed Friday morning at 6
+o'clock. "In this way," I said to myself, "they will rejoice in my
+happiness almost as soon as I shall."
+
+At a quarter to nine sharp I entered the Palace with John Harris.
+Neither Lobster, M. Mérinay nor Giacomo were invited. My three-cornered
+hat was a little rusty, but by candlelight this little defect was not
+noticeable. My sword was seven or eight centimetres too short; but what
+of that? Courage is not measured by the length of a sword, and I had
+without vanity the right to pass for a hero. The red coat was
+tight-fitting; it pinched me under the arms, and the trimming on the
+cuffs was quite a distance from my hands; but the embroidery showed to
+advantage, as papa had prophesied.
+
+The ballroom, decorated with taste and brilliantly lighted, was divided
+into two sections. On one side behind the throne for the King and Queen
+were the fauteuils reserved for the ladies; on the other were chairs for
+the ugly sex. With one glance I swept the space occupied by the ladies.
+Mary-Ann had not yet arrived.
+
+At nine o'clock I saw enter the King and Queen, followed by the Grand
+Mistress, the Marshal of the Palace, the aides-de-camp, the Ladies of
+Honor, and the orderly officers, among whom I recognized M.
+George-Micrommatis. The King was magnificently dressed in Palikar
+uniform, and the Queen was resplendent with exquisite elegancies which
+could come only from Paris. The gorgeousness of the toilets and the
+glitter of the national costumes made me almost forget Mary-Ann. I fixed
+my eyes on the door and waited.
+
+The members of the Diplomatic Corps and the most distinguished guests
+were ranged in a circle around the King and Queen, who conversed
+pleasantly with those near them for a half hour or so. I was on the
+outside row with John Harris. An officer, standing in front of us,
+stepped back suddenly with his whole weight upon my foot and the pain
+drew from me an exclamation. He turned his head and I recognized Captain
+Pericles, freshly decorated with the Ordre du Sauveur. He made excuses
+and asked for news. I could not refrain from informing him that my
+health did not concern him. Harris, who knew my history entirely,
+politely said to the captain: "Is it not M. Pericles to whom I have the
+honor of speaking?"
+
+"Himself!"
+
+"I am charmed! Will you be good enough to accompany me, for a moment,
+into the card-room? It is still empty and we will be alone."
+
+"At your orders, Monsieur."
+
+M. Pericles, pale as a soldier who is leaving a hospital, smilingly
+followed us. Arrived, he faced John Harris and said to him: "Monsieur, I
+await your pleasure."
+
+In reply Harris tore off his cross with its new ribbon, and put it in
+his pocket, saying: "There, Monsieur, that is all I have to say to
+you!"
+
+"Monsieur!" cried the captain, stepping back.
+
+"No noise, Monsieur, I pray you. If you care for this toy you can send
+two of your friends for it to Mr. John Harris, Commander of The Fancy."
+
+"Monsieur," Pericles replied, "I do not know by what right you take from
+me a cross which is worth fifteen francs, and which I shall be obliged
+to replace at my own expense."
+
+"Do not let that trouble you, Monsieur; here is an English sovereign,
+with the head of the Queen of England on it; fifteen francs for the
+cross, ten for the ribbon. If there is anything left, I beg of you to
+drink to my health."
+
+"Monsieur," said the officer, pocketing the piece, "I have only to thank
+you." He saluted without another word, but his eyes promised nothing
+pleasant.
+
+"My dear Hermann," Harris said to me, "it will be prudent for you to
+leave this country as soon as possible with your future bride. This
+gendarme has the air of a polished brigand. As for me, I shall remain
+here eight days in order to give him time to demand satisfaction. After
+that I shall obey the orders which I have received to go to the Sea of
+Japan."
+
+"I am sorry that your ardor has carried you so far. I do not wish to
+leave Greece without a specimen or two of the Boryana variabilis. I have
+an incomplete one without the roots in my tin box which I forgot when we
+left the camp."
+
+"Leave a sketch of your plant with Lobster or Giacomo. They will make a
+pilgrimage into the mountains for your sake. But for God's sake! make
+haste to get to a place of safety!"
+
+In the meantime my happiness had not arrived at the ball, and I tired my
+eyes staring at all the dancers. Toward midnight I lost all hope. I left
+the dancing hall and planted myself near a whist table, where four
+experienced players were displaying great skill. I had become interested
+in watching the game, when a silvery laugh made my heart bound. Mary-Ann
+was behind me. I could not see her, I dared not turn toward her, but I
+felt her presence, and my joy was overwhelming. What was the cause of
+her mirth I never knew. Perhaps some ridiculous uniform; one meets such
+in every country at official balls. I remembered that there was a mirror
+in front of me. I raised my eyes and I saw her, without being seen,
+between her mother and her uncle; more beautiful, more radiant than on
+the day when she appeared to me for the first time. Three strands of
+pearls were around her neck and lay partly on her divine shoulders. Her
+eyes shone in the candlelight, her teeth glistened as she laughed, the
+light played in her hair. Her toilet was such as all young girls wear;
+she did not wear, like Mrs. Simons, a bird of paradise on her head; but
+she was not the less beautiful; her skirt was looped up with bouquets of
+natural flowers. She had flowers on her corsage, and in her hair, and
+what flowers, Monsieur? I give you a thousand guesses. I thought that I
+should die of joy when I recognized upon her the--Boryana variabilis.
+Everything came to me from Heaven at the same moment! Is there anything
+sweeter than to find a coveted flower, for which one thought to search,
+in the hair of one whom one loves? I was the happiest of men and of
+naturalists. Excess of happiness made me cast to the winds all the
+proprieties. I turned quickly toward her, and holding out my hands, I
+cried:
+
+"Mary-Ann! It is I!"
+
+Will you believe it, Monsieur, she recoiled as if terrified, instead of
+falling into my arms. Mrs. Simons raised her head, so haughtily that it
+seemed to me as if her bird of paradise would fly away with it to the
+ceiling. The old gentleman took me by the hand, led me aside, examined
+me as if I was a curious beast, and said to me: "Monsieur, have you been
+presented to these ladies?"
+
+"There is no question about that, my worthy Mr. Sharper! My dear uncle!
+I am Hermann. Hermann Schultz! Their companion in captivity! their
+savior! Ah! I have had some wonderful experiences since their departure!
+I will relate them to you at your house."
+
+"Yes, yes," he replied. "But the English custom, Monsieur, exacts,
+absolutely, that one be presented to ladies before one relates stories
+to them."
+
+"But since they know me, my good and excellent Mr. Sharper. We have
+dined more than ten times together. I have rendered them a service worth
+a hundred thousand francs! You know it well; at the camp of the King of
+the Mountains."
+
+"Yes; yes; but you have not been presented."
+
+"But do you not know that I have exposed myself to a thousand deaths for
+my dear Mary-Ann?"
+
+"Very well! but you have not been presented."
+
+"Present me, then, yourself."
+
+"Yes, yes; but you must first be presented to me."
+
+"Wait!"
+
+I ran like a crazy man across the ballroom; I jostled several couples
+who were waltzing; my sword got entangled between my legs, I slipped on
+the waxed floor, and fell my full length. It was John Harris who helped
+me up.
+
+"For whom are you searching?"
+
+"They are here, I have seen them. I shall marry Mary-Ann; but I must be
+presented first. It is the English custom. Help me! Where are they? Have
+you not seen a large woman, with a bird of paradise head-dress?"
+
+"Yes, she left the ball with a pretty girl."
+
+"Left the ball! But, my friend, she is Mary-Ann's mother!"
+
+"Be calm! we will find them again. I will have you presented by the
+American Minister."
+
+"That is the very thing! I will show you my uncle, Edward Sharper. I
+left him here. Where in the devil has he hidden? He ought not to be far
+away!"
+
+Uncle Edward had disappeared. I dragged poor Harris to the Place des
+Palais, before the Hotel des Etrangers. Mrs. Simons' apartments were
+lighted. At the end of a few moments the lights were extinguished.
+Everyone had gone to bed.
+
+"Let us do the same," Harris suggested. "Sleep will calm you. To-morrow
+between one and two, I will arrange your affairs."
+
+I passed a night much worse than those of my captivity. Harris slept
+with me, or rather, he did not sleep. We heard the carriages coming from
+the ball, descend Rue d'Hèrmes with their freight of uniforms and
+toilets. About five o'clock, weariness closed my eyes. Three hours
+afterwards, Dimitri entered my room and said:
+
+"Great news! Your Englishwomen have gone!"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To Trieste."
+
+"Wretch! art thou sure of it?"
+
+"It was I who accompanied them to the ship."
+
+"My poor friend," Harris exclaimed, seizing my hands. "Gratitude may be
+assumed, but love does not come at will."
+
+"Alas!" sighed Dimitri. This sentiment had an echo in his heart.
+
+Since that day, Monsieur, I have lived like the beasts; drank, ate,
+breathed. I sent my collection to Hamburg without one specimen of the
+Boryana variabilis. My friends accompanied me to the French steamer the
+day after the ball. They thought it wise to make the journey during the
+night, for fear of encountering M. Pericles' soldiers. We arrived
+without accident at Piraeus; but when a short distance from the shore, a
+half-dozen invisible muskets sent their bullets singing about our ears.
+It was the pretty Captain sending his adieux.
+
+I scoured the mountains of Malta, of Sicily, and of Italy, and my
+herbarium was much richer than I. My father, who had had the good sense
+to keep his inn, wrote to me, at Messina, that my efforts were
+appreciated. Perhaps I might find a place on arriving; but I determined
+to count on nothing.
+
+Harris was en route for Japan. In one or two years I hoped to have news
+of him. The little Lobster had written me from Rome that he was still
+exercising with the pistol. Giacomo continued to seal letters all day
+and crack nuts at night. M. Mérinay found a new interpretation from the
+inscription on the monument, one more clever than mine. His great work
+upon Demosthenes ought to be printed some day or other. The King of the
+Mountains made peace with the authorities. He built a fine mansion on
+the road to Pentelicus, with a guard-house for lodging twenty-five
+devoted Palikars. In the meantime, he has rented a small hotel in the
+modern city, at the edge of the open sewer. He receives many people, and
+actively engages in public affairs, in order to be elected to the
+Ministry. Dimitri goes there occasionally, to supper, but sighs in the
+kitchen.
+
+I have never heard of Mrs. Simons, of Mr. Sharper, nor of Mary-Ann. If
+this silence continues, I shall soon think of them no more. Sometimes,
+even in the middle of the night, I dream that I am before her and that
+my tall, thin figure is reflected in her eyes. Then I awake, I weep hot
+tears and I furiously bite my pillow. What I regret, believe me, is not
+the woman, it is the fortune and the position which escaped me. It is a
+good thing for me that I have not yielded up my heart, and each day I
+give thanks for my natural coldness. What I might complain of, my dear
+Monsieur, is, if unfortunately, I had fallen in love!
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+LETTER FROM ATHENS.
+
+
+The day that I was about to send M. Hermann Schultz's story to the
+publishers, I received from the correspondent to whom I had sent the
+MS., the following letter:
+
+     Sir: The history of the King of the Mountains is the invention of
+     an enemy of truth and the gendarmerie. No persons mentioned have
+     set foot in Greece. The police have never vised any passports
+     bearing the name of Mrs. Simons. The Commandant at Piraeus has
+     never heard of The Fancy nor of Mr. John Harris. The Phillips
+     Brothers do not remember of ever having employed Mr. William
+     Lobster. No diplomatic agent has known any Maltese of the name of
+     Giacomo Fondi. The National Bank of Greece has nothing with which
+     to reproach itself, and it has never had on deposit, any funds made
+     by brigandage. If it had received them, it would have considered it
+     a duty to have confiscated them for its profit. I hold, for your
+     inspection, the list of our officers of the gendarmerie. You will
+     find no trace of M. Pericles. I know only two men of that name; one
+     is a tavern-keeper in Athens; the other sells spices in Tripolitza.
+     As for the famous Hadgi-Stavros, whose name I have heard to-day,
+     for the first time, he is a fabulous being whom one must relegate
+     to Mythology. I confess, in all sincerity, that there have been
+     sometimes brigands in the country. The principal ones were
+     destroyed by Hercules or Theseus, who may be considered as the real
+     founders of Greek gendarmerie. Those who escaped the hands of these
+     two heroes, have fallen under the blows of our invincible army.
+     The author of the romance has displayed as much ignorance as
+     dishonesty, in attempting to prove that brigandage exists to-day. I
+     would give a great deal to have this romance published, may be in
+     France, or in England, with the name and portrait of M. Schultz.
+     The world would know by what gross artifices he has attempted to
+     make every civilized nation suspicious of us.
+
+     As for you, Monsieur, who have always given us justice, accept the
+     assurance of the kindest sentiments, with which I have the honor of
+     being,
+
+     Your very grateful servant,
+     Patriotis Pseftis.
+
+     "Author of a volume of Dithyrambics upon the regeneration of
+     Greece; editor of the Journal l'Esperance; member of the
+     Archaeological Society of Athens; corresponding member of the
+     Academy of the Ionian Isles; stockholder in the National Company of
+     the Spartan Pavlos."
+
+
+THE AUTHOR HAS THE LAST WORD.
+
+Athenian, my fine friend, the truest histories are not those which have
+happened!
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42096 ***