"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 G.o.dfather, 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?"
"Pa.s.sably."
"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!
G.o.dfather, 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 G.o.dson, 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 G.o.dson? 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 dore----"
"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 G.o.d!" 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?"
"a.s.suredly!"
"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 G.o.d who sends you here. We had lost all hope. Our only protector was a young German of the middle cla.s.s, 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?"