The shore was sandy, broken here and there by masses of black rocks, and fringed by groves and thickets, which afforded every means of concealment, if we were pursued. Moreover, many little caiques and fishing-craft were moored in the creeks and inlets for nearly three miles beyond Selyvria: thus we had every means of escape to seaward, if closely pressed by the soldiers from the castle. I had still the sentinel's loaded musket; but was resolved to toss it into some pool of water or olive-thicket when day dawned, lest the circumstance of having it in my possession might excite remark or suspicion; and we intended to pass ourselves off to the Osmanlies as shipwrecked British prisoners, escaped from a Greek pirate—a story probable enough, if told at a moderate distance from Selyvria.
A hundred times we paused anxiously to listen, assured that we heard the noise of pursuit, rising above the far-sounding murmur of the eternal sea that rolled upon the sandy beach. Now it seemed the baying of dogs; then the tramping of horses on the paved road that led to the bridge of the Saltmarsh; next it was the tread of men's feet and the clink of accoutrements; but these were all the effect of an over-excited fancy; for after listening breathlessly, with heads stooped low, we became assured that there was no sound in the night air, but the sighing of the wind through the olive and orange groves, and the murmur of the Propontis as it broke on the silent shore.
We were progressing in the direction of Heraclea, where Major Catanagh lay with the rest of our comrades and the regiment of the Mir Alai Saïd. Callum urged that we should lose no time in repairing there, and insuring our own safety; but I was more intent on reaching Rodosdchig, where I could draw off my little party, embark them in boats, and sail for the opposite Isle of Marmora, as I had now no thought in this world but to save or rescue Sir Horace and his friends from the danger that menaced them.
'But if our detachment has been recalled from Rodosdchig?' said Callum; 'what then?—we have been absent several weeks, I think, though I forgot to reckon the time in yonder atrocious den.'
I had not thought of this chance, and it puzzled me.
Major Catanagh, may have been ordered to join at head-quarters, for all that we know to the contrary, sir, and may have marched for Constantinople, said he.
Still my resolution was not altered.
'Let us reach Rodosdchig,' said I, doggedly.
The silent night wore away; pale Phosphorus, the morning star of the old Greeks, melted into the rosy sky of sunrise, as the god of day ascended from the distant Ægean sea, and tipped the hills and castles of the Dardanelles with fire. The waves of the Propontis gleamed in gold, and rolled like liquid light upon its fertile shores. We found ourselves in a lonely place, where the sea broke in surf on one hand, and on the other lay a marshy waste, where buzzards and vultures seemed the only living things, with a few of those solemn-looking storks, which are so often to be found perched on the roofs of Turkish houses; or peeping out of nests of twigs and clay, made under their eaves.
Day had now fully broken. I concealed the bayonet in my sleeve as a weapon of defence; but threw the musket into the sea. Then Callum and I put our sorely-soiled uniforms into the best order, and though the amount of hair which flourished around our visages gave us rather a Crimean aspect, it mattered not in Turkey, and we stepped forward with growing confidence, looking about for some one to direct us, as the dome and minarets of a mosque (like a punch-bowl between two champagne bottles) appeared at a distance, and indicated the vicinity of a town.
Near a well on the wayside, we found an old woman, of an aspect rather Ghoulish, with her eyes shining through the holes in her yashmack, which was carefully drawn over her head, though her poor mammary region was bare and flat as a drumhead. She was filling a vase of most classical aspect, with the pure water of the circular well, over which drooped the long branches of a solitary date-palm.
On my inquiring the name of the little town which was now visible above the orange-groves, she hastily flung down her pitcher in great alarm, and muttering something about 'Franks and Giaours,' fled from us.
'The devil's in the cailloch,' said Callum; 'does she take us for ogres?'
Rather discouraged by the impression our appearance seemed to make, we pressed on towards the town, beyond which we saw a chain of snow-capped hills, sparkling in the sunshine like cones of polished silver. We studied our plans and distances over and over again; and I shuddered as I thought of the hopeless captivity that might succeed our recapture—the danger that hung over the Everinghams—the dreadful Bagnio; and with that recollection there came before me in fancy the careworn smile of poor Achmet Effendi, and his miserable comrade the lieutenant of artillery, who were still lingering there.
I knew well the danger and the difficulty attending two unarmed strangers travelling on foot in such a country as Turkey; for at the present hour I need scarcely remind the reader that even in the streets of Stamboul, notwithstanding the presence of regular troops and patrols of armed police, robberies and assassinations of every description, by the handjiar, the pistol, the bludgeon, and strangulation, are of constant occurrence in open day. If such is the case in the capital of 'the Lord of the Black and White Seas, and Keeper of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem,' our prospects in his rural districts were not very encouraging.
By the side of a rivulet we found a dreamy Osmanli reclining under an orange-tree, regaling himself on dates and cold water, with a paper cigar in his mouth. He was basking in the sunshine, and believing himself, perhaps, in the Garden of Delights, though minus the river of fragrant wine, the fruits of the giant Toaba, and the caresses of the black-eyed girls, with their limbs of snow, and scanty cymars of green.
With the usual greeting, I inquired if he knew the town now before us.
He replied in the affirmative; but the name I cannot now remember, and no map that I have seen bears it.
'Whence come you?' he inquired.
'Frangistan.'
'That I can perceive—but how?'
'By a ship.'
'Allah Kebir! I did not expect you to fly.'
'Of course not—she was wrecked upon the coast.'
'And you escaped?'
'Narrowly, as you may see—all we possess is upon us, and we are almost famished.'
'Bismillah! now I remember having smoked pipe with you once.'
'Where, Aga?'
'In the khan at Heraclea.'
'I think I remember you,' said I; though in truth I had no recollection of the worthy man whatever.
'I have some dates and the spring-water here; but you are welcome to both. Eat with me, and we shall be friends. I am no Aga, but a humble dealer in cherry-sticks, and having sold all my stock in Selyvria, am now returning home.'
'To yonder town?'
'Exactly.'
'Has it a Kadi?
'Yes, and none in Roumelia knoweth better the hundred and fourteen chapters of the Koran. Whenever his carpet is spread, heels are turned up and heads sliced off in a twinkling! Wallah! he knows the law well, Hadjee Sohail Ebn Amru; and more than all, he is my elder brother, and has built for the public use a mosque and fountain, surrounded by cypresses and mulberry-trees. I had the misfortune to come into existence a little later than he, so our father left him every asper he had in the world: thus the Kadi Sohail is a rich dealer in shawls, silks, and carpets, while I am a poor vender of cherry-sticks; but what seek you of the Kadi?'
'Not money, my friend.'
'You are wise—what then?'
'Horses to take us to Stamboul.'
'But who will pay for them?'
'Our ambassador.'
'Wallah!' replied the pipe-stick vender; 'all the world say he is breaking his heart about the fall of Kara; but all the world are liars, I think. However, as you came to fight for the Faithful, horses you shall have, if my brother the Kadi can find them.'
The acquaintance of this garrulous fellow was quite a boon to us; and encouraged by his free and talkative manner, and not a little amused by the airs of patronage and protection he assumed, we stepped boldly into the town, giving out, on all hands, that we required horses for Stamboul.
I found that these Turks were fast making me as sly and reserved as themselves.