"It is typical of the East. You must get westward to see men toiling
constantly like ants. The word business does not belong to these
lands."
"You are right," said Mr Burne.
"Well, it is the custom of the country," continued the professor, "and
while we have no hard travel to do, let us follow these people's
example, and watch and think."
"There is no room to do anything else," said Mr Burne grumpily.
"How delicious!" said Lawrence as if to himself.
"What, those grapes!" said the professor smiling.
"I beg your pardon!" exclaimed Lawrence, starting and flushing again
like a girl. "No: I meant sitting back here, and feeling this beautiful
soft breeze as we glide through the blue sea."
"You like it then?" said Mr Burne smiling.
"Oh, yes! I don't know when I felt so well and happy. It is
delightful."
"That's right," cried Mr Burne. "Come, now; we must throw the invalid
overboard."
Lawrence laughed.
"I mean the disease," said Mr Burne. "No more talking about being
ill."
"No," said Lawrence quietly, and speaking as if he felt every word he
uttered to be true; "I feel now as if I were growing better every hour."
"And so you are," cried the professor. "Come, don't think about
yourself, but set to work and take photographs."
"Nonsense!" cried Mr Burne; "let the boy be, now he is comfortable.
Photographs indeed! Where's your tackle?"
"I mean mental photographs," said the professor laughing.
"Then, why didn't you say so, man? Good gracious me, if we lawyers were
to write down one thing when we mean another, a pretty state of affairs
we should have. The world would be all lawsuits. Humph; who'd think
that Smyrna was such a dirty, shabby place, to look at it from here?"
"A lovely scene certainly!" said the professor. "Look, Lawrence, how
well the mountain stands out above the town."
"Humph, yes; it's very pretty," said the lawyer; "but give me Gray's Inn
with its plane-trees, or snug little Thavies' Inn. This place is a
sham."
"But it is very beautiful seen from here, Mr Burne," said Lawrence, who
was feasting on the glorious sunlit prospect.
"Paint and varnish, sir, over rotten wood," snorted Mr Burne. "Look at
the drainage; look at the plagues and fevers and choleras they get
here."
"Yes," said the professor, "at times."
"Bah! very pretty, of course, but nothing like London."
"With its smoke," said the professor.
"Fine healthy thing, sir," cried the old gentleman. "Magnificent city,
London!"
"And its darkness and fogs," said Lawrence.
"Well, who minds a bit of fog, so long as he is well?" cried Mr Burne.
"Look here, young man; don't you find fault with your own land. Stick
up for it through thick and thin."
"For all of it that is good, my lad," said the professor merrily, "but
don't uphold the bad."
"Bad, sir! There's precious little that's bad in London. If you want
to go a few hundred miles there, you can go at any time and get good
accommodation. Not be forced to ride in a market-boat with hard seats.
Bless me, they are making my back bad again."
"Oh, but, Mr Burne, look, look, the place here is lovely!"
"Oh, yes, lovely enough, but, as the fellow said, it isn't fit to live
in long; it's dangerous to be safe."
"What do you mean?"
"Earthquakes, sir. If you take a house in London, you know where you
are. If you take one here, as the fellow said, where are you? To-day
all right, to-morrow shaken down by an earthquake shock, or swallowed
up."
"There are risks everywhere," said the professor, who seemed to be
gradually throwing off his dreamy manner, and growing brighter and more
active, just as if he had been suffering from a disease of the mind as
Lawrence had of the body.
"Risks? Humph! yes, some; but by the time we've finished our trip,
you'll all be ready to say, There's no place like home."
"Granted," said the professor.
"Why, you're not tired of the journey already, Mr Burne?"
"Tired? No, my boy," cried the old man smiling. "I'm in a bad temper
to-day, that's all. This seat is terribly hard and--oh, I know what's
the matter. I'm horribly hungry."
He turned his head to see that Yussuf had finished and put away his
pipe, and was busy over one of the baskets of provisions, from which he
produced a cloth and knives and forks, with a bottle of wine and several
other necessaries, which his forethought had suggested; and in a short
time the travellers were enjoying a rough but most palatable _al fresco_
meal in the delicious evening, with the distant land glowing with light
of a glorious orange, and the deep blue sea dappled with orange and
gold.
"We have plenty of provisions, I suppose," said the professor.
"Yes, effendi, plenty," said Yussuf, who had been taking his portion
aside.
"Then pass what is left here to the skipper and his men."
Yussuf bowed gravely, and the men, who had been making an evening meal
of blackish bread and melons, were soon chattering away forward, eating
the remains of the meal and drinking a bottle of the Greek wine Lawrence
took them.
The tiller had been lashed so as to set the Greek skipper at liberty,
and the travellers were alone, while, wearied by his extra exertion,
Lawrence lay back, apparently fast asleep, when Yussuf approached the
professor and his companion, with his water-pipe which he was filling
with tobacco, and about which and with a light, he busied himself in the
most matter-of-fact manner.
But Yussuf was thinking of something else beside smoke, for he startled
the professor and made Mr Burne jump and drop his cigar, as he said in
a low voice:
"Your excellencies are well-armed, of course?"
"Armed?" exclaimed the professor.
Yussuf did not speak, but stooped to pick up the fallen cigar, which he
handed to its owner.
"Be calm, excellency," he said smiling, "and tell me."
The professor looked at him suspiciously; but there was that in the
man's countenance that disarmed him, and he said quietly: "We certainly
have plenty of arms."
"That is good," said Yussuf, with a flash of the eye.
"But our weapons are packed up with our luggage, and went on by the
steamer."
"That is bad," said Yussuf quietly.
"We never thought they would be necessary till we got ashore."
"Look here, my man," said Mr Burne; "speak out. Are you suspicious of
these people?"
"My life has taught me to be suspicious, effendi," said Yussuf, lighting
his pipe, "particularly of the low-class Greeks. They are not honest."
"But surely," began the professor.
"Be perfectly calm, effendi," said Yussuf, pointing shoreward, and
waving his hand as if telling the name of some place. "I have nothing
certain against this Greek and his men; but we are out at sea and at
their mercy."
"But something has happened to make you speak like this," said Mr Burne
with a searching look.
"A trifle, effendi," replied the Muslim; "but a little cloud like that
yonder,"--pointing seaward now beyond the Greek sailors, so that the
travellers could see that they were watched by the skipper--"is
sometimes the sign of a coming storm."
"Then what have you seen?" said Mr Burne suspiciously.
"A trifle--almost nothing, effendi, only that the man there was out of
temper when he found that all your baggage had gone."
"Humph!" ejaculated Mr Burne. "Then you think there is danger?" said
the professor.
"I do not say that," said Yussuf, pointing shoreward again, "but your
excellencies may as well learn your lessons at once. We are commencing
our journey, and are now, as we generally shall be, at the mercy of men
who obey the laws when they feel the rod over their backs, but who, when
they cannot see the rod, laugh at them."
"What do you ask us to do, then?" said the professor quickly.
"Be always on guard, but never show it. Be prepared for danger. If
there is none, so much the better. Life here is a little matter
compared to what I am told it is among you Franks, and it becomes every
man's duty to guard his life."
"But these Greek sailors?" said Mr Burne sharply.
"I do not trust them," replied Yussuf calmly. "If we are the stronger
they will be our slaves. If they feel that they are, our lives would
not be safe if they had the chance to rob us. They believe your
excellencies to be rich and to have much gold."
"Look here, Yussuf," said Mr Burne uneasily, "our friend ashore gave
you a capital character."
"I have eaten salt with your excellencies, and my life is yours,"
replied Yussuf.
"Then what would you do now?"
"Be perfectly calm, effendi, and treat these men if you did not know
fear."
"And we have no arms," said Mr Burne uneasily.
"Can your excellency fight?" said Yussuf quietly.
"A law case--yes, with any man, but any other case of fighting--good
gracious me, no. I have not fought since I had a black eye at school."
"But you can, effendi?" continued Yussuf, looking with admiration at the
professor's broad chest and long muscular arms.
"I daresay I can, if I am driven to it," replied the professor gravely;
and he involuntarily clenched a large, hard, bony hand.
"Yes," said Yussuf, with a grave smile of satisfaction. "Your
excellency can fight, I see."
"But we are entirely without arms," repeated Mr Burne excitedly.
"Not quite," replied Yussuf calmly. "Your excellency has a big stick;
the effendi here has hands and strength that would enable him to throw
an enemy into the sea, and I never go a journey without my pistol and a
knife."
"You have a pistol?" said Mr Burne eagerly.
"Be quite calm, excellency," said Yussuf, laughing as he smoked, and
bowing down as if something droll had been said. "Yes, I have a pistol
of many barrels given to me by a Frankish effendi when we returned from
a journey through the land of Abraham, and then down to the stony city
in the desert--Petra, where the Arab sheiks are fierce and ready to rob
all who are not armed and strong."
"Where is it?" said the professor.
"Safe in my bosom, effendi, where my hand can touch it ere you blink an
eye. So you see that we are not quite without arms. But listen," he
continued; "this may be all a fancy of mine."
"Then you will do nothing?" exclaimed Mr Burne.
"Oh no, I do not say that, effendi. We must be watchful. Two must
sleep, and two must watch night or day. The enemy must not come to the
gate and find it open ready for him to enter in."
"Those are the words of wisdom," said the professor gravely, and
Yussuf's eyes brightened and he bowed.
"This watchfulness," he said, "may keep the enemy away if there be one.
If there be none: well, we have taught ourselves a lesson that will not
be thrown away."
"Why, Yussuf, I am beginning to think you are a treasure!" exclaimed Mr
Burne.
Yussuf bowed, but he did not look pleased, for he had not warmed towards
the old lawyer in the slightest degree. He had been met with distrust,
and he was reserved towards him who showed his doubt so openly.
"I thought it was but just, effendis, to warn you, and I thought it
better to say so now, while the young effendi is asleep, for fear he
might be alarmed."
"I am not asleep," said Lawrence turning his head. "I have not been to
sleep."
"Then you have heard all that was said," exclaimed the professor.
"Every word, Mr Preston. I could not help hearing," said Lawrence,
sitting up with his face flushed and eyes brightened. "I did not know
till just now that I was not expected to hear."
"Humph, and do you feel alarmed?" said the old lawyer.
"I don't think I do, sir," replied the lad calmly. "Perhaps I should
if--if there should be a fight."
"I do not think there will be," said the professor quietly. "Yussuf
here has warned us, and forewarned is forearmed."
"Even if we have no pistols, eh?" said Mr Burne laughing, but rather
acidly. "Humph, here comes the skipper."
The Greek came aft smiling and unlashed the tiller, altering their
course a little, so that as the evening breeze freshened they seemed
literally to skim along the surface of the sea.
CHAPTER TEN.
A NIGHT OF HORRORS.
The night came, with the stars seeming to blaze in the clear atmosphere.
The skipper had given up the helm to one of his men, and joined the
others forward to lie down among the baskets and sleep, as it seemed,
while aft, at the professor's request, Mr Burne and Lawrence lay down
to sleep, leaving the others to watch.
The night grew darker, and the water beat and rippled beneath the bows,
all else being wonderfully still as the boat glided on.
Yussuf lit his water-pipe, and the professor a cigar, to begin
conversing in a low tone, but always watchful of the slightest movement
of the men.
A couple of hours had glided away, and then, after being apparently fast
asleep, the skipper rose and came aft to speak eagerly to Yussuf, who
heard him out, and then turned to the professor.
"The captain says that there is no danger of wreck or storm; that he and
his men will watch over you as if you were given over to their safe
keeping, and all will be well."
"Tell the captain that I prefer to sit up and watch the sea and sky,"
replied the professor. "When I am tired I will lie down."
The skipper nodded and smiled, and went forward again, while, after some
minutes' silence, the professor said softly:
"You are quite right to be doubtful, Yussuf, I mistrust that man."
"Yes," replied Yussuf in the same tone, "the Greek dog will bite the
hand which fed him if he has a chance, but that chance, effendi, he must
not have."
The hours glided on, and some time, perhaps soon after midnight, the
skipper rose again from where he had lain apparently asleep, but really
watching the speakers attentively, and coming aft this time with one of
his men, the sailor at the helm was changed, and the other went forward
to throw himself down as if to sleep.
"Will not the effendi lie down and take his rest now?" said the skipper
to Yussuf. "The day will not be very long before it comes, and then it
is no longer time to sleep."
Yussuf quietly repeated the man's words to the professor, who replied
coldly:
"Tell the Greek captain that he is paid to convey us to our journey's
end, and that it is not for him to presume to interfere as to the way in
which we pass our time. Tell him we know the night from the day."
Yussuf interpreted the words, and the Greek smiled and replied in the
most humble manner that perhaps the English excellency did not know how
bad it was for strangers to expose themselves to the night air. That he
was anxious about them, and wished them to go into the little cabin to
be safe.
"Tell him to mind his own business," said the professor shortly, and
this being interpreted the man slunk forward, and the professor said
softly:
"There is no doubt about it, Yussuf; the man is a scoundrel and has bad
intentions."
"He is a pig," said the Muslim in a low voice full of contempt; "but he
and his men will be afraid to show their teeth to your excellencies if
we are watchful and take care."
Towards morning the man came aft again, but he did not speak, and just
at sunrise Lawrence awoke to come hurriedly out of the cabin where Mr
Burne was still sleeping.
"I thought you would have called us," he said; "I thought we were to
watch."
"So you are," said the professor smiling. "How have you slept?"
"Oh, deliciously--all the night. I never do at home, but lie awake for
hours."
"Even in a comfortable bed!"
"Even in a comfortable bed," replied Lawrence. "But you must be very
tired. I'll call Mr Burne now."
"No, let him lie. He is a bit of an invalid too. Suppose you go and
have a sleep now, Yussuf; my friend here and I will watch."
The Turk smiled.
"Your servant once went without sleep for six nights in a time of
danger. He slept a little upon his horse sometimes. One night without
sleep! What is it? A nothing. No, your excellency must not ask me to
sleep now. A short time and we shall be ashore, and away from these
Greek dogs, who think we are without arms; then thy servant will lie
down and sleep for hours. Last night, to-night I shall not sleep."
The bright morning, the glancing sea, and the soft breeze seemed to take
away all the fancies and suspicions of the night. The shore was in
sight--the mainland or one of the beautiful Grecian isles, and to make
matters more pleasant still Mr Burne was in the most amiable of
tempers.
"I must have been out of order when we were crossing the Channel," he
said smiling. "I thought it was sea-sickness, but it could not have
been, for I am as well as can be out here in this little boat."
The professor was almost annoyed with himself for his suspicions about
the Greek and his men, for an easier, happier-looking set it would have
been impossible to find. They smiled and showed their teeth, as they
lounged in the front of the boat or took their turn at the helm, and
then picked out some sunny spot where the tall sails cast no shade and
slept hour after hour. When they were not smiling or sleeping, they
were eating melon, bread, grapes or olives, or watching like dogs to see
if any food was going to be given them by the travellers.
The sail was glorious, and at first great way was made, but in the
course of the afternoon the wind dropped, and the little vessel hardly
moved through the water.
"This is vexatious," the professor said. "I am anxious to get to our
journey's end."
"Don't say that," said Lawrence, almost reproachfully; "one seems to be
so happy, and everything is so delightful out here in the sunshine. I
should like to go sailing on like this for ever."
"If we had some cushions," put in Mr Burne, who had overheard his
remark. "Well, it doesn't matter to a few days, one way or the other,
Preston," he continued; "we are very comfortable considering, my back's
better, and this is easy travelling, so never mind about Yussuf's
suspicions. All nonsense."
That day glided away, the brilliant night came, and with it the nervous
feeling of all being not as it should be.
Nothing more had been said to Mr Burne till quite evening, but then the
professor felt it to be his duty to speak of the suspicion, and did so;
but the old lawyer laughed.
"What nonsense, Preston!" he said; "why, the man and his crew are like
so many good-tempered gypsy boys. No, sir, I am not going to be scared
because the night is coming on. Poor fellows, they are honest enough.
That sour Turk--I don't like the fellow--has been filling our heads with
nonsense to make himself seem more important. It's all right."
"I hope it is," said the professor to himself, and in due course he lay
down, but not to sleep.
During the day, by a quiet understanding, he and Yussuf had taken it in
turns to snatch an hour's repose, with the result that they were far
better prepared to encounter the night than might have been supposed.
"We will lie down, excellency," Yussuf took the opportunity of
whispering; "but one of us must not sleep."
After a time the old lawyer, who had been leaning back watching the
stars from far above till they seemed to dip down in the transparent
sea, yawned aloud, and then began to talk in an unknown tongue, using a
strange guttural language which for the most part consisted of a
repetition, at regular intervals, of the word "_Snorruk_," and this had
a wonderful effect upon his companions, who had felt listless and drowsy
after the hot day; but the coolness of the night and the interesting
nature of Mr Burne's discourse effectually banished sleep, and hence it
was that, when the skipper and a couple of his men came stealing aft to
apparently change the steersman, the professor sat up, and Lawrence saw
that Yussuf was wide awake and on the _qui vive_.
This occurred three times, and then the rosy morning lit up the tops of
the distant mountains, and made the sea flash as if it were all so much
molten topaz.
A pleasant listless day followed, and another and another, during which
the travellers slept in turn, and watched the various islands seem to
rise out of the sea, grow larger, and then, after they were passed, sink
down again into the soft blue water.
It was a delicious dreamy time, the only drawbacks being the suspicions
of the boatmen, and the cramped nature of the space at disposal.
They sailed on and on now, with the water surging beneath their bows and
the little vessel careening over in the brilliant sunshine; but they
were still far from their destination, and now the question had arisen
whether it would not be wise to put in at the principal port of Cyprus,
which they were now nearing, to obtain more provisions, as the wind was
so light that the prospect of their reaching Ansina that night was very
doubtful.
The evening had come on, with the sun going down in the midst of a
peculiar bank of clouds that would have looked threatening to
experienced eyes; but to the travellers it was one scene of glory, the
edges of the vapours being of a glowing orange, while the sky and sea
were gorgeous with tints that were almost painful in their dazzling
sheen. There was not a breath of wind, not a sound upon the smooth sea.
The sails hung motionless, and the heat was as oppressive as if those
on board were facing some mighty furnace.
"Very, very grand!" said Mr Burne at last, after he had sat with the
others for some time silently watching the glorious sight; "but to my
mind there's too much of it. I should like to have it spread over
months, a little bit every night, not like this, all at once."
"Oh, Mr Burne!" cried Lawrence reproachfully.
"I once saw a pantomime many years ago, when I took some of my sister's
children to a box I was foolish enough to pay for. This reminds me of
one of the scenes, only there are no sham fairies and stupid people
bobbing about and standing on one leg. Just when everything was at the
brightest a great dark curtain came down, and it was all over, and it
seems to be coming here, only it's coming up instead of coming down.
Heigho--ha--hum! how sleepy I am!"
He lay down as he spoke close under the low bulwark, and as he did so
Lawrence glanced forward and saw that the gorgeous sunset had no charms
for the sailors, for they were lying among the baskets fast asleep,
their faces upon their arms, while, upon looking aft, the man at the
helm was crouched up all of a heap sleeping heavily.
"It is very beautiful," said the professor; "but I daresay some of our
English sunsets are nearly as bright, only we do not notice them, being
either shut up or too busy to look."
"Doesn't this curious stuffy feeling of heat make you feel drowsy, Mr
Preston?" said Lawrence, after a few minutes' silence, "or do I feel it
because I am weak with being ill so long?"
"My dear boy," replied the professor laughing, "at the present moment I
feel as if all my bones had been dissolved into so much gristle. It is
the heat, my lad, the heat."
Lawrence lay back upon the deck with his head resting upon a pillow
formed out of a doubled-up coat. He had tried going below, but the
little cabin was suffocating. It was as if the bulkheads and deck had
imbibed the sun's heat all day and were now slowly giving it out. To
sleep there would have been impossible, and he had returned on deck
bathed in perspiration to try and get a breath of air.
As he lay there he could see the old lawyer sleeping heavily, the
professor with his head resting upon his hand, and his face glorified by
the reflection from sea and sky, and their guide Yussuf seated
cross-legged smoking placidly at his water-pipe, his dark eyes seeming
to glow like hot coals.
Beyond him lay the Greek and his men upon their faces, motionless as the
man at the helm, and then all at once the muttering bubbling noise made
by Yussuf's pipe seemed to be coming from the old lawyer's parted lips,
and the pipe, instead of justifying its name of "hubble-bubble," kept on
saying _snorruk_--_snorruk_, after the fashion of Mr Burne. Finally,
there was nothing--nothing at all but sleep, deep, heavy, satisfying
sleep that might have lasted one hour, two hours, any length of time.
It seemed as if there was no dreaming, till all at once Lawrence
imagined that the professor was bitterly angry with him for getting
better that he jumped up and kicked him violently, and that then, as he
tried to rise, he stamped upon him, and the stamp made a loud report.
He was awake.
Awake, but in a dazed, puzzled state, for all was pitchy dark, and as he
jumped up he was knocked down again, and would have gone over the side
had he not struck against and clung to one of the ropes which supported
the mast.
About him a terrible struggle was going on; there was heavy, hoarse
breathing; men were trampling here and there with falls and struggles
upon the scrap of a deck.
Then Lawrence turned cold, for there was a yell and a splash, followed
directly after by a blinding flash of light and a loud report.