Kolocotrones and his followers had had no hand in the destruction of
Dramali's army--indeed, the only share he had taken in that great and
bloody deed was to let the Albanian guard pass on their way unmolested;
but whether on the grounds of that merciful act, or because he had been
appointed generalissimo of the Greek forces, he claimed, and in fact
secured, a very considerable share of what Niketas had taken. Nor had
he been idle during the amnesty at Nauplia, having supplied immense
amounts of grain and other supplies to the beleaguered garrison at
starvation rates. Ali of Argos, who was in command of the Turks, had
seen that something had miscarried in the conduct of the fleet, and
was provident enough to purchase very considerable provisions, almost
satisfying the greed of Kolocotrones. And now that the Turks were in no
danger of being starved out, the generalissimo absented himself from
the besieging force, and executed several very neat and profitable
raids along the shores of the Corinthian gulf. Certainly for a month
or two the town was amply provided, while the Greek fleet cruising in
the mouth of the gulf of Spetzas would prevent any immediate relief
being brought by the Turkish ships. When the provisions were exhausted,
Kolocotrones intended to try and do a little more provision dealing,
and if, as seemed possible, the temper of the army would no longer
countenance this marketing, he would certainly be on the spot when the
Turks surrendered, to take possession of the town in the name of the
republic, and of as much treasure as he could lay hands on in his own.
During his absence, however, certain changes took place in the conduct
of the siege. The other leaders, tired, perhaps, and a little ashamed
of all this juggling with treaties that they never meant to abide by,
and of this haggling over prices with their enemies, or else knowing
that if Kolocotrones was there he would take the lion's share of the
spoils, made a spirited though ineffectual attempt, since Ali had
broken off negotiations, to bring the siege to a conclusion in his
absence. During the spring many volunteers from England and France
had offered their services to the revolutionists; there had even been
formed a corps of Philhellenes, and several of these, notably Colonel
Jourdain, a French artilleryman, and two Englishmen, Hastings and Hane,
had put themselves at the disposal of the Greek troops in Nauplia.
Jourdain, an ingenious but impractical young man, had urged the Greeks
to try firing combustible shot at the town. He held out good hope that
they would set the town on fire--with luck they might even demolish the
enemy's powder-magazine and burn their provision houses, full of the
provisions which had just been sold to them. And the captains, jingling
with the gold of the payment, found this plan humorous.
The fort standing on the island in the bay had been put into the hands
of the Greeks at the first pseudo-surrender of the town, and though Ali
declared that the treaty which gave it them being null and void, as
they had not done their part in providing transport-vessels, it should
be returned to the Turks, the answer that the Greeks gave was, "Come
and take it." And as the Turks were not in a position to come and take
it, it was obviously misplaced Quixotism to let it stand empty. From
there the ingenious Jourdain suggested that the combustible shot should
be fired, but his ingenuity further served him to relieve himself
of the responsibility of the attempt, and Hastings and Hane, though
without much faith in the method, obtained leave of the Greek captains
to do it themselves.
Accordingly, Hastings was made captain of the fort garrison, which
consisted of twenty boatmen from Kranidi, who knew about as much of
artillery as of astronomy, and he surveyed his men with some amusement,
and spoke pithily:
"We are to make Nauplia as full of holes as a net and as hot as hell,"
he said. "Train the guns, if you know what that means. You do not? I
will teach you."
There were half a dozen 32-pounders and three 68-pounders of seven-inch
bore. The fort was an old Venetian work, tottery and unstable as
Reuben, commanded by the guns of Nauplia; and Hastings, surveying it,
turned to Hane.
"From the town I could engage to knock this place into biscuits in ten
minutes by a stop-watch," he said.
Hane laughed.
"We shall knock it to bits ourselves in not much longer with the
concussion of our own guns if the Turks don't hit us," he said. "I
would as soon sail across the Bay of Biscay in a paper boat."
Jourdain's combustible balls were made to be fired from the smaller
guns, and the two spent a sulphurous morning. They made good shooting
with them, and it is true that they discharged immense volumes of smoke
when they struck, but there seemed no truth in the proverb that where
there is smoke there is also fire. Jourdain had manufactured some
twenty of them, and in an hour they had used them all up. The breeze
was blowing from the town, and volumes of vile-smelling vapor were
wafted on it. Hane was a man of few and pointed words.
"So here is the last of the Froggy's stink-pots," was all his comment
when the last of the shells was fired.
But the Greeks were in raptures of delight. It seemed impossible that
so magnificent a firework should be ineffective, and they strongly
recommended a repetition of the display; but Hastings meant business,
and, after some parley, was allowed to make another attempt, not with
the "stink-pots," but with ordinary shot from the 68-pounders; for
the 32-pounders were, so he believed, of too light a calibre to be
effective at the distance.
Next day the heavier cannonade went on. The Turks returned the fire
with vigor, but without much success, and, as Hastings had anticipated,
the chief risk was from the concussion of their own artillery, which
dangerously shook the faulty and ill-built walls. After the first day
it was found impossible to fire the bigger guns, and the 32-pounders,
with their light shells, were soon seen to be useless; Hastings,
however, kept up the cannonade for two days more, partly to give
practice to the untrained gunners, partly because he was of a nature
that groans to be doing nothing.
At the end of the third day the Turkish fire ceased altogether, for
the flight and destruction of Dramali's army had become known, and it
was no longer possible to hope that by a show of resistance and brisk
firing, they might encourage the timid Serashier to march from Argos
and attempt to raise the siege. Had he known it, the town was now so
well supplied with provisions that, even if they had to evacuate it,
they could have joined forces with him and marched to Corinth. But now,
as throughout the war, what seemed blind chance, but what was really
the legitimate result of cowardly and hesitating policy, once more
combined to fight against them.
So the Turkish fire ceased, and as it was proved to satiety that the
smaller guns of the island fort were no more than a summer rain to the
fortification of the town, Hastings ceased his fire too, and with Hane
made a detailed examination of the fort, with a view to strengthening
the walls, and enabling them to stand the concussion from the heavier
guns. With a little pulling down, a little patching, and a rubble
buttress or two, it seemed easily possible to strengthen one bastion
which held two of the 68-pounders, so that they might fire without the
risk of bringing down the walls on their own heads. But that afternoon
a message arrived from the captain, Poniropoulos: their firing had
ceased, the guns produced no impression on the fortifications. The
Greeks were infinitely obliged to them, but they must not hope to share
in the plunder from Nauplia, nor would rations be any longer supplied
to them. For the present it was not the intention of the commanders to
continue this gun practice. Dramali's army had gone; the fleet had not
come; they would sit down and wait the inevitable end.
Hastings chucked this note into the sea.
"There is no answer," he said to the boatman who had brought it.
He turned to Hane.
"It is no use waiting here if we are not to use the guns," he said.
"They say we need not expect plunder from Nauplia. Do they think we are
all like the old man in the brass helmet?"