IN SORE NEED.
Cleanor succeeded in landing without attracting, as far as he knew, any
observation. He lent a hand to the disembarking of the cargo of the
_Sea-mew_, and after going to and fro between the ship and the
warehouse some half-dozen times, quietly slipped away. It was now far on
towards midnight. The rest of the night he spent in a shed. This gave
him shelter; of food he had been careful to provide as large a supply as
he could conveniently carry. He foresaw an immediate use for it.
Rising--it cannot be said waking, as he scarcely slept during the whole
night--as soon as the earliest light of dawn made its way into his
resting-place, he made his way out of the inclosure which surrounded the
docks by an exit which he had observed during his sojourn in the city,
and had noted for possible use in the future. He was still fortunate
enough not to be seen.
This done, he soon made his way to the street where he remembered the
house of his foster-mother, Theoxena, to be situated. It was still early
morning, and but very few persons were about, these being almost
entirely women, who were fetching water from the public fountain at the
end of the street. He was not long in recognizing among these his
foster-mother, and it went to his heart to see how pale and wasted she
looked, and how slowly and painfully she moved under the slight burden
of the pitcher which she carried upon her shoulder.
He was careful not to betray himself by look or movement, for he was
anxious to know whether his disguise was successful. If her eyes,
sharpened by a love that was almost as strong as a mother's, did not
discover him, he felt that he was safe, and on this not only his own
life but the power to help others depended. He passed her slowly,
exaggerating a little the limp caused by his lameness. She looked at him
twice, the second time, he thought, with a momentary awakening of
interest, which, however, died away almost as soon as it appeared.
And now chance gave him a fully convincing proof of how completely she
had failed to recognize him. At the very moment of his passing she made
a slight stumble, her feebleness probably causing her to drag her feet.
The pitcher shook upon her shoulder, and was in imminent danger of
falling. Cleanor caught it with his hand, and steadied it till she had
recovered herself. She looked at him with a little smile of thanks,
murmured a few words of acknowledgment of his help, and passed on, in
what was evidently complete ignorance of his identity.
This was proof enough for Cleanor. Looking round and hastily satisfying
himself that there was no one near, he murmured "Theoxena". She started
and looked at him, but still without recognition, for his voice was
disguised. The art of doing this was an accomplishment in which he was
almost perfect; and indeed, the most elaborate dressing up of features
and figure is of but little avail without the disguised voice.
"What, mother Theoxena," he added in his natural tones, "don't you know
your son?"
In a moment her face beamed with delighted recognition. Pressing his
finger on his lips to enjoin silence, he stepped up to her door, which,
happily, was close at hand. Had it taken her more than two or three
steps to reach it she must have fallen in the street. As it was, he had
almost to lift her across the threshold, and to put her in one of the
two chairs which formed part of the very scanty furniture of the room.
Seeing that she wanted help, he ventured to call out the name of Daphne.
In a few seconds the girl appeared. She was dressing, and had been about
to bind up her hair when she was startled by the sudden call. Her
locks--cut short, the reader will remember, to furnish the string of a
bow--had grown enough to fall over her shoulders, and were even more
luxuriant and brilliant than ever. But her face was a piteous contrast
to their splendour--so pale, so wasted, so worn with suffering was it.
The eyes, which had haunted the young man's memory, looked larger than
before, so shrunk were her cheeks, and their look was pathetic beyond
expression. She seemed scarcely to observe the presence of a stranger,
but flew to her mother's side and busied herself with the task of
restoring her to consciousness.
When Theoxena began to revive, Cleanor put a few drops of a strong
cordial wine which he carried in a flask between her lips, and had the
pleasure of seeing a faint tinge of colour show itself in her cheeks. In
a few minutes more she was sufficiently recovered to sit up. Cleanor
would not permit her to talk.
"Not a word," he said; "you are not strong enough yet. You must be
satisfied for the present with seeing me alive and well. The rest we can
postpone. Do you think she could eat something?" he went on, turning to
the girl.
Poor Daphne's eyes filled with tears. "We have nothing in the house,
sir," she said. "We had a little crust of rye-bread at noon yesterday,
but she said that she was not hungry, and made me eat nearly all of it."
Cleanor was horrified. He had expected to find them in great want, but
this actual starvation was worse than he had looked for. He glanced
hastily round the room. He had already noticed that it was very bare. He
now saw that it had been stripped of almost everything. Daphne observed
his look, and explained.
"We have had to sell nearly all the furniture for food, and oh, sir,
they give so little for the things! I know that money is very scarce,
and the dealers are quite besieged with people who want to sell their
furniture and clothes, but I can't help thinking that they cheat me
because I am a girl and cannot help myself. Six days ago I sold mother's
bed for eight drachmas--I remember her telling me that it cost
thirty--and the eight were only enough to buy two rye-loaves and two
anchovies. Poor mother does find it so hard to eat the bread alone.
These lasted us till yesterday. We should have had nothing but for the
old man who lives next door. He had a grandson who used to play with
our little Cephalus. The dear little boy died about a month ago, and the
old man always will make us have what he calls the child's portion. It
has been getting to be very small lately, for the old man's pension is
not large, and money buys less and less every day. But I don't know what
we should have done without it."
"Well," said Cleanor, "you will have me to help you now. I suppose, by
the way, you remember who I am?"
"Yes, sir," replied the girl; "it was you that were so kind to us about
Cephalus."
"You ought to have remembered, then, to call me not 'sir' but brother;
or, better still, Cleanor. But now about food. This will be better than
nothing for the present."
He produced from the pack which he carried some twice-baked bread,
something like what we call biscuit, and some strips of dried goat's
flesh. It was pitiful to see how the girl tried to hide the eager look
which would come into her eyes at the sight of the food. The elder woman
had almost ceased to care for life, but youth protests against suffering
and will make its voice heard.
[Illustration: "CLEANOR PRODUCED FROM THE PACK WHICH HE CARRIED SOME
TWICE-BAKED BREAD."]
The meal was not abundant. Cleanor's prudence restricted the supply,
because he feared the reaction after a long period of starvation. When
it was finished he said, "Now, let us see what is to be done."
"We heard you were dead," began Theoxena--"killed, too, so they said,
by our own people. The gods be thanked a thousand times that it isn't
true!"
"Well," said Cleanor, "that is past and done with. We won't talk about
what other people have done or tried to do. Here I am alive, and hoping
to keep alive in spite of them, and I have come to see what I can do for
you."
"But what do you mean?" cried the woman. "Where have you been? Where do
you come from?"
"Well," replied Cleanor, "I came from Egypt last of all, and before that
I was in the Roman camp, where I found, I am bound to say, very kind
friends."
"But have you really come back into this doomed city--for doomed it
certainly is--when you were actually safe and among friends outside?"
"Yes, I have, if you must know. And what else could I do? You don't
suppose I was going to leave you to perish here while I was safe and
comfortable outside?"
"But why? What claim--?"
"Do you ask me what claim? You are my mother, Daphne here is my sister.
I have friends, and kind friends too, but you are all the home I have.
So that is disposed of. I have come back to get you safe out of
Carthage, and we must consider how that is to be done. But before I say
anything more, how about the little boy?"
"I have never seen him, but I have heard several times--the last time
was only four days ago--that he is well. Oh! how can I thank you
enough?"
"We'll talk about thanks another time, dear mother," said Cleanor with a
smile. "We must think about the present."
"I hear," said Theoxena, "that everyone is to move into the Upper City.
Hasdrubal thinks that there is no chance of defending the rest. I would
as soon--I would sooner stop here and die. But you see it is not only
dying that one has to fear. That would be easy enough. We must go; yet
where shall we find a corner to hide ourselves in, or a crust of bread
to eat?"
"Leave all that to me," said Cleanor. "If it can be done, I will do it;
and I think," he added after a moment's pause, "I think that I see a
way."
As he spoke there flashed through his mind the thought that he might
find help where he had found it before. If the physician who had served
him in the matter of the little Cephalus were still alive, no more
skilful, and, he was sure, no more willing auxiliary could be
discovered.
"Wait," he said to Theoxena, "you and Daphne, where you are, and don't
show yourselves more than you can help. Will the provisions I have here
serve you for a day or so?" And he emptied the contents of his pack upon
the table.
The woman smiled. She and Daphne had contrived to live for not a few
days upon far less.
"Yes, it is abundance."
"Till to-morrow, then," cried the young man with a gaiety which he did
not feel. If the physician should be unable to help, or should have
died!
Happily this misfortune was spared him. Cleanor found the man, and,
thanks to his knowledge of his habits, without loss of time. It was
still an hour short of noon when he saw the leech coming out of a
casemate in the wall, which he was accustomed to visit at that hour for
the purpose of inspecting the newly wounded.
"This is a good sight," cried the physician. "What Æsculapius has
brought you back from the dead? They told me that you were killed, and I
feared that they had only too good reason for knowing that it was true."
"That," said the Greek, "is a long story, and will keep. As usual, I
want your help."
"You are not ill?--no, I have never seen you look better. What is it?"
Cleanor told him his story.
The physician looked grave, and after a pause he said: "You are wanting
for your two friends what a couple of hundred thousands of people in
this city are wanting--a safe place of shelter. Yet it can be found; all
things can be found, if one knows where to look for them. But it will be
costly, very costly." And he looked inquisitively at the young Greek,
who certainly, in his pedlar's dress, did not look as if he had the
command of boundless wealth.
Cleanor understood the look, and whispered a few words in the old man's
ear.
"That is capital," he said with an admiring glance. "You are certainly a
young man of business."
Cleanor had, in fact, brought with him, in view of any possible
necessities that might arise, an ample supply of means in the most
portable, and therefore most valuable form that wealth under the
circumstances of the time could possibly bear. Gold, precious as it is,
is not very portable. A really wealthy man would require a whole caravan
to transport his fortune from one place to another if it were in the
shape of gold. Paper money--for the ancient world did business by bills
of exchange very much as we do--was not available. The commercial credit
of Carthage had collapsed for ever.
The one readily available vehicle for wealth was precious stones. These
had risen in Carthage to an almost incredible price. Sooner or later,
everyone felt, the city would be taken. When that should happen, gold
would be almost useless. The one chance of preserving it, and that but a
slight one, would be to bury it. That might hide it from the enemy, but
might very probably also hide it from the owner. Jewels, on the other
hand, could be carried anyhow. If a man could contrive to escape at all,
he could also contrive to escape with a fortune, so invested, about him.
Cleanor, accordingly, was now utilizing this part of the old king's
bounty. He carried round his waist, next to his skin, a slender
girdle-purse in which he had stored a number of jewels. This he was
resolved not to lose except with his life. While he kept this, he felt
that he could do anything that money could accomplish.
"Come home with me," said the physician, "and talk this matter over. You
are best out of sight, for someone might recognize you in spite of your
disguise, and that would be very awkward indeed."