ON THEIR TRAVELS.
But at last the hour for leaving came, and Sedgwick and Jordan took
the train and proceeded without delay to Marseilles, where one of the
steamers of the French Imperial Messenger Line was about to sail for
Port Said. They at once secured transportation, went on board, and a
few hours later the ship proceeded to sea. The weather was fair on the
Mediterranean, and putting aside any personal sorrows, Jordan exerted
himself to be cheerful for Sedgwick's sake.
"This are ther water on which men fust learned ter be sailors, arn't it,
Jim?" he asked. "I mean whar they fust got inter ther notion of venturin'
out whar ther old shore-shaker could git a good hold on 'em?"
"Yes," replied Sedgwick. "This and the Red Sea. The Egyptians, the
Carthagenians, the Phoenicians, the Syrians, the Greeks, the Romans,
and a dozen other nations; later, the Venetians and Spaniards, and no one
knows how many other nations, all learned how to build, navigate, and
fight ships on these waters. Think of it, Jordan, there were sea fights
here almost seven hundred years before the Christ came. On this sea
floated the fighting Biremes, Triremes, and Quinquiremes of the Greeks,
Carthagenians, and Romans; and here the Egyptians and Phoenicians
trained their ships three thousand years before the crucifixion.
"Could this sea give up its dead--its dead men and its dead ships; could
they all come back as they looked the moment before they sank, they would
make a panorama of the ages, and would show the progress of the world for
five thousand years. Every mile square of this sea must be paved with
things which were once glorious in life and power. Maybe below where we
are sailing here, helmeted Roman soldiers, being transported to some
point of contemplated conquest, went down. Here pirate craft have roamed;
here lumbering wheat ships have ploughed their way; here the watches have
been set by the crews of a hundred nations; here sailors have been cursed
in a thousand tongues. Along these shores ship-building had its birth;
from these shores the ships sailed out over these waters, engaging in
foreign commerce, and the camel-owner on the land learned to hate the
thing which on the water could carry the burden of many camels. One could
sit all day and conjure up the ghosts that these blue waters are peopled
with."
"Go ahead, Jim," said Jordan. "Thet sounds as it useter when yo' read to
us in ther old house thar in Texas. What war thet book that told all
'bout Lissis and Ajax, the hoss-tamer Diamed, and the boss fighters,
Killes and Hector, and ther pretty gal Helen, that raised all the hel-lo,
and Dromine, the squar woman thet war Hector's wife, and hed the kid thet
war afeerd of the old man's headgear?"
"That was the Iliad, Jordan," said Sedgwick, "the first book that we
read. The story was the siege of Troy. That was a city over on the east
shore of this very sea, and the Greeks went over there in their boats and
besieged it for nine years before they captured it."
"How long ago war that, Jim?" asked Jordan.
"Three thousand years," was the reply.
"But they were fighters, them fellers?" said Jordan.
"Yes, great fighters," said Sedgwick.
"And their hosses war thoroughbreds, every one? Isn't thet so, Jim?" said
Jordan.
"They were great horses, indeed," said Sedgwick.
"Powerful," said Jordan, "good for fo' mile heats, sho'? And thet other
chap, Nais, didn't he settle round here somewhar?"
"You mean Æneas, Jordan. It was in Virgil that we read that. Æneas was of
the family of that Priam who was king of Troy when the siege was on. He
got away in a ship and finally landed and settled in southern Italy, off
here to our left, and the legend goes that his descendants founded Rome."
"Yo' don't mean ter say he wur ther 'riginater uv ther Dagoes?" said
Jordan.
"Well," said Sedgwick, with a laugh, "you know at that time there were
wild tribes in Italy. Then there came in Greek colonies, and all races
fused and assimilated, even as did the Romans and Sabines when the former
captured a company of the women of the latter and made them their wives.
Out of it all arose the mighty Roman nation."
"They inbred with mustangs, so ter speak," said Jordan, "and these common
Dagoes is whar they has bred back showin' bad stock in ther dam."
"May-be," said Sedgwick.
"Half-breeds is no good, as a rule, but that Nais war a good one."
"A good one, I guess," said Sedgwick.
"He's ther feller that Queen--what's her name?--O, yes, Queen Dido got
soft on?" queried Jordan.
"Yes, Queen Dido," was the response.
"And she got looney-like when he cum away, and uv nights would go down on
ther shore and watch for him to cum back?" said Jordan.
"So the legend has come down, and by the way," added Sedgwick, "her
country was on this sea also, farther east and south, off to the right.
It was called Carthage."
"Say, Jim," said Jordan, "them folks was a good deal like we is, after
all, wuzn't they? They'd fight for most nuthin'; they'd get gone on
wimmen; liked good hosses; they'd trade and work tryin' ter get rich; and
ef they hed hearn of a gold mine, they'd gone ter Arizony for it."
"I guess you are right, Jordan," said Sedgwick, "you always are. The
world changes its methods, but the original man is about what he has
always been."
"Wurn't it from thet place Carthage that ther black feller cum what held
ther Dagoes so level fur so long?" asked Jordan.
"Hannibal, do you mean?" asked Sedgwick.
"Ther same," replied Jordan.
"Yes," replied Sedgwick, "and a marvelous soldier and leader of men he
was, to be sure."
"Indeed, he wur; but say, Jim, what do yo' calcerlate his pedigree wur?"
"Why, he came from a family of kings and fighting men," answered
Sedgwick.
"Yes, I know; but I mean what breed war he? War he one of them ere
Ethiopians?" said Jordan.
"No, I think not," answered his friend. "He was dark like an Arab or
a Moor, but he belonged to a race that built cities and ships, tamed
horses, and fought scientific battles."
"'Zactly," said Jordan. "And he wur a fighter from way back?"
"Yes," responded Sedgwick, "when the few great captains in the world are
thought of, he is about third or fourth in the list."
"Thay ain't much in men, Jim. Thar's everything in a man," said Jordan.
"That is what Napoleon used to say," was Sedgwick's answer.
"Did Napoleon say thet?" asked Jordan. "He war a brighter man than I
thought, but it is true, don't yo' think, Jim?"
"I think I understand, but am not quite sure," said Sedgwick.
"I mean this," he answered, and then paused a moment. "Well, yo' see," he
continued, "I wur at Chickamauga in Hill's division, I wur in thur ranks,
and wur a boy; but I hed a general idee how things wur. I knowed whar all
our men war; how your army war 'ranged, and when we went in shoutin',
and all your right and left melted away like a fog as comes up from the
gulf melts when the sun comes up in ther mornin', I sed to Ned Sykes, who
wur next me in ther ranks, 'Ned, we's got 'em,' and Ned answered back,
'we's got 'em, sho'.'
"Well, it wur a clar field, 'ceptin' your center war still solid, and
they fell back all but a thin line. We charged up onto thet and broke it,
killed lot's uf 'em, and gobbled up lots more, but it tuk us a right
smart time, fur them was stubborn chaps 'nd they fought desperate.
"Then when I looked up, I seen the hull business. Thet line hed been
flung out ter hold us till ther rest cud fall back on better ground. Thar
they wuz fixed, and when our lines wuz dressed and other charge ordered,
and we went in again shoutin' jest like the fust time, they laid down
flat and they 'gin it ter us so hot we couldn't stand it and hed ter fall
back.
"And they kept a-entertainin' of us thetway all ther evenin'. Other
divisions wur called up and sent in, but what wur left uv 'em cum
streamin' back, jest ez often ez it wur tried; a cavalry charge was
ordered, but only a remnant cum back, and we hed made no more impression
seemin'ly than ther waves thet bucks up agin a ledge uv rocks.
"Them wur no better soldiers than ther rest uv ther army, but thar war a
man directin' 'em, and lookin' all ther time so kinder majistical and
lofty and so fur away from all fear, and ez tho' he hedn't a thot of
failin', thet ther men, yo' see, tuk on ther same state o' mind, and ter
fight 'em war no use. If the fust bullet we fired hed killed thet
General, we would a-scooped the hull army by four o'clock. Thet's what
I mean when I say: 'They ain't much in men, thar's everything in a man!'"
"I understand you fully, and you are right, Jordan," said his friend.
Jordan continued "War it not 'round yere somewhar' thet ther Greeks
lived?"
"Yes, north of this sea, ahead of us, and to the left," said Sedgwick.
"They wur the ones that fit Marathon and Thermoperlee, and it wur from
ther thet big Aleck cum?" asked Jordan.
"Yes," was the reply. "It was only a little country, but had many states,
The Spartans and Thespians, mostly the Spartans, fought at Thermopylae.
Marathon was fought mostly by Athenians, and Alexander was Phillip's son,
of Macedonia."
"'Zactly," said Jordan. "Athens wur the boss place, wur it not? It had
ther best talkers, and best public schools, and wur it not thar thet the
woman Frina kept house?"
"Yes, Phryne was an Athenian, I believe, a woman of a good model, but not
a model woman," said Sedgwick, with a faint smile.
"I reckon yo' wur right, Jim," said Jordan, "but it wur not singular she
bested them fellers in her law-suit. Her showin' would ha' brought a
Texas jury every time, sho', in spite of any 'structions, no matter how
savage, from ther court."
Then he continued, "Thar wur another bad one 'round here, somewhar. Don't
yo' reclect readin' 'bout her and ther Roman? They got spoony on one
another. He neglected his family and business, he wur thet fur gone;
finally got hisself killed, and then she pizened herself with a sarpent,
not a moccasin nor rattler, but a little short blue-brown scrub snake not
a foot long."
"You mean Antony and Cleopatra," said Sedgwick.
"'Zactly, Cleopatra," said Jordan. "She wer ther one. I never liked her,
not half so well as the one with yaller ha'r thet they called Helen. One
wur bad on her own account; the other, as I calcerlate, wus bad jest
because she hed er disposition to be entertainin' and agreeable. One wur
naterally bad; t'other wur a lady by instinct but her edecation had been
neglected."
Still he ran on: "Wur it not on this water thet old Solomon fitted out
ships for ther Ophir diggings?"
"I do not know," was the reply. "It probably was, if, as is believed, a
canal connected this sea with the Red Sea in his day."
"Which way are Jerusalem from here, Sedgwick?" he asked.
Sedgwick pointed in the direction.
"And Tyre and Venice and Egypt and ther Hellespont?" Jordan asked.
Sedgwick explained.
"The country 'round this sea made ther world once, didn't it?" was
Jordan's next exclamation.
"Very nearly," answered Sedgwick. "The cradle of civilization was rocked
more on these shores than anywhere else. Egypt and Greece and Carthage
and Phoenicia and Syria and Rome, and a score of other nations, grew
into form on the shores of this sea. The arts had birth here; arts,
architecture, ship-building, sculpture, poetry, eloquence, law and
learning, all began on these shores; and Roman soldiers crucified the
Savior a little beyond where the waves of this sea break against its
eastern shore."
"Thet's good," said Jordan. "Big region this!"
And so the great-hearted man kept talking to try to lure Sedgwick's mind
away from the thoughts that possessed him, and which made his heart heavy
and his face grave.
The ship touched at several ports, and the changing of passengers, the
different races, the varying scenes, kept the minds of both men diverted
and their interest all the time awakened, and kept Jordan talking more
than he had talked before for weeks.
"I'm glad I cum, Jim," he kept saying. "Why, we fellers out in Texas as
never traveled don't know nuthin', so ter speak; nuthin' 'bout the world
outside, I mean. We useter think Texas wur almighty big. Tain't nuthin'."
Then after a pause he spoke again, and his next question was: "What did
yo' call them ships thet ther old fellers sailed?"
"They had many names. There were Galleys, Biremes, Triremes.
Quadquirimes, Quinquirimes and so on, according to the number of their
oars and the way they worked them," answered Sedgwick.
"This are a daisy ship thet we is on, don't you reckon?" said Jordan.
"Suppose yo' and I cud uv cum along heah with this ship when they hed
ther fightin' fleets out? Wouldn't we hev astonished them old-timers?"
"I think we would, indeed," said Sedgwick, "but, Tom, with the ships that
they had, they did some fighting that gave the world such a thrill that
men feel it still when the name of Actium or Salamis is mentioned. As
long before the coming of the Savior as it has been since, the
Phoenicians were scouring this sea with their craft, founding colonies,
and it is said they ventured out upon the Atlantic and went as far north
as England, while amid the ruins of Tyre models of boats have been found
with lines as fine as any that any modern ship-builder can draw.
"Nothing of mechanical achievement to me compares with a ship like this
that we are sailing on. Panoplied in steel, with heart of fire, with iron
arms picking up the burden of ten thousand horses; facing the storm and
the night without a quiver except that which comes of its own great
heart's throbbing, buoyant above the beating of the deep sea's solemn
pulses, lighted by imitation sunlight, and making its voyages almost with
the precision of the hours--what could be grander?
"Standing on the deck, with the midnight black above and the ocean black
below, feeling its regular pulse-beats and its onward plunges over its
uneven path; it is hard to shake off the impression that it is a grim
Genie that has come to make ferries of the broad ocean, to draw the
continents with their freights of nations closer together.
"But suppose, Tom, that the onward rush of this ship should bring us
close beside three little ships, two with no decks and the larger one
only ninety feet in length, we would look down upon them with a kind
of pity, would we not?
"Still, with such vessels, the mystery of the sea was first cleared up;
with such vessels, the vail was pushed back from the frowning face of the
ocean; with such vessels, the New World was found.
"It was from over one of those open decks that the cry 'A Light!' rang
out upon the night; it was from one of those decks that the vision of the
New World materialized before the eyes of the great Italian; on one of
those decks he knelt as the vision grew brighter in the dawn, and his
soul was thrilled as souls are when they feel that a visible answer to
prayer has been vouchsafed.
"But the man was there, Jordan; the man who could charm the terrors from
the hearts of a fear-stricken crew; who could convert a meteor's fall
into an augury of good instead of an omen of terror; who could quell the
mutinous spirit which was awakened by a varying needle and raging storms.
"It is not the great ship that counts, but the motives in the souls of
those who build and navigate the ship.
"When on the shores of this sea men first built boats and went forth on
these waters, they were but rude boats indeed.
"Who knows how many were lost, how many brave souls were drowned?
"But each calamity gave new thoughts to those who escaped; they kept on
improving, building better and better boats and making longer and longer
voyages; they found islands and the shores of far-off mainlands; they
carried back the products of those lands, and so Commerce was born.
"They made at last their ships meet the caravans from the East; the ideas
as well as the products of the East and West were brought together;
manufactories were established, robes and dyed garments and flashing
blades were made that became immortal, and those people made such an
impression on the world, as brave and capable and alert men of affairs,
that the impression still remains; even as the strong and true men of
Venice renewed the impression twenty-five hundred years later.
"The same spirit worked three thousand years ago that has been at work
in making the transformation from the bungling ships that Nelson fought
Trafalgar with to this ship under our feet, from the carrying up of ore
from the deep mines on the heads of peons to the hoisting engine and
safety cage of to-day."
"That is good, Jim," said Jordan, "it is ther soul of man, after all,
soul of courage that counts 'nd all ther advancement is only because we
has better tools ter work with than ther old-timers hed."