Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp4.djvu/56

 words too amorous perhaps for his cloth, but, nevertheless, the theme of all, young or old, phlegmatic or unctious, in that country, where the tempers appear as unanimous as the sky is uniform. ‘Jaua calbi,’ repeated the old man, a little put out by a sudden jerk of his donkey, and sidelong movement to the right. ‘Jaua calbi,’ once more he murmured, but in a subdued tone, as he began to fancy that some cause must exist for this eccentricity of his beast; and looking cautiously about him, what saw he but a musket directed upon the level of a stone wall, and the head and shoulders of a soldier planted behind it. The incognito called upon him to stop, but his order was futile. The old man rolled from his donkey, collected his youthful speed, and never ceased running and hallooing “Aima! Aima!” till he reached the village of his home, and was safely ensconced in a fortifying circle of his fraternity. To them he related his adventure with some depth of colour: he said that a ghost had appeared to him dressed like a soldier, and for all the world like one of Fribourg’s men, but ghastly and lean, as a ghost should be. He narrated all the circumstances; and the tale reaching the ears of the police, a strict search was made over the face of the country, to ascertain the bodily condition of this spectre. The zeal and number of the persons so employed, soon led to the discovery they desired. In a rude, retired hovel, far from any inhabited quarter, they came upon some men whose looks were not so inhuman but they could recognize under them the six desperate Greeks of Fribourg’s regiment! Almost skeletons, their hair hanging about them unshorn and lank, their countenances distorted by disease, – the offspring of protracted want and bad food, they stood like shadows, or scarecrows, an easy capture to the police officers. After the first astonishment had passed away, and it was sure that no farther escape was possible or conceivable, they were questioned as to the mode by which they had preserved life, both during the explosion, which had been so fatal to so many, and afterwards when subjected to detection at every hour of the day. Without reluctance or concealment, Ieramachos gave answer to these enquiries, and told the singular tale which shall conclude this narrative.

“He said that from the first moment of occupying the magazine, he had projected a plan of escape, which was agreed to, and nobly sustained by his staunch associates. No part of their actions afterwards was the result of accident, but arose from the deliberate contrivance of one great plot. It was this. Being thoroughly acquainted with the dimensions and position of the fort, they believed from the first that it might be so undermined as to afford an egress to seaward, and they lost no time in attempting this plan of escape. While the besiegers lay quietly above them, they were employed in excavating, little by little, a passage to the sea-wall of the fortification, which they might make use of as they had the means. The softness of the rock facilitated their labour, and the progress they made was unexpectedly rapid. Having assured themselves of the practicability of an opening, the next difficulty was how to procure an opportunity