Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/379

Rh the battle of Inkermann; so that it was not without a shudder that I received this rumour from my Ionian host. He had drawn me aside from my workmen, so that our conversation might not be overheard; and from the dismayed expression of his countenance, I inferred that he did not feel at all reassured as to my personal safety if the news were true. I had then a considerable sum of money in my house, and thought that if the people were to rise, depose their Turkish Governor, and declare their independence, which they would probably have done had the news been confirmed, it would not be an easy matter to get out of Calymnos in safety. However, I put a bold face on the matter, and assumed the Ionian that the news could by no possibility be true, or I should have had an express to announce it from the Consul at Rhodes.

As the time drew on for bringing the expedition to a close, I found that the quantity of inscriptions and other spoils from the tombs and diggings would form a cargo too bulky to be contained in any caique; and it was not easy to find a seaworthy ship at Oalymnos to take me and my hardly-earned freight to Rhodes, in a season so uncertain as the vernal equinox. Lord Stratford relieved me from my difficulty by persuading the Turkish Government to send me a war steamer then stationed ui the Archipelago.

Having had notice that I might shortly expect this steamer, I closed my diggings at the Temple of Apollo; and reserving only a very small party of workmen, made one more venture in the district of Damos, in a field lying between the church called