IVIn the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOThere were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”“How will you manage?”“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.
IVIn the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOThere were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”“How will you manage?”“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.
IVIn the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOThere were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”“How will you manage?”“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.
IVIn the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOThere were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”“How will you manage?”“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.
IV
In the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOThere were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”“How will you manage?”“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.
In the days that followed, Athens and Solon Street and the thick dust of the streets and Aphrodite’s cross frown seemed very far away indeed to Pavlo; even of his uncle he saw very little; now and then the doctor came to luncheon or to dinner on the terrace, but already he seemed to belong to a past life. There was so much to see and to do! There were delightful torpedo boats to watch, steaming in and out of the bay and sometimes passing quite close under the terrace; there were the long narrow boats from the Naval School, full of new sailors learning how to row; there was fishing with home-made bamboo rods off the end of the landing stage, while the broad flapping straw hats which they were all obliged to wear because of the sun were weighted down on the ground with stones, so as to be better out of their way, as soon as the grown-ups were not looking; there was fire-fishing with spearing rods from the boat at nights when there was no moon;there were rambling afternoon walks to the Monastery or to the beach of the little pines; there were longer expeditions to the Devil’s Bridge, to the lemon wood, or up to the Seven Mills;15there were visits to the funny little shops of the village in search of picture post cards, or even of what sweets Poros could supply, when the town stock ran out. For of course, visiting aunts and uncles and cousins generally brought proper boxes of chocolates and sweets from Athens; and though the grown-ups never failed to repeat the same stupid remarks such as, “How you are spoiling the children!” or, “Indeed that was quite unnecessary!” still visitors scarcely ever failed to fulfill this elementary duty. Once, a certain absent-minded uncle so far forgot his obligations, as to bring only some silly old caramels, and Pavlo heard all the abuse that was lavished on him.
THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DOTHERE WAS SO MUCH TO DO
THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DO
There were the delicious long-stretched-out sea baths, notwithstanding the unfortunate governess’s cries of, “You are staying too long in the water! Come out this very minute!” There were swimming matches between Chryseis and Iason; and there was under water swimming by Andromache. As for poor Nikias,his sea-bathing usually took place on dry land, under the shelter of the pines, where he would flee wet and naked for refuge, till his elders were safely out of the water. It is true, the others were very merciless and he was only eight years old, and when they caught him and dipped him, they dipped himsofar down, and kept himsolong under!
There were endless games on the hill, of soldiers, of robbers, of outlaws, of Turks, in which Pavlo for the first two or three days was politely allowed to be Kanaris, Athanasios Diakos, Odysseus Androutsos, Marcos Botzaris, or his own great-grandfather, according to the moment, but afterwards was obliged to take his turn at being a Turk, or at commanding a big Turkish frigate represented by three long planks behind the servants’ quarters. Two of the Four were his crew, and the two others,—for of course they always had to be inferior in numbers or where would the bravery be?—were Miaoulis16and his devoted followers, heroically bent on blowing up the frigate, or perishing in the attempt.
Then there were stories read or told on the terrace in the hour before dinner, by the motherof the Four, when Nikias would climb up on the arm of her chair, or even sometimes, if it were getting pretty dark, on her knees, and listen with both eyes and ears, and Iason would draw funny men or officers while he listened. All the old tales of Theseus and Heracles, and King Midas, and the winged Pegasus were retold, and the fairy tales of the King’s daughter with her three wonderful dresses, the Sea with its Fish, the Earth with its Flowers, and the Heavens with their Stars; and the tale of the Pacha with his three pairs of slippers. There were French tales too, of the heroes who rode through the valley of Roncesvalles, of Roland, and Ganelon; and even, for the mother of the Four had lived abroad in England in the remote past, English tales, of knights and ladies with curious names, of whom Pavlo had never heard; of Enid and Geraint,of Lancelot, of Pelleas, and Gareth and the Lady Lyonors.
And while the tales were told the sky turned into a lovely golden pink behind the pines, and the stars came out one by one. Iason knew many of their names and would show Pavlo the exact spot on the terrace from which onecould see the whole of the Great Bear, and how the Scorpion dipped its tail behind the hill over Galata.17
Of course the shadow of lessons did occasionally fall across the sunshine. The village schoolmaster came over in a boat twice a week for the boys, and there was a family of friends living in the “Garden” on the mainland who had a French holiday governess, and every other day the Four went across in the small boat with Kyria Penelope, and Greek and French lessons were exchanged. But even so, there were ways and means. Pavlo overheard Chryseis early one morning reproaching her sister:—
“You have only written half your verb, and you do not know your poetry at all! Mademoiselle will be furious again. You will have pages and pages to write afterwards.”
“No!” declared Andromache stoutly, “I shall not!”
“But you will. There is no time to learn anything now. It is time to start.”
“I shall learn nothing, and I shall have nothing to write.”
“How will you manage?”
“Wait, and you will see,” answered Andromache darkly, shaking her short wavy hair.
They all ran down the long flight of steps to the sea, and Yanni the boatman was already settling the boat cushions. The big clock of the Naval School was just on the last stroke of eight and the boys had entreated Kyria Penelope to wait till the flag went up on the tower, as Iason wanted to run their boat flag up on its pole at the same moment.
His hand was holding the rope loosely, and all eyes were fixed on the square tower of the Naval School, waiting for the signal.
Bam! Boum! went the morning gun, and the lovely old blue and white flag rose majestically to the top of the flagstaff.
At the same moment, with naval precision, Iason pulled the rope, and the little boat flag was waving at the top of its pole; and almost at the same moment, Splash! went Andromache into the sea, books and all.
A shrill shriek followed, as Kyria Penelope went down on her knees on the landing stage, and flapped helpless arms over the water.
But the boatman was there and the boys too, and the next moment a drenched, dripping, sea-weedyAndromache was standing in the midst of them, little pools of water rapidly forming all round her. Yanni was reaching out for two floating books, and a soaked copy-book was slowly sinking beyond recovery.
“If I could possibly imagine,” said the poor innocent governess, who had no small brothers and sisters at home, “that you would jump into the sea on purpose, I would keep all the others waiting, till you changed your wet clothes; but as such a thing isquiteimpossible, you may stay at home to-day and not delay us.”
And such a thing beingquiteimpossible, naughty Andromache stayed comfortably at home, finished all the chocolates out of her box; successfully fished out a big bunch of grapes through a hole in the wire netting of the store room window, carefully enlarged by the boys; visited the kitchen and learned all about the cook’s little nieces and nephews and what their names were and how old they were; stood outside the gate watching the “trata”18and did a whole host of other equally pleasant and forbidden things.
That same afternoon they went to the Monasterywith ten “lepta” each, with which to buy and light a taper in the Chapel.
“Look at Kyria Penelope!” cried Chryseis. “She has stopped to tie her shoe lace again; it is always coming untied. Let us run on to the cave; we shall have time to get in before she reaches us!”
The magic word “cave” sufficed, and they were all off racing down the hill and up again towards the second bridge.
It was not a real cave, Chryseis jerkily explained to Pavlo as they ran; only a dark hole in the earth under the bridge, and it was not mysterious at all and did not seem to lead anywhere, but the governess would never let them look properly into it. Over on the mainland there were some splendid real caves, that real robbers and deserters had hidden in; and in the old days people who were escaping from the Turks; but the Four had only been there once and then they were with grown-ups.
“Lambro the shepherd told me,” panted Iason, “that there is one here on the island over on the other side of the hills, near the beach of Vayonia. A great big dark cave with a small opening, and you go in and in and neverfind the end. He says there were old swords and guns hidden there and … all sorts of things. I mean to look for it some day.”
“Will they let us?” asked Nikias, stooping to pull up a sock which threatened to cover his shoe entirely.
“Let us!” said Iason contemptuously; “theyneverlet us! But we will go!”
The cave under the bridge was nothing but a small hole full of cobwebs and dry leaves. However, they all managed to wriggle in and wriggle out again, dirty, but triumphant, before Kyria Penelope, hot and protesting, came up to them.