Chapter VIII

In the meanwhile Kyr Themistocli had dragged his straw chair outside his door, where, as the house faced west, there was shade for some hours in the morning, and sat waiting. In his hand, he held a piece of bread, but he was not eating it. Not because it was dry, there being no coffee to drink with it; but because for the first time Aleko had not come when he had said he would.

It was long past the hour for morning newspapers. Other boys had cried them up and down the street, but now they had ceased.

Two or three times the old man muttered to himself:--

"He is a child! May he not forget sometimes?" but in a moment he would rise from his chair, and feeling with one hand for the wall of the houses, he would advance slowly down the narrow street and listen to the noises that came from the wider one and the square beyond.

Fish was being cried, fresh from Phalerum, and summer vegetables of all kinds, greens for salad, and fruit.

"Cool, cool mulberries!" cried a man with a good tenor voice, making a song of the words. "Black are the mulberries! Sweet are the mulberries! Buy mulberries! Cool, cool mulberries!" Then an old voice quavered out, "Pitchers from Ægina! Pitchers for cold water! Big pitchers! Little pitchers!"

But no one cried newspapers. The hour for them was long past, and slowly, and stumblingly, Kyr Themistocli found his way back to his straw chair. The sun was gaining on the shade.

"He will not come now before the afternoon," muttered the old man; but still he did not go indoors.

Suddenly, a voice hailed him close at hand.

"Good day to you, Kyr Themistocli!" It was not Aleko's voice. It was a man's voice; a voice he knew.

"How is it that you are sitting outside at this hour? The sun will be on your head in a moment."

The old man stretched out a groping hand in the direction of the voice.

"Is it you, Nico? You are welcome. Yes, I will go indoors just now. But you? How come you here at this time? How is it you are not at the Bank?"

"I have no head for business this morning, Kyr Themistocli; I saw you sitting here as I passed by the end of the street and I came to wish you good morning."

"Are you not well, Nico?"

"I am well; but from early morning I cannot rest. Perhaps it will seem a small thing to you--but to me it is a great one--I have lost my dog!"

"The little white one? The one you call 'Solon'?"

"Yes. Twice this week he has been lost and found. Those who believe in such things are right it seems when they tell you to beware of the third time. I am a fool, Kyr Themistocli, about this dog. I ... I love him as I would a man. Some tell me it is a sin to care so much for an animal. But when I think how she...."

"It is no sin," said the old schoolmaster, "there are dogs that understand one better than men, and when old memories are mixed up with the caring ..." he broke off suddenly. "But do not vex your heart! You will find him."

Nico Spinotti shook his head.

"The 'boya' took him. He was out with my cook, and while she was in a shop the dog was picked up. She ran after the cart in vain; and then she returned weeping to the house to tell me. It was well she had that much sense at least."

"But why are you staying here?" asked Kyr Themistocli excitedly. "Why do you not run to the Police Station? They will give him back to you. Even should there be any difficulty, if the dog was not muzzled, as it writes in the newspapers that they must be now, you can always pay the fine, and as much more as the 'boya' wants...."

"My secretary went at once; and the man-servant also--if only they are in time! I could not go myself; I dared not! If I were to see the man who caught the dog in that net, and threw him into that vile cart ... I ... I could have killed him! I know myself; when I think of anyone ill-treating Solon or indeed any animal, I lose consciousness of what I do. Why, only last night I gave the boy who had tried to steal him such a beating that it will be days before he forgets it."

"A boy stole him?"

"Yes, a newspaper boy with fair hair; and those shoeblacks and newspaper boys are generally so honest; but this one it seems came to my house regularly with newspapers, and knew the dog; and someone, I suppose, must have paid him well to steal it. I found him just preparing to carry it off under his arm. Well, he got his year's beating from me any way, and I forbade him to show his face in this neighbourhood again. I told him I would give him to the police if he did!"

The old man had risen from his chair and his blind eyes were wide open and staring.

"You.... You ... hurt the lad!" he burst out wildly. "You drove him away! You.... You...."

But his sentence was never finished.

At that moment there was a patter of running feet at the entrance of the narrow street, a sudden flash of something white in the sun, and Solon, taking a flying leap from Aleko's arms, made a bee line for his master.

There was a bewildered cry of,--"Solon!" and then a mingling of shrill barks of joy and of broken words:--

"Why, the poor little dog! Why, Solon! My poor one!"

In the meantime Aleko went straight up to the old schoolmaster.

"Kyr Themistocli," he began, "your coffee is all spilt. It fell from my hand and the bag burst, but this afternoon...."

But the blind man did not wait to hear what was to happen that afternoon, his arms groped for the boy and finding him, clung about his neck, and the old head fell forward on Aleko's shoulder.

"I thought I had lost you.... I thought that you would never come back! My boy!... My son!..."

The banker looked from the old man to the boy, with bewildered eyes.

"Why?" he gasped, "I never knew.... Is he yours?"

"Mine? Makari!" exclaimed Kyr Themistocli.

Now when a real Greek says "Makari," it means so many things that no single word in any other language can translate it. It means, "If only it could be so!" it means, "I could wish for nothing better!" it means, "It is too good to come true!" it means, "Such a thing would be perfect happiness!" It means all this and much more. Some think the word a corruption of "makarios," meaning blessed, some believe it was taken from old Italian. It is not a dictionary word, but it expresses so much that the old schoolmaster dropped into common speech and said "Makari," with all his heart.

"But then ..." said Nico Spinotti looking from one to the other, "I do not understand. How came the dog here? Is this the boy...?"

Kyr Themistocli left his hand on Aleko's shoulder, and drew himself up to his full height.

"Yes," he said, "this is the boy you ill-treated, whom you called a thief; and it is he, I am sure, who has saved your dog and brought him back to you. Tell us, Aleko--what happened?"

"I saw the 'boya,'" related Aleko, "pick up the dog. It was while Anneza, who never knows what is being done around her, was in the shop; I ran after him but he drove me off with his big whip; so I took the street car to make more haste, and went down to the Central Police Station; there, a boy told me where the 'boya' takes all the dogs after they are counted, far down the Piræus Road, to a 'room that kills.' So I went there and found the place and waited for the cart. When it came I told the man that the dog was his ..." pointing to Spinotti, "and that he would pay him well, but he would not listen. I asked him to bring it up himself if he did not believe me, or, to wait till noon or even for an hour ... and he ... he ... jeered at me."

"And did you not call some one of the police?" asked Kyr Themistocli.

"No," said Aleko, and he laughed a little, "I remembered what the gentleman at the Parnassos told us: that if you have the science and the other has not, you need not fear one twice your size, so I gave him the straight blow from the shoulder under the chin, the one that makes you see stars."

Nico Spinotti laughed out delightedly.

"Bravo! And did he see them?"

"Yes," said Aleko quietly, "because afterwards, he lay in the dust and saw nothing."

"And then?"

"Then I opened the cart and let all the dogs out."

"What ... all?"

"Of course. Since it had happened that I was there, it was for the good luck of all the poor creatures. The boys who were there helped me; we held open the door at the top of the cage; the big dogs jumped out alone, and we lifted the little ones. I took Solon, and if the 'boya' wants the rest again, he will have another day's run for them!"

"And what became of the man?"

"Do I know?" said Aleko with sublime indifference.

Then the banker came a step nearer to Aleko.

"If I were to speak till to-morrow, my boy, I could not tell you how indebted I am to you; and I am terribly ashamed to think that you, whom I accused of being a thief, and ill treated only last night, should have saved my dog for me to-day."

"It was not for you that I did it," answered the boy shortly, "it was the dog for whom I was sorry."

"I understand that. Still you knew that he was mine, and another boy might have let the dog be killed, to be revenged on me."

"What you did," said Aleko, averting his eyes, "was not the dog's fault. Why should he suffer?"

"You have saved me also from great suffering; greater, perhaps, than the dog's would have been. I thank you with all my heart, also I ... I ask your forgiveness." And he held out his hand.

Aleko frowned. At that moment for some inexplicable reason, Solon sat up on his hind legs and began energetically sawing the air with his forepaws as though pleading for his master.

Aleko looked at him and his face relaxed a little. Then he wiped his hand carefully on his clothes and laid it in the banker's, saying gravely:--

"You are forgiven."

"And now, will you tell me what I may do for you to show my gratitude?"

"May I bring the newspapers to your house again?" asked Aleko, his eyes brightening.

The banker laughed.

"Do you like to sell newspapers?"

"It is my work," answered Aleko.

"Is there nothing else you would prefer to do?"

"He wants to study, Nico," cried the old man, "he wants it as none of you, my old pupils, ever wished it, and he cannot, because he must work all day to keep himself, and to help his mother and his little sisters."

The banker gathered his eyebrows together thoughtfully.

"What are your earnings, a year, do you know?" he asked Aleko.

"The 'big one' sends one hundred and fifty drachmæ to my mother; he feeds me, and I give him all I earn."

"What would you do if you were free?"

"I want to learn."

"To learn what?"

"To learn many things."

"And out of the many," said the old schoolmaster, "will grow the one; the one that fills the life of a man. It is well. Let him learn 'many things.'"

"If," said the banker slowly, "if I were to send three hundred drachmæ every year to your family, and if you were to go to school all day and live with Kyr Themistocli here, who should have three hundred more to keep you and help you with your lessons when you returned from school in the evenings, would you be pleased for the present? Later on we shall see again."

But it was the old man who thanked and blessed Nico Spinotti, who stretched out tremulous hands to him, while tears of joy filled his sightless eyes.

Aleko stood still with wide open eyes. His wildest day dreams were coming true, and the magnitude of the joy suddenly made him feel faint. His heart seemed to be beating up in his throat, and he felt as though the throbs would choke him. His hands grew moist, his knees trembled and speech failed him utterly.

To the hard work that lay before him, he gave never a thought; the daily discipline to which his free and untrammeled boyhood must bend seemed a necessary trifle. Nothing mattered any more! He only knew that the smiling faces of the two men beside him seemed quivering in a golden mist, he only knew that the words he had just heard were making music in his brain; for the lad in whose veins ran the blood of the old scholars of Greece, had come into his inheritance.

NOTES

NOTES FOR "MATTINA"

No. 1, Kyra. A title of respect or a prefix before the name, used to old women of the people. You would say "Kyra Sophoula" or "Kyra Calliope" if the women were old or elderly, instead of plain "Sophoula" or "Calliope." It corresponds I fancy to "Dame" which was used in England in the middle ages, or even I think they sometimes used "Goody."

Kyr is the masculine equivalent for old men. Sometimes "Barba" meaning "uncle" colloquially is instead, as it is with you in the South I think for old negroes.

Kyria is simply "Mrs." or "Madame" and is used either before the name as, "Kyria Dragoumis" for instance; or alone if you do not use the name as, "Yes, Kyria" for "Oui, Madame."

No. 2, Monastery Road. The Monastery on the hills in Poros is an old one of the Byzantine epoch restored about a hundred years ago. It has a beautiful little chapel with a wonderfully carved wooden "templon" (the screen which separates the altar from the body of the church). There are a few old monks left but not many.

No. 3, Sponge-divers. Some Greeks earn their living by diving for sponges. The best sponges in Greece are found in Hydra, but the sponge-captains often take their divers to the north coast of Africa.

No. 4, The Naval School of Poros is for sailors, not for officers (the Naval School for the latter is quite near Piræus). The sailors come to the School in Poros for the first six months of their service, and after they are well drilled they are drafted on to the war ships. There is a high grade officer as Director of the School, and younger officers are in residence to drill the men.

No. 5, The "Great Week" means the Holy Week before Easter.

No. 6, Methana. A little village on the sea (Saronic Gulf) known for its natural sulphur springs. People suffering from rheumatism and eczema, etc., go there for baths.

No. 7, Ægina. The well-known island sixteen miles from Athens in the Gulf of Ægina. It was a very celebrated place in the ancient days of Greece. The population now of 10,000 was then 600,000. Ægina contributed thirty warships to the battle of Salamis against the Persians. There are the ruins now of a temple to Venus and those of one to the Pentelic Jupiter.

No. 8, Piræus. The port of Athens: population about 27,000: five miles to the southwest of the city, to which it used to be joined in antiquity by the famous Long Walls built by Themistocles and Pericles.

No. 9, Phalerum. One of the three ports of ancient Athens, about three miles from the city; it is now a much frequented seaside resort, with hotels, and private villas. In the hot summer days, people go down from Athens, morning and evening, for sea baths.

No. 10, The Theseum. A temple consecrated in 470 B. C. in Athens, to Theseus, the national hero of Attica. In ancient days it often served as a sanctuary for slaves. It is situated on a low hill, northeast of the Acropolis, and is a fine monument in very good preservation. It is a peripteric, hexastyle temple, in Pentelic marble. Any children wanting to know more about Theseus, have only to read "The Minotaur," in Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales.

No. 11, Monastiraki. One of the stations of the Athens Piræus railway line.

No. 12, Drachma. Worth one franc; about 20 cents in American money.

No. 13, Oke. A measure of weight equal in English weight to 2 lbs., 12 oz.

No. 14, Lepton. The one-hundredth part of the drachma: one centime. The smallest coin in Greek money is of five lepta.

No. 15, Kiphissia. A country place about half an hour by train from Athens: takes its name from the ancient river Kephissos or Kiphissos: a very wooded, pretty, green place full of hotels and country houses, much cooler than Athens in the summer, and consequently much frequented.

No. 16, The Kolonaki. A small square in Athens, behind the Kiphissia Road; the little bootblacks congregate there a good deal.

No. 17, The Zappion. A large handsome building in the ancient style of architecture, built originally for exhibition purposes by two rich brothers called Zappa (hence its name), situated on a height, and commanding perhaps the most beautiful view in the whole world, certainly in Europe. It comprises the columns of the temple of Olympic Jupiter in the foreground, the Acropolis to the right, the Stadium to the left, and in the distance Phalerum, the sea, and Salamis. The Zappion terrace and gardens are a very favorite walking place for children, babies, and their nurses.

No. 18, Acropolis. The immortal Rock bearing the Parthenon, the Propylæa, the Erechtheum,--It is an isolated rock of oval form, inaccessible except from the west. It is entered to-day by the famous "Porte Beulé". There is too much to be said about the Acropolis, I can only quote Rennell Rodd, that perfect modern singer of Greece:--

"Here wrought the strong creator and he laid
The marble on the limestone in the crag,
Morticed the sure foundations line to line
And arc to arc repeating as it grew;
Veiling the secret of its strength in grace,
Till like a marble flower in blue Greek air
Perfect it rose, an afterworld's despair."

No. 19, Stadium. The stadium was in ancient days the oblong foot-race course of the length of one stadium (equivalent to about 606 English feet), hence its name. The present Stadium in Athens was restored in marble for the Olympic Games of 1896.

No. 20, The Plaka. A populous quarter in Athens inhabited mostly by the poorer classes.

No. 21, Aubergines. An aubergine is a vegetable belonging to the family of cucumbers and vegetable marrows. It is of a rich dark purple colour when ripe. "Aubergine" is the English name for this vegetable, and is always used by cooks and greengrocers in England. In America it is called egg-plant.

No. 22, Moussaka. This is a dish made of slices of aubergines, mincemeat, butter, eggs, etc.

No. 23, Pastas. Rich cakes, or portions of cake, made of almond paste, or of sponge cake sandwiched with jam, or cream, and iced over with chocolate, or with various coloured icings. They are sold at all confectioners, and often eaten at the shops between meals, or bought to serve as a dessert course. They are like the French "petits fours," only larger.

No. 24, Nauplia. Sea town of Argolis in the Peloponnesus: about 10,000 inhabitants. It was the capital of modern Greece until 1834.

No. 25, The Palamidi. A large prison at Nauplia.

No. 26, "Manitsa" means "little mother." A diminutive of "Mana" which means "mother" in peasant Greek.

No. 27, Loukoumi. A kind of sweetmeat made of starch and sugar, which in England they call "Turkish delight." It is principally made in Constantinople, and in Syra.

No. 28, Caique. A long narrow boat.

No. 29, Touloumi means really a skin-bag; so that "touloumi" cheese is a sort of white Greek cheese, so called because it is transported in bags of skin from place to place.

NOTES FOR "THE FINDING OF THE CAVE."

No. 1, Missolonghi. A maritime town of central Greece; it is principally celebrated for the part it played in the War of Independence of 1821. It was three times besieged by the Turks, in 1822, 1823, and 1825. In 1822 it resisted successfully against Rechid-Pasha and Omer-Pasha. In 1823 it was fortified on the instance, and by the advice, of Lord Byron (who died there in 1824), and bravely defended by Botzaris; it was besieged by the terrible Omer-Vrioni, and relieved by Mavrocordato. In April, 1825, Rechid-Pasha reappeared with 35,000 men before Missolonghi, which at the time had only 4,000 defenders. Protected by the Turkish fleet, and afterwards helped by Ibrahim Pasha's army, Rechid-Pasha after a long siege brought the defenders to their last extremity, and rather than fall into the hands of the Turks, they blew themselves up with gun-powder, with their women and children.

The war of 1821 was the war of independence, in which Greece threw off the Turkish yoke.

No. 2, Botzaris or Botzari. One of the greatest heroes of the War of Independence, born in 1788, died in 1823.

Palamas, Pappaloukas, Tricoupis, Razikotsikas, Kapsalis, all brave fighters and defenders of Missolonghi.

"Zamana" is an imaginary name.

No. 3, Pilaf. A national Turkish dish much eaten in Greece: it is made with rice, butter, and tomatoes. It is a popular saying that "pilaf" is the only good thing we ever got from the Turks.

No. 4, Keftedes. Flat, round, meat cakes made of mince-meat, eggs, etc., and fried in butter.

No. 5, Acropolis. See notes for "Mattina" No. 18.

No. 6, Hermes. Otherwise Mercury; the son of Jupiter, messenger of the gods, and god himself of Eloquence and Commerce. Nathaniel Hawthorne in his delightful Tanglewood Tales, talks of him often, calling him "Quicksilver."

No. 7, Yaourti. A sort of curd, or thick, sour milk: much eaten in Greece, and of late years introduced into France, and I believe into England, under the name of "Lait Bulgare" and much recommended by doctors.

No. 8, Louki Laras. An interesting book on the life of a young boy, in the Greek War of Independence, written by Demetrius Vikelas. It has been translated into French and I believe other languages.

No. 9, Halva. A sweet, made of flour, butter, milk, and honey.

No. 10, The King's Summer House. A little summer residence or lodge belonging to the King, situated just inside the Piræus harbour.

No. 11, Themistocles. The great Athenian general, born about 525 B. C. At the time of the invasion of Greece by the Persians, he commanded the Athenian fleet. It was he who persuaded the Greeks to give battle at Salamis. The Spartan Eurybiades, general of the confederate forces of Greece, being of the contrary opinion to Themistocles, raised his rod of commander as though to strike him, and it was then that Themistocles calmly answered the furious Spartan by the famous words: "Strike but listen!"

No. 12, Salamis. An island ten miles to the west of Athens, celebrated for the naval victory which the united fleet of Greece gained over the Persians in 486 B. C.

No. 13, Tettix. A sort of cricket which in hot weather chirps all day long, in trees and bushes.

No. 14, Batti. The afternoon breeze which comes from the open sea.

No. 15, The Seven Mills. A place on the heights, opposite Poros, on the Peloponnesus, so called because seven water mills were placed at intervals up to the top of the hill.

No. 16, Miaoulis (Andreas). Greek admiral, born in Euboea, in 1768, died in Athens in 1835. Between the years 1822 and 1827 he had the supreme command of the naval forces of the country in the War of Independence.

No. 17, Galata. Small village of the Peloponnesus, opposite the island of Poros.

No. 18, Trata. The dragging the sea by a big net which gathers in all the small fish. The net is cast from boats and then the men stand in two lines on the shore and drag it in. I rather fancy this is called a seine-net and seine-fishing in English.

No. 19, Foustanella. The short linen pleated kilt reaching to the knees, which is part of the national Greek and Albanian costume. It is worn by the Royal Guards and by certain troops called the "Evzones."

No. 20, Glitsa. A tall crook used by shepherds; it very often has a carved handle.

No. 21, Tagari. A woolen bag, generally bright-coloured, carried by peasants to transport fruit, or nuts, or any small objects.

No. 22, Stania. A sheep fold, generally on the hills.

No. 23, Ouzo. A strong spirit which is drunk mostly by the poorer classes and peasants.

No. 24, Skaltsounia. A sort of almond cakes made principally in the islands; something like German marzipan.

No. 25, Yatagan. A Turkish or Arabic curved sword.

NOTES FOR "ALEXANDER THE SON OF PHILIP"

No. 1, Baklava. A kind of sweet made with pounded almonds between very thin layers of paste soaked in honey.

No. 2, The Twenty-fifth of March. The Anniversary of Greek Independence.

No. 3, Boya. A Turkish word meaning "executioner"; generally applied in Athens to the man who seizes stray dogs in hot weather and takes them away in his cart to the pound.

No. 4, Loustro. Literally "a shiner"; applied to shoeblacks originally and now used for all newspaper sellers, errand boys, etc.

No. 5, Alexander the Great. Born 356 B. C., died in Babylon, 323 B. C. The most famous warrior and captain of antiquity. His father, Philip II of Macedonia, confided his education to Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of that age. Alexander, after his father's death, succeeded in making himself general-in-chief of the Hellenes at Corinth, in 335 B. C., where he was surrounded by the most illustrious men of the nation. He crossed the Hellespont to penetrate into Asia with an army of 30,000 foot and 5,000 horse soldiers. He crossed the Taurus, penetrated into Syria, crushed the innumerable army of Darius, treating the vanquished king and his family with noble clemency. His many conquests would take far too long to enumerate. He always endeavoured to consolidate his conquests by good and wise treatment of the conquered provinces. At Babylon he received ambassadors from all points of the then known world. He was in the midst of new projects of conquest and exploration when he died in a few days of a fever (June, 323 B. C).

No. 6, Kanaris (Constantine). Hero of the War of Independence; born in 1790, died in 1877. He was captain of a merchant ship when Greece rose against the Turks. In the night of the 18th to to the 19th of June, 1822, helped by a companion, he burned two Turkish vessels. In the following November he burned the admiral's ship of the Turkish fleet in the port of Tenedos. He continued his work of destruction, always at the extreme peril of his life and the lives of his brave companions, at Samos and Mytilene, and during all the duration of the war fought valiantly at the side of Miaoulis. He is the hero of one of Victor Hugo's celebrated "Orientales."

No. 7, Souli or Suli. Site in the province of Jannina in Epirus; celebrated in the War of Independence for the heroism of its inhabitants and for the death-dance of its women who, on the approach of the Turks, danced for the last time their national dance on the plateau of the mountain of Zalongos, and then, one by one, flung themselves and their children over the precipice. Rennell Rodd in The Violet Crown has a beautiful poem about this episode called "Zalongos. The last fight of Suli." The last words, as far as I remember, are:--

"... thus beneath Zalongos side
The mothers and the children died
That Suli ne'er might breed again
A race of less heroic men."

The word "Suliote" is almost synonymous in Greece with hero or heroine. If anyone is asked to undertake any very daring or desperate deed, the answer often is, "Do you think I am a Suliote?"

No. 8, Diakos (Athanasius). A Greek hero before the War of Independence. Born 1788, died 1820. He led several successful attacks against the Turks but was at last taken prisoner by them and put to death by impalement.

No. 9, Oristé. Literally "Command me," used in the sense of, "Yes, at once. At your service!"

No. 10, Tsourekia. Cakes, made principally for Easter, of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.

No. 11, Ephialtes. The traitor who guided the Persians to the Pass of Thermopylæ.

No. 12, Antipater. The betrayer of Demosthenes.

No. 13, Paul Melas. A young officer in the Greek army, of one of the best families in Athens, who left wife and children and career, a few years ago, to go to Macedonia and with a handful of brave men protect the helpless villages against Turkish tyranny and cruelty. He was killed at Siatista in Macedonia in the month of October, 1904, and his name has remained as that of one of the pioneers of Macedonian liberty.

No. 14, Mount Lycabettus. A rock rising in the middle of the plain of Athens, from which there is a beautiful view of all the town below. On the summit is a small chapel of St. George.

No. 15, Homonoia. "Concord," in Greek. It is the name of one of the principal squares near the Piræus Road.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Kyra means Dame, or Goody: thus, Goody Kanella was Mattina's aunt. At the end of the book there are notes marked 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., explaining the meaning of the Greek words used, and describing briefly certain events in Greek history.