The Capsina: An Historical NovelBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
History
The Capsina: An Historical Novel
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Greece -- History -- War of Independence, 1821-1829 -- Fiction
Eventually, and with a very bad grace, Kolocotrones was forced to
yield. Poniropoulos with two other officers, Kolocotrones with his son
and another, Niketas with two officers, Miaulis with Tombazes and the
Capsina, and Hypsilantes were to take joint possession of the property
in Nauplia. Hypsilantes was appointed arbitrator, and was to settle the
claims for the division of it in case of dispute. The town itself would
be occupied jointly by Kolocotrones and Miaulis in the name of the
republic.
But no sooner were these arrangements made known than the tumult of
discontent among the men rose to a head. Poniropoulos's band distrusted
their commander as much as their commander distrusted Kolocotrones;
Kolocotrones's men, who had taken no part in the siege, and had
expected no share in the booty, hearing that their general would
certainly have a finger in it and auguring ill for their own chances,
fraternized with the troops of Poniropoulos, and determined to resist
an arrangement which would put the whole into the hands of four or five
men already fattened by the marketing with the besieged. The Mainats,
discontented, yet top-heavy with pride at the action of Petrobey, and
knowing that they alone were out of this disgraceful quarrel, grinned
sardonically, and told the others they might as well leave too, for
not a piaster would they see. Orders were issued that every man should
go to his barracks. They were disobeyed. The men gathered and gathered
round the gate through which the commanders would enter Nauplia,
threatening to storm the place, and declaring that they would not allow
the chiefs to appropriate everything. Below, in Kolocotrones's tent,
sat the men who had been chosen to enter the place. They knew that
their own faithlessness and avarice had raised this storm of distrust;
they could not deny the justice of it; they were powerless to quell it.
Meantime in the citadel an assembly of hungry faces and hollow eyes
debated the proposal of the Greeks. The terms were hard, but not
preposterous, for their case was hopeless. If they refused, the Greek
fleet, as they knew, could shell their walls into stone-dust; that
done, they knew what to expect--pillage, massacre, and at the end a
shambles. Ali and Selim alone held out. They had seen the greed in the
eye of Kolocotrones, and Ali spoke.
"We may as well have the value of our money," he said. "The chiefs will
again agree to sell us provisions, I doubt not, till it is exhausted.
I am pretty sure our case cannot be worse. Let us surrender when the
money is finished."
But the others were against him. The Greek soldiers were a mutinous
crowd at the gate. It was impossible that they should allow the chiefs
to sell provisions again till the treasury was empty. The troops were
utterly out of hand; any moment they might storm the place. It would be
another Navarin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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