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
The other boats seeing what had happened, and resolving, if possible,
to sell their lives more dearly, got ready their muskets. But the
Capsina saw this, and while they were out of musket range:
"The bow guns for the rest," she said. "It is good target practice."
Five out of the six boats had been sunk, and they were already
preparing to fire on the sixth when a sudden pity came over Mitsos.
"Look," he said, "there are women in that boat!"
The Capsina shaded her eyes for a moment against the glare of the water.
"Turkish women only," she said.
"But women!" cried Mitsos, with who knows what memories of one who had
lived in a Turkish house.
"There were women in Elatina," said the Capsina. "Fire!" Then turning
to Mitsos: "Are you a woman, too?" she said--and suddenly her voice
failed as she looked at him. "Mitsos, little Mitsos!"
And he looked at her, biting his lip to check the trembling of his
mouth.
"Even so," he said, and turned away.
The first squall had blown over, and an hour of checkered sunshine
succeeded; but in the west again the clouds were coming up in
wind-tormented ribbons, and they had only just cleared the bay when a
second hurricane was on them. For some three-quarters of an hour the
wind had been slowly shifting into the north, and the wreckage of the
ship they had sunk at the mouth of the bay had drifted a little out
to sea, and they cut between drift-wood and masts and here and there
a man still afloat. Where Kanaris and the third ship were they had no
certain idea, but it was impossible for the clumsy Turkish ships to
tack against a violent wind without having the masts crack above their
heads, and this one, as they knew, was without its foremast, and must
have sailed nearly down wind. The second squall was even more violent
than the first, and the _Revenge_ scudded out to sea with only jib and
halyards flying. As they got farther from the funnel of land down which
the wind came, the force of it decreased a little, and they hoisted the
upper yards on the mainmast. But for an hour or more they raced across
a choppy and following sea, obscured by driving squalls of rain, before
they sighted either. All this time the Capsina had hardly spoken, and
Mitsos, standing by her, was as silent. But as they came in sight of
the two ships, both running before the wind, she stamped on the bridge.
"Hoist this foresail!" she cried.
Mitsos looked up: the ship, he knew, was carrying as much sail as she
could.
"You will lose your mast," he said.
The Capsina turned on him furiously.
"Let us lose it, then!" she cried.
"And you will go none the faster," he said. "More sail will only stop
the ship."
"That is what they say," she remarked. "They say it pulls a ship over,
and makes the bows dip. What do you advise, little Mitsos?"
"By no means hoist the foresail. Even if the ship can carry it you will
go the slower," he said. "Is it an order?"
"Yes."
Then suddenly she turned to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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