The Vintage: A Romance of the Greek War of IndependenceBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
History
The Vintage: A Romance of the Greek War of Independence
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Greece -- History -- War of Independence, 1821-1829 -- Fiction
Now from Pigadia, where the boys had delivered the message to a man who
said he knew nought of the matter, they had been quite right to go on
their way as quickly as they could. The Turks had set spies all over
the country, since the rumors of an approaching outbreak had reached
them, who were instructed to affect sympathy and co-operation with
the revolutionists, and give information at headquarters of all they
could learn. The day after Mitsos and Yanni had left Pigadia, still
going northward towards Kalamata, this spy had had occasion to make a
journey southward. At Tsimova he had inquired whether the boys had been
seen, and hearing they had not, for they were then at Kalamata, gave
information to the Turkish magistrate, and went on his way. At Nymphia
he visited Krinos, who was also in Turkish pay, and told him to extract
any information he could if they came his way. From there he had taken
ship and gone on to Gythium, which was out of the boys' route.
The magistrate at Tsimova, with characteristic Turkish indolence,
holding a clew in one hand, would scarcely trouble to move the other in
pursuit. He just let the soldiers of the place know that there would
be some small reward given to any of them who apprehended either of
the boys; and one of them, the same who had seen Yanni on the wooded
path, being anxious that no other should bite at his cherry, had
obtained leave of absence and went a-hunting alone. He had seen Yanni
on the previous days at Kyta and Akia, and thought it worth while to
follow him on to Nymphia, where, as he knew, there was a Greek whom
his countrymen supposed to be a revolutionist, but who was really in
Turkish pay.
So the soldier hid behind the door, and Krinos went on grinding powder,
which he intended to sell eventually--not to the Greeks, but to the
Turks. The trap was neatly laid, and smelled of success.
Krinos's mill was of an old-fashioned type, consisting not of two
stones, but of one, which was hung with its axle horizontal to the
floor, in size and shape resembling a stone-roller, and underneath it
ran the long tray in which the corn or charcoal was ground. The tray
could be withdrawn for the emptying and filling, and he had just slid
it out, as the charcoal was already sufficiently powdered, when the
interruption for which he and the soldier had been waiting came. Krinos
had not time to put it back, and the stone remained revolving about
eight inches from the ground.
Yanni and Mitsos had gone cheerily down the hill-side ten minutes after
the Turk into the village, where Yanni met a slightly intoxicated
cousin, who grinned, and queried "Black corn?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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