[Illustration: "'AH, BUT IT IS GOOD TO BE WITH YOU AGAIN!'"] "I will tell you afterwards what you would have found," said Yanni, suddenly looking angry. "Go on, little Mitsos." Mitsos grinned. "Little, who is little? I have a cousin smaller than I. Well, for my story." And Mitsos told him of his journey, of his expedition to Patras and the monastery, and of the coming of the soldiers to Panitza. "And for the rest," he concluded, "we shall have to ask Uncle Nicholas and your father. There are not many things in the world of which I am certain, Yanni, but one is that we shall find them safe and sound on Taygetus." Yanni pulled up a handful of sweet-smelling thyme and buried his face in it for a moment. "Ah, but it is good to be on the hills again, Mitsos," he said, "and to be with you. I shall not forget the Mother of God. My story is very short; I am glad it has not been longer." "Tell me," said Mitsos. "Well, for a week, or perhaps a fortnight, I ate and slept, and one day was like another. I saw Mehemet Salik not more than once or twice, and he used always to ask me if I was comfortable and had all that I wished for. It is true that I wished for the hills and for you, but they were things which he would not have given me, so I always said I wanted nothing. Then for another week or so he would come and see me oftener, and asked me about my father and the clan, and whether Nicholas had been seen there again. And I, you may be sure, always told him that the clan were good men and quiet livers, who worked hard in the fields, and thanked God every day that their masters, the Turks, were kind and just to them. That, it seems, was a mistake, for he smiled--these Turks know not how to laugh, Mitsos, not with an open mouth--and said it was very interesting to hear that from one of the clan themselves. And about Nicholas, I said I had seen him when I was little." "You were never otherwise," remarked Mitsos. "Oh, cousin," said Yanni, "but your mother bore a silly loon. Am I not to go on with my story, then?" "Go on, big Yanni," said Mitsos. "And so it went till but five or six days ago. And then on one morning," said Yanni, suddenly flushing with anger, "he came in looking white and cunning, with an evil face. The Turk who was my guardian followed him--he is a good man, Mitsos, save that he comes of the accursed race--and Mehemet said to me, 'So the clan are good men and quiet, and they thank their God that they have such kind masters. And you, Yanni, who are of the clan, you think they do wisely?'