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
Germanos was a splendid specimen of a Greek of unmixed blood, now
nearly or quite extinct. His family came from the island Delos,
still unviolated by the unspeakable race, and from generation to
generation they had only married with islanders. He was rather above
the middle height, and his long black cassock made him appear taller.
In accordance with Greek rite, neither his hair nor beard had ever
been cut, and the former flowed black and thick onto his shoulders,
and his beard fell in full rippling lines down as far as his waist.
Though for three or four years his life had been one long effort of
organizing his countrymen against the Turks, the latter had never
suspected his complicity, and he intended to take the fullest advantage
of their misplaced confidence in him. Though Germanos had not trodden
the world so widely as Nicholas had done, he was nevertheless a man
of culture--shrewd, witty, and educated. And Nicholas too, though for
the sake of the great cause he would have condemned himself cheerfully
never to speak to a man of his own rank and breeding again, found it
a pleasant change, after his incessant wanderings among peasants, to
mix with his own kind again. His few days with Constantine at Nauplia,
it is true, he had much enjoyed, for it was impossible not to be
happy when that apostle of happiness, the little Mitsos, was by; and
Constantine, too, was of the salt of the earth. He only arrived in the
evening, just before dinner, and they sat down together as soon as he
had washed.
"There is a good man to hand, I think, to-day--the captain of the boat
I came by," said he. "I suggested he should come and talk with us
to-morrow. I would have brought him with me, but he was busy with his
fig cargo."
"My dear Nicholas, you are indefatigable. I do not believe there is
a man in the world but you who would wake at dawn on the gulf and
instantly set about making a proselyte. You should have been a priest.
What made you see a patriot in him?"
"It was a long shot," said Nicholas. "He spoke without sympathy of
the new Turkish harbor dues at Corinth, and told me my capture was
imminent. I risked it on that."
The archbishop frowned.
"New harbor dues? It is time to think of harbor dues when there is a
harbor."
"So he said," answered Nicholas. "Their methods have simplicity. They
seized six crates of his figs."
"We are commanded," remarked Germanos, "to love all men. I hope I
love the Turk, but I am certain that I do not like him. And I desire
that it will please God to remove as many as possible of his kind to
the kingdom of the blest or elsewhere without delay. I say so in my
prayers."
Nicholas smiled.
"That gives a double sound," said he; "you pray not for their
destruction, but for their speedy salvation. Is that it?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account