CHAPTER XVI
FIRE-SHIPS
The time passed slowly as they were waiting for the attack by theTurkish boats. The men muttered and growled to each other at thedelay. In order to give them something to do, Miller sent all thosewho were not stationed at the guns down below to fetch up a number of32-pound shot and place them in the racks, and some of the men weretold off to jump up on to the rail as soon as the boats camealongside, and to throw the shot over the top of the boarding-nettingdown into the boats.
"I wish it was not so confoundedly dark, Miller, and that we couldmake the fellows out," Martyn said.
"I have got rockets and blue lights, sir. Shall I send a rocket up?They are sure to find us, so we lose nothing by showing them where weare."
"Yes, they are sure to find us. I don't like their being such a longtime in getting to us."
"They do come wonderfully slow," Miller agreed.
"Do you know, Miller, I have been thinking for some time that theremust be some cause for it, and the only reason I can see is that theymay be towing."
"By Jove, so they may! I did not think of that. It will be awkward ifwe have got a ship to fight as well as the boats."
"Very awkward. Send up a rocket, we may as well settle the question.Pass the word round for the men to train their guns as nearly as theycan in the direction in which we can hear the oars, and to fire whenthey get light."
A minute later a rocket shot up in the air. As it burst a number ofboats were seen crowded together, towing behind them two large brigs.There was a moment's pause while the men at the guns adjusted theiraim, then the pivot-gun roared out, and the four on the broadsidefollowed in quick succession. The distance was about six hundredyards, and the crashing of wood, followed by a chorus of shouts andcries, arose as the storm of grape swept down upon the boats.
"Load again, lads, as quick as you can," Martyn shouted. "Show acouple of blue lights, quarter-master. Boatswain, load the pivot withball, and fire as fast as you can at the brigs; never mind the boats,we will attend to them."
The blue lights were lit and a rocket sent up, so as to burst over theenemy, and again a broadside of grape was poured in, while a shot fromthe pivot-gun crashed into the bows of one of the brigs; these hadapparently been lashed together, so that the boats could tow them on abroad front. A confused din came across the water; shouts, cries, andorders mingled together. As far as could be seen everything was inconfusion. Some of the boats had sunk, and the occupants were beingpulled on board of the others. Some had thrown off their tow-ropes andwere heading for the schooner, others lay helpless in the water.
REPELLING THE TURKISH BOARDERS]
"Keep the rockets going, quarter-master," Martyn said; "the more lightwe have the better. Horace, tell the men at the aft and forward gunsto aim at the boats rowing towards us; let the two midship guns keepon at the crowd in front of the brigs. They have sent a pretty strongforce against us. There must have been fully twenty of these boats atfirst; there are about sixteen of them now, and they are all largeones. Depress the guns on the other broadside as far as they will go,Mr. Tarleton, we shall have some of them round on that side presently.Cant them down as much as you can."
Two more of the boats towing were disabled by the next broadside, andthe rest, throwing off the ropes, rowed straight for the schooner.
"Aim steadily, men!" Martyn shouted. "Pick out your boats before youfire."
Two of the boats were sunk as they approached, three others fellbehind crippled; but the others, with loud shouts, made straight atthe vessel. As they approached her they opened a fire of musketry,which was answered by the rifles and muskets of the sailors. As theyswept up alongside shots were heaved down into them, and the crashingof planks told that they had done their work. The guns on thestarboard side were silent at first, as the first boats came up soclose alongside that they could not reach them; but those thatfollowed were further out, and two were instantly sunk.
As the Turks strove to climb up the side and cut their way through theboarding-netting, they were shot down by pistols or run through byboarding-pikes. A few managed to climb over or force their waythrough the netting, but these were cut down before they could obtaina footing on deck. For ten minutes the fight went on by the flare ofthe blue lights, and then eight Turkish boats, which alone floated,rowed away, crowded with the survivors from the others. A loud cheerbroke from the schooner.
"Never mind them, my men," Martyn shouted; "load with ball now and aimat the brigs."
These had taken no part whatever in the fight. Left by the boats headon to the schooner, and almost without steerage-way, they had in vainendeavoured to get broadside on so as to bring their guns to bear. Thelashings had been cut, and the rudders been put in oppositedirections; they had drifted a little apart with their heads outwards,and as the boats rowed away from the schooner they opened fire withtheir bow-guns. The boatswain, with the men working the pivot-gun, hadfrom the first continued steadily at their work regardless of the dinaround them, Horace taking his place beside them, in order to callthem off to aid in repelling the Turks should they gain a footinganywhere on the deck. When the boarding-netting had been triced up,a gap had been left opposite the gun, and the fire at the brigs hadbeen kept up without intermission, every shot raking one or other ofthem fore and aft.
As soon as the boats were fairly away, the guns from the starboardside were run across, the spare ports being thrown open, and the eightguns all brought into play to aid the pivot-gun. As soon as the boatsreached the brigs they took shelter behind them, and in a short timeboth craft began to swing round, their guns firing as they werebrought to bear.
"Eight guns a side," Miller said; "but it would not matter if therewere twenty, if they did not aim better than that;" for not a singleshot had struck the schooner. One or two passed overhead, but the restwent wide.
Instead of the brigs being left broadside on as they had expected,their heads swept round until they were stern on to the schooner, thenthey began slowly to glide away.
"They have had enough of it," Miller exclaimed, and another cheerbroke from the schooner.
"Cease firing!" Martyn said. "If they leave us alone we are content toleave them alone; they must have suffered tremendously as it is."
An examination was now made as to the casualties. Four men had beenkilled, all were shot through the head, as they had fired over thebulwark at the boats as they came alongside; six others were woundedmore or less seriously, by pistol shots that had been fired by theTurks as they tried to climb on board--a small total indeed,considering the nature of the attack. When morning dawned the brigscould be made out near the opposite shore, they were still being towedby the boats; but as they were looking at them, sail was made as alight breeze sprang up. When the wind reached them, the mainmast ofone was seen to go over the side, having doubtless been wounded by theraking fire, and carrying in its fall the fore top-gallant mast andtopmast. A quarter of an hour later the breeze reached the schooner.The decks had been already washed down, and everything had resumed itsordinary aspect, and before getting up the anchor the four men who hadfallen, and who had already been sewn up in hammocks, were committedto the sea, Mr. Beveridge reading the funeral service over them. Mr.Macfarlane reported that the wounded were all likely to do well.
As soon as the fight was over the women and children, who had beensuffering agonies of terror while it had been going on, had beenbrought out from the hold and allowed to sleep as usual on the lowerdeck, which had been entirely given up to them; and when the schoonergot under weigh they were permitted to come up on deck. Although theyhad been assured by Zaimes and his brother that all danger was over,their first action on coming up was to look round timidly, and theywere evidently greatly relieved when they saw that the sea was clearof enemies. They looked much surprised at seeing everything going onas usual, and at the absence of any signs of the terrible conflictthey had heard raging round them the night before--the bullet marks inthe bulwarks being the only evidences of what had
passed. It hadalready been decided to sail for Greece in the course of a day or two,as they had as many fugitives on board as they could carry, and it wasnow determined to do so at once. As they sailed west they made out alarge number of ships approaching, and were soon running through theGreek fleet.
"I am sorry we left now," Miller said; "we shall miss a fight."
"I expect we shall be back in time," Macfarlane remarked; "the Greeksare in no great hurry to fight. It is two months since they were sentfor, when the landing was made at Chios; and after taking all thistime to make up their minds about it, they are likely to take a fewdays before they make up their minds to have a tussle with the Turks.The Greek mind, I observe, is full of contradictions; sometimes,especially if there is plunder to be got, their eagerness is justwonderful; but when it is a question of fighting, their caution isvery remarkable."
Miller laughed. "I daresay you are right, doctor, and I don't feel atall confident that there will be a fight. So far the Greek fleet hasdone nothing, and their only idea of fighting a Turkish ship has beento launch a fire-ship against it."
"Fire-ships are no good against enemies who know what they are doing,"Martyn said. "A couple of boats can always tow a fire-ship clear; butthe Turks are lubberly sailors, and these fire-ships seem almost toparalyse them."
"I can't make it out," Miller put in, "why the Turks shouldmanoeuvre their vessels so badly, considering that their sailors arefor the most part Thessalians, drawn from the Mohammedan sea-sidevillages, Albanians by blood, just as the Hydriots are."
"They want British officers," the doctor said. "Officers are alwaysthe weak point with the Turks. There are no braver soldiers in theworld when they are well led. But they never are well led now; theirpashas seem to be chosen for stupidity and obstinacy. It is a greatpity that we did not make up our minds to take Turkey instead ofIndia. Eh, man! we should have made a grand country of it when we hadonce got it into order."
"We shall make a grand country of India some day, doctor. I have neverbeen out there; but there is no doubt that just what you say about theTurks is true of the natives there, and they make very good soldierswhen they have British officers to lead them."
"So they say, Captain Martyn: but you must remember that they haveonly fought against other natives without British officers to leadthem. We must wait till we see them fighting against European troopsof some other nation before we can say that they are fine soldiers."
"If we wait till then, we are likely to wait a long time, doctor.Besides, you must remember they did fight well against the Frenchtroops under Dupleix."
"So they did, but not till they got the idea that our soldiers werebetter than the French. But, as you say, it will be a long time beforethey get the chance again. The French are no longer a power in India;nor are the Dutch; and the distance is too long for either ever tosend out an army big enough to wrest India from us; and as to marchingby land--well, it could not be done."
"The next day they reached the port of Athens, and got rid of theircargo of passengers, and then, with every sail set, hurried back toChios, touching at Psara on the way, as, from the direction in whichthe Greeks were steering, they thought it probable they might havemade a stay there. A small Psariot vessel had just come in from thefleet, and Horace, who had gone ashore with Marco, learned thatMiaoulis, the Greek admiral, had coasted along the north of Chios, andthat the Turks had at once weighed anchor and gone out to engage him.The Greeks, not caring to fight in the narrow waters, where theirpower of manoeuvring would be thrown away, had stood out, and anengagement had taken place at the mouth of the Gulf of Smyrna."
"We fought most valiantly," the Greek said, "and it was a drawnbattle."
"But what was done?" Horace asked. "How many vessels were sunk on eachside?"
"Oh, there were no vessels sunk. They fired at us, and we fired atthem."
"Were there many killed and wounded?"
"No; I don't think there were any killed and wounded. You see wemanoeuvred round the Turks. We could not go near, because their gunswere much heavier than ours. We sent down a fire-ship among them; butunfortunately they evaded it, and some of our most daring captainsventured so close that their ships were struck by the Turkish shot.Yesterday the combat was renewed again. The cannonading was likethunder, and this morning we again fought. Then we needed rest, and toget fresh meat we sailed back."
Horace had difficulty in restraining his expressions of disgust at theconduct of the fleet that had, after two months' delay, at last sailedto annihilate the Turks; and as they walked back to their boat Marcopoured out, in an undertone, volumes of execrations in choice Greek.
As they reached the schooner the doctor looked over the side. "We arenot too late, Horace; there's the Greek fleet rounding the point. Aswe can't make out with our glass a shot-hole in their sails or asplinter on their bulwarks, it is evident that I was right, and thatwe are in plenty of time to see the engagement."
"You are mistaken, doctor," Horace said as he reached the deck. "Therehas been a great naval battle, lasting three days. There are no killedor wounded; but one or two ships, commanded by daring captains,ventured within gun-shot of the Turks, and were struck. That is theexact history of the affair, as I learned it from one of the heroes."
"Is that really the story you have heard, Horace?" Mr. Beveridgeasked.
"It is, father; almost in the words that it was told to me."
"I really think," Martyn said, seeing how depressed Mr. Beveridgelooked at the news, "that much more could hardly be expected from theGreeks. Their ships are for the most part small, and their metal verylight. They have not the slightest idea of discipline or of working inconcert. A Turkish broadside would sink half a dozen of them if theyventured to close quarters; and of course their superior seamanship isnot of the slightest avail as long as they fight at a distance."
"It would avail if they had pluck," Horace said bitterly. "The Englishships that went out to engage the great galleons of the Spanish Armadawere as inferior in tonnage and in weight of metal as the Greeks are;but for all that they gave a good account of them."
"Yes, Horace; but you must remember that the English sailors had beenfighting and thrashing the Spaniards for years before, and had comealmost to despise them; while the Greeks have never fought before,have no confidence in themselves, and hold the Turks in high respect."
"You can't expect," the doctor put in, "that bulldogs are going to bemanufactured out of mongrels in one generation, Horace. A fightingrace grows up little by little. The Greeks fought just as pluckily inthe old days, against big odds, as we ever did, and may do it again intime; but they have got to be built up to it."
"Thank you, doctor," Mr. Beveridge said. "We keep on forgetting thatthe Greeks have been slaves, and that slaves lose all their militaryvirtues. It was just the same thing with the Britons. Their valourexcited the admiration of Caesar; but after being under the dominationof the Romans for generations, they completely lost all their manhood,and fell easy victims to the Saxons. We must not be too hard on theGreeks, Horace, or expect them to behave as men whose fathers havebeen free and independent."
In the evening Miller went ashore with Mr. Beveridge and had a talkwith some Philhellenes who had joined the expedition. They all agreedthat Miaoulis had manoeuvred his ships well, always keeping theweather-gauge of the Turks; but there was no shadow of disciplineamong the ships, and their fire was as wild and inefficient as that ofthe Turks, the men loading and firing as quickly as they could, quiteregardless of the direction or distance of their shot, the great partof which entered the sea half-way between the combatants.
"Kanaris is here," they said, "and you will see that he at least willattempt something against the Turks before he is done."
It was not, however, until fifteen days later that any move was made.Kanaris had paid a visit to the _Misericordia_, and was greatly struckby the order and discipline that prevailed.
"Our men will not submit to it, Mr. Beveridge. It is in vain to assurethem that nothin
g can be done unless we can introduce discipline suchas prevails on ships of war of other nations. Unfortunately they havebeen accustomed to another state of things. The sailors are alwayspaid by a share in the profits of our voyages, and everyone has a sayas to the ports to be visited and the course to be steered. Before anychange is made there is always a general council of all on board, andthe matter is decided by vote. Such being the habit, you canunderstand the difficulty of getting these men to submit to anythinglike discipline. Another thing is, that the ships belong to privatepersons, and not to the state, although they may receive pay fromgovernment. They are therefore very chary of exposing their vessels tothe risk of loss, for which, more likely than not, they would neverreceive a penny from the central government, which has plenty ofobjects of much greater interest to its members to spend its moneyupon. Until some total change takes place in the organization andmanning of our fleet, I can see no hope of any improvement."
On the 18th of June two ships got up anchor and sailed. On board theschooner their progress was watched with interest. Kanaris hadconfided to Mr. Beveridge that the ships were loaded withcombustibles, and that he was going to attempt to set fire to theTurkish fleet. The wind was contrary, and the two craft tackedbackwards and forwards off the north of Chios as if intending to beatup the Gulf of Smyrna. Four hours after they had started the schooneralso got under way, as all were anxious to see what would take place,and Mr. Beveridge had told Kanaris that he would go within a shortdistance of the Turkish fleet and burn a blue light, so that the boatson leaving the fire-ships could row off to him and be taken back toPsara.
It was the last day of the Ramazan, and a number of the principalofficers of the Turkish fleet had been invited by the Capitan Pasha todine with him on board his flag-ship to celebrate the feast of Bairam.The night was a dark one, but the whole of the Turkish vessels wereilluminated in honour of the festival, and their outlines were clearlyvisible. The _Misericordia_ had entered the northern passage an hourafter nightfall; the two Greek ships being, when last seen, aboutthree miles ahead. The schooner lay to a couple of miles distant fromthe anchorage. They had scarcely done so when they made out the sailsof two vessels between them and the lines of light on the Turkishwar-ships.
"There they go," Martyn said, "steering straight in. One of them ismaking straight for the Capitan Pasha's own ship. No doubt that isKanaris himself. The other is making for that seventy-four thatcarries the flag of the Reala Bey. You can tell them by the variegatedlamps along their yards. The Turks evidently have not caught sight ofthem yet or they would open fire. On such a dark night as this I don'tsuppose they will make them out till they are close alongside."
Kanaris, a man of the greatest calmness and courage, was himself atthe helm of his craft. Running straight before the wind, he steereddown upon the eighty-gun ship of the Capitan Pasha. Not until he waswithin a ship's length was he observed, when a startled hail soundedfrom the deck of the Turkish ship. Steering straight on he ran hisbowsprit through one of her port-holes. The sailors instantly threwsome grapnels to retain her in her position, and then jumped intotheir boat lying alongside. As soon as they did so Kanaris fired hispistol into the train. The fire flashed along the deck, there were aseries of sharp explosions, and then the flames ran aloft, theriggings and sails being soaked with turpentine; and Kanaris hadscarcely stepped into his boat before the ship was in a mass offlames.
Lying to windward of the Turk the flames were blown on to her, andpouring in at the open port-holes at once set fire to a quantity oftents stowed on the lower deck, rushed up the hatches, and, minglingwith the flames from the sails which had ignited the awning extendingover the deck, ran up the rigging and spars of the man-of-war. Themost terrible confusion instantly prevailed throughout the ship. Thefew boats alongside were sunk by the crowds who leapt into them. Thecrews of the ships lying round at once began to haul them farther awayfrom the blazing vessel, and the boats that were lowered feared toapproach it because of the falling spars and the flames that pouredfrom the lower port-holes.
In addition to her crew, the soldiers on board, and the Pasha'sguests, were a great number of prisoners who had been brought off fromthe island to be taken to Constantinople, and the shrieks and cries asthey were caught by the flames, or sprang overboard to evade them,were terrible. Kara Ali himself sprang from the ship into a boat thatapproached near enough for the purpose of saving him; but before itcould put off a blazing spar fell on it, and the Capitan Pasha was soseverely wounded that he died shortly after being carried on shore.
His loss was a severe one for the Turks, for he was their most skilfulnaval officer. A few of those who leapt overboard were picked up byboats, or swam to the other ships; but with these exceptions the wholeof those on board the vessel perished. The other fire-ship had beenless calmly and skilfully managed. In his haste and excitement thecommander, after running her alongside the ship of the Reala Bey,fired the train and made off without attaching her to it, consequentlythe fire-ship drifted away without the flames communicating to theTurk, and burned out harmlessly.
As soon as it was seen that Kanaris had succeeded, a blue light wasburned on board the schooner, and in twenty minutes the two boatsrowed alongside. Not a shot had been fired at either, the Turks beingtoo much occupied with the danger of fire to pay any attention tothem. Kanaris was heartily congratulated on his success when hereached the schooner, which at once set sail and was back at Psara inthe morning, where the news of the destruction of the Turkishman-of-war was received with the wildest enthusiasm.
The Turkish vessels, leaving a strong garrison on the island, sailednorth a few days later. They were pursued by the Greek fleet, which,however, did not venture to interfere with them, although they stoppedat two ports on the way, and finally anchored under the guns of theforts of the Dardanelles. The _Misericordia_ took no part in harassingthe Turkish fleet. Martyn had asked Mr. Beveridge's opinion upon thesubject, he himself being in favour of doing so.
"I think we could give the Greeks a lesson or two in this sort ofthing, sir, and show them what can be done, even against a fleet, by acraft that means business."
"I am sure you could do all that, Martyn, but I do not think we shouldbe justified in running the slightest risk of loss of life among themen merely for that purpose. We could do no more than the Greeks dounless we were willing to expose ourselves more. You could not hopeeither to capture or sink one of the Turkish ships in the face oftheir whole fleet. I know you would give them a great deal of trouble,but more than that you could not do. When the Greeks show themselveswilling to fight we will fight by their side, but not before."
They were indeed glad that they so decided, for on the evening beforethe Greeks set sail a boat arrived at Psara with six fugitives fromChios. They reported that the destruction of the Capitan Pasha's shipwith all on board had brought fresh misfortunes upon the Christians,for that the Mussulmans, infuriated by the details of the disaster,had fallen upon the Christians all over the island, even in thevillages where hitherto there had been no trouble.
The second massacre was indeed far more fatal than the first, thewomen and children being, as before, spared as slaves, many thousandsbeing carried away. Small craft from Psara hovered round the islandand succeeded in taking off numbers of fugitives, while the schoonerreturned to her cruising grounds between the island and the mainland,or up the Gulf of Smyrna, where she captured and burnt large numbersof small craft laden with slaves. They had to make four trips to theislands to clear her crowded decks of the hapless Chiots.
The news of the massacres of Chios, which, unlike those committed bythemselves, the Greeks spread sedulously over Europe, excited deep andgeneral horror and indignation. The numbers of those killed or soldinto slavery were never known. The estimates varied considerably, someputting them down at twenty thousand while others maintained thatthose figures could be doubled without exaggeration. It is probable,however, that they really exceeded thirty thousand.
The details of the terrible massacres,
which they learnt from thewomen they rescued, aroused among the officers and crew of the_Misericordia_ a far deeper feeling of enthusiasm for the cause ofGreece than they had hitherto felt. Since they came out their interestin the cause had been steadily waning. The tales of wholesale andbrutal massacre, the constant violation of the terms of surrender, thecowardice of the Greeks in action and their eagerness for plunder, theincessant disputes between the various parties, and the absence of anygeneral attempt to concert measures for defence, had completely dampedtheir sympathy for them; but the sight of these hundreds of women andchildren widowed and orphaned, and torn away from their native landand sold into slavery, set their blood boiling with indignation. Thetwo Greeks took care to translate the narratives of the weeping womento the sailors, and these excited among them a passionate desire topunish the authors of these outrages; and had any of the craft theyoverhauled made an active resistance little mercy would have beenshown to the Turks. As it was they were bundled headlong into theirboats with many a hearty kick and cuff from the sailors, and thedestruction of their vessels was effected with the alacrity andsatisfaction of men performing an act of righteous retribution.
"The poor creatures seemed terribly cast down," Martyn said one day atdinner as they sailed with the last batch of Chiots for Corfu. Theyhad transported the three previous cargoes to the Ionian Islands, asthe former ones had been most unwillingly received in the Greek ports,the authorities saying that they had no means of affording subsistenceto the fugitives who were daily arriving. In the Ionian Islandscommittees had been formed, and these distributed money sent out fromEngland for their support, while rations were issued to them by theBritish authorities of the islands.
"One can't wonder at that," Miller said. "Still, I must say that thewomen even at first don't seem as delighted as one would expect atgetting out of the hands of the Turks."
"I am not so very sure, Miller, that they are delighted at all,"Macfarlane said quietly. "You think you are doing them the greatestservice possible, but in my opinion it is more than doubtful whetherthey see it in the same light."
"What! not thankful at being rescued from being sold as slaves to theTurks?"
"That sounds very terrible, and no doubt it would not be a pleasantlot for you, seeing that they would set you to work, and your lifewould be worse than a dog's. But you have got to put yourself in theposition of these unfortunate women and girls, and then you would seethat you might think differently about it. To begin with, till nowthere has been no animosity between them and the Turks. It isadmitted that the Turks have been gentle masters to Chios, and thepeople have been happy, contented, and prosperous. Their misfortuneshave been brought upon them, not by the Turks, but by the Greeks, whocame to the island contrary to their entreaties, plundered and illused them, and then left them to the vengeance of the Turks. So ifthey have any preference for either, it will certainly not be for theGreeks.
"As to their being sold as slaves, I do not suppose they view it atall in the same way we do. They are not going to be sold to work inthe fields, or anything of that sort, and the Turks treat theirdomestic slaves kindly. To one of these Chiot girls there is nothingvery terrible in being a slave in the household of a rich Turk. Youknow that the Georgian and Circassian girls look forward to being soldto the Turks. They know that the life at Constantinople is vastlyeasier and more luxurious than that at home. I do not say for a momentthat these women would not prefer a life of ease among their ownpeople and friends. But what is the life before them now?--to have towork for their own living in the fields, or to go as servants amongGreek and Italian families. A dark and uncertain future. I tell you,man, we think we are doing them a mighty service, but I doubt whetherthere is one of them that thinks so. The Chiots are celebrated fortheir docility and intelligence, and these women and children wouldfetch high prices in the market, and be purchased by wealthy Turks,and their lot would be an enviable one in comparison to that whichawaits most of them.
"The word slavery is hateful to us, but it is not so many years sincewe were sending people out in hundreds to work as slaves in theplantations of Virginia. The word slavery in the East has not the sameterror as it has with us, and I doubt if the feelings of a Chiotpeasant girl on her way to be sold are not a good deal like those of agirl who goes up from a Scotch or English village to Edinburgh orLondon, to go into service in a grand family. She thinks she is goingto better herself, to have fine clothes, and to live among finepeople; and, as it turns out, maybe she is better off than she wasbefore, maybe she is worse."
"You are a most disagreeable man, Macfarlane," Martyn said after apause. "Here have we been thinking that we have been doing a goodaction, and you put us altogether out of conceit with ourselves."
"We have been doing a good action," the doctor said. "We have beenacting according to our lights. To us it is an abominable thing that aGreek woman or child should be sold as a slave to the heathen Turk. Iam only pointing out to you that from their point of view there isnothing so terrible in their lot, and that we have no reason to expectany very lively gratitude from them; and that, looking at the matteronly from a material point of view, they are not likely to bebenefited by the change. I know that, if I were a Greek woman, I wouldrather be a slave in the family of a rich Turk than working as adrudge, say, in the family of a Maltese shopkeeper, though, if I werea Scotch girl, I should certainly choose the other way."
They all sat silent for a minute or two. The idea was a wholly new oneto them, and they could not deny that, according to the point of viewof these Chiot captives, it was a reasonable one. Mr. Beveridge wasthe first to speak.
"What you say has certainly given me a shock, doctor, but I cannotdeny that there is some truth in it. Still, you know there issomething beyond mere material advantages."
"I do not deny it, sir, and, as I say, we, as Britons and Christians,feel that we are doing a good work. Still, we can hardly be surprisedthat these Chiots naturally view it differently. Their Christianityis, like that of all Eastern Christians, of a very debased form; andliving so long among the Turks, they have no very great horror ofMohammedanism. You know, on the mainland, tens of thousands of theAlbanians have become Mohammedans. We think that we are justified ininflicting what one cannot but see is, from the material point ofview, a distinct injury to these people, because, as Christians, wefeel it is for their moral advantage; but then, that is just the samefeeling that caused the Spaniards to exterminate the natives of theWest Indian Islands who declined to become Christians."
"Oh, I say, doctor, that is too strong altogether," Miller exclaimedindignantly.
"Well, prove it by argument," the doctor replied calmly. "I am notsaying that from our point of view we are not more than justified. Iam simply explaining why these Chiots do not feel any extraordinarygratitude to us. We are benefiting them, if they did but know it. Weare saving them, body and soul; but that is not the light in whichthey see it."
"You are right, doctor," Mr. Beveridge said. "And now you put itbefore us, I am really not surprised that these poor creatures do notfeel any very lively gratitude. They are fond of ease and comfort, andhave been accustomed to it, and to them the utter uncertainty of theirlife among strangers is not unreasonably more terrible than theprospects of an easy life as a favoured slave in a Turkish household.It is sad that it should be so; but it is human nature. Still, theconsideration must not weigh with us in carrying out what we know tobe a good work. We have saved in all more than three thousand soulsfrom Turkish slavery, and can only trust that in the long run most ofthem will recognize the inestimable service we have rendered them."