CHAPTER THREE.
The Greek, little dreaming of the danger to which he was exposed, or, atall events, little fearing it, turned on his heel, and retraced hissteps for some part of the distance he had come. His air was morebuoyant and independent than before.
"So much for business," he muttered. "And now for amusement. We'll trywhat this brave city can afford. Let me see, I passed a _tratoria_ or a_caffe_ but just now; I'll look in there, and learn what is goingforward!"
He soon reached the place he spoke of; and throwing open thefolding-doors at the entrance, entered with his usual careless air, andtook his seat at a marble table, which chanced to be unoccupied. Therewas a billiard-table in the room beyond, and upstairs were more secretapartments, where games of chance were, at times, played.
The place was full of persons of all descriptions. English and Maltese,and others of various nations. Those belonging to the army and navy,were either of inferior rank, or were harum-scarum fellows, who carednot at all with whom they associated. There were, also, masters andmates of merchantmen, Frenchmen and Italians; and there was arepresentative, indeed, to be found of almost all the people dwelling onthe shores of the Mediterranean, as also, of more distant nations. Somewere smoking, and others drinking; but the greater number were idlingabout, laughing and talking, as if they had come there to kill time; andwhen, by chance, any pause occurred, the noise of the billiard balls washeard, and the cry of the marker from the next room. The Greek seemedto excite less observation even here than in the street, except from twoor three of his countrymen, who were in the room, and who eyed himnarrowly. He rose and sauntered into the billiard-room, perhaps toavoid their scrutiny, perhaps simply to amuse himself by looking on atthe game. He soon, however, returned, and ordering some coffee, he tookup a Maltese newspaper, which appeared to afford him considerableinterest.
"Ah! here we have a complete list of all the vessels about to sail fromthis port," he muttered to himself. "It will serve to compare with oldBannech's and Giacomo's account," and taking out a pocket-book hequickly copied the list. "And let me see," he continued. "What have wehere? A ball to-night at the Auberge de Provence. By Saint Genario; itwill be a good amusement to go there. I shall pick up not a littleuseful information of what is going forward in the great world, what waythe wheel is next to turn, and how those English are going to act withregard to Greece,--whether we are to have a loan or an army to assistus. Heaven defend us from the latter, and afford us good pickings fromthe first. But, with regard to this ball. A stranger, I suppose, wouldnot be admitted without an introduction. They are, I know, of old, verysuspicious in this place. Well, I must make old Bannech settle thatmatter also for me. He must forge some good introductions, if he cannotprocure them for me in any other way. He is well able to do so, for hekeeps his hand in at the work, and knows everybody here and elsewhere."
While he sat meditating and sipping his coffee, the three Greeks, atanother table, continued eyeing him narrowly, and, at the same time,whispering among themselves. If he was conscious that their glanceswere fixed on him, he stood the scrutiny admirably, without theslightest change of colour, nor did his eye quail in the least. Lookingsuddenly up, however, he appeared first to discover that their eyes wereturned towards him. Immediately rising, with a bland smile, he walkedup to them.
"You seem to know me, gentlemen," he observed, with a courteous tone, inpure Romaic. "Unfortunately, I do not enjoy the same happiness. Willyou inform me where it was we met?"
"Pardon, sir, for our rudeness," answered one of the three, ratherabashed. "We mistook you for another person--we were trying torecollect where we had seen you."
"It is not impossible that you may have met me before, if you have beenin Italy, in which country I have resided for some years; or lately inSicily," answered the Greek. "In the fair city of Valetta you could nothave seen me, as I only landed an hour ago from the last-mentionedisland, and in our native Greece, I have not been since the days of myearly boyhood, though I am on the very point of returning thither."
"Then, clearly, we are mistaken," replied another of the three. "We,ourselves, arrived here only yesterday from Greece, after encounteringnumerous hardships and dangers. Among others, when off the southern endof Cerigo, our vessel was boarded by a rascally pirate, manned, too, byour own countrymen, who robbed us of everything we possessed, which theycould carry off, and we fully believe they would have sunk the ship, andmurdered us, had not a British man-of-war hove in sight, and made themsheer off before they had completed their work."
"I dare say they would," replied the Greek, quietly. "Such gentry, Ihave heard, generally consider that the only safe plan of avoidingdetection, and the troublesome affair of a trial, and perhaps a verydisagreeable result, is to stop the mouths of those they plunder beneaththe waves, lest they should afterwards tell inconvenient tales of them.If they thought you had escaped, they would take very good care anothertime not to commit such a blunder."
"Why, it was certainly from no leniency on the part of the villains thatwe were not drowned, for they had bored holes in our ship's bottom, andthought we should have sunk at once; but, fortunately, a fresh breezebrought up the man-of-war alongside of us before we went down, and herpeople stopped the leak, and saw us safely into port."
"I regret to hear this account you give me," said the stranger, in asympathising tone; "though I congratulate you on your narrow escape,--Imay call it miraculous. You are far more fortunate than the generalityof people who fall into the hands of those gentry, I should think. Iwas in hopes that our countrymen, since the commencement of the gloriousstruggle to throw off the foul Turkish yoke, had abandoned all theirmalpractices, and had joined heart and hand in the great cause againstthe common enemy. I, too, am personally interested; as I am about toembark on board some merchant vessel for the East and may fare as badlyas you have done, if not worse. Do you know any particulars of thepirate who attacked you? I should like to learn all about him, that wemay, if possible, avoid the vessel if we see her at a distance."
"It was dark when she boarded us, so that we had not an opportunity ofscrutinising her near," answered the person addressed, who wasevidently, by his costume and appearance, a Greek merchant, and, as itafterwards appeared, the two younger men with him were his sons. "Ourmisfortune happened in this way. We sailed, you must know, on board aNeapolitan brigantine from Athens, bound to Syracuse. The first part ofour voyage was performed in safety; but when some ten miles or so to thesouth of Cerigo, we lay becalmed the whole day. Our captain and themariners set to work to pray to those accursed little images they calltheir saints, for a breeze; and, at last, it came; but to prove whatsort of characters their saints are, at the same time appeared in thenorth east, a large polacca brig, of a very rakish look, stealing roundthe east end of the island. The stranger brought the wind up with her,and, as she neared us, the captain, who had been eyeing her earnestly,grew into a state of great trepidation, and began to pray harder thanever; but this time his saints would not listen to him. He wrung hishands, and beat his breast, and said that the stranger had a verysuspicious look, and that he did not like it at all. After stamping onthe deck, and weeping, and tearing his hair for some time, in which hewas imitated by most of his crew, he bethought himself of getting moresail on his craft, and of trying to escape from the enemy, if enemy shewere. A wild boar might as well try to outstrip the fleet hunter. Thestranger came up with us hand over hand; our only hope of getting awayfrom him was in the coming darkness. At last the seamen managed to setall the sail the vessel could carry, and, with the wind right aft, webegan to glide through the water. On, however, came the stranger afterus; if we wished to get away, he did not intend that we should do so,and all of a sudden he yawed to port, and let fly a bow chaser right atus; the shot did not hit us, but it frightened our captain excessively--for it flew directly over our heads. I verily believe, if we had notstopped him, he would have let fly everything, and waited patiently tobe robbed and
murdered. We caught hold of him, and urged him to becalm, and that we might yet have a chance of escaping. The breezefreshened, and we held on, and, though the stranger still continued tooverhaul us, he did not come up so fast as at first. Every instant,too, it was growing dark; and as there was no moon shining, we hoped, byhauling our wind, to slip away from him, if we could contrive to run onwithout being hit till darkness had completely set in. He, however,seemed in a hurry, and again yawing, let fly another shot at us; thoughhis gunnery was not particularly good--for he again missed us--it hadthe effect of setting the Neapolitan master and his crew dancing likemadmen; they leaped and jumped, and twisted and turned, and tore theirhair, and prayed and swore, all in the same breath. They prayed forthemselves, and swore at their enemies, and at their own hard fateshould they be taken; for they all had a venture on board, I believe.Though two shots had missed, it was not to be expected that all shouldhave such ill-luck, and accordingly, when the brig yawed a third timeand fired, down came our fore-topsail by the run. If the crew had beenin a fright before, when they were not hit, it must be supposed thatthey were now in a complete paroxysm of terror; their first impulse wasto let fly all the tacks and sheets, and to jam down the helm, so as tolet the vessel fly up into the wind; their next was to rush below to puton their best clothes, and the very little money they had in theirpockets, and then to fall to again at praying and beating their breasts.Cowardly fools that they were; had they held on like men, as mattersturned out, we should have escaped being plundered at all. In tenminutes after the last shot had created such confusion on board, a boatpulled alongside, and a dozen fellows in Greek dresses jumped over thebulwarks down upon our decks. We three, my sons and I, sat aft asdignified as Turks, and as all the crew were below, there was not theslightest show of resistance. Our countrymen--for such I am sorry tosay they were--seemed inclined to be civil to us, but vowed they wouldpunish the Neapolitans for making them expend the three shots, and theyforthwith began plundering the vessel; and hauling out the master fromhis berth, into which he had crept, they made him point out whatever wasmost valuable on board--brightening his wits up every now and then witha rope's end. How the poor fellow did howl! but he deserved it; for hewas an arrant coward. The leader of the pirates who boarded us was avery polite young man: he told us, that he should be sorry to be underthe necessity of cutting our throats, or of otherwise sending us out ofthe world; but that he was afraid he should be compelled to do so,except we would consent to come on board his vessel, where he would makeus take the vow of secrecy, and re-land us in Greece. He told us thathe was in earnest, and would give us till the last moment to consider onthe subject before he quitted the vessel. By this we concluded that heintended to murder all hands in cold blood, or to sink the brigantine.It is very extraordinary, and I hope that you will pardon me the remark,but he bore a very striking resemblance to you, except that he lookedyounger, and it was this circumstance that first attracted our attentionto you."
The Greek stranger who had been standing against the wall, with his armsfolded and his legs crossed in an easy attitude during this narrative,at different parts indulging in a slight smile, now laughed outright."An extraordinary coincidence as you say, my friend, though I confessthat I would rather not bear so striking a resemblance to the cut-throatgentleman you describe. The consequences at times might be unpleasant;and I trust that no relative of mine--no younger brother nor cousin, hasturned his hand to so disreputable an occupation. Men of the firstfamilies, it is true, have become pirates, especially in thesedisordered times; but they usually make war only against their naturalenemies, the Turks or Moors. I cannot solve the mystery; however, I amvery interested in your tale--pray go on with it."
"Before I say another word, I must entreat your pardon for the remark Ijust made," said the Greek merchant; "I was compelled to do so toaccount for our apparent rudeness."
"Oh, certainly, my friend," said the stranger, "I pardon you with all myheart. Nothing was more natural--only I must beg that you will notrepeat the observation to any one else. The consequences you know mightbe unpleasant, as it might create disagreeable suspicions in men's mindsas to the rectitude of my character; but pray continue your tale."
It must be remembered that although there were numbers of people withinearshot, as this conversation was carried on in the Romaic, none of themunderstood it, which was, perhaps, fortunate for our stranger friend, asit would certainly have drawn their attention towards him; and if a manhappens to be unknown in a place, the slightest shade of suspicionthrown on him, is sufficient to blacken his character to the darkesttint.
The Greek rubbed his red cap off and on his head two or three times tobrighten his recollection, and then continued--
"While the pirates were ransacking below, their vessel ran alongside,and our decks were soon crowded with a cut-throat set of fellows, whospeedily joined their comrades in the work of plunder, and intransporting everything they considered of value to their own ship. Itis extraordinary with what rapidity bales and packages were handed outof one vessel into the other. The rascals must have been wellaccustomed to the work. Everything was done with the greatestregularity; their young leader directing all their movements. It didnot take them a quarter of the time to unload that it had taken to loadthe vessel. Such discrimination, too, as the villains showed inselecting the most valuable merchandise.
"In the midst of the work, however, a cry was raised that a strange sailwas in sight, right to windward, bearing down on us. With all theiravidity for booty, the fellows had kept their eyes about them in thedark. Their leader sprang on board his own vessel to have a clearerview. He was convinced that the strange vessel was an enemy to him atall events, though a friend to us; and calm and collected as if he wasenjoying a game of play, he issued his orders. The first was to tellhis people to quit the brigantine, and to make sail on the brig. Thesecond, part of which I heard, made my heart sink within me, and myblood run cold. He did not seem to think it had reached our ears,--indeed, I believe he had forgotten all about us; the words were--
"`Sink her--drown the people. No help for it--patience; we shouldotherwise be suspected.'
"Directly afterwards, several men with carpenters' instruments forboring holes, went below, and quickly returning, knocked our boat topieces, and jumped on board their own vessel. As soon as all thepirates had quitted us, the brig sheered off. Just as she did so, Iheard some one exclaim--
"`Our countrymen, our dear compatriots, where are they? We haveforgotten them.' However, I don't think their regret for us could havebeen very great, for the next moment they fired a broadside slap intoour hull, between wind and water, to try to make us sink the faster;and, making all sail, stood away from us as fast as a rattling breezewould carry them. Two of the crew had been knocked on the head by thepirates, and their broadside killed two more. The master and thesurvivors were utterly incapacitated from helping themselves; so wethree Greeks, with the black cook, feeling some wish to preserve ourlives, rigged the pumps which had escaped destruction, and set to workto keep the water from gaining enough on her to send us to the bottom.This we found we could easily do; and the cook, going below, was able toplug several of the holes, which had been very imperfectly bored. Someof the crew, also, at last recovered their senses and assisted us in ourlabours; so that we continued to keep the craft afloat till the vessel,which had frightened away the pirates, came up to us. She proved to bethe British brig-of-war, the _Cockroach_, and a boat immediately came onboard to learn what all the firing was about. Our condition proved thetruth of our story; and we entreated the officer who boarded us not todesert us, as the sacrifice of our lives would have been the inevitableconsequence; whereas, the improbabilities of his catching the piratewere very great. The British are a very humane people, I will say thatfor them; and the captain of the brig accordingly sent two boats' crewson board us, with the carpenter and his crew, and they plugged theholes, and thrummed a sail, and got it under our bottom. Some mannedthe pum
ps, to which they quickly drove the Neapolitans with a rope'send; and next morning we made sail for Zante, which we reached insafety, escorted by our preservers, who immediately afterwards startedagain in search of the pirate."
"Did they fall in with him, do you know?" asked the Greek, carelessly.
"Can you catch a sunbeam?" said the first speaker. "She must be a fastcraft to come up with him. They say nothing can catch him."
"What, then, you learnt who your friend was?" said the stranger.
"Oh, yes! we heard a good deal about him in Zante. He is the veryterror of all honest, quiet-going traders in those parts."
"And who is this formidable, light-heeled gentleman, may I ask?" saidthe stranger.
"No other than that daring devil, Zappa," said the merchant. "You haveheard of him, doubtless?"
"I think I have somewhere heard his name mentioned," said the stranger."But has he already established so terrific a name for himself? Youdescribed him as very young."
"Ay, but old in crime. A man who murders all his captives, and sinksevery ship he plunders, soon gets his name up in the world. It is oneof the various methods to gain notoriety. Each man to his taste."
"You are right, my friend," said the stranger, stretching out his armsand yawning; "there are many methods by which a man may gain an elevatedposition; and your friend, Signor Zappa, as you call him, seems to havechosen a very certain one, at least, if he falls into the hands of thegovernor of this island; who, judging from the specimens I saw hangingup at the entrance of the port, treats such gentry with no slightdistinction, by placing them in the most conspicuous posts within hisjurisdiction."
"You joke merrily on the subject; but it is no laughing matter to thosewho have been robbed and nearly murdered," said the Greek merchant. "Ionly wish I could get the villains in my power, I would hang them allwithout mercy, as high as Haman."
"I dare say you do," said the stranger, smiling. "Such is but a naturalimpulse. Yet, as I have not suffered, I cannot enter quite so warmlyinto your feelings. However, I am grateful to you for your account; andI shall take very good care to keep out of the way of your friend Zappa.May I ask, by the way, the appearance and name of the vessel commandedby this renowned cut-throat?"
"Certainly," said the merchant, "though, as I said, it was nearly darkwhen he boarded us; but I should describe her as a rakish polacca brig,of about two hundred and fifty tons burden; and from what we learntafterwards, we discovered that she must be the celebrated _Sea Hawk_.It is said that she is so fleet that nothing could ever catch her, andthat she comes up with everything she chases; so that, my friend, youmay not avoid her quite so easily as you may wish."
"It is something to know what she is like; and, if we cannot run fromher, we must fight her," returned the stranger. "However, before wepart, let me assure you that I shall be most happy to be of any serviceto you in my power. When do you again sail from hence?"
"In a few days our mission here will be concluded. We then return toour beloved Greece," replied the merchant.
"What! and run the risk of being chased by the _Sea Hawk_, and offalling into the hands of that rogue, Zappa!" exclaimed the stranger."However, as, by the law of chances, you could scarcely encounter himtwice, I should much like to accompany you, for I should then considermyself safe from him. By what vessel do you go?"
"A Venetian merchant schooner, the _Floriana_. She sails hence in fourdays; and, as she has a rich cargo, she is well-armed and has plenty ofmen--so we need not fear Zappa or any other pirate."
"Just as I should wish. I will look out for her, depend on it,"exclaimed the stranger, quickly. "But I must, for the present, wish youfarewell, gentlemen. I have an appointment, and I have alreadyoverstayed my time."
Saying this, the stranger bowed to his new acquaintance; and throwingdown his reckoning with a haughty air, quitted the coffee-house.
"He seems an honestly fair spoken gentleman," said one of the youngGreeks to his father. "He will be a great addition to our society onboard."
"I am not quite so certain of that," replied the more sagaciousmerchant. "Fair spoken he is without doubt; but for honesty, why youknow the safe rule is to look upon all men as knaves till you find themotherwise. Therefore, my sons, never consider a stranger honest, or youmay discover, when too late, that he is a rogue. Now, though it isdoubtless fancy, I cannot help thinking that our friend there bears avery striking resemblance to the pirate Zappa."