The King Of The Mountains Part 4

"Thou art then in accord with them?"

"Them? With whom?"

"The brigands."

"Are there brigands on Parna.s.sus?"

"Since day before yesterday."

"Where are they?"

"Everywhere!"

Dimitri turned quickly toward us and said: "We have not a moment to lose. The brigands are in the mountains. Let us run for our horses. Have courage, Mesdames; and step out lively, if you please."

"This is too hard," cried Mrs. Simons. "Without having breakfasted!"

"Madame, your breakfast would cost you dear! Let us hasten, for the love of G.o.d!"

"Is this a conspiracy? You have sworn to make me die of hunger! Behold the brigands! As if there were brigands! I do not believe in brigands!

All the papers state that they are disbanded! Moreover, I am English, and if anyone touched a hair of my head----!"

Mary-Ann was less confident. She leaned on my arm and asked me if I thought that we were in danger of death.

"Of death? No. Of being robbed? Yes."

"Of what importance is that? They are welcome to take all that I carry, if only they will give me my breakfast."

I learned later that the poor woman was subject to a rare malady which the vulgar call canine appet.i.te, and our learned men know as _boulime_.

When hunger a.s.sailed her, she would have given her fortune for a plate of lentils.

Dimitri and Mary-Ann each seized a hand and dragged her to the path we had just ascended. The little monk followed her, gesticulating. I was strongly tempted to push forward; but a quick and imperative tone stopped us suddenly.

"Halt! I say!"

I raised my eyes. Two mastic bushes and arbutus-trees were on the right and left of the path. From each bush the muzzles of three or four guns protruded. A voice cried in Greek: "Seat yourselves on the ground!" This operation was exceedingly easy for me, as my knees weakened under me.

But I consoled myself with the thought that Ajax, Agamemnon, and the hot-headed Achilles, if they found themselves in a like position, would not have refused the seat offered them.

The guns were lowered toward us. I expected to see them pushed out so far that their muzzles would touch each other over our heads. It was not that I was afraid; but I had never before realized the extraordinary length of Greek guns. The whole a.r.s.enal marched out into the path, showing the owner of each.

The only difference which exists between devils and brigands, is that devils are less black than one expects, and brigands more squalid than one supposes. The eight scoundrels who surrounded us were so foul, that I would have preferred to give them my money with pinchers. One could imagine that their bonnets might once have been red; but lye itself could never have found the original shade of their coats. All the rocks of the kingdom had contributed to the color of their percale skirts, and their vests bore a specimen of the different soils upon which they had reposed. Their hands, their faces, and even their mustaches were of a reddish gray like the dirt which they had on their clothes. Every animal colors itself like the house or land it inhabits: the foxes of Greenland are like the snow; lions, the color of the desert; partridges, like the ground; the Greek brigands, the color of the paths.

The chief of the little band who had taken us prisoners, was not distinguished by outward sign. Possibly his face, his hands, his clothes, were richer in dirt than those of his comrades. He bent over us from his great height, and examined us so closely, that I almost felt the touch of his gray mustache. You would have thought him a tiger who smelled his prey before devouring it. When his curiosity was satisfied, he said to Dimitri: "Empty thy pockets!" Dimitri did not make him repeat it the second time. He threw down, at his feet, a knife, a bag of tobacco, and three Mexican piastres, which made a sum of sixteen francs.

"Is that all?" demanded the brigand.

"Yes, brother."

"Thou art the servant?"

"Yes, brother."

"Take one piastre. Thou must not return to the city without money."

Dimitri began to haggle. "Thou mightest leave me two. I have two horses below; they are hired from the stable; I will have to pay for the day."

"Thou canst explain to Zimmerman that we have taken thy money."

"And if he insists on being paid even then?"

"Tell him that he is only too happy in seeing his horses again."

"He knows very well that you would not take the horses. What would you do with them in the mountains?"

"Enough! Tell me who is this tall, thin man behind thee?"

I answered for myself: "An honest German whose spoils will not enrich you."

"Thou speakest Greek; well. Empty thy pockets!"

I placed on the ground twenty francs, my tobacco, my pipe and my handkerchief.

"What is that?"

"A handkerchief."

"What for?"

"To wipe my nose."

"Why didst thou tell me that thou wert poor? Only lords wipe their noses with handkerchiefs. Take off the box which thou carriest on thy back.

That is well! Now open it."

My box contained some plants, a book, a knife, a small packet of a.r.s.enic, an almost empty gourd of wine, and the remains of my breakfast which brought a gleam of covetousness to Mrs. Simons' eyes. I had the impudence to offer them to her before my property changed hands. She s.n.a.t.c.hed them greedily and began to devour the bread and meat. To my great astonishment, this gluttonous act disgusted the thieves, who murmured among themselves the word _heretic_! The monk made a half-dozen signs of the cross, according to the rite of the Greek church.

"Thou probably hast a watch," said the brigand to me, "put it with the other things."

I took off my silver watch, an heirloom, which weighed about four ounces. The rascals pa.s.sed it from hand to hand and found it very beautiful. I hoped that admiration, which softens men's feelings, would dispose them to restore to me something of my belongings, and I begged the Chief to give me my tin box. He rudely told me to keep silent. "At least," I persisted, "give back my two ecus so that I can return to the city." He replied with a sardonic grin: "Thou wilt have no use for them."

Mrs. Simons' turn had come. Before putting her hand into her pocket, she addressed our captors in the tongue of her fathers. English is one of the rare languages which one can speak with one's mouth full. "Reflect well upon what you are doing," she said in a menacing tone. "I am an Englishwoman, and English subjects are sacred in every country in the world. What you take from me will serve you little, and cost you dear.

England will avenge me, and you will be hung, at the very least. Now, if you wish my money, you have only to speak; but it will burn your fingers; it is English money!"

"What does she say?" asked the leader of the brigands.

Dimitri answered: "She says she is English."

"So much the better; all the English are rich. Tell her to sh.e.l.l out!"