L I E> R.ARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VE.R5 ITY 
 
 Of ILL1 NOIS 
 
 823 
 v.l F
 
 4 fi**/i//
 
 LONDON' : 
 
 Printed by G. Barclay. Castle St. Leicester Sq.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE 
 
 31 Talc of filokrn Greece. 
 
 By DAVID R. MORIER, Esq. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 L. BOOTH. 307 REGENT STREET 
 
 L857. 
 
 I Tht Right of Translation it rtterved.]
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/photosuliotetale01mori
 
 82.3 
 M82.5 P 
 
 v. l 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 g It was my lot, many years ago, to perform 
 quarantine in the lazaret of Corfu. I hap- 
 pened to land from the opposite coast of 
 Albania, just at the time when reports of the 
 J^ appearance of the yellow fever at Leghorn 
 2? had reached the competent authorities, in a 
 co shape sufficiently alarming to make it prudent 
 °^ to suspect all persons coming from Turkey 
 £7 of being infected with the plague. 
 O The free and independent republic of the 
 
 Ionian Islands was, at the period alluded to, 
 under the special protection of a Russian 
 garrison ; the Commander, with whom I had 
 become acquainted upon a former occasion, 
 honoured me with a visit as soon as he heard 
 I was safely housed, and taking me kindly 
 by the hand, regretted the necessity the Go- 
 vernment was under of imposing such a re- 
 straint upon my liberty, adding, "But you 
 know we cannot be too cautious in such 
 vol. 1. b
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 emergencies, and we Lave, thank God, made 
 such strict regulations that there is not the 
 slightest chance of contagion." 
 
 It was a great comfort to me to have 
 such an assurance, from so high an autho- 
 rity, particularly when I heard the next 
 morning that a Russian messenger, coming 
 direct from the infected parts of Italy, was 
 immediately admitted to pratique. The 
 plea which I founded upon this precedent 
 for my being let out, was not admitted by 
 my very strict and cautious friend, the 
 Russian General : it did not occur to me 
 that the bearers of important despatches 
 never catch nor convey the plague or yellow 
 fever ; and having myself no preservative 
 of the kind to produce, I made up my mind, 
 perforce, to be satisfied with the lodgings 
 which were thus gratuitously provided for 
 me. 
 
 Confinement in a lazaret for a specified 
 time is attended with advantages (besides 
 that of cheap lodgings) which few persons 
 ever think of when at full liberty. First, 
 the prisoner, feeling himself to be under 
 the influence of an uncontrollable necessity, 
 is released from that anxious, uncomfortable
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ml 
 
 sense of responsibility, which accompanies the 
 actions of those who are free to go whither 
 they please ; all the petty cares and vexa- 
 tions of the world are suspended ; there is no 
 deliberation about where he is to go to-day, 
 or whom he is to dine with to-morrow ; it is 
 a pause in the hurried journey of life, during 
 which he has leisure to reflect upon the past, 
 make plans for the future, and exercise his 
 patience for the present. 
 
 For the traveller especially it is a season 
 of welcome repose, and should he intend 
 writing a book it is impossible to calculate 
 the improvements which may be introduced 
 into the hastily written journal, by amplifi- 
 cation, embellishment, and filling up, with 
 the help of ingenious conjecture and refe- 
 rence to ancient authorities, the many blanks 
 (on statistics especially) which could not be 
 ascertained on the spot. 
 
 Such were the considerations with which 
 I tried to reconcile myself to the purgatory I 
 was doomed to, while I took my first survey 
 of the place. Xone was ever better adapted 
 for putting to the test that philosophy which 
 professes to be contented with little. 
 
 A half-broken staircase of mouldering 
 b 2
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 planks led up to three or four small rooms, 
 the thin plastered walls and uneven floors of 
 which afforded every convenience for the 
 thorough ventilation so much recommended 
 by the faculty in all contagious disorders. 
 A wooden bench or two with a rickety table 
 appeared to be there, not so much for use, as 
 to furnish a hint to the visitors that they 
 must contrive to make themselves comfort- 
 able without such superfluities. To add to 
 the intrinsic miseries of this lazar-house, the 
 experience of the first night showed that the 
 holes in the floor, besides the purposes of 
 ventilation, served as sallyports for legions 
 of rats that occupied the ground-floor during 
 the day, and in the night came to take their 
 pastime on the first story. In short, the 
 whole arrangement seemed exceedingly well 
 calculated to give the plague or something 
 worse to those who did not bring it with 
 them. However, such inconveniences are 
 but transitory, and deserve to be mentioned 
 only as they tend to enhance the value of 
 what are called, with something like con- 
 tempt, the ordinary comforts of life ; and even 
 to me, who was actually experiencing them, 
 they were almost counterbalanced by the
 
 INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 beauty of the situation, and the opportunity 
 my confinement there afforded me (which I 
 hope the reader will in the end have no 
 reason to regret) of adding the following tale 
 to the innumerable productions of a similar 
 kind which daily issue from the press. 
 
 The lazaret here spoken of (for there is 
 no doubt that, under our English governors, 
 the present lodgings for the importers of 
 plague into Corfu are very snug and com- 
 fortable) was situated upon a narrow tongue 
 of land, projecting from the foot of the 
 battlements outside of the gate, whose in- 
 scription of "Porte d'Epire" preserved a 
 memento of the recent dominion of the then 
 all-conquering French. 
 
 If the temporary loss of the freedom 
 of locomotion could be compensated by any 
 prospect seen from the windows of a prison, 
 such compensation was certainly afforded 
 here. The blue sea rolling like a broad 
 river between the olive-crowned hills of the 
 gardens of Alcinous, and the sublime and 
 rugged mountains of Epirus, the channel 
 inclosed to the north by the immane dorsum 
 of San Salvador, forming the boundary of a 
 haven broad enough for the navies of the
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 world, and to the south admitting a faint 
 glimpse of the distant rocks of Leucadia, 
 would furnish exellent matter for a classical 
 description ; but I hasten to present to the 
 reader's acquaintance the unfortunate per- 
 son who is destined to hear the blame of 
 whatever imperfections may be imputed to 
 the author in the character of my pestiferous 
 companion, Dr. Dimitraki Iatropoulo of 
 Kalarytes, who, happening to have crossed 
 from Parga in the same boat with myself, 
 was doomed to the same process of purifica- 
 tion in the same abode. His mongrel cos- 
 tume, part Oriental, part Frank — the long 
 robe surmounted by a hat, and a scanty 
 cravat tied awry round his throat, and, for 
 want of a shirt-collar, showing the sallow 
 skin below the neck, gave me the first indi- 
 cation of what his profession might be ; 
 and I could not doubt his being a doctor of 
 medicine, upon my hearing him tell the 
 carabocchiere, as he was leaving the boat, 
 not to forget taking at least a quart of his 
 potion regularly before sunrise for the next 
 month. Observing me to smile at the libe- 
 rality of this injunction, he said to me, 
 " These animals are never satisfied that you
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 treat them rightly, unless you give them 
 plenty of it." 
 
 " If I may judge from your appearance, 
 Sir," said I, " I must congratulate myself 
 on having the benefit of your company in 
 this place, where we are likely to be shut 
 up together some days for the express pur- 
 pose of attending to our health." " With- 
 out a compliment, Sir," replied the Doctor, 
 smiling, " I believe vou will think vourself 
 still more lucky if you get out of this 
 lazaret without having had recourse to 
 my advice." There was an appearance of 
 so much frankness and good-humour in my 
 fellow-prisoner, that I should have felt dis- 
 posed to become better acquainted with him, 
 even in any other situation ; but here, be- 
 tween four bare walls, with no chance of 
 enjoyment but what might be derived from 
 the complaisance and sociability of each 
 other, the acquaintance became a matter of 
 necessity. 
 
 Dr. Dimitraki was a Greek, and not 
 deficient in one of the characteristics of his 
 nation — loquacity ; so that by the evening 
 he had given me a full account of himself, 
 and everything connected with him — his
 
 Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 past adventures and future prospects — be- 
 sides a variety of other matter. 
 
 The most original part of his history 
 was that which related to his profession, 
 which may be best given in his own words. 
 " It was a mere accident," he said, li which 
 determined me to set up as a Doctor. If I 
 have been the means of prematurely sending 
 Mussulmans, Armenians, and Greeks, to 
 their respective abodes in Paradise or Pur- 
 gatory, it was not my fault, but theirs who 
 first insisted upon my possessing the requi- 
 site qualification for the purpose. The fact 
 is, the whole of my science is contained in 
 this hat. You, doubtless, have learnt from 
 your own experience in travelling through 
 Turkey, that a Frank hat is supposed in- 
 variably to cover a head stuffed with recipes 
 and prescriptions for every evil that can 
 assail the carcase, whether of Guiaoors or 
 True Believers. The occasion on which the 
 secret of my medical talent was first revealed 
 to myself and to the public, occurred soon 
 after my return from a voyage to Trieste, 
 which I had undertaken partly out of curi- 
 osity, partly in the hope of getting a little 
 money by the sale of a bundle of grigos.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 My speculation ended in a very different 
 manner from what I calculated upon. I 
 brought back some phrases of Italian — such 
 as is spoken in a German seaport — a venture 
 of salt-fish, and the hat, which served me, 
 as you will see, instead of a medical di- 
 ploma. 
 
 " Shortly after my landing at Prevesa, I 
 was roaming about among the neighbour- 
 ing ruins of Nicopolis, calculating, like 
 Alnaschar in the * Arabian Nights,' the 
 presumed profits of my fish speculation, and 
 revolving in my mind a variety of schemes, 
 all equally unsatisfactory, when I was sud- 
 denly accosted by an Albanian in a tone 
 which made me feel that I might save 
 myself the trouble of devising any further 
 schemes, unless they were ratified by his 
 sanction. The first words the man uttered 
 made me instantly remember that I belonged 
 to that class of mortals who, in my unhappy 
 country, are doomed to receive the decrees 
 of destiny second-hand from the will of an 
 ignorant and ferocious master. ' Heigh, 
 you man of physic ! you dog with a hat ! 
 come instantly with me to the tchiflik and 
 cure the Buluk Bashi! What, you wretch,
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 you dare to resist! Come along, or I'll 
 blow your brains out ! ' 
 
 " 1 confess I was so alarmed at the threats 
 of the bloody-minded Palikari, who was, 
 moreover, armed to the eyes, that I obeyed 
 his summons trembling ; and without daring 
 to utter a word in denial of my being what 
 he chose to call me, till we arrived at the 
 house, when I summoned up courage suf- 
 ficient to tell my conductor that, indeed, I 
 was no physician. ' Don't tell me such 
 lies !' answered the brute ; ■ you wear a 
 hat, and that's enough. The Vezir arrives 
 here to-morrow upon particular business 
 with the Buluk Bashi ; and if you don't set 
 him up on his legs by the morning, you'll 
 be a head shorter before evening prayer : so 
 out with your drugs, take off your slippers, 
 and go in and tell his Effendiship what ails 
 him.' 
 
 " In a minute after I was in the pre- 
 sence of the sick Aga, who lay bundled up 
 in the corner of the divan, with his face so 
 wofully pale, in contrast with his black 
 beard, that, although he was a Turk, I 
 could not help feeling some pity for him. 
 My conductor, who was resolved to leave
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 no time for awkward explanation, intro- 
 duced me at once as a Doctor just arrived 
 from Frenguia, asserting that on his way 
 to the town he had met me busily employed 
 on the roadside culling simples ; and that 
 although, according to the perverse custom 
 of Rayahs, I might choose to deny the fact 
 till I was bastinadoed into a confession of 
 it, he was quite sure that the Effendi had 
 only to issue his buyurdee in order to 
 make me produce whatever was necessary 
 for the immediate cure of his disorder. 
 The poor, helpless despot, was incapable of 
 making any reply, except by a stupid stare 
 and a most sonorous hiccup, which, with 
 the prevailing scent of brandy in the room, 
 made me suspect that, on one point at least, 
 he was not the most rigid of Mussulmans. 
 The Palikari, who had everything his own 
 wav, construed these symptoms of drunken- 
 ness into a rational assent to his proposal, 
 and resting his hand upon his tremendous 
 long yatagan, ordered me to proceed forth- 
 with to business. It was now in vain to 
 retreat ; so, profiting by the hint the villain 
 had given me about culling simples, I said 
 that I had, in fact, observed in the neigh-
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 bouring meadow something which would 
 serve the purpose, and if he would only 
 give me time to prepare it, I hoped to satisfy 
 him, and restore the Effendi to health. 
 This the fellow, after some hesitation, ac- 
 ceded to, giving me a hint that, at the 
 slightest attempt to go out of sight, the ball 
 in his pistol should be lodged in my skull. 
 I sallied forth from the court of the tchiflik, 
 my Palikari keeping within shot of me. I 
 was in no great humour, as you may ima- 
 gine, for medical experiments. 
 
 *' In my despair I determined upon 
 giving the old gentleman an improvisated 
 pill made of a little bread, which remained 
 of my breakfast, mixed with snuff, leaving 
 it to his Kismet to kill or cure him. To 
 cut my story short, the pill did wonders, 
 for surely no mortal, Mussulman or Chris- 
 tian, was ever half so sick, and I know 
 not who was most pleased and surprised, 
 the patient or the physician : this I must 
 say for the old Buluk Bashi, he was very 
 grateful for the cure, for he actually let 
 me go about my business without taking 
 any of my spare dollars, and I was so en- 
 couraged by my success, and the facility
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 with which patients placed themselves under 
 my care, that my plans were irrevocably 
 determined for the medical career, and 
 with the help of my grand specific, and 
 such few drugs as happened to fall in my 
 way, I have practised the art in various 
 parts of Turkey for the last nine years, with 
 credit to myself and no great detriment to 
 my patients. The practice has given me 
 curiosity to learn something of the theory, 
 and I am now on my way to Padua, to 
 ascertain what is the difference between 
 my mode of dispatching business and that 
 of the regular professors. I suspect that, 
 whatever that difference may be, the results 
 in the long run are pretty nearly the 
 same." 
 
 In the course of the conversations which 
 occurred with Dr. Dimitraki, during our 
 confinement together, he gave me much 
 information that I had failed in acquiring 
 during my own travels in Greece, and as 
 the rats did not allow much leisure for 
 sleep at night, I beguiled the wakeful 
 hours by putting down the most interesting 
 passages, which related principally to the 
 then recently terminated war of the Suliotes
 
 XV111 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with Aly Pasha. Being myself acquainted 
 with the localities, having but lately re- 
 turned through the gorge of Suli, then I 
 believe open to the eye of a Frank traveller 
 for the first time, I was glad to get at 
 every detail concerning an event which, had 
 it occurred in more ancient times, and been 
 recorded by a pen worthy of the subject, 
 would doubtless be considered among the 
 most illustrious struggles in the annals of 
 freedom opposed to tyranny. The following 
 imperfect sketch, itself but a fragment, is 
 composed of the materials furnished by 
 my " M^decin malgre lui," and a few notes 
 supplied from my own journals. If any 
 part of it should appear extraordinary to 
 the apprehension of the reader, or pressing 
 too close upon the limits accorded to 
 members of the Travellers' Club, he must 
 be pleased to remember that Dr. Dimitraki 
 Iatropoulo belongs to a nation of whom it 
 has been remarked by a very ardent ad- 
 mirer, that their imagination is so vivid, 
 that no Greek can ever describe the same 
 event twice in the same words. Of course, I 
 do not mean to vouch for the truth of every 
 incident with which my informant may have
 
 INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 been prompted by an inventive fancy to 
 embellish a plain matter of fact ; nor do 
 I take upon myself to reconcile any ana- 
 chronisms, of which later and better-informed 
 historians may prove him to have been 
 guilty.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Towards the southern extremity of the 
 inferior range of mountains which divide the 
 sea-coast from the more inland chain of 
 Pindus, a long narrow valley, in shape and 
 proportions resembling a Greek stadium, 
 deeply set in a frame of the most rugged 
 and precipitous rocks, formed the chief hold 
 of the district of Suli. The access to this 
 last refuge of Grecian independence was by 
 paths which, to use the expression of a 
 Persian historian, were "as narrow as a 
 miser's heart, and so rough that the courser 
 of the imagination must break his limbs in 
 attempting to scale them." 
 
 From the bottom of the valley, at the 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 
 
 south end, arose the insulated hill of Trypa, 
 a bulwark formed by nature to command the 
 only inlet by which, without climbing the 
 steep and difficult heights that overtop it on 
 every other side, this sequestered glen could 
 be approached. The narrow gorge which 
 formed that inlet admitted the waters of a 
 river, which flowing from the vale of Der- 
 vishina to the eastward, came and washed 
 the base of Trypa, and being there joined 
 by another stream, rising in the valley itself, 
 escaped through an opening in the mountains 
 on the west, and pursued its course through 
 the intervening plain, partly mingling with 
 the Acherusian marshes, till it joined the 
 sea at the port of the Grlykys Limen. This 
 is the river on which the imagination of the 
 early Greeks had conferred the name and 
 properties of the infernal Acheron ; and no 
 wonder, for he who should follow all its 
 windings through the dark and gloomy 
 recesses of the frightful gorge of Suli, as it 
 struggles through with ceaseless din, foaming 
 and chafing against rocks of adamant, and 
 darkened by the precipices whose overhang- 
 ing brows obstruct the view of the sky, might 
 well conclude he had reached the confines
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 3 
 
 of the upper world and was entering the 
 regions of Tartarus. A broken and dan- 
 gerous path, bending with every turn of the 
 stream, formed the only communication be- 
 tween the Suliotes and the people of Parga, 
 their natural allies against Aly Pasha. On 
 the other hand, they communicated with 
 Joannina and the interior by a road which 
 led across the range that formed their eastern 
 boundary. The utmost extent of the valley 
 here described comprises but a very limited 
 space, but the sway of the Suliotes in the 
 period of their prosperity included the popu- 
 lation of the hamlets dispersed over some of 
 the neighbouring valleys. 
 
 As the numbers of the Suliote warriors 
 were not equal to the defence of these exterior 
 possessions when attacked by an enemy, their 
 practice was to abandon them for a time, 
 withdrawing into their native den with all 
 the plunder they could secure. 
 
 How long they had been settled in this 
 spot, from whence they came to it, what was 
 their first origin, are all matters of conjecture ; 
 their own traditions do not reach farther 
 back than about a century and a half, during 
 which period their annals are marked by 
 b 2
 
 4 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 nothing but a succession of bloody contests, 
 carried on by them and the neighbouring 
 Mahometan chiefs, hostility with whom was 
 the necessary consequence and condition of 
 the principle on which the Suliote common- 
 wealth was founded. That principle dates 
 from the earliest times of Grecian history, 
 when the profession of a robber was considered 
 not a disgrace but a glory ; and when one 
 might ask a stranger whether he followed the 
 hazardous occupation of a highwayman with- 
 out being called upon to give satisfaction for 
 an insult. Thus was it with the heroic S uliotes. 
 They were not ashamed openly to profess that 
 they lived upon the plunder of their neigh- 
 bours ; but then, be it remembered, those 
 neighbours were Mussulmans, — that is, in- 
 truders, despoilers, tyrants, who had them- 
 selves taken forcible possession of a country to 
 which they had no right, who entered into no 
 covenant with the poor defenceless Christians 
 they came to devour, other than that which 
 the w r olf makes with the flock ; and w T hom, 
 therefore, it was no less the duty than the 
 right of the injured to retaliate upon, in 
 every mode of open or secret hostility. In 
 pursuance of this principle, the whole com-
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 5 
 
 munity of the Suliotes was trained to arms 
 from the tenderest years, the musket was 
 placed in the hands of each boy so scon as 
 he could bear its weight ; and even the 
 women could pull the trigger or brandish 
 the sword when occasion required the effort. 
 A practice which prevailed among them was 
 well calculated to keep up a spirit of valour. 
 The village well or fountain was the usual 
 place of resort for the women. Each w T ith 
 her pitcher balanced on her head, they there 
 discussed the news of the dav, waiting their 
 turn to draw w T ater ; but if any one appeared 
 whose husband or brother had betrayed 
 symptoms of cowardice in battle, she was not 
 allowed to approach, but was driven back 
 with mockery and reproaches, and made to 
 wait till all the rest had been served. 
 
 The same spirit of independence which 
 marked the proceedings of the Suliotes 
 towards their neighbours influenced their 
 internal administration, if so civilised a name 
 may be given to the rude arrangements of a 
 population without a regular system of laws, 
 and with no acknowledged head. It was a 
 mixture of the patriarchal and republican 
 principles of government, perhaps the most
 
 6 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 primitive because the most natural, where 
 the heads of families managed their own 
 affairs, and consulted together upon the 
 measures to be taken in common. So long 
 as they remained united and uncorrupted by 
 the gold of their wealthy foe, they had little 
 to fear from his steel. 
 
 The result of the first serious attempt 
 which he made to reduce these hardy moun- 
 taineers was such as to make Aly Pasha 
 sensible he had no common enemy to contend 
 with. After a short but bloody campaign, in 
 which he lost a great many men in the 
 attack of their stronghold of Trypa, and 
 which terminated by his own precipitate 
 flight to Joannina, the mortified tyrant 
 affected to have abandoned all further designs 
 of hostility against the Suliotes ; a truce was 
 mutually agreed upon, and the Vezir, appear- 
 ing to be engaged in a dispute with the 
 people of Argyro Castro, assumed even a 
 tone of friendship towards his late enemies, 
 claiming their assistance in a letter to their 
 two principal captains, Botzari and Tzavella, 
 of which the following is a literal trans- 
 lation : — " My friends Captain Botzari and 
 Captain Tzavella, I, Aly Pasha, salute you,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 7 
 
 and kiss your eyes. And whereas I well 
 know your manliness and bravery, it appears 
 to me that I have great need of you ; where- 
 fore do not do otherwise I beseech you, but 
 as soon as ever you receive my letter, assemble 
 all your brave fellows and come and join me, 
 that I may go and fight my enemies. This 
 is the hour and the time at which I need 
 your services, and I expect to see the friend- 
 ship and the love you bear me. Your pay 
 shall be twice as much as what I give to the 
 Albanians, because I know your bravery how 
 that it is much superior to theirs. Where- 
 fore I shall not go and fight before you come, 
 and I expect you will come soon. These — 
 and I salute you."* 
 
 If the Suliotes, like other mountaineers, 
 are fond of independence, they are, like 
 them, equally fond of money. Point d 1 argent 
 point de Suisse, contains a principle of action 
 applicable to other highlanders besides the 
 countrymen of Tell. That it should have 
 been so in the present instance was, therefore, 
 not matter of reproach to the Suliote chiefs. 
 In fact, their native rocks producing nothing, 
 their onlv means of subsistence were derived 
 * Vide Note.
 
 8 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 from the exchange of their blood against the 
 gold of any rich and quarrelsome neighbour 
 who had somebody to fight against. The 
 lure of double pay was more than their flesh 
 and blood could withstand, and although 
 held out by a hand which had been till now 
 so relentlessly lifted against themselves, the 
 Suliote council having deliberated upon the 
 offer, it was determined that seventy Palikaria 
 should march as the allies of their old enemy 
 AlyTapelenlee, under theconduct of Tzavella, 
 one of the captains who had most distin- 
 guished himself in the recent defeat of the 
 Vezir's troops. It is at this period of Aly 
 Pasha's history that my friend Dr. Dimitraki 
 Iatropoulo's narrative commences, of which 
 the details, so far as they are unsupported 
 bv any account hitherto published of the 
 Suliote war, must rest solely upon his testi- 
 mony.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 The day was far advanced when Tzavella and 
 his little band, descending from the stony 
 heights of Zitza, entered tha valley through 
 which flows the Calamas. Their slow and 
 lagging pace as they made their way across 
 the broken ground, which still intervened 
 between them and the banks of the river, 
 showed that their dav's march had been longf 
 and weary. Photo, the son of the chief, 
 began to droop as he exchanged the freer air 
 of the heights for the closer and hotter at- 
 mosphere of the low grounds ; but, with the 
 spirit of a young soldier determined not to 
 be outdone in activity or power of endur- 
 ance by the oldest veteran, the boy endea- 
 voured to hide every symptom of fatigue, 
 and at each trip he made in striking his foot 
 against a stone or a bush, recovered himself 
 with a spring which only served to exhaust 
 his young strength the more. His father
 
 10 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 was the first to perceive his distress, but 
 took no notice of it, lest he should mortify 
 the spirit of his son ; he slackened his own 
 pace to give him breathing- time, and break- 
 ing the silence which the whole party, op- 
 pressed by the heat of the valley, had for 
 some time preserved, he addressed himself 
 to Dhimitrios Panou, one of the stoutest and 
 bravest of the band. i( Well, Dhimo, I dare 
 say you will be as glad as any of us to reach 
 our resting-place to-night ; by St. George, 
 we have had a hard day's work of it, and 
 shall need the good kibab and the wine which 
 our mehmandar here promises us, to restore 
 our spirits before we go on to fight the 
 Vezir's battles. What say you, my boy 
 Photo ? you seem to bear up as well as the 
 best Palikari in the company, and yet you 
 never made so long a march before." Photo, 
 who felt himself gradually giving way, now 
 made a fresh effort on hearing these words 
 of encouragement, and shifting his heavy 
 capa, which hung loosely over one shoulder, 
 to the other, asked his father what could be 
 the reason of that distant rushing sound 
 which just then struck upon his ear. '* I 
 should think it," said he, " the moaning of
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 11 
 
 the wind, but that I have not seen a leaf stir 
 since we got down into this hole of a valley." 
 The question was answered by Ibrahim Aga, 
 the mehmandar or guide, who had been ap- 
 pointed by the Vezir to accompany theSuliote 
 band from the limits of their own territory 
 to the intended scene of action. " I should 
 have supposed, young soldier," said he to 
 Photo, " that you had waterfalls enough in 
 your own mountain, to know the sound of 
 one without seeing it; although 'tis not every 
 fall that can be heard so far off as that of 
 Glizani. You will soon see as well as hear 
 it, (continued he), for we halt to-night upon 
 the river's bank : hark, the noise increases 
 every step we advance. Here, Mustafa," 
 exclaimed Ibrahim to an Albanian who ac- 
 companied him, " do you push on, and let 
 them know at the metokhi that Captain 
 Tzavella and his Palikaria are coming ; and 
 tell that old rogue of a papas, Hajee Gre- 
 gori, that if he do not prepare for our friends 
 the fattest of his kids, and the best of his 
 wine, I will read him a lecture out of the 
 fifth gospel,* which he won't fall asleep at. 
 And hark ye, Mustafa, tell him to have 
 * Vide Note.
 
 12 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 enough for seventy names,* all friends to our 
 master the Vezir!" As he spoke these 
 words, Mustafa looked back, and casting a 
 significant glance at his superior, ran for- 
 ward to overtake a mule, on which was 
 seated sideways an old and reverend per- 
 sonage, whose coarse woollen coat tied round 
 the w r aist with a black woollen sash, and a 
 similar tissue round his head, pointed him 
 out as a dhiako, or deacon, in the service of 
 the Greek church. Before the humble eccle- 
 siastic was aware that he was obstructing the 
 path of the important messenger close at his 
 heels, Mustafa had seized him by one of his 
 legs, and pulled him off his beast, and then 
 pushing him unceremoniously aside, threw 
 himself across the mule, and trotted off to 
 deliver the gracious message he was charged 
 with for the papas Hajee Gregori. The 
 old man had no time for remonstrance, even 
 had he the courage to offer any, to such a 
 well-armed ruffian as Mustafa, who was pre- 
 sently out of sight. He walked on as if 
 nothing had happened, like a well- drubbed 
 rayah used to such treatment ; and the pace 
 he moved at proved he was not so infirm 
 * Vide Note.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 13 
 
 as his grey beard might have induced a 
 casual observer to conclude, and that he had 
 made more use of his mule's legs than his 
 own during his day's journey. Before he had 
 proceeded far in pursuit of his property, the 
 dismounted cavalier heard himself called 
 back in a tone of command, which compelled 
 him to slacken his pace till the man of au- 
 thority, who was a few steps ahead of the 
 detachment, came up, and commenced the 
 following dialogue : — u Well, More Papas," 
 said Ibrahim, "what are you doing here? ? ' 
 a What can I do ? " answered the deacon, 
 with that look of deprecation and humility 
 which marks the unhappy ray ah in the pre- 
 sence of his tyrannical superior : " What 
 can I do ? I am a poor old papas, as your 
 Effendiship is pleased to call me, and having 
 lost the beast that carried me, am fain to 
 hobble on to the metokhi as well as these 
 old legs of mine can carry me." u Vallah !" 
 exclaimed the Mussulman, with the incre- 
 dulous laugh of one accustomed to deal with 
 such dissemblers, " vou might have been 
 mistaken for a pezodhromo (a foot mes- 
 senger), judging from the stout pace at 
 which you were setting off after your pack-
 
 14» PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 saddle : come, those old stumps of yours 
 will servew ell enough to show these Pali- 
 karia the way to their konak across these 
 endless ditches and channels, which I dare 
 say you know every turn and winding of." 
 " What can I know of the konak these gen- 
 tlemen are going to, or the way to it ? " 
 replied the priest in a supplicating tone, 
 which betrayed no great desire for the honour 
 of such an escort, whilst he began to limp 
 as if oppressed by great fatigue, or some 
 sudden pain. " By my faith and St. Vasili, 
 I shall only be misleading you in a place 
 which I know nothing at all about, and so 
 had better get out of the way ;" which the 
 old gentleman was about to do by turning 
 out of the path on which the Suliotes were 
 crowding forward, when Ibrahim, half irri- 
 tated by his remonstrances, half amused by 
 his subterfuges, pulled him back by the arm, 
 and applying the full force of his own to his 
 shoulders, gave him a thrust forward, which 
 would have sent him prone to the earth had 
 not the old man recovered himself with a 
 vigour and agility which gave the lie to his 
 recent complaints of infirmity. " So, so, 
 most reverend sir," exclaimed the Vezir's
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 1,5 
 
 representative, " your worship has found 
 your legs at last ; and now make the most of 
 them onwards to your metokhi, for it is pre- 
 cisely there our konak is fixed for to-night." 
 When the dhiako found that all his shifts 
 and doublings were vain, he instantly, with all 
 the suppleness of his nation, resolved to put 
 the best face upon it, and stepping out with 
 the alacrity of a hardy mountaineer, while 
 he girded up his loins and adjusted the 
 pendant drapery of his turban, exclaimed, 
 " Yallah Palikaria, follow me; I'll show you 
 a path which will bring you to your jour- 
 ney's end in half an hour : '"' at the same 
 time directing a coaxing glance to Ibrahim 
 Aga, hinted a hope that the Effendi would 
 have the goodness to command his beast 
 to be restored to him ; that that would serve 
 for a bakshish. 
 
 Under the conduct of their newly-elected 
 guide, the little band now continued their 
 route, with that kind of desperate exertion 
 which is onlv a disguise for excess of fatigue. 
 The course of the river Calamas was still 
 concealed from their sight by the inter- 
 vening broken ground which formed its 
 nether bank ; but the continually increasing
 
 16 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 sound of the fall of Glizani, alternately rising 
 and falling with every variation of the even- 
 ing breeze which then sprang up, refreshed 
 the almost exhausted Suliotes with the hope 
 that their day's labour was drawing to a 
 close. Presently a sudden turn in the path, 
 leading round a low projecting cliff, brought 
 them all at once in full view of the cataract, 
 which came down thundering, smoking, and 
 hissing from the opposite mountain of Shoo- 
 tista. In an instant the whole troop rushed 
 forward, and in the wildness of their joy 
 at the prospect of slaking their burning 
 thirst in the delicious stream, fired off their 
 muskets at random, to the great risk of each 
 other, and especially of the old deacon, who 
 was a little ahead of them all ; then throwing 
 down their arms to the right and left, with 
 the disorder of men flying before an enemy, 
 plunged heedlessly into the stream, exposing 
 themselves with delight to the thick spray 
 which bounded in every direction from the 
 jutting points of rock on which the waters 
 fell. One only, Dhimitrios Panou, to show 
 that he was unsubdued by the day's toil, 
 forded^the river, holding his musket high 
 in the air to preserve it from wet, and with
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 17 
 
 the leap of a mountain-goat placed himself 
 on a projecting part of the opposite bank, 
 somewhat lower down the river, from whence 
 he could survey his comrades ; and there 
 seating himself carefully examined his arms, 
 and deliberately reloaded his musket. 
 
 The fall of Glizani is a remarkable 
 feature in the wild and picturesque valley 
 of the Calamas. It is produced by a sudden 
 depression of the level of the country, which 
 forms the basis of the mountain whence it 
 springs, and which, extending for some dis- 
 tance to the right and left of the river's bed, 
 assumes the appearance of an immense na- 
 tural terrace. To a spectator placed on the 
 opposite heights near Zitza, the stream of 
 the Calamas is discernible, slowly gliding in 
 various meanders upon the upper level, till it 
 reaches the edge of the terrace, when, leaping 
 into the vale below, its course becomes as im- 
 petuous and violent as it was before smooth 
 and gentle, until, as if fatigued with their 
 own rage, the waters gradually relapse into 
 a softer flow lower down the valley, but still 
 continue partially ruffled with the shock, 
 till they are confounded with a thousand 
 other mountain streams in the Ionian Sea, 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 18 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 A slope, thickly covered with the ilex, forms 
 one side of the fall ; on the other is a green 
 bank, worn into a multitude of precipitous 
 forms by the continual spray, which rising 
 in a white mist conceals the bottom of the 
 fall, and hovers above the edge like a thin 
 fleecy cloud, the shape varying with every 
 gust of wind. A few hundred paces below 
 the fall, at a short distance from the river's 
 edge, stood the metokhi, a dependence of 
 the convent of Zitza, consisting of a small 
 lodging for the Epitropos, or Superintendent, 
 in the middle of an inclosure, formed by 
 a wall of loose stones cemented with mud, 
 against one side of which was a shed, where 
 were deposited the different implements of 
 husbandry, and stores used by the labourers 
 belonging to the farm of the convent. 
 Upon a small eminence at the back of the 
 metokhi, somewhat further removed from 
 the river, was a chapel, shaded by a cluster 
 of oaks, where the Epitropos performed 
 the service morning and evening for the 
 benefit of the few rustics, whose daily la- 
 bours made it inconvenient for them to 
 ascend to the more considerable church of 
 Zitza. The sun was now set behind the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 19 
 
 near mountain of Shootista, whose length- 
 ened shadows, thrown across the valley, im- 
 parted a deeper tint to the dusk, leaving 
 nothing distinct amid the monotonous gloom 
 but the broad white foam of the ever-rest- 
 less waters. None of the Suliotes had yet 
 thought of resuming their arms, which la)' 
 still unloaded, scattered along the river's 
 bank ; but when they had all drunk their 
 fill, fatigued more than satiated with the 
 draught, they threw, or rather let them- 
 selves drop, on the ground, at the spot where 
 each happened to be, caring for nothing, but 
 at last to stretch out their wearied limbs in 
 listless and undisturbed repose. 
 
 The chief and his son chose their rest- 
 ing-place at a short distance apart from the 
 rest, just upon the rise of the wooded slope 
 already mentioned, as forming one side of 
 the fall. '' Thou wilt, doubtless, not be loth, 
 Photo, to partake of our mehmandar's pro- 
 mised good cheer, which thou hast stoutly 
 earned to-day," observed Tzavella, while the 
 lad was employed in loosing the thongs of 
 the leathern sandals which confined his 
 swollen feet. u Truly not, father," replied 
 the young soldier, " provided I be not re- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 quired to stir another step towards it : but 
 I see no signs of preparation yet, except that 
 there be some one yonder from the metokhi 
 to tell us that the Papas's kibab and wine 
 are ready. * As the youth spoke, Tzavella 
 could just distinguish by the dubious light 
 the figure of a man slowly moving in the 
 space which interposed between himself and 
 his comrades. " It must be that indefa- 
 tigable fellow, Dhimo," exclaimed the chief, 
 " who, as if he had not had exercise enough 
 to-day, seems busy collecting the arms of the 
 Palikaria." — '' To make himself a pillow, 
 I suppose," interrupted Photo. " But now I 
 see other men, father : look, they are creep- 
 ing along the right ; they are none of 
 ours — they must surely be some of the 
 Vezir's troops who were to join us on the 
 road." Tzavella, at this discovery of his son's, 
 had started upon his feet ; but before he 
 could reply to his conjecture, the men, whose 
 numbers seemed to be increasing every mo- 
 ment, were seen suddenly to rush forward, 
 as if to seize with the velocity of the tiger's 
 spring the prostrate and defenceless Suliotes. 
 " Treachery ! — base treachery ! " exclaimed 
 the chief, and levelled his pistol at the thick
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 2i 
 
 of the assailants, less with the hope of its 
 taking effect than of rousing his comrades 
 to a sense of their danger. " Curse on 
 that water, which has ruined us all ! " said 
 he, whilst his pistol hung fire; then drawing 
 his sword: "follow me close, boy, and re- 
 member thou art a Suliote ; thou must 
 sell thy life the dearer for having enjoyed 
 it but so short a space." The youth made 
 no reply, but casting aside his cumbrous 
 capota and grasping his sabre, he sprang 
 forward before his father, no longer mindful 
 of the recent fatigue, and eager only to 
 prove himself worthy of his origin. But 
 vain was the generous resolution of them 
 both ; ere they could join their comrades 
 to assist in the unequal conflict, the two 
 Tzavellas were themselves assailed in the 
 rear by another party, who now sallied forth 
 from the wood immediately behind the spot 
 they had just quitted, and were presently 
 so enveloped by superior numbers, that after 
 a few ineffectual struggles they were both 
 borne down to the ground, and secured 
 beyond the possibility of resistance or es- 
 cape. 
 
 On recovering from the first stunning
 
 22 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 sensations occasioned by the suddenness and 
 violence of the assault, the unfortunate chief 
 found himself mixed in the throng of his 
 captured companions, whose struggle had 
 been equally short and unavailing. In fact, 
 they were attacked so unexpectedly and 
 under such disadvantages, that resistance 
 was out of the question ; and thus, in a few 
 minutes, the whole party, their hands fas- 
 tened behind them with manacles hastily 
 supplied by their own musket-slings and 
 sword-belts, and escorted each by two or 
 three well-armed men, were forced reluc- 
 tantly to march towards their appointed 
 prison, the neighbouring metokhi. One 
 alone yet remained free, Dhimitrios Panou ; 
 unconscious of the movement which has 
 just been described, as the continual roar- 
 ing of the cataract prevented any sound 
 of the tumult from reaching him ; and from 
 his position he could distinguish nothing 
 of the contending figures, backed as they 
 were by the dark wood beyond. Dhimo 
 was in the act of stepping down to re -cross 
 the stream. His form, seen against the last 
 gleam of light in the western sky, was still 
 visible on the opposite high bank. In the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 23 
 
 same instant, the eyes of all the Suliotes 
 were turned towards him, and every man, 
 struck bv the thought of the dano-er which 
 menaced his native glen, from the perfidy of 
 which his own capture was the first svmp- 
 tom, shouted, as by a common impulse, — 
 "Dhimo, cross not! fly, fly to our place!* 
 tell them we are betrayed ! fly, fly!" The 
 shout which was meant to warn the soldier 
 of his peril, was that which aggravated it, 
 for the captors, who had been too much 
 occupied with securing their prizes to per- 
 ceive the one which remained, now, for the 
 first time, turned their attention towards 
 him, and in an instant, above three hundred 
 shots were discharged at Dhimo. One of 
 the Albanians advanced to the water's edge, 
 and took a more deliberate aim. The 
 breadth of the stream was so inconsiderable, 
 that he must have been a much worse 
 marksman than is usually found among men 
 so accustomed to the exercise of fire-arms 
 from their childhood, to have mis-ed so 
 near a mark. But Dhimo, who had been 
 put on his guard, and was prepared by his 
 * Vide Note.
 
 24 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 friends' shouts and his enemies' firing, was 
 beforehand with the Turk. There was 
 hardly light enough for him to have dis- 
 tinguished his foe, even at so short a dis- 
 tance, had not the white drapery which 
 forms the peculiarity of the Albanian cos- 
 tume offered to his aim a spot still percep- 
 tible amid the surrounding gloom. With a 
 steady hand and eye Dhimo levelled his 
 musket in that direction, and fired. Then, 
 without stopping to ascertain the effect of 
 his shot, he leapt from the bank, and was 
 lost to the further view of friends and foes. 
 A more effectual aim could not have been 
 taken in full daylight ; for the man, whoever 
 he was, tumbled headlong into the stream, 
 and was borne down with such rapidity by 
 the violence of the current, that the Alba- 
 nian, who, as we have seen, had been occu- 
 pied in collecting the scattered arms of the 
 Suliotes, running immediately to the spot, 
 was only just in time to discern something 
 dark floating and whirling upon the water, 
 which the next moment entirely disap- 
 peared. The man's musket was lying on 
 the river's brink, together with his capota,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 25 
 
 both of which the Skypetar made his lawful 
 prize, and then followed the rest of the 
 party, who were by this time entering the 
 court of the metokhi of the convent of 
 Zitza.
 
 26 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 If the bowlings of the wolf suddenly en- 
 tangled in the hunter's toils, or the shrieks 
 of the eagle when thrust into a cage, could 
 be translated into human language, they 
 might convey some notion of the mingled 
 horror and rage which burned in the breast 
 of each Suliote as be was driven through 
 the narrow door of the court of the me- 
 tokhi, like one of a flock of sheep doomed, 
 perhaps, to the butcher's knife with the 
 return of day. In Tzavella these feelings 
 were embittered to an insupportable degree 
 by the reflection that the disaster was owing 
 to his own negligence, in having allowed his 
 men to abandon their arms so inconsider- 
 ately when entered on a territory where, 
 though received as allies, he ought to have 
 remembered they were in fact in presence 
 of a watchful enemy. It is true, that the 
 number of the assailants was too great to
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. QJ 
 
 have left them any chance in the conflict ; 
 but still, thought the unhappy chief, we 
 might at least have died as soldiers, with 
 airnis in our hands, and not have been caught 
 like senseless birds in a net. The voice of 
 his son seeking him amid the throng roused 
 Tzavella from these reflections, only to plunge 
 him into others still more tormenting 1 in 
 respect to that son's fate. He knew too 
 well the enmity borne to his whole race by 
 the bloody Aly, not to expect the utmost 
 extremity of his vengeance, but shuddered 
 lest the brave youth might be spared only 
 to be enrolled among the infamous minions 
 and renegadoes of the sensual tyrant's court. 
 In the meantime, as the night advanced, 
 its natural obscurity was increased by the 
 heavy clouds that rose behind the neigh- 
 bouring mountains, and brought with them 
 a chilling air, which, striking upon the wet 
 limbs of the captives, served to aggravate 
 still more the miseries of their situation. 
 But as their guards had an urgent interest 
 in preventing any attempt at escape which 
 the prisoners, favoured by the darkness, 
 might make, an enormous fire was soon 
 kindled and blazing in the middle of the
 
 28 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 court, supplied with an abundance of fuel 
 from the stores of the convent. The red 
 glare, which effectually illumined every 
 corner of the building, disclosed to the 
 Suliotes for the first time the features and 
 the numbers of their captors. The glances 
 which mutually passed between them were 
 not those of friends glad to meet. Not a 
 word was spoken on either side ; but it was 
 some consolation to Tzavella to perceive the 
 estimation in which the valour of his band 
 was held by the immense superiority of 
 force which he now ascertained had been 
 employed in mastering it. At length, over- 
 come with toil and sorrow, the Suliotes lay 
 themselves on the ground, shackled as they 
 were, to take the rest from which they had 
 been so fatally disturbed; and thus stretched 
 out at the feet of their armed jailers, they 
 looked like victims bound for a sacrifice to 
 Moloch, while their ultimate fate should be 
 decided by the Buluk Bashis, or captains, 
 who in the meantime had assembled to hold 
 their divan in the house of the Epitropos. 
 
 The small room into which they were 
 crowded was raised by a single step from 
 the ground; two of the sides, perforated
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 29 
 
 with windows, having neither bars nor shut- 
 ters, were entirely open to the court, and 
 afforded to the hastily-formed tribunal a 
 full view of the prisoners, while these could 
 hear every word of the discussion on the 
 issue of which their lives depended. 
 
 The captains, seated with their legs 
 packed under their bodies, or with their 
 knees in contact with their chins, according 
 to the Turkish fashion, occupied in close 
 array the seat which ran round three sides 
 of the apartment. The place of honour in 
 the corner remained vacant, waiting the 
 arrival of Ibrahim Aga, who, as the person 
 supposed to be specially entrusted with the 
 Yezir's commands on this occasion, was by 
 all present considered as the president, 
 whose business it was to decide whether or 
 no Tzavella and his band were to be but- 
 chered on the spot. Within and near the 
 door stood a crowd of the inferior soldiers, 
 listening to the conversation of their chiefs 
 with that expression of brutal unconcern as 
 to the fate of the prisoners with which the 
 executioner waits the summons which is to 
 call him to the performance of his bloody 
 office. The only person unarmed in the
 
 30 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 midst of this warlike assembly was the 
 Epitropos of the convent, who, bending for- 
 ward in an attitude of humility that befitted 
 equally his character of rayah and church- 
 man, seemed resigned to the orders which 
 it might please any one of those who had 
 thus unceremoniously seized upon his ha- 
 bitation to impose on him. His pale and 
 melancholy countenance, surmounted by the 
 brimless cap belonging to his order, and set 
 in a jet black beard, received a lurid tinge 
 from the blaze of the pine-root which he 
 held instead of a candle, heightening by 
 contrast the fierce expression of his un- 
 bidden guests. 
 
 After they had sat a few minutes in 
 silence, there arose a general murmur of 
 impatience at Ibrahim Aga's delay. Each 
 man inquired of his neighbour where he had 
 last seen the Vezir's officer, but no one 
 could take upon him to remember ; when 
 presently Mustafa the Albanian, who has 
 been mentioned as having been sent forward 
 to the metokhi, and who was now standing 
 near the Epitropos, casting his eyes towards 
 the court, exclaimed, " Here he comes at 
 last!" and hurried out to meet his superior,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 31 
 
 who, as he deemed, was approaching the 
 house. The next moment which convinced 
 Mustafa of his mistake, filled him with dis- 
 appointment and alarm. He presently re- 
 turned, pulling after him a mean ill-looking 
 Albanian of the lowest caste, by the over- 
 hanging flap of a heavy cloak, evidently of 
 dimensions not designed for the present 
 wearer, and appealing to the captains ex- 
 claimed : " Agas, behold this man, and the 
 capota he wears — it is Ibrahim Aga's, as I 
 could swear to it among a thousand from this 
 rent and bloody stain, which he received but 
 the other dav among the Kleftes on Maori- 
 noro ; and, Vallah billah ! this too is the 
 Aga's own toufenk, which he took with his 
 own hands from Capitan Kara Yorgi. Corne, 
 More Palikari, lie not, but tell us truly and 
 quickly how thou earnest by these articles, 
 which thou knowest well are none of thine." 
 
 u As for that matter," observed one of the 
 
 company, "it is enough that the man is a 
 Liapith : to be sure he put his hands upon 
 them whenever they chanced to fall in his 
 way." — "And why should I not?" replied 
 the fellow with a sulky growl, as he shook 
 himself from the grasp of Mustafa. " The
 
 32 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 man to whom these things did belong, can 
 have no further need of arms or of clothes 
 either ; all the pelisses of a vezir heaped 
 upon his body would never warm it ; and as 
 for the fingers that pulled this trigger, they 
 are too stiff by this time ever to bend 
 again." 
 
 " Why now, by Heaven ! " exclaimed 
 Mustafa, in great agitation, " does the un- 
 lucky villain mean to say that Ibrahim Aga 
 is dead ? Speak, vagabond ! didst thou kill 
 him?" 
 
 Ci I know nothing about Ibrahim Aga or 
 any other aga," rejoined, in the same surly 
 tone, the Liapith, who was too intent on 
 establishing his title to the disputed pro- 
 perty to be in the least affected by the im- 
 putation of having murdered its late owner. 
 "All I know about the matter is, that the 
 Palikari to whom these might have be- 
 longed is probably by this time half way to 
 the sea, unless the bullet which tumbled 
 him into the river be heavy enough to sink 
 him before he gets there." 
 
 It was now clear that Ibrahim Aga had 
 fallen by the hand of Dhimitrios Panou, and 
 more than probable that, even if the bullet
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 33 
 
 of the latter had not finished him in the 
 first instance, he was by this time thoroughly 
 drowned by the waters of the Calamas ; his 
 lieutenant Mustafa, who was the only man 
 in the company personally interested in the 
 Aga's fate, reconciled himself to it so well 
 upon the Moslem principle of kismet — des- 
 tiny — used on all such occasions, that it 
 did not for a moment occur to him to send 
 or go himself to explore the river's banks, if 
 perchance the body might yet be found with 
 any signs of life. It is not impossible that 
 Mustafa's resignation under the misfortune 
 of his chief was strengthened by reflections 
 on the consequence he himself could not fail 
 to derive from the circumstance of his being 
 now the sole depositary of the Vezir's inten- 
 tions with respect to the disposal of the 
 Suliotes, whose capture had been effected by 
 the immediate directions of Ibrahim Aga. 
 The captains, whose men had been employed 
 in carrying those directions into execution, 
 did not however seem at first much inclined 
 to concede to Mustafa the right of decision ; 
 no sooner did they hear the account given 
 by the ragamuffin Liapith, than, starting up 
 from their seats, they all began, with vehe- 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 ment gestures and angry voices, each to 
 assert his property in the unhappy prisoners, 
 who lay within hearing of the fierce dehate ; 
 which probably would very soon have been 
 settled by their massacre, but for the pru- 
 dence and humanity of one person, who alone 
 kept his seat and his temper. 
 
 This was an ancient Buluk Bashi, who, 
 having served many years before in the 
 Ottoman army against the Moscov Guiaoors, 
 had acquired at the siege of Ismael, and on 
 otber occasions, some notions of civilised 
 warfare, and having from nature a good 
 portion of true Turkish phlegm, was looked 
 up to by his fiercer and younger companions, 
 on account of his age and experience, with 
 something bordering on deference. In the 
 midst of the altercation, by which the rest 
 were agitated, the old chief remained im- 
 movable, wisely waiting till their lungs 
 should be exhausted before he began to 
 exert his own. Then, profiting by a mo- 
 mentary lull of the storm, he made the 
 motion of peace with his hand, and said 
 with a slow and deliberate tone, which being 
 but slightly raised, was only the more dis- 
 tinctly heard in contrast with the shrill and
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 35 
 
 hurried vociferations of the disputants, — "I 
 beseech you, brothers and comrades, to re- 
 sume your seats, and have a little patience 
 whilst a greybeard speaks a few words in 
 this matter. We are here assembled to- 
 gether to execute the commands of the 
 Vezir Aly Pasha, whose servants we are 
 while we receive his pay and eat his bread. 
 The person chosen by him to communicate 
 those commands to us on the present occa- 
 sion was, as you all know, this same Ibrahim 
 Aga, who, it seems, has just been shot or 
 drowned ; perhaps both. That was his fate, 
 so there was no helping it. It may be ours, 
 but that is nothing to the purpose. The 
 Vezir's buyurdee signed with his own seal, 
 which was made known to us all this after- 
 noon before taking post in the ambush, ex- 
 pressly ordered that we were to wait Ibrahim 
 Aga's signal for seizing these infidels, and, 
 having secured them, to convey them under 
 our guard to the place which he should 
 point out. This plainly shows that the 
 Vezir's pleasure is not that the men should 
 be destroyed, at least immediately ; and as 
 Ibrahim Aga is not alive to tell us whither 
 it was meant they should be conveyed, we 
 d 2
 
 36 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 have but one thing to do, and that is to 
 keep the prisoners safe until the Vezir our 
 master can be informed of what has hap- 
 pened, and issues further orders in con- 
 sequence. 
 
 These words had the effect of immediately 
 putting an end to the dispute, each captain 
 beinjr reconciled to the forfeiture of his own 
 assumed prerogative by the reflection that 
 none of his rivals had a superior right to his 
 own, and that in fact it would be much more 
 prudent not to incur any responsibility in a 
 matter which concerned the interests of such 
 a master as Aly Pasha. Mustafa confirmed 
 this general impression by what he asserted 
 to have heard from the lips of his late 
 chief. — "Ibrahim Aga confided to me," said 
 Mustafa, addressing himself to the wise old 
 Buluk Bashi, "that it was the Vezir's in- 
 tention to keep these men as hostages, with 
 a view to further designs he had upon their 
 country, which the whole world knows has 
 caused him more trouble than all the rest of 
 his Pashalik put together, and" (here Mustafa 
 took his seat close to the old man while he 
 lowered his voice to tell him confidentially 
 what follows) "as the Pasha knows how des-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 37 
 
 perately these Suliotes can fight, his orders 
 were very positive to avoid all risk of a con- 
 flict with them ; and we purposely made a 
 march of such extraordinary length to-day 
 to our own discomfort, in order that, being 
 jaded and overcome with fatigue, you might 
 have less difficulty in taking them alive. 
 But now," continued Mustafa, raising his 
 voice, and addressing himself generally to 
 the company, who had mostly resumed their 
 seats when the Buluk Bashi commenced his 
 persuasive harangue, "no time must be lost 
 in apprising the Vezir of the event, and I 
 will myself undertake that duty." To this 
 proposal, no objection being made by the 
 others, Mustafa turned to the Epitropos, 
 who had remained a silent spectator of all 
 these proceedings, and told him to go and 
 order the old Deacon to get ready his mule 
 for the journey ; u 'tis a good beast," said 
 he, " and will carry me to Joannina as quick 
 as any Bagdad Tatar could post it. You 
 may then, Papa Gregori, deal out some of 
 your stores to satisfy the hunger of the 
 Palikaria. Quick, begone ! " 
 
 The Epitropos, in answer to this injunc- 
 tion, vowed he had seen nothing of the
 
 38 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Deacon or his mule, — an assertion which 
 the Turk considered to be only a subterfuge 
 invented, as a matter of course, by the priest 
 to save his fellow-churchman; and he was 
 proceeding, equally as a matter of course, 
 to punish it by using violence towards the 
 Epitropos, when the Liapith interfered in 
 the latter's behalf, less from compassion to 
 him than out of spite to the Turk, who had 
 disputed the possession of his recently ac- 
 quired spoils. "I saw," said he, "what 
 became of the two animals you are in- 
 quiring about, for while waiting in the wood 
 for the signal, I cast my eyes towards the 
 metokhi, and perceived a mule standing at 
 the corner of the wall." — " It was there I 
 left him," said Mustafa. — (i Well," con- 
 tinued the man, who seemed to take a 
 spiteful pleasure in the disappointment he 
 was preparing for the other, u as the Suliotes 
 first came in view round the cliff, I observed 
 a papas marching at a round pace at the 
 head of them all, but he soon turned off 
 and made straight for the metokhi, using no 
 little speed when he heard the shots flying 
 about his head. The old fellow seized and 
 mounted the mule, and they were both out
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 39 
 
 of sight in an instant; so that if you wait for 
 that conveyance to carry your news to the 
 Pasha, you may chance to have a beard as 
 grey as the Papa's, or a pair of ears as long 
 as the mule's dam." — " I don't know how 
 long your ears may be," said Mustafa, " but 
 you seem to have made good use of your 
 eyes, and so employ them now, if you please, 
 in discovering something for us to eat." 
 
 The operation of eating and drinking in 
 the abstract has always appeared to me a 
 most tedious and unsatisfactory ceremony ; 
 and presuming the reader may think so too, 
 I shall spare him the trouble of sitting down, 
 cross-legged, with the dirty Skypetars, at 
 their bivouac in the court, and helping 
 himself with his fingers to whatever was 
 produced by the Epitropos. Indeed, Doctor 
 Iatropoulo did never very clearly explain 
 how the poor man contrived to provide for 
 so large a company at so short a notice ; for 
 it is now evident that the kibab and the 
 wine promised so liberally by the defunct 
 mehmandar, were a mere figure of speech ; 
 and it is certain that Tzavella and his Suliotes 
 passed the night supperless. Perhaps the 
 danger of unloosing the bands of men, grown
 
 40 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 desperate by their situation, concurred with 
 the difficulty of providing for so many at 
 that late hour, in causing the adjournment 
 f their next repast to a more convenient 
 opportunity. Young Photo alone obtained 
 from the compassion of Mustafa a morsel of 
 bread ; which, however, seeing his com- 
 panions without any, he refused to touch, 
 till compelled to do so by the commands 
 of his father. Tzavella had listened with 
 the most painful attention to the conversa- 
 tion described above, involving the decision 
 of his fate and that of his companions; and 
 when he heard it determined to wait the 
 orders of the Yezir, the hope that some acci- 
 dent might give them a chance of escape 
 made him bear the miseries of his present 
 situation with greater composure. He heard 
 with peculiar satisfaction the Liapith's ac- 
 count of the disappearance of the papas and 
 his mule, calculating that every moment of 
 delay in the departure of Mustafa to carry 
 che news to Joannina improved the chance 
 of Dhimo's arrival at Suli time enough to 
 prevent the success of any scheme which the 
 tyrant might have founded upon his perfidy. 
 Tzavella's satisfaction on this point almost
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 41 
 
 amounted to joy when he heard Mustafa say, 
 with a yawn, which announced the rapid 
 approaches of sleep : " Well, it is not my 
 fault if the Yezir has not a Tatar in attend- 
 ance to carry him the good news. His high- 
 ness can't expect men to travel night and 
 day upon the same pair of legs, without some 
 repose ; and so, Agas, with your permission, 
 I will just lie down while you settle among 
 you where these prisoners are to be lodged 
 till you hear from Joannina." Thus saying, 
 he stretched himself along the floor, and 
 was soon audibly asleep.
 
 42 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 After a short consultation among the chiefs, 
 it was decided that the Suliotes should, as 
 soon as daylight appeared, be marched up to 
 the monastery of Zitza, within whose walls they 
 might most securely be kept, till the will of 
 the Satrap could be made known. It was 
 also agreed, that in the meantime two of 
 them should keep watch over the captives 
 and their guards, who appeared all equally 
 disposed to yield to the influence of sleep, and 
 be ready to give the alarm in case of necessity. 
 But the drowsy influence was too well esta- 
 blished, by the concurrence of sorrow and 
 fatigue, to allow the Suliotes to make the 
 slightest effort towards escape. Tzavella 
 himself, whatever schemes he might have 
 revolved in his mind for that purpose, soon 
 followed the contagious example ; and the 
 whole party, including the two watchmen, 
 shortly after the above arrangements were
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 43 
 
 settled, were apparently dead to all the cares 
 and anxieties of the waking world. The 
 poor Epitropos alone, whose tranquillity had 
 been so cruelly interrupted by the intrusion 
 of these his unexpected visitors, felt no in- 
 clination to close his eyes. The anxiety 
 which he felt at seeing himself surrounded 
 by so many lawless ruffians, and compassion 
 for the fate of the unhappy Suliotes, espe- 
 pecially that of young Tzavella, kept the old 
 man awake. He sat upon the threshold 
 of his humble abode, now converted into a 
 den of thieves, while he looked round upon 
 the strange scene which the court of his 
 metokhi presented to his view. The fire, 
 being no longer fed with that abundance of 
 fuel which had at first been so mercilessly 
 subtracted from his stores, now threw a 
 fainter gleam upon the figures that lay round 
 it. The attitude of all the Suliotes was 
 nearly the same ; for being all bound alike, 
 with their hands drawn close behind them, 
 they had little choice of posture, and so lay 
 for the most part with their faces towards 
 the earth, huddled together like sheep who 
 seek shelter from the rays of the sun in the 
 shade of each other. Tzavella and his son
 
 44 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 lay apart from the rest, reclining against 
 one of the props of the shed, while the lad's 
 head rested on his father's shoulder. The 
 Albanians presented a more various appear- 
 ance. The greater number were ranged 
 along the walls of the court in the different 
 
 © 
 
 attitudes in which sleep had overtaken them, 
 all with their arms in their hands, as if their 
 last waking thought had been the possible 
 necessity of using them. As the Epitropos 
 turned his eyes from one group to another, 
 he shuddered to think that perhaps the pri- 
 soners would only wake from their present 
 weary and painful sleep to be plunged into 
 the deeper sleep of death by the hands of 
 their keepers ; and he sought in vain 
 among the countenances of the latter for 
 one which showed a sign of the inward 
 feelings of humanity. All those he could 
 get a glimpse of by the dusky light of the 
 expiring flame, exhibited the same character 
 of unshrinking and ferocious insensibility 
 
 which belongs to men who sell themselves 
 
 © 
 
 for money to the will of a bloody paymaster. 
 
 Having indulged some time in the melan- 
 
 © © 
 
 choly reflections suggested by the sight, 
 " Ah," thought he, " were it but possible to
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 45 
 
 loose the bonds of these poor Christians, 
 while their keepers sleep, they might soon 
 
 provide for their own safety ; and then " 
 
 This thought, which entered the priest's 
 mind as a vague wish, was no sooner formed 
 than, agitated by it as if it were already 
 grown into a deliberate intention, he rose 
 hastily from his seat, quite forgetting that 
 all chance of executing it must be lost if a 
 single eye of the sleeping Arguses who sur- 
 rounded him were opened. The sudden 
 movement instantly awoke the old Buluk 
 Bashi, who was reposing near one of the 
 windows, his head nodding upon his breast, 
 and his half-consumed pipe just slipping out 
 of the corner of his mouth. The Epitropos, 
 who trembled as if the inward thought of 
 his soul had been heard, answered the sus- 
 picious stare of the awakened Turk by say- 
 ing — " Is it not time to rouse Mustafa Bey? 
 it will soon be light enough for him to see 
 his way up to Zitza. I will, if it please 
 you, show him the road, and go and prepare 
 the Heaoumenos for the arrival of the men, 
 who, I suppose, will want food as well as 
 lodging." " True," answered the Turk, 
 with a desperate yawn ; " thou art a wise
 
 46 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 man, and dost not wear a beard for nothing, 
 Papas and Guiaoor although thou be. Do 
 thou go ; but first get me a cup of coffee, 
 while I stir up this lazy messenger.'' This 
 brief dialogue awoke Tzavella, who, perceiv- 
 ing his son still asleep on his shoulder, 
 stirred not a limb for fear of disturbing him. 
 For the same reason he suppressed a deep 
 sigh, while he listened to the Buluk Bashi's 
 attempts to awaken Mustafa, who lay drowned 
 in the depths of the profoundest sleep, snoring 
 like a hurricane. The old man was at first 
 content to give him a gentle push with one 
 foot, then with the other, and next to twitch 
 him with his pipe-stick, calling out in a 
 courteous tone, " Mustafa Aga, I say, — 
 Mustafa, my soul, — Mustafa Bey, my liver, — 
 Mustafa Pasha, my eyes, awake, rise: 'tis time 
 to be stirring." To these mild persuasives 
 Mustafa remained perfectly insensible, till 
 the phlegmatic Turk, losing all patience, 
 set to shaking and pulling him without 
 ceremony, which at last had the effect of 
 making him stretch, yawn, and rub his eyes, 
 while he kept muttering a few incoherent 
 words, which seemed like the conclusion of 
 a dream. When at length Mustafa became
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 47 
 
 conscious of the sound of the Buluk Bashi's 
 voice, he sprang upon his legs in great alarm, 
 with the alacrity of a sentinel just awakened 
 to the consciousness of heing caught unlaw- 
 fully napping, and exclaiming, " Yallah ! I 
 truly thought myself in the serai', smoking 
 a chibouk with Ibrahim Aga, while the 
 Yezir was issuing his buyurdee to hang or 
 drown these Suliotes, I forget which. 
 Why the devil did you let me sleep so 
 long, you old watch-dog ? " said he, turning 
 to the Papas, who just then came in with a 
 little tin pot of boiling coffee, which he 
 poured out into a cracked cup for the Buluk 
 Bashi. " Come, quick, reach me my cloak 
 and musket, and let us be off. Vallah ! I 
 ought to have been in sight of the lake bv 
 this time." — " Oor old, Oor old ! your 
 journey be propitious," said the Buluk 
 Bashi. 
 
 " May he that is without and far* waylay 
 thee and lead thee to thy ruin, thou cursed 
 messenger ! " inwardly responded Tzavella, as 
 Mustafa hurried past him through the court, 
 stepping as he could over the sprawling 
 limbs of the Albanians that lav in his wav, 
 * Vide Note.
 
 48 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 and treading without compunction upon 
 those of the unhappy men whose fate was 
 involved in the issue of his journey. He 
 was preceded by the Epitropos, carrying his 
 shoes in one hand and staff in the other, and 
 drawing his girdle closer. 
 
 Instead of taking the path along the 
 low grounds, by which the Suliotes had 
 approached his metokhi the preceding day, 
 he led the Palikari a short cut across the 
 low hill on which stood the chapel, whence 
 the valley on both sides of the river was just 
 beginning to be dimly visible by the first 
 faint streaks of the slowly-advancing light. 
 As the priest stepped aside to go and trim 
 the small lamp which is ever kept carefully 
 burning before the shrine of the Panayia 
 to whom the chapel was consecrated, an 
 enormous owl, whether disturbed by his 
 approach or by that of daylight, suddenly 
 quitted the shelter of the old oak which 
 overspread the building, and, slowly flapping 
 its heavy wings, took flight towards the 
 west across the river, as if seeking to escape 
 the hateful beams of day. Mustafa, startled 
 by the unexpected apparition, instantly dis- 
 charged his musket at the monstrous sha-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 49 
 
 dow which expanded itself before his eyes. 
 But the ball whistled harmlessly by the 
 grave bird, whose motion appeared not in 
 the least quickened by the sound. It 
 served, however, as a signal to the Pali- 
 karia below, who, aroused by the noise thus 
 suddenly breaking in upon the dead still- 
 ness of nature, hastily started up in alarm, 
 believing themselves to be assailed in their 
 turn by the betrayed Suliotes. But their 
 alarm immediately vanished when they per- 
 ceived their wretched prisoners stretched 
 out in the same spot where they first lay 
 down. Their slumbers, too, ceased from the 
 same cause ; but, benumbed by their bonds, 
 and by the position they had been compelled 
 to pass that miserable night in, they could 
 merely turn their wan, melancholy faces 
 upwards, expressing by their looks how com- 
 fortless to them was the dawn of a new day, 
 lovely as that dawn was. For now r the sun 
 was fast advancing in the east, announced 
 by the light and fleecy vapours borne before 
 him by the early breeze, and by the rosy 
 tint gradually colouring the snowy summit 
 of the lofty Nemertska. " Come, Palikaria," 
 exclaimed the old Buluk Bashi, whose age 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 and prudent counsel had virtually conferred 
 on him the temporary command of the hete- 
 rogeneous troop ; " up — 'tis time for us to 
 be on our way to better quarters ; make the 
 prisoners rise, count them, and march them 
 up to Zitza, where they, as well as we, shall 
 at least get bread to eat." " Count them," 
 said Tzavella mournfully to his son ; " alas ! 
 they are all here but one ; may he at least 
 be in time to defend our country, if we 
 cannot escape !" — " Were I but sure of that," 
 answered Photo, " methinks I could bear to 
 die to-day; though 'tis hard to have no hand 
 in defending our place against those trai- 
 torous Mussulmans." This spirit of the boy, 
 unsubdued by privations and sufferings, both 
 delighted and distressed his father. Tzavella, 
 placed partly by his own negligence in cir- 
 cumstances calculated to deject the firmest 
 mind, felt himself raised above them by 
 parental pride, which swelled in his heart 
 as he witnessed the noble and manly forti- 
 tude of his son ; but then the thought that 
 such young virtue was too likely doomed to 
 be prematurely cut to the ground by the 
 bloody hand of the hateful oppressor of his 
 country, filled him with inexpressible an-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 51 
 
 guish. He was soon interrupted in these 
 reflections by the bustle and stir which filled 
 the court, as the captives were made to rise 
 from their hard couch, and led in single 
 files between their guards out of the en- 
 closure into the valley. It was with some 
 difficulty and pain they could at first move ; 
 but this would hardly have been attended 
 to by the ferocious Skypetars, who would 
 have had no compunction in hurrying them 
 on, had not their own pace been retarded 
 by the necessity of carrying, besides their 
 own arms, the additional accoutrements and 
 ammunition which had been taken from the 
 Suliotes. 
 
 A mournful march it was for the latter, 
 while they retrod the same paths with such 
 different feelings, and under such altered 
 circumstances. As they mounted the heights 
 on which the village of Zitza is placed, the 
 whole length of the mountain- range, which 
 runs parallel to the coast of Epirus, unfold- 
 ing itself to their view at every step of the 
 ascent, they naturally sought that point on 
 the horizon where their own native summits 
 could be descried. The morning mist spread 
 on the mountains at first concealed them 
 e 2 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 mmsiTY of iLunoi$
 
 52 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 from the gaze of the captive exiles, but 
 presently, as the vapours rolled away before 
 the increasing power of the sun, the well- 
 known peak became faintly discernible. The 
 sight revived them for a moment, only to 
 make them anticipate with greater despon- 
 dency the new imprisonment which awaited 
 them within the walls of the monastery of 
 Zitza. There they at length arrived, and 
 there we may now leave them to be provided 
 for by the Hegoumenos, and guarded by a 
 part of the Albanians, the rest dispersing 
 themselves through the villages to fulfil their 
 natural vocation for plunder.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mustafa was in such haste to reach the 
 Pasha's presence, that, without stopping to 
 give the necessary orders himself to the 
 Hegoumenos, he was content to send him in 
 a message by the Caloyero, his guide thus 
 far, commanding him to provide on the in- 
 stant bread for two hundred and fifty men. 
 He never troubled himself about the means 
 the Hegoumenos possessed to execute the 
 decree ; he had been too long in the service 
 of despotism to admit of any alternative on 
 such occasions but obedience or the basti- 
 nado, and he left that to be settled between 
 the reverend head of the monastery and the 
 warlike inmates whom he announced. He 
 pressed onwards through the village to the 
 road, which hence begins by a gradual de- 
 scent to lead down into the long 1 and narrow 
 vale, at the extremity of which is perceived 
 the modern capital of Epirus, conspicuous
 
 54> PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 at a distance by its rocky promontory boldly 
 jutting forth into the bosom of the lake on 
 which it stands. To the apprehension of 
 Mustafa this distance was doubled by the 
 mist, which still hung over the lake, in- 
 volving in one shadowy mass the rock, 
 crowned by the serai' of Aly Pasha, the 
 walls and towers inclosing it, and the town 
 of Joannina stretching along the shore, 
 interspersed with its numerous minarets, 
 cypress-groves, and orchards. The soldier 
 cursed his ill-luck while, looking forward 
 to the term of his journey, he could per- 
 ceive in the intermediate space no signs 
 of any vehicle, horse, mule, ass, or even 
 araba drawn by buffaloes, to speed him 
 on his way. He trudged wearily and des- 
 perately on, vowing in his heart to re- 
 venge himself for his disappointment on the 
 bones of the first unhappy rayah he might 
 chance to light upon ; but he reached the 
 meadow which skirts the lake without hav- 
 ing met a living being. Here the scene 
 changed at once : the meadow was filled with 
 horses belonging to the Yezir and the offi- 
 cers of his court, picketed at short distances, 
 for the purpose of spring pasture. They
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 55 
 
 were watched by well-armed grooms, who 
 inhabited small tents dispersed irregularly 
 over the plain ; our Palikari prudently 
 passed on, without venturing on any free- 
 doms such as he had used the day before 
 with the defenceless Dhiako, and he actually 
 entered the town of Joannina entirely guilt- 
 less, much against his will, of the least 
 violence to man, beast, or Jew.* 
 
 It was mid-day when Mustafa found 
 himself on the drawbridge leading across 
 the ditch formed by the stagnant waters of 
 the lake into the peninsula, or rather island, 
 occupied by the Pasha's palace and its de- 
 pendencies, and composing a little town 
 quite distinct from that of Joannina. He 
 proceeded through the gateway at the foot of 
 the central square tower, remarkable by the 
 extraordinary ornament of a Christian clock, 
 which, just then striking the hour of noon, 
 mingled its profane sound with the orthodox 
 chant of the muezzin, who seemed to wait the 
 signal to begin his call to noon prayers — a 
 singular concert, characteristic of the spirit 
 of toleration or indifference in matters of re- 
 ligious belief adopted by the Albanian ruler, 
 * Vide Note.
 
 56 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Passing onward through a narrow lane 
 between two rows of wooden houses, the 
 non-perpendicularity of whose sides threat- 
 ened instant ruin, each house nodding in a 
 different direction, and frequently touching 
 over-head, the Skypetar at last emerged into 
 the spacious opening in front of the serai, 
 whose middle length and two projecting 
 wings formed three sides of an ample 
 square, the common resort of the motley 
 throng which, in all the provinces of Tur- 
 key, European and Asiatic, composes the 
 court of a Vezir, or pasha of three tails. 
 Dervishes, soldiers, priests, jugglers, Tatars, 
 buffoons, grooms, beggars, suitors to the 
 Pasha's justice or favour, were now retired 
 from the noontide heat into the scanty shade 
 of the building ; employed like other cour- 
 tiers in the most approved methods of kill- 
 ing time, until the expectant crowd should 
 be warned by the discordant notes of most 
 wild and barbaric music that his Highness 
 had quitted the sanctuary of the harem, and 
 was ready to grant public audience. Mus- 
 tafa, filled with notions of the importance 
 his news was to procure him, pressed so 
 hastily across the square that he stumbled
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 5J 
 
 against a low stake fixed in the ground, on 
 which was stuck a head ; which passed, no 
 doubt, for that of a robber, and paid for as 
 such, though probably cut off with much 
 tranquillity from the shoulders of some in- 
 nocent wretch found dead by the wayside. 
 The Albanian, long inured to such sights, 
 kicked the lifeless skull on one side, as he 
 recovered his footing, venting the usual 
 oath of " Ana Sena," and in a few moments 
 after was at the bottom of the flight of steps 
 which, rising at the centre of the building, 
 led up to the open wooden gallery that 
 extended along the whole front of the serai', 
 forming a kind of upper vestibule, generally 
 filled with the Pasha's attendants. He was 
 proceeding to ascend the stairs when he was 
 stopped by a Tschaoosh, an inferior officer, 
 whose rank was denoted by a staff surmounted 
 with a double hook, shaped like horns, from 
 which were suspended, by silver chains, little 
 bells of the same metal, that jingled as he 
 moved, who, with a tone of command, for- 
 bade him advancing a step further. 
 
 The snap of his pistoL, or the thrust 
 of his yatagan, would probably have been 
 Mustafa's reply to such an admonition in
 
 58 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 any other situation ; but violence, he saw, 
 would avail him nothing here : so he was 
 fain to stand still, without attempting to 
 force his way up, while he answered, not in 
 the most placid tone, that he wanted to 
 speak with the Vezir. 
 
 " You speak with the Vezir !" exclaimed 
 the Tschaoosh, with a tone of ineffable con- 
 tempt, as his eye glanced over the wayworn 
 sandals and dirty shirt of the Albanian, 
 which, to Mustafa's credit be it spoken, was 
 of the true heroic dye. # " Do you think that 
 my lord and master, his Highness the Vezir, 
 Aly Pasha of Joannina and Tricula, has 
 nothing else to occupy or divert himself 
 withal but in holding conversation with 
 such ragamuffins as you ? Speak with the 
 Vezir indeed ! — the man is mad, surely. 
 Go your ways, friend ; go, if you please, and 
 take your stand at the side-window, where 
 your brother-beggars are permitted — and 
 too much honour, too — to catch a glimpse 
 of his Highness's countenance. May I lose 
 my eyes if the Vezir ever deigns to turn 
 his upon such a poor villain as you ; and if 
 he speak to you, I am not the senior of the 
 * Vide Note.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 59 
 
 Tschaooshes, nor is my name Shishman 
 Suleyman." Mustafa felt it was in vain to 
 remonstrate with a dignitary of such conse- 
 quenee as fat Suleyman, the senior of the 
 Tschaooshes, at his own legitimate post. 
 He repressed his resentment, but he in- 
 wardly vowed, that if he could ever have the 
 luck to catch the old effendi on the high 
 road to Mezzovo or Arta he would not let 
 him pass with greater freedom than what 
 was now conceded to himself, at least before 
 he had disburthened him of the official 
 paraphernalia which made him so insolent. 
 He looked up to the crowd of idlers whom 
 this scene had attracted to the head of 
 the stairs, hoping to recognise some old 
 acquaintance, but he saw not a face he re- 
 membered ever to have seen before. Still, 
 unwilling to give up the chance of pene- 
 trating into the presence, Mustafa addressed 
 himself generally to the assembled throng, 
 saying, — " Is there no one here acquainted 
 with Ibrahim Aga of Paramythia? God have 
 mercy on his soul!" — "Ibrahim Aga!" 
 re-echoed a well-dressed Greek, who seemed 
 to catch eagerly at the name ; '' why, what 
 has become of Ibrahim Aga of Paramythia ?
 
 60 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 has anything happened to his body that you 
 take such an interest on his soul ? Speak, 
 man, where did you*see him last?" — " Oh, 
 as for that," answered Mustafa, t( I am not 
 to tell my business to the first man that 
 chooses to question me. I am the bearer of 
 mujde, — good tidings, — for the Vezir, and to 
 none but the Vezir himself will I deliver 
 them." The inquisitive Greek pushed his 
 way through the by-standers on the stairs, 
 and slipping past the Tschaoosh, whose 
 pursy figure nearly occupied their whole 
 breadth, accosted the sturdy messenger with 
 an insinuating air, took him a little on one 
 side, and said, — " My friend, I have reason 
 to know that our master the Yezir is inte- 
 rested in the fate of this Ibrahim Aga you 
 speak of, and as I am in his Highness's ser- 
 vice, having the honour to be one of his 
 secretaries, you cannot do better than com- 
 municate your news to me." 
 
 u Many thanks to you, Signor Secre- 
 tary," said Mustafa. " I know as well as 
 you do, that the Vezir takes a very serious 
 interest in what relates to Ibrahim Aga, and 
 you cannot promote your lord and master's 
 service more effectually than by acquainting
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 6l 
 
 him that here I am with news such as he 
 longs to hear, and for which I claim my 
 rightful bakshish. I have not trudged all 
 this way, like a pack-horse, for nothing!" 
 — *' Oh, then," continued the Greek ; i( you 
 left our good friend Ibrahim Aga at some 
 distance, did you ? I thought you looked 
 very much fatigued. I suppose you came 
 from Argyrd Castro, by the Dehinaki road ? 
 How long- were vou coming? Has there 
 been any fighting yet in that quarter ? 
 May I lose my eyes, but I'll be sworn you 
 are an excellent shot, and a perfect Pali- 
 kari ! " 
 
 To all these questions and compliments, 
 put at a venture by the curious Gramma- 
 tikos, in the hope of entrapping the ex- 
 hausted Skypetar into an answer which 
 might furnish a clue to his news, Mustafa 
 surlily answered, — " In reply to all your 
 questions, Master Scribbler, let me ask you 
 one. What do you think the Vezir will 
 do to those who stand in the way of his 
 hearing a most important piece of news ? 
 which news, let me tell you, you shall not 
 be the first to know, for all your hints and 
 questions."
 
 62 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 The Greek, finding himself baffled in his 
 attempts to worm out Mustafa's secret, in- 
 tending to have made a merit of being the 
 first to communicate it to the Pasha, now 
 felt alarmed at the kind of threat implied 
 in the Albanian's cross-question, and imme- 
 diately changed his note. 
 
 u You say right, my brave fellow," said 
 he ; " we must make this fat old porter listen 
 to reason : do you stay here, while I go and 
 try to persuade him to let you go up." So 
 saying he quitted Mustafa, bustled up to the 
 Tschaoosh with looks of great importance ; 
 "For Heaven's sake," said he, in a confi- 
 dential tone, " mind how you prevent this 
 man going up to speak with the V ezir : he has 
 really brought his Highness news of the 
 greatest consequence, and if . . . ." — " Oh, 
 then, he has told you his news, has he?" 
 retorted the old Cerberus, not allowing the 
 Greek to finish his phrase ; " then, in the 
 name of Heaven, as you are at liberty to 
 go up and down the stairs as much as you 
 please, go and tell your news where you 
 think they will be acceptable, — go and earn 
 your backshish, which I dare swear you'll 
 cheat the poor ragged vagabond out of ; and
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 63 
 
 well he deserves it, for being such a fool as 
 to trust you with his secret. You know, as 
 well as I do, that nobody — not belonging to 
 the serai' — has permission to come further 
 than this step without express orders, till 
 the beating of the drums. " The Greek ac- 
 quiesced in this remark ; but as he had a 
 misgiving that Mustafa's news was of no 
 ordinary import, and was desirous to get 
 some credit by paving the way for its 
 arrival, he hurried up-stairs, and seeing one 
 of the Pasha's confidential agents, Nikola 
 Yanko, pacing up and down the gallery, 
 twirling a chaplet between his fingers, whilst 
 he waited the summons to appear before the 
 Pasha, he went and whispered mysteriously 
 in his ear. Yanko had no sooner heard the 
 intelligence than he immediately hastened 
 to the further end of the gallery, and stopped 
 at the door of the room where the Vezir 
 generally took his seat on coming out of the 
 harem. He listened for a few moments, as 
 if to ascertain whether the Pasha were yet 
 there ; then cautiously lifting up the corner 
 of the perdeh, or veil, which hung as a 
 curtain before the door, he looked in w r ith 
 the dread of one who peeps into the den
 
 64 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 of a tiger presumed to be asleep : but no 
 one was in the room except a young page, 
 who was busied in preparing a hookah for 
 the Vezir's smoking. To him Yanko spoke 
 a few words, and then took his station at 
 the outside of the door, waiting in anxious 
 expectation the summons of his formidable 
 master. After some time the page beckoned 
 him in, and in a few minutes more the con- 
 fidant returned with looks of the utmost 
 hurry and importance. He shuffled along 
 the gallery as fast as his slippers, flapping 
 under his heels, would allow, and in a shrill 
 tone of authority, calling out to the fat 
 Tschaoosh, told him it was the Vezir's plea- 
 sure that the Albanian should be imme- 
 diately ordered up. li What dirt have I 
 eaten," growled out the old Turk, as he 
 descended the stairs, "that I am doomed to 
 receive my orders at the mouth of a miser- 
 able Guiaoor, and to go and act as master 
 of ceremonies to a lousy Arnaoot?" The 
 latter had in the interval taken Shishman 
 Suleyman's sarcastic hint, and gone to place 
 himself beneath the side-window appropri- 
 ated to the petitions of those of the Pasha's 
 subjects who were considered too mean to be
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 65 
 
 admitted to a nearer approach. While 
 waiting there, Mustafa soon fell asleep from 
 fatigue ; he was awoke by a thrust of the 
 Tschaoosh's staff, who summoned him to 
 attend the Pasha in a tone of official gravity, 
 by which he strove to conceal his mortifica- 
 tion at the non-fulfilment of his late con- 
 temptuous predictions. He preceded the 
 dirty, ragged Albanian, in state up-stairs, 
 rattling his balls and chains with great so- 
 lemnity, and conducted him, to the no small 
 amusement of the by-standers, who had 
 witnessed the recent scene, to the thresh- 
 old ; which, when Mustafa crossed, he 
 found himself in presence of Aly Pasha. 
 He advanced to make the usual obeisance, 
 by kneeling and putting the hem of the 
 Vezir's garment to his lips ; but the latter 
 seeing, and perhaps suspecting, a strange 
 face, motioned him back with one hand, 
 whilst he placed the other upon a pistol, 
 which lay half-concealed under the folds of 
 his pelisse. The man stood still while the 
 Vezir, who suppressed the anxiety which he 
 laboured under, said in his shrill tone, cha- 
 racteristic of the Albanian mountaineer, — 
 "Well, friend, speak. They tell me thou 
 
 VOL. I. f
 
 66 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 hast a message from Ibrahim Aga. 
 Where didst thou leave him ? — what was 
 he doing ? Speak !" — " Your Highness has 
 been misinformed ; Ibrahim Aga has sent 
 you no message — how could he ? — he is dead 
 and gone." — u Where? how? who?" ex- 
 claimed Aly Pasha, unable to dissemble his 
 agitation. 
 
 " The Suliotes shot him last night at 
 the fall of Glizani," replied the messenger, 
 who wisely began with the worst part of the 
 news, that the good might be the more ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 At the name of Suliote, the Pasha dropt 
 the end of the serpentine tube, through which 
 he was inhaling the fumes of the crystal 
 hooka, and striking his hands together with 
 a passionate gesture, cried out, " Then have 
 Tzavella and his men all escaped ? " 
 
 " On the contrary," said Mustafa, who 
 now could perceive he had not over-rated 
 the importance of his intelligence ; " they 
 are all taken, and are even now in safe cus- 
 tody at the monastery of Zitza, waiting your 
 Highness's commands/' 
 
 " Ah ! sayest thou so, Palikari ? — then 
 hast thou brought me good tidings indeed.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 67 
 
 But tell me — wast thou present at the cap- 
 ture ? did they fight ? were they all taken — 
 every one ? " 
 
 From the earnestness with which this last 
 question was put, Mustafa felt the danger 
 he was exposing himself to, should he now 
 disappoint the expectation his first assertion 
 had raised with respect to the capture of all. 
 He, therefore, without returning a direct 
 answer on that point, proceeded to give an 
 account of the manner in which the ambush 
 had been planned, and the attack made ; 
 but in the anxiety to show how dexterously 
 the whole had been conducted and executed, 
 without the Suliotes having had it in their 
 power to make the slightest defence, he 
 quite overlooked the necessity of accounting 
 for the manner of Ibrahim Aga's death 
 consistently with the non-resistance of the 
 captured men. 
 
 Aly Pasha, who listened to the Alba- 
 nian's narrative with the deepest attention, 
 fixing his small, keen, light-blue eyes upon 
 the man's face, and comparing the language 
 of his looks with that of his tongue, sud- 
 denly interrupted him with the query — 
 f °Z
 
 68 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 " But if no resistance was made, how hap- 
 pens it that Ibrahim Aga fell ? " Mustafa, 
 for one moment, hesitated to reply. The 
 dread of the Vezir's anger, at learning the 
 escape of only one of his victims, made him 
 as loth to avow that part of the event as if he 
 himself had been in fault. 
 
 " As thou valuest thy life, man," cried 
 the Pasha, grasping his pistol, and half- 
 drawing it forth, " tell me the whole truth ; 
 thou saidst the Suliotes killed him." 
 
 Mustafa, following with his eye the 
 movement of the Vezir's hand, now explained 
 this part of the transaction ; but anxious to 
 soothe the disappointment of the despot, 
 whose gratification at the capture of all the 
 rest seemed to be lost in vexation at the 
 escape of one, he added, — li But the Suliote 
 did not long survive Ibrahim Aga ; he re- 
 ceived a shower of balls from the whole 
 troop, and was seen to drop the instant 
 after. 
 
 This concluding assurance satisfied the 
 Pasha ; and having now obtained from the 
 soldier all the information he seemed capable 
 of imparting, he clapped his hands thrice —
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 69 
 
 a signal which was immediately answered 
 by the appearance of a page from behind the 
 perdeh. 
 
 " Send me Yanko forthwith." 
 
 Yanko, in an instant, was standing in an 
 humble attitude at the end of the room op- 
 posite to the Albanian. 
 
 " Nicolaki," said the Yezir, in a gra- 
 cious tone to his confidant, u this Palikari has 
 rendered me good service on this occasion. 
 I must reward him. Give him his bakshish 
 for the news he has brought ; take him to your 
 house, lodge him, feed him, give him a suit of 
 clothes, and make him a daily allowance of 
 forty paras, till further orders. I may want 
 his services later. Go your ways ; and hark 
 ye : send me hither the Grammatikos Pa- 
 nayotaki." 
 
 Yanko smiled, as if highly flattered and 
 delighted with the favour just bestowed on 
 him by his munificent master ; he bent for- 
 ward, extended his hand towards the floor, 
 carried it to his lips and forehead, (gestures 
 which are intended as a substitute for the 
 actual kissing the hem of the great man's 
 garment,) then backed out of the despotic 
 presence, followed by the meritorious Pa-
 
 70 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 likari, now forming part of his establish- 
 ment. The secretary, who had probably 
 anticipated the Pasha's orders, was standing 
 outside of the door, listening with all his ears, 
 to catch if it were but the echo of a single 
 syllable upon which to build his conjectures 
 of what was going on. The Albanian, as 
 they passed, could not repress a grim smile of 
 triumph at the mortification of the Greek's 
 curiosity, adding, in an ironical tone, a You 
 may come to the Arkhonta," winking signi- 
 ficantly at Yanko, " for your share of the 
 backshish." 
 
 As the Grammatikos came gliding side- 
 long into the room with the stealthy, noise- 
 less step of a cat, the Pasha, pointing to the 
 floor close at his feet, said, — '' Sit thee down 
 and write, as quickly as thy fingers can 
 move, what I shall dictate. And you knaves 
 there," continued he, raising his voice, 
 u send to the Tatar Agassi, and tell him to 
 have a Tatar ready to start on the instant." 
 The scribe drew from his girdle a brass 
 inkstand, containing the necessary imple- 
 ments of his profession, and from his bosom 
 a roll of paper ; which, having spread out 
 upon one knee, raised so as to serve him for
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. Jl 
 
 a desk, he waited, with pen in hand and 
 an eye timidly lifted up, the commands of 
 the terrific dictator. The letter was very 
 short. It was hardly finished, stamped with 
 the Vezir's signet-ring, and duly directed, 
 when (so punctually are the orders of that 
 mortal attended to, who has the reputation 
 of cutting off heads a la minute) the man 
 of speed stood before the Yezir completely 
 equipped for his expedition, except only his 
 boots, which remained as sentries at the door. 
 
 No one, who should for the first time 
 see a Tatar in full dress for a journey, 
 could possibly suppose him to belong to that 
 class of beings from which an express mes- 
 senger could possibly be selected. While the 
 Newmarket jockey, who has sweated away 
 his superfluous weight, is not, when mount- 
 ing his racer, much thicker than his own 
 whip, the Tatar prepares for his race by 
 superadding to his ordinary clothing a heap 
 of integuments, whose volume and dimen- 
 sions show them to have been cut out ac- 
 cording to the pattern of the avocat Patelin, 
 " le tout bien long, et bien large, et double 
 de meme." 
 
 Without mentioning the under garments,
 
 7^ PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 which are neither more nor less than full- 
 sized petticoats, or the coat a la Polonaise 
 with short sleeves, or the jacket over that with 
 slashed open sleeves, or the rain-cloak over 
 that with no sleeves at all, all of the heaviest 
 and coarsest cloth ; that part of the rider's 
 costume most essential to the comfort of his 
 journey, vulgarly called small-clothes, would, 
 if unstitched and spread out on the floor, 
 make a good-sized carpet. 
 
 To balance so great a load astern, the 
 Tatar wears on his head a calpack, or high 
 bonnet, without a brim, well wadded through- 
 out, particularly at the summit, which is 
 stuffed with several pounds of cotton. The 
 woollen shawl, which swathes the middle in 
 as many folds as those of a Thebaic mummy, 
 serves for a pad, on which rest the pistols and 
 yatagan, supported outwardly by a leather 
 girdle studded with small brass nails and 
 fastened with straps. This girdle affords a 
 convenient cupboard or shelf for every con- 
 venience the messenger can want on the 
 road — his tobacco-pouch, his whip, his pipe, 
 his snuff-box, sometimes a watch of English 
 manufacture, enclosed in a case that might 
 serve for a warming-pan, his steel and flint;
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 73 
 
 everything, in short, is either stuffed into or 
 hanging from it. 
 
 Thus accoutred, Salih Tatar presented 
 himself before Aly Pasha, who, as he tossed 
 him the despatch, said, — " Fail not to deliver 
 this before sunset to Yusuf Arapi, whom 
 thou w T ilt find at the tchiflik of Variadhes. 
 Begone, and spare neither thyself nor thy 
 cattle." 
 
 With such an exhortation, and so en- 
 forced, the man of letters, who knew that on 
 these occasions the Yezir was right punctual 
 in the performance of his promises, stepped 
 into his boots without loss of time, hurried 
 along the gallery and down the stairs, 
 scrambled upon his horse, which was stand- 
 ing in the court, and as he cast a look, not 
 of envy, upon one of his comrades, who was 
 behind time, and who lay groaning on 
 the ground from the effect of the bas- 
 tinado administered to the soles of his feet, 
 he paid the groom, who helped him to 
 mount, with a stroke of his kamchik, ac- 
 companied by the usual blessing, " All aha 
 asmarladyk!" ("We commend you to the 
 keeping of God ! ") The next stroke was 
 applied to the horse of the Surejee, who led
 
 74 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 a supplementary beast, with the parting cry 
 of " Yallah!" This was the signal of de- 
 parture. Away they all clattered together 
 through the court, down the narrow lane 
 before described, under the gateway across 
 the drawbridge ; they dashed through the 
 bazars, followed by a host of yelping, mangy 
 curs ; and as the muezzin was chanting 
 forth the call to afternoon prayers, the im- 
 portant courier had crossed the broken pa- 
 lisades and dry ditch which form the forti- 
 fications of Joannina. 
 
 Here we must take our leave of him and 
 the other personages that have been intro- 
 duced in this chapter to the reader's ac- 
 quaintance, to see what in the meantime 
 has befallen the Suliote Dhimitrios Panou, 
 after he had had the good fortune to escape 
 the ambuscade into which his companions 
 and their chief Tzavella had fallen.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 It has been already seen that Dhimitrios 
 Panou did not wait to ascertain the effect 
 of the shot he aimed at Ibrahim Aga, and 
 that, on leaping down from the rock where 
 he had been so dangerously conspicuous, he 
 became entirely concealed from the view of 
 everybody on the opposite side of the river 
 by the irregular cliff, of which that rock 
 formed a part, and which ran some little 
 distance parallel to the stream, Dhimo, 
 apprehending that some of the enemy would 
 be detached in pursuit of him, did not think 
 it prudent to loiter near the spot, although 
 most anxious to ascertain the fate of his 
 less fortunate comrades ; he, therefore, im- 
 mediately struck across the bushes and open 
 ground which lay at the back of the cliff 
 above described, in a direction which led 
 him away from the neighbourhood of the 
 river, and after walking some time by the
 
 76 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 uncertain glimmering of what remained of 
 light, he came to a small stream, which 
 from its course he judged must, at a point 
 lower down, flow into the Calamas. Here, 
 thinking himself secure from pursuit, and 
 nearly ready to drop with hunger and 
 fatigue, he sat down at the foot of a wide- 
 spreading oriental plane, which stretched its 
 great arm across the rivulet, and pulled out 
 of his shirt-sleeve a piece of bread and a 
 head of garlic, the remains of his frugal 
 provision, which, dipped in the running 
 stream, served to allay the cravings of 
 hunger. This done, he had leisure to think 
 of his situation — he had luckily escaped, 
 it was true, the captivity of his comrades, 
 but his good fortune in that respect would 
 redound to his disgrace if he failed using 
 his liberty to warn his country of the 
 danger ; but how was he to accomplish 
 this? He had still before him a journey 
 which a stout untired walker could not 
 perform in less than fifteen hours. Could 
 he, then, expect to get through a hostile 
 tract of country of such extent time enough 
 to put his countrymen on their guard against 
 the sudden attack, no doubt meditated by
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 77 
 
 Aly Pasha ? While tormented with these re- 
 flections, Dhimo perceived advancing along 
 the path, a few paces beyond the rivulet, 
 the figure of a man, mounted on a quadruped 
 of some kind, which appeared to be moving 
 up the little valley that formed the bed of 
 the stream. He instantly resolved to ap- 
 propriate to the service of the Suliote com- 
 monwealth both the beast and his rider, 
 and hastily rising to execute this patriotic 
 determination, he placed himself athwart 
 the pathway. Before the stranger was 
 aware of the rencounter, Dhimo had seized 
 the bridle of the animal, the length of 
 whose ears, just faintly discernible in the 
 dusk, left him doubtful whether it were ass 
 or mule. The rider, thus suddenly ar- 
 rested, exclaimed in great trepidation, " The 
 blessed Panayi'a and all the saints have 
 mercy on us, and guide us on our way ! " — 
 " Amen," replied Dhimo ; " and as we are 
 going the same road, Signor Papas, or 
 Caloyero, I am glad to have the benefit 
 both of your prayers and your company." 
 Dhimitrios suspected from the words and 
 tone, of the man's exclamation that he must 
 belong to the church, and the sound of his
 
 7& PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 voice instantly recalled to his recollection 
 the Dhiako, from whom he had so recently 
 parted. It being no longer possible to dis- 
 tinguish either the dress or features of any 
 one, the Papas had not the means of dis- 
 covering who or what his new companion 
 could be, and as he possessed neither the 
 power nor the inclination to resist the 
 violence which he knew by experience was 
 to be met with on the high road at all 
 hours of the day and night, he had no 
 resource but to endeavour to deceive the 
 Palikari with respect to himself, and to 
 find out who the unknown person was. 
 The Papas framed his answer accordingly, 
 and said, — " Friend, you are pleased to call 
 me Papas ; I know not why : but till you 
 tell me whither you are going, it does not 
 appear quite certain that we have to take 
 the same path." And then feeling that his 
 mule was forcibly pulled by the stranger 
 the opposite way, he applied his hand to 
 a sore place on the animal's back, which 
 presently set him kicking most furiously, to 
 the great danger of Dhimo's limbs. The 
 Papas, who knew and was well used to 
 these tricks which he had thus provoked,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 79 
 
 exclaimed, " Oh, Panayia ! oh, Ayio Nikola ! 
 oh, Ayio Vasili ! it signifies little which 
 way we, either of us, mean to go, as long 
 as this brute gives not his consent. Oh, 
 Panayia ! friend, for Heaven's sake let the 
 beast pass on, or you will get kicked ! " 
 Dhimitrios was not in a humour to be 
 trifled with, or inclined to lose such a good 
 opportunity of getting on with greater ex- 
 pedition to the end of his journey. 
 
 He drew his pistol in anger, and, thrust- 
 ing it into the Papas's face, swore, w T ith a 
 great oath, by the very saints which the 
 reverend person himself had invoked, that 
 if he did not instantly quiet his mule, and 
 dismount, he would blow his brains out. 
 The Papas no sooner felt the cold muzzle 
 tickling his beard than he left off his pro- 
 vocatives, and obeyed the peremptory sum- 
 mons, not without inwardly bewailing his 
 ill fortune at having, for the second time in 
 one day, been compelled to act as shatir* 
 to those who had no right to the princely 
 privilege. Dhimo then mounted, and, 
 slinging his musket across his back, told 
 the Papas to guide his mule by the nearest 
 * Running footman.
 
 80 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 path to the ford of the river Calamas, near 
 Sarcovitza, which he knew would bring 
 him into the road leading to Suli, at the 
 back of Mount Oulitchka. " And mark 
 you, my friend," said he with a stern voice 
 to the Papas, " the first step you make to 
 escape from me shall be your last ; for, 
 though we can't see each other's faces, I 
 discern enough of your carcase to know 
 where a bullet can be most convenientlv 
 
 ml 
 
 lodged to stop your further progress." 
 
 " The Lord defend me ! " said the priest. 
 " How should I attempt to escape, even if I 
 would or could leave my poor mule behind ? 
 I should not know the road to the ford you 
 mention in broad daylight, much less in the 
 dark." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the Suliote, " so you said 
 this afternoon, when you told Ibrahim Aga 
 you knew nothing of the way, and yet nobody 
 could make a better guide than you proved 
 to be." 
 
 This speech was a light for the Papas, 
 which immediately enabled him to trace the 
 character, condition, and circumstances of his 
 unknown companion. His dialect had already 
 induced the Papas to conclude the stranger
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 81 
 
 was a true Greek, and probably a Suliote. 
 "Indeed, friend, I know no more of this Ibra- 
 him Aga, or of the road you say I led him to- 
 day, than this poor beast you are riding on. 
 How, in the name of Heaven, should you 
 know anything of a man vou now meet for the 
 first time, and in utter darkness ? for if you 
 don't see more of my face than I of yours, 
 
 vou must be the wicked one himself to dis- 
 
 j 
 
 tinguish one feature from another." — " It 
 does not signify how I came to know vou," 
 replied Dhimo, ■' or whether I can see in 
 the dark or not ; so now, on to the ford at 
 once, or, by all the saints, I will blow your 
 brains out this instant!" 
 
 u Nay," said the priest, li if you will have 
 it so, who am I to withstand your will ? As 
 for knowing the path this* way or that, to be 
 sure there are few points between Agioi 
 Saranda and Arta, that I am not pretty 
 well acquainted with ; but I had better lead 
 the animal, as the road is none of the best 
 along this bank of the stream." 
 
 Dhimo, finding the priest now tho- 
 roughly frightened into submission, con- 
 sented to this modification of his command, 
 the more readily as, by sparing the mule 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 now, he should get on the faster when light 
 returned. 
 
 In this manner they proceeded with slow 
 and cautious steps by the path which fol- 
 lowed the windings of the stream in its 
 course to join the Calamas. It was a long 
 and weary night for both — for the Papas, 
 who was compelled to serve as a guide to a 
 man who perhaps might after all knock him 
 on the head at the end of the journey by way 
 of reward ; and for the Palikari, who cared 
 not a pinch of gunpowder what became of 
 the Papas or his mule, so they conducted 
 him safe and in time to Suli, but who was 
 disquieted with a thousand apprehensions of 
 being impeded in his way thither by some 
 untoward adventure. 
 
 As the day began to glimmer in the east, 
 the louder flow of waters gave notice of 
 their approach to the Calamas, the course 
 of which was hardly perceptible through the 
 morning vapours, which still lay immovable 
 at the bottom of the valley, giving it the 
 appearance of a calm sea by moonlight. 
 
 Dhimo's impatience, as the slow-footed 
 beast now took the path which led to the 
 river's bank, increased with every step ; the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 83 
 
 desire to gain the ford of Sarcovitza before 
 he could be overtaken by any of the Pasha's 
 scouts had so occupied his thoughts, that he 
 fancied when that object should be attained 
 his labours and difficulties would be over. 
 He therefore pressed forward the mule by 
 every means of excitement he possessed, 
 kicking its sides alternately, first with one 
 heel then with the other, and last of all with 
 both ; jerking the bridle sharply, and goad- 
 ing its flank with the sharp butt of his long 
 musket, not forgetting at the same time to 
 apply like stimuli to his unwilling guide, who 
 groaned as much for his four-legged com- 
 panion as for himself. At length the three 
 reached the river's bank. 
 
 "This must be the ford," said the Papas. 
 "I know it by that remnant of bridge which 
 you see just raised above the water, and 
 which was swept away in the great inun- 
 dation. Here, let me take the bridle, and I 
 w T ill lead the beast across the water more 
 safely than you can by thumping and kicking 
 at this rate ; there are some holes in the 
 middle, which if you were once to get into 
 all your violence would be of no avail to get 
 you out again." 
 
 g2
 
 84 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 So saying, the priest tucked up the skirts 
 of his loose robe, and thrusting them into his 
 girdle, took off his shoes, rolled up his 
 trousers above his knees, and then, taking 
 fast hold of the animal's head-gear, advanced 
 cautiously into the water. 
 
 The Palikari reserved whatever resent- 
 ment he might feel at the reproof of his 
 conductor till he should be safely landed on 
 the wished- for bank ; he said nothing, but 
 looked anxiously forward to see whether he 
 could discern through the grey mist any 
 appearance of a foe; when, at the moment 
 the mule, under the guidance of the Dhiako, 
 was making sure his footing upon the shore, 
 the animal, suddenly starting aside, escaped 
 from his owner's gripe, scrambled violently 
 up a steeper part of the bank, leaving his 
 rider behind him in an amphibious state, 
 half wet, half dry, and so confounded by the 
 suddenness of the unexpected movement as 
 to remain for a few seconds quite unconscious 
 of the cause which had produced it. As 
 Dhimo, still half-stunned, stretched out his 
 hand to feel where he lay, it came in contact 
 with something cold and fleshy, and the first 
 object which met his eyes as he slowly raised
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 85 
 
 himself from the ground was the lifeless body 
 of a man, whose bust just emerging from the 
 water rested on the shore, while the le^s were 
 slowly heaved up and down by the action of 
 the flowing water, which on this side was 
 two or three feet deep. The dead man's 
 face was turned to the earth; one of his arms 
 entangled in the bushes, served as the anchor 
 which prevented the body floating farther 
 down the river. 
 
 Dhimo, whether impelled by the instinc- 
 tive curiosity which arses mortals to look, 
 although they shudder at the sight, upon the 
 horrid features of death, or by some more 
 particular motive, pulled back the head by 
 the top lock, which showed it to be a Mus- 
 sulman's, and having caught a glimpse of 
 the ghastly face, he instantly let it fall, 
 exclaiming, — " By all the saints and the 
 holy Panayi'a, 'tis he himself! who would 
 have expected to have met him here at this 
 time of day ? " 
 
 It is indeed the same — the very same," 
 answered the Dhiako ; who, between the 
 sudden flight of his mule, the fall of the 
 Palikari, and the appearance of the corpse, 
 had remained fixed to the spot where the
 
 86 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 former had left him, and was only restored 
 to his recollection by the unexpected sight 
 of features, which he immediately recognised 
 to he those of the imperious chief, whose 
 will he had but a few hours before been 
 forced to obey, and the marks of whose 
 authority he still felt impressed upon his 
 shoulders. 
 
 On hearing the Dhiako's exclama- 
 tion, Dhimo turned to him, saying, in a 
 tone of triumph at the sagacity he had 
 displayed on their first encounter in the 
 dark, — " So then, brother, the Effendi is 
 an acquaintance of yours ! and you must 
 have known Ibrahim Aga's face well, or 
 you could not so readily have recognised it 
 in the pickle he is now in. Come, come ; 
 there is no use dissembling any further : 
 you can't deny that you were pressed into 
 our service yesterday, and a fatal service 
 you performed, but it was no fault of yours ; 
 and you have now an opportunity of partly 
 repairing the mischief this perfidious wretch 
 was the instrument of, by being as true a 
 guide to me onwards to Suli as you were in 
 leading my unhappy companions into the
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 87 
 
 The Dhiako, hearing himself addressed 
 in such a friendly tone by the Palikari, and 
 being confirmed in his previous conjecture 
 that his companion was a Suliote and a 
 Christian, felt the confidence which na- 
 turally arises in the bosom of the oppressed 
 towards those whom they know to groan 
 under the same oppression. But there was 
 no time now ; and this was not the spot 
 for further explanation. Dhimo ordered the 
 Dhiako to hasten and secure his mule, 
 whilst he, hastily exploring the dripping gar- 
 ments of the late Aga, to ascertain whether 
 there were anything worth transferring to 
 his own possession, perceived a small silver 
 box or pocket-book suspended at his neck 
 and under one arm by a leathern thong, 
 such as Turks are in the habit of wearing 
 for the purpose of preserving talismans 01 
 sentences of the Koran. Nothing else re- 
 mained worth having ; for the girdle having 
 been loosened by the force of the water, 
 as the body floated down the stream, the 
 wearer's pistols, and what other arms he 
 might have worn, had no doubt sunk tc 
 the bottom. Having snatched away the 
 silver box, Dhimo disentangled the arm
 
 88 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 
 
 which had caught in the rushes, then giving 
 the corpse a kick, which pushed it back into 
 the river, — " There, go," said he ; " may 
 thy infidel soul float on the billows of ever- 
 lasting fire, as thy carcase now does on this 
 water ; and may thy flesh be the food of 
 wolves and vultures, such as thy hated 
 master and his satellites ! " 
 
 Saying this, he took up his long musket, 
 which had fallen with him ; hurried over 
 the bank, and joined his ecclesiastical com- 
 panion, just as the latter had secured his 
 mule, which had taken the opportunity of 
 this short episode to collect a scanty meal 
 from the bushes and briers which fringed 
 the stream.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The travellers had still before them a tedious 
 long march through a difficult country, rough 
 with mountains and obstructed by narrow 
 defiles. They had thus no lack of oppor- 
 tunity for mutual cross-examination as to 
 each other's history and pursuits ; but, 
 Greeks though they were, their natural 
 inquisitiveness was at first kept under re- 
 straint by the anxious circumstances in which 
 they were both placed. 
 
 The Suliote could think of nothing but 
 the misfortune of his comrades, and the 
 danger it foreboded to his country. The 
 Papas thought only of his mule, revolving, 
 as he trudged on by its side, various schemes 
 for its liberation and his own from the 
 dominion of his impatient companion, who, 
 solely intent upon his important object, con- 
 tinued to press forward without mercy either 
 to the beast or its owner. As the noontide
 
 90 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 heat began to be felt the Papas broke the 
 long silence each had observed, by declaring 
 he could not stir a step further without some 
 refreshment, and he proposed to the Palikari 
 to rest a while near a spring in a retired dell, 
 to which the bye-path they had taken to 
 avoid observation had now led them. 
 
 To this Dhimo consented, with that 
 grace which necessity forces upon the most 
 unwilling. The Papas was too valuable a 
 guide to be left behind, and it was evident 
 that he must soon drop if he were not 
 allowed some repose. 
 
 The Palikari, therefore, reluctantly dis- 
 mounted ; the mule was turned loose to pick 
 up his dinner where he could, while his 
 reverend master produced from a goat's-hair 
 bag which hung across the saddle all the 
 apparatus necessary for making coffee. A fire 
 was verv soon lighted by means of the flint and 
 steel, which every smoker in Turkey carries 
 about him ; some branches and leaves torn 
 from the Agnus Castus and Rhodhodaphne 
 which fringed the margin of the little rivulet 
 that issued from the spring supplied the 
 fuel, and in a few minutes the tin ibrik was 
 bubbling and foaming with genuine Moka,
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 91 
 
 which the old man presented in a small cup, 
 boiling hot, to the Palikari. The unexpected 
 treat produced the most kindly effects upon 
 the spirits and humour of Dhimo. His kief 
 revived at every sip he took, and when the 
 Papas presented him with his stump of a 
 pipe, saying, " Courage, my child, courage, 
 we shall see Suli yet before nightfall," the 
 Suliote accepted the omen with an approving 
 smile and a lengthened puff of smoke, the 
 first he had enjoyed, as he declared, since he 
 had quitted home. 
 
 With that puff vanished all further ap- 
 pearance of suspicion and reserve between 
 the two Greeks, who now eagerly seized the 
 opportunity to indulge their innate loquacity 
 by mutual inquiries after each other's affairs, 
 the respective answers to which contained 
 not more truth than suited the convenience 
 of the interlocutors. 
 
 The soldier being the strongest, felt no 
 need of disguise towards his humble com- 
 panion ; and his story, which corresponded 
 nearly enough with the preceding narrative, 
 was soon told. The Papas was not so frank ; 
 he concealed from the Suliote that the real 
 object of the journey, in which he had been
 
 92 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 interrupted, was to fleece the unfortunate in- 
 habitants of some Christian villages beyond 
 Zitza, under the title of tithes and other 
 church dues, in order to provide for the pay- 
 ment of the interest of five per cent per month 
 due to the Vezir by the Bishop cf Joannina, 
 upon a sum of money which his Highness had 
 liberally pressed his All Holiness to borrow 
 of him on those moderate terms ; this being 
 one of the common forms of avania, or ways 
 and means, which figure in the budget of a 
 three-tailed pasha. The reverend collector 
 feared that the too-candid confession of the 
 truth might subject his bags and girdle to 
 the investigation of the Palikari, who would 
 have thought it equally an act of justice and 
 of patriotism to seize upon property destined 
 to find its way at last into the coffers of the 
 enemy. He therefore merely owned that he 
 was going to settle some outstanding accounts 
 of eggs, oil, and other articles of ecclesiastical 
 consumption, with his spiritual brethren at 
 Zitza, the metokhi, and other neighbouring 
 convents, and then to buy some snuff at the 
 tobacco mills situated higher up the stream, 
 on the banks of which he had had the honour 
 of his fortunate rencounter the preceding
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 93 
 
 night with so brave a Palikari. At the 
 same time, to show that he was duly attentive 
 to the duties of his calling, the cure of souls, 
 the Papas added: "I had besides several 
 villages to bless and purify, and not a few 
 poor Christians to shrive, who I sadly fear 
 must now go on sinning unpardoned and 
 unabsolved for the next twelvemonth." 
 
 rt 'T is a sad reprobate state to live in," 
 continued he, with a sanctified look, as he 
 knocked out the ashes of his pipe, which 
 Dhimo had thorouffhlv drained; "and I 
 think, my son, thou wouldest do well to profit 
 by so blessed an opportunity of performing 
 the duty of confession, which all good 
 Christians are bound to do at this holy 
 season of Easter." — "Well," said Dhimo, 
 " as we have nothing more to talk about, I 
 have no particular objection ; provided you 
 do it quickly, and promise me absolution for 
 knocking that Turk on the head." — " Oh, 
 if that is all thou hast on thy conscience, my 
 child," answered the Confessor, "thoumayest 
 rest in peace. No good Catholic ever yet 
 went to the evil one merely for sending an 
 odd Turk or two thither before his time. If 
 thou art only as guiltless in the other and
 
 94 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 far more important matters of keeping Lent, 
 paying thy vows to the Panayia, to Ayio 
 
 Nikola, Ayio Dimitir, Ayio " " Enough, 
 
 enough," interrupted the Palikari, as he 
 fumhied in his bosom. " Here is something 
 may occupy us more usefully just now, than 
 examining the state of my soul ; how could 
 I have overlooked it so long?" continued he, 
 opening the little silver casket of which we 
 have seen him despoil the drowned Aga. 
 " This paper may reveal some secrets worth 
 knowing ; take it, father/' said he, and 
 handed over the scrap to the Papas. " Do 
 you decipher these letters, while I go and 
 catch our mule yonder, and let me know T if 
 perchance they concern our affairs of Suli." 
 a Our mule, forsooth!" muttered the 
 priest, as Dhimo went off in search of the 
 animal, — " Our affairs! Kyrie Eleyson, — 
 Lord, help us I" (and he crossed himself.) 
 " Since when have we set up partners in 
 trade? I wish the villain took no more 
 interest in my poor beasty, than I do in him 
 and his dirty affairs ; I should not have 
 troubled him long with my company. Ah, 
 Panayiamou ! were I but safe out of the 
 thief's clutches I would burn ten tapers to
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 95 
 
 thy honour at every shrine throughout the 
 Ayion Oros, and walk to Jerusalem barefoot 
 into the bargain. Then as to this writing 
 the knave wants me to help him out with. 
 Kyrie Eleyson, what have I to do with it ? 
 Am I to be dhhlhaskalos (schoolmaster) to 
 every ignorant blockhead that can't read for 
 himself? Was not I plagued enough with 
 learning my own Alpha, Beta, Gamma, 
 Delta, but must teach them besides to such 
 an illiterate animal as this ? O Theos na 
 phylaxi ! " (God forbid !) 
 
 The fact is, during this sulky soliloquy, 
 our reverend friend having unfolded the 
 paper recommended to his perusal by the 
 Palikari, discovered to his mortification that 
 all the learning he had been plagued with 
 would not help him out in deciphering it. 
 It was a most crabbed manuscript ; and the 
 good man's studies had never extended 
 beyond the great point of the Psalterion and 
 the hymns of the Doxastika, of which, to his 
 honour be it spoken, he could chant that 
 to the praise of Saint Spiridion, and another 
 in honour of the holy, glorious, arch- 
 martyr, St. George the Dragon-slayer, with 
 his eyes shut, having been in the habit of so
 
 96 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 doing for five-and- twenty years past. When, 
 therefore, Dhimo returned, leading the mule, 
 the Papas restored to him the manuscript, 
 declaring with imperturbable gravity " that 
 it was only a Dervish's talisman ; of no great 
 value, indeed, as it had saved its owner 
 neither from shooting nor drowning." — 
 "Perhaps," replied Dhimo, "the dog had 
 only bargained against hanging and impaling. 
 Be that as it may, the paper will serve to 
 make a cartridge," and he was returning it 
 to the box when his eye glanced upon the 
 superscription. 
 
 " How is this, friend ?" said the Palikari, 
 dropping the mule's bridle from his arm, 
 " a Dervish's talisman ! Why, these are 
 Romaik characters ! I am not so learned 
 as you priests are, but yet I know my 
 letters and can write my name at full 
 length ; let see, let see !" and he looked 
 eagerly at the inside. "By the holy Vir- 
 gin, this talisman contains my country's 
 fate. 'Tis no other than Aly Pasha's 
 buyurdee to Ibrahim Aga ! Here's his 
 private seal in the corner, and if that word be 
 not Suli, and this other Tzavella, I am no 
 Suliote. Oh that I had been bred a gram-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 97 
 
 matikos, that I might make out the tyrant's 
 secret thoughts which this scrap registers ! 
 It were indeed a talisman worth possessing ! " 
 
 But Dhimo's intense curiosity on a subject 
 which so nearly concerned himself, his com- 
 rades, and his country, was not to he rebutted 
 even by the sentiment of his own unfortunate 
 ignorance. No antiquarian poring over an 
 incomprehensible hieroglyphic, ever studied 
 with zeal and perseverance equal to that of 
 the illiterate soldier. He compared one 
 letter with another letter, and one flourish 
 with another flourish, he turned the paper 
 upside down, looked at it sideways, till by 
 dint of puzzling and spelling he fancied he 
 had made out a meaning. Right or wrong, 
 it roused him from the reverie into which 
 this unusual literary effort had plunged him 
 for several minutes ; and, as he hastily re- 
 placed the precious document into its case, 
 he exclaimed, M Now, learned father, move 
 on quickly ; not one instant more must we 
 loiter on our way : move on, move on!" 
 
 The old man, however, had not waited 
 this injunction to move on ; for during the 
 Palikari's studies he had silently moved off; 
 and when Dhimo looking up cast his eyes 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 round him on every side, neither Papas nor 
 mule were anywhere to be seen. 
 
 The spot was the most favourable that 
 could have been selected for effecting so 
 sudden an evasion. It was a green sward, 
 kept perpetually fresh by a rill that trickled 
 from the neighbouring spring. A thick 
 copse entirely surrounding it formed an im- 
 pervious screen, beyond which not all the 
 eyes of Argus could have discovered any 
 creature that chose it for a hiding-place. 
 
 But one path out of this labyrinth was 
 doubtfully perceptible to the anxious eye of 
 the Suliote, and that appeared to lead up an 
 ascent, the steepness of which was disguised 
 by the thickness of the wood, in a direction 
 nearly corresponding with that of his journey 
 onward. 
 
 On the other side the sudden declivity 
 of the ground, concealed though it were by 
 the wood, was indicated by the course of the 
 little stream, and by the more distinct 
 gleaming of the sky. No one unacquainted 
 with the place could suspect that a practi- 
 cable road for man or beast was to be found 
 by following the windings of the stream, 
 which a few paces off, swollen by the junction
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 99 
 
 of many others, fell over an abrupt edge, and 
 went plunging from one steep to another, till 
 it finally gained the vale of the Calamas, 
 from whence our travellers had ascended. 
 
 The first movement of Dhimo's mind 
 was to suspect the treachery of his vanished 
 comrade ; but as it was impossible for him 
 to know the trap-door by which the old 
 fellow had made his exit from the scene, and 
 he had no time to lose in hunting for it, the 
 solitary Palikari hastened up the only path 
 which he could distinguish amid the dense 
 underwood, hoping at every turn to come up 
 with his Papas. A few minutes' walk brought 
 him to the skirt of the wood, which had 
 hitherto impeded his view ; and he found 
 himself upon a bare and heathy height, 
 whence his practised eye could at length 
 discern, amid the confused sea of mountains 
 which crowded the horizon, the peak which 
 marked the situation of Suli. 
 
 The Palikari's spirit revived at the sight, 
 and the pleasure it gave him was so great as 
 almost to have made him forget the Papas, 
 had he not in looking back over the woods 
 he had just emerged from, • down into the 
 vale far below, perceived a figure, which he 
 h2
 
 100 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 presently recognised to be that of the old 
 traitor, moving along in a diametrically 
 opposite direction, at the full trot of his 
 darling mule. 
 
 Dhimo's mortification at having been so 
 egregiously outwitted by the priest was 
 exasperated by the proof now under his eyes 
 of the precious conveyance he had lost. In 
 the first moment of rage, he levelled his 
 musket and was about to let fly an useless 
 shot after him, when the reflection that he 
 had better reserve his ammunition for more 
 important service restrained his hand. He 
 then turned away, and as he advanced on 
 the line, (for road there was none,) which 
 he judged would conduct him to his wished- 
 for home, he vented his disappointment in 
 a general anathema against the whole eccle- 
 siastical establishment, repeating aloud, with 
 all the energy of impotent anger, a distich, 
 the elegance and force of which can be ap- 
 preciated only by those who have the good 
 fortune to be acquainted with the delicacies 
 of the Turkish and Eomaik tongues ; of 
 which the following is a mild version : — 
 
 " Monks and priests, and birds of that feather, 
 Are all a pack of rogues together."
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 101 
 
 But the grand object now before him 
 soon engaged all Dhimo's thoughts, and ab- 
 sorbed every other passion. His anxiety to 
 reach Suli increased with every step he took 
 towards it, making him totally unconscious 
 of fatigue ; and as no adventure occurred to 
 detain him, he had crossed the mountain 
 which forms the northern boundary of that 
 celebrated district, descended into its deeply- 
 sheltered glen, and already could perceive 
 the scattered towers, or pyrgoi, which then 
 formed the little capital of the nation, as the 
 last gleam of the sun, long since invisible to 
 the inhabitants of the valley, faded away 
 from the impending heights of Trypa and 
 Cugni. 
 
 No sound was to be heard but the 
 drowsy tinklings of the goat-bells, as the 
 flocks were moving along the narrow moun- 
 tain-paths to their night-folds, the distant 
 barking of the goatherd's dog, and the mo- 
 notonous rushing of a mountain-stream. 
 This sound recalled to Dhimo's memory the 
 fatal scene he had escaped from but just 
 twenty-four hours since, and roused with 
 tenfold force his anxiety to proclaim the 
 news, which would convert the now peaceful
 
 102 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 spot into one of alarm, confusion, and war- 
 like preparation. But to whom should he 
 first address himself, since all were equally 
 interested in the intelligence ? As, filled 
 with these thoughts, he drew nearer and 
 nearer, the hollow twang of the sounding- 
 board, which, suspended at the door of 
 Greek churches, supplies the place of the 
 forbidden bell, smote upon his ear. It an- 
 nounced the vigil of a saint's day, and sum- 
 moned the inhabitants to prayers. The 
 sound was to Dhimo like a call from heaven. 
 He resolved to. go straight to the church, 
 and announce his tidings to the assembled 
 community. The summoning sound had 
 ceased when Dhimo reached the humble 
 building", here dignified with the name of 
 church. On bending his head to pass 
 through the low and narrow door, he per- 
 ceived the priest already standing at the 
 further end, just about to commence the 
 service ; while the congregation on their 
 knees, with their faces turned towards the 
 altar, were waiting in perfect silence the 
 signal to join in worship. A single taper 
 of yellow wax, of gigantic size, which glared 
 before the picture of the Panayia Theotokos,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 103 
 
 set in a gilt frame above the altar, threw a 
 dim religious light upon the countenance 
 and figure of the priest, which was barely 
 sufficient to enable him to read from the 
 book he held with both his hands. The 
 rest of the building and the people crowded 
 in it was involved in deep shade, making it 
 impossible for Dhimo, to whom the backs of 
 all were turned, to distinguish one individual 
 from another: he, for the same reason, entered 
 unnoticed by all. The fatal messenger stood 
 a moment in doubt, restrained by the sanctity 
 of the place from interrupting the sacred 
 purpose for which all were met. But the 
 burden of his secret was too great for him to 
 bear any longer. " Stop ! stop ! " he sud- 
 denly cried out, with a loud, impatient voice, 
 at the instant the Papas, who had been in- 
 tent on looking out for his place, was open- 
 ing his mouth to commence the service. So 
 extraordinary a cry, bursting thus unex- 
 pectedly in the midst of the prevailing 
 silence, caused everv head in the church to 
 turn towards the spot from whence it pro- 
 ceeded. The minister let drop his book and 
 looked up with indignant amazement : in a 
 tone which indicated more of the resolution
 
 104 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 of a man of the sword than of the meekness 
 of a Christian preacher, he exclaimed, — 
 " What sacrilegious voice is that which 
 dares thus forbid the word of God in his 
 own house?" The Palikari gave no an- 
 swer, but advanced, with a hurried step, up 
 the narrow passage left vacant by the kneel- 
 ing throng ; his foot stumbled against the 
 broken pavement, and his heavy musket 
 escaping from his grasp rattled upon the 
 stones ; he fell headlong with all the weight 
 of his exhausted frame, and lay like dead 
 at the feet of the priest. Subdued at length 
 by excess of fatigue, Dhimo was in fact 
 unable to move a limb. " Who art thou, 
 fellow?" said the priest, looking down upon 
 the body with a glance, where anger, cu- 
 riosity, and compassion were strangely 
 blended. A few inarticulate syllables, suc- 
 ceeded by a groan, were the only reply to 
 the questions. The reverend man now bent 
 forward to examine what he believed to be a 
 corpse, stretched out before him ; he turned 
 the face upward towards the light, and start- 
 ing back, as if he had seen a spectre, ex- 
 claimed in a voice of astonishment, — '* Dhi- 
 mitrios Panou here ! And the rest, where
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 105 
 
 are they ?" The name of Dhimitrios Panou 
 acted like an electric shock upon the whole 
 assembly. It was repeated in the various 
 tones of surprise, curiosity, and alarm, by 
 every individual present. 
 
 The religious ceremony being now en- 
 tirely at a stand, every one crowded forward 
 to give his assistance to the Palikari (with 
 whom all claimed some degree of kindred or 
 friendship), and who still continued without 
 signs of life. He, most probably, never 
 would have given any more, unless the women 
 in the church had reminded their husbands 
 and brothers that the poor man (o tyupsvog), if 
 not dead already, could not possibly breathe 
 without air. " Bear him out ! bear him 
 out!" was now the general cry; and the 
 nearest man immediately lifted up the body 
 and carried it to the outside, pressed upon 
 by the others, who must have a look, al- 
 though there was no light to see bv. As 
 they issued in a stream from the church 
 every one called aloud for light. "Phos, 
 phos," was repeated from one mouth to an- 
 other, till a woman from the nearest pyrgo 
 came running with her apron full of pine- 
 root splinters. One of these was soon
 
 106 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 lighted at the taper in the church, and the 
 others being hastily distributed among the 
 anxious assistants, the whole place was in- 
 stantly in a blaze. In the meanwhile the 
 men had deposited their burden upon a bed 
 formed of capotes, spread out upon the 
 ground a few paces from the church ; and 
 as all stood round, the Papas, to whom 
 every one gave way, as to him whose duty it 
 was to administer relief, if any could avail, 
 knelt by Dhimo's side, and held a pine-torch 
 to his mouth, to ascertain by the motion 
 of the flame whether he yet breathed. His 
 haggard, way-worn features, pale and shining, 
 with a death-like damp, looked still more 
 ghastly by the red glare which fell on them. 
 At the same instant the woman we have 
 already mentioned, pushing through the 
 crowd of by-standers, came and dashed some 
 water, cold from the spring, in the fainting 
 man's face. The sudden shock arrested his 
 fleeting senses. He slowly opened his eyes 
 and stared stupidly on the scene ; after a 
 few moments of recollection he feebly turned 
 his head towards the Papas, and strove in 
 vain to utter an articulate sound. The 
 priest encouraged his efforts by speaking
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 107 
 
 first: *' Eh more Dhimitraki" (lyzhaczg rov 
 Xago.) " So, friend Dhimitraki, thou hast 
 cheated Charon!"* 
 
 The Palikari's look seemed to express a 
 doubt whether he were reallv still among 
 the living, or were not actually defunct, and 
 bargaining with the old ferryman for his 
 passage across the Styx. In truth, Papas 
 Samuel's head exactly corresponded with 
 Dante's description of " Caron Dimonio." 
 " Un vecchio bianco per antico pelo — lanose 
 gote — occhi di bragio." — " The old man, 
 white with age ; the woolly cheeks ; the 
 eyes of flame ;" every feature was there. 
 
 He guessed Dhimo's doubt, and replied 
 to it, — "Dost thou not know me, Dhimo? 
 thy friend, Papas Samuel, and thy other 
 friends round thee? Tell me, where and 
 how didst thou leave the sixty and nine — 
 our brave Tzavella and the Palikaria?' , 
 
 At the name of Tzavella, Dhimo heaved 
 a deep sigh, which seemed to ascend from 
 his inmost soul ; the woman who had re- 
 mained near with her pitcher watching his 
 gradual recovery, dropped on her knees, and 
 
 * Vide Note.
 
 108 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 exclaimed with a bitter cry, "Speak! does 
 Tzavella live? — and Photo ?" 
 
 Dhimo took from his bosom the Turk's 
 silver box, and dropping it from his power- 
 less fingers, faintly said, u Read! — perfidy!" 
 Then turning his eyes upon the woman, and 
 lifting his hand to his mouth, he added, 
 "Bread!" At this she started upon her 
 feet, and disappeared with the swiftness of 
 lightning ; while Samuel, having picked up 
 the box, and drawn from it the paper which 
 contained the fatal secret, read aloud as 
 follows : — 
 
 " These are the commands of the Vezir 
 Aly Pasha to Ibrahim Aga of Paramythia." 
 
 The face of every Suliote present, as he 
 leant forward to listen, expressed disdain, 
 mingled with curiosity, at the word " com- 
 mands," coupled with the name of one no 
 Suliote had ever yet acknowledged for his 
 master. 
 
 " You are to conduct Capitan Tzavella 
 and his band from the frontier of Suli on 
 the road towards Argyro Castro. You will 
 give due notice of your coming to Omer 
 Bey, who will be waiting for you at the falls 
 of Glyzani, below Zitza, with a sufficient
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 109 
 
 force to seize Tzavella and his men. They 
 must, if possible, be all taken alive ; if not, 
 let them not be spared. This being effected, 
 you will send me the news forthwith by a 
 Tatar in attendance at the monastery of 
 Zitza, and march with Omer Bey, and all 
 his men, by the road of Paramythia, to seize 
 the Dervent, giving news thereof to Yusuf 
 Arapi at Variadhes. Let these commands 
 be obeyed without fail." 
 
 These lines were heard in breathless 
 silence till the reader came to the words, 
 " let them not be spared.'.' 
 
 Here a groan of indignation and rage, 
 indicating a deep-felt desire for revenge, 
 burst from the whole assembly. Each vented 
 his feelings in curses on the perfidy of the 
 tyrant, in reproaches on himself for having 
 listened to his professions of friendship, and 
 anxious forebodings of the fate of his be- 
 trayed comrades. 
 
 While all were thus occupied the wo- 
 man had returned with food, which Dhimo 
 would have snatched from her hand, had she 
 not gently withheld him, feeding him deli- 
 cately, like a sick child, as she knelt by his 
 side, watching his countenance to observe
 
 110 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 how far he recovered. When she perceived 
 his strength gradually reviving with her 
 care, she said, "Dhimo, thou knowest me 
 now ; tell me what became of my boy, my 
 Photo ? Was he not spared, or did he fall 
 nobly under his father's eyes ? Hide nothing 
 from me." As she spoke, Tzavella's wife 
 fixed her keen dark eyes on Dhimo's, watch- 
 ing their still languid expression, as if 
 anxious to detect the truth she yet dreaded 
 to hear. 
 
 " Spare thy fears, woman," was Dhimo's 
 reply ; " they live ; more than that I know 
 not." But there was no time to lose in 
 making inquiries as to the past ; the pre- 
 sent imminent danger portended by the 
 letter of the enemy was instantly to be pro- 
 vided against. The Papas waited a few 
 moments to let the tumult occasioned by its 
 perusal subside, and then lifting on high 
 his torch, as a signal to his audience to keep 
 silence, he said, — 
 
 " My children, the wolf is at the gate of 
 the fold ; he thinks the shepherd asleep : 
 but let us show him that we wake, and the 
 coward thief will fly. Some of our brave 
 ones are not here, but what of that ? We
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. Ill 
 
 are still a match for the traitor. Lose not 
 a moment ; let some march to meet the 
 bloody negro from Variadhes ; I myself will 
 lead to the pass where the other infidel 
 threatens. We will, please God, beat the 
 villains back, if they dare attack us, and 
 then return to our place to thank the God 
 of battles for his protection. Let us be 
 gone ; the blessing of God be on us, and 
 give us strength for the combat." 
 
 This exhortation, spoken with a firm, 
 deep voice, gave double energy to the hearts 
 of his congregation. They received the 
 benediction with reverence, and then hur- 
 ried away each man to his house, snatched 
 up his arms, took such supply of bread and 
 onions as the menage might afford, and in 
 a few minutes the whole were on their 
 march for one of the two threatened points, 
 followed by the blessings and exhortations 
 of the women, who, as each supplied her 
 husband or brother with his extra store of 
 cartridges, bid him bring home some rich 
 spoils from those embroidered soldiers of 
 Joannina, that she might be honoured by 
 her companions at the well. 
 
 Meanwhile, Tzavella's wife, or, for aught
 
 112 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 she knew, his widow, having no warrior to 
 equip, attended still on her husband's friend 
 and comrade, Dhimo. By her care he was 
 removed into a house, where he gradually 
 recovered enough to give a distinct account 
 of all that had befallen his companions and 
 himself; and there, for the present, we must 
 leave him, to see what, in the meantime, has 
 been passing in the enemy's camp.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 113 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The reader must no doubt be impatient by 
 this time to know the contents of the letter 
 which the Tatar Salih was commanded by 
 the despot of Joannina to convey with such 
 portentous speed to Yusuf Arapi at Va- 
 riadhes. If he will gratify his curiosity, 
 he must follow the calpacked messenger 
 along the sunburnt and dusty path leading 
 across the plain, in a south-westerly di- 
 rection, towards the foot of Mount Ou- 
 litchka, ascend the broken hills which form 
 the connecting link of that mountain with 
 the range still further south, and after a 
 hard ride of three or four hours, dismount 
 with Salih at the tchiflik, just as all pious 
 Moslems have spread their carpets, and 
 turned their faces towards the kiabeh of 
 Mecca, to recite their evening prayers. 
 
 The hamlet of Variadhes was now the 
 tchiflik, or private farm, of Aly Pasha — a 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 circumstance which conferred on the few 
 labourers who inhabited it the privilege of 
 being plundered, at first hand, by his High- 
 ness himself, without the intervention of any 
 inferior extortioner. The few miserable cot- 
 tages of which the hamlet consisted were 
 scattered round the principal farm-house, 
 generally occupied by the bailiff, but now 
 serving as the head-quarters of the Vezir's 
 officer to whom Salih Tatar was addressed. 
 The latter made straight for the farm-house, 
 and with the parting admonition of the 
 Pasha, and the groans of his luckless bro- 
 ther bagsman still sounding in his ears, 
 he uttered a grateful "JEl' humd 'ul illah /" 
 (God be praised!) while, giving the final 
 crack of his whip as he dashed like a whirl- 
 wind into the court, he perceived the last 
 gleam of the setting sun lighting up the 
 swarthy features of Yusuf Arapi, who was 
 seated at the open gallery in front of the 
 house, repeating his Aksham Namaz* The 
 signs of impatience which this personage 
 showed in the middle of his devotions, as 
 the Tatar threw himself off his horse and 
 mounted the rickety staircase, his heavy 
 * Evening prayer.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 1 15 
 
 boots clattering, and shaking at every step 
 the ruinous scaffolding, proved that the 
 latter's appearance had been long and 
 anxiously expected. The chief hastily broke 
 off the conference he was holding with his 
 evil genius over his left shoulder, and 
 snatching the important despatch out of the 
 messenger's hand, glanced his eye over its 
 contents, still kneeling as if in prayer. 
 
 While he is thus employed, we may take 
 the opportunity of informing the reader who 
 and what Yusuf Arapi was. 
 
 He was, as his name imports, of African 
 origin — the term Ardpi being given by the 
 Turks to that portion of mankind whose 
 complexion is not compounded of the lily 
 and the rose. But Yusuf Arapi was not 
 a pure negro. One of his parents had con- 
 tributed enough of white blood to soften 
 down the jet of the Ethiopian skin into a 
 tinge of pale mahogany. A slight, black 
 beard, thinly scattered along the edge of his 
 chin, could neither be called wool nor yet 
 hair. The natural length and leanness of 
 his gaunt face were increased by the unusual 
 fashion in which a yellow shawl was tied in 
 folds high round his head, and as his dark 
 12
 
 116 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 bloodshot eyes glared from line to line of the 
 letter, which he seemed to read with some 
 difficulty, their appearance justified the de- 
 scription of a Bakal of Joannina, who likened 
 them to black olives floating in rancid oil. 
 The whole expression of his countenance cor- 
 responded well with the known character of 
 the man, and with his title of Hcemovoros 
 (Blood-drinker), which the exploits of this 
 famous Laid, or tutor, of Aly Pasha had 
 gained for him throughout Albania. 
 
 He is thus aptly described by a contem- 
 porary poet of the country : — 
 
 " He is a breaker of bones and shoulder- 
 blades ; he is the destroyer of robbers in 
 the wild mountains. All the princes of 
 Roumili bow down before him, and kiss the 
 black hand of the Lala. When he goes 
 forth into the plains of Thessaly, the robbers 
 learn the news, — the dogs dig holes and 
 crouch into the dark earth. The banditti 
 are then no more to be found in the narrow 
 passes ; they all tremble for fear of the 
 iEthiop, both Turks and rayahs. Upon 
 whomever he once draws his sword he never 
 more shows pity ; for he has a black face, 
 and he keeps no reckoning of death. He
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 117 
 
 never reflects upon death, or that he also is 
 to die. As for the narrow grave, that never 
 enters into his thoughts. His master, Aly 
 Pasha, holds him in high estimation, as the 
 man of his confidence and his faithful trea- 
 surer. He has the charge of all the Yezir's 
 affairs, and none other but he. He also 
 commands the troops, and Aly Pasha never 
 inquires of him, ' What are you at, you black 
 fellow ? ' He has a most venomous look ; 
 his body is black; and, in short, whenever 
 Aly Pasha goes away, he leaves his Lala 
 behind to attend to his concerns, and to give 
 and take in his name." 
 
 The arrival of an express from the Vezir 
 was an event of too considerable importance 
 in such a place as Variadhes not to be 
 instantly known to every creature in it ; 
 so that by the time Yusuf Arapi had 
 finished spelling his despatch, all the dogs 
 in the village had barked or growled out 
 their notes of welcome, and the different 
 Capitans who were under his orders were 
 assembled in the gallery, to know 7 how far 
 they w r ere interested in the news brought 
 by Salih Tatar. il Those who love fighting 
 better than their ta'im " (rations), said the
 
 118 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 drinker of blood, as he put the letter into 
 the hands of his proto-Palikari, who offi- 
 ciated as secretary, " will have soon no 
 reason to complain. Read it aloud," con- 
 tinued he, " and quickly ; for time presses, 
 and we must be all moving." The Capitans 
 crowded round with eager curiosity, while 
 their comrade read the following buyurdee, 
 or order : — 
 
 " Aty Vezir sends his commands to you, 
 my faithful Vekeel Yusuf Arapi, and the 
 Capitans and Buluk Bashis now assembled 
 by my orders at the dervent of Variadhes. 
 The instant this my command reaches your 
 hands, do you arise with all your men, and 
 without one moment's delay, be it day or 
 night, march by the road of Tervitziana, 
 and kill, take, or drive before you all the 
 Suliotes you may meet with, and stop not 
 till you have seized the pass at the head of 
 the valley of Suli. Which having done, 
 send me back the messenger with the news. 
 These are the commands of me, Aty Vezir, 
 which neglect at your peril." 
 
 The perusal of this concise and intelli- 
 gible epistle being completed, Yusuf Arapi, 
 rising from his seat, commanded the Capi-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 119 
 
 tans to be instantly gone, to assemble each 
 his men and make the best of their way 
 down to the banks of the river which formed 
 the hither boundary of the Suliote territory. 
 " The clouds are gathering fast over the 
 mountains," observed he, as he looked out 
 from the gallery upon the darkening summit 
 of Oulitchka; u if we hasten not, the tor- 
 rents will be beforehand with us to prevent 
 the men crossing ere daylight." 
 
 In a few minutes after these orders were 
 issued, not an armed man was to be seen 
 in the hamlet or its neighbourhood. The 
 black chief, the Capitans, the Buluk Bashis, 
 and their hired banditti, were all on their 
 march through the woody gorge which leads 
 by Tervitziana to the ford of the Acheron, 
 leaving to the wretched inhabitants such 
 consolation as they feel who look round on 
 their desolated fields after the departure of 
 an army of locusts ; for although they were, 
 as it has been said, so far privileged as to be 
 reserved for the private and exclusive plun- 
 der of their immediate lord and master, 
 Aly Yezir, that honour could not save them 
 from the natural consequences of the sojourn 
 of some hundred Arnauts among them for
 
 120 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 several days, — consequences aptly character- 
 ised by the proverbial expression current 
 with the Osmanlees, that the grass does not 
 grow for seven years after on the spot which 
 has been trodden by the foot of an Albanian. 
 It was essential to the success of the 
 enterprise confided to Yusuf Arapi, that 
 the ford of the Acheron should be secured 
 before the Suliotes were apprised of his 
 approach, that being the principal link of 
 communication between them and their out- 
 lying possessions to the eastward. Less 
 than two hours' march was sufficient to reach 
 the ford of Variadhes ; but by the time the 
 little army had got half way through the 
 defile, the clouds, which had excited the 
 apprehensions of their leader, had accumu- 
 lated in such dense masses, and added such 
 unusual blackness to the face of night, that 
 it was impossible to discern the nearest ob- 
 ject, much less to follow the direction of the 
 single, narrow path, which led out of the 
 labyrinth of mingled wood and rocks they 
 were now engaged in. The first signal of 
 the approaching storm was given by a vivid 
 flash of lightning, which cheered the bewil- 
 dered men with its momentary gleam, only
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 121 
 
 to render more appalling the impenetrable 
 obscurity they were left to grope in. The 
 flash was greeted by the screams of hun- 
 dreds of jackals, descending from their 
 hiding-places in the mountains to prowl for 
 prey. " Wait, ye brutes ! " muttered the 
 Blood-drinker to himself, " wait till to- 
 morrow's eve, and ye shall have carrion 
 enough." An instant after the thunder, 
 directly over-head, made the air ring with 
 its deafening crash, and the long-impending 
 hurricane broke forth in all its fury. 
 
 " Th' Eternal Father, in the midnight of clouds, 
 Bares his red arm the fatal bolts to hurl ; 
 The solid earth reels at the stroke, the mountain 
 
 beasts do fly, 
 And mortal hearts throughout the nations crouch in 
 
 terror low. 
 He with the flaming shaft or Rhodope hath struck, 
 Or Athos on the Cerannian heights, 
 Whilst loud and louder jet the tempest raves, 
 And Heaven's dark cataracts yet darker pour." 
 
 In a few moments the dry and sultr) 
 path, along which the Albanians were pain- 
 fully winding their way, being crossed in 
 every direction by the numberless torrents, 
 which came leaping and foaming from the
 
 122 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 mountains on either side, had become itself 
 the bed of an impetuous river, whose waters, 
 like those of innumerable others, formed 
 suddenly in the same manner, hurried tu- 
 multuously down to swell the flood of the 
 Acheron. It seemed as if the urns of all 
 the Naiads had been broken at a single 
 stroke. The unceasing rushing of the tor- 
 rents, mingling with the continual rolling 
 of the thunder, prolonged by the indefati- 
 gable echoes of the rocks, rendered vain the 
 cries for assistance, which the Albanians, 
 struggling in utter darkness with the deluge, 
 sent to each other. The occasional glare 
 of the lightning, flashing upon the wild 
 scene, served but to mock their efforts to 
 proceed, by discovering all the horrors that 
 surrounded them. As the elemental strife 
 gradually abated, the infant-like wailings of 
 the drowning jackals might have conveyed 
 to heathen ears a notion of the cries of ghosts 
 wandering on the banks of Styx. 
 
 The night was far advanced when Yusuf 
 Arapi with his band, dispirited, harassed, 
 and diminished by their contention with the 
 storm, reached the ford of the Acheron. It 
 was perfectly in vain to attempt crossing the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 123 
 
 river before the return of daylight. The 
 men would have gladly cheered themselves 
 during the tedious interval with the light 
 and warmth of a bivouac fire ; but every- 
 thing was so thoroughly drenched with wet, 
 that with all their efforts they could not 
 succeed in kindling one. So they were fain 
 to stretch themselves out on the wet ground, 
 dreary and comfortless, lulled by the cease- 
 less din of the stream, which they heard but 
 saw not, and anxiously wishing for the day. 
 At last the dawn came, and the first streak 
 of light glancing against the opposite moun- 
 tain of Suli, dispersed, w T ith the shades of 
 night, all appearance of the storm which 
 had disturbed its tranquillity. The only 
 traces of it still visible were afforded by the 
 swelled waters of the Acheron, and the ruins 
 of the woods which were borne along by them 
 with frightful rapidity. 
 
 The first care of Yusuf Arapi was to 
 ascertain whether the ford were practicable. 
 For this purpose he selected two of his tallest 
 Palikaria, who, entering with deliberate 
 caution into the stream, soon found that it 
 required all their strength and resolution to 
 make their footing sure. After consider-
 
 124 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 able difficulty and danger, wading nearly 
 breast high, and exposed to the shock of the 
 immense fragments rolled down from the 
 mountains, the two forerunners of the in- 
 vading host at last landed in safety on the 
 opposite shore, which was here thickly fenced 
 with tangled woods. Their example was 
 soon followed by the rest of the band, who 
 all contrived to get safe over, with the ex- 
 ception only of a few that were carried off 
 their legs by the violence of the current, and 
 drowned in sight of their companions, who 
 were all too much occupied about their own 
 safety to trouble themselves needlessly about 
 that of others. The doctrine of Kismet, or 
 fate, makes it a duty with your good Mussul- 
 man to bear the misfortunes of his neigh- 
 bour with the same resignation that he does 
 his own. 
 
 This was a critical juncture in the his- 
 tory of the Suliote commonwealth ; for in 
 the brief space of a few hours nearly a thou- 
 sand men of the best soldiers of Albania, 
 commanded by a chief known for his reso- 
 lution and cruelty, would probably be in 
 possession of the principal key by which 
 that last refuge of Greek freedom had been
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 125 
 
 hitherto locked up from the spoiler's grasp. 
 Had the thick screen of woods, which lined 
 the river's bank, concealed ever so small a 
 force determined to oppose the invader's 
 advance, foot by foot, and tree by tree, the 
 crossing must have been rendered nearlv, if 
 not altogether, impracticable, and the expe- 
 dition must have failed. But not a Suliote 
 was to be seen. 
 
 The grim countenance of the black Lala 
 was lighted up with a beam of joy as he 
 emerged from the thickets at the head of 
 his Palikaria, and found himself unopposed, 
 by even the appearance of a foe, at the be- 
 ginning of the ascent, which led by a single 
 path to the important pass so long coveted 
 by his lord and pupil. The exact situation 
 of the spot was still hid from view by the 
 overlooking folds of the mountain, on whose 
 summits the clouds were reposing in a long, 
 dark, fleecy line, as if fatigued with the 
 agitation of the late storm. 
 
 The whole scene was so perfectly still 
 and solitary, that it appeared as if the for- 
 midable rampart about to be invaded was 
 either altogether abandoned without de- 
 fence, or deemed too strong to need any.
 
 126 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Yusuf Arapi felt so secure of having antici- 
 pated an)* possible opposition which its 
 native garrison could make to his advance, 
 that he already considered his object as 
 accomplished. In the exultation of his 
 heart he called to one of his men, and 
 bid him, in a voice loud enough to be heard 
 by the troops who were crowding past, to 
 run swiftly to the rear, and tell the Tatar 
 to come and wait at the river's edge for the 
 despatch he should soon have to send to 
 the Vezir. u And you may," added he, 
 ■ ' order the Surejee to provide himself with 
 a sack or two for the heads, though the 
 Guiaoors show no inclination as yet to bring 
 them within reach of our shot." 
 
 " Happy are those who keep out of the 
 reach of their's," observed one of the soldiers, 
 as the Lala's speech was passed on from 
 one mouth to another by way of encourage- 
 ment. The man was one of those who in 
 the last war with Suli had been obliged to 
 fly for his life down these very heights ; 
 and he pointed out to his comrades, as they 
 were ascending, different spots where such 
 and such of his former companions had 
 fallen. The recital made some look wist-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 127 
 
 fully back at the opposite side of the valley, 
 and wish themselves safe there again. 
 
 In this manner the little army was wind- 
 ing its way up the mountain in no regular 
 order, some in long straggling files ; others 
 gathered into knots, according to the con- 
 venience of the ground, when those who 
 were foremost suddenly halted. The cur- 
 tain of vapour which had concealed the 
 upper part of the mountain beginning now 
 to be gradually withdrawn, disclosed to 
 view, a short distance in front, a high rock 
 jutting out like a promontory across the 
 road of the invaders. 
 
 Beneath it was perceived seated a party 
 of armed men, who appeared to be atten- 
 tively watching their approach ; they were 
 so placed that it was impossible to advance 
 without coming into the closest contact 
 with them, as the path was barely wider 
 than sufficed to admit the passage of single 
 files, being pressed on one side by over- 
 hanging masses of stone, and having on 
 the other a deep precipitous ravine. 
 
 Yusuf Arapi w r as no sooner aware of the 
 hesitation of his advanced guard, and its 
 cause, than he ordered the main body, who
 
 128 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 were some paces in the rear, to close and 
 hurry forward, trusting that the rapidity 
 of the movement and the weight of his 
 numbers would more than compensate the 
 advantage of position held by the small 
 band which completely commanded the ap- 
 proach to the crest of the mountain. The 
 men in front were by this movement com- 
 pelled to go forward, for the path becoming 
 narrower and narrower at every step, it was 
 impossible to turn back, but at the unavoid- 
 able risk of being precipitated to the bot- 
 tom. By this time the two parties were 
 not yet quite within musket-shot of each 
 other, and from the immobility of the 
 Suliotes, it seemed still doubtful whether 
 their purpose were to contest the passage, 
 or whether they only formed the usual Der- 
 vent guard. A few paces further, and all 
 doubt was removed. The foremost of the 
 Suliotes leaping up from his seat on the 
 brink of the ravine, and resting his long 
 tufenk on a jutting angle of the rock, which 
 served him as a parapet, took a deliberate 
 and unerring aim at the foremost of the 
 Vezir's troop. The man fell mortally 
 wounded, and striving to save himself, he
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 129 
 
 seized with a convulsive grasp a fragment 
 of rock, which, hanging loosely on the side 
 of the hill, immediately gave way, and com- 
 pleted his destruction, by crushing him 
 under its weight, as it went rolling and 
 thundering down to the bottom of the abyss 
 beneath. The accident proved of the ut- 
 most importance at this juncture, for the 
 rock having carried away with it a consi- 
 derable portion of the earth it had rested 
 on, the path along which the Albanians 
 were moving was thus broken away, leaving 
 a chasm of considerable width, which could 
 only be crossed either by very cautiously 
 clinging to the side of the overhanging 
 mountain with both hands, or by adventur- 
 ing a fearful leap, the risk of either alter- 
 native being increased by its being under- 
 taken under the fire of forty of the best 
 shots Suli could send forth. 
 
 The Suliotes saw with joy the fortunate 
 accident, which thus unexpectedly arrested 
 the course of the formidable torrent, that 
 in a few moments more might have over- 
 whelmed them. They set up a shout of 
 triumph, and at the same instant directed 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 a volley against the devoted men nearest 
 them, to whom retreat was impossible by 
 the throng pressing on them from behind, 
 and whose only hope of safety was to rush 
 desperately upon the fearful chances in 
 front. 
 
 The first seventeen men experienced the 
 fate of their luckless comrade, being preci- 
 pitated like him into the valley, either by 
 the Suliotes' fire, or by losing their footing 
 in the attempt to leap the gap. 
 
 The two next were more successful ; 
 these, throwing aside their heavy cloaks, 
 sprang across like mountain-goats, and ad- 
 vancing a few steps, crouched behind a 
 piece of rock which protected them from 
 the enemy's fire, but at the same time stood 
 in the way of their own. They were not 
 allowed to remain there long ; the Suliotes 
 finding their shot ineffectual against these 
 two bold men, and fearing that their ex- 
 ample might soon be successfully imitated 
 by the rest, if they were not immediately 
 dislodged, ran down the path for that pur- 
 pose ; the two foremost were despatched by 
 the Albanians, at the instant that a turn
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 131 
 
 in the path brought them within the range 
 of their ready muskets ; but the others 
 followed too close to give the men time to 
 reload ; each drew his sword ; and placing 
 himself as securely as the ground admitted, 
 with his back against the sheltering rock : 
 awaited the coming of the foe. Their 
 temerity or despair availed them little ; 
 having wounded two or three of the first 
 who came within reach, they presently fell 
 pierced with pistol balls, and their lifeless 
 bodies were rolled into the same yawning 
 grave which had already received those of 
 their predecessors. In the meanwhile the 
 Lala's troops, discouraged by the fate of 
 their comrades, and seeing one after the 
 other drop at each shot discharged by the 
 Suliotes, while they themselves huddled up 
 together could not make use of their arms 
 with the slightest effect, the rearmost 
 turned back, and began, in spite of their 
 chiefs remonstrances and imprecations, to 
 descend the mountain with much greater 
 alacrity than they had ascended. By their 
 retrograde movement, the weight which 
 had pressed upon the foremost being gra- 
 k2
 
 132 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 dually removed, to their no small relief, 
 these brave fellows lost no time in profiting 
 by the liberty thus granted them to with- 
 draw from the perilous neighbourhood of 
 the ravine and opposing Suliotes ; they in- 
 stantly turned their backs, and displayed 
 the most exemplary activity in doing the 
 duty of a runaway rear -guard. Yusuf 
 Arapi, finding it in vain to attempt to rally 
 his men in the midst of the general panic, 
 now thought of nothing but to secure their 
 safe retreat across the ford. As they hur- 
 ried past him in wild disorder, he gave vent 
 to his disappointed rage by curses on the 
 fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, 
 uncles, aunts, and cousins of each cow- 
 ardly knave, promising himself the consola- 
 tion of cutting off the heads of the first 
 luckless rayahs who might happen to cross 
 his path, as an expiation for the misconduct 
 of his caitiff Mussulmans, whom he dare not 
 make an example of. 
 
 The victorious Suliotes were too in- 
 ferior in point of numbers to do more than 
 molest the retreat by keeping up as sharp 
 a fire as the rapidity of the flight and in-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 133 
 
 equality of the ground would admit ; but 
 they were sufficiently emboldened by their 
 success to follow their invaders down to the 
 river's bank, and assure themselves that not 
 one remained alive on their side of it.
 
 134 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 When Aly Pasha received in the evening 
 the news of his Lala's failure before the pass 
 of Suli, he remained for some time silent 
 and absorbed in thought ; then, with a voice 
 of ill-dissembled anxiety and vexation, in- 
 quired whether the prisoners from Zitza were 
 arrived and secured ? 
 
 '* They are all safe and double-chained," 
 replied Nikola Yanko, in his smoothest and 
 most obsequious tone. "What are my lord's 
 commands with respect to them?" 
 
 " My commands !" exclaimed the Vezir, 
 his smothered rage finding fresh occasion of 
 irritation from every appearance of attempt 
 to soothe it. " The caitiff Tzavella, bring 
 him this instant before me! Go!" 
 
 The trembling slave slunk out of the 
 terrific presence to give the necessary orders 
 for the approach of the victim, who, during
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 135 
 
 the events which have been related in the 
 preceding chapters, had, together with his 
 companions, been transferred, under every 
 cruel precaution that coward tyranny is wont 
 to use, from the convent of Zitza to the 
 dungeons of Aly Pasha's serai. They had 
 now lain a whole day in fetters, waiting their 
 fate from the will of their enemy. The 
 night had already closed in, with no other 
 notice having been taken of them than the 
 searching glance of the armed keepers 
 through the grated windows of the outer 
 pri>on, where the captives were still allowed 
 the wretched comfort of keeping each other 
 company in their misery. Bondage to the 
 free-born Suliote is worse than death ; the 
 unhappy men in their despair sought their 
 release by endeavouring to excite the ven- 
 geance of their jailers against themselves, by 
 every expression of insult and contempt 
 which they could invent-, in the hope of 
 goading them to put them at once out of 
 their pain by the anticipated execution of 
 the despot's purpose. But the marked in- 
 difference with which these outrages were 
 borne, leaving upon the minds of the pri- 
 soners the appalling conviction that they
 
 136 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 were doomed to linger out the rest of their 
 days in hopeless captivity, each communi- 
 cated to his comrades his resolution never 
 to eat the oread of slavery, for thus only 
 could they elude the grasp of the op- 
 pressor. 
 
 Meanwhile the mind of their chief was 
 employed in thoughts on the situation of 
 his country. He passed the tedious hours 
 in conjectures as to the probability of 
 Dhimo's arriving in time to warn his coun- 
 trymen of the impending danger. The 
 hopes and fears which alternately chased 
 each other on this point, left Tzavella no 
 leisure to think upon his own fate ; when 
 suddenly the bolts of the prison door were 
 drawn back, and the head jailer, accom- 
 panied by Mustafa, bearing a torch, entered 
 the prison. 
 
 " That is he," said Mustafa to his com- 
 panion, as the glare fell upon the wan and 
 gloomy faces of the Suliotes, upturned to the 
 unusual light ; " that is Tzavella," pointing 
 to the chief, who was supporting as well as 
 he could with his own fettered hands the 
 heavy manacles of his son, who sat on the 
 ground near him. " Capitan," said the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 137 
 
 jailer, " the Vezir sends for you ; up, quickly! 
 his commands brook no delay." 
 
 " It is easier for your master to com- 
 mand," said Tzavella, u as he attempted to 
 rise, " than for me to obey, unused as I am 
 to such bracelets as these. Photo," con- 
 tinued he, as he cast back an affectionate 
 look at his son, li I go bound into the tiger's 
 den ; God alone knows what awaits me 
 there ; bear thyself bravely, my child, if we 
 meet no more ; and should an unworthy 
 thought, forced upon thee by suffering, cross 
 thy spirit, remember thou art a Suliote." 
 
 The darkness which again involved the 
 captives, as their chief was led away, hid 
 from every eye the tears of the young 
 Tzavella. He turned his face to the wall 
 and listened to the clank of his father's chain, 
 the sound of which dying away upon his ear, 
 soon after smote that of one who heard it 
 with very different emotions. 
 
 What meanwhile had been Alys thoughts? 
 Could his prisoner have discerned them, he 
 had even in the midst of his own sufferings 
 had cause to exult over the pangs of his 
 tormentor. All the malignant and violent 
 passions that make up the soul of a bad man,
 
 138 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 mortified, disappointed, defeated by the 
 failure of a favourite and nefarious scheme, 
 were raging, unobserved by any mortal eye, 
 in the breast of Aly, who sat solitary in the 
 corner of his sofa, expecting Tzavella. The 
 numerous attendants of different ranks and 
 offices, who, at certain times of the day, are 
 admitted to the privilege of standing before 
 the Vezir, had been ordered to depart. 
 Their master was unwilling to have any 
 witnesses to his conference with the Suliote ; 
 for the shame of defeat, not the remorse of 
 crime, made him conscious of his inferiority 
 to the man he had so unprofitable injured ; 
 and that inferiority the tyrant could not dis- 
 guise from himself by all the pomp and 
 trappings of power which were heaped round 
 him. 
 
 The room in which sat the Yezir was 
 one of the most spacious and splendid of his 
 serai'. 
 
 Two long tapers of yellow wax in high 
 silver candlesticks, which stood on the floor, 
 each upon a round leather mat studded with 
 silver nails, were so placed as to throw the 
 light upon the objects nearest the door, 
 leaving the rest of the apartment in that
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 139 
 
 il counterfeit gloom" best fitted to work on 
 
 the imagination of a stranger to the place. 
 
 The result of this arrangement was, that 
 
 when the door curtain was drawn aside, and 
 
 Tzavella was thrust forward into the room bv 
 
 j 
 
 his keeper, his whole figure was fully dis- 
 played to the scrutinising gaze of the Pasha, 
 while the latter remained as it were invisible 
 to the dazzled sight of the Suliote, whose 
 eyes wandered for a moment about the 
 room, uncertain whether he were its only 
 tenant. 
 
 The sparkle of the diamond-hilted dagger 
 which Aly wore in his girdle, was the first 
 indication to Tzavella of the presence he 
 stood in ; and he then perceived the corpulent 
 figure which occupied the further corner of 
 the divan, without, however, distinguishing 
 any feature except the occasional twinkling 
 of the keen and cruel light-blue eyes that 
 were fixed on him, like those of the rattle- 
 snake on its prey. 
 
 As for Tzavella, there was not a lineament 
 of his manly form which could not be seen, 
 or which remained unexamined by his enemy. 
 Aly remarked the fearless glance of his dark 
 eye as it sought himself, showing the soul of
 
 140 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 which it spoke the meaning, cool, steady, 
 and undismayed by the surrounding dangers. 
 
 The bold and easy attitude of the moun- 
 taineer, used to roam in freedom over his 
 hills and rocks, was yet to be seen even 
 under the shackles which confined him. 
 There was something altogether in the un- 
 daunted, yet unpresumptuous air of the man, 
 which raised within the breast of Aly Pasha 
 an involuntary feeling of respect, that only 
 served to irritate the more his mortified 
 passions. After some silence, Tzavella was 
 assured of his being in the presence of the 
 tyrant by these words, which, from the un- 
 natural shrillness of the sound, seemed to 
 burst forth from lips that had been long 
 essaying to utter them. 
 
 " Knowest thou not, Infidel ! that it is I 
 who hold thy life in my hands, that a word 
 from me can send thee to hell?" 
 
 " My life is in the hands of God," 
 replied Tzavella, with perfect composure. 
 " The Pasha, if thou art he, will excuse my 
 ignorance ; for he may remember we never 
 met before. I once saw his back, 'tis true, 
 but he did not give me time to study his 
 features."
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 141 
 
 These words, spoken with the contemp- 
 tuous coolness of a man who has deliberately 
 made up his mind to the very worst that 
 can befall him, stung the Satrap to the quick. 
 Could Tzavella have distinguished him he 
 would have seen his lip quiver, and his hand 
 tremble with rage, as he violently agitated 
 his heavy topouz. His first impulse was to 
 start up and dash his prisoner's brains out 
 with it. But he retained sufficient mastery 
 over himself to keep his seat, while he vented 
 his passion in these words : — 
 
 " Vile robber that thou art, hast thou 
 yet to learn that thou art no longer sheltered 
 by the rocks and fastnesses of thy mountains, 
 and that I can in an instant, on the very 
 spot, make thee repent thy insolence to thy 
 master?" 
 
 " Hold, Vezir !" interrupted the Suliote ; 
 " wait to assume that title until thou hast 
 lawfullv gained it with thy sword. Me and 
 my brave men thou hast by the vilest perfidy 
 ensnared, and thou hast power to do with 
 our bodies what seems best in thy eyes ; but 
 our souls are slaves to no man, and the hell 
 thou speakest of is for the oppressor, not for 
 the oppressed.'*
 
 142 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 "Dost thou reason with me, thief?" re- 
 torted the Pasha. " By all that is sacred in 
 our faith, I swear that thou shalt die at the 
 stake by a slow and lingering fire, if thou 
 dost not consent to deliver thy country into 
 my hands." 
 
 " Sayest thou so, Aly Tepelenlee ? then 
 Heaven be praised!" interrupted Tzavella, 
 with a joyful voice which strangely contrasted 
 with his miserable situation, while he essayed 
 to lift up his shackled hands ; " then is my 
 country still free, and thy treachery has been 
 in vain. I thank thee, Vezir. Thou hast 
 relieved me of a burden more galling than 
 these chains. Now do thy worst, for I can 
 bear it all. Heaven be praised! " repeated the 
 patriotic chief, and he raised his eyes with a 
 glance of triumph and gratitude. 
 
 Aly Pasha now perceived that his threats, 
 instead of intimidating, only increased the 
 obstinacy of the sturdy chief, whose despair 
 of mercy made him reckless of every other 
 consideration. He was not so blinded by 
 rage but that he could still keep in view the 
 great object of his ambition, the subjugation 
 of Suli, and that he saw its attainment 
 would not be advanced one step by shedding
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. Ii3 
 
 the blood of the man who stood before him. 
 The sentiment of so important an interest, 
 therefore, beginning to prevail over the ex- 
 asperation which the chief's audacity had ex- 
 cited, the Vezir changed his mode of address, 
 and had recourse to the language of cajolery 
 and bonhommie, which he knew well how 
 to practise. The fangs which had but just 
 now threatened to tear to pieces the defence- 
 less prey, were now drawn in, and nothing 
 but the smooth velvet paws of the tiger were 
 to be seen." 
 
 " Tzavella," said the crafty Satrap, in a 
 tone of voice so altered, that the man he 
 addressed almost doubted whether it pro- 
 ceeded from the same lips, — *' Tzavella, thou 
 and thy countrymen have always mistaken 
 my character and my views, in supposing 
 that I have carried on war with you till now 
 for any other purpose but that of self-defence. 
 You well know that I esteem you Suliotes as 
 the bravest soldiers of all Albania ; and if 
 you could only be induced to lay aside that 
 exaggerated jealousy with respect to your in- 
 dependence, which has ever made you so 
 averse from a sincere and frank alliance with 
 me, where are the enemies throughout the
 
 144 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Sultan's dominions who could withstand our 
 united arms ? Why should we not, then, 
 instead of injuring each other by continual 
 quarrels, become as brothers, and live here- 
 after in peace and quiet? You, Capitan 
 Tzavella, who are famed not only for being 
 the bravest of Palikaria, but also for your 
 discretion and prudence, must be well aware 
 that, were I once to put out my whole 
 strength against you, your resistance, obsti- 
 nate as it mioht be, could not avail you 
 long; and, Inshallah! (please God!) my other 
 affairs will soon be so settled that there will 
 be nothing to turn me aside from my path, 
 whether I wish to go to the right or to the 
 left. Reflect, then, before it be too late, upon 
 the offers which my friendly heart disposes 
 me to make you. Why should I seek your 
 destruction, or you mine, which, ct JSr humd 
 'ulillah!" (God be praised!) all Albania can- 
 not now effect, when we can mutually be of 
 such service to each other ? What do your 
 rocks and stones produce for food, or clothing, 
 or any kind of enjoyment ? Nothing ! You 
 starve if I choose to block you up within the 
 narrow limits of your glen, and you can give 
 bread to your wives and little ones only by
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 145 
 
 leading the lives and incurring the hazards 
 of those robbers, whose heads you may see 
 in the court yonder. Instead of this, why 
 should you not accept of the pay and rations 
 which I am ready to give all your best 
 soldiers, provided you will promise to do me 
 faithful service, and in pledge of your sincerity 
 consent to give free passage through your 
 country to my rayahs and merchants, as is 
 the custom among all friendly neighbours ? 
 As for yourself, Capitan, if you are inclined 
 to secure your fortune and that of your house, 
 now is the opportunity. Your head shall be 
 exalted by my favour above all others near 
 me, be they Mussulmans or Christians, if 
 you will consent to secure the peace and 
 welfare of your place, by engaging, as I know 
 you are well able to do, the ignorant and 
 obstinate among your countrymen to side 
 with the proposals which I now make in the 
 sincerity of my heart." 
 
 Tzavella listened to this smooth and 
 pacific discourse, which so strangely con- 
 trasted with the storm of passion by which 
 it had been prefaced, like one who doubted 
 the evidence of his senses, or who listened 
 f .o a foreign tongue the meaning of which he 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 strove to comprehend. When, however, it 
 was ended, the surprise into which he had 
 been thrown by the change did not disguise 
 from him its real drift, which was evidently 
 no other but to persuade him to betray his 
 country. Tzavella's natural impulse was to 
 treat the attempt with the scorn it deserved ; 
 but the hope which the circumstance excited 
 of extricating himself and his companions 
 from the toils they were in, checked him, 
 and he, removed as it were only by one step 
 from the precipice, dissembled in his turn, 
 and replied to the Pasha with the look and 
 tone of one who was not unwilling to be 
 persuaded. 
 
 " No man can doubt of the Vezir's 
 power," said he, "to inflict injury upon his 
 enemies, or to confer benefits upon his 
 friends ; nor is there any so devoid of sense 
 as to prefer being on the list of the former 
 rather than in that of the latter. The 
 proofs of our willingness to be on good 
 terms with your Highness are here (and he 
 glanced at his handcuffs); but as long as I 
 and my companions are your prisoners, how 
 can our countrymen ever be persuaded to look 
 upon Aly Pasha as their friend? Let us
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 147 
 
 be free to go back to our place ; let me be 
 able to say, the Vezir had our lives in his 
 hands, but he has willingly spared them; 
 and your Highness may rest assured that 
 there is no indisposition on my part to live 
 on friendly terms with you." 
 
 While Tzavella was speaking, the Pa- 
 sha fixed his eyes intently on him, as if 
 he would guess from the expression of his 
 countenance the meaning of each word be- 
 fore it was uttered. He felt the force of 
 the chief's remark ; but, instead of imme- 
 diately replying to it, he threw himself back 
 against the cushion, and clapping his hands 
 thrice, exclaimed, "Children!"* At this 
 signal a page instantly stepped into the 
 room, by a door corresponding with the one 
 by which Tzavella had been admitted. At 
 a motion of the Vezir's hand, the page 
 advanced, and stood at the edge of the 
 raised floor, without speaking a word, his 
 eyes fixed upon his master, while those of 
 Tzavella were turned towards him. He was 
 a handsome, slender youth, of about sixteen; 
 his long hair, which fell in ringlets behind 
 his ears — the dark-painted fringe of his 
 * FwfeNote. 
 L 2
 
 148 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 eyes — gave him an air of effeminacy which 
 was rather heightened than diminished by 
 the richly ornamented pistol which was 
 stuck in his girdle, on the butt and muzzle 
 of which he rested his hands. His Albanian 
 dress was of the costliest kind. His waist- 
 coat and cloak were stiff w T ith gold lace ; his 
 overhanging shirt of the whitest cotton ; 
 while his legs, excepting the feet which 
 remained quite naked, were protected by 
 the Macedonian gaiters of crimson velvet, 
 fastened with gold buttons and clasps. The 
 boy looked like a discarded Cupid just re- 
 ceived into the service of Mars. 
 
 The contemptuous glance of Tzavella's 
 eye, as he secretly compared the effeminate 
 figure before him with his own manly boy, 
 was almost immediately checked by the voice 
 of the Pasha, who, resuming the conversa- 
 tion, said, — 
 
 " Hast thou not a son, Tzavella ? and is 
 he not with thee ? I hear he is a brave 
 youth. Hast thou yet other children ?" 
 
 " None," replied Tzavella. 
 
 ''Thou lovest him, then, dearly?" con- 
 tinued the Vezir, in a tone which might 
 have been mistaken for sensibility.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 149 
 
 il Love, my son ! " exclaimed the father, 
 while the tone of his voice betrayed the 
 deepest anxiety as to the motive of the 
 question. 
 
 " Well, then, Lambraki, leave the boy 
 with me as a pledge of the friendship that 
 is henceforth to unite us ; promise that thou 
 wilt faithfully fulfil the commission I have 
 proposed to thee ; and from this moment 
 thou and thy companions are free to return 
 to Suli." 
 
 The alternative thus offered by the Pasha 
 to the acceptance of the chief, natural as it 
 was, made so sudden and unexpected an 
 appeal to the father s feelings, that Tza- 
 vella, taken by surprise, was for some mo- 
 ments unable to speak. 
 
 Aly awaited his reply in silence, and 
 might, by a casual spectator of the scene, 
 have been supposed indifferent to the result, 
 so used was he to the arts of dissimulation. 
 But at length his impatience to know the 
 Suliote's determination was betrayed by the 
 question, — Asv nxowrctg ? — u Didst thou not 
 hear?'* which recalled Tzavella to the re- 
 membrance of the presence he stocd in. 
 Who can tell the conflict which, during that
 
 150 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 short silence, had ploughed up his soul, 
 while weighing the future interests of his 
 country and the present redemption from 
 bondage of so many of its bravest warriors 
 against the anguish of his own paternal 
 feelings ? 
 
 The devotion of the patriot put to silence 
 the natural remonstrances of the father, 
 and Tzavella answered with assumed firm- 
 ness, though with a bleeding heart, — " Well, 
 Vezir, be it so. Release the men, give them 
 a safe-conduct back to their place, and the 
 boy remains a hostage in thy hands till I 
 return with an answer to thy proposals." 
 
 " May God and the holy saints watch 
 over him ! " was the prayer which rose from 
 his inmost heart, though unuttered by his 
 lips. 
 
 " Come hither, child," said now Aly to 
 the page, who, stepping forward and bend- 
 ing on one knee, listened with downcast 
 looks to the Pasha's commands, whispered 
 in his ear. 
 
 The page then respectfully retired, keep- 
 ing his face turned towards his master, till 
 the perdeh shut him out of sight, when he 
 was heard to shuffle on his slippers and run
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 151 
 
 hurriedly along the corridor, in execution of 
 the orders he had received. 
 
 After a short pause he reappeared, fol- 
 lowed by the Turk, Mustafa, leading in 
 Photo Tzavella, freed from the gyves with 
 which his ankles had been loaded, but 
 having his hands still fettered with heavy 
 manacles. 
 
 The lad was pale, haggard, and attenu- 
 ated with hunger and pain. Dazzled by 
 the light and by the splendour of a dwelling, 
 such as his inexperienced mind had no con- 
 ception of, and altogether confounded by the 
 novelty of the situation into which he found 
 himself thus suddenly placed, he stared 
 round the place with bewildered eyes till 
 they fell upon his father's form, who stood a 
 few paces from him, which, the moment he 
 perceived, he faintly cried, — " My father 
 here !" then tottering towards him, fell 
 senseless at his feet, striking his forehead 
 as he fell against the heavy bolt which pro- 
 jected from the rings that encircled them. 
 Tzavella bent over his son, unable, fettered 
 as his own hands were, to give him any 
 assistance. 
 
 The agonised look, expressive of re-
 
 152 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 proach, and yet of supplication too, which 
 he cast towards the author of all this misery, 
 might have softened a rock. But Aly sat 
 unmoved by the scene before him, calmly 
 watching the emotions and counting the 
 tears of the unhappy father, and calculating 
 how far they might be relied on as security 
 for his fulfilment of the fatal contract into 
 which the crafty tyrant was trying to en- 
 tangle him. 
 
 Satisfied with the proof of Tzavella's 
 parental fondness, which he now felt certain 
 was such as to render no sacrifice too great 
 to ensure the safety of a child so dearly 
 loved, the Pasha said to Tzavella, — 
 
 "It is enough ; thou art free to return 
 to thy place." 
 
 " Dost thou add mockery to thy cruelty ?* 
 fiercely exclaimed the Suliote, and lifted up 
 his pinioned hands with a look which told 
 how he would have used them that instant 
 had he been free. 
 
 " Curses light on thee, base Turk ! 
 Thou hast killed my child ! Death has 
 released him from thy bonds ! All the 
 mercy I ask of thee now is to despatch 
 me also."
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 1,53 
 
 These words, spoken in the frensv of 
 grief, passed apparently unheeded by the 
 Pasha, engaged in giving orders to Nikola 
 Yanko, who in the meanwhile had glided 
 into the room. 
 
 But perceiving that the lad continued 
 to lie, apparently without life, on the floor, 
 Aly began to apprehend that he might lose 
 by the death of his young captive the only 
 chance which remained of making the father 
 subservient to his purposes ; and now he 
 became as anxious for the preservation of 
 the son's life, as on any other occasion he 
 would have been indifferent to it. 
 
 At his command, therefore, Yanko ap- 
 proached the boy, and lifting him up turned 
 his face toward the light. The pallid 
 features were smeared with blood, which 
 trickled 'from the wound in his forehead. 
 " He breathes/' said Yanko ; " but what 
 is this wound ? " 
 
 " Quick, boy !" said he to the page, who 
 was gazing at the sight ; " fetch some water, 
 — with his Highness's permission," added he, 
 casting an humble look at the Vezir. 
 
 " Thou mayst add bread," said Tzavella ; 
 " the lad is sinking for lack of food."
 
 154 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 While the page was gone, Aly, who still 
 kept his seat with imperturbable calmness, 
 as if enjoying the woes of which he was the 
 cause, ordered the manacles which confined 
 Tzavella's hands to be unlocked. 
 
 11 It is right," said he, looking at the 
 chief, with a look meant to express compas- 
 sion, — " it is right that the father should 
 assist in the preservation of his only child." 
 
 So unexpected a kindness from such a 
 quarter soothed the violent exasperation of 
 Tzavella, who was too much occupied with 
 the fate of his son to scrutinise the motives 
 which prompted the favourable change in 
 the tyrant's behaviour towards him. 
 
 The first use he made of his liberated 
 hands was to raise and support Photo ; 
 while the page, who had in the meantime 
 returned, dashed cold water in the lad's face. 
 This so far revived him, that he opened his 
 eyes and heaved a deep sigh ; but so languid 
 still was he, that he appeared quite uncon- 
 scious of everything around him. 
 
 His father now attempted to rouse him 
 by the sound of his well-known voice. 
 
 " Photo! my child, Photo! thy father 
 is at thy side ; look on him, and live !"
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 155 
 
 Photo turned his half-dead eye upon his 
 father, and moved his lips as if he would 
 speak ; but the words came not forth. 
 
 " He dies for lack of food!" repeated 
 Tzavella. '' Oh, Vezir ! as thou art thyself 
 a father, let me not see my child perish of 
 hunger before my eyes ! " 
 
 Heaven knows whether this appeal really 
 reached the Pasha's heart : let it be hoped 
 that there was one chord, at least, however 
 slender, which had not lost the power of 
 vibrating in unison with the touch of suffer- 
 ing that marks the common nature of the 
 vilest ruffian and the meekest victim. 
 
 At a sign given by the Yezir one of the 
 attendants left the room, and presently after 
 returned, bearing a covered dish, which con- 
 tained a kind of broth sent from the harem. 
 
 Tzavella, without waiting for permission, 
 eagerly snatched it from the man's hand, 
 and put a spoonful to his son's lips. 
 
 Yanko at this moment approached his 
 relenting master, and in his most obsequious 
 tone, said, — " If it be to your Highness's 
 pleasure, the physician Mavromati is with- 
 out : his advice might, perhaps, avail in the 
 recovery of the lad."
 
 156 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 '* Let the doctor be called in," replied 
 the Vezir ; and the moment after Dr. 
 Mavromati stood before him with his Frengui 
 hat on his head, and without his shoes, 
 which, according to etiquette, he left outside 
 the door. 
 
 No face ever answered better to a name 
 — so far as the eyes were concerned — for a 
 darker, blacker pair, were seldom set in 
 mortal skull ; and their keen and ardent ex- 
 pression indicated a degree of intelligence 
 uncommon even among a race distinguished 
 for that quality. This was accompanied by 
 a firm and manly carriage, equally uncom- 
 mon among the cringing and obsequious 
 slaves, who tremble in the presence of a 
 man of three tails. Mavromati's whole ap- 
 pearance and bearing showed a man accus- 
 tomed to the forms, and who had tasted the 
 sweets of civilised life, and to whom the 
 consciousness of superior education and 
 talent gave boldness even in the court of 
 Joannina. 
 
 Such was the Cefalonian, Mavromati, the 
 confidential physician of the Bishop of Art a, 
 who was now called to the assistance of the 
 poor young Suliote captive.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 157 
 
 " Mavromati," said the Pasha, "I want 
 that boy to live. You must save his life. 
 Dost thou hear ?" 
 
 The physician approached his patient, 
 answering inwardly, " I hear, tyrant ! but 
 will Death hear ?" 
 
 As he silently considered the pale 
 features of the boy, now slightly revived by 
 a mouthful of nourishment, his eye met 
 Tzavella's, who watched every glance with 
 intense anxiety, not daring to ask a question, 
 lest the answer should disappoint his hopes. 
 
 Mavromati, after a pause, during which 
 he sought for the beating of Photo's pulse, 
 while he looked at his watch, observed with 
 a hesitating look and voice, which made 
 Tzavella's heart sink within him, — " The 
 lad is dreadfully exhausted." Then point- 
 ing to the handcuffs, which still confined 
 his wrists, the physician added in a tone of 
 authority, as quite forgetting the Vezir's 
 presence, — ,% Why is not he released from 
 these bonds ? The poor child wants food 
 and rest ; were he properly attended to, re- 
 ceiving such care as the tenderness of a 
 mother could give, I would venture to an- 
 swer for his recovery."
 
 158 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 The allusion to Photo's mother caused a 
 dark frown to pass across Aly Pasha's brow, 
 and Tzavella drew a long, deep sigh. 
 
 But instantly recovering himself, the 
 Pasha addressed Yanko, — 
 
 " Nikola," said he, " the lad must be 
 removed to thy house. Thy wife will give 
 him the required attendance, and see that 
 he have necessary sustenance. The Pali- 
 kari Mustafa will be his guard. I make 
 you both answerable for the Suliote's safe 
 custody. Mavromati, do thou give him thy 
 attendance and medicine, till thou canst 
 report him out of danger. Capitan Tza- 
 vella, fear not : thy son shall not die. As 
 for thyself and thy companions, ye shall be 
 free to depart by to-morrow's dawn." 
 
 As he spoke these words with an air of 
 honest simplicity, which almost deceived 
 those who knew him best into a belief of 
 his freedom from all cruel passions, Aly 
 rose from his seat, and walked with a 
 master's tread across the room. This move- 
 ment set all the attendants who were wait- 
 ing in the outer gallery in motion. The 
 cry of " The Yezir ! the Vezir !" resounded 
 along the passages. All men bowed low
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 159 
 
 their heads as he appeared and passed on, 
 preceded by the Tschaodshes, rattling their 
 wands of office, to the apartments of the 
 harem. 
 
 There remained in the room, after the 
 Vezir's departure, besides Tzavella and his 
 son, none but Mavromati and the appointed 
 guard of the Suliote hostage, the Palikari 
 Mustafa. 
 
 Yanko had in the meantime hastened to 
 his own house, to communicate the Pasha's 
 commands for the reception of Photo there ; 
 which he did, inwardly wishing that the 
 Yezir's compassion had found some other 
 means of displaying itself than at his 
 expense. 
 
 During his absence the physician ex- 
 amined more attentively the wound on the 
 lad's forehead, and again felt his pulse, 
 which he now found to beat with a little 
 more vigour. 
 
 " Fear not," said he to Tzavella ; " your 
 son will easily recover with care, and you 
 may depend on all that I can bestow." 
 
 Before the chief had time to express his 
 thanks, Yanko returned with two servants 
 bearing a frame, on which was spread an
 
 160 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Albanian cloak, serving as a litter, on which 
 Photo was lifted. The movement caused 
 him to open his still languid eyes ; — they 
 sought his father, who had only a moment 
 allowed him to kiss his son's cheek, and 
 whisper his blessing before he was led away 
 by the jailer, who came to conduct him back 
 to his still imprisoned companions ; while 
 Photo was conveyed to Yanko's house, es- 
 corted by Mustafa, and followed by Yanko 
 and Dr. Mavromati.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 161 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 We must now return to the banks of the 
 Acheron, to learn what had occurred there 
 since the repulse of Yusuf Arapi's invasion. 
 The Suliotes, apprehending that the at- 
 tempt might be repeated, had sent in haste 
 for a reinforcement, which arrived under 
 the command of Dhimitrios Panou, to whom 
 a night's repose had entirely restored his 
 wonted strength and activitv. Thev took 
 their station close to the ford, under shelter 
 of the woods, from whence they could watch 
 the movements of the enemy, without being 
 themselves exposed to view. But the black 
 chief showed no inclination to renew the 
 experiment ; he withdrew his baffled and 
 dispirited troops to Variadbes, and there 
 waited for the further commands of his 
 master, who, as has just been related, was 
 forced by circumstances to suspend his hos- 
 
 VOL. I. m
 
 162 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 tilities, and disguise his disappointment under 
 the appearance of moderation. 
 
 The sun had twice set behind the moun- 
 tain of Suli since the retreat of the invaders 
 had restored tranquillity to its inhabitants. 
 Deeming themselves secure from further at- 
 tack during the night, and unused to the 
 precautions of disciplined troops, the Suliotes 
 had now stretched themselves out under the 
 trees, to take the soldier's rest on the bare 
 ground. Dhimo only, who had so lately 
 learnt by dear-bought experience the fatal 
 effects of negligence in the neighbourhood 
 of an enemy, imposed on himself the duty 
 of sentinel ; and selecting a convenient spot 
 close to the water's edge, took his seat with 
 his eyes directed towards the opposite bank, 
 along which nothing could move unperceived 
 by him. His gun rested on the stump of 
 an oak, ready for use, while a large watch- 
 dog belonging to Tzavella, of the true Mo- 
 lossian breed, fierce, faithful, and deep- 
 mouthed, lay crouching at the Palikari's 
 feet. Both appeared equally absorbed in 
 contemplation of the tranquil scene around, 
 whose deep silence was undisturbed, except 
 by the ripple of the current, and the distant
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 163 
 
 note of the nightingale, which, from the 
 thickest recesses of the wood, was pouring 
 forth her thousand voices on the dull ear of 
 night. 
 
 Presently the animal, rousing from his 
 apparent stupor, began to betray symptoms 
 of anxiety ; he raised his enormous head, 
 pricked up his ears, snuffed the air as in 
 token of inquiry, and uttered a low, hollow 
 growl, not sufficiently distinct to indicate 
 the actual discovery of any legitimate cause 
 for alarm ; it was the first muttering of sus- 
 picion but partially awakened, awaiting 
 further intelligence to confirm it. 
 
 Dhimo's thoughts were so deeply buried 
 in the recollection of the events which had 
 befallen him and his late comrades, and he 
 was so intent on revolving a variety of 
 schemes for ascertaining what had been 
 their fate, that the animal's hint was lost 
 upon him ; when suddenly the creature, 
 starting on his feet, with one tremendous 
 bark, which was repeated by a hundred 
 echoes, put an end to the soldier's reveries. 
 
 " Thou say'st right, Ghiimush," said 
 Dhimo, " they are coming. I see them 
 crowding down the bank ; but the foremost 
 
 m2
 
 164 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 must bear a surer talisman than that Turk, 
 if this shot does not bring him down, too." 
 Before he had time to bring his gun to the 
 rest, a shout from the opposite shore made 
 him pause, and a voice, which seemed not 
 strange to his ear, exclaimed in Greek — 
 u JEh, more palikari, — (piXot qftGcvrav." (We 
 are friends — we are Suliotes.) 
 
 The Suliotes, meanwhile, aroused by the 
 barking of the watchdog, were rushing down 
 to the river, prepared to renew battle with 
 the supposed invaders. A hundred voices 
 at once replied — u Believe them not ; trea- 
 chery, treachery!" But Dhimo, with his 
 hand on the trigger, still ready to give the 
 signal of hostility, restrained the impetuosity 
 of his companions, and raising his voice, 
 cried out, " Speak again ; who are you ? " 
 — " 'Tis I," answered one, advancing before 
 the rest, that were now seen in a dark body 
 emerging into the moonlight from the oppo- 
 site bank, " 'tis I, Tzavella, and the other 
 Palikaria." These words were not uttered 
 before the dog, at one plunge, was in the 
 middle of the stream ; and in a few moments 
 leaping by the side of his master, whom he 
 nearly overturned by the violence of his
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 165 
 
 uncouth caresses. The faithful brute's in- 
 stinct gave a testimony irresistible to the 
 speaker's assertion : all cried out with one 
 voice, " 'Tis he! 'tis he ! come, come!" and 
 the next minute the two parties were mingled 
 in friendly confusion, exchanging words of 
 wonder, curiosity, compassion, and joy, at 
 the event which had led to so unexpected a 
 meeting. 
 
 "By Heaven!" exclaimed Dhimo, as he 
 clasped Tzavella's hand, u I little thought, 
 when last we parted, that it was on this spot 
 we should meet again." 
 
 a No, truly," returned the chief; "and 
 even now I can scarce believe my hands are 
 freed from those cursed bonds. Methinks 
 they are on me still. But say, Dhimo, by 
 what miracle do I find thee here ?" 
 
 " Nay," returned the Palikari, " that 
 is not the miracle ; but rather that thou, 
 with all thine, shouldst have escaped alive 
 from such fangs as I left thee in." Tzavella 
 inwardly breathed, " Alas ! not all. He 
 had not the courage to advert more openly 
 to the precious pledge left behind ; and 
 Dhimo, in the darkness, and hurry, and
 
 166 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 confusion of the moment, did not particu- 
 larly notice the absence of young Photo. 
 
 A meeting of friends in every part of the 
 world must always be celebrated with feast- 
 ing" of some kind : and surelv none were 
 ever better entitled to such a mode of cele- 
 bration than the famished set we are now 
 speaking of. In a few moments three swift- 
 footed Palikaria were despatched to the nearest 
 mandra, with the commission to bring back 
 each a kid or a lamb for the common supper ; 
 and with equal expedition as many fires 
 were blazing in the midst of the wood, which 
 supplied the abundant materials. At each 
 fire, a couple of forked stakes, driven into 
 the ground, supported a transverse pole, 
 serving as a temporary spit, on which the 
 poor little animal that, but an instant be- 
 fore, was sleeping under the shelter of his 
 mother's fleece, now skinned, disembowelled, 
 and staked, was revolving over the glowing 
 embers by the help of a Palikari, who per- 
 formed the necessary, though ignoble, part, 
 of a turnspit. 
 
 No Homeric heroes ever sat down with 
 keener appetites to their banquet than the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 167 
 
 redeemed Suliotes ; and in imitation of those 
 ancient worthies, it was not until they were 
 fully gorged that they recounted in detail 
 to their friends all 'that had befallen them, 
 and heard in return the particulars of the 
 discomfiture sustained by Yusuf Arapi the 
 day before, on the very spot where they were 
 now feasting. 
 
 Tzavella alone took no share in the ge- 
 neral exultation. He sat apart on the 
 river's bank, looking back on the dark 
 mountains, which now separated him from 
 his son, as if that could restore the beloved 
 image to his view ; while every shout of 
 revelry, uttered by his countrymen in the 
 exuberance of their joy, seemed to be echoed 
 back by a faint groan from the absent Photo. 
 
 '' I can bear such agony no longer," 
 exclaimed at length the unhappy father, 
 rising from his solitary seat ; " I will in- 
 stantly go back, and release or perish with 
 him!" 
 
 " Whom ? " replied Dhimo, who, having 
 learnt from the others enough respecting 
 Photo to make him guess the subject of 
 Tzavella's solitary thoughts, now approached
 
 168 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 the chief, anxious, yet afraid to question him 
 on such a point. 
 
 11 Hast thou not, then, yet perceived that 
 one is wanting to complete the number of 
 the redeemed?" returned Tzavella; "and 
 dost thou inquire who? the winnings of that 
 poor brute might have told thee who was 
 missing. But let me go," added he, im- 
 patiently, as Dhimo endeavoured to detain 
 him. " I have done my duty to my coun- 
 try ; none shall prevent my fulfilling that of 
 a father." 
 
 " Nay," said Dhimo, constraining him 
 to resume his seat ; " take, at least, but a 
 short repose ; thou seest thy weary limbs 
 will no longer bear thee. Now tell me all 
 that is in thine heart concerning this matter. 
 Trust one who is ready to share thy anxie- 
 ties as well as thy dangers." 
 
 Tzavella could not long resist the solici- 
 tations of a sympathising friend. It was a 
 relief to him to detail all the particulars of 
 his interview with Aly Pasha, and thus to 
 show the unavoidable necessity he was re- 
 duced to of abandoning his son to save his 
 companions.
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 169 
 
 When he concluded his narrative, to 
 which Dhimo listened with intense interest, 
 he again repeated his first resolution of re- 
 turning immediately to Joannina to release 
 his son hy ruining himself. But Dhimo 
 failed not to extract from Tzavella's account 
 such arguments for combating the latter's 
 resolution as to induce him to consent, at 
 least, to defer its execution till he should 
 have first proceeded to Suli, to lay before 
 the other captains the projects which the 
 Vezir had betrayed, and advise as to the 
 measures to be taken for their frustration. 
 And as all apprehensions of any immediate 
 attack on the part of Yusuf Arapi were at 
 an end, the whole party, except a few who 
 remained to watch, actually set out with the 
 dawn of day on their return to Suli. 
 
 As they appeared upon the crest of the 
 last height which overhangs the long, deep 
 vale, in which tbat village capital once stood, 
 they were perceived from a distance by some 
 women who were employed in drawing water 
 at the fountain. 
 
 '' Look !" said one to the other, " are not 
 those our Palikaria returning with pri- 
 soners ? By the blessed Virgin, they have
 
 170 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 taken as many as themselves I " — " Aye, 
 truly have they ! " exclaimed a damsel. 
 "But they don't seem worth taking; — 
 dirty Liapiths, I dare say." 
 
 " What are you prating about, maids ?" 
 interposed an elderly woman, as, looking 
 steadfastly towards the men who were fast 
 descending, she held her pitcher on the 
 brink of the fountain ; " are you all so blind 
 as not to recognis3 the step of a true Suliote 
 in every man of those yonder? Bless my 
 eyes ! may I die this moment if that be not 
 Lambraki himself !" So saying, the old 
 woman kicked aside her pitcher, and ran 
 towards the village, screaming, "He comes! 
 he comes ! Mosco, Mosco, he comes ! Lam- 
 bro — Photo — -they are all coming !" 
 
 The young women having ascertained 
 upon a closer inspection that their elder 
 companion was not mistaken, joined in the 
 same exclamation, some following her to 
 spread the news, others running anxiously 
 forward to greet their brothers, husbands, 
 or fathers, thus unexpectedly restored to 
 them. 
 
 While these proceeded joyfully to the 
 village and dispersed to their several habi-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 171 
 
 tations, Tzavella himself, instead of has- 
 tening towards his own house, lingered 
 with uncertain steps near the fountain, as 
 if unwilling to move further. His wife, 
 Mosco, met the joyous groups as she ran 
 with hurried steps to meet her husband, 
 exchanging as she passed in almost breath- 
 less delight mutual congratulations with 
 her neighbours. 
 
 She ran — she rushed — she flew into the 
 arms of her husband, who held her clasped 
 in his embrace, without uttering a word, 
 
 as if fearful to betray bv his emotion how 
 
 j - 
 
 much he dreaded the explanation that must 
 ensue. 
 
 '' And where is my child, my Photo ?" 
 was Mosco's first exclamation as she looked 
 up from Tzavella's bosom into his face. 
 She there read an answer which instantly 
 converted her iov into the agony of alarm. 
 She tore herself from Tzavella's hold, and 
 looked with wild eagerness around ; then 
 seeing not the object of her search, she 
 turned again to the unhappy father, and 
 repeated with a mother's shriek, u My 
 child ! my child ! why is he not here ? 
 Where is he ? Tell me he lives, he's
 
 172 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 safe, that he is coming, — speak, man, or 
 kill me!" 
 
 "He lives and is safe," answered Tzavella. 
 
 " Oh, where," repeated the anxious mo- 
 ther, " where is my hoy ?" 
 
 " At Joannina." 
 
 "At Joannina!" shrieked Mosco, as 
 she drew back from her husband's embrace. 
 " And didst thou say, Tzavella, that thy son, 
 a Suliote, is safe at Joannina ? The lamb 
 safe in the wolf's den ! Thou mockest 
 me, surely ! What ! thou, his father, couldst 
 save thyself, and yet leave thy child in the 
 clutches of the bloody Turk? No, no, no, 
 that cannot be, that cannot be." And the 
 wretched mother, half distracted with grief 
 and misery, repeated those words, as if by 
 the repetition she could persuade herself 
 of the falsity of the assertion. 
 
 At this moment the elderly woman 
 already mentioned returned to the fountain. 
 " Come here, Khai'dhou," cried Mosco to 
 her: "he says," — pointing to her husband, 
 with an expression in which scorn and in- 
 credulity were strangely blended — "he says 
 that Photo, my child — his child — Photo is 
 safe at Joannina ; that he — he himself, — a
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 173 
 
 Suliote, left his child at Joannina ! Do you 
 believe it, Khai'dhou?" But before the old 
 dame could reply, she said, " Impossible ! 
 impossible ! " Then, as if suddenly recol- 
 lecting herself, she smote her forehead, her 
 countenance brightened with a ray of hope, 
 and she eagerly and affectionately seized 
 her husband's hand, and said, "God be 
 praised ! now I understand thee : my boy 
 is safe, for his soul is beyond the tyrant's 
 reach. He's dead, he's dead, or thou couldst 
 not say he was safe. Lambro, tell me my 
 child is dead : tell me anything but that he 
 is a slave in the hands of Aly, and that 
 thou didst willingly leave him there, and I 
 will weep without repining." 
 
 " Willingly left him?" replied Tzavella. 
 " And canst thou, Mosco, for a moment 
 believe, that I could willingly leave my only 
 child in such hands ? Oh, Mosco ! there is 
 more cruelty in that thought of thine, than 
 even in that monster thou abhorrest. Wil- 
 lingly, woman ! and dost thou think that 
 sixty names and more of the bravest souls 
 of Suli were to be redeemed without a 
 sacrifice ? " 
 
 11 And would no sacrifice satisfy the
 
 174 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 tiger but my lamb ? But be is right : my 
 Photo's soul is worth a thousand coward 
 souls, such as those who would purchase 
 their safety by his loss. Fare thee well, 
 fountain ! henceforth Tzavella's wife is 
 unworthy to draw water among the free 
 women of Suli. She will be deservedly 
 driven back with disgrace ; they will say 
 to her, ' Tzavella sold his own flesh and 
 blood to save himself.' " 
 
 The unhappy woman here sat down on 
 the ground, covered her face with her 
 hands, with Khai'dhou by her side, who, 
 instead of attempting to soothe her, joined 
 in the frantic passion of her mistress. She 
 pushed away Tzavella, who came to pacify 
 her, exclaiming, li Go ! go ! we want not the 
 consolation of such a base barbarian as 
 thou." 
 
 u What is this I see?" said Samuel, as he 
 now approached the mournful group ; "is 
 it thus that Tzavella's wife rejoices at the 
 escape of her husband from captivity, and 
 at the liberation of her country from the 
 gripe of the invader ? Why, woman, thou 
 couldst not be more wretched hadst thou 
 heard of thy husband's death ! "
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 1J5 
 
 " And what," replied Khaidhou, answer- 
 ing for her mistress, u what wouldst thou 
 say, if Mosco had heard of her husband's 
 shame ? Would not that be a sufficient cause 
 for mourning and woe?" 
 
 " Lambro Tzavella's shame!" exclaimed 
 Samuel, with an incredulous air. "I would 
 as soon doubt the valour of St. Michael or 
 St. George, as impute to Lambro aught 
 unworthy of a Suliote." 
 
 u Ask him," continued Khaidhou, 
 tl whether he has not left his own child 
 a hostage in the hands of Aly Pasha ! Ask 
 him whether he will deny his having bought 
 his own head with Photo's ! " 
 
 M Ask him," interrupted Samuel, with 
 an impatient tone, "whether a Suliote was 
 to prefer his own flesh and blood to the 
 lives of the bravest Palikaria of his country, 
 whom he has restored to its defence, and 
 without whom you would soon have neither 
 sons nor yet daughters to deplore. Cease 
 your senseless clamour, woman : go back to 
 your distaff, and leave the work of men to 
 men." 
 
 This scoff of the Priest's, though ad- 
 dressed to Khaidhou, stung Mosco to the
 
 176 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 soul ; she sprang upon her feet from the 
 attitude of desolation and despondency to 
 which she had abandoned her limbs, and 
 the spirit of the Suliote woman triumphing 
 over the woes of the mother, came, and 
 stood face to face before the Priest. 
 
 " And who art thou, that dar'st thus 
 taunt a Suliote wife? Distaff! didst thou 
 say ? Show me a man amongst you all 
 can point a musket with the skill of 
 Khaidhou?" 
 
 " Or wield a sword," interrupted Khai- 
 dhou, " with the courage of Mosco ?" 
 
 "Enough, enough!" exclaimed Samuel, 
 " who doubts either ? The greater wonder, 
 then, that such brave hearts should sink and 
 pine because one boy was left behind of 
 seventy brave Palikaria. Come, woman, 
 courage, patience : let now thy husband 
 speak, and he will explain it all to thy 
 comfort." 
 
 "Comfort!" screamed Mosco; "com- 
 fort! Thou speakest there as a Caloyero, 
 as thou art. How canst thou judge a 
 mothers heart, who hast vowed never to 
 know a father's joys ! Talk to me of com- 
 fort while mv Photo is a slave in the harem
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 177 
 
 of the bloody Toshki!* Hear me," said 
 Mosco, as the violence of her tone and 
 manner suddenly changed into the deep 
 and frightful expression of desperate re- 
 venge, while she clenched her two hands 
 in his face, — " If what my heart forebodes 
 be true, there's no comfort for -Mosco till 
 these hands are red with the blood of Aly's 
 favourite child!" 
 
 "And why not, good woman?" replied 
 Samuel, with imperturbable coolness : " have 
 only patience, and the day of vengeance 
 will surely come at last." 
 
 The hope, distant and unreasonable as 
 it was, thus held out to the wretched mother 
 of one day exercising the dreadful right of 
 taking blood for blood, and giving woe for 
 woe, soothed her into apparent calmness. 
 
 Tzavella, who had taken advantage of 
 the diversion made in his favour by Samuel, 
 to go and refresh himself at the fountain, 
 now approached his wife. 
 
 " Well, woman, as thou seem'st at last 
 
 to have some sense in thy head, thou may'st 
 
 please to listen to what I would tell thee. 
 
 I have taken my last draught of the waters 
 
 * Vide Note. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 of this fountain ; they will never more be 
 disgraced by the lips of thy dastard hus- 
 band, who, having secured the safety of 
 sixty-eight Suliote names, returns this night 
 to redeem with his own life that child whom 
 thou hast accused him of having basely 
 abandoned: Fare thee well, Mosco ! soon 
 wilt thou be a widow ; then may'st thou 
 resume thy place at the fountain by wedding 
 with a braver than the father of thy Photo. 
 Many years to thee" (JJoKKcc ra errj gov). 
 
 "Now, Father/' turning away from his 
 wife as he spoke to Samuel, " let us 
 quick to the council ; time presses, and I 
 have much to communicate it behoves all 
 the Captains to know." 
 
 Mosco remained awhile fixed to the 
 spot, as if struck by a thunderbolt ; she 
 gazed, unconscious of life or sentiment, 
 on her husband, as he slowly moved away ; 
 then, suddenly springing up, she ran after 
 him, exclaiming in bitterness of anguish : 
 " Stay, Lambro, stay ! — I have wronged 
 thee— cruelly wronged thee! Stay! — turn 
 and look upon thy wretched wife ! forgive a 
 mother's despair. Alas! alas! poor Photo! 
 can I lose thee thus, and not lose my senses
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 179 
 
 too ? Turn, Lambro, turn, for pity's sake ! 
 wait, and let me go with thee, and embrace 
 my boy once more — at least let us perish 
 together." 
 
 Tzavella was not the deaf adder that he 
 should stop his ears or his heart to the 
 voice of the charmer. He turned, and all 
 his resentment vanished in the sad and 
 tender embrace which locked him in the 
 arms of Mosco. 
 
 " I thought it would come to this," ob- 
 served the Caloyer Samuel, as he stopped 
 to witness the reconciliation. €i Rage and 
 tenderness, love and hate, all in a breath ! 
 Ah woman, woman ! blest be the day when 
 I forswore all communion with thee. But 
 now, Tzavella, as thou needest repose, get 
 thee to thy house, while I go to give notice 
 to the chiefs to assemble, and hear the 
 news thou bearest from Joannina. At to- 
 morrow's dawn we will hold the council in 
 the church. Meanwhile, woman, look to 
 thy husband ; provide him with more sub- 
 stantial food than tears and kisses, and 
 comfort thee with the assurance which I 
 give to thee, that thy Photo shall return 
 unharmed to thy embrace.*' 
 N 2
 
 180 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 There was something in the tone with 
 which Samuel uttered this assurance, that 
 inspired confidence like that from which it 
 seemed to spring. Mosco thanked him 
 with a tearful smile, and then hastened 
 home in company of her husband to prepare 
 his meal and couch.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The state in which Tzavella had been 
 obliged to abandon his hapless boy to the 
 tender mercies of the Toshki, made it 
 doubtful for a while whether the projects of 
 the three-tailed despot might not be soon 
 defeated by the escape of his hostage into 
 that land where the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the prisoners no longer hear 
 the voice of the oppressor. 
 
 Five weary suns had set since that 
 melancholy parting, when the following dia- 
 logue took place between two persons, one of 
 whom was seated on a bench at the door of 
 the principal barber's shop in Joannina, and 
 the other standing near him, in the fidgettv 
 attitude of one in a hurry to be elsewhere. 
 The latter, with his long dress, wore the Frank 
 hat, which afforded the presumption of his 
 being a medical practitioner ; while the 
 former, with his half-shaven crown coifed
 
 182 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 with the red skull-cap, his flowing hair, his 
 broad face shining with the smoothness of a 
 recent shave, exhibited to the connoisseur of 
 Levant physiognomy, the genuine features of 
 a Vlackh. 
 
 " Whither so fast, Kyr latro f " (Sir 
 Doctor?) exclaimed the latter, as he twitched 
 the Doctor familiarly by the sleeve, and 
 puffed the smoke of the tchibouk he was 
 inhaling, with visible complacency, into the 
 Doctor's face. "Whither so fast? You 
 look as if you were hastening to bury your 
 rival, the Frank medico, or running away 
 from a patient who refuses to swallow your 
 physic. What's the matter ? " 
 
 " A truce with your jests ! " answered the 
 physician. u I am indeed hurrying away 
 from a patient, whom you, Kyr Nikola, 
 must assist in the cure of. That unfortunate 
 boy is drooping fast, and if he is not re- 
 moved to the mountains, he will not live 
 many days longer. The air of Kalarytes is 
 pure and bracing, and you have a good house 
 there ; have you not, Signor Yanko?" 
 
 "Well, what of that?" answered the 
 Wallachian, in evident alarm at the philan- 
 thropic intentions of Dr. Mavromati. *' Is
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 183 
 
 it not enough to have that dog of a Turk, 
 Mustafa, quartered upon me in town, but I 
 must have that young mountain-wolf to eat 
 me out of house and home in the country 
 besides ? What good does his being kept 
 alive do to any body ? May the evil one 
 take him and all his thievish race, and your 
 
 humanity, and all your drugs, and " 
 
 The man of prescriptions was out of 
 hearing before Yanko had concluded his 
 anathema, and he made up for his detention 
 by the rude boor by walking at a redoubled 
 pace to the serai', whither he was bent for 
 the purpose of obtaining from the interested 
 humanity of Aly Pasha the buyurdee, or 
 written permission, to transfer Photo from 
 the town to Yanko's house at Kalarytes. 
 The dialogue related above had had a witness, 
 of w^hom the two interlocutors had at the 
 moment been quite unconscious. A fellow, 
 apparently as much wrapt up in sleep as he 
 was in a huge goats'-hair cloak, lay stretched 
 at the other end of the bench where sat 
 Yanko, keeping chorus in an occasional 
 snore to the conversation, of which, however, 
 the sleeper had not lost a syllable. No sooner 
 was the Doctor gone than this man, with a
 
 184 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 most natural yawn, roused himself out of his 
 affected sleep, and sat up without appearing 
 to take any notice of Yank o, who at the same 
 instant, dashing out the ashes of his pipe 
 against the edge of the bench, moved off with 
 as much speed as his round corpulent figure 
 would allow, in the wake of the physician, 
 followed at an unsuspicious distance by the 
 observant snorer. 
 
 In a few minutes more the latter found 
 himself at the foot of the staircase leading 
 up to the gallery of the serai, and guarded, 
 as was described in a former chapter, by 
 Shishman Suleyman. He arrived in time to 
 see Yanko ascend the steps, and then lost 
 sight of him amid the crowd of attendants 
 waiting in the gallery. He did not think it 
 prudent to attempt to follow him further, but 
 conjecturing that the object of his curiosity 
 w r ould not fail to repass by the same way, the 
 stranger took up his station on the shaded 
 side of the spacious court, where, without 
 attracting observation himself, he could re- 
 mark the disposition of the building, and the 
 various figures and occupations of the many 
 persons w r ho were going to and fro. 
 
 He had not been long so employed before
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 18.5 
 
 he perceived the two persons lately mentioned 
 descend from the gallery into the court, with 
 looks indicating exactly opposite feelings. 
 The Doctor's appeared elated with triumph, 
 not, however, unmixed with anxiety ; while 
 the Vlackh's was lowering with disappoint- 
 ment and chagrin, which he endeavoured to 
 conceal under a grin meant for a smile, as a 
 magnificently armed Palikari accosted him. 
 " So, Kyr Nikola, Christodboulo is to be 
 married at last up in the mountains ! Well, 
 I suppose you have got all ready for the 
 Ziafeti ? It is to take place next week, is it 
 not ? I mean to be there, so let us have 
 good music and plenty of pillaf, kibab, and 
 all that." 
 
 Kyr Nikola's answer to this self-invited 
 guest did not consist of that kind of silence 
 which implies willing consent. He stared 
 at the Palikari with his bodily eyes, while 
 his mind's eye was evidently strained on 
 some other object ; and as he followed Mav- 
 romati across the court, his half-suppressed 
 exclamation, "Anathemati pistisou /"* might 
 be directed either against the Doctor, the 
 Palikari, or any one else he might be just 
 * Vide Note.
 
 186 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 then thinking of. The man in the goat's- 
 hair cloak lost nothing of this incident ; he 
 continued to watch the movements of Yanko 
 and the physician, whom he followed back 
 into the streets of the town, as they walked 
 side by side on apparently not very friendly 
 terms, till they both stopped at a house 
 at the corner of a street which was one of 
 the principal thoroughfares of Joannina, so 
 that the stranger might loiter in the neigh- 
 bourhood without attracting attention. His 
 eyes were riveted on the house, at which he 
 presently saw arrive a Surejee leading three 
 horses ; and shortly afterwards appeared 
 our old acquaintance, Mustafa, accoutred 
 for a journey. They all entered the court 
 of the house, and in a few minutes after- 
 wards he saw the Surejee emerge from the 
 gateway, preceding Yanko, Mavromati, and 
 the Palikari, mounted on the three horses, 
 who were accompanied by a languishing, 
 pale-looking youth, mounted on an easy, 
 sure-footed mule, whose sleekness and hous- 
 ings contrasted with the sad, dejected looks 
 of the rider. 
 
 While the party are jogging on to the 
 village of Kalarytes, distant ten hours' jour-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 187 
 
 ney from the modern capital of Epirus, we 
 will precede them, and prepare for their 
 reception at the house of their unwilling 
 host, Signor Nikola Yanko. 
 
 Whoever has seen an eagle's nest perched 
 on the crags of the high rocks, may form an 
 idea of the situation of Kalarytes, as viewed 
 from the opposite side of the deep ravine, 
 on the upper brink of which its houses seem 
 to grow out of their rocky foundations. A 
 stream, which at the melting of the winter 
 snows swells into a furious torrent, flows in 
 the bottom, heard, but not seen, by the tra- 
 veller as he toils up the almost precipitous 
 ascent to the village ; for the thick woods 
 which overhang the path on every side 
 effectually preclude the view of all but the 
 ground trod on, until you suddenly emerge 
 into the dw T elling-place of the most indus- 
 trious of the inhabitants of Mount Pindus, 
 of which this ridge forms a branch. 
 
 The streets of Kalarytes — if the path 
 which winds in and out between houses as 
 irregularly placed as if accidentally dropped 
 from the skies deserve the name — are, in 
 fact, so many water-courses, falling into a 
 variety of diminutive cascades, according to
 
 188 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 the break in the rocky surface, each hasten- 
 ing to add its tribute of the clearest, purest 
 water to the stream below. These houses 
 partake of the same raw, unmanufactured 
 nature, as the rivulet-streets we have de- 
 scribed — the lowly walls consisting merely 
 of the splinters of rock, the scrapings, as it 
 were, of the natural foundation, laid upon 
 each other without any cement, but a little 
 mud, and covered over with a roof of the 
 same rough material. The only wood-work 
 seen from without is that which serves for 
 the window-frames and the door, and is of 
 unsmoothed, unplaned fir -planks, oozing 
 with their native resin. 
 
 Among these dwellings stood conspi- 
 cuous, from its newness and somewhat larger 
 dimensions, that of Nikola Yanko. His 
 wife, Angelica, was busied in making pre- 
 parations for the approaching marriage of 
 the Palikari Christodhoulo, and her waiting- 
 maid, Arghyrousa, the bride-elect, was ac- 
 tually elbow-deep in paste, kneading the 
 wedding-cake — an enormous pyta, or flat 
 pie, not quite a yard in diameter — when our 
 travellers from Joannina suddenly clambered 
 up out of the bowels of the ravine we have
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 1 8Q 
 
 just described, and clattering and splashing 
 up the street, came and alighted at the door 
 of Yanko's house, the inmates of which were 
 presently thrown into all the bustle and 
 disorder which attends an unexpected ar- 
 rival. 
 
 As Yanko threw himself into the corner 
 of his divan with a crash which nearly 
 brought the house about his ears, the harsh, 
 impatient tone with which he summoned his 
 wife to his presence, showed that his spirits 
 had not been composed by the air and exer- 
 cise of his journey. Angelica hastened to 
 perform the wifely office of pulling off her 
 husband's heavy boots, and divesting him of 
 the shawls and travelling paraphernalia un- 
 der which he lay buried. He rewarded her 
 with something like a kick for her pains, 
 and ordered her to get him his pipe and 
 coffee. During this operation the other 
 travellers found their way into the room. 
 
 Mustafa did not wait to be bidden to 
 take his seat in the other corner of the 
 divan, but occupied it with the air of one 
 w T ho considered himself as the master, not 
 only of the house, but of the whole village ; 
 while the physician Mavromati, placing the
 
 190 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 young Suliote by his side, felt his pulse, 
 and anxiously looked into his languid and 
 emaciated features to judge how the jour- 
 ney, which he himself had so urgently 
 recommended, had been borne by the poor 
 youth. 
 
 When Angelica returned with the coffee 
 and tchibouks, which she prudently offered, 
 first to Mustafa, who took both without 
 thanks or remark, she had leisure to per- 
 ceive the unknown guests her husband had 
 brought with him, and her curiosity and 
 interest were equally excited by the appear- 
 ance of Photo. Her worser half, whose 
 sulky humour was not improved by the 
 transfer of his luxuries to the intrusive 
 bravo, which he dared not resent in his 
 presence, said, — 
 
 " Our master, the Yezir, sends you this 
 wolf's cub to take care of, and nourish and 
 fatten with your choicest morsels. When 
 he has got all his teeth, and his claws are 
 full-grown, he'll tear us to pieces for our 
 pains ; unless, indeed, the Effendi there, 
 Mustafa Bey, keep a sharp watch upon 
 this mountain vermin." — a Let me alone for 
 that," said the Palikari ; " as long as it is
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 191 
 
 my business to watch him. He knows well 
 enough that Mustafa's pistols don't hang 
 fire, and that his yatagan is sharp enough 
 to cut his claws. Hark ye, hoy ! " said he, 
 addressing himself more particularly to 
 Photo ; " remember I have given you notice, 
 that the slightest attempt you make to go 
 out of the path I choose you to walk in, 
 while under mv charge, be it an inch to the 
 right or left, will be the signal of your de- 
 struction. " Your life for his life," were the 
 last words the Yezir said to me at parting. 
 u You understand me ?" 
 
 Photo had dropped asleep during this 
 civil dialogue about himself, and Mavromati 
 answered for him. 
 
 " The poor child won't give you much 
 
 trouble vet awhile. He is more exhausted 
 
 j 
 
 than I thought for. But I hope you, Signor 
 Palikari, and you, Signor Yanko, will both 
 remember that it is only by kindness and 
 tender treatment that his life, on which you 
 know how great a value the Vezir sets, can 
 be preserved. And I am sure he cannot, for 
 that purpose, be in better hands than in the 
 Kyra Angelica's. You will be a sister to
 
 192 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 the lad as long as he is sick, will you not ?" 
 continued Mavromati, turning to Yanko's 
 young wife. 
 
 " That will I," replied Angelica, with a 
 warmth which made Yanko's small, ugly, 
 Calmuck eyes, twinkle with jealous fire, for 
 which, however, there was no cause ; for 
 the woman, in the innocence of her heart, 
 only expressed the natural compassion with 
 which a good and gentle nature is inspired 
 at the sight of any fellow-creature in pain 
 or sorrow. " A wolf's cub ! " thought she, 
 while the tears glistened in her beautiful 
 eyes as she cast a look of pity on the youth. 
 " 'Tis a poor stricken lamb, and no wolf!" 
 
 Angelica's tears sprang from a deeper 
 fountain than the mere compassion common 
 to all gentle natures. To understand their 
 full meaning the reader must be detained a 
 moment, while he is told how it came to 
 pass that so lovely a flower was doomed to 
 waste its sweetness on the foul atmosphere 
 in which he finds it. 
 
 Angelica's father, Athanasios Agatho- 
 poulos, was a Greek merchant of Salonica. 
 While still a young man he was, by the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 193 
 
 death of his wife, left a sorrowing widower 
 in sole charge of two young children, An- 
 gelica and her brother Sotiri. 
 
 In the prosecution of his business he had 
 visited foreign countries, became acquainted 
 with enlightened men of Franguia, and, to- 
 gether with competent wealth, had acquired 
 much information and various knowledge, 
 both of which he liberally imparted for the 
 benefit of his nation, then beginning to give 
 the first signs of that intellectual and moral 
 revival which ultimately issued in their 
 emancipation from Ottoman bondage. 
 
 To the furtherance of that object, — the 
 aim of all the patriotic spirits of his day, — 
 Agathopoulos resolved to devote his life. 
 But he had notions of his own about na- 
 tional regeneration, which did not accord 
 with the notions that prevailed generally 
 anions the reformers of that time, when the 
 Rights of Men, and Liberty, and Equality, 
 and Fraternity, were becoming " household 
 words." One of his notions was, that a 
 people's capacity for bearing political liberty 
 was intimately connected with the domestic 
 moralities, and that these had their root in 
 the hearts and intellect of the women, — the 
 
 vol. i. o
 
 194 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 mothers, the sisters, the first instructors and 
 guides, and examples of the future men. 
 He believed that in a community where the 
 women were considered merely in a zoologi- 
 cal point of view as females, — such as cows 
 and beasts of burthen, — the children they 
 suckled could grow up only into brute 
 animals, not men. Agathopoulos' axiom 
 was, — u Educate the girls right, and the 
 boys will not go wrong." Upon this pa- 
 triotic principle he brought up his daughter 
 Angelica, giving her the same instruction 
 which he gave to her brother Sotiri, and 
 laying the foundations of the intellectual 
 structure deep in their infant hearts by a 
 constant reference to that Divine model 
 which is the way, and the truth, and the 
 life, of every living, immortal soul. 
 
 The children grew up together like 
 twin rose-buds on one stem. They were 
 hardly ever apart during their waking 
 hours, and in sleep their dreams were 
 of each other. Their father lived only for 
 them. His paternal affection was height- 
 ened by the perhaps overweening and too- 
 ambitious aspiration that they — his own 
 flesh and blood — might one day be em-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 195 
 
 ployed as providential instruments for the 
 moral regeneration of the Hellenic race. 
 By some of his neighbours and acquaint- 
 ance he was spoken of as a poor, crazy, 
 fanciful creature, who knew nothing of the 
 world ; and especially by those who had 
 marriageable daughters he was called down- 
 right mad, for that, young as he still was, 
 and wealthy withal, he remained obstinately 
 constant to the memory of his wife, as if 
 she were still living, and took none of the 
 very broad hints they were so kind as to 
 give him of their having no objection to 
 him as a son-in-law. 
 
 Just when Angelica had completed her 
 seventeenth year, it happened that Agatho- 
 poulos was suddenly obliged by urgent busi- 
 ness to go to Patrass. 
 
 The first intelligence his children re- 
 ceived of him from thence was that he was 
 dangerously ill. It was conveyed to them 
 by an express messenger, in a letter bearing 
 the signature of " Nikola Yanko," with 
 their father's name scrawled in a hand 
 hardly legible, apparently meant to con- 
 firm the melancholy news contained in the 
 letter, and the desire therein expressed that 
 o 2
 
 196 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 they should take ship and join him as soon 
 as possible. 
 
 When Angelica and her brother dis- 
 embarked at Patrass, the first news they 
 learnt was, that their father was dead. 
 More than a week had elapsed since the 
 fatal hour that made them doubly orphans, 
 and, as Yanko hastened to inform them, 
 penniless orphans, henceforward dependent 
 on others (by which he meant himself). 
 
 A paper which he produced, purporting 
 to be the will of Kyr Agathopoulos, con- 
 stituted Kyr Nikola Yanko of Kalarytes, 
 his best friend and benefactor, guardian 
 of his children, and expressed the fervent 
 wish that Angelica should become the wife 
 of him who would be to her and her brother 
 in the room of a father. Not long after, 
 Sotiri sickened and died, and Angelica was 
 left alone in this dreary world, fatherless, 
 brotherless, friendless, with nothing to sus- 
 tain her but the memory of the precept she 
 had received from her father's lips, never 
 to quit the path of duty, however rough ; 
 and her own childlike trust, that He who 
 is the father of the fatherless would both 
 show her the path, and guide her steps in it.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 197 
 
 Two years separate the interval between 
 that fatal moment and the time when An- 
 gelica is introduced to the reader as the 
 wife of her disinterested guardian. The 
 world knew nothing of his marriage till 
 his wife was safely lodged and secreted in 
 his house at K alary' tes, whither he con- 
 veyed her by stealth, direct from Patrass, 
 without stopping at Joannina. He himself 
 gave out that he had married a poor 
 sickly orphan out of compassion, at the 
 dying request of his friend Agathopoulos, 
 ruined by an unlucky speculation in Zante 
 currants. Those who knew him were dis- 
 posed to treat this version as a myth ; in 
 which disposition they were confirmed by 
 a rumour that Kyr Nikola had, by the 
 timely present of a splendid jewel, satisfied 
 the curiosity of his master, the Vezir, who 
 from that time made no further inquiry into 
 his agent's family concerns : and thus it 
 happened that Angelica, secluded as she 
 had been from all society since the death 
 of her father and brother, was now for the 
 first time seen by other eyes than the eyes 
 of her husband, and had herself beheld no 
 face she cared to look upon. In age, in
 
 198 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 features, in the expression of his eyes, in 
 the sound of his voice, in everything about 
 him, the resemblance of Photo to Angelica's 
 departed brother was such as that they 
 might have passed for twins. 
 
 Nature, to use the common phraseology, 
 seems sometimes to delight in sending forth 
 into the world duplicates of her best per- 
 formances, just to puzzle the connoisseurs. 
 
 The resemblance was rendered still more 
 touching to the heart of Angelica by the 
 languishing state of the young mountaineer, 
 as it revived in her mind the mournful im- 
 pressions of her darling brother's last days. 
 No wonder that she shed tears at the 
 sight, nor that her husband, who had his 
 own reasons for being also touched, but 
 in a very different manner, by the unmis- 
 takable resemblance, most devoutly wished 
 that the Vezir had selected any other house 
 but his house as an infirmary, and any 
 other man's wife but his wife as a nurse, 
 for the sick Klephtopoulo. 
 
 It is hard to say whether avarice or 
 jealousy had the greater share in making 
 Yanko so dissatisfied with an arrangement 
 which brought into view the costly pearl
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 199 
 
 he was so unworthy to possess, and, for that 
 reason, so studious to conceal. He already 
 calculated the damage to his pocket and 
 to his peace of mind, which the recovery of 
 his unwelcome guest's appetite and good 
 looks might occasion. True, Photo was 
 yet but a mere stripling, and, in his pre- 
 sent condition, more fitted to inspire com- 
 passion than love. But Angelica was 
 young and beautiful ; he, Yanko, was no 
 chicken, and marvellously ill-favoured ; and 
 he felt that if she ever came to know the 
 nature of her obligations to her guardian, 
 his claims to her affection as her husband 
 would not be improved. Except for the 
 fear of Aly Pasha's vengeance, who he 
 knew full well would not suffer his com- 
 mands to be disobeyed with impunity, 
 Yanko would have turned out all into 
 the street — the Doctor, his patient, and 
 the Palikari. Instead of which he was 
 obliged to look and act as if he were highly 
 pleased at the honour done him. 
 
 Luckily for all parties, the bustle occa- 
 sioned by the preparations for the approach- 
 ing marriage of the Palikari Christodhoulo 
 caused a seasonable diversion from these
 
 200 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 disturbing thoughts, and gave occupation 
 not only to everybody in the house, but to 
 the whole population of Kalarytes. 
 
 The inhabitants of Kalarytes were ac- 
 customed to assemble towards sunset in 
 the only level space belonging to it, which 
 served both as the Agora for men of busi- 
 ness, and as the scene of public merry- 
 making for the lovers of the dance and 
 song. On one side of this spot stood a 
 gigantic oriental plane, spreading its shade 
 to the very edge of the woody precipice, 
 
 which formed its boundarv on the other 
 
 %i 
 
 side. 
 
 To the spectators who sat beneath it, 
 the dancers appeared as if every bound 
 they took would precipitate them into the 
 yawning chasm immediately below, at the 
 bottom of which rushed impetuously, but 
 too distant to be distinctly heard, the 
 mountain stream. 
 
 On the second evening after the arrival 
 of Yanko's unwelcome guests, the dancers 
 of Kalarytes, good and bad, old and young, 
 men and women, holding each other by the 
 hand, were circling in the Romai'ka, led by 
 the chief cutter of capers, flourishing the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 201 
 
 embroidered handkerchief, and displaying 
 all the grace and agility usually exerted on 
 these occasions. 
 
 In such a scene a youth of Photo's age 
 ought to have been a principal performer. 
 But even the sight of it was tedious to 
 him, revolving as he was his own wretched 
 position ; so he remained apart, and at 
 some distance behind the rest, stretched 
 out on a cloak, which the stealthy kindness 
 of Angelica had procured to be spread 
 for him, and seemed perfectly unconscious 
 of all that was passing around him. As 
 the short twilight cast a dubious veil on 
 every object, and while all the spectators, 
 including Mustafa the jailer, were intent 
 upon the dance, there came and sat himself 
 down by Photo's side a man, whose slovenly 
 dress, and dark, swarthy complexion, and 
 intensely black moustachios curling into his 
 mouth, and a many-stringed fiddle in his 
 hand, denoted him for a Tchinguene, or 
 gipsy, — a race who, in the East, are as much 
 addicted to the profession of itinerant musi- 
 cians, as in other countries to that of tinkers. 
 The poor captive, conscious of some one 
 near him, and thinking it was his jailer
 
 202 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 coming to shut him up in his cage for the 
 night, pretended to be fallen asleep, and 
 took no notice of him. 
 
 " Kaimene Photakimou !" (" My poor 
 hoy, Photo ! ") were the first words whispered 
 into Photo's ears, which came from beneath 
 the gipsy's dark moustachios. Photo started, 
 and opened his half-closed eyes. The voice 
 was evidently that of a friend ; and his 
 drooping spirits revived so suddenly at the 
 unexpected sound, that the colour rose in 
 his pallid cheek. Fearing lest Photo might 
 give utterance to his joy by an exclamation 
 that might betray them, the man, putting his 
 hand before the boy's mouth, said in an 
 under-tone, " I am Dhimo, speak not ; but 
 be thou on the watch the night of the wed- 
 ding : expect then thy deliverance. Make 
 no resistance, whatever happens ; and speak 
 not a word. I go to prepare all things. 
 Thy father and mother are well. The rest 
 are safe. O Qeog va, <j\ (pvXulfy, ugvtfAovl" 
 (" God preserve thee, my lamb ! ") So say- 
 ing, the gipsy disappeared, and left the 
 youth bewildered in a labyrinth of hopes and 
 fears ; but hope soon obtained predominance 
 in his young heart ; and mixing with his
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 203 
 
 blood, gave such a wholesome shock to his 
 whole frame, as by a miracle seemed to have 
 suddenly converted him from the languish- 
 ing captive into the animated, fiery, inde- 
 pendent young Klepht.
 
 204 PHOTO THE SULIOTE, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The mountain of Nemertzika is one of the 
 most remarkable, by its form and height, in 
 the chain of Pindus, some hours' journey 
 to the north of Joannina. It overtops a 
 long, narrow vale, through which flows one 
 of the main branches of the Viosa, whose 
 waters fall into the Adriatic Sea, to the 
 north of the Cerannian Promontory. At 
 its foot, on a ridge projecting from its east- 
 ern declivity, stands or stood the castle and 
 serai' of Premedi, built by Aly Pasha. At 
 the period we are speaking of it was not yet 
 completed, but it was sufficiently advanced 
 to afford him a lodging, whither he could 
 occasionally resort to superintend the work- 
 men, and to take the diversion of coursing 
 and hawking in the neighbouring valley 
 and the surrounding hills, which abounded 
 with game. 
 
 The Pasha was now there for both pur-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 205 
 
 poses ; and on the morning after the day in 
 which the events described in the last chap- 
 ter occurred, he and his attendants were on 
 the stir just as the first rays of the sun were 
 lighting up with a faint blush the cold, 
 snowy vapours that cling to the summit of 
 Nemertzika. The cavalcade had already 
 reached the other side of the high, steep, 
 single-arched bridge, which bestrides the 
 river, close to the foot of the rocky path 
 leading down from the serai of Premedi. 
 
 A diver, stripped to the waist, was stand- 
 ing on the peaked summit of the bridge, 
 ready to take his plunge into the foaming 
 stream for the diversion of the Vezir, and in 
 the hope of a reward for his feat. He only 
 waited the signal to make his leap, when the 
 appearance of a Tatar coming along the broken 
 causeway which led to the bridge attracted 
 the attention of Aly, who sent forward one 
 of the men near him to hasten his approach. 
 The courier and his horse seemed equally 
 weary ; the man was nodding with sleep ; 
 the beast was hardly more awake. Presently 
 the trampling of the horses, the barking of 
 the dogs, and the cries of the men on foot, 
 who were spreading themselves across the
 
 206 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 valley to beat up the game, reached the 
 sensorium of the somnolent Tatar ; and then 
 the instinctive consciousness of being in the 
 close neighbourhood of the dreaded master 
 made him dismount, unfold his despatches, 
 and totter between sleeping and waking to 
 the latter, who, casting a glance at the super- 
 scription, which assured him they contained 
 nothing urgent, he handed them over to a 
 young page, magnificently attired, who rode 
 near him, shading his beautiful ringlets with 
 a parasol. 
 
 Aly was just turning round to witness 
 the diver plunge, when he perceived a letter, 
 which had fallen to the ground from the 
 Tatar's side-pocket. 
 
 u What paper's that?" exclaimed the 
 Vezir. 
 
 " That's a paper," replied the Tatar, 
 whose thick voice and muddy look indicated 
 a state of somnolency which a certain exha- 
 lation of brandy, and the jaded appearance 
 of his whole person, made it probable was 
 the result equally of a long ride and hard 
 drinking. 
 
 One of the Pasha's Greek scribes, who 
 happened to be standing by, picked up the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 207 
 
 paper, and as he delivered it to the Yezir, 
 said, — 
 
 " This is a letter addressed to your 
 
 Highness, and bears the seal of " 
 
 Here he dropped his voice, as if afraid to 
 be heard. 
 
 " How ! what ! " exclaimed Aly. " How 
 came that drunkard with a letter from 
 thence ? You mistake, More Grammatike. 
 Bakalum" (" Let me see.") 
 
 As he spoke he unfolded a letter, and 
 the first words his eye caught proved the 
 scribe's to he right. He read on, and the 
 paper shook in his hands. Every one who 
 stood by averted his eyes in terror, as con- 
 scious of agitation which was boiling in the 
 Satrap's breast, yet afraid to betray the fatal 
 consciousness, lest it should, like a con- 
 ductor, draw down the first thunderbolt of 
 the gathering wrath upon himself. 
 
 The half-sleepy, half-drunken messenger 
 alone kept his dull, stupid eyes turned 
 towards the despot. 
 
 The first object which met the glare of 
 the Pasha's eye as he lifted it up from the 
 ominous writing was the vacant stare of the 
 luckless Tatar. The sight acted as the spark
 
 208 THOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 to the pent-up mine. The Pasha thrust the 
 paper into his bosom, and then seizing his 
 heavy mace, which hung at his saddle-bow, 
 he rode his horse full at the victim, at the 
 same time aiming a blow at his calpack- 
 defencled skull. 
 
 The man was not so stupefied but that 
 he saw the danger coming down upon him, 
 and, to avoid it, he made a step backwards. 
 In doing so he lost his balance, and, falling, 
 rolled down the steep bank on the edge of 
 which he was standing, and went headlong 1 
 into the river. 
 
 The accident seemed to dispel the Ye- 
 zir's resentment ; for he beckoned to the 
 diver to plunge in after him, and giving 
 orders that the man should, when undrowned 
 and dried, be brought before him to a ren- 
 dezvous which he named further up the 
 valley, on the road to Joannina, he proceeded 
 to the coursing-ground. On his way thither 
 he called one of the armed Albanians to 
 him, and whispering something in his ear, 
 the latter immediately was observed to 
 mount one of the led-horses attending the 
 Pasha, and ride off at full speed in the 
 direction of Joannina.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 209 
 
 Meanwhile, the poor Tatar was making 
 his morning ablutions in the whirling eddies 
 of the Viosa, with an activity which, had it 
 been voluntary, might have atoned for his 
 violation of the laws of the Koran on the 
 article of wine. The diver, however, luckily 
 for him, was equally expert and strong ; at 
 the Vezir's nod he had plunged after the 
 messenger, and soon fished him up by the 
 single lock left on his Moslem pate, as a 
 convenient handle for the angel whose office, 
 it is well known, is to bob for true believers 
 destined for the joys of the camel-driver's 
 paradise. 
 
 Poor Emin Aga, dripping like a Naiad, 
 and weighed down by his heavy cloak and 
 ample breeches, floundered up the bank 
 somewhat sobered. He looked suspiciously 
 round, as if in expectation of the bastinado 
 to wipe him dry. A Tschaoosh, who had 
 remained behind to conduct him to the ap- 
 pointed rendezvous, guessing his thoughts, 
 comforted him with the remark that the 
 spot was one where the Vezir was in the 
 habit of impaling the Klephts caught in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 " Well, if it be so," said the resigned 
 Mussulman, "kismet is kismet — (fate is fate) 
 — and if I am to die for tasting a drop of 
 the elixir of life, at least let it be a good 
 draught." Here the desperate toper felt for 
 his brandy-flask ; but it had, fortunately for 
 him, been washed away during his struggles 
 in the water. 
 
 So, having got a change of clothes from 
 a brother Tatar in the serai', and mounted 
 the Surejee's horse, he rode in no little fear 
 and trepidation to the dreadful rendez- 
 vous. 
 
 It was hi"h noon when he reached it. 
 The Pasha had taken his morning repast, 
 and was reposing from the labours of the 
 chase in all the luxury of Oriental comfort. 
 His carpet and cushions were spread upon a 
 bed of moss, at the foot of a wide-spreading 
 plane, whose ancient arms, festooned with 
 the luxuriant tendrils of the wild vine, 
 stretched far across a clear and gurgling 
 rivulet that issued from some high rocks 
 which enclosed that end of the valley. 
 
 The Vezir, reclining at his ease in the 
 delicious shade, and inhaling the smoke of a
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 211 
 
 hooka, received the approaching Tatar with 
 that smile of complacency which indicates a 
 good digestion. 
 
 It was, in truth, with his Albanian 
 Highness the mollia temporafandi ; as the 
 dismounted Tatar waited the signal to ap- 
 proach the edge of the carpet, Iip thought 
 within himself what luck his would be if, 
 having escaped drowning, he did not finish 
 by being impaled. 
 
 ' 4 Come hither, you drunken varlet ! " said 
 the Pasha, with a hiccough redolent of wine ; 
 "come hither; and now that you have had 
 plenty of water mixed with your brandy, tell 
 me how you came by that letter ? " 
 
 Emin Aga, encouraged bv the tone of 
 the Pasha's voice, which persuaded him that 
 all anger against himself was vanished, ap- 
 proached, and having kissed the hem of the 
 Yezir's garment, said, 
 
 Ci Eff'endbn Sultanum — (My lord and 
 master" — it is your slave's duty to relate, that 
 the evening before last, just about the time 
 of evening prayer, I stopped at the fountain 
 of Kryonero to re^t my horse and make my 
 
 ablutions " 
 
 p 2
 
 212 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 " Of your gullet with brandy," inter- 
 rupted the Vezir, in a tone which did not 
 indicate a too-i igorous condemnation of the 
 practice, while the Tatar's eye gave a strange 
 twinkle as he cast a sidelong glance at some 
 bottles on the ground. 
 
 " I there met a gipsy, who was going 
 up to K alary tes with his fiddle, to attend, 
 as he told me, at the marriage of Kyr Nikola 
 Yanko's Palikari. 
 
 " After we had parted, and just as I was 
 remounting my horse, I perceived on the 
 ground, near the spot where the Tohinguene 
 had been sitting, that paper now in your High- 
 ness's hand. Who knows, thought I, whether 
 it may not contain a talisman against the 
 evil eye ? for my horse had gone dead lame 
 just before without any reason, and what 
 could that be but the evil eye ?* And, Val- 
 la h ! I had no sooner picked up the paper 
 and put it into my pipe-case, which hung 
 by his neck, than the beast went on as well 
 as ever. And who knows whether I should 
 have had that cold bath this morning if 
 
 • Vide Note.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 213 
 
 Here a fierce glance from Aly's evil eve 
 cut short the foolish babbler's storv. 
 
 " A gipsy, you said ?" inquired the Pasha ; 
 " and going to Kalarytes ? Hin . . . ." 
 
 "Yes!" 
 
 "But are you sure the paper dropped 
 from him ? " 
 
 " Yes : for I onlv observed it after he 
 was gone, and close to where he had been 
 resting." 
 
 " Go yonder, and wait. Here, More 
 Grammatike, bring your pen and paper and 
 write." 
 
 In a few minutes the letter was written, 
 and the Tatar despatched with it, addressed 
 to Aly's eldest son, Mukhtar Pasha, at 
 Ioannina, the messenger hardlv believing 
 his senses that he had escaped from the 
 presence of the man of three tails with 
 his head on his shoulders.
 
 214 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 We now return to K alary fes, to attend the 
 nuptials of the Palikari Christodhoulo, for 
 which all the preparations had been com- 
 pleted on the evening following the day whose 
 events have just been related. All the pre- 
 liminary ceremonies had been duly complied 
 with. After having signed the marriage 
 articles, under the directions and in the pre- 
 sence of the Exarch, or bishop's deputy, the 
 bridegroom underwent the operation of shav- 
 ing ; whilst the women of the house, sitting 
 around him, sung appropriate ditties, in that 
 doleful key which characterises the music of 
 the present inhabitants of Mount Pindus. 
 
 About nightfall the procession set out 
 from the temporary residence chosen by the 
 bridegroom to Kvr Nikola Yanko's house, 
 where the ceremony was appointed to take 
 place, as the latter performed the important 
 office of Compare on the occasion.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 215 
 
 The procession consisted of : — 
 
 1st. A man carrying a paper lantern. 
 
 2nd. The male friends of the bridegroom. 
 
 3rd. The victim himself, who folio .ved 
 them, carrying in his hand a bunch of basilico, 
 to which he ever and anon applied his nose ; 
 and who was also supported by a trusty com- 
 panion at his side, the Paranymphios, whose 
 special business it was to keep up his spirits. 
 
 4th. The women, some of whom bore the 
 nuptial gifts ; and 
 
 5thly. The musicians. 
 
 On the arrival of this splendid pageant 
 at the house, every person having taken his 
 or her place, the ceremony commenced. 
 
 In the middle of the room stood a small 
 table, covered with a napkin, on which was 
 laid the Bible, a loaf of bread, and a tumbler 
 of wine. On the Bible were the rings of the 
 parties, who stood near the table, (the bride 
 being on the right hand of the bridegroom). 
 The priest stood opposite to them, and 
 accompanied by his clerk or deacon, went 
 through some prayers in a very voluble 
 manner. 
 
 Then taking the rings one after the other 
 he made with each upon the foreheads of the
 
 216 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 couple the sign of the cross three several 
 times, repeating a form of benediction. He 
 then put the rings on their fingers. After 
 which the Compere transferred them from 
 one to the other, and so back again. Next 
 were produced the nuptial crowns, made of 
 tinsel, which being, with the ceremony of 
 the cross, placed on their respective heads, 
 were afterwards, by the Compere, transferred 
 from one to the other three several times, he 
 standing behind. 
 
 While all this was going on the bride 
 continued veiled, she as well as the bride- 
 groom holding a taper. After the ceremony 
 of transferring the rings they changed places, 
 when the man, standing on the right of the 
 woman, held her right hand with his right 
 hand. 
 
 The bride was afterwards unveiled, and 
 then they both took a sip of the wine ; which 
 being done, an embroidered covering was 
 thrown over them, and the priest taking the 
 bridegroom by the hand, and he the bride, 
 thev were conducted three times round the 
 table, the Commire Angelica following them 
 and sprinkling rice over the company. They 
 then resumed their former stations near the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 217 
 
 table, and a few staves having been chanted 
 by the Papas and his assistant, the religious 
 ceremony was concluded. 
 
 Previous to the ceremony, and also after 
 it, the bride saluted every person in the 
 room with a slow inclination of the head 
 and a kiss of the hand, reserving that favour 
 last of all for her husband. 
 
 "When all this was over the eating and 
 merry-making began, in which all present 
 took part except the bride, whose duty, 
 prescribed by long-established custom, it was 
 to stand at the end of the room with her 
 back to the wall, bowing her head con- 
 tinually with all imaginable gravity, in token 
 of the submission she now acknowledged to 
 the lords of the creation. Another exception 
 was to be found also in Photo, whose 
 thoughts were too busied with the anticipation 
 of his promised deliverance to take any 
 interest in the scene before him. He kept 
 his eyes fixed upon the gipsy fiddler, who 
 played and sung without appearing to take 
 the least notice of him, till Photo began to 
 doubt whether it were the same who but a 
 few days before had given him notice to be 
 on the watch for the occasion, which was
 
 218 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 now at last arrived. While he was in this 
 suspense, and his impatience was at its height 
 to obtain some sign of recognition which 
 should confirm the hopes of escape he had 
 been feeding on, since the hasty dialogue 
 which had passed between him and the 
 gipsy, under the plane-tree, Mustafa Aga 
 called out, — 
 
 " More Tchinguenej vu pctg r^ayovhag svcc 
 xkfyrizo rgccyovli — sing us a Klephtic song." 
 
 ''By and by," answered the gipsy, 
 without ceasing the movement of his fiddle- 
 stick. " It's not quite time yet for that sort 
 of music. That Klephtopoulo must join 
 chorus when I begin," added he, casting a 
 significant glance at Photo, which struck on 
 the youth like an electric shock. He under- 
 stood the hint, and could hardly repress the 
 emotion he felt at the near prospect it opened 
 to him of escape from the clutches of his 
 keeper, who probably would have observed 
 Photo's agitation, if at the instant he had not 
 been called to by an unknown figure that 
 suddenly lified up the perdeh, and then let it 
 fall again, too quickly to admit of his features 
 being distinguished. A few moments after, 
 Yanko was beckoned to in the same way by
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 219 
 
 Mustafa, and also left the room. A misgiving 
 immediately came across Photo's mind that 
 these movements related to himself. Im- 
 pressed with the belief that his deliverers 
 were at hand, and that his Argus's suspicions 
 were perhaps roused, he could remain in his 
 place no longer, and without exchanging 
 another look or word with the gipsy he 
 rushed out after Yanko, and at the instant 
 he appeared outside, he heard a strange 
 voice exclaim ; " Avlog etpat ! — That is he \" 
 The next moment he felt himself seized by 
 powerful arms, by how many he could not 
 tell, for it was night, and moreover a bandage 
 was at the same time fastened over his eyes 
 and mouth, and placed on a quadruped of 
 some kind. Presently after he was on the 
 road, he knew not whither, and under the 
 escort he knew not whose. Yet, remembering 
 the gipsy's warning to keep silence and make 
 no resistance, Photo yielded himself without 
 a struggle to the present constraint, assured 
 that he was in the hands of friends. The 
 noise of the music and the feasting soon died 
 away upon his ears, as he felt himself carried 
 down an almost precipitous descent, while 
 the Compere, Yanko, returned to the festive
 
 220 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 scene, with a radiant look of triumph, and 
 said, loud enough for all present to hear : 
 " Well, praised be God ! we are at last rid of 
 that mountain vermin; theyoung thief is gone, 
 and he won't trouble us or any body else much 
 longer. Oor old, A good journey to him!" 
 
 As he spoke these words he fastened his 
 bullet eyes on Angelica, whose natural 
 emotion at hearing the horrid innuendo con- 
 veyed in them was expressed by her anxious 
 inquiry as to where he was gone. " O Ozog va 
 $vkoL%r\ to xauMvo to Tccih ! — God preserve the 
 poor child!" added she; ''I hope he will 
 meet with no harm by the way," 
 
 " Let the Vezir alone for that," answered 
 Yanko ; " nothing will happen to him by the 
 way, whatever may be in store for the ' poor 
 dear' at the end of his journey. He is under 
 very good escort, but I doubt whether he 
 will feed on such a peeta as this, But 'tis 
 no reason why I should not have another 
 slice of it ; and here, woman, pour me out a 
 full glass of wine to drink a good journey to 
 the %Xz<pT07rovko y (the son of a thief,) and hap- 
 piness to the bride. Come, yap&ol ^o^g," 
 said he, with a loud chuckle to the bride- 
 groom, " here, take this, and drink health
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 221 
 
 and long life to our lord the Vezir, and 
 destruction to all 1 is enemies, young and 
 old, great and small. Eh, Angelica my 
 soul, take you a »lass too. You must be 
 tired with your maternal care and watching 
 of the poor innocent lamb : here, take it ; it 
 will comfort you." 
 
 '1 he wretch proceeded in th/s strain of 
 low and cruel irony to his innocent wife, 
 while he kept gorging himself with all the 
 voracity of an accomplished glutton, inter- 
 mingling the gross demonstrations of a 
 brutish appetite, with the grosser scurrility 
 of the human brute, who revels in the base 
 delight of inflicting undeserved pain on the 
 weak and helpless, while no avenger is at 
 hand. 
 
 Angelica opposed nothing to the en- 
 venomed shafts of her husband's unkindness, 
 but the defensive armour of a meek and 
 submissive silence and a deprecating look of 
 the most heavenly sweetness, which might 
 have smoothed the snakes of the Furies. But 
 the Vlackhiote was by this time deep in his 
 cups. The mildness of his wife only inflamed 
 the dull frenzy of his soul. He suddenly 
 started from his seat, and snatching Angelica
 
 %Q°Z PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 round the waist, insisted on her dancing with 
 him, calling out at the same time to the 
 musicians, " Strike up, you idle knaves ! give 
 us a love-son^!" And he himself began to 
 hiccup a popular ballad. " Dhyo Kopelais 
 m'rrgapousi, I tdis agdpo kai ego — Two 
 girls are in love with me, and I love them 
 too." " Come, you varlet, you anathema- 
 tized gipsy, you tormentor of fiddlestrings, 
 come, be<rin ! But where's the black -faced 
 villain gone ? " screamed the drunkard. 
 " How dare he stir from his place without 
 
 mv leave ?" And he looked round the 
 j 
 
 room with fury. 
 
 "The Tchinguene left the room when 
 you returned," answered Angelica: "he was 
 tired, perhaps, with playing all day. 1 dare 
 say be will soon be back, and then we can all 
 join in the Romaika." So saying, she gently 
 disengaged herself from Yanko's grasp, who, 
 unable to stand steadily, then resumed his 
 seat, and recommenced his attacks on the pie 
 and the bottle. 
 
 Presently, as his fuddled eye glanced 
 
 towards the window which looked on the 
 
 village street, he suddenly stopped. " Vox 
 
 faucibus hcpsit " and so did too the last
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 223 
 
 morsel of peeta, which with greasy hands he 
 was inserting under his still greasier mousta- 
 chios into his omnivorous mouth. The 
 sudden pause alarmed the guests, who were 
 in douht whether their host, who seemed to 
 be staring on vacancy, had actually a ghost 
 before him or a bone in his throat. " There ! 
 there! .... one, two!" .... and his teeth 
 began to chatter, and his knees began to 
 knock against each other. " Two, what?" 
 said Christodhoulo, and looked in the direc- 
 tion of Yanko's visual ray. And sure enough 
 he then perceived the cause of the caitiff's 
 terror ; for not one, or two, or three, but a 
 throng of dreadful faces did he descry through 
 the window, half lighted, half concealed by 
 the glare of the candles that faintly gleamed 
 upon the outer darkness. In the next mo- 
 ment a terrific shriek from the women, and the 
 cry of " O/ zLifizg ! ot -/St.iZliz ! — The robhers ! 
 the robbers!" — announced a rush of banditti 
 into the nuptial hall, who, disregarding all 
 other objects, made straight for Yanko, and 
 fastening upon him like bull-clogs on an 
 unweildy bear, bundled him up, they cared 
 not how, without ceremony or remorse, and 
 vanished. The abduction was effected so
 
 224 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 rapidly and noiselessly, that a few moments 
 after no traces of the unexpected invaders 
 remained, except those of consternation and 
 wonder impressed on the faces and the 
 attitudes of the bride and bridegroom, the 
 Papas and the Papadhia,* and all the rest of 
 the party, who stood gazing on the spot where 
 Yanko had been, very much like a country 
 bumpkin who looks for his watch or his purse 
 at the lifting up of a conjurer's cup, and sees 
 it not. 
 
 The priest was the first to move. " Tara- 
 tatatatata, what is the use of our staying and 
 staring here any longer ?" said he: c< the good 
 man of the house is gone, and we have 
 nothing more to do here. You new- married 
 couple get you home, and don't forget my 
 fees. Kyva Angelica sets proskyno. (I 
 make my bow to you.) You will be glad 
 to repose after all your fatigues. Don't 
 fret about Kyr Nikola: the Klephtes won't 
 harm him ; they know he is rich and will 
 only bleed him somewhat. However, they 
 might have been civil enough to wait till 
 he had finished his supper. But did you 
 ever see such true Palikaria ? Not one 
 * The wife of the Papas.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 225 
 
 that had not a shirt as black as my cap, and 
 as bloody as a butcher's apron. They are 
 rare fellows those. I'll warrant they are of 
 the true breed." 
 
 Angelica appeared to pay no attention to 
 these words of the Papas, but hid her emo- 
 tion by busying herself with the domestic 
 arrangements, rendered necessary by the 
 state of topsy-turviness, into which the whole 
 house had been thrown to celebrate the 
 nuptials which, contrary to the usual course 
 of things, had ended, instead of beginning, 
 with an elopement. She ordered everything 
 like a good and faithful housewife, exactly 
 as she supposed her husband would have 
 wished ; and the guests having shortly after 
 taken their departure, not without trepida- 
 tion lest the banditti invaders might still be 
 lurking in the neighbourhood, she was left 
 to her own melancholy reflections and alarms 
 as to the past and future ; and to them she 
 must for the present be left a prey, while we 
 follow the track of the vanished Klephtes, 
 encumbered with such a load as the well- 
 stuffed Yanko. 
 
 When the latter recovered from his first 
 agonies of surprise and terror, he found him- 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 self pinioned between two men, who hurried 
 him along a stony path, in which, as far as 
 the darkness would allow him to descry any- 
 thing, he was preceded by many more, and as 
 he could judge by his ears, followed by 
 others. 
 
 Not a word was spoken by any of the 
 party, who were evidently intent on making 
 a retreat from the neighbourhood of Kala- 
 rytes as rapid as had been the invasion 
 of it. 
 
 Their road at first led up a stony ravine, 
 along which a stream was heard to flow, 
 which, having crossed, they kept for some 
 time slantingly above the side of a mountain, 
 and then, having crossed one or two other 
 ravines, the beds of mountain-streams, the 
 way took a decidedly upward direction, but 
 broken by masses of rock and skirting the 
 edge of frightful precipices, the depths of 
 which were only rendered the more terrific 
 to the imagination of the wretched Vlack- 
 hiote by the dubious light, which now began 
 to be thinly and partially spread over the 
 face of night by the rising slender moon, far 
 in its wane. 
 
 The dread of ill-treatment kept Yanko
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 2^7 
 
 silent as long as he could manage to keep 
 pace with the inexorable walkers, of whom 
 he found himself so unwillingly the com- 
 panion. But how was it possible for a little 
 round tub, crammed full of peeta, pilaf, and 
 vaoort, stuck upon two short legs, to waddle 
 on all night without some respite ? 
 
 At last, not being able to budge an inch 
 
 7 © © 
 
 further, he suddenly came to a stand-still, 
 and ventured to say to his nearest guard, 
 u TsXog vrufluv, ahekps, ayzioyHhi Izv ziija guv 
 easig — Brother, after all, I am not a wild 
 goat, like you Palikaria, to go on at this 
 rate. What do you want with me ? " 
 
 "2/(a;xa xpvbooKzZuXt — Hold your tongue, 
 you blockhead ! " — was all the answer he got, 
 accompanied with a poke of the sharp butt- 
 end of an Albanian tufenck against his ribs ; 
 " you'll know fast enough what we want 
 with you by and by." 
 
 However, as the poor man was clearly 
 unable to move a step further without rest, 
 the party halted, and Yanko then for the 
 first time had an opportunity of counting his 
 escort, and judging what profession they be- 
 longed to. 
 
 The stealthy glance he took of them did 
 q2
 
 228 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 not encourage the slightest hope of escape 
 or rescue. In numbers they appeared at 
 least two score ; and in quality, they con- 
 firmed the Papas's remark, that they were 
 rare fellows — for a more truculent, fierce, 
 and active set of men, it were hard to meet 
 with in mountain or plain, by daylight or 
 moonlight. 
 
 The review could have made the anxious 
 inspector reek at every pore with sheer 
 terror, had he not been brought into that 
 state by the active exercise he had been 
 compelled to take so close after his supper. 
 
 All the tales he had ever heard of the 
 barbarity with which the Klephtes treated 
 their prisoners, combined with the conscious- 
 ness of his never having said a word in de- 
 precation of the same barbarity inflicted by 
 his master on his captives, now crowded 
 into his mind, and his caitiff spirit would 
 have actually been frightened out of his fat 
 carcase, had not his physical exertions called 
 to his aid that most indomitable of despots, 
 Sleep, who cast him into a momentary ob- 
 livion of his cares and alarms. 
 
 The Klephtes, in fact, having got far be- 
 yond all danger or fear of pursuit, were not
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 229 
 
 sorry to take a short rest while their pri- 
 soner was taking his, without which he 
 could not have proceeded further, unless on 
 their shoulders, particularly as what re- 
 mained of their journey consisted of a task 
 somewhat like scaling the tower of Babel, 
 so steep, rugged, and dangerous, was the 
 last mountain-pinnacle which they had now 
 to climb in order to get to their lair.
 
 230 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The day was just whitening in the East, 
 when Yanko was roused from his slumber 
 by a pull at his moustachios from one of the 
 Palikaria. u Up, and march ! the eagle is 
 on the wing to meet the sun, the jackals 
 are back in their dens, and the Palikaria 
 are impatient. Up ! up ! " 
 
 Unhappy wight ! From a dream in 
 which the reminiscences of his supper, and 
 warm home, and fair, ill-used wife, and 
 Photo, and the Klephtes, and the Papas, were 
 blended in fantastic mixture, such as the 
 laboratory of Morpheus furnishes, to be thus 
 cruelly roused to the sad realities of his 
 present condition ! 
 
 There was he, Kyr Nikola Yanko, con- 
 fidant of the many secret iniquities of the 
 great Vezir Aly, chief archonta of Kala- 
 rytes, proprietor, among other comforts, of 
 several soft couches and pillows, and warm-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 231 
 
 quilted coverlids, and owner of a sleek, sure- 
 footed mule, with embroidered housings to 
 boot, — master of men-servants and maid- 
 servants, and lord of a Palikari, — there 
 was he, now chilled with the night-air of 
 the mountains, having lain on the bosom 
 of mother-earth, just where it is flintiest and 
 roughest, till his bones ached again, — there 
 was he, surrounded by still flintier and 
 rougher banditti, shivering at the foot of an 
 almost perpendicular peak, over which he 
 was now required to climb, at the risk of his 
 neck, for no other purpose, as his fears sug- 
 gested, but to reach some unknown spot 
 where his throat might be cut before the 
 day was over. It seemed like the last step 
 of the ladder by which the Titans attempted 
 to scale the throne of Jupiter. 
 
 Poor Yanko looked like anything but 
 a Titan as he cast an imploring eye at 
 his pitiless companions, and then at the 
 dreadful rock that frowned upon him ; his 
 look said — " Mercy on me ! how am I ever 
 to get up there ? Have I the wings of an 
 eagle, or the legs of a mountain-goat ? T/ 
 m xcifjuaj? — What shall I do?" 
 
 All this was understood by the Palikaria ;
 
 232 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 but not a drop of pity did one of them let 
 fall into the cup of his sorrow. Used to 
 scale such heights, and breathing here the 
 air of freedom, which was denied to the 
 dwellers in the valleys subject to Turkish 
 sway, these hardy freebooters laughed at the 
 alarms and uncouth slipshod-gait of the 
 well-fed slave ; and as the foremost began 
 the ascent called out to him, — " EXa pwfk 
 %ovigt — Come along, fatty — it is very easy 
 — only mind where you place your feet — 
 hold fast with both your hands, and don't 
 look behind you." 
 
 The very terms of the encouragement 
 to mount only added to the poor man's 
 fright ; and he would have been most pro- 
 bably till now standing at the foot of the 
 rock, and looking to the top in despair, had 
 not others in his rear compelled him to 
 move upwards. That he ever reached the 
 sharp Horn of Kakardhista, may be reck- 
 oned among the physical phenomena of the 
 age. That a ball of flesh, enveloped in 
 the ample integuments of a Ioannina citizen, 
 should have attained to such a height with- 
 out wings, by a path formed of successive 
 ledges of superincumbent masses of rock,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 9.33 
 
 jutting out like a narrow cornice, was hardly 
 believed, when the event afterwards came to 
 be known among his acquaintance below ; 
 whose wonder at his feat was, if the truth 
 were told, only exceeded by their regret that 
 he had not broken his neck in the attempt. 
 
 The prospect which meets the eye of 
 him who has climbed to this sublime pin- 
 nacle amply repays all the toils and perils 
 of the effort. The rough and jagged horizon, 
 crowded with mountain tops, which stretch 
 out from hence on every side, gives the idea 
 of the ocean in a storm with all its multi- 
 tudinous waves suddenly congealed into a 
 motionless mass. And then to meet the 
 sun, as it were, face to face, just as the 
 glorious orb is flinging his level shafts across 
 the intermediate space, lighting up the fa- 
 mous tops of Pindus and Helicon, Cithseron 
 and Parnassus, which at first twinkle like 
 stars as they emerge from the dark abyss 
 of shade in which the valleys beneath are 
 yet involved, like shining islands out of the 
 purple waters, till by little and little the 
 whole becomes a deluge of light, and every 
 recess and cave is laid open to the god of 
 day !
 
 234 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Among the caverns, formerly peopled 
 by the imagination of the poets with Nymphs 
 and Dryads, many have, in later times, 
 served as a retreat for less ideal beings, who, 
 like those who now formed the escort of 
 the too-substantial Yanko, have preferred 
 the adventurous but independent existence 
 of Klephtes to submission to Turkish 
 masters. 
 
 A path, which led by a rapid slope down 
 the side of the mountain opposite to that 
 by which they had just ascended, brought 
 the party in another hour to the entrance 
 of one of these natural recesses, which 
 seemed intended for concealment and de- 
 fence. 
 
 The approaches to it were masked by a 
 thick, tangled wood, impervious to the sun, 
 which ran along and concealed the edge of 
 a deep ravine, at the bottom of which a 
 stream was heard gurgling and foaming long 
 before it could be seen. The source of the 
 stream was in the grotto ; the front of which 
 was sheltered by an immense block of marble 
 rock, which in ages past had been detached 
 from the mountain above. Homer might, 
 probably, have taken his idea of the cave of
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 235 
 
 Polyphemus from some such spot ; but here 
 was no Cyclops ; and, assuredly, Yanko 
 was no Ulysses. 
 
 On reaching their den, the first act of 
 the Klephtes did not manifest any immediate 
 intention of personal injury towards their 
 prisoner. On the contrary, having seated 
 themselves to take their heroic breakfast of 
 onions and roasted maize, they offered him 
 an equal share. But the poor wretch, over- 
 powered by the sense of his miserable, for- 
 lorn condition, in which he derived no con- 
 solation from a sense of past good deeds or 
 present virtues, burst into a flood of tears, 
 and loudlv lamented his fate ; and throwing 
 himself in the most abject attitude at the 
 feet of the man who appeared to be the 
 captain of the band, invoked his mercy 
 and compassion with the most humiliating 
 expressions. 
 
 Catching hold of the robber's feet, he 
 kissed them passionately ; and as he at- 
 tempted to disengage himself from his grasp, 
 Yanko seized his hand, and rubbing his 
 forehead against it, he sobbed out, — " Let 
 me kiss your dear little toes ! let me em- 
 brace your sweet little eyes ! oh, for mercy's
 
 236 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 sake, don't butcher me ! oh, let me go back 
 to my poor little house, and there will I pray 
 for your long life and prosperity in all your 
 undertakings ! " 
 
 The Palikari could not help smiling, 
 half in pity, half in scorn, on the abject 
 petitioner. 
 
 Shaking him off with some difficulty, he 
 said to him, — " But, my good friend, what 
 shall we be the better for our undertakings, 
 were we to listen to such petitions as yours ? 
 Do you fancy we are such ninnies as to give 
 ourselves the trouble of hoisting this round, 
 fat carcase (and he gave him a slight push 
 with his foot), to the top of our mountains, 
 merely for the amusement of seeing it roll 
 down again ? No, no, my little Punch, 
 since we have got you here, you must 
 pay your way out again ; and as I know 
 your purse is as well stuffed as your paunch, 
 the sooner we see the colour of your Vene- 
 tians* the better for you." The alarms 
 which Kyr Nikola at first felt for the safety 
 of his person were now transferred to his 
 purse. " What do you know, Affendakimou 
 
 * The Venetian gold coin then current throughout 
 the Levant.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 237 
 
 (my little Effendi), about ray Venetians? 
 Where are they?" 
 
 " That is what you know best," said the 
 robber ; " and if you wish to preserve this 
 (taking him by the nose) and these (giving 
 him a tug at the ears), write quickly an 
 order to your wife to deliver to the mes- 
 senger " 
 
 " How many bags is the fellow worth?" 
 said the Palikari, interrupting himself and 
 turning to his companions ; "at what price 
 shall we let him go?" 
 
 " At no price at all, till Photo Tzavella 
 be safe," exclaimed a voice from the bottom 
 of the cavern. " That caitiff's life for the 
 boy's life : we don't want gold ; that is to 
 be got by any man who has iron in his hand. 
 The child! the Christian child! that is 
 what we will have ; his blood and not his 
 gold must pay the forfeit ! " 
 
 The person who pronounced this sen- 
 tence on Yanko's fate, advanced as he was 
 speaking from an inner recess of the cavern, 
 and stood before the more than ever terrified 
 Vlackhiote. It was a wild-looking creature, 
 in a shaggy sheepskin capota, and grey hair
 
 238 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 floating over his shoulders — whose words 
 had silenced the first speaker, and whose 
 appearance and look of impassioned reso- 
 lution seemed to command the respect and 
 obedience of the Klephtes. 
 
 " You have heard," said he, continuing 
 to address Yanko, " and you know } T our 
 fate ; write to your master, Aly Tepelenlee ; 
 tell him you are the captive of Papas Samuel; 
 and that if a hair of the head of Photo Tza- 
 vella is touched by his bloody hands, you, 
 his jackal, shall be served in the same way 
 he treated Chiaoush Priphtes." 
 
 Now this Chiaoush Priphtes had been 
 roasted on a spit before a slow fire — u cav to 
 xtfjbTciiJt/Tn gto yaX-uvi — like a broil upon the 
 gridiron," as it is related in the poetical 
 chronicle already quoted. 
 
 u Kyrie eleyson!" groaned out Yanko. 
 " But what good will roasting me do to 
 the boy Photo ? For what does the Yezir 
 care about a poor wretch like me ? It's all 
 one to him what becomes of me. Such a 
 threat won't move him." 
 
 The sturdy Papas paid no attention to 
 this pathetic argument ; but called out to the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 239 
 
 proto-Palikari to hand Yanko his inkbottle 
 and paper. u There," said he to the latter, 
 " sit you down and write." 
 
 Yanko hesitated, for he was in a great 
 dilemma. — "If my letter is heeded," thought 
 he, " and the exchange of hostages is made, 
 the Yezir will be revenged on me for his 
 disappointment by treating me as those 
 thieves threaten to do ; if my letter is not 
 heeded, ri vex, xaywV 
 
 However, the present danger was the 
 most pressing, and he finished his letter, 
 wording it as respectfully and submissively 
 as the confusion of his ideas would allow, 
 and then wrote another to his wife. 
 
 "But who will deliver such a letter to 
 the Yezir ? " said Yanko ; " had I not better 
 carry it myself down to Kalarytes ?" 
 
 At this question the Papas burst out 
 into a laugh, which showed more scorn than 
 merriment. 
 
 " Why, you thick-skulled Ylackh !" said 
 he, with ineffable contempt, u and do you 
 take Papas Samuel for such a dolt ? Here, 
 Palikaria, lock up the gaidhouri (the jack- 
 ass), safe in the inner place ; give him
 
 240 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 thistles enough, and don't lose sight of him 
 day or night till I return." 
 
 So saying, he thrust the two letters of 
 Yanko into his bosom, and having spoken a 
 few words in secret to the proto-Palikari, he 
 quitted the cavern, and took the path which 
 led over the ridge of Kakardhista down into 
 the valley of K alary tes.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 241 
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 " Xessun maggior dolore 
 Che rieordarsi del tempo felice 
 Nulla miseria." — Da^te. 
 
 This is a great grief; but perhaps it is a 
 still greater to be suddenly awakened from 
 a state of fancied security and ease to the 
 consciousness of an unavoidable calamity. 
 Such was the state cf the hapless Photo as 
 he was being led away from K alary tes to 
 the dungeons of Ioannina, fondly fancying, 
 meanwhile, that the feet he heard trampling 
 along the path, before and behind and on 
 either side of him, were the feet of friends 
 gladlv hurrying him on, that he might a 
 moment the sooner hear the joyful sound of 
 familiar voices welcoming him to his own 
 longed-for home. The stillness of the night, 
 and the silence observed by his unseen escort, 
 contributed to prolong the delicious dream 
 of near felicity which entirely absorbed the 
 vol. i. R
 
 242 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 youth, whose inward exultation was only 
 the more intense from the precautions by 
 which his fancied protectors appeared to be 
 guarding against its premature manifesta- 
 tion. He remembered the calamitous con- 
 sequences of the inconsiderate confidence 
 into which his father and his companions 
 had been so lately betrayed, and thought 
 that surely now, taught by their experience, 
 his present companions were resolved, by 
 the rapidity and stealthiness of their night- 
 march, to avoid a similar disaster. Oh, 
 how his young heart beat at the anticipation 
 of his meeting with mother, father, and 
 friends ! How he longed to learn how 
 Dhimo had fared since they parted ! The 
 short but bitter taste of suffering he had 
 had in the interval was now remembered 
 only to enhance the sweetness of the joys he 
 was hastening to meet, and the witness his 
 conscience gave him that he had not cow- 
 ered before the suffering imparted to his 
 whole being a feeling of confidence and self- 
 possession which was the first sure symptom 
 of the passage from the boy into the man. 
 
 Bear up, brave youth ! the taste thou 
 hast had has been indeed bitter ; but it may
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 243 
 
 appear honey compared with that which 
 Heaven has in reserve for the trial of thy 
 young strength. Thou wilt need more than 
 the mere support of conscience to keep thee 
 up against the blow that threatens thee ! 
 
 Photo, in punctual submission to the 
 warning given him by Dhimo to offer no 
 resistance, had not attempted to remove the 
 bandage from his eves. He contented him- 
 self with slipping it over his mouth and 
 nostrils to breathe more freely ; but as time 
 went on, and the midnight darkness passed 
 awav, and he be^an to distinguish the first 
 faint glimmer of the approaching light, his 
 impatience could no longer be controlled ; 
 and just as the party reached the crest of 
 the last hill which had confined their view 
 to the valley they were passing through, he 
 tore off the bandage from his eyes. At the 
 same time he was startled by the unexpected 
 sound of the hated voice of his jailer, Mus- 
 tafa, close at his ear, saying, il Yes, my 
 young Chelibi (my young gentleman), you 
 have just opened your eyes in time ; there 
 is Ioannina before you, don't you see ? — 
 there, that dark spot that juts out yonder 
 into the lake — there, in a line with that 
 R 2
 
 244 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 tree. Well, that is your konak, my young 
 hero ; you mav trust your mehmandar for 
 that. Ha! ha! ha!" 
 
 Photo saw nothing, heard nothing; his 
 heart was turned into stone ; his senses, his 
 faculties, all his being was, as it were, an- 
 nihilated, and like a stone he would have 
 dropped to the earth had not the arm of one 
 of his guards broke his fall as he was slip- 
 ping off the mule, perfectly insensible to all 
 around him. 
 
 " E<pwyz ! — He is gone ! " said his sup- 
 porter, while he looked on the corpse-like 
 body of the youth stretched out on the 
 cold ground at his feet. — " EyXuroucz ! — He 
 has escaped ! He's beyond the reach of 
 vezirs, and jailers, and all besides ; he has 
 gone to a konak where he wants no meh- 
 mandar." 
 
 The caitiff Mustafa listened to this 
 elegy with no little alarm. The orders he 
 had received from the Pasha were pe- 
 remptory as to producing his prisoner 
 alive before his Highness, and as he knew 
 enough of his master's character to be well 
 assured that this injunction proceeded from 
 no motive of tenderness, but rather indicated
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 245 
 
 the intention of extracting pastime from the 
 tortures of his prisoner, which his death 
 would disappoint, the sympathies of this 
 worthy satellite were suddenly aroused and 
 energetically directed to the preservation of 
 Photo's life, bv the instinctive conviction 
 that his lord's disappointment would be 
 compensated by his — Mustafa's — own iden- 
 tical carcase being selected as the subject for 
 the anatomical experiments of the great Al- 
 banian butcher. Mustafa's alarms and cor- 
 responding sympathies were increased as the 
 same Palikari added, — 
 
 " We must carry the corpse to Ioannina, 
 to show it to the Yezir. By the bye, no 
 — the head will be enough. Here, Mus- 
 tafa Aga, give us your yatagan. Why 
 man, you have got none ! did you make a 
 present of yours to the Gambros ?" 
 
 " Here is one that will do," interrupted 
 one of the escort, as he drew out of his 
 girdle a long Turkish knife, which seemed 
 to have seen service of the kind before, 
 and began to sharpen it on a smooth 
 stone that lay close to the hapless victim's 
 head. 
 
 Mustafa's perplexity and alarm were
 
 246 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 now at their height ; he saw in his pri- 
 soner's destruction the forerunner of his 
 own, hy a much more lingering and painful 
 process than the one his companions were 
 about to execute. 
 
 u Stop ! stop !" he exclaimed ; " let me 
 feel if he is quite dead ;" and he put his 
 hand to the boy's heart, at the same in- 
 stant drawing forth his pistol, and firing 
 it off close to his ear. The sudden sound, 
 while it awoke ten thousand echoes sleeping 
 in the hollows of the surrounding cliffs, 
 reached the receding spirit of the youth, 
 and called it back to the consciousness of 
 the doleful realities of the weary pilgrimage 
 which but a moment before seemed to have 
 come to its close. A deep-drawn sigh, as 
 if expressing the spirit's regret at being 
 thus arrested in its flight towards its place 
 of rest, gave the first indication that the 
 powers of life had only been suspended, 
 not extinguished. 
 
 Presently his eyes languidly opened to 
 the light, and after a few moments more, 
 one of the bystanders having dashed some 
 water in his face, which a neighbouring 
 spring supplied, and raised him from the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 24<7 
 
 supine attitude in which he had fallen, and 
 which had contributed to prolong his swoon, 
 Photo gradually recovered possession of all 
 his senses, and with them of all his sorrows. 
 The objects which first caught his view were 
 Mustafa with his pistol in his hand, and 
 the other Palikari with his drawn vatagan, 
 standing over him. 
 
 The first notion of his awakened mind 
 was, that they were his appointed mur- 
 derers ; and the first instinctive movement 
 of his frame was to set himself in an attitude 
 of defence against the apprehended assault: 
 but the effort he made to rise only served to 
 discover how vain would be the attempt to 
 struggle against such odds ; and when he 
 saw them thrust their weapons back into 
 their girdles, and heard Mustafa, as he 
 pointed, towards Ioannina, whose crescented 
 minarets were now catching the first sparkles 
 of the rising sun, exclaimed, — " Yallah ! 
 Yoldash /—On, on, my lads !" he felt that 
 his hour was not yet come ; and being again 
 replaced on his mule the party all proceeded 
 to the capital, where they arrived just as the 
 market was beginning to be thronged with 
 people.
 
 248 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 
 
 They made straight for the serai, into 
 the court of which, as they were turning in, 
 the Tschaodsh stationed at the entrance 
 stopped them. 
 
 " Eh, Mustafa Aga ! who have you got 
 there ? " said he. 
 
 " Why, look at his wolf's face," answered 
 the Aga: "you can't mistake him for any- 
 thing but a Suliote." 
 
 " Where did you catch the vermin ? I 
 thought they were all safe in their dens," 
 replied the Tschaoosh. 
 
 " Oh, this is only a stray cub that I have 
 had the care of up at K alary tes, till he got 
 stout enough to afford sport to the master ! 
 Eh, my young wolf's whelp ! you'd scratch 
 and claw if you could, if you durst ; but 
 Kyra Angelica's sweetmeats and soft pillows 
 have tamed the animal, I fancy, and he has 
 no stomach for fighting, I'll be sworn. Why, 
 he was frightened out of his senses merely 
 at the sound of a pistol. A fig for your 
 famous Suliotes! I'd drive a dozen of 'em 
 before me with a shepherd's crook !" 
 
 The most powerful cordial that ever the 
 art of iEsculapius, or of Apollo himself, in- 
 vented, never produced so sudden and in-
 
 PHOTO THE SCLIOTE. 249 
 
 vigorating an effect on the human frame as 
 this vaunt of his jailer did upon the appa- 
 rently listless Photo. His thoughts had 
 been occupied with the miserable disappoint- 
 ment of his hope?, and his heart had drooped 
 at the suspicion of having been betrayed 
 into his present condition by him he deemed 
 a friend. But the hearing himself talked of 
 as a poor milksop, to hear the name of 
 Suliote thus vilified by a Turk, was enough 
 to revive him from the dead. 
 
 The colour mounted to his cheeks, his 
 eyes suddenly flashed fire, and, without cal- 
 culating odds or consequences, the young 
 Palikari struck the Turk a blow on the 
 temple with all the vigour of his arm, 
 strengthened by rage. Mustafa drew his 
 pistol, and only remembered, when the flint 
 gave out a few harmless sparks, that he had 
 forgotten to reload it. At the same instant, 
 the clatter of horses' hoofs along the pave- 
 ment announced the approach of some great 
 personage, and put a stop for the present to 
 the prosecution of the revenge with which 
 the Turk was inwardly boiling. 
 
 The personage now arrived on the scene 
 was no other than the redoubtable Yusuf
 
 250 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 Arapi. His approach had suddenly stilled 
 the rising tumult, and, no doubt, saved the 
 boy from being massacred on the spot. 
 
 As he alighted from his horse at the 
 foot of the stairs leading up to the open 
 gallery of the serai', his sulky eye caught 
 the figure of the youth, still ruffled with the 
 insult he had just received from the tongue 
 of the Turk, and animated by the blow by 
 which he had attempted to avenge it. There 
 was something in the flash of the eye and the 
 curl of the lip, and the distension of the nos- 
 tril, which showed a brave young heart, not 
 only not abashed by the fearful odds against 
 him, but up, but dauntlessly courting, and 
 defying the dangers around him. 
 
 " Kim hoof— Who is he?" said the 
 Hsemovoros to his two attendants, who were 
 officiously supporting him under the arms 
 with all due etiquette, as he was preparing 
 to ascend the stairs. Neither of them could 
 tell. 
 
 " Kim boo t" with a sidelong glance of 
 the eye, and the thumb surreptitiously point- 
 ing Photowards over the shoulder, was re- 
 peated by the attendant, in a suppressed 
 tone, as he passed by Shishman Suleyman.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 251 
 
 " Guiaoor Tzavella oglou — The son 
 of the infidel Tzavella, the hostage." 
 
 This answer was passed on to the Lala 
 in a respectful whisper. He proceeded, ap- 
 parently unconcerned in the information ; 
 for this confidential prime-minister of Aly 
 Pasha was by nature endowed with a set of 
 features and a complexion which the most 
 refined courtier and sagacious diplomat of 
 Frenguia might have envied. No inward 
 emotion of his mind could ever be betrayed 
 by a blush through his black skin ; — a smile 
 had never been detected on his lips. 
 
 The sleepiness of his jaundice-coloured 
 eye, which imparted an air of utter indif- 
 ference to all around him, gave to common 
 observers the idea of stupidity, quite foreign, 
 however, to the energy of his character, and 
 the abilities he habitually displayed in the 
 service of his master and foster-brother, 
 who, it is recorded, exclaimed on an occa- 
 sion in which the Lala had been particularly 
 aided in a business of some difficulty by the 
 imperturbable woodenness of his face, " Oh, 
 Lalamou ! I would give a thousand purses 
 for that ass's look of thine I" 
 
 Now the fact is, that Yusuf Arapi was
 
 252 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 come to the serai', by order of the Vezir, for 
 the express purpose of assisting at the pre- 
 liminary examination of the young Suliote ; 
 and the mention of his name called up from 
 the inner depths of his black soul as many 
 foul passions allied with the malignant por- 
 tion of our nature, as there are horrid ingre- 
 dients in a witch's hell-broth. Those three 
 syllables, " Tzavella," brought back to his 
 memory, if ever it had been an instant for- 
 gotten, the flight down the hills of Suli 
 before a handful of Tzavella's comrades ; and 
 the words, though they came not to his lips, 
 but were audible to his mind's ear, were 
 " Now for my revenge !" 
 
 Poor Photo ! These words reached not 
 his ears, nor was he aware that he had been 
 noticed by the thinker of them, being too 
 intent on the business of making a good 
 fight for himself in the court below to think 
 of what awaited him in the audience-hall 
 above, where Yusuf Arapi was now received 
 by Mukhtar Pasha, and where, after a short 
 consultation between those two lambs, the 
 young mountaineer was summoned to ap- 
 pear.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 253 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 It was the same room in which, not many 
 days since, he had been separated from his 
 father. 
 
 His recollection of the place, though 
 obscured by the circumstances of hurry and 
 feebleness under which they had parted, was 
 quite enough to recall to his mind all the 
 painful emotions connected with the scene ; 
 and when he found himself standing, as if 
 he were a criminal, with his hands ma- 
 nacled, in presence of one the mere waving 
 of whose hand might cause his head to leap 
 from his shoulders, and saw none but hostile 
 eyes bent on him, without one friendly face 
 to speak comfort or encouragement, the 
 sense of his forlorn condition forced a tear 
 into his eyes, which had presently overflowed, 
 had they not met the malignant and scornful 
 glance of Mustafa, who stood by anxiously
 
 254 PHOTO THE StJLIOTE. 
 
 watching the signal he now eagerly ex- 
 pected, to be permitted to wreak his ven- 
 geance on the boy. The sight congealed 
 the rising drops on his eyelids, and strung 
 anew his nearly desponding soul to the 
 right pitch of resolution. 
 
 He was allowed to stand some minutes, 
 as if unnoticed by the Pasha and the Lala, 
 who were apparently deeply engaged in dis- 
 course in an under-tone. The former held 
 in his hand a paper, which he seemed occa- 
 sionally to refer to, and at last gave to the 
 other to read. 
 
 Then, throwing himself back in an indo- 
 lent attitude on the soft corner-cushions of 
 the sofa, and having puffed out a volume of 
 smoke from a long pipe, and smoothing down 
 his beard with that grave, deliberate air of 
 an Osmanli, which indicates the enjoyment 
 of absolute kief, he looked towards Photo, 
 and having eyed him for some time with an 
 expression in which a certain degree of pity 
 at his forlorn condition and of admiration 
 at his beauty were mingled — for Photo was, 
 indeed, a noble creature to look at — he 
 turned to his saturnine companion and said, 
 in a tone loud enough to be heard by all
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 255 
 
 present, " Vallah, Billak, Tchojook guzel 
 dir — By Heaven, 'tis a fair youth !" 
 
 The Lala made an upward movement 
 with his chin, which meant, " AVhat signifies 
 his being fair or not ? Our business is to 
 cut his throat." And went on reading the 
 paper before him. 
 
 The Pasha's jollity only received fresh 
 impulse from the dogged gravity of his col- 
 league ; but, not venturing to show it at the 
 expense of one he knew had such influence 
 with his father, found a safer vent for it by 
 directing the exuberance thereof towards 
 Mustafa Aga, who stood by his prisoner with 
 that conscious look a man has who having 
 just, as the Italians say, mangiato basto?iate i 
 — has not quite digested the dry morsel. 
 
 The Pasha, who had witnessed from the 
 window the vigour with which Photo had 
 belaboured the Aga, could not resist the 
 inclination he now felt to have his laugh 
 fairly out at the woful- looking Turk, and 
 addressed him with a mock air of sympathy. 
 — " Eh ! Mustafa Pasha, ni var ? Kiefsyz 
 me sin ? (How now ? You are out of sorts 
 this morning?) You were called away from 
 the zidfeti (the marriage-feast) sooner than
 
 256 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 you liked. And mayhap you have not 
 breakfasted yet ; Sotggoj olt locig ZvXtuig oirov 
 etpctyeg lev <xs (p&uvovv — for I suppose the 
 sticks you eat go for nothing." 
 
 These last words he spoke in Greek, in 
 order that, being understood by the young 
 chef who had served him with the meal, the 
 effect might be that of sauce piquante to the 
 taste of the bantered Turk. 
 
 The effect was that of poison ; for the 
 man turned pale with suppressed rage and 
 mortification, and casting a hateful glance 
 first at Photo, whose fine face lightened up 
 with the encouragement seemingly implied 
 in the Pasha's jest ; he next looked towards 
 the black Lala, as if expecting aid from his 
 sympathetic ill-humour. 
 
 His expectation was not in vain ; for the 
 Lala, scandalised at the levity with which a 
 Mussulman was thus jeered by a Mussul- 
 man, in presence of the infidel stripling who 
 had — a condemned captive as he was — dared 
 to lift up a sacrilegious hand against the Ve- 
 zir's officer, gravely turned to Mukhtar, and 
 as if he had seen and heard nothing of what 
 had been passing under his beard, returned 
 him the paper, and said, "Anladim! (I have
 
 PHOTO THE SULTOTE. 257 
 
 understood!) Now let us proceed to fulfil 
 the Vezir's commands respecting that thief's 
 spawn." 
 
 "Be it so," replied the Pasha. " Do 
 thou announce his fate to him, O my Baba. 
 But as the Vezir arrives to-morrow, we 
 must, as thou knowest, reserve for my father 
 himself the enjoyment of seeing it carried 
 into execution. Let me first ask him a 
 question or two. 
 
 11 Tell me, More Kuxocov/jolr,, hast thou 
 brothers?" 
 
 " Xone," answered Photo. 
 
 " I had one .... but he's gone .•...* 
 And the tears stood in his eyes. 
 
 "Where is he gone to?" said the Pasha. 
 
 "'27o irucahsiaov, [hi lovg uyyiKovg — To 
 Paradise with the angels," replied the youth, 
 with childlike simplicity. 
 
 " What do you know of angels and those 
 things?" asked the freethinking Mussul- 
 man, with a scoffing tone worthy of an esprit 
 fort of the school of Voltaire. 
 
 " Ah i^zvooo rtToJes; Tiarsva fiovov — I know 
 nothing," said Photo ; " I only believe." 
 
 " Qikocotpog hev ugi page vruih — You are 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 no philosopher, boy," observed the Pasha, 
 with a self-complacent laugh. 
 
 " T/ vk zaybco ? — What can I do ? " an* 
 swered Photo, humbly. "'O Oeog pu$ g^a^s 
 okovg — God made us all." 
 
 " Tell me, boy," continued the Turk, 
 "did your father mourn greatly when your 
 brother went to Paradise ? " 
 
 Photo gave the Pasha a look which 
 seemed to say, " How can you ask such a 
 question?" 
 
 The Pasha understood it so, and pro- 
 ceeded. 
 
 " Then I dare say your father would 
 mourn greatly for you when he hears that 
 head of yours is stuck on one of those stakes 
 yonder?" pointing to some in the court 
 below. 
 
 To this barbarous question the young 
 mountaineer, with a look and in a tone that 
 made the Pasha, who did not expect it, 
 thrill, and caused the sleepy eyes of Yusuf 
 Arapi to twinkle, said, " No ; he'll avenge 
 me!" 
 
 " Give me that letter," said the Pasha, 
 turning to the Lala. " Since die you must,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 259 
 
 you shall know who is your executioner. 
 This is a letter from your father to 
 mine." 
 
 "Oh!" interrupted Photo, with passion, 
 " let me only look on it and kiss it." 
 
 And he was stepping forward to seize 
 the precious document, hut the Pasha made 
 that motion with his hand restrictive of im- 
 patience which, accompanied by the word 
 Yavash, yavash, (Softly, softly,) the tra- 
 veller in the East may have seen employed 
 by the phlegmatic Turk, to hold in the 
 livelv Frengui when in too great a hum* to 
 be off. 
 
 Mustafa, intent only on revenge, mistook 
 the motion for the horizontal wave of the 
 hand, known to be the usual official tele- 
 graphic signal for decapitation, and pulling 
 back Photo by his long, flowing hair, with 
 his left hand, eagerly carried his right to 
 the handle of his yatagan, where it was not, 
 and then cursed his fate which had thus 
 twice balked him of his vengeance. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha perceived and under- 
 stood the movement. 
 
 " Mashallah /" exclaimed he, now no 
 longer with his jocular air, but in a severe 
 s2
 
 260 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 tone, " what filthy dog art thou that wouldst 
 take on thyself the execution of justice 
 before the sentence be pronounced ? Get 
 thee hence, blackguard ! If it be the Su- 
 liote's destiny to lose his life, thy cowardly 
 hand shall not be the instrument. Go ! 
 go ! thou art only fit to eat sticks ; and 
 when the Vezir comes I will ask his Hkdi- 
 ness to increase thy daily ration. Go !" 
 
 To Photo's ears and hopes this abuse of 
 his vile jailer was like a revival from the 
 dead. 
 
 But little did the inexperienced youth 
 deem all the hypocrisy and malice which 
 lurked beneath the jovial airs of the capri- 
 cious sensualist. He knew not yet from 
 what a " generation of vipers " he was bred, 
 and that to Aly Tepelenlee, and all his 
 cockatrice brood, it was delight — it was 
 glory — to raise hopes in the hearts of the 
 victims in their poWer for the sole purpose 
 of enjoying the misery occasioned by their 
 sudden disappointment. 
 
 In the gratification of this amiable pro- 
 pensity, Aly's hopeful eldest-born having 
 rebuked from his presence thus sternly the 
 young Suliote's deputy-sub-tormentor, now
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 26 I 
 
 proceeded to address the expectant captive 
 in these words : — 
 
 " Here is a letter from your loving 
 father to the Yezir, my father. Well 
 mayst thou love and honour such devoted 
 parents as thine ! What wilt thou say, 
 boy, when thou hearest they both propose 
 to come and take thy place, and suffer 
 all torments, so their precious Photaki be 
 spared ? " 
 
 "God forbid!" said the boy, with a 
 burst of feeling that might have touched a 
 fossil mammoth. " I'll die a thousand deaths 
 to save either from a moment's pain." 
 
 " Listen, then. 
 
 " * Captain Tzavella to Aly Yezir, — 
 " ' Aly Pasha, — I rejoice to have de- 
 ceived a deceiver. I am here to defend my 
 country against a brigand. My son will be 
 put to death ; but I will desperately avenge 
 his death before I die. Some Turks, like 
 you, will call me an unnatural father for 
 sacrificing my son to secure my own safety. 
 My answer is, that if you take possession of 
 our mountain, you will kill, not only my 
 son, but all the rest of my family and my
 
 262 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 fellow-countrymen ; then I shall not be able 
 to avenge his death. But if we conquer, I 
 may have other children. My wife is still 
 young. If my son, young as he is, is not 
 content to be sacrificed for his country, he 
 is not worthy to live and to be acknow- 
 ledged for my child. 
 
 " ' Come on, perfidious man ! I am im- 
 patient to be revenged! 
 
 " * Your sworn enemy, 
 
 " * Capitan Tzavella.' " # 
 
 The eyes of all present were fixed upon 
 the poor child whilst this letter — which, 
 indeed, sounded like a sentence of death 
 pronounced on him by his own father and 
 mother — was being read by the Pasha. 
 When the latter, who seemed to take a 
 pleasure in giving out every word distinctly 
 and slowly, had finished, he looked up at 
 Photo with an expression, (oh ! how earthly, 
 sensual, devilish !) and said, — 
 
 "Kcflaku&g? — Hast thou understood?" 
 
 11 KaruXaQoc — I have understood," was 
 
 the answer which issued from lips quivering 
 
 with emotion, which the poor stricken or- 
 
 * Vide Note.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 263 
 
 phan was nearly choking in his struggle to 
 conceal. 
 
 " Well, then, prepare for the execution 
 of the sentence thy father himself hath pro- 
 nounced against thee. To-morrow the Vezir 
 arrives. By the next morning's sun thou 
 mayst he with thy brother and the angels 
 in Paradise." 
 
 These last words were meant by the 
 wretched Sadducean philosouph as a taunt 
 on the faith of the ignorant mountaineer. 
 But it fell powerless before the perfect 
 single-heartedness of the lad ; the taunt 
 itself directed his thoughts to that Source 
 of Strength whence so many martyrs in all 
 ages have been supplied ; — and he now an- 
 swered, with a firm voice and unshrinking 
 look, " My father shall not be disappointed. 
 Would the moment were come ! " 
 
 The jailer and an assistant were now at 
 his elbow waiting the Pasha's orders to con- 
 vey him to prison ; and the youth was turn- 
 ing to quit the room, not careful of the 
 slavish etiquette of bending to the earth 
 and kissing the hem of the great man's 
 garment, in token of submission, according 
 to the customs prevalent in the East. The
 
 264 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 jailer said, " YIpovxvvm rov up'zvri page." (lite- 
 rally, " Worship the master, fool ! ") Photo 
 did not bend a muscle, but stood more 
 erect than before. The jailer, then grasping 
 the neck of the stiff-necked boy with his 
 hand, tried to force his head down into an 
 attitude of submission, repeating, — 
 
 " Hz'krjPOTPctyyi'he trxvKke ! — Stiff-necked 
 dog ! worship the master, I say." 
 
 " I know no master on earth," answered 
 the boy, with so resolute a spirit, and such 
 stiff muscle, that the Pasha, fearing his dig- 
 nity would be committed by a vain attempt 
 to exact submission from such a young 
 fanatic panting for martyrdom, made a sign 
 to convey him away, and broke up the as- 
 sembly to give orders for the public recep- 
 tion of his father, the Vezir, the next day.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. Q65 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 The pen that would describe the feelings 
 with which Photo heard the door of his 
 solitary prison close upon him ought to be 
 dipped in the bitter tears which scalded his 
 cheeks, as he revolved in his mind all the 
 particulars of his interview with Mukhtar 
 Pasha. 
 
 The death with which he was threat- 
 ened was nothing compared to the agony of 
 believing himself to be abandoned by his 
 own parents. 
 
 If, at least, thought he, his father had 
 onlv sent him a kind message bv the same 
 messenger who brought the letter — if he had 
 only encouraged him by one word of exhort- 
 ation in such a cruel extremity — how cheer- 
 fully would he have submitted to, nay, 
 courted the sacrifice required of him ! But 
 to learn his fate thus abruptly from the 
 mouth of the ferocious Turk — to be taunted
 
 266 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 with a doubt of his readiness to lay down 
 his life for his country, produced in his young 
 heart such a conflict of passion, that he 
 would have sunk under it, but for that sen- 
 timent which, in default of a higher and 
 purer motive, has supported so many in the 
 hour of suffering, namely — Pride. 
 
 a Yes ! " swore he inwardly, " yes ! I 
 will show that I am worthy to bear the 
 name of Suliote, and that, while others may 
 talk like patriots, I can die like one." But 
 he had no sooner conceived this sentiment, 
 in un uttered and wretched communion with 
 himself, than, inwardly shuddering at the 
 little less than sacrilegious reproach it con- 
 veyed against parents whom he so tenderly 
 loved, he exclaimed aloud, — 
 
 " Forgive me this wrong, O my father ! 
 and thou, dearest mother ! forgive your 
 wretched child ! You have, indeed, an en- 
 tire right to dispose of me for life or death. 
 But oh ! must I die without one word or 
 look of pity from either of you ?" 
 
 This mental conflict was succeeded by a 
 state of apathy which, if it did not refresh 
 the wearied soul, suspended at least for a 
 while the intense consciousness of its woes.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 267 
 
 In this state the poor orphan remained stu- 
 pefied till the dusk of the evening, when he 
 was roused by the noise of approaching foot- 
 steps, and the sound of unknown voices, 
 speaking in an under -tone at his prison- 
 door. Who can say what shapes of terror 
 or of hope passed across his soul as he heard 
 the kev turn with a harsh, grating: wrench 
 in the lock ? He remained seated in the 
 corner of his cell, with his eyes strained 
 through the darkness, expecting to see the 
 jailer enter as the forerunner of his execu- 
 tioner. But when the door opened, Photo 
 perceived, by the light of a small lamp 
 hung up in the wall of the narrow passage 
 which led to his cell, two figures, one of 
 which he recognised for the jailer, but the 
 appearance of the other at once dispelled all 
 apprehension of his belonging to that class 
 of mankind from whence is usually selected 
 a master of high operations.* A few words 
 in Turkish were exchanged between them, 
 which Photo could not understand, and 
 then the jailer, having put down a pitcher 
 of water and a piece of coarse bread in the 
 
 * Maitre des Hautcs (Euvres. Vide " Dictionnaire 
 de l'Academie."
 
 268 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 corner of the cell, and placed the lamp on 
 the floor, the strange figure came in, and 
 the door was presently closed on them hoth 
 by the jailer, whose steps were then heard 
 receding along the passage. The door was 
 so contrived that it could only be opened 
 from without. 
 
 Photo now saw that his fellow-prisoner, 
 or his visitor (for he could not yet make out 
 in what capacity he was to consider the 
 stranger), was, to judge by his dress, which 
 consisted of a turban, benish, and yellow 
 boots and slippers, one of those everyday 
 Osmanlis, called, for lack of a more specific 
 denomination, Effendis. He was in stature 
 rather below the juste milieu ; the cast of 
 his features was as shabby as his dress ; the 
 colour of his beard, of a dirty grey, told the 
 number of his years to have reached the 
 wrong side of fifty : in short, a less distin- 
 guished specimen of human zoology could 
 not have presented itself to the sight of the 
 young Suliote, whose glance at the Effendi, 
 as he produced from beneath his benish a 
 bundle, which he placed on the ground, de- 
 noted more indifference than curiosity to 
 know who or w T hat he was. The Effendi
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 269 
 
 was, in truth, no effendi, but a miserable 
 renegado, — a certain Geronimo Malafidi, 
 who, not long before, had been made pri- 
 soner by a Turkish cruiser, as he was 
 bound to the Holy Land in the service of 
 the Propaganda Society, at whose expense 
 he had been brought up in the study of the 
 languages spoken in the Levant, and initi- 
 ated in the principles of Jesuitism. He, with 
 other captives, had been conveyed to Ioan- 
 nina, and Aly Pasha, just then beginning to 
 communicate with his Frengui neighbours, 
 and wanting an interpreter, proposed to the 
 reverend missionary the alternative of the 
 caook and a harem, or the bastinado and 
 hard labour in the ditches of the serai*. As 
 Signor Geronimo did not aspire to the glories 
 of martyrdom, even in its humblest degree, 
 he made no scruple to become an apostate, 
 and he was rewarded for his ready com- 
 pliance with the wishes of the Pasha by the 
 gift of a konak and a harem ; the former 
 consisting of a mud-built house, half-sunk 
 in the swampy shore of the lake ; the latter 
 in a cast-off wife of one of the Pasha's under- 
 grooms and an old black slave. 
 
 The object of his visit to Photo will be
 
 270 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 best understood from the following dialogue 
 that passed between them. 
 
 Mehemet Effendi (for that was the Mos- 
 lem name imposed on the renegado when he 
 was zmbaptized), approached the youth with 
 an insinuating air, and said (using a Babel 
 jargon, compounded of scraps of Turkish, 
 Italian, and Greek) — 
 
 " Aferum janem, coraggio figliomio. 
 Mr\ QofiuGou. — Cheer up, my soul ! Courage, 
 my son ! Be not afraid !" 
 
 " T/ va (pofiov(jbcci? — What should I be 
 afraid of?" replied Photo, glancing with 
 contempt at the little shabby Effendi. 
 
 "Not of me, surely!" answered Me- 
 hemet ; " for I am come here as your 
 friend. Do not suspect me, because you 
 see this beard and this turban. You take 
 me for a Turk. I am no such thing : it 
 is true I pass for one, and am considered 
 as good a Mussulman as ever kissed the 
 black stone at Mecca ; but I continue to 
 be as good a Christian as ever I was ; 
 and, though I eat no ham nor sausages, 
 and go to the mosque instead of going to 
 church, I cross myself, and say my Ave 
 Maria and Pater Noster between my ab-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 271 
 
 lutions the same as ever. You are in 
 the same peril of your life that I was, 
 when I had to choose between losing my 
 head and having it shaved and fitted with 
 a turban. Do as I did, — accept the turban, 
 and save your head/' 
 
 " And damn my soul for ever ! " ex- 
 claimed the young Christian, in a tone 
 where indignation at the proposal, and con- 
 tempt for the proposer, were too nicely 
 blended to be distinguished bv the cor- 
 rupt ear of the base tempter, unused to 
 the melody of virtue. 
 
 Attentive only to the opportunity he 
 fancied he now had for shaking the resolu- 
 tion of the boy with those arts of sophistry, 
 which are powerful indeed when they meet 
 with a mind already polluted by vice, or 
 pusillanimously attached to life, but which 
 fail before the honest and good heart that 
 understands not their language, the Jesuit 
 continued calmly : — 
 
 "You mistake me, young friend. I do 
 not mean that you should renounce your 
 faith ; on the contrary, I would point out 
 to you in a friendly manner how you may 
 preserve it and your life, too. You must
 
 272 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 not take for gospel the Pasha's threats of 
 this morning. They were intended only 
 for a blind, because of the presence of the 
 Lala. He is no more a Mussulman than 
 I am. He is too much of a philosopher 
 to believe anything, and his desire is to 
 give you an opportunity of saving your 
 life. I am commissioned by the Pasha 
 to assure you, that if you will consent to 
 appear before him to-morrow morning with 
 this caook on your head," ("here it is all 
 ready," said he, as he untied the bundle), 
 " and just say that you confess Islam to be 
 the true faith, you shall be instantly liber- 
 ated, and what is more, received into his 
 own immediate service, and no question 
 ever asked whether you pray to the Panayi'a 
 or to Mahomet." 
 
 The silence of Photo encouraged the 
 renegado to ply his argument. 
 
 "You are only just entering into life; 
 that life which God bestows on all creatures 
 to be enjoyed as He intended it should be. 
 It is your first duty, then, to do everything 
 to preserve the gift ; for how can you serve 
 the Giver of your life, if you throw away 
 His gift in a passion ? Hear me, my child,
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 273 
 
 I take an interest in your fate, for I see 
 you are a noble-spirited youth, but without 
 experience — be guided by an old man. 
 Your father and mother have both cast 
 you off." 
 
 gt That's a lie ! " interrupted Photo with 
 vehemence. " My father never wrote that 
 letter: 'tis an invention of those rascal 
 Turks." 
 
 " That is possible, my dear," replied 
 the smooth-tongued Jesuit Effendi ; u but 
 'tis only an additional reason for your not 
 acting passionately. Confide in me as a 
 father ; follow the advice I am come here 
 to give. Do now, matdkiarnou psychemou — 
 (my eyes, my soul). The jailer will soon be 
 back to let me out again, that I may go and 
 tell the Pasha what I have done; so consent 
 quickly before he comes ; put on these 
 clothes, and he will be witness with me of 
 your confession." 
 
 This last announcement awakened in 
 Photo the sudden thought, and with it the 
 almost suffocating hope, of the possibility 
 of escaping. He was afraid to betray the 
 emotion which that hope stirred up in the 
 inmost depths of his being, by uttering a 
 
 VOL. I. t
 
 274 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 word ; but made a gesture of assent, as if 
 he had been convinced by the exhortations 
 of the turbaned Mephistophiles, who im- 
 mediately snatched up the kaook, which he 
 fitted on Photo's head, and on the latter's 
 rising from the corner where he had been 
 seated during the dialogue, he further in- 
 vested him with the benish, while Photo 
 thrust his feet into the slippers, which 
 formed part of the trousseau prepared for 
 the ceremony of his apostasy. He had 
 hardly finished his toilette when the jailer's 
 steps were again heard approaching along 
 the outer passage. 
 
 Photo's heart was in his mouth as he 
 again heard the key turn in the lock. No 
 sooner was the door opened, and the 
 jailer advanced into the cell, saying, — 
 ''Well, have you done?" than the young 
 mountaineer, who had been watching his 
 opportunity with the eyes of a lynx, 
 bounded past him with the spring of a 
 panther, and slamming the door behind 
 him, rushed along the passage, and in a 
 few moments found himself in the street, 
 at liberty to turn to the right or left, but 
 in truth, bewildered as to the use he should
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. %75 
 
 make of his liberty. Onwards he ran, with- 
 out meeting any obstacle, till he arrived at 
 a stavrodhromo (the place where two streets 
 cross), just at the moment when a woman, 
 veiled in the Turkish fashion, was hobbling 
 slowly across by the glimmer of a paper 
 lantern which she held in one hand, while 
 with the other she carried balanced on her 
 head a packet of clothes, with which she was 
 returning from the bath. 
 
 Before the fugitive in the impetuosity 
 of his flight could stop himself, or turn 
 aside, he had run down the old ladv, over- 
 turned her, her lantern and her bundle, 
 into the kennel, and in the shock lost his 
 renegade turban, and dropped one of his 
 papouches. He did not wait to make apolo- 
 gies for the mistake, or to listen to the 
 maledictions of the astonished victim of 
 his haste, but continued his flight with 
 unabated rapidity, till it terminated in a 
 manner which will be related hereafter. 
 
 t2
 
 2J6 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The orthodox chant of the Muezzin, calling 
 the true believers from their beds to the 
 first morning prayer, had not yet ceased, 
 when the respectable Mussul woman (as the 
 female Moslem is by some naturalists desig- 
 nated) who was left overturned in the last 
 chapter, was knocking at the door of Hajji 
 Osman Effendi, cadi of Ioannina. 
 
 The first raps being unheeded, the old 
 gentlewoman's importunity for admittance 
 gradually waxed louder and louder, till all 
 the curs and whelps of the quarter, awakened 
 from their slumbers, soon joined chorus. 
 Their bowlines and barkings chiming in with 
 the above-mentioned reverend functionary's 
 solo, and with the cracked voice peculiar to 
 old negresses, with which the suitor to the 
 Cadi's justice now accompanied the instru- 
 mental part of her performance, produced
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 277 
 
 altogether a serenade, compared to which 
 the discords that disturbed the equanimity 
 of the enraged musician, or a charivari to an 
 unpopular statesman, were harmony itself. 
 It might have woke the seven sleepers from 
 their secular slumbers, — no wonder that it 
 disturbed those of the learned Effendi's 
 harem ; the members of which, to the number 
 of four, consisting of the principal wife in 
 ordinary, two slaves for show, and one menial, 
 a negress, also thrust their uncombed heads 
 each through a lattice, two heads looking 
 right, two left, downwards towards the door, 
 and all the four tongues screaming out at 
 once : 
 
 i( What madcap is there thumping so at 
 this time of day — tika-tooka, tika-tooka?" 
 
 The beldam was so intent on her part 
 of the concert, that she was not aware of the 
 effect it bad produced ; and the knocking 
 she continued to make, increased by her 
 increasing anger at knocking, as she fancied, 
 in vain, only served to prevent the sound of 
 the aforesaid quartetto reaching her ears — 
 which were, as it happened, none of the 
 acutest. The swarthy portion of the Cadi's 
 harem, finding that the tika-tooka was not
 
 278 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 likely to cease, bethought her of a more 
 effectual mode of attracting the fair knocker's 
 attention, suggested by the sight of a pitcher 
 standing conveniently at hand. 
 
 11 These jessamines require watering, 
 Khanem," said she, grinning, to her mistress; 
 and, then without waiting for leave, she 
 emptied the pitcher out at the window. 
 
 " There," said the mischievous blacka- 
 moor -, " there's a good, virtuous Moslem — 
 she makes her ablutions betimes/' Ablu- 
 tions, indeed ! the poor woman had a shower- 
 bath she little bargained for, and when she 
 looked up and saw sister Mungo grinning 
 with delight through the lattice, her rage 
 knew no bounds ; she caught up a stone from 
 the ground, and dashed it with such unlucky 
 aim at the window, that she brought down 
 about her ears the flower-pots standing on 
 the led^e, the dust of which getting into her 
 eyes, half blinded the poor old lady and 
 completed the measure of her frenzy. Her 
 equanimity was not restored at hearing the 
 immoderate laughter of the authoress of the 
 mischief, and the observation of the Cadi's 
 wife, who said, " The law allows sand for 
 ablution when water is not to be had.
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 279 
 
 Doubly purified are they who use both sand 
 and water."* 
 
 In the meantime the extraordinary com- 
 motion had reached the Cadi ; who learning 
 the cause, and concluding it was a suitor on 
 urgent business, who had come thus early to 
 his levee, and making it a rule withal to be 
 accessible at all times to the humblest of the 
 people, gave orders to admit the woman at 
 once into his dimn-khoneh (hall of au- 
 dience) ; when he immediately proceeded 
 from the women's apartments, and sat him- 
 self down to his first cup of coffee and his 
 first pipe, to be in the right spirits, or kief, 
 for pronouncing judgment. 
 
 The Cadi Hajji Osman Effendi was a 
 regular Stambolee ; that is, a Constantinople 
 cockney. He was now on the wrong side of 
 fifty, but never having indulged in the vices 
 of the capital, such as swallowing opium, 
 drinking rackee, &c, he was still a hale, 
 hearty, cheerful specimen of the quiet, 
 benevolent, hospitable, Turkish gentleman, 
 which is not un frequently to be met with in 
 the Levant. 
 
 In early life he had made his pilgrimage 
 * Vide Note.
 
 280 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 to Mecca, as his name imported, and having 
 filled various subordinate offices under the 
 Cadilesker of Rumili, was, at the recom- 
 mendation of Aly's agent at the capital, 
 promoted to the Cadilik of Ioannina, where 
 he made himself known in a judgment 
 between a barber and a woodcutter, which 
 obtained so much celebrity as to have 
 become the theme of the Mehtars, or pro- 
 fessional story-tellers, of Constantinople, 
 and even Ispahan, who, however, as usual, 
 transferred the scene to Bagdad, and the 
 deed to the Calif Aaroon al Raschid. 
 
 Nothing could be neater in person 
 than Osman EfFendi. The trim of his 
 beard, the beautifully pared condition of his 
 nails, the whiteness of the muslin of his 
 turban, and the regularity of its plaits, 
 stamped him as the quintessence of Mussul- 
 man neatness and propriety. 
 
 That untranslatable monosyllable, smug, 
 can alone express his appearance ; and its 
 rhyme, snug, describes the room in which 
 he sat. The few implements of his office 
 were ranged in perfect symmetry on the 
 sofa by his side : his inkstand ; his scissors 
 for cutting his paper into mathematical
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 281 
 
 shapes; his knife for mending the reed with 
 which he wrote his decrees ; his Koran 
 from whence he pronounced them. 
 
 He had hardly taken his seat in the 
 midst of his snuggery, and the first sip of 
 the boiling, bitter coffee, and the first 
 whiff of his pipe, when the perpetrator 
 of all the hubbub we have been describ- 
 ing waddled, with that uncouth gait which 
 is characteristic of all black women Mus- 
 sulmanized, into the room, and without 
 ceremony or leave-asking, plumped her- 
 self down on the divan, on the side oppo- 
 site the Cadi ; from beneath her ample 
 fereje, which bore the glistening marks 
 of the recent sousing, she let fall what 
 she had been concealing hitherto with 
 great care, namely, a kaook, nearly new, 
 and a man's slipper, somewhat the worse 
 for wear ; exclaiming at the same time, 
 " Hak, hak ! — Justice, justice, O Cadi! I 
 have been killed ; I have been murdered ; 
 I have been spit upon ; I have been watered 
 upon; I have been pelted, lapidated — ahi, 
 a/u\ wdh, well, hak, hak, O Cadi!" 
 
 And then she fell to crying, and howl- 
 ing, and groaning, in a manner that would
 
 282 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 have done immortal honour to a Sheik of 
 howling Dervishes, or to the mourner-in- 
 chief at a Kilkenny wake. 
 
 The placidity of the Cadi, instead of 
 heing disturbed by this hurricane, only 
 became more imperturbable ; he conti- 
 nued sipping his coffee and puffing out 
 his smoke with the utmost deliberation, 
 and might have been supposed stone-deaf, 
 but for the intelligence of his eye, which 
 was fixed on the contortions of the pleader 
 with an expression of benevolent resigna- 
 tion that said, "It will be my turn next : 
 howl away till you are tired, and then 111 
 begin." 
 
 He had not long to wait. Her magazine 
 of lamentations being emptied, and her 
 lungs thoroughly tired out with the violence 
 of her vocal exertions, she suddenly came 
 to a full stop, when there ensued a dead 
 silence — an awful pause — which the Cadi 
 broke by, — 
 
 " Shukur Allah!"* in an under-tone, 
 
 like a man who has got safe to land from a 
 
 stormy sea. The good man had better 
 
 have held his tongue, for the words had no 
 
 * Praise be to God!
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 283 
 
 sooner vibrated on the tympanum of the 
 plaintiff than she seized on them as fresh 
 matter of grievance. 
 
 " Shukur Allah, indeed ! Anladim ! I 
 understand you. Oh, you sackful of ini- 
 quity ! this is the way you render justice 
 to the helpless and oppressed ! Here have 
 I been roaring my heart out, while you 
 have been sitting by as if you were deaf; 
 and when I only stopped to take breath, all 
 I get from you, you stone-hearted, goat- 
 faced Cadi, is ' Shukur Allah V But I have 
 not done yet, I promise you." And with 
 that, she set to again bawling, shrieking, 
 and howling, with all her might and main, 
 and smiting her breast, and pulling her 
 woolly hair, till the poor passionate fool 
 could do so no longer from mere physical 
 exhaustion. 
 
 The Cadi, accustomed to deal with 
 such characters, and remembering the 
 proverb, that it is useless to contend with 
 a fool in his folly, continued in the same 
 quiescent state till this second pause, when, 
 clapping his hands, he said to the servant 
 who immediately appeared from behind 
 the perdeh : — "Bring this good mother
 
 284 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 a cup of water ; her throat is dry, and she 
 has not finished her song yet. And, hark 
 ye ! go to the Delhi Bashi, and say from 
 me, I wish him to keep one of his people 
 at hand. Now, my little mother, ne var, 
 ne yok ? — what is there, what is there not ?" 
 
 By this time the wrath, which the 
 old creature had been nursing to keep it 
 warm ever since her eversion in the gutter, 
 having somewhat cooled by evaporation, 
 and by the refrigerative power of the 
 Cadi's manner of delivering the message 
 to the head of the police, she answered, 
 in a subdued but sulky tone : — 
 
 " What is there, O Cadi ? Many 
 things there are that should not be : look 
 at that torn lantern ; look at my dirtied 
 fereje ; see this kaook, and see this slipper. 
 Bak " 
 
 " Bakaliim? said the Judge with im- 
 penetrable gravity, fixing a pair of spec- 
 tacles, which he took out of a little case 
 by his side, on the end of a long thin 
 nose. 
 
 " Well, I do see a torn lantern ; I 
 do see a dirty fereje, (and a great hole in 
 it, too) ; and I do see a kaook ; and I do
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 285 
 
 see a very old worn slipper. — Well, good 
 woman, what of all these things? — Ne yapa- 
 ylm. — What can I do?" 
 
 u What can you do, O Cadi?" said 
 the black woman ; " and what of all these 
 things? Why, man, don't they speak for 
 themselves ? don't they cry out hak, link, 
 against the Kiafir, the Guiaoor, the Shaiton, 
 the gorumsak* who upset me last night in 
 the gutter, and kicked out my light, and 
 tore my cloak. Alii, ahi, iceh y weh!" 
 
 " I have not heard the kaook or the 
 papouch speak anything yet," answered the 
 Cadi, as if he thought it quite in the 
 course of nature that such bodies should 
 be endued with the gift of tongues. " Are 
 they your only witnesses, my soul?" 
 
 ''And arn't they enough?" cried out 
 the complainant ; *' don't they prove what 
 I say, that I was knocked down in the 
 streets — I, a Moslem, and a true believer, 
 by a wicked, abominable Kiafir?. . . . and all 
 in the dark 
 
 " Yavash, yavash — Softly, softly ! my 
 little mother," interrupted the Cadi. " If it 
 
 * Shaitan, Satan. Gorumsak, equivalent to black- 
 guard.
 
 286 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 was all in the dark, how do you know who 
 knocked you down? And, after all, what 
 has this kaook and this papouch to do 
 with the business? Surely, they did not 
 knock you down ?" 
 
 " Oh, Cadi ! I thought vou a man of 
 understanding and wit. Why, don't you 
 comprehend that they belonged to the 
 Kiafir, the gorumsak, the pezwengk, who 
 wanted to murder me, and that in running 
 away, for fear of being caught, he dropt 
 them both?" 
 
 " Oh, woman I" retorted the Cadi in the 
 same tone ; '' I thought you a woman of in- 
 telligence and sagacity ! Why, don't you com- 
 prehend, that as this is the kaook of a true 
 believer and a Moslem, (for no Guiaoors 
 dare wear such,) it could not belong to a 
 Kiafir and a Guiaoor?" 
 
 This question posed the old lady, and 
 she went back in despair to her old cry, 
 " Hak, hak, O Cadi ! what are you Cadi for, 
 if it be not to avenge the innocent and punish 
 the guilty?" 
 
 (i Very true, good mother; but bring the 
 guilty before me that I may punish him. 
 Surely you don't want me to disembowel ths
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 287 
 
 kaook, or give the bastinado to this papouch ? 
 Where, after all, and who, is the criminal ? " 
 
 " That is just what I come to know of 
 you, O Cadi!" answered the obstinate old 
 woman. " Surely if you are a right sort of 
 cadi you can tell. Have not you got your 
 books, and your laws, and don't you read 
 the stars ? What is the use of your being 
 one of the wise men if vou can't find out 
 who tore my lantern, and threw me into the 
 mud? You a Hajji, indeed, and can't 
 make out such a simple matter ! I spit upon 
 such Hajjis — Ptuh /" 
 
 The Cadi here clapped his hands a second 
 time — the same servant appeared with a 
 glass of water, and, at a wink from his 
 master, said, " The Delhi Bashi has sent 
 two of his best men to be at your orders, 
 Effendim ; they are both Pehlivans,* and 
 ready to come in." 
 
 " Let them wait," said the Cadi. iC Here, 
 good woman, your tongue must be dry — 
 drink." 
 
 The hint had its effect in keeping down 
 the old hag's reviving passion, and the Cadi, 
 who, as may be judged from his behaviour, 
 * Wrestlers, or prize-fighters.
 
 288 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 was dry withal in his humour, being disposed 
 to amuse himself a little longer at her 
 expense, at the same time that he would not 
 appear to dismiss her complaint without 
 examination, took up his Koran, and began 
 to turn over the leaves, stopping now and 
 then, and mumbling over a passage here and 
 there, as if he had hit upon something 
 analogous to the plaintiff's case. Then 
 taking off his spectacles, and wiping them, 
 he seemed for a while absorbed in deep 
 meditation, and having again put them on 
 resumed the examination of the sacred code. 
 a Bakalum! — let me see. . . . what chapter 
 shall we find it in ? Oh ! here is the list of 
 the chapters. ... Of the Cow. ... Of the 
 Woman. . . . Of the Angels. . . . Of Things 
 scattered. . . . Why, that sounds some- 
 thing like the subject in question. . . . hem. 
 . . . hem. . . . No, there's no mention of 
 lantern, or papouches. . . . hem. . . . hem 
 . . . The Wrapt up. . . . The Crack. . . . 
 these two may serve. . . . hem. . . . hem. 
 . . . No. . . . The Fig. . . . The Earth- 
 quake. . . . The Coverlid. . . . The Ele- 
 phants. . . . The Deceit or Trumpery. . . . 
 The Explanation. . . . Women. . . . Trum-
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 289 
 
 peiy. . . . I'll examine those chapters again. 
 . . . Women. . . . Cows. . . . and Trumpery." 
 The negress had watched the Cadi's 
 studies without saving a word, or taking her 
 eyes off the spectacles ; which she noticed he 
 always put on the extreme tip of his nose 
 whenever he looked into the book. The 
 last words, which he dwelt on with a kind of 
 emphasis, again awakened her susceptibility. 
 Forgetting that two Pehlivans were out- 
 side she rose in anger from her seat, advanced 
 towards the Cadi, repeating, 6i Women are 
 cows ! women are trumpery ! did you say ? 
 Oh you foul-mouthed judge ! the Prophet's 
 book has no such slanderous words ! " And 
 she stretched out her hand, as in the act 
 of snatching the book away from him. 
 
 He did not lose his gravity or his 
 temper, but gently motioning her back to 
 her seat, said, — 
 
 " Door bir az — Wait a little, good 
 mother. Can you read ?" 
 
 " I don't know," said she. " I never had 
 one of those machines upon my nose," point- 
 ing to the spectacles. 
 
 "Oh, if that's all," answered the Effendi, 
 with great composure, " here, take the 
 
 vol. i. u
 
 2Q0 rHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 machine and put it on your nose," (looking 
 at the flat thing terminated by two wondrous 
 holes, situated over a cavern of a mouth, 
 bordered by lips like the enormous red- 
 brown slugs that desolate our gardens). 
 
 The negress grinned from ear to ear as 
 she took up the spectacles ; but in vain did 
 she attempt to fasten them on a nose which, 
 in sad truth, wanted the essential protu- 
 berance of a bridge. A racer's saddle might 
 as easily have been fitted on the back of a 
 cow. 
 
 " Olmaz! — It will not do," observed the 
 would-be reader of the Koran. 
 
 " Certainly not," said the Cadi, with 
 gravity ; "but women do not use this thing 
 as men do. You must put the two shining 
 rounds so," pointing with two fingers to his 
 two nostrils. 
 
 "How?" said the poor bamboozled crea- 
 ture : " so ? " And she applied the glasses 
 to her own enormous nostrils, which they 
 fitted admirably. 
 
 " That is it !— that is it exactly I EV 
 humd J ul Mali ! Now look on the book 
 and try." 
 
 The poor woman did so, keeping the
 
 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 291 
 
 glasses very close against her nostrils, and 
 looking upon the page open before her as if 
 she expected to see come out of it the villain 
 who had torn her lantern. 
 
 After looking some time, she shook her 
 head. — " Olmaz! — It won't do ; I can't make 
 anything of it." 
 
 a Never mind," said the Cadi; " have 
 patience, my good woman. This Frengui 
 Shai'tanlik — these Frankish devilries — don't 
 suit every body. SabrEtsin — Allah Ekber ! 
 — Patience ! Great is Allah ! " 
 
 " That's all very fine," grumbled the old 
 woman, sadly disappointed to find that a 
 piece of glass stuck to the end of her nose 
 could not enable her to read. " Patience ! 
 patience, indeed! but who's to mend my 
 lantern, and to pay the tailor for a new 
 fereje ?" 
 
 " True," said the Cadi ; " there is but 
 one way left to find out the owner of the 
 kaook and the papouch, and that I'll try. 
 Here, children, go to the Kiatib* and tell 
 him to send the crier into the bazaar, and 
 make proclamation that all the Kaookchis 
 and all the Papouchtchis assemble forthwith 
 * Clerk, or writer. 
 U 2
 
 292 PHOTO THE SULIOTE. 
 
 at the Mekemme (the tribunal). And do 
 you take care to be there with those articles, 
 good mother, at the same time. Ill join you 
 there directly. Go! Ourola — a good journey 
 to you ! " 
 
 The black woman gathered up les pieces 
 cle conviction, and retired somewhat pacified, 
 with the hope of tracing the culprit through 
 the assembled capmakers and shoemakers of 
 Ioannina.
 
 NOTES TO VOL. I. 
 
 Pajre 7, 
 
 The original letter, in Greek, from Aly Pasha to 
 Captains Botzari and Tzavella : — 
 
 <3>/Ao< pov Kx7rirxv "M^or^ix, kxi Kx7titxv T<£xfi'iXXx, 
 lya o AXq TLxrtxg <rxg %cctgiT£0, Kxi crxg tyiXco rx /nxnx' 
 iiruoii kxi lya |jyg&> xoXXx kxXx t>jv xvtpxyxbixv rxg, kxi 
 vrxXXiKXpi'xv <rxg, ftov Qxivtrxi vxy^a piyxXyv %(>iixv xtto 
 Xoyovrxg' Xoittov ^ KXUYin xXXzag xxgXKxXa, xXX iv6i/g 
 o7rov XxfiiTi rhv ypx/p^v ftov, vx [AX^a^m oXx <rxg rx 7rxX- 
 XtKXgix, kxi vx 'ixfori vx pi iv^ti, Six vx >mxya vx waXi- 
 (A^ra rovg lyfipo'vg (toV tovtjj tivxt * agx, kxi o Kxtgog oxov 
 t%u) X^ltoiv X7T0 Xoyovrxg, kxi yJ.va vx l$a t*)» tyiXixv cxg, 
 kxi rv\v xyx7rr)v oxov 'iy,tti aix Xoyov itov' o Xov$ig o-xg 
 B-'lXli llvxi dixXog xx otov di^a llg rovg * A^xvirxg, oixrt 
 kx\ Yi UxXXiKx^ix o-xg %iv^a xag livxi xoXXx /xsyxXqriffr, 
 xxo T>jy ibiK*\v rovg' Xoixov lya div xxya vx xoXitt.v\<ra xplv 
 vat 'ixfari io-&7g, kxi <rxg Kxprlpa lyX-/,yapx vx iX&irV rxvrx, 
 xxt o-xg yxipira.
 
 294 NOTES. 
 
 Page 11. 
 
 An Albanian in the service of Aly Pasha said to 
 me, in reply to a remark made in conversation re- 
 specting the treatment of the Rayahs in Turkey : 'O 
 
 08o; 'ihuKi ri<r(rot.^oc. luxyy'iXtoc, ilg rovg uvd^a7rovg' ol kv- 
 
 6^a7roi 'i^aKocv to mpTTTo — to |vAo. — "God gave men 
 four gospels; man added a fifth — the stick" 
 
 Page 12. 
 
 No^«1o< corruptly for ovi>px\ct, names, is used for 
 persons, as in Acts, i. 15. 
 
 Page 23. 
 ToVos, place, has the meaning of home. 
 
 Page 47. 
 
 "He that is without and afar," — Avrog on-ov tlvoa 
 6%&> kocI fcccK^vec — a periphrasis popularly employed to 
 designate the evil spirit. 
 
 Page 55. 
 
 At an evening party of English and Persians at 
 Tebreez, where the conversation turned upon the 
 punishment awarded in England to a murderer, the 
 Cazee, being told that it was death, asked, " But if a 
 man kills a Jeiv?" — He seemed much surprised that 
 that made no difference.
 
 NOTES. 295 
 
 Page 58. 
 
 The more stained with blood, and the more soiled 
 with dirt, is the shirt of the Klepht - Palikari, the 
 braver is the wearer considered. 
 
 Page 107. 
 
 'Ey;A*<r«? tov Xd^a — Thou hast cheated Charon. 
 For the fact of this allusion to the classical mythology 
 of ancient Greece, the philological reader is referred 
 to the " Quarterly Review," art. viii. of January 1814, 
 " On the State of the Modern Greeks." 
 
 Page 147. 
 
 Ylxtiix, children, is the term commonly used by the 
 master of the family to his menial servants throughout 
 the Levant — a vestige of patriarchal times and 
 manners. 
 
 Page 177. 
 
 Toshke is the name of one of the four principal 
 divisions of the Albanians, the other three being the 
 Ngeghe, Liape, and Tjame. 
 
 Aly Pasha was properly a Liape, his birthplace 
 being Tepeleni, in the district of Liaburia ; " but as 
 the whole of this tribe," says Colonel Leake, "is in 
 disrepute among the other Albanians for their poverty 
 and predatory habits, he thinks proper to consider 
 Tepeleni a part of Toskeria, and who dares dispute 
 his geography ?" See "Travels in Northern Greece," 
 vol. i. p. 61. Ed. 1835.
 
 296 NOTES. 
 
 Page 185. 
 
 ' AvuGiftctrvi 7rt<m<rov — " Curse on your faith," is of 
 all imprecations the most odious, and most deeply 
 resented by the Greeks. 
 
 Page 212. 
 
 " The evil eye," — ty6ecXp6$ 7ron(oq (Mark, vii. 22), 
 maV occhio of the Italians — a superstition prevalent 
 among Greeks and Mussulmans, of which the follow- 
 ing incident may serve as an illustration : — 
 
 Riding one day in the plain near Ioannina with 
 my brother, we met Aly Pasha, who was on horse- 
 back, accompanied by a single attendant. He stopped 
 us, and expressed his admiration of one of our horses. 
 Before we got home, the horse went dead lame. The 
 farrier, a Moslem Albanian, was sent for. After 
 examining the sick leg, he declared that " somebody 
 had eyed him," — xocnixq rh l{idriu<ri. He was told 
 that the Vezir had admired him, which clenched the 
 matter. 
 
 The remedy applied by the sagacious farrier was 
 in keeping with the alleged cause of mischief. He 
 bored the horse's left nostril through with an iron 
 nail, and tied an amulet, consisting of a text of the 
 Koran written on a scrap of paper dipped in vinegar, 
 round the sick leg. " To-morrow," he said, " the 
 horse will be all right again." And, sooth to say, 
 so ho was.
 
 NOTES. 297 
 
 Page 262. 
 
 The original letter, in Greek, from Tzavella to 
 Aly Pasha : — 
 
 AA? Tlxo-ix, y^xi^cpxi o7rov iyiXxo-x '{vxv aoXtov, uuxi ou 
 
 VX OlXtplVT'tVtrW TKV Tlxr^lOX f£OV IvXVriOV llq IVXV X.Xi7TTYjV' 
 
 o viog pov 6:Xu X7ro6xvit, lyoo opoog x7ciX7rio-rag 6eXoj rov 
 iySoiK'^TU Trpiv vx X7tro6xvoj' xx7rotoi Tovpxoi. x.x6oog \o~\vx 
 BiXovv imovv, on upxi xcnrXxyy^vog Kxripxg, pi ro vx 
 Bvo-ixo-oj rov viov pov otx rov idixov pov Xvr^copov ' xtfokpi- 
 vopxi, on xv l<rv 7rxpi\g ro (Zovvov, foXug o-Korooa-iig rov viov 
 pov pi ro nriXomov rvig (pxpiXixg pov, y,xi rovg o-vp7rxrpioorxg 
 
 pOV, TOTS OiV 6x [4.7T0P10-W VX KKffttUltfW TOV 6ciVXrOV rOV, Xpt) 
 XV VlKVLO-UftiV, 6-Xll iftOJ XXXX 7TXtOiX ' JJ yVVXIKX tAO'J tTvxi 
 
 vix ' ixv o viog [tov viog Kxdag livxi dlv pivit ivfcx^io-rnpivog 
 vx Gvo-ixg*$yi oix r/jv Uxr^iox rov, xvrog oiv livxi x\iog vx 
 fyo-y, kxi vx lyvoo^i^irxi cog viog pov ' Tr^oy^oopriTi xtcitti, 
 lipxi xvv-Kopovog vx ikoik^oo ' 
 
 iyoo o oop.oiTy.ivog iftfyog fov 
 
 KxTTtrxv T^xfitXXxg. 
 
 Page 279. 
 
 In D'Ohsson's " Tableau General de l'Empire Otho- 
 nian" there is a chapter, entitled " Des Purifications 
 pulverales," which treats of the different substitutes 
 for water, where there is not a sufficient supply of that 
 article for the purposes of ablution. The author 
 writes : — 
 
 " Au defaut d'Eau, les purifications pulverales
 
 298 NOTES. 
 
 tiennent lieu et de lavage, et d'ablution, et de lotion 
 entierc .... Les matieres qui y servent sont le sable, 
 la terre, la poussicre, la chaux," &c. — Tome ii. chap. v. 
 p. 46. Paris, 1788. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 For Joannina, read Ioannina, passiin. 
 Page 47, line 21, for far, read afar. 
 
 London:— P dated by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.