NIGHTS IN THE GALLEY. 395 



for my friend, and I'll show you that all of the Greeks are not quite 

 such a degraded race as the world supposes them. If/ said he, ' we 

 had an independent sovereign of Greece, there would not be so many 

 pirates; many of us are only so in our own defence, to save our wives, 

 our mothers, and sisters from those hellish tyrants, the Turks. But I 

 must go now, and will take a walk with you in the evening, when 

 I'll try to make you believe the devil is not so black as he is painted/ 

 Away they went, and I returned to the house to wait till the evening, 

 not without hopes that something would turn up to my advantage ; 

 but I was determined not to escape, after what Yarnio had told me. 

 Well, lads, I took care, as you may suppose, to keep out the way of 

 old Pothalimo. I must tell you what passed between us in the even- 

 ing, or you will not understand it when I come to tell you of my 

 escape. Well, lads, so away I went to the house, and after dinner, 

 that is, about six o'clock, when Yarnio came to me, and said, ' Go and 

 get my sister's mule ready, and you and I will walk by her side.' I 

 went away as quick as I could, for I was anxious to hear what would 

 pass. I couldn't help thinking somehow he wanted to make some 

 arrangements. The mule was soon ready ; I led him to the door of 

 the house ; Zuthea was waiting with Yarnio, who lifted her on the 

 mule; I threw the bridle over my arm, and we walked without speak- 

 ing a word till we passed well out of the village, and got into the 

 place where we had dined the day before ; it was quite deserted now, 

 not a soul to be seen, so we lifted Zuthea off, and sat down by the 

 fountain, and then Yarnio began. ' I have been talking to my sister,' 

 he said, e about you, and been thinking if there was any way in which 

 we could manage your escape, without bringing down upon us the 

 vengeance of my father ; for myself I would not mind it, because I 

 would go with you, and there are so many bands of Greeks in the dif- 

 ferent islands living in the same manner as we do, and to most of whom 

 I am well known, that I could manage well enough ; but it would be 

 impossible to carry my sister with us, and I am sure you would not 

 wish to leave her behind, for my father would forget she was his 

 daughter, and put her to death with as little remorse as one of his 

 slaves.' ' Indeed I would not wish,' said I, ' to expose either you or 

 your sister to your father's anger; I would, as I told you before, rather 

 remain here all my life. I see now that nothing can set me free but 

 the death of your father, and for your sake I hope that will not 

 happen.' 



" I said this in not a mournful tone, for I confess I should not 

 much have regretted the death of old Pothalimo, nor could I bring 

 myself to believe that so cruel a father ought or would be much re- 

 gretted by his children. 



" Yarnio noticed that I was not very sincere, and said, ' Perhaps 

 it may happen that we shall have an opportunity of assisting you to 

 escape without my father's knowledge ; if so, you may depend upon 

 it we will. The only chance of such a thing is this sometimes my 

 father goes to sea himself, but that is very seldom, only when he 

 hears from his agents of any very rich merchantman about to leave 

 Smyrna. If it should happen soon, we may manage all three of us to 



