NIGHTS IN THE GALLEY. 399 



at Smyrna sent me this brace of pistols, saying they were sent to him 

 by Lord Vaudeville. Look at them/ said he, pulling them out of 

 his belt : on them was written, ' To Yarnio Pothalimo, from his friend 

 Lord Vaudeville.' ' Now/ said he, ' if ever we can manage your 

 escape, I will give you a letter to him ; and mind you take it yourself, 

 for I am sure he will do anything he can for you.' When he had 

 finished his yarn, Zuthea asked what we had been talking about ; he 

 told her, and then she said, ' Look here, this was a present from Lord 

 Vaudeville;' and pulled out a very handsome gold watch. f Oh yes/ 

 said Yarnio, ' I forgot to tell you he sent that to my sister at the 

 time he sent me my pistols/ We now lifted Zuthea on her mule 

 and returned home, laughing and talking all the way. Well, lads, 

 after this things went on pretty much in the same way every day ; 

 sometimes I was working in the garden, assisting Zuthea to rear 

 her flowers, and being laughed at by her pretty lips, and sometimes 

 talking to Yarnio, but no opportunity offered for us to make our es- 

 cape. The agent at Smyrna sent no news of any rich merchantman 

 going to sail, and without that Yarnio had told me there was no 

 chance. I began now to give up all hopes of seeing England again, 

 and precious miserable I was ; even the bright eyes of Zuthea, the 

 prettiest girl I ever saw, was not enough to make me contented with 

 being a prisoner. Well, lads, things went on this way for about three 

 months, every day being like the one that went before it; at last 

 something lucky, as I thought, turned up. One morning, as I was 

 wandering in the garden, Yarnio came running to me, and said, 

 ' Cheer up, cheer up, I have good news for you ; a merchant brig, 

 laden with silks, left Smyrna last Monday ; I think my father will go, 

 and if so, I am sure to be left behind. But I must go/ said he, ' to my fa- 

 ther, and when I hear for certain what's going to be done, I'll let you 

 know although it's hardly fair to take you away from this sweet place, 

 to send you where you may perhaps be shot by some Frenchman.' He 

 said this laughingly, and went a way, leaving me to think about escaping, 

 and I did think about it, you may be sure, with pleasure. I saw Yar- 

 nio again in the evening, when he told me that two boats were or- 

 dered to be prepared, and his father had determined to go himself 

 the next day. This was just what we wanted, and away I went to 

 bed, wishing the morning was come. At last it did come, and a fine 

 one it was too, a nice little breeze blowing just out of the harbour. 

 Up I jumped, and was just going to see the party go out of the 

 village, when in ran Yarnio in a great hurry, and in a most mournful 

 tone said, ( We are all undone, for my father has just sent for me, and 

 told me that he feels too ill to go, so I am to go instead of him. But 

 don't be downhearted/ said he, ' for this is the season that the mer- 

 chant vessels all sail, and we shall soon have some more.' Here I 

 was hooked perhaps for ever ; ' D 11 it/ said I, ' what an unlucky 

 dog I am V However, it was no use growling, so out I went to see the 

 party pass through the village ; they soon shoved off, and we heard no 

 more of them for a week, when in they came, and after Yarnio had 

 been to his father, he came to me and told me that they had found the 

 vessel and boarded her without opposition, but while they were 

 getting the cargo out, they saw a vessel that looked like a man-of- 



