Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-06-27

deftly WELD weapon, and so fell rich prize
to whatever Turk had the pleasure of killing
him. Our hero was too wary to have thus
disposed of his chances, and so when the
freed galley went down Alexandria harbor,
canvas straiung, oar looms rolling in unison
in their rollocks, a feather of foam atFsher
bow and a dancing swirl of wavelets i'll her
wake, John Fox stood at the helm and steer
ed her straight between the harbOr forts for
the open sea and freedom.
Their passage was certainly the achieve
ment Of Paradise through Purgatory, for by
this time all Alexandria was awake, the bat
teres manned and their clumsy guns flash
ing and bounding as each in turn flung its
load of stone or IRON in the direction of the
flying galley. The night, however, was dark
and John Foxs luck on the turn, Tor out OF
the many shots fired but three or four got
home, and none of them did any damage
And soon the galley was past the batteries,
the lights of the town commenced to dip, and
the ves5ell to lump in the short Mediterranean
swell as she drew from under the sheltering
land.
For the moment, at least, they were free,
and every man exultingly felt that it would
take the Turks at least ten hours to outfit
galleys for n pursuit. Ten hours well en-
ployed meant good oifiing and so all that
night and all the following day the oarsmen
strained and swung and tie tough ash bent
and creakcd with each mighty stroke And
still the south wind blew and still John Fox
kept the rolling, pitching galley straight for
Crete, as the nearest land in possession of
Christians. OF the second day the wind
came out ahead aud blew hard and porsis-
tently. Galleys were incapable of beating to
windward, and could not be rowed in that
direction except in moderate weather, so the
progress of our heroes became very slow.
Provisions ran out, and some of the unfor-
tunates exchanged slavery for death by star
vation but John Fox, the unkillabe, kept the
galley at her work, and at last the high peak
of Mount Ida lifted itself above the heaving
sea-foor, and on the twenty-eight day Of toll
and starvation the party landed i'll Crete,
free at last.
In Crete was found needed hospitality in a
monastery where the monks made much OF
them and begged from Fox his rusty sword
to, be hung i'll honor like the sword Omn-
darte on their convent walls. Refted and
refreshed, the galley put to sea once more
and John ToN conducted her safely to Saler
no. where she was sold and the proceeds di
vided. From Salerno the whole party trav.
! ellie to Rome, where Gregory XIV was kline
to them in an inexpensive way giving al
hands his blessing and to FoS a letter com
mending him to the charity of the Christian
world IN general Money AID Is not men
toned and perhaps not to be expected from
potentate whose trade was that Of receiver
rather than giver. At Rome The party broke
up and our hero travelled into spain to be
there employed on ordnance work for two
years, so that it was not until the year 1915
that the much enduring mau reached Eng
land to be pensioned by Elizabeth and to re
ceiye black letter Immortality in the pages o
Hokniyts rohIe "pohe' Of voyages. History
gives us no further record of stalwart JOIN
Fox, but one likes to imagine him nine year!
later grown gray and grim and probably re
igious in some queer antimonian or anabap
istical fashion, like Kingsleys Salvation Yeo
doing his Part end deity sOrYins his pnl- il
Briton's Salamis the Armada fight D loss
"whereunto as to a set field came al i',.rlI
of honor and there found sufficient at &hl
| they sought