The times., 1897-10-31
THE BATTLE OF vELEsTINos.
An Opera Bouffe Affair of the First
Order.
tFrom Harper's Magazine

(From Harper's Magazine)
The battle, which lasted two days, opened
in a sudden and terrific storm of hail. II
was phenomenon of nature So unuSualat
that season that for several months later
its coming kept the wise men in London
busily engagedin trying to explain IL away;
but at the time the Greek soldiers, who
still are, in some things, as supersi itious
as their forefathers at Mars Hill, accepted
the great overture of thunder and its ac-
companying yolleys of frozen bullets as a
good omen, and as sent direct from the gods
on Mount Olympus, which reared its head
from just the other side OF the Turkish
border.
Then there began a Concert which came
from just overhead-a concert OF jarring
sounds like the wind rushing through tel
egraph wires, and little whispers. The
whispers were the most disturbing; they
had the sound of torn silk, and a times
they came from far above, and moved
slowly. ike hunming bird bnznHg about
on warm day; and again they came 80
| close that a mah would duck his head
instinctiyely. or throw up las eib0w ;ts
| he would ward Off blow in boxing. IL
sounded then a S though some gisibie per-
| sou had whispered a warning and passed
| swiftly on or as though some one had
| suddenly ripped q silk handkerchief close
TO your ear. When this concert opened the
! officers shouted out new orders, and each
! OF the men showed his sight nearer to the
| barrel, and when he fired gain ruHne,i the
| butt OF his gun Snugly against his s1oIIltieT.
! The huge green blOtcleS on the plain had
| turned blue, and now we could distinguish
| tnat they moved. and that they We're mov-
| Ing steadily forward Then they would
| cease to move, and little later would be
| hidden behind great puffs of white smoke,
which were followed by a flash of flame:
| and still late- there would come a dull re-
| port, and at the same instant something
| would huri itself jarring through the air
| above our heads, aud the men would fling
| themselves against the few feet of loose
| earth, and look across at the hill back Of
! them to mark where the she'll had struck
There was a red-headed, freckIed pea
| SAINT boy, in dirty petticodts, who guided
Bass and myself to the trenches. He was
one OF the few peasants who had not run
| away, and as he had driven sheep over
| every foot OF the hills, he elected TO
| guide the soldiers through those places
| where they Were best protected from the
bullets OF ti.e enemy. He did this all day.
| and was always whether Coming or going,
| under a heavy fire; but he enjoyed that
| fact, and he seemed to regard the ba tile
| only as delightful change in the uuiet
routine OF his life, as one of our own
/ country boys at home would regard the
coming of the spring circus, or the burn
ing of neiGhbor's barn. He ran dancing
aneaG Of US, pointing to where ledge Of
rocE offered a natural shelter, or showing
us steep gully where the bullets could
not fan.
When they came very near him he would
| jump high in the air, not because he was
startled, but out of pure animal joy in the
excitement of 1t, and he would frown
Importantly and shake his red curls at
| US, as though to say: ~ told you to be
careful. Now you see. Don't let that hap
pen again. We met him many times
during the two days, escorting different
companies of soldiers from one point to
another though they were visitors To
his estate. When a Sh ell broke he would
| pick up piece and presentit to the officer
in charge, as though 1t were flower
he had plucked from his own garden, and
which he wanted his guest TO carry AVA V
| with him as n souvenir of his visit.
Some one asked the boy IL his father
and mother knew where he was, and he
replied, with amusement, that they had
run away and deserted him, and that he
had remained because he wished to look
| at q Turkish army. He was a much
more plucky boy than the overrated Casa
blanca, who may have stood on the burn
! ing deck whence all about him had fled
because he could not swim, and because
it was with him choice or being either
burned or drowned. This boy stuck to
| the burning deck when it was possible
for him at any time to have walked away
| and ieft it burning. But he sta yeh IN re
cause he was amused, and because he WAS
able to help the soldiers from the city
in safety across his native heath.-From
with the Greek Soldiers by Richard
Harding Davis, in Harper's Magazine for
| November.