The San Francisco call., 1905-05-14
CHAPTER LvIII.
The ArcIlistrategos.

followed Blaquiere's return to England
was on every tongue.
The Courier had printed single
sneering paragraph in which had been
compressed the rancor OF William
Goodwin, the bookseller. This stated
that George Gordon was not even in
Greece, that he was in reality living in
a suHptuous villa on one of the Ionian
Islands with the Contessa Guiccioli.
writing a companion poem TO Don
Juan" But before the stringent dis
approval with which this bald fabrica-
ton was received, the Courier skunk TO
shamefaced silence.
Thereafter in the columns of news
paper, pamphlet and magazine there
was 10 be distinguished a curious ten
sion OF reserve. It was the journalistic
obeisance to a growing subterranean
Yet potent revulsion Of feeling. Dallas
had soon found himself the recipient
OF invitation from influential hosts de-
sirous 10 hear of his visit TO Italy. In
the clubs the committees bulletins
were eagerly discussed. The loan II
solicited found subscriptions ana the
struggle of the Cross with the Cres-
cent-the cause whose beating heart
was now Missolonghi-began TO draw
the eyes not of London, but of Eng
land; not of England, but OF Europe,
not Of Europe, but of the world.
To the company gathered in the
citadel of this little Inarshy port on
the Greek sea-shallows, where free
dom stirred in the womb Of war, outer
comment came only after multiplied
reverberations. They toiled ceaseless-
ly-a nucleus of hard-working general
officers culled from everywhere-plan-
ming, drilling, gathering stores, pre-
pairing for the inevitable attack or the
Turkish armies massing at Lepanto,
trying 10 knit into organization the
tawdry elements of brigandage TO
which centuries of Turkish subJecton
had reduced a great nation. They
labored under a single far-sighted
leadership: that of the archistrategos
Of the Greek forces, whose eye seemed
sleepless and his brain indefatigable.
Gordon foresaw that Greece's great
est enemy was not the Turks, but her
own dissensions. Unifcation Of spirit
and authority was necessary before
all. When Ulysses, the recalcitrant,
sent him an obsequious embassy 1t
bore back a terse answer: L come TO
aid a nation, not a faction" Ulysses
cursed in his beard and sent IreVan-
ion. for whom he had found more
than one cunning use. TO seduce the
Suliote forces camped within the IN
surgent lines.
Meanwhile, the money Gordon had
brought melted rapidly He had con-
tributed four hundred pounds week
for ratiOns alone, besides supporting
batteries, laboratories and an entire
brigade, settling arrears and paying
for fortification. However large his
private resources, they must soon be
exhausted. Could the English loan
fau2 And If not, would it come in
time? If il was too long delayed, dis
aster must follow. Discipline would
lapse. The diverse elements on the
point of coalescing would fly asunder.
The issue would be lost. This thought
was live coal 10 him night and day.
The rainy season set in with all its
rigors. Missolonghi became a pesti-
lential mud-basket beside which the
dikes of Holland were a desert Of
Arabia for dryness. An unknown
plague fastened on the bazaar and ter
Tified the townspeople. But in all con-
ditions Gordon seemed inspirited with
a calm cheerfulness.
He thought of Theresa continually.
Oddly enough, she stood before him
always as he had once seen her on a
square in Venice, with moonlight tang
ling an aureole in her gold hair, her
face now not frozen with mute horror
that picture had vanished foreveri-
but serene with love and abnegation-
This face lighted the page as he Ia
bored with mis- correspondence. 1t
went with him on the drenching beach
non sent by the German committee
more dinly seen this day, for pc
culiar dizziness and lethargy which he
had battled for a fortnight was upon
him.
As he rode back through the rain and
the bottomless quagmire, Prince MAY
rccordato and Pietro Gambia sat wait
ing in his room at headquarters. They
had been talking earnestly. The
outlook was leaden. There had been
as vet no news of the expected loan.
The lustful eyes of foreign ministers
were watching. Ulysses had seized the
acropolis of Athens, and his agents
were everywhere, seeking to under
mine the provisional government. The
Suliotes, whose chiefs swarmed in
AIissolonghi, had begun to demand
money and preferment.
But these things. serious SIS they
were, weighed less heavily upon
Prince Mavrocordato's mind than the
health of the man he now awaited IL
that cherries chamber.
Another post would do as Well
the Greek said gloomily. Higher
ground, out of the marshes. lie stays
here only at risk to himself. Yet he
viii listen to no proposal of removal
What does he say2" asked Gambia
THAT Missolonghi Is the center oi
Western Greece, the focus-point OF
all discussion by the question: If
abandoned this castle to the Turks
what would the partisans of Ulysses
say?'"
GAMBIA was silent. Mavrocordatc
knit his bushy broWs. He knew the
answer only too well. And yet the
safety of this single individual hao
come to mean everything. Without
him Greece's organization would b'
chaos. it's armies rabbles.
While he pondered, Gordon entered
He had thrown off his wet clothing
below. The shepherd dog crouchec
by the door sprang up with joyfu
whine as the newcomer dropped {
hand on his head.
Pietro had a sudden vision of his
sister as she placed upon him her las
injunction-to guard this mans life
He had done all he could. Yet Il
what avail? Watchfulness might ware
steel and lead, but what could comba
the unhagging toll, the hourly expos
ure, the stern denial of creature com
fort? His eyes wandered around ths
damp walls hung with swords, car
bines and pistols, to the rough mat