Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1915-02-18
BY
A CIR, Elk
By M. QUAD
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate

The pair of us had been in Athens
three or four days when party OF
English eXcursionists who were max
ing tour arrived. Among them was
an antiquary who was looked up tc
and respected for his knowledge OF
ancient history and ruins
Professor Himstead. as he was named
bad been charged to pick up all the OLD
Greek manuscripts to be had for mon.
ey,s and it was his inquiries for such
documents that doubtless led to our I'm.
doing. One day a man named Talanti,
who had somewhat the manners and
dress of gentleman. brought the pro-
fessor two ancient manuscripts as
present. and to show his further good
will he announced valuable discovery
which had just been made on the is
land of Aegfna. about forty miles dis
tant. He was the owner of the island,
and while his workmen were getting
out some stone they had come across
some rare treasures in art, but had de-
veloped onlyra small portion of them
which he believed held large number
of manuscripts and valuable coins, but
he. had delayed the opening Of it that
some of his friends might be present
Three or four Of them were going to
his island home tomorrow. and he
would be glad to have on his yacht as
many of us foreigners go along as
could make it convenient.
Aside from the English party. there
were Americans, Germans and French
men to the number of twenty in Ath-
ems. and when the list was made up
we numbered over forty, of whom ten
were ladies. When we went on board
there was considerable surprise at find
ing her the craft she was. She was
nothing more than trader, and her
accommodations were of a primitive
character.
Ny friend the professor could speak
Greek. but when he Entered into con-
versation with Mr.. Talanti's friends he
found them sulky enough. This excit-
ed our surprise. as they were supposed
to be gentlemen. When we came to
look them over we began to get little
suspicious.
AS we. approached the island we saw
it was fairly covered with trees. yet it
did not have-a hospitable look. AS we
couple Of rude huts and primitive
jetty, but Mr.. Talanti explained that
his castle was hidden by the forest and
that he was landing at that point to
save us long walk.
LAS soon as the craft was made fast
the three eminent friends of Mr.. Ia
lanti suddenly produced pistols and
knives and took their station by the
gangway. The sailors divided into two
parties. and, handling their naked
knives in menacing fashion. they
drove the people into line.
When Professor Himstead had rub.
bed his eyes, scratched his head and
got it into his brain that something
not down on the program was going ON
Talanti mounted a box and smilingly
observed:
Ladies and gentlemen. you are now
about to pass ashore to behold my
wonderful discoveries, but each one of
you is required to leave all money
and jewelry behind you. will see
that everything is safely cared for"
The men cried out in anger. but what
could they do? do not think there
was firearm among them. while the
Greeks seemed overanxious to use
their knives. There We're protesta-
tons and threats of the law, but
Talanti only smiled at them and or
dered the work to go on. Each man
in the crowd was regularly held up
that is, his pockets were thoroughly
searched and everything of value tax
en-. The women were requested to
hand over. and each one had her
watch and rings in hand as she NOV
ed up. In the course of half an hour
every one was ashore, and then Talan-
ii took of his hat, made a sweeping
bow and sailed away with his piratical
crew. he had no sooner gone than
half dozen villainous looking men
came down from the hut
They told US they were fishermen,
but their actions belied their state
ment: Their first move was to de-
maHd cash, and great was their indig-
nation: and, disappointment at being
told that Talanu's crowd had taken
the last coin. When sure Of this they
left rs, and an hour later two genuine
fishermen came ashore in their boat.
There were a dozen vessels within Eve
or six miles of us, and a dollar would
have been big pay for them to 60 out
and notify the nearest one OF our sit
uation; but, realizing our helplessness.
they demanded the sum of 800.
1t was almost dark when a battered
old schooner came sailing up to take