Part 8

"Perhaps you know," asked Iason, "where there is a big cave over on the other side of the slope, near Vayonia?"

"A cave?" the man twisted his fingers in the tangled beard as he spoke, "Who told you of a cave?"

"Lambro, the shepherd, told me."

"Many things does Lambro, the lame one know! Did he tell you perhaps how one enters into this cave?" and the pale blue eyes peered eagerly into the boy's face.

"No; why? One enters by the entrance I suppose."

The shepherd laughed.

"You say well! By the entrance of course, ... by the entrance. Ask also of Lambro who is so wise, how you may find the road to the cave!"

Andromache pushed forward.

"And is Lambro here that we may ask him?" she said impatiently. "What foolish talk is this? If you know where the cave is, speak!"

The man turned his pale blue eyes on her.

"I must speak, must I? The little hens are crowing to-day, as well as the little cocks!"

Iason turned to the others.

"Come!" he said, speaking in French, "the man knows nothing, and he is trying to amuse himself with us."

And they turned to continue their way up the hill. But the shepherd touched the last one, who happened to be Chryseis, on the shoulder, and unslinging his "tagari" offered it to her.

"Take one!" he said; "let me befriend you with one."

He was still laughing, and he pushed his face close to hers as he spoke. Chryseis, who was rather dainty, shrank back a little, but the familiar words reassured her. The tagari evidently contained figs, or perhaps almonds; and she knew what an insult the peasants consider it, that one should refuse anything with which they offer to "befriend" you. So she stretched out her hand over the half-closed tagari, but drew back in alarm. It was full of earth and stones!

The man threw his head back and laughed loudly and discordantly.

Iason turned on him, like the little cock he had been called.

"Now then!" he cried, pushing the huge man violently, "now then! What foolishness is this? Leave us alone and go your way! Do you hear?" And when he raised his voice Pavlo thought it sounded just like the master of the Red House.

The shepherd's laugh died off in a silly cackle, and he stood where Iason had pushed him, looking after the children as they climbed on rather hurriedly; but to Pavlo's intense relief, he made no attempt to follow them.

"Who was it?" asked Andromache.

"I am not sure," said Iason, "but I think it must be one of the Pelekas. His brother Yoryi had our pasture land for his sheep last year. I saw him when I went up to the 'stania'[22] with father. They are all red-haired, and there are many brothers; but I do not know this one."

"He was horrid!" said Chryseis, shifting her basket to her other arm; "he must have been drinking too much 'ouzo.'"[23]

"Father says they never drink, these shepherds, except on big holidays when they come down to the villages," said Iason, "but I suppose this one must have."

It was worth the long hot climb, when they reached the top of the hill, to feel the cool air blowing in their faces. As they scrambled over the very last ridge, Nikias, who was first, pulled at a falling sock which threatened to cover his shoe, then stood up and pointing far below, shouted triumphantly:--

"There is the other sea!"

And there, if not the "other sea" as the children called it, was the other side of the island, where there were no houses, no gardens, no lemon orchards, no olive trees, no signs of familiar every-day life, nothing but pines, of all shapes and sizes, from the dark green rugged old pines, to the pale green baby ones; and lentisk, and arbutus, and thyme bushes on the slopes, and far below them the wide-sweeping beautiful beach of Vayonia with the open sea beyond. The soft plash of the little waves against the rocks came up to them where they stood.

Pavlo was told that on a bright clear winter day you could distinguish all Athens and the Acropolis perfectly well, "over there," and four outstretched fingers pointed to the exact direction behind Ægina.

Just then a big white caique, all sails open to the wind, was gliding majestically across the opening of the bay, its little landing boat dancing and skipping on the waves behind it. And closer to the shore was a tiny puffing steam launch belonging to the Naval School. Andromache, whose eyes were the best, declared that she could recognize the officers on board.

"I am sure that one there is the Admiral," she said, "I can see his hair white in the sun."

"Now then!" jeered the others, "can you not count the stripes also on the sleeve of his uniform?"

But Chryseis had been unpacking the baskets.

"We will eat now," she announced quietly, and there was not one to say "no" to her.

Before they had left the house even the children themselves had exclaimed at the quantity of cold "keftedes" which Athanasia had prepared for them, but there were very few left when they had eaten as much as they wanted. There were some "skaltsounia"[24] too, smothered in fine sugar; and of these there were none left at all; but there never are, of course. There were plenty of grapes, and the peaches about which Nikias had been anxious. Pavlo amused himself by digging holes in the hard sun-baked earth, and planting the kernels as far down as he could reach,--

"So that when you come up here another time, you will find peaches growing ready for you."

The boys laughed at him.

"We had better not come here for two or three months, and by then your trees will of course be laden with fruit."

Pavlo had lived much alone, and he was accustomed to people who meant exactly what they said.

"No," he said slowly, "I did not mean in two or three months, but some time."

"Even if they were ever to become trees, without watering or digging or anything," said Andromache, struggling with Philos, who had left his dinner to attack the roots of a monster lentisk bush, "do you think the shepherds would leave any peaches on them?"

But the word "shepherd" reminded Iason of their object.

"I am going down there," he said, pointing to the left, where the bushes were rarer and the gray crags began. "It looks cave-y. Leave the baskets there under that bush. No one will touch them."

The children began to scramble down towards the rocks, and the scent of the thyme as they crushed it mingled little by little with the fresh smell of the sea, as they got nearer and nearer the shore.

The search for the cave was very thorough. Every big bush growing near a rock was pushed aside, every shadow was peered into.

"You never know," as Iason said, "how small the entrance may be!"

But after all it was by pure accident that they found it.

VII

They were pretty close to the shore, close enough for all to distinguish that the officers from the steam launch had got into a little boat and were being rowed to land. Chryseis was standing on the top of a big stone, when she slipped on the pine needles which covered it, and suddenly disappeared from view as entirely and completely as though a trap door had opened and swallowed her up.

"Chryseis!" screamed Andromache, "Chryseis, where are you?" And the boys and Pavlo rushed to the spot.

The stone had been on the edge of a sheep track, and as they looked fearfully over, they saw Chryseis lying on her elbow on a little ledge a few feet below.

"I am not hurt," she called up at once, "not at all; but do not any of you climb down this way; there are a lot of prickly pears and I have got some of the thorns in my hand. Come round by those arbutus there!"

When they got round to her she was picking the tiny thorns out of her hand, and wetting it in a little stream which seemed to come out of the gray rock.

"Look!" she said, "there is water here!" She put her finger to her mouth, "and it is fresh water, too. How funny! It is coming round this side of the rock. See!"

"Why!" said Iason, leaning both hands on the top of the rock, and bending his whole body round the corner, "why it is...."

And it was. When they all clambered on the big rock and slipped down to the other side, they found Iason lifting up with all his strength a tangled mass of wild ivy and other creepers which fell over it like a thick curtain. And there was a hole; big enough for anyone to pass through if he stooped a little.

It looked dark inside, and there was a step going down.

"No one need come," said Iason, "if he feels afraid!"

And of course everyone said, "I am not afraid!" Pavlo first of all. And he really and truly was not. He was far too excited to think of being afraid.

The children went down two steps, bending their heads low, and then stood upright.

They were in a high narrow cave; so long that it was impossible to tell the depth. A cave like those of which they had often read, and often dreamt of discovering, but in which they had very certainly never before found themselves.

"It is quite a real cave!" said Nikias in an awestruck whisper. And the others looked round in silence. It seemed a moment too great for ordinary words. Their adventurous hearts were beating quickly.

Then Iason triumphantly produced a bit of candle and a box of matches from his pocket, and when he lighted it the tiny flame cast rounds of light and mysterious shadows over rough gray walls. This was for the first moment after coming in from the blinding sunlight, but as soon as their eyes got accustomed to the green darkness, Iason threw the candle away and the flame sputtered as it fell into the little stream of water which seemed to trickle down one end of the cave near the wall. The whole place smelt rather nasty and musty, but as Chryseis said,--

"What do smells matter when we have found a real cave?"

And a real cave it was! There were curious niches in the walls; the stone was fretted away into arches and hollows; in some parts natural columns had formed themselves, and in others dimly seen stalactites hung in the darkness above their heads.

Kerberos whined rather uncomfortably and kept very close to Chryseis, but Philos sniffed round excitedly, bent on investigating every nook and corner, till Andromache lifted him up struggling and barking and insisted on carrying him, for fear he might fall into some "unseen chasm." Iason told her that Philos could take care of himself "a thousand times" better than she could; but Andromache was never easy to convince.

They went along very cautiously in Indian file. Iason came first, then the two girls, then Nikias, and Pavlo last of all.

After they had walked a little way in, they found a heap of charred sticks and a broken necked pitcher.

"Perhaps," suggested Chryseis, "they may have remained here ever since the times when the women and children were hiding from the Turks. They may have had to cook and sleep in here, you know, while the men were outside fighting. And perhaps," she added, stooping down to touch the broken pitcher, "we may be the very first people to touch them since then!"

"Well," put in Andromache, the practical, "I should not care to have to eat or sleep in here. It smells just awful!"

"It is getting very dark too, and I cannot see where to step any more," suggested little Nikias; then he added hurriedly, "Perhaps it will get lighter further in!"

"No, you little stupid, it will be darker further in," said Iason, "because it winds away from the entrance!"

Chryseis stopped short.

"Let us turn back! perhaps it turns and turns like the Labyrinth and we may never be able to get out again."

"And then," added Nikias cheerfully, "people will come after many years and find only our bones!"

"Stop that kind of talk, you horrid little pig!" cried Andromache.

Iason hesitated.

"If only I had not thrown the candle away! Oh, well, never mind! I suppose we had better turn back."

And they retraced their steps in the same order. Pavlo who came last lagged behind for a moment. About half way, on the left side, was something he had not noticed when they had been going in; a bright spot, a speck of light, something white and shining in the dim twilight. But as he wondered what it could be, he saw that he was alone and hurried on to join the others; and as soon as he had taken two steps forward, the speck of light disappeared suddenly, as though someone had blown it out.

He caught up with the others at the entrance.

"Listen!" he said, catching hold of Nikias, who was just stepping out into the daylight, "Down there I saw...."

But they never heard what he saw, for at that moment he heard a series of loud thuds, a scream from Chryseis who had been the first to get out of the entrance, and a muttered exclamation from Iason as he sprang forward and pushed both his sisters so violently backward into the cave, that they fell over the two smaller boys, dragging them down.

At the same moment Pavlo, lifting himself up, saw two large stones fall from above, right in front of the opening of the cave.

"What is it?"

"What was that?"

"What fell?" He and Nikias and Andromache all cried together.

"Stones! A great many," Chryseis answered, lifting a pale face to theirs as they pulled her up. "They nearly fell on our heads, but Iason pushed us back. Iason! What is it? Iason!"

For Iason, flattened against the opening, was cautiously trying to find out what had happened.

"I do not know," he said, without turning round. "I cannot think. Something must have loosened the stones from the top of the rock above, and they fell. But what? The first rains have not begun yet. Well," he continued after a moment's pause, "let us get out! That was all."

But that was not all! At the step forward which he took, a shower of earth and stones came rattling down on the ledge outside.

He sprang back only just in time.

"But what is it then? What can it be?"

They soon found out. No sooner had the last stone rebounded and rolled over the ledge to the rocks below them, than a loud discordant laugh sounded from above the opening of the cave.

"Come out of your hole, my little cockerels! Come out! You would not have my stones before. Get them on your heads now! Come out! Come out!"

The children looked at each other in horror.

"The shepherd! The red-bearded man!"

There was a fresh shower of stones and the laugh again, which sounded closer. Chryseis caught hold of her brother's arm.

"Iason! He will get in! He will get in! Oh, what shall we do?"

"We will not let him!" cried little Nikias, running forward, "let us push this big stone right in front of the opening! Here! This one; if you push hard we can roll it down. Iason! Pavlo! Girls! Help me!"

"He is right, the little one," said Iason, and they all pulled, and pushed and tugged as they could never have done if they had not been terribly frightened, and little by little the big rounded piece of rock was rolled in front of the entrance to the cave, and the green darkness grew darker and darker. The opening was not entirely blocked. Any of the children could have squeezed in or out, but they felt almost certain no grown man could.

"Besides, if he only puts his hand in, we will chop it off so! Like the Persians and the man with the ship," declared Andromache, becoming vaguely historical.

"Where is your hatchet?" asked Iason. "No, I am sure he cannot get in. Now we must sit and think what to do. It does no good to cry like that!"

"I am not crying!" sobbed Nikias. "It comes by itself," and he sniffed very hard for a few minutes.

"I expect this man is so drunk he does not know what he is doing," continued Iason. "At the very worst we shall have to stay in here till he gets tired of waiting and goes away. We are safe in the cave."

"I tell you what," said Nikias rubbing his knuckles very hard into his eyes, "it must be 'the mad shepherd.'"

All the others stared at him.

"The mad shepherd? What do you mean?"

"I heard Kyra Calliope the other day telling Yanni. She said there was a mad shepherd on the hills, and that he had killed a lot of sheep of the other shepherds, and she said the mayor and the doctor wanted to tie him up and send him to Athens in the steamer, but they could not catch him, because he was so cunning and hid in the hills for days."

"You little fool!" cried his brother, seizing him by the shoulder. "You--You--Idiot--You--Why did you not tell us when we first met him down there, so that we might have turned back. Do you think it is a joke--a mad man?"

"Did I know?" whimpered Nikias. "Did I know when we met him? He looked like all shepherds then."

"If you had only ..." began Iason, but he was interrupted by a shriek of horror from Chryseis. She was pointed to the small opening left above the rock that blocked the entrance.

There, clearly outlined against the sky, was a grinning, red-bearded face. Part of a hairy hand could be seen pushing against the stone.

Iason lost no time. Stooping he seized hold of a big round pebble and sent it crashing right on the fingers that were working round the stone.

There was a howl of pain and the face disappeared, then after a moment came a sound of retreating footsteps and of broken bushes, and stones rolling down the rock overhead.

The children huddled together, listened, pale and terrified, till all was silence again. Then Iason pushed them aside and advanced to the opening.

"Listen!" he said, "I have just thought of it. Perhaps the officers we saw are still on the shore. Now that the man is not there I shall get outside and call to them."

"No! No, Iason! Stop! Iason!..."

But before any of them could stop him, Iason was squeezing himself round the side of the rock. He was out all but one leg, when a stone bigger than any of those that had been thrown before, bounded against the rock, and struck him on the side of the head. He fell forward with a smothered "Ah!" and the others with a scream of fear rushed to the blocked entrance.

Iason was lying half in and half out, and the short fair hair was dabbled with blood.

Nikias and Pavlo were for trying to push out the rock, but Andromache stopped them.

"No! No!" she cried, "we can drag him in without that." And by combined pulling and pushing they succeeded in getting Iason safely inside. He opened his eyes and said, "It is nothing," but he closed them again.

Chryseis lifted his head to her knees and looked round desperately.

"We must wash the place in the water from the stream," she said, "but I have no handkerchief."

Andromache, the practical, lifted up her frock and tore a big strip from the white petticoat underneath.

"Here, this is better, and there is plenty more," and she dipped the rag in the running water and washed off the blood that was trickling down over Iason's ear and neck, while Chryseis raised his head higher.

Nikias was at the entrance trying to push his thin little body round the rock.

"I will get out now," he said, "and shout for the officers."

"Nikias!" cried Chryseis, her voice shrill with terror, "come back at once! You must not get out! I tell you, you must not! Pavlo! Pavlo! Stop him!"

But she looked around in vain; Pavlo was not there. He seemed to have completely disappeared.

"The coward!" exclaimed Andromache, in furious indignation. "The coward! He has managed to slip out somehow, and left us here all alone!"

But she was quite wrong.

The moment poor Iason had been pulled back into the cave, Pavlo suddenly remembered the speck of light in the wall that he had noticed as they were coming out, and without saying a word to anyone, he ran back into the depths of the cave to see if he could find the spot. Almost at once he came upon it, like a little white star in the dark wall of the cave.

Now Pavlo's mind was of the kind that grown-up people call "logical," which means that he knew that something could not exist without a reason for it; therefore he argued that if there was a light, there must be an opening; and even if the opening were only large enough for a head or even a hand to be passed through, it might be useful.

So he began feeling all over the rough damp wall with both hands.

He felt and he felt for some time in vain, then suddenly when he had nearly given up, he came upon a hole.

Kneeling, he felt that a little barrier of stone divided the hole from the floor of the cave, and that it was more than wide enough to admit him. He scarcely hesitated a second before he climbed over the barrier and found himself in a narrow tunnel at the end of which the speck of light was shining.

Pavlo advanced a few steps very slowly. It was a dark, damp, up-hill passage, and so narrow that he could feel the walls on either side without stretching his arms.

Suddenly he gave a violent shudder.

Something alive, something that felt heavy and cold, a rat perhaps, or a toad or a lizard, ran over his foot. Still he kept on. If the light, which was growing larger, should prove to be a side opening to the cave, he would run back for the others, and they would all get out that way, managing somehow to carry Iason between them if he could not walk, while the man went on throwing stones and waiting for them at the big entrance. The idea of the man waiting there perhaps all day, appealed to Pavlo, and he laughed a little to himself as he got nearer to the light.

He found, as he had expected, that it came from a small hole in the rock which led out to the hillside, and was almost quite hidden by hanging creepers.

The opening was not large, but they could easily crawl out. In fact it would have been safer had it been a smaller hole.

Pavlo could see the purple flowers of an osier bush waving in the open air before he quite reached the opening. He was just on the point of crawling out to make quite sure of his discovery before returning by the same way, when his eye caught sight of some sort of a white rag, fluttering above the osier bush. He drew back and, lying flat on the ground of the passage so as to see better, peered cautiously out.

What he saw made him nearly scream out aloud with terror, in fact it was really the horrible nightmare-ish sort of fear which came over him, that prevented a sound escaping from his lips.

The fluttering white rag was a fold of the red-bearded man's foustanella!

His back was turned towards the narrow opening, and he looked gigantic as he stood there in the light, a big stone poised in his hands ready to fling over the rocks down on the ledge before the entrance of the cave.

Pavlo lay in the dark passage, shaking all over and not daring to move hand or foot lest he should be heard. What should he do? Oh, what should he do? Suppose he were simply to wriggle back the way he had come and tell the others what he had seen; what was the good? They could never crawl all five out of this side tunnel while the shepherd was standing so close to it. Poor Iason's mishap had proved that it was not possible to get through the blocked entrance without being struck by the falling stones. What then? Must they stay in the cave till the man was wearied out? All night perhaps? But what more probable than that when the shepherd found that his stones were falling harmlessly, he should discover this opening so close to his feet, and creep slowly through it till he got to them? Pavlo shivered coldly all over.

Then a horrible thought came to him.

It might be possible for one alone to creep out very softly the first moment that the shepherd moved a little off. It would not be difficult to creep silently on all fours, till one was at a safe distance!

The next moment the thought turned him really sick. What! Leave them alone? Leave them with Iason wounded and useless? Leave them and let this horrible man creep on them unawares? On Chryseis who had been so good to him? On all the brave bright little comrades? Oh, no! No! No! No! The good old Zamana blood, weakened though it might be, turned in revolt at the cowardly thought.