In Greek Waters

. "Our landing will be shortly known, and it will be guessed that we intend to take you off in our ship. The consequence is, in addition to the enemies now round

y at the top the men will fall back gradually. The sailors will cover the retreat. We shall hold the top of the hill till we know that the women have got nearly down to the sea-shore, and then fall back. We are risking our lives here to save you, and we shall expect all the men to fight valiantly and to obey our orders. It is only by working well together that we can hope

ait till night?" one of the

enemy nor to travel fast. We may lose rather more in the first rush in daylight, but af

d and forty-six men

many

men and girls, and a hundred an

l by the path, and then without stopping a minute go on at the top of their speed to the sea-shore. It is just possible that some Turkish ships-of-war may have driven our vessel away, but if that is so she will be back again this evening. If they f

hrunk from attacking the wall, relying upon famine to compel the defenders to surrender, and the addition, small as i

d to escape in that direction, or that we mean to sally out at all; therefore it is not likely that they will have more

hat number of men. Martyn divided them into t

ht and the other to the left, fifty yards from the line we take. Your work will be to check any of the Turks who may come running down from the ends of the valley, and to cover the passage of the women. As soon as they have all passed along you will both run in and join us in the wood. Now, lads, I want the wall undermined for a width

old off, one to each woman. Twenty of the Greeks were to form a special escort for the women, and Martyn's order to their leader was, "See that each woman takes along the child told off to

had their husbands' or fathers' pistols. Their bundles were poised on their heads, and each, with the exception of a few of the old women, had an infant in her arms or held a child by the hand. The twent

ould be empty just when you want them; besides, you would be as likely to shoot those in front of you as the enemy. All you have got to do is to follow me closely until you get into the olive grove, then scatter a

hich the lower stones had been removed as far as was safe. "Now put your s

ed mass, and then the whole dashed across the flat cultivated ground towards the olive grove. As Martyn had foretold, not a shot was fired until they were nearly half-way across, though loud shouts of alarm were heard, then a straggling fire was opened; but the enemy were evidently too flurried and a

the wood. Sheath your cutlasses and unsling your rifles. Come ba

and guns were being aimlessly discharged, but the sailors were back in the olive grove before the Turks had mustered strongly enough to think of advancing. The sailors lay down in the intervals between the trees, and as soon as the enemy began to advance a heavy fire was opened upon them, the twelve rifles telling with deadly effect. The Turks on the opposite side o

Greeks continued to blaze away when the enemy were already out of range of their guns. Horace hurried off one way and Zaimes

, and I suppose some of them were beginning to climb up to cut them off. Tarleton's fire will stagger them a bit." From the

aimes, do you tell your countrymen it is time for us to be off. We must get well up the hillside before these fellows make their rush. Mr. Beveridge,

his sailors forming the rear-guard. The Greeks sprang up the path with such speed that the sail

the path above the level of the tree-tops a loud shout had broken from the enemy, and it was certain they would soon be upon them. So rapidly, however, was the ascent made that Martyn and the sailors reached the s

hardly carry this height, and there is no fear of their show

p the hill and were fully three hundred feet above the olive grove. A roar of musketry broke out from below, and some of the Mussulmans dashed out from the trees, waving their guns an

breath comes quietly, and your hands get steady again. You would be only throwing away powder

along the hillside men could be seen straggl

their venturing on an attack up this path. Bring your father on with you. There is no occasion for haste; we wi

eltered the path from the bullets that still came singing out from below, and stepping out briskly

it and keep up a fire, if the Turks try to climb the hill hereabouts. The captain is with a party away there on that high ground back on the left, and Mr. Tarleton with the rest back t

and ten Greeks to take post a hundred yards to the left of the pa

do something to check those fellows from climbing up away to the left. It is no use the others firing, their guns won't car

im who had a rifle, opened fire upon the stream of men ascending the hillside near t

They are seven or eight hundred yards away, and the rif

s, and that he should think that at least two hundred men must have gone up on each flank, that flames had broken out in the village,

Tarleton will work down the hill on your flanks. You are to keep your eye on them, and regulate your pace by theirs, keeping about a hundred

broken out on either side, and he knew that the

, "and tell the other party ove

her side of the path. They were in scattered order, loading as they retired, crouching behind rocks to take a steady aim, and then retiring again; going at a run when the ground permitted it, hanging to the rocks and bushes when they a

us yet, and we shall take them by surprise. Take steady aim; don't hurry. Halt; drop on one knee. They will be crossing that o

rks fell, and the rest, with a shout of

ly for a bit, and

eton's party. They did not seem so severely pressed, and had the advantage that their foe

ck quickly to the path, then to double down the hill to that shoulder a m

enemy, made a rush to the path. The body under Tarleton gained it first, and at once started down at the t

ground, and there are such a lot of them that they will jostle each other on the

is only the climbing I can't stand. This is really v

ng on. They will get stronger every minute, and we shall have t

and Horace. In the excitement of the fight

s away to the northwest, with two T

ks rose loudly in the air, but they were fu

line the other side of that flat step when we re

As soon as the head of the line came down on to the flat step in the hill they spread out right and left, and in less than ten minutes from the issue of the order to retreat the hundred and eighty men were lying down along the lower edge of the level ground, which

as the Turks left the path and bounded in

ke aim if I don

r while you are loading. Then, if you push your rifle up before you, you would only have to rai

n. Horace's party were left lying thickly opposite the path, in case the Turks should attempt a rush. The rest were disposed two yards apart, the sailors being placed at regular intervals among the Greeks. Fortunatel

ed in case they make up their minds to try a rush, and I don't think they will do that. The more smoke they make the b

going on well, Martyn r

them for the time

a capital posi

ther and make a rush, or march away and work round our flanks; but being only peasants, there

ny men in your r

the shore. Tarleton lost two Greeks, killed, and had about as many wounded as I had. One poor fellow was so badly hit that he could not keep up with the others on the retreat. Two of our men tried to carry him; but it hurt h

flank us, I suppose we

ct of each man seems to be to fire away his ammunition as quickly as he can. I have just been giving orders to the Greeks and our fellows to shove their caps up in front of them on the ends of their ramrods, so as to encourage the T

ued; but towards the end of tha

k, Mr. Beveridge, it would be as well that you should go with them. I shall send Tarleton in command, and tell him to pick out a spot, from a hundred to three hundred yards from the shore, and place the men in position there. Five minutes later you shall pick out every second man, Horace, and go down and join them. We will keep up a mor

utburst of firing on the part of the Turks. In a short time Martyn told Horace to get his men together and be off, and in twenty minutes he joined Tarleton, who had taken up his post at a little more than

ywhere from the hill, but these bushes will hide us, and they will only be able to fire int

n joined by t

em blazing away when we were nearly half a mile on the road. That is a g

een of bushes was completed down to the shore on either side, the sweep being some

but from the distance they won't see how th

. The other twenty sailors Martyn retained under his own command to carry to the assistance of the defenders at any point against which a serious attack might be made. Mr. Beveridge had gone down at once to the women and children who were sitting under shelter of the bank by the sea-

rve us out. Perhaps it is just as well the schooner made off, for it would have been hot work all getting on

party with the rifles opened fire upon them, and they at once fell back some little distance. For h

f it," Martyn said. "They don't l

ding the men away for,

lemen all came off in a hurry. I don't expect any of them had breakfast, and in the excitement not one in twenty is likely to have caught up as much as a gourd of water, so I have no doubt those men you see going up the hill are on their way t

TAIN IS

mselves conspicuously, brandished their long guns over their heads, and shouted defiantly before firing. One of them, however, having been shot by a sailor armed with a rifle

away, B

ould say, sir, though I ain

d eight or ten feet above the surrounding ground, a position which w

nder that streak of white clou

it, B

's gaff top-sail, sir; it is

ight expect the schooner to come from. She was more to the north-west when we saw her last, but to get round the Turks she would have to bear either one way or

ou hit

uence; it is in the arm, but as I can move

from a distance of less than a hundred yards, the man having crept through

tain Martyn," Mr. Beveridge said as he came up. "Your l

give them credit for enterprise. Anyhow there is no great harm done. I think we have made out the s

eel sure

peak of a lateen sail of one of these native craft; but I think it is the schooner. If it is, we sha'n't be long

ner, how far is she

t two knots to the Turks' one, while in a strong breeze she would not go more than five to their four. It is five o'clock now, and tho

dock said: "May I take another

ellow has moved off again if he was not hit by any of our

of the western sun, which was now getting near the horiz

st make out a black line below the sail; that m

lors lying along the shelt

e down now; another half-hour will settle it an

nderneath the sharp peak of a gaff top-sail. The joy of the Greeks was extr

eton. "With what there are on board now, and all these, there

ce laughed, "I expect she

oving on board, and as to fighting the guns if we fall in with a Turk, it will be well-nigh impossible. Why, she will be

As there are as many children as there are men, that would make the average seven stone all round, but even if you said eight stone, which is a hundredweight, and they are certai

ecting a vessel, or anything about her rig. We must make a fire down on the shore as soon as it gets dark, and keep a sharp look-out for her, putting the fire out as soon as she is near enough for the light to begin to show on her sails. Then we will open fire all along the line as if we thought we heard them creeping up towards us, and that will