FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   >>  
nham. "I've eaten your bread,"--he had dinner with us after he had got all right again, and we had settled down into that general routine in which our meals were attended to with the strictest punctuality--"and I shall never forget you have saved my life. By that bread I have eaten, I will repay you, I swear!" Then turning to Bob and I, who were sitting on each side of him, and Rollo, who stuck close to him, as if under the idea that having saved him he was now his property--"And much thanks to you, little Englishmen, and your dogs I vill nevare forget, no nevare!" He couldn't speak English as well as French. The evening had closed now, so Captain Buncombe told the crew to get the boat ready, and the Greek with many more fervent expressions of gratitude, was rowed ashore. The next morning we had landed and after pottering about the port proceeded up to Athens, which much disappointed all of us, especially dad and the captain. It had a garish and stucco-like appearance; while the people looked as if they were costumed for a fancy ball, being not apparently at home in their national dress, picturesque though it was. It was quite nightmarish for Bob and me to read the names on the shop fronts in the streets, and see the newspapers printed in the old Greek characters. Fancy "Modiste," and "Perruquier," as they will have the French terms spelt, in the letters sacred to Euripides and Xenophon. It seemed like walking in a dream! We had inspected Athens, as I've said, and visited the plain of Marathon, which was offered by the Greeks to Lord Byron for sixteen thousand piastres, or about eight hundred pounds--alas for glory!--and returned on board the yacht for dinner again, when we were told that a messenger had been off in our absence and left a parcel for us. What do you think it contained? Guess. Well, there was a splendid shawl, worth more than a hundred guineas, for Captain Buncombe, and a handsome jewelled pipe for dad; while Mr Joe Moynham had a case of Greek wines for his special self! Bob and I were not forgotten either. He had a fine gun, with the stock inlaid with ivory, and carved beautifully; and I, a yataghan, decorated with a jewelled hilt, that was even more valuable than dad's pipe. Rollo was presented with a grand gold collar, which Mr Joe Moynham said was like the one that Malachi, one of the Irish kings, wore in the days of Brian Boru; and, if you please, a lot of little purses, each con
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   >>  



Top keywords:

Moynham

 

French

 

Buncombe

 
Captain
 
Athens
 

hundred

 

jewelled

 
nevare
 

dinner

 

forget


pounds

 

purses

 

letters

 
Perruquier
 

messenger

 

sacred

 

returned

 
piastres
 

Marathon

 
offered

visited

 
walking
 

inspected

 

Greeks

 
Euripides
 

sixteen

 

thousand

 

Xenophon

 

parcel

 

special


forgotten

 

Modiste

 

presented

 

decorated

 
carved
 

yataghan

 
inlaid
 
valuable
 
collar
 

Malachi


contained

 

absence

 

beautifully

 
guineas
 

handsome

 

splendid

 

people

 
Englishmen
 

property

 
couldn