She pulled the crust off the bread and threw it away, together with the sack and the cheese. "The first thing I shall do when I get to Uncle Petro's," she resolved, "will be to ask him for some clothes. Then I will burn these—uh!"
Much refreshed with the bread and figs and a drink of the cool mountain water, Panayota again set out briskly on her journey, her heart full of hope. Indeed, she seemed to be under the Virgin's special care, for just as she had come to a place where there were two roads, and was in doubt as to which one she ought to take, a venerable priest came trotting around a corner, seated sidewise upon a very small, bluish-gray donkey.
"Yes, the road to the right led to Asprochori, about ten miles distant," he replied, removing his tall hat and wiping his brow with a red bandanna handkerchief. "O yes, he knew Kyrios Kurmulidhes very well indeed, a godly and a just man—be quiet there!"
The last remark was addressed to a pair of young goats, hung to the saddle in a sack and covered by the father's long black robe. He had already heard of the arrival of the English, and was in hopes, by the grace of God, to, sell them these two kids at twice their value. So he trotted away, bobbing up and down on his little donkey, not looking at all grotesque to Panayota, in his tall hat with eaves, his gray chignon and his long, wind-lifted robe.
And as Panayota fared onward, she had ever in her mind that she was coming into the country of the Cretan insurgents, and she muttered again and again:
"Perhaps I shall hear something of him. Perhaps he will be there!"
In this new, bright world everything seemed possible.
CHAPTER XL
A TROUBLED MIND
"Pity! Pity!" whined the lepers, exposing their hideousness with all the skill of subtle and experienced merchants. They were all there by the roadside leading into Canea, and had commenced business for the day. Curtis stared at them, unable to remove his eyes from the dreadful spectacle.