In the face of a complicated emergency of this kind, Maurice was at his best. Prompt action was urgently necessary, not only in order to circumvent possible objectors, but that the yacht might unload her cargo and depart before the news of her presence could be carried to any of the European warships in these waters. Dr Terminoff was sent on shore again to requisition every available mule for the transport of the party and their “luggage,” and summon as many members of his own band as could be readily assembled to act as escort. Wylie accompanied him, with the idea of gaining an insight into the conditions prevailing on shore; while the important cases were being got up from the hold and enclosed in their innocent-seeming wrappers, and Armitage and his stewards despoiled the cabins of mattresses, cushions, carpets, and whatever else could add to the comfort of the ladies. Captain Waters proved himself a tower of strength when it came to improvising means of getting the cases transferred from the deck along the ruined stone pier which showed that Skandalo had once known more prosperous days, and Wylie, as transport officer without subordinates, exhibited a knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of the Hagiamavran mule, and the best way of combating them, which was clearly the fruit of long and bitter experience in like circumstances. By the captain’s advice, the load was reduced by breaking open one case of rifles and one of cartridges, and distributing the contents among fifteen men of the yacht’s crew, who were to act as an additional escort under command of Armitage. By dint of herculean efforts, all the packs were adjusted by noon, Zoe and Eirene were mounted on improvised saddles on the quietest mules, Wylie appointed the bodyguard their stations, and the long line trickled through the narrow streets of the little town and up the hills behind.
A curious throng watched them from roofs and alleys, with much speculation, but with a notable and natural absence of enthusiasm. The inhabitants of the peninsula could hardly be expected to welcome the choice of their neighbourhood as the theatre of great events, however proud they might be in the distant future that it had been the scene of the freeing of Emathia. These newcomers looked as if they might be more profitable guests than the Therma refugees, but the fact that they were seeking quarters at once in the mountains, instead of demanding the best accommodation the town could produce, showed that there was something not quite right about them, and the haggard man with the blue eyes who regulated their march looked capable of making himself very unpleasant to honest people who only wished to lead a quiet life and decorate the caps of their daughters with as fine a show of piastres as possible.
The many-coloured crowd and the white houses once left behind, the track led up the hillside, covered with short grass, where the sweet-scented shrubs which should have clothed it had been rooted up for fuel. At the top of the ridge Zoe turned to take a last look at the yacht, the one remaining link with civilisation, but she was speedily taught that this was no moment for the indulgence of sentiment. In the hollow below the ridge a number of the Therma refugees were encamped, in holes grubbed out of the hillside or in wretched shelters made with blankets, and when the strangers came in sight there was a rush of ragged, half-starved creatures clamouring with piteous voices and outstretched hands. Mothers held up their wizened babies, old men exhibited roughly bandaged wounds, but even more terrible was the sight of those who had lost either the desire or the power to beg, and sat stolid in the apathy of helplessness. Eirene and Zoe emptied their purses and the lunch-basket, and entreated that the provisions which were being carried up to the monastery might be distributed here instead, but Wylie was adamant. The able-bodied men belonging to this party of refugees had been set to work improving the pier by Dr Terminoff, and would earn enough to keep their dependants for a day or two. After that he hoped it would be possible to make organised arrangements for relief, but it would be mere foolishness to sacrifice, on an impulse of pity, what might be of inestimable value to the Emathian cause in the future. Zoe relieved her feelings by abusing his hardness to Eirene as she rode on, but Eirene did not answer. Holding her boy closely to her, she was haunted, as with a foreboding of evil, by the thought that this misery was, in part at least, due to her ambition for him.
The uplands beyond the hollow were almost solitary, save for an occasional goatherd. Once Wylie left the rest to examine a deserted village, which had been inhabited hitherto, it seemed, by the vanished Moslems. Now the houses were roofless, the gardens destroyed, and the fruit-trees cut down, so that the hope he had entertained of settling some of the refugees there could not be fulfilled at present. He and Maurice were continually in converse on the many questions pressing for immediate solution, calling up now Armitage and now Dr Terminoff for consultation, and leaving to Prince Romanos the duty of attending on the ladies, which he performed with a very good grace.
“I am no student of social problems, I confess it,” he said airily. “I came here to fight, and fight I will as long as I can hold a sword, but place me face to face with that crowd of miserable objects back there, and what can I do but empty my purse and hurry away, covering ears and eyes?”
“But if you were responsible for them as their prince?” suggested Zoe.
He shrugged his shoulders. “My heart would perhaps grow harder, Princess. Certainly my purse would soon be exhausted. I fear I should take refuge in the philosophy of our Roumi friends, and find comfort in repeating that all was Kismet.”
“That would be very consoling to your poor people,” said Zoe.
He accepted the rebuke with surprising meekness. “Indeed, Princess, in my view the ideal government for Emathia would be a triumvirate composed of your brother, Colonel Wylie, and myself; but how could I say so publicly without seeming to undervalue my rights?”
“You to do the ornamental part, Maurice the practical, and Colonel Wylie the military and police?” said Zoe cruelly. “It would save Maurice a good deal of trouble—but then, you see, we don’t allow that you have any rights at all.”