Four in Crete-beggs

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THE FOUR

IN CRETE

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THE FOUR

IN

CRETE

BY

GERTRUDE

H.

BEGGS

WITH FRONTISPIECE AND DRAWINGS
BY

LOUISE FOUCAR MARSHALL

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on

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ffi

mi 1

THE ABINGDON PRESS
NEW YORK

CINCINNATI

Copyright, 1915, by

GERTRUDE

H.

BEGGS

DEDICATED
TO MY PARENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

A

Village in Crete
Sketch Map of Crete
Acropolis at Athens

Harbor

at Candia
Cretan Gentleman of Leisure
Morosini Fountain
Theatral Area at Knossos
Grand Stairway at Phaestos

A

The Throne
A Bath Tub

A
A

Cretan Country House
Little Shrine

Corner of Shrine
A Big Jar with Trickle Ornament
Storeroom at Knossos
Storeroom at Knossos
Assembly Hall in Villa
Sketch Plan of Knossos
Statue of Apollo
Temple of Apollo
Wall Containing Part of Law Code
Fragment of the Law Code
Ruins at Phsstos
Storeroom at Phsestos

The

Lethaeos

Chapel of Saint George
A Pack Mule in Candia
Street Scene in Candia
Street Scene in Candia
An Old Mosque
The Ruby-lipped Lady

Frontispiece

2
14
14
32
32
36
36

52
58
62
62
64
70
74
74
76
88
114
114
118
118
142
142
154
154
174
174
174
176
182

PART ONE

—

PART ONE
I

Had they not believed in the

Scholar's lucky

Four would never have sailed for the
shores of Crete.
They had been literally
"scared off" by the reports of friends who
had made the trip and had brought back hagstar, the

gard faces and weary muscles for recuperation
in

Athens.

way on

Two young men had

lost their

the journey across the island

and had

walked forty miles one day without food or
water.

On

their

homeward voyage a

terrific

storm had prolonged the short sea trip of

six-

more than twice that time and
them spent and miserable. "O,"

teen hours to

had

left

groaned one as he was telling the story, "I've
been seasick before, but just wait
it

in

one of those

little

till

you try

Greek steamers! And,"

he added as an afterthought, "if you want to

They have
and they always trot! Very

ride horseback in Crete
real horses there

11

don't!

THE FOUR

12

painful!"

And

IN CRETE

he groaned again.

Three

American men who had taken their wives with
them from Athens corroborated his pathetic

They had made

testimony.

the three days'

horseback trip from Candia to Hagia Triada

and return, and told of one

"terrific

day" with

"fourteen long hours in the saddle," "a bloodcurdling descent of four hours," and for night
quarters only one

room where

their aching bodies

on the

the six had laid

floor

and through

the weary hours maintained a losing fight with
the ever-vigilant
It

was

this

fluenced the

fleas.

cumulative evidence which

Four

in-

to relegate Crete to the

realm of the unknowable and to substitute for
gleanings in

new

fields a

calm aftermath of

their long season in Athens.

lations

But

their calcu-

had overlooked a dynamical factor

which more than once had reversed well-made
plans and had sometimes contributed the spice
of danger to their never tame adventures.

This was the curiosity of the Scholar

—the lure

which the unknown had always had for him,

THE FOUR
since as a small

IN CRETE

13

boy he had once faced an

tangible terror in his

first real

He

lectual discovery.

voyage of

in-

intel-

had been told that any-

one who went to sleep in the position of a
corpse

—that

is,

lying on the back with hands

folded on the breast
ing.

Long

were

true, yet

But

finally his

—would

die before

morn-

he pondered and wondered

was afraid

if it

to risk the trial.

overmastering curiosity

—the

—became so strong that one

passion to find out

night the

fellow composed his limbs in

little

the proper position
lay in his

pectant.

little

Then

and with palpitating heart

bed, half skeptical, half ex-

—he

awoke

shining in his face, and he

He

had disproved

vestigator

This

was

tite

knew

and the

it

sun

wasn't true!

lust of the in-

gratified!

first taste

had created

it

to find the

of the triumph of discovery

in the Scholar

an insatiable appe-

which no intellectual Keely Cure had been

able to destroy.

It

was

as if the

mystery of the

remote and unknown possessed for him a siren

enchantment ever luring him to some terra

THE FOUR

14

An

ignota.

IN CRETE

interesting trait, to be sure,

and

one which his three friends had encountered

on previous occasions, but

his

change of heart

on the Cretan matter was communicated so
suddenly that

disconcerted them.

rather

it

Without warning or consultation he merely
appeared one day and announced that he
would
could
if

sail

for Crete the next afternoon

make arrangements

and

for the whole party

would but meet him on the dock.

the others

There was a hesitant

silence, then,

"Well,

my

boy," said the Sage, "I'll go where you go."

"And you

can't drink Turkish coffee," said

the Coffee Angel.

"Who's

Woman.

afraid,

we

"If

anyway?"

so

it

Western

get into a tight place, the

Scholar can pull us out.

And

cried the

was

He

settled.

always does!"

Yet

it

was with

rather a "never-desert-Mr.-Micawber" feeling
that the three agreed to pack their knapsacks

and

start for the Pirseus

next day from the

Monastiraki Station.

Promptly

at

two

o'clock the next afternoon

A<

KOPOLIS AT ATHENS

HAItl'.Oli

AT

('AXI)IA

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

15

Sage arrived and found the Coffee Angel

the

and the Western

Woman guarding their queer

baggage.
"I guess," began the Western

Sage laughed.

the

she said, "I guess."

began again, "that

And
was

He

always laughed when

"Well, then, I think," she
it's

time for a train."

just then the rumble of the electric

from

heard

down

hastened

underground,

Sage began

and

they

among
Here, when the

the steps to find places

the third-class passengers.

his

Woman, and

to crane his

neck for glimpses of

beloved Acropolis, a kindly Greek at once

gave him the seat next to the window whence
he could gaze upon the dear old rock and

Lykabettus standing nearly twice as high
above the
her

sea.

The Coffee Angel looked from

window on

the gray-green

regretting that soon she

olive

would be far from

Attic groves; while to the Western
the azure sky
delicate

dream

trees,

and rose-hued

hills

Woman

seemed but

fantasies of the vivid hues

rugged shapes of her native Colorado.

and

!

THE FOUR

16

IN CRETE

In the midst of these musings the guard's
cry of "Piraeus" came as rather a shock, and

then the Scholar appeared at the door saying,
hurriedly, "Don't let this fellow behind

take your baggage."

me

And they recognized the

who had embarked
party when they started to Chalkis. Then

smiling face of the boatman
the

he had been abusive because they refused to be
cheated by him; now, in true Greek fashion,

he was letting bygones be bygones and with
obsequious

bows was

friendly services.
see his surprise

And

proffering
it

was

his

most

interesting to

and grief when the Scholar

handed the baggage to another man and the

Four headed toward the boat. The AngloSaxon habit of holding a grudge is to the true
Greek inexplicable
II

The

harbor, ever a busy place,

was unus-

ually animated that afternoon, with several

men-of-war and many merchant vessels lying
near the quays and numerous small craft ply-

THE FOUR
ing busily
exciting

IN CRETE

among them.

little

It

17

was rather an

race to the steamer, for

it

was

already sailing time, and a warning whistle
indicated that for once the

Four had counted

too confidently on the habitual tardiness of

Greek

vessels.

But

their little boat nosed its

way bravely through
and they had

still

the various osbtructions

a few minutes to lean over

and observe the

the rail of the steamer

lively

scene through which they had just passed.

"Et

quorum pars magna fui," cried the Scholar,
who was rather addicted to hackneyed quotations. Then the shores of Piraeus began slowly
to recede as the vessel

steamed out of the

harbor between the two ancient moles and held

As

they passed

lighthouse

silhouetted

in the direction of Salamis.

Psyttaleia

with

its

against the sky, the

Four knew what

to ex-

pect, for the sight of this low-lying island

failed to start the Scholar

the

famous

battle

maneuvers as
them.

on a discussion of

and a description of

his vivid

never

its

naval

imagination pictured

This time he had just arranged the

—
18

THE FOUR

Persian

fleet so as to inclose the

satisfaction,

soldiers

IN CRETE

Greeks to his
had landed the flower of Xerxes'

on Psyttaleia, there to meet a fate so

contrary to their expectations, and was launch-

ing into the iEschylean description of the terrible disaster

There

is

an

(Persians 447ff.)

isle

that

lies off

—

Salamis,

Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan,

Pan the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washed
There Xerxes sends those men

when, beyond the western end of the

coast.

island,

he suddenly spied the Salaminian promontory

Kynosoura pointing

of

waters to Athens.
his

finger-like across the

Then

Greek and Persian

the Scholar forgot

fleets

waiting in tense

expectancy for the dawning of the morrow
and, with a fine disregard for the anachronism,

began to describe the migration of the Athenians

when

the oracle

terpretation of

it

—or

Themistocles's in-

—led them to abandon

their

rocky citadel for divine Salamis.
"I can just see those old Athenians," he
said,

"bidding farewell to their beloved Athens,

"

THE FOUR

CRETE

IN

embracing the feeble and the aged,

must leave behind, and stopping
pus's dog,

when he saw

his

whom

they

to give a last

And

pat to their domestic pets.

19

Xanthip-

master embarking,

could not bear the separation but leaped into
the sea and

swam

beside the trireme to Salamis,

where he crawled out of the water only to lay

down and gasp out his last breath. His
burial mound is right on that tongue of land,
and if you don't believe the story the name is
proof positive, for Kynosoura means 'dog's
himself

tail'

to

day.

this

To

be

sure,"

he added

judicially, "it proves just as positively that

he

swam

across the

Gulf of Marathon; but I

think that was another dog!*'

"He w as
r

a great old romancer,

tarch," laughed the Sage,
to believe his stories.
true, they so easily

"At any

"and

Even

was Plu-

I, for one, like

if

they weren't

might have been true."

rate, he didn't

make

this

one up

out of whole cloth," replied the Scholar, "for

A ristotle told

it

long before his day.

studv of Plutarch's sources

—

A critical

THE FOUR IN CRETE

20

Western Woman, who cared
not a whit for Plutarch's sources, drew the
Coffee Angel away on a tour of inspection.

But here

the

She had noticed that they were now
south headed for the open sea, and

sailing

seemed

it

expedient to learn the location of their state-

room and

to

make

provision for a speedy dis-

robing, should that later prove desirable.

were back on deck

They

in time to see the Scholar

Cape Kolias on the Attic coast and
hear him tell how the wrecks of the

point out
to

Persian ships were dashed upon this shore,
carried

by the west wind from Salamis.

then they

all settled

down

to a calm

And

enjoyment

of the beautiful coast views of Attica.

The steamer was one
was

palatial

of the

Goudes

line

and

compared with the one which had

taken the Four to Chalkis and with the one,
alas! in

which they were destined to return

from Crete.

It

had a number of staterooms

and actually a dining room with eatables to be
had, so that the precaution of bringing lunch

from Athens proved quite a needless one. But

THE FOUB
it

was pleasant

to

IX

CRETE

21

have a picnic supper on

deck, ami to watch the changing sunsel tints

and

{o catch the

gleam of Sunium's snow-white

columns as the purple twilighl
the last

happy moment

Pell.

of the day, for as the

passed beyond the protection of Attica

boal

the swell of the open sea began to
felt

Thai was

make

itself

and the passengers, one after another,

left

the deck.

Ill

The
good

Coffee Angel slept the sleep of the

sailor

and the

Western

Woman

got

through the night without confessing herself

But next morning it took her an hour
dress, and when she finally appeared on

beaten.
to

deck the steamer was just mooring outside
the

little

boats

harbor of Candia, and a score of row-

manned by sturdy oarsmen were racing

toward the vessel to secure the patronage of
disembarking passengers.
lessly

the

leaning over the

town,

while

the

The Sage was
fail

looking

Scholar

list-

toward

indicated

the

THE FOUR

22

IN CRETE

points of interest which his keen eyes had
discovered.

"There she
cried,

"and look

up above

the

there's

is,

Candia

all right,"

he

at the little minarets sticking

town

That's due to the Turkish

!

element, you know, for the Turks got the island
in the seventeenth

hammedans

century and a lot of

still live

But

here.

the Venetians

and good

built the fortifications before that,

and strong they were and are

Mo-

to this day.

That's a part of the Venetian city wall there

along the water's edge and

And

the town.

we have
harbor.

to pass

And

But

good

all

around

little

fort that

by when we row

into the

what's that

yond the town?

Mount

that's a

goes

it

Can

it

hill

be

—

jutting
yes,

it

up

be-

must be

Juktas, the burial place of Zeus!"
the

Sage was not

a dismal face to the

listening

Neptune

Woman as she
He had rendered

Western

wished him good morning.
tribute to

and turned

several times during the

now suffering the pangs of
empty.
But he brightened as

night and was

the

utterly

the

THE FOUR

CRETE

IN

28

Coffee Angel offered him a cup of hot eoffee,

and

it

was quite a cheerful party which

The

scended into the rowhoat.

little

trip

de-

from

steamer to shore, however, with the hot sun

much

beating down, proved too

for the philos-

ophy of the Western Woman, who ignominiously reclined with her head over the rail and
She paid no attention

joined the Sage's lodge!

who was admiring

the Venetian

fortifications as the boat passed

through the

to the Scholar,

narrow opening, but within the harbor the
water was tranquil and she looked respectfully
at

the lion of

fortress wall

drew up

Mark

Saint

and

high up in the

steady as the boat

felt quite

to the landing.

The customs examination

consisted

careless glance at the outside of the

in

a

shabby

knapsacks, so the dozen oranges which the

Scholar had bought
covered

and the

English, did not

about

"carrying

Athens were not

in

officer,

know

not

dis-

understanding

that the Sage's remark

coals

to

Newcastle"

was

evoked by the great hampers of the golden

THE FOUR

24

IN CRETE
However,

balls awaiting loading for export.

the customs house in itself

with

its dirt

and

its

was ordeal enough,

slaughter-house odors, and

gave a rather depressing

first

impression of

Candia.

IV
It was but a short walk up the main

modern post

to the very

Knossos across from

Greek
the

on

hotels the

first

and the Hotel

Though

it.

at

most

chambermaids are men, here

Four found a motherly

woman, who

old

acquaintance tenderly embraced the

Angel and addressed the Western

Coffee

Woman

"my

as

child"

pered the Western
a

office

street

little

(rraidi nov).

"O," whis-

Woman, who had

Homer, "what a

read

perfectly lovely old

And see, she's hanging my
peg!" And she pointed to a

Eurykleia!

cloak

on a

shiny

American

clothes-tree

in

the

corner

fairly

bristling with inviting pegs.

There was
visit to

the

still

time before lunch for a short

museum, but

the ladies declared

IN CRETE

THE FOUR

25

they would rather stay with "Eurykleia," and

Western

the

Woman

essayed to send her for

For

hot water to be used for collVe.

woman

the old

Looked bewildered, then her face

cleared and she trotted off and the

Woman

moment

a

Western

turned to find the Scholar convulsed

with laughter.

"What's the matter?" she

manded, "wasn't
"Well,

my Greek
he

hardly,"

Qe/.onev $eoto veyb va nivu),

right?"

"You

gasped.

which

said

means,

really

polished water that I

'We want

de-

may

drink!'

The old lady is douhtless used to foreigners
who confuse the words for 'polished' and 'hot'
(ZeoTd),

hut I doubt

if

she's ever

heard a

woman

say the whole party wants water for her to
drink."

"Well, she's a polite old soul, anyway, for
she

didn't

laugh,"

Woman, "and
go

to the

snapped

the

Western

we'll drink the coffee while

yon

museum."

So the men

set off alone.

At

the end of an

hour they returned, the Scholar talking rather
excitedly about a "ruby-lipped lady" he had

26

THE FOUR

seen, while the

boyishness.

IN CRETE

Sage smiled indulgently

Nor

could any questioning

at his
elicit

information about the treasures in the museum.

Apparently, the Scholar had seen only the
"ruby-lipped lady."

PART TWO

PART TWO
V
By

unanimous consent the horseback

across the island
ing; but this

was to begin the next morn-

first

afternoon was too fine to be

Knossos was planned.

wasted, so a

visit

The Western

Woman

to

and then

discussion

of the party.

don't have

flatly

"I

refused to be one

live in

them and I

Xo

date things.

listened awhile to the

"I don't care a bit for ruins,"

she said, candidly.

we

like

Denver where

modern up-to-

grandmothers' samplers or

mediaeval castles for me,

much

less

venerable antique as Knossos must be.

you say the building
and

is

such a

Why,

three or four thousand

I can't imagine such a lapse of

years old!
time,

trip

it

me any good to look
anyway. You folks may

wouldn't do

at a lot of old stones,

go, but I shall stay here

and photograph some

of these queer street scenes."

"But,

my

dear

lady,"
29

expostulated

the

a

!

THE FOUR

30

IN CRETE

may be old
covery of them is new! Why, the
Scholar, "the ruins

really
it

know where

existed at

little

all,

but the

dis-

public didn't

this palace was,

or that

before nineteen hundred

more than ten years ago.

I

tell

—

you

it's

an up-to-date twentieth century theme and you

you don't know someEven the American news-

are behind the times

thing about

it!

if

papers have given these new discoveries space

I

you'd better go!"

tell you,,

Woman,
go.
What

"O, well," conceded the Western
"if it's really a

train do

we

subject,

I'll

take?"

The Scholar
street cars

new

laughed, for there are neither

nor railroads

in Crete,

though one

has a choice of several other methods of loco-

motion.
is

a

The two-wheeled

common

sight

fashionable, though
to the uninitiated.

cart called "sousta"

and horseback riding
it

is

presents some problems

The

saddle

is

like

that

—

commonly used by Greek peasants a sort of
"broad-backed saw-horse made of boards,
anchored fore and aft," over which a rug

may

THE FOUR
make

be thrown to

Greece the peasants

men

often the

it

IN CRETE
soft.

31

But whereas

in

—not only the women but

— ride

sideways with both feet

supported by the one rope, in Crete fashion
seems to dictate two metal stirrups, one on

European manner, and

either side, quite in

the

men apparently

saddle.

For

prefer

to

ride

cross-

the three-mile drive to Knossos

there are also very comfortable carriages to be

had, and the Four, mindful of the dreaded

"fourteen hours in the saddle" which the mor-

row had

in

store,

chose this means of con-

veyance.

The route took them along
to the principal square,

fountain, with
the
still

its

main

street

where the Morosini

sculptured lions supporting

upper basin and
testifies to

the

its

carvings in low

relief,

the Venetian glory that once

was here and serves as a pleasant rendezvous
for Cretan

gentlemen of

leisure.

In the

late

afternoon a few trees provide a grateful shade

and tables

set out

from an adjacent cafe

invite

the stroller to sip a cup of coffee while he dis-

THE FOUR

32

cusses the

IN CRETE

day's happenings with

a casual

acquaintance.

On

several later occasions the

this center of

Candian

civic life

Four found

presenting an

animated appearance, for Turkey had just
closed the Dardanelles

war news ensured a

full

attendance at this

On this day, however, the tables

al fresco club.

were almost empty, for
o'clock

and the eagerness for

it

was

as yet only

and the sun was beating quite

fiercely

on the white paving about the fountain.
old beau

two

One

was just arriving and seemed nothing

loth to leave

on the camera a permanent im-

pression of his picturesque costume.

It con-

sisted of high boots,

baggy

some dark-blue

with a tight-fitting jacket

stuff,

buttoned on one

same material.
of his head

side,

A

island trousers of

and a broad sash of the

Turkish fez

set

on the top

and a woolen coat jauntily thrown

over one shoulder completed the costume

whole being adjusted with an eye to
often wanting in Greece.

—the

effect too

Indeed, the Cretans

might be pardoned for some personal vanity,

A

CRETAN GENTLEMAN OF LEISURE

MOROSIN] FOUNTAIN

THE FOUR IN CRETE
for the

men

is

are tall and well proportioned

air of prosperity

have an

marked contrast

in

33

and

and well-being which

to the rather painful

evidences of poverty and malnutrition to be
noticed on the mainland.

VI
To

strike the

road to Knossos one leaves the

city

by the south

wall

is

so thick

Here

gate.

the Venetian

and the passage through

it

so

gloomy that the timid stranger, not used to
walled

cities,

chill of fear as

experiences a

passes the grim Turkish-looking guards;

he

and

when a sudden turn

he heaves a sigh of relief

to the left reveals the bright sunshine of the

outer world.

The road

stantly being worked,

if

is

good and

one

Turkish cemetery, with

its

its

course.

from the gate

the left side not far

con-

may judge from

the steam rollers to be seen along

On

is

is

a

queer turban-topped

tombstones, and in the foreground was one
little

white lamb, looking strangely out of

place in

its

Mohammedan

surroundings.

THE FOUR

34

"I wonder

if

that

American baby,"

IN CRETE

marks the grave of some

said the Sage; "it's quite a

favorite design in cemeteries at home.

Dear,

what an awful tragedy that must have
been!"
But hereupon the lamb bobbed its

dear,

head as

it

tugged

at

some obstreperous stem

and then went on contentedly nibbling, undisturbed by the sad fate of the suppositional
baby.

The Four greeted

it

with a shout of

laughter, their cheerfulness quite restored, for

even a cemetery easily loses

gloom

in this landscape of

brilliant flowers.

all

suggestion of

waving grains and

The Sage, who had devoted

one summer of enforced leisure to botanizing
in the

Minnesota woods, kept a loving eye

on the countless blossoms, exclaiming now and
then when he spied some special favorite and

once stopping the carriage to pick an orchid

which was of a species unknown to him.

The

Coffee Angel too was somewhat of a botanist

and shared

his ecstasy over the delicate flower,

though the Western

Woman

and the Scholar

had to confess utter ignorance on the posy

THE FOUR
question.

But they

IN CRETE

35

understood when, with

all

a very tender look on his fine face, the

Sage

carefully laid the blossom in the

book

which he carried
vest.

in the inside

little

pocket of his

They sometimes won-

The dear Sage!

dered which he loved best, his flowers, or his
wife, or his

Greek!

sacred about

There seemed something

and he lapsed

all three,

into a

revery which his companions did not wish to
disturb.

The

driver, however,

had no such scruples

and, suddenly turning his horses to the east,

drove a few yards away from the main road

and then stopped with the laconic remark,
"Knossos."

The Four descended, but

in

some

bewilderment, for the imposing ruins which
they had expected to see nowhere loomed up
against the horizon.
area,

Then, on a rather

some low gray walls were

straight ahead, at the

whoop

cry, hurdled the stone

and

end of a long narrow

stone walk, the Scholar spied
steps and, with a

seen,

flat

like

some massive
an Indian war

causeway, sprang im-

THE FOUR IN CRETE

36

petuously up the steps, and stood at the top

cap and shouting to the others to

waving

his

"come

on!"

But

dreamily about as
the

scenes;

if

Coffee

the

Sage was

looking

recognizing old familiar

Angel

was

diligently

consulting her Baedeker and trying to read
it

aloud to the Western

remarking that the

Woman,

Scholar

who,

lazily

had probably

read up the whole literature, was lending but
scant

attention

and was gazing

Mount

at

Juktas dominating the horizon toward the
south.

She was a corpulent person, not much

given to mental or physical exertion, and

ways content

al-

to accept the results of another's

intellectual browsing.

as she reached the

"I suppose," she began,
Scholar,

who was

fairly

dancing with impatience, "that these are the
front steps of this wonderful palace
this stone

"No!"

way was
cried

the front sidewalk."

the

what they are not!

and that

Scholar,

"that's

exactly

That's the front door of

the palace, right over there,

and you

steps have nothing to do with it,"

see these

THEATRAL AREA AT KXOSSOS

GRAND STAIRWAY AT

I'lf.KSTos

—
THE FOUK

IX

CRETE

"But," queried the Western

"No,"
have

led

set

Led

some time."

insisted the Scholar, "they

anywhere.

This

You

Theatral Area.

This

Woman, "where

They must have

do these steps lead?
sniiitw lure

37

is

never can

what they

see, there are

call the

two

flights.

had eighteen or twenty steps and that

other, with only five or six, /joins this at right

angles.

And

the people used to

here to

sit

Match the games as they were played on
paved space

this

at the foot of the steps."

"What games?
Western Woman.

Bullfights?" questioned the

"Well," explained the Scholar, "we don't

know

that the

bullfights, but

games with
for the

Minoans ever had

we do know

hulls

that they

— vaulting

Sage and

1

real

Spanish

had other

and grappling

saw the evidences

in the

museum."
"O," teased the Western

Woman,

"I sup-

posed you saw only the ruby-lipped lady this

morning—that's

all

you talked about."

The Scholar blushed and, with unnecessary

THE FOUR

38

dignity, replied:

IN CRETE

"In the museum I saw a

fresco which used to adorn a wall in this very
palace.

It's a picture of

and a boy

full force,

a bull, charging with

—a

toreador

—who

has

evidently turned a somersault over the bull's

back and

where a

just about to alight behind him,

is

girl is

standing holding out her hands.

There's another girl standing in front ready to
catch the bull's horns and vault as the boy has

And

done.

in the

museum

I saw a bull's

head done in hard plaster and painted
head

is

—the

dark-red and the horn a grayish blue.

It's great!

And

it

where we are now

was found not

—near

two dandy

little

from

the front entrance.

And," with waxing enthusiasm,
there are

far

"in the

museum

ivory figures, about

a foot high, of toreadors, suspended by wires
just as they probably were suspended over
ivory bulls to

Minoan

make

a mantle

group for some

living-room."

"But,"

objected

the

Western

Woman,

"spectators wouldn't have found these seats a
safe place

when a mad

bull

was plunging

THE FOUR
They

around.

are

IN CRETE

39

near the

of

too

scene

action."

"O, well," said the Scholar, "they had other

games

For

besides bullfights.

in the

museum

a funnel-shaped stone vase from Ilagia
Triada one of the towns we shall see, if that

there's

—

'blood-curdling descent' doesn't finish us be-

we get there. Well, this is a slender vase
and not more than a foot and a half high, but
it shows that these Minoans indulged not only
fore

in bull-grappling

prize ring.

but also in the sports of the

There are boxers on

this vase,

they seem to understand the business

So

this theater

mav have been

and

all right.

used for boxine

Or who knows but that they had
their grand balls here!
King Minos and his
ladies may have sat here in this corner where
matches.

the royal box

is

supposed to have been, and the

rest of the 'four

from these
on

this

hundred' probably looked on

seats while the

young

folks

danced

paved area as the Greeks do now on

the old threshing floors.
to see dancing, for I

They
saw

evidently liked

in the

museum

a

11

THE lorn

i.)

CRETE

i\

mural painting from the queen
(

I

r.\

hunt

to

have

pieturcN

in

r,

w

beauty*

-ill-

havirui

old K

I*-

i

came

uh

from

brill/' hi;'

imagine that one

hi*

irifl

:.ln|»

by

M inol.iiir.

the

'lb'

I'll,

ii';

-'

<;in

I

were

thai mtoni

mil

to be

01

uimh

I

devoured

nii;ipni<-

JU*t

1

'fair-haired

up

tllC

Athenian youth* and maiden*

w

court

friend*

tf\r\

wall

Thii

dimpled

eycdi

here and

of her

1

and one of

ffirlMi

like to

party

%\

leave,)

,M hit, jiimI in,

in:'

."in'

Thew

dancing,

building

<i.iiI

;i

i

palace

u

Ariadne' and

w;iy,

.'.Im'.',

room

witting

w»-

Momc dancing

II,

that'll

day win

up before

ii

,<<>

\'\<

ill*

room somewhere

;i

in tin,

bow

when he *aw Ariadne dancing

her.

.In.

;i

I

you

.

vvb'

I'll

you

ii

'.iivv

lipped lady/' laughed the Wc*tcro
"

i

up

.in

z\

I

I

,w

and

w<

i

1

ill/';

;"

hacl

I

I

i

"in

I

Womani
hoi

liiil

'

)hu

ll

introduce yon to the ruhy lipped lad

i

'l

<

'

1'

vvli'c

K

I'

the ruby

,

v,

i

In

Scholar*

:ni in;'

i

'i

«lr.l iiif'nr.b'

M mo

/:,

tillM

i

<

'I

I"

-

I'.ni
'

r

'

u,

f'i|i -,!•,

I

there * the fftiard
,ii

the front dooi

ir.«i|

to

Cfltci

ifl

FOUR

rill.

mh]

Four were

time the

this

n

tl

\

i\\

CRE rE

IN

united

rtijain

Scholar t>cgan to question the guard.

tlu-

lie s;i\s," interpreted the Scholar, "that hc*a

standing on the foundation of the guardhouse
iuhI

for

place,

tlu-

l\

have been

s

It
is

ui\

chance

t'ust

uhuuvs
1

L

the k

tlu-

enemies

K>

would

it

land on his

What's be saying nov

tv>

understand him,

at the
liVvc

:lu-r. the-

pillai

•>

w

re

v

tlu-

that

and

fleet

Cretan

I

and be

dialect

O.

:".'..

I

this

coming

Vnd

north colonnade,

1'ili

the

understand,

to

understand,

talking about eleven pillars an

.

.

mc

for

bait)

of

>n

ihh!

and

palace burned,

into

tl

.

h<

stone

;Vnd

passage and
I

^:\\\

guard could have quelled

n small

local disturbance,

.-ui\

tug

:»

for

difficult

and

ms\

that's

Minos had

.

island,

entrance

asked him why, and he

1

know, but

doesn't

fortified

had and that there never was

the palace
iibout

w:is the onl)

tins

that

»>

^

h

THE FOUR

42
first

we'd better climb over those stones and

look at the bathroom.
ful,

IN CRETE

which makes

He says it's very beauti-

me

Don't you

suspicious.

remember the driver used those very words

to

describe the ramshackle old vehicle which took

us to Sunium?

Queer

idea, to

Maybe

the front door, wasn't

it?

bathroom after

And

all!"

have a bath at
it

wasn't a

thus the Scholar

rambled on, now questioning the guard and
interpreting to the others,

comments of

Meantime

his

the

now

interspersing

own.

Four had turned and had

scrambled over the ruined walls to a spot per-

haps forty paces west from the entrance and

had found the

so-called bath.

It proved to

be a small room below the general
tered by a fine stone stairway which

level, enfirst fol-

lowed the north wall and then, turning at right
angles, continued along the western side of the

room.

The

inner edge of the stairway was

bordered by a low parapet of

gypsum

slabs

terminating at the bottom in a queerly shaped
block

—a square slab with a disklike projection

IN CRETE

THE FOUR
on top.

This the Scholar

43

examining

fell to

very carefully, running his fingers over

what the Western

Woman

pillar-base

still

wooden

the

Then

had long

was a

it

though

in its original position,

pillar

in

Montes-

called his

method; and he explained that

sori

it

perished.

since

the guard pointed with evident pride to

the finely squared limestone blocks of the wall

where the workmanship had been exposed by
the disintegration of the
these

stones

too

gypsum

Scholar

the

facing,

and

affectionately

caressed.

"Well," said the Western Woman somewhat impatiently, "7 can't see any reason for
so

much

merely an aristocratic
that,

use

but I suppose

my

into the

camera."

me

This looks to

enthusiasm.

cellar,

I'll

and too small

be sorry later

And

like

she pointed

if

at

I don't

it

down

sunken room and got a picture of the

gypsum-paved

floor,

the fine side-wall, part

of the steps and the parapet with the pillar-

base at the bottom, and the knees and the

guidebook of the Coffee Angel, who had seated

44

THE FOUR

herself

on the parapet with her Baedeker

IN CRETE

spread open on her lap.
"I can't see," she continued as she

wound

"how they could have used a bath
which had no outlet for the water."
The
Scholar looked a little bored the Western
off the film,

—

Woman, though

a well-meaning person, some-

mind me of
visited her

At

the

said:

Southern friends before the war.

breakfast the

served,

—then he

"You reNew England woman who

times did annoy him

two

little

first

morning

waffles

were

black children running back

and forth between dining room and outside
kitchen bringing fresh relays of the smoking
delicacy.
it

'I

should think,' she observed, 'that

would save labor

the house.

some

you had your kitchen

in

How many steps this running back

and forth must
in

if

cause!'

surprise, 'what

'Why,' said her host

would the

little

picka-

ninnies do then?

We must have something to

keep them busy.'

You forget that King Minos

didn't live in Denver,

trained

maid

where you pay an un-

thirty dollars per month.

He

IN CRETE

THE FOUR
had a legion of

slaves at

and one of

their duties

water into

this

work

may

45

in this palace,

have been to

bath and to remove

'tote'

after

it

it

had been used."

As

they talked they had been slowly retrac-

ing their steps in the direction of the northern
entrance, but

now stopped

to receive

some

in-

formation which the guard evidently considered

The Scholar was puzzled and

important.

shook

make

his
it

head as he turned away.

out.

He

calls this place

bath a porch and says

on

it

had

"I can't

next to the

little

pictures

it."

"Little pictures," repeated the

Sage

as they

walked on "why, he must mean the miniature
;

when they
Don't you remember how

frescoes which created such a stir

were discovered.

astonished people were to find such pictures in
this

ancient

court ladies
trations for

They were evidently
and would have made good illusa modern fashion plate all frills
palace?

and furbelows and
ing gowns, such as

—

ruffles

and tucks; no flow-

we should

expect, but elab-

THE FOUR IN CRETE

46

orate decollete dresses; no simple braids or
coils of hair,

the

modern

more

but the fancy puffs and curls of

So that they look

hairdresser.

modern Parisians than ancient
we have imagined them to be. And

like

women

as

there were pictures of

men

also,

and altogether

get quite a good idea of the appearance

we

of these

Minoan

belles

and

their attendant

squires."

By

this

time they had reached the long,

stepped passage which led into the Central

On

Court of the palace.

were

either side

mains of massive walls of limestone

gypsum

here, as this

had been the

re-

—not

fortified

entrance.

"I read somewhere," said the Scholar, "that
the

North Bath, which we have just

seen,

was

buried during the later years of the palace but
that this entrance

was always

are treading on stones which
pressed.

But what

in the

in use.

many

world

is

So we

feet have

the Coffee

Angel doing?"
She had been walking a

little

ahead of the

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

47

and was now peering down into a deep,
walled pit with a flight of wooden steps exothers

tending to the bottom.

"I was thinking," she

"how much I should like to have some
of those lovely ferns, and I was wondering
what kind of a place this is whether it is a
shaft left by the excavators to be filled up later
or whether it belonged to the real Minoan
said,

—

palace."
"I'll

ask the guard," said the Scholar, and,

few minutes' conversation, reported:
calls this a prison of Minos and says

after a

"He

there are five or six of them.

where Minos kept

This must be

his prisoners of war.

Let's

go down and pretend we're captives and
slaves being fattened to feed the Minotaur!
all

Or maybe we might

save our lives by becoming

toreadors and amusing the populace!"
think," interrupted the Sage,

"I

who had been

testing the rickety steps, "that these are pretty

flimsy steps

and that some of us had better

stay on top to pull
in case they give

up

way.

the

unhappy

The

captives

walls look very

THE FOUR

48

smooth and

it's

IN CRETE

twenty or thirty feet to the

bottom."
"That's so," agreed the Scholar. "Well, I'm
the lightest, so here goes!"

And

before any-

one could stop him he had run lightly down

and was standing
at the

in the dense

growth of ferns

bottom, reaching up his hands and

pleading piteously, "Mercy on the poor captive, if it

be but a bite of bread!"

Then he

began to pull up bunches of the coarse brake

and reached a feathery cluster of maidenhair
fern that grew from the side wall and was
back again with an armful of the coveted green
beauties which he presented with a flourish
to the Coffee Angel.

A few steps more and they were in the Central

Court of the palace, a noble paved area of

twenty thousand square

feet, its

long diameter

extending from north to south.

If

Minos

cared to impress strangers with his wealth and

power,

this great space,

surrounded by

piles of

open to the sky and
masonry, must have

contributed to the desired effect.

A

foreign

THE FOUR
guest,

IN CRETE

coming from some

King Minos's

palace,

less

49

splendid

life to

must have been awed on

suddenly emerging from the north corridor

He

into this vast piazza.
courtiers strolling about

must have seen

and pages hurrying

on errands and servants passing to and

And

then,

if

fro.

he was granted an audience with

King Minos, he must have been invited to pass
down a flight of four broad steps into the
shady portico before the royal audience chamber,

there to wait

till

Minos was ready

to

receive him.

VIII
This royal suite is now protected by a
modern roof, and the dim light within is a
pleasant relief to eyes wearied by the incessant
glare of the southern sun.
tico

Through

the por-

passed the Four and into the room beyond,

a small apartment, where they saw an object

which compelled a moment of awed reverence

—the gypsum throne of King Minos, standing
where

it

had stood for over three thousand

50

THE FOUR

years!

They were

IN CRETE

silent as

they gazed, the

Sage and the Scholar doubtless reviewing the
historical associations, the Coffee

joying the beautiful

Woman

lines,

Angel en-

and the Western

trying to realize that the shadowy

Minos of her high-school Vergil was an actual
person and had sat in that chair. The Scholar,

whom

nothing could long subdue, was the

to recover.
shall
I'll

"Come," he

be King Minos and

sit

Sage

on the throne, and

be Theseus just come from Athens to slay

the Minotaur!
this

cried gayly, "the

first

And

the ladies

may

rest

on

stone bench, running around the wall,

where councilors used to

sit,

and the guard out

there peeping through the door

may

represent

the curious court ladies and gentlemen eager
to hear
this

my

The

fate!

excavators think that

tank opposite the throne was the bath

where guests could wash

off the dust of travel

and they have put up these wooden columns,
which divide

how

it

it

from the throne room,

must have looked

say that this bath

is

a

to

in olden times.

little

different

show

They

from that

THE FOUR
we

other one

IN CRETE

51

saw, for this was a real impluvium

and the rain water could drop
just run down the steps and see
water there now.

No,

all

into
if

there's

to let out the water that I can see.

had to dip

it

any

dry," he rattled on as

he came bounding up the steps, "and no

the slaves

I'll

it.

out."

way

I suppose

Then, striking

an attitude in front of the Sage, who had
yielded to his whim and was seated on the
royal throne,

worst!

am

I

"Now, King Minos, do your
Theseus and I

shall slay

your

Minotaur and make love to your daughter.

But

you'll

way,

for,

have to treat

remember, I

^geus!"
But just then

me pretty well anyam the son of King

the Sage sprang from the

chair in undignified haste.

time to see the Western

He had turned
Woman trying

in

to

photograph him as he occupied the royal

"No, no," he said hurriedly, "that

throne!

would be desecration
and romance about

makes

it

!

There's a halo of

this ancient

a sacred thing!"

And

myth

throne which
the

Western

THE FOUR

52

Woman
the

it

had to be content with a picture of

empty

It

is

IN CRETE

chair.

a beautiful thing in

itself,

however, as

stands against the north wall, with

its

graceful palmette back and the Gothic
lines of the

The

lower part.

when

pictures

room

in

tranquil

of

window

wall fresco at

the left has been restored to give
the appearance of the

simple,

some idea of

Minoan times
rivers

flowing

through grasses and reeds suggested refreshing vistas to dwellers in this dusty land.
aggressive

design

An

decorated the west wall,

where winged dragons faced each other on
either side of a door leading into a

Here many a weary
an afternoon

siesta,

visitor

but

it

dark room.

probably enjoyed

does not answer to

modern prophylactic ideas about sunshine and
ventilation, and the Four voted it a gloomy

They turned back to the audience chamber for a silent moment of farewell
and made a lowly obeisance to the throne of

resting place.

Minos.

Then, walking a

little

further south in

the Central Court, they turned

down some

THE THRONE

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

53

and presently found

steps leading to the right

themselves in the so-called pillar rooms.

IX
These,, like most of the palace ruins, are

open to the sky, but

it is

easy to trace the walls

In the center of

of two connecting rooms.

each

still

stands a pillar of four huge

blocks, each block

cised

on

showing a peculiar

gypsum
mark in-

its side.

"What do

mean?" asked the

those scratches

Coffee Angel.

The Scholar laughed.
he replied, "for
but

it's

it

sounds

"I'm afraid to say,"
like

a tempting theory.

looks like a double ax-head.
for that

is

I

The mark, you

Well, the Carian

Now, the double ax seems
sacred emblem of Zeus. In the

saw bronze double axes from the

cave of Dicte, the birthplace of Zeus.
there's a title of

theory

see,

labrys.

to have been a

museum

such a fairy tale;

Zeus which plays a

—Labraunda.

Evans puts

Also

role in this

these items

THE FOUR

54

IN CRETE

together and decides that this palace

house of the labrys, that
Zeus.

concludes

'labyrinth' for his

that

'labyrinth'

and that

this palace

the

of the ax sacred to

And he connects this with the

Minos had a
labrys,

is,

is

is

story that

Minotaur and
derived

nothing

is

from
than

less

the world-famed abode of the savage beast;

and that because the palace
cate, therefore the

to

word

mean any mazelike

that's pretty

why

hard for

and

intri-

'labyrinth' has

come

is

so big

structure.

me

I confess

to swallow,

and

yet,

strain at a gnat, especially such a pleasing

For

one?

the prosaic

explanation

marks

to

—that

mind

there's another

these are merely masons'

remind the workmen where the blocks

were to be placed when the

pillars

were being

This deprives the Minotaur of his

built.

palace home, but there's another place I'd
rather have kept

we may be

—a quarry which

able to visit on our horseback trip.

Lots of people

now

him anyway

the guard

call that the labyrinth.
is

saying that

But

we must hurry

on, that we've been here over an hour

and

IN CRETE

THE FOUR

55

haven't seen a third of the place yet, and he

wants to show us the great stairway."

X
This is on the opposite side of the Central
Court and the Four crossed the great area and
began to descend into the gloom.
flight of

trade

It

is

a noble

broad stone steps with a low balus-

surmounted by

short,

thick

columns

which "taper larger toward the top," said the

Western

Scholar.

But

that they

must be described

the

ward the bottom,

Woman

insisted

as tapering to-

since they are smaller at

the base.

"At any
Scholar, a

rate, here
little

they stand," replied the

nettled, "these queer

Minoan

columns, just as the originals stood before the
fierce

conflagration,

which

destroyed

the

had consumed them. You see, we've
come down several flights and this corridor is
palace,

a

little lighter,

for

it is

right next to the light-

shaft which illuminated these lower rooms."

"I can't see

why

they dug so far

down

to

IN CRETE

THE FOUR

56

build these rooms," said the

"They

had to build

way

this

because the

so suddenly

on the east

of the palace

was two

the east they

they

Western Woman.
"They

didn't," answered the Scholar.

had

made perhaps

The west

side.

on the

five stories,

half

and here on

stories high,

to build

slopes

hill

hillside, so

with the fourth

story on a level with the Central Court, where

we

started down.

family,

These rooms were for the

and they must have been much quieter

than the ones around the Central Court."

"But weren't they gloomy, 'way down here?"
went on the Western

Woman.

"O, no," said the Scholar; "y° u
light-well has
so that

it

no wall around

illuminates the stairway

and one other room.

And

light-well with only pillars

big

room

only

it,

east of

it.

And

this

see,

pillars,

and corridor

then comes another

between
that

and that

it

room

is

open

on the south and east to a pillared portico
which got

the

direct

sunlight."

And

he

stooped to feel of one of the stone bases which

had supported a column of the

portico.

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

57

"The men probably sat here," commented
the Sage, "when the heat of the Central Court
drove them to seek cooler quarters. It must
have been delightful to rest here summer
afternoons and enjoy the view over this

little

valley."

"Yes, these rooms belonged to the men,"

"and the guard says that

said the Scholar,

to see the queen's apartments

we want

must go through
It led the

this

Four

if

we

crooked passage."

first

south a few steps, then

abruptly west, then south again, meriting

its

nickname of the "dog's leg corridor," and
ushered them into a space which had evidently
been a long room divided by a transverse row
of pillars.

"This

is

where they found the

dark-haired, dimpled beauty

—not

the 'ruby-

lipped lady,' but the dancing girl I told you
about,"

said the

Scholar.

"She and some

other dancing maidens were in a fresco on the

north wall of this room, and the effect must

have been quite worthy of the royal ladies who
used to gather here.

Theirs was no

life

of

THE FOUR

58

IN CRETE

sadness and privation, judging from these
quarters, full of beauty
light-well

on the

east,

and

you

There's a

color.

see,

and another on

was a bright stucco

the south, and there

And

face to reflect the light into the room.
this stucco

was no

unadorned

glaring,

sur-

wall,

but the excavators found fragments of different mural paintings and reliefs.

I like best

dancers, with their deli-

the one of these

little

cate draperies of

gay colors floating about them

movements of the dance.

as they turn in the

But

here, too, as well as in the

room

of the

throne, were scenes suggestive of a quiet en-

One

joyment of nature.

is

a beautiful

marine which I saw in the museum
sea with fishes

spray about.

swimming and

And

there's a

—

gay plumaged bird
feathers.

Minoan
frescoed

O,
ladies,

they

red,

lived

bit of

scattering the

fragment of a

yellow,
in

—a

little

and blue

luxury,

these

with their fine costumes and

rooms

and

toilet

conveniences.

There's another bathroom here, and a frag-

ment of the portable tub has been found.

And

THE FOUR IN CRETE
did you notice that terra-cotta tub
before

we came

a close copy of

and you expect me
noans used

ago

!

it

we passed

in here?"

Woman,

"Yes," said the Western
"it's

59

my

dryly,

porcelain tub at home,

to believe that these

Mi-

more than three thousand years

You'll be telling

was lighted with

me next

that this palace

And she

electricity!"

stalked

indignantly away.

And,

indeed, her credulity

had been severely

tested, for in various parts of the palace the

Four had run upon evidences
sanitary

knowledge which

short of marvelous.

of hydraulic

and

seemed nothing

In one place was a great

stone channel, lined with cement, which received the rain water conveyed

from the roof

in smaller channels, thus providing for a flush-

ing of the drains.

In another part they had

found some of the terra-cotta pipes which connected various sections of the drainage system

with the conduit.

In

fact, this elaborate sys-

tem, combined with the slope of the

hill,

must

have made the Minoan palace more sanitary

THE FOUR

60

many

than

All

of the

this the

IN CRETE

modern towns

Western

Woman

in Greece.

had seen with

wonder and had patiently tried to grasp, but
the strain was making itself felt and she longed
to

escape from this atmosphere

antiquity.

So

it

was with

of remote

relief

that

she

emerged from the royal rooms and stood alone
under the blue sky.
walls

At

and fragments of

her feet lay broken
stone, but her gaze

swept past these to the Turkish country house
nestling

by the

little

stream in the valley and

then followed the white road winding south-

ward around the

hill.

XI
It was a
enjoyed

it

fair prospect

and she could have

longer had not her curiosity been

roused by a modern structure which she soon
noticed near her on the right.

It

was a crude

stone hut of cheap construction, with a small

window in the south end. She walked over and
peered through the panes of glass.

saw a tiny room, not over

Within she

five feet

square,

THE FOUR IN CRETE

61

brightened at the far end by the sunlight which

streamed through a tiny window in the west
wall.

The

grotesque

shaft of light struck full

little

object and printed

shadow on the rough

To

the

its

weird

wall.

Woman

Western

upon a

suggested the

it

Indian idols of Denver curio

stores,

but she

had never seen one so curiously fashioned.

The
high,

figure

was of

clay, six or eight inches

and the upper half seemed

representation of the

arms curled round
at the waist the

to be a rude

human body with

the

in front of the breast; but

human

figure

was merged into

a cylinder which reminded one of an exag-

gerated hoop

skirt.

ejaculated the

Western Woman, with her

"Well, of

all

things!"
face

glued against the window pane.

Then, as her

eyes became accustomed to the

gloom of the

unlighted corners, she studied the arrange-

ment of the

little

room.

From

wall to wall

across the far end extended a sort of
table, or platform,

masonry

perhaps two feet high, on

one end of which stood the

little

figure which

THE FOUR IN CRETE

62

had just caught her eye. Now she saw that it
was not alone, but was one of a group. In the
center of the platform stood two similar
but one had the arms raised and car-

figures,

ried

on

head a minute dove, while the

its

other had the arms again curled over the

These

breasts.

two

central

figures

were

flanked on either side by a stucco model of
the "horns of consecration," and at one ex-

tremity of the platform came the figure in the
sunlight balanced

by another tiny

idol at the

In front of this platform on a lower

other end.

level stood a sort of three-legged plaster stool,

"A

milking-

perhaps," said the Western

Woman,

with a slightly hollowed top.
stool,

aloud,

and then was

at her ear say,

offerings

!"

It

"Not

startled to hear a voice

at

all.

It's the

tripod for

was the Scholar who had

tip-

toed up behind her and had been peering over
her shoulder into the

little

room while

others patiently waited their turn.

the

little

shrine which

serve intact

Evans was

the

"This

is

able to pre-

—a chapel for family worship.

The

A CRETAN COUNTRY HOUSE

A LITTLE SHRINE

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

63

three-legged table was for the offerings and
the clay figures represent a goddess
votaresses.

Probably the goddess

is

and her
the one

with the dove on her head indicating the descent
of the divine Spirit, just as

descended on

it

They

Christ after his baptism in the Jordan.

say that the Minoans worshiped this dove goddess as a divinity of the

and that some-

air,

times she was represented by sacred pillars

surmounted by doves.

At any

rate, that's

one

explanation of a group of three tiny pillars I

saw

in the

museum

with

And

above the capitals.

museum
this

call

is

identified

little

a

by some

Cretan goddess, but in

doves perched
statue

the

in

authorities with
this

phase they

her an earth goddess because she has snakes

for her emblem.
statue
circus.

To

tell

the truth, the

little

makes me think of a snake-charmer
She has one snake

in her

in a

hand and two

are curled about her hips and one about the

high tiara on her head.

And

then her costume

seems too frivolous to be in keeping with a
religious conception

—a low-necked gown with

64

THE FOUR

a fancy draped

skirt,

IN CRETE

and a pinched-in waist

very suggestive of a figure in a show window.

Another figure found with

her, apparently a

votaress, brandishes a snake in one

wears a gay costume with a

hand and

skirt flounced

CORNER OF SHRINE
from the waist down.

As

I say, to

me

they do

not convey an impression of religion, yet with

them was found a beautiful marble cross with
arms of equal length which Evans thinks was
the central object in the worship.
so

—who knows?"

It

may

be

THE FOUR
"The longer I look

IN CRETE

65

images and

at these tiny

this little

room," said the Sage, "the more con-

vinced I

am

that the bathrooms

are not bathrooms at

They

all,

we looked

but shrines

like this.

are all small rooms, just large

for such an altar as this

or three worshipers.
the only one

who

at

enough

and a tripod and two

Or maybe

the king

was

entered here, as high priest,

or the king attended by a priest.

To me

it is

unthinkable that, in a palace where neither
labor nor expense
see evidences of

was spared and where we

profound engineering knowl-

edge, such a simple thing as a drain pipe for
the bathrooms should have been overlooked.

Then,

too, in a palace

representing

habitants
society,

it

with hundreds of inso

many

strata

of

must have been absolutely necessary

to have several shrines for worship, especially
as there

is

no evidence that the Minoans had

any large temples.

Their worship seems to

have been quite a private matter and conducted
for small groups.

This shrine

may

have been

for the royal family, where they could per-

THE FOUR

66

form

their

devotions

Room was

undisturbed

And

presence of aliens.

Throne

IN CRETE
by

the

the 'bath' of the

probably a chapel used in

connection with embassies or affairs of state

which required the sanction of the gods, such as
the ratification of a treaty.

may

Bath'

the 'North

have been an oratory for the use

of any chance comer
at the

And

who had been

a spectator

games or had had some errand

at the

palace."

"But why should some of

these shrines be

below the regular level?" asked the Scholar.
"Well, of course I don't know," admitted
the Sage, "unless

it

was that the few spectators

might have a good view of the ceremonies from
above.

It doesn't

has been in

seem so strange after one

Rome and

has looked

the Confessional at Saint Peter's.
are

we

to see next?

down into
But what

Didn't some one suggest

the Olive Press?"

"We

might as well go back through the

family quarters and get another glimpse

-of

that big stairway, for, according to Baedeker,

THE FOUR
the Olive Press

apartments on

is

IN CRETE

67

just north of the men's

this slope of the hill," said the

Scholar, for once deigning to consult the guide-

"And we must hunt up

book.
too,

though

it isn't

the schoolroom

And we

mentioned here.

have the Villa to explore yet."

XII

The

Olive Press they would have passed

unnoticed had not the guard pointed

them, "with actually the olive stones

it

out to

left in the

crack!" exclaimed the Scholar, picking

up a

"Of course I

few of the pebblelike objects.

don't care to affirm under oath that this really
is

an

olive press

stones, but

why

and these the
not?

original olive

Actual barley grains

have been recovered from some Cretan jars
long buried.

whelmed
that there

this

And the

catastrophe which over-

civilization

came

so

was no putting the house

Olives were left in the press,

oil

suddenly
in order.

and wine

in

the storerooms, gold in the coffers, tools in the

THE FOUR IN CRETE

68

In one room a sculptor had

workrooms.

ished a magnificent stone vase,

designs,

with

decorated

high,

feet

and

it

was

still

fin-

more than two

exquisite

spiral

awaiting removal from

when Evans dug it up about ten
And beside it was another which

the workshop

years ago.

And

was never completed.

the king

had to

leave behind his wonderful enameled chess-

board, though

its

must have made

Maybe he

gold and silver and crystal
it

worth a pretty

did have time to hide

price.

for

it,

it

evaded the greed of the conquerors, and the

museum

has

it

now."

"Whether these olive stones are ancient or
modern," commented the Sage, "they make
the oil industry of the palace seem very real.

And

if

in these olden times olive oil

was

so

is

now throughout

these countries, the servants

must have had a

popular a foodstuff as

it

steady job pressing out enough
the

army

oil

of artisans and retainers

in the palace.

to supply

who

lived

Every arrangement seems

have been made for work on a large

to

scale.

THE FOUR
Here

oil

to the storehouse,

ends in a stone spout.

the

oil

69

a part of the stone channel which con-

is

ducted the
it

IN CRETE
and you

see

I suppose they caught

here in small vessels and emptied

it

into the big jars for storing."

Two

of these great jars are

in situ just north of the

Room

still

of the Spout,

and queer-looking objects they are
lots of little

standing

with

too,

knobs and handles and a decora-

tion of simulated ropes or cords

showing how

such terra-cotta hogsheads could be

lifted.

As

a finishing touch the curious "trickle orna-

ment" had been added, made by daubing a
generous quantity of dark paint around the

brim of the jar and allowing
the sides.

"I

Woman,

"for

wanted

it

to dribble

like that," declared the
it's

so realistic.

Western

I suppose they

to suggest that these jars

filled so full that

down

were often

they slopped over, or

maybe

that the servants were careless in filling them.

What

lot

they must have held, anyway!

About seven

feet high," she added, standing

a

by one of the jars and reaching up to

its

brim,

THE FOUR IN CRETE

70

"and I

can't reach half

must have held a

way around

Yes,

it.

it

lot of oil."

The Schoolroom, too, appealed to the practical mind of the Western Woman, and she
waited patiently while the Scholar was getting
"There's the stone bench

his bearings.

around the wall for the

little

all

urchins," he ex-

plained after a moment's inspection, "and this
is

the schoolmaster's seat,

pillars that

Evans

tells

and here are the two

about, hollowed at the

top for the moist clay."

"Moist clay?

"Was

Angel.

"No,

you go

it

this

museum and

Wait

see those clay tab-

That's the kind of documents the

Minoans used, and, of
had to learn to

write.

course, the youngsters

See here!

This bowl

at the right height for a 'grown-up,'

one

is

till

have been found and that nobody can

translate!

is

the Coffee

a kindergarten?"

wasn't a kindergarten.

to the

lets that

For what?" asked

and that

convenient for a child to reach.

I can

imagine a young Minoan hopeful walking up

and digging

his fingers into the

moist clay and

A BIG JAR WITH TRICKLE ORNAMENT

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

pinching off enough to
tablet.

And

patting

it

on

When

of

it!

make

a

into shape

more fun than

and scratching

slate,

to use paper

and that was

and pens

But a

lots

as school

clay tablet to

pat and to squeeze and to scratch

!

That must

indeed!"

bliss

"But why

his letters

I went to school I spent most

children do nowadays.

inquired the

clay

then what fun he must have had

my time washing my

have been

little

71

are they keeping those tablets,"

Western Woman,

"if

no one can

read them, and what's the use of them any-

way?"
"Use!" fairly snorted the Scholar. "They're
the most important discovery of the century!

They support

the evidence

from

seal stones

and prove that these Minoans possessed a
well-developed linear script long before the
Phoenicians carried the alphabet to Greece.

Through

all

had the

credit

European

these ages the Phoenicians have

of

being the

of

we know now that they
Minoan alphabet on in modi-

writing, but

simply passed the

inventors

THE FOUR

72
fied

IN CRETE

and convenient form.

Minoan
tion at

And

some of these

characters didn't need any modificaall,

for

we can

see for ourselves that

they are practically like some of the Greek
It's pretty

letters.

for so

many

hard on old Cadmus, who

centuries has been enjoying an

inflated reputation as the inventor of the

alphabet; but
to

it

restores the

rightful

their

position

Greek

Greek characters
as

direct

lineal

descendants of one of the oldest families in the
literary world.

until

We'll keep these clay tablets

somebody turns up a bilingual

and then

inscription

we'll read them."

XIII

While

they talked the guard had been

waiting at the top of some steps which the
Scholar thought would lead to the Villa on
the slope below the north entrance,
all

and now

followed except the Coffee Angel.

had been getting

tired

and

faint

She

and had be-

thought her of some sweet chocolate which she

THE FOUR
had

left in

come

treat

IN CRETE

her jacket pocket, and what a welit

would be for the others

could quietly give them the
chocolate

slip,

and be back with

sence was noticed.
direction

of the

So

it

if

off she

procure the

sped in the

Theatral Area, where the
arrival.

She

found her coat and the chocolate and

munching

started to return, leisurely

Whether

went.

as she

was too engrossing

the sweet

or something else bewildered her, certain
that, in

it is

attempting a short-cut over some low

walls, she lost her bearings

cover

she

before her ab-

wraps had been thrown down on
easily

73

the

entrance

to

and

the

failed to dis-

Central

Court,

whence she could have passed again down the
steps
Villa.

by the huge jars and on

to the

Royal

Instead she found herself in a narrow

gallery along which she walked some distance

without discovering any outlet in the desired
direction.

She could

tell

by the sun that she

was walking south and knew that she ought
to be turning east, but the wall of the gallery

was unbroken on that

side.

There were many

THE FOUR

74

IN CRETE

openings in the west wall, and finally she

turned into one of these in the hope of thus
finding some

means of

But

egress.

proved

it

to be only a long, blind alley leading off at

right angles, with

immense

jars, similar to the

two huge ones she had just seen near the Olive
Spout, standing against

its walls.

She started

to explore, paying no heed to her steps
careless

movement nearly

a square hole
that

all

in the

Then

pavement.

along the center of

this

to avoid the great pits below.

and

she

saw

narrow room

in the floor,

must walk circumspectly

to the long gallery

a

precipitated her into

were rectangular openings
that she

till

if

and

she wished

She came back

tried the next opening,

only to find a similar narrow room, with similar
pits in the floor

and the big jars standing

against the walls.

She must have explored

six

or seven of

these blind alleys, each time returning baffled
to the long gallery,

and was beginning

rather nervous and panicky.

The

to feel

walls, stand-

ing higher than her head, cut her off from

STOREROOM AT KNOSSOS

STOREROOM AT KNOSSOS

THE FOUR
the outside world
all

;

there

about her and she

IN CRETE

75

was a solemn

stillness

felt absolutely

alone with

the blue sky above, the ghostly jars around her,

and the yawning

pits at her feet.

She had

long since ceased to nibble the chocolate and
herself that she

was

she heard a loud shout

and

was acknowledging to

when

frightened

recognized the Sage's voice crying, "Here!

Awkwardly and

Over here!"

after several

attempts she climbed upon a projecting stone

and from

vantage point, to her unutter-

this

able relief, she spied the

Sage maintaining a

precarious balance on a jagged wall.

"I got a

little

worried and came back for

you," he explained as she finally reached him,
"for

if this is

the prototype of all labyrinths,

one might be excused for getting
"I

did

get

lost,"

confessed

Angel, "and I was in a part of
the rest haven't seen.

lost."

the

Coffee

this palace that

There are

lots of long,

narrow rooms and big stone jars and square
holes in the floors."

"The storerooms, probably,"

said the Sage,

'

THE FOUR
them

all

the Villa

re;-

nding

of:

WeTDI ex-

I

:

They had now
the

CRETE

Kng about them.
wether by and

"I reme

plore

EN

in

and found

a large, high-walled

m.
"This

is

st

ti

important part of the

There are the frag-

to be a throne here too.

And

ment
room

"There used

ed the Scholar.

Villa,"

he pointed to one end of the

-tone balustrade

v.

marked the edge

of a raised platform.

Looks
Western

like a

W

church pulpit." remarked the

man

father b

a

Methodist

clergyman.

"The
agreed

tl

ace does look like a church,"

'

le

Scholar.

e

dh

rows of

pillars

aisles.

Perhaps

that throne

Htrr

the

_
:

g

caught.

she asked.

:

:~

I

was an issemJ

was for the

|

og

ty hall,

Western

What's that he a

and

office:

:ard interrupted with

words which the
u

'Here art :ra:t ;

Woman
oout thr

a

few

partly

m

IN CRETE

THE FOUR
"That

it's

77

getting low, and that we'd better

go back to the palace if we want to see the
West Court and the storerooms before dark."
"I've

seen the

storerooms,"

laughed the

Coffee Angel, "but I didn't find any

West

Let's go back."

Court.

XIV
As

they retraced their steps the Scholar

called attention to the steep slope of the hill

and how imposing the palace must have looked

when viewed from
portant finds were

the river side.

made on

"Some im-

this east slope,"

he

went on, "which take us back to Neolithic times
handmade pottery and stone axes and

—

obsidian knives; and the deposit of such objects

was

so

thick that

Evans

thinks this

period lasted about seven thousand years."

"When

did

it

begin and

questioned the Western

"He

how can he

tell?"

Woman.

judges by the depths of the deposits

and the development

in pottery

and imple-

78

THE FOUR

ments.

After he had sorted

IN CRETE
his finds a

evolution in style from bottom to top

The

depth of

total

thirty-six feet,

all

deposits

is

was

was about

My

personal

that he has allowed far too

time for the early strata; but,
reckoning, the

seen.

and he estimates one thousand

years to each yard of deposit.

opinion

gradual

if

much

we adopt

his

settlement goes back to

first

about ten thousand B. C."

know when this
palace was built and when King Minos lived ?"
"He doesn't know absolutely only relaPossibly the name 'Minos' doesn't
tively.
"Yes, but

how

does he

—

refer to an individual at

all,

but to a dynasty

which lasted several generations.
palace,

before

its

final

And

destruction,

seven or eight hundred years, though

the

existed
it

was

destroyed, rebuilt, and remodeled within that
time.

Evans

calls the

period from the end of

the Neolithic age to the destruction of the

palace the age of Minos, and divides this into
three

main

divisions

which he names Early,

Middle, and Late Minoan.

Judging from the

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

79

depth and character of the deposits, he thinks
the whole history of this palace falls within the

time of the last two periods

—that

And he has

and Late Minoan.

is,

Middle

some system of

equating Cretan chronology with the dynasties
of Egypt, but just

what

"I'm disappointed

Woman,
that

up

severely.

it is

I can't recall."

in you," said the

"I'm afraid

I'll

Western

have to look

for myself."

"Ho,

ho," laughed the Sage, "that would

be a pity, and quite unnecessary besides.

can straighten that out for you, for

I

this equat-

ing of Cretan and Egyptian chronology was

on

vividly impressed

my mind when

I was in

One day I strolled into the
Ashmolean museum and, after passing through
Oxford

last fall.

the lobby, as luck
the right

the

would have

it,

and mounted the grand stairway. At

top some

waved me

Socratic

aside

monitor must have

from the room of paintings,

for I passed on into the

room

at the right

walked straight up to a small case

For

a

I turned to

moment

it

and

in the center.

seemed I must be dreaming!

THE FOUR IN CRETE

80

But I

—a

wasn't!

There

stood as plain as day

it

beautiful polychrome vase of distinctly

iEgean type surrounded by objects just
tinctly

—the

Egyptian.

It

made

as dis-

a striking contrast

thin-walled vase of elegant shape and

lovely colors in the midst of articles which in

comparison seemed to take on a
sion.

This many-hued vase

stolid expres-

is

evidently a

Cretan one and matches the pottery, found
great profusion, of the Middle

Minoan

period.

How it came to Egypt we do not know.
sibly the importation of this fine

in

Pos-

Cretan ware

was a regular phase of the flourishing commerce between the two countries, or

it

may

have been a gift from Cretan to Egyptian

However that may be, it was buried
a tomb at Abydos along with the Egyptian

royalty.
in

articles

and remained undisturbed

years ago.

we can

The

till

best feature of the find

date the

tomb

at about the

Egyptian Dynasty; for

in

it

a few
is

that

Twelfth

there were two

stone seals about an inch long which bear the

names of two kings of that dynasty.

In other

THE FOUR
words, the
this

Minoan

IN CRETE

civilization

81

was producing

ware as early as the Twelfth Egyptian

Dynasty."

"And what date was
Western Woman.

that?" persisted the

there's the rub," said the Sage, "for

"Aye,

seem able to agree on dates

scholars don't

Egyptian history

earlier

than the Eighteenth

Dynasty, which they place
century B. C.

in

in the sixteenth

But whenever

this

Twelfth

Dynasty must be dated, by that time Crete
had come to the period of

we

Middle Minoan.

call

civilization

It

which

was a time of

national prosperity and building activity in
Crete,

when

the beautiful

was manufactured

Kamares pottery

in great profusion

magnificent palaces were built.

not

all

a

summer

But

and the
life

was

day, for there was a tem-

porary eclipse here at Knossos, and the palace

was destroyed by some

hostile

power.

It

was

soon rebuilt, however, and most of the walls

we now

see belong to that later palace.

I

haven't yet answered your question as to the

;

THE FOUR IN CRETE

82

time of this building, and

all

I can say

scholars have provisionally assigned

it

is

that

to the

Second Millennium B. C. and we must be content with this until

more exact data are found.

Egyptian

should

If

chronology

ever

be

we should have a pretty definot only do we have this tomb

straightened out,
nite scheme, for

group proving connection between Crete and
Egypt in the Twelfth Dynasty, but as early
as the First

Dynasty

there seems to have been

an exchange of vases between the two peoples

and

as late as the Eighteenth

Dynasty tomb

paintings give proof of the interplay of Cretan

and Egyptian
present

influences.

we must

However,

for the

be satisfied with merely a

sequence dating of the great Cretan periods

and an equating with the periods of Egyptian
history."

XV
This long speech

of the Sage had brought

the party back past the Olive Press
the great Central Court to

its

and across

southern end,

where they realized that they were exploring

THE FOUR
a totally
first

new

IN CRETE

83

The guard

section of the palace.

them a few paces toward the south-

led

west and then turned them abruptly north
along a narrow passage, where a few words

threw the Scholar into a spasm of excitement.

"The

Cup-bearer,

Cup-bearer!"

the

he

shouted, racing back and forth and occasionally stopping to scrutinize the

immense stone

Then he went on more calmly "That's
the great treasure of the Candian museum,
and this morning an artist came into the room

blocks.

:

and planted himself before

this fresco

ought to have heard him rave about
called

it 'a

aristocrat,'

vision of

and you
it!

manly beauty' and

and then he confided

to

He

'a

born

me

that

he'd been studying art twenty years in Europe,

but that there was nothing in any
superior to this

Minoan youth.

on the wall of

this corridor

It

museum

was found

and was painted

more than three thousand years ago, and the
colors

are

perfectly

preserved,

though the

shoulders and lower part of the legs have been
lost.

It

is

the picture of a dark-haired beard-

THE FOUR

84
less

man,

tall,

IN CRETE
and with

slender, graceful,

cut features shown in profile.

He

clear-

stands with

head erect and shoulders thrown slightly back
to counterbalance the weight of the vase which

he carries
silver.

—a funnel-shaped

His only garment

a richly decorated

but he wears bracelets and a girdle

loin cloth,

drawn

is

so tight as to accentuate the slender-

ness of his proportions.

queathed

its

name

This fresco has be-

to the gallery

and

by the plan that
line

rooms.

it

it is

called

You may

the Corridor of the Cup-bearer.

on a

and

vessel of gold

see

runs north and south and

with the long gallery of the Store-

It wasn't originally designed to con-

duct visitors to the wine cellars of the palace,
but now that the walls are down we can enter
this

way."

They had a merry time exploring

the

row

of parallel rooms, exclaiming over the huge
jars and the pits in the floor,

all

but the Coffee

Angel, who retained an uncomfortable memory
of her

uncanny experience and

so

the long gallery beside the guard.

remained

in

Occasion-

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

85

a word or two as the

ally she could catch

Scholar explained that here in the big jars

were stored the palace supplies of

oil

haps grain, while the pits in the
lined with lead

and lidded with stone

and per-

floor,

slabs,

once

may

have been the coffers for gold and other treas-

away by

ures long since carried

"Now,"

the despoilers.

Scholar as they finally

said the

emerged from the long

gallery,

"we mustn't

forget the Corridor of the Procession.

It's

named after a fresco too, which we saw in the
museum or, rather, a fragment of it, for only
lower parts of the figures are preserved. The

—

same way, so they look

feet are all turned the

as

if

they

sion.

may

Here

have been walking in a proces-

it is,

the Cup-bearer,

West
This

parallel to the Corridor of

and

it

leads us into the great

Court, the trade center for the palace.
is

the place where tillers of the soil

and

treaders of the press could present their grain

and wine and
chandise.

olive oil as tribute or as

And

if

the

mer-

Minoans were such bar-

gain drivers as the modern Cretans, this great

THE FOUR

86

IN CRETE

open market must have presented a
though

in those days,
this

afternoon.

it

looks lonely enough

a good, quiet place to

It's

study the structure of the wall.

mense the blocks

may

are,

lively scene

See how im-

this projecting base

and

have been arranged as a seat for the

tradespeople."

"Let's

sit

on

it

now," suggested the Coffee

Angel, "while I study
so

many

my

plan, for I've

turns that I'm bewildered.

made

There's

a sunny nook in that second angle and the wall
is

high enough to keep the wind off the back

of our necks."

"It

is

a bewildering mass of ruins," acknowl-

edged the Scholar, "but the general features
are not so complicated, after

all.

See here,"

he continued, tearing a sheet from his pocket

notebook and commencing a rough sketch
pencil, "just

imagine a square block of a build-

ing, like a large
in the center.

to south,
to have

and

two

in

apartment house with a court

The court
all

around

stories,

is
it

longer from north
the building seems

though on the

east,

where

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

the domestic quarters were,

we know

more, to conform to the slope of the
fore

we entered

87
it

hill.

had
Be-

we stopped
number one),

Central Court

this

Area (which I'll
then we saw the North Bath (number two),
then we came through the narrow entrance way
to the Central Court (three), and inspected
the rooms on the west the Throne Room
(say that's number four) and the pillar rooms
at the Theatral

—
,

(five)

;

then

we went

across the Central Court

and down the great

through the family quarters
there's

where the Western

—
press—

that's eight.

if it

add the
east

Villa,

and

I'll

(seven),

and

Woman

Number

was a press

great jars; and

and

and stalked out

at the bathtub

shrine

(six),

staircase

my

but

put

in

nine

is

the olive

—and number ten the

would be

enough

to

off to the north-

an arrow to point the way.

Here's where the Coffee Angel

left

back for the chocolate and got

us to go

lost

in the

when we all came back from
we came through the Corridor of the

storerooms, but
the Villa

to find the

sheet isn't large

it

got cross

THE FOUR

88

IN CRETE

Cup-bearer (eleven) and then into the long
north-south corridor (twelve) with the store-

rooms branching
here by

way

.

westward.

And we came

of the Corridor of the Proces-

and now you are

sion (thirteen)

the great

off

sitting facing

Western Court (fourteen) with your
!!|

SKETCH PLAN OF KNOSSOS
back against the wall which separates
the storerooms.

If you would stand

it

from

up you

could peep over this wall into one of those

narrow rooms

in

which you got

lost.

All the

"

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

89

rest of the palace I'll cross-hatch to indicate

that

we

didn't explore these parts.

beautiful sketch, but

"What's
the

has served

up any confusion

clears

if it

it

this

It's
its

not a

purpose

as to locations."

low block of masonry?" asked

Western Woman, pointing

to a square

platform in front of the Four.

an

"It's

altar," replied the

Scholar with

noticeable lack of enthusiasm, "but

enough
I

am

like a table to

Only

!

remind

six o'clock,"

me how

it

looks

famished

he went on, gloomily

consulting his watch, "and the hotel dinner

O

eight.

why

didn't

is

at

some one think to bring

a lunch so that we could have supper in the
palace of Minos?"

"We

did," said the Coffee Angel, quietly.

"I don't dare try to find the Theatral Area

where we dropped our wraps for fear
lost again,

get

but we'll wait here while you get

the things and then

But

I'll

the Scholar

—

was

off like a shot, leaping

over fallen blocks and ruined walls, and in a

moment was

back, one

arm laden with wraps,

THE FOUR IN CRETE

90

the other tenderly embracing a linen

bag which

he deposited carefully at the* Coffee Angel's
side.

"That's the one!" he exclaimed happily,

"that's

what you carried

Why

in Thessaly!

didn't I see that before?"

"I carried
you,"

prise

it

my

under

answered

"You'll see that

it

coat so as to sur-

the

Coffee

Angel.

contains your regular diet.

Everything comes from Athens except the
bread and that I bought at the Peiraeus as we
were walking to the boat.
I

ever

time

bought bread with the price-mark

And

chalked on the crust!"

some figures showing
the

It's the first

she pointed to

in glaring whiteness

brown surface of the

on

loaf.

"Forty-five," read the Scholar, "forty-five
lepta

and cheap

Think of such a

at that for a
lot of

hungry man!

good yellow bread for

nine cents!"

"We

might use

this altar for a table," sug-

gested the Western

Woman,

but as the Sage

protested that "they must not desecrate the
shrines of the gods," the viands were tempt-

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

ingly arranged along the stone seat.

91

It wasn't

a luxurious feast, but there were a box of sardines, a bit of cheese,

some Graham

crackers,

the inevitable sweet chocolate, and two oranges

which the pockets of the Sage yielded.

when

Angel finally produced her
and announced "Coffee," by a

the Coffee

thermos bottle

common impulse
sprang to their

from

And

the Sage and the Scholar

feet,

drew

their

their pockets, clicked

aluminum cups

them together and

tossed off an imaginary toast to "the Coffee

Angel, the most popular lady in Crete."
they

all

And

sipped with leisurely enjoyment the

precious amber fluid while they watched the

sun slowly sinking behind the

hill.

Then

the

scraps were scrupulously collected and, with
the sardine box, carefully buried under some
loose stones

to be

beyond the precincts of the palace

dug up by some future

excavator, the

guard said a smiling "good-by"
put a

silver coin in his

as the

Sage

hand, and there followed

the drive through the gathering dusk along
the flower-scented road to the city.

THE FOUR

92

At

IN CRETE

the hotel the Coffee

Angel and the

Woman were glad to surrender them-

Western

selves to the tender ministrations of

who

kleia,"

relieved

them of

"Eury-

their

dusty

bundles, prepared the baths, and finally re-

turned to tuck the mosquito nets securely about
the beds and extinguish the candle.
considers us irresponsible children

"She

and not to

be trusted with a light," giggled the Western

Woman.

"Do you
many frescoes

Then, rather irrelevantly,

think the Scholar really saw so

and things

in the

museum

can't have been there

"Why,

this

morning?

He

more than an hour."

yes," answered the Coffee Angel,

"he has been reading up on Crete for a long

time and with that wonderful

memory

of his

he knew just what to look for this morning.

One can
there

is

see a lot in

if

one knows what

to see."

"I wonder

mused

an hour

the

who

the ruby-lipped lady

Western Woman.

Angel had ceased

But

to be responsive.

is,"

the Coffee

PART THREE

PART THREE
XVI
At five the next morning they

were aroused

by a loud knocking on the door and the voice
of the

Scholar announcing that the horses

would be ready

an hour.

in

The Coffee Angel

sprang for the matches and lighted her traveling lamp while the Western

Woman

quickly

poured cold water over some ground coffee

and

set it

on to

dressing, reckless

There ensued hurried

boil.

cramming of the two canvas

bags, heroic swallowing of scalding coffee, and
at

five-thirty

the

ladies

mount, the Western

emerged ready

Woman

to

laden with rugs

and bags, the Coffee Angel carrying in each
hand a mug of the hot coffee. "They're shaving mugs," she explained as the

them

in the dining

men

joined

room, "but we hadn't any

other cups in our room."

"Better American coffee in a shaving
95

mug

THE FOUR

96

IN CRETE

than the Turkish stuff in a fine cup," said the
Sage, gratefully.

But

the Scholar

was too evidently annoyed
"I told these

appreciate his blessings.

to

we must
And when

people last night," he scolded, "that

have an omelette at half-past

five.

down there was no one stirring and I
had to wake up the bell boy and set things
going myself. The cook isn't to be found, so
Well,
the boy has to make the omelette.
everybody in this country knows how to cook
I came

eggs, so we'll get something, but each minute

of delay

hour ride
the

last

is

serious, for this

if

we

don't

party did.

dent, for this
till

our fourteen-

make better time than
The guide is outside

saddling the horses and

Yet we

kept waiting.

is

it's

maddening

to be

can't be too indepen-

the last decent food we'll have

is

we get back

here again."

"In that Case," suggested the Sage, "we'd
better

make the

best of this last chance. Here's

bread on the table, and we might follow the

custom of the Greek peasant and eat

it

dry.

THE FOUR
If

we

And

Fletcherize,

IN

will

it

that reminds me," he

a large crust, "that

warned me about

CRETE

go down
went

97

all right.

on, pocketing

my Greek friends in Athens
Cretan

this

that most foreigners are

ill

trip.

They

after

it

said

because

they allow themselves to become too hungry

and then eat too heartily. Their advice is to
eat sparingly and often, so I shall keep a crust
handy."

"Good

idea," agreed the Scholar, thrusting

a generous

slice into his

fortunate thing
divests one of

it

my

is

pocket,

nails,

that residence in Greece

is

any absurd prejudice about the
I'm

care of foods!
of bread

pocket, "and what a

now

my

fully

aware that

this slice

in contact with the lining of

my

knife,

drinking cup, a few

and a piece of twine.

Time was when

such a thought would have disquieted me, but

why

let it 'spoil

my heart's happiness'

far the comforting creed that

any harm

Ganymede!"

!

Ah

!

Better

any germ which

cannot be seen with the naked eye
to do

?

is

too small

Here comes our

sleepy

THE FOUR

98

IN CRETE

Sleepy he certainly looked, and unkempt
too,

and the omelette bore the traces of an
hand.

unskilled

But

was speedily

it

dis-

patched, and even the bitter tea was gratefully

accepted as an additional stimulant against the

impending journey.

Then

there

was a quick

mounting, and at six-thirty the Four were

off,

following their guide at a slow trot through
the streets just awakening to the

The few

day.
the

little

life

of a

new

spectators looked curiously at

cavalcade, but the guide passed on

through the west gate, quickening the pace as
he struck the open road outside the

Then

it

was that the Western
O, yes!

But

Woman

She could

began to wish she hadn't come.
ride horseback.

city.

in

Colorado

there had always been the secure accoutrement

of the

cowboy

saddle,

Greek saddle had

and her experience on a

hitherto been restricted to

the slow walk of a peasant's horse following a

pedestrian guide.

To

find herself

on the back of the hardest

now perched

trotter she

had ever

imagined, to be tossed back and forth and from

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

99

side to side in the capacious reaches of a big

Greek

doomed

saddle, to be

follow a guide

who

a mettlesome steed
to her soul.

for three days to

blithely cantered along

on

—the prospect struck terror

In desperation she lengthened

first

one stirrup, then the other, as she rode,

and

tried standing in them, but the tablelike

expanse of the saddle was not amenable to

this

fashion and with the grim remark that a "bow-

legged

man might be

able to do that" she sadly

resigned herself to the short stirrups and the
ceaseless pounding.

Furtive glances to the

rear revealed the Coffee

Angel seated squarely

athwart a gently ambling steed, her arms

akimbo as she gripped the saddle
while the bridle
horse's neck.

hung

loose

at both ends,

and unused on the

Behind her rode the Scholar, a

provoking picture of serene contentment, but
the

Sage was pitching and bouncing on an

evil-eyed animal,

and

his

compressed

lips

and

flushed face indicated some nervousness. "He's

game, though," thought the Western

Woman,

admiringly, and then she saw that the two

THE FOUR

100

IN CRETE

men were having an argument which
in

"Ah!

an exchange of horses.

the

He's made

Now

Sage take the better horse!

Scholar will do the pitching!"

resulted

But he

the

didn't!

Instead he rode as carelessly and as easily as
before, looking

from

side to side as the road

led on between olive groves

"Of course that boy can
the Western Woman,

and

tilled fields.

ride anything!" sighed

enviously.

"I'd for-

gotten that he used to be a Texas cowboy!

'Busting bronchos' was good training for this!"

And then

she found that she could tie a loop in

her long bridle and hook
the saddle,
the jolt.
tion!

for a

it

and by holding

over one board of

this taut

could ease

"Aha!" she exulted, "a good inven-

That's what a college education does

woman!" And

she held on for dear

life,

even though the plaited leather soon began to
blister her fingers.

It

ward

was a pleasant road meandering southbeside a dried-up water course, cooled

by

the long morning shadows, and the horses were

making good

time.

"Four kilometers!"

called

—
THE FOUR

IN CRETE
marked stone by

the

"Five kilometers!

It

the Scholar as he noticed a

road; and a

little later,

101

won't be a fourteen-hour day at this rate,
will it?"

But

the others could only

wave

their

in reply, for the guide kept

them

relentlessly

on the move, pausing only
arose with the horses,

if

some complication

when he was

on the spot to adjust the

hands

difficulty.

instantly

Now

and

then prosperous-looking peasants passed on
their

way

to

town and the guide returned

their

greeting politely but without tarrying.

"This fellow seems to be

marked

if

business," re-

the Sage as they finally halted

wayside watering trough.
to

all

push our men

"We've always had

in Greece,

we can keep up on

but we'll do well

this trip.

I suppose he's

hurrying us while the good road

"Think of getting a man
francs a day

"The

by a

lasts."

like that for

two

forty cents!" said the Scholar.

hotel clerk

recommended him, and when

I found he had a fine letter from
I decided to risk him.

His name

MacKenzie
is

Chrones

THE FOUR

102

IN CRETE

Bardakes, and I don't intend to forget
is

so

handsome that

day merely to look
cheap too

—one

it's

worth forty cents a

The

at him!

dollar per

horses are

day and that

So the whole

cludes their feed.

He

it.

in-

trip will be

inexpensive."

Meanwhile the Coffee Angel had been fumbling in a bag tied to her saddle and

now moved

her horse near enough to the Sage to hand him

"Lunch

a small package.
briefly; "it's

time," she said,

been two hours since breakfast,

and the plan you outlined was to eat

little

and

often."

But

had now

the horses

finished drinking,

and the guide was mounted,
merely a

Graham

as they rode.

so

they took

cracker apiece to be nibbled

There was brisk riding again

except for a short distance where the guide

abandoned the beaten track to follow a rough
trail to

an insignificant

town lying
the

silent

village,

a ghostly

little

and asleep under the glare of

mounting sun.

But

at the first clang of

the horses' hoofs on the cobblestone paving

THE FOUR
the inhabitants

IN CRETE

103

popped badgerlike out of

their

hiding places and watched with eager interest
the passing of the Four.

Soon they were following a beautiful
stream

Platyperamas— on

—the

little

one side of

which olive groves and fresh green

fields

gently up to a white city set on a

sloped

They

hill.

were loth to cross the picturesque bridge,
mirrored so clearly in the shallow pools, for

it

turned them abruptly away from this friendly
landscape to a
horses settled

less genial region,

down

where the

to slow plodding

up

steep

grades and the riders gazed on a treeless
trict

baking under the

rays of the sun,

fierce

now soaring high in the heavens.
The scenery was more varied again
the

after

Four struck the highway winding along

hillside

above a verdant valley

for rapid travel

and in

dis-

the

—a road too new

sections rendered

muddy

by the seepage from wayside springs not yet
controlled.

"These Cretans are pathetically

ambitious," said the Scholar.

"It's really a

great undertaking to build a broad road like

THE FOUR

104
this

IN CRETE
Too bad

clear across the island.

that

they've had to stop operations because of lack
I've been told that Crete

of funds!

very prosperous

ment, for

its

only had a real govern-

if it

natural resources are well worth

But they

developing.

because

would be

can't get the capital

won't

foreigners

investments

risk

under such unsettled conditions."
"If Crete ever belongs to Greece, that will

be changed," prophesied the Sage, "and

Venezelos carries the election for the

prime minister, Crete
or later.

bound

It's

go

will

office

if

of

to Greece sooner

to come!

Crete wants

Greece and Greece wants Crete, and the right

man

in

He

power

will bring

about."

it

stopped as the Western

an amused

little

Woman

gave

laugh and she hastened to

explain: "I wasn't laughing at you!

Greek family with

whom

But

I board has a

the

funny

little

maid about eight years old who has been

very

much

little

waif from

excited over the election.

Mani

She's a

in the Peloponnesus, that

cradle of red-hot patriots,

and when I saw her

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

105

wearing a button which bore the picture of
another candidate
but, at

any

solemnly

rate,

why

she

popular Cretan.

sparrow and

it

—I

don't

remember whom,

not Venezelos

—I

asked her

was not a supporter of the
She's about as big as

was funny

a

to hear her twitter

excitedly in her queer dialect, speaking very
fast

and shaking her

little

finger at

me

to en-

force her words; but I could understand only

one sentence which she reiterated again and
again: 'Venezelos

is

a bad

man and

will give

Crete to England!'"
"That's a good one!" laughed the Scholar,

"Venezelos give Crete to England

must have heard

it

there ever

if

little

was tying

child

He's a

fiery

was one!"
by a

huts at the left of the road and

his horse to the rack.

"What in
"Is he like

!

the guide was dismounting

But now
group of

The

said somewhere, but he'll

never give anything to anybody
patriot

!

the world!" sputtered the Scholar.

all

the other guides

and

can't pass

a wayside cafe without his glass of wine?

By

THE FOUR

106

George!

He

says this

IN CRETE
Hagia Varvara,

is

regular noon stopping place, and

all right,

from Candia

for that allows five hours

We'd

to this place.

not

call it

—seventeen miles
half—but we're evidently

breakneck speed in Texas
four hours and a

in

doing better than the average

Just

tourists.

peep through the door and see how you
the prospect of lunch in that place

and rickety

We

tables!

eggs, though, and oranges
inside,

—

like

dirt floor

can probably get

—they

will be clean

anyway!"

"Let's not go in,"

Angel.
the

only

We're beating the Baedeker

eleven o'clock!

schedule

it's

the

"Why

bank of

no place on

can't

we

protested the

find a picnic spot on

this pretty little

this side,

but

Coffee

if

stream?

we can

There's

cross, there's

that fine old olive tree in the field

and we can

watch the cafe and come back as soon as the
guide wants to start."

"Great!" agreed the Scholar, "and there are

some stepping-stones!"

"And

here's

our lunch," said the Coffee

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

Angel, "the same old things

and oranges

cheese,

And

they

—bread, sardines,

—but they

will do."

handsome guide

left the

107

the luxury of the tavern and to

to enjoy

wonder

at the

never-ending vagaries of the foreign tourist
aversion

with his unreasonable
infected interiors
for streams

and

and

to

vermin-

his inexplicable partiality

fields.

XVII
Punctuality seemed
in

to be a corner stone

Bardakes's character, for at twelve he had

his

party again in the saddle headed for the

barren ridge, which marked the highest point
in their route.

Uphill and sometimes downhill

they rode through a desolate region which

showed

little

of interest

till

suddenly they

seemed to be on the top of the world looking

down

over the brim at the rich Messara plain

stretching

On

away

their right

to the

dim waters of the

sea.

was a desolate undulating high-

land tract with snow-capped Ida looming be-

THE FOUR

108

yond

like

IN CRETE

a huge crested wave advancing upon

a sullen ocean.
It seemed an unfriendly region in contrast

with the

fertile plain,

commenced
ish

for

and the Four gladly

the steep descent.

An

old Turk-

road in ruined condition winds downward

some distance and

make

loose cobblestones

its

careful riding necessary, so the horses

were allowed to pick their way.

The guide

did presently try to push on in order to pass a

pack-mule followed by a walking attendant,
but the Four were too timid to second his
efforts

and unfortunately allowed the laden

animal to enter a narrow

them.

defile before

Bardakes did not show any

irritation,

but he

must have chafed inwardly, for the gorge was
too narrow to admit of passing and the painstaking beast of burden dictated a

snail's

pace

to the impatient riders.

"I

wonder

where

that

descent' comes in," said the

'blood-curdling

Western Woman,

availing herself of the opportunity to talk.

"I'd like to get that done before dark."

—
THE FOUR
"This

ahead and we don't have

there's the plain just

to

109

announced the Scholar, "for

it,"

is

IN CRETE

go down much farther."

"But I

don't see anything 'blood-curdling'

Woman.

about this," argued the Western
"It's

been steep, of course, but there hasn't

been a single place where one could
a precipice, and

safe

it's

enough

if

over

fall

you give

the horses their time."

"Well,

this is

it,

without knowing

anyway, and we've done

the Scholar, "and

it," insisted

the guide says that

it's

it

only half an hour to

Hagii Deka, where we stop for the night."

"But

it's

only half-past one now," said the

Sage, "and the last party reached Hagii

Deka

after dark."

"Maybe they got

off the road, or

their guide

was not

were caught

in a rain.

in our favor

—

efficient,

perhaps

and, too, they

We've had everything

luck, guide, weather, horses

so we've

done just a

average.

In

little

fact, it's too

better than the

good

to last,

and

I'm thinking of hunting up a church and

THE FOUR

110

IN CRETE

burning a few candles before the images of

some Greek
gods.

saints to avert the

There must be churches

because

it's

in

envy of the

Hagii Deka,

and a Greek bishop

quite a town,

has his residence here."

"Wasn't

it

in this place that the last party

had to sleep on the

floor, all in

one room?"

asked the Coffee Angel.

"Yes," answered the Scholar, "but

mighty queer
vide

if

it

will be

a good-sized town can't pro-

more than one room.

We'll hunt

we

till

find another."

But now

the walls of the gorge had widened

out, the faithful

mule could be

left behind,

and

the Four, trotting bravely along the level road,

entered Hagii

Deka with a

spirited

mien which

greatly belied their muscular fatigue.

Through

the narrow, ill-paved streets Bardakes led the

way

till

he reached the

home

of old Manoli

friend and host of

many

a noted worker in Cretan archaeological

fields.

Iliakis, the

He

quondam

himself was not immediately in evidence,

but as the Four clattered into the high-walled

—
THE FOUR

IN CRETE

111

courtyard his son appeared to do the honors

a

tall,

man

bearded

of erect carriage and a

gentle dignity that at once inspired confidence.

He

Four courteously and,

greeted the

in re-

sponse to the Scholar's inquiry for lodging,

way up

turned to lead the

a flight of steps in

one corner of the courtyard.

The Western

Woman

was

so interested in

the construction of the four lowest steps,

made

of ancient column remnants with cement ex-

upper room only
pick

up

and reached the

she delayed

tensions, that

in time to see the Scholar

his hat, and,

with a courteous bow,

start for the door.

"Come," he

said, "it

the one room,
elsewhere, as

and

we

I suppose this

seems that there

I've told

is

only

him we must go

are determined to have two.

is

the only real guest

the village, as he says, but

we have

room

in

all after-

noon before us and can find some kind of
accommodations."

young Cretan did not seem pleased
and explained that, though the room immedi-

But

the

THE FOUR

112

room was usually occu-

ately below the guest

pied by the family,

IN CRETE
would be available for

it

the night.

we could

"I was sure

get

it if

we

insisted,"

arrangement had

said the Scholar after the

been completed and the young Cretan had
the room.

"You

see, these

people can't under-

stand that queer prejudice

way

their

of crowding men,

we have

him we'd be glad

trouble, so here

with

we

whole

a

shouldn't

we

are

to

see

pay
to

chil-

But I

for the extra

two

o'clock,

waste.

Why

all settled at

afternoon

against

women, and

dren indiscriminately into one room.
told

left

Gortyna to-day instead of

to-morrow morning?

It's

only a mile or two

to the ruins."

"Then

Woman.

let's

walk,"

"I've had

cried

the

Western

enough riding for one

day!"

And

the alacrity with which the suggestion

was adopted indicated that horseback exercise
had temporarily
tion.

lost its

popularity as a recrea-

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

113

XVIII
So, after an hour's rest, during which old

Four and

Iliakis paid a friendly visit to the

Scholar while the Coffee

chatted with the

Angel served scant

on foot with

nuts, they set out
as guide.

He

led

and

rations of strong tea
their

young host

them through

shady olive groves, past

many

and

fields

a huge marble

block lying neglected beside the path, left from

Roman monument,

some Greek or

till

the

The

great stones of the temple appeared.

walls have fallen long ago, but the foundations

remain, and show the peculiar proportions of
the building, with

depth.

broad front and shallow

its

The Pythian god

guard over

is

his sacred building,

again standing

and

drapery and the hollow sockets of

him a ghostly aspect

his flowing

his eyes give

as he keeps his lonely

vigil at this deserted shrine.

"I'm glad we didn't come
dark,"

said

the

Western Woman,

mounted the heroon
photograph the

way

this

in front of the

statue.

"It gives

after

as

she

temple to

me an

un-

—
THE FOUR IN CRETE

114

canny feeling even

in

daytime to see him

standing alone in this solitary place!"

"What

a tale he could unfold, could he but

Sage

speak to us!" said the

—"of

Roman

changes made in the ancient precinct, of neglect

and decay and destruction and long
while the shrine lay buried under

oblivion

masses of debris, and of final resurrection not

many

years ago.

And now

that he

is

again

restored to the light of day, occasional pilgrims

come

in curiosity to visit the shrine

where mul-

titudes used to leave their offerings."

change

"It's a

all

right," agreed the Scholar,

"for this temple stood right in the center of
things.

The

oldest inscriptions in the island,

going back to the seventh century B. C, are

on these blocks.

I didn't have time to ex-

amine them carefully, but I did stop to look
at a

few

and to note

we can

see a very

famous inscription

the law code of Gortyna.

—

their primitive

We'll soon come to the theater, and

form.
there

letters

fifth

century, I believe

It isn't quite so old
it

is

—but

is

im-

STATUE OF APOLLO

TEMPLE OF APOLLO

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

115

mensely important as being the longest ancient

We're nearly

Greek law code known.

there

now, for here are the ruins of the Byzantine
church dedicated to Saint Titus.
Titus, I wonder,

Why

Saint

anyway!"

"Don't you remember Saint Paul's Epistle
to

asked the Sage, who was old-

Titus?"

fashioned enough to teach a
class

when

in

Sunday

school

America.

"Can't say I do," confessed the Scholar.

"What

about it?"

when he was bishop
in Crete, and as Gortyna was the capital of
the island in those times, he probably made it
"It was written to Titus

There must have been a

his headquarters.

colony of Jews here, for Paul warns Titus
against their subversive teachings.

And

as to

the Cretans themselves, he quotes one of their

own number
always

as having said, 'The Cretians are

liars, evil beasts,'

part, 'This witness

bids Titus 'rebuke

is

and adds for

true.'

And

his

own

therefore he

them sharply, that they may

be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish

THE FOUR

116
fables'

;

all

IN CRETE

of which would indicate that Titus,

in establishing this

outpost of Christianity,

was fighting against tremendous odds

— the old

religion of Apollo, the teachings of Judaism,

and the

instability of the

Cretan character.

So I'm rather glad that he has received some
recognition on his old field of labor."

A few years ago this church could have been
described as a shapeless mass of rubbish, for

only the apse was standing, but the Cretans

have undertaken to reconstruct

making good progress.

As

it

and are

Four passed,
work chipping

the

stone masons were busily at

and smoothing the huge blocks to be used
side walls,

may

and when they next

visit

in the

Crete they

be able to attend a service of the Greek

Church

in the restored edifice.

A moment more and they were in the midst
of another busy scene where a

peasants
spades,

group of Cretan

—men and women—armed with

picks,

and wheelbarrows, were excavating a

Roman
seats are

theater.

now

Several tiers of the stone

visible

and some square columns

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

117

defining a large curve, but their guide led
straight past these to the far side

and pointed

into a deep trench along one side of

which runs

a massive curved wall showing five courses of

huge stone

blocks.

law code," the Scholar exclaimed,

"It's the

leaping into the trench and beginning to ex-

amine the symbols graven on the blocks, "the

famous law code of Gortyna that I've always
see ever since I first read about

wanted to
It

was

it.

originally engraved on the wall of

some

and when the Romans

built

circular building,
this theater

they used the old blocks for the

back retaining wall, setting them up in the
original order so that the ancient regulations

could

still

be read by every

of the law

is

stroller.

'Ignorance

no excuse' would certainly have

been a just ruling

Boustrophedon

in old

Gortyna!

(povorgocpjiddv)

style,

Notice the
every

al-

ternate line reading in the contrary direction,
or backwards as

"What's

Woman.

it

it

seems to us."

about?"

asked

the

Western

THE FOUR IN CRETE

118
"O,

all sorts

relations of

about slaves

It regulated

of things!

many

—

human life laid down the law
who claim to be free or who say

they belong to another master, about sale of

property and inheritance of property, military
service,

and

so forth.

I can't recall what these

regulations were, except that I do
that a daughter's inheritance

was

remember

half that of

a son, and that an adopted son inherited as

much

as a daughter

—that

is,

half as

much

as

a real son."

"I wish

my Homer

students could see these

digammas," said the Sage, "for they look so
dazed when I talk to them about the influence
of this lost letter."

"Yes, and they'd

know

by a 'double consonant'

better

in

what

is

meant

Greek, for here the

two sounds are written separately, no £ no ip,
but kg and no. And though d occurs frequently,
we find simply k and n for Attic % an d </>•"

"Our young

host seems to be listening with

a good deal of interest," remarked the Coffee

Angel.

"Can he understand English?"

WALL CONTAINING PART OF LAW CODE

FRAGMENT OF THE LAW CODE

IX CRETE

THE FOUR
"Probably

answered

not."

119
Scholar.

the

"but he's interested because bis father helped

Halbherr

and

in

1S84 when he discovered the code.

he's very

shall

proud of the

Perhaps we

fact.

get a glimpse of Halbherr

11:..

'at

Triada, for I understand he's conducting excavations there now.

He's been

thirty years

in Crete

and

is

immensely popular with the

natives.

When

he began to look for remains

near Hagii Deka. with old Manoli as his guide,
this

was the bed of

Manoli partly owned.

mill which
to

him to

its

a stream flowing past the
It

occurred

divert the stream and search along

bed, and that's

1 believe that the

made some

how

they found this wall,

owner of the land hereabouts

objection to their method o( pro-

cedure, so Halbherr couldn't go farther just
then, but he gave his data to Fabricius.
later continued

the work.

He

who

learned that

the bit of curved wall was a seel ion of an en
circling wall of

inscription
see

how

one hundred

running about

finely

hewn

feel

diameter, the

thirty

these blocks

fceti
.-uc

and

You
that

THE FOUR

120
they are

still

firm,

though there are no clamps.

by the way,

Fabricius,

IN CRETE
is

I saw him

stopping at our hotel.

museum

Knossos now and

in

first in

yesterday, where he wrote his

in the visitors'

"Is this

name

book just before I registered."
there

all

the

is

to see here?" asked the

Western Woman, whose

interest

was evidently

waning.

"No,"

said the Scholar. "I

This

Acropolis.

little

divides the old city into

and

this theater

left side are

want

to climb the

stream, the Mitropoli,

two

parts.

The temple

and other buildings on the

only part of the ruins.

On

the

—that

right

bank

little

hill

says;

and there are traces of another theater

on

southeast slope."

its

there's the Acropolis, at least

just across the stream, Bardakes

"Well," sighed the Western
muscles aren't
part, I

am

steel

even

if

Woman, "my
For my
Mark Twain

yours are.

content to adopt the

method of sight-seeing and climb that
through

my

hill

agent."

It proved, in fact, that the Scholar

was

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

121

alone in his yearning for an Acropolis to climb,
so the others settled themselves in a shady

nook on the bank of the stream whence they
could lazily watch his upward progress and
play with an old mother goat tethered nearby,

presumably the parent of two precocious black
kids which were playing hide

and seek among

the newly excavated seats of the theater.

The Scholar

crossed the

little

stepping-stones and toiled slowly
hill

opposite,

stream on

up

the steep

growing smaller and smaller

till

he reached the top whence he called that he

was on the

site

of the ancient Acropolis

indicated the location of the
the slope below him.

Roman

and

theater on

Suddenly he gave a wild

shout and with arms outspread came leaping
recklessly

down

"That boy

the

will

hill.

break his neck yet," mut-

tered the Sage, disapprovingly, but this time

he arrived safe and sound, albeit somewhat
flushed.

Then

the

Four

strolled slowly

back through

the olive groves, a pleasant walk in the length-

THE FOUR

122

IN CRETE

ening shadows, and once more mounted the

marble steps to the upper room.

Here

the

Western

Woman

was confronted

with the duty of boiling water enough to
the canteen for the next day's use,

fill

and her

request for "hot water and a great deal of it"

kept a pretty young Cretan woman, perhaps
old

Manoli's

daughter

or

daughter-in-law,

running up and down between her kitchen and
the upper room.

It

may

be that she had only

a small brazier or other inadequate appliance
for heating

it,

for each time she brought only

about a pint with the assurance that she would
soon have more.

Several times she stopped to

watch the Western

Woman

boil over again

water which to her seemed hot enough for any
purpose, and finally her curiosity could not

be restrained and she asked, timidly,

"Why

do you cook the water?"

The Western

Woman hesitated.

Could she

hurt the gentle, hospitable creature by telling
her that the water was probably unfit to drink?

And, anyway, could

she

make

her understand

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

123

the tourist's dread of the typhoid fever specter

which was constantly dogging

Greek lands?

his

steps in

Finally she said, gently: "It

is

always better to boil the water when one travels

A

in a strange land.

times makes people
satisfied

change of water some-

ill."

And

the girl was

and with a bright smile and a nod

tripped willingly

down

the steps to fetch the

next installment.

The canteen was filled at last, but the Coffee
Angel superintended the boiling of one more
quart, for the table

of the

had been

set in the

middle

room and old Manoli himself was bring-

ing up the supper, consisting of a fine omelette

and a

loaf of bread.

"I don't drink coffee at night," said the
Sage, gently, as she started to

fill

his

cup from

a large brown mug.
"It isn't coffee;

"Ah,

Angel.

beef tea," she explained.

that's another story!

the world did
"It's

it's

quite

you get

But where

it?"

a tale," answered the

"I didn't

in

know

till

I

Coffee

came abroad that

THE FOUR

124

IN CRETE

every American was involved in the packingI had never even realized that

house scandals.

there were any, for I'm so used to discounting

yellow journalism that I didn't take the news-

paper scareheads

seriously.

But they

evidently

made an impression in Europe, for not seldom
in England and in Germany, when I was introduced as an American, I was greeted with the
remark, 'Ah, yes, that's where those awful

packing houses

York

are!'

Now,

to

my mind New

has seemed far enough away from Chi-

my

cago to make

connection with the matter

rather remote, to say the least, but as I was

my

buying

my

eye

few provisions for

this

Cretan trip

on some jars bearing the sign of

fell

the much-maligned packers and I reflected
that, since I

was sharing the blame, I might

as well enjoy the fruits thereof,

and I invested

in a jar of beef extract as a precaution against

So here

starvation.

night,

and

my

it is

—only enough for

knapsack

to-

will be the lighter

to-morrow."
"It just reaches the spot!" was the Scholar's

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

125

comment, "and I've never known luxury before

!

Think of having an omelette, bread, and

beef tea

all

at one meal, besides

lukewarm

Won't

boiled water to drink

from a canteen

American

seem tame after Crete?"

"We'd
that

civilization

better not spend time in developing

theme," counseled the

o'clock

!

comes early

in the

when we are to start."
"Which means rise at

Sage,

"for

morning and
five,"

six

that's

suggested the

Coffee Angel.

So the men descended

to the

room below,

where they found iron beds, with comfortable
springs and mattresses, and alas! so

vigorous fleas that their night was

many
almost

The upper room contained no
but along one side wall ran a wooden
sleepless.

bed,
seat

about two feet wide, padded with hard straw
cushions.

Here

the

pretty

young

hostess

spread the sheets for the women, and as soon
as she left the

Western

the bedding with insect

crept under the covers.

Woman

sprinkled

powder and

all

carefully

"Pretty hard bed,"

126

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

she announced, sneezing once or twice as an

incautious

movement

sent a cloud of

powder

into the air, "but I've always been told that

when a hard bed becomes unendurable
to get up."

it's

time

PART FOUR

—

PART FOUR
XIX
"We're the

best early risers that ever lived,"

remarked the Coffee Angel at

morning
are

next

five the

"Why

as she prepared the coffee.

Are you

you scrubbing those eggs?

thinking of eating the shells?"

Woman

"No," the Western

explained with

a yawn, "but I got a half dozen last night from

Manoli because I was afraid a regular breakfast

might cause delay here, as

hotel yesterday.
coffee as

I'm going to

we do on camping

did at the

it

boil

them

trips."

in the

And

she

dropped them carefully into the coffee can.

At a quarter to six the bags had been packed,
the bedding (carefully shaken free

powder out of consideration

from

to the hostess

"though probably she wouldn't think
a disgrace as

we do

at

insect

it

such

home," said the Coffee

Angel) had been folded and

laid in a corner,

and the men were called to breakfast.
129

The

THE FOUR

130

IN CRETE

bread had dried out during the night, the eggs,

emerging from

their coffee bath,

were sug-

gestive of unskilful Easter dyeing ("but that's

not even shell-deep," said the Scholar, cracking
one), and were boiled too hard ("but they're
hot,

anyway," said the Sage), and the coffee

had

to be swallowed without sugar or cream,

but

it

was a pretty game party and no com-

plaints were heard.

Even when

the mounting

emphasized the general feeling of cracking
joints, there

was only a laugh and they started

bravely after their guide.

He

headed them toward the west, for the

plan was to stop an hour at the old quarry
near Ambelouzos,

still

of the Minotaur by

considered the labyrinth

many who

are loth to

accept Evans' theory in regard to the palace
at Knossos.

The Four had been

advised to

have a special guide for the cavern and a bargain had been struck with a

who

shall charitably

be

little

old Cretan

left nameless.

scientious historian feels

it

his

A con-

duty to record

even the failures of his heroes, so

it

must be

THE FOUR
sorrowfully set

made

down

IN CRETE

131

that here the Scholar

the one grand mistake of his brief Cretan

career.

When

the

little

old

man approached

him the preceding evening and explained that
he must have a drachma to buy candles for the

money was
forgotten.
But in

cave the

cheerfully

the morning, though he

appeared promptly at
appointment,

it

that something

He

handed out and

six o'clock to

was evident soon

keep

his

after starting

was wrong with the old man.

walked feebly and uncertainly, and when

Bardakes, with a significant smile, reached

down

and, picking him

up

in his arms, set

him

behind him on his horse in spite of that animal's
manifest objections to carrying double,

came

clear that the

intoxicated

Four had

guide.

to

"Fool!"

it

be-

do with an

stormed

the

Scholar.

"Who?"

innocently

inquired

the

Coffee

Angel.
"Myself!

I might have

known

night than to give him a drachma!
it

on ouzo!"

better last

He's spent

THE FOUR

132

IN CRETE

"What's ouzo?"
"It's

a powerful Greek wine.

the Greeks drink the retsinato

Ordinarily

—a wine flavored
—which

with resin from the pine trees

very strong; but masticha

makes them fighting mad,
much; and ouzo

is still

stronger and

is

they take too

if

more

isn't

potent.

Lucky

had to

him only one drachma and that he
buy a few candles, for he's had just

enough

to

that I gave

make him wabbly. As

a guide, he's

worthless, but Bardakes will probably

some way.

He

He's hard to beat."

seemed to be thoroughly familiar with

the route, for he led

The quarry

lies

them without

high on a steep

from the traveled road, and the

into a scarcely perceptible trail

hesitation.

hillside,

fair

from Hagii Deka soon

starts

manage

away

path which

resolves itself

and then

dis-

appears altogether from the stranger's eye as
the grade becomes steeper.

But under

the

sure guidance of Bardakes the horses picked
their

way

mouth

zigzag up the steep ascent

till

the

of the quarry, a low opening in the

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

133

midst of horizontal layers of limestone rocks,

came

into view.

made

their

way on

Then

dismounted and

all

foot to the entrance, Bar-

dakes assisting the old Cretan,

who was show-

ing more and more the effects of his intoxication.

the

Several curious peasants,

who had

spied

party from afar and had immediately

abandoned

their field

work

to investigate the

foreigners, followed in their trail with the evi-

dent intention of accompanying them into the
cavern.

The Coffee Angel began to

feel

vague

misgivings about brigandage and robbery in

subterranean vaults, but the Scholar, as usual,

knew no

fear

and plunged gayly through the

shadowy opening.

For awhile

the old

man led

securely enough,

muttering to himself and stumbling occasionally.

But

at a place

where many

galleries

diverged he showed signs of confusion as he
tried first one passage

at length led

on

and then another and

in hesitating uncertainty.

The

Scholar kept discoursing about the enormous

amount of building stone which had been

re-

THE FOUR

134

moved from
rooms and

IN CRETE

the quarry, leaving the great

galleries,

an impression of the
as he speculated

from which one could gain
size of old

And

Gortyna.

on the ancient methods em-

ployed to convey the great blocks down the
steep hillside he

was too absorbed

in his theories

The

to note the vagaries of the tipsy guide.

Sage was engrossed

in

feet of height to the
stifling

joints

accommodating

low places, occasionally

a groan as he doubled his rheumatic

and suggesting more than once that

wasn't necessary to go

Western

who

his six

Woman

much

it

The

farther.

kept her eye on Bardakes,

growing im-

at first suavely, then with

patience, held frequent colloquies with the tot-

tering old man, sometimes correcting his course

and evidently himself knowing the quarry far
better than this local authority.

Finally,

when

Bardakes, after a prolonged argument,

re-

sorted to the drastic measure of collaring the
old fellow

and marching him

direction, she

candle.

in

an opposite

noted that he extinguished

She quietly followed

his

his

example,

THE FOUR
resolved to save her

IN CRETE

135

means of illumination

as

an emergency resource.

Meantime, Bardakes was sternly marching
the old

man

following,

up

along without pause, the Four

and the Cretan peasants bringing

By

this

time the Coffee Angel's

fear of the strangers

had been replaced by a

the rear.

feeling of thankfulness that these able-bodied

men were

at

hand to

assist,

should any occa-

sion for help arise.

And now the

Scholar,

who had been

peering

around dark corners pretending to look for the
fiery-breathed Minotaur,

had at

aware of the shortening of

his candle.

got an extra candle?" he asked.
answered.

"Well," he

have to burn

how

my

"Who's

No

one

"I

may

said, cheerfully,

coat for a torch!

I wonder

the Christians illuminated this place!"

"Christians,"

who

become

last

said

the

Western Woman,

often gave evidence of never having read

any history; "what about them?"

"They

lived here, five

hundred of them,"

explained the Scholar, patiently, "during the

THE FOUR

136

war ending

People from

in 1869.

lages took refuge here

must have found

IN CRETE

this a

was a spring

may

they
air,

after

galleries,

was!"
his

They

gloomy dwelling and
ventilation

and

I've been told, though, that

lack of water.

and of course

these vil-

from the Turks.

must have suffered from poor
there

all

it

in

some part of the cavern,

was such an immense place that

not have been so badly off for good
all.

you

There's quite a suction in these

Whew

see.

!

I should say there

For a sudden gust had extinguished

light

and the party was

left

in

total

darkness.

The Western

Woman

thankfully held fast

her bit of candle and wondered

why Bardakes

didn't light his; but he merely kept the guide

moving and they distinguished

in the distance

a faint glimmer as of a star gradually growing
brighter.

"The light, the
Angel with a note
all

light!"

cried

the

Coffee

of relief in her voice, and

pressed eagerly forward to the opening.

Once

outside, the

Four showed

traces of their

—
THE FOUR
exploit

—the

IN CRETE

137

with

yellow

spotted

Scholar

candle grease which he had dribbled generously on his clothing, the Sage flushed from

creeping through narrow passages, the Coffee
fright, the corpulent

Angel rather pale from
Western

Woman

plastered with

mud

which

she had scraped from walls and ceilings of

passages too contracted to accommodate her
bulk.

Bardakes alone showed no signs of the

fray, but, suave

and well-groomed as

ever,

posed in front of the limestone entrance to be

photographed with the
feebly beside him.

little

Then

old

man

smiling

the tottering gray-

beard was dismissed with his stipulated pay

"enough

to

supply him with ouzo for several

days," the

Scholar remarked

went back to

their work,

—the

peasants

and the Four followed

Bardakes as he struck unerringly across the
fields to the

highway.

XX
On

this level road,

tiful Letheeos

which follows the beau-

flowing westward through the

THE FOUR

138
plain,

horses

the

IN CRETE

trotted

cheerfully

along,

though the Four would fain have tarried on
the pleasant banks, shaded

plane trees.

by oleanders and

They had planned

to

go on to

Vori and then return to the palace at Phaestos,
but when the guide suggested that they

visit

en route there was an enthusiastic

this site

The day was fine, the horses
fresh, and the Four alive with the spirit of
adventure. The Sage especially gave evidence
of high spirits, and once, when Bardakes
affirmative.

turned sharply to the

left

and the pace was

slackened while the horses splashed slowly

through the sparkling waters of the stream,

an explosive chuckle broke the sweet
of the

summer

The Sage

air.

stillness

straightened

himself in the saddle and tried to look unconscious,

but the Scholar mercilessly demanded

the joke.

"I was thinking," confessed the Sage, "what

an awful

trip

this

is

—blue

sky,

beautiful

stream, fine road, gentle horses, and an expert

guide!

Here

I

am

as fresh as a daisy

when I

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

—he paused
—
embarrassed "I sup-

expected to be half dead!
a

moment and looked

pose

it's silly,

And"

but I've been wishing

ing that one of you would take
this horse to

139

send back to

my

my

all

morn-

picture on

The

wife.

last

time I took a horseback trip was thirty-seven
years ago,

when

I rode eighteen miles to court

my girl. She'd like to have it,
Two cameras were instantly
Sage

—to

the

displeasure

seemed, for he chose this

of

you

see

!"

snapped
the

moment

to

rider forward out of the saddle.

at the

horse,

it

throw

his

The

result

was not exactly what the beast had expected,
for the

Sage landed

astride the horse's

head

and bravely commenced the difficult task of
shinnying backward up the smooth incline of
There was a moment's keen

the long neck.

anxiety, but before the Scholar could render
assistance the

Sage had regained the saddle

and was applauded with shouts of "Bravo!"
"O!" lamented the Scholar
when they had calmed down, "if I only had

from the

others.

that picture to send to your wife!"

THE FOUR IN CRETE

140

"I don't blame the poor beast for trying to
rid himself of his load

if

we

are to climb those

heights," said the Sage, pointing to a chain

of hills toward which Bardakes

"We

don't

climb

the

was

leading.

highest

one,"

the

Scholar assured him, "for the palace ruins are

on the eastern spur.

Halbherr did find

re-

mains on the two higher summits, but nothing
so imposing as the lowest one yielded."

"Do we

stay here as long as

Knossos?" asked the Western

we

did at

Woman.

"Probably not," the Sage comforted

her,

"for the ruins are not so extensive."

"No, and they are

so similar to the ruins at

Knossos," the Scholar added, "that they won't
be so hard for us to understand.
great Central Court with

its

long diameter

running north and south, just as

and

at one time there

There's a

at Knossos,

were apartments

all

But the rooms on the southeast
have slipped down the hill so we can only
conjecture what may have been there. The
around

it.

essential parts of a

Minoan palace seem

to be

IN CRETE

THE FOUR
West

Court, as at Knossos,

left.

There's a

and a

so-called Theatral

steps at the north
as seats.

for there

stiff

flight of

end which may have served

no second row of steps joining these

at right angles, as there

royal box

Area with a

a one-sided theater, in any case,

It's
is

141

is

lacking.

is

By

the way, this

climb for the horses, so

"Bardakes

his conjecture

I'll

walk a

is

a

bit."

dismounting just ahead," said

is

the Sage, "so

and the

at Knossos,

we must have

arrived."

was immediately

verified

And
by the

magnificent panorama which burst upon their
view.

Immediately below, on the eastern end of
the ridge, a network of walls,

still

standing

eight or ten feet high, revealed the plan of
the great palace

;

while beyond and three hun-

dred feet lower, stretched the
plain with

its

fertile

Messara

checkerboard effect of brown

and green patches.
"It's almost like looking into
city

an unroofed

from a balloon, commented the Scholar

as he started

down

the

hill

with a hop, skip,

THE FOUR

142

IN CRETE

and jump which landed him

in the center of

"Come

the Theatral Area.

one,

come

all!

Seats are free, and the performance about to

manner of a
others more cau-

begin!" he shouted back in the
professional "barker" as the
tiously picked their

And

way down

the rough slope.

he insisted on ushering them to seats on

the flight of steps backed

huge limestone

by the great wall of

blocks.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he continued, as-

suming a pompous mien and a stentorian voice
which reechoed through the deserted palace,

"you are now seated

down on

looking
will be

the

Minoan theater
Western Court, and it
in the

your privilege to

the various periods of

For know, sweet
Phsestos

listen to a lecture

Minoan

on

architecture.

friends, that the palace of

had a history similar to that of

Knossos.

Neolithic pottery has been found

here and some early

Minoan pottery;

also re-

mains of a palace which was built about the

same time

as the early palace

Both were destroyed, both

at

rebuilt,

Knossos.

though

RUINS AT PH.EST'JS

STOREROOM AT PH.ESTOS

THE FOUR
these vicissitudes

somewhat

Be

later

that as

IN CRETE

seem to have taken place

on

than at Knossos.

this site

may, we find both

it

143

later palaces

flourishing contemporaneously in the period

Late Minoan II

called

Even

B. C.
sites

in their

—about

fifteen

modern

history the

are similar, for while

in the
this

young

The

labors

you

may

ment,

may

it

which then crowned

results of his stupendous

see before

on the ruins of the

same time

was busily digging away

olive groves

summit.

two

Evans was working

at the excavating of Knossos, at the

the Italian Halbherr

hundred

you

—a great palace
structure — a monubuilt

earlier

please your honors, where one

study with unparalleled advantage the

various

building

tures."

Here

periods

in

Minoan

struc-

the Scholar, interrupted by wild

applause from his audience, took the opportunity of

mopping

his perspiring

then, with a deep bow, resumed:
this assertion I

to the
eyes.

need only

call

brow, and

"In proof of

your attention

phenomena here displayed before your

Not

to

mention the Neolithic walls

THE FOUR

1U

which were found

in the

IN CRETE
deep pit at

my

right,

nor the walls of cellars belonging to the early

you

palace,

will observe, comrades, that the

paved area where I now stand

some

is

five feet

lower than the level of the platform along this

whole east

side.

This Theatral Area, ladies

and gentlemen, belonged to the early palace,
and was covered over by the later palace, which

main apartments on the higher level.
The general plan of this later palace you will

had

its

easily

grasp

for a few

if

you

moments

will lend

me

of time.

all

your ears

Immediately

the end of the great wall which

is

now

at

screen-

ing your honorable backs, you will find a nar-

row

stairway, leading to a higher level behind

you.

That, fellow citizens, was not the main

entrance to the palace, but merely gave access
to

some upper rooms. Nor did the magnificent

stairway at your left lead into the main section
of the great building, but these great steps

formed the imposing entrance to the
state which, as

you can

see,

hall of

was on a

level

intermediate between those upper rooms and

THE FOUR
the

main body of the

IN CRETE

palace.

145

Fellow country-

men, that stone stairway has been described as
the finest example of domestic architecture in

and one writer

existence,
tect ever

made such a

feet wide,

no

archi-

flight of steps outside of

This grand staircase

Crete.

it

asserts that

is

over forty-five

and embassies could have mounted

ten or twenty abreast and have been received
solid

in

phalanx into the stately audience

Methinks too that mayhap

chamber.

this

great stairway fulfilled a double function and
that

it

took the place of the second

tier of seats

which we found in the Knossian theater.
be sure,

it is

To

not contiguous to the tier which

you are now occupying, but the great steps
run

at right angles to

your

seats, as did the

second row of seats at Knossos, and would have

formed no bad vantage point from which

to

enjoy either the ancient games or the present
illuminating lecture."

But

at

this

point the

Western

Woman

interrupted with: "I don't believe these were
theaters at

all.

I'd like to have this wall be-

THE FOUR

146

hind us taken

And

find.

IN CRETE

down and

even

if

see

what we could
found

there's nothing to be

now, I believe that these big stairways on both
sites

did lead into some parts of the palaces.

How

did you learn

"Madame,"

replied

the

dignified bow, "all that I

deal

anyway?"

all this,

with

Scholar,

know and

a great

more you may read for yourself

official

books

—one

three recent

by Burrows, another by Baikie,

and a choice

Hawes.

recommend

in the

For your

reports of the excavations.

use, however, I should

a

book by Mr. and Mrs.

little

I have read

and enjoyed them

all

and

have freely appropriated whatever pleased
errant fancy.

But

to resume.

Having

my

elim-

inated the small stairway and the great one
in our search for the

now,

my

main entrance,

let

us

hearers, consider this long corridor

leading east from

huge square

my

right hand.

pillar in its center

There's a

and

my

vision

can pass beyond that into the great Central
Court.

But

it

was not thus

in the

palmy days

of Cretan prosperity, for at that time this end

THE FOUR
of the corridor
to

it

IN CRETE

was closed by a wall and

147
access

could be had only through a small door

near a sentry box, in which a guard was stationed.

In

nothing more or

inclosed corridor

this

fact,

less

than the main artery of

Unlike the long gal-

the storage department.
lery at Knossos, its trend

is

at right angles to

the long diameter of the Central Court,
it

was

and

has magazines branching out from both sides

instead of merely on one side.

The magazines,

however, are not so numerous as at Knossos,

Angel need have no fear of
and though there are some jars

so the Coffee

getting lost;
left

standing in them, they are not so big as

the greatest ones in the other palace."

"But how long

is

this

Woman

impatiently,

the entrance to the

main part?"

interrupted the Western

"and where

is

"Madame,"

suspense to last,"

said the Scholar, "I

was just

on the point of remarking that the main entrance was this corridor parallel to the one of
the storerooms, which will conduct us
diately to the Central

imme-

Court and the rooms

—
THE FOUR

148

surrounding

it.

And

IN CRETE

now, ladies and gentle-

men, thanking you one and

all

for your kind

attention, I profess myself ready to penetrate

into the interior of this palace."

And

without

deigning to notice the tumultuous applause

evoked by
lightly

his eloquence, the Scholar vaulted

upon

the higher platform at his right

and disappeared from view between the walls
of the

main

corridor.

XXI
In

the Central Court the others found

him

talking with a strange Cretan guard, both of

them looking away toward the north and
swinging their arms in excited gestures. "Do
you

see that

like a

peak of Mount Ida that looks

truncated cone?" the Scholar asked as

the others

came up.

"Well, do you see that

long horizontal patch of snow near the top

edge?

Then

ward the

just below that, and a

right end, do

you

see that

That's the entrance to the
the cave where

little to-

dark spot?

Kamares Cave

Mr. Myres found the beautiful

—
THE FOUR

IN CRETE

pottery which everybody calls

from the place of
I

saw a

Kamares ware

discovery.

its

lot of it in the

149

The Sage and

museum.

It's as thin as

eggshells

and the color designs are wonderful.

Since

discovery by Mr.

its

found on many other

sites

Myres

—

it

has been

at Knossos, here at

Phastos, in the Dictaean Cave, and so forth

but I suppose

it

of Kamares.

By

will

always go under the name

the way, didn't these people

Mount Ida

have a great view of

up

We may go

those steps at the left to the highest level

and get even a
our exploring

on

!

this

same

finer view,

first.

level

but we'd better do

The domestic quarters are
not down a big flight of

—

steps, as at Knossos.

That doorway

in the

north wall will take us to them."

The Four must have spent half an hour in
these rooms, finding them fairly intelligible
because of

many

resemblances to the family

quarters at Knossos, and were just retracing
their

way

to

the

Central Court

when

the

Scholar missed the Coffee Angel.

"She

can't have lost herself in this place!"

THE FOUR

150

IX

CRETE

he exclaimed, and then they saw her within
the entrance to the Central Court bending over

which stood against the north wall.

a Large jar

"I didn't

know yon were

jars," said the Scholar,

old these are,

anyway

interested in the old

"and I wonder how

—they

may have

been

standing right here for more than three thou-

sand years."

But

the Coffee

Angel merely

looked mysterious and answered not at

Suddenly the Scholar threw back
sniffed the air like a
lost

head and

dog trying to recover a

"Coffee!"

then

scent,

his

he

shouted

peered into the depths of the great jar.
sat the little traveling lamp, secure

and the

coffee,

sending up

its

all.

from

and

There
drafts,

just beginning to boil, was

enticing aroma.

"But where did yon get the water?" asked
the

Western Woman.

"From
Angel.

and the

the guard,"

answered the Coffee

"I showed him the empty coffee pot
alcohol,

and he understood right away

and pulled a bottle of water out of

and gave

it

to me.

It

his

was probably

pocket

his day's

THE FOUB

And

supply from home.
strong breeze thai

Yon

jar so that

there

151

was such

a

had to look a Long time

I

and

to rind a sheltered spot,

struck me.

CRETE

IN

see.

I

finally

this idea

chose a rather small

could reach to the bottom."

I

"Coffee Angel," cried the Scholar, sinking

on one knee and clasping
sioned appeal,

"when

My

heart

with me?

who can

1

his

grow up

tells

me

serve coffee from a

affinity]

I

hands

read once of a

will

that

in

impas-

yon elope

woman

any

Minoan jar

my

is

woman who went

about offering cups of fragrant tea to fagged
victims of the
called

'The

modern strenuous

Woman

with

Soul/ and she seemed to
Coffee Angel, a

her soul

is

my

woman

a

me
with

life.

She was

Teapot
angelic,
a

her

in

lint.

coffeepot

in

ideal'."

"Well," acquiesced the Coffee Angel. "1 was
fifty

last

month, and when you catch up to

me. we'll elope.

some

Meantime, you might

find

suitable place for lunch, for the alcohol

has burned out and the coffee

"Easy enough,"

is

cooling."

cried the Scholar,

lightly

THE FOUR

152

IN CRETE

diverted from his love-making.

"No rooms on

and we found no

the south or east,

attractions in the north rooms.

special

Let's eat over

here on the west side in the men's megaron.
It

may

have been the king's audience chamber,

like the

Throne

Room

and we

at Knossos,

ought to drink our coffee where the

official

spirit of royalty still lingers."

"You don't tell us

so

things found here as

remarked the

much about the museum
you did

at Knossos,"

Woman

Western

after

the

pangs of hunger had been somewhat appeased.
"Because

there

so

isn't

answered the Scholar.

much

"Very

found here except the palace

little

to

tell,"

has been

itself.

They

don't seem to have used fine frescoes for these

palace walls, and the excavators discovered no
royal

gaming boards

The famous

disk,

or ivory figurines here.

however, atoned somewhat

for disappointment in regard to artistic finds.

That

is

look at

in the
it

Candian museum, and we must

when we get

back, for

it

has an

important bearing on the subject of early

THE FOUR
It

writing.
in

IN CRETE

a clay disk about seven inches

is

diameter and on each side there

"Can we read
an

an

is

in-

around the center."

scription coiled

tablets,

153

that, or

is it

like the

mystery?"

unsolved

Knossian

asked

the

Western Woman.

"A

mystery,

Scholar,

the

said

surely,"

"though Evans sees a general resemblance to
characters

on Cretan sealstones

animals and

human

—figures

of

beings and their utensils

and arms; but though the resemblance is
noticeable, some of the signs are new and he
believes that the inscription isn't Cretan at

but represents another
Lycian.

He

dates

civilization,

known

comes Bardakes to
It's

two

along.

of

tell

its

us

probably the

it

kind.

it is

But here

time to

start.

we want to visit Hagia
supper time, we must go right

o'clock,

Triada before

perhaps a

not later than sixteen

it

hundred B. C. and that makes
earliest thing

all,

and

if

If you'll be getting

with you in a minute.

mounted

I just

want

I'll

to

be

walk

around the broken walls on the south slope."

!

THE FOUR IN CRETE

154

Perilously near the edge of some he walked,
as the others could see

from

their lofty station

by the horses while Bardakes was helping them
mount. Once, as he was bending over to peer
something below on the steep

at

hillside,

he

slipped and turned a couple of involuntary

handsprings down the slope, finally landing

on

his feet,

however, with his hat

still

on

his

head
"It isn't everyone

who could do

that without

dislodging his hat," he laughed as he scrambled

up

to a safe place.

huge bunches

of

And

the

great

crowded about the ancient
bounding up the
as

Cretan

Then came
trip, the

the Letheeos

daisies

walls,

up

which

he came

and sprang into the saddle

Bardakes began to lead

valley.

it

hill

then, pulling

in the descent to the

the prettiest part of the

two miles along the course of

—quite

a considerable stream as

nears the western sea coast,

its

clear water

gliding almost without a ripple over the clean,

pebbly bed and

its

The

on either

rich fields

banks shaded by large
side give

trees.

an appear-

THE LETH.^OS

CHAPEL OP SAINT GEORGE

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

155

ance of thrift and plenty, while a lonely palm
tree adds a tropical suggestion.

XXII
The little
on the

Venetian chapel of Saint George,
above the Italian excavations at

hill

Hagia Triada,
and

the tourist,

old frescoes on

As

the

is

a conspicuous landmark for

has, besides,

some interesting

its walls.

Four slowly forded

rode on toward the
of the ruins

was

hill,

the stream and

their first impression

totally different

from that

gained at Knossos and Phaestos, for here they

were confronted, as

it

were, by a cross section

of the Villa which emphasized

on different

terraces.

its

arrangement

A score or so of laborers

were at work on the lowest

level,

shoveling and carting, and

women were

digging and
clip-

ping and pulling the weeds which persisted

in

the crevices of walls already cleared.

"That

is

one of the drawbacks of excavating

in a tropical climate," said the Scholar, point-

THE FOUR

156

ing to the

CRETE

IN

women bending

over at their weed-

"Everything grows so

ing.

labor

is

fast that constant

required to keep the walls clear of
I've been told that here at

grass and shrubs.

Hagia Triada

at the

end of the season the

gives the

Italian mission

'dig'

over to the

charge of the Cretans with the understanding
that the

guard

shall

But

keep the place clean.

one year when they returned to resume work
they found a rank young forest flourishing

on the

and they had

site,

to clear this

away

before they could proceed with their excavations.

Here some words

of Bardakes

Scholar spring from his horse and in

"He

he explained:
hive tomb.
in

it,

right.

the

It

is

wants us to see

made the
a moment
this bee-

unroofed and nothing

is

but you can see the circular shape

And

ground

all

over yonder that depression in
is

the place where the painted

sarcophagus was found.
that in the

left

museum.

You'll be able to see

Its artistic merit

great, but the paintings on

it

is

not

are interesting.

THE FOUR
They

157

depict scenes connected with the care of

the dead which
fluence.

show undoubted Egyptian

Lots of really

been found on this
vase,

IN CRETE

artistic things too

site.

in-

have

Besides the boxers'

which we talked about in connection with

the bull fights, there

is

the beautiful

little

vase

showing a wonderful decoration representing

And

some kind of a procession.

the frescoes

found here have been surpassed by none.
don't

know much about

I

the history of the Villa,

but there seem to have been at least three
periods

—the

first

and third rather unim-

portant, but the second distinguished by hand-

some rooms and

fine furnishings.

Over yon-

der are two drainage canals right together at
different levels, representing different periods
in the life of the Villa;

were only here, he could
but one of the

workmen

and
tell

Dr. Halbherr

if

us

all

about them,

says that he had to

go

However, I remember a

home

early to-day.

little

about these rooms below the chapel.

This

is

evidently a

seat extending

megaron with

around the wall

its

—an

gypsum
arrange-

THE FOUR

158

ment

IN CRETE

similar to that of the

Knossos

—and

this

Throne

door to the

Room

at

left evidently

leads to a sleeping apartment, windowless, ap-

parently, like the one off the

Bardakes

the center

but I can't

make

stone objects.
stoves

room a

kitchen.

That

was probably the

table,

calls this other

flat slab in

Throne Room.

out these great irregular

Stoves!

—three of them!

He

says they are

Well, I can't under-

stand the mechanism, but perhaps this stone

trough was for removing the ashes, and probably the smoke came out into the room.

suppose they were heated thoroughly

I

like the

old-fashioned brick oven of our grandmothers'
day, and then the coals were raked out and

But

the bread laid on the hot stones to bake.

I'm only guessing, and I'm out of

my

depth,

anyway, in the commissary department.

move

I

that the ladies study out the culinary

arrangements of the Minoans while the Sage

and I take a swim
it

in Carlyle's

'Oblivious

in the River LetliEeos.

Isn't

French Revolution that we read

Lethe flows not above ground'?

THE FOUR
But

does

it

—

in Crete

IN CRETE

—and I propose a dip

the Stream of Forgetfulness

"If

it

will

159

make me

in

!"

forget the fleas

we

slept

with last night and those we shall probably
sleep with to-night, I ask

no more," said the

Sage.
"It will give surcease from

all

sorrow and

a respite from pain," promised the Scholar.

"Hurrah
the

for the

men departed

Stream of Oblivion!" and
as gleefully as

two

school-

boys.

XXIII

An hour later the Four were again mounted
and splashing through the shallow waters of
the stream, headed northeast for Vori, where
they must seek quarters for the night.
village
street

seemed far from

attractive, for its

was rough and dirty and served

a conduit for the

little

the

main

also as

stream which supplied

the inhabitants with water.
able courtyard

The

Into the inevit-

and up the outside stairway

Four followed Bardakes and found,

as at

Hagii Deka, an upper room, comparatively

:

THE FOUR

160

IN CRETE

clean, with the usual hard-cushioned seat run-

ning around the walls.

No

lower room was to

be had here for the bargaining, but opening
off the large

room was a small storeroom with

a great heap of wheat in one corner and a
wine- jar in another.

"The
and

ladies

the

want

wine,"

wheat

to sleep with the

announced

Western

the

Woman. "We had the hall of state last night
and the men must have it to-night." And no
amount of argument could move her. So a
blanket was spread on the floor and the bed-

room was ready for occupancy.
The silence that followed the completion
these simple arrangements

of

was tinged with an

indisputable air of depression, for the

Four

were experiencing the reaction incident on a

day of excitement with short
their time of lowest ebb,

face

rations.

It

was

and even the Scholar's

showed the unmistakable discouragement

of a hungry man.

But

in a

and with a resolute shake of

"We'd

better waste

moment he

rose

his shoulders said

no more time.

We

must

THE FOUR
some place

find

to get

on these cobblestone

161

supper and then be back

we

here before dark or

But here

IN CRETE
shall

break our necks

streets."

the deus ex machina appeared in

the shape of Bardakes introducing a bearded

man

with

whom

Scholar talked a few

the

minutes.

"He

seems

like a gentle sort of a fellow,"

commented the

Scholar, "and he

may

be our

onry chance, so we'd better hold on to him.
can't exactly

make

it

I

out, but he says he will

have something for us to eat at eight o'clock

and begs us to

He

tell

him what we should

like.

seems very anxious to have us come."

"O,

tell

said the

him

to have anything but eggs,"

Western Woman.

"Maybe he

could

give us some lamb."

"He says 'Certainly,'

" reported the Scholar,

"that he hasn't any lamb ready, but will

one for

us,

and that he

will

come back

kill

at eight

o'clock to escort us through the dark streets.

So I

told

him

to

go ahead with the lamb."

"Don't you think you had better talk to him

162

THE FOUR

a

more?" suggested the Sage as the

little

stranger turned to go.

IN CRETE

"He

doesn't seem to

There

like a restaurant keeper.

me

something

is

queer about this."

So the Scholar
tioned

called

him again.

him back and ques-

The

could

others

not

understand, of course, but they noted a change

manner and

in the Scholar's

a dull red flush

creeping over his face under the tan as the
stranger finally

"He

is

bowed himself

out.

Dr. Halbherr's servant," he an-

nounced, rather sulkily, "and he brought an
invitation

from Dr. Halbherr

to dine with

him

And I've sent back word for
him to kill a lamb Ye gods What a break !"
And the Scholar groaned— and groaned once
at eight o'clock!

!

!

who refused
The Western

again at the laughter of the others
to regard his mistake seriously.

Woman
as a

especially

seemed to take the matter

huge joke and laughed

down her

till

the tears ran

cheeks.

"It's all right," she said

when

she finally

regained control of her voice; "Dr. Halbherr

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

163

doubtless has heard that there are tourists in

town and has

And

ing.

invited us to keep us

roast

lamb

have 'no matter how
as there

is

will be a

it is

come

from

good thing

by,' especially

and we

shall

have to start

But

without coffee to-morrow morning."

At

to

just enough alcohol to boil water

for the canteen

Scholar

starv-

still

the

looked rather chagrined.

eight o'clock the servant appeared carry-

ing a lantern, as by this time the streets were

very dark, and a five minutes' walk brought
the

Four

to Dr. Halbherr's home.

were ushered at once into the large
the table

was spread.

Here they
room where

Dr. Halbherr himself,

as well dressed

and immaculate

just stepped in

from some Rue de

put the Four at ease by

as

if

he had

Rivoli, soon

his perfect courtesy,

though they were somewhat conscious of

their

incongruous attire and travel-stained appear-

The conversation began in Greek, but
only the Scholar could make any adequate
response in that language.
Then their host
tried them in Italian; blank silence. Next in
ance.

THE FOUR IN CRETE

164

French; the Coffee Angel feebly ventured on
"Oui, monsieur," and then relapsed into ex-

hausted embarrassment.

be a

But

silent meal.

surprised

them

all

speak English?"

at last

to

Dr. Halbherr

by saying, "Perhaps you

And from

then on they

many

chatted easily, as the host related
stories

doomed

It seemed

witty

about his thirty years' experiences in

Crete, through the varied vicissitudes which

that island has undergone in recent times.

And how
civilized

the

Four

did eat

—soup and

dinner

fish

lamb and salad and pie and

was

It

!

really a

and chicken and
and

coffee,

all

so

There was one moment of

daintily served!

embarrassment when the lamb appeared, but
as Dr.

Halbherr remarked with a

in his eye,
all

"You

see, I

sly twinkle

received your message,"

had a hearty laugh over the lamb episode

and the Scholar's discomfiture.

"I

am

never

surprised by any answer which I receive to

my

invitations," said

never

When

know

just

Dr. Halbherr, "for I

how they

will be delivered.

I hear that foreigners have visited the

THE FOUR
excavations,

since

I

IN CRETE
know

don't

165

in

what

language to address them, I always send

man

to find their guide

dinner with me.

and

them

tell

this

to take

Some funny misunderstand-

ings have arisen, hut the important thing

is

to

convince visitors that they need not go hungry
to bed.

It

is

really very difficult to get a

in the town, especially as the

water

isn't

meal
very

safe.

You

of this

— I send three miles to a safe spring for

it,

needn't fear to drink

and I always urge

fully, for

it is

you want

all

my guests to drink plenti-

a long day's ride back to Candia

and no good water on the way."
It

is

needless to say that the

justice to the invitation, so that

Four did
on

their

full

way

back to their rooms the Sage expressed the
fear that Dr. Halbherr

would need

special carrier to the spring next

to send a

day to

re-

plenish his supply.

This night the Sage and the Scholar could
sleep in defiance of the fleas, for the

Woman
box of

remembered

insect

powder.

to offer

Western

them her extra

THE FOUR

166

"This reminds
fessor of

me

IN CRETE

of a remark a great pro-

Greek once made,"

said the

Sage

he accepted her courtesy; "I asked him

knew Dorpfeld, and he

ship which comes

powder

— O,

am

—not well

ac-

him

the kind of friend-

from lending one's

in Greece!'

he

if

replied, 'Yes, I

quite well acquainted with

quainted, either, but

as

insect

So you have learned the

proper method of making yourself popular

in

these lands!"

Next morning
start,

was the usual early

but this time with only

Graham

crackers

Therefore the Four were not

for breakfast.

sorry

there

when about

ten o'clock Bardakes took

them through a little village where he procured
some alcohol and a dozen fresh eggs. Just
beyond the town they stopped to make coffee
in a deserted stone hut,

where some curious

peasants came up to watch the process.

from

Apart

day was an uneventful one of
slow quiet progress toward Candia. The road
this,

the

chosen for the return was a few miles longer,

but the Four

now

felt that there

was no need

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

167

of haste

and decreed that the horses should

walk

day and the

all

riders have a chance to

enjoy the flowers and scenes along the way.
Just at six o'clock they entered the principal
street of

Candia and

rein before the

in a

few minutes drew

Hotel Knossos.

The

servants

there are evidently used to assisting fatigued
travelers,

chairs

for obsequious boys ran out with

and reached up

to receive the riders into

But with a superior smile Bardakes waved them away. By this time he knew
their arms.

his party,

and seemed

as pleased as a child to

have them laugh and dismount so easily in
view of the curious spectators.

full

PART FIVE

PART FIVE
XXIV

A steamer was due to leave for Athens that
Four had seen

night, but the

so they decided to wait

leaving

of

till

little

of Candia,

the next opportunity

and meantime

explore

to

museum and the town, especially

the

as the Scholar

professed his readiness to reveal the mystery

about the ruby-lipped lady

who would

be at the

museum next morning

Woman

and the Coffee Angel wished

her.

So they

all

if

the

accompanied him to

surely

Western
to

meet

visit his

lady love, following him to the second floor of
the
are

museum and
exhibited

various

the

Cretan

marched them

into the large

greatest

sites.

room where

treasures

Without

to the left

from

pause

and halted them

before a fresco on the wall near the door.
is

a painting, less than

he

life size,

It

representing

the profile of a girl of rather piquant beauty,
171

THE FOUR

172

dressed in a
effectively

of

some diaphanous material

trimmed with

Her

stripes.
lips,

gown

IN CRETE
blue, black,

and red

great dark eye and bright red

the black curling hair

the forehead in a decided

drawn back from

pompadour and

fall-

ing in loose waves on the shoulders, the general
effect of smartness

and

style,

would make such

The effect of
the apparition in the Candian museum is really
startling, and the Four all yielded to the charm
a girl conspicuous anywhere.

of her

somewhat pert beauty

Woman's

till

the

Western

curiosity recalled her to the object

of their visit and she reminded the Scholar of
his

promise that they should meet the ruby-

lipped lady.

"This

is

the 'ruby-lipped lady,'

"

he replied, with a chuckle of delight that he had

kept his secret so well. "Don't you admire her
cherry lips?

me now

!

And

see

how

she

is

smiling at

Just to think that she has been smil-

ing like that more than three thousand years

and I haven't been here to

"Humph!"

see her!"

ejaculated the Western

Woman,

with spinsterial venom, "she has had time to

THE FOUR

IN CRETE

smile on thousands of other

men

173

in her long

career!"

"Yes, but

I'm

sure,

for

is

it

me

that she

is

waiting,

on the shores of Acheron," persisted

the Scholar, optimistically, "and I'd be willing
to

become a shade

if

I might catch a glimpse

of the ruby-lipped lady in the realms of Dis!"

"Tut! tut!" interrupted the Sage, sharply,
"don't be sacrilegious,

my

boy

—at

not until you get us out of Crete.
is

any

rate,

And

here

the fresco of the Cup-bearer that the ladies

want

new

to see,

and

all

these other things that are

to them."

So the Scholar made the rounds, giving
teresting data about the pottery

The Western

Woman

listened

in-

and bronzes.
awhile,

but

presently abandoned the others to their pursuit
of knowledge

and slipped out

in

search of

photographic adventure.

She found abundant

material on every side.

There were narrow

business

bright

streets

with tiny shops displaying

garments and gaudy weaves under

canvas awnings.

THE FOUR IN CRETE

174

At one street corner she saw a cobbler sitting
on the curbing while he comfortably plied his
trade. In an open space nearby stood men and
boys selling various products of the baker's
trade, their wares piled

on trays which they

carried suspended in front of

them by a strap

A PACK MULE IN CANDIA
or

which rested on temporary stands

venders

much more

interesting

—the

than their

wares, for every conceivable combination of

Cretan garments with cheap American clothing was to be seen in this group.

As

in Athens, pedestrians sauntered non-

chalantly along the narrow streets, confident

STREET SCENE IN CANDIA

STREET SCENE

IN

CANDIA

THE FOUR
occasional

that

the

them

right of way.

IN CRETE
would

vehicles

Much

give

of the "packing"

seemed to be done by patient

who plodded along almost

175

little

donkeys

concealed by their

big loads of furniture, or building materials,
or casks.

In a crowded downtown

street

carrying their embroidery

girls,

some

little

home from

school, delightedly stood to be photographed,

and

in the Prince

George Square a group of

school children in charge of their master

going through some gymnastic

open

drill

was

in the

air.

The only well-dressed women whom the
Western Woman encountered were invariably
clad in black
the face
in

up

and wore black masks covering

to the eyes.

These she met always

some secluded residence

quickly along as
tion

if

and vanishing

latticed

mystery.

had a

street,

passing

anxious to avoid observainto

some house whose

windows conveyed an impression of
Sometimes, however, the residences

sociable air, for second-story bay-win-

THE FOUR IN CRETE

176

dows, built out on opposite sides of the very

narrow

street,

nearly touched and provided

every facility for gossiping without exertion.
Besides the finer mosques, here and there

were older ones, picturesque
tion,

in their dilapida-

with their minarets of various shapes and

sizes.

AN OLD MOSQUE

On

the beach the

the fishermen

hung up

Western

mending

in parallel

walked around the

Woman

their great

rows to dry.

watched

brown

nets,

Later as she

city wall at sunset, she

a distant view of the

little

had

harbor fort pro-

jecting far out into the water.

Everywhere

THE FOUR
she turned the

Western

thing interesting to one
first

IN CRETE

Woman

found some-

who was having her

glimpse of the nearer East.

when on Wednesday the
reported that two vessels bound
sorry

would stop

"One

is

at

hotel

for

clerk

Athens

German Lloyd steamer

a North

vessel," the Scholar reported,

"and we had better take the

first

one that

So the bags were packed and the

Four held themselves
hotel at a

She was

Candia that day.

and one a Greek

arrives."

177

moment's

in readiness to leave the

notice.

Three times dur-

ing that day was the warning given that a

steamer was near and three times did the
Scholar run to the

more farewell

arrived, the tickets

dakes,

to say yet one

to the ruby-lipped lady. Finally

at five o'clock the

Four

museum

Greek

vessel

had actually

were purchased, and the

started to the dock, escorted

who had appeared

at the

by Bar-

proper time

with an enormous bunch of roses which he
presented to the ladies.

He looked handsomer

than ever, for in honor of the occasion he had

178

THE FOUR

donned

a shirt of light blue

wide

sleeves,

IN CRETE
gingham, and

its

hanging free against the dark

blue of his sleeveless jacket, gave him a gala-

day appearance.

"Our steamer

is

too narrow and too high for

her length," chuckled the Scholar, gleefully,

Four clambered on board, "and now I

as the

what they told me

believe
office

—that she

is

at the steamship

the worst boat that sails the

Just see how she rocks at anchor and

seas.

the sea

is

as

smooth

"You seem

as glass."

pleased over the prospect of a

bad voyage," said the Western

Woman. "Are

you never seasick?"
"Never," replied the Scholar, cheerfully.
"First-class passage

me.

is

a waste of

money

for

I'm sure I could go steerage without the

slightest inconvenience.

But we

shall all

have

a chance to test our endurance this trip, for

you can
under

feel that there is a

this oily surface

nasty ground swell

and

as soon as

we

get

out from land the fun will begin."

The

ladies

said

nothing,

but the

Coffee

THE FOUR
Angel served

coffee

IN CRETE

179

and sandwiches, making

sure of a meal before the vessel should put out

The Western
stateroom, and finding

to

Woman

visited

her

that the water

was

sea.

splashing against the port holes, carried a

blanket and pillow on deck with the thought
that she might pass the night under the stars.

A

few minutes

later she noticed the Scholar

and the captain engaged

an excited

in

'"This fellow insists that

cation.

alter-

some one has

brought a blanket out of a stateroom," explained

somewhat

from the encounter, "and I had

flushed

swear by

"But

returning

Scholar,

the

that

all

it is

is

holy that

it

"I passed the captain on the

Go

him

tell

isn't true."

Western Woman.

true," cried the

saw the blanket.

to

way up and he
it is

true."

So the Scholar delivered her message and

came back

smiling.

When

Greeks.

allowed and
;

I deny

now

says: 'Certainly!

ever she

likes!'

'"He

is

it

just like

he

tells

all

me

it

these
isn't

that I confess, he smiles and

Tell the lady to use what-

That

is

discipline for you!"

THE FOUR IN CRETE

180

Then, leaning over the
steamed away from the

murmured, "Farewell

city,

rail

as

the boat

the Scholar sadly

to the ruby-lipped lady!

She has promised to wait for

me

till

my

re-

And I shall carry her picture always
next to my heart !" And he took from his noteturn!

book a
the

slip of

Minoan

treasure

"The American

beauty.

me," he explained,

for

that

paper on which was a sketch of

"and I

shall

But his audience had disThe Western Woman was already

it

persed.

artist did

always."

stretched out on the bench of the hatchway,

the

Sage was seated near her with

resting on one of the

his

head

hampers of oranges

which covered the rear deck, the Coffee Angel
leaned limply back in her steamer chair.

"So

soon!" ejaculated the Scholar.

"Yes,

so

soon!"

snapped

the

Western

Woman.
During

all

that night the steamer proved

her right to the reputation of being the worst
vessel
toss,

on the

sea.

Other boats

may

pitch

and

but the Thessaly simply got down and

THE FOUR
wallowed

!

IN CRETE

181

way from Crete to Athens
The Western Woman, lying

All the

she wallowed!

on the bench which runs athwart the deck,

at

one moment would be almost standing on her
feet looking

down

at the

waves directly below

her,

and the next,

feet

went up, she would open her eyes upon

as the boat rocked

the billows below her head.

oranges, at

first

and her

The hampers

of

securely lashed, became loos-

ened during the night, and with each shifting
of the level would slide against her bench and

then away from

it, till

she got to expecting a

dull thud against her head at regular intervals.

The Sage and the Coffee Angel too succumbed,
and during the whole night occupied two other
of the hatchway benches, but the Scholar had

a fine sleep in his berth and emerged in the

morning

as fresh as a

upon him,

June

as the only

rose.

It devolved

normal member of the

party, to usher his limp companions into the

rowboat and to conduct them safely to the
Monastiraki station in Athens.

Western

Woman into a carriage

As

he put the

and bowed

to

—
182

THE FOUR

say farewell, a

of paper fell

The Western

pocket.
it

slip

up and

slipped

it

IN CRETE

Woman

from

his

quietly picked

into her Baedeker.

It

was

the sketch of the ruby-lipped lady which the

Western
week

Woman

after she

returned to him the next

had photographed

/*^

THE RUBY-LIPPED LADY

it.

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