BOOK V: A RITUAL AT MIDNIGHT
RUPERT'S JOURNAL--_Continued_.
_June_ 20, 1907.
The time has gone as quickly as work can effect since I saw my Lady. AsI told the mountaineers, Rooke, whom I had sent on the service, had madea contract for fifty thousand Ingis-Malbron rifles, and as many tons ofammunition as the French experts calculated to be a full supply for ayear of warfare. I heard from him by our secret telegraph code that theorder had been completed, and that the goods were already on the way.The morning after the meeting at the Flagstaff I had word that at nightthe vessel--one chartered by Rooke for the purpose--would arrive atVissarion during the night. We were all expectation. I had always nowin the Castle a signalling party, the signals being renewed as fast asthe men were sufficiently expert to proceed with their practice alone orin groups. We hoped that every fighting-man in the country would in timebecome an expert signaller. Beyond these, again, we have always a fewpriests. The Church of the country is a militant Church; its priests aresoldiers, its Bishops commanders. But they all serve wherever the battlemost needs them. Naturally they, as men of brains, are quicker atlearning than the average mountaineers; with the result that they learntthe code and the signalling almost by instinct. We have now at least onesuch expert in each community of them, and shortly the priests alone willbe able to signal, if need be, for the nation; thus releasing for activeservice the merely fighting-man. The men at present with me I took intoconfidence as to the vessel's arrival, and we were all ready for workwhen the man on the lookout at the Flagstaff sent word that a vesselwithout lights was creeping in towards shore. We all assembled on therocky edge of the creek, and saw her steal up the creek and gain theshelter of the harbour. When this had been effected, we ran out the boomwhich protects the opening, and after that the great armouredsliding-gates which Uncle Roger had himself had made so as to protect theharbour in case of need.
We then came within and assisted in warping the steamer to the side ofthe dock.
Rooke looked fit, and was full of fire and vigour. His responsibilityand the mere thought of warlike action seemed to have renewed his youth.
When we had arranged for the unloading of the cases of arms andammunition, I took Rooke into the room which we call my "office," wherehe gave me an account of his doings. He had not only secured the riflesand the ammunition for them, but he had purchased from one of the smallAmerican Republics an armoured yacht which had been especially built forwar service. He grew quite enthusiastic, even excited, as he told me ofher:
"She is the last word in naval construction--a torpedo yacht. A smallcruiser, with turbines up to date, oil-fuelled, and fully armed with thelatest and most perfect weapons and explosives of all kinds. The fastestboat afloat to-day. Built by Thorneycroft, engined by Parsons, armouredby Armstrong, armed by Crupp. If she ever comes into action, it will bebad for her opponent, for she need not fear to tackle anything less thana _Dreadnought_."
He also told me that from the same Government, whose nation had justestablished an unlooked-for peace, he had also purchased a whole park ofartillery of the very latest patterns, and that for range and accuracythe guns were held to be supreme. These would follow before long, andwith them their proper ammunition, with a shipload of the same to followshortly after.
When he had told me all the rest of his news, and handed me the accounts,we went out to the dock to see the debarkation of the war material.Knowing that it was arriving, I had sent word in the afternoon to themountaineers to tell them to come and remove it. They had answered thecall, and it really seemed to me that the whole of the land must thatnight have been in motion.
They came as individuals, grouping themselves as they came within thedefences of the Castle; some had gathered at fixed points on the way.They went secretly and in silence, stealing through the forests likeghosts, each party when it grouped taking the place of that which hadgone on one of the routes radiating round Vissarion. Their coming andgoing was more than ghostly. It was, indeed, the outward manifestationof an inward spirit--a whole nation dominated by one common purpose.
The men in the steamer were nearly all engineers, mostly British, wellconducted, and to be depended upon. Rooke had picked them separately,and in the doing had used well his great experience of both men andadventurous life. These men were to form part of the armoured yacht'screw when she should come into the Mediterranean waters. They and thepriests and fighting-men in the Castle worked well together, and with azeal that was beyond praise. The heavy cases seemed almost of their ownaccord to leave the holds, so fast came the procession of them along thegangways from deck to dock-wall. It was a part of my design that thearms should be placed in centres ready for local distribution. In such acountry as this, without railways or even roads, the distribution of warmaterial in any quantity is a great labour, for it has to be doneindividually, or at least from centres.
But of this work the great number of mountaineers who were arriving madelittle account. As fast as the ship's company, with the assistance ofthe priests and fighting-men, placed the cases on the quay, the engineersopened them and laid the contents ready for portage. The mountaineersseemed to come in a continuous stream; each in turn shouldered his burdenand passed out, the captain of his section giving him as he passed hisinstruction where to go and in what route. The method had been alreadyprepared in my office ready for such a distribution when the arms shouldarrive, and descriptions and quantities had been noted by the captains.The whole affair was treated by all as a matter of the utmost secrecy.Hardly a word was spoken beyond the necessary directions, and these weregiven in whispers. All night long the stream of men went and came, andtowards dawn the bulk of the imported material was lessened by half. Onthe following night the remainder was removed, after my own men hadstored in the Castle the rifles and ammunition reserved for its defenceif necessary. It was advisable to keep a reserve supply in case itshould ever be required. The following night Rooke went away secretly inthe chartered vessel. He had to bring back with him the purchased cannonand heavy ammunition, which had been in the meantime stored on one of theGreek islands. The second morning, having had secret word that thesteamer was on the way, I had given the signal for the assembling of themountaineers.
A little after dark the vessel, showing no light, stole into the creek.The barrier gates were once again closed, and when a sufficient number ofmen had arrived to handle the guns, we began to unload. The actualdeportation was easy enough, for the dock had all necessary appliancesquite up to date, including a pair of shears for gun-lifting which couldbe raised into position in a very short time.
The guns were well furnished with tackle of all sorts, and before manyhours had passed a little procession of them disappeared into the woodsin ghostly silence. A number of men surrounded each, and they moved aswell as if properly supplied with horses.
In the meantime, and for a week after the arrival of the guns, thedrilling went on without pause. The gun-drill was wonderful. In thearduous work necessary for it the great strength and stamina of themountaineers showed out wonderfully. They did not seem to know fatigueany more than they knew fear.
For a week this went on, till a perfect discipline and management wasobtained. They did not practise the shooting, for this would have madesecrecy impossible. It was reported all along the Turkish frontier thatthe Sultan's troops were being massed, and though this was not on a warfooting, the movement was more or less dangerous. The reports of our ownspies, although vague as to the purpose and extent of the movement, weredefinite as to something being on foot. And Turkey does not do somethingwithout a purpose that bodes ill to someone. Certainly the sound ofcannon, which is a far-reaching sound, would have given them warning ofour preparations, and would so have sadly minimized their effectiveness.
When the cannon had all been disposed of--except, of course, thosedestined for defence of the Castle or to be stored there--Rooke went awaywit
h the ship and crew. The ship he was to return to the owners; the menwould be shipped on the war-yacht, of whose crew they would form a part.The rest of them had been carefully selected by Rooke himself, and werekept in secrecy at Cattaro, ready for service the moment required. Theywere all good men, and quite capable of whatever work they might be setto. So Rooke told me, and he ought to know. The experience of his youngdays as a private made him an expert in such a job.