CHAPTER II
MITSOS AND YANNI FIND A HORSE
It was a morning to make the blood go blithely. There had been a slightfrost during the night, and the rough grass in the ditches was stiffand sprinkled with the powdered cold, and the air was brisk in thenostrils. To the right the ground fell away sheerly to the outlyinghills bordering the plain, which lay unrolled beneath them like acolored map, with extraordinary clearness, in counties of yellow-green,where the corn was already springing, alternating with territories ofgood red earth, showing where the leafless vineyards stood. Beyondagain lay the dim, dark blue of the sea, and across that, more guessedat than seen, the stencilled shapes of the hills beyond the gulf. Theirpath, a cobbled Turkish road, ascended steadily, skirting about theedges of the deep ravines, and making detours round the acuter slopeswhich rose above them to the top of the mountain ridge; and the mulesambled slowly along with their panniers of oranges on either side,while Mitsos and Yanni walked behind, dressed in their roughest peasantclothes, talking of the thousand things of which boys talk. It tookthem nearly three hours to reach the foot of the last slope on whichthe village stood, and here they halted for half an hour to eat anddrink, in order that they might pass straight through without waitingafter giving the message.
Yanni, who knew the village, soon recognized the house to which theywere going, which stood somewhat apart from the others, and had a lowoutlying building a stone's-throw below it.
"That is the house," he said, "and that shed near is the mill. Thereis a big stream coming down from the mountains there which turns thewheel."
"They should grind quickly, then. Shall we go on?"
The house in question they found was entered from a yard, the door ofwhich was closed, and their knocking only seemed to rouse a dog insideto the top pitch of fury. But at last a woman came out on the woodenbalcony overlooking the street, and asked them what they wanted.
"We want Yorgi Gregoriou," shouted Yanni. "Ah, do you not remember me?"
The woman took up a piece of wood and threw it, as a man throws withforce and precision, at the dog inside. The barking broke off short ina staccato howl, and Mitsos guessed that she had hit.
"Yanni Mavromichales, is it not?" asked the woman.
"Surely."
She disappeared into the house, and in a moment her step was heardacross the yard. As soon as the door was opened the dog flew out likea cork from a bottle, only to find himself between the devil and thedeep sea--his mistress, an authentic terror, standing on one side, andMitsos' whip flirting out at him like the tongue of a snake on theother. So he scuffled away to a safe distance and barked himself out ofall shape.
"Come in, Yanni," said Gregoriou's wife. "What brings you here?"
"A message from Petrobey to Gregoriou."
The woman's eye travelled slowly up to Mitsos' face, as if she couldonly take him in by sections.
"And the giant?" she asked. "Is he from a fair?"
Yanni shouted with laughter.
"No; it is my cousin. But we are in a hurry, as we go far to-day. Whereshall we find Gregoriou?"
"He is at the mill. You will find him there, and then come back anddrink a glass of wine."
The stream that worked the mill was confined within a masonry-laidbed for a hundred yards above the house, to narrow its course andconcentrate its energy. From the end of the yard ran out a tall,stout-built wall; along the top of this the water was conducted to awooden shoot, below which was the mill-wheel. The mill seemed to bein full working order, for an ear-filling booming came from within,shaking the rickety door on its hinges. The two tried the latch, butfound it locked, and it was not till Yanni had shouted his name that itwas cautiously opened.
"Yanni Mavromichales?" queried a voice from inside.
"No other."
"What do you want?"
"This only. Are you grinding corn?"
There was a pause, but the door was still held ajar only.
"Corn for the hungry, or corn for the Turk?" asked the voice.
"Black corn for the Turk."
The door was opened and a little wizened man appeared on the threshold.He had a white beard, cut close and pointed, and a pair of heavyeyebrows. His face was a map of minute wrinkles, as the sea is coveredwith ripples under the land-breeze, and two suspicious eyes peerednarrowly out from under their overhanging brows. Mitsos was standingclose to the door, and this grotesque little apparition, as he openedit, gave a shrill squeal of dismay, and would have shut it again hadnot Yanni prevented him.
"Who is that?" asked the little man, pointing to Mitsos.
"My cousin," said Yanni, "who comes with me on the business of thecorn. Oh, all our necks are in one noose. Do not be afraid."
The little old man seemed strangely reassured at this brutality offrankness, and setting the door wide--"Come in, both of you," he said,shortly.
Inside the noise of the mill was almost deafening, but Gregoriou pinnedthe wheel, the two stones stopped grinding, and only the water splashedhissing down the channel.
"Black corn, did you say; black corn for the Turk?" said the littleold man, peering into Yanni's face, with blinking eyes, like a noondayowl. "I grind corn all day, for there will be many hungry mouths. Lookyou, I am no fighting man; I leave that to those who are taller thanthe pillars in the church, like this cousin of yours; but where wouldthe fighting be without such as I? But, lad, don't give hint of this tothe woman-folk, else I shall have the clan of them a-screaming round melike the east gale in the mountains."
He rubbed his hands together and broke out into a screeching cackle ofa laugh, which showed a row of discolored, irregular teeth.
"Look here," he said, opening a bin behind the door, "is not this good,strong corn? I have ground it all myself. None but I have ground it."
His face took an expression of diabolical cunning.
"They have promised to buy it of me, all at a sound price," he said;"but it is not that so much that makes my heart go singing--it is thatI want it to do its work well, and give the Turk an indigestion oflead. This is good business for me. I will be a rich man, and I shallhave brought death to many devils."
He slipped back to the lever that brought the wheel under the stream,and as the stones began to turn again, from their lips there dribbledout a black powder, which he scooped up in a wooden ladle and emptiedinto a cask. Then, seeing that the door was still open, he gave anothershrill animal cry of fright and sprang to lock it. "Charcoal!" heshouted to them across the rumbling din of the stone, "charcoal groundfine, for so it is the more nourishing. And here are the sulphur andsaltpetre. To-night I shall mix them carefully--oh, so carefully--andI shall be glutted with the thought that there will be a red death forevery stroke in the mixing."
And then he got him back to the stones and fed them tenderly with freshlumps of charcoal, as one would feed a sick dog.
Mitsos and Yanni were in a hurry to take the road again, and so theyleft him absorbed in the grinding, and heard the key grate in the lockas soon as they got outside.
From Kalyvia their road topped the watershed of the mountain, andthereafter descended in leaps and strides, almost due west, down tothe plain which skirts the bay of Kalamata. They got to Platsa, wherethey were to sleep that night, an hour before dark, and for the sakeof appearances drove their mules to the market-place, and made adisplay of selling their cargo of oranges. The khan where they put upconsisted of two rooms, one occupied by the owner and his family, theother being the cafe of the village. They sat up smoking and talkingtill it emptied, and then made themselves beds of their blankets andsaddle-bags. The village was inclined to inquisitiveness, but Mitsostold them that they had come from Sparta with oranges and were goinghome to Tsimova--a possible, and even a plausible, explanation of theirpresence; and with that the village must be content.
They descended next day onto the coast and into the warm fresh air ofthe Greek lowlands in winter, and Mitsos called the hierarchy of Heavento witness that only the shrewdest pinch of cold wou
ld drive him againinto foul khans while there were trees to sleep under and good grassbeds for the limbs. If rooms untenanted by the grosser vermin weresupposed to be beyond the reach of orange-sellers, he would have noroom at all, but only God's out-door inn.
Mid-day brought them to Prastion, and to the delivery of the secondmessage. They had no trouble in finding the recipient, for he wasthe mayor of the village, and was known to be in his vineyard hoeingvines. Yanni waited with the mules in the street, while Mitsos went toseek him. He looked up as the lad came striding towards him across thehollowed vine-beds.
"You are Zaravenos?" asked he.
Zaravenos assented slowly and suspiciously, as if he would sooner havebeen some one else.
"Are you grinding corn?"
The man put down his mattock and looked round suddenly to see thatthere was no one within hearing.
"Yes, yes," he said, quickly. "But of what corn do you speak--corn forthe hungry, or corn for the Turk?"
"Black corn for the Turk."
"Praise the Virgin. But is the time come? Tell me who sent you; was itNicholas, whom I know well?"
Mitsos thought of Petrobey's injunctions.
"Nicholas? Who is Nicholas?" he said. "But this I have to tell you: ifyou have not begun, begin, and grind quickly. That is all."
The man looked at him again.
"Surely you are Mitsos," he said. "Nicholas told me about a mountain ofa Mitsos, whom perhaps he would send to us. Why do you not tell me? Ihave no better friend than Nicholas. He was here a month ago. Where ishe now? Is he safe?"
But Mitsos shook his head.
"I do not know whom you mean," he said, though his heartstringsthrummed within him.
For six days the two went on travelling in a northerly direction,sometimes keeping close to the coast, sometimes visiting strange, gauntlittle villages perched high on the flanks of Taygetus. They travelledfor the most part at night, trying if possible to come by daybreakwithin a mile or two of the village whither they were bound. They wouldthen turn off into some wood, or, if they were close to the coast, downonto the beach, and, after tethering and feeding their mules, wouldbreakfast and sleep till about mid-day, when they entered the village,delivered their message, and passed on. Sometimes it would be receivedeagerly and with shining eyes, and the news would spread at once thatthe time for which they were waiting had come. Sometimes, if therewere Turks about, it would be taken and answered with guardedness andcaution, and once the man to whom they had been sent shook his head andsaid he knew nought of the matter. This was beyond doubt an occasionwhen running away was necessary, and little time was lost in running.
They reached Kalamata on the seventh day--little did Mitsos think howor when he would see it again--and after spending two nights there (forthey had been instructed not only to give messages to three leadingGreeks, but also to inquire of the strength of the Turkish garrison,and see to the truth of the report which had reached Petrobey that thefortifications there, as well as at Tripoli, were being repaired), tooka boat down the coast to the port of Tsimova, whence their road laysouthward through Maina, and then eastward back to Panitza, and it wasin this district that red-handed adventure met them.
They had now been twelve days from home, and Yanni remarkeddiscontentedly that there were only four more to come. He had neverspent more enchanting days than these in the company of Mitsos, withwhom in a healthy, boyish manner he had fallen completely in love.Mitsos never lost his temper, and maintained an immense, great serenityunder the most disquieting conditions; as, for instance, when they lostone of the mules during their morning's sleep the day before, when theywere up on the spurs of Taygetus, and had to hunt it high and low in ablinding snow blizzard, and came back to find that the other mule hadmade use of his solitude in rolling himself in some thorn bushes whilethey were away, converting their blankets into one prickly fricassee.The splendid cousin had gazed at them ruefully a moment, and "I would Iwere a tortoise" was his only comment.
Mitsos had fully responded to the frankness of his cousin's adoration,and had confided to him his interrupted love-story, which raised him inYanni's eyes to hero rank. Besides, he was big and strong and entirelymagnificent.
Mitsos had just awakened Yanni on this particular morning, remindinghim that it was after mid-day and they had a long tramp ahead of themthat afternoon. Nymphia, the next village to which they had a message,lay below them on the plain, a mile or two distant. But Yanni refusedto go before he had eaten somewhat, and as remonstrance was vain, theyfished out bread and meat from the saddle-bags and made a meal. Theywere sitting thus some thirty yards from the path, which lay throughthe heart of an upland pine forest, when they heard the going offour-footed steps, and Yanni got up to see if either of their mules hadslipped its tether and was preparing to give them another hunt. But itproved only to be a Turkish soldier riding down in the direction of thevillage to which they were bound. He asked the bush-bowered Yanni whatwas his business there, and Yanni, who had a wholesome dislike of allTurks, very rudely replied, "Breakfasting, pig," went back to Mitsos,and thought no more of the matter.
The soldier rode quickly on through the village and turned into ahouse that lay some half-mile below. He found no one there, and tyinghis horse up went down across a couple of fields to a low, huddledbuilding, beside which stood a mill-wall. He knocked at the door andwas admitted at once.
"Krinos," he said to the man who opened it, "I passed a boy on the roadthrough the wood, whom I am sure I saw yesterday at Kyta, and two daysago at Akia, only before there were two of them. It is worth whilewaiting to see if he comes with a message to you."
"But if there are two of them," said Krinos (for God had made acoward), "there are only two of us."
"Nonsense; admit one only; and this is a boy, and we are men. Besides,there is no time to send to the village, and whom should we find there?They are all Greek of the Greeks. And the boy may be here in a fewminutes. Remember, he is not to be killed yet. He has to speak first."
"If it is a Mavromichales he will never speak," said Krinos.
"That is yet to be seen. I will stand behind the door, seize him as heenters, and if there are two of them, lock the door behind the first."
Now from Pigadia, where the boys had delivered the message to a man whosaid he knew nought of the matter, they had been quite right to go ontheir way as quickly as they could. The Turks had set spies all overthe country, since the rumors of an approaching outbreak had reachedthem, who were instructed to affect sympathy and co-operation withthe revolutionists, and give information at headquarters of all theycould learn. The day after Mitsos and Yanni had left Pigadia, stillgoing northward towards Kalamata, this spy had had occasion to make ajourney southward. At Tsimova he had inquired whether the boys had beenseen, and hearing they had not, for they were then at Kalamata, gaveinformation to the Turkish magistrate, and went on his way. At Nymphiahe visited Krinos, who was also in Turkish pay, and told him to extractany information he could if they came his way. From there he had takenship and gone on to Gythium, which was out of the boys' route.
The magistrate at Tsimova, with characteristic Turkish indolence,holding a clew in one hand, would scarcely trouble to move the other inpursuit. He just let the soldiers of the place know that there wouldbe some small reward given to any of them who apprehended either ofthe boys; and one of them, the same who had seen Yanni on the woodedpath, being anxious that no other should bite at his cherry, hadobtained leave of absence and went a-hunting alone. He had seen Yannion the previous days at Kyta and Akia, and thought it worth while tofollow him on to Nymphia, where, as he knew, there was a Greek whomhis countrymen supposed to be a revolutionist, but who was really inTurkish pay.
So the soldier hid behind the door, and Krinos went on grinding powder,which he intended to sell eventually--not to the Greeks, but to theTurks. The trap was neatly laid, and smelled of success.
Krinos's mill was of an old-fashioned type, consisting not of twostones, but of one, which was hung with its axle
horizontal to thefloor, in size and shape resembling a stone-roller, and underneath itran the long tray in which the corn or charcoal was ground. The traycould be withdrawn for the emptying and filling, and he had just slidit out, as the charcoal was already sufficiently powdered, when theinterruption for which he and the soldier had been waiting came. Krinoshad not time to put it back, and the stone remained revolving abouteight inches from the ground.
Yanni and Mitsos had gone cheerily down the hill-side ten minutes afterthe Turk into the village, where Yanni met a slightly intoxicatedcousin, who grinned, and queried "Black corn?"
Yanni looked so important and mysterious at this that Mitsos burst outlaughing, and they all three stood in the road and laughed togetherfor no reason, except that one was drunk and two were of a merry mind.Yanni went so far as to explain that they were in a hurry, but nomore; and, having inquired where Krinos lived, they passed through thevillage and out towards the house.
Just below Krinos's house the ground sloped sharply away, so thatfrom the door only the roof of his mill could be seen. This preventedKrinos, who was peering out of the mill-door to learn whether therewere two of them, from seeing either till they should pass the houseand begin to descend towards the mill. Mitsos tapped at the housedoor, then knocked, and then shouted; but there was no answer. Yannifollowed, and in the court-yard saw a horse tied up. Mitsos had givenup the attempt to make any one hear, and he said to Yanni:
"He's not in. What are we to do?"
Yanni scratched his head thoughtfully.
"There's another building farther down which looks like a mill," hesaid; "we will go there. But wait a minute, cousin; there is a thoughtin my head."
"Out with it, then."
"Have you in your mind how that when we were breakfasting we heard ahorse on the path, and I went to see if it was either of our mules? Youremember it turned out to be a Turkish soldier; and this is the horse,or my mother did not bear me."
Mitsos' eye brightened.
"Let us think a moment," he said. "What do you make of it?"
Yanni put his head on one side, like an intelligent but puzzled colliedog.
"It is a nice horse," he said, vaguely, "and that is why I noticed it.It would be rather amusing if--hush, I can hear the mill going! Krinosmust be there, and--and I shouldn't at all wonder if the Turk was therealso!"
Mitsos smiled serenely.
"It is a little trap," he said; "very pretty. What shall we do? What adevil Krinos must be."
"It isn't certain," said Yanni; "but we'll make sure. This is the way.The Turk saw only me, therefore I will go down there alone. I wonder ifthere are any windows this side. Wait a minute while I see."
He stole out to the edge of the hill, and reconnoitred from behind abush.
Krinos was standing at the door, and even as Yanni looked, a headwearing a red soldier's fez popped out and back again, and he creptback with suppressed excitement in his eyes.
"They are both there," he said; "two of them and two of us. Oh,Mitsos, this is very good! You see, we must go to deliver our message,otherwise we should be doing better to run away now; but there is themessage to deliver, and that is the first order. This is what I willdo: Tie up your mule here, and get behind that bush. Then I will walkdown to the mill with my mule, and I expect when Krinos sees me he willgo back into the mill and wait; if he does, run down ever so quicklyand quietly--there are no windows this side--and hide behind the cornerof the house. Then will I come and knock at the door, and I expectthat when I give the message Krinos will let me in, and if you hear meshout, in with you. There will be no running away."
"It won't go," said Mitsos; "there will be two of them. They may killyou before I can get in."
"O best and biggest of fools!" whispered Yanni, excitedly; "this isno time for talk. They will not want to kill me, for what would thatprofit them? They will wish to take me to the Turks--and be damned toall Turks!"
"You are right; come on."
Mitsos crept to his post behind the bush, after tethering his mule wellout of sight, and Yanni went unconcernedly down the hill-side. As hehad expected, as soon as Krinos saw him he strolled back into the milland shut the door. Yanni waited a moment, and beckoned to Mitsos, whostrode noiselessly down and stood behind the corner of the wall, whileYanni came slowly on, reached the mill, and tapped at the door. A voicefrom inside answered him.
"Who is that?" it asked.
"It matters not," said Yanni. "Are you grinding corn?"
"Corn for the hungry, or corn for the Turk?"
"Black corn for the Turk."
The door was thrown open and Yanni entered. The moment after it wasflung to again, and a half-muffled shout came from inside. Mitsossprang out and threw himself against the door, and went reeling in.
Yanni was struggling in the grasp of two men, the Greek and the Turk,and Mitsos, without losing a moment, flung himself onto Krinos, who wasnearest him, and dragged him off with a throttling grip. Krinos droppedhis hold on Yanni and turned round to grapple with his new assailant,whom, to his dismay, he saw towering half a head above him. At thatmoment all Mitsos' cheerfulness and good spirits were transformed intoa white anger at the treachery of the man, and, tightening his hold, hewrestled for his life. His extra four inches were counterbalanced byKrinos's extra ten years of hardened bone and knitted muscle, and forthe first few seconds they toppled wildly about, and either might havewon the fall. But then Mitsos' height began to tell; he heard, with afierce joy, the cracking of some bone in its joint, and knew it camenot from him.
Then, for a moment, he felt his adversary's right arm slacken, and knewthat his hand was fumbling at his belt, whether for a knife or pistolhe could not tell. His own pistol was in his belt, but tumbling, as hehad, headlong into the middle of the fight, he had forgotten to takeit out. But there was no doubt what that fumbling at the belt meant,and, throwing all his force into one effort, he lifted his opponentoff his feet and threw him. Krinos's left hand, with which, alone, hewas holding Mitsos, lost its grasp, and the man went head over heelsbackward, and Mitsos, by the force of his own throw, fell forward halfacross him. Just in front of them the millstone was turning with a slowrelentlessness, and for a moment Mitsos thought his own head was goingto strike it; but he fell free. Not so the other; there was a moment'scessation of the noise; then came a hoarse cry of agony, a horridcrack, and the stone began to turn again. Krinos's head had fallenright beneath it, and it was cracked as a nut may be cracked in a hinge.
"YANNI WAS STRUGGLING IN THE GRASP OF TWO MEN, THE GREEKAND THE TURK"]
There was no time for exultation. Mitsos picked himself up and gainedhis feet just as Yanni and the Turk, who were still strugglingtogether, fell--the Turk uppermost. Mitsos saw him reach his hand tothe butt of his pistol and draw it, keeping his knee on Yanni while hecocked it with the other hand. But in a moment he had done the same,and the two reports were almost simultaneous. Just above Yanni's headthere appeared on the wooden floor a raking furrow, as if some wildbeast's claw had struck and torn it; but the Turk fell back, shotthrough the head.
The smoke cleared away, and Mitsos pulled Yanni from under the soldier;he lay quite still, and the edge of his black curls was singed andburned. Mitsos propped him up against the wall, and ran to get waterfrom the millstream outside. When he came back Yanni's eyes were open,and he was looking about in a dazed, confused way. Mitsos poured adraught of it down his throat and sluiced his head, whereat Yannilooked up and smiled at him.
"Did I not say it would be very good?" he murmured. "Oh, Mitsos, theblack devils!"
He sat up and looked round, then pointed at the dead body of the Turk.
"I think I was stunned by the fall," he continued. "I remember fallingand hitting my head an awful bang. So you shot him. Where is the other?"
He staggered to his feet and looked round at the millstone; it wasstreaked and clotted with something dark and oily, and its edgesdripped with the same. Krinos's fingers, though he had been dead twominutes at the least, stil
l opened and shut, like seaweed under thesuck of a ground-swell, and the nails scratched impotently on therough-splintered floor.
"We fell--he fell there," said Mitsos. "Come outside, Yanni. It is notgood to stop here. Here, let me put my arm round you; you are unsteadyyet."
Mitsos looked anxiously round as they got out, but no one was insight. Yanni's mule had strayed into the field; and, after depositinghis cousin against the wall, Mitsos went after it, and, muffling itsbell with grass, led it round to the back of the mill, where Yanniwas sitting. The latter was quickly recovering, but he felt his headruefully.
"An awful bang!" he said. "Did he fire at me? My hair is burned."
"Yes," said Mitsos, "and I at him. Fancy a soldier so bad a shot; buthe was made silly at the sight of my pistol, I think. If he hadn't beena fool of a man he would have first fired at me; for, indeed, he hadyou safe. But I suppose there was no time to think."
"That was well for me," said Yanni.
Mitsos spat thoughtfully.
"Yanni," he said, "we must think very hard what we are to do next. IfUncle Nicholas was only here! No one seems to have heard the shots,and we must get away as quickly as we can. Are we just to leave thingsas they are and go? Oh, do think, Yanni, and think quickly! My head isjust one buzzing."
"The black devils!" snarled Yanni. "Treacherous, black devils!"
"Oh, never mind them," cried Mitsos; "they are in hell. What are we todo?"
Yanni's eye brightened.
"This will we do," he said. "There is much powder here. Blow up thewhole place. If we leave it as it is they will find those dead things.Yes, Mitsos, that is the way."
Yanni got up.
"Come inside," he said, "and see if there is plenty of powder."
The two went back and stopped the mill-wheel, for it was ablood-curdling thing to see its shredded burden carried round andround. Mitsos dragged the headless wreck away and laid it by the Turkin the centre of the room, while Yanni searched for the powder.
"Look," he said, at last, "here is a whole barrel. That will do ourwork. I know how to make a train. I have done it at home to blow uprocks. We must waste no time. Go back to the house, Mitsos, and bringyour mule--oh yes--and the Turk's horse, too; it will not do to leavethat, and take the lot into the woods above the path, lower down there.Then come back here. I shall be ready. I will make a train that willgive us about three minutes."
Mitsos ran up to the house, as Yanni suggested, and led the two animalsdown. He stopped at the mill to tie Yanni's mule to his own, and thenstruck straight off the path into the trees, and tethered them allsome three hundred yards off where the trees grew thick. Then he wentback to Yanni.
Yanni had laid a train from the centre of the room, where the bodieswere, out under the door, making it of moist powder wrapped in thickpaper. He had waited for Mitsos to lift the barrel, for he was stillweak and unsteady, and they bored a hole through it, so that the drypowder ran out into the end of the train, and then closed the lid tightto increase the force of the explosion. Mitsos put the barrel in thecentre of the room, laid the two bodies on it, and placed over it allthe loose articles he could find.
"I will fire it," said he, "because it will be best to run, and youcan't run just now. Come out, Yanni, and I will show you where thehorses are. Look; do you see that big white trunk at the edge of thewood? Walk there and keep straight on; you will find them two hundredyards inside. Now go."
Mitsos waited till Yanni had disappeared, and then, locking the doorand pushing the key underneath it, fired the end of the train and ranas hard as his legs would move after Yanni. He found him with thebeasts, having taken from the Turk's horse the trappings and saddle,which bore the star and crescent, and thrown them into a thick bush. Afew moments afterwards a great quiver and roar came to them from thedirection of the village, and they knew that the powder had done itswork.
Mitsos made Yanni mount the Turk's horse, and they hurried off throughthe trees, meaning to make a long detour and come down upon the nextvillage from the far side.