The Wedge of Gold

  CHAPTER XVII.

  ON THEIR TRAVELS.

  But at last the hour for leaving came, and Sedgwick and Jordan tookthe train and proceeded without delay to Marseilles, where one of thesteamers of the French Imperial Messenger Line was about to sail forPort Said. They at once secured transportation, went on board, and afew hours later the ship proceeded to sea. The weather was fair on theMediterranean, and putting aside any personal sorrows, Jordan exertedhimself to be cheerful for Sedgwick's sake.

  "This are ther water on which men fust learned ter be sailors, arn't it,Jim?" he asked. "I mean whar they fust got inter ther notion of venturin'out whar ther old shore-shaker could git a good hold on 'em?"

  "Yes," replied Sedgwick. "This and the Red Sea. The Egyptians, theCarthagenians, the Phoenicians, the Syrians, the Greeks, the Romans,and a dozen other nations; later, the Venetians and Spaniards, and no oneknows how many other nations, all learned how to build, navigate, andfight ships on these waters. Think of it, Jordan, there were sea fightshere almost seven hundred years before the Christ came. On this seafloated the fighting Biremes, Triremes, and Quinquiremes of the Greeks,Carthagenians, and Romans; and here the Egyptians and Phoenicianstrained their ships three thousand years before the crucifixion.

  "Could this sea give up its dead--its dead men and its dead ships; couldthey all come back as they looked the moment before they sank, they wouldmake a panorama of the ages, and would show the progress of the world forfive thousand years. Every mile square of this sea must be paved withthings which were once glorious in life and power. Maybe below where weare sailing here, helmeted Roman soldiers, being transported to somepoint of contemplated conquest, went down. Here pirate craft have roamed;here lumbering wheat ships have ploughed their way; here the watches havebeen set by the crews of a hundred nations; here sailors have been cursedin a thousand tongues. Along these shores ship-building had its birth;from these shores the ships sailed out over these waters, engaging inforeign commerce, and the camel-owner on the land learned to hate thething which on the water could carry the burden of many camels. One couldsit all day and conjure up the ghosts that these blue waters are peopledwith."

  "Go ahead, Jim," said Jordan. "Thet sounds as it useter when yo' read tous in ther old house thar in Texas. What war thet book that told all'bout Lissis and Ajax, the hoss-tamer Diamed, and the boss fighters,Killes and Hector, and ther pretty gal Helen, that raised all the hel-lo,and Dromine, the squar woman thet war Hector's wife, and hed the kid thetwar afeerd of the old man's headgear?"

  "That was the Iliad, Jordan," said Sedgwick, "the first book that weread. The story was the siege of Troy. That was a city over on the eastshore of this very sea, and the Greeks went over there in their boats andbesieged it for nine years before they captured it."

  "How long ago war that, Jim?" asked Jordan.

  "Three thousand years," was the reply.

  "But they were fighters, them fellers?" said Jordan.

  "Yes, great fighters," said Sedgwick.

  "And their hosses war thoroughbreds, every one? Isn't thet so, Jim?" saidJordan.

  "They were great horses, indeed," said Sedgwick.

  "Powerful," said Jordan, "good for fo' mile heats, sho'? And thet otherchap, Nais, didn't he settle round here somewhar?"

  "You mean AEneas, Jordan. It was in Virgil that we read that. AEneas was ofthe family of that Priam who was king of Troy when the siege was on. Hegot away in a ship and finally landed and settled in southern Italy, offhere to our left, and the legend goes that his descendants founded Rome."

  "Yo' don't mean ter say he wur ther 'riginater uv ther Dagoes?" saidJordan.

  "Well," said Sedgwick, with a laugh, "you know at that time there werewild tribes in Italy. Then there came in Greek colonies, and all racesfused and assimilated, even as did the Romans and Sabines when the formercaptured a company of the women of the latter and made them their wives.Out of it all arose the mighty Roman nation."

  "They inbred with mustangs, so ter speak," said Jordan, "and these commonDagoes is whar they has bred back showin' bad stock in ther dam."

  "May-be," said Sedgwick.

  "Half-breeds is no good, as a rule, but that Nais war a good one."

  "A good one, I guess," said Sedgwick.

  "He's ther feller that Queen--what's her name?--O, yes, Queen Dido gotsoft on?" queried Jordan.

  "Yes, Queen Dido," was the response.

  "And she got looney-like when he cum away, and uv nights would go down onther shore and watch for him to cum back?" said Jordan.

  "So the legend has come down, and by the way," added Sedgwick, "hercountry was on this sea also, farther east and south, off to the right.It was called Carthage."

  "Say, Jim," said Jordan, "them folks was a good deal like we is, afterall, wuzn't they? They'd fight for most nuthin'; they'd get gone onwimmen; liked good hosses; they'd trade and work tryin' ter get rich; andef they hed hearn of a gold mine, they'd gone ter Arizony for it."

  "I guess you are right, Jordan," said Sedgwick, "you always are. Theworld changes its methods, but the original man is about what he hasalways been."

  "Wurn't it from thet place Carthage that ther black feller cum what heldther Dagoes so level fur so long?" asked Jordan.

  "Hannibal, do you mean?" asked Sedgwick.

  "Ther same," replied Jordan.

  "Yes," replied Sedgwick, "and a marvelous soldier and leader of men hewas, to be sure."

  "Indeed, he wur; but say, Jim, what do yo' calcerlate his pedigree wur?"

  "Why, he came from a family of kings and fighting men," answeredSedgwick.

  "Yes, I know; but I mean what breed war he? War he one of them ereEthiopians?" said Jordan.

  "No, I think not," answered his friend. "He was dark like an Arab ora Moor, but he belonged to a race that built cities and ships, tamedhorses, and fought scientific battles."

  "'Zactly," said Jordan. "And he wur a fighter from way back?"

  "Yes," responded Sedgwick, "when the few great captains in the world arethought of, he is about third or fourth in the list."

  "Thay ain't much in men, Jim. Thar's everything in a man," said Jordan.

  "That is what Napoleon used to say," was Sedgwick's answer.

  "Did Napoleon say thet?" asked Jordan. "He war a brighter man than Ithought, but it is true, don't yo' think, Jim?"

  "I think I understand, but am not quite sure," said Sedgwick.

  "I mean this," he answered, and then paused a moment. "Well, yo' see," hecontinued, "I wur at Chickamauga in Hill's division, I wur in thur ranks,and wur a boy; but I hed a general idee how things wur. I knowed whar allour men war; how your army war 'ranged, and when we went in shoutin',and all your right and left melted away like a fog as comes up from thegulf melts when the sun comes up in ther mornin', I sed to Ned Sykes, whowur next me in ther ranks, 'Ned, we's got 'em,' and Ned answered back,'we's got 'em, sho'.'

  "Well, it wur a clar field, 'ceptin' your center war still solid, andthey fell back all but a thin line. We charged up onto thet and broke it,killed lot's uf 'em, and gobbled up lots more, but it tuk us a rightsmart time, fur them was stubborn chaps 'nd they fought desperate.

  "Then when I looked up, I seen the hull business. Thet line hed beenflung out ter hold us till ther rest cud fall back on better ground. Tharthey wuz fixed, and when our lines wuz dressed and other charge ordered,and we went in again shoutin' jest like the fust time, they laid downflat and they 'gin it ter us so hot we couldn't stand it and hed ter fallback.

  "And they kept a-entertainin' of us thetway all ther evenin'. Otherdivisions wur called up and sent in, but what wur left uv 'em cumstreamin' back, jest ez often ez it wur tried; a cavalry charge wasordered, but only a remnant cum back, and we hed made no more impressionseemin'ly than ther waves thet bucks up agin a ledge uv rocks.

  "Them wur no better soldiers than ther rest uv ther army, but thar war aman directin' 'em, and lookin' all ther time so kinder majistical andlofty and so fur away from all fear, and ez tho' he hedn't
a thot offailin', thet ther men, yo' see, tuk on ther same state o' mind, and terfight 'em war no use. If the fust bullet we fired hed killed thetGeneral, we would a-scooped the hull army by four o'clock. Thet's whatI mean when I say: 'They ain't much in men, thar's everything in a man!'"

  "I understand you fully, and you are right, Jordan," said his friend.

  Jordan continued "War it not 'round yere somewhar' thet ther Greekslived?"

  "Yes, north of this sea, ahead of us, and to the left," said Sedgwick.

  "They wur the ones that fit Marathon and Thermoperlee, and it wur fromther thet big Aleck cum?" asked Jordan.

  "Yes," was the reply. "It was only a little country, but had many states,The Spartans and Thespians, mostly the Spartans, fought at Thermopylae.Marathon was fought mostly by Athenians, and Alexander was Phillip's son,of Macedonia."

  "'Zactly," said Jordan. "Athens wur the boss place, wur it not? It hadther best talkers, and best public schools, and wur it not thar thet thewoman Frina kept house?"

  "Yes, Phryne was an Athenian, I believe, a woman of a good model, but nota model woman," said Sedgwick, with a faint smile.

  "I reckon yo' wur right, Jim," said Jordan, "but it wur not singular shebested them fellers in her law-suit. Her showin' would ha' brought aTexas jury every time, sho', in spite of any 'structions, no matter howsavage, from ther court."

  Then he continued, "Thar wur another bad one 'round here, somewhar. Don'tyo' reclect readin' 'bout her and ther Roman? They got spoony on oneanother. He neglected his family and business, he wur thet fur gone;finally got hisself killed, and then she pizened herself with a sarpent,not a moccasin nor rattler, but a little short blue-brown scrub snake nota foot long."

  "You mean Antony and Cleopatra," said Sedgwick.

  "'Zactly, Cleopatra," said Jordan. "She wer ther one. I never liked her,not half so well as the one with yaller ha'r thet they called Helen. Onewur bad on her own account; the other, as I calcerlate, wus bad jestbecause she hed er disposition to be entertainin' and agreeable. One wurnaterally bad; t'other wur a lady by instinct but her edecation had beenneglected."

  Still he ran on: "Wur it not on this water thet old Solomon fitted outships for ther Ophir diggings?"

  "I do not know," was the reply. "It probably was, if, as is believed, acanal connected this sea with the Red Sea in his day."

  "Which way are Jerusalem from here, Sedgwick?" he asked.

  Sedgwick pointed in the direction.

  "And Tyre and Venice and Egypt and ther Hellespont?" Jordan asked.

  Sedgwick explained.

  "The country 'round this sea made ther world once, didn't it?" wasJordan's next exclamation.

  "Very nearly," answered Sedgwick. "The cradle of civilization was rockedmore on these shores than anywhere else. Egypt and Greece and Carthageand Phoenicia and Syria and Rome, and a score of other nations, grewinto form on the shores of this sea. The arts had birth here; arts,architecture, ship-building, sculpture, poetry, eloquence, law andlearning, all began on these shores; and Roman soldiers crucified theSavior a little beyond where the waves of this sea break against itseastern shore."

  "Thet's good," said Jordan. "Big region this!"

  And so the great-hearted man kept talking to try to lure Sedgwick's mindaway from the thoughts that possessed him, and which made his heart heavyand his face grave.

  The ship touched at several ports, and the changing of passengers, thedifferent races, the varying scenes, kept the minds of both men divertedand their interest all the time awakened, and kept Jordan talking morethan he had talked before for weeks.

  "I'm glad I cum, Jim," he kept saying. "Why, we fellers out in Texas asnever traveled don't know nuthin', so ter speak; nuthin' 'bout the worldoutside, I mean. We useter think Texas wur almighty big. Tain't nuthin'."

  Then after a pause he spoke again, and his next question was: "What didyo' call them ships thet ther old fellers sailed?"

  "They had many names. There were Galleys, Biremes, Triremes.Quadquirimes, Quinquirimes and so on, according to the number of theiroars and the way they worked them," answered Sedgwick.

  "This are a daisy ship thet we is on, don't you reckon?" said Jordan."Suppose yo' and I cud uv cum along heah with this ship when they hedther fightin' fleets out? Wouldn't we hev astonished them old-timers?"

  "I think we would, indeed," said Sedgwick, "but, Tom, with the ships thatthey had, they did some fighting that gave the world such a thrill thatmen feel it still when the name of Actium or Salamis is mentioned. Aslong before the coming of the Savior as it has been since, thePhoenicians were scouring this sea with their craft, founding colonies,and it is said they ventured out upon the Atlantic and went as far northas England, while amid the ruins of Tyre models of boats have been foundwith lines as fine as any that any modern ship-builder can draw.

  "Nothing of mechanical achievement to me compares with a ship like thisthat we are sailing on. Panoplied in steel, with heart of fire, with ironarms picking up the burden of ten thousand horses; facing the storm andthe night without a quiver except that which comes of its own greatheart's throbbing, buoyant above the beating of the deep sea's solemnpulses, lighted by imitation sunlight, and making its voyages almost withthe precision of the hours--what could be grander?

  "Standing on the deck, with the midnight black above and the ocean blackbelow, feeling its regular pulse-beats and its onward plunges over itsuneven path; it is hard to shake off the impression that it is a grimGenie that has come to make ferries of the broad ocean, to draw thecontinents with their freights of nations closer together.

  "But suppose, Tom, that the onward rush of this ship should bring usclose beside three little ships, two with no decks and the larger oneonly ninety feet in length, we would look down upon them with a kindof pity, would we not?

  "Still, with such vessels, the mystery of the sea was first cleared up;with such vessels, the vail was pushed back from the frowning face of theocean; with such vessels, the New World was found.

  "It was from over one of those open decks that the cry 'A Light!' rangout upon the night; it was from one of those decks that the vision of theNew World materialized before the eyes of the great Italian; on one ofthose decks he knelt as the vision grew brighter in the dawn, and hissoul was thrilled as souls are when they feel that a visible answer toprayer has been vouchsafed.

  "But the man was there, Jordan; the man who could charm the terrors fromthe hearts of a fear-stricken crew; who could convert a meteor's fallinto an augury of good instead of an omen of terror; who could quell themutinous spirit which was awakened by a varying needle and raging storms.

  "It is not the great ship that counts, but the motives in the souls ofthose who build and navigate the ship.

  "When on the shores of this sea men first built boats and went forth onthese waters, they were but rude boats indeed.

  "Who knows how many were lost, how many brave souls were drowned?

  "But each calamity gave new thoughts to those who escaped; they kept onimproving, building better and better boats and making longer and longervoyages; they found islands and the shores of far-off mainlands; theycarried back the products of those lands, and so Commerce was born.

  "They made at last their ships meet the caravans from the East; the ideasas well as the products of the East and West were brought together;manufactories were established, robes and dyed garments and flashingblades were made that became immortal, and those people made such animpression on the world, as brave and capable and alert men of affairs,that the impression still remains; even as the strong and true men ofVenice renewed the impression twenty-five hundred years later.

  "The same spirit worked three thousand years ago that has been at workin making the transformation from the bungling ships that Nelson foughtTrafalgar with to this ship under our feet, from the carrying up of orefrom the deep mines on the heads of peons to the hoisting engine andsafety cage of to-day."

  "That is good, Jim," said Jordan, "it is ther soul of man, after all,soul of
courage that counts 'nd all ther advancement is only because wehas better tools ter work with than ther old-timers hed."