The Wedge of Gold Part 20

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

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

"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 from ther thet big Aleck c.u.m?" 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 had ther best talkers, and best public schools, and wur it not thar thet the woman Frina kept house?"

"Yes, Phryne was an Athenian, I believe, a woman of a good model, but not a model woman," said Sedgwick, with a faint smile.

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

Then he continued, "Thar wur another bad one 'round here, somewhar. Don't yo' reclect readin' 'bout her and ther Roman? They got spoony on one another. 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 not a 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. One wur bad on her own account; the other, as I calcerlate, wus bad jest because she hed er disposition to be entertainin' and agreeable. One wur naterally bad; t'other wur a lady by instinct but her edecation had been neglected."

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

"I do not know," was the reply. "It probably was, if, as is believed, a ca.n.a.l 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 h.e.l.lespont?" Jordan asked.

Sedgwick explained.

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

"Very nearly," answered Sedgwick. "The cradle of civilization was rocked more on these sh.o.r.es than anywhere else. Egypt and Greece and Carthage and Phoenicia and Syria and Rome, and a score of other nations, grew into form on the sh.o.r.es of this sea. The arts had birth here; arts, architecture, ship-building, sculpture, poetry, eloquence, law and learning, all began on these sh.o.r.es; and Roman soldiers crucified the Savior a little beyond where the waves of this sea break against its eastern sh.o.r.e."

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

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

The ship touched at several ports, and the changing of pa.s.sengers, the different races, the varying scenes, kept the minds of both men diverted and their interest all the time awakened, and kept Jordan talking more than he had talked before for weeks.

"I'm glad I c.u.m, Jim," he kept saying. "Why, we fellers out in Texas as never traveled don't know nuthin', so ter speak; nuthin' 'bout the world outside, 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 did yo' 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 their oars 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 c.u.m along heah with this ship when they hed ther fightin' fleets out? Wouldn't we hev astonished them old-timers?"

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

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

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

"But suppose, Tom, that the onward rush of this ship should bring us close beside three little ships, two with no decks and the larger one only ninety feet in length, we would look down upon them with a kind of 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 the ocean; with such vessels, the New World was found.

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

"But the man was there, Jordan; the man who could charm the terrors from the hearts of a fear-stricken crew; who could convert a meteor's fall into an augury of good instead of an omen of terror; who could quell the mutinous 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 of those who build and navigate the ship.

"When on the sh.o.r.es of this sea men first built boats and went forth on these 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 on improving, building better and better boats and making longer and longer voyages; they found islands and the sh.o.r.es of far-off mainlands; they carried back the products of those lands, and so Commerce was born.

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

"The same spirit worked three thousand years ago that has been at work in making the transformation from the bungling ships that Nelson fought Trafalgar with to this ship under our feet, from the carrying up of ore from the deep mines on the heads of peons to the hoisting engine and safety 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 we has better tools ter work with than ther old-timers hed."

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE SOUL IN THE CLAY.

At Port Said the travelers left the French steamer to wait for the English ship which was on the way from Southampton. It came in on the evening of their arrival, and they went on board. They were glad to do so, for the few hours in Port Said convinced them that it was a tougher place than they had ever seen on the frontier.

At daylight next morning the ship proceeded on her way through the ca.n.a.l.

Our travelers were on the deck, watching the scenery.

Finally Jordan said: "This looks like Arizony, only more so. Arizony looks as though thar war a strike among the mechanics and it war never finished. This looks like it were finished once and then ther perprieter, not bein' satisfied with ther contractor's job, smashed it. They tell me ther mustang is ther blood-horse run down by starvation 'nd abuse, 'nd in-breedin', but mostly from in-breedin'. This country looks ez though it hed been ruined ther same way precisely. I shouldn't wonder but it wur true. Them old Faros wuz big fellers; so war Sesostris and ther hull race of the old chaps from ther Shepherd Kings down, and they useter call this 'the granary of the world,' didn't they?

"And old Cambysis c.u.m here on a robbin' expedition?