I must give the reader some idea of my state at that moment.
I was quietly hopeless.
The three or four hundred sequins I had with me did not reassure me. I could not remain in the island for long.
Sooner or later I would be discovered and being guilty of desertion, I should be treated accordingly.
However, I could not return to Corfu either. It would be absurd to do so, as my flight would become useless and I should be thought a fool, for my return would be a proof of cowardice or stupidity; yet I did not feel the courage to desert altogether.
The chief cause of my indecision was not that I had a thousand sequins in the hands of the faro banker, or my well-stocked wardrobe, or the fear of not getting a living somewhere else, but the unpleasant recollection that I should leave behind me a woman whom I loved to adoration, and from whom I had not yet obtained any favour, not even that of kissing her hand.
I could neither go forward nor return with dignity. I could not stay where I was, and I did not know where else to go.
In such a state, I could do only what I had done many times before: abandon myself to chance.
For the present, however, I had to secure a lodging and my daily food.
I knocked at the priest's door.
He appeared at a window, saw me, and shut it again without listening.
I knocked once more.
No answer.
I called out. I swore. I begged. I threatened. The house remained as deaf as its master had been in the morning.
Rage overtook me.
A few sheep were grazing not far off. I raised my gun, aimed at one of them, and fired.
The poor animal fell.
At once the herdsman began to scream. The priest's window flew open.
"Thieves! Murder!"
He shouted for the alarm bell.
A moment later, three bells were ringing at once, sending their panic over the hills. I understood that the whole countryside would soon be upon me.
What would happen? I did not know, but happen what will.
I loaded my gun and waited.
Within eight or ten minutes, peasants began pouring down the slopes. Some carried guns, others pitchforks or cudgels.
I withdrew into the barn.
I was not afraid, for I cannot suppose that, seeing me alone, these men will murder me without listening to me.
The first ten or twelve approached with their guns in hand ready to fire.
I stopped them by throwing a handful of copper coins to the ground.
They hesitated for half a second, then lowered their eyes and began to pick them up.
That gave me my method.
As more peasants came forward, I threw more gazzette. The men stopped shouting. Hands went to the earth.
The alarm still rang, but its audience had found a better occupation.
I kept scattering money until my pockets were empty.
The clowns were looking at each other in great astonishment, not knowing what to make out of a well-dressed young man, looking very peaceful, and throwing his money to them with such generosity.
I could not speak to them until the deafening noise of the bells should cease.
I sat quietly on my great bag and waited.
When the bells at last ceased, I rose and tried to explain myself.
The priest did not allow it.
He came forward with his beadle and the herdsman, all three speaking at once. Their purpose was clear.
My three enemies were trying to excite the crowd against me.
This was easier for them because they spoke the language of the island, while I spoke Italian.
At that moment an elderly and reasonable-looking man pushed through the crowd.
He addressed me in Italian.
"Why did you kill the sheep?"
"To eat it, my good fellow," I answered. "But not before paying for it."
"But his holiness, the papa, might choose to charge one sequin for it."
"Here is one sequin."
I gave it.
The priest took the money and went away.
War is over.
The old peasant remained with me.
"I served in the campaign of 1716," he said. "I was at the defence of Corfu."
I complimented him and asked whether he could find me lodging and someone to prepare my meals.
"I will find you a whole house," he said. "And I will cook for you myself. But you must go up the hill."
"So be it."
He called two strong fellows. One took my bag; the other hoisted the sheep on his shoulders. We set off.
As we walked, I told him: "My good man, I would like to have in my service twenty-four fellows like these under military discipline. I would give each man twenty gazzette a day, and you would have forty as my lieutenant."
"I will," replied the old soldier, "raise for you this very day a body-guard of which you will be proud."
We reached a convenient house on the hill. It had three rooms on the ground floor and a stable, which I immediately turned into a guardroom.
My lieutenant went off to procure what I needed, especially a needlewoman to make me shirts.
By the end of the day, I had furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils, a good dinner, twenty-four armed soldiers, an old seamstress, and several young girls employed in making shirts for me.
After supper, I looked around and found my position delightful.
Some thirty persons surrounded me, all treating me as if I were their sovereign, though not one of them could make out what wind had blown me to their island.
The only defect in my new dominion was that the young girls spoke no Italian, and I did not know Greek enough to enable me to make love to them.
The next morning my lieutenant relieved the guard.
The sight made me laugh aloud.
My soldiers were fine men, tall, strong, and well made, but they had no uniform, no order, no military bearing. They looked less like a company than a flock of sheep which had somehow found guns and decided to stand upright.
But under my lieutenant's direction, they soon learned how to present arms, stand at their posts, and obey the orders of their officer.
I placed three sentinels: one before the guardroom, one at my door, and one where he could watch the sea. This last was to warn me if any armed boat or vessel approached.
For the first two or three days, I treated the whole affair as mere amusement.
Yet little by little the comedy began to take on a serious face. It occurred to me that I might truly need these men to repel force by force. The thought even came to me to make my army swear allegiance.
Still, I did not do so even though my lieutenant assured me that a word from me would be enough. My generosity, he said, had captivated the love of all the islanders.
My seamstress had brought several young women to sew my shirts.
She had expected, I believe, that I would fall in love with one and not with all, but my amorous zeal overstepped her hopes, and all the pretty ones had their turn; they were all well satisfied with me, and the sempstress was rewarded for her good offices.
I was living delightfully.
My table was excellent. We had juicy mutton, and snipes so delicate that I have never tasted their equal except in St. Petersburg. I drank scopolo wine, or the best muscatel of the Archipelago.
My lieutenant was my only companion at table, and he performed the duty with a soldier's appetite and a courtier's respect.
I never went out without him and two men of my guard.
This precaution was not entirely theatrical. Some of the young islanders had begun to look at me with hostile eyes. They fancied, not altogether without reason, that their mistresses had deserted them on my account.
As I walked about the island, escorted like a little prince, I often reflected that without money I should have been miserable. My gold had given me food, shelter, soldiers, servants, women, and even importance. It had changed a fugitive into a sovereign.
But it is right to suppose that, if I had not felt my purse pretty heavy, I would not have been likely to leave Corfu.
I had thus been playing the petty king with success for a week or ten days, when, towards ten o'clock at night I heard the sentinel's challenge.
My lieutenant went out and soon returned.
"There is a man here," he said, "honest in appearance, and he speaks Italian. He asks to see you on important business."
"Bring him in."
The man entered, looked first at my lieutenant, then at me, and spoke in a low voice.
"Next Sunday, the Papa Deldimopulo will fulminate against you the 'cataramonachia'. If you do not prevent him, a slow fever will send you into the next world in six weeks."
"I have never heard of such a drug."
"It is not a drug. It is a curse pronounced by a priest with the Host in his hands, and it is sure to be fulfilled."
I looked at him gravely.
"What reason can that priest have to murder me?"
"You disturb the peace and discipline of his parish. You have seduced several young girls, and now their lovers refuse to marry them."
I made the man drink, thanked him heartily, and sent him away.
When he was gone, I remained thoughtful.
His warning struck me as deserving my attention, for, if I had no fear of the 'cataramonachia', in which I had not the slightest faith, I feared certain poisons which might be by far more efficient.
I passed a quiet night.
At daybreak, however, I rose, said nothing to my lieutenant, and went straight to the church.
I found the priest there.
I went up to him and addressed him in the following words, uttered in a tone likely to enforce conviction:
"On the first symptom of fever, I will shoot you like a dog. Throw over me a curse which will kill me instantly, or make your will. Farewell!"
Having thus arranged the matter, I returned to my royal palace.
Early the following Monday, the papa came to call on me.
I had a slight headache. He asked after my health with an attention I found amusing.
"My head feels heavy," I said.
He grew pale, then assured me with great seriousness that the heaviness could come from nothing but the air of Casopo, which, he said, was often oppressive.
His anxiety made me laugh.
Three days later, the advanced sentinel gave the alarm.
My lieutenant went out to reconnoitre. He soon returned and told me that the longboat of an armed vessel had landed an officer.
Danger was at hand.
I went out myself, called my men to arms, and advanced a few steps. I saw an officer coming towards my house with a guide. He was alone.
That reassured me.
I went back inside and ordered my lieutenant to receive him with all military honours and bring him in. Then I buckled on my sword and waited for my visitor.
A few minutes later, Adjutant Minolto entered.
He was the same man who had brought me the order to put myself under arrest on the bastarda.
"You are alone," I said. "Therefore you come as a friend. Let us embrace."
"I must come as a friend," he answered, "for if I came as an enemy, I should not have men enough. But what I see here seems like a dream."
"Take a seat, and dine with me. I will treat you splendidly."
"Most willingly, and after dinner we will leave the island together."
"You may go alone, if you like; but I will not leave this place until I have the certainty, not only that I shall not be sent to the 'bastarda', but also that I shall have every satisfaction from the knave whom the general ought to send to the galleys."
"Be reasonable, and come with me of your own accord. My orders are to take you by force, but as I have not enough men to do so, I shall make my report, and the general will, of course, send a force sufficient to arrest you."
"Never; I will not be taken alive."
"You must be mad," Minolto said. "Believe me, you are in the wrong."
"In what?"
"You have disobeyed the order I brought you to go to the 'bastarda; in that you have acted wrongly, and in that alone, for in every other respect you were perfectly right, the general himself says so."
"Then I ought to have put myself under arrest?"
"Certainly; obedience is necessary in our profession."
"Would you have obeyed, if you had been in my place?"
He looked away.
"I cannot and will not tell you what I would have done, but I know that if I had disobeyed orders I should have been guilty of a crime."
"But if I surrendered now I should be treated like a criminal, and much more severely than if I had obeyed that unjust order."
"I think not. Come with me, and you will know everything."
"What! Go without knowing what fate may be in store for me? Do not expect it. Let us have dinner. If I am guilty of such a dreadful crime that violence must be used against me, I will surrender only to irresistible force. I cannot be worse off, but there may be blood spilled."
"You are mistaken; such conduct would only make you more guilty," Then he sighed and continued, "but I say like you, let us have dinner. A good meal will very likely render you more disposed to listen to reason.