As
I told the mountaineers, Rooke, whom I had sent on the service, had made
a contract for fifty thousand Ingis-Malbron rifles, and as many tons of
ammunition as the French experts calculated to be a full supply for a
year of warfare. I heard from him by our secret telegraph code that the
order 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 night
the vessel--one chartered by Rooke for the purpose--would arrive at
Vissarion during the night. We were all expectation. I had always now
in the Castle a signalling party, the signals being renewed as fast as
the men were sufficiently expert to proceed with their practice alone or
in groups. We hoped that every fighting-man in the country would in time
become an expert signaller. Beyond these, again, we have always a few
priests. The Church of the country is a militant Church; its priests are
soldiers, its Bishops commanders. But they all serve wherever the battle
most needs them. Naturally they, as men of brains, are quicker at
learning than the average mountaineers; with the result that they learnt
the code and the signalling almost by instinct. We have now at least one
such expert in each community of them, and shortly the priests alone will
be able to signal, if need be, for the nation; thus releasing for active
service the merely fighting-man. The men at present with me I took into
confidence as to the vessel's arrival, and we were all ready for work
when the man on the lookout at the Flagstaff sent word that a vessel
without lights was creeping in towards shore. We all assembled on the
rocky edge of the creek, and saw her steal up the creek and gain the
shelter of the harbour. When this had been effected, we ran out the boom
which protects the opening, and after that the great armoured
sliding-gates which Uncle Roger had himself had made so as to protect the
harbour in case of need. We then came within and assisted in warping the steamer to the side of
the dock. Rooke looked fit, and was full of fire and vigour. His responsibility
and the mere thought of warlike action seemed to have renewed his youth. When we had arranged for the unloading of the cases of arms and
ammunition, I took Rooke into the room which we call my "office," where
he gave me an account of his doings. He had not only secured the rifles
and the ammunition for them, but he had purchased from one of the small
American Republics an armoured yacht which had been especially built for
war service. He grew quite enthusiastic, even excited, as he told me of
her:

"She is the last word in naval construction--a torpedo yacht. A small
cruiser, with turbines up to date, oil-fuelled, and fully armed with the
latest and most perfect weapons and explosives of all kinds. The fastest
boat afloat to-day. Built by Thorneycroft, engined by Parsons, armoured
by Armstrong, armed by Crupp. If she ever comes into action, it will be
bad for her opponent, for she need not fear to tackle anything less than
a _Dreadnought_." He also told me that from the same Government, whose nation had just
established an unlooked-for peace, he had also purchased a whole park of
artillery of the very latest patterns, and that for range and accuracy
the guns were held to be supreme. These would follow before long, and
with them their proper ammunition, with a shipload of the same to follow
shortly 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 the
mountaineers to tell them to come and remove it. They had answered the
call, and it really seemed to me that the whole of the land must that
night have been in motion. They came as individuals, grouping themselves as they came within the
defences of the Castle; some had gathered at fixed points on the way. They went secretly and in silence, stealing through the forests like
ghosts, each party when it grouped taking the place of that which had
gone on one of the routes radiating round Vissarion. Their coming and
going was more than ghostly. It was, indeed, the outward manifestation
of an inward spirit--a whole nation dominated by one common purpose. The men in the steamer were nearly all engineers, mostly British, well
conducted, and to be depended upon. Rooke had picked them separately,
and in the doing had used well his great experience of both men and
adventurous life. These men were to form part of the armoured yacht's
crew when she should come into the Mediterranean waters. They and the
priests and fighting-men in the Castle worked well together, and with a
zeal that was beyond praise. The heavy cases seemed almost of their own
accord to leave the holds, so fast came the procession of them along the
gangways from deck to dock-wall. It was a part of my design that the
arms should be placed in centres ready for local distribution. In such a
country as this, without railways or even roads, the distribution of war
material in any quantity is a great labour, for it has to be done
individually, or at least from centres. But of this work the great number of mountaineers who were arriving made
little account. As fast as the ship's company, with the assistance of
the priests and fighting-men, placed the cases on the quay, the engineers
opened them and laid the contents ready for portage. The mountaineers
seemed to come in a continuous stream; each in turn shouldered his burden
and passed out, the captain of his section giving him as he passed his
instruction where to go and in what route. The method had been already
prepared in my office ready for such a distribution when the arms should
arrive, 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 were
given in whispers. All night long the stream of men went and came, and
towards dawn the bulk of the imported material was lessened by half. On
the following night the remainder was removed, after my own men had
stored in the Castle the rifles and ammunition reserved for its defence
if necessary. It was advisable to keep a reserve supply in case it
should ever be required. The following night Rooke went away secretly in
the chartered vessel. He had to bring back with him the purchased cannon
and heavy ammunition, which had been in the meantime stored on one of the
Greek islands. The second morning, having had secret word that the
steamer was on the way, I had given the signal for the assembling of the
mountaineers. 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 of
men had arrived to handle the guns, we began to unload.