In Reply To My Questions, I Discovered That Georgi Was
In Fact The "Prodigal Son;" He Had Not Been Leading The Fast Life Of
That Historical Character, But He Had Left His Home In Mersine (On The
Coast Of Asia Minor) Owing To An Unfortunate Disagreement With His
Father.
In such domestic estrangements, rightly or wrongly, the fathers
generally have the best of the situation, and Georgi, having
Left a
comfortable home (his father being what is called "well to do"), had
taken ship, and, like many others, had steered for Cyprus, where he
arrived unknown, and quickly experienced the desolation of an utter
stranger in a foreign town. Georgi became hungry; whether he had sold
his good clothes to provide for the coats of his stomach I cannot say,
but the rags in which he first appeared to me were utterly unsaleable,
and few people would have ventured upon an engagement with so
disreputable a person. However, I liked his face; he could speak Turkish
and Arabic fluently: Greek was his mother-tongue, and he had a
smattering of French. I sent for the tailor, and had him measured for a
suit of clothes to match those of Amarn--a tunic, waistcoat,
knickerbockers, and gaiters of navy-blue serge. In a few days Georgi was
transformed into a respectable-looking servant, with his hair cut.
We left Larnaca on the 29th of January. A native two-wheeled cart
conveyed the tents and superabundant baggage. The oxen made no
difficulty, and the gipsy-van rolled easily along.
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