Larnaca

“ The heat grew intense towards midday. My European friend was almost as great a sufferer as myself. Happily the sea-breeze held on, and at eleven, p.m., that night our felucca was safely moored at Larnaca, the sea-port town of Cyprus.
During our stay at Larnaca we were lodged with the English vice-consular agent at that time, a native of the island. He was an obliging old man, who did all in his power to make our stay agreeable. I was very p. 59much pleased with this place and its hospitable inhabitants; though only so short a distance from Beyrout, the change was very great. ”

“ At ten o’clock we entered the harbour of Larnaka. The situation of this town is any thing but fine; the country looks like an Arabian desert, and a few unfruitful date-palms rise beside the roofless stone houses.
I should not have gone on shore at all, if Doctor Faaslanc, whose acquaintance I had made at Constantinople, and who had been appointed quarantine physician here four weeks before my departure, had not come to fetch me. The streets of Larnaka are unpaved, so that we were obliged literally to wade more than ankle-deep in sand and dust. ”

“ Seeing Lantaro, his late page, he asked him to intercede with the chief, and this the generous boy did. But the Araucanians had little faith in Spanish promises, and an old warrior who stood near ended the matter by raising his war-club and dashing out the captive's brains. Thus tragically ended the career of one of the least cruel of the Spanish conquerors. He paid the penalty of his disdain of Indian courage.
Lantaro, the boy hero, had the blood of chiefs in his veins, and was endowed by nature with beauty of person, nobleness of character, and intrepidity of soul. ”

“ LEGEND OF LA LLORONA [9]
As is generally known, Señor, many bad things are met with by night in the streets of the City; but this Wailing Woman, La Llorona, is the very worst of them all. She is worse by far than the vaca de lumbre—that at midnight comes forth from the potrero of San Pablo and goes galloping through the streets like a blazing whirlwind, breathing forth from her nostrils smoke and sparks and flames: because the Fiery Cow, Señor, while a dangerous animal to look at, really does no harm whatever—and La Llorona is as harmful as she can be! ”

“ The Moors are here, just ready to move away. They are more in number than we: if you will only labour the victory is ours. Strengthen your hearts and make your feet swift, for on the first encounter will depend the whole of our victory."
It were impossible to tell how great was the exultation then felt by all, for scarcely had Lançarote finished these words of his when all moved off at a run. Yet so well did they do this that they moved without noise till they were upon the sandhills, but when they arrived there they were not able to control their desires that urged them to cry out. ”

“ There is no more dazzling combination of color in the world, and on moonlight nights it is but the exchange of gold for silver.
Ranata, standing on the stone terrace in front of the library and overhanging the sea, her back to the war-ship on the right of the castle, her eyes roaming from the incomparable expanse of the Adriatic to Trieste and the mountains beyond, felt that with knowledge, in addition to the faith that sustained her, she could serenely endure her exile throughout what she believed to be the inevitable [398] months. ”

“ Lanark squinted and made shift to read:
"'Any man may look lightly into heaven, to the highest star; but who dares require of the bowels of Earth their abysmal secrets?'"
"That is my stepfather's handwriting," whispered Enid, her head close to Lanark's shoulder.
He read on: "'The rewards of Good are unproven; but the revenges of Evil are great, and manifest on all sides. Fear will always vanquish love.'"
He grinned slightly, harshly. Jager remembered having seen that grin in the old army days, before a battle.
"I think we're being warned," Lanark said to his old sergeant. ”

“ Together they walked up on the resounding planks of the piazza. Lanark, his ungloved right hand swinging free beside his holster, knocked at the heavy front door with his left fist. There was no answer. He tried the knob, and after a moment of shoving, the hinges creaked and the door went open.
They walked into a dark front hall, then into a parlor with dust upon the rug and the fine furniture, and rectangles of pallor upon the walls where pictures had once hung for years. They could hear echoes of their every movement, as anyone will hear in a house to which he is not accustomed. ”

“ Go, and live like slaves, since ye know not how to die like men. Senseless, pitiful cowards! Was it for this then that you forced me to be your leader? Was it for this that I abandoned Granada, leaving there, at the mercy of the Christians, all my dearest friends, and severing the tenderest ties that bind man to existence? Go, and accept the proffered pardon. I will remain alone, to shew our countrymen of the Alpujarras, that at Lanjaron there was at least one true man—one who knew how to die in the execution of his duty. ”

“ And she knew that the sides of the gulley, to north and south, could never be climbed. There was only the slope ahead to the eastward, up which Lanark must have gone. The thought of him strengthened her. If the two of them found the king-horror, the Nameless One, at the base of Fearful Rock, they could face it together.
She was aware that she had come out of the timber of the ravine.
All was moonlight here, painted by the soft pallor in grays and silvers and shadow-blacks. There was the rock lifted among the stars, there the stretch of clump-dotted plain—and here, almost before her, Lanark. ”

“ The workmen of Nikosia pretend that they have a particular manner of dressing the leather, which they keep a profound secret; anyhow, the leather is said to be better dressed, more brilliant in colour, and more durable than that which is made in Turkey. There is also a little trade in raw cotton and wine.
Larnaka, or Larnika, on the site of old Citium, near the south coast, is the most thriving, bustling place, in the island, being the residence of the European consuls and factors, and the chief seat of trade. The port of Larnaka is at Salines, about a mile and half distant ”

“ Then they took counsel about their intended actions and Lançarote began to set forth his reasons in this manner:—"My friends! we have left our land to do service to God and to the Infant our Lord, who may expect from us with good reason some performance to his advantage; both from the bringing up that some of us have had of him; and because we are men of such a kind that very shame should force us to do more and greater things than any who came here before. For with such a fleet, it would be matter for great shame to turn back to Portugal without a worthy booty. ”

“ Lanark, and a host of other mysteries to credit to these causes. Let us profit by what little we have found out, and put an end to the Devil's rule in this country."
It had all sounded logical, but Lanark, listening, had been hesitant until Enid herself agreed. Then it was that Jager, strengthening his self-assumed position of leadership, had made the assignments. Enid would make the journey, as before, from her house to the gulley, there strip and say the words with which her stepfather had charged her four springs ago. Lanark, armed, would accompany her as guard. ”

“ Now when the partition was thus accomplished, the captains of the other caravels came to the Infant, and with them some noblemen of his house, and said to him: "Sire, in that you know the great toil that Lançarote, your servant, hath undergone in this action just achieved, and with what diligence he effected it, by the which God hath given us so good a victory as you have seen; and also as he is a man of good lineage, who deserveth every good; we beg your grace that for his reward, you would be minded to knight him with your own hand. ”

“ The ancestors of this new people had been fierce pirates, but they became the chief revivers of literature, and the grand promoters of the peaceful arts. It is a notable fact, that Lanfranc, their prime leader in this noble enterprise, was a Lombard, and that his people had been the most barbarous of all the Gothic invaders. Yet among them literary studies were first revived in Italy, the most celebrated schools were established, and the most enterprising citizens were formed into the most cultivated states. ”

“ The six guerrillas stirred into motion again, approaching and closing in. Lanark had them before him in a semi-circle.
"Stand!" he said again, and when they did not he fired, full for the center of that black beard in the forefront. The body of the guerrilla started and staggered—no more. It had been hit, but it was not going to fall. Lanark knew a sudden damp closeness about him, as though he stood in a small room full of sweaty garments. The six figures were converging, like beasts seeking a common trough or manger.
He did not shoot again. The man he had shot was not bleeding. ”

“ Son unto Viçravana and brother unto Vaiçravana, the Rākshasa named Rāvana resides in the city of Lankā. And the lovely city of Lankā, reared by Viçwakarma, lieth a full hundred yojanas hence on an island in the sea; furnished with golden gateways, filled with variegated daises, lordly gold-gleaming palaces; and girt round with great walls hued like sunshine. ”

“ Lantaro had sent men to obstruct it by felled trees, and the few remaining Spaniards had a severe fight before they could escape. The Araucanians pursued them to the Biobio, fatigue preventing their following beyond that stream. The fugitives continued their flight until Concepcion was reached, and here the old men and women were speedily sent north in ships, while the other inhabitants fled from the city in a panic, and started for Santiago by land. ”

“ Thereupon beholding Lankā burnt down, the celestials along with Gandharbas, Siddhas, and the great ascetics, were struck with wonder.
SECTION LV. Beholding Lankā burnt down and devastated and the demons terrified,the monkey Hanumān began to reflect. And worked up with fear and remorse, he reflected,—"What a mighty iniquity have I perpetrated by burning down Lankā of my own accord? Blessed are those high-souled ones who control their wrath by dint of their own good sense, like unto fire quenched by water. What iniquity is there which cannot be perpetrated by the angry? ”

“ He said, as if teaching Larue, 'Fear is stronger than love; where love can but plead, fear can command.'"
"A devil's doctrine!" grunted Jager, and Lanark nodded agreement.
"He said more," went on Enid. "He spoke of 'Those Below,' and of how they 'rule by fear, and therefore are stronger than Those on High, who rule by weak love.'"
"Blasphemy," commented Jager, in his beard.
"Those statements fit what I remember of his talk," Lanark put in. "He spoke, just before we fought the guerrillas, of some great evil to come from flouting Those Below."
"I remember," nodded Jager. "Go on, young woman." ”

“ The horse was plunging and whinnying, but Lanark clutched its reins and got his foot into the stirrup. The bonfire seemed to be growing strangely brighter, and the mounted guerrillas were plainly discernible, raging and trampling among his disorganized men. Corporal Gray went down, dying almost under Lanark's feet. Amid the deafening drum-roll of shots, Sergeant Jager's bull-like voice could be heard: "Stop, thieves and horsemen, in the name of God!" It sounded like an exorcism, as though the Confederate raiders were devils. ”

“ Lanark's lean fingers crushed Jager's coarser ones.
"Let's be gone," urged Lanark at once, but the preacher shook his head emphatically.
"Slowly, slowly," he temporized. "Cool your spirit, and take council. He that ruleth his temper is greater than he that taketh a city." Once more he put out his hand for the cream-colored volume of Albertus Magnus, and began to search through it.
"Do you think to comfort me from that book?" asked Lanark.
"It has more than comfort," Jager assured him. "It has guidance." ”

“ O Sovereign of the Rākshasas, thou ought not to plunge thyself into this dreadful, and abysslesss ocean, having the bow for its alligators, activity of arms for its shine, arrows for its billows, and engagement for its waters. Be propitious, O lord of Lankā! O foremost of Rākshasas, with a contented heart, thou hadst better go thy way to Lankā. Do thou ever sport with thy own wives: let Rāma in company with his wife, sport in the woods." Thus addressed by Māricha, the ten-throated Rāvana desisted, and entered Lankā the best of capitals. ”

“ If Ducane lived he would find him. If Ducane died he would know it. Concerning this matter he had the strange intuition which occasionally comes to men who have relied all their lives on chance.
The Lake, wide and moaning as the sea, was dark with the wrath of an eastern wind that night. But it was no darker than Tempest's spirit as he walked the stony ridge behind their island camp, forgetful of the mosquito-smudges, and remembering only that he had at last taken the decisive step away from civilisation and from all knowledge of Andree. ”

“ The first approach to Larnaka, the chief sea-port of Cyprus, is well calculated to impress the traveller. The boundless expanse of blue sky and sea, the bold outline of the hills and mountains, brought out as they are into sharp relief by the clearness and brilliancy of the atmosphere, seem to throw the works of man far into the background and boldly assert the simple grandeur of nature. ”

“ The houses are chiefly built of clay and only one story high, on account of the earthquakes, to which the island is subject. The interiors of the houses are comfortable; the apartments are paved with white marble, and almost every house has a garden.
This is the chief sea-port in the island, and has a fair anchorage for vessels in the roadstead. Near Larnaka is the well-known inland lake, whence in ancient days, the Phœnicians obtained the best salt. ”