SAVED FROM THE BULGARS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 15159, 1 October 1913, Page 4

SAVED FROM THE BULGARS.

HOW THE GREEK FLEFT CAME

TO K AVAL A

Here is a dramatic story of the, war, which shows how a brave Turkish fisherman, saved the town ; of Kavala from massacre by the retreating Bulgarian army It is a graphic sidelight on the horrors due to the re-opening of the war. '

"I have heard from an .eye-witness most striking and picturesque details as to tile way in which Kavala. was saved just in the nick of time from fire and slaughter.-" says the Salonika correspondent of tho "Telegraph." "The mass of the Bulgarian army, in danger of having its retreat cut off from the north; had evacuated the town, leaving behind only a small force of 200 men, ( commanded by a lieutenant with nrflprs: .-to bxirnaiid sack the town- next dav. •Th*c> -t&rrified people -hiid hidden themselves in their darkened'-liotises: behind locked doors and barred windows. Rumours:- had gon6 about that the garrison _ quartered in the fortress, overlooking the town -was laying in large stores of pntroleum, and that bayonets were being sharpened and guns loaded. There was nothing to hope for or to do; only with unavailing curses and prayers await the coming of death in its most hideous form. ; " Through the pitch-black, streets a Turkish boatman crept down to tho port. No boat was allowed to • leave the bay, patrols faced the quay, searchlights flashed over the still and silent waters. Very quietly, lying flat on the grey stones, he loosened his little craft, crawled in, and. with muffled pars, pulled away. None heard him, arid ( the searchlights, playing all around, left him in darkness. It was, slays he, as if a great 1 hand wore stretched over him, and its shadows Lay aroiund his boat.

"Ho cleared the bay, and with all his might, and main bent to his oars; Far across the sea , eighteen miles away in the Bay of Thassos, lay the Greek fleet.' - Through the long hour.-; of the night- he rowed, heedless of aching arms and limbs, rowed for his life and the lives of thousands who lay behind him in the quaking town. In the early morning the port' of Thassos opened before him. The great .ships were there, always under pressure, straining at their anchors. ■

." With a last effort he pulled up"to the side, and the startled sailors hanging over the gangway heard a cry of warning, a cry • for help, rise ur> 'into the night. 1 For the sake of Allsih and > lor the sake of your Godj come quick, for, at the sunrise the Bulgars sack the town.'

At morn a thick column of smoke rose behind the promontory. What could it be? With- beating, shaking hearts they watched the nose of a. ship creek round the corner, a long, low grey thing with protruding guns and iunnels vomiting smoke. - "It.a destroyer. At the stern floated something they could not see. let, God in Heaven 3 it was blue with a white cross! The next instant the bell was -clanging out a crazy, jerky peal s and a frantic.creature was tear--mg down the streets shrieking. 'TheGreek fleet! The Greek fleet !' "In one moment shutters were let down, doors burst open, and a shouting, sobbing crowd rushed down to the sea.. The destroyer had stopped, a boat was lowered, - the captain was rowed ashore. He had haz'dly time to touch the ground before fifty strong arms had caught him up, and, ""with weeping and with laughter,- carried him shoulder high through the cheering streets, whilst behind him, contentedly nodding his red-fezzed head, unobtrusively walked the simple Turkish fisherman who had' saved the town." ■, ■