CHAPTER V
AT TELEPYLUS
LuncH consisted of fish of a kind that we had never
seen before; long, thin bodies with beaks like sword-
fish. We were very hungry; but they would have tasted
exquisite under any circumstances. The meal continued
- with cheese, honey, and medlars ; and ended gloriously
~ with real Turkish coffee ; not one cup but as many as
we wanted; and Benedictine.
We had drink the rough, strong wine of the country
with-the meal; and to us it tasted as if it had been
the best red wine ever made. It had not been submitted
to any chemical process. There was a sort of vitality
inherent in it. It was primitive like all the arrangements
of the Abbey, but the freshness and naturalness of
everything made more than amends even to our culti-
vated palates. We were apparently sitting down to
lunch. with a choice selection of Olympian Deities;
and the food seemed to be in keeping!
Besides that, we had no time to be critical; we
were overwhelmed by the beauty of our surround-
-ings.
Far away to the west, a line of hills ran out into the
sea, the farther peaks were over fifty miles away, yet
in that ‘translucent atmosphere of spring they stood
out sharply. We could even see in front of the range
a small, dark line of crags which jutted out parallel
with them and about ten miles nearer. Thence the
coast line swept towards us in a complex curve of
indescribable beauty and majesty. Telepylus being
itself on a promontory, there was nothing to break the
mighty stretch of sea between us and the distant range
with its twin cones which overhang the principal city
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