■ : GIFT or PROFESSOR C.A. K^l CAMP AND STUDIO, CAMP AND STUDIO. BY IRVING MONTAGU, t • Late War Artist of " The Illustrated London News," Sfc. Sf-c Author of " Wanderings of a War Ar-tist." LONDON : W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATEKLOO PLACE. AND AT CALCUTTA. 1890. (All Bights Reserved.) • • e GIFT Of PROFESSOR C.A. KOFOID ^ItVG^ DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO lifawes BofixKb, iBsftutre, HER majesty's CONSUL-GENERAL, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAYTI, EQUALLY A THOROUGH FRIEND IN "CAMP AND STUDIO." M31G965 PREFACE In introducing Camp and Studio to the reader, I do so with mixed feelings of confidence and anxiety — confidence begotten of the complimentary way in which the press and public accepted a recent work of mine, Wanderings of a War Artist — and anxiety to know if in this latter effort I shall continue to hold the good opinion they have formed. I have at least endeavoured, while sustaining my own individuality, to profit by those just, generous, and in some cases exhaustive, criticisms which I have received. These rambling reminiscences pretend to nothing more than they are. Those who would have military detail or political point will find it elsewhere. Camp and Studio may be read as a distinct work, or in the light of a sequel to Wanderings of a War Artist, the early experiences introduced into that book being balanced by the later ones to be found in the present volume. Having trodden the war-path together, I would ask those who are sufficiently in accord with me to join me in Bohemia, that I may afford them a glimpse behind the shifting scenes of artistic life, thus conveying to them some idea of my doings at home as well as abroad. viii PREFACE. May I also be permitted to say to those who are inclined to suppose any of these experiences extravagant, that not only must the circumstances be taken into consideration but, since fact is often so much " stranger than fiction,'* that it has never been necessary to go beyond its limits. As I would be most careful not to offend the suscepti- bilities of any, I have, in touching on studio life, advisedly altered the names of some of those to whom I have referred. I have also endeavoured throughout to avoid too frequent reference to those amongst the good, great, wise, or witty with whom my life has been associated, save where the interweaving of their experiences have been necessary to a description of my own, for while feeling strongly how much at all times we are indebted to others, I prefer standing on my own small merits to borrowing plumes which should be worn by them alone. Thus hopefully committing Camp and Studio to the criticisms of the press and the public, do I lay down for the moment my pen and pencil and await their verdict. CAMBRroGE Studios, 42, Linden Gardens, W. March 1890. '-^-e£i^?ir^«afcM?^>^~- CONTENTS PAGE Introduction -- --xv THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Chapter I. The Declaration of War. — En route for Constantinople. — In the Enemy's Gamp. — A Russian Spy. — BetAveen two Fires. — Arrested. — Rust- chuk. — The Cossacks. — Varna. — On the Black Sea. — Constanti- nople. — Hobart Pasha. — The Manchester Guardian. — Trebizond. — An Eastern Reception. — To Kars via Erzeroum - - - - Chapter II. Mukhtar Pasha. — A Pasha's Tent. — A Village Idiot. — Brigandage. — A Method for Dispersing Brigands. — A Hard March. — Our Guide Deserts. — Erzeroum. — Consul Zohrab. — Vultures. — A Price on "Pith Helmets." — Baksheesh. — The Devil's Firestone. — Anatolia 32 Chapter III. Bail Up."— Chased by Brigands.— The Devil's Bolts.— Wolves in Sheep's Clothing. — The Temple of Evil. — A Pasha of Many "Tales."— A Bloodless Battle.— Little Worries.— Fire Water.— My Refractory Steed. — Exit Barkis. — The Devil's Own. — Celestial Artillery. — Dead Spies. — " Sans Everything." — ^White Demons - 58 CONTENTS, Chapter IV. PAGE The Cossacks ! The Cossacks !— British Pluck.— With Mukhtar Pasha. — Not Dead Yet. — Kars. — A Bright-eyed Amazon. — Hairy Moses. — Favourites of Fate. — The Gentlest of her Sex. — Mukhtar's Retreat. — An Unclean Army. — Maddening Titillation. — A Deserted Village. — Famishing. — Utterly at Sea --.--- 91 Chapter V. On the Brink of Destruction. — A Miraculous Escape. — A Middle- Aged Spider. — A Lovely Liliputian. — A Prolific Land. — Curious Cipher. — Slavery. — A Charming Bargain. — Consul Zohrab. — Power of the Press. — Eaten Alive. — Sitting on the Daili/ News. — Erzeroum. — Sir Arnold Kern ball. — A Harem en Deshabille. — The Merry Major. — Pitched from a Precipice. — Superstitions. — ^Doomed. — The Beauty of Bagdad 116 Chapter VI. Sleeping Beauty. — Dreams of the Future. — Sorely Tempted. — An Earthly Paradise. — Unscrupulous Arabs. — A Night Alarm. — Saved by His Nose. — Consul Billiotti. — Hobart Pasha. — Dancing on Cayenne Pepper. — A Mutiny. — An Impending Massacre. — A Friend Indeed. — Three Days in Old England. — A Terrible Fix. — An Artful Dodge.— We Took to Trade. — A Galvanized Impulse. — Smashed to Atoms ___. 143 Chapter VII. Lively Latitudes. — A Lovely Danseuse. — " Down Amongst the Dead Men." — That Historic Bridge. — McGhan's Dinner Party. — Moun- tains of Mud. — With the Imperial Guard. — Fire or Water. — We Took to Trade.— "A Tramp Abroad."— Camp-Fire Stories.— Music Hath Charms 171 CONTENTS. xi Chapter VIII. PAGE Qualifications of a War Correspondent. — " Wanted." — A Refined Cruelty. — Caprice of War. — A Memorable Omelette. — Our Great " International " Stew. — The Montagu Dinner. — Wonderful Wolves. — Lost in a Fog. — In the Grip of the Enemy. — Saved by the Muezzin. — Round About the Redoubt. — Painfully Pointed Attentions. — How I Reach the Gravitza. — Making Hay while the Sun Shone. — How a Messenger of Death met the Messenger of War. — Radishevo Redoubt. — A War Dance. — Something About Picketing. — Quality of Courage. — A Sad End to a Brave Beginning. Rations. — ^War Prices. — Gorny Dubnak. — A Simile: War and the Elements. — Thirsting for Fame. — An Admirable Huse de Guerre. A Queer Bulgarian Custom. — Lost in a Snowdrift . . . 199 Chapter IX. A Problem at Porodim. — Turned out by the Grand Duke. — The Czar's Permit. — A Present to Osman. — A Barricade of Bullock Waggons. —The Last Charge.— General Skobeleff.— The Flag of Truce.— Tewfik Bey. — The End Inevitable. — Osman Wounded. — His Sur- render. — The Gentler Sex. — The Holy Red Cross (Poem). — Quality of Osman's Men. — Cambridge Studio, S.W. — The Pipe of Peace.— Bones ! 223 BACK IN BOHEMIA. Chapter X. Bohemia. — "Princess Alice." — De Profundis. — Colliery Disasters. — Scenes at the Pit's Mouth. — The Prince Imperial. — A Floral Tri- bute. — Prince Leopold. — Ghostly Revelations. — Poor Blenkensop. — A Phantom Friend. — Chuckling in the Spheres _ - - 247 xii CONTENTS. Chapter XI. PAGE Struggling Hnmanity. — Artists' Models. — Doubtful Antiquities. — Waifs and Strays. — " Hemma's Two." — An Admirable Model. — Ada's Prettiest Pose. — A Scandalized Community. — Sketches from Life. — Muffins. — Poor Nellie the Model. — Love at First Sight. — Eau De Vie. — The Colonel. — A Hammersmith Desdemona. — A Terrible Accident. — The Story of a Guitar. — Somerville and Crunch Again. — A Medley of Models. — A Royal Model. — Behind the Scenes 262 3/7 Chapter XII. Kensington Vampire. — Cant. — Angling. — An Artful Dodger. — Man- Traps. — Cupid and Pluto. — Beware ! — Love in a Cottage. — In the Meshes of Satan. — How I Escaped. — Caught at Last. — Going to the Derby. — Passing Pictures. — Society's Shadows. — A Clever Scamp. — A Gold Mine. — Art Critics. — Dividing the Spoil. — Artistic Shams under the Cloak of Religion 295 Chapter XIII. Prince Albert. — Timely Incentives. — Countess Cowper. — A Little Animal Painter. — Sir Edwin Landseer. — Dr. Christopher Irving's Advice. — Art and Enterprise. — A Representative Bohemian. — Helping Lame Dogs over Stiles. — Sweet Seventeen at the Aqua- rium. — Smitten. — Love's Arrows. — How this Book came about. — Inexplicable Impressions. — The Night before the R.A. — Wooden Pavements. — Experiences as a Lecturer. — Drury Lane. — Address- ing a Lamp-post. — Charles Duval. — The Grossmiths, pere et Jils. — Curious Proclivities. — Tombstones. — Professional Nurses. — Revelations. — My First Academy Patron. — George Augustus Sala. — Plevna in Piccadilly. — Groans of the Wounded. — A Curious Christmas Eve. — Love and War. — " To the Banquet we ' Press.'" — Edward Draper. — A Supercilious Critic. — Society's Shams. — Au Revoir 356 «,xc>^ '•'\r« X3 -^ -^ THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR THE EUSSO-TUEKISH WAE. CHAPTEK I. THE DECLARATION OF WAR EN ROUTE FOR CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE enemy's CAMP A RUSSIAN SPY BETWEEN TWO FIRES ARRESTED RUSTCHUK THE COSSACKS VARNA ON THE BLACK SEA CONSTANTINOPLE HOBART PASHA THE "MANCHESTER GUARDIAN" TREBIZOND AN EASTERN RECEPTION TO KARS VIA ERZEROUM. Europe was ablaze with it ; the telegraphic wires of the world were vibrating with it ; it was placarded on every hoarding of every city in the civilized world. War had been declared ! A holy war, in which Christianity and Islam would meet face to face; a war of aggrandizement, in which Kussia would fight for the key to the Black Sea, which Turkey would as stubbornly defend ; a war, in short, like many others, which with godly pretexts would cloak ulterior purposes. ■x- -jf •){• * I was in Vienna, in a curious dilemma, for having ascer- tained on most reliable authority that since the declara- tion of war it had become utterly impossible to approach 1 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Constantinople by way of the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, I found I had but one alternative, that of secreting the introductions I carried with me to the Turkish military authorities, and outflanking the rapidly concen- trating Eussian forces by making straight for Bucharest, and crossing thence, via Giurgevo, to Eustchuk. Not a moment was to be lost, so, leaving my heavier luggage in Vienna, I started forthwith for the capital of Eoumania, which amongst European cities looks at a first glance perhaps the most uninviting. It was in the gloaming when I arrived ; and when I started in a three-horse drosky for the hotel, I was most unpleasantly impressed by the scattered huts and insig- nificant houses which constituted that part of the tortuous main street nearest its ghostly looking railway station, where oil lamps and tallow candles struggled, dimly and in vain, to throw sufficient light on the miscellaneous wares of its insignificant shops. Grim as everything appeared, there was at least a sense of relief that, so far, there was no evidence of Eussian occupation. Alas ! what a kaleidoscope of shift- ing scenes this life is ! My best hopes were soon to be shattered, for, in five minutes, with a turn in the road, I found myself in that part of the Gra7ide Rue to which the other was but a sleepy suburb ; a sotnia of Cossacks wheeling down a bye street at this moment blocked the route. My drosky- driver pulled up, the jingling of the harness bells ceased, and there before me was Bucharest proper, its brilliant little shops now ablaze with light, its people wild with excitement, the very air seeming possessed of a sort of bugle mania. Eegiments passed PREPARATIONS. 3 hither and thither in quest of quarters, and officers in every imaginable Muscovite uniform hustled each other on the uneven pavement, and crammed to excess every cafe on the picturesque little boulevard, and there was I (pardon the first person singular), with credentials to high Turkish officials in my pocket, in the very midst of the enemy. It was a trying moment, I assure you. Indeed, I think it must have been the Calmuc cut of my counten- ance which prevented their discovering that there was " a chiel amang them takin' notes." Suffice it to say, after much jostling, I was put down at " The Concordia," where I verily believe every room, save my own, was occupied by a Eussian. It was too late that night to get farther ; so, till early morning, I made the best of it. I do not think the strongest potations would have induced sleep, since everything hinged on my being able to get away the first thing next day. I think in this my knapsack (the only luggage I had brought on) assisted me. Carrying it unpretentiously in my hand I was allowed to pass, being supposed probably to be some harmless continental commercial who, having lost his way, was hurrying off to find that peace which Bucharest at that moment failed to afford. There was at least little difficulty in starting early next morning for Giurgevo, and I breathed again, I assure you, as we left the station and I once more found myself in the open. The terminus reached, the Danube crossed, and then, once in European Turkey, I should be safe. On arriving at Giurgevo, I hastened to the landing- stage ; there before me lay the broad expanse of the 1 * THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Danube^s blue waters, dotted with the innumerable little islands round which its currents swirl, while straight away on the other side could distinctly be seen the forts, mosques, and minarets of Kustchuk. " At last," I said to myself, " all will be well ; and now for a boat." Ah ! just so. Where were the boats ? A A RUSSIAN SPY. shingly shore, with nothing on it but empty boat-houses. No boatmen. What could it all mean ? However, it was a difficulty easily overcome. I could soon get someone ta pull me across, or do it myself for the matter of that. I was wondering for the moment where best to apply, when PREPARATIONS, I perceived I had attracted the attention of a rubicund, mihtary-looking man, with a curiously black moustache (strongly suggestive of hair-dye), close-shaven chin, and the air of an exquisite, who was standing not far from me on the landing-stage. I instinctively turned to him, and asked in French if he knew where I could secure a boat- man. To my astonishment he replied, with the slightest possible accent, in excellent English. " There are 710 boatmen and )io boats. The passage of the Danube has been interdicted for three days." And then he went on, "Am I right in supposing I am addressing an Englishman ? " " Yes, yes ; I 'm an Englishman ; but what 's to be done ? I MUST cross.^' " Quite impossible, I assure you. Any boat which approaches Kustchuk will be immediately sunk. It 's hopeless to think of it. May I offer you a cigarette ? " His sang-froid annoyed me. There was I, with the interests of the Illustrated London Neivs at heart, within a triangle, two sides of which were hourly converging, a fringe of steel, on Giurgevo, while the third was represented by the seductive but uncrossable Danube. I thanked him curtly without accepting his proffered cigarette, and rushed off to find the mayor, governor — anyone, in fact, in authority to whom I might, as a sort of forlorn hope, appeal. The chief magistrate of Giurgevo, a most charming old gentle- man, expressed the warmest sympathy with me in the difficulty in which I found myself ; but the edicts of war were beyond his control. Death awaited those who should attempt a passage. What was I to do ? I went back to the landing-stage perfectly bewildered, THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, where, with provoking nonchalance, I found my friend of the rubicund complexion engrossed in a French novel. " Any luck ? " said he, looking up lazily from his book. *' None ; I 've tried every possible means." " What do you intend to do ? " " Eeturn to Bucharest, get thence through Hungary and Servia or Bulgaria to Constantinople." " Again impossible ; you came by the last train. The railway is now in possession of the military ; besides, the Russians will occupy Fratesti (the next station to Giurgevo) to-night, and early to-morrow will be in Giurgevo itself." I was curious to know how it was that this mysterious stranger should be so well-informed, and ventured — " You are, I think, yourself a Eussian ? " " I am," he said, with an air of candour, which under other circumstances would have been delightful. *' I am an officer of the Secret Service. I think you call us spies — the term sounds less polite. By the way, what are you'> " I informed him that I was an artist. "Ah! I thought so; you look like one. Could you, if necessary, prove it ? " I felt I was playing with fire ; so I produced my sketch- book. He knew something of art evidently. Picking out a rough sketch I had made in passing a Roumanian village, which was certainly the best of the few I then had, he ex- pressed himself delighted with it as he courteously returned me the book. "It's unnecessary to say," he continued, assuming a sudden gravity, " that the one object of the Russians at the present moment is to cross the Danube." "Just so." PREPARATIONS. " It being equally, of course, the one object of the Turks to prevent then- doing so, you can imagine that a pretty high price would be put on reliable intelligence which, to that end, the Turks might obtain. I am in a position to give (for a consideration) the required information/' "But you are in the Eussian service; and, moreover, why make me your confidant ? " " In the first place, because you are in our hands, and because it would not be worth your while to betray me, even if you could ; and further, because I alone can help you, and you alone can help me. We have plenty of time to discuss the matter. You are safe till dawn to-morrow, at least. Will you sleep here to-night, or start to-day ? " "Where for?" " Constantinople via Eustchuk." " What ! can you arrange this ? " " I can." With this he led the way to a small hotel near the landing-stage, where we were supplied with an excellent bottle of Ehine wine, which we proceeded to discuss. I was thunderstruck. " Of course, I make special conditions. — ^You convey to the Pasha of Eustchuk a docu- ment for which, if events turn out as it predicts — and they will — you will be amply compensated, I assure you. I have already arranged preliminaries. I have only to give the required information, and " " And how about the Eussians ? " I interrupted. " Oh ! they know how to take care of themselves — they will cross, come what may. I 'm too patriotic not to feel that ; and an officer of the Secret Service should never be too particular. He should make what you English call, I think, grass while the wind blows." THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Not, however, to give you more than is necessary of our actual conversation, I will simply say that, feeling every- thing in love and war to be fair, and seeing I could only escape through the instrumentality of a refined villain from the clutches of those very Muscovites he was so willing to betray, T, appearing to agree with him, took the important document (closed up and addressed) with which he now entrusted me, while he in some most mysterious way secured three boatmen who, for seven English sovereigns (the ordi- nary fare, I think, being about the equivalent for fourpence) agreed to take the chance of a safe landing on the opposite shore. These men, exceedingly ignorant Greeks, did not evidently half realise the risk they ran, and to them seven pounds would be a mine of wealth. They had been plying (being local boatmen) backwards .and forwards for years. Familiarity had bred contempt ; thus, being only half- informed of the danger which awaited them and knowing nothing whatever of war, greed got the best of them ; so they at length secured and launched a boat some little distance from the town, and awaited my arrival. While these arrangements were being made by my friend the spy, I was not idle. The pen and ink with which he had addressed his betrayal of trust served a double purpose. Directly he left, I tore the sketch of the Koumanian village he had admired out of my sketch-book, writing on it the one word ** Souvenir," while on the envelope of his despatch to the Turkish head-quarters at Kustchuk I wrote in a bold hand that which in my early literary days had so often applied to myself, the simple sentence of " Returned, with thaiiks,'' This, with the sketch, I put into a large blue envelope which I had in PREPARATIONS, my knapsack, totally unlike the one it enclosed ; and, having placed it in my pocket, anxiously awaited his return. I was in some fear lest he should want to make some alteration in the document. Happily, however, this was not the case ; and beyond asking if it was safe, and giving me all sorts of definite instructions concerning it, nothing further transpired till we arrived at the spot where the three swarthy Greeks were awaiting us. An- other moment, and I was afloat. The sturdy oarsmen gave one long stroke, and we swept out into the broad expanse which lay between ourselves and Eustchuk ; but the moment that that first stroke of the oars swept us from shore, I had my preconceived part to play. Waving the large blue envelope high in air, and shouting out, "A souvenir; the sketch you took a fancy to," I flung it, with its mixed contents, on to the shingly shore where the Kussian with a cynical smile stood watching my departure. " You are sure the other document is safe," he shouted, in respoiise. "It couldn't be in safer custody," I replied; and as we glided rapidly on I watched him, the envelope still unopened in his hand, with no little interest, till I saw him turn, with a self-satisfied air, towards the hotel ; and I felt for that astute officer of the Eussian Secret Service when he should have leisure to discuss the contents of the blue envelope. What a world of speculation was now before me ! What might, or might not, happen within the next quarter of an hour ! We were already more than half-way across, and I could now distinctly see the gunners at their posts, and a miscellaneous crowd on the beach looking on in blank 10 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. wonderment at the audacity with which a small boat full of men came to pull across that interdicted stream ; and as if there was one thing wanting to add to my excitement, when they might open fire upon us at any moment, two boatmen out of the three began to show the white feather, and pulled round for dear life to gain the temporary shelter of some sunken barges. Happily, the steersman understood a little French, and was also the most self- possessed. I explained hurriedly to him that our only safety lay in pulling straight for the landing-stage — MARCHED OFF TO PRISON. indeed, had not his influence prevailed, it is impossible to say what the result might have been. Those few anxious moments seemed an eternity, each stroke of the oars bringing one nearer and nearer still to that swarthy group of red-fezzed soldiery, who, with sinister looks, awaited the infidels' arrival. Our keel grazed the shore ; we were safe, but instantly surrounded. They took possession of our boat and seized us, marching us off, followed by all PREPARATIONS. 11 the ragamuffins of Kustchuk, to the military prison at the rear of the town, where the never-to-be-forgotten Eastern custom of hospitality was not even in this case to be dis- pensed with, for black coffee and sweetmeats welcomed us here before w^e had been many minutes incarcerated. You see, we were not yet condemned ; hence we were, in some sense, guests. We were, of course, searched, and when it was found that I was a honCi-fide representative of the English Press, and that my credentials were sound, we were speedily released. What actually became of the boat- men I never ascertained ; I only remember that, having been paid, they walked off in moody silence to make inquiries for their confiscated boat. My first step was to present myself at the British Con- sulate ; the door was opened by a gorgeously- attired native, who was, however, perfectly eclipsed by the Consular cavasse who appeared from behind a curtained entry, one blaze of coloured velvet and gold lace. He conducted me into a small ante-room, there to wait till Consul Eeid should be disengaged ; and there it was that I was much impressed (after the narrow escape I had so recently ex- perienced) by hearing in an adjacent room, in a clear, manly voice, the words — *' From battle, murder and sudden death, good Lord deliver us ! " It was the Consul reading the service to the few British residents who had assembled to hear him. I had lost touch of time for the moment, and this recalled to me the fact that it was Sunday. The Consul presently came in ; he was urbanity itself, professing genuine astonishment at my having been able to effect a landing — indeed, any hesi- 12 THE RUSSO-TUBKISH WAR, tation at that critical moment would, he assured me, have been fatal to us all. It was the calm before the storm — the slow music before the rising of the curtain, which should display the first of the many shifting scenes which were about to be produced simultaneously at the two great theatres of war in Europe and Asia — rival houses, to continue the simile, under dis- tinct management, each having its bright particular stars, from whom the world, as their audience, expected great things. The Eussian forces were divided into the Euro- pean, the Asiatic, and Caucasian armies, each replete with the most modern arms and other equipments. The army of actual occupation amounted to 144,000 men, 32,800 horses, and 432 guns, with a second army, comprising two corps — that is to say, 72,000 men, 16,400 horses, and 216 guns — the two amounting to exactly 216,000 men, 49,200 horses, and 648 guns. It will be thus seen that the Eussian had come to do or die, well supplied with men and all the impedimenta of war. Then, too, in justice be it said, the Eussian is a good, albeit bibulous soldier, with all the hereditary instincts of the Slav. He is, to his officers, obedience itself; and take him all round, is not only well-drilled and disciplined, but possessed, as a rule, of that robust endurance and physical rather than moral courage which fits him so well for service at the front. Of the officers I would say that they possess all the good and bad points of their men, to which they add the courtliest polish; and though to scratch a Eussian may be to find a Tartar, Muscovite officers bear satisfactory comparison on the surface with men of their station and PREPARATIONS. 13 time wherever they may be found. Nor have we yet touched on those hordes of Eussian irregulars — the great Cossack contingent of free-lances, who have so long played an important part in Eussian history. He is rather squat in build is your rollicking Cossack, rosy and rotund about the nose, affecting, as a rule, a A COSSACK. fierce tow-coloured moustache and long hair. His chaco, not unlike a brimless beaver, he wears jauntily and some- what askew, a huge grey great-coat and short jack-boots seeming to complete his outer aspect, unless we add his carbine, carefully wrapped in fur or oilskin, which swings across his shoulders, and the lance which he never fails 14 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. to have conveniently at hand. "But if in pursuit we go deeper," we shall find he is possessed of a revolver (a thoroughly good weapon), besides a long curved sword, which might be first cousin once removed to a scimitar, were it not for its ponderous proportions. He rides a weedy, gaunt pony, which, though it forcibly reminds one of certain melancholy processions one has seen in the direc- tion of the knackers' yards in the Caledonian Eoad, is, nevertheless, as wiry as it is bony, and far more equal to forced marches and inadequate food than horses of finer mould. The Cossack captain varies considerably ; he is often a superior if not a highly-educated man, and not unfre- quently an aristocratic ne'er-do-weel, who loves to strut en grand seigneur in eccentric magnificence as to costume before his troops. Cossacks, as a race, are more addicted to vodka than soap and water, and are as good fighting men as any irregulars which Europe or Asia can produce. The foregoing notes were the joint result of my rapid run through Eoumania — for it was literally a run for dear life — and the information I picked up at Kustchuk, from which, before sundown on the day of my arrival, I saw the double-headed Eagle hoisted at Giurgevo ; so, had I hesitated that morning, I must inevitably have been taken. Having left the Muscovites behind me, I naturally began to interest myself in the numbers and disposition of the Turkish forces, with whom, on my way to the army of Mukhtar Pasha, I was about to foregather. Now, the Turkish army amounted at the time of which I speak to 170,400, with a reserve force of 148,600 men, to say PREPARATIONS. 15 nothing of 75,000 auxiliaries and 87,000 irregulars — numbering in all about 481,000 men, the European total being 367 battalions, 83 squadrons, 483 guns ; while in Asia they numbered 165 battalions, 64 squadrons, and 872 guns. As to their bravery, it is impossible, from my point of view, to over-estimate it ; besides which, they were not only well-armed, but inspired by a fanatical fire which placed them beyond comparison with the enemy. We were on the eve of a war not only of nations, but creeds, and there could be no doubt as to the religious fervour of the one as compared with the other. Whatever the information may have been, and however reliable, which that Eussian spy wished to convey through me as to the proposed point at which the Danube was to be crossed, it would probably have been negatived by subsequent tactics, as it was not till the last moment that I heard that simultaneous feints were to take place at many points, so as to weaken the Turkish line of defence ; and that the troops, concentrated at its weakest spot, were to cross by pontoons into Bulgaria. Then came that delay — more terrible than action — the swollen state of the river, and Eussian unpreparedness, all tend- ing to postpone the inevitable steps which should in Europe herald the commencement of hostilities ; but all this concerned and interested me very little at that particular moment, as my mission was to Asia Minor, and Danubian events were to form subject for other pencils than mine. Indeed, early on the day after I crossed, I started for Shumla, the headquarters of Abdul Kerim Pasha, and thence to Varna, where I awaited the first steamer on its way to Constantinople, and spent some 16 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR. little time by the way in the camp of the Egyptian con- tingent, who were busy throwing up defences against an attack by sea on that port ; nor can I imagine anything much more picturesque than those crowds of ebony warriors in white tunics, like so many gigantic ants, climbing busily in all directions over the huge earthworks which they were raising. Were this a political essay I might have much to say touching Varna as a strategical port, which, in the coming storm, might play a goodly part ; but since I am disposed rather to convey some idea of the every-day life of a war artist at the front, I will confine myself to saying that Varna is a place on the beauties of w^hich one cannot dwell, and which, not having yet slept in a Cossack camp, I found unpleasantly malodorous. It was here, however, that I made the acquaintance of Mr. Suter (son of the late Consul) and his wife, very charming people, who were hemmed in, unhappily, just then by the sudden turn of events. At my instance he wrote to several of the London papers offering his services as a correspondent, and, being accepted, he was en- abled before long to emerge from what, to him at that time, was very like a prison-house to follow the fortunes of war in that capacity — his name, with that of his delicate young wife, coming, it will be remembered, some time afterwards prominently before the public in connec- tion with their being taken by brigands while travelling in Macedonia. I am indebted to Mr. Suter for securing for me one Williams, a Levantine, whose one idea at that moment was to get back to Constantinople, which, having no money, he looked upon as hopeless. I can quite imagine PREPARATIONS. 17 that the prospect of being shut up in Varna during a protracted war was not inviting. Williams, as I have said, a Levantine, spoke English with a slight accent which rather improved it than otherwise. Tall, swarthy as a Spanish mountaineer, and scrupulously neat, though very seedily dressed, this man seemed somehow to win me over. At a glance we understood each other, the result being that I agreed to take him to Constantinople as a sort of factotum ; though in my own mind I had decided to promote him to the dignity of dragoman through the campaign, a position which he was peculiarly well fitted to fill, having been up country in Asia Minor a good deal, and being one of those born linguists who, associating the confusion of tongues one meets with in the East, are able to converse with *' all sorts and conditions of men." In short, he was of all others the man I wanted, and thus it was that we were before long smoking the pipe — shall I say of peace ? — together on board a steamer bound for the city of the Sultan. Night had already set in, and a gale was springing up as we'ploughed our way through that, to me, particularly Black Sea. The deck was crowded with miscellaneous groups of refugees, like some vast pic-nic of sea-sick travellers, who sat cross-legged round about us in every direction. Here were a number of yashmacked damsels; there a softa (student) or two, distinguishable by the peculiar shape of their white turbans. These, with a sprinkling of merchants, whose occupation, like Othello's, had gone ; shepherds who had left their sheep to whatever fate might await them, together with nondescripts of every degree and nationality, were braving reluctantly the dangers of a 2 18 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. night on the Black Sea in view of those other and greater dangers which they left behind. The approach to Constantinople, from every point, has been so often treated, that I should have made no reference to it had not Constantinople been conspicuous by its absence on my arrival next morning in the Bosphorus. The Faithful on board, having been called to prayers, were devoutly kneeling as we glided up its comparatively still waters ; the sun had risen and lit up the villages which adorn its European and Asiatic banks. It was like the play of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. " Where," I asked, " where is Constantinople ? " *' There," said Williams, pointing in the direction in which it ought to be, with a confidence which seemed to say, " I know it's there somewhere " — and echo answered "where?" Then, suddenly, as if by some mighty magic, its mosques and minarets began to appear in mid-air, above a low-lying bank of clouds and grey morning mist, tinted as they did so by the salmon-pink light of the rising sun, which made the fog which surrounded them look doubly blue. This, too, began now to clear rapidly off, and the Golden Horn, Scutari, Galata, and the heights of Pera came, as in some marvellous transformation scene, into bold relief. There before me, where but a moment before all had been haze, rose the loveliest Oriental city in the world, reflected in the commingled waters of the Bos- phorus and Sea of Marmora, on which innumerable craft of every shape, colour, and size lay at anchor. Truly, Constantinople far exceeded all that my most erratic fancy had painted, and so with a well- sharpened appetite for the picturesque and breakfast I landed. PREPARATIONS, 19 Never was the adage that " beauty is only skin deep " better exemplified. ye gods and little fishes ! the effluvia of Galata before the historic dogs have discussed their morning meal of refuse. It's something terrible ; at least, so I thought, as I hastened with Williams as guide, philosopher, and friend towards the Mouse's Hole, or the rope railway, which connects the low-lying shipping quarter of Galata with Pera, where I intended to take up my quarters for a ROUND THE COKNER, GALATA. few short hours while I decided what the next step should be. The European and Asiatic quarters of Constantinople compared curiously: Pera being touched by the quick- silverish quiverings (if I may say so) of impending war, while Stamboul, with its spice-laden bazaars, its few dreamy camels, its philosophic salesmen in huge turbans and flowing robes, presented a perfect contrast in the shape 2 * 20 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. of that Eastern indolence which may be summed up in the one word " Kismet." One of my first objects on arriving, after getting my necessary credentials together, was to avail myself of an introduction I had to Hobart Pasha. His yacht, the Rethymo, was in the Bosphorus, having just returned from running the gauntlet of the Eussians on the Danube, an act of naval daring which added one more laurel to the fame of that grand old salt whose acquaintance I was about to make. Although afterwards I felt quite at home on the trim- built little Rethymo, it was at the War Office that I made the Admiral's acquaintance. Taking my dragoman with me, I waited in one of the great ante-rooms, into which entries heavily draped, and guarded by black servants, led from the many official cabinets in which the destinies of war were being discussed. Pashas crossed and re-crossed at intervals, till at length, followed by several bedizened attendants, and himself dressed in the effective uniform of the Turkish navy, with his honours thick upon him, came Hobart Pasha, the great blockade-running captain, to whom my dragoman now presented my letter of introduction, which came from a Mr. Myers, one of his old school- fellows. It was pleasant to see that otherwise iron face brighten up with the light of other days as he scanned the note. The next moment he had most cordially greeted me, and bid me join him on the following day on his yacht, where he narrated to me all the details of the escape he had just had from the Russians when running the blockade of the Danube. In fact, I think I cannot do better than PREPARATIONS. 21 quote here the graphic description of it which I gather from his Memoirs. "I had with me a very fast paddle-steamer called the Rethymo; her captain and crew were what the Turks always are, brave as lions and obedient as lambs. I took on board a river pilot, whom I gave to understand that if he got me on shore I would blow his brains out. Before starting I sent for my officers and crew, and told them of the perhaps unnecessary dangers we should run in passing the Russian barrier, and gave to all the option of leaving or going on. They decided to a man to go on. I arranged my time so as to pass Braila and Galatz during the night. We arrived to within thirty miles of the former place about 5 o'clock in the evening, when I was met by a Turkish official, who was leaving Braila on the war having broken out. He was fearfully excited, and begged me on his knees not to go to what he called certain destruction. He told me that he had seen the Russians laying down torpedoes that same day, that the batteries were numerous, and that they were aware of my coming, &c., all of which I took with a considerably large grain of salt, and left him lamenting on my mad folly, as he called it. " Now, I must be candid. I did not feel the danger. I calculated that to put down torpedoes in a current such as that in the Danube would be a matter of time, and probably they would not succeed after all. I had a plan in my head for passing the batteries, so as to render them harmless. So in reality I was about to attempt no very impossible feat. " Three hours after dusk we sighted the lights of Braila. The current was running quite five knots an hour ; that. 22 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. added to our speed of fifteen, made us to be going over the ground at about twenty knots. It was pitch dark ; and I think it would have puzzled the cleverest gunner to have hit us, though they might have done so by chance. I determined not to give them a chance, by going so close under the bank that the guns could hardly be sufficiently depressed to hit us. As we approached the batteries, to my horror a flash of red flame came out of the funnel (that fatal danger in blockade-running), on which several rockets were thrown up from the shore and a fire was opened where the flame had been seen. " Meanwhile we had shot far away from the place, close under the batteries. I heard the people talking ; every now and then they fired shot and musketry, but I hardly heard the whiz of the projectiles. My principal anxiety was that we might get on one of the many banks so common in the Danube, and I had perhaps a little fear of torpedoes, especially when we passed the mouths of the little estuaries that ran into the Danube. Once we just touched the ground ; but, thank goodness, we quickly got free, and though fired at by the guns and rifles went on unhurt. It took us exactly an hour and forty minutes to pass these dangerous waters, and the early summer morning was breaking as we cleared all danger. I could not resist turning round and firing a random shot at the banks studded with Kussian tents, now that I was able to breathe freely again." But to return to the War Office, where in this case I had been fortunate enough, owing to my introductions, to secure an interview with Hobart Pasha without that circumlocu- tion one has on such occasions, as a rule, to put up with. PREPARATIONS. 23 I remember that, later on in the campaign, having made an effort to see certain Eussian prisoners, said to be in dm*ance vile, I spent hours going from one pasha's sanc- tum to another's ; by each I was assured that the one to whom he directed me was the particular man in authority to whom I should apply for that particular object ; in each case were black coffee, cigarettes, and sweetstuff placed at my disposal, the urbane pasha insisting on my taking this light refreshment before I proceeded on my weary way to that other pasha who, without doubt, was the one in authority over such matters. At length, when the patience of Williams and myself had been nearly exhausted, a kindly old Effendi to whom we had been sent took compassion on us, telling us in a melodramatic whisper, quite as a sort of state secret, that, as a matter of fact, there were no prisoners at all within 200 miles of that particular place at that time, and that it was only a report which had been circulated for political motives. Describing my sketch in the Illustrated London News, of that circumstance, in his graphic description of my waiting for an audience with Hobart Pasha, I find the verdict of that inimitable writer, George Augustus Sala, to be " If you want to see a Turkish Pasha, don't wait ; go in and find him " ; and certainly the tendency of the casual messenger whom you send in to inquire if their mightinesses will receive you is, as a rule, to disappear by some mysterious back exit, and be seen no more. Of course I was fascinated by Constantinople, everybody is ; from its howling dogs to its howling and dancing dervishes, from its mysterious looking, yashmacked Moslem girls to its terrible Turks, all savoured too much of 24 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Eastern romance and picturesqueness not to at once win the heart of anyone, especially one with any pretentions to being an artist. However, finding that I might remain inactive for some time pending the movements of the fleet, I elected to go by an Austrian Lloyds' steamer to Trebizond, which, after remaining a couple of days in order to make certain necessary arrangement, I proceeded to do. Before leaving, I inspected by special desire Captain O'Hara's contingent of Polish Lancers (I think there were three all told), and also the forces of a certain Captain Harris (no relation to Mrs. Harris of mythical renown), which did not quite come up to that complement. I was introduced too, by Captain Harris to two wandering Englishmen, quixotically bent on adventure, who were as yet undecided as to which of these shining lights they should offer their swords ; but of them, and those distinguished officers, more anon. It was night as we steamed down the torpedo- intersected Bosphorus en route for Trebizond, so I saw little of my fellow passengers. Early next morning, how- ever, I was on deck, and there met a very genial gentle- man, who was destined to be with me in many of my coming experiences in Asia Minor. He was a Mr. Charles Holmes, a recently-appointed war correspondent to the Manchester Guardian, As he stood there, smoking the daintiest of cigarettes, and wearing as he did embroidered slippers, and an equally elaborate smoking cap, he looked as unlike the ideal correspondent going to the front as it is possible to imagine ; and that he, in a few short weeks, should turn out the rough campaigner which he did was truly marvellous; at one time an exquisite who would PREPARATIONS. 25 have made a lovely centre to a group of girls at a five o'clock tea-table, again, a thorough soldier, equal to any- thing, ever on the alert, *' waiting," like Mr. Micawber, " for something to turn up," and what's more, ready to grapple with it when it did. After discharging cargo at several ports en route, we arrived eventually off Trebizond. I shall not easily forget my first glimpse of the town, which nestled snugly down in the centre of the great bay of that name. A typical Eastern one it was, with its squat-built white houses, intersected with cypress and fig trees, a curious mixture of mud and semi-barbaric beauty, capped by the domes and minarets of its many mosques and baths. But how about those gigantic magpies perched on the house tops and shingly shore, who seemed ready at any moment to soar into mid air at one's appproach ? The surf here was so high that special surf boats were neces- sary for landing, so that before the one in which Holmes and myself were came nearer inland my curiosity had been strangely aroused by these apparently odd ornithological wonders ; but we soon found that just as " birds of a feather flock together," so will women, and that our sup- posed gigantic magpies were Anatolians, in the curious black and white yashmacked costume of that part of the world, which gave them, perched as they were on every available wall and house-top awaiting our arrival, so unique an appearance. Having landed, and proceeded to the one hotel of the place, our first consideration was to hold a council of war, and arrange about the many equipments necessary to our journey up country. It was no small matter of considera- 26 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. tion to settle to our mutual satisfaction that plan of campaign which eventually resulted in Williams being dispatched to procure horses for ourselves, an araba (native cart) for provision, an arabaji (driver), together with a sort of general utility man, one Johannes, whose gorgeous costume vied with the one Williams obtained for himself, together with a small troop of Zaptiahs (guards), equally picturesque and well mounted. Judging from the arsenal of small arms they carried, they would be terrible to encounter, which indeed was consoling, since we were assured by Mr. Billiotti, the English consul, that without an escort it would be impossible to get safely to Erzeroum, which was our first halting place of any importance, and we were not a little proud besides of our followers. That night we dined at the Consulate, and though we did not meet the Princess of Trebizond, of operatic cele- brity, it was only owing to the existence of that lady in song rather than in fact, for nothing was left undone by our genial host to afford us a right royal welcome. It was on leaving the consulate towards the small hours that I experienced sensations which I shall not easily forget. Preceded by the consular cavass, gorgeously arrayed in a most effective garb, swinging a huge Eastern lantern before us as he went, and followed by several servants of equally magnificent appearance, we felt as we went a peculiar sense of personal importance, the ground crunching beneath us as we trod, which elated us not a little. As far as I was concerned, 1 remember few moments in my life when I have been so thoroughly self-satisfied ; the surroundings of Eastern magnificence were quite invigorating. A glance, however, on the ground, where the Hght of that lantern PREPARATIONS, 27 flashed, brought me unpleasantly back to myself; the road was literally alive, one surging, undulating mass of the huge black-beetles peculiar to Asia Minor. Like a plague of locusts, they were simply everywhere ; hence the crunching sound to which I have made reference, and since from my very babyhood I would rather at any time, I think, have encountered a bandit than a black-beetle, you may imagine my suddenly altered gait, my exceedingly undignified aspect. That vigorous, self-satisfied strut, of which I was so proud, vanished instantly as I tried in vain, mincingly on tip-toe, to pick my way through the scaly mass, lit up every now and then by the light which our advanced guard carried. The next morning, at an earl hour, Williams came to say that by mid-day our stores would be packed in the araba and everything ready for starting ; also that, hearing that two English pashas were passing through, Schamyl, the nephew of the great Schamyl, and commander of the White Circassians, would come to salaam us, the English pashas, and wish us well in the name of Allah. Shortly afterwards, we were informed that His Mightiness was in the stone hall of the hotel awaiting us. Followed by our men and the faithful Williams, we were soon in his presence. He was seated, cross-legged, on an ottoman, with his several followers around him. He made the most profound obeisance when we entered, and after telling us that he was as nothing in our sight, began to make the most amiable inquiries after the Queen of the Green Island (Her Majesty), and her royal sons. Having answered these and many other similar questions, and assured him that the shadow of Schamyl under any cir- 28 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAE. cumstances never could grow less, we returned his salaams, ordered black coffee and sweetmeats for his special refec- tion, and so got over our first Eastern reception; but whether he was supposed to receive us, or we him, is a moot point which we have not yet, any of us, decided. Oh, the clatter, the din of that departure, the tinkling bells of the horses as the arabaji whipped up his bony steeds and dashed off in advance ; then the hooting and yelling, and the eternal ider, ider, iderf (go on) of our guards as that very irregular force got into position in our rear. Consul Billiotti wished us a cordial farewell, giving us certain packages and letters to deliver personally into the hands of the Consul of Erzeroum, and then waving our adieux we trotted down the long street past the Consulate and the Great Bazaar till a turn in the road hid us, for many weary months, from the last vestiges of ordinary civilization. We had not long left the town which, backed by the Black Sea, now lay in a hollow to our rear, when we plunged into one of the densest forests it has ever been my fortune to pass through. I know the Black Forest — which is not half so black, by the way, as it is painted — and indeed am familiar generally with woodland scenery all over Europe, and in many parts of Asia, but that forest through which we passed, chiefly composed of box trees of gigantic size, eclipsed them all for density. Its silence, too, after the busy world we had just left behind us, was almost appalling; we were many hours in its semi-darkness, and though wolves and other uncanny creatures were said to be numerous, we heard no sound whatever, save that of our horses' hoofs, on the almost PREPARATIONS, 29 untrodden bridle path. On emerging we found ourselves on a vast open plain, across which we made great haste so as to secure before nightfall our first khan, or resting- place. To " all who love the pleasure of going to the play," as the old song puts it, whose experience of a ** first night " may be confined to a theatre, I may say that when it is at the theatre of war — if it be in Asia Minor — it is a curiously memorable one. On the village (if I may call it so) being reached, the traditional bread and salt are first pro- duced, of which all must partake ; a stable is then placed at your service, where with your horses you are supposed to rest for the night, but as generations of sheep and shepherds have left myriads of ticks, bugs, fleas, and — well, you may guess what else — behind them, you find your first twelve hours in an Asiatic khan barely endur- able ; you are, figuratively speaking, eaten alive by the smallest yet most invincible army in the world ; and so you can well imagine how welcome under such circum- stances to the irritated, weary traveller is the first streak of dawn. Black coffee, black bread and youart (sour curdled milk, which is looked on as such a luxury that the natives think it a sin to touch it when fresh) form the morning meal, generally discussed about five or six o'clock, after which the journey up country is continued. It was on the day following our departure from Trebi- zond — we were still suffering agonies from the armies in occupation of our clothes — that, glad at mid-day to halt for the necessary two hours' siesta, we fell in with a troop of Circassians, a squadron of Schamyl's light horse, 30 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, amongst whom were two who, to our utter astonishment, accosted us in EngKsh with — " Well ! who 'd have thought of seeing you ? " On their nearer approach they turned out to be the two adventurers I had met, it will be remembered, in Con- stantinople, who were at that time undecided whether they would join Colonel 'Harass Polish liancers, thereby in- creasing the complement of that regiment to five all told, including the colonel, or Captain Harris' corps, which was, I think, composed of a trumpeter and himself. They had, however, ultimately joined the Circassians, and were now on their way to Kars. They were already, they told me, a little doubtful about the camaraderie of their brothers in arms, having been eased of all their superfluous etceteras and cash during their first night's halt. Affairs were just now rapidly developing. Away in Europe the Eussian army of the South was looking about for a convenient point for crossing the Danube, while that of the Caucasus, under the Grand Duke Michael, was marching on Kars. The defences of the Black Sea in the meantime appeared to have been forgotten, since, during our run from Constantinople, it became too evident that a bold commander might at many points, had he not been intercepted by Hobart's ironclads, have effected an easy landing. The batteries around Sinope, though said to be well traced, were not half finished — another baleful illus- tration of Turkish ''kismet," while Trebizond, the great commercial point from which the Anatolian as well as Persian markets were supplied, was absolutely defenceless, all the Turkish military resources seemingly having been lavished on Batoum, which was most inconveniently PREPARATIONS. Bl situated as far as its proximity to the Kussian frontier was concerned. Indeed, torpedoes seem to have been the great naval mainstay of the Turks during this war, those fired by electricity from the shore being chiefly used ; they were unusually large and cylindrical in shape, containing some 1,000 lbs. of coarse-grained powder, and so disposed as to float within 35 feet of the surface. At this juncture the Manchester Guardian^ the Scotsman, and the Illustrated London News might have been seen, as G. P. E. James loved to put it in those delightful old stories of his, ** wending their weary way across the lonely heath," varied in this case by snow-capped highlands and verdant valleys, in the direction of Erzeroum, en route for Kars. >e:3>^^iiE4^4H 32 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. CHAPTEK 11. MUKHTAR PASHA A PASHA's TENT A VILLAGE IDIOT BRIGANDAGE A METHOD FOR DISPERSING BRIGANDS A HARD MARCH OUR GUIDE DESERTS ERZEROUM CONSUL ZOHRAB VULTURES A PRICE ON '* PITH HELMETS " BAKSHEESH THE DEVIL's FIRESTONE ANATOLIA. A LIFE on the ocean wave may have charms for some, though the eternal uncertainty of its wicked ways may do something to mar one's appreciation of it ; if, indeed, I were called on to describe the most delightful life under the sun, I should, much as I personally like the briny, leave the sea out of the question, and hark back to those " pleasant old days of the past," when leaving that element behind me, well mounted and full of the brightest expectations, I rode up country in the direction of Erze- roum. I refer, be it understood, to those hours out of the twenty-four spent in the open, since I would erase for ever from my memory those would-be sleeping moments passed in Asiatic khans. As far as one could judge, it seemed that the recent Kussian victory at Ardahan had paralyzed for the moment the hand of Mukhtar Pasha, towards whose camp I was hastening, threatening as it did, indirectly, Erzeroum and TO THE FRONT. 33 even the base of operations, Trebizond itself, towards which, with his — numerically speaking — very inferior forces, many thought Mukhtar would have retreated, leaving Kars and Erzeroum to their fate ; but he was too good a player at the game of war not to hold this last card in reserve, and by a series of clever movements he drew on the foe, giving battle just where he had in each case decided — this, too, against great odds, not only as far as the numbers of the enemy were concerned, but in the utter want of all order as to his reinforcements and supplies. Being sent to take supreme command in Asia too late to go in for any systematic organization of his own, he at least hoped for support from the rear; indeed, for some time, he was absolutely without cavalry, save a few troopers, who were barely enough for orderly duty ; while, on the other hand, the Eussians had 15,000 cavalry on the frontier observing his movements, at a moment when Mukhtar had not the wherewithal to make an ordinary reconnaissance, though certainly he was after- wards reinforced by 500 Circassians and 50 Kurdish irregulars, who were soon busily occupied scouring the enemy's frontier. In the meantime we were another day's march nearer camp, again ensconced, as I have said, in a dirty khan, foregathering as usual with sheep, buffaloes, goats, and oxen. On our third night up country we became so dis- gusted with the utter filth of our surroundings, that, having made what meal we could off youart, black bread, pilaff (rice boiled in grease from the tails of native sheep), we elected to sleep in the open, rather than submit to another night with the animalcules of a khan. 3 34 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Now it happened that Holmes had brought with him a curiously striped tent from Constantinople, which we found, at a pinch, would accommodate us all ; so we erected it in the narrow village roadway, which it com- pletely occupied, and, lying down booted and spurred, though as yet new to campaigning in Asia Minor, we were soon all fast asleep. It was early dawn when I was awakened suddenly by a horribly tickly- creepy sort of sensation all over me, and in a few seconds — far less time than I take to describe it — I found myself outside our tent vigorously shaking myself, which to those inside must have appeared most ludicrous; for now and again, I remember, I varied the shaking by a grotesque hop, fantastic skip, and idiotic jump, followed by a loud scrunch, and a still louder big, big **D," which proclaimed that yet another black beetle had gone over to the majority. The tent I discovered was literally alive with them. The heat of this little excitement over, I became suddenly aware of bustle and commotion all round me. Surely the whole village, aware of my great antipathy to black beetles, had not come out to see my most un- dignified expressions of horror ! Had I been mistaken for an acrobat ? No ; oh, dear no ! a thing far more absurd than this had happened, I soon discovered ; the jabber of hundreds of voices in many tongues was tremendous; while, far above the babel of humanity came the braying of asses, snorting of camels, and the peculiar low grunt of buffaloes — in truth, a whole army-corps of nondescript irregulars had halted just behind us on their way to the army of Ahmed TO THE FRONT. 35 Mukhtar Pasha. We found they had actually been waiting patiently there for many hours — poor things ! — not having dared to disturb the most illustrious Pashas who, sleep- ing so soundly, had thus blocked the way. It was Holmes's tent that had done it. The stripes, we discovered, denoted a Pasha of high degree ; a fact of which, though innocent till then, we did not fail to avail ourselves on many subsequent occasions, and so, assuming a virtue we did not possess, we struck our tent, mag- nanimously and graciously, as great Pashas should, and allowed the long, straggling contingent to defile past us, while we discussed our primitive breakfast. I think, since our mode of life and surroundings, as far as our halts were concerned, were all more or less alike, I may describe, once for all, what sort of place an ordinary up-country Anatolian village is. In the first place, you are never quite sure, coming from higher ground, if you are in a village street — or on its house-tops, which are made of mud and rough-hewn trees ; and since these roofs are perfectly flat, having holes in the centre, which serve for chimneys, it is not at all an uncommon thing, when walking unsuspectingly along, to slip through some weak point, and suddenly find yourself on the floor of a khan ; indeed, one correspondent, riding in hot haste from the heights above, actually went head over heels, horse, rider, and all, into one of these mud cabins, much to the danger of himself and its inmates There is no evidence of shops in these clusters of rough hovels, the great khan being the caravanserai at which all travellers stop, and where all supplies and informa- tion, such as they are, are to be founds 3 * 36 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Big-eyed buffaloes wander at will through what I sup- pose, for want of a better name, one must call its main street ; while the camels of the passing stranger pick up unconsidered trifles where they can. The absence of a sufficient supply of water is much felt of course by Europeans, the nearest stream being, as a rule, at some considerable distance, though the natives have, I understand, never been heard to complain on that score, having no maudlin sentiment with reference to water, save perhaps for the purpose of coffee making. W^ did occasionally find a primitive Turkish bath, which we invariably made our quarters for the night : a place, I assure you, which rough though it might be, consider- ing our exceptional ablutions, was something to be sought after. Curiously enough, few villages were without their idiot, or, as they in more complimentary terms put it — their Wise Man. Yery much to be envied, too, is this village fool: " He takes a side glance and looks down. Beware ! " I always had a strong suspicion that he was not by any means such a fool as he looked. He was fed, clothed, and idolized, his parents if alive being thought specially favoured by Allah. He had a seat in every khan, and dreamed away a most negative existence at his own sweet will. The village idiot is supposed to exercise charms of every imaginable kind, and to make him pre- sents of beads or tinsel finery, or to deck his long unkempt hair with grass or weeds is thought a special privilege. The people in the villages keep very much within their TO THE FRONT. 37 mud hovels, which is, perhaps, just as well, for what with their faces, bedaubed with indigo, their nails tinted a bright saffron with henna, and their generally begrimed appearance, they do not improve the aspect of their miserable surroundings from a comfortable point of view ; though, picturesquely speaking, dirty yashmacs, turbans, many coloured unmentionables, gaudy jackets, arms of every obsolete description, and pointed shoes have special THE VILLAGE IDIOT. attractions. Brigandage too, was, at the time of which I write, so much an institution in Asia Minor that it would have been difficult to say which villages were or were not affected, though some were inhabited wholly and solely by gentlemen who devoted themselves to the des- perate craft of " stand and deliver " ; and marvellously picturesque some of these fellows were, with their bril- 38 THE BUSSO-TURKISH WAR. liant belongings and formidable -looking weapons, as they galloped from ambush to try conclusions with the passing traveller. Half way between Trebizond and Erzeroum lies Baiburt, a town small enough in itself but, by comparison with the tiny villages we had passed, of no little importance. We put up at the chief khan, which overlooked the market- place. Here we heard that two of the sons of Queen Victoria had recently passed through. It appeared that they were accorded a regal reception by those poor benighted people, at which they themselves expressed no little astonishment, which can be easily understood, as I afterwards learnt they were the two sons of Consul Zohrab of Erzeroum who had been thus glorified, as they were returning from school at Smyrna. While partaking of what scant refreshment Baiburt afforded, we saw that no ordinary excitement was going on outside ; so, while our horses and men rested, we strolled out to ascertain its cause. It appeared that two brigands had just been caught red-handed, having murdered a woman in the pass which we had presently to go through ; and, as a sort of lynch law exists in this part of the world, they were then and there executed — having been first blindfolded by the troops of the garrison (six in number), who sent them with one volley " to that bourne whence no traveller (or bandit) returns." ' We were implored by the Kaimakan, a sort of local governor, to remain till it should be ascertained that the band had dispersed, for we were assured there were nearly thirty lying in ambush in the Black Valley. Time, TO THE FRONT. B9 however, was far too important for us to listen to this urgent appeal, especially since Williams, in whom we all most thoroughly believed, declared that two or three Britishers were more than a match for any number of such men. So we returned to the khan, where we in- formed our escort of the difficulties, at the same time assuring them that any show of cowardice would mean death at our hands. This was a precautionary step con- sidered necessary by the dragoman. With many salaams and protestations of devotion, they went to the shed at the rear, first coming back with our horses, then returning for their own. Now this shed was some little distance from where we were ; so, having mounted, we awaited their arrival, mean- while accepting the repeated apologies of the Kaimakan for not adding a few soldiers to our number, since he required his little army of six for the defence of the town, should the brigands attack it, a difficulty which we perfectly understood. We had perhaps waited thus for ten minutes, when I sent Williams to ascertain the cause of their delay. Imagine his astonishment, on entering, to find that our fickle followers had bolted by some back exit, and made for the mountains, galloping no doubt for dear life, so as to circumvent the brigands, from w^hom they were specially appointed to protect us. Nothing, then, was left to us but to make the best of it. So we started. Our great difficulty was our araba ; the horses, how- ever, were fresh, and the arabaji too stupid to realize the danger of the situation till he found himself in it, 40 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. when we trusted he would be too scared to do anything but whip up his bony steeds with a vigour begotten of sheer funk. It was a novel sensation, this of going out deliberately to cut our way through a band of marauders; but it had to be done somehow, supple- mented, as it was, by a few general suggestions from our professional adventurer, Williams. " SJowly, at first, gentlemen — slowly, at first. Wait till you come up with them, then put in your spurs ; let fly with your revolvers, scream, yell, and hoot at the top of your voices, and they '11 run like rabbits — take my word for it." We had by this time cleared the town ; indeed, had gone some distance, and were on the point of slowly descending into the dismal gorge below, when, in breath- less haste, the youngest of our four guards came galloping from the rear to join us. It is pleasant to record the name of Memshe, for he was the one man with a con- science out of the four miserable wretches who had deserted us. " Pasha, I bite the dust," he said, when he had regained breath. " I fall prostrate before you." He did neither of these things, by the way. " But Allah be praised, I have come back in time to be with you ; from henceforth your road shall be my road, your dangers my dangers, and with you will I fall, if need be, into the abyss of Al Sahira " (hell). This, roughly speaking, was the gist of Memshe's high-flown address. At a gentle jog-trot, followed closely by the araba, we descended that dark hollow, made more obscure at every yard by the intensely thick overhanging foliage. Suddenly TO THE FRONT. 41 with a turn in the path, there sure enough, in the half light, could we see a formidable crowd of picturesque cut- throats awaiting us, their long Armenian guns peeping out from the overgrown roadside in every direction ; nor had we gone many paces farther when several shots were sent as a sort of warning to " Bail up." " Stop a bit ; not yet," said Williams, as cool as the proverbial cucumber; "not yet. Now! Now put it on; fire into them anyhow, and yell like devils ! " And then it was that a sound re-echoed through those woods — a curious medley of revolver shots and demoniacal exclamations — which, while I write, comes vividly back to me, and which had the effect of scaring those ruffians as they were never scared before by mortal man. One of their number lay wounded at the bottom of the glen, and the rest were scampering away in every direction, terrified by dint of sheer, well-timed "bogyism." Not that I would have it supposed that these ruffians were, by any means, so contemptible as our hasty disposal of them may have led you to infer; a large number of well-armed knaves, with a zest for murder, are not at any time to be disposed of with smiles which are "child-like and bland," and thus with such trying odds against us, de- serted as we were by three out of four of our escort, it was really only a sort of pasha panic amongst these rapscallions which could save us from the clutches of those at whose hands our treatment at best would have been barbarous. We happily, however, had saved our supplies and ourselves, and though it was impossible to pursue them, we were not on that side of Erzeroum again inter- fered with, our reputation having gone before us, as 42 THE IWSSO-TURKISH WAR. being, what translated would be tantamount to the *' White Demons." Ah ! yes, of course ; you want to know what became of the other three. Well, two hours afterwards we found them bivouacked quietly by the hill side, awaiting our arrival, when they asked us, with absolute sang-froid, " How we got through," and had the audacity to assure us that had they been there too they would have fought like lions ; that they were all with us in spirit — but why not in person, too ? They could not for the life of them make out, unless it was — indeed, it must have been — Kismet. The country now becoming more mountainous, our difficulties daily increased ; besides the big guns, ammu- nition, and commissariat stores, which every now and then were being brought from the coast, often delayed our less important little cavalcade for hours. Perhaps the most difficult ascent we made was that of the Kop-dagh, 11,000 feet above sea level. Long before we reached the summit we found ourselves beyond the snow-line, which, after the heat of the lowlands we had not long left, was, I need hardly say, somewhat trying. I never in my life felt so utterly and completely overawed as I did here by the intensely weird silence of the surroundings. We were far above vegetation, save where a sort of edelweiss here and there peeped up timidly from its snowy seclusion. The place had the appearance of being haunted by the very demon of solitude ; even one's footfall on those snow-clad heights was noiseless. Here, too, we had to pass the night, with no better shelter than that which our tents afforded ; but we had anticipated this, so had brought with us what TO THE FRONT. 43 wood we could gather by the way, and were thus able to start with that greatest of all considerations to cam- paigners — a good fire. Then our tents were pitched, and a savoury brew of hot tea, together with eatables of which we had sufficient in reserve in the araba, soon put a more cheerful aspect on affairs. We were worn out too with a long day's ride over difficult country, so after a pipe or two round the camp-fire, which we had lit midway between our tents, w^e turned in, and were soon fast asleep. I was awoke early next morning by Williams shaking me vigorously. " Get up. Sir ; he 's bolted. We shall be in for it if you 're not quick." " Bolted— in for it— who ? What do you mean ? " " Why, the arabaji has left us in the lurch — struck for higher wages— knows we can never leave this place without a guide ; and as he is the only man amongst us who knows the way to Erzeroum, I should like to know what we are to do." It was all too true ; the arabaji was the only one, who knew the way over those mountain heights, so we were really at his mercy. " One thing only can be done. Sir," Williams went on ; " and that is for you to catch him, give him a sound hiding, bring him back by the scruff of his neck, and mount him again on the araba. That 's the only thing to bring him to his senses. He will probably draw his knife ; but don't, whatever you do, show your revolver unless you mean to shoot him. Let him see that you are quite superior to anything of the kind. If he becomes dangerous, knock him down. Were I to do it, the dose 44 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. would have to be repeated every day till further notice ; if you do it, it will be once for all. He will never forget it, any more than he will forget to ask for backsheesh on our sighting the minarets of Erzeroum." I at once saw the advisability of following the arabaji, and was not long in catching him up. It struck me he would have looked (as he clumsily waddled away) not unlike some disconcerted bear, had not his quaint Asiatic gun negatived the idea. It was not a long chase ; the ^ca AN UNWILLING GUIDE. Asiatic notion of pace is not an exalted one. Knowing nothing of his language, I had to use arguments more forcible than words. Several good cuffs brought him to a standstill, and after gazing at me in a dazed sort of way, he permitted me to turn him right-about in the direc- tion of our encampment, and, although the most stubborn mule never resisted more doggedly, I eventually, by dint of many blows and much frantic shouting, succeeded in getting him into our midst. Now, however, that he could il«Bjf" TO THE FRONT. 45 make himself understood, he became a different man. He absolutely refused to budge an inch, unless fabulous sums were given him ; but seeing that his threats at deserting were of no avail, and that we were about to lift him bodily into his seat, he turned on me as the leader of the attacking party with a look of savagery which I can to this day remember, and fumbling clumsily in his leathern girdle, drew out a huge knife, with which he essayed to make a desperate lunge at me, just as prophetic Williams had predicted. This looked fearfully formidable ; but with a man who hadn't the remotest idea of using his fists it was no very difficult matter to come to a satisfactory conclusion, and the next incident in that arabaji's otherwise uneventful life was to find himself rolling in the snow, out of which he presently crept ignominiously to pick up his bloodless knife, mount the waggon, and drive on in the direction of Erzeroum without more ado. Several weary days of ordinary Eastern travel now elapsed, which, save for the necessary impedimenta of war which hourly closed in upon and passed us, were of no marked interest. The heat too, in the lowlands, became unbearable, compared with our recent semi-arctic experiences, and when, from a slight elevation, towards sundown one evening we saw the domes, mosques, and minarets of Erzeroum standing out in black relief against a saffron sky, we felt a thrill of delight which can only be appre- ciated by those who after many roving years again see the white cHffs of old England from the deck of a homeward-bound vessel. 46 THE IWSSO-TUBKISH WAR. The reputation of Zohrab, the British Consul, had long since gone before him. There was a kindly welcome await- ing us there we knew, for we all felt that in Erzeroum we should find that pearl beyond price — a friend. This feel- ing, however, was unshared by the arabaji, whose one idea was to improve the shining hour by demanding back- sheesh, it being a custom with native drivers to be paid on sighting the minarets of the town which is their destina- tion. The hiding he had had produced the most wholesome result, and when with a cheery voice he asked for extra pay as compensation for it, I almost felt when giving it to him that I was rewarding him for special services. No, certainly Eastern towns do not improve on close acquaintance ; the eJSiuvia which the exhalations of in- numerable carcases sent up as we entered Erzeroum by one of the narrow drawbridges which cross the fosse, into which every description of decomposing matter seems to be indiscriminately thrown, was, I assure you, anything but agreeable. This dry ditch in olden days, no doubt, was used for purposes of defence. It had now become a cordon of disease, more fruitful than the most promising open drain could ever pretend to be. The quick and the dead commingle here curiously ; the jackal, wolf, and man-eater contest their right of occupation with vultures, bustards and carrion crows, all equally intent on the banquet which lies festering before them. Indeed, to these gourmandizers the natives feel they owe so great a debt of gratitude that to kill one is considered murderous to the last degree, and he whose unfortunate revolver does the deed is shunned as an uncanny thing by those who witnessed the act. TO THE FRONT. 47 I remember being fascinated on one occasion, after an engagement near Zevin, by the huge proportions of a vulture, which had so overgorged itself on human flesh that it could only hop languidly about in a most absurdly intoxicated manner, and presented so favourable a mark that I dismounted, and had not my dragoman come to the rescue I should certainly have shot it with a view to preserving its skin, and thereby have incurred the hatred of all those with whom I afterwards came in contact, who " NO MORE, THANK YOU ; I COULDN'T ! " would, I was informed, have at once been told to beware of the "Vulture Slayer." I shall never forget that languid, lacklustre-eyed vulture. There was a sort of isit-hoj -in- Pickwick pecu- liarity about that protruding, half-featherless paunch, that feeble tail — those limp wings, so innocent of flutter ; there was an appealing look about him, as, with a sort of ner- vous, I might say drunken, uncertainty, he clung to the offal on which he was perched, his beak still reeking with 48 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. the remains of a recent repast. Indeed, when I levelled my revolver at him, there was an eloquence in that orb, dimmed as it was by gluttony, which said plainly as words could ever do : *' If that which you present be food, mock me not by offering it me ; or, if you would compass my end, then * If 'twere done when 'tis done, then 'twere well 'twere done quickly,' for surely death would be preferable to the in- digestion from which I suffer." Oh, what a lesson to the over indulgent flesh-eater this was ! To return to Erzeroum however. It will be remembered that I mentioned just now the man-eater, and lest it be supposed by the uninitiated that I speak of the tiger (of which there are none in this part of the world), I may explain that I referred to a semi- wild dog, which finds his chief food in the graveyards, from which habit the name originates, the result of the grim courses in which he indulges being, that his hair, especially about his hind quarters, falls off, giving him a horribly hungry cada- verous appearance. Having wended our tortuous way down several long and dirty streets, we came upon a broader one, in which we were not long in finding the consulate, where, wearied with many days' rough travel, we at once dismounted and sent in our names to Her Majesty's Eepresentative. We had been waiting but a short time in the Great Stone Hall, when a sallow, squat, dwarf-like Asiatic, with a scimitar like a huge new moon, suddenly drew aside some heavy draperies, and there before us stood a man of middle height and soldierly bearing, with the kindliest of kindly expressions on his handsome sunburnt face. TO THE FRONT. 49 There was no occasion for Consul Zohrab to give us verbal welcome, for, to paraphrase the old song, '*he spoke to us only with his eyes," and I think " we pledged with ours," as we returned his cordial greeting. After the usual salutations, he said *' In the first place, follow me. I have one or two old friends to whom I wish to introduce you ; the sight of them will, I am sure, be to you almost as refreshing as their more intimate acquaintance; and remember, whilst here, you must look on the Consulate as an oasis in the desert, where all Britishers are heartily welcomed." With this he led us into a small ante-room, where a few bottles of Allsopp were displayed, which our kind host had somehow secured, that we weary sons of Albion might be refreshed thereby after our many long hours of hard dusty riding up country. One should perhaps not think too much of creature comforts, and there may be those reading this record who might suggest I make too much of small events ; let them, however, try living on sour milk and filthy water for a week or ten days, I fancy then we might be of the same opinion ! We were next taken by the cavasse — another mag- nificent combination of velvet, gold lace, and yatagans — to the old consulate, a semi-ruin round the corner, in one of the great bare rooms of which we were thus for- tunately afforded quarters. During our short stay nothing was left undone which could be done to put the best possible complexion on affairs. Here we again devoted our time to working up our batches of rough sketches taken by the way, and our MS., respectively to be sent on by the first trusty consular messenger to the coast. 4 60 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. I need hardly say we made the consulate our head- quarters, as it was to all British subjects passing through, Sir Arnold Kemball and his staff being at that time of the number. The afternoon of the day of our departure we spent on the Euphrates, where, after indulging in such sport as wild fowl of every imaginable colour and size afforded our guns, we sat down to an al-fresco meal, at which Mrs. Zohrab and her charming little daughter Irene presided, and to which we all, including the Consul's two manly boys — who had played the part of mystified princes at Baiburt — did full justice. Memories of this day are to me emphasized by the fact that while seated, Turkish fashion, discussing our supplies, we did so to the accompaniment of shell fire, which re-echoed round the hill-tops far away beyond the Deve-Boyun Pass, in the direction of which we were about to proceed. ^ -x- * ^ ^ It was seven o^clock when the members of our little cavalcade marshalled themselves in front of the Consulate prior to departure. All that was likely to be specially useful to us during the campaign had been carefully stowed into our very capacious saddle bags ; a lamb roasted whole — a most exceptional luxury, being amongst other things contributed to our stores by Mrs. Zohrab. The effect which true British hospitality had wrought in a very few days, as far as I was concerned, was truly remarkable. I say British hospitality advisedly, for Consul James Zohrab was a Britisher to the backbone. Having made all arrangements for the transmission to the rear of what despatches (artistic or literary) we were able to send back ; we felt as we clattered down that stony street, we were TO THE FRONT. 61 leaving very old friends indeed, as, with much cordial hand-shaking, we bid them adieu, and their cheery voices resounded with a cordial " God speed," and when we had turned out through the city gates, and crossed one of the drawbridges which span that pestilent girdle by which Erzeroum is surrounded, we still dwelt in fancy on their last farewell. We now came upon a rocky plain, studded irregularly with huge boulders, which appeared either to have been thrown up by volcanic action, or to have fallen from the precipitous heights of the Deve-Boyun (Camel's Back) range, by which we seemed hemmed in, and through the pass of which we presently had to defile. It was not till we had safely traversed this that we thoroughly realised how cut off we were from every vestige of ordinary civili- zation by the hundred and thirty miles of rugged, hostile country now before us, and we were thankful indeed, to reach Hassan Kali — a little village at the end of our first stage. Here, in a miserable khan, we settled ourselves down for the night " to sleep, perchance to dream " — in the uncongenial company of filthy buffaloes, oxen, ^^ sheep, and goats — of the kindly Consul, whose recent [welcome made our present condition all the more unendurable. Suffice it to say, we did sleep, and soundly, too ; for the sun rose long before we did, and after a breakfast of the eternal *' youart," exceedingly black bread, and bitter coffee, helped a little by supplies from our araba, we prepared to continue our way to the forces of Gahzi Mukhtar Pasha, who was then manoeuvring in the direction of Kars. 4 * 52 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, On, on, on we went, in what to us was a terra incognita — a rocky expanse of vast extent, terminating in a faint screen of blue-grey mountains, which seemed to form a barrier in whichever direction we looked ; whilst behind us lay the Camel's Back, the pass between the humps of which, as it were, we had come the previous day. Gazing thus around at our position we suddenly espied with our field-glasses a horseman, galloping' in hot haste towards us. We at once halted, and at the pace he was coming, the distance between us was soon rapidly de- creased. He was the bearer of a letter from the Consul, which ran somewhat as follows : *' News has come in since you left, that, owing to a strong suspicion that English officers are directing the operations of the Turkish forces, a reward of 400 roubles has been offered for the head of any Pith helmet (another way of saying Englishman) which reconnoitring Cossacks may bring in. So beware of going out of the beaten track of the advancing Turks." Here was a pleasant prospect with which to start in quest of an army, the landmarks of which were curiously few and far between. However, sending back our thanks to the Consul for his timely warning, we proceeded. About mid-day we stopped for a siesta under some trees, the shadow cast from these and our araba affording tem- porary shelter from the intense heat ; a shade which, un- happily, was not to be enjoyed by a ghastly freight of wounded, which, while we rested, passed us. There were, I think, eight long, low-lying Asiatic waggons in all, drawn by oxen and driven by semi-savage Kurds, who, with spiked poles in their hands, walked by their sides TO THE FRONT. 53 and goaded them on. The poor unfortunate sufferers themselves seemed to be so fearfully jumbled together that all chance of living depended on the remaining muscular strength of those who were able to struggle to the surface, BAKSHEESH I to the cost of the other unhappy wretches beneath them. Indeed, I afterwards heard that a large proportion of the wounded sent to the rear died by the way, being actually smothered ; whilst, to give some idea of the utter callous- 64 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. ness of these Kurd drivers, I would simply say that when the last of these* waggons had passed some little distance from us, one of these poor mangled creatures fell, writhing with pain, with a thud to the ground ; and although this was noticed by the driver, he went on as unconcernedly as though a turnip had dropped from a cart laden with vegetables — a life more or less was of no consequence to him — and it was not till I mounted, and galloping after him, threatened him with my revolver, that he took the trouble to lift, with my assistance, the wounded man back into the waggon. Our rest over, and the hottest part of the day passed, we again proceeded on our way through a country curiously remarkable for the evidences which it bore of having been subjected at some probably very remote period to volcanic action. Silver in many places was commonly found by the natives on the surface, who, pro- vided you gave them a model to work from, would execute the most elaborate designs for you with the rudest instru- ments, at a price so nominal that it at once suggested what was indeed a fact— that as they carried on all their small transactions by barter, they had little or no use for money, save to adorn the heads of their wives and daughters. Then, again, coal in one district was so plentiful that we travelled for miles through absolute valleys of it, lying on the surface in huge blocks, where probably it had been for centuries, untouched. The natives knew its qualities well, but would rather far have died outright than have touched what they super stitiously called " The Devil's fire- stone " — thus actually, in many cases, being starved to A BBITI8H CONSUL. TO THE FRONT, 55 death with cold while succour was at the very doors of their mud-cabins. The shades of evening were closing in when one of our number, dismounting, placed his ear to the ground, hoping to thus hear the distant barking of village dogs which might suggest quarters, when he was astonished to hear the distant but distinct galloping as of a horseman in hot haste, which broke the stillness of our surroundings. The Anatolian messenger has the scent of a bloodhound ; he very seldom fails to find those in quest of whom he is sent. We were, I remember, not a little anxious, for we could only suppose that this was yet another and more serious message from the Consul to warn us of some later peril which hung over us. Was the long-continued threat to cut off Mukhtar's base of operations, by blocking the way to the coast, about to be put into force ? And should we, when at last on the point of joining the Turkish army, have to retire ignominiously to Erzeroum, there to remain, till further notice, as besieged residents; or, worse still — were the Cossacks actually within touch of us? The very idea made our heads sit uneasily on our shoulders, I can assure you ; and so there we stood, till, in breathless haste, his turban tabs fluttering in the wind, and his horse dead- beat, that second Consular messenger reined up and salaamed us. " Mighty is the great White Pasha of Erzeroum," said he, having recovered his breath with difficulty, "and mightier is the great Sultana of the country from which he comes ; but mightiest is the kotona (wife) of the great Zohrab Pasha— for has she not sent me hither in hot 66 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. haste that you may enjoy, with sweet herbs, the dead lamb she gave unto thee?" ***** It was even so. Mrs. Zohrab, who, in her kindest of hearts, had, it will be remembered, given us a roasted lamb, had at parting forgotten its most essential accom- paniment, so sent on a special messenger, who reached us on our second day out, with a huge jar of mint sauce, which, with salaams innumerable, he now took from the pommel of his saddle, where it had been carefully tied. It may at first glance seem odd in this relation that, having such a start, we should have been caught up at all ; but on remembering that we had, of necessity, to save our horses for the campaign, while he, on the other hand, had only to ride back quietly to Erzeroum, there to rest as long as need be, it will be better understood. Our next halt was outside a collection of low mud kraals, where, at the entrance of the main street, the headman of the village had stuck defiantly into a huge dung-heap his long black lance, as who should say, with Bombastes — Who dares this pair of boots displace Shall meet Bombastes face to face, substituting only a spear for a pair of boots, and some name far more unpronounceable for that of Bombastes. As the leader of my little party, it fell to my lot to challenge the village patriarch, which I proceeded to do by striking this lance to the ground, whereupon I was at once accosted by a swarthy, grimy, savage-looking crea- ture, who bowed low in submission before me. Having completed this little ceremony, I was now considered within the village lines, and consequently, as a guest, TO THE FRONT. 57 demanded every possible hospitality. We were soon sur- rounded not only by those who were ready to assist us, but by many others whose curiosity was too much for them. Some volunteered to take our horses, and some, not with- out misgivings on our part, were anxious to look after our more portable etceteras. There is, however, a certain interest about domestic life in the wilds of Anatolia which may not be disposed of too briefly, even though the ordinary khan has, in the earlier part of this chapter, come in for our consideration. T will venture, therefore, to ask my readers to restrain their curiosity till the next chapter, when I hope, in their goodlie companie, to spend a night in an odd Asiatic village, before proceeding farther in the direction of the Turkish head-quarters. --^-e^^^5ir^t^^^=:«:i>^^ 58 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, CHAPTEE III. "bail up" CHASED BY BRIGANDS THE DEVIl's BOLTS ■ WOLVES IN sheep's CLOTHING THE TEMPLE OF EVIL ■ A PASHA OF MANY TALES A BLOODLESS BATTLE LITTLE WORRIES FIRE WATER MY REFRACTORY STEED EXIT BARKIS THE DEVIL 's OWN CELESTIAL ARTILLERY DEAD SPIES " SANS EVERYTHING " WHITE DEMONS. That there is a certain sense of honour amongst thieves was never more practically illustrated than it was in that brigand village, where, it will be remembered, the Fates had elected we should pass the night, though I must confess to certain seriously grave misgivings, when I dis- covered we were surrounded by a ruffianly rabble who were all equally solicitous to look after our effects. Having partaken of bread and salt with their worthy leader, during which time he had arranged that his women-folk should make room for us, we at once proceeded to occupy their khan. It was a long, low, smoke-begrimed cabin, one portion of which was devoted to goats, sheep, and oxen, while the other, nearest the entrance and by far the most draughty, was dedicated to that other animal — man. We soon had a blazing log-fire burning, and squatted down in most ap- proved Oriental fashion to smoke our pipes round about it, AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 59 '* for it 's often very cold o' nights in those parts." Our peace was soon to be disturbed, however, by what were called the present-hearers , five or six dusky warriors, all picturesquely attired, each of whom in turn came forward and presented to us, with lordly air, some insignificant offering which was to be taken as a sign of good will ; thus, I became possessed of a flint-stone, a leaf, a rusty nail or screw (out of an old matchlock, probably), a bead, some grains of sand, and a tent-peg. On receipt of each of these gifts, I had to express my profound gratitude, knowing full well they were only " sprats " to catch mackerel in the shape of backsheesh ; a system of fishery as effectually practised in Kensington and Belgravia as in Kurdistan and Anatolia. But to continue. We had next to submit to an odd sort of confidence trick, which, since Williams had ascertained that we were actually in a real brigand village, that is to say, one in which the majority were "gentlemen of the road," I was at first very naturally loth to subscribe to. It appeared customary here for travellers to hand over all the valuables they possessed, that they might be taken from hut to hut for inspection, and their safe return, about an hour afterwards, was to be looked upon as a posi- tive proof of good faith. Thus with so large and unscru- pulous a majority, we made a virtue of necessity, turned out our knapsacks and pockets ; surrendered our rings and watches ; in fact, everything portable, save our gold belts and revolvers, even to some loose silver and coppers, which were all promptly carried off by our suspicious-looking entertainers. On the coast-side of Erzeroum none of these queer cur- 60 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. toms existed ; but now that we were well up country, every fresh halt brought about a surprise, though even now we smoked our pipes in peace, having grown quite accustomed to look upon the laws of hospitality — held so sacred even by brigands — as a rock to which we might safely cling; and indeed, long before we expected, our belongings were safely returned to us. A necktie of mine, MEET ME BY MOONLIGHT ALONE 1 with a steel spring, I heard, created no little commotion, for the click with which its patent band closed was so sug- gestive of a flint-lock pistol, that, fearing it would explode, they averted their heads when testing it. As the evening wore on, the brigands rode in twos and threes into the village, adding to the number of those who now filled almost every available space in the AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 61 khan. Very formidable and effective too they looked, in their dirty, many-coloured costumes : their flowing tur- bans, curious assortment of inlaid weapons, and gaudy sashes. The novelty of spending a night with them was not without its charms, knowing, as we did, that, though we were fair game for their powder outside the village boun- daries, we were now as safe, aye, safer perhaps, than we might have been in many Continental hotels. Early next morning, having distributed backsheesh to the village Elder and his immediate followers, we pre- pared to depart, and were not a little surprised, as you may imagine, to find the inhabitants of the whole place assembling to bid us an Asiatic bon voyage, which they put into practice by what was the nearest approach to kissing the hems of our garments; that is to say, pros- trating themselves before us and kissing the tips of our jack-boots. This ceremony over we started riding slowly through the village till we approached the last hut within its boundary, when our guide, whose knowledge of Eastern peculiarities was perfect, halted a moment , shouting as he did so, in the most emphatic voice — " Now, gentlemen, gallop for dear life. Once out in the open, we belong to the world ; we are no longer their guests." He was right. No sooner had we put spurs to our horses than they were after us (unmistakable brigands now) in hot haste. They gave chase through a wood and out into an open upland, when we immediately turned on them and showed fight. Seeing that they were out of range, we blazed away with our revolvers 62 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. without any scruples as to having their blood upon our heads ; though the Winchester repeaters of our little escort slightly wounded two of their number. Something like a panic ensued; their fire slackened, and some scut- tled back to the village, while the remainder kept up a desultory discharge from their not over accurate flint- locks. Wise in their generation, they were not long in realizing that " the game was not worth the candle " ; and when from the cover of our araba (which we had sent on in advance, and had just come up with) we fired a few farewell shots about their ears, they bolted helter- skelter like rats back into their village. This argument of theirs is not altogether an unsound one. Having extended their hospitality to us, why should not we afterwards be as much their prey and at their mercy as at that of any other band of cut-throats we might meet by the way ? I give but few descriptions of experiences of this kind, since the many curious encounters we had with brigands -ended much in the same manner, although had we not ^U been well armed, they would doubtless have finished very differently. Strangely enough, however, we found them later on most useful as messengers. This is how we managed it. To begin with, we knew that they could get from place to place across those almost untraversed mountains in a marvellous manner, unmolested. Next, we proceeded to show them that the MS. and sketches we gave into their hands to deliver were of no possible value to them. At the same time making them thoroughly understand that, on their returning with a previously arranged AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 63 proof to us of their safe delivery at a certain point, they would be amply rewarded ; so they performed the office of parcels post to perfection. These desperadoes generally attack in the same blood- curdling manner. They draw their ponderous pistols, and with ferocious gesticulations yell and shout what in their language is equivalent to "Your money or your life." The speed with which they make for you, the dead halt to which they bring their little Armenian horses in front of you, and the insolent manner of their demand, are all truly alarming to those inexperi- enced in their ways. It may therefore be easily under- stood how a traveller followed by a frightened Zaptiah might, fearing to have his throat cut (a by no means un- common occurrence), surrender everything; but since a little defiance goes a long way with these people, especially when backed by revolvers (which they call the "Devil's Bolts"), they are not, as a rule, difficult to repulse. Perhaps the most dangerous amongst them are those from Baghdad ; but even these on one occasion sheered off without our wasting much powder and shot, on being told by my dragoman that we were only just in advance of the British Army. Your thorough-paced brigands, not having occasion for lies in their ordinary sense, take as a rule all that is told them for granted. There seems by the way, to me, to be a rather sad reflection in this ; that is to say, that with all his faults, the necessity for lies (if one may so put it) has not occurred to him, and that in this, at least, these semi- savages may set the civilized world — where the father of 64 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, lies holds his own — an example, for in these wilder parts lies are looked on very much in the light of conundrums. Again, one day our little party reaching the crest of a hill, suddenly came upon some of these gentlemen of the road, who were hard at work belabouring a traveller, whose horse they had taken possession of, and would, in all probability, have murdered him and made off had we not turned up at the critical moment ; the result was they were so scared that they decamped without plunder of any kind, leaving traveller and horse in our hands. Oh, the gratitude of that man for the deliverance which had come so opportunely; his protestations of devotion, how earnest, how real they were. I remember well how, with innumerable salaams, he begged that, as he was going in the same direction he might enjoy our protection, might serve us, in any capacity, no matter how humble, and how each night he repeated those expressions of gratitude before we turned in. He had nothing to give, poor fellow, but this, and with it he overwhelmed us. Morn, noon, and night for three days did he share our frugal repast, and praise Allah and the Prophet seven times every twenty-four hours, that Kismet had so willed it that he should falbin with us. The fourth morning we missed him. He was nowhere to be found; we grieved for him, naturally, and should have thought he had been spirited away by Houris to some favoured nook in paradise, had we not found that a quantity of our more portable stores were conspicuous by their absence, amongst which were a pair of jack boots, and a silver-mounted Asiatic dagger. Then we sighed sadly for the frailty of poor humanity. AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 65 For had we not been the victims of a brigand after all ? Nor is subtler brigandage of this kind confined by any means to these parts; schemes broached in con- fidence, ideas discussed in the inner chamber violated as soon as known by their unscrupulous possessors. How favourably with such wolves in "friends" clothing, such social vampires, will the dirty, begrimed, ill-fed semi- barbaric ruffian compare, who at least hazards his own lean carcase, when in the Georgian, Persian, Circassian, or Kurdish tongue he shouts '' Stand and deliver ! '* To the weak they are terrible, to the well-armed and well-escorted they are not half so dangerous as they look. One of my men, however, had a narrow escape one day ; I sent him on a short detour after fodder. Some time having elapsed, we began to feel anxious as to his safety. At length we were relieved by his reappearance ; he, poor fellow, having, nevertheless, experienced a queer encounter with four of these miscreants, who, after having taken all he possessed, had thrashed him within an inch of his life, and would have done their work more completely had it not been for the fleet mare he rode. It is astonishing the dread they have of what they are pleased to term English pashas. Their fame seems to have been sown broadcast in Asia Minor, not only amongst these irreclaimable ruffians, but the peasantry and soldiery ; indeed, my own bump of self-esteem was on several occasions considerably swollen when, having ascer- tained that the correspondent of the Illustrated London News was passing through, the troops formed up and saluted as if the great Mukhtar himself had been inspect- ing them ; this, by the way, formed one of the subjects 5 66 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. which I vain gloriously sent back to the Blustrated London News during the canapaign. Although there is no trans- lating the Times, the Daily News, or the Telegraph, still, with the word " pasha " attached, there is a swing about either of them which commands the respect of the Faith- ful, for so we must call them, though sometimes their faith is strangely mixed indeed, each district we passed through having views as distinct as its dialect, and peculiarities. In a vaguely ignorant sort of way the poor bedaubed villagers swore in one place by Allah and the prophets, while in another they would worship the devil and all his works ; concluding that since Allah was good he re- quired no propitiating, while his Satanic Majesty should be humoured in every way. Hence the Kizilbashis (I think they called them) had, once a week, a great satur- nalia in a sort of mud barn, especially devoted to the purpose — " The Temple of Evil " in fact. Here, when the sun went down, they lit huge flambeaux, which they stuck into convenient corners, while they danced a grotesque whirligig to the accompaniment of their own gruff voices. It certainly looked very diabolical, and, I should say, must have been a compliment, highly gratifying even to so great a connoisseur as the Devil himself. I heard it was customary to sleep off the effects of these orgies ensemble, and to begin a new week betimes in the morning. What the equivalent for alcohol may have been in which these grimy votaries of Bacchus indulged I know not, but certainly its introduction into this saturnalia is the best proof that Mahomet had nothing to do with the foundation of this sect of very peculiar people. Very peculiar people did I say ? Well, perhaps, not AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 67 very peculiar people after all, if one looks around and notes how many Devil worshippers there are in one's very midst. There is the money-grubbing millionaire, whose devil is Mammon ; the hollow-hearted woman of fashion, whose idol is summed up in one word, "society"; the pious fraud, whose own virtues are the self-created god he worships. These, down to the more vulgar, common-place devotees — from the worshipper of that parti-coloured har- lequin. Rouge et noir, to the spirit of the juniper berry which hovers over the gin palace — each and all are surely in their way equally "Devil worshippers " with these poor benighted wretches, who may sometimes be unearthed when travelling out of the beaten track in Asia Minor. •X- -x- ^ * Early one morning, just when the sun was rising (we were passing through an overhanging gorge) we came upon one who looked, at first glance, what he afterwards turned out to be, a veritable " Pasha of many tales." Mounted on a grey arab, caparisoned in brilliant velvet trappings, and himself in a costume the glories of which would have opened the eyes of the Good Haroon Alraschid — was a horseman, whose spare, graceful figure did full justice to his garb. A fez, round which a turban of many colours was wound, the ends of which fluttered in the breeze, formed his headgear, while from his side depended a sabre of exquisite workmanship. Besides his immediate attendant he was followed by four or &ve native lancers, the clattering of whose arms gave a sort of martial music to his whole surroundings. I saluted his mightiness in passing, he giving me a salaam to his very saddle-bow in return. 5 * 68 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. I noticed when I had ridden on a few paces that he pulled up, and looked round with a merry twinkle in his eye, which seemed curiously to appeal to me. " Och, now ! and isn't it Montagu ? And yer don't know your old friend O'Donovan of the Daily News." A PASHA OF MANY " TALES. It was even so ; for his own wise press purposes, he had so well simulated one of the Faithful, that I think he would have passed muster with Mahomet himself. I had known him in many climes and many uniforms, but the most complete disguise of all was that of E. ODONOVAN. AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 69 'Donovan Pasha, than whom a more genial, kindly fellow never lived. Looking over some old letters the other day, I found one, so characteristic of himself, and in which he so graphically describes the peculiarities of the photograph from which I have taken the portrait that appears in this chapter, that I quote from it the following extract ; it was written from Dinard, to which place he had escaped to avoid the lionizing of the London season, and finish '* The Merv Oasis." It was the last letter I ever had from my old friend, and ran as follows : — Accompanying I send you a photograph of myself, taken here, at Dinard. You will possibly recognise the old Ulster overcoat which I wore when yon took me for a pasha or brigand — which was it ? — on the road between Erze- roum and Hassan Kale. The fox-skin collar and cuffs were put on during the investment of Kars. The cap is Cossack. The sabre is historic, it is a remnant of the unfortunate expedition to Cabul of 1840 ; it was captured by the Afghans in the Khyber Pass, the English hilt and mountings removed and substituted by Afghan ones. It was subsequently taken by the Turco- mans in a border skirmish and handed to me by the latter on the occasion of my being inaugurated at Merv as Bahadoor Khan. This is the six- teenth year that I own the Ulster overcoat. It has seen the Spanish (Carlist), Herzegovinian, Albanian, Danubian, Armenian, and Transcaspian campaigns, and yet remains to the fore. Perhaps it might suit you to design from the photograph a sketch for some of the illustrated papers, appending some fancy name, such as, for instance, *'Literae et arma," *' A special correspondent," " A literary brigand," or "The devil take the hindmost." Any other title that may come to your mind will probably suit — as well as the old Connemara coat suits me. Diga mil cosas de mi parte a la Senora. And believe me to be. Dear Montagu, Very sincerely yours, E. O'DONOVAN. Our course now lay in the direction of Zevin, a point destined within a few hours to become a decisive check on the manceuvres of the Eussians to outflank the Osmanli. While on the one hand the Muscovites had been weakened 70 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, by having sent troops to suppress the insurrection in the Caucasus, Mukhtar Pasha was getting the long expected reinforcements, suppHes and ammunition, sent via Trebi- zond and Erzeroum to head-quarters. On the 21st of June he collected his forces, and defeated Tergukasoff, who retired to Zeidekan ; but it was not till the 25th that the greatest disaster befel the Kussian army, almost within touch of which we were. In the last few days the excitement had been rapidly rising to fever heat, troop after troop of Circassians CIRCASSIAN CAVALRY. defiling past us as we hurried forward. Half-bandit, half-soldier, and generally of broad proportions, the Cir- cassian, in his long, tight-fitting coat and fur cap — his breast ablaze with glittering cartridge-cases — his long gun — and his formidable-looking scimitar, is a fine type of the dashing irregular ; while the Kurd, with his crocodile eye — his pudding face — demoniacal expression — and long AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 71 tufted lance raised high in air, holds his own for preter- natural ferocity. From one quarter came Krupp guns and ammunition, from another supplies of every description, the hills around seeming alive with those long-expected troops and stores, which had come so opportunely. Faizi Pasha, as he was called (a Hungarian by birth), was in command when the Eussians attacked at early dawn, under Melikoff, the splendid position he had suc- ceeded in occupying at Zevin. Cheered by their recent success, the Turks fought like tigers ; nor did the Eussians yield an inch till after a long-contested battle they were forced to retire all along the line, in the best order they could after so crushing a reverse. So great, indeed, were the Eussian losses that the Turks were able to advance en masse. The fighting of the irregulars on both sides was brilliant, though the Kurds and Circassians lacked that discipline which placed the Cossacks far in advance of them as fighting men. The Circassian, by the way, be he ever so bloodthirsty, has a marvellously fanatical respect for the life of one of his own race. For instance, a conflict, which formed in itself an interesting episode, terminated most curiously between two large bodies of these free lances, during this same fight at Zevin, and showed how staunchly they kept to their vows. They were respectively on the Eussian and Turkish sides, vis-a-vis, and, to all appear- ance, a desperate conflict continued for some hours; but, oddly enough, at the end of the engagement, they were very much in the same condition as the troops ol 72 THE BUSSO-TURKISH WAR. the late lamented Duke of York, who, it will be remem- bered, " Marched 'em up a hill, and marched 'em down again." An actually bloodless battle raged for some time, for, when each side retired, it was discovered that, by mutual consent, no serious blows had been struck. It was astonishing, too, how many shells seemed to have fallen unexploded during that engagement from the Kussian guns. Something wrong with the percussions probably. While depicting the grim horrors of the field of Zevin, it struck me, that one of these same shells might be an interesting souvenir, and I picked one up with a view to having it stowed away under safe cover in our araba, but, on second thoughts, I carefully put it down again, feeling that my insurance would be in jeopardy were it generally known to hold a place amongst other curiosities on the sideboard of my cottage at Hampstead. Just as shells are suggestive of eggs, so are eggs naturally suggestive of birds ; and this brings me to the marvellous number and variety of wild birds in Asia Minor, all then growing plump and sleek on the sorrows of others. I counted that evening one splendid flight of nineteen vultures, coming in Indian file, slowly and surely, down upon the now quiet battle-field as twilight thickened. They were of the bald-headed species ; one could almost have supposed them to be the spirits of the departed enemy come back again, still eager for the fray, for they seemed to wheel in something like military order, till they saw a fitting point at which to demolish the ranks of the silent dead, who, heaped in confused masses, stood out black against the sunset. Then from north, south, east, and west, I watched others AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 73 come to dispute with these their mutual heritage — not by any means all vultures. Bustards and hawks must have their appetites appeased, and even the carrion crow, and smaller birds innumerable. Each and all must hold their own in fighting for corruption. I saw one inheritance, in the shape of a dead horse, curiously contested, the gay trappings of which seemed a mockery to its ghastly aspect. One kingly vulture for some moments had all the tit-bits to himself ; then came several bustards, who, ^ not venturing too near, managed still to get — ^ several snacks unmolested ; but presently an .^ impudent crow — who looked old ~^^^^S^>^ enough to know better — made a feeble effort to peck around, but a ^ look from that vulture '^ - scared him, and off he flew disconcerted, with- out his supper. Now — would you believe it? — he presently returned with a whole army of little black friends, who, by their fluttering and noise, so agitated that elderly gourmand with the frill, and those other more modest diners-out, the bustards, that they presently flew off to feed elsewhere, leaving the impudent crow and his comrades to feast by themselves. Surely these chattering, fluttering carrion crows came like ** little worries," to which the vulture in all his glory INDIAN FILE. 74 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. was unequal ; that bird, I take it, comparing fitly with that other (cultured) biped — man. The vulture may meet his fellows in fair fight all round ; he may even extend his royal clemency to the meek, humble bustard ; but, in the end, what can he do but submit to the impudent onslaughts of that common -place, tantalising, diminutive crow ? And is it not so with men, to whose perceptive minds and creative powers we are indebted for the development of modern civilization, who have been at supreme moments before now, unhinged by an absent button or perverse pin ; who, capable as they may be of the highest aims and ends, are still unequal to life's tiniest trials, which, at certain epochs in the world's history, have dethroned monarchs and swayed the destinies of nations ? Yes ; there is more than at first glance one may suppose in *' little worries." Then, as it grew darker, sneaking up from all quarters came wolves and other scavengers, to batten, gorge, and ruminate on the barbarous work of intellectual man. Having thus moralized on the scene before me, I suddenly became conscious that night was fast closing in, so hastened away in quest of more congenial quarters. * -x- -x- -x- " Poor fellow ! he 's dying," said Johannes, as, having proceeded some distance, we passed a party of Circassians and Kurds by the roadside, tending a wounded comrade. I at once got off my horse, and, unhooking my brandy- flask, administered a dose of the reviving fluid, forgetting that Mahomet was a total abstainer, and that partaking of fire-water meant expulsion from Paradise. Happily the nature of the dose was not discovered till we had gone some distance, when, pell-mell, in hot haste, they AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 75 came galloping after us, flourishing their weapons and vowing immediate vengeance. It was, I need hardly say, a critical moment. We at once halted, and determined to sell our lives through the medium of our revolvers ; but, fortunately, Williams again came to the fore with his ready wit and saved us. He took upon himself to ride up and interview our pursuers, though listen at first they would not. No : " The Effendi had killed their comrade ; he was stark dead by the road side ; he had poisoned him with the fire-water of the infidel, and they had come to claim his life.*' Oh ! for the magic carpet of Arabian reputa- tion, that we might at that moment hide ourselves Anywhere, anywhere out of the reach of those avengers. At their advance towards us, Williams gave a loud hollow laugh which made them involuntarily recoil — were they talking to the evil one himself ? He saw the effect and continued — " Why, good Moslems, you have forgotten one thing ? How long after taking the dose, which you in your igno- rance call fire-water, did your brother live ? " " Several minutes," said one. " Ah ! I thought so ; it was that wondrous drug which kept him for those few minutes more amongst you, before he joined the Houris. The pasha is a great medicine man who comes to the battle-field to save life— not to take it." The effect was perfectly marvellous, and not a little ludicrous too, for, leaping from their horses, they pro- ceeded to prostrate themselves round about my feet, and 76 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. to implore me to cure them of their many ills, which I immediately endeavoured to do, by administering to each several powerful pills ; and as, sad but satisfied, that little group wheeled about, Williams — his underlying mirth POOB BARKIS ! coming out in a sly smile at the corners of his mouth, said, slowly and half meditatively to himself — " Ah ! just so ; very strong aperients — three each, too ■ — no — oh, dear no — we shall be in Kars long, long before those gentlemen are disposed again to do anything in particular — especially to follow us." AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 77 That night we slept soundly on the hill side without further adventure ; our stores, however, had for some time begun to show signs of rapid decrease, and, as native diet began to take their place in increasing quantities, we all grew proportionately unequal to the immense mental as well as the great physical strain which cam- paigning under such circumstances necessitates. However, we held on, for we had yet to make the headquarters of Mukhtar, and go thence to Kars. A few words here concerning Barkis — the horse I chiefly rode whilst in Asia Minor — might be interesting. INCOMPATIBILITY OF TEMPER. and to which we gave this odd cognomen, for the absurd reason that he was the most utterly i^r^willing beast I ever possessed; yet he was not churlish by any means, hi& sense of the ridiculous being beyond question. Let me, from his many curious antics, quote three, which took place within a short time of each other. One day I lent him to the correspondent of the Scots- many while I, for change sake, rode his horse. It hap- pened on that day that we had to wade across a stream which came nearly to our horses' girths. Whether his 78 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, sentiments were Conservative or not, I cannot say, but something had hurt his feeHngs — probably he objected to his new rider — for when in the middle of that stream Barkis suddenly rolled over, leaving the Scotsman floun- dering helplessly midway, in the most undignified manner imaginable, while he, after having had a pleasant dip and another refreshing roll, made for the opposite shore. On another occasion, while being shod in an Ana- tolian smithy, a process at which Johannes was assisting, he suddenly became so terribly refractory that his legs bad to be tied and he thrown on his side before the work of shoeing could be effected. But Barkis was not to be so easily defeated. Kicking with much determination, he broke the cord by which he was fastened, and at the same time, in some miraculous way, struck one of the flintlock pistols Johannes carried in his belt, in such a manner too that it immediately exploded, the bullet curiously enough penetrating the door-post of the smith's cabin, against which I and another correspondent were leaning, luckily a few inches away from that particular spot. Once again did the indefatigable Scotsman, anxious not to be outwitted by a *' puir beastie/' mount him. It was evening ; we were approaching the Turkish lines. To do this we had to cross a river, which was at this time much swollen by recent rains, so much so, that a temporary bridge of rough pines had been thrown across it. Our little cavalcade had all gone over except our friend the Scotsman, Perhaps the strain to that point had been as much as the bridge could bear ; I cannot say ; I only know that we suddenly heard a loud crash, and on looking round saw Barkis below and the Scotsman above, sitting AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 79 there in an attitude which, to say the least of it, was more comic than comfortable, and with a curious ex- pression of surprise on his pallid countenance. The fact of the matter was this : Barkis had sunk straight through the impromptu bridge, of which (being of fairly broad proportions) enough was still left intact to accommodate the rider, who this time had the best of it, as he sat there gazing down through the gap which the descending Barkis had made, with a look of indescribable surprise and feelings of wonder not unmixed with pity. Luckily, the depth was not very considerable ; and though PENDING DIVORCE. the poor beast at first found it difficult to recover himself, our united efforts at length succeeded in getting him out of the muddy sluggish stream, but it was not with- out the greatest difficulty that we got him to the camp, where we very soon discovered he was utterly done for. Poor Barkis ! his little life of wild adventure was over ; several had suffered by his pranks; indeed almost all, save myself, and now it seemed sad, even with all the 80 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. hardening influences around us, to think how soon he would be playing his last role in connection with war, that of contributing his tough proportions to the com- missariat. * -Jf -Jt * At last, we were in the camp of Mukhtar Pasha. That night we slept in a Circassian village, at the base of the hill occupied by the tents of the Osmanli ; and while our quarters were being made ready, we were received most hospitably in his tent by that kindest and bravest of soldiers. Sir Arnold Kemball. There was something delightfully refreshing, after our rough-and-tumble experiences, since we dined together in comparative luxury in Erzeroum, to meet Sir Arnold again, to hear of a marvellous escape he had had of being run to earth by the enemy : the Cossacks all but succeeding in scoring two pith helmets (for Captain Norman was with him), and getting probably those much coveted roubles. It was late when Williams rode up to say that our baggage was deposited in safety, and that the khan was ready for us. On reaching it we found a curious audience had arrived there before us, for some eighteen or twenty Circassians were sitting in solemn silence in a semi- circle awaiting us. These were the exhibitors, waiting, as usual, to take round our goods and chattels. Here again we had to go through the bread and salt process before we were allowed to settle down quietly to black coffee and pipes. At stated intervals, out of compliment to us, and to break the monotony of being unable to converse with us, a Circassian would drawl out a sort of AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 81 recitation in a wheezy voice, which no doubt told of love and romance most touchingly to those who understood him ; then another, who prided himself on being a story- teller, would describe his marvellous adventures in some land he had probably only dreamt of; at last, feeling somewhat under an obligation to them, we devised a very simple conjuring trick for their benefit. Theatrical asides were unnecessary ; we could arrange preliminaries in as loud a key as we chose without fear of detection. Not one amongst us had the slightest notion how to conjure in the proper sense of the word ; however, something had to be done. "Take a cartridge," said Holmes; "yours are the same number as mine. I will do the same. Put yours into your mouth and pretend to swallow it. The next moment I will appear to take it out of the heel of your boot." Having successfully performed the trick, we paused for well-merited applause ; imagine our consternation — they rose to a man, drew their long Circassian knives and, rushing towards us like so many frenzied devils, declared we were in league with Satan, whose name, yelled by a score of hoarse voices, was the only audible sound for some minutes. All was confusion and commotion; and it was a considerable time before even Williams, with his ready wit and presence of mind, could make them understand what a conjuring trick was. At length our hearts took their places again, having, figuratively speaking, been in our mouths from the moment our mild efforts at legerdemain brought about this dangerous episode. The next morning we were presented to the General, - 6 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Ahmet Mukhtar, who was seated on the edge of a low truckle bed in his plain bell tent — its only difference from an ordinary one being, perhaps, that it was rather larger. His sword hung to the tent pole. No adornment of any kind was visible. Eastern or otherwise, to enliven the temporary home of the great commander. There he sat, as simple as his surroundings, a close- fitting military frock-coat, with an ordinary fez worn much on the back of the head, completing his war- paint. He wore no decorations. When he received myself and the other correspon- dents who were presented to him, he did so with marked courtesy and almost French politeness ; coffee was ordered, of which we all partook, and, through the medium of an interpreter, he expressed the pleasure it gave him to receive us in his camp, with the hope that those who could would have tents near his own, and curiously enough it so happened that mine was for some days the very next one to that of Mukhtar Pasha's, who regularly every morning invited me to partake of coffee with him. * -x- •}{• -x- It was night. We were aroused by a terrible tempest, and, as the camp was pitched on the side of a very steep hill, its whole force was felt. Never, before or since, have I heard such thunder, or seen such lightning. One moment the whole field of vision, as far as the eye could reach, was lit up, dotted with thousands of white tents brought out in bold relief as each electric flash succeeded its fellow, and then, the next instant, all was lost in a darkness so comparatively black that it was AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 83 actually appalling. The hail and rain, coming down in torrents, filled our tents and trenches in no time, till the culminating point was reached in a fearful tempest of wind and sleet, which swooped down upon us like a veritable whirlwind. In less time than it takes to describe, we poor un- fortunates found ourselves clinging to our tent-pole like grim death, while the tent itself being lifted on the wings of the wind, was literally turned inside out; our sketches and MS. dispersed beyond reclaim, and ourselves drenched to the skin. The storm having somewhat abated, we groped our way to the village khan, where Johannes, the arabaji, and the Zaptiahs were. Our first thought was to go and see Barkis, who for several days had been, owing to his fall, in extremis. We found him, to our mutual grief, on his side — stiff, cold, and dead. Alas ! poor Barkis. " Where be your jibes now ? " Somehow the very skittishness of my old favourite had special charms for me. His eccentricities were so original ; he had won a reputation peculiarly his own — he had struck out a path for himself, " the path of glory, which leads but to the grave." His death placed me in a terribly awkward predicament. It was utterly impossible, for love or money, to procure another horse ; so I was constrained to continue the journey to Kars on foot through alternate swamp and upland, no small undertaking under an almost tropical sun, for one who had already suffered sunstroke, and on whom scant food and fatigue were beginning to tell terribly. A change of direction of the army, one portion of which went to the reinforcement of Kars, necessitated 6 * 84 THE RUSS0-TURKI8H WAR. our starting that morning by a slightly different route for the same destination. We at first for some considerable time travelled through a thickly wooded district, after which we reached an open THE FATE OF SPIES. plateau, across which we had gone but a short distance when we came upon the naked bodies of two notorious Kussian spies, who, caught in the act, had been done to AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 85 death, and left to swell, blister, and putrefy in the burn- ing sun. They presented a most ghastly, even odd appearance, being tattooed from head to foot with in- numerable thrusts from the spears of the most dis- reputable of free-lances who, though probably thieves and murderers, were yet, in their own estimation, a con- siderable cut above spies. The term " odd " seems strangely out of place, yet there were instances innumer- able in which bodies were found in most grotesque attitudes. I may here quote one. * # * * , A Eussian and a Turk coming unexpectedly to close quarters, while reconnoitring not far from Mukhtar's camp, engaged in deadly contest ; they received bayonet thrusts simultaneously, their legs becoming as it were trestles to a bar formed by their two rifles, the bayonets of which were thrust deeply each into the other's breast. It was for some days a common thing to go and see these two dead soldiers, who, for some considerable time, stood thus transfixed in that last and equally fatal effort. To return to our narrative, however. We had not left those dead spies far behind us, when we found we had to cross a vast swamp which nearly brought us to a standstill altogether, since in some cases our horses sank so deeply into the mire, made doubly tenacious by the storm of the night before, that we felt to get through to higher ground would be impossible. This of course, since Barkis was non est, specially applied to myself. While in this hopeless plight we were observed by some Circassians, who were skirmishing in higher and drier 86 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. latitudes at no great distance ; our helplessness was a signal for playfulness on their part which we at the time somehow failed to enter into. They commenced a sharp and deliberate fire upon us, with their long formidable- looking guns, which, thanks to their being exceedingly bad marksmen, did no harm. So we were pleased to take the will for the deed, and return their fire with the *' Winchesters " of our guards and our own revolvers. Eventually, however, we succeeded in obliging them to sheer off ; the unpleasant ping of those bullets which nearly found their ''billets" now becoming few and far between. Once again on terra Jirma, I was obliged from time to time to avail myself of my companions' horses, as we con- tinued our way, only to be caught, however, in a repetition of last night's storm. We were drenched to the skin ; besides, the day was already waning, and it would be some time before we reached a village where we could put up for the night. We were, indeed, wretched examples of humanity ; for, of late, we had been ill-fed and suffered terribly from the severity of the climate and long forced marches, for which our short rest in camp had not com- pensated. And the soakings we had just had — though they didn't damp our ardour, helped the other depressing influences to assert themselves more thoroughly. Horse- less myself, I could not fall back on any of my troop, for your native Anatolian out of the saddle to which, as a rule, he has been accustomed from his youth up, is a poor creature indeed, and would certainly have been invalided before we had proceeded much farther had we changed places. AMONG THE BRIGANDS. 87 Before sundown that night we were fortunate enough to find a halting place, a mountain village, outside which on entering we noticed an encampment of Kurds, whose grimy tents and long black tufted lances looked strangely barbaric and weird in the twilight. The only available khan in the place we found to be a small one, from which our saturated clothes, had they been dried there, must have steamed us out. Worse still, we had no change with us, our araba, under better protection, having gone on by the other route, to await our arrival at Kars; so we determined on having a blazing fire made, borrowing such coverings as were available in that poverty-stricken village, while we divested ourselves of everything, save our money belts and revolvers, our clothes being sent to a neighbouring hut to be dried. This being done, we settled down in our unaccom- modating wraps to chat over our pipes, before, worn out with the day's work, we should fall into the arms of Morpheus. Picture us, therefore, if you can, scantily costumed in revolver and money belt, yet plentifully supplied with Eastern draperies wherewith to wrap ourselves, seated round that khan fire, more like savages than corre- spondents : a condition of affairs more picturesque than pleasant I can assure you, since, amongst other minor discomforts, we were nearly stifled by the smoke, the only exit for which was through a rude hole in the roof, an Asiatic substitute for the chimney of civilisa- tion. It was not long, however, notwithstanding all this, before Nature asserted herself, and we were every one of us fast asleep. 88 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Now, what particular time in the small hours it hap- pened to be I 'm not prepared to say, but long after the little village had been wrapped in silence there came a shriek, the horror-stricken sound of which we shall none of us ever forget. Being thus suddenly awakened, all eyes were turned towards the spot from whence the hideous screech had come. Through the aperture in the roof of the hut now came, looking doubly horrible in the WHITE PASHAS. fitful firelight, a panic-stricken native's head. From a few words hurriedly shouted, or rather yelled, by the un- expected visitor above, Williams grasped the fact that the Kurds were making a raid on the village; indeed, this was sufficiently evident from the firing which had already commenced, and the hurrying and rushing hither and thither of the scared and startled villagers without. Our AMONG THE BRIGANDS, 89 first idea was the safety of our horses, and in our anxiety to protect these, which were at the farther end of the hut, we forgot all else, even our Eastern adornments, rushing in hot haste to the entry (there being no proper door) to defend them. The rugs, in our excitement, had naturally been left behind, nor could we have kept them well round us had we tried, and so it was that in a state of nudity (save for our money belts) we rushed out, revolver in hand, to protect the interests most dear to us. It was a wild sight, in the light of the waning moon, to see those diabolical free-lances charging the villagers, who, to do them justice, fought well ; our scattered revolver fire was of some service too. One thing is certain : to those savages, superstitious to a degree, it was our appearance which caused the greatest alarm, for the presence in their midst of a force of specials, so com- pletely divested of their war paint, had an effect on them which a whole arsenal of small-arms would have failed to produce. To them we were suddenly invested with all the advantages of evil eyes, and looked on as un- canny creatures — white fiends, in fact, on whom those fitful rays of moonlight must have fallen with dramatic effect, for directly we showed ourselves outside the khan those Kurds recoiled before us as if we had been veritable imps of darkness. Giving us thus a very wide berth, they made tracks for another part of the village, shouting as they did so in Kurdish : " See, see ! The White Devils ■are out ! The White Devils are out ! " The skirmish was short and desperate. Seven women were carried off, many of the villagers were wounded, and 90 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. two or three killed, before they rode away with their human plunder; and when at daylight, two hours later, we obtained our clothes, which fortunately had been in one of the very few huts they had not entered, we saw no signs of the Kurdish camp of the night before ; and I think when those desperadoes become octoge- narians they will tell their great-grandchildren, round the camp fire, how, long years ago, they came face to face with " The White Demons." «-^'C:^^^O^^iC^X:2i' ' 91 CHAPTER IV. THE COSSACKS ! THE COSSACKS ! BKITISH PLUCK WITH MUKHTAR PASHA NOT DEAD YET KARS A BRIGHT-EYED AMAZON HAIRY MOSES FAVOURITES OF FATE THE GENTLEST OF HER SEX MUKHTAR'S RETREAT AN UNCLEAN ARMY MADDENING TITILLATION A DESERTED VILLAGE FAMISHING UTTERLY AT SEA. The first streak of dawn ! To what strange sentiments, all over the civilized and uncivilized world, is the first streak of dawn parent. The mother at the bedside of her sick child, the wife by that of her husband, with what anxiety do they hail the approach of yet another day ! That grim, black, forbidding banshee Night, trailing behind her sable draperies as she goes, seems scared by the approach of her fairer sister ; it is a moment when many wake to renewed hope, some to the crushing con- viction of those horrors which they only half realized in those long drawn-out hours of night preceding its advent. The same slowly increasing light Struggling still with the sable shroud, Revealing in grim array The terrors which night has striven to steal Frona the sorrows of yesterday. It finds its way through the chinks in the shutters, and combats that of the glittering candelabras which light 92 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. up the haggard, careworn faces of garablers and roues. It comes alike to the potentate in his palace and the prisoner in his cell, reminding each of the fetters which bind him, be they State troubles or hand-cuffs. It comes to the young and innocent laden with the sweet aroma of opening flowers, to the old and weary with a panorama of broken promises and crushed hopes, night to them being almost preferable to the terrible awakening. So it was as the first streak of dawn fell athwart those mud kraals, and cast its long grey shadows over their dark entrances, where, hugging their little ones close to them, crooning a wild native dirge the while, those poor Anatolians bewailed the fate of their children who had been ruthlessly taken from them, even more than that of those who lay dead at their feet. With us, however, it was to be a great day, since that night we hoped to be in Kars. Kest was now impossible, so we hastened to get our troop in marching order, and it was not long before we were clear of that little nest of violated homes. A heavy fog hung over the highlands, by which we seemed blocked in, yet we pushed forward as best we could across the trackless plain which, with the aid of a compass, we thought we had discovered to be our route. Before we had gone far, we were met by some eight or ten Turkish scouts who, galloping in our direction, presently dashed past us, shouting as they did so at the top of their voices — " The Cossacks ! The Cossacks ! " The next moment they were lost in the dense mist from which they had emerged. ROUND ABOUT KARS. 9B There was an electricity in the words, which conveyed to us simultaneously (forewarned as we had been) the same all too vivid picture of headless Britishers and Kussian roubles. At such a moment that everyone should be for himself is but human. Being horseless, as will be remembered, I alone had nothing left me but to await the issues of fate. Had running away represented anything, there was no cover. I was alone ; all had galloped off, in wild flight, for dear life. The fearful sensations I experienced in that short period are too terrible for description ; a panorama of the whole of my past life flashed vividly through my brain. I was so awe-struck, that I do not think I actually realized my terrible position, and the grim prospect which was awaiting me. A moment later I was brought back to myself however, for, through the mist on the horizon there appeared a moving mass of cavalry converging towards me. I had but few moments left to me now. Would my utter help- lessness appeal to their humanity, if they had any ? The humanity of a Cossack ! No ! There was no consolation there. Each moment, death drew nearer. Then suddenly an unworthy alternative presented itself; I mechanically drew my revolver. Why should these assassins score? If I must die, why be butchered? Far better take one's own life than The rapid thud of horses' hoofs coming that instant from the opposite direction caused me providentially to turn, diverting my intention and attention at the same 94 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, moment. I was petrified with astonishment — for there, hack " into the jaws of death," came the Manchester Guardian and Scotsman. No ; they were capable of many things, but they could not leave a Britisher alone. We were all three now prepared for the worst. A few seconds more, and they swept like an avalanche down that incline. They were upon us ! What happened next, eh ? Ah, just so ! Why — nothing at all ! They were a troop of Circassians ; it was a false scare. In the fog of early morning those Turkish scouts had mistaken them for Cossacks, but, happily for us, they turned out to be some of Schamyl's light horse recon- noitring. We were safe. Our escort, naturally, were nowhere to be seen ; they had been utterly scared. Some time afterwards, however, we came upon them, and again journeyed on the road together. No horse being equal to more than one rider, they were, I take it, quite justified in pursuing the course they did; their presence could have availed me nothing, and must certainly have cost them their own lives had we fallen into the hands of the Cossacks. Nor do I say this without thorough appreciation of the cool courage which, when comparatively out of danger, suggested the return of those two Britishers. I think that was the longest day I ever remember. For miles I dragged along, supported first on the arm of one and then another, almost fainting with exhaustion ; unable now even to sit the horse from which Holmes had dis- ROUND ABOUT KAES. 95 mounted,- and implored me to ride ; and so again and again we rested, only to renew the journey with greater effort. The distant goal was now actually in sight, but like an ignis fatuus, no appreciable difference seemed to be made in the wide stretch between it and us. There in the far distance stood the great impregnable fortress, its guns belching forth grim messages to the Muscovites, while the smoke from its embrasures floated off lazily to the still horizon, and dome and minaret rose in snowy whiteness against the clear, cloudless azure of that Eastern sky. Again, like monster snowballs at intervals on high came time shells, bursting into feathery film ere they descended, projectiles of which one might well say distance lent enchantment to the view. Curiously contradictory were my feelings at this moment. Yonder was the haven of rest I was seeking. There was the shelter I strove for ; just the very spot, the very corner of the earth, where, at this particular time, neither shelter, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, nor rest were to be found. Many hours had now elapsed since the previous morning we had left in advance of Mukhtar's army, hoping to gain the Karschchai. It was on the advice of Williams we did this, which, invaluable otherwise throughout, failed in this particular. During the whole of this time we had not had more than three hours sleep, the rest of the time being occupied with temporary halts and terribly weary tramps over the roughest country imaginable. Though it would have availed nothing to speak of it, I could feel that my strength was rapidly ebbing, my slower pace telling naturally to a great extent on the pro- 96 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. gress of the others. I was now almost unable to drag one foot beyond the other, and nothing save the kindly solicitude of the rest would have enabled me to hold on. Once more the evening was closing in, bringing with it fresh difficulties, for we found we had altogether lost our reckoning. We were traversing a forest, and the night being intensely dark we became more and more hopelessly lost in its now black and tangled meshes ; so much so, that at last, thoroughly worn out and exhausted, we threw down our wraps, such as they were, and quite regardless of dangerous reptiles or other denizens of the woods, soon fell into a heavy sleep, from which we did not wake till the sun was again high up above the eastern horizon. Having partaken of what scant food we carried (for our araba, it will be remembered, had been sent on to Kars by another route), we again continued our way, but it was not till long after the ordinary hour of siesta that we emerged from the wood. Kars, owing to our position and the ruggedness of the country, was for a considerable time lost to view, the distant sound of can- nonading only being heard. Anon, like some enchanted city of the Arabian Nights, did it rise yet a little closer and clearer before us. At length, leaving higher altitudes, we descended into the vast plain through which the Kars- chchai wound its serpentine course ; and here it was we fell in with the division of Mustapha Pasha, going to the relief of that city. The Illustrated London News of August 18th, 1877, cohtains a paragraph which vividly brings back to my ROUND ABOUT KARS, 97 mind many curious incidents happening about this time. It ran as follows : — " Another of our special artists, Mr. Irving Montagu, has also reached Kars with the army of Mukhtar Pasha, and we have received from him a number of sketches relating to the relief of that city on the 8th ult., one of them, which appears in a separate page, shows the Turkish artillery, under Mustapha Pasha, crossing the river of Kars. This was effected by means of a bridge of sunken bullock waggons." So I have made this crossing under the protection of the batteries of Kars one of my illustrations. The bringing up of horses and heavy guns, the hurry- skurry of the artillery, cavalry, and miscellaneous troops, who were hastening across that straining, creaking, im- promptu bridge of sunken bullock waggons, the officers standing to their horses' girths in water directing opera- tions, all come back vividly before me as I write. And so it was that we gradually drew closer and closer still, till the thunder of the guns on those heights culminated in a sullen roar like that of a sleepy lion. Then the brighter colours of day became confused and blurred — for it was some time after the main reinforce- ments of Mustapha had occupied Kars that we closed up in the rear — just as a mist rose, obscuring the base of the rocks on which the citadel stands. And then, as if by common consent, the firing first flagged, then ceased, till all was strangely still and silent, while a metallic flood of gold from the west, suffusing the earth, told how yet another historic day had sunk to rest in Time's oblivion ; then the blue overhead grew purple and more purple 98 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. still, and the stars began to glitter in the great unknown beyond, as if they were responsive signals to those flickering lights which appeared on the side of the city which we were approaching, and which offered no attrac- tion to Kussian attack. Presently, with that rapidity peculiar to the East, the broad gold belt, against which Kars had but a moment before stood out as black as Erebas, narrowed its dimen- sions and was gone, and the thin crescent of a new moon rose significantly over the encamped Moslems in that NOT DEAD YET silent stronghold where dying and living alike awaited the clarion which should call them to celestial peace or earthly war. I was now holding on to Holmes' saddle, putting out my last remaining strength. Yes ; there, plainly enough in the distance, I could see the city gates through the growing darkness, till they became merged, as it were, in a sort of unnatural light — how or whence it came, I know not, and then * * -Jt -x- ROUND ABOUT KARS. 99 Personally, I remember nothing beyond this point till I found myself stretched on a table, in one of the filthiest holes that ever pretended to the name of cafe, though I was afterwards told that when only a few hundred yards from those gates I fell to the ground insensible, and was carried on an improvised litter to this dirty khan, where a crowd of villainous-looking ruffians gathered closely round me, to the exclusion of such little air as was to be obtained, for the express purpose of seeing an English pasha die. I understand that a quantity of raki was administered to me ; and this, probably, in the absence of any better restorative, assisted my coming to. I distinctly remember having taken in the situation as I glanced up at the wistful faces of those grimy curiosity- mongers, who had come to listlessly watch the passing of a Giaour to his happy hunting-grounds, for I am told that my first excla- mation on coming to was *' Not dead yet ! " which Williams promptly translated, in his joy at my recovery, for the special benefit of those outwitted, disappointed scoundrels, who now, one by one, sheered off. * -x- -x- -x- Steep, irregular streets, houses unequal in size and shape, each outvying the other in ungainliness and filth, of such is the internal economy of Kars, one of the strongest military positions in the world. Properly gar- risoned, it is said to be absolutely impregnable, unconquer- able except by famine or treachery. From any other point of view, it is, perhaps, the most depressing and miserable of Eastern cities, a sort of Asiatic Eatcliffe Highway, rejoicing in a concentration of the innumerable 7 * 100 THE JtiUSSO'TURKISH WAR, odours of which an utter absence of drainage, combined with vegetable and animal corruption of all kinds, may be supposed to consist ; nevertheless, as part of the great quadrilateral of which Batoum, Erzeroum, and Trebizond are the three other points, it has long been a standing menace to invaders. A CORNER IN KAR8. Those tortuous turnings, those grimy, greasy, scared- looking natives, many of whom had lived al fresco for months, come back to me now all too vividly. " Corners in Kars" would make a series of curiously-interesting sketches, its architecture being a nondescript conglomera- tion of styles which seemed thoroughly in accord with its equally nondescript population, some of whom yash- ROUND ABOUT KARS. 101 macked, and some not, were sleeping peacefully through sheer exhaustion, undisturbed by the din around them — a peace denied those who were all too painfully awake to the horrors of war. Here, you would come upon a motley crew in rags and tatters, starving quietly in a death-trap of exhalations ; there, up a dark entry, are a group of scared citizens and burly Circassians, with a sprinkling of the opposite sex, standing at some conveniently- sheltered corner, where a sort of Moorish frontage, painted in coarse colours on rough wood, give to all that remains of a sixth -rate khan a distant appearance of Eastern magnificence — a touch of romance to absolute squalor. B-r-r-rr — boom ! A shell has burst over the devoted city, and that touch of romance is superseded by the stern reality and necessities of war. Men, women, and children scuttle out from every conceivable corner, flying here, there, and everywhere, like so many scared rats, only to gravitate presently into fresh corners, trust once more to Kismet, and indulge, in the absence of raki, in that small modicum accorded them of the best of all cordials — Hope. By the way, apropos of Kars, as the sequel shows, I may refer here to Bayazid, a city on the Persian frontier, in the Pashalik of Erzeroum, some fifteen miles from the historic Mount Ararat. This town forms one of my subjects for illustration; it has a painful interest, since here it was, during the time I was in Anatolia, that the Kurds committed unparallelled barbarities on the Chris- tian and, indeed, Turkish inhabitants. So beautiful is its situation, so lovely its aspect from without, that it 102 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. is difficult to associate the place with cold-blooded murder. On the massacres which took place there I have touched lightly, since the horrors were blood-curdling ; but of two notorious individuals who were encamped under its walls, I can say something which will be of general interest. Place aux dames ! Let me introduce you to Fatima, a lovely young Arabian woman, fired by religious zeal, who took upon herself the supreme command of some Bedouin squadrons, which, under her able direction did prodigies of valour ; and, what is more, she fired the heart of a Eussian general, who, won over by her soft glances, deserted even his country to follow her fortunes, and when the assault on the Kizil-Tepe had been decided on, he rode by her side in front of her Arab irregulars. One night they fell in with a Cossack patrol, with whom the renegade Eussian (who now called himself MOussa Pasha) was able, of course, to converse freely, moreover giving the password, which, by some means, he had obtained. The Eussians, supposing them in the darkness to be Eussian irregulars, let them pass, when Moussa immediately turned and attacked those hood- winked Cossacks, nearly all of whom were either killed or made prisoners. What Fatima did not win by force of arms, she suc- ceeded in accomplishing with her eyes — great gazelle-like Arab eyes whose liquid depths seemed unfathomable ; eyes which would ha.ve led you or me, reader, on — even had it been to Hades. The victories, however, of the fascinating Fatima were short-lived, for she was shot ROUND ABOUT KARS, 103 through the breast not long before the fall of Kars. The Kussians, who had heard of her fame and found her body, took her up tenderly, and with something of senti- ment thrilling their rough soldier natures, consigned her in sad silence to her grave on the battle-field, a fitting sepulture for that bright-eyed Amazon — Fatima. The other character of whom I would speak was of the opposite sex: a brigand chieftain, celebrated all over Asia Minor as a terror to the passing stranger, and who, having defied capture for years, now fired by patriotism had sent to Mukhtar Pasha offering his services in return for a free pardon. These terms having been accepted, he now with his wild hordes had become the General's ally. Tulu Moussa or Hairy Moses, was a tall, angular crea- ture, who seems to have had the scent of the blood-hound, and could manage a reconnaissance as no ordinary ofl&cer could pretend to do. In the secret service he had no rival, being amongst spies a veritable king, not only collecting information here and there, but actually getting in and out the Eussian lines on more than one occasion in disguise. Indeed, he played the part so well as to be able to present to Mukhtar several sums of money given him by the Kussians in consideration that he would bring information as to Turkish movements, when a consider- able augmentation of the amount was promised. In costume he was picturesqueness personified, a typical brigand of the first water his long olive green Circassian tunic reaching to his knees, richly embroidered with silver, while below this came red leather top boots, turned up, Turkish fashion, at the toes. His waist-belt was made of large silver coins (Medjidie's probably) each of which 104 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, had a filigree pattern engraved on it. Numbers of silver i cartridge tubes decorated each breast, while his long Cir- cassian daggers and huge sabre were, about hilt and sheath, one glittering combination of silver, lapis lazuli and coral. His followers were similarly though not so expensively dressed. To Mukhtar, Tulu Moussa was worth his weight in gold. " Set a thief to catch a thief " is a trite old saying, and if spies were to be caught, or rogues or deserters punished, the head of the Generalissimo's *' Intelligence Depart- ment," Hairy Moses, was always the man to carry out instructions to perfection. He w^as "the best killed" man in Asia Minor, having, according to report, been done to death at least a dozen times in the neighbourhood of Kars, though rumour has it — and I think it right in this case — that he too is " not dead yet." It would have been impossible to have obtained, under any circumstances, a more comprehensive idea of war than from the heights of Kars, with its forbidding sur- roundings of great guns and rock-like masonry. Looking either out into the vast plains below, or on to the hills above, you had war, war everywhere, in one shape or another. Troops, looking like pigmies in the distance, defiling first one way then another ; cavalry dashing off to take up positions of observation ; artillery coming in, infantry going out, ambulances here, ammunition or store waggons there, Irregulars everywhere ; and so on, to the end of the chapter. Talking of Irregulars brings one to the natural savagery of the many tribes who foregathered at that time in ROUND ABOUT EARS. 105 that part of the world, and who, under the plea of Holy War, came from all sorts of out-of-the-way places osten- sibly to fight for the Crescent, but really to look after themselves. Probably the Christians in the province of Van suffered most, the much talked of Bulgarian atrocities not comparing with the wholesale outrages of all kinds which they had to endure ; torture, mutilation, and murder being of every-day occurrence. One incident which came within my own experience, will serve as a case in point. It was that of a poor peasant (a widower), who, bound hand and foot in his mud hovel, was propped up in this manner to sit and watch his own child spitted and roasted alive before his eyes. The pleasure seekers having enjoyed the situation to the full left that ruined home, the poor man being found there later on screaming with laughter — a' raving lunatic. There was a veritable reign of terror at one time during this Asiatic campaign, no one being safe, even for the shortest distance without a very strong escort. Cir- cassians and Kurds seemed alike soulless and savage to the last degree, having the same feeling for the Giaour as the Devil is supposed to have for Holy water. Since I was still suffering from my recent experiences, I was glad to " bide a wee," and to the distracting music of bursting shells and the more distant rattle of musketry finish a fresh batch of sketches, destined for the first brigand or other messenger I could find, who, as I have already explained, was always made thoroughly to appre- ciate the fact that though perfectly worthless to him, 106 THE RUSSO-TUBKISH WAR. their safe delivery in Erzeroum would mean untold largess. Though this is not a dissertation on war, or the politics of the period, though I do not attempt to discuss the campaign from a military standpoint, as other and abler contemporary writers on these subjects have done, and though for the benefit of my critics I repeat these are simply the wanderings of a war artist ; yet it will not be uninteresting to know, not only how staunch to the end was the defence of Kars but what subtle engineering tactics were displayed by the invaders, whose batteries, to a great extent, circumvented it. Not only an almost impregnable vantage point itself, the Tabias, or fortified portions which surrounded it, made it infinitely more formidable. To be in one of these, under heavy Eussian fire was to realise, not only what shells on their own account could do, but the additional danger from splinters of the rocks against which they crashed, thousands of pieces of which were sent flying with tremendous force in all directions, from which many hundreds received fatal wounds. Although the Eussian fire was concentrated chiefly on the forts, shells repeatedly fell in the town, not, however, doing so much harm as might be supposed, though one case happened in which a mother and her two or three children were at the same moment sent into eternity by one of these deadly messengers. That mortality was much less in the towns proper, may not only be accounted for by the sighting of the enemy's guns, but by the fact that the people themselves hid away in the most unheard of corners, nooks and crannies each day ROUND ABOUT KARS. 107 during the time when the contending forces were most active, while towards evening, when those Eussian Krupp 16J-centimetre guns had grown hoarse from belching forth destruction, poor humanity would creep out to seek for food and stretch its limbs, with eyes dazed and dilated, as if haunted by the spirit of horrors. But was it not Kismet that so ordained this respite should be afforded them, and were good Moslems ever indifferent to that ? Indeed, there was one curious illus- tration of this submission to fate. Fifteen soldiers, who had been sentenced to be shot for cowardice, were drawn up one day for execution, and placed in line facing the firing party. Twelve fell ; three, however, were only slightly wounded. These were at once taken into the hospital, and being cured, were reinstated in their former military position. Favourites of the Fates, they had passed through the ordeal and been spared by Kismet. I think perhaps the most fitfully terrible aspect under which the grim fortress could be seen was just when not only time-shells were bursting in mid air, and per- cussions dashing to fragments everything with which they came in contact, but when, in the midst of all the destruction which the inventive mind of man could con- ceive, the elements joined in concert, and one of those heavy Asiatic storms raged of which the stay-at-home Englishman can have no idea. Then Muscovite and Turkish artillery blended with the prolonged roar of the thunders overhead, and flash after flash of forked lightning lit up the camp and rent asunder the heavy black clouds above us, which each moment rising higher had already 108 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. half hidden the great red disc of the sun, fiery and bloodshot as it was now slowly descending in the west. Coupled with this., too, we were enveloped in a downpour of hail and rain, and worried by a whirlwind calculated to take us off our legs at any moment. When, in your mind's eye you can picture this, then you can, perhaps, get some faint idea of what happens when heaven and earth unite in making the prospect of coming night doubly hideous. I am not likely, for my own part, to forget our forced march to Kars, for though at first to some extent I recovered, it was not long before a relapse set in, and a painful complaint known as erythema, brought on from over-exhaustion and poorness of living seized me, the dropsical nature of which caused my limbs to swell to such an extent that the prospect of a permanent residence in that city of smells began to present itself ; and since locomotion became really difficult, my first consideration was to secure, as soon as possible, a horse in place of the late lamented Barkus. This, after considerable trouble, I was fortunate enough in doing, though I found it utterly impossible to replenish our stores, as in view of a long- protracted siege nothing, at any price, could be spared from the commissariat. As it was, the living in Kars was abominable, though this was a condition of affairs with which, in my experiences of other sieges, I had grown familiar. About this time a messenger from Erzeroum arrived with letters, amongst which was a characteristic one from Mrs. Zohrab, the consul's wife, from which I may quote with a view to giving some idea of how the uncertainties ROUND ABOUT EARS. 109 of war influence even the gentler sex; at least, how at that time it influenced the gentlest of her sex in Erzeroum. .... Thanks for your welcome note, and a peep at those charming- sketches. How I wish that " to-morrow " would dawn, for all our sakes. We are wild with impatience at getting no news. . . . One day we hear that Kars is taken, another that the Russians have quite disappeared, and the following day news comes of the bombardments continuing ; after which, the old story begins again. I 'm so disgusted at not having any- thing nice to send you. I expected long ago to see you back here. My husband says sardines and biscuits are the best things ; bread gets stale. . . We have had the most abominable weather here, hail-stones as big a& pigeons' eggs, furious winds, rain and thunder ; to-day things look more peaceful. Now that the elements have ceased raging, I wish the armies would take up the game and finish it up quickly. Excuse this dreadful effu- sion, wliich is a true reflection of our present condition of " hope deferred." All of us join in best regards to you, and in sincere sympathy with your present privations, which we hope will be speedily brought to an end by some conclusive fighting. Yours truly, E. ZOHKAB. The stream of Asiatic history being no more aff'ected by your scribe's return to Europe than it need be in this chronicle, I would add that since the decisive fight at Zevin, victory crowned the efforts of Mukhtar Pasha. First occupying Kars, he pushed on nearly to Erivan, holding in fact almost all the trump cards in his hands, when suddenly the tide turned, defeat following defeat, till retreat, irreparable retreat, was all that was left to that great general. Since the opportunity may not again occur, I may here refer to the combined influence of piety and pluck which, by example to his soldiers, that devout Moslem Mukhtar Pasha succeeded inexercising over the army of Asia Minor. During the Eamazan, from early dawn till the holy gun 110 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. at night boomed out its permission to satisfy the cravings of the inner man, the true devotee eats or drinks nothing, nor would the most tempting offer of tobacco to the weary soldier make him forget for one moment the duty he owed to Allah. Periodically, during the day, would the Imaums call the troops to prayer with shouts of " Allah Akhbar, la Allah il Allah ! " when they would prostrate themselves before the great God of whom Mahomet was the true prophet. Nor in the bloodiest fighting were these religious exercises relaxed, a piety, by the way, curiously associated with retaliation, which they are said in war to hold sacred, and which sanctions the torture and murder of the wounded Infidel, which was generally supposed to apply to those wounded Kussians who found themselves in Turkish hands. I should be very sorry to say that such tvas the case, though I remember much rejoicing having taken place amongst the Britishers attached to the army on the discovery, on one occasion, in their midst of a real live Eussian drummer boy, the first Eussian prisoner in evidence for some considerable time. It was General Hetmann's brilliant victory of Mount Acolias which, in his then extremity, cut Mukhtar's army in two, Sazereffs division intercepting those who retreated on Kars, when 7,000 prisoners and four guns fell into the hands of the Muscovites, the Turkish right wing being driven from its position on the Aladja Dagh, and confu- sion reigning triumphant. Mukhtar having now nothing left to him, rushed back into Kars. This movement was followed by that long-drawn-out effort, that hope against hope, which still led the Turkish general to hold on ; and ROUND ABOUT KARS. Ill then — well, then came the drop scene, Kars, the great corner stone of the quadrilateral, one of the strongest fortresses in the world — fell. All who could, made off in hot haste for Erzeroum, this being the next point to which the retiring Moslems elung. True, should they not be intercepted, they still had the Kop-dagh, perhaps the finest military point in the country, to call their own ; from which, however, if once dislodged all would be lost. Such was the condi- tion of affairs when Mukhtar retreated from Kars on Erzeroum. Nor was it long before the capitulation of the former place was followed by that of the latter. Thus on those battlements so toughly contested against tremendous odds, where the crescent and the star had proudly floated, the Kussian eagle eventually fluttered in the breeze. Thus rounding off events, however, I have, from an historic point of view, anticipated them by several months, for it must be remembered that the Manchester Guardian, the Scotsman, and myself were, when this leap into futurity was made, just starting from Kars, ensemble to join respectively the Kussian and Turkish forces in Europe. Let us hasten, therefore, to renew the thread of our narrative. It was our second night out ; we had travelled since dawn on our return from Kars to Erzeroum. As we rested under the shadow of some overhanging rocks, the fertile valley below — for we were now at a great eleva- tion — looked like a many coloured Turkish carpet spread out before us, and with the assistance of a map and compass we were glad to find that our route for some 112 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. distance lay in that promising direction, and still more so that at no very great distance we could see through our field-glasses a village, probably some six or seven miles off, about which a thin thread, like a tributary of the Araxes might be seen winding. Indeed, this last dis- covery acted as a special impetus to push forward. Suffice it to say, in course of time we reached the main stream, the Araxes itself, so glorified by Xenophon, and so enjoyed by us as we bathed in its cool inviting depths, quite innocent of the innumerable water snakes which are said to abound there. Coming within touch of a luxury so seldom met with in our travels, the temptation was too great ; we could not resist it. But, ye gods, that dip ! The penalty we had to pay for cleanliness ! It came with a vengeance, and we were not prone, from that time, to wonder at the native antipathy to water. Of course, to be able to wash was a blessing only to be enjoyed at such very rare intervals, that the various animalculae which owed their existence to us, lost their cunning in a few days, and after a night or two of " khan life " became, even to Britishers quite endurable. Not that the irritating armies make for " fresh woods and pastures new "; far from it. They, so to speak, seemed to ruminate upon the dusty humanity they had so recently and so vigorously attacked. But oh ! what " a change comes o'er the spirit of their dream " when the traveller has availed himself of his very exceptional chance of a dip. With a clean, clear course before them, fresh, healthy (muscular) undulating pasture lands on which to graze, it may be faintly imagined — only faintly — on put- ROUND ABOUT KARS. 113 ting on one's clothes again what an aivful condition of active operation at once commences — maddening titillation would hardly be the term for it. As time wore on, every moment brought us nearer to that haven where the rest and refreshment we so much needed were, we hoped, to be found. So, hungry as hunters, we hastened forward, past what had been tobacco plantations, fields of wheat and other grain, now all churned into a muddy conglomerate by the artillery and cavalry which had but recently preceded us ; at length, with a weary sigh of relief, we approached the outskirts of the long-looked for village. Strange ! No barking of dogs announced our arrival — no open-mouthed natives came out to stare — no village idiot came with his incredulous glances to scrutinise us. No ; not a sound. All was quiet as the grave, for not only was that village a deserted one, but one that had been completely ransacked by Cossacks, who had left behind them many traces of their cruel passage through it. There is a silence far more intense than that of the desert itself. A sea of sand provokes no suggestion of active life, but a village in peace times, with its merry hum of children's voices, its cocks, hens, ducks, oxen, sheep, goats, and barking dogs, is so much a centre of vitality, that this one to us seemed the very acme of desolation. Here was a predicament for a posse of hungry meu, made more ravenous by sheer anticipation of a meal; for only having here and there by the way obtained insufficient scraps since we started, we were now in an almost famishing condition. Two of our guards at once 8 114 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. galloped off to scour the neighbourhood, and after a con- siderable time returned with two small loaves of black bread, secured — goodness knows how ! Hungry as these two brawny guards were, their sense of honour was curiously strained. They would not, either of them, probably have had any scruples about cutting a throat or robbing a traveller — brigandism seems innate in these regions — but to touch a crumb by the way under those circumstances was impossible ; so the two loaves of black bread were brought intact and laid at our feet. These we divided amongst those guards, the arabaji and Johannes; our three selves and Williams dividing a small pot of Liebig's Essence of Meat (our last) into equal parts with a penknife, from which we convinced ourselves we had gained sufficient sustenance to hold on. *' The way," however, was not only long, but *'the wind was cold " that night as we dragged along wearily ; and as the light merged into darkness and we rode up hill and down dale, through mountain fastnesses and forest glades, nature began to assert herself unpleasantly in connection with that vacuum she is said to abhor. Nor was this all, for a dense fog having risen we found ourselves utterly at sea as to our whereabouts, and beyond the fact that we were in a neighbourhood where skir- mishing Cossacks most probably might be, and where Kurd robbers most certainly were, we knew nothing. For some time we had lost the beaten track, and all we could realise was, that we were ascending higher and higher in an unpleasantly vague way, the sound of a swollen water- course past which we had come becoming perceptibly fainter and fainter still as we did so. Holmes's horse / . ■ ROUND ABOUT KARS. 115 at last breaking down from sheer want of food and having to be led, and the one Johannes rode rapidly becoming more or less in the same condition, we decided to make a halt and go no further that night. Thus, exhausted, hungry, and wet through, we were indeed all round in a miserable condition ; to convey an idea of which I cannot perhaps do better than quote a description of what followed, contributed by myself to the pages of Good Words, -^^j^fe^gir^a^S^lC^i'r- 116 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, CHAPTEE V. ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE A MIDDLE-AGED SPIDER A LOVELY LILIPUTIAN A PROLIFIC LAND CURIOUS CIPHER SLAVERY A CHARMING BARGAIN CONSUL ZOHRAB POWER OF THE PRESS ^EATEN ALIVE SITTING ON THE " DAILY NEWS " ERZEROUM SIR ARNOLD KEMBALL A HAREM EN DESHABILLE THE MERRY MAJOR PITCHED FROM A PRECIPICE SUPER- STITIONS DOOMED THE BEAUTY OF BAGDAD. Since I perfectly agree with that philosophic soul who once suggested the advisability of borrowing from oneself, by the temporary deposit of one's watch at one's '' uncle's," as being a course far more independent than that of circumventing a friend or falling back upon an I U, I cannot do better than continue this narrative by sub- mitting my original notes of the following experience. "It was now well into the night, and as the hours between that time and daylight could not be occupied by a continuance of those vague wanderings, we had to camp as best we could. This had to be done with some discretion, so that our whereabouts might not be dis- covered by any prowling Kurds or Circassian malcontents, who at any moment might come down in overwhelming numbers on our little troop ; even the luxury of pipes being denied, lest the tell-tale spark should betray us. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 117 Thus we crept noiselessly along till we were enveloped in a tangled mass of long dank grass and lost in brush- wood, each man carefully leading his horse with one hand, while in the other he held his six-shooter ready for emergencies. "Half an hour had probably been thus occupied and still no convenient place had been found, when Johannes' horse, utterly exhausted, fell by the way. This, accom- panied by the distant sound of trickling water, which promised well for the morning, decided beyond argument our course. To go further having become impossible, it was thought wise by some before we rested to ascertain the whereabouts of the water-course. This however was overruled by the majority, so we proceeded to bivouac. *' It was an intensely dark night, and we could scarcely see an inch before our noses. When tethering our horses, one slipped over what we supposed to be the rough edge of a ditch. He so soon recovered himself, however, that this trifling circumstance would not have attracted notice had not my dragoman again called my attention to that sound of rippling waters, again suggesting that it would be better, he thought, to move a little nearer the inviting allurement; but finding that several of our party had picqueted their horses meanwhile and were already rolled up, prepared to snatch what sleep they could, we aban- doned the idea. " Indeed, a few minutes later all remembrance of that dreary night's ride was steeped in sweet forgetfulness. But now comes the denouement. " At the first streak of dawn, we untethered our horses and prepared for our onward journey ; a dense vapour 118 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAE, making all as imperceptible around us as if we had still been enveloped in the shades of night. This, happily, was not long in lifting, and then it was that we realised the terrible death which we had so narrowly escaped. ** We had actually encamped on the very edge of a most frightful precipice; so close, in fact, that the correspondent to the Manchester Guardian, my dragoman and myself, had A PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. slept upon its very brink, where that horse, happily re- covering himself, had stumbled, and the rippling water which had so tempted us to advance a little further was now to be seen, like a silver thread, wending its way hundreds of feet below.'' We had been on the verge of a danger little anticipated ; a collapse more complete than our wildest imagination could possibly have conjured up. Yet, in this highly cultured nineteenth century of ours, how many so-called ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 119 scientists there are who, putting down that which comes within their own small limits of penetration to natural influence, ignore altogether that first of all causes — the Deity, to whose marvellous providence we are all indebted for salvation from the pitfalls into which, in our blind ignorance, we should otherwise continually stumble. It was no chance or accident which made us hesitate on that very brink of destruction, when allured by the sound of those rippling waters. No; " there is a divinity which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may." Suddenly finding oneself about to spend a night in the open, in some unknown locality, one is naturally subject to many surmises, for which fatigue finds a compensating balance in the shape of sleep. We had had serious reasons to anticipate a night attack from Kurdish brigands, nor did the many savage beasts of the forest, described by the natives as being in abundance, fail to concern us, though, in an experience extending over many years, I have found, when travelling in remote places, the proverbially wild animal conspicuous by its absence. True, by laying a snare overnight, the bear and (occasionally) the cheeta, the wolf and jackal, and, of course, many varieties of birds of prey will come to the fore ; but, as a rule, there is a certain bashfulness about these lords of the forest which, unless indeed they are driven by hunger, which cannot be too highly esteemed. One object which struck me was a huge, formidable- looking spider. It was, I understood, quite harmless ; but, nevertheless, the first time I saw one — it just a little disconcerted me. Its eyes (large dark ones) winked and blinked at me from out its great head, and as it waddled 120 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, towards me on its great long hairy legs, it had a curiously knowing, almost human, aspect. I felt it was alter- nately grinning and frowning at me, suggesting as it did so a middle-aged gentleman wdth great goggle spec- tacles looking for lodgings in a quiet neighbourhood. Then, again, talking of things small but interesting, there was a wonderful owl to be found in these latitudes, a little thing about three and a half inches high, the love- liest Liliputian it is possible to imagine ; it looked as if specially designed by Nature to perch on the helmet of some tiny Minerva in the land of sprites. Surely such a country as this, teeming with mineral wealth, and prolific as it is in many parts as far as vegeta- tion is concerned, should have long since commended itself to the speculative civilizers of modern times. Good roads, communicating with the coast, might be the first step towards railways, which would rapidly connect the Persian markets with those of Europe, at the same time opening up the country through which they passed. And then, if the denizens of the forest were driven a little further afield, and that curiously inquisitive, middle-aged spider had. with the diminutive owl, to find " fresh hunting-grounds," still the country would have been developed, the ends of science served, and the world benefited to no small extent, after all. The word science seems, though for no particular reason, to bring me to cipher, so I may here refer, in passing, to some of the many ingenious methods for conveying secret information from place to place resorted to during war. It was explained to me how supposed orders of a com- mercial kind for supplies — say, bread, rice, fodder, &c., ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 121 each word having, in a key, a military significance — are very commonly used. Thus, supposing the word " send " to mean advancing, and ** 10,000 bags " to mean 10,000 Russians, and "of" to mean on, and "rice" to mean Kars, then the reading of the sentence " Send 10,000 bags of rice" would mean — ^'10,000 Russians advancing on Kars.'* But an infinitely simpler cipher than this is, I understood, often put into successful operation. It is that of an empty envelope being sent from one place to another, with no clue whatever to its real meaning. Of course, guesses may be made at the method of address, but to rely on this would be more misleading than enough, since the message is actually conveyed through the postage-stamp. This is arranged by the angle at which it is affixed, those having the key being able to ascertain to a nicety the message conveyed. Thus, an angle of 75 deg. means, on the key, " Russians ad- vancing " ; while 45 deg. signifies " Send reinforcements " ; and so on, till all the degrees of a circle have been ex- hausted, each with a communication expressed by the angle at which that stamp is placed. Leaving cipher to the practice of those it most con- cerns, and taking events in their due course, I will now deal with the only actual experience of slavery, as a system, which came under my personal observation in Asia Minor. It was in the next village at which we halted that a charming little slave, a child of about twelve years of age, was offered me for four Turkish pounds (£S 12s.), or, what they would infinitely have preferred for her, barter— money in these parts being naturally far less valuable than that which represents it. Indeed, in many 122 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. cases, the women of the villages through which English- men had passed had made holes in the coins they had given them, wearing them as adornments for their hair. This little one, offered me most beseechingly by her parents, was likely to develop into a lovely example of Eastern beauty ; and though it seems paradoxical that those parents who wished to dispose of her should be as fond of her as they seemed, yet they showed their really unselfish love by wishing their favourite should find that comfort and happiness which they, in their igno- rance, supposed must of necessity belong to wealthier and more civilized states ; though of course filthy lucre did play some part in the proposed transaction. However, though I might from the purest motives have rescued this fair Circassian (for she was a Circassian by birth) from a semi- barbarous life, I was proof against the temptation to turn slave-owner, confining myself to making her a present of several silver coins, with which she appeared delighted, while to her fond father I gave an old briar-root pipe — a pipe of consolation, touching that ** deal " which never came off. Whilst in that village, too, I remember how Williams came to us one day much excited and delighted with a treasure he had found ; one beyond price, though its intrinsic value was, when new, exactly one halfpenny. It was, of all things in the world to be found up country in Anatolia, an Echo, *' an 'apenny Hecker," as the London street boys put it, months and months old, one which had evidently been used for packing purposes by others passing through, and afterwards discarded. It was crumpled up and damp, but intact, affording us a ADVENTURES BY THE WAY, 123 refreshing glimpse of that world we had now so long left behind us ; a practical demonstration of the fact that there is no corner of the earth where the power of the British press may not penetrate. We knew that paper by heart, old as the news was — oh, yes ! advertisements^and ECHO, SIB ? " all, long, long before we reached Erzeroum ; which, weary, travel-stained, weak and jaded, we succeeded in doing without further experiences of any special interest two days later. Of course we pulled up at the British consulate, and had we been his own kith and kin. Consul Zohrab could 124 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, not have given us a warmer welcome ; indeed, if he did not actually kill the fatted calf, it was because there was no fatted calf to kill. Our next considera- tion was a Turkish bath ; and the luxury which followed — that of fresh clothes — was a treat never to be for- gotten. We very much wished to preserve and bring home the picturesque, many-coloured Eastern costumes which we had found it necessary to wear as a protection so far throughout the campaign, but unfortunately all the fumigating, washing, and shaking in the world would not exterminate the little army in occupation; so they were committed to the flames. That night we dined at the consulate, the first on which we had eaten like ordinary human beings for many months. Drs. Casson and Featherstonhaugh — the two medical men sent out by the Stafford House Committee to represent the interests of the Eed Cross in Asia Minor — were of the party. Dr. Casson, who was himself suffering from a kind of low fever, and on whom climatic influences had told terribly, had his professional eye fixed on me from the moment I entered, and as soon as opportunity served, assured me that I was much worse than I thought I was, advising me to remain in the old consulate, the quarters I had had before, for at least a week before I continued my journey. This I knew I could not do, but I found three days absolutely necessary, during which he crept in from time to time from his quarters, ill as he was himself, to look after me. He was perfectly right, too ; I had not by any means recovered from the effect of the over-exertion of that last lap of the journey to Kars, and now erythema ADVENTURES BY THE WAY 125 having set in more acutely than ever, I suffered agonies. Very soon my feet and legs became swollen to such an enormous size that walking was barely possible. It is impossible for me to over-estimate, when so ill himself, the kindly consideration extended to me by one who has, I have heard recently, succumbed to malaria on the Persian frontier. I AM VISITED BY DR. CASSON. On the second night of my stay in Erzeroum, Williams and T were alone in that dilapidated old consulate, when we suddenly heard the wildest and most terrifying shrieks proceeding from another apartment in the building, at which, as you may imagine, we were not a little astonished. "Sheitan! Sheitan !— Devil ! Devil! May the curse of the Prophet light on his head, we have eaten the accursed thing. We have eaten it — I tell you. We, the faithful sons of Mahomet, have eaten the Giaour's pig." This hastily translated to me, accompanied by many 126 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, shots and much clashing of lethal weapons, was calcu- lated to make me, though I had scarcely a leg to stand upon, raise myself as best I could and hasten with Williams in the direction of the disturbance down a dark corridor, " Sheitan ! Dog of a Giaour ! " &c., &c., increasing as we advanced. The next moment, a lantern threw a broad light across a passage which led to a flight of narrow steep steps that communicated with the street below. This passage ran at right angles to the one in which we were. It was more like a scene from the Arabian Nights, or an Eastern extravaganza, than anything else I can imagine. First there rushed past us three hairy Circassians, their many-coloured, long picturesque garbs fluttering in the wind, flourishing their drawn swords in all directions and flying for dear life, shouting as they passed " Sheitan ! Sheitan ! " at the top of their voices. Next there rushed past us two veritable Turks of the bright baggy trousers and monster turban type, which in our juvenile days we associated with Bluebeard or Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. These, in their excitement, cushioned against the Circassians, yelling as they rushed madly out, "Oh, Mahomet, Mahomet ! " In turn these were followed by yet another, with a lantern slung at his waist, a revolver in one hand and a huge scimitar in the other, who, representing the expel- ling force, flew past us bent, apparently, on murder. The velocity with which those three Circassians and two Turks went headlong down that stone staircase was frightful to see ; but what was far more terrifying to me in the dim light was (fancying, from his costume, yet ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 127 another offending Tark was left) that this redoubtable pasha, returning in breathless haste from his wild pursuit, now seized the advancing Williams by the throat, when, after a moment's struggle, they fell with a heavy thud to the ground together, and lay there motionless. What could I do ? I was certainly not in fighting form ; so seizing the opportunity, I sat upon them both as they lay locked in each other's grasp, holding them down as best I ILLUSTRATED NEWS " SITTING ON THE "DAILY NEWS. could, for, the lantern having gone out, I was in the awkward predicament of not knowing which one to re- lease. On their getting restive again, I fired several shots from my revolver high in air, which, as I had hoped it might, brought succour and light — when, to my utter amazement, the hero of a hundred fights and Williams, more confused than hurt, were discovered. I could hardly believe my eyes. Yet, so it was. One glance of recognition, and the tale was told — one crushed, 128 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. heartbroken look from the prostrate pasha who, in excel- lent English, with a slight Hibernian accent, bewailingly cried : " Oh ! no, no ! Montagu — I can stand Circassians and Turks ad infinitum, but I canH stand the Illustrated News sitting on the Daily Neivs." It was quite pathetic. I arose, with that generosity begotten of true magnanimity, and the power of the press no longer held down my old friend Edmund 'Donovan — O'Donovan Pasha of the Daily News — through whose oriental garb I could not at first penetrate, and who that evening had been experimentalizing on Moslem punctiliousness by endeavouring to persuade his guests to indulge in some disguised preparation of pork, which he had brought in for their special refection from the Greek quarter of Erzeroum. In a fit of that wild buoyancy peculiar to him, that overflowing of animal spirits to which he was subject, especially when an underlying joke tickled his fickle fancy, he had suddenly elected to test the faith of the worthies we have just seen so ignominiously expelled. His revolver shots had evidently scared them, otherwise they might have made mincemeat of our erratic special. •x- * -x- -x- The wretchedness of Erzeroum during the war fever was scarcely eclipsed by that of Kars, which was daily added to by crowds of scared villagers, who might be met out on the rocky plains round about the Deve Boyun pass, hurrying into the comparative security of that city from neighbouring villages. Men, women, and children jostled and disputed with horses, mules, buffaloes, and camels W^^MMM> SIR ARNOLD KEMBALL. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY, 129 every inch which brought them nearer to the protection its walls alBforded, though within its gates things did not look reassuring ; natives in rags and tatters sat about at street corners, starved and wretched, and old mortality spread disease and death broadcast, while through the long hours of the night, to add to the surrounding misery, lean, hungry-looking, man-eating dogs howled a hideous refrain, which seemed a fitting accompaniment to the horrors about them. It was curious to note how correspondents at this time were looked on as prophets whose forecasts might be thoroughly relied upon, and to whom the natives came for reliable information about future events, as if those worthies were in direct communication with the stars. Sir Arnold Kemball's movements, too, at one time had a marked effect on the Erzeroum markets, a political point being attributed to all he did — his going in one direction meaning the abandonment of Turkish interests by the British ; in another, the reverse — till I verily believe, like a political weathercock, the inhabitants watched his smallest actions, in order that they might find out, as they thought, which way the wind blew. I was loth to leave Erzeroum without adding a few sketches of the place to those I was sending off to England by the Tatas, or mountain muleteer mail-carriers, who, some twelve or fourteen in number, with an escort of native Irregulars, carry letters from place to place. These finished, I managed to get to Dr. Casson's hospital for further advice before leaving; this hospital was really an old khan of great size, with a stone court- yard, having numerous rooms opening from it, and afford- 9 130 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. ing admirable opportunity for the disposal of the wounded, while convalescent soldiers could sit about in the enclosure. It was astonishing with what difficulties those two inde- fatigable officers of the Eed Cross, Casson and Feathers- tonhaugh, had to contend in performing operations, not only for want of instruments and proper supplies which had not arrived, but from the patients themselves. You would scarcely believe it, but invariably those poor wretches refused, even when told that their lives depended on it, to submit to the amputation of a limb ; and, stranger still, it was no coward corporeal fear which actuated them in their determination. No, it was simply this. Just as those who die on the actual battle-field are said by the Koran to go straight to heaven, so also are those who lose an arm or leg supposed to go equally straight to Paradise, though minus that previously amputated limb — hence, " I will never hop into heaven " was the English of the plea they were perpetually setting up in their struggles against the surgeon's knife. I remember seeing one very curious case of this kind. Originally it was a bullet-wound in the foot, which by amputation would probably have left the poor sufferer yet long years of life before him, but his religious scruples overcame him till mortification set in. An operation higher up was then found to be the only means of saving him. But no ; he still held out. Nothing in the world would persuade him to give way ; and when I saw him, so terribly had decomposition set in that there was little more than a skeleton leg and foot left, while the poor fellow shrieked in his agony from that self-inflicted martyrdom as he waited for death. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 131 Curiously illogical it all was, too ; for the Houri of the Moslem Paradise could hardly approve so much of a hero with a skeleton leg as one who was minus a foot or an arm. But, after all, there was muck to be admired in their implicitly blind faith — a faith which would have put to shame many a so-called " Christian " had his pro- fession of belief been equally tested. Now, whilst on the subject of hospitals, I may refer to a very graphic description given by one of the Daily News correspondents of Dr. Casson's field ambulance near Kars. I had retired to my tent, and sunk into an uneasy slumber. A thundering detonation aroused me ; a heavy shell had burst within twenty yards of my tent. I sprang to my feet and rushed out. The white smoke was still curling upwards from the frosty turf, torn into a black circle by the shell. Another projectile whistled over my head, and burst against the rocks beyond. Everyone in the ambulance was astir ; we were being deliberately shelled. Dr. Casson, only half-dressed, was having his sick and wounded carried on litters higher up the mountain, out of range of the 16-centimetre pro- jectiles. The young volunteer doctor was prostrate after the reaction of a severe attack of typhoid. I leaped to a horse as the second projectile burst, and never shall I forget that poor feeble young man lying among the bare black rocks in the grey mountain air as I galloped by. If the Russians fired deliberately on the ambulance, it was a piece of atrocity. I can scarce believe it was so. But enough of the horrors of the hospital and ambu- lance, though one may never sufficiently dilate on the heroism of those single-minded Englishmen, several of whom fell in the good cause, and all of whom honourably sustained the reputation of Britishers at the front. We, however, were obliged to push forward to that new field for pen and pencil which was now opening out to us in Europe. We all very naturally felt a pang at leaving our kind friends in Erzeroum, who accompanied us far beyond the city limits; and it was with many warm adieux, and hopes expressed on both sides that we might some 132 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, day meet again in the old country, that we did so. Our next halt would be at the village of Illege ; nothing happened for some time worthy of record, unless, indeed, I refer to the way in which, when passing troops, the British Press were here, as elsewhere, often saluted. A sketch found in an old drawer has just reminded me of one of many such receptions, on all of which occasions I felt infinitely more like a generalissimo than — well, than I have ever felt since. SALUTING THE "ILLUSTRATED NEWS IN ASIA MINOR. See ! yonder are the domes and minarets of the little village where we are to pass the night, this completing the first stage from Erzeroum of our return journey towards Trebizond. If there is a spot on earth where the far-famed Pears would find his advertisements unheeded, it would be, I should say, in the village of Illege, the sulphur springs of p-^- Wt^r>'^m^/ \, .-^^l^ ADVENTURES BY THE WAY, 133 which are warranted to purify, without the aid of soap, every good Moslem who may bathe in their bubbUng waters. Physical as well as mental pains may thus be equally banished in this earthly paradise, where immunity from every ill, from toothache to taxes, may alike be secured, and body and soul washed white under the mosquelike dome of this temple of health. Nay, more ; not only is it renowned for its relief of phy- sical and mental ailments, but its waters are actually supposed to renew youth and preserve beauty ; no wonder, then, that when we arrived it was occupied by the wives of a small local pasha. So of course, in common gallantry, we prepared to journey on and leave the curative and beautifying powers of the Illege sulphur springs to those fair ones and future travellers. Before doing so, however, we stopped at a small, grimy khan for rest, where we had not long dismounted when our attention being called to the rear of the baths, we saw a long ghostlike troop of women wending their hurried way, single file, up a neighbouring hill, dressing, it seemed, as they went. We were naturally inquisitive as to the cause of such a commotion, but the reason was soon explained by a native, who, whilst we were watching those mysterious ladies, had placed himself before us at the khan door, and bowing to the ground commenced a long oration, which, when translated, was literally to the effect that the proprietor of the baths having turned the matter over in his mind, had ultimately come to the conclusion that three British Pashas were worth considerably more than any number of Turkish women ; and so, without the slightest notice, he had had them unceremoniously turned 134 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. out, neck and crop — whether they were prepared or not being no concern of his — and now sent to tell us that if we would rid ourselves of bodily ailments and mental anxieties we were at liberty to do so, for the coast was clear. " Men may come and men may go " in Anatolia, as elsewhere, but it is not often given — to any save pashas themselves — to see the ladies of a harem eji desliahille, as we did there. Nor was this the only occasion on which our eyes rested on these sirens of the seraglio. More than once we met them hurrying away before the Eussian advance, never forgetting, however great their trepidation, that the most gauzy yashmack was the most becoming. Parasols, too, seemed strangely enough to have peculiar attractions for them, the ruling spirit of the harem thus unexpectedly on tour generally securing one of the seodd links between the boulevards of Europe and the remote villages of the Orient ; indeed, it is to one of these fair ones, surrounded by the impedimenta of her lord and master, that I refer in the accompanying illustration, taken from a sketch done high up in the mountains of Anatolia. I must say the sensation of bathing in these sulphur waters was unique, their buoyancy, especially if you stood where they bubbled up through the clear pebbly bottom, being most remarkable. There was no keeping one's feet down against the force with which those jets of hot sulphur rose from below. I do not know that I felt much younger personally after my dip, the pleasures of which had been, to a great extent, marred by the brusque behaviour of that grimy old proprietor, who had certainly i THE QUEEN OF HIS HEART. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 135 never indulged in his own panacea. Our memory of this old curmudgeon, however, was eclipsed by an amusing experience we had the following evening, when, finding the village khan which had been allotted to us was so perfectly alive with bugs, that the plaster walls looked like an ever-changing madder-brown pattern on a dirty white ground, we determined to camp out in the open. Long since we had learnt to put up with such discom- forts in moderation, but on this occasion the enemy were too numerous, so we elected to have a tent pitched on the fiat mud roof of the khan rather than sleep within it. It was while superintending this change of quarters that, followed by an escort, a Turkish major of distin- guished appearance rode past us in the footpath below, and said something in his own language, to which Wil- liams replied, the gist of it being that the Kaimakam (Local Governor) of the district being absent he — the Major, had possession of his comfortable quarters, which he asked us to share, at the same time hoping we would dine with him that evening. I need hardly say we were delighted to accept his courtesy and, repacking our supplies, followed him to a superior- looking building at the end of the village. Here was luxury of which we had never dreamt, a large, apparently clean square room, round which were divan seats, covered with elaborate silk stuffs, and in the centre of which stood several small inlaid octagonal tables, on which black coffee was placed and brought conveniently near to where we sat smoking, cross-legged, our hospitable entertainer's cigarettes ; as far as smiles and amiability went, he did the honours of host most genially. Finding presently 136 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, that our interpreter Williams was with us, he turned to him and said — " I hope the Pashas are not hungry. True, I invited them to dine with me, but it was the sight of their supply waggon which suggested the invitation. See ; as far as my poor hospitality goes, I extend it. If the Kaimakam should arrive to-night, he will not be admitted. Eather let him sleep with the village dog than disturb the Pashas whom I have made my guests, so you can tell them they may rest assured they will be comfortable till morning ; and tell them, too, that if they are hungry / am absolutely ravenous, and that the sooner they bring in what good things they have, the sooner all our appetites will be satisfied." It was a peculiarly novel way of requisitioning, which much amused us ; and so, after having seen to the crea- ture comforts of our guards and Johannes, we brought in a goodly supply of eatables, together with a bottle of brandy — for our own special benefit, of course — placing them, with this latter exception, in the hands of the Kaimakam's cook, who, on his part, we discovered had nothing to serve up but the eternal youart and pilaffe. Our appetites were already well sharpened by the prolonged wait, when, in a huge brass bowl, a curious mixture of tinned meats and vegetables was placed steaming before us. Little platters were supplied to each ; but out of deference to our host we had, in approved Asiatic fashion, to dip our fingers in and fish up what " tit-bits " we could. *' Ahem ! — what is that beautiful golden draught you English pashas drink? " he said, before we had gone far with our meal. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY, 137 We explained it was " fire-water," and that had been our reason for not asking the good Moslem to partake of it. " Ah, but you are mistaken ; I 'm not a good Moslem," said he. " I 'm a bad one — very bad — I am, indeed ; and I think I should like to try a little." We gave him " a little." He smacked his lips with the air of a connoisseur, and was not long in asking for "a little more." The idea seemed to tickle his fancy im- mensely. " We are wrong not to take this," he went on to say. "It looks beautiful, and tastes more beautiful than it looks. To me, it is suggestive of golden sunset; with it, I may close my eyes and dream I 'm at the gates of Paradise ; I will take more and more still." But this time we refused, as he had already had two stiff glasses ; and to his unaccustomed head it might be dangerous. Then he explained that, unlike most Turks, he was very fond of music ; so would we, as a very great and special favour, give him some idea of the music of Europe ? We had none of us, I believe, any great vocal powers, but we indulged him to the best of our abilities. Holmes, in a fine baritone, sang several snatches of Italian and Spanish airs ; Williams was drawn out to the extent that he represented Holland by Mynheer Van Dunk, Though he never got drunk, Took his brandy and water daily, which was more than could be said of the Major, whose several doses of that spirit were already beginning to tell painfully upon him. 138 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, Then Scotland, of course, was worthily represented by the Scotsman's special, who sang **Auld Eobin Gray" and " The Lass of Gowrie " ; and lastly your obedient servant — after singing first "God Save the Queen ^' — terminated this unique concert with the popular English nursery rhymes of " Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,'' " Humpty Dumpty," " Tom, Tom, the Piper's INKLE TINKLE, ICKLE TAR.' Son," and *' Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," with which we amused our united host and guest so much that he repeatedly endeavoured to catch the airs. Indeed, he threw his whole soul into what he learnt, in a parrot-like way, from Williams. ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 139 Laugh? I should think we did laugh. The pathetic heroics with which he rendered *' Inkle tinkle, ickle tar," merged into one the sublime and the ridiculous ; nor shall I easily forget the extraordinary mixture of " Hie iggle diggle, hie caddie figgle," which, after a pro- longed and determined eJBPort to master the mysteries of the English tongue, ended, perhaps, in the soundest sleep that inebriated officer had for many a long day enjoyed. Having slept soundly ourselves, we started early next morning, leaving that merry Major still snoring loudly dreaming, perchance, that he was outside the gates of Paradise, in the light of that golden sunset which he loved, not wisely, but too well. ■X- -x- * * Surely the connecting links between instinct and reason are not easy to detect, so at least we argued, when ascending a narrow precipitous highway, in the course of which we came upon a long heavily-laden camel train. Ere we reached it, however, a strange commotion had taken place. A pretty, fluffy little camel, the very image of its mother, to whom for protection it had been tied, had slipped on the rough edge, and now dangled over that seemingly fathomless gulf at the other end of the long cord which was attached to the agonised mother's neck. Over and over again it turned, in its frenzied efforts to extricate itself, watched the while by its helpless parents above, whose cries were piteous to listen to. At last, after every scheme to regain it had been tried, it was found necessary to sacrifice it, as there was no possibility of 140 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, hauling it up ; and to witness the agonies of those bereaved parents, when the little thing was cut adrift and shot like a dart down to the rocky water-course hundreds of feet below, was simply terrible. One prolonged wail went up from both simultaneously, and it was only with the greatest efifort and gentlest persuasion that the camel drivers were able to get the train in motion again. Indeed, this seemed a morning peculiarly fraught with interest connected with the animal world, since we had not been another hour on the road before we witnessed a buffalo fight, a very rare occurrence, in which always one is, and often both are, killed. It was a desperate encounter, each having gored the other most frightfully before our arrival. This seemed somehow only to give them a renewed incentive for attack ; for, weak as they were, they closed in a final death struggle, ending before long in one measuring his length amongst the blood-stained brambles round about the scene of that terrific conflict. Now the strange expression and peculiarly characteristic features of one of my guards, as he stood there watching that buffalo fight, no doubt laying mental odds on the issues of the conflict, attracted my attention, and having my note-book in hand I made a rough jotting of his head. Before I had finished he looked up. His aquiline features were unmistakable ; he knew in a moment it was intended for himself. I shall never forget the sudden look of horror and revenge he gave me. For the moment it thrilled me, coming unexpectedly as it did, and, as far as I could see, for no reason. His manner became rapidly sullen and morose, nay more, utterly wretched. If he supposed me possessed of the evil eye, surely he was ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. 141 possessed of two of the most malignant orbs which ever protruded from human cranium. Things went on in this mysterious way till I asked Williams if he could throw any light on the matter, when he explained that to be reproduced in any way, on MELANCHOLY MARKED HIM FOR HER OWN. anything, in that superstitious country meant impending death. The whole thing was explained in a moment. Death, of whom I was the agent, had to all intents and purposes set his seal on my unfortunate follower ; a condition of affairs truly terrible to contemplate. " Melancholy " had 142 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. indeed " marked him for her own." However, there was no help for it; the thing was done, though his settled gloom affected us all not a little, and no explanation seemed likely to break the spell which he felt hung over him. Thus we journeyed on our weary way till we came across what was a sort of shepherd's shelter, where, though it looked very uninviting and gloomy, we decided — fearing we might not get quarters of any kind farther afield — on remaining. We had not been long seated round our camp fire when between us and the rays of the declining sun, a troop of some two hundred Arabs, their camels loaded "with supplies of all kinds, came at a swinging pace across the undulating uplands, till, with noisy clatter, they halted outside the hut of which we had just fortunately taken possession. A splendid creature is the Arab camp follower, his ebony skin made doubly black by his huge white ber- nouse, but he is not a reliable neighbour on a dark night, for all that, although there is a compensating balance in his wonderful capacity for story-telling. Thus one who had won his spurs, a past master in the art, was, after the evening meal, selected on this occasion by general acclaim for the office ; and I think I cannot do better than conclude this chapter by asking you to join the small circle of interested " Specials " who have closed round my Levantine factotum, Williams, as he translates to them the Arab's legend of " The Beauty of Bagdad." 143 CHAPTER VI. A SLEEPING BEAUTY DREAMS OF THE FUTURE SORELY TEMPTED AN EARTHLY PARADISE UNSCRUPULOUS ARABS A NIGHT ALARM — SAVED BY HIS NOSE CONSUL BILLIOTTI HOBART PASHA DANCING ON CAYENNE PEPPER A MUTINY AN IMPENDING MASSACRE A FRIEND INDEED THREE DAYS IN OLD ENGLAND A TERRIBLE FIX — AN ART- FUL DODGE WE TOOK TO TRADE A GALVANIZED IMPULSE SMASHED TO ATOMS. If there is one form of dolce far niente more delightful than another it is, I take it, that of being not only under the soothing influence of tobacco but lulled into forget- fulness of the hardships of campaigning by a well-told tale. Williams rose superior to himself when, by general acclaim, he was persuaded to tell the Arab's story of "The Beauty of Bagdad," which he now proceeded to do, in- troducing as far as possible the peculiarities of diction which give to Eastern romance so peculiar a charm. * -jf- -H- -x- " I will tell thee, brothers — and you, the white pashas from the green island — the story of Hassan the shepherd, and his daughter, the beauty of Bagdad, the fair Murada, whose loveliness was more dangerous to herself than to those it dazzled. 144 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. " It was in the fertile valley of Zagrahani, where the Indian corn sheds its golden glory, where the fig-tree flourishes and the babbling brook glistens in the noon-day sun ; it was there that Hassan the shepherd tending his flock, watched also the gambols of his only child, Murada, who, in all the blushing innocence of sixteen summers, was chasing and being chased by a comely youth of about her own age, till fatigued with their madcap frolic they went their several ways — he to the village khan, she to her old father's side, where ere long she fell fast asleep. Who shall say how proud Hassan was of that sleeping beauty, the living replica of the long- since dead kotona he had loved so well ? " There he sat, in a sort of day-dream, picturing what the future of his only child might be, though his wildest ambition did not soar beyond the pastoral delights of his own idyllic life, which had been one of pure love unalloyed by the tinselled and all- too- quickly- tarnished pleasures to be found in great cities and princely palaces. "His chebouk had gone out; yet Murada still lay there dreaming the happy moments away, her bright golden hair falling in dishevelled masses on his arm — indeed, the old man had almost dozed himself, and probably would have done so, had he not been aroused by the tinkling of camel bells, and the sound of distant voices ; all the bustle and commotion, in fact, of an approaching caravan, which, with a bend in the road, now came in sight, slowly toiling along in the direction of Bagdad. " On arriving at the spot where the two were resting, one of the party, lagging somewhat behind the rest, drew rein that he might feast his eyes on Murada' s loveliness. FROM EARS TO PLEVNA, 145 "* Shepherd,' said he, in an ecstasy of admiration, * yonder you see the camel train of my master, laden with rich spices and choice raiments — all these and much more are the property of the merchant prince, the great pasha, to whom we are but as slaves. I would tell thee, shepherd, that he is as wise and good as he is rich, and that to bask in his smiles is to enjoy a foretaste of Para- dise. Therefore would I offer to thy fair daughter a home in his palace near Bagdad, the luxury of which is alto- gether beyond ordinary human comprehension ; besides which, I am authorized to offer to thee, in return, what- ever thou mayest desire in money and goods ; so that, if thou so wiliest, thou too may from henceforth become also a rich trader, or settle down to the quiet enjoyment of accumulating wealth in the great bazaar.' ** Then Hassan, gazing fondly on his child, replied that for all the wealth of Asia he would not part with her — not even though the Caliph himself should demand her of him. " So the stranger went his way, cursing the old man's folly at thus defying the dictates of Kismet, while the shepherd, in happy tranquillity, dozed away by Murada's side in the quiet enjoyment of their mid- day siesta. •X- * ^ ' ^ "Now, how long he slept it is impossible to say; but it was with a strange drowsiness that he awoke, and with something like horror that he discovered it to be night, and that he was alone — yes, alone — besides which, the prevailing aroma of a certain Eastern drug raised in his mind the suspicion, but too well founded, that there had been foul play. 10 146 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. " * Murada ! Murada ! Murada ! ' his voice resounded through the valley, and re-echoed from the hill-tops. Then the mist was cleared from his eyes, and he saw that, taking advantage of him in his sleep, the insinuating stranger had returned, drugged them both with a subtle herb, and stolen from him his only child. Then the gloom of night crept over those dreary mountains, which still resounded with the old man's plaint — "'Where, oh, where is my Murada?' and echo an- swered * Where?' * * * * " Bright and beautiful was the palace of the merchant prince, more especially that portion of it devoted to the ladies of the harem. Persian stuffs of exquisite colour lay in profusion on its marble floor. Curtains from Cash- mere screened the too intrusive light which, coming through the stained glass windows, shed its many-tinted tones athwart Moresque columns and cool seductive en- tries, where fountains played, grey doves cooed, and many- coloured parrots fought for dainty bits of rahat-lakoum ; everything breathing, in short, of love and luxury, save where jealous eunuchs were to be seen guarding (black sentinels as they were) the fairest flowers in that proud pasha's palace, all of whom lived only to stand in the sunshine of his smiles. " All, did I say ? No, not all ; there was one who held herself aloof from the rest, repelling, with a quiet yet in its way awe-inspiring dignity, the most distant advances of her princely admirer. Indeed, the more she scorned the more he sought her, to the exclusion of all others, till at last, their envy becoming hate, the chief eunuch FROM KARS TO PLEVNA. 147 was consulted, with the result that she was secretly doomed by those women of the harem to death, to — as they put it in those parts — a cup of black coffee. * * * * "Now when it was known that the beautiful Murada had fallen a victim to the jealousy of her fair and frail sisters, it was determined that the news should not extend beyond the palace gates, lest the reputation of the pasha himself should be affected ; yet, strange to say, it did creep out, even till it reached that far-distant village from which — now two years since — she had been stolen, during which time her poor old father, bereft of reason, had been rele- gated to the position of village idiot. When, however, all the details of his child's terrible end one by one fitted themselves together in his puzzled brain, the effect was startling. His vacant stare left him — all the purpose and energy of his earlier life came back to him ; he had become as suddenly sane as he had, two years since, become insane. He lived again ; and all those energies which had so long been dormant now concentrated with [renewed force on vengeance. Nothing short of the death of that pasha could now satisfy him, and thus, armed with what weapons he could lay his hands on, he sallied forth determined, even if it took him months to get there, to ultimately make his way to the accursed spot where Murada had breathed her last, and then and there to compass that pasha's life or perish in the effort. *'Now it so happened that when within two days' journey of Bagdad, while partaking of the pilaffe sup- plied to him by a wayside khangee, he was accosted by a wise woman, closely yashmacked, who came from a 10 * 148 THE RUSSO'TURKISH WAR. gloomy corner of the khan in which he was ; seating herself on the ground before him, she pierced him through and through with her bead-like eyes. She was a diviner, a witch, who knew at a glance the inmost secrets of his wounded heart. "'Would you satisfy your craving?' said she, with a fiendish chuckle, as she drew closer to him. * Would you punish the murderers of your child — would you cast a death-spell on the great pasha, his eunuchs and his wives, who have taken from you your beautiful Murada ? Would you see Boabdil, he who supplied the poison, laid lifeless at your feet ? Would you bring that proud pasha himself a suppliant for mercy before you — would you, I say, enjoy all the exquisite delight of vengeance — of hate, gratified ? If so, then drink of the contents of this bottle. Drink! I say, to the dregs, that by its magic influence a curse may fall on her destroyers.' " Then Hassan, with a look of supreme satisfaction, took the small vial from the sorceress, and drained it to the dregs. ** It was Kismet; revenge was his. "Without uttering a word the old man fell to the ground, sinking back in the corner of the khan in a state of complete collapse. Then a peculiar settled, meaning- less glare came into his eyes; his cheeks grew livid, a momentary tremor, and then — then all was still. Hassan was dead ; poisoned by one of Boabdil's, the chief eunuch's, agents. He had heard of his approach, and sent his hire- ling, the witch, to intercept and poison the heart-broken father of the murdered girl.''' * -x- ^ * FROM KARS TO PLEVNA, 149 There had been a pause, a thrill of excitement amongst that wild Arab audience when the story-teller finished his pathetic tale ; but the sequel had yet to come. "Listen," said he, rising to his feet; "I have yet a few more words to say. ** Hassan awoke. " His chebouk lay by his side, his child was still sleep- ing soundly in the folds of his long garment. " It was a dream. Two hours only, and not two years, had passed. *' The caravan — the enamoured stranger — the powerful pasha — the jealous wives — Boabdil the eunuch, and the witch, had existed only in Hassan's fertile brain, which I," continued the Arab story-teller, " can at least vouch for, since I am myself Hassan the dreamer, whose daughter Murada — thanks be to Allah — is now the sunshine of a happy home, the faithful wife of the young shepherd to whom I introduced you at the commencement of this story." Williams, identifying himself throughout with the manner and gesticulation of the Arab, translated the story admirably, sustaining the interest so well that its ultimate end came upon us all as a surprise. ^ # ^ * He is not a pleasant neighbour, your Arab, on a dark night though, however fascinating he may be in other respects ; so, as we were surrounded, I gave, at sundown, special orders that no communication of any sort should be opened up with the swarthy horde outside our hut. Indeed, so particular was I with reference to this, that I said it should be death to anyone who disobeyed my in- 150 THE RUSSO-TUItKISH WAR, structions by leaving or coming into the place after dark ; having, at the same time, peculiar feelings of discomfort and misgiving with reference to Suleiman, who was still as savage and silent as before. These necessary threats having been circulated, each retired into the driest corner he could discover " to sleep, perchance to dream " of Arab murderers looking for loot. After lying awake listening for some time, to make quite sure all was safe, I must have dropped off to sleep, for it was some time in the small hours when I was suddenly awakened by a strange stealthy tread, accompanied by the mysterious creaking noise which had evidently been the cause of my awakening. I raised myself noiselessly upon my elbow, and saw in the otherwise pitch-dark hut what seemed to me to be a long perpendicular streak of silver. Did my eyes deceive me ? I rubbed them, to be per- fectly sure I was not still asleep and dreaming. No ! I was right. The streak of silver light became gradually broader and broader, till the figure of a man, black against the moonlight, stood peering into the interior. For the moment I could scarcely breathe for ex- citement. What was the best step to take ? Should I wake the others ? No ; there was no time for that. I must take the initiative, or we should probably all be murdered where we lay. Silently I turned, unseen by the intruder, and levelled my revolver point-blank at his head, knowing as I did, our very lives depended on it, since an entry from without would undoubtedly mean death to us, so awaiting my FROM KARS TO PLEVNA, 151 opportunity, I raised the trigger higher and higher ; the inevitable click would seal his fate — his time had come. I was so over-wrought at that critical moment that I verily believe I was totally destitute of all ordinary feeling; but, fortunately, at the instant I was about to fire the man turned, and there — black and sharply defined against the moonlight — stood out the remarkable and SAVED BV HIS NOSE. utterly unmistakable features of my faithful Johannes, who in another second would have been in eternity — to all intents and purposes saved by his nose ! How simple a mistake after all. Worn out with the fatigue of the day, he had been asleep when our plan of action with reference to those dangerous outsiders was settled, and having awoke in the middle of the night, had gone outside the hut to smoke a cigarette in the cooler open. I had not heard him remove the log we had placed against the door, hence the imminent peril in 152 THE RUSSO-TUIiKISH WAR. which he — without knowing it — had been ; however, he never realised it, for I never informed him. As Fate would have it, the next morning I was inspired with a bright idea, which immediately relieved me from further anxiety with reference to Suleiman, whose morose- ness had become perfectly insufferable. Calling him, I explained, through the medium of the invaluable Williams, that I possessed a magic antidote to THE ANTIDOTE. the lines of that fatal pencil, by means of which in an unhappy moment I had made a sketch of him, with which he himself might, by passing it rapidly over the paper, obliterate the evil for ever and thus break the spell. The effect of this suggestion was marvellous ; his face instantly lit up with inexpressible delight ; at first he took hold of the india-rubber with the tips of his fingers, NEWS FROM THE FRONT. FROM KAKS TO PLEVNA. 153 in the tenderest possible manner, but on realising its miraculous qualities he rubbed absolutely for dear life. Bred and born in a remote part of Anatolia, Suleiman had never even heard of india-rubber. The picture van- ished. He smiled again, and so did we. Time went on, and though we sent batches of subjects and MS. from time to time back to the old country, days and nights succeeded one another without more than ordinary every-day incidents, till we reached Trebizond. * * 'Ai ' * Oh ! how delightfully welcome was the fresh sea air, the comparative cleanliness, the kindly reception from Consul Billiotti and, to us, the palatial luxury of that little hotel where five months ago Schamyl had inter- viewed us, or we Schamyl (we never could decide that point), who now, poor fellow, had found a soldier's grave in the neighbourhood of Kars. We were immediately be- set and surrounded by crowds of people, all talking at once in their eagerness to know how things were going on at the front; and I think, had not the Consul pro- mised that the news we brought should be circulated directly he obtained it, we should have been absolutely mobbed. Williams on these occasions was always to the fore. Taking advantage of the confusion of tongues of which he was master, nothing gave him greater satisfaction than to ride on a little in advance of our party, assuring the natives in the towns and villages we passed through that those infidels who had not found a watery grave, by being driven en masse into the Black Sea, had long since beat an ignominious retreat inland, the quiet dignity 154 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. with which he told his flattering tale always paving the way, as far as we were concerned, for a right royal re- ception wherever we went. True, it was not based on the strictest integrity, though it probably afforded them a better night's rest than they had for some considerable time enjoyed. ^ -jf- * -je- At this time Hobart Pasha's ironclads were busy in the Black Sea, blockading ports and striking terror gene- rally into the ranks of the entrenched Eussians on the coast ; so, when his flagship put in an appearance in the roadstead, I lost no time in paying a visit to the admiral before my departure for Constantinople. On arriving on board I was most cordially received by one of his officers, who spoke excellent English, and who preceded me to the great commander's cabin. " Come in," said a stentorian voice, and the next mo- ment I was inside his unpretentious sanctum. "How are you, Montagu? Well, I hope. Eh? Take the Times. Comparatively recent ; at least, only two months old. Eather a treat, I should say, after being up country. Eead it, and don't say a word till I 've finished these despatches." The sight of so late an edition of an English news- paper was strangely fascinating, and for ten minutes or more the only sound to be heard was that of Hobart's pen running riot over much official-looking paper. Having closed and sealed his correspondence, he rose, and shaking me cordially by the hand said, in the bluff, honest manner so peculiar to him — " Going to have tea. Have some, too ? Took two FROM EARS TO PLEVNA, 155 Eussian prisoners the other day near Batoum— two cows ; so I 've got new milk to offer you. A rare luxury on board ship, I can tell you." With this he led the way into a sort of ante-cabin, where I did full justice to the Admiral's hospitality. After- wards, when on deck he called my attention to a number of small sacks containing a red powder. " What do you think that is, eh ? " I mildly suggested it might be a preparation of dynamite. " Dynamite ! Oh, no ; more unpleasant than danger- ous. No ; it 's cayenne pepper — a reminiscence of my boyhood. I remember throwing it about in a ball-room with signal effect. A ludicrously touching scene, I can assure you. In frantic excitement, and torrents of tears, the guests rushed from the room ; it was too hot for *em. Hence this idea; I find that by mixing a fair pro- portion of it with powder, I can clear a redoubt in a moment. I 've been doing it with marked effect on the Eussian earthworks. When there is little wind the redoubts become quite untenable for hours." ■x- * -x- -x- Having no time to lose, and being obliged to push forward, a few days later we found ourselves on board an Austrian-Lloyd's ^steamer on our way to Constantinople. The passage was a very rough one, made more me- morable by an attempt at mutiny on the part of a large number of deserters (about 300), who were being taken under a small and useless escort to the capital. One of their number — an excellent swimmer — suddenly leapt overboard at Sinope, and succeeded in getting to shore. This seemed a signal for general revolt, passen- 156 THE RUSSO'TUKKISH WAR. gers and crew having to stand to their arms pretty promptly, or numbers might have told against them. It was a strange experience, and by no means a pleasant one ; our ultimate safety was, I think, really due to the COOL AS A CUCUMBER. prompt action of the second officer, who, in less than no time, drew a rope in such a way across the deck as to confine the infuriated mob to the bows of the vessel ; and then he himself standing calmly in front of it with a huge revolver, assured them, as he waited for developments, that the HOBABT PASHA. FROM EARS TO PLEVNA. 157 first man who attempted to pass or break that rope would be shot. Naturally, there was no striving to be first ; each immediately affording his neighbour ample opportunity for taking the field, trembling lest he himself should, by some accident be swayed beyond the prescribed limits, the muzzle of that revolver travelling backward and forward in front of those now cowed prisoners. That journey, however, was memorable for something far more momentous than this, since at one time not only did we lose our way for many hours in a dense fog, which compelled us to travel at the most melancholy rate of quarter- speed, but, to add to the painful predicament, a panic wa» created when it became generally known that the coast- line of the Black Sea was literally intersected by torpedoes, so that at any moment we might be blown into space. Fire is a new element to the sailor of the mercantile marine, and in this case seemed more calcu- lated to completely demoralize him than all the storms in the world. It was a delicious morning when we reached Constanti- nople ; but its charms were lost on me, since the com- plaint, erythema, which had so nearly left this chronicle unpublished had again asserted itself, and it was with great difficulty I could crawl from place to place. So, assisted by Williams, who this time secured rooms in a private residence instead of an hotel, I was glad enough to at last look forward to a little rest. The house was kept by an old lady and her daughter, and was delight- fully situated in the Kutchuk Majarlic, overlooking the Golden Horn. 158 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR. With a great effort, and much assistance, I managed to get up to my bed-room, where afterwards every kindness and attention was shown me. The Greek doctor who was called in shook his head gravely with an air of profound professional wisdom as — much to my dismay—he told me (his hands in his pockets the while chinking in sweet imagery the coin his prodigiously long bill would bring him in) that I must remain several months, at least, where I was. The second day after my arrival, Pera was the scene of great excitement, the inmates of the house rushing into my room in the wildest state of terror. The softas (students) had threatened to massacre the Christian population. As day merged into night, the anxiety and tension became terrible. In justice to the Turkish Government, it may be said that patrols were sent round to discover, if possible, the scheme by which simultaneous attacks were to be made, but this did little to reassure the terror-stricken Christians, amongst whom, being Greeks, were my landlady, Madame Diamantes, and her daughter. Houses were closed and barricaded as if in anticipation of a siege, the streets being left in sole possession of the dogs, who, unmoved by religious, political, or any other agitation, slept in peace. In my room were to be found a curious medley — for it seemed they had a sort of vague idea that an English war-correspondent (even though he had not a leg to stand upon) was a rock to which to cling. Had not the circum- stances been so terribly serious, the scene would have been ludicrous, as several Greeks residing in Turkish houses had fled to this one for that security which numbers FROM KARS TO PLEVNA, 159 seemed to afford, and had made my room their rendez- vous. All the weapons available, in the shape of revol- vers, &c., were laid on my table ready for an emergency, while coming Christian martyrs, in some cases of most unpoetic aspect, watched from the windows the Turkish troops defiling below. All night were these poor creatures alternately watch- ing and praying, till, at daybreak, the loud booming of TERRIBLE SUSPENSE. cannon was heard ; and although it was illogical to sup- pose that the softas had suddenly possessed themselves of the artillery, it was impossible to reason with or reassure those terrorized people, who naturally could only suppose that the massacre had commenced, and the scenes of anguish around me were in some cases frightful. Several 160 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. hours having passed, however, and nothing more having happened, they became at last somewhat toned down, and sufficiently quieted to inquire into what was really going on outside, when, after several reports of fearful bloodshed, it was ascertained beyond doubt that it was the Sultan's birthday, and the booming we heard was the salute of 101 guns to announce its dawning, those antici- pated horrors coming to nothing after all. Having had a fair share of the regrets and separa- tions which flesh is heir to, I remember few partings which have affected me more than when, on the steamer which was to take me to Brindisi, I was obliged to separate from my faithful dragoman Williams. He had been to me a jewel beyond price, a man of the highest principles and most admirable resources, combin- ing the courage of a lion with the gentleness of a lamb, and so completely devoted to myself and my interests that, as he went down the ship's ladder into the caique which awaited him below, he broke down altogether, and (tell it not in Gath, reader), if the truth must be known, so did I. He was one of nature's gentlemen, whose services had been far beyond the reach of ordinary recompense. A happy thought struck me as the caiquegees put their paddles in motion. My watch, with my initials on it, would be in some sense a souvenir of our friendship ; so in a twinkling I dropped it overboard, almost on his devoted head. He caught it, however, and glad was I to leave it as a memento behind me with one who had been so faithful a friend and ally. FROM KARS TO PLEVNA. 161 After a rapid run from Constantinople to Brindisi, and thence overland via Turin and Paris to London, I may briefly say that I was still so knocked up by the com- bined effects of constant chills, starvation, bad water, and the many other privations of the campaign in Asia Minor, that on my arrival at Charing Cross I had to go FAREWELL.' direct to my cottage at Hampstead, where — so changed was I, that actually my old housekeeper failed to recog- nise me. Ill, haggard, and unshaven, a beard of large growth having nearly taken possession of my visage, her failing to know me was not altogether astonishing. After about twenty-four hours' rest at home, however, I man- 11 162 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. aged to get down to the Illustrated London News ofi&ce, to report myself and receive my further instructions, which were — and they took me rather by surprise — to start that evening for Plevna. It was then about three o'clock, and although it was supposed I was too knocked up, too utterly unequal to this new effort, still a certain professional desire seized me to be the one war artist who had done the double event — the two campaigns, Europe and Asia Minor — and I was determined, come what might, to go ; and so, sending a telegram, of which the following is a copy and which will give some idea of the rapidly shifting scenes of a correspondent's life at such stirring times, I prepared to start. Handed in Strand, September 25th 1877, &c., &c. I join the Russians to-night; meet me at Bertolini's at five thirty; bring black portmanteau, rug, cards, passport, revolver, great coat, flask, and pipe. Joined by these old friends in due course, and arrang- ing a hasty equipment of necessaries in the immediate neighbourhood of Charing Cross, I left by the eight o'clock continental train for the seat of war. It was a halting progress, however ; for I broke down completely when I got to Paris, and had again to lay up for some hours when I arrived in Vienna — where, by the way, I found my heavier luggage, which, when I ran the gaunt- let of the Eussians at Giurgevo in the beginning of the campaign, I had left behind me in that capital. After several hours' rest I found myself just able to make the last lap, which brought me through my old Hun- garian and Servian hunting grounds once more to Bucharest. FROM KARS TO PLEVNA. 163 Now, in this regularly Eussified city, my first object was to put myself into communication with Prince Gortschakoff, that under the segis of that great di- plomat I might get to the front with as little delay as possible. I was most courteously received, specially by his Excellency's secretary, Baron Jomini ; but, to my con- sternation, the reception ended in pleasantries only. I was assured that it was utterly impossible to get a permit to join the army of occupation in Bulgaria ; and, as if to add to the difficulties of my dilemma, I was told at the same time that, owing to the anticipation in several cases by correspondents of intended Kussian movements, repre- sentatives of the press of all nationalities had been ordered to the rear, so that I must consider myself to all intents and purposes as being limited in my field of action to Bucharest itself. I kept my own counsel, however, and although these arrangements, no doubt, were most necessary from a diplomatic point of view, I privately made up my mind that this should not affect my movements if, humanly speaking, I could prevent it. This place, for the second time in the same campaign, had curiously enough thus become the point I had to force. With Coningsby, the Tiines correspondent, I talked the matter over that evening, he being in exactly the same predicament ; the result of our council of war was that we decided to get through to the front, if possible, disguised as camp-followers. The best that could happen to us would be — that we should succeed ; the worst — that we should (having at least done our best) be sent to St. Peters- burg till the end of the war. 11 * 164 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR. With this object in view we were not long in purchasing a waggon of large dimensions, and stocking it with every imaginable kind of provender, from tinned salmon to tallow candles. This done, we proceeded to rig ourselves up in, I may say, such perfect disguise that we scarcely recognized one another ; we secured servants, including a driver, and thus we started — as camp-followers — for Plevna. Sending on the waggon in advance, to await us at Zimnitza, we started by rail for Giurgevo on the Danube. Here again another obstacle cropped up, the train being brought to a standstill some distance outside that place owing to the station at that time being under the shell fire of the Turks from the forts of Eustchuk. They had opened fire on the train which had arrived previously to ours — its smoke serving as a point on which to sight, the Osmanlis thus pounding away from those batteries opposite, of which I had a peculiarly sensitive memory in connection with my previous crossing. Now in this train, on their way to Plevna, were Colonel Brackenbury and, I think, Sir Henry Havelock. I had met the latter just before leaving Bucharest, and I believe he told me they were going together. Be this as it may, I afterwards heard they left their portman- teaus in charge of their respective dragomen, and went in quest of refreshments a little way into the town. Those dragomen in turn (hungry as their masters) gave the temporary care of their baggage to a couple of soldiers off duty, who for a few kopecks were glad to represent them, and it was during their absence that a shell burst through the roof of the railway station, and exploding FROM KARS TO PLEVNA. 165 on the exact spot where these unhappy guards stood, not only killed them simultaneously, but smashed the portmanteaus and their contents to pieces — but more on this subject anon. Coningsby and myself, arriving late — slept one night in Giurgevo — securing for an early hour the next morning a three-horse drosky to take us to Zimnitza. It was curious to note the siege panic which had now for some time taken possession of the town. Visiting several familiar spots, notably that little water-side inn where the cross- ing of the Danube was discussed by the Eussian spy and myself, I found it a heap of splintered, shattered ruins. Giurgevo had evidently suffered severely, several shells having also done their work most strangely ; for instance, one had entered the roof of a house almost at an angle of 45° to its base, and after having traversed the floor and ceiling of every room in succession had finished its mad career in the garden, where it had harmlessly exploded, the detonator having been in some way so faulty, that although the whole household were scared no harm was done to any one. Indeed, this had happened in the very bed-room in which I spent that night in Giurgevo, a shell having pre- viously come through the roof of that room and out of an open window into a yard below, where it did much havoc amongst the pigs and poultry. I was amusingly assured by the old self-constituted landlady, who for protection had taken up her quarters in the wine cellar (not half a bad billet, by the way), that inme was the safest room in the house, since it was highly improbable that yet another shell would penetrate the same spot ; and though the hole 166 THE RUSSO -TURKISH WAR. in the roof made it rather draughty, there was little danger of my being disturbed. I put her down as the most admirable lodging-letter but, at the same time, the most utterly illogical old creature I had ever met. She had, in the palmy days of this hotel, been one of its cooks, the master of which had now fled for dear life, while she, in conjunction with her son, an oily, scared- looking youth who did duty as waiter, was running the establishment on her [own account, and supplying, at exor- bitant prices, the few Kussian oiBficers, correspondents, and others who found it necessary to stop there in passing. Loquacity itself, she again assured me, in the same queer, illogical way, that had not that idiot of a son of FBOM KARS TO PLEVNA, 167 hers left the window open in my room the hole would have never been made in the roof. It is quite impos- sible to argue against the upside-down notions of some people. From an idiotic point of view, I think that galvanized impulse of a son had not his equal in all Koumania ; a A GALVANIZED IMPULSE. tale of terror was told by every line in his prematurely furrowed face. He started at shadows, and trembled like an aspen at any sound much above a whisper; his fear was positively appalling. At dinner it was absolutely dreadful ; he put one in a state of spasmodic jerks, which, if nothing worse, were calculated to completely upset one's digestion. When he brought in the soup that night, it 168 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, was at a most unfortunate moment. The wind happened to blow down a ladder which was propped against the house in the yard outside; at the same instant, the two soup plates went in diametrically opposite directions, the waiter forming a spreadeagle in the centre. Poor wretch ! he was in a chronic state of shells, and fell flat at the slightest suspicion of a sudden noise. War had, indeed, so upset him that even the maternal influence failed to persuade him to further supply us with dinner, so we finished by going to the top of those cellar stairs and fetching what we could for our selves. * * * # It was a delightfully clear, crisp autumn morning. Jingle, jingle, jingle went the drosky bells, as three very fresh horses clattered over the stones of the stable-yard round to the front door of that half-demolished hotel, where we awaited them. Our portmanteaus being carefully packed behind our seats, we jumped in. If it had not been for the debris of war, by which we were surrounded on every side in that be- shelled little place, we might have felt at peace with the world as we lit our matutinal cigars and rattled along its main street, past the shattered railway- station out into the open, on our way to Zimnitza. " Now it 's not so much the disguise," a clever London detective once said, " as wheUf where y and how you wear it ; " and so we thought, from the moment Baron Jomini assured us we were to consider ourselves virtually pri- soners in Bucharest. Thus we left that place, unob- served, as camp-followers. Such individuals however, in a three-horse drosky would have invited dangerous criti- FROM KARS TO PLEVNA. 169 cism, so we now covered our less pretentious costumes with huge fur-Hned great-coats and muffin-shaped caps, thus becoming part and parcel of the great tide of fighting humanity ever ebbing and flowing between the Koumanian side of the Danube and Plevna. That which was our best protection in one place would in another have been the very means of our discovery ; thus we now appeared in the role of officers going to the SHELLED. front, while elsewhere the homely garb of camp-follower might better answer our purpose in getting through the many intermediate barriers of steel now daily contracting on devoted Plevna ; but I anticipate. We had not long cleared the town, when it became manifest that we had attracted more attention from the gunners at the Turkish outworks at Kustchuk than we 170 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. either desired or deserved. Our route for some distance skirted the river's bank, where we were in full view of those forts which, it will be remembered, menaced me once l)efore in the earlier stages of this narrative, when in an open boat I found myself approaching that Moslem town. Wondering, like Mr. Micawber, what would turn up, our cogitations were brought to an alarming standstill by an ominously sullen roar from across the water, im- mediately followed by the deafening bursting of a shell in some underwood a little to our rear. We had evidently been spotted and, without some miraculous intervention, we should be made mincemeat of when their sighting became more accurate. Another shell followed, wider, however, of the mark than the first, which, though it served to increase the terror of our now half-frantic horses, gave us renewed confidence. Plunging and rearing as they did, those startled steeds gave the Turks the opportunity they wanted, for in less time than it takes to describe, the uncanny screech of yet another shell terminated in a third crash, so close that even now I shudder when I think of it. All for a moment seemed chaotic confusion, and then -c-5iip«^5r^eafcMP^J^5-~ 171 CHAPTEK YIL LIVELY LATITUDE S- THE DEAD MEN " THAT HISTORIC BRIDGE MCGHAN'S DINNER PARTY MOUNTAINS OF MUD WITH THE IM- PERIAL GUARD FIRE OR WATER WE TOOK TO TRADE "a tramp abroad" CAMP-FIRE STORIES MUSIC HATH CHARMS. It has been said that in extreme cases the marrow freezes, and that each particular hair which doesn't stand on end like the quills of the fretful porcupine turns white as driven snow. Surely circumstances would have justified this, since no predicament could well have been worse than that in which we were now placed. Our horses were utterly scared and unmanageable, so helplessly mixed and entangled that some moments elapsed before we were again on the way. Our stoppage had evidently given those gunners a steadier aim — another all-too- familiar boom — a prolonged screech — and then the crash of a shell, which seemed to lift us from our seats and throw us and our already terrified steeds into, if possible, greater confusion than before. This last shot had the effect of so startling the horses that they dashed off in headlong flight, taking us provi- 172 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, dentially round a corner, and so out of sight of the enemy ; but the most curious part of the story has yet to come. Arrived at Zimnitza, we decided on remaining there for the night, and crossing the following morning, over the now historic bridge of boats, into Bulgaria. This being the case, I went in quest of some necessaries from my portmanteau, which had served as a back to my seat in the drosky. Imagine my astonishment when I found it torn from end to end, and its contents twisted into a conglomerate mass within. No wonder I sank back as I have described, at the moment of that terrij&c shock, the cause of which was now all too apparent. The shell had struck home rather closer than I, at the time, had any notion of, my life having been saved by that well-packed valise. On examining matters more minutely, I discovered a splinter of the shell had struck it obliquely, without touching the drosky itself. One side was in ribbons — leather, straps, and buckles being mixed in picturesque confusion, with broken brushes, flannel shirts, smashed pots of Liebig's essence of meat, and broken bottles of Dr. Collis Browne's chlorodyne — indeed, that smashed portmanteau is still in evidence, a household god, enshrined as a memento of yet another providential escape. At Zimnitza we found ourselves in the thick of the excitement which characterizes the fringe of war — indeed, I don't remember, in a long experience, anything so unique as the aspect of that little Eoumanian town. To begin with, from the heavy rains and recent overflow of the Danube, we found ourselves and horses in many places knee-deep in mud, besides which the place was, as THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 173 Pat would put it, " Not itself at all — at all," since an army of Jewish and other sutlers had pitched tents innumerable round about and in and out its few irregular streets. Bell tents, square tents, long tents, tall tents rose before one, like the towers of Babel which they were. Then there were squat tents built over deep holes cut well down into mother earth, together with others of every imaginable colour and shape, while towering above all was a mountain of canvas, in the shape of a huge circular tent, which loomed down like a giant amongst pigmies on the rest of those canvas dwellings. Such, when we arrived, was the aspect of poor little Zimnitza ; it had quite lost its own identity. There, too, at this time, were to be found camp- followers of every imaginable kind and nationality, deter- mined (as my friend the spy at Giurgevo had put it) *' to make hay while the wind blew." In this canvas land, curiously, there were few things, indeed, unobtain- able — that is, so long as filthy lucre was abundantly forth- coming ; and certainly with Kussian officers there seemed no stint of it. Before crossing the Danube by the pontoons, which, thrown from island to island linked us with Bulgaria opposite, many things took place which necessitated delay, and which would have been fatal to pockets not very well lined. Verily, a queer place this ! Take, for example, the main street ; here are some mud steps leading down into a cavernous-looking square hole, say 25 by 20 feet, over which a large tent awning is tightly fitted ; much merriment is going on here amongst those who are not eating. It is not so ill lit an apartment, 174 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. after all, for the great square canvas stretched over it seems to throw a soft lantern light into the interior. Outside the entrance, rudely written in tar, on a whitened board, are the words " Hotel Victoria," and below a long list of the goods obtainable therein. Opposite, is a rival establishment of a similar description, the " Restaurant de I'Empereur." Here is a tobacconist's, and over there a dram-drinking saloon, where anything in the shape of a nip, from vodki and raki to Scotch or Irish whisky and champagne, may — at fabulous prices, of course — be had. Yes, we are on our way to the front ! Ay, and who can tell — it is more than possible we may never return. So let them " make hay while the sun shines," and let us be merry while we can. Once across that bridge of boats? and we shall have other tales to tell. How is this ? Officers, non-commissioned officers, men — aye and women, too ! — all are hurrying round canvas corners, in one, direction, down the main street of this queer conglomerate of tents and huts. Outside the great round tent of which I have spoken a huge bell is jingling loudly from a pole. What can all the commotion mean ? Are the faithful Muscovites off to prayer ? Is it a sum- mons to kirk ? Alas ! no ; it is the performances at the " Cirque de la Guerre" which that bell is proclaiming. The charges are as high as the performances are doubtful; never- theless, the enterprising managers have thought it worth while to bring several veritable spotted circus horses with them, to say nothing of acrobats and trapezists, and a Mr. Merryman, got up as a burlesque Turk, whose antics THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 175 in the ring produce from time to time roars of laughter. Then there is our old friend (oh ! yes, I am right in saying old) the young lady, whose step is not so elastic as it used to be, and with whom whitening and rouge do much towards the outward seeming of youth, as she trips it on a bare-backed steed, to the tune of several French horns and a fiddle, while that bony high- stepper goes at a circus jog-trot round the ring. 176 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. Poor old girl ! her day has passed ; her blandishments are over. She now serves only as padding to the better things which come between ; for here we have, in a perfect shower of applause, " La Belle de la Guerre '* Katinka, a lovely little danseuse, who whisks about with wondrous rapidity on a frisky arab, and who is, in turn, followed by the obstinate donkey which no one but Mr. Merryman can ride. These are succeeded by the giant and the dwarf, the hairy woman (with a strong suspicion of Calmuc Tartar camp-follower about her), and no end of fun besides, much to the pleasure and intense amuse- ment of big muffin- capped and helmeted Kussians, who, like school-boys at a pantomime, roar at all they see, and who, equally like school-boys, feeling how brief is their holiday, determine, come what may, to enjoy it to the full before they go back again to that humdrum school-of-arms to practise — killing. Strong drinks? Oh, yes, they were tremendously in demand in this strange settlement ; and no wonder, since the water of the Danube was our only alternative, which at this time was literally weak mud, through which it was impossible to see. Those sutlers were ever wide awake to turn an honest penny, and amongst other things they let furnished and unfurnished apartments. These lodgings were so con- veniently constructed that they brought them in no end of dollars for some considerable time for the purposes of the Quick, after which they could, if required, become the freehold of the Dead. The design was simple ; to all intents and purposes they were common graves, some four feet wide by eight long, dug the usual depth in the THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 177 clayey soil, the sides battened hard by the digger's shovel, a piece of old carpet or some straw, laid at the bottom, answering the purposes of mattress, palliasse, and feather bed alike. The opening, save where the space was left for the weary one to descend by a ladder, was generally roofed APARTMENTS TO LET. with brambles or canvas, which in turn were soon covered by mud or snow. So much for the imfurnished apartment ; those which were furnished, and let at a considerably higher rental, differed in this fact only, that they had three or four boards of the grave-digger type to line them and pre- vent the damp earth from giving a death-like chill to one's 12 178 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. marrow, and to impart to those quarters a more homely and comfortable character. I paid 20 francs for one of these the night of my arrival at Zimnitza, and thankful I was to get it, since when I ventured to suggest that the terms were slightly excessive I was assured that, had it been snowing or raining, they would have been considerably higher ; indeed, only the night before, a brigadier had paid 32 francs for the same accommodation, and had thought himself fortunate too. However, grave or no grave, we slept soundly enough, and woke up the following morning as fresh as circumstances would admit of, to continue our journey to Plevna. Imagine if you can a low-lying pontoon bridge, say four times the length of London Bridge, stretching from one island to another, and then — in one long line across the Danube to the picturesque Bulgarian town of Sistova op- posite, where trim white houses, with green shutters, snowy mosques, minarets, and luxuriant foliage combine to make a picture worth remembering. See the hurry, scurry, jostle, and confusion that continu- ally presses onward either to the front or to the rear, one everlasting stream of winter stores going to or coming from the Turkish side. Now the bridge is one blaze of bayonets, glittering in the morning sun. Then hay-carts in dozens, provision waggons, ambulance stores, and batteries, follow in quick succession. Ox teams block the way in one part, while impetuous drivers of four-in-hand arabas yell, hoot, and scream themselves hoarse, as Cossack drivers prod their cattle to a quicker pace with long steel-pointed ox-goads to make way for them. Again, the other way come long irregular lines of THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 179 Turkish prisoners, smoking the cigarettes supplied them by their Muscovite captors, and looking as philosophical as possible under the circumstances ; next comes a rum- bling ambulance, with small red crosses on its lamps and big ones on its tarpaulin sides. Here are messengers bringing all sorts of news, to all sorts of people, from all sorts of places. In short, it is War — war everywhere, in whatever direction we look, and we see and feel that we are in the thick of those great events which will make a special page in the history of the nineteenth century. Yes, there is something about that bridge of boats which goes deeper than the surface — it is the bloody link between Christianity and Moslemism — it is the great bolt in the chain of events which connect the Crescent and the Cross in deadly strife ; and if it be terrible by day^ how far more terrible is it at night (for this work goes on without one moment's intermission throughout the twenty- four hours), how far more terrible then — when lighted with innumerable lamps, it looks like some fiery-spotted snake, wriggling and swaying as those heavy burdens cross its back. Then, too, though the traffic continues, all is, as if by common consent, quieter, an occasional groan emphasizing the scene with a touch of terrible pathos, as some poor wounded fellow cries out in his agony, as he is being carted away in a requisitioned Bulgarian bullock-waggon across that so lately disputed boundary, to the hospital at Zimnitza. Next will pass a troop of Cossacks. Well do I re- member, as I stood there alone in the darkness, watching that ever- shifting stream of humanity ; it looked, for all the world, like some grim procession of lost spirits cross- 12 * 180 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. sing the Styx, accompanied, as it was, by the hoarse hooting and yelHng of brutal drivers, and the piteous moans of those agonized by pain. Yes, if it is possible to imagine it, it was like a weird vision of the Inferno, as those great dense clouds, scudding fitfully across the moon, threw the worried earth below alternately into sickly relief or inky darkness. The ordinarily charming little town of Sistova was not by any means in good form when we reached it. Its CAMPHORATED HEROES. houses were shelled and dismantled, the Turkish quarter having been completely looted and gutted after the retreat by the Bulgarians ; even the mosques were desecrated. Its hospitals were overcrowded, the dead and dying in many cases being relegated to half-ruined private houses and empty shops ; and when one remembers that no less than 22,000 draught horses were actually done to death by over-exertion and mud, apart from those killed in THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 181 battle, and there lay decomposing in the open between us and Plevna, it can be easily imagined that in a place where, at the best of times, drainage was conspicuous by its absence, the stench was frightful. Indeed, in some cases the place assumed quite a grotesque aspect, which even impending fever could not dispel, since officers, men, and correspondents alike, when it was excep- tionally unbearable, tied camphor bags to their noses by means of handkerchiefs which they fastened round their heads, and which gave them the curious appearance of a great array of warriors with the toothache. It was at Sistova I last saw poor McGhan of the Daily News, who died, it will be remembered, not long afterwards at Constantinople. He gave Grant, Coningsby and myself a little surprise one evening. Millet and he had conceived the idea of sending us formal invitations to a dinner party which would have done credit to Mayfair, with, however, a comical little postscript in the corner as follows : " Special dessert will be pro- vided." The hut which they had, had been specially swept out by McGhan's man for the occasion ; in fact, a general clear-up had been gone through for our reception. It was a wonderful arrangement. An old newspaper did duty for a table-cloth, on a dummy table improvised by a packing-case turned upside down. The salt-cellars were the paper cocked hats beloved of our childhood, duly placed at the respective corners of that festive board ; paper napkins were also provided. At this distant date, I forget what the very ^doubtful good cheer was ; but it was, I am sure, the best that could be procured. Then came the great secret, " special 182 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, dessert." A square tin box was produced, and in dead silence placed in the middle of the table; it contained about two ounces of — well what ? Why, of all luxuries in life, British bird's-eye, which to smokers who had long ceased even to dream of such a thing was a treat indeed. It had been, I understood, a little present from a Kussian ofi&cer, which that most kindly fellow, and best and ablest of correspondents, wished us to share. I remember, too, there was an amusing Yankee general in Sistova while I was there. Whether he was deputed to watch the war for his country or not, I do not know; he was at least a man full of " wise saws and modern instances." One day I made some reference to the clumsy and long-drawn-out way in which Eussian guns were taken up to the front. True, the roads were frightful, the mud being simply beyond all description, but still I ventured to suggest that the progress of that artillery was in many instances lamentably slow. "Wal," said he, in broad Yankee twang, *' I think you 're right ; they 've been at it for months, and there ^s very little promise of increasing speed." " How long, now, do you think it would take Britishers to accomplish the same end ? " Actually, I had not the slightest idea, but I was not going to collapse before my Yankee interrogator; so I suggested, as an improvement on the then state of affairs, that it would take us, say, about a fortnight or three weeks. "By the way," I continued, "how long do you think it would take the Americans to achieve a similar result ? " " Americans ? Oh, that 's a very different kettle o' fish. ^s '^ f^' >.^s^si,^ &; THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 183 Americans?" and with this he took out his watch, and glanced at it several times in meditative silence. " The Americans ? Wal, I should say, as near as I can calcu- late, somewhere between five-and-twenty minutes and half an hour," and with this he turned on his heel with a self-satisfied air, leaving me to digest his not yqtj flattering comparison. Mud ! Why, the word is inadequate ; il was a perfect sea of mud, a never-to-be forgotten Slough of Despond. Then the rain ; it was not ordinary rain — it came down literally in sheets ; and the terrible necessity of the whole thing, too, was so evident. There w^as no waiting till it had abated ; no halting till the overflow of the Danube had subsided ; no chance of going into quarters till the roads became even reasonably passable. An army of many thousands of men may not be left in the lurch with impunity ; in a very short time besiegers and besieged would be in the same predicament. The Eussians were thus as pitilessly circumvented indirectly by mud as the Turks were by that glittering fringe of Muscovite steel. Look at that never-ending line, team after team, of supply waggons as they cross the undulating bridge of boats and essay to climb to higher, dryer ground from the river side ; it is for all the world like a plague of flies, striving in vain to stem the tide against a torrent of liquid cocoa. It reaches the axles of the waggons and the horses' girths ; men, up to their waists in it, belabour the poor brutes thus hopelessly surrounded, and tug equally hopelessly at the embedded spokes, or push behind for dear life. Yes ; it was memorable mud that, and no mistake. 184 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. More horses are now hitched on to the struggling twos, fours, and sixes already in harness. Then there is a final effort all round, and the creaking araba, by the combined strength of panting beasts and almost exhausted drivers, is wrenched from its setting, and reaches a higher level ; only, however, with yet another and another sea of mud before it. But let us stop a moment to contemplate the result of this immersion. These are supply waggons, remember ; let us take the first. It contains tea. The water has got into those huge cases ; they have swollen and burst, consequently a long perpetual stream of weak Bohea, which would shame the 5 o'clock tea-table for insipidity, pours out and wastes its faint odour on the muddy expanse below. Next comes a huge, van-like cart, full of biscuits, bread and flour. The flour itself has long since turned to dough, the biscuits to the consistency of the flabbiest of crumpets, and the bread from white to brown ; or, if brown, from that colour to black, owing to the bath of mud it has been in, which has rendered quite two-thirds of that supply unfit for human food. Sugar and salt come next; the loaf is moist indeed now, while the salt flows out in one long stream from the sacks which contained it. A few days' downpour would have been a godsend ; earth and air would have been equally cleared by it, but such a long continued deluge as this carried destruction with it everywhere. The men — sturdy fellows, equal to anything, one would have thought to look at them— collapsed completely, very many actually falling by the way, diarrhoea, despondency and death following thus closely in the wake of Mud. THE BEGINNING OF THE END, 185 Officers and men alike put superhuman thew and sinew into this work of extrication. As for Coningsby and myself, we did our best with the rest at the spokes ; although Coningsby to this day declares that the whole secret of our being so long embedded was that, while he tugged vigorously one way, on one side of our waggon, I was tugging with equal energy on the other, only — in the opposite direction. No one can conceive how our unfortunate team of four got down the main street of Sistova. That which made an admirable subject for the pages of the Illustrated Lon- don Neivs was a sorry experience, I assure you. Those half-drowned horses plunged and dived, just as the seals do in the tanks at the Zoo, their very noses being often submerged as they strained every nerve to gel yet a few yards farther. We soon added two more to the four-in- hand, and to these again at length, at an exorbitant price, we had hitched on two draught bullocks, and with their united efforts we were thus able somehow to pull through in the end, only to again flounder in successive lakes of mud, alternated by occasional high ground, till we got out into the open on our way to Plevna. How quickly then the aspect of affairs changed all round. To be within touch of mosque and minaret, streets and telegraph wires, was in some sense to feel one was within touch of civilization ; but when those links were left behind, when out in the open we had to face the same dangers and difficulties which had beset us in the town, the hopelessness of our condition asserted itself to the full. Look which way one would, the story was all too plainly told by our surroundings. There were at the commence- 186 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, ment of that siege just 66,000 draught-horses, used for the conveyance of supplies, ammunition, &c., from Sistova to Plevna; there were now exactly 44,000, leaving the 22,000 victims to Bulgarian mud to which I have referred. Why, they lay there in that Valley of Death, or, perhaps I should say, those successive vales of death, in every conceivable position — some rearing, some plunging, others on their sides and backs, while the heads and heels of some were alone visible; nor were our horses slow to realise their grim surroundings and the danger they were in themselves. The one I rode at one time became quite unmanageable; so horror-struck did the poor creature seem, as he sniffed the malodorous dead horses round about him. I have endeavoured to convey some idea of this in the accompanying illustration, but pen and pencil alike fail me. That ride to Plevna was something rather to think about than talk about. Dysentery, death in every possible form, laying poor humanity low at every turn; utter despon- dency reigned supreme, dead horses, putrefying carcasses, half buried in the mud, forming a fit setting to that picture of despair. There they were — dead, all dead as the pro- verbial door-nail — half devoured in many cases by the wolves, and other smaller fry who, with those "birds of a feather " which always " flock together " on such occasions, had come from time to time "i' the glimpses o' the moon " for midnight orgie. Later on we fell in with the Imperial Guard, 30,000 strong, the very cream of that splendid army which Osman, by taking the strategic position he had chosen at Plevna, had so effectively blocked on their way to Constan- THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 187 tinople. As that long line wound " Over the hills and far away," it looked like some gigantic centipede, the illusion being all the greater when it is remembered that with such a vast number of men there are always some, now to the right, now to the left, falling out for one purpose or another, which fact gives the column at once (keeping to our simile of the centipede) the appearance of having innumerable legs. Here and there sotnias of Cossacks galloped past us, varied by a patrol now and again, a convoy of stores under a strong escort, a detachment of infantry, or a lumbering field-piece. It was to the Imperial Guard that we attached ourselves, the pride of the Empire, so soon to play a conspicuous part at Gorni Dubnik, and elsewhere at the front. It is not easy to the uninitiated to imagine the feelings excited by associating oneself with an army corps on the march. I had been present when the vivas of the excited multitude accom- panied them through the streets of Bucharest, and now I was again with them e7i route for Plevna. Our first halt was on the outskirts of a long track of forest land, and it was a marvellous sight to see — in a miraculously short time — a canvas city appear where, but a few moments before, nothing but gorse and heather had been. Still more so to watch the fatigue parties attack that forest for fuel. In a very few moments the trees seemed alive with men who, like armed monkeys, axe in hand, leapt from bough to bough with apelike agility ; so that in ten minutes those monarchs of the woods had lost the fair proportions which it had taken them so many years to develop. Branch after branch now came crashing to the 188 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. ground, followed by "Vivas!" and "Hurrahs!" which once heard would not easily be forgotten ; then came the crackling of thousands of camp-fires, which sounded for all the world like distant file-firing in skirmishing order. This was followed by the cooking of rations, till later on, came the soldier's greatest sedative — his pipe. Then the last bugle sounded, the wild excitement of the last few hours was over, and the camp of the Imperial Guard was wrapped in silence. The village nearest to which the encampment was placed had been devoted very wisely by the officers to the ambu- lance, soldiers being forbidden to enter it ; hence it was that we hastened with all possible speed in that direction. Our first inquiry for accommodation was met by the objection that there was only one room, and as the wife of the Bulgar to whom we spoke was expected at any moment to add to the population it was impossible to accommodate us. We were prepared for excuses, but this was an unanswerable one ; so we devoted our efforts to the next hut. There we were received with surly indifference by a Turkish family, who naturally looked upon us as the invaders we were. However, by a display of deter- mination we managed, after some difficulty, to gain our ends. Having seen to our horses, and secured them in a sort of enclosure — we returned to the exceedingly stuffy, smoke- begrimed hut in which we were to pass the night. The next consideration was to get water, but any information on that head we found was, for some strange reason, withheld. Your rigid Moslem is a total abstainer, and likes to THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 189 keep his special brew of aqua pura to himself. In vain we pleaded, till, finding remonstrance of no avail, we adopted severer tactics; and so, taking the two male representatives of the family by their collars, tickling their ears with our revolver-muzzles as they went, we persua- sively induced them to lead the way to the well. The next difficulty was, how we were to ensure that it had not been poisoned, which point, however, was soon A GENTLE PERSUADER. decided, for at the instance of the same inexorable revolver - muzzles we compelled each to take a copious draught, allowing a sufficient time to elapse before we refreshed ourselves or our retainers, so as to make sure that no ill effects were likely to follow. After a long day's hard riding, we reached on the following evening the crest of a high hill, when suddenly — a vast amphitheatre — before us lay the whole area of 190 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, that great siege, and we felt a curious thrill of pleasure — may I say pride?— at being participators as journalists in those great events we were about to chronicle. Though hidden by the undulations of the country, we had long heard the cannonading in the distance from the redoubts and earthworks which formed so deadly a circle round the doomed town. Night was closing in as we wound our way down into the valley. As we did so, the sky each moment was lit WE TOOK TO IKADK, up vividly with flash after flash, each sending a shell on its cruelly destructive course. Terrible was the earnest- ness about the whole thing; the perpetual fusilade from the rifle-pits, the thousands of camp fires and tents, which here, there, and everywhere extended before us, till, in the grey shadows of a frosty night, they were lost to view. Taken ensemble, they certainly formed the most impressive picture I had ever witnessed. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 191 It will be well to remember, at this point, that here we had a difficult part to play, since, as journalists, we were forbidden to join the Eussian army at the front. So far it had been entirely due to our playing the part of eamp-followers, and taking a well-stocked waggon with us, that we had succeeded in getting through as we had done. But now, in the very jaws of the Great Bear as it were, we had indeed to be on the qui vive lest we unmasked our batteries. Since, however, we decided to beard that hirsute quadruped in his den, we pitched our tents in the village of Porodim, under the very nose of the Grand Duke, our mud hut not being more than 200 yards from the Imperial quarters, where we were perhaps less open to suspicion than elsewhere. To better carry out the deception, we hung several bunches of candles outside our waggon, and had some large Dutch cheeses and a few tins of preserved meat put well in sight during that time of day when we were most open to scrutiny. The tents, waggon, and small Bulgarian mud hut which constituted our quarters, were all within touch of the Cossack camp, and beyond this, roads in every conceivable direction led up to the heights from which the batteries were bellowing day and night, lighting up the sky from sundown to sunrise as they poured their deadly mes- sengers into devoted Plevna. We very soon found the Cossacks almost too good cus- tomers, for our much-treasured stores began to diminish visibly. I believe it is on record that some things were actually sold, but it certainly happened that many went. Our reputation, however, as camp-followers being estab- lished, it was not long before we reduced our daily 192 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. display to candles and empty boxes, keeping our other supplies out of sight in the hut. One peculiarity with a genuine Cossack is that he hates water like a mad dog, and as we every morning washed in the open as best we could, in big buckets of water from a neighbouring well, the ice on which often had to be broken, we were regarded as curious, uncanny creatures indeed by these free-lances. THEY WASH IN THE WINTER TIME. Once when we were engaged at our ablutions, one of a wondering crowd of these fellows who had come to look on put his astonishment into words. *' What wonderful people those are ! " he said. " What country can they come from? Why they wash in the winter time! " THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 193 While on the subject of Cossacks, I may mention that Coningsby and myself were one day just about to do justice to a fowl which we had — well — caught in the neighbourhood and duly cooked. On turning, we were surprised to find one of a long train of Cossack bullock-drivers stopping and looking down at us with envious curiosity. Both feeling an instinctive desire to A TIT BIT. say something, we talked with playful badinage much rubbish which, we felt, being in English, would apply as well as the most profound philosophy to an ill-bred Muscovite. He listened for some time to our chaff, with apparently stolid indifference till Coningsby, dividing the fowl and holding up one half by the drumstick, said — 13 194 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, "Does a fondness for cold fowl run in your family, dear boy? This sort of thing ought to suit you to a T." In a moment that clumsy waggoner became a new man. All nervous energy and settled purpose, springing sud- denly forward, he grasped the fleshy end of that drumstick in his grimy fingers, and the next instant had mangled it with his teeth beyond all reclaim. He had taken Coningsby at his word, and we were left on short commons indeed ; though this surprise, sudden as it was, was quite eclipsed by that which followed it, when that burly bullock-driver replied in excellent English — " Ah, just so. Sad, isn't it ? Very sad. Lost your leg, eh ? But not in the service ; no, not so bad as that, anyhow," and then turning to a dog which I had not till then noticed, he said, " Crunch, poor Crunch ! Hungry too, eh ? Sad, very sad, isn't it ? Never mind ; there 's the bone. Make the best of it. Thank you. Good morn- ing. Eemember, there may be Britishers in Cossack garb just as there are wolves in sheep's clothing. Sad, isn't it ? Very sad ! " Those of my readers who have read The Wanderings of a War Artist in its earlier stages will be familiar with our old friend of the Quartier Latin who, during the siege of Paris, lived as best he could by his wits, and who, it will be remembered, drank several glasses of bock at my expense, and accepted cheerfully, but with apologies, several small silver coins — -as a loan only — pending those better days which were in store for him — which, however, had not yet arrived, as may be seen by the fact that he was now doing odd jobs in connection with the armies of the Czar, THE BEGINNING OF THE END, 195 as a sort of general utility man, his knowledge of French and English standing him in good stead with the officers, who, as a rule, seemed to me better versed in these than in their native tongue. Nor was this by any means the last I saw 01' heard of my eccentric friend, who was attached for some little time to the camp situated nearest to our own bivouac, and whose accomplishments as a ne'er-do-weel were, I found out, quite equalled by his skill as a flute-player. Some of those evenings round the camp-fire (which, by the way, at the ordinary rate of siege prices for wood, have often cost us ten or fifteen shillings to replenish for yet another hour's comfort), were pleasant enough, and a popular volume might have been written on the stories then told ; one of which, by Coningsby, touching a little experience of his own, I remember ran as follows. * ^ -x- -Jf Filthy lucre was at the bottom of it, as it is at the bottom of most things. The British Consul (I think it was at Philippopolis) had certain valuable stores and money to send from one hospital to another across country ; the money, I may mention, having been chiefly contributed by that most estimable of women, the Baroness Burdett- Coutts. Having no reliable man at hand to look after its safety on the journey, he asked Coningsby — who, with his servant, was going in that direction — to undertake the onerous office, which, the stores being packed on mule-back and the money safely deposited, he agreed to do ; an escort of six Circassians having been specially provided for the greater safety of the little party. But to come at once to the point. Having been on their 13 * 196 THE EUSSO'TURKISH WAR. journey for some time, and having reached the most sequestered part of a wood they had to traverse, Con- ingsby's dragoman came to him and declared to having overheard a plot on the part of the Circassian escort, who, having found in some way how valuable a charge they had, had determined to murder Coningsby and himself and make off with it. An inspiration seemed to possess the Times corre- spondent. He mustered the six immediately, and declaring there were brigands in the wood, ordered two to gallop off and scour the neighbourhood in one direction, again ordering two more to ride off in another, while he awaited the tidings they should bring him. All this, being enforced at a revolver's muzzle, was subscribed to, since the opportunity for carrying out their scheme of murder and robbery could be put into effect later on. Thus, having got rid of four out of six, Coningsby now turned with his dragoman on the other two, and compelled them to gallop in front of them in yet a third direction, while the mules were driven as best they could in the middle, Coningsby and his servant still covering the backs of their advance-guard with their six-shooters. What became of the outwitted four, I never heard. Yes, we had some merry moments, though some very miserable ones too during the silent watches of the night, I can assure you. Indeed, I remember one bitterly cold night, a little group of benumbed correspondents were seated round the almost dead embers of our camp fire. We had quite exhausted our supply of wood and animal spirits, and had run short, too, I remember, in the im- THE BEGINNING OF THE END, 197 portant matter of tobacco ; even the last bugle had long since sounded, and save for the monotonous cannonade, and lurid light which lit up the redoubts from time to time, all was quiet as the grave. We were truly in sorry plight ; at the lowest ebb of that depression which, when, as now, all things tend towards it, will sometimes affect the most volatile. It was at this supreme moment that we heard a familiar eound suddenly break through the stillness of the night. HOME, SWEET HOME. We all listened intently. Yes, it must be — it was ! It could be no individual phantasy, for we all heard it. It was — ^in the most perfect time, with the most refined feeling — the strains of an air which thrilled us with new life, which brought back the blood to our half-curdled veins again, as we caught the rhythm of that dear old melody, so familiar to us all, of " Home, sweet Home." We rose with one accord and listened. It floated across 198 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. the still night air to remind us, in pathetic strains, of the homes, the wives, and sweethearts we had left behind us. Need I say that it proceeded from the rough reed pipe of my friend the Cossack camp-follower, whom I had met, in an earlier stage of existence, in the Quartier Latin ? " Odd, isn^t it ? Very odd," as he said when I unearthed him the next morning. " If Td only devoted half the time to playing the flute which I have devoted to playing the — fool — I might have been better off now — eh ? Sad — isn't it ? — ^very sad ! " --c^Ci^.gi^^^tl^Si;:*^)^-- 199 CHAPTEE YIII. QUALIFICATIONS OF A WAR CORRESPONDENT — " WANTED " A REFINED CRUELTY CAPRICE OP WAR A MEMORABLE OMELETTE OUR GREAT " INTERNATIONAL " STEW THE MONTAGU DINNER WONDERFUL WOLVES LOST IN A FOG IN THE GRIP OF THE ENEMY SAVED BY THE MUEZZIN — ROUND ABOUT THE REDOUBT PAINFULLY POINTED ATTENTIONS HOW I REACH THE GRAVITZA MAKING HAY WHILE THE SUN SHONE HOW A MESSENGER OF DEATH MET THE MESSENGER OF WAR RADISHEVO REDOUBT A WAR DANCE SOMETHING ABOUT PICKETING QUALITY OF COURAGE A SAD END TO A BRAVE BEGINNING RATIONS- WAR PRICES GORNY DUBNAK A SIMILE : WAR AND THE ELEMENTS THIRSTING FOR FAME AN ADMIRABLE RUSE DE GUERRE A QUEER BULGARIAN CUSTOM LOST IN A SNOWDRIFT. The qualifications of a war correspondent should be three- fold : an iron constitution, a laconic, incisive style, be it with pen or pencil, and sufficient tact to establish a safe and rapid connecting link between the forefront of battle and his own head-quarters in Fleet Street or elsewhere. I have known several good men and true, eminently fitted by their skill, power of endurance and pluck, to have played conspicuous parts, but who, lacking the strategy necessary to their office, have comparatively come to grief. Hundreds of their sketches or letters sent from the front have gone no farther than the military field-post, 200 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. where they have been destroyed or, on the other hand, given to unscrupulous messengers who, once paid, have made small work of them. As I have already said, our most trusty postmen in Asia Minor were brigands, who, having everything to gain by the delivery of what was to them valueless, found honesty for the time being the best policy. For my own part, in all Bulgaria, I found only two men devoted to my interests, my servant — a most invalu- able fellow — and myself. During the time I was at Plevna, I never once trusted to the tender mercies of the Eussian field-post ; I always sent, or personally took, my sketches across the Danubian frontier, and when they were actually deposited in Eoumanian mail-bags, I knew, that within a measurable time, they would find their way to the editorial sanctum of the Rlustrated London News. On one occasion, when returning across the Danube's blue waters to Plevna from one of these errands, I witnessed a scene which I at once made note of and sent on to my paper, and when, in due course, it appeared in the pages of the Illustrated^ I found myself very much "wanted" by the incensed Eussian authorities, who may now learn, for the first time, that [camp-followers are as capable of contrivance as Muscovite diplomatists. The incident forms a subject for illustration, representing a number of Turkish prisoners, occupied in the unsavoury task of breaking up the gravestones of their ancestors to make roads over which to drag the heavy Eussian field, pieces to Plevna. To a sensitive mind, this would be a refined punishment indeed ; but — let us hope the average Turk introduced FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE. 201 little sentiment into his task. Yet there were many I noticed who felt it acutely, and who even chose the alternative — imprisonment — rather than desecrate God's acre. Here and there Kussian artillerymen posted them- selves, ready to menace with knotted whips those who were tardy in the work of demolition. How that sketch ever circumvented the Eussians, and arrived in the Strand, puzzled more than one wiseacre at Porodim and elsewhere, for little did they suppose at that time that, with " a smile which was childlike and bland, '^ there was a camp-follower among them taking notes. There is something mysteriously capricious about war ; you turn out in the morning, are out all day, often all night too, for the matter of that, yet it is impossible to foretell, ever so vaguely, what may happen the next moment. Experience teaches nothing ; all seems as in- comprehensible as the animal you found in the Noah's Ark of your childhood, when you wondered in your inno- cence if it were a camel or a sheep. Even that every-day meal, breakfast, has its unexpected incidents, and dinner, the culinary arrangements of which have been superin- tended by a representative of the press, often turns out a marvellous — if not an agreeable — surprise. Coningsby it was who aimed at gastronomic excellence, especially on one occasion ; but, alas ! he aimed only. His efforts in this particular case took the shape of an omelette — a memorable omelette — which he strove to make in some queer Bulgarian utensil, and which was ultimately poured out of the spout, and drunk out of cups. Ye Gods ! it was a mystic concoction indeed. His great "international" stew, as he called it, was, 202 THE BUSSO'TURKISH WAR. however, a marked success, a concoction in which tinned soups, fish, flesh, fowl and vegetables played very mixed parts. Like the "penny surprise packet" of the London toyshop, you never knew what was going to turn up ; just as a strongly suspicious flavour of rabbit began to assert itself, you found it gliding rapidly into that of sardines, succeeded in turn by boiled mutton and pickled cabbage. Shudder, if you will, at so strange a conglomerate ; quality in those rough times was not so much a considera- tion as quantity. With the appetites of ostriches, we were equal to anything, ex necessitate rei. Grasping the situai- tion, we accepted with equal satisfaction, each fresh development. A good substantial stew of something was- quite sufficient, no matter what the ingredients might be ; it was satisfying, and that was everything. It is astonishing how vigorous good health and a well-sharpened appetite will adjust matters, for we were always able to sleep snugly through the bombardment, which was a running accompaniment to all we did, with- out a shadow of indigestion, and even to withstand, as- a rule, the howling of those wolves which at night came down in hundreds, seeking what they might devour, always supposing the object of their attention was beyond the power of retaliation, for they had too much dead material at hand to be very dangerous to the living ; yet there was something indescribably weird and grim about the short snapping bark of those mangy scavengers^ as they scurried past us, scraping and raking about in the darkness, as they went in quest of food. Amongst the many contributions I sent home was a^ sketch of our little encampment so attacked, in which FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE, 203 Coningsby and myself were depicted issuing from our tents with cocked revolvers, endeavouring to scare the intruders. I may here incidentally mention Coningsby's version of that illustration, which he amusingly explained at a Press dinner given me by my brethren of the pen and pencil, in their kindness of heart, on my return ta England. The portion referring to those Wolves ran somewhat as follows : — Never, xinder any circumstances, gentlemen, should any of you become correspondents, go to the front with a war artist ; they are dangerous to a ^ ^ii^i degree on the war-path, I can assure you. Some here may remember a picture in the Illustrated London News, representing Montagu and myself attacked by wolves in our encampment at Plevna. The true story of the origin of that sketch has never been told ; you shall have it now. I was in sorry plight ; all day had I been on the move in quest of incident, and now my well-earned repose was to be disturbed by crowds of howling, blear-eyed beasts outside. I was utterly disgusted. Suddenly a brilliant idea suggested itself ; there was at least one way out of the difficulty. If there was one thing in this world calculated, above all others, to scare those wolves, it would be a sketch hy the special artist of the Illustrated London Neivs ; — so, without more ado, I rushed into Montagu's tent, seized one of his latest productions, and rushing out into the open, displayed it by ^04 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, the light of the moon to those noisy intruders. The effect was magical ; with a howl that I can never forget they frantically tore away, far far out into iheir dreary Balkan retreats. But, gentlemen [he went on], there is a terrible sequel to this, which proves — beyond the shadow of a doubt — how -dangerous a travelling companion your war artist is. About an hour afterwards, those persistent wolves actually came back again in redoubled numbers, and then it was that a terrible vengeance fell upon me. Montagu came flying into my tent — he startled me. Had one of the brutes got hold of him ? No ; he came in breathless haste, saying — ** There is but one thing now left to us, otherwise we shall be devoured ; it 's a terrible resource, but extreme cases require extreme measures ! " and with this he rushed forward and seized my last manuscript for the Times. The next moment found him outside facing a crowd of those lean beasts, reading aloud to them one of the paragraphs from my article. It was more than enough for our four-footed enemy. They dis- xippeared in less than no time ; indeed, I have been told, they have not been seen in Bulgaria since (?). Take Coningsby's story with the proverbial grain of salt if you will — reference to it finds a proper place here; l)ut, at the same time, let it not for one moment interfere mth the continuity of our story of every-day life at Plevna. Hark ! what 's that ? Yes, it must be the Muezzin calling the Faithful to prayer. What an awful predica- ment! It was early morning. The Times correspondent, myself, and four Kussian officers had been taking a ride round the lines before breakfast. Our horses were fresh, and what with giving them rein on this account, and a dense fog preventing our seeing many inches before our noses, we had lost our way so utterly that we were only saved from going straight into the Ottoman camp — which would have meant certain death — by that timely call to prayer, chanted in measured tones by the Muezzin — " Allah, el Allah ! Allah be praised ! " FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE. 205 We reined in instantly, wondering which way to turn^ yet fearing lest we should be detected. Happily for us, the snow was so deep that our approach had at least been noiseless. As far as sound is concerned, nothing is so deceptive as fog ; and this made our present situation all the more perplexing, as our next move might actually lead us into the very jaws of death. We were at that moment just, as it were, within the very grip of the enemy; one false step and we should be lost. Imagine, if you can, a moment more critical; and then suppose, peering through the fog as we did, that you see ten or twelve shadowy horsemen approaching. Mechanically we drew our revolvers, waiting with stolid determination to sell our lives as dearly as possible in the impending struggle. Just as an old picture looms out from the dust of ages- under the touch of the expert renovator, so did those horsemen assume form and colour through that curtaia of heavy, cold, grey mist. The tension was terrible. Closer and closer they came — our lives were not worth &Ye minutes' purchase — when, to our infinite surprise, we discovered those horsemen to be Cossack scouts, and not^ as we had decided they must be — Turks. I need hardly say, that under their guidance we were soon within our own lines again. As I live over again the incidents of the campaign, I am reminded, whilst relating my experience of that fog, of yet another incident which occurred later on the same day, after our return from that morning's ramble. Being anxious to discover as many good pictorial in- cidents as I could, I had started out alone, intent on 206 THE BUSSO-TURKISH WAR. picking up what came in my way, leaving Coningsby hard at work in our mud hut at Porodim, writing his article for the Times. Now it so happened that, in making for one of the redoubts, I somehow again lost my bearings ; having been attracted to a valley in another direction, where a PLEVNA FROM POKODIM. group of soldiers were watering their horses at one of those picturesque wells peculiar to Bulgaria. Now, I had half finished a rough sketch of my surroundings, when, to my surprise, those Eussians and myself dis- covered we were in a position more exposed than pleasant, finding ourselves in a gap between two re- doubts, and so within full range of the Turkish rifle pits. FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE: 207 I need hardly say we soon beat a hasty retreat in quest of cover. I am not Ukely to forget that time, for the moment I ascended a slight elevation a rattling fire opened upon me. The enemy had evidently spotted me, and good sport I was, no doubt — to them. Again beating a retreat, more rapid than strategic, I found myself still the object of their painfully pointed attentions. No bewildered, hunted hare ■ever bolted in greater trepidation than I did to get clear of that enemy's fire, verily it was a case of nunc aut nunquam. Run ? Why, bless you, I nearly ran my legs off. At length, with a great gasp of relief, X found myself under «helter of a redoubt, where at least I was screened from everything save shell-fire. By the time I had reached this spot, experience had taught me to know a good thing when I found it, so I determined, with permission of the ofiQcer in command, to ** bide a wee " till such time as, with greater safety, I could get back to Porodim. An occasional shell diversified the monotony of one's sketching in the snowdrifts of those earthworks, till, as time wore on, and I was hoping anxiously for an opportunity of escape to more congenial quarters, io my utter astonishment, there rushed in for protec- tion in a state of the wildest excitement — yet another correspondent. It was Coningsby, of the Times, whom I had left but a few hours before scribbling away in our hut at Porodim. He, like myself, had wished to pick up subjects in the more advanced lines ; and he, also, had not only been caught as I had, but had actually hastened to the shelter of the same redoubt. 208 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. He, however, was better informed than myself ; for, to my surprise, he told me we were actually in the Gravitza — that ambition of the War Correspondent, the satisfaction of being in which had been accorded to so few. When he had recovered breath, he gasped out — " I say, Montagu, this incident is too good to lose ; but the worst of it is, the world won't believe us. Yet, stay ; I have it ! In the sketch you have just made for the Illustrated introduce me as I am, in the foreground, and I'll put an account of your presence here into the Times. '^ And so it came about that a picture appeared not long afterwards, truthfully representing the Times and the Illustrated News correspondents heroically (?) holding their own in the interests of their respective papers. Talking of this, brings me naturally to another notable earthwork, the Kadishevo redoubt, and of a curious incident which occurred in it. On my arrival there early one morning I observed that the officers and men were immensely excited, watching something at a distance with intense interest. This very naturally aroused my curiosity, and I craned my neck in the same direction. Presently I discovered with the aid of my field glasses a Turkish messenger, at present a mere pigmy in the distance, galloping in hot haste across an open space to get under cover of a Turkish redoubt. A despatch bag could distinctly be seen strapped to his side, and by the direction he was taking we could clearly see his intended destination. Poor miserable Moslem ! little did he dream he was the object of so much concern. At that moment, on his special account, a gun has FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE, 209 been sighted so as to cover the entrance to the Turkish earthworks, through which, in all human probability, he must presently pass. His time was at hand. The excitement of those round about me grew momentarily greater. Suddenly there came the hush of absorbed interest. Alas, poor mortal ! could he have seen us at that moment, he might well have sighed "All is as nothing, now/' The scream of the shell as it whizzed through the air proclaimed all too plainly that the messenger of Death had started to meet that messenger of War. Unerringly it did its work, for the next moment we saw it burst just outside that Turkish redoubt ; while a dead horse and its rider lay prone and much mixed on the spot. Then — aye, then you should have seen the wild delight of those artillerymen in the Kadishevo. The gun had been well sighted indeed. Had they all received decora- 14 210 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, tions at that moment, they could not have been more elated ; and when Kussian artillerymen dance fan- dangoes in redoubts, it is with a delirium inconceivable even in the piping times of peace. Of course, many stampedes took place during the investment ; notably one of about sixty or seventy scared horses, which galloped pell-mell into the Turkish lines — spoils of war which were thoroughly appreciated, and were no doubt most acceptable to some of the worst mounted of the Bashi-Bazouks, whose original hacks were promptly devoured. In cases of sudden alarm, save with artillery horses, which, being accustomed to cannonading, are naturally not so easily scared, horses, as a rule, set picketing at naught ; indeed, with all armies, this seems to be a vexed subject, the Belgians appearing to carry the palm for simplicity. From the first, their horses are thoroughly trained in the utter futility of resistance ; this being done by attach- ing them by horse-lines to iron rings embedded in a stone floor. When thus firmly secured, every possible means to scare them is devised. Of course, at first, the silly young things do all they can to break away, till with experience comes philosophy. Their efforts to gain their liberty become less and less, till, thoroughly recognizing the fact that they are help- less, they resign themselves to their fate ; and so satisfied do they become of the immovability of picket-pegs that, in their maturer years, they require only the slightest thing in the world to secure them, being thoroughly im- pressed in their youth with the idea that those pegs afore- FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE, 211 said are more than a match for them. How thankful the Board School teacher would be, in these days of " school strikes," did he feel he could impress his silly young things as thoroughly. But in these days of advanced knowledge the child is too often, from its own point of view, father to the man. It is a common practice on the Continent, where this scheme is adopted, to picket a number of horses thus, and then with fireworks and other devices to literally make their hair stand on end with fright. The Cossacks, to use a nautical phrase, hobble their horses fore and aft when they turn them out to grass ; not so, however, when on picket duty ; then the bridle is fastened lightly over the pommel, and the small Cossack horse is secured beyond the possibility of stampede — indeed, so attached as a rule are beast and rider, that horse-lines are replaced by those nearer ties which make them inseparable. # # # # Courage, I take it, is an abstract quality which it is difficult to define ; anyhow, those who profess not to know what fear is, are minor heroes compared with those who realise danger and, facing it, overcome their natural dread. No man of real experience minds admitting that there have been times when it has required all the moral effort at his command to overcome the strong desire he has had, at a moment of extreme danger, to make himself conspicuous by his absence. The cases I quoted during the Franco-Prussian and Carlist campaigns are in point, and many similar ones might be mentioned ; one, in particular, comes vividly to my memory now. I was leaving the advanced lines one day, after hot 14 * 212 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, shelling had been going on for many hours, when my attention was called to a small squad of men, commanded by an officer, going to the rear of one of the redoubts. I noticed two physically fine fellows, bare-headed and with- out arms, in advance of the rest, marching with firm tread and in moody silence : they were deserters — men whose bravery till that morning had been beyond the shadow of suspicion, who had fought like lions, but who, in a spasm of panic, had bolted out of the earthworks in which, till that unhappy moment, they had been working like Trojans in the very teeth of a galling fire. One had probably influenced the other ; and now they were going with a courage, which was affecting, to meet their death at the hands of their comrades. A drum-head court-martial had settled the matter in a few minutes ; FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE, 213 they had been caught in the act, brought back, and sentenced. The mute appeal of these men as they passed me, prompted my speaking to the officer in command of the firing party in French, who, in excellent English — guessing my nationality from my accent, I suppose — replied, in a few words, that which I have recorded as to their oft-tested courage ; but he had no power — example must be made. It was a sudden impulse of fear which had brought about the death of two men whose bravery might, but for this, have won them exceptional distinction. I declined to join the firing party as a spectator to this last scene in their tragic history, the b-r-r-r-r-r of half- a-dozen muskets telling the tale all too clearly a few moments afterward, as I made my way back to Porodim, there to complete my sketch of the incident, and wonder of what queer material this same courage could be made. At the time of which I speak, Osman Pasha was of course cut off in Plevna from the outside world, his only chance of joining the long expected relief being, to find a weak point in the cordon of steel by which his devoted army was girt about, and to force it, for sheer starvation now stared them in the face, while the Eussians had unlimited supplies of all kinds. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive the vast butcheries necessary to an immense army, such as that of the Czar's, when on the war-path. Picture to yourself the condition of men whose sole occupation from morning to night is slaughter. It was marvellous, too, to look around in that immediate neigh- bourhood, and see herd upon herd of cattle secured 214 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, in pens, which like that other animal, man, awaited death. The giving out of rations was an occasion for no end of fun. Here a refractory ram was almost more than a master for the energetic linesman who struggled to secure him ; there an artilleryman, as if he would unlimber a big gun, makes frantic efforts to bring an obstinate ox into subjection. Again, a burly Cossack calmly strides off in another direction with a dead sheep slung over his shoulders; and so I might go on, to the end of a very long chapter, had I space at command, to show how, heart and soul, hungry humanity goes into an affair the ultimate end of which means — " dinner." The exorbitant prices of those stores we took with us in our waggon to the front must not be forgotten, an idea of which may be obtained from the following, which is a copy of a receipt from Coningsby, the Times correspon- dent : — Received from Irving Montagu, Esq., the sum of Nine Pounds sterling, being half the expenses for stores from Bucharest to Plevna. RoBEKT Coningsby (Times), £9 0. Bucharest, Oct. 8th, 1877. The above was for my share of tinned meats alone, purchased in Bucharest, and consumed on the march within a week. i618 for these, apart from bread, fresh meat, and other necessaries, seems at least enough ; but when I say that pickles were sold at 7s. 6d. to 10s. a bottle, sardines from 5s. to 8s. a tin, and so on, you will see that the total may soon be run up. Money made the man round about Plevna, as indeed it does all the world over ; and one's pockets had to be well filled, if life were FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE- 215 to be made worth the living. Very bad claret was from 8s. to 12s. a bottle, while such luxuries as spirits and wines fetched fabulous prices. To return, however, to the investment. Let us take next in order the battle of Gorny Dubnak, one of the bloodiest engagements, either in Europe or Asia, during the war. Out of three regiments, 154 officers alone were placed hors de combat ; indeed, the taking of the great redoubt was due entirely to the pluck of private soldiers, who, with great loss, accomplished it. It was a foggy morning, and the first intimation of the coming conflict was heavy cannonading ; the Kussians then concentrated three infantry regiments on the spot, the Turks receiving them with a withering fire. Victory to the Kussians would mean drawing the girdle of invest- ment nearer to strangulation point, while their failure might mean the ultimate escape of Osman. A Turkish officer for a moment appeared above the smaller redoubt to encourage his men, the next he was lifeless, shot through the heart ; then one wild, mad charge, and in a few moments it was in the hands of our side. There was a perfect rain of bullets as the cross fire every moment grew more desperate; the loss of life was terrible, earthwork after earthwork giving way, till at last the Turks were reduced to holding their own at the rear of some old ramshackle buildings. At this point a wild spirit of enterprise rose amongst the Kussians, as to who should be the first to follow up the advantage gained. But still the great redoubt held out, the steady fire from the Turks who occupied it keeping the Muscovites at bay. At last, the very ditch 216 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. immediately under it was taken, the Turks hurling debris of all sorts on their assailants, being unable to mount their breastworks and fire upon them for fear of the instant death which, when so exposed, awaited them ; while the Russians could only retort by hurling mud and stones back on the defenders. It was a unique fight, in which a callous disregard for life on both sides led to terrible slaughter, and its name on the page of history will be handed down amongst those of battles well won. A memorable day, was that of Gorny Dubnak; and though, of course, such was not the case, it seemed as if the whole of the defences of the beleaguered town had taken up the chorus. Far and wide the echoes resounded, leaping from hill to hill, till lost in distant murmurs ; the fact was that during the fight a distracting fire was kept up all round the cordon, on which the mingled clouds of vapour and smoke hung heavily. The wars of man and those of the elements always seem to me to have a sort of affinity. Surely the cumulous clouds, as they hurry-skurry across the hitherto placid sky, may bear comparison with the legions who meet in deadly strife. The hail of bullets, the fitful flash of powder, and the thunder of the guns, are like Jove's artillery let loose; while the surging thousands represent a sea whose breakers are bayonets, the overwhelming force of which is death ; then, now and again a shell comes scudding over the turbulence below, screeching and moaning in the trajectory of its deadly flight like some wild sea-mew swooping down FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE. 217 upon the wreck of all things human here below. I re- member it was with some such reflections as these-^ another day done, another victory won, and night closing in — that I returned to quarters. During the fighting round Plevna, the Bulgarian con- tingent were ever anxious, though their opportunities were few and far between, to play their little part ; and I am particularly reminded, in illustration of this, of a day when some big field-pieces had to be got into position, how highly honoured a number of them felt who were deputed to bring one of those heavy guns over a rugged upland. They were like school-boys let out for a half- holiday with a new toy — they had a lovely big cannon all to themselves — each one wanted to be first, to show how well he could do it ; and even those who were elbowed out for sheer want of room were not content till they had squeezed themselves in somewhere and had seized a spoke or helped push up even in the rear of several others, so as to have had a finger in the glorious work. During one of their many sorties, an admirable ruse de guerre was resorted to by the Turks, who not only secured a large number of the uniforms of dead Kussians, in which they proceeded to equip themselves, but also availed themselves of the services of an officer who spoke the language sufficiently well to give the Kussian word of command. The day was quite hazy enough for them to be at first only indistinctly seen, so they determined to play the part of a retreating column, and when it was remarked by the Muscovites — that their backs were to the Russian lines — their uniforms Russian, and, moreover, that the word of command, was given in Russian — they were 218 THE BUSSO'TURKISH WAR. naturally supposed to be a Kussian column in retreat, and to fire broadcast into their own men would scarcely be politic. Consequently the command for opening out was at once given, and it was not till they were well in the midst of the unsuspecting invaders that the ruse was discovered ; then, taken completely by surprise, the small body of Muscovites who held the position, after a short and stubborn resistance, beat a precipitate retreat, and though many were killed on both sides, the Turks even- tually held the vantage point by one of the cleverest tricks which have been recorded amongst the episodes of modern warfare. I am not exaggerating when I say — that if there is one thing more terrible than to be on a battle-field during the night immediately succeeding a fight, it is to FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE, 219 be within the comparative security of a mud hut, listen- ing to the combined sounds without which make night hideous. It would require the pen of a Dante to describe the medley of horrors one hears. The melancholy howling and barking of wolves, the dreary, weird scream of the night bird, each and all intent on their ghastly banquet. Then the jolting, creaking sound of the long trains of bullock waggons, as they trundle along, winding their weary way slowly over the crisp, frosty, uneven ground, bearing innumerable freights of groaning sick and wounded, who writhe each moment to some fresh agony; and to this — one perpetual monotonous accompaniment of big guns, despatching, day and night, their death-dealing missiles into the shattered town yonder. No pen or pencil can convey an idea of the every- day (interwoven) horrors of life at the front ; nor can any- one conceive (except the experienced) the strange longing one has, ad interim^ for great events, which prevent one from brooding on the miseries which surround one. Un- fortunately these do not confine themselves to the imme- diate neighbourhood of the field of action— their effect may be traced for miles and miles to the rear ; the trail of the serpent is to be found in violated homes, villages deserted, down-trodden plantations, and fever- stricken districts, far, far beyond the wake of actual war. But enough of this. In Bulgaria they have an odd custom connected with sanitation in their villages which savours somewhat of our great city during the Great Plague; an idea of which I may give you on referring to some notes on the 220 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. subject, which at the time I sent home to the Illustrated London Neivs, with corresponding sketches : — '< Bury your dead!" is the proclamation made in a village near the Oravitza redoubt. With an audience of sick and wounded soldiers (says our artist), many looking as if their own interment, if any, were a matter of no far distant date, there was something so grim and quaint about this little episode that I send you a sketch of it. The crier is paid by the villagers, a general collection being made for the purpose, at the rate of about fourpence a day. He takes upon himself, for this consideration, the entire responsi- bility of disposing of, or seeing disposed of, any carcases which happen to lie in or about the neighbourhood. This, however, is not considered as an equivalent for the high remuneration he receives ; so, by an old Bulgarian law, he has to provide any strangers who may enter the village after sunset BURT YOUR dead! with supper and a bed. I have had his charge translated to me, and it runs as follows : — "Do ye hear! do ye hear! do ye hear! Bury your dead! — oh, bury your dead ! Good people, all listen ; then bury your dead ! " OneGeorgevich, on the day previous to my arrival, had neglected this very necessary sani- tary measure ; but whether it applied to his wife, his grandmother, or his cow, I could not ascertain. The crier, however, who knew how «< to point a moral and adorn a tale," took care to do so on arriving at the delinquent's house-top (for his harangue always comes from the house-tops). ** Do ye hear ! do ye hear ! — wicked Georgevich ! Pay no more fines, but bury your dead!" And the burial of the dead is a great matter, too, just now round about Plevna, I assure you. * * * ♦ FROST, FIRE, AND FAMINE. 221 It was a terrible winter in Bulgaria that of 1877-78, and perhaps one of the most trying of our rough ex- periences was when, unable to get messengers in camp (having sent our own, with sketches and letters for England, down to the Danube) we had, after a hard day at the front, to start off ourselves in order to get our com- munications through. One night I shall ever remember. A Kussian officer, his servant, and myself, having requisitioned a rude country drosky, a tumble-down affair, started on one of these expeditions ; he intent on joining his regiment, I . on getting my sketches through to Koumania. It was a fearful night, in every sense of the word. The wind, piercingly cold, whistled and scudded around us, hurling the fast-falling, drifting snow with such force before it that we were nearly blinded as we faced it ; it lay wrapped like a winding sheet on the surrounding hills as we rode through the darkness and peered, as best we could, into the black expanse beyond. Then — to make matters worse — a dense fog came creeping up, till the smallest landmarks we had left to us were completely obliterated. However, the ardour of the special should not be easily damped ; and the Eussian had to go, come what might. So, with their cracked bells tinkling on their rotten harness, our horses struggled on. The drosky driver was too sanguine ; a dream of Eussian roubles and English gold had obscured his mental vision. He felt he knew the way to the village of which we were in quest ; but we, as hour succeeded hour, and none of the signs which should have helped us came in sight, began to have grave doubts, which were momentarily increased by 222 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, the rapidly thickening fog, and the unceasingly heavy snowfall which came in gusts of blinding fury, and whisked and whirled about us like some storm fiend, come from its home amongst the peaks of the Balkans to crush us in its icy clutches. Thus the long hours of night wore on, till the wind at last abated. Then came a quiet, an awful stillness, which up in those mysterious alti- tudes was absolutely appalling — quite beyond description. It was, indeed, a memorable time ; and not to us only, for it was on this night, out of a detachment of 400 men sent to occupy a position not very far from Porodim, that 70 of their number were the following morning discovered stone dead — frozen to death in that same terrible snow- storm; though this is only one of very many instances w^hich happened, on that and similar nights, round about Plevna during that fearful winter. -T^ii^^^ir^^a^a^db^'S— 223 CHAPTEE IX. A PKOBLEM AT POEODIM — TURNED OUT BY THE GRAND DUKE THE czar's permit A PRESENT TO OSMAN A BARRI- CADE OF BULLOCK WAGGONS THE LAST CHARGE — GENERAL SKOBELEFF THE FLAG OF TRUCE TEWFIK BEY THE END INEVITABLE — OSMAN WOUNDED HIS SURRENDER THE GENTLER SEX THE HOLY RED CROSS (pOEM) QUALITY OF OSMAN's MEN CAMBRIDGE STUDIO, S.W. THE PIPE OF PEACE BONES ! Happily that fickle jade Memory inclines — as a rule — in her retrospective glances, to the sunny side of past events. Though, once or twice in our lives, most of us have experienced, at some time or other, a sense of utter de- jectedness which we may never forget; of course innu- merable causes, physical and mental, bring about such conditions, and it might be argued that the latter is more depressing than the former. On this occasion, however, a combination of these seemed to affect us, for as night wore on, we found ourselves in that rapidly accumulating snow-drift becoming more benumbed and incapable each moment. As far as the eye could penetrate into the black, starless night, might be seen that white canopy which so effectually prevented the possibility of our knowing in what direction to go, even were locomotion — by some superhuman effort 224 THE RUSSO^TURKISH WAR. — possible at all. The silence, too, became appalling, every moment the prospect of a coming end to all thinga being more evident. At first, we fought against the intensity of the cold ; then we struggled with that fatal drowsiness, which, like some intangible creeping thing, settled upon us, till we felt nature rapidly giving way under the subtle influence which such intense cold produces. Truly, it was a night which we could neither of us easily forget. Up to this point we had literally been ploughing our way ; our horses, dead beat before we had traversed four miles of our route, now refused to move. We were at a standstill, utterly, helplessly, and almost hope- lessly snowed up. Fortunately we both had a fair supply of brandy in our flasks, but this amongst four was soon exhausted. The horses being unhitched, and a quantity of sacking having been wrapped about them, the Captain's servant, in company with the drosky driver, coiled them- selves up underneath the ramshackle vehicle. As far as myself and fellow traveller were concerned, we were re- duced to making a night of it, as best we could, in the open conveyance. Then came the renewed dread of sleep and its fatal consequences ; to provide against this, we roused the other two, who were already half stupefied, and explained to them the necessity for one always being awake so as to arouse, after a short interval of rest, the remaining three, and thus providing, as far as possible, against what seemed, despite all our precautions, to be almost inevitable. I was not only the first to suggest adopting this course, but curiously enough — for, in fairness to the other two, we THE FINAL STRUGGLE, 225 drew lots — the first on duty. I lit my pipe, and for about half an hour tramped backwards and forwards in front of that curious group of les miserahles. Presently I heard the distant tinkling of bells, sledge or drosky bells, coming A WEARY WATCH. nearer and nearer, yet never near enough to be within hail ; then, when they sounded loudest, the tinkling would be wafted in another direction, and they would become fainter and fainter, till again all was silent — silent, aye, as death itself. They were probably going — as we had 15 226 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. also gone — in circles, which I understand is common in such cases. The Captain next took my place. Though wrapped in a huge fur coat, I was nearly perished, and. seemed to drop off to sleep with the suddenness of one who had taken some strong opiate. Then we in turn aroused the men, and so on, through that seemingly interminable night, the stillness of which was only re- lieved by the occasional howl of a distant wolf or the uncanny screech of a half-famished night bird. However, as the longest night must have an end, so morning at last dawned, and a gruesome dawning it was, too, for when the first streak of daylight lit up the eastern sky we were literally unable to put one foot before the other. Our chests were painfully congested, and though all young, we were bent almost double, and stooped like four decrepit octogenarians. It was with the greatest difficulty we re-attached the horses, they being almost as dead beat as ourselves. At last, with our united assis- tance, the drosky man was again hoisted upon his seat, and we continued our way, at a funereal rate, we knew not whither. Hope, however, was revived as the morning advanced, for we descried at some distance a scattered collection of mud huts on a slight elevation. Towards these we made the best of our way ; nor were we a moment too soon, we were on the verge of collapse — in an utterly exhausted state. On our arrival, the Bulgarian villagers did all that lay in their power to revive us, and happily, at a sort of cabaret in the village, vodki was obtainable; of this we partook in large doses, one of which, under other circum- THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 227^ stances, would have made us intoxicated, but which now took some time before ordinary animation was restored at all. We ascertained that we were about ten or twelve English miles out of our course, but after having tho- roughly rested we found comparatively little difficulty, in broad daylight, in finding our destination, where ambu- lance doctors made up for lost time by building us up again with restoratives. * ^ * ^ Now on my return to Porodim, two days later, there was a certain air of mystery about Coningsby which was not a little disconcerting, and sure enough he presently confided in me his doubts with reference to our being able to hold on in our present quarters. It appeared that certain envious sutlers had been throw- ing out hints that our supply-waggon was a delusion and a snare ; that, in short, we were no better than we ought to be, and had even gone so far as to give information at head-quarters with reference to us as interlopers. Indeed, his suspicions were too well founded, for that very night the commandant de place at Porodim came to our hut, and told us, in excellent French, that the double part we had been playing had been discovered, and, further, by com- mand of the Grand Duke, we were to clear out at day- break. We professed to be totally ignorant of the French language, so avoided further discussion of what we felt would be a hopeless argument. Being quite satisfied, however, that he had made himself thoroughly under- stood, he retired, leaving us to speculate through the long hours of the night as to what our next move should be. 15 * 228 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. At daybreak we were aroused by thundering blows with the butt ends of muskets at our cabin door ; the com- mandant had returned, bringing with him six Cossacks as an escort, to see us — in homely language — off the pre- mises. Thus, having no alternative, we had to get together, as well as we could in the short time allowed us, our baggage, horses, servants, and stores, and precede BY ORDER OF THE CZAE. those wily horsemen who had been appointed to see us well out of camp. No sooner, however, were we left alone, and those Cos- sacks were well out of sight, than we made for the Koumanian lines, hoping we might there find more favour ; THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 229 but we discovered afterwards we were actually being watched from the roof of a squat Bulgarian church tower by no less a personage than the Grand Duke him- self, from whom a Cossack messenger came to say — again in French — that, "although His Eoyal Highness admired British persistency, he intended to exercise Kussian vigi- lance, and that the bearer of the message should be our guide, en route for the Danube, to the next village. Ours had not been by any means an easy part to play. When in Porodim we were nothing if not camp-followers, while when out of it, in quest of material for our papers, we should have been at once arrested in that garb ; hence it was that, when at the front, we assumed the semi- military costume necessary to the occasion, always wear- ing very conspicuously the Kussian brassard on which — in silver — on a field of black, white, and yellow (the national colours), was fastened in bold relief the word "correspon- dent " ; thus we passed muster for specially privileged representatives of the press when in the redoubts, while at head-quarters we were to all appearance only humble vendors of supplies. Happily for us, the Czar interceded in our favour, and we received special permission to return to our respective literary and artistic duties at the front. * * * * The Kussians were by this time thoroughly sick of it, if the judgment of those who were with them may be taken. To all intents and purposes Plevna was as impregnable as ever, although more than half discredited rumours of Osman's being shortly starved out were daily arriving ; thus the necessity for making a winter of it, as a matter of national prestige, staring them in the face, a large number 230 THE EUSSO-TURKISH WAR, of the besiegers went into such quarters as were available to the rear, even as far back as the islands which dot the Danube between Sistova and Zimnitza. But there was a hopeless doggedness about the way in which they went to work, as if accepting the inevitable with the worst possible grace ; and I verily believe that at this moment, had a junction been possible between Osman Pasha and the out- side world, or had the most unsubstantial shadows of allies put in an appearance, such relief might considerably have altered that particular page of European history. There was certainly something indescribably unique in the war-smitten aspect of the country, as one rode through it at that time, not only in the evacuated villages lying, in some cases, between the Kussian and Turkish lines but in others still occupied where it was even more terrible. It is a thrilling memory, which will last me a life-time. Take, for instance, the village of Telish ; it is occupied by Eussians, who are passing through, and whose camp-fires, made out of ail the available wood in the place, are blazing freely — for it is night — and they light up the otherwise semi-forsaken-looking place with a lurid glare, while dogs innumerable howl discordantly through the small hours. In the dark corners of empty, ruined homes they are clustering together as if for mutual support in case of emergencies, their eyes glaring with a half- famished, wolfish glare on all intruders, their fangs reek- ing with the blood of dead horses, or — who knows ? — of men, for how many hundreds of Turks and Bulgarians, aye, of both sexes, must have fallen before the Turks ultimately took up their position and stood at bay at Plevna. I heard of many cases : one woman declared she THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 231 was the last of a large family, all of whom had been murdered, as she put it, by the Turks. I believe there was, nevertheless, much exaggeration as far as atrocities were concerned. At Vraca, a number of homeless, starving creatures, " gipsies and others, were sent in bullock-waggons as a present to Osman in Plevna, a grim joke which that general would hardly appreciate. A SOUVENIR FOR OSMAN PASHA. The soldiers were very kind to them, sharing with them their rations, and giving them even what money they had," that they might go on their way with lighter hearts. Already the beginning of the end had come. The eyes of Europe were on that picturesque little town yonder with its two white minarets, its domed church, 232 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, and its flat-looking, square-built houses embedded in the sleepy hollow which seemed its nest. Apart from one's terrible surroundings, one could hardly suppose there could be so "much ado about nothing " — at least nothing more than a very ordinary Bulgarian town ; but there was little time even for reflection, the stern reality of the situation asserting itself every moment by the sullen roar of the big guns from the redoubts, or the sharp rattle from the rifle-pits of either side. The actual fall of Plevna should occupy a distinct volume, were it not now an oft-told tale which it is not in my province at least to repeat in extenso. The whole world knows how magnificently Osman Pasha held out to the bitter end ; indeed, none appreciated his heroism more thoroughly than the Russians themselves. That Osman meant to make a final sortie was known to them for some days previously, having been kept well posted up by spies in his probable movements. By the way, one of these, a Polish Jew, after being rewarded for his information, fearing that, as a spy confessed, his life even with the Russians would not be worth much, elected to decamp with his ill-gotten gains, which he did, and at the present moment he is carrying on the less profitable, but far less risky occupation of selling photographs of celebrities from an inverted umbrella in the streets of London. I know him per- sonally, and am always a purchaser in passing. Yes; the Russians, as I have said, were kept well informed of Turkish movements, whereas the information, on the other hand, which Osman obtained must have been very faulty. THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 233 On Friday, the 15th of December, it was well known that the Turks were about to make a final effort to escape. Kegimental commanders were all on the qui vive, scouts Tvere active and sentries doubled, still, for two or three days, nothing of importance happened. Then more spies PLEVNA AND PENTONVILLE. arrived, bringing in each case the news of an impending advance on the part of Osman, the truth of which was verified by events which immediately followed and the rapid movement of Turkish troops across the Vid. It was evident that he supposed he had discovered a "weak point in that girdle of Muscovite steel, with which, 234 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. by a concentration of his forces, he hoped to be able to grapple. Thus it was, that having brought with him the greater part of his army, including a large quantity of artil- lery, baggage-waggons, &c., he opened a rattling fire on the besiegers, who replied vigorously with shell and shrapnel. One by one, down went the bullocks attached to those waggons, and the possibility of advance under their friendly cover was at an end. Now it was at this point that, with a degree of dash which would have done honour to any troops in the world, they made for the trenches occupied by the Sibirsky (Siberian) regiment, which, having nearly annihilated, they left behind, only to occupy the battery beyond. Then the Eussian Brigade of Grena- diers came down like a whirlwind on the foe, fighting hand to hand, bayonet to bayonet, with inconceivable energy and indomitable pluck. Again and again did the tide of battle sway ; the losses on both sides being terrible indeed before the Turks eventually retired, in the best order they could, into the mountain gorge from which, leaving Plevna, they had debouched. The fight — a terrific one — lasted many hours, after which the cannonading, diminishing by very, very slow degrees, at last ceased altogether. Then there came that silence, an awe-inspiring silence, which told, more elo- quently than words could ever do, that the army of Osman Pasha no longer existed as a fighting force, and that peace might from that very moment shine for centuries on devoted Plevna. I write from records of the moment when I tell the tale of that surrender ; how a white fiag an hour later floated conspicuously from its battered walls, and then how there THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 235 rose a shout from the Kussians, when they saw that flag hoisted, as could only be the shout of a victorious army. Next, in hot haste, came a Turkish officer, also with a flag of truce fluttering in the breeze, to negotiate with reference to the surrender. Presently General Skobeleff with his brilliant staff rode down to one of the two bridges which immediately outside Plevna cross the Vid, himself and his officers waving white handkerchiefs as they went ; .AG OF TUUCE. this was answered by a huge piece of white muslin, which, attached to a pole, now floated from another vantage point. Then came more horsemen, each with a flag of truce in his hand, galloping out to meet the dash- ing General, to inform him that the great Osman Pasha himself would follow. Then, roughly remembered by one who was with the staff, came these snatches of conversa- tion touching the great event now so imminent. ** Let us treat him as the gallant spirit he is," said one. 236 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, "He must have a soldier's welcome; the troops must present arms," said another. ** He is the greatest commander of the age," said General Skobeleff, ** for he has saved the honour of his country." All around was carnage and confusion — uptilted arabas, dead and wounded men, horses, and oxen everywhere. Eapidly advancing came two more bearers of white flags, one a rough- shod soldier, while riding near him was a handsome, fair young Turk, scrupulously well-dressed and most courtier-like in manner. Who could this possibly be ? It was none other than Tewfik Bey. " Osman is wounded," he said, in excellent French. The concern was, of course, general. The next inquiry was as to His Excellency's whereabouts. " Over there," said Tewfik, pointing to a small house facing the bridge. And now slowly, rather in sadness than in the mad enthusiasm of victory, did groups of generals make for the house where the wounded hero lay. Generals Ganetsky and Strukofif settling the terms of capitulation. In three great battles had he worsted the armies of the Czar of all the Eussias, not only entirely changing their plan of action, but actually holding at bay from his strong- hold at Plevna some of the finest troops in the world. Surely he. well-sustained the title of Osman Ghazi (the victorious), by which, in the chronicles of war, his name will be handed down to posterity, and one of which no reverse — even the fall of Plevna — can deprive him. The Grand Duke and Prince Charles of Eoumania next interviewed the fallen foe who had been so worthy of their ki'^t A KUS8JAN VOIS-COJABATAIST, . THE FINAL STRUGGLE, 237 steel, each in turn congratulating him on his brilliant defence, thus ending with heroic magnanimity a great day in the world's history. ^ -jf * ^t There is a certain martial freemasonry about heroes which at such supreme moments as the foregoing eclipses altogether the comparatively petty rivalry of nations, an admiration springing up which banishes the elation of victory, a feeling of true hero-worship existing apart from creed or nationality. By the way, talking of ties of friendship, brings one to the solicitude expressed by the gentler sex in war time for " those who fighting fall." I have been myself much with the Ked Cross doctors and nurses, to say nothing of those of the Eed Crescent, and think I never saw in any campaign such unostentatious devotion displayed as by the women of the many Russian ambulance corps which followed in the wake of the armies before Plevna. For her voluntary aid to the sick and wounded in war gene- rally, England is, I think, facile princeps ; but as far as patriotic devotion was concerned, the women of Eussia during that great siege certainly held their own. Though little at the time was heard of them, and their glories were unsung, they were far from sighing for that bubble reputation which is too often the mainspring of good deeds. They came, saw, and conquered, as far as the hearts of men were concerned, women, in many cases of the highest rank, accustomed to all the luxuries which wealth and station supply, devoting themselves during that bitter winter not only to their husbands, brothers, and lovers, but still extending tender care to those 238 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. amongst the Turkish wounded who were from time to time brought into the hospitals at Sistova, Zimnitza, and elsewhere. Such women, however, have no nationality; they rise to the occasion whenever great events touch the human heart. Indeed, I may say — To the poet's assurance we all of us bow, That when sorrow or anguish be-wrinkle the brow, Those fair ones who, when we are living at ease, Are fickle and coy and not easy to please. Will be — 't was e'en so since the great world began — Like angels of sweet ministration to man ; And I think, had you seen them as I have, when night ' Spreads her canopy o'er the arena of fight, On the blood-soddened field, midst the unburied slain, As they listen for welcome old voices in vain, You would say that when soldiers for fatherland bleed. Suck women are merciful angels indeed ! Pray follow me closely ; I haven't yet said That the Holy Red Cross idly grieve for their dead. While with womanly sorrow they mourn for the brave, Their primary mission, of course, is to save — To succour the wounded, to tend them with care, To touch thera with pity, support them by prayer. To help to restore the maimed heroes who fall, That again they may answer the clarion's call ; Or if, in their agonies gasping for breath, They but wait to obey the grim bugle of Death, With gentle solicitude, mingled with tears. They soften their passage to happier spheres. Yes ; woman in trouble, in sorrow, in woe, Is angelic indeed ; and this most of us know. But yet, on the other hand, woman can be A Pluto in petticoats — frightful to see ! Apart from those saints who, regardless of self. Come to succour and heal, some come only for pelf ; Their mission is money, and watches, and gold. Which is cut off the uniforms, melted, and sold. They affect the dead heroes, of course, though if they See one who is wounded, and think it will pay — THE FINAL STRUGGLE, 239 Such facts are on record — commens urate gains Have led them to tamper with jugular veins ! There are women and women, though happily few, Who are found to belong to this vulture-like crew. I merely suggest their existence, and now — Place the chaplet of honour upon the chaste brow Of the fair Rosicrucian, whose merciful care Brings Sunshine to Sorrow and Hope to Despair ! From a picturesque point of view, too, the women of the Eussian Ked Cross seemed (when nature combined with art) to excel their sisters in the matter of becoming costume, since the wearing of the emblem of their office, not only in the shape of an ordinary brassard, but on the breast of their white aprons, gave an additionally vivid touch of colour to those hospital wards, where, on their errands of mercy, they untiringly went from bed to bed. Thus, it has seemed fitting to add a sketch of one of them to my other illustrations; indeed, it would be ungracious in bringing this record of my experiences to a close not to do so. ^ # * * If, when the time came, the unconditional surrender of Osman Pasha created wonder, then, it may be briefly said, that he had no alternative. That sortie had been his final effort, by which he vacated (in concentrating his forces) all the vantage points from which he had so long kept the enemy at bay ; in the valley of the Vid, his last bril- liant struggle for liberty having failed, he was helplessly in their power. Yet should Osman's name be written in letters of gold by the historians of the future ; his magnificent defence ending, as one of the correspondents to the Daily News happily put it, " in a halo of disastrous glory." 240 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR, Nor must it be forgotten that from a military stand- point he had, roughly speaking, nothing more than raw levies with whom to face well-equipped and thoroughly disciplined troops. Patriotic peasants, rapidly educated in the arts of war on the field, were, with few exceptions, all he had to depend upon. Thus — it naturally suggests itself — ^what marvellous results might have been brought about had a well-trained army been at his command. But this day of days in the world's military annals is already closing in ; silent shadows are creeping over the surrounding hills, taking weird shapes, gliding like night birds with out-stretched filmy wings down into the valley of the Vid. Here are oxen, great meek-eyed creatures, slowly dying where they fell, forming as they did Osman's last defence. Then up the hill-side, stretched in grim disorder, are Eussians, Turks, horses, over-turned arabas, and arms of all descriptions. Those shades of evening stealthily creeping on would have effectually hidden the horrible scene, had it not been brought back by the appealing voices of the wounded, who, in many cases, must have awoke as from a trance, induced by loss of blood and pain, to realise the terrors of the situation and penetrate the stillness of the night with their cries. True, no darkness could ever blot out such a scene from one's mind's eye, even were the night as black as Erebus. Then, again, all was still, pending the birth of that smiling dawn which, banishing the black shadows of war, would herald the advent of long hoped-for peace. THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 241 Cambridge Studios, Linden Gardens, W. It is a crisp frosty night, the fire burns brightly, throw- ing its fitful light and shade on many a memento of the vanished past, each appealing curiously to me as I glance from one to another, smoking the pipe of peace the while, with the blue clouds from which old memories mingle, losing themselves in quick succession, till they disappear amongst the rafters. Before me, on an easel, is a full-length portrait of Hobart Pasha, to which I have recently been putting the finishing touches — a Turkish admiral, with all his honours thick upon him, as I first saw him years since at the War Office at Constantinople — a commission from him only a few weeks before his untimely death at Milan, when England lost one of her most devoted advocates, Turkey her ablest naval commander, and all sorts and conditions of men a thorough friend. I am lost in the realms of long ago. There hangs the quaint Asiatic camp kettle which played such an important part in connection with our evening meal at the front, while by its side, as if to balance its suggestion of sobriety, depends the bibulous- looking brandy flask from which I supplied that ill-fated Circassian with " fire-water." Saddle-bags of curious Eastern workmanship, which have in their turn been receptacles for every imaginable commodity under the sun, now form part of a trophy in which yataghans and other Asiatic and European weapons play a conspicuous part ; a rudely-painted wooden Servian water-bottle, and a camel's tail which I picked up on the 16 242 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. field of Zevin, adding two more to my collection of curios. A bright red Carlist hoina lights up the opposite wall, surmounting a Eussian sheep-skin greatcoat and several French cavalry sabres, which as the flickering firelight now and again catches them, bring back in shadowy array before me ghosts from the battle-fields of four cam- paigns ; while over there in a dark corner, as if hiding themselves, ashamed of the deadly nature of their calling, may be seen a miscellaneous collection of arms of all shapes and sizes, from cross-bows to long Armenian guns and Berdan rifles. Such are the blood-thirsty surroundings of the sanctum in which I sit smoking that pipe of peace, through the fumes of which familiar scenes and faces come and go in strange variety, till I am aroused from my reverie by my studio factotum who brings me in the evening paper. On opening it, my eye catches the following heading — ** Bones from Plevna." The paragraph runs as follows: — Thirty tons of human bones have just been landed at Bristol from Plevna, carted thence to Rodosto ; they now go to enrich English soil. To those who do not give to such matters much consideration, it may be well to mention that 30 tons of human bones mean the skeletons of some thirty thousand men. The pipe of peace had gone out ; memory bringing back to me the heroism of those Moslems and Muscovites who had deserved so well of their respective countries. Then, presently, my musings seemed to strike a poetic chord, with the result of which I may not inappropriately con- clude my wanderings on the war-path. Some thirty tons of human bones, some thirty thousand men, Who for their gods and fatherland did dreadful havoc then, Fell for the flag of Islam, the standard of the Czar, The Double-headed Eagle, or the Crescent and the Star. THE FINAL STRUGGLE. 243 Do Allah and his angels cast a glory round about The heroes who at Plevna held Gravitza's grim redoubt ? How shall we gauge their glory ? What halo may we shed Athwart the silent sepulchre of war's unburied dead ? Each, with an invocation to his deity on high, The soldiers of the Sultan and the Czar went there to die. War, pestilence, and famine, grim death at every turn ; Where the frost of Plevna freezes and the fires of Plevna bum Had you seen the stubborn Tartar and Mahomet's soldier sons In the deadly din of battle, where the thunder of the guns And the groans of dying warriors rent the air on either side, You'd have seen how nobly heroes for their country's glory died. Sic transit gloria mundi — the hero 's left to rot, While worms remain to chronicle the victory they 've got. The page of modern history was made by men like these, Whose bones are shipped and sold in tons to us across the seas. No sculptured urn records their deeds, no single line their loss, Who fell in deadly conflict for the Crescent and the Cross. And so in story and in song let future heroes find The heritage of battles are the bones they leave behind. oX^K^^XO-'^^^^ 16 BACK IN BOHEMIA. 247 CHAPTEK X. BOHEMIA " PRINCESS ALICE " — DE PROFUNDIS COLLIERY DISASTERS SCENES AT THE PIt's MOUTH THE PRINCE IMPERIAL A FLORAL TRIBUTE PRINCE LEOPOLD GHOSTLY REVELATIONS POOR BLENKENSOP A PHANTOM- FRIEND — CHUCKLING IN THE SPHERES. Since Camp and Studio is in some sense a sequel to Wanderings of a War Artist^ it naturally follows, from an autobiographical point of view, that the home life of the writer may, in its way, have as many points of interest as that of the tented field ; indeed, a record of my wan- derings would be incomplete if I failed to chronicle my ad interim occupations as special artist when, diverging from the war trail, I have from time to time trodden the flowery paths of peace. Surely Bohemian life in London has its sombre shadows, its bright high lights, its telling little flecks of in- cident and sharp incisive touches as strongly marked after their kind as those in that series of sketches of camp life which have gone before ; and my readers will in all probability be almost as interested in the doings of a " special " at home as when at the front, since he then, as an artistic free-lance, is much sought after in connec- 248 BACK IN BOHEMIA. tion with the many heartrending catastrophes which from time to time occur, and which, having long since graduated in horrors, he is supposed to grapple with pen or pencil with the utmost sang-froid. Shipwrecks, gunpowder and colliery explosions, famines, fires, and earthquakes, claim his attention at home and abroad by turns ; indeed, I question very much if, with all my grim memories, there are any which can vie with those I have of the Princess Alice disaster. Time can never erase from my mind's eye the scenes I witnessed during those eight or ten days spent busily plying my pencil on the Thames for the Illustrated London News. This terrible occurrence was infinitely more pathetic than war, as every phase of that horrible picture struck directly home. The battle-field was nothing to it. Men go there, leaving all tender associations behind, with the intention of killing, which thus becomes a natural result, but in this instance the poor victims had those who were nearest and dearest around them, who, unable to give a helping hand, were driven to the most indescribable anguish that eye could ever witness. There were, however, subjects, untreated at the time, which I venture to introduce here, and which throw sidelights as it were on that lamentable event. One of these, of a waiting-room at Woolwich Pier, which was turned into a mortuary for little children; indeed, the greater number were babies. Had you been there and noted as I did the wistful, tear- ful faces of the crowd of mothers, who, happily themselves saved, now came to identify their little ones, you would never have forgotten it. Then, again, the aspect of the THE AUTHOR OF THE TBAGEDY. THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME. 249 ordinary people you met in the street was enough to chill the observer to the marrow. "Why every other man or woman you met seemed mad — some drivelling, some shouting wildly or groaning, as the case might be. Probably the most terrible sight of all, though, was the fialoon of that ill-fated vessel, where the dead lay em- bedded to their very armpits in mud, which, like a •cargo of lava, hourly became more solidified. Then the sheds and the outhouses in which those never-ending IDENTIFYIKG THE LITTLE ONES. TOWS lay shoulder to shoulder awaiting identification and burial, while there, out in the twilight, quietly reposing in «,11 its iniquitous, gloomy majesty, up a creek which seemed "to be dwarfed by its mighty bulk, lay the Bywell Castle^ the monster which had cast the shadow of death athwart eight liundred hitherto happy homes. Yes, it was the domestic character of the event which accentuated its horror, and this was felt most keenly when visiting that black museum of relics of the dead, relics which told all too plainly how, 250 BACK IN BOHEMIA, with "youth at the prow and pleasure at the helm," that terrible death-knell had sounded. Then, again, my memory carries me back to the many occasions on which I have sat at the pit's mouth, through the long hours of the night by the fitful light of lantern and torch, surrounded by a motley crowd of women and children, sisters, mothers, wives, and sweet- hearts, all crooning plaintively as they awaited the arrival of explorers from below. The rope suddenly becomes taut,. IN THE SHED. the wheel revolves, and all eyes are full of eager expec- tancy ; presently, indistinct sounds and voices come as- it were from the bowels of the earth ; the tension increases — some avert their gaze in very dread, while others crowd round the explorers as they arrive at the surface with a. fresh freight of victims. At the Forth colliery disaster, at the Seaham explosion in Sunderland, and elsewhere, have deeds of heroism been done, to which in some cases I have been an AT THE PITS MOUTH. THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME. 251 eye-witness, which might well deserve the Victoria Cross ; since while deprived of the glamour of war, they would compare worthily with the most heroic deeds which our naval and military chronicles record ; deeds which can only be appreciated by those who have watched the rescuers volunteer (for all such service is voluntary) at the pit's mouth, to place their lives in the scale in the service of their fellows, to descend fathoms deep, in face of fire and fire-damp, in search of those who are perishing below. Strange, too, are the altercations over the identification of the bodies, which, in most cases, are blackened and charred beyond all recognition ; this generally takes place in some convenient shed or out building where shells await the victims as they are brought to the surface. In-^ deed, I remember one case, in which parts of several human bodies were put into a hastily-prepared coffin, and became a matter of serious contention amongst several poor, half-frantic wives and mothers who clung tenaciously to the mere fragments of those who, but a few hours since, were with them in all the vigour of sturdy manhood,, each declaring that was "him." To return for a moment to the Thames. I was at the little town of Grays in Essex when the training-ship for boys was burnt to the water's edge. It was about 10 o'clock at night when I arrived there, and it w^as by the flames of the burning vessel that I did my sketches. The streets of the little place were full of distraught mothers and sisters,, hurrying in their excitement they knew not whither. The small police station, a point to which many converged,, was crowded with scared, anxious inquiriers, who, by the "252 BACK IN BOHEMIA, light of the element which had in many cases devomred their offspring, would make their way to the water's side, and stand in silent awe, watching those crackling timbers, wringing their hands in agonized supplication as they beheld the fiery grave of those they loved, and whom they were powerless to succour. Or follow me again, and listen to the muffled drums and Dead March in Saul ; follow me, I say, amidst all the sad and impressive surroundings of martial mourning. It is a royal funeral— that of the Prince Imperial to wit. As the representative of the Illustrated London News, I necessarily played the part only of an onlooker, and was not a little surprised when, on the transit of the body to €hislehurst, I found, owing to the Imperial princes having taken to their carriages by the way, that I was left in the position, if not the capacity, of one of the chief mourners ; several others having thus found themselves equally to the fore, notably one, a tall, quiet, delicate-looking man of rather foreign and distinguished appearance. At this point, a rough of the worst type, not content with indulging in horse-play, much to the annoyance of everyone, broke the line of spectators, and with ribald jests and oaths, shouted to his companions — **Come on, pals; they 're only Frenchies as is a foUerin'. 'Oo 's alraid ? " proceeding at the same time to attempt a sort of double-shuffle immediately behind the gun-carriage. The next moment he was in mid air, falling with a heavy thud amongst the amazed spectators. That quiet, un- assuming gentleman had been the propelling force ; after which he resumed his place with the rest, while the astonished rough went slowly, sadly home, his insolent THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME, 25a capers over, to reflect on the advisability of thinking twice before making his next essay at playfulness. Before reaching Chiselhurst, one touching little incident occurred which has imprinted itself on my memory. A very old French lady, in deep mourning, stepped out from the crowd, and hobbled, with the aid of a crutch-handled stick, towards the bier ; with an effort which was almost too much for her, she threw a small bunch of violets on the cofQn, and then, bursting into tears, went back through the crowd, which reverently made way for her, and was soon lost to sight. It is strange to note that on occasions when one's sur- roundings are most grave, coincidences, insignificant in themselves, often attract one's attention. For instance, just as I remember, when following that apparently interminable line of victims in the Princess Alice disaster to their last resting-place, how the procession passed a dyer's shop, on which " We live to dye " was written in large letters, with grim appropriateness ; so do I also remember on this occa- sion that the gun-carriage passed a way- side inn, the swinging sign of which was " The Fortunes of War." Talking of Eoyal funerals brings me to the way I succeeded in obtaining sketches of the obsequies of the late Prince Leopold, at what appeared very like two places at- once. These sketches were for the Pictorial World, The editor had not been able to secure the services of the artist he wanted to represent that paper at Windsor, while he had entrusted to me the debarcation of the body at Ports- mouth. Now, as the passenger train which followed the Eoyal funeral carriages (by which I should have gone) would not •254 BACK IN BOHEMIA. rarrive in Windsor till long after the procession to the Castle was over, it seemed manifest that I must confine my pictorial efforts to Portsmouth, and that the ceremony, as far as Windsor was concerned, must be left undone. However, I managed to obtain pictures of both events, and this wise. Having made the necessary sketches at the landing- place at Portsmouth, and yet another of " Placing the wreaths in the guard's van," I watched my opportunity, and then, when the Eoyal train was about to move out of the station, quietly stepped in unseen and took a seat in a remote corner of that compartment, where I was more than half hidden by those floral offerings of which I continued to make pencil notes. In a few moments the train, which was, I need hardly say, an express, began to move ; in jumped a guard, and one or two others. The next moment I was discovered sitting quietly in my corner. They were, of course, puzzled to know as to how or when I got in, or who I was. I knew there was no stopping possible now, 80 stepped forward and explained to the satisfaction of the guard and his companions, whom I discovered to be Directors, the ruse I bad had recourse to. Thus it was that I alighted at Windsor in time to follow and take sketches of the procession on its way to the Castle, returning the same evening to the Strand by 7 o'clock with that double supply. In this connection it is curious to add, and sad to remember, that not long before I had made sketches of His Koyal Highness' s wedding from about the same points as those from which I then depicted those obsequies — istudies, verily, in ** Black and White." Thus, the life of THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME. 255 a war artist " at home " has some flecks of sunshine, though Koyal weddings do not often fall to his lot. No, it seems to me that, on the contrary, he is supposed to delight in all that is sad and terrible, as if in some pre- vious state of existence he had been a vulture or carrion crow. With reference to the very varied scenes witnessed by the special at home, much space might be occupied, and many interesting stories told ; yet there are many phases of artistic life generally, and my own particularly, on which I should like to touch ere I bring this rambling biographical sketch to a close. Till matrimony ** marked him for her own," your scribe, whose pen and pencil wanderings on the plains of paperland have formed the subject of the foregoing chronicle, found himself as much the subject of fickle fortune and romantic incident in Bohemian London, as when in the wilds of Asia Minor. I think this may be said specially to apply to that large community of bachelor painters who, having a bed-room and studio attached, live somewhat isolated lives, being by day occupied with their art, and by night often remote from the ordinary haunts of men, lost somewhere in a nest of ghostly studios, " Ghostly studios ! " How vividly do those words recall to me an episode in my life I would gladly forget, concern- ing, as it does, an old friend of mine ; it will answer the reader's purpose sufficiently well for me to re-christen him Blenkensop. Not, be it thoroughly understood, that I am by any means a believer in ghosts, or one who has any in- clination whatever to deal in matters supernatural. The occult sciences have no fascination for me. About visita- 256 BACK IN BOHEMIA. tions from the dead there always appears to me to be a. strange want of purpose, which would in itself be enough to make me sceptical ; be not surprised, then, if I tell you the following strange story with a certain amount of hesitation, since it is averse to my own preconceived views touching the great beyond. The plain, unvarnished tale is as follows. I had a friend who, like myself, was professionally an artist. He had^ in a London suburb (no matter which), a studio. It was- of wood, and built in the garden of the house in which he lived. I have been at many pleasant bachelor gatherings in my friend's sanctum, and do not remember any occa- sion on which that cheery old soul Blenkensop was not one of the party. Blenkensop was as much an institution at Bob Hackett's (I will call him Bob Hackett) as if he had been the palette Bob used or the easel at which he painted. We all knew and liked Blenkie ; he was quite an oddity in his way, his face being as characteristic as was his dress and manner. His relations had been so obliging as to die young, leaving him in possession of a modest com- petence ; this was all that was known of him. He was otherwise an enigma, about whom it was impossible to come to any rational conclusion. As far as his capabilities were concerned, had he been left penniless he might have become eminent ; but then, on the other hand, he might not ; so it is, perhaps, just as well that he had, as he put it, " enough to rub along with." Thus, that part of his day not occupied by reading the morning papers, was devoted to the studios of his friends, foremost amongst whom was Bob Hackett. THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME. 257 Though he knew nothing of art practically, he was always on the alert to be of service in connection with it. There was not a model's address that was not known to Blenken- sop, or broker's shop where bits of antiquity were to be picked up, which did not come within the range of his happy hunting-grounds. In person he was spare, bald-headed, bearing no re- semblance to an Adonis ; a pronounced Koman nose. BLENKENSOP. a large mole on his left temple, and disproportionately large hands and feet. I regret to say my hero will no sooner have lived in your vivid imagination than he will die — is, in fact, dead, and long since buried ; he died in Bob's studio one quiet summer's evening, while looking over a portfolio of sketches, a new acquisition which had just, for a small sum, been added to his collection. It was a terrible 17 258 BACK IN BOHEMIA. shock to my friend, who, after twice speaking to him and supposing him to be unusually engrossed, touched him. Moving the body, it immediately fell forward and lay prone on the studio floor. He had died of heart disease, without the slightest warning, and with his death a settled gloom fell on our little fraternity. There was an uncanny something about the place now, which didn't accord with Bob's somewhat nervous temperament. The studio was, as I have said, built of wood, and con- structed so as to take to pieces ; so it was packed up in anany lengths, and advertised as follows : — A WOODEN Studio with Ante-room, complete. Apply by letter to A. V., •^ 24, Burlington Crescent, Bayswater. Now, seeing this advertisement in a daily paper, I an- swered it, and was not, as you may imagine, a little •surprised to find that it had been inserted by my old friend, and concerned a studio in which many of the hap- piest hours of my life had been spent. Suffice it to say, we soon came to terms with reference to its transfer from Burlington Crescent to Chelsea, where, in the garden of the house where I then resided, it was, in due course, erected. I may say, incidentally, that the foregoing reason for its having been advertised for sale was not then known to me, my friend Hackett very wisely, while telling me of the death of Blenkensop, refraining from entering into particulars which might prejudice me against purchasing the studio. Now I had probably for some three or four months •occupied my new quarters, comfortably situated at the end •of the garden, when a pupil — a man of about thirty — THE WAR ARTIST AT HOME. 259 came one day for his accustomed lesson, with a view to which we crossed that intervening garden together. In doing so he stopped suddenly, saying : " I see I 'm preceded ; I '11 finish my cigar out here, while you attend to your first visitor." . Quite mystified, I assured him there was no one waiting for me. , " Do you mean to say that 's not a man — an elderly gentleman, standing there ? " I could see nothing. We were by this time at the very steps which led up to that studio door where my visitor was supposed to be standing, and I do not think I shall €ver forget the expression of my friend's face at that moment. He looked round at me as if for explanation. I