who disobeyed my instructions 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 perfectly 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 excitement.

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 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 moonlightstood out the remarkable and utterly unmistakeable 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 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 moroseness had become perfectly insufferable.

Calling him, I explained, through the medium of the invaluable Williams, that I possessed a magic antidote to 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, 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 vanished. smiled again, and so did we.

He

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.

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 interviewed 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 beset 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 promised 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 with which he told his flattering tale always paving the way, as far as we were concerned, for a right royal reception 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.

At this time Hobart Pasha's ironclads were busy in the Black Sea, blockading ports and striking terror generally into the ranks of the entrenched Russians 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 moment 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. Rather a treat, I should say, after being up country. Read it, and don't say a word till I've finished these despatches.'

The sight of so late an edition of an English newspaper 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—

Have some too?

Going to have tea. Took two Russian 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