St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-01-10

lHluB 10 w, IL WAS HOI ditOBStuSt
impossible, and it has been done.
Two or three bankers were reduced
to their wits ends, but the sum was
at last collected and is now with the
prince. A courier was sent at once
to inform Ishmael-he is the owner
of the mare-and he is to come to-
morrow to deliver the horse and re-
ceive the money. You can readily
understand that the matter has
made some little stir in the world.
Damascus has as much village gos-
sip as St, Petersburg, Vienna or
Paris. Everything is known here.
Isbmael is a gentleman who is fire.
quently the talk OF Damascus, and it
was with some excitement that it
was learned he was to honor the lit
tie fete with his presence. There will
be great crowd under the plane
trees, for everybody will want to see
him. He will not come without a
great suite, for he is of rather vain
disposition. People are going there
IL OlI lO ~ q plNhodiN Ddi
ty. 1t will be meeting of the desert
and the city. Everything will con-
tribute to make this reunion some
thing quite unusual, and the queer
ness of the costumes, the variety Of
types, the famous mare herself, will
be sight of such nature as | think
would interest traveller. Do you
still want to join our party"
more than ever"
1--WE will meet tomorrow at nine
in the morning before the princes
house, few steps from the mosques
of St. James. will introduce you
to my Boyar, and you will form a
part of the official cortege. Au
revoir."
You may imagine whether or not
/ was on time. Ia less than FIVE
minutes all the little European colo
ny was assembled before the princes
door. Seldom have l seen hand
somer collection of Arabian horses.
The trappings may have been little
Heterogeneous; there were Cairo sad
dies, easily to be recognized by their
high cantles; French saddles, square
and wide; and English saddles, no
bigger than ones hands, but a la
guerre CONNIE la guerre.
At nine precisely, after congratu-
lating the prince most heartily, we
started off.
The road, which leads from Damas-
Gus to the Dervish's spring, was al
ready crowded with eager sightseers,
for every one was anxious to see the
horse that was to bring such price.
The Turks, some of whom were the
owners of very handsome horses, had
taken great care not to leave them 1t
home on such day, and the son of
the governor rode about on stallion
from Nedji, black as ebony, with a
single tiny star upon his forehead,
who certainly would have made lore
than one person on the banks of the
Lac du Bots de Boulogne turn to look
at him. Rich bankers, grown corpu-
lent from the sedentary labors of the
Office, bore down with their weight
little black donkeys that carried
them, grooming; and great long, 10 W
carriages. drawn by four oxen, like
the chariots of the French "do-noth-
ing" kings, were filled with mum bers
of women, enveloped in lifelong folds
OF their yellow, blue, orange colored
or pale green feredjes, of whom moth.
ing could be seen but white brow and
pair of eyes sparkling like black
diamonds from behind their yash-
maks.
At the end of half an hour we ar
rived at the spot chosen for the meet
ing.
1t would indeed have been hard to
choose a better one. The Dervish's
spring comes bubbling up out of the
hollow of a rock, covered with mastic
trees, caroubiers and cactuses. The
plane trees which bear the name of
st. Paul, in honor of the great man
who fell there, prosecutor, to arise
an apostle. are magnificent things
more than twenty centuries old, ex-
tending their robust arms so far and
wide as to shelter an entire tribe be-
meath their LEAKAGE,
Stalls and well filled booths were
already erected in their shade by cot
fee sellers, vendors of sherhet and lem
onade, and youths who sell women
and children their pastries, fruits and
comits. Everywhere could be felt
that exciting animation which al
ways accompanies, in crowd, the
awaiting of any event somewhat out
of the ordinary.
Not far from the plane trees little
tent had been set up for the prince,
and its looped-up curtains disclosed
table covered with rug, on which
the attendant was to count out the
sixteen thousand dollars. These were
guarded by two Russian peasants in
national costume, who kept their
right hands upon the cover of the
little black casket that contained the
gold.
The meeting was to take place at
10. At a few minutes to 10 we per-
ceived a cloud of dust rising in the
east.
1t was coming toward us.
At about $50 or 200 steps from our
little camp it halted suddenly and we
were able to distinguish the horsemen
Of IShnael mounted on their hlOoded