The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-09
FRONTIER BATTLEFIELDS,
oorRsE or THE GREAT CONFLICTS
BETUEEN TURK AND GREEK.
A., Amateur CampniEncr Describes his First
u,ttir-Thr struggle Mt Milouna rasr from
rNo Points or Wow - Tho flight or the
,:r.rL- from Larinsn-W ELL IA Turks.

-. Amateur ChupuIHncr bencrthen Htn n1rNt
u,tir-The struggle nt N1llouna Fnsn from
Tro Points or Wow The flight or the
creeks from LariSSa-We Turks.
1oypov. April 2s.-It takos a long time to tell
the story OF "A war, even when the beginning and
,ho end Of it are only seven days apart. Perhaps
rho fghting will have begun afresh when this let
for is read, but everybody In Europe believes to-
6av that the Intervention or peace negotiation
starcis now close at hand. 1t will be many days,
bowevcr. before tho scores Of correspondents
and other spoctators OF the week of fighting have
finished telling about what they saw. Some of
the narratives lose nothing in interest by being
somewhat bclated. Indeed, they will DO read
inst as eagerly when they become merely a part
OF the routine history of the closing years Of the
nineteenth century. And for those who enjoy
the comedy OF war / doubt II anything more en-.
tcrtalning can BIO found than q. w. Stevens's
account Of his first battle. I give It entire, by
permission Of the editor of tho Daily Mail:
"onc band of Crooks came inside last night
remarked Charlie. as his largo red face mot my
awakening eyes. 'Wheref 'Knrya; bin shoot
all night; bin shooting always
II Thought 1t was only another Krania affair
Greek r~cservists disguised rs brigands, two days
shooting, and the matter handed over TO be
settled between Constantinople and Athens.
However, Karya 10 not far-perhaps fifteen
miles or so. would go and spend the night. So
had them pack up my bed and q box Of food
and load 1t on o pack-saddlo. i mounted the
Beetle, as my larger and moro b~razen-mouthed
pony is called. mounted Charlie on tho Flea,
which is the name Of tho ono which trots like tho
gas In a siphon, and of we went to Karya.
''Thc road to Karya-which the Turks call
Koskui-is like the road to everywhere else in
this country. Now up, now down, here q preci-
picc on the right, there a torrent on the left,
stones everywhere, prickles everywhere, bag
gage animals everywhere. But as we struggled
on the Karya road there came a new experience.
Pop, pop; pop, pop. pop; pop, pop, pop, pop,
pop; pop. 1t was not very different from tho
sound Of shooting pheasants, but I know they
were shooting men. My heart began to try to
beat in time with the pops. When four or Eve
came together I wondered how many were down
that time, and I hurried on lest both sides
should DO killed out before I got there. So 1
turned a corner. and came on the village Of
karya-small and ramshackle and dirty, wedged
into Il recess under hills like cataracts suddenly
turned to stone, above these the solemn white
ness of Olympus. Olympus is the blackstone of
Karya; its foreground was the battle.
There was q broad valley, perhaps O mile to
acouple Of miles across; at the othor side of It
grayGrecn hills, part stones, part young grass,
part wood. The hills rose to various SUBMITS
ioul Va hNO III oLs bhouBh "tT0 nhTulJ II
dividual enough to make the whole thing moro
than a crested ridge; you might as well call it
one hill as five. I suppose they are 5000 feet
or 1000 feet high, and quite steep. Along them
runs the frontier; you can recognize 1t by the
little dabs Of white which stand for
hlockhouses. Across tho valley came the
representatives rare and distinct, some
times a rapid popple when all the separate
reports ran into each other. 1t sounded like a
machine that was now going round slowly, now
quickly. Every now and then the pops were
varied by a boom. Here and there q tiny patch
Of dirty smoke curled %languidly of the broad hill
side. That was the battle. Through q glass I
watched it for a long time from the Pasha's
headquarters, and I made out some black dots
on a tongue about one!third Of the way up. That
was a battery Of artillery. At the very top was
a Line rather like the leg of a beetle under a
microscope; that was a battalion o finfantry. Pop,
popple: boom little black dots and little black
o, hhNo ~ she IT t WAS sr; z littie b more Il Of ill., #; o. R,! the
q esafso it reeked Of iodotorm; hospitals Isls do.
RIVALS to I've with it, there was distinctly another
smell. Blood. And there was another sound
wifi. half-stealthy movements Of a hospital
stan. Groans. walls, sentences cried out, aloud,
III iik st a %sn th taios .aa asS g freit1 vDl paasi OF sound md
%tonation like a chiid's. There came to meet me
a s \ G ss fair q a, v q lalr y 2nRikfsb snIse0 With an a
skin like Strawberries and cream, hair like
vine tendrils, eyes as simple as a baby's and as
beautiful man I I ever F0s saw. He wore a blue
overall, his sleeves were tucked above the elbow,
with blood. Yet, though it sounds like sush Ing,
that young man looked to me like an angel. The
With ~Sih" eyes t that fei n as 'h Il they esa Wo sid b teGe1 thr 70 . %S
me. One man yelled aloud like q beast and
flung of the coverings from his wound. A white
his wound with a smile of humorous patience.
But, beast or humorous gentleman. the beauti-
clear, pitifuI eyes, tormented them with the
same quick, unsparing. merciful hand.
listen to the battle, 1t still popped onSnow fast.
now slow, as II the gods were opening much
1saFeP i, for f1 I sap q RiG q ii.t Ge s 3bliy%p of eI ! Tsns nG
ask about it. This last Greek outrage was too
shal Pasha would advance in force tomorrow all
along the line. I jumped on the Beetle. turned
baggage and tif started nSif faili H Scramble yg5 eh BACK to q heads nds
quarters. The fight / left to crackle out If 1t
the firing line. but behind the general staff, and
lever have any harr9wing adventures in that
'O" sas there RcTe'' %as T NO e doubt Ssu about it. War.
long promised, long delayed.war, which; in my
l das;arppS G't ted the h M night aomi before: I had s q
last; AS rode along the valley path the sound
OF rifle fire kept pace as 1t ran like a train of
gunpowder along the sheer heights above. For
The second half OF the journey The road climbs;
BY this time the sun had gone down. and under
the shadow OF the mountain side even the white
baggage horse was no more than a patch of
Rhostly gray. But at the top we came out into
The moonliFht-full moon. as bright as a
doubt about 1t. On the heights blazed
signal fires, and the plain replied to
them. On the horizon, near Milouna, blazed a
tloGkhouse-where. 1t was impossible to saaE.
fenced plain of Elassona was deepened moro and
more often by the voice of cannon. It was war
all along the line, and it was war in force. To-
morrow we should fight over fifty miles of
To-day came. I woke in my breeches, and |
was out before daybreak, Not Tor one moment
IN the night-so ! was toid-had the peoples and
the hooms ceased. Now the sun had Come out
clear in the blue Easter Sunday sky; Olympus
had even taken his cloud.cap. OFF for the great
day. | rode off, childishly. happy, to find the
Marshal and his staff; was ] not going to see the
biggest fight since Pleynaf
The Marshal was just moving down to the
front. With him were the long lines of red
fezZes and white, black uniforms and dancing
rifles OF five Albanian battaliOns-the reserve,
the best men. in the army perhaps almost the