The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-02-26

heard, even in Pera, but the occasion
al howl of a street dog that some
bitten watchman had beaten with his
staff; dervishes had ceased their holy
waltzing and their demoniac bowling
priests had left their lofty minarets
for the night; the Sultan had sunk
into a trance; the bazaars, where no.
tions of all Nations are sold, we're
barred and bolted up; the coffee shops
had quenched their charcoal fires the
beggars on the bridge had dragged
home their stumps and sores, the sol
diers of the Porte we're in their bar
racks, dreaming of a revolt; viziers
laid their uneasy heads on silken pill
lows; the "sick mans" dying city
was dead asleep, and it made one
sleepy to feel even near six hundred
thousand sleepers. Human nature is
initiative; when it sees eating it
wants to eat, and when it sees sleep.
ing it wants to sleep. Besides did
not know that my countrymen In
Pera were wavering in their allegiance
to the pleasant king of midnight, and
were half of them yawning and
stretching over billiards and dominoes,
and looking with alright at the two
up-lifted clock hands. Turks, who
have no amusements, 60 to bed early.
was sitting at the window of my
bedroom, meditative-one boot off,
and one boot On-wondering if there
was ever a minute, day or night, since
Constantine was placedin his porphyry
tomb, that some wild dog had not
parked in Pera, when a tap came at
my door. l put my boot on, and
babe the visitor open the door.
1t was Antonio, my dragoman or
courier, whom had hired that day,
and thus he spoke:
Monsieur, sare, nous avons-we
ave got the fareman for the night"
Firman, you must know, is an Ash
attic word, signifying, in this instance,
passport.
ooh, have you'll All right, Antonio
/ am ready" said I, buttoning up my
coat to the last button, and adjusting
my hat before the mirror
'Vera good, ;" returned my Albanian
guide, who, by the way, had the most
villainous face imaginable; "come on,
sare.
That frmGn, the Sultan's gracious
permission-gracious, but expensive
cost me $50 piasters, or about
twenty eight dollars,
Be it known unto you, reader, that
ever so many Circassiaus, recently
whipped by the Russians in spite OF
their devoted courage and the genius
of their leader, Schamyl, had been
offered few plasters per diem to join
the army of the Porte, had accepted
the offer readily, knowing that Tur.
key was the natural enemy of the land
Of vermin and steppes, and had been
apprised on arriving at STEAMBOAT, af-
ter many hungry days Of forced march
ing over countries innocent of bridges
and of roads, that the Porte was una.
BILE to pay the native troops, let alone
foreign ones. That was enough to
make the hungry Circassians angry,
was it not? A little way beyond the
Valley of the Sweet Waters, which is
q place of fashionable resort, equiva-
lent or thereabouts, to our Central
Park, those soldiers of q hundred pa
triotic battles had located their camp,
and were muttering discomfort in g
way that was very disagreeable to the
Turkish Government. 1t was in order
to see them that Antonio and I left
the Pera Hotel at eleven o'clock al
night.
Escaping being torn to pieces BY
the rival boatmen of Tophana, ]
tumbled down into the cradle of neat
caique, which, because it is pattern
boat, I will describe. 1t is long, and
aharp at both ends, and at both endsit