El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-03
Cafe BaIcanique
A short story.


~ ETWEEN a cobbler who made
/ X clogs and a potter who made
- round bowls there lay in Musta-
pha Pasha a blue painted house in
which we used to drink our Turkish
coffee Certainly it was not called
Turkish" any more, for since the out
break Of the war it was called cafe
Balcanique," but in spite of it schanged
name it was just as sweet and thick and
strong as it was when the people Of the
Balkan still called the Sultan their
master. There were not many good
things in Mustapha Pasha, but this cOf-
fee was good, and because the coffee
was good this little, smoky den was a.
ways full of officers and soldiers, corr
respondents and cattle drivers, all
smoking and all scOrching their tongues
and lips on Balkan coffee and Balkan
There sat a fair haired hussar in red
uniform, with a kind, smiling face,
whom nobody would suspect OF having
hung some poor sinner In TWO very
beautiful, tall trees a few hours prevl-
Gus, for he was not only a soldier, but
also district attorney Of Sophia and le-
sal adviser Of the court martial Of the
third army There also sat in his uni
form of the bOdyguard, the handsome
NeytSchO, with his fierce muSLaChe,
whom everybody would have taken for
really a most peaceful author and poll
tician. There was the little, eager pro-
fessOr with the monaghan features,
whose parents and sisters lived in a
Turkish frontier town and who, there
fore, could not get at the Turks quickly
enough, while in the meantime he
quarreled with his German friends
about Ulrich WilamOvitz- MOllendOrf
or quoted passages from his own trans
latiOn of Faust, to show how beautiful
the Bulgarian language sounds in poe
p. -. #rnHa
envy was there, with his gentle face and
iron energy, and thee little airman
whom we buried later, and who in OC-
tober was so happy because he was the
first Bulgarian Of the besieging army
who had looked into AdrianOple from
the dizzy heights Of his aerOplane
which soon afterwards carried him into
swift and painless death.
OF course we talked Of Adrianople.
There was no other topics Of converse
ton in Mustapha Fasha-
We shall get in there, as soon as we
really want TO-" said one Of the civil
ians in uniform.
But it will take some time yet" said
the officer in the leather coat
How did you feel up there, neuten-
anti" asked one of the correspondents.
The Lieutenant answered only with a
smile, for in the first place he was not
allowed to talk Of his observations
and in the second place a Bulgarian
never praises himself before strangers,
not from mOdesty, but from fOXiness.
I
Adrianople and its Qualifications were
not there. we shall s6Un get to Adri-
anople and its forts, says another, but
Adrianople with ChukIi Pasha-"
And he makes a sign to a young fell
low in the corner who wears a Bulga-
rian cap and rags tied around his leg
and who bows and crosses himself and
begins to chatter as no Bulgarian sol
der would ever do
Tell US all about it, You deserter."
And the young man tells how he and
his three brothers were taken along by
the Turks when they left Mustapha
Pasha and how they were given arms
and had to drill The iron pasta him
self told them they must fight and not
man who never joked- Often he got up
in the middle Of the night and inspected
the posts himself And il he found a
man who was not wide awake he was
shot before dawn They were always
drilling and digging trenches, and
though there was plenty OF bread and
milk in the city. nobody got more than
We're never seen. That was only for the
foreign men who were idltng in the
clubs as If there was no war at all
Every spot was guarded except the
place where he and his brother
That is enough" said the district at
tOrney in the husSar uniform WHO had
translated everything into French so
far, get out of here and report to the
commander; you talk too much
A soldier escorted him away and We
began 70 talk of AdrianOple.
How long will it be before We get
in there2 Three weeks2 Three months
Il want to send a telegram there to
order room" somebody says.
But the BulSarians do not laugh and