Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-02-05


man are characteristicalIy clean and
comfortable. The remainder of the
city except foreign quarters is lntoler-
ably dirty. With true Oriental toler-
ance. the Turk lets things gang their
ain gait. The casual observer and
traveller always confounds the Turk
with the rest of the ~nondescript mass
of humanity that warns in Constanti-
nople. That is a Grass mistake. Your
true descendant of Osman is a clean,
dignified, easy-going gentleman with a
deep philosophical strain in his make
up, contaminated by hundreds OF years
of contact-not association, for your
true Turk does not associate-with
the outcast Mischling of southern
Europe and Asia Minor.
The Invaluable Kim.
My mission was indeed a difficult
one and only by tedious, p~ainstaking
work. observing the life of the city
and its character, | succeeded in iso-
lating the individual who gave me
the key to the circumventuous polit-
ical life and the government of Con-
stantinople. It took me a full month
of night work to become familiar with
the innumerable demi-mondaines. They
were of French, Russian and Circas-
sian birth and extraction, and we're
identified with the Grand Vizier down
to an officer in the Janizaries. This
preliminary work Is always exhaust
ing, but it is so necessary on a mis-
sion of this kind. One blunder, one
step in the dark, and you are gone.
One spends months without In tan
gible results, often going on the wrong
track. One has to be overwhelmingly
circumspect in ones inquiries. To
use a hunters expression, there is no
quarry so wary, sharp-sighted and
keen at smelling the wind as a politi-
cal demi-mondaine.
In this work Kim was of inestim-
| would not have succeeded. at all. All
the households kept by the Turkish
officials and their favorites swarm
with negroes of the Va ous types. A
white man has not the slightest chance
of finding the way into their conf
dences. The universal golden key
does not unloose tongues In such cases
In the Orient. But Kim as a member
of the once mighty Zulu nation Che
was really a descendant of a prince
Of the house of Dingaan) was able,
through a mysterious freemasonry
still existing among colored races the
world over, to obtain most valuable
information.
My method of campaigning was to
ascertain the name of one of the ia
vorites of the Turkish officials, to
locate her residence and then put Kim
to work. Finally locating one Of these
women, l would manage to learn her
name and where she lived. Then It
was time for Kim.
Kim l said, Il want you to find
out who comes b see her, whether
1t is always the same official and if
SO, how frequently. / want you to
learn everything you can about any
letters she may receive. ! want to
know Just where she gets her money
from, II she has any outside resources
of revenue, other than in CONSTANT
nople. l want every scrap of any
kind of information about her"
And Kim would go his way, seek
out the servants in that household and
he would generally come back with
all this information.
A Certain Mile. BalnIaux.
Now | noticed that a certain Mile.
Balniaux was very much in the com
pany of Abdulla, who was at that time
the influential adviser of the Grand
Vizier. 1t was known In Berlin that
the Grand Vizier had lately become
very deaf and a~ntagonistic to German
influence. The Wilhelmstrasse- knew
that France and Russia were at work,
but were in the dark as to the chan
nels. Therefore / sent Kim to ascer-
tain If Nile. Balniaux was visited by
Abdulla at her private residence. I
told him to learn the exact hour of
arrival In each instance and the
length of the visits.
The bare fact that Abdulla might be
seen in her company In public bore no
particular significance. These women
are always accompanied by a whole
retinue of officers and officials, at
tach them to their person, make them
spend huge sums of money and then
play their card. noticed that the
money Turkish officers squandered on
these women compared with their pay
and income was tremendous. They
think nothing of going ahead hlindly
and buying the most expensive jewels;
| have seen them even buy motorcars.
The result is not difficult to forecast.
The young officer soon finds himself
head oye heels in debt. Two courses
are open to him. Either he must pay
the debt or be transferred to some
dreary interior post. and a Turk who
has been in the gay life OF Constants
nople would rather commit suicide
than 90 to any inland garrison. Those