A young female, in an attire so little adapted to the tenderness of her sex, and to the inclemency of the season, moved one's very soul. I do not know that I touched the reins, and yet my horse stopt with his head towards her. My eye involuntarily fixed itself upon her; and, to the latest moment of my life, I shall never forget her figure. She is above the middle size, and her limbs did not seem formed for so exposed a situation. The sun had tanned her face; but her skin was smooth, and naturally delicate, and her features of that mould, that, had she been born to a more happy lot, she might have been reckoned a perfect beauty.
It was impossible to behold such an object without emotion. My horse now advanced to her feet, and my friend approached her at the same moment. Each searched his pockets, and presented the little silver they contained. No hand could be spared to receive it. In our anxiety to relieve her distress, we had forgot the trial to which we had exposed her modesty. The blushing maid stood motionless; but, encouraged by the sympathy and charity marked in our approach, she ventured to raise her head.--Her eyes were turned towards us.--The tear of gratitude was swelling in them.--She gave but one glance.--Her face was instantly reverted to the ground.--She could not speak.
Such unexpected modesty, in so exposed a situation, filled me with astonishment and veneration. How much did I wish to take her in my arms, and, by a kiss of affection, to express the sympathy I bore in her distress. How did I execrate the parsimony that had prevented my having about me all the money I possessed.--How earnestly did I wish to remove her to a more sheltered fate, where her beauty and her modesty might be better known and admired.
Led away by these inclinations, I was preparing to alight. The timid virgin drew back. By signs of respect, she again raised her eyes. Charity was so forcibly petitioning in them, that the money which her figure at first sight drew from my pocket, now dropt at her feet. The reins fell from my hand. My horse inclined to the road. I would with joy have turned him back; but I recollected my inability to relieve her.--I am only a Soldier of Fortune, and subsist but by the bounty of my Sovereign: a bounty which, though much superior to what my humble services entitle me to expect, is, alas! too insufficient to support the appearance required from an Officer, and often compels the military Philanthrope to suppress every charitable emotion.
The road being but little frequented, the caravansera, or public inn, we stopped at the first night of our journey, was nothing but a large hovel, one end of which was appropriated to travellers, and the other, without any partition, to their cattle: but we were fortunate enough to be accommodated with a Greek hut, where, with the assistance of a good fire, we passed a tolerable night.
At Ephesus we were not so lucky. We were obliged to sleep promiscuously among the Turks, one or other of whom was smoking all night long. I observed that they eat very little, but that, after every nap, they took a pipe, and a sip of coffee: I say, a sip; for the Turkish cups are scarce bigger than a walnut shell; but of these they drink an amazing number, and their coffee is always exceedingly strong.
We were heartily rejoiced when we returned to our old Greek hut on the road, but, to our great disappointment, found it possessed by a Turk. Luckily, he expressed a great desire to taste our beer; and we seized this opportunity to get rid of him, by desiring our janizary to invite him to partake of a bottle of it at the caravansera. A janizary's invitation is only a civil command; but we did not choose to make use of his authority until we could give the Turk a satisfactory compensation. Mahomet forbade the use of wine; but his followers do not conceive themselves to be prohibited the use of other fermented liquors. In general, they are very fond of porter and beer of all kinds, drinking as much of it as they can get; and some of them, indeed, are not very scrupulous about wine.
After the Turk was gone, not dreaming of the danger that was hanging over us, we slept very comfortably for some hours; but, before day-light, we were roused by flakes of fire falling upon our bodies from the roof. No water being at hand, the whole hut was soon in a blaze, and, in a few minutes, burnt to the ground.
This unlucky accident was occasioned by our own fire, which heated the mud flue that served as a chimney, to such a degree, that it communicated to the thatched roof, which was half burnt through before we awoke. Very fortunately, none of us had taken off our clothes; for we carried no bedding, and nothing of the kind was to be got.
The Turks in the Caravansera remained quiet spectators of this catastrophe. At the moment when we found that all our efforts to extinguish the flames were ineffectual, my eye turning towards the Mussulmen, found them smoking, and seemingly quite unconcerned.