"We know it, to our cost," he replied. "This is only one instance which Osman Bey has just given you, and which you have written down in your note-book; but there are many more equally horrible. The Russians have made a hell of our beautiful country. They are worse than the fiend himself."
"Do your country-people like the Russians?" said Osman Bey.
"Some do," I replied; "but they do not believe in these horrible cruelties which you have been just relating to me."
"Well, then, tell them to travel through our country—that is, if the Russians will let them—to go to our villages and talk to the country people; but not in the presence of Russians, as the poor sufferers would be afraid to speak, knowing well the fate which would await them when their questioners had departed. Let any of the people of England, who now sympathize with Russia, do this, and then let them form an opinion about the merits of the case."
"When you return to your own country will you publish what I have said to you?" said Osman Bey.
"Yes," I said, "every line. Listen to what I have written, so that there may be no error."
And I translated to him my notes, the engineer aiding me in the task.
"Are all your countrymen of one mind in their hatred of the Russians?" I inquired.
"Unfortunately, no," said Osman Bey. "The authorities have been clever enough to sow the seeds of dissension amongst our ranks. For example, they will often give the post of 'stanishna' (a local authority) in the different villages to a Circassian of a low degree. This gives him authority over our nobles. Ill-feeling is thus created between the two classes; it is utilized by the Russians."
"One of our number is doing his best to avenge himself on the Muscovites," said another of the party, a good-looking young fellow, apparently about twenty years old, and Osman Bey's nephew. "His name is Yonn Bek; he has taken up his abode in the Farsa Shaguash mountain near Ekaterinograd, and kills the Russians whenever he can meet them. He has been pursued; but he has depôts in the mountain where he keeps provisions, and the Russians have never been able to trace him to his lair. The authorities have offered Yonn Bek a great many gold imperials if he would leave the country, as the man has done so much mischief there; but Yonn declines, and says that if the Russians have not been able to capture him in eight years, and he has been able to do them so much damage, what will not happen to the foe when the war breaks out and he is joined by other men like himself?"