"I hope that I shall get a baksheesh at Erzeroum," he added.
"Of course," I said; "that is, if the brute reaches Erzeroum. But it strikes me that you have not been giving him anything to eat lately!"
"No, Effendi, I was afraid that if he looked too well he would have been taken for the use of the troops; but no one will even glance at him as he is. He has a wonderful appetite, and will make up for lost time; no one will recognize him, after he has eaten the Effendi's barley for a day or two; he will soon be fat and strong."
The road from Tokat to Sivas is a good one for the first few hours. My friend the engineer's work had been very fairly done; our horses were able to get over the ground at from five to six miles an hour. The track led through a succession of hills and valleys. In some places the engineer had been obliged to cut the road for several hundred yards in the solid rock.
Presently we passed a small Circassian village. Several good-looking women, coming to the road-side, offered chickens and geese for sale. One of the Circassians was a very pretty girl, and would have carried off the palm amidst many European belles. Her face was not veiled. There was a great deal of expression in her large, dark eyes. They flashed excitedly as she sought to induce me to buy her wares.
"I am tired of chicken," I said; "I should like a little meat."
"There is no meat here," replied the girl. "We ourselves live upon bread and eggs: buy some eggs."
And running back to a house, she brought out about fifty eggs; the price being eightpence of our money.
Now we came to Tchiflik, an Armenian village. Here there were thirty houses; and as six hours had sped by since we left Tokat, I determined to halt for the night, the more particularly as Mohammed's horse showed unmistakable signs of fatigue.
The Armenian in whose house I stopped, complained of his Circassian neighbours. According to him, they had hazy ideas as to the difference between meum and tuum. Several cows belonging to the villagers had recently disappeared. It was strongly suspected that some Circassians were implicated in the robbery.