The governor had sent an officer with some Zaptiehs as an escort for our party. As we were entering the principal street a servant approached us with a fine Arab horse, and said that the Pacha hoped I would honour him by riding his favourite animal to the quarters prepared for my accommodation. It appeared that the Bey in Angora had telegraphed to the governor of Sivas about me, hence the preparations which had been made.
I dismounted from my own quadruped, and mounted the Pacha's horse. I now found that the stirrup-leathers, even when let out to the last hole, were much too short, I was sitting with my knees nearly up to my chin.
The whole population of Sivas had turned out to welcome me to their city. I should have liked to have made my entry in as dignified a manner as possible. Dignity soon became out of the question. The Arab horse, unaccustomed to sixteen stone on his back, began to kick. To avoid ignominiously coming off, I was compelled to take my feet out of the stirrups, and ride without these appendages to the saddle.
Luckily the rooms prepared for us were not far distant. On arriving in a small square, the officers and Zaptiehs halted before a small, but clean-looking house, which faced the Pacha's residence. On the other sides of the square were the prison and the barracks. The guard turned out from the last-named building, and presented arms as we dismounted. The officer of the escort, taking my hand, led me up a staircase to the apartment set aside for my accommodation.
Soon after our arrival I was waited upon by an Italian engineer, who was employed at Sivas by the government. He was the only European in the city, which contains 7000 houses; however, there were three American missionaries who had been settled in Sivas for several years past with the object of making proselytes.
The Italian was accompanied by an Armenian who spoke French. The latter gentleman was very indignant with the Pacha, who had shut up the shops belonging to the Christians during the previous week. It appeared that some of the redif soldiers had pillaged a house in the market-place. Several hundred more redifs were expected to arrive at Sivas; there were hardly any regular troops to keep order. The governor had taken the precaution of closing all the shops belonging to Armenians during the stay of the redifs in the town. This was a precautionary measure. It had given great umbrage to the Christians. My visitor loudly denounced the proceeding.
"Are people ever tortured here?" I inquired.
"No," said the engineer; "the law is, or rather the judges are, much too merciful. There has been only one execution during the last three years. The culprit was a soldier; his first wife had been seduced by a neighbour. He put her away and took another, but at the same time said to his neighbour, 'If you seduce this woman I will kill you!' The threat had no effect. The soldier's second wife was treated as the former one had been: he revenged himself by killing the adulterer; for this offence he was hanged."
"Are people ever impaled here?" I inquired, still having the two English priests who wrote some letters to the Times about what they said they had seen when travelling on the Danube, in my mind's eye.
The Armenian smiled.