"Yes."
"Every one is warm with that yorgan," he continued. "It is light, and there are no fleas in it. You will sleep well."
He now prepared to go to bed. The four servants assisted him. First they drew off his boots, and then his nether garments; the Caimacan glancing from time to time at me out of the corner of his eye, probably wishing to see what impression the fact of his having four servants to put him to bed had produced on my mind. He had been astonished when I undressed myself, and had remarked,—
"Why, you have two servants, and you take off your own clothes! What is the good of having servants if you do not make them useful?"
By this time he was in bed. His attendants lay down by his side; Radford and Osman in another corner. The one tallow dip which lit the room was carefully extinguished; soon nought could be heard save the snoring of the slumberers.
I arose at daybreak, and unpacked the wet cartridges, then, taking my gun, I tried some of them; snap—snap—they would not explode. It was no use stopping for the shooting party; so desiring Osman to commence loading the horses, I took leave of my host.
CHAPTER XV.
The Kizil Ermak—No bridge in the neighbourhood—How to cross the river—The current—Can my brother swim?—How to embark the horses—Osman's expostulation—Bandaging the horse's eyes—Yakshagan—Fresh post-horses—An uncivil official—Madeh—Silver-mines—Water in the pits—Proper machinery wanted—Engineers required—Kowakoli—Vines—How to preserve grapes—Sugar very dear—A farmer—The Angora famine—The late Sultan—Russian assessors—We do not wish to be tortured to change our religion—Allah is always on the side of justice—Sekili—The pace of a Rahvan—Marble hovels—Hospitality—Foreign settlers—A Kurdish encampment—The tax-collectors—The wealth of the Kurdish Sheiks—The Delidsche Ermak—Fording the river—A district abounding in salt—Turkoman girls—The many languages spoken in Anatolia—A lunch under difficulties.
We rode across a low ridge of mountains, rocks which looked like iron ore lying about in all directions, and presently arrived at the Kizil Ermak, a broad and rapid stream which runs into the Black Sea, about fifty miles S.E. of Sinope. The distance across the river was at least one hundred yards, the left bank being very precipitous. The depth of the water, owing to the recent rains, was not less than seven feet. There is no bridge in the neighbourhood, the nearest being twenty-four miles higher up the river; I was curious to learn how we should reach the other shore. The guide soon solved the problem. Riding about half a mile along the bank, he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. In a few minutes the sound was answered from the opposite side of the river. Six men appeared in sight. Descending the bank, they dragged a triangular-shaped barge from some rushes, and, getting into it, began to pull with all their might in our direction. The current was very swift, the starting-point was nearly half a mile beyond us; but notwithstanding this, the oarsmen overshot their mark. We had to lead our horses some little distance before we reached the boat.
It was a queer sort of a craft, certainly not more than twenty-five feet long, and about sixteen in its widest part. Its sides were two feet above the water: the men could not approach the bank nearer than twenty yards. The bottom was muddy. Our horses would have to walk through the mud to the boat, and then jump over the bulwarks.