Mrs Chumley smiled and bowed.
“Very pretty, sir!” she said; “but you forget that we are going to travel through a country where the laws are often a mere name, and people must take care of themselves.”
“Take care of themselves—certainly, ma’am, but not by breaking the laws. If a pack of vagabonds were to attack me I should hand them over to the police, or apply at the nearest police-court for a summons. That would be a just and equitable way of treating the matter.”
“Where would you get your police, Burne? and whom would you get to serve your summons if you could procure one?”
“Nearest town, sir—anywhere.”
The lady laughed heartily, and her little husband rubbed his hands and then patted her on the back.
“This lady is quite right, my dear Burne,” said the professor. “I see that we shall be obliged to go armed.”
“Armed, sir!—armed?”
“Yes. We shall for the greater part of our time be in places where the laws are of no avail, unless a body of troops are sent to enforce them.”
“But then your firman will have furnished us with a Turkish soldier for our protection.”