him to follow the assassin and bring back his
head. Marko was then in L.'s service, and confided his dilemma to his
master, who told him that if he but harboured such thoughts he was not
fit to be his servant. Marko then refused, and Achmed Uiko accepted,
murdering Jovan in a boat while fishing, and the head was subsequently
displayed in Dulcigno. This is a noteworthy episode, for it led to the
abolition of corporal punishment and of the barbarous custom of
displaying heads on poles.

[Footnote 2: This story was published in the _Wide World Magazine_,
and is reproduced with the Editor's permission.]

To return, however, to the story:--

"After several weeks I made a day's tour with Marko to the Bojana. At
the mouth of the river, which you know is the outlet of the Lake of
Scutari, a large island has been formed by a stranded ship which sank
there, and all the debris, logs, and other rubbish have formed a delta
of some size upon the wreck. It abounds in game, and thither we
journeyed one morning early, reaching it some few hours later by a
small boat in which we ferried ourselves across. During the day a
great storm sprang up, precluding all chance of returning to the
mainland that evening. In a hut of boughs we spent a miserable night,
drenched to the skin by the incessant rain. Not till towards evening
of the following day could we recross, and it was bright moonlight
when we commenced our weary tramp, heavily laden and wet, to Dulcigno.
The neighbourhood is dangerous, both Albanians and Montenegrins shoot
at sight, and care must always be exercised.

"Perhaps we had covered half the distance, when Marko suddenly and
without a word of warning threw the bags and other things he was
carrying to the ground. 'It is a dog's life, nay worse, that I lead
with thee. My health is ruined, my clothes spoilt, and not a kreutzer
do I get.'

"I was furious at the man's infamous lie, for he was still several
guldens to the good, and even more so at the disadvantage he had taken
over me. Here we were alone in a wild and dangerous district, miles
from home, and not a human being near.

"'Thou liest, thou ungrateful dog. Thou art an ass without a face.'

"As I said this in my rage--it is a terrible insult to call a man a
faceless ass--Marko's face was transformed with speechless fury. His
high cheek-bones and black curly hair always made him unprepossessing,
for his was a distinctly negro type of face, and now with his lips
dra