will lose no time in going to
him; and now, let me hear some particulars."

"We reached Scutari all right," said Mr Popham; "the Pasha had just
left it to attack a fort belonging to the Prince of the Black Mountain;
so we followed, and reached the camp just as the fort was being stormed.
That evening we had an audience of the Pasha, in which Englefield laid
the whole matter before him; he spoke us fair, and promised help, but it
was all a sham, a regular sham; you will not wonder this when I tell you
that Orlando Jones, unseen by us was at the Pasha's elbow, bribing,
cringing, and sticking at nothing to gain his ends! It seems the
wretched man has long been in communication with the Turks, and has now
adopted the Mussulman creed and dress. In requital, a lucrative post
has been conferred on him."

"But to return to Laurie: on Thursday night, finding the Pasha still
impracticable, he advised our return to Cattaro next morning; we took
our leave of that dignitary and retired to the hut assigned us by the
Turkish quartermaster, in a wretched village near the head of the lake.
A force of some two hundred Turks guarded the place, but so negligently
that before daybreak they were surprised and overpowered by a daring
band of Black Mountaineers. Our share in this transaction was rather
passive than active; in fact I was dead asleep till the door of the hut
was burst in; I then saw Englefield, who had been vainly trying to shake
me into consciousness, deliberately place himself between me and the
intruders. That was a perilous moment; several swords were aimed at us,
and one came down on Laurie's shoulder, inflicting the wound I have
mentioned. I must confess that its effect would have been far more
serious, but for a most strange and providential circumstance. A
stalwart young mountaineer no sooner caught a glimpse of your husband's
face, than he rushed forward, grasped his comrade's arm, so as to weaken
the blow he could not quite avert, then threw himself on Laurie's neck
with wild yells of delight. A few words from this `Basil,' as they
called him, to his companions, changed their murderous fury into
enthusiasm. Laurie was hoisted on their shoulders, and carried at a
sort of shuffling trot a little way up the mountain, just within the
frontier of Montenegro; I followed close at their heels, and saw him
deposited in a hut, and his wound dressed by one of these gigantic
highlanders. I watched by him for several hour