conducted me to a house on the
hill where the innkeeper brought me a live chicken to approve of for
dinner. Then the mayor of the town turned up in gold clothes and
Barrison Sister skirts and said the General had telegraphed about me
and that I was his-- The innkeeper wept and said he had seen me first
and the chorus of soldiers, sailors and brigands all joined in. I kept
out of it but I knew the Mayor would win and he did. Then we went out
to a man-of-war the size of the Vagabond and were solemnly assured
there would be bombarding of Prevesa to-morrow-- I go to sleep in that
hope. We leave here at seven crossing the river and ride after the
Greeks who are approaching Prevesa from the land side while the
men-of-war bombard it from the river. At least that is what they say.
I think it is the mildest war on both sides I ever heard of and I
certainly mean to be a Times correspondent next time I play at going to
war-- After being insulted and frightened to death all over Cuba, this
is the pleasantest picnic I was ever on-- They seriously apologized for
not bombarding while I was there and I said not to mention it-- With
lots of love, old man, and to the family

DICK.

FLORENCE

May 16, 1897.

DEAR FAMILY:

Here I am safe and sound again in the old rooms in Florence. I was
gone twenty-three days and was traveling nineteen of them, walking,
riding; in sailboats, in the cars, and on steamers. I have had more
experiences and adventures than I ever had before in three months and
quite enough to last me for years.

After my happy ride through Turkey and the retreat of the Greek army in
Arta, of which I wrote you last, I have been in Thessaly where I saw
the two days' battle of Velestinos from the beginning up to the end.
It was the one real battle of the war and the Greeks fought well from
the first to the last. I left Athens on the 29th of April with John
Bass, a Harvard graduate, and a most charming and attractive youth who
is, or was, in charge of the Journal men; Stephen Crane being among the
number. He seems a genius with no responsibilities of any sort to
anyone, and I and Bass left him at Velestinos after traveling with him
for four days. Crane went to Volo, as did every other correspondent,
leaving Bass and myself in Velestinos. As the villagers had run away,
we burglarized the house of the mayor and made it our habitation while
the courier hunted for food. It was like "The Swiss Family Robinson,"