aldja?' I asked innocently.

'It is the end of your affair,' he said haughtily. 'Quick, or it will
be the worse for you.'

'Now, look here, my son,' I said; 'you're a kid and know nothing. I
hand over to General von Oesterzee and to no one else.'

'You are in Turkey,' he cried, 'and will obey the Turkish Government.'

'I'll obey the Government right enough,' I said; 'but if you're the
Government I could make a better one with a bib and a rattle.'

He said something to his men, who unslung their rifles.

'Please don't begin shooting,' I said. 'There are twelve armed guards
in this train who will take their orders from me. Besides, I and my
friend can shoot a bit.'

'Fool!' he cried, getting very angry. 'I can order up a regiment in
five minutes.'

'Maybe you can,' I said; 'but observe the situation. I am sitting on
enough toluol to blow up this countryside. If you dare to come aboard
I will shoot you. If you call in your regiment I will tell you what
I'll do. I'll fire this stuff, and I reckon they'll be picking up the
bits of you and your regiment off the Gallipoli Peninsula.'

He had put up a bluff--a poor one--and I had called it. He saw I meant
what I said, and became silken.

'Good-bye, Sir,' he said. 'You have had a fair chance and rejected it.
We shall meet again soon, and you will be sorry for your insolence.'

He strutted away and it was all I could do to keep from running after
him. I wanted to lay him over my knee and spank him.

We got safely to Chataldja, and were received by von Oesterzee like
long-lost brothers. He was the regular gunner-officer, not thinking
about anything except his guns and shells. I had to wait about three
hours while he was checking the stuff with the invoices, and then he
gave me a receipt which I still possess. I told him about Rasta, and
he agreed that I had done right. It didn't make him as mad as I
expected, because, you see, he got his stuff safe in any case. It was
only that the wretched Turks had to pay twice for the lot of it.

He gave Peter and me luncheon, and was altogether very civil and
inclined to talk about the war. I would have liked to hear what he had
to say, for it would have been something to get the inside view of
Germany's Eastern campaign, but I did not dare to wait. Any moment
there might arrive an incriminating wire from Rustchuk. Finally he lent
us a car to take us the few miles to the city.

So it came about that at five p