anaged to converse in the Turkish
language, which, strange to say, we found available in all the countries
that lay in our transcontinental pathway as far as the great wall of
China. Toward evening we rode in the garden of the harem of the khan, and
at daybreak the next morning were again in the saddle. By a very early
start we hoped to escape the burden of excessive hospitality; in other
words, to get rid of an escort that was an expensive nuisance. At the next
village we were confronted by what appeared to be a shouting,
gesticulating maniac. On dismounting, we learned that a harbinger had been
sent by the khan, the evening before, to have a guard ready to join us as
we passed through. In fact, two armed _ferashes_ were galloping toward us,
armed, as we afterward learned, with American rifles, and the usual
_kamma_, or huge dagger, swinging from a belt of cartridges. These
fellows, like the zaptiehs, were fond of ostentation. They frequently led
us a roundabout way to show us off to their relatives or friends in a
neighboring village. Nature at last came to our deliverance. As we stood
on a prominent ridge taking a last look at Mount Ararat, now more than
fifty miles away, a storm came upon us, showering hailstones as large as
walnuts. The ferashes with frantic steeds dashed ahead to seek a place of
shelter, and we saw them no more.

Five days in Persia brought us to the shores of Lake Ooroomeeyah, the
saltest body of water in the world. Early the next morning we were wading
the chilly waters of the Hadji Chai, and a few hours later found us in the
English consulate at Tabreez, where we were received by the Persian
secretary. The English government, it seemed, had become embroiled in a
local love-affair just at a time when Colonel Stewart was off on
"diplomatic duty" on the Russian Transcaspian border. An exceptionally
bright Armenian beauty, a graduate of the American missionary schools at
this place, had been abducted, it was claimed, by a young Kurdish
cavalier, and carried away to his mountain home. Her father, who happened
to be a naturalized English subject, had applied for the assistance of his
adopted country in obtaining her release. Negotiations were at once set on
foot between London and Teheran, which finally led to a formal demand upon
the Kurds by the Shah himself. Upon their repeated refusal, seven thousand
Persian troops, it was said, were ordered to Soak Boulak, under the
command of the vice-consul, Mr