ed his boastings to the last,
'tis true, and endeavoured to make every one believe that he had only
to appear, and the enemy would instantly be seized with a panic; but at
length he ceded to the serdar's wishes of bringing on the rear-guard,
whilst the latter pushed on to Hamamlu with the main body of the
cavalry. I, of course, remained behind, to act under the orders of my
chief. The serdar intended to reach Hamamlu before break of day in order
to surprise the gates, and deviated from the road to ford the Pembaki
river. We continued our march straight for that place, and were to
appear as the day dawned, to give a retreat to the serdar, in case he
should be beaten back.

The morning had just broke when we reached the banks of the river.
The chief executioner was surrounded by a body of about five hundred
cavalry, and the infantry was coming up as well as it could. We were
about fording the river, when of a sudden we were accosted by a voice
on the other side, which shouting out two or three strange words in a
language unknown to us, explained their meaning by a musket shot. This
stopped our career, and called the attention of our chief, who came up,
looking paler than death.

'What's the news?' exclaimed he, in a voice far below its usual
pitch:--'what are we doing?--where are we going?--Hajji Baba,' accosting
me, 'was it you that fired?'

'No,' said I, catching rather more of his apprehension than was
convenient; 'no, I did not fire. Perhaps there are ghols here among the
Muscovites, as well as at Ashtarek among the Armenians.'

In another minute more barbarous cries were heard, and another shot was
fired, and by this time day had sufficiently advanced to show two men,
on the other bank, whom we discovered to be Russian soldiers. As soon as
our chief saw the extent of the danger, and the foe opposed to us, his
countenance cleared up, and he instantly put on the face of the greatest
resolution and vigour. 'Go, seize, strike, kill!' he exclaimed, almost
in one breath, to those around him:--'Go, bring me the heads of yonder
two fellows.'

Immediately several men dashed into the river, with drawn swords,
whilst the two soldiers withdrew to a small rising ground, and, placing
themselves in a convenient position, began a regular, though alternate,
discharge of their muskets upon their assailants, with a steadiness that
surprised us. They killed two men, which caused the remainder to retreat
back to our commander, and