up a path with so awful a precipice on his right that he
closed his eyes.

But the next minute the fascination to gaze down was too strong to be
resisted, and he found himself looking round and about him, almost
stunned by the aspect of the place. But the sure-footed Turkish ponies
went steadily on higher and higher round curves and sharply turning
angles and elbows, till at last at a dizzy height the foremost horseman
rode in between two masses of rock surmounted by ruined buildings. Then
on across a hideous gap of several hundred feet deep, a mere split in
the rock bridged with the trunks of pine-trees, but awful to
contemplate, and making the travellers hold their breath till they were
across, and amid the gigantic ruins of an ancient stronghold.

"Stupendous!" cried the professor, as they rode on amidst the traces of
the former grandeur of the place.

"How bitterly cold!" said the professor.

"We are to dismount here," said Yussuf quietly, "and go into this old
building."

They obeyed, glad to descend from their horses, which were taken away,
and then they were ushered to a great stone-built hall where a fire was
burning, which seemed cheery and comfortable after their long ride.

There were rugs on the floor, the roof was sound, and the window was
covered by a screen of straw which made the place dark save for the warm
glow of the fire, near which a little Turkish-looking man was seated,
and a largely proportioned Turkish woman reclined on a rough kind of
divan.

"These are to be our quarters, effendi," said Yussuf, after a brief
colloquy with the chief, who had accompanied them, "and these are our
fellow-prisoners. But he warns me that if we attempt to escape we shall
be shot, for there are sentries on the watch."

"All right," said Mr Burne approaching the fire; "tell him not to
bother us to-night, only to give us the best they've got to eat, or else
to let us have our baggage in and leave us to shift for ourselves."

Just then an exclamation escaped the big Turkish woman, who sprang to
her feet, and ran and caught the professor's hand.

"Mr Preston!" she cried. "Do you not know me?"

"Mrs Chumley!" cried the professor. "You here!"

"Yes, we've been prisoners here for a month. Charley, you lazy fellow,
get up; these are friends."

"Oh, are they?" said the little Turk, rising slowly. "Well, I'm jolly
glad of it, for I'm sick of being here. Hallo, young Lawrence, I've
often thought about you