th you, no one will hurt you. But if you go on by
yourselves you'll very likely get murdered."

Fantastic as was her intention, they knew that, as far as they
themselves were concerned, she spoke common-sense. So it came to pass
that Liosha, having left them for a few moments to take grim farewell of
the charred remains of her family lying hidden beneath the smouldering
wreckage, returned to them with a calm face, mounted one of the ponies
and pointing before her, led the way into the mountains.

Now, if old Jaff would only sit down and write this absurd Odyssey in
the vivid manner in which he has related bits of it to me, he would
produce the queerest book of travel ever written. But he never will. As
a matter of fact, although he saw Albania as few Westerners have done
and learned useful bits of language and made invaluable friends, and
although he appreciated the journey's adventurous and humorous side, it
did not afford him complete satisfaction. A day or two after their
start, Prescott began to shew signs of peculiar interest in their guide.
In spite of her unquestioning readiness to shoulder burdens, Prescott
would run to relieve her. Liosha has assured me that Jaffery did the
same--and indeed I cannot conceive Jaffery allowing a female companion
to stagger along under a load which he could swing onto his huge back
and carry like a walnut. To go further--she maintains that the two
quarrelled dreadfully over the alleviation of her labours, so much so,
that often before they had ended their quarrel, she had performed the
task in dispute. This of course Jaffery has blusteringly denied. She was
there, paid to do certain things, and she had to do them. The way
Prescott spoiled her and indulged her, as though she were a little
dressed-up cat in a London drawing-room, instead of a great hefty woman
accustomed to throw steers and balance a sack of potatoes on her head,
was simply sickening. And it became more sickening still as Prescott's
infatuation clouded more and more the poor fellow's brain. Jaffery
talked (not before Liosha, but to Adrian and myself, that night, after
the ladies had gone to bed) as if the girl had woven a Vivien spell
around his poor friend. We smiled, knowing it was Jaffery's way. . . .

At all events, whether Jaffery was jealous or not, it is certain that
Prescott fell wildly, blindly, overwhelmingly in love with Liosha.
Considering the close intimacy of their lives; considering that they
were i