Part 25 (1/2)

”Oh, by no means, sir, by no means. I have only one thing to say. I see you have made up your mind to kill me, and I only make one proviso, and that is, that you shall take me back to England to bury me decently.

I will not--I distinctly say it--I will not stay here.”

”Your excellency shall come to no harm,” said Yussuf, ”if I can prevent it. With care and good horses there is very little risk.”

”How soon shall we go to see the horses?” cried Lawrence eagerly.

”When you have been lying up for a month,” replied Mr Burne gruffly.

”You are too weak, and going back too much to venture out any more.”

”Till you have had a good breakfast,” said the professor, laughing as he saw the lad's look of keen disappointment; and they sat down at once to a capital meal.

For they had been a week in Ansina, and were comfortably lodged in the house of a Turk whom Yussuf had recommended, and who, in a grave way, attended carefully to their wants. The luggage sent on by steamer had arrived safely, and, with the exception of the few things lost in the felucca, they were very little the worse for their mishap.

So far they had been delayed by the difficulty of obtaining horses, but now the opportunity had come for obtaining what was necessary, walking being out of the question, and the only means of traversing the rugged country, that was to be the scene of their ramblings, was by the help of a sure-footed horse.

Lawrence forgot all about his weakness as soon as breakfast was over, and started off with his companions to see the animals that were for sale.

They were at an outlying place a couple of miles away from their lodgings, and the walk in the delicious autumn air was most enjoyable.

In the distance was the mysterious soft blue range of mountains that they were to penetrate for some six weeks, before the season grew too advanced, and to Lawrence it was a perfect wonderland that was to prove full of sights that would astound, adventures that would thrill; and, could he have had his way, he would have set off at once, and without all the tedious preparations that Yussuf deemed necessary.

The first mile of their way was uninteresting. Then they entered a little valley with precipitous sides, their path running by the side of a beautiful little stream, which they had to cross again and again; but their progress was not rapid, for Mr Burne always stopped to examine the pools and talk about how fond he had been of fis.h.i.+ng when he was a boy.

Farther on they kept coming to little houses pleasantly situated in gardens, very much as might be seen in the suburbs of an English town, for these were the country houses of the wealthy Turks of the place, who came and dwelt here in the hot times of the summer.

There was a great similarity about these places. Houses and walls were built of fine, large, well-squared blocks of stone and marble, with every here and there a trace of carving visible--all showing that the Turk's quarry was the ruined Roman city, which offered an almost inexhaustible supply.

These little estates were either just above the river, perched on one side, or so arranged that the stream ran right through the grounds, rippling amongst velvety gra.s.s lawns, overshadowed by great walnuts, with mulberry and plum trees in abundance.

”Hi, stop a moment,” cried Mr Burne, as they reached one beautiful clump of trees, quite a grove, whose leaves were waving in the soft mountain-breeze.

”What have you found?” said the professor, as Lawrence hurried up.

”That, sir, that,” cried Mr Burne. ”See these trees.”

”Yes,” said the professor, ”a magnificent clump of planes--what a huge size!”

”Exactly,” said the old lawyer. ”Now, do you see what that proves?”

”What--the presence of those trees?”

”Yes, sir,” said the old lawyer dogmatically. ”They show, sir, that the Turk is a much-abused man. People say that he never advances, but you see he does.”

”How?” said the professor, ”by being too lazy to quarry stone or marble in these mountains, where they abound, and building his house out of the edifices raised by better men?”

”No, sir; by following our example, importing from us, and planting walnut-trees and these magnificent planes all about his place. Look at these! Why, I could almost fancy myself in Gray's Inn Gardens.”

”My dear Burne, are you serious?”

”Serious, sir? Never more so in my life. They are beautiful.”