ay
morning, and that I waived instantly. An immediate 40L. was put into my
hands; an arrangement was made that on calling at the American Embassy
at Vienna I should receive more, and that at the bank at Constantinople
I should find a sum of two hundred sterling on arrival. With this
understanding I started for the seat of war at seven o'clock on the
following morning, and in due course found myself at Vienna. There I
tried, in pursuance of instructions, for an interview with the Turkish
Ambassador, who steadfastly declined to see me. I made certain necessary
preparations, and called at the bank half a dozen times over. There was
no hint or sign of my Chicago friend; and possibly if I had been more
experienced than I was I might have at once taken warning and returned
home. As things were at the time no such idea entered my head; and when,
after a delay of two days, half the promised money reached me, I took
ticket gladly for Trieste, and embarked on a Messageries Maritimes boat
for Constantinople.

It was the twelfth of May of that year when we set sail down the
Adriatic, and I had never seen anything so heavenly beautiful as the
coast and sea. We were five days on our journey; and now, when I have
travelled the wide world over, have seen most of its show places, and
have made myself familiar with exotic beauties of the landscape and
seascape sort, I can recall nothing like that five days' dream of
heaven. Perhaps the fact that I was going to look at war for the
first time, and had some premonition of its horrors, made the placid
loveliness of the Mediterranean more charming and exquisite by a kind
of foreseen contrast. But I do not remember to have beheld (and I do not
think I shall fail to remember it all till the day I die) anything so
beautiful as the far-off islands that lifted their purple heads as we
steamed through the Piraeus, and the long-drawn wonderful panoramic
splendours of the Mediterranean sunsets. I have travelled in many ships
since then, and have never missed the inevitable fool. There is always
a fool aboard ship; and I remember one day when we were within sight of
Corfu that the fool who was our local property for the moment touched me
on the shoulder as I hung over the bows, and pointed to the island.

'They say that's land,' said he, 'but you d think it was a sweetmeat.
Looks good to eat, doesn't it? It's like them biled violet things in
sugar that they sell in Paris.'

I was all on fire to see