tory. 'It must
have been us,' they said; 'we had nothing to do, and were practising
with our revolvers.' In the mean time the Persians returned post haste
to Kermanshah, and evinced great surprise that V---- was not with
them."

"'He was the first to fly,' said the sergeant. 'I am afraid he must
have lost his way, and fallen into the hands of the robbers. If so,
God help him. There were more than fifty of them.'"

"J---- 's anecdote was followed by many others, coffee was succeeded
by cognac and seltzer, Gerome gave us some startling Central Asian
experiences, and we talked over men and things Persian far into the
night, or rather morning, for it was nearly 2 a.m. when I retired to
rest."

"I hope you'll sleep well," said J----, as he led the way to a
comfortable bedroom looking out on to the needle-like peaks of the
Kotal Doktar, gleaming white in the moonlight. "By the way, I forgot
to tell you we usually have an earthquake about sunrise, but don't let
it disturb you. The shocks have been very slight lately, and it's sure
not to last long," added my host, as he calmly closed the door, and
left me to my slumbers.

I am not particularly nervous, but to be suddenly aroused from sleep
by a loud crash, as if the house were falling about one's ears; to
see, in the grey dawn, brick walls bending to and fro like reeds,
floors heaving like the deck of a ship, windows rattling, doors
banging, with an accompaniment of women and children screaming as if
the end of the world had arrived, is calculated to give the boldest
man a little anxiety. I must at any rate own to feeling a good deal
when, about 6 a.m. the following morning, the above phenomena took
place. As prophesied, "it" did not last long--eight or ten seconds at
most, which seemed to me an hour. Not the least unpleasant sensation
was a low, rumbling noise, like distant thunder, that accompanied the
shock. It seemed to come from the very bowels of the earth.

"We have them every day," said J---- at breakfast, placidly, "but
one soon gets used to them." My host was obliged to acknowledge
reluctantly that this morning's shock was "a little sharper than
usual"! It was sharp enough, Gerome afterwards told me, to send all
the people of Kazeroon running out of their houses into the street.
Common as the "Zil-Zillah" [D] is in these parts, the natives are
terrified whenever a shock occurs. The great Shiraz earthquake some
years ago, when over a thousand lost their lives