to the river beyond,
and graphically describing that it was over our horses' heads. That would
settle it, they thought; it never occurred to them that a "Christian
gentleman" could take off his clothes and wade. Sometimes, as we walked
along in the mud, the wheels of our bicycles would become so clogged that
we could not even push them before us. In such a case we would take the
nearest shelter, whatever it might be. The night before reaching Kara
Hissar, we entered an abandoned stable, from which everything had fled
except the fleas. Another night was spent in the pine-forests just on the
border between Asia Minor and Armenia, which were said to be the haunts of
the border robbers. Our surroundings could not be relieved by a fire for
fear of attracting their attention.

[Illustration: A FERRY IN ASIA MINOR.]

When at last we reached the Trebizond-Erzerum highway at Baiboot, the
contrast was so great that the scaling of Kop Dagh, on its comparatively
smooth surface, was a mere breakfast spell. From here we looked down for
the first time into the valley of the historic Euphrates, and a few hours
later we were skimming over its bottom lands toward the embattled heights
of Erzerum.

As we neared the city, some Turkish peasants in the fields caught sight of
us, and shouted to their companions: "Russians! Russians! There they are!
Two of them!" This was not the first time we had been taken for the
subjects of the Czar; the whole country seemed to be in dread of them.
Erzerum is the capital of that district which Russia will no doubt demand,
if the stipulated war indemnity is not paid.

The entrance into the city was made to twist and turn among the ramparts,
so as to avoid a rush in case of an attack. But this was no proof against
a surprise in the case of the noiseless wheel. In we dashed with a roaring
wind, past the affrighted guards, and were fifty yards away before they
could collect their scattered senses. Then suddenly it dawned upon them
that we were human beings, and foreigners besides--perhaps even the dreaded
Russian spies. They took after us at full speed, but it was too late.
Before they reached us we were in the house of the commandant pasha, the
military governor, to whom we had a letter of introduction from our consul
at Sivas. That gentleman we found extremely good-natured; he laughed
heartily at our escapade with the guards. Nothing would do but we must
visit the Vali, the civil governor, who was also