hered together on the
market-place. Various were the rumours concerning the operations of the
serdar against the enemy. It was evident that some movement was likely
soon to take place, and an attack of an extraordinary nature to be made;
for the people at the arsenal, and powder works, had been more than
usually employed in making ready certain instruments of destruction,[75]
before unknown in Persia, and set on foot by Russian deserters
themselves. I was so entirely taken up by my own affairs, and by the
happiness in store for me, that this sort of intelligence passed by me
totally unheeded. It just struck me, that we might endeavour to secure
the protection of the serdar, through our chief at the Three Churches,
in case our village and its territory became the theatre of war; but
when I reflected upon the length of time it would take to make such a
deviation from our road, I abandoned the idea, and, in my impatience,
trusted to my own sword and musket as sufficient protection against all
invaders.

'My mother and I returned to our village by the same road we came, but
not with quite so much speed; for the ass was laden with our purchases,
and, in addition to my arms, I also carried a considerable share of the
burden. The serdar's camp was still in the same place, and we passed on
without hindrance or any occurrence worth relating, until we reached the
high ground that overlooks Gavmishlu.

'The sight of a tent first struck my mother, and she stopped.

'"What is that, Yusuf?" she cried out to me: "see, there is a tent."

'I, who had no thoughts in my head but those that concerned my wedding,
answered, "Yes, I see; perhaps they are making preparations for an
entertainment for us."

'"My husband's beard with your entertainment!" exclaimed she; "what are
become of your wits? Either Russians or Persians are there, as sure as I
am a Christian; and in either case it is bad for us."

'We pushed on towards our dwelling with the greatest anxiety; and, as
we approached it, found that my mother had judged right. The village had
been just occupied by a small detachment of Russian infantry, composed
of fifty men, commanded by a _penjah bashi_, or a head of fifty, who,
it seems, formed the advanced posts of an army quartered at a day's
distance from us. Every house in the village had been obliged to lodge
a certain number of men, and ours, as the best, and belonging to the
chief, was taken up by the captain.

'You may concei