th the certainty that I held a good nine hours in
hand. I rode to the Roumelia Khan, the hostel at which I had left my
interpreter, and thence after a hurried meal, he and I set out in search
of the commandant who, with his staff, had taken possession of the
mansion of some Bulgarian notable. I produced the _firman_, duly signed
and sealed, and demanded that, in accordance with its provisions, the
prisoners should be removed, under safe escort, for re-trial at the
port of Varna. The Pasha--a little man with a close-cropped beard, which
looked like black varnished wire--glanced at the document and angrily
pronounced it an impudent forgery. I have not often seen a man so
inspired by rage; the hand in which he held the official document was
apparently as steady as a rock, but all the while he talked to us,
the stiff paper rustled noisily. He declared that the execution should
proceed and he threatened to hang me with the others. It was not at all
impossible in the existing condition of the country that he might have
ventured on that course, but I saw fit to remind him that I was for the
moment the authorized representative of Great Britain and the United
States, and that if he did violence to me in that capacity Turkey would
be wiped off the map of Europe in a fortnight. The little commandant
spoke French, and he surprised me greatly when I spoke of "_Les Etats
Unis_," by interjecting in a tone of incredulous scorn: "_Les Etats
Unis! ou sont les Etats Unis?_" My interpreter broke in volubly with the
statement that _Les Etats Unis_ were twenty times the size and had
twice the power of Great Britain, and he and the little Pasha were both
shouting together when, as Providence would have it, Mr Fawcett, the
British Consul-General, was announced. His presence calmed the storm at
once and he sternly bade Ibrahim to obey the "firman," on peril of his
own head.

The Gueschoffs were duly deported, were retried and acquitted, and were
allowed, I believe, to retire to Odessa until the close of the campaign.
After that they returned to Philipopolis and, according to the latest
news I had of them, were prospering exceedingly. I had many other things
to see to for months to come, but it surprised me somewhat to find that
no communication reached me from them after they were known to be
in safety. I had a notion that the salvation of three lives at some
personal risk and trouble and expense was worth at least a "thank you,"
but years wen