ere out nearly all
day yesterday with us or with Yussuf looking at ruins, going over the
place, and seeing about the horses, and now, as soon as you woke this
morning, you were off with Preston here to kick and splash about in the
water. Weak? what nonsense! Oh, here's Yussuf. Here, hi! you grand
Turk, what do you say about this boy? He thinks he is not so well."

"The young effendi?" cried Yussuf. "Oh! I have been out this morning
to see some other horses, excellencies, that are far better than any we
have yet seen. They are rough, sturdy little fellows from the
mountains, and you ought to buy these."

"Buy or hire?" said the professor.

"Buy, excellency. You will feed and treat them well, and at the end
they will be worth as much if not more than you gave for them. Besides,
if you hire horses, they will be inferior, and you will be always
changing and riding fresh beasts."

"Yes, of course," said the old lawyer; "but there is no risk."

"Your excellency will pardon me, there will be more risks. We shall
traverse many dangerous mountain paths, and a man should know his horse
and his horse know him. They should be good friends, and take care of
each other. A Turkish horse loves the hand that feeds him, the master
that rides upon his back."

"I am sure you are right, Yussuf," said the professor. "We will go by
your advice and buy the horses."

"Here, hold hard!" cried Mr Burne. "Look here. Do you mean to tell me
that I am expected to ride a horse along a dangerous mountain road? I
mean a shelf over a precipice."

"Certainly, your excellency, the roads are very bad."

"You do not feel nervous about that, do you, Burne?" said the professor.

"Oh, dear me, no, not at all," cried the old lawyer sarcastically. "Go
on. I've had a pretty good hardening already, what with knocking on the
head, drowning, shipwrecking, starving, and walking off my legs."

"But, if you really object to our programme, we will try some easier
route," said the professor.

"Oh, by no means, sir, by no means. I have only one thing to say. I
see you have made up your mind to kill me, and I only make one proviso,
and that is, that you shall take me back to England to bury me decently.
I will not--I distinctly say it--I will not stay here."

"Your excellency shall come to no harm," said Yussuf, "if I can prevent
it. With care and good horses there is very little risk."

"How soon shall we go to see the horses?" cried La