ndon. Many thanks, old man."

Johnson said a word or two to the captain, who nodded gravely as Smith
flung himself down beside the aeroplane, and, resting his head on his
arms, prepared to go to sleep.

The golfer knew the short cuts from the Ok Meidan to the city. He went
at a fine swinging pace through the hamlet of Koulaksiz, down Cassim
Pasha, up the steep hill through the cemetery, past the Pera Palace
Hotel. At that point he jumped into a carriage, and commanded the
driver to make all speed to the British Embassy. There he was lucky to
find a friend of his on the staff of the Embassy, a man well versed in
the customs and character of the Turks.

"The only thing to do," said the official, when Johnson had briefly
explained the circumstances, "is to get an order from the Minister of
War; but we shall have to hurry, as he may be attending a council, or
a commission, or something of the sort. What is your friend's hurry?"

"I don't know. He says it's a matter of life or death."

"I should say death if he goes at such a preposterous speed. It must
have been nearly two hundred miles an hour: the Brennan mono-rail is
nothing to it. At any rate, it's rather a feather in our cap--this
record, I mean, after so many have been made by the French and the
Americans--and if he has more recording to do we mustn't let Oriental
sluggishness stand in the way."

This conversation passed while they were making their way from an
upper room of the Embassy to the street. There they jumped into an
araba with a kavass on the box, dashed down Pera Street, past the
banking quarter, over the Galata bridge, up the Sublime Porte Road and
into the Bayazid Square, where they reached their destination. A crowd
of servants was grouped about the Grand Entrance, and as Johnson and
his friend Callard came up, the Turks flocked around them officiously,
assuring them with one voice that the Minister was attending a
commission. Callard took no notice of them, but passed on with Johnson
into the central hall, where, sitting over a charcoal brazier, they
found a group of attendants rolling cigarettes and discussing the
merits of the city's new water supply. Among them Callard spotted an
acquaintance, who rose and said politely, "Welcome, dragoman bey, seat
yourself."

Callard knew very well the necessity, in Turkish administrations, of
having a friend at court, and was aware, too, that where a high
official failed, a servant might succeed. But he w