334 RIFLE AXD SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



Alan sits next to a very pretty Greek girl, who talks all 

 languages indifferently well, and is returning to Smyrna 

 with her sister and brother-in-law. The British Isles are 

 represented by an Irish doctor, a Scotchman, two Anglo- 

 Indians, and a Yorkshire engineer with the broadest of 

 north -country burrs. 



M. le Capitaine (or Commandant as they call him) prides 

 himself on his knowledge of English, which, like his 

 mother-tongue, he speaks with a strong Marseillaise accent. 

 The Yorkshireman is anxious to exercise his French, so 

 they endeavour to improve each other's knowledge of their 

 respective languages. But the Provencal patois of the one 

 was as great a stumbling-block as the dialect of 

 " cannie Newcassel " to the other ; and their attempts at 

 conversation ended in failure. 



M. le Commandant holds the two Greek gentlemen en 

 grippe, and at dinner to-night there was a slight alter- 

 cation. The captain began a sentence with " Dijjcremment 

 vous autres Turcs " ( " teurs " he pronounced it). The 

 Greek fiercely expostulated that he was not a Turk, but 

 a Greek " To ut ce qu'il y a de plus Eumpeen." 



Le Commandant: "Mais, monsieur, vous habitez 

 Swiyrne, une ville turque an ' mouains.' ' 



I expected the Greek to explain that habitation of a 

 stable does not necessarily turn one into a horse; but 

 argument failed him, and all his objections were met 



