35-i THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



a suflBcient quantity of gear and sundries to enable 

 him to smoke his pipe in comfort for the remainder 

 of his life, he had given up all intentions of joining 

 his regiment again. In camp before Sevastopol, 

 during the siege, he was a well-known character, 

 glorying in the name of " Ingleese Jonnie," for, by 

 dint of " turinkles " picked up from an old corporal 

 of Zouaves, my chef de cuisine, and sundry lessons 

 from poor old Soyer, now, alas ! gone to " kingdom 

 come/' he was no despicable cook, and formed a 

 great addition to any party " sub tegmine fagi," 

 whether out foraging in front of the enemy near 

 Baidar, or picnicking with amateur campaigners at 

 the Monastery of St George. 



The second, Ahmed, was a Koord, one of the 

 followers of the Princess Kara Fathama, and a 

 " mulassim," or lieutenant, of Bashi-Bazouks ; a 

 fearless, devil-may-care kind of fellow, who, having 

 received some fancied insult and extortion from a 

 Pacha, hated all Turkish authorities like poison, 

 and seemed to glory in setting them at defiance. 

 He was strikingly handsome, a splendid horseman, 

 a famous fellow in a brush, and the beau-id^al of a 

 Bashi-Bazouk. 



The third, Ali, commonly called " Kutchuc," (the 

 Little One,) was a Nubian of colossal proj^ortions 

 and gigantic strength, who was devoted to me, I 

 having saved him from the Cossacks in an affair on 

 the Danube, after he had been disabled by several 

 severe wounds, and abandoned by his comrades 



