388 The Hunting Grounds 



and satisfy himself that the smell of powder did not 

 agree with his constitution; so, after a solemn con- 

 sultation with his second in command, Colonel Haleem 

 Bey, as great a poltroon as himself, both parties de- 

 camped one fine morning, without beat of drum, and 

 found their way to Stamboul; for which act the 

 Seraskier Kiza Pacha brought them up before the 

 Mejlis (Council of War) on a charge 'of having 

 cowardly abandoned their post in the field before the 

 enemy ;' and in the presence of all the troops they 

 were degraded from their respective ranks, and are 

 now vegetating in prison. 



" This finale was however against my interests, as 

 one evening before the Pacha left the Crimea, when 

 we were talking about the chances of an engagement 

 at an early period, he said, ' You are an Englishman 

 and like fighting, and cannot be afraid of a woman ; 

 so what do you say to taking my eighty thousand 

 piasters' worth off my hands?' She is as good as 

 when I bought her, and I will give you a house and 

 garden with her, and adopt you as a son/ Of 

 course I closed with his offer at once, but our little 

 arrangement was put an end to by his sentence ; so 

 you see, my friends, that the old adage is true which 

 says, ' Wherever there is misfortune, a woman is sure 

 to be at the bottom of it.' " 



