Mr. Drury Wake. 301 



foot's pace — with no rest obtainable, except such as might 

 be risked in the saddle, or snatched during a change of 

 horses — with no companion save a man of whose lan- 

 guage he was almost entirely ignorant, and of whose 

 probity he knew nothing — the rider pursued his lonely 

 way. Happily without accident or misadventure, Mr. 

 Wake arrived at Belgrade, and on proceeding to report 

 himself to the " head swell " was informed that his High- 

 ness was in the arms of Morpheus^ and that anybody 

 who ventured to disturb him was not unlikely to have a 

 '^bad old time.'^ The bearer of the despatch, taking a 

 different view of the position, somewhat irreverently 

 declared the sleepiness of his Excellency to be ^'all my 

 eye;" and dwelling upon the importance of his mission, 

 vowed that if the Mountain would not come to the Mouse, 

 the Mouse must go to the Mountain, there and then. On 

 receipt of this " protocol," the '^ Mountain " speedily 

 '* put in an appearance/' in dressing-gown and slippers ; 

 and on learning the urgent state of affairs — Latin being 

 the only medium of communication — immediately took 

 the necessary steps for forwarding Sir Hugh Rose's 

 messenger on his way to London. At the end of the 

 eleventh day after leaving Stamboul, Mr. Wake entered 

 the Foreign Office and delivered the important papers 

 which had been confided to his care into the hands of 

 Lord Clarendon^ who w^as smoking his evening cigar _, in 

 his dressing-gown, over the fire. The Minister for 

 Foreign Affairs read Sir Hugh Rose's despatch — 

 urging him to call up the Fleet without any delay — 

 apparently with much astonishment ; and then turning to 

 its bearer said, *^ What was the feeling as to Peace or 

 War at Constantinople, when you left; and what is your 



