142 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 12 1889. 



SHOOTING ON MOUNT OLYMPUS.— IV. 



{Concluded from Page 103.) 



THE following morning, some half hour after day- 

 break, our little party, consisting- of five packmen, 

 the guide. Tamayanes and myself, filed out of the vil- 

 lage and commenced the ascent of the hill behind it. 



Ahmed Khan and several of the villagers followed us 

 with their prayers, not so much perhaps because they ex- 

 pected them to do us any good, but as a matter of pious 

 custoi a. 



Our course was an easy incline until we reached the 

 ridge of the hill, up which we toiled wearily for a couple 

 of hours, until we came to a long saddle, which turned 

 our course at right angles. The crest of this saddle was 

 bare,but on either side a deep wooded ravine had its source, 

 and I could not help pondering on the possibility of 

 escape from my dilemma, if I were to plunge down either 

 of them and work my way down to the sea. A day's 

 journey would surely bring me into the cultivated low- 

 lands. 



Whether it was that I did not trust my followers, or 

 that I suspected that the bandit's men were lying in hid- 

 ing near at hand, or that I shrunk from the undignified 

 position in which I should be placed if taken while try- 

 ing to escape, or whether it was that, having made up 

 my mind to the sacrifice of the money, which would 

 otherwise have been spent in holidaying, 1 was fascinated 

 by the romance of the situation and saw in it possibilities 

 of compensation for my contracted tour, I hardly know. 

 It may be that all of these considerations had their meas- 

 ure of weight in determining results, but at any rate, 

 although I looked both to right and left, I pressed ''on- 

 ward, right on." 



Arrived at the end of the saddle, we plunged into open 

 pine forest; there was no trail, and the hill before us being 

 too steep for a packman to breast easily, we tacked away 

 to our left until we came out on a precipitous opening, 

 with no vegetation but raspberry and blackberry bushes 

 among the shattered rock masses. 



High above us in front we got a glimpse of the grass- 

 green mountainside, dotted with gray granite rocks; but 

 there was" an indistinctness of detail which convinced me 

 that we had still a great deal of climbing to do before we 

 got there. Then a laughing exclamation from one of the 

 packmen, and we turned, and, lo! there was Broussa 

 nestling at our feet, the sea of Marmora laving her shores, 

 and idealized by distance into a perfect earthly para- 

 dise. 



The packmen threw down their packs, and we sat and 

 looked down on the scene, so seemingly peaceful from 

 our point of view, in the calm, clear sunlight, and the 

 balmy atmosphere of the pine forest, an atmosphere 

 which I at once proceeded to vitiate with my pipe. 



Again we started, and after an hour's hard struggle 

 reached the top of the lull. Before us spread a vast ex- 

 panse of rugged treeless mountains towering skyward, 

 but between us and the mountainside was a deep ravine, 

 how deep we knew not, a ravine into which, the sun 

 rarely penetrated, so cool was the air; there were even 

 traces of snow under some of the rocks. 



And now downward we toiled through the forest for 

 nearly an hour, guided by the descent and by the murmur 

 of what at first appeared a brawling brook, but which at 

 closer quarters proved quite a river, and evidently a 

 formidable one in flood. Big boulders were scattered 

 over its bed, and logs laid down for crossing from boulder 

 to boulder, betrayed the handiwork of man. 



The water had that delicious freshness always appre- 

 ciable in granite mountains, but was too cold to drink 

 much of, and as we resolved to camp here for dinner, a 

 fire was lighted, food cooked, and the aroma of coffee 

 soon pervaded the scene. We appeared to be all alone, 

 no sign of man or beast intruded itself upon us. 



•'Perhaps," said Timayanes, "the bandits were lying 

 in wait for us below Ahmed Khan's village, but even if 

 so they are already on our tracks." 



Weary indeed was that march up the hill. It was 4 

 o'clock before we emerged from the forest, and we had 

 still a couple of miles to cross along its upper edge to the 

 camping ground, where we found water, fuel and pro- 

 tection from the elements under shelter of some over- 

 hinging rocks. 



As we sat around the camp-fire in the evening after 

 supper I instituted inquiries and learned that these moun- 

 tain wilds are not wholly uninhabited, but are roamed over 

 by bands of shepherds, who are given to dispute with 

 each other about their feeding grounds, and to settle 

 their disputes with the club, but who, since Futteh 

 Ali's residence among them, have been accustomed to 

 look up to him as the representative of absolute power 

 and dispenser of justice. 



No one knew just how many followers Futteh Ali 

 Shah had. There might be hundreds or even thousands 

 in the organization. The little band that he had brought 

 to the mountains was variously estimated at from thirty 

 to fifty, but most of his adventures were in Broussa and 

 Stamboul. 



The villagers spoke in quiet respectful terms of him, 

 as they would of any one having authority. The mere 

 fact that he was for the present outlawed by the govern- 

 ment at Constantinople did not affect the merits of the 

 case in their estimation. He still made good his right to 

 live his own way, and to dictate to others the terms on 

 which they should live. He was evidently a man to be 

 looked up to. 



For myself, I was from the first satisfied that he was 

 not an ordinary footpad, who would rob you of what you 

 might have on your person, and then cut your throat to 

 prevent your telling tales. He was from all accounts a 

 gentleman and man of honor, a man who if he promised 

 to send your head down to Broussa, unless its price in 

 sequins were sent at an appointed time, would fulfil his 

 promise with the most punctilious exactitude. 



A comfortable couch of fir boughs was spread under 

 the rocks, and spreading my blanket on this, I slept the 

 sleep of the just, wliile the other members of the party 

 were still passing round the pipe. 



The morning broke bright and clear. There were no 

 signs of fife outside our own party, and, breakfast dis- 

 posed of, we started on the hunt, leaving Timayanes 

 behind to cook for himself and me, and one villager to 

 bring wood and water, and cook for the rest of the party. 



What a bed of wild flowers was the grassy slope up 

 which we plodded for some two miles from 'camp! It 

 terminated at length in a rocky peak which stretched 

 down from above, and as we came to the edge of the 

 tableland to avoid this, the mountainside sloped away 

 down from us for thousands of feet, a treeless tract, with 

 scant herbage, and broken up into hill and ravine and 

 lugged precipice, while high above the snow-clad peaks 

 shone brightly in the morning sun. 



Here I took out my field glass and scanned the whole 

 hillside, and for a long time in vain. At length far away 

 and considerably below the level on which we stood, a 

 thousand feet at least, I saw a dark object which I made 

 out to be a chamois, recumbent upon an exposed point of 

 rock; a little further search showed two more on a ledge 

 of the rock, perhaps 50ft. below him. 1 had consider- 

 able difficulty in bringing them into the field of the 

 guide's vision. He had never used a telescope before, but 

 at length he sighted them, and grasped the situation. 

 Then he laid down the glass and announced that they 

 were a long way off. 



" We can reach them in an hour," I said. 



" No, Effendi," said he with an inward chuckle, " it is 

 not a straight line from us to them. We shall do well to 

 reach them in two hours: but there they are, and not 

 likely to move until toward evening, unless disturbed. 

 There is plenty of time." 



It was a more rugged journey than anything I had any 

 conception of, steeper in places than I supposed it possi- 

 ble for man to climb, but the villagers went, and I fol- 

 lowed. My head was clear enough, and a very little tuft 

 of grass, 1 found, would help one over a very bad place. 



And so we went on, down the declivity again, until we 

 stood on the edge of a sheer precipice of fifty, a hundred, 

 perhaps two hundred feet fall, and had to turn, and cross 

 ridge and ravine again, in quest of a more feasible descent. 



An hour from the'start we paused on the edge of a preci- 

 pice, and got another good view of our game, now just 

 visible to the naked eye, and the guide endeavored lo 

 plan out a line of approach. Now for the first time we 

 noticed that away deep down in the hollow there was a 

 sea of vapor, with arms rolling up the channels in the 

 mountains. It was clear sunlight above us, but if we 

 once got enveloped in the cloud , as we now certainly 

 would, we could make little progress until it should clear 

 off again. I was feverishly impatiant to reach the cha- 

 mois before they would become enveloped in mist. 



And so we struggled on for another hour, and saw the 

 sea of dense mist spread out under our feet, and still 

 slowly rising, until at length the guide who was in ad- 

 vance reached a point of rock from which he stepped 

 back noiselessly, then motioned to me to come and get a 

 peep. 



How my heart throbbed as I peeped over and saw three 

 big bucks quietly chewing the cud, about a hundred feet 

 below me, and only about a hundred yards away, while 

 Borne fifty feet lower was a herd of fifty or more, half 

 enveloped in the upper edge of fog. 



I paused a moment to recover breath, then sank on one 

 knee, rested my elbow on the other, and took a very de- 

 liberate aim. 



The shot rang out, the report echoed and re-echoed 

 from hill to hill, I saw where the ball struck the rock 

 about a foot too low, saw the buck spring to his feet, and 

 had an indistinct vision of other forms springing up from 

 the ground, realized that the distance was greater than I 

 supposed, raised the sight, ^railed the trigger agaiu, saw 

 the buck rise on his hindlegs and wheel partly round, 

 make a couple of plunges forward, try to save himself 

 on the edge of the precipice, stagger a moment, and then 

 topple over headlong imo the sea of cloud. 



All this required but a few seconds; at the moment the 

 buck fell I saw innumerable figures plunging downward 

 in all directions, and twice more my trusty Winchester 

 rang out, aimed at two beasts, at the very edge of the 

 mist, but with what success I knew not. 



It took at least a quarter of a mile's clambering before 

 we reached the spot that the. chamois had alighted on, at 

 the foot of the precipice. We were now enveloped in the 

 cloud, and although we could pierce the gloom for a 

 radius of ten or fifteen feet, we could discern absolutely 

 nothing beyond that distance. 



There was no buck there, but the guide pointed out the 

 great pool of blood, where he fell, and the track which 

 he had made sliding down the incline. We went down 

 tliis carefully, for about fifty feet, and came on him dead, 

 on the very edge of another fall of unknown depth. All 

 hands set to work and dragged the carcass to a more level 

 piece of ground, and at once proceeded to skin him, pre- 

 paratory to cutting him up, for in no other way could we 

 have got him to camp. 



While this work was in progress, the guide and I tried 

 back, and after some search found blood on another trail, 

 which we followed for half a mile at least. At length 

 the quarry loomed up big through the mist, but broke 

 away so suddenly, that although I pulled the trigger, I 

 believe I missed him at five yards. 



There was a big pool of blood where he had lain, and I 

 was fit to kick myself at the thought that I had not ex- 

 changed my Winchester for the smoothbore, while going 

 through the fog. I made the pxchange now, and again 

 we went on through the fog, tracking the blood stains, 

 until we came to a place where he had fallen, rolled over, 

 and then slidden down the hill. 



He had not gone far. We sighted liim some fifty yards 

 below trying to struggle to his feet, but I was too quick 

 for him, a ball through the shoulders settled him, and 

 my guide was soon astride him with the knife. 



The guide now made me understand that he wanted 

 me to remain by the buck, and skin it. while he went for 

 help, and signifying my assent, I lighted my pipe, drew 

 my hunting knife and motioned him off. I suppose I 

 was nearly an hour getting off the skin, but the task was 

 finished at length, and as I turned round to look for a 

 restful seat, I was startled by some big object going by 

 me through the fog. 



All was now clear below me, the bottom of the cloud 

 had just reached my level, and 1 immediately sprang for 

 my smoothbore, but the beast was heading upward, and 

 was already lost in the cloud before I cjuld raise my 

 weapon. But instantly there rang out the report of a gun 

 quite close to me, the angry growl of a bear, a second 

 shot, a woman's scream, a man's more distant shout, and 

 while this was transpiring I was rushing up the hillside, 

 and saw through the mist the wounded and enraged bear 

 rushing on the man who had just fired his second shot 

 and turned to flee. 



The bear rose to his haunches and was in the act of 

 striking with his paw, when, fearing to fire high, lest the 

 ball should go through to the man, I let goat his haunch. 



This brought him around with a rush toward me, and 

 as he came within five yards I tired from my side and 

 sprang around a point of rock. The bear dropped , but 

 endeavored to crawl to me, growling savagely; happily 

 the incline was steep, and he slipped down it some ten 

 feet before he could stop himself. In that interval I was 

 fumbling for my cartridges, and had got one into the 

 breech and closed it, but before I could raise the gun to 

 my shoulder another hunter was at my side, and had 

 sent a ball into his open jaws that paralyzed him. 



Pausing a moment to see that his work was done, he at 

 once turned, and without a word to me sprang up the 

 hill. I followed, and a few strides sufficed to bring us in 

 sight of the young man, a mere boy, who had fired the 

 first shots. He was seated on the ground, looking very 

 haggard; and his jacket, torn and matted, with blood at 

 the shoulder, showed where he had been wounded. The 

 bear was grasping him by the shoulder when I fired. 



He smiled feebly as we approached, and the second hun- 

 ter knelt over him, and spoke in very tender accents, 

 and to my astonishment bent over aud kissed him. 



I looked at the wounded boy, at bis clear fair skin, his 

 delicate features, and at the contour of his heaving bosom , 

 and then remembering the woman's cry, I said to my- 

 self, "Here is a romance." Then as I looked at the clear, 

 bold, falcon eye, the lithe figure and reckless look of the 

 handsome tUlow who had come last on the scene, I 

 knew beyond a doubt that I was in the presence of the 

 noted bandit chief, and of some disguised lady love who 

 shared his wild life with him. 



I spoke to him in English involuntarily, and he turned 

 and asked me in French if I knew anything of the leech's 

 art, and on my replying that I had studied it, he asked 

 me to examine the wound, 



Ripping the sleeve of the jacket, I removed that first, 

 and then cutting away a portion of the muslin robe be- 

 neath, I laid bare the wound, which was considerable, 

 but hardly dangerous. The bear had grasped her shoulder 

 and my shot had made him let go before he had fairly 

 closed his grip, but not in time to prevent his raising the 

 skin and flesh, and laying bare the quivering muscles. 



Water was soon brought, and having washed the 

 wound, I took off my shirt, washed it out, and making a 

 wet pad of the linen front, I laid it on the wound, after 

 laying the skin in position, made a partial bandage of the 

 remainder of the shirt, then borrowing the chief's silk 

 sash, which he wore round his waist, I completed the 

 bandaging satisfactorily. 



The patient then drank some water, and after thanking 

 me -with her eyes, and exchanging a few words with the, 

 chief, the latter sounded a horn, which soon brought 

 answering echoes from above, and in ten minutes or so 

 there was half a score of picturesque looking ruffians on 

 the scene. 



Before their arrival I had told the chief that the 

 wounded girl would have to be carried to camp, and ap- 

 parently the task of making a stretcher was a familiar 

 one to them, for they very soon had one constructed of 

 their muskets and waistbands, and we were soon ready 

 for departure. 



I then mentioned my chamois to the chief, and was 

 able to point it out to him, for by this time the cloud had 

 lifted high above us. He remarked that the road was 

 rough, and that all his men would be wanted for the 

 stretcher, but that he would send back a party immedi- 

 ately for the chamois and bear skin. Then on second 

 thought he detailed one of the party to remain behind, 

 and take off the bear's pelt. 



We came up to the tableland just at the spot from 

 which we had descried the chamois in the morning, and 

 as we reached it we could see in the distance, my men 

 toiling like ants up the ascent, with their loads of meat. 

 We made no halt, but one of the chief's men was fcold Off 

 to wait their arrival. What his instructions were I could 

 not. of course, understand, and I could not bother the 

 chief with inquiries. 



I judged from the direction we took that the camp was 

 about two miles from my own. It was down in the 

 forest, on the bank of a stream. The litter was taken to 

 a ledge of rock, differing from my shelter of the previous 

 night only in respect that it formed quite a large cham- 

 ber, which had been, perhaps in part, hollowed out by 

 man. 



The girl was able to stand, and alighted and walked a 

 little, leaning on the chief's shoulder, but a light cot was 

 brought, rug and pillow adjusted, and she was easily 

 persuaded to repose, for indeed she looked rather faint, 

 although she smiled and occasionally spoke cheerfully. 



To my astonishment Timayanes and the villager were 

 at the camp, with all my belongings, and he told me in a 

 few whispered words that the chief Had arrived some 

 two hours after my departure, ordered the removal of 

 everything to the camp, left a man as guide, and then set 

 out in my tracks. 



I stuck to my post as surgeon, and asked for vinegar. 

 This was happily forthcoming, and removing the heavy 

 silk sash from the wounded shoulder, I sought to allay 

 the inflamma tion by the continued application of vinegar 

 and water, the first experience of which made the poor 

 girl wince, but she bore it bravely with set teeth. 



The chief called me, and asked if I knew how to treat 

 the wound, and if I had all that was necessary, for if not 

 he would at once dispatch a dozen men to broussa, cap- 

 ture a doctor and bring him up, but that he was unwill- 

 ing to resort to such a step unless it were absolutely 

 necessary; unless, in fact, life were at stake. 



I told him that I thought there was little danger, that 

 the torn parts had been placed in position and would 

 soon reunite, and that the only thing to do at present was 

 to keep down the inflammation by cooling applications. 

 I added that an ointment would then be required to heal 

 the wound, but that if he could procure a lot of resin 

 drops from pine trees, I could, from that and olive oil, 

 compound a very healing ointment. 



This evidently comforted him. Timayanes was called 

 up and asked about the yellow pine resin. Several of 

 the men knew what was meant, and I added that if 

 enough could not be found outside the bark, a number of 

 trees near camp should be wounded and the resin col- 

 lected in the morning. 



Half an hour after our arrival the first chamois came 

 on the ground, with my men. These fraternized very 

 amicably with the bandits, for such they really were, 

 and cooking was 60on in progress. Later still, the other 



