acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

126 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
inferior force merely because it wears the khaki
or blue uniform of law. So between hammer and
anvil a fair working custom has arisen which is
credited with official sanction. It is that the solitary
zaptieh or gendarme meeting smugglers in strength
may look the other way in passing and thus see
nothing requiring him to take action. It is a sporting
convention of benefit all round. The law, unseeing,
preserves its majesty ; the State avoids the cost of
organised retribution ; and the ofificer carries a whole
skin with honour. On their part, too, the smugglers
are pleased that they go whole and with credit,
retaining their goods, and yet without the shadow
of future trouble.
Much of the impunity enjoyed by contrabandists
is due to the general sympathy with which they
are regarded. An example of this large goodwill
occurred under my own eyes an hour or so after
passing the two mounted zaptiehs a little way out of
Tokat. Near the summit of Kurt Dag-h five or six
dark,
hard-bitten men, driving pack-horses, suddenly
crossed the road and dived into the scrub on the
other side, as if anxious to find cover. They moved
in haste, and looked hot and hunted, and revealed
their present calling without a word of explanation
being needed. A lonely zaptieh meeting them, I
thought, might well bless the privilege permitting
him to pass with averted eyes, or even with a
friendly salutation, as some say. As a lonely
zaptieh myself I know I should have been grateful
indeed for this most sensible temporary truce.
When the train had disappeared one of the men
lingered on the road and sought information from a
passing peasant, for the answer given referred to the
zaptiehs. And then of me he asked the time ; and
while I made the calculation necessary for converting
my "It la Franga" time into Turkish (the difference
varies every day), he stood with a good-humoured
smile on his face, as if confident that I, like every one
else, was on the side of the law-breakers. Nor was