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CHAPTER XV.
Selecting another araba-driver—Mehmet—Boisterous Turkish recruits
On the road for Kaisariyeh — Far-off view of Argaeus — Mehmet's
peculiarities—A quarrel—Dogs, and more dogs—The coloured hills
—Lazis on the road—The ancient road between Sivas and Kaisariyeh.
After having followed the Bagdad Road in a southeasterly
direction for more than two hundred miles to
Sivas, I was now to turn towards the south-west for
Kaisariyeh. The road lay high, and upon it snow was
more to be dreaded than elsewhere. To Kaisariyeh
was about a hundred and thirty miles, and with the
fear of bad weather upon me I wished to cover the
distance in four days ; I therefore inquired for another
araha.
A small red-headed Moslem, warranted to know
the road, was sent me the same day. Compared with
the burly Achmet, this new driver was altogether disappointing
; not only was he small and ineffective in
appearance, but he had an incessant and irritating
cough that sometimes seemed to become part of his
speech. His eyes, too, were feeble and watery. And
further, the recommendation upon which he relied
chiefly was that at one time, and that not long ago,
he had been an inmate of the American hospital
for two weeks. In imagination I saw him breakinof
down if the araha got into difficulties, and myself
having to bear the chief part in lifting it out. If we
should come to a scrimmage anywhere on the road,
I saw this little fellow as an interested spectator