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ROBBERS BEFORE US 257
same rare coin, which after changing hands was found
to be a clever European counterfeit. As an indication
however of the country's interest for the numismatist,
consider this : that at the present day the inhabitants
of various districts find it profitable to search for coins
in their ploughed fields after heavy rain.
Among the company in the guest - room Ighsan
seemed to have fallen in with old acquaintances, who
treated him with extraordinary deference and respect.
He spoke of them as friends not seen for a long
time. Three or four stayed on after I had got into
my sleeping- sack, and I watched them for a time
as they sat cross-legged on the divan engaged in a
low- voiced beard -to -beard conversation. Their turbaned
fezzes, their absorbed attitudes, and the uncertain
firelight shining on two faces and placing the
others in partial shadow, made them look, in this
strange smoky little room, like a group of Eastern
plotters, and I wondered what they spoke about so
earnestly. And now I saw Ighsan in a new aspect,
for in these momentary impressions he appeared as
an exceedingly astute old man.
While at breakfast next morning Ighsan said that
three Circassians belonging to Kavluk Tepe, a village
a few miles farther along the valley, were robbing
on the road before us. During the past week they
had waylaid several travellers ; we should have to
take care ; so his friends had told him overnight.
I judged the matter more by his manner than his
words. He seemed to regard it as a matter of course,
and to be as little troubled as if speaking of a flooded
stream to be crossed. If he, with a good horse to
lose, had no misgivings, small cause was there for
me to take the news seriously. Besides, it is no
light matter in Turkey to molest or rob an Englishman
; and I thought also that with precautions
on our part more risk might be apparent to the
Circassians than they would care to take.
The storm ceased during the night, and was followed
towards morning by a south wind, and when I went
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