acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

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282 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
of dust appeared far away oii the hot road from
Karamaii, and in a little while resolved itself into a
group of running figures. By this time the warningbell
had rung, and the train was ready to start ; the
runners, one thought, were sure to be left behind.
They were now fairly in sight, not more than a mile
otf, running at a slow trot like men with a longdistance
to go, but also like men with the tixed
determination to arrive. Their situation at once
enlisted the interest of all native passengers
windows filled with heads, doors were opened and
sympathisers stepped out to get a better view ; the
obvious wish was that the train should wait. At
this moment the engine whistled agam and started,
and with a scramble and rush passengers regained
their places, but still found absorbing interest in the
runners. Men shouted from carriages, others waved
their arms, and the two officers in my compartment,
who had become as interested as any, now grew
Men who had run from Karaman
mildly indignant.
were to be left behind, and for what? Because the
train would not wait ten minutes. To a population
not yet accustomed to trains here was the intolerable
bondage of punctuality made visible, a load laid
gratuitously upon honest men's shoulders. Prompted
by such ideas, the passengers made their sentiments
known so insistently that the train was stopped,
and waited for the men from Karaman— giving them,
however, a blast or two on the whistle to quicken
their speed. But they took the signal in another
sense ; they were hot and blown, and seeing what
happened dropped into an easy walk, and arrived at
their own pace.
Between Karaman and Konia the line passed
through a district where extensive irrigation works
were in progress. Water was being brought from
one of the mountain lakes in the south—Soghla, I
think it was said, or it may have been Beyshehr.
The country was cut up b}^ water-races and reservoirs,
by means of which 100,000 acres were to be irrigated