acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

374 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
a hotel. For the time being this village was the
headquarters of the German engineers, as well as of
the construction staff, for a section of the railway
that included the great tunnel being bored under the
Amanus mountains. At Baghche, too, was stationed
the German diplomatic official whose presence had
excited the Consul's curiosity. The reasonable way
for us to reach Baghche would have been by construction
train from Adana to Osmanieh, and thence by
horse. Travelling thus, the Consul's movements
would have been known from the moment of starting.
As it was, he arrived without a hint of his
coming leaking out ; and the first information the
German official had was the Consul's note announcing
his arrival, delivered by Ibrahim soon after we
reached the hotel.
And then the official's position soon came out. He
was described as " Delegate of the German Embassy
at Constantinople," and entitled to be called " His Excellency
" in official documents. Just what he feared
the Consul would learn at Baghche there was no
guessing, though his dread was obvious. Official calls
over, his hospitality hardly allowed us out of his sight.
His quarters were not large enough to permit him to
put us up ; so each morning at seven his kavass, a
Circassian of six feet four named Ibrahim Chowshe,
would come to the hotel with an invitation for us to
breakfast. The upshot was that we spent the whole
of each day with His Excellency. Between meals he
showed us station buildings, railway earthworks, and
such-like immaterial things, and gave figures as to the
progress of the great tunnel, Euphrates bridges, and
the sections of line completed.
One morning, however, some kind of proposal
was
made that we should go to the tunnel.
" You really wish to see it ? " his Excellency asked ;
to which the Consul replied that he thought a visit
would be interesting.
*' Very well," said our host, " let us go ; but I warn
you that not much is to be seen."