acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

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44 ACROSS ASIA MINOR ON FOOT
preparations for defence. These, they said, were all
samcm—or straw.
And so I reluctantly thought myself, after an
illuminathig incident which befell me at Marsovan. I
wished to buy a Mauser automatic pistol, and inquired
discreetly—for they were illegal weapons to carry—if
one could be found in the town. The next morning
an Armenian merchant called on me, anxious to do
business. He could tell me, he said, that no Mauser
was to be had ; but for five pounds a Mannlicher
which he spoke of as a much better pistol—was at my
disposal ; and with that he placed on the table a new
Mannlicher and belt of cartridges. Like the Mauser,
it was an illegal weapon, being longer in the barrel
than careful Turkish law permits citizens to own.
The merchant had much to say in favour of the
Mannlicher. It was less complicated, and therefore
less likely to get out of order than a Mauser, and
for that reason had been adopted by Armenians. In
Marsovan at least five hundred of his countrymen were
armed with this formidable weapon. He proposed that
I should take the pistol and try it, and was confident
that when he called again I would be a buyer.
It shot like a rifle and was pleasant in the hand
but jammed at every third or fourth round, and by
no cleaning and oiling could I make it do better.
When I next saw the merchant he was surprised
and disappointed at what I told him. He said he
had never heard complaints about this kind of pistol
before ; he would give me in confidence the address of
an Armenian gunsmith at Sivas, an expert in pistols,
and armourer to one of the Armenian revolutionary
societies, who would speedily set right any defect.
Seeing at last that I would have nothing to do
with Mannlichers, another idea occurred to him.
He unbuttoned his waistcoat, and after unwinding a
long hidden belt of cartridges, produced a yet greater
pistol of the same make. That, he explained, was
his own, which he had carried for years. It went
with him everywhere, for he wore it by day, and