The Eye of Zeitoon | Page 7

Zeitoon there is very good sport. Bear.
Antelope. Wild boar. One sportman to another--do you understand?"
We did, and did not believe.
"How far to Zeitoon?" I demanded.
"I go in five days when I hurry. You--not hurrying--by horse--seven
--eight--nine days, depending on the roads."
"Are they all Armenians in Zeitoon?"
"Most. Not all. There are Arabs--Syrians--Persians--a few Circassians
--even Kurds and a Turk or two. Our numbers have been reenforced
continually by deserters from the Turkish Army. Ninety-five per cent.,
however, are Armenians," he added with half-closed eyes, suddenly

suggesting that masked meekness that disguises most outrageous racial
pride.
"It is common report," I said, "that the Turks settled all Armenian
problems long ago by process of massacre until you have no spirit for
revolt left."
"The report lies, that is all!" he answered. Then suddenly he beat on his
chest with clenched fist. "There is spirit here! There is spirit in Zeitoon!
No Osmanli dare molest my people! Come to Zeitoon to shoot bear,
boar, antelope! I will show you! I will prove my words!"
"Were those six jingaan in the common room your men?" I asked him,
and he laughed as suddenly as he had stormed, like a teacher at a child's
mistake.
"Jingaan is a bad word," he said. "I might kill a man who named me
that--depending on the man. My brother I would kill for it--a stranger
perhaps not. Those men are Zingarri, who detest to sleep between brick
walls. They have a tent pitched in the yard."
"Are they your men?"
"Zingarri are no man's men."
The denial carried no conviction.
"Is there nothing but hunting at Zeitoon?" Will demanded.
"Is that not much? In addition the place itself is wonderful--a mountain
in a mist, with houses clinging to the flanks of it, and scenery to burst
the heart!"
"What else?" I asked. "No ancient buildings?"
He changed his tactics instantly.
"Effendi," he said, leaning forward and pointing a forefinger at me by
way of emphasis, "there are castles on the mountains near Zeitoon that
have never been explored since the Turks--may God destroy them!
--overran the land! Castles hidden among trees where only bears dwell!
Castles built by the Seljuks--Armenians--Romans--Saracens--Crusaders!
I know the way to every one of them!"
"What else?" demanded Will, purposely incredulous.
"Beyond Zeitoon to north and west are cave-dwellers. Mountains so
hollowed out that only a shell remains, a sponge--a honeycomb! No
man knows how far those tunnels run! The Turks have attempted now
and then to smoke out the inhabitants. They were laughed at! One
mountain is connected with another, and the tunnels run for miles and

miles!"
"I've seen cave-dwellings in the States," Will answered, unimpressed.
"But just where do you come in?"
"I do not understand."
"What do you propose to get out of it?"
"Nothing! I am proud of my country. I am sportman. I am pleased to
show."
We both jeered at him, for that explanation was too outrageously
ridiculous. Armenians love money, whatever else they do or leave
undone, and can wring a handsome profit out of business whose very
existence the easier-going Turk would not suspect.
"See if I can't read your mind," said Will. "You'll guide us for some
distance out of town, at a place you know, and your jingaan-gipsy
brethren will hold us up at some point and rob us to a fare-you-well. Is
that the pretty scheme?"
Some men would have flown into a fury. Some would have laughed the
matter off. Any and every crook would have been at pains to hide his
real feelings. Yet this strange individual was at a loss how to answer,
and not averse to our knowing that.
For a moment a sort of low cunning seemed to creep over his mind, but
he dismissed it. Three times be raised his hands, palms upward, and
checked himself in the middle of a word.
"You could pay me for my services," he said at last, not as if that were
the real reason, nor as if he hoped to convince us that it was, but as if he
were offering an excuse that we might care to accept for the sake of
making peace with our own compunctions.
"There are four in our party," said Will, apropos apparently of nothing.
The effect was unexpected.
"Four?" His eyes opened wide, and be made the knuckle-bones of both
hands crack like caps going off. "Four Eenglis sportman?"
"I said four. If you're willing to tell the naked truth about what's back of
your offer, I'll undertake to talk it over with my other friends. Then,
either we'll all four agree to take you up, or we'll give you a flat refusal
within a day or two. Now--suit yourself."
"I have told the truth--Zeitoon--caves--boar--antelope--wild boar. I am