"عبر بلاد فارس على سرج ركوب جانبي" [‎٣‎١‎٢] (٣٦٠/٣٥٥)

312 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
to catch the boat of the 9th, owing to our arrival a day
later on account of the snow. However, one of the soldiers
on guard managed to open a window, by which we
entered, and then he went to hunt the servants up. The
adventures of the day were even then not over, for our
wood-fire set the chimney alight, and the servants, in
trying to extinguish it, made a hole in the roof, the
general excitement delaying the arrival of our dinner to
an unpleasantly late hour.
On the 9th we left for Baku, and after a rough passage
reached that unattractive town two days later, and that
night started off on our thirty-two hours' journey to
Batoum.
We made our way to England from Constantinople via
Sofia, Buda Pesth, Vienna, and Paris, reaching home in
March 1897, and had the joy of meeting relatives and
friends, and of feeling that it was good to return to our
own country again.
But in spite of my pleasure at being at home, it is
difficult to realise that I have, in all probability, left the
East for ever; and as I wake up morning after morning
to the soft greys and greens and blues of an English land
scape, I miss the glow of the floods of golden sunshine that
were wont to pour into my room in Persia, and often close
my eyes again, to imagine that I am back once more in
that well-loved country.
** هذه التواريخ تقريبية ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية ** هذه التواريخ تقريبية
I am again, in fancy, at Kerman, feeling a boundless
energy and strength with which to carry out the duties of
the day lying in front of me: duties by no means light,
when they consisted in ordering a household on European