'I Am Afraid He Must
Have Lost His Way, And Fallen Into The Hands Of The Robbers.
If so,
God help him.
There were more than fifty of them.'"
"J - - 's anecdote was followed by many others, coffee was succeeded
by cognac and seltzer, Gerome gave us some startling Central Asian
experiences, and we talked over men and things Persian far into the
night, or rather morning, for it was nearly 2 a.m. when I retired to
rest."
"I hope you'll sleep well," said J - - , as he led the way to a
comfortable bedroom looking out on to the needle-like peaks of the
Kotal Doktar, gleaming white in the moonlight. "By the way, I forgot
to tell you we usually have an earthquake about sunrise, but don't let
it disturb you. The shocks have been very slight lately, and it's sure
not to last long," added my host, as he calmly closed the door, and
left me to my slumbers.
I am not particularly nervous, but to be suddenly aroused from sleep
by a loud crash, as if the house were falling about one's ears; to
see, in the grey dawn, brick walls bending to and fro like reeds,
floors heaving like the deck of a ship, windows rattling, doors
banging, with an accompaniment of women and children screaming as if
the end of the world had arrived, is calculated to give the boldest
man a little anxiety. I must at any rate own to feeling a good deal
when, about 6 a.m. the following morning, the above phenomena took
place.
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