It is of no use standing upon any ceremony with a man when his house is being burnt down: drawing my revolver, I fired two shots in the air; thinking that the sound of the reports would arouse the sleeping inmates. The effect was instantaneous: the whole family awoke, the man, greatly alarmed, thinking that an attack was being made on the village by a tribe of Kurds; slowly drawing the bolt, he looked through a crack in the door. "Come!" I said, "your house is on fire! Be quick, or it will be burned down, and your camels and oxen be suffocated!" The proprietor bounded out of the room. He was followed by the harem; the ladies, in the confusion, did not think of covering their faces, and were very scantily attired. They ran to a well in the yard and brought some pitchers of water. The proprietor by this time had climbed to the roof of his house. It was a windy night. The gusts were a source of considerable inconvenience, to the water-bearers; their hands being occupied with the pitchers, they could not arrange their garments. The latter fluttered above the ladies' heads, to the great discomfort of the proprietor, who, much enraged at his house being on fire, was equally annoyed at his wives' legs being exposed to the view of an unbeliever. To relieve his mind, I clambered on to the roof. From this position the ladies' limbs could no longer be seen. After pouring several buckets of water on the charred rafters, we managed to extinguish the flames. CHAPTER XXI. Sileh Zela—Its position—The old citadel—The soil in the neighbourhood—A battalion of infantry—The Caimacan—The audience-chamber—The Cadi—The battalion going to Samsoun—The local authorities—The Colonel—England would be neutral—What, desert her friend of the Crimea?—An ally in Austria—Andrassy—An old Imaum—Propensity for fighting—A Christian Bishop—The most bellicose members of society—Yakoob Khan of Kashgar—The Russians and the Chinese—The Khivans, Bokharians, and Turkomans—A rising of the Poles—The ancient city—A secret passage—My tea and sugar—Osman has a sweet tooth—My lord's liberality praised—Osman to kneel on his own coat—Tartars—Lazy husbands—A plain planted with tobacco—Mountains covered with vines—Many-coloured sand-hills—A wonderful phenomenon—Bazar—Pacha Williams—Teesdale—Kars—Is Pacha Williams still alive? It was a bright moonlight night. Not thinking it likely that we should obtain any more sleep, I determined to start at once, and take advantage of the weather. Desiring Radford and Osman, who had been aroused by the reports of my revolver, to saddle the horses, we set off in the direction of Sileh Zela, a town which contains 3000 houses, and a barracks which will hold at a pinch 1500 soldiers.