With such a hero, it is evident that the book must abound in stirring and even tremendous scenes; but, though primarily a novel of incident, it contains not a few fine studies of Oriental character, both Turkish and Greek, by an absolutely impartial observer, who can detect the worth of the Osmanli in the midst of his apathy and brutality, and who, although sympathetically inclined towards the Hellenes, is by no means blind to their craft and double-dealing, happily satirized in the comic character of Leonidas Argyrocantharides. Finally, I have taken the liberty to alter the title of the story. _Janicsárok végnapjai_ (_The Last Days of the Janissaries_) is too glaringly inapt to pass muster, inasmuch as the rebellion and annihilation of that dangerous corps is a mere inessential episode at the end of the story. I have, therefore, given the place of honor on the title-page to Ali Pasha--the Lion of Janina. I have added a glossary of the Turkish words used by the author in these pages. R. NISBET BAIN. Contents Chapter Page I. THE CAVERNS OF SELEUCIA 1 II. EMINAH 19 III. A TURKISH PARADISE 45 IV. GASKHO BEY 62 V. A MAN IN THE MIDST OF DANGERS 72 VI. THE LION IN THE FOX'S SKIN 78 VII. THE ALBANIAN FAMILY 105 VIII. THE PEN OF MAHMOUD 110 IX. THE CIRCASSIAN AND HIS FAMILY 129 X. THE AVENGER 160 XI. THE FLOWERS OF THE GARDEN OF BEGTASH 187 XII. THE SHIPWRECK OF LEONIDAS 198 XIII. A BALL IN THE SERAGLIO 213 XIV. KURSHID PASHA 238 XV. CARETTO 244 XVI. EMINAH 252 XVII. THE SILVER PEDESTAL IN FRONT OF THE SERAGLIO 262 XVIII. THE BROKEN SWORDS 275 GLOSSARY OF TURKISH WORDS 293 The Lion of Janina CHAPTER I THE CAVERNS OF SELEUCIA A savage, barren, inhospitable region lies before us, the cavernous valley of Seleucia--a veritable home for an anchorite, for there is nothing therein to remind one of the living world; the whole district resembles a vast ruined tomb, with its base overgrown by green weeds. Here is everything which begets gloom--the blackest religious fanaticism, the darkest monstrosities of superstition--while an eternal malediction seems to brood like a heavy mist over this region, created surely by God's left hand, scattering abroad gigantic rocky fragments, smiting the earth with unfruitfulness, and making it uninhabitable by the children of men.