It Was Dusk, And We Had Just Secured The Only Horses Available, When
Two Armenians, Bound For Teheran, Rode Into The Yard.
When told they
were just too late for a relay, the rage of one of them - a short,
apoplectic-looking little man - was awful to behold.
As I mounted, his
companion came up and politely advised us not to attempt to ride to
Murchakhar by night. "The road swarms with footpads," he said, in a
mysterious undertone; "you run a very great risk of being robbed and
murdered if you go on to-night." "You would have run a far greater
of being frozen to death, if we had not saved you by taking these
horses," cried Gerome, as we rode coolly out of the gateway.
Bideshk is noted for a great battle fought in its vicinity between
the army of Nadir Shah and Ashraf the Afghan. Its post-house is also
noted, as I can vouch for, for the largest and most venomous bugs
between Teheran and Ispahan. We only remained there three hours, and
felt the effects for days afterwards.
All trace of ice and snow disappeared a few farsakhs from here, and we
galloped gaily across a hard and level plain to our destination for
the night. The post-house was a blaze of light. A couple of armed
sentries stood in front of the doorway, and a motley crowd of
soldiers, Shagird-chapars, and peasants outside.
"You cannot come in," said the postmaster, full of importance.
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