After taking me through two or three rooms, he said: "There are many
more like this, but you have probably seen enough." But I eagerly
exclaimed that I must see the others in order to judge of this
electric lighting scheme. If there were many more rooms it might
necessitate an extra sized dynamo, therefore a greater expense, but
I hoped that by due economy in the number of lamps to be able to keep
down to the original estimate which I had thought of.
So we went steadily through all the rooms, looking at the places where
lamps might be most economically established, and I made calculations
with pencil and paper, which I showed him, while I jotted on my shirt
cuff the names of the tribes and the other information required by my
superiors at home--which I did not show him.
The armament of native auxiliaries and their organisation and numbers
were thus comparatively easily found out--thanks to that little stroke
of luck which I repeat so often comes in to give success whether in
scouting or spying.
But a more difficult job was to ascertain the practical fighting value
of such people.
TEA AND A TURK.
Reports had got about that some wonderful new guns had been installed
in one of the forts on the Bosphorus and that a great deal of secrecy
was observed in their being put up. It became my duty to go and find
out any particulars about them.
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