Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/128

 CHAPTER V

OFF TO DERBENT

♦ Behold, thy walls are continually before me.'

— Isaiah i9. 16.

pozhaluista — said my guide to the ticket-agent at Baku, late one night on the occasion of my fourth visit to that city ; and before many minutes had passed I was off to make researches in the ancient-modern town of Derbent, or Derbend, on the Caspian, a night's ride by train. ^
 * Two tickets for Derbent, first class, please ' — pervavo klassa^

To many, I suppose, it would hardly occur to take this trip for antiquarian studies, since Derbent is seldom visited by trav- elers ; yet I felt a lively interest in the prospective excursion, for I had reason to hope that I might find something new (or, rather, old) that might add to the existing fund of knowledge, since I knew there were historic walls on both sides of the town, dating back at least fourteen hundred years to the Sasanian Empire of Persia, and perhaps even to the time of Alexander the Great. It is hope such as this that lends special life to what might otherwise be dry-as-dust investigations, and when results are realized, the enjoyment is doubly keen.

My interpreter on the trip was an interesting character, a Russified German, who reveled in the experiences of his check- ered career, and talked about them with a frankness that was refreshing. In his ups and downs in life he had crossed the ocean several times, and was familiar with America, where he had served in various capacities, from that of steamer purser

1 1 missed my fellow-traveler, the Westward, which has since won un- A. S. C, on this occasion (1910), as matched laurels for America in Eng- he was at Southampton with his yacht, lish and German waters.

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