Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/353

 sion of his person that Kasim, with others, was slain in the fray. Upon learning this on his return, Bayazid rebuked his towns- men so vehemently that they stoned him to death, and thus both the saintly men lost their lives. The inhabitants of Bus- tam were so fortunate as to secure the bodies of the two for burial ; while the natives of Shahrud had to content themselves with the remains of seven of their companions who fell in the riot and whose corpses were interred under a hillock, still called Haft Tan, 'Seven Bodies,' near the scene of the tragic affair.^

Throughout my visit I found the priests who were in charge of the buildings most kind, the chief mullah himself helping to explain the points of interest, and even requesting me to take a photograph of him when I bade him adieu. Rejoining my comrade, I found that he had meanwhile made himself at home among the natives in the bazar, joining them in their afternoon tea, watching them at their occupations, and being initiated by them into the mysteries of primitive spinning ; and a souvenir of the lesson, in the form of a crude spindle, has been preserved as a keepsake in the carpet mills at Yonkers.

Our driver was ready now with his prancing horses, and away we galloped back to Shahrud, where a fresh relay was found waiting to whirl us along again on our eastern road.

1 This story is given at length by Fraser, pp. 338-339.

�� �