Page:Kéraban the Inflexible Part 2 (Jules Verne).djvu/17

Rh nothing in common with the travelling-carriage. However willing the horses which might be yoked to it, they could not possibly proceed at the same pace as with a chaise. So there were many delays to be feared before the journey could be accomplished.

However, we may remark that Ahmet was at any rate not likely to be embarrassed in the choice of a carriage, for nothing in the nature of a conveyance could be obtained! It was most important that he should rejoin his uncle as quickly as possible, for Kéraban's obstinacy would surely engage him in some deplorable adventure. So Ahmet decided to perform that journey of twenty leagues on horseback, for that was the distance which lay between Poti and the Turko-Russian frontier. He was an excellent horseman, and Nizib had often accompanied him in his rides. Van Mitten, when consulted, confessed that he had had some lessons in the principles of equitation, and he answered, if not for the actual skill of Bruno on horseback, at any rate for his obedience in following him under those conditions.

It was thus arranged that they should take their departure the following morning at an early hour, so as to be able to reach the frontier the same evening.

This settled, Ahmet wrote a long letter to the address of Selim the banker: a letter which naturally commenced with the words, "Dear Amasia." To her he related the various incidents of the journey: what had happened at Poti, why he had been separated from his uncle, how he