{"product_id":"2940012773456","title":"INNOCENTS ABROAD Volume V","description":"CHAPTER XLI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I last made a memorandum, we were at Ephesus.  We are in Syria, now,\u003cbr\u003eencamped in the mountains of Lebanon.  The interregnum has been long,\u003cbr\u003eboth as to time and distance.  We brought not a relic from Ephesus!\u003cbr\u003eAfter gathering up fragments of sculptured marbles and breaking ornaments\u003cbr\u003efrom the interior work of the Mosques; and after bringing them at a cost\u003cbr\u003eof infinite trouble and fatigue, five miles on muleback to the railway\u003cbr\u003edepot, a government officer compelled all who had such things to\u003cbr\u003edisgorge!  He had an order from Constantinople to look out for our party,\u003cbr\u003eand see that we carried nothing off.  It was a wise, a just, and a\u003cbr\u003ewell-deserved rebuke, but it created a sensation.  I never resist a\u003cbr\u003etemptation to plunder a stranger's premises without feeling insufferably\u003cbr\u003evain about it.  This time I felt proud beyond expression.  I was serene\u003cbr\u003ein the midst of the scoldings that were heaped upon the Ottoman\u003cbr\u003egovernment for its affront offered to a pleasuring party of entirely\u003cbr\u003erespectable gentlemen and ladies I said, \"We that have free souls, it\u003cbr\u003etouches us not.\"  The shoe not only pinched our party, but it pinched\u003cbr\u003ehard; a principal sufferer discovered that the imperial order was\u003cbr\u003einclosed in an envelop bearing the seal of the British Embassy at\u003cbr\u003eConstantinople, and therefore must have been inspired by the\u003cbr\u003erepresentative of the Queen.  This was bad--very bad.  Coming solely\u003cbr\u003efrom the Ottomans, it might have signified only Ottoman hatred of\u003cbr\u003eChristians, and a vulgar ignorance as to genteel methods of expressing\u003cbr\u003eit; but coming from the Christianized, educated, politic British\u003cbr\u003elegation, it simply intimated that we were a sort of gentlemen and\u003cbr\u003eladies who would bear watching!  So the party regarded it, and were\u003cbr\u003eincensed accordingly.  The truth doubtless was, that the same\u003cbr\u003eprecautions would have been taken against any travelers, because the\u003cbr\u003eEnglish Company who have acquired the right to excavate Ephesus, and\u003cbr\u003ehave paid a great sum for that right, need to be protected, and deserve\u003cbr\u003eto be. They can not afford to run the risk of having their hospitality\u003cbr\u003eabused by travelers, especially since travelers are such notorious\u003cbr\u003escorners of honest behavior.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe sailed from Smyrna, in the wildest spirit of expectancy, for the chief\u003cbr\u003efeature, the grand goal of the expedition, was near at hand--we were\u003cbr\u003eapproaching the Holy Land!  Such a burrowing into the hold for trunks\u003cbr\u003ethat had lain buried for weeks, yes for months; such a hurrying to and\u003cbr\u003efro above decks and below; such a riotous system of packing and\u003cbr\u003eunpacking; such a littering up of the cabins with shirts and skirts, and\u003cbr\u003eindescribable and unclassable odds and ends; such a making up of bundles,\u003cbr\u003eand setting apart of umbrellas, green spectacles and thick veils; such a\u003cbr\u003ecritical inspection of saddles and bridles that had never yet touched\u003cbr\u003ehorses; such a cleaning and loading of revolvers and examining of\u003cbr\u003ebowie-knives; such a half-soling of the seats of pantaloons with\u003cbr\u003eserviceable buckskin; then such a poring over ancient maps; such a\u003cbr\u003ereading up of Bibles and Palestine travels; such a marking out of\u003cbr\u003eroutes; such exasperating efforts to divide up the company into little\u003cbr\u003ebands of congenial spirits who might make the long and arduous Journey\u003cbr\u003ewithout quarreling; and morning, noon and night, such mass-meetings in\u003cbr\u003ethe cabins, such speech-making, such sage suggesting, such worrying and\u003cbr\u003equarreling, and such a general raising of the very mischief, was never\u003cbr\u003eseen in the ship before!","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181178536176,"sku":"2940012773456","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012773456_p0.jpg?v=1763572486","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012773456","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}