shipping of all nations: men-of-war, merchant steamers crowded with
stores, troop-ships thronged with red-coats; great barges, laden to
the water's edge, slowly made their way between the ships and the
shore. The boats of the shipping, filled with soldiers, rowed in the
same direction. Men-of-war boats, with their regular, steady swing,
went hither and thither, while among all crossed and re-crossed from
Constantinople to Scutari, the light caicques with their one or two
white-shirted rowers. No boats in the world are more elegant in
appearance, none except those built specially for racing can vie with
them in speed. The passenger sits comfortably on a cushion in the
bottom of the boat, and smokes the long pipe which the boatman, as a
matter of course, fills and hands to him as he takes his seat, while
the boatmen themselves, generally Albanians, and singularly handsome
and athletic men, lay themselves down to their work with a vigor and a
heartiness which would astound the boatmen of an English
watering-place.

A scene so varied, so beautiful, and so busy could not be equalled
elsewhere.




CHAPTER V.


A BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY

Two days later Jack obtained leave to go on shore. He hesitated for a
moment whether to choose the right or left bank. The plateau of