DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0091
II. THE WAY HOME 81
for which there can be no justification, no pallia-
tion. The letter of the bargain was on my side ;
but the feeling that ought to rule in the conduct of
man to man condemns me absolutely. It is a
small incident in itself; but yet I doubt if any-
thing in my whole life has cost me so much re-
morse. It was a typical example of the essential
immorality of rigorous legal right when exercised
by unsympathetic power.
We were in no pleasant situation ourselves ; a
slight mist, accompanied by fine rain, contracted
the view on all sides ; a sea of hills surrounded us ;
it was near an hour since we had seen anything like
a path, and for the last half-hour we had been on
foot, as the ground was too rough to ride. In such
circumstances, one appreciates the value of a com-
pass. After we had dragged our horses behind us
for half an hour in the proper direction, the mist
lifted a little, and we saw far away in front the hills
clipping into the valley of Metropolis. There we
spent the evening without further misadventure and
without any new discover}-.
Three years later, in 1891, when Mrs. Ramsay
and I crossed the higher mountains on the west, and
were coming down from the north-west side into the
valley of Metropolis, we heard of an inscription on
a kara-task, beside the road from Metropolis to
Synnada. This time we were more lucky. We
6
for which there can be no justification, no pallia-
tion. The letter of the bargain was on my side ;
but the feeling that ought to rule in the conduct of
man to man condemns me absolutely. It is a
small incident in itself; but yet I doubt if any-
thing in my whole life has cost me so much re-
morse. It was a typical example of the essential
immorality of rigorous legal right when exercised
by unsympathetic power.
We were in no pleasant situation ourselves ; a
slight mist, accompanied by fine rain, contracted
the view on all sides ; a sea of hills surrounded us ;
it was near an hour since we had seen anything like
a path, and for the last half-hour we had been on
foot, as the ground was too rough to ride. In such
circumstances, one appreciates the value of a com-
pass. After we had dragged our horses behind us
for half an hour in the proper direction, the mist
lifted a little, and we saw far away in front the hills
clipping into the valley of Metropolis. There we
spent the evening without further misadventure and
without any new discover}-.
Three years later, in 1891, when Mrs. Ramsay
and I crossed the higher mountains on the west, and
were coming down from the north-west side into the
valley of Metropolis, we heard of an inscription on
a kara-task, beside the road from Metropolis to
Synnada. This time we were more lucky. We
6