Kerchak

“ Today it was the killing of a giant ape, a member of another tribe, and as the people of Kerchak entered the arena two mighty bulls were seen bearing the body of the vanquished between them.
They laid their burden before the earthen drum and then squatted there beside it as guards, while the other members of the community curled themselves in grassy nooks to sleep until the rising moon should give the signal for the commencement of their savage orgy. ”

“ And then Tublat went to Kerchak to urge him to use his authority with Kala, and force her to give up little Tarzan, which was the name they had given to the tiny Lord Greystoke, and which meant "White-Skin." ”

“ He can not only hound an individual to his destruction but he can lay a whole tribe down with fever, shatter them in their skin boats or destroy them by starvation.
The people did not doubt for an instant but that Kerallkuk told them true. It was wholly reasonable that Kusiunek; should take the form of a white bear. And now their childish hearts were choked with fear of what might come next.
"My people, when I heard this I seized Tweegock by the arm and told him what had just been told me," Kerallkuk went on solemnly. "Woe upon him, he did not heed me. 'It is only Nenook,' he told me. ”

“ After a battle of two hours the Rowalla gave way, with the loss of forty-three killed, a great many wounded, and one hundred and twenty camels, together with the whole booty which they had carried off. The Christians had only four men killed. To account for the success of this heroic enterprise, I must mention that the people of Kerek are excellent marksmen; there is not a boy among them who does not know how to use a firelock by the time he is ten years of age.
The Sheikh of Kerek has no greater authority over his people than a Bedouin Sheikh has over his tribe. ”

“ The great nomadic tribe of the Kirghiz, or Kara Kirghiz, as the Russians call them, to distinguish them from the Kirghiz of the various hordes who, by the way, are not true Kirghiz at all, has at all times played a fitful, yet important part in the histories of Khokand, Jungaria, and Eastern Turkestan. Preserving their independence in the inaccessible region lying west of Lake Issik Kul, and along the Kizil Yart plateau and range, this tribe has always been a source of trouble to its neighbours, whosoever they might be. ”

“ The Kalmuk and Uzbek are said to have sprung from one tribe [32] , and this change of habitation has now mingled it with the Kuzzak [33] , a great tribe that once lay to the eastward of it; and Kalmuks, Kuzzaks, and Kirgizzes are mingled together. The Kirgiz and Kuzzak appear to be much the same people, differing only in location. The Kirgizzes whom I met, had a flat countenance, and closely resembled the Toorkmun. They inhabit Pameer. The Kuzzaks pass the summer in the southern parts of Russia, and repair in winter to the neighbourhood of Bokhara, where they sell their sheep. ”

“ Kerak contains a population of about 300 families, three-fourths Christian. By paying an annual tribute, and submitting to occasional exertions, the latter live amicably with the powerful tribe of Kerakîyeh, whose encampment is a short distance without the walls. The latter are so averse to houses, that some, then on a visit to the town, had pitched their tents in the yards of vacant dwellings.
The Muslim inhabitants are wild-looking savages, but the Christians have a milder expression. The males mostly wear sheepskin coats; the women, dark-coloured gowns ”

“ The inhabitants of Kamtchatka are divided into three peoples, whose language and manners are dissimilar. The Koriaks in the north, the Kamtchatdales in the centre, and the Kuriles in the south.
Among the Koriaks,20 some are nomadic, others stationary.
20 Krachenninikov.
The wandering Koriaks have Arab features, and small eyes, shaded with thick eye-brows; they are not so stout nor so tall as the stationary Koriaks; they are also less robust and courageous.
And yet, the nomads despise the sedentary tribe as slaves, and these quietly accept this servility. ”

“ They were now reduced, from upwards of one thousand tents, to about two hundred, and they may at present be considered as the advanced guard of the Sheikh of Kerek, who employs them against his own enemies, and makes them encamp wherever he thinks proper. The inhabitants of Kerek have thus become formidable to all the neighbouring Arabs; they are complete masters of the district of Kerek, and have great influence over the affairs of the Belka. ”

“ Beyrek replied: "Oh, nurse, I am not a hunter. I am instead a prince, the son of a prince. You can have all of it. But allow me to ask, whose tent is that?"
Kisirja Yinge said: "Young prince, this tent belongs to Banu Chichek, the daughter of Bay Bichen." When he heard this, his blood boiled, but he turned back and walked away quietly.
The girls carried back the deer and placed it before Banu Chichek, the most regal of all the beautiful girls. When she saw that it was a large, fat deer, she asked her maids: "Oh, girls, what sort of a young man is he?" ”

“ Peter Creighton was silent, but there was eloquence in the tightening of his hand on Krech's knee. The big man spoke again, mournfully.
"Do you remember that afternoon at the tannery when I said I'd like just for once to find out something before you did? Well, I got my wish the other night—and I'd have given an arm to alter the meaning of what I'd found!"
"Thank you, Krech. You and Jean are two of the best friends a man ever had." The detective paused a moment, collecting his thoughts. "I expect you'd like to know how I stumbled on to the truth—? All right." ”

“ Krech hissed the words in a fierce whisper. His eyes had automatically followed the detective's glowing cigarette and had been attracted by something farther off, barely visible through the deepening dusk. Almost before Miss Ocky and Creighton could sense the meaning of his words, he had sprung to his feet and vaulted the veranda railing. Thanks to a downhill slope of the ground at this point the piazza floor was a full nine feet from the grass lawn, and they heard a hearty grunt as Krech alighted. ”

“ Yonder steed under thee is what I am seeking and I call upon thee to tell me how thou camest by it." "Know," replied Kanmakan, "that this steed was being carried to my uncle King Sasan in the company of a certain old woman, attended by ten slaves, when thou fellest upon her and tookest the horse from her; and I have a debt of blood against this old woman for the sake of my grandfather King Omar ben Ennuman and my uncle King Sherkan." "Out on thee!" said Kehrdash. "Who is thy father, O thou that hast no (known) mother?" ”

“ Here the Russians first met them in the 17th century, and by the aid of the Kazaks exterminated all those east of the Irtish, driving the rest farther west and south-westwards. Most of them took refuge with their kinsmen, the Kara-Kirghiz nomad highlanders, whose homes, at least since the 13th century, have been the Ala-tau range, the Issyk-kul basin, the Tekes, Chu and Talass river valleys, the Tian-shan range, the uplands draining both to the Tarim and to the Jaxartes and Oxus, including Khokand, Karateghin and Shignan southwards to the Pamir table-land, visited by them in summer. ”

“ At last he said:
"I, Timur, slave of God, say what I must. Let three hundred horsemen go to all the four corners of my kingdom and let them find this woman's son. She shall wait here and I will wait with her. Happy shall he be who returns with the child on his saddle. Woman, is that right?"
She tossed her black hair from her face, smiled at him and, nodding, answered:
"Quite right, O king!"
Then the terrible old man rose and bowed to her in silence, but the merry poet Kermani sang joyfully like a child:
"What is more delightful than a song of flowers and stars? ”

“ Early's conceptions were carried through in the darkness with little accident or delay, Kershaw opening the fight by a furious attack on Thoburn's division, while at dawn and in a dense fog Gordon struck Crook's extreme left, surprising his pickets, and bursting into his camp with such suddenness as to stampede Crook's men. ”

“ The feud between the Aktaghluc and Karataghluc factions reached its height when Afak, who had been placed on the throne of Yarkand by the Calmucks, under Galdan, the chief representative of the Aktaghluc, succeeded in expelling all the prominent supporters of the rival clan. Afak ruled for some years, but with difficulty maintained himself in some parts of Kashgar, against the Calmucks, Kirghiz, and Kipchak. His sons had no better fortune, and the state was finally divided between a Kipchak and a Kirghiz leader. ”

“ Notwithstanding the deepening of the strait, so that ships are now able to enter the Sea of Azov, Kerch retains its importance for the export trade in wheat, brought thither by coasting vessels. Grain, fish, linseed, rapeseed, wool and hides are also exported. About 6 m. N.E. are the town and old Turkish fortress of Yenikale, administratively united with Kerch. Two and a half miles to the south are strong fortified works defending the entrance to the Sea of Azov.
The Greek colony of Panticapaeum was founded about the middle of the 6th century B.C., by the town of Miletus. ”

“ Very gingerly, holding it in the tips of his fingers, he lifted a red leather notebook from its nest of brown wrappings and showed it to Krech. The big man nearly dropped the torch which he had taken from his friend.
"Varr's notebook!" he cried. "It must be!"
"It is," confirmed Creighton, who had lifted one cover with the tip of a finger nail and glanced at the contents of a page. "Now, isn't this lovely! Who says we can't recover loot? The thief may have to hand it to us on a tray, but it's only results that count! Say, Krech—there goes your melodramatic theory of a plot to bump me off." ”

“ Krech, abandoning his cogitations, came quickly to his side, eager to learn what this exclamation portended.
Creighton, with his habitual care to miss nothing, had not contented himself with exploring the surface of the veranda or the surface of the heavy gray carpet that covered the floor of the room from edge to edge. That finished, he had thrust his fingers between the carpet and the wood of the window-sill, holding it back with one hand while he passed his magnifying glass over the accumulation of dust and dirt and sweepings that lay in the crack. His pains were rewarded. ”

“ Chelkash awaked from his reverie. He felt that scalding irritation in his chest, which always came as soon as his pride, the pride of the reckless vagrant, was touched by anyone, and especially by one who was of no value in his eyes.
"His tongue's set wagging!" he said savagely, "you thought, maybe, I said all that in earnest. Never fear!"
"But, you strange fellow!"—Gavrilo began, overawed again—
"Was I speaking of you? Why, there's lots like you!
Ah, what a lot of unlucky people among the people! Wanderers——"
"Take the oars, you sea-calf!" ”

“ Get it?"
"Oh, yes," said Krech rather mournfully. "Two and two always make four when you add them up. They never run to more than three and a half for me." He sighed. "Creighton, I'd like once—just for once—to score a beat over you!" ”

“ Creighton's face was solemn as he reclaimed his chip of steel and added the obvious corollary to Krech's deduction. "If it's not an outside job it must be an inside one. Somebody in this house took that dagger and notebook." ”

“ Inured to this frantic hurly-burly, Chelkash, stimulated by the scene with Semenich, felt in the best of spirits. Before him smiled a solid piece of work, demanding not very much labour but a good deal of cunning. He was convinced that he would be equal to it, and blinking his eyes, fell thinking how he would lord it to-morrow morning, when the whole thing would have been managed and the bank-notes would be in his pocket. Then he called to mind his comrade Mike, who would have just done for this night's job if he had not broken his leg. ”

“ Dede Korkut advised him to go and throw himself into the water. Delu Karchar ran and jumped into a stream, and the fleas were washed away in the running water. Delu Karchar came out of the stream, put on his clothes and went home to start preparations for the wedding.
During the time of the Oghuz, when a young man was to be married, he would shoot an arrow into the air and, wherever the arrow fell, there he would have his nuptial tent erected. Beyrek Khan too shot his arrow and had his nuptial tent set up where it landed. ”

“ When Kehrdash saw his feats of arms, he knew that he was stout of heart and concluded that he was the phœnix of the champions and heroes of the age: so he feared death and said to Kanmakan, “I give thee thy life and pardon thee the blood of my comrades, for I have compassion on thee by reason of thy fair youth. So take what thou wilt of the cattle and go thy ways, for life is better for thee [than death] .” “Thou lackest not of the generosity of the noble,” [7] replied Kanmakan; “but leave this talk and flee for thy life and reck not of blame nor think to get back the booty ”

“ Gavrilo swung the oars.
The boat moved with rapid, irregular jerks, noisily cutting the water.
"Steady!"
Chelkash got up from the stern, still holding the oars in his hands, and
peering with his cold eyes into the pale and twitching face of Gavrilo.
Crouching forward Chelkash was like a cat on the point of springing.
There was the sound of angry gnashing of teeth.
"Who's calling?" rang out a surly shout from the sea.
"Now, you devil, row! quietly with the oars! I'll kill you, you cur. Come, row! One, two! There! you only make a sound! I'll cut your throat!" hissed Chelkash. ”

“ The Koryaks of the interior, on the other hand, still own enormous reindeer herds, to which they are so attached that they refuse to part with an animal to a stranger at any price. They are in disposition brave, intelligent and self-reliant, and recognize no master. They have ever tenaciously resisted Russian aggression, and in their fights with the Cossacks have proved themselves recklessly brave. When outnumbered they would kill their women and children, set fire to their homes, and die fighting. ”