In ten minutes the boat landed them at Pera, close to the bridge of boats across the Golden Horn.  For a time the lads made no motion to advance, so astonished were they at the crowd which surged across the bridge:  Turkish, English, and French soldiers, Turks in turbans and fezes, Turkish women wrapped up to the eyes in white or blue clothes; hamals or porters staggered past under weights which seemed to the boys stupendous; pachas and other dignitaries riding on gayly-trapped little horses; carriages, with three or four veiled figures inside and black guards standing on the steps, carried the ladies of one harem to visit those of another.  The lads observed that for the most part these dames, instead of completely hiding their faces with thick wrappings as did their sisters in the streets, covered them merely with a fold of thin muslin, permitting their features to be plainly seen.  These ladies evidently took a lively interest in what was going on, and in no way took it amiss when some English or French officer stared unceremoniously at their pretty faces; although their black guards gesticulated angrily on these occasions, and were clearly far more indignant concerning the admiration which their mistresses excited than were those ladies themselves.

At last the boys moved forward across the bridge, and Jack presently found himself next to two young English officers proceeding in the same direction.  One of these turned sharply round as Jack addressed his companion.

“Hallo, Jack!”

“Hallo, Harry!  What! you here?  I had no idea you had got your commission yet.  How are you, old fellow, and how are they all at home?”

“Every one is all right, Jack.  I thought you would have known all about it.  I was gazetted three days after you started, and was ordered to join at once.  We wrote to tell you it.”

“I have never had a letter since I left home,” Jack said.  “I suppose they are all knocking about somewhere.  Every one is complaining about the post.  Well, this is jolly; and I see you are in the 33d too, the regiment you wanted to get into.  When did you arrive?”

“We came in two days ago in the ‘Himalaya.’  We are encamped with the rest of the light division who have come up.  Sir George Brown commands us, and will be here from Gallipoli in a day or two with the rest of the division.”

The boys now introduced their respective friends to each other, and the four wandered together through Constantinople, visited the bazaars, fixed upon lots of pretty things as presents to be bought and taken home at the end of the war, and then crossed the bridge again to Pera, and had dinner at Missouri’s, the principal hotel there, and the great rendezvous of the officers of the British army and navy.  Then they took a boat and rowed across to Scutari, where Harry did the honors of the camp, and at sundown Jack and his messmate returned on board the “Falcon.”