We took the Englishman to this house, and as we were showing him the men with rifles around the doors and windows, we heard sounds of a sharp rifle fire some distance away on the border.  Not long afterwards a Montenegrin doubled into the town with a report that heavy firing had been taking place at the village of Dinos.  Nothing further came of it, but our countryman went to bed with other ideas of Montenegro.

We awaited Achmet next morning, but at nine he had not arrived, and we began to wonder, as the hours went by, if his fate had at last overtaken him.  But at noon he turned up, as quiet and self-possessed as yesterday, and excused himself in the following way.  The Albanians who had expressed such murderous desires upon him yesterday at the market lived in Dinos, and he had spent the night in emptying his magazine rifle repeatedly into their village.

“To show these dogs,” he concluded, “that they cannot express such wishes to me with impunity.”

His story, which is given shortly here, was taken down from his lips, but it is impossible to reproduce the man’s quaint phraseology.  He spoke in an indifferent way, and detailed all the circumstances in a most matter-of-fact manner and without the faintest trace of boasting.

He was born in Podgorica, then Turkish, and at fifteen fought in his first battle, killing three men.  At seventeen he had a fight in the town, and was forced to flee to Scutari, where, shortly afterwards, he entered the Turkish service as a gendarme.  He took unto himself a wife, but finding her faithless, he laid a trap to catch her and her lover together, when he killed them both.  After this Achmet returned to Podgorica, where he was at once seized and imprisoned for his original offence, but he soon broke out and fled to the Albanian mountains.  Here he lived as a robber until things began to get too hot for him, and he fled to Bosnia.  In Bosnia he was the guest of a Serb, who befriended him, and when a Turk seduced his benefactor’s wife, he killed the Turk to show his gratitude, and again was forced to flee the country.  He next turned up in Antivari, where he was promptly imprisoned, but he overpowered the warder, took his rifle, and again escaped.

At this time the town captain of Dulcigno had been murdered, in revenge for a deadly insult, by a young Kuc, named Jovan, and Achmet was sent for, on the promise of pardon if he would follow Jovan into Albania and kill him.  This he did, bringing Jovan’s head with him as evidence.  For this he received a large reward, and the Prince of Montenegro, having heard of him and his deeds, sent for him, pardoning all his previous offences, besides giving him one hundred napoleons.

Achmet now settled down at his present home near Podgorica, but was caught by the Turks and imprisoned on a false charge for four months, when he was able to prove an alibi.

Achmet fought in many border fights with the Montenegrins against the Albanians and distinguished himself greatly.  Two Albanians once attacked the son of a famous standard-bearer, whose life he saved, capturing the assailants alive and bringing them into Podgorica.  For this act the Prince gave him an old fortress for his home, and where he still lives.