During our journey, we had thousands of adventures which I will not
describe, but there is one that I cannot pass by in silence. Although it
happened so many years ago, I still cannot recall this incident without
laughing, and without at the same time re-experiencing the sensation I
had then—of instinctive fear combined with a presentiment of imminent
catastrophe.
Many times after this incident I found myself in very critical
situations. For example, more than once I was surrounded by scores of
dangerous enemies; I have had to cross the path of a Turkestan tiger;
and several times I was taken literally at the point of a gun; but never
did I have such a feeling as I experienced on this occasion, however
comical it may seem now, after the event.
Pogossian and I were calmly walking along. He was humming some
march and swinging his stick. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a dog
appeared, then another, and another, and still another—in all about
fifteen sheep-dogs, who began barking at us. Pogossian imprudently
flung a stone at them and they immediately sprang at us.
They were Kurd sheep-dogs, very vicious, and in another moment
they would have torn us to pieces if I had not instinctively pulled
Pogossian down and made him sit beside me on the road. Just because
we sat down the dogs stopped barking and springing at us; surrounding
us, they also sat down.
Some time passed before we came to ourselves; and when we were
able to take stock of the situation we burst out laughing. As long as we
remained sitting the dogs also sat, peaceably and still, and when we
threw them bread from our knapsacks, they ate it with great pleasure,
some of them even wagging their tails in gratitude. But when, reassured
by their friendliness, we tried to stand up, then, ‘Oh no, you don’t!’—for
they instantly jumped up and, baring their teeth, made ready to spring at
us; so we were compelled to sit down once more. When we again tried
to get up,
the dogs showed themselves so viciously hostile that we did not risk
trying a third time.
In this situation we remained sitting for about three hours. I do not
know how much longer we would have had to sit there if a young Kurd
girl had not chanced to appear in the distance with an ass, gathering
keesiak in the fields.
Making various signs to her, we finally managed to attract her
attention, and when she came closer and saw what the trouble was, she
went off to fetch the shepherds to whom the dogs belonged, who were
not far away behind a hill. The shepherds came and called off the dogs,
but only when they were at some distance did we risk standing up; and
all the time they were moving away the rascals kept an eye on us.
from mwrm G.I.G.