CHAPTER   Xn

Changed situation in Constantinople—Exaggerated
dangers—The cholera peril—Ministry's difficult
position—The Officers' Corps—A Jehad—"Busi¬
ness as usual during alterations"—Sufferings of
wounded soldiers—Hospital disorganization—^Self-
mutilation and self-preservation.

Little more than a fortnight had
elapsed since I had started for the front,
but in that brief period the whole
situation had changed. The Porte, no
longer talking boastfully of a march on
Sofia, had been shaken to its foundations
by the overthrow of the Ottoman army
at Lule Burgas, and, having only too
much reason to apprehend internal dis¬
sension, as well as further defeat in the
field,  had  instructed its  Ambassadors in

187