THE GRECO-TURKISH WAR withlittle loss on either side. At Kritiri,Neshat Pasha had given up the attempt to storm the fortified cliff, and was bombarding the hilltop, hoping in any case to make the garrison exhaust their ammunition. Edhem, the commander-inchief, did not mean to push forward with his centre tillthe Greek defencecollapsed on one or other of the wings. When that happened the Greek centre would have to go, or be cut off from Larissa. A more energetic commander by the palace at Constantinople, played the cautious waiting game, and would not take even the slightest risks.

There weretwo men with the headquartersof the army whochafed at this inaction. One was Grumbkoff Pasha, a Prussian officer, who held the post ofInspector of Artillery in the Turkish army ; the other was Seyfullah Bey, a young Turkish colonel, one of the trained officers of the new* school. Seyfullah was a wealthy man.

GREEK PEASANT RECRUITS.

would have attacked at once. He had inhand Haidar and Memdhuk's divisions,Riza's reserve artillery andSuleiman's cavalry division,allmade up of splendid fighting material, and freshfrom the victory of the Meluna. Infront ofhim was only the single brigade of Colonel Mastrapas. If Edhemhad attackedhe wouldhave simply overwhelmedit and driven it across the Xerias into Larissa,and this victory in the plain would have divided the wings of the Greek army from each other. The strong left wing wouldhave retired on Pharsala or Tiikhala,but Kaklamanos on the right would have been cut off and destroyed. But Edhem, probablybecause he was controlled He owned land near Larissa. Before the war he had been the Turkish military attache at Athens. He had lived occasionally at Larissa, and he knew by personal experience every mile of the country between the Meluna Pass and Athens. On the outbreak of the war he had been attached to Edhem Pasha's staff, and his personal knowledge of the Greeks, their army, and their country was invaluable to the Turkish commander-in-chief. On this Tuesday Grumbkoff andSeyfullah led the cavalry and a horse battery out into the plain as far as the hamlet of Kainak-bashi,nearMati, where there wasaspring of good water, welcome to the men and horses 6eo