THE GRECO-TURKiSH WAR. 666 morning it became known in the town that its abandonment had been ordered. There was a rush of fugitives to the railway station,and the trains were soon crowded,and not always with civilians. Soldiers, and evenofficers, struggled for a place in the overloaded carriages. One train was thus packed with people when Prince Constantine with his staff officers and servants arrived. Some carriages were cleared, and he and his suite took the vacant places, and the trainsteamed away towards Volo. Laterin the day there was a disgraceful scene, when a crowd of soldiers and civilians hustled women and children out of a train to make room for themselves. It was only by the efforts of the conquerors in the night. The Turkish staff were honestly* anxious to prevent such outrages, but they were not always able to restrain the wilderspirits in the ranks of the army. During the morning the lineof the Xerias was occupied. Tyrnavos was found to be absolutely deserted. It was a purely Greek town, and all its peoplhad fled. A reconnaissance down the Larissa road showed abundant traces of the panic flight of the night before. But still nothing was known of the abandonmentof Larissa. A more enterprising cavalry commander than Suleiman Pasha would have found out what was in progress before the morning was many hours old. If cavalry patrols had been pushed well forward tow-ards thetown, the noise of the engines dragging train after train out of the station would alonehave sufficed to tell what washappening.

It was not till early morning on the Sunday that the rumour of the evacuation of Larissa reached the Turkish outposts. It was brought in by some Greek stragglers, captured by the cavalry. Grumbkoff and Seyfullah Bey rode off with 500 horsemen and a battery to verify the news. The guns of the redoubts were silent, the earthworks British company of the Foreign Legion that the mob was kept back from the train that conveyed the wounded.

The bulk of the army and a large part of the Greekpopulation streamed out of the town by road. The soldiers were moving in two huge columns,and themoreenergetic officers gradually restored order in theirranks. Beforethe last of the soldiersleft the place the prison had been opened, and its inmates let loose. A handful of these armed themselves with the weapons thrown MEMDHUK PASHA. {Photo; Abdullah,Constantinople.)

awayby the soldiers, and, withsome of the irregulars, occupied the houses near the bridge. The Greek engineers had brought a case of guncotton to the bridge-head toblowitup,buthad gonewithoutevenattempting the work. The guns were left in the redoubts and the citadel, the telegraph wasnot cut, nor werethe instruments removed or damaged. The sick and wounded were abandoned in the hospital. By noon the last Greek soldier had gonefrom Larissa. The Turkish inhabitants ot the place were barricaded in their houses, fearing to lose their lives -at the hands of the armedbandittiwho now had the town at their mercy.

On the Saturday morning the Turks had expected a battle. They were astonished to find the Greek positions abandoned. Deliler andMussalar, occupied the evening before, were in flames. They had been . fired by the empty. Only as theycame in sight of the long bridge over the river a straggling rifle fire came from the other bank. Seyfullah hadno wishto damagethe town, where heknew there w-asa considerableMoslem population. Just beyond the bridge the chief building in sight was the dome of a large mosque. The battery unlimbered, and as a warning to the defendersof the bridge three blank charges were fired. The fusillade from the other bank ceased at once. A squadron dismounted, and carbine in hand the men watched the far end of the bridge whileanother squadron,led by Seyfullah andGrumbkoff, trotted across. The box ofguncotton was secured, the entrance to the town occupied. The armed desperados had fled. A crowd of Moslems and Jews and a few timid Greekcivilians,encouragedbytheirMohammedan friends,came out to meet the conquerors, and ask to have the town protected from harm.