orders. I never revoke orders and I shall not do it in this case. If you can show me some way in which this order can be carried out and your protégés still saved, I shall be glad to listen."
I had already discovered one of the most conspicuous traits in the Turkish character: its tendency to compromise and to bargain. Enver's request for a suggestion now gave me an opportunity to play on this characteristic.
"All right," I said. "I think I can. I should think you could still carry out your orders without sending all the French and English residents down. If you would send only a few, you would still win your point. You could still maintain discipline in the army, and these few would be as strong a deterrent to the Allied fleet as sending all."
It seemed to me that Enver almost eagerly seized upon this suggestion as a way out of his dilemma.
"How many will you let me send?" he asked quickly. The moment he put this question I knew that I had carried my point.
"I would suggest that you take twenty English and twenty French—forty in all."
"Let me have fifty," he said.
"All right—we won't haggle over ten," I answered. "But you must make another concession. Let me pick out the fifty who are to go."
This agreement had relieved the tension, and now the gracious side of Enver's nature began to show itself again.
"No, Mr. Ambassador," he replied. "You have prevented me from making a mistake this afternoon; now let me prevent you from making one. If you se-
