was trying to devise some means of saving the family, not caring a straw for the property. One after the other I brought out of the house your mother, your two sisters and your brother. But I was such a fool that I forgot there was a baby sleeping in the cradle. 'My baby! my baby!' cried your mother, and ran back to the house. There I was, between two fires; it was hard to decide which way to turn. If I left the girls alone, the Kurds were sure to carry them off; if I did not go to your mother's asistance[errata 1], she might lose her life. 'It is better,' thought I, 'to save these three lives while I can, then I can look for the mother.' So I took your sisters and brother and hid them in a rye farm not far from the village, and ran back again. I got there in time to see your mother entering the village. I followed her. When I reached your house I found it in flames; but regardless of my cries of entreaty, regardless of her own danger, the poor woman rushed madly into the blazing fire; almost at the same moment the roof fell in, and I did not see her again."
The young man listened like a statue, standing motionless, and gazing into the distance. His face was pale as marble, and his thin lips trembled.
His eyes were tearless.
"Why did my father go to Bash-Kala?" he asked in a tremulous voice.
"When it became known that the Sheikh had given orders to massacre the Christians, everybody was paralyzed with fear. They did not know what to do, where to go, in order to save themselves. Then your father summoned all the leading men of the village, and taking with them two priests and a bishop, they went to Bash-Kala to ask protection from the Mudir and the Kaymakam. They had promised to send soldiers to protect the Christians against the Kurds, but they put it off from day to day, until the Kurds came and did their hellish work unmolested. Then the deputation saw that they were being deceived, and started to come back in despair. But the Kurds, learning that they had gone to Kaymakam, hunted them and caught them on their way, and you saw with your own eyes what they had done to them."
- ↑ Correction: asistance should be amended to assistance
