The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-04-22

drink, yet the boldest shaved head among
them who mumbles his prayers toward
Mecca will not dare lay hands upon me. Look
mere and he laid his hand upon his re-
Soivers-"y ye know where / got these. I
served Tor awhile on an American warship.
ihose men beyond the wide ocean are fight
eFS ana the sons of fighters. They taught
me al ther skill. They gave me these pis-
tolls ana the guns carry. With these pis-
tois never miss man at 100 paees-ay.
LOO. L carry II mems lives in them. Think
we there are II Muslems in Kanea anxious
to hurry of to the houri to-night?"
. No need to tell us thou art brave" said
Andreas. We know that better than any
words can say. But 10 is not for thyself I
argue hut for Crete. We must take no
chance of losing thee. 1t is thy duty 20
save thyself for Crete-for Hellas. The war
cannot De long delayed. We were cheated
out OF the victory we won % years ago.
We were lied to and deceived, even. by our
CHRISTIAN brethren Of the Western Nations,
who compelled Us to do that which the
osinanlI could not-make peace. Not a
promise has been kept, not right granted.
NO; we are bounded and tormented far
worse than ever. Ravenous wolves. hyenas.
JaeSals, hungrier every year, rule over and
despoli rs. Oar sweaty toll goes to pamper
their besotted luxury; our fairest daughters
to I'LL their seraglios."
M0mently the old man became more earn
est, his voice deeper, his words more eloauent.
The graGdiy resonant Greek-ittest of all
languages for popular oratory-rolled from
MS lips IN an impassioned burst
Meanwhile crowd had gathered-men
with grain for the mill; travelling mer-
chants with donkeys laden with wares
wiId-Iooking shepherds, who had left their
hoeks for an hour; travellers from oneshore
10 another of the narrow island; idlers who
bad lounged to the mill to hear the news
and gossip.
The mill was to the Sphakiots what news
papers, club, cafes, political conventions. ex-
changes and hotels are to men in other
lands. There they heard the news, talked
politics, and formed plans. Andreas Sandria
was one OF their favorite speakers, and always
listened to with deep attention.
For u.s." he continued. "the wretehed
hoyei, the biting cold, the parehing heat:
Tor them, marble palaces beside the sea and
soft disans- For our wives and children.
black bread and bitter herbs; for them. the
hrstiings of our focks, the daintiest of our
fruits, and our lives, even, if we complain.
The Crescent blightS our land devils mock
at and insult the True God our holiest
places are polluted by the false faith-bv
men who spit upon the Cross and insult the
Virgin with the yilest words their indeeens
lips can framen
His audience was being wrought to the
highest pitch. At the end of ringing SEN
tence he would pause for an instant, and
they would answer him with cheers and
curses upon the detested Muslem.
Have / not reason to hate the foul
brood :" he exclaimed Do not remea-
ber the grotto by Meldoni? What man
among We had not kinsmen and kinswomen
who perished there?"
Tell us the story Tell us the story -
they shouted. Not but what every one
among them knew it only too well, yet they
ionged to hear it again from his lips, TO feed
the fire of their hatred.
was a mere child at the time of the
revolution which made Greece free. We
should have been free ourselves. for we
fought no less bravely and determinedly
than our brethren of the mainland. and we
won more victories than they did. But we
were cheated out of the birthright we had
redeemed with our blood by France and
England. and forced back under the hateful
yoke. My parents dwelt near Melidoni. but
my grandparents had taken me into the
mountains. / had two elder sisters, Just
budding into womanhood, and fairer than
the honris whom the Muslems prate about
being the portions of the faithful in Paradise.
Emissaries of the Pasha had marked them
for presentation to the Sultan, but my father
and mother would rather have seen them
dead at their feet than toys for the sensual
hours OF the Arch-Enemy of the True Church.
My sisters felt the same way. When Mus.
tafa Pasha and Husein Bey landed with a
horde to crush out all opposition and wreak
their will on the SaDjak of Kanea, my father
and mother took their daughters and Joined
the 800 who sought refuge in the great
grotto by Melidoni They all took with
them provisions to last for months, and they
hoped to find a refuge there until the storm
blew over. Husein Bey came to the mouth
of the cavern and demanded their surrender.
He got no answer. Surrender meant death
to the men and the slave mart for the
women and children. Again he demanded
surrender, and received no answer. He tried
to send his men in, bat the first were shot
down by the desperate refugees. He then
filled the mouth of the cave with straw and
hay, to suffocate them, but this was too slow
for his bloody heart, and he made his men
bring up barrels of oil, turpentine and sui
phur, which they piled into the entrance to
the grOtto and fired. For days the sitting
fires burned until every living soul in the
grotto was suffocated. There perished over
300 of our fathers and mothers with their
beautiful daughters and helpless babes,
whose skulls whitened with the sialactites
for years afterward, before they were allowed
burial. Travellers from Christian lands have
seen and counted them.n
y howl of execration bursted from the
excited throng, and cries Of Death to every
devils son of the viper brood of Islam"
" Ho. hol" called tall, grizzled shep-
herd who had been watching the next hill
top rather than the speaker There's my
mate, Diskorides, signaling wildly for help.
Let us rush to him.
He started off, followed by the whole
throng. From the hilltop they saw man
in Cretan dress running toward them
through the fields. Mounted men in the
uniform of the Turkish geadarmerie were
pursuing him as fast as they could force their
horses through the bushes, while others were
galloping along the road to cut him of.
From time to time they fired shots at ths
fugitive from their clumsy earbines.
Without stopping an instant the crowd
On the hill charged down with a yell, firing
1t the horsemen, who turned and sped
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