and competent commander of such a force as Crete could
furnish. As Zimbrakaki, who commanded the Greek
volunteers, had assumed the command of the western
section, while the chiefs of the eastern section,
around and beyond Ida, had their own organization,
Coroneos went to Retimo and established the headquarters
of the district at the fortified convent of Arkadi,
a building of Venetian construction and of sufficient
strength to resist any attack not conducted with heavy
artillery. Here he established his depot, and
here the families of the Cretans took refuge when menaced
by the Turkish bands. Coroneos himself kept the
field and harassed the Turks everywhere in the province,
and so annoyed Mustapha that after a month’s
indecision he suddenly marched off to the attack of
Arkadi, which Coroneos, after having harassed him
on the march as much as was possible, was obliged
to leave to its fate, as neither his organization
nor his outfit, which included no artillery, permitted
him to shut himself up in the little fortress.
He had provided as garrison a small body of Greek
volunteers and 150 Cretan combatants, including the
priests. Besides these there were about 1000 women
and children, whom Coroneos had tried to induce to
return to their homes, succeeding, however, owing
to the opposition of the
hegumenos to the departure
of his own relatives, with only about 400, the rest
being shut in by the sudden investment. To prepare
for resistance, the great gate of the convent had
been solidly walled up, and when Mustapha opened fire
with his mountain artillery on the walls he made no
impression on them or on the gate, and, the rifle fire
from the convent being terribly hot and effective,
he made the investment complete and sent to Retimo
for heavy artillery. It came accompanied by nearly
the entire garrison of Retimo and the Mussulman population,
making his total force about 23,000 men, of whom the
most zealous combatants were the Cretan Mussulmans.
By this time I had become the recognized official
protector of the Cretans, although I had always done
my best to discourage hostilities and persuade the
Cretans to leave their wrongs to diplomatic treatment;
not that I had great faith in that, but because I could
see no hope for a success for the insurrection.
Around me had spontaneously formed an efficient service
for information, the runners of the various sections
coming to me at Kalepa with the earliest information
on every event of importance, and I communicated with
the legations at Athens and our own minister at Constantinople.
The exactness of my news was so well recognized that
even the grand vizier sent regularly to our minister
for information, remarking that he got nothing reliable
from his own officials. Now happened one of those
curious cases of mysterious transmission of news which
have often been known in the East. Arkadi was
at least forty miles, as the roads go, from Kalepa,—a
long day’s journey as travel goes there; but