“Kagig—­where is Kagig?”

“You cursed fools, where should I be!”

“Kagig?  Is it truly you?” Their eyes were still blinded by the blaze.

“Shut that door again, and bolt it!  Aye—­Kagig, Kagig, is it you!”

“It is Kagig!  Behold him!  Look!”

They clustered close to see, smelling infernally of sweaty garments and of the mud from unholy lurking places.

“Kagig it is!  And has all happened as I, Kagig, warned you it would happen?”

“Aye.  All.  More.  Worse!”

“Had you acted beforehand in the manner I advised?”

“No, Kagig.  We put it off.  We talked, and disagreed.  And then it was too late to agree.  They were cutting throats while we still argued.  When we ran into the street to take the offensive they were already shooting from the roofs!”

“Hah!”

That bitter dry expletive, coughed out between set teeth, could not be named a laugh.

“Kagig, listen!”

“Aye!  Now it is ‘Kagig, listen!’ But a little while ago it was I who was sayin ‘Listen!’ I walked myself lame, and talked myself hoarse.  Who listened to me?  Why should I listen to you?”

“But, Kagig, my wife is gone!”

“Hah!”

“My daughter, Kagig!”

“Hah!’

A third man thrust himself forward and thumped the butt of a long rifle on the floor.
      —­
“They took my wife and two daughters before my very eyes, Kagig!  It is no time for talking now—­you have talked already too much, Kagi,—­now prove yourself a man of deeds!  With these eyes I saw them dragged by the hair down street!  Oh, would God that I had put my eyes out first, then had I never seen it!  Kagig—­”

“Aye—­Kagig!”

“You shall not sneer at me!  I shot one Turk, and ten more pounced on them.  They screamed to me.  They called to me to rescue.  What could I do?  I shot, and I shot until the rifle barrel burned my fingers.  Then those cursed Turks set the house on fire behind me, and my companions dragged me away to come and find others to unite with us and make a stand!  We found no others!  Kagig—­I tell you —­those bloody Turks are auctioning our wives and daughters in the village church!  It is time to act!”

“Hah!  Who was it urged you in season and out of season—­day and night—­month in, month out—­to come to Zeitoon and help me fortify the place?  Who urged you to send your women there long ago?”

“But Kagig, you do not appreciate.  To you it is nothing not to have women near you.  We have mothers, sisters, wives—­”

“Nothing to me, is it?  These eyes have seen my mother, ravished by a Kurd in a Turkish uniform!”

“Well, that only proves you are one with us after all!  That only proves—­”

“One with you!  Why did you not act, then, when I risked life and limb a thousand times to urge you?”

“We could not, Kagig.  That would have precipitated—­”