Words came to him again.

“You summon me to lead?  I will!  From now I lead!  By the God who gave my fathers bread among the mountains, I will, moreover, be obeyed!  Either my word is law—­”

“Kagig, it is law!”

“Or back you shall go to where the Turks are wearing white, and the gutters bubble red, and the beams are black against the sky!  You shall obey me in future on the instant that I speak, or run back to the Turks for mercy from my hand!  I have listened to enough talk!”

“Spoken like a man!” said Monty, and stood up.

We all stood up; even Rustum Khan, who did not pretend to like him, saluted the old warrior who could announce his purpose so magnificently.  Maga Jhaere stood up, and sought Will’s eyes from across the room.  Fred, almost too sleepy to know what he was doing (for the tail end of the fever is a yearning for early bed) undid the catch of his beloved instrument, and made the rafters ring.  In a minute we four were singing “For he’s a jolly good fellow,” and Kagig stood up, looking like Robinson Crusoe in his goat-skins, to acknowledge the compliment.

The noise awoke Peter Measel, and when we had finished making fools of ourselves I walked over to discover what he was saying.  He was praying aloud—­nasally—­through the mouse-hole—­for us, not himself.  I looked at my watch.  It was two hours past midnight.

“You fellows,” I said, “it’s Sunday.  The martyred biped has just waked up and remembered it.  He is praying that we may be forgiven for polluting the Sabbath stillness with immoral tunes!”

My words had a strange effect.  Monty, and Fred, and Will laughed.  Rustum Khan laughed savagely.  But all the Armenians, including Kagig, knelt promptly on the floor and prayed, the gipsies looking on in mild amusement tempered by discretion.  And out of the mouse-hole in the horse-feed bin came Peter Measel’s sonorous, overriding periods: 

“And, O Lord, let them not be smitten by Thine anger.  Let them not be cut down in Thy wrath!  Let them not be cast into hell!  Give them another chance, O Lord!  Let the Ten Commandments be written on their hearts in letters of fire, but let not their souls be damned for ever more!  If they did not know it was the Sabbath Day, O Lord, forgive them!  Amen!”

It was a most amazing night.

Chapter Seven “We hold you to your word!”

LIBERA NOS, DOMINE!

A priest, a statesman, and a soldier stood
Hand in each other’s hand, by ruin faced,
Consulting to find succor if they could,
Till soon the lesser ones themselves abased,
Their sword and parchment on an altar laid
In deep humility the while the priest he prayed.

He prayed first for his church, that it might be
Upholden and acknowledged and revered,
And in its opal twilight men might see
Salvation if in truth enough they feared,
And if enough acknowledgment they gave
To ritual, and rosary, and creed that save.