By Far Euphrates A Tale 24

By Far Euphrates A Tale 24

"John Grayson, you are a brave lad," said Miss Celandine, stretching out

her thin, worn hand to him.

 

Jack took it with all reverence. What deeds of kindness and pity, and

heroic beneficence that weak woman's hand had done! Like the people he

dwelt amongst, he bowed over it, touching it with his lips and his

forehead. Then he said, smiling, "But also I am a man now. If it please

you, Miss Celandine, may I see my wife?"

 

"Certainly. I will go and fetch her."

 

In a few minutes Shushan entered. She had grown a little pale with the

anxieties of the last days, but he thought she looked sweeter than ever.

She had much to hear from him about her family, and about her father, of

whom he was able to give her a hopeful report.

 

An hour passed in earnest talk; but what each said to the other, neither

told afterwards. When at last the moment of parting came, neither cared

to think how long a parting it might be. Lip met lip, heart throbbed

against heart. Shushan was the braver now. "You know, Shack," she said,

"the cross of Christ was laid on us together. Nothing can keep us parted

after that."

 

"The cross laid on us together," Jack repeated; "indeed, it looks like

it. But do not droop, my Lily. With God's help we will win through yet,

and have a joyful ending to all our troubles."

 

But something in his own heart gave the lie to his hopeful words, as he

took one last lingering gaze, and sadly turned to go.

 

"Yertaak paré," said Shushan softly.

 

"Menaak paré," he responded, and went.

 

FOOTNOTE:

 

[4] Djanum="my soul." A common exclamation.

 

 

 

 

Chapter XV

 

DARK HOURS

 

"Oh, Thou that dwellest in the heavens high,

Above yon stars and beyond yon sky,

Where the dazzling fields need no other light,

Nor the sun by day, nor the moon by night;

 

Though shining millions around Thee stand,

For the sake of Him at Thy Right Hand,

Think on the souls He died for here,

Wandering in darkness, sorrow and fear!

 

The Powers of Darkness are all abroad,

They own no Saviour, they fear no God;

And we are trembling in dumb dismay--

Oh, turn not Thou Thy Face away!"

 

--_Cameronian Midnight Hymn._

 

 

If the Armenians were safe, for the present, in their own Quarter from

actual murder, it was the most that could be said. They dared not stir

an inch beyond its boundaries; and within it, the Redifs who were

quartered upon them, ostensibly as protectors, but really as spies,

committed many horrible outrages.

 

They were continually pressed to surrender firearms, which they did not

possess. To satisfy the authorities, any pieces that could be found by

diligent search amongst the few who had dared to conceal them, were

given up; and this, much to his regret, was the fate of Jack's revolver.

Still the Turks persisted in the assertion that the Armenians had a

large number of Martinis, supplied to them by foreigners, and that these

must be produced before they could promise them security for their lives

and their possessions. Vain were their protestations that these Martinis

had no existence--that they had never even heard of them. In the end,

the persecuted community actually _purchased_ arms from the Turks

themselves, which they then gave back to the Government. This might

appear at first a mere trick of the officials, to secure a trifle of

dishonest gain. It was much more; it was part of the subtle, skilful,

elaborate plan by which a net was drawn around the doomed race, and they

were made to appear, in the eyes of those who might have befriended

them, as the doers, not the sufferers, of violence. In a European

newspaper, English or German, the transaction might have read thus: "At

Urfa, a town on the Euphrates (_sic_), a disturbance was caused by the

Armenians, who attacked a party of zaptiehs as they were conveying a

prisoner to the guard-house. They overpowered the zaptiehs, and killed

the prisoner, against whom they had a grudge. Some rioting ensued;

shops were plundered, and several persons, both Mussulmans and

Armenians, were killed. But the Armenians having surrendered their

fire-arms, and being restricted, for the present, to their own Quarter,

order and tranquillity have now been completely restored, through the

firmness of the Government." This was the sort of thing John Grayson

might have been reading if he had stayed in England. He would probably

have dismissed the subject with the careless comment, "People are always

fighting and killing each other in those out-of-the-way places," and

turned with quickened interest to the great cricket match on the next

page.

 

But now he was himself in the midst of the agony, which made all the

difference. He was shuddering and starving with the thousands packed

together in those close, unhealthy streets. At first a danger threatened

them, almost as terrible as the sword of the Turk. The water of the

fountains they used came to them through the great ancient Aqueduct; and

this supply the Turks could, and did, cut off. But there were, in their

Quarter, some old, unused wells, which they cleaned out and made

available, though the water obtained in this way was neither pure nor

healthful. Their stores of rice, bulghour, and other kinds of food,

which happily they had just laid in for the winter, were husbanded with

all possible care.

 

Jack took an active share in everything that was done. His leisure time

he employed in learning Turkish; for he saw how greatly his own and

Shushan's dangers, on their journey, had been increased by his want of

it. It was not a difficult task; many Turkish words and phrases, which

were in common use, he already knew; the Turkish language moreover is

very poor and scanty, containing, it is said, not more than seven

hundred really indigenous words.

 

He continued to live with the Vartonians; and indeed the whole Meneshian

family contrived to stow itself away in their large and hospitable

house, with the exception of the wounded Boghos, now slowly recovering,

and his wife, who remained for the present with the Selferians.

 

It was thought that Thomassian might have received some of the

Meneshians, as they were his kinsmen also; but his mind at this time

seemed to be wholly absorbed in grief for the destruction of his

property. His large, well-stocked shop had been looted; and fresh stores

coming to him from Aleppo had been intercepted and seized. Unhinged by

these catastrophes, and by the apprehension of worse to come, he fell

into a state of morbid depression. He used to rouse himself however to

take part in the meetings for consultation which were held, with many

precautions, by the Armenian "Notables"; and he often gave very good and

sensible advice. He was not fond of giving anything else.

 

"'Tis making a hole in the water to ask _him_ to do anything for you,"

said the younger Vartonians. "But he might comfort himself, under his

losses, with the thought that the Turks are sure to poison themselves

with some of his drugs, not knowing the use of them."

 

Communication with the Mission House had now become very difficult,

though the Armenians knew that their friends were still in safety there.

It was no longer practicable to hold service in the Protestant church;

so Jack's opportunities of seeing Shushan, and Kevork's of seeing Elmas,

were no more. Miss Celandine however contrived occasionally, through her

zaptiehs, to send news of Shushan to Jack, and to get tidings in return

for her, of him and of her family. In this way she informed him also

that she had not yet succeeded in obtaining her passport. The Pasha made

fair promises; but continually put off the granting of her request on

the plea of the disturbed condition of the country.

 

The Gregorians still assembled, very constantly, for the prayer they so

much needed, in their great Cathedral; and it was before or after these

services that they used to deliberate together on the state of affairs.

 

In one of these consultations they were lamenting, as they often did,

the impossibility of sending news of their condition to those outside

who might help them. Post and telegraph were closed to them; and, as

they surmised, to Miss Celandine also. Two or three messengers, with

letters concealed about them, had gone forth secretly, and at terrible

risk, but they had never been heard of again. The presumption was that

they had fallen into the hands of the Turks. What more could the

Armenians do?

 

Then John Grayson rose up in his place, between Kevork and Avedis, and

these were the words he said,--

 

"Friends, I will be your next messenger. Will you trust me?"

 

A murmur of astonishment ran round the assembly. The personal friends of

Jack, and they were many, began to protest against his exposing himself

to so great a danger; and indeed every one thought his life too valuable

to be lightly risked.

 

"What would my sister say?" Kevork whispered.

 

And Jack answered, "She would say, 'Der-ah haadet allà' (The Lord be

with you)." Then raising his voice, "It is the best way all round, if

you will look at it. You need not endanger me or yourselves by writing

anything; for I know all, and can tell it. If I am caught, I have still

a good chance of escape; for I will tell the Turks I am an Englishman,

and that they touch me at their peril."

 

"They will not believe you, and you have no proof to offer," said old

Hohannes, with a face of much concern, for he loved Yon Effendi as a

son.

 

"I _have_ proof, father. I can speak and write English for their

edification, and talk big about Consuls and International Law, and the

power of England. Whereas, if I am _not_ taken, the gain is great. An

Englishman who has seen what I have, can say things the English--and the