"Like dogs they ran! With our own eyes we have seen it, praise be to Allah! Death to the infidel!"
"Now see the soldiers of the Prophet, the victorious army of the Sultan, destroying the Christian mosques in the conquered country!" announced the showman, in a voice of triumph.
On the wall was thrown the picture of a Belgian village church. German soldiers were busy about it. Then volumes of smoke began to issue from the windows, tongues of flame. The roof fell in. The church was reduced to a ruin.
"Behold! Ye see with your own eyes!"
"We see, we see! God is great! Unto Him be the praise!" came the reply from the spectators.
"Now see others!" cried the German. "This is the work of the Sultan's armies—will ye now doubt that he has set his face against the Christian infidels?"
Picture after picture of ruined and desolated churches followed upon the wall. The German authorities had evidently prepared a special film of them. Cries of wild approbation broke from the fanatical tribesmen, the mullahs loudest.
"Once more, O people, look upon the English prisoners, whose lives have been spared because they have embraced the true faith, being led through the Sultan's capital!"
A film of a few British prisoners from Gallipoli being marched through the streets of Constantinople was then shown, amid shouts of applause.
The picture was taken off, but the beam of light still blazed across the room. The German placed himself full in it.