Badly equipped and badly armed, but heroically led, the combined Jelu Army took the field under Agre Petros, generalissimo, and Mar Shimon, the Nestorian Patriarch. With the latter went his sister, Surma Khanin, who fought in the ranks of the Christian army, and whose lion-like bravery and devotion under enemy fire speedily led to her being known as the Nestorian Jeanne d'Arc.
A force of Turkish regulars belonging to the 6th Division, plundering and burning as it went, on May 17th was surprised by the Jelus on the River Barandoz, south of Urumia, and cut to pieces, the victors capturing the guns and greater part of the supplies. Thus came to naught the Turkish plan for the taking of Urumia by means of a combined attack from the south and from Salmas in the north! The captured artillery and supplies gave the Jelus a new lease of military life, and they were able for some time afterwards to keep the Turk at bay. Everyone realized that, without military help from the British, the Urumia Christians must be overwhelmed by the Turks sooner or later.
This, then, was briefly the situation towards the middle of May. The Turk, battered and bruised after his encounter with the Jelus, was pulling himself together for another and more carefully prepared spring. He hung around Khoi, whence he threatened Urumia on the western shore of the lake, and Sharaf Khane and its rich booty of Russian guns and military stores on the eastern shore.
While the Turk was probably inwardly debating whether he should not bring matters to a climax by descending on Tabriz to possess himself of the Persian end of the Trans-Caucasian Railway and the Russian military stores at Sharaf Khane all at one swoop, some official folk in remote Bagdad and remoter London were discussing between themselves with great earnestness and energy whether it would not be possible and practicable to forestall him by marching a column from Hamadan to occupy Tabriz, seize the railhead, establish a base for operations against Tiflis and the Caucasus generally, and stretch out a helping hand to the sorely pressed Nestorian-Jelu Army on the other side of Lake Urumia.
DRILLING JELUS AT HAMADAN.
The British Minister in Teheran got wind of the project and jumped upon it heavily. The Persians would not like it; it would offend their susceptibilities; they were almost certain to be annoyed, and diplomatic complications, etc., etc., were sure to follow. It is a little way British Ministers sometimes have. They become over-zealous and over-cautious, ever dreading a hair-breadth departure from the narrow limits of the conventional protocol. There followed a good deal of official wobbling and indecision. First the "Ayes" had it, then the "Noes," and meanwhile much precious time was wasted. Ultimately, some strong man somewhere—it is rumoured that he lives down Whitehall way—got a firm grip of the problem, and flung his weight into the scale on the side of the "Ayes"; and the "Noes," including the far-seeing Minister, were routed.
The word "go" was given in Hamadan, and then began the great Olympian race—the goal Tabriz, with Turk and Briton pitted one against the other.