"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—"
He interrupted the man with an oath like the aggregate of bitterness.
"Precipitated? Did waiting for the massacre like chickens waiting for the ax delay the massacres a day? But now it is 'Come and lead us, Kagig!' How many of you are there left to lead?"
"Who knows? We are nineteen—"