"Ah, my dear friend! I knew you would say that!" and Garabed grasped his hand warmly.... "You are worthy of becoming one of us. Listen: other men have had your thoughts. They have longed to arouse our people from their lethargy, to teach them their duty and their value, so that when the accursed Kurd shall sound the tocsin for fresh massacres, we shall not be taken unaware as formerly, but be ready to conquer or die. Secret societies have been formed; revolutionary groups have been organized in our towns, and they get recruits among all classes of society. You will find fédai (revolutionaries) in the bazaar, in the fields, even in the serail, and in our schools." "In our college? It can't be possible!" "It's a fact, though, and you can understand how cautious we have had to be, to keep from being discovered. It has been so hard for me not to speak of it to you, my best friend, but our chief forbade it; to-day he has given me leave, and I'm going to ask you to join our group of fédai." "With all my heart, my dear Garabed, and as soon as possible." "Pek-et (very well), we shall admit you this evening." "What time?" "Wait for me at half-past eight, and we'll go out together." Archag was full of enthusiasm; he felt that he had become a man, and a worker for the good of his country. He hid the book under his zouboun, and the two friends went down the hill, and made their way back to the college. During study-hour Archag looked at the clock very often; he had equations to solve, but the work did not go on well, for all the time he was thinking over what Garabed had said. At last he closed his copy-book in vexation, counting on finishing his task in the morning. It was only eight o'clock, and he opened his English reading-book for the sake of appearances, for Badvili Melikian had spoken to him several times already. At last the clock struck the half-hour. The boys always had an hour for recreation before going to bed, and most of them went to the library to read the newspapers and the American magazines. Archag and Garabed ran downstairs to the hall where Ghevont, president of the fédai, was waiting for them. He was a silent, reserved boy, but very intelligent, and always among the first in his class. He came from Brousa, had lived in Cyprus and Jerusalem, and was considered a person of consequence by his fellow students, because of his numerous journeys by ship and rail. The three boys went out of the building without saying a word. They went toward the enclosure at the end of the campus, which was the burial-place of missionaries who had died at Aintab, and there they sat down on an old tombstone which had fallen over during the winter. Garabed kept watch, while Ghevont read to Archag the demands of the society: 1. Political and economic liberty, based on local autonomy and federated ties, as the inherent right of an integral part of the Ottoman Empire. 2. Liberty of conscience, of speech, of the press, and of assembly and association.