Both in Constantinople and in the districts nearby, the Armenians have been thinned out, and in some towns they have been cleared out to make room for the Mohammedan refugees from Thrace and Macedonia. “The Turks are continuing their work of exterminating the Armenians. From Constantinople they have deported the Armenian men. Ten thousand deported men have already been massacred in the mountains of Ismid. “Four districts have been cleared of Armenians: Bosnian Mouhadjirs (refugees) replace the Armenians thus exiled.... “More than 20,000 Armenians that have been forced to emigrate from a certain province, are being thrown into the deserts amid nomadic tribes, leaving their houses, gardens and tilled lands to the Turkish mouhadjirs.... “As soon as the Armenian refugees left their houses, mouhadjirs from Thrace took possession of them. The former had been forbidden to take anything with them, and they themselves saw all their goods pass into other hands. There must be about 20,000 to 25,000 in this town now, and the name of the town seems to have been changed to a Turkish one.”[178] Four thousand and two hundred Armenians were almost miraculously saved in the following manner: When the orders came to about half a dozen villages near Antioch for them to prepare for deportation the inhabitants, knowing the purpose of the government, held a meeting and decided to resist the orders. One pastor dissented and with his flock of about sixty families was deported; nothing has been heard from that party since. The rest hastened to gather all available provisions, ammunition and arms and drove their herds and cattle into the mountain west of Antioch on the Mediterranean shore. Here they had the sea behind them for protection. On the land side, they protected every possible approach to the mountain, and with some modern weapons and old flintlocks, they were ready to defend themselves. They had some good swimmers on the shore watching for some friendly ship which they could petition for help. They also set up two large white flags, one with a red cross in the center, and the other with these words, “_Christians in distress--Rescue!_” They were surrounded on the land side by 3000 regular soldiers of then Turkish army, and about 15,000 Turkish mobs of Aleppo and Antioch slums. They had a very slim chance of escaping annihilation, and this chance was in their heroic defense. On the 53d day of their siege, when their food and ammunition was almost exhausted, the French cruiser _Guicher_ sighted the cross and drew near; the swimmers hastened and bore the message to it. Other ships were called by wireless, and the whole refugees were taken off and transported to Port Said, Egypt. They thus saved their lives by their bravery, and saved also the Turks from some more shame and sin.