One woman's husband disappeared at the time of the massacre. She, with her husband, brother, and his son, were hiding in the mountains when soldiers murdered her brother-in-law, and his son-in-law, and his son in a most brutal manner. She was very near them, hidden behind some rocks, but they did not discover her, and the next day she joined a company of seven villagers, two women, three girls, and two boys, with whom she remained hiding among rocks and thickets. They were soon discovered by Kurds. Two soldiers took her away from her companions and told her she must adopt the Mohammedan faith, and that if she refused they would take her life then and there. She finally replied, "if you wish to kill me I am helpless, but I cannot commit the awful sin of denying Christ." They took her with them for several miles, sometimes persuading, sometimes threatening her, till they were met by a company of Kurds, among whom was a woman who begged the soldiers to let the young woman go. This they did. A woman from Somal said: "I am a member of a priest's family; my husband was his brother's son; I went with the family to surrender at Galigozan; the priest, my husband, and his two brothers were all cruelly murdered and thrown into the death-pit at Galigozan which the soldiers had dug. We were separated from our husbands and brothers, and soldiers took us to a church about half an hour away from the camp. There we were kept all night. In the morning soldiers came to us and said: 'Come to camp and give your word that you will accept Islam.' We cried out, 'Never! We cannot do that great sin.' They replied, 'If you do not, we will do to you as we did to your husbands and sons last night.' This was the first intimation we had of the awful massacre that had taken place the night before." Such are some of the causes that impelled these people to appeal to the Christian world for protection and redress. The incidents mentioned were only a few among thousands of similar experiences, which showed how loyally the Christian peasants of Armenia laid down their lives rather than betray their Master by accepting the faith of Islam. CHAPTER XII. THE REIGN OF TERROR--TREBIZOND AND ERZEROUM. The Mohammedan populace in all the large cities of Asia Minor were deliberately inflamed against the Armenians by lying rumors of intended attacks on the mosques. Soon there was an outbreak at Constantinople in which nearly two hundred Armenians were killed by the "Softas" (Moslem students), and by the police. This was followed by a terrific outburst of fanaticism all over the Sultan's dominions, the Kurdish Hamidieh were brought into requisition, and such scenes of massacre ensued as have not been paralleled since the days of Tamerlane.