"Like a pocket in the ravine, where we were. They keep shooting--'biff, bang, biff, bang'--then all at once--'r-r-r-r-r!' more than a hundred guns at once. 'That's the Turks,' said Lindbohm. 'By damn! they must not get through. Michali, twenty men must come down with me, twenty stay here.' I pick out twenty, and down we go, and hide. Then the women light the fire. Whoof! the light jumps up and slashes open the ravine. There they come, there come the Turks, running, running. The boys keep shooting from above, 'ping! ping!' but they not hit much, straight down so. One, two, three drop, but the rest keep coming. We lay our rifles across the rocks and take aim. Lindbohm, he keep saying, very low, 'Not yet, not yet, steady, boys, steady--'" "Steady, boys, steady!" cried Curtis; "that's old Lindbohm--yes, yes?" "My God! I think the Turks get right on top of us, when 'bang!' Lindbohm shoot right by my ear and blow a hole through a Turk. Then we all shoot, shoot, shoot, but every time one Turk die, two new ones come around the corner. And I think they get through, but the women pry off big piece of rock. O, most as big as this house, and it kill two Turks. Then the Turks turn and run--" "Hurrah!" sobbed Curtis. "Hurrah!" echoed Michali. "We killed thirty-four damned Turks!" "How many men did you lose?" asked Curtis. "One, shoot through the head. He high up and fall down into the ravine. Turks laugh very loud. Another here, through the stomach. He die pretty soon--he with us. His name Yanne. And me, I get this little wound in the leg. How they hit my leg, I don't know." As they were talking the church bell began to ring. CHAPTER XII "STILL I SAY UNTO YOU, COURAGE" "Hello! What's that for?" asked Curtis. Michali shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows?" he replied. Curtis hopped to the door, unlocked it and looked out. The church stood across the road on the top of a big, flat rock. Though small, it boasted a Byzantine dome. The bell hung in a frame erected over the porch, and the rope was tied about a wooden pillar, to prevent its being blown out of reach by the wind. "Why, it's Papa-Maleko himself," cried the American.