"Who did draw them, daddy?"

"A German friend of mine, Herr Conrad Wilner."

"What for?"

"I think his master sent him to Turkey to make those pictures."

"For the Sultan?"

"No; for his Emperor."

"Why?"

"I don't exactly know, Rue."

At this stage of the conversation her father usually laid aside his

book and composed himself for the inevitable narrative soon to be

demanded of him.

Then, although having heard the story many times from her crippled

father's lips, but never weary of the repetition, the child's eyes

would grow round and very solemn in preparation for her next and

inevitable question: "And did Herr Wilner die, daddy?"

"Yes, dear."

"Tell me!"

"Well, it was when I was a missionary in the Trebizond district, and

your mother and I went----"

"And me, daddy? And me, too!"

"Yes; you were a little baby in arms. And we all went to Gallipoli to

attend the opening of a beautiful new school which was built for

little Mohammedan converts to Christianity----"

"Did I see those little Christian children, daddy?"

"Yes, you saw them. But you are too young to remember."

"Tell me. Don't stop!"

"Then listen attentively without interrupting, Rue: Your mother and

you and I went to Gallipoli; and my friend, Herr Wilner, who had been

staying with us at a town called Tchardak, came along with us to

attend the opening of the American school.

"And the night we arrived there was trouble. The Turkish people, urged

on by some bad officials in the Sanjak, came with guns and swords and

spears and set fire to the mission school.

"They did not offer to harm us. We had already collected our converts

and our personal baggage. Our caravan was starting. The mob might not

have done anything worse than burn the school if Herr Wilner had not

lost his temper and threatened them with a dog whip. Then they killed

him with stones, there in the walled yard."

At this point in the tragedy, the eagerly awaited and ardently desired

shivers passed up and down the child's back.

"O--oh! Did they kill him dead?"

"Yes, dear."

"Was he a martyr?"

"In a way he was a martyr to his duty, I suppose. At least I gather so

from his diary and from what he once told me of his life."

"And then what happened? Tell me, daddy."




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