their own organization, Coroneos went to Retimo and established the
headquarters of the district at the fortified convent of Arkadi, a
building of Venetian construction and of sufficient strength to resist
any attack not conducted with heavy artillery. Here he established his
depot, and here the families of the Cretans took refuge when menaced
by the Turkish bands. Coroneos himself kept the field and harassed the
Turks everywhere in the province, and so annoyed Mustapha that after
a month's indecision he suddenly marched off to the attack of Arkadi,
which Coroneos, after having harassed him on the march as much as
was possible, was obliged to leave to its fate, as neither his
organization nor his outfit, which included no artillery, permitted
him to shut himself up in the little fortress. He had provided as
garrison a small body of Greek volunteers and 150 Cretan combatants,
including the priests. Besides these there were about 1000 women and
children, whom Coroneos had tried to induce to return to their homes,
succeeding, however, owing to the opposition of the _hegumenos_ to the
departure of his own relatives, with only about 400, the rest being
shut in by the sudden investment. To prepare for resistance, the great
gate of the convent had been solidly walled up, and when Mustapha
opened fire with his mountain artillery on the walls he made no
impression on them or on the gate, and, the rifle fire from the
convent being terribly hot and effective, he made the investment
complete and sent to Retimo for heavy artillery. It came accompanied
by nearly the entire garrison of Retimo and the Mussulman population,
making his total force about 23,000 men, of whom the most zealous
combatants were the Cretan Mussulmans.

By this time I had become the recognized official protector of the
Cretans, although I had always done my best to discourage hostilities
and persuade the Cretans to leave their wrongs to diplomatic