I assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no account to give up the arms to the Turkish authorities--not even if we had to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would not make us yield our secret, the Turks resorted to the final test--the ordeal which we could not withstand.

They announced that on a certain date a number of our young girls would be carried off and handed over to the officers, to be kept until the arms were disclosed.

We knew that they were capable of carrying out this threat; we knew exactly what it meant.
There was no alternative.

The people of our village had nothing to do but dig up the treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to the authorities.
And so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we were free.

Personally, I felt much happier on the day I was put in prison than when I was released.