Providentially they had ridden out farther than usual that morning, in a vain search for a caravan, and before their return, the Koords had shut the gates, to prevent the entrance of government troops.

That saved the lives of our brethren, who retired to the convent of the Syrian Patriarch, a few miles distant, which their enemies did not dare to attack.
In the midst of so much peril, and with so little hope of usefulness, Mr.Homes, by the advice of brethren at Constantinople and Smyrna, resolved to return, and Dr.Grant did not withhold his consent.

"Within the ruined walls of an ancient church," he writes, "in a lonely ravine, overlooked by the town, I exchanged the parting embrace with my brother and companion in tribulation.

On account of the anarchy around us, we had travelled together barely two days, but on a bed of sickness, and surrounded by men of blood, I had learned to prize the company of a Christian friend.

Yet, while Providence called him back to Constantinople, to me it seemed to cry, 'Onward to the mountains!'" Dr.Grant resolved to go to Mosul.