With the Serbs in Macedonia

30 WITH THE SERBS IN MACEDONIA
crape. After much indignant eloquence it
was decided to telegraph a strong protest to
the Government. A large crowd, wearing crape
armlets, accompanied this message to the
Telegraph Office, and sang the ''
Marseillaise,"
and cheered for Venizelos while it was being
sent off ! Satisfied that the nervous operator
had tapped out this protest to their musical
accompaniment, they dispersed.
A few days later, on August 3rd, 1916, a body
calling itself the Committee of National Defence
addressed two stirring Proclamations to the
People and the Soldiers of Greece. And next
day, at noon, all unexpectedly the city found
itself in the throes of a Revolution.
At the head of the movement were Colonel
Zimbrakakis of the Greek Army Service Corps,
and Colonel Mazarakis of the artillery. The
signal was given by a band of Cretan gendarmes,
all devoted adherents of Venizelos, commanded
by Second-Lieutenant Tsaconas, on the clerical
staff at police headquarters.
At one o'clock some of these gendarmes
returned to the barracks and invited the other
gendarmes to join the movement ; others were
called in from their duties in the streets, and
the lot harangued by the energetic second-
lieutenant, who succeeded in winning practically
all of them to his side. At half-past two