tionists landed in Chios and
incited the islanders to rise against the Turk. They laid siege to the
citadel held by a Turkish garrison. Had the fleet of the Hydriotes helped
them, they might have prevailed. As it was they rendered themselves a prey
to the Turkish troops on the mainland. An army of nearly 10,000 Turks
landed in Chios, and relieved the besieged garrison. Then the fanatical
Moslems were let loose on the gentle inhabitants of the little island.
Thousands were put to the sword. The slave markets of Northern Africa were
glutted with Chian women and children. Within a month the once lovely
island was a ruined waste. All Greece and Europe was filled with horror.
Maurokordatos, now at the head of Greek affairs, was bitterly blamed for
not sending over a fleet to save Chios. One single Greek took it into his
hands to avenge his countrymen. The Turks were celebrating their sacred
month of Ramazan. On the night of June 18, the festival of Biram, the
Turkish fleet, under command of Kara Ali, was illuminated with colored
lanterns. On that night Constantine Kanaris, a sea-captain from Psara,
drove a fire-ship into the midst of the Turkish fleet. Sailing close up to
the admiral's flagship he thrust his bowsprit into one of the portholes.
Then setting fire to the pitch and resin on board his ship, he dropped into
his small boat and pulled away. A breeze fanned the flames, and in a moment
the big Turkish man-of-war was afire. The powder magazine blew up and the
lifeboats went up in flames. The burning rigging fell down upon the doomed
crew, and the admiral was struck down on his poop-deck. The ship was burned
to the water's edge. The Turkish fleet scattered before the shower of
blazing sparks, and was only brought together under the guns of the
Dardanelles. This exploit made Kanaris the hero of Greece. Within the same
year he repeated the feat.

[Sidenote: Morea reinvaded]

[Sidenote: End of Philhellene corps]

[Sidenote: Defence of Argos]

[Sidenote: Turks demoralized]

The Sultan had thrown his whole land force into the Greek mainland.
Khurshid, after his defeat of Ali Pasha, marched to Larissa, in Thessaly.
Thence two armies, 50,000 strong, under Bramali and Homer Brionis converged
upon the Morea. In the face of so formidable an invasion, Maurokordatos
took the field himself. He mismanaged things badly. At Arta he sacrificed
his choicest regiment, the famous corps of Philhellenes, composed of
foreign officers and