his seven friends, whose severed heads were bought as trophies and used as flags in the villages. Revolt On 20 January 1878, the rebels chose Orthodox priest Dimitrije Paunović, from Staro Nagoričane, and Veljan Cvetković, from Strnovac, as their leaders. The revolt was organized and led by the district chiefs of Kumanovo, Kriva Palanka, and Kratovo. The prominent rebels from Kumanovo swore oath in the local church to fight for the Serbian cause until their deaths. One such rebel was the wealthy merchant Denko Krstić (1824–1882) of Mlado Nagoričane, one of the most influential people of Kumanovo in his time. On the morning of 21 January, the Serbian army entered the villages of Četirce and Nikuljane, to the excitement of the locals, who rallied on the icy banks of the river Pčinja. The rebels, who numbered ca. 1,000, met up with the volunteers in the Serbian army. In the following days, the Serbian army was halted after the Russians, their allies, made peace with the Ottomans. Meanwhile, on 26 January, Christian refugees from Albanian-inhabited villages traveled to Pristina with news that Serbian outposts had been erected in Gračanica. That same day, armed Albanians gathered in the Serb-inhabited mahala (quarter) of Panađurište in Pristina and started a massacre of Serbs. Under pressure from the British, Russia accepted the truce offered by the Ottoman Empire on 31 January 1878, but continued to move towards Constantinople. The rebels had cleared the counties of Kumanovo and Palanka of Turks and Albanians, but following the peace treaty, beys, hodjas, soldiers, and refugees started to return to their houses. In early February, groups of returned refugees gathered in the Kumanovo graveyard planning a massacre of the Serbs in the town, but at dusk the following day, some 200 Serb rebels arrived in the vineyards to prevent the massacre. Gunfire was exchanged, and two Ottoman jandarma (gendarmerie) were killed by the rebels. Rebels and prominent members of forty Serb villages gathered at the Zabel monastery in Nikuljane, where they decided to petition Prince Milan IV of Serbia for weapons. In exchange for his support, they pledged their devotion, loyalty, and future union with Serbia. They also appealed to the Serbian generals, asking them to secretly supply them with arms and ammunition. Also, at the house of prota Dimitrije in Kumanovo, ten veterans swore on the Bible that they would not give up their fight, kissed each other,