and wrote a request to Prince Milan that Kumanovo and its surroundings be unified Serbia. The petition, sewn into the saddle of Tasa Kostić-Civković, was brought to Serbian outposts via the Monastery of St. Prohor Pčinjski, a later rebel center. At that time, two other rebel envoys arrived at the village of Rataje near Vranje and met with General Jovan Belimarković, whom they asked for weapons. The general promised them 2,000 guns, which were to be received at the Prohor Pčinjski Monastery. Upon hearing that they would receive weapons, the rebels were approached by villagers from Palanka and Kratovo, all the way to Deve Bair, the site of the Russian demarcation line. These villages had not been overtaken by the Bulgarian Exarchate. 4,000 Serbs gathered on the icy fields of Palanka and Kumanovo. Bulgaria was alarmed by the Kumanovo rebels, and sent their agents to turn them over to the Exarchate. Exarchist clergyman Mihajlo attempted to convince the rebels to turn themselves in to Bulgarian officials, but the outraged villagers attacked him upon hearing him. He was acquitted of capital charges, but still exiled, by the rebel court in Zabel. He died shortly after in Bulgaria from the beating. The conflict then intensified. Albanian troops were sent to St. Parascheva hill on the Četirce and Nikuljane height, but were defeated and returned. Haramibaşı Fehat (or Fetah) from Mutlovo, a girl named Halime, and a group of seven relatives, traveled to a house near Kozjak in an attempt to kill Velika Begovica, a notable female rebel. They did not find Begovica, but encountered Veljan Strnovski and Jaćim Čelopečki, whom they fought but failed to kill. Haramibaşı Fehat and approximately twenty others were then killed in forests near Četirce, with Fehat being shot in the heart with two bullets. After surviving his fight, Čelopečki tied the heads of fallen rebels to his donkey. The remaining Albanians carried Fehat's corpse into Mutlovo. Halime died, following a blown out knee. At this point, the Ottomans in Istanbul, in addition to the Bulgarians, began to fear the Kumanovo rebels. Messages were sent and amnesty was offered. However, the two Ottoman delegates that were sent to Zabel had to inform the Porte that the rebels rejected all offers and said that they would fight until unification with Serbia or death. The desire for unification among southern Serbs began to intensify, prompting peasants from distant regions to