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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Halil the Pedlar, by Mór Jókai, Translated by
+R. Nisbet Bain
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Halil the Pedlar
+       A Tale of Old Stambul
+
+
+Author: Mór Jókai
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 24, 2006  [eBook #17597]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALIL THE PEDLAR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet B., Bill Tozier, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)
+
+
+
+HALIL THE PEDLAR
+
+A Tale of Old Stambul
+
+by
+
+MAURUS JÓKAI
+
+Author of
+"The Green Book," "Black Diamonds," "The Poor Plutocrats," etc.
+
+Authorised Edition, Translated by R. Nisbet Bain
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SANS PEUR ET
+SANS REPROCHE
+Third Edition
+London
+Jarrold & Sons, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.
+[All Rights Reserved]
+1901
+Copyright
+London: Jarrold & Sons
+New York: McClure, Phillips, & Co.
+
+
+
+Translated from the Hungarian, "A fehér rózsa,"
+by R. Nisbet Bain.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+          INTRODUCTION                                              7
+
+      I.  THE PEDLAR                                               11
+
+     II.  GÜL-BEJÁZE--THE WHITE ROSE                               36
+
+    III.  SULTAN ACHMED                                            49
+
+     IV.  THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL                              69
+
+      V.  THE CAMP                                                 99
+
+     VI.  THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM                         123
+
+    VII.  TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS                             134
+
+   VIII.  A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD                                     153
+
+     IX.  THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN                          179
+
+      X.  THE FEAST OF HALWET                                     203
+
+     XI.  GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE                                216
+
+   XII.  HUMAN HOPES                                              240
+
+   XIII.  THE EMPTY PLACE                                         270
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+On September 28th, 1730, a rebellion burst forth in Stambul against
+Sultan Achmed III., whose cowardly hesitation to take the field against
+the advancing hosts of the victorious Persians had revolted both the
+army and the people. The rebellion began in the camp of the Janissaries,
+and the ringleader was one Halil Patrona, a poor Albanian sailor-man,
+who after plying for a time the trade of a petty huckster had been
+compelled, by crime or accident, to seek a refuge among the mercenary
+soldiery of the Empire. The rebellion was unexpectedly, amazingly
+successful. The Sultan, after vainly sacrificing his chief councillors
+to the fury of the mob, was himself dethroned by Halil, and Mahmud I.
+appointed Sultan in his stead. For the next six weeks the
+ex-costermonger held the destiny of the Ottoman Empire in his hands
+till, on November 25th, he and his chief associates were treacherously
+assassinated in full Divan by the secret command, and actually in the
+presence of, the very monarch whom he had drawn from obscurity to set
+upon the throne.
+
+This dramatic event is the historical basis of Jókai's famous story, "A
+Fehér Rózsa," now translated into English for the first time. No doubt
+the genial Hungarian romancer has idealised the rough, outspoken,
+masterful rebel-chief, Halil Patrona, into a great patriot-statesman, a
+martyr for justice and honour; yet, on the other hand, he has certainly
+preserved the salient features of Halil's character and, so far as I am
+competent to verify his authorities, has not been untrue to history
+though, as I opine, depending too much on the now somewhat obsolete
+narrative of Hammer-Purgstall ("Geschichte des osmanischen Reichs").
+Almost incredible as they seem to us sober Westerns, such incidents as
+the tame surrender of Achmed III., the elevation of the lowliest
+demagogues to the highest positions in the realm, and the curious and
+characteristically oriental episode of the tulip-pots, are absolute
+facts. Naturally Jókai's splendid fancy has gorgeously embellished the
+plain narrative of the Turkish chroniclers. Such a subject as Halil's
+strange career must irresistibly have appealed to an author who is
+nothing if not vivid and romantic, and ever delights in startling
+contrasts. On the other hand, the unique episode of Gül-Bejáze, "The
+White Rose," and her terrible experiences in the Seraglio are largely,
+if not entirely, of Jókai's own invention, and worthy, as told by him,
+of a place in The Thousand and One Nights.
+
+Finally--a bibliographical note.
+
+Originally "A Fehér Rózsa," under the title of "Halil Patrona," formed
+the first part of "A Janicsárok végnapjai," a novel first published at
+Pest in three volumes in 1854. The two tales are, however, quite
+distinct, and have, since then, as a matter of fact, frequently been
+published separately. The second part of "A Janicsárok végnapjai" was
+translated by me from the Hungarian original, some years ago, under the
+title of "The Lion of Janina," and published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons
+as one of their "Jókai" Series in 1898. The striking favour with which
+that story was then received justifies my hope that its counterpart,
+which I have re-named "Halil the Pedlar," from its chief character, may
+be equally fortunate.
+
+  R. NISBET BAIN.
+
+  _September, 1901._
+
+
+
+
+HALIL THE PEDLAR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE PEDLAR.
+
+
+Time out of mind, for hundreds and hundreds of years, the struggle
+between the Shiites and the Sunnites has divided the Moslem World.
+
+Persia and India are the lands of the Shiites; Turkey, Arabia, Egypt,
+and the realm of Barbary follow the tenets of the Sunna.
+
+Much blood, much money, many anathemas, and many apostasies have marked
+the progress of this quarrel, and still it has not even yet been made
+quite clear whether the Shiites or the Sunnites are the true believers.
+The question to be decided is this: which of the four successors of the
+Prophet, Ali, Abu Bekr, Osmar, and Osman, was the true Caliph. The
+Shiites maintain that Ali alone was the true Caliph. The Sunnites, on
+the other hand, affirm that all four were true Caliphs and equally holy.
+And certainly the Shiites must be great blockheads to allow themselves
+to be cut into mince-meat by thousands, rather than admit that God would
+enrich the calendar with three saints distasteful to them personally.
+
+The head Mufti had already hurled three fetvas at the head of Shah
+Mahmud, and just as many armies of valiant Sunnites had invaded the
+territories of the Shiites. The redoubtable Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim,
+had already wrested from them Tauris, Erivan, Kermandzasahan, and
+Hamadan, and the good folks of Stambul could talk of nothing else but
+these victories--victories which they had extra good reason to remember,
+inasmuch as the Janissaries, at every fresh announcement of these
+triumphs, all the more vigorously exercised their martial prowess on the
+peaceful inhabitants they were supposed to protect, and not only upon
+them, but likewise upon the still more peaceful Sultan who, it must be
+admitted, troubled himself very little either about the Sunnites, or the
+victories of his Grand Vizier, being quite content with the
+contemplation of his perpetually blooming tulips and of the damsels of
+the Seraglio, who were even fairer to view than the tulips whose blooms
+they themselves far outshone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last rays of sunset were about to depart from the minarets of
+Stambul. The imposing shape of the City of the Seven Hills loomed forth
+like a majestic picture in the evening light. Below, all aflame from the
+reflection of the burning sky, lies the Bosphorus, wherein the Seraglio
+and the suburbs of Pera and Galata, with their tiers upon tiers of
+houses and variegated fairy palaces, mirror themselves tranquilly. The
+long, winding, narrow streets climb from one hill to another, and every
+single hill is as green as if mother Nature had claimed her due portion
+of each from the inhabitants, so different from our western cities, all
+paved and swept clean, and nothing but hard stone from end to end. Here,
+on the contrary, nothing but green meets the eye. The bastions are
+planted with vines and olive-trees, pomegranate and cypress trees stand
+before the houses of the rich. The poorer folks who have no gardens
+plant flowers on their house-tops, or at any rate grow vines round their
+windows which in time run up the whole house, and from out of the midst
+of this perennial verdure arise the shining cupolas of eighty mosques.
+At the end of every thoroughfare, overgrown with luxuriant grass and
+thick-foliaged cypresses, only the turbaned tombstones show that here is
+the place of sad repose. And the effect of the picture is heightened by
+the mighty cupola of the all-dominating Aja Sofia mosque, which looks
+right over all these palaces into the golden mirror of the Bosphorus.
+Soon this golden mirror changes into a mirror of bronze, the sun
+disappears, and the tranquil oval of the sea borrows a metallic shimmer
+from the dark-blue sky. The kiosks fade into darkness; the vast outlines
+of the Rumili Hisar and the Anatoli Hisar stand out against the starry
+heaven; and excepting the lamps lit here and there in the khans of the
+foreign merchants and a few minarets, the whole of the gigantic city is
+wrapped in gloom.
+
+The muezzin intone the evening _noómát_ from the slender turrets of the
+mosques; everyone hastens to get home before night has completely set
+in; the mule-drivers urge on their beasts laden on both sides with
+leather bottles, and their tinkling bells resound in the narrow streets;
+the shouting water-carriers and porters, whose long shoulder-poles block
+up the whole street, scare out of their way all whom they meet; whole
+troops of dogs come forth from the cemeteries to fight over the offal of
+the piazzas. Every true believer endeavours as soon as possible to get
+well behind bolts and bars, and would regard it as a sheer tempting of
+Providence to quit his threshold under any pretext whatsoever before the
+morning invocation of the muezzin. He especially who at such a time
+should venture to cross the piazza of the Etmeidan would have been
+judged very temerarious or very ill-informed, inasmuch as three of the
+gates of the barracks of the Janissaries open upon this piazza; and the
+Janissaries, even when they are in a good humour, are not over
+particular as to the sort of jokes they choose to play, for their own
+private amusement, upon those who may chance to fall into their hands.
+Every faithful Mussulman, therefore, guards his footsteps from any
+intrusion into the Etmeidan, as being in duty bound to know and observe
+that text of the Koran which says, "A fool is he who plunges into peril
+that he might avoid."
+
+The tattoo had already been beaten with wooden sticks on a wooden board,
+when two men encountered each other in one of the streets leading into
+the Etmeidan.
+
+One of them was a stranger, dressed in a Wallachian _gunya_, long shoes,
+and with a broad reticule dangling at his side. He looked forty years
+old and, so far as it was possible to distinguish his figure and
+features in the twilight, seemed to be a strong, well-built man, with a
+tolerably plump face, on which at that moment no small traces of fear
+could be detected and something of that uncomfortable hesitation which
+is apt to overtake a man in a large foreign city which he visits for the
+very first time.
+
+The other was an honest Mussulman about thirty years old, with a thick,
+coal-black beard and passionate, irritable features, whose true
+character was very fairly reflected in his pair of flashing black eyes.
+His turban was drawn deep down over his temples, obliterating his
+eyebrows completely, which made him look more truculent than ever.
+
+The stranger seemed to be going towards the Etmeidan, the other man to
+be coming from it. The former let the latter pass, by squeezing himself
+against the wall, and only ventured to address him when he perceived
+that he had no evil intentions towards him.
+
+"I prythee, pitiful Mussulman, be not wrath with me, but tell me where
+the Etmeidan piazza is."
+
+The person so accosted instantly stopped short, and fixing the
+interrogator with a stony look, replied angrily:
+
+"Go straight on and you'll be there immediately."
+
+At these words the knees of the questioner smote together.
+
+"Woe is me! worthy Mussulman, I prythee be not wrath, I did not ask thee
+where the Etmeidan was because I wanted to go there, but to avoid
+straying into it. I am a stranger in this city, and in my terror I have
+been drawing near to the very place I want to avoid. I prythee leave me
+not here all by myself. Every house is fast closed. Not one of the khans
+will let me in at this hour. Take me home with you, I will not be a
+burden upon you, I can sleep in your courtyard, or in your cellar, if
+only I may escape stopping in the streets all night, for I am greatly
+afraid."
+
+The Turk so addressed was carrying in one hand a knapsack woven out of
+rushes. This he now opened and cast a glance into it, as if he were
+taking counsel with himself whether the fish and onions he had just
+bought in the market-place for his supper would be sufficient for two
+people. Finally he nodded his head as if he had made up his mind at
+last.
+
+"Very well, come along!" said he, "and follow me!"
+
+The stranger would have kissed his hand, he could not thank his new
+friend sufficiently.
+
+"You had better wait to see what you are going to get before you thank
+me," said the Turk; "you will find but scanty cheer with me, for I am
+only a poor man."
+
+"Oh, as for that, I also am poor, very poor indeed," the new-comer
+hastened to reply with the crafty obsequiousness peculiar to the Greek
+race. "My name is Janaki, and I am a butcher at Jassy. The kavasses
+have laid their hands upon my apprentice and all my live-stock at the
+same time, and that is why I have come to Stambul. I shall be utterly
+beggared if I don't get them back."
+
+"Well, Allah aid thee. Let us make haste, for it is already dark."
+
+And then, going on in front to show the way, he led the stranger through
+the narrow winding labyrinth of baffling lanes and alleys which lead to
+the Hebdomon Palace, formerly the splendid residence of the Greek
+Emperors, but now the quarter where the poorest and most sordid classes
+of the populace herd together. The streets here are so narrow that the
+tendrils of the vines and gourds growing on the roofs of the opposite
+houses meet together, and form a natural baldachino for the benefit of
+the foot-passenger below.
+
+Suddenly, on reaching the entrance of a peculiarly long and narrow lane,
+the loud-sounding note of a song, bawled by someone coming straight
+towards them, struck upon their ears. It was some drunken man evidently,
+but whoever the individual might be, he was certainly the possessor of a
+tremendous pair of lungs, for he could roar like a buffalo, and not
+content with roaring, he kept thundering at the doors of all the houses
+he passed with his fists.
+
+"Alas! worthy Mussulman, I suppose this is some good-humoured
+Janissary, eh?" stammered the new-comer with a terrified voice.
+
+"Not a doubt of it. A peace-loving man would not think of making such a
+bellowing as that."
+
+"Would it not be as well to turn back?"
+
+"We might meet a pair of them if we went another way. Take this lesson
+from me: Never turn back from the path you have once taken, as otherwise
+you will only plunge into still greater misfortunes."
+
+Meanwhile they were drawing nearer and nearer to the bellowing
+gentleman, and before long his figure came full into view.
+
+And certainly his figure was in every respect worthy of his voice. He
+was an enormous, six-foot high, herculean fellow, with his shirt-sleeves
+rolled up to his shoulders, and the disorderly appearance of his dolman
+and the crooked cock of his turban more than justified the suspicion
+that he had already taken far more than was good for him of that fluid
+which the Prophet has forbidden to all true believers.
+
+"Gel, gel! Ne miktár dir, gel!" ("Come along the whole lot of you!")
+roared the Janissary with all his might, staggering from one side of the
+lane to the other, and flourishing his naked rapier in the air.
+
+"Woe is me, my brave Mussulman!" faltered the Wallachian butcher in a
+terrified whisper, "wouldn't it be as well if you were to take my
+stick, for he might observe that I had it, and fancy I want to fight him
+with it."
+
+The Turk took over the stick of the butcher as the latter seemed to be
+frightened of it.
+
+"H'm! this stick of yours is not a bad one. I see that the head of it is
+well-studded with knobs, and that it is weighted with lead besides. What
+a pity you don't know how to make use of it!"
+
+"I am only too glad if people will let me live in peace."
+
+"Very well, hide behind me, and come along boldly, and when you pass him
+don't so much as look at him."
+
+The Wallachian desired nothing better, but the Janissary had already
+caught sight of him from afar, and as, clinging fast to his guide's
+mantle, he was about to slip past the man of war, the Janissary suddenly
+barred the way, seized him by the collar with his horrible fist, and
+dragged the wretched creature towards him.
+
+"Khair evetlesszin domusz!" ("Not so fast, thou swine!") "a word in
+thine ear! I have just bought me a yataghan. Stretch forth thy neck! I
+would test my weapon upon thee and see whether it is sharp."
+
+The poor fellow was already half-dead with terror. With the utmost
+obsequiousness he at once began unfastening his neck-cloth, whimpering
+at the same time something about his four little children: what would
+become of them when they had nobody to care for them.
+
+But his conductor intervened defiantly.
+
+"Take yourself off, you drunken lout, you! How dare you lay a hand upon
+my guest. Know you not that he who harms the guest of a true believer is
+accursed?"
+
+"Na, na, na!" laughed the Janissary mockingly, "are you mad, my worthy
+Balukji, that you bandy words with the flowers of the Prophet's garden,
+with Begtash's sons, the valiant Janissaries? Get out of my way while
+you are still able to go away whole, for if you remain here much longer,
+I'll teach you to be a little more obedient."
+
+"Let my guest go in peace, I say, and then go thine own way also!"
+
+"Why, what ails you, worthy Mussulman? Has anyone offended thee?
+Mashallah! what business is it of thine if I choose to strike off the
+head of a dog? You can pick up ten more like him in the street any time
+you like."
+
+The Turk, perceiving that it would be difficult to convince a drunken
+man by mere words, drew nearer to him, and grasped the hand that held
+the yataghan.
+
+"What do you want?" cried the Janissary, fairly infuriated at this act
+of temerity.
+
+"Come! Go thy way!"
+
+"Do you know whose hand thou art grasping? My name is Halil."
+
+"Mine also is Halil."
+
+"Mine is Halil Pelivan--Halil the Wrestler!"
+
+"Mine is Halil Patrona."
+
+By this time the Janissary was beside himself with rage at so much
+opposition.
+
+"Thou worm! thou crossed-leg, crouching huckster, thou pack-thread
+pedlar! if thou dost not let me go immediately, I will cut off thy
+hands, thy feet, thine ears, and thy nose, and then hang thee up."
+
+"And if thou leave not go of my guest, I will fell thee to the earth
+with this stick of mine."
+
+"What, _thou_ wilt fell _me_? Me? A fellow like thou threaten to strike
+Halil Pelivan with a stick? Strike away then, thou dog, thou
+dishonourable brute-beast, thou dregs of a Mussulman! strike away then,
+strike here, if thou have the courage!"
+
+And with that he pointed at his own head, which he flung back defiantly
+as if daring his opponent to strike at it.
+
+But Halil Patrona's courage was quite equal even to such an invitation
+as that, and he brought down the leaded stick in his hand so heavily on
+the Janissary's head that the fellow's face was soon streaming with
+blood.
+
+Pelivan roared aloud at the blow, and, shaking his bloody forehead,
+rushed upon Patrona like a wounded bear, and disregarding a couple of
+fresh blows on the arms and shoulders which had the effect, however, of
+making him drop his yataghan, he grasped his adversary with his gigantic
+hands, lifted him up, and then hugged him with the embrace of a
+boa-constrictor. But now it appeared that Patrona also was by no means a
+novice in the art of self-defence, for clutching with both hands the
+giant's throat, he squeezed it so tightly that in a few seconds the
+Janissary began to stagger to and fro, finally falling backwards to the
+ground, whereupon Patrona knelt upon his breast and plucked from his
+beard a sufficient number of hairs to serve him as a souvenir. Pelivan,
+overpowered by drink and the concussion of his fall, slumbered off where
+he lay, while Patrona with his guest, who was already half-dead with
+fright, hastened to reach his dwelling.
+
+After traversing a labyrinth of narrow, meandering lanes, and
+zig-zagging backwards and forwards through all kinds of gardens and
+rookeries, Halil Patrona arrived at last at his own house.
+
+Were we to speak of "his own street door," we should be betraying a
+gross ignorance of locality, for in the place where Patrona lived the
+mere idea of a street never presented itself to anybody's imagination.
+There was indeed no such thing there. The spot was covered by half a
+thousand or so of wooden houses, mixed together, higgledy-piggledy, so
+inextricably, that the shortest way to everybody's house was through his
+neighbour's passage, hall, or courtyard, and inasmuch as the inmates of
+whole rows of these houses were in the habit of living together in the
+closest and most mysterious harmony, every house was so arranged that
+the inhabitants thereof could slip into the neighbouring dwelling at a
+moment's notice. In some cases, for instance, the roofs were continuous;
+in others the cellars communicated, so that if ever anyone of the
+inhabitants were suddenly pursued, he could, with the assistance of the
+roofs, passages, and cellars, vanish without leaving a trace behind him.
+
+Halil Patrona's house was of wood like the rest. It consisted of a
+single room, yet this was a room which could be made to hold a good
+deal. It had a fire-place also, and if perhaps a chance guest were a
+little fastidious, he could at any rate always make sure of a good bed
+on the roof, which was embowered in vine leaves. There was certainly no
+extravagant display of furniture inside. A rush-mat in the middle of the
+room, a bench covered with a carpet in the corner, a few wooden plates
+and dishes, a jug on a wooden shelf, and a couple of very simple
+cooking-utensils in the fire-place--that was all. From the roof of the
+chamber hung an earthenware lamp, which Patrona kindled with an
+old-fashioned flint and steel. Then he brought water in a round-bellied
+trough for his guest to wash his hands, fetched drinking-water from the
+well in a long jug, whereupon he drew forward his rush-woven
+market-basket, emptied its contents on to the rush-mat, sat him down
+opposite honest Janaki, and forthwith invited his guest to fall to.
+
+There was nothing indeed but a few small fish and a few beautiful
+rosy-red onions, but Halil had so much to say in praise of the repast,
+telling his guest where and how these fish were caught, and in what
+manner they ought to be fried so as to bring out the taste; how you
+could find out which of them had hard roes and which soft; what
+different sorts of flavours there are in the onion tribe, far more,
+indeed, than in the pine-apple; and then the pure fresh water too--why
+the Koran from end to end is full of the praises of fresh pure water,
+and Halil knew all these passages by heart, and had no need to look in
+the holy book for them. And then, too, he had so many interesting tales
+to tell of travellers who had lost their way in the desert and were
+dying for a drop of water, and how Allah had had compassion upon them
+and guided them to the springs of the oasis--so that the guest was
+actually entrapped into imagining that he had just been partaking of the
+most magnificent banquet, and he enjoyed his meat and drink, and arose
+from his rush-carpet well satisfied with himself and with his host.
+
+I'll wager that Sultan Achmed, poor fellow! felt far less contented when
+he rose from his gorgeous and luxurious sofa, though the tables beside
+it were piled high with fruits and sweetmeats, and two hundred odalisks
+danced and sang around it.
+
+"And now let us go to sleep!" said Halil Patrona to his guest. "I know
+that slumber is the greatest of all the joys which Allah has bestowed
+upon mankind. In our waking hours we belong to others, but the land of
+dreams is all our own. If your dreams be good dreams, you rejoice that
+they are good, and if they be evil dreams, you rejoice that they are but
+dreams. The night is nice and warm, you can sleep on the house-top, and
+if you pull your rope-ladder up after you, you need not fear that
+anybody will molest you."
+
+Janaki said "thank you!" to everything, and very readily clambered to
+the top of the roof. There he found already prepared for him the carpet
+and the fur cushion on which he was to sleep. Plainly these were the
+only cushion and carpet obtainable in the house, and the guest observing
+that these were the very things he had noticed in the room below,
+exclaimed to Halil Patrona:
+
+"Oh, humane Chorbadshi, you have given me your own carpet and pillow; on
+what will you sleep, pray?"
+
+"Do not trouble your head about me, muzafir! I will bring forth my
+second carpet and my second cushion and sleep on them."
+
+Janaki peeped through a chink in the roof, and observed how vigorously
+Halil Patrona performed his ablutions, and how next he went through his
+devotions with even greater conscientiousness than his ablutions,
+whereupon he produced a round trough, turned it upside down, laid it
+upon the rush-mat, placed his head upon the trough, and folding his arms
+across his breast, peacefully went to sleep in the Prophet.
+
+The next morning, when Janaki awoke and descended to Halil, he gave him
+a piece of money which they call a golden denarius.
+
+"Take this piece of money, worthy Chorbadshi," said he, "and if you will
+permit me to remain beneath your roof this day also, prepare therewith a
+mid-day meal for us both."
+
+Halil hastened with the money to the piazza, bargained and chaffered for
+all sorts of eatables, and made it a matter of conscience to keep only
+a single copper asper of the money entrusted to him. Then he prepared
+for his guest pilaf, the celebrated Turkish dish consisting of rice
+cooked with sheep's flesh, and brought him from the booths of the
+master-cooks and master-sugar-bakers, honey-cakes, dulchas, pistachios,
+sweet pepper-cakes filled with nuts and stewed in honey, and all manner
+of other delicacies, at the sight and smell of which Janaki began to
+shout that Sultan Achmed could not be better off. Halil, however,
+requested him not to mention the name of the Sultan quite so frequently
+and not to bellow so loudly.
+
+That night, also, he made his guest mount to the top of the roof, and
+having noticed during the preceding night that the Greek had been
+perpetually shifting his position, and consequently suspecting that he
+was little used to so hard a couch, Halil took the precaution of
+stripping off his own kaftan beforehand and placing it beneath the
+carpet he had already surrendered to his guest.
+
+Early next morning Janaki gave another golden denarius to Halil.
+
+"Fetch me writing materials!" said he, "for I want to write a letter to
+someone, and then with God's help I will quit your house and pursue my
+way further."
+
+Halil departed, went a-bargaining in the bazaar, and returned with what
+he had been sent for. He calculated his outlay to a penny in the
+presence of his guest. The _kalem_ (pen) was so much, so much again the
+_mürekob_ (ink), and the _mühür_ (seal) came to this and that. The
+balance he returned to Janaki.
+
+As for Janaki he went up on to the roof again, there wrote and sealed
+his letter, and thrust it beneath the carpet, and then laying hold of
+his stick again, entreated Halil, with many thanks for his hospitality,
+to direct him to the Pera road whence, he said, he could find his way
+along by himself.
+
+Halil willingly complied with the petition of his guest, and accompanied
+him all the way to the nearest thoroughfare. When now Janaki beheld the
+Bosphorus, and perceived that the road from this point was familiar to
+him, so that he needed no further assistance, he suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"Look now, my friend! an idea has occurred to me. The letter I have just
+written on your roof has escaped my memory entirely. I placed it beneath
+the carpet, and beside it lies a purse of money which I meant to have
+sent along with the letter. Now, however, I cannot turn back for it. I
+pray you, therefore, go back to your house, take this letter together
+with the purse, and hand them both over to the person to whom they are
+addressed--and God bless you for it!"
+
+Halil at once turned round to obey this fresh request as quickly as
+possible.
+
+"Give also the money to him to whom it belongs!" said the Greek.
+
+"You may be as certain that it will reach him as if you gave it to him
+yourself."
+
+"And promise me that you will compel him to whom the letter is addressed
+to accept the money."
+
+"I will not leave his house till he has given me a voucher in writing
+for it, and whenever you come back again to me here you will find it in
+my possession."
+
+"God be with you then, honest Mussulman!"
+
+"Salem alek!"
+
+Halil straightway ran home, clambered up to the roof by means of the
+rope-ladder, found both the letter and the money under the carpet,
+rejoiced greatly that they had not been stolen during his absence, and
+thrusting them both into his satchel of reeds without even taking the
+trouble to look at them, hastened off to the bazaar with them, where
+there was an acquaintance of his, a certain money-changer, who knew all
+about every man in Stambul, in order that he might find out from him
+where dwelt the man to whom the letter entrusted to him by the stranger
+was addressed.
+
+Accordingly he handed the letter to the money-changer in order that he
+might give him full directions without so much as casting an eye upon
+the address himself.
+
+The money-changer examined the address of the letter, and forthwith was
+filled with amazement.
+
+"Halil Patrona!" cried he, "have you been taking part in the Carnival of
+the Giaours that you have allowed yourself to be so befooled? Or can't
+you read?"
+
+"Read! of course I can. But I don't fancy I can know the man to whom
+this letter is directed."
+
+"Well, all I can say is that you knew him very well indeed this time
+yesterday, for the man is yourself--none other."
+
+Halil, full of astonishment, took the letter, which hitherto he had not
+regarded--sure enough it was addressed to himself.
+
+"Then he who gave me this letter must needs be a madman, and there is a
+purse which I have to hand over along with it."
+
+"Yes, I see that your name is written on that also."
+
+"But I have nothing to do with either the purse or the letter. Of a
+truth the man who confided them to me must have been a lunatic."
+
+"It will be best if you break open the letter and read it, then you will
+_know_ what you have got to do with it."
+
+This was true enough. The best way for a man to find out what he has to
+do with a letter addressed to him is, certainly, to open and read it.
+
+And this is what was written in the letter.
+
+
+"WORTHY HALIL PATRONA!
+
+"I told you that I was a poor man, but that was not true; on the
+contrary, I am pretty well to do, thank God! Nor do I wander up and down
+on the face of the earth in search of herds of cattle stolen from me,
+but for the sake of my only daughter, who is dearer to me than all my
+treasures, and now also I am in pursuit of her, following clue after
+clue, in order that I may discover her whereabouts and, if possible,
+ransom her. You have been my benefactor. You fought the drunken
+Janissary for my sake, you shared your dwelling with me, you made me lie
+on your own bed while you slept on the bare ground, you even took off
+your kaftan to make my couch the softer. Accept, therefore, as a token
+of my gratitude, the slender purse accompanying this letter. It contains
+five thousand piastres, so that if ever I visit you again I may find you
+in better circumstances. God help you in all things!
+
+                       "Your grateful servant,
+
+                                          "JANAKI."
+
+"Now, didn't I say he was mad?" exclaimed Halil, after reading through
+the letter. "Who else, I should like to know, would have given me five
+thousand piastres for three red onions?"
+
+Meanwhile, attracted by the noise of the conversation, a crowd of the
+acquaintances of Halil Patrona and the money-changer had gathered around
+them, and they laid their heads together and discussed among themselves
+for a long time the question which was the greater fool of the
+two--Janaki, who had given five thousand piastres for three onions, or
+Halil who did not want to accept the money.
+
+Yet Halil it was who turned out to be the biggest fool, for he
+immediately set out in search of the man who had given him this sum of
+money. But search and search as he might he could find no trace of him.
+If he had gone in search of someone who had stolen a like amount, he
+would have been able to find him very much sooner.
+
+In the course of his wanderings, he suddenly came upon the place where
+three days previously he had had his tussle with Halil Pelivan. He
+recognised the spot at once. A small dab of blood, the remains of what
+had flowed from the giant's head, was still there in the middle of the
+lane, and on the wall of the house opposite both their names were
+written. In all probability the Janissary, when he picked himself up
+again, had dipped his finger in his own blood, and then scrawled the
+names upon the wall in order to perpetuate the memory of the incident.
+He had also taken good care to put Halil Pelivan uppermost and Halil
+Patrona undermost.
+
+"Nay, but that is not right," said Halil to himself; "it was you who
+were undermost," and snatching up the fragment of a red tile he wrote
+his name above that of Halil Pelivan.
+
+He hurried and scurried about till late in the evening without
+discovering a single trace of Janaki, and by that time his head was so
+confused by all manner of cogitations that when, towards nightfall, he
+began chaffering for fish in the Etmeidan market, he would not have been
+a bit surprised if he had been told that every single carp cost a
+thousand piastres.
+
+He began to perceive, however, that he would have to keep the money
+after all, and the very thought of it kept him awake all night long.
+
+Next day he again strolled about the bazaars, and then directed his
+steps once more towards that house where he had chalked up his name the
+day before. And lo! the name of Pelivan was again stuck at the top of
+his own.
+
+"This must be put a stop to once for all," murmured Halil, and beckoning
+to a load-carrier he mounted on to his shoulders and wrote his name high
+up, just beneath the eaves of the house on a spot where Pelivan's name
+could not top his own again, from whence it is manifest that there was a
+certain secret instinct in Halil Patrona which would not permit him to
+take the lower place or suffer him to recognise anybody as standing
+higher than himself. And as he, pursuing his way home, passed by the
+Tsiragan Palace, and there encountered riding past him the Padishah,
+Sultan Achmed III., accompanied by the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim Damad, the
+Kiaja Beg, the Kapudan Pasha, and the chief Imam, Ispirizade; and as he
+humbly bowed his head in the dust before them, it seemed to him as if
+something at the bottom of his heart whispered to him: "The time will
+come when the whole lot of you will bow your heads before me in the dust
+just as I, Halil Patrona, the pedlar, do obeisance to you now, ye lords
+of the Empire and the Universe!"
+
+Fortunately for Halil Patrona, however, he did not raise his face while
+the suite of the Lords of the Universe swept past him, for otherwise it
+might have happened that Halil Pelivan, who went before the Sultan with
+a drawn broadsword, might have recognised him, and certainly nobody
+would have taken particular trouble to inquire why the Janissary had
+split in two the head of this or that pedlar who happened to come in his
+way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GÜL-BEJÁZE--THE WHITE ROSE.
+
+
+The booth of Halil Patrona, the pedlar, stood in the bazaar. He sold
+tobacco, chibooks, and pipe-stems, but his business was not particularly
+lucrative. He did not keep opium, although that was beginning to be one
+of the principal articles of luxury in the Turkish Empire. From the very
+look of him one could see that he did not sell the drug. For Halil had
+determined that he would never have any of this soul-benumbing stuff in
+his shop, and whenever Halil made any resolution he generally kept it.
+Oftentimes, sitting in the circle of his neighbours, he would fall to
+discoursing on the subject, and would tell them that it was Satan who
+had sent this opium stuff to play havoc among the true believers. It
+was, he would insist, the offscouring of the _Jinns_, and yet Mussulmans
+did not scruple to put the filth into their mouths and chew and inhale
+it! Hence the ruin that was coming upon them and their posterity and the
+whole Moslem race. His neighbours let him talk on without contradiction,
+but they took good care to sell as much opium themselves as possible,
+because it brought in by far the largest profits. Surely, they argued
+among themselves, because an individual cuts his throat with a knife now
+and then, that is no reason why knives in general should not be kept for
+sale in shops? It was plain to them that Halil was no born trader. Yet
+he was perfectly satisfied with the little profit he made, and it never
+occurred to him to wish for anything he had not got.
+
+Consequently when he now found himself the possessor of five thousand
+piastres, he was very much puzzled as to what he should do with such a
+large amount. The things he really desired were far, far away, quite out
+of his reach in fact. He would have liked to lead fleets upon the sea
+and armies marshalled in battle array. He would have liked to have built
+cities and fortresses. He would have liked to have raised up and cast
+down pashas, dispensed commands, and domineered generally. But a
+beggarly five thousand piastres would not go very far in that direction.
+It was too much from one point of view and too little from another, so
+that he really was at a loss what to do with it.
+
+His booth looked out upon that portion of the bazaar where there was a
+vacant space separated from the trading booths by lofty iron railings.
+This vacant space was a slave-market. Here the lowest class of slaves
+were freely offered for sale. Every day Halil saw some ten to twenty of
+these human chattels exhibited in front of his booth. It was no new
+sight to him.
+
+In this slave-market there were none of those pathetic scenes which
+poets and romance writers are so fond of describing when, for instance,
+the rich traders of Dirbend offer to the highest bidder miracles of
+loveliness, to be the sport of lust and luxury, beautiful Circassian and
+Georgian maidens, whose cheeks burn with shame at the bold rude gaze of
+the men, and whose eyes overflow with tears when their new masters
+address them. There was nothing of the sort in this place. This was but
+the depository of used up, chucked aside wares, of useless Jessir, such
+as dry and wrinkled old negresses, worn-out, venomous nurses, human
+refuse, so to speak, to whom it was a matter of the most profound
+indifference what master they were called upon to serve, who listened to
+the slang of the auctioneer with absolute nonchalance as he
+circumstantially totted up their years and described their qualities,
+and allowed their would-be purchasers to examine their teeth and
+manipulate their arms and legs as if they were the very last persons
+concerned in the business on hand.
+
+On the occasion of the first general auction that had come round after
+the departure of Janaki from Halil, the pedlar was sitting as usual
+before his booth in the bazaar when the public crier appeared in the
+slave-market, leading by the hand a veiled female slave, and made the
+following announcement in a loud voice:
+
+"Merciful Mussulmans! Lo! I bring hither from the harem of his Majesty
+the Sultan, an odalisk, who is to be put up to public auction by command
+of the Padishah. The name of this odalisk is Gül-Bejáze; her age is
+seventeen years, she has all her teeth, her breath is pure, her skin is
+clean, her hair is thick, she can dance and sing, and do all manner of
+woman's handiwork. His shall she be who makes the highest bid, and the
+sum obtained is to be divided among the dervishes. Two thousand piastres
+have already been promised for her; come hither and examine her--whoever
+gives the most shall have her."
+
+"Allah preserve us from the thought of purchasing this girl," observed
+the wiser of the merchants, "why that would be the same thing as
+purchasing the wrath of the Padishah for hard cash," and they wisely
+withdrew into the interiors of their booths. They knew well enough what
+was likely to happen to the man who presumed to buy an odalisk who had
+been expelled from the harem of the Sultan. Anyone daring to do such a
+thing might just as well chalk up the names of the four avenging angels
+on the walls of his house, or trample on his talisman with his slippers
+straight away. It was not the act of a wise man to pick up a flower
+which the Sultan had thrown away in order to inhale its fragrance.
+
+The public crier remained in the middle of the bazaar alone with the
+slave-girl; the chapmen had not only retired into their shops but barred
+the doors behind them. "Much obliged to you; but we would not accept
+such a piece of good luck even as a gift," they seemed to say.
+
+Only one man still remained in front of his shop, and that was Halil
+Patrona. He alone had the courage to scrutinise the slave-girl
+carefully.
+
+Perchance he felt compassion for this slave. He could not but perceive
+how the poor thing was trembling beneath the veil which covered her to
+the very heels. Nothing could be seen of her but her eyes, and in those
+eyes a tear was visible.
+
+"Come! bring her into my shop!" said Halil to the public crier; "don't
+leave her out in the public square there for everybody to stare at her."
+
+"Impossible!" replied the public crier. "As I value my head I must obey
+my orders, and my orders are to take her veil from off her head in the
+auction-yard, where the ordinary slaves are wont to be offered for sale,
+and there announce the price set upon her in the sight and hearing of
+all men."
+
+"What crime has this slave-girl committed that she should be treated so
+scurvily?"
+
+"Halil Patrona!" answered the public crier, "it will be all the better
+for my tongue and your ears if I do not answer that question. I simply
+do what I have been told to do. I unveil this odalisk, I proclaim what
+she can do, to what use she can be put. I neither belittle her nor do I
+exalt her. I advise nobody to buy her and I advise nobody not to buy
+her. Allah is free to do what He will with us all, and that which has
+been decreed concerning each of us ages ago must needs befall." And with
+these words he whisked away the veil from the head of the odalisk.
+
+"By the Prophet! a beauteous maid indeed! What eyes! A man might fancy
+they could speak, and if one gazed at them long enough one could find
+more to learn there than in all that is written in the Koran! What lips
+too! I would gladly remain outside Paradise if by so doing I might gaze
+upon those lips for ever. And what a pale face! Well does she deserve
+the name of Gül-Bejáze! Her cheeks do indeed resemble white roses! And
+one can see dewdrops upon them, as is the way with roses!--the dewdrops
+from her eyes! And what must such eyes be like when they laugh? What
+must that face be like when it blushes? What must that mouth be like
+when it speaks, when it sighs, when it trembles with sweet desire?"
+
+Halil Patrona was quite carried away by his enthusiasm.
+
+"Carry her not any further," he said to the public crier, "and show her
+to nobody else, for nobody else would dare to buy her. Besides, I'll
+give you for her a sum which nobody else would think of offering, I will
+give five thousand piastres."
+
+"Be it so!" said the crier, veiling the maid anew; "you have seen her,
+anyhow, bring your money and take the girl!"
+
+Halil went in for his purse, handed it over to the crier (it held the
+exact amount to a penny), and took the odalisk by the hand--there she
+stood alone with him.
+
+Halil Patrona now lost not a moment in locking up his shop, and taking
+the odalisk by the hand led her away with him to his poor lonely
+dwelling-place.
+
+All the way thither the girl never uttered a word.
+
+On reaching the house Halil made the girl sit down by the hearth, and
+then addressed her in a tender, kindly voice.
+
+"Here is my house, whatever you see in it is mine and yours. The whole
+lot is not very much it is true, but it is all our own. You will find no
+ornaments or frankincense in my house, but you can go in and out of it
+as you please without asking anybody's leave. Here are two piastres,
+provide therewith a dinner for us both."
+
+The worthy Mussulman then returned to the bazaar, leaving the girl alone
+in the house. He did not return home till the evening.
+
+Meanwhile Gül-Bejáze had made the two piastres go as far as they could,
+and had supper all ready for him. She placed Halil's dish on the
+reed-mat close beside him, but she herself sat down on the threshold.
+
+"Not there, but come and sit down by my side," said Halil, and seizing
+the trembling hand of the odalisk, he made her sit down beside him on
+the cushion, piled up the pilaf before her, and invited her with kind
+and encouraging words to fall to. The odalisk obeyed him. Not a word had
+she yet spoken, but when she had finished eating, she turned towards
+Halil and murmured in a scarce audible voice,
+
+"For six days I have eaten nought."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Halil in amazement, "six days! Horrible! And who was
+it, pray, that compelled you to endure such torture?"
+
+"It was my own doing, for I wanted to die."
+
+Halil shook his head gravely.
+
+"So young, and yet to desire death! And do you still want to die, eh?"
+
+"Your own eyes can tell you that I do not."
+
+Halil had taken a great fancy to the girl. He had never before known
+what it was to love any human being; but now as he sat there face to
+face with the girl, whose dark eyelashes cast shadows upon her pale
+cheeks, and regarded her melancholy, irresponsive features, he fancied
+he saw a peri before him, and felt a new man awakening within him
+beneath this strange charm.
+
+Halil could never remember the time when his heart had actually throbbed
+for joy, but now that he was sitting down by the side of this beautiful
+maid it really began to beat furiously. Ah! how truly sang the poet when
+he said: "Two worlds there are, one beneath the sun and the other in the
+heart of a maid."
+
+For a long time he gazed rapturously on the beauteous slave, admiring in
+turn her fair countenance, her voluptuous bosom, and her houri-like
+figure. How lovely, how divinely lovely it all was! And then he
+bethought him that all this loveliness was his own; that he was the
+master, the possessor of this girl, at whose command she would fall upon
+his bosom, envelop him with the pavilion, dark as night, of her flowing
+tresses, and embrace him with arms of soft velvet. Ah! and those lips
+were not only red but sweet; and that breast was not only snow-white
+but throbbing and ardent--and at the thought his brain began to swim for
+joy and rapture.
+
+And yet he did not even know what to call her! He had never had a
+slave-girl before, and hardly knew how to address her. His own tongue
+was not wont to employ tender, caressing words; he knew not what to say
+to a woman to make her love him.
+
+"Gül-Bejáze!" he murmured hoarsely.
+
+"I await your commands, my master!"
+
+"My name is Halil--call me so!"
+
+"Halil, I await your commands!"
+
+"Say nothing about commanding. Sit down beside me here! Come, sit
+closer, I say!"
+
+The girl sat down beside him. She was quite close to him now.
+
+But the worst of it was that, even now, Halil had not the remotest idea
+what to say to her.
+
+The maid was sad and apathetic, she did not weep as slave-girls are wont
+to do. Halil would so much have liked the girl to talk and tell him her
+history, and the cause of her melancholy, then perhaps it would have
+been easier for him to talk too. He would then have been able to have
+consoled her, and after consolation would have come love.
+
+"Tell me, Gül-Bejáze!" said he, "how was it that the Sultan had you
+offered for sale in the bazaar."
+
+The girl looked at Halil with those large black eyes of hers. When she
+raised her long black lashes it was as though he gazed into a night lit
+up by two black suns, and thus she continued gazing at him for a long
+time fixedly and sadly.
+
+"That also you will learn to know, Halil," she murmured.
+
+And Halil felt his heart grow hotter and hotter the nearer he drew to
+this burning, kindling flame; his eyes flashed sparks at the sight of so
+much beauty, he seized the girl's hand and pressed it to his lips. How
+cold that hand was! All the more reason for warming it on his lips and
+on his bosom; but, for all his caressing, the little hand remained cold,
+as cold as the hand of a corpse.
+
+Surely that throbbing breast, those provocative lips, are not as cold?
+
+Halil, intoxicated with passion, embraced the girl, and as he drew her
+to his breast, as he pressed her to him, the girl murmured to
+herself--it sounded like a gentle long-drawn-out sigh:
+
+"Blessed Mary!"
+
+And then the girl's long black hair streamed over her face, and when
+Halil smoothed it aside from the fair countenance to see if it had not
+grown redder beneath his embrace--behold! it was whiter than ever. All
+trace of life had fled from it, the eyes were cast down, the lips
+closed and bluish. Dead, dead--a corpse lay before him!
+
+But Halil would not believe it. He fancied that the girl was only
+pretending. He put his hand on her fair bosom--but he could not hear the
+beating of the heart. The girl had lost all sense of feeling. He could
+have done with her what he would. A dead body lay in his bosom.
+
+An ice-cold feeling of horror penetrated Halil's heart, altogether
+extinguishing the burning flame of passion. All tremulously he released
+the girl and laid her down. Then he whispered full of fear:
+
+"Awake! I will not hurt you, I will not hurt you."
+
+Her light kaftan had glided down from her bosom; he restored it to its
+place and, awe-struck, he continued gazing at the features of the lovely
+corpse.
+
+After a few moments the girl opened her lips and sighed heavily, and
+presently her large black eyes also opened once more, her lips resumed
+their former deep red hue, her eyes their enchanting radiance, her face
+the delicate freshness of a white rose, once more her bosom began to
+rise and fall.
+
+She arose from the carpet on which Halil had laid her, and set to work
+removing and re-arranging the scattered dishes and platters. Only after
+a few moments had elapsed did she whisper to Halil, who could not
+restrain his astonishment:
+
+"And now you know why the Padishah ordered me to be sold like a common
+slave in the bazaar. The instant a man embraces me I become as dead, and
+remain so until he lets me go again, and his lips grow cold upon mine
+and his heart abhors me. My name is not Gül-Bejáze, the White Rose, but
+Gül-Olü, the Dead Rose."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+SULTAN ACHMED.
+
+
+The sun is shining through the windows of the Seraglio, the two Ulemas
+who are wont to come and pray with the Sultan have withdrawn, and the
+Kapu-Agasi, or chief doorkeeper, and the Anakhtar Oglan, or chief
+key-keeper, hasten to open the doors through which the Padishah
+generally goes to his dressing-room, where already await him the most
+eminent personages of the Court, to wit, the Khas-Oda-Bashi, or Master
+of the Robes, the Chobodar who hands the Sultan his first garment, the
+Dülbendar who ties the shawl round his body, the Berber-Bashi who shaves
+his head, the Ibrikdar Aga who washes his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi
+who dries them again, the Serbedji-Bashi who has a pleasant potion ready
+for him, and the Ternakdji who carefully pares his nails. All these
+grandees do obeisance to the very earth as they catch sight of the face
+of the Padishah making his way through innumerable richly carved doors
+on his way to his dressing-chamber.
+
+This robing-room is a simple, hexagonal room, with lofty,
+gold-entrellised window; its whole beauty consists in this, that the
+walls are inlaid with amethysts, from whose jacinth-hued background
+shine forth the more lustrous raised arabesques formed by topazes and
+dalmatines. Precious stones are the delight of the Padishah. Every inch
+of his garments is resplendent with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, his
+very fingers are hidden by the rings which sparkle upon them. Pomp is
+the very breath of his life. And his countenance well becomes this
+splendour. It is a mild, gentle, radiant face, like the face of a father
+when he moves softly among his loving children. His large, melancholy
+eyes rest kindly on the face of everyone he beholds; his smooth,
+delicate forehead is quite free from wrinkles. It would seem as if it
+could never form into folds, as if its possessor could never be angry;
+there is not a single grey hair in his well-kept, long black beard; it
+would seem as if he knew not the name of grief, as if he were the very
+Son of Happiness.
+
+And so indeed he was. For seven-and-twenty years he had sat upon the
+throne. It is possible that during these seven-and-twenty years many
+changes may have taken place in the realm which could by no means call
+for rejoicing, but Allah had blessed him with such a happy disposition
+as to make him quite indifferent to these unfortunate events, in fact,
+he did not trouble his head about them at all. Like the true
+philosopher he was, he continued to rejoice in whatsoever was joyous. He
+loved beautiful flowers and beautiful women--and he had enough of both
+and to spare. His gardens were more splendid than the gardens of Soliman
+the Magnificent, and that his Seraglio was no joyless abode was
+demonstrated by the fact that so far he was the happy father of
+one-and-thirty children.
+
+He must have had exceptionally pleasant dreams last night, or his
+favourite Sultana, the incomparably lovely Adsalis, must have
+entertained him with unusually pleasant stories, or perchance a new
+tulip must have blossomed during the night, for he extended his hand to
+everyone to kiss, and when the Berber-Bashi proceeded comfortably to
+adjust the cushions beneath him, the Sultan jocosely tapped the red
+swelling cheeks of his faithful servant--cheeks which the worthy Bashi
+had taken good care of even in the days when he was only a barber's
+apprentice in the town of Zara, but which had swelled to a size worthy
+even of the rank of a Berber-Bashi, since his lot had fallen in pleasant
+places.
+
+"Allah watch over thee, and grant that thy mouth may never complain
+against thy hand, worthy Berber-Bashi. What is the latest news from the
+town?"
+
+It would appear from this that the barbers in Stambul also, even when
+they rise to the dignity of Berber-Bashis, are expected to follow the
+course of public events with the utmost attention, in order to
+communicate the most interesting details thereof to others, and thus
+relieve the tedium invariably attendant upon shaving.
+
+"Most mighty and most gracious One, if thou deignest to listen to the
+worthless words which drop from the mouth of thine unprofitable servant
+with those ears of thine created but to receive messages from Heaven, I
+will relate to thee what has happened most recently in Stambul."
+
+The Sultan continued to play with his ring, which he had taken off one
+finger to slip on to another.
+
+"Thou hast laid the command upon me, most puissant and most gracious
+Padishah," continued the Berber-Bashi, unwinding the pearl-embroidered
+_kauk_ from the head of the Sultan--"thou hast laid the command upon me
+to discover and acquaint thee with what further befell Gül-Bejáze after
+she had been cast forth from thy harem. From morn to eve, and again from
+eve to morning, I have been searching from house to house, making
+inquiries, listening with all my ears, mingling among the chapmen of the
+bazaars disguised as one of themselves, inducing them to speak, and
+ferreting about generally, till, at last, I have got to the bottom of
+the matter. For a long time nobody dared to buy the girl; it is indeed
+but meet that none should dare to pick up what the mightiest monarch of
+the earth has thrown away; it is but meet that the spot where he has
+cast out the ashes from his pipe should be avoided by all men, and that
+nobody should venture to put the sole of his foot there. Yet,
+nevertheless, in the bazaar, one madly presumptuous man was found who
+was lured to his destruction at the sight of the girl's beauty, and
+received her for five thousand piastres from the hand of the public
+crier. These five thousand piastres were all the money he had, and he
+got them, in most wondrous wise, from a foreign butcher whom he had
+welcomed to his house as a guest."
+
+"What is the name of this man?"?
+
+"Halil Patrona."
+
+"And what happened after that?"
+
+"The man took the girl home, whose beauty, of a truth, was likely to
+turn the head of anybody. He knew not what had happened to her at the
+Seraglio, in the kiosks of the Kiaja Beg and the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim
+Damad and in the harem of the White Prince. For, verily, it is a joy to
+even behold the maiden, and it would be an easy matter to lose one's
+wits because of her, especially if one did not know that this fair
+blossom may be gazed at but not plucked, that this beautiful form which
+puts even the houris of Paradise to shame, suddenly becomes stiff and
+dead at the contact of a man's hand, and that neither the warmth of the
+sun-like face of the Padishah, nor the fury of the Grand Vizier, nor the
+thongs of the scourge of the Sultana Asseki, nor the supplications of
+the White Prince, can awaken her from her death-like swoon."
+
+"And didst thou discover what happened to the girl after that?"
+
+"Blessed be every word concerning me which issues from thy lips oh,
+mighty Padishah! Yes, I went after the girl. The worthy shopkeeper took
+the maiden home with him. It rejoiced him that he could give to her
+everything that was there. He made her sit down beside him. He supped in
+her company. Then he would have embraced her. So he drew her to his
+bosom, and immediately the girl collapsed in his arms like a dead thing,
+as she is always wont to do whenever a man touches her, at the same time
+uttering certain magical talismanic words of evil portent, from which
+may the Prophet guard every true believer! For she spoke the name of
+that holy woman whose counterfeit presentment the Giaours carry upon
+their banners, and whose name they pronounce when they go forth to war
+against the true believers."
+
+"Was he who took her away wrath thereat?"
+
+"Nay, on the contrary, he seemed well satisfied that it should be so,
+and ever since then he has left the girl in peace. He regards her as a
+peri, as one who is not in her right mind, and therefore should be dealt
+gently with. She is free to go about the house as she likes. Halil will
+never permit her to do any rough work, nay, rather, will he do
+everything himself, with his own hands, so that all his acquaintances
+already begin to speak of him as a portent, and his patience has become
+a proverb in their mouths. Halil they say took unto himself a
+slave-woman, and lo! he has himself become that slave-woman's slave."
+
+"Of a truth it is a remarkable case," observed the Padishah; "try and
+find out what turn the affair takes next. And the Teskeredji Bashi shall
+record everything that thou sayest for an eternal remembrance."
+
+During this speech the Berber-Bashi had artistically completed the
+official dressing of the Padishah's head, whereupon the Ibrikdar Aga
+came forward to wash his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi carefully dried
+them with a towel, the Ternakdji Bashi pared his nails, the Dülbendar
+placed the pearl-embroidered _kauk_ on the top of his head, and adjusted
+the long eastern shawl round his waist, the Chobodar handed him his
+upper jacket, the _binis_ heavy with turquoise, the Silihdar buckled on
+his tasselled sword, and then everyone, after performing the usual
+salaams withdrew, except the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the Kapu-Agasi, who
+remained alone with their master.
+
+The Khas-Oda-Bashi announced that the two humblest of the Sultan's
+servants, Abdullah, the Chief Mufti, and Damad Ibrahim, the Grand
+Vizier, were waiting on their knees for an audience in the vestibule of
+the Seraglio. They desired, he said, to communicate important news
+touching the safety and honour of the Empire.
+
+The Sultan had not yet given an answer when, through the door leading
+from the harem, popped the Kizlar-Aga, the chief eunuch, a respectable,
+black-visaged gentleman with split lips, who had the melancholy
+privilege of passing in and out of the Sultan's harem at all hours of
+the day and night, and finding no pleasure therein.
+
+"Kizlar-Aga, my faithful servant! what dost thou want?" inquired Achmed
+going to meet him, and raising him from the ground whereon he had thrown
+himself.
+
+"Most gracious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, "the flower cannot go on
+living without the sun, and the most lovely of flowers, that most
+fragrant blossom, the Sultana Asseki, longs to bask in the light of thy
+countenance."
+
+At these words the features of Achmed grew still more gentle, still more
+radiant with smiles. He signified to the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the
+Kapu-Agasi that they should withdraw into another room, while he
+dispatched the Kizlar-Aga to bring in the Sultana Asseki.
+
+Adsalis, for so they called her, was a splendid damsel of Damascus. She
+had been lavishly endowed with every natural charm. Her skin was whiter
+than ivory and smoother than velvet. Compared with her dark locks the
+blackest night was but a pale shadow, and the hue of her full smiling
+face put to shame the breaking dawn and the budding rose. When she gazed
+upon Achmed with those eyes of hers in which a whole rapturous world of
+paradisaical joys glowed and burned, the Padishah felt his whole heart
+smitten with sweet lightnings, and when her voluptuously enchanting lips
+expressed a wish, who was there in the wide world who would have the
+courage to gainsay them? Certainly not Achmed! Ah, no! "Ask of me the
+half of my realm!"--that was the tiniest of the flattering assurances
+which he was wont to heap upon her. If he were but able to embrace her,
+if he were but able to look into her burning eyes, if he were but able
+to see her smile again and again, then he utterly forgot Stambul, his
+capital, the host, the war, and the foreign ambassadors--and praised
+the Prophet for such blessedness.
+
+The favourite Sultana approached Achmed with that enchanting smile which
+was eternally irresistible so far as he was concerned, and never
+permitted an answer approaching a refusal to even appear on the lips of
+the Sultan.
+
+What pressing request could it be? Why it was only at dawn of this very
+day that the Padishah had quitted her! What vision of rapture could she
+have seen since then whose realisation she had set her heart upon
+obtaining?
+
+The Sultan, taking her by the hand, conducted her to his purple ottoman,
+and permitted her to sit down at his feet; the Sultana folded her hands
+on the knees of the Padishah, and raising her eyes to his face thus
+addressed him:
+
+"I come from thy daughter, little Eminah, she has sent me to thee that I
+may kiss thy feet instead of her. As often as I see thee, majestic Khan,
+it is as though I see her face, and as often as I behold her it is thy
+face that stands before me. She resembles thee as a twinkling star
+resembles a radiant sun. Three years of her life has she accomplished,
+she has now entered upon her fourth summer, and still no husband has
+been destined for her. This very morning when thou hadst turned thy face
+away from me I saw a vision. And this was the vision I saw. Thy three
+children, Aisha, Hadishra, and Eminah, were sitting in the open piazza,
+beneath splendid, sparkling pavilions. There were three pavilions
+standing side by side: the first was white, the second violet, and the
+third of a vivid green. In these three pavilions, I say, the princesses,
+thy daughters, were sitting, clothed in _kapanijaks_ of cloth of silver,
+with round _selmiks_ on their heads, and embellished with the seven
+lucky circles which bring the blessings of prosperity to womenkind. Thou
+knowest what these circles are, oh Padishah! They are the ishtifan or
+diadem, the necklace, the ear-ring, the finger-ring, the girdle, the
+bracelet, and the mantle-ring-clasp--the seven gifts of felicity, oh
+Padishah, that the bridegroom giveth to the bride. Beside these
+pavilions, moreover, were a countless multitude of other tents--of three
+different hues of blue and three different hues of green--and in these
+tents abode a great multitude of Emir Defterdars, Reis-Effendis,
+Muderises, and Sheiks. And in front of the Seraglio were set up three
+lofty palm-trees, which elephants drew about on great wheeled cars, and
+there were three gardens there, the flowers whereof were made of sugar,
+and then the chiefs of the viziers arose and the celebration of the
+festival began. After the usual kissing of hands, the nuptials were
+proceeded with, the Kiaja representing the bridegroom and the
+Kizlar-Aga the bride, and everyone received a present. Then came the
+bridal retinue with the bridal gifts, a hundred camels laden with
+flowers and fruits, and an elephant bearing gold and precious stones and
+veils meet for the land of the peris. Two eunuchs brought mirrors inlaid
+with emeralds, and the _miri achorok_ held the reins of splendidly
+caparisoned chargers. After them came the attendants of the Grand
+Vizier, and delighted the astonished eyes of the spectators with a
+display of slinging. Then came the wine-carriers with their wine-skins,
+and in a pavilion set up for the purpose wooden men sported with a
+living centaur. There also were the Egyptian sword and hoop dancers, the
+Indian jugglers and serpent charmers, after whom came the Chief Mufti,
+who read aloud a verse from the Koran in the light of thy countenance,
+and gave also the interpretation thereof in words fair to listen to.
+Then followed fit and capable men from the arsenal, dragging along on
+rollers huge galleys in full sail, and after them the topijis, dragging
+after them, likewise on rollers, a fortress crammed full of cannons,
+which also they fired again and again to the astonishment of the
+multitude. Thereupon began the dancing of the Egyptian opium-eaters,
+which was indeed most marvellous, and after them there was a show of
+bears and apes, which sported right merrily together. Close upon these
+came the procession of the Guilds and the junketing of the Janissaries,
+and last of all the Feast of Palms, which palms were carried to the very
+gates of the Seraglio, along with the sugar gardens I have already
+spoken of. Then there was the Feast of Lamps, in which ten thousand
+shining lamps gleamed among twenty thousand blossoming tulips, so that
+one might well have believed that the lamps were blossoming and the
+tulips were shining. And all the while the cannons of the Anatoli Hisar
+and the Rumili Hisar were thundering, and the Bosphorus seemed to be
+turned into a sea of fire by reason of the illuminated ships and the
+sparkling fireworks. Such then was the dream of the humblest of thy
+slaves at dawn of the 12th day of the month Dzhemakir, which day is a
+day of good omen to the sons of Osman."
+
+It might have been thought a tiresome matter to listen to such long,
+drawn-out visions as this to the very end, but Achmed was a good
+listener, and, besides, he delighted in such things. Nothing made him so
+happy as great festivals, and the surest way of gaining his good graces
+was by devising some new pageant of splendour, excellence, and
+originality unknown to his predecessors. Adsalis had won his favour by
+inventing the Feast of Lamps and Tulips, which was renewed every year.
+This Feast of Palms, moreover, was another new idea, and so also was the
+idea of the sugar garden. So Achmed, in a transport of enthusiasm,
+pressed the favourite Sultana to his bosom, and swore solemnly that her
+dream should be fulfilled, and then sent her back into the harem.
+
+And now the Kizlar-Aga admitted the two dignitaries who had been waiting
+outside. The Chief Mufti entered first, and after him came the Grand
+Vizier, Damad Ibrahim. Both of them had long, flowing, snow-white beards
+and grave venerable faces.
+
+They bowed low before the Sultan, kissed the hem of his garment, and lay
+prostrate before him till he raised them up again.
+
+"What brings you to the Seraglio, my worthy counsellors?" inquired the
+Sultan.
+
+As was meet and right, the Chief Mufti was the first to speak.
+
+"Most gracious, most puissant master! Be merciful towards us if with our
+words we disturb the tranquil joys of thy existence! For though slumber
+is a blessing, wary wakefulness is better than slumber, and he who will
+not recognise the coming of danger is like unto him who would rob his
+own house. It will be known unto thee, most glorious Padishah, that a
+few years ago it pleased Allah, in his inscrutable wisdom, to permit the
+Persian rebel, Esref, to drive his lawful sovereign, Tamasip, from his
+capital. The prince became a fugitive, and the mother of the prince,
+dressed in rags, was reduced to the wretched expedient of doing menial
+service in the streets of Ispahan for a livelihood. The glory of the
+Ottoman arms could not permit that a usurper should sit at his ease on
+the stolen throne, and thy triumphant host, led by the Vizier Ibrahim
+and the virtuous Küprili, the descendant of the illustrious Nuuman
+Küprili, wrested Kermandzasahan from Persia and incorporated it with thy
+dominions. And then it pleased the Prophet to permit marvellous things
+to happen. Suddenly Shah Tamasip, whom all men believed to be
+ruined--suddenly, I say, Shah Tamasip reappeared at the head of a
+handful of heroes and utterly routed the bloody Esref Khan in three
+pitched battles at Damaghan, Derechár, and Ispahan, put him to flight,
+and the hoofs of the horses of the victor trod the rebel underfoot. And
+now the restored sovereign demands back from the Ottoman Empire the
+domains which had been occupied. His Grand Vizier, Safikuli Khan, is
+advancing with a large army against the son of Küprili, and the darkness
+of defeat threatens to obscure the sun-like radiance of the Ottoman
+arms. Most puissant Padishah! suffer not the tooth of disaster to gnaw
+away at thy glory! The Grand Vizier and I have already gathered
+together thy host on the shores of the Bosphorus. They are ready, at a
+moment's notice, to embark in the ships prepared for them. Money and
+provisions in abundance have been sent to the frontier for the gallant
+Nuuman Küprili on the backs of fifteen hundred camels. It needs but a
+word from thee and thine empire will become an armed hand, one buffet
+whereof will overthrow another empire. It needs but a wink of thine eye
+and a host of warriors will spring from the earth, just as if all the
+Ottoman heroes, who died for their country four centuries ago, were to
+rise from their graves to defend the banner of the Prophet. But that
+same banner thou shouldst seize and bear in thine own hand, most
+glorious Padishah! for only thy presence can give victory to our arms.
+Arise, then, and gird upon thy thigh the sword of thy illustrious
+ancestor Muhammad! Descend in the midst of thy host which yearns for the
+light of thy countenance, as the eyes of the sleepless yearn for the sun
+to rise, and put an end to the long night of waiting."
+
+Achmed's gentle gaze rested upon the speaker abstractedly. It seemed as
+if, while the Chief Mufti was speaking, he had not heard a single word
+of the passionate discourse that had been addressed to him.
+
+"My faithful servants!" said he, smiling pleasantly, "this day is to me
+a day of felicity. The Sultana Asseki at dawn to-day saw a vision
+worthy of being realised. A dazzling festival was being celebrated in
+the streets of Stambul, and the whole city shone in the illumination
+thereof. The gardens of the puspáng-trees and the courtyards of the
+kiosks around the Sweet Waters were bright with the radiance of lamps
+and tulips. Waving palm-trees and gardens full of sugar-flowers
+traversed the streets, and galleys and fortresses perambulated the
+piazzas on wheels. That dream was too lovely to remain a dream. It must
+be made a reality."
+
+The Chief Mufti folded his hands across his breast and bent low before
+the Padishah.
+
+"Allah Akbar! Allah Kerim! God is mighty. Be it even as thou dost
+command! May the sun rise in the west if it be thy will, oh Padishah!"
+And the Chief Mufti drew aside and was silent.
+
+But the aged Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, came forward, and drying his
+tearful eyes with the corner of his kaftan, stood sorrowfully in front
+of the Padishah. And these were his words:
+
+"Oh! my master! Allah hath appointed certain days for rejoicing, and
+certain other days for mourning, and 'tis not well to confuse the one
+with the other. Just now there is no occasion for rejoicing, but all the
+more occasion for mourning. Woeful tidings, like dark clouds presaging a
+storm, are coming in from every corner of the Empire--conflagrations,
+pestilences, earthquakes, inundations, hurricanes--alarm and agitate the
+people. Only this very week the fairest part of Stambul, close to the
+Chojabasha, was burnt to the ground; and only a few weeks ago the same
+fate befell the suburb of Ejub along the whole length of the sea-front,
+and that, too, at the very time when the other part of the city was
+illuminated in honour of the birthday of Prince Murad. In Gallipoli a
+thunder-bolt struck the powder-magazine, and five hundred workmen were
+blown into the air. The Kiagadehane brook, in a single night, swelled to
+such an extent as to inundate the whole valley of Sweet Waters, and a
+whole park of artillery was swept away by the flood. And know also, oh
+Padishah, that, but the other day, a new island rose up from the sea
+beside the island of Santorin, and this new island has grown larger and
+larger during three successive months, and all the time it was growing,
+the ground beneath Stambul quaked and trembled. These are no good omens,
+oh, my master! and if thou wilt lend thine ears to the counsel of thy
+faithful servant, thou wilt proclaim a day of penance and fasting
+instead of a feast-day, for evil days are coming upon Stambul. The voice
+of the enemy can be heard on all our borders, from the banks of the
+Danube as well as from beside the waters of the Pruth, from among the
+mountains of Erivan as well as from beyond the islands of the
+Archipelago; and if every Mussulman had ten hands and every one of the
+ten held a sword, we should still have enough to do to defend thy
+Empire. Bear, oh Padishah! with my grey hairs, and pardon my temerity. I
+see Stambul in the midst of flames every time it is illuminated for a
+festival, and full of consternation, I cry to thee and to the Prophet,
+'Send us help and that right soon.'"
+
+Sultan Achmed continued all the time to smile most graciously.
+
+"Worthy Ibrahim!" said he at last, "thou hast a son, hast thou not,
+whose name is Osman, and who has now attained his fourth year. Now I
+have a daughter, Eminah, who has just reached her third year. Lo now! as
+my soul liveth, I will not gird on the Sword of the Prophet, I will not
+take in my hand the Banner of Danger until I have given these young
+people to each other in marriage. Long ago they were destined for each
+other, and the multiplication of thy merits demands the speedy
+consummation of these espousals. I have sworn to the Sultana Asseki that
+so it shall be, and I cannot go back from my oath as though I were but
+an unbelieving fire-worshipper, for the fire-worshippers do not regard
+the sanctity of an oath, and when they take an oath or make a promise
+they recite the words thereof backwards, and believe they are thereby
+free of their obligations. It beseemeth not the true believers to do
+likewise. I have promised that this festival shall be celebrated, and it
+is my desire that it should be splendid."
+
+Ibrahim sighed deeply, and it was with a sad countenance that he thanked
+the Padishah for this fresh mark of favour. Yet the betrothal might so
+easily have been postponed, for the bridegroom was only four years old
+and the bride was but three.
+
+"Allah Kerim! God grant that thy shadow may never grow less, most mighty
+Padishah!" said Damad Ibrahim, and with that he kissed the hand of the
+Grand Seignior, and both he and the Chief Mufti withdrew.
+
+At the gate of the Seraglio the Chief Mufti said to the Grand Vizier
+sorrowfully:
+
+"It had been better for us both had we never grown grey!"
+
+But Sultan Achmed, accompanied by the Bostanjik, hastened to the gardens
+of the grove of puspáng-trees to look at his tulips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL.
+
+
+Worthy Halil Patrona had become quite a by-word with his fellows. The
+name he now went by in the bazaars was: The Slave of the Slave-Girl.
+This did not hurt him in the least; on the contrary, the result was,
+that more people came to smoke their chibooks and buy tobacco at his
+shop than ever. Everybody was desirous of making the acquaintance of the
+Mussulman who would not so much as lay a hand upon a slave-girl whom he
+had bought with his own money, nay more, who did all the work of the
+house instead of her, just as if she had bought him instead of his
+buying her.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Patrona dwelt Musli, a veteran Janissary, who
+filled up his spare time by devoting himself to the art of
+slipper-stitching. This man often beheld Halil prowling about on the
+house-top in the moonlit nights where Gül-Bejáze was sleeping, and after
+sitting down within a couple of paces of her, remain there in a brown
+study for hours at a time, often till midnight, nay, sometimes till
+daybreak. With his chin resting in the palm of his hand there he would
+stay, gazing intently at her charming figure and her pale but beautiful
+face. Frequently he would creep closer to her, creep so near that his
+lips would almost touch her face; but then he would throw back his head
+again, and if at such times the slave-girl half awoke from her slumbers,
+he would beckon to her to go to sleep again--nobody should disturb her.
+
+Halil did not trouble his head in the least about all this gossip. It
+was noticed, indeed, that his face was somewhat paler than it used to
+be, but if anyone ventured to jest with him on the subject, face to
+face, he was very speedily convinced that Halil's arms, at any rate,
+were no weaker than of yore.
+
+One day he was sitting, as usual, at the door of his booth, paying
+little attention to the people coming and going around him, and staring
+abstractedly with wide and wandering eyes into space, as if his gaze was
+fixed upon something above his head, when somebody who had approached
+him so softly as to take him quite unawares, very affectionately greeted
+him with the words:
+
+"Well, my dear Chorbadshi, how are you?"
+
+Patrona looked in the direction of the voice, and saw in front of him
+his mysterious guest of the other day--the Greek Janaki.
+
+"Ah, 'tis thou, musafir! I searched for you everywhere for two whole
+days after you left me, for I wanted to give you back the five thousand
+piastres which you were fool enough to make me a present of. It was just
+as well, however, that I did not find you, and I have long ceased
+looking for you, for I have now spent all the money."
+
+"I am glad to hear it, Halil, and I hope the money has done you a good
+turn. Are you willing to receive me into your house as a guest once
+more?"
+
+"With pleasure! But you must first of all promise me two things. The
+first is, that you will not contrive by some crafty device to pay me
+something for what I give you gratis; and the second is, that you will
+not expect to stay the night with me, but will wander across the street
+and pitch your tent at the house of my worthy neighbour Musli, who is
+also a bachelor, and mends slippers, and is therefore a very worthy and
+respectable man."
+
+"And why may I not sleep at your house?"
+
+"Because you must know that there are now two of us in the house--I and
+my slave-girl."
+
+"That will not matter a bit, Halil. I will sleep on the roof, and you
+take the slave-girl down with you into the house."
+
+"It cannot be so, Janaki! it cannot be."
+
+"Why can it not be?"
+
+"Because I would rather sleep in a pit into which a tiger has fallen, I
+would rather sleep in the lair of a hippopotamus, I would rather sleep
+in a canoe guarded by alligators and crocodiles, I would rather spend a
+night in a cellar full of scorpions and scolopendras, or in the Tower of
+Surem, which is haunted by the accursed Jinns, than pass a single night
+in the same room with this slave-girl."
+
+"Why; what's this, Halil? you fill me with amazement. Surely, it cannot
+be that you are that Mussulman of whom all Pera is talking?--the man I
+mean who purchased a slave-girl in order to be her slave?"
+
+"It is as you say. But 'twere better not to talk of that matter at all.
+Those five thousand piastres of yours are the cause of it; they have
+ruined me out and out. My mind is going backwards I think. When people
+come to my shop to buy wares of me, I give them such answers to their
+questions that they laugh at me. Let us change the subject, let us
+rather talk of your affairs. Have you found your daughter yet?"
+
+It was now Janaki's turn to sigh.
+
+"I have sought her everywhere, and nowhere can I find her."
+
+"How did you lose her?"
+
+"One Saturday she went with some companions on a pleasure excursion in
+the Sea of Marmora in a sailing-boat. Their music and dancing attracted
+a Turkish pirate to the spot, and in the midst of a peaceful empire he
+stole all the girls, and contrived to dispose of them so secretly that I
+have never been able to find any trace of them. I am now disposed to
+believe that she was taken to the Sultan's Seraglio."
+
+"You will never get her out of there then."
+
+Janaki sighed deeply.
+
+"You think, then, that I shall never get at her if she is there?" and he
+shook his head sadly.
+
+"Not unless the Janissaries, or the Debejis, or the Bostanjis lay their
+heads together and agree to depose the Sultan."
+
+"Who would even dare to think of such a thing, Halil?"
+
+"I would if _my_ daughter were detained in the harem against her will
+and against mine also. But that is not at all in your line, Janaki. You
+have never shed any blood but the blood of sheep and oxen, but let me
+tell you this, Janaki: if I were as rich a man as you are, trust me for
+finding a way of getting my girl out of the very Seraglio itself. Wealth
+is a mightier force than valour."
+
+"I pray you, speak not so loudly. One of your neighbours might hear you,
+and would think nothing of felling me to the earth to get my money. For
+I carry a great deal of money about with me, and am always afraid of
+being robbed of it. In front of the bazaar a slave is awaiting me with a
+mule. On the back of that mule are strung two jars seemingly filled with
+dried dates. Let me tell you that those jars are really half-filled with
+gold pieces, the dates are only at the top. I should like to deposit
+them at your house. I suppose your slave-girl will not pry too closely?"
+
+"You can safely leave them with me. If you tell her not to look at them
+she will close her eyes every time she passes the jars."
+
+Meanwhile Patrona had closed his booth and invited his guest to
+accompany him homewards. On the way thither he looked in at the house of
+his neighbour, the well-mannered Janissary, who mended slippers. Musli
+willingly offered Halil's guest a night's lodging. In return Patrona
+invited him to share with him a small dish of well-seasoned pilaf and a
+few cups of a certain forbidden fluid, which invitation the worthy
+Janissary accepted with alacrity.
+
+And now they crossed Halil's threshold.
+
+Gül-Bejáze was standing by the fire-place getting ready Halil's supper
+when the guests entered, and hearing footsteps turned round to see who
+it might be.
+
+The same instant the Greek wayfarer uttered a loud cry, and pitching
+his long hat into the air, rushed towards the slave-girl, and flinging
+himself down on his knees before her fell a-kissing, again and again,
+her hands and arms, and at last her pale face also, while the girl flung
+herself upon his shoulder and embraced the fellow's neck; and then the
+pair of them began to weep, and the words, "My daughter!" "My father!"
+could be heard from time to time amidst their sobs.
+
+Halil could only gaze at them open-mouthed.
+
+But Janaki, still remaining on his knees, raised his hands to Heaven,
+and gave thanks to God for guiding his footsteps to this spot.
+
+"Allah Akbar! The Lord be praised!" said Patrona in his turn, and he
+drew nearer to them. "So her whom you have so long sought after you find
+in my house, eh? Allah preordained it. And you may thank God for it, for
+you receive her back from me unharmed by me. Take her away therefore!"
+
+"You say not well, Halil," cried the father, his face radiant with joy.
+"So far from giving her back to me you shall keep her; yes, she shall
+remain yours for ever. For if I were thrice to traverse the whole earth
+and go in a different direction each time, I certainly should not come
+across another man like you. Tell me, therefore, what price you put
+upon her that I may buy her back, and give her to you to wife as a free
+woman?"
+
+Halil did not consider very long what price he should ask, so far as he
+was concerned the business was settled already. He cast but a single
+look on Gül-Bejáze's smiling lips, and asked for a kiss from them--that
+was the only price he demanded.
+
+Janaki seized his daughter's hand and placed it in the hand of Halil.
+
+And now Halil held the warm, smooth little hand in his own big paw, he
+felt its reassuring pressure, he saw the girl smile, he saw her lips
+open to return his kiss, and still he did not believe his eyes--still he
+shuddered at the reflection that when his lips should touch hers, the
+girl would suddenly die away, become pale and cold. Only when his lips
+at last came into contact with her burning lips and her bosom throbbed
+against his bosom, and he felt his kiss returned and the warm pulsation
+of her heart, then only did he really believe in his own happiness, and
+held her for a long--oh, so long!--time to his own breast, and pressed
+his lips to her lips over and over again, and was happier--happier by
+far--than the dwellers in Paradise.
+
+And after that they made the girl sit down between them, with her father
+on one side and her husband on the other, and they took her hands and
+caressed and fondled her to her heart's content. The poor maid was
+quite beside herself with delight. She kept receiving kisses and
+caresses, first on the right hand and then on the left, and her face was
+pale no longer, but of a burning red like the transfigured rose whereon
+a drop of the blood of great Aphrodite fell. And she promised her father
+and her husband that she would tell them such a lot of things--things
+wondrous, unheard of, of which they had not and never could have the
+remotest idea.
+
+And through the thin iron shutters which covered the window the
+Berber-Bashi curiously observed the touching scene!
+
+They were still in the midst of their intoxication of delight when the
+frequently before-mentioned neighbour of Halil, worthy Musli, thrust his
+head inside the door, and witnessing the scene would discreetly have
+withdrawn his perplexed countenance. But Halil, who had already caught
+sight of him, bawled him a vociferous welcome.
+
+"Nay, come along! come along! my worthy neighbour, don't stand on any
+ceremony with us, you can see for yourself how merry we are!"
+
+The worthy neighbour thereupon gingerly entered, on the tips of his
+toes, with his hands fumbling nervously about in the breast of his
+kaftan; for the poor fellow's hands were resinous to a degree. Wash and
+scrub them as he might, the resin would persist in cleaving to them. His
+awl, too, was still sticking in the folds of his turban--sticking forth
+aloft right gallantly like some heron's plume. Naturally he whose
+business it was to mend other men's shoes went about in slippers that
+were mere bundles of rags--that is always the way with cobblers!
+
+When he saw Gül-Bejáze on Halil's lap, and Halil's face beaming all over
+with joy, he smote his hands together and fell a-wondering.
+
+"There must be some great changes going on here!" thought he.
+
+But Halil compelled him to sit down beside them, and after kissing
+Gül-Bejáze again--apparently he could not kiss the girl enough--he
+cried:
+
+"Look! my dear neighbour! she is now my wife, and henceforth she will
+love me as her husband, and I shall no longer be the slave of my slave.
+And this worthy man here is my wife's father. Greet them, therefore, and
+then be content to eat and drink with us!"
+
+Then Musli approached Janaki and saluted him on the shoulder, then,
+turning towards Gül-Bejáze, he touched with his hand first the earth and
+next his forehead, sat down beside Janaki on the cushions that had been
+drawn into the middle of the room, and made merry with them.
+
+And now Janaki sent the slave he had brought with him to the
+pastry-cook's while Musli skipped homewards and brought with him a
+tambourine of chased silver, which he could beat right cunningly and
+also accompany it with a voice not without feeling; and thus Halil's
+bridal evening flowed pleasantly away with an accompaniment of wine and
+music and kisses.
+
+And all this time the worthy Berber-Bashi was looking on at this
+junketing through the trellised window, and could scarce restrain
+himself from giving expression to his astonishment when he perceived
+that Gül-Bejáze no longer collapsed like a dead thing at the contact of
+a kiss, or even at the pressure of an embrace, as she was wont to do in
+the harem, indeed her face had now grown rosier than the dawn.
+
+At last his curiosity completely overcame him, and turning the handle of
+the door he appeared in the midst of the revellers.
+
+He wore the garb of a common woodcutter, and his simple, foolish face
+corresponded excellently to the disguise. Nobody in the world could have
+taken him for anything but what he now professed to be, and it was with
+a very humble obeisance that he introduced himself.
+
+"Allah Kerim! Salaam aleikum! God's blessing go with your mirth. Why,
+you were so merry that I heard you at the cemetery yonder as I was
+passing. If it will not put you out I should be delighted to remain
+here, as long as you will let me, that I may listen to the music this
+worthy Mussulman here understands so well, and to the pretty stories
+which flow from the harmonious lips of this houri who has, I am
+persuaded, come down from Paradise for the delight of men."
+
+Now Musli was drunk with wine, Gül-Bejáze and Halil Patrona were drunk
+with love, so that not one of them had any exception to take to the
+stranger's words. Janaki was the only sober man among them, neither wine
+nor love had any attraction for him, and therefore he whispered in the
+ear of Halil:
+
+"For all you know this stranger may be a spy or a thief!"
+
+"What an idea!" Halil whispered back, "why you can see for yourself that
+he is only an honest baltaji.[1] Sit down, oh, worthy Mussulman," he
+continued, turning to the stranger, "and make one of our little party."
+
+The Berber-Bashi took him at his word. He ate and drank like one who has
+gone hungry for three whole days, he was enchanted with the tambourine
+of Musli, listened with open mouth to his story of the miserly slippers,
+and laughed as heartily as if he had never heard it at least a hundred
+times before.
+
+"And now you tell us some tale, most beautiful of women!" said he,
+wiping the tears from his eyes as he turned towards the damsel, and then
+Gül-Bejáze, after first kissing her husband and sipping from the beaker
+extended to her just enough to moisten her lips, thus began:
+
+"Once upon a time there was a rich merchant. Where he lived I know not.
+It might have been Pera, or Galata, or Damascus. Nor can I tell you his
+name, but that has nothing to do with the story. This merchant had an
+only daughter whom he loved most dearly. She had ne'er a wish that was
+not instantly gratified, and he guarded her as the very apple of his
+eye. Not even the breath of Heaven was allowed to blow upon her."
+
+"And know you not what the name of the maiden was?" inquired the
+Berber-Bashi.
+
+"Certainly, they called her Irene, for she was a Greek girl."
+
+Janaki trembled at the word. No doubt the girl was about to relate her
+own story, for Irene was the very name she had received at her baptism.
+It was very thoughtless of her to betray herself in the presence of a
+stranger.
+
+"One day," continued the maiden, "Irene went a-rowing on the sea with
+some girl friends. The weather was fine, the sea smooth, and they sang
+their songs and made merry, to their hearts' content. Suddenly the sail
+of a corsair appeared on the smooth mirror of the ocean, pounced
+straight down upon the maidens in their boat, and before they could
+reach the nearest shore, they were all seized and carried away captive.
+
+"Poor Irene! she was not even able to bid her dear father God speed! Her
+thoughts were with him as the pirate-ship sped swiftly away with her,
+and she saw the city where he dwelt recede further and further away in
+the dim distance. Alas! he was waiting for her now--and would wait in
+vain! Her father, she knew it, was standing outside his door and asking
+every passer-by if he had not seen his little daughter coming. A banquet
+had been prepared for her at home, and all the invited guests were
+already there, but still no sign of her! And now she could see him
+coming down to the sea-shore, and sweep the smooth shining watery mirror
+with his eyes in every direction, and ask the sailor-men: 'Where is my
+daughter? Do you know anything about her?'"
+
+Here the eyes of the father and the husband involuntarily filled with
+tears.
+
+"Wherefore do you weep? How silly of you! Why, you know, of course, it
+is only a tale. Listen now to how it goes on! The robber carried the
+maiden he had stolen to Stambul. He took her straight to the Kizlar-Aga
+whose office it is to purchase slave-girls for the harem of the
+Padishah. The bargaining did not take long. The Kizlar-Aga paid down at
+once the price which the slave-merchant demanded, and forthwith handed
+Irene over to the slave-women of the Seraglio, who immediately conducted
+her to a bath fragrant with perfumes. Her face, her figure, her charms,
+amazed them exceedingly, and they lifted up their voices and praised her
+loudly. But when Irene heard their praises she shuddered, and her heart
+died away within her. Surely God never gave her beauty in order that she
+might be sacrificed to it? At that moment she would have much preferred
+to have been born humpbacked, squinting, swarthy; she would have liked
+her face to be all seamed and scarred like half-frozen water, and her
+body all diseased so that everyone who saw her would shrink from her
+with disgust--better that than the feeling which now made her shrink
+from the contemplation of herself."
+
+Then they put upon her a splendid robe, hung diamond ear-rings in her
+ears, tied a beautiful shawl round her loins, encircled her arms and
+feet with rings of gold, and so led her into the secret apartment where
+the damsels of the Padishah were all gathered together. This, of course,
+was long, long ago. Who can tell what Sultan was reigning then? Why,
+even our fathers did not know his name.
+
+"Pomp and splendour, flowers and curtains adorned the immense saloon,
+the ceiling whereof was inlaid with precious stones, while the floor was
+fashioned entirely of mother-o'-pearl--he who set his foot thereon might
+fancy he was walking on rainbows. Moreover, cunning artificers had
+wrought upon this mother-o'-pearl floor flowers and birds and other most
+wondrous fantastical figures, so that it was a joy to look thereon, for
+no carpet, however precious, was suffered to cover all this splendour.
+Yet lest the cold surface of the pavement should chill the feet of the
+damsels, rows of tiny sandals stood ready there that they might bind
+them upon their feet and so walk from one end of the room to the other
+at their ease. And these sandals they called _kobkobs_."
+
+"Aye, aye!" cried the anxious Janaki, "you describe the interior of the
+Seraglio so vividly that I almost feel frightened. If a man listened
+long enough to such a tale he might easily get to feel as guilty as if
+he had actually cast an eye into the Sultan's harem, and 'twere best for
+him to die rather than do that."
+
+"Is it not a tale that I am telling you? is not the room I have just
+described to you but a creature of the imagination?--In the centre of
+this saloon, then, was a large fountain, whence fragrant rose-water
+ascended into the air sporting with the golden balls. Along the whole
+length of the walls were immense Venetian mirrors, in which splendid
+odalisks admired their own shapely limbs. Hundreds and hundreds of lamps
+shone upon the pillars which supported the room--lamps of manifold
+colours--which gave to the vast chamber the magic hues of a fairy
+palace, and in the midst thereof seemed to float a transparent blue
+cloud--it was the light smoke of ambergris and spices which the damsels
+blew forth from their long narghilis. But what impressed Irene far more
+than all this magnificence, was the figure of the Sultana Asseki, to
+whom she was now conducted. A tall, muscular lady was sitting at the end
+of the room on a raised divan. Her figure was slender round the waist
+but broad and round about the shoulders. Her snow-white arms and neck
+were encircled by rows of real pearls with diamond clasps. A lofty
+heron's plume nodded on her bejewelled turban, and lent a still
+haughtier aspect to that majestic form. With her large black eyes she
+seemed to be in the habit of ruling the whole world."
+
+"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Janaki, "you describe it all so vividly, that I am
+half afraid of sitting down here and listening to you. You might at
+least have let a little bit of a veil hang in front of her face."
+
+"But this happened long, long ago, remember! Who can even say under what
+Sultan it took place?... So they led the slave-girl into the presence
+of the Sultana, who was surrounded by two hundred other slave-girls, and
+was playing with a tiny dwarf. They were singing and dancing all around
+her and swinging censers. Above her head was a large fruit-tree made
+entirely of sugar, and covered with sugar-fruit of every shape and hue,
+and from time to time the Sultana would pluck off one of these fruits
+and taste a little bit of it and give the remainder to the tiny dwarf,
+who ate up everything greedily. Here Irene was seized by a black
+eunuch--a horrid, pockmarked man, whose upper lip was split right down
+so that all his teeth could be seen."
+
+"Just like the present Kizlar-Aga!" cried Musli laughing, "I fancy I can
+see him standing before me now!"
+
+"The Moor commanded Irene to fall on her face before the Sultana. Irene
+fell on her face accordingly, and while her forehead beat the ground
+before the Sultana she muttered to herself the words: 'Holy Mother of
+God! protectress of virgins, thou seest me in this place, when I call
+upon thee, deliver me!' The Sultana, meanwhile, had commanded her
+handmaidens to let down Irene's tresses, and as she stood before her
+there covered by her own hair from head to heel, she bade them paint her
+face red because it was so pale, and her eyelashes brown. She commanded
+them also to salve her hair with fragrant unguents, and to hang chains
+of real pearls about her arms and neck. Irene knew not the meaning of
+these things. She knew not what they meant to do with her till the
+Kizlar-Aga approached her, and said these words to her in a reassuring
+tone: 'Rejoice, fortunate damsel! for a great felicity awaits thee. In a
+week's time it will be the Feast of Bairam, and the favourite Sultana
+has chosen thee from among the other odalisks as a gift for the
+Padishah. Rejoice, therefore, I say.' But Irene at these words would
+fain have died. And in the meantime the Sultana had placed a large fan
+in her hand made entirely of pea-cocks' feathers, and permitted her to
+sit down by her side and hold the little dwarf in her lap. At a later
+day Irene discovered that this was a mark of supreme condescension.
+During the next six days the damsel lived amidst mortal terrors. Her
+companions envied her. The damsels of the harem do not love each other,
+they can only hate. Every day she beheld the Sultan, whose gentle face
+inspired involuntary respect, but the very idea of loving him filled her
+soul with horror. The Sultan spent the greater part of his time with his
+favourite wife, but it happened sometimes that he cast a handkerchief
+towards this or that odalisk, which was a great piece of good fortune
+for her, or the reverse--it all depends upon the point of view. The
+damsel whom the Grand Seignior seemed to favour the most was a beautiful
+blonde Italian girl; on one occasion this beautiful blonde damsel
+neglected to cast her eyes down as they chanced to encounter the eyes of
+the Sultana. The following day Irene could not see this damsel anywhere,
+and on inquiring after her was told by her bedfellow in a whisper that
+she had been strangled during the night. And oftentimes at dead of night
+the silence would be broken by a shriek from the secret dungeon of the
+Seraglio, followed by the sound of something splashing into the water,
+and regularly, on the day following every such occurrence, a familiar
+face would be missing from the Seraglio. All these victims were
+self-confident slave-girls, who had been unable to conceal their joy at
+the Sultan's favours, and therefore had been cast into the water. Nobody
+ever inquired about them any more."
+
+Janaki shivered all over.
+
+"It is well that this is all a tale," he observed.
+
+But Gül-Bejáze only continued her story.
+
+"At last the Feast of Bairam arrived, and throughout the day all the
+cannons on the Bosphorus sent forth their thunders. In the evening the
+Sultan came to the Seraglio weary and inclined to relaxation, and then
+the Sultana Asseki took Irene by the hand and conducted her to the
+Padishah, and presented her to him, together with gold-embroidered
+garments, preserved fruits, and other gifts intended for his
+delectation. The Grand Seignior regarded the girl tenderly, while she,
+like a kid of the flocks offered to a lion in a cage, stood trembling
+before him. But when the Sultan seized her hand to draw her towards him
+she sighed: 'Blessed Virgin!'--and lo! at these words her face grew
+pale, her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground as one dead. This was
+not the first time that such a spectacle had been seen in the harem.
+Everyone of the damsels brought thither generally commenced with a
+fainting-fit. The slave-girls immediately came running up to her, rubbed
+her body with fragrant unguents, applied penetrating essences to her
+face, let icy-cold water trickle down upon her bosom--and all was
+useless! The damsel did not awaken, and lay there like a corpse till the
+following morning--in fact, she never stirred from the spot where they
+laid her down. Next day the Padishah again summoned her to his presence.
+He spoke to her in the most tender manner. He gave her all manner of
+beautiful gifts, glittering raiment, necklaces, bracelets, and diamond
+aigrettes. The slave-girls, too, censed her all around with stupefying
+perfumes, bathed her in warm baths fragrant with ambergris and
+spikenard, and gave her fiery potions to drink. But it was all in vain.
+At the name of the Blessed Virgin, the blood ceased to flow to her
+heart, she fell down, died away, and every resource of ingenuity failed
+to arouse her. The same thing happened on the third day likewise. Then
+the Sultana Asseki's wrath was kindled greatly against her. She declared
+that this was no doing of Allah's as they might suppose. No, it was the
+damsel's own evil temper which made her pretend to be dead, and she
+immediately commanded that the damsel should be tortured. First of all
+they extended her stark naked on the icy-cold marble pavement--not a
+sign of life, not a shiver did she give. Then they held her over a slow
+fire on a gridiron--she never moved a muscle. Then they sent and sought
+for red ants in the garden among the puspáng-trees and scattered them
+all over her body. Yet the girl never once quaked beneath the stings of
+the poisonous insects. Finally they thrust sharp needles down to the
+very quicks of her nails, and still the damsel did not stir. Then the
+Sultana Asseki, full of fury, seized a whip, and lashed away at the
+damsel's body till she could lash no more, yet she could not thrash a
+soul into the lifeless body."
+
+"By Allah!" cried Halil, smiting the table with his heavy fist at this
+point of the narration, "that Sultana deserves to be sewn up in a
+leather sack and cast into the Bosphorus."
+
+"Why, 'tis only a tale, you know," said Gül-Bejáze, stroking mockingly
+the chin of worthy Halil Patrona, and then she resumed her story. "The
+Sultan commanded that Irene should be expelled from the harem, for he
+had no desire to see this living corpse anywhere near him, and the
+Sultana gave her as a present to the Padishah's nephew, the son of his
+own brother.
+
+"The prince was a pale, handsome youth, as those whom women love much
+are generally wont to be. He was kept in a remote part of the Seraglio,
+for although every joy of life was his, and he was surrounded by wealth,
+pomp, and slave-girls, he was never permitted to quit the Seraglio. The
+Sultana herself led Irene to him, thinking that the fine eyes of the
+handsome youth would be the best talisman against the enchantment
+obsessing the charms of the strange damsel. The pale prince was charmed
+with the looks of the girl. He coaxed and flattered. He begged and
+implored her not to die away beneath his kisses and embraces. In vain.
+The girl swooned at the very first touch, and he who touched her lips
+might just as well have touched the lips of a corpse. The prince knelt
+down beside her, and implored her with tears to come to herself again.
+She heard not and she answered not. At last the fair Sultana Asseki
+herself had compassion on his tears and lamentations which produced no
+impression on the dead. Her heart bled for him. She bent over the pale
+prince, embraced him tenderly, and comforted him with her caresses. And
+the prince allowed himself to be comforted, and they rejoiced greatly
+together; for of course there was nobody present to see them, for the
+senseless damsel on the floor might have been a corpse so far as they
+were concerned."
+
+"Hum!" murmured the Berber-Bashi to himself, "this is a thing well worth
+remembering."
+
+"On the following day the pale prince made a present of Irene to the
+Grand Vizier. The Grand Vizier also rejoiced greatly at the sight of the
+damsel; took her into his cellar, showed her there three great vats full
+of gold and precious stones, and told her that all these things should
+be hers if only she would love him. Then he took and showed her the
+multitude of precious ornaments that he had concealed beneath the
+flooring of his palace, and promised these to her also. For every kiss
+she should give him, he offered her one of his palaces on the shores of
+the Sweet Waters, yes, for every kiss a palace."
+
+"I would burn all these palaces to the ground!" cried Halil impetuously.
+
+"Nay, nay, my son, be sensible!" said Janaki. He himself now began to
+feel that there was something more than a mere tale in all this.
+
+But the Berber-Bashi pricked up his ears and grew terribly attentive
+when mention was made of the hidden treasures of the Grand Vizier.
+
+"The sight of the treasures," resumed the girl, "had no effect upon
+Irene. She never failed to invoke the name of the Blessed Virgin
+whenever the face of a man drew near to her face, and the Blessed Virgin
+always wrought a miracle in her behalf."
+
+"'Tis my belief," said Halil, "that there were no miracles at all in the
+matter; but that the girl had so strong a will that by an effort she
+made herself dead to all tortures."
+
+"At last they came to a definite decision concerning this slave-girl, it
+was resolved to sell her by public auction in the bazaars--to sell her
+as a common slave to the highest bidder. And so Irene fell to a poor
+hawker who gave his all for her. For a whole month this man left his
+slave-girl untouched, and the girl who could not be subdued by torture,
+nor the blandishments of great men, nor by treasures, nor by ardent
+desire, became very fond of the poor costermonger, and no longer became
+as one dead when _his_ burning lips were impressed upon her face."
+
+And with that Gül-Bejáze embraced her husband and kissed him again and
+again, and smiled upon him with her large radiant eyes.
+
+"A very pretty story truly!" observed Musli, smacking his lips; "what a
+pity there is not more of it!"
+
+"Oh, no regrets, worthy Mussulman, there _is_ more of it!" cried the
+Berber-Bashi, rising from his place; "just listen to the sequel of it!
+Having had the girl sold by auction in the bazaar, the Padishah bade Ali
+Kermesh, his trusty Berber-Bashi, make inquiries and see what happened
+to the damsel _after_ the sale. Now the Berber-Bashi knew that the girl
+had only pretended to faint, and the Berber-Bashi brought the girl back
+to the Seraglio before she had spent a single night alone with her
+husband. For I am the Berber-Bashi and thou art Gül-Bejáze, that same
+slave-girl going by the name of Irene who feigned to be dead."
+
+Everyone present leaped in terror to his feet except Janaki, who fell
+down on his knees before the Berber-Bashi, embraced his knees, and
+implored him to treat all that the girl had said as if he had not heard
+it.
+
+"We are lost!" whispered the bloodless Gül-Bejáze. The intoxication of
+joy and wine had suddenly left her and she was sober once more.
+
+Janaki implored, Musli cursed and swore, but Halil spake never a word.
+He held his wife tightly embraced in his arms and he thought within
+himself, I would rather allow my hand to be chopped off than let her go.
+
+Janaki promised money and loads of treasure to Ali Kermesh if only he
+would hold his tongue, say nothing of what had happened, and let the
+girl remain with her husband.
+
+But the Berber-Bashi was inexorable.
+
+"No," said he, "I will take away the girl, and your treasures also shall
+be mine. Ye are the children of Death; yea, all of you who are now
+drawing the breath of life in this house, for to have heard the secret
+that this slave-girl has blabbed out is sufficient to kill anyone thrice
+over. I command you, Irene, to take up your veil and follow me, and you
+others must remain here till the Debedzik with the cord comes to fetch
+you also."
+
+With these words he cast Janaki from him, approached the damsel and
+seized her hand. Halil never once relaxed his embrace.
+
+"Come with me!"
+
+"Blessed Mary! Blessed Mary!" moaned the girl.
+
+"Your guardian saints are powerless to help you now, for your husband's
+lips have touched you; come with me!"
+
+Then only did Halil speak. His voice was so deep, gruff, and stern, that
+those who heard it scarce recognised it for his:
+
+"Leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!" cried he.
+
+"Silence thou dog! in another hour thou wilt be hanging up before thine
+own gate."
+
+"Once more I ask you--leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!"
+
+Instead of answering, the Berber-Bashi would, with one hand, have torn
+the wife from her husband's bosom while he clutched hold of Halil with
+the other, whereupon Halil brought down his fist so heavily on the skull
+of the Berber-Bashi that he instantly collapsed without uttering a
+single word.
+
+"What have you done?" cried Janaki in terror. "You have killed the chief
+barber of the Sultan!"
+
+"Yes, I rather fancy I have," replied Halil coolly.
+
+Musli rushed towards the prostrate form of Ali Kermesh, felt him all
+over very carefully, and then turned towards the hearth where the others
+were sitting.
+
+"Dead he is, there is no doubt about it. He's as dead as a door-nail.
+Well, Halil, that was a fine blow of yours I must say. By the Prophet!
+one does not see a blow like that every day. With your bare hand too! To
+kill a man with nothing but your empty fist! If a cannon-ball had
+knocked him over he could not be deader than he is."
+
+"But what shall we do now?" cried Janaki, looking around him with
+tremulous terror. "The Sultan is sure to send and make inquiries about
+his lost Berber-Bashi. It is known that he came here in disguise. The
+affair cannot long remain hidden."
+
+"There is no occasion to fear anything," said Musli reassuringly. "Good
+counsel is cheap. We can easily find a way out of it. Before the
+business comes to light, we will go to the Etmeidan and join the
+Janissaries. There let them send and fetch us if they dare, for we shall
+be in a perfectly safe place anyhow. Why, don't you remember that only
+last year the rebel, Esref Khan, whom the Padishah had been pursuing to
+the death, even in foreign lands, hit, at last, upon the idea of
+resorting to the Janissaries, and was safer against the fatal silken
+cord here, in the very midst of Stambul, than if he had fled all the way
+to the Isle of Rhodes for refuge. Let us all become Janissaries, I and
+you and Janaki also."
+
+But Janaki kicked vigorously against the proposition.
+
+"You two may go over to the Janissaries if you like, but in the meantime
+my daughter and I will make our escape to the Isle of Tenedos and there
+await tidings of you. One jar of dates I will take with me, the other
+you may divide among the Janissaries; it will put them in a good humour
+and make them receive you more amicably."
+
+Halil embraced his wife, kissed her, and wept over her. There was not
+much time for leave-taking. The Debedjis who had accompanied the
+Berber-Bashi were beginning to grow impatient at the prolonged absence
+of their master; they could be heard stamping about around the door.
+
+"Hasten, hasten! we can have too much of this hugging and kissing,"
+whispered Musli, lifting one of the jars on to his shoulders.
+
+Yet Halil pressed one more long, long kiss on Gül-Bejáze's trembling
+cheek.
+
+"By Allah!" said he, "it shall not be long before we see each other
+again."
+
+And thus their ways parted right and left.
+
+Musli conducted Janaki away in one direction, through a subterranean
+cellar, whilst Halil fled away across the house-tops, and within a
+quarter of an hour the pair of them arrived at the Etmeidan.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] Woodcutter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE CAMP.
+
+
+What a noise, what a commotion in the streets of Stambul! The multitude
+pours like a stream towards the harbour of the Golden Horn. Young and
+old stimulate each other with looks of excitement and enthusiasm. They
+stand together at the corners of the streets in tens and twenties, and
+tell each other of the great event that has happened. On the Etmeidan,
+in front of the Seraglio, in the doors of the mosques, the people are
+swarming, and from street to street they accompany the banner-bearing
+Dülbendar, who proclaims to the faithful amidst the flourish of trumpets
+that Sultan Achmed III. has declared war against Tamasip, Shah of
+Persia.
+
+Everywhere faces radiant with enthusiasm, everywhere shouts of martial
+fervour.
+
+From time to time a regiment of Janissaries or a band of Albanian
+horsemen passes across the street, or escorts the buffaloes that drag
+after them the long heavy guns on wheeled carriages. The mob in its
+thousands follows them along the road leading to Scutari, where the camp
+has already been pitched. For at last, at any rate, the Padishah is
+surfeited with so many feasts and illuminations, and after having
+postponed the raising of the banner of the Prophet, under all sorts of
+frivolous excuses, from the 18th day of Safer (2nd of September) to the
+1st day of Rebusler, and from that day again to the Prophet's birthday
+ten days later still, the expected, the appointed day is at length
+drawing near, and the whole host is assembling beneath the walls of
+Scutari, only awaiting the arrival of the Sultan to take ship at
+once--the transports are all ready--and hasten to the assistance of the
+heroic Küprilizade on the battlefield.
+
+The whole Bosphorus was a living forest planted with a maze of huge
+masts and spreading sails, and a thousand variegated flags flew and
+flapped in the morning breeze. The huge line of battle-ships, with their
+triple decks and their long rows of oars, looked like hundred-eyed
+sea-monsters swimming with hundreds of legs on the surface of the water,
+and the booming reverberation of the thunder of their guns was re-echoed
+from the broad foreheads of the palaces looking into the Bosphorus.
+
+Everywhere along the sea-front was to be seen an armed multitude;
+sparkling swords and lances in thousands flash back the rays of the sun.
+The whole of the grass plain round about was planted with tents of
+every hue; white tents for the chief muftis, bright green tents for the
+viziers, scarlet tents for the kiayaks, dark blue tents for the great
+officers of state, the Emirs, the Mecca, Medina, and Stambul
+justiciaries, the Defterdars, and the Nishandji; lilac-coloured tents
+for the Ulemas, bright blue tents for the Müderesseks, azure-blue tents
+for the Ciaus-Agas, and dark green designates the tent of the Emir Alem,
+the bearer of the sacred standard. And high above them all on a hillock
+towers the orange-coloured pavilion of the Padishah, with gold and
+purple hangings, and two and three fold horse-tails planted in front of
+the entrance.
+
+At sunset yesterday there was not a trace of this vast camp, all night
+long this city of tents was a-building, and at dawn of day there it
+stands all ready like the creation of a magician's wand!
+
+The plain is occupied by the Spahis, the finest, smartest horsemen of
+the whole host; along the sea-front are ranged the topidjis, with their
+rows and rows of cannons. Other detachments of these gunners are
+distributed among the various hillocks. On the wings of the host are
+placed the Albanian cavalry, the Tartars, and the Druses of Horan. The
+centre of the host belongs of right to the flower, the kernel of the
+imperial army--the haughty Janissaries.
+
+And certainly they seemed to be very well aware that they were the cream
+of the host, and that therefore it was not lawful for any other division
+of the army to draw near them, much less mingle with them, unless it
+were a few _delis_, whom they permitted to roam up and down their ranks
+full of crazy exaltation.
+
+The whole host is full of the joy of battle, and if, from time to time,
+fierce shouts and thunderous murmurings arise from this or that
+battalion, that only means that they are rejoicing at the tidings of the
+declaration of war: the war-ships express their satisfaction by loud
+salvoes.
+
+Sultan Achmed, meanwhile, is engaged in his morning devotions, day by
+day he punctually observes this pious practice.
+
+The previous night he did not spend in the harem, but shut himself up
+with his viziers and counsellors in that secret chamber of the Divan,
+which is roofed over with a golden cupola. Grave were their
+deliberations, but nobody, except the viziers, knows the result thereof;
+yet when he issues forth from his prayer-chamber the Kizlar-Aga is
+already awaiting him there and hands the Sultan a signet-ring.
+
+"Most glorious of Padishahs! the most delicious of women sends thee this
+ring. Well dost thou know what was beneath this ring. Deadly venom was
+beneath it. That venom is no longer there. The Sultana Asseki sends
+thee her greeting, and wishes thee good luck in this war of thine. 'Hail
+to thee!' she says, 'may thy guardian angels watch over all thy steps!'
+The Sultana meanwhile has locked herself up in her private apartments,
+and in the very hour in which thou quittest the Seraglio she will take
+this poison, which she has dissolved in a goblet of water, and will
+die."
+
+The Sultan had all at once become very grave.
+
+"Why didst thou trouble me with these words!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I do but repeat the words of the Sultana, greatest of Padishahs. She
+says thou art off to the wars, that thou wilt return no more, and that
+she will not be the slave-girl of the monarch who shall come after thee
+and sit upon thy throne."
+
+"Wherefore dost thou trouble me with these words?" repeated the Sultan.
+
+"May my tongue curse my lips, may my teeth bite out my tongue because of
+the words I have spoken. 'Twas the Sultana that bade me speak."
+
+"Go back to her and tell her to come hither!"
+
+"Such a message, oh, my master, will be her death. She will not leave
+her chamber alive."
+
+For a moment the Sultan reflected, then he asked in a mournful voice:
+
+"What thinkest thou?--if thy house was on fire and thy beloved was
+inside, wouldst thou put out the flames, or wouldst thou not rather
+think first of rescuing thy beloved?"
+
+"Of a truth the extinguishing of the flames is not so pressing, and the
+beloved should be rescued."
+
+"Thou hast said it. What meaneth the firing of cannons that strikes upon
+my ears?"
+
+"Salvoes from the host."
+
+"Can they be heard in the Seraglio?"
+
+"Yea, and the songs of the singing-girls grow dumb before it."
+
+"Conduct me to Adsalis! She must not die. What is the sky to thee if
+there be no sun in it? What is the whole world to thee if thou dost lose
+thy beloved? Go on before and tell her that I am coming!"
+
+The Kizlar-Aga withdrew. Achmed muttered to himself:
+
+"But another second, but another moment, but another instant long enough
+for a parting kiss, but another hour, but another night--a night full of
+blissful dreams--and it will be quite time enough to hasten to the cold
+and icy battlefield." And with that he hastened towards the harem.
+
+There sat the Sultana with dishevelled tresses and garments rent
+asunder, without ornaments, without fine raiment, in sober
+cinder-coloured mourning weeds. Before her, on a table, stood a small
+goblet filled with a bluish transparent fluid. That fluid was
+poison--not a doubt of it. Her slave-girls lay scattered about on the
+floor around her, weeping and wailing and tearing their faces and their
+snowy bosoms with their long nails.
+
+The Padishah approached her and tenderly enfolded her in his arms.
+
+"Wherefore wouldst thou die out of my life, oh, thou light of my days?"
+
+The Sultana covered her face with her hands.
+
+"Can the rose blossom in winter-time? Do not its leaves fall when the
+blasts of autumn blow upon it?"
+
+"But the winter that must wither thee is still far distant."
+
+"Oh, Achmed! when anyone's star falls from Heaven, does the world ever
+ask, wert thou young? wert thou beautiful? didst thou enjoy life?
+Mashallah! such a one is dead already. My star shone upon thy face, and
+if thou dost turn thy face from me, then must I droop and wither."
+
+"And who told thee that I had turned my face from thee?"
+
+"Oh, Achmed! the Wind does not say, I am cold, and yet we feel it. Thy
+heart is far, far away from me even when thou art nigh. But my heart is
+with thee even when thou art far away from me, even then I am near to
+thee; but thou art far away even when thou art sitting close beside me.
+It is not Achmed who is talking to me. It is only Achmed's body.
+Achmed's soul is wandering elsewhere; it is wandering on the bloody
+field of battle amidst the clash of cold steel. He imagines that those
+banners, those weapons, those cannons love him more than his poor
+abandoned, forgotten Adsalis."
+
+The salvo of a whole row of cannons was heard in front of the Seraglio.
+
+"Hearken how they call to thee! Their words are more potent than the
+words of Adsalis. Go then! follow their invitation! Go the way they
+point out to thee! The voice of Adsalis will not venture to compete with
+them. What indeed is my voice?--what but a gentle, feeble sound! Go!
+there also I will be with thee. And when the long manes of thy
+horse-tail standards flutter before thee on the field of battle, fancy
+that thou dost see before thee the waving tresses of thy Adsalis who has
+freed her soul from the incubus of her body in order that it might be
+able to follow thee."
+
+"Oh, say not so, say not so!" stammered the tender-hearted Sultan,
+pressing his gentle darling to his bosom and closing her lips with his
+own as if, by the very act, he would have prevented her soul from
+escaping and flying away.
+
+And the cannons may continue thundering on the shores of the Bosphorus,
+the Imperial Ciauses may summon the host to arms with the blasts of
+their trumpets, the camp of a whole nation may wait and wait on the
+plains of Scutari, but Sultan Achmed is far too happy in the embraces of
+Adsalis to think even for a moment of seizing the banner of the Prophet
+and leading his bloodthirsty battalions to face the dangers of the
+battlefield.
+
+The only army that he now has eyes for is the army of the odalisks and
+slave-girls, who seize their tambourines and mandolines, and weave the
+light dance around the happy imperial couple, singing sweet songs of
+enchantment, while outside through the streets of Stambul gun-carriages
+are rattling along, and the mob, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, clamours for
+a war of extermination against the invading Shiites.
+
+Meanwhile a fine hubbub is going on around the kettle of the first
+Janissary regiment. These kettles, by the way, play a leading part in
+the history of the Turkish Empire. Around them assemble the Janissaries
+when any question of war or plunder arises, or when they demand the head
+of a detested pasha, or when they wish to see the banner of the Prophet
+unfurled; and so terrible were these kettles on all such occasions that
+the anxious viziers and pashas, when driven into a corner, were
+compelled to fill these same kettles either with gold pieces or with
+their own blood.
+
+An impatient group of Janissaries was standing round their kettle, which
+was placed on the top of a lofty iron tripod, and amongst them we notice
+Halil Patrona and Musli. Both were wearing the Janissary dress, with
+round turbans in which a black heron's plume was fastened (only the
+officers wore white feathers), with naked calves only half-concealed by
+the short, bulgy pantaloons which scarce covered the knee. There was
+very little of the huckster of the day before yesterday in Halil's
+appearance now. His bold and gallant bearing, his resolute mode of
+speech, and the bountiful way in which he scattered the piastres which
+he had received from Janaki, had made him a prime favourite among his
+new comrades. Musli, on the other hand, was still drunk. With desperate
+self-forgetfulness he had been drinking the health of his friend all
+night long, and never ceased bawling out before his old cronies in front
+of the tent of the Janissary Aga that if the Aga, whose name was Hassan,
+was indeed as valiant a man as they tried to make out, let him come
+forth from beneath his tent and not think so much of his soft bearskin
+bed, or else let him give his white heron plume to Halil Patrona and let
+him lead them against the enemy.
+
+The Janissary Aga could hear this bellowing quite plainly, but he also
+could hear the Janissary guard in front of the tent laughing loudly at
+the fellow and making all he said unintelligible.
+
+Meanwhile a troop of mounted ciauses was approaching the kettle of the
+first Janissary regiment in whose leader we recognise Halil Pelivan.
+Allah had been with him--he was now raised to the rank of a
+ciaus-officer.
+
+The giant stood among the Janissaries and inquired in a voice of
+thunder:
+
+"Which of you common Janissary fellows goes by the name of Halil
+Patrona?"
+
+Patrona stepped forth.
+
+"Methinks, Halil Pelivan," said he, "it does not require much
+brain-splitting on your part to recognise me."
+
+"Where is your comrade Musli?"
+
+"Can you not give me a handle to my name, you dog of a ciaus?" roared
+Musli. "I am a gentleman I tell you. So long as you were a Janissary,
+you were a gentleman too. But now you are only a dog of a ciaus. What
+business have you, I should like to know, in Begta's flower-garden?"
+
+"To root out weeds. The pair of you, bound tightly together, must follow
+me."
+
+"Look ye, my friends!" cried Musli, turning to his comrades, "that man
+is drunk, dead drunk. He can scarce stand upon his feet. How dare you
+say," continued he, turning towards Pelivan--"how dare you say that two
+Janissaries, two of the flowers from Begta's garden, are to follow you
+when the banners of warfare are already waving before us?"
+
+"I am commanded by the Kapu-Kiaja to bring you before him."
+
+"Say not so, you mangy dog you! Let him come for us himself if he has
+anything to say to us! What, my friends! am I not right in saying that
+the Kapu-Kiaja, if he did his duty, ought to be here with us, in the
+camp and on the battlefield? and that it is no business of ours to dance
+attendance upon him? Am I not right? Let him come hither!"
+
+This sentiment was greeted with an approving howl.
+
+"Let him come hither if he wants to talk to a Janissary!" cried many
+voices. "Who ever heard of summoning a Janissary away from his camp?"
+
+It was as much as Pelivan could do to restrain his fury.
+
+"You two are murderers," said he, "you have killed the Sultan's
+Berber-Bashi."
+
+At this there was a general outburst of laughter. Everybody knew that
+already. Musli had told the story hundreds of times with all sorts of
+variations. He had described to them how Halil had slain Ali Kermesh
+with a single blow of his fist, and how the latter's jaw had suddenly
+fallen and collapsed into a corner, all of which had seemed very comical
+indeed to the Janissaries.
+
+So five or six of them, all speaking together, began to heckle and
+cross-question Pelivan.
+
+"Are there no more barbers in Stambul that you make such a fuss over
+this particular one?"
+
+"What an infamous thing to demand the lives of a couple of Janissaries
+for the sake of a single beard-scraper!"
+
+"May you and your Kapu-Kiaja have no other pastime in Paradise than the
+shaving of innumerable beards!"
+
+At last Patrona stepped forth and begged his comrades to let him have
+_his_ say in the matter.
+
+"Hearken now, Pelivan!" began he, "you and I are adversaries I know very
+well, nor do I care a straw that it is so. I am not palavering now with
+you because I want to get out of a difficulty, but simply because I want
+to send you back to the Kiaja with a sensible answer which I am quite
+sure you are incapable of hitting upon yourself. Well, I freely admit
+that I _did_ kill Ali Kermesh, killed him single-handed. Nobody helped
+me to do the deed. And now I have thrown in my lot with the Janissaries,
+and here I stand where it has pleased Allah to place me, that I may pay
+with my own life for the life I have taken if it seem good to Him so to
+ordain. I am quite ready to die and glorify His name thereby. His Will
+be done! Let the honourable Kiaja therefore gird up his loins, and let
+all those great lords who repose in the shadow of the Padishah draw
+their swords and come among us once for all. I and all my comrades, the
+whole Janissary host in fact, are ready to fall on the field of battle
+one after another at the bare wave of their hand, but there is not a
+single Janissary present who would bow his knee before the executioner."
+
+These words, uttered in a ringing, sonorous voice, were accompanied by
+thunders of applause from the whole regiment, and during this tumult
+Musli endeavoured to add a couple of words on his own account to the
+message already delivered by Patrona.
+
+"And just tell your master, the Kiaja," said he, "and all your
+white-headed grand viziers and grey-bearded muftis, that if they do not
+bring the Sultan and the banner of the Prophet into camp this very day,
+not a single one of them will need a barber on the morrow, unless they
+would like their heels well shaved in default of heads."
+
+Pelivan meanwhile was looking steadily into Halil's eyes. There was such
+a malicious scorn in his gaze that Halil involuntarily grasped the hilt
+of his sword.
+
+"Fear not, Patrona!" cried he jeeringly, "Gül-Bejáze will never again be
+conducted into the Seraglio. She and your father-in-law have been
+captured as they were trying to fly, and the unbelieving Greek
+cattle-dealer has been thrown into the dungeon set apart for evil-doers.
+As for that woman whom you call your wife, she has been put into the
+prison assigned to those shameless ones whom the gracious Sultan has
+driven together from all parts of the realm, and kept in ward lest the
+virtue of his faithful Mussulmans should be corrupted. There you will
+find her."
+
+Patrona, like a furious tiger that has burst forth from its cage, at
+these words rushed from out the ranks of his comrades. His sword flashed
+in his hand, and if Pelivan had been doubly as big as he was, his mere
+size could not have saved him. But the leader of the ciauses straightway
+put spurs to his horse, and laughing loudly galloped away with his
+ciauses, almost brushing the enraged Halil as he passed, and when he had
+already trotted a safe distance away, he turned round and with a
+scornful Ha, ha, ha! began hurling insults at the Janissaries, five or
+six of whom had set out to follow him.
+
+"Ha! he is mocking us!" exclaimed Musli, whereupon the Janissaries who
+stood nearest perceiving that they should never be able to overtake him
+on foot, hastened to the nearest battery, wrested a mortar from the
+topijis by force, and fired it upon the retreating ciauses. The
+discharged twelve-pounder whistled about their heads and then fell far
+away in the midst of a bivouac where a number of worthy Bosniaks were
+cooking their suppers, scattering the hot ashes into their eyes,
+ricochetting thence very prettily into the pavilion of the Bostanji
+Bashi, two of whose windows it knocked out, thence bounding three or
+four times into the air, terrifying several recumbent groups in its
+passage, and trundling rapidly away over some level ground, till at last
+it rolled into the booth of a glass-maker, and there smashed to atoms an
+incalculable quantity of pottery.
+
+Here Pelivan finally ran it to earth, seized it, hauled it off to the
+Kiaja, and duly delivered the message of the Janissaries, together with
+the twelve-pound cannon-ball, at the same time reminding him that it was
+an old habit of the Janissaries to accompany their messages with similar
+little _douceurs_.
+
+Pelivan had anticipated that the Kiaja would foam with rage at the news,
+and would have the offending Janissary regiment decimated at the very
+least; but the Kiaja, instead of being angry, seemed very much afraid.
+He saw in this presumptuous message a declaration of rebellion, and
+hurried off to the Grand Vizier as fast as his legs could carry him,
+taking the heavy twelve-pounder along with him.
+
+Ibrahim perfectly comprehended what was said to him, and placing the
+cannon-ball in a box nicely lined with velvet took it to the Seraglio,
+and when he got there sent for the Kizlar-Aga, placed it in his hands,
+and commissioned him to deliver it to the Sultan.
+
+"The Army," said he, "has sent this present to the most glorious
+Padishah. It is a treasure which is worth nothing so long as it is in
+our possession; it only becomes precious when we pay our debts with it,
+but it is downright damaging if we let others pay their debts to us
+therewith. Say to the most puissant of Sultans that if he finds this one
+specimen too little, the Army is ready to send him a lot more, and then
+it will choose neither me nor thee to be the bearer thereof."
+
+The Kizlar-Aga, who did not know what was in the box, took it forthwith
+into the Hall of Delight, and there delivered it to Achmed together with
+the message.
+
+The Sultan broke open the box in the presence of the Sultana Asseki, and
+on perceiving therein the heavy cannon-ball at once understood Ibrahim's
+message.
+
+He was troubled to the depths of his soul when he understood it. He was
+so good, so gentle to everyone, he tried so hard to avoid injuring
+anybody, and yet everybody seemed to combine to make him miserable! It
+seemed as though they envied him his sweet delights, and were determined
+that he should find no repose even in the very bosom of his family.
+
+He embraced and kissed the fair Sultana again and again, and stammered
+with tears in his eyes:
+
+"Die then, my pretty flower! fade away! wither before my very eyes! Die
+if thou canst that at least my heart may have nothing to long for!"
+
+The Sultana threw herself in despair at his feet, with her dishevelled
+tresses waving all about her, and encircling Achmed's knees with her
+white arms she besought him, sobbing loudly, not to go to the camp, at
+any rate, not _that_ day. Let at least the memory of the evil dreams she
+had dreamed the night before pass away, she said.
+
+But no, he could remain behind no longer. In vain were all weeping and
+wailing, however desperate. The Sultan had made up his mind that he must
+go. One single moment only did he hesitate, for one single moment the
+thought did occur to him: Am I a mere tool in the hands of my army, and
+why do I wear a sword at all if I do not decapitate therewith those who
+rise in rebellion against me? But he very soon let that thought escape.
+He knew he was not capable of translating it into action. Many, very
+many, must needs die if he acted thus; perhaps it were better, much
+better, for everybody if he submitted.
+
+"There is nought for thee but to die, my pretty flower," he whispered to
+the Sultana, who, sobbing and moaning, accompanied him to the very door
+of the Seraglio, and there he gently removed her arms from his shoulders
+and hastened to the council-chamber.
+
+Adsalis did _not_ die however, but made her way by the secret staircase
+to the apartments of the White Prince and found consolation with him.
+
+"The Sultan did not yield to my arguments," she said to the White
+Prince, who took her at once to his bosom, "he is off to the camp. If
+only I could hold him back for a single day the rebellion would burst
+forth--and then his dominion would vanish and his successor would be
+yourself."
+
+"Calm yourself, we may still gain time! Remind him through the
+Kizlar-Aga that he neglect not the pricking of the Koran."
+
+"You have spoken a word in season," replied Adsalis, and she immediately
+sent the Kizlar-Aga into the council-chamber.
+
+The Grand Vizier, the Kapudan Pasha, the Kiaja, the Chief Mufti, and the
+Sheik of the Aja Sophia, Ispirizade, were assembled in council with the
+Sultan who had just ordered the Silihdar to gird him with the sword of
+Mahomet.
+
+"Most illustrious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, throwing himself to
+the ground and hiding his face in his hands, "the Sultana Asseki would
+have me remind thee that thou do not neglect to ask counsel from Allah
+by the pricking of the Koran, before thou hast come to any resolution,
+as was the custom of thine illustrious ancestors as often as they had to
+choose between peace and war."
+
+"Well said!" cried Achmed, and thereupon he ordered the chief mufti to
+bring him the Alkoran which, in all moments of doubt, the Sultans were
+wont to appeal to and consult by plunging a needle through its pages,
+and then turning to the last leaf in which the marks of the needle-point
+were visible. Whatever words on this last page happened to be pricked
+were regarded as oracular and worthy of all obedience.
+
+On every table in the council-chamber stood an Alkoran--ten copies in
+one room. The binding of one of these copies was covered with diamonds.
+This copy the Chief Mufti brought to the Sultan, and gave into his hands
+the needle with which the august ceremony was to be accomplished.
+
+Meanwhile Ibrahim glanced impatiently at the three magnificent clocks
+standing in the room, one beside the other. They all pointed to a
+quarter to twelve. It was already late, and this ceremony of the
+pricking of the Koran always took up such a lot of time.
+
+The Sultan opened the book at the last page, pricked through by the
+needle, and these were the words he read:
+
+"He who fears the sword will find the sword his enemy, and better a
+rust-eaten sword in the hand than a brightly burnished one in a sheath."
+
+"La illah il Allah! God is one!" said Achmed bowing his head and kissing
+the words of the Alkoran. "Make ready my charger, 'tis the will of God."
+
+The Kizlar-Aga returned with the news to Adsalis and the White Prince.
+
+Even the pricking of the Koran had gone contrary to their plans.
+
+"Go and remind the Sultan," said Adsalis, "that he cannot go to the wars
+without the surem of victory;" and for the second time the Kizlar-Aga
+departed to execute the commands of the Sultana.
+
+The surem, by the way, is a holy supplication which it is usual for the
+chief Imam to recite in the mosques before the Padishah goes personally
+to battle, praying that Allah will bless his arms with victory.
+
+Now, because time was pressing, it was necessary to recite this prayer
+in the chapel of the Seraglio instead of in the mosque of St. Sophia.
+Ispirizade accordingly began to intone the surem, but he spun it out so
+long and made such a business of it, that it seemed as if he were bent
+on wasting time purposely. By the time the devotion was over every clock
+in the Seraglio had struck twelve.
+
+Ibrahim hastened to the Sultan to press him to embark as soon as
+possible in the ship that was waiting ready to convey him and the White
+Prince to Scutari; but at the foot of the staircase, in the outer court
+of the Seraglio where stood the Sultan's chargers which were to take him
+through the garden kiosk to the sea-shore, the way was barred by the
+Kizlar-Aga, who flung himself to the ground before the Sultan, and
+grasping his horse's bridle began to cry with all his might:
+
+"Trample me, oh, my master, beneath the hoofs of thy horses, yet listen
+to my words! The noontide hour has passed, and the hours of the
+afternoon are unlucky hours for any undertaking. The true Mussulman puts
+his hand to nothing on which the blessing of Allah can rest when noon
+has gone. Trample on my dead body if thou wilt, but say not that there
+was nobody who would have withheld thee from the path of peril!"
+
+The soul of Achmed III. was full of all manner of fantastic sentiments.
+Faith, hope, and love, which make others strong, had in him degenerated
+into superstition, frivolity, and voluptuousness--already he was but
+half a man.
+
+At the words of the Kizlar-Aga he removed his foot from the stirrup in
+which he had dreamily placed it with the help of the kneeling Rikiabdar,
+and said in the tone of a man who has at last made up his mind:
+
+"We will go to-morrow."
+
+Ibrahim was in despair at this fresh delay. He whispered a few words in
+the ear of Izmail Aga, whereupon the latter scarce waiting till the
+Sultan had remounted the steps, flung himself on his horse and galloped
+as fast as he could tear towards Scutari.
+
+Meanwhile the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti continued to detain the
+Sultan in the Divan, or council-chamber.
+
+Three-quarters of an hour later Izmail Aga returned and presented
+himself before the Sultan all covered with dust and sweat.
+
+"Most glorious Padishah!" he cried, "I have just come from the host.
+Since dawn they have all been on their feet awaiting thy arrival. If by
+evening thou dost not show thyself in the camp, then so sure as God is
+one, the host will not remain in Scutari but will come to Stambul."
+
+The host is coming to Stambul!--that was a word of terror.
+
+And Achmed III. well understood what it meant. Well did he remember the
+message which, three-and-twenty years before, the host had sent to his
+predecessor, Sultan Mustafa, who would not quit his harem at Adrianople
+to come to Stambul: "Even if thou wert dead thou couldst come here in a
+couple of days!" And he also remembered what had followed. The Sultan
+had been made to abdicate the throne and he (Achmed) had taken his
+place. And now just the same sort of tempest which had overthrown his
+predecessor was shaking the seat of the mighty rock beneath his own
+feet.
+
+"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" exclaimed Achmed, kissing the
+sword of Muhammad, and a quarter of an hour later he went on board the
+ship destined for him with the banner of the Prophet borne before him.
+
+In the Seraglio all the clocks one after another struck one as
+four-and-twenty salvoes announced that the Sultan with the banner of the
+Prophet had arrived in the camp.
+
+And the people of the East believe that the blessing of Allah does not
+rest on the hour which marks the afternoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM.
+
+
+A contrary wind was blowing across the Bosphorus, so that it was not
+until towards the evening that the Sultan arrived at Scutari, and
+disembarked there at his seaside palace with his viziers, his princes,
+the Chief Mufti, and Ispirizade.
+
+Though everything had quieted down close at hand, all night long could
+be heard, some distance off, in the direction of the camp, a murmuring
+and a tumult, the cause of which nobody could explain.
+
+More than once the Grand Vizier sent fleet runners to the Aga of the
+Janissaries to inquire what was the meaning of all that noise in the
+camp. Hassan replied that he himself did not understand why they were so
+unruly after they had heard the arrival of the Sultan and the sacred
+banner everywhere proclaimed.
+
+Shortly afterwards Ibrahim commanded him to seize all those who would
+not remain quiet. Hassan accordingly laid his hands on sundry who came
+conveniently in his way; but, for all that, the rest would pay no heed
+to him, and the tumult began to extend in the direction of Stambul also.
+
+Towards midnight a ciaus reached the Kiaja with the intelligence that a
+number of soldiers were coming along from the direction of Tebrif,
+crying as they came that the army of Küprilizade had been scattered to
+the winds by Shah Tamasip, and that they themselves were the sole
+survivors of the carnage--that was why the army round Stambul was
+chafing and murmuring.
+
+The Kiaja went at once in search of the Grand Vizier and told him of
+this terrible rumour.
+
+"Impossible!" exclaimed Ibrahim. "Küprilizade would not allow himself to
+be beaten. Only a few days ago I sent him arms and reinforcements which
+were more than enough to enable him to hold his own until the main army
+should arrive.
+
+"And even if it were true. If, in consequence of the Sultan's
+procrastination, we were to arrive too late and the whole of the
+provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan were to be lost--even then we should
+all be in the hands of Allah. Come, let us go to prayer and then to
+bed!"
+
+At about the same hour, three softas awoke the Chief Mufti and
+Ispirizade, and laid before them a letter written on parchment which
+they had discovered lying in the middle of a mosque. The letter was
+apparently written with gunpowder and almost illegible.
+
+It turned out to be an exhortation to all true Mussulmans to draw the
+sword in defence of Muhammad, but they were bidden beware lest, when
+they went against the foe, they left behind them, at home, the greatest
+foes of all, who were none other than the Sultan's own Ministers.
+
+"This letter deserves to be thrown into the fire," said Ispirizade, and
+into the fire he threw it, there and then, and thereupon lay down to
+sleep with a good conscience.
+
+The following day was Thursday, the 28th September. On that very day,
+twelve months before, the Sultan's eleven-year-old son had died. The day
+was therefore kept as a solemn day of mourning, and a general cessation
+of martial exercises throughout the host was proclaimed by a flourish of
+trumpets.
+
+To many of the commanders this day of rest was a season of strict
+observance. The Aga of the Janissaries withdrew to his kiosk; the
+Kapudan Pasha had himself rowed through the canal to his country house
+at Chengelköi, having just received from a Dutch merchant a very
+handsome assortment of tulip-bulbs, which he wanted to plant out with
+his own hands; the Reis-Effendi hastened to his summer residence, beside
+the Sweet Waters, to take leave of his odalisks for the twentieth time
+at least; and the Kiaja returned to Stambul. Each of them strictly
+observed the day--in his own peculiar manner.
+
+But Fate had prepared for the people at large a very different sort of
+observance.
+
+Early in the morning, at sunrise, seventeen Janissaries were standing in
+front of the mosque of Bajazid with Halil Patrona at their head.
+
+In the hand of each one of them was a naked sword, and in their midst
+stood Musli holding aloft the half-moon banner.
+
+The people made way before them, and allowed Patrona to ascend the steps
+of the mosque, and when the blast of the alarm-horns had subsided, the
+clear penetrating voice of the ex-pedlar was distinctly audible from end
+to end of the great kalan square in front of him.
+
+"Mussulmans!" he cried, "you have duties, yes, duties laid upon you by
+our sacred law. We are being ruined by traitors. Fugitives from the host
+have brought us the tidings that the army of Küprilizade has been
+scattered to the winds; four thousand horses and six hundred camels,
+laden with provisions, have been captured by the Persians; the general
+himself has fled to Erivan, and the provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan
+are once more in the possession of the enemy. And all this is going on
+while the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti have been arranging Lantern
+Feasts, Processions of Palms and Illuminations in the streets of Stambul
+instead of making ready the host to go to the assistance of the valiant
+Küprilizade! Our brethren are sent to the shambles, we hear their cries,
+we see their banners falter and fall into the enemy's hands, and we are
+not suffered to fly to their assistance, though we stand here with drawn
+swords in our hands. There is treachery--treachery against Allah and His
+Prophet! Therefore, let every true believer forsake immediately his
+handiwork, cast his awl, his hammer, and his plane aside, and seize his
+sword instead; let him close his booth and rally beneath our standard!"
+
+The mob greeted these words with a savage yell, raised Patrona on its
+shoulders, and carried him away through the arcades of Bezesztan piazza.
+Everyone hastened away to close his booth, and the whole city seemed to
+be turned upside down. It was just as if a still standing lake had been
+stirred violently to its lowest depths, and all the slimy monsters and
+hideous refuse reposing at the bottom had come to the surface; for the
+streets were suddenly flooded by the unrecognised riff-raff which
+vegetates in every great town, though they are out of the ken of the
+regular and orderly inhabitants, and only appear in the light of day
+when a sudden concussion drives them to the surface.
+
+Yelling and howling, they accompanied Halil everywhere, only listening
+to him when his escort raised him aloft on their shoulders in order that
+he might address the mob.
+
+Just at this moment they stopped in front of the house of the Janissary
+Aga.
+
+"Hassan!" cried Halil curtly, disdaining to give him his official title,
+and thundering on the door with his fists, "Hassan, you imprisoned our
+comrades because they dared to murmur, and now you can hear roars
+instead of murmurs. Give them up, Hassan! Give them up, I say!"
+
+Hassan, however, was no great lover of such spectacles, so he hastily
+exchanged his garments for a suit of rags, and bolted through the gate
+of the back garden to the shores of the Bosphorus, where he huddled into
+an old tub of a boat which carried him across to the camp. Then only did
+he feel safe.
+
+Meanwhile the Janissaries battered in the door of his house and released
+their comrades. Then they put Halil on Hassan's horse and proceeded in
+great triumph to the Etmeidan. The next instant the whole square was
+alive with armed men, and they hauled the Kulkiaja caldron out of the
+barracks and set it up in the midst of the mob. This was the usual
+signal for the outburst of the war of fiercely contending passions too
+long enchained.
+
+"And now open the prisons!" thundered Halil, "and set free all the
+captives! Put daggers in the hands of the murderers and flaming torches
+in the hands of the incendiaries, and let us go forth burning and
+slaying, for to-day is a day of death and lamentation."
+
+And the mob rushed upon the prisons, tore down the railings, broke
+through bolts and bars, and whole hordes of murderers and malefactors
+rushed forth into the piazza and all the adjoining streets, and the last
+of all to quit the dungeon was Janaki, Halil's father-in-law. There he
+remained standing in the doorway as if he were afraid or ashamed, till
+Musli rushed towards him and tore him away by force.
+
+"Be not cast down, muzafir, but snatch up a sword and stand alongside of
+me. No harm can come to you here. It is the turn of the Gaolers now."
+
+In the meantime Halil had made his way to that particular dungeon where
+the loose women whom the Sultan had been graciously pleased to collect
+from all the quarters of the town to herd in one place were listening in
+trembling apprehension.
+
+The doors were flung wide open, and the mob roared to the prisoners that
+all to whom liberty was dear might show a clean pair of heels,
+whereupon a mob of women, like a swarm of shrieking ghosts, fluttered
+through the doors and made off in every direction. Those women who
+stroll about the streets with uncovered faces, who paint their eyebrows
+and lips for the diversion of strangers, who are shut out from the world
+like mad dogs, that they may not contaminate the people--all these women
+were now let loose! Some of them had grown old since the prison-gates
+had been closed upon them, but the flame of evil passion still flickered
+in their sunken eyes. Alas! what pestilence has been let loose upon the
+Mussulman population. And thou, Halil! wilt thou be able to ride the
+storm to which thou has given wings?
+
+There he stands in the gateway! He is waiting till, in the wake of these
+unspeakably vile women, his pure-souled idol, the beautiful, the
+innocent Gül-Bejáze shall appear. How long she delays! All the rest have
+come forth; all the rest have scattered to their various haunts, only
+one or two belated shapes are now emerging from the dungeon and
+hastening, after the others--creatures whom the voice of the tumult had
+surprised _en déshabillé_, and who now with only half-clothed bodies and
+hair streaming down their backs rush screaming away. Only Gül-Bejáze
+still delays.
+
+Full of anxiety Halil descends at last into the loathsome hole but
+dimly lit by a few round windows in the roof.
+
+"Gül-Bejáze! Gül-Bejáze!" he moans with a stifling voice, looking all
+around the dungeon, and, at the sound of his whispered words, he sees a
+white mass, huddled in a corner of the far wall, feebly begin to move.
+He rushes to the spot. Surely it is some beggar-woman who hides her face
+from him? Gently he removes her hands from her face and in the woman
+recognises his wife. The poor creature would rather not be set free for
+very shame sake. She would rather remain here in the dungeon.
+
+Speechless with agony, he raised her in his arms. The woman said not a
+word, gave him not a look, she only hid her face in her husband's bosom
+and sobbed aloud.
+
+"Weep not! weep not!" moaned Halil, "those who have dishonoured thee
+shall, this very day, lie in the dust before thee, by Allah. I swear it.
+Thou shalt play with the heads of those who have played with thy heart,
+and that selfsame puffed-up Sultana who has stretched out her hand
+against thee shall be glad to kiss thy hand. I, Halil Patrona, have said
+it, and let me be accursed above all other Mussulmans if ever I have
+lied."
+
+Then snatching up his wife in his arms he rushed out among the crowd,
+and exhibiting that pale and forlorn figure in the sight of all men, he
+cried:
+
+"Behold, ye Mussulmans! this is my wife whom they ravished from me on my
+bridal night, and whom I must needs discover in the midst of this sink
+of vileness and iniquity! Speak those of you who are husbands, would you
+be merciful to him who dishonoured your wife after this sort?"
+
+"Death be upon his head!" roared the furious multitude, and rolling
+onwards like a flood that has burst its dams it stopped a moment later
+before a stately palace.
+
+"Whose is this palace?" inquired Halil of the mob.
+
+"Damad Ibrahim's," cried sundry voices from among the crowd.
+
+"Whose is that palace, I say?" inquired Halil once more, angrily shaking
+his head.
+
+Then many of them understood the force of the question and exclaimed:
+
+"Thine, O Halil Patrona!"
+
+"Thine, thine, Halil!" thundered the obsequious crowd, and with that
+they rushed upon the palace, burst open the doors, and Patrona, with his
+wife still clasped in his arms, forced his way in, and seeking out the
+harem of the Grand Vizier, commanded the odalisks of Ibrahim to bow
+their faces in the dust before their new mistress, and fulfil all her
+demands. And before the door he placed a guard of honour.
+
+Outside there was the din of battle, the roll of drums, and the blast of
+trumpets; and the whole of this tempest was fanned by the faint
+breathing of a sick and broken woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS.
+
+
+It is not every day that one can see budding tulips in the middle of
+September, yet the Kapudan Pasha had succeeded in hitting upon a dodge
+which the most famous gardeners in the world had for ages been racking
+their brains to discover, and all in vain.
+
+The problem was--how to introduce an artificial spring into the very
+waist and middle of autumn, and then to get the tulip-bulbs to take
+September for May, and set about flowering there and then.
+
+First of all he set about preparing a special forcing-bed of his own
+invention, in which he carefully mingled together the most nourishing
+soil formed among the Mountains of Lebanon from millennial deposits of
+cedar-tree spines, antelope manure, so heating and stimulating to
+vegetation, that wherever it falls on the desert, tiny oases, full of
+flowers and verdure, immediately spring up amidst the burning, drifting
+sand-hills, and burnt and pulverized black marble which is only to be
+found in the Dead Mountains. A judicious intermingling of this mixture
+produces a soft, porous, and exceedingly damp soil, and in this soil the
+Kapudan Pasha very carefully planted out his tulips with his own hands.
+He selected the bulbs resulting from last spring's blooms, making a hole
+for each of them, one by one, with his index-finger, and banking them up
+gingerly with earth as soft as fresh bread crumbs.
+
+Then he had snow fetched from the summits of the Caucasus, where it
+remains even all through the summer--whole ship loads of snow by way of
+the Black Sea--and kept the tulip-bulbs well covered with it, adding
+continually layers of fresh snow as the first layers melted, so that the
+hoodwinked tulips really believed it was now winter; and when towards
+the end of August the snow was allowed to melt altogether, they fancied
+spring had come, and poked their gold-green shoots out of their
+well-warmed, well-moistened bed.
+
+On the eve of the Prophet's birthday about fifty plants had begun to
+bloom, all of which had been named after battles in which the Mussulmans
+had triumphed, or after fortresses which their arms had captured. Then,
+however, the Kapudan Pasha was obliged to go to sea and command the
+fleet, in other words, he was constrained to leave his beloved tulips at
+the most interesting period of their existence.
+
+On the very evening when the Sultan arrived at Scutari, one of the
+Kapudan Pasha's gardeners came to him with the joyful intelligence that
+Belgrade, Naples, Morea, and Kermanjasahan would blossom on the morrow.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha was wild with impatience. There they all were, just on
+the point of blooming, and he would be unable to see it. How he would
+have liked a contrary wind to have kept back the fleet for a day or two.
+
+But what the wind would not do for him, the Sultan's birthday gave him
+the opportunity of doing for himself. The day of rest appointed for the
+morrow permitted the Kapudan Pasha to get himself rowed across to his
+summer palace at Chengelköi, where his marvellous tulips were about to
+bloom at the beginning of autumn.
+
+What a spectacle awaited him! All four of them, yes, all four, were in
+full bloom!
+
+Belgrade was pale yellow with bright green stripes, those of the stripes
+which were pale green on the lower were rose-coloured on the upper
+surface, and those of them which were bright green above died gradually
+away into a dark lilac colour below.
+
+Naples was a very full tulip, whose confusingly numerous angry-red
+leaves, with yellow edges, symbolized, perhaps, the fifteen hundred
+Venetians who had fallen at its name-place beneath the arms of the
+Ottomans.
+
+Morea was the richest in colour. The base of its cup was of a dark
+chocolate hue, with green and rose-coloured stripes all round it;
+moreover, the green stripes passed into red, and the rose ones into
+liver-colour, and a bright yellow streak of colour ran parallel with
+every single stripe. On the outside the green hues, inside the red
+rather predominated.
+
+But the rarest, the most magnificent of the four was Kermanjasahan. This
+was a treasure filched from the garden of the Dalai Lama. It was
+snow-white, without the slightest nuance of any other colour, and of
+such full bloom that the original six petals were obliged to bend
+downwards.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha was enraptured by all this splendour.
+
+He had made up his mind to present all these tulips to the Sultan, for
+which he would no doubt receive a rich viceroyalty, perhaps even Egypt,
+who could tell. He therefore ordered that costly china vases should be
+brought to him in which he might transplant the flowers, and he dug with
+his hands deep down in the soil lest he should injure the bulbs.
+
+Just as he was kneeling down in the midst of the tulips, with his hands
+all covered with mould, a breathless bostanji came rushing towards him
+at full speed, quite out of breath, and without waiting to get up to
+him, exclaimed while still a good distance off:
+
+"Sir, sir, rise up quickly, for all Stambul is in a commotion."
+
+"Take care!--don't tread upon my tulips, you blockhead; don't you see
+that you nearly trampled upon one of them!"
+
+"Oh, my master! tulips bloom every year, but if you trample a man to
+death, Mashallah! he will rise no more. Hasten, for the rioters are
+already turning the city upside down!"
+
+The Kapudan Pasha very gently, very cautiously, placed the flower, which
+he had raised with both hands, in the porcelain vase, and pressed the
+earth down on every side of it so that it might keep steady when
+carried.
+
+"What dost thou say, my son?" he then condescended to ask.
+
+"The people of Stambul have risen in revolt."
+
+"The people of Stambul, eh? What sort of people? Do you mean the
+cobblers, the hucksters, the fishermen, and the bakers?"
+
+"Yes, sir, they have all risen in revolt."
+
+"Very well, I'll be there directly and tell them to be quiet."
+
+"Oh, sir, you speak as if you could extinguish the burning city with
+this watering-can. The will of Allah be done!"
+
+But the Kapudan Pasha, with a merry heart, kept on watering the
+transplanted tulips till he had done it thoroughly, and entrusted them
+to four bostanjis, bidding them carry the flowers through the canal to
+the Sultan's palace at Scutari, while he had his horse saddled and
+without the slightest escort trotted quite alone into Stambul, where at
+that very moment they were crying loudly for his head.
+
+On the way thither, he came face to face with the Kiaja coming in a
+wretched, two-wheeled kibitka, with a Russian coachman sitting in front
+of him to hide him as much as possible from the public view. He bellowed
+to the Kapudan Pasha not to go to Stambul as death awaited him there. At
+this the Kapudan Pasha simply shrugged his shoulders. What an idea! To
+be frightened of an army of bakers and cobblers indeed! It was sheer
+nonsense, so he tried to persuade the Kiaja to turn back again with him
+and restore order by showing themselves to the rioters, whereupon the
+latter vehemently declared that not for all the joys of Paradise would
+he do so, and begged his Russian coachman to hasten on towards Scutari
+as rapidly as possible.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha promised that he would not be very long behind him;
+nay, inasmuch as the Kiaja was making a very considerable detour, while
+he himself was taking the direct road straight through Stambul, he
+insinuated that it was highly probable he might reach Scutari before
+him.
+
+"We shall meet again shortly," he cried by way of a parting salute.
+
+"Yes, in Abraham's bosom, I expect," murmured the Kiaja to himself as he
+raced away again, while the Kapudan Pasha ambled jauntily into the city.
+
+Already from afar he beheld the palace of the Reis-Effendi, on whose
+walls were inscribed in gigantic letters the following announcements:
+
+"Death to the Chief Mufti!
+
+"Death to the Grand Vizier!
+
+"Death to the Kapudan Pasha!
+
+"Death to the Kiaja Beg!"
+
+"H'm!" said the Kapudan Pasha to himself. "No doubt that was written by
+some softa or other, for cobblers and tailors cannot write of course.
+Not a bad hand by any means. I should like to make the fellow my
+teskeredji."
+
+As he trotted nearer to the palace, he perceived a great multitude
+surging around it, and amongst them a mounted trumpeter with one of
+those large Turkish field-horns which are audible a mile off, and are
+generally used at Stambul during every popular rising, their very note
+has a provocative tone.
+
+The trumpeting herald was thus addressing the mob assembled around him:
+
+"Inhabitants of Stambul, true-believing Mussulmans, our commander is
+Halil Patrona, the chief of the Janissaries, and in the name of the
+Stambul Cadi, Hassan Sulali, I proclaim: Let every true believing
+Mussulman shut up his shop, lay aside his handiwork, and assemble in the
+piazza; those of you, however, who are bakers of bread or sellers of
+flesh, keep your shops open, for whosoever resists this decree his shop
+will be treated as common booty. As for the unbelieving giaours at
+present residing at Stambul, let them remain in peace at home, for those
+who do not stir abroad will have no harm done to them. And this I
+announce to you in the names of Halil Patrona and Hassan Sulali."
+
+The Kapudan Pasha listened to the very last word of this proclamation,
+then he spurred his horse upon the crier, and snatching the horn from
+his hand hit him a blow with it on the back, which resounded far and
+wide, and then with a voice of thunder addressed the suddenly pacified
+crowd:
+
+"Ye worthless vagabonds, ye filthy sneak-thieves, mud-larking
+crab-catchers, pitchy-fingered slipper-botchers, huddling opium-eaters,
+swindling knacker-sellers, petty hucksters, ye ragged, filthy,
+whey-faced tipplers!--I, Abdi, the Kapudan Pasha, say it to you, and I
+only regret that I have not the tongue of a Giaour of the Hungarian race
+that I might be able to heap upon you all the curses and reproaches
+that your conduct deserves, ye dogs! What do you want then? Have you not
+enough to eat? Do you want war because you are tired of peace? War,
+indeed, though you would take good care to keep out of it. To remain at
+home here and wage war against women and girls is much more to your
+liking; booths not fortresses are what you like to storm. Be off to your
+homes from whence you have come, I say, for whomsoever I find in the
+streets an hour hence his head shall dangle in front of the Pavilion of
+Justice. Mark my words!"
+
+With these words Abdi gave his horse the spur and galloped through the
+thickest part of the mob, which dispersed in terror before him, and with
+proud self-satisfaction the Kapudan Pasha saw how the people hid away
+from him in their houses and vanished, as if by magic, from the streets
+and house-tops.
+
+He galloped into the town without opposition. At every street corner he
+blew a long blast in the captured horn, and addressed some well-chosen
+remarks to the people assembled there, which scattered them in every
+direction.
+
+At last he reached the Bezesztan, where every shop was closed.
+
+"Open your shops, ye dogs!" thundered Abdi to the assembled merchants
+and tradesmen. "I suppose your heels are itching?--or perhaps you are
+tired of having ears and noses? Open all your shop-doors this instant, I
+say! for whoever keeps them closed after this command shall be hanged up
+in front of his own shop-door!"
+
+The shopkeepers, full of terror, began to take down their shutters
+forthwith.
+
+From thence he galloped off towards the Etmeidan.
+
+The great fishmarket, which he passed on his way, was filled with people
+from end to end. Not a word could be heard for the fearful din, which
+completely drowned the voices of a few stump-orators who here and there
+had climbed up the pillars near the drinking-fountains to address the
+mob.
+
+Nevertheless the resonant, penetrating voice of the horn blown by the
+Kapudan Pasha dominated the tumult, and turned every face in his
+direction.
+
+Rising in his stirrups, Abdi addressed them with a terrible voice:
+
+"Ye fools, whose mad hands rise against your own heads! Do ye want to
+make the earth quake beneath you that so many of you stand in a heap in
+one place? What fool among you is it would drag the whole lot of you
+down to perdition? Would that the heavens might fall upon you!--would
+that these houses might bury you!--would that ye might turn into
+four-footed beasts who can do nothing but bark! Lower your heads, ye
+wretched creatures, and go and hide yourselves behind your mud-walls!
+And let not a single cry be heard in your streets, for if you dare to
+come out of your holes, I swear by the shadow of Allah that I'll make a
+rubbish-heap of Stambul with my guns, and none shall live in it
+henceforth but serpents and bats and your accursed souls, ye dogs!"
+
+And nobody durst say him nay. They listened to his revilings in silence,
+gave way before him, and made a way for his prancing steed. Halil was
+not there, had he but been there the Kapudan Pasha would not have waited
+twice for an answer.
+
+So here also Abdi succeeded in trotting through the ranks of the
+rioters, and so at last directed his way towards the Etmeidan.
+
+By this time not only the caldron of the first but the caldron of the
+fifth Janissary regiment had been erected in the midst of the camp. They
+had been taken by force from the army blacksmiths, and a group of
+Janissaries stood round each of them.
+
+Abdi Pasha appeared among them so unexpectedly that they were only aware
+of his presence when he suddenly bawled at them:
+
+"Put down your weapons!"
+
+They all regarded the Kapudan Pasha with fear and wonder. How had he got
+here? Not one of them dared to draw a sword against him, yet not one of
+them submitted, and everyone of them felt that Patrona was badly wanted
+here.
+
+The banner of the insurgents was waving in the midst of the piazza. Abdi
+Pasha rode straight towards it. The Janissaries remained rooted to the
+spot, staring after him with astonishment.
+
+Suddenly Musli leaped forth from amongst them, and anticipating the
+Kapudan, seized the flag himself.
+
+"Give me that banner, my son!" said Abdi with all the phlegm of a true
+seaman.
+
+Musli had not yet sufficiently recovered to be able to answer
+articulately, but he shook his head by way of intimating that surrender
+it he would not.
+
+"Give me that banner, Janissary!" cried Abdi once more, sternly
+regarding Musli straight between the eyes.
+
+Instead of answering Musli simply proceeded to wind the banner round its
+pole.
+
+"Give me that banner!" bellowed Abdi for the third time, with a voice of
+thunder, at the same time drawing his sword.
+
+But now Musli twisted the pole round so that the mud-stained end which
+had been sticking in the earth rose high in the air, and he said:
+
+"I honour you, Abdi Pasha, and I will not hurt you if you go away. I
+would rather see you fall in battle fighting against the Giaours, for
+you deserve to have a glorious name; but don't ask me for this banner
+any more, for if you come a step nearer I will run you through the body
+with the dirty end."
+
+And at these words all the other Janissaries leaped to their feet and,
+drawing their swords, formed a glittering circle round the valiant
+Musli.
+
+"I am sorry for you, my brave Janissaries," observed the Kapudan Pasha
+sadly.
+
+"And we are sorry for you, famous Kapudan Pasha!"
+
+Then Abdi quitted the Etmeidan. He perceived how the crowd parted before
+him everywhere as he advanced; but it also did not escape him that
+behind his back they immediately closed up again when he had passed.
+
+"These people can only be brought to their senses by force of arms," he
+said to himself as away he rode through the city, and nobody laid so
+much as a finger upon him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, in the camp outside, a great council of war was being held.
+On the news of the insurrection which had been painted in the most
+alarming colours by the fugitive Kiaja and the Janissary Aga, the
+Sultan had called together the generals, the Ulemas, the Grand Vizier,
+the Chief Mufti, the Sheiks, and the Kodzhagians in the palace by the
+sea-shore.
+
+An hour before in the same palace he had held a long deliberation with
+his aunt, the wise Sultana Khadija.
+
+Good counsel was now precious indeed.
+
+The Grand Vizier opined that the army, leaving the Sultan behind at
+Brusa, should set off at once towards Tebrif to meet the foe. If it were
+found possible to unite with Abdullah Pasha all was won. Stambul was to
+be left to itself, and the rebels allowed to do as they liked there.
+Once let the external enemy be well beaten and then their turn would
+come too.
+
+The Chief Mufti did not believe it to be possible to lead the host to
+battle just then; but he wished it to be withdrawn from Stambul, lest it
+should be affected by the spirit of rebellion.
+
+The Kiaja advised negociating with the rebels and pacifying them that
+way.
+
+At this last proposal the Sultan nodded his head approvingly. The
+Sultana Khadija was also of the same opinion.
+
+As to the mode of carrying out these negociations there was some slight
+difference of detail between the plan of the Kiaja and the plan of the
+Sultana. In the opinion of the former, while the negociations were
+still proceeding, the ringleaders of the rebellion were to be quietly
+disposed of one after the other, whereas the Sultana insinuated that the
+Sultan should appease the rebels by handing over to them the detested
+Kiaja and any of the other great officers of state whose heads the mob
+might take a fancy to. And that, of course, was a very different thing.
+
+The Sultan thought the counsel of the Kiaja the best.
+
+At that very moment, the Kapudan Pasha, Abdi, entered the
+council-chamber.
+
+Everybody regarded him with astonishment. According to the account of
+the Kiaja he had already been cut into a thousand pieces.
+
+He came in with just as much _sangfroid_ as he displayed when he had
+ridden through the rebellious city. He inquired of the doorkeepers as he
+passed through whether his messengers had arrived yet with the tulips.
+"No," was the reply. "Then where have they got to, I wonder," he
+muttered; "since I quitted them I have been from one end of Stambul to
+the other?"
+
+Then he saluted the Sultan, and in obedience to a gesture from the
+Padishah, took his place among the viziers, and they regarded him with
+as much amazement as if it was his ghost that had come among them.
+
+"You have been in Stambul, I understand?" inquired the Grand Vizier at
+last.
+
+"I have just come from thence within the last hour."
+
+"What do the people want?" asked the Padishah.
+
+"They want to eat and drink."
+
+"It is blood they would drink then," murmured the Chief Mufti in his
+beard.
+
+"And what do they complain about?"
+
+"They complain that the sword does not wage war of its own accord, and
+that the earth does not produce bread without being tilled, and that
+wine and coffee do not trickle from the gutters of the houses."
+
+"You speak very lightly of the matter, Abdi. How do you propose to
+pacify this uproar?"
+
+"The thing is quite simple. The cobblers and petty hucksters of Stambul
+are not worth a volley, and, besides, I would not hurt the poor things
+if possible. Many of them have wives and children. Those who have
+stirred them up are in the camp of the Janissaries--there you will find
+their leaders. It would be a pity, perhaps, to destroy all who have
+excited the people in Stambul to revolt, but they ought to be led forth
+regiment by regiment and every tenth man of them shot through the head.
+That will help to smooth matters."
+
+All the viziers were horrified. "Who would dare to do such a thing?"
+they asked.
+
+"That is what I would do," said Abdi bluntly. After that he held his
+peace.
+
+It was the Sultan who broke the silence.
+
+"Before you arrived," said he, "we had resolved, by the advice of the
+Kiaja Beg, to go back to the town with the banner of the Prophet and the
+princes.
+
+"That also is not bad counsel," said Abdi; "thy glorious presence will
+and must quell the uproar. Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of
+the Gate of the Seraglio, let the Chief Mufti and Ispirizade open the
+Aja Sophia and the Mosque of Achmed, and let the imams call the people
+to prayer. Let Damad Ibrahim remain outside with the host, that in case
+of need he may hasten to suppress the insurgents. Let the Kiaja Beg
+collect together the jebedjis, ciauses, and bostanjis, who guard the
+Seraglio, and let them clear the streets. And if all this be of no avail
+my guns from the sea will soon teach them obedience."
+
+Sultan Achmed shook his head.
+
+"We have resolved otherwise," said he; "none of you must quit my side.
+The Grand Vizier, the Chief Mufti, the Kapudan Pasha, and the Kiaja must
+come along with me."
+
+And while he told their names, one after the other, the Padishah did
+not so much as look at one of them.
+
+The names of these four men were all written up on the corners of the
+street. The heads of these four men had been demanded by the people and
+by Halil Patrona.
+
+What then was their offence in the eyes of the people? They were the men
+highest in power when misfortune overtook the realm. But how then had
+they offended Halil Patrona? 'Twas they who had brought suffering upon
+Gül-Bejáze.
+
+The viziers bowed their heads.
+
+At that same instant Abdi's messengers arrived with the tulips. They
+were brought to the Padishah, who was enchanted by their beauty, and
+ordered that they should be conveyed to Stambul, to the Sultana Asseki,
+with the message that he himself would not be long after them. Moreover,
+he patted Abdi on the shoulder, and protested with tears in his eyes
+that there was none in the world whom he loved better.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha kissed the hem of the Sultan's robe, and then remained
+behind with Ibrahim, Abdullah, and the Kiaja.
+
+"Abdullah, and you, my brave Ibrahim, and you, Kiaja," said he,
+addressing them with a friendly smile, "in an hour's time our four heads
+will not be worth an earless pitcher," whereupon Damad Ibrahim sadly
+bent his head, and whispered with a voice resembling a sob:
+
+"Poor, poor Sultan!"
+
+Then they all four accompanied Achmed to his ship. They were all fully
+convinced that Achmed would first sacrifice them all and then fall
+himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD.
+
+
+Halil Patrona was already the master of Stambul.
+
+The rebel leaders had assembled together in the central mosque, and from
+thence distributed their commands.
+
+At the sixth hour (according to Christian calculation ten o'clock in the
+evening) the ship arrived bearing the Sultan, the princes, the magnates,
+and the sacred banner, and cast anchor beside the coast kiosk at the
+Gate of Cannons.
+
+Inside the Seraglio none knew anything of the position of affairs. All
+through the city a great commotion prevailed with the blowing of horns,
+in the cemetery bivouac fires had been everywhere lighted.
+
+"Why cannot I send a couple of grenades among them from the sea?" sighed
+the Kapudan Pasha, "that would quiet them immediately, I warrant."
+
+As the Kizlar-Aga, Elhaj Beshir, came face to face with the newly
+arrived ministers in the ante-chamber where the Mantle of the Prophet
+was jealously guarded, he rubbed his hands together with an enigmatical
+smile which ill became his coarse, brutal countenance and cloven lips,
+and when the Padishah asked him what the rebels wanted, he replied that
+he really did not know.
+
+That smile of his, that rubbing of the hands, which had been robbed of
+their thumbs by the savage cruelty of a former master for some piece of
+villainy or other--these things were premonitions of evil to all the
+officials present.
+
+Elhaj Beshir Aga had now held his office for fourteen years, during
+which time he had elevated and deposed eight Grand Viziers.
+
+And now, how were the demands of the rebels to be discovered?
+
+Damad Ibrahim suggested that the best thing to do was to summon Sulali
+Hassan, a former cadi of Stambul, whose name he had heard mentioned by
+the town-crier along with that of Halil Patrona.
+
+They found Sulali in his summer house, and at the first summons he
+appeared in the Seraglio. He declared that the rebels had been playing
+fast and loose with his name, and that he knew nothing whatever of their
+wishes.
+
+"Then take with you the Chaszeki Aga and twenty bostanjis, and go in
+search of Halil Patrona, and find out what he wants!" commanded the
+Padishah.
+
+"It is a pity to give worthy men unnecessary trouble, most glorious
+Sultan," said Abdi Pasha bitterly. "I am able to tell you what the
+rebels want, for I have seen it all written up on the walls. They demand
+the delivery of four of the great officers of state--myself, the Chief
+Mufti, the Grand Vizier, and the Kiaja. Surrender us then, O Sultan! yet
+surrender us not alive! but slay us first and then their mouths will be
+stopped. Let them glut their appetites on us. You know that no wild
+beast is savage when once it has been well fed."
+
+The Sultan pretended not to hear these words. He did not even look up
+when the Kapudan spoke.
+
+"Seek out Halil Patrona!" he said to the Chaszeki Aga, "and greet him in
+the name of the Padishah!"
+
+What! Greet Halil Patrona in the name of the Padishah! Greet that petty
+huckster in the name of the master of many empires, in the name of the
+Prince of Princes, Shahs, Khans, and Deys, the dominator of Great
+Moguls! Who would have believed in the possibility of such a thing three
+days ago?
+
+"Greet Halil Patrona in my name," said the Sultan, "and tell him that I
+will satisfy all his just demands, if he promises to dismiss his forces
+immediately afterwards."
+
+The Chaszeki Aga and Sulali Hassan, with the twenty bostanjis, forced
+their way through the thick crowd which thronged the streets till they
+reached the central mosque. Only nine of the twenty bostanjis were
+beaten to death by the mob on the way, the eleven others were fortunate
+enough to reach the mosque at least alive.
+
+There, on a camel-skin spread upon the ground, sat Halil, the rebel
+leader, like a second Dzhengis Khan, dictating his orders and
+nominations to the softas sitting before him, whom he had appointed his
+teskeredjis.
+
+When the Janissaries on guard informed him that the Sultan's Chaszeki
+Aga had arrived and wanted to speak to him, he drily replied:
+
+"He can wait. I must attend to worthier men than he first of all."
+
+And who, then, were these worthier men?
+
+Well, first of all there was the old master-cobbler, Suleiman, whom they
+had dragged by force from his house where he had been hiding under the
+floor. Halil now ordered a document to be drawn up, whereby he elevated
+him to the rank of Reis-Effendi.
+
+Halil Patrona, by the way, was still wearing his old Janissary uniform,
+the blue dolman with the salavari reaching to the knee, leaving the
+calves bare. The only difference was that he now wore a white heron's
+feather in his hat instead of a black one, and by his side hung the
+sword of the Grand Vizier, whose palace in the Galata suburb he had
+levelled to the ground only an hour before.
+
+It was with the signet in the hilt of this sword that Halil was now
+sealing all the public documents issued by him.
+
+After Suleiman came Muhammad the saddle-maker. He was a sturdy, muscular
+fellow, who could have held his own against any two or three ordinary
+men. Him Halil appointed Aga.
+
+Then came a ciaus called Orli, whom he made chief magistrate. Ibrahim, a
+whilom schoolmaster, who went by the name of "the Fool," he made chief
+Cadi of Stambul, and then catching sight of Sulali, he beckoned him
+forth from among the ciauses and said to him:
+
+"Thou shalt be the Governor-General of Anatolia."
+
+Sulali bowed to the ground by way of acknowledgment of such
+graciousness.
+
+"I thank thee, Halil! Make of me what thou wilt, but listen, first of
+all, to the message of the Padishah which he has entrusted to me, for I
+am in very great doubt whether it be thou or Sultan Achmed who is now
+Lord of all the Moslems. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost require of
+the Sultan, and if thy demands be lawful and of good report they shall
+be granted, provided that thou dost promise to disperse thy following."
+
+Then Halil Patrona stood up before the Sulali, and with a severe and
+motionless countenance answered:
+
+"Our demands are few and soon told. We demand the delivery to us of the
+four arch-traitors who have brought disaster upon the realm. They are
+the Kul Kiaja, the Kapudan Pasha, the Chief Mufti, and the Grand
+Vizier."
+
+Sulali fell to shaking his head.
+
+"You ask much, Halil!"
+
+"I ask much, you say. To-morrow I shall ask still more. If you agree to
+my terms, to-morrow there shall be peace. But if you come again to me
+to-morrow, then there will be peace neither to-morrow nor any other
+morrow."
+
+Sulali returned to the Sultan and his ministers who were still all
+assembled together.
+
+Full of suspense they awaited the message of Halil.
+
+Sulali dared not say it all at once. Only gradually did he let the cat
+out of the bag.
+
+"I have found out the demands of the insurgents," said he. "They demand
+that the Kiaja Beg be handed over to them."
+
+The Kiaja suddenly grew paler than a wax figure.
+
+"Such a faithful old servant as he has been to me too," sighed Achmed.
+"Well, well, hand him over, and now I hope they will be satisfied."
+
+With tottering footsteps the Kiaja stepped among the bostanjis.
+
+"They demand yet more," said Sulali.
+
+"What! more?"
+
+"They demand the Kapudan Pasha."
+
+"Him also. My most valiant seaman!" exclaimed Achmed sorrowfully.
+
+"Mashallah!" cried the Kapudan cheerfully, "I am theirs," and with a
+look of determined courage he stepped forth and also joined the
+bostanjis. "Weep not on my account, oh Padishah! A brave man is always
+ready to die a heroic death in the place of danger, and shall I not,
+moreover, be dying in your defence? Hale us away, bostanjis; do not
+tremble, my sons. Which of you best understands to twist the string?
+Come, come, fear nothing, I will show you myself how to arrange the
+silken cord properly. Long live the Sultan!"
+
+And with that he quitted the room, rather leading the bostanjis than
+being led by them, he did not even lay aside his sword.
+
+"Then, too, they demanded the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti," said
+Sulali.
+
+The Sultan, full of horror, rose from his place.
+
+"No, no, it cannot be. You must have heard their words amiss. He from
+whom you required an answer must needs have been mad, he spoke in his
+wrath. What! I am to slay the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti? Slay
+them, too, for faults which I myself have committed--faults against
+which they wished to warn me? Why, their blood would cry to Heaven
+against me. Go back, Sulali, and say to Halil that I beg, I implore him
+not to insist that these two grey heads shall roll in the dust. Let it
+suffice him if they are deprived of their offices and banished from the
+realm, for indeed they are guiltless. Entreat him, also, for the Kiaja
+and the Kapudan; they shall not be surrendered until you return."
+
+Again Sulali sought out Halil. He durst not say a word concerning the
+Kiaja and the Kapudan. He knew that it was the Kapudan who had seized
+upon Halil's wife when she was attempting to escape by sea, and that it
+was the Kiaja who had had her shut up in the dungeon set apart for
+shameless women. He confined himself therefore to pleading for the Grand
+Vizier and the Chief Mufti.
+
+Halil reflected. The incidents which had happened in the palace by the
+Sweet Waters all passed through his mind. He bethought him how Damad
+Ibrahim had forced his embraces upon Gül-Bejáze, and compelled her to
+resort to the stratagem of the death-swoon, and he gave no heed to what
+Sulali said about sparing Ibrahim's grey beard.
+
+"The Grand Vizier must die," he answered. "As for Abdullah, he may
+remain alive, but he must be banished." After all, Abdullah had done no
+harm to Gül-Bejáze.
+
+Sulali returned to the Seraglio.
+
+"Halil permits the Chief Mufti to live, but he demands death for the
+three others," said he.
+
+At these words Achmed sprang from the divan like a lion brought to bay
+and drew his sword.
+
+"Come hither, then, valiant rebels, as ye are!" cried he. "If you want
+the heads of my servants, come for them, and take them from me. No, not
+a drop of their blood will I give you, and if you dare to come for them
+ye shall see that the sword of Mohammed has still an edge upon it.
+Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of the gate of the Seraglio.
+Let all true believers cleave to me. Send criers into all the streets to
+announce that the Seraglio is in danger, and let all to whom the
+countenance of Allah is dear hasten to the defence of the Banner! I will
+collect the bostanjis and defend the gates of the Seraglio."
+
+The two grey beards kissed the Sultan's hand. If this manly burst of
+emotion had only come a little earlier, the page of history would have
+borne a very different record of Sultan Achmed.
+
+The Banner of Danger was immediately hung out in the central gate of the
+Seraglio, and there it remained till early the next evening.
+
+At dawn the criers returned and reported that they had not been able to
+get beyond the mosque of St. Sophia, and that the people had responded
+to their crying with showers of stones.
+
+The Green Banner waved all by itself in front of the Seraglio. Nobody
+assembled beneath it, even the wind disdained to flutter it, languidly
+it drooped upon its staff.
+
+The unfurling of the Green Banner on the gate of the Seraglio is a rare
+event in history. As a rule it only happens in the time of greatest
+danger, for it signifies that the time has come for every true Mussulman
+to quit hearth and home, his shop and his plough, snatch up his weapons,
+and hasten to the assistance of Allah and his Anointed, and accursed
+would be reckoned every male Osmanli who should hesitate at such a time
+to lay down his life and his estate at the feet of the Padishah.
+
+Knowing this to be so, imagine then the extremity of terror into which
+the dwellers in the Seraglio were plunged when they saw that not a
+single soul rallied beneath the exposed banner. The criers promised a
+gratuity of thirty piastres to every soldier who hastened to range
+himself beneath the banner, and two piastres a day over and above the
+usual pay. And some five or six fellows followed them, but as many as
+came in on one side went away again on the other, and in the afternoon
+not a single soul remained beneath the banner.
+
+Towards evening the banner was hoisted on to the second gate beneath
+which were the dormitories of the high officers of state. The generals
+meanwhile slept in the Hall of Audience, Damadzadi lay sick in the
+apartment of Prince Murad, and the Mufti and the Ulemas remained in the
+barracks of the bostanjis. Sultan Achmed did not lie down all night
+long, but wandered about from room to room, impatiently inquiring after
+news outside. He asked whether anyone had come from the host to his
+assistance? whether the people were assembling beneath the Sacred Green
+Banner? and the cold sweat stood out upon his forehead when, in reply to
+all his questions, he only received one crushing answer after another.
+The watchers placed on the roof of the palace signified that the bivouac
+fires of the insurgents were now much nearer than they had been the
+night before, and that in the direction of Scutari not a single
+watch-fire was visible, from which it might be suspected that the army
+had broken up its camp, returned to Stambul, and made common cause with
+the insurgents.
+
+Achmed himself ascended to the roof to persuade himself of the truth of
+these assertions, and wandered in a speechless agony of grief from
+apartment to apartment, constantly looking to see whether the Kiaja,
+the Kapudan, and the Grand Vizier were asleep or awake. Only the Kapudan
+Pasha was able to sleep at all. The Kiaja was all of an ague with
+apprehension, and the Grand Vizier was praying, not for himself indeed,
+but for the Sultan. At last even the Kapudan was sorry for the Sultan
+who was so much distressed on their account.
+
+"Why dost thou keep waking us so often, oh, my master?" said he, "we are
+still alive as thou seest. Go and sleep in thy harem and trouble not thy
+soul about us any more, it is only the rebels who have to do with us
+now. Allah Kerim! Look upon us as already sleeping the sleep of
+eternity. At the trump of the Angel of the Resurrection we also shall
+arise like the rest."
+
+And Achmed listened to the words of the Kapudan, and at dawn of day
+vanished from amongst them. When they sought him in the early morning he
+had not yet come forth from his harem.
+
+The four dignitaries knew very well what that signified.
+
+Early in the morning, when the dawn was still red, Sulali Effendi and
+Ispirizade came for the Chief Mufti, and invited him to say the morning
+prayer with them.
+
+The Ulemas were already all assembled together, and at the sight of them
+Abdullah burst into tears and sobs, and said to them in the midst of
+his lamentations:
+
+"Behold, I have brought my grey beard hither, and if it pleases you not
+that it has grown white in all pure and upright dealing, take it now and
+wash it in my blood; and if ye think that the few days Allah hath given
+me to be too many, then take me and put an end to them."
+
+Then all the Ulemas stood up and, raising their hands, exclaimed:
+
+"Allah preserve thee from this evil thing!"
+
+Then they threw themselves down on their faces to pray, and when they
+had made an end of praying, they assembled in the kiosk of Erivan in the
+inner garden where the Grand Vizier already awaited them. Not long
+afterwards arrived the Kiaja and the Kapudan Pasha also, last of all
+came the sick Damadzadi and the Cadi of Medina, Mustafa Effendi, and
+Segban Pasha.
+
+"Ye see a dead man before you," said the Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, to
+the freshly arrived dignitaries. "I am lost. We are the four victims.
+The Chief Mufti perhaps may save his life, but we three others shall not
+see the dawn of another day. It cannot be otherwise. The Sultan must be
+saved, and saved he only can be at the price of our lives."
+
+"I said that long ago," observed the Kapudan Pasha. "Our corpses ought
+to have been delivered up to the rebels yesterday, I fear it is already
+too late, I fear me that the Sultan is lost anyhow. The Banner of
+Affliction ought never to have been exposed at all, we should have been
+slain there and then."
+
+"You three withdraw into the Chamber of the Executioners," said the
+Grand Vizier to his colleagues, "but wait for me till the Kizlar-Aga
+arrives to demand from me the seals of office, till then I must perform
+my official duties."
+
+The three ministers then took leave of Damad Ibrahim, embraced each
+other, and were removed in the custody of the bostanjis.
+
+It was now the duty of the Grand Vizier to elect a new Chief Mufti from
+among the Ulemas. The Ulemas, first of all, chose Damadzadi, but he
+declining the dignity on the plea of illness, they chose in his stead
+the Cadi of Medina, and for want of a white mantle invested him with a
+green one.
+
+After that they elected from amongst themselves Seid Mohammed and
+Damadzadi, to receive the secret message of the Sultan from the
+Kizlar-Aga and deliver it to Halil Patrona.
+
+Damad Ibrahim was well aware of the nature of this secret message, and
+thanked Allah for setting a term to the life of man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile Sultan Achmed was sitting in the Hall of Delectation with the
+beautiful Adsalis by his side, and in front of him were the four tulips
+which Abdi Pasha had presented to him the day before.
+
+The four tulips were now in full bloom.
+
+Adsalis had thrown her arms round the Sultan's neck, and was kissing his
+forehead as if she would charm away from his soul the thoughts which
+suffered him not to rest, or rejoice, or to love.
+
+He had an eye for nothing but the tulips before him, which he could not
+protect or cherish sufficiently. He scarce noticed that Elhaj Beshir,
+the Kizlar-Aga, was standing before him with a long MS. parchment
+stretched out in his hand.
+
+"Master," cried the Kizlar-Aga, "deign to read the answer which the
+Ulemas are sending to Halil Patrona, and if it be according to thy will
+give it the confirmation of thy signature."
+
+"What do they require?" asked the Sultan softly, withdrawing, as he
+spoke, a tiny knife from his girdle, with the point of which he began
+picking away at the earth all round the tulips in order to make it
+looser and softer.
+
+"The rebels demand a full assurance that they will not be persecuted in
+the future for what they have done in the past."
+
+"Be it so!"
+
+"Next they demand that the Kiaja Aga be handed over to them."
+
+The Sultan cut off one of the tulips with his knife and handed it to the
+Kizlar-Aga.
+
+"There, take it!" said he.
+
+The Aga was astonished, but presently he understood and took the tulip.
+
+"Then they want the Kapudan Pasha."
+
+The Sultan cut off the handsomest of the tulips.
+
+"There you have it," said he.
+
+"They further demand the banishment of the Chief Mufti."
+
+The Sultan tore up the third tulip by the roots and cast it from him.
+
+"There it is."
+
+"And the Grand Vizier they want also."
+
+The last tulip Achmed threw violently to the ground, pot and all, and
+then he covered his face.
+
+"Ask no more, thou seest I have surrendered everything."
+
+Then he gave him his signet-ring in which his name was engraved, and the
+Kizlar-Aga stamped the document therewith, and then handed back the
+signet-ring to the Sultan.
+
+The Grand Vizier, meanwhile, was walking backwards and forwards in the
+garden of the Seraglio. The Kizlar-Aga came there in search of him, and
+with him were the envoys of Halil Patrona, Suleiman, whom he had made
+Reis-Effendi, Orli, and Sulali. Elhaj Beshir approached him in their
+presence, and kissing the document signed by the Sultan, handed it to
+him.
+
+Damad Ibrahim pressed the writing to his forehead and his lips, and,
+after carefully reading it through, handed it back again, and taking
+from his finger the great seal of the Empire gave it to the Kizlar-Aga.
+
+"May he who comes after me be wiser and happier than I have been," said
+he. "Greet the Sultan from me once more. And as for you, tell Halil
+Patrona that you have seen the door of the Hall of the Executioners
+close behind the back of Damad Ibrahim."
+
+With that the Grand Vizier looked about him in search of someone to
+escort him thither, when suddenly a kajkji leaped to his side and begged
+that he might be allowed to lead the Grand Vizier to the Hall of
+Execution.
+
+This sailor-man had just such a long grey beard as the Grand Vizier
+himself.
+
+"How dost thou come to know me?" inquired Damad Ibrahim of the old man.
+
+"Why we fought together, sir, beneath Belgrade, when both of us were
+young fellows together."
+
+"What is thy name?
+
+"Manoli."
+
+"I remember thee not."
+
+"But I remember thee, for thou didst release me from captivity, and
+didst cherish me when I was wounded."
+
+"And therefore thou wouldst lead me to the executioner? I thank thee,
+Manoli!"
+
+All this was spoken while they were passing through the garden on their
+way to the fatal chamber into which Manoli disappeared with the Grand
+Vizier.
+
+The Kizlar-Aga and the messengers of the insurgents waited till Manoli
+came forth again. He came out, covering his face with his hands, no
+doubt he was weeping. The Grand Vizier remained inside.
+
+"To-morrow you shall see his dead body," said the Kizlar-Aga to the new
+Reis-Effendi, and with that he sent him and his comrade back to Halil.
+
+"We would rather have had them alive," said the ex-ciaus, so suddenly
+become one of the chief dignitaries of the state.
+
+That same evening Halil sent back Sulali with the message that the Chief
+Mufti might go free.
+
+The old man quitted his comrades about midnight, and day had scarce
+dawned when he was summoned once more to the presence of the Grand
+Seignior.
+
+All night long the Kizlar-Aga tormented Achmed with the saying of the
+Reis-Effendi: "We would rather have them alive!"
+
+"No, no," said the Sultan, "we will not have them delivered up alive. It
+shall not be in the power of the people to torture and tear them to
+pieces. Rather let them die in my palace, an easy, instantaneous death,
+without fear and scarce a pang of pain, wept and mourned for by their
+friends."
+
+"Then hasten on their deaths, dread sir, lest the morning come and they
+be demanded while still alive."
+
+"Tarry a while, I say, wait but for the morning. You would not surely
+kill them at night! At night the gates of Heaven are shut. At night the
+phantoms of darkness are let loose. You would not slay any living
+creature at night! Wait till the day dawns."
+
+The first ray of light had scarce appeared on the horizon when the
+Kizlar-Aga once more stood before the Sultan.
+
+"Master, the day is breaking."
+
+"Call hither the mufti and Sulali!"
+
+Both of them speedily appeared.
+
+"Convey death to those who are already doomed."
+
+Sulali and the mufti fell down on their knees.
+
+"Wherefore this haste, O my master?" cried the aged mufti, bitterly
+weeping as he kissed the Sultan's feet.
+
+"Because the rebels wish them to be surrendered alive."
+
+"So it is," observed the Kizlar-Aga by way of corroboration, "the whole
+space in front of the kiosk is filled with the insurgents."
+
+The Sultan almost collapsed with horror.
+
+"Hasten, hasten! lest they fall into their hands alive."
+
+"Oh, sir," implored Sulali, "let me first go down with the Imam of the
+Aja Sophia to see whether the street really is filled with rebels or
+not!"
+
+The Sultan signified that they might go.
+
+Sulali, Hassan, and Ispirizade thereupon hastened through the gate of
+the Seraglio down to the open space before the kiosk, but not a living
+soul did they find there. Not satisfied with merely looking about them,
+they wished to persuade themselves that the insurgents were approaching
+the Seraglio from some other direction by a circuitous way.
+
+Meanwhile the Sultan was counting the moments and growing impatient at
+the prolonged absence of his messengers.
+
+"They have had time enough to cover the distance to the kiosk and back
+twice over," remarked the Kizlar-Aga. "No doubt they have fallen into
+the hands of the rebels who are holding them fast so that they may not
+be able to bring any tidings back."
+
+The Sultan was in despair.
+
+"Hasten, hasten then!" said he to the Kizlar-Aga, and with that he fled
+away into his inner apartments.
+
+Ten minutes later Sulali and the Iman returned, and announced that there
+was not a soul to be seen anywhere and no sign of anyone threatening the
+Seraglio.
+
+Then the Kizlar-Aga led them down to the gate. A cart drawn by two oxen
+was standing there, and the top of it was covered with a mat of rushes.
+He drew aside a corner of this mat, and by the uncertain light of dawn
+they saw before them three corpses, the Kiaja's, the Kapudan's, and the
+Grand Vizier's.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Happy Gül-Bejáze sits in Halil's lap and dreamily allows herself to be
+cradled in his arms. Through the windows of the splendid palace
+penetrate the shouts of triumph which hail Halil as Lord, for the
+moment, of the city of Stambul and the whole Ottoman Empire.
+
+Gül-Bejáze tremulously whispers in Halil's ear how much she would prefer
+to dwell in a simple, lonely little hut in Anatolia instead of there in
+that splendid palace.
+
+Halil smooths away the luxuriant locks from his wife's forehead, and
+makes her tell him once more the full tale of all those revolting
+incidents which befell her in the Seraglio, in the captivity of the
+Kapudan's house, and in the dungeon for dishonourable women. Why should
+he keep on arousing hatred and vengeance?
+
+The woman told him everything with a shudder. At her husband's feet,
+right in front of them, stood three baskets full of flowers. Halil had
+given them to her as a present.
+
+But at the bottom of the baskets were still more precious gifts.
+
+He draws forward the first basket and sweeps away the flowers. A bloody
+head is at the bottom of the basket.
+
+"Whose is that?"
+
+Gül-Bejáze, all shuddering, lisped the name of Abdi Pasha.
+
+He cast away the flowers from the second basket, there also was a bloody
+head.
+
+"And whose is that?"
+
+"That is the Kiaja Beg's," sobbed the terrified girl.
+
+And now Halil brought forward the third basket, and dashing aside from
+it the fresh flowers, revealed to the eyes of Gül-Bejáze a grey head
+with a white beard, which lay with closed eyes at the bottom of the
+basket.
+
+"Whose is that?" inquired Halil.
+
+Gül-Bejáze's tender frame shivered in the arms of the strong man who
+held her, as he compelled her to gaze at the bloody heads. And when she
+regarded the third head she shook her own in amazement.
+
+"I do not know that one."
+
+"Not know it! Look again and more carefully. Perchance Death has changed
+the expression of the features. That is Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier."
+
+Gül-Bejáze regarded her husband with eyes wide-open with astonishment,
+and then hastened to reply:
+
+"Truly it _is_ Damad Ibrahim. Of course, of course. Death hath
+disfigured his face so that I scarce knew it."
+
+"Did I not tell thee that thou shouldst make sport with the heads of
+those who made sport with thy heart? Dost thou want yet more?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, Halil. I am afraid of these also. I am afraid to look upon
+these dumb heads."
+
+"Then cover them over with flowers, and thou wilt believe thou dost see
+flower-baskets before thee."
+
+"Let me have them buried, Halil. Do not make me fear thee also. Thou
+wouldst have me go on loving thee, wouldst thou not? If only thou
+wouldst come with me to Anatolia, where nobody would know anything about
+us!"
+
+"What dost thou say? Go away now when the very sun cannot set because of
+me, and men cannot sleep because of the sound of my name? Dost not thou
+also feel a desire to bathe in all this glory?"
+
+"Oh, Halil! the rose and the palm grow up together out of the same
+earth, and yet the palm grows into greatness while the rose remains
+quite tiny. Suffer me but gently to crouch beside thee, dispense but thy
+love to me, and keep thy glory to thyself."
+
+Halil tenderly embraced and kissed the woman, and buried the three
+baskets as she desired in the palace garden beneath three wide-spreading
+rosemary bushes.
+
+Then he took leave of Gül-Bejáze, for deputies from the people now
+waited upon their leader, and begged him to accompany them to the mosque
+of Zuleima, where the Sultan's envoys were already waiting for an
+answer.
+
+In order to get to the mosque more easily and avoid the labour of
+forcing his way through the crowd that thronged the streets, Halil
+hastened to the water side, got into the first skiff he met with, and
+bade the sailor row him across to the Zuleima Mosque on the other side.
+
+On the way his gaze fell upon the face of the sailor who was sitting
+opposite to him. It was a grey-bearded old man.
+
+"What is thy name, worthy old man?" inquired Halil.
+
+"My name is Manoli, your Excellency."
+
+"Call me not Excellency! Dost thou not perceive from my raiment that I
+am nothing but a common Janissary?"
+
+"Oh! I know thee better than that. Thou art Halil Patrona, whom may
+Allah long preserve!"
+
+"Thou also dost seem very familiar to me. Thou hast just such a white
+beard as had Damad Ibrahim who was once Grand Vizier."
+
+"I have often heard people say so, my master."
+
+On arriving opposite the Zuleima Mosque, the boatman brought the skiff
+ashore. Halil pressed a golden denarius into the old man's palm, the old
+man kissed his hand for it.
+
+Then for a long time Halil gazed into the old man's face.
+
+"Manoli!"
+
+"At thy command, my master."
+
+"Thou seest the sun rising up yonder behind the hills?"
+
+"Yes, my master."
+
+"Before the shadows return to the side of yon hills take care to be well
+behind them, and let not another dawn find thee in this city!"
+
+The boatman bent low with his arms folded across his breast, then he
+disappeared in his skiff.
+
+But Halil Patrona hastened into the mosque.
+
+The Sultan's ambassadors were awaiting him. Sheik Suleiman came forward.
+
+"Halil!" said he, "the bodies of the three dead men I have given to the
+people and their heads I have sent to thee."
+
+"Who were they?" asked Halil darkly.
+
+"The first was the corpse of the Kiaja Beg, his body was cast upon the
+cross-ways through the Etmeidan Gate."
+
+"And the second?"
+
+"The Kapudan Pasha, his body was flung down in front of the fountains of
+Khir-Kheri."
+
+"And the third?"
+
+"Damad Ibrahim, the Grand Vizier. His body we flung out into the piazza
+in front of the Seraglio, at the foot of the very fountains which he
+himself caused to be built."
+
+Halil Patrona cast a searching look at the Sheik's face, and coldly
+replied:
+
+"Know then, oh, Sheik Suleiman, that thou liest, the third corpse was
+_not_ the body of Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier. It was the body of a
+sailor named Manoli, who greatly resembled him, and sacrificed himself
+in Damad's behalf. But the Grand Vizier has escaped and none can tell
+where he is. Go now, and tell that to those who sent thee hither!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN.
+
+
+The dead bodies of the victims were still lying in the streets when
+Sultan Achmed summoned the Ulemas to the cupolaed chamber. His
+countenance was dejected and sad.
+
+Before coming to the council-chamber he had kissed all his children, one
+by one, and when it came to the turn of his little ten-year-old child,
+Bajazid, he saw that the little fellow's eyes were full of tears and he
+inquired the reason why. The child replied:
+
+"Father, it is well with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them
+that love thee. What then will be our fate who love thee best of all?
+Amongst the wives of our brethren thou wilt find more than one in grey
+mourning weeds. Look, I prythee, at the face of Ummettulah; look at the
+eyes of Sabiha, and the appearance of Ezma. They are all of them widows
+and orphans, and it is thou who hast caused their fathers and husbands
+to be slain."
+
+"To save thee I have done it," stammered Achmed, pressing the child to
+his breast.
+
+"Thou wilt see that thou shalt not save us after all," sighed Bajazid.
+
+In the years to come these words were to be as an eternal echo in the
+ears of Achmed.
+
+So he sat on his throne and the Ulemas took their places around him on
+the divans covered with kordofan leather. Opposite to him sat the chief
+imam, Ispirizade. Sulali sat beside him.
+
+"Lo, the blood of the victims has now been poured forth," said Achmed in
+a gloomy, tremulous voice, "I have sacrificed my most faithful servants.
+Speak! What more do the rebels require? Why do they still blow their
+field trumpets? Why do they still kindle their bivouac fires? What more
+do they want?"
+
+And the words of his little son rang constantly in his ears: "It is well
+with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them that love thee."
+
+No one replied to the words of the Sultan.
+
+"Answer, I say! What think ye concerning the matter?"
+
+Once more deep silence prevailed. The Ulemas looked at one another. Many
+of them began to nudge Sulali, who stood up as if to speak, but
+immediately sat down again without opening his mouth.
+
+"Speak, I pray you! I have not called you hither to look at me and at
+one another, but to give answers to my questions."
+
+And still the Ulemas kept silence. Dumbly they sat around as if they
+were not living men but only embalmed corpses, such as are to be found
+in the funeral vaults of the Pharaohs grouped around the royal tombs.
+
+"'Tis wondrous indeed!" said Achmed, when the whole Council had remained
+dumb for more than a quarter of an hour. "Are ye all struck dumb then
+that ye give me no answer?"
+
+Then at last Ispirizade rose from his place.
+
+"Achmed!" he began--with such discourteous curtness did he address the
+Sultan!
+
+"Achmed! 'tis the wish of Halil Patrona that thou descend from the
+throne and give it up to Sultan Mahmud...."
+
+Achmed sat bolt upright in his chair. After the words just uttered every
+voice in the council-chamber was mute, and in the midst of this dreadful
+silence the Ulemas were terrified to behold the Padishah stand on the
+steps of the throne, extend his arm towards the imam, fix his eyes
+steadily upon him, and open his lips from which never a word proceeded.
+
+Thus for a long time he stood upon the throne with hand outstretched and
+parted lips, and his stony eyes fixed steadily upon the imam, and those
+who saw it were convulsed by a feeling of horror, and Ispirizade felt
+his limbs turn to stone and the light of day grow dim before his eyes
+in the presence of that dreadful figure which regarded him and pointed
+at him. It was, as it were, a dumb curse--a dumb, overpowering spell,
+which left it to God and His destroying angels to give expression to his
+wishes, and read in his heart and accomplish that which he himself was
+incapable of pronouncing.
+
+The whole trembling assembly collapsed before the Sultan's throne,
+crawled to his feet and, moistening them with their tears, exclaimed:
+
+"Pardon, O master! pardon!"
+
+An hour before they had unanimously resolved that Achmed must be made to
+abdicate, and now they unanimously begged for pardon. But the deed had
+already been done.
+
+The hand of the Padishah that had been raised to curse sank slowly down
+again, his eyes half closed, his lips were pressed tightly together, he
+thrust his hands into the girdle of his mantle, looked down for a long
+time upon the Ulemas, and then quietly descended the steps of the
+throne. On reaching the pavement he remained standing by the side of the
+throne, and cried in a hollow tremulous voice:
+
+"I have ceased to reign, let a better than I take my place. I demand but
+one thing, let those who are at this moment the lords of the dominion of
+Osman swear that they will do no harm to my children. Let them swear it
+to me on the Alkoran. Take two from amongst you and let them convey my
+desire to Halil."
+
+Again a deep silence followed upon Achmed's words. The Ulemas fixed
+their gaze upon the ground, not one of them moved or made even a show of
+conveying the message.
+
+"Perhaps, then, ye wish the death of my children also? Or is there not
+one of you with courage enough to go and speak to them?"
+
+A very aged, tremulous, half paralyzed Ulema was there among them, the
+dervish Mohammed, and he it was who at length ventured to speak.
+
+"Oh, my master! who is valiant enough to speak with a raging lion, who
+hath wit enough to come to terms with the burning tempest of the Samum,
+or who would venture to go on an embassy to the tempest-tost sea and
+bandy words therewith?"
+
+Achmed gazed darkly, doubtfully upon the Ulema, and his face wore an
+expression of repressed despair.
+
+Sulali had compassion on the Sultan.
+
+"I will go to them," he said reassuringly; "remain here, oh, my master,
+till I return. Of a truth I tell thee that I will not come back till
+they have sworn to do what thou desirest."
+
+And now Ispirizade said that he also would go with Sulali. He had not
+sufficient strength of mind to endure the gaze of the Sultan till
+Sulali should return. Far rather would he go with him also to the
+rebels. Besides they already understood each other very well.
+
+The envoys found Halil sitting under his tent in the Etmeidan.
+
+Sulali drew near to him and delivered the message of the Sultan.
+
+But he did not deliver it in the words of Achmed. He neither begged nor
+implored, nor mingled his request with bitter lamentations as Achmed had
+done, but he spoke boldly and sternly, without picking his words, as
+Achmed ought to have done.
+
+"The Padishah would have his own life and the lives of his children
+guaranteed by oath," said he to the assembled leaders of the people.
+"Swear, therefore, on the Alkoran that you will respect them, and swear
+it in the names of your comrades likewise. The Padishah is resolved that
+if you refuse to take this oath he will blow up the Seraglio and every
+living soul within it into the air with gunpowder."
+
+The rebels were impressed by this message, only Halil Patrona smiled. He
+knew very well that such a threat as this never arose in the breast of
+Achmed. His gentle soul was incapable of such a thing. So he folded his
+arms across his breast and smiled.
+
+Then the chief imam fell down in the dust before him, and said in a
+humble voice:
+
+"Listen not, O Halil, to the words of my companion. The Padishah humbly
+implores you for his life and the lives of his children."
+
+Halil wrinkled his brow and exclaimed angrily:
+
+"Rise up, Ulema, grovel not before me in the name of the Sultan. Those
+who would slay him deal not half so badly with them as thou who dost
+humiliate him. Sulali is right. The Sultan is capable of great deeds. I
+know that the cellars of the Seraglio are full of gunpowder, and I would
+not that the blossoms of the Sheik-ul-Islam and the descendants of the
+Prophet should perish. Behold, I am ready, and my comrades also, to
+swear on the Alkoran to do no harm either to Sultan Achmed, or his sons,
+or his daughters, or his daughters' husbands. Whosoever shall raise his
+hand against them his head I myself will cut in twain, and make the
+avenging Angels of Allah split his soul in twain also, so that each half
+may never again find its fellow. Go back and peace rest upon Achmed."
+
+Sulali flew back with the message, but Ispirizade hastened to the Aja
+Sophia mosque to give directions for the enthronement of the new Sultan.
+
+Meanwhile Achmed had assembled his sons around him in the cupolaed
+chamber, and sitting down on the last step of the throne made them take
+their places round his feet, and awaited the message which was to bear
+the issues of life and death.
+
+Sulali entered the room with a radiant countenance, carrying in his hand
+the copy of the Alkoran, on which Halil and his associates had sworn the
+oath required of them. He laid it at the Sultan's feet.
+
+"Live for ever, oh, Sultan!" he cried, "and may thy heart rejoice in the
+prosperity of thy children!"
+
+Achmed looked up with a face full of gratitude, and thanked Allah, the
+Giver of all good and perfect gifts.
+
+His children embraced him with tears in their eyes, and Achmed did not
+forget to extend his hand to Sulali, who first raised it to his forehead
+and then pressed it to his lips.
+
+Then Achmed sent the Kizlar-Aga for Sultan Mahmud, surnamed "the White
+Prince," from the pallor of his face, to summon him to his presence.
+
+Half an hour later, accompanied by Elhaj Beshir, Prince Mahmud arrived.
+He was the son of Mustapha II., who had renounced the throne in favour
+of Achmed just as Achmed was now resigning the throne in favour of
+Mahmud.
+
+The Sultan arose, hastened towards him, embraced him, and kissed him on
+the forehead.
+
+"The people desire thee to ascend the throne. Be merciful to my children
+just as I was merciful to thy father's children."
+
+Sultan Mahmud did obeisance to his uncle, and seizing his hand, as if it
+were worthy of all honour, reverently kissed it.
+
+Then Achmed beckoned to his sons, and one by one they approached Mahmud,
+and kissed his hand. And all the time the Ulemas remained prostrate on
+the ground around them.
+
+Then Achmed took the new sovereign by the right hand, and personally
+conducted him into the chamber of the Mantle of the Prophet. There,
+standing in front of the throne, he took from his hand the diamond
+clasp, the symbol of dominion, and with his own hand fastened it to the
+turban of the new Sultan, and placing his hand upon his head, solemnly
+blessed him.
+
+"Rule and prosper! May those thou lovest love thee also, and may those
+that thou hatest fear thee. Be glorious and powerful while thou livest,
+and may men bless thy name and magnify thy memory when thou art dead!"
+
+Then Achmed and his children thrice did obeisance to Mahmud, whereupon
+taking his two youngest sons by the hand, with a calm and quiet dignity,
+he quitted the halls of dominion which he was never to behold again,
+abandoning, one after another, every single thing which had hitherto
+been so dear to him.
+
+In the Hall of Audience he gave up the Sword of the Prophet to the
+Silihdar, who unbuckled it from his body, and when he came to the door
+leading to the harem he handed over his children to the Kizlar-Aga,
+telling him to greet the Sultana Asseki in his name, and bid her
+remember him and teach his little children their father's name.
+
+For henceforth he will see no more his sharp sword, or the fair Adsalis,
+or the other dear damsels, or his darling children. He must remain for
+ever far away from them behind the walls of a dungeon. A deposed Sultan
+has nought whatever to do with swords or wives or children. The same
+fate befell Mustapha II. six-and-twenty years before. He also had to
+part with his sword, his wives, and his children in just the same way.
+And this Achmed had good cause to remember, for then it was that he
+ascended the throne. And now he, in his turn, descended from the throne,
+and now that had happened to him for his successor's sake which had
+happened to his predecessor for his sake.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the great men of the realm bowed their heads to the ground before
+Sultan Mahmud and did him homage.
+
+The long procession of those who came to do him obeisance filled all the
+apartments of the Seraglio and lasted till midnight. The whole Court
+bent head and knee before the new Sultan, and the chief officers of
+state, the clergy, and the eunuchs followed suit. Only the captains of
+the host and Halil Patrona still remained behind.
+
+Hastily written letters were dispatched to all the captains and to all
+the rebels, informing them that Sultan Achmed had been deposed and
+Sultan Mahmud was reigning in his stead; let them all come, therefore,
+at dawn of day next morning and do homage to the new Padishah.
+
+The moon had long been high in the heavens and was shining through the
+coloured windows of the Seraglio when the magnates withdrew and Mahmud
+remained alone.
+
+Only the Kizlar-Aga awaited his pleasure--the Kizlar-Aga whose sooty
+face seemed to cast a black shadow upon itself.
+
+Mahmud extended his hand to him with a smile that he might kiss it.
+
+And then Elhaj Beshir conducted him to the door of those secret
+apartments within which bloom the flowers of bliss and rapture, and
+throwing it open bent low while the new Sultan passed through.
+
+Only three among the peris of loveliness had preferred eternal loveless
+slavery to the favours of the new Padishah, and among those who smiled
+upon the young Sultan as he entered the room, the one who had the
+happiest, the most radiant face, was the fair Adsalis, who still
+remained the favourite wife, the Sultana Asseki, even after the great
+revolution which had turned the whole Empire upside down and made the
+least to be the greatest and the greatest to stand lowest of all.
+
+Among so many smiling faces hers was the one towards which the
+tremulously happy and enraptured Sultan hastened full of tender
+infatuation; she it was whom he raised to his breast and in whose arms
+he soothed himself with dreams of glory, while she stifled his anxieties
+with her kisses.
+
+Everything was asleep in the Halls of Felicity, only Love was still
+awake. Mahmud, forgetful alike of himself and his empire, pressed to his
+bosom his dear enchanting Sultana, the most precious of all the
+treasures he had won that day; but the fair Sultana shuddered from time
+to time in the midst of his burning embrace. It seemed to her as if
+someone was standing behind her back, sobbing and sighing and touching
+her warm bosom with his cold fingers.
+
+Perchance she could hear the sighing and the sobbing of him who lay
+sleepless far, far below that bower of rapture, in one of the cold
+vaults of the Place of Oblivion, thinking of his lost Empire and his
+lost Eden!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Early next morning the chief captains of the host, the Bashas and the
+Sheiks, appeared in the Seraglio to greet the new Sultan. It was only
+the leaders of the rebels who did not come.
+
+Ever since Sulali had frightened the insurgents by telling them that the
+cellars of the Seraglio were full of gunpowder, they did not so much as
+venture to draw near it, and when the public criers recited the
+invitation of Mahmud in front of the mosques, thousands and thousands of
+voices shouted as if from one throat:
+
+"We will not come!"
+
+Not one of them would listen to the invitation from the Seraglio.
+
+"It is a mere ruse," observed the wise Reis-Effendi. "They only want to
+entice us into a mouse-trap to crush us all at a blow like flies caught
+in honey."
+
+"A short cut into Paradise that would be," scornfully observed Orli,
+who, despite his office of softa, did not hesitate to speak
+disrespectfully even of Paradise, whither every true believer ought
+joyfully to hasten.
+
+Last of all "crazy" Ibrahim gave them a piece of advice.
+
+"'Twill be best," said he, "to gather together from among us our least
+useful members--any murderers there may happen to be, or escaped
+gaol-birds for instance; call them Halil, Musli, and Suleiman, deck them
+out in the garments of Agas, Begs, and Ulemas, and send them to the
+Seraglio. Then, if we see them return to us safe and sound, we can, of
+course, go ourselves."
+
+This crazy counsel instantly met with general applause. Everyone
+approved of it, of that there could be no doubt.
+
+Halil Patrona regarded them all in contemptuous silence. Only when
+"crazy" Ibrahim's proposal had been resolved upon did he stand up and
+say:
+
+"I myself will go to the Seraglio."
+
+Some of them regarded him with amazement, others laughed. Musli clapped
+his hands together in his desperation.
+
+"Halil! dost thou dream or art thou beside thyself? Dost thou imagine
+thyself to be one of the Princes of the Thousand and One Nights who can
+hew his way through monsters and spectres, or art thou wearied of
+beholding the sun from afar and must needs go close up to him?"
+
+"'Tis no concern of thine what I do, and if I am not afraid what need is
+there for thee to be afraid on my account?"
+
+"But, prythee, bethink thee, Halil! It would be a much more sensible
+jest on thy part to leap into the den of a lioness suckling her young;
+and thou wouldst be a much wiser man if thou wert to adventure thyself
+in the sulphur holes of Balsorah, or cause thyself to be let down, for
+the sake of a bet, into the coral-beds at the bottom of the Sea of
+Candia to pick up a bronze asper,[2] instead of going to the Seraglio
+where there are now none but thine enemies, and where the very
+atmosphere and the spider crawling down the wall is venomous to thee and
+thy deadly enemy."
+
+"They may kill me," cried Halil, striking his bosom with both hands and
+boldly stepping forward--"they may kill me it is true, but they shall
+never be able to say that I was afraid of them. They may tear my limbs
+to pieces, but when it comes to be recorded in the Chronicles that the
+rabble of Constantinople were cowards, it shall be recorded at the same
+time that, nevertheless, there was one man among them who could not only
+talk about death but could look it fairly between the eyes when it
+appeared before him."
+
+"Listen, Halil! I and many more like me are capable of looking into the
+very throat of loaded cannons. Many is the time, too, that I have seen
+sharp swords drawn against me, and no lance that ever hath left the
+smith's hand can boast that I have so much as winked an eye before its
+glittering point. But what is the use of valour in a place where you
+know that the very ground beneath your feet has Hell beneath it, and it
+only needs a spark no bigger than that which flashes from a man's eye
+when he has received a buffet, and we shall all fly into the air. Why,
+even if both our hands were full of swords and pistols, not one of them
+could protect us--so who would wish to be brave there?"
+
+"Have I invited thee to come? Did I not say that I would go alone?"
+
+"But we won't let thee go. What art thou thinking about? If they destroy
+thee there we shall be without a leader, and we shall fall to pieces and
+perish like the rush-roof of a cottage when the joists are suddenly
+pulled from beneath it. And thou thyself wilt be a laughing-stock to the
+people, like the cock of the fairy tale who spitted and roasted
+himself."
+
+"That will never happen," said Halil, unbuckling his sword (for no
+weapon may enter the Seraglio) and handing it to Musli; "take care of it
+for me till I return, and if I do not return it will be something to
+remember me by."
+
+"Then thou art really resolved to go?" inquired Musli. "Well, in that
+case, I will go too."
+
+At these words the others also began to bestir themselves, and when
+they saw that Halil really was not joking, they accompanied him right up
+to the Seraglio. Into it indeed they did not go; but, anyhow, they
+surrounded the huge building which forms a whole quarter of the city by
+itself, and as soon as they saw Halil pass through the Seraglio gates
+they set up a terrific shout.
+
+Alone, unarmed, and without an escort, the rebel leader passed through
+the strange, unfamiliar rooms, and at every door armed resplendent
+sentries made way before him, closing up again, with pikes crossed,
+before every door when he had passed through them.
+
+On reaching the Hall of Audience, a couple of Kapu-Agasis seized him by
+the arm, and led him into the Cupola Chamber where Sultan Mahmud
+received those who came to render homage.
+
+In all the rooms was that extraordinary pomp which is only to be seen on
+the day when a new Sultan has ascended the throne. The very
+ante-chamber, "The Mat-Room," as it is called, because of the variegated
+straw-mats with which it is usually covered, was now spread over with
+costly Persian carpets. The floor of the Cupola Chamber looked like a
+flower-bed. Its rich pile carpets were splendidly embroidered with gold,
+silver, and silken flowers of a thousand hues, interspersed with wreaths
+of pearls. At the foot of a sofa placed on an elevated daďs glistened a
+coverlet of pure pearls. On each side of this sofa stood a little round
+writing-table inlaid with gold. On one of these tables lay an open
+portfolio encrusted with precious stones and writing materials flashing
+with rubies and emeralds; on the other lay a copy of the Alkoran, bound
+in black velvet and studded with rose brilliants. Another copy of the
+Alkoran lay open on a smaller table, written in the Talik script in
+letters of gold, cinnabar, and ultramarine; and there were twelve other
+Korans on just as many other tables, with gold clasps and
+pearl-embroidered bindings. On both sides of the fire-place, on stands
+that were masterpieces of carving, were heaped up the gala mantles
+exhibited on such occasions; and side by side, along the wall, on raised
+alabaster pedestals were nine clocks embellished with figures, each more
+ingenious than the other, which moved and played music every time the
+hour struck. Four large Venetian mirrors multiplied the extravagant
+splendours of the stately room.
+
+Around the room on divans sat the chief dignitaries of the Empire, the
+viziers, the secretaries, the presenters of petitions according to rank,
+in splendid robes, and with round, pyramidal or beehive-shaped turbans
+according to the nature of their office.
+
+Yet all this pomp was utterly eclipsed by the splendour which radiated
+from the new Padishah; he seemed enveloped in a shower of pearls and
+diamonds. Whichever way he turned the roses embroidered on his dress,
+the girdle which encircled his loins, the clasp of his turban, and every
+weapon about him seemed to scatter rainbow sparks, so that those who
+gazed at him were dazzled into blindness before they could catch a
+glimpse of his face.
+
+Behind the back of the throne, flashing with carbuncles as large as
+nuts, stood a whole army of ministering servants with their heads
+plunged deep in their girdles.
+
+It was into this room that Halil entered.
+
+On the threshold his two conductors released his arm, and Halil advanced
+alone towards the Padishah.
+
+His face was not a whit the paler than at other times, he stepped forth
+as boldly and gazed around him as confidently as ever.
+
+His dress, too, was just the same as hitherto--a simple Janissary
+mantle, a blue dolman with divided sleeves, without any ornament, a
+short salavari, or jerkin, reaching to the knee, leaving the lower part
+of the legs bare, and the familiar roundish kuka on his head.
+
+As he passed through the long apartment he cast a glance upon the
+dignitaries sitting around the throne, and there was not one among them
+who could withstand the fire of his gaze. With head erect he advanced
+in front of the Sultan, and placing his muscular, half-naked foot on the
+footstool before the throne stood there, for a moment, like a figure
+cast in bronze, a crying contrast to all this tremulous pomp and
+obsequious splendour. Then he raised his hand to his head, and greeted
+the Sultan in a strong sonorous voice:
+
+"Aleikum unallah! The grace of God be upon thee!"
+
+Then folding his hands across his breast he flung himself down before
+the throne, pressing his forehead against its steps.
+
+Mahmud descended towards him, and raised him from the ground with his
+own hand.
+
+"Speak! what can I do for thee?" he asked with condescension.
+
+"My wishes have already been fulfilled," said Halil, and every word he
+then uttered was duly recorded by the chronicler. "It was my wish that
+the sword of Mahomet should pass into worthy hands; behold it is
+accomplished, thou dost sit on the throne to which I have raised thee. I
+know right well what is the usual reward for such services--a shameful
+death awaits me."
+
+Mahmud passionately interrupted him.
+
+"And I swear to thee by my ancestors that no harm shall befall thee.
+Ask thine own reward, and it shall be granted thee before thou hast yet
+made an end of preferring thy request."
+
+Halil reflected for a moment, and all the time his gaze rested calmly on
+the faces of the dignitaries sitting before him. His gaze passed down
+the whole row of them, and he took them all in one by one. Everyone of
+them believed that he was seeking a victim whose place he coveted. The
+rebel leader read this thought plainly in the faces of the dignitaries.
+Once more he ran his eyes over them, then he spoke.
+
+"Glorious Padishah! as the merit of thy elevation belongeth not to me
+but to thy people, let the reward be theirs whose is the merit. A heavy
+burden oppresses thy slaves, and the name of that burden is Malikane. It
+is the farming out of the taxes for the lives of the holders thereof
+which puts money into the pockets of the high officers of state and the
+pashas, so that the Sublime Porte derives no benefit therefrom. Abolish,
+O Padishah, this farming out of the revenue, so that the destiny of the
+people may be in thy hands alone, and not in the hands of these rich
+usurers!"
+
+And with these words he waved his hand defiantly in the direction of the
+viziers and the magnates.
+
+Deep silence fell upon them. Through the closed doors resounded the
+tempestuous roar of the multitudes assembled around the Seraglio. Those
+within it trembled, and Halil Patrona stood there among them like an
+enchanter who knows that he is invulnerable, immortal.
+
+But the Sultan immediately commanded the Ciaus Aga to proclaim to the
+people with a trumpet-blast at the gates of the Seraglio, that at the
+desire of Halil Patrona the Malikane was from this day forth abolished.
+
+The shout which arose the next moment and made the very walls of the
+Seraglio tremble was ample evidence of the profound impression which
+this announcement made.
+
+"And now place thyself at the head of thy host," said Halil, "accept the
+invitation of thy people to go to the Ejub mosque, in order that the
+Silihdars may gird thee with the Sword of the Prophet according to
+ancient custom."
+
+The Sultan thereupon caused it to be announced that in an hour's time he
+would proceed to the mosque of Ejub, there to be girded with the Sword
+of the Prophet.
+
+With a shout of joy the people pressed towards the mosque in their
+thousands, crowding all the streets and all the house-tops between the
+mosque and the Seraglio. The cannons of the Bosphorus sent thundering
+messages to the distant mountains of the joy of Stambul, and an hour
+later, to the sound of martial music, Mahmud held his triumphal progress
+through the streets of his capital on horseback; and the people waved
+rich tapestries at him from the house-tops and scattered flowers in his
+path. Behind him came radiant knightly viziers and nobles, and venerable
+councillors in splendid apparel on gorgeous full bloods; but in front of
+him walked two men alone, Halil Patrona and Musli, both in plain, simple
+garments, with naked calves, on their heads small round turbans, and
+with drawn swords in their hands as is the wont of the common
+Janissaries when on the march.
+
+And the people sitting on the house-tops shouted the name of Halil just
+as often and just as loudly as they shouted the name of Mahmud.
+
+The firing of the last salvo announced that the Sultan had arrived at
+the Ejub mosque.
+
+Ispirizade, the chief imam of the Aja Sophia mosque, already awaited
+him. He had asked Halil as a favour that he might bless the new Sultan,
+and Halil had granted his request. Since he had ventured into the
+Seraglio everyone had obeyed his words. The people now whispered
+everywhere that the Sultan was doing everything which Halil Patrona
+demanded.
+
+Ispirizade had already mounted the lofty pulpit when Mahmud and his
+suite took their places on the lofty daďs set apart for them.
+
+The chief priest's face was radiant with triumph. He extended his hands
+above his head and thrice pronounced the name of Allah. And when he had
+thus thrice called upon the name of God, his lips suddenly grew dumb,
+and there for a few moments he stood stiffly, with his hands raised
+towards Heaven and wide open eyes, and then he suddenly fell down dead
+from the pulpit.
+
+"'Tis the dumb curse of Achmed!" whispered the awe-stricken spectators
+to one another.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] Farthing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FEAST OF HALWET.
+
+
+The surgujal--the turban with the triple gold circlet--was on the head
+of Mahmud, but the sword, the sword of dominion, was in the hand of
+Halil Patrona. The people whose darling he had become were accustomed to
+regard him as their go-between in their petty affairs, the host trembled
+before him, and the magnates fawned upon him for favour.
+
+In the Osman nation there is no hereditary nobility, everyone there has
+risen to the highest places by his sword or his luck. Every single Grand
+Vizier and Kapudan Pasha has a nickname which points to his lowly
+origin; this one was a woodcutter, that one a stone-mason, that other
+one a fisherman. Therefore a Mohammedan never looks down upon the most
+abject of his co-religionists, for he knows very well that if he himself
+happens to be uppermost to-day and the other undermost, by to-morrow the
+whole world may have turned upside down, and this last may have become
+the first.
+
+So now also a petty huckster rules the realm, and Sultan Mahmud has
+nothing to think about but his fair women. Who can tell whether any one
+of us would not have done likewise? Suppose a man to have been kept in
+rigorous, joyless servitude for twenty years, and then suddenly to be
+confronted with the alternative--"reign over hearts or over an
+empire"--would he not perhaps have chosen the hearts instead of the
+empire for his portion?
+
+At the desire of the beauteous Sultana Asseki the insurrection of the
+people had no sooner subsided than the Sultan ordered the Halwet
+Festival to be celebrated.
+
+The Halwet Festival is the special feast of women, when nobody but
+womankind is permitted to walk about the streets, and this blissful day
+may come to pass twice or thrice in the course of the year.
+
+On the evening before, it is announced by the blowing of horns that the
+morrow will be the Feast of Halwet. On that day no man, of whatever
+rank, may come forth in the streets, or appear on the roof of a house,
+or show himself at a window, for death would be the penalty of his
+curiosity. The black and white eunuchs keeping order in the streets
+decapitate without mercy every man who does not remain indoors. Notices
+that this will be done are posted up on all the boundary-posts in the
+suburbs of the city, that strangers may regulate their conduct
+accordingly.
+
+On the day of the feast of Halwet all the damsels discard their veils,
+without which at all other times they are not permitted to walk about
+the streets. Then it is that the odalisks of one harem go forth to call
+upon the odalisks of another. Rows upon rows of brightly variegated
+tents appear in the midst of the streets and market-places, in which
+sherbet and other beverages made of violets, cane-sugar, rose-water,
+pressed raisins, and citron juice, together with sweetmeats,
+honey-cakes, and such-like delicacies, to which women are so partial,
+are sold openly, and all the sellers are also women.
+
+Ah! what a spectacle that would be for the eyes of a man! Every street
+is swarming with thousands and thousands of bewitching shapes. These
+women, released from their prisons, are like so many gay and thoughtless
+children. Group after group, singing to the notes of the cithern,
+saunter along the public ways, decked out in gorgeous butterfly apparel,
+which flutter around their limbs like gaily coloured wings. The suns and
+stars of every climate flash and sparkle in those eyes. The whole
+gigantic city resounds with merry songs and musical chatter, and any man
+who could have seen them tripping along in whole lines might have
+exclaimed in despair: "Why have I not a hundred, why have I not a
+thousand hearts to give away!"
+
+And then when the harem of the Sultan proudly paces forth! Half a
+thousand odalisks, the lovelinesses of every province in the Empire, for
+whom the youths of whole districts have raved in vain, in garments
+radiant with pearls and precious stones, mounted on splendid prancing
+steeds gaily caparisoned. And in the midst of them all the beautiful
+Sultana, with the silver heron's plume in her turban, whose stem flashes
+with sparkling diamonds. Her glorious figure is protected by a garment
+of fine lace, scarce concealing the snowy shimmer of her well-rounded
+arms. She sits upon the tiger-skin saddle of her haughty steed like an
+Amazon. The regard of her flashing eyes seems to proclaim her the tyrant
+of two Sultans, who has the right to say: "I am indeed my husband's
+consort!"
+
+In front and on each side of the fairy band march four hundred black
+eunuchs, with naked broadswords across their shoulders, looking up at
+the windows of the houses before which they march to see whether,
+perchance, any inquisitive Peeping-Toms are lurking there.
+
+Dancing and singing, this bevy of peris traverses the principal streets
+of Stambul. Every now and then, a short sharp wail or scream may be
+heard round the corner of the street the procession is approaching: the
+eunuchs marching in front have got hold of some inquisitive man or
+other. By the time the radiant cortčge has reached the spot, only a few
+bloodstains are visible in the street, and, dancing and singing, the
+fair company of damsels passes over it and beyond. Scarce anyone would
+believe that those wails and screams did not form part and parcel of the
+all-pervading cries of joy.
+
+Meanwhile in the Etmeidan a much more free-and-easy sort of
+entertainment is taking place. The women of the lower orders are there
+diverting themselves in gaily adorned tents, where they can buy as much
+mead as they can drink, and in the midst of the piazza on round,
+outspread carpets dance the bayaderes of the streets, whom Sultan Achmed
+had once collected together and locked up in a dungeon where they had
+remained till the popular rising set them free again. In their hands
+they hold their nakaras (timbrels), clashing them together above their
+heads as they whirl around; on their feet are bronze bangles; and their
+long tresses and their light bulging garments flutter around them,
+whilst with wild gesticulations they dance the most audacious of dances,
+compared with whose voluptuous movements the passion of the fiercest
+Spanish bailarina is almost tame and spiritless.
+
+Suddenly one of these street dancing-girls scream aloud to her
+companions in the midst of the mazy dance, bringing them suddenly to a
+standstill.
+
+"Look, look!" she cried, "there comes Gül-Bejáze! Gül-Bejáze, the wife
+of Halil Patrona."
+
+"Gül-Bejáze! Gül-Bejáze!" resound suddenly on every side. The bayaderes
+recognise the woman who had been shut up with them in the same dungeon,
+surround her, begin to kiss her feet and her garments, raise her up in
+their arms on to their shoulders, and so exhibit her to all the women
+assembled together on the piazza.
+
+"Yonder is the wife of Halil Patrona!" they cry, and Rumour quickly
+flies with the news all through the city. Everyone of the bayaderes
+dancing among the people has something to say in praise of her. Some of
+them she had cared for in sickness, others she had comforted in their
+distress, to all of them she had been kind and gentle. And then, too, it
+was she who had restored them their liberty, for was it not on her
+account that Halil Patrona had set them all free?
+
+Everyone hastened up to her. The poor thing could not escape from the
+clamorous enthusiasm of the sturdy muscular fish-wives and bathing women
+who, in their turn also, raised her upon their shoulders and carried her
+about, finally resolving to carry her all the way home for the honour
+of the thing. So for Halil Patrona's palace they set off with Gül-Bejáze
+on their shoulders, she all the time vainly imploring them to put her
+down that she might hide away among the crowd and disappear, for she
+feared, she trembled at, the honour they did her. From street to street
+they carried her, whirling along with them in a torrent of drunken
+enthusiasm everyone they chanced to fall in with on the way; and before
+them went the cry that the woman whom the others were carrying on their
+shoulders was the wife of Halil Patrona, the fęted leader of the people,
+and ever denser and more violent grew the crowd. Any smaller groups they
+might happen to meet were swept along with them. Now and then they
+encountered the harems of the greatest dignitaries, such as pashas and
+beglerbegs. It was all one, the august and exalted ladies had also to
+follow in the suite of the wife of Halil Patrona, the most powerful man
+in the realm, whose wife was the gentlest lady under Heaven.
+
+Suddenly, just as they were about to turn into the great square in front
+of the fortress of the Seven Towers, another imposing crowd encountered
+them coming from the opposite direction. It was the escort of the
+Sultana. The half a thousand odalisks and the four hundred eunuchs
+occupied the whole width of the road, but face to face with them were
+advancing ten thousand intoxicated viragoes led by the frantic
+bayaderes.
+
+"Make way for the Sultana!" cried the running eunuchs to the approaching
+crowd, "make way for the Sultana and her suite!"
+
+The execution of this command bordered on the impossible. The whole
+space of the square was filled with women--a perfect sea of heads--and
+visible above them all was a quivering, tremulous white figure which
+they had raised on high.
+
+"Make way for the Sultana!" screamed the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, who led the
+procession; a warty old woman she was, who had had charge of the harem
+for years and grown grey in it.
+
+At this one of the boldest of the bayaderes thrust herself forward.
+
+"Make way thyself, thou bearded old witch," she cried; "make way, I say,
+before the wife of Halil Patrona. Why, thou art not worthy to kiss the
+dust off her feet. Stand aside if thou wilt not come along with us."
+
+And with these words she banged her tambourine right under the nose of
+the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda.
+
+And then the bad idea occurred to some of the eunuchs to lift their
+broadswords against the boisterous viragoes, possibly with a view of
+cutting a path through them for the Sultana.
+
+Ah! before they had time to whirl their swords above their heads, in the
+twinkling of an eye, their weapons were torn from their hands, and their
+backs were well-belaboured with the broad blades. The furious mćnads
+fell upon their assailants, flung them to the ground, and the next
+instant had seized the bridles of the steeds of the odalisks.
+
+The Kizlar-Aga was fully alive to the danger which threatened the
+Sultana. The whole square was thronged with angry women who, with faces
+flushed and sparkling eyes, were rushing upon the odalisks. Any single
+eunuch they could lay hold of was pretty certain to meet with a martyr's
+death in a few seconds. They tore him to pieces, and pelted each other
+with the bloody fragments before scattering them to the winds. Elhaj
+Beshir, therefore, earnestly implored the Sultana to turn back and try
+to regain the Seraglio.
+
+Adsalis cast a contemptuous look on the Aga.
+
+"One can see that thou art neither man nor woman," cried she, "for if
+thou wert one or the other, thou wouldst know how to be courageous."
+
+Then she buried the point of her golden spurs in the flank of her steed,
+and urged it towards the spot where the most frantic of the mćnads stood
+fighting with the mounted odalisks, tearing some from their horses,
+rending their clothes, and then by way of mockery remounting them with
+their faces to the horses' tails.
+
+Suddenly the Sultana stood amongst them with a haughty, commanding look,
+like a demi-goddess.
+
+"Who is the presumptuous wretch who would bar the way before me?" she
+cried in her clear, penetrating voice.
+
+One of the odalisks planted herself in front of the Sultana and, resting
+one hand upon her hip, pointed with the other at Gül-Bejáze!
+
+"Look!" she cried, "there is Gül-Bejáze, and she it is who bars thy way
+and compels thee to make room for her."
+
+Gül-Bejáze, whom the women had brought to the spot on their shoulders,
+wrung her hands in her desperation, and begged and prayed the Sultana
+for forgiveness. She endeavoured to explain by way of pantomime, for
+speaking was impossible, that she was there against her will, and it was
+her dearest wish to humble herself before the face of the Sultana. It
+was all of no use. The yells of the wild Bacchantes drowned every sound,
+and Adsalis did not even condescend to look at her.
+
+"Ye street-sweepings!" exclaimed Adsalis passionately, "what evil spirit
+has entered into you that ye would thus compel the Sultana Asseki to
+give way before a pale doll?"
+
+"This woman comes before thee," replied the bayadere.
+
+"Comes before me?" said Adsalis, "wherefore, then, does she come before
+me?"
+
+"Because she is fairer than thou."
+
+Adsalis' face turned blood-red with rage at these words, while
+Gül-Bejáze went as white as a lily, as if the other woman had robbed all
+her colour from her. There was shame on one side and fury on the other.
+To tell a haughty dame in the presence of ten, of twenty thousand
+persons, that another woman is fairer than she!
+
+"And she is more powerful than thou art," cried the enraged bayadere,
+accumulating insult on the head of Adsalis, "for she is the wife of
+Halil Patrona."
+
+Adsalis, in the fury of despair, raised her clenched hands towards
+Heaven and could not utter a word. Impotent rage forced the tears from
+her eyes; and only after these tears could she stammer:
+
+"This is the curse of Achmed!"
+
+When they saw the tears in the eyes of the Sultana, everyone for a
+moment was silent, and suddenly, amidst the stillness of that dumb
+moment, from the highest window of the prison-fortress of the Seven
+Towers, a man's voice called loudly into the square below:
+
+"Sultana Adsalis! Sultana Adsalis!"
+
+"Ha! a man! a man!" cried the furious mob; and in an instant they all
+gazed in that direction--and then in a murmur which immediately died
+away in an awe-struck whisper: "Achmed! Achmed!"
+
+Only Adsalis was incapable of pronouncing that name, only her mouth
+remained gaping open as she gazed upwards.
+
+There at the window of the Seven Towers stood Achmed, in whose hands was
+now a far more terrible power than when they held the wand of dominion,
+for in his fingers now rests the power of cursing. It is sufficient now
+for him to point the finger at those he loves not, in order that they
+may wither away in the bloom of their youth. Whomsoever he now breathes
+upon, however distant they may be, will collapse and expire, and none
+can save them; and he has but to pronounce the name of his enemies, and
+torments will consume their inner parts. The destroying angel of Allah
+watches over his every look, so that on whomsoever his eye may fall,
+that soul is instantly accursed. Since the death of Ispirizade the
+people fear him more than when he sat on the throne.
+
+A deep silence fell upon the mob. Nobody dared to speak.
+
+And Achmed stretched forth his hand towards Adsalis. Those who stood
+around the Sultana felt a feeling of shivering awe, and began to
+withdraw from her, and she herself durst not raise her eyes.
+
+"Salute that pure woman!" cried the tremulous voice of Achmed, "do
+obeisance to the wife of Halil Patrona, and cover thy face before her,
+for she is the true consort of her husband."
+
+And having uttered these words, Achmed withdrew from the window whither
+the noise of the crowd had enticed him, and the multitude clamoured as
+before; but now they no longer tried to force the suite of the Sultana
+to make way before Gül-Bejáze, but escorted Halil Patrona's wife back to
+the dwelling-place of her husband.
+
+Adsalis, desperate with rage and shame, returned to the Seraglio.
+Sobbing aloud, she cast herself at the feet of the Sultan, and told him
+of the disgrace that had befallen her.
+
+Mahmud only smiled as he heard the whole story, but who can tell what
+was behind that smile.
+
+"Dost thou not love me, then, that thou smilest when I weep? Ought not
+blood to flow because tears have flowed from my eyes?"
+
+Mahmud gently stroked the head of the Sultana and said, still smiling:
+
+"Oh, Adsalis! who would ever think of plucking fruit before it is
+_ripe_?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Halil Patrona was sitting on the balcony of the palace which the Sultan
+and the favour of the people had bestowed upon him. The sun was about to
+set. It sparkled on the watery mirror of the Golden Horn, hundreds and
+hundreds of brightly gleaming flags and sails flapped and fluttered in
+the evening breeze.
+
+Gül-Bejáze was lying beside him on an ottoman, her beautiful head, with
+a feeling of languid bliss, reposed on her husband's bosom, her long
+eyelashes drooping, whilst with her swan-like arms she encircled his
+neck. She dozes away now and then, but the warm throb-throb of the
+strong heart which makes her husband's breast to rise and fall
+continually arouses her again. Halil Patrona is reading in a big clasped
+book beautifully written in the ornamental Talik script. Gül-Bejáze does
+not know this writing; its signs are quite strange to her, but she
+feasts her delighted eyes on the beautifully painted festoons and
+lilies and the variegated birds with which the initial letters are
+embellished, and scarce observes what a black shadow those pretty gaily
+coloured, butterfly-like letters cast upon Halil's face.
+
+"What is the book thou art reading?" inquired Gül-Bejáze.
+
+"Fairy tales and magic sentences," replied Patrona.
+
+"Is it there that thou readest all those nice stories which thou tellest
+me every evening?"
+
+"Yes, they are here."
+
+"Tell me, I pray thee, what thou hast just been reading?"
+
+"When thou art quite awake," said Halil, rapturously gazing at the fair
+face of the girl who was sleeping in his arms--and he continued turning
+over the leaves of the book.
+
+And what then was in it? What did those brightly coloured letters
+contain? What was the name of the book?
+
+That book is the "Takimi Vekai."
+
+Ah! ask not a Mussulman what the "Takimi Vekai" is, else wilt thou make
+him sorrowful; neither mention it before a Mohammedan woman, else the
+tears will gush from her eyes. The "Takimi Vekai" is "The Book of the
+Sentences of the Future," which was written a century and a half ago by
+Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, and which has since been preserved in the
+Muhamedije mosque, only those high in authority ever having the
+opportunity of seeing it face to face.
+
+Those golden letters embellished with splendid flowers contain dark
+sayings. Let us listen:
+
+"Takimi Vekai"--The Pages of the Future.
+
+"On the eighth-and-twentieth day of the month Rubi-Estani, in the year
+of the Hegira, 886,[3] I, Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, Governor of Scutari
+and scribe of the Palace, having accomplished the Abdestan[4] and
+recited the Fateha[5] with hands raised heavenwards, ascended to the
+tower of Ujuk Kule, from whence I could survey all Stambul, and there I
+began to meditate.
+
+"And lo! the Prophet appeared before me, and breathed upon my eyes and
+ears in order that I might see and hear nothing but what he commanded me
+to hear and see.
+
+"And I wrote down those things which the Prophet said to me.
+
+"The Giaours already see the tents of the foreign hosts pitched on the
+Tsiragan piazza, already see the half-moon cast down, and the double
+cross raised on the towers of the mosques, the khanzé[6] plundered, and
+the faithful led forth to execution. In the Fanar quarters[7] they are
+already assembling the people, and saying to one another: 'To-morrow!
+to-morrow!'
+
+"Yet Allah is the God who defends the Padishah of the Ottomans. Their
+Odzhakjaiks[8] will scatter terror. Allah Akbar! God is mighty!
+
+"And the captains of the galleys, and the rowers thereof, and the chief
+of the gunners, and the corsairs of the swift ships will share with one
+another the treasures and the spoils of the unbelievers.
+
+"And the Padishah shall rule over thirteen nations.
+
+"But lo! a dark cloud arises in the cold and distant North. A foe
+appears more terrible and persistent than the Magyars, the Venetians, or
+the Persians. He is still tender like the fledgelings of the hawks of
+the Balkans, but soon, very soon, he will learn to spread his pinions.
+Up, up, Silihdar Aga, the Sultan's Sword-bearer! Up, up, Rechenbtar Aga,
+the Sultan's Stirrup-holder; up, up, and do your duty. And ye viziers,
+assemble the reserves. Those men who come from the land where the pines
+and firs raise their virgin branches towards Heaven, they long after the
+warm climates where the olive, the lestisk, the terebinth, and the palm
+lift their crowns towards Heaven. The fathers point out Stambul to their
+sons, they point it out as the booty that will give them sustenance;
+tender women lay their hands upon the sword to use it against the
+Osmanli, and will fight like heroes. Yet the days of the Sons of the
+Prophet will not yet come to an end; they will resist the enemy, and
+stand fast like a Salamander in the midst of the burning embers.
+
+"The years pass over the world, again the Giaours assemble in their
+myriads and threaten vengeance. But the Divan answers them: 'Olmaz!'--it
+cannot be. The Anatolian and the Rumelian lighthouses, at the entrance
+of the Bosphorus, will signal from their watch-towers the approach of
+the foreign war-ships.
+
+"But this shall be much later, after three-and-twenty Padishahs have
+ruled over the thirteen nations; then and not till then will the armies
+of the Unbelievers assemble before Stambul. Woe, woe unto us! Eternally
+invincible should the Osmanlis remain if they walked, with firm
+footsteps, according to the commands of the Koran. But a time will come
+when the old customs will fall into oblivion, when new ways will creep
+in among Mussulmen like a rattlesnake crawling into a bed of roses.
+Faith will no longer give strength against those men of ice, and they
+will enter the nine-and-twenty gates of the seven-hilled city.
+
+"Lo! this did the Prophet reveal to me in the season of El-Ashsör,
+beginning at the time of sundown.
+
+"Allah give his blessing to the rulers of this world."
+
+Thus ran the message of the "Takimi Vekai."
+
+Halil Patrona had read these lines over and over again until he knew
+every letter of them by heart. They were continually in his thoughts, in
+his dreams, and the eternally recurring tumult of these anxious bodings
+allowed his soul no rest. What if it were possible to falsify this
+prophecy! What if his strong hand could but stay the flying wheel of
+Fate in mid career, hold it fast, and turn it in a different direction!
+so that what was written in the Book of Thora before Sun and Moon were
+ever yet created might be expunged therefrom, and the guardian angels be
+compelled to write other things in place thereof!
+
+But such an idea ill befits a Mussulman; it is not the mental expression
+of that pious resignation with which the Mohammedan fortifies himself
+against the future, submissive as he is to the decrees of Fate, with
+never a thought of striving against the Powers of Omnipotence with a
+mortal hand. Ambitious, world-disturbing were the thoughts which ran
+riot in the brain of Halil Patrona--thoughts meet for no mere mortal.
+Poor indeed are the thoughts of man. He piles world upon world, and sets
+about building for the ages, and then a light breath of air strikes upon
+that which he has built and it becomes dust. Wherefore, then, does man
+take thought for the morrow?
+
+The night slowly descended, the glow of the southern sky grew ever paler
+on the half-moons of the minarets, till they grew gradually quite dark
+and the cry of the muezzin resounded from the towers of the mosques.
+
+"Allah Kerim! Allah Akbar! La illah il Allah, Mohammed rasul Allah! God
+is sublime. God is mighty. There is one God and Mohammed is his
+Prophet."
+
+And after a few moments he called again:
+
+"Come, ye people, to the rest of God, to the abode of righteousness;
+come to the abode of felicity!"
+
+Gül-Bejáze awoke. Halil washed his hands and feet, and turning towards
+the mehrab[9] began to pray.
+
+But in vain he sent away Gül-Bejáze (for women are not permitted to be
+present at the prayers of men nor men at the prayers of women); in vain
+he raised his hands heavenwards; in vain he went down on his knees and
+lay with his face touching the ground; other thoughts were abroad in his
+heart--terrifying, disturbing thoughts which suggested to him that the
+God to Whom he prayed no longer existed, but just as His Kingdom here
+on earth was falling to pieces so also in Heaven it was on the point of
+vanishing. Thrice he was obliged to begin his prayer all over again, for
+thrice it was interrupted by a cough, and it is not lawful to go on with
+a prayer that has once been interrupted. Once more he cast a glance upon
+the darkened city, and it grieved him sorely that nowhere could he
+perceive a half-moon; whereupon he went in again, sought for Gül-Bejáze,
+and told her lovely fairy tales which, he pretended, he had been reading
+in the Talik book.
+
+The next day Halil gathered together in his secret chamber all those in
+whom he had confidence. Among them were Kaplan Giraj, a kinsman of the
+Khan of the Crimea, Musli, old Vuodi, Mohammed the dervish, and Sulali.
+
+Sulali wrote down what Halil said.
+
+"Mussulmans. Yesterday, before the Abdestan, I was reading the book
+whose name is the 'Takimi Vekai.'"
+
+"Mashallah!" exclaimed all the Mohammedans mournfully.
+
+"In that book the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire is predicted. The
+year, the day is at hand when the name of Allah will no longer be
+glorified on this earth, when the tinkling of the sheep-bells will be
+heard on the ruins of the marble fountains, and those other bells so
+hateful to Allah will resound from the towers of the minarets. In those
+days the Giaours will play at quoits with the heads of the true
+believers, and build mansions over their tombs."
+
+"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" said old dervish Mohammed with a
+shaking voice, "by then we shall all of us be in Paradise, up in the
+seventh Heaven, the soil whereof is of pure starch, ambergris, musk, and
+saffron. There, too, the very stones are jacinths and the pebbles pure
+pearls, and the Tuba-tree shields the faithful from the heat of the sun,
+as they rest beneath it and gaze up at its golden flowers and silver
+leaves, and refresh themselves with the milk, wine, and honey which flow
+abundantly from its sweet and glorious stem. There, too, are the
+dwellings of Mohammed and the Prophets his predecessors, in all their
+indescribable beauty, and over the roof of every true believer bend the
+branches of the sacred tree, whose fruits never fail, nor wither, nor
+rot, and there we shall all live together in the splendour of Paradise
+where every true believer shall have a palace of his own. And in every
+palace two-and-seventy lovely houris will smile upon him--young virgins
+of an immortal loveliness--whose faces will never grow old or wrinkled,
+and who are a hundred times more affectionate than the women of this
+world."
+
+Halil listened with the utmost composure till greybeard Vuodi had
+delivered his discourse concerning the joys of Paradise.
+
+"All that you say is very pretty and very true no doubt, but let your
+mind also dwell upon what the Prophet has revealed to us concerning the
+distribution of rewards and punishments. When the angel Azrael has
+gently separated our souls from our bodies, and we have been buried with
+the double tombstone at our heads, on which is written: 'Dame Allah huti
+ale Remaeti,'[10] then will come to us the two Angels of Judgment,
+Monker and Nakir. And they will ask us if we have fulfilled the precepts
+of the Prophet. What shall our trembling lips reply to them? And when
+they ask us whether we have defended the true faith, whether we have
+defended our Fatherland against the Infidels, what shall we then reply
+to them? Blessed, indeed, will be those who can answer: 'I have done all
+which it was commanded me to do,' their spirits will await the final
+judgment in the cool abodes of the Well of Ishmael. But as for those who
+shall answer: 'I saw the danger which threatened the Osmanli nation, it
+was in my power to help and I did it not,' their bodies will be scourged
+by the angels with iron rods and their souls will be thrust into the
+abyss of Morhut there to await the judgment-day. And when the trump of
+the angel Israfil shall sound and the Marvel from the Mountain of Safa
+doth appear to write 'Mumen'[11] or 'Giaour'[12] on the foreheads of
+mankind; and when Al-Dallaja[13] comes to root out the nation of the
+Osmanli, and the hosts of Gog and Magog appear to exterminate the
+Christians, and drink up the waters of the rivers, and at the last all
+things perish before the Mahdi; then when the mountains are rent asunder
+and the stars fall from Heaven, when the archangels Michael and Gabriel
+open the tombs and bring forth the trembling, death-pale shapes, one by
+one, before the face of Allah, and they all stand there as transparent
+as crystal so that every thought of their hearts is visible--what then
+will you answer, you in whose power it once stood to uphold the dominion
+of Mahomet, you to whom it was given to have swords in your hands and
+ideas in your heads to be used in its defence--what will you answer, I
+say, when you hear the brazen voice cry: 'Ye who saw destruction coming,
+did ye try to prevent it?' What will it profit you then, old Vuodi and
+ye others, to say that ye never neglected the Abdestan, the Güzül, and
+the Thüharet ablutions, nor the five prayers of the Namazat, that ye
+have kept the fast of Ramazan and the feast of Bejram, that ye have
+richly distributed the Zakato[14] and the Sadakato,[15] that you have
+made the pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca so many times, or so many
+times, that you have kissed the sin-remitting black stone, that you have
+drunk from the well of Zemzem and seven times made the circuit of the
+mountain of Arafat and flung stones at the Devil in the valley of
+Dsemre--what will it profit you, I say, if you cannot answer that
+question? Woe to you, woe to everyone of us who see, who hear, and yet
+go on dreaming! For when we tread the Bridge of Alshirat, across whose
+razor-sharp edge every true believer must pass on his way to Paradise,
+the load of a single sin will drag you down into the abyss, down into
+Hell, and not even into the first Hell, Gehenna, where the faithful do
+penance, nor into the Hell of Ladhana, where the souls of the Jews are
+purified, nor into the Hell of Hotama wherein the Christians perish, nor
+into the Hell of Sair which is the abode of the Heretics, nor into the
+Hell of Sakar wherein the fire-worshippers curse the fire, nor yet into
+the Hell of Jahim which resounds with the yells of the idol-worshippers,
+but into the seventh hell, the deepest and most accursed hell of all,
+whose name is Al-Havija, where wallow those who only did God lip-service
+and never felt the faith in their hearts, for we pray lying prayers when
+we say that we worship Allah and yet allow His Temple to be defiled."
+
+These words deeply moved the hearts of all present. Every sentence
+alluded to the most weighty of the Moslem beliefs; the meshes of the net
+with which Halil had taken their souls captive were composed of the very
+essentials of their religious and political system, so they could but
+put their hands to their breasts, bow down before him, and say:
+
+"Command us and we will obey!"
+
+Then Halil, with the inspiration of a seer, addressed the men before
+him.
+
+"Woe to us if we believe that the days of threatening are still far off!
+Woe to us if we believe that the sins which will ruin the nation of
+Osman have not yet been committed! While our ancestors dwelt in tents of
+skin, half the world feared our name, but since the nation of Osman has
+strutted about in silk and velvet it has become a laughing-stock to its
+enemies. Our great men grow gardens in their palaces; they pass their
+days in the embraces of women, drinking wine, and listening to music;
+they loathe the battlefield, and oh, horrible! they blaspheme the name
+of Allah. If among the Giaours, blasphemers of God are to be found, I
+marvel not thereat, for their minds are corrupted by the multitude of
+this world's knowledge; but how can a Mussulman raise his head against
+God--a Mussulman who has never learnt anything in his life save to
+glorify His Name? And what are we to think when on the eve of the Feast
+of Halwet we hear a Sheik, a descendant of the family of the Prophet, a
+Sheik before whom the people bow reverently when they meet him in the
+street--what are we to think, I say, when we hear this Sheik say before
+the great men of the palace all drunk with wine: 'There is no Allah, or
+if there is an Allah he is not almighty; for if he were almighty he
+would have prevented me from saying, there is no Allah!'"
+
+A cry of horror arose from the assembled Mussulmans which only after a
+while died away in an angry murmur like a gradually departing gust of
+wind.
+
+"Who was the accursed one?" exclaimed Mohammed dervish, shaking his
+clenched fist threateningly.
+
+"It was Uzun Abdi, the Aga of the Janissaries," replied Halil, "who said
+that, and the others only laughed."
+
+"Let them all be accursed!"
+
+"Wealth has ruined the heart of the Osmanli," continued Halil. "Who are
+they who now control the fate of the Realm? The creatures of the
+Sultana, the slaves of the Kizlar-Aga, the Izoglani, whose
+licentiousness will bring down upon Stambul the judgment of Sodom and
+Gomorrah. It is from thence we get our rulers and our treasurers, and
+if now and then Fate causes a hero to plump down among them he also
+grows black like a drop of water that has fallen upon soot; for the
+treasures, palaces, and odalisks of the fallen magnates are transferred
+to the new favourite, and ruin him as quickly and as completely as they
+ruined his predecessors; and so long as these palaces stand by the Sweet
+Waters more curses than prayers will be heard within the walls of
+Stambul, so that if ye want to save Stambul, ye must burn down these
+palaces, for as sure as God exists these palaces will consume Stambul."
+
+"We must go to the Sultan about it," said the dervish Mohammed.
+
+"Pulled down they must be, for no righteous man dwells therein. The
+whole of this Empire of Stone must come down, whoever is so much as a
+head taller than his brethren is a sinner. Let us raise up those who are
+lowest of all. Down from your perches, ye venal voivodes, khans, and
+pashas, who buy the Empire piecemeal with money and for money barter it
+away again! Let men of war, real men though Fame as yet knows them not,
+step into your places. The very atmosphere in which ye live is
+pestiferous because of you. For some time now, gold and silver pieces,
+stamped with the heads of men and beasts, have been circulating in our
+piazzas, although, as we all know, no figures of living things should
+appear on the coins of the Mussulman. Neither Russia, nor Sweden, nor
+yet Poland pay tribute to us; and yet, I say, these picture-coins still
+circulate among us. Oh! ever since Baltaji suffered White[16] Mustache,
+the Emperor of the North, to escape, full well ye know it! gold and
+silver go further and hit the mark more surely than iron and lead. We
+must create a new world, none belonging to the old order of things must
+remain among us. Write down a long, long list, and carry it to the Grand
+Vizier. If he refuses to accept it, write another in his place on the
+list, and take it to the Sultan. Woe betide the nation of Osman if it
+cannot find within it as many just men as its needs require!"
+
+The assembled Mussulmans thereupon drew up in hot haste a long list of
+names in which they proposed fresh candidates for all the chief offices
+of the Empire. They put down Choja Dzhanum as the new Kapudan Pasha,
+Mustafa Beg as the new Minister of the Interior, Musli as the new
+Janissary Aga; the actual judges and treasurers were banished, the
+banished judges and treasurers were restored to their places; instead of
+Maurocordato, who had been educated abroad, they appointed his enemy,
+Richard Rakovitsa, surnamed Djihan, Voivode of Wallachia; instead of
+Ghyka they placed the butcher of Pera, Janaki, on the throne of
+Moldavia; and instead of Mengli Giraj, Khan of the Crimea, Kaplan Giraj,
+actually present among them, was called to ascend the throne of his
+ancestors.
+
+Kaplan Giraj pressed Halil's hand by way of expressing his gratitude for
+this mark of confidence.
+
+And, oddly enough, as Halil pressed the hand of the Khan, it seemed to
+him as if his arm felt an electric shock. What could it mean?
+
+But now Musli stood up before him.
+
+"Allow me," said he, "to go with this writing to the Grand Vizier. You
+have been in the Seraglio already, let mine be the glory of displaying
+my valour by going thither likewise! Do not take all the glory to
+yourself, allow others to have a little of it too! Besides, it does not
+become you to carry your own messages to the Divan. Why even the Princes
+of the Giaours do not go there themselves but send their ambassadors."
+
+Halil Patrona gratefully pressed the Janissary's hand. He knew right
+well that he spoke from no desire of glorification, he knew that Musli
+only wanted to go instead of him because it was very possible that the
+bearer of these demands might be beheaded.
+
+Once again Musli begged earnestly of Halil that the delivery of these
+demands might be entrusted to him, and so proudly did he make his
+petition that it was impossible for Halil Patrona to deny him.
+
+Now Musli was a sly dog. He knew very well that it was a very risky
+business to present so many demands all at once, but he made up his mind
+that he would so completely take the Grand Vizier by surprise, that
+before he could find breath to refuse the demands of the people, he
+would grant one of them after another, for if he swallowed the first of
+them that was on the list, he might be hoodwinked into swallowing the
+rest likewise.
+
+The new Grand Vizier went by the name of Kabakulak, or Blunt-ear,
+because he was hard of hearing, which suited Musli exactly, as he had,
+by nature, a bad habit of bawling whenever he spoke.
+
+At first Kabakulak would not listen to anything at all. He seemed to
+have suddenly gone stone-deaf, and had every single word repeated to him
+three times over; but when Musli said to him that if he would not listen
+to what he was saying, he, Musli, would go off at once to the Sultan and
+tell _him_, Kabakulak opened his ears a little wider, became somewhat
+more gracious, and asked Musli, quite amicably, what he could do for
+him.
+
+Musli felt his courage rising many degrees since he began bawling at a
+Grand Vizier.
+
+"Halil Patrona _commands_ it to be done," he bellowed in Kabakulak's
+ear.
+
+The Vizier threw back his head.
+
+"Come, come, my son!" said he, "don't shout in my ear like that, just
+as if I were deaf. What did you say it was that Halil Patrona begs of
+me?"
+
+"Don't twist my words, you old owl!" said Musli, naturally _sotto voce_.
+Then raising his voice, he added, "Halil Patrona wants Dzhanum Choja
+appointed Kapudan Pasha."
+
+"Good, good, my son! just the very thing I wanted done myself; that has
+been resolved upon long ago, so you may go away home."
+
+"Go away indeed! not yet! Then Wallachia wants a new voivode."
+
+"It has got one already, got one already I tell you, my son. His name is
+Maurocordato. Bear it in mind--Mau-ro-cor-da-to."
+
+"I don't mean to bother my tongue with it at all. As I pronounce it it
+is--Djihan."
+
+"Djihan? Who is Djihan?"
+
+"Djihan is the Voivode of Wallachia."
+
+"Very well, you shall have it so. And what do you want for yourself, my
+son, eh?"
+
+Musli was inscribed in the list as the Aga of the Janissaries, but he
+was too modest to speak of himself.
+
+"Don't trouble your head about me, Kabakulak, while there are so many
+worthier men unprovided for. We want the Khan of the Crimea deposed and
+the banished Kaplan Giraj appointed in his stead."
+
+"Very well, we will inform Kaplan Giraj of his promotion presently."
+
+"Not presently, but instantly. Instantly, I say, without the least
+delay."
+
+Musli accompanied his eloquence with such gesticulations that the Grand
+Vizier thought it prudent to fall back before him.
+
+"Don't you feel well?" he asked Musli, who had suddenly become silent.
+In his excitement he had forgotten the other demands.
+
+"Ah! I have it," he said, and sitting down on the floor at his ease, he
+took the list from his bosom and extending it on the floor, began
+reciting Halil Patrona's nominations seriatim.
+
+The Grand Vizier approved of the whole thing, he had no objection to
+make to anything.
+
+Musli left Janaki's elevation last of all: "He you must make Voivode of
+Moldavia," said he.
+
+Suddenly Kabakulak went quite deaf. He could not hear a word of Musli's
+last demand.
+
+Musli drew nearer to him, and making a speaking-trumpet out of his
+hands, bawled in his ear:
+
+"Janaki I am talking about."
+
+"Yes, yes! I hear, I hear. You want him to be allowed to provide the
+Sultan's kitchen with the flesh of bullocks and sheep. So be it! He
+shall have the charge."
+
+"Would that the angel Izrafil might blow his trumpet in thine ear!" said
+Musli to himself _sotto voce_. "I am not talking of his trade as a
+butcher," added he aloud. "I say that he is to be made Prince of
+Moldavia."
+
+Kabakulak now thought it just as well to show that he heard what had
+been asked, and replied very gravely:
+
+"You know not what you are asking. The Padishah, only four days ago,
+gave this office to Prince Ghyka, who is a wise and distinguished man.
+The Sultan cannot go back from his word."
+
+"A wise and distinguished man!" cried Musli in amazement. "What am I to
+understand by that? Is there any difference then between one Giaour and
+another?"
+
+"The Sultan has so ordered it, and without his knowledge I cannot take
+upon myself to alter his decrees."
+
+"Very well, go to the Sultan then and get him to undo again what he has
+done. For the rest you can do what you like for what I care, only beware
+of one thing, beware lest you lose the favour of Halil Patrona!"
+
+Kabakulak by this time had had nearly enough of Musli, but the latter
+still continued diligently to consult his list. He recollected that
+Halil Patrona had charged him to say something else, but what it was he
+could not for the life of him call to mind.
+
+"Ah, yes! now I have it!" he cried at last. "Halil commands that those
+nasty palaces which stand by the Sweet Waters shall be burnt to the
+ground."
+
+"I suppose, my worthy incendiaries, you will next ask permission to
+plunder Stambul out and out?"
+
+"It is too bad of you, Kabakulak, to speak like that. Halil does not
+want the palaces burnt for the love of the thing, but because he does
+not want the generals to have an asylum where they may hide, plant
+flowers, and wallow in vile delights just when they ought to be
+hastening to the camp. If every pasha had not his paradise here on earth
+and now, many more of them would desire the heavenly Paradise. That is
+why Halil Patrona would have all those houses of evil luxury burnt to
+the ground."
+
+"May Halil Patrona live long enough to see it come to pass. This also
+will I report to the Sultan."
+
+"Look sharp about it then! I will wait in your room here till you come
+back."
+
+"You will wait here?"
+
+"Yes, never mind about me! I have given orders that my dinner is to be
+sent after me here. I look to you for coffee and tobacco, and if you
+happen to be delayed till early to-morrow morning, you will find me
+sleeping here on the carpet."
+
+Kabakulak could now see that he had to do with a man of character who
+would not stir from the spot till everything had been settled completely
+to his satisfaction. The most expeditious mode of ending matters would,
+no doubt, have been to summon a couple of ciauses and make them lay the
+rascal's head at his own feet, but the political horizon was not yet
+sufficiently serene for such acts of daring. The bands of the insurgents
+were still encamping in the public square outside. First of all they
+must be hoodwinked and pacified, only after that would it be possible
+to proceed to extreme measures against them.
+
+All that the Grand Vizier could do, therefore, was frankly to present
+all Halil Patrona's demands to the Sultan.
+
+Mahmud granted everything on the spot.
+
+In an hour's time the firmans and hatti-scherifs, deposing and elevating
+the various functionaries, were in Musli's hands as desired.
+
+Only as to the method of destroying the kiosks did the Sultan venture to
+make a suggestion. They had better not be burnt to the ground, he
+opined, for thereby the Mussulmans would make themselves the
+laughing-stock of the whole Christian world; but he undertook to
+dilapidate the walls and devastate the pleasure-gardens.
+
+And within three days one hundred and twenty splendid kiosks, standing
+beside the Sweet Waters, had become so many rubbish heaps; and the rare
+and costly plants of the beautiful flower-gardens were chucked into the
+water, and the groves of amorous dallying were cut down to the very
+roots. Only ruins were now to be seen in the place of the fairy palaces
+wherein all manner of earthly joys had hitherto built their nests, and
+all this ruin was wrought in three days by Halil Patrona, just because
+there is but one God, and therefore but one Paradise, and because this
+Paradise is not on earth but in Heaven, and those who would attain
+thereto must strive and struggle valiantly for it in this life.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] 1481 A.D.
+
+[4] Ablutions before prayers.
+
+[5] The first section of the Koran.
+
+[6] The Imperial Treasury.
+
+[7] The part of Stambul inhabited by the Greeks.
+
+[8] Companies of horse.
+
+[9] Tablets indicating the direction in which Mecca lies.
+
+[10] "God be for ever gracious to him."
+
+[11] Believer.
+
+[12] Unbeliever.
+
+[13] Anti-Christ.
+
+[14] The prescribed almsgiving.
+
+[15] Voluntary almsgiving.
+
+[16] Peter the Great. The allusion is to the Peace of the Pruth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HUMAN HOPES.
+
+
+A time will come when the star has risen so high that it can rise no
+higher, and perchance learns to know that before long it must begin its
+inevitable descent!...
+
+All Halil Patrona's wildest dreams had been realised. There he stood at
+the very apex of sovereignty, whence the course of empires, the destiny
+of worlds can be controlled. Ministers of State were pulled down or
+lifted up at his bidding, armies were sent against foreign powers as he
+directed, princes were strengthened on their thrones because Halil
+Patrona wished it, and the great men of the empire lay in the dust at
+his feet.
+
+For whole days at a time he sat reading the books of the Ottoman
+chroniclers, the famous Rashid and the wise Chelbizade, and after that
+he would pore over maps and charts and draw lines of different colours
+across them in all directions, and dot them with dots which he alone
+understood the meaning of. And those lines and dots stretched far, far
+away beyond the borders of the empire, right into the midst of Podolia
+and the Ukraine. He knew, and he only, what he meant by them.
+
+The projects he was hatching required centuries for their
+fulfilment--what is the life of a mere man?
+
+In thought he endowed the rejuvenescent Ottoman Empire with the energies
+of a thousand years. Once more he perceived its conquering sword winning
+fresh victories, and extending its dominions towards the East and the
+South, but especially towards the North. He saw the most powerful of
+nations do it homage; he saw the guardian-angels of Islam close their
+eyes before the blinding flashes of the triumphant swords of the sons of
+Osman, and hasten to record in the Book of the Future events very
+different from those which had been written down before.
+
+Ah, human hopes, human hopes!--the blast blows upon them and they
+crumble away to nothing.
+
+But Halil's breast beat with a still greater joy, with a still loftier
+hope, when turning away from the tumult of the world, he opened the door
+of his private room and entered therein.
+
+What voices are those which it does his soul good to hearken to? Why
+does he pause and stand listening before the curtain? What is he
+listening to?
+
+It is the feeble cry of a child, a little baby child. A few days before
+Gül-Bejáze bore him a son, on the anniversary of the very day when he
+made her his wife. This child was the purest part of Halil's joy, the
+loftiest star of his hopes. Whithersoever I may one day rise, he would
+reflect, this child shall rise with me. Whatever I shall not be able to
+achieve, he will accomplish. Those happier, more glorious times which I
+shall never be able to see, he will rejoice in. Through him I shall
+leave behind me in Ottoman history an eternal fame--a fame like to that
+of the Küprili family, which for a whole century and a half gave heroes
+and saints and sages to the empire.
+
+Gül-Bejáze wanted the child to be called Ferhád, or Sender, as so many
+of the children of the poor were wont to be called; but Halil gave him
+the name of Behram. "He is a man-child," said Halil, "who will one day
+be called to great things."
+
+Human calculations, human hopes, what are they? To-day the tree stands
+full of blossoms, to-morrow it lies prone on the ground, cut down to the
+very roots.
+
+Who shall strive with the Almighty, and from what son of man does the
+Lord God take counsel?
+
+Halil stole on tip-toe to the bed of his wife who was playing with the
+child; she did not perceive him till he was quite close to her. How they
+rejoiced together! The baby wandered from hand to hand; how they
+embraced and kissed it! Both of them seemed to live their lives over
+again in the little child.
+
+And now old Janaki also drew nigh. His face was smiling, but whenever he
+opened his mouth his words were sad and gloomy. All joy vanished from
+his life the moment he was made a voivode, just as if he felt that only
+Death could relieve him of that dignity. He had a peculiar joy in
+perpetually prophesying evil things.
+
+"If only you could bring the child up!" he cried; "but you will not live
+long enough to do that. Men like you, Halil, never live long, and I
+don't want to survive you. You will see me die, if see you can; and when
+you die, your child will be doubly an orphan."
+
+With such words did he trouble them. They were always relieved when, at
+last, he would creep into a corner and fall asleep from sheer weariness,
+for his anxiety made him more and more somnolent as he grew older.
+
+But again the door opened, and there entered the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, the
+guardian of the ladies of the Seraglio, accompanied by two slave-girls
+carrying a splendid porcelain pitcher, which they deposited at the sick
+woman's bed with this humble salutation:
+
+"The Sultana Validé greets thee and sends thee this sherbet!" The
+Sultana Validé, or Dowager, used only to send special messages to the
+Sultan's favourite wives when they lay in child-bed; this, therefore,
+was a great distinction for the wife of Halil Patrona--or a great
+humiliation for the Sultana.
+
+And a great humiliation it certainly was for the latter.
+
+It was by the command of Sultan Mahmud that the Sultana had sent the
+sherbet.
+
+"You see," said Halil, "the great ones of the earth kiss the dust off
+your feet. There are slaves besides those in the bazaars, and the first
+become the last. Rejoice in the present, my princess, and catch Fortune
+on the wing."
+
+"Fortune, Halil," said his wife with a mournful smile, "is like the eels
+of the Bosphorus, it slips from your grasp just as you fancy you hold it
+fast."
+
+And Halil believed that he held it fast in his grasp.
+
+The highest officers of state were his friends and colleagues, the
+Sultan himself was under obligations to him, for indeed Halil had
+fetched him from the dungeon of the Seven Towers to place him on the
+throne.
+
+And at that very moment they were digging the snare for him into which
+he was to fall.
+
+The Sultan who could not endure the thought that he was under a debt of
+gratitude to a poor oppressed pedlar, the Sultana who could never
+forget the humiliation she had suffered because of Gül-Bejáze, the
+Kizlar-Aga who feared the influence of Halil, the Grand Vizier who had
+been compelled to eat humble pie--all of them had long been waiting for
+an occasion to ruin him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One day the Sultan distributed thirty wagon-loads of money among the
+forty thousand Janissaries and the sixteen thousand Topadshis in the
+capital because they had proposed to be reconciled with the Seraglio and
+reassemble beneath the banner of the Prophet. The insurgent mob,
+moreover, promised to disperse under two conditions: a complete amnesty
+for past offences, and permission to retain two of their banners that
+they might be able to assemble together again in case anything was
+undertaken against them. Their requests were all granted. Halil Patrona,
+too, was honoured by being made one of the privy councillors of the
+Divan.
+
+Seven-and-twenty of the popular leaders were invited at the same time to
+appear in the Divan and assist in its deliberations. Halil Patrona was
+the life and soul of the lot.
+
+He inspired them with magnanimous, enlightened resolutions, and when in
+his enthusiastic way he addressed them, the worthy cobblers and
+fishermen felt themselves turned into heroes, and it seemed as if _they_
+were the leaders of the nation, while the pashas and grandees sitting
+beside them were mere fishermen and cobblers.
+
+Everyone of his old friends and his new colleagues looked up to and
+admired him.
+
+Only one person could not reconcile himself with the thought that he
+owed his power to a pedlar who had risen from the dust--and this man was
+Kaplan Giraj, the Khan of the Crimea.
+
+He was to be Halil's betrayer.
+
+He informed the Grand Vizier of the projects of Halil, who wished to
+persuade the Sultan to declare war against Russia, because Russia was
+actively assisting Persia. Moldavia and the Crimea were the starting
+points of the armies that were to clip the wings of the menacing
+northern foe, and thereby nullify the terrible prophecies of the "Takimi
+Vekai."
+
+Kaplan Giraj informed Kabakulak of these designs, and they agreed that a
+man with such temerarious projects in his head ought not to live any
+longer--he was much too dangerous.
+
+They resolved that he should be killed during the deliberations at the
+house of the Grand Vizier. For this purpose they chose from among the
+most daring of the Janissaries those officers who had a grudge against
+Halil for enforcing discipline against them, and were also jealous of
+what they called his usurpation of authority. These men they took with
+them to the council as members of the Divan.
+
+It was arranged thus. When Halil had brought forward and defended his
+motion for a war against Russia, then Kaplan Giraj would argue against
+the project, whereupon Halil was sure to lose his temper. The Khan
+thereupon was to rush upon him with a drawn sword, and this was to be
+the signal for the Janissary officers to rise in a body and massacre all
+Halil's followers.
+
+So it was a well-prepared trap into which Halil and his associates were
+to fall, and they had not the slightest suspicion of the danger that was
+hanging over their heads.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Grand Vizier sat in the centre of the councillors, beside him on his
+right hand sat Kaplan Giraj, while the place of honour on his left was
+reserved for Halil Patrona. All around sat the Spahi and Janissary
+officers with their swords in their hands.
+
+The plot was well contrived, the whole affair was bound to be over in a
+few minutes.
+
+The popular deputies arrived; there were seven-and-twenty of them, not
+including Halil Patrona. The Janissary officers were sixty in number.
+
+Kabakulak beckoned to Halil to sit on his left hand, the others were so
+arranged that each one of them sat between a couple of Janissary
+officers. As soon as Kaplan Giraj gave the signal by drawing his sword
+against Halil, the Janissaries were to fall upon their victims and cut
+them down.
+
+"My dear son," said the Grand Vizier to Halil, when they had all taken
+their places, "behold, at thy desire, we have summoned the council and
+the chief officers of the Army; tell them, I pray thee, wherefore thou
+hast called them together!"
+
+Halil thereupon arose, and turning towards the assembly thus addressed
+it:
+
+"Mussulmans! faithful followers of the Prophet! If any one of you were
+to hear that his house was on fire, would he need lengthy explanations
+before hastening away to extinguish it? If ye were to hear that robbers
+had broken into your houses and were plundering your goods--if ye were
+to hear that ruffians were throttling your little children or your aged
+parents, or threatening the lives of your wives with drawn swords, would
+you wait for further confirmation or persuasion before doing anything,
+or would you not rather rush away of your own accord to slay these
+robbers and murderers? And lo! what is more than our houses, more than
+our property, more than our children, our parents, or our wives--our
+Fatherland, our faith is threatened with destruction by our enemy. And
+this enemy has all the will but not yet the power to accomplish what he
+threatens; and his design is never abandoned, but is handed down from
+father to son, for never will he make peace, he will ever slay and
+destroy till he himself is destroyed and slain--this enemy is the
+Muscovite. Our fathers heard very little of that name, our sons will
+hear more, and our grandsons will weep exceedingly because of it. Our
+religion bids us to be resigned to the decrees of fate, but only cowards
+will be content to sit with their hands in their laps because the
+predestined fate of the Ottoman Empire is written in Heaven. If the
+prophecy says that a time must come when the Ottoman Empire must fall to
+pieces because of the cowardice of the Ottoman nation, does it not
+depend upon us and our children whether the prophecy be accomplished, or
+whether its fulfilment be far removed from us? Of a truth the
+signification of that prophecy is this: We shall perish if we are
+cowards; let us _not_ be cowards then, and never shall we perish. And if
+the foe whose sword shall one day deal the nations of Muhammad the most
+terrible wounds, and whose giant footsteps shall leave on Turkish soil
+the bloodiest and most shameful imprints--if I say this foe be already
+pointed out to us, why should we not anticipate him, why should we wait
+till he has grown big enough to swallow us up when we are now strong
+enough to destroy him? The opportunity is favourable. The Cossacks
+demand help from us against the Muscovite dominion. If we give them this
+help they will be our allies, if we withhold it they will become our
+adversaries. The Tartars, the Circassians, and Moldavians are the
+bulwarks of our Empire, let us join to them the Cossacks also, and not
+wait until they all become the bulwarks of our northern foe instead, and
+he will lead them all against us. When he built the fortress of Azov he
+showed us plainly what he meant by it. Let us also now show that we
+understood his intentions and raze that fortress to the ground."
+
+With these words Halil resumed his place.
+
+As pre-arranged Kaplan Giraj now stood up in his turn.
+
+Halil fully expected that the Tartar Khan, who was to have played such
+an important part in his project, inasmuch as his dominions were
+directly in the way of an invading enemy, and therefore most nearly
+threatened, would warmly support his proposition. All the greater then
+was his amazement when Kaplan Giraj turned towards him with a
+contemptuous smile and replied in these words:
+
+"It is a great calamity for an Empire when its leading counsellors are
+ignorant. I will not question your good intentions, Halil, but it
+strikes me as very comical that you should wish us, on the strength of
+the prophecy of a Turkish recluse, to declare war against one of our
+neighbours who is actually living at peace with us, is doing us no harm,
+and harbours no mischievous designs against us. You speak as if Europe
+was absolutely uninhabited by any but ourselves, as if there was no such
+thing as powerful nations on every side of us, jealous neighbours all of
+them who would incontinently fall upon us with their banded might in
+case of a war unjustly begun by us. All this comes from the simple fact
+that you do not understand the world, Halil. How could you, a mere petty
+huckster, be expected to do so? So pray leave in peace Imperial affairs,
+and whenever you think fit to occupy your time in reading poems and
+fairy-tales, don't fancy they are actual facts."
+
+The representatives of the people regarded the Khan with amazement.
+Halil, with a bitter look, measured him from head to foot. He knew now
+that he had been betrayed. And he had been betrayed by the very man to
+whom he had assigned a hero's part!
+
+With a smiling face he turned towards him. He had no thought now that he
+had fallen into a trap. He addressed the Khan as if they were both in
+the room together alone.
+
+"Truly you spoke the truth, Kaplan Giraj, when you reproached me with
+the shame of ignorance. I never learnt anything but the Koran, I have
+never had the opportunity of reading those books which mock at the
+things which are written in the Koran; I only know that when the Prophet
+proclaimed war against the idolators he never inquired of the
+neighbouring nations, Shall I do this, or shall I not do it? and so he
+always triumphed. I know this, too, that since the Divan has taken to
+debating and negociating with its enemies, the Ottoman armies have been
+driven across the three rivers--the Danube, the Dnieper, and the
+Pruth--and melt away and perish in every direction. I am a rough and
+ignorant man I know, therefore do not be amazed at me if I would defend
+the faith of Mohammed with the sword when, perhaps, there may be other
+means of doing so with which I am unacquainted. I, on the other hand,
+will not be astonished that you, a scion of the princely Crimean family,
+should be afraid of war. You were born a ruler and know therefore that
+your life is precious. You embellish the deeds of your enemy that you
+may not be obliged to fight against him. You say 'tis a good neighbour,
+a peaceful neighbour, he does no harm, although you very well know that
+it was the Muscovite guns which drove our Timariots out of Kermanshan,
+and that the Persians were allowed to march through Russian territory in
+order to fall upon our general Abdullah Pasha from behind. But there is
+nothing hostile about all this in your eyes, you are perfectly contented
+with your fate. War might deprive you of your Khannish dignity, while in
+peaceful times you can peaceably retain it. It matters not to you whose
+servant you may be so long as you hold sway in your own domain, and you
+call him a blockhead who does not look after himself first of all. Yes,
+Kaplan Giraj, I am a blockhead no doubt, for I am not afraid to risk
+losing this wretched life, awaiting my reward in another world. I was
+not born in silks and purples but in the love of my country and the fear
+of God, while you are wise enough to be satisfied with the joys of this
+life. But, by way of reward for betraying your good friend, may Allah
+cause you, one day, to become the slave of your enemies, so that he who
+was wont to be called Kaplan[17] may henceforth be named Sichian."[18]
+
+Even had nothing been preconcerted, Kaplan Giraj's sword must needs have
+leaped from its sheath at these mortally insulting words. Furiously he
+leaped from his seat with his flashing sword in his hand.
+
+Ah! but now it was the turn of the Grand Vizier and all the other
+conspirators to be amazed.
+
+The Janissaries who had been placed by the side of the popular leaders
+never budged from their seats, and not one of them drew his weapon at
+the given signal.
+
+Such inertia was so inexplicable to the initiated that Kaplan Giraj
+remained standing in front of Halil paralyzed with astonishment. As for
+Halil he simply crossed his arms over his breast and gazed upon him
+contemptuously. The Janissary officers had disregarded the signal.
+
+"I am well aware," said Halil to the Khan with cold sobriety--"I am well
+aware what sort of respect is due to this place, and therefore I do not
+draw my sword against yours even in self-defence. For though I am not so
+well versed in European customs as you are, and know not whether it is
+usual in the council-chambers of foreign nations to settle matters with
+the sword, or whether it is the rule in the French or the English
+cabinet that he who cuts down his opponent in mid-council is in the
+right and his opinion must needs prevail--but of so much I am certain,
+that it is not the habit to settle matters with naked weapons in the
+Ottoman Divan. Now that the council is over, however, perhaps you would
+like to descend with me into the gardens where we may settle the
+business out of hand, and free one another from the thought that death
+is terrible."
+
+Halil's cold collected bearing silenced, disarmed his enemies. The eyes
+of the Grand Vizier and the Khan surveyed the ranks of the Janissary
+officers, while Halil's faithful adherents began to assemble round their
+leader.
+
+"Then there is no answer to the words of Halil Patrona?" inquired
+Kabakulak at last tentatively.
+
+They were all silent.
+
+"Have you no answer at all then?"
+
+At this all the Janissaries arose, and one of them stepping forward
+said:
+
+"Halil is right. We agree with all that he has said."
+
+The Grand Vizier did not know whether he was standing on his head or his
+heels. Kaplan Giraj wrathfully thrust his sword back again into its
+scabbard. All the Janissary officers evidently were on Halil Patrona's
+side.
+
+It was impossible not to observe the confusion in the faces of the chief
+plotters; the well-laid plot could not be carried out.
+
+After a long interval Kabakulak was the first to recover himself, and
+tried to put a new face on matters till a better opportunity should
+arise.
+
+"Such important resolutions," said he, "cannot be carried into effect
+without the knowledge of the Sultan. To-morrow, therefore, let us all
+assemble in the Seraglio to lay our desires before the Padishah. You
+also will be there, Halil, and you also, Kaplan Giraj."
+
+"Which of us twain will be there Allah only knows," said Halil.
+
+"There, my son, you spake not well; nay, very ill hast thou spoken. It
+is a horrible thing when two Mussulmans revile one another. Be
+reconciled rather, and extend to each other the hand of fellowship! I
+will not allow you to fight. Both of you spoke with good intentions, and
+he is a criminal who will not forget personal insults when it is a
+question of the commonweal. Forgive one another and shake hands, I say."
+
+And he seized the reluctant hands of both men and absolutely forced them
+to shake hands with each other. But he could not prevent their eyes from
+meeting, and though swords were denied them their glances of mutual
+hatred were enough to wound to the death.
+
+After the council broke up, Halil's enemies remained behind with the
+Grand Vizier. Kaplan Giraj gnashed his teeth with rage.
+
+"Didn't I tell you not to let him speak!" he exclaimed, "for when once
+he opens his mouth he turns every drawn sword against us, and drives
+wrath from the breasts of men with the glamour of his tongue."
+
+So they had three days wherein to hatch a fresh plot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The session of the Divan was fixed for three days later. Halil Patrona
+employed the interval like a man who feels that his last hour is at
+hand. He would have been very short-sighted not to have perceived that
+judgment had already been pronounced against him, although his enemies
+were still doubtful how to carry it into execution.
+
+He resigned himself to his fate as it became a pious Mussulman to do. He
+had only one anxiety which he would gladly have been rid of--what was to
+become of his wife and child.
+
+On the evening of the last day he led Gül-Bejáze down to the shore of
+the Bosphorus as if he would take a walk with her. The woman carried her
+child in her arms.
+
+Since the woman had had a child she had acquired a much braver aspect.
+The gentlest animal will be audacious when it has young ones, even the
+dove becomes savage when it is hatching its fledgelings.
+
+Halil put his wife into a covered boat, which was soon flying along
+under the impulse of his muscular arms. The child rejoiced aloud at the
+rocking of the boat, he fancied it was the motion of his cradle. The
+eyes of the woman were fixed now upon the sky and now upon the unruffled
+surface of the watery mirror. A star smiled down upon her wheresoever
+she gazed. The evening was very still.
+
+"Knowest thou whither I am taking thee, Gül-Bejáze?" asked her husband.
+
+"If thou wert to ask me whither thou oughtest to send me, I would say
+take me to some remote and peaceful valley enclosed all around by lofty
+mountains. Build me there a little hut by the side of a bubbling spring,
+and let there be a little garden in front of the little hut. Let me
+stroll beneath the leaves of the cedar-trees, where I may hear no other
+sound but the cooing of the wood-pigeon; let me pluck flowers on the
+banks of the purling brook, and spy upon the wild deer; let me live
+there and die there--live in thine arms and die in the flowering field
+by the side of the purling brook. If thou wert to ask me, whither shall
+I take thee, so would I answer."
+
+"Thou hast said it," replied Halil, shipping the oars, for the rising
+evening breeze had stiffened out the sail and the little boat was flying
+along of its own accord; then he sat him down beside his wife and
+continued, "I am indeed sending thee to a remote and hidden valley,
+where a little hut stands on the banks of a purling stream. I have
+prepared it for thee, and there shalt thou dwell with thy child."
+
+"And thou thyself?"
+
+"I will guide thee to the opposite shore, there an old family servant of
+thy father's awaits thee with saddled mules. He loves thee dearly, and
+will bring thee into that quiet valley and he must never leave thee."
+
+"And thou?"
+
+"This little coffer thou wilt take with thee; it contains money which I
+got from thy father; no curse, no blood is upon it, it shall be thine
+and thy children's."
+
+"And thou?" inquired Gül-Bejáze for the third time, and she was very
+near to bursting into tears.
+
+"I shall have to return to Stambul. But I will come after thee. Perhaps
+to-morrow, perhaps the day after to-morrow, perhaps later still. It may
+be very much sooner, it may be much later. But thou wait for me. Every
+evening spread the table for me, for thou knowest not when I may
+arrive."
+
+The tears of Gül-Bejáze began to fall upon the child she held to her
+breast.
+
+"Why weepest thou?" asked Halil. "'Tis foolish of thee. Leave-taking is
+short, suspense only is long. It will be better with thee than with me,
+for thou wilt have the child while I shall have nothing left, yet I do
+not weep because we shall so soon meet again."
+
+Meanwhile they had reached the shore, the old servant was awaiting them
+with the two mules. Halil helped his wife to descend from the boat.
+
+Gül-Bejáze buried her head in her husband's bosom and tenderly embraced
+him.
+
+"Go not back, leave me not alone," said she; "do not leave us, come with
+us. What dost thou seek in that big desolate city when we are no longer
+there? Come with us, let us all go together, vanish with us. Let them
+search for thee, and may their search be as vain as the search for a
+star fallen from Heaven; it is not good for thee to be in high places."
+
+Halil made no reply. His wife spoke the truth, but pride prevented him
+from escaping like a coward when he knew that his enemies were
+conspiring against him. Presently he said to Gül-Bejáze with a
+reassuring voice:
+
+"Do not be anxious on my account, I have a talisman with me. Why dost
+thou smile? Thou a Christian woman dost not believe in talismans? My
+talisman is my heart, surely thou believest in it now? It has always
+helped me hitherto."
+
+And with that Halil kissed his wife and his child and returned to the
+boat. He seized the oars in his powerful hands and was soon some
+distance from the shore. And as he rowed further and further away into
+the gloom of evening he saw his abandoned wife still standing on the
+shore with her child clasped to her breast, and the further he receded
+the keener grew his anguish of heart because he durst not turn back to
+them and kiss and embrace them once more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Early in the morning the gigantic Halil Pelivan, accompanied by twelve
+bostanjis, appeared among the Janissaries with three asses laden with
+five little panniers, containing five thousand ducats which he emptied
+upon the ground and distributed among the brave fellows.
+
+"The Grand Vizier sends you this, my worthy comrades," cried he.
+
+This was the only way of talking sense to the Janissaries.
+
+"And now I have to ask something of you."
+
+"Say on!"
+
+"Is there among you any fellow who loves nobody, who would be capable of
+slaying his own dear father if he were commanded so to do and well paid
+for it, who is afraid of nothing, has no bowels of compassion, and
+cannot be made to falter by the words of the wise?"
+
+In response to this challenge, hundreds and hundreds of the Janissaries
+stepped out of their ranks, declaring that they were just the boys to
+satisfy Pelivan's demands.
+
+Pelivan selected from amongst them two-and-thirty of the most muscular
+and truculent, and commanded them to follow him into the Seraglio.
+
+Once there he conducted them into the Porcelain Chamber, made them squat
+down on the precious carpets, put before them quantities of the most
+savoury food, which they washed down with the rich wine of Cypress and
+the heating Muskoveto, a mysterious beverage generally reserved for the
+Sultan's use, which is supposed to confer courage and virility. When
+they had well eaten and drunken moreover, Pelivan supplied them with as
+much opium as they wanted.
+
+Shortly afterwards there came out to them the Grand Vizier, the lame
+Pasha, Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, the chief Justiciary of Rumelia, the
+cobbler's son, and the Tartar Khan, who patted their shoulders, tasted
+of their food, drank out of their goblets, and after telling them what
+fine brave fellows they were, discreetly withdrew.
+
+The Divan meanwhile had assembled in the Hall of Lions.
+
+There were gathered together the Ulemas, the Viziers, and the
+representatives of the people. Halil Patrona was there also; and
+presently Kabakulak, Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, and Kaplan Giraj
+arrived likewise and took their places.
+
+The Grand Vizier turned first of all to Halil, whom he addressed with
+benign condescension.
+
+"The Padishah assures thee through me of his grace and favour, and of
+his own good pleasure appoints thee Beglerbeg of Rumelia."
+
+And with that a couple of dülbendars advanced with the costly kaftan of
+investiture.
+
+Halil Patrona reflected for an instant.
+
+The Sultan indeed had always been gracious towards him. He evidently
+wanted to favour him with an honourable way of retreat. He was offering
+him a high dignity whereby he might be able to withdraw from the
+capital, and yet at the same time gratify his ambition. The Sultan
+really had a kindly heart then. He rewards the man whom his ministers
+would punish as a malefactor.
+
+But his hesitation only lasted for a moment. Then he recovered himself
+and resolutely answered:
+
+"I will not accept that kaftan. For myself I ask nothing. I did not come
+here to receive high office, I came to hear war proclaimed."
+
+The Grand Vizier bowed down before him.
+
+"Thy word is decisive. The Padishah has decided that what thou and thy
+comrades demand shall be accomplished. The Grand Seignior himself
+awaits thee in the Porcelain Chamber. There war shall be proclaimed,
+and the kaftans of remembrance distributed to thee and thy fellows."
+
+And with that the Ulemas and Halil's comrades were led away to the kiosk
+of Erivan.
+
+"And ye who are the finest fellows of us all," said Kabakulak, turning
+to Halil and Musli--"ye, Halil and Musli, come first of all to kiss the
+Sultan's hand."
+
+Halil with a cold smile pressed Musli's hand. Even now poor Musli had no
+idea what was about to befall them. Only when at "the gate of the cold
+spring" the Spahis on guard divested them of their weapons, for none may
+approach the Sultan with a sword by him--only, then, I say, did he have
+a dim sensation that all was not well.
+
+In the Sofa Chamber, where the Divan is erected, is a niche separated
+from the rest of the chamber by a high golden trellis-work screen,
+behind whose curtains it is the traditional custom of the Sultan to
+listen privately to the deliberations of his counsellors. From behind
+these curtains a woman's face was now peeping. It was Adsalis, the
+favourite Sultana, and behind her stood Elhaj Beshir, the Kizlar-Aga.
+Both of them knew there would be a peculiar spectacle, something well
+worth seeing in that chamber to-day.
+
+The curtains covering the doors of the Porcelain Chamber bulged out,
+and immediately afterwards two men entered. They advanced to the steps
+of the Sultan's throne, knelt down there, and kissed the hem of the
+Sultan's garment.
+
+Mahmud was sitting on his throne, the same instant Kabakulak clapped his
+hands and cried:
+
+"Bring in their kaftans!"
+
+At these words out of the adjoining apartment rushed Pelivan and the
+thirty-two Janissaries with drawn swords.
+
+Mahmud hid his face so as not to see what was about to happen.
+
+"Halil! we are betrayed!" exclaimed Musli, and placing himself in front
+of his comrade he received on his own body the first blow which Pelivan
+had aimed at Halil.
+
+"In vain hast thou written thy name above mine, Patrona," roared the
+giant, waving his huge broadsword above his head.
+
+At these words Halil drew forth from his girdle a dagger which he had
+secreted there, and hurled it with such force at Pelivan that the sharp
+point pierced his left shoulder.
+
+But the next moment he was felled to the ground by a mortal blow.
+
+While still on his knees he raised his eyes to Heaven and said:
+
+"It is the will of Allah."
+
+At another blow he collapsed, and falling prone breathed forth his last
+sigh:
+
+"I die, but my son is still alive."
+
+And he died.
+
+Then all his associates were brought into the Sofa Chamber one by one
+from the Erivan kiosk where they had been robed in splendid kaftans, and
+as they entered the room were decapitated one after the other. They had
+not even time to shut their eyes before the fatal stroke descended.
+
+Six-and-twenty of them perished there and then.
+
+Only three survived the day, Sulali, Mohammed the dervish, and Alir
+Aalem, the custodian of the sacred banner and justiciary of Stambul. All
+three were Ulemas, and therefore not even the Sultan was free to slay
+them.
+
+Accordingly the Grand Vizier appointed them all Sandjak-Begs, or
+governors of provinces.
+
+As they knew nothing of the death of their comrades they accepted the
+dignities conferred upon them, renouncing at the same time as usual
+their office of Ulemas.
+
+The following day they were all put to death.
+
+On the third day after that the people of the city in their walks abroad
+saw eight-and-thirty severed heads stuck on the ends of spears over the
+central gate of the Seraglio. All these heads, with their starting eyes
+and widely parted lips, seemed to be speaking to the amazed multitudes;
+only Halil Patrona's eyes were closed and his lips sealed.
+
+Suddenly a great cry of woe arose from one end of the city to the other,
+the people seized their arms and rushed off to the Etmeidan under three
+banners.
+
+They had no other leader now but Janaki, all the rest had escaped or
+were dead. So now they brought _him_ forward. The tidings of Halil's
+death wrought no change in him, he had foreseen it long before, and was
+well aware that Gül-Bejáze had departed from the capital. He had himself
+prepared for her the little dwelling in the valley lost among the
+ravines of Mount Taurus, which was scarce known to any save to him and
+the few dwellers there, and he had brought back with him from thence a
+pair of carrier-pigeons, so that in case of necessity he might be able
+to send messages to his daughter without having to depend on human
+agency.
+
+When the clamorous mob invited him to the Etmeidan he wrote to his
+daughter on a tiny shred of vellum, and tied the letter beneath the wing
+of the pigeon.
+
+And this is what he wrote:
+
+"God's grace be with thee! Wait not for Halil, he is dead. The
+Janissaries have killed him. And I shall not be long after him, take my
+word for it. But live thou and watch over thy child.--JANAKI."
+
+With that he opened the window and let the dove go, and she, rising
+swiftly into the air, remained poised on high for a time with fluttering
+pinions, and then, with the swiftness and directness of a well-aimed
+dart, she flew straight towards the mountains.
+
+"Poor Irene!" sighed Janaki, buckling on his sword with which he
+certainly was not very likely to kill anybody--and he accompanied the
+insurgents to the Etmeidan.
+
+In Stambul things were all topsy-turvy once more. The seventh Janissary
+regiment, when the two-and-thirty Janissaries returned to them with
+bloody swords boasting of their deed, rushed upon them and cut them to
+pieces. The new Janissary Aga was shot dead within his own gates.
+Kabakulak retired within a mosque. Halil Pelivan, who had been appointed
+Kulkiaja, hid himself in a drain pipe for three whole days, and never
+emerged therefrom so long as the uproar lasted.
+
+Three days later all was quiet again.
+
+A new name came to the front which quelled the risen tempest--the last
+scion of the famous Küprili family, every member of which was a hero.
+
+Achmed Küprilizade collected together the ten thousand shebejis,
+bostanjis, and baltajis who dwelt round the Seraglio, and when everyone
+was in despair attacked the rebels in the open streets, routed them in
+the piazzas, and in three days seven thousand of the people fell beneath
+his blows--and so the realm had peace once more.
+
+Janaki also fell. They chopped off his head and he offered not the
+slightest resistance.
+
+As for Pelivan and Kabakulak they were banished for their cowardice.
+
+So Achmed Küprilizade became Grand Vizier.
+
+As for Achmed III. he lived nine years longer in the Seven Towers, and
+tradition says he died by poison.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Tiger.
+
+[18] Mouse.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE EMPTY PLACE.
+
+
+Everything was now calm and quiet, and the world pursued its ordinary
+course; but far away among the Blue Mountains dwells a woman who knows
+nothing of all that is going on around her, and who every evening
+ascends the highest summit of the hills surrounding her little hut and
+gazes eagerly, longingly, in the direction of Stambul, following with
+her eyes the long zig-zag path which vanishes in the dim distance--will
+he come to-day whom she has so long awaited in vain?
+
+Every evening she returns mournfully to her little dwelling, and
+whenever she sits down to supper she places opposite to her a platter
+and a mug--and so she waits for him who comes not. At night she lays
+Halil's pillow beside her, and puts _their_ child between the pillow and
+herself that he may find it there when he comes.
+
+And so day follows day.
+
+One day there came a tapping at her window. With joy she leaps from her
+bed to open it.
+
+It is not Halil but a pigeon--a carrier-pigeon bringing a letter.
+
+Gül-Bejáze opens the letter and reads it through--and a second time she
+reads it through, and then she reads it through a third time, and then
+she begins to smile and whispers to herself:
+
+"He will be here directly."
+
+From henceforth a mild insanity takes possession of the woman's mind--a
+species of dumb monomania which is only observable when her fixed idea
+happens to be touched upon.
+
+At eventide she again betakes herself to the road which leads out of the
+valley. She shows the letter to an old serving-maid, telling her that
+the letter says that Halil is about to arrive, and a good supper must be
+made ready for him. The servant cannot read, so she believes her
+mistress.
+
+An hour later the woman comes back to the house full of joy, her cheeks
+have quite a colour so quickly has she come.
+
+"Hast thou not seen him?" she inquires of the servant.
+
+"Whom, my mistress?"
+
+"Halil. He has arrived. He came another way, and must be in the house by
+now."
+
+The servant fancies that perchance Halil has come secretly and she, also
+full of joy, follows her mistress into the room where the table has
+been spread for two persons.
+
+"Well, thou seest that he is here," cries Gül-Bejáze, pointing to the
+empty place, and rushing to the spot, she embraces an invisible shape,
+her burning kisses resound through the air, and her eyes intoxicated
+with delight gaze lovingly--at nothing.
+
+"Look at thy child!" she cries, lifting up her little son; "take him in
+thine arms. So! Kiss him not so roughly, for he is asleep. Look! thy
+kisses have awakened him. Thy beard has tickled him, and he has opened
+his eyes. Rock him in thine arms a little. Thou wert so fond of nursing
+him once upon a time. So! take him on thy lap. What! art thou tired?
+Wait and I will fill up thy glass for thee. Isn't the water icy-cold? I
+have just filled it from the spring myself."
+
+Then she heaps more food on her husband's platter, and rejoices that his
+appetite is so good.
+
+Then after supper she links her arm in his and, whispering and chatting
+tenderly, leads him into the garden in the bright moonlit evening. The
+faithful servant with tears in her eyes watches her as she walks all
+alone along the garden path, from end to end, beneath the trees, acting
+as if she were whispering and chatting with someone. She keeps on
+asking him questions and listening to his replies, or she tells him all
+manner of tales that he has not heard before. She tells him all that has
+happened to her since they last separated, and shows him all the little
+birds and the pretty flowers. After that she bids him step into a little
+bower, makes him sit down beside her, moves her kaftan a little to one
+side so that he may not sit upon it, and that she may crouch up close
+beside him, and then she whispers and talks to him so lovingly and so
+blissfully, and finally returns to the little hut so full of shamefaced
+joy, looking behind her every now and then to cast another loving
+glance--at whom?
+
+And inside the house she prepares his bed for him, and places a soft
+pillow for his head, lays her own warm soft arm beneath his head,
+presses him to her bosom and kisses him, and then lays her child between
+them and goes quietly to sleep after pressing his hand once more--whose
+hand?
+
+The next day from morn to eve she again waits for him, and at dusk sets
+out once more along the road, and when she comes back finds him once
+more in the little hut ... oh, happy delusion!
+
+And thus it goes on from day to day.
+
+From morn to eve the woman accomplishes her usual work, her neighbours
+and acquaintances perceive no change in her; but as soon as the sun
+sets she leaves everyone and everything and avoids all society, for now
+Halil is expecting her in the open bower of the little garden.
+
+Punctually she appears before him as soon as the sun has set. It has
+become quite a habit with her already. She so arranges her work that she
+always has a leisure hour at such times. Sometimes, too, Halil is in a
+good humour, but at others he is sad and sorrowful. She tells this to
+the old serving-maid over and over again. Sometimes, too, she whispers
+in her ear that Halil is cudgelling his brains with all sorts of great
+ideas, but she is not to speak about it to anyone, as that might easily
+cost Halil his life.
+
+Poor Halil! Long, long ago his body has crumbled into dust, Death can do
+him no harm now.
+
+And thus the "White Rose" grows old and grey and gradually fades away.
+Not a single night does the beloved guest remain away from her. For
+years and years, long--long years, he comes to her every evening.
+
+And as her son grows up, as he becomes a man with the capacity of
+judging and understanding, he hears his mother conversing every evening
+with an invisible shape, and she would have her little son greet this
+stranger, for she tells him it is his father. And she praises the son to
+the father, and says what a good, kind-hearted lad he is, and she
+compares their faces one with the other. He is the very image of his
+father, she says; only Halil is now getting old, his beard has begun to
+be white. Yes, Halil is getting aged. Otherwise he would be exactly like
+his son.
+
+And the son knows very well that his father, Halil Patrona, was slain
+many, many long years ago by the Janissaries.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+_Jarrold & Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_SELECTIONS FROM JARROLD & SONS' LIST OF FICTION_
+
+
+Maurus Jókai's Famous Novels.
+
+_Authorised Editions. Crown 8vo, Art Linen, 6/= each._
+
+
+Black Diamonds. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI, Author of "The Green Book," "Poor Plutocrats,"
+etc. Translated by Frances Gerard. With Special Preface by the Author.
+
+     "Full of vigour ... his touches of humour are excellent."--_Morning
+     Post._
+
+     "An interesting story."--_Times._
+
+
+The Green Book. (FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW.) (_Sixth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by Mrs. Waugh. With a finely
+engraved Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "Brilliantly drawn ... a book to be read."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+     "Thoroughly calculated to charm the novel-reading public by its
+     ceaseless excitement ... from first to last the interest never
+     flags. A work of the most exciting interests and superb
+     descriptions."--_Athenćum._
+
+
+Pretty Michal. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "A fascinating novel."--_The Speaker._
+
+     "His workmanship is admirable, and he possesses a degree of
+     sympathetic imagination not surpassed by any living novelist. The
+     action of his stories is life-like, and full of movement and
+     interest."--_Westminster Gazette._
+
+
+A Hungarian Nabob. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "Full of exciting incidents and masterly studies of
+     character."--_Court Circular._
+
+     "The work of a genius."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+In Tight Places. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of "Forbidden by Law," etc. 6/=
+
+     "A lively and varied series of cosmopolitan crime, with plenty of
+     mixed adventure and sensation. Such stories always fascinate, and
+     Major Arthur Griffiths knows well how to tell them."--_Pall Mall
+     Gazette._
+
+
+St. Peter's Umbrella. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By KALMÁN MIKSZÁTH, Author of "The Good People of Palvez."
+Translated from the original Hungarian by W. B. Worswick. With
+Introduction by R. Nisbet Bain. A charming Photogravure Portrait of the
+Author and three illustrations. 6/=
+
+     "The freshness, high spirits, and humour of Mikszáth make him a
+     fascinating companion. His peasants, priests, and gentlefolks are
+     amazingly human. Mikszáth is a born story-teller."--_The
+     Spectator._
+
+
+The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac. Captain Satan. (_Fourth
+Edition._)
+
+From the French of Louis Gallet. With specially engraved Portrait of
+Cyrano de Bergerac. 6/=
+
+     "A delightful book. So vividly delineated are the _dramatis
+     personć_, so interesting and enthralling are the incidents in the
+     development of the tale, that it is impossible to skip one page, or
+     to lay down the volume until the last words are read."--_Daily
+     Telegraph._
+
+
+A Woman's Burden. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By FERGUS HUME, Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The
+Lone Inn," etc. 6/=
+
+     "Very good reading."--_Athenćum._
+
+     "Simply full of thrills from cover to cover."--_Publishers'
+     Circular._
+
+
+Vivian of Virginia. (_Second Edition._)
+
+Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John Vivian, of Middle
+Plantation, Virginia. By Hulbert Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel." With
+ten charming Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill. 6/=
+
+     "There is not a dull moment in the quaintly-written story,
+     adventure following adventure, holding the reader in thrall; whilst
+     the love interest is fully sustained."--_Gentlewoman._
+
+
+Anima Vilis. (_Second Edition._)
+
+A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe. By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.
+Translated from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A striking novel."--_The Times._
+
+     "Has both power and charm."--_Literature._
+
+The Lion of Janina. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a special
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "A fascinating story--a brilliant and lurid series of pictures
+     drawn by a great master's hand."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+
+Eyes Like the Sea. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "In wealth of incident, in variety and interest of
+     characterisation, in the richness and humour of its surprises,
+     'Eyes Like the Sea' ranks with the finest work of the great
+     Hungarian romancer. All is told with delightful and touching
+     candour."--_The Spectator._
+
+
+Halil the Pedlar; THE WHITE ROSE. (_Now ready._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     This beautiful and picturesque tale of Oriental life reads like a
+     chapter out of the "Arabian Nights." The heroine is a beautiful
+     young Greek girl who escapes the gilded dishonour of the harem by
+     feigning death and enduring torments. The scene of the story is
+     Stambul, in the eighteenth century, and every phase of life in the
+     great metropolis is described with singular fidelity.
+
+
+Carpathia Knox. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush," "That Little Girl," "A
+Romance of Modern London," etc. With a charming Photogravure Portrait of
+the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A very graphic and realistic glimpse of Spanish life. Full of
+     freshness and prettily told."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+
+Jocelyn Erroll. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Once," "Dudley," "The Wild
+Ruthvens," etc. With a fine Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "Clever and fascinating, as is everything by this writer."--_Dundee
+     Advertiser._
+
+
+Valentine: A STORY OF IDEALS. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "The Medlicotts," "His Heart to
+Win," "Because of the Child," etc. 6/=
+
+     "It would indeed be hard to find a brighter, cheerier book ... and
+     few readers of 'Valentine' will be able to resist her charming
+     personality."--_The Speaker._
+
+The Gray House of the Quarries. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By MARY H. NORRIS. With etched Frontispiece by Edmund H.
+Garrett. 6/=
+
+     "Susanna is a splendid study. No person who takes up the book can
+     resist its fascination."--_Westminster Review._
+
+
+Distaff. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By MARYA RODZIEWICZ, Author of "Anima Vilis," etc. Translated
+from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a finely engraved
+Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A pleasant story, full of ability."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+     "A striking novel."--_Spectator._
+
+
+The Captive of Pekin. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+A Realistic Story of Chinese Life and Manners. By Charles
+Hannan. With twenty-three graphic Illustrations from life,
+depicting the Chinese torture fiends, by A. J. B. Salmon. 6/=
+
+     "Told with great vividness, a thrilling story dramatically told.
+     The reader's interest does not flag from beginning to end."--_The
+     Times._
+
+     "A powerfully written and absorbing story."--_Morning Post._
+
+
+A Daughter of Mystery. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By R. NORMAN SILVER 6/=
+
+     "It cannot comfortably be laid down until it is finished. The plots
+     and counter-plots make the brain reel. The book should be read,
+     and will repay the most exacting lovers of the exciting."--_Daily
+     News._
+
+
+Wayfarers All. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By LESLIE KEITH, Author of "'Lisbeth," "My Bonnie Lady." 6/=
+
+     "An extremely entertaining and sympathetic romance. The Misses
+     Green are masterly characterisations, and so are Ruth's fascinating
+     children."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+The Inn by the Shore. (_Fifteenth Thousand._)
+
+By FLORENCE WARDEN, Author of "The House on the Marsh," etc. 3/6
+
+     "A rattling story, told in a lively way, incident following on
+     incident in rapid succession."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+
+Judy a Jilt. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By MRS. CONNEY, Author of "A Lady House Breaker," "Gold for
+Dross," etc. 3/6
+
+     "Written in Mrs. Conney's happiest manner 'Judy a Jilt' is a
+     telling story throughout."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+The Tone King. (_Third Edition._)
+
+A Romance of the Life of Mozart By Heribert Rau. Translated by J. E. S.
+Rae. With specially engraved Portrait of Mozart. 6/=
+
+     "A lively story. The narrative of his achievements as a boy and
+     man, deftly built up to completeness by Mr. Heribert Rau, is
+     delightful reading throughout."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+     "Full of fire and musical passion."--_Literary World._
+
+
+Over One Hundred Thousand Copies Sold in America.
+
+
+The Golden Dog (LE CHIEN D'OR). (_Third Edition._)
+
+A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec. By William
+Kirby, F.R.S.C. 6/=
+
+     "Brimful of interest and excitement, the novel may be read with
+     pleasure, and finished with regret."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+
+Memory Street.
+
+By MARTHA BAKER DUNN, Author of "Sleeping Beauty," "Lias'
+Wife," etc. 6/=
+
+     "This charming story is not only one of daily actions, but of
+     important epochs. The novel is bright and alert, the personages are
+     natural, the story is graphic and true to the very last."--_Boston
+     Times._
+
+
+God's Rebel.
+
+By HULBERT FULLER, Author of "Vivian of Virginia."
+
+     "A book ... palpitating with intensity."--_St. Paul's Despatch._
+
+     "Most interesting throughout."--_Albany Times._
+
+
+The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore. (_Thirtieth Thousand._)
+
+A Farcical Novel. By HAL GODFREY (Miss C. O'Conor Eccles). 6/=
+
+     "A lightsome, laughable farce.... Some delightfully grotesque
+     situations. The humour of the book is most enjoyable."--_Daily
+     Mail._
+
+     "Is the clever expansion of a clever idea. Well written, drawn to
+     the life, and full of fun."--_Black and White._
+
+
+The Man Who Forgot. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of the "Prodigal's Brother," "Sinners
+Twain," etc. With a special Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "An exciting tale ... distinctly a book to read and enjoy."--_Daily
+     Mail._
+
+     "A vigorous and exciting story. Some part of the action of the book
+     is laid in Java, and the catastrophe of Krakatoa is described with
+     a vividness that makes real to us that appalling upheaving of
+     Nature."--_Daily News._
+
+The Poor Plutocrats. (AS WE GROW OLD.) (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "Distinctly a novel of incident and adventure, the whole atmosphere
+     is fresh and new; the ways of life, the people of those curious
+     towns and villages and lonely mountains, are a revelation and a
+     novelty. Put before us by the pen of a master like Jókai, the
+     effect is to stir and interest in an unusual degree."--_Daily
+     Chronicle._
+
+
+The Day of Wrath. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated from the Hungarian by R. Nisbet
+Bain. With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "It is wildly exciting--having once begun you cannot stop, but must
+     go hurtling on to the end. The descriptive passages are remarkably
+     vivid and lucid."--_Black and White._
+
+
+Dr. Dumany's Wife. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by F. Steinitz (under the author's
+personal supervision). With specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of
+Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "With kaleidoscopic rapidity, scene after scene passes before us.
+     The novel shows us in a high degree the craft of the
+     story-teller."--_Literature._
+
+
+The Nameless Castle. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by S. E. Boggs (under the author's
+personal supervision). With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "Told with infinite delicacy and charm, an enthralling
+     romance."--_The Bookman._
+
+
+Debts of Honor. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by A. B. Yolland. With a charming
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and Madame Jókai.
+
+     "Full of life and incident. Jókai's inimitable pen, vivid, fiery,
+     humorous, never fails to stir and attract."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+'Midst the Wild Carpathians. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JÓKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Portrait of Dr. Jókai.
+
+     "Will enthral all English lovers of romance."--_Saturday Review._
+
+     "It is powerful, it is vigorous, and, what is more than all, it is
+     fresh."--_The Sun._
+
+Cherry Ripe. (_35th Thousand._)
+
+By HELEN MATHERS, Author of "Comin' thro' the Rye." 3/6
+
+     "It has humour, it has poetry, it has dramatic force.... Must take
+     rank amongst our stronger and more original fiction."--_Newcastle
+     Daily Leader._
+
+
+NEW UNIFORM EDITION BY HELEN MATHERS.
+
+_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3/6 each._
+
+The Story of a Sin. (_Seventh Edition._)
+
+Eyre's Acquittal. (SEQUEL TO THE ABOVE.) (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+Jock o' Hazelgreen. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+My Lady Green Sleeves. (_Seventh Edition._)
+
+Found Out. (_103rd Thousand._)
+
+The Lovely Malincourt. (_Sixth Edition._)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Miss Providence. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MISS DOROTHEA GERARD. 3/6
+
+     "A story to be read with genuine pleasure."--_Weekly Sun._
+
+
+The Winds of March. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By GEORGE KNIGHT. 3/6
+
+     "A clever story, cleverly told, and exceedingly well worth
+     reading."--_Hearth and Home._
+
+
+The Prodigal's Brother. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of "The Man Who Forgot," etc. 3/6
+
+     "His characters are well defined ... a book well worth
+     reading."--_Daily Mail._
+
+     "An excellent story."--_Bookman._
+
+Hungarian Literature:
+
+An Historical and Critical Survey.
+
+By EMIL REICH (Doctor Juris),
+
+_Author of "History of Civilization," "Historical Atlas of Modern
+History," "Grćco-Roman Institutions," etc._
+
+Crown 8vo. Cloth, Gilt Top, 6s.
+
+With Map of Hungary.
+
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+     Daily Chronicle--
+
+     "A work of no small merit and ability. It supplies a long-felt
+     want. Dr. Reich has evidently read up his subject with care and
+     conscientiousness, and displays no small ability in marshalling an
+     immense array of facts. He has presented us with an exceedingly
+     lucid and pregnant account of one of the most original and
+     fascinating literatures of Europe."
+
+     Sunday Times--
+
+     "Dr. Reich has done us a very real service, and his work should be
+     widely known, and take a permanent place among our literary
+     reference books."
+
+     The Globe--
+
+     "It should be in great demand among those who desire to add to
+     their knowledge of European poetry and fiction."
+
+     Academy--
+
+     "An excellent piece of work, lucid, and well proportioned,
+     displaying considerable critical faculty and great historical
+     knowledge."
+
+     Bookseller--
+
+     "We hope the volume will find a wide circulation among educated
+     English readers."
+
+
+"Thomas Moore":
+
+_Being Anecdotes, Bon-mots, and Epigrams from the Journal of Thomas
+Moore._
+
+Edited, with Notes, by WILMOT HARRISON, Author of "Memorable
+London Houses," etc. With Special Introduction by RICHARD
+GARNETT, LL.D., and Frontispiece Portrait of Thomas Moore.
+
+Crown 8vo. Cloth neat, 3/6.
+
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+     The Morning Leader--
+
+     "No happier beginning could have been made than by the anecdotes,
+     bon-mots, and epigrams from the 'Journal of Thomas Moore.' The fame
+     of Moore as a poet has sadly diminished since his death. All the
+     more, therefore, as Mr. Richard Garnett, in his scholarly
+     introduction demands, should we be glad to preserve his name and
+     fame as a raconteur, a story-teller who carries us irresistibly
+     back to the very atmosphere breathed by Byron and Washington
+     Irving."
+
+     Literature--
+
+     "Mr. Garnett's introduction gives a delightful picture of the man
+     and his social charm. The collection is a storehouse of good things
+     said by men noted for the brilliance of their conversation. Much
+     pleasure can be extracted, and no small knowledge of an intensely
+     social period."
+
+     Pall Mall Gazette--
+
+     "Every one of the pages has sparkle and animation in it, Moore knew
+     everybody worth knowing in his time, and he introduces us to men
+     who have taken their places in history--not by any formidable
+     description, but with an enjoyable joke and a good-natured story."
+
+
+The "GREENBACK" Series
+
+OF
+
+_Popular Novels_
+
+BY AUTHORS OF THE DAY.
+
+_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, neat, 3s. 6d. each._
+
+
+HELEN MATHERS.
+
+  CHERRY RIPE! (21)
+  THE STORY OF A SIN. (22)
+  EYRE'S ACQUITTAL. (23)
+  JOCK O' HAZELGREEN. (24)
+  MY LADY GREEN SLEEVES. (25)
+  FOUND OUT. (26)
+  THE LOVELY MALINCOURT. (39)
+
+
+CURTIS YORKE.
+
+  THAT LITTLE GIRL. (8)
+  DUDLEY. (9)
+  THE WILD RUTHVENS. (10)
+  THE BROWN PORTMANTEAU. (11)
+  HUSH! (12)
+  ONCE! (13)
+  A ROMANCE OF MODERN LONDON. (14)
+  HIS HEART TO WIN. (15)
+  DARRELL CHEVASNEY. (16)
+  BETWEEN THE SILENCES. (17)
+  A RECORD OF DISCORDS. (20)
+  THE MEDLICOTTS. (27)
+  VALENTINE. (57)
+
+
+MRS. LEITH ADAMS.
+
+  LOUIS DRAYCOTT. (1)
+  GEOFFREY STIRLING. (2)
+  BONNIE KATE. (3)
+  A GARRISON ROMANCE. (40)
+  MADELON LEMOINE. (46)
+  THE PEYTON ROMANCE. (18)
+
+
+MAY CROMMELIN.
+
+  FOR THE SAKE OF THE FAMILY. (49)
+  BAY RONALD. (50)
+  LOVE KNOTS. (59)
+
+
+J. S. FLETCHER.
+
+  OLD LATTIMER'S LEGACY. (7)
+
+
+ROWLAND GREY.
+
+  BY VIRTUE OF HIS OFFICE. (44)
+  THE POWER OF THE DOG. (53)
+
+
+MRS. HERBERT MARTIN.
+
+  LINDSAY'S GIRL. (32)
+  BRITOMART. (45)
+
+
+JOHN MACKIE.
+
+  THE PRODIGAL'S BROTHER. (51)
+
+
+DOROTHEA GERARD.
+
+  MISS PROVIDENCE. (56)
+
+
+IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
+
+  A NEW OTHELLO. (4)
+
+
+SOMERVILLE GIBNEY.
+
+  THE MAID OF LONDON BRIDGE. (5)
+
+
+T. W. SPEIGHT.
+
+  THE HEART OF A MYSTERY. (28)
+  IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. (43)
+
+
+MAJOR NORRIS PAUL.
+
+  EVELINE WELLWOOD. (6)
+
+
+MRS. BAGOT HARTE.
+
+  WRONGLY CONDEMNED. (33)
+
+
+LINDA GARDINER.
+
+  MRS. WYLDE. (36)
+
+
+AGNES MARCHBANK.
+
+  RUTH FARMER. (38)
+
+
+MRS. H. H. PENROSE.
+
+  THE LOVE THAT NEVER DIES. (48)
+
+
+MRS. CONNEY.
+
+  JUDY A JILT. (54)
+
+
+DR. PHILPOT CROWTHER.
+
+  THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. (58)
+
+
+SCOTT GRAHAM.
+
+  A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. (42)
+  THE GOLDEN MILESTONE. (19)
+
+
+ESMČ STUART.
+
+  HARUM SCARUM. (41)
+
+
+MRS. A. PHILLIPS.
+
+  MAN PROPOSES. (29)
+
+
+MRS. E. NEWMAN.
+
+  THE LAST OF THE HADDONS. (30)
+
+
+EASTWOOD KIDSON.
+
+  ALLANSON'S LITTLE WOMAN (31)
+
+
+MARGARET MOULE.
+
+  THE THIRTEENTH BRYDAIN. (34)
+
+
+ELEANOR HOLMES.
+
+  THROUGH ANOTHER MAN'S EYES. (35)
+
+
+E. M. DAVY.
+
+  A PRINCE OF COMO. (37)
+
+
+MARGARET PARKER.
+
+  THE DESIRE OF THEIR HEARTS. (47)
+
+
+HADLEY WELFORD.
+
+  WHOSE DEED? (51)
+
+
+GEO. KNIGHT.
+
+  THE WINDS OF MARCH. (55)
+
+_Others in Preparation._
+
+
+Jarrold & Sons, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.
+
+
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Halil the Pedlar, by Mór Jókai</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Halil the Pedlar, by Mór Jókai, Translated by
+R. Nisbet Bain</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Halil the Pedlar</p>
+<p>       A Tale of Old Stambul</p>
+<p>Author: Mór Jókai</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 24, 2006  [eBook #17597]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALIL THE PEDLAR***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet B., Bill Tozier,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+<h1>HALIL THE PEDLAR</h1>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><i>A TALE OF OLD STAMBUL</i></h2>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span></h3>
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4>
+
+<p class="center">"The Green Book," "Black Diamonds," "The Poor Plutocrats," etc.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img002.jpg" alt="Maurus J&oacute;kai" title="Maurus J&oacute;kai" /></div>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Authorised Edition, Translated by</span></p>
+<h3><span class="smcap">R. Nisbet Bain</span></h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img003.jpg" alt="motif" title="motif" /></div>
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><br />LONDON
+JARROLD &amp; SONS, 10 &amp; 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.<br />
+[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]<br />
+1901</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+<i>Translated from the Hungarian</i>, "<i>A feh&eacute;r r&oacute;zsa,"<br />
+by R. Nisbet Bain</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>Copyright</i><br />
+<i>London: Jarrold &amp; Sons</i><br />
+<i>New York: McClure, Phillips, &amp; Co</i>.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.&mdash;THE PEDLAR</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.&mdash;G&Uuml;L-BEJ&Aacute;ZE&mdash;THE WHITE ROSE</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.&mdash;SULTAN ACHMED</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.&mdash;THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.&mdash;THE CAMP</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.&mdash;THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.&mdash;TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.&mdash;A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.&mdash;THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.&mdash;THE FEAST OF HALWET</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.&mdash;GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.&mdash;HUMAN HOPES</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.&mdash;THE EMPTY PLACE</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>On September 28th, 1730, a rebellion burst forth in Stambul against
+Sultan Achmed III., whose cowardly hesitation to take the field against
+the advancing hosts of the victorious Persians had revolted both the
+army and the people. The rebellion began in the camp of the Janissaries,
+and the ringleader was one Halil Patrona, a poor Albanian sailor-man,
+who after plying for a time the trade of a petty huckster had been
+compelled, by crime or accident, to seek a refuge among the mercenary
+soldiery of the Empire. The rebellion was unexpectedly, amazingly
+successful. The Sultan, after vainly sacrificing his chief councillors
+to the fury of the mob, was himself dethroned by Halil, and Mahmud I.
+appointed Sultan in his stead. For the next six weeks the
+ex-costermonger held the destiny of the Ottoman Empire in his hands
+till, on November 25th, he and his chief associates were treacherously
+assassinated in full Divan by the secret command, and actually in the
+presence of, the very monarch whom he had drawn from obscurity to set
+upon the throne.</p>
+
+<p>This dramatic event is the historical basis of J&oacute;kai's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> famous story, "A
+Feh&eacute;r R&oacute;zsa," now translated into English for the first time. No doubt
+the genial Hungarian romancer has idealised the rough, outspoken,
+masterful rebel-chief, Halil Patrona, into a great patriot-statesman, a
+martyr for justice and honour; yet, on the other hand, he has certainly
+preserved the salient features of Halil's character and, so far as I am
+competent to verify his authorities, has not been untrue to history
+though, as I opine, depending too much on the now somewhat obsolete
+narrative of Hammer-Purgstall ("Geschichte des osmanischen Reichs").
+Almost incredible as they seem to us sober Westerns, such incidents as
+the tame surrender of Achmed III., the elevation of the lowliest
+demagogues to the highest positions in the realm, and the curious and
+characteristically oriental episode of the tulip-pots, are absolute
+facts. Naturally J&oacute;kai's splendid fancy has gorgeously embellished the
+plain narrative of the Turkish chroniclers. Such a subject as Halil's
+strange career must irresistibly have appealed to an author who is
+nothing if not vivid and romantic, and ever delights in startling
+contrasts. On the other hand, the unique episode of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, "The
+White Rose," and her terrible experiences in the Seraglio are largely,
+if not entirely, of J&oacute;kai's own invention, and worthy, as told by him,
+of a place in The Thousand and One Nights.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Finally&mdash;a bibliographical note.</p>
+
+<p>Originally "A Feh&eacute;r R&oacute;zsa," under the title of "Halil Patrona," formed
+the first part of "A Janics&aacute;rok v&eacute;gnapjai," a novel first published at
+Pest in three volumes in 1854. The two tales are, however, quite
+distinct, and have, since then, as a matter of fact, frequently been
+published separately. The second part of "A Janics&aacute;rok v&eacute;gnapjai" was
+translated by me from the Hungarian original, some years ago, under the
+title of "The Lion of Janina," and published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons
+as one of their "J&oacute;kai" Series in 1898. The striking favour with which
+that story was then received justifies my hope that its counterpart,
+which I have re-named "Halil the Pedlar," from its chief character, may
+be equally fortunate.</p>
+
+<p class='author'>
+<span class="smcap">R. Nisbet Bain.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>September, 1901.</i></span></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<h2>HALIL THE PEDLAR.</h2>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE PEDLAR.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Time out of mind, for hundreds and hundreds of years, the struggle
+between the Shiites and the Sunnites has divided the Moslem World.</p>
+
+<p>Persia and India are the lands of the Shiites; Turkey, Arabia, Egypt,
+and the realm of Barbary follow the tenets of the Sunna.</p>
+
+<p>Much blood, much money, many anathemas, and many apostasies have marked
+the progress of this quarrel, and still it has not even yet been made
+quite clear whether the Shiites or the Sunnites are the true believers.
+The question to be decided is this: which of the four successors of the
+Prophet, Ali, Abu Bekr, Osmar, and Osman, was the true Caliph. The
+Shiites maintain that Ali alone was the true Caliph. The Sunnites, on
+the other hand, affirm that all four were true Caliphs and equally holy.
+And certainly the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Shiites must be great blockheads to allow themselves
+to be cut into mince-meat by thousands, rather than admit that God would
+enrich the calendar with three saints distasteful to them personally.</p>
+
+<p>The head Mufti had already hurled three fetvas at the head of Shah
+Mahmud, and just as many armies of valiant Sunnites had invaded the
+territories of the Shiites. The redoubtable Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim,
+had already wrested from them Tauris, Erivan, Kermandzasahan, and
+Hamadan, and the good folks of Stambul could talk of nothing else but
+these victories&mdash;victories which they had extra good reason to remember,
+inasmuch as the Janissaries, at every fresh announcement of these
+triumphs, all the more vigorously exercised their martial prowess on the
+peaceful inhabitants they were supposed to protect, and not only upon
+them, but likewise upon the still more peaceful Sultan who, it must be
+admitted, troubled himself very little either about the Sunnites, or the
+victories of his Grand Vizier, being quite content with the
+contemplation of his perpetually blooming tulips and of the damsels of
+the Seraglio, who were even fairer to view than the tulips whose blooms
+they themselves far outshone.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The last rays of sunset were about to depart from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> the minarets of
+Stambul. The imposing shape of the City of the Seven Hills loomed forth
+like a majestic picture in the evening light. Below, all aflame from the
+reflection of the burning sky, lies the Bosphorus, wherein the Seraglio
+and the suburbs of Pera and Galata, with their tiers upon tiers of
+houses and variegated fairy palaces, mirror themselves tranquilly. The
+long, winding, narrow streets climb from one hill to another, and every
+single hill is as green as if mother Nature had claimed her due portion
+of each from the inhabitants, so different from our western cities, all
+paved and swept clean, and nothing but hard stone from end to end. Here,
+on the contrary, nothing but green meets the eye. The bastions are
+planted with vines and olive-trees, pomegranate and cypress trees stand
+before the houses of the rich. The poorer folks who have no gardens
+plant flowers on their house-tops, or at any rate grow vines round their
+windows which in time run up the whole house, and from out of the midst
+of this perennial verdure arise the shining cupolas of eighty mosques.
+At the end of every thoroughfare, overgrown with luxuriant grass and
+thick-foliaged cypresses, only the turbaned tombstones show that here is
+the place of sad repose. And the effect of the picture is heightened by
+the mighty cupola of the all-dominating Aja Sofia mosque, which looks
+right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> over all these palaces into the golden mirror of the Bosphorus.
+Soon this golden mirror changes into a mirror of bronze, the sun
+disappears, and the tranquil oval of the sea borrows a metallic shimmer
+from the dark-blue sky. The kiosks fade into darkness; the vast outlines
+of the Rumili Hisar and the Anatoli Hisar stand out against the starry
+heaven; and excepting the lamps lit here and there in the khans of the
+foreign merchants and a few minarets, the whole of the gigantic city is
+wrapped in gloom.</p>
+
+<p>The muezzin intone the evening <i>no&oacute;m&aacute;t</i> from the slender turrets of the
+mosques; everyone hastens to get home before night has completely set
+in; the mule-drivers urge on their beasts laden on both sides with
+leather bottles, and their tinkling bells resound in the narrow streets;
+the shouting water-carriers and porters, whose long shoulder-poles block
+up the whole street, scare out of their way all whom they meet; whole
+troops of dogs come forth from the cemeteries to fight over the offal of
+the piazzas. Every true believer endeavours as soon as possible to get
+well behind bolts and bars, and would regard it as a sheer tempting of
+Providence to quit his threshold under any pretext whatsoever before the
+morning invocation of the muezzin. He especially who at such a time
+should venture to cross the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> piazza of the Etmeidan would have been
+judged very temerarious or very ill-informed, inasmuch as three of the
+gates of the barracks of the Janissaries open upon this piazza; and the
+Janissaries, even when they are in a good humour, are not over
+particular as to the sort of jokes they choose to play, for their own
+private amusement, upon those who may chance to fall into their hands.
+Every faithful Mussulman, therefore, guards his footsteps from any
+intrusion into the Etmeidan, as being in duty bound to know and observe
+that text of the Koran which says, "A fool is he who plunges into peril
+that he might avoid."</p>
+
+<p>The tattoo had already been beaten with wooden sticks on a wooden board,
+when two men encountered each other in one of the streets leading into
+the Etmeidan.</p>
+
+<p>One of them was a stranger, dressed in a Wallachian <i>gunya</i>, long shoes,
+and with a broad reticule dangling at his side. He looked forty years
+old and, so far as it was possible to distinguish his figure and
+features in the twilight, seemed to be a strong, well-built man, with a
+tolerably plump face, on which at that moment no small traces of fear
+could be detected and something of that uncomfortable hesitation which
+is apt to overtake a man in a large foreign city which he visits for the
+very first time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The other was an honest Mussulman about thirty years old, with a thick,
+coal-black beard and passionate, irritable features, whose true
+character was very fairly reflected in his pair of flashing black eyes.
+His turban was drawn deep down over his temples, obliterating his
+eyebrows completely, which made him look more truculent than ever.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger seemed to be going towards the Etmeidan, the other man to
+be coming from it. The former let the latter pass, by squeezing himself
+against the wall, and only ventured to address him when he perceived
+that he had no evil intentions towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"I prythee, pitiful Mussulman, be not wrath with me, but tell me where
+the Etmeidan piazza is."</p>
+
+<p>The person so accosted instantly stopped short, and fixing the
+interrogator with a stony look, replied angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Go straight on and you'll be there immediately."</p>
+
+<p>At these words the knees of the questioner smote together.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe is me! worthy Mussulman, I prythee be not wrath, I did not ask thee
+where the Etmeidan was because I wanted to go there, but to avoid
+straying into it. I am a stranger in this city, and in my terror I have
+been drawing near to the very place I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> want to avoid. I prythee leave me
+not here all by myself. Every house is fast closed. Not one of the khans
+will let me in at this hour. Take me home with you, I will not be a
+burden upon you, I can sleep in your courtyard, or in your cellar, if
+only I may escape stopping in the streets all night, for I am greatly
+afraid."</p>
+
+<p>The Turk so addressed was carrying in one hand a knapsack woven out of
+rushes. This he now opened and cast a glance into it, as if he were
+taking counsel with himself whether the fish and onions he had just
+bought in the market-place for his supper would be sufficient for two
+people. Finally he nodded his head as if he had made up his mind at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, come along!" said he, "and follow me!"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger would have kissed his hand, he could not thank his new
+friend sufficiently.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better wait to see what you are going to get before you thank
+me," said the Turk; "you will find but scanty cheer with me, for I am
+only a poor man."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as for that, I also am poor, very poor indeed," the new-comer
+hastened to reply with the crafty obsequiousness peculiar to the Greek
+race. "My name is Janaki, and I am a butcher at Jassy. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> kavasses
+have laid their hands upon my apprentice and all my live-stock at the
+same time, and that is why I have come to Stambul. I shall be utterly
+beggared if I don't get them back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Allah aid thee. Let us make haste, for it is already dark."</p>
+
+<p>And then, going on in front to show the way, he led the stranger through
+the narrow winding labyrinth of baffling lanes and alleys which lead to
+the Hebdomon Palace, formerly the splendid residence of the Greek
+Emperors, but now the quarter where the poorest and most sordid classes
+of the populace herd together. The streets here are so narrow that the
+tendrils of the vines and gourds growing on the roofs of the opposite
+houses meet together, and form a natural baldachino for the benefit of
+the foot-passenger below.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, on reaching the entrance of a peculiarly long and narrow lane,
+the loud-sounding note of a song, bawled by someone coming straight
+towards them, struck upon their ears. It was some drunken man evidently,
+but whoever the individual might be, he was certainly the possessor of a
+tremendous pair of lungs, for he could roar like a buffalo, and not
+content with roaring, he kept thundering at the doors of all the houses
+he passed with his fists.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! worthy Mussulman, I suppose this is some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> good-humoured
+Janissary, eh?" stammered the new-comer with a terrified voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a doubt of it. A peace-loving man would not think of making such a
+bellowing as that."</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be as well to turn back?"</p>
+
+<p>"We might meet a pair of them if we went another way. Take this lesson
+from me: Never turn back from the path you have once taken, as otherwise
+you will only plunge into still greater misfortunes."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile they were drawing nearer and nearer to the bellowing
+gentleman, and before long his figure came full into view.</p>
+
+<p>And certainly his figure was in every respect worthy of his voice. He
+was an enormous, six-foot high, herculean fellow, with his shirt-sleeves
+rolled up to his shoulders, and the disorderly appearance of his dolman
+and the crooked cock of his turban more than justified the suspicion
+that he had already taken far more than was good for him of that fluid
+which the Prophet has forbidden to all true believers.</p>
+
+<p>"Gel, gel! Ne mikt&aacute;r dir, gel!" ("Come along the whole lot of you!")
+roared the Janissary with all his might, staggering from one side of the
+lane to the other, and flourishing his naked rapier in the air.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe is me, my brave Mussulman!" faltered the Wallachian butcher in a
+terrified whisper, "wouldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> it be as well if you were to take my
+stick, for he might observe that I had it, and fancy I want to fight him
+with it."</p>
+
+<p>The Turk took over the stick of the butcher as the latter seemed to be
+frightened of it.</p>
+
+<p>"H'm! this stick of yours is not a bad one. I see that the head of it is
+well-studded with knobs, and that it is weighted with lead besides. What
+a pity you don't know how to make use of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am only too glad if people will let me live in peace."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, hide behind me, and come along boldly, and when you pass him
+don't so much as look at him."</p>
+
+<p>The Wallachian desired nothing better, but the Janissary had already
+caught sight of him from afar, and as, clinging fast to his guide's
+mantle, he was about to slip past the man of war, the Janissary suddenly
+barred the way, seized him by the collar with his horrible fist, and
+dragged the wretched creature towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"Khair evetlesszin domusz!" ("Not so fast, thou swine!") "a word in
+thine ear! I have just bought me a yataghan. Stretch forth thy neck! I
+would test my weapon upon thee and see whether it is sharp."</p>
+
+<p>The poor fellow was already half-dead with terror.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> With the utmost
+obsequiousness he at once began unfastening his neck-cloth, whimpering
+at the same time something about his four little children: what would
+become of them when they had nobody to care for them.</p>
+
+<p>But his conductor intervened defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Take yourself off, you drunken lout, you! How dare you lay a hand upon
+my guest. Know you not that he who harms the guest of a true believer is
+accursed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Na, na, na!" laughed the Janissary mockingly, "are you mad, my worthy
+Balukji, that you bandy words with the flowers of the Prophet's garden,
+with Begtash's sons, the valiant Janissaries? Get out of my way while
+you are still able to go away whole, for if you remain here much longer,
+I'll teach you to be a little more obedient."</p>
+
+<p>"Let my guest go in peace, I say, and then go thine own way also!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what ails you, worthy Mussulman? Has anyone offended thee?
+Mashallah! what business is it of thine if I choose to strike off the
+head of a dog? You can pick up ten more like him in the street any time
+you like."</p>
+
+<p>The Turk, perceiving that it would be difficult to convince a drunken
+man by mere words, drew nearer to him, and grasped the hand that held
+the yataghan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" cried the Janissary, fairly infuriated at this act
+of temerity.</p>
+
+<p>"Come! Go thy way!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know whose hand thou art grasping? My name is Halil."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine also is Halil."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine is Halil Pelivan&mdash;Halil the Wrestler!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mine is Halil Patrona."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the Janissary was beside himself with rage at so much
+opposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou worm! thou crossed-leg, crouching huckster, thou pack-thread
+pedlar! if thou dost not let me go immediately, I will cut off thy
+hands, thy feet, thine ears, and thy nose, and then hang thee up."</p>
+
+<p>"And if thou leave not go of my guest, I will fell thee to the earth
+with this stick of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"What, <i>thou</i> wilt fell <i>me</i>? Me? A fellow like thou threaten to strike
+Halil Pelivan with a stick? Strike away then, thou dog, thou
+dishonourable brute-beast, thou dregs of a Mussulman! strike away then,
+strike here, if thou have the courage!"</p>
+
+<p>And with that he pointed at his own head, which he flung back defiantly
+as if daring his opponent to strike at it.</p>
+
+<p>But Halil Patrona's courage was quite equal even to such an invitation
+as that, and he brought down the leaded stick in his hand so heavily on
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Janissary's head that the fellow's face was soon streaming with
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Pelivan roared aloud at the blow, and, shaking his bloody forehead,
+rushed upon Patrona like a wounded bear, and disregarding a couple of
+fresh blows on the arms and shoulders which had the effect, however, of
+making him drop his yataghan, he grasped his adversary with his gigantic
+hands, lifted him up, and then hugged him with the embrace of a
+boa-constrictor. But now it appeared that Patrona also was by no means a
+novice in the art of self-defence, for clutching with both hands the
+giant's throat, he squeezed it so tightly that in a few seconds the
+Janissary began to stagger to and fro, finally falling backwards to the
+ground, whereupon Patrona knelt upon his breast and plucked from his
+beard a sufficient number of hairs to serve him as a souvenir. Pelivan,
+overpowered by drink and the concussion of his fall, slumbered off where
+he lay, while Patrona with his guest, who was already half-dead with
+fright, hastened to reach his dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>After traversing a labyrinth of narrow, meandering lanes, and
+zig-zagging backwards and forwards through all kinds of gardens and
+rookeries, Halil Patrona arrived at last at his own house.</p>
+
+<p>Were we to speak of "his own street door," we should be betraying a
+gross ignorance of locality, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> in the place where Patrona lived the
+mere idea of a street never presented itself to anybody's imagination.
+There was indeed no such thing there. The spot was covered by half a
+thousand or so of wooden houses, mixed together, higgledy-piggledy, so
+inextricably, that the shortest way to everybody's house was through his
+neighbour's passage, hall, or courtyard, and inasmuch as the inmates of
+whole rows of these houses were in the habit of living together in the
+closest and most mysterious harmony, every house was so arranged that
+the inhabitants thereof could slip into the neighbouring dwelling at a
+moment's notice. In some cases, for instance, the roofs were continuous;
+in others the cellars communicated, so that if ever anyone of the
+inhabitants were suddenly pursued, he could, with the assistance of the
+roofs, passages, and cellars, vanish without leaving a trace behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona's house was of wood like the rest. It consisted of a
+single room, yet this was a room which could be made to hold a good
+deal. It had a fire-place also, and if perhaps a chance guest were a
+little fastidious, he could at any rate always make sure of a good bed
+on the roof, which was embowered in vine leaves. There was certainly no
+extravagant display of furniture inside. A rush-mat in the middle of the
+room, a bench covered with a carpet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> in the corner, a few wooden plates
+and dishes, a jug on a wooden shelf, and a couple of very simple
+cooking-utensils in the fire-place&mdash;that was all. From the roof of the
+chamber hung an earthenware lamp, which Patrona kindled with an
+old-fashioned flint and steel. Then he brought water in a round-bellied
+trough for his guest to wash his hands, fetched drinking-water from the
+well in a long jug, whereupon he drew forward his rush-woven
+market-basket, emptied its contents on to the rush-mat, sat him down
+opposite honest Janaki, and forthwith invited his guest to fall to.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing indeed but a few small fish and a few beautiful
+rosy-red onions, but Halil had so much to say in praise of the repast,
+telling his guest where and how these fish were caught, and in what
+manner they ought to be fried so as to bring out the taste; how you
+could find out which of them had hard roes and which soft; what
+different sorts of flavours there are in the onion tribe, far more,
+indeed, than in the pine-apple; and then the pure fresh water too&mdash;why
+the Koran from end to end is full of the praises of fresh pure water,
+and Halil knew all these passages by heart, and had no need to look in
+the holy book for them. And then, too, he had so many interesting tales
+to tell of travellers who had lost their way in the desert and were
+dying for a drop of water, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> how Allah had had compassion upon them
+and guided them to the springs of the oasis&mdash;so that the guest was
+actually entrapped into imagining that he had just been partaking of the
+most magnificent banquet, and he enjoyed his meat and drink, and arose
+from his rush-carpet well satisfied with himself and with his host.</p>
+
+<p>I'll wager that Sultan Achmed, poor fellow! felt far less contented when
+he rose from his gorgeous and luxurious sofa, though the tables beside
+it were piled high with fruits and sweetmeats, and two hundred odalisks
+danced and sang around it.</p>
+
+<p>"And now let us go to sleep!" said Halil Patrona to his guest. "I know
+that slumber is the greatest of all the joys which Allah has bestowed
+upon mankind. In our waking hours we belong to others, but the land of
+dreams is all our own. If your dreams be good dreams, you rejoice that
+they are good, and if they be evil dreams, you rejoice that they are but
+dreams. The night is nice and warm, you can sleep on the house-top, and
+if you pull your rope-ladder up after you, you need not fear that
+anybody will molest you."</p>
+
+<p>Janaki said "thank you!" to everything, and very readily clambered to
+the top of the roof. There he found already prepared for him the carpet
+and the fur cushion on which he was to sleep. Plainly these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> were the
+only cushion and carpet obtainable in the house, and the guest observing
+that these were the very things he had noticed in the room below,
+exclaimed to Halil Patrona:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, humane Chorbadshi, you have given me your own carpet and pillow; on
+what will you sleep, pray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not trouble your head about me, muzafir! I will bring forth my
+second carpet and my second cushion and sleep on them."</p>
+
+<p>Janaki peeped through a chink in the roof, and observed how vigorously
+Halil Patrona performed his ablutions, and how next he went through his
+devotions with even greater conscientiousness than his ablutions,
+whereupon he produced a round trough, turned it upside down, laid it
+upon the rush-mat, placed his head upon the trough, and folding his arms
+across his breast, peacefully went to sleep in the Prophet.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, when Janaki awoke and descended to Halil, he gave him
+a piece of money which they call a golden denarius.</p>
+
+<p>"Take this piece of money, worthy Chorbadshi," said he, "and if you will
+permit me to remain beneath your roof this day also, prepare therewith a
+mid-day meal for us both."</p>
+
+<p>Halil hastened with the money to the piazza, bargained and chaffered for
+all sorts of eatables, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> made it a matter of conscience to keep only
+a single copper asper of the money entrusted to him. Then he prepared
+for his guest pilaf, the celebrated Turkish dish consisting of rice
+cooked with sheep's flesh, and brought him from the booths of the
+master-cooks and master-sugar-bakers, honey-cakes, dulchas, pistachios,
+sweet pepper-cakes filled with nuts and stewed in honey, and all manner
+of other delicacies, at the sight and smell of which Janaki began to
+shout that Sultan Achmed could not be better off. Halil, however,
+requested him not to mention the name of the Sultan quite so frequently
+and not to bellow so loudly.</p>
+
+<p>That night, also, he made his guest mount to the top of the roof, and
+having noticed during the preceding night that the Greek had been
+perpetually shifting his position, and consequently suspecting that he
+was little used to so hard a couch, Halil took the precaution of
+stripping off his own kaftan beforehand and placing it beneath the
+carpet he had already surrendered to his guest.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning Janaki gave another golden denarius to Halil.</p>
+
+<p>"Fetch me writing materials!" said he, "for I want to write a letter to
+someone, and then with God's help I will quit your house and pursue my
+way further."</p>
+
+<p>Halil departed, went a-bargaining in the bazaar,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> and returned with what
+he had been sent for. He calculated his outlay to a penny in the
+presence of his guest. The <i>kalem</i> (pen) was so much, so much again the
+<i>m&uuml;rekob</i> (ink), and the <i>m&uuml;h&uuml;r</i> (seal) came to this and that. The
+balance he returned to Janaki.</p>
+
+<p>As for Janaki he went up on to the roof again, there wrote and sealed
+his letter, and thrust it beneath the carpet, and then laying hold of
+his stick again, entreated Halil, with many thanks for his hospitality,
+to direct him to the Pera road whence, he said, he could find his way
+along by himself.</p>
+
+<p>Halil willingly complied with the petition of his guest, and accompanied
+him all the way to the nearest thoroughfare. When now Janaki beheld the
+Bosphorus, and perceived that the road from this point was familiar to
+him, so that he needed no further assistance, he suddenly exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Look now, my friend! an idea has occurred to me. The letter I have just
+written on your roof has escaped my memory entirely. I placed it beneath
+the carpet, and beside it lies a purse of money which I meant to have
+sent along with the letter. Now, however, I cannot turn back for it. I
+pray you, therefore, go back to your house, take this letter together
+with the purse, and hand them both over to the person to whom they are
+addressed&mdash;and God bless you for it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Halil at once turned round to obey this fresh request as quickly as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>"Give also the money to him to whom it belongs!" said the Greek.</p>
+
+<p>"You may be as certain that it will reach him as if you gave it to him
+yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"And promise me that you will compel him to whom the letter is addressed
+to accept the money."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not leave his house till he has given me a voucher in writing
+for it, and whenever you come back again to me here you will find it in
+my possession."</p>
+
+<p>"God be with you then, honest Mussulman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Salem alek!"</p>
+
+<p>Halil straightway ran home, clambered up to the roof by means of the
+rope-ladder, found both the letter and the money under the carpet,
+rejoiced greatly that they had not been stolen during his absence, and
+thrusting them both into his satchel of reeds without even taking the
+trouble to look at them, hastened off to the bazaar with them, where
+there was an acquaintance of his, a certain money-changer, who knew all
+about every man in Stambul, in order that he might find out from him
+where dwelt the man to whom the letter entrusted to him by the stranger
+was addressed.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he handed the letter to the money-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>changer in order that he
+might give him full directions without so much as casting an eye upon
+the address himself.</p>
+
+<p>The money-changer examined the address of the letter, and forthwith was
+filled with amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Halil Patrona!" cried he, "have you been taking part in the Carnival of
+the Giaours that you have allowed yourself to be so befooled? Or can't
+you read?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read! of course I can. But I don't fancy I can know the man to whom
+this letter is directed."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, all I can say is that you knew him very well indeed this time
+yesterday, for the man is yourself&mdash;none other."</p>
+
+<p>Halil, full of astonishment, took the letter, which hitherto he had not
+regarded&mdash;sure enough it was addressed to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Then he who gave me this letter must needs be a madman, and there is a
+purse which I have to hand over along with it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see that your name is written on that also."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have nothing to do with either the purse or the letter. Of a
+truth the man who confided them to me must have been a lunatic."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be best if you break open the letter and read it, then you will
+<i>know</i> what you have got to do with it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was true enough. The best way for a man to find out what he has to
+do with a letter addressed to him is, certainly, to open and read it.</p>
+
+<p>And this is what was written in the letter.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;">"<span class="smcap">Worthy Halil Patrona!</span></p>
+
+<p>"I told you that I was a poor man, but that was not true; on the
+contrary, I am pretty well to do, thank God! Nor do I wander up and down
+on the face of the earth in search of herds of cattle stolen from me,
+but for the sake of my only daughter, who is dearer to me than all my
+treasures, and now also I am in pursuit of her, following clue after
+clue, in order that I may discover her whereabouts and, if possible,
+ransom her. You have been my benefactor. You fought the drunken
+Janissary for my sake, you shared your dwelling with me, you made me lie
+on your own bed while you slept on the bare ground, you even took off
+your kaftan to make my couch the softer. Accept, therefore, as a token
+of my gratitude, the slender purse accompanying this letter. It contains
+five thousand piastres, so that if ever I visit you again I may find you
+in better circumstances. God help you in all things!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;">"Your grateful servant,</span></p>
+
+<p class='author'>"<span class="smcap">Janaki.</span>"
+</p>
+
+<p>"Now, didn't I say he was mad?" exclaimed Halil,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> after reading through
+the letter. "Who else, I should like to know, would have given me five
+thousand piastres for three red onions?"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, attracted by the noise of the conversation, a crowd of the
+acquaintances of Halil Patrona and the money-changer had gathered around
+them, and they laid their heads together and discussed among themselves
+for a long time the question which was the greater fool of the
+two&mdash;Janaki, who had given five thousand piastres for three onions, or
+Halil who did not want to accept the money.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Halil it was who turned out to be the biggest fool, for he
+immediately set out in search of the man who had given him this sum of
+money. But search and search as he might he could find no trace of him.
+If he had gone in search of someone who had stolen a like amount, he
+would have been able to find him very much sooner.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of his wanderings, he suddenly came upon the place where
+three days previously he had had his tussle with Halil Pelivan. He
+recognised the spot at once. A small dab of blood, the remains of what
+had flowed from the giant's head, was still there in the middle of the
+lane, and on the wall of the house opposite both their names were
+written. In all probability the Janissary, when he picked himself up
+again, had dipped his finger in his own blood, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> then scrawled the
+names upon the wall in order to perpetuate the memory of the incident.
+He had also taken good care to put Halil Pelivan uppermost and Halil
+Patrona undermost.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, but that is not right," said Halil to himself; "it was you who
+were undermost," and snatching up the fragment of a red tile he wrote
+his name above that of Halil Pelivan.</p>
+
+<p>He hurried and scurried about till late in the evening without
+discovering a single trace of Janaki, and by that time his head was so
+confused by all manner of cogitations that when, towards nightfall, he
+began chaffering for fish in the Etmeidan market, he would not have been
+a bit surprised if he had been told that every single carp cost a
+thousand piastres.</p>
+
+<p>He began to perceive, however, that he would have to keep the money
+after all, and the very thought of it kept him awake all night long.</p>
+
+<p>Next day he again strolled about the bazaars, and then directed his
+steps once more towards that house where he had chalked up his name the
+day before. And lo! the name of Pelivan was again stuck at the top of
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>"This must be put a stop to once for all," murmured Halil, and beckoning
+to a load-carrier he mounted on to his shoulders and wrote his name high
+up, just beneath the eaves of the house on a spot where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Pelivan's name
+could not top his own again, from whence it is manifest that there was a
+certain secret instinct in Halil Patrona which would not permit him to
+take the lower place or suffer him to recognise anybody as standing
+higher than himself. And as he, pursuing his way home, passed by the
+Tsiragan Palace, and there encountered riding past him the Padishah,
+Sultan Achmed III., accompanied by the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim Damad, the
+Kiaja Beg, the Kapudan Pasha, and the chief Imam, Ispirizade; and as he
+humbly bowed his head in the dust before them, it seemed to him as if
+something at the bottom of his heart whispered to him: "The time will
+come when the whole lot of you will bow your heads before me in the dust
+just as I, Halil Patrona, the pedlar, do obeisance to you now, ye lords
+of the Empire and the Universe!"</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for Halil Patrona, however, he did not raise his face while
+the suite of the Lords of the Universe swept past him, for otherwise it
+might have happened that Halil Pelivan, who went before the Sultan with
+a drawn broadsword, might have recognised him, and certainly nobody
+would have taken particular trouble to inquire why the Janissary had
+split in two the head of this or that pedlar who happened to come in his
+way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h4>G&Uuml;L-BEJ&Aacute;ZE&mdash;THE WHITE ROSE.</h4>
+
+
+<p>The booth of Halil Patrona, the pedlar, stood in the bazaar. He sold
+tobacco, chibooks, and pipe-stems, but his business was not particularly
+lucrative. He did not keep opium, although that was beginning to be one
+of the principal articles of luxury in the Turkish Empire. From the very
+look of him one could see that he did not sell the drug. For Halil had
+determined that he would never have any of this soul-benumbing stuff in
+his shop, and whenever Halil made any resolution he generally kept it.
+Oftentimes, sitting in the circle of his neighbours, he would fall to
+discoursing on the subject, and would tell them that it was Satan who
+had sent this opium stuff to play havoc among the true believers. It
+was, he would insist, the offscouring of the <i>Jinns</i>, and yet Mussulmans
+did not scruple to put the filth into their mouths and chew and inhale
+it! Hence the ruin that was coming upon them and their posterity and the
+whole Moslem race. His neighbours let him talk on without contradiction,
+but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> took good care to sell as much opium themselves as possible,
+because it brought in by far the largest profits. Surely, they argued
+among themselves, because an individual cuts his throat with a knife now
+and then, that is no reason why knives in general should not be kept for
+sale in shops? It was plain to them that Halil was no born trader. Yet
+he was perfectly satisfied with the little profit he made, and it never
+occurred to him to wish for anything he had not got.</p>
+
+<p>Consequently when he now found himself the possessor of five thousand
+piastres, he was very much puzzled as to what he should do with such a
+large amount. The things he really desired were far, far away, quite out
+of his reach in fact. He would have liked to lead fleets upon the sea
+and armies marshalled in battle array. He would have liked to have built
+cities and fortresses. He would have liked to have raised up and cast
+down pashas, dispensed commands, and domineered generally. But a
+beggarly five thousand piastres would not go very far in that direction.
+It was too much from one point of view and too little from another, so
+that he really was at a loss what to do with it.</p>
+
+<p>His booth looked out upon that portion of the bazaar where there was a
+vacant space separated from the trading booths by lofty iron railings.
+This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> vacant space was a slave-market. Here the lowest class of slaves
+were freely offered for sale. Every day Halil saw some ten to twenty of
+these human chattels exhibited in front of his booth. It was no new
+sight to him.</p>
+
+<p>In this slave-market there were none of those pathetic scenes which
+poets and romance writers are so fond of describing when, for instance,
+the rich traders of Dirbend offer to the highest bidder miracles of
+loveliness, to be the sport of lust and luxury, beautiful Circassian and
+Georgian maidens, whose cheeks burn with shame at the bold rude gaze of
+the men, and whose eyes overflow with tears when their new masters
+address them. There was nothing of the sort in this place. This was but
+the depository of used up, chucked aside wares, of useless Jessir, such
+as dry and wrinkled old negresses, worn-out, venomous nurses, human
+refuse, so to speak, to whom it was a matter of the most profound
+indifference what master they were called upon to serve, who listened to
+the slang of the auctioneer with absolute nonchalance as he
+circumstantially totted up their years and described their qualities,
+and allowed their would-be purchasers to examine their teeth and
+manipulate their arms and legs as if they were the very last persons
+concerned in the business on hand.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion of the first general auction that had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> come round after
+the departure of Janaki from Halil, the pedlar was sitting as usual
+before his booth in the bazaar when the public crier appeared in the
+slave-market, leading by the hand a veiled female slave, and made the
+following announcement in a loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Merciful Mussulmans! Lo! I bring hither from the harem of his Majesty
+the Sultan, an odalisk, who is to be put up to public auction by command
+of the Padishah. The name of this odalisk is G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze; her age is
+seventeen years, she has all her teeth, her breath is pure, her skin is
+clean, her hair is thick, she can dance and sing, and do all manner of
+woman's handiwork. His shall she be who makes the highest bid, and the
+sum obtained is to be divided among the dervishes. Two thousand piastres
+have already been promised for her; come hither and examine her&mdash;whoever
+gives the most shall have her."</p>
+
+<p>"Allah preserve us from the thought of purchasing this girl," observed
+the wiser of the merchants, "why that would be the same thing as
+purchasing the wrath of the Padishah for hard cash," and they wisely
+withdrew into the interiors of their booths. They knew well enough what
+was likely to happen to the man who presumed to buy an odalisk who had
+been expelled from the harem of the Sultan. Anyone daring to do such a
+thing might just as well chalk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> up the names of the four avenging angels
+on the walls of his house, or trample on his talisman with his slippers
+straight away. It was not the act of a wise man to pick up a flower
+which the Sultan had thrown away in order to inhale its fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>The public crier remained in the middle of the bazaar alone with the
+slave-girl; the chapmen had not only retired into their shops but barred
+the doors behind them. "Much obliged to you; but we would not accept
+such a piece of good luck even as a gift," they seemed to say.</p>
+
+<p>Only one man still remained in front of his shop, and that was Halil
+Patrona. He alone had the courage to scrutinise the slave-girl
+carefully.</p>
+
+<p>Perchance he felt compassion for this slave. He could not but perceive
+how the poor thing was trembling beneath the veil which covered her to
+the very heels. Nothing could be seen of her but her eyes, and in those
+eyes a tear was visible.</p>
+
+<p>"Come! bring her into my shop!" said Halil to the public crier; "don't
+leave her out in the public square there for everybody to stare at her."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!" replied the public crier. "As I value my head I must obey
+my orders, and my orders are to take her veil from off her head in the
+auction-yard, where the ordinary slaves are wont to be offered for sale,
+and there announce the price set upon her in the sight and hearing of
+all men."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What crime has this slave-girl committed that she should be treated so
+scurvily?"</p>
+
+<p>"Halil Patrona!" answered the public crier, "it will be all the better
+for my tongue and your ears if I do not answer that question. I simply
+do what I have been told to do. I unveil this odalisk, I proclaim what
+she can do, to what use she can be put. I neither belittle her nor do I
+exalt her. I advise nobody to buy her and I advise nobody not to buy
+her. Allah is free to do what He will with us all, and that which has
+been decreed concerning each of us ages ago must needs befall." And with
+these words he whisked away the veil from the head of the odalisk.</p>
+
+<p>"By the Prophet! a beauteous maid indeed! What eyes! A man might fancy
+they could speak, and if one gazed at them long enough one could find
+more to learn there than in all that is written in the Koran! What lips
+too! I would gladly remain outside Paradise if by so doing I might gaze
+upon those lips for ever. And what a pale face! Well does she deserve
+the name of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze! Her cheeks do indeed resemble white roses! And
+one can see dewdrops upon them, as is the way with roses!&mdash;the dewdrops
+from her eyes! And what must such eyes be like when they laugh? What
+must that face be like when it blushes? What must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> that mouth be like
+when it speaks, when it sighs, when it trembles with sweet desire?"</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona was quite carried away by his enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Carry her not any further," he said to the public crier, "and show her
+to nobody else, for nobody else would dare to buy her. Besides, I'll
+give you for her a sum which nobody else would think of offering, I will
+give five thousand piastres."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so!" said the crier, veiling the maid anew; "you have seen her,
+anyhow, bring your money and take the girl!"</p>
+
+<p>Halil went in for his purse, handed it over to the crier (it held the
+exact amount to a penny), and took the odalisk by the hand&mdash;there she
+stood alone with him.</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona now lost not a moment in locking up his shop, and taking
+the odalisk by the hand led her away with him to his poor lonely
+dwelling-place.</p>
+
+<p>All the way thither the girl never uttered a word.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the house Halil made the girl sit down by the hearth, and
+then addressed her in a tender, kindly voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is my house, whatever you see in it is mine and yours. The whole
+lot is not very much it is true, but it is all our own. You will find no
+ornaments or frankincense in my house, but you can go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> in and out of it
+as you please without asking anybody's leave. Here are two piastres,
+provide therewith a dinner for us both."</p>
+
+<p>The worthy Mussulman then returned to the bazaar, leaving the girl alone
+in the house. He did not return home till the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze had made the two piastres go as far as they could,
+and had supper all ready for him. She placed Halil's dish on the
+reed-mat close beside him, but she herself sat down on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>"Not there, but come and sit down by my side," said Halil, and seizing
+the trembling hand of the odalisk, he made her sit down beside him on
+the cushion, piled up the pilaf before her, and invited her with kind
+and encouraging words to fall to. The odalisk obeyed him. Not a word had
+she yet spoken, but when she had finished eating, she turned towards
+Halil and murmured in a scarce audible voice,</p>
+
+<p>"For six days I have eaten nought."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" exclaimed Halil in amazement, "six days! Horrible! And who was
+it, pray, that compelled you to endure such torture?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was my own doing, for I wanted to die."</p>
+
+<p>Halil shook his head gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"So young, and yet to desire death! And do you still want to die, eh?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Your own eyes can tell you that I do not."</p>
+
+<p>Halil had taken a great fancy to the girl. He had never before known
+what it was to love any human being; but now as he sat there face to
+face with the girl, whose dark eyelashes cast shadows upon her pale
+cheeks, and regarded her melancholy, irresponsive features, he fancied
+he saw a peri before him, and felt a new man awakening within him
+beneath this strange charm.</p>
+
+<p>Halil could never remember the time when his heart had actually throbbed
+for joy, but now that he was sitting down by the side of this beautiful
+maid it really began to beat furiously. Ah! how truly sang the poet when
+he said: "Two worlds there are, one beneath the sun and the other in the
+heart of a maid."</p>
+
+<p>For a long time he gazed rapturously on the beauteous slave, admiring in
+turn her fair countenance, her voluptuous bosom, and her houri-like
+figure. How lovely, how divinely lovely it all was! And then he
+bethought him that all this loveliness was his own; that he was the
+master, the possessor of this girl, at whose command she would fall upon
+his bosom, envelop him with the pavilion, dark as night, of her flowing
+tresses, and embrace him with arms of soft velvet. Ah! and those lips
+were not only red but sweet; and that breast was not only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> snow-white
+but throbbing and ardent&mdash;and at the thought his brain began to swim for
+joy and rapture.</p>
+
+<p>And yet he did not even know what to call her! He had never had a
+slave-girl before, and hardly knew how to address her. His own tongue
+was not wont to employ tender, caressing words; he knew not what to say
+to a woman to make her love him.</p>
+
+<p>"G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze!" he murmured hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"I await your commands, my master!"</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Halil&mdash;call me so!"</p>
+
+<p>"Halil, I await your commands!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say nothing about commanding. Sit down beside me here! Come, sit
+closer, I say!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl sat down beside him. She was quite close to him now.</p>
+
+<p>But the worst of it was that, even now, Halil had not the remotest idea
+what to say to her.</p>
+
+<p>The maid was sad and apathetic, she did not weep as slave-girls are wont
+to do. Halil would so much have liked the girl to talk and tell him her
+history, and the cause of her melancholy, then perhaps it would have
+been easier for him to talk too. He would then have been able to have
+consoled her, and after consolation would have come love.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze!" said he, "how was it that the Sultan had you
+offered for sale in the bazaar."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The girl looked at Halil with those large black eyes of hers. When she
+raised her long black lashes it was as though he gazed into a night lit
+up by two black suns, and thus she continued gazing at him for a long
+time fixedly and sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"That also you will learn to know, Halil," she murmured.</p>
+
+<p>And Halil felt his heart grow hotter and hotter the nearer he drew to
+this burning, kindling flame; his eyes flashed sparks at the sight of so
+much beauty, he seized the girl's hand and pressed it to his lips. How
+cold that hand was! All the more reason for warming it on his lips and
+on his bosom; but, for all his caressing, the little hand remained cold,
+as cold as the hand of a corpse.</p>
+
+<p>Surely that throbbing breast, those provocative lips, are not as cold?</p>
+
+<p>Halil, intoxicated with passion, embraced the girl, and as he drew her
+to his breast, as he pressed her to him, the girl murmured to
+herself&mdash;it sounded like a gentle long-drawn-out sigh:</p>
+
+<p>"Blessed Mary!"</p>
+
+<p>And then the girl's long black hair streamed over her face, and when
+Halil smoothed it aside from the fair countenance to see if it had not
+grown redder beneath his embrace&mdash;behold! it was whiter than ever. All
+trace of life had fled from it, the eyes were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> cast down, the lips
+closed and bluish. Dead, dead&mdash;a corpse lay before him!</p>
+
+<p>But Halil would not believe it. He fancied that the girl was only
+pretending. He put his hand on her fair bosom&mdash;but he could not hear the
+beating of the heart. The girl had lost all sense of feeling. He could
+have done with her what he would. A dead body lay in his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>An ice-cold feeling of horror penetrated Halil's heart, altogether
+extinguishing the burning flame of passion. All tremulously he released
+the girl and laid her down. Then he whispered full of fear:</p>
+
+<p>"Awake! I will not hurt you, I will not hurt you."</p>
+
+<p>Her light kaftan had glided down from her bosom; he restored it to its
+place and, awe-struck, he continued gazing at the features of the lovely
+corpse.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments the girl opened her lips and sighed heavily, and
+presently her large black eyes also opened once more, her lips resumed
+their former deep red hue, her eyes their enchanting radiance, her face
+the delicate freshness of a white rose, once more her bosom began to
+rise and fall.</p>
+
+<p>She arose from the carpet on which Halil had laid her, and set to work
+removing and re-arranging the scattered dishes and platters. Only after
+a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> moments had elapsed did she whisper to Halil, who could not
+restrain his astonishment:</p>
+
+<p>"And now you know why the Padishah ordered me to be sold like a common
+slave in the bazaar. The instant a man embraces me I become as dead, and
+remain so until he lets me go again, and his lips grow cold upon mine
+and his heart abhors me. My name is not G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, the White Rose, but
+G&uuml;l-Ol&uuml;, the Dead Rose."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h4>SULTAN ACHMED.</h4>
+
+
+<p>The sun is shining through the windows of the Seraglio, the two Ulemas
+who are wont to come and pray with the Sultan have withdrawn, and the
+Kapu-Agasi, or chief doorkeeper, and the Anakhtar Oglan, or chief
+key-keeper, hasten to open the doors through which the Padishah
+generally goes to his dressing-room, where already await him the most
+eminent personages of the Court, to wit, the Khas-Oda-Bashi, or Master
+of the Robes, the Chobodar who hands the Sultan his first garment, the
+D&uuml;lbendar who ties the shawl round his body, the Berber-Bashi who shaves
+his head, the Ibrikdar Aga who washes his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi
+who dries them again, the Serbedji-Bashi who has a pleasant potion ready
+for him, and the Ternakdji who carefully pares his nails. All these
+grandees do obeisance to the very earth as they catch sight of the face
+of the Padishah making his way through innumerable richly carved doors
+on his way to his dressing-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>This robing-room is a simple, hexagonal room, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> lofty,
+gold-entrellised window; its whole beauty consists in this, that the
+walls are inlaid with amethysts, from whose jacinth-hued background
+shine forth the more lustrous raised arabesques formed by topazes and
+dalmatines. Precious stones are the delight of the Padishah. Every inch
+of his garments is resplendent with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, his
+very fingers are hidden by the rings which sparkle upon them. Pomp is
+the very breath of his life. And his countenance well becomes this
+splendour. It is a mild, gentle, radiant face, like the face of a father
+when he moves softly among his loving children. His large, melancholy
+eyes rest kindly on the face of everyone he beholds; his smooth,
+delicate forehead is quite free from wrinkles. It would seem as if it
+could never form into folds, as if its possessor could never be angry;
+there is not a single grey hair in his well-kept, long black beard; it
+would seem as if he knew not the name of grief, as if he were the very
+Son of Happiness.</p>
+
+<p>And so indeed he was. For seven-and-twenty years he had sat upon the
+throne. It is possible that during these seven-and-twenty years many
+changes may have taken place in the realm which could by no means call
+for rejoicing, but Allah had blessed him with such a happy disposition
+as to make him quite indifferent to these unfortunate events, in fact,
+he did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> not trouble his head about them at all. Like the true
+philosopher he was, he continued to rejoice in whatsoever was joyous. He
+loved beautiful flowers and beautiful women&mdash;and he had enough of both
+and to spare. His gardens were more splendid than the gardens of Soliman
+the Magnificent, and that his Seraglio was no joyless abode was
+demonstrated by the fact that so far he was the happy father of
+one-and-thirty children.</p>
+
+<p>He must have had exceptionally pleasant dreams last night, or his
+favourite Sultana, the incomparably lovely Adsalis, must have
+entertained him with unusually pleasant stories, or perchance a new
+tulip must have blossomed during the night, for he extended his hand to
+everyone to kiss, and when the Berber-Bashi proceeded comfortably to
+adjust the cushions beneath him, the Sultan jocosely tapped the red
+swelling cheeks of his faithful servant&mdash;cheeks which the worthy Bashi
+had taken good care of even in the days when he was only a barber's
+apprentice in the town of Zara, but which had swelled to a size worthy
+even of the rank of a Berber-Bashi, since his lot had fallen in pleasant
+places.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah watch over thee, and grant that thy mouth may never complain
+against thy hand, worthy Berber-Bashi. What is the latest news from the
+town?"</p>
+
+<p>It would appear from this that the barbers in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Stambul also, even when
+they rise to the dignity of Berber-Bashis, are expected to follow the
+course of public events with the utmost attention, in order to
+communicate the most interesting details thereof to others, and thus
+relieve the tedium invariably attendant upon shaving.</p>
+
+<p>"Most mighty and most gracious One, if thou deignest to listen to the
+worthless words which drop from the mouth of thine unprofitable servant
+with those ears of thine created but to receive messages from Heaven, I
+will relate to thee what has happened most recently in Stambul."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan continued to play with his ring, which he had taken off one
+finger to slip on to another.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast laid the command upon me, most puissant and most gracious
+Padishah," continued the Berber-Bashi, unwinding the pearl-embroidered
+<i>kauk</i> from the head of the Sultan&mdash;"thou hast laid the command upon me
+to discover and acquaint thee with what further befell G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze after
+she had been cast forth from thy harem. From morn to eve, and again from
+eve to morning, I have been searching from house to house, making
+inquiries, listening with all my ears, mingling among the chapmen of the
+bazaars disguised as one of themselves, inducing them to speak, and
+ferreting about generally, till, at last, I have got to the bottom of
+the matter. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> a long time nobody dared to buy the girl; it is indeed
+but meet that none should dare to pick up what the mightiest monarch of
+the earth has thrown away; it is but meet that the spot where he has
+cast out the ashes from his pipe should be avoided by all men, and that
+nobody should venture to put the sole of his foot there. Yet,
+nevertheless, in the bazaar, one madly presumptuous man was found who
+was lured to his destruction at the sight of the girl's beauty, and
+received her for five thousand piastres from the hand of the public
+crier. These five thousand piastres were all the money he had, and he
+got them, in most wondrous wise, from a foreign butcher whom he had
+welcomed to his house as a guest."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the name of this man?"?</p>
+
+<p>"Halil Patrona."</p>
+
+<p>"And what happened after that?"</p>
+
+<p>"The man took the girl home, whose beauty, of a truth, was likely to
+turn the head of anybody. He knew not what had happened to her at the
+Seraglio, in the kiosks of the Kiaja Beg and the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim
+Damad and in the harem of the White Prince. For, verily, it is a joy to
+even behold the maiden, and it would be an easy matter to lose one's
+wits because of her, especially if one did not know that this fair
+blossom may be gazed at but not plucked, that this beautiful form which
+puts even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> the houris of Paradise to shame, suddenly becomes stiff and
+dead at the contact of a man's hand, and that neither the warmth of the
+sun-like face of the Padishah, nor the fury of the Grand Vizier, nor the
+thongs of the scourge of the Sultana Asseki, nor the supplications of
+the White Prince, can awaken her from her death-like swoon."</p>
+
+<p>"And didst thou discover what happened to the girl after that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blessed be every word concerning me which issues from thy lips oh,
+mighty Padishah! Yes, I went after the girl. The worthy shopkeeper took
+the maiden home with him. It rejoiced him that he could give to her
+everything that was there. He made her sit down beside him. He supped in
+her company. Then he would have embraced her. So he drew her to his
+bosom, and immediately the girl collapsed in his arms like a dead thing,
+as she is always wont to do whenever a man touches her, at the same time
+uttering certain magical talismanic words of evil portent, from which
+may the Prophet guard every true believer! For she spoke the name of
+that holy woman whose counterfeit presentment the Giaours carry upon
+their banners, and whose name they pronounce when they go forth to war
+against the true believers."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he who took her away wrath thereat?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nay, on the contrary, he seemed well satisfied that it should be so,
+and ever since then he has left the girl in peace. He regards her as a
+peri, as one who is not in her right mind, and therefore should be dealt
+gently with. She is free to go about the house as she likes. Halil will
+never permit her to do any rough work, nay, rather, will he do
+everything himself, with his own hands, so that all his acquaintances
+already begin to speak of him as a portent, and his patience has become
+a proverb in their mouths. Halil they say took unto himself a
+slave-woman, and lo! he has himself become that slave-woman's slave."</p>
+
+<p>"Of a truth it is a remarkable case," observed the Padishah; "try and
+find out what turn the affair takes next. And the Teskeredji Bashi shall
+record everything that thou sayest for an eternal remembrance."</p>
+
+<p>During this speech the Berber-Bashi had artistically completed the
+official dressing of the Padishah's head, whereupon the Ibrikdar Aga
+came forward to wash his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi carefully dried
+them with a towel, the Ternakdji Bashi pared his nails, the D&uuml;lbendar
+placed the pearl-embroidered <i>kauk</i> on the top of his head, and adjusted
+the long eastern shawl round his waist, the Chobodar handed him his
+upper jacket, the <i>binis</i> heavy with turquoise,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> the Silihdar buckled on
+his tasselled sword, and then everyone, after performing the usual
+salaams withdrew, except the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the Kapu-Agasi, who
+remained alone with their master.</p>
+
+<p>The Khas-Oda-Bashi announced that the two humblest of the Sultan's
+servants, Abdullah, the Chief Mufti, and Damad Ibrahim, the Grand
+Vizier, were waiting on their knees for an audience in the vestibule of
+the Seraglio. They desired, he said, to communicate important news
+touching the safety and honour of the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan had not yet given an answer when, through the door leading
+from the harem, popped the Kizlar-Aga, the chief eunuch, a respectable,
+black-visaged gentleman with split lips, who had the melancholy
+privilege of passing in and out of the Sultan's harem at all hours of
+the day and night, and finding no pleasure therein.</p>
+
+<p>"Kizlar-Aga, my faithful servant! what dost thou want?" inquired Achmed
+going to meet him, and raising him from the ground whereon he had thrown
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Most gracious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, "the flower cannot go on
+living without the sun, and the most lovely of flowers, that most
+fragrant blossom, the Sultana Asseki, longs to bask in the light of thy
+countenance."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At these words the features of Achmed grew still more gentle, still more
+radiant with smiles. He signified to the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the
+Kapu-Agasi that they should withdraw into another room, while he
+dispatched the Kizlar-Aga to bring in the Sultana Asseki.</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis, for so they called her, was a splendid damsel of Damascus. She
+had been lavishly endowed with every natural charm. Her skin was whiter
+than ivory and smoother than velvet. Compared with her dark locks the
+blackest night was but a pale shadow, and the hue of her full smiling
+face put to shame the breaking dawn and the budding rose. When she gazed
+upon Achmed with those eyes of hers in which a whole rapturous world of
+paradisaical joys glowed and burned, the Padishah felt his whole heart
+smitten with sweet lightnings, and when her voluptuously enchanting lips
+expressed a wish, who was there in the wide world who would have the
+courage to gainsay them? Certainly not Achmed! Ah, no! "Ask of me the
+half of my realm!"&mdash;that was the tiniest of the flattering assurances
+which he was wont to heap upon her. If he were but able to embrace her,
+if he were but able to look into her burning eyes, if he were but able
+to see her smile again and again, then he utterly forgot Stambul, his
+capital, the host, the war, and the foreign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> ambassadors&mdash;and praised
+the Prophet for such blessedness.</p>
+
+<p>The favourite Sultana approached Achmed with that enchanting smile which
+was eternally irresistible so far as he was concerned, and never
+permitted an answer approaching a refusal to even appear on the lips of
+the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>What pressing request could it be? Why it was only at dawn of this very
+day that the Padishah had quitted her! What vision of rapture could she
+have seen since then whose realisation she had set her heart upon
+obtaining?</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan, taking her by the hand, conducted her to his purple ottoman,
+and permitted her to sit down at his feet; the Sultana folded her hands
+on the knees of the Padishah, and raising her eyes to his face thus
+addressed him:</p>
+
+<p>"I come from thy daughter, little Eminah, she has sent me to thee that I
+may kiss thy feet instead of her. As often as I see thee, majestic Khan,
+it is as though I see her face, and as often as I behold her it is thy
+face that stands before me. She resembles thee as a twinkling star
+resembles a radiant sun. Three years of her life has she accomplished,
+she has now entered upon her fourth summer, and still no husband has
+been destined for her. This very morning when thou hadst turned thy face
+away from me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> I saw a vision. And this was the vision I saw. Thy three
+children, Aisha, Hadishra, and Eminah, were sitting in the open piazza,
+beneath splendid, sparkling pavilions. There were three pavilions
+standing side by side: the first was white, the second violet, and the
+third of a vivid green. In these three pavilions, I say, the princesses,
+thy daughters, were sitting, clothed in <i>kapanijaks</i> of cloth of silver,
+with round <i>selmiks</i> on their heads, and embellished with the seven
+lucky circles which bring the blessings of prosperity to womenkind. Thou
+knowest what these circles are, oh Padishah! They are the ishtifan or
+diadem, the necklace, the ear-ring, the finger-ring, the girdle, the
+bracelet, and the mantle-ring-clasp&mdash;the seven gifts of felicity, oh
+Padishah, that the bridegroom giveth to the bride. Beside these
+pavilions, moreover, were a countless multitude of other tents&mdash;of three
+different hues of blue and three different hues of green&mdash;and in these
+tents abode a great multitude of Emir Defterdars, Reis-Effendis,
+Muderises, and Sheiks. And in front of the Seraglio were set up three
+lofty palm-trees, which elephants drew about on great wheeled cars, and
+there were three gardens there, the flowers whereof were made of sugar,
+and then the chiefs of the viziers arose and the celebration of the
+festival began. After the usual kissing of hands, the nuptials were
+proceeded with,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> the Kiaja representing the bridegroom and the
+Kizlar-Aga the bride, and everyone received a present. Then came the
+bridal retinue with the bridal gifts, a hundred camels laden with
+flowers and fruits, and an elephant bearing gold and precious stones and
+veils meet for the land of the peris. Two eunuchs brought mirrors inlaid
+with emeralds, and the <i>miri achorok</i> held the reins of splendidly
+caparisoned chargers. After them came the attendants of the Grand
+Vizier, and delighted the astonished eyes of the spectators with a
+display of slinging. Then came the wine-carriers with their wine-skins,
+and in a pavilion set up for the purpose wooden men sported with a
+living centaur. There also were the Egyptian sword and hoop dancers, the
+Indian jugglers and serpent charmers, after whom came the Chief Mufti,
+who read aloud a verse from the Koran in the light of thy countenance,
+and gave also the interpretation thereof in words fair to listen to.
+Then followed fit and capable men from the arsenal, dragging along on
+rollers huge galleys in full sail, and after them the topijis, dragging
+after them, likewise on rollers, a fortress crammed full of cannons,
+which also they fired again and again to the astonishment of the
+multitude. Thereupon began the dancing of the Egyptian opium-eaters,
+which was indeed most marvellous, and after them there was a show of
+bears<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> and apes, which sported right merrily together. Close upon these
+came the procession of the Guilds and the junketing of the Janissaries,
+and last of all the Feast of Palms, which palms were carried to the very
+gates of the Seraglio, along with the sugar gardens I have already
+spoken of. Then there was the Feast of Lamps, in which ten thousand
+shining lamps gleamed among twenty thousand blossoming tulips, so that
+one might well have believed that the lamps were blossoming and the
+tulips were shining. And all the while the cannons of the Anatoli Hisar
+and the Rumili Hisar were thundering, and the Bosphorus seemed to be
+turned into a sea of fire by reason of the illuminated ships and the
+sparkling fireworks. Such then was the dream of the humblest of thy
+slaves at dawn of the 12th day of the month Dzhemakir, which day is a
+day of good omen to the sons of Osman."</p>
+
+<p>It might have been thought a tiresome matter to listen to such long,
+drawn-out visions as this to the very end, but Achmed was a good
+listener, and, besides, he delighted in such things. Nothing made him so
+happy as great festivals, and the surest way of gaining his good graces
+was by devising some new pageant of splendour, excellence, and
+originality unknown to his predecessors. Adsalis had won his favour by
+inventing the Feast of Lamps and Tulips,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> which was renewed every year.
+This Feast of Palms, moreover, was another new idea, and so also was the
+idea of the sugar garden. So Achmed, in a transport of enthusiasm,
+pressed the favourite Sultana to his bosom, and swore solemnly that her
+dream should be fulfilled, and then sent her back into the harem.</p>
+
+<p>And now the Kizlar-Aga admitted the two dignitaries who had been waiting
+outside. The Chief Mufti entered first, and after him came the Grand
+Vizier, Damad Ibrahim. Both of them had long, flowing, snow-white beards
+and grave venerable faces.</p>
+
+<p>They bowed low before the Sultan, kissed the hem of his garment, and lay
+prostrate before him till he raised them up again.</p>
+
+<p>"What brings you to the Seraglio, my worthy counsellors?" inquired the
+Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>As was meet and right, the Chief Mufti was the first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Most gracious, most puissant master! Be merciful towards us if with our
+words we disturb the tranquil joys of thy existence! For though slumber
+is a blessing, wary wakefulness is better than slumber, and he who will
+not recognise the coming of danger is like unto him who would rob his
+own house. It will be known unto thee, most glorious Padishah, that a
+few years ago it pleased Allah, in his inscrutable wisdom, to permit the
+Persian rebel, Esref,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> to drive his lawful sovereign, Tamasip, from his
+capital. The prince became a fugitive, and the mother of the prince,
+dressed in rags, was reduced to the wretched expedient of doing menial
+service in the streets of Ispahan for a livelihood. The glory of the
+Ottoman arms could not permit that a usurper should sit at his ease on
+the stolen throne, and thy triumphant host, led by the Vizier Ibrahim
+and the virtuous K&uuml;prili, the descendant of the illustrious Nuuman
+K&uuml;prili, wrested Kermandzasahan from Persia and incorporated it with thy
+dominions. And then it pleased the Prophet to permit marvellous things
+to happen. Suddenly Shah Tamasip, whom all men believed to be
+ruined&mdash;suddenly, I say, Shah Tamasip reappeared at the head of a
+handful of heroes and utterly routed the bloody Esref Khan in three
+pitched battles at Damaghan, Derech&aacute;r, and Ispahan, put him to flight,
+and the hoofs of the horses of the victor trod the rebel underfoot. And
+now the restored sovereign demands back from the Ottoman Empire the
+domains which had been occupied. His Grand Vizier, Safikuli Khan, is
+advancing with a large army against the son of K&uuml;prili, and the darkness
+of defeat threatens to obscure the sun-like radiance of the Ottoman
+arms. Most puissant Padishah! suffer not the tooth of disaster to gnaw
+away at thy glory! The Grand Vizier and I have already gathered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+together thy host on the shores of the Bosphorus. They are ready, at a
+moment's notice, to embark in the ships prepared for them. Money and
+provisions in abundance have been sent to the frontier for the gallant
+Nuuman K&uuml;prili on the backs of fifteen hundred camels. It needs but a
+word from thee and thine empire will become an armed hand, one buffet
+whereof will overthrow another empire. It needs but a wink of thine eye
+and a host of warriors will spring from the earth, just as if all the
+Ottoman heroes, who died for their country four centuries ago, were to
+rise from their graves to defend the banner of the Prophet. But that
+same banner thou shouldst seize and bear in thine own hand, most
+glorious Padishah! for only thy presence can give victory to our arms.
+Arise, then, and gird upon thy thigh the sword of thy illustrious
+ancestor Muhammad! Descend in the midst of thy host which yearns for the
+light of thy countenance, as the eyes of the sleepless yearn for the sun
+to rise, and put an end to the long night of waiting."</p>
+
+<p>Achmed's gentle gaze rested upon the speaker abstractedly. It seemed as
+if, while the Chief Mufti was speaking, he had not heard a single word
+of the passionate discourse that had been addressed to him.</p>
+
+<p>"My faithful servants!" said he, smiling pleasantly, "this day is to me
+a day of felicity. The Sultana<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> Asseki at dawn to-day saw a vision
+worthy of being realised. A dazzling festival was being celebrated in
+the streets of Stambul, and the whole city shone in the illumination
+thereof. The gardens of the pusp&aacute;ng-trees and the courtyards of the
+kiosks around the Sweet Waters were bright with the radiance of lamps
+and tulips. Waving palm-trees and gardens full of sugar-flowers
+traversed the streets, and galleys and fortresses perambulated the
+piazzas on wheels. That dream was too lovely to remain a dream. It must
+be made a reality."</p>
+
+<p>The Chief Mufti folded his hands across his breast and bent low before
+the Padishah.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah Akbar! Allah Kerim! God is mighty. Be it even as thou dost
+command! May the sun rise in the west if it be thy will, oh Padishah!"
+And the Chief Mufti drew aside and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>But the aged Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, came forward, and drying his
+tearful eyes with the corner of his kaftan, stood sorrowfully in front
+of the Padishah. And these were his words:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! my master! Allah hath appointed certain days for rejoicing, and
+certain other days for mourning, and 'tis not well to confuse the one
+with the other. Just now there is no occasion for rejoicing, but all the
+more occasion for mourning. Woeful tidings, like dark clouds presaging a
+storm, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> coming in from every corner of the Empire&mdash;conflagrations,
+pestilences, earthquakes, inundations, hurricanes&mdash;alarm and agitate the
+people. Only this very week the fairest part of Stambul, close to the
+Chojabasha, was burnt to the ground; and only a few weeks ago the same
+fate befell the suburb of Ejub along the whole length of the sea-front,
+and that, too, at the very time when the other part of the city was
+illuminated in honour of the birthday of Prince Murad. In Gallipoli a
+thunder-bolt struck the powder-magazine, and five hundred workmen were
+blown into the air. The Kiagadehane brook, in a single night, swelled to
+such an extent as to inundate the whole valley of Sweet Waters, and a
+whole park of artillery was swept away by the flood. And know also, oh
+Padishah, that, but the other day, a new island rose up from the sea
+beside the island of Santorin, and this new island has grown larger and
+larger during three successive months, and all the time it was growing,
+the ground beneath Stambul quaked and trembled. These are no good omens,
+oh, my master! and if thou wilt lend thine ears to the counsel of thy
+faithful servant, thou wilt proclaim a day of penance and fasting
+instead of a feast-day, for evil days are coming upon Stambul. The voice
+of the enemy can be heard on all our borders, from the banks of the
+Danube as well as from beside the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> waters of the Pruth, from among the
+mountains of Erivan as well as from beyond the islands of the
+Archipelago; and if every Mussulman had ten hands and every one of the
+ten held a sword, we should still have enough to do to defend thy
+Empire. Bear, oh Padishah! with my grey hairs, and pardon my temerity. I
+see Stambul in the midst of flames every time it is illuminated for a
+festival, and full of consternation, I cry to thee and to the Prophet,
+'Send us help and that right soon.'"</p>
+
+<p>Sultan Achmed continued all the time to smile most graciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Worthy Ibrahim!" said he at last, "thou hast a son, hast thou not,
+whose name is Osman, and who has now attained his fourth year. Now I
+have a daughter, Eminah, who has just reached her third year. Lo now! as
+my soul liveth, I will not gird on the Sword of the Prophet, I will not
+take in my hand the Banner of Danger until I have given these young
+people to each other in marriage. Long ago they were destined for each
+other, and the multiplication of thy merits demands the speedy
+consummation of these espousals. I have sworn to the Sultana Asseki that
+so it shall be, and I cannot go back from my oath as though I were but
+an unbelieving fire-worshipper, for the fire-worshippers do not regard
+the sanctity of an oath, and when they take an oath or make a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> promise
+they recite the words thereof backwards, and believe they are thereby
+free of their obligations. It beseemeth not the true believers to do
+likewise. I have promised that this festival shall be celebrated, and it
+is my desire that it should be splendid."</p>
+
+<p>Ibrahim sighed deeply, and it was with a sad countenance that he thanked
+the Padishah for this fresh mark of favour. Yet the betrothal might so
+easily have been postponed, for the bridegroom was only four years old
+and the bride was but three.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah Kerim! God grant that thy shadow may never grow less, most mighty
+Padishah!" said Damad Ibrahim, and with that he kissed the hand of the
+Grand Seignior, and both he and the Chief Mufti withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>At the gate of the Seraglio the Chief Mufti said to the Grand Vizier
+sorrowfully:</p>
+
+<p>"It had been better for us both had we never grown grey!"</p>
+
+<p>But Sultan Achmed, accompanied by the Bostanjik, hastened to the gardens
+of the grove of pusp&aacute;ng-trees to look at his tulips.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Worthy Halil Patrona had become quite a by-word with his fellows. The
+name he now went by in the bazaars was: The Slave of the Slave-Girl.
+This did not hurt him in the least; on the contrary, the result was,
+that more people came to smoke their chibooks and buy tobacco at his
+shop than ever. Everybody was desirous of making the acquaintance of the
+Mussulman who would not so much as lay a hand upon a slave-girl whom he
+had bought with his own money, nay more, who did all the work of the
+house instead of her, just as if she had bought him instead of his
+buying her.</p>
+
+<p>In the neighbourhood of Patrona dwelt Musli, a veteran Janissary, who
+filled up his spare time by devoting himself to the art of
+slipper-stitching. This man often beheld Halil prowling about on the
+house-top in the moonlit nights where G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze was sleeping, and after
+sitting down within a couple of paces of her, remain there in a brown
+study for hours at a time, often till midnight, nay, sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> till
+daybreak. With his chin resting in the palm of his hand there he would
+stay, gazing intently at her charming figure and her pale but beautiful
+face. Frequently he would creep closer to her, creep so near that his
+lips would almost touch her face; but then he would throw back his head
+again, and if at such times the slave-girl half awoke from her slumbers,
+he would beckon to her to go to sleep again&mdash;nobody should disturb her.</p>
+
+<p>Halil did not trouble his head in the least about all this gossip. It
+was noticed, indeed, that his face was somewhat paler than it used to
+be, but if anyone ventured to jest with him on the subject, face to
+face, he was very speedily convinced that Halil's arms, at any rate,
+were no weaker than of yore.</p>
+
+<p>One day he was sitting, as usual, at the door of his booth, paying
+little attention to the people coming and going around him, and staring
+abstractedly with wide and wandering eyes into space, as if his gaze was
+fixed upon something above his head, when somebody who had approached
+him so softly as to take him quite unawares, very affectionately greeted
+him with the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear Chorbadshi, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>Patrona looked in the direction of the voice, and saw in front of him
+his mysterious guest of the other day&mdash;the Greek Janaki.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, 'tis thou, musafir! I searched for you everywhere for two whole
+days after you left me, for I wanted to give you back the five thousand
+piastres which you were fool enough to make me a present of. It was just
+as well, however, that I did not find you, and I have long ceased
+looking for you, for I have now spent all the money."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to hear it, Halil, and I hope the money has done you a good
+turn. Are you willing to receive me into your house as a guest once
+more?"</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure! But you must first of all promise me two things. The
+first is, that you will not contrive by some crafty device to pay me
+something for what I give you gratis; and the second is, that you will
+not expect to stay the night with me, but will wander across the street
+and pitch your tent at the house of my worthy neighbour Musli, who is
+also a bachelor, and mends slippers, and is therefore a very worthy and
+respectable man."</p>
+
+<p>"And why may I not sleep at your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you must know that there are now two of us in the house&mdash;I and
+my slave-girl."</p>
+
+<p>"That will not matter a bit, Halil. I will sleep on the roof, and you
+take the slave-girl down with you into the house."</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be so, Janaki! it cannot be."</p>
+
+<p>"Why can it not be?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because I would rather sleep in a pit into which a tiger has fallen, I
+would rather sleep in the lair of a hippopotamus, I would rather sleep
+in a canoe guarded by alligators and crocodiles, I would rather spend a
+night in a cellar full of scorpions and scolopendras, or in the Tower of
+Surem, which is haunted by the accursed Jinns, than pass a single night
+in the same room with this slave-girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Why; what's this, Halil? you fill me with amazement. Surely, it cannot
+be that you are that Mussulman of whom all Pera is talking?&mdash;the man I
+mean who purchased a slave-girl in order to be her slave?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is as you say. But 'twere better not to talk of that matter at all.
+Those five thousand piastres of yours are the cause of it; they have
+ruined me out and out. My mind is going backwards I think. When people
+come to my shop to buy wares of me, I give them such answers to their
+questions that they laugh at me. Let us change the subject, let us
+rather talk of your affairs. Have you found your daughter yet?"</p>
+
+<p>It was now Janaki's turn to sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"I have sought her everywhere, and nowhere can I find her."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you lose her?"</p>
+
+<p>"One Saturday she went with some companions on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> a pleasure excursion in
+the Sea of Marmora in a sailing-boat. Their music and dancing attracted
+a Turkish pirate to the spot, and in the midst of a peaceful empire he
+stole all the girls, and contrived to dispose of them so secretly that I
+have never been able to find any trace of them. I am now disposed to
+believe that she was taken to the Sultan's Seraglio."</p>
+
+<p>"You will never get her out of there then."</p>
+
+<p>Janaki sighed deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"You think, then, that I shall never get at her if she is there?" and he
+shook his head sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless the Janissaries, or the Debejis, or the Bostanjis lay their
+heads together and agree to depose the Sultan."</p>
+
+<p>"Who would even dare to think of such a thing, Halil?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would if <i>my</i> daughter were detained in the harem against her will
+and against mine also. But that is not at all in your line, Janaki. You
+have never shed any blood but the blood of sheep and oxen, but let me
+tell you this, Janaki: if I were as rich a man as you are, trust me for
+finding a way of getting my girl out of the very Seraglio itself. Wealth
+is a mightier force than valour."</p>
+
+<p>"I pray you, speak not so loudly. One of your neighbours might hear you,
+and would think nothing of felling me to the earth to get my money. For
+I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> carry a great deal of money about with me, and am always afraid of
+being robbed of it. In front of the bazaar a slave is awaiting me with a
+mule. On the back of that mule are strung two jars seemingly filled with
+dried dates. Let me tell you that those jars are really half-filled with
+gold pieces, the dates are only at the top. I should like to deposit
+them at your house. I suppose your slave-girl will not pry too closely?"</p>
+
+<p>"You can safely leave them with me. If you tell her not to look at them
+she will close her eyes every time she passes the jars."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Patrona had closed his booth and invited his guest to
+accompany him homewards. On the way thither he looked in at the house of
+his neighbour, the well-mannered Janissary, who mended slippers. Musli
+willingly offered Halil's guest a night's lodging. In return Patrona
+invited him to share with him a small dish of well-seasoned pilaf and a
+few cups of a certain forbidden fluid, which invitation the worthy
+Janissary accepted with alacrity.</p>
+
+<p>And now they crossed Halil's threshold.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze was standing by the fire-place getting ready Halil's supper
+when the guests entered, and hearing footsteps turned round to see who
+it might be.</p>
+
+<p>The same instant the Greek wayfarer uttered a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> loud cry, and pitching
+his long hat into the air, rushed towards the slave-girl, and flinging
+himself down on his knees before her fell a-kissing, again and again,
+her hands and arms, and at last her pale face also, while the girl flung
+herself upon his shoulder and embraced the fellow's neck; and then the
+pair of them began to weep, and the words, "My daughter!" "My father!"
+could be heard from time to time amidst their sobs.</p>
+
+<p>Halil could only gaze at them open-mouthed.</p>
+
+<p>But Janaki, still remaining on his knees, raised his hands to Heaven,
+and gave thanks to God for guiding his footsteps to this spot.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah Akbar! The Lord be praised!" said Patrona in his turn, and he
+drew nearer to them. "So her whom you have so long sought after you find
+in my house, eh? Allah preordained it. And you may thank God for it, for
+you receive her back from me unharmed by me. Take her away therefore!"</p>
+
+<p>"You say not well, Halil," cried the father, his face radiant with joy.
+"So far from giving her back to me you shall keep her; yes, she shall
+remain yours for ever. For if I were thrice to traverse the whole earth
+and go in a different direction each time, I certainly should not come
+across another man like you. Tell me, therefore, what price you put
+upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> her that I may buy her back, and give her to you to wife as a free
+woman?"</p>
+
+<p>Halil did not consider very long what price he should ask, so far as he
+was concerned the business was settled already. He cast but a single
+look on G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze's smiling lips, and asked for a kiss from them&mdash;that
+was the only price he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>Janaki seized his daughter's hand and placed it in the hand of Halil.</p>
+
+<p>And now Halil held the warm, smooth little hand in his own big paw, he
+felt its reassuring pressure, he saw the girl smile, he saw her lips
+open to return his kiss, and still he did not believe his eyes&mdash;still he
+shuddered at the reflection that when his lips should touch hers, the
+girl would suddenly die away, become pale and cold. Only when his lips
+at last came into contact with her burning lips and her bosom throbbed
+against his bosom, and he felt his kiss returned and the warm pulsation
+of her heart, then only did he really believe in his own happiness, and
+held her for a long&mdash;oh, so long!&mdash;time to his own breast, and pressed
+his lips to her lips over and over again, and was happier&mdash;happier by
+far&mdash;than the dwellers in Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>And after that they made the girl sit down between them, with her father
+on one side and her husband on the other, and they took her hands and
+caressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> and fondled her to her heart's content. The poor maid was
+quite beside herself with delight. She kept receiving kisses and
+caresses, first on the right hand and then on the left, and her face was
+pale no longer, but of a burning red like the transfigured rose whereon
+a drop of the blood of great Aphrodite fell. And she promised her father
+and her husband that she would tell them such a lot of things&mdash;things
+wondrous, unheard of, of which they had not and never could have the
+remotest idea.</p>
+
+<p>And through the thin iron shutters which covered the window the
+Berber-Bashi curiously observed the touching scene!</p>
+
+<p>They were still in the midst of their intoxication of delight when the
+frequently before-mentioned neighbour of Halil, worthy Musli, thrust his
+head inside the door, and witnessing the scene would discreetly have
+withdrawn his perplexed countenance. But Halil, who had already caught
+sight of him, bawled him a vociferous welcome.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, come along! come along! my worthy neighbour, don't stand on any
+ceremony with us, you can see for yourself how merry we are!"</p>
+
+<p>The worthy neighbour thereupon gingerly entered, on the tips of his
+toes, with his hands fumbling nervously about in the breast of his
+kaftan; for the poor fellow's hands were resinous to a degree. Wash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and
+scrub them as he might, the resin would persist in cleaving to them. His
+awl, too, was still sticking in the folds of his turban&mdash;sticking forth
+aloft right gallantly like some heron's plume. Naturally he whose
+business it was to mend other men's shoes went about in slippers that
+were mere bundles of rags&mdash;that is always the way with cobblers!</p>
+
+<p>When he saw G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze on Halil's lap, and Halil's face beaming all over
+with joy, he smote his hands together and fell a-wondering.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be some great changes going on here!" thought he.</p>
+
+<p>But Halil compelled him to sit down beside them, and after kissing
+G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze again&mdash;apparently he could not kiss the girl enough&mdash;he
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Look! my dear neighbour! she is now my wife, and henceforth she will
+love me as her husband, and I shall no longer be the slave of my slave.
+And this worthy man here is my wife's father. Greet them, therefore, and
+then be content to eat and drink with us!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Musli approached Janaki and saluted him on the shoulder, then,
+turning towards G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, he touched with his hand first the earth and
+next his forehead, sat down beside Janaki on the cushions that had been
+drawn into the middle of the room, and made merry with them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And now Janaki sent the slave he had brought with him to the
+pastry-cook's while Musli skipped homewards and brought with him a
+tambourine of chased silver, which he could beat right cunningly and
+also accompany it with a voice not without feeling; and thus Halil's
+bridal evening flowed pleasantly away with an accompaniment of wine and
+music and kisses.</p>
+
+<p>And all this time the worthy Berber-Bashi was looking on at this
+junketing through the trellised window, and could scarce restrain
+himself from giving expression to his astonishment when he perceived
+that G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze no longer collapsed like a dead thing at the contact of
+a kiss, or even at the pressure of an embrace, as she was wont to do in
+the harem, indeed her face had now grown rosier than the dawn.</p>
+
+<p>At last his curiosity completely overcame him, and turning the handle of
+the door he appeared in the midst of the revellers.</p>
+
+<p>He wore the garb of a common woodcutter, and his simple, foolish face
+corresponded excellently to the disguise. Nobody in the world could have
+taken him for anything but what he now professed to be, and it was with
+a very humble obeisance that he introduced himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah Kerim! Salaam aleikum! God's blessing go with your mirth. Why,
+you were so merry that I heard you at the cemetery yonder as I was
+passing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> If it will not put you out I should be delighted to remain
+here, as long as you will let me, that I may listen to the music this
+worthy Mussulman here understands so well, and to the pretty stories
+which flow from the harmonious lips of this houri who has, I am
+persuaded, come down from Paradise for the delight of men."</p>
+
+<p>Now Musli was drunk with wine, G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze and Halil Patrona were drunk
+with love, so that not one of them had any exception to take to the
+stranger's words. Janaki was the only sober man among them, neither wine
+nor love had any attraction for him, and therefore he whispered in the
+ear of Halil:</p>
+
+<p>"For all you know this stranger may be a spy or a thief!"</p>
+
+<p>"What an idea!" Halil whispered back, "why you can see for yourself that
+he is only an honest baltaji.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Sit down, oh, worthy Mussulman," he
+continued, turning to the stranger, "and make one of our little party."</p>
+
+<p>The Berber-Bashi took him at his word. He ate and drank like one who has
+gone hungry for three whole days, he was enchanted with the tambourine
+of Musli, listened with open mouth to his story of the miserly slippers,
+and laughed as heartily as if he had never heard it at least a hundred
+times before.</p>
+
+<p>"And now you tell us some tale, most beautiful of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> women!" said he,
+wiping the tears from his eyes as he turned towards the damsel, and then
+G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, after first kissing her husband and sipping from the beaker
+extended to her just enough to moisten her lips, thus began:</p>
+
+<p>"Once upon a time there was a rich merchant. Where he lived I know not.
+It might have been Pera, or Galata, or Damascus. Nor can I tell you his
+name, but that has nothing to do with the story. This merchant had an
+only daughter whom he loved most dearly. She had ne'er a wish that was
+not instantly gratified, and he guarded her as the very apple of his
+eye. Not even the breath of Heaven was allowed to blow upon her."</p>
+
+<p>"And know you not what the name of the maiden was?" inquired the
+Berber-Bashi.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, they called her Irene, for she was a Greek girl."</p>
+
+<p>Janaki trembled at the word. No doubt the girl was about to relate her
+own story, for Irene was the very name she had received at her baptism.
+It was very thoughtless of her to betray herself in the presence of a
+stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"One day," continued the maiden, "Irene went a-rowing on the sea with
+some girl friends. The weather was fine, the sea smooth, and they sang
+their songs and made merry, to their hearts' content.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> Suddenly the sail
+of a corsair appeared on the smooth mirror of the ocean, pounced
+straight down upon the maidens in their boat, and before they could
+reach the nearest shore, they were all seized and carried away captive.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Irene! she was not even able to bid her dear father God speed! Her
+thoughts were with him as the pirate-ship sped swiftly away with her,
+and she saw the city where he dwelt recede further and further away in
+the dim distance. Alas! he was waiting for her now&mdash;and would wait in
+vain! Her father, she knew it, was standing outside his door and asking
+every passer-by if he had not seen his little daughter coming. A banquet
+had been prepared for her at home, and all the invited guests were
+already there, but still no sign of her! And now she could see him
+coming down to the sea-shore, and sweep the smooth shining watery mirror
+with his eyes in every direction, and ask the sailor-men: 'Where is my
+daughter? Do you know anything about her?'"</p>
+
+<p>Here the eyes of the father and the husband involuntarily filled with
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore do you weep? How silly of you! Why, you know, of course, it
+is only a tale. Listen now to how it goes on! The robber carried the
+maiden he had stolen to Stambul. He took her straight to the Kizlar-Aga
+whose office it is to pur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>chase slave-girls for the harem of the
+Padishah. The bargaining did not take long. The Kizlar-Aga paid down at
+once the price which the slave-merchant demanded, and forthwith handed
+Irene over to the slave-women of the Seraglio, who immediately conducted
+her to a bath fragrant with perfumes. Her face, her figure, her charms,
+amazed them exceedingly, and they lifted up their voices and praised her
+loudly. But when Irene heard their praises she shuddered, and her heart
+died away within her. Surely God never gave her beauty in order that she
+might be sacrificed to it? At that moment she would have much preferred
+to have been born humpbacked, squinting, swarthy; she would have liked
+her face to be all seamed and scarred like half-frozen water, and her
+body all diseased so that everyone who saw her would shrink from her
+with disgust&mdash;better that than the feeling which now made her shrink
+from the contemplation of herself.</p>
+
+<p>Then they put upon her a splendid robe, hung diamond ear-rings in her
+ears, tied a beautiful shawl round her loins, encircled her arms and
+feet with rings of gold, and so led her into the secret apartment where
+the damsels of the Padishah were all gathered together. This, of course,
+was long, long ago. Who can tell what Sultan was reigning then? Why,
+even our fathers did not know his name.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pomp and splendour, flowers and curtains adorned the immense saloon,
+the ceiling whereof was inlaid with precious stones, while the floor was
+fashioned entirely of mother-o'-pearl&mdash;he who set his foot thereon might
+fancy he was walking on rainbows. Moreover, cunning artificers had
+wrought upon this mother-o'-pearl floor flowers and birds and other most
+wondrous fantastical figures, so that it was a joy to look thereon, for
+no carpet, however precious, was suffered to cover all this splendour.
+Yet lest the cold surface of the pavement should chill the feet of the
+damsels, rows of tiny sandals stood ready there that they might bind
+them upon their feet and so walk from one end of the room to the other
+at their ease. And these sandals they called <i>kobkobs</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, aye!" cried the anxious Janaki, "you describe the interior of the
+Seraglio so vividly that I almost feel frightened. If a man listened
+long enough to such a tale he might easily get to feel as guilty as if
+he had actually cast an eye into the Sultan's harem, and 'twere best for
+him to die rather than do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not a tale that I am telling you? is not the room I have just
+described to you but a creature of the imagination?&mdash;In the centre of
+this saloon, then, was a large fountain, whence fragrant rose-water
+ascended into the air sporting with the golden balls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Along the whole
+length of the walls were immense Venetian mirrors, in which splendid
+odalisks admired their own shapely limbs. Hundreds and hundreds of lamps
+shone upon the pillars which supported the room&mdash;lamps of manifold
+colours&mdash;which gave to the vast chamber the magic hues of a fairy
+palace, and in the midst thereof seemed to float a transparent blue
+cloud&mdash;it was the light smoke of ambergris and spices which the damsels
+blew forth from their long narghilis. But what impressed Irene far more
+than all this magnificence, was the figure of the Sultana Asseki, to
+whom she was now conducted. A tall, muscular lady was sitting at the end
+of the room on a raised divan. Her figure was slender round the waist
+but broad and round about the shoulders. Her snow-white arms and neck
+were encircled by rows of real pearls with diamond clasps. A lofty
+heron's plume nodded on her bejewelled turban, and lent a still
+haughtier aspect to that majestic form. With her large black eyes she
+seemed to be in the habit of ruling the whole world."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Janaki, "you describe it all so vividly, that I am
+half afraid of sitting down here and listening to you. You might at
+least have let a little bit of a veil hang in front of her face."</p>
+
+<p>"But this happened long, long ago, remember! Who can even say under what
+Sultan it took place?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>... So they led the slave-girl into the presence
+of the Sultana, who was surrounded by two hundred other slave-girls, and
+was playing with a tiny dwarf. They were singing and dancing all around
+her and swinging censers. Above her head was a large fruit-tree made
+entirely of sugar, and covered with sugar-fruit of every shape and hue,
+and from time to time the Sultana would pluck off one of these fruits
+and taste a little bit of it and give the remainder to the tiny dwarf,
+who ate up everything greedily. Here Irene was seized by a black
+eunuch&mdash;a horrid, pockmarked man, whose upper lip was split right down
+so that all his teeth could be seen."</p>
+
+<p>"Just like the present Kizlar-Aga!" cried Musli laughing, "I fancy I can
+see him standing before me now!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Moor commanded Irene to fall on her face before the Sultana. Irene
+fell on her face accordingly, and while her forehead beat the ground
+before the Sultana she muttered to herself the words: 'Holy Mother of
+God! protectress of virgins, thou seest me in this place, when I call
+upon thee, deliver me!' The Sultana, meanwhile, had commanded her
+handmaidens to let down Irene's tresses, and as she stood before her
+there covered by her own hair from head to heel, she bade them paint her
+face red because it was so pale, and her eyelashes brown. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> commanded
+them also to salve her hair with fragrant unguents, and to hang chains
+of real pearls about her arms and neck. Irene knew not the meaning of
+these things. She knew not what they meant to do with her till the
+Kizlar-Aga approached her, and said these words to her in a reassuring
+tone: 'Rejoice, fortunate damsel! for a great felicity awaits thee. In a
+week's time it will be the Feast of Bairam, and the favourite Sultana
+has chosen thee from among the other odalisks as a gift for the
+Padishah. Rejoice, therefore, I say.' But Irene at these words would
+fain have died. And in the meantime the Sultana had placed a large fan
+in her hand made entirely of pea-cocks' feathers, and permitted her to
+sit down by her side and hold the little dwarf in her lap. At a later
+day Irene discovered that this was a mark of supreme condescension.
+During the next six days the damsel lived amidst mortal terrors. Her
+companions envied her. The damsels of the harem do not love each other,
+they can only hate. Every day she beheld the Sultan, whose gentle face
+inspired involuntary respect, but the very idea of loving him filled her
+soul with horror. The Sultan spent the greater part of his time with his
+favourite wife, but it happened sometimes that he cast a handkerchief
+towards this or that odalisk, which was a great piece of good fortune
+for her, or the reverse&mdash;it all depends upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> the point of view. The
+damsel whom the Grand Seignior seemed to favour the most was a beautiful
+blonde Italian girl; on one occasion this beautiful blonde damsel
+neglected to cast her eyes down as they chanced to encounter the eyes of
+the Sultana. The following day Irene could not see this damsel anywhere,
+and on inquiring after her was told by her bedfellow in a whisper that
+she had been strangled during the night. And oftentimes at dead of night
+the silence would be broken by a shriek from the secret dungeon of the
+Seraglio, followed by the sound of something splashing into the water,
+and regularly, on the day following every such occurrence, a familiar
+face would be missing from the Seraglio. All these victims were
+self-confident slave-girls, who had been unable to conceal their joy at
+the Sultan's favours, and therefore had been cast into the water. Nobody
+ever inquired about them any more."</p>
+
+<p>Janaki shivered all over.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well that this is all a tale," he observed.</p>
+
+<p>But G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze only continued her story.</p>
+
+<p>"At last the Feast of Bairam arrived, and throughout the day all the
+cannons on the Bosphorus sent forth their thunders. In the evening the
+Sultan came to the Seraglio weary and inclined to relaxation, and then
+the Sultana Asseki took Irene by the hand and conducted her to the
+Padishah, and presented her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> to him, together with gold-embroidered
+garments, preserved fruits, and other gifts intended for his
+delectation. The Grand Seignior regarded the girl tenderly, while she,
+like a kid of the flocks offered to a lion in a cage, stood trembling
+before him. But when the Sultan seized her hand to draw her towards him
+she sighed: 'Blessed Virgin!'&mdash;and lo! at these words her face grew
+pale, her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground as one dead. This was
+not the first time that such a spectacle had been seen in the harem.
+Everyone of the damsels brought thither generally commenced with a
+fainting-fit. The slave-girls immediately came running up to her, rubbed
+her body with fragrant unguents, applied penetrating essences to her
+face, let icy-cold water trickle down upon her bosom&mdash;and all was
+useless! The damsel did not awaken, and lay there like a corpse till the
+following morning&mdash;in fact, she never stirred from the spot where they
+laid her down. Next day the Padishah again summoned her to his presence.
+He spoke to her in the most tender manner. He gave her all manner of
+beautiful gifts, glittering raiment, necklaces, bracelets, and diamond
+aigrettes. The slave-girls, too, censed her all around with stupefying
+perfumes, bathed her in warm baths fragrant with ambergris and
+spikenard, and gave her fiery potions to drink. But it was all in vain.
+At the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> name of the Blessed Virgin, the blood ceased to flow to her
+heart, she fell down, died away, and every resource of ingenuity failed
+to arouse her. The same thing happened on the third day likewise. Then
+the Sultana Asseki's wrath was kindled greatly against her. She declared
+that this was no doing of Allah's as they might suppose. No, it was the
+damsel's own evil temper which made her pretend to be dead, and she
+immediately commanded that the damsel should be tortured. First of all
+they extended her stark naked on the icy-cold marble pavement&mdash;not a
+sign of life, not a shiver did she give. Then they held her over a slow
+fire on a gridiron&mdash;she never moved a muscle. Then they sent and sought
+for red ants in the garden among the pusp&aacute;ng-trees and scattered them
+all over her body. Yet the girl never once quaked beneath the stings of
+the poisonous insects. Finally they thrust sharp needles down to the
+very quicks of her nails, and still the damsel did not stir. Then the
+Sultana Asseki, full of fury, seized a whip, and lashed away at the
+damsel's body till she could lash no more, yet she could not thrash a
+soul into the lifeless body."</p>
+
+<p>"By Allah!" cried Halil, smiting the table with his heavy fist at this
+point of the narration, "that Sultana deserves to be sewn up in a
+leather sack and cast into the Bosphorus."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, 'tis only a tale, you know," said G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, stroking mockingly
+the chin of worthy Halil Patrona, and then she resumed her story. "The
+Sultan commanded that Irene should be expelled from the harem, for he
+had no desire to see this living corpse anywhere near him, and the
+Sultana gave her as a present to the Padishah's nephew, the son of his
+own brother.</p>
+
+<p>"The prince was a pale, handsome youth, as those whom women love much
+are generally wont to be. He was kept in a remote part of the Seraglio,
+for although every joy of life was his, and he was surrounded by wealth,
+pomp, and slave-girls, he was never permitted to quit the Seraglio. The
+Sultana herself led Irene to him, thinking that the fine eyes of the
+handsome youth would be the best talisman against the enchantment
+obsessing the charms of the strange damsel. The pale prince was charmed
+with the looks of the girl. He coaxed and flattered. He begged and
+implored her not to die away beneath his kisses and embraces. In vain.
+The girl swooned at the very first touch, and he who touched her lips
+might just as well have touched the lips of a corpse. The prince knelt
+down beside her, and implored her with tears to come to herself again.
+She heard not and she answered not. At last the fair Sultana Asseki
+herself had compassion on his tears and lamentations which produced no
+impression on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> dead. Her heart bled for him. She bent over the pale
+prince, embraced him tenderly, and comforted him with her caresses. And
+the prince allowed himself to be comforted, and they rejoiced greatly
+together; for of course there was nobody present to see them, for the
+senseless damsel on the floor might have been a corpse so far as they
+were concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"Hum!" murmured the Berber-Bashi to himself, "this is a thing well worth
+remembering."</p>
+
+<p>"On the following day the pale prince made a present of Irene to the
+Grand Vizier. The Grand Vizier also rejoiced greatly at the sight of the
+damsel; took her into his cellar, showed her there three great vats full
+of gold and precious stones, and told her that all these things should
+be hers if only she would love him. Then he took and showed her the
+multitude of precious ornaments that he had concealed beneath the
+flooring of his palace, and promised these to her also. For every kiss
+she should give him, he offered her one of his palaces on the shores of
+the Sweet Waters, yes, for every kiss a palace."</p>
+
+<p>"I would burn all these palaces to the ground!" cried Halil impetuously.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay, my son, be sensible!" said Janaki. He himself now began to
+feel that there was something more than a mere tale in all this.</p>
+
+<p>But the Berber-Bashi pricked up his ears and grew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> terribly attentive
+when mention was made of the hidden treasures of the Grand Vizier.</p>
+
+<p>"The sight of the treasures," resumed the girl, "had no effect upon
+Irene. She never failed to invoke the name of the Blessed Virgin
+whenever the face of a man drew near to her face, and the Blessed Virgin
+always wrought a miracle in her behalf."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis my belief," said Halil, "that there were no miracles at all in the
+matter; but that the girl had so strong a will that by an effort she
+made herself dead to all tortures."</p>
+
+<p>"At last they came to a definite decision concerning this slave-girl, it
+was resolved to sell her by public auction in the bazaars&mdash;to sell her
+as a common slave to the highest bidder. And so Irene fell to a poor
+hawker who gave his all for her. For a whole month this man left his
+slave-girl untouched, and the girl who could not be subdued by torture,
+nor the blandishments of great men, nor by treasures, nor by ardent
+desire, became very fond of the poor costermonger, and no longer became
+as one dead when <i>his</i> burning lips were impressed upon her face."</p>
+
+<p>And with that G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze embraced her husband and kissed him again and
+again, and smiled upon him with her large radiant eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"A very pretty story truly!" observed Musli, smacking his lips; "what a
+pity there is not more of it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no regrets, worthy Mussulman, there <i>is</i> more of it!" cried the
+Berber-Bashi, rising from his place; "just listen to the sequel of it!
+Having had the girl sold by auction in the bazaar, the Padishah bade Ali
+Kermesh, his trusty Berber-Bashi, make inquiries and see what happened
+to the damsel <i>after</i> the sale. Now the Berber-Bashi knew that the girl
+had only pretended to faint, and the Berber-Bashi brought the girl back
+to the Seraglio before she had spent a single night alone with her
+husband. For I am the Berber-Bashi and thou art G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, that same
+slave-girl going by the name of Irene who feigned to be dead."</p>
+
+<p>Everyone present leaped in terror to his feet except Janaki, who fell
+down on his knees before the Berber-Bashi, embraced his knees, and
+implored him to treat all that the girl had said as if he had not heard
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"We are lost!" whispered the bloodless G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze. The intoxication of
+joy and wine had suddenly left her and she was sober once more.</p>
+
+<p>Janaki implored, Musli cursed and swore, but Halil spake never a word.
+He held his wife tightly embraced in his arms and he thought within
+himself, I would rather allow my hand to be chopped off than let her go.</p>
+
+<p>Janaki promised money and loads of treasure to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Ali Kermesh if only he
+would hold his tongue, say nothing of what had happened, and let the
+girl remain with her husband.</p>
+
+<p>But the Berber-Bashi was inexorable.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said he, "I will take away the girl, and your treasures also shall
+be mine. Ye are the children of Death; yea, all of you who are now
+drawing the breath of life in this house, for to have heard the secret
+that this slave-girl has blabbed out is sufficient to kill anyone thrice
+over. I command you, Irene, to take up your veil and follow me, and you
+others must remain here till the Debedzik with the cord comes to fetch
+you also."</p>
+
+<p>With these words he cast Janaki from him, approached the damsel and
+seized her hand. Halil never once relaxed his embrace.</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Blessed Mary! Blessed Mary!" moaned the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Your guardian saints are powerless to help you now, for your husband's
+lips have touched you; come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>Then only did Halil speak. His voice was so deep, gruff, and stern, that
+those who heard it scarce recognised it for his:</p>
+
+<p>"Leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!" cried he.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Silence thou dog! in another hour thou wilt be hanging up before thine
+own gate."</p>
+
+<p>"Once more I ask you&mdash;leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!"</p>
+
+<p>Instead of answering, the Berber-Bashi would, with one hand, have torn
+the wife from her husband's bosom while he clutched hold of Halil with
+the other, whereupon Halil brought down his fist so heavily on the skull
+of the Berber-Bashi that he instantly collapsed without uttering a
+single word.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you done?" cried Janaki in terror. "You have killed the chief
+barber of the Sultan!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I rather fancy I have," replied Halil coolly.</p>
+
+<p>Musli rushed towards the prostrate form of Ali Kermesh, felt him all
+over very carefully, and then turned towards the hearth where the others
+were sitting.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead he is, there is no doubt about it. He's as dead as a door-nail.
+Well, Halil, that was a fine blow of yours I must say. By the Prophet!
+one does not see a blow like that every day. With your bare hand too! To
+kill a man with nothing but your empty fist! If a cannon-ball had
+knocked him over he could not be deader than he is."</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall we do now?" cried Janaki, looking around him with
+tremulous terror. "The Sultan is sure to send and make inquiries about
+his lost Berber-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Bashi. It is known that he came here in disguise. The
+affair cannot long remain hidden."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no occasion to fear anything," said Musli reassuringly. "Good
+counsel is cheap. We can easily find a way out of it. Before the
+business comes to light, we will go to the Etmeidan and join the
+Janissaries. There let them send and fetch us if they dare, for we shall
+be in a perfectly safe place anyhow. Why, don't you remember that only
+last year the rebel, Esref Khan, whom the Padishah had been pursuing to
+the death, even in foreign lands, hit, at last, upon the idea of
+resorting to the Janissaries, and was safer against the fatal silken
+cord here, in the very midst of Stambul, than if he had fled all the way
+to the Isle of Rhodes for refuge. Let us all become Janissaries, I and
+you and Janaki also."</p>
+
+<p>But Janaki kicked vigorously against the proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"You two may go over to the Janissaries if you like, but in the meantime
+my daughter and I will make our escape to the Isle of Tenedos and there
+await tidings of you. One jar of dates I will take with me, the other
+you may divide among the Janissaries; it will put them in a good humour
+and make them receive you more amicably."</p>
+
+<p>Halil embraced his wife, kissed her, and wept over her. There was not
+much time for leave-taking.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> The Debedjis who had accompanied the
+Berber-Bashi were beginning to grow impatient at the prolonged absence
+of their master; they could be heard stamping about around the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasten, hasten! we can have too much of this hugging and kissing,"
+whispered Musli, lifting one of the jars on to his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Halil pressed one more long, long kiss on G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze's trembling
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"By Allah!" said he, "it shall not be long before we see each other
+again."</p>
+
+<p>And thus their ways parted right and left.</p>
+
+<p>Musli conducted Janaki away in one direction, through a subterranean
+cellar, whilst Halil fled away across the house-tops, and within a
+quarter of an hour the pair of them arrived at the Etmeidan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Woodcutter.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE CAMP.</h4>
+
+
+<p>What a noise, what a commotion in the streets of Stambul! The multitude
+pours like a stream towards the harbour of the Golden Horn. Young and
+old stimulate each other with looks of excitement and enthusiasm. They
+stand together at the corners of the streets in tens and twenties, and
+tell each other of the great event that has happened. On the Etmeidan,
+in front of the Seraglio, in the doors of the mosques, the people are
+swarming, and from street to street they accompany the banner-bearing
+D&uuml;lbendar, who proclaims to the faithful amidst the flourish of trumpets
+that Sultan Achmed III. has declared war against Tamasip, Shah of
+Persia.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere faces radiant with enthusiasm, everywhere shouts of martial
+fervour.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time a regiment of Janissaries or a band of Albanian
+horsemen passes across the street, or escorts the buffaloes that drag
+after them the long heavy guns on wheeled carriages. The mob in its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+thousands follows them along the road leading to Scutari, where the camp
+has already been pitched. For at last, at any rate, the Padishah is
+surfeited with so many feasts and illuminations, and after having
+postponed the raising of the banner of the Prophet, under all sorts of
+frivolous excuses, from the 18th day of Safer (2nd of September) to the
+1st day of Rebusler, and from that day again to the Prophet's birthday
+ten days later still, the expected, the appointed day is at length
+drawing near, and the whole host is assembling beneath the walls of
+Scutari, only awaiting the arrival of the Sultan to take ship at
+once&mdash;the transports are all ready&mdash;and hasten to the assistance of the
+heroic K&uuml;prilizade on the battlefield.</p>
+
+<p>The whole Bosphorus was a living forest planted with a maze of huge
+masts and spreading sails, and a thousand variegated flags flew and
+flapped in the morning breeze. The huge line of battle-ships, with their
+triple decks and their long rows of oars, looked like hundred-eyed
+sea-monsters swimming with hundreds of legs on the surface of the water,
+and the booming reverberation of the thunder of their guns was re-echoed
+from the broad foreheads of the palaces looking into the Bosphorus.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere along the sea-front was to be seen an armed multitude;
+sparkling swords and lances in thousands flash back the rays of the sun.
+The whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> of the grass plain round about was planted with tents of
+every hue; white tents for the chief muftis, bright green tents for the
+viziers, scarlet tents for the kiayaks, dark blue tents for the great
+officers of state, the Emirs, the Mecca, Medina, and Stambul
+justiciaries, the Defterdars, and the Nishandji; lilac-coloured tents
+for the Ulemas, bright blue tents for the M&uuml;deresseks, azure-blue tents
+for the Ciaus-Agas, and dark green designates the tent of the Emir Alem,
+the bearer of the sacred standard. And high above them all on a hillock
+towers the orange-coloured pavilion of the Padishah, with gold and
+purple hangings, and two and three fold horse-tails planted in front of
+the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>At sunset yesterday there was not a trace of this vast camp, all night
+long this city of tents was a-building, and at dawn of day there it
+stands all ready like the creation of a magician's wand!</p>
+
+<p>The plain is occupied by the Spahis, the finest, smartest horsemen of
+the whole host; along the sea-front are ranged the topidjis, with their
+rows and rows of cannons. Other detachments of these gunners are
+distributed among the various hillocks. On the wings of the host are
+placed the Albanian cavalry, the Tartars, and the Druses of Horan. The
+centre of the host belongs of right to the flower, the kernel of the
+imperial army&mdash;the haughty Janissaries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And certainly they seemed to be very well aware that they were the cream
+of the host, and that therefore it was not lawful for any other division
+of the army to draw near them, much less mingle with them, unless it
+were a few <i>delis</i>, whom they permitted to roam up and down their ranks
+full of crazy exaltation.</p>
+
+<p>The whole host is full of the joy of battle, and if, from time to time,
+fierce shouts and thunderous murmurings arise from this or that
+battalion, that only means that they are rejoicing at the tidings of the
+declaration of war: the war-ships express their satisfaction by loud
+salvoes.</p>
+
+<p>Sultan Achmed, meanwhile, is engaged in his morning devotions, day by
+day he punctually observes this pious practice.</p>
+
+<p>The previous night he did not spend in the harem, but shut himself up
+with his viziers and counsellors in that secret chamber of the Divan,
+which is roofed over with a golden cupola. Grave were their
+deliberations, but nobody, except the viziers, knows the result thereof;
+yet when he issues forth from his prayer-chamber the Kizlar-Aga is
+already awaiting him there and hands the Sultan a signet-ring.</p>
+
+<p>"Most glorious of Padishahs! the most delicious of women sends thee this
+ring. Well dost thou know what was beneath this ring. Deadly venom was
+beneath it. That venom is no longer there. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Sultana Asseki sends
+thee her greeting, and wishes thee good luck in this war of thine. 'Hail
+to thee!' she says, 'may thy guardian angels watch over all thy steps!'
+The Sultana meanwhile has locked herself up in her private apartments,
+and in the very hour in which thou quittest the Seraglio she will take
+this poison, which she has dissolved in a goblet of water, and will
+die."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan had all at once become very grave.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didst thou trouble me with these words!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"I do but repeat the words of the Sultana, greatest of Padishahs. She
+says thou art off to the wars, that thou wilt return no more, and that
+she will not be the slave-girl of the monarch who shall come after thee
+and sit upon thy throne."</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore dost thou trouble me with these words?" repeated the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"May my tongue curse my lips, may my teeth bite out my tongue because of
+the words I have spoken. 'Twas the Sultana that bade me speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Go back to her and tell her to come hither!"</p>
+
+<p>"Such a message, oh, my master, will be her death. She will not leave
+her chamber alive."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the Sultan reflected, then he asked in a mournful voice:</p>
+
+<p>"What thinkest thou?&mdash;if thy house was on fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> and thy beloved was
+inside, wouldst thou put out the flames, or wouldst thou not rather
+think first of rescuing thy beloved?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of a truth the extinguishing of the flames is not so pressing, and the
+beloved should be rescued."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast said it. What meaneth the firing of cannons that strikes upon
+my ears?"</p>
+
+<p>"Salvoes from the host."</p>
+
+<p>"Can they be heard in the Seraglio?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yea, and the songs of the singing-girls grow dumb before it."</p>
+
+<p>"Conduct me to Adsalis! She must not die. What is the sky to thee if
+there be no sun in it? What is the whole world to thee if thou dost lose
+thy beloved? Go on before and tell her that I am coming!"</p>
+
+<p>The Kizlar-Aga withdrew. Achmed muttered to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"But another second, but another moment, but another instant long enough
+for a parting kiss, but another hour, but another night&mdash;a night full of
+blissful dreams&mdash;and it will be quite time enough to hasten to the cold
+and icy battlefield." And with that he hastened towards the harem.</p>
+
+<p>There sat the Sultana with dishevelled tresses and garments rent
+asunder, without ornaments, without fine raiment, in sober
+cinder-coloured mourning weeds. Before her, on a table, stood a small
+goblet filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> with a bluish transparent fluid. That fluid was
+poison&mdash;not a doubt of it. Her slave-girls lay scattered about on the
+floor around her, weeping and wailing and tearing their faces and their
+snowy bosoms with their long nails.</p>
+
+<p>The Padishah approached her and tenderly enfolded her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore wouldst thou die out of my life, oh, thou light of my days?"</p>
+
+<p>The Sultana covered her face with her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Can the rose blossom in winter-time? Do not its leaves fall when the
+blasts of autumn blow upon it?"</p>
+
+<p>"But the winter that must wither thee is still far distant."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Achmed! when anyone's star falls from Heaven, does the world ever
+ask, wert thou young? wert thou beautiful? didst thou enjoy life?
+Mashallah! such a one is dead already. My star shone upon thy face, and
+if thou dost turn thy face from me, then must I droop and wither."</p>
+
+<p>"And who told thee that I had turned my face from thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Achmed! the Wind does not say, I am cold, and yet we feel it. Thy
+heart is far, far away from me even when thou art nigh. But my heart is
+with thee even when thou art far away from me, even then I am near to
+thee; but thou art far away even when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> thou art sitting close beside me.
+It is not Achmed who is talking to me. It is only Achmed's body.
+Achmed's soul is wandering elsewhere; it is wandering on the bloody
+field of battle amidst the clash of cold steel. He imagines that those
+banners, those weapons, those cannons love him more than his poor
+abandoned, forgotten Adsalis."</p>
+
+<p>The salvo of a whole row of cannons was heard in front of the Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>"Hearken how they call to thee! Their words are more potent than the
+words of Adsalis. Go then! follow their invitation! Go the way they
+point out to thee! The voice of Adsalis will not venture to compete with
+them. What indeed is my voice?&mdash;what but a gentle, feeble sound! Go!
+there also I will be with thee. And when the long manes of thy
+horse-tail standards flutter before thee on the field of battle, fancy
+that thou dost see before thee the waving tresses of thy Adsalis who has
+freed her soul from the incubus of her body in order that it might be
+able to follow thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, say not so, say not so!" stammered the tender-hearted Sultan,
+pressing his gentle darling to his bosom and closing her lips with his
+own as if, by the very act, he would have prevented her soul from
+escaping and flying away.</p>
+
+<p>And the cannons may continue thundering on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> shores of the Bosphorus,
+the Imperial Ciauses may summon the host to arms with the blasts of
+their trumpets, the camp of a whole nation may wait and wait on the
+plains of Scutari, but Sultan Achmed is far too happy in the embraces of
+Adsalis to think even for a moment of seizing the banner of the Prophet
+and leading his bloodthirsty battalions to face the dangers of the
+battlefield.</p>
+
+<p>The only army that he now has eyes for is the army of the odalisks and
+slave-girls, who seize their tambourines and mandolines, and weave the
+light dance around the happy imperial couple, singing sweet songs of
+enchantment, while outside through the streets of Stambul gun-carriages
+are rattling along, and the mob, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, clamours for
+a war of extermination against the invading Shiites.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a fine hubbub is going on around the kettle of the first
+Janissary regiment. These kettles, by the way, play a leading part in
+the history of the Turkish Empire. Around them assemble the Janissaries
+when any question of war or plunder arises, or when they demand the head
+of a detested pasha, or when they wish to see the banner of the Prophet
+unfurled; and so terrible were these kettles on all such occasions that
+the anxious viziers and pashas, when driven into a corner, were
+compelled to fill these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> same kettles either with gold pieces or with
+their own blood.</p>
+
+<p>An impatient group of Janissaries was standing round their kettle, which
+was placed on the top of a lofty iron tripod, and amongst them we notice
+Halil Patrona and Musli. Both were wearing the Janissary dress, with
+round turbans in which a black heron's plume was fastened (only the
+officers wore white feathers), with naked calves only half-concealed by
+the short, bulgy pantaloons which scarce covered the knee. There was
+very little of the huckster of the day before yesterday in Halil's
+appearance now. His bold and gallant bearing, his resolute mode of
+speech, and the bountiful way in which he scattered the piastres which
+he had received from Janaki, had made him a prime favourite among his
+new comrades. Musli, on the other hand, was still drunk. With desperate
+self-forgetfulness he had been drinking the health of his friend all
+night long, and never ceased bawling out before his old cronies in front
+of the tent of the Janissary Aga that if the Aga, whose name was Hassan,
+was indeed as valiant a man as they tried to make out, let him come
+forth from beneath his tent and not think so much of his soft bearskin
+bed, or else let him give his white heron plume to Halil Patrona and let
+him lead them against the enemy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Janissary Aga could hear this bellowing quite plainly, but he also
+could hear the Janissary guard in front of the tent laughing loudly at
+the fellow and making all he said unintelligible.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a troop of mounted ciauses was approaching the kettle of the
+first Janissary regiment in whose leader we recognise Halil Pelivan.
+Allah had been with him&mdash;he was now raised to the rank of a
+ciaus-officer.</p>
+
+<p>The giant stood among the Janissaries and inquired in a voice of
+thunder:</p>
+
+<p>"Which of you common Janissary fellows goes by the name of Halil
+Patrona?"</p>
+
+<p>Patrona stepped forth.</p>
+
+<p>"Methinks, Halil Pelivan," said he, "it does not require much
+brain-splitting on your part to recognise me."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is your comrade Musli?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you not give me a handle to my name, you dog of a ciaus?" roared
+Musli. "I am a gentleman I tell you. So long as you were a Janissary,
+you were a gentleman too. But now you are only a dog of a ciaus. What
+business have you, I should like to know, in Begta's flower-garden?"</p>
+
+<p>"To root out weeds. The pair of you, bound tightly together, must follow
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Look ye, my friends!" cried Musli, turning to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> his comrades, "that man
+is drunk, dead drunk. He can scarce stand upon his feet. How dare you
+say," continued he, turning towards Pelivan&mdash;"how dare you say that two
+Janissaries, two of the flowers from Begta's garden, are to follow you
+when the banners of warfare are already waving before us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am commanded by the Kapu-Kiaja to bring you before him."</p>
+
+<p>"Say not so, you mangy dog you! Let him come for us himself if he has
+anything to say to us! What, my friends! am I not right in saying that
+the Kapu-Kiaja, if he did his duty, ought to be here with us, in the
+camp and on the battlefield? and that it is no business of ours to dance
+attendance upon him? Am I not right? Let him come hither!"</p>
+
+<p>This sentiment was greeted with an approving howl.</p>
+
+<p>"Let him come hither if he wants to talk to a Janissary!" cried many
+voices. "Who ever heard of summoning a Janissary away from his camp?"</p>
+
+<p>It was as much as Pelivan could do to restrain his fury.</p>
+
+<p>"You two are murderers," said he, "you have killed the Sultan's
+Berber-Bashi."</p>
+
+<p>At this there was a general outburst of laughter. Everybody knew that
+already. Musli had told the story hundreds of times with all sorts of
+variations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> He had described to them how Halil had slain Ali Kermesh
+with a single blow of his fist, and how the latter's jaw had suddenly
+fallen and collapsed into a corner, all of which had seemed very comical
+indeed to the Janissaries.</p>
+
+<p>So five or six of them, all speaking together, began to heckle and
+cross-question Pelivan.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there no more barbers in Stambul that you make such a fuss over
+this particular one?"</p>
+
+<p>"What an infamous thing to demand the lives of a couple of Janissaries
+for the sake of a single beard-scraper!"</p>
+
+<p>"May you and your Kapu-Kiaja have no other pastime in Paradise than the
+shaving of innumerable beards!"</p>
+
+<p>At last Patrona stepped forth and begged his comrades to let him have
+<i>his</i> say in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Hearken now, Pelivan!" began he, "you and I are adversaries I know very
+well, nor do I care a straw that it is so. I am not palavering now with
+you because I want to get out of a difficulty, but simply because I want
+to send you back to the Kiaja with a sensible answer which I am quite
+sure you are incapable of hitting upon yourself. Well, I freely admit
+that I <i>did</i> kill Ali Kermesh, killed him single-handed. Nobody helped
+me to do the deed. And now I have thrown in my lot with the Janissaries,
+and here I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> stand where it has pleased Allah to place me, that I may pay
+with my own life for the life I have taken if it seem good to Him so to
+ordain. I am quite ready to die and glorify His name thereby. His Will
+be done! Let the honourable Kiaja therefore gird up his loins, and let
+all those great lords who repose in the shadow of the Padishah draw
+their swords and come among us once for all. I and all my comrades, the
+whole Janissary host in fact, are ready to fall on the field of battle
+one after another at the bare wave of their hand, but there is not a
+single Janissary present who would bow his knee before the executioner."</p>
+
+<p>These words, uttered in a ringing, sonorous voice, were accompanied by
+thunders of applause from the whole regiment, and during this tumult
+Musli endeavoured to add a couple of words on his own account to the
+message already delivered by Patrona.</p>
+
+<p>"And just tell your master, the Kiaja," said he, "and all your
+white-headed grand viziers and grey-bearded muftis, that if they do not
+bring the Sultan and the banner of the Prophet into camp this very day,
+not a single one of them will need a barber on the morrow, unless they
+would like their heels well shaved in default of heads."</p>
+
+<p>Pelivan meanwhile was looking steadily into Halil's eyes. There was such
+a malicious scorn in his gaze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> that Halil involuntarily grasped the hilt
+of his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not, Patrona!" cried he jeeringly, "G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze will never again be
+conducted into the Seraglio. She and your father-in-law have been
+captured as they were trying to fly, and the unbelieving Greek
+cattle-dealer has been thrown into the dungeon set apart for evil-doers.
+As for that woman whom you call your wife, she has been put into the
+prison assigned to those shameless ones whom the gracious Sultan has
+driven together from all parts of the realm, and kept in ward lest the
+virtue of his faithful Mussulmans should be corrupted. There you will
+find her."</p>
+
+<p>Patrona, like a furious tiger that has burst forth from its cage, at
+these words rushed from out the ranks of his comrades. His sword flashed
+in his hand, and if Pelivan had been doubly as big as he was, his mere
+size could not have saved him. But the leader of the ciauses straightway
+put spurs to his horse, and laughing loudly galloped away with his
+ciauses, almost brushing the enraged Halil as he passed, and when he had
+already trotted a safe distance away, he turned round and with a
+scornful Ha, ha, ha! began hurling insults at the Janissaries, five or
+six of whom had set out to follow him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! he is mocking us!" exclaimed Musli, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>upon the Janissaries who
+stood nearest perceiving that they should never be able to overtake him
+on foot, hastened to the nearest battery, wrested a mortar from the
+topijis by force, and fired it upon the retreating ciauses. The
+discharged twelve-pounder whistled about their heads and then fell far
+away in the midst of a bivouac where a number of worthy Bosniaks were
+cooking their suppers, scattering the hot ashes into their eyes,
+ricochetting thence very prettily into the pavilion of the Bostanji
+Bashi, two of whose windows it knocked out, thence bounding three or
+four times into the air, terrifying several recumbent groups in its
+passage, and trundling rapidly away over some level ground, till at last
+it rolled into the booth of a glass-maker, and there smashed to atoms an
+incalculable quantity of pottery.</p>
+
+<p>Here Pelivan finally ran it to earth, seized it, hauled it off to the
+Kiaja, and duly delivered the message of the Janissaries, together with
+the twelve-pound cannon-ball, at the same time reminding him that it was
+an old habit of the Janissaries to accompany their messages with similar
+little <i>douceurs</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Pelivan had anticipated that the Kiaja would foam with rage at the news,
+and would have the offending Janissary regiment decimated at the very
+least; but the Kiaja, instead of being angry, seemed very much afraid.
+He saw in this presumptuous message a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> declaration of rebellion, and
+hurried off to the Grand Vizier as fast as his legs could carry him,
+taking the heavy twelve-pounder along with him.</p>
+
+<p>Ibrahim perfectly comprehended what was said to him, and placing the
+cannon-ball in a box nicely lined with velvet took it to the Seraglio,
+and when he got there sent for the Kizlar-Aga, placed it in his hands,
+and commissioned him to deliver it to the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"The Army," said he, "has sent this present to the most glorious
+Padishah. It is a treasure which is worth nothing so long as it is in
+our possession; it only becomes precious when we pay our debts with it,
+but it is downright damaging if we let others pay their debts to us
+therewith. Say to the most puissant of Sultans that if he finds this one
+specimen too little, the Army is ready to send him a lot more, and then
+it will choose neither me nor thee to be the bearer thereof."</p>
+
+<p>The Kizlar-Aga, who did not know what was in the box, took it forthwith
+into the Hall of Delight, and there delivered it to Achmed together with
+the message.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan broke open the box in the presence of the Sultana Asseki, and
+on perceiving therein the heavy cannon-ball at once understood Ibrahim's
+message.</p>
+
+<p>He was troubled to the depths of his soul when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> understood it. He was
+so good, so gentle to everyone, he tried so hard to avoid injuring
+anybody, and yet everybody seemed to combine to make him miserable! It
+seemed as though they envied him his sweet delights, and were determined
+that he should find no repose even in the very bosom of his family.</p>
+
+<p>He embraced and kissed the fair Sultana again and again, and stammered
+with tears in his eyes:</p>
+
+<p>"Die then, my pretty flower! fade away! wither before my very eyes! Die
+if thou canst that at least my heart may have nothing to long for!"</p>
+
+<p>The Sultana threw herself in despair at his feet, with her dishevelled
+tresses waving all about her, and encircling Achmed's knees with her
+white arms she besought him, sobbing loudly, not to go to the camp, at
+any rate, not <i>that</i> day. Let at least the memory of the evil dreams she
+had dreamed the night before pass away, she said.</p>
+
+<p>But no, he could remain behind no longer. In vain were all weeping and
+wailing, however desperate. The Sultan had made up his mind that he must
+go. One single moment only did he hesitate, for one single moment the
+thought did occur to him: Am I a mere tool in the hands of my army, and
+why do I wear a sword at all if I do not decapitate therewith those who
+rise in rebellion against me? But he very soon let that thought escape.
+He knew he was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> capable of translating it into action. Many, very
+many, must needs die if he acted thus; perhaps it were better, much
+better, for everybody if he submitted.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nought for thee but to die, my pretty flower," he whispered to
+the Sultana, who, sobbing and moaning, accompanied him to the very door
+of the Seraglio, and there he gently removed her arms from his shoulders
+and hastened to the council-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis did <i>not</i> die however, but made her way by the secret staircase
+to the apartments of the White Prince and found consolation with him.</p>
+
+<p>"The Sultan did not yield to my arguments," she said to the White
+Prince, who took her at once to his bosom, "he is off to the camp. If
+only I could hold him back for a single day the rebellion would burst
+forth&mdash;and then his dominion would vanish and his successor would be
+yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself, we may still gain time! Remind him through the
+Kizlar-Aga that he neglect not the pricking of the Koran."</p>
+
+<p>"You have spoken a word in season," replied Adsalis, and she immediately
+sent the Kizlar-Aga into the council-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier, the Kapudan Pasha, the Kiaja, the Chief Mufti, and the
+Sheik of the Aja Sophia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> Ispirizade, were assembled in council with the
+Sultan who had just ordered the Silihdar to gird him with the sword of
+Mahomet.</p>
+
+<p>"Most illustrious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, throwing himself to
+the ground and hiding his face in his hands, "the Sultana Asseki would
+have me remind thee that thou do not neglect to ask counsel from Allah
+by the pricking of the Koran, before thou hast come to any resolution,
+as was the custom of thine illustrious ancestors as often as they had to
+choose between peace and war."</p>
+
+<p>"Well said!" cried Achmed, and thereupon he ordered the chief mufti to
+bring him the Alkoran which, in all moments of doubt, the Sultans were
+wont to appeal to and consult by plunging a needle through its pages,
+and then turning to the last leaf in which the marks of the needle-point
+were visible. Whatever words on this last page happened to be pricked
+were regarded as oracular and worthy of all obedience.</p>
+
+<p>On every table in the council-chamber stood an Alkoran&mdash;ten copies in
+one room. The binding of one of these copies was covered with diamonds.
+This copy the Chief Mufti brought to the Sultan, and gave into his hands
+the needle with which the august ceremony was to be accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Ibrahim glanced impatiently at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> three magnificent clocks
+standing in the room, one beside the other. They all pointed to a
+quarter to twelve. It was already late, and this ceremony of the
+pricking of the Koran always took up such a lot of time.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan opened the book at the last page, pricked through by the
+needle, and these were the words he read:</p>
+
+<p>"He who fears the sword will find the sword his enemy, and better a
+rust-eaten sword in the hand than a brightly burnished one in a sheath."</p>
+
+<p>"La illah il Allah! God is one!" said Achmed bowing his head and kissing
+the words of the Alkoran. "Make ready my charger, 'tis the will of God."</p>
+
+<p>The Kizlar-Aga returned with the news to Adsalis and the White Prince.</p>
+
+<p>Even the pricking of the Koran had gone contrary to their plans.</p>
+
+<p>"Go and remind the Sultan," said Adsalis, "that he cannot go to the wars
+without the surem of victory;" and for the second time the Kizlar-Aga
+departed to execute the commands of the Sultana.</p>
+
+<p>The surem, by the way, is a holy supplication which it is usual for the
+chief Imam to recite in the mosques before the Padishah goes personally
+to battle, praying that Allah will bless his arms with victory.</p>
+
+<p>Now, because time was pressing, it was necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> to recite this prayer
+in the chapel of the Seraglio instead of in the mosque of St. Sophia.
+Ispirizade accordingly began to intone the surem, but he spun it out so
+long and made such a business of it, that it seemed as if he were bent
+on wasting time purposely. By the time the devotion was over every clock
+in the Seraglio had struck twelve.</p>
+
+<p>Ibrahim hastened to the Sultan to press him to embark as soon as
+possible in the ship that was waiting ready to convey him and the White
+Prince to Scutari; but at the foot of the staircase, in the outer court
+of the Seraglio where stood the Sultan's chargers which were to take him
+through the garden kiosk to the sea-shore, the way was barred by the
+Kizlar-Aga, who flung himself to the ground before the Sultan, and
+grasping his horse's bridle began to cry with all his might:</p>
+
+<p>"Trample me, oh, my master, beneath the hoofs of thy horses, yet listen
+to my words! The noontide hour has passed, and the hours of the
+afternoon are unlucky hours for any undertaking. The true Mussulman puts
+his hand to nothing on which the blessing of Allah can rest when noon
+has gone. Trample on my dead body if thou wilt, but say not that there
+was nobody who would have withheld thee from the path of peril!"</p>
+
+<p>The soul of Achmed III. was full of all manner of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> fantastic sentiments.
+Faith, hope, and love, which make others strong, had in him degenerated
+into superstition, frivolity, and voluptuousness&mdash;already he was but
+half a man.</p>
+
+<p>At the words of the Kizlar-Aga he removed his foot from the stirrup in
+which he had dreamily placed it with the help of the kneeling Rikiabdar,
+and said in the tone of a man who has at last made up his mind:</p>
+
+<p>"We will go to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Ibrahim was in despair at this fresh delay. He whispered a few words in
+the ear of Izmail Aga, whereupon the latter scarce waiting till the
+Sultan had remounted the steps, flung himself on his horse and galloped
+as fast as he could tear towards Scutari.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti continued to detain the
+Sultan in the Divan, or council-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Three-quarters of an hour later Izmail Aga returned and presented
+himself before the Sultan all covered with dust and sweat.</p>
+
+<p>"Most glorious Padishah!" he cried, "I have just come from the host.
+Since dawn they have all been on their feet awaiting thy arrival. If by
+evening thou dost not show thyself in the camp, then so sure as God is
+one, the host will not remain in Scutari but will come to Stambul."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The host is coming to Stambul!&mdash;that was a word of terror.</p>
+
+<p>And Achmed III. well understood what it meant. Well did he remember the
+message which, three-and-twenty years before, the host had sent to his
+predecessor, Sultan Mustafa, who would not quit his harem at Adrianople
+to come to Stambul: "Even if thou wert dead thou couldst come here in a
+couple of days!" And he also remembered what had followed. The Sultan
+had been made to abdicate the throne and he (Achmed) had taken his
+place. And now just the same sort of tempest which had overthrown his
+predecessor was shaking the seat of the mighty rock beneath his own
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" exclaimed Achmed, kissing the
+sword of Muhammad, and a quarter of an hour later he went on board the
+ship destined for him with the banner of the Prophet borne before him.</p>
+
+<p>In the Seraglio all the clocks one after another struck one as
+four-and-twenty salvoes announced that the Sultan with the banner of the
+Prophet had arrived in the camp.</p>
+
+<p>And the people of the East believe that the blessing of Allah does not
+rest on the hour which marks the afternoon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM.</h4>
+
+
+<p>A contrary wind was blowing across the Bosphorus, so that it was not
+until towards the evening that the Sultan arrived at Scutari, and
+disembarked there at his seaside palace with his viziers, his princes,
+the Chief Mufti, and Ispirizade.</p>
+
+<p>Though everything had quieted down close at hand, all night long could
+be heard, some distance off, in the direction of the camp, a murmuring
+and a tumult, the cause of which nobody could explain.</p>
+
+<p>More than once the Grand Vizier sent fleet runners to the Aga of the
+Janissaries to inquire what was the meaning of all that noise in the
+camp. Hassan replied that he himself did not understand why they were so
+unruly after they had heard the arrival of the Sultan and the sacred
+banner everywhere proclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards Ibrahim commanded him to seize all those who would
+not remain quiet. Hassan accordingly laid his hands on sundry who came
+conveniently in his way; but, for all that, the rest would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> pay no heed
+to him, and the tumult began to extend in the direction of Stambul also.</p>
+
+<p>Towards midnight a ciaus reached the Kiaja with the intelligence that a
+number of soldiers were coming along from the direction of Tebrif,
+crying as they came that the army of K&uuml;prilizade had been scattered to
+the winds by Shah Tamasip, and that they themselves were the sole
+survivors of the carnage&mdash;that was why the army round Stambul was
+chafing and murmuring.</p>
+
+<p>The Kiaja went at once in search of the Grand Vizier and told him of
+this terrible rumour.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible!" exclaimed Ibrahim. "K&uuml;prilizade would not allow himself to
+be beaten. Only a few days ago I sent him arms and reinforcements which
+were more than enough to enable him to hold his own until the main army
+should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>"And even if it were true. If, in consequence of the Sultan's
+procrastination, we were to arrive too late and the whole of the
+provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan were to be lost&mdash;even then we should
+all be in the hands of Allah. Come, let us go to prayer and then to
+bed!"</p>
+
+<p>At about the same hour, three softas awoke the Chief Mufti and
+Ispirizade, and laid before them a letter written on parchment which
+they had discovered lying in the middle of a mosque. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> letter was
+apparently written with gunpowder and almost illegible.</p>
+
+<p>It turned out to be an exhortation to all true Mussulmans to draw the
+sword in defence of Muhammad, but they were bidden beware lest, when
+they went against the foe, they left behind them, at home, the greatest
+foes of all, who were none other than the Sultan's own Ministers.</p>
+
+<p>"This letter deserves to be thrown into the fire," said Ispirizade, and
+into the fire he threw it, there and then, and thereupon lay down to
+sleep with a good conscience.</p>
+
+<p>The following day was Thursday, the 28th September. On that very day,
+twelve months before, the Sultan's eleven-year-old son had died. The day
+was therefore kept as a solemn day of mourning, and a general cessation
+of martial exercises throughout the host was proclaimed by a flourish of
+trumpets.</p>
+
+<p>To many of the commanders this day of rest was a season of strict
+observance. The Aga of the Janissaries withdrew to his kiosk; the
+Kapudan Pasha had himself rowed through the canal to his country house
+at Chengelk&ouml;i, having just received from a Dutch merchant a very
+handsome assortment of tulip-bulbs, which he wanted to plant out with
+his own hands; the Reis-Effendi hastened to his summer residence, beside
+the Sweet Waters, to take leave of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> his odalisks for the twentieth time
+at least; and the Kiaja returned to Stambul. Each of them strictly
+observed the day&mdash;in his own peculiar manner.</p>
+
+<p>But Fate had prepared for the people at large a very different sort of
+observance.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning, at sunrise, seventeen Janissaries were standing in
+front of the mosque of Bajazid with Halil Patrona at their head.</p>
+
+<p>In the hand of each one of them was a naked sword, and in their midst
+stood Musli holding aloft the half-moon banner.</p>
+
+<p>The people made way before them, and allowed Patrona to ascend the steps
+of the mosque, and when the blast of the alarm-horns had subsided, the
+clear penetrating voice of the ex-pedlar was distinctly audible from end
+to end of the great kalan square in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mussulmans!" he cried, "you have duties, yes, duties laid upon you by
+our sacred law. We are being ruined by traitors. Fugitives from the host
+have brought us the tidings that the army of K&uuml;prilizade has been
+scattered to the winds; four thousand horses and six hundred camels,
+laden with provisions, have been captured by the Persians; the general
+himself has fled to Erivan, and the provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan
+are once more in the possession of the enemy. And all this is going on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+while the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti have been arranging Lantern
+Feasts, Processions of Palms and Illuminations in the streets of Stambul
+instead of making ready the host to go to the assistance of the valiant
+K&uuml;prilizade! Our brethren are sent to the shambles, we hear their cries,
+we see their banners falter and fall into the enemy's hands, and we are
+not suffered to fly to their assistance, though we stand here with drawn
+swords in our hands. There is treachery&mdash;treachery against Allah and His
+Prophet! Therefore, let every true believer forsake immediately his
+handiwork, cast his awl, his hammer, and his plane aside, and seize his
+sword instead; let him close his booth and rally beneath our standard!"</p>
+
+<p>The mob greeted these words with a savage yell, raised Patrona on its
+shoulders, and carried him away through the arcades of Bezesztan piazza.
+Everyone hastened away to close his booth, and the whole city seemed to
+be turned upside down. It was just as if a still standing lake had been
+stirred violently to its lowest depths, and all the slimy monsters and
+hideous refuse reposing at the bottom had come to the surface; for the
+streets were suddenly flooded by the unrecognised riff-raff which
+vegetates in every great town, though they are out of the ken of the
+regular and orderly inhabitants, and only appear in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> the light of day
+when a sudden concussion drives them to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>Yelling and howling, they accompanied Halil everywhere, only listening
+to him when his escort raised him aloft on their shoulders in order that
+he might address the mob.</p>
+
+<p>Just at this moment they stopped in front of the house of the Janissary
+Aga.</p>
+
+<p>"Hassan!" cried Halil curtly, disdaining to give him his official title,
+and thundering on the door with his fists, "Hassan, you imprisoned our
+comrades because they dared to murmur, and now you can hear roars
+instead of murmurs. Give them up, Hassan! Give them up, I say!"</p>
+
+<p>Hassan, however, was no great lover of such spectacles, so he hastily
+exchanged his garments for a suit of rags, and bolted through the gate
+of the back garden to the shores of the Bosphorus, where he huddled into
+an old tub of a boat which carried him across to the camp. Then only did
+he feel safe.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Janissaries battered in the door of his house and released
+their comrades. Then they put Halil on Hassan's horse and proceeded in
+great triumph to the Etmeidan. The next instant the whole square was
+alive with armed men, and they hauled the Kulkiaja caldron out of the
+barracks and set it up in the midst of the mob. This was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> usual
+signal for the outburst of the war of fiercely contending passions too
+long enchained.</p>
+
+<p>"And now open the prisons!" thundered Halil, "and set free all the
+captives! Put daggers in the hands of the murderers and flaming torches
+in the hands of the incendiaries, and let us go forth burning and
+slaying, for to-day is a day of death and lamentation."</p>
+
+<p>And the mob rushed upon the prisons, tore down the railings, broke
+through bolts and bars, and whole hordes of murderers and malefactors
+rushed forth into the piazza and all the adjoining streets, and the last
+of all to quit the dungeon was Janaki, Halil's father-in-law. There he
+remained standing in the doorway as if he were afraid or ashamed, till
+Musli rushed towards him and tore him away by force.</p>
+
+<p>"Be not cast down, muzafir, but snatch up a sword and stand alongside of
+me. No harm can come to you here. It is the turn of the Gaolers now."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Halil had made his way to that particular dungeon where
+the loose women whom the Sultan had been graciously pleased to collect
+from all the quarters of the town to herd in one place were listening in
+trembling apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>The doors were flung wide open, and the mob roared to the prisoners that
+all to whom liberty was dear might show a clean pair of heels,
+whereupon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> a mob of women, like a swarm of shrieking ghosts, fluttered
+through the doors and made off in every direction. Those women who
+stroll about the streets with uncovered faces, who paint their eyebrows
+and lips for the diversion of strangers, who are shut out from the world
+like mad dogs, that they may not contaminate the people&mdash;all these women
+were now let loose! Some of them had grown old since the prison-gates
+had been closed upon them, but the flame of evil passion still flickered
+in their sunken eyes. Alas! what pestilence has been let loose upon the
+Mussulman population. And thou, Halil! wilt thou be able to ride the
+storm to which thou has given wings?</p>
+
+<p>There he stands in the gateway! He is waiting till, in the wake of these
+unspeakably vile women, his pure-souled idol, the beautiful, the
+innocent G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze shall appear. How long she delays! All the rest have
+come forth; all the rest have scattered to their various haunts, only
+one or two belated shapes are now emerging from the dungeon and
+hastening, after the others&mdash;creatures whom the voice of the tumult had
+surprised <i>en d&eacute;shabill&eacute;</i>, and who now with only half-clothed bodies and
+hair streaming down their backs rush screaming away. Only G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze
+still delays.</p>
+
+<p>Full of anxiety Halil descends at last into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> loathsome hole but
+dimly lit by a few round windows in the roof.</p>
+
+<p>"G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze! G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze!" he moans with a stifling voice, looking all
+around the dungeon, and, at the sound of his whispered words, he sees a
+white mass, huddled in a corner of the far wall, feebly begin to move.
+He rushes to the spot. Surely it is some beggar-woman who hides her face
+from him? Gently he removes her hands from her face and in the woman
+recognises his wife. The poor creature would rather not be set free for
+very shame sake. She would rather remain here in the dungeon.</p>
+
+<p>Speechless with agony, he raised her in his arms. The woman said not a
+word, gave him not a look, she only hid her face in her husband's bosom
+and sobbed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Weep not! weep not!" moaned Halil, "those who have dishonoured thee
+shall, this very day, lie in the dust before thee, by Allah. I swear it.
+Thou shalt play with the heads of those who have played with thy heart,
+and that selfsame puffed-up Sultana who has stretched out her hand
+against thee shall be glad to kiss thy hand. I, Halil Patrona, have said
+it, and let me be accursed above all other Mussulmans if ever I have
+lied."</p>
+
+<p>Then snatching up his wife in his arms he rushed out among the crowd,
+and exhibiting that pale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> and forlorn figure in the sight of all men, he
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold, ye Mussulmans! this is my wife whom they ravished from me on my
+bridal night, and whom I must needs discover in the midst of this sink
+of vileness and iniquity! Speak those of you who are husbands, would you
+be merciful to him who dishonoured your wife after this sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Death be upon his head!" roared the furious multitude, and rolling
+onwards like a flood that has burst its dams it stopped a moment later
+before a stately palace.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is this palace?" inquired Halil of the mob.</p>
+
+<p>"Damad Ibrahim's," cried sundry voices from among the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is that palace, I say?" inquired Halil once more, angrily shaking
+his head.</p>
+
+<p>Then many of them understood the force of the question and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Thine, O Halil Patrona!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thine, thine, Halil!" thundered the obsequious crowd, and with that
+they rushed upon the palace, burst open the doors, and Patrona, with his
+wife still clasped in his arms, forced his way in, and seeking out the
+harem of the Grand Vizier, commanded the odalisks of Ibrahim to bow
+their faces in the dust<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> before their new mistress, and fulfil all her
+demands. And before the door he placed a guard of honour.</p>
+
+<p>Outside there was the din of battle, the roll of drums, and the blast of
+trumpets; and the whole of this tempest was fanned by the faint
+breathing of a sick and broken woman.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h4>TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS.</h4>
+
+
+<p>It is not every day that one can see budding tulips in the middle of
+September, yet the Kapudan Pasha had succeeded in hitting upon a dodge
+which the most famous gardeners in the world had for ages been racking
+their brains to discover, and all in vain.</p>
+
+<p>The problem was&mdash;how to introduce an artificial spring into the very
+waist and middle of autumn, and then to get the tulip-bulbs to take
+September for May, and set about flowering there and then.</p>
+
+<p>First of all he set about preparing a special forcing-bed of his own
+invention, in which he carefully mingled together the most nourishing
+soil formed among the Mountains of Lebanon from millennial deposits of
+cedar-tree spines, antelope manure, so heating and stimulating to
+vegetation, that wherever it falls on the desert, tiny oases, full of
+flowers and verdure, immediately spring up amidst the burning, drifting
+sand-hills, and burnt and pulverized black marble which is only to be
+found in the Dead Moun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>tains. A judicious intermingling of this mixture
+produces a soft, porous, and exceedingly damp soil, and in this soil the
+Kapudan Pasha very carefully planted out his tulips with his own hands.
+He selected the bulbs resulting from last spring's blooms, making a hole
+for each of them, one by one, with his index-finger, and banking them up
+gingerly with earth as soft as fresh bread crumbs.</p>
+
+<p>Then he had snow fetched from the summits of the Caucasus, where it
+remains even all through the summer&mdash;whole ship loads of snow by way of
+the Black Sea&mdash;and kept the tulip-bulbs well covered with it, adding
+continually layers of fresh snow as the first layers melted, so that the
+hoodwinked tulips really believed it was now winter; and when towards
+the end of August the snow was allowed to melt altogether, they fancied
+spring had come, and poked their gold-green shoots out of their
+well-warmed, well-moistened bed.</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of the Prophet's birthday about fifty plants had begun to
+bloom, all of which had been named after battles in which the Mussulmans
+had triumphed, or after fortresses which their arms had captured. Then,
+however, the Kapudan Pasha was obliged to go to sea and command the
+fleet, in other words, he was constrained to leave his beloved tulips at
+the most interesting period of their existence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the very evening when the Sultan arrived at Scutari, one of the
+Kapudan Pasha's gardeners came to him with the joyful intelligence that
+Belgrade, Naples, Morea, and Kermanjasahan would blossom on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha was wild with impatience. There they all were, just on
+the point of blooming, and he would be unable to see it. How he would
+have liked a contrary wind to have kept back the fleet for a day or two.</p>
+
+<p>But what the wind would not do for him, the Sultan's birthday gave him
+the opportunity of doing for himself. The day of rest appointed for the
+morrow permitted the Kapudan Pasha to get himself rowed across to his
+summer palace at Chengelk&ouml;i, where his marvellous tulips were about to
+bloom at the beginning of autumn.</p>
+
+<p>What a spectacle awaited him! All four of them, yes, all four, were in
+full bloom!</p>
+
+<p>Belgrade was pale yellow with bright green stripes, those of the stripes
+which were pale green on the lower were rose-coloured on the upper
+surface, and those of them which were bright green above died gradually
+away into a dark lilac colour below.</p>
+
+<p>Naples was a very full tulip, whose confusingly numerous angry-red
+leaves, with yellow edges, symbolized, perhaps, the fifteen hundred
+Venetians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> who had fallen at its name-place beneath the arms of the
+Ottomans.</p>
+
+<p>Morea was the richest in colour. The base of its cup was of a dark
+chocolate hue, with green and rose-coloured stripes all round it;
+moreover, the green stripes passed into red, and the rose ones into
+liver-colour, and a bright yellow streak of colour ran parallel with
+every single stripe. On the outside the green hues, inside the red
+rather predominated.</p>
+
+<p>But the rarest, the most magnificent of the four was Kermanjasahan. This
+was a treasure filched from the garden of the Dalai Lama. It was
+snow-white, without the slightest nuance of any other colour, and of
+such full bloom that the original six petals were obliged to bend
+downwards.</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha was enraptured by all this splendour.</p>
+
+<p>He had made up his mind to present all these tulips to the Sultan, for
+which he would no doubt receive a rich viceroyalty, perhaps even Egypt,
+who could tell. He therefore ordered that costly china vases should be
+brought to him in which he might transplant the flowers, and he dug with
+his hands deep down in the soil lest he should injure the bulbs.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he was kneeling down in the midst of the tulips, with his hands
+all covered with mould, a breathless bostanji came rushing towards him
+at full speed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> quite out of breath, and without waiting to get up to
+him, exclaimed while still a good distance off:</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, sir, rise up quickly, for all Stambul is in a commotion."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care!&mdash;don't tread upon my tulips, you blockhead; don't you see
+that you nearly trampled upon one of them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my master! tulips bloom every year, but if you trample a man to
+death, Mashallah! he will rise no more. Hasten, for the rioters are
+already turning the city upside down!"</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha very gently, very cautiously, placed the flower, which
+he had raised with both hands, in the porcelain vase, and pressed the
+earth down on every side of it so that it might keep steady when
+carried.</p>
+
+<p>"What dost thou say, my son?" he then condescended to ask.</p>
+
+<p>"The people of Stambul have risen in revolt."</p>
+
+<p>"The people of Stambul, eh? What sort of people? Do you mean the
+cobblers, the hucksters, the fishermen, and the bakers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, they have all risen in revolt."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I'll be there directly and tell them to be quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, you speak as if you could extinguish the burning city with
+this watering-can. The will of Allah be done!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the Kapudan Pasha, with a merry heart, kept on watering the
+transplanted tulips till he had done it thoroughly, and entrusted them
+to four bostanjis, bidding them carry the flowers through the canal to
+the Sultan's palace at Scutari, while he had his horse saddled and
+without the slightest escort trotted quite alone into Stambul, where at
+that very moment they were crying loudly for his head.</p>
+
+<p>On the way thither, he came face to face with the Kiaja coming in a
+wretched, two-wheeled kibitka, with a Russian coachman sitting in front
+of him to hide him as much as possible from the public view. He bellowed
+to the Kapudan Pasha not to go to Stambul as death awaited him there. At
+this the Kapudan Pasha simply shrugged his shoulders. What an idea! To
+be frightened of an army of bakers and cobblers indeed! It was sheer
+nonsense, so he tried to persuade the Kiaja to turn back again with him
+and restore order by showing themselves to the rioters, whereupon the
+latter vehemently declared that not for all the joys of Paradise would
+he do so, and begged his Russian coachman to hasten on towards Scutari
+as rapidly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha promised that he would not be very long behind him;
+nay, inasmuch as the Kiaja was making a very considerable detour, while
+he himself was taking the direct road straight through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Stambul, he
+insinuated that it was highly probable he might reach Scutari before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall meet again shortly," he cried by way of a parting salute.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in Abraham's bosom, I expect," murmured the Kiaja to himself as he
+raced away again, while the Kapudan Pasha ambled jauntily into the city.</p>
+
+<p>Already from afar he beheld the palace of the Reis-Effendi, on whose
+walls were inscribed in gigantic letters the following announcements:</p>
+
+<p>"Death to the Chief Mufti!</p>
+
+<p>"Death to the Grand Vizier!</p>
+
+<p>"Death to the Kapudan Pasha!</p>
+
+<p>"Death to the Kiaja Beg!"</p>
+
+<p>"H'm!" said the Kapudan Pasha to himself. "No doubt that was written by
+some softa or other, for cobblers and tailors cannot write of course.
+Not a bad hand by any means. I should like to make the fellow my
+teskeredji."</p>
+
+<p>As he trotted nearer to the palace, he perceived a great multitude
+surging around it, and amongst them a mounted trumpeter with one of
+those large Turkish field-horns which are audible a mile off, and are
+generally used at Stambul during every popular rising, their very note
+has a provocative tone.</p>
+
+<p>The trumpeting herald was thus addressing the mob assembled around him:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Inhabitants of Stambul, true-believing Mussulmans, our commander is
+Halil Patrona, the chief of the Janissaries, and in the name of the
+Stambul Cadi, Hassan Sulali, I proclaim: Let every true believing
+Mussulman shut up his shop, lay aside his handiwork, and assemble in the
+piazza; those of you, however, who are bakers of bread or sellers of
+flesh, keep your shops open, for whosoever resists this decree his shop
+will be treated as common booty. As for the unbelieving giaours at
+present residing at Stambul, let them remain in peace at home, for those
+who do not stir abroad will have no harm done to them. And this I
+announce to you in the names of Halil Patrona and Hassan Sulali."</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha listened to the very last word of this proclamation,
+then he spurred his horse upon the crier, and snatching the horn from
+his hand hit him a blow with it on the back, which resounded far and
+wide, and then with a voice of thunder addressed the suddenly pacified
+crowd:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye worthless vagabonds, ye filthy sneak-thieves, mud-larking
+crab-catchers, pitchy-fingered slipper-botchers, huddling opium-eaters,
+swindling knacker-sellers, petty hucksters, ye ragged, filthy,
+whey-faced tipplers!&mdash;I, Abdi, the Kapudan Pasha, say it to you, and I
+only regret that I have not the tongue of a Giaour of the Hungarian race
+that I might be able<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> to heap upon you all the curses and reproaches
+that your conduct deserves, ye dogs! What do you want then? Have you not
+enough to eat? Do you want war because you are tired of peace? War,
+indeed, though you would take good care to keep out of it. To remain at
+home here and wage war against women and girls is much more to your
+liking; booths not fortresses are what you like to storm. Be off to your
+homes from whence you have come, I say, for whomsoever I find in the
+streets an hour hence his head shall dangle in front of the Pavilion of
+Justice. Mark my words!"</p>
+
+<p>With these words Abdi gave his horse the spur and galloped through the
+thickest part of the mob, which dispersed in terror before him, and with
+proud self-satisfaction the Kapudan Pasha saw how the people hid away
+from him in their houses and vanished, as if by magic, from the streets
+and house-tops.</p>
+
+<p>He galloped into the town without opposition. At every street corner he
+blew a long blast in the captured horn, and addressed some well-chosen
+remarks to the people assembled there, which scattered them in every
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>At last he reached the Bezesztan, where every shop was closed.</p>
+
+<p>"Open your shops, ye dogs!" thundered Abdi to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> the assembled merchants
+and tradesmen. "I suppose your heels are itching?&mdash;or perhaps you are
+tired of having ears and noses? Open all your shop-doors this instant, I
+say! for whoever keeps them closed after this command shall be hanged up
+in front of his own shop-door!"</p>
+
+<p>The shopkeepers, full of terror, began to take down their shutters
+forthwith.</p>
+
+<p>From thence he galloped off towards the Etmeidan.</p>
+
+<p>The great fishmarket, which he passed on his way, was filled with people
+from end to end. Not a word could be heard for the fearful din, which
+completely drowned the voices of a few stump-orators who here and there
+had climbed up the pillars near the drinking-fountains to address the
+mob.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless the resonant, penetrating voice of the horn blown by the
+Kapudan Pasha dominated the tumult, and turned every face in his
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>Rising in his stirrups, Abdi addressed them with a terrible voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye fools, whose mad hands rise against your own heads! Do ye want to
+make the earth quake beneath you that so many of you stand in a heap in
+one place? What fool among you is it would drag the whole lot of you
+down to perdition? Would that the heavens might fall upon you!&mdash;would
+that these houses might bury you!&mdash;would that ye might turn into
+four-footed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> beasts who can do nothing but bark! Lower your heads, ye
+wretched creatures, and go and hide yourselves behind your mud-walls!
+And let not a single cry be heard in your streets, for if you dare to
+come out of your holes, I swear by the shadow of Allah that I'll make a
+rubbish-heap of Stambul with my guns, and none shall live in it
+henceforth but serpents and bats and your accursed souls, ye dogs!"</p>
+
+<p>And nobody durst say him nay. They listened to his revilings in silence,
+gave way before him, and made a way for his prancing steed. Halil was
+not there, had he but been there the Kapudan Pasha would not have waited
+twice for an answer.</p>
+
+<p>So here also Abdi succeeded in trotting through the ranks of the
+rioters, and so at last directed his way towards the Etmeidan.</p>
+
+<p>By this time not only the caldron of the first but the caldron of the
+fifth Janissary regiment had been erected in the midst of the camp. They
+had been taken by force from the army blacksmiths, and a group of
+Janissaries stood round each of them.</p>
+
+<p>Abdi Pasha appeared among them so unexpectedly that they were only aware
+of his presence when he suddenly bawled at them:</p>
+
+<p>"Put down your weapons!"</p>
+
+<p>They all regarded the Kapudan Pasha with fear and wonder. How had he got
+here? Not one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> them dared to draw a sword against him, yet not one of
+them submitted, and everyone of them felt that Patrona was badly wanted
+here.</p>
+
+<p>The banner of the insurgents was waving in the midst of the piazza. Abdi
+Pasha rode straight towards it. The Janissaries remained rooted to the
+spot, staring after him with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Musli leaped forth from amongst them, and anticipating the
+Kapudan, seized the flag himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me that banner, my son!" said Abdi with all the phlegm of a true
+seaman.</p>
+
+<p>Musli had not yet sufficiently recovered to be able to answer
+articulately, but he shook his head by way of intimating that surrender
+it he would not.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me that banner, Janissary!" cried Abdi once more, sternly
+regarding Musli straight between the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of answering Musli simply proceeded to wind the banner round its
+pole.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me that banner!" bellowed Abdi for the third time, with a voice of
+thunder, at the same time drawing his sword.</p>
+
+<p>But now Musli twisted the pole round so that the mud-stained end which
+had been sticking in the earth rose high in the air, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I honour you, Abdi Pasha, and I will not hurt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> you if you go away. I
+would rather see you fall in battle fighting against the Giaours, for
+you deserve to have a glorious name; but don't ask me for this banner
+any more, for if you come a step nearer I will run you through the body
+with the dirty end."</p>
+
+<p>And at these words all the other Janissaries leaped to their feet and,
+drawing their swords, formed a glittering circle round the valiant
+Musli.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for you, my brave Janissaries," observed the Kapudan Pasha
+sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"And we are sorry for you, famous Kapudan Pasha!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Abdi quitted the Etmeidan. He perceived how the crowd parted before
+him everywhere as he advanced; but it also did not escape him that
+behind his back they immediately closed up again when he had passed.</p>
+
+<p>"These people can only be brought to their senses by force of arms," he
+said to himself as away he rode through the city, and nobody laid so
+much as a finger upon him.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Meanwhile, in the camp outside, a great council of war was being held.
+On the news of the insurrection which had been painted in the most
+alarming colours by the fugitive Kiaja and the Janissary Aga, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+Sultan had called together the generals, the Ulemas, the Grand Vizier,
+the Chief Mufti, the Sheiks, and the Kodzhagians in the palace by the
+sea-shore.</p>
+
+<p>An hour before in the same palace he had held a long deliberation with
+his aunt, the wise Sultana Khadija.</p>
+
+<p>Good counsel was now precious indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier opined that the army, leaving the Sultan behind at
+Brusa, should set off at once towards Tebrif to meet the foe. If it were
+found possible to unite with Abdullah Pasha all was won. Stambul was to
+be left to itself, and the rebels allowed to do as they liked there.
+Once let the external enemy be well beaten and then their turn would
+come too.</p>
+
+<p>The Chief Mufti did not believe it to be possible to lead the host to
+battle just then; but he wished it to be withdrawn from Stambul, lest it
+should be affected by the spirit of rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>The Kiaja advised negociating with the rebels and pacifying them that
+way.</p>
+
+<p>At this last proposal the Sultan nodded his head approvingly. The
+Sultana Khadija was also of the same opinion.</p>
+
+<p>As to the mode of carrying out these negociations there was some slight
+difference of detail between the plan of the Kiaja and the plan of the
+Sultana. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the opinion of the former, while the negociations were
+still proceeding, the ringleaders of the rebellion were to be quietly
+disposed of one after the other, whereas the Sultana insinuated that the
+Sultan should appease the rebels by handing over to them the detested
+Kiaja and any of the other great officers of state whose heads the mob
+might take a fancy to. And that, of course, was a very different thing.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan thought the counsel of the Kiaja the best.</p>
+
+<p>At that very moment, the Kapudan Pasha, Abdi, entered the
+council-chamber.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody regarded him with astonishment. According to the account of
+the Kiaja he had already been cut into a thousand pieces.</p>
+
+<p>He came in with just as much <i>sangfroid</i> as he displayed when he had
+ridden through the rebellious city. He inquired of the doorkeepers as he
+passed through whether his messengers had arrived yet with the tulips.
+"No," was the reply. "Then where have they got to, I wonder," he
+muttered; "since I quitted them I have been from one end of Stambul to
+the other?"</p>
+
+<p>Then he saluted the Sultan, and in obedience to a gesture from the
+Padishah, took his place among the viziers, and they regarded him with
+as much amazement as if it was his ghost that had come among them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You have been in Stambul, I understand?" inquired the Grand Vizier at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>"I have just come from thence within the last hour."</p>
+
+<p>"What do the people want?" asked the Padishah.</p>
+
+<p>"They want to eat and drink."</p>
+
+<p>"It is blood they would drink then," murmured the Chief Mufti in his
+beard.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do they complain about?"</p>
+
+<p>"They complain that the sword does not wage war of its own accord, and
+that the earth does not produce bread without being tilled, and that
+wine and coffee do not trickle from the gutters of the houses."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak very lightly of the matter, Abdi. How do you propose to
+pacify this uproar?"</p>
+
+<p>"The thing is quite simple. The cobblers and petty hucksters of Stambul
+are not worth a volley, and, besides, I would not hurt the poor things
+if possible. Many of them have wives and children. Those who have
+stirred them up are in the camp of the Janissaries&mdash;there you will find
+their leaders. It would be a pity, perhaps, to destroy all who have
+excited the people in Stambul to revolt, but they ought to be led forth
+regiment by regiment and every tenth man of them shot through the head.
+That will help to smooth matters."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>All the viziers were horrified. "Who would dare to do such a thing?"
+they asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I would do," said Abdi bluntly. After that he held his
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>It was the Sultan who broke the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Before you arrived," said he, "we had resolved, by the advice of the
+Kiaja Beg, to go back to the town with the banner of the Prophet and the
+princes.</p>
+
+<p>"That also is not bad counsel," said Abdi; "thy glorious presence will
+and must quell the uproar. Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of
+the Gate of the Seraglio, let the Chief Mufti and Ispirizade open the
+Aja Sophia and the Mosque of Achmed, and let the imams call the people
+to prayer. Let Damad Ibrahim remain outside with the host, that in case
+of need he may hasten to suppress the insurgents. Let the Kiaja Beg
+collect together the jebedjis, ciauses, and bostanjis, who guard the
+Seraglio, and let them clear the streets. And if all this be of no avail
+my guns from the sea will soon teach them obedience."</p>
+
+<p>Sultan Achmed shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"We have resolved otherwise," said he; "none of you must quit my side.
+The Grand Vizier, the Chief Mufti, the Kapudan Pasha, and the Kiaja must
+come along with me."</p>
+
+<p>And while he told their names, one after the other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> the Padishah did
+not so much as look at one of them.</p>
+
+<p>The names of these four men were all written up on the corners of the
+street. The heads of these four men had been demanded by the people and
+by Halil Patrona.</p>
+
+<p>What then was their offence in the eyes of the people? They were the men
+highest in power when misfortune overtook the realm. But how then had
+they offended Halil Patrona? 'Twas they who had brought suffering upon
+G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze.</p>
+
+<p>The viziers bowed their heads.</p>
+
+<p>At that same instant Abdi's messengers arrived with the tulips. They
+were brought to the Padishah, who was enchanted by their beauty, and
+ordered that they should be conveyed to Stambul, to the Sultana Asseki,
+with the message that he himself would not be long after them. Moreover,
+he patted Abdi on the shoulder, and protested with tears in his eyes
+that there was none in the world whom he loved better.</p>
+
+<p>The Kapudan Pasha kissed the hem of the Sultan's robe, and then remained
+behind with Ibrahim, Abdullah, and the Kiaja.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdullah, and you, my brave Ibrahim, and you, Kiaja," said he,
+addressing them with a friendly smile, "in an hour's time our four heads
+will not be worth an earless pitcher," whereupon Damad Ibrahim sadly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+bent his head, and whispered with a voice resembling a sob:</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, poor Sultan!"</p>
+
+<p>Then they all four accompanied Achmed to his ship. They were all fully
+convinced that Achmed would first sacrifice them all and then fall
+himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Halil Patrona was already the master of Stambul.</p>
+
+<p>The rebel leaders had assembled together in the central mosque, and from
+thence distributed their commands.</p>
+
+<p>At the sixth hour (according to Christian calculation ten o'clock in the
+evening) the ship arrived bearing the Sultan, the princes, the magnates,
+and the sacred banner, and cast anchor beside the coast kiosk at the
+Gate of Cannons.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the Seraglio none knew anything of the position of affairs. All
+through the city a great commotion prevailed with the blowing of horns,
+in the cemetery bivouac fires had been everywhere lighted.</p>
+
+<p>"Why cannot I send a couple of grenades among them from the sea?" sighed
+the Kapudan Pasha, "that would quiet them immediately, I warrant."</p>
+
+<p>As the Kizlar-Aga, Elhaj Beshir, came face to face with the newly
+arrived ministers in the ante-chamber where the Mantle of the Prophet
+was jealously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> guarded, he rubbed his hands together with an enigmatical
+smile which ill became his coarse, brutal countenance and cloven lips,
+and when the Padishah asked him what the rebels wanted, he replied that
+he really did not know.</p>
+
+<p>That smile of his, that rubbing of the hands, which had been robbed of
+their thumbs by the savage cruelty of a former master for some piece of
+villainy or other&mdash;these things were premonitions of evil to all the
+officials present.</p>
+
+<p>Elhaj Beshir Aga had now held his office for fourteen years, during
+which time he had elevated and deposed eight Grand Viziers.</p>
+
+<p>And now, how were the demands of the rebels to be discovered?</p>
+
+<p>Damad Ibrahim suggested that the best thing to do was to summon Sulali
+Hassan, a former cadi of Stambul, whose name he had heard mentioned by
+the town-crier along with that of Halil Patrona.</p>
+
+<p>They found Sulali in his summer house, and at the first summons he
+appeared in the Seraglio. He declared that the rebels had been playing
+fast and loose with his name, and that he knew nothing whatever of their
+wishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Then take with you the Chaszeki Aga and twenty bostanjis, and go in
+search of Halil Patrona, and find out what he wants!" commanded the
+Padishah.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity to give worthy men unnecessary trouble, most glorious
+Sultan," said Abdi Pasha bitterly. "I am able to tell you what the
+rebels want, for I have seen it all written up on the walls. They demand
+the delivery of four of the great officers of state&mdash;myself, the Chief
+Mufti, the Grand Vizier, and the Kiaja. Surrender us then, O Sultan! yet
+surrender us not alive! but slay us first and then their mouths will be
+stopped. Let them glut their appetites on us. You know that no wild
+beast is savage when once it has been well fed."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan pretended not to hear these words. He did not even look up
+when the Kapudan spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Seek out Halil Patrona!" he said to the Chaszeki Aga, "and greet him in
+the name of the Padishah!"</p>
+
+<p>What! Greet Halil Patrona in the name of the Padishah! Greet that petty
+huckster in the name of the master of many empires, in the name of the
+Prince of Princes, Shahs, Khans, and Deys, the dominator of Great
+Moguls! Who would have believed in the possibility of such a thing three
+days ago?</p>
+
+<p>"Greet Halil Patrona in my name," said the Sultan, "and tell him that I
+will satisfy all his just demands, if he promises to dismiss his forces
+immediately afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>The Chaszeki Aga and Sulali Hassan, with the twenty bostanjis, forced
+their way through the thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> crowd which thronged the streets till they
+reached the central mosque. Only nine of the twenty bostanjis were
+beaten to death by the mob on the way, the eleven others were fortunate
+enough to reach the mosque at least alive.</p>
+
+<p>There, on a camel-skin spread upon the ground, sat Halil, the rebel
+leader, like a second Dzhengis Khan, dictating his orders and
+nominations to the softas sitting before him, whom he had appointed his
+teskeredjis.</p>
+
+<p>When the Janissaries on guard informed him that the Sultan's Chaszeki
+Aga had arrived and wanted to speak to him, he drily replied:</p>
+
+<p>"He can wait. I must attend to worthier men than he first of all."</p>
+
+<p>And who, then, were these worthier men?</p>
+
+<p>Well, first of all there was the old master-cobbler, Suleiman, whom they
+had dragged by force from his house where he had been hiding under the
+floor. Halil now ordered a document to be drawn up, whereby he elevated
+him to the rank of Reis-Effendi.</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona, by the way, was still wearing his old Janissary uniform,
+the blue dolman with the salavari reaching to the knee, leaving the
+calves bare. The only difference was that he now wore a white heron's
+feather in his hat instead of a black one, and by his side hung the
+sword of the Grand Vizier, whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> palace in the Galata suburb he had
+levelled to the ground only an hour before.</p>
+
+<p>It was with the signet in the hilt of this sword that Halil was now
+sealing all the public documents issued by him.</p>
+
+<p>After Suleiman came Muhammad the saddle-maker. He was a sturdy, muscular
+fellow, who could have held his own against any two or three ordinary
+men. Him Halil appointed Aga.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a ciaus called Orli, whom he made chief magistrate. Ibrahim, a
+whilom schoolmaster, who went by the name of "the Fool," he made chief
+Cadi of Stambul, and then catching sight of Sulali, he beckoned him
+forth from among the ciauses and said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt be the Governor-General of Anatolia."</p>
+
+<p>Sulali bowed to the ground by way of acknowledgment of such
+graciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank thee, Halil! Make of me what thou wilt, but listen, first of
+all, to the message of the Padishah which he has entrusted to me, for I
+am in very great doubt whether it be thou or Sultan Achmed who is now
+Lord of all the Moslems. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost require of
+the Sultan, and if thy demands be lawful and of good report they shall
+be granted, provided that thou dost promise to disperse thy following."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then Halil Patrona stood up before the Sulali, and with a severe and
+motionless countenance answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Our demands are few and soon told. We demand the delivery to us of the
+four arch-traitors who have brought disaster upon the realm. They are
+the Kul Kiaja, the Kapudan Pasha, the Chief Mufti, and the Grand
+Vizier."</p>
+
+<p>Sulali fell to shaking his head.</p>
+
+<p>"You ask much, Halil!"</p>
+
+<p>"I ask much, you say. To-morrow I shall ask still more. If you agree to
+my terms, to-morrow there shall be peace. But if you come again to me
+to-morrow, then there will be peace neither to-morrow nor any other
+morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Sulali returned to the Sultan and his ministers who were still all
+assembled together.</p>
+
+<p>Full of suspense they awaited the message of Halil.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali dared not say it all at once. Only gradually did he let the cat
+out of the bag.</p>
+
+<p>"I have found out the demands of the insurgents," said he. "They demand
+that the Kiaja Beg be handed over to them."</p>
+
+<p>The Kiaja suddenly grew paler than a wax figure.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a faithful old servant as he has been to me too," sighed Achmed.
+"Well, well, hand him over, and now I hope they will be satisfied."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With tottering footsteps the Kiaja stepped among the bostanjis.</p>
+
+<p>"They demand yet more," said Sulali.</p>
+
+<p>"What! more?"</p>
+
+<p>"They demand the Kapudan Pasha."</p>
+
+<p>"Him also. My most valiant seaman!" exclaimed Achmed sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Mashallah!" cried the Kapudan cheerfully, "I am theirs," and with a
+look of determined courage he stepped forth and also joined the
+bostanjis. "Weep not on my account, oh Padishah! A brave man is always
+ready to die a heroic death in the place of danger, and shall I not,
+moreover, be dying in your defence? Hale us away, bostanjis; do not
+tremble, my sons. Which of you best understands to twist the string?
+Come, come, fear nothing, I will show you myself how to arrange the
+silken cord properly. Long live the Sultan!"</p>
+
+<p>And with that he quitted the room, rather leading the bostanjis than
+being led by them, he did not even lay aside his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, too, they demanded the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti," said
+Sulali.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan, full of horror, rose from his place.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, it cannot be. You must have heard their words amiss. He from
+whom you required an answer must needs have been mad, he spoke in his
+wrath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> What! I am to slay the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti? Slay
+them, too, for faults which I myself have committed&mdash;faults against
+which they wished to warn me? Why, their blood would cry to Heaven
+against me. Go back, Sulali, and say to Halil that I beg, I implore him
+not to insist that these two grey heads shall roll in the dust. Let it
+suffice him if they are deprived of their offices and banished from the
+realm, for indeed they are guiltless. Entreat him, also, for the Kiaja
+and the Kapudan; they shall not be surrendered until you return."</p>
+
+<p>Again Sulali sought out Halil. He durst not say a word concerning the
+Kiaja and the Kapudan. He knew that it was the Kapudan who had seized
+upon Halil's wife when she was attempting to escape by sea, and that it
+was the Kiaja who had had her shut up in the dungeon set apart for
+shameless women. He confined himself therefore to pleading for the Grand
+Vizier and the Chief Mufti.</p>
+
+<p>Halil reflected. The incidents which had happened in the palace by the
+Sweet Waters all passed through his mind. He bethought him how Damad
+Ibrahim had forced his embraces upon G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, and compelled her to
+resort to the stratagem of the death-swoon, and he gave no heed to what
+Sulali said about sparing Ibrahim's grey beard.</p>
+
+<p>"The Grand Vizier must die," he answered. "As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> for Abdullah, he may
+remain alive, but he must be banished." After all, Abdullah had done no
+harm to G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali returned to the Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>"Halil permits the Chief Mufti to live, but he demands death for the
+three others," said he.</p>
+
+<p>At these words Achmed sprang from the divan like a lion brought to bay
+and drew his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"Come hither, then, valiant rebels, as ye are!" cried he. "If you want
+the heads of my servants, come for them, and take them from me. No, not
+a drop of their blood will I give you, and if you dare to come for them
+ye shall see that the sword of Mohammed has still an edge upon it.
+Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of the gate of the Seraglio.
+Let all true believers cleave to me. Send criers into all the streets to
+announce that the Seraglio is in danger, and let all to whom the
+countenance of Allah is dear hasten to the defence of the Banner! I will
+collect the bostanjis and defend the gates of the Seraglio."</p>
+
+<p>The two grey beards kissed the Sultan's hand. If this manly burst of
+emotion had only come a little earlier, the page of history would have
+borne a very different record of Sultan Achmed.</p>
+
+<p>The Banner of Danger was immediately hung out in the central gate of the
+Seraglio, and there it remained till early the next evening.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At dawn the criers returned and reported that they had not been able to
+get beyond the mosque of St. Sophia, and that the people had responded
+to their crying with showers of stones.</p>
+
+<p>The Green Banner waved all by itself in front of the Seraglio. Nobody
+assembled beneath it, even the wind disdained to flutter it, languidly
+it drooped upon its staff.</p>
+
+<p>The unfurling of the Green Banner on the gate of the Seraglio is a rare
+event in history. As a rule it only happens in the time of greatest
+danger, for it signifies that the time has come for every true Mussulman
+to quit hearth and home, his shop and his plough, snatch up his weapons,
+and hasten to the assistance of Allah and his Anointed, and accursed
+would be reckoned every male Osmanli who should hesitate at such a time
+to lay down his life and his estate at the feet of the Padishah.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing this to be so, imagine then the extremity of terror into which
+the dwellers in the Seraglio were plunged when they saw that not a
+single soul rallied beneath the exposed banner. The criers promised a
+gratuity of thirty piastres to every soldier who hastened to range
+himself beneath the banner, and two piastres a day over and above the
+usual pay. And some five or six fellows followed them, but as many as
+came in on one side went away again on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> other, and in the afternoon
+not a single soul remained beneath the banner.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening the banner was hoisted on to the second gate beneath
+which were the dormitories of the high officers of state. The generals
+meanwhile slept in the Hall of Audience, Damadzadi lay sick in the
+apartment of Prince Murad, and the Mufti and the Ulemas remained in the
+barracks of the bostanjis. Sultan Achmed did not lie down all night
+long, but wandered about from room to room, impatiently inquiring after
+news outside. He asked whether anyone had come from the host to his
+assistance? whether the people were assembling beneath the Sacred Green
+Banner? and the cold sweat stood out upon his forehead when, in reply to
+all his questions, he only received one crushing answer after another.
+The watchers placed on the roof of the palace signified that the bivouac
+fires of the insurgents were now much nearer than they had been the
+night before, and that in the direction of Scutari not a single
+watch-fire was visible, from which it might be suspected that the army
+had broken up its camp, returned to Stambul, and made common cause with
+the insurgents.</p>
+
+<p>Achmed himself ascended to the roof to persuade himself of the truth of
+these assertions, and wandered in a speechless agony of grief from
+apartment to apartment, constantly looking to see whether the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> Kiaja,
+the Kapudan, and the Grand Vizier were asleep or awake. Only the Kapudan
+Pasha was able to sleep at all. The Kiaja was all of an ague with
+apprehension, and the Grand Vizier was praying, not for himself indeed,
+but for the Sultan. At last even the Kapudan was sorry for the Sultan
+who was so much distressed on their account.</p>
+
+<p>"Why dost thou keep waking us so often, oh, my master?" said he, "we are
+still alive as thou seest. Go and sleep in thy harem and trouble not thy
+soul about us any more, it is only the rebels who have to do with us
+now. Allah Kerim! Look upon us as already sleeping the sleep of
+eternity. At the trump of the Angel of the Resurrection we also shall
+arise like the rest."</p>
+
+<p>And Achmed listened to the words of the Kapudan, and at dawn of day
+vanished from amongst them. When they sought him in the early morning he
+had not yet come forth from his harem.</p>
+
+<p>The four dignitaries knew very well what that signified.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning, when the dawn was still red, Sulali Effendi and
+Ispirizade came for the Chief Mufti, and invited him to say the morning
+prayer with them.</p>
+
+<p>The Ulemas were already all assembled together, and at the sight of them
+Abdullah burst into tears<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> and sobs, and said to them in the midst of
+his lamentations:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold, I have brought my grey beard hither, and if it pleases you not
+that it has grown white in all pure and upright dealing, take it now and
+wash it in my blood; and if ye think that the few days Allah hath given
+me to be too many, then take me and put an end to them."</p>
+
+<p>Then all the Ulemas stood up and, raising their hands, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Allah preserve thee from this evil thing!"</p>
+
+<p>Then they threw themselves down on their faces to pray, and when they
+had made an end of praying, they assembled in the kiosk of Erivan in the
+inner garden where the Grand Vizier already awaited them. Not long
+afterwards arrived the Kiaja and the Kapudan Pasha also, last of all
+came the sick Damadzadi and the Cadi of Medina, Mustafa Effendi, and
+Segban Pasha.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye see a dead man before you," said the Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, to
+the freshly arrived dignitaries. "I am lost. We are the four victims.
+The Chief Mufti perhaps may save his life, but we three others shall not
+see the dawn of another day. It cannot be otherwise. The Sultan must be
+saved, and saved he only can be at the price of our lives."</p>
+
+<p>"I said that long ago," observed the Kapudan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Pasha. "Our corpses ought
+to have been delivered up to the rebels yesterday, I fear it is already
+too late, I fear me that the Sultan is lost anyhow. The Banner of
+Affliction ought never to have been exposed at all, we should have been
+slain there and then."</p>
+
+<p>"You three withdraw into the Chamber of the Executioners," said the
+Grand Vizier to his colleagues, "but wait for me till the Kizlar-Aga
+arrives to demand from me the seals of office, till then I must perform
+my official duties."</p>
+
+<p>The three ministers then took leave of Damad Ibrahim, embraced each
+other, and were removed in the custody of the bostanjis.</p>
+
+<p>It was now the duty of the Grand Vizier to elect a new Chief Mufti from
+among the Ulemas. The Ulemas, first of all, chose Damadzadi, but he
+declining the dignity on the plea of illness, they chose in his stead
+the Cadi of Medina, and for want of a white mantle invested him with a
+green one.</p>
+
+<p>After that they elected from amongst themselves Seid Mohammed and
+Damadzadi, to receive the secret message of the Sultan from the
+Kizlar-Aga and deliver it to Halil Patrona.</p>
+
+<p>Damad Ibrahim was well aware of the nature of this secret message, and
+thanked Allah for setting a term to the life of man.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Sultan Achmed was sitting in the Hall of Delectation with the
+beautiful Adsalis by his side, and in front of him were the four tulips
+which Abdi Pasha had presented to him the day before.</p>
+
+<p>The four tulips were now in full bloom.</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis had thrown her arms round the Sultan's neck, and was kissing his
+forehead as if she would charm away from his soul the thoughts which
+suffered him not to rest, or rejoice, or to love.</p>
+
+<p>He had an eye for nothing but the tulips before him, which he could not
+protect or cherish sufficiently. He scarce noticed that Elhaj Beshir,
+the Kizlar-Aga, was standing before him with a long MS. parchment
+stretched out in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Master," cried the Kizlar-Aga, "deign to read the answer which the
+Ulemas are sending to Halil Patrona, and if it be according to thy will
+give it the confirmation of thy signature."</p>
+
+<p>"What do they require?" asked the Sultan softly, withdrawing, as he
+spoke, a tiny knife from his girdle, with the point of which he began
+picking away at the earth all round the tulips in order to make it
+looser and softer.</p>
+
+<p>"The rebels demand a full assurance that they will not be persecuted in
+the future for what they have done in the past."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Next they demand that the Kiaja Aga be handed over to them."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan cut off one of the tulips with his knife and handed it to the
+Kizlar-Aga.</p>
+
+<p>"There, take it!" said he.</p>
+
+<p>The Aga was astonished, but presently he understood and took the tulip.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they want the Kapudan Pasha."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan cut off the handsomest of the tulips.</p>
+
+<p>"There you have it," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"They further demand the banishment of the Chief Mufti."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan tore up the third tulip by the roots and cast it from him.</p>
+
+<p>"There it is."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Grand Vizier they want also."</p>
+
+<p>The last tulip Achmed threw violently to the ground, pot and all, and
+then he covered his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask no more, thou seest I have surrendered everything."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave him his signet-ring in which his name was engraved, and the
+Kizlar-Aga stamped the document therewith, and then handed back the
+signet-ring to the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier, meanwhile, was walking backwards and forwards in the
+garden of the Seraglio. The Kizlar-Aga came there in search of him, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+with him were the envoys of Halil Patrona, Suleiman, whom he had made
+Reis-Effendi, Orli, and Sulali. Elhaj Beshir approached him in their
+presence, and kissing the document signed by the Sultan, handed it to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Damad Ibrahim pressed the writing to his forehead and his lips, and,
+after carefully reading it through, handed it back again, and taking
+from his finger the great seal of the Empire gave it to the Kizlar-Aga.</p>
+
+<p>"May he who comes after me be wiser and happier than I have been," said
+he. "Greet the Sultan from me once more. And as for you, tell Halil
+Patrona that you have seen the door of the Hall of the Executioners
+close behind the back of Damad Ibrahim."</p>
+
+<p>With that the Grand Vizier looked about him in search of someone to
+escort him thither, when suddenly a kajkji leaped to his side and begged
+that he might be allowed to lead the Grand Vizier to the Hall of
+Execution.</p>
+
+<p>This sailor-man had just such a long grey beard as the Grand Vizier
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"How dost thou come to know me?" inquired Damad Ibrahim of the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"Why we fought together, sir, beneath Belgrade, when both of us were
+young fellows together."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is thy name?</p>
+
+<p>"Manoli."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember thee not."</p>
+
+<p>"But I remember thee, for thou didst release me from captivity, and
+didst cherish me when I was wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"And therefore thou wouldst lead me to the executioner? I thank thee,
+Manoli!"</p>
+
+<p>All this was spoken while they were passing through the garden on their
+way to the fatal chamber into which Manoli disappeared with the Grand
+Vizier.</p>
+
+<p>The Kizlar-Aga and the messengers of the insurgents waited till Manoli
+came forth again. He came out, covering his face with his hands, no
+doubt he was weeping. The Grand Vizier remained inside.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow you shall see his dead body," said the Kizlar-Aga to the new
+Reis-Effendi, and with that he sent him and his comrade back to Halil.</p>
+
+<p>"We would rather have had them alive," said the ex-ciaus, so suddenly
+become one of the chief dignitaries of the state.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening Halil sent back Sulali with the message that the Chief
+Mufti might go free.</p>
+
+<p>The old man quitted his comrades about midnight, and day had scarce
+dawned when he was summoned once more to the presence of the Grand
+Seignior.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the Kizlar-Aga tormented Achmed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> with the saying of the
+Reis-Effendi: "We would rather have them alive!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said the Sultan, "we will not have them delivered up alive. It
+shall not be in the power of the people to torture and tear them to
+pieces. Rather let them die in my palace, an easy, instantaneous death,
+without fear and scarce a pang of pain, wept and mourned for by their
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Then hasten on their deaths, dread sir, lest the morning come and they
+be demanded while still alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry a while, I say, wait but for the morning. You would not surely
+kill them at night! At night the gates of Heaven are shut. At night the
+phantoms of darkness are let loose. You would not slay any living
+creature at night! Wait till the day dawns."</p>
+
+<p>The first ray of light had scarce appeared on the horizon when the
+Kizlar-Aga once more stood before the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"Master, the day is breaking."</p>
+
+<p>"Call hither the mufti and Sulali!"</p>
+
+<p>Both of them speedily appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Convey death to those who are already doomed."</p>
+
+<p>Sulali and the mufti fell down on their knees.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore this haste, O my master?" cried the aged mufti, bitterly
+weeping as he kissed the Sultan's feet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Because the rebels wish them to be surrendered alive."</p>
+
+<p>"So it is," observed the Kizlar-Aga by way of corroboration, "the whole
+space in front of the kiosk is filled with the insurgents."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan almost collapsed with horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasten, hasten! lest they fall into their hands alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir," implored Sulali, "let me first go down with the Imam of the
+Aja Sophia to see whether the street really is filled with rebels or
+not!"</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan signified that they might go.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali, Hassan, and Ispirizade thereupon hastened through the gate of
+the Seraglio down to the open space before the kiosk, but not a living
+soul did they find there. Not satisfied with merely looking about them,
+they wished to persuade themselves that the insurgents were approaching
+the Seraglio from some other direction by a circuitous way.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Sultan was counting the moments and growing impatient at
+the prolonged absence of his messengers.</p>
+
+<p>"They have had time enough to cover the distance to the kiosk and back
+twice over," remarked the Kizlar-Aga. "No doubt they have fallen into
+the hands of the rebels who are holding them fast so that they may not
+be able to bring any tidings back."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Sultan was in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasten, hasten then!" said he to the Kizlar-Aga, and with that he fled
+away into his inner apartments.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later Sulali and the Iman returned, and announced that there
+was not a soul to be seen anywhere and no sign of anyone threatening the
+Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Kizlar-Aga led them down to the gate. A cart drawn by two oxen
+was standing there, and the top of it was covered with a mat of rushes.
+He drew aside a corner of this mat, and by the uncertain light of dawn
+they saw before them three corpses, the Kiaja's, the Kapudan's, and the
+Grand Vizier's.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Happy G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze sits in Halil's lap and dreamily allows herself to be
+cradled in his arms. Through the windows of the splendid palace
+penetrate the shouts of triumph which hail Halil as Lord, for the
+moment, of the city of Stambul and the whole Ottoman Empire.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze tremulously whispers in Halil's ear how much she would prefer
+to dwell in a simple, lonely little hut in Anatolia instead of there in
+that splendid palace.</p>
+
+<p>Halil smooths away the luxuriant locks from his wife's forehead, and
+makes her tell him once more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> the full tale of all those revolting
+incidents which befell her in the Seraglio, in the captivity of the
+Kapudan's house, and in the dungeon for dishonourable women. Why should
+he keep on arousing hatred and vengeance?</p>
+
+<p>The woman told him everything with a shudder. At her husband's feet,
+right in front of them, stood three baskets full of flowers. Halil had
+given them to her as a present.</p>
+
+<p>But at the bottom of the baskets were still more precious gifts.</p>
+
+<p>He draws forward the first basket and sweeps away the flowers. A bloody
+head is at the bottom of the basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is that?"</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, all shuddering, lisped the name of Abdi Pasha.</p>
+
+<p>He cast away the flowers from the second basket, there also was a bloody
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"And whose is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the Kiaja Beg's," sobbed the terrified girl.</p>
+
+<p>And now Halil brought forward the third basket, and dashing aside from
+it the fresh flowers, revealed to the eyes of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze a grey head
+with a white beard, which lay with closed eyes at the bottom of the
+basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is that?" inquired Halil.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze's tender frame shivered in the arms of the strong man who
+held her, as he compelled her to gaze at the bloody heads. And when she
+regarded the third head she shook her own in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know that one."</p>
+
+<p>"Not know it! Look again and more carefully. Perchance Death has changed
+the expression of the features. That is Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier."</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze regarded her husband with eyes wide-open with astonishment,
+and then hastened to reply:</p>
+
+<p>"Truly it <i>is</i> Damad Ibrahim. Of course, of course. Death hath
+disfigured his face so that I scarce knew it."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not tell thee that thou shouldst make sport with the heads of
+those who made sport with thy heart? Dost thou want yet more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, Halil. I am afraid of these also. I am afraid to look upon
+these dumb heads."</p>
+
+<p>"Then cover them over with flowers, and thou wilt believe thou dost see
+flower-baskets before thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me have them buried, Halil. Do not make me fear thee also. Thou
+wouldst have me go on loving thee, wouldst thou not? If only thou
+wouldst come with me to Anatolia, where nobody would know anything about
+us!"</p>
+
+<p>"What dost thou say? Go away now when the very sun cannot set because of
+me, and men cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> sleep because of the sound of my name? Dost not thou
+also feel a desire to bathe in all this glory?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Halil! the rose and the palm grow up together out of the same
+earth, and yet the palm grows into greatness while the rose remains
+quite tiny. Suffer me but gently to crouch beside thee, dispense but thy
+love to me, and keep thy glory to thyself."</p>
+
+<p>Halil tenderly embraced and kissed the woman, and buried the three
+baskets as she desired in the palace garden beneath three wide-spreading
+rosemary bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Then he took leave of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, for deputies from the people now
+waited upon their leader, and begged him to accompany them to the mosque
+of Zuleima, where the Sultan's envoys were already waiting for an
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>In order to get to the mosque more easily and avoid the labour of
+forcing his way through the crowd that thronged the streets, Halil
+hastened to the water side, got into the first skiff he met with, and
+bade the sailor row him across to the Zuleima Mosque on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>On the way his gaze fell upon the face of the sailor who was sitting
+opposite to him. It was a grey-bearded old man.</p>
+
+<p>"What is thy name, worthy old man?" inquired Halil.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My name is Manoli, your Excellency."</p>
+
+<p>"Call me not Excellency! Dost thou not perceive from my raiment that I
+am nothing but a common Janissary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I know thee better than that. Thou art Halil Patrona, whom may
+Allah long preserve!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou also dost seem very familiar to me. Thou hast just such a white
+beard as had Damad Ibrahim who was once Grand Vizier."</p>
+
+<p>"I have often heard people say so, my master."</p>
+
+<p>On arriving opposite the Zuleima Mosque, the boatman brought the skiff
+ashore. Halil pressed a golden denarius into the old man's palm, the old
+man kissed his hand for it.</p>
+
+<p>Then for a long time Halil gazed into the old man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Manoli!"</p>
+
+<p>"At thy command, my master."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou seest the sun rising up yonder behind the hills?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my master."</p>
+
+<p>"Before the shadows return to the side of yon hills take care to be well
+behind them, and let not another dawn find thee in this city!"</p>
+
+<p>The boatman bent low with his arms folded across his breast, then he
+disappeared in his skiff.</p>
+
+<p>But Halil Patrona hastened into the mosque.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Sultan's ambassadors were awaiting him. Sheik Suleiman came forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Halil!" said he, "the bodies of the three dead men I have given to the
+people and their heads I have sent to thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Who were they?" asked Halil darkly.</p>
+
+<p>"The first was the corpse of the Kiaja Beg, his body was cast upon the
+cross-ways through the Etmeidan Gate."</p>
+
+<p>"And the second?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Kapudan Pasha, his body was flung down in front of the fountains of
+Khir-Kheri."</p>
+
+<p>"And the third?"</p>
+
+<p>"Damad Ibrahim, the Grand Vizier. His body we flung out into the piazza
+in front of the Seraglio, at the foot of the very fountains which he
+himself caused to be built."</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona cast a searching look at the Sheik's face, and coldly
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Know then, oh, Sheik Suleiman, that thou liest, the third corpse was
+<i>not</i> the body of Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier. It was the body of a
+sailor named Manoli, who greatly resembled him, and sacrificed himself
+in Damad's behalf. But the Grand Vizier has escaped and none can tell
+where he is. Go now, and tell that to those who sent thee hither!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN.</h4>
+
+
+<p>The dead bodies of the victims were still lying in the streets when
+Sultan Achmed summoned the Ulemas to the cupolaed chamber. His
+countenance was dejected and sad.</p>
+
+<p>Before coming to the council-chamber he had kissed all his children, one
+by one, and when it came to the turn of his little ten-year-old child,
+Bajazid, he saw that the little fellow's eyes were full of tears and he
+inquired the reason why. The child replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Father, it is well with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them
+that love thee. What then will be our fate who love thee best of all?
+Amongst the wives of our brethren thou wilt find more than one in grey
+mourning weeds. Look, I prythee, at the face of Ummettulah; look at the
+eyes of Sabiha, and the appearance of Ezma. They are all of them widows
+and orphans, and it is thou who hast caused their fathers and husbands
+to be slain."</p>
+
+<p>"To save thee I have done it," stammered Achmed, pressing the child to
+his breast.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt see that thou shalt not save us after all," sighed Bajazid.</p>
+
+<p>In the years to come these words were to be as an eternal echo in the
+ears of Achmed.</p>
+
+<p>So he sat on his throne and the Ulemas took their places around him on
+the divans covered with kordofan leather. Opposite to him sat the chief
+imam, Ispirizade. Sulali sat beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Lo, the blood of the victims has now been poured forth," said Achmed in
+a gloomy, tremulous voice, "I have sacrificed my most faithful servants.
+Speak! What more do the rebels require? Why do they still blow their
+field trumpets? Why do they still kindle their bivouac fires? What more
+do they want?"</p>
+
+<p>And the words of his little son rang constantly in his ears: "It is well
+with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them that love thee."</p>
+
+<p>No one replied to the words of the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer, I say! What think ye concerning the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Once more deep silence prevailed. The Ulemas looked at one another. Many
+of them began to nudge Sulali, who stood up as if to speak, but
+immediately sat down again without opening his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, I pray you! I have not called you hither to look at me and at
+one another, but to give answers to my questions."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And still the Ulemas kept silence. Dumbly they sat around as if they
+were not living men but only embalmed corpses, such as are to be found
+in the funeral vaults of the Pharaohs grouped around the royal tombs.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis wondrous indeed!" said Achmed, when the whole Council had remained
+dumb for more than a quarter of an hour. "Are ye all struck dumb then
+that ye give me no answer?"</p>
+
+<p>Then at last Ispirizade rose from his place.</p>
+
+<p>"Achmed!" he began&mdash;with such discourteous curtness did he address the
+Sultan!</p>
+
+<p>"Achmed! 'tis the wish of Halil Patrona that thou descend from the
+throne and give it up to Sultan Mahmud...."</p>
+
+<p>Achmed sat bolt upright in his chair. After the words just uttered every
+voice in the council-chamber was mute, and in the midst of this dreadful
+silence the Ulemas were terrified to behold the Padishah stand on the
+steps of the throne, extend his arm towards the imam, fix his eyes
+steadily upon him, and open his lips from which never a word proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>Thus for a long time he stood upon the throne with hand outstretched and
+parted lips, and his stony eyes fixed steadily upon the imam, and those
+who saw it were convulsed by a feeling of horror, and Ispirizade felt
+his limbs turn to stone and the light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> of day grow dim before his eyes
+in the presence of that dreadful figure which regarded him and pointed
+at him. It was, as it were, a dumb curse&mdash;a dumb, overpowering spell,
+which left it to God and His destroying angels to give expression to his
+wishes, and read in his heart and accomplish that which he himself was
+incapable of pronouncing.</p>
+
+<p>The whole trembling assembly collapsed before the Sultan's throne,
+crawled to his feet and, moistening them with their tears, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, O master! pardon!"</p>
+
+<p>An hour before they had unanimously resolved that Achmed must be made to
+abdicate, and now they unanimously begged for pardon. But the deed had
+already been done.</p>
+
+<p>The hand of the Padishah that had been raised to curse sank slowly down
+again, his eyes half closed, his lips were pressed tightly together, he
+thrust his hands into the girdle of his mantle, looked down for a long
+time upon the Ulemas, and then quietly descended the steps of the
+throne. On reaching the pavement he remained standing by the side of the
+throne, and cried in a hollow tremulous voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I have ceased to reign, let a better than I take my place. I demand but
+one thing, let those who are at this moment the lords of the dominion of
+Osman swear that they will do no harm to my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> children. Let them swear it
+to me on the Alkoran. Take two from amongst you and let them convey my
+desire to Halil."</p>
+
+<p>Again a deep silence followed upon Achmed's words. The Ulemas fixed
+their gaze upon the ground, not one of them moved or made even a show of
+conveying the message.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, then, ye wish the death of my children also? Or is there not
+one of you with courage enough to go and speak to them?"</p>
+
+<p>A very aged, tremulous, half paralyzed Ulema was there among them, the
+dervish Mohammed, and he it was who at length ventured to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my master! who is valiant enough to speak with a raging lion, who
+hath wit enough to come to terms with the burning tempest of the Samum,
+or who would venture to go on an embassy to the tempest-tost sea and
+bandy words therewith?"</p>
+
+<p>Achmed gazed darkly, doubtfully upon the Ulema, and his face wore an
+expression of repressed despair.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali had compassion on the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go to them," he said reassuringly; "remain here, oh, my master,
+till I return. Of a truth I tell thee that I will not come back till
+they have sworn to do what thou desirest."</p>
+
+<p>And now Ispirizade said that he also would go with Sulali. He had not
+sufficient strength of mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> to endure the gaze of the Sultan till
+Sulali should return. Far rather would he go with him also to the
+rebels. Besides they already understood each other very well.</p>
+
+<p>The envoys found Halil sitting under his tent in the Etmeidan.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali drew near to him and delivered the message of the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not deliver it in the words of Achmed. He neither begged nor
+implored, nor mingled his request with bitter lamentations as Achmed had
+done, but he spoke boldly and sternly, without picking his words, as
+Achmed ought to have done.</p>
+
+<p>"The Padishah would have his own life and the lives of his children
+guaranteed by oath," said he to the assembled leaders of the people.
+"Swear, therefore, on the Alkoran that you will respect them, and swear
+it in the names of your comrades likewise. The Padishah is resolved that
+if you refuse to take this oath he will blow up the Seraglio and every
+living soul within it into the air with gunpowder."</p>
+
+<p>The rebels were impressed by this message, only Halil Patrona smiled. He
+knew very well that such a threat as this never arose in the breast of
+Achmed. His gentle soul was incapable of such a thing. So he folded his
+arms across his breast and smiled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then the chief imam fell down in the dust before him, and said in a
+humble voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Listen not, O Halil, to the words of my companion. The Padishah humbly
+implores you for his life and the lives of his children."</p>
+
+<p>Halil wrinkled his brow and exclaimed angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"Rise up, Ulema, grovel not before me in the name of the Sultan. Those
+who would slay him deal not half so badly with them as thou who dost
+humiliate him. Sulali is right. The Sultan is capable of great deeds. I
+know that the cellars of the Seraglio are full of gunpowder, and I would
+not that the blossoms of the Sheik-ul-Islam and the descendants of the
+Prophet should perish. Behold, I am ready, and my comrades also, to
+swear on the Alkoran to do no harm either to Sultan Achmed, or his sons,
+or his daughters, or his daughters' husbands. Whosoever shall raise his
+hand against them his head I myself will cut in twain, and make the
+avenging Angels of Allah split his soul in twain also, so that each half
+may never again find its fellow. Go back and peace rest upon Achmed."</p>
+
+<p>Sulali flew back with the message, but Ispirizade hastened to the Aja
+Sophia mosque to give directions for the enthronement of the new Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Achmed had assembled his sons around him in the cupolaed
+chamber, and sitting down on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> last step of the throne made them take
+their places round his feet, and awaited the message which was to bear
+the issues of life and death.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali entered the room with a radiant countenance, carrying in his hand
+the copy of the Alkoran, on which Halil and his associates had sworn the
+oath required of them. He laid it at the Sultan's feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Live for ever, oh, Sultan!" he cried, "and may thy heart rejoice in the
+prosperity of thy children!"</p>
+
+<p>Achmed looked up with a face full of gratitude, and thanked Allah, the
+Giver of all good and perfect gifts.</p>
+
+<p>His children embraced him with tears in their eyes, and Achmed did not
+forget to extend his hand to Sulali, who first raised it to his forehead
+and then pressed it to his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Then Achmed sent the Kizlar-Aga for Sultan Mahmud, surnamed "the White
+Prince," from the pallor of his face, to summon him to his presence.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, accompanied by Elhaj Beshir, Prince Mahmud arrived.
+He was the son of Mustapha II., who had renounced the throne in favour
+of Achmed just as Achmed was now resigning the throne in favour of
+Mahmud.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan arose, hastened towards him, embraced him, and kissed him on
+the forehead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The people desire thee to ascend the throne. Be merciful to my children
+just as I was merciful to thy father's children."</p>
+
+<p>Sultan Mahmud did obeisance to his uncle, and seizing his hand, as if it
+were worthy of all honour, reverently kissed it.</p>
+
+<p>Then Achmed beckoned to his sons, and one by one they approached Mahmud,
+and kissed his hand. And all the time the Ulemas remained prostrate on
+the ground around them.</p>
+
+<p>Then Achmed took the new sovereign by the right hand, and personally
+conducted him into the chamber of the Mantle of the Prophet. There,
+standing in front of the throne, he took from his hand the diamond
+clasp, the symbol of dominion, and with his own hand fastened it to the
+turban of the new Sultan, and placing his hand upon his head, solemnly
+blessed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Rule and prosper! May those thou lovest love thee also, and may those
+that thou hatest fear thee. Be glorious and powerful while thou livest,
+and may men bless thy name and magnify thy memory when thou art dead!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Achmed and his children thrice did obeisance to Mahmud, whereupon
+taking his two youngest sons by the hand, with a calm and quiet dignity,
+he quitted the halls of dominion which he was never to behold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> again,
+abandoning, one after another, every single thing which had hitherto
+been so dear to him.</p>
+
+<p>In the Hall of Audience he gave up the Sword of the Prophet to the
+Silihdar, who unbuckled it from his body, and when he came to the door
+leading to the harem he handed over his children to the Kizlar-Aga,
+telling him to greet the Sultana Asseki in his name, and bid her
+remember him and teach his little children their father's name.</p>
+
+<p>For henceforth he will see no more his sharp sword, or the fair Adsalis,
+or the other dear damsels, or his darling children. He must remain for
+ever far away from them behind the walls of a dungeon. A deposed Sultan
+has nought whatever to do with swords or wives or children. The same
+fate befell Mustapha II. six-and-twenty years before. He also had to
+part with his sword, his wives, and his children in just the same way.
+And this Achmed had good cause to remember, for then it was that he
+ascended the throne. And now he, in his turn, descended from the throne,
+and now that had happened to him for his successor's sake which had
+happened to his predecessor for his sake.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>But the great men of the realm bowed their heads to the ground before
+Sultan Mahmud and did him homage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The long procession of those who came to do him obeisance filled all the
+apartments of the Seraglio and lasted till midnight. The whole Court
+bent head and knee before the new Sultan, and the chief officers of
+state, the clergy, and the eunuchs followed suit. Only the captains of
+the host and Halil Patrona still remained behind.</p>
+
+<p>Hastily written letters were dispatched to all the captains and to all
+the rebels, informing them that Sultan Achmed had been deposed and
+Sultan Mahmud was reigning in his stead; let them all come, therefore,
+at dawn of day next morning and do homage to the new Padishah.</p>
+
+<p>The moon had long been high in the heavens and was shining through the
+coloured windows of the Seraglio when the magnates withdrew and Mahmud
+remained alone.</p>
+
+<p>Only the Kizlar-Aga awaited his pleasure&mdash;the Kizlar-Aga whose sooty
+face seemed to cast a black shadow upon itself.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud extended his hand to him with a smile that he might kiss it.</p>
+
+<p>And then Elhaj Beshir conducted him to the door of those secret
+apartments within which bloom the flowers of bliss and rapture, and
+throwing it open bent low while the new Sultan passed through.</p>
+
+<p>Only three among the peris of loveliness had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> preferred eternal loveless
+slavery to the favours of the new Padishah, and among those who smiled
+upon the young Sultan as he entered the room, the one who had the
+happiest, the most radiant face, was the fair Adsalis, who still
+remained the favourite wife, the Sultana Asseki, even after the great
+revolution which had turned the whole Empire upside down and made the
+least to be the greatest and the greatest to stand lowest of all.</p>
+
+<p>Among so many smiling faces hers was the one towards which the
+tremulously happy and enraptured Sultan hastened full of tender
+infatuation; she it was whom he raised to his breast and in whose arms
+he soothed himself with dreams of glory, while she stifled his anxieties
+with her kisses.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was asleep in the Halls of Felicity, only Love was still
+awake. Mahmud, forgetful alike of himself and his empire, pressed to his
+bosom his dear enchanting Sultana, the most precious of all the
+treasures he had won that day; but the fair Sultana shuddered from time
+to time in the midst of his burning embrace. It seemed to her as if
+someone was standing behind her back, sobbing and sighing and touching
+her warm bosom with his cold fingers.</p>
+
+<p>Perchance she could hear the sighing and the sobbing of him who lay
+sleepless far, far below that bower of rapture, in one of the cold
+vaults of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> Place of Oblivion, thinking of his lost Empire and his
+lost Eden!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Early next morning the chief captains of the host, the Bashas and the
+Sheiks, appeared in the Seraglio to greet the new Sultan. It was only
+the leaders of the rebels who did not come.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since Sulali had frightened the insurgents by telling them that the
+cellars of the Seraglio were full of gunpowder, they did not so much as
+venture to draw near it, and when the public criers recited the
+invitation of Mahmud in front of the mosques, thousands and thousands of
+voices shouted as if from one throat:</p>
+
+<p>"We will not come!"</p>
+
+<p>Not one of them would listen to the invitation from the Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a mere ruse," observed the wise Reis-Effendi. "They only want to
+entice us into a mouse-trap to crush us all at a blow like flies caught
+in honey."</p>
+
+<p>"A short cut into Paradise that would be," scornfully observed Orli,
+who, despite his office of softa, did not hesitate to speak
+disrespectfully even of Paradise, whither every true believer ought
+joyfully to hasten.</p>
+
+<p>Last of all "crazy" Ibrahim gave them a piece of advice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'Twill be best," said he, "to gather together from among us our least
+useful members&mdash;any murderers there may happen to be, or escaped
+gaol-birds for instance; call them Halil, Musli, and Suleiman, deck them
+out in the garments of Agas, Begs, and Ulemas, and send them to the
+Seraglio. Then, if we see them return to us safe and sound, we can, of
+course, go ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>This crazy counsel instantly met with general applause. Everyone
+approved of it, of that there could be no doubt.</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona regarded them all in contemptuous silence. Only when
+"crazy" Ibrahim's proposal had been resolved upon did he stand up and
+say:</p>
+
+<p>"I myself will go to the Seraglio."</p>
+
+<p>Some of them regarded him with amazement, others laughed. Musli clapped
+his hands together in his desperation.</p>
+
+<p>"Halil! dost thou dream or art thou beside thyself? Dost thou imagine
+thyself to be one of the Princes of the Thousand and One Nights who can
+hew his way through monsters and spectres, or art thou wearied of
+beholding the sun from afar and must needs go close up to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis no concern of thine what I do, and if I am not afraid what need is
+there for thee to be afraid on my account?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, prythee, bethink thee, Halil! It would be a much more sensible
+jest on thy part to leap into the den of a lioness suckling her young;
+and thou wouldst be a much wiser man if thou wert to adventure thyself
+in the sulphur holes of Balsorah, or cause thyself to be let down, for
+the sake of a bet, into the coral-beds at the bottom of the Sea of
+Candia to pick up a bronze asper,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> instead of going to the Seraglio
+where there are now none but thine enemies, and where the very
+atmosphere and the spider crawling down the wall is venomous to thee and
+thy deadly enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"They may kill me," cried Halil, striking his bosom with both hands and
+boldly stepping forward&mdash;"they may kill me it is true, but they shall
+never be able to say that I was afraid of them. They may tear my limbs
+to pieces, but when it comes to be recorded in the Chronicles that the
+rabble of Constantinople were cowards, it shall be recorded at the same
+time that, nevertheless, there was one man among them who could not only
+talk about death but could look it fairly between the eyes when it
+appeared before him."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Halil! I and many more like me are capable of looking into the
+very throat of loaded cannons. Many is the time, too, that I have seen
+sharp swords drawn against me, and no lance that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>ever hath left the
+smith's hand can boast that I have so much as winked an eye before its
+glittering point. But what is the use of valour in a place where you
+know that the very ground beneath your feet has Hell beneath it, and it
+only needs a spark no bigger than that which flashes from a man's eye
+when he has received a buffet, and we shall all fly into the air. Why,
+even if both our hands were full of swords and pistols, not one of them
+could protect us&mdash;so who would wish to be brave there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I invited thee to come? Did I not say that I would go alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"But we won't let thee go. What art thou thinking about? If they destroy
+thee there we shall be without a leader, and we shall fall to pieces and
+perish like the rush-roof of a cottage when the joists are suddenly
+pulled from beneath it. And thou thyself wilt be a laughing-stock to the
+people, like the cock of the fairy tale who spitted and roasted
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>"That will never happen," said Halil, unbuckling his sword (for no
+weapon may enter the Seraglio) and handing it to Musli; "take care of it
+for me till I return, and if I do not return it will be something to
+remember me by."</p>
+
+<p>"Then thou art really resolved to go?" inquired Musli. "Well, in that
+case, I will go too."</p>
+
+<p>At these words the others also began to bestir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> themselves, and when
+they saw that Halil really was not joking, they accompanied him right up
+to the Seraglio. Into it indeed they did not go; but, anyhow, they
+surrounded the huge building which forms a whole quarter of the city by
+itself, and as soon as they saw Halil pass through the Seraglio gates
+they set up a terrific shout.</p>
+
+<p>Alone, unarmed, and without an escort, the rebel leader passed through
+the strange, unfamiliar rooms, and at every door armed resplendent
+sentries made way before him, closing up again, with pikes crossed,
+before every door when he had passed through them.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the Hall of Audience, a couple of Kapu-Agasis seized him by
+the arm, and led him into the Cupola Chamber where Sultan Mahmud
+received those who came to render homage.</p>
+
+<p>In all the rooms was that extraordinary pomp which is only to be seen on
+the day when a new Sultan has ascended the throne. The very
+ante-chamber, "The Mat-Room," as it is called, because of the variegated
+straw-mats with which it is usually covered, was now spread over with
+costly Persian carpets. The floor of the Cupola Chamber looked like a
+flower-bed. Its rich pile carpets were splendidly embroidered with gold,
+silver, and silken flowers of a thousand hues, interspersed with wreaths
+of pearls. At the foot of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> a sofa placed on an elevated da&iuml;s glistened a
+coverlet of pure pearls. On each side of this sofa stood a little round
+writing-table inlaid with gold. On one of these tables lay an open
+portfolio encrusted with precious stones and writing materials flashing
+with rubies and emeralds; on the other lay a copy of the Alkoran, bound
+in black velvet and studded with rose brilliants. Another copy of the
+Alkoran lay open on a smaller table, written in the Talik script in
+letters of gold, cinnabar, and ultramarine; and there were twelve other
+Korans on just as many other tables, with gold clasps and
+pearl-embroidered bindings. On both sides of the fire-place, on stands
+that were masterpieces of carving, were heaped up the gala mantles
+exhibited on such occasions; and side by side, along the wall, on raised
+alabaster pedestals were nine clocks embellished with figures, each more
+ingenious than the other, which moved and played music every time the
+hour struck. Four large Venetian mirrors multiplied the extravagant
+splendours of the stately room.</p>
+
+<p>Around the room on divans sat the chief dignitaries of the Empire, the
+viziers, the secretaries, the presenters of petitions according to rank,
+in splendid robes, and with round, pyramidal or beehive-shaped turbans
+according to the nature of their office.</p>
+
+<p>Yet all this pomp was utterly eclipsed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> splendour which radiated
+from the new Padishah; he seemed enveloped in a shower of pearls and
+diamonds. Whichever way he turned the roses embroidered on his dress,
+the girdle which encircled his loins, the clasp of his turban, and every
+weapon about him seemed to scatter rainbow sparks, so that those who
+gazed at him were dazzled into blindness before they could catch a
+glimpse of his face.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the back of the throne, flashing with carbuncles as large as
+nuts, stood a whole army of ministering servants with their heads
+plunged deep in their girdles.</p>
+
+<p>It was into this room that Halil entered.</p>
+
+<p>On the threshold his two conductors released his arm, and Halil advanced
+alone towards the Padishah.</p>
+
+<p>His face was not a whit the paler than at other times, he stepped forth
+as boldly and gazed around him as confidently as ever.</p>
+
+<p>His dress, too, was just the same as hitherto&mdash;a simple Janissary
+mantle, a blue dolman with divided sleeves, without any ornament, a
+short salavari, or jerkin, reaching to the knee, leaving the lower part
+of the legs bare, and the familiar roundish kuka on his head.</p>
+
+<p>As he passed through the long apartment he cast a glance upon the
+dignitaries sitting around the throne, and there was not one among them
+who could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> withstand the fire of his gaze. With head erect he advanced
+in front of the Sultan, and placing his muscular, half-naked foot on the
+footstool before the throne stood there, for a moment, like a figure
+cast in bronze, a crying contrast to all this tremulous pomp and
+obsequious splendour. Then he raised his hand to his head, and greeted
+the Sultan in a strong sonorous voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Aleikum unallah! The grace of God be upon thee!"</p>
+
+<p>Then folding his hands across his breast he flung himself down before
+the throne, pressing his forehead against its steps.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud descended towards him, and raised him from the ground with his
+own hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak! what can I do for thee?" he asked with condescension.</p>
+
+<p>"My wishes have already been fulfilled," said Halil, and every word he
+then uttered was duly recorded by the chronicler. "It was my wish that
+the sword of Mahomet should pass into worthy hands; behold it is
+accomplished, thou dost sit on the throne to which I have raised thee. I
+know right well what is the usual reward for such services&mdash;a shameful
+death awaits me."</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud passionately interrupted him.</p>
+
+<p>"And I swear to thee by my ancestors that no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> harm shall befall thee.
+Ask thine own reward, and it shall be granted thee before thou hast yet
+made an end of preferring thy request."</p>
+
+<p>Halil reflected for a moment, and all the time his gaze rested calmly on
+the faces of the dignitaries sitting before him. His gaze passed down
+the whole row of them, and he took them all in one by one. Everyone of
+them believed that he was seeking a victim whose place he coveted. The
+rebel leader read this thought plainly in the faces of the dignitaries.
+Once more he ran his eyes over them, then he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Glorious Padishah! as the merit of thy elevation belongeth not to me
+but to thy people, let the reward be theirs whose is the merit. A heavy
+burden oppresses thy slaves, and the name of that burden is Malikane. It
+is the farming out of the taxes for the lives of the holders thereof
+which puts money into the pockets of the high officers of state and the
+pashas, so that the Sublime Porte derives no benefit therefrom. Abolish,
+O Padishah, this farming out of the revenue, so that the destiny of the
+people may be in thy hands alone, and not in the hands of these rich
+usurers!"</p>
+
+<p>And with these words he waved his hand defiantly in the direction of the
+viziers and the magnates.</p>
+
+<p>Deep silence fell upon them. Through the closed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> doors resounded the
+tempestuous roar of the multitudes assembled around the Seraglio. Those
+within it trembled, and Halil Patrona stood there among them like an
+enchanter who knows that he is invulnerable, immortal.</p>
+
+<p>But the Sultan immediately commanded the Ciaus Aga to proclaim to the
+people with a trumpet-blast at the gates of the Seraglio, that at the
+desire of Halil Patrona the Malikane was from this day forth abolished.</p>
+
+<p>The shout which arose the next moment and made the very walls of the
+Seraglio tremble was ample evidence of the profound impression which
+this announcement made.</p>
+
+<p>"And now place thyself at the head of thy host," said Halil, "accept the
+invitation of thy people to go to the Ejub mosque, in order that the
+Silihdars may gird thee with the Sword of the Prophet according to
+ancient custom."</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan thereupon caused it to be announced that in an hour's time he
+would proceed to the mosque of Ejub, there to be girded with the Sword
+of the Prophet.</p>
+
+<p>With a shout of joy the people pressed towards the mosque in their
+thousands, crowding all the streets and all the house-tops between the
+mosque and the Seraglio. The cannons of the Bosphorus sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> thundering
+messages to the distant mountains of the joy of Stambul, and an hour
+later, to the sound of martial music, Mahmud held his triumphal progress
+through the streets of his capital on horseback; and the people waved
+rich tapestries at him from the house-tops and scattered flowers in his
+path. Behind him came radiant knightly viziers and nobles, and venerable
+councillors in splendid apparel on gorgeous full bloods; but in front of
+him walked two men alone, Halil Patrona and Musli, both in plain, simple
+garments, with naked calves, on their heads small round turbans, and
+with drawn swords in their hands as is the wont of the common
+Janissaries when on the march.</p>
+
+<p>And the people sitting on the house-tops shouted the name of Halil just
+as often and just as loudly as they shouted the name of Mahmud.</p>
+
+<p>The firing of the last salvo announced that the Sultan had arrived at
+the Ejub mosque.</p>
+
+<p>Ispirizade, the chief imam of the Aja Sophia mosque, already awaited
+him. He had asked Halil as a favour that he might bless the new Sultan,
+and Halil had granted his request. Since he had ventured into the
+Seraglio everyone had obeyed his words. The people now whispered
+everywhere that the Sultan was doing everything which Halil Patrona
+demanded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ispirizade had already mounted the lofty pulpit when Mahmud and his
+suite took their places on the lofty da&iuml;s set apart for them.</p>
+
+<p>The chief priest's face was radiant with triumph. He extended his hands
+above his head and thrice pronounced the name of Allah. And when he had
+thus thrice called upon the name of God, his lips suddenly grew dumb,
+and there for a few moments he stood stiffly, with his hands raised
+towards Heaven and wide open eyes, and then he suddenly fell down dead
+from the pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis the dumb curse of Achmed!" whispered the awe-stricken spectators
+to one another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Farthing.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE FEAST OF HALWET.</h4>
+
+
+<p>The surgujal&mdash;the turban with the triple gold circlet&mdash;was on the head
+of Mahmud, but the sword, the sword of dominion, was in the hand of
+Halil Patrona. The people whose darling he had become were accustomed to
+regard him as their go-between in their petty affairs, the host trembled
+before him, and the magnates fawned upon him for favour.</p>
+
+<p>In the Osman nation there is no hereditary nobility, everyone there has
+risen to the highest places by his sword or his luck. Every single Grand
+Vizier and Kapudan Pasha has a nickname which points to his lowly
+origin; this one was a woodcutter, that one a stone-mason, that other
+one a fisherman. Therefore a Mohammedan never looks down upon the most
+abject of his co-religionists, for he knows very well that if he himself
+happens to be uppermost to-day and the other undermost, by to-morrow the
+whole world may have turned upside down, and this last may have become
+the first.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So now also a petty huckster rules the realm, and Sultan Mahmud has
+nothing to think about but his fair women. Who can tell whether any one
+of us would not have done likewise? Suppose a man to have been kept in
+rigorous, joyless servitude for twenty years, and then suddenly to be
+confronted with the alternative&mdash;"reign over hearts or over an
+empire"&mdash;would he not perhaps have chosen the hearts instead of the
+empire for his portion?</p>
+
+<p>At the desire of the beauteous Sultana Asseki the insurrection of the
+people had no sooner subsided than the Sultan ordered the Halwet
+Festival to be celebrated.</p>
+
+<p>The Halwet Festival is the special feast of women, when nobody but
+womankind is permitted to walk about the streets, and this blissful day
+may come to pass twice or thrice in the course of the year.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening before, it is announced by the blowing of horns that the
+morrow will be the Feast of Halwet. On that day no man, of whatever
+rank, may come forth in the streets, or appear on the roof of a house,
+or show himself at a window, for death would be the penalty of his
+curiosity. The black and white eunuchs keeping order in the streets
+decapitate without mercy every man who does not remain indoors. Notices
+that this will be done are posted up on all the boundary-posts in the
+suburbs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> of the city, that strangers may regulate their conduct
+accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the feast of Halwet all the damsels discard their veils,
+without which at all other times they are not permitted to walk about
+the streets. Then it is that the odalisks of one harem go forth to call
+upon the odalisks of another. Rows upon rows of brightly variegated
+tents appear in the midst of the streets and market-places, in which
+sherbet and other beverages made of violets, cane-sugar, rose-water,
+pressed raisins, and citron juice, together with sweetmeats,
+honey-cakes, and such-like delicacies, to which women are so partial,
+are sold openly, and all the sellers are also women.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! what a spectacle that would be for the eyes of a man! Every street
+is swarming with thousands and thousands of bewitching shapes. These
+women, released from their prisons, are like so many gay and thoughtless
+children. Group after group, singing to the notes of the cithern,
+saunter along the public ways, decked out in gorgeous butterfly apparel,
+which flutter around their limbs like gaily coloured wings. The suns and
+stars of every climate flash and sparkle in those eyes. The whole
+gigantic city resounds with merry songs and musical chatter, and any man
+who could have seen them tripping along in whole lines might have
+exclaimed in despair: "Why have I not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> a hundred, why have I not a
+thousand hearts to give away!"</p>
+
+<p>And then when the harem of the Sultan proudly paces forth! Half a
+thousand odalisks, the lovelinesses of every province in the Empire, for
+whom the youths of whole districts have raved in vain, in garments
+radiant with pearls and precious stones, mounted on splendid prancing
+steeds gaily caparisoned. And in the midst of them all the beautiful
+Sultana, with the silver heron's plume in her turban, whose stem flashes
+with sparkling diamonds. Her glorious figure is protected by a garment
+of fine lace, scarce concealing the snowy shimmer of her well-rounded
+arms. She sits upon the tiger-skin saddle of her haughty steed like an
+Amazon. The regard of her flashing eyes seems to proclaim her the tyrant
+of two Sultans, who has the right to say: "I am indeed my husband's
+consort!"</p>
+
+<p>In front and on each side of the fairy band march four hundred black
+eunuchs, with naked broadswords across their shoulders, looking up at
+the windows of the houses before which they march to see whether,
+perchance, any inquisitive Peeping-Toms are lurking there.</p>
+
+<p>Dancing and singing, this bevy of peris traverses the principal streets
+of Stambul. Every now and then, a short sharp wail or scream may be
+heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> round the corner of the street the procession is approaching: the
+eunuchs marching in front have got hold of some inquisitive man or
+other. By the time the radiant cort&egrave;ge has reached the spot, only a few
+bloodstains are visible in the street, and, dancing and singing, the
+fair company of damsels passes over it and beyond. Scarce anyone would
+believe that those wails and screams did not form part and parcel of the
+all-pervading cries of joy.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile in the Etmeidan a much more free-and-easy sort of
+entertainment is taking place. The women of the lower orders are there
+diverting themselves in gaily adorned tents, where they can buy as much
+mead as they can drink, and in the midst of the piazza on round,
+outspread carpets dance the bayaderes of the streets, whom Sultan Achmed
+had once collected together and locked up in a dungeon where they had
+remained till the popular rising set them free again. In their hands
+they hold their nakaras (timbrels), clashing them together above their
+heads as they whirl around; on their feet are bronze bangles; and their
+long tresses and their light bulging garments flutter around them,
+whilst with wild gesticulations they dance the most audacious of dances,
+compared with whose voluptuous movements the passion of the fiercest
+Spanish bailarina is almost tame and spiritless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Suddenly one of these street dancing-girls scream aloud to her
+companions in the midst of the mazy dance, bringing them suddenly to a
+standstill.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, look!" she cried, "there comes G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze! G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, the wife
+of Halil Patrona."</p>
+
+<p>"G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze! G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze!" resound suddenly on every side. The bayaderes
+recognise the woman who had been shut up with them in the same dungeon,
+surround her, begin to kiss her feet and her garments, raise her up in
+their arms on to their shoulders, and so exhibit her to all the women
+assembled together on the piazza.</p>
+
+<p>"Yonder is the wife of Halil Patrona!" they cry, and Rumour quickly
+flies with the news all through the city. Everyone of the bayaderes
+dancing among the people has something to say in praise of her. Some of
+them she had cared for in sickness, others she had comforted in their
+distress, to all of them she had been kind and gentle. And then, too, it
+was she who had restored them their liberty, for was it not on her
+account that Halil Patrona had set them all free?</p>
+
+<p>Everyone hastened up to her. The poor thing could not escape from the
+clamorous enthusiasm of the sturdy muscular fish-wives and bathing women
+who, in their turn also, raised her upon their shoulders and carried her
+about, finally resolving to carry her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> all the way home for the honour
+of the thing. So for Halil Patrona's palace they set off with G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze
+on their shoulders, she all the time vainly imploring them to put her
+down that she might hide away among the crowd and disappear, for she
+feared, she trembled at, the honour they did her. From street to street
+they carried her, whirling along with them in a torrent of drunken
+enthusiasm everyone they chanced to fall in with on the way; and before
+them went the cry that the woman whom the others were carrying on their
+shoulders was the wife of Halil Patrona, the f&ecirc;ted leader of the people,
+and ever denser and more violent grew the crowd. Any smaller groups they
+might happen to meet were swept along with them. Now and then they
+encountered the harems of the greatest dignitaries, such as pashas and
+beglerbegs. It was all one, the august and exalted ladies had also to
+follow in the suite of the wife of Halil Patrona, the most powerful man
+in the realm, whose wife was the gentlest lady under Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, just as they were about to turn into the great square in front
+of the fortress of the Seven Towers, another imposing crowd encountered
+them coming from the opposite direction. It was the escort of the
+Sultana. The half a thousand odalisks and the four hundred eunuchs
+occupied the whole width of the road, but face to face with them were
+advancing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> ten thousand intoxicated viragoes led by the frantic
+bayaderes.</p>
+
+<p>"Make way for the Sultana!" cried the running eunuchs to the approaching
+crowd, "make way for the Sultana and her suite!"</p>
+
+<p>The execution of this command bordered on the impossible. The whole
+space of the square was filled with women&mdash;a perfect sea of heads&mdash;and
+visible above them all was a quivering, tremulous white figure which
+they had raised on high.</p>
+
+<p>"Make way for the Sultana!" screamed the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, who led the
+procession; a warty old woman she was, who had had charge of the harem
+for years and grown grey in it.</p>
+
+<p>At this one of the boldest of the bayaderes thrust herself forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Make way thyself, thou bearded old witch," she cried; "make way, I say,
+before the wife of Halil Patrona. Why, thou art not worthy to kiss the
+dust off her feet. Stand aside if thou wilt not come along with us."</p>
+
+<p>And with these words she banged her tambourine right under the nose of
+the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda.</p>
+
+<p>And then the bad idea occurred to some of the eunuchs to lift their
+broadswords against the boisterous viragoes, possibly with a view of
+cutting a path through them for the Sultana.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ah! before they had time to whirl their swords above their heads, in the
+twinkling of an eye, their weapons were torn from their hands, and their
+backs were well-belaboured with the broad blades. The furious m&aelig;nads
+fell upon their assailants, flung them to the ground, and the next
+instant had seized the bridles of the steeds of the odalisks.</p>
+
+<p>The Kizlar-Aga was fully alive to the danger which threatened the
+Sultana. The whole square was thronged with angry women who, with faces
+flushed and sparkling eyes, were rushing upon the odalisks. Any single
+eunuch they could lay hold of was pretty certain to meet with a martyr's
+death in a few seconds. They tore him to pieces, and pelted each other
+with the bloody fragments before scattering them to the winds. Elhaj
+Beshir, therefore, earnestly implored the Sultana to turn back and try
+to regain the Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis cast a contemptuous look on the Aga.</p>
+
+<p>"One can see that thou art neither man nor woman," cried she, "for if
+thou wert one or the other, thou wouldst know how to be courageous."</p>
+
+<p>Then she buried the point of her golden spurs in the flank of her steed,
+and urged it towards the spot where the most frantic of the m&aelig;nads stood
+fighting with the mounted odalisks, tearing some from their horses,
+rending their clothes, and then by way of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> mockery remounting them with
+their faces to the horses' tails.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Sultana stood amongst them with a haughty, commanding look,
+like a demi-goddess.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the presumptuous wretch who would bar the way before me?" she
+cried in her clear, penetrating voice.</p>
+
+<p>One of the odalisks planted herself in front of the Sultana and, resting
+one hand upon her hip, pointed with the other at G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze!</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" she cried, "there is G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, and she it is who bars thy way
+and compels thee to make room for her."</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, whom the women had brought to the spot on their shoulders,
+wrung her hands in her desperation, and begged and prayed the Sultana
+for forgiveness. She endeavoured to explain by way of pantomime, for
+speaking was impossible, that she was there against her will, and it was
+her dearest wish to humble herself before the face of the Sultana. It
+was all of no use. The yells of the wild Bacchantes drowned every sound,
+and Adsalis did not even condescend to look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye street-sweepings!" exclaimed Adsalis passionately, "what evil spirit
+has entered into you that ye would thus compel the Sultana Asseki to
+give way before a pale doll?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This woman comes before thee," replied the bayadere.</p>
+
+<p>"Comes before me?" said Adsalis, "wherefore, then, does she come before
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because she is fairer than thou."</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis' face turned blood-red with rage at these words, while
+G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze went as white as a lily, as if the other woman had robbed all
+her colour from her. There was shame on one side and fury on the other.
+To tell a haughty dame in the presence of ten, of twenty thousand
+persons, that another woman is fairer than she!</p>
+
+<p>"And she is more powerful than thou art," cried the enraged bayadere,
+accumulating insult on the head of Adsalis, "for she is the wife of
+Halil Patrona."</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis, in the fury of despair, raised her clenched hands towards
+Heaven and could not utter a word. Impotent rage forced the tears from
+her eyes; and only after these tears could she stammer:</p>
+
+<p>"This is the curse of Achmed!"</p>
+
+<p>When they saw the tears in the eyes of the Sultana, everyone for a
+moment was silent, and suddenly, amidst the stillness of that dumb
+moment, from the highest window of the prison-fortress of the Seven
+Towers, a man's voice called loudly into the square below:</p>
+
+<p>"Sultana Adsalis! Sultana Adsalis!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ha! a man! a man!" cried the furious mob; and in an instant they all
+gazed in that direction&mdash;and then in a murmur which immediately died
+away in an awe-struck whisper: "Achmed! Achmed!"</p>
+
+<p>Only Adsalis was incapable of pronouncing that name, only her mouth
+remained gaping open as she gazed upwards.</p>
+
+<p>There at the window of the Seven Towers stood Achmed, in whose hands was
+now a far more terrible power than when they held the wand of dominion,
+for in his fingers now rests the power of cursing. It is sufficient now
+for him to point the finger at those he loves not, in order that they
+may wither away in the bloom of their youth. Whomsoever he now breathes
+upon, however distant they may be, will collapse and expire, and none
+can save them; and he has but to pronounce the name of his enemies, and
+torments will consume their inner parts. The destroying angel of Allah
+watches over his every look, so that on whomsoever his eye may fall,
+that soul is instantly accursed. Since the death of Ispirizade the
+people fear him more than when he sat on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>A deep silence fell upon the mob. Nobody dared to speak.</p>
+
+<p>And Achmed stretched forth his hand towards Adsalis. Those who stood
+around the Sultana felt a feeling of shivering awe, and began to
+withdraw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> from her, and she herself durst not raise her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Salute that pure woman!" cried the tremulous voice of Achmed, "do
+obeisance to the wife of Halil Patrona, and cover thy face before her,
+for she is the true consort of her husband."</p>
+
+<p>And having uttered these words, Achmed withdrew from the window whither
+the noise of the crowd had enticed him, and the multitude clamoured as
+before; but now they no longer tried to force the suite of the Sultana
+to make way before G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, but escorted Halil Patrona's wife back to
+the dwelling-place of her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Adsalis, desperate with rage and shame, returned to the Seraglio.
+Sobbing aloud, she cast herself at the feet of the Sultan, and told him
+of the disgrace that had befallen her.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud only smiled as he heard the whole story, but who can tell what
+was behind that smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou not love me, then, that thou smilest when I weep? Ought not
+blood to flow because tears have flowed from my eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud gently stroked the head of the Sultana and said, still smiling:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Adsalis! who would ever think of plucking fruit before it is
+<i>ripe</i>?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h4>GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Halil Patrona was sitting on the balcony of the palace which the Sultan
+and the favour of the people had bestowed upon him. The sun was about to
+set. It sparkled on the watery mirror of the Golden Horn, hundreds and
+hundreds of brightly gleaming flags and sails flapped and fluttered in
+the evening breeze.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze was lying beside him on an ottoman, her beautiful head, with
+a feeling of languid bliss, reposed on her husband's bosom, her long
+eyelashes drooping, whilst with her swan-like arms she encircled his
+neck. She dozes away now and then, but the warm throb-throb of the
+strong heart which makes her husband's breast to rise and fall
+continually arouses her again. Halil Patrona is reading in a big clasped
+book beautifully written in the ornamental Talik script. G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze does
+not know this writing; its signs are quite strange to her, but she
+feasts her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> delighted eyes on the beautifully painted festoons and
+lilies and the variegated birds with which the initial letters are
+embellished, and scarce observes what a black shadow those pretty gaily
+coloured, butterfly-like letters cast upon Halil's face.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the book thou art reading?" inquired G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze.</p>
+
+<p>"Fairy tales and magic sentences," replied Patrona.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it there that thou readest all those nice stories which thou tellest
+me every evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are here."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, I pray thee, what thou hast just been reading?"</p>
+
+<p>"When thou art quite awake," said Halil, rapturously gazing at the fair
+face of the girl who was sleeping in his arms&mdash;and he continued turning
+over the leaves of the book.</p>
+
+<p>And what then was in it? What did those brightly coloured letters
+contain? What was the name of the book?</p>
+
+<p>That book is the "Takimi Vekai."</p>
+
+<p>Ah! ask not a Mussulman what the "Takimi Vekai" is, else wilt thou make
+him sorrowful; neither mention it before a Mohammedan woman, else the
+tears will gush from her eyes. The "Takimi Vekai" is "The Book of the
+Sentences of the Future," which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> was written a century and a half ago by
+Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, and which has since been preserved in the
+Muhamedije mosque, only those high in authority ever having the
+opportunity of seeing it face to face.</p>
+
+<p>Those golden letters embellished with splendid flowers contain dark
+sayings. Let us listen:</p>
+
+<p>"Takimi Vekai"&mdash;The Pages of the Future.</p>
+
+<p>"On the eighth-and-twentieth day of the month Rubi-Estani, in the year
+of the Hegira, 886,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I, Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, Governor of Scutari
+and scribe of the Palace, having accomplished the Abdestan<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and
+recited the Fateha<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> with hands raised heavenwards, ascended to the
+tower of Ujuk Kule, from whence I could survey all Stambul, and there I
+began to meditate.</p>
+
+<p>"And lo! the Prophet appeared before me, and breathed upon my eyes and
+ears in order that I might see and hear nothing but what he commanded me
+to hear and see.</p>
+
+<p>"And I wrote down those things which the Prophet said to me.</p>
+
+<p>"The Giaours already see the tents of the foreign hosts pitched on the
+Tsiragan piazza, already see the half-moon cast down, and the double
+cross raised on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>the towers of the mosques, the khanz&eacute;<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> plundered, and
+the faithful led forth to execution. In the Fanar quarters<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> they are
+already assembling the people, and saying to one another: 'To-morrow!
+to-morrow!'</p>
+
+<p>"Yet Allah is the God who defends the Padishah of the Ottomans. Their
+Odzhakjaiks<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> will scatter terror. Allah Akbar! God is mighty!</p>
+
+<p>"And the captains of the galleys, and the rowers thereof, and the chief
+of the gunners, and the corsairs of the swift ships will share with one
+another the treasures and the spoils of the unbelievers.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Padishah shall rule over thirteen nations.</p>
+
+<p>"But lo! a dark cloud arises in the cold and distant North. A foe
+appears more terrible and persistent than the Magyars, the Venetians, or
+the Persians. He is still tender like the fledgelings of the hawks of
+the Balkans, but soon, very soon, he will learn to spread his pinions.
+Up, up, Silihdar Aga, the Sultan's Sword-bearer! Up, up, Rechenbtar Aga,
+the Sultan's Stirrup-holder; up, up, and do your duty. And ye viziers,
+assemble the reserves. Those men who come from the land where the pines
+and firs raise their virgin branches towards Heaven, they long after the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>warm climates where the olive, the lestisk, the terebinth, and the palm
+lift their crowns towards Heaven. The fathers point out Stambul to their
+sons, they point it out as the booty that will give them sustenance;
+tender women lay their hands upon the sword to use it against the
+Osmanli, and will fight like heroes. Yet the days of the Sons of the
+Prophet will not yet come to an end; they will resist the enemy, and
+stand fast like a Salamander in the midst of the burning embers.</p>
+
+<p>"The years pass over the world, again the Giaours assemble in their
+myriads and threaten vengeance. But the Divan answers them: 'Olmaz!'&mdash;it
+cannot be. The Anatolian and the Rumelian lighthouses, at the entrance
+of the Bosphorus, will signal from their watch-towers the approach of
+the foreign war-ships.</p>
+
+<p>"But this shall be much later, after three-and-twenty Padishahs have
+ruled over the thirteen nations; then and not till then will the armies
+of the Unbelievers assemble before Stambul. Woe, woe unto us! Eternally
+invincible should the Osmanlis remain if they walked, with firm
+footsteps, according to the commands of the Koran. But a time will come
+when the old customs will fall into oblivion, when new ways will creep
+in among Mussulmen like a rattlesnake crawling into a bed of roses.
+Faith will no longer give strength against those men of ice, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> they
+will enter the nine-and-twenty gates of the seven-hilled city.</p>
+
+<p>"Lo! this did the Prophet reveal to me in the season of El-Ashs&ouml;r,
+beginning at the time of sundown.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah give his blessing to the rulers of this world."</p>
+
+<p>Thus ran the message of the "Takimi Vekai."</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona had read these lines over and over again until he knew
+every letter of them by heart. They were continually in his thoughts, in
+his dreams, and the eternally recurring tumult of these anxious bodings
+allowed his soul no rest. What if it were possible to falsify this
+prophecy! What if his strong hand could but stay the flying wheel of
+Fate in mid career, hold it fast, and turn it in a different direction!
+so that what was written in the Book of Thora before Sun and Moon were
+ever yet created might be expunged therefrom, and the guardian angels be
+compelled to write other things in place thereof!</p>
+
+<p>But such an idea ill befits a Mussulman; it is not the mental expression
+of that pious resignation with which the Mohammedan fortifies himself
+against the future, submissive as he is to the decrees of Fate, with
+never a thought of striving against the Powers of Omnipotence with a
+mortal hand. Ambitious, world-disturbing were the thoughts which ran
+riot in the brain of Halil Patrona&mdash;thoughts meet for no mere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> mortal.
+Poor indeed are the thoughts of man. He piles world upon world, and sets
+about building for the ages, and then a light breath of air strikes upon
+that which he has built and it becomes dust. Wherefore, then, does man
+take thought for the morrow?</p>
+
+<p>The night slowly descended, the glow of the southern sky grew ever paler
+on the half-moons of the minarets, till they grew gradually quite dark
+and the cry of the muezzin resounded from the towers of the mosques.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah Kerim! Allah Akbar! La illah il Allah, Mohammed rasul Allah! God
+is sublime. God is mighty. There is one God and Mohammed is his
+Prophet."</p>
+
+<p>And after a few moments he called again:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, ye people, to the rest of God, to the abode of righteousness;
+come to the abode of felicity!"</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze awoke. Halil washed his hands and feet, and turning towards
+the mehrab<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> began to pray.</p>
+
+<p>But in vain he sent away G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze (for women are not permitted to be
+present at the prayers of men nor men at the prayers of women); in vain
+he raised his hands heavenwards; in vain he went down on his knees and
+lay with his face touching the ground; other thoughts were abroad in his
+heart&mdash;terrifying, disturbing thoughts which suggested to him that the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>God to Whom he prayed no longer existed, but just as His Kingdom here
+on earth was falling to pieces so also in Heaven it was on the point of
+vanishing. Thrice he was obliged to begin his prayer all over again, for
+thrice it was interrupted by a cough, and it is not lawful to go on with
+a prayer that has once been interrupted. Once more he cast a glance upon
+the darkened city, and it grieved him sorely that nowhere could he
+perceive a half-moon; whereupon he went in again, sought for G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze,
+and told her lovely fairy tales which, he pretended, he had been reading
+in the Talik book.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Halil gathered together in his secret chamber all those in
+whom he had confidence. Among them were Kaplan Giraj, a kinsman of the
+Khan of the Crimea, Musli, old Vuodi, Mohammed the dervish, and Sulali.</p>
+
+<p>Sulali wrote down what Halil said.</p>
+
+<p>"Mussulmans. Yesterday, before the Abdestan, I was reading the book
+whose name is the 'Takimi Vekai.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Mashallah!" exclaimed all the Mohammedans mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"In that book the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire is predicted. The
+year, the day is at hand when the name of Allah will no longer be
+glorified on this earth, when the tinkling of the sheep-bells<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> will be
+heard on the ruins of the marble fountains, and those other bells so
+hateful to Allah will resound from the towers of the minarets. In those
+days the Giaours will play at quoits with the heads of the true
+believers, and build mansions over their tombs."</p>
+
+<p>"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" said old dervish Mohammed with a
+shaking voice, "by then we shall all of us be in Paradise, up in the
+seventh Heaven, the soil whereof is of pure starch, ambergris, musk, and
+saffron. There, too, the very stones are jacinths and the pebbles pure
+pearls, and the Tuba-tree shields the faithful from the heat of the sun,
+as they rest beneath it and gaze up at its golden flowers and silver
+leaves, and refresh themselves with the milk, wine, and honey which flow
+abundantly from its sweet and glorious stem. There, too, are the
+dwellings of Mohammed and the Prophets his predecessors, in all their
+indescribable beauty, and over the roof of every true believer bend the
+branches of the sacred tree, whose fruits never fail, nor wither, nor
+rot, and there we shall all live together in the splendour of Paradise
+where every true believer shall have a palace of his own. And in every
+palace two-and-seventy lovely houris will smile upon him&mdash;young virgins
+of an immortal loveliness&mdash;whose faces will never grow old or wrinkled,
+and who are a hundred times more affectionate than the women of this
+world."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Halil listened with the utmost composure till greybeard Vuodi had
+delivered his discourse concerning the joys of Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>"All that you say is very pretty and very true no doubt, but let your
+mind also dwell upon what the Prophet has revealed to us concerning the
+distribution of rewards and punishments. When the angel Azrael has
+gently separated our souls from our bodies, and we have been buried with
+the double tombstone at our heads, on which is written: 'Dame Allah huti
+ale Remaeti,'<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> then will come to us the two Angels of Judgment,
+Monker and Nakir. And they will ask us if we have fulfilled the precepts
+of the Prophet. What shall our trembling lips reply to them? And when
+they ask us whether we have defended the true faith, whether we have
+defended our Fatherland against the Infidels, what shall we then reply
+to them? Blessed, indeed, will be those who can answer: 'I have done all
+which it was commanded me to do,' their spirits will await the final
+judgment in the cool abodes of the Well of Ishmael. But as for those who
+shall answer: 'I saw the danger which threatened the Osmanli nation, it
+was in my power to help and I did it not,' their bodies will be scourged
+by the angels with iron rods and their souls will be thrust into the
+abyss of Morhut there to await the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>judgment-day. And when the trump of
+the angel Israfil shall sound and the Marvel from the Mountain of Safa
+doth appear to write 'Mumen'<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> or 'Giaour'<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> on the foreheads of
+mankind; and when Al-Dallaja<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> comes to root out the nation of the
+Osmanli, and the hosts of Gog and Magog appear to exterminate the
+Christians, and drink up the waters of the rivers, and at the last all
+things perish before the Mahdi; then when the mountains are rent asunder
+and the stars fall from Heaven, when the archangels Michael and Gabriel
+open the tombs and bring forth the trembling, death-pale shapes, one by
+one, before the face of Allah, and they all stand there as transparent
+as crystal so that every thought of their hearts is visible&mdash;what then
+will you answer, you in whose power it once stood to uphold the dominion
+of Mahomet, you to whom it was given to have swords in your hands and
+ideas in your heads to be used in its defence&mdash;what will you answer, I
+say, when you hear the brazen voice cry: 'Ye who saw destruction coming,
+did ye try to prevent it?' What will it profit you then, old Vuodi and
+ye others, to say that ye never neglected the Abdestan, the G&uuml;z&uuml;l, and
+the Th&uuml;haret ablutions, nor the five prayers of the Namazat, that ye
+have kept the fast of Ramazan and the feast of Bejram, that ye have
+richly distributed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>the Zakato<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and the Sadakato,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> that you have
+made the pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca so many times, or so many
+times, that you have kissed the sin-remitting black stone, that you have
+drunk from the well of Zemzem and seven times made the circuit of the
+mountain of Arafat and flung stones at the Devil in the valley of
+Dsemre&mdash;what will it profit you, I say, if you cannot answer that
+question? Woe to you, woe to everyone of us who see, who hear, and yet
+go on dreaming! For when we tread the Bridge of Alshirat, across whose
+razor-sharp edge every true believer must pass on his way to Paradise,
+the load of a single sin will drag you down into the abyss, down into
+Hell, and not even into the first Hell, Gehenna, where the faithful do
+penance, nor into the Hell of Ladhana, where the souls of the Jews are
+purified, nor into the Hell of Hotama wherein the Christians perish, nor
+into the Hell of Sair which is the abode of the Heretics, nor into the
+Hell of Sakar wherein the fire-worshippers curse the fire, nor yet into
+the Hell of Jahim which resounds with the yells of the idol-worshippers,
+but into the seventh hell, the deepest and most accursed hell of all,
+whose name is Al-Havija, where wallow those who only did God lip-service
+and never felt the faith in their hearts, for we pray lying prayers when
+we say that we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>worship Allah and yet allow His Temple to be defiled."</p>
+
+<p>These words deeply moved the hearts of all present. Every sentence
+alluded to the most weighty of the Moslem beliefs; the meshes of the net
+with which Halil had taken their souls captive were composed of the very
+essentials of their religious and political system, so they could but
+put their hands to their breasts, bow down before him, and say:</p>
+
+<p>"Command us and we will obey!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Halil, with the inspiration of a seer, addressed the men before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe to us if we believe that the days of threatening are still far off!
+Woe to us if we believe that the sins which will ruin the nation of
+Osman have not yet been committed! While our ancestors dwelt in tents of
+skin, half the world feared our name, but since the nation of Osman has
+strutted about in silk and velvet it has become a laughing-stock to its
+enemies. Our great men grow gardens in their palaces; they pass their
+days in the embraces of women, drinking wine, and listening to music;
+they loathe the battlefield, and oh, horrible! they blaspheme the name
+of Allah. If among the Giaours, blasphemers of God are to be found, I
+marvel not thereat, for their minds are corrupted by the multitude of
+this world's knowledge; but how can a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> Mussulman raise his head against
+God&mdash;a Mussulman who has never learnt anything in his life save to
+glorify His Name? And what are we to think when on the eve of the Feast
+of Halwet we hear a Sheik, a descendant of the family of the Prophet, a
+Sheik before whom the people bow reverently when they meet him in the
+street&mdash;what are we to think, I say, when we hear this Sheik say before
+the great men of the palace all drunk with wine: 'There is no Allah, or
+if there is an Allah he is not almighty; for if he were almighty he
+would have prevented me from saying, there is no Allah!'"</p>
+
+<p>A cry of horror arose from the assembled Mussulmans which only after a
+while died away in an angry murmur like a gradually departing gust of
+wind.</p>
+
+<p>"Who was the accursed one?" exclaimed Mohammed dervish, shaking his
+clenched fist threateningly.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Uzun Abdi, the Aga of the Janissaries," replied Halil, "who said
+that, and the others only laughed."</p>
+
+<p>"Let them all be accursed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wealth has ruined the heart of the Osmanli," continued Halil. "Who are
+they who now control the fate of the Realm? The creatures of the
+Sultana, the slaves of the Kizlar-Aga, the Izoglani, whose
+licentiousness will bring down upon Stambul the judgment of Sodom and
+Gomorrah. It is from thence we get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> our rulers and our treasurers, and
+if now and then Fate causes a hero to plump down among them he also
+grows black like a drop of water that has fallen upon soot; for the
+treasures, palaces, and odalisks of the fallen magnates are transferred
+to the new favourite, and ruin him as quickly and as completely as they
+ruined his predecessors; and so long as these palaces stand by the Sweet
+Waters more curses than prayers will be heard within the walls of
+Stambul, so that if ye want to save Stambul, ye must burn down these
+palaces, for as sure as God exists these palaces will consume Stambul."</p>
+
+<p>"We must go to the Sultan about it," said the dervish Mohammed.</p>
+
+<p>"Pulled down they must be, for no righteous man dwells therein. The
+whole of this Empire of Stone must come down, whoever is so much as a
+head taller than his brethren is a sinner. Let us raise up those who are
+lowest of all. Down from your perches, ye venal voivodes, khans, and
+pashas, who buy the Empire piecemeal with money and for money barter it
+away again! Let men of war, real men though Fame as yet knows them not,
+step into your places. The very atmosphere in which ye live is
+pestiferous because of you. For some time now, gold and silver pieces,
+stamped with the heads of men and beasts, have been circulating in our
+piazzas, although, as we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> all know, no figures of living things should
+appear on the coins of the Mussulman. Neither Russia, nor Sweden, nor
+yet Poland pay tribute to us; and yet, I say, these picture-coins still
+circulate among us. Oh! ever since Baltaji suffered White<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Mustache,
+the Emperor of the North, to escape, full well ye know it! gold and
+silver go further and hit the mark more surely than iron and lead. We
+must create a new world, none belonging to the old order of things must
+remain among us. Write down a long, long list, and carry it to the Grand
+Vizier. If he refuses to accept it, write another in his place on the
+list, and take it to the Sultan. Woe betide the nation of Osman if it
+cannot find within it as many just men as its needs require!"</p>
+
+<p>The assembled Mussulmans thereupon drew up in hot haste a long list of
+names in which they proposed fresh candidates for all the chief offices
+of the Empire. They put down Choja Dzhanum as the new Kapudan Pasha,
+Mustafa Beg as the new Minister of the Interior, Musli as the new
+Janissary Aga; the actual judges and treasurers were banished, the
+banished judges and treasurers were restored to their places; instead of
+Maurocordato, who had been educated abroad, they appointed his enemy,
+Richard Rakovitsa, surnamed Djihan, Voivode of Wallachia; instead of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>Ghyka they placed the butcher of Pera, Janaki, on the throne of
+Moldavia; and instead of Mengli Giraj, Khan of the Crimea, Kaplan Giraj,
+actually present among them, was called to ascend the throne of his
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>Kaplan Giraj pressed Halil's hand by way of expressing his gratitude for
+this mark of confidence.</p>
+
+<p>And, oddly enough, as Halil pressed the hand of the Khan, it seemed to
+him as if his arm felt an electric shock. What could it mean?</p>
+
+<p>But now Musli stood up before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me," said he, "to go with this writing to the Grand Vizier. You
+have been in the Seraglio already, let mine be the glory of displaying
+my valour by going thither likewise! Do not take all the glory to
+yourself, allow others to have a little of it too! Besides, it does not
+become you to carry your own messages to the Divan. Why even the Princes
+of the Giaours do not go there themselves but send their ambassadors."</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona gratefully pressed the Janissary's hand. He knew right
+well that he spoke from no desire of glorification, he knew that Musli
+only wanted to go instead of him because it was very possible that the
+bearer of these demands might be beheaded.</p>
+
+<p>Once again Musli begged earnestly of Halil that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> the delivery of these
+demands might be entrusted to him, and so proudly did he make his
+petition that it was impossible for Halil Patrona to deny him.</p>
+
+<p>Now Musli was a sly dog. He knew very well that it was a very risky
+business to present so many demands all at once, but he made up his mind
+that he would so completely take the Grand Vizier by surprise, that
+before he could find breath to refuse the demands of the people, he
+would grant one of them after another, for if he swallowed the first of
+them that was on the list, he might be hoodwinked into swallowing the
+rest likewise.</p>
+
+<p>The new Grand Vizier went by the name of Kabakulak, or Blunt-ear,
+because he was hard of hearing, which suited Musli exactly, as he had,
+by nature, a bad habit of bawling whenever he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>At first Kabakulak would not listen to anything at all. He seemed to
+have suddenly gone stone-deaf, and had every single word repeated to him
+three times over; but when Musli said to him that if he would not listen
+to what he was saying, he, Musli, would go off at once to the Sultan and
+tell <i>him</i>, Kabakulak opened his ears a little wider, became somewhat
+more gracious, and asked Musli, quite amicably, what he could do for
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Musli felt his courage rising many degrees since he began bawling at a
+Grand Vizier.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Halil Patrona <i>commands</i> it to be done," he bellowed in Kabakulak's
+ear.</p>
+
+<p>The Vizier threw back his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, my son!" said he, "don't shout in my ear like that, just
+as if I were deaf. What did you say it was that Halil Patrona begs of
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't twist my words, you old owl!" said Musli, naturally <i>sotto voce</i>.
+Then raising his voice, he added, "Halil Patrona wants Dzhanum Choja
+appointed Kapudan Pasha."</p>
+
+<p>"Good, good, my son! just the very thing I wanted done myself; that has
+been resolved upon long ago, so you may go away home."</p>
+
+<p>"Go away indeed! not yet! Then Wallachia wants a new voivode."</p>
+
+<p>"It has got one already, got one already I tell you, my son. His name is
+Maurocordato. Bear it in mind&mdash;Mau-ro-cor-da-to."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean to bother my tongue with it at all. As I pronounce it it
+is&mdash;Djihan."</p>
+
+<p>"Djihan? Who is Djihan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Djihan is the Voivode of Wallachia."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, you shall have it so. And what do you want for yourself, my
+son, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Musli was inscribed in the list as the Aga of the Janissaries, but he
+was too modest to speak of himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trouble your head about me, Kabakulak,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> while there are so many
+worthier men unprovided for. We want the Khan of the Crimea deposed and
+the banished Kaplan Giraj appointed in his stead."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, we will inform Kaplan Giraj of his promotion presently."</p>
+
+<p>"Not presently, but instantly. Instantly, I say, without the least
+delay."</p>
+
+<p>Musli accompanied his eloquence with such gesticulations that the Grand
+Vizier thought it prudent to fall back before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you feel well?" he asked Musli, who had suddenly become silent.
+In his excitement he had forgotten the other demands.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I have it," he said, and sitting down on the floor at his ease, he
+took the list from his bosom and extending it on the floor, began
+reciting Halil Patrona's nominations seriatim.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier approved of the whole thing, he had no objection to
+make to anything.</p>
+
+<p>Musli left Janaki's elevation last of all: "He you must make Voivode of
+Moldavia," said he.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Kabakulak went quite deaf. He could not hear a word of Musli's
+last demand.</p>
+
+<p>Musli drew nearer to him, and making a speaking-trumpet out of his
+hands, bawled in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Janaki I am talking about."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! I hear, I hear. You want him to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> allowed to provide the
+Sultan's kitchen with the flesh of bullocks and sheep. So be it! He
+shall have the charge."</p>
+
+<p>"Would that the angel Izrafil might blow his trumpet in thine ear!" said
+Musli to himself <i>sotto voce</i>. "I am not talking of his trade as a
+butcher," added he aloud. "I say that he is to be made Prince of
+Moldavia."</p>
+
+<p>Kabakulak now thought it just as well to show that he heard what had
+been asked, and replied very gravely:</p>
+
+<p>"You know not what you are asking. The Padishah, only four days ago,
+gave this office to Prince Ghyka, who is a wise and distinguished man.
+The Sultan cannot go back from his word."</p>
+
+<p>"A wise and distinguished man!" cried Musli in amazement. "What am I to
+understand by that? Is there any difference then between one Giaour and
+another?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Sultan has so ordered it, and without his knowledge I cannot take
+upon myself to alter his decrees."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, go to the Sultan then and get him to undo again what he has
+done. For the rest you can do what you like for what I care, only beware
+of one thing, beware lest you lose the favour of Halil Patrona!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Kabakulak by this time had had nearly enough of Musli, but the latter
+still continued diligently to consult his list. He recollected that
+Halil Patrona had charged him to say something else, but what it was he
+could not for the life of him call to mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes! now I have it!" he cried at last. "Halil commands that those
+nasty palaces which stand by the Sweet Waters shall be burnt to the
+ground."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose, my worthy incendiaries, you will next ask permission to
+plunder Stambul out and out?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is too bad of you, Kabakulak, to speak like that. Halil does not
+want the palaces burnt for the love of the thing, but because he does
+not want the generals to have an asylum where they may hide, plant
+flowers, and wallow in vile delights just when they ought to be
+hastening to the camp. If every pasha had not his paradise here on earth
+and now, many more of them would desire the heavenly Paradise. That is
+why Halil Patrona would have all those houses of evil luxury burnt to
+the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"May Halil Patrona live long enough to see it come to pass. This also
+will I report to the Sultan."</p>
+
+<p>"Look sharp about it then! I will wait in your room here till you come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"You will wait here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, never mind about me! I have given orders that my dinner is to be
+sent after me here. I look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> to you for coffee and tobacco, and if you
+happen to be delayed till early to-morrow morning, you will find me
+sleeping here on the carpet."</p>
+
+<p>Kabakulak could now see that he had to do with a man of character who
+would not stir from the spot till everything had been settled completely
+to his satisfaction. The most expeditious mode of ending matters would,
+no doubt, have been to summon a couple of ciauses and make them lay the
+rascal's head at his own feet, but the political horizon was not yet
+sufficiently serene for such acts of daring. The bands of the insurgents
+were still encamping in the public square outside. First of all they
+must be hoodwinked and pacified, only after that would it be possible
+to proceed to extreme measures against them.</p>
+
+<p>All that the Grand Vizier could do, therefore, was frankly to present
+all Halil Patrona's demands to the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud granted everything on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>In an hour's time the firmans and hatti-scherifs, deposing and elevating
+the various functionaries, were in Musli's hands as desired.</p>
+
+<p>Only as to the method of destroying the kiosks did the Sultan venture to
+make a suggestion. They had better not be burnt to the ground, he
+opined, for thereby the Mussulmans would make themselves the
+laughing-stock of the whole Christian world; but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> undertook to
+dilapidate the walls and devastate the pleasure-gardens.</p>
+
+<p>And within three days one hundred and twenty splendid kiosks, standing
+beside the Sweet Waters, had become so many rubbish heaps; and the rare
+and costly plants of the beautiful flower-gardens were chucked into the
+water, and the groves of amorous dallying were cut down to the very
+roots. Only ruins were now to be seen in the place of the fairy palaces
+wherein all manner of earthly joys had hitherto built their nests, and
+all this ruin was wrought in three days by Halil Patrona, just because
+there is but one God, and therefore but one Paradise, and because this
+Paradise is not on earth but in Heaven, and those who would attain
+thereto must strive and struggle valiantly for it in this life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> 1481 <span class="smcap">A.D.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Ablutions before prayers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The first section of the Koran.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The Imperial Treasury.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The part of Stambul inhabited by the Greeks.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Companies of horse.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Tablets indicating the direction in which Mecca lies.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "God be for ever gracious to him."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Believer.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Unbeliever.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Anti-Christ.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The prescribed almsgiving.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Voluntary almsgiving.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Peter the Great. The allusion is to the Peace of the
+Pruth.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h4>HUMAN HOPES.</h4>
+
+
+<p>A time will come when the star has risen so high that it can rise no
+higher, and perchance learns to know that before long it must begin its
+inevitable descent!...</p>
+
+<p>All Halil Patrona's wildest dreams had been realised. There he stood at
+the very apex of sovereignty, whence the course of empires, the destiny
+of worlds can be controlled. Ministers of State were pulled down or
+lifted up at his bidding, armies were sent against foreign powers as he
+directed, princes were strengthened on their thrones because Halil
+Patrona wished it, and the great men of the empire lay in the dust at
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>For whole days at a time he sat reading the books of the Ottoman
+chroniclers, the famous Rashid and the wise Chelbizade, and after that
+he would pore over maps and charts and draw lines of different colours
+across them in all directions, and dot them with dots which he alone
+understood the meaning of.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> And those lines and dots stretched far, far
+away beyond the borders of the empire, right into the midst of Podolia
+and the Ukraine. He knew, and he only, what he meant by them.</p>
+
+<p>The projects he was hatching required centuries for their
+fulfilment&mdash;what is the life of a mere man?</p>
+
+<p>In thought he endowed the rejuvenescent Ottoman Empire with the energies
+of a thousand years. Once more he perceived its conquering sword winning
+fresh victories, and extending its dominions towards the East and the
+South, but especially towards the North. He saw the most powerful of
+nations do it homage; he saw the guardian-angels of Islam close their
+eyes before the blinding flashes of the triumphant swords of the sons of
+Osman, and hasten to record in the Book of the Future events very
+different from those which had been written down before.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, human hopes, human hopes!&mdash;the blast blows upon them and they
+crumble away to nothing.</p>
+
+<p>But Halil's breast beat with a still greater joy, with a still loftier
+hope, when turning away from the tumult of the world, he opened the door
+of his private room and entered therein.</p>
+
+<p>What voices are those which it does his soul good to hearken to? Why
+does he pause and stand listening before the curtain? What is he
+listening to?</p>
+
+<p>It is the feeble cry of a child, a little baby child.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> A few days before
+G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze bore him a son, on the anniversary of the very day when he
+made her his wife. This child was the purest part of Halil's joy, the
+loftiest star of his hopes. Whithersoever I may one day rise, he would
+reflect, this child shall rise with me. Whatever I shall not be able to
+achieve, he will accomplish. Those happier, more glorious times which I
+shall never be able to see, he will rejoice in. Through him I shall
+leave behind me in Ottoman history an eternal fame&mdash;a fame like to that
+of the K&uuml;prili family, which for a whole century and a half gave heroes
+and saints and sages to the empire.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze wanted the child to be called Ferh&aacute;d, or Sender, as so many
+of the children of the poor were wont to be called; but Halil gave him
+the name of Behram. "He is a man-child," said Halil, "who will one day
+be called to great things."</p>
+
+<p>Human calculations, human hopes, what are they? To-day the tree stands
+full of blossoms, to-morrow it lies prone on the ground, cut down to the
+very roots.</p>
+
+<p>Who shall strive with the Almighty, and from what son of man does the
+Lord God take counsel?</p>
+
+<p>Halil stole on tip-toe to the bed of his wife who was playing with the
+child; she did not perceive him till he was quite close to her. How they
+rejoiced together! The baby wandered from hand to hand;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> how they
+embraced and kissed it! Both of them seemed to live their lives over
+again in the little child.</p>
+
+<p>And now old Janaki also drew nigh. His face was smiling, but whenever he
+opened his mouth his words were sad and gloomy. All joy vanished from
+his life the moment he was made a voivode, just as if he felt that only
+Death could relieve him of that dignity. He had a peculiar joy in
+perpetually prophesying evil things.</p>
+
+<p>"If only you could bring the child up!" he cried; "but you will not live
+long enough to do that. Men like you, Halil, never live long, and I
+don't want to survive you. You will see me die, if see you can; and when
+you die, your child will be doubly an orphan."</p>
+
+<p>With such words did he trouble them. They were always relieved when, at
+last, he would creep into a corner and fall asleep from sheer weariness,
+for his anxiety made him more and more somnolent as he grew older.</p>
+
+<p>But again the door opened, and there entered the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, the
+guardian of the ladies of the Seraglio, accompanied by two slave-girls
+carrying a splendid porcelain pitcher, which they deposited at the sick
+woman's bed with this humble salutation:</p>
+
+<p>"The Sultana Valid&eacute; greets thee and sends thee this sherbet!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> The
+Sultana Valid&eacute;, or Dowager, used only to send special messages to the
+Sultan's favourite wives when they lay in child-bed; this, therefore,
+was a great distinction for the wife of Halil Patrona&mdash;or a great
+humiliation for the Sultana.</p>
+
+<p>And a great humiliation it certainly was for the latter.</p>
+
+<p>It was by the command of Sultan Mahmud that the Sultana had sent the
+sherbet.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Halil, "the great ones of the earth kiss the dust off
+your feet. There are slaves besides those in the bazaars, and the first
+become the last. Rejoice in the present, my princess, and catch Fortune
+on the wing."</p>
+
+<p>"Fortune, Halil," said his wife with a mournful smile, "is like the eels
+of the Bosphorus, it slips from your grasp just as you fancy you hold it
+fast."</p>
+
+<p>And Halil believed that he held it fast in his grasp.</p>
+
+<p>The highest officers of state were his friends and colleagues, the
+Sultan himself was under obligations to him, for indeed Halil had
+fetched him from the dungeon of the Seven Towers to place him on the
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>And at that very moment they were digging the snare for him into which
+he was to fall.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan who could not endure the thought that he was under a debt of
+gratitude to a poor oppressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> pedlar, the Sultana who could never
+forget the humiliation she had suffered because of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, the
+Kizlar-Aga who feared the influence of Halil, the Grand Vizier who had
+been compelled to eat humble pie&mdash;all of them had long been waiting for
+an occasion to ruin him.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>One day the Sultan distributed thirty wagon-loads of money among the
+forty thousand Janissaries and the sixteen thousand Topadshis in the
+capital because they had proposed to be reconciled with the Seraglio and
+reassemble beneath the banner of the Prophet. The insurgent mob,
+moreover, promised to disperse under two conditions: a complete amnesty
+for past offences, and permission to retain two of their banners that
+they might be able to assemble together again in case anything was
+undertaken against them. Their requests were all granted. Halil Patrona,
+too, was honoured by being made one of the privy councillors of the
+Divan.</p>
+
+<p>Seven-and-twenty of the popular leaders were invited at the same time to
+appear in the Divan and assist in its deliberations. Halil Patrona was
+the life and soul of the lot.</p>
+
+<p>He inspired them with magnanimous, enlightened resolutions, and when in
+his enthusiastic way he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> addressed them, the worthy cobblers and
+fishermen felt themselves turned into heroes, and it seemed as if <i>they</i>
+were the leaders of the nation, while the pashas and grandees sitting
+beside them were mere fishermen and cobblers.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone of his old friends and his new colleagues looked up to and
+admired him.</p>
+
+<p>Only one person could not reconcile himself with the thought that he
+owed his power to a pedlar who had risen from the dust&mdash;and this man was
+Kaplan Giraj, the Khan of the Crimea.</p>
+
+<p>He was to be Halil's betrayer.</p>
+
+<p>He informed the Grand Vizier of the projects of Halil, who wished to
+persuade the Sultan to declare war against Russia, because Russia was
+actively assisting Persia. Moldavia and the Crimea were the starting
+points of the armies that were to clip the wings of the menacing
+northern foe, and thereby nullify the terrible prophecies of the "Takimi
+Vekai."</p>
+
+<p>Kaplan Giraj informed Kabakulak of these designs, and they agreed that a
+man with such temerarious projects in his head ought not to live any
+longer&mdash;he was much too dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>They resolved that he should be killed during the deliberations at the
+house of the Grand Vizier. For this purpose they chose from among the
+most daring of the Janissaries those officers who had a grudge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> against
+Halil for enforcing discipline against them, and were also jealous of
+what they called his usurpation of authority. These men they took with
+them to the council as members of the Divan.</p>
+
+<p>It was arranged thus. When Halil had brought forward and defended his
+motion for a war against Russia, then Kaplan Giraj would argue against
+the project, whereupon Halil was sure to lose his temper. The Khan
+thereupon was to rush upon him with a drawn sword, and this was to be
+the signal for the Janissary officers to rise in a body and massacre all
+Halil's followers.</p>
+
+<p>So it was a well-prepared trap into which Halil and his associates were
+to fall, and they had not the slightest suspicion of the danger that was
+hanging over their heads.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier sat in the centre of the councillors, beside him on his
+right hand sat Kaplan Giraj, while the place of honour on his left was
+reserved for Halil Patrona. All around sat the Spahi and Janissary
+officers with their swords in their hands.</p>
+
+<p>The plot was well contrived, the whole affair was bound to be over in a
+few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>The popular deputies arrived; there were seven-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>and-twenty of them, not
+including Halil Patrona. The Janissary officers were sixty in number.</p>
+
+<p>Kabakulak beckoned to Halil to sit on his left hand, the others were so
+arranged that each one of them sat between a couple of Janissary
+officers. As soon as Kaplan Giraj gave the signal by drawing his sword
+against Halil, the Janissaries were to fall upon their victims and cut
+them down.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear son," said the Grand Vizier to Halil, when they had all taken
+their places, "behold, at thy desire, we have summoned the council and
+the chief officers of the Army; tell them, I pray thee, wherefore thou
+hast called them together!"</p>
+
+<p>Halil thereupon arose, and turning towards the assembly thus addressed
+it:</p>
+
+<p>"Mussulmans! faithful followers of the Prophet! If any one of you were
+to hear that his house was on fire, would he need lengthy explanations
+before hastening away to extinguish it? If ye were to hear that robbers
+had broken into your houses and were plundering your goods&mdash;if ye were
+to hear that ruffians were throttling your little children or your aged
+parents, or threatening the lives of your wives with drawn swords, would
+you wait for further confirmation or persuasion before doing anything,
+or would you not rather rush away of your own accord to slay these
+robbers and murderers? And lo! what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> is more than our houses, more than
+our property, more than our children, our parents, or our wives&mdash;our
+Fatherland, our faith is threatened with destruction by our enemy. And
+this enemy has all the will but not yet the power to accomplish what he
+threatens; and his design is never abandoned, but is handed down from
+father to son, for never will he make peace, he will ever slay and
+destroy till he himself is destroyed and slain&mdash;this enemy is the
+Muscovite. Our fathers heard very little of that name, our sons will
+hear more, and our grandsons will weep exceedingly because of it. Our
+religion bids us to be resigned to the decrees of fate, but only cowards
+will be content to sit with their hands in their laps because the
+predestined fate of the Ottoman Empire is written in Heaven. If the
+prophecy says that a time must come when the Ottoman Empire must fall to
+pieces because of the cowardice of the Ottoman nation, does it not
+depend upon us and our children whether the prophecy be accomplished, or
+whether its fulfilment be far removed from us? Of a truth the
+signification of that prophecy is this: We shall perish if we are
+cowards; let us <i>not</i> be cowards then, and never shall we perish. And if
+the foe whose sword shall one day deal the nations of Muhammad the most
+terrible wounds, and whose giant footsteps shall leave on Turkish soil
+the bloodiest and most shameful imprints<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>&mdash;if I say this foe be already
+pointed out to us, why should we not anticipate him, why should we wait
+till he has grown big enough to swallow us up when we are now strong
+enough to destroy him? The opportunity is favourable. The Cossacks
+demand help from us against the Muscovite dominion. If we give them this
+help they will be our allies, if we withhold it they will become our
+adversaries. The Tartars, the Circassians, and Moldavians are the
+bulwarks of our Empire, let us join to them the Cossacks also, and not
+wait until they all become the bulwarks of our northern foe instead, and
+he will lead them all against us. When he built the fortress of Azov he
+showed us plainly what he meant by it. Let us also now show that we
+understood his intentions and raze that fortress to the ground."</p>
+
+<p>With these words Halil resumed his place.</p>
+
+<p>As pre-arranged Kaplan Giraj now stood up in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>Halil fully expected that the Tartar Khan, who was to have played such
+an important part in his project, inasmuch as his dominions were
+directly in the way of an invading enemy, and therefore most nearly
+threatened, would warmly support his proposition. All the greater then
+was his amazement when Kaplan Giraj turned towards him with a
+contemptuous smile and replied in these words:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is a great calamity for an Empire when its leading counsellors are
+ignorant. I will not question your good intentions, Halil, but it
+strikes me as very comical that you should wish us, on the strength of
+the prophecy of a Turkish recluse, to declare war against one of our
+neighbours who is actually living at peace with us, is doing us no harm,
+and harbours no mischievous designs against us. You speak as if Europe
+was absolutely uninhabited by any but ourselves, as if there was no such
+thing as powerful nations on every side of us, jealous neighbours all of
+them who would incontinently fall upon us with their banded might in
+case of a war unjustly begun by us. All this comes from the simple fact
+that you do not understand the world, Halil. How could you, a mere petty
+huckster, be expected to do so? So pray leave in peace Imperial affairs,
+and whenever you think fit to occupy your time in reading poems and
+fairy-tales, don't fancy they are actual facts."</p>
+
+<p>The representatives of the people regarded the Khan with amazement.
+Halil, with a bitter look, measured him from head to foot. He knew now
+that he had been betrayed. And he had been betrayed by the very man to
+whom he had assigned a hero's part!</p>
+
+<p>With a smiling face he turned towards him. He had no thought now that he
+had fallen into a trap.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> He addressed the Khan as if they were both in
+the room together alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Truly you spoke the truth, Kaplan Giraj, when you reproached me with
+the shame of ignorance. I never learnt anything but the Koran, I have
+never had the opportunity of reading those books which mock at the
+things which are written in the Koran; I only know that when the Prophet
+proclaimed war against the idolators he never inquired of the
+neighbouring nations, Shall I do this, or shall I not do it? and so he
+always triumphed. I know this, too, that since the Divan has taken to
+debating and negociating with its enemies, the Ottoman armies have been
+driven across the three rivers&mdash;the Danube, the Dnieper, and the
+Pruth&mdash;and melt away and perish in every direction. I am a rough and
+ignorant man I know, therefore do not be amazed at me if I would defend
+the faith of Mohammed with the sword when, perhaps, there may be other
+means of doing so with which I am unacquainted. I, on the other hand,
+will not be astonished that you, a scion of the princely Crimean family,
+should be afraid of war. You were born a ruler and know therefore that
+your life is precious. You embellish the deeds of your enemy that you
+may not be obliged to fight against him. You say 'tis a good neighbour,
+a peaceful neighbour, he does no harm, although you very well know that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+it was the Muscovite guns which drove our Timariots out of Kermanshan,
+and that the Persians were allowed to march through Russian territory in
+order to fall upon our general Abdullah Pasha from behind. But there is
+nothing hostile about all this in your eyes, you are perfectly contented
+with your fate. War might deprive you of your Khannish dignity, while in
+peaceful times you can peaceably retain it. It matters not to you whose
+servant you may be so long as you hold sway in your own domain, and you
+call him a blockhead who does not look after himself first of all. Yes,
+Kaplan Giraj, I am a blockhead no doubt, for I am not afraid to risk
+losing this wretched life, awaiting my reward in another world. I was
+not born in silks and purples but in the love of my country and the fear
+of God, while you are wise enough to be satisfied with the joys of this
+life. But, by way of reward for betraying your good friend, may Allah
+cause you, one day, to become the slave of your enemies, so that he who
+was wont to be called Kaplan<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> may henceforth be named Sichian."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>Even had nothing been preconcerted, Kaplan Giraj's sword must needs have
+leaped from its sheath at these mortally insulting words. Furiously he
+leaped from his seat with his flashing sword in his hand.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>Ah! but now it was the turn of the Grand Vizier and all the other
+conspirators to be amazed.</p>
+
+<p>The Janissaries who had been placed by the side of the popular leaders
+never budged from their seats, and not one of them drew his weapon at
+the given signal.</p>
+
+<p>Such inertia was so inexplicable to the initiated that Kaplan Giraj
+remained standing in front of Halil paralyzed with astonishment. As for
+Halil he simply crossed his arms over his breast and gazed upon him
+contemptuously. The Janissary officers had disregarded the signal.</p>
+
+<p>"I am well aware," said Halil to the Khan with cold sobriety&mdash;"I am well
+aware what sort of respect is due to this place, and therefore I do not
+draw my sword against yours even in self-defence. For though I am not so
+well versed in European customs as you are, and know not whether it is
+usual in the council-chambers of foreign nations to settle matters with
+the sword, or whether it is the rule in the French or the English
+cabinet that he who cuts down his opponent in mid-council is in the
+right and his opinion must needs prevail&mdash;but of so much I am certain,
+that it is not the habit to settle matters with naked weapons in the
+Ottoman Divan. Now that the council is over, however, perhaps you would
+like to descend with me into the gardens where we may settle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> the
+business out of hand, and free one another from the thought that death
+is terrible."</p>
+
+<p>Halil's cold collected bearing silenced, disarmed his enemies. The eyes
+of the Grand Vizier and the Khan surveyed the ranks of the Janissary
+officers, while Halil's faithful adherents began to assemble round their
+leader.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is no answer to the words of Halil Patrona?" inquired
+Kabakulak at last tentatively.</p>
+
+<p>They were all silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no answer at all then?"</p>
+
+<p>At this all the Janissaries arose, and one of them stepping forward
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Halil is right. We agree with all that he has said."</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier did not know whether he was standing on his head or his
+heels. Kaplan Giraj wrathfully thrust his sword back again into its
+scabbard. All the Janissary officers evidently were on Halil Patrona's
+side.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible not to observe the confusion in the faces of the chief
+plotters; the well-laid plot could not be carried out.</p>
+
+<p>After a long interval Kabakulak was the first to recover himself, and
+tried to put a new face on matters till a better opportunity should
+arise.</p>
+
+<p>"Such important resolutions," said he, "cannot be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> carried into effect
+without the knowledge of the Sultan. To-morrow, therefore, let us all
+assemble in the Seraglio to lay our desires before the Padishah. You
+also will be there, Halil, and you also, Kaplan Giraj."</p>
+
+<p>"Which of us twain will be there Allah only knows," said Halil.</p>
+
+<p>"There, my son, you spake not well; nay, very ill hast thou spoken. It
+is a horrible thing when two Mussulmans revile one another. Be
+reconciled rather, and extend to each other the hand of fellowship! I
+will not allow you to fight. Both of you spoke with good intentions, and
+he is a criminal who will not forget personal insults when it is a
+question of the commonweal. Forgive one another and shake hands, I say."</p>
+
+<p>And he seized the reluctant hands of both men and absolutely forced them
+to shake hands with each other. But he could not prevent their eyes from
+meeting, and though swords were denied them their glances of mutual
+hatred were enough to wound to the death.</p>
+
+<p>After the council broke up, Halil's enemies remained behind with the
+Grand Vizier. Kaplan Giraj gnashed his teeth with rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I tell you not to let him speak!" he exclaimed, "for when once
+he opens his mouth he turns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> every drawn sword against us, and drives
+wrath from the breasts of men with the glamour of his tongue."</p>
+
+<p>So they had three days wherein to hatch a fresh plot.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The session of the Divan was fixed for three days later. Halil Patrona
+employed the interval like a man who feels that his last hour is at
+hand. He would have been very short-sighted not to have perceived that
+judgment had already been pronounced against him, although his enemies
+were still doubtful how to carry it into execution.</p>
+
+<p>He resigned himself to his fate as it became a pious Mussulman to do. He
+had only one anxiety which he would gladly have been rid of&mdash;what was to
+become of his wife and child.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the last day he led G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze down to the shore of
+the Bosphorus as if he would take a walk with her. The woman carried her
+child in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>Since the woman had had a child she had acquired a much braver aspect.
+The gentlest animal will be audacious when it has young ones, even the
+dove becomes savage when it is hatching its fledgelings.</p>
+
+<p>Halil put his wife into a covered boat, which was soon flying along
+under the impulse of his muscular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> arms. The child rejoiced aloud at the
+rocking of the boat, he fancied it was the motion of his cradle. The
+eyes of the woman were fixed now upon the sky and now upon the unruffled
+surface of the watery mirror. A star smiled down upon her wheresoever
+she gazed. The evening was very still.</p>
+
+<p>"Knowest thou whither I am taking thee, G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze?" asked her husband.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou wert to ask me whither thou oughtest to send me, I would say
+take me to some remote and peaceful valley enclosed all around by lofty
+mountains. Build me there a little hut by the side of a bubbling spring,
+and let there be a little garden in front of the little hut. Let me
+stroll beneath the leaves of the cedar-trees, where I may hear no other
+sound but the cooing of the wood-pigeon; let me pluck flowers on the
+banks of the purling brook, and spy upon the wild deer; let me live
+there and die there&mdash;live in thine arms and die in the flowering field
+by the side of the purling brook. If thou wert to ask me, whither shall
+I take thee, so would I answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast said it," replied Halil, shipping the oars, for the rising
+evening breeze had stiffened out the sail and the little boat was flying
+along of its own accord; then he sat him down beside his wife and
+continued, "I am indeed sending thee to a remote and hidden valley,
+where a little hut stands on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> banks of a purling stream. I have
+prepared it for thee, and there shalt thou dwell with thy child."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou thyself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will guide thee to the opposite shore, there an old family servant of
+thy father's awaits thee with saddled mules. He loves thee dearly, and
+will bring thee into that quiet valley and he must never leave thee."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou?"</p>
+
+<p>"This little coffer thou wilt take with thee; it contains money which I
+got from thy father; no curse, no blood is upon it, it shall be thine
+and thy children's."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou?" inquired G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze for the third time, and she was very
+near to bursting into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to return to Stambul. But I will come after thee. Perhaps
+to-morrow, perhaps the day after to-morrow, perhaps later still. It may
+be very much sooner, it may be much later. But thou wait for me. Every
+evening spread the table for me, for thou knowest not when I may
+arrive."</p>
+
+<p>The tears of G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze began to fall upon the child she held to her
+breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Why weepest thou?" asked Halil. "'Tis foolish of thee. Leave-taking is
+short, suspense only is long. It will be better with thee than with me,
+for thou wilt have the child while I shall have nothing left, yet I do
+not weep because we shall so soon meet again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile they had reached the shore, the old servant was awaiting them
+with the two mules. Halil helped his wife to descend from the boat.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze buried her head in her husband's bosom and tenderly embraced
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Go not back, leave me not alone," said she; "do not leave us, come with
+us. What dost thou seek in that big desolate city when we are no longer
+there? Come with us, let us all go together, vanish with us. Let them
+search for thee, and may their search be as vain as the search for a
+star fallen from Heaven; it is not good for thee to be in high places."</p>
+
+<p>Halil made no reply. His wife spoke the truth, but pride prevented him
+from escaping like a coward when he knew that his enemies were
+conspiring against him. Presently he said to G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze with a
+reassuring voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be anxious on my account, I have a talisman with me. Why dost
+thou smile? Thou a Christian woman dost not believe in talismans? My
+talisman is my heart, surely thou believest in it now? It has always
+helped me hitherto."</p>
+
+<p>And with that Halil kissed his wife and his child and returned to the
+boat. He seized the oars in his powerful hands and was soon some
+distance from the shore. And as he rowed further and further away into
+the gloom of evening he saw his abandoned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> wife still standing on the
+shore with her child clasped to her breast, and the further he receded
+the keener grew his anguish of heart because he durst not turn back to
+them and kiss and embrace them once more.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Early in the morning the gigantic Halil Pelivan, accompanied by twelve
+bostanjis, appeared among the Janissaries with three asses laden with
+five little panniers, containing five thousand ducats which he emptied
+upon the ground and distributed among the brave fellows.</p>
+
+<p>"The Grand Vizier sends you this, my worthy comrades," cried he.</p>
+
+<p>This was the only way of talking sense to the Janissaries.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I have to ask something of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Say on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is there among you any fellow who loves nobody, who would be capable of
+slaying his own dear father if he were commanded so to do and well paid
+for it, who is afraid of nothing, has no bowels of compassion, and
+cannot be made to falter by the words of the wise?"</p>
+
+<p>In response to this challenge, hundreds and hundreds of the Janissaries
+stepped out of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> ranks, declaring that they were just the boys to
+satisfy Pelivan's demands.</p>
+
+<p>Pelivan selected from amongst them two-and-thirty of the most muscular
+and truculent, and commanded them to follow him into the Seraglio.</p>
+
+<p>Once there he conducted them into the Porcelain Chamber, made them squat
+down on the precious carpets, put before them quantities of the most
+savoury food, which they washed down with the rich wine of Cypress and
+the heating Muskoveto, a mysterious beverage generally reserved for the
+Sultan's use, which is supposed to confer courage and virility. When
+they had well eaten and drunken moreover, Pelivan supplied them with as
+much opium as they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards there came out to them the Grand Vizier, the lame
+Pasha, Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, the chief Justiciary of Rumelia, the
+cobbler's son, and the Tartar Khan, who patted their shoulders, tasted
+of their food, drank out of their goblets, and after telling them what
+fine brave fellows they were, discreetly withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>The Divan meanwhile had assembled in the Hall of Lions.</p>
+
+<p>There were gathered together the Ulemas, the Viziers, and the
+representatives of the people. Halil Patrona was there also; and
+presently Kabakulak,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, and Kaplan Giraj
+arrived likewise and took their places.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier turned first of all to Halil, whom he addressed with
+benign condescension.</p>
+
+<p>"The Padishah assures thee through me of his grace and favour, and of
+his own good pleasure appoints thee Beglerbeg of Rumelia."</p>
+
+<p>And with that a couple of d&uuml;lbendars advanced with the costly kaftan of
+investiture.</p>
+
+<p>Halil Patrona reflected for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan indeed had always been gracious towards him. He evidently
+wanted to favour him with an honourable way of retreat. He was offering
+him a high dignity whereby he might be able to withdraw from the
+capital, and yet at the same time gratify his ambition. The Sultan
+really had a kindly heart then. He rewards the man whom his ministers
+would punish as a malefactor.</p>
+
+<p>But his hesitation only lasted for a moment. Then he recovered himself
+and resolutely answered:</p>
+
+<p>"I will not accept that kaftan. For myself I ask nothing. I did not come
+here to receive high office, I came to hear war proclaimed."</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Vizier bowed down before him.</p>
+
+<p>"Thy word is decisive. The Padishah has decided that what thou and thy
+comrades demand shall be accomplished. The Grand Seignior himself
+awaits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> thee in the Porcelain Chamber. There war shall be proclaimed,
+and the kaftans of remembrance distributed to thee and thy fellows."</p>
+
+<p>And with that the Ulemas and Halil's comrades were led away to the kiosk
+of Erivan.</p>
+
+<p>"And ye who are the finest fellows of us all," said Kabakulak, turning
+to Halil and Musli&mdash;"ye, Halil and Musli, come first of all to kiss the
+Sultan's hand."</p>
+
+<p>Halil with a cold smile pressed Musli's hand. Even now poor Musli had no
+idea what was about to befall them. Only when at "the gate of the cold
+spring" the Spahis on guard divested them of their weapons, for none may
+approach the Sultan with a sword by him&mdash;only, then, I say, did he have
+a dim sensation that all was not well.</p>
+
+<p>In the Sofa Chamber, where the Divan is erected, is a niche separated
+from the rest of the chamber by a high golden trellis-work screen,
+behind whose curtains it is the traditional custom of the Sultan to
+listen privately to the deliberations of his counsellors. From behind
+these curtains a woman's face was now peeping. It was Adsalis, the
+favourite Sultana, and behind her stood Elhaj Beshir, the Kizlar-Aga.
+Both of them knew there would be a peculiar spectacle, something well
+worth seeing in that chamber to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The curtains covering the doors of the Porcelain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> Chamber bulged out,
+and immediately afterwards two men entered. They advanced to the steps
+of the Sultan's throne, knelt down there, and kissed the hem of the
+Sultan's garment.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud was sitting on his throne, the same instant Kabakulak clapped his
+hands and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Bring in their kaftans!"</p>
+
+<p>At these words out of the adjoining apartment rushed Pelivan and the
+thirty-two Janissaries with drawn swords.</p>
+
+<p>Mahmud hid his face so as not to see what was about to happen.</p>
+
+<p>"Halil! we are betrayed!" exclaimed Musli, and placing himself in front
+of his comrade he received on his own body the first blow which Pelivan
+had aimed at Halil.</p>
+
+<p>"In vain hast thou written thy name above mine, Patrona," roared the
+giant, waving his huge broadsword above his head.</p>
+
+<p>At these words Halil drew forth from his girdle a dagger which he had
+secreted there, and hurled it with such force at Pelivan that the sharp
+point pierced his left shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>But the next moment he was felled to the ground by a mortal blow.</p>
+
+<p>While still on his knees he raised his eyes to Heaven and said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is the will of Allah."</p>
+
+<p>At another blow he collapsed, and falling prone breathed forth his last
+sigh:</p>
+
+<p>"I die, but my son is still alive."</p>
+
+<p>And he died.</p>
+
+<p>Then all his associates were brought into the Sofa Chamber one by one
+from the Erivan kiosk where they had been robed in splendid kaftans, and
+as they entered the room were decapitated one after the other. They had
+not even time to shut their eyes before the fatal stroke descended.</p>
+
+<p>Six-and-twenty of them perished there and then.</p>
+
+<p>Only three survived the day, Sulali, Mohammed the dervish, and Alir
+Aalem, the custodian of the sacred banner and justiciary of Stambul. All
+three were Ulemas, and therefore not even the Sultan was free to slay
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the Grand Vizier appointed them all Sandjak-Begs, or
+governors of provinces.</p>
+
+<p>As they knew nothing of the death of their comrades they accepted the
+dignities conferred upon them, renouncing at the same time as usual
+their office of Ulemas.</p>
+
+<p>The following day they were all put to death.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day after that the people of the city in their walks abroad
+saw eight-and-thirty severed heads stuck on the ends of spears over the
+central<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> gate of the Seraglio. All these heads, with their starting eyes
+and widely parted lips, seemed to be speaking to the amazed multitudes;
+only Halil Patrona's eyes were closed and his lips sealed.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a great cry of woe arose from one end of the city to the other,
+the people seized their arms and rushed off to the Etmeidan under three
+banners.</p>
+
+<p>They had no other leader now but Janaki, all the rest had escaped or
+were dead. So now they brought <i>him</i> forward. The tidings of Halil's
+death wrought no change in him, he had foreseen it long before, and was
+well aware that G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze had departed from the capital. He had himself
+prepared for her the little dwelling in the valley lost among the
+ravines of Mount Taurus, which was scarce known to any save to him and
+the few dwellers there, and he had brought back with him from thence a
+pair of carrier-pigeons, so that in case of necessity he might be able
+to send messages to his daughter without having to depend on human
+agency.</p>
+
+<p>When the clamorous mob invited him to the Etmeidan he wrote to his
+daughter on a tiny shred of vellum, and tied the letter beneath the wing
+of the pigeon.</p>
+
+<p>And this is what he wrote:</p>
+
+<p>"God's grace be with thee! Wait not for Halil, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> is dead. The
+Janissaries have killed him. And I shall not be long after him, take my
+word for it. But live thou and watch over thy child.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Janaki</span>."</p>
+
+<p>With that he opened the window and let the dove go, and she, rising
+swiftly into the air, remained poised on high for a time with fluttering
+pinions, and then, with the swiftness and directness of a well-aimed
+dart, she flew straight towards the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Irene!" sighed Janaki, buckling on his sword with which he
+certainly was not very likely to kill anybody&mdash;and he accompanied the
+insurgents to the Etmeidan.</p>
+
+<p>In Stambul things were all topsy-turvy once more. The seventh Janissary
+regiment, when the two-and-thirty Janissaries returned to them with
+bloody swords boasting of their deed, rushed upon them and cut them to
+pieces. The new Janissary Aga was shot dead within his own gates.
+Kabakulak retired within a mosque. Halil Pelivan, who had been appointed
+Kulkiaja, hid himself in a drain pipe for three whole days, and never
+emerged therefrom so long as the uproar lasted.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later all was quiet again.</p>
+
+<p>A new name came to the front which quelled the risen tempest&mdash;the last
+scion of the famous K&uuml;prili family, every member of which was a hero.</p>
+
+<p>Achmed K&uuml;prilizade collected together the ten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> thousand shebejis,
+bostanjis, and baltajis who dwelt round the Seraglio, and when everyone
+was in despair attacked the rebels in the open streets, routed them in
+the piazzas, and in three days seven thousand of the people fell beneath
+his blows&mdash;and so the realm had peace once more.</p>
+
+<p>Janaki also fell. They chopped off his head and he offered not the
+slightest resistance.</p>
+
+<p>As for Pelivan and Kabakulak they were banished for their cowardice.</p>
+
+<p>So Achmed K&uuml;prilizade became Grand Vizier.</p>
+
+<p>As for Achmed III. he lived nine years longer in the Seven Towers, and
+tradition says he died by poison.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Tiger.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Mouse.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE EMPTY PLACE.</h4>
+
+
+<p>Everything was now calm and quiet, and the world pursued its ordinary
+course; but far away among the Blue Mountains dwells a woman who knows
+nothing of all that is going on around her, and who every evening
+ascends the highest summit of the hills surrounding her little hut and
+gazes eagerly, longingly, in the direction of Stambul, following with
+her eyes the long zig-zag path which vanishes in the dim distance&mdash;will
+he come to-day whom she has so long awaited in vain?</p>
+
+<p>Every evening she returns mournfully to her little dwelling, and
+whenever she sits down to supper she places opposite to her a platter
+and a mug&mdash;and so she waits for him who comes not. At night she lays
+Halil's pillow beside her, and puts <i>their</i> child between the pillow and
+herself that he may find it there when he comes.</p>
+
+<p>And so day follows day.</p>
+
+<p>One day there came a tapping at her window. With joy she leaps from her
+bed to open it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is not Halil but a pigeon&mdash;a carrier-pigeon bringing a letter.</p>
+
+<p>G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze opens the letter and reads it through&mdash;and a second time she
+reads it through, and then she reads it through a third time, and then
+she begins to smile and whispers to herself:</p>
+
+<p>"He will be here directly."</p>
+
+<p>From henceforth a mild insanity takes possession of the woman's mind&mdash;a
+species of dumb monomania which is only observable when her fixed idea
+happens to be touched upon.</p>
+
+<p>At eventide she again betakes herself to the road which leads out of the
+valley. She shows the letter to an old serving-maid, telling her that
+the letter says that Halil is about to arrive, and a good supper must be
+made ready for him. The servant cannot read, so she believes her
+mistress.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later the woman comes back to the house full of joy, her cheeks
+have quite a colour so quickly has she come.</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou not seen him?" she inquires of the servant.</p>
+
+<p>"Whom, my mistress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Halil. He has arrived. He came another way, and must be in the house by
+now."</p>
+
+<p>The servant fancies that perchance Halil has come secretly and she, also
+full of joy, follows her mistress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> into the room where the table has
+been spread for two persons.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thou seest that he is here," cries G&uuml;l-Bej&aacute;ze, pointing to the
+empty place, and rushing to the spot, she embraces an invisible shape,
+her burning kisses resound through the air, and her eyes intoxicated
+with delight gaze lovingly&mdash;at nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at thy child!" she cries, lifting up her little son; "take him in
+thine arms. So! Kiss him not so roughly, for he is asleep. Look! thy
+kisses have awakened him. Thy beard has tickled him, and he has opened
+his eyes. Rock him in thine arms a little. Thou wert so fond of nursing
+him once upon a time. So! take him on thy lap. What! art thou tired?
+Wait and I will fill up thy glass for thee. Isn't the water icy-cold? I
+have just filled it from the spring myself."</p>
+
+<p>Then she heaps more food on her husband's platter, and rejoices that his
+appetite is so good.</p>
+
+<p>Then after supper she links her arm in his and, whispering and chatting
+tenderly, leads him into the garden in the bright moonlit evening. The
+faithful servant with tears in her eyes watches her as she walks all
+alone along the garden path, from end to end, beneath the trees, acting
+as if she were whispering and chatting with someone. She keeps on
+asking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> him questions and listening to his replies, or she tells him all
+manner of tales that he has not heard before. She tells him all that has
+happened to her since they last separated, and shows him all the little
+birds and the pretty flowers. After that she bids him step into a little
+bower, makes him sit down beside her, moves her kaftan a little to one
+side so that he may not sit upon it, and that she may crouch up close
+beside him, and then she whispers and talks to him so lovingly and so
+blissfully, and finally returns to the little hut so full of shamefaced
+joy, looking behind her every now and then to cast another loving
+glance&mdash;at whom?</p>
+
+<p>And inside the house she prepares his bed for him, and places a soft
+pillow for his head, lays her own warm soft arm beneath his head,
+presses him to her bosom and kisses him, and then lays her child between
+them and goes quietly to sleep after pressing his hand once more&mdash;whose
+hand?</p>
+
+<p>The next day from morn to eve she again waits for him, and at dusk sets
+out once more along the road, and when she comes back finds him once
+more in the little hut ... oh, happy delusion!</p>
+
+<p>And thus it goes on from day to day.</p>
+
+<p>From morn to eve the woman accomplishes her usual work, her neighbours
+and acquaintances perceive no change in her; but as soon as the sun
+sets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> she leaves everyone and everything and avoids all society, for now
+Halil is expecting her in the open bower of the little garden.</p>
+
+<p>Punctually she appears before him as soon as the sun has set. It has
+become quite a habit with her already. She so arranges her work that she
+always has a leisure hour at such times. Sometimes, too, Halil is in a
+good humour, but at others he is sad and sorrowful. She tells this to
+the old serving-maid over and over again. Sometimes, too, she whispers
+in her ear that Halil is cudgelling his brains with all sorts of great
+ideas, but she is not to speak about it to anyone, as that might easily
+cost Halil his life.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Halil! Long, long ago his body has crumbled into dust, Death can do
+him no harm now.</p>
+
+<p>And thus the "White Rose" grows old and grey and gradually fades away.
+Not a single night does the beloved guest remain away from her. For
+years and years, long&mdash;long years, he comes to her every evening.</p>
+
+<p>And as her son grows up, as he becomes a man with the capacity of
+judging and understanding, he hears his mother conversing every evening
+with an invisible shape, and she would have her little son greet this
+stranger, for she tells him it is his father. And she praises the son to
+the father, and says what a good, kind-hearted lad he is, and she
+compares their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> faces one with the other. He is the very image of his
+father, she says; only Halil is now getting old, his beard has begun to
+be white. Yes, Halil is getting aged. Otherwise he would be exactly like
+his son.</p>
+
+<p>And the son knows very well that his father, Halil Patrona, was slain
+many, many long years ago by the Janissaries.</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3 style="margin-top: 3em;"><i>SELECTIONS FROM<br />JARROLD &amp; SONS'<br />LIST OF FICTION</i></h3>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img276.jpg" alt="motif" title="motif" /></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h3>Maurus J&oacute;kai's Famous Novels.</h3>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Authorised Editions. Crown 8vo, Art Linen,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b> each.</i></p>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Black Diamonds.</b> (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>, Author of "The Green Book," "Poor Plutocrats,"
+etc. Translated by Frances Gerard. With Special Preface by the Author.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Full of vigour ... his touches of humour are excellent."&mdash;<i>Morning
+Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>"An interesting story."&mdash;<i>Times.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Green Book.</b> (<span class="smcap">Freedom Under the Snow</span>.) (<i>Sixth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by Mrs. Waugh. With a finely
+engraved Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Brilliantly drawn ... a book to be read."&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Thoroughly calculated to charm the novel-reading public by its
+ceaseless excitement ... from first to last the interest never
+flags. A work of the most exciting interests and superb
+descriptions."&mdash;<i>Athen&aelig;um.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Pretty Michal.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A fascinating novel."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p>
+
+<p>"His workmanship is admirable, and he possesses a degree of
+sympathetic imagination not surpassed by any living novelist. The
+action of his stories is life-like, and full of movement and
+interest."&mdash;<i>Westminster Gazette.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>A Hungarian Nabob.</b> (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Full of exciting incidents and masterly studies of
+character."&mdash;<i>Court Circular.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The work of a genius."&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>In Tight Places.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Major Arthur Griffiths</span>, Author of "Forbidden by Law," etc.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A lively and varied series of cosmopolitan crime, with plenty of
+mixed adventure and sensation. Such stories always fascinate, and
+Major Arthur Griffiths knows well how to tell them."&mdash;<i>Pall Mall
+Gazette.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>St. Peter's Umbrella.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Kalm&aacute;n Miksz&aacute;th</span>, Author of "The Good People of Palvez."
+Translated from the original Hungarian by W. B. Worswick. With
+Introduction by R. Nisbet Bain. A charming Photogravure Portrait of the
+Author and three illustrations.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The freshness, high spirits, and humour of Miksz&aacute;th make him a
+fascinating companion. His peasants, priests, and gentlefolks are
+amazingly human. Miksz&aacute;th is a born story-teller."&mdash;<i>The
+Spectator.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac. Captain Satan.</b> (<i>Fourth
+Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>From the French of Louis Gallet. With specially engraved Portrait of
+Cyrano de Bergerac.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A delightful book. So vividly delineated are the <i>dramatis
+person&aelig;</i>, so interesting and enthralling are the incidents in the
+development of the tale, that it is impossible to skip one page, or
+to lay down the volume until the last words are read."&mdash;<i>Daily
+Telegraph.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>A Woman's Burden.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Fergus Hume</span>, Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The
+Lone Inn," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Very good reading."&mdash;<i>Athen&aelig;um.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Simply full of thrills from cover to cover."&mdash;<i>Publishers'
+Circular.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Vivian of Virginia.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John Vivian, of Middle
+Plantation, Virginia. By Hulbert Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel." With
+ten charming Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is not a dull moment in the quaintly-written story,
+adventure following adventure, holding the reader in thrall; whilst
+the love interest is fully sustained."&mdash;<i>Gentlewoman.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Anima Vilis.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe. By <span class="smcap">Marya Rodziewicz</span>.
+Translated from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of the Author.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A striking novel."&mdash;<i>The Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Has both power and charm."&mdash;<i>Literature.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Lion of Janina.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai.</span> Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a special
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A fascinating story&mdash;a brilliant and lurid series of pictures
+drawn by a great master's hand."&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Eyes Like the Sea.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai.</span> Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In wealth of incident, in variety and interest of
+characterisation, in the richness and humour of its surprises,
+'Eyes Like the Sea' ranks with the finest work of the great
+Hungarian romancer. All is told with delightful and touching
+candour."&mdash;<i>The Spectator.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Halil the Pedlar</b>; <span class="smcap">The White Rose.</span> (<i>Now ready.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai.</span> Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>This beautiful and picturesque tale of Oriental life reads like a
+chapter out of the "Arabian Nights." The heroine is a beautiful
+young Greek girl who escapes the gilded dishonour of the harem by
+feigning death and enduring torments. The scene of the story is
+Stambul, in the eighteenth century, and every phase of life in the
+great metropolis is described with singular fidelity.</p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Carpathia Knox.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Curtis Yorke</span>, Author of "Hush," "That Little Girl," "A
+Romance of Modern London," etc. With a charming Photogravure Portrait of
+the Author.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A very graphic and realistic glimpse of Spanish life. Full of
+freshness and prettily told."&mdash;<i>Aberdeen Free Press.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Jocelyn Erroll.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Curtis Yorke</span>, Author of "Once," "Dudley," "The Wild
+Ruthvens," etc. With a fine Photogravure Portrait of the Author.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Clever and fascinating, as is everything by this writer."&mdash;<i>Dundee
+Advertiser.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Valentine</b>: <span class="smcap">A Story of Ideals.</span> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Curtis Yorke</span>, Author of "The Medlicotts," "His Heart to
+Win," "Because of the Child," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It would indeed be hard to find a brighter, cheerier book ... and
+few readers of 'Valentine' will be able to resist her charming
+personality."&mdash;<i>The Speaker.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Gray House of the Quarries.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Mary H. Norris</span>. With etched Frontispiece by Edmund H.
+Garrett.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Susanna is a splendid study. No person who takes up the book can
+resist its fascination."&mdash;<i>Westminster Review.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Distaff.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Marya Rodziewicz</span>, Author of "Anima Vilis," etc. Translated
+from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a finely engraved
+Portrait of the Author.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A pleasant story, full of ability."&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A striking novel."&mdash;<i>Spectator.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Captive of Pekin.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>A Realistic Story of Chinese Life and Manners. By <span class="smcap">Charles
+Hannan</span>. With twenty-three graphic Illustrations from life,
+depicting the Chinese torture fiends, by A. J. B. Salmon.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Told with great vividness, a thrilling story dramatically told.
+The reader's interest does not flag from beginning to end."&mdash;<i>The
+Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A powerfully written and absorbing story."&mdash;<i>Morning Post.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>A Daughter of Mystery.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">R. Norman Silver</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It cannot comfortably be laid down until it is finished. The plots
+and counter-plots make the brain reel. The book should be read,
+and will repay the most exacting lovers of the exciting."&mdash;<i>Daily
+News.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Wayfarers All.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Leslie Keith</span>, Author of "'Lisbeth," "My Bonnie Lady."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"An extremely entertaining and sympathetic romance. The Misses
+Green are masterly characterisations, and so are Ruth's fascinating
+children."&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Inn by the Shore.</b> (<i>Fifteenth Thousand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Florence Warden</span>, Author of "The House on the Marsh," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A rattling story, told in a lively way, incident following on
+incident in rapid succession."&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Judy a Jilt.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Conney</span>, Author of "A Lady House Breaker," "Gold for
+Dross," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Written in Mrs. Conney's happiest manner 'Judy a Jilt' is a
+telling story throughout."&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Tone King.</b> (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>A Romance of the Life of Mozart By Heribert Rau. Translated by J. E. S.
+Rae. With specially engraved Portrait of Mozart.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A lively story. The narrative of his achievements as a boy and
+man, deftly built up to completeness by Mr. Heribert Rau, is
+delightful reading throughout."&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Full of fire and musical passion."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<h4>Over One Hundred Thousand Copies Sold in America.</h4>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Golden Dog</b> (<span class="smcap">Le Chien D'Or</span>). (<i>Third Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec. By <span class="smcap">William
+Kirby</span>, F.R.S.C.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Brimful of interest and excitement, the novel may be read with
+pleasure, and finished with regret."&mdash;<i>Sheffield Independent.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Memory Street.</b></p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Martha Baker Dunn</span>, Author of "Sleeping Beauty," "Lias'
+Wife," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"This charming story is not only one of daily actions, but of
+important epochs. The novel is bright and alert, the personages are
+natural, the story is graphic and true to the very last."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Times.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>God's Rebel.</b></p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Hulbert Fuller</span>, Author of "Vivian of Virginia."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A book ... palpitating with intensity."&mdash;<i>St. Paul's Despatch.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Most interesting throughout."&mdash;<i>Albany Times.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore.</b> (<i>Thirtieth Thousand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>A Farcical Novel. By <span class="smcap">Hal Godfrey</span> (Miss C. O'Conor Eccles).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A lightsome, laughable farce.... Some delightfully grotesque
+situations. The humour of the book is most enjoyable."&mdash;<i>Daily
+Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Is the clever expansion of a clever idea. Well written, drawn to
+the life, and full of fun."&mdash;<i>Black and White.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Man Who Forgot.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">John Mackie</span>, Author of the "Prodigal's Brother," "Sinners
+Twain," etc. With a special Photogravure Portrait of the Author.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>6/=</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"An exciting tale ... distinctly a book to read and enjoy."&mdash;<i>Daily
+Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A vigorous and exciting story. Some part of the action of the book
+is laid in Java, and the catastrophe of Krakatoa is described with
+a vividness that makes real to us that appalling upheaving of
+Nature."&mdash;<i>Daily News.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Poor Plutocrats.</b> (<span class="smcap">As We Grow Old</span>.) (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Distinctly a novel of incident and adventure, the whole atmosphere
+is fresh and new; the ways of life, the people of those curious
+towns and villages and lonely mountains, are a revelation and a
+novelty. Put before us by the pen of a master like J&oacute;kai, the
+effect is to stir and interest in an unusual degree."&mdash;<i>Daily
+Chronicle.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Day of Wrath.</b> (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated from the Hungarian by R. Nisbet
+Bain. With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is wildly exciting&mdash;having once begun you cannot stop, but must
+go hurtling on to the end. The descriptive passages are remarkably
+vivid and lucid."&mdash;<i>Black and White.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Dr. Dumany's Wife.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by F. Steinitz (under the author's
+personal supervision). With specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of
+Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"With kaleidoscopic rapidity, scene after scene passes before us.
+The novel shows us in a high degree the craft of the
+story-teller."&mdash;<i>Literature.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Nameless Castle.</b> (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by S. E. Boggs (under the author's
+personal supervision). With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Told with infinite delicacy and charm, an enthralling
+romance."&mdash;<i>The Bookman.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Debts of Honor.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by A. B. Yolland. With a charming
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and Madame J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Full of life and incident. J&oacute;kai's inimitable pen, vivid, fiery,
+humorous, never fails to stir and attract."&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>'Midst the Wild Carpathians.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Maurus J&oacute;kai</span>. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Portrait of Dr. J&oacute;kai.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Will enthral all English lovers of romance."&mdash;<i>Saturday Review.</i></p>
+
+<p>"It is powerful, it is vigorous, and, what is more than all, it is
+fresh."&mdash;<i>The Sun.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>Cherry Ripe.</b> (<i>35th Thousand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Helen Mathers</span>, Author of "Comin' thro' the Rye."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It has humour, it has poetry, it has dramatic force.... Must take
+rank amongst our stronger and more original fiction."&mdash;<i>Newcastle
+Daily Leader.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<h3>NEW UNIFORM EDITION BY HELEN MATHERS.</h3>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Crown 8vo, cloth gilt,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b> each.</i></p>
+
+<p><b>The Story of a Sin.</b> (<i>Seventh Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><b>Eyre's Acquittal.</b> (<span class="smcap">Sequel To the Above</span>.) (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><b>Jock o' Hazelgreen.</b> (<i>Fifth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><b>My Lady Green Sleeves.</b> (<i>Seventh Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><b>Found Out.</b> (<i>103rd Thousand.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><b>The Lovely Malincourt.</b> (<i>Sixth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p><b>Miss Providence.</b> (<i>Fourth Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Miss Dorothea Gerard</span>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A story to be read with genuine pleasure."&mdash;<i>Weekly Sun.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Winds of March.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">George Knight.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A clever story, cleverly told, and exceedingly well worth
+reading."&mdash;<i>Hearth and Home.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>The Prodigal's Brother.</b> (<i>Second Edition.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">John Mackie</span>, Author of "The Man Who Forgot," etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>3/6</b></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"His characters are well defined ... a book well worth
+reading."&mdash;<i>Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<p>"An excellent story."&mdash;<i>Bookman.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>Hungarian Literature:</h3>
+
+<h4>An Historical and Critical Survey.</h4>
+
+<h3><b>By EMIL REICH</b> (Doctor Juris),</h3>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Author of "History of Civilization," "Historical Atlas of Modern
+History," "Gr&aelig;co-Roman Institutions," etc.</i></p>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="50%" cellspacing="0" summary="book price">
+<tr><td align='left'>Crown 8vo.</td><td align='right'>Cloth, Gilt Top,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 6s.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p class='center'>With Map of Hungary.</p>
+
+
+<h4>SOME PRESS OPINIONS.</h4>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b>Daily Chronicle</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A work of no small merit and ability. It supplies a long-felt
+want. Dr. Reich has evidently read up his subject with care and
+conscientiousness, and displays no small ability in marshalling an
+immense array of facts. He has presented us with an exceedingly
+lucid and pregnant account of one of the most original and
+fascinating literatures of Europe."</p>
+
+<p><b>Sunday Times</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Reich has done us a very real service, and his work should be
+widely known, and take a permanent place among our literary
+reference books."</p>
+
+<p><b>The Globe</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It should be in great demand among those who desire to add to
+their knowledge of European poetry and fiction."</p>
+
+<p><b>Academy</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"An excellent piece of work, lucid, and well proportioned,
+displaying considerable critical faculty and great historical
+knowledge."</p>
+
+<p><b>Bookseller</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We hope the volume will find a wide circulation among educated
+English readers."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
+<h3>"Thomas Moore":</h3>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Being Anecdotes, Bon-mots, and Epigrams from the Journal of Thomas
+Moore.</i></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Edited, with Notes, by <span class="smcap">Wilmot Harrison</span>, Author of "Memorable
+London Houses," etc. With Special Introduction by <span class="smcap">Richard
+Garnett</span>, LL.D., and Frontispiece Portrait of Thomas Moore.</p></blockquote>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="50%" cellspacing="0" summary="book price">
+<tr><td align='left'>Crown 8vo.</td><td align='right'>Cloth neat, 3/6.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<h4>SOME PRESS OPINIONS.</h4>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><b>The Morning Leader</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No happier beginning could have been made than by the anecdotes,
+bon-mots, and epigrams from the 'Journal of Thomas Moore.' The fame
+of Moore as a poet has sadly diminished since his death. All the
+more, therefore, as Mr. Richard Garnett, in his scholarly
+introduction demands, should we be glad to preserve his name and
+fame as a raconteur, a story-teller who carries us irresistibly
+back to the very atmosphere breathed by Byron and Washington
+Irving."</p>
+
+<p><b>Literature</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Garnett's introduction gives a delightful picture of the man
+and his social charm. The collection is a storehouse of good things
+said by men noted for the brilliance of their conversation. Much
+pleasure can be extracted, and no small knowledge of an intensely
+social period."</p>
+
+<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette</b>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Every one of the pages has sparkle and animation in it, Moore knew
+everybody worth knowing in his time, and he introduces us to men
+who have taken their places in history&mdash;not by any formidable
+description, but with an enjoyable joke and a good-natured story."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+<h3>The "GREENBACK" Series</h3>
+
+<h4>OF</h4>
+
+<h3><i>Popular Novels</i></h3>
+
+<h4>BY AUTHORS OF THE DAY.</h4>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, neat,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3s. 6d. each.</i></p>
+
+
+<blockquote><p><b>HELEN MATHERS.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHERRY RIPE! (21)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE STORY OF A SIN. (22)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">EYRE'S ACQUITTAL. (23)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">JOCK O' HAZELGREEN. (24)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MY LADY GREEN SLEEVES. (25)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">FOUND OUT. (26)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LOVELY MALINCOURT. (39)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>CURTIS YORKE.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THAT LITTLE GIRL. (8)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DUDLEY. (9)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE WILD RUTHVENS. (10)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE BROWN PORTMANTEAU. (11)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">HUSH! (12)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ONCE! (13)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A ROMANCE OF MODERN LONDON. (14)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">HIS HEART TO WIN. (15)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DARRELL CHEVASNEY. (16)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BETWEEN THE SILENCES. (17)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A RECORD OF DISCORDS. (20)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE MEDLICOTTS. (27)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">VALENTINE. (57)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. LEITH ADAMS.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">LOUIS DRAYCOTT. (1)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">GEOFFREY STIRLING. (2)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BONNIE KATE. (3)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A GARRISON ROMANCE. (40)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MADELON LEMOINE. (46)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE PEYTON ROMANCE. (18)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MAY CROMMELIN.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">FOR THE SAKE OF THE FAMILY. (49)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BAY RONALD. (50)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">LOVE KNOTS. (59)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>J. S. FLETCHER.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OLD LATTIMER'S LEGACY. (7)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>ROWLAND GREY.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY VIRTUE OF HIS OFFICE. (44)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE POWER OF THE DOG. (53)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. HERBERT MARTIN.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">LINDSAY'S GIRL. (32)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BRITOMART. (45)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><b>JOHN MACKIE.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE PRODIGAL'S BROTHER. (51)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>DOROTHEA GERARD.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MISS PROVIDENCE. (56)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>IZA DUFFUS HARDY.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A NEW OTHELLO. (4)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>SOMERVILLE GIBNEY.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE MAID OF LONDON BRIDGE. (5)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>T. W. SPEIGHT.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE HEART OF A MYSTERY. (28)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. (43)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MAJOR NORRIS PAUL.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">EVELINE WELLWOOD. (6)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. BAGOT HARTE.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">WRONGLY CONDEMNED. (33)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>LINDA GARDINER.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MRS. WYLDE. (36)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>AGNES MARCHBANK.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">RUTH FARMER. (38)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. H. H. PENROSE.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LOVE THAT NEVER DIES. (48)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. CONNEY.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">JUDY A JILT. (54)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>DR. PHILPOT CROWTHER.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. (58)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>SCOTT GRAHAM.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. (42)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE GOLDEN MILESTONE. (19)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>ESM&Egrave; STUART.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">HARUM SCARUM. (41)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. A. PHILLIPS.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">MAN PROPOSES. (29)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MRS. E. NEWMAN.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LAST OF THE HADDONS. (30)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>EASTWOOD KIDSON.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ALLANSON'S LITTLE WOMAN (31)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MARGARET MOULE.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE THIRTEENTH BRYDAIN. (34)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>ELEANOR HOLMES.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THROUGH ANOTHER MAN'S EYES. (35)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>E. M. DAVY.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A PRINCE OF COMO. (37)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>MARGARET PARKER.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE DESIRE OF THEIR HEARTS. (47)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>HADLEY WELFORD.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">WHOSE DEED? (51)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><b>GEO. KNIGHT.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE WINDS OF MARCH. (55)</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><i>Others in Preparation.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><b>JARROLD &amp; SONS, 10 &amp; 11, WARWICK LANE, E.C.</b></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
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+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Halil the Pedlar, by Mór Jókai, Translated by
+R. Nisbet Bain
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Halil the Pedlar
+       A Tale of Old Stambul
+
+
+Author: Mór Jókai
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 24, 2006  [eBook #17597]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALIL THE PEDLAR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Janet B., Bill Tozier, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)
+
+
+
+HALIL THE PEDLAR
+
+A Tale of Old Stambul
+
+by
+
+MAURUS JOKAI
+
+Author of
+"The Green Book," "Black Diamonds," "The Poor Plutocrats," etc.
+
+Authorised Edition, Translated by R. Nisbet Bain
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SANS PEUR ET
+SANS REPROCHE
+Third Edition
+London
+Jarrold & Sons, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.
+[All Rights Reserved]
+1901
+Copyright
+London: Jarrold & Sons
+New York: McClure, Phillips, & Co.
+
+
+
+Translated from the Hungarian, "A feher rozsa,"
+by R. Nisbet Bain.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+          INTRODUCTION                                              7
+
+      I.  THE PEDLAR                                               11
+
+     II.  GUEL-BEJAZE--THE WHITE ROSE                               36
+
+    III.  SULTAN ACHMED                                            49
+
+     IV.  THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL                              69
+
+      V.  THE CAMP                                                 99
+
+     VI.  THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM                         123
+
+    VII.  TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS                             134
+
+   VIII.  A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD                                     153
+
+     IX.  THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN                          179
+
+      X.  THE FEAST OF HALWET                                     203
+
+     XI.  GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE                                216
+
+   XII.  HUMAN HOPES                                              240
+
+   XIII.  THE EMPTY PLACE                                         270
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+On September 28th, 1730, a rebellion burst forth in Stambul against
+Sultan Achmed III., whose cowardly hesitation to take the field against
+the advancing hosts of the victorious Persians had revolted both the
+army and the people. The rebellion began in the camp of the Janissaries,
+and the ringleader was one Halil Patrona, a poor Albanian sailor-man,
+who after plying for a time the trade of a petty huckster had been
+compelled, by crime or accident, to seek a refuge among the mercenary
+soldiery of the Empire. The rebellion was unexpectedly, amazingly
+successful. The Sultan, after vainly sacrificing his chief councillors
+to the fury of the mob, was himself dethroned by Halil, and Mahmud I.
+appointed Sultan in his stead. For the next six weeks the
+ex-costermonger held the destiny of the Ottoman Empire in his hands
+till, on November 25th, he and his chief associates were treacherously
+assassinated in full Divan by the secret command, and actually in the
+presence of, the very monarch whom he had drawn from obscurity to set
+upon the throne.
+
+This dramatic event is the historical basis of Jokai's famous story, "A
+Feher Rozsa," now translated into English for the first time. No doubt
+the genial Hungarian romancer has idealised the rough, outspoken,
+masterful rebel-chief, Halil Patrona, into a great patriot-statesman, a
+martyr for justice and honour; yet, on the other hand, he has certainly
+preserved the salient features of Halil's character and, so far as I am
+competent to verify his authorities, has not been untrue to history
+though, as I opine, depending too much on the now somewhat obsolete
+narrative of Hammer-Purgstall ("Geschichte des osmanischen Reichs").
+Almost incredible as they seem to us sober Westerns, such incidents as
+the tame surrender of Achmed III., the elevation of the lowliest
+demagogues to the highest positions in the realm, and the curious and
+characteristically oriental episode of the tulip-pots, are absolute
+facts. Naturally Jokai's splendid fancy has gorgeously embellished the
+plain narrative of the Turkish chroniclers. Such a subject as Halil's
+strange career must irresistibly have appealed to an author who is
+nothing if not vivid and romantic, and ever delights in startling
+contrasts. On the other hand, the unique episode of Guel-Bejaze, "The
+White Rose," and her terrible experiences in the Seraglio are largely,
+if not entirely, of Jokai's own invention, and worthy, as told by him,
+of a place in The Thousand and One Nights.
+
+Finally--a bibliographical note.
+
+Originally "A Feher Rozsa," under the title of "Halil Patrona," formed
+the first part of "A Janicsarok vegnapjai," a novel first published at
+Pest in three volumes in 1854. The two tales are, however, quite
+distinct, and have, since then, as a matter of fact, frequently been
+published separately. The second part of "A Janicsarok vegnapjai" was
+translated by me from the Hungarian original, some years ago, under the
+title of "The Lion of Janina," and published by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons
+as one of their "Jokai" Series in 1898. The striking favour with which
+that story was then received justifies my hope that its counterpart,
+which I have re-named "Halil the Pedlar," from its chief character, may
+be equally fortunate.
+
+  R. NISBET BAIN.
+
+  _September, 1901._
+
+
+
+
+HALIL THE PEDLAR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE PEDLAR.
+
+
+Time out of mind, for hundreds and hundreds of years, the struggle
+between the Shiites and the Sunnites has divided the Moslem World.
+
+Persia and India are the lands of the Shiites; Turkey, Arabia, Egypt,
+and the realm of Barbary follow the tenets of the Sunna.
+
+Much blood, much money, many anathemas, and many apostasies have marked
+the progress of this quarrel, and still it has not even yet been made
+quite clear whether the Shiites or the Sunnites are the true believers.
+The question to be decided is this: which of the four successors of the
+Prophet, Ali, Abu Bekr, Osmar, and Osman, was the true Caliph. The
+Shiites maintain that Ali alone was the true Caliph. The Sunnites, on
+the other hand, affirm that all four were true Caliphs and equally holy.
+And certainly the Shiites must be great blockheads to allow themselves
+to be cut into mince-meat by thousands, rather than admit that God would
+enrich the calendar with three saints distasteful to them personally.
+
+The head Mufti had already hurled three fetvas at the head of Shah
+Mahmud, and just as many armies of valiant Sunnites had invaded the
+territories of the Shiites. The redoubtable Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim,
+had already wrested from them Tauris, Erivan, Kermandzasahan, and
+Hamadan, and the good folks of Stambul could talk of nothing else but
+these victories--victories which they had extra good reason to remember,
+inasmuch as the Janissaries, at every fresh announcement of these
+triumphs, all the more vigorously exercised their martial prowess on the
+peaceful inhabitants they were supposed to protect, and not only upon
+them, but likewise upon the still more peaceful Sultan who, it must be
+admitted, troubled himself very little either about the Sunnites, or the
+victories of his Grand Vizier, being quite content with the
+contemplation of his perpetually blooming tulips and of the damsels of
+the Seraglio, who were even fairer to view than the tulips whose blooms
+they themselves far outshone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last rays of sunset were about to depart from the minarets of
+Stambul. The imposing shape of the City of the Seven Hills loomed forth
+like a majestic picture in the evening light. Below, all aflame from the
+reflection of the burning sky, lies the Bosphorus, wherein the Seraglio
+and the suburbs of Pera and Galata, with their tiers upon tiers of
+houses and variegated fairy palaces, mirror themselves tranquilly. The
+long, winding, narrow streets climb from one hill to another, and every
+single hill is as green as if mother Nature had claimed her due portion
+of each from the inhabitants, so different from our western cities, all
+paved and swept clean, and nothing but hard stone from end to end. Here,
+on the contrary, nothing but green meets the eye. The bastions are
+planted with vines and olive-trees, pomegranate and cypress trees stand
+before the houses of the rich. The poorer folks who have no gardens
+plant flowers on their house-tops, or at any rate grow vines round their
+windows which in time run up the whole house, and from out of the midst
+of this perennial verdure arise the shining cupolas of eighty mosques.
+At the end of every thoroughfare, overgrown with luxuriant grass and
+thick-foliaged cypresses, only the turbaned tombstones show that here is
+the place of sad repose. And the effect of the picture is heightened by
+the mighty cupola of the all-dominating Aja Sofia mosque, which looks
+right over all these palaces into the golden mirror of the Bosphorus.
+Soon this golden mirror changes into a mirror of bronze, the sun
+disappears, and the tranquil oval of the sea borrows a metallic shimmer
+from the dark-blue sky. The kiosks fade into darkness; the vast outlines
+of the Rumili Hisar and the Anatoli Hisar stand out against the starry
+heaven; and excepting the lamps lit here and there in the khans of the
+foreign merchants and a few minarets, the whole of the gigantic city is
+wrapped in gloom.
+
+The muezzin intone the evening _noomat_ from the slender turrets of the
+mosques; everyone hastens to get home before night has completely set
+in; the mule-drivers urge on their beasts laden on both sides with
+leather bottles, and their tinkling bells resound in the narrow streets;
+the shouting water-carriers and porters, whose long shoulder-poles block
+up the whole street, scare out of their way all whom they meet; whole
+troops of dogs come forth from the cemeteries to fight over the offal of
+the piazzas. Every true believer endeavours as soon as possible to get
+well behind bolts and bars, and would regard it as a sheer tempting of
+Providence to quit his threshold under any pretext whatsoever before the
+morning invocation of the muezzin. He especially who at such a time
+should venture to cross the piazza of the Etmeidan would have been
+judged very temerarious or very ill-informed, inasmuch as three of the
+gates of the barracks of the Janissaries open upon this piazza; and the
+Janissaries, even when they are in a good humour, are not over
+particular as to the sort of jokes they choose to play, for their own
+private amusement, upon those who may chance to fall into their hands.
+Every faithful Mussulman, therefore, guards his footsteps from any
+intrusion into the Etmeidan, as being in duty bound to know and observe
+that text of the Koran which says, "A fool is he who plunges into peril
+that he might avoid."
+
+The tattoo had already been beaten with wooden sticks on a wooden board,
+when two men encountered each other in one of the streets leading into
+the Etmeidan.
+
+One of them was a stranger, dressed in a Wallachian _gunya_, long shoes,
+and with a broad reticule dangling at his side. He looked forty years
+old and, so far as it was possible to distinguish his figure and
+features in the twilight, seemed to be a strong, well-built man, with a
+tolerably plump face, on which at that moment no small traces of fear
+could be detected and something of that uncomfortable hesitation which
+is apt to overtake a man in a large foreign city which he visits for the
+very first time.
+
+The other was an honest Mussulman about thirty years old, with a thick,
+coal-black beard and passionate, irritable features, whose true
+character was very fairly reflected in his pair of flashing black eyes.
+His turban was drawn deep down over his temples, obliterating his
+eyebrows completely, which made him look more truculent than ever.
+
+The stranger seemed to be going towards the Etmeidan, the other man to
+be coming from it. The former let the latter pass, by squeezing himself
+against the wall, and only ventured to address him when he perceived
+that he had no evil intentions towards him.
+
+"I prythee, pitiful Mussulman, be not wrath with me, but tell me where
+the Etmeidan piazza is."
+
+The person so accosted instantly stopped short, and fixing the
+interrogator with a stony look, replied angrily:
+
+"Go straight on and you'll be there immediately."
+
+At these words the knees of the questioner smote together.
+
+"Woe is me! worthy Mussulman, I prythee be not wrath, I did not ask thee
+where the Etmeidan was because I wanted to go there, but to avoid
+straying into it. I am a stranger in this city, and in my terror I have
+been drawing near to the very place I want to avoid. I prythee leave me
+not here all by myself. Every house is fast closed. Not one of the khans
+will let me in at this hour. Take me home with you, I will not be a
+burden upon you, I can sleep in your courtyard, or in your cellar, if
+only I may escape stopping in the streets all night, for I am greatly
+afraid."
+
+The Turk so addressed was carrying in one hand a knapsack woven out of
+rushes. This he now opened and cast a glance into it, as if he were
+taking counsel with himself whether the fish and onions he had just
+bought in the market-place for his supper would be sufficient for two
+people. Finally he nodded his head as if he had made up his mind at
+last.
+
+"Very well, come along!" said he, "and follow me!"
+
+The stranger would have kissed his hand, he could not thank his new
+friend sufficiently.
+
+"You had better wait to see what you are going to get before you thank
+me," said the Turk; "you will find but scanty cheer with me, for I am
+only a poor man."
+
+"Oh, as for that, I also am poor, very poor indeed," the new-comer
+hastened to reply with the crafty obsequiousness peculiar to the Greek
+race. "My name is Janaki, and I am a butcher at Jassy. The kavasses
+have laid their hands upon my apprentice and all my live-stock at the
+same time, and that is why I have come to Stambul. I shall be utterly
+beggared if I don't get them back."
+
+"Well, Allah aid thee. Let us make haste, for it is already dark."
+
+And then, going on in front to show the way, he led the stranger through
+the narrow winding labyrinth of baffling lanes and alleys which lead to
+the Hebdomon Palace, formerly the splendid residence of the Greek
+Emperors, but now the quarter where the poorest and most sordid classes
+of the populace herd together. The streets here are so narrow that the
+tendrils of the vines and gourds growing on the roofs of the opposite
+houses meet together, and form a natural baldachino for the benefit of
+the foot-passenger below.
+
+Suddenly, on reaching the entrance of a peculiarly long and narrow lane,
+the loud-sounding note of a song, bawled by someone coming straight
+towards them, struck upon their ears. It was some drunken man evidently,
+but whoever the individual might be, he was certainly the possessor of a
+tremendous pair of lungs, for he could roar like a buffalo, and not
+content with roaring, he kept thundering at the doors of all the houses
+he passed with his fists.
+
+"Alas! worthy Mussulman, I suppose this is some good-humoured
+Janissary, eh?" stammered the new-comer with a terrified voice.
+
+"Not a doubt of it. A peace-loving man would not think of making such a
+bellowing as that."
+
+"Would it not be as well to turn back?"
+
+"We might meet a pair of them if we went another way. Take this lesson
+from me: Never turn back from the path you have once taken, as otherwise
+you will only plunge into still greater misfortunes."
+
+Meanwhile they were drawing nearer and nearer to the bellowing
+gentleman, and before long his figure came full into view.
+
+And certainly his figure was in every respect worthy of his voice. He
+was an enormous, six-foot high, herculean fellow, with his shirt-sleeves
+rolled up to his shoulders, and the disorderly appearance of his dolman
+and the crooked cock of his turban more than justified the suspicion
+that he had already taken far more than was good for him of that fluid
+which the Prophet has forbidden to all true believers.
+
+"Gel, gel! Ne miktar dir, gel!" ("Come along the whole lot of you!")
+roared the Janissary with all his might, staggering from one side of the
+lane to the other, and flourishing his naked rapier in the air.
+
+"Woe is me, my brave Mussulman!" faltered the Wallachian butcher in a
+terrified whisper, "wouldn't it be as well if you were to take my
+stick, for he might observe that I had it, and fancy I want to fight him
+with it."
+
+The Turk took over the stick of the butcher as the latter seemed to be
+frightened of it.
+
+"H'm! this stick of yours is not a bad one. I see that the head of it is
+well-studded with knobs, and that it is weighted with lead besides. What
+a pity you don't know how to make use of it!"
+
+"I am only too glad if people will let me live in peace."
+
+"Very well, hide behind me, and come along boldly, and when you pass him
+don't so much as look at him."
+
+The Wallachian desired nothing better, but the Janissary had already
+caught sight of him from afar, and as, clinging fast to his guide's
+mantle, he was about to slip past the man of war, the Janissary suddenly
+barred the way, seized him by the collar with his horrible fist, and
+dragged the wretched creature towards him.
+
+"Khair evetlesszin domusz!" ("Not so fast, thou swine!") "a word in
+thine ear! I have just bought me a yataghan. Stretch forth thy neck! I
+would test my weapon upon thee and see whether it is sharp."
+
+The poor fellow was already half-dead with terror. With the utmost
+obsequiousness he at once began unfastening his neck-cloth, whimpering
+at the same time something about his four little children: what would
+become of them when they had nobody to care for them.
+
+But his conductor intervened defiantly.
+
+"Take yourself off, you drunken lout, you! How dare you lay a hand upon
+my guest. Know you not that he who harms the guest of a true believer is
+accursed?"
+
+"Na, na, na!" laughed the Janissary mockingly, "are you mad, my worthy
+Balukji, that you bandy words with the flowers of the Prophet's garden,
+with Begtash's sons, the valiant Janissaries? Get out of my way while
+you are still able to go away whole, for if you remain here much longer,
+I'll teach you to be a little more obedient."
+
+"Let my guest go in peace, I say, and then go thine own way also!"
+
+"Why, what ails you, worthy Mussulman? Has anyone offended thee?
+Mashallah! what business is it of thine if I choose to strike off the
+head of a dog? You can pick up ten more like him in the street any time
+you like."
+
+The Turk, perceiving that it would be difficult to convince a drunken
+man by mere words, drew nearer to him, and grasped the hand that held
+the yataghan.
+
+"What do you want?" cried the Janissary, fairly infuriated at this act
+of temerity.
+
+"Come! Go thy way!"
+
+"Do you know whose hand thou art grasping? My name is Halil."
+
+"Mine also is Halil."
+
+"Mine is Halil Pelivan--Halil the Wrestler!"
+
+"Mine is Halil Patrona."
+
+By this time the Janissary was beside himself with rage at so much
+opposition.
+
+"Thou worm! thou crossed-leg, crouching huckster, thou pack-thread
+pedlar! if thou dost not let me go immediately, I will cut off thy
+hands, thy feet, thine ears, and thy nose, and then hang thee up."
+
+"And if thou leave not go of my guest, I will fell thee to the earth
+with this stick of mine."
+
+"What, _thou_ wilt fell _me_? Me? A fellow like thou threaten to strike
+Halil Pelivan with a stick? Strike away then, thou dog, thou
+dishonourable brute-beast, thou dregs of a Mussulman! strike away then,
+strike here, if thou have the courage!"
+
+And with that he pointed at his own head, which he flung back defiantly
+as if daring his opponent to strike at it.
+
+But Halil Patrona's courage was quite equal even to such an invitation
+as that, and he brought down the leaded stick in his hand so heavily on
+the Janissary's head that the fellow's face was soon streaming with
+blood.
+
+Pelivan roared aloud at the blow, and, shaking his bloody forehead,
+rushed upon Patrona like a wounded bear, and disregarding a couple of
+fresh blows on the arms and shoulders which had the effect, however, of
+making him drop his yataghan, he grasped his adversary with his gigantic
+hands, lifted him up, and then hugged him with the embrace of a
+boa-constrictor. But now it appeared that Patrona also was by no means a
+novice in the art of self-defence, for clutching with both hands the
+giant's throat, he squeezed it so tightly that in a few seconds the
+Janissary began to stagger to and fro, finally falling backwards to the
+ground, whereupon Patrona knelt upon his breast and plucked from his
+beard a sufficient number of hairs to serve him as a souvenir. Pelivan,
+overpowered by drink and the concussion of his fall, slumbered off where
+he lay, while Patrona with his guest, who was already half-dead with
+fright, hastened to reach his dwelling.
+
+After traversing a labyrinth of narrow, meandering lanes, and
+zig-zagging backwards and forwards through all kinds of gardens and
+rookeries, Halil Patrona arrived at last at his own house.
+
+Were we to speak of "his own street door," we should be betraying a
+gross ignorance of locality, for in the place where Patrona lived the
+mere idea of a street never presented itself to anybody's imagination.
+There was indeed no such thing there. The spot was covered by half a
+thousand or so of wooden houses, mixed together, higgledy-piggledy, so
+inextricably, that the shortest way to everybody's house was through his
+neighbour's passage, hall, or courtyard, and inasmuch as the inmates of
+whole rows of these houses were in the habit of living together in the
+closest and most mysterious harmony, every house was so arranged that
+the inhabitants thereof could slip into the neighbouring dwelling at a
+moment's notice. In some cases, for instance, the roofs were continuous;
+in others the cellars communicated, so that if ever anyone of the
+inhabitants were suddenly pursued, he could, with the assistance of the
+roofs, passages, and cellars, vanish without leaving a trace behind him.
+
+Halil Patrona's house was of wood like the rest. It consisted of a
+single room, yet this was a room which could be made to hold a good
+deal. It had a fire-place also, and if perhaps a chance guest were a
+little fastidious, he could at any rate always make sure of a good bed
+on the roof, which was embowered in vine leaves. There was certainly no
+extravagant display of furniture inside. A rush-mat in the middle of the
+room, a bench covered with a carpet in the corner, a few wooden plates
+and dishes, a jug on a wooden shelf, and a couple of very simple
+cooking-utensils in the fire-place--that was all. From the roof of the
+chamber hung an earthenware lamp, which Patrona kindled with an
+old-fashioned flint and steel. Then he brought water in a round-bellied
+trough for his guest to wash his hands, fetched drinking-water from the
+well in a long jug, whereupon he drew forward his rush-woven
+market-basket, emptied its contents on to the rush-mat, sat him down
+opposite honest Janaki, and forthwith invited his guest to fall to.
+
+There was nothing indeed but a few small fish and a few beautiful
+rosy-red onions, but Halil had so much to say in praise of the repast,
+telling his guest where and how these fish were caught, and in what
+manner they ought to be fried so as to bring out the taste; how you
+could find out which of them had hard roes and which soft; what
+different sorts of flavours there are in the onion tribe, far more,
+indeed, than in the pine-apple; and then the pure fresh water too--why
+the Koran from end to end is full of the praises of fresh pure water,
+and Halil knew all these passages by heart, and had no need to look in
+the holy book for them. And then, too, he had so many interesting tales
+to tell of travellers who had lost their way in the desert and were
+dying for a drop of water, and how Allah had had compassion upon them
+and guided them to the springs of the oasis--so that the guest was
+actually entrapped into imagining that he had just been partaking of the
+most magnificent banquet, and he enjoyed his meat and drink, and arose
+from his rush-carpet well satisfied with himself and with his host.
+
+I'll wager that Sultan Achmed, poor fellow! felt far less contented when
+he rose from his gorgeous and luxurious sofa, though the tables beside
+it were piled high with fruits and sweetmeats, and two hundred odalisks
+danced and sang around it.
+
+"And now let us go to sleep!" said Halil Patrona to his guest. "I know
+that slumber is the greatest of all the joys which Allah has bestowed
+upon mankind. In our waking hours we belong to others, but the land of
+dreams is all our own. If your dreams be good dreams, you rejoice that
+they are good, and if they be evil dreams, you rejoice that they are but
+dreams. The night is nice and warm, you can sleep on the house-top, and
+if you pull your rope-ladder up after you, you need not fear that
+anybody will molest you."
+
+Janaki said "thank you!" to everything, and very readily clambered to
+the top of the roof. There he found already prepared for him the carpet
+and the fur cushion on which he was to sleep. Plainly these were the
+only cushion and carpet obtainable in the house, and the guest observing
+that these were the very things he had noticed in the room below,
+exclaimed to Halil Patrona:
+
+"Oh, humane Chorbadshi, you have given me your own carpet and pillow; on
+what will you sleep, pray?"
+
+"Do not trouble your head about me, muzafir! I will bring forth my
+second carpet and my second cushion and sleep on them."
+
+Janaki peeped through a chink in the roof, and observed how vigorously
+Halil Patrona performed his ablutions, and how next he went through his
+devotions with even greater conscientiousness than his ablutions,
+whereupon he produced a round trough, turned it upside down, laid it
+upon the rush-mat, placed his head upon the trough, and folding his arms
+across his breast, peacefully went to sleep in the Prophet.
+
+The next morning, when Janaki awoke and descended to Halil, he gave him
+a piece of money which they call a golden denarius.
+
+"Take this piece of money, worthy Chorbadshi," said he, "and if you will
+permit me to remain beneath your roof this day also, prepare therewith a
+mid-day meal for us both."
+
+Halil hastened with the money to the piazza, bargained and chaffered for
+all sorts of eatables, and made it a matter of conscience to keep only
+a single copper asper of the money entrusted to him. Then he prepared
+for his guest pilaf, the celebrated Turkish dish consisting of rice
+cooked with sheep's flesh, and brought him from the booths of the
+master-cooks and master-sugar-bakers, honey-cakes, dulchas, pistachios,
+sweet pepper-cakes filled with nuts and stewed in honey, and all manner
+of other delicacies, at the sight and smell of which Janaki began to
+shout that Sultan Achmed could not be better off. Halil, however,
+requested him not to mention the name of the Sultan quite so frequently
+and not to bellow so loudly.
+
+That night, also, he made his guest mount to the top of the roof, and
+having noticed during the preceding night that the Greek had been
+perpetually shifting his position, and consequently suspecting that he
+was little used to so hard a couch, Halil took the precaution of
+stripping off his own kaftan beforehand and placing it beneath the
+carpet he had already surrendered to his guest.
+
+Early next morning Janaki gave another golden denarius to Halil.
+
+"Fetch me writing materials!" said he, "for I want to write a letter to
+someone, and then with God's help I will quit your house and pursue my
+way further."
+
+Halil departed, went a-bargaining in the bazaar, and returned with what
+he had been sent for. He calculated his outlay to a penny in the
+presence of his guest. The _kalem_ (pen) was so much, so much again the
+_muerekob_ (ink), and the _muehuer_ (seal) came to this and that. The
+balance he returned to Janaki.
+
+As for Janaki he went up on to the roof again, there wrote and sealed
+his letter, and thrust it beneath the carpet, and then laying hold of
+his stick again, entreated Halil, with many thanks for his hospitality,
+to direct him to the Pera road whence, he said, he could find his way
+along by himself.
+
+Halil willingly complied with the petition of his guest, and accompanied
+him all the way to the nearest thoroughfare. When now Janaki beheld the
+Bosphorus, and perceived that the road from this point was familiar to
+him, so that he needed no further assistance, he suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"Look now, my friend! an idea has occurred to me. The letter I have just
+written on your roof has escaped my memory entirely. I placed it beneath
+the carpet, and beside it lies a purse of money which I meant to have
+sent along with the letter. Now, however, I cannot turn back for it. I
+pray you, therefore, go back to your house, take this letter together
+with the purse, and hand them both over to the person to whom they are
+addressed--and God bless you for it!"
+
+Halil at once turned round to obey this fresh request as quickly as
+possible.
+
+"Give also the money to him to whom it belongs!" said the Greek.
+
+"You may be as certain that it will reach him as if you gave it to him
+yourself."
+
+"And promise me that you will compel him to whom the letter is addressed
+to accept the money."
+
+"I will not leave his house till he has given me a voucher in writing
+for it, and whenever you come back again to me here you will find it in
+my possession."
+
+"God be with you then, honest Mussulman!"
+
+"Salem alek!"
+
+Halil straightway ran home, clambered up to the roof by means of the
+rope-ladder, found both the letter and the money under the carpet,
+rejoiced greatly that they had not been stolen during his absence, and
+thrusting them both into his satchel of reeds without even taking the
+trouble to look at them, hastened off to the bazaar with them, where
+there was an acquaintance of his, a certain money-changer, who knew all
+about every man in Stambul, in order that he might find out from him
+where dwelt the man to whom the letter entrusted to him by the stranger
+was addressed.
+
+Accordingly he handed the letter to the money-changer in order that he
+might give him full directions without so much as casting an eye upon
+the address himself.
+
+The money-changer examined the address of the letter, and forthwith was
+filled with amazement.
+
+"Halil Patrona!" cried he, "have you been taking part in the Carnival of
+the Giaours that you have allowed yourself to be so befooled? Or can't
+you read?"
+
+"Read! of course I can. But I don't fancy I can know the man to whom
+this letter is directed."
+
+"Well, all I can say is that you knew him very well indeed this time
+yesterday, for the man is yourself--none other."
+
+Halil, full of astonishment, took the letter, which hitherto he had not
+regarded--sure enough it was addressed to himself.
+
+"Then he who gave me this letter must needs be a madman, and there is a
+purse which I have to hand over along with it."
+
+"Yes, I see that your name is written on that also."
+
+"But I have nothing to do with either the purse or the letter. Of a
+truth the man who confided them to me must have been a lunatic."
+
+"It will be best if you break open the letter and read it, then you will
+_know_ what you have got to do with it."
+
+This was true enough. The best way for a man to find out what he has to
+do with a letter addressed to him is, certainly, to open and read it.
+
+And this is what was written in the letter.
+
+
+"WORTHY HALIL PATRONA!
+
+"I told you that I was a poor man, but that was not true; on the
+contrary, I am pretty well to do, thank God! Nor do I wander up and down
+on the face of the earth in search of herds of cattle stolen from me,
+but for the sake of my only daughter, who is dearer to me than all my
+treasures, and now also I am in pursuit of her, following clue after
+clue, in order that I may discover her whereabouts and, if possible,
+ransom her. You have been my benefactor. You fought the drunken
+Janissary for my sake, you shared your dwelling with me, you made me lie
+on your own bed while you slept on the bare ground, you even took off
+your kaftan to make my couch the softer. Accept, therefore, as a token
+of my gratitude, the slender purse accompanying this letter. It contains
+five thousand piastres, so that if ever I visit you again I may find you
+in better circumstances. God help you in all things!
+
+                       "Your grateful servant,
+
+                                          "JANAKI."
+
+"Now, didn't I say he was mad?" exclaimed Halil, after reading through
+the letter. "Who else, I should like to know, would have given me five
+thousand piastres for three red onions?"
+
+Meanwhile, attracted by the noise of the conversation, a crowd of the
+acquaintances of Halil Patrona and the money-changer had gathered around
+them, and they laid their heads together and discussed among themselves
+for a long time the question which was the greater fool of the
+two--Janaki, who had given five thousand piastres for three onions, or
+Halil who did not want to accept the money.
+
+Yet Halil it was who turned out to be the biggest fool, for he
+immediately set out in search of the man who had given him this sum of
+money. But search and search as he might he could find no trace of him.
+If he had gone in search of someone who had stolen a like amount, he
+would have been able to find him very much sooner.
+
+In the course of his wanderings, he suddenly came upon the place where
+three days previously he had had his tussle with Halil Pelivan. He
+recognised the spot at once. A small dab of blood, the remains of what
+had flowed from the giant's head, was still there in the middle of the
+lane, and on the wall of the house opposite both their names were
+written. In all probability the Janissary, when he picked himself up
+again, had dipped his finger in his own blood, and then scrawled the
+names upon the wall in order to perpetuate the memory of the incident.
+He had also taken good care to put Halil Pelivan uppermost and Halil
+Patrona undermost.
+
+"Nay, but that is not right," said Halil to himself; "it was you who
+were undermost," and snatching up the fragment of a red tile he wrote
+his name above that of Halil Pelivan.
+
+He hurried and scurried about till late in the evening without
+discovering a single trace of Janaki, and by that time his head was so
+confused by all manner of cogitations that when, towards nightfall, he
+began chaffering for fish in the Etmeidan market, he would not have been
+a bit surprised if he had been told that every single carp cost a
+thousand piastres.
+
+He began to perceive, however, that he would have to keep the money
+after all, and the very thought of it kept him awake all night long.
+
+Next day he again strolled about the bazaars, and then directed his
+steps once more towards that house where he had chalked up his name the
+day before. And lo! the name of Pelivan was again stuck at the top of
+his own.
+
+"This must be put a stop to once for all," murmured Halil, and beckoning
+to a load-carrier he mounted on to his shoulders and wrote his name high
+up, just beneath the eaves of the house on a spot where Pelivan's name
+could not top his own again, from whence it is manifest that there was a
+certain secret instinct in Halil Patrona which would not permit him to
+take the lower place or suffer him to recognise anybody as standing
+higher than himself. And as he, pursuing his way home, passed by the
+Tsiragan Palace, and there encountered riding past him the Padishah,
+Sultan Achmed III., accompanied by the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim Damad, the
+Kiaja Beg, the Kapudan Pasha, and the chief Imam, Ispirizade; and as he
+humbly bowed his head in the dust before them, it seemed to him as if
+something at the bottom of his heart whispered to him: "The time will
+come when the whole lot of you will bow your heads before me in the dust
+just as I, Halil Patrona, the pedlar, do obeisance to you now, ye lords
+of the Empire and the Universe!"
+
+Fortunately for Halil Patrona, however, he did not raise his face while
+the suite of the Lords of the Universe swept past him, for otherwise it
+might have happened that Halil Pelivan, who went before the Sultan with
+a drawn broadsword, might have recognised him, and certainly nobody
+would have taken particular trouble to inquire why the Janissary had
+split in two the head of this or that pedlar who happened to come in his
+way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GUEL-BEJAZE--THE WHITE ROSE.
+
+
+The booth of Halil Patrona, the pedlar, stood in the bazaar. He sold
+tobacco, chibooks, and pipe-stems, but his business was not particularly
+lucrative. He did not keep opium, although that was beginning to be one
+of the principal articles of luxury in the Turkish Empire. From the very
+look of him one could see that he did not sell the drug. For Halil had
+determined that he would never have any of this soul-benumbing stuff in
+his shop, and whenever Halil made any resolution he generally kept it.
+Oftentimes, sitting in the circle of his neighbours, he would fall to
+discoursing on the subject, and would tell them that it was Satan who
+had sent this opium stuff to play havoc among the true believers. It
+was, he would insist, the offscouring of the _Jinns_, and yet Mussulmans
+did not scruple to put the filth into their mouths and chew and inhale
+it! Hence the ruin that was coming upon them and their posterity and the
+whole Moslem race. His neighbours let him talk on without contradiction,
+but they took good care to sell as much opium themselves as possible,
+because it brought in by far the largest profits. Surely, they argued
+among themselves, because an individual cuts his throat with a knife now
+and then, that is no reason why knives in general should not be kept for
+sale in shops? It was plain to them that Halil was no born trader. Yet
+he was perfectly satisfied with the little profit he made, and it never
+occurred to him to wish for anything he had not got.
+
+Consequently when he now found himself the possessor of five thousand
+piastres, he was very much puzzled as to what he should do with such a
+large amount. The things he really desired were far, far away, quite out
+of his reach in fact. He would have liked to lead fleets upon the sea
+and armies marshalled in battle array. He would have liked to have built
+cities and fortresses. He would have liked to have raised up and cast
+down pashas, dispensed commands, and domineered generally. But a
+beggarly five thousand piastres would not go very far in that direction.
+It was too much from one point of view and too little from another, so
+that he really was at a loss what to do with it.
+
+His booth looked out upon that portion of the bazaar where there was a
+vacant space separated from the trading booths by lofty iron railings.
+This vacant space was a slave-market. Here the lowest class of slaves
+were freely offered for sale. Every day Halil saw some ten to twenty of
+these human chattels exhibited in front of his booth. It was no new
+sight to him.
+
+In this slave-market there were none of those pathetic scenes which
+poets and romance writers are so fond of describing when, for instance,
+the rich traders of Dirbend offer to the highest bidder miracles of
+loveliness, to be the sport of lust and luxury, beautiful Circassian and
+Georgian maidens, whose cheeks burn with shame at the bold rude gaze of
+the men, and whose eyes overflow with tears when their new masters
+address them. There was nothing of the sort in this place. This was but
+the depository of used up, chucked aside wares, of useless Jessir, such
+as dry and wrinkled old negresses, worn-out, venomous nurses, human
+refuse, so to speak, to whom it was a matter of the most profound
+indifference what master they were called upon to serve, who listened to
+the slang of the auctioneer with absolute nonchalance as he
+circumstantially totted up their years and described their qualities,
+and allowed their would-be purchasers to examine their teeth and
+manipulate their arms and legs as if they were the very last persons
+concerned in the business on hand.
+
+On the occasion of the first general auction that had come round after
+the departure of Janaki from Halil, the pedlar was sitting as usual
+before his booth in the bazaar when the public crier appeared in the
+slave-market, leading by the hand a veiled female slave, and made the
+following announcement in a loud voice:
+
+"Merciful Mussulmans! Lo! I bring hither from the harem of his Majesty
+the Sultan, an odalisk, who is to be put up to public auction by command
+of the Padishah. The name of this odalisk is Guel-Bejaze; her age is
+seventeen years, she has all her teeth, her breath is pure, her skin is
+clean, her hair is thick, she can dance and sing, and do all manner of
+woman's handiwork. His shall she be who makes the highest bid, and the
+sum obtained is to be divided among the dervishes. Two thousand piastres
+have already been promised for her; come hither and examine her--whoever
+gives the most shall have her."
+
+"Allah preserve us from the thought of purchasing this girl," observed
+the wiser of the merchants, "why that would be the same thing as
+purchasing the wrath of the Padishah for hard cash," and they wisely
+withdrew into the interiors of their booths. They knew well enough what
+was likely to happen to the man who presumed to buy an odalisk who had
+been expelled from the harem of the Sultan. Anyone daring to do such a
+thing might just as well chalk up the names of the four avenging angels
+on the walls of his house, or trample on his talisman with his slippers
+straight away. It was not the act of a wise man to pick up a flower
+which the Sultan had thrown away in order to inhale its fragrance.
+
+The public crier remained in the middle of the bazaar alone with the
+slave-girl; the chapmen had not only retired into their shops but barred
+the doors behind them. "Much obliged to you; but we would not accept
+such a piece of good luck even as a gift," they seemed to say.
+
+Only one man still remained in front of his shop, and that was Halil
+Patrona. He alone had the courage to scrutinise the slave-girl
+carefully.
+
+Perchance he felt compassion for this slave. He could not but perceive
+how the poor thing was trembling beneath the veil which covered her to
+the very heels. Nothing could be seen of her but her eyes, and in those
+eyes a tear was visible.
+
+"Come! bring her into my shop!" said Halil to the public crier; "don't
+leave her out in the public square there for everybody to stare at her."
+
+"Impossible!" replied the public crier. "As I value my head I must obey
+my orders, and my orders are to take her veil from off her head in the
+auction-yard, where the ordinary slaves are wont to be offered for sale,
+and there announce the price set upon her in the sight and hearing of
+all men."
+
+"What crime has this slave-girl committed that she should be treated so
+scurvily?"
+
+"Halil Patrona!" answered the public crier, "it will be all the better
+for my tongue and your ears if I do not answer that question. I simply
+do what I have been told to do. I unveil this odalisk, I proclaim what
+she can do, to what use she can be put. I neither belittle her nor do I
+exalt her. I advise nobody to buy her and I advise nobody not to buy
+her. Allah is free to do what He will with us all, and that which has
+been decreed concerning each of us ages ago must needs befall." And with
+these words he whisked away the veil from the head of the odalisk.
+
+"By the Prophet! a beauteous maid indeed! What eyes! A man might fancy
+they could speak, and if one gazed at them long enough one could find
+more to learn there than in all that is written in the Koran! What lips
+too! I would gladly remain outside Paradise if by so doing I might gaze
+upon those lips for ever. And what a pale face! Well does she deserve
+the name of Guel-Bejaze! Her cheeks do indeed resemble white roses! And
+one can see dewdrops upon them, as is the way with roses!--the dewdrops
+from her eyes! And what must such eyes be like when they laugh? What
+must that face be like when it blushes? What must that mouth be like
+when it speaks, when it sighs, when it trembles with sweet desire?"
+
+Halil Patrona was quite carried away by his enthusiasm.
+
+"Carry her not any further," he said to the public crier, "and show her
+to nobody else, for nobody else would dare to buy her. Besides, I'll
+give you for her a sum which nobody else would think of offering, I will
+give five thousand piastres."
+
+"Be it so!" said the crier, veiling the maid anew; "you have seen her,
+anyhow, bring your money and take the girl!"
+
+Halil went in for his purse, handed it over to the crier (it held the
+exact amount to a penny), and took the odalisk by the hand--there she
+stood alone with him.
+
+Halil Patrona now lost not a moment in locking up his shop, and taking
+the odalisk by the hand led her away with him to his poor lonely
+dwelling-place.
+
+All the way thither the girl never uttered a word.
+
+On reaching the house Halil made the girl sit down by the hearth, and
+then addressed her in a tender, kindly voice.
+
+"Here is my house, whatever you see in it is mine and yours. The whole
+lot is not very much it is true, but it is all our own. You will find no
+ornaments or frankincense in my house, but you can go in and out of it
+as you please without asking anybody's leave. Here are two piastres,
+provide therewith a dinner for us both."
+
+The worthy Mussulman then returned to the bazaar, leaving the girl alone
+in the house. He did not return home till the evening.
+
+Meanwhile Guel-Bejaze had made the two piastres go as far as they could,
+and had supper all ready for him. She placed Halil's dish on the
+reed-mat close beside him, but she herself sat down on the threshold.
+
+"Not there, but come and sit down by my side," said Halil, and seizing
+the trembling hand of the odalisk, he made her sit down beside him on
+the cushion, piled up the pilaf before her, and invited her with kind
+and encouraging words to fall to. The odalisk obeyed him. Not a word had
+she yet spoken, but when she had finished eating, she turned towards
+Halil and murmured in a scarce audible voice,
+
+"For six days I have eaten nought."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Halil in amazement, "six days! Horrible! And who was
+it, pray, that compelled you to endure such torture?"
+
+"It was my own doing, for I wanted to die."
+
+Halil shook his head gravely.
+
+"So young, and yet to desire death! And do you still want to die, eh?"
+
+"Your own eyes can tell you that I do not."
+
+Halil had taken a great fancy to the girl. He had never before known
+what it was to love any human being; but now as he sat there face to
+face with the girl, whose dark eyelashes cast shadows upon her pale
+cheeks, and regarded her melancholy, irresponsive features, he fancied
+he saw a peri before him, and felt a new man awakening within him
+beneath this strange charm.
+
+Halil could never remember the time when his heart had actually throbbed
+for joy, but now that he was sitting down by the side of this beautiful
+maid it really began to beat furiously. Ah! how truly sang the poet when
+he said: "Two worlds there are, one beneath the sun and the other in the
+heart of a maid."
+
+For a long time he gazed rapturously on the beauteous slave, admiring in
+turn her fair countenance, her voluptuous bosom, and her houri-like
+figure. How lovely, how divinely lovely it all was! And then he
+bethought him that all this loveliness was his own; that he was the
+master, the possessor of this girl, at whose command she would fall upon
+his bosom, envelop him with the pavilion, dark as night, of her flowing
+tresses, and embrace him with arms of soft velvet. Ah! and those lips
+were not only red but sweet; and that breast was not only snow-white
+but throbbing and ardent--and at the thought his brain began to swim for
+joy and rapture.
+
+And yet he did not even know what to call her! He had never had a
+slave-girl before, and hardly knew how to address her. His own tongue
+was not wont to employ tender, caressing words; he knew not what to say
+to a woman to make her love him.
+
+"Guel-Bejaze!" he murmured hoarsely.
+
+"I await your commands, my master!"
+
+"My name is Halil--call me so!"
+
+"Halil, I await your commands!"
+
+"Say nothing about commanding. Sit down beside me here! Come, sit
+closer, I say!"
+
+The girl sat down beside him. She was quite close to him now.
+
+But the worst of it was that, even now, Halil had not the remotest idea
+what to say to her.
+
+The maid was sad and apathetic, she did not weep as slave-girls are wont
+to do. Halil would so much have liked the girl to talk and tell him her
+history, and the cause of her melancholy, then perhaps it would have
+been easier for him to talk too. He would then have been able to have
+consoled her, and after consolation would have come love.
+
+"Tell me, Guel-Bejaze!" said he, "how was it that the Sultan had you
+offered for sale in the bazaar."
+
+The girl looked at Halil with those large black eyes of hers. When she
+raised her long black lashes it was as though he gazed into a night lit
+up by two black suns, and thus she continued gazing at him for a long
+time fixedly and sadly.
+
+"That also you will learn to know, Halil," she murmured.
+
+And Halil felt his heart grow hotter and hotter the nearer he drew to
+this burning, kindling flame; his eyes flashed sparks at the sight of so
+much beauty, he seized the girl's hand and pressed it to his lips. How
+cold that hand was! All the more reason for warming it on his lips and
+on his bosom; but, for all his caressing, the little hand remained cold,
+as cold as the hand of a corpse.
+
+Surely that throbbing breast, those provocative lips, are not as cold?
+
+Halil, intoxicated with passion, embraced the girl, and as he drew her
+to his breast, as he pressed her to him, the girl murmured to
+herself--it sounded like a gentle long-drawn-out sigh:
+
+"Blessed Mary!"
+
+And then the girl's long black hair streamed over her face, and when
+Halil smoothed it aside from the fair countenance to see if it had not
+grown redder beneath his embrace--behold! it was whiter than ever. All
+trace of life had fled from it, the eyes were cast down, the lips
+closed and bluish. Dead, dead--a corpse lay before him!
+
+But Halil would not believe it. He fancied that the girl was only
+pretending. He put his hand on her fair bosom--but he could not hear the
+beating of the heart. The girl had lost all sense of feeling. He could
+have done with her what he would. A dead body lay in his bosom.
+
+An ice-cold feeling of horror penetrated Halil's heart, altogether
+extinguishing the burning flame of passion. All tremulously he released
+the girl and laid her down. Then he whispered full of fear:
+
+"Awake! I will not hurt you, I will not hurt you."
+
+Her light kaftan had glided down from her bosom; he restored it to its
+place and, awe-struck, he continued gazing at the features of the lovely
+corpse.
+
+After a few moments the girl opened her lips and sighed heavily, and
+presently her large black eyes also opened once more, her lips resumed
+their former deep red hue, her eyes their enchanting radiance, her face
+the delicate freshness of a white rose, once more her bosom began to
+rise and fall.
+
+She arose from the carpet on which Halil had laid her, and set to work
+removing and re-arranging the scattered dishes and platters. Only after
+a few moments had elapsed did she whisper to Halil, who could not
+restrain his astonishment:
+
+"And now you know why the Padishah ordered me to be sold like a common
+slave in the bazaar. The instant a man embraces me I become as dead, and
+remain so until he lets me go again, and his lips grow cold upon mine
+and his heart abhors me. My name is not Guel-Bejaze, the White Rose, but
+Guel-Olue, the Dead Rose."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+SULTAN ACHMED.
+
+
+The sun is shining through the windows of the Seraglio, the two Ulemas
+who are wont to come and pray with the Sultan have withdrawn, and the
+Kapu-Agasi, or chief doorkeeper, and the Anakhtar Oglan, or chief
+key-keeper, hasten to open the doors through which the Padishah
+generally goes to his dressing-room, where already await him the most
+eminent personages of the Court, to wit, the Khas-Oda-Bashi, or Master
+of the Robes, the Chobodar who hands the Sultan his first garment, the
+Duelbendar who ties the shawl round his body, the Berber-Bashi who shaves
+his head, the Ibrikdar Aga who washes his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi
+who dries them again, the Serbedji-Bashi who has a pleasant potion ready
+for him, and the Ternakdji who carefully pares his nails. All these
+grandees do obeisance to the very earth as they catch sight of the face
+of the Padishah making his way through innumerable richly carved doors
+on his way to his dressing-chamber.
+
+This robing-room is a simple, hexagonal room, with lofty,
+gold-entrellised window; its whole beauty consists in this, that the
+walls are inlaid with amethysts, from whose jacinth-hued background
+shine forth the more lustrous raised arabesques formed by topazes and
+dalmatines. Precious stones are the delight of the Padishah. Every inch
+of his garments is resplendent with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, his
+very fingers are hidden by the rings which sparkle upon them. Pomp is
+the very breath of his life. And his countenance well becomes this
+splendour. It is a mild, gentle, radiant face, like the face of a father
+when he moves softly among his loving children. His large, melancholy
+eyes rest kindly on the face of everyone he beholds; his smooth,
+delicate forehead is quite free from wrinkles. It would seem as if it
+could never form into folds, as if its possessor could never be angry;
+there is not a single grey hair in his well-kept, long black beard; it
+would seem as if he knew not the name of grief, as if he were the very
+Son of Happiness.
+
+And so indeed he was. For seven-and-twenty years he had sat upon the
+throne. It is possible that during these seven-and-twenty years many
+changes may have taken place in the realm which could by no means call
+for rejoicing, but Allah had blessed him with such a happy disposition
+as to make him quite indifferent to these unfortunate events, in fact,
+he did not trouble his head about them at all. Like the true
+philosopher he was, he continued to rejoice in whatsoever was joyous. He
+loved beautiful flowers and beautiful women--and he had enough of both
+and to spare. His gardens were more splendid than the gardens of Soliman
+the Magnificent, and that his Seraglio was no joyless abode was
+demonstrated by the fact that so far he was the happy father of
+one-and-thirty children.
+
+He must have had exceptionally pleasant dreams last night, or his
+favourite Sultana, the incomparably lovely Adsalis, must have
+entertained him with unusually pleasant stories, or perchance a new
+tulip must have blossomed during the night, for he extended his hand to
+everyone to kiss, and when the Berber-Bashi proceeded comfortably to
+adjust the cushions beneath him, the Sultan jocosely tapped the red
+swelling cheeks of his faithful servant--cheeks which the worthy Bashi
+had taken good care of even in the days when he was only a barber's
+apprentice in the town of Zara, but which had swelled to a size worthy
+even of the rank of a Berber-Bashi, since his lot had fallen in pleasant
+places.
+
+"Allah watch over thee, and grant that thy mouth may never complain
+against thy hand, worthy Berber-Bashi. What is the latest news from the
+town?"
+
+It would appear from this that the barbers in Stambul also, even when
+they rise to the dignity of Berber-Bashis, are expected to follow the
+course of public events with the utmost attention, in order to
+communicate the most interesting details thereof to others, and thus
+relieve the tedium invariably attendant upon shaving.
+
+"Most mighty and most gracious One, if thou deignest to listen to the
+worthless words which drop from the mouth of thine unprofitable servant
+with those ears of thine created but to receive messages from Heaven, I
+will relate to thee what has happened most recently in Stambul."
+
+The Sultan continued to play with his ring, which he had taken off one
+finger to slip on to another.
+
+"Thou hast laid the command upon me, most puissant and most gracious
+Padishah," continued the Berber-Bashi, unwinding the pearl-embroidered
+_kauk_ from the head of the Sultan--"thou hast laid the command upon me
+to discover and acquaint thee with what further befell Guel-Bejaze after
+she had been cast forth from thy harem. From morn to eve, and again from
+eve to morning, I have been searching from house to house, making
+inquiries, listening with all my ears, mingling among the chapmen of the
+bazaars disguised as one of themselves, inducing them to speak, and
+ferreting about generally, till, at last, I have got to the bottom of
+the matter. For a long time nobody dared to buy the girl; it is indeed
+but meet that none should dare to pick up what the mightiest monarch of
+the earth has thrown away; it is but meet that the spot where he has
+cast out the ashes from his pipe should be avoided by all men, and that
+nobody should venture to put the sole of his foot there. Yet,
+nevertheless, in the bazaar, one madly presumptuous man was found who
+was lured to his destruction at the sight of the girl's beauty, and
+received her for five thousand piastres from the hand of the public
+crier. These five thousand piastres were all the money he had, and he
+got them, in most wondrous wise, from a foreign butcher whom he had
+welcomed to his house as a guest."
+
+"What is the name of this man?"?
+
+"Halil Patrona."
+
+"And what happened after that?"
+
+"The man took the girl home, whose beauty, of a truth, was likely to
+turn the head of anybody. He knew not what had happened to her at the
+Seraglio, in the kiosks of the Kiaja Beg and the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim
+Damad and in the harem of the White Prince. For, verily, it is a joy to
+even behold the maiden, and it would be an easy matter to lose one's
+wits because of her, especially if one did not know that this fair
+blossom may be gazed at but not plucked, that this beautiful form which
+puts even the houris of Paradise to shame, suddenly becomes stiff and
+dead at the contact of a man's hand, and that neither the warmth of the
+sun-like face of the Padishah, nor the fury of the Grand Vizier, nor the
+thongs of the scourge of the Sultana Asseki, nor the supplications of
+the White Prince, can awaken her from her death-like swoon."
+
+"And didst thou discover what happened to the girl after that?"
+
+"Blessed be every word concerning me which issues from thy lips oh,
+mighty Padishah! Yes, I went after the girl. The worthy shopkeeper took
+the maiden home with him. It rejoiced him that he could give to her
+everything that was there. He made her sit down beside him. He supped in
+her company. Then he would have embraced her. So he drew her to his
+bosom, and immediately the girl collapsed in his arms like a dead thing,
+as she is always wont to do whenever a man touches her, at the same time
+uttering certain magical talismanic words of evil portent, from which
+may the Prophet guard every true believer! For she spoke the name of
+that holy woman whose counterfeit presentment the Giaours carry upon
+their banners, and whose name they pronounce when they go forth to war
+against the true believers."
+
+"Was he who took her away wrath thereat?"
+
+"Nay, on the contrary, he seemed well satisfied that it should be so,
+and ever since then he has left the girl in peace. He regards her as a
+peri, as one who is not in her right mind, and therefore should be dealt
+gently with. She is free to go about the house as she likes. Halil will
+never permit her to do any rough work, nay, rather, will he do
+everything himself, with his own hands, so that all his acquaintances
+already begin to speak of him as a portent, and his patience has become
+a proverb in their mouths. Halil they say took unto himself a
+slave-woman, and lo! he has himself become that slave-woman's slave."
+
+"Of a truth it is a remarkable case," observed the Padishah; "try and
+find out what turn the affair takes next. And the Teskeredji Bashi shall
+record everything that thou sayest for an eternal remembrance."
+
+During this speech the Berber-Bashi had artistically completed the
+official dressing of the Padishah's head, whereupon the Ibrikdar Aga
+came forward to wash his hands, the Peshkiriji Bashi carefully dried
+them with a towel, the Ternakdji Bashi pared his nails, the Duelbendar
+placed the pearl-embroidered _kauk_ on the top of his head, and adjusted
+the long eastern shawl round his waist, the Chobodar handed him his
+upper jacket, the _binis_ heavy with turquoise, the Silihdar buckled on
+his tasselled sword, and then everyone, after performing the usual
+salaams withdrew, except the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the Kapu-Agasi, who
+remained alone with their master.
+
+The Khas-Oda-Bashi announced that the two humblest of the Sultan's
+servants, Abdullah, the Chief Mufti, and Damad Ibrahim, the Grand
+Vizier, were waiting on their knees for an audience in the vestibule of
+the Seraglio. They desired, he said, to communicate important news
+touching the safety and honour of the Empire.
+
+The Sultan had not yet given an answer when, through the door leading
+from the harem, popped the Kizlar-Aga, the chief eunuch, a respectable,
+black-visaged gentleman with split lips, who had the melancholy
+privilege of passing in and out of the Sultan's harem at all hours of
+the day and night, and finding no pleasure therein.
+
+"Kizlar-Aga, my faithful servant! what dost thou want?" inquired Achmed
+going to meet him, and raising him from the ground whereon he had thrown
+himself.
+
+"Most gracious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, "the flower cannot go on
+living without the sun, and the most lovely of flowers, that most
+fragrant blossom, the Sultana Asseki, longs to bask in the light of thy
+countenance."
+
+At these words the features of Achmed grew still more gentle, still more
+radiant with smiles. He signified to the Khas-Oda-Bashi and the
+Kapu-Agasi that they should withdraw into another room, while he
+dispatched the Kizlar-Aga to bring in the Sultana Asseki.
+
+Adsalis, for so they called her, was a splendid damsel of Damascus. She
+had been lavishly endowed with every natural charm. Her skin was whiter
+than ivory and smoother than velvet. Compared with her dark locks the
+blackest night was but a pale shadow, and the hue of her full smiling
+face put to shame the breaking dawn and the budding rose. When she gazed
+upon Achmed with those eyes of hers in which a whole rapturous world of
+paradisaical joys glowed and burned, the Padishah felt his whole heart
+smitten with sweet lightnings, and when her voluptuously enchanting lips
+expressed a wish, who was there in the wide world who would have the
+courage to gainsay them? Certainly not Achmed! Ah, no! "Ask of me the
+half of my realm!"--that was the tiniest of the flattering assurances
+which he was wont to heap upon her. If he were but able to embrace her,
+if he were but able to look into her burning eyes, if he were but able
+to see her smile again and again, then he utterly forgot Stambul, his
+capital, the host, the war, and the foreign ambassadors--and praised
+the Prophet for such blessedness.
+
+The favourite Sultana approached Achmed with that enchanting smile which
+was eternally irresistible so far as he was concerned, and never
+permitted an answer approaching a refusal to even appear on the lips of
+the Sultan.
+
+What pressing request could it be? Why it was only at dawn of this very
+day that the Padishah had quitted her! What vision of rapture could she
+have seen since then whose realisation she had set her heart upon
+obtaining?
+
+The Sultan, taking her by the hand, conducted her to his purple ottoman,
+and permitted her to sit down at his feet; the Sultana folded her hands
+on the knees of the Padishah, and raising her eyes to his face thus
+addressed him:
+
+"I come from thy daughter, little Eminah, she has sent me to thee that I
+may kiss thy feet instead of her. As often as I see thee, majestic Khan,
+it is as though I see her face, and as often as I behold her it is thy
+face that stands before me. She resembles thee as a twinkling star
+resembles a radiant sun. Three years of her life has she accomplished,
+she has now entered upon her fourth summer, and still no husband has
+been destined for her. This very morning when thou hadst turned thy face
+away from me I saw a vision. And this was the vision I saw. Thy three
+children, Aisha, Hadishra, and Eminah, were sitting in the open piazza,
+beneath splendid, sparkling pavilions. There were three pavilions
+standing side by side: the first was white, the second violet, and the
+third of a vivid green. In these three pavilions, I say, the princesses,
+thy daughters, were sitting, clothed in _kapanijaks_ of cloth of silver,
+with round _selmiks_ on their heads, and embellished with the seven
+lucky circles which bring the blessings of prosperity to womenkind. Thou
+knowest what these circles are, oh Padishah! They are the ishtifan or
+diadem, the necklace, the ear-ring, the finger-ring, the girdle, the
+bracelet, and the mantle-ring-clasp--the seven gifts of felicity, oh
+Padishah, that the bridegroom giveth to the bride. Beside these
+pavilions, moreover, were a countless multitude of other tents--of three
+different hues of blue and three different hues of green--and in these
+tents abode a great multitude of Emir Defterdars, Reis-Effendis,
+Muderises, and Sheiks. And in front of the Seraglio were set up three
+lofty palm-trees, which elephants drew about on great wheeled cars, and
+there were three gardens there, the flowers whereof were made of sugar,
+and then the chiefs of the viziers arose and the celebration of the
+festival began. After the usual kissing of hands, the nuptials were
+proceeded with, the Kiaja representing the bridegroom and the
+Kizlar-Aga the bride, and everyone received a present. Then came the
+bridal retinue with the bridal gifts, a hundred camels laden with
+flowers and fruits, and an elephant bearing gold and precious stones and
+veils meet for the land of the peris. Two eunuchs brought mirrors inlaid
+with emeralds, and the _miri achorok_ held the reins of splendidly
+caparisoned chargers. After them came the attendants of the Grand
+Vizier, and delighted the astonished eyes of the spectators with a
+display of slinging. Then came the wine-carriers with their wine-skins,
+and in a pavilion set up for the purpose wooden men sported with a
+living centaur. There also were the Egyptian sword and hoop dancers, the
+Indian jugglers and serpent charmers, after whom came the Chief Mufti,
+who read aloud a verse from the Koran in the light of thy countenance,
+and gave also the interpretation thereof in words fair to listen to.
+Then followed fit and capable men from the arsenal, dragging along on
+rollers huge galleys in full sail, and after them the topijis, dragging
+after them, likewise on rollers, a fortress crammed full of cannons,
+which also they fired again and again to the astonishment of the
+multitude. Thereupon began the dancing of the Egyptian opium-eaters,
+which was indeed most marvellous, and after them there was a show of
+bears and apes, which sported right merrily together. Close upon these
+came the procession of the Guilds and the junketing of the Janissaries,
+and last of all the Feast of Palms, which palms were carried to the very
+gates of the Seraglio, along with the sugar gardens I have already
+spoken of. Then there was the Feast of Lamps, in which ten thousand
+shining lamps gleamed among twenty thousand blossoming tulips, so that
+one might well have believed that the lamps were blossoming and the
+tulips were shining. And all the while the cannons of the Anatoli Hisar
+and the Rumili Hisar were thundering, and the Bosphorus seemed to be
+turned into a sea of fire by reason of the illuminated ships and the
+sparkling fireworks. Such then was the dream of the humblest of thy
+slaves at dawn of the 12th day of the month Dzhemakir, which day is a
+day of good omen to the sons of Osman."
+
+It might have been thought a tiresome matter to listen to such long,
+drawn-out visions as this to the very end, but Achmed was a good
+listener, and, besides, he delighted in such things. Nothing made him so
+happy as great festivals, and the surest way of gaining his good graces
+was by devising some new pageant of splendour, excellence, and
+originality unknown to his predecessors. Adsalis had won his favour by
+inventing the Feast of Lamps and Tulips, which was renewed every year.
+This Feast of Palms, moreover, was another new idea, and so also was the
+idea of the sugar garden. So Achmed, in a transport of enthusiasm,
+pressed the favourite Sultana to his bosom, and swore solemnly that her
+dream should be fulfilled, and then sent her back into the harem.
+
+And now the Kizlar-Aga admitted the two dignitaries who had been waiting
+outside. The Chief Mufti entered first, and after him came the Grand
+Vizier, Damad Ibrahim. Both of them had long, flowing, snow-white beards
+and grave venerable faces.
+
+They bowed low before the Sultan, kissed the hem of his garment, and lay
+prostrate before him till he raised them up again.
+
+"What brings you to the Seraglio, my worthy counsellors?" inquired the
+Sultan.
+
+As was meet and right, the Chief Mufti was the first to speak.
+
+"Most gracious, most puissant master! Be merciful towards us if with our
+words we disturb the tranquil joys of thy existence! For though slumber
+is a blessing, wary wakefulness is better than slumber, and he who will
+not recognise the coming of danger is like unto him who would rob his
+own house. It will be known unto thee, most glorious Padishah, that a
+few years ago it pleased Allah, in his inscrutable wisdom, to permit the
+Persian rebel, Esref, to drive his lawful sovereign, Tamasip, from his
+capital. The prince became a fugitive, and the mother of the prince,
+dressed in rags, was reduced to the wretched expedient of doing menial
+service in the streets of Ispahan for a livelihood. The glory of the
+Ottoman arms could not permit that a usurper should sit at his ease on
+the stolen throne, and thy triumphant host, led by the Vizier Ibrahim
+and the virtuous Kueprili, the descendant of the illustrious Nuuman
+Kueprili, wrested Kermandzasahan from Persia and incorporated it with thy
+dominions. And then it pleased the Prophet to permit marvellous things
+to happen. Suddenly Shah Tamasip, whom all men believed to be
+ruined--suddenly, I say, Shah Tamasip reappeared at the head of a
+handful of heroes and utterly routed the bloody Esref Khan in three
+pitched battles at Damaghan, Derechar, and Ispahan, put him to flight,
+and the hoofs of the horses of the victor trod the rebel underfoot. And
+now the restored sovereign demands back from the Ottoman Empire the
+domains which had been occupied. His Grand Vizier, Safikuli Khan, is
+advancing with a large army against the son of Kueprili, and the darkness
+of defeat threatens to obscure the sun-like radiance of the Ottoman
+arms. Most puissant Padishah! suffer not the tooth of disaster to gnaw
+away at thy glory! The Grand Vizier and I have already gathered
+together thy host on the shores of the Bosphorus. They are ready, at a
+moment's notice, to embark in the ships prepared for them. Money and
+provisions in abundance have been sent to the frontier for the gallant
+Nuuman Kueprili on the backs of fifteen hundred camels. It needs but a
+word from thee and thine empire will become an armed hand, one buffet
+whereof will overthrow another empire. It needs but a wink of thine eye
+and a host of warriors will spring from the earth, just as if all the
+Ottoman heroes, who died for their country four centuries ago, were to
+rise from their graves to defend the banner of the Prophet. But that
+same banner thou shouldst seize and bear in thine own hand, most
+glorious Padishah! for only thy presence can give victory to our arms.
+Arise, then, and gird upon thy thigh the sword of thy illustrious
+ancestor Muhammad! Descend in the midst of thy host which yearns for the
+light of thy countenance, as the eyes of the sleepless yearn for the sun
+to rise, and put an end to the long night of waiting."
+
+Achmed's gentle gaze rested upon the speaker abstractedly. It seemed as
+if, while the Chief Mufti was speaking, he had not heard a single word
+of the passionate discourse that had been addressed to him.
+
+"My faithful servants!" said he, smiling pleasantly, "this day is to me
+a day of felicity. The Sultana Asseki at dawn to-day saw a vision
+worthy of being realised. A dazzling festival was being celebrated in
+the streets of Stambul, and the whole city shone in the illumination
+thereof. The gardens of the puspang-trees and the courtyards of the
+kiosks around the Sweet Waters were bright with the radiance of lamps
+and tulips. Waving palm-trees and gardens full of sugar-flowers
+traversed the streets, and galleys and fortresses perambulated the
+piazzas on wheels. That dream was too lovely to remain a dream. It must
+be made a reality."
+
+The Chief Mufti folded his hands across his breast and bent low before
+the Padishah.
+
+"Allah Akbar! Allah Kerim! God is mighty. Be it even as thou dost
+command! May the sun rise in the west if it be thy will, oh Padishah!"
+And the Chief Mufti drew aside and was silent.
+
+But the aged Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, came forward, and drying his
+tearful eyes with the corner of his kaftan, stood sorrowfully in front
+of the Padishah. And these were his words:
+
+"Oh! my master! Allah hath appointed certain days for rejoicing, and
+certain other days for mourning, and 'tis not well to confuse the one
+with the other. Just now there is no occasion for rejoicing, but all the
+more occasion for mourning. Woeful tidings, like dark clouds presaging a
+storm, are coming in from every corner of the Empire--conflagrations,
+pestilences, earthquakes, inundations, hurricanes--alarm and agitate the
+people. Only this very week the fairest part of Stambul, close to the
+Chojabasha, was burnt to the ground; and only a few weeks ago the same
+fate befell the suburb of Ejub along the whole length of the sea-front,
+and that, too, at the very time when the other part of the city was
+illuminated in honour of the birthday of Prince Murad. In Gallipoli a
+thunder-bolt struck the powder-magazine, and five hundred workmen were
+blown into the air. The Kiagadehane brook, in a single night, swelled to
+such an extent as to inundate the whole valley of Sweet Waters, and a
+whole park of artillery was swept away by the flood. And know also, oh
+Padishah, that, but the other day, a new island rose up from the sea
+beside the island of Santorin, and this new island has grown larger and
+larger during three successive months, and all the time it was growing,
+the ground beneath Stambul quaked and trembled. These are no good omens,
+oh, my master! and if thou wilt lend thine ears to the counsel of thy
+faithful servant, thou wilt proclaim a day of penance and fasting
+instead of a feast-day, for evil days are coming upon Stambul. The voice
+of the enemy can be heard on all our borders, from the banks of the
+Danube as well as from beside the waters of the Pruth, from among the
+mountains of Erivan as well as from beyond the islands of the
+Archipelago; and if every Mussulman had ten hands and every one of the
+ten held a sword, we should still have enough to do to defend thy
+Empire. Bear, oh Padishah! with my grey hairs, and pardon my temerity. I
+see Stambul in the midst of flames every time it is illuminated for a
+festival, and full of consternation, I cry to thee and to the Prophet,
+'Send us help and that right soon.'"
+
+Sultan Achmed continued all the time to smile most graciously.
+
+"Worthy Ibrahim!" said he at last, "thou hast a son, hast thou not,
+whose name is Osman, and who has now attained his fourth year. Now I
+have a daughter, Eminah, who has just reached her third year. Lo now! as
+my soul liveth, I will not gird on the Sword of the Prophet, I will not
+take in my hand the Banner of Danger until I have given these young
+people to each other in marriage. Long ago they were destined for each
+other, and the multiplication of thy merits demands the speedy
+consummation of these espousals. I have sworn to the Sultana Asseki that
+so it shall be, and I cannot go back from my oath as though I were but
+an unbelieving fire-worshipper, for the fire-worshippers do not regard
+the sanctity of an oath, and when they take an oath or make a promise
+they recite the words thereof backwards, and believe they are thereby
+free of their obligations. It beseemeth not the true believers to do
+likewise. I have promised that this festival shall be celebrated, and it
+is my desire that it should be splendid."
+
+Ibrahim sighed deeply, and it was with a sad countenance that he thanked
+the Padishah for this fresh mark of favour. Yet the betrothal might so
+easily have been postponed, for the bridegroom was only four years old
+and the bride was but three.
+
+"Allah Kerim! God grant that thy shadow may never grow less, most mighty
+Padishah!" said Damad Ibrahim, and with that he kissed the hand of the
+Grand Seignior, and both he and the Chief Mufti withdrew.
+
+At the gate of the Seraglio the Chief Mufti said to the Grand Vizier
+sorrowfully:
+
+"It had been better for us both had we never grown grey!"
+
+But Sultan Achmed, accompanied by the Bostanjik, hastened to the gardens
+of the grove of puspang-trees to look at his tulips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE SLAVE OF THE SLAVE-GIRL.
+
+
+Worthy Halil Patrona had become quite a by-word with his fellows. The
+name he now went by in the bazaars was: The Slave of the Slave-Girl.
+This did not hurt him in the least; on the contrary, the result was,
+that more people came to smoke their chibooks and buy tobacco at his
+shop than ever. Everybody was desirous of making the acquaintance of the
+Mussulman who would not so much as lay a hand upon a slave-girl whom he
+had bought with his own money, nay more, who did all the work of the
+house instead of her, just as if she had bought him instead of his
+buying her.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Patrona dwelt Musli, a veteran Janissary, who
+filled up his spare time by devoting himself to the art of
+slipper-stitching. This man often beheld Halil prowling about on the
+house-top in the moonlit nights where Guel-Bejaze was sleeping, and after
+sitting down within a couple of paces of her, remain there in a brown
+study for hours at a time, often till midnight, nay, sometimes till
+daybreak. With his chin resting in the palm of his hand there he would
+stay, gazing intently at her charming figure and her pale but beautiful
+face. Frequently he would creep closer to her, creep so near that his
+lips would almost touch her face; but then he would throw back his head
+again, and if at such times the slave-girl half awoke from her slumbers,
+he would beckon to her to go to sleep again--nobody should disturb her.
+
+Halil did not trouble his head in the least about all this gossip. It
+was noticed, indeed, that his face was somewhat paler than it used to
+be, but if anyone ventured to jest with him on the subject, face to
+face, he was very speedily convinced that Halil's arms, at any rate,
+were no weaker than of yore.
+
+One day he was sitting, as usual, at the door of his booth, paying
+little attention to the people coming and going around him, and staring
+abstractedly with wide and wandering eyes into space, as if his gaze was
+fixed upon something above his head, when somebody who had approached
+him so softly as to take him quite unawares, very affectionately greeted
+him with the words:
+
+"Well, my dear Chorbadshi, how are you?"
+
+Patrona looked in the direction of the voice, and saw in front of him
+his mysterious guest of the other day--the Greek Janaki.
+
+"Ah, 'tis thou, musafir! I searched for you everywhere for two whole
+days after you left me, for I wanted to give you back the five thousand
+piastres which you were fool enough to make me a present of. It was just
+as well, however, that I did not find you, and I have long ceased
+looking for you, for I have now spent all the money."
+
+"I am glad to hear it, Halil, and I hope the money has done you a good
+turn. Are you willing to receive me into your house as a guest once
+more?"
+
+"With pleasure! But you must first of all promise me two things. The
+first is, that you will not contrive by some crafty device to pay me
+something for what I give you gratis; and the second is, that you will
+not expect to stay the night with me, but will wander across the street
+and pitch your tent at the house of my worthy neighbour Musli, who is
+also a bachelor, and mends slippers, and is therefore a very worthy and
+respectable man."
+
+"And why may I not sleep at your house?"
+
+"Because you must know that there are now two of us in the house--I and
+my slave-girl."
+
+"That will not matter a bit, Halil. I will sleep on the roof, and you
+take the slave-girl down with you into the house."
+
+"It cannot be so, Janaki! it cannot be."
+
+"Why can it not be?"
+
+"Because I would rather sleep in a pit into which a tiger has fallen, I
+would rather sleep in the lair of a hippopotamus, I would rather sleep
+in a canoe guarded by alligators and crocodiles, I would rather spend a
+night in a cellar full of scorpions and scolopendras, or in the Tower of
+Surem, which is haunted by the accursed Jinns, than pass a single night
+in the same room with this slave-girl."
+
+"Why; what's this, Halil? you fill me with amazement. Surely, it cannot
+be that you are that Mussulman of whom all Pera is talking?--the man I
+mean who purchased a slave-girl in order to be her slave?"
+
+"It is as you say. But 'twere better not to talk of that matter at all.
+Those five thousand piastres of yours are the cause of it; they have
+ruined me out and out. My mind is going backwards I think. When people
+come to my shop to buy wares of me, I give them such answers to their
+questions that they laugh at me. Let us change the subject, let us
+rather talk of your affairs. Have you found your daughter yet?"
+
+It was now Janaki's turn to sigh.
+
+"I have sought her everywhere, and nowhere can I find her."
+
+"How did you lose her?"
+
+"One Saturday she went with some companions on a pleasure excursion in
+the Sea of Marmora in a sailing-boat. Their music and dancing attracted
+a Turkish pirate to the spot, and in the midst of a peaceful empire he
+stole all the girls, and contrived to dispose of them so secretly that I
+have never been able to find any trace of them. I am now disposed to
+believe that she was taken to the Sultan's Seraglio."
+
+"You will never get her out of there then."
+
+Janaki sighed deeply.
+
+"You think, then, that I shall never get at her if she is there?" and he
+shook his head sadly.
+
+"Not unless the Janissaries, or the Debejis, or the Bostanjis lay their
+heads together and agree to depose the Sultan."
+
+"Who would even dare to think of such a thing, Halil?"
+
+"I would if _my_ daughter were detained in the harem against her will
+and against mine also. But that is not at all in your line, Janaki. You
+have never shed any blood but the blood of sheep and oxen, but let me
+tell you this, Janaki: if I were as rich a man as you are, trust me for
+finding a way of getting my girl out of the very Seraglio itself. Wealth
+is a mightier force than valour."
+
+"I pray you, speak not so loudly. One of your neighbours might hear you,
+and would think nothing of felling me to the earth to get my money. For
+I carry a great deal of money about with me, and am always afraid of
+being robbed of it. In front of the bazaar a slave is awaiting me with a
+mule. On the back of that mule are strung two jars seemingly filled with
+dried dates. Let me tell you that those jars are really half-filled with
+gold pieces, the dates are only at the top. I should like to deposit
+them at your house. I suppose your slave-girl will not pry too closely?"
+
+"You can safely leave them with me. If you tell her not to look at them
+she will close her eyes every time she passes the jars."
+
+Meanwhile Patrona had closed his booth and invited his guest to
+accompany him homewards. On the way thither he looked in at the house of
+his neighbour, the well-mannered Janissary, who mended slippers. Musli
+willingly offered Halil's guest a night's lodging. In return Patrona
+invited him to share with him a small dish of well-seasoned pilaf and a
+few cups of a certain forbidden fluid, which invitation the worthy
+Janissary accepted with alacrity.
+
+And now they crossed Halil's threshold.
+
+Guel-Bejaze was standing by the fire-place getting ready Halil's supper
+when the guests entered, and hearing footsteps turned round to see who
+it might be.
+
+The same instant the Greek wayfarer uttered a loud cry, and pitching
+his long hat into the air, rushed towards the slave-girl, and flinging
+himself down on his knees before her fell a-kissing, again and again,
+her hands and arms, and at last her pale face also, while the girl flung
+herself upon his shoulder and embraced the fellow's neck; and then the
+pair of them began to weep, and the words, "My daughter!" "My father!"
+could be heard from time to time amidst their sobs.
+
+Halil could only gaze at them open-mouthed.
+
+But Janaki, still remaining on his knees, raised his hands to Heaven,
+and gave thanks to God for guiding his footsteps to this spot.
+
+"Allah Akbar! The Lord be praised!" said Patrona in his turn, and he
+drew nearer to them. "So her whom you have so long sought after you find
+in my house, eh? Allah preordained it. And you may thank God for it, for
+you receive her back from me unharmed by me. Take her away therefore!"
+
+"You say not well, Halil," cried the father, his face radiant with joy.
+"So far from giving her back to me you shall keep her; yes, she shall
+remain yours for ever. For if I were thrice to traverse the whole earth
+and go in a different direction each time, I certainly should not come
+across another man like you. Tell me, therefore, what price you put
+upon her that I may buy her back, and give her to you to wife as a free
+woman?"
+
+Halil did not consider very long what price he should ask, so far as he
+was concerned the business was settled already. He cast but a single
+look on Guel-Bejaze's smiling lips, and asked for a kiss from them--that
+was the only price he demanded.
+
+Janaki seized his daughter's hand and placed it in the hand of Halil.
+
+And now Halil held the warm, smooth little hand in his own big paw, he
+felt its reassuring pressure, he saw the girl smile, he saw her lips
+open to return his kiss, and still he did not believe his eyes--still he
+shuddered at the reflection that when his lips should touch hers, the
+girl would suddenly die away, become pale and cold. Only when his lips
+at last came into contact with her burning lips and her bosom throbbed
+against his bosom, and he felt his kiss returned and the warm pulsation
+of her heart, then only did he really believe in his own happiness, and
+held her for a long--oh, so long!--time to his own breast, and pressed
+his lips to her lips over and over again, and was happier--happier by
+far--than the dwellers in Paradise.
+
+And after that they made the girl sit down between them, with her father
+on one side and her husband on the other, and they took her hands and
+caressed and fondled her to her heart's content. The poor maid was
+quite beside herself with delight. She kept receiving kisses and
+caresses, first on the right hand and then on the left, and her face was
+pale no longer, but of a burning red like the transfigured rose whereon
+a drop of the blood of great Aphrodite fell. And she promised her father
+and her husband that she would tell them such a lot of things--things
+wondrous, unheard of, of which they had not and never could have the
+remotest idea.
+
+And through the thin iron shutters which covered the window the
+Berber-Bashi curiously observed the touching scene!
+
+They were still in the midst of their intoxication of delight when the
+frequently before-mentioned neighbour of Halil, worthy Musli, thrust his
+head inside the door, and witnessing the scene would discreetly have
+withdrawn his perplexed countenance. But Halil, who had already caught
+sight of him, bawled him a vociferous welcome.
+
+"Nay, come along! come along! my worthy neighbour, don't stand on any
+ceremony with us, you can see for yourself how merry we are!"
+
+The worthy neighbour thereupon gingerly entered, on the tips of his
+toes, with his hands fumbling nervously about in the breast of his
+kaftan; for the poor fellow's hands were resinous to a degree. Wash and
+scrub them as he might, the resin would persist in cleaving to them. His
+awl, too, was still sticking in the folds of his turban--sticking forth
+aloft right gallantly like some heron's plume. Naturally he whose
+business it was to mend other men's shoes went about in slippers that
+were mere bundles of rags--that is always the way with cobblers!
+
+When he saw Guel-Bejaze on Halil's lap, and Halil's face beaming all over
+with joy, he smote his hands together and fell a-wondering.
+
+"There must be some great changes going on here!" thought he.
+
+But Halil compelled him to sit down beside them, and after kissing
+Guel-Bejaze again--apparently he could not kiss the girl enough--he
+cried:
+
+"Look! my dear neighbour! she is now my wife, and henceforth she will
+love me as her husband, and I shall no longer be the slave of my slave.
+And this worthy man here is my wife's father. Greet them, therefore, and
+then be content to eat and drink with us!"
+
+Then Musli approached Janaki and saluted him on the shoulder, then,
+turning towards Guel-Bejaze, he touched with his hand first the earth and
+next his forehead, sat down beside Janaki on the cushions that had been
+drawn into the middle of the room, and made merry with them.
+
+And now Janaki sent the slave he had brought with him to the
+pastry-cook's while Musli skipped homewards and brought with him a
+tambourine of chased silver, which he could beat right cunningly and
+also accompany it with a voice not without feeling; and thus Halil's
+bridal evening flowed pleasantly away with an accompaniment of wine and
+music and kisses.
+
+And all this time the worthy Berber-Bashi was looking on at this
+junketing through the trellised window, and could scarce restrain
+himself from giving expression to his astonishment when he perceived
+that Guel-Bejaze no longer collapsed like a dead thing at the contact of
+a kiss, or even at the pressure of an embrace, as she was wont to do in
+the harem, indeed her face had now grown rosier than the dawn.
+
+At last his curiosity completely overcame him, and turning the handle of
+the door he appeared in the midst of the revellers.
+
+He wore the garb of a common woodcutter, and his simple, foolish face
+corresponded excellently to the disguise. Nobody in the world could have
+taken him for anything but what he now professed to be, and it was with
+a very humble obeisance that he introduced himself.
+
+"Allah Kerim! Salaam aleikum! God's blessing go with your mirth. Why,
+you were so merry that I heard you at the cemetery yonder as I was
+passing. If it will not put you out I should be delighted to remain
+here, as long as you will let me, that I may listen to the music this
+worthy Mussulman here understands so well, and to the pretty stories
+which flow from the harmonious lips of this houri who has, I am
+persuaded, come down from Paradise for the delight of men."
+
+Now Musli was drunk with wine, Guel-Bejaze and Halil Patrona were drunk
+with love, so that not one of them had any exception to take to the
+stranger's words. Janaki was the only sober man among them, neither wine
+nor love had any attraction for him, and therefore he whispered in the
+ear of Halil:
+
+"For all you know this stranger may be a spy or a thief!"
+
+"What an idea!" Halil whispered back, "why you can see for yourself that
+he is only an honest baltaji.[1] Sit down, oh, worthy Mussulman," he
+continued, turning to the stranger, "and make one of our little party."
+
+The Berber-Bashi took him at his word. He ate and drank like one who has
+gone hungry for three whole days, he was enchanted with the tambourine
+of Musli, listened with open mouth to his story of the miserly slippers,
+and laughed as heartily as if he had never heard it at least a hundred
+times before.
+
+"And now you tell us some tale, most beautiful of women!" said he,
+wiping the tears from his eyes as he turned towards the damsel, and then
+Guel-Bejaze, after first kissing her husband and sipping from the beaker
+extended to her just enough to moisten her lips, thus began:
+
+"Once upon a time there was a rich merchant. Where he lived I know not.
+It might have been Pera, or Galata, or Damascus. Nor can I tell you his
+name, but that has nothing to do with the story. This merchant had an
+only daughter whom he loved most dearly. She had ne'er a wish that was
+not instantly gratified, and he guarded her as the very apple of his
+eye. Not even the breath of Heaven was allowed to blow upon her."
+
+"And know you not what the name of the maiden was?" inquired the
+Berber-Bashi.
+
+"Certainly, they called her Irene, for she was a Greek girl."
+
+Janaki trembled at the word. No doubt the girl was about to relate her
+own story, for Irene was the very name she had received at her baptism.
+It was very thoughtless of her to betray herself in the presence of a
+stranger.
+
+"One day," continued the maiden, "Irene went a-rowing on the sea with
+some girl friends. The weather was fine, the sea smooth, and they sang
+their songs and made merry, to their hearts' content. Suddenly the sail
+of a corsair appeared on the smooth mirror of the ocean, pounced
+straight down upon the maidens in their boat, and before they could
+reach the nearest shore, they were all seized and carried away captive.
+
+"Poor Irene! she was not even able to bid her dear father God speed! Her
+thoughts were with him as the pirate-ship sped swiftly away with her,
+and she saw the city where he dwelt recede further and further away in
+the dim distance. Alas! he was waiting for her now--and would wait in
+vain! Her father, she knew it, was standing outside his door and asking
+every passer-by if he had not seen his little daughter coming. A banquet
+had been prepared for her at home, and all the invited guests were
+already there, but still no sign of her! And now she could see him
+coming down to the sea-shore, and sweep the smooth shining watery mirror
+with his eyes in every direction, and ask the sailor-men: 'Where is my
+daughter? Do you know anything about her?'"
+
+Here the eyes of the father and the husband involuntarily filled with
+tears.
+
+"Wherefore do you weep? How silly of you! Why, you know, of course, it
+is only a tale. Listen now to how it goes on! The robber carried the
+maiden he had stolen to Stambul. He took her straight to the Kizlar-Aga
+whose office it is to purchase slave-girls for the harem of the
+Padishah. The bargaining did not take long. The Kizlar-Aga paid down at
+once the price which the slave-merchant demanded, and forthwith handed
+Irene over to the slave-women of the Seraglio, who immediately conducted
+her to a bath fragrant with perfumes. Her face, her figure, her charms,
+amazed them exceedingly, and they lifted up their voices and praised her
+loudly. But when Irene heard their praises she shuddered, and her heart
+died away within her. Surely God never gave her beauty in order that she
+might be sacrificed to it? At that moment she would have much preferred
+to have been born humpbacked, squinting, swarthy; she would have liked
+her face to be all seamed and scarred like half-frozen water, and her
+body all diseased so that everyone who saw her would shrink from her
+with disgust--better that than the feeling which now made her shrink
+from the contemplation of herself."
+
+Then they put upon her a splendid robe, hung diamond ear-rings in her
+ears, tied a beautiful shawl round her loins, encircled her arms and
+feet with rings of gold, and so led her into the secret apartment where
+the damsels of the Padishah were all gathered together. This, of course,
+was long, long ago. Who can tell what Sultan was reigning then? Why,
+even our fathers did not know his name.
+
+"Pomp and splendour, flowers and curtains adorned the immense saloon,
+the ceiling whereof was inlaid with precious stones, while the floor was
+fashioned entirely of mother-o'-pearl--he who set his foot thereon might
+fancy he was walking on rainbows. Moreover, cunning artificers had
+wrought upon this mother-o'-pearl floor flowers and birds and other most
+wondrous fantastical figures, so that it was a joy to look thereon, for
+no carpet, however precious, was suffered to cover all this splendour.
+Yet lest the cold surface of the pavement should chill the feet of the
+damsels, rows of tiny sandals stood ready there that they might bind
+them upon their feet and so walk from one end of the room to the other
+at their ease. And these sandals they called _kobkobs_."
+
+"Aye, aye!" cried the anxious Janaki, "you describe the interior of the
+Seraglio so vividly that I almost feel frightened. If a man listened
+long enough to such a tale he might easily get to feel as guilty as if
+he had actually cast an eye into the Sultan's harem, and 'twere best for
+him to die rather than do that."
+
+"Is it not a tale that I am telling you? is not the room I have just
+described to you but a creature of the imagination?--In the centre of
+this saloon, then, was a large fountain, whence fragrant rose-water
+ascended into the air sporting with the golden balls. Along the whole
+length of the walls were immense Venetian mirrors, in which splendid
+odalisks admired their own shapely limbs. Hundreds and hundreds of lamps
+shone upon the pillars which supported the room--lamps of manifold
+colours--which gave to the vast chamber the magic hues of a fairy
+palace, and in the midst thereof seemed to float a transparent blue
+cloud--it was the light smoke of ambergris and spices which the damsels
+blew forth from their long narghilis. But what impressed Irene far more
+than all this magnificence, was the figure of the Sultana Asseki, to
+whom she was now conducted. A tall, muscular lady was sitting at the end
+of the room on a raised divan. Her figure was slender round the waist
+but broad and round about the shoulders. Her snow-white arms and neck
+were encircled by rows of real pearls with diamond clasps. A lofty
+heron's plume nodded on her bejewelled turban, and lent a still
+haughtier aspect to that majestic form. With her large black eyes she
+seemed to be in the habit of ruling the whole world."
+
+"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Janaki, "you describe it all so vividly, that I am
+half afraid of sitting down here and listening to you. You might at
+least have let a little bit of a veil hang in front of her face."
+
+"But this happened long, long ago, remember! Who can even say under what
+Sultan it took place?... So they led the slave-girl into the presence
+of the Sultana, who was surrounded by two hundred other slave-girls, and
+was playing with a tiny dwarf. They were singing and dancing all around
+her and swinging censers. Above her head was a large fruit-tree made
+entirely of sugar, and covered with sugar-fruit of every shape and hue,
+and from time to time the Sultana would pluck off one of these fruits
+and taste a little bit of it and give the remainder to the tiny dwarf,
+who ate up everything greedily. Here Irene was seized by a black
+eunuch--a horrid, pockmarked man, whose upper lip was split right down
+so that all his teeth could be seen."
+
+"Just like the present Kizlar-Aga!" cried Musli laughing, "I fancy I can
+see him standing before me now!"
+
+"The Moor commanded Irene to fall on her face before the Sultana. Irene
+fell on her face accordingly, and while her forehead beat the ground
+before the Sultana she muttered to herself the words: 'Holy Mother of
+God! protectress of virgins, thou seest me in this place, when I call
+upon thee, deliver me!' The Sultana, meanwhile, had commanded her
+handmaidens to let down Irene's tresses, and as she stood before her
+there covered by her own hair from head to heel, she bade them paint her
+face red because it was so pale, and her eyelashes brown. She commanded
+them also to salve her hair with fragrant unguents, and to hang chains
+of real pearls about her arms and neck. Irene knew not the meaning of
+these things. She knew not what they meant to do with her till the
+Kizlar-Aga approached her, and said these words to her in a reassuring
+tone: 'Rejoice, fortunate damsel! for a great felicity awaits thee. In a
+week's time it will be the Feast of Bairam, and the favourite Sultana
+has chosen thee from among the other odalisks as a gift for the
+Padishah. Rejoice, therefore, I say.' But Irene at these words would
+fain have died. And in the meantime the Sultana had placed a large fan
+in her hand made entirely of pea-cocks' feathers, and permitted her to
+sit down by her side and hold the little dwarf in her lap. At a later
+day Irene discovered that this was a mark of supreme condescension.
+During the next six days the damsel lived amidst mortal terrors. Her
+companions envied her. The damsels of the harem do not love each other,
+they can only hate. Every day she beheld the Sultan, whose gentle face
+inspired involuntary respect, but the very idea of loving him filled her
+soul with horror. The Sultan spent the greater part of his time with his
+favourite wife, but it happened sometimes that he cast a handkerchief
+towards this or that odalisk, which was a great piece of good fortune
+for her, or the reverse--it all depends upon the point of view. The
+damsel whom the Grand Seignior seemed to favour the most was a beautiful
+blonde Italian girl; on one occasion this beautiful blonde damsel
+neglected to cast her eyes down as they chanced to encounter the eyes of
+the Sultana. The following day Irene could not see this damsel anywhere,
+and on inquiring after her was told by her bedfellow in a whisper that
+she had been strangled during the night. And oftentimes at dead of night
+the silence would be broken by a shriek from the secret dungeon of the
+Seraglio, followed by the sound of something splashing into the water,
+and regularly, on the day following every such occurrence, a familiar
+face would be missing from the Seraglio. All these victims were
+self-confident slave-girls, who had been unable to conceal their joy at
+the Sultan's favours, and therefore had been cast into the water. Nobody
+ever inquired about them any more."
+
+Janaki shivered all over.
+
+"It is well that this is all a tale," he observed.
+
+But Guel-Bejaze only continued her story.
+
+"At last the Feast of Bairam arrived, and throughout the day all the
+cannons on the Bosphorus sent forth their thunders. In the evening the
+Sultan came to the Seraglio weary and inclined to relaxation, and then
+the Sultana Asseki took Irene by the hand and conducted her to the
+Padishah, and presented her to him, together with gold-embroidered
+garments, preserved fruits, and other gifts intended for his
+delectation. The Grand Seignior regarded the girl tenderly, while she,
+like a kid of the flocks offered to a lion in a cage, stood trembling
+before him. But when the Sultan seized her hand to draw her towards him
+she sighed: 'Blessed Virgin!'--and lo! at these words her face grew
+pale, her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground as one dead. This was
+not the first time that such a spectacle had been seen in the harem.
+Everyone of the damsels brought thither generally commenced with a
+fainting-fit. The slave-girls immediately came running up to her, rubbed
+her body with fragrant unguents, applied penetrating essences to her
+face, let icy-cold water trickle down upon her bosom--and all was
+useless! The damsel did not awaken, and lay there like a corpse till the
+following morning--in fact, she never stirred from the spot where they
+laid her down. Next day the Padishah again summoned her to his presence.
+He spoke to her in the most tender manner. He gave her all manner of
+beautiful gifts, glittering raiment, necklaces, bracelets, and diamond
+aigrettes. The slave-girls, too, censed her all around with stupefying
+perfumes, bathed her in warm baths fragrant with ambergris and
+spikenard, and gave her fiery potions to drink. But it was all in vain.
+At the name of the Blessed Virgin, the blood ceased to flow to her
+heart, she fell down, died away, and every resource of ingenuity failed
+to arouse her. The same thing happened on the third day likewise. Then
+the Sultana Asseki's wrath was kindled greatly against her. She declared
+that this was no doing of Allah's as they might suppose. No, it was the
+damsel's own evil temper which made her pretend to be dead, and she
+immediately commanded that the damsel should be tortured. First of all
+they extended her stark naked on the icy-cold marble pavement--not a
+sign of life, not a shiver did she give. Then they held her over a slow
+fire on a gridiron--she never moved a muscle. Then they sent and sought
+for red ants in the garden among the puspang-trees and scattered them
+all over her body. Yet the girl never once quaked beneath the stings of
+the poisonous insects. Finally they thrust sharp needles down to the
+very quicks of her nails, and still the damsel did not stir. Then the
+Sultana Asseki, full of fury, seized a whip, and lashed away at the
+damsel's body till she could lash no more, yet she could not thrash a
+soul into the lifeless body."
+
+"By Allah!" cried Halil, smiting the table with his heavy fist at this
+point of the narration, "that Sultana deserves to be sewn up in a
+leather sack and cast into the Bosphorus."
+
+"Why, 'tis only a tale, you know," said Guel-Bejaze, stroking mockingly
+the chin of worthy Halil Patrona, and then she resumed her story. "The
+Sultan commanded that Irene should be expelled from the harem, for he
+had no desire to see this living corpse anywhere near him, and the
+Sultana gave her as a present to the Padishah's nephew, the son of his
+own brother.
+
+"The prince was a pale, handsome youth, as those whom women love much
+are generally wont to be. He was kept in a remote part of the Seraglio,
+for although every joy of life was his, and he was surrounded by wealth,
+pomp, and slave-girls, he was never permitted to quit the Seraglio. The
+Sultana herself led Irene to him, thinking that the fine eyes of the
+handsome youth would be the best talisman against the enchantment
+obsessing the charms of the strange damsel. The pale prince was charmed
+with the looks of the girl. He coaxed and flattered. He begged and
+implored her not to die away beneath his kisses and embraces. In vain.
+The girl swooned at the very first touch, and he who touched her lips
+might just as well have touched the lips of a corpse. The prince knelt
+down beside her, and implored her with tears to come to herself again.
+She heard not and she answered not. At last the fair Sultana Asseki
+herself had compassion on his tears and lamentations which produced no
+impression on the dead. Her heart bled for him. She bent over the pale
+prince, embraced him tenderly, and comforted him with her caresses. And
+the prince allowed himself to be comforted, and they rejoiced greatly
+together; for of course there was nobody present to see them, for the
+senseless damsel on the floor might have been a corpse so far as they
+were concerned."
+
+"Hum!" murmured the Berber-Bashi to himself, "this is a thing well worth
+remembering."
+
+"On the following day the pale prince made a present of Irene to the
+Grand Vizier. The Grand Vizier also rejoiced greatly at the sight of the
+damsel; took her into his cellar, showed her there three great vats full
+of gold and precious stones, and told her that all these things should
+be hers if only she would love him. Then he took and showed her the
+multitude of precious ornaments that he had concealed beneath the
+flooring of his palace, and promised these to her also. For every kiss
+she should give him, he offered her one of his palaces on the shores of
+the Sweet Waters, yes, for every kiss a palace."
+
+"I would burn all these palaces to the ground!" cried Halil impetuously.
+
+"Nay, nay, my son, be sensible!" said Janaki. He himself now began to
+feel that there was something more than a mere tale in all this.
+
+But the Berber-Bashi pricked up his ears and grew terribly attentive
+when mention was made of the hidden treasures of the Grand Vizier.
+
+"The sight of the treasures," resumed the girl, "had no effect upon
+Irene. She never failed to invoke the name of the Blessed Virgin
+whenever the face of a man drew near to her face, and the Blessed Virgin
+always wrought a miracle in her behalf."
+
+"'Tis my belief," said Halil, "that there were no miracles at all in the
+matter; but that the girl had so strong a will that by an effort she
+made herself dead to all tortures."
+
+"At last they came to a definite decision concerning this slave-girl, it
+was resolved to sell her by public auction in the bazaars--to sell her
+as a common slave to the highest bidder. And so Irene fell to a poor
+hawker who gave his all for her. For a whole month this man left his
+slave-girl untouched, and the girl who could not be subdued by torture,
+nor the blandishments of great men, nor by treasures, nor by ardent
+desire, became very fond of the poor costermonger, and no longer became
+as one dead when _his_ burning lips were impressed upon her face."
+
+And with that Guel-Bejaze embraced her husband and kissed him again and
+again, and smiled upon him with her large radiant eyes.
+
+"A very pretty story truly!" observed Musli, smacking his lips; "what a
+pity there is not more of it!"
+
+"Oh, no regrets, worthy Mussulman, there _is_ more of it!" cried the
+Berber-Bashi, rising from his place; "just listen to the sequel of it!
+Having had the girl sold by auction in the bazaar, the Padishah bade Ali
+Kermesh, his trusty Berber-Bashi, make inquiries and see what happened
+to the damsel _after_ the sale. Now the Berber-Bashi knew that the girl
+had only pretended to faint, and the Berber-Bashi brought the girl back
+to the Seraglio before she had spent a single night alone with her
+husband. For I am the Berber-Bashi and thou art Guel-Bejaze, that same
+slave-girl going by the name of Irene who feigned to be dead."
+
+Everyone present leaped in terror to his feet except Janaki, who fell
+down on his knees before the Berber-Bashi, embraced his knees, and
+implored him to treat all that the girl had said as if he had not heard
+it.
+
+"We are lost!" whispered the bloodless Guel-Bejaze. The intoxication of
+joy and wine had suddenly left her and she was sober once more.
+
+Janaki implored, Musli cursed and swore, but Halil spake never a word.
+He held his wife tightly embraced in his arms and he thought within
+himself, I would rather allow my hand to be chopped off than let her go.
+
+Janaki promised money and loads of treasure to Ali Kermesh if only he
+would hold his tongue, say nothing of what had happened, and let the
+girl remain with her husband.
+
+But the Berber-Bashi was inexorable.
+
+"No," said he, "I will take away the girl, and your treasures also shall
+be mine. Ye are the children of Death; yea, all of you who are now
+drawing the breath of life in this house, for to have heard the secret
+that this slave-girl has blabbed out is sufficient to kill anyone thrice
+over. I command you, Irene, to take up your veil and follow me, and you
+others must remain here till the Debedzik with the cord comes to fetch
+you also."
+
+With these words he cast Janaki from him, approached the damsel and
+seized her hand. Halil never once relaxed his embrace.
+
+"Come with me!"
+
+"Blessed Mary! Blessed Mary!" moaned the girl.
+
+"Your guardian saints are powerless to help you now, for your husband's
+lips have touched you; come with me!"
+
+Then only did Halil speak. His voice was so deep, gruff, and stern, that
+those who heard it scarce recognised it for his:
+
+"Leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!" cried he.
+
+"Silence thou dog! in another hour thou wilt be hanging up before thine
+own gate."
+
+"Once more I ask you--leave go of my wife, Ali Kermesh!"
+
+Instead of answering, the Berber-Bashi would, with one hand, have torn
+the wife from her husband's bosom while he clutched hold of Halil with
+the other, whereupon Halil brought down his fist so heavily on the skull
+of the Berber-Bashi that he instantly collapsed without uttering a
+single word.
+
+"What have you done?" cried Janaki in terror. "You have killed the chief
+barber of the Sultan!"
+
+"Yes, I rather fancy I have," replied Halil coolly.
+
+Musli rushed towards the prostrate form of Ali Kermesh, felt him all
+over very carefully, and then turned towards the hearth where the others
+were sitting.
+
+"Dead he is, there is no doubt about it. He's as dead as a door-nail.
+Well, Halil, that was a fine blow of yours I must say. By the Prophet!
+one does not see a blow like that every day. With your bare hand too! To
+kill a man with nothing but your empty fist! If a cannon-ball had
+knocked him over he could not be deader than he is."
+
+"But what shall we do now?" cried Janaki, looking around him with
+tremulous terror. "The Sultan is sure to send and make inquiries about
+his lost Berber-Bashi. It is known that he came here in disguise. The
+affair cannot long remain hidden."
+
+"There is no occasion to fear anything," said Musli reassuringly. "Good
+counsel is cheap. We can easily find a way out of it. Before the
+business comes to light, we will go to the Etmeidan and join the
+Janissaries. There let them send and fetch us if they dare, for we shall
+be in a perfectly safe place anyhow. Why, don't you remember that only
+last year the rebel, Esref Khan, whom the Padishah had been pursuing to
+the death, even in foreign lands, hit, at last, upon the idea of
+resorting to the Janissaries, and was safer against the fatal silken
+cord here, in the very midst of Stambul, than if he had fled all the way
+to the Isle of Rhodes for refuge. Let us all become Janissaries, I and
+you and Janaki also."
+
+But Janaki kicked vigorously against the proposition.
+
+"You two may go over to the Janissaries if you like, but in the meantime
+my daughter and I will make our escape to the Isle of Tenedos and there
+await tidings of you. One jar of dates I will take with me, the other
+you may divide among the Janissaries; it will put them in a good humour
+and make them receive you more amicably."
+
+Halil embraced his wife, kissed her, and wept over her. There was not
+much time for leave-taking. The Debedjis who had accompanied the
+Berber-Bashi were beginning to grow impatient at the prolonged absence
+of their master; they could be heard stamping about around the door.
+
+"Hasten, hasten! we can have too much of this hugging and kissing,"
+whispered Musli, lifting one of the jars on to his shoulders.
+
+Yet Halil pressed one more long, long kiss on Guel-Bejaze's trembling
+cheek.
+
+"By Allah!" said he, "it shall not be long before we see each other
+again."
+
+And thus their ways parted right and left.
+
+Musli conducted Janaki away in one direction, through a subterranean
+cellar, whilst Halil fled away across the house-tops, and within a
+quarter of an hour the pair of them arrived at the Etmeidan.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] Woodcutter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE CAMP.
+
+
+What a noise, what a commotion in the streets of Stambul! The multitude
+pours like a stream towards the harbour of the Golden Horn. Young and
+old stimulate each other with looks of excitement and enthusiasm. They
+stand together at the corners of the streets in tens and twenties, and
+tell each other of the great event that has happened. On the Etmeidan,
+in front of the Seraglio, in the doors of the mosques, the people are
+swarming, and from street to street they accompany the banner-bearing
+Duelbendar, who proclaims to the faithful amidst the flourish of trumpets
+that Sultan Achmed III. has declared war against Tamasip, Shah of
+Persia.
+
+Everywhere faces radiant with enthusiasm, everywhere shouts of martial
+fervour.
+
+From time to time a regiment of Janissaries or a band of Albanian
+horsemen passes across the street, or escorts the buffaloes that drag
+after them the long heavy guns on wheeled carriages. The mob in its
+thousands follows them along the road leading to Scutari, where the camp
+has already been pitched. For at last, at any rate, the Padishah is
+surfeited with so many feasts and illuminations, and after having
+postponed the raising of the banner of the Prophet, under all sorts of
+frivolous excuses, from the 18th day of Safer (2nd of September) to the
+1st day of Rebusler, and from that day again to the Prophet's birthday
+ten days later still, the expected, the appointed day is at length
+drawing near, and the whole host is assembling beneath the walls of
+Scutari, only awaiting the arrival of the Sultan to take ship at
+once--the transports are all ready--and hasten to the assistance of the
+heroic Kueprilizade on the battlefield.
+
+The whole Bosphorus was a living forest planted with a maze of huge
+masts and spreading sails, and a thousand variegated flags flew and
+flapped in the morning breeze. The huge line of battle-ships, with their
+triple decks and their long rows of oars, looked like hundred-eyed
+sea-monsters swimming with hundreds of legs on the surface of the water,
+and the booming reverberation of the thunder of their guns was re-echoed
+from the broad foreheads of the palaces looking into the Bosphorus.
+
+Everywhere along the sea-front was to be seen an armed multitude;
+sparkling swords and lances in thousands flash back the rays of the sun.
+The whole of the grass plain round about was planted with tents of
+every hue; white tents for the chief muftis, bright green tents for the
+viziers, scarlet tents for the kiayaks, dark blue tents for the great
+officers of state, the Emirs, the Mecca, Medina, and Stambul
+justiciaries, the Defterdars, and the Nishandji; lilac-coloured tents
+for the Ulemas, bright blue tents for the Muederesseks, azure-blue tents
+for the Ciaus-Agas, and dark green designates the tent of the Emir Alem,
+the bearer of the sacred standard. And high above them all on a hillock
+towers the orange-coloured pavilion of the Padishah, with gold and
+purple hangings, and two and three fold horse-tails planted in front of
+the entrance.
+
+At sunset yesterday there was not a trace of this vast camp, all night
+long this city of tents was a-building, and at dawn of day there it
+stands all ready like the creation of a magician's wand!
+
+The plain is occupied by the Spahis, the finest, smartest horsemen of
+the whole host; along the sea-front are ranged the topidjis, with their
+rows and rows of cannons. Other detachments of these gunners are
+distributed among the various hillocks. On the wings of the host are
+placed the Albanian cavalry, the Tartars, and the Druses of Horan. The
+centre of the host belongs of right to the flower, the kernel of the
+imperial army--the haughty Janissaries.
+
+And certainly they seemed to be very well aware that they were the cream
+of the host, and that therefore it was not lawful for any other division
+of the army to draw near them, much less mingle with them, unless it
+were a few _delis_, whom they permitted to roam up and down their ranks
+full of crazy exaltation.
+
+The whole host is full of the joy of battle, and if, from time to time,
+fierce shouts and thunderous murmurings arise from this or that
+battalion, that only means that they are rejoicing at the tidings of the
+declaration of war: the war-ships express their satisfaction by loud
+salvoes.
+
+Sultan Achmed, meanwhile, is engaged in his morning devotions, day by
+day he punctually observes this pious practice.
+
+The previous night he did not spend in the harem, but shut himself up
+with his viziers and counsellors in that secret chamber of the Divan,
+which is roofed over with a golden cupola. Grave were their
+deliberations, but nobody, except the viziers, knows the result thereof;
+yet when he issues forth from his prayer-chamber the Kizlar-Aga is
+already awaiting him there and hands the Sultan a signet-ring.
+
+"Most glorious of Padishahs! the most delicious of women sends thee this
+ring. Well dost thou know what was beneath this ring. Deadly venom was
+beneath it. That venom is no longer there. The Sultana Asseki sends
+thee her greeting, and wishes thee good luck in this war of thine. 'Hail
+to thee!' she says, 'may thy guardian angels watch over all thy steps!'
+The Sultana meanwhile has locked herself up in her private apartments,
+and in the very hour in which thou quittest the Seraglio she will take
+this poison, which she has dissolved in a goblet of water, and will
+die."
+
+The Sultan had all at once become very grave.
+
+"Why didst thou trouble me with these words!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I do but repeat the words of the Sultana, greatest of Padishahs. She
+says thou art off to the wars, that thou wilt return no more, and that
+she will not be the slave-girl of the monarch who shall come after thee
+and sit upon thy throne."
+
+"Wherefore dost thou trouble me with these words?" repeated the Sultan.
+
+"May my tongue curse my lips, may my teeth bite out my tongue because of
+the words I have spoken. 'Twas the Sultana that bade me speak."
+
+"Go back to her and tell her to come hither!"
+
+"Such a message, oh, my master, will be her death. She will not leave
+her chamber alive."
+
+For a moment the Sultan reflected, then he asked in a mournful voice:
+
+"What thinkest thou?--if thy house was on fire and thy beloved was
+inside, wouldst thou put out the flames, or wouldst thou not rather
+think first of rescuing thy beloved?"
+
+"Of a truth the extinguishing of the flames is not so pressing, and the
+beloved should be rescued."
+
+"Thou hast said it. What meaneth the firing of cannons that strikes upon
+my ears?"
+
+"Salvoes from the host."
+
+"Can they be heard in the Seraglio?"
+
+"Yea, and the songs of the singing-girls grow dumb before it."
+
+"Conduct me to Adsalis! She must not die. What is the sky to thee if
+there be no sun in it? What is the whole world to thee if thou dost lose
+thy beloved? Go on before and tell her that I am coming!"
+
+The Kizlar-Aga withdrew. Achmed muttered to himself:
+
+"But another second, but another moment, but another instant long enough
+for a parting kiss, but another hour, but another night--a night full of
+blissful dreams--and it will be quite time enough to hasten to the cold
+and icy battlefield." And with that he hastened towards the harem.
+
+There sat the Sultana with dishevelled tresses and garments rent
+asunder, without ornaments, without fine raiment, in sober
+cinder-coloured mourning weeds. Before her, on a table, stood a small
+goblet filled with a bluish transparent fluid. That fluid was
+poison--not a doubt of it. Her slave-girls lay scattered about on the
+floor around her, weeping and wailing and tearing their faces and their
+snowy bosoms with their long nails.
+
+The Padishah approached her and tenderly enfolded her in his arms.
+
+"Wherefore wouldst thou die out of my life, oh, thou light of my days?"
+
+The Sultana covered her face with her hands.
+
+"Can the rose blossom in winter-time? Do not its leaves fall when the
+blasts of autumn blow upon it?"
+
+"But the winter that must wither thee is still far distant."
+
+"Oh, Achmed! when anyone's star falls from Heaven, does the world ever
+ask, wert thou young? wert thou beautiful? didst thou enjoy life?
+Mashallah! such a one is dead already. My star shone upon thy face, and
+if thou dost turn thy face from me, then must I droop and wither."
+
+"And who told thee that I had turned my face from thee?"
+
+"Oh, Achmed! the Wind does not say, I am cold, and yet we feel it. Thy
+heart is far, far away from me even when thou art nigh. But my heart is
+with thee even when thou art far away from me, even then I am near to
+thee; but thou art far away even when thou art sitting close beside me.
+It is not Achmed who is talking to me. It is only Achmed's body.
+Achmed's soul is wandering elsewhere; it is wandering on the bloody
+field of battle amidst the clash of cold steel. He imagines that those
+banners, those weapons, those cannons love him more than his poor
+abandoned, forgotten Adsalis."
+
+The salvo of a whole row of cannons was heard in front of the Seraglio.
+
+"Hearken how they call to thee! Their words are more potent than the
+words of Adsalis. Go then! follow their invitation! Go the way they
+point out to thee! The voice of Adsalis will not venture to compete with
+them. What indeed is my voice?--what but a gentle, feeble sound! Go!
+there also I will be with thee. And when the long manes of thy
+horse-tail standards flutter before thee on the field of battle, fancy
+that thou dost see before thee the waving tresses of thy Adsalis who has
+freed her soul from the incubus of her body in order that it might be
+able to follow thee."
+
+"Oh, say not so, say not so!" stammered the tender-hearted Sultan,
+pressing his gentle darling to his bosom and closing her lips with his
+own as if, by the very act, he would have prevented her soul from
+escaping and flying away.
+
+And the cannons may continue thundering on the shores of the Bosphorus,
+the Imperial Ciauses may summon the host to arms with the blasts of
+their trumpets, the camp of a whole nation may wait and wait on the
+plains of Scutari, but Sultan Achmed is far too happy in the embraces of
+Adsalis to think even for a moment of seizing the banner of the Prophet
+and leading his bloodthirsty battalions to face the dangers of the
+battlefield.
+
+The only army that he now has eyes for is the army of the odalisks and
+slave-girls, who seize their tambourines and mandolines, and weave the
+light dance around the happy imperial couple, singing sweet songs of
+enchantment, while outside through the streets of Stambul gun-carriages
+are rattling along, and the mob, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, clamours for
+a war of extermination against the invading Shiites.
+
+Meanwhile a fine hubbub is going on around the kettle of the first
+Janissary regiment. These kettles, by the way, play a leading part in
+the history of the Turkish Empire. Around them assemble the Janissaries
+when any question of war or plunder arises, or when they demand the head
+of a detested pasha, or when they wish to see the banner of the Prophet
+unfurled; and so terrible were these kettles on all such occasions that
+the anxious viziers and pashas, when driven into a corner, were
+compelled to fill these same kettles either with gold pieces or with
+their own blood.
+
+An impatient group of Janissaries was standing round their kettle, which
+was placed on the top of a lofty iron tripod, and amongst them we notice
+Halil Patrona and Musli. Both were wearing the Janissary dress, with
+round turbans in which a black heron's plume was fastened (only the
+officers wore white feathers), with naked calves only half-concealed by
+the short, bulgy pantaloons which scarce covered the knee. There was
+very little of the huckster of the day before yesterday in Halil's
+appearance now. His bold and gallant bearing, his resolute mode of
+speech, and the bountiful way in which he scattered the piastres which
+he had received from Janaki, had made him a prime favourite among his
+new comrades. Musli, on the other hand, was still drunk. With desperate
+self-forgetfulness he had been drinking the health of his friend all
+night long, and never ceased bawling out before his old cronies in front
+of the tent of the Janissary Aga that if the Aga, whose name was Hassan,
+was indeed as valiant a man as they tried to make out, let him come
+forth from beneath his tent and not think so much of his soft bearskin
+bed, or else let him give his white heron plume to Halil Patrona and let
+him lead them against the enemy.
+
+The Janissary Aga could hear this bellowing quite plainly, but he also
+could hear the Janissary guard in front of the tent laughing loudly at
+the fellow and making all he said unintelligible.
+
+Meanwhile a troop of mounted ciauses was approaching the kettle of the
+first Janissary regiment in whose leader we recognise Halil Pelivan.
+Allah had been with him--he was now raised to the rank of a
+ciaus-officer.
+
+The giant stood among the Janissaries and inquired in a voice of
+thunder:
+
+"Which of you common Janissary fellows goes by the name of Halil
+Patrona?"
+
+Patrona stepped forth.
+
+"Methinks, Halil Pelivan," said he, "it does not require much
+brain-splitting on your part to recognise me."
+
+"Where is your comrade Musli?"
+
+"Can you not give me a handle to my name, you dog of a ciaus?" roared
+Musli. "I am a gentleman I tell you. So long as you were a Janissary,
+you were a gentleman too. But now you are only a dog of a ciaus. What
+business have you, I should like to know, in Begta's flower-garden?"
+
+"To root out weeds. The pair of you, bound tightly together, must follow
+me."
+
+"Look ye, my friends!" cried Musli, turning to his comrades, "that man
+is drunk, dead drunk. He can scarce stand upon his feet. How dare you
+say," continued he, turning towards Pelivan--"how dare you say that two
+Janissaries, two of the flowers from Begta's garden, are to follow you
+when the banners of warfare are already waving before us?"
+
+"I am commanded by the Kapu-Kiaja to bring you before him."
+
+"Say not so, you mangy dog you! Let him come for us himself if he has
+anything to say to us! What, my friends! am I not right in saying that
+the Kapu-Kiaja, if he did his duty, ought to be here with us, in the
+camp and on the battlefield? and that it is no business of ours to dance
+attendance upon him? Am I not right? Let him come hither!"
+
+This sentiment was greeted with an approving howl.
+
+"Let him come hither if he wants to talk to a Janissary!" cried many
+voices. "Who ever heard of summoning a Janissary away from his camp?"
+
+It was as much as Pelivan could do to restrain his fury.
+
+"You two are murderers," said he, "you have killed the Sultan's
+Berber-Bashi."
+
+At this there was a general outburst of laughter. Everybody knew that
+already. Musli had told the story hundreds of times with all sorts of
+variations. He had described to them how Halil had slain Ali Kermesh
+with a single blow of his fist, and how the latter's jaw had suddenly
+fallen and collapsed into a corner, all of which had seemed very comical
+indeed to the Janissaries.
+
+So five or six of them, all speaking together, began to heckle and
+cross-question Pelivan.
+
+"Are there no more barbers in Stambul that you make such a fuss over
+this particular one?"
+
+"What an infamous thing to demand the lives of a couple of Janissaries
+for the sake of a single beard-scraper!"
+
+"May you and your Kapu-Kiaja have no other pastime in Paradise than the
+shaving of innumerable beards!"
+
+At last Patrona stepped forth and begged his comrades to let him have
+_his_ say in the matter.
+
+"Hearken now, Pelivan!" began he, "you and I are adversaries I know very
+well, nor do I care a straw that it is so. I am not palavering now with
+you because I want to get out of a difficulty, but simply because I want
+to send you back to the Kiaja with a sensible answer which I am quite
+sure you are incapable of hitting upon yourself. Well, I freely admit
+that I _did_ kill Ali Kermesh, killed him single-handed. Nobody helped
+me to do the deed. And now I have thrown in my lot with the Janissaries,
+and here I stand where it has pleased Allah to place me, that I may pay
+with my own life for the life I have taken if it seem good to Him so to
+ordain. I am quite ready to die and glorify His name thereby. His Will
+be done! Let the honourable Kiaja therefore gird up his loins, and let
+all those great lords who repose in the shadow of the Padishah draw
+their swords and come among us once for all. I and all my comrades, the
+whole Janissary host in fact, are ready to fall on the field of battle
+one after another at the bare wave of their hand, but there is not a
+single Janissary present who would bow his knee before the executioner."
+
+These words, uttered in a ringing, sonorous voice, were accompanied by
+thunders of applause from the whole regiment, and during this tumult
+Musli endeavoured to add a couple of words on his own account to the
+message already delivered by Patrona.
+
+"And just tell your master, the Kiaja," said he, "and all your
+white-headed grand viziers and grey-bearded muftis, that if they do not
+bring the Sultan and the banner of the Prophet into camp this very day,
+not a single one of them will need a barber on the morrow, unless they
+would like their heels well shaved in default of heads."
+
+Pelivan meanwhile was looking steadily into Halil's eyes. There was such
+a malicious scorn in his gaze that Halil involuntarily grasped the hilt
+of his sword.
+
+"Fear not, Patrona!" cried he jeeringly, "Guel-Bejaze will never again be
+conducted into the Seraglio. She and your father-in-law have been
+captured as they were trying to fly, and the unbelieving Greek
+cattle-dealer has been thrown into the dungeon set apart for evil-doers.
+As for that woman whom you call your wife, she has been put into the
+prison assigned to those shameless ones whom the gracious Sultan has
+driven together from all parts of the realm, and kept in ward lest the
+virtue of his faithful Mussulmans should be corrupted. There you will
+find her."
+
+Patrona, like a furious tiger that has burst forth from its cage, at
+these words rushed from out the ranks of his comrades. His sword flashed
+in his hand, and if Pelivan had been doubly as big as he was, his mere
+size could not have saved him. But the leader of the ciauses straightway
+put spurs to his horse, and laughing loudly galloped away with his
+ciauses, almost brushing the enraged Halil as he passed, and when he had
+already trotted a safe distance away, he turned round and with a
+scornful Ha, ha, ha! began hurling insults at the Janissaries, five or
+six of whom had set out to follow him.
+
+"Ha! he is mocking us!" exclaimed Musli, whereupon the Janissaries who
+stood nearest perceiving that they should never be able to overtake him
+on foot, hastened to the nearest battery, wrested a mortar from the
+topijis by force, and fired it upon the retreating ciauses. The
+discharged twelve-pounder whistled about their heads and then fell far
+away in the midst of a bivouac where a number of worthy Bosniaks were
+cooking their suppers, scattering the hot ashes into their eyes,
+ricochetting thence very prettily into the pavilion of the Bostanji
+Bashi, two of whose windows it knocked out, thence bounding three or
+four times into the air, terrifying several recumbent groups in its
+passage, and trundling rapidly away over some level ground, till at last
+it rolled into the booth of a glass-maker, and there smashed to atoms an
+incalculable quantity of pottery.
+
+Here Pelivan finally ran it to earth, seized it, hauled it off to the
+Kiaja, and duly delivered the message of the Janissaries, together with
+the twelve-pound cannon-ball, at the same time reminding him that it was
+an old habit of the Janissaries to accompany their messages with similar
+little _douceurs_.
+
+Pelivan had anticipated that the Kiaja would foam with rage at the news,
+and would have the offending Janissary regiment decimated at the very
+least; but the Kiaja, instead of being angry, seemed very much afraid.
+He saw in this presumptuous message a declaration of rebellion, and
+hurried off to the Grand Vizier as fast as his legs could carry him,
+taking the heavy twelve-pounder along with him.
+
+Ibrahim perfectly comprehended what was said to him, and placing the
+cannon-ball in a box nicely lined with velvet took it to the Seraglio,
+and when he got there sent for the Kizlar-Aga, placed it in his hands,
+and commissioned him to deliver it to the Sultan.
+
+"The Army," said he, "has sent this present to the most glorious
+Padishah. It is a treasure which is worth nothing so long as it is in
+our possession; it only becomes precious when we pay our debts with it,
+but it is downright damaging if we let others pay their debts to us
+therewith. Say to the most puissant of Sultans that if he finds this one
+specimen too little, the Army is ready to send him a lot more, and then
+it will choose neither me nor thee to be the bearer thereof."
+
+The Kizlar-Aga, who did not know what was in the box, took it forthwith
+into the Hall of Delight, and there delivered it to Achmed together with
+the message.
+
+The Sultan broke open the box in the presence of the Sultana Asseki, and
+on perceiving therein the heavy cannon-ball at once understood Ibrahim's
+message.
+
+He was troubled to the depths of his soul when he understood it. He was
+so good, so gentle to everyone, he tried so hard to avoid injuring
+anybody, and yet everybody seemed to combine to make him miserable! It
+seemed as though they envied him his sweet delights, and were determined
+that he should find no repose even in the very bosom of his family.
+
+He embraced and kissed the fair Sultana again and again, and stammered
+with tears in his eyes:
+
+"Die then, my pretty flower! fade away! wither before my very eyes! Die
+if thou canst that at least my heart may have nothing to long for!"
+
+The Sultana threw herself in despair at his feet, with her dishevelled
+tresses waving all about her, and encircling Achmed's knees with her
+white arms she besought him, sobbing loudly, not to go to the camp, at
+any rate, not _that_ day. Let at least the memory of the evil dreams she
+had dreamed the night before pass away, she said.
+
+But no, he could remain behind no longer. In vain were all weeping and
+wailing, however desperate. The Sultan had made up his mind that he must
+go. One single moment only did he hesitate, for one single moment the
+thought did occur to him: Am I a mere tool in the hands of my army, and
+why do I wear a sword at all if I do not decapitate therewith those who
+rise in rebellion against me? But he very soon let that thought escape.
+He knew he was not capable of translating it into action. Many, very
+many, must needs die if he acted thus; perhaps it were better, much
+better, for everybody if he submitted.
+
+"There is nought for thee but to die, my pretty flower," he whispered to
+the Sultana, who, sobbing and moaning, accompanied him to the very door
+of the Seraglio, and there he gently removed her arms from his shoulders
+and hastened to the council-chamber.
+
+Adsalis did _not_ die however, but made her way by the secret staircase
+to the apartments of the White Prince and found consolation with him.
+
+"The Sultan did not yield to my arguments," she said to the White
+Prince, who took her at once to his bosom, "he is off to the camp. If
+only I could hold him back for a single day the rebellion would burst
+forth--and then his dominion would vanish and his successor would be
+yourself."
+
+"Calm yourself, we may still gain time! Remind him through the
+Kizlar-Aga that he neglect not the pricking of the Koran."
+
+"You have spoken a word in season," replied Adsalis, and she immediately
+sent the Kizlar-Aga into the council-chamber.
+
+The Grand Vizier, the Kapudan Pasha, the Kiaja, the Chief Mufti, and the
+Sheik of the Aja Sophia, Ispirizade, were assembled in council with the
+Sultan who had just ordered the Silihdar to gird him with the sword of
+Mahomet.
+
+"Most illustrious Padishah!" cried the Kizlar-Aga, throwing himself to
+the ground and hiding his face in his hands, "the Sultana Asseki would
+have me remind thee that thou do not neglect to ask counsel from Allah
+by the pricking of the Koran, before thou hast come to any resolution,
+as was the custom of thine illustrious ancestors as often as they had to
+choose between peace and war."
+
+"Well said!" cried Achmed, and thereupon he ordered the chief mufti to
+bring him the Alkoran which, in all moments of doubt, the Sultans were
+wont to appeal to and consult by plunging a needle through its pages,
+and then turning to the last leaf in which the marks of the needle-point
+were visible. Whatever words on this last page happened to be pricked
+were regarded as oracular and worthy of all obedience.
+
+On every table in the council-chamber stood an Alkoran--ten copies in
+one room. The binding of one of these copies was covered with diamonds.
+This copy the Chief Mufti brought to the Sultan, and gave into his hands
+the needle with which the august ceremony was to be accomplished.
+
+Meanwhile Ibrahim glanced impatiently at the three magnificent clocks
+standing in the room, one beside the other. They all pointed to a
+quarter to twelve. It was already late, and this ceremony of the
+pricking of the Koran always took up such a lot of time.
+
+The Sultan opened the book at the last page, pricked through by the
+needle, and these were the words he read:
+
+"He who fears the sword will find the sword his enemy, and better a
+rust-eaten sword in the hand than a brightly burnished one in a sheath."
+
+"La illah il Allah! God is one!" said Achmed bowing his head and kissing
+the words of the Alkoran. "Make ready my charger, 'tis the will of God."
+
+The Kizlar-Aga returned with the news to Adsalis and the White Prince.
+
+Even the pricking of the Koran had gone contrary to their plans.
+
+"Go and remind the Sultan," said Adsalis, "that he cannot go to the wars
+without the surem of victory;" and for the second time the Kizlar-Aga
+departed to execute the commands of the Sultana.
+
+The surem, by the way, is a holy supplication which it is usual for the
+chief Imam to recite in the mosques before the Padishah goes personally
+to battle, praying that Allah will bless his arms with victory.
+
+Now, because time was pressing, it was necessary to recite this prayer
+in the chapel of the Seraglio instead of in the mosque of St. Sophia.
+Ispirizade accordingly began to intone the surem, but he spun it out so
+long and made such a business of it, that it seemed as if he were bent
+on wasting time purposely. By the time the devotion was over every clock
+in the Seraglio had struck twelve.
+
+Ibrahim hastened to the Sultan to press him to embark as soon as
+possible in the ship that was waiting ready to convey him and the White
+Prince to Scutari; but at the foot of the staircase, in the outer court
+of the Seraglio where stood the Sultan's chargers which were to take him
+through the garden kiosk to the sea-shore, the way was barred by the
+Kizlar-Aga, who flung himself to the ground before the Sultan, and
+grasping his horse's bridle began to cry with all his might:
+
+"Trample me, oh, my master, beneath the hoofs of thy horses, yet listen
+to my words! The noontide hour has passed, and the hours of the
+afternoon are unlucky hours for any undertaking. The true Mussulman puts
+his hand to nothing on which the blessing of Allah can rest when noon
+has gone. Trample on my dead body if thou wilt, but say not that there
+was nobody who would have withheld thee from the path of peril!"
+
+The soul of Achmed III. was full of all manner of fantastic sentiments.
+Faith, hope, and love, which make others strong, had in him degenerated
+into superstition, frivolity, and voluptuousness--already he was but
+half a man.
+
+At the words of the Kizlar-Aga he removed his foot from the stirrup in
+which he had dreamily placed it with the help of the kneeling Rikiabdar,
+and said in the tone of a man who has at last made up his mind:
+
+"We will go to-morrow."
+
+Ibrahim was in despair at this fresh delay. He whispered a few words in
+the ear of Izmail Aga, whereupon the latter scarce waiting till the
+Sultan had remounted the steps, flung himself on his horse and galloped
+as fast as he could tear towards Scutari.
+
+Meanwhile the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti continued to detain the
+Sultan in the Divan, or council-chamber.
+
+Three-quarters of an hour later Izmail Aga returned and presented
+himself before the Sultan all covered with dust and sweat.
+
+"Most glorious Padishah!" he cried, "I have just come from the host.
+Since dawn they have all been on their feet awaiting thy arrival. If by
+evening thou dost not show thyself in the camp, then so sure as God is
+one, the host will not remain in Scutari but will come to Stambul."
+
+The host is coming to Stambul!--that was a word of terror.
+
+And Achmed III. well understood what it meant. Well did he remember the
+message which, three-and-twenty years before, the host had sent to his
+predecessor, Sultan Mustafa, who would not quit his harem at Adrianople
+to come to Stambul: "Even if thou wert dead thou couldst come here in a
+couple of days!" And he also remembered what had followed. The Sultan
+had been made to abdicate the throne and he (Achmed) had taken his
+place. And now just the same sort of tempest which had overthrown his
+predecessor was shaking the seat of the mighty rock beneath his own
+feet.
+
+"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" exclaimed Achmed, kissing the
+sword of Muhammad, and a quarter of an hour later he went on board the
+ship destined for him with the banner of the Prophet borne before him.
+
+In the Seraglio all the clocks one after another struck one as
+four-and-twenty salvoes announced that the Sultan with the banner of the
+Prophet had arrived in the camp.
+
+And the people of the East believe that the blessing of Allah does not
+rest on the hour which marks the afternoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE BURSTING FORTH OF THE STORM.
+
+
+A contrary wind was blowing across the Bosphorus, so that it was not
+until towards the evening that the Sultan arrived at Scutari, and
+disembarked there at his seaside palace with his viziers, his princes,
+the Chief Mufti, and Ispirizade.
+
+Though everything had quieted down close at hand, all night long could
+be heard, some distance off, in the direction of the camp, a murmuring
+and a tumult, the cause of which nobody could explain.
+
+More than once the Grand Vizier sent fleet runners to the Aga of the
+Janissaries to inquire what was the meaning of all that noise in the
+camp. Hassan replied that he himself did not understand why they were so
+unruly after they had heard the arrival of the Sultan and the sacred
+banner everywhere proclaimed.
+
+Shortly afterwards Ibrahim commanded him to seize all those who would
+not remain quiet. Hassan accordingly laid his hands on sundry who came
+conveniently in his way; but, for all that, the rest would pay no heed
+to him, and the tumult began to extend in the direction of Stambul also.
+
+Towards midnight a ciaus reached the Kiaja with the intelligence that a
+number of soldiers were coming along from the direction of Tebrif,
+crying as they came that the army of Kueprilizade had been scattered to
+the winds by Shah Tamasip, and that they themselves were the sole
+survivors of the carnage--that was why the army round Stambul was
+chafing and murmuring.
+
+The Kiaja went at once in search of the Grand Vizier and told him of
+this terrible rumour.
+
+"Impossible!" exclaimed Ibrahim. "Kueprilizade would not allow himself to
+be beaten. Only a few days ago I sent him arms and reinforcements which
+were more than enough to enable him to hold his own until the main army
+should arrive.
+
+"And even if it were true. If, in consequence of the Sultan's
+procrastination, we were to arrive too late and the whole of the
+provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan were to be lost--even then we should
+all be in the hands of Allah. Come, let us go to prayer and then to
+bed!"
+
+At about the same hour, three softas awoke the Chief Mufti and
+Ispirizade, and laid before them a letter written on parchment which
+they had discovered lying in the middle of a mosque. The letter was
+apparently written with gunpowder and almost illegible.
+
+It turned out to be an exhortation to all true Mussulmans to draw the
+sword in defence of Muhammad, but they were bidden beware lest, when
+they went against the foe, they left behind them, at home, the greatest
+foes of all, who were none other than the Sultan's own Ministers.
+
+"This letter deserves to be thrown into the fire," said Ispirizade, and
+into the fire he threw it, there and then, and thereupon lay down to
+sleep with a good conscience.
+
+The following day was Thursday, the 28th September. On that very day,
+twelve months before, the Sultan's eleven-year-old son had died. The day
+was therefore kept as a solemn day of mourning, and a general cessation
+of martial exercises throughout the host was proclaimed by a flourish of
+trumpets.
+
+To many of the commanders this day of rest was a season of strict
+observance. The Aga of the Janissaries withdrew to his kiosk; the
+Kapudan Pasha had himself rowed through the canal to his country house
+at Chengelkoei, having just received from a Dutch merchant a very
+handsome assortment of tulip-bulbs, which he wanted to plant out with
+his own hands; the Reis-Effendi hastened to his summer residence, beside
+the Sweet Waters, to take leave of his odalisks for the twentieth time
+at least; and the Kiaja returned to Stambul. Each of them strictly
+observed the day--in his own peculiar manner.
+
+But Fate had prepared for the people at large a very different sort of
+observance.
+
+Early in the morning, at sunrise, seventeen Janissaries were standing in
+front of the mosque of Bajazid with Halil Patrona at their head.
+
+In the hand of each one of them was a naked sword, and in their midst
+stood Musli holding aloft the half-moon banner.
+
+The people made way before them, and allowed Patrona to ascend the steps
+of the mosque, and when the blast of the alarm-horns had subsided, the
+clear penetrating voice of the ex-pedlar was distinctly audible from end
+to end of the great kalan square in front of him.
+
+"Mussulmans!" he cried, "you have duties, yes, duties laid upon you by
+our sacred law. We are being ruined by traitors. Fugitives from the host
+have brought us the tidings that the army of Kueprilizade has been
+scattered to the winds; four thousand horses and six hundred camels,
+laden with provisions, have been captured by the Persians; the general
+himself has fled to Erivan, and the provinces of Hamadan and Kermanshan
+are once more in the possession of the enemy. And all this is going on
+while the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti have been arranging Lantern
+Feasts, Processions of Palms and Illuminations in the streets of Stambul
+instead of making ready the host to go to the assistance of the valiant
+Kueprilizade! Our brethren are sent to the shambles, we hear their cries,
+we see their banners falter and fall into the enemy's hands, and we are
+not suffered to fly to their assistance, though we stand here with drawn
+swords in our hands. There is treachery--treachery against Allah and His
+Prophet! Therefore, let every true believer forsake immediately his
+handiwork, cast his awl, his hammer, and his plane aside, and seize his
+sword instead; let him close his booth and rally beneath our standard!"
+
+The mob greeted these words with a savage yell, raised Patrona on its
+shoulders, and carried him away through the arcades of Bezesztan piazza.
+Everyone hastened away to close his booth, and the whole city seemed to
+be turned upside down. It was just as if a still standing lake had been
+stirred violently to its lowest depths, and all the slimy monsters and
+hideous refuse reposing at the bottom had come to the surface; for the
+streets were suddenly flooded by the unrecognised riff-raff which
+vegetates in every great town, though they are out of the ken of the
+regular and orderly inhabitants, and only appear in the light of day
+when a sudden concussion drives them to the surface.
+
+Yelling and howling, they accompanied Halil everywhere, only listening
+to him when his escort raised him aloft on their shoulders in order that
+he might address the mob.
+
+Just at this moment they stopped in front of the house of the Janissary
+Aga.
+
+"Hassan!" cried Halil curtly, disdaining to give him his official title,
+and thundering on the door with his fists, "Hassan, you imprisoned our
+comrades because they dared to murmur, and now you can hear roars
+instead of murmurs. Give them up, Hassan! Give them up, I say!"
+
+Hassan, however, was no great lover of such spectacles, so he hastily
+exchanged his garments for a suit of rags, and bolted through the gate
+of the back garden to the shores of the Bosphorus, where he huddled into
+an old tub of a boat which carried him across to the camp. Then only did
+he feel safe.
+
+Meanwhile the Janissaries battered in the door of his house and released
+their comrades. Then they put Halil on Hassan's horse and proceeded in
+great triumph to the Etmeidan. The next instant the whole square was
+alive with armed men, and they hauled the Kulkiaja caldron out of the
+barracks and set it up in the midst of the mob. This was the usual
+signal for the outburst of the war of fiercely contending passions too
+long enchained.
+
+"And now open the prisons!" thundered Halil, "and set free all the
+captives! Put daggers in the hands of the murderers and flaming torches
+in the hands of the incendiaries, and let us go forth burning and
+slaying, for to-day is a day of death and lamentation."
+
+And the mob rushed upon the prisons, tore down the railings, broke
+through bolts and bars, and whole hordes of murderers and malefactors
+rushed forth into the piazza and all the adjoining streets, and the last
+of all to quit the dungeon was Janaki, Halil's father-in-law. There he
+remained standing in the doorway as if he were afraid or ashamed, till
+Musli rushed towards him and tore him away by force.
+
+"Be not cast down, muzafir, but snatch up a sword and stand alongside of
+me. No harm can come to you here. It is the turn of the Gaolers now."
+
+In the meantime Halil had made his way to that particular dungeon where
+the loose women whom the Sultan had been graciously pleased to collect
+from all the quarters of the town to herd in one place were listening in
+trembling apprehension.
+
+The doors were flung wide open, and the mob roared to the prisoners that
+all to whom liberty was dear might show a clean pair of heels,
+whereupon a mob of women, like a swarm of shrieking ghosts, fluttered
+through the doors and made off in every direction. Those women who
+stroll about the streets with uncovered faces, who paint their eyebrows
+and lips for the diversion of strangers, who are shut out from the world
+like mad dogs, that they may not contaminate the people--all these women
+were now let loose! Some of them had grown old since the prison-gates
+had been closed upon them, but the flame of evil passion still flickered
+in their sunken eyes. Alas! what pestilence has been let loose upon the
+Mussulman population. And thou, Halil! wilt thou be able to ride the
+storm to which thou has given wings?
+
+There he stands in the gateway! He is waiting till, in the wake of these
+unspeakably vile women, his pure-souled idol, the beautiful, the
+innocent Guel-Bejaze shall appear. How long she delays! All the rest have
+come forth; all the rest have scattered to their various haunts, only
+one or two belated shapes are now emerging from the dungeon and
+hastening, after the others--creatures whom the voice of the tumult had
+surprised _en deshabille_, and who now with only half-clothed bodies and
+hair streaming down their backs rush screaming away. Only Guel-Bejaze
+still delays.
+
+Full of anxiety Halil descends at last into the loathsome hole but
+dimly lit by a few round windows in the roof.
+
+"Guel-Bejaze! Guel-Bejaze!" he moans with a stifling voice, looking all
+around the dungeon, and, at the sound of his whispered words, he sees a
+white mass, huddled in a corner of the far wall, feebly begin to move.
+He rushes to the spot. Surely it is some beggar-woman who hides her face
+from him? Gently he removes her hands from her face and in the woman
+recognises his wife. The poor creature would rather not be set free for
+very shame sake. She would rather remain here in the dungeon.
+
+Speechless with agony, he raised her in his arms. The woman said not a
+word, gave him not a look, she only hid her face in her husband's bosom
+and sobbed aloud.
+
+"Weep not! weep not!" moaned Halil, "those who have dishonoured thee
+shall, this very day, lie in the dust before thee, by Allah. I swear it.
+Thou shalt play with the heads of those who have played with thy heart,
+and that selfsame puffed-up Sultana who has stretched out her hand
+against thee shall be glad to kiss thy hand. I, Halil Patrona, have said
+it, and let me be accursed above all other Mussulmans if ever I have
+lied."
+
+Then snatching up his wife in his arms he rushed out among the crowd,
+and exhibiting that pale and forlorn figure in the sight of all men, he
+cried:
+
+"Behold, ye Mussulmans! this is my wife whom they ravished from me on my
+bridal night, and whom I must needs discover in the midst of this sink
+of vileness and iniquity! Speak those of you who are husbands, would you
+be merciful to him who dishonoured your wife after this sort?"
+
+"Death be upon his head!" roared the furious multitude, and rolling
+onwards like a flood that has burst its dams it stopped a moment later
+before a stately palace.
+
+"Whose is this palace?" inquired Halil of the mob.
+
+"Damad Ibrahim's," cried sundry voices from among the crowd.
+
+"Whose is that palace, I say?" inquired Halil once more, angrily shaking
+his head.
+
+Then many of them understood the force of the question and exclaimed:
+
+"Thine, O Halil Patrona!"
+
+"Thine, thine, Halil!" thundered the obsequious crowd, and with that
+they rushed upon the palace, burst open the doors, and Patrona, with his
+wife still clasped in his arms, forced his way in, and seeking out the
+harem of the Grand Vizier, commanded the odalisks of Ibrahim to bow
+their faces in the dust before their new mistress, and fulfil all her
+demands. And before the door he placed a guard of honour.
+
+Outside there was the din of battle, the roll of drums, and the blast of
+trumpets; and the whole of this tempest was fanned by the faint
+breathing of a sick and broken woman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TULIP-BULBS AND HUMAN HEADS.
+
+
+It is not every day that one can see budding tulips in the middle of
+September, yet the Kapudan Pasha had succeeded in hitting upon a dodge
+which the most famous gardeners in the world had for ages been racking
+their brains to discover, and all in vain.
+
+The problem was--how to introduce an artificial spring into the very
+waist and middle of autumn, and then to get the tulip-bulbs to take
+September for May, and set about flowering there and then.
+
+First of all he set about preparing a special forcing-bed of his own
+invention, in which he carefully mingled together the most nourishing
+soil formed among the Mountains of Lebanon from millennial deposits of
+cedar-tree spines, antelope manure, so heating and stimulating to
+vegetation, that wherever it falls on the desert, tiny oases, full of
+flowers and verdure, immediately spring up amidst the burning, drifting
+sand-hills, and burnt and pulverized black marble which is only to be
+found in the Dead Mountains. A judicious intermingling of this mixture
+produces a soft, porous, and exceedingly damp soil, and in this soil the
+Kapudan Pasha very carefully planted out his tulips with his own hands.
+He selected the bulbs resulting from last spring's blooms, making a hole
+for each of them, one by one, with his index-finger, and banking them up
+gingerly with earth as soft as fresh bread crumbs.
+
+Then he had snow fetched from the summits of the Caucasus, where it
+remains even all through the summer--whole ship loads of snow by way of
+the Black Sea--and kept the tulip-bulbs well covered with it, adding
+continually layers of fresh snow as the first layers melted, so that the
+hoodwinked tulips really believed it was now winter; and when towards
+the end of August the snow was allowed to melt altogether, they fancied
+spring had come, and poked their gold-green shoots out of their
+well-warmed, well-moistened bed.
+
+On the eve of the Prophet's birthday about fifty plants had begun to
+bloom, all of which had been named after battles in which the Mussulmans
+had triumphed, or after fortresses which their arms had captured. Then,
+however, the Kapudan Pasha was obliged to go to sea and command the
+fleet, in other words, he was constrained to leave his beloved tulips at
+the most interesting period of their existence.
+
+On the very evening when the Sultan arrived at Scutari, one of the
+Kapudan Pasha's gardeners came to him with the joyful intelligence that
+Belgrade, Naples, Morea, and Kermanjasahan would blossom on the morrow.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha was wild with impatience. There they all were, just on
+the point of blooming, and he would be unable to see it. How he would
+have liked a contrary wind to have kept back the fleet for a day or two.
+
+But what the wind would not do for him, the Sultan's birthday gave him
+the opportunity of doing for himself. The day of rest appointed for the
+morrow permitted the Kapudan Pasha to get himself rowed across to his
+summer palace at Chengelkoei, where his marvellous tulips were about to
+bloom at the beginning of autumn.
+
+What a spectacle awaited him! All four of them, yes, all four, were in
+full bloom!
+
+Belgrade was pale yellow with bright green stripes, those of the stripes
+which were pale green on the lower were rose-coloured on the upper
+surface, and those of them which were bright green above died gradually
+away into a dark lilac colour below.
+
+Naples was a very full tulip, whose confusingly numerous angry-red
+leaves, with yellow edges, symbolized, perhaps, the fifteen hundred
+Venetians who had fallen at its name-place beneath the arms of the
+Ottomans.
+
+Morea was the richest in colour. The base of its cup was of a dark
+chocolate hue, with green and rose-coloured stripes all round it;
+moreover, the green stripes passed into red, and the rose ones into
+liver-colour, and a bright yellow streak of colour ran parallel with
+every single stripe. On the outside the green hues, inside the red
+rather predominated.
+
+But the rarest, the most magnificent of the four was Kermanjasahan. This
+was a treasure filched from the garden of the Dalai Lama. It was
+snow-white, without the slightest nuance of any other colour, and of
+such full bloom that the original six petals were obliged to bend
+downwards.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha was enraptured by all this splendour.
+
+He had made up his mind to present all these tulips to the Sultan, for
+which he would no doubt receive a rich viceroyalty, perhaps even Egypt,
+who could tell. He therefore ordered that costly china vases should be
+brought to him in which he might transplant the flowers, and he dug with
+his hands deep down in the soil lest he should injure the bulbs.
+
+Just as he was kneeling down in the midst of the tulips, with his hands
+all covered with mould, a breathless bostanji came rushing towards him
+at full speed, quite out of breath, and without waiting to get up to
+him, exclaimed while still a good distance off:
+
+"Sir, sir, rise up quickly, for all Stambul is in a commotion."
+
+"Take care!--don't tread upon my tulips, you blockhead; don't you see
+that you nearly trampled upon one of them!"
+
+"Oh, my master! tulips bloom every year, but if you trample a man to
+death, Mashallah! he will rise no more. Hasten, for the rioters are
+already turning the city upside down!"
+
+The Kapudan Pasha very gently, very cautiously, placed the flower, which
+he had raised with both hands, in the porcelain vase, and pressed the
+earth down on every side of it so that it might keep steady when
+carried.
+
+"What dost thou say, my son?" he then condescended to ask.
+
+"The people of Stambul have risen in revolt."
+
+"The people of Stambul, eh? What sort of people? Do you mean the
+cobblers, the hucksters, the fishermen, and the bakers?"
+
+"Yes, sir, they have all risen in revolt."
+
+"Very well, I'll be there directly and tell them to be quiet."
+
+"Oh, sir, you speak as if you could extinguish the burning city with
+this watering-can. The will of Allah be done!"
+
+But the Kapudan Pasha, with a merry heart, kept on watering the
+transplanted tulips till he had done it thoroughly, and entrusted them
+to four bostanjis, bidding them carry the flowers through the canal to
+the Sultan's palace at Scutari, while he had his horse saddled and
+without the slightest escort trotted quite alone into Stambul, where at
+that very moment they were crying loudly for his head.
+
+On the way thither, he came face to face with the Kiaja coming in a
+wretched, two-wheeled kibitka, with a Russian coachman sitting in front
+of him to hide him as much as possible from the public view. He bellowed
+to the Kapudan Pasha not to go to Stambul as death awaited him there. At
+this the Kapudan Pasha simply shrugged his shoulders. What an idea! To
+be frightened of an army of bakers and cobblers indeed! It was sheer
+nonsense, so he tried to persuade the Kiaja to turn back again with him
+and restore order by showing themselves to the rioters, whereupon the
+latter vehemently declared that not for all the joys of Paradise would
+he do so, and begged his Russian coachman to hasten on towards Scutari
+as rapidly as possible.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha promised that he would not be very long behind him;
+nay, inasmuch as the Kiaja was making a very considerable detour, while
+he himself was taking the direct road straight through Stambul, he
+insinuated that it was highly probable he might reach Scutari before
+him.
+
+"We shall meet again shortly," he cried by way of a parting salute.
+
+"Yes, in Abraham's bosom, I expect," murmured the Kiaja to himself as he
+raced away again, while the Kapudan Pasha ambled jauntily into the city.
+
+Already from afar he beheld the palace of the Reis-Effendi, on whose
+walls were inscribed in gigantic letters the following announcements:
+
+"Death to the Chief Mufti!
+
+"Death to the Grand Vizier!
+
+"Death to the Kapudan Pasha!
+
+"Death to the Kiaja Beg!"
+
+"H'm!" said the Kapudan Pasha to himself. "No doubt that was written by
+some softa or other, for cobblers and tailors cannot write of course.
+Not a bad hand by any means. I should like to make the fellow my
+teskeredji."
+
+As he trotted nearer to the palace, he perceived a great multitude
+surging around it, and amongst them a mounted trumpeter with one of
+those large Turkish field-horns which are audible a mile off, and are
+generally used at Stambul during every popular rising, their very note
+has a provocative tone.
+
+The trumpeting herald was thus addressing the mob assembled around him:
+
+"Inhabitants of Stambul, true-believing Mussulmans, our commander is
+Halil Patrona, the chief of the Janissaries, and in the name of the
+Stambul Cadi, Hassan Sulali, I proclaim: Let every true believing
+Mussulman shut up his shop, lay aside his handiwork, and assemble in the
+piazza; those of you, however, who are bakers of bread or sellers of
+flesh, keep your shops open, for whosoever resists this decree his shop
+will be treated as common booty. As for the unbelieving giaours at
+present residing at Stambul, let them remain in peace at home, for those
+who do not stir abroad will have no harm done to them. And this I
+announce to you in the names of Halil Patrona and Hassan Sulali."
+
+The Kapudan Pasha listened to the very last word of this proclamation,
+then he spurred his horse upon the crier, and snatching the horn from
+his hand hit him a blow with it on the back, which resounded far and
+wide, and then with a voice of thunder addressed the suddenly pacified
+crowd:
+
+"Ye worthless vagabonds, ye filthy sneak-thieves, mud-larking
+crab-catchers, pitchy-fingered slipper-botchers, huddling opium-eaters,
+swindling knacker-sellers, petty hucksters, ye ragged, filthy,
+whey-faced tipplers!--I, Abdi, the Kapudan Pasha, say it to you, and I
+only regret that I have not the tongue of a Giaour of the Hungarian race
+that I might be able to heap upon you all the curses and reproaches
+that your conduct deserves, ye dogs! What do you want then? Have you not
+enough to eat? Do you want war because you are tired of peace? War,
+indeed, though you would take good care to keep out of it. To remain at
+home here and wage war against women and girls is much more to your
+liking; booths not fortresses are what you like to storm. Be off to your
+homes from whence you have come, I say, for whomsoever I find in the
+streets an hour hence his head shall dangle in front of the Pavilion of
+Justice. Mark my words!"
+
+With these words Abdi gave his horse the spur and galloped through the
+thickest part of the mob, which dispersed in terror before him, and with
+proud self-satisfaction the Kapudan Pasha saw how the people hid away
+from him in their houses and vanished, as if by magic, from the streets
+and house-tops.
+
+He galloped into the town without opposition. At every street corner he
+blew a long blast in the captured horn, and addressed some well-chosen
+remarks to the people assembled there, which scattered them in every
+direction.
+
+At last he reached the Bezesztan, where every shop was closed.
+
+"Open your shops, ye dogs!" thundered Abdi to the assembled merchants
+and tradesmen. "I suppose your heels are itching?--or perhaps you are
+tired of having ears and noses? Open all your shop-doors this instant, I
+say! for whoever keeps them closed after this command shall be hanged up
+in front of his own shop-door!"
+
+The shopkeepers, full of terror, began to take down their shutters
+forthwith.
+
+From thence he galloped off towards the Etmeidan.
+
+The great fishmarket, which he passed on his way, was filled with people
+from end to end. Not a word could be heard for the fearful din, which
+completely drowned the voices of a few stump-orators who here and there
+had climbed up the pillars near the drinking-fountains to address the
+mob.
+
+Nevertheless the resonant, penetrating voice of the horn blown by the
+Kapudan Pasha dominated the tumult, and turned every face in his
+direction.
+
+Rising in his stirrups, Abdi addressed them with a terrible voice:
+
+"Ye fools, whose mad hands rise against your own heads! Do ye want to
+make the earth quake beneath you that so many of you stand in a heap in
+one place? What fool among you is it would drag the whole lot of you
+down to perdition? Would that the heavens might fall upon you!--would
+that these houses might bury you!--would that ye might turn into
+four-footed beasts who can do nothing but bark! Lower your heads, ye
+wretched creatures, and go and hide yourselves behind your mud-walls!
+And let not a single cry be heard in your streets, for if you dare to
+come out of your holes, I swear by the shadow of Allah that I'll make a
+rubbish-heap of Stambul with my guns, and none shall live in it
+henceforth but serpents and bats and your accursed souls, ye dogs!"
+
+And nobody durst say him nay. They listened to his revilings in silence,
+gave way before him, and made a way for his prancing steed. Halil was
+not there, had he but been there the Kapudan Pasha would not have waited
+twice for an answer.
+
+So here also Abdi succeeded in trotting through the ranks of the
+rioters, and so at last directed his way towards the Etmeidan.
+
+By this time not only the caldron of the first but the caldron of the
+fifth Janissary regiment had been erected in the midst of the camp. They
+had been taken by force from the army blacksmiths, and a group of
+Janissaries stood round each of them.
+
+Abdi Pasha appeared among them so unexpectedly that they were only aware
+of his presence when he suddenly bawled at them:
+
+"Put down your weapons!"
+
+They all regarded the Kapudan Pasha with fear and wonder. How had he got
+here? Not one of them dared to draw a sword against him, yet not one of
+them submitted, and everyone of them felt that Patrona was badly wanted
+here.
+
+The banner of the insurgents was waving in the midst of the piazza. Abdi
+Pasha rode straight towards it. The Janissaries remained rooted to the
+spot, staring after him with astonishment.
+
+Suddenly Musli leaped forth from amongst them, and anticipating the
+Kapudan, seized the flag himself.
+
+"Give me that banner, my son!" said Abdi with all the phlegm of a true
+seaman.
+
+Musli had not yet sufficiently recovered to be able to answer
+articulately, but he shook his head by way of intimating that surrender
+it he would not.
+
+"Give me that banner, Janissary!" cried Abdi once more, sternly
+regarding Musli straight between the eyes.
+
+Instead of answering Musli simply proceeded to wind the banner round its
+pole.
+
+"Give me that banner!" bellowed Abdi for the third time, with a voice of
+thunder, at the same time drawing his sword.
+
+But now Musli twisted the pole round so that the mud-stained end which
+had been sticking in the earth rose high in the air, and he said:
+
+"I honour you, Abdi Pasha, and I will not hurt you if you go away. I
+would rather see you fall in battle fighting against the Giaours, for
+you deserve to have a glorious name; but don't ask me for this banner
+any more, for if you come a step nearer I will run you through the body
+with the dirty end."
+
+And at these words all the other Janissaries leaped to their feet and,
+drawing their swords, formed a glittering circle round the valiant
+Musli.
+
+"I am sorry for you, my brave Janissaries," observed the Kapudan Pasha
+sadly.
+
+"And we are sorry for you, famous Kapudan Pasha!"
+
+Then Abdi quitted the Etmeidan. He perceived how the crowd parted before
+him everywhere as he advanced; but it also did not escape him that
+behind his back they immediately closed up again when he had passed.
+
+"These people can only be brought to their senses by force of arms," he
+said to himself as away he rode through the city, and nobody laid so
+much as a finger upon him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, in the camp outside, a great council of war was being held.
+On the news of the insurrection which had been painted in the most
+alarming colours by the fugitive Kiaja and the Janissary Aga, the
+Sultan had called together the generals, the Ulemas, the Grand Vizier,
+the Chief Mufti, the Sheiks, and the Kodzhagians in the palace by the
+sea-shore.
+
+An hour before in the same palace he had held a long deliberation with
+his aunt, the wise Sultana Khadija.
+
+Good counsel was now precious indeed.
+
+The Grand Vizier opined that the army, leaving the Sultan behind at
+Brusa, should set off at once towards Tebrif to meet the foe. If it were
+found possible to unite with Abdullah Pasha all was won. Stambul was to
+be left to itself, and the rebels allowed to do as they liked there.
+Once let the external enemy be well beaten and then their turn would
+come too.
+
+The Chief Mufti did not believe it to be possible to lead the host to
+battle just then; but he wished it to be withdrawn from Stambul, lest it
+should be affected by the spirit of rebellion.
+
+The Kiaja advised negociating with the rebels and pacifying them that
+way.
+
+At this last proposal the Sultan nodded his head approvingly. The
+Sultana Khadija was also of the same opinion.
+
+As to the mode of carrying out these negociations there was some slight
+difference of detail between the plan of the Kiaja and the plan of the
+Sultana. In the opinion of the former, while the negociations were
+still proceeding, the ringleaders of the rebellion were to be quietly
+disposed of one after the other, whereas the Sultana insinuated that the
+Sultan should appease the rebels by handing over to them the detested
+Kiaja and any of the other great officers of state whose heads the mob
+might take a fancy to. And that, of course, was a very different thing.
+
+The Sultan thought the counsel of the Kiaja the best.
+
+At that very moment, the Kapudan Pasha, Abdi, entered the
+council-chamber.
+
+Everybody regarded him with astonishment. According to the account of
+the Kiaja he had already been cut into a thousand pieces.
+
+He came in with just as much _sangfroid_ as he displayed when he had
+ridden through the rebellious city. He inquired of the doorkeepers as he
+passed through whether his messengers had arrived yet with the tulips.
+"No," was the reply. "Then where have they got to, I wonder," he
+muttered; "since I quitted them I have been from one end of Stambul to
+the other?"
+
+Then he saluted the Sultan, and in obedience to a gesture from the
+Padishah, took his place among the viziers, and they regarded him with
+as much amazement as if it was his ghost that had come among them.
+
+"You have been in Stambul, I understand?" inquired the Grand Vizier at
+last.
+
+"I have just come from thence within the last hour."
+
+"What do the people want?" asked the Padishah.
+
+"They want to eat and drink."
+
+"It is blood they would drink then," murmured the Chief Mufti in his
+beard.
+
+"And what do they complain about?"
+
+"They complain that the sword does not wage war of its own accord, and
+that the earth does not produce bread without being tilled, and that
+wine and coffee do not trickle from the gutters of the houses."
+
+"You speak very lightly of the matter, Abdi. How do you propose to
+pacify this uproar?"
+
+"The thing is quite simple. The cobblers and petty hucksters of Stambul
+are not worth a volley, and, besides, I would not hurt the poor things
+if possible. Many of them have wives and children. Those who have
+stirred them up are in the camp of the Janissaries--there you will find
+their leaders. It would be a pity, perhaps, to destroy all who have
+excited the people in Stambul to revolt, but they ought to be led forth
+regiment by regiment and every tenth man of them shot through the head.
+That will help to smooth matters."
+
+All the viziers were horrified. "Who would dare to do such a thing?"
+they asked.
+
+"That is what I would do," said Abdi bluntly. After that he held his
+peace.
+
+It was the Sultan who broke the silence.
+
+"Before you arrived," said he, "we had resolved, by the advice of the
+Kiaja Beg, to go back to the town with the banner of the Prophet and the
+princes.
+
+"That also is not bad counsel," said Abdi; "thy glorious presence will
+and must quell the uproar. Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of
+the Gate of the Seraglio, let the Chief Mufti and Ispirizade open the
+Aja Sophia and the Mosque of Achmed, and let the imams call the people
+to prayer. Let Damad Ibrahim remain outside with the host, that in case
+of need he may hasten to suppress the insurgents. Let the Kiaja Beg
+collect together the jebedjis, ciauses, and bostanjis, who guard the
+Seraglio, and let them clear the streets. And if all this be of no avail
+my guns from the sea will soon teach them obedience."
+
+Sultan Achmed shook his head.
+
+"We have resolved otherwise," said he; "none of you must quit my side.
+The Grand Vizier, the Chief Mufti, the Kapudan Pasha, and the Kiaja must
+come along with me."
+
+And while he told their names, one after the other, the Padishah did
+not so much as look at one of them.
+
+The names of these four men were all written up on the corners of the
+street. The heads of these four men had been demanded by the people and
+by Halil Patrona.
+
+What then was their offence in the eyes of the people? They were the men
+highest in power when misfortune overtook the realm. But how then had
+they offended Halil Patrona? 'Twas they who had brought suffering upon
+Guel-Bejaze.
+
+The viziers bowed their heads.
+
+At that same instant Abdi's messengers arrived with the tulips. They
+were brought to the Padishah, who was enchanted by their beauty, and
+ordered that they should be conveyed to Stambul, to the Sultana Asseki,
+with the message that he himself would not be long after them. Moreover,
+he patted Abdi on the shoulder, and protested with tears in his eyes
+that there was none in the world whom he loved better.
+
+The Kapudan Pasha kissed the hem of the Sultan's robe, and then remained
+behind with Ibrahim, Abdullah, and the Kiaja.
+
+"Abdullah, and you, my brave Ibrahim, and you, Kiaja," said he,
+addressing them with a friendly smile, "in an hour's time our four heads
+will not be worth an earless pitcher," whereupon Damad Ibrahim sadly
+bent his head, and whispered with a voice resembling a sob:
+
+"Poor, poor Sultan!"
+
+Then they all four accompanied Achmed to his ship. They were all fully
+convinced that Achmed would first sacrifice them all and then fall
+himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TOPSY-TURVY WORLD.
+
+
+Halil Patrona was already the master of Stambul.
+
+The rebel leaders had assembled together in the central mosque, and from
+thence distributed their commands.
+
+At the sixth hour (according to Christian calculation ten o'clock in the
+evening) the ship arrived bearing the Sultan, the princes, the magnates,
+and the sacred banner, and cast anchor beside the coast kiosk at the
+Gate of Cannons.
+
+Inside the Seraglio none knew anything of the position of affairs. All
+through the city a great commotion prevailed with the blowing of horns,
+in the cemetery bivouac fires had been everywhere lighted.
+
+"Why cannot I send a couple of grenades among them from the sea?" sighed
+the Kapudan Pasha, "that would quiet them immediately, I warrant."
+
+As the Kizlar-Aga, Elhaj Beshir, came face to face with the newly
+arrived ministers in the ante-chamber where the Mantle of the Prophet
+was jealously guarded, he rubbed his hands together with an enigmatical
+smile which ill became his coarse, brutal countenance and cloven lips,
+and when the Padishah asked him what the rebels wanted, he replied that
+he really did not know.
+
+That smile of his, that rubbing of the hands, which had been robbed of
+their thumbs by the savage cruelty of a former master for some piece of
+villainy or other--these things were premonitions of evil to all the
+officials present.
+
+Elhaj Beshir Aga had now held his office for fourteen years, during
+which time he had elevated and deposed eight Grand Viziers.
+
+And now, how were the demands of the rebels to be discovered?
+
+Damad Ibrahim suggested that the best thing to do was to summon Sulali
+Hassan, a former cadi of Stambul, whose name he had heard mentioned by
+the town-crier along with that of Halil Patrona.
+
+They found Sulali in his summer house, and at the first summons he
+appeared in the Seraglio. He declared that the rebels had been playing
+fast and loose with his name, and that he knew nothing whatever of their
+wishes.
+
+"Then take with you the Chaszeki Aga and twenty bostanjis, and go in
+search of Halil Patrona, and find out what he wants!" commanded the
+Padishah.
+
+"It is a pity to give worthy men unnecessary trouble, most glorious
+Sultan," said Abdi Pasha bitterly. "I am able to tell you what the
+rebels want, for I have seen it all written up on the walls. They demand
+the delivery of four of the great officers of state--myself, the Chief
+Mufti, the Grand Vizier, and the Kiaja. Surrender us then, O Sultan! yet
+surrender us not alive! but slay us first and then their mouths will be
+stopped. Let them glut their appetites on us. You know that no wild
+beast is savage when once it has been well fed."
+
+The Sultan pretended not to hear these words. He did not even look up
+when the Kapudan spoke.
+
+"Seek out Halil Patrona!" he said to the Chaszeki Aga, "and greet him in
+the name of the Padishah!"
+
+What! Greet Halil Patrona in the name of the Padishah! Greet that petty
+huckster in the name of the master of many empires, in the name of the
+Prince of Princes, Shahs, Khans, and Deys, the dominator of Great
+Moguls! Who would have believed in the possibility of such a thing three
+days ago?
+
+"Greet Halil Patrona in my name," said the Sultan, "and tell him that I
+will satisfy all his just demands, if he promises to dismiss his forces
+immediately afterwards."
+
+The Chaszeki Aga and Sulali Hassan, with the twenty bostanjis, forced
+their way through the thick crowd which thronged the streets till they
+reached the central mosque. Only nine of the twenty bostanjis were
+beaten to death by the mob on the way, the eleven others were fortunate
+enough to reach the mosque at least alive.
+
+There, on a camel-skin spread upon the ground, sat Halil, the rebel
+leader, like a second Dzhengis Khan, dictating his orders and
+nominations to the softas sitting before him, whom he had appointed his
+teskeredjis.
+
+When the Janissaries on guard informed him that the Sultan's Chaszeki
+Aga had arrived and wanted to speak to him, he drily replied:
+
+"He can wait. I must attend to worthier men than he first of all."
+
+And who, then, were these worthier men?
+
+Well, first of all there was the old master-cobbler, Suleiman, whom they
+had dragged by force from his house where he had been hiding under the
+floor. Halil now ordered a document to be drawn up, whereby he elevated
+him to the rank of Reis-Effendi.
+
+Halil Patrona, by the way, was still wearing his old Janissary uniform,
+the blue dolman with the salavari reaching to the knee, leaving the
+calves bare. The only difference was that he now wore a white heron's
+feather in his hat instead of a black one, and by his side hung the
+sword of the Grand Vizier, whose palace in the Galata suburb he had
+levelled to the ground only an hour before.
+
+It was with the signet in the hilt of this sword that Halil was now
+sealing all the public documents issued by him.
+
+After Suleiman came Muhammad the saddle-maker. He was a sturdy, muscular
+fellow, who could have held his own against any two or three ordinary
+men. Him Halil appointed Aga.
+
+Then came a ciaus called Orli, whom he made chief magistrate. Ibrahim, a
+whilom schoolmaster, who went by the name of "the Fool," he made chief
+Cadi of Stambul, and then catching sight of Sulali, he beckoned him
+forth from among the ciauses and said to him:
+
+"Thou shalt be the Governor-General of Anatolia."
+
+Sulali bowed to the ground by way of acknowledgment of such
+graciousness.
+
+"I thank thee, Halil! Make of me what thou wilt, but listen, first of
+all, to the message of the Padishah which he has entrusted to me, for I
+am in very great doubt whether it be thou or Sultan Achmed who is now
+Lord of all the Moslems. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost require of
+the Sultan, and if thy demands be lawful and of good report they shall
+be granted, provided that thou dost promise to disperse thy following."
+
+Then Halil Patrona stood up before the Sulali, and with a severe and
+motionless countenance answered:
+
+"Our demands are few and soon told. We demand the delivery to us of the
+four arch-traitors who have brought disaster upon the realm. They are
+the Kul Kiaja, the Kapudan Pasha, the Chief Mufti, and the Grand
+Vizier."
+
+Sulali fell to shaking his head.
+
+"You ask much, Halil!"
+
+"I ask much, you say. To-morrow I shall ask still more. If you agree to
+my terms, to-morrow there shall be peace. But if you come again to me
+to-morrow, then there will be peace neither to-morrow nor any other
+morrow."
+
+Sulali returned to the Sultan and his ministers who were still all
+assembled together.
+
+Full of suspense they awaited the message of Halil.
+
+Sulali dared not say it all at once. Only gradually did he let the cat
+out of the bag.
+
+"I have found out the demands of the insurgents," said he. "They demand
+that the Kiaja Beg be handed over to them."
+
+The Kiaja suddenly grew paler than a wax figure.
+
+"Such a faithful old servant as he has been to me too," sighed Achmed.
+"Well, well, hand him over, and now I hope they will be satisfied."
+
+With tottering footsteps the Kiaja stepped among the bostanjis.
+
+"They demand yet more," said Sulali.
+
+"What! more?"
+
+"They demand the Kapudan Pasha."
+
+"Him also. My most valiant seaman!" exclaimed Achmed sorrowfully.
+
+"Mashallah!" cried the Kapudan cheerfully, "I am theirs," and with a
+look of determined courage he stepped forth and also joined the
+bostanjis. "Weep not on my account, oh Padishah! A brave man is always
+ready to die a heroic death in the place of danger, and shall I not,
+moreover, be dying in your defence? Hale us away, bostanjis; do not
+tremble, my sons. Which of you best understands to twist the string?
+Come, come, fear nothing, I will show you myself how to arrange the
+silken cord properly. Long live the Sultan!"
+
+And with that he quitted the room, rather leading the bostanjis than
+being led by them, he did not even lay aside his sword.
+
+"Then, too, they demanded the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti," said
+Sulali.
+
+The Sultan, full of horror, rose from his place.
+
+"No, no, it cannot be. You must have heard their words amiss. He from
+whom you required an answer must needs have been mad, he spoke in his
+wrath. What! I am to slay the Grand Vizier and the Chief Mufti? Slay
+them, too, for faults which I myself have committed--faults against
+which they wished to warn me? Why, their blood would cry to Heaven
+against me. Go back, Sulali, and say to Halil that I beg, I implore him
+not to insist that these two grey heads shall roll in the dust. Let it
+suffice him if they are deprived of their offices and banished from the
+realm, for indeed they are guiltless. Entreat him, also, for the Kiaja
+and the Kapudan; they shall not be surrendered until you return."
+
+Again Sulali sought out Halil. He durst not say a word concerning the
+Kiaja and the Kapudan. He knew that it was the Kapudan who had seized
+upon Halil's wife when she was attempting to escape by sea, and that it
+was the Kiaja who had had her shut up in the dungeon set apart for
+shameless women. He confined himself therefore to pleading for the Grand
+Vizier and the Chief Mufti.
+
+Halil reflected. The incidents which had happened in the palace by the
+Sweet Waters all passed through his mind. He bethought him how Damad
+Ibrahim had forced his embraces upon Guel-Bejaze, and compelled her to
+resort to the stratagem of the death-swoon, and he gave no heed to what
+Sulali said about sparing Ibrahim's grey beard.
+
+"The Grand Vizier must die," he answered. "As for Abdullah, he may
+remain alive, but he must be banished." After all, Abdullah had done no
+harm to Guel-Bejaze.
+
+Sulali returned to the Seraglio.
+
+"Halil permits the Chief Mufti to live, but he demands death for the
+three others," said he.
+
+At these words Achmed sprang from the divan like a lion brought to bay
+and drew his sword.
+
+"Come hither, then, valiant rebels, as ye are!" cried he. "If you want
+the heads of my servants, come for them, and take them from me. No, not
+a drop of their blood will I give you, and if you dare to come for them
+ye shall see that the sword of Mohammed has still an edge upon it.
+Unfurl the banner of the Prophet in front of the gate of the Seraglio.
+Let all true believers cleave to me. Send criers into all the streets to
+announce that the Seraglio is in danger, and let all to whom the
+countenance of Allah is dear hasten to the defence of the Banner! I will
+collect the bostanjis and defend the gates of the Seraglio."
+
+The two grey beards kissed the Sultan's hand. If this manly burst of
+emotion had only come a little earlier, the page of history would have
+borne a very different record of Sultan Achmed.
+
+The Banner of Danger was immediately hung out in the central gate of the
+Seraglio, and there it remained till early the next evening.
+
+At dawn the criers returned and reported that they had not been able to
+get beyond the mosque of St. Sophia, and that the people had responded
+to their crying with showers of stones.
+
+The Green Banner waved all by itself in front of the Seraglio. Nobody
+assembled beneath it, even the wind disdained to flutter it, languidly
+it drooped upon its staff.
+
+The unfurling of the Green Banner on the gate of the Seraglio is a rare
+event in history. As a rule it only happens in the time of greatest
+danger, for it signifies that the time has come for every true Mussulman
+to quit hearth and home, his shop and his plough, snatch up his weapons,
+and hasten to the assistance of Allah and his Anointed, and accursed
+would be reckoned every male Osmanli who should hesitate at such a time
+to lay down his life and his estate at the feet of the Padishah.
+
+Knowing this to be so, imagine then the extremity of terror into which
+the dwellers in the Seraglio were plunged when they saw that not a
+single soul rallied beneath the exposed banner. The criers promised a
+gratuity of thirty piastres to every soldier who hastened to range
+himself beneath the banner, and two piastres a day over and above the
+usual pay. And some five or six fellows followed them, but as many as
+came in on one side went away again on the other, and in the afternoon
+not a single soul remained beneath the banner.
+
+Towards evening the banner was hoisted on to the second gate beneath
+which were the dormitories of the high officers of state. The generals
+meanwhile slept in the Hall of Audience, Damadzadi lay sick in the
+apartment of Prince Murad, and the Mufti and the Ulemas remained in the
+barracks of the bostanjis. Sultan Achmed did not lie down all night
+long, but wandered about from room to room, impatiently inquiring after
+news outside. He asked whether anyone had come from the host to his
+assistance? whether the people were assembling beneath the Sacred Green
+Banner? and the cold sweat stood out upon his forehead when, in reply to
+all his questions, he only received one crushing answer after another.
+The watchers placed on the roof of the palace signified that the bivouac
+fires of the insurgents were now much nearer than they had been the
+night before, and that in the direction of Scutari not a single
+watch-fire was visible, from which it might be suspected that the army
+had broken up its camp, returned to Stambul, and made common cause with
+the insurgents.
+
+Achmed himself ascended to the roof to persuade himself of the truth of
+these assertions, and wandered in a speechless agony of grief from
+apartment to apartment, constantly looking to see whether the Kiaja,
+the Kapudan, and the Grand Vizier were asleep or awake. Only the Kapudan
+Pasha was able to sleep at all. The Kiaja was all of an ague with
+apprehension, and the Grand Vizier was praying, not for himself indeed,
+but for the Sultan. At last even the Kapudan was sorry for the Sultan
+who was so much distressed on their account.
+
+"Why dost thou keep waking us so often, oh, my master?" said he, "we are
+still alive as thou seest. Go and sleep in thy harem and trouble not thy
+soul about us any more, it is only the rebels who have to do with us
+now. Allah Kerim! Look upon us as already sleeping the sleep of
+eternity. At the trump of the Angel of the Resurrection we also shall
+arise like the rest."
+
+And Achmed listened to the words of the Kapudan, and at dawn of day
+vanished from amongst them. When they sought him in the early morning he
+had not yet come forth from his harem.
+
+The four dignitaries knew very well what that signified.
+
+Early in the morning, when the dawn was still red, Sulali Effendi and
+Ispirizade came for the Chief Mufti, and invited him to say the morning
+prayer with them.
+
+The Ulemas were already all assembled together, and at the sight of them
+Abdullah burst into tears and sobs, and said to them in the midst of
+his lamentations:
+
+"Behold, I have brought my grey beard hither, and if it pleases you not
+that it has grown white in all pure and upright dealing, take it now and
+wash it in my blood; and if ye think that the few days Allah hath given
+me to be too many, then take me and put an end to them."
+
+Then all the Ulemas stood up and, raising their hands, exclaimed:
+
+"Allah preserve thee from this evil thing!"
+
+Then they threw themselves down on their faces to pray, and when they
+had made an end of praying, they assembled in the kiosk of Erivan in the
+inner garden where the Grand Vizier already awaited them. Not long
+afterwards arrived the Kiaja and the Kapudan Pasha also, last of all
+came the sick Damadzadi and the Cadi of Medina, Mustafa Effendi, and
+Segban Pasha.
+
+"Ye see a dead man before you," said the Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim, to
+the freshly arrived dignitaries. "I am lost. We are the four victims.
+The Chief Mufti perhaps may save his life, but we three others shall not
+see the dawn of another day. It cannot be otherwise. The Sultan must be
+saved, and saved he only can be at the price of our lives."
+
+"I said that long ago," observed the Kapudan Pasha. "Our corpses ought
+to have been delivered up to the rebels yesterday, I fear it is already
+too late, I fear me that the Sultan is lost anyhow. The Banner of
+Affliction ought never to have been exposed at all, we should have been
+slain there and then."
+
+"You three withdraw into the Chamber of the Executioners," said the
+Grand Vizier to his colleagues, "but wait for me till the Kizlar-Aga
+arrives to demand from me the seals of office, till then I must perform
+my official duties."
+
+The three ministers then took leave of Damad Ibrahim, embraced each
+other, and were removed in the custody of the bostanjis.
+
+It was now the duty of the Grand Vizier to elect a new Chief Mufti from
+among the Ulemas. The Ulemas, first of all, chose Damadzadi, but he
+declining the dignity on the plea of illness, they chose in his stead
+the Cadi of Medina, and for want of a white mantle invested him with a
+green one.
+
+After that they elected from amongst themselves Seid Mohammed and
+Damadzadi, to receive the secret message of the Sultan from the
+Kizlar-Aga and deliver it to Halil Patrona.
+
+Damad Ibrahim was well aware of the nature of this secret message, and
+thanked Allah for setting a term to the life of man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile Sultan Achmed was sitting in the Hall of Delectation with the
+beautiful Adsalis by his side, and in front of him were the four tulips
+which Abdi Pasha had presented to him the day before.
+
+The four tulips were now in full bloom.
+
+Adsalis had thrown her arms round the Sultan's neck, and was kissing his
+forehead as if she would charm away from his soul the thoughts which
+suffered him not to rest, or rejoice, or to love.
+
+He had an eye for nothing but the tulips before him, which he could not
+protect or cherish sufficiently. He scarce noticed that Elhaj Beshir,
+the Kizlar-Aga, was standing before him with a long MS. parchment
+stretched out in his hand.
+
+"Master," cried the Kizlar-Aga, "deign to read the answer which the
+Ulemas are sending to Halil Patrona, and if it be according to thy will
+give it the confirmation of thy signature."
+
+"What do they require?" asked the Sultan softly, withdrawing, as he
+spoke, a tiny knife from his girdle, with the point of which he began
+picking away at the earth all round the tulips in order to make it
+looser and softer.
+
+"The rebels demand a full assurance that they will not be persecuted in
+the future for what they have done in the past."
+
+"Be it so!"
+
+"Next they demand that the Kiaja Aga be handed over to them."
+
+The Sultan cut off one of the tulips with his knife and handed it to the
+Kizlar-Aga.
+
+"There, take it!" said he.
+
+The Aga was astonished, but presently he understood and took the tulip.
+
+"Then they want the Kapudan Pasha."
+
+The Sultan cut off the handsomest of the tulips.
+
+"There you have it," said he.
+
+"They further demand the banishment of the Chief Mufti."
+
+The Sultan tore up the third tulip by the roots and cast it from him.
+
+"There it is."
+
+"And the Grand Vizier they want also."
+
+The last tulip Achmed threw violently to the ground, pot and all, and
+then he covered his face.
+
+"Ask no more, thou seest I have surrendered everything."
+
+Then he gave him his signet-ring in which his name was engraved, and the
+Kizlar-Aga stamped the document therewith, and then handed back the
+signet-ring to the Sultan.
+
+The Grand Vizier, meanwhile, was walking backwards and forwards in the
+garden of the Seraglio. The Kizlar-Aga came there in search of him, and
+with him were the envoys of Halil Patrona, Suleiman, whom he had made
+Reis-Effendi, Orli, and Sulali. Elhaj Beshir approached him in their
+presence, and kissing the document signed by the Sultan, handed it to
+him.
+
+Damad Ibrahim pressed the writing to his forehead and his lips, and,
+after carefully reading it through, handed it back again, and taking
+from his finger the great seal of the Empire gave it to the Kizlar-Aga.
+
+"May he who comes after me be wiser and happier than I have been," said
+he. "Greet the Sultan from me once more. And as for you, tell Halil
+Patrona that you have seen the door of the Hall of the Executioners
+close behind the back of Damad Ibrahim."
+
+With that the Grand Vizier looked about him in search of someone to
+escort him thither, when suddenly a kajkji leaped to his side and begged
+that he might be allowed to lead the Grand Vizier to the Hall of
+Execution.
+
+This sailor-man had just such a long grey beard as the Grand Vizier
+himself.
+
+"How dost thou come to know me?" inquired Damad Ibrahim of the old man.
+
+"Why we fought together, sir, beneath Belgrade, when both of us were
+young fellows together."
+
+"What is thy name?
+
+"Manoli."
+
+"I remember thee not."
+
+"But I remember thee, for thou didst release me from captivity, and
+didst cherish me when I was wounded."
+
+"And therefore thou wouldst lead me to the executioner? I thank thee,
+Manoli!"
+
+All this was spoken while they were passing through the garden on their
+way to the fatal chamber into which Manoli disappeared with the Grand
+Vizier.
+
+The Kizlar-Aga and the messengers of the insurgents waited till Manoli
+came forth again. He came out, covering his face with his hands, no
+doubt he was weeping. The Grand Vizier remained inside.
+
+"To-morrow you shall see his dead body," said the Kizlar-Aga to the new
+Reis-Effendi, and with that he sent him and his comrade back to Halil.
+
+"We would rather have had them alive," said the ex-ciaus, so suddenly
+become one of the chief dignitaries of the state.
+
+That same evening Halil sent back Sulali with the message that the Chief
+Mufti might go free.
+
+The old man quitted his comrades about midnight, and day had scarce
+dawned when he was summoned once more to the presence of the Grand
+Seignior.
+
+All night long the Kizlar-Aga tormented Achmed with the saying of the
+Reis-Effendi: "We would rather have them alive!"
+
+"No, no," said the Sultan, "we will not have them delivered up alive. It
+shall not be in the power of the people to torture and tear them to
+pieces. Rather let them die in my palace, an easy, instantaneous death,
+without fear and scarce a pang of pain, wept and mourned for by their
+friends."
+
+"Then hasten on their deaths, dread sir, lest the morning come and they
+be demanded while still alive."
+
+"Tarry a while, I say, wait but for the morning. You would not surely
+kill them at night! At night the gates of Heaven are shut. At night the
+phantoms of darkness are let loose. You would not slay any living
+creature at night! Wait till the day dawns."
+
+The first ray of light had scarce appeared on the horizon when the
+Kizlar-Aga once more stood before the Sultan.
+
+"Master, the day is breaking."
+
+"Call hither the mufti and Sulali!"
+
+Both of them speedily appeared.
+
+"Convey death to those who are already doomed."
+
+Sulali and the mufti fell down on their knees.
+
+"Wherefore this haste, O my master?" cried the aged mufti, bitterly
+weeping as he kissed the Sultan's feet.
+
+"Because the rebels wish them to be surrendered alive."
+
+"So it is," observed the Kizlar-Aga by way of corroboration, "the whole
+space in front of the kiosk is filled with the insurgents."
+
+The Sultan almost collapsed with horror.
+
+"Hasten, hasten! lest they fall into their hands alive."
+
+"Oh, sir," implored Sulali, "let me first go down with the Imam of the
+Aja Sophia to see whether the street really is filled with rebels or
+not!"
+
+The Sultan signified that they might go.
+
+Sulali, Hassan, and Ispirizade thereupon hastened through the gate of
+the Seraglio down to the open space before the kiosk, but not a living
+soul did they find there. Not satisfied with merely looking about them,
+they wished to persuade themselves that the insurgents were approaching
+the Seraglio from some other direction by a circuitous way.
+
+Meanwhile the Sultan was counting the moments and growing impatient at
+the prolonged absence of his messengers.
+
+"They have had time enough to cover the distance to the kiosk and back
+twice over," remarked the Kizlar-Aga. "No doubt they have fallen into
+the hands of the rebels who are holding them fast so that they may not
+be able to bring any tidings back."
+
+The Sultan was in despair.
+
+"Hasten, hasten then!" said he to the Kizlar-Aga, and with that he fled
+away into his inner apartments.
+
+Ten minutes later Sulali and the Iman returned, and announced that there
+was not a soul to be seen anywhere and no sign of anyone threatening the
+Seraglio.
+
+Then the Kizlar-Aga led them down to the gate. A cart drawn by two oxen
+was standing there, and the top of it was covered with a mat of rushes.
+He drew aside a corner of this mat, and by the uncertain light of dawn
+they saw before them three corpses, the Kiaja's, the Kapudan's, and the
+Grand Vizier's.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Happy Guel-Bejaze sits in Halil's lap and dreamily allows herself to be
+cradled in his arms. Through the windows of the splendid palace
+penetrate the shouts of triumph which hail Halil as Lord, for the
+moment, of the city of Stambul and the whole Ottoman Empire.
+
+Guel-Bejaze tremulously whispers in Halil's ear how much she would prefer
+to dwell in a simple, lonely little hut in Anatolia instead of there in
+that splendid palace.
+
+Halil smooths away the luxuriant locks from his wife's forehead, and
+makes her tell him once more the full tale of all those revolting
+incidents which befell her in the Seraglio, in the captivity of the
+Kapudan's house, and in the dungeon for dishonourable women. Why should
+he keep on arousing hatred and vengeance?
+
+The woman told him everything with a shudder. At her husband's feet,
+right in front of them, stood three baskets full of flowers. Halil had
+given them to her as a present.
+
+But at the bottom of the baskets were still more precious gifts.
+
+He draws forward the first basket and sweeps away the flowers. A bloody
+head is at the bottom of the basket.
+
+"Whose is that?"
+
+Guel-Bejaze, all shuddering, lisped the name of Abdi Pasha.
+
+He cast away the flowers from the second basket, there also was a bloody
+head.
+
+"And whose is that?"
+
+"That is the Kiaja Beg's," sobbed the terrified girl.
+
+And now Halil brought forward the third basket, and dashing aside from
+it the fresh flowers, revealed to the eyes of Guel-Bejaze a grey head
+with a white beard, which lay with closed eyes at the bottom of the
+basket.
+
+"Whose is that?" inquired Halil.
+
+Guel-Bejaze's tender frame shivered in the arms of the strong man who
+held her, as he compelled her to gaze at the bloody heads. And when she
+regarded the third head she shook her own in amazement.
+
+"I do not know that one."
+
+"Not know it! Look again and more carefully. Perchance Death has changed
+the expression of the features. That is Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier."
+
+Guel-Bejaze regarded her husband with eyes wide-open with astonishment,
+and then hastened to reply:
+
+"Truly it _is_ Damad Ibrahim. Of course, of course. Death hath
+disfigured his face so that I scarce knew it."
+
+"Did I not tell thee that thou shouldst make sport with the heads of
+those who made sport with thy heart? Dost thou want yet more?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, Halil. I am afraid of these also. I am afraid to look upon
+these dumb heads."
+
+"Then cover them over with flowers, and thou wilt believe thou dost see
+flower-baskets before thee."
+
+"Let me have them buried, Halil. Do not make me fear thee also. Thou
+wouldst have me go on loving thee, wouldst thou not? If only thou
+wouldst come with me to Anatolia, where nobody would know anything about
+us!"
+
+"What dost thou say? Go away now when the very sun cannot set because of
+me, and men cannot sleep because of the sound of my name? Dost not thou
+also feel a desire to bathe in all this glory?"
+
+"Oh, Halil! the rose and the palm grow up together out of the same
+earth, and yet the palm grows into greatness while the rose remains
+quite tiny. Suffer me but gently to crouch beside thee, dispense but thy
+love to me, and keep thy glory to thyself."
+
+Halil tenderly embraced and kissed the woman, and buried the three
+baskets as she desired in the palace garden beneath three wide-spreading
+rosemary bushes.
+
+Then he took leave of Guel-Bejaze, for deputies from the people now
+waited upon their leader, and begged him to accompany them to the mosque
+of Zuleima, where the Sultan's envoys were already waiting for an
+answer.
+
+In order to get to the mosque more easily and avoid the labour of
+forcing his way through the crowd that thronged the streets, Halil
+hastened to the water side, got into the first skiff he met with, and
+bade the sailor row him across to the Zuleima Mosque on the other side.
+
+On the way his gaze fell upon the face of the sailor who was sitting
+opposite to him. It was a grey-bearded old man.
+
+"What is thy name, worthy old man?" inquired Halil.
+
+"My name is Manoli, your Excellency."
+
+"Call me not Excellency! Dost thou not perceive from my raiment that I
+am nothing but a common Janissary?"
+
+"Oh! I know thee better than that. Thou art Halil Patrona, whom may
+Allah long preserve!"
+
+"Thou also dost seem very familiar to me. Thou hast just such a white
+beard as had Damad Ibrahim who was once Grand Vizier."
+
+"I have often heard people say so, my master."
+
+On arriving opposite the Zuleima Mosque, the boatman brought the skiff
+ashore. Halil pressed a golden denarius into the old man's palm, the old
+man kissed his hand for it.
+
+Then for a long time Halil gazed into the old man's face.
+
+"Manoli!"
+
+"At thy command, my master."
+
+"Thou seest the sun rising up yonder behind the hills?"
+
+"Yes, my master."
+
+"Before the shadows return to the side of yon hills take care to be well
+behind them, and let not another dawn find thee in this city!"
+
+The boatman bent low with his arms folded across his breast, then he
+disappeared in his skiff.
+
+But Halil Patrona hastened into the mosque.
+
+The Sultan's ambassadors were awaiting him. Sheik Suleiman came forward.
+
+"Halil!" said he, "the bodies of the three dead men I have given to the
+people and their heads I have sent to thee."
+
+"Who were they?" asked Halil darkly.
+
+"The first was the corpse of the Kiaja Beg, his body was cast upon the
+cross-ways through the Etmeidan Gate."
+
+"And the second?"
+
+"The Kapudan Pasha, his body was flung down in front of the fountains of
+Khir-Kheri."
+
+"And the third?"
+
+"Damad Ibrahim, the Grand Vizier. His body we flung out into the piazza
+in front of the Seraglio, at the foot of the very fountains which he
+himself caused to be built."
+
+Halil Patrona cast a searching look at the Sheik's face, and coldly
+replied:
+
+"Know then, oh, Sheik Suleiman, that thou liest, the third corpse was
+_not_ the body of Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier. It was the body of a
+sailor named Manoli, who greatly resembled him, and sacrificed himself
+in Damad's behalf. But the Grand Vizier has escaped and none can tell
+where he is. Go now, and tell that to those who sent thee hither!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SETTING AND THE RISING SUN.
+
+
+The dead bodies of the victims were still lying in the streets when
+Sultan Achmed summoned the Ulemas to the cupolaed chamber. His
+countenance was dejected and sad.
+
+Before coming to the council-chamber he had kissed all his children, one
+by one, and when it came to the turn of his little ten-year-old child,
+Bajazid, he saw that the little fellow's eyes were full of tears and he
+inquired the reason why. The child replied:
+
+"Father, it is well with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them
+that love thee. What then will be our fate who love thee best of all?
+Amongst the wives of our brethren thou wilt find more than one in grey
+mourning weeds. Look, I prythee, at the face of Ummettulah; look at the
+eyes of Sabiha, and the appearance of Ezma. They are all of them widows
+and orphans, and it is thou who hast caused their fathers and husbands
+to be slain."
+
+"To save thee I have done it," stammered Achmed, pressing the child to
+his breast.
+
+"Thou wilt see that thou shalt not save us after all," sighed Bajazid.
+
+In the years to come these words were to be as an eternal echo in the
+ears of Achmed.
+
+So he sat on his throne and the Ulemas took their places around him on
+the divans covered with kordofan leather. Opposite to him sat the chief
+imam, Ispirizade. Sulali sat beside him.
+
+"Lo, the blood of the victims has now been poured forth," said Achmed in
+a gloomy, tremulous voice, "I have sacrificed my most faithful servants.
+Speak! What more do the rebels require? Why do they still blow their
+field trumpets? Why do they still kindle their bivouac fires? What more
+do they want?"
+
+And the words of his little son rang constantly in his ears: "It is well
+with those who are thy enemies and grievous for them that love thee."
+
+No one replied to the words of the Sultan.
+
+"Answer, I say! What think ye concerning the matter?"
+
+Once more deep silence prevailed. The Ulemas looked at one another. Many
+of them began to nudge Sulali, who stood up as if to speak, but
+immediately sat down again without opening his mouth.
+
+"Speak, I pray you! I have not called you hither to look at me and at
+one another, but to give answers to my questions."
+
+And still the Ulemas kept silence. Dumbly they sat around as if they
+were not living men but only embalmed corpses, such as are to be found
+in the funeral vaults of the Pharaohs grouped around the royal tombs.
+
+"'Tis wondrous indeed!" said Achmed, when the whole Council had remained
+dumb for more than a quarter of an hour. "Are ye all struck dumb then
+that ye give me no answer?"
+
+Then at last Ispirizade rose from his place.
+
+"Achmed!" he began--with such discourteous curtness did he address the
+Sultan!
+
+"Achmed! 'tis the wish of Halil Patrona that thou descend from the
+throne and give it up to Sultan Mahmud...."
+
+Achmed sat bolt upright in his chair. After the words just uttered every
+voice in the council-chamber was mute, and in the midst of this dreadful
+silence the Ulemas were terrified to behold the Padishah stand on the
+steps of the throne, extend his arm towards the imam, fix his eyes
+steadily upon him, and open his lips from which never a word proceeded.
+
+Thus for a long time he stood upon the throne with hand outstretched and
+parted lips, and his stony eyes fixed steadily upon the imam, and those
+who saw it were convulsed by a feeling of horror, and Ispirizade felt
+his limbs turn to stone and the light of day grow dim before his eyes
+in the presence of that dreadful figure which regarded him and pointed
+at him. It was, as it were, a dumb curse--a dumb, overpowering spell,
+which left it to God and His destroying angels to give expression to his
+wishes, and read in his heart and accomplish that which he himself was
+incapable of pronouncing.
+
+The whole trembling assembly collapsed before the Sultan's throne,
+crawled to his feet and, moistening them with their tears, exclaimed:
+
+"Pardon, O master! pardon!"
+
+An hour before they had unanimously resolved that Achmed must be made to
+abdicate, and now they unanimously begged for pardon. But the deed had
+already been done.
+
+The hand of the Padishah that had been raised to curse sank slowly down
+again, his eyes half closed, his lips were pressed tightly together, he
+thrust his hands into the girdle of his mantle, looked down for a long
+time upon the Ulemas, and then quietly descended the steps of the
+throne. On reaching the pavement he remained standing by the side of the
+throne, and cried in a hollow tremulous voice:
+
+"I have ceased to reign, let a better than I take my place. I demand but
+one thing, let those who are at this moment the lords of the dominion of
+Osman swear that they will do no harm to my children. Let them swear it
+to me on the Alkoran. Take two from amongst you and let them convey my
+desire to Halil."
+
+Again a deep silence followed upon Achmed's words. The Ulemas fixed
+their gaze upon the ground, not one of them moved or made even a show of
+conveying the message.
+
+"Perhaps, then, ye wish the death of my children also? Or is there not
+one of you with courage enough to go and speak to them?"
+
+A very aged, tremulous, half paralyzed Ulema was there among them, the
+dervish Mohammed, and he it was who at length ventured to speak.
+
+"Oh, my master! who is valiant enough to speak with a raging lion, who
+hath wit enough to come to terms with the burning tempest of the Samum,
+or who would venture to go on an embassy to the tempest-tost sea and
+bandy words therewith?"
+
+Achmed gazed darkly, doubtfully upon the Ulema, and his face wore an
+expression of repressed despair.
+
+Sulali had compassion on the Sultan.
+
+"I will go to them," he said reassuringly; "remain here, oh, my master,
+till I return. Of a truth I tell thee that I will not come back till
+they have sworn to do what thou desirest."
+
+And now Ispirizade said that he also would go with Sulali. He had not
+sufficient strength of mind to endure the gaze of the Sultan till
+Sulali should return. Far rather would he go with him also to the
+rebels. Besides they already understood each other very well.
+
+The envoys found Halil sitting under his tent in the Etmeidan.
+
+Sulali drew near to him and delivered the message of the Sultan.
+
+But he did not deliver it in the words of Achmed. He neither begged nor
+implored, nor mingled his request with bitter lamentations as Achmed had
+done, but he spoke boldly and sternly, without picking his words, as
+Achmed ought to have done.
+
+"The Padishah would have his own life and the lives of his children
+guaranteed by oath," said he to the assembled leaders of the people.
+"Swear, therefore, on the Alkoran that you will respect them, and swear
+it in the names of your comrades likewise. The Padishah is resolved that
+if you refuse to take this oath he will blow up the Seraglio and every
+living soul within it into the air with gunpowder."
+
+The rebels were impressed by this message, only Halil Patrona smiled. He
+knew very well that such a threat as this never arose in the breast of
+Achmed. His gentle soul was incapable of such a thing. So he folded his
+arms across his breast and smiled.
+
+Then the chief imam fell down in the dust before him, and said in a
+humble voice:
+
+"Listen not, O Halil, to the words of my companion. The Padishah humbly
+implores you for his life and the lives of his children."
+
+Halil wrinkled his brow and exclaimed angrily:
+
+"Rise up, Ulema, grovel not before me in the name of the Sultan. Those
+who would slay him deal not half so badly with them as thou who dost
+humiliate him. Sulali is right. The Sultan is capable of great deeds. I
+know that the cellars of the Seraglio are full of gunpowder, and I would
+not that the blossoms of the Sheik-ul-Islam and the descendants of the
+Prophet should perish. Behold, I am ready, and my comrades also, to
+swear on the Alkoran to do no harm either to Sultan Achmed, or his sons,
+or his daughters, or his daughters' husbands. Whosoever shall raise his
+hand against them his head I myself will cut in twain, and make the
+avenging Angels of Allah split his soul in twain also, so that each half
+may never again find its fellow. Go back and peace rest upon Achmed."
+
+Sulali flew back with the message, but Ispirizade hastened to the Aja
+Sophia mosque to give directions for the enthronement of the new Sultan.
+
+Meanwhile Achmed had assembled his sons around him in the cupolaed
+chamber, and sitting down on the last step of the throne made them take
+their places round his feet, and awaited the message which was to bear
+the issues of life and death.
+
+Sulali entered the room with a radiant countenance, carrying in his hand
+the copy of the Alkoran, on which Halil and his associates had sworn the
+oath required of them. He laid it at the Sultan's feet.
+
+"Live for ever, oh, Sultan!" he cried, "and may thy heart rejoice in the
+prosperity of thy children!"
+
+Achmed looked up with a face full of gratitude, and thanked Allah, the
+Giver of all good and perfect gifts.
+
+His children embraced him with tears in their eyes, and Achmed did not
+forget to extend his hand to Sulali, who first raised it to his forehead
+and then pressed it to his lips.
+
+Then Achmed sent the Kizlar-Aga for Sultan Mahmud, surnamed "the White
+Prince," from the pallor of his face, to summon him to his presence.
+
+Half an hour later, accompanied by Elhaj Beshir, Prince Mahmud arrived.
+He was the son of Mustapha II., who had renounced the throne in favour
+of Achmed just as Achmed was now resigning the throne in favour of
+Mahmud.
+
+The Sultan arose, hastened towards him, embraced him, and kissed him on
+the forehead.
+
+"The people desire thee to ascend the throne. Be merciful to my children
+just as I was merciful to thy father's children."
+
+Sultan Mahmud did obeisance to his uncle, and seizing his hand, as if it
+were worthy of all honour, reverently kissed it.
+
+Then Achmed beckoned to his sons, and one by one they approached Mahmud,
+and kissed his hand. And all the time the Ulemas remained prostrate on
+the ground around them.
+
+Then Achmed took the new sovereign by the right hand, and personally
+conducted him into the chamber of the Mantle of the Prophet. There,
+standing in front of the throne, he took from his hand the diamond
+clasp, the symbol of dominion, and with his own hand fastened it to the
+turban of the new Sultan, and placing his hand upon his head, solemnly
+blessed him.
+
+"Rule and prosper! May those thou lovest love thee also, and may those
+that thou hatest fear thee. Be glorious and powerful while thou livest,
+and may men bless thy name and magnify thy memory when thou art dead!"
+
+Then Achmed and his children thrice did obeisance to Mahmud, whereupon
+taking his two youngest sons by the hand, with a calm and quiet dignity,
+he quitted the halls of dominion which he was never to behold again,
+abandoning, one after another, every single thing which had hitherto
+been so dear to him.
+
+In the Hall of Audience he gave up the Sword of the Prophet to the
+Silihdar, who unbuckled it from his body, and when he came to the door
+leading to the harem he handed over his children to the Kizlar-Aga,
+telling him to greet the Sultana Asseki in his name, and bid her
+remember him and teach his little children their father's name.
+
+For henceforth he will see no more his sharp sword, or the fair Adsalis,
+or the other dear damsels, or his darling children. He must remain for
+ever far away from them behind the walls of a dungeon. A deposed Sultan
+has nought whatever to do with swords or wives or children. The same
+fate befell Mustapha II. six-and-twenty years before. He also had to
+part with his sword, his wives, and his children in just the same way.
+And this Achmed had good cause to remember, for then it was that he
+ascended the throne. And now he, in his turn, descended from the throne,
+and now that had happened to him for his successor's sake which had
+happened to his predecessor for his sake.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the great men of the realm bowed their heads to the ground before
+Sultan Mahmud and did him homage.
+
+The long procession of those who came to do him obeisance filled all the
+apartments of the Seraglio and lasted till midnight. The whole Court
+bent head and knee before the new Sultan, and the chief officers of
+state, the clergy, and the eunuchs followed suit. Only the captains of
+the host and Halil Patrona still remained behind.
+
+Hastily written letters were dispatched to all the captains and to all
+the rebels, informing them that Sultan Achmed had been deposed and
+Sultan Mahmud was reigning in his stead; let them all come, therefore,
+at dawn of day next morning and do homage to the new Padishah.
+
+The moon had long been high in the heavens and was shining through the
+coloured windows of the Seraglio when the magnates withdrew and Mahmud
+remained alone.
+
+Only the Kizlar-Aga awaited his pleasure--the Kizlar-Aga whose sooty
+face seemed to cast a black shadow upon itself.
+
+Mahmud extended his hand to him with a smile that he might kiss it.
+
+And then Elhaj Beshir conducted him to the door of those secret
+apartments within which bloom the flowers of bliss and rapture, and
+throwing it open bent low while the new Sultan passed through.
+
+Only three among the peris of loveliness had preferred eternal loveless
+slavery to the favours of the new Padishah, and among those who smiled
+upon the young Sultan as he entered the room, the one who had the
+happiest, the most radiant face, was the fair Adsalis, who still
+remained the favourite wife, the Sultana Asseki, even after the great
+revolution which had turned the whole Empire upside down and made the
+least to be the greatest and the greatest to stand lowest of all.
+
+Among so many smiling faces hers was the one towards which the
+tremulously happy and enraptured Sultan hastened full of tender
+infatuation; she it was whom he raised to his breast and in whose arms
+he soothed himself with dreams of glory, while she stifled his anxieties
+with her kisses.
+
+Everything was asleep in the Halls of Felicity, only Love was still
+awake. Mahmud, forgetful alike of himself and his empire, pressed to his
+bosom his dear enchanting Sultana, the most precious of all the
+treasures he had won that day; but the fair Sultana shuddered from time
+to time in the midst of his burning embrace. It seemed to her as if
+someone was standing behind her back, sobbing and sighing and touching
+her warm bosom with his cold fingers.
+
+Perchance she could hear the sighing and the sobbing of him who lay
+sleepless far, far below that bower of rapture, in one of the cold
+vaults of the Place of Oblivion, thinking of his lost Empire and his
+lost Eden!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Early next morning the chief captains of the host, the Bashas and the
+Sheiks, appeared in the Seraglio to greet the new Sultan. It was only
+the leaders of the rebels who did not come.
+
+Ever since Sulali had frightened the insurgents by telling them that the
+cellars of the Seraglio were full of gunpowder, they did not so much as
+venture to draw near it, and when the public criers recited the
+invitation of Mahmud in front of the mosques, thousands and thousands of
+voices shouted as if from one throat:
+
+"We will not come!"
+
+Not one of them would listen to the invitation from the Seraglio.
+
+"It is a mere ruse," observed the wise Reis-Effendi. "They only want to
+entice us into a mouse-trap to crush us all at a blow like flies caught
+in honey."
+
+"A short cut into Paradise that would be," scornfully observed Orli,
+who, despite his office of softa, did not hesitate to speak
+disrespectfully even of Paradise, whither every true believer ought
+joyfully to hasten.
+
+Last of all "crazy" Ibrahim gave them a piece of advice.
+
+"'Twill be best," said he, "to gather together from among us our least
+useful members--any murderers there may happen to be, or escaped
+gaol-birds for instance; call them Halil, Musli, and Suleiman, deck them
+out in the garments of Agas, Begs, and Ulemas, and send them to the
+Seraglio. Then, if we see them return to us safe and sound, we can, of
+course, go ourselves."
+
+This crazy counsel instantly met with general applause. Everyone
+approved of it, of that there could be no doubt.
+
+Halil Patrona regarded them all in contemptuous silence. Only when
+"crazy" Ibrahim's proposal had been resolved upon did he stand up and
+say:
+
+"I myself will go to the Seraglio."
+
+Some of them regarded him with amazement, others laughed. Musli clapped
+his hands together in his desperation.
+
+"Halil! dost thou dream or art thou beside thyself? Dost thou imagine
+thyself to be one of the Princes of the Thousand and One Nights who can
+hew his way through monsters and spectres, or art thou wearied of
+beholding the sun from afar and must needs go close up to him?"
+
+"'Tis no concern of thine what I do, and if I am not afraid what need is
+there for thee to be afraid on my account?"
+
+"But, prythee, bethink thee, Halil! It would be a much more sensible
+jest on thy part to leap into the den of a lioness suckling her young;
+and thou wouldst be a much wiser man if thou wert to adventure thyself
+in the sulphur holes of Balsorah, or cause thyself to be let down, for
+the sake of a bet, into the coral-beds at the bottom of the Sea of
+Candia to pick up a bronze asper,[2] instead of going to the Seraglio
+where there are now none but thine enemies, and where the very
+atmosphere and the spider crawling down the wall is venomous to thee and
+thy deadly enemy."
+
+"They may kill me," cried Halil, striking his bosom with both hands and
+boldly stepping forward--"they may kill me it is true, but they shall
+never be able to say that I was afraid of them. They may tear my limbs
+to pieces, but when it comes to be recorded in the Chronicles that the
+rabble of Constantinople were cowards, it shall be recorded at the same
+time that, nevertheless, there was one man among them who could not only
+talk about death but could look it fairly between the eyes when it
+appeared before him."
+
+"Listen, Halil! I and many more like me are capable of looking into the
+very throat of loaded cannons. Many is the time, too, that I have seen
+sharp swords drawn against me, and no lance that ever hath left the
+smith's hand can boast that I have so much as winked an eye before its
+glittering point. But what is the use of valour in a place where you
+know that the very ground beneath your feet has Hell beneath it, and it
+only needs a spark no bigger than that which flashes from a man's eye
+when he has received a buffet, and we shall all fly into the air. Why,
+even if both our hands were full of swords and pistols, not one of them
+could protect us--so who would wish to be brave there?"
+
+"Have I invited thee to come? Did I not say that I would go alone?"
+
+"But we won't let thee go. What art thou thinking about? If they destroy
+thee there we shall be without a leader, and we shall fall to pieces and
+perish like the rush-roof of a cottage when the joists are suddenly
+pulled from beneath it. And thou thyself wilt be a laughing-stock to the
+people, like the cock of the fairy tale who spitted and roasted
+himself."
+
+"That will never happen," said Halil, unbuckling his sword (for no
+weapon may enter the Seraglio) and handing it to Musli; "take care of it
+for me till I return, and if I do not return it will be something to
+remember me by."
+
+"Then thou art really resolved to go?" inquired Musli. "Well, in that
+case, I will go too."
+
+At these words the others also began to bestir themselves, and when
+they saw that Halil really was not joking, they accompanied him right up
+to the Seraglio. Into it indeed they did not go; but, anyhow, they
+surrounded the huge building which forms a whole quarter of the city by
+itself, and as soon as they saw Halil pass through the Seraglio gates
+they set up a terrific shout.
+
+Alone, unarmed, and without an escort, the rebel leader passed through
+the strange, unfamiliar rooms, and at every door armed resplendent
+sentries made way before him, closing up again, with pikes crossed,
+before every door when he had passed through them.
+
+On reaching the Hall of Audience, a couple of Kapu-Agasis seized him by
+the arm, and led him into the Cupola Chamber where Sultan Mahmud
+received those who came to render homage.
+
+In all the rooms was that extraordinary pomp which is only to be seen on
+the day when a new Sultan has ascended the throne. The very
+ante-chamber, "The Mat-Room," as it is called, because of the variegated
+straw-mats with which it is usually covered, was now spread over with
+costly Persian carpets. The floor of the Cupola Chamber looked like a
+flower-bed. Its rich pile carpets were splendidly embroidered with gold,
+silver, and silken flowers of a thousand hues, interspersed with wreaths
+of pearls. At the foot of a sofa placed on an elevated dais glistened a
+coverlet of pure pearls. On each side of this sofa stood a little round
+writing-table inlaid with gold. On one of these tables lay an open
+portfolio encrusted with precious stones and writing materials flashing
+with rubies and emeralds; on the other lay a copy of the Alkoran, bound
+in black velvet and studded with rose brilliants. Another copy of the
+Alkoran lay open on a smaller table, written in the Talik script in
+letters of gold, cinnabar, and ultramarine; and there were twelve other
+Korans on just as many other tables, with gold clasps and
+pearl-embroidered bindings. On both sides of the fire-place, on stands
+that were masterpieces of carving, were heaped up the gala mantles
+exhibited on such occasions; and side by side, along the wall, on raised
+alabaster pedestals were nine clocks embellished with figures, each more
+ingenious than the other, which moved and played music every time the
+hour struck. Four large Venetian mirrors multiplied the extravagant
+splendours of the stately room.
+
+Around the room on divans sat the chief dignitaries of the Empire, the
+viziers, the secretaries, the presenters of petitions according to rank,
+in splendid robes, and with round, pyramidal or beehive-shaped turbans
+according to the nature of their office.
+
+Yet all this pomp was utterly eclipsed by the splendour which radiated
+from the new Padishah; he seemed enveloped in a shower of pearls and
+diamonds. Whichever way he turned the roses embroidered on his dress,
+the girdle which encircled his loins, the clasp of his turban, and every
+weapon about him seemed to scatter rainbow sparks, so that those who
+gazed at him were dazzled into blindness before they could catch a
+glimpse of his face.
+
+Behind the back of the throne, flashing with carbuncles as large as
+nuts, stood a whole army of ministering servants with their heads
+plunged deep in their girdles.
+
+It was into this room that Halil entered.
+
+On the threshold his two conductors released his arm, and Halil advanced
+alone towards the Padishah.
+
+His face was not a whit the paler than at other times, he stepped forth
+as boldly and gazed around him as confidently as ever.
+
+His dress, too, was just the same as hitherto--a simple Janissary
+mantle, a blue dolman with divided sleeves, without any ornament, a
+short salavari, or jerkin, reaching to the knee, leaving the lower part
+of the legs bare, and the familiar roundish kuka on his head.
+
+As he passed through the long apartment he cast a glance upon the
+dignitaries sitting around the throne, and there was not one among them
+who could withstand the fire of his gaze. With head erect he advanced
+in front of the Sultan, and placing his muscular, half-naked foot on the
+footstool before the throne stood there, for a moment, like a figure
+cast in bronze, a crying contrast to all this tremulous pomp and
+obsequious splendour. Then he raised his hand to his head, and greeted
+the Sultan in a strong sonorous voice:
+
+"Aleikum unallah! The grace of God be upon thee!"
+
+Then folding his hands across his breast he flung himself down before
+the throne, pressing his forehead against its steps.
+
+Mahmud descended towards him, and raised him from the ground with his
+own hand.
+
+"Speak! what can I do for thee?" he asked with condescension.
+
+"My wishes have already been fulfilled," said Halil, and every word he
+then uttered was duly recorded by the chronicler. "It was my wish that
+the sword of Mahomet should pass into worthy hands; behold it is
+accomplished, thou dost sit on the throne to which I have raised thee. I
+know right well what is the usual reward for such services--a shameful
+death awaits me."
+
+Mahmud passionately interrupted him.
+
+"And I swear to thee by my ancestors that no harm shall befall thee.
+Ask thine own reward, and it shall be granted thee before thou hast yet
+made an end of preferring thy request."
+
+Halil reflected for a moment, and all the time his gaze rested calmly on
+the faces of the dignitaries sitting before him. His gaze passed down
+the whole row of them, and he took them all in one by one. Everyone of
+them believed that he was seeking a victim whose place he coveted. The
+rebel leader read this thought plainly in the faces of the dignitaries.
+Once more he ran his eyes over them, then he spoke.
+
+"Glorious Padishah! as the merit of thy elevation belongeth not to me
+but to thy people, let the reward be theirs whose is the merit. A heavy
+burden oppresses thy slaves, and the name of that burden is Malikane. It
+is the farming out of the taxes for the lives of the holders thereof
+which puts money into the pockets of the high officers of state and the
+pashas, so that the Sublime Porte derives no benefit therefrom. Abolish,
+O Padishah, this farming out of the revenue, so that the destiny of the
+people may be in thy hands alone, and not in the hands of these rich
+usurers!"
+
+And with these words he waved his hand defiantly in the direction of the
+viziers and the magnates.
+
+Deep silence fell upon them. Through the closed doors resounded the
+tempestuous roar of the multitudes assembled around the Seraglio. Those
+within it trembled, and Halil Patrona stood there among them like an
+enchanter who knows that he is invulnerable, immortal.
+
+But the Sultan immediately commanded the Ciaus Aga to proclaim to the
+people with a trumpet-blast at the gates of the Seraglio, that at the
+desire of Halil Patrona the Malikane was from this day forth abolished.
+
+The shout which arose the next moment and made the very walls of the
+Seraglio tremble was ample evidence of the profound impression which
+this announcement made.
+
+"And now place thyself at the head of thy host," said Halil, "accept the
+invitation of thy people to go to the Ejub mosque, in order that the
+Silihdars may gird thee with the Sword of the Prophet according to
+ancient custom."
+
+The Sultan thereupon caused it to be announced that in an hour's time he
+would proceed to the mosque of Ejub, there to be girded with the Sword
+of the Prophet.
+
+With a shout of joy the people pressed towards the mosque in their
+thousands, crowding all the streets and all the house-tops between the
+mosque and the Seraglio. The cannons of the Bosphorus sent thundering
+messages to the distant mountains of the joy of Stambul, and an hour
+later, to the sound of martial music, Mahmud held his triumphal progress
+through the streets of his capital on horseback; and the people waved
+rich tapestries at him from the house-tops and scattered flowers in his
+path. Behind him came radiant knightly viziers and nobles, and venerable
+councillors in splendid apparel on gorgeous full bloods; but in front of
+him walked two men alone, Halil Patrona and Musli, both in plain, simple
+garments, with naked calves, on their heads small round turbans, and
+with drawn swords in their hands as is the wont of the common
+Janissaries when on the march.
+
+And the people sitting on the house-tops shouted the name of Halil just
+as often and just as loudly as they shouted the name of Mahmud.
+
+The firing of the last salvo announced that the Sultan had arrived at
+the Ejub mosque.
+
+Ispirizade, the chief imam of the Aja Sophia mosque, already awaited
+him. He had asked Halil as a favour that he might bless the new Sultan,
+and Halil had granted his request. Since he had ventured into the
+Seraglio everyone had obeyed his words. The people now whispered
+everywhere that the Sultan was doing everything which Halil Patrona
+demanded.
+
+Ispirizade had already mounted the lofty pulpit when Mahmud and his
+suite took their places on the lofty dais set apart for them.
+
+The chief priest's face was radiant with triumph. He extended his hands
+above his head and thrice pronounced the name of Allah. And when he had
+thus thrice called upon the name of God, his lips suddenly grew dumb,
+and there for a few moments he stood stiffly, with his hands raised
+towards Heaven and wide open eyes, and then he suddenly fell down dead
+from the pulpit.
+
+"'Tis the dumb curse of Achmed!" whispered the awe-stricken spectators
+to one another.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] Farthing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE FEAST OF HALWET.
+
+
+The surgujal--the turban with the triple gold circlet--was on the head
+of Mahmud, but the sword, the sword of dominion, was in the hand of
+Halil Patrona. The people whose darling he had become were accustomed to
+regard him as their go-between in their petty affairs, the host trembled
+before him, and the magnates fawned upon him for favour.
+
+In the Osman nation there is no hereditary nobility, everyone there has
+risen to the highest places by his sword or his luck. Every single Grand
+Vizier and Kapudan Pasha has a nickname which points to his lowly
+origin; this one was a woodcutter, that one a stone-mason, that other
+one a fisherman. Therefore a Mohammedan never looks down upon the most
+abject of his co-religionists, for he knows very well that if he himself
+happens to be uppermost to-day and the other undermost, by to-morrow the
+whole world may have turned upside down, and this last may have become
+the first.
+
+So now also a petty huckster rules the realm, and Sultan Mahmud has
+nothing to think about but his fair women. Who can tell whether any one
+of us would not have done likewise? Suppose a man to have been kept in
+rigorous, joyless servitude for twenty years, and then suddenly to be
+confronted with the alternative--"reign over hearts or over an
+empire"--would he not perhaps have chosen the hearts instead of the
+empire for his portion?
+
+At the desire of the beauteous Sultana Asseki the insurrection of the
+people had no sooner subsided than the Sultan ordered the Halwet
+Festival to be celebrated.
+
+The Halwet Festival is the special feast of women, when nobody but
+womankind is permitted to walk about the streets, and this blissful day
+may come to pass twice or thrice in the course of the year.
+
+On the evening before, it is announced by the blowing of horns that the
+morrow will be the Feast of Halwet. On that day no man, of whatever
+rank, may come forth in the streets, or appear on the roof of a house,
+or show himself at a window, for death would be the penalty of his
+curiosity. The black and white eunuchs keeping order in the streets
+decapitate without mercy every man who does not remain indoors. Notices
+that this will be done are posted up on all the boundary-posts in the
+suburbs of the city, that strangers may regulate their conduct
+accordingly.
+
+On the day of the feast of Halwet all the damsels discard their veils,
+without which at all other times they are not permitted to walk about
+the streets. Then it is that the odalisks of one harem go forth to call
+upon the odalisks of another. Rows upon rows of brightly variegated
+tents appear in the midst of the streets and market-places, in which
+sherbet and other beverages made of violets, cane-sugar, rose-water,
+pressed raisins, and citron juice, together with sweetmeats,
+honey-cakes, and such-like delicacies, to which women are so partial,
+are sold openly, and all the sellers are also women.
+
+Ah! what a spectacle that would be for the eyes of a man! Every street
+is swarming with thousands and thousands of bewitching shapes. These
+women, released from their prisons, are like so many gay and thoughtless
+children. Group after group, singing to the notes of the cithern,
+saunter along the public ways, decked out in gorgeous butterfly apparel,
+which flutter around their limbs like gaily coloured wings. The suns and
+stars of every climate flash and sparkle in those eyes. The whole
+gigantic city resounds with merry songs and musical chatter, and any man
+who could have seen them tripping along in whole lines might have
+exclaimed in despair: "Why have I not a hundred, why have I not a
+thousand hearts to give away!"
+
+And then when the harem of the Sultan proudly paces forth! Half a
+thousand odalisks, the lovelinesses of every province in the Empire, for
+whom the youths of whole districts have raved in vain, in garments
+radiant with pearls and precious stones, mounted on splendid prancing
+steeds gaily caparisoned. And in the midst of them all the beautiful
+Sultana, with the silver heron's plume in her turban, whose stem flashes
+with sparkling diamonds. Her glorious figure is protected by a garment
+of fine lace, scarce concealing the snowy shimmer of her well-rounded
+arms. She sits upon the tiger-skin saddle of her haughty steed like an
+Amazon. The regard of her flashing eyes seems to proclaim her the tyrant
+of two Sultans, who has the right to say: "I am indeed my husband's
+consort!"
+
+In front and on each side of the fairy band march four hundred black
+eunuchs, with naked broadswords across their shoulders, looking up at
+the windows of the houses before which they march to see whether,
+perchance, any inquisitive Peeping-Toms are lurking there.
+
+Dancing and singing, this bevy of peris traverses the principal streets
+of Stambul. Every now and then, a short sharp wail or scream may be
+heard round the corner of the street the procession is approaching: the
+eunuchs marching in front have got hold of some inquisitive man or
+other. By the time the radiant cortege has reached the spot, only a few
+bloodstains are visible in the street, and, dancing and singing, the
+fair company of damsels passes over it and beyond. Scarce anyone would
+believe that those wails and screams did not form part and parcel of the
+all-pervading cries of joy.
+
+Meanwhile in the Etmeidan a much more free-and-easy sort of
+entertainment is taking place. The women of the lower orders are there
+diverting themselves in gaily adorned tents, where they can buy as much
+mead as they can drink, and in the midst of the piazza on round,
+outspread carpets dance the bayaderes of the streets, whom Sultan Achmed
+had once collected together and locked up in a dungeon where they had
+remained till the popular rising set them free again. In their hands
+they hold their nakaras (timbrels), clashing them together above their
+heads as they whirl around; on their feet are bronze bangles; and their
+long tresses and their light bulging garments flutter around them,
+whilst with wild gesticulations they dance the most audacious of dances,
+compared with whose voluptuous movements the passion of the fiercest
+Spanish bailarina is almost tame and spiritless.
+
+Suddenly one of these street dancing-girls scream aloud to her
+companions in the midst of the mazy dance, bringing them suddenly to a
+standstill.
+
+"Look, look!" she cried, "there comes Guel-Bejaze! Guel-Bejaze, the wife
+of Halil Patrona."
+
+"Guel-Bejaze! Guel-Bejaze!" resound suddenly on every side. The bayaderes
+recognise the woman who had been shut up with them in the same dungeon,
+surround her, begin to kiss her feet and her garments, raise her up in
+their arms on to their shoulders, and so exhibit her to all the women
+assembled together on the piazza.
+
+"Yonder is the wife of Halil Patrona!" they cry, and Rumour quickly
+flies with the news all through the city. Everyone of the bayaderes
+dancing among the people has something to say in praise of her. Some of
+them she had cared for in sickness, others she had comforted in their
+distress, to all of them she had been kind and gentle. And then, too, it
+was she who had restored them their liberty, for was it not on her
+account that Halil Patrona had set them all free?
+
+Everyone hastened up to her. The poor thing could not escape from the
+clamorous enthusiasm of the sturdy muscular fish-wives and bathing women
+who, in their turn also, raised her upon their shoulders and carried her
+about, finally resolving to carry her all the way home for the honour
+of the thing. So for Halil Patrona's palace they set off with Guel-Bejaze
+on their shoulders, she all the time vainly imploring them to put her
+down that she might hide away among the crowd and disappear, for she
+feared, she trembled at, the honour they did her. From street to street
+they carried her, whirling along with them in a torrent of drunken
+enthusiasm everyone they chanced to fall in with on the way; and before
+them went the cry that the woman whom the others were carrying on their
+shoulders was the wife of Halil Patrona, the feted leader of the people,
+and ever denser and more violent grew the crowd. Any smaller groups they
+might happen to meet were swept along with them. Now and then they
+encountered the harems of the greatest dignitaries, such as pashas and
+beglerbegs. It was all one, the august and exalted ladies had also to
+follow in the suite of the wife of Halil Patrona, the most powerful man
+in the realm, whose wife was the gentlest lady under Heaven.
+
+Suddenly, just as they were about to turn into the great square in front
+of the fortress of the Seven Towers, another imposing crowd encountered
+them coming from the opposite direction. It was the escort of the
+Sultana. The half a thousand odalisks and the four hundred eunuchs
+occupied the whole width of the road, but face to face with them were
+advancing ten thousand intoxicated viragoes led by the frantic
+bayaderes.
+
+"Make way for the Sultana!" cried the running eunuchs to the approaching
+crowd, "make way for the Sultana and her suite!"
+
+The execution of this command bordered on the impossible. The whole
+space of the square was filled with women--a perfect sea of heads--and
+visible above them all was a quivering, tremulous white figure which
+they had raised on high.
+
+"Make way for the Sultana!" screamed the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, who led the
+procession; a warty old woman she was, who had had charge of the harem
+for years and grown grey in it.
+
+At this one of the boldest of the bayaderes thrust herself forward.
+
+"Make way thyself, thou bearded old witch," she cried; "make way, I say,
+before the wife of Halil Patrona. Why, thou art not worthy to kiss the
+dust off her feet. Stand aside if thou wilt not come along with us."
+
+And with these words she banged her tambourine right under the nose of
+the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda.
+
+And then the bad idea occurred to some of the eunuchs to lift their
+broadswords against the boisterous viragoes, possibly with a view of
+cutting a path through them for the Sultana.
+
+Ah! before they had time to whirl their swords above their heads, in the
+twinkling of an eye, their weapons were torn from their hands, and their
+backs were well-belaboured with the broad blades. The furious maenads
+fell upon their assailants, flung them to the ground, and the next
+instant had seized the bridles of the steeds of the odalisks.
+
+The Kizlar-Aga was fully alive to the danger which threatened the
+Sultana. The whole square was thronged with angry women who, with faces
+flushed and sparkling eyes, were rushing upon the odalisks. Any single
+eunuch they could lay hold of was pretty certain to meet with a martyr's
+death in a few seconds. They tore him to pieces, and pelted each other
+with the bloody fragments before scattering them to the winds. Elhaj
+Beshir, therefore, earnestly implored the Sultana to turn back and try
+to regain the Seraglio.
+
+Adsalis cast a contemptuous look on the Aga.
+
+"One can see that thou art neither man nor woman," cried she, "for if
+thou wert one or the other, thou wouldst know how to be courageous."
+
+Then she buried the point of her golden spurs in the flank of her steed,
+and urged it towards the spot where the most frantic of the maenads stood
+fighting with the mounted odalisks, tearing some from their horses,
+rending their clothes, and then by way of mockery remounting them with
+their faces to the horses' tails.
+
+Suddenly the Sultana stood amongst them with a haughty, commanding look,
+like a demi-goddess.
+
+"Who is the presumptuous wretch who would bar the way before me?" she
+cried in her clear, penetrating voice.
+
+One of the odalisks planted herself in front of the Sultana and, resting
+one hand upon her hip, pointed with the other at Guel-Bejaze!
+
+"Look!" she cried, "there is Guel-Bejaze, and she it is who bars thy way
+and compels thee to make room for her."
+
+Guel-Bejaze, whom the women had brought to the spot on their shoulders,
+wrung her hands in her desperation, and begged and prayed the Sultana
+for forgiveness. She endeavoured to explain by way of pantomime, for
+speaking was impossible, that she was there against her will, and it was
+her dearest wish to humble herself before the face of the Sultana. It
+was all of no use. The yells of the wild Bacchantes drowned every sound,
+and Adsalis did not even condescend to look at her.
+
+"Ye street-sweepings!" exclaimed Adsalis passionately, "what evil spirit
+has entered into you that ye would thus compel the Sultana Asseki to
+give way before a pale doll?"
+
+"This woman comes before thee," replied the bayadere.
+
+"Comes before me?" said Adsalis, "wherefore, then, does she come before
+me?"
+
+"Because she is fairer than thou."
+
+Adsalis' face turned blood-red with rage at these words, while
+Guel-Bejaze went as white as a lily, as if the other woman had robbed all
+her colour from her. There was shame on one side and fury on the other.
+To tell a haughty dame in the presence of ten, of twenty thousand
+persons, that another woman is fairer than she!
+
+"And she is more powerful than thou art," cried the enraged bayadere,
+accumulating insult on the head of Adsalis, "for she is the wife of
+Halil Patrona."
+
+Adsalis, in the fury of despair, raised her clenched hands towards
+Heaven and could not utter a word. Impotent rage forced the tears from
+her eyes; and only after these tears could she stammer:
+
+"This is the curse of Achmed!"
+
+When they saw the tears in the eyes of the Sultana, everyone for a
+moment was silent, and suddenly, amidst the stillness of that dumb
+moment, from the highest window of the prison-fortress of the Seven
+Towers, a man's voice called loudly into the square below:
+
+"Sultana Adsalis! Sultana Adsalis!"
+
+"Ha! a man! a man!" cried the furious mob; and in an instant they all
+gazed in that direction--and then in a murmur which immediately died
+away in an awe-struck whisper: "Achmed! Achmed!"
+
+Only Adsalis was incapable of pronouncing that name, only her mouth
+remained gaping open as she gazed upwards.
+
+There at the window of the Seven Towers stood Achmed, in whose hands was
+now a far more terrible power than when they held the wand of dominion,
+for in his fingers now rests the power of cursing. It is sufficient now
+for him to point the finger at those he loves not, in order that they
+may wither away in the bloom of their youth. Whomsoever he now breathes
+upon, however distant they may be, will collapse and expire, and none
+can save them; and he has but to pronounce the name of his enemies, and
+torments will consume their inner parts. The destroying angel of Allah
+watches over his every look, so that on whomsoever his eye may fall,
+that soul is instantly accursed. Since the death of Ispirizade the
+people fear him more than when he sat on the throne.
+
+A deep silence fell upon the mob. Nobody dared to speak.
+
+And Achmed stretched forth his hand towards Adsalis. Those who stood
+around the Sultana felt a feeling of shivering awe, and began to
+withdraw from her, and she herself durst not raise her eyes.
+
+"Salute that pure woman!" cried the tremulous voice of Achmed, "do
+obeisance to the wife of Halil Patrona, and cover thy face before her,
+for she is the true consort of her husband."
+
+And having uttered these words, Achmed withdrew from the window whither
+the noise of the crowd had enticed him, and the multitude clamoured as
+before; but now they no longer tried to force the suite of the Sultana
+to make way before Guel-Bejaze, but escorted Halil Patrona's wife back to
+the dwelling-place of her husband.
+
+Adsalis, desperate with rage and shame, returned to the Seraglio.
+Sobbing aloud, she cast herself at the feet of the Sultan, and told him
+of the disgrace that had befallen her.
+
+Mahmud only smiled as he heard the whole story, but who can tell what
+was behind that smile.
+
+"Dost thou not love me, then, that thou smilest when I weep? Ought not
+blood to flow because tears have flowed from my eyes?"
+
+Mahmud gently stroked the head of the Sultana and said, still smiling:
+
+"Oh, Adsalis! who would ever think of plucking fruit before it is
+_ripe_?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE.
+
+
+Halil Patrona was sitting on the balcony of the palace which the Sultan
+and the favour of the people had bestowed upon him. The sun was about to
+set. It sparkled on the watery mirror of the Golden Horn, hundreds and
+hundreds of brightly gleaming flags and sails flapped and fluttered in
+the evening breeze.
+
+Guel-Bejaze was lying beside him on an ottoman, her beautiful head, with
+a feeling of languid bliss, reposed on her husband's bosom, her long
+eyelashes drooping, whilst with her swan-like arms she encircled his
+neck. She dozes away now and then, but the warm throb-throb of the
+strong heart which makes her husband's breast to rise and fall
+continually arouses her again. Halil Patrona is reading in a big clasped
+book beautifully written in the ornamental Talik script. Guel-Bejaze does
+not know this writing; its signs are quite strange to her, but she
+feasts her delighted eyes on the beautifully painted festoons and
+lilies and the variegated birds with which the initial letters are
+embellished, and scarce observes what a black shadow those pretty gaily
+coloured, butterfly-like letters cast upon Halil's face.
+
+"What is the book thou art reading?" inquired Guel-Bejaze.
+
+"Fairy tales and magic sentences," replied Patrona.
+
+"Is it there that thou readest all those nice stories which thou tellest
+me every evening?"
+
+"Yes, they are here."
+
+"Tell me, I pray thee, what thou hast just been reading?"
+
+"When thou art quite awake," said Halil, rapturously gazing at the fair
+face of the girl who was sleeping in his arms--and he continued turning
+over the leaves of the book.
+
+And what then was in it? What did those brightly coloured letters
+contain? What was the name of the book?
+
+That book is the "Takimi Vekai."
+
+Ah! ask not a Mussulman what the "Takimi Vekai" is, else wilt thou make
+him sorrowful; neither mention it before a Mohammedan woman, else the
+tears will gush from her eyes. The "Takimi Vekai" is "The Book of the
+Sentences of the Future," which was written a century and a half ago by
+Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, and which has since been preserved in the
+Muhamedije mosque, only those high in authority ever having the
+opportunity of seeing it face to face.
+
+Those golden letters embellished with splendid flowers contain dark
+sayings. Let us listen:
+
+"Takimi Vekai"--The Pages of the Future.
+
+"On the eighth-and-twentieth day of the month Rubi-Estani, in the year
+of the Hegira, 886,[3] I, Said Achmed-ibn Mustafa, Governor of Scutari
+and scribe of the Palace, having accomplished the Abdestan[4] and
+recited the Fateha[5] with hands raised heavenwards, ascended to the
+tower of Ujuk Kule, from whence I could survey all Stambul, and there I
+began to meditate.
+
+"And lo! the Prophet appeared before me, and breathed upon my eyes and
+ears in order that I might see and hear nothing but what he commanded me
+to hear and see.
+
+"And I wrote down those things which the Prophet said to me.
+
+"The Giaours already see the tents of the foreign hosts pitched on the
+Tsiragan piazza, already see the half-moon cast down, and the double
+cross raised on the towers of the mosques, the khanze[6] plundered, and
+the faithful led forth to execution. In the Fanar quarters[7] they are
+already assembling the people, and saying to one another: 'To-morrow!
+to-morrow!'
+
+"Yet Allah is the God who defends the Padishah of the Ottomans. Their
+Odzhakjaiks[8] will scatter terror. Allah Akbar! God is mighty!
+
+"And the captains of the galleys, and the rowers thereof, and the chief
+of the gunners, and the corsairs of the swift ships will share with one
+another the treasures and the spoils of the unbelievers.
+
+"And the Padishah shall rule over thirteen nations.
+
+"But lo! a dark cloud arises in the cold and distant North. A foe
+appears more terrible and persistent than the Magyars, the Venetians, or
+the Persians. He is still tender like the fledgelings of the hawks of
+the Balkans, but soon, very soon, he will learn to spread his pinions.
+Up, up, Silihdar Aga, the Sultan's Sword-bearer! Up, up, Rechenbtar Aga,
+the Sultan's Stirrup-holder; up, up, and do your duty. And ye viziers,
+assemble the reserves. Those men who come from the land where the pines
+and firs raise their virgin branches towards Heaven, they long after the
+warm climates where the olive, the lestisk, the terebinth, and the palm
+lift their crowns towards Heaven. The fathers point out Stambul to their
+sons, they point it out as the booty that will give them sustenance;
+tender women lay their hands upon the sword to use it against the
+Osmanli, and will fight like heroes. Yet the days of the Sons of the
+Prophet will not yet come to an end; they will resist the enemy, and
+stand fast like a Salamander in the midst of the burning embers.
+
+"The years pass over the world, again the Giaours assemble in their
+myriads and threaten vengeance. But the Divan answers them: 'Olmaz!'--it
+cannot be. The Anatolian and the Rumelian lighthouses, at the entrance
+of the Bosphorus, will signal from their watch-towers the approach of
+the foreign war-ships.
+
+"But this shall be much later, after three-and-twenty Padishahs have
+ruled over the thirteen nations; then and not till then will the armies
+of the Unbelievers assemble before Stambul. Woe, woe unto us! Eternally
+invincible should the Osmanlis remain if they walked, with firm
+footsteps, according to the commands of the Koran. But a time will come
+when the old customs will fall into oblivion, when new ways will creep
+in among Mussulmen like a rattlesnake crawling into a bed of roses.
+Faith will no longer give strength against those men of ice, and they
+will enter the nine-and-twenty gates of the seven-hilled city.
+
+"Lo! this did the Prophet reveal to me in the season of El-Ashsoer,
+beginning at the time of sundown.
+
+"Allah give his blessing to the rulers of this world."
+
+Thus ran the message of the "Takimi Vekai."
+
+Halil Patrona had read these lines over and over again until he knew
+every letter of them by heart. They were continually in his thoughts, in
+his dreams, and the eternally recurring tumult of these anxious bodings
+allowed his soul no rest. What if it were possible to falsify this
+prophecy! What if his strong hand could but stay the flying wheel of
+Fate in mid career, hold it fast, and turn it in a different direction!
+so that what was written in the Book of Thora before Sun and Moon were
+ever yet created might be expunged therefrom, and the guardian angels be
+compelled to write other things in place thereof!
+
+But such an idea ill befits a Mussulman; it is not the mental expression
+of that pious resignation with which the Mohammedan fortifies himself
+against the future, submissive as he is to the decrees of Fate, with
+never a thought of striving against the Powers of Omnipotence with a
+mortal hand. Ambitious, world-disturbing were the thoughts which ran
+riot in the brain of Halil Patrona--thoughts meet for no mere mortal.
+Poor indeed are the thoughts of man. He piles world upon world, and sets
+about building for the ages, and then a light breath of air strikes upon
+that which he has built and it becomes dust. Wherefore, then, does man
+take thought for the morrow?
+
+The night slowly descended, the glow of the southern sky grew ever paler
+on the half-moons of the minarets, till they grew gradually quite dark
+and the cry of the muezzin resounded from the towers of the mosques.
+
+"Allah Kerim! Allah Akbar! La illah il Allah, Mohammed rasul Allah! God
+is sublime. God is mighty. There is one God and Mohammed is his
+Prophet."
+
+And after a few moments he called again:
+
+"Come, ye people, to the rest of God, to the abode of righteousness;
+come to the abode of felicity!"
+
+Guel-Bejaze awoke. Halil washed his hands and feet, and turning towards
+the mehrab[9] began to pray.
+
+But in vain he sent away Guel-Bejaze (for women are not permitted to be
+present at the prayers of men nor men at the prayers of women); in vain
+he raised his hands heavenwards; in vain he went down on his knees and
+lay with his face touching the ground; other thoughts were abroad in his
+heart--terrifying, disturbing thoughts which suggested to him that the
+God to Whom he prayed no longer existed, but just as His Kingdom here
+on earth was falling to pieces so also in Heaven it was on the point of
+vanishing. Thrice he was obliged to begin his prayer all over again, for
+thrice it was interrupted by a cough, and it is not lawful to go on with
+a prayer that has once been interrupted. Once more he cast a glance upon
+the darkened city, and it grieved him sorely that nowhere could he
+perceive a half-moon; whereupon he went in again, sought for Guel-Bejaze,
+and told her lovely fairy tales which, he pretended, he had been reading
+in the Talik book.
+
+The next day Halil gathered together in his secret chamber all those in
+whom he had confidence. Among them were Kaplan Giraj, a kinsman of the
+Khan of the Crimea, Musli, old Vuodi, Mohammed the dervish, and Sulali.
+
+Sulali wrote down what Halil said.
+
+"Mussulmans. Yesterday, before the Abdestan, I was reading the book
+whose name is the 'Takimi Vekai.'"
+
+"Mashallah!" exclaimed all the Mohammedans mournfully.
+
+"In that book the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire is predicted. The
+year, the day is at hand when the name of Allah will no longer be
+glorified on this earth, when the tinkling of the sheep-bells will be
+heard on the ruins of the marble fountains, and those other bells so
+hateful to Allah will resound from the towers of the minarets. In those
+days the Giaours will play at quoits with the heads of the true
+believers, and build mansions over their tombs."
+
+"Mashallah! the will of God be done!" said old dervish Mohammed with a
+shaking voice, "by then we shall all of us be in Paradise, up in the
+seventh Heaven, the soil whereof is of pure starch, ambergris, musk, and
+saffron. There, too, the very stones are jacinths and the pebbles pure
+pearls, and the Tuba-tree shields the faithful from the heat of the sun,
+as they rest beneath it and gaze up at its golden flowers and silver
+leaves, and refresh themselves with the milk, wine, and honey which flow
+abundantly from its sweet and glorious stem. There, too, are the
+dwellings of Mohammed and the Prophets his predecessors, in all their
+indescribable beauty, and over the roof of every true believer bend the
+branches of the sacred tree, whose fruits never fail, nor wither, nor
+rot, and there we shall all live together in the splendour of Paradise
+where every true believer shall have a palace of his own. And in every
+palace two-and-seventy lovely houris will smile upon him--young virgins
+of an immortal loveliness--whose faces will never grow old or wrinkled,
+and who are a hundred times more affectionate than the women of this
+world."
+
+Halil listened with the utmost composure till greybeard Vuodi had
+delivered his discourse concerning the joys of Paradise.
+
+"All that you say is very pretty and very true no doubt, but let your
+mind also dwell upon what the Prophet has revealed to us concerning the
+distribution of rewards and punishments. When the angel Azrael has
+gently separated our souls from our bodies, and we have been buried with
+the double tombstone at our heads, on which is written: 'Dame Allah huti
+ale Remaeti,'[10] then will come to us the two Angels of Judgment,
+Monker and Nakir. And they will ask us if we have fulfilled the precepts
+of the Prophet. What shall our trembling lips reply to them? And when
+they ask us whether we have defended the true faith, whether we have
+defended our Fatherland against the Infidels, what shall we then reply
+to them? Blessed, indeed, will be those who can answer: 'I have done all
+which it was commanded me to do,' their spirits will await the final
+judgment in the cool abodes of the Well of Ishmael. But as for those who
+shall answer: 'I saw the danger which threatened the Osmanli nation, it
+was in my power to help and I did it not,' their bodies will be scourged
+by the angels with iron rods and their souls will be thrust into the
+abyss of Morhut there to await the judgment-day. And when the trump of
+the angel Israfil shall sound and the Marvel from the Mountain of Safa
+doth appear to write 'Mumen'[11] or 'Giaour'[12] on the foreheads of
+mankind; and when Al-Dallaja[13] comes to root out the nation of the
+Osmanli, and the hosts of Gog and Magog appear to exterminate the
+Christians, and drink up the waters of the rivers, and at the last all
+things perish before the Mahdi; then when the mountains are rent asunder
+and the stars fall from Heaven, when the archangels Michael and Gabriel
+open the tombs and bring forth the trembling, death-pale shapes, one by
+one, before the face of Allah, and they all stand there as transparent
+as crystal so that every thought of their hearts is visible--what then
+will you answer, you in whose power it once stood to uphold the dominion
+of Mahomet, you to whom it was given to have swords in your hands and
+ideas in your heads to be used in its defence--what will you answer, I
+say, when you hear the brazen voice cry: 'Ye who saw destruction coming,
+did ye try to prevent it?' What will it profit you then, old Vuodi and
+ye others, to say that ye never neglected the Abdestan, the Guezuel, and
+the Thueharet ablutions, nor the five prayers of the Namazat, that ye
+have kept the fast of Ramazan and the feast of Bejram, that ye have
+richly distributed the Zakato[14] and the Sadakato,[15] that you have
+made the pilgrimage to the Kaaba at Mecca so many times, or so many
+times, that you have kissed the sin-remitting black stone, that you have
+drunk from the well of Zemzem and seven times made the circuit of the
+mountain of Arafat and flung stones at the Devil in the valley of
+Dsemre--what will it profit you, I say, if you cannot answer that
+question? Woe to you, woe to everyone of us who see, who hear, and yet
+go on dreaming! For when we tread the Bridge of Alshirat, across whose
+razor-sharp edge every true believer must pass on his way to Paradise,
+the load of a single sin will drag you down into the abyss, down into
+Hell, and not even into the first Hell, Gehenna, where the faithful do
+penance, nor into the Hell of Ladhana, where the souls of the Jews are
+purified, nor into the Hell of Hotama wherein the Christians perish, nor
+into the Hell of Sair which is the abode of the Heretics, nor into the
+Hell of Sakar wherein the fire-worshippers curse the fire, nor yet into
+the Hell of Jahim which resounds with the yells of the idol-worshippers,
+but into the seventh hell, the deepest and most accursed hell of all,
+whose name is Al-Havija, where wallow those who only did God lip-service
+and never felt the faith in their hearts, for we pray lying prayers when
+we say that we worship Allah and yet allow His Temple to be defiled."
+
+These words deeply moved the hearts of all present. Every sentence
+alluded to the most weighty of the Moslem beliefs; the meshes of the net
+with which Halil had taken their souls captive were composed of the very
+essentials of their religious and political system, so they could but
+put their hands to their breasts, bow down before him, and say:
+
+"Command us and we will obey!"
+
+Then Halil, with the inspiration of a seer, addressed the men before
+him.
+
+"Woe to us if we believe that the days of threatening are still far off!
+Woe to us if we believe that the sins which will ruin the nation of
+Osman have not yet been committed! While our ancestors dwelt in tents of
+skin, half the world feared our name, but since the nation of Osman has
+strutted about in silk and velvet it has become a laughing-stock to its
+enemies. Our great men grow gardens in their palaces; they pass their
+days in the embraces of women, drinking wine, and listening to music;
+they loathe the battlefield, and oh, horrible! they blaspheme the name
+of Allah. If among the Giaours, blasphemers of God are to be found, I
+marvel not thereat, for their minds are corrupted by the multitude of
+this world's knowledge; but how can a Mussulman raise his head against
+God--a Mussulman who has never learnt anything in his life save to
+glorify His Name? And what are we to think when on the eve of the Feast
+of Halwet we hear a Sheik, a descendant of the family of the Prophet, a
+Sheik before whom the people bow reverently when they meet him in the
+street--what are we to think, I say, when we hear this Sheik say before
+the great men of the palace all drunk with wine: 'There is no Allah, or
+if there is an Allah he is not almighty; for if he were almighty he
+would have prevented me from saying, there is no Allah!'"
+
+A cry of horror arose from the assembled Mussulmans which only after a
+while died away in an angry murmur like a gradually departing gust of
+wind.
+
+"Who was the accursed one?" exclaimed Mohammed dervish, shaking his
+clenched fist threateningly.
+
+"It was Uzun Abdi, the Aga of the Janissaries," replied Halil, "who said
+that, and the others only laughed."
+
+"Let them all be accursed!"
+
+"Wealth has ruined the heart of the Osmanli," continued Halil. "Who are
+they who now control the fate of the Realm? The creatures of the
+Sultana, the slaves of the Kizlar-Aga, the Izoglani, whose
+licentiousness will bring down upon Stambul the judgment of Sodom and
+Gomorrah. It is from thence we get our rulers and our treasurers, and
+if now and then Fate causes a hero to plump down among them he also
+grows black like a drop of water that has fallen upon soot; for the
+treasures, palaces, and odalisks of the fallen magnates are transferred
+to the new favourite, and ruin him as quickly and as completely as they
+ruined his predecessors; and so long as these palaces stand by the Sweet
+Waters more curses than prayers will be heard within the walls of
+Stambul, so that if ye want to save Stambul, ye must burn down these
+palaces, for as sure as God exists these palaces will consume Stambul."
+
+"We must go to the Sultan about it," said the dervish Mohammed.
+
+"Pulled down they must be, for no righteous man dwells therein. The
+whole of this Empire of Stone must come down, whoever is so much as a
+head taller than his brethren is a sinner. Let us raise up those who are
+lowest of all. Down from your perches, ye venal voivodes, khans, and
+pashas, who buy the Empire piecemeal with money and for money barter it
+away again! Let men of war, real men though Fame as yet knows them not,
+step into your places. The very atmosphere in which ye live is
+pestiferous because of you. For some time now, gold and silver pieces,
+stamped with the heads of men and beasts, have been circulating in our
+piazzas, although, as we all know, no figures of living things should
+appear on the coins of the Mussulman. Neither Russia, nor Sweden, nor
+yet Poland pay tribute to us; and yet, I say, these picture-coins still
+circulate among us. Oh! ever since Baltaji suffered White[16] Mustache,
+the Emperor of the North, to escape, full well ye know it! gold and
+silver go further and hit the mark more surely than iron and lead. We
+must create a new world, none belonging to the old order of things must
+remain among us. Write down a long, long list, and carry it to the Grand
+Vizier. If he refuses to accept it, write another in his place on the
+list, and take it to the Sultan. Woe betide the nation of Osman if it
+cannot find within it as many just men as its needs require!"
+
+The assembled Mussulmans thereupon drew up in hot haste a long list of
+names in which they proposed fresh candidates for all the chief offices
+of the Empire. They put down Choja Dzhanum as the new Kapudan Pasha,
+Mustafa Beg as the new Minister of the Interior, Musli as the new
+Janissary Aga; the actual judges and treasurers were banished, the
+banished judges and treasurers were restored to their places; instead of
+Maurocordato, who had been educated abroad, they appointed his enemy,
+Richard Rakovitsa, surnamed Djihan, Voivode of Wallachia; instead of
+Ghyka they placed the butcher of Pera, Janaki, on the throne of
+Moldavia; and instead of Mengli Giraj, Khan of the Crimea, Kaplan Giraj,
+actually present among them, was called to ascend the throne of his
+ancestors.
+
+Kaplan Giraj pressed Halil's hand by way of expressing his gratitude for
+this mark of confidence.
+
+And, oddly enough, as Halil pressed the hand of the Khan, it seemed to
+him as if his arm felt an electric shock. What could it mean?
+
+But now Musli stood up before him.
+
+"Allow me," said he, "to go with this writing to the Grand Vizier. You
+have been in the Seraglio already, let mine be the glory of displaying
+my valour by going thither likewise! Do not take all the glory to
+yourself, allow others to have a little of it too! Besides, it does not
+become you to carry your own messages to the Divan. Why even the Princes
+of the Giaours do not go there themselves but send their ambassadors."
+
+Halil Patrona gratefully pressed the Janissary's hand. He knew right
+well that he spoke from no desire of glorification, he knew that Musli
+only wanted to go instead of him because it was very possible that the
+bearer of these demands might be beheaded.
+
+Once again Musli begged earnestly of Halil that the delivery of these
+demands might be entrusted to him, and so proudly did he make his
+petition that it was impossible for Halil Patrona to deny him.
+
+Now Musli was a sly dog. He knew very well that it was a very risky
+business to present so many demands all at once, but he made up his mind
+that he would so completely take the Grand Vizier by surprise, that
+before he could find breath to refuse the demands of the people, he
+would grant one of them after another, for if he swallowed the first of
+them that was on the list, he might be hoodwinked into swallowing the
+rest likewise.
+
+The new Grand Vizier went by the name of Kabakulak, or Blunt-ear,
+because he was hard of hearing, which suited Musli exactly, as he had,
+by nature, a bad habit of bawling whenever he spoke.
+
+At first Kabakulak would not listen to anything at all. He seemed to
+have suddenly gone stone-deaf, and had every single word repeated to him
+three times over; but when Musli said to him that if he would not listen
+to what he was saying, he, Musli, would go off at once to the Sultan and
+tell _him_, Kabakulak opened his ears a little wider, became somewhat
+more gracious, and asked Musli, quite amicably, what he could do for
+him.
+
+Musli felt his courage rising many degrees since he began bawling at a
+Grand Vizier.
+
+"Halil Patrona _commands_ it to be done," he bellowed in Kabakulak's
+ear.
+
+The Vizier threw back his head.
+
+"Come, come, my son!" said he, "don't shout in my ear like that, just
+as if I were deaf. What did you say it was that Halil Patrona begs of
+me?"
+
+"Don't twist my words, you old owl!" said Musli, naturally _sotto voce_.
+Then raising his voice, he added, "Halil Patrona wants Dzhanum Choja
+appointed Kapudan Pasha."
+
+"Good, good, my son! just the very thing I wanted done myself; that has
+been resolved upon long ago, so you may go away home."
+
+"Go away indeed! not yet! Then Wallachia wants a new voivode."
+
+"It has got one already, got one already I tell you, my son. His name is
+Maurocordato. Bear it in mind--Mau-ro-cor-da-to."
+
+"I don't mean to bother my tongue with it at all. As I pronounce it it
+is--Djihan."
+
+"Djihan? Who is Djihan?"
+
+"Djihan is the Voivode of Wallachia."
+
+"Very well, you shall have it so. And what do you want for yourself, my
+son, eh?"
+
+Musli was inscribed in the list as the Aga of the Janissaries, but he
+was too modest to speak of himself.
+
+"Don't trouble your head about me, Kabakulak, while there are so many
+worthier men unprovided for. We want the Khan of the Crimea deposed and
+the banished Kaplan Giraj appointed in his stead."
+
+"Very well, we will inform Kaplan Giraj of his promotion presently."
+
+"Not presently, but instantly. Instantly, I say, without the least
+delay."
+
+Musli accompanied his eloquence with such gesticulations that the Grand
+Vizier thought it prudent to fall back before him.
+
+"Don't you feel well?" he asked Musli, who had suddenly become silent.
+In his excitement he had forgotten the other demands.
+
+"Ah! I have it," he said, and sitting down on the floor at his ease, he
+took the list from his bosom and extending it on the floor, began
+reciting Halil Patrona's nominations seriatim.
+
+The Grand Vizier approved of the whole thing, he had no objection to
+make to anything.
+
+Musli left Janaki's elevation last of all: "He you must make Voivode of
+Moldavia," said he.
+
+Suddenly Kabakulak went quite deaf. He could not hear a word of Musli's
+last demand.
+
+Musli drew nearer to him, and making a speaking-trumpet out of his
+hands, bawled in his ear:
+
+"Janaki I am talking about."
+
+"Yes, yes! I hear, I hear. You want him to be allowed to provide the
+Sultan's kitchen with the flesh of bullocks and sheep. So be it! He
+shall have the charge."
+
+"Would that the angel Izrafil might blow his trumpet in thine ear!" said
+Musli to himself _sotto voce_. "I am not talking of his trade as a
+butcher," added he aloud. "I say that he is to be made Prince of
+Moldavia."
+
+Kabakulak now thought it just as well to show that he heard what had
+been asked, and replied very gravely:
+
+"You know not what you are asking. The Padishah, only four days ago,
+gave this office to Prince Ghyka, who is a wise and distinguished man.
+The Sultan cannot go back from his word."
+
+"A wise and distinguished man!" cried Musli in amazement. "What am I to
+understand by that? Is there any difference then between one Giaour and
+another?"
+
+"The Sultan has so ordered it, and without his knowledge I cannot take
+upon myself to alter his decrees."
+
+"Very well, go to the Sultan then and get him to undo again what he has
+done. For the rest you can do what you like for what I care, only beware
+of one thing, beware lest you lose the favour of Halil Patrona!"
+
+Kabakulak by this time had had nearly enough of Musli, but the latter
+still continued diligently to consult his list. He recollected that
+Halil Patrona had charged him to say something else, but what it was he
+could not for the life of him call to mind.
+
+"Ah, yes! now I have it!" he cried at last. "Halil commands that those
+nasty palaces which stand by the Sweet Waters shall be burnt to the
+ground."
+
+"I suppose, my worthy incendiaries, you will next ask permission to
+plunder Stambul out and out?"
+
+"It is too bad of you, Kabakulak, to speak like that. Halil does not
+want the palaces burnt for the love of the thing, but because he does
+not want the generals to have an asylum where they may hide, plant
+flowers, and wallow in vile delights just when they ought to be
+hastening to the camp. If every pasha had not his paradise here on earth
+and now, many more of them would desire the heavenly Paradise. That is
+why Halil Patrona would have all those houses of evil luxury burnt to
+the ground."
+
+"May Halil Patrona live long enough to see it come to pass. This also
+will I report to the Sultan."
+
+"Look sharp about it then! I will wait in your room here till you come
+back."
+
+"You will wait here?"
+
+"Yes, never mind about me! I have given orders that my dinner is to be
+sent after me here. I look to you for coffee and tobacco, and if you
+happen to be delayed till early to-morrow morning, you will find me
+sleeping here on the carpet."
+
+Kabakulak could now see that he had to do with a man of character who
+would not stir from the spot till everything had been settled completely
+to his satisfaction. The most expeditious mode of ending matters would,
+no doubt, have been to summon a couple of ciauses and make them lay the
+rascal's head at his own feet, but the political horizon was not yet
+sufficiently serene for such acts of daring. The bands of the insurgents
+were still encamping in the public square outside. First of all they
+must be hoodwinked and pacified, only after that would it be possible
+to proceed to extreme measures against them.
+
+All that the Grand Vizier could do, therefore, was frankly to present
+all Halil Patrona's demands to the Sultan.
+
+Mahmud granted everything on the spot.
+
+In an hour's time the firmans and hatti-scherifs, deposing and elevating
+the various functionaries, were in Musli's hands as desired.
+
+Only as to the method of destroying the kiosks did the Sultan venture to
+make a suggestion. They had better not be burnt to the ground, he
+opined, for thereby the Mussulmans would make themselves the
+laughing-stock of the whole Christian world; but he undertook to
+dilapidate the walls and devastate the pleasure-gardens.
+
+And within three days one hundred and twenty splendid kiosks, standing
+beside the Sweet Waters, had become so many rubbish heaps; and the rare
+and costly plants of the beautiful flower-gardens were chucked into the
+water, and the groves of amorous dallying were cut down to the very
+roots. Only ruins were now to be seen in the place of the fairy palaces
+wherein all manner of earthly joys had hitherto built their nests, and
+all this ruin was wrought in three days by Halil Patrona, just because
+there is but one God, and therefore but one Paradise, and because this
+Paradise is not on earth but in Heaven, and those who would attain
+thereto must strive and struggle valiantly for it in this life.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] 1481 A.D.
+
+[4] Ablutions before prayers.
+
+[5] The first section of the Koran.
+
+[6] The Imperial Treasury.
+
+[7] The part of Stambul inhabited by the Greeks.
+
+[8] Companies of horse.
+
+[9] Tablets indicating the direction in which Mecca lies.
+
+[10] "God be for ever gracious to him."
+
+[11] Believer.
+
+[12] Unbeliever.
+
+[13] Anti-Christ.
+
+[14] The prescribed almsgiving.
+
+[15] Voluntary almsgiving.
+
+[16] Peter the Great. The allusion is to the Peace of the Pruth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HUMAN HOPES.
+
+
+A time will come when the star has risen so high that it can rise no
+higher, and perchance learns to know that before long it must begin its
+inevitable descent!...
+
+All Halil Patrona's wildest dreams had been realised. There he stood at
+the very apex of sovereignty, whence the course of empires, the destiny
+of worlds can be controlled. Ministers of State were pulled down or
+lifted up at his bidding, armies were sent against foreign powers as he
+directed, princes were strengthened on their thrones because Halil
+Patrona wished it, and the great men of the empire lay in the dust at
+his feet.
+
+For whole days at a time he sat reading the books of the Ottoman
+chroniclers, the famous Rashid and the wise Chelbizade, and after that
+he would pore over maps and charts and draw lines of different colours
+across them in all directions, and dot them with dots which he alone
+understood the meaning of. And those lines and dots stretched far, far
+away beyond the borders of the empire, right into the midst of Podolia
+and the Ukraine. He knew, and he only, what he meant by them.
+
+The projects he was hatching required centuries for their
+fulfilment--what is the life of a mere man?
+
+In thought he endowed the rejuvenescent Ottoman Empire with the energies
+of a thousand years. Once more he perceived its conquering sword winning
+fresh victories, and extending its dominions towards the East and the
+South, but especially towards the North. He saw the most powerful of
+nations do it homage; he saw the guardian-angels of Islam close their
+eyes before the blinding flashes of the triumphant swords of the sons of
+Osman, and hasten to record in the Book of the Future events very
+different from those which had been written down before.
+
+Ah, human hopes, human hopes!--the blast blows upon them and they
+crumble away to nothing.
+
+But Halil's breast beat with a still greater joy, with a still loftier
+hope, when turning away from the tumult of the world, he opened the door
+of his private room and entered therein.
+
+What voices are those which it does his soul good to hearken to? Why
+does he pause and stand listening before the curtain? What is he
+listening to?
+
+It is the feeble cry of a child, a little baby child. A few days before
+Guel-Bejaze bore him a son, on the anniversary of the very day when he
+made her his wife. This child was the purest part of Halil's joy, the
+loftiest star of his hopes. Whithersoever I may one day rise, he would
+reflect, this child shall rise with me. Whatever I shall not be able to
+achieve, he will accomplish. Those happier, more glorious times which I
+shall never be able to see, he will rejoice in. Through him I shall
+leave behind me in Ottoman history an eternal fame--a fame like to that
+of the Kueprili family, which for a whole century and a half gave heroes
+and saints and sages to the empire.
+
+Guel-Bejaze wanted the child to be called Ferhad, or Sender, as so many
+of the children of the poor were wont to be called; but Halil gave him
+the name of Behram. "He is a man-child," said Halil, "who will one day
+be called to great things."
+
+Human calculations, human hopes, what are they? To-day the tree stands
+full of blossoms, to-morrow it lies prone on the ground, cut down to the
+very roots.
+
+Who shall strive with the Almighty, and from what son of man does the
+Lord God take counsel?
+
+Halil stole on tip-toe to the bed of his wife who was playing with the
+child; she did not perceive him till he was quite close to her. How they
+rejoiced together! The baby wandered from hand to hand; how they
+embraced and kissed it! Both of them seemed to live their lives over
+again in the little child.
+
+And now old Janaki also drew nigh. His face was smiling, but whenever he
+opened his mouth his words were sad and gloomy. All joy vanished from
+his life the moment he was made a voivode, just as if he felt that only
+Death could relieve him of that dignity. He had a peculiar joy in
+perpetually prophesying evil things.
+
+"If only you could bring the child up!" he cried; "but you will not live
+long enough to do that. Men like you, Halil, never live long, and I
+don't want to survive you. You will see me die, if see you can; and when
+you die, your child will be doubly an orphan."
+
+With such words did he trouble them. They were always relieved when, at
+last, he would creep into a corner and fall asleep from sheer weariness,
+for his anxiety made him more and more somnolent as he grew older.
+
+But again the door opened, and there entered the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, the
+guardian of the ladies of the Seraglio, accompanied by two slave-girls
+carrying a splendid porcelain pitcher, which they deposited at the sick
+woman's bed with this humble salutation:
+
+"The Sultana Valide greets thee and sends thee this sherbet!" The
+Sultana Valide, or Dowager, used only to send special messages to the
+Sultan's favourite wives when they lay in child-bed; this, therefore,
+was a great distinction for the wife of Halil Patrona--or a great
+humiliation for the Sultana.
+
+And a great humiliation it certainly was for the latter.
+
+It was by the command of Sultan Mahmud that the Sultana had sent the
+sherbet.
+
+"You see," said Halil, "the great ones of the earth kiss the dust off
+your feet. There are slaves besides those in the bazaars, and the first
+become the last. Rejoice in the present, my princess, and catch Fortune
+on the wing."
+
+"Fortune, Halil," said his wife with a mournful smile, "is like the eels
+of the Bosphorus, it slips from your grasp just as you fancy you hold it
+fast."
+
+And Halil believed that he held it fast in his grasp.
+
+The highest officers of state were his friends and colleagues, the
+Sultan himself was under obligations to him, for indeed Halil had
+fetched him from the dungeon of the Seven Towers to place him on the
+throne.
+
+And at that very moment they were digging the snare for him into which
+he was to fall.
+
+The Sultan who could not endure the thought that he was under a debt of
+gratitude to a poor oppressed pedlar, the Sultana who could never
+forget the humiliation she had suffered because of Guel-Bejaze, the
+Kizlar-Aga who feared the influence of Halil, the Grand Vizier who had
+been compelled to eat humble pie--all of them had long been waiting for
+an occasion to ruin him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One day the Sultan distributed thirty wagon-loads of money among the
+forty thousand Janissaries and the sixteen thousand Topadshis in the
+capital because they had proposed to be reconciled with the Seraglio and
+reassemble beneath the banner of the Prophet. The insurgent mob,
+moreover, promised to disperse under two conditions: a complete amnesty
+for past offences, and permission to retain two of their banners that
+they might be able to assemble together again in case anything was
+undertaken against them. Their requests were all granted. Halil Patrona,
+too, was honoured by being made one of the privy councillors of the
+Divan.
+
+Seven-and-twenty of the popular leaders were invited at the same time to
+appear in the Divan and assist in its deliberations. Halil Patrona was
+the life and soul of the lot.
+
+He inspired them with magnanimous, enlightened resolutions, and when in
+his enthusiastic way he addressed them, the worthy cobblers and
+fishermen felt themselves turned into heroes, and it seemed as if _they_
+were the leaders of the nation, while the pashas and grandees sitting
+beside them were mere fishermen and cobblers.
+
+Everyone of his old friends and his new colleagues looked up to and
+admired him.
+
+Only one person could not reconcile himself with the thought that he
+owed his power to a pedlar who had risen from the dust--and this man was
+Kaplan Giraj, the Khan of the Crimea.
+
+He was to be Halil's betrayer.
+
+He informed the Grand Vizier of the projects of Halil, who wished to
+persuade the Sultan to declare war against Russia, because Russia was
+actively assisting Persia. Moldavia and the Crimea were the starting
+points of the armies that were to clip the wings of the menacing
+northern foe, and thereby nullify the terrible prophecies of the "Takimi
+Vekai."
+
+Kaplan Giraj informed Kabakulak of these designs, and they agreed that a
+man with such temerarious projects in his head ought not to live any
+longer--he was much too dangerous.
+
+They resolved that he should be killed during the deliberations at the
+house of the Grand Vizier. For this purpose they chose from among the
+most daring of the Janissaries those officers who had a grudge against
+Halil for enforcing discipline against them, and were also jealous of
+what they called his usurpation of authority. These men they took with
+them to the council as members of the Divan.
+
+It was arranged thus. When Halil had brought forward and defended his
+motion for a war against Russia, then Kaplan Giraj would argue against
+the project, whereupon Halil was sure to lose his temper. The Khan
+thereupon was to rush upon him with a drawn sword, and this was to be
+the signal for the Janissary officers to rise in a body and massacre all
+Halil's followers.
+
+So it was a well-prepared trap into which Halil and his associates were
+to fall, and they had not the slightest suspicion of the danger that was
+hanging over their heads.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Grand Vizier sat in the centre of the councillors, beside him on his
+right hand sat Kaplan Giraj, while the place of honour on his left was
+reserved for Halil Patrona. All around sat the Spahi and Janissary
+officers with their swords in their hands.
+
+The plot was well contrived, the whole affair was bound to be over in a
+few minutes.
+
+The popular deputies arrived; there were seven-and-twenty of them, not
+including Halil Patrona. The Janissary officers were sixty in number.
+
+Kabakulak beckoned to Halil to sit on his left hand, the others were so
+arranged that each one of them sat between a couple of Janissary
+officers. As soon as Kaplan Giraj gave the signal by drawing his sword
+against Halil, the Janissaries were to fall upon their victims and cut
+them down.
+
+"My dear son," said the Grand Vizier to Halil, when they had all taken
+their places, "behold, at thy desire, we have summoned the council and
+the chief officers of the Army; tell them, I pray thee, wherefore thou
+hast called them together!"
+
+Halil thereupon arose, and turning towards the assembly thus addressed
+it:
+
+"Mussulmans! faithful followers of the Prophet! If any one of you were
+to hear that his house was on fire, would he need lengthy explanations
+before hastening away to extinguish it? If ye were to hear that robbers
+had broken into your houses and were plundering your goods--if ye were
+to hear that ruffians were throttling your little children or your aged
+parents, or threatening the lives of your wives with drawn swords, would
+you wait for further confirmation or persuasion before doing anything,
+or would you not rather rush away of your own accord to slay these
+robbers and murderers? And lo! what is more than our houses, more than
+our property, more than our children, our parents, or our wives--our
+Fatherland, our faith is threatened with destruction by our enemy. And
+this enemy has all the will but not yet the power to accomplish what he
+threatens; and his design is never abandoned, but is handed down from
+father to son, for never will he make peace, he will ever slay and
+destroy till he himself is destroyed and slain--this enemy is the
+Muscovite. Our fathers heard very little of that name, our sons will
+hear more, and our grandsons will weep exceedingly because of it. Our
+religion bids us to be resigned to the decrees of fate, but only cowards
+will be content to sit with their hands in their laps because the
+predestined fate of the Ottoman Empire is written in Heaven. If the
+prophecy says that a time must come when the Ottoman Empire must fall to
+pieces because of the cowardice of the Ottoman nation, does it not
+depend upon us and our children whether the prophecy be accomplished, or
+whether its fulfilment be far removed from us? Of a truth the
+signification of that prophecy is this: We shall perish if we are
+cowards; let us _not_ be cowards then, and never shall we perish. And if
+the foe whose sword shall one day deal the nations of Muhammad the most
+terrible wounds, and whose giant footsteps shall leave on Turkish soil
+the bloodiest and most shameful imprints--if I say this foe be already
+pointed out to us, why should we not anticipate him, why should we wait
+till he has grown big enough to swallow us up when we are now strong
+enough to destroy him? The opportunity is favourable. The Cossacks
+demand help from us against the Muscovite dominion. If we give them this
+help they will be our allies, if we withhold it they will become our
+adversaries. The Tartars, the Circassians, and Moldavians are the
+bulwarks of our Empire, let us join to them the Cossacks also, and not
+wait until they all become the bulwarks of our northern foe instead, and
+he will lead them all against us. When he built the fortress of Azov he
+showed us plainly what he meant by it. Let us also now show that we
+understood his intentions and raze that fortress to the ground."
+
+With these words Halil resumed his place.
+
+As pre-arranged Kaplan Giraj now stood up in his turn.
+
+Halil fully expected that the Tartar Khan, who was to have played such
+an important part in his project, inasmuch as his dominions were
+directly in the way of an invading enemy, and therefore most nearly
+threatened, would warmly support his proposition. All the greater then
+was his amazement when Kaplan Giraj turned towards him with a
+contemptuous smile and replied in these words:
+
+"It is a great calamity for an Empire when its leading counsellors are
+ignorant. I will not question your good intentions, Halil, but it
+strikes me as very comical that you should wish us, on the strength of
+the prophecy of a Turkish recluse, to declare war against one of our
+neighbours who is actually living at peace with us, is doing us no harm,
+and harbours no mischievous designs against us. You speak as if Europe
+was absolutely uninhabited by any but ourselves, as if there was no such
+thing as powerful nations on every side of us, jealous neighbours all of
+them who would incontinently fall upon us with their banded might in
+case of a war unjustly begun by us. All this comes from the simple fact
+that you do not understand the world, Halil. How could you, a mere petty
+huckster, be expected to do so? So pray leave in peace Imperial affairs,
+and whenever you think fit to occupy your time in reading poems and
+fairy-tales, don't fancy they are actual facts."
+
+The representatives of the people regarded the Khan with amazement.
+Halil, with a bitter look, measured him from head to foot. He knew now
+that he had been betrayed. And he had been betrayed by the very man to
+whom he had assigned a hero's part!
+
+With a smiling face he turned towards him. He had no thought now that he
+had fallen into a trap. He addressed the Khan as if they were both in
+the room together alone.
+
+"Truly you spoke the truth, Kaplan Giraj, when you reproached me with
+the shame of ignorance. I never learnt anything but the Koran, I have
+never had the opportunity of reading those books which mock at the
+things which are written in the Koran; I only know that when the Prophet
+proclaimed war against the idolators he never inquired of the
+neighbouring nations, Shall I do this, or shall I not do it? and so he
+always triumphed. I know this, too, that since the Divan has taken to
+debating and negociating with its enemies, the Ottoman armies have been
+driven across the three rivers--the Danube, the Dnieper, and the
+Pruth--and melt away and perish in every direction. I am a rough and
+ignorant man I know, therefore do not be amazed at me if I would defend
+the faith of Mohammed with the sword when, perhaps, there may be other
+means of doing so with which I am unacquainted. I, on the other hand,
+will not be astonished that you, a scion of the princely Crimean family,
+should be afraid of war. You were born a ruler and know therefore that
+your life is precious. You embellish the deeds of your enemy that you
+may not be obliged to fight against him. You say 'tis a good neighbour,
+a peaceful neighbour, he does no harm, although you very well know that
+it was the Muscovite guns which drove our Timariots out of Kermanshan,
+and that the Persians were allowed to march through Russian territory in
+order to fall upon our general Abdullah Pasha from behind. But there is
+nothing hostile about all this in your eyes, you are perfectly contented
+with your fate. War might deprive you of your Khannish dignity, while in
+peaceful times you can peaceably retain it. It matters not to you whose
+servant you may be so long as you hold sway in your own domain, and you
+call him a blockhead who does not look after himself first of all. Yes,
+Kaplan Giraj, I am a blockhead no doubt, for I am not afraid to risk
+losing this wretched life, awaiting my reward in another world. I was
+not born in silks and purples but in the love of my country and the fear
+of God, while you are wise enough to be satisfied with the joys of this
+life. But, by way of reward for betraying your good friend, may Allah
+cause you, one day, to become the slave of your enemies, so that he who
+was wont to be called Kaplan[17] may henceforth be named Sichian."[18]
+
+Even had nothing been preconcerted, Kaplan Giraj's sword must needs have
+leaped from its sheath at these mortally insulting words. Furiously he
+leaped from his seat with his flashing sword in his hand.
+
+Ah! but now it was the turn of the Grand Vizier and all the other
+conspirators to be amazed.
+
+The Janissaries who had been placed by the side of the popular leaders
+never budged from their seats, and not one of them drew his weapon at
+the given signal.
+
+Such inertia was so inexplicable to the initiated that Kaplan Giraj
+remained standing in front of Halil paralyzed with astonishment. As for
+Halil he simply crossed his arms over his breast and gazed upon him
+contemptuously. The Janissary officers had disregarded the signal.
+
+"I am well aware," said Halil to the Khan with cold sobriety--"I am well
+aware what sort of respect is due to this place, and therefore I do not
+draw my sword against yours even in self-defence. For though I am not so
+well versed in European customs as you are, and know not whether it is
+usual in the council-chambers of foreign nations to settle matters with
+the sword, or whether it is the rule in the French or the English
+cabinet that he who cuts down his opponent in mid-council is in the
+right and his opinion must needs prevail--but of so much I am certain,
+that it is not the habit to settle matters with naked weapons in the
+Ottoman Divan. Now that the council is over, however, perhaps you would
+like to descend with me into the gardens where we may settle the
+business out of hand, and free one another from the thought that death
+is terrible."
+
+Halil's cold collected bearing silenced, disarmed his enemies. The eyes
+of the Grand Vizier and the Khan surveyed the ranks of the Janissary
+officers, while Halil's faithful adherents began to assemble round their
+leader.
+
+"Then there is no answer to the words of Halil Patrona?" inquired
+Kabakulak at last tentatively.
+
+They were all silent.
+
+"Have you no answer at all then?"
+
+At this all the Janissaries arose, and one of them stepping forward
+said:
+
+"Halil is right. We agree with all that he has said."
+
+The Grand Vizier did not know whether he was standing on his head or his
+heels. Kaplan Giraj wrathfully thrust his sword back again into its
+scabbard. All the Janissary officers evidently were on Halil Patrona's
+side.
+
+It was impossible not to observe the confusion in the faces of the chief
+plotters; the well-laid plot could not be carried out.
+
+After a long interval Kabakulak was the first to recover himself, and
+tried to put a new face on matters till a better opportunity should
+arise.
+
+"Such important resolutions," said he, "cannot be carried into effect
+without the knowledge of the Sultan. To-morrow, therefore, let us all
+assemble in the Seraglio to lay our desires before the Padishah. You
+also will be there, Halil, and you also, Kaplan Giraj."
+
+"Which of us twain will be there Allah only knows," said Halil.
+
+"There, my son, you spake not well; nay, very ill hast thou spoken. It
+is a horrible thing when two Mussulmans revile one another. Be
+reconciled rather, and extend to each other the hand of fellowship! I
+will not allow you to fight. Both of you spoke with good intentions, and
+he is a criminal who will not forget personal insults when it is a
+question of the commonweal. Forgive one another and shake hands, I say."
+
+And he seized the reluctant hands of both men and absolutely forced them
+to shake hands with each other. But he could not prevent their eyes from
+meeting, and though swords were denied them their glances of mutual
+hatred were enough to wound to the death.
+
+After the council broke up, Halil's enemies remained behind with the
+Grand Vizier. Kaplan Giraj gnashed his teeth with rage.
+
+"Didn't I tell you not to let him speak!" he exclaimed, "for when once
+he opens his mouth he turns every drawn sword against us, and drives
+wrath from the breasts of men with the glamour of his tongue."
+
+So they had three days wherein to hatch a fresh plot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The session of the Divan was fixed for three days later. Halil Patrona
+employed the interval like a man who feels that his last hour is at
+hand. He would have been very short-sighted not to have perceived that
+judgment had already been pronounced against him, although his enemies
+were still doubtful how to carry it into execution.
+
+He resigned himself to his fate as it became a pious Mussulman to do. He
+had only one anxiety which he would gladly have been rid of--what was to
+become of his wife and child.
+
+On the evening of the last day he led Guel-Bejaze down to the shore of
+the Bosphorus as if he would take a walk with her. The woman carried her
+child in her arms.
+
+Since the woman had had a child she had acquired a much braver aspect.
+The gentlest animal will be audacious when it has young ones, even the
+dove becomes savage when it is hatching its fledgelings.
+
+Halil put his wife into a covered boat, which was soon flying along
+under the impulse of his muscular arms. The child rejoiced aloud at the
+rocking of the boat, he fancied it was the motion of his cradle. The
+eyes of the woman were fixed now upon the sky and now upon the unruffled
+surface of the watery mirror. A star smiled down upon her wheresoever
+she gazed. The evening was very still.
+
+"Knowest thou whither I am taking thee, Guel-Bejaze?" asked her husband.
+
+"If thou wert to ask me whither thou oughtest to send me, I would say
+take me to some remote and peaceful valley enclosed all around by lofty
+mountains. Build me there a little hut by the side of a bubbling spring,
+and let there be a little garden in front of the little hut. Let me
+stroll beneath the leaves of the cedar-trees, where I may hear no other
+sound but the cooing of the wood-pigeon; let me pluck flowers on the
+banks of the purling brook, and spy upon the wild deer; let me live
+there and die there--live in thine arms and die in the flowering field
+by the side of the purling brook. If thou wert to ask me, whither shall
+I take thee, so would I answer."
+
+"Thou hast said it," replied Halil, shipping the oars, for the rising
+evening breeze had stiffened out the sail and the little boat was flying
+along of its own accord; then he sat him down beside his wife and
+continued, "I am indeed sending thee to a remote and hidden valley,
+where a little hut stands on the banks of a purling stream. I have
+prepared it for thee, and there shalt thou dwell with thy child."
+
+"And thou thyself?"
+
+"I will guide thee to the opposite shore, there an old family servant of
+thy father's awaits thee with saddled mules. He loves thee dearly, and
+will bring thee into that quiet valley and he must never leave thee."
+
+"And thou?"
+
+"This little coffer thou wilt take with thee; it contains money which I
+got from thy father; no curse, no blood is upon it, it shall be thine
+and thy children's."
+
+"And thou?" inquired Guel-Bejaze for the third time, and she was very
+near to bursting into tears.
+
+"I shall have to return to Stambul. But I will come after thee. Perhaps
+to-morrow, perhaps the day after to-morrow, perhaps later still. It may
+be very much sooner, it may be much later. But thou wait for me. Every
+evening spread the table for me, for thou knowest not when I may
+arrive."
+
+The tears of Guel-Bejaze began to fall upon the child she held to her
+breast.
+
+"Why weepest thou?" asked Halil. "'Tis foolish of thee. Leave-taking is
+short, suspense only is long. It will be better with thee than with me,
+for thou wilt have the child while I shall have nothing left, yet I do
+not weep because we shall so soon meet again."
+
+Meanwhile they had reached the shore, the old servant was awaiting them
+with the two mules. Halil helped his wife to descend from the boat.
+
+Guel-Bejaze buried her head in her husband's bosom and tenderly embraced
+him.
+
+"Go not back, leave me not alone," said she; "do not leave us, come with
+us. What dost thou seek in that big desolate city when we are no longer
+there? Come with us, let us all go together, vanish with us. Let them
+search for thee, and may their search be as vain as the search for a
+star fallen from Heaven; it is not good for thee to be in high places."
+
+Halil made no reply. His wife spoke the truth, but pride prevented him
+from escaping like a coward when he knew that his enemies were
+conspiring against him. Presently he said to Guel-Bejaze with a
+reassuring voice:
+
+"Do not be anxious on my account, I have a talisman with me. Why dost
+thou smile? Thou a Christian woman dost not believe in talismans? My
+talisman is my heart, surely thou believest in it now? It has always
+helped me hitherto."
+
+And with that Halil kissed his wife and his child and returned to the
+boat. He seized the oars in his powerful hands and was soon some
+distance from the shore. And as he rowed further and further away into
+the gloom of evening he saw his abandoned wife still standing on the
+shore with her child clasped to her breast, and the further he receded
+the keener grew his anguish of heart because he durst not turn back to
+them and kiss and embrace them once more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Early in the morning the gigantic Halil Pelivan, accompanied by twelve
+bostanjis, appeared among the Janissaries with three asses laden with
+five little panniers, containing five thousand ducats which he emptied
+upon the ground and distributed among the brave fellows.
+
+"The Grand Vizier sends you this, my worthy comrades," cried he.
+
+This was the only way of talking sense to the Janissaries.
+
+"And now I have to ask something of you."
+
+"Say on!"
+
+"Is there among you any fellow who loves nobody, who would be capable of
+slaying his own dear father if he were commanded so to do and well paid
+for it, who is afraid of nothing, has no bowels of compassion, and
+cannot be made to falter by the words of the wise?"
+
+In response to this challenge, hundreds and hundreds of the Janissaries
+stepped out of their ranks, declaring that they were just the boys to
+satisfy Pelivan's demands.
+
+Pelivan selected from amongst them two-and-thirty of the most muscular
+and truculent, and commanded them to follow him into the Seraglio.
+
+Once there he conducted them into the Porcelain Chamber, made them squat
+down on the precious carpets, put before them quantities of the most
+savoury food, which they washed down with the rich wine of Cypress and
+the heating Muskoveto, a mysterious beverage generally reserved for the
+Sultan's use, which is supposed to confer courage and virility. When
+they had well eaten and drunken moreover, Pelivan supplied them with as
+much opium as they wanted.
+
+Shortly afterwards there came out to them the Grand Vizier, the lame
+Pasha, Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, the chief Justiciary of Rumelia, the
+cobbler's son, and the Tartar Khan, who patted their shoulders, tasted
+of their food, drank out of their goblets, and after telling them what
+fine brave fellows they were, discreetly withdrew.
+
+The Divan meanwhile had assembled in the Hall of Lions.
+
+There were gathered together the Ulemas, the Viziers, and the
+representatives of the people. Halil Patrona was there also; and
+presently Kabakulak, Topal Ozman, Patsmajezade, and Kaplan Giraj
+arrived likewise and took their places.
+
+The Grand Vizier turned first of all to Halil, whom he addressed with
+benign condescension.
+
+"The Padishah assures thee through me of his grace and favour, and of
+his own good pleasure appoints thee Beglerbeg of Rumelia."
+
+And with that a couple of duelbendars advanced with the costly kaftan of
+investiture.
+
+Halil Patrona reflected for an instant.
+
+The Sultan indeed had always been gracious towards him. He evidently
+wanted to favour him with an honourable way of retreat. He was offering
+him a high dignity whereby he might be able to withdraw from the
+capital, and yet at the same time gratify his ambition. The Sultan
+really had a kindly heart then. He rewards the man whom his ministers
+would punish as a malefactor.
+
+But his hesitation only lasted for a moment. Then he recovered himself
+and resolutely answered:
+
+"I will not accept that kaftan. For myself I ask nothing. I did not come
+here to receive high office, I came to hear war proclaimed."
+
+The Grand Vizier bowed down before him.
+
+"Thy word is decisive. The Padishah has decided that what thou and thy
+comrades demand shall be accomplished. The Grand Seignior himself
+awaits thee in the Porcelain Chamber. There war shall be proclaimed,
+and the kaftans of remembrance distributed to thee and thy fellows."
+
+And with that the Ulemas and Halil's comrades were led away to the kiosk
+of Erivan.
+
+"And ye who are the finest fellows of us all," said Kabakulak, turning
+to Halil and Musli--"ye, Halil and Musli, come first of all to kiss the
+Sultan's hand."
+
+Halil with a cold smile pressed Musli's hand. Even now poor Musli had no
+idea what was about to befall them. Only when at "the gate of the cold
+spring" the Spahis on guard divested them of their weapons, for none may
+approach the Sultan with a sword by him--only, then, I say, did he have
+a dim sensation that all was not well.
+
+In the Sofa Chamber, where the Divan is erected, is a niche separated
+from the rest of the chamber by a high golden trellis-work screen,
+behind whose curtains it is the traditional custom of the Sultan to
+listen privately to the deliberations of his counsellors. From behind
+these curtains a woman's face was now peeping. It was Adsalis, the
+favourite Sultana, and behind her stood Elhaj Beshir, the Kizlar-Aga.
+Both of them knew there would be a peculiar spectacle, something well
+worth seeing in that chamber to-day.
+
+The curtains covering the doors of the Porcelain Chamber bulged out,
+and immediately afterwards two men entered. They advanced to the steps
+of the Sultan's throne, knelt down there, and kissed the hem of the
+Sultan's garment.
+
+Mahmud was sitting on his throne, the same instant Kabakulak clapped his
+hands and cried:
+
+"Bring in their kaftans!"
+
+At these words out of the adjoining apartment rushed Pelivan and the
+thirty-two Janissaries with drawn swords.
+
+Mahmud hid his face so as not to see what was about to happen.
+
+"Halil! we are betrayed!" exclaimed Musli, and placing himself in front
+of his comrade he received on his own body the first blow which Pelivan
+had aimed at Halil.
+
+"In vain hast thou written thy name above mine, Patrona," roared the
+giant, waving his huge broadsword above his head.
+
+At these words Halil drew forth from his girdle a dagger which he had
+secreted there, and hurled it with such force at Pelivan that the sharp
+point pierced his left shoulder.
+
+But the next moment he was felled to the ground by a mortal blow.
+
+While still on his knees he raised his eyes to Heaven and said:
+
+"It is the will of Allah."
+
+At another blow he collapsed, and falling prone breathed forth his last
+sigh:
+
+"I die, but my son is still alive."
+
+And he died.
+
+Then all his associates were brought into the Sofa Chamber one by one
+from the Erivan kiosk where they had been robed in splendid kaftans, and
+as they entered the room were decapitated one after the other. They had
+not even time to shut their eyes before the fatal stroke descended.
+
+Six-and-twenty of them perished there and then.
+
+Only three survived the day, Sulali, Mohammed the dervish, and Alir
+Aalem, the custodian of the sacred banner and justiciary of Stambul. All
+three were Ulemas, and therefore not even the Sultan was free to slay
+them.
+
+Accordingly the Grand Vizier appointed them all Sandjak-Begs, or
+governors of provinces.
+
+As they knew nothing of the death of their comrades they accepted the
+dignities conferred upon them, renouncing at the same time as usual
+their office of Ulemas.
+
+The following day they were all put to death.
+
+On the third day after that the people of the city in their walks abroad
+saw eight-and-thirty severed heads stuck on the ends of spears over the
+central gate of the Seraglio. All these heads, with their starting eyes
+and widely parted lips, seemed to be speaking to the amazed multitudes;
+only Halil Patrona's eyes were closed and his lips sealed.
+
+Suddenly a great cry of woe arose from one end of the city to the other,
+the people seized their arms and rushed off to the Etmeidan under three
+banners.
+
+They had no other leader now but Janaki, all the rest had escaped or
+were dead. So now they brought _him_ forward. The tidings of Halil's
+death wrought no change in him, he had foreseen it long before, and was
+well aware that Guel-Bejaze had departed from the capital. He had himself
+prepared for her the little dwelling in the valley lost among the
+ravines of Mount Taurus, which was scarce known to any save to him and
+the few dwellers there, and he had brought back with him from thence a
+pair of carrier-pigeons, so that in case of necessity he might be able
+to send messages to his daughter without having to depend on human
+agency.
+
+When the clamorous mob invited him to the Etmeidan he wrote to his
+daughter on a tiny shred of vellum, and tied the letter beneath the wing
+of the pigeon.
+
+And this is what he wrote:
+
+"God's grace be with thee! Wait not for Halil, he is dead. The
+Janissaries have killed him. And I shall not be long after him, take my
+word for it. But live thou and watch over thy child.--JANAKI."
+
+With that he opened the window and let the dove go, and she, rising
+swiftly into the air, remained poised on high for a time with fluttering
+pinions, and then, with the swiftness and directness of a well-aimed
+dart, she flew straight towards the mountains.
+
+"Poor Irene!" sighed Janaki, buckling on his sword with which he
+certainly was not very likely to kill anybody--and he accompanied the
+insurgents to the Etmeidan.
+
+In Stambul things were all topsy-turvy once more. The seventh Janissary
+regiment, when the two-and-thirty Janissaries returned to them with
+bloody swords boasting of their deed, rushed upon them and cut them to
+pieces. The new Janissary Aga was shot dead within his own gates.
+Kabakulak retired within a mosque. Halil Pelivan, who had been appointed
+Kulkiaja, hid himself in a drain pipe for three whole days, and never
+emerged therefrom so long as the uproar lasted.
+
+Three days later all was quiet again.
+
+A new name came to the front which quelled the risen tempest--the last
+scion of the famous Kueprili family, every member of which was a hero.
+
+Achmed Kueprilizade collected together the ten thousand shebejis,
+bostanjis, and baltajis who dwelt round the Seraglio, and when everyone
+was in despair attacked the rebels in the open streets, routed them in
+the piazzas, and in three days seven thousand of the people fell beneath
+his blows--and so the realm had peace once more.
+
+Janaki also fell. They chopped off his head and he offered not the
+slightest resistance.
+
+As for Pelivan and Kabakulak they were banished for their cowardice.
+
+So Achmed Kueprilizade became Grand Vizier.
+
+As for Achmed III. he lived nine years longer in the Seven Towers, and
+tradition says he died by poison.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Tiger.
+
+[18] Mouse.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE EMPTY PLACE.
+
+
+Everything was now calm and quiet, and the world pursued its ordinary
+course; but far away among the Blue Mountains dwells a woman who knows
+nothing of all that is going on around her, and who every evening
+ascends the highest summit of the hills surrounding her little hut and
+gazes eagerly, longingly, in the direction of Stambul, following with
+her eyes the long zig-zag path which vanishes in the dim distance--will
+he come to-day whom she has so long awaited in vain?
+
+Every evening she returns mournfully to her little dwelling, and
+whenever she sits down to supper she places opposite to her a platter
+and a mug--and so she waits for him who comes not. At night she lays
+Halil's pillow beside her, and puts _their_ child between the pillow and
+herself that he may find it there when he comes.
+
+And so day follows day.
+
+One day there came a tapping at her window. With joy she leaps from her
+bed to open it.
+
+It is not Halil but a pigeon--a carrier-pigeon bringing a letter.
+
+Guel-Bejaze opens the letter and reads it through--and a second time she
+reads it through, and then she reads it through a third time, and then
+she begins to smile and whispers to herself:
+
+"He will be here directly."
+
+From henceforth a mild insanity takes possession of the woman's mind--a
+species of dumb monomania which is only observable when her fixed idea
+happens to be touched upon.
+
+At eventide she again betakes herself to the road which leads out of the
+valley. She shows the letter to an old serving-maid, telling her that
+the letter says that Halil is about to arrive, and a good supper must be
+made ready for him. The servant cannot read, so she believes her
+mistress.
+
+An hour later the woman comes back to the house full of joy, her cheeks
+have quite a colour so quickly has she come.
+
+"Hast thou not seen him?" she inquires of the servant.
+
+"Whom, my mistress?"
+
+"Halil. He has arrived. He came another way, and must be in the house by
+now."
+
+The servant fancies that perchance Halil has come secretly and she, also
+full of joy, follows her mistress into the room where the table has
+been spread for two persons.
+
+"Well, thou seest that he is here," cries Guel-Bejaze, pointing to the
+empty place, and rushing to the spot, she embraces an invisible shape,
+her burning kisses resound through the air, and her eyes intoxicated
+with delight gaze lovingly--at nothing.
+
+"Look at thy child!" she cries, lifting up her little son; "take him in
+thine arms. So! Kiss him not so roughly, for he is asleep. Look! thy
+kisses have awakened him. Thy beard has tickled him, and he has opened
+his eyes. Rock him in thine arms a little. Thou wert so fond of nursing
+him once upon a time. So! take him on thy lap. What! art thou tired?
+Wait and I will fill up thy glass for thee. Isn't the water icy-cold? I
+have just filled it from the spring myself."
+
+Then she heaps more food on her husband's platter, and rejoices that his
+appetite is so good.
+
+Then after supper she links her arm in his and, whispering and chatting
+tenderly, leads him into the garden in the bright moonlit evening. The
+faithful servant with tears in her eyes watches her as she walks all
+alone along the garden path, from end to end, beneath the trees, acting
+as if she were whispering and chatting with someone. She keeps on
+asking him questions and listening to his replies, or she tells him all
+manner of tales that he has not heard before. She tells him all that has
+happened to her since they last separated, and shows him all the little
+birds and the pretty flowers. After that she bids him step into a little
+bower, makes him sit down beside her, moves her kaftan a little to one
+side so that he may not sit upon it, and that she may crouch up close
+beside him, and then she whispers and talks to him so lovingly and so
+blissfully, and finally returns to the little hut so full of shamefaced
+joy, looking behind her every now and then to cast another loving
+glance--at whom?
+
+And inside the house she prepares his bed for him, and places a soft
+pillow for his head, lays her own warm soft arm beneath his head,
+presses him to her bosom and kisses him, and then lays her child between
+them and goes quietly to sleep after pressing his hand once more--whose
+hand?
+
+The next day from morn to eve she again waits for him, and at dusk sets
+out once more along the road, and when she comes back finds him once
+more in the little hut ... oh, happy delusion!
+
+And thus it goes on from day to day.
+
+From morn to eve the woman accomplishes her usual work, her neighbours
+and acquaintances perceive no change in her; but as soon as the sun
+sets she leaves everyone and everything and avoids all society, for now
+Halil is expecting her in the open bower of the little garden.
+
+Punctually she appears before him as soon as the sun has set. It has
+become quite a habit with her already. She so arranges her work that she
+always has a leisure hour at such times. Sometimes, too, Halil is in a
+good humour, but at others he is sad and sorrowful. She tells this to
+the old serving-maid over and over again. Sometimes, too, she whispers
+in her ear that Halil is cudgelling his brains with all sorts of great
+ideas, but she is not to speak about it to anyone, as that might easily
+cost Halil his life.
+
+Poor Halil! Long, long ago his body has crumbled into dust, Death can do
+him no harm now.
+
+And thus the "White Rose" grows old and grey and gradually fades away.
+Not a single night does the beloved guest remain away from her. For
+years and years, long--long years, he comes to her every evening.
+
+And as her son grows up, as he becomes a man with the capacity of
+judging and understanding, he hears his mother conversing every evening
+with an invisible shape, and she would have her little son greet this
+stranger, for she tells him it is his father. And she praises the son to
+the father, and says what a good, kind-hearted lad he is, and she
+compares their faces one with the other. He is the very image of his
+father, she says; only Halil is now getting old, his beard has begun to
+be white. Yes, Halil is getting aged. Otherwise he would be exactly like
+his son.
+
+And the son knows very well that his father, Halil Patrona, was slain
+many, many long years ago by the Janissaries.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+_Jarrold & Sons, The Empire Press, Norwich and London._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_SELECTIONS FROM JARROLD & SONS' LIST OF FICTION_
+
+
+Maurus Jokai's Famous Novels.
+
+_Authorised Editions. Crown 8vo, Art Linen, 6/= each._
+
+
+Black Diamonds. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI, Author of "The Green Book," "Poor Plutocrats,"
+etc. Translated by Frances Gerard. With Special Preface by the Author.
+
+     "Full of vigour ... his touches of humour are excellent."--_Morning
+     Post._
+
+     "An interesting story."--_Times._
+
+
+The Green Book. (FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW.) (_Sixth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by Mrs. Waugh. With a finely
+engraved Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "Brilliantly drawn ... a book to be read."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+     "Thoroughly calculated to charm the novel-reading public by its
+     ceaseless excitement ... from first to last the interest never
+     flags. A work of the most exciting interests and superb
+     descriptions."--_Athenaeum._
+
+
+Pretty Michal. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "A fascinating novel."--_The Speaker._
+
+     "His workmanship is admirable, and he possesses a degree of
+     sympathetic imagination not surpassed by any living novelist. The
+     action of his stories is life-like, and full of movement and
+     interest."--_Westminster Gazette._
+
+
+A Hungarian Nabob. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "Full of exciting incidents and masterly studies of
+     character."--_Court Circular._
+
+     "The work of a genius."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+In Tight Places. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS, Author of "Forbidden by Law," etc. 6/=
+
+     "A lively and varied series of cosmopolitan crime, with plenty of
+     mixed adventure and sensation. Such stories always fascinate, and
+     Major Arthur Griffiths knows well how to tell them."--_Pall Mall
+     Gazette._
+
+
+St. Peter's Umbrella. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By KALMAN MIKSZATH, Author of "The Good People of Palvez."
+Translated from the original Hungarian by W. B. Worswick. With
+Introduction by R. Nisbet Bain. A charming Photogravure Portrait of the
+Author and three illustrations. 6/=
+
+     "The freshness, high spirits, and humour of Mikszath make him a
+     fascinating companion. His peasants, priests, and gentlefolks are
+     amazingly human. Mikszath is a born story-teller."--_The
+     Spectator._
+
+
+The Adventures of Cyrano de Bergerac. Captain Satan. (_Fourth
+Edition._)
+
+From the French of Louis Gallet. With specially engraved Portrait of
+Cyrano de Bergerac. 6/=
+
+     "A delightful book. So vividly delineated are the _dramatis
+     personae_, so interesting and enthralling are the incidents in the
+     development of the tale, that it is impossible to skip one page, or
+     to lay down the volume until the last words are read."--_Daily
+     Telegraph._
+
+
+A Woman's Burden. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By FERGUS HUME, Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The
+Lone Inn," etc. 6/=
+
+     "Very good reading."--_Athenaeum._
+
+     "Simply full of thrills from cover to cover."--_Publishers'
+     Circular._
+
+
+Vivian of Virginia. (_Second Edition._)
+
+Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by John Vivian, of Middle
+Plantation, Virginia. By Hulbert Fuller, Author of "God's Rebel." With
+ten charming Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill. 6/=
+
+     "There is not a dull moment in the quaintly-written story,
+     adventure following adventure, holding the reader in thrall; whilst
+     the love interest is fully sustained."--_Gentlewoman._
+
+
+Anima Vilis. (_Second Edition._)
+
+A tale of the Great Siberian Steppe. By MARYA RODZIEWICZ.
+Translated from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A striking novel."--_The Times._
+
+     "Has both power and charm."--_Literature._
+
+The Lion of Janina. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a special
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "A fascinating story--a brilliant and lurid series of pictures
+     drawn by a great master's hand."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+
+Eyes Like the Sea. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "In wealth of incident, in variety and interest of
+     characterisation, in the richness and humour of its surprises,
+     'Eyes Like the Sea' ranks with the finest work of the great
+     Hungarian romancer. All is told with delightful and touching
+     candour."--_The Spectator._
+
+
+Halil the Pedlar; THE WHITE ROSE. (_Now ready._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     This beautiful and picturesque tale of Oriental life reads like a
+     chapter out of the "Arabian Nights." The heroine is a beautiful
+     young Greek girl who escapes the gilded dishonour of the harem by
+     feigning death and enduring torments. The scene of the story is
+     Stambul, in the eighteenth century, and every phase of life in the
+     great metropolis is described with singular fidelity.
+
+
+Carpathia Knox. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Hush," "That Little Girl," "A
+Romance of Modern London," etc. With a charming Photogravure Portrait of
+the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A very graphic and realistic glimpse of Spanish life. Full of
+     freshness and prettily told."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
+
+
+Jocelyn Erroll. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "Once," "Dudley," "The Wild
+Ruthvens," etc. With a fine Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "Clever and fascinating, as is everything by this writer."--_Dundee
+     Advertiser._
+
+
+Valentine: A STORY OF IDEALS. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By CURTIS YORKE, Author of "The Medlicotts," "His Heart to
+Win," "Because of the Child," etc. 6/=
+
+     "It would indeed be hard to find a brighter, cheerier book ... and
+     few readers of 'Valentine' will be able to resist her charming
+     personality."--_The Speaker._
+
+The Gray House of the Quarries. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By MARY H. NORRIS. With etched Frontispiece by Edmund H.
+Garrett. 6/=
+
+     "Susanna is a splendid study. No person who takes up the book can
+     resist its fascination."--_Westminster Review._
+
+
+Distaff. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By MARYA RODZIEWICZ, Author of "Anima Vilis," etc. Translated
+from the Polish by Count S. C. de Soissons. With a finely engraved
+Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "A pleasant story, full of ability."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+     "A striking novel."--_Spectator._
+
+
+The Captive of Pekin. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+A Realistic Story of Chinese Life and Manners. By Charles
+Hannan. With twenty-three graphic Illustrations from life,
+depicting the Chinese torture fiends, by A. J. B. Salmon. 6/=
+
+     "Told with great vividness, a thrilling story dramatically told.
+     The reader's interest does not flag from beginning to end."--_The
+     Times._
+
+     "A powerfully written and absorbing story."--_Morning Post._
+
+
+A Daughter of Mystery. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By R. NORMAN SILVER 6/=
+
+     "It cannot comfortably be laid down until it is finished. The plots
+     and counter-plots make the brain reel. The book should be read,
+     and will repay the most exacting lovers of the exciting."--_Daily
+     News._
+
+
+Wayfarers All. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By LESLIE KEITH, Author of "'Lisbeth," "My Bonnie Lady." 6/=
+
+     "An extremely entertaining and sympathetic romance. The Misses
+     Green are masterly characterisations, and so are Ruth's fascinating
+     children."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+The Inn by the Shore. (_Fifteenth Thousand._)
+
+By FLORENCE WARDEN, Author of "The House on the Marsh," etc. 3/6
+
+     "A rattling story, told in a lively way, incident following on
+     incident in rapid succession."--_Daily Chronicle._
+
+
+Judy a Jilt. (_Third Edition._)
+
+By MRS. CONNEY, Author of "A Lady House Breaker," "Gold for
+Dross," etc. 3/6
+
+     "Written in Mrs. Conney's happiest manner 'Judy a Jilt' is a
+     telling story throughout."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+The Tone King. (_Third Edition._)
+
+A Romance of the Life of Mozart By Heribert Rau. Translated by J. E. S.
+Rae. With specially engraved Portrait of Mozart. 6/=
+
+     "A lively story. The narrative of his achievements as a boy and
+     man, deftly built up to completeness by Mr. Heribert Rau, is
+     delightful reading throughout."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+     "Full of fire and musical passion."--_Literary World._
+
+
+Over One Hundred Thousand Copies Sold in America.
+
+
+The Golden Dog (LE CHIEN D'OR). (_Third Edition._)
+
+A Romance of the days of Louis Quinze in Quebec. By William
+Kirby, F.R.S.C. 6/=
+
+     "Brimful of interest and excitement, the novel may be read with
+     pleasure, and finished with regret."--_Sheffield Independent._
+
+
+Memory Street.
+
+By MARTHA BAKER DUNN, Author of "Sleeping Beauty," "Lias'
+Wife," etc. 6/=
+
+     "This charming story is not only one of daily actions, but of
+     important epochs. The novel is bright and alert, the personages are
+     natural, the story is graphic and true to the very last."--_Boston
+     Times._
+
+
+God's Rebel.
+
+By HULBERT FULLER, Author of "Vivian of Virginia."
+
+     "A book ... palpitating with intensity."--_St. Paul's Despatch._
+
+     "Most interesting throughout."--_Albany Times._
+
+
+The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore. (_Thirtieth Thousand._)
+
+A Farcical Novel. By HAL GODFREY (Miss C. O'Conor Eccles). 6/=
+
+     "A lightsome, laughable farce.... Some delightfully grotesque
+     situations. The humour of the book is most enjoyable."--_Daily
+     Mail._
+
+     "Is the clever expansion of a clever idea. Well written, drawn to
+     the life, and full of fun."--_Black and White._
+
+
+The Man Who Forgot. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of the "Prodigal's Brother," "Sinners
+Twain," etc. With a special Photogravure Portrait of the Author. 6/=
+
+     "An exciting tale ... distinctly a book to read and enjoy."--_Daily
+     Mail._
+
+     "A vigorous and exciting story. Some part of the action of the book
+     is laid in Java, and the catastrophe of Krakatoa is described with
+     a vividness that makes real to us that appalling upheaving of
+     Nature."--_Daily News._
+
+The Poor Plutocrats. (AS WE GROW OLD.) (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a fine
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "Distinctly a novel of incident and adventure, the whole atmosphere
+     is fresh and new; the ways of life, the people of those curious
+     towns and villages and lonely mountains, are a revelation and a
+     novelty. Put before us by the pen of a master like Jokai, the
+     effect is to stir and interest in an unusual degree."--_Daily
+     Chronicle._
+
+
+The Day of Wrath. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated from the Hungarian by R. Nisbet
+Bain. With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "It is wildly exciting--having once begun you cannot stop, but must
+     go hurtling on to the end. The descriptive passages are remarkably
+     vivid and lucid."--_Black and White._
+
+
+Dr. Dumany's Wife. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by F. Steinitz (under the author's
+personal supervision). With specially engraved Photogravure Portrait of
+Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "With kaleidoscopic rapidity, scene after scene passes before us.
+     The novel shows us in a high degree the craft of the
+     story-teller."--_Literature._
+
+
+The Nameless Castle. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by S. E. Boggs (under the author's
+personal supervision). With a Photogravure Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "Told with infinite delicacy and charm, an enthralling
+     romance."--_The Bookman._
+
+
+Debts of Honor. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by A. B. Yolland. With a charming
+Photogravure Portrait of Dr. and Madame Jokai.
+
+     "Full of life and incident. Jokai's inimitable pen, vivid, fiery,
+     humorous, never fails to stir and attract."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+'Midst the Wild Carpathians. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MAURUS JOKAI. Translated by R. Nisbet Bain. With a specially
+engraved Portrait of Dr. Jokai.
+
+     "Will enthral all English lovers of romance."--_Saturday Review._
+
+     "It is powerful, it is vigorous, and, what is more than all, it is
+     fresh."--_The Sun._
+
+Cherry Ripe. (_35th Thousand._)
+
+By HELEN MATHERS, Author of "Comin' thro' the Rye." 3/6
+
+     "It has humour, it has poetry, it has dramatic force.... Must take
+     rank amongst our stronger and more original fiction."--_Newcastle
+     Daily Leader._
+
+
+NEW UNIFORM EDITION BY HELEN MATHERS.
+
+_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3/6 each._
+
+The Story of a Sin. (_Seventh Edition._)
+
+Eyre's Acquittal. (SEQUEL TO THE ABOVE.) (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+Jock o' Hazelgreen. (_Fifth Edition._)
+
+My Lady Green Sleeves. (_Seventh Edition._)
+
+Found Out. (_103rd Thousand._)
+
+The Lovely Malincourt. (_Sixth Edition._)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Miss Providence. (_Fourth Edition._)
+
+By MISS DOROTHEA GERARD. 3/6
+
+     "A story to be read with genuine pleasure."--_Weekly Sun._
+
+
+The Winds of March. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By GEORGE KNIGHT. 3/6
+
+     "A clever story, cleverly told, and exceedingly well worth
+     reading."--_Hearth and Home._
+
+
+The Prodigal's Brother. (_Second Edition._)
+
+By JOHN MACKIE, Author of "The Man Who Forgot," etc. 3/6
+
+     "His characters are well defined ... a book well worth
+     reading."--_Daily Mail._
+
+     "An excellent story."--_Bookman._
+
+Hungarian Literature:
+
+An Historical and Critical Survey.
+
+By EMIL REICH (Doctor Juris),
+
+_Author of "History of Civilization," "Historical Atlas of Modern
+History," "Graeco-Roman Institutions," etc._
+
+Crown 8vo. Cloth, Gilt Top, 6s.
+
+With Map of Hungary.
+
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+     Daily Chronicle--
+
+     "A work of no small merit and ability. It supplies a long-felt
+     want. Dr. Reich has evidently read up his subject with care and
+     conscientiousness, and displays no small ability in marshalling an
+     immense array of facts. He has presented us with an exceedingly
+     lucid and pregnant account of one of the most original and
+     fascinating literatures of Europe."
+
+     Sunday Times--
+
+     "Dr. Reich has done us a very real service, and his work should be
+     widely known, and take a permanent place among our literary
+     reference books."
+
+     The Globe--
+
+     "It should be in great demand among those who desire to add to
+     their knowledge of European poetry and fiction."
+
+     Academy--
+
+     "An excellent piece of work, lucid, and well proportioned,
+     displaying considerable critical faculty and great historical
+     knowledge."
+
+     Bookseller--
+
+     "We hope the volume will find a wide circulation among educated
+     English readers."
+
+
+"Thomas Moore":
+
+_Being Anecdotes, Bon-mots, and Epigrams from the Journal of Thomas
+Moore._
+
+Edited, with Notes, by WILMOT HARRISON, Author of "Memorable
+London Houses," etc. With Special Introduction by RICHARD
+GARNETT, LL.D., and Frontispiece Portrait of Thomas Moore.
+
+Crown 8vo. Cloth neat, 3/6.
+
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
+
+     The Morning Leader--
+
+     "No happier beginning could have been made than by the anecdotes,
+     bon-mots, and epigrams from the 'Journal of Thomas Moore.' The fame
+     of Moore as a poet has sadly diminished since his death. All the
+     more, therefore, as Mr. Richard Garnett, in his scholarly
+     introduction demands, should we be glad to preserve his name and
+     fame as a raconteur, a story-teller who carries us irresistibly
+     back to the very atmosphere breathed by Byron and Washington
+     Irving."
+
+     Literature--
+
+     "Mr. Garnett's introduction gives a delightful picture of the man
+     and his social charm. The collection is a storehouse of good things
+     said by men noted for the brilliance of their conversation. Much
+     pleasure can be extracted, and no small knowledge of an intensely
+     social period."
+
+     Pall Mall Gazette--
+
+     "Every one of the pages has sparkle and animation in it, Moore knew
+     everybody worth knowing in his time, and he introduces us to men
+     who have taken their places in history--not by any formidable
+     description, but with an enjoyable joke and a good-natured story."
+
+
+The "GREENBACK" Series
+
+OF
+
+_Popular Novels_
+
+BY AUTHORS OF THE DAY.
+
+_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, neat, 3s. 6d. each._
+
+
+HELEN MATHERS.
+
+  CHERRY RIPE! (21)
+  THE STORY OF A SIN. (22)
+  EYRE'S ACQUITTAL. (23)
+  JOCK O' HAZELGREEN. (24)
+  MY LADY GREEN SLEEVES. (25)
+  FOUND OUT. (26)
+  THE LOVELY MALINCOURT. (39)
+
+
+CURTIS YORKE.
+
+  THAT LITTLE GIRL. (8)
+  DUDLEY. (9)
+  THE WILD RUTHVENS. (10)
+  THE BROWN PORTMANTEAU. (11)
+  HUSH! (12)
+  ONCE! (13)
+  A ROMANCE OF MODERN LONDON. (14)
+  HIS HEART TO WIN. (15)
+  DARRELL CHEVASNEY. (16)
+  BETWEEN THE SILENCES. (17)
+  A RECORD OF DISCORDS. (20)
+  THE MEDLICOTTS. (27)
+  VALENTINE. (57)
+
+
+MRS. LEITH ADAMS.
+
+  LOUIS DRAYCOTT. (1)
+  GEOFFREY STIRLING. (2)
+  BONNIE KATE. (3)
+  A GARRISON ROMANCE. (40)
+  MADELON LEMOINE. (46)
+  THE PEYTON ROMANCE. (18)
+
+
+MAY CROMMELIN.
+
+  FOR THE SAKE OF THE FAMILY. (49)
+  BAY RONALD. (50)
+  LOVE KNOTS. (59)
+
+
+J. S. FLETCHER.
+
+  OLD LATTIMER'S LEGACY. (7)
+
+
+ROWLAND GREY.
+
+  BY VIRTUE OF HIS OFFICE. (44)
+  THE POWER OF THE DOG. (53)
+
+
+MRS. HERBERT MARTIN.
+
+  LINDSAY'S GIRL. (32)
+  BRITOMART. (45)
+
+
+JOHN MACKIE.
+
+  THE PRODIGAL'S BROTHER. (51)
+
+
+DOROTHEA GERARD.
+
+  MISS PROVIDENCE. (56)
+
+
+IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
+
+  A NEW OTHELLO. (4)
+
+
+SOMERVILLE GIBNEY.
+
+  THE MAID OF LONDON BRIDGE. (5)
+
+
+T. W. SPEIGHT.
+
+  THE HEART OF A MYSTERY. (28)
+  IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT. (43)
+
+
+MAJOR NORRIS PAUL.
+
+  EVELINE WELLWOOD. (6)
+
+
+MRS. BAGOT HARTE.
+
+  WRONGLY CONDEMNED. (33)
+
+
+LINDA GARDINER.
+
+  MRS. WYLDE. (36)
+
+
+AGNES MARCHBANK.
+
+  RUTH FARMER. (38)
+
+
+MRS. H. H. PENROSE.
+
+  THE LOVE THAT NEVER DIES. (48)
+
+
+MRS. CONNEY.
+
+  JUDY A JILT. (54)
+
+
+DR. PHILPOT CROWTHER.
+
+  THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. (58)
+
+
+SCOTT GRAHAM.
+
+  A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. (42)
+  THE GOLDEN MILESTONE. (19)
+
+
+ESME STUART.
+
+  HARUM SCARUM. (41)
+
+
+MRS. A. PHILLIPS.
+
+  MAN PROPOSES. (29)
+
+
+MRS. E. NEWMAN.
+
+  THE LAST OF THE HADDONS. (30)
+
+
+EASTWOOD KIDSON.
+
+  ALLANSON'S LITTLE WOMAN (31)
+
+
+MARGARET MOULE.
+
+  THE THIRTEENTH BRYDAIN. (34)
+
+
+ELEANOR HOLMES.
+
+  THROUGH ANOTHER MAN'S EYES. (35)
+
+
+E. M. DAVY.
+
+  A PRINCE OF COMO. (37)
+
+
+MARGARET PARKER.
+
+  THE DESIRE OF THEIR HEARTS. (47)
+
+
+HADLEY WELFORD.
+
+  WHOSE DEED? (51)
+
+
+GEO. KNIGHT.
+
+  THE WINDS OF MARCH. (55)
+
+_Others in Preparation._
+
+
+Jarrold & Sons, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALIL THE PEDLAR***
+
+
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