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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.
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.
The Chief Mufti did not believe it to be possible to lead the host to battle just then; but he wished it to be withdrawn from Stambul, lest it should be affected by the spirit of rebellion.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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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