Halil the Pedlar Part 23

"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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sembled 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 grat.i.tude 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 amba.s.sadors."

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 pet.i.tion 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 p.r.o.nounce 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."