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