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.