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.
"It is blood they would drink then," murmured the Chief Mufti in his beard.
"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.
"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."