The Green Banner waved all by itself in front of the Seraglio. Nobody
assembled beneath it, even the wind disdained to flutter it, languidly
it drooped upon its staff.
The unfurling of the Green Banner on the gate of the Seraglio is a rare
event in history. As a rule it only happens in the time of greatest
danger, for it signifies that the time has come for every true Mussulman
to quit hearth and home, his shop and his plough, snatch up his weapons,
and hasten to the assistance of Allah and his Anointed, and accursed
would be reckoned every male Osmanli who should hesitate at such a time
to lay down his life and his estate at the feet of the Padishah.
Knowing this to be so, imagine then the extremity of terror into which
the dwellers in the Seraglio were plunged when they saw that not a
single soul rallied beneath the exposed banner. The criers promised a
gratuity of thirty piastres to every soldier who hastened to range
himself beneath the banner, and two piastres a day over and above the
usual pay. And some five or six fellows followed them, but as many as
came in on one side went away again on the other, and in the afternoon
not a single soul remained beneath the banner.
Towards evening the banner was hoisted on to the second gate beneath
which were the dormitories of the high officers of state. The generals
meanwhile slept in the Hall of Audience, Damadzadi lay sick in the
apartment of Prince Murad, and the Mufti and the Ulemas remained in the
barracks of the bostanjis.
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