"
And Halil believed that he held it fast in his grasp.
The highest officers of state were his friends and colleagues, the
Sultan himself was under obligations to him, for indeed Halil had
fetched him from the dungeon of the Seven Towers to place him on the
throne.
And at that very moment they were digging the snare for him into which
he was to fall.
The Sultan who could not endure the thought that he was under a debt of
gratitude to a poor oppressed pedlar, the Sultana who could never
forget the humiliation she had suffered because of Guel-Bejaze, the
Kizlar-Aga who feared the influence of Halil, the Grand Vizier who had
been compelled to eat humble pie--all of them had long been waiting for
an occasion to ruin him.
* * * * *
One day the Sultan distributed thirty wagon-loads of money among the
forty thousand Janissaries and the sixteen thousand Topadshis in the
capital because they had proposed to be reconciled with the Seraglio and
reassemble beneath the banner of the Prophet. The insurgent mob,
moreover, promised to disperse under two conditions: a complete amnesty
for past offences, and permission to retain two of their banners that
they might be able to assemble together again in case anything was
undertaken against them. Their requests were all granted. Halil Patrona,
too, was honoured by being made one of the privy councillors of the
Divan.
Seven-and-twenty of the popular leaders were invited at the same time to
appear in the Divan and assist in its deliberations.
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