When we had all eaten and drunk, Khaireddin at last came to the point and asked the meaning of the Sultan’s silence. I therefore told him frankly all I had heard in the Seraglio and reminded him that he had needlessly aroused the resentment of the sea pashas and offended even the gentle Piri-reis by deriding his model ships and his sandbox. And he had come too late, I said: the Grand Vizier was in Aleppo and in his absence the pashas gave the Sultan no peace. They told him he stained his honor by taking into his service a ruffianly pirate, when in the arsenal and Seraglio there were many experienced pashas who had served him long and faithfully without thought of reward. Khaireddin ought not to be trusted with war galleys, for he would only make off with them as his brother had done and fight less for the glory of Islam than for his own temporal profit.
I enlarged upon this and did my best to mimic the whining tones of the pashas until Khaireddin flushed, tore his beard, and sprang up exclaiming, “What foolish and wicked accusations! I have never done anything but labor for the greater glory of Islam. These raises in their silken kaftans who sit on dry land and play at battles with their maps and compasses and sandboxes! It would do them good to smell powder and burning pitch now and then. But thanklessness is all our reward in this world.”
At this point Giulia drew aside the curtain and stepped in, wearing her lovely golden-brown velvet dress and a pearl-sewn net over her hair. She feigned alarm, made as if to draw her diaphanous veil across her face, and exclaimed, “Oh, Michael, how you all startled me! Why did you not tell me we had guests-and such welcome guests, too! I couldn’t help overhearing something of what you were saying, and I shall therefore give you a piece of advice. Why do you not appeal to a certain exalted and sympathetic lady who has the Sultan’s ear? If you wish I can speak a word to her on your behalf, provided Khaireddin will beg forgiveness of her for his most wounding and inconsiderate behavior.”
Khaireddin demanded wrathfully how he could have offended Khurrem. He had presented her with ten thousand ducats’ worth of ornaments and fabrics-enough surely for the most pampered and exacting woman. But Giulia shook her head with a smile.
“How stupid you men are! One of Sultana Khurrem’s gowns alone costs ten thousand ducats, and she receives ten times that amount yearly in pin money from the Sultan. Your present is neither here nor there, but she was greatly incensed at the two hundred girls you sent, as if there were not already enough of the useless creatures in the harem, without your pock-marked, squinting scarecrows! The Sultana was obliged to distribute them among the governors of remote provinces. For many years past the Sultan has had no eyes for any woman but Khurrem, so you may fancy how you have hurt her. However, I have spoken on your behalf and assured her that being an uncultured seaman you’ve not yet learned how to behave in the Seraglio.”
Khaireddin was scarlet in the face and his eyes goggled as he cried, “I put my faith in the one God! With the eye of an expert I chose each one of those girls myself; they were lovely as the virgins of Paradise and as pure-that is, generally speaking. Even the most devoted husband may weary of one wife and whet his blunted desires elsewhere, only to return to her with the greater ardor. Yet if Khurrem- sultana is really able to keep her husband’s love to herself alone, then indeed I believe in her power and I’m sure that she can help me to the three horsehair switches that have been promised me.”
“But it was Ibrahim who summoned you hither!” I exclaimed in dismay. “It would be altogether wrong for you to be indebted to Sultana Khurrem for your advancement, and I suspect in this a subtle intrigue to humiliate the Grand Vizier.”
Giulia shook her head and there were tears in her eyes as she replied, “Ah, Michael, how little you trust me, though I’ve told you a thousand times-the Sultana bears no ill will to anyone! She has promised to speak to the Sultan on Khaireddin’s behalf and is willing to receive Khaireddin from behind the curtain. Let us go at once to the Seraglio, that the Kislar-Aga may prepare a reception for Khaireddin and his senior captains-for it would be well for Khaireddin to arrive at the Seraglio with a brilliant retinue, that all may witness the favor he enjoys.”
As Khaireddin’s former slave I went with them to watch developments on the Grand Vizier’s behalf. Our arrival at the Seraglio was unpromising, for the janissaries made scornful gestures and the eunuchs turned their backs, but by the time we took our departure the news had spread. Blessings now rained upon us and the janissaries sitting by their cooking pots sprang up and cheered. It was a plain indication of the influence that Sultana Khurrem now exerted in the Seraglio.
She spoke with Khaireddin from behind the curtain and laughed her rippling laughter. But having flattered him and told him that he was the only adversary worthy of Doria, she chattered on about trivial matters, to my great relief, and ordered her slave women to serve us with fruits preserved in honey. Nevertheless she promised to speak for Khaireddin to the Sultan.
“But,” said she, “the sea pashas are irascible old men, and I would not hurt their feelings. All I can do is to tell my lord of the excellent impression I have of you, great Khaireddin. I will chide him gently for so long neglecting to give you the reward you deserve. He may reply, ‘It was the Grand Vizier’s suggestion, not mine, and the sea pashas in the Divan opposed it.’ Then I shall say, ‘Let the Grand Vizier decide! If having seen Khaireddin he is of the same mind, then bestow at once on the great man the three horsehair switches you promised him, and show him honor.’ The Grand Vizier has full powers and not even a unanimous Divan can reverse his decision.”
I could hardly believe my ears. She was renouncing in favor of the Grand Vizier all the advantages she would have gained had Khaireddin been indebted to her for his promotion. Charmed by her voice and her purling laughter I began to think that jealousy alone had inspired the Grand Vizier’s opinion of this lovely woman.
Accordingly, Khaireddin left for Aleppo, and shortly afterward Abu el-Kasim came to me and rubbing his hands together in some embarrassment he said, “Your enchanting daughter Mirmah is getting her teeth and no doubt will soon cease to suck at that opulent breast. I have a great favor to ask of you, Michael el-Hakim. Will you sell me that round-cheeked nurse and her son? for I feel old age creeping upon me and would gladly have so soft and white a pillow for my head. The boy shall be my heir.”
I was astonished, for from motives of thrift Abu el-Kasim avoided feminine society almost entirely. Nor was I sure whether I could grant his request. I said, “Giulia may not agree to this. And there is another point. I would be loath to hurt your feelings, Abu el-Kasim, but you are after all a dirty, skinny, stringy-bearded old man, while the nurse is in the flower of life. My conscience forbids me to sell her to you against her will.”
Abu el-Kasim sighed and wrung his hands and enlarged upon his passion, and when I asked how he meant to pay for the woman and her son he suggested hopefully that we might effect an exchange.
“I will give you my deaf-mute whom you’ve always coveted. That scar on your head should remind you how conscientious a watchman he is, and you will never regret the bargain.”
I burst into a fit of laughter at this idiotic proposal, until it occurred to me that he would never have made it unless he believed me the greatest simpleton Allah ever created. My laughter ceased and I replied with asperity, “Not even on the strength of our friendship should you suggest such a thing. I’m no pander and I refuse to hand over this woman to your senile lust for so paltry a return.”
Abu el-Kasim hastened to explain further.
“But I was in earnest, for my deaf-mute is a treasure of whom I alone know the value. Have you not often seen him sitting among the yellow dogs of the Seraglio and observing all that goes on? When you lived in my house you must also have noticed how queer strangers came to visit him and converse with him. He is not the fool you take him for.”
I did indeed recall a couple of powerful Negroes who sometimes sat with him in the courtyard making rapid signs to him with hands and fingers. Yet such visitors in no way enhanced the value of Abu el- Kasim’s feeble- minded slave, and again I refused sharply even to consider the matter. But Abu el-Kasim, looking about him cautiously, bent forward and whispered, “My slave is a treasure, but only in the neighborhood of the Seraglio. To take him back with me to Tunis would be to bury a diamond in a dunghill. He is as faithful to me as a dog because I’m the only man in the world who has shown him kindness, but you too would gain his devotion by a friendly word or two and a pat on the shoulder. Now you must often have seen three deaf-mutes pacing through the courts of the Seraglio. Their clothes are blood red, and over their shoulders they wear silken nooses of different colors. No one looks them in the face, for their striking dress gives passers-by enough to think about. There are seven in all, and when on duty they walk about in threes. They bring a silent death and even the most exalted pashas tremble at their blood-red clothes and dragging footsteps. Being deaf-mutes they cannot utter a word about their work, but such men can converse among themselves in a language understood by deaf-mutes in all lands. My slave is on good terms with these fellows and they chatter together in sign language to an extent altogether unsuspected by the Sultan. I have taken pains to learn their signs and have acquired much terrible knowledge, though in my position I can make no use of it. But you have won to a high position and the day may soon come when knowledge of what
