“It is amazing,” the King declared. “Was no provocation given? Were the Turks unarmed?”
Effenden Pascha was clear on both points. They were simply a party of surveyors accompanied by a few soldiers. They were set upon without the slightest warning.
“It is strange,” the King remarked, “that I should have heard nothing of this. It is stranger still, Effenden Pascha, that in my own capital you should first have received tidings of such gravity.”
The yellow-skinned Turk did not flinch. He bore the thrust without the least sign of disquietude.
“I myself,” he announced, “heard only by telegrams from Bekal ten minutes ago. One of the survivors galloped post-haste thither immediately after the affair. I have hastened to present the demands of my master the Sultan.”
“You lose no time,” Ughtred remarked, quietly.
The Turk shrugged his shoulders.
“The affair is of great importance,” he said. “My master will demand the execution of capital punishment upon all the leaders, and an indemnity of ten million piastres.”
“Your august master,” Ughtred remarked, “has lost no time in formulating his demands. My reply to you is this. Immediately I learn the details of the affair I will consider your proposal.”