"If you were not the Sultan now, I would pull you from the bed, as I pulled you from your horse that day," replied the good-natured favorite, making a motion as if to execute the threat.
"You are right," said Mahomet rising. "I am Sultan! Sultan? pshaw! Yet Sultan, surely." He paced the floor in deep agitation, and at length said, "I have a duty to perform, than which I would rather cut off my arms."
"Let me do the deed, though it takes my arm and my life," said Ballaban eagerly.
"You know not what it is, my old comrade."
"But I pledge before I know," was the response which came from stiffened lips and bowed head, as the captain made his obeisance.
The Sultan looked him in the face long and earnestly, and then, turning away, said:
"No! no! there are hands less noble than yours."
"But try me, Sire."
"You know the custom of our ancestors, approved by the wisdom of divans, as an expedient essential to the peace and safety of the empire, that—But I can not speak it: nor will I ask it of you. Leave me, Captain. Come to-morrow at this hour. I shall need the relief of your company then, even more than to-day."