And now the pen wrote a long row of letters, and this was the purport thereof, "A great danger from the East, a greater from the West, a greater still from the North, and here at home the greatest of all."
"Where will the Faithful fight?" asked the Sultan.
"In the whole realm!" was the reply.
"Near which towns?"
"Near every town and within every town."
"How long will the war last?"
"Nine years."
It was now the year eighteen hundred and twenty, and there was not a sign of danger at any point of the vast boundaries of the Turkish empire.
The Sultan permitted himself one more question: "Tell me, shall I triumph in these wars?"
The pen replied, "Thou wilt not."