Thus a good hour passed away; then at last Haji Baba opened his mouth.
"During the night I saw some skiffs row out towards the island, and I heard the sound of stifled shrieks."
And then they both continued to pull away at their narghiles, and another long hour passed away.
Then Yffim Beg arose, pressed the hand of Haji Baba, and said, just as he was moving off:
"They were the favourite damsels of Hassan Pasha, who had been sewn up in leathern sacks and flung into the water."
Haji Baba shook his head, which signifies with a Turk: I anticipated that.
Not long afterwards the whole host began to assemble below Pesth, encamping on the bank of the Danube; a bridge suddenly sprang into sight, and across it passed army corps, heavy cannons and wagons. First there arrived from Belgrade the Vizier Aga, with a bodyguard of nine thousand men, and pitched their tents on the Rákás; after him followed Ismail Pasha, with sixteen thousand Janissaries, and their tents covered the plain. The Tartar Khan's disorderly hordes, which might be computed at forty thousand, extended over the environs of Vácz; and presently Prince Ghyka also arrived with six thousand horsemen, and along with him the picked troops of the Vizier of Buda; the whole army numbered about one hundred thousand.
So Haji Baba did a roaring trade. There were numerous purchasers among so many Turkish gentlemen; there was something to suit everyone, for the prices were graduated; and Haji thought he might perhaps order up a fresh consignment from his agents at Belgrade, hoping to sell this off rapidly so long as the camp remained. But he very much wanted to know how long the concentration would go on, and how many more gentlemen were still expected to join the host, and with that object he sought out Yffim Beg.
The Beg answered straightforwardly that nearly everyone who had a mind to come was there already. The Prince of Transylvania had treacherously absented himself from the host, and only Kucsuk Pasha and young Feriz Beg's brigades were still expected; without them the army would move no farther.