"You have as good as made me a dead man, sir. I must now go back to Stambul with my whole consignment."
"Art thou mad?"
"No, but I shall become bankrupt, if I wait for these gentlemen. Never, sir, can I live in the same part of the world, sir, with those fine fellows, whom may Allah long preserve for the glory of our nation! I have two houses on the opposite shores of the Bosphorus, so that when these noble gentlemen are in Europe I may be in Asia, and when they come to Asia I may sail over to Europe."
"Thou speakest in riddles."
"Then you have not heard the fame of Feriz Beg?"
"I have heard him mentioned as a valiant warrior."
"And how about the brigade of damsels which is wont to follow him into battle?"
Yffim Beg burst out laughing at these words.
"It is easy for you to laugh, sir, for you have never dealt in damsels like me. But you should know that what I tell you is no jest, and Feriz Beg is as great a danger to every man who trades in women as plague or small-pox."
"I never heard of this peculiarity of his."