“This is not enough,” said Hassan; “where is the yuzbashi[[116]] who commands the guard? Let him also come forward.” That functionary had hitherto remained a distant spectator of the scene; but he was now urged forward by some of his own men to the spot where Hassan stood, who shouted as they advanced, “Proof! proof! we want proof!”
“Are you one of those,” said Hassan, fixing a stern and penetrating look on the yuzbashi, “who have taken a share of these brave men’s pay, and withheld it in order to induce them to revolt?”
“I?” said the astonished yuzbashi. “No, Wallah! No pay have I seen myself for a year. See the holes in my shoes, and these ragged clothes; do these look like robbing the pay of my men? By the beard of my father, it is the Government who have robbed me and them of our due! But who, in the name of the Prophet, are you who are haranguing my men, and questioning me as if you were a miralai [general]?”
“I applaud your spirit,” replied Hassan frankly. “My name is Hassan Ebn-el-Heràm, my voice has no authority excepting that of truth, and I have no motive but to prove to these brave men who they are who have wronged and betrayed them. Canst read, yuzbashi?”
“Ay, Wallah! that can I. For two years was I clerk in a divan before I entered the army.”
“Well, then, read that aloud to your men,” said Hassan, placing a paper before him.
As the yuzbashi read the contents all the words in Turkish which correspond to “cheat,” “rogue,” “traitor,” and “scoundrel” burst in succession from his half-closed lips.
“What is it? what is it?” shouted a score of impatient voices at once.
“It is a receipt in full showing that the Paymaster has regularly placed in the hands of Ali Bey the whole amount of pay due to you up to last month. And here is Ali Bey’s seal at the bottom. I can swear to it, as I have often to countersign papers bearing his seal.”
Curses on Ali Bey’s father, mother, and all his ancestors, now issued in torrents from the lips of the indignant assemblage; and not the least loud in venting maledictions was the yuzbashi who had been unjustly suspected of sharing in the peculation of his superiors.