Halil the Pedlar | Page 4

lungs, for he could roar like a buffalo, and not content with roaring, he kept thundering at the doors of all the houses he passed with his fists.
"Alas! worthy Mussulman, I suppose this is some good-humoured Janissary, eh?" stammered the new-comer with a terrified voice.
"Not a doubt of it. A peace-loving man would not think of making such a bellowing as that."
"Would it not be as well to turn back?"
"We might meet a pair of them if we went another way. Take this lesson from me: Never turn back from the path you have once taken, as otherwise you will only plunge into still greater misfortunes."
Meanwhile they were drawing nearer and nearer to the bellowing gentleman, and before long his figure came full into view.
And certainly his figure was in every respect worthy of his voice. He was an enormous, six-foot high, herculean fellow, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, and the disorderly appearance of his dolman and the crooked cock of his turban more than justified the suspicion that he had already taken far more than was good for him of that fluid which the Prophet has forbidden to all true believers.
"Gel, gel! Ne mikt��r dir, gel!" ("Come along the whole lot of you!") roared the Janissary with all his might, staggering from one side of the lane to the other, and flourishing his naked rapier in the air.
"Woe is me, my brave Mussulman!" faltered the Wallachian butcher in a terrified whisper, "wouldn't it be as well if you were to take my stick, for he might observe that I had it, and fancy I want to fight him with it."
The Turk took over the stick of the butcher as the latter seemed to be frightened of it.
"H'm! this stick of yours is not a bad one. I see that the head of it is well-studded with knobs, and that it is weighted with lead besides. What a pity you don't know how to make use of it!"
"I am only too glad if people will let me live in peace."
"Very well, hide behind me, and come along boldly, and when you pass him don't so much as look at him."
The Wallachian desired nothing better, but the Janissary had already caught sight of him from afar, and as, clinging fast to his guide's mantle, he was about to slip past the man of war, the Janissary suddenly barred the way, seized him by the collar with his horrible fist, and dragged the wretched creature towards him.
"Khair evetlesszin domusz!" ("Not so fast, thou swine!") "a word in thine ear! I have just bought me a yataghan. Stretch forth thy neck! I would test my weapon upon thee and see whether it is sharp."
The poor fellow was already half-dead with terror. With the utmost obsequiousness he at once began unfastening his neck-cloth, whimpering at the same time something about his four little children: what would become of them when they had nobody to care for them.
But his conductor intervened defiantly.
"Take yourself off, you drunken lout, you! How dare you lay a hand upon my guest. Know you not that he who harms the guest of a true believer is accursed?"
"Na, na, na!" laughed the Janissary mockingly, "are you mad, my worthy Balukji, that you bandy words with the flowers of the Prophet's garden, with Begtash's sons, the valiant Janissaries? Get out of my way while you are still able to go away whole, for if you remain here much longer, I'll teach you to be a little more obedient."
"Let my guest go in peace, I say, and then go thine own way also!"
"Why, what ails you, worthy Mussulman? Has anyone offended thee? Mashallah! what business is it of thine if I choose to strike off the head of a dog? You can pick up ten more like him in the street any time you like."
The Turk, perceiving that it would be difficult to convince a drunken man by mere words, drew nearer to him, and grasped the hand that held the yataghan.
"What do you want?" cried the Janissary, fairly infuriated at this act of temerity.
"Come! Go thy way!"
"Do you know whose hand thou art grasping? My name is Halil."
"Mine also is Halil."
"Mine is Halil Pelivan--Halil the Wrestler!"
"Mine is Halil Patrona."
By this time the Janissary was beside himself with rage at so much opposition.
"Thou worm! thou crossed-leg, crouching huckster, thou pack-thread pedlar! if thou dost not let me go immediately, I will cut off thy hands, thy feet, thine ears, and thy nose, and then hang thee up."
"And if thou leave not go of my guest, I will fell thee to the earth with this stick of mine."
"What, thou wilt fell me? Me? A fellow like thou threaten to strike Halil Pelivan with a stick? Strike away then, thou dog, thou