At this precise moment Heaven sent him a friend to console and aid him
in his vengeance, a Christian from AEtolia, Paleopoulo by name. This man
was on the point of establishing himself in Russian Bessarabia, when he
met Pacho Bey and joined with him in the singular coalition which was to
change the fate of the Tepelenian dynasty.

Paleopoulo reminded his companion in misfortune of a memorial presented
to the Divan in 1812, which had brought upon Ali a disgrace from which
he only escaped in consequence of the overwhelming political events
which just then absorbed the attention of the Ottoman Government. The
Grand Seigneur had sworn by the tombs of his ancestors to attend to the
matter as soon as he was able, and it was only requisite to remind him
of his vow. Pacho Bey and his friend drew up a new memorial, and knowing
the sultan's avarice, took care to dwell on the immense wealth possessed
by Ali, on his scandalous exactions, and on the enormous sums diverted
from the Imperial Treasury. By overhauling the accounts of his
administration, millions might be recovered. To these financial
considerations Pacho Bey added some practical ones. Speaking as a man
sure of his facts and well acquainted with the ground, he pledged his
head that with twenty thousand men he would, in spite of Ali's troops
and strongholds, arrive before Janina without firing a musket.

However good these plans appeared, they were by no means to the taste
of the sultan's ministers, who were each and all in receipt of large
pensions from the man at whom they struck. Besides, as in Turkey it is
customary for the great fortunes of Government officials to be absorbed
on their death by the Imperial Treasury, it of course appeared easier
to await the natural inheritance of Ali's treasures than to attempt
to seize them by a war which would certainly absorb part of them.
Therefore, while Pacho Bey's zeal was commended, he obtained only
dilatory answers, followed at length by a formal refusal.

Meanwhile, the old AEtolian, Paleopoulo, died, having prophesied the
approaching Greek insurrection among his friends, and pledged Pacho Bey
to persevere in his plans of vengeance, assuring him that before long
Ali would certainly fall a victim to them. Thus left alone, Pacho,
before taking any active steps in his work of vengeance, affected to
give himself up to the strictest observances of the Mohammedan religion.
Ali, who had established a most minute surveillance o