d, and summoned
the rebels to disperse and return to the allegiance of the sacred
banner. The rebels drowned his speech in curses, and above the curses
rose the thundering voice of Kara Makan hounding on the fanatical mob
against the destroyers of the faith of Osman.

"Wipe out these new ordinances, give up the heads of the godless ones
who signed their names below the khat-i-sherif--to wit the Janissary
Aga, the Grand Vizier, the chief mufti, and Nedjib Effendi! This is
what the ortas of the Janissaries demand and their honest
confederates, the Jamaki, the Kayikjis, and the Hamaloks, who remain
faithful to the God of the Moslemin."

Thrice did the Derben Aga summon the rebels to surrender, and thrice
did he receive the same answer. They demanded the heads of the
viziers.

Mahmoud's predecessor had, on a similar request, surrendered the heads
of the viziers. Mahmoud broke his sword in two above their heads, and
throwing the broken pieces in the dust, exclaimed:

"Just as I now break in two this sword and nobody shall weld it
together again, so also shall ye be overthrown and none shall raise
you up again."

The next moment the cannons of Ibraham the Infernal thundered forth
their volleys from the Etmeidan. The bombs tore through the rickety
wooden barriers, and through the breach thus made rushed Hussein Pasha
at the head of the akinjis with Thomar Bey by his side.

The appearance of the detested new soldiers was greeted by the
Janissaries with a furious howl, but the very first moment convinced
them that the bayonet was a very much more powerful weapon than the
dirk. Thomar Bey headed the charge in person, making a way for himself
with his bayonet and clearing the ranks of the insurgents like a sharp
wedge.

On this side there was no deliverance, so now, with the fury of
despair, the insurgents flung themselves on the guns of Ibraham Pasha,
three times charging his death-vomiting batteries, and, thrice
recoiling, leaving the ground covered with their corpses, the terrible
grape-shot mowing them down in heaps.

It was all, all over. The flowers of Begtash's garden, vanquished,
humbled by the new soldiers, fled for refuge to the huge quadrangular
barracks which occupied the ground at the rear of the Etmeidan.

Kara Makan did not live to experience that hour of humiliation; a
cannon-ball took off his head so cleanly that his body could only be
identified by his girdle.

Within the walls of the barracks the J