He must be prevented from uniting with Taher. The two united would be a fearful combination against me."

He instructs the defterdar to go in person to Mohammed Ali to request him to come to the viceroy. "We cannot pay the troops, but we can find enough to pay the general's salary."

Cousrouf Pacha takes from his own private funds ten purses of gold- pieces. He carries them himself to the apartment in which be intends to receive the sarechsme.

In the mean while the minister of finance had, in accordance with the viceroy's instructions, repaired with great haste to the palace in which the sarechsme resided. A body of Albanian soldiers were encamped about the palace. They called themselves the body-guard of the sarechsme. The heart of the finance minister throbbed with dismay when he beheld their daring, resolute faces.

"If this is the sarechsme's body-guard, then woe to the viceroy!" said he to himself, as he ascended the stairway that led to the general's apartment. With a trembling voice and humble demeanor, he delivered the viceroy's message to the general.

"He begs you to come to him. He wishes to be reconciled to you; he will himself hand you the arrearages of pay. But I entreat you, come without your great suite--it might be wrongly interpreted. I mean well with you; I am your friend. Do not come with your body-guard, sarechsme."

"We two should understand each other better," replied Mohammed, smiling derisively. "You tremble for me. I thank you, but see, I am not trembling at all myself. He who pursues an honest course and is faithful to his master and his service, has no occasion to tremble. This you shall see, for I intend to go to the viceroy entirely alone. Only my men shall at least know where I have gone, that is all. Come!"

With a haughty smile, the defterdar following, he descended the broad stairway of his palace, and cordially greeted the soldiers standing about the gateway, who received him with shouts of joy.