atal night; the
next day his dead body lay in the house of the Sultan.

Across the floor of jasper, in that palace which was a fitting residence
for one rightly known as "The Magnificent," the blood of Ibrahim flowed
to the feet of Roxalana. The disordered clothing, the terrible
expression of the face of the dead man, the gaping wounds which he had
received, bore witness that there had taken place a grim struggle
before that iron frame and splendid intellect had been leveled with the
dust. This much leaked out afterwards, as such things will leak out, and
then the Sultana took Soliman into her chamber and gazed up into his
eyes. The man was stunned by the immensity of the calamity which had
befallen him and his kingdom, but his manhood availed him not against
the wiles of this Circe. Ibrahim had been foully done to death in his
own palace, and this woman clinging so lovingly round his neck now was
the murderess. The heart's blood of his best friend was coagulating on
the threshold of his own apartment when he forgave her by whom his
murder had been accomplished. This was the vengeance of Roxalana, and
who shall say that it was not complete?

The Ottoman Empire was the poorer by the loss of its greatest man, the
jealousy of the Sultana was assuaged, the despot who had permitted this
unavenged murder was still on the throne, thrall to the woman who had
first murdered his son and then his friend and minister. But the deed
carried with it the evil consequences which were only too likely to
occur when so capable a head of the State was removed at so critical a
time. Renewed strife was in the air, and endless squabbles between
Venice and the Porte were taking place. With these we have no concern,
but, in addition to other complaints, there were loud and continuous
ones concerning the corsairs. Venice, "The Bride of the Sea," had
neither rest nor peace; the pirates swarmed in Corfu, in Zante, in
Candia, in Cephalonia, and the plunder and murder of the subjects of the
Republic was the theme of the perpetual representations to the Sultan.
The balance of advantage in this guerilla warfare was with the corsairs
until Girolame Canale, a Venetian captain, seized one of the Moslem
leaders known as "The Young Moor of Alexandria." The victory of Canale
was somewhat an important one as he captured the galley of "The Young
Moor" and four others; two more were sunk, and three hundred Janissaries
and one thousand slaves fell into the hand