of some
wonderful tobacco, the host keeping up the traditional Turkish custom
of puffing half a minute or so before the guests.

When they had puffed away in silence for some little time, the servants
returned.

One of them carried a crimson napkin, richly embroidered with gold,
thrown over his left shoulder.

And others carried a coffee tray, upon which were cups of elegant
filagree work.

Each of the guests were presented with a cup of coffee--not very nice
according to our notions, being thick, unstrained and unsweetened.

Yet the Turks are considered the only people who really understand the
art of making coffee.

This disposed of, the servants retired.

"Now," says the host, "that's just what ye'll have to do when you go up
to the Konaki, to be, so to speak, presented at court. When you go
visiting his excellency the pasha on any business, no matter how
pressing it may be, you mustn't speak of it until the pipes and the
coffee have been got through. You have only to observe this little
customary bit of etiquette, and all will go on merrily as a marriage
bell."

"Have you ever seen the pasha yourself?" asked Jack.

"Often."

"What's he like?"

"Every inch a gentleman."

This rather surprised them.

"Now let's come off, and you shall see over the Konaki."

CHAPTER LXIX.

THE JOYS OF THE SERAGLIO--A GROUP OF PEEPING THOMASES--THE CIRCASSIAN
SLAVES--TINKER AND BOGEY ARE IN FOR IT--THE ALARM--ATTEMPTED
RESCUE--AWAY WITH THEM--THE IRISHMAN TELLS A FEW WHITE ONES TO A
PURPOSE.

The slipper merchant had selected a favourable moment for their visit
to the Konaki.

The pasha--or to speak more correctly, the pasha's deputy, for it was
the deputy that had imposed upon the poor orphan--was absent from the
house temporarily, and so they were able to walk about whither they
listed, thanks to the backstairs influence of which their friend and
guide had boasted.

The head of the pasha's household was the person to whom they owed this
unusual privilege.

There was not a great deal to see in the Konaki now that they were
there, and their visit would probably have been cut very short had they
not been attracted by sounds of distant music just as they were upon
the point of leaving.

"What's that?" said Jack.

"That's from the seraglio," returned their conductor; "some Circassian
girls that have just been sent as a present to the pasha are very
clever dancers, it is said."

Jack pricked up his