To him, it is true, in
his splendour and magnificence, the intrinsic value of that which was
brought to him by Barbarossa mattered but little; but the fact that the
corsair was in a position to do so opened the eyes of the Sultan to the
manner of man with whom he had to deal. Hitherto he had but known of him by
hearsay, as the one Moslem seaman who was likely to be capable of making a
stand against the terrible Doria, who had now become the plague of the
Sultan's existence. He now knew that the man who disposed of such
incredible riches must be, no matter what his moral character, a man who
stood a head and shoulders over any commander in the Ottoman fleet sailing
out of the Golden Horn.
Both materially and psychologically this man somewhat bewildered the
despot: and his _alter ego_, the Grand Vizier, happening to be away on a
mission to Aleppo, Soliman had no one with whom to confer in a strictly
confidential manner; for, after the manner of autocrats, he had but few
familiars, in fact it may be said none at all save the statesman mentioned.
His reception of the corsair lacked, however, nothing in cordiality. He
inquired after the incidents of the voyage, interested himself graciously
in all that he was told concerning Africa and the conflicting claims of
Christian and Moslem in that region, and was generally courteous to his
distinguished visitor. He placed at his disposal a palace and attendants on
a scale commensurate with the state of a reigning sovereign, and sent his
most distinguished generals to confer with Kheyr-ed-Din.
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