Naturally there were plenty of persons who carried reports to Kheyr-ed-Din,
and that astute individual soon made up his mind as to the most
advantageous course for him to pursue. With the full concurrence of the
Sultan, he left Constantinople and journeyed to Aleppo to see Ibrahim. The
latter was both cunning and tenacious. Removed from the capital, the tide
of gossip and discontent only reached him at second-hand; but he was not to
be deterred by popular clamour even had he been in the midst of it. None
knew better than he who and what was Barbarossa; in fact, it may be
confidently asserted that none in Constantinople had anything like the same
knowledge of this man and all that concerned him. Ibrahim had not named
Barbarossa to his sovereign without weighing all the pros and cons of the
matter, and that which was now happening in the capital had been fully
anticipated by him. It pleased the Grand Vizier very much that Kheyr-ed-Din
should take this long journey to see him; not from any ridiculous idea that
this was an act of homage due to the dignity of his position--Ibrahim was
far too great a man for such pettiness--but because it enabled him to see
for himself what manner of man was this redoubtable pirate on whom he was
relying to defeat the enemies of the Sublime Porte at sea. The corsair must
have made the most favourable impression possible on the Grand Vizier, as
that statesman wrote to Soliman:
We have put our hands on a veritable man of the sea.
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