We ate the fruit and drank the wine, and when the Jew returned nothing was left upon the dish but a few cores and the skeleton of the grape bunch. Yet he was not at all distressed at this, and smiled radiantly as he led us back to the mean counting house. And here we stared; for on the table a mass of gold coin lay neatly stacked beside a number of sealed leather bags. The Jew evidently misunderstood our astonishment, for rubbing his hands together in some embarrassment he said, “Ten was the sum mentioned, was it not? Ten thousand ducats in silver are equal by statute to six hundred thousand aspers. But at today’s exchange rate only five hundred and forty thousand when changing gold to silver, and five hundred and seventy thousand, silver to gold. I take as a rule one asper per ducat for costs and charges. So I give you five hundred and forty aspers in silver. By changing this to gold at the current rate you receive nine thousand, four hundred and seventy-three ducats, and thirty-nine aspers in silver. One asper per ducat for charges comes to one hundred and seventy-five ducats and twenty-three aspers. Your net total is therefore nine thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight ducats and sixteen aspers, and I have laid this sum on the table. Pray be so good as to count it yourselves, and note that each of the sealed bags contains five hundred ducats. As a matter of form, sir, I would ask you to sign this lease. I trust your word entirely, but I’m an old man and may die at any time, and your life too is one of hazard.”
Andy said sulkily, “You wouldn’t make a fool of me, good father?”
The Jew tore his beard and said in some heat, “Sir, such cheese paring is unworthy of you! I am entitled to reckon my charges at the rate of fifty-four aspers to the ducat, though you pay fifty-seven. The difference amounts to only five hundred and twenty-five aspers, and a distinguished gentleman like yourself should think shame to accuse me of dishonesty for such a trifle.”
Andy said, “No, no. But I have little head for figures, so you must round off the sum to nine thousand three hundred ducats, and I will gladly acknowledge the receipt of ten thousand ducats for a year’s lease of my sheep.”
With a sigh the Jew took sixteen aspers from the table and replaced them with two worn gold ducats which I perceived at once to be underweight. The coins on the table were all newly-minted and whole, however, and so I willingly forgave him this slight deception.
Andy asked me to read the contract aloud to him, and we found it to be fully in accordance with what had been agreed, and though nothing was mentioned as to the care of the livestock, the Jew pointed out that it would be to his own interest to take good care of the farms, for he hoped that next year the contract might be renewed on slightly better terms for another five or ten years. Our eyes were by this time fully open to the excellent stroke of business Andy had unwittingly done in dragging that poor little wench from the gutters of Vienna and making her his wife.
But our dealings with the Jew were not yet over, for though I guessed that King Zapolya and Master Gritti would prefer ready money, the Grand Vizier at least must be offered something more personal, and for this no one could have given us better advice than the sagacious Jew. Such things as precious stones, ornaments, saddles, and damascened gold harnesses the Grand Vizier already had in abundance, so something entirely special must be found. At last Andy bought from the Jew a most marvelous clock of Niirnberg make, which struck both hours and quarters. It showed also the day, the month, and the year, and would thus be of great advantage to an absent-minded person, though unfortunately it was based on the Christian measurement of time. However, we guessed that because of his wars and other dealings with European countries the Grand Vizier might be glad to keep count of the Christian reckoning.
This clock was so complicated and so ingeniously built that I could not understand how a human brain could have devised it. The case was of beautiful workmanship, and the Jew contrived to set it going long enough for us to see how at each hour a little secret door flew open and a smith, followed by a priest and a knight in full armor, stepped forth to strike the hour on a little silver bell, and then disappeared through another door on the opposite side of the clock.
Its only fault was that it did not go, and the watchmaker to whom it had been sent for repair had been sold into slavery by the Turks. Nevertheless the Jew hoped he might yet be found, and we could then give him to the Grand Vizier with the clock, to regulate it and keep it going. Because the mechanism was for the present out of order the Jew sold us this treasure for only twelve hundred ducats, which Andy gladly paid, and we then took a cordial leave of this wealthy man.
When after a great deal of difficulty we were able to trace the clock- maker, Andy paid no less than sixty ducats for him, without bargaining, though there was little left of him but skin and beard. In his free-handedness he even gave the old fellow new clothes, and after a bellyful of food the man wept copious tears, tried to kiss Andy’s hands, and blessed him as his benefactor. He at once set to work on the clock, declaring that he knew its caprices, and even without the necessary instruments and parts was able to make it work well enough to convince the Grand Vizier of its surpassing excellence. He swore by the saints that once in Istanbul he would make this timepiece the marvel of the Seraglio and would devote the rest of his life to tending it. Thus it was that the clock secured him a carefree existence as the Grand Vizier’s slave.
We now ordered four strong slaves to carry it carefully to Ibrahim’s tent, where the clockmaker set it going; the Grand Vizier marveled greatly at it and thanked Andy for the princely gift. I fancy Andy rose notably in the Grand Vizier’s esteem, for as a further mark of favor Ibrahim sent him and his wife two magnificently caparisoned saddle horses and provided an escort of a hundred spahis to attend them to their estate.
Andy, having now done everything possible to secure his position, made ready to leave for the Transilvanian border. When I saw that in his black ingratitude he was forgetting me, his unmerited successes smarted within me and I said, “The frog puffed himself up until he burst. The money is yours; you can throw it down the jakes if you wish. But your coldness to me is very wounding, and I think you owe a morsel of consideration to one who is all but your own brother, and whom alone you have to thank for your prosperity.”
My words and my unfeigned tears brought Andy to a better frame of mind, and as icy winds chased the snow clouds over the towers of Buda, we seemed transported to our own land. We wept on one another’s breast; we swore that nothing in the world should sever our friendship and that we should be godfathers to one another’s children. When at last we parted Andy pressed upon me a thousand ducats, saying that even this sum was but slight acknowledgment of my long and faithful friendship.
We had by now reached the end of October. The Sultan ordered the camp to be struck and the janissaries with many forebodings began the long march home. Before we left Buda, the Grand Vizier summoned me and Father Julianus once more to a nocturnal discussion and said, “It may be that you’re right, Michael el-Hakim, and are more familiar with German religious questions than I am. King Zapolya’s secret representative at the court of Margrave Philip reports that the heretic prophets have met in Marburg, the capital of Hesse, but that after a couple of days’ debate they separated in open hostility without having reached a single agreement. It seems that Luther and Zwingli did nothing but accuse one another of error and arrogance. I therefore agree to your plan, Michael el-Hakim, and will send you to the German states to sow even more bitter dissension among the Protestants and so draw them nearer Islam.”