The dervish thereupon caused a wooden board to be placed before him on which meats were wont to be carried; then he put upon it an empty glass goblet, and across the glass he laid a thin bamboo cane. Next he wrote upon the wooden board the twenty-nine letters of the Turkish alphabet, and then, thrice prostrating himself to the ground with wide-extended arms, he fixed his eyes steadily upon the centre of the goblet. In about half an hour the goblet began to tinkle as if some one were rubbing his wet finger along its rim. This tinkling grew stronger and stronger, louder and louder, till at last the goblet moved up and down on the wooden board, and began revolving along with the light cane placed across it, revolving at last so rapidly that it was impossible to discern the cane upon it at all. Then, quite suddenly, the dervish raised his fingers from the table, and the goblet immediately stopped. The point of the cane stood opposite the letter _ghain_--G.[7] [Footnote 7: The marvels of our modern table-turning and table-tapping spirits, and all the wonders of this sort, were known to the Arab dervishes long ago.--JÓKAI.] "That signifies the first letter of his name," said the dervish--"G!" And then the mysterious operation was repeated, and the magic stick spelled out the name letter by letter: "G--a--s--k--h--o B--e--y." At the last letter the goblet stopped short and would move no more. "I know no man of that name," said Ali, amazed that he whose name was so world-renowned was to tremble before one whose name he had never heard before. "Where does the fellow live?" he inquired of the dervish. The magic jugglery was set going again, and now the dancing goblet spelled out the name, "Stambul." That was enough. Ali beckoned to the eunuchs to take the dervish away again. Ali thereupon summoned forty Albanian soldiers from the garrison, and gave to each one of them twenty ducats. "This," said he, "is only earnest money. I want a man put to death whose name and dwelling-place I know. His name is Gaskho Bey, and he lives in Stambul. This man's head is worth as many gold pieces as there are miles between him and me. He who brings the head can measure the distance and be paid for it. The first who brings but the report of his death shall receive two hundred ducats; he who slays him, a thousand." The Albanians consulted together for a brief moment, and then intimated that if a bey of the name of Gaskho really existed, he was as good as dead already. Towards mid-day Ali sent for his sons. He said not a word to them of the anxieties, the visions, and the apparitions of the night before, but made them, after they had respectfully kissed his hands, sit down all around him. Mukhtar Bey he invited to sit down on his left hand, Vely on his right, and Sulaiman directly opposite. He addressed himself first of all to Sulaiman.