New roads had been built; besides that, the
tobacco-crop had failed, and new public buildings had been erected.
All these expenses must be met, as well as the full amount for
Stamboul, which must on no account be lessened.
The men had declared at once, with angry words, that they would
never pay the tax. On the morning of the day when the two collectors
came from Cavalla, the men of the village assembled in the square as
they had determined to do, and greeted them with loud and angry
clamorings.
"We will pay no double tax," cried Abdallah, the leader of the
fishermen. "It is quite enough that we are obliged to pay any tax.
What do the grand-sultan and his ministers do for us? Not one of
them aids us when our crops fail or when we suffer from other
misfortunes. When we have double crops, must we not always pay a
double tax? But this year we have not even good crops. Our tobacco-
crops have failed; our fishing-nets, with all the fish we had taken,
have been lost in the storms. Tell us, then, for what reasons we
must pay a double tax?"
"The reasons, my dear fishermen," said the collectors--"the reasons
are, that the tschorbadji commands it, and his commands must be
obeyed, because the grand-sultan has made him your governor."
"If those were reasons," shrieked the fishermen, "the tschorbadji
could drive us from our huts, and take from us all that is ours.
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