so, for he was a man of high spirit, but he was persuaded by his craven ministers to look on quietly while his perfidious enemy was surely preparing the means of his ruin.
The sultan was a man whom nothing could turn from a purpose once formed. In the spring of 1452 he began his fortress, for which abundant materials had been transported by a host of zealous labourers from the forests and quarries of the neighbouring regions of Asia Minor. He presided himself over the work, and inspired the vast multitude of workmen with his own enthusiasm. When it was completed it presented a triangle, with a tower at each of the angles. Two of the towers faced the main land, the third and loftiest looked seaward. Their walls, which were covered with lead, were thirty feet in breadth, while the intermediate fortifications were twenty-two feet, and thus it was a fortress of the first class, on which the heaviest artillery then in use could easily be mounted. Mahomet had now an admirable base of operations. While the work was in progress, some trifling acts of hostility had occurred, sufficient, however, thoroughly to alarm the city. The emperor had asked that his subjects in the outlying villages might have the protection of a Turkish military guard, while they were gathering in their harvest, as otherwise they would be at the mercy of the savage and fanatical host which was ransacking the country far and wide for whatever might be of use in the construction of the fortress. The result was a fray between the retinue of an Ottoman chief and some Greek villagers, and blood was shed on
