In the winter of 1572, in the midst of a thundering confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and Venice, the governor of the Venetian stronghold of Trau (now Trogir, Croatia), received a letter destined for the Venetian resident ambassador (bailo) in Constantinople. The letter had been forwarded to the governor by the Council of Ten, the governmental committee overseeing the domestic and foreign security of the Venetian state. Detailed instructions contained in the letter charged the governor with soliciting the services of a Turkish spy who had been in his employ for the past few months. The spy was to deliver the letter to the bailo who, due to the Ottoman-Venetian war, was under house arrest in the Venetian embassy in Constantinople. The instructions for the Turk were multiple and direct. He was to hide the letter in a waterproof piece of cloth, supplied by the Ten specifically for that purpose. The concealed epistle should then be stitched up as a secret compartment inside his clothes. Upon arrival in the Venetian embassy, he would be able to hand the letter to the bailo through a window, under which he would have to wait until the bailo appeared, collected the letter, penned a response, and handed it back to the spy, who was then to bring it back to Trau. To ensure that the job would be carried out in its entirety, the governor was ordered to pay only a fraction of the spy's compensation, withholding the remaining sum until the completion of this undertaking, when the spy would bring back the response from the Venetian legate.