Pretty Michal Part 17

CHAPTER XVI.

Wherein is shown of what great use it is when a mother is hardhearted toward her only son. Also concerning divers skirmishes with the Turks, things not to be read of without a shudder.

Rumor said that the Turks had invaded the Tokay district and ravaged Hegylaja, and this, too, just at vintage time when the whole rural population was living in the vineyards.

Now an Hungarian does not lightly surrender to the foe the chiefest of the three mountains in his coat of arms, to wit, the Tokay mountain. Orders, therefore, were given by the Palatine of Hungary on the one side and by the Prince of Transylvania on the other for the banderia of Zemplin and Alany to turn out immediately, unite with the Zipsers at Onod, and fall upon the Turks whenever and wherever they might meet them.

It was at the very time when he was celebrating the feast in honor of his wedding with the lovely Isabella Peruyi, that the local commander, Count John Hommonai, received the order to depart.

They were just at the last dance, the torch-dance, during which the guests and the bridesmaids dance before the bride to the bridegroom's house, when the herald summoned the bridegroom from the midst of the dancers, whereupon the gentlemen threw away their torches and mounted their horses, while the count himself had only time to impress a kiss on the lips of his beloved bride and recommend her to G.o.d's protection on the very threshold of the bridal mansion.

The departure of the troops took place in the dead of night.

Valentine rode beside his faithful Simplex, who not only had to blow the field-trumpet but also to beat the kettle-drums, which hung down on both sides of his saddle. His horse was naturally the sorriest of hacks, for all the others were much too spirited to patiently endure the roll of kettle-drums close behind their ears.

"Look ye, comrade Simplex," said Valentine, "our present campaign will be my ordeal. You have told me that my poor Michal is unhappy and wants to see me; that she has never reached Great Leta, that she has been shamefully deceived by her husband; that she suffers much, and is exposed to indescribably great dangers. More than that you will not tell me, nor have I asked to know more, but I have been thinking ever since such thoughts as these: Shall I not be committing a grievous sin if I go seek her? Shall I not be d----d for it along with her? It does not matter very much, perhaps, if I'm d----d, although I, too, should like to see my dear old father in Paradise, and the sight of my good mother among the blessed would rejoice me greatly; but the thought that I might drag this unhappy creature down to h.e.l.l with me, fills me with horror. Her place is in heaven among the angels. But you've such an enticing way of putting matters, that I'm no longer able to decide whether what I am about to do is good or bad. Now I mean to leave it to the decision of the Lord of Hosts. When we stand on the battlefield, he who tries the hearts and reins will read in my breast that I still love my Michal, though she has bound herself by an oath to another, and if this feeling be a sin, the guards of the Lord, the angels of Death are there, and he can charge them to call me away so as to prevent me from committing evil. If, however, I return in safety, if sword and bullet (and I certainly shall not keep out of their way) leave me unhurt, that will be a sign that the heavenly Omnipotence is ready to perform a miracle for my sake, whereby I shall win back again her whom I had given up for lost. If I return safe and sound, if no evil befall me, I'll go and seek my Michal."

"But in that case you must take care that I come back too, for without me you will not find your Michal, even if you were to set out to seek her with Christopher Columbus himself for your guide."

"Have no fear, comrade, we will live and die together."

But Valentine lagged behind the troop. A load lay upon his breast.

From his earliest childhood he had been wont every night, as it grew dark, to say this prayer: "Be with me, O Lord my G.o.d! and let my poor, good mother awake safe and sound. Amen." His tutor had taught him a much finer prayer in Latin; but this prayer he never could recollect. He could never reconcile himself to the secula seculorum; why should he ask good things for himself for a thousand years to come? He was content to pray for what he wanted day by day. That would be quite enough if it were granted him. He made as if he were only dismounting to tighten his loosened saddle-girth, and when he was out of hearing of his comrades' curses, he covered his face in his furred horse-cloth and muttered his short prayer, whereupon he swung himself into his saddle with a lightened heart and galloped after his comrades.

By morning they stood before Nemeti, which is half an hour's journey from Goncz, and there the captain, officers, and gentry swear the banner oath under the open sky. Then they halted, and after a short rest proceeded on further.

Just as they were about to cross the Hernad at Nemeti, whom do you think they found on the banks? Why, Dame Sarah with a huge Ka.s.sa wagon drawn by three stout horses. The wagon was well laden. It contained a Gonczer cask full of wine, a keg of plum brandy, fresh white bread, cakes, sheep cheeses in small trusses, and in the midst of this ambulant storehouse beamed the radiant countenance of the buxom citizeness of Ka.s.sa, with both her round white arms bare to the elbow.

"My dear, good mother! What do you want here?" cried Valentine, rus.h.i.+ng to the wagon.

"Oh, you wicked son! if you are bent on following this trade, I, at any rate, won't let you die of hunger. Come, eat and drink! Call hither, too, the gentleman officers and your good companions. There is enough here for everyone."

They did not wait to be asked twice, but crowded round the wagon straightway, and Dame Sarah helped them to everything with both hands. When she perceived the trumpeter she singled him out from the rest.

"Hi! come here, trumpeter! May the thunderbolt strike the ground within three yards of you! You've seduced my son, have you? Then come hither and sit down by me, and if you don't eat your fill it will be the worse for you."

Good Simplex did what he could. He sat down in the wagon at Dame Sarah's side, and ate and drank his fill; but soon his appet.i.te began to flag, and at last he protested he could go on no longer.

"Fellow! you must eat or I'll stuff it down your throat."

And with that she seized Simplex by both arms, shook him like a sack which must be made to hold still more, and compelled him to begin his meal over again.

But worthy Valentine was more delighted at the sight of his mother's strong, stout arms, than at all the good things she distributed, and he covered the good creature with kisses.

"And now, dear mother, turn back, there can be enough of a good thing," said he, perceiving that the main body of the hussars had reached the ford on the opposite side, and only the rear guard still remained behind. The officers also urged her to turn back.

"Turn back, eh? Do you really think I have come all this way, with a heavy-laden wagon, only to turn back? I will follow my son to the very end of the world. I'll not leave him just when things are going badly with him. Why should I be afraid when others are not?"

In vain they represented that it was not the proper thing for a woman to roam about in regions haunted by fighting Turks. There was no reasoning with her, they were obliged to take her along with the baggage wagons.

Meanwhile the scouts brought tidings that the Turkish predatory bands were a.s.sembling on the other side of the Theiss at Plakamocz.

It was a good thing that all the ferry-boats at Tokay had been drawn up on to the sh.o.r.e, thus preventing the enemy from crossing over without great difficulty.

Count Hommonai therefore resolved to seek the Turks beyond the Theiss, and led his troops toward Tokay.

When they had crossed to the other side of the river, they could nowhere find a trace of the enemy, who evidently intended to entice the Hungarians further inland, and then drive them back upon the Theiss.

Dame Sarah would have followed them to the other side also, but this they would on no account allow her to do. The baggage wagons had to be left behind on the opposite bank. She then begged that, at least, they would let her drive up to the highest hill thereabouts, from whence she might watch her little son scuffling with the Turks.

"Take care, good mother, that a cannon ball does not hurt you."

"Fiddlesticks! You call yourself a student, and don't even know that a cannon ball cannot fly across a river because the water draws it down," cried Dame Sarah, triumphantly, and with that she drove to the top of the hill, where she stood up on the wagon and thence surveyed the course of the skirmish, while her great lout of a coachman, in his fear and anguish, crawled under a wagon, and viewed the fight with his back. And yet the fellow called himself a man!

First of all, five Turkish hors.e.m.e.n appeared on the top of a hill.

How many more lay behind the hill, n.o.body of course could tell.

To the left stretched a large mora.s.s covered with rushes, on the right lay an oak forest. The presumption was that the whole thicket was swarming with hidden foes.

So out against the five Turkish hors.e.m.e.n rode just as many and no more, from the Hungarian side, whereupon the five Turks turned tail and galloped off, the Hungarians also instantly returning to their ranks.

Then seven or eight Turkish hors.e.m.e.n reappeared, and began insulting the Hungarians, not with words indeed, which would have been quite thrown away at so great a distance, but with all sorts of outrageous gestures; while the Hungarians, not to be outdone, retaliated in kind with great spirit and originality. Tiring at last, however, of this pantomimic war, eight of the Hungarian hors.e.m.e.n dashed against the Turks with couched lances. In the ensuing melee all sixteen lances were splintered to atoms, whereupon the hors.e.m.e.n on both sides returned to their respective places.

At last the Hungarian commander grew weary of these tantalizing tactics, divided his troops into four battalions, and sent one of them off to encompa.s.s the forest. On this division coming close up to the outskirts of the wood, a swarm of Turkish hors.e.m.e.n rushed out upon them with loud cries; whereupon the Hungarians feigned flight till they had drawn the pursuers within reach of the second line of battle, when they suddenly turned and drove the Turks, who were now completely surrounded, toward the mora.s.s. Here, however, they themselves fell into an ambush of janizaries, who picked them off from among the bushes, and at the same moment from behind the sedges there poured forth a whole stream of hors.e.m.e.n of all sorts, Albanians, _Spahis_, and Moors, who attacked them on all sides like a swarm of hornets.

The Hungarian captain now set his third division in motion, in which were also Valentine and his comrade Simplex.

Dame Sarah, from the opposite sh.o.r.e, saw how they charged the foe.

"Why, the plucky lad sits on horseback as if he had never learnt anything else all his life! If only his poor father could see him!"

Valentine had never learnt the trade of a soldier, but he did what he thought was the right thing, grasping his father's broad crooked sword in his right hand, and his long three-edged dagger in his left, at the same time throwing his horse's reins over its neck.

Simplex, likewise, drew his broadsword and wrapped his wolfskin round his left arm by way of a buckler.

Two hors.e.m.e.n were coming straight at them; one of them was an Albanian in a coat of mail, the other a distinguished _Spahi_, an Aga at the very least.

The Albanian horseman was covered from head to foot with a coat of scale armor; his horse's head and neck were protected in the same way, and it also bore a huge spike on its forehead, so that the pair looked for all the world like a crocodile mounted on a unicorn, and worthy Simplex was so astonished at this strange sight that he forgot he had a sword in his hand. Besides, thought he, what weapon can cut down a man who is cased in steel? So in his terror he merely held his wolfskin buckler in front of his head, and the Albanian aimed a mighty blow at him with his sword, which was like to have felled him to the ground.

Fortunately Valentine observed the danger of his comrade, and while throwing him a word of encouragement, smote the Albanian so violently on the head with the dagger in his left hand, that the scaly monster immediately plunged headlong from his horse; but at the same time the _Spahi_ aimed a terrific blow at Valentine's neck.

"Don't you touch my son, you heathen you!" cried Dame Sarah from the wagon on the opposite sh.o.r.e; and whether it was the effect of her voice or of Valentine's rapid hand it is difficult to say, but at any rate the youth parried the blow of the Turk so well that he struck the sword out of his hand, and at the same time sliced off a piece of his thumb. Then he seized the _Spahi_ by the collar and led him away captive, the Turk all the time begging for mercy, and promising him a ransom of two hundred gold guldens if he spared his life.

Valentine brought his captive safely to the rear, where the captain praised him for his valor, but said that they had now had quite enough fighting for one day. The skirmish was over. On both sides there were just enough of killed and wounded to satisfy honor, neither more nor less, so that both generals could tell their hosts that they had conquered. Those of the enemy who had not taken flight were cut down, and those who could not work their way out of the mora.s.s were drowned. As for the leaders, neither of them had lost a hair, and if either of them cared to fire a haystack on his retreat and claim to have burnt a fortress, no one would be a whit the wiser and his reputation would be made.

But all this time Simplex was nowhere to be found, which greatly embarra.s.sed the whole company, for he had with him the field-trumpet and the kettle-drum of the banderium, and without them they could of course neither beat a recall nor sound a reveille.

But Valentine was more embarra.s.sed than them all, for if Simplex were lost, who was to lead him to his Michal? All that he knew of her at present was that her husband had not taken her to Great Leta as he had promised, but to some other place.