The Slaves of the Padishah Part 12

"Very well," said Kokenyesdi, thinking all the time, let me once be planted at the window in the sight of my bands and at a word from me they will break up the whole monastery, and I will leap out to them at the first opening.

Then Brother Gregory called Magyari aside and whispered in his ear: "You meanwhile will get the carriage ready and take your seat in it with your daughter, and as soon as you perceive that the rabble has departed from the monastery, you will drive straight to Klausenburg and inform Mr.

Ebeni, the commandant, that a mixed band of freebooters, together with the garrison of Szathmar, has invaded the realm. I detected a helmet beneath a cowl of one of the rascals I kicked into the cellar. Try to defend the capital against their attacks. G.o.d be with you!"

The two priests pressed each other's hands, whereupon Brother Gregory, taking the robber by the arms and shoving him through a little low door, in order that no mischief might befall him, caught him by the nape of the neck and began to force him to ascend a narrow corkscrew staircase, two or three steps at a time.

It was evening now and dark, and there was nothing about the corkscrew staircase to suggest to the robber whither he was being led till at last the brother opened a trapdoor with his head and emerged with him on to a light place and deposited him in front of a lofty window.

The robber's first thought was that he could clear the window at a single bold leap, but one swift glance from the parapet made him recoil with terror; beneath him yawned a depth of at least fifty ells, and, glancing dizzily aloft, he perceived hanging above his head the bells of the monastery. They were in the tower.

"So now, my dear son," said the brother, "stand out on this parapet and call in a loud voice to thy faithful ones that they may draw nigh and hear thee. Then thou wilt speak to them, and in case thou shouldst be at a loss for words, I shall be standing close by this bell-tongue to suggest to thee what thou shalt say. But, for G.o.d's sake, beware of thyself, dilectissime! Thou seest what a frightful depth is here below thee, and say not to thy faithful followers anything but what I shall suggest to thee, nor give with thy head or thy hand an unbecoming interpretation to thy words, for if thou doest any such thing, take my word for it that at that same instant thou shalt fall from this window, and if once thou dost stumble, thou wilt not stop till thou dost reach the depths of h.e.l.l."

The robber stood at the window with his hair erect with horror. He actually trembled--a thing which had never occurred to him before. His valour, that cold contempt for death which had always accompanied him hitherto, forsook him in this horrible position. He felt that at this giddy height neither dexterity nor audacity were of the slightest use to him. Beneath his feet was the gaping abyss, and behind his back was a man with the strength of a giant from whom a mere push--nay! the mere touch of a finger, or a shout a little louder than usual, were sufficient to plunge him down and dash him into helpless fragments on the rocks below. The desperate adventurer, in a fever of terror never felt before, crouched against one of the pillars of the window clutching at the wall with his hand, and it seemed to him as if the wall were about to give way beneath him, as if the tower were tottering beneath his feet; and he regarded the ground below as if it had some horrible power of dragging him down to it, as if some invisible force were inviting him to leap down from there.

Meanwhile his bands, who were lying in ambush outside the monastery, perceived the form of their leader aloft and suddenly darted forward in a body with a loud yell.

"Speak to them, attract their attention!" whispered the brother; "quick, mind what I say!"

The robber indicated his readiness to comply by a nod of his swimming head, and repeated the words which the brother concealed behind the tongue of the bell whispered in his ear.

"My friends" (thus he began his speech), "the priests are collecting their treasures; they are piling them on carts; there are sacks and sacks crammed with gold and silver."

A hideous shout of joy from the auditors expressed thorough approval of this sentence.

"But the worthy brethren have no wine or provisions in this monastery, but in their cellars at Eger there is plenty, so let two hundred of you go there immediately and get what you want."

The freebooters approved of this sentiment also.

"As for the desires that you nourish towards the womenfolk here, I am horrified to be obliged to tell you that for the last three days the black death, that most terrible of plagues, which makes the human body black as a coal even while alive, and infects everyone who draws near it, has been raging within the walls of this monastery during the last three days. I should not therefore advise you to break into this monastery, for it is full of dead and dying men, and so swift is the operation of this destroying angel that my three comrades succ.u.mbed to it even while I was ascending this tower, and only the Turkish talisman I wear, composed of earth seven times burnt, and the little finger of a baby that never saw the light of day, have preserved me from destruction."

By the way, Father Gregory had discovered all these things while he was investigating the robber's pockets.

At this terrifying message the horde of robbers began to scatter in all directions from beneath the walls of the monastery.

"For the same reason neither I myself nor the treasure of the monastery can leave this place till all the gold and silver that has been found here has been purified first by fire, then by boiling, and then by cold water, lest the black death should infect you by means of them. And now before making a joint attack on Klausenburg, as we had arranged--which, in view of the height of its walls and the strength of its fortress, would scarcely be a safe job to tackle--you will do this instead: Hide yourselves in parties of two hundred in the forests of Magyar-Gorbo, Vista and Szucsag, and remain there quietly without showing yourself on the high road; at the same time four hundred of you will go round at night by the Korod road, and the rest of you will make for the Gyalu woods, and go round towards Szasz Fenes. Then, when the garrison of Klausenburg hears the rumour that you are approaching by the Korod road, they will come forth with great confidence; and while some of you will be enticing them further on continually, the rest of you can fall on the defenceless town and plunder it. All you have to do is to act in this way and never show yourselves on the high road."

The robbers expressed their approval of their leader's advice with a loud howl; and while Kokenyesdi tottered back half senseless into the brother's arms, they scattered amongst the woods with a great uproar. In an hour's time all that could be heard of them was a cry or two from the darkened distance.

The people a.s.sembled in the monastery had been listening to all this in an agony of terror; only Magyari understood the meaning of it. When the brother came down from the tower, Kokenyesdi was locked up with his two comrades, and the two reverend gentlemen embraced and magnified each other.

"After G.o.d, we have your Reverence to thank for our deliverance," said Magyari with warm feeling, holding his trembling little daughter by the hand.

"But now we must save Klausenburg," said Gregory.

"I will set out this instant; my horse is saddled."

"Your Reverence on horseback, eh? How about the girl?"

"I will leave her here in your Reverence's fatherly care."

"But think."

"Could I leave her in a better place than within these walls, which Providence and your Reverence's fists defend so well?"

"But what if this robber rabble discover our trick and return upon the monastery with tenfold fury?"

"Then I will all the more certainly hasten to defend the walls of your Reverence, because my only child will be within them."

With that the pastor kissed the forehead of his daughter, who at that moment was paler than ever, fastened his big copper sword to his side, seized his s.h.a.ggy little horse by the bridle, opened the door for himself, and, with a stout heart, trotted away on the high road.

But the brother summoned into the chapel the whole congregation, and late at night intoned a thanksgiving to the Lord of Hosts; after which Father Gregory got into the pulpit and preached to the faithful a powerful and fulminating sermon, in which he stirred them up to the defence of their altars, and at the end of his sacred discourse he seized with one hand the gigantic banner of the church--which on the occasion of processions three men used to support with difficulty--and so stirred up the enthusiastic people that if at that moment the robbers had been there in front of the monastery, they would have been capable of rushing out of the gates upon them with their crutches and sticks and dashing them to pieces.

CHAPTER VII.

THE PANIC OF NAGYENYED.

While the priests were girding swords upon their thighs, while the lame and the halt were flying to arms in defence of their homes and altars, the chief commandant of the town of Klausenburg, Mr. Ebeni, was calmly sleeping in his bed.

The worthy man had this peculiarity that when any of his officers awoke him for anything and told him that this or that had happened, he would simply reply "Impossible!" turn over on the other side, and go on slumbering.

Magyari was well aware of this peculiarity of the worthy man, and so when he arrived home, late at night, safe and sound, he wasted no time in talking with Mr. Ebeni, but opened the doors of the church and had all the bells rung in the middle of the night--a regular peal of them.

The people, aroused from its sleep in terror at the sound of the church-bells at that unwonted hour, naturally hastened in crowds to the church, where the reverend gentleman stood up before them and, in the most impressive language, told them all that he had seen, described the danger which was drawing near to them beneath the wings of the night, and exhorted his hearers valiantly to defend themselves.

The first that Mr. Ebeni heard of the approaching mischief was when ten or twenty men came rushing to him one after another to arouse him and tell him what the parson was saying. When at last he was brought to see that the matter was no joke, he leaped from his bed in terror, and for the life of him did not know what to do. The people were running up and down the streets bawling and squalling; the heydukes were beating the alarm drums; cavalry, blowing their trumpets, were galloping backwards and forwards--and Mr. Ebeni completely lost his head.

Fortunately for him Magyari was quickly by his side.

"What has happened? What's the matter? What are they doing, very reverend sir?" inquired the commandant, just as if Magyari were the leader of troops.

"The mischief is not very serious, but it is close at hand," replied the reverend gentleman. "A band of freebooters--some seventeen companies under the command of a robber chief--have burst into Transylvania, and with them are some regular horse belonging to the garrison of Szathmar.

At this moment they cannot be more than four leagues distant from Klausenburg; but they are so scattered that there are no more than four hundred of them together anywhere, so that, with the aid of the gentlemen volunteers and the Prince's German regiments, you ought to wipe them out in detail. The first thing to be done, however, is to warn the Prince of this unexpected event, for he is now taking his pleasure at Nagyenyed."

"Your Reverence is right," said Ebeni, "we'll act at once;" and, after dismissing the priest to look after the armed bands and reconnoitre, he summoned a swift courier, and, as in his confusion he at first couldn't find a pen and then upset the inkstand over the letter when he _had_ written it, he at last hurriedly instructed the courier to convey a verbal message to the Prince to the effect that the Szathmarians, in conjunction with the freebooters, had broken into Transylvania with seventeen companies, and were only four hours' march from Klausenburg, and that Klausenburg was now preparing to defend itself.

Thus Ebeni gave quite another version to the parson's tidings, for while the parson had only mentioned a few hors.e.m.e.n from the Szathmar garrison he had put the Szathmarians at the head of the whole enterprise, and had reduced the distance of four leagues to a four hours' journey which, in view of the condition of the Transylvanian roads, made all the difference.

The courier got out of the town as quickly as possible, and by the time he had reached his destination had worked up his imagination to such an extent that he fancied the invading host had already valiantly covered the four leagues; and, bursting in upon the Prince without observing that the Princess, then in an interesting condition, was with him, blurted out the following message:

"The Szathmar garrison with seventeen bands of freebooters has invaded Transylvania and is besieging Klausenburg, but Mr. Ebeni is, no doubt, still defending himself."

The Princess almost fainted at these words; while Apafi, leaping from his seat and summoning his faithful old servant Andrew, ordered him to get the carriage ready at once, and convey the Princess as quickly as possible to Gyula-Fehervar, for the Szathmar army, with seventeen companies of Hungarians, had attacked Klausenburg, and by this time eaten up Mr. Ebeni, who was not in a position to defend himself.

Andrew immediately rushed off for his horses, had put them to in one moment, in another moment had carried down the Princess' most necessary travelling things, and in the third moment had the lady safely seated, who was terribly frightened at the impending danger.