King Matthias and the Beggar Boy

  CHAPTER VII.

  SENT TO PRISON.

  It would be interesting, no doubt, if we could follow Michael's careerstep by step; but the next two years of his life must be passed oververy briefly.

  It was true that the king had made a man of him, and already Tornay wasa marked personage--a man whose name was often in people's mouths, andwell known in the army as a rising young general.

  There was plenty of work for the Black Legion in those days; for theTurks were perpetually invading the southern provinces, and theHungarians were left to fight them almost single-handed--though, as theking reminded Louis the Eleventh of France, "Hungary was fighting forall Christendom," as she had been doing for many a long year past.

  Michael had distinguished himself more than once for his courage, andfor a daring which amounted at times to actual foolhardiness, and nowhe had outdone his previous exploits by the gallant rescue from extremeperil of General Rozgonyi.

  The general was cut off from his men, and absolutely alone in the midstof a band of Turks, when Michael made a bold dash into their midst,scattering them right and left, and succeeded in extricating himself andRozgonyi from their clutches.

  It was a bold exploit and a rash one--madly rash, indeed--but it wassuccessful; and as Michael rode back to his men, wounded, but notseriously so, he was received with loud applause; and perhaps, if thetruth must be told, he felt himself something of a hero.

  But the king, who had watched him with much anxiety, was considerablyprovoked; and when the battle was over, he summoned him to his tent,where Michael found him sitting alone and looking very much more gravethan was his wont.

  He raised his eyes when Michael entered, but his voice sounded stern,and instead of saying "thou" to him as he usually did, he addressed himquite formally.

  "Mr. Tornay," said he, "you have been behaving like a madman, like acommon soldier whose horse has such a hard mouth that he can't controlit; or--you must have been pouring more wine down your throat than youought to have done."

  King Matthias had a great horror of drunkards, and did his best to stopall excessive drinking in the army and elsewhere.

  But Michael was utterly taken aback. He had been a good deal flatteredand complimented, and had quite expected that the king was going tothank him for saving the general's life, or at least would show that hewas well pleased with him, and give him a few of those words of approvalwhich he valued above everything. To be received in this way was rathercrushing.

  "Sir--Your Highness," he stammered, in great surprise, "I was only doingmy duty."

  "That is precisely the very thing you were not doing," said the kingwith some warmth, his large dark eyes flashing as he spoke. "You are ageneral; you were in command, and you left your troops in the lurch, asSt. Paul left the Wallachians.[10] You rushed among the Turkish spahisentirely alone, and to what, as far as you could tell, was certaindeath, like a man who was weary of his life, his king, and his duty.You ought to be ashamed of yourself; and understand that what may bemeritorious in a private is worse than cowardice in the officers."

  [Footnote 10: A common saying. St. Paul is supposed to have lostpatience with them.]

  Tornay was so thunderstruck that he could not find words to defendhimself.

  "Speak!" said Matthias, in a tone of displeasure. "We wish to hear whatyou have to say in your defence; it is not our custom to punish any onewithout hearing him."

  "Sir--Your Highness," said Tornay, with gentle deference, but with themanner of one who has an easy conscience, "I did not think I was guiltyof cowardice in going to the rescue of one of your best generals!"

  "God be thanked that you were successful!" said the king, "but it ismore than you had any right to expect. The fact is that it was vanitywhich led you to risk your head in an experiment which was not merelyhazardous, but so desperate that there was hardly the remotestreasonable hope of success; and vanity under such circumstances iscowardice. I honour courage; as for insane foolhardiness, it belongs notto the knight but to the highwayman."

  Tornay listened abashed, and though much hurt he felt that Matthias wasright.

  "I should have a great mind to punish you," the king went on, "but thatone of my best generals owes his life to your folly, so for his sake Ipardon you."

  "What can I do?" said the young man in a low voice--"what can I do toregain Your Highness's favour? I can't live if I know that Your Highnessis angry with me--me who owe everything, all that I am, to you."

  "Always be on your guard, my little brother," said the king; and now,seeing how distressed he was, and wishing to comfort him, he spoke inthe kind, pleasant voice which won all hearts. "Do only what you cangive a right and satisfactory reason for, and then you will never missthe mark."

  So Michael went back to his quarters comforted, and promising himself tolay the king's simple advice well to heart.

  There was a grand banquet at the court that night, and many of the greatnobles were present; but Miska did not venture to show himself, thoughwhen once the king had given a reprimand and made the delinquentunderstand what he thought of his conduct, his anger was over and donewith, and he spoke in his usual kindly way again. Miska thought,however, that by thus punishing himself he should soften him.

  After all, as he reflected, the king was right: it was the thought ofmaking a soldier's name for himself which had led him to run into suchobvious danger. And yet he had a reason to give for what he had done--agood reason too, he had thought; for he had considered that his lifebelonged to the king, who had given him his career and all that made hislife of any importance. And so he had resolved with himself never totrouble his head about risk and danger, when he had an opportunity ofproving his fidelity to the king.

  But now, as he turned over in his mind the advice which the king hadgiven him, he began to see things a little differently.

  "My life belongs to the king, it is true," thought he, "and I must beready to sacrifice it whenever there is any reason to do so; but just_because_ my life is the king's, I have no right to throw it away."

  From that time Tornay tried to make himself more and more useful to theking, by learning all that he could of his profession.

  The courage of a private was not enough--it was not what was wanted ofhim, now that he was an officer in command; and he felt that the couragewhich made a man strive to acquire the knowledge necessary to those inhis own position--generals and commanders, that is to say--was courageof a higher, nobler sort than that which led to deeds of mere daring. Ofcourse the courage of the private was also needful--quite indispensable,indeed, in every soldier, officer or not, who must always be ready tosacrifice his life if need be; but he strove to acquire besides the coolcourage which does not let itself be carried away by excitement, whichcan listen to the sound of the trumpets and the din of battle withoutbeing intoxicated, which remains calm and collected, retains itspresence of mind, and is capable of seeing and hearing, and, above all,of thinking for others, even when the issue looks most doubtful.

  For a general has to remember that he is not merely an individual; he isthat, of course, but he is a great deal more--he is the head of a bodywhich depends upon him for guidance. He must not play only his own game,or be thinking only or chiefly of the bold, brave deeds he can do on hisown account; he must practise the most stern self-restraint. And he mustnot think of gratifying his own vanity or desire of distinguishinghimself; he must think of those under his command--he must be unselfish.

  Hitherto, Michael's one thought when he went into battle had been theenemy, and how much damage he could do him. He had eyes for nothingelse, and he was eager to give proof of his own personal valour; but nowhe began to accustom himself to resist this consuming thirst for action,and to restrain his longing to rush madly into the fight, for he waslearning that he must not think only of himself.

  When the army was drawn up in battle array, fronting the enemy and allready for action, the young soldier would begin to ask himself what heshould do if the king were presently to give orde
rs, as he might someday, that he, Michael, was to take the chief command and lead the armyto battle.

  And then his blood would boil, his eyes would flash, and he felt analmost irresistible longing to dash forward and do some valiant deed.But now he controlled and recovered himself, and repeating to himselfthe king's words, would say, "Now, Mihaly, how could you do such athing? what reason could you give for it?"

  He began to scrutinize the ranks of the enemy in a much more scientificway, reminding himself that he was not now a private, or even asubaltern officer, in the Black Legion, but a general, whose duty it wasto think, not of bold ventures, but of sober plans. This gave quiteanother turn to his mind, and he felt how much higher and fairer a thingit was to think of others and direct others, and to keep one's presenceof mind intact and one's blood cool, when youthful zeal made others losetheir heads.

  So thinking to himself one day, as he and the men under his commandstood facing the enemy, waiting for the signal to advance, he waskeeping his eyes upon the opposite ranks, when all at once he observedsomething that till now had escaped his notice.

  "The enemy is remarkably weak in the left wing yonder," he reflected,"and there is a long marsh just in front; I don't think I should beafraid of being attacked from that quarter. If I were in command," hewent on, "I would order one division to advance in that direction andoutflank the enemy. This would throw him into confusion. Then I wouldsend part of the cavalry forward, and while the enemy's attention wasengaged by the sudden attack on his wing, I would fall upon his centrewith my whole force."

  "Really," the young officer said to himself, "I should like to tell HisHighness what I think."

  Michael scribbled something in pencil upon a scrap of paper, and sentone of the Black Knights off with it to the king, who was inspecting theranks, and was now riding down the left wing of the army, surrounded bya brilliant staff, himself more simply attired than any of those abouthim.

  The king read over the crooked lines with not a little astonishment, andfor a moment his face flamed.

  Then he cried out in lively tones, "Upon my word, advice is becomingfrom a twenty-years-old general! This man will be somebody one of thesedays."

  Then on the margin of the paper he wrote just these two words--"_Doit!_"

  * * * * *

  The battle was over and won, and a fortnight later Tornay Mihaly was oneof the king's lieutenant-generals.

  Matthias had by this time grown extremely fond of the young man. Michaelwas always so vigilantly on the alert, so blindly devoted to him, and soquick in his ways, that the king had no misgivings about any commissionwhich he entrusted to him. It was certain to be done, and done well.But this was not all. He was pleased, too, with the young man's evidentgratitude and nobility of character--though not as much surprised assome others, who fancied that such things were not to be looked for in abeggar lad; for the king could read faces, and he had long since made uphis mind about Michael.

  In those days there were two bastions on the walls of the castle ofBuda, towards Zugliget. They were used as magazines, but in case of asiege--which at that time Buda had little cause to dread--they would begarrisoned with soldiers, and were therefore already provided with guns.

  These two bastions, one of which remains, though in an altered form, tothe present day, were about a couple of fathoms apart; and now the kinggave orders that both were to be set in order and made fit fordwelling-houses.

  There was no opening on three of the sides, with the exception of somesmall windows high up, which let in the light, but would give theintended inmates no outlook; but on the fourth side, where the bastionsfaced each other, there were four long, narrow windows in each, guardedby strong iron bars.

  * * * * *

  The king was just now staying in Buda, and had given Michael command ofpart of the castle garrison; and he was so well satisfied with the wayin which he discharged his duties, that hardly a week passed without hisgiving him some fresh mark of his favour.

  As for Michael's passionate attachment to the king, it increased daily;every hint from him was a command, and he was always on the watch to tryto interpret his wishes before they were put into words.

  One morning he was summoned to the king's presence.

  "Michael," said the king, in a good-humoured tone, "I am angry with you,and I am going to punish you."

  "How have I been so unfortunate as to deserve the anger of the best ofkings and masters?" asked the young man.

  "Well, what do you think?" Matthias went on, laughing. "Am I very angry,and am I going to pass a severe sentence?"

  "Mr. King," answered Tornay, who saw at once that Matthias was in highgood-humour, "I think Your Highness has got hold of your anger by thesmall end this time, and perhaps you won't go quite so far as to have myhead cut off."

  "Your head may possibly be allowed to remain in its accustomed place,"said the king jestingly. "However, it is not necessary that you shouldknow which part of your person I have sentenced to punishment; it isenough, gossip, that you are to expiate your offence, and that to beginwith I am going to send you to prison."

  "Perhaps Your Highness is going to entrust me with the command of someabandoned wooden castle?"[11] said Michael.

  [Footnote 11: Many small castles of wood and stone had been built in thenorth by the Bohemian freebooters already mentioned.]

  "No," said the king; "you have not found it out this time. I have gotother quarters for you."

  "Very well, as Your Highness wills; but you won't get much good out ofme if I am in prison."

  "Listen. You can see the two bastions yonder on the Mount St. Gellertside of the castle. I have had them put in order, and you are to live inone of them."

  Tornay listened, but he could not make it out at all. He saw the twobastions sure enough, and as they did not now look at all gloomy orprison-like, he was not alarmed at the idea of living in one of them;but he could not by any means conceive what the king's object could be.

  "You are surprised," said the king, "aren't you? But the prison istolerable enough. You will have four small rooms; and as for thelook-out, well, I think you will be content with it; and then you willbe your own jailer, so you need have no fear as to the strictness of thediscipline. In a word, you are to move into your new quarters this veryday."

  Tornay retired; but on his way he racked his brains to discover why theking could want him to move into the bastion. What reason could he have?If he was his own jailer, and could go in and out as he pleased, it wasnot a prison, simply different quarters, and better, at all events, thanthose he had had before; for he had been living in a very poor apartmentof the castle, looking into a by-street.

  "Well," thought he, "what do I know as to the king's motives? Who canever tell what he has in his head? He wishes me to live there--good!then that's enough, and there I will live."

  So Tornay took possession of one of the bastions facing Pesth, and wasvery well satisfied indeed with his new quarters, which the king had hadplainly but comfortably enough furnished. Perhaps the king had placedhim there only as an excuse for making him more presents.