CHAPTER X.
LIBOR CLIMBS THE CUCUMBER-TREE.
Duke Friedrich had left him in the lurch; the Kunok were on their way toBulgaria, wasting and burning as they went; and now King BA(C)la saw themistake he had made in not exerting his utmost power to defend Kuthen.
The banderia (troops) expected from both sides of the Tisza (Theiss) didnot arrive, eagerly as they were expected. The Bishop of CsanAid, andnobles from ArAid, and other places, had indeed been hastening to Pestwith their followers, but on the way they had encountered the outragedand enraged Kunok. Knowing nothing of what had been taking place in thecapital, they were unprepared for hostilities, and when the Kunok fellupon them, some were cut off from the rest of the force, and some werecut down.
All things seemed to be in a conspiracy against the King and thecountry, and one blow followed another.
It was not until the Kunok had crossed into Bulgaria, leaving a trailof desolation behind them that the Bishop of NagyvAirad (Grosswardein)could venture to lead his banderium towards Pest; and the banderium ofthe county of Bihar was in the same case. Now, however, they werehurrying forward, when the Mongols, who knew of their coming, putthemselves in their way. The Bishop attacked what appeared to be but asmall force of them; the Mongols retreated, fighting. The Hungarians,who did not as yet understand their enemy's tactics, pursued. Suddenlythe Mongols turned and fell upon them, and but few escaped to tell thestory of the disaster.
By this time some 60,000 or 70,000 men were assembled in Pest, againstthe 300,000 or more under the command of Batu Khan; but of those who hadput in an appearance, few were likely to be very serviceable ascommanders.
The nation had to a great extent lost the military qualities which haddistinguished it before, and which distinguished it again afterwards.The masses were no longer called upon for service, and the nobles, notbeing bound to serve beyond the frontier, had become unused to war.There was plenty of blind self-confidence, little knowledge orexperience.
The King was no general; and although Duke KAilmAin and Bishop Ugrin weredistinguished for their personal valour and courage, neither they norany of the other leaders had an idea of what war on a large scale reallywas.
However, such as it was, the army was there, and it was not likely toreceive any large accessions; it believed itself invincible, which mightcount for something in its favour; and the general distress and miserywere so great that at last the King yielded his own wish to remain onthe defensive, and led his army out into the plain. Batu Khan at oncebegan to retreat, and to call in his scattered forces, which were busymarauding in various directions. He drew off northwards, his numbersswelling as he went, and the Hungarians followed, exulting in theconviction that the Mongols were being driven before them, and meant toavoid a battle! It did not for a moment strike them that they werefollowing Batu's lead, and that he was drawing them to the very placewhich he had chosen to suit himself.
When they were not many miles from Tokay the Mongols crossed the SajA cubed bya bridge which they fortified, and they then took up a position whichextended from this point to the right bank of the Tisza (Theiss), havingin front of them the vast plain of Mohi, bounded on the east by thehills of Tokay, on the west by woods, which at that time were denseforests, while behind them to the north they had more plains and hillsand, beyond these again, a snow-capped peak which shone like a diamondin a field of azure.
Master Peter's old country-house lay about a hundred miles to thenorth-west of Mohi, almost under the shadow of the loftiest part of theCarpathians. A hundred miles was no distance for such swift riders asthe Mongols, but thus far the county of Saros had escaped them, theyhaving entered Hungary by passes which lay not only east and west, butalso south of it.
Batu Khan's forces occupied the horse-shoe formed by the junction of thethree great rivers, SajA cubed, HernAid, and Tisza.
The Hungarians encamped on the great plain opposite. But though they hadso vast a space at their disposal, their tents were pitched closetogether, and their horses--a large number, as nearly all were mountedmen--stood tethered side by side in rows. Freedom of motion within thecamp was impossible; and to make matters even worse, the whole wasenclosed within an ill-constructed rampart of wooden waggons, whichquite prevented freedom of egress.
A thousand mounted men were on guard at night outside the camp, butscouting and outposts were apparently unthought of.
A few days had passed in merry-making and self-congratulation on theeasy victory before them, when one morning King BA(C)la appeared mounted ona magnificent charger, to make his customary inspection of the camp. Hewore a complete suit of German armour, a white, gold-embroidered cloakover his shoulders, and an aigrette in his helmet.
Many of the Knights Templar had joined the army, and some of them, intheir white, red-crossed mantles, were now standing about him. Closebehind him was his brother KAilmAin, in armour of steel, inlaid with gold;and near at hand was the fiery Archbishop Ugrin, the mostsplendid-looking man in the army, so say the chroniclers, his gold chainand cross being the only mark which distinguished him from the laymen.
The Bishop was a devoted patriot, and though he had not forgiven theKing for "leaving him in the lurch," he was sincerely attached to him.He was the leading spirit of the campaign.
It was Ugrin who had urged the King to take the field without furtherdelay; Ugrin, who, with much valour and enthusiasm, but with littlemilitary experience, had advised Duke KAilmAin where to pitch the camp;and again it was Ugrin, who, convinced that the Mongols were in retreat,had pressed the King to give hurried chase, whereby the army had beenfatigued to no purpose, and had finally been brought precisely to thespot where Batu wished to see it. The Bishop, however, happy in hisignorance, was under the delusion that it was he who had forced the Khaninto his present position.
Just now the King was giving patient hearing to the opinions, frequentlyconflicting, of those about him. Black care was at his heart, but helooked serene, even cheerful, as usual, as he asked his brother in anundertone whether he had managed to reduce his men to anything likeorder.
The Duke, for all reply, shrugged his shoulders and looked decidedlygrave.
"Ah!" said the King, stifling something like a sigh, "just as Iexpected!"
Then he heard what the leader of the Knights Templar had to say, andthen he turned to Ugrin, well knowing that the Bishop's one idea was toattack, and of course beat, the enemy, and that he had no room in hishead for any other.
"You don't think Batu Khan will attack?"
"Attack! not he!" said the Bishop, scornfully. "They are all paralysedwith fear, or they would never have pitched their tents between threerivers. They have three fronts, and they have put those wretches theKunok and Russians foremost! Here have we been face to face for days andnothing has come of it! And yet," continued the Archbishop eagerly,"nothing would be easier than to annihilate the whole army. All we haveto do is to deliver one attack across the SajA cubed, while we send anotherlarge force to the left through the woods at night, and across theHernAid, and we shall have the Mongols caught in their own net!"
The Archbishop may have been right, but whether he were so or not, theKing saw one insuperable objection to what he proposed. The movementdepended for its success upon its being executed in absolute silence;and there was no power on earth capable of making any part of theHungarian squadrons move forward without shouts, cries, and tumult!Unless Heaven should strike them dumb they would noise enough to betraythemselves for miles around, as soon as they caught the sound of theword "battle."
Still, the King was obliged to admit that there did not seem to beanything to be gained by waiting.
He was just about to start on his tour of inspection, when there was asudden sound of great commotion within the camp. Men were rushing to andfro, tumbling over one another in their eagerness, and the air was rentwith their shouts. But sudden hubbubs, all about nothing, and tumultswhich were merely the outcome of exuberant spirits, were so frequentthat BA(C)la and the more staid officers
expected the mountain to bringforth no more than the customary mouse on the present occasion.
"A prisoner, apparently," observed the Duke, as an officer emerged fromthe crowd. Spies and fugitives were frequently crossing the river andstealing into the camp, where there were already Russians, Kunok,Tartars, and men of many tongues.
This man had been caught just as, having crept between the waggons, hewas starting off at a run down the main thoroughfare, and makingstraight for the King's tent.
"Keep back!" cried the officer, "Keep back! and hold your tongues, whileI take him to the Duke and let him tell his story!"
But he might as well have addressed the winds and waves.
There was a storm of "Eljens," mingled with cries in various tonguesunintelligible to the rest. They threatened, they swore, they yelled;and in this disorderly fashion approached the group of which the Kingwas the centre.
"Not to me! There is the King!" said the Duke, as the rather bewilderedofficer pushed his prisoner up to the Commander-in-Chief.
"Well, what news do you bring? Who are you? Where are you from?" theKing asked good-humouredly, but with an involuntary smile of contempt.
"I am a Magyar, your Majesty," said the man in a doleful voice. "TheTartars carried me off just outside Pest."
"Why!" exclaimed Paul HA(C)dervAiry suddenly, as he stood facing thefugitive, "why, if it isn't Mr. Libor's groom, MatykA cubed!"
Libor, as we have said, was not to be found on the morning of Paul'sexpedition with Bishop Ugrin; and not having seen or heard of him since,Paul had been growing daily more anxious on his account. He missed him,too, at every turn, for Libor had made himself indispensable to hiscomfort.
Stephen Szirmay and Master Peter, who were as usual in close attendanceupon the King, looked with curiosity at the unfortunate lad, who, asthey now saw, had lost both ears.
"What have you done with your master?" inquired Master Stephen,forgetting the King for a moment in his eagerness.
"The Tartars are going to attack the Hungarian camp this very night!"blurted out the fugitive, with a loud snort; after which, and havingrelieved his news-bag of this weighty portion of its contents, he seemedto feel easier.
"Do you know it for a fact?" asked the King gravely. "Take care what youare saying, for your head will have to answer for it."
"It is the pure truth, your Majesty. I heard the whole thing, and when Iknew everything I took my life in my hand and crept through the bushes,swam across the SajA cubed, and then stole hither by the edge of the ditches!Well, your Majesty will see for yourself by to-night whether I have beentelling lies or no."
"What more do you know? Are the Mongols in great force? Have they manyprisoners?" the King asked, by way of getting at the lad's budget ofnews and forming some idea of its value.
"They are as thick together as a swarm of locusts, sir; and as for theprisoners, they are like the chaff of a threshing floor. There aregentlefolk there too. My old master is one of them--blast him with hotthunderbolts!"
"And who is your master?"
"My faithful governor--Libor!" exclaimed Paul HA(C)dervAiry, steppingforward and answering for the groom in a tone of great displeasure.
"And have they treated the rest as they have treated you?" asked theDuke, pointing to the lad's bleeding ears.
"The Tartar women cut off the ears and noses of every pretty woman andgirl, and the best looking of all they kill! They have killed most ofthe gentlemen too, and thrown them into the HernAid."
"And your master?" asked Paul quickly.
"My master? No master of mine! he's better fit to be master to thedevil," said the prisoner, quite forgetting the King in his rage.
"What--whom are you talking about?" asked Paul, indignantly.
"I'm talking about Mr. Governor Libor, and I say that he has turnedTartar!"
"Turned Tartar!" exclaimed several in amazement.
"It's fact," said the lad. "He has cast off his 'menti' and 'suba,' anddoffed his great plume, and now he is going about like a reverend friar,with a cowl large enough to hold myself."
"Turned priest then, has he?" asked Master Peter.
"Priest to the devil, if he has any of that sort down below," saidMatykA cubed. "Priest, not a bit of it! He has turned KnA(C)z! that's what he hasdone! The Tartars wear all sorts of church vestments, even the Khans do,blight them!"
"KnA(C)z! what sort of creature is that, MatykA cubed?" asked Ugrin.
"A sort of governor, something like an 'IspAin' (_i.e._, Count, orhead-man of a county)--I don't know, but he has some sort of office, andour poor gentlemen prisoners must doff their hats to the wretch!"
"Well, nephew!" said Master Peter, with a laugh, for this was water tohis own mill, "so you have chosen a pretty sort of fellow indeed toentrust your castle to!"
The King meantime had turned away to speak to the Knight Commander ofthe Templars, and Paul was able to go on questioning MatykA cubed. He wasbeside himself with astonishment.
"How long has he been in such favour with the Tartars?" he asked.
"Ah, sir! who can say?" answered the lad, hotly. "He was KnA(C)z beforethey took me! I found him among them, and hardly knew him. It was he whohad my ears cut off, the brute! and only just saved my nose!"
"Well, that is something anyhow," said Master Peter.
"And then," continued MatykA cubed, "I heard that Mr. Governor had been havingdealings with the Tartars, like those rascally Kunok, and what's more,if it is true--and true it must be, for Tartars don't give anything fornothing--they say he has shown them the way to two or three castles,where they have got a lot of plunder!"
"Shown them! the scoundrel!" exclaimed Peter and HA(C)dervAiry together.
"It's so," said MatykA cubed emphatically. "He did ought to have his own longears and snout cut off, he ought!"
Young HA(C)dervAiry did not perhaps believe all that had been said about hisfavourite, but still his anger waxed hot within him.
He had to leave MatykA cubed now, however, and follow the King, who rodethrough the whole camp, and finally gave orders to the Duke toanticipate the Tartars by advancing at once to the SajA cubed with aconsiderable force.
"Ugrin!" cried the Duke, well pleased with the command, "you will comewith me! Quick! Mount your men, and we will be on the way to the SajA cubed inhalf an hour and stop the Tartars from crossing."