CHAPTER XIII.
CAMP FIRES.
Dschingiz Khan had died in 1227, and by the year 1234 his son andsuccessor, Oktai, had completed the subjugation of Northern China. Twoyears later he sent his nephew Batu westwards at the head of 500,000men, and in less than six years the latter had overrun nearly onequarter of the circumference of the earth.
The boundless steppes of Asia, and the lands lying between the RiverUral and the Dnieper, with all their various peoples, were speedilybrought under his sway. In the autumn of 1237 the Mongolian catapultshad reduced Riazan to a heap of ruins; Moscow perished in the flames;and with the capture of Kieff, then the handsomest and best fortifiedcity of Northern Europe, all Russia sank under the yoke of the Mongols,who ruled her for centuries. Kieff had fallen towards the end of 1240,and Batu had then divided his forces, sending 50,000 men to Poland,where they burnt Cracow and Breslau, and then proceeded to Silesia,where, on April 9th, they defeated an army of Germans, Poles, andBohemians near Liegnitz; they then devastated Moravia, and enteringHungary on the north-west, presently rejoined Batu, who himself had madea straight line from Kieff for Hungary, entering it, as already said, bythe pass of Verecz, on the north-east.
The third division of Mongols had gone south, skirting the easternCarpathians and entering Transylvania at two different points.
One portion of this division had rejoined Batu at the river SajA cubed, intime for the pitched battle now imminent.
When first the Hungarian camp was pitched Batu had surveyed it from aneminence with a grim smile of satisfaction.
"There are a good many of them!" he exclaimed, "but they can't get away!They have penned themselves up as if they were so many sheep in a fold!"
With the return of Duke KAilmAin after his victory at the bridge, alldanger was believed to be over for the night, and save for a fewmerry-makers, the exultant army slept profoundly. There were fewwatchers but the King, the Duke, the Archbishop, and the few othersgathered in the royal tent.
On the other side of the SajA cubed a different and wilder scene was beingenacted.
The night was dark, but the Mongol camp was brilliantly illuminated bythe blaze of a bonfire so huge, that its light shone far and wide.
It was never the Khan's way to extinguish his camp fires; quite thecontrary. He wished his enemy to see them, and to suppose that his armywas stationary.
Thanks to his innumerable spies, he was well aware of all that had takenplace early in the night, and had not been in the least surprised by therecent sortie. It was, in fact, just what he had wished to provoke, byway of diverting the attention of the Hungarians from that which wastaking place farther up the river.
If a few hundred scape-goats had perished, what matter? there wereplenty more to take their place. And they were not even Mongols, butslaves, Russians, Kuns, etc., who had been forced into his service.
While these wretches, with the trembling Libor perforce among them, werebearing the brunt of the Hungarian onset, and being thoroughly beaten,Batu had sent a large force across the SajA cubed farther up and this, undercover of the darkness, was now stealthily drawing nearer and nearer tothe Hungarian camp. It moved forward in absolute silence, and withoutattracting any notice.
Batu and several of his chief leaders were just now standing on a lowhill, all mounted, armed, and ready for battle. Below was the Mongolhost, mounted also and armed with bows, spears, and short, curvedswords. A wild, terrible-looking host they were, short of stature, broadin the chest, flat in the face; with small, far-apart eyes, and flatnoses. They were clad in ox-hide so thick as to be proof against mostweapons, and consisting of small pieces, like scales, sewn together. Sothey are described by Thomas, Archdeacon of Spalatro, who had but toogood opportunity of seeing what they were like. He adds that theirhelmets were either of leather or iron, and that their black and whiteflags were surmounted by a bunch of wool; that their horses, riddenbare-backed and unshod, were small but sturdy, well inured to fatigueand fasting, and as nimble and sure-footed in climbing rocks as thechamois. Scanty food and short rest sufficed these hardy animals evenafter three days of fatigue.
Their masters were not accustomed to much in the way ofcreature-comforts for themselves. They carried nothing in the way ofstores or supplies, which gave them great advantage in the matter ofspeed; they ate no bread, and lived on flesh, blood, and mare's milk.Wherever they went, they dragged along with them a large number of armedcaptives, especially Kuns, whom they forced into battle, and killedwhenever they did not fight as desperately as they desired. They did notthemselves care to rush into danger, but were quite content to let theircaptives do the worst of the fighting while they reaped the victory. Inspite of their enormous numbers they made no noise whether they were incamp, on the march, or on the field of battle.
Thus far Archdeacon Thomas.
When to this description we add the fact that they had had continuouspractice in warfare for years past, that a career of well-nigh unbrokenvictory had given them perfect self-confidence, while it spread suchterror among those whom they attacked as paralysed the courage even ofthe stoutest hearts, it is not difficult to understand how it was thateverything fell before them, and they were able to found an empirevaster than any which had before, or has since, existed.
But to return to the Khan and his train of chiefs, among whom was to beseen Libor the KnA(C)z--not the Libor of old days, but a much lesscomfortable-looking individual. Mongol fare did not seem to have agreedwith him too well, for he looked worn and wasted, and his every movementbetrayed his nervousness. Yet he was at the Khan's side, perfectly safe,and surely a hundred-fold more fortunate than the miserable captiveswhom the Mongols held so cheap that they cared not a jot whether theylived or died.
Libor was a Mongol now; he wore a round helmet of leather, carried ascimitar, rode one of the tough little Mongol horses, and was in highfavour with his terrible master.
Batu was an undersized man, and the reverse of stout. His eyes, set farapart and slant-wise, were small, but they burnt like live coals, andwere as restless as those of a lynx. His low forehead, flat nose,fearfully large mouth, and projecting ears, made him altogetherstrikingly like the figures, in gold on a black ground, to be seen onantique Chinese furniture.
He was marked out from those about him, however, by his dignifiedbearing, and by the pure white of his leathern garments.
It is true that his dignity was of the lion-like order, animal, that isto say, rather than human; but it was very pronounced. And there was asort of rude splendour and glitter in his costume, too; for the whiteleather, the fur of which was turned inwards, was covered all over withstrange designs, looking like so many dragons or other imaginarymonsters.
He was mounted on a slim, dapple-brown horse, of purest breed, and allhis arms, even his bow, were profusely decorated with precious stones.
Of all the ape-faced circle, there is no denying that he was the bestlooking ape of them all, even if we include Libor, who was dainty enoughin appearance, though fear just now was making him not indeed like anape, but like a large hare, with quivering nostrils!
The camp was far from deserted, in spite of the large force detached,for there could not have been altogether fewer than 300,000 Mongols onthe SajA cubed, and in addition, there were nearly half as many more of themiserable beings who had been first conquered and then forced to jointhe great host. Round about the hill where stood the Khan weremultitudes of felt or leather tents, and thousands of temporarymud-huts, for the trees afforded but little shelter as yet, it beingnow about the middle of April. Tents and huts were full of armed men,also of women, who wore the scantiest of clothing, and of children, whowore no clothing at all.
Besides these, there were many women captives, who lay about in groupsunder the trees, with ears and noses cut off, the picture of exhaustionand misery, and so brutalised by slavery and suffering that they lookedmore like a herd of mutilated animals than human beings.
Any good-looking women captured by the Mongols were given up t
o theirown women, who fell upon them like furies, tortured without mercy, andthen murdered all but those wanted as slaves.
The camp extended far into the depths of the wood, where the chiefs keptorder such as it was, with their whips.
As Batu reached the top of the hill, his harsh voice was to be heardgiving some peremptory order, at which those about him bent their headslow in respectful submission, and a dozen women, his wives, appearedupon the scene, muffled up in white woollen garments, and mounted uponbeautiful horses, which were smothered in fringes, straps, etc., ofleather. They were followed by an armed guard, and preceded, orientalfashion, by a band of singers chanting a melancholy dirge.
They had come to take their leave of the Khan, who was sending them tohis home, and on reaching the foot of the hill they were helped todismount. Whereupon they threw back their snow-white veils, which wereof wool like their other wraps, and Batu Khan looked at them in deadsilence. There was no trace either of pain, or pleasure, or of any otheremotion, unless it were vanity and ambition, upon his wild features.
The women burst into a furious fit of weeping; but it was evidently theresult of great effort, not of any irrepressible distress. Men are muchlike overgrown children, and have always liked to deceive themselves andbe deceived; and this weeping and lamentation were the proper thing, theconventional way of saying "farewell!"
And yet, if they but looked on themselves, the sight was surely enoughto move anyone to tears; for these women were all strikingly beautiful,and their beauty was enhanced by an expression--and this not forced--ofprofound sorrow and dejection.
Who they were, and whence they came--whether they were Russian girlsfrom the Volga and Don, Caucasians from the Caspian, fair Slavonians, orwhite-faced Wallachians, who could say? But all were beautiful, all hadan air of distinction about them, and all looked overwhelmed with woeunutterable.
They gathered round the Khan, and his horse pricked its ears andwhinnied as if it would take part in the proceedings; for, though Batu'shorses were all his friends and tent-mates, far more beloved than hispeople, this one was an especial favourite, its sire, so the story went,having lived to the age of a hundred.
When he had had enough of the ceremonial weeping, Batu raised his hand,as who should say, "That will do! You have done your duty, now you cango!"
And instantly the sobs were checked, and smiles were forced to taketheir place, while the poor goods and chattels raised their handstowards their master, but whether as a mere token of farewell, whetherin blessing, or perchance in secret cursing, who could tell!
Another signal and away they hurried down the hill; and a few momentsafter the white figures had disappeared out of the glare and were lostto sight in the recesses of the wood.
The women gone, Batu put spurs to his horse and raced down the slope,his chiefs following as best they might. With the light flashingblood-red about him, with his spear quivering uplifted above his head,himself and his horse absolutely one, he dashed on with the rush of awhirlwind, and wherever he went he seemed to say, "Look and admire!" Andindeed, the Khan looked his best, when he was thus exhibiting hishorsemanship, and in spite of his ape-like features, might almost havepassed for some gallant, if wild cavalier.
He and his train galloped away into the darkness, followed by a selectbody of mounted men; and as soon as they were out of sight, theremaining squadrons were drawn up in regular order. Tents were takendown, and they and their belongings were packed on horses or in waggons,and in a short time, though the bonfire still blazed, it cast its lightupon a deserted camp.
Followed by a herd of women, the entire force moved in dead silencetowards the SajA cubed, where Batu had his first line of battle.