CHAPTER XVI.
THROUGH THE SNOW.
Hungary was a very garden for fertility; her crops of every kind wereabundant, her flocks and herds were enormous; and while the grain-pitsand barns were full, and while there were sheep and oxen to steal, theMongols lived well. But at last the country was stripped, provisionsbegan to grow scarce, and the year's crops were still in the fields.Whether or no the Mongols themselves ever condescended to eat anythingbut flesh, the mixed multitudes with them were no doubt glad of whateverthey could get, and Batu foresaw that if the harvest were not gathered,and if something were not done to keep such of the population as yetremained in their homes, and bring back the fugitives, there must needsbe a famine.
Among his prisoners he had many monks and priests whom he had spared,from a sort of superstitious awe, and these he now called together, andtried to tempt with brilliant promises, to devise some plan for luringthe people back to the deserted farms and homesteads. Many and many abrave man rejected his offers at the risk, and with the loss, of hislife; but there were some who were ready to do what the Khan wanted, ifonly they could hit upon any scheme. All their proclamations issued inthe Khan's name failed to inspire confidence, however. The people didnot return; those hitherto left in peace fled at the approach of theMongols, the general need increased day by day, and the captives wereput to death by hundreds to save food.
The massacres were looked upon as a pleasant diversion and entertainmentin which the Mongol boys ought to have their share; to them, therefore,were handed over the Hungarian children; and those who showed most skillin shooting them down were praised and rewarded by their elders.
Yet how to feed half a million men in a country which had beenthoroughly pillaged was still a problem.
And then, all over the country there appeared copies of a proclamationwritten in the King's name, and sealed with the King's seal.
There was no Mongol ring about this, as there had been about similarprevious proclamations, and it was given in the King's name, it wassigned with the King's own seal! Of that there could be no question.
The news spread rapidly, further flight was stopped, and in a few daysthe people dutifully began to venture forth from their hiding places,and that in such numbers that a great part of the country wasre-populated. Moreover, the Mongols, though still in possession,actually welcomed them as friends, which showed that the King knew whathe was about! They were allowed, moreover, to choose magistrates forthemselves from among the Mongol chiefs, to the number of a hundred, whomet once a week to administer strict and impartial justice.
Magyar, Kun, Mongol, Tartar, Russian, and the rest all lived as amicablytogether as if they were one family. Farming operations were resumed,markets were held, and peace of a sort seemed to have returned to theland.
At last harvest and vintage were over. Corn and fruit of alldescriptions had been garnered, and there was wine in the cellars. Andthen? Why, then, late in the autumn, the too confiding people weremassacred wholesale; and those of them who managed to escape fled backto their hiding-places.
Then followed winter, such a winter as had not often been matched inseverity. The Danube, frozen hard, offered an easy passage; there was noEuropean army to oppose them, for the heads of Christendom were fightingamong themselves, and the Mongols crossed over to do on the right bankof the river what they had already done on the left.
Always rather savage than courageous, the Mongols obliged theirprisoners to storm the towns, looked on laughing as they fell; cut themdown themselves from behind if they were not sufficiently energetic,and drove them forward with threats and blows. When the besieged werethoroughly exhausted, and the trenches filled with corpses, then, andnot till then, the Mongols made the final assault, or enticed theinhabitants to surrender, and then, with utter disregard of the fairpromises they had made, put them to death with inhuman tortures. TheMongols were exceeding "slim," as people have learnt to say in thesedays. One example of their savagery will suffice.
The most important place on the right side of the Danube was thecathedral city of Gran, which had been strongly fortified with trenches,walls, and wooden towers by its wealthy inhabitants, many of whom wereforeigners, money changers, and merchants. As the city was thought to beimpregnable, a large number of persons of all ranks had flocked into it.
Batu made his prisoners dig trenches all round, and behind these he setup thirty war-machines, which speedily battered down the fortifications.Next the town-trenches were filled up, while stones, spears, and arrowsfell continuously upon the inhabitants, who, seeing it impossible tosave the wooden suburbs, set fire to them, burnt their costly wares,buried their gold, silver, and precious stones, and withdrew into theinner town. Infuriated by the destruction of so much valuable property,the Mongols stormed the city and cruelly tortured to death those who didnot fall in battle. Not above fifteen persons, it is said, escaped.
Three hundred noble ladies entreated in their anguish that they mightbe taken before Batu, for whose slaves they offered themselves, if hewould spare their lives. They were merely stripped of the valuables theywore, and then all beheaded without mercy.