CHAPTER XXII.
It was Stuhlweissenburg fair. In the chaffering, chattering crowd ofmarket folk, cattle-drivers and swine-herds jostled country land-ownersaccompanied by their lackeys, and shepherds in gay cloaks, while gipsyhorse-dealers, with their ragged coats bright with silver buttons,trotted out their prancing nags to attract possible buyers. Here andthere flitted strangely clad figures--a Wallachian boyar with hissheepskin cap, or a Servian with his scarlet fez, and turbanned Turks,the remnant of the expelled Mussulman population, who had come to selltheir last sheep, and then follow the rest of their folk.
The encampments begin with rows of shoemakers and furriers, then comevariegated groups of merchants from outlying provinces. Foreign waresthere are none, for the "dumping" of useless foreign commodities isforbidden by an imperial edict. What are exposed here are all genuinenative products, whether it be in fabrics, pottery, or copper-ware,while there is a great rush for the booths where pewter plates anddishes are for sale.
Everything is paid for in ready money, so that if a well-to-do purchaserbuys a herd of sheep and has not the price forthcoming, he leaves hissilver knife and fork (which he carries about with him) as a pledge, andthe seller knows well enough they will be redeemed in due course.
Towards mid-day, the "market-kitchen" becomes thronged. Here too thefamous gipsy stew needs no advertising, for its savoury odour betraysits whereabouts, and it only wants good wine to wash it down to make itcomplete. But this same good wine is dear, and only for the gentry. TheVelencze people have already annexed a table near the bar, and sit roundit and listen to their favourite song:
"See I will drink with you, So I can clink with you A glass of good wine: But if you do not choose, To pledge, I'll not refuse Alone to empty mine."
But now come the Bicske contingent, each one of whom brandishes a hugeweighted stick, or copper axe, while their neighbours have alreadydeposited their weapons on the table.
These late-comers observe that the others have already annexed the besttable, and proceed accordingly.
"You gentlemen from Velencze have come early," growls Bognar Laczi, theleader of the Bicske party.
"Yes, and by this you must have caught plenty of mud-fish." (This isintended as a graceful allusion to the Lake of Velencze.) "And what'smore, have swallowed them by this time," sneered a pugnacious looking,thick-set fellow, who also belonged to the Bicske gang.
As is well known, the worthy dwellers by the Velencze lake do not relishthis kind of reflection on their sport, and they resented itaccordingly.
But the fight does not yet begin, for who is fool enough to fight overthe fish he eats? Besides, eating is the first and most importantbusiness, so they sink differences in order to make a square meal.
"Now, friends," says Bognar Laczi to the Velencze contingent, "what sayyou to some music? We have brought our own piper and a cornet-playerwith us, so I propose that we take it in turns; first your gipsies shallplay, and then our musicians."
"All right," agreed the others, and thereupon the noble representativefrom Bicske had his favourite tune played on the bagpipes.
"I've a house and a sweet little wife of my own, And bread and bacon and crops that I've grown."
And everything progressed smoothly, for while the music was going on, noone could talk, and if one guest called to someone else at the othertable, he did not forget to address him as "noble friend." But at thesecond round of wine the company began to sing with the music, and itwas not easy to stop their efforts. Finally, the two parties insisted onsinging different songs at the same time, the result being an uproar,wherein cymbal, fiddle, bagpipe, and cornet strove for precedence in avery rivalry of tumultuous discord.
The Velencze leader could not stand such an annoyance, and he promptlyhurled an empty bottle at the wall just above the head of the Bicskechief, so that the fragments fell on the latter's head. He then seizedhis axe, struck the beam with it, and cried out defiantly, "Let's seewho is the better man?"
The valorous Bicske men and their ten Velencze companions, were equallyready to join in the fray thus begun. So they seized their axes andclubs, and began to brandish these in a highly menacing fashion. Forthere is no fighter like your Magyar when his blood is up.
At this perilous juncture appeared the representatives of peace andarbitration, in the person of Sir Stephen Keo, the "Knight of Kadarcs,"and his companion, Mr. Postmaster Leanyfalvy, who led between themMathias Raby, and presented him to the company.
The old campaigner, with his shabby sheepskin over his shoulders, and ashort pipe between his teeth, pressed into the ranks of the combatantsas calmly as if the Geneva Red Cross had sheltered his breast. Not a bitintimidated by the uproar, he brandished his pike, and cried out in ashrill voice:
"So you are at it again, are you! Be quiet, you fellows; and so earlytoo, for you can't have drunk much yet. But listen to me, friends. Thisgallant gentleman whom you see here is Mr. Mathias Raby of Raba andMura, the son of the late Stephen Raby, that noble patriot, who sooften stood up for Magyar rights. During his absence from home somebullies in Szent-Endre have ejected this noble gentleman from his ownhouse, and occupied it. Now he calls upon us, the patriots of Velenczeand Bicske, to come to his aid, and will pay us a salary of two guldenper head, to drive out the illegal occupiers from his lawful domicile.Therefore I suggest that you adjourn your mutual quarrel till the nextStuhlweissenburg fair (and chalk it up so that you do not forget it);but meantime, come with us, and help to right the wrong done him."
Whereupon the twenty men present cheered loudly and signified theirreadiness to go.
"We have four carriages here," said Sir Stephen. "Four must stay withthe horses, so that there will be sixteen all told for the expedition."
And so it was arranged.
But Bognar Laczi urged immediate action. "Let's be off, all of us, onlylet us send on a scout who shall warn the Szent-Endre people that we arecoming in full force. They shall not say that we take them unawares, butshould get their fighting gear in readiness."
It took some time for Raby, the postmaster, and the knight to agree tothis arrangement, for they deemed such a proceeding would be pure folly.Szent-Endre might be too strong for them, if it had time to collect allits forces. But at last they gave in, and sent on their scout ahead,delaying their actual start till nightfall.
By morning they had reached the "Pomazer" Inn safe and sound, so theyhalted and baited the horses. The passengers sprang from the carriages,and stretched their drowsy limbs. Then they roused the hostess andordered some coffee, and everyone knows what "Hungarian coffee" means;it consists of red wine, ginger, and pepper, and is drunk boiling hot.But this beverage kept them going all day, so invigorating was it.
While the horses fed, the messenger they had dispatched to reconnoitre,came back with the news that all Szent-Endre was agog, the municipalityhaving brought together a rabble armed with sticks, pitchforks, andflails, who had collected in front of Raby's house, while the townsmenin the courtyard were armed and ready for the attack.
"Heigh ho," shouted the assailants. "What joy! We shall have someone nowwith whom we can fight! So let's drive on so that we can be soon infighting array."
"Stop a bit, my noble friends," said Sir Stephen Keo. "First of all, letus exercise a little strategy. For this will be the decisive struggle,and remember I am in command! Before all, we must know the fortress weare about to conquer. Now the house has two doors, the one opening on tothe Buda street, the other behind into the garden. Therefore we mustdivide into two parties. The one must begin the frontal attack from thestreet, the other will go round into the vineyard and take their chanceunder shelter of the garden. The Velencze men will lead the one attack,and those of Bicske the other."
The old fire-eater was not only an accomplished strategist, but likewisea great student of character. He knew his people, and that if he placedthe two factions side by side, they would quarrel at least overprecedence if over nothing else, that neither would give
in, and thatall chance of success would consequently be ruined.
"Now who will lead the attack from the street?" asked theircommander-in-chief.
It was settled by drawing lots; the garden position falling to theBicske party.
"So we are to go behind, are we?" questioned Bognar Laczi sulkily.
"Noble friend," pleaded the old knight, "for those who tackle aseven-headed dragon, there is no 'behind,' for on every side there is ahead. You will attack the enemy's rear-front."
He was obliged, however, to make this concession to the Bicskeassailants, that they should travel first in two coaches to reach thegarden by a roundabout way, and yet be there at the same time as theVelencze contingent.
These delicate points of precedence being settled, they drove off infine style, two of the vehicles turning towards the vineyard, and theother three to Szent-Endre.
They could hear as they drew nearer that the whole place was in anuproar. In the Buda Street the citizens had organized an impromptuarmy. There they were in little national groups, the Magyars withclubs, the Serbs armed with flails, the Rascians provided withpitchforks. It looked as if it would be a hundred to one.
The space in front of Raby's house was occupied by a mixed mob ofhangers-on of all kinds, who were carrying sticks, and lances, and oldflint muskets.
In front of this phalanx stood the lieutenant in full gala dress, withthe big drum slung round his neck, ready to give the storming signal,and inciting the mob with warlike exhortations.
But it was in reality no joke, and the antagonists, seeing the attackingparty, retreated into the house and endeavoured to close the door behindthem. Only when they felt themselves safe did they begin their defensiveoperations.
The crowd without did not take an active part in the fray, but onlylooked on.
The Velencze contingent tried first of all to break in the door, but itwas barricaded too fast from within. So a regular attack had to beessayed.
The old Knight of Kadarcs directed operations from the coach where hestill sat.
"Just take the stakes out of the well-posts, and you can jam in the doorwith them."
Four of the party managed to wrench out the stakes, and jammed themagainst the great door like a Roman battering-ram, whilst three othersworked at the smaller door with their stout clubs. But those insidedefended themselves bravely enough, it must be owned. In the courtstood logs of wood piled up, and these they hurled at the besiegers, whonaturally returned the projectiles back from whence they came.
Within could be heard the directions of the defenders to those inside tofire on the assailants if these effected an entrance.
But all the attacks of the Velencze men had been perfectly futile, hadnot the Bicske auxiliaries come up just in the nick of time to therescue.
They, in fact, decided the issue of the battle. All at once they uttereda tremendous yell which scared the enemy back into their entrenchments.Hereupon, a frightful tumult ensued, the crowd without shouting andseeking to find an outlet over the walls of the neighbouring houses, orin the out-houses and stables. Then the Velencze party made a tremendousdash for the barred door, and succeeded in effecting an entrance. Whatfollowed is indeed difficult to describe.
"Take care to hit them on the head," shouted the old commander-in-chieffrom his perch in the coach, while the mob laughed loud and long, as oneafter another member of the town council crawled out on all fours overthe neighbouring roofs into safety, whilst first one and then another ofthe Szent-Endre worthies were thrown out like cats on to the groundbelow. The last to be turned out was the notary, his clothes torn, histemples bleeding, and his teeth knocked out, yet there was not a soulwho seemed to sympathise with him.
The mayor had bethought him of a refuge in the chimney, but they lightedstraw below, and he was forced to push his way out. But the chimneybeing too narrow, he only succeeded in getting his head and arms out,and there he stuck, gesticulating wildly like a jack-in-the-box, tillthe siege being over, they could take off the chimney-pot and so freethe prisoner.
When the coast was clear they opened the doors and re-installed MathiasRaby in his own house again.
"Now, noble sir, what did you think of the operations?" asked the Knightof Kadarcs, as he cleaned out his pipe for a smoke.
"A nice piece of work; it's a pity that sort of fighting has gone out offashion!"
But the worthy burghers had learned a twofold lesson. First, that when aplebeian fights it out with a noble, it is the plebeian who gets theworst of it; and secondly, that the people themselves, if they see theirsuperiors thrashed, not only turn their backs on them, but regard it asa good joke.
But after drinking to his health, the rescuers took leave of their host,now settled again in his own home.
"We shall be at your service whenever you want us," was their partingsalutation.