CHAPTER VIII.
_A DRAWN BATTLE._
The taking of the pass, described in the preceding chapter, was thefirst really stubborn affair we had been engaged in, but during theremainder of the journey the enemy attacked us many times.
Soldiers have told me that, from a military point of view, the march wasa brilliant one, and that it stamped our leader as a most accomplishedgeneral.
To us it was exceedingly wearisome and distressing. We had very littlefood, and that the coarsest. Our boots were dropping to pieces, ouruniforms were in rags and tatters. Often we forced a passage throughice and snow knee-deep. Frequently the fog enveloped us so thickly thata man could not see his neighbour, and that in a place where a falsestep meant death.
At night our bivouac was the snow-covered ground, where, wrappingourselves in our bundas, we tried to forget our misery for an hour ortwo in sleep.
In addition, the Austrians gave us plenty of employment in the fightingline, especially near the summit, where they occupied the passes inforce.
However, as Goergei had resolved to reach Kaschau, to Kaschau we had togo; and by dint of climbing and fighting we at length forced themountain barriers, and began the descent of the valleys.
During the march I saw Stephen scarcely at all, but Rakoczy and I wereconstantly together; and my friend more than ever justified his old nameof "The Joyous."
The hardships of the journey had no terrors for him. He appeared warm inthe bitterest cold, and when every one else was soaked through, he, tojudge by his smiling face, was dry and comfortable.
He joked with the men on their troubles till the poor fellows almostbegan to believe they were grumbling about nothing.
"Cold?" he would say. "Nonsense! Why, you're glowing as if you'd justcome from a vapour-bath. Footsore? I wouldn't like to challenge you toa race for a hundred gulden. Andras, how pleased you'll be when thewar's ended to say, 'I went over the mountains with Goergei.' Yourneighbours will never let you pay for a bottle of silovitz all the restof your life. 'The cosiest seat in the inn for Andras,' everybody willsay. 'He is a warrior, if you like.' Why, the maidens won't dance withanother man in the room while you're there. Look at Janko," as a burlyfellow shot head foremost into a snowdrift. "I'll warrant he expects tofind something good in there. Lucky fellow, Janko!"
Sometimes he would start one of the fiery, soul-stirring, popular songs,when the whole regiment, joining in and forgetting all else, would swingalong quite cheerfully.
At night, while we lay on the snow-covered ground, our teeth chatteringwith the cold, he would amuse the officers by his glowing descriptionsof the mountains in the summer-time.
"The noblest mountains in the world!" he would say with enthusiasm. "Itis a treat to saunter through the miles of beautiful pine forests, or togather the lovely gentians and forget-me-nots, blue as if they haddropped from heaven, or to linger by the edge of some boulder-wrappedlake, and gaze into its clear green waters. In the early morning, whenmyriads of dewdrops sparkle and flash like countless diamonds, and thesun paints the cliffs with warm gold and crimson and purple hues, theplace is like paradise. Then to stand on the summits and gaze over thefruitful plains, yellow with ripening grain--ah, I tell you it is atreat to wander amongst the Carpathians!"
Then some one would point out in a jesting spirit further delights to beenjoyed--the splendid mists, which drenched us to the bone, andprevented us from seeing the frightful chasms, down which we mighttumble; the bitter cold, but for which we should not appreciate thecomfort of our bundas; the slippery ice, which provided us with endlessfun and a cracked head occasionally.
Gradually we would drop off into a restless sleep, and in the morningpinch ourselves hard, to discover if our limbs still had any feeling.
The march towards Kaschau was marked by a series of desperate fightswith the troops under the Austrian general Schlick.
Sometimes they took up a favourable position, which it cost the lives ofmany brave men to capture; sometimes, creeping quietly through thedarkness, they made an attack just when, wearied out by the toils of theday, we had fallen asleep.
The last of these assaults was of a very determined nature, and for atime had every chance of succeeding.
We were within a day's march of Kaschau, and had covered many wearymiles since the morning.
A thick fog had come up with the night--so thick, indeed, it was that itclosed us in like a curtain.
Most of the men fell asleep directly they lay down, and very soon therewas not a sound to be heard in the camp.
Towards midnight I was awakened by a wild shouting, and springing to myfeet, found that the Austrians were in the midst of us.
The fight that ensued was of the weirdest kind. In the darkness friendcould not be distinguished from foe, and many a man lost his life bysword or bayonet thrust without seeing the hand that struck the blow.
Rakoczy's voice kept his regiment well together, and owing chiefly tothe steadiness of the 9th Honveds the Austrians were finally repulsed.
Like ghosts they had come, like ghosts they vanished; and but for thegroans of the wounded, we might have regarded the whole affair as a baddream.
However, for the officers, at least, there was no further rest; andthough the men went to sleep again, we were kept busy doubling thesentries, restoring order, and seeing after the poor fellows who hadbeen hurt.
Very glad we were when morning came; and having eaten our breakfasts,which occupied little time, we set out for Kaschau.
I think Schlick's daring venture must have cost him dear; at any rate wesaw no more of the enemy, and in the evening arrived, footsore andhungry, at Kaschau, where an army corps under General Klapka met us.
Rakoczy pointed out the general to me, and said that, next to Goergei,he was the finest soldier in the army.
In figure he was rather short, but exceedingly well shaped, and he hadthe oval face, black whiskers and moustache, and fiery, dark eyes of thetrue Magyar.
His features were refined, his manners those of a high-born gentleman,and his expression was so mild and gentle that in private dress he wouldhardly have been taken for a soldier.
Yet so brilliant was to be one, at least, of his exploits that his namewill live for ever in the memories of his Magyar comrades.
At Kaschau we remained several days, both in order to recover from ourfatigue and to obtain a fresh supply of ammunition, as the men hadalmost come to their last cartridge.
From Kaschau we proceeded to Mischkolz, where Dembinski joined us withanother army; and here, to our disgust, we learned that the Polishleader had been made commander-in-chief.
"That's Kossuth's idea," said Rakoczy, "and very badly he'll find itwork."
Stephen, who at last had found time to spare an hour with us, was veryindignant.
"A Magyar army has no need of a Polish general," he exclaimed,"especially when it counts such men as Goergei and Klapka among itsleaders."
"The Pole is a republican," I remarked, thinking of the talk at Vienna."Goergei is a royalist."
"And his proclamation did him little good with the Kossuth party."
Rakoczy here referred to the address our general had published, in whichhe declared his army "would oppose itself to all those who may attemptby republican intrigues in the interior of the country to overthrow theconstitutional monarchy."
"If Goergei held up his little finger, the army would sweep Kossuth andhis Poles out of the country!" my brother cried warmly.
"But he won't, and I'm glad of it," said Rakoczy. "Let us settle withthe Austrians first; 'twill be time enough then to fight one another.It's a good rule not to pick up more than you can hold."
What Goergei and Klapka thought of the matter I cannot say; but it tooka good deal of enthusiasm out of the soldiers, who had learned to lookon Goergei as their natural chief.
However, as Rakoczy well said, the Austrians must be dealt with first;and as Windischgratz was advanci
ng, we broke up our camp, and marched,forty thousand strong, with two hundred and twenty-five guns, toKapolna, on the road between Pesth and Debreczin.
Here we occupied a strong position on the heights near the town, eachwing resting on a ruined village, with our splendid artillery andseveral squadrons of veteran hussars in the centre.
Daylight had scarcely broken on the morning of the twenty-sixth ofFebruary, when the sounds of heavy firing announced that the battle hadbegun.
My regiment was stationed on the left, and at first I had ample leisureto view the struggle in the centre and on the right.
Compared with this tremendous fight, our encounters with Schlick in themountains were little more than playing at war.
In the centre, forty great guns on either side, served by skilfulgunners, thundered away at each other. Farther along, the Austrianleader hurled battalion after battalion against our right wing.
By means of a field-glass I saw what happened to the first, and the fateof several others was like it.
A great, white-coated mass, looking grey, however, in the early morning,went forward slowly, it appeared to me, yet firmly. A few figures inthe front formed a sort of spear-head, which should help the mass topierce a way.
These greyish-white dots were officers. One carried what might havebeen a handkerchief; really it was the famous black and yellow colours.
The mass moved on slowly, steadily, firmly. On the right of it shot andshell flew screaming and hissing; flashes of fire burst from the guns;the earth shook with the discharges; a curtain of smoke shut out myview.
When it lifted I looked for the battalion. Yes, there it was, compactas ever, undisturbed by the terrible fight going on elsewhere, andmarching steadily towards its destination.
Suddenly some tiny curls of whitish smoke were wafted from the heights.The battalion halted. There was a movement in the ranks--I could nottell what; then the mass advanced again. But as it moved away, Inoticed that some parts of it had, so to speak, dropped off; and fromthis point there began a confused line of dots, thin in some places,thicker in others.
The column had become smaller, and each time the little puffs of curlysmoke appeared, it seemed to quiver, as if with cold, and the line ofdots was made longer.
The spear-head had done its share towards forming the track. The sidesand base of it had vanished, but the apex remained. It was the man withthe handkerchief, which he continued to wave without once looking back.
I watched him with intense fascination, till once again a thick blackcloud drifted across my lens.
When the battalion next came into sight, it was considerably smaller,and it had left a heap much higher than any of the others about thirtyyards in the rear; but the one remaining point of the spear-head stillwaved its black and yellow folds to and fro.
Suddenly the movement of the mass increased in speed, but it was stillone body, save for that detached point in the van.
To it something--I could only guess what--at last happened.
The flag disappeared, the greyish-white figure sank to the ground. Ichoked back a sigh of regret, when flag and figure came into sightagain, only the former had changed its position from right to left.
Now, too, the white puffs came out quicker from the heights; and as thepace of the column increased, so did these curly little clouds.
Then, as I looked, the battalion stopped dead; half of it sank to theground; the rest, each part separated from its neighbour, fell topieces; and the various atoms, without any appearance of order, ran backquickly along the track so recently made.
One figure alone moved slowly--it was the apex of the spear-head, theshaft of which had broken; and in spite of the yellow and black colours,I was downright glad to see the flag returning.
"Steady, my boys, steady! Don't fire till you get the word. Rememberour general trusts to the 9th Honveds."
The words and the cheer that followed them brought me back with a rushto the reality of my own position.
That which had engaged my attention as a spectator I was about to takepart in as an actor.
Two battalions were advancing at the double across the plain, and othershad formed up in support.
We held one of the keys of the position, and Goergei himself, trustingto Rakoczy's influence, had placed us there.
If we retreated, the battle would be lost; and no subsequent victorycould ever wipe out our disgrace.
Looking at the men's faces, I did not much fear the result. The timehad gone by when the 9th would run away at the first shot, as this verybattle was to prove.
Steadily the men waited, trusting implicitly in their colonel, while thetwo battalions crossed the plain and dashed at the heights.
"Fire!"
Sharp and clear the word rang out, and every trigger was pulled at thesame instant, as if the regiment had been a machine.
Down below, the slaughter was terrible; but we had to deal with some ofthe best fighting men who had ever followed the Austrian eagle into thebattlefield.
Only the dead stopped at the foot of the heights; all the others, eventhe wounded, pressed on, and the arrival of the second battalion morethan made up for those who had fallen.
Up they came, scorning death, and contemptuous of the Hungarian peasantsso recently converted into soldiers.
But "John the Joyous" led us, and we had learned many lessons during ourmarch over the mountains with Goergei.
Standing our ground firmly, we poured volley after volley into the midstof the climbing Austrians.
Still the survivors advanced, and, fed from below, maintained theirnumbers, while many of our fellows began to drop.
The colonel was everywhere, and his cheery voice encouraged those underhis command.
While most of the Austrians came on, climbing and firing in the open,many adopted the wiser course of seeking cover, whence they could pickus off without much risk.
Several men of my company lost their lives in this way; but the fightcame at length to a hand-grip, and it was no longer a question ofbullets, but of bayonets.
Twice by main force we flung our assailants back; but they returned tothe charge, cheering loudly, as if bent upon turning us out or of losingevery man in the attempt. We on our side would not give way, and so thestubborn fight continued.
The enemy were continually reinforced; our losses were not made good,and the longer the struggle lasted the more unequal it became.
For myself, I feared that the attack would prove too strong; and, asRakoczy told me afterwards, he was of the same opinion.
One would not have thought so, however, at the time of the fight. Hisface was full of confidence; his voice had not lost an atom of its usualcheerfulness. To his troops his presence appeared everywhere as an omenof victory.
Still the position was growing desperate, and though we might have heldour own for a while longer, the enemy must finally have captured theheights, as there would have been no one left to defend them.
The colonel had posted my company at a spot where the ascent was fairlyeasy, and, had the white-coats once broken through, they would haveturned the position from the top.
"You must die where you stand," he had said, "for the honour of theMagyars," and we had answered with a cheer.
But the enemy were not at our throats then as they were now, cutting andstabbing, or, seizing us bodily, trying to hurl us over the cliffs.
Still we held our ground, though the company was sadly diminishing innumbers, and every fighting-man who survived was more or less seriouslywounded.
I had twice escaped death myself, through the devotion of Mecsey Sandor,who, since the affair in the pass, had taken every opportunity to showhis gratitude.
On the second occasion I was engaged hand to hand with an Austriansergeant, sword against bayonet, when, my foot slipping, down, I went,completely at the fellow's mercy.
Sandor, who though hotly engaged evidently kept one eye on me, was at myside in a moment, and, parrying the sergeant's blow, dealt one himsel
f.
My men cheered as I rose to my feet and again dashed into the thick ofthe fight.
Then it was that, in the very wreck of our fortunes, a cry rose from therear--a cry that made our blood hot, and victory, at least in thatparticular corner of the field, certain.
"Goergei! Goergei! elijen Goergei!"
Louder and louder it grew, putting heart into every man; even the poorfellows on the ground, raising themselves with difficulty, helped toswell the chorus.
Riding along the heights, the general had seen how terribly we suffered,and springing from his horse without a moment's hesitation, had run toour help.
The staff, leaving their animals, followed; and I saw Stephen, hishandsome face ablaze with passion, catch his leader, and side by sidewith him shoot forward into the press.
The reinforcement was few in numbers, but Goergei counted a host inhimself, and the sight of his tall, spare frame and spectacled,weather-beaten countenance inspired us all with new courage.
The Austrians now gave way slowly, still fighting with sullendesperation; but we pushed them harder and harder, broke them up intolittle knots, forced them into a run, till, thoroughly disorganized,they reached the plain a beaten crowd.
Here their misfortunes were by no means at an end. A regiment ofhussars, issuing from a wood on the right, scattered those who stillkept together, and turned what was already a bad defeat into a totalrout.
The cheers for Goergei rose again with tenfold vigour; but the general,taking Rakoczy by the hand, exclaimed, "Colonel, you and your brave ladshave done to-day what I shall never forget. I trusted you to hold thisposition, and you have held it. Through me Hungary thanks the gallant9th Honveds."
Then, amidst another wild outburst of cheering, he went back to thesummit.
While his chief talked thus to Rakoczy, Stephen came to me.
In the struggle he had not received a scratch; but it was different withme, and my brother's face looked very grave.
"It's all right, old fellow," I said, trying to speak lightly. "Not oneof these cuts is really dangerous. I'm only a little faint through lossof blood. A night's rest will put me straight."
He shook my hand warmly and followed his chief, but I noticed that morethan once he turned and looked back sorrowfully.
The combat, which had lasted for six hours, now ceased on the two wings,but continued in the centre with unabated fury.
There the great guns were massed, and the veterans of both armiesstrove, the one party to oust its opponents, the other to maintain itsposition.
The guns roared, sheets of flame sprang from their muzzles, shot andshell tore, screaming, through the air. Occasionally what appeared asolid body of living fire shot skyward, accompanied by a loud report, asa powder-tumbrel was struck by one of the flying missiles.
Then for a time everything would be hidden by a dense bank of smoke, andwe waited breathlessly to see it lift. But though human courage may beinexhaustible, there is a limit to human endurance; and at last, as ifby common consent, both sides ceased to struggle.
"A drawn battle," said Rakoczy, "and I don't think we've had the worstof it. George, you'd better find a surgeon and have those woundsdressed. We shall have to fight again in the morning."
As I had told Stephen, my hurts were not dangerous, and directly thesurgeon had bound them up I returned to the front.
The men lay on the hard ground with only their bundas to shelter themfrom the bitter, piercing cold that crept into their very marrows.
Rakoczy, with several officers and the least fatigued of the troops, wasgoing about succouring the wounded; but he would not allow me to help,insisting that I needed rest. So, wrapped in my mantle, I lay down, andsad at heart watched the myriads of brilliant stars that shone in theunclouded sky.