'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; Or, The Scourge of GodJósika, Miklós, báró
History
'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; Or, The Scourge of God
Jósika, Miklós, báró
Hungary -- History -- Mongol Invasion, 1241-1242 -- Fiction
The wounded, only four of whom were seriously injured, had been
bandaged, and it now appeared that, of the entire garrison there were
but two or three who had not at least a scratch to show.
Talabor had been hit he did not know how many times, but he had escaped
without any serious wound, though he had lost a good deal of blood.
Before going to his post on the wall, he paid a visit to the porter's
room to have his hurts seen to, and when at last the porter's wife let
him go, he was so bound up and bandaged as to be not unlike an Egyptian
mummy.
By the time Moses came in to see Dora, she was utterly worn out.
"Where is Talabor?" she asked.
"On the castle wall," said the governor.
"Not wounded, is he?"
"I don't think so," was the answer. "At least, he said nothing about
it."
"We must all watch to-night, Mr. Moses; I am afraid they may come back
and bring more with them."
"My dear young lady," said Moses, "whether they do or not, this castle
is no place for you now. It is only the mercy of God which has preserved
you this time."
"But I must not stir from here until I hear from my father! Besides,
where can I go? If the Tartars have discovered such an out-of-the-way
place as this, the country must be swarming with them!"
"It was easy enough for them to find their way here," growled Moses,
with sundry not too respectful expletives. "It was that good-for-nothing
clerk, Libor, who brought them down on us."
"That's true indeed; but now that they have found us out, others may
come. So, Mr. Moses, we must have our eyes open, and as soon as we can,
we must have the moat cleared, and make the castle more secure if
possible."
Moses said "good-night," though he well knew that Dora would not go to
rest, and then he, too, went to the porter's room.
It was a most unusual thing for the Mongols to abandon any attack, but
just as Talabor had begun to pelt the assailants with the heavy missiles
already mentioned, one of the chiefs sent with Libor (possibly to act as
spy upon him), hastily quitted the post of danger and hurried after the
governor-clerk, whom he found in the wood, trying as best he might to
bind up the wound from which he had now drawn the arrow. The wound,
though deep enough, was not serious.
"Why, Knéz! sitting here under the trees, are you?" cried the Mongol
roughly, in his own uncouth tongue. "Sitting here, when those Magyar
dogs have done for more than a hundred of our men!"
"Directly, Bajdár!" said Libor sharply, "you see I have been shot in the
head and can't move!"
"Directly? and can't move? shot in the head? Perhaps you don't keep your
head where we Mongols keep ours! but what will the Khan say, if we take
back only five or six out of 300 men?"
"Five or six?" repeated Libor in alarm; "are so many lost?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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