'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar.
CHAPTER I.
RUMOURS.
"Well, Talabor, my boy, what is it? Anything amiss?" asked Master Peter,as the page entered the hall, where he and his daughter were atbreakfast.
It was a bare, barn-like apartment, but the plates and dishes were ofsilver.
"Nothing amiss, sir," was the answer, "only a guest has just arrived,who would like to pay his respects, but--he is on foot!"
It was this last circumstance, evidently, which was perplexing Talabor.
"A guest?--on foot?" repeated Master Peter, as if he too were puzzled.
"Yes, sir; Abbot Roger, he calls himself, and says you know him!"
"What! good Father Roger! Know him? Of course I do!" cried Peter,springing from his chair. "Where is he? Why didn't you bring him in atonce? I am not his Grace of Esztergom to keep a good man like himwaiting in the entry!"
"The servants are just brushing the dust off him, sir," replied thepage, "and he wants to wash his feet, but he will be ready to wait uponyou directly, sir, if you please!"
"By all means! but he is no 'Abbot,' Talabor; he is private chaplain toMaster Stephen, my brother!"
Talabor had not long been in Master Peter's service, and knew no more ofMaster Stephen than he did of Father Roger, so he said nothing and leftthe room with a bow.
"Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus, Father Roger!" cried MasterPeter, hurrying forward to meet his guest, as he entered thedining-hall.
"For ever and ever!" responded the Father, while Dora raised his hand toher lips, delighted to see her old friend again.
"But how is this, Father Roger?" Peter asked in high good humour, aftersome inquiry as to his brother's welfare; "how is this? Talabor, _deAik_announced you as 'Abbot.' What is the meaning of it?"
"Quite true, sir! Thanks to his Holiness and the King, I have been'Abbot' the last month or two; but just now I am on my way to Pest bycommand of his Majesty."
"What! an abbot travel in this fashion, on foot! Why, our abbots makeas much show as the magnates, some of them. Too modest, too modest,Father! Besides, you'll never get there! Is the King's business urgent?"
"Hardly that, I think; though--but, after all, why prophesy evil beforeone must!"
"Prophesy evil?" repeated Dora.
"Prophecies are in the hands of the Lord!" interposed her fatherquickly. "Good or bad, it rests with Him whether they shall befulfilled. So, Father Roger, let us have it, whatever it is."
"The King's commands were that I should be at Pest by the end of themonth," answered Roger, "so I shall be in time, even if I do travelsomewhat slowly. As for the prophesying--without any gift of prophecy Ican tell you so much as this, that _something_ is coming! True, it isfar off as yet, but to be forewarned is to be forearmed, and I fancy theKing is one who likes to look well ahead."
"But what is it, Father Roger? do tell us!" cried Dora anxiously.
"Nothing but rumours so far, dear child, but they are serious, and itbehoves us to be on our guard."
"Oktai and his brethren, eh?" said Master Peter, with some scorn. "Oh,those Tartars! The Tartars are coming! the Tartars are coming! Why, theyhave been coming for years! When did we first hear that cry? I declare Ican't remember," and he laughed.
"I am afraid it is no laughing matter, though," said Father Roger. "Idaresay you have not forgotten Brother Julian, who returned home onlytwo or three years ago."
But here Dora interposed. She remembered Father Roger telling her astory of the Dominican brothers, who had gone to try and find the "oldhome" of the Magyars and convert to Christianity those who had stayedbehind, and she wanted to hear it again, if her father did not mind.
Father Roger accordingly told how, of the first four brothers, only onehad returned home, and he had died soon after, but not before he haddescribed how, while travelling as a merchant, he had fallen in with menwho spoke Hungarian and told him where their home, "Ugria," was to befound.[2] Four more brothers had been despatched on the same quest byKing BA(C)la, who was desirous of increasing the population of his country,and particularly wished to secure "kinsmen" if he could. Two only of thebrothers persevered through the many perils and privations which besettheir way. One of these died, and Julian, the survivor, entering theservice of a wealthy Mohammedan, travelled with him to a land of manyrich towns, densely populated.[3] Here he met a woman who had actuallycome from the "old home," and still farther north he had found the"brothers of the Magyars," who could understand him and whom he couldunderstand.
[Footnote 2: Ugria extended from the North Sea to the rivers Kama, Irtisch, and Tobol, west and east of the Ural Mountains. The Ugrians had come in more ancient times from the high lands of the Altai Mountains. Hungarian was still spoken in Ugria, then called Juharia, as late as the beginning of the sixteenth century.]
[Footnote 3: Great Bulgaria, lying on both sides of the Volga, at its junction with the Kama.]
They were, of course, heathen, but not idolaters; they were nomads,wandering from place to place, living on flesh and mare's milk, andknowing nothing of agriculture. They were greatly interested in all thatJulian told them, for they knew from old traditions that some of theirrace had migrated westwards.
But at the time of his visit they were much perturbed by news brought tothem by their neighbours on the east. These were Tartar, or Turkish,tribes, who, having several times attacked them and been repulsed, hadfinally entered into an alliance with them. A messenger from the TartarKhan had just arrived to announce, not only that the Tartar tribes werethemselves on the move and but five days' journey away, but that theywere moving to escape from a "thick-headed" race, numerous as the sandsof the sea which was behind them, on their very heels, and threateningto overwhelm all the kingdoms of the world, as it had alreadyoverwhelmed great part of Asia.
Brother Julian hastened home to report his discoveries and warn hiscountry, which he had reached between two and three years before ourstory begins; but nothing more had come of his pilgrimage, no more hadbeen heard of the "Magyar[4] brothers."
[Footnote 4: Europeans called them Ugrians-Hungarians, but they called themselves "Magyars"--"children of the land," as some think to be the meaning of the word.]
"But why, Father Roger?" asked Dora, with wide eyes.
"Because the 'thick-headed people' have not only overrun nearly thewhole of Central Asia as far as Pekin, covering it with ruins andreducing it to a desert, but have streamed westward like a flood, atorrent, and have submerged nearly the whole of Eastern Europe."
"Then they are not Tartars?"
"No, Mongolians[5]; but they have swallowed up many Tartar tribes andhave forced them to join their host. Tartars we have known before, butMongols are new to us, so most people keep to the name familiar to them,which seems appropriate too--TAitars, Tartari, you know, denizens ofTartarus, the Inferno, as we Italians call it; and their deeds are'infernal' enough, Heaven knows!"
[Footnote 5: Temudschin was but thirteen when he became chief (in A.A D. 1175) of one horde, consisting of thirty to forty thousand families. After some vicissitudes, he entered upon a career of conquest, and, between 1204 and 1206, he summoned the chiefs of all the hordes and tribes who owned his sway to an assembly, at which he caused it to be proclaimed that "Heaven had decreed to him the title of 'Dschingiz' (Highest), for he was to be ruler of the whole world." From this time he was known as Dschingiz, or Zenghiz Khan.]
"And are they coming, really?"
"As to whether they will come here, God alone knows; but Oktai, son ofDschingiz, who is now chief Khan, has sent a vast host westward, and, asI said, they have overrun great part of Russia; it is reported that theyhave burnt Moscow."
"Come, come, Father," interrupted Peter, who had been growing more andmore restless, "you are not going to compare us Magyars with theRussians, I hope, or with the Chinese and Indians either. If they showtheir ugly dog's-heads here, they wi
ll find us more than a match forsuch a rabble."
"I hope so!" said Father Roger. But he spoke gravely, and added, "Youhave heard, of course, of the Cumani, Kunok, you call them, I think."
"To be sure! Peaceable enough when they are let alone, but brave,splendid fellows when they are attacked, as Oktai has found, for I knowthey have twice defeated him," said Master Peter triumphantly.
"Yes, there was no want of valour on their part; but you know theproverb: 'Geese may be the death of swine, if only there be enough ofthem!' And so, according to the last accounts, the brave King has beenentirely overwhelmed by Oktai's myriads, and he, with 40,000 families ofKunok, are now in the Moldavian mountains on the very borders of ErdA(C)ly"(Transylvania).
"Ah, indeed," said Master Peter, a little more gravely, "that I had notheard! but if it is true, I must tell you that my chief object would beto prevent the report from spreading and being exaggerated. If it does,the whole country will be in a state of commotion, and all for nothing!There is hardly any nation which needs peace more than ours does, and wehave quite enough to do with sweeping before our own door, without goingand mixing ourselves up in other people's quarrels."
But Father Roger went on to say that the rumour had spread already, andthat was why the King was wishing to call his nobles, and, in fact, thewhole nation, together to take measures of defence in good time.
"Defence!" cried Peter; "defence against whom? Why, we have no enemieson any of our borders, unless you mean the Kunok, and they are farenough off at present; besides, we don't look on them as foes. It isalways the way, Father Roger! always the way! We go conjuring upspectres! and though I am his Majesty's loyal and devoted subject, I maysay here, just between ourselves, that I do think him too quick to takealarm."
"You think so, sir?" returned the Abbot; "well, of course, it is a mereopinion, but to my mind the King is not far wrong."
And then the good Father reminded his host that Oktai had alreadyoverthrown the Russians, great numbers of whom had been forced to joinhis army; and now that he had driven out the Kunok was it to besupposed that he would stop short? Dschingiz Khan, his father, had beena conqueror; conquest was his sole object in life, and he would haveconquered the whole world if he had lived. His sons, especially Oktai,took after him; they, too, considered themselves destined to conquer theworld, and now that Kuthen had shown him the way into Transylvania hewould be forcing a passage across the frontier before they knew wherethey were. His rapidity was something marvellous, unheard of!
Again Master Peter only laughed. Where was the use of alarming thecountry? and would not a call to arms look as if they were afraid, andactually tempt the Mongols to come and attack them?
Father Roger shook his head, as he replied in Latin:
"If you wish for peace, prepare for war, as the old Romans used to say,and it is wise not to despise your foe."
The two went on arguing. Master Peter, like many another noble in thosedays, would not see danger. Though valiant enough, he was always aneasy-going man, and, again like many another, he was quite confidentthat Hungary would be able to beat any enemy who might come against her,without worrying herself beforehand. Father Roger did not know theHungarians, though he had lived so long among them!
"Well, well," he concluded, "you go to Pest, Mr. Abbot; but think itwell over by the way, and when you see the King, you tell him plainlythat Peter Szirmay advises his Majesty not to give the alarm before itis necessary."
Roger shook his head but said nothing. Italian though he was, heunderstood the Hungarian nobility very well. He knew how they dislikedbeing turned out of their ordinary course; but he knew too that onceroused, they would not hesitate to confront any enemy who threatenedthem, and that though they might be hot-headed, foolhardy,over-confident, they were certainly not cowards!
"Well," thought the Abbot, "you are no wiser, I am afraid, than others;but when the King does succeed in routing you out of your old fastnessand getting you down into the plain, you will give as good an account ofyourself as the rest!"
Master Peter was glad to drop the subject, and to feel that there was atall events no immediate prospect of his being disturbed; yet he was sofar an exception to the majority of his fellow-nobles that he determinedto ascertain the truth about these rumours, and, if necessary, not todelay placing himself and his daughter beyond the reach of danger.
Father Roger's gravity had impressed Dora much, but she was young, andshe had such entire confidence in her father, that she could not feelany actual anxiety.
"What do you think, Father Roger?" she said presently, "if Oktai Khanreally should want to fight us, about how long would it take him to gethere?"
"That no one can say, dear child," answered the Italian. "He might reachthe frontier in three years, or it might be in two, or--it might be inone!"
"In one year!" Dora repeated in a startled tone.
"It is impossible to say for certain, my dear. It all depends upon howlong our neighbours can keep back the flood. One thing is certain, that,as they retreat in our direction, they will draw the enemy after them,and what is more, unless we are wise and prudent we may make enemies ofthe fugitives themselves; that is if we give them reason to suppose usnot strong enough, or not trustworthy enough, to be their friends. Well,God is good, and we must hope that the danger will be averted."
"Come, come, Father Roger," said Master Peter, "that is enough, that'senough! Let us eat, drink, and sleep upon it, and time will show! Thereis not the least reason for worrying at present at all events, and ifthis disorderly crew does pour across our frontiers at last, well, weshall be there to meet them! And it won't be the first time that we havedone such a thing."
And then, by way of entertaining his guest, he proposed to take him allover the house, stables, and courtyard.
Master Peter was not wealthy as his brother Stephen was, but for allthat he was sufficiently well off. Stephen, the younger brother, had hada large fortune with his wife; Peter, a much smaller one with his. Thefamily mansion, or castle,[6] belonged equally to both; and, being bothwidowers, and much devoted to one another, they had agreed to share it,and had done so most amicably for several years.
[Footnote 6: Any country house was a castle, or chActeau, as the French would say.]
Without being covetous, Stephen had a warm appreciation of this world'sgoods; and of all the forty male members of the Szirmay family living atthis time, he was certainly the most wealthy. He was devoted to hischildren, and gave them the best education possible at the time of whichwe are speaking, the first half of the thirteenth century. His son,Akos, now one of the King's pages, had learnt to read and write; he had,too, a certain knowledge of Latin, and sometimes in conversation hewould use a Latin word or two, with Hungarian terminations. In fact, heknew somewhat more than most of his class, and, needless to say, he wasa good horseman and a good marksman, and well-skilled in the use of armsand in all manly exercises.
Stephen's daughter and niece, JolAinta and Dora, were as good scholars ashis son; and all three owed their secular as well as religious knowledgeto Father Roger, in later years the famous author of the "CarmenMiserabile," and already known as one of the most cultivated men of theday. He was making his home with the Szirmays, and acting as chaplain,merely for the time being; and Stephen was glad to secure his servicesfor the children, who loved the gentle Father, as all did who came incontact with him.
Learning was held in such high honour in Hungary in these days, thatmany a man coveted, and had accorded to him, the title of"Magister"--Master--(borne by the King's Notary and Chancellor) if hehad but a little more scholarship than his neighbours, though that oftenof the slenderest description, and sometimes but few degrees removedfrom ignorance itself. A man such as Roger was not likely therefore tobe overlooked by a King such as BA(C)la; and his advancement was certain tocome in time, notwithstanding the fact that he was an Italian.
It was when Dora was about eighteen that her father had resolved to goand live on his own property, in one
of the northernmost counties ofHungary.
Now Peter had never been a good landlord; from his youth up his pursuitsand interests had not been such as to make him take pleasure inagriculture. Accounts and calculations were not at all in his wayeither, and accordingly, no one was more imposed upon and plundered byhis stewards than himself. He was generous in everything, open-handed, atrue gentleman, delighted to help or oblige anyone, and much morethoughtlessly profuse than many who were far richer than himself.
The dwelling-house on that one of his estates to which he had decided togo, was, it is hardly needful to say, very much out of repair, almost aruin in fact. It had never been handsome, being, in truth, but a greatshapeless barn, or store-house, which consisted merely of a ground floornearly as broad as it was long. The original building had been of stone,built in the shape of a tent, and, of course, open to the roof; forceilings, except in churches, were long looked upon as luxuries.
The first inhabitants had slept and cooked, lived and died, all in thisone great hall, or barn; and their successors, as they found more spaceneeded, had made many additions, each with its own separate roof ofsplit fir-poles, straw, or reeds. By degrees the original building hadbeen surrounded by a whole colony of such roofs, with broad woodentroughs between them to carry off the rain water. Most of theseadditions had open roofs, and were as much like barns as the first; butsome were covered in with great shapeless beams; and in a few there wereeven fireplaces, built up of logs thickly coated with plaster.
Various alterations and improvements had been made before Master Peter'sarrival, the most important of which was that the openings in the wallswhich had hitherto done duty as windows, had been filled in withbladder-skin, and provided with wooden lattices. The floors were notboarded, but the earth had been carefully levelled, and was concealed bycoarse reed-mats, while the walls had been plastered and whitened.
Altogether, the place was not uncomfortable, according to the ideas ofthe time, and Dora was not at all disgusted with its appearance, evencoming from her uncle's house, where she was accustomed to a good dealof splendour of a certain kind.
Hungarians, even in those days, could make a splendid appearance uponoccasion, as they did at the King's wedding, when all the guests worescarlet, richly embroidered with gold. But their chief luxuries at hometook the form of such articles as could be easily converted into moneyin case of need.
They had, for instance, plates and dishes of gold and silver, preciousstones, court-dresses, not embroidered and braided in the presentfashion, but adorned with pearls and stones of great value, as well aswith plates of beaten gold and silver. Master Peter's great dining-hallcontained many valuables of this description. Huge, much-carved oakchests were ranged along the bare walls, some open, some closed, theselatter being laden with silver plates and dishes, gold and silver cups,tankards and numberless other articles required at table. Here andthere, the statue of a saint, a piece of Grecian or Roman armour, andvarious antique curiosities were to be seen.
Seats had not been forgotten, and the high-backed chairs and broadbenches were supplied with comfortable cushions of bright colours.Similar gay cushions were in use throughout that part of the houseinhabited by Peter and his daughter; and whatever deficiencies therewere, everything at least was now in good order and scrupulously clean.
As for Dora's own room, her father had done all that he could think ofto make it pleasant and comfortable; and though many a village maiden inthese days would look on it with disdain, Dora was well satisfied. Therewere even a few pictures on the bare white walls, though of course theywere not in oil; but the special luxury of her little apartment was thatthe window was filled with horn, which was almost as transparent asglass, and was, moreover, decorated with flowers and designs, painted inbright colours.
Window glass was not unknown at this date, but it was too precious to becommonly used, and was reserved for churches and the palaces of kingsand magnates. Bladders and thin skins were in ordinary use, or, wherepeople were very wealthy, plates of horn; but there were plenty ofgentlemen's houses in which the inhabitants had no light at all inwinter but such as came from the great open hearths and fireplaces, forthe windows were entirely closed up with reeds or rush mats.
One of the additions made to the original building had been what wascalled a "far-view" or "pigeon tower," much higher than the houseitself, and the top of which could not be reached without the help of aladder. This tower, which was more like a misshapen obelisk in shape,was roofed in with rough boards. In the lower storey there was agood-sized room, with a door opening from it into the large hall. Itcontained a wooden, four-post bedstead, clean and warm, and a smalltable; and all along the walls were clothes-pegs and shelves, suchnecessaries as we call "furniture" being very uncommon in the days weare speaking of. Dora's chests had been placed here, and served thepurpose of seats, and there were also a few chairs, a praying-desk, anda few other little things. The walls were covered with thick stuffhangings, and the lower part of them was also protected by coarse greyfrieze to keep out the cold and damp. This was Dora's own room.
Like all gentlemen of the time, even if they were reduced in means,Peter had a considerable train of servants, and these were lodged in thevery airy, barn-like buildings already mentioned.
The courtyard was enclosed by a wall, high and massive, provided withloopholes, parapet, bastions, and breastwork; and the great gate, whichhad not yet been many weeks in its place, was so heavy that it was asmuch as four men could do to open and close it.
Master Peter had been anxious to have his horses as well lodged as theyhad been at his brother's; but, after all, the stables, which were justopposite the house, were not such as horses in these days would considerstables at all. They were, in fact, mere sheds with open sides, such asare now put up to shelter the wild horses of the plains.
When all this was done there still remained the digging of a broad, deepditch or moat, in which the master himself and all his servants tookpart, assisted by some of the neighbouring peasants; and in about threemonths' time all was finished, and the curious assemblage of irregularbuildings was more or less fortified, and capable of being defended ifattacked by any wandering band of brigands.
It merely remains to add that Master Peter's castle stood in acontracted highland valley, and was surrounded by pine-woods andmountains. Behind it was the village, of which some few stragglingcottages, or rather huts, had wandered away beyond it into the woods.The inhabitants were not Hungarians, except in so far as that they livedin Hungary; they were not Magyars, that is, but Slovacks, remnants ofthe great Moravian kingdom, who had retired, or been driven, into themountains, when the Magyars occupied the land. The Magyars loved thegreen plains, the lakes--full of fish, and frequented by innumerablewild fowl--to which they had been accustomed in Asia; the Slovacks,whether from choice or necessity, loved the mountains.
These latter were an industrious, honest people, no trouble to anyone,and able to make a living in spite of the hard climate. They hadsuffered in more ways than one by the absence of the family; for thegentry at the great house had as a rule been good to them; and when theywere away, or coming but seldom, and then only for sport with the bears,boars, and wolves which abounded, the poor people were treated withcontempt and tyranny by those in charge of the property. They no doubtwere glad when Master Peter came to live among them, and as for theirlandlord, time had passed pleasantly enough with him in spite of hisbeing so far out of the world.
What with looking after the estate, in his own fashion, hunting, riding,sometimes going on a visit or having friends to stay, he had foundenough to occupy him; but being a hospitable soul, he was alwaysdelighted to welcome the rare guests whom chance brought into theneighbourhood, and considered that he had a right to keep them threedays--if they could be induced to stay longer, so much the better forhim!
As for companionship, besides Dora, who could ride and shoot too, aswell as any of her contemporaries, he had Talabor the page, who had cometo him a pale, delicate-lo
oking youth, but had gained so much in healthand strength since he had been in service that his master often pitiedhim for not having parents better able to advance his prospects in life.They were gentry, originally "noble," as every free-born Magyar was, butthey were poor gentry, and had been glad to place their son with MasterPeter to complete his education, as was the custom of the time. Thegreat nobles sent their sons to the King's court to be instructed in allmanly and courtly accomplishments; the lower nobility and poorgentlefolk sent theirs to the great nobles, who often had in theirhouseholds several pages. These occupied a position as much above thatof the servants as beneath that of the "family," though they themselveswere addressed as "servant," until they were thought worthy the title of"_deAik_," which, though meaning literally "Latinist," answered prettymuch to "clerk" or "scholar," and implied the possession of some littleeducation.
Master Peter was so well satisfied with Talabor that he now alwaysaddressed him as "clerk" in the presence of strangers. He was growingindeed quite fond of him, and was pleased to see how much he had gainedin strength and good looks, and how well able he was to take part in allthe various forms of exercise, the long hunting excursions, the feats ofarms, to which he was himself devoted.