Neath the Hoof of the Tartar Part 21

But Mr. Moses no sooner found himself safely at the bottom, and sound in all his limbs except just where he was. .h.i.t, than he at once regained his wonted composure.

"Off with you, Vid," said he, "but fetch a good handful of cobwebs; that will stop the bleeding in a trice."

Meantime Dora herself ran into the house and soon came back with Borka her maid, bringing water, heaps of old rag, and all that could possibly be wanted. The girl's knees were shaking under her with terror as she slipped along, close after her mistress.

Dora herself bound up the injured arm, Moses offering no opposition, as they were in a fairly safe place, and when the operation was over, he even kissed the hands of this "fairest of surgeons," as he called her.

Then he rose to his feet, gave himself a shake and roared, "Hand me my spears! I shall hardly be able to draw another bow to-day!"

No sooner was the governor standing up once more than Borka made a hasty dash for the house.

"Keep along by the wall, Borka!" Dora called after her. But the girl was so consumed with fear that she neither heard nor saw. Just as she was hurrying up the steps of the princ.i.p.al entrance, instead of going round to the back, where the danger was nil, she fell down, head foremost, and as she did so, a long Tartar arrow caught her in the back.

Dora flew after her, and just as she had reached the steps Talabor was beside her, with his s.h.i.+eld held over her head. Two or three arrows rattled down upon it, even in the few moments that they stood there.

"Get up at once!" said Talabor, sternly. But the girl did not move, and Moses began to tremble.

Borka was dead! killed, not by the arrow, as they found later on, but by her own terror.

"Oh, poor girl!" cried Dora, her eyes filling with tears.

"She has got her deserts!" said Talabor, in a hard tone. "There is one traitor less in the castle! and I believe she was the only one."

And without giving time for question or answer, he hurried Dora indoors, and rushed back to his post on the wall, followed at a more leisurely pace by Moses with his four spears.

While all this was going on, the Mongols had succeeded more or less in filling up the moat, and though up to their knees in water, and impeded by the logs, branches, stones, and other material with which they had filled it, some had already crossed, and were beginning to climb the wall, by means of long poles, when Talabor gave the signal, and a volley of huge stones and pieces of rock came suddenly cras.h.i.+ng down upon them.

These were swiftly followed by a flight of arrows, and the two together worked such terrible havoc among the a.s.sailants that the survivors beat a hasty retreat.

They seemed to be entirely disheartened by this last repulse, and convinced that nothing would be gained by continuing their present tactics; for, to the great surprise of Moses and Talabor, they did not return. When next the moon shone out it was seen that a large number of men were lying dead both in and about the moat. All, whether whole or wounded, who could do so, had drawn off into the depths of the wood, the more severely wounded borne on the shoulders of the rest.

Libor was not again seen by anyone.

The usual guard was doubled, and Talabor was going to pa.s.s the night on the battlements, with the great dog-wood bow beside him and his quiver full of fresh arrows.

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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sailants 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, Knez! 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, Bajdar!" 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?"

"Well, and if it's not so many! and if you, who ought to be first in the fight have managed to save your own skin! quite enough have fallen for all that, and we shall all perish if this mad business goes on any longer. Take care, Knez! Look after yourself! for Batu Khan is not used to being played with by new men such as you!"

Libor staggered to his feet, and though badly frightened by his ill-success, as well as by what Bajdar had said, his natural cunning did not altogether desert him.

"Be off, Bajdar! and don't blame me! Of course, I meant it for the best!

The castle is crammed with gold and silver, and there are some good horses, as well as a pretty girl or two. Who could have supposed the rascals would defend themselves in such a fas.h.i.+on! Be off, I tell you, Bajdar, and stop this senseless fighting, and we'll draw off into the woods."

"What! with empty hands?"

"Who is to help it? But we won't go quite empty-handed either."

The Mongol glanced up from under his cap as Libor said this, and his small eyes glittered like fire-flies in the darkness.

"Master Peter has a large sheep-fold in a valley not far from here, and the few men who guard it are nothing to reckon with; if we drive off the sheep, there will be a good feast for a thousand or two of hungry fellows in the camp."

"What's that?" said the Tartar hotly. "Why, we shall eat those up ourselves! All the cattle have been driven off out of our way, and we are as hungry as wolves!"

"Only go, Bajdar, and call the men off, and then I'll tell you something which will make up for our ill-luck here."

Bajdar shook his head. He was in no good humour, but he had gained his object, and he went off, cursing and threatening, to stop the a.s.sault.

As for the amends which Libor promised, we can say only so much as this, that they were ample. He believed the country to be wholly at the Mongols' mercy, he was well acquainted with the neighbourhood, and he led his men, who had now dwindled to thirty or so, to the most defenceless places, where they found cattle enough to satisfy them.

So great was the prevailing terror, that many had fled from their homes leaving everything behind them, or had been so hara.s.sed by perpetual alarms that they had at last concealed their property in such senseless ways that it was found without difficulty.