of his mouth.

The later events in the life of Wenceslas have to do with the most
famous era in the history of Bohemia, the reformation in that country,
and the stories of John Huss and Ziska. The fate of Huss is well known.
Summoned before the council at Constance, and promised a safe-conduct by
the Emperor Sigismund, he went, only to find the emperor faithless to
his word and himself condemned and burnt as a heretic. This base act of
treachery was destined to bring a bloody retribution. It infuriated the
reformers in Bohemia, who, after brooding for several years over their
wrongs, broke out into an insurrection of revenge.

The leader of this outbreak was an officer of experience, named John
Ziska, a man who had lost one eye in childhood, and who bitterly hated
the priesthood for a wrong done to one of his sisters. The martyrdom of
Huss threw him into such deep and silent dejection, that one day the
king, in whose court he was, asked him why he was so sad.

"Huss is burnt, and we have not yet avenged him," replied Ziska.

"I can do nothing in that direction," said Wenceslas; adding,
carelessly, "you might attempt it yourself."

This was spoken as a jest, but Ziska took it in deadly earnest. He,
aided by his friends, roused the people, greatly to the alarm of the
king, who ordered the citizens to bring their arms to the royal castle
of Wisherad, which commanded the city of Prague.

Ziska heard the command, and obeyed it in his own way. The arms were
brought, but they came in the hands of the citizens, who marched in long
files to the fortress, and drew themselves up before the king, Ziska at
their head.

"My gracious and mighty sovereign, here we are," said the bold leader;
"we await your commands; against what enemy are we to fight?"

Wenceslas looked at those dense groups of armed and resolute men, and
concluded that his purpose of disarming them would not work. Assuming a
cheerful countenance, he bade them return home and keep the peace. They
obeyed, so far as returning home was concerned. In other matters they
had learned their power, and were bent on exerting it.

Nicolas of Hussinez, Huss's former lord, and Ziska's seconder in this
outbreak, was banished from the city by the king. He went, but took
forty thousand men with him, who assembled on a mountain which was
afterwards known by the biblical name of Mount Tabor. Here several
hundred tables were spread for the celebration of the Lord's Supper,
July