being to put Luther in a place of safety where he could lie concealed
until the feeling against him had subsided. Meanwhile, at Worms, when
the period of the safe-conduct had expired, Luther was declared out of
the ban of the empire, an outlaw whom no man was permitted to shelter,
his works were condemned to be burned wherever found, and he was
adjudged to be seized and held in durance subject to the will of the
emperor.

What had become of the fugitive no one knew. The story spread that he
had been murdered by his enemies. For ten months he remained in
concealment and when he again appeared it was to combat a horde of
fanatical enthusiasts who had carried his doctrines to excess and were
stirring up all Germany by their wild opinions. The outbreak drew Luther
back to Wittenberg, where for eight days he preached with great
eloquence against the fanatics and finally succeeded in quelling the
disturbance.

From that time forward Luther continued the guiding spirit of the
Protestant revolt and was looked upon with high consideration by most of
the princes of Germany, his doctrines spreading until, during his
lifetime, they extended to Moravia, Bohemia, Denmark and Sweden. Then,
in 1546, he died at Eisleben, near the castle in which he had dwelt
during the most critical period of his life.

_SOLYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT AT GUNTZ._

Solyman the Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey, had collected an army of
dimensions as magnificent as his name, and was on his march to overwhelm
Austria and perhaps subject all western Europe to his arms. A few years
before he had swept Hungary with his hordes, taken and plundered its
cities of Buda and Pesth, and made the whole region his own. Belgrade,
which had been so valiantly defended against his predecessor, had fallen
into his infidel hands. The gateways of western Europe were his; he had
but to open them and march through; doubtless there had come to him
glorious dreams of extending the empire of the crescent to the western
seas. And yet the proud and powerful sultan was to be checked in his
course by an obstacle seemingly as insignificant as if the sting of a
hornet should stop the career of an elephant. The story is a remarkable
one, and deserves to be better known.

Vast was the army which Solyman raised. He had been years in gathering
men and equipments. Great work lay before him, and he needed great means
for its accomplishment. It is said that three hundred thousand men
march