FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   >>   >|  
sterile Sclavonia, he found his way to Gratz, in Styria, the residence of the Archduke Ferdinand, afterwards Emperor of Germany. Here he met with an Englishman and an Irish Jesuit, by whose assistance he was enabled to join a regiment of artillery, commanded by Count Meldritch, whom he accompanied to Vienna, and thence to the seat of war. At this time, 1601, there was a bloody war going on between Germany and the Turks, and the latter had gained many signal advantages, and the Crescent, flushed with victory, was rapidly encroaching upon the confines of Christendom. Canissia having just fallen, it was at the siege of Olympach, beleaguered by the Turks, that Smith first had an opportunity of displaying the resources of his military genius, for which he was put in command of two hundred and fifty horse. That siege being raised, after some interval of suspended hostilities, the Christian forces, in their turn, besieged Stowle Wessenburg, which soon fell into their hands. Mahomet the Third, hearing of this disaster, dispatched a formidable army to retrieve or avenge it; and in the bloody battle that ensued on the plains of Girke, Smith had a horse shot under him, and was badly wounded. At the siege of Regal he encountered and slew, in a tournament, three several Turkish champions, Turbashaw, Grualgo, and Bonny Mulgro. For these exploits he was honored with a triumphal procession, in which the three Turks' heads were borne on lances. A horse richly caparisoned was presented to him, with a cimeter and belt worth three hundred ducats; and he was promoted to the rank of major. In the bloody battle of Rottenton, he was wounded and made prisoner. With such of the prisoners as escaped massacre, he was sold into slavery at Axiopolis, and fell into the hands of the Bashaw Bogall, who sent him, by way of Adrianople, to Constantinople, a present to his youthful mistress, Charatza Tragabigzanda. Captivated with her prisoner, she treated him tenderly; and to prevent his being sold again, sent him to remain for a time with her brother, the Tymour Bashaw of Nalbritz, in Tartary, who occupied a stone castle near the Sea of Azof. Immediately on Smith's arrival, his head was shaved, an iron collar riveted on his neck, and he was clothed in hair-cloth. Here long he suffered cruel bondage; at length one day, while threshing in a barn, the Bashaw having beaten and reviled him, he turned and slew him on the spot, with the threshing bat; then p
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46  
47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

bloody

 

Bashaw

 

hundred

 

threshing

 

Germany

 

prisoner

 

wounded

 

battle

 

prisoners

 

massacre


slavery
 

Axiopolis

 

Bogall

 
escaped
 

ducats

 

triumphal

 

honored

 

procession

 
exploits
 

Grualgo


Mulgro

 

lances

 
promoted
 

cimeter

 

richly

 
caparisoned
 

presented

 

Rottenton

 

suffered

 

clothed


shaved
 

collar

 
riveted
 
bondage
 

length

 

turned

 

reviled

 

beaten

 

arrival

 

Turbashaw


Captivated
 

treated

 

tenderly

 

prevent

 
Tragabigzanda
 

Charatza

 

Constantinople

 

present

 

youthful

 
mistress