most brilliant phase of his
remarkable career. Marching rapidly to Giurgevo with his handful of men,
he managed to detain the Turkish army for weeks on the south side of the
Danube, destroying their bridges and preventing them from crossing the
river. Turned at length by a Turkish detachment, which had succeeded in
crossing at a point above Giurgevo, he was compelled to withdraw to a
village about halfway towards Bucarest. His little army had been
strengthened by an accession of Transylvanian and Moldavian troops, the
former under brave Albert Kiraly, but even then it barely numbered
16,000, whilst the army of Sinan Pasha must have been at least six times
as strong. Kalugereni, the village at which this stand was made, is
still to be found on the maps, on the line of railway from Giurgevo to
Bucarest; and it only differed from Thermopylae in the fact that the
enemy was not alone checked in his career, but for the time the little
army of Roumanians and their allies were completely victorious.

Nothing could have exceeded the astonishment of Sinan Pasha when he
found Michael ready to give him battle with his handful of patriots; but
as he proceeded to make his dispositions for the onslaught, he found
that his adversary possessed in his favourable position much to
compensate him for his inferior numbers. The nature of the ground was
such that Sinan could not employ the whole, nor even the major part, of
his forces, and Michael and his allies were protected by a morass and
river, which rendered it necessary for the Turks to concentrate their
whole attack upon a single road and bridge crossing the latter. At this
bridge the battle was practically fought. Michael and his forces for a
long time sustained the attack of the Ottomans, who had posted their
guns so as to commit havoc in the ranks of the allies, until these,
fighting hand to hand, were obliged to retreat. The Turks followed and
had made sure of their victory, when Albert Kiraly succeeded in bringing
two guns into a favourable position, and by a flank fire threw the enemy
into confusion. Of this circumstance Michael availed himself once more
to renew the attack, this time with the most happy results. The enemy
retreated in disorder over the bridge, and by the furious onslaught of
the allies his hosts were driven helter-skelter into the morass. On the
one hand Michael is said to have performed prodigies of valour, whilst
on the other Sinan Pasha, who fought with equal