“Then don’t stare idly at them any longer; away with those mutinous dogs and impale them, and put them on the highest hillock that the whole army may see them.”
The bodyguard, after a fierce struggle, overpowered the Janissaries, and pending their impalement, locked them up in the cellar of the cloisters.
By this time Hassan Pasha was in the most horrible temper; and just at that unlucky moment who should arrive but Balló, the envoy of the Prince of Transylvania.
Hassan, who could not see very well at the best of times, and was now blinded with rage besides, roared at him:
“Whence hast thou come? Who hath sent thee hither? What is thy errand?”
“I come from Kiuprile, sir,” replied Balló blandly.
“What a good-for-nothing blackguard this Kiuprile must be to send to me such a rogue as thou art, except in chains and fetters.”
“Well, of course he knows that I am the envoy of Transylvania, and represent the Prince.”
“Represent the Prince, eh? Art thou the Prince’s cobbler that thou standest in his shoes? Hast thou brought soldiers with thee?”
“Gracious sir—”
“Thou hast not, then? Not another word! Hast thou brought money?”
“Gracious sir!”
“Not even money! Wherefore, then, hast thou come at all? Canst thou pay the allotted tribute?”
“Gracious sir!”
“Don’t gracious sir me, but answer—yes or no!”
“Well, but—”
“Then why not?”
“The land is poor, sir. The heavy hand of God is upon it.”
“Thou must settle that with God, then, and pray that it may not feel my heavy hand also. Wherefore, then, hast thou come?”
Balló made up his mind to swallow the bitter morsel.
“I have come to implore you to remit the annual tribute.”
At first Hassan did not know what to say.
“Hast thou become wooden, then,” he said at last, “thou and thy whole nation? What right have ye to ask for a remission of the tribute?”
“Gracious sir, the tribute is five times more than what Gabriel Bethlen was wont to pay.”
“Gabriel Bethlen was a fine fellow who paid in iron what he did not pay in silver; if he paid fourteen thousand thalers for the privilege of fighting alongside of us, ye may very well pay down eighty thousand for sitting comfortably at your own firesides. What, only eighty thousand for Transylvania, a state that is always digging up gold and silver, when a single sanjak16 pays the Pasha of Thessalonica twice as much?”
At these words the national pride awoke in the breast of Balló.
“Sir, Thessalonica is a subject province, and its Pasha has unlimited power over his sanjaks, but Transylvania is a free state.”
“And who told thee that it shall not become a sanjak like the rest?” said Hassan grimly. “Before the moon has waxed and waned again twice, take my word for it that a Turkish Pasha shall sit on the throne of Transylvania! Dost thou hear me? By the prophet I swear it.”
“The Grand Seignior has also sworn that the ancient rights of Transylvania should never be infringed. He swore it on the Koran and by the Prophet.”
“It is beneath the dignity of the Grand Seignior, our present Sultan,” cried Hassan, “to remember the oath sworn by the great Suleiman; not what he says, but what his viziers wish, will happen. And vainly do ye entrust your heads to his hand, while the sword of execution remains in our hands! I’ll humble you, ye stony-headed, most obstinate of all nations! Ye shall be no different from the Bosnian rajas who themselves pull the plough!”
Balló raised his head with a bitter look before the wrathful vizier.
“Then, sir, you must find another population for Transylvania, for you will not find there now the men you seek. You may see no end of murdered Magyars there, but a degraded Magyar you will never find.”
At these words Hassan drew his sword, and with his own hand would have decapitated the presumptuous ambassador, but the mamelukes dragged him away, assuring the Pasha that they would impale him along with the Janissaries.
“Place the stake in front of my window that I may speak to the insolent wolf while he is well spitted.”
The men-at-arms did indeed thrust Balló into the cellar along with the Janissaries, and began to plant a long, sharp-pointed stake in front of the Pasha’s window, when, all at once, a frightful din arose behind their backs, for the Janissaries, hearing that their comrades had been condemned to death without mercy, had revolted in a body. In a moment they had cut down those of their officers who remonstrated, and while one body rushed towards the monastery, beating their alarm-drum and blowing their horns, the others attacked the negro giants guarding the impalement stakes already planted on the top of the hill, and in a few moments the executioners were themselves writhing on the stakes.
Meanwhile the mamelukes of Hassan, who were preparing to resist the insurgents, put to flight by the furious Janissaries, made for the courtyard of the cloister and its garden, which was surrounded by a stone wall, and after barricading the entrances, succeeded with great difficulty in shutting the iron gates in the faces of their assailants, and prepared vigorously to defend them.
The insurgents surrounded the monastery, and bombarding its windows with bullets and darts, began to besiege it at long-firing distance.
Hassan, distracted by rage and fear, fled into the tower of the monastery, leaving his guards to defend the gates till the other divisions of the army should come to quell the insurgents, but they did not stir. Hassan perceived from his tower that not a man from Kiuprile’s army was coming to his assistance, though they very well could see his jeopardy and hear the din of the firing a long way off. On the other side the Moldavians had pitched their camp on the hills, but it never entered their minds to draw nearer; on the contrary, they were only too delighted to see Turks devour Turks in this fashion. Ismail Pasha’s army seemed rather to be
