The Gipsy's Prophecy

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 67, 13 September 1884, Page 4

The Gipsy's Prophecy

It was evening and the many lights from the officers' quarters of an Austrian brigade ahone brightly. Some of the officers were busy in the mysteries of card playing, some reading the journals of the day, others employing their idle moments in writing to their loved ones at home. Apart from these, there sat, beside a small table, such as were used in camp, an aged officer. This veteran was Major Yon Muhrnitz, who was fond of relating instances of his military experience while serving Austria. Upon this particular evening ho was surrounded by an attentive audience, who Avere intently listening to him as he related the following adventure he had met with whilst fighting against tho Turks. " It was getting late in the spring of our campaign, and our troubles with the Turks were far from being at a close, when I set out for Miclasvar, in Transylvania, to conduct a number of recruits to my regiment, which then lay in the vicinity of Orsown. In a village near the army lived a gipsy, who carried on the trade of a sutler. My new soldiers, who were extremely superstitious, asked her to tell them their fortunes. I laughed at them, and at the same time held my hand to the gipsy. " • The 20th of August ! ' said she, with a very significant air, and without adding another syllable. "I wished to obtain some explanation, but she repeated the same words ; and as I was going away, she called oat to me in the same tone : ' The 20th of August ! ' It may easily be supposed that this date remained impressed upon my memory. "We joined the army, and shaied the fatigues and dangers. It is well known that in this war the Turks gave no quarter. The chiefs offered a premium of a ducat for every head that should be brought into the camp, and neither Janizaries nor Spahies neglected an opportunity of earning the reward. Tho arrangement was particularly fatal to our advance posts. There was scarcely a night in which the Turks did not come near in superior numbers to seek for heads, and ot daybreak it was often found that a portion of the camp had been guarded only by decapitated bodies. ' ' The Prince of Coburg resolved to send every night strong pickets of cavalry beyond the videttes, for the purpose of protecting them ; the pickets were composed of one or two hundred men ; but the Turkish generals finding their troops disturbed in their retail trade, sent still more numerous detachments against our pickets, which procured them a much more considerable profit. The service of the pickets was consequently of such a nature that those who were appointed to perform it always put their affairs in order provious to their departure. " Things were in this state in the month of August. Several battles had not changed tho position of the army. A week before the "20th, my fortune-teller, of whom I had frequently purchased provisions, again made her appearance. She entered my tent, requested me to leave her a legacy in case I should die on the day she had predicted, and offered, in case I did not, to make me a present of a hamper of Tokay. This wine was a rarity in the army. The gipsy appeared not to have common sense ; in the situation in which I then was, a speedy death was not improbable, but I had no reason to expect it precisely on the 20th of August. I acceded to the proposal, staking two horses and fifty ducats against the old woman's Tokay ; and the auditor of the regiment took down our agreement in writing, but not without laughing. "The 20th of August came. There was no probability of an engagment. It was indeed the turn of our regiment to furnish a picket for the night, but two of my comrades were to go out before me. In the evening, as the hussars were preparing to set off, the surgeon of the regiment came to inform the commander that the officer named for the picket was taken dangerously ill. The one next to him, and who preceded me, received orders to take his place ; he dressed himself in haste, and was proceeding to join his men, but his horse,a generally quiet creature, suddenly began to prance and caper in such a manner that he at last threw his rider, who broke his leg in 'he fall. It was now my turn. I set off, but, I must) confess, not in my ordinary humour. "I commanded eighty men, and was joined by one hundred and twenty men from another regiment, making in the whole two hundred men. Our post was about a thousand paces in front of the line of the right wing, and we were supported by a marsh covered with very high reeds ; we had no advanced sentinels, but not a man was suffered to leave his saddle ; our orders Avere to remain Avith draAvn sabres and loaded carbines till daybreak. "Everything was quiet till a quarter before ten o'clock, Avhen Aye heard a noise, Avhich Avas succeeded by loud shouts of ' Allah !' and in a moment all the horses Avere thrown to the ground, either by the fire or the shock of seven or eight hundred Turks ! An equal number fell on their side from the impetuosity of their charge, and the fire of our carbines. "In the confusion that succeeded, I received eight sabre wounds, as well from friends as enemies ; my horse Avas mortally Avounded ; he fell upon my right leg and pinned me to the ground. "The Hash of pistols threw a light upon the scene of carnage. I raised my eyes, and saAV our men defending themselves with the courage of desqair ; but the Turks, intoxicated Avith opium, made a horrible massacre of them. Very soon not a single Austrian Avas left standing. The victors seized the horses that wore still fit for service, pillaged the dead the Avounded, and then began to cut off their heads and put them into sacks, which they had brought expressly for the purpose. "My situation Avas not very enviable. In the regiment of Szekeler, Aye in general, understood the Turkish language. I heard them encourage each other to finish the business before any help should arrive, and not leave a single ducat behind, adding that there ought to be tAvo hundred. Hence it appears that their information must have been very accurate. Whilst they were passing over me, while legs, arms, and balls Avere flying over my head, my horse received a bloAv Avhich caused him to make a convulsive movement. My leg Avas disengaged, and I instantly conceived the idea of throwing myself if possible, among the reeds of the morass. I had observed that several of our men Avho had attempted it Avere taken ; but the firing had slackened, and the dai'kness inspired me with hope. " I had only twenty yards to go, but had reason to apprehend thatl should sink in the morass. I nevertheless leaped overmen and horses, knocked doAvn more than one of the Turks, who extended their arms to catch me, and made several bloAvs Avith their sabres ; but my good fortune and agility helped me to reach the marsh. I sank at first no higher than my knees ; in this manner I proceeded about twenty paces among | the reeds, and then stopped with fatigue. I heard a Turk exclaim : "' An infidel has escaped ! Let us look for him ! ** * It is impossible he can bein the morass,' replied^ the other. I know not whether they continued their conversation, but I heard nothing m.ore ; I fajnted away with the loss ofqlood, and in this state I remained

several hours, for when I came to myself the sun was already high. " I had sank into the morass up to my waist ; my hair stood erect when I recollected the carnage of the night, and the 20th of August was one of my first ideas. I counted my wounds, which were eight, and none of them dangerous ; they were given with sabres, on the arms, and breast, and the back. As the nights are very cold in that country, I wore a thick pelisse, which deadened the blows. I was, however, extremely weak. "I listened; the Turks had long been gone. From time to time I heard the groans of wounded horses on the field of battle ; as to the men, the Turks had taken oare of them. "I attempted to extricate myself from the place in which I then was, and this I accomplished in about an hour. The footsteps I had left behind me on entering guided me out again. Though a war with Turks blunts the edge of sensibility, I felt an emotion of fear when I cast my eyes beyond the reeds. I, however advanced ; my eyes were directed towards the scene of massacre, but words are inadequate to express my terror on feeling myself suddenly seized by the arm. I turned my head, and beheld an Arnaut, six feet high, who had come back to see if he could pick up anything else. Never was hope more cruelly disappointed. I addressed him in the Turkish language: "'Take my watch, my money, my uniform, but spare my life.' 'All these belong to me,' he said, 'and your head into the bargain,' "He immediately untied the string of my hussar cap, and then my cravat. I was unarmed, and incapable of defending myself ; at the slightest movement he would have plunged his cutlass into my bosom. " ' Have compassion on me ! ' I said. ' My family is rich ; make me your prisoner, and you shall have a large ransom.' "' lt will be too long to wait for that,' replied he. 'Only hold yourself still that I may cut.' And he was already taking out my shirt-pin. "Meanwhile I hung round him; he did not prevent me because he relied upon his weapons ; and even, perhaps, from a motive of compassion, which was not strong enough to counterbalance the hope of a ducat. Whilo he was disengaging my shirt-pin, I felt something hard at his girdle. It was an iron hammer. He again repeated : '"Hold yourself still.' "These would have been the last words I should ever have heard had not the horror of such a death inspired me with the idea of seizing his hammer ; he did not perceive what I was doing, and already he held my head in one hand and his cutlass in the other, when, disengaging myself by a sudden movement, I gave him a blov* on the face with the hammer with all my strength. The Arnaut staggered ; I repeated the blow, and he fell, at the same time dropping his weapon. It is unnecessary to add that I seized it and plunged it several times into his body. " I ran to our advanced post, whose arms I perceived glittering in the sun, and at length reached the camp. The same day I was attacked with a violent fever, and was conveyed to the hospital. " In six weeks I recovered from my fever and wounds, and rejoined the army. On my arrival the gipsy brought me her Tokay. "Not long afterwards two deserters from the enemy came over to us, who no sooner saw the gipsy than they declared that she frequently went at night to the Turkish camp to give the enemy an account of our movements ; adding that they had several times been present when this woman described to them our projects, and encouraged them to make attacks which had actually taken place. A Turkish cipher served her for her passport. " The convincing proof being found upon her, she was sentenced to suffer death as a spy. Before her execution I questioned her on her prediction relative to me. She acknowledged that by acting a3 a spy to both patties, which procured her a double profit, she had often heard the designs of both. "As to what regarded me in particular, she selected me to make of me a great example, capable of confirming her credit, by fixing so long beforehand the fatal moment. At its approach, she instigated the enemy to make an attack, on the night of the 20th, on the post of our l'egiment. From the intercourse which she had with the officers, she learned that these were to go out before me ; to one she* sold adulterated wine, which made him very,ill ; as for the other, at the moment of his departure she went up to him, as if to sell him something, and found means,' unperceived, to introduce into the nostrils of his horse a piece of burning tinder. " She was executed a few days after my interview, and there was none among our forces who regretted that event."