The Red, White, and Green Part 35

Fortunately, a soldier on active service has little leisure in which to indulge his grief, and thus it was with me now.

So greatly had the regiment lost in officers that the survivors were compelled to do more than double duty, and for several days I had not an hour to myself.

One event, though not exactly bearing on my story, must be chronicled, since it shows the generosity of Gorgei's nature.

During the fierce fighting on the ninth of April the Austrian general, Gatz, had fallen while at the head of his men, and our chief, anxious to honour the memory of a gallant adversary, did on a large scale what we had done for Von Arnstein, and accorded him a magnificent military funeral.

The display was of a most imposing description, and when the body of the brave Austrian had been laid to rest, the ceremony was concluded by the discharge of a hundred guns.

Meanwhile, grave events were taking place. Just as the battle of Isaszeg had cut off the Austrian right wing, so now their left was completely broken up, and it became plain that Windischgratz must evacuate Pesth.

"Another stroke like the last," said Rakoczy one evening as we sat chatting in his room, "and the thing will be done."

"Unless Kossuth's party should try to drive too hard a bargain."

"Oh no," replied the colonel cheerfully. "The Austrians know exactly what we want. The emperor has only to be crowned King of Hungary, and swear to restore our ancient rights. He will do that as soon as our army appears under the walls of Vienna."

"It isn't much, especially when--"

A loud banging at the door cut the sentence short, and in walked my brother, looking flushed and excited.

Neither of us had seen him since the meeting at Isaszeg, and we had not the faintest notion he was in Waitzen.

He shook hands with us warmly, drank a gla.s.s of wine which Rakoczy poured out, and sat down.

"Care to turn in?" asked the colonel. "My bed's doing nothing, and you look tired."

Stephen shook his head. "I'm off in a couple of hours; only waiting to rest my horse."

"There's nothing wrong, I hope?"

"Nothing wrong!" exclaimed my brother. "Everything's wrong! Haven't you heard the news from Debreczin? Here, read this!" and he drew a printed paper from his pocket.

The colonel spread it on the table, and as he read the contents aloud I began to understand the meaning of Stephen's words.

The doc.u.ment, signed by the members of the National Diet, proclaimed in vigorous language the independence of Hungary. The House of Hapsburg-Lorraine was deposed, its members banished from the country, and Hungary, as a free state, was to be governed by Kossuth.

"What do you think of it?" asked Stephen testily, as if we had drawn up the proclamation.

"'Twould be rather more to the point to know what Gorgei thinks of it,"

the colonel replied in his cool way. "I suppose he wasn't consulted over this--waste paper?"

"Yes he was, and went dead against it. Kossuth came to G.o.dolo, and there was a very stormy meeting, I can tell you."

"What did Gorgei say?"

"That we didn't want a republic, and wouldn't have one. That our soldiers were royalists, and in arms to defend the const.i.tution--not to depose the king. In short, that Kossuth's scheme would plunge the country into misery."

"It means a Russian invasion," remarked Rakoczy. "It means the loss of all the Sclavonic states, and Hungary dragooned into another Poland."

My brother tossed his head contemptuously. "We would chance all that,"

he said. "A Magyar doesn't stop to count the odds against him; but we aren't going to spill blood like water, just to make Kossuth dictator!"

"We can't draw back now," I said.

"That's just it. We must either continue fighting, or desert our country when it has the greatest need of us."

"Stuff!" said Stephen. "Were I Gorgei, I would settle the matter in a month."

Rakoczy bubbled over with laughter; but, seeing how much in earnest my brother was, he tried hard to keep a straight face, and asked how he proposed to do it.

"It's very simple," Stephen replied. "The army is devoted to Gorgei, and will do what he wishes. Let him swoop down on the Austrians, win another battle--which would be easy enough--and then offer to close the war, on condition that our ancient rights are restored."

"And what of this?" I asked, laying my hand on the declaration of independence.

"Pooh! It will be useful to the people for wrapping up parcels."

"I believe the plan would work out all right," said Rakoczy thoughtfully, "but we mustn't try it. Don't you see, my boy, that it would open a civil war, and we should have to join the Austrians in crus.h.i.+ng our own people. No, no. Rather let Hungary become an Austrian fief than that Magyar should destroy Magyar."

"The other side doesn't study that."

"All the more reason why we should. How would you like to help the Austrians burn down Pesth, because Louis Kossuth was inside it?"

Stephen turned away with a shudder. "It seems that we must tie our own hands," he remarked gloomily.

"You've hit it exactly; but we can untie them to fight against the enemy. By the way, our acquaintance, Baron von Arnstein, is dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What a blow to his pretty daughter!"

"And to the baroness. But come; in the general excitement I quite forgot to ask you to eat," and the colonel ordered supper to be laid immediately.

We had barely finished when a clatter of hoofs was heard outside, and a soldier brought word that Captain Botskay's horses were ready.

"Then I must go," exclaimed my brother, "though that wretched paper has taken the heart out of my work."

"Yes," said the colonel, after he had gone. "This precious doc.u.ment will work the cause more harm than the loss of a dozen battles."

Now I would not have you suppose we bore any ill-will to Louis Kossuth and his party; but we did not belong to them, their aims were not ours, and, in addition, we believed they were grasping at more than they were able to hold.

Of Kossuth's genius and marvellous eloquence, of his untiring energy, his pa.s.sionate love for Hungary and hatred to Austria, I have already spoken.

He caused the raw material of armies to start from the soil; he created money, manufactured guns, turned the ploughshares into swords and bayonets, stored ammunition, roused the people to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and was, in short, the mainspring of the revolution amongst the civilians.

He did not profess to be a soldier, and the taunts that he never appeared on the battle-field, except to run away, I held to be both unjust and ungenerous. His place was at the council chamber, not in the camp. Whether he was ambitious for himself, I know not; and it matters little, as the gulf between us was so vast that it could not be bridged.

We, the party of the n.o.bles and most of the old soldiers in Gorgei's army, wished only to regain our ancient rights. Kossuth and his friends openly endeavoured to make Hungary into a republic. In the days of our adversity the little rift was not seen; now it suddenly became a yawning chasm.

From the general to the private arose murmurs of discontent, and I verily believe that, had Gorgei done what my brother proposed, he would have carried the army with him to a man.