Regall is bombarded and taken by assault—The Earl of Meldritch leads an army of thirty thousand into Wallachia—Fierce fighting and a retreat through the enemy’s country—The “Master of Stratagem” commands the vanguard and clears a pass—The Earl’s depleted army makes a last stand in the fateful valley of Veristhorne—Forty thousand Tartars lay before them and in their rear thirty thousand Turks—The Christians make a splendid but hopeless defense—They attempt to cut their way out and a mere handful escape—John Smith is left on the field covered with wounds—He is found by the enemy and tended—Sold for a slave at Axopolis and sent to Constantinople.

Although the defeat of their champions naturally had a depressing effect upon the garrison, they continued to maintain a strong defence. The approaches, upon which the besiegers had been at work for weeks were now, however, completed and their guns brought within close range of the walls of Regall. For fifteen days a constant fire was kept up by twenty-six pieces of artillery and at the end of that time two large breaches afforded ample avenues for assault.

When the Christian army entered the town a terrific conflict ensued, but after two days of hand to hand fighting through the streets the citadel fell and with the capture of that inner stronghold all opposition ceased. Prince Moyses set his men to repair the fortifications and when that had been accomplished left a garrison in the place and proceeded to the reduction of a number of neighboring towns. At the close of these minor operations the Prince’s army was broken up and Captain John Smith went with the Earl of Meldritch into Wallachia.

The Earl opened the campaign in Wallachia with a body of thirty thousand veteran troops, of which his own regiment was the pick. Opposed from the first to great odds, they performed magnificent service until finally annihilated in the fatal valley of Veristhorne. But the army of Meldritch had many a hard fought fight before that dreadful day. There was one great battle in Wallachia which closed with twenty-five thousand dead upon the field. They lay so thick that “there was scarce ground to stand upon,” says Smith, “but upon the dead carcasses.” Though the Turks were defeated in this affair, the victory had been purchased at such a heavy cost that the Earl decided to retreat upon the fortified town of Rothenthrum, and this with as little delay as possible because fresh bodies of the enemy were moving against him from every direction.

The march of the retiring army was hampered at every step by the enemy, who hung upon its rear and flanks and engaged portions of it in frequent skirmishes. The men were thus wearied and their progress retarded. The special object of these tactics on the part of the Turks became apparent when the Christian commander learned that a strong force had thrown itself across his path. It was posted in a pass through which Meldritch must necessarily go in order to reach Rothenthrum. Nor was this all, for the same news-bearer informed the general that an army of forty thousand Tartars was moving rapidly to join the Turks in the defile.

The situation was extremely perilous but it allowed the Earl no alternative from the desperate course of attacking a body twice as numerous as his own, enjoying the advantage of an ideal position. To turn back would be certain destruction. To stay where he was would be to die like a rat in a trap. The only hope—and it was very slim—lay in cutting a way through the Turks holding the pass and gaining the town, only a few miles beyond, before the reinforcing Tartars could arrive. Hesitation was foreign to the character of Meldritch. Putting a bold face upon the matter, he marched on until within a mile of the pass and then halted his men to prepare for an attack as soon as night should fall.

In the meanwhile our hero’s busy brain had been at work, and when the troops came to a halt he had a simple but well-devised plan to propose to his commander. He lost no time in repairing to the spot where the general stood consulting with his leading officers. Although no more than a major-captain, Smith could always gain the ear of his superiors, who had long since learned to respect his judgment and shrewd resourcefulness.

“Way there for my ‘Master of Stratagem,’” cried the Earl banteringly, as our hero approached. “Now I warrant he hath some bold proposal to advance that shall give us easement in this difficulty. Thou art always welcome Captain Smith, for methinks Dame Fortune dances close attendance on thee.”

Smith revealed his scheme and immediately received the consent of the commander to its execution.

“By my halidame!” said the pleased general, “this powder-magician of ours would rout the forces of Pluto and distract his realm with horrible contrivances. Take what men you need and make what arrangements your judgment prompts, Captain Smith. Tonight the van is under your command.”

The leader of the vanguard was decidedly the post of honor in such an action as was about to begin, and as our captain rode forward in the dark at the head of three hundred picked horsemen, he felt justly proud of the position assigned to him. Each of his men carried a spear on the head of which was fastened a bunch of fireworks, designed to make as much noise and splutter as possible. When they had arrived within a few hundred yards of the Turks who lay in waiting at the entrance to the pass, each man lighted the combustibles at the end of his lance and charged with it thrust in front of his horse’s head. The effect upon the enemy was immediate and decisive. Panic seized their ranks. They turned and fled, falling over one another in their terrified haste to escape the demons by which they supposed themselves to be beset. The horses of their cavalry, no less alarmed by the strange sight, plunged wildly amongst them, increasing the confusion.

Into this disordered mass rode Smith’s horsemen followed by the main body, slaying as they went. So they cut their way through the pass and emerged on the other side without losing a score of their number. It was a great achievement, but Meldritch’s little army was still in very grave danger. The Tartars were close at hand if not already in the way. The Earl pushed forward, but he dared not urge his troops to their utmost speed, in case he should come upon the enemy with his horses exhausted. Furthermore, the night was unusually dark and the men had to keep to the road and proceed cautiously for fear of falling or losing their way.

With the first streaks of dawn, the anxious Earl, riding at the head of the column, began to gaze forward with straining eyes. They were entering the valley of Veristhorne and the refuge they sought was scarce three miles distant. Presently the general, looking across the valley, dimly discerned the black bulk of Rothenthrum upon the farther side. But the cry of joy that started from his lips was cut short by the sight of a huge dark mass stretched across the middle ground. It was too late. Forty thousand Tartars lay before them and in their rear thirty thousand Turks were advancing.

The Earl of Meldritch was one of those rare combinations—a dashing leader and a sound general. His inclination would have prompted him to charge the horde of barbarians that lay in his path, but such a course would have been suicidal. Instead, he led his troops to the base of a mountain where he immediately began dispositions to withstand an attack. The Tartars commenced to form their ranks at sunrise but, fortunately for the Christians, did not advance until noon. This unexpected respite enabled Meldritch, not only to rest his men and horses after their all-night march, but also to make some rough defences. The Tartar cavalry were the greater proportion of their army and that most to be feared. In order to check their charges, the Earl surrounded his position, except where it rested upon the mountain, with a cordon of sharpened stakes, driven firmly into the ground.

The sun was high in the heavens when the Tartar horsemen advanced to the discordant clamor of drums, trumpets and hautboys. In dense ranks they stretched far beyond each flank of the small Christian army and looked as though they might envelop and swallow it with ease. Behind them came a horde of foot-soldiers armed with bows and bills. By this time detached bodies of Turks began to appear on the surrounding hills where they complacently sat down to watch the combat in the arena below, prepared, if necessary, to reinforce the Tartars. These additional enemies amounted to about fifteen thousand in number, so that Meldritch’s ten thousand were hopelessly overpowered. The Earl realized that his little force was doomed but, like a good and brave commander, he had made the best disposition possible of them and was determined to fight to the last.

When the Tartar horse had advanced to within a half mile of his position, Meldritch launched a body of his cavalry under Nederspolt against them. These veteran troopers made a most brilliant charge and threw the enemy into confusion, but the numbers of the Christians were too small to permit them to follow up this advantage and they wisely retired within their lines. The Tartars now advanced their foot, whilst their horsemen reformed on either flank. The sky was presently darkened by flight after flight of countless arrows which, however, did comparatively little harm. The Christians retaliated with another charge, breaking the centre of the enemy and checking his advance. With ten thousand more cavalry Meldritch might have swept the ill disciplined assailants from the field, but he was too weak to venture upon aggressive tactics and once again had to retire his men in face of a success.

In anticipation of a renewal of the attack by the Tartar horsemen, Meldritch had formed his infantry, under Veltus, just beyond the palisade of stakes. They were ordered to hold their ground as long as possible and then to fall back behind the defence. The Tartars, confident in their superior numbers, as well they might be, charged repeatedly. Each time they were gallantly repulsed, but at length Veltus had lost so many men that he was forced to fall back. The enemy, brandishing their spears and yelling exultantly, followed close upon the retiring foot-soldiers and came quite unawares upon the rows of sharpened stakes. In a moment a mass of struggling men and horses lay at the mercy of Meldritch’s troops who slew two thousand of them.

This splendid success on the part of the pitiful handful of Christians now reduced to half their original number, dampened the ardor of the Tartars. There was a momentary cessation in the attack and the defence might have been maintained until darkness set in, perhaps, but the bodies of Turks which we have mentioned as surveying the field in readiness to render assistance if needed, now began to descend to the valley. The Earl realized that once these auxiliaries joined forces with the Tartars, all would be lost. He determined to seize the moment of hesitancy on the part of the latter to make an attempt to break through them and gain the town of Rothenthrum. Accordingly, he quickly formed his cavalry in the van and advanced to the attack. It was a forlorn hope but no better prospect offered. Five thousand men threw themselves upon thirty thousand with the desperation of despair. The Earl, upon his great white charger, rode in the lead, followed by his own regiment in which Captain Smith was now the senior officer. Straight at the Tartar cavalry they went and cut their way through the front ranks as though they had been but paper barricades. But rank after rank confronted them and with each fresh contact they left numbers of their own men behind. The slaughter was indescribable. Soon they were the centre of a maelstrom of frenzied human beings with scarce more chance for escape than has a canoe in the vortex of a whirlpool. They fought like heroes to the death and made fearful havoc among their enemies. The gallant Earl and a few hundred followers made their way as by a miracle through the surrounding mass and swimming the River Altus, escaped.

The setting sun looked down upon thirty thousand dead and dying strewn over the Valley of Veristhorne, but lying in gory heaps where the last desperate flower of that splendid army of thirty thousand veterans that the Earl of Meldritch had proudly led into Wallachia a few months before and amongst them almost all his leading officers. “Give me leave,” says Captain Smith, in his account of the affair, “to remember the names of my own countrymen in these exploits, that, as resolutely as the best, in the defense of Christ and his Gospel ended their days; as Baskerfield, Hardwicke, Thomas Milmer, Robert Molineux, Thomas Bishop, Francis Compton, George Davison, Nicholas Williams and one John, a Scot, did what men could do; and when they could do no more left there their bodies, in testimony of their minds. Only Ensign Carleton and Sergeant Robinson escaped.”

These men were members of Smith’s company and their captain lay among them where he had fallen covered with wounds. But he was not quite dead. The Turks and Tartars going over the field in search of spoils were attracted to him by the superiority of his armor. This led them to believe that he was a man of rank, and finding that he still lived they carried him into their camp with a view to preserving his life for the sake of ransom. His hurts were tended and he was nursed with care. When sufficiently recovered to travel, he was sent down to the slave market at Axopolis. Here Smith was put up to auction together with a number of other poor wretches who had escaped death on the field of battle to meet with a worse fate, perhaps, at the hands of cruel masters.

Our hero fetched a good price, as much on account of his vigorous appearance as because there seemed to be a prospect of profit in the purchase if he should turn out to be a nobleman as was suspected. He was bought by the Pasha Bogall and sent by him as a present to his affianced at Constantinople. Smith tells us that “by twenty and twenty, chained by the necks, they marched in files to this great city, where they were delivered to their several masters, and he to the young Charatza Tragabigzanda.”