The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 358: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee ee rN ~~ — +. > » ‘ ~_> —- es. o ‘ . fall of hope, full of enthusiasm; for 306 THE BRONZE STATUE. secret entrance into the subterraneans;jlike portentous meteors, the forms of and thus this means of egress or ingress | armed men were seen running along was rendered utterly unavailable to the ) the rampart, with their naked weapons inmates of the Custle. | glancing in their hands. ‘The trumpets From the lips of a prisoner who was|brayed, the drums beat, the great bell taken on that occasion, when the as-|of the castle was rang, and the rumor sault was attempted, Zitzka ascertained spread like wildfire that the whole ‘l’a- the precise position of the magazine |borite host had stealthily entered the where vast supplies of corn and flour | fortalice. had been garnered up for the use of the Keeping together in a serried com- garrison; and he was resolved to make | pact phalanx, Zitzka and his chosen an attempt to destroy that important | band of two hundred men forced their provision warehouse. Accordingly, in| way through the hurrying, scared, and the midst of a night of pitchy dark-| bewildered soldiers of the garrison; ness, when neither moon nor stars|and, leaping down into the court-yard, were able to penetrate through the sa- | they beat aside all opposition and made ble canopy of heaven, Zitzka rlaced | good their progress to the corn-maga- himself at the head of a small but}zine. The door of this place was bro- chosen band of stalwart Taborites.|ken open in a few minutes; and some Through the stolid blackness of that | combustibles were thrown inside. ‘Then | night did the cohort advance, through | Zitzka and his party turned to retrace . 7 + . . . ‘the sea of darkness did it wendits way. | their way: but this was not so easily Not a word was uttered, not the faint-| accomplished. The panic had some- est clash of a weapon washeard. The! what abated, the torches showed that men knew their destination beforehand ; | the invaders were only few in number, and their hands were upon their swords | and, on the discovery being made that to prevent them from rattling against | Zitzka himself was at the head of the their corselets. But though thus silent! band, an ardent desire to effect his cap- and wary; the men were full of spirits, ; ture seized upon the most daring spirits of the Castle garrison. Zitzka was leading them in person, and | Suddenly, upward burst a huge co- S in him they had implicit confidence. |lumn of fire; and gave a terrible dis- ‘The known rapidity, boldness, and dex- | tinctness to the entire scene. Every terity of his military manceuvres, and | feature of the adjacent buildings, every bis stratagetic achievements, were in- | battlement, turret, and tower; aye, ev- deed well calculated inspire such a feel- | ery window and every door, every but- ing of reliance upon him. tress and every loop-hole,—all were On reaching the edge of the moat, | brought into the strongest possible re- two of the Taborites swam across; and j|lief; while the hundreds and hundreds to the wall of the Castle did they fasten|of armed men who were now seen the ends of two stout ropes which they | gathering from all directions and in ev- dragged through the water after them. | ery spot, appeared like phantoms in the The other extremities were held by | lurid glare. those who remained upon the bank of; But now a shocking, universal yell the moat, and by whom they were fast- | pealed from the garrison of A ltendort, vened to stakes into the ground. By | when it was perceived that the sudden means of the two ropes thus secured | blaze which had burst forth arose from across the moat, the rest of the band|the granary. Zitzka and his band passed over in silence and safety ; and | rushed forward to cut their way through as they had chosen a spot where the|the enemy: but before them was & wall exterior surface of the wall was much | of armed men whose helmets and corse- injured by the attempted assault made |lets,, spears and swords, glared in the a few days previously, they easily found | light of the conflagration which was now projecting and indenting places to sus- | spreading to other provision magazines tain their footing as they noiselessly | adjoining the granary. For a few min- climbed the rampart. | utes the Captain-General and his Tabo- Zitzka was the first who stood upon)rite heroes were pressed back, until the the battlements of Altendorf Castle : but| rear of the band was almost in contact almost at the same instunt the alarm! with the flames. ‘The heat was intole- was given—a cry of terror burst around | rably scorching, the smoke rolled over kim—torches flared in a moment in all| them in a dense volume, and they were directions, and by their lurid flames, ; maddened almost toa frenzy. which streamed backward and forward: ‘Onward!’ exclaimed the stentorian comicbooks.com — way m&<? 2 —— oe -_ =