The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 354: what you’re looking at

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

- - -—@ oa - << a * ie ae ol 352 THE BRONZE STATUE. golden vision; and nothing now re- Towards midday the vanguard and the mains but to write the epitaph of this | light troops of Zitzka’s force appeared yourg queen who bore the sovereign | upon the adjacent hills; and, taking a title for three short days?’ position at about three quarters of a While Hubert was thus giving vent| mile’s distance from the left wing of the to the reflections which gushed into his | castle, that division of the besieging ar- mind as he stood contemplating the| mament soon pitched its white tents lifeless form which lay at his feet, the baron was transfixed in speechless hor- ror, gazing down upon those marble features whereon the brilliant light of the tapers played as if in mockery. The nobleman heard not the language which flowed from his dependant’s lips; | or rather, he heard, but heeded not! tion; the knowledge that a diadem had upon an eminence skirted by the forest, unfurled its banners amidst the loftiest trees, and planted its cannon upon a breast-work that was speedily thrown up io front of the encampment. It was not until the sun was already steeping the western horizon in hues of ‘orange, and purple, and gold, that the The shock which so sudden a change | in the aspect of affairs had caused him | to experience; the consciousness of crue] disappointment and blasted ambi- | fallen from the brow of his son just at. the very instant when it seemed to be) crowning him; the still vivid impres- sion of the fearful circumstances which | had wrought that change—all combined moment, the spirit of that bold, bad man! the castle that the queen was dead, and that the royal cause—which was like- wise the cause of the aristocracy—was ruined by this sudden catastrophe, aj} fearful consternation prevailed; and all was alarm, dismay, and confusion with- in the spacious fortalice of Altendortf. And as if nothing should be wanting main body of the republican army de- bouched from the high road and began to stretch itself around the ancient cas- tle, which was now the stronghold of the Bohemian aristocracy. ‘Then did the huge volume of ‘Taborite strength come rolling on in Jiving waves, pouring its torrent of steel-clad warriors over the fertile plains where pnumerous herds 2 'and countless flocks had lately grazed; to bend, if not actually to break in a. then did the flood of grim enthusiasts deluge the gardens and the fields, inun- 'date the parks and the orchards, and And when it was known throughout | urge its animated billows onward even ‘unto the precincts of the forest which | | | | skirted the right wing of Altendorf Cas- tle. The trampling of myriads of hu- man feet and hundreds of horses’ hoofs sounded like the din of a cataract,while songs of freedom and martial music swelled upon the gale. With the trampling of feet, the clash to enhance those feelings to the keen-| of weapons, the neighing of war-steeds, est poignancy, a courier arrived two days afterwards with the intelligence that John Zitzka had already quitted Prague at the head of a numerous ar- my and was wending his way by forced marches northward. CHAPTER LXXXVII. ‘THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIEGE OF ALTENDORF CASTLE. On the fourth morning after the ter- rible incidents which occurred in the chapel, the warder upon one of the watch-towers of Altendorf Castle de- ' | a scried a troop of horsemen advancing | towards the stronghold; and in a few minutes a cannon was fired from the ramparts to announce to the garrison | and the inmates of the mighty fortalice | generally, that the T'aborite army was now approaching. the chanting of Taborite airs, and the roll of the gun carriages, mingled the wild dissonance of trampet, timbrel and horn; and over the heads of the martial host waved the banners, amidst whose fluttering folds the eye might trace the words ‘ Tapor’ and ‘ ZirzxKA,’ and such inscriptions as ‘ Death to the Aristocracy,’ ‘No Throne—no Coronet,’ Equal Rights and Equal Property,’ &c. At the head of a chosen troop of well mounted guardsmen rode John Zitzka, Captain-General of the Taborites and Governor of Bohemia. His counte- nance, despite the disfiguring loss that it had sustained, was ennobled by the animation that overspread it ; and as the songs of freedom, chanted by the sol- diery, fell upon his ears, his remaining eye shot fire, a deeper flush and a rud- dier glow appeared upon his features, his form seemed to dilate into god-like proportions—and, in a voice that grew sonorous as a brazen trumpet, did he is- sue the commands which, while they comicbooks.com ae