of Smith in this action he calls a sore one. Nothing is said of the part which he took in the final assault when Alba Regalis was carried; yet if we recollect that the last desperate struggle with the governor took place with the troops under the immediate command of the Earl of Meldritch, we have every reason to conclude that our hero had his share in the worst dangers of that bloody conflict.

Night, which separated the combatants on the plains of Girke, left the affair still doubtful. But the Turks thought otherwise. Hassan Bashaw was a brave man, and had the most perfect Moslem faith in the sword and doctrines of Mohammed. Flattering himself that the Christians were wholly in his clutches, he committed the gross military error of detaching twenty thousand of his men, and sending them off to begin the leaguer of that town which he had been marching to relieve. He proposed to finish. the affair with Duke Mercury the next day with the forces which remained. Never was general more mistaken. He failed in both his objects. The precautions which the Duke had taken before leaving Alba Regalis, in providing amply for its safety, without regard to his movements or fate, enabled the garrison to beat off and baffle the assailants. The situation of the Duke himself was much more hazardous. With the return of daylight the generals of both armies opened their eyes with an increased respect for each other, and each proceeded to intrench himself where he lay, under sight of his enemy. Thus they lay for two or three days, the precautions of the Imperialists being rather greater than those of the Turks, as was proper to their inferior numbers. By the latter they were frequently taunted with their weakness, and defied to come from behind their trenches. These provocations finally goaded them to the encounter. The Christians were led

out by the Rhinegrave, by Culnitz, and Meldritch, in three bodies. The struggle was a short one. The Turks were driven to the cover of their intrenchments, with a loss of six thousand men; the Imperialists forbearing to press their advantage, because of the sudden appearance of a large body of troops, coming from an unexpected quarter. The success thus obtained, while it lessened the Turkish appetite for a renewal of the game, did not increase the courage of the Christians. We are not told of their losses in the two conflicts which had already taken place ; nor of the character of that body of men, whose sudden appearance in the midst of the last battle prevented Duke Mercury from pressing his advantage to a final victory. In all probability there were good reasons in his own weakness for this forbearance. Thus intrenched, the two armies lay watching each other for some days more, until at length, growing impatient, or hopeless of any good result from longer delay, Hassan Bashaw broke up his camp, and retired from his trenches; the Imperialists hanging upon his march, and assailing his rear frequently and with success. The Turks fled to Buda, and the Duke divided his army into three parts. One of these divisions, consisting of six thousand men, was given to the Earl of Meldritch, who was sent to assist George Busca against the Transylvanians. With this division went our adventurer, and to its fortunes we must confine our attention. Our notice of the history of the country, as a matter of course, will be confined to such glimpses only as are necessary to a proper comprehension of the part taken by Smith, and the relation to public events in which each occurrence finds him Transylvania at this period was assailed by very different enemies. Sigismund Bathor, the native prince of the country, was contending with the Emperor of Germany on one hand, and with the Turks on the

other, who were the deadly enemies of both. While the latter were the invaders of his land, the former was ambitious of its sovereignty. Meldritch had been sent against Sigismund, but being a native of Transylvania, he preferred serving the native prince to the invader. He was perhaps the more readily persuaded to this, as he found Sigismund already in possession of the best footholds of the country. He did not find it difficult to divert the arms of his followers into the direction which he himself proposed to take; particularly, indeed, as he could urge upon them the better booty to be won from the Turks, than that which could possibly be gleaned from the poor natives, his countrymen. The Emperor had not been a very good paymaster, and this was another argument easily persuading to a change of service. Besides, why fight against Christians, when the Turkish enemies were before them, at once the foes of their country and their faith? A war, too, carried on against these, was a war in favor of both of the Christian princes, though they might be contending in deadly hate against each other. We cannot reproach the Earl of Meldritch and his followers with their change of service. Smith, certainly, had neither moral nor social obligations to adhere to the banner of the Germans. Nay, to have done so, in carrying war into Transylvania, would have been on his part a gross offence against society and morals. His own previous convictions would have denounced him, as he had long since " repented and lamented to have seene so many Christians slaughter one another;" and he had sought the army of the Imperialists, with the express desire to "trie his fortune against the Turkes."

He was still to enjoy the pleasure. Sigismund was very well pleased to obtain the services of a captain so brave and well experienced as Meldritch, and readily consented

that he should endeavor to drive the Turks out of his country. It so happened that they held possession of those very portions of Transylvania in which the earl's family estates were situated. His motives were therefore quite as personal as patriotic. He began his career with his wonted vigor

CHAPTER V.

In the campaign which followed, Smith was employed in a manner which must have afforded him an excellent training for his future career among our North American Indians. The country, in which its operations were to take place, was one equally wild and savage in its natural and social aspects. The greatest trials of strength were to be found in regions which to ordinary courage would have seemed inaccessible. In these regions had the Turks planted their stronghold. They occupied the rocky mountains of Zarham, and ravaged the tributary plains and valleys. Over these wild and stony passes, in regions possessed by herds of bandits and renegades of all descriptions, Turks and Tartars-a people not so much Turks as outlaws—not so much men as savages-the troops of Meldritch must make their way to get, at their enemies, and gain possession of his estates. They had to contend with a people practised in guerilla or partisan warfare-a war fare more than all others calculated to draw out the resources of military genius, to stimulate ingenuity and acti vity, and prompt courage to feats of the greatest audacity. Meldritch knew the country, and was by no means ignorant of its difficulties. He soon brought his troops to an acquaintance with the predatory warriors by whom it was possessed. These were sought and pressed, and with daily and unremitting industry. Gradually, they yielded before his arms, and left him in possession of the plains. They had their cities in the mountains, and to these they retired from before the presence of the foe. To one of these, as utterly impregnable, they ascended when they