Every effort was
baffled by the skill, vigor, and alertness of the governor and the
unyielding courage of his men, and still the days went by and still
Guntz stood.
Solyman, indignant and alarmed, tried the effect of promises, bribes,
and threats. Jurissitz and his garrison should be enriched if they
yielded; they should die under torture if they persisted. These efforts
proved as useless as cannon-balls. The indomitable Jurissitz resisted
promises and threats as energetically as he had resisted shot and balls.
The days went on. For twenty-eight days that insignificant fortress and
its handful of men defied the great Turkish army and held it back in
that mountain-pass. In the end the sultan, with all his pride and all
his force, was obliged to accept a feigned submission and leave
Jurissitz and his men still in possession of the fortress they had held
so long and so well.
They had held it long enough to save Austria, as it proved. While the
sultan's cannon were vainly bombarding its walls, Europe was gathering
around Vienna in defence.
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