Yet eight hundred men in a petty mountain town
had brought this great enterprise to naught and sent back the mighty
army of the grand Turk in inglorious retreat.
[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF SOLYMAN, CONSTANTINOPLE.]
The story of Guntz has few parallels in history; the courage and ability
of its commander were of the highest type of military worthiness; yet
its story is almost unknown and the name of Jurissitz is not classed
among those of the world's heroes. Such is fame.
There is another interesting story of the doings of Solyman and the
gallant defence of a Christian town, which is worthy of telling as an
appendix to that just given. The assault at Guntz took place in the year
1532. In 1566, when Solyman was much older, though perhaps not much
wiser, we find him at his old work, engaged in besieging the small
Hungarian town of Szigeth, west of Mohacs and north of the river Drave,
a stronghold surrounded by the small stream Almas almost as by the
waters of a lake. It was defended by a Croatian named Zrinyr and a
garrison of twenty-five hundred men.
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