These evidences of indecision and alarm in their leader filled the Turks
with dread. They saw their cavalry battalions flying in confusion, heard
the triumphant trumpets of their foes, learned that the dreaded Polish
king was at the head of the irresistible charging columns, and yet
beheld their commander pressing the siege as if no foe were in the
field. It was evident that the vizier had lost his head through fright.
A sudden terror filled their souls. They broke and fled. While Sobieski
and the other leaders were in council to decide whether the battle
should be continued that evening or left till the next morning, word was
brought them that the enemy was in full flight, running away in every
direction.
They hastened out. The tidings proved true. A panic had seized the
Turks, and, abandoning tents, cannon, baggage, everything, they were
flying in wild haste from the beleaguered walls. The alarm quickly
spread through their ranks. Those who had been firing on the city left
their guns and joined in the flight. From rank to rank, from division to
division, it extended, until the whole army had decamped and was
hastening in panic terror over the plain, hotly pursued by the
death-dealing columns of the Christian cavalry, and thinking only of
Constantinople and safety.
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