The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete
their assistance, and they forthwith carried the officer to his own
quarters, where his wound was dressed, and his preserver carefully
tended him until his recovery was completed.
In return for these good offices, this gentleman, who was originally of
Scotland, rewarded her for the present with great liberality, assured
her of his influence in promoting her husband, and took upon himself
the charge of young Ferdinand’s education; the boy was immediately
taken into his protection, and entered as a trooper in his own
regiment; but his good intentions towards his father-in-law were
frustrated by the death of the German, who, in a few days after this
disposition, was shot in the trenches before Temiswaer.
This event, over and above the conjugal affliction with which it
invaded the lady’s quiet, would have involved her in infinite
difficulty and distress, with regard to her temporal concerns, by
leaving her unprotected in the midst of strangers, had not she been
thus providentially supplied with an effectual patron in the colonel,
who was known by the appellation of Count Melvil. He no sooner saw her,
by the death of her husband, detached from all personal connexions with
a military life, than he proposed that she should quit her occupation
in the camp, and retire to his habitation in the city of Presburg,
where she would be entertained in ease and plenty during the remaining
part of her natural life. With all due acknowledgments of his
generosity, she begged to be excused from embracing his proposal,
alleging she was so much accustomed to her present way of life, and so
much devoted to the service of the soldiery, that she should never be
happy in retirement, while the troops of any prince in Christendom kept
the field.
The Count, finding her determined to prosecute her scheme, repeated his
promise of befriending her upon all occasions; and in the meantime
admitted Ferdinand into the number of his domestics, resolving that he
should be brought up in attendance upon his own son, who was a boy of
the same age. He kept him, however, in his tent, until he should have
an opportunity of revisiting his family in person; and, before that
occasion offered, two whole years elapsed, during which the illustrious
Prince Eugene gained the celebrated battle of Belgrade, and afterwards
made himself master of that important frontier.
CHAPTER FOUR
HIS MOTHER’S PROWESS AND DEATH; TOGETHER WITH SOME INSTANCES OF HIS OWN
SAGACITY.
It would have been impossible for the mother of our adventurer, such as
she hath been described, to sit quietly in her tent, while such an
heroic scene was acting. She was no sooner apprised of the general’s
intention to attack the enemy, than she, as usual, packed up her
moveables in a waggon, which she committed to the care of a peasant in
the neighbourhood, and put herself in motion with the troops; big with
the expectation of re-acting that part in which she had formerly
acquitted herself so much to her advantage.—Nay, she by this time
looked upon her own presence as a certain omen of success to the cause
which she espoused; and, in their march to battle, actually encouraged
the ranks with repeated declarations, importing, that she had been
eye-witness of ten decisive engagements, in all of which her friends
had been victorious, and imputing such uncommon good fortune to some
supernatural quality inherent in her person.
Whether or not this confidence contributed to the fortune of the day,
by inspiring the soldiers to an uncommon pitch of courage and
resolution, I shall not pretend to determine. But, certain it is, the
victory began from that quarter in which she had posted herself; and no
corps in the army behaved with such intrepidity as that which was
manifested by those who were favoured with her admonitions and example;
for she not only exposed her person to the enemy’s fire, with the
indifference and deliberation of a veteran, but she is said to have
achieved a very conspicuous exploit by the prowess of her single arm.
The extremity of the line to which she had attached herself, being
assaulted in flank by a body of the spahis, wheeled about, in order to
sustain the charge, and received them with such a seasonable fire, as
brought a great number of turbans to the ground; among those who fell,
was one of the chiefs or agas, who had advanced before the rest, with a
view to signalise his valour.
Our English Penthesilea no sooner saw this Turkish leader drop, than,
struck with the magnificence of his own and horse’s trappings, she
sprung forward to seize them as her prize, and found the aga not dead,
though in a good measure disabled by his misfortune, which was entirely
owing to the weight of his horse, that, having been killed by a
musket-ball, lay upon his leg, so that he could not disengage himself.
Nevertheless, perceiving the virago approach with fell intent, he
brandished his symitar, and tried to intimidate his assailant with a
most horrible exclamation; but it was not the dismal yell of a
dismounted cavalier, though enforced with a hideous ferocity of
countenance, and the menacing gestures with which he waited her
approach, that could intimidate such an undaunted she-campaigner; she
saw him writhing in the agonies of a situation from which he could not
move; and, running towards him with the nimbleness and intrepidity of a
Camilla, described a semicircle in the progress of her assault, and
attacking him on one side, plunged her well-tried dagger in his throat.
The shades of death encompassed him, his life-blood issued at the
wound, he fell prone upon the earth, he bit the dust, and having thrice
invoked the name of Allah! straight expired.
While his destiny was thus fulfilled, his followers began to reel; they
seemed dismayed at the fate of their chief, beheld their companions
drop like the leaves in autumn, and suddenly halted in the midst of
their career. The Imperialists, observing the confusion of the enemy,
redoubled their fire; and, raising a dreadful shout, advanced in order
to improve the advantage they had gained. The spahis durst not wait the
shock of such an encounter; they wheeled to the right-about, and
clapping spurs to their horses, fled in the utmost disorder. This was
actually the circumstance that turned the scale of battle. The
Austrians pursued their good fortune with uncommon impetuosity, and in
a few minutes left the field clear for the mother of our hero, who was
such an adept in the art of stripping, that in the twinkling of an eye
the bodies of the aga and his Arabian lay naked to the skin. It would
have been happy for her, had she been contented with these
first-fruits, reaped from the fortune of the day, and retired with her
spoils, which were not inconsiderable; but, intoxicated with the glory
she had won, enticed by the glittering caparisons that lay scattered on
the plain, and without doubt prompted by the secret instinct of her
fate, she resolved to seize opportunity by the forelock, and once for
all indemnify herself for the many fatigues, hazards, and sorrows she
had undergone.
Thus determined, she reconnoitred the field, and practised her address
so successfully, that in less than half an hour she was loaded with
ermine and embroidery, and disposed to retreat with her burden, when
her regards were solicited by a splendid bundle, which she descried at
some distance lying on the ground. This was no other than an unhappy
officer of hussars; who, after having the good fortune to take a
Turkish standard, was desperately wounded in the thigh, and obliged to
quit his horse; finding himself in such a helpless condition, he had
wrapped his acquisition round his body, that whatever might happen, he
and his glory should not be parted; and thus shrouded, among the dying
and the dead, he had observed the progress of our heroine, who stalked
about the field, like another Atropos, finishing, wherever she came,
the work of death. He did not at all doubt, that he himself would be
visited in the course of her peregrinations, and therefore provided for
her reception, with a pistol ready cocked in his hand, while he lay
perdue beneath his covert, in all appearance bereft of life. He was not
deceived in his prognostic; she no sooner eyed the golden crescent
than, inflamed with curiosity or cupidity, she directed thitherward her
steps, and discerning the carcase of a man, from which, she thought,
there would be a necessity for disengaging it, she lifted up her
weapon, in order to make sure of her purchase; and in the very instant
of discharging her blow, received a brace of bullets in her brain.
Thus ended the mortal pilgrimage of this modern Amazon; who, in point
of courage, was not inferior to Semiramis, Tomyris, Zenobia,
Thalestris, or any boasted heroine of ancient times. It cannot be
supposed that this catastrophe made a very deep impression upon the
mind of young Ferdinand, who had just then attained the ninth year of
his age, and been for a considerable time weaned from her maternal
caresses; especially as he felt no wants nor grievances in the family
of the Count, who favoured him with a particular share of indulgence,
because he perceived in him a spirit of docility, insinuation, and
sagacity, far above his years. He did not, however, fail to lament the
untimely fate of his mother, with such filial expressions of sorrow, as
still more intimately recommended him to his patron; who, being himself
a man of extraordinary benevolence, looked upon the boy as a prodigy of
natural affection, and foresaw in his future services a fund of
gratitude and attachment, that could not fail to render him a valuable
acquisition to his family.
In his own country, he had often seen connexions of that sort, which
having been planted in the infancy of the adherent, had grown up to a
surprising pitch of fidelity and friendship, that no temptation could
bias, and no danger dissolve. He therefore rejoiced in the hope of
seeing his own son accommodated with such a faithful attendant, in the
person of young Fathom, on whom he resolved to bestow the same
education he had planned for the other, though conveyed in such a
manner as should be suitable to the sphere in which he was ordained to
move. In consequence of these determinations, our young adventurer led
a very easy life, in quality of page to the Count, in whose tent he lay
upon a pallet, close to his field-bed, and often diverted him with his
childish prattle in the English tongue, which the more seldom his
master had occasion to speak, he the more delighted to hear. In the
exercise of his function, the boy was incredibly assiduous and alert;
far from neglecting the little particulars of his duty, and embarking
in the mischievous amusements of the children belonging to the camp, he
was always diligent, sedate, agreeably officious and anticipating; and
in the whole of his behaviour seemed to express the most vigilant sense
of his patron’s goodness and generosity; nay, to such a degree had
these sentiments, in all appearance, operated upon his reflection, that
one morning, while he supposed the Count asleep, he crept softly to his
bedside, and gently kissing his hand, which happened to be uncovered,
pronounced, in a low voice, a most fervent prayer in his behalf,
beseeching Heaven to shower down blessings upon him, as the widow’s
friend and the orphan’s father. This benediction was not lost upon the
Count, who chanced to be awake, and heard it with admiration; but what
riveted Ferdinand in his good graces, was a discovery that our youth
made, while his master was upon duty in the trenches before Belgrade.
Two foot soldiers, standing sentry near the door of the tent, were
captivated with the sight of some valuable moveables belonging to it;