Part 4 (2/2)

[Sidenote: _Crusaders Learn Something_]

The Governor of Nissa, moved by their condition, refreshed them with food, warmed them with clothing, and strengthened them with arms. Taught by the Bulgarian lesson, they pa.s.sed through Thrace without thieving, and came at last, worn and miserable, to the walls of Constantinople, where Alexius permitted them to await the arrival of Peter and his army.

[Sidenote: _Peter's Brave Follies_]

[Sidenote: _A Devastated Country_]

Peter and his army pa.s.sed safely through Germany, but behaved worse and fared worse than Walter and his following. The frontiers of Hungary were decorated with the bodies of Crusaders hanging at the gates of Semlin.

Immediately Peter ordered war. The people of the city fled to a hill, with the Danube on one side and a forest on the other. They were driven into the river, four thousand being put to the sword. Belgrade first knew of the battle by the corpses floating past her walls. Naturally, on penetrating further into Bulgaria, the Crusaders found only abandoned cities, food carried away, and as much as was possible, the road bereft of support of any kind. At Nissa they found a well-fortified city, where Bulgarians looked down from the walls on the Crusaders, and these last did not dare to try their strength on such an obstacle.

[Sidenote: _A Great Loss_]

At Nissa they seemed to have obtained supplies and marched on. Some Germans paid off real or fancied scores by burning some mills on the Nissava River. The Nissans fell on Peter's rear guard, killed all who fought, captured two thousand carriages and many prisoners. Peter turned back immediately, and flamed with wrath as he saw the dead who lay near Nissa.

[Sidenote: _A Tart Answer_]

Peter cooled down enough to send messengers to the city and ask, on the ground of a common Christianity, for the restoration of the prisoners and spoil taken from the Crusaders. The governor of the city tartly reminded the messengers that Christian conduct alone proved men to be Christians, and that the Crusaders having made the first attack, he could only count them as enemies.

This answer fired the Crusaders to fight. Peter, apparently growing in wisdom by experience, tried to hold the warriors back and begged them to negotiate. To wrath opposition is always treason, and Peter found himself regarded as a coward and placarded as a traitor.

[Sidenote: _Fighting and Negotiations_]

While Peter was parleying with the Governor of Nissa, two thousand Crusaders tried to scale the city walls and carry the city by a.s.sault.

The Bulgarians drove them back. A general fight began even while the two chiefs were negotiating. Peter proved his courage by waving his crucifix between the combatants and demanding that the fighting should cease. The uproar of battle gave no heed to his voice. His army was utterly routed and cut to pieces. They had fought without command, and were beaten into death and disorder. The Bulgarians captured horses, equipages, the chest which held the offerings of the faithful, and the women and children.

The greater skill and strength of the Bulgars won the fight which the unreasoning fury of Peter's followers had provoked.

[Sidenote: _Peter's Five Hundred_]

On the top of a hill near by Peter bemoaned his losses and, it is said, his foolhardiness. At that moment but five hundred men answered his call. The next day seven thousand who had been put to flight rejoined him at the call of his trumpet. They came in day by day until thirty thousand were mustered. The rest had perished.

[Sidenote: _Penitent Rebels_]

The survivors had small stomach or ability for fighting. They made their way toward Thrace in a humble and peaceable frame, and seemed to feel the mistake of rebellion against authority. Pity came to their relief.

Their thin bodies, their staggering gait, their rags, and their tears brought them the aid denied to their arms. None seemed to have turned back. The combatants who were not killed still kept their faces toward the Holy City.

[Sidenote: _A Greek Welcome_]

There seems good evidence that the Greeks would have met them differently had they been less helpless. The aversion of the Greeks to the Latins had grown now for centuries. The Latins were tolerable to the Greeks only when the Greeks needed their aid. The Latins had arrived.

For the present they could do no harm. The emperor, Alexius, intending to complain, sent messengers to Peter. These returned with tales of weakness and suffering. They were permitted to journey on, and, with palms waving, came at last to Constantinople.

[Sidenote: _Peter Captivates Alexius_]

Peter, an object of universal curiosity, if not of admiration, had audience with the emperor, captivated the monarch as he captivated all, and went forth loaded with help for his army and some good advice. This last was to the effect that Peter had better await the arrival of the military princes and generals who had pledged themselves to the Crusade.

But these, perhaps with calculated delay, lingered at home while other bodies of Crusaders as ill prepared, as troublesome, and as ill-fated as those which had followed the lead of Peter, marched away.

[Sidenote: _Roving Crusaders_]

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