Upon Guntz burst the whole storm of the war, against Guntz it thundered, around Guntz it lightened; yet still Guntz stood, proud, insolent, defiant, like a rock in the midst of the sea, battered by the waves of war’s tempest, yet rising still in unyielding strength, and dashing back the bloody spray which lashed its walls in vain.

Solyman’s pride was roused.  That town he must and would have.  He might have marched past it and left it in the rear, though not without great loss and danger, for the pass was narrow and commanded by the guns of Guntz, and he would have had to run the gantlet of a hailstorm of iron balls.  But he had no thought of passing it; his honor was involved.  Guntz must be his and its insolent garrison punished, or how could Solyman the Magnificent ever hold up his head among monarchs and conquerors again?

On every side the town was assailed; cannon surrounded it and poured their balls upon its walls; they were planted on the hills in its rear; they were planted on lofty mounds of earth which overtopped its walls and roofs; from every direction they thundered threat; to every direction Guntz thundered back defiance.

An attempt was made to undermine the walls, but in vain; the commandant, Jurissitz, was far too vigilant to be reached by burrowing.  Breach after breach was made in the walls, and as quickly repaired, or new walls built.  Assault after assault was made and hurled back.  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.  From every side troops hurried to the salvation of Austria from the Turks.  Italy, the Netherlands, Bohemia.  Poland, Germany, sent their quotas, till an army of one hundred and thirty thousand men were gathered around Vienna, thirty thousand of them being cavalry.

Solyman was appalled at the tidings brought him.  It had become a question of arithmetic to his barbarian intellect.  If Guntz, with less than a thousand men, could defy him for a month, what might not Vienna do with more than a hundred thousand?  Winter was not far away.  It was already September.  He was separated from his flotilla of artillery.  Was it safe to advance?  He answered the question by suddenly striking camp and retreating with such haste that his marauding horsemen, who were out in large numbers, were left in ignorance of the movement, and were nearly all taken or cut to pieces.