Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/258

 range of their cannon. Being then so close to the fortress, and not knowing what to do for joy, we began to embrace and kiss each other. At this moment our friends fired two pieces, one at the janissary, and the other at our boat, so that the water splashed over us, the artilleryman having fired a little too low. The boatmen, therefore, saw their danger, and wanted to let us fall again down stream. We prevented them from doing this, took the oars out of their hands, and raising a hat on the point of a spear, called out with a loud voice that we were Christians. The commander, Rosenhahn, a German by birth, saw this, and stepping up to the artilleryman, forbad him to fire any more, otherwise he would have shot our boat through with a second discharge, and we must have been drowned. In fact, I afterwards ascertained myself that he had taken better aim than the first time, and would certainly not have missed us.

Terrified as we were, we, nevertheless, approached the fortress, and calling out in German and Hungarian, made known who we were. Then there came to meet us a couple of boats, with two guns each, which first made a circuit round us, that we might not escape, and occupied the Danube behind us. They then rowed straight up to us, with their firearms cocked, and asked who we were. Upon our briefly informing them, they immediately lashed our boat to theirs, and pulled to the front of the fortress, where we got out, and all kneeling down, thanked God with heartfelt tears for our deliverance from so grievous an imprisonment. We were conducted into the fortress, cordially welcomed by the governor, and well-supplied with meat and drink. We