Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/273



For some time there was peace in the land, and the friends of Sigmund Corvinus embraced the opportunity to make plans to rescue that prince from his imprisonment. They held in grateful remembrance his devotion to the good of their country, and his misfortune seemed to them the more grievous since they knew not the place of his confinement nor how he fared. Having agreed to do something to rescue him, they broached the subject to some of the more zealous Hussites, and, receiving no encouragement, they turned to the Catholics. A conspiracy was formed in which it was agreed to gain possession of Prague and deliver it into the hands of Sigmund, in consideration of which he was to set the Polish prince at liberty. The plot was well laid, and doubtless would have proved successful had it not been betrayed. William Kostka, of Postupitz, one of the conspirators, could not endure the thought of delivering Prague into the hands of its arch-enemy, and so he revealed the plot to the authorities. When, therefore, the conspirators entered the city with a force of 600 cavalry, and gave the signal “Holy Peace,” instead of meeting with a welcome from their friends, they were surrounded by their enemies. Seeing they were betrayed, they tried to save themselves by flight. About a hundred were slain, two hundred taken prisoners, some were drowned in trying to cross the river, and a few escaped by hiding among friends in the city. The priest Rokycan, anxious to prevent so much bloodshed, rushed among the soldiers in the thickest of the fight, and saved several lives by shielding the fugitives with his priestly robe.