sweep
of the whirlwind traversed Silesia and Moravia, and reached Tulen, on
the banks of the Danube, about twenty miles above Vienna. He had been
told by the emperor that here he would find an army awaiting him, and a
bridge constructed, by which he could cross the stream. But, to his
bitter disappointment, he found no army, and the bridge unfinished.
Indignantly he exclaimed,

"What does the emperor mean? Does he think me a mere adventurer? I left
my own army that I might take command of his. It is not for myself that
I fight, but for him."

Notwithstanding this disappointment, he called into requisition all his
energies to meet the crisis. The bridge was pushed forward to its
completion. The loitering German troops were hurried on to the
rendezvous. After a few days the Polish troops, by forced marches,
arrived, and Sobieski found himself at the head of sixty thousand men,
experienced soldiers, and well supplied with all the munitions of war.
On the 11th of September the inhabitants of the city were overjoyed, in
descrying from the towers of the city, in the distance, the approaching
banners of the Polish and German army. Sobieski ascended an elevation,
and long and carefully scrutinized the position of the besieging host.
He then calmly remarked,

"The grand vizier has selected a bad position. I understand him. He is
ignorant of the arts of war, and yet thinks that he has military genius.
It will be so easy to conquer him, that we shall obtain no honor from
the victory."

Early the next morning, the 12th of September, the Polish and German
troops rushed to the assault, with such amazing impetuosity, and guided
by such military skill, that the Turks were swept before them as by a
torrent. The army of the grand vizier, seized by a panic, fled so
precipitately, that they left baggage, tents, ammunition and provisions
behind. The garrison emerged from the city, and cooeperated with the
victors, and booty of indescribable value fell into their hands. As
Sobieski took possession of the abandoned camp, stored with all the
wealth and luxuries of the East, he wrote, in a tone of pleasantry to
his wife,

"The grand vizier has left me his heir, and I inherit millions of
ducats. When I return home I shall not be met with the reproach of the
Tartar wives, 'You are not a man, because you have come back without
booty.'"

The inhabitants of Vienna flocked out from the city to greet the king as
an angel deliverer sent from h