oo confident in their strength, had thoughtlessly
failed to occupy the heights, and by this carelessness gave their foes a
position of vantage. In truth, the vizier, proud in his numbers, viewed
the coming foe with disdain, and continued to pour a shower of bombs and
balls upon the city while despatching what he deemed would be a
sufficient force to repel the enemy.

On the morning of September 12, Sobieski led his troops down the hill to
encounter the dense masses of the Moslems in the plain below. This
celebrated chief headed his men with his head partly shaved, in the
Polish fashion, and plainly dressed, though he was attended by a
brilliant retinue. In front went an attendant bearing the king's arms
emblazoned. Beside him was another who carried a plume on the point of
his lance. On his left rode his son James, on his right Charles of
Lorraine. Before the battle he knighted his son and made a stirring
address to his troops, in which he told them that they fought not for
Vienna alone, but for all Christendom; not for an earthly sovereign, but
for the King of kings.

Early in the day the left wing of the army had attacked and carried the
village of Nussdorf, on the Danube, driving out its Turkish defenders
after an obstinate resistance. It was about mid-day when the King of
Poland led the right wing into the plain against the dense battalions of
Turkish horsemen which there awaited his assault.

The ringing shouts of his men told the enemy that it was the dreaded
Sobieski whom they had to meet, their triumphant foe on many a
well-fought field. At the head of his cavalry he dashed upon their
crowded ranks with such impetuosity as to penetrate to their very
centre, carrying before him confusion and dismay. So daring was his
assault that he soon found himself in imminent danger, having ridden
considerably in advance of his men. Only a few companions were with him,
while around him crowded the dense columns of the foe. In a few minutes
more he would have been overpowered and destroyed, had not the German
cavalry perceived his peril and come at full gallop to his rescue,
scattering with the vigor of their charge the turbaned assailants, and
snatching him from the very hands of death.

So sudden and fierce was the assault, so poorly led the Turkish
horsemen, and so alarming to them the war-cry of Sobieski's men, that in
a short time they were completely overthrown, and were soon in flight
in all directions. This, howeve