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THE TITHE-PROCTOR.
By William Carleton
PREFACE.
After the reader shall, have perused the annexed startling and
extraordinary narrative, on which I have founded the tale of the
Tithe-Proctor, I am sure he will admit that there is very little left
me to say in the shape of a preface. It is indeed rarely, that ever a
document, at once so authentic and powerful, has been found prefixed
to any work of modern Irish Fiction--proceeding as it does, let me add,
from the pen of a gentleman whose unassuming character and modesty are
only surpassed by the distinction which his name has already gained
in one of the most difficult but useful departments of our native
literature.
I trust that there will be found nothing in the work which follows that
is calculated to give any serious offence. Yet, when we look back upon
the contentions, both political and polemical, by which this unhappy
country in connection with tithe especially, has been so frequently and
so bitterly distracted, we can hardly hope, that any writer, however
anxious, nay studious, to avoid giving offence, can expect to treat such
a subject without incurring animosity in _some_ quarter. Be this as it
may, I have only to say, on behalf of myself, that in composing the
work I was influenced by nothing but a firm and honest determination to
depict the disturbances arising from the tithe impost with a fair and
impartial hand: and if any party shall feel hurt by observations which
the necessity of rendering full justice to a subject so difficult
have imposed upon me in the discharge of a public duty, I beg them
to consider that such observations proceeded from no wish to offend
existing prejudices, but are to be looked upon as arising inferentially
from those stern and uncompromising claims of truth and justice, which
equally disregard the prejudices of any and every party. After all, I am
of opinion that the spirit in which the work is written will be found,
whilst it correctly delineates the state and condition of the country
during the fearful tumults and massacres of the Tithe Rebellion, to have
left little, if anything, to be complained of in this respect.
In constructing narratives of this sort, it is to be understood that
certain allowances are always made for small anachronisms that cannot be
readily got over. The murder of the Bolands, for instance, occurred in
the year 1808, and the massacre of Carrickshock, as it has been called,
in 1832. It was consequently impossible for me to have availed myself of
the annexed "Narrative" and brought in the "Massacre" in the same story,
without bringing down the murder of the Bolands to a more recent date.
It may be objected that I have assumed, as the period of my story, one
which was calculated to bring into light and action the worst feelings
and the darkest criminals of my country. This, however, was not my
fault. If they had not existed, I could not have painted them; and so
long as my country is disgraced by great crimes, and her social state
disorganized by men whoso hardened vices bring shame upon civilization
itself, so long, I add, these crimes and such criminals shall never be
veiled over by me. I endeavor to paint Ireland, sometimes as she was,
but always as she is, in order that she may see many of those debasing
circumstances which prevent her from being what she ought to be. In the
meantime, I trust the reader will have an opportunity of perceiving
that I have not in the _Tithe-Proctor_, any more than in my other work,
forgotten to show him that even in the most startling phases of
Irish crime and tumult, I have by no means neglected to draw the warm,
generous, and natural virtues of my countrymen, and to satisfy him that
a very few guilty wretches are quite sufficient, however unjustly, to
blacken and degrade a large district.
There is, however, a certain class of pseudo-patriots in this country,
who are of opinion that every writer, professing to depict our national
character and manners, should make it a point of conscience to suppress
all that is calculated "to lessen us in the eyes of the world," as they
are pleased to term it, and only to give to the public the bright and
favorable side. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the moral dishonesty
and meanness of a principle, at once so disgraceful to literature and so
repugnant to truth. These thin-skinned gentlemen are of opinion that the
crime itself is a matter of trivial importance compared to the fact of
its becoming known, and that provided the outside of the platter is kept
clean, it matters not how filthy it may be within.
In the days of my boyhood and early life, the people of Ireland were,
generally speaking, an honest, candid, faithful, and grateful people,
who loved truth, and felt the practical influence of religious feeling
strongly, but so dishonest and degrading has been the long curse of
agitation, to which forms of it their moral and social principles have
been exposed, that there probably could not be found in any country,
an instance in which the virtues of the whole people have been so
completely debauched and contaminated (I do not say voluntarily), as
those of the Irish have been by the leading advocates of repeal. The
degeneracy of character, occasioned by those tampering with our national
virtues, is such as we shall not recover from these thirty years to
come. Many of our best, mellow-toned, old virtues, that pass in an
unbroken link of hereditary beauty from father to son, and from family
to family, like some sacred and inestimable heirloom, at once reverenced
and loved, are all gone--such as our love of truth, our simple devotion
and patriarchal piety, our sincerity in all social intercourse, and
others of the same stamp; whilst little else is left us but a barren
catalogue of broken and dishonest promises, and the consciousness of
having been at once fleeced and laughed at. And it would be well if we
could stop here, but truth forces us onward. The Irishman of the present
day--the creature of agitation--is neither honest, nor candid, nor
manly, nor generous, but a poor, skulking dupe, at once slavish
and insolent, offensive and cowardly--who carries, as a necessary
consequence, the principles of political dishonesty into the practices
of private life, and is consequently disingenuous and fraudulent.
Let me not be misunderstood. I love truth; and have never been either
afraid or ashamed to speak it; and I trust I never shall. I now allude
to the principles of Conciliation Hall, and the system by which they
were led. I feel bound, however, to exempt the party called Young
Irelanders from having had any participation in bringing about results
so disastrous to the best moral interests of the country. It is true,
that, as politicians, they were insane; but then they were at least
sincere and honest; and I am satisfied that there is not a man of them,
who would not have abandoned the object he had in view, sooner than
accomplish it by sacrificing the popular virtues and moral character
of the country for its attainment. I have myself been a, strong
anti-repealer during my whole life, and though some of the Young
Irelanders are my personal friends, yet none know better than they
do, that I was strenuously opposed to their principles, and have often
endeavored--need I say unsuccessfully?--to dissuade them from the
madness of their agitation.
Having made these few necessary observations, I now beg to introduce to
my readers the extraordinary narrative already spoken of--a narrative
whose force and graphic power will serve only to bring shame upon the
feeble superstructure which I have endeavored to erect upon it. It is
termed--
THE MURDER OF THE BOLANDS.
In the year 1808, there lived near Croom, in the county of Limerick, a
farmer named Michael Boland. He was an intelligent and prosperous
man, and the owner of many hundred acres of the best land in that fine
county.
He had two sons and two daughters, all grown up to manhood and
womanhood, in this year, and the parish chapel never saw, in their time,
a finer family for stature, symmetry, and comeliness, attend its mass
than Michael Boland, his wife, and children. With the growth of his
family, his ambition and desire of increased wealthiness grew; and,
by the agency of some hundred pounds, he became the tithe-proctor, or
rector of several patches of tithes throughout the county.
At first he was successful in this speculation, and with his increased
profits, himself and his children assumed a higher and more important
tone and bearing in society. In fact, his sons and daughters passed as
ladies and gentlemen, not only in external appearance, but in elegance
of manners and cultivation of mind; for he spared no expense on their
education, as well in his original as in his subsequent condition of
life; besides that at this period, and for a long time previous, the
County of Limerick was the great school-house, not only of Munster, but
of all Ireland--vide Carleton's "Poor Scholar."
The sudden departure of the Bolands from the intercourse and intimate
acquaintance of their former companions and neighbors, as well as the
long brooding hatred and opposition of the people to the payment of
tithes, soon gave rise to loud murmurs and sarcastic retrospective
observations against them; and people far and near took every occasion
to offend and insult them--both men and women---wherever and whenever
an opportunity of doing so, in a galling manner, offered. Often were
the Misses Boland asked, when mounted on their side-saddles, did they
remember when their mother used to be driving her cart-load of tankards
of sour milk to the market of Limerick, and sitting there for days
retailing it at a penny a gallon, &c.; and as often were the young
brothers asked when bursting over an old neighbor's fence, in scarlet
and buckskin, if they remembered when their father and mother bore an
active hand and shoulder to the carving out and spreading of the manure
to the fields, &c.
Far from being abashed at all this, the Bolands only sought ampler
opportunities to annoy and exasperate their ill-wishers by more
imperious airs to them, and a closer attendance to the gentlemanly
sports of the country, but still they gave no tangible cause to quarrel
broadly with them. While matters were going on in this way, they
received a nocturnal anonymous letter, ordering them to send a few of
their abundant stock of arms to a certain lonely place, for the benefit,
of the popular legislators of that turbulent county. This summons the
Bolands answered by a letter of defiance, and a challenge to the parties
to come and take them forcibly if they durst. They were agan summoned
for their arms, and cautioned to lower their demand for tithes. To this
they sent an exasperating response of defiance, and a challenge, after
which they seriously went about fortifying their dwelling, and putting
it into the best posture of defence against the assault which they were
very certain would be made on them sooner or later.
They built a line of lofty strong stone walls around their house,
offices, and other property, and, thus secure, they awaited anxiously
the expected visit of their deadly enemies.
In the meantime the messengers of vengeance passed through all the
counties of Munster, with an account of the rebellious designs of the
Bolands, against the majesty of midnight legislation; and to collect
levies of men, ammunition, army, and friends, for the purpose of making
a certain destructive attack upon them.
One evening, about the latter end of November, the roads and paths
leading to the little village of Kilteely, a few miles to the east of
Boland's house, was observed to be more than usually thronged with men,
on foot and on horseback, passing, as it were, to and from Limerick, and
strangers, apparently, to all the inhabitants and to each other. Shortly
after nightfall, the hill of Kilteely was seen covered with men and
horses, and within an old ruined house on the top of the hill a
dim light was seen to occasionally flitter. This ruin was full of
respectably dressed men, and at one end of it, on chairs, and at a
table, provided for the occasion, sat twelve of the most respectable of
them, and a portly important-looking gentleman on an elevated chair at
the end of the table. Two or three candies were burning, and some slips
of paper were on the table.
After a silence of a few seconds, the judge asked, in an audible voice,
if there was any business to be brought before the court on that night?
He was immediately answered in a solemn tone, by more than one voice,
that there was a great deal of business, but that only one case, that
of Captain Right against Boland, should be brought before him at
that present time. The judge then desired that the case be gone into.
Whereupon a middle-sized well-set young man, about six-and-twenty years
of age, whose name we know, and who sat behind the judge, now brought
his chair forward to the table, on the judge's left hand, and unrolling
a roll of paper, read in a low, solemn, but audible tone of voice, a
series of charges preferred by the said Captain Right against the said
Michael Boland and his sons.
The captain was then called up, and he deposed to different charges
against the defendants--such as taking beforehand, or in reversion,
several small farms over the heads of poor but solvent tenants, turning
them adrift on the world, and converting their small agricultural farms
into one or more large farms for grazing; thereby adding to the
number of the destitute, and contracting the supply of agricultural
produce--the payment to his laboring men of only eight-pence a day,
which he compounded for in kind--potatoes, milk, &c, at twice, at least,
what those commodities fetched him in the neighboring markets. These
were only a few of the many charges of petty tyranny preferred against
Boland; but the last and greatest of all was his Tithe Exactions.
Several witnesses were called up to prove these weighty offences, after
which it was asked if the accused party had been served with notices to
desist from those high misdemeanors; and if he had engaged any one to
speak for him, or in his favor. After a short pause, a man above the
middle size, with snaggy hair and beard, and of a sinister aspect, came
up to the table and said, that although he had not been employed or
deputed to appear for Mr. Boland and the young masters and misses, his
fine sons and daughters, yet justice to the accused compelled him to
come forward, and offer a few words in extenuation of the punishment,
if any, which should be inflicted for their alleged misdeeds. "First,
then," he asked, "was it possible that they, the men then present,
should be angry or offended at seeing one of their own race and religion
spring up from among them, and take his station with the best of the
Cromwellian Shoneens that surrounded and oppressed them? And when he did
so spring up, was it any blame to him to avail himself of every means
which The Law allowed him to maintain his elevation, though it might be
by standing on the shoulders and necks of as good fellows as himself?
What had Mr. Boland done but what others had been doing for ages, and
were doing still? As for the matter of tithes, sure they should be paid
to the minister who they never saw nor cared to see, and if Mr. Boland
had profit on them, so much the better, because the less tithe that went
into the absent minister's pocket the more would they all be pleased. To
be sure the tithe-proctor always exacted to the last farthing, and more
than the minister--and it is believed that Mr. Boland was not behind any
of the trade--and some people say, indeed, that, from his knowledge of
farming and the ins and outs of people's little tillage, he sometimes
exacted to within a trifle of one-fifth of the produce. Indeed, in my
own case--and I am but a poor brogue-maker, with half-a-dozen acres of
the |poorest lands of F------, he took from me, between citations to
the Bishop's Court and other costs, with the original tithes, at least
one-fourth of the entire produce of my little farm; nor do I know any
one in the parish that fares better than myself, especially the poor
people who don't understand the law, and who are not able, or willing,
to get into it. However, I confess, I never regretted my own share of
the loss, where I knew and thought that it all went to the glory and
grandeur of the Masters and Misses Boland. Nor shall I ever forget the
cutting-up which young Mick Boland gave me, with the butt-end of his
loaded whip, the day I went to their house to complain that their driver
had put all my sheep into the pound, for a debt of sixteen shillings,
tithe-money. And now, my Lord Justice, as I have said so much of the
truth in favor of Mr. Boland and his family, I hope your lordship will
pass a merciful and just sentence oh them, and that this just jury won't
find these friends to us, to our religion, and to our country, guilty."
There was a suppressed murmur of approbation, accompanied by an audible
stamping of feet, at the conclusion of this merciful harangue. But
silence being called, the jurors put their heads together across
the table, and in less than two minutes their foreman handed up the
issue-paper to the secretary, who sat by the side of the judge on
receipt of which that functionary arose and in a solemn, scarcely
audible voice, read from the paper a verdict of "guilty" against Michael
Boland and his two sons. The judge then immediately arose from his
chair, and in a low, solemn, but firm and distinct tone of voice,
pronounced the verdict of the court to be, "Death and Dark Destruction
to Michael Boland and his two sons," and that the sentence should be
executed that very night. On the announcement of the verdict a low
shriek of exultation arose from the audience, followed by a simultaneous
half-suppressed cry of, "Long life to our Judge! Long life to Buck
English!"
The judge stood up again and said: "Now, boys, I know that there is no
man here present but a man who has been often well tried in exploits of
danger and of death: every man of you is the leader of a party of brave
fellows, who, with yourselves, have sworn to sustain the oppressed;
crush the tyrant, and right the wronged. Your men are brave, bold, and
hearty; keep them to: their duty, and in perfect submission to your
orders. Let the old tyrant and his young cubs be cut off, at all
hazards, but spare the women--nay, make every possible exertion to save
them, but, more especially, and by all means, let the eldest daughter,
Miss Anna, be saved, secured, and brought to me, as you all know how
long I have vainly endeavored to make her mine. And now, boys, every man
to his post, and I, your commander, shall lead you on."
Buck English is a real character--his real name was Ryan, and he
had been respectably reared, but gave himself up to the intoxicating
excitement of the French Revolution--he also fought in '98, and
subsequently, for his intelligence and daring spirit, became the leader
of all the lawless and disaffected parties in his native County of
Limerick, and, indeed, of all Munster.
The parties within the old ruin now made their appearance on the hill,
and every man of them going to the head of his own body, they marched
first to Hospital, a contiguous village, where they boldly beat a drum,
the sound of which called up, as by enchantment, such a concourse of
armed men as frightened the parties themselves. They marched from that,
westwards, to Knockany, where they dug up several extensive fields
(of grass) belonging to Mr. O'Grady. They marched on then, in the
same direction, towards the residence of the Bolands, their numbers
increasing as they went along, by voluntary and involuntary parties.
The Bolands, ever on the watch, soon learned that they were to be
visited that night by those parties whom they had so long defied, but
they never calculated that they Should be attacked by such a strong
force as they now learned was approaching them--for it is believed
that the actual number could not have been less than five thousand men,
contributed by the Counties of Limerick Clare, Kerry, Cork, Waterford,
Tipperary, and Kilkenny.
However, they were not daunted, but immediately put themselves in order
of battle. They first sent out (off their premises) all their servants,
men and women, lest there should be a spy or a traitor among them. They
then carried up all their arms and ammunition to the top floor of their
(two-story, long, thatched) house. The father and the younger sons
planted themselves at one of the window's facing the front. The elder
son and the family tutor, a young man of the neighborhood, who would
not abandon them in their hour of danger, took their stand at the
window which looked directly at the narrow strong door of the wall which
inclosed the house. The two daughters, with their mother, took up their
places between the two windows, under cover of the wall, and having been
well practiced for som, weeks previous, stood prepared to load and hand
up the arms to their heroes when the occasion should arrive. About the
hour of one o'clock in the morning, the barking of dogs, and an odd
random shot, gave the Bolands certain and unmistakable notice that their
hour of terror was at hand. And soon they could hear a monotonous sound
of moving feet and suppressed voices, under the outer walls of their
fortress. A horn was then sounded, and the besieged were called upon to
open their gates and surrender at discretion. But no answer was received
from within, where all was total darkness and apparent inactivity.
Several attempts were now made to burst the strong yard door, but
without effect. The assailants then began to fire at the thatch of
the dwelling house, as well as on the out-offices, with the intent of
setting them in flames; and after several attempts, they ultimately
succeeded in igniting the thatch of a detached cow-house, which stood
out from the other buildings, and the wind, unfortunately happening to
blow from that quarter to the other offices, carried the fire to them,
by which they were soon in a blaze. In the meantime, they procured two
sledges from a neighboring forge, with which they assaulted the yard
door, which they soon broke in. Now there was a dead pause on the
part of the assailants--for they knew very well, that to pass on the
threshold of this door was certain death. However, the pressure from the
rear was so great, that suddenly several men were involuntarily pushed
in through the doorway. And now the work of death commenced, for no
sooner had the first batch been pressed in, than there was such
a well-directed shower of bullets poured out on them from four
well-charged blunderbusses, as levelled every man of them with the
earth. A moment's pause ensued, and the door was again filled with new
aspirants for "fame in the cannon's mouth," who, however, fared as badly
as the preceding batch. During this time the assailing party had been
busy with crowbars and other instruments, in making several breaches in
the yard walls. At length they succeeded in opening entrances in three
different places at the same time, and thus in a few minutes several
hundred men were precipitated into the yard. And now commenced the work
of death in earnest. The assailants were shot down in scores, while the
upper windows of the house, from which the deadly firing was so ably
kept up, received fifty discharges to the one that issued from them. The
house was immediately surrounded, and guards of chosen faithful men were
placed at its doors and lower windows, with strict orders to let no one,
especially the "old fox," escape, with the exception only of the women.
To add to the dreadful condition of the Bolands, the assailants had
now succeeded in igniting the thatch of the dwelling-house, and it was
immediately in a blaze. The Bolands and their tutor, ably served by
their mother and sisters, still continued to deal death and destruction
on the parties outside, without being yet fatigued or disabled. But at
length the upper floor became too hot, and the old man, with his wife
and daughters, retreated to the lower floor. The brothers and the tutor,
however, remained above, but doing less execution, because, when the
assailants saw the house on fire, they retreated outside the yard wall,
excepting the guard who were placed round the house, and these stood so
close to the walls that the party above had not power of injuring them,
without fully exposing their own persons at the windows.
While both parties were thus in a fearful state of suspense, the burning
roof of the house fell in on the three young men above, and immediately
buried them for ever in its destructive flames. The assailing crowds set
up a terrific shout of triumph. The floor above now began to crackle,
and so dense was the smoke below, that the old man and the woman were
in a state little short of suffocation. At last the Proctor became
desperate, and opening one of the ground windows, and taking his poor
wife by the hand, he attempted to throw himself and her out through it.
No sooner, however, had they appeared at the window, than the old man
was riddled with bullets from without, and thrown back into the now
blazing room from which he had been endeavoring to escape.
The three young men and the old man being now destroyed, a voice in the
rear of the crowd called out, in a fierce commanding them, to rescue
the women at all hazards, whereupon the sledges were applied to the
front door of the house; but while they were thus engaged, the young
women unbarred the back door, and rushing out with their mother,
uttering the most piercing shrieks, they ran into a stable which
was near, before they could be laid hold of. Here, however, the two
daughters were immediately seized on by order of the commander of the
siege, Buck English, and carried out, but not violently, until they came
to the stable-door, where the eldest daughter laid hold of the iron bolt
staple of the door-post, and so desperately did she hold it, that she
did not let it go till her shoulder was dislocated. They were both
carried off then to the Galtee mountains, the usual resort of the Buck,
who retained the eldest during pleasure. I forget what became of the
younger girl, but the other became deranged, and in that melancholy
state was subsequently taken into the "protection," as it is called, of
a certain banker of Limerick, who shot himself in that city, to my own
knowledge, in 1815. * * *
The scene at the residence of the Bolands, on the morning after the
attack, was truly horrifying. The remains of the four men, almost
burned to cinders, were dug out of the still burning ruins, nor was the
spectacle in the yard and on the neighboring road less frightful; from
the multitude of dead bodies with which they were strewn; for most of
their stranger assailants who were killed were left on the spot--the
party not choosing to be seen carrying them off by daylight. But such
of the people of the neighboring parishes as fell, were carried off by
friends and acquaintances, and hid during that day, but buried at night
at remote distances from their houses, in the newly-ploughed and in the
wheat-sown fields. The inquest, &c, being over, the government and the
gentry of the county offered a large reward for any information that
would lead to the apprehension or knowledge of the actors, especially
the commander, in this fearful tragedy. A strong military force was
stationed in the neighborhood, and all the bad and suspicious characters
of the district were taken up, and committed to gaol on suspicion.
However, the original concocters of the murder made their escape, either
to England or to the remote parts of Clare, Kerry, and Cork; whilst
terror reigned throughout the whole County of Limerick among the farmers
at seeing the numbers that were arrested, and the largeness of the
reward.
One morning, as a well-known active magistrate of the county was sitting
at his breakfast, a strange woman came to his door, and requested to
see him on business of importance. He immediately called up two of his
servant men, and ordered them to go to the door and see that the woman
was really a woman, and that she had no arms about her. This was
soon done, and the woman, a real one, was ushered into his worship's
presence. She then told him--the room being first cleared of all other
people--that, she was the wife of D---- A------, the brogue-maker of
F----, that her husband was an honest, industrious man, who knew his own
trade and business well, and who knew a great deal about the business of
other people, too, and of what was going on in the country--that he was
a man of upright and Christian principles, who would always feel it a
conscientious duty to aid the laws of his country to preserve social
order and punish crime--that he was not a man to be terrified or bribed
by any amount of punishment or reward; but that if he were properly
managed and kindly treated, he might be found able to give a good deal
of useful information.
His worship had the good-natured poor woman taken good care of for
that day--and at a late hour of the same night he took and put her
comfortably sitting on a horse, behind one of his constables, and,
surrounded by a strong military body, horse and foot, marched her in
safety; she showing the way to her own house. They found honest Darby
sitting by his fire, reading his prayer-book, and in great grief at the
unaccountable absence of his wife. He was dreadfully agitated when he
found himself arrested, and strongly protested that he was an honest,
industrious tradesman, who knew nothing of the wickedness of the world;
and wondered much what this was all about.
His worship advised him to be calm--that all should be well, but that
he should accompany himself to his house. After Darby had spent several
usefully employed days with his new friend, he was transmitted to
Limerick gaol, with orders that he should be well treated, and be
allowed to see his wife as often as she desired it. The wife soon found
that it would be more convenient for her, and perhaps somewhat safer,
to be living near her husband, and therefore went to reside in Limerick.
The news of Darby's arrest caused no little alarm through the county,
and it was soon whispered about that persons were now arrested, of whose
participation in the Boland affair no human being could give any hint
except himself alone. His wife's rooms became crowded every day with
the wives, daughters, and sisters of the men arrested,--and others not
arrested, or suspected by any living being; money in hundreds of pounds
was poured into her lap to purchase the ignorance, the silence, or the
perjury of Darby--and every one went away apparently satisfied with
Darby's promises through his faithful wife.
The assizes came down at last. Darby lost all recollection of any money
but the large public reward, and on that occasion over twenty men were
hanged chiefly on his evidence--though it was very difficult for the
crown counsel to bring the poor reluctant man to the point; but when
he did make a convicting admission, he took care that it should be
a clincher, wrung from him, as he wished it to appear, by a cunning
counsel. The gallows at Limerick continued for years after to be fed by
Darby with victims for this crime; and several hundred were transported,
or went into voluntary banishment on account of this fearful butchery.
The writer of this knew well, and was at school with the secretary of
the Court of Kilteely Hill.
CHAPTER I.--The Chapel Green of Esker Dearg.
The chapel of _Esker Dearg_, or the Red Ridge, was situated in a rich
and well-cultivated country, that for miles about it literally teemed
with abundance. The Red Ridge under which it stood was one of those long
eminences, almost, if not altogether, peculiar to Ireland. It was, as
the name betokens, a prolonged elevation that ran for nearly a mile and
a half in a north-eastern direction without appearing to yield to, or
be influenced by, the natural position or undulations of the country
through which it went. The epithet of red which was attached to it,
originated, according to popular tradition, in a massacre which had
taken place upon it during one of the Elizabethan wars, others imputed
it to a cause much more obvious and natural, viz., its peculiar
appearance during all seasons of the year, owing to the parched and
barren nature of the soil, which, in consequence of its dry and elevated
Position, was covered only with furze and tern, or thin, short grass
that was parched by the sun into a kind of red-brown color.
Under that end of this Esker which pointed nearest to the south-west,
stood the chapel we have just mentioned. It was a rather long building
with double gables and a double roof, perfectly plain, and with no other
ornament, either inside or out, if we except a marble cross that stood
against the wall upon the altar, of which the good priest was not a
little vain, inasmuch as it had been of his own procuring. A public road
of course ran past it, or rather skirted the green unenclosed space, by
which, in common with most country edifices, it was surrounded. Another
road joined that which we have mentioned, within a few perches of it,
so that it stood at what might be nearly considered a cross-road. One
or two large trees grew beside it, which gave to its otherwise simple
appearance something of picturesque effect, especially during the
summer months, when they were thickly covered with leaves, and waved and
rustled in the sun to the refreshing breezes of that delightful season.
It was Sunday in the early part of March--we will not name the
year--when our story commences. The Red Ridge Chapel was as usual
surrounded by the greater portion of the congregation that had assembled
to hear Mass. Within its walls there were only a few classes of
youngsters, male and female, formed into circles, learning their
catechism from the schoolmaster of the neighborhood, the clerk, or some
devotee who possessed education enough to qualify himself for that
kind office. Here and there in different parts of the chapel were
small groups of adult persons, more religiously disposed than the rest,
engaged in saying the rosary, whilst several others were performing
solitary devotions, some stationary in a corner of the chapel, and
others going the circuit around its walls in the performance of the
Fourteen Stations of the Cross. Now, all these religious and devotional
acts take place previous to the arrival of the priest, and are suspended
the moment he commences Mass; into the more sublime majesty of which
they appear, as it were, to lose themselves and be absorbed.
The great body of the congregation, however, until the clergyman makes
his appearance, are to be found outside, on what is called the Chapel
Green. Here they stand in groups, engaged in discussing the topics of
the day, or such local intelligence as may interest them; and it is
to one of those groups that we now beg to call the attention of our
readers.
Under the larger of the two trees we have described stood a circle
of the country people, listening to, and evidently amused by, the
conversation of an individual whose bearing and appearance we must
describe at great length.
He was a person whom at first sight you would feel disposed to class
with young men. In other words, you might be led, from the lively flow
of his spirits and his peculiarly buoyant manner, to infer that he
had not gone beyond thirty or thirty-five. Upon a closer inspection,
however, you could easily perceive that his countenance, despite of
its healthy hue, was a good deal wrecked and weatherbeaten, and gave
indications of those traces, which not only a much longer period of
time, but deep and violent passions, seldom fail to leave behind them.
His features were regular, and at first glance seemed handsome, but upon
a nearer approach you were certain to find that their expression was
heartless and disagreeable. They betokened no symptom of humanity of
feeling, but were lit up with a spirit of harsh and reckless levity,
which, whilst it made him popular with the unthinking multitude, might
have been easily understood as the accompaniment, if not the direct
exponent, of a bad and remorseless heart. The expression of his mouth
was at the same time both hard and wanton, and his eyes, though full
of a lively lustre, resembled in their brightness those of a serpent or
hyena. His forehead was constructive but low, and, we may say, rather
unintellectual than otherwise. He was without whiskers, a circumstance
which caused a wound on the back part of his jaw to be visible, and
one-half of the left-hand little finger had been shot off in defence of
his church and country, according to his own account. This was a subject
however, upon which he always affected a good deal of mystery when
conversing with the people, or we should say, he took care to throw out
such oracular insinuations of what he had suffered in their defence, as,
according to their opinion, almost constituted him a martyr. In size
he was somewhat above the middle height, compact, and exceedingly well
built. His chest was deep and his shoulders powerful, whilst his limbs
were full of muscular strength and great activity.
Having thus given a portrait of his person, it only remains that we
describe his costume as he appeared on the Sunday in question, and we
do so because it may be right to inform our readers, in the outset,
that one of his peculiarities was a habit of seldom appearing, for any
lengthened period, in the same dress, or indeed in the same locality.
On this occasion he had on a pair of tight buckskin breeches, top-boots
and spurs--for he mostly went on horseback--a blue body-coat, with
bright gilt buttons, a buff cassimere waistcoat, and a very fashionable
hat.
The cravat he wore was of green silk, and was tied in a knot, which
might be understood by the initiated as one that entitled him to their
confidence and respect. Our readers may not be surprised at this, for,
unfortunately so high and bitter have party prejudices and feelings in
our disturbed country run, that the very dress has been often forced to
become symbolic of their spirit and existence.
The chapel green, as we have said, was covered by the great bulk of the
peasantry who were waiting the arrival of the priest. Here was a circle
in which stood some rustic politician, who, having had an opportunity
of getting a glimpse at some newspaper of the day, was retailing its
contents to a greedy circle of listeners about him. There again stood
some well-known storyteller, or perhaps a live old senachie, reciting
wild and stirring legends to his particular circle. Some were stretched
indolently on the grass, or lying about the ditches in the adjoining
fields, but by far the greatest and most anxious crowd was assembled
under the tree against which Buck English--for by this name was he
known--leaned. We should say here, however, that he was not called
Buck English, because his name was English, but in consequence of
his attempts at pronouncing the English tongue in such a manner as
he himself considered peculiarly elegant and fashionable. The man's
education was very limited, indeed he had scarcely received any, but he
was gifted at the same time with a low vulgar fluency of language which
he looked upon as a great intellectual gift, and which, in his opinion,
wanted nothing but "tip-top prononsensation," as he termed it, to make
it high-flown and gentlemanly.
Our friend "the Buck," as he was universally called, was no sooner
perceived in his usual station under the tree than there was a rapid
gathering of the assembled crowd to hear him.
"Hallo, Paddy! what's the matther? where are you goin' to in sich a hell
of a hurry?"
"Blood alive! man, sure Buck English is at his post to-day."
"How at his post?"
"Why under the three where he always is when he comes here af a Sunday."
"Hut! sure I know that; come, begad, let us hear him."
"Faith, it's he that's up to the outs and ins of everything. Sure the
Counsellor himself made mintion of him in a great speech some time
ago. It seems the Buck sent him up five pounds in a letther, and the
Counsellor read the letther, and said it came from a most respectable
gentleman, a friend of his, one Barney--no, not Barney--it wasn't Barney
he called him, but--but--let me see--ay, begad--Bir--Birnard--ay, one
Birnard English, Esquire, from the Barony of Treena Heela; bekaise, as
the Buck doesn't keep himself very closely to any particular place of
livin', he dated his letther, I suppose, from the Barony at large."
"At any rate one thing's clear, that he's high up wid the Counsellor,
an' if he wasn't one man in ten thousand he wouldn't be that."
They had now reached the tree, and found that, short as the time was, a
considerable crowd had already assembled about him, so that they were
obliged to stand pretty far out in the circle. One or two young men,
sons of most respectable farmers--for it somehow happened that the Buck
was no great favorite with the seniors--stood, or rather had the
honor of standing, within the circle, for the purpose of "houldin'
conversation wid him;" for it could not reasonably be supposed that the
Buck could throw away such valuable political information and high-flown
English upon mere boors, who were incapable of understanding either the
one or the other.
"And so, Mr. English," said one of those whom, he had brought within
the circle, "you think the established church, the great heresy of
Luther,--will go down at last?"
"Think it, Tom--why, if you get me a book I'll swear it, and that's
better than thinking any dee. Didn't Emencipation pess? answer me that."
"Begad it did so, sir,"--from the crowd. "Well," proceeded the Buck,
"what doubt or hesiteetion can there be that the seem power and
authority that riz our own church won't be keepable of puttin' down the
great protesting heresy?"
"See that now," from the crowd; "begad it stands to raison sure enough."
"Certainly," he proceeded, "none what-somever; but then the question is,
how can it be effectualized?"
The crowd--"Begad, and so it is."
"Well, my friends, it isn't at oll difficult to determine that
particularity: you oll know that a men lives by food--very well; pleece
that men in a persition where he can't procur food and the nethrel
kensiquence is that he must die. Eh--ha! ha! ha!--do you kimprehind?"
"Not a doubt of it," replied Mr. Crowd, "but sure, at any rate, we will
kimprehend it by-an'-by."
"Very well; take the protesting? church or the parsons, for it is oll
the seem--deprive them of the mains of support, that is to see, deny
them their tithes--don't pay a shilling--hold out to the death, as my
friend the Counsellor--great O'Connell says--and as we oil say, practice
passive resistance,then you know the establishment must stirve and die
of femine and distitootion, as a contributive jidgment for its sins."
Crowd--"Blood alive, isn't that great!"
"What is it?" from the other circle.
"Why, that the parsons, an' all belonging to them, is to die of family
prostitution for their sins!"
"Devil's cure to them, then, for they desarve it--at least many of them
does, anyhow," says one segment.
"Faith, an' I don't know that either," says another segment. "The
parsons, bad as they're spoken of, was, for the most part, willin' to
live among us; and, begad, you all know that they're kind friends and
good neighbors, an' that the money they get out of the parish comes back
into the parish agin--not all as one as absentee landlords. They give
employment as far as they're able, an' thar's no doubt but their wives
and daughters does a great dale of good among the poor, and so, begad,
does the parsons themselves often."
"Who is that wiseecre that spoke last?" asked the Buck; "if I don't
misteek he leebors with Dennis Purcel, the procter."
"Ay, an' a very good masther he is," replied the spokesman of the
segment; "gives plenty of employment anyhow--although the pay's no great
shakes--an' that's more than some that abuses him does."
"There's no one aboosin' him here, my good friend, so don't imegine
it--at leest I should be extremely sorry to do so. I respect himself and
his family in a very elevated manner, I assoore you. An' what's more, my
friend, I'll thank you to report to him that I said so."
Here he looked significantly among the mob, especially as he perceived
that the man's eyes were not fixed upon him whilst he spoke, and having
thrust his tongue into his cheek, half in derision, and half as it were
by a natural action, he succeeded at all events in creating a general
laugh; but so easily is a laugh, among such an audience, created, that
it is not altogether within our power or penetration to determine the
point which occasioned their mirth, unless it were the grimace with
which his words were accompanied--or stay--perhaps it was the strong
evil odor in which Purcel, the subject of their conversation, must have
been held.
"Talk of the devil, Mr. English," replied a stern voice from the
listeners, "and he will appear; look down the road there and you'll see
Purcel himself an' his family drivin' to mass on the sweat and groans of
the people!"
"Not all of them," replied another voice, in a different tone; "there's
only himself, his wife, and their two spankin' daughters, upon the
jauntin' car; but, blood alive, look at the sons! Devil so purty a lot
of sweat and groans I seen this twelvemonth as the two is riding on,
in the shape of a pair of blood-horses, so that you may put the
blood, Barney, along wid the sweat and the groans, agra. Well done,
tithes!--ha! ha! ha!"
The individual laugh that accompanied these last observation was cruel,
revolting, and hideous. The Buck sought out the speaker among the crowd,
and gave him first a nod of approval--and almost instantly afterward
added, with a quick change of countenance, but not until he perceived
that this double expression was pretty generally understood--
"Don't, my friend--if they get wealthy and proud upon our groans and
tears an' blood, as you say, it is not their invalidity that makes them
do so, but ours. Instead, of being cruel to them it is to ourselves we
are cruel; for by peeing the aforeseed tithes we are peeing away our
heart's blood, an' you know that if we are the fools to pee that way,
small bleeme to them if they take it in the shape of good passable cash.
They--meening sich men as Purcel--are only the instruments with which
the parsons work."
"Ay," replied the stern voice, "but, in case we had the country to
ourselves, do you think now, Buck darlin', that when we'd settle off
the jidges, an' lawyers, an' sheriffs, an' bailiffs, that we'd allow the
jails or the gibbets to stan', or the hangmen to live. No, by japers,
we'd make a clane sweep of it; and when sich a man as Purcel becomes
a tool in the parsons' hands to grind the people, I don't see that we
ought to make fish of one an' flesh of the other."
"Ah, Darby Hourigan, is that you?" exclaimed the Buck; "well, although
I don't exaggerate with your severity, yet I will shake hands with you.
How do you do Darby? Darby, I think you're a true petriot--but, so
far as Mr. Purcel is concirned, I wish you to understand that he is a
particular friend of mine, and so is every mimber of his family."
"Faith, an' Mr. Buck, it's more than you are with them, I can tell you."
"But perhaps you are a little misteeken there, Mr. Hourigan," replied
the Buck, with a swagger, whilst he raised his head and pulled up the
collar of his shirt at both sides, with a great deal of significant
self-consequence;--"perhaps you are--I see so, that's oll. Perhaps, I
repeat, there is some mimber of that family not presupposed against me,
Mr. Hourigan?"
"Well, may be so," replied the other; "but if it be so, it's of late it
must have happened, that's what I say."
Hourigan, who was by trade a shoemaker, was also a small farmer; but,
sooth to say, a more treacherous or ferocious-looking ruffian you could
not possibly meet with in a province. He was spare and big-boned slouchy
and stealthy in his gait, pale in face with dark, heavy brows that
seemed to have been kept from falling into his deep and down-looking
eyes only by an effort. His cheekbones stood out very prominently,
whilst his thin, pallid cheeks fell away so rapidly as to give him
something the appearance of the resuscitated skeleton of a murderer, for
never in the same face were the kindred spirits of murder and cowardice
so hideously blended.
Much more dialogue of the description just detailed took place, in which
the proctor was not without defenders; but at the same time, as we are
bound to record nothing but truth, we are compelled to say, that the
majority of the voices were fearfully against him. If, however, he, the
proctor and the instrument, had but few to support him, what must we not
suppose the defence of the system in all its bearings to have been?
At length, as Purcel and his family approached, the conversation was
transferred from the political to the personal, and he, his wife, and
his children, received at the hands of the people that satirical abuse,
equally unjust and ungenerous, which an industrious family, who have
raised themselves from poverty to independence, are in general certain
to receive from all those who are deficient in the virtues by which the
others rose.
"Ay, there he comes now, ridin' on his jauntin' car, an' does he think
that we all forget the time when he went wid his basket undher his arm,
wid his half-a-crown's worth of beggarly hardware in it. He begun it as
a brat of a boy, an' was called nothin' then but _Mahon na gair_ (that
is 'Mat of the-grin'); but, by-and-by, when he came to have a pack over
the shoulder, and to carry a yard wan' he began to turn Bodagh on our
hands. Felix, it's himself that soon thought to set up for the style an'
state."
"At any rate," said the friendly voice aforesaid, "no one can deny but
he's a good employer--if he'd give better wages."
"A good employer!" said Hourigan; "we all know he must get his work
done--small thanks to him for that, an' a small price he-pays for it."
"We all know the ould proverb," said another individual; "set a beggar
on horseback, an' he'll ride to the devil. Whist! here they come."
As the last person concluded, Purcel and the female portion of his
family drew up under the shadow of the tree already alluded to, which
here overhung the road, so that he came right in contact with the crowd.
"Ah, boys," said he, with his characteristic good-humor, "how are you
all? Darby Hourigan, how are your family? Isn't this glorious weather,
boys?"
"Blessed weather, sir," replied Hourigan, who became in some degree
spokesman. "I hope your honor an' the mistress, sir, an' the young
ladies is all well."
"My honor, as you are pleased to call me, was never better in my life;
as for the mistress and the young ladies there they are, so judge for
yourself, Darby: but Darby my good friend, you have a d--d sneaking,
slavish way with you. Why do you call me 'your honor' when you know--for
I've often told you--that wouldn't bear it? Am I not one of yourselves?
and don't most of you know that I began the world upon half-a-crown, and
once carried a hardware basket on my arm?--d--n it, then, speak like a
man to a man, and not like a slave, as I'm half inclined to think you
are."
"Throth, sir," replied Hourigan, with an indescribable laugh, "an' for
all that you say, there's many that gets the title of 'your honor,' that
doesn't desarve it _as well_."
"Ah well, man! Why, there's many a man gets it that doesn't desarve it
_at all_, which is saying more than you said--ha! ha! ha!"
Whilst this little dialogue took place, our worthy Buck had abandoned
his place under the ikee, and flown to the car to assist the ladies
off--a piece of attention not unobserved by Purcel, who obliquely kept
his eye upon that worthy's gallantry, and the reception it was getting
from the parties to whom it was offered.
"Leedies," said the Buck, in his politest manner and language, "will you
allow me the gallantry to help you off? Mrs. Purcel, I hope you're well.
Here, ma'am, aveel yourself of me."
"Thank you, Mr. English; I'm much obliged," she returned, rather coolly.
"Leedies," he proceeded, flying to the other side, "allow me the
gallantry."
The two young women, who were full of spirits and good humor, were
laughing most heartily, _sub silentio_, at the attention thus so
ceremoniously paid to their mother by a man whom, beyond all human
beings, she detested. Now, however, that he came to proffer his
"gallantry" to themselves, they were certainly rather hard pressed to
maintain or rather regain their gravity.
"Leedies," the Buck continued, "may I have the gallantry to help you
off?"
"Oh, thank you, it's too much trouble, Mr. English."
"None on airth, Miss Purcel--do let me have the high-flown
satisfaction."
"Oh, well," she replied, "since you will be so polite," and giving him
her hand she was about to go down, when suddenly withdrawing it, as if
recollecting herself, she said, nodding with comic significance toward
her sister Julia--"My sister, Mr. English, have you no gallantry for
her?"
"Ah," he whispered, at the same time gratefully squeezing her hand,
"you're a first-rate divinity--a tip-top goddess--divil a thing else.
Miss Joolia, may I presoome for to have the plisure and polite gallantry
to help you off the car; 'pon honor it'll be quite grateful and
prejudicial to my feelings--it will, I assoore you!"
"Bless me, whose is that wedding party, Mr. English?" asked Miss Julia,
pointing to the opposite direction of the road.
English instantly turned round to observe, when, by a simultaneous act,
both sisters stepped nimbly from the car. Miss Julia, as if offended,
but at the same time with a comic gravity of expression, exclaimed--
"Oh, fie! Mr. English, is that your boasted gallantry? I'm afraid your
eight years' residence in England, however it may have improved
the elegance of your language and accent, hasn't much improved your
politeness!"
So saying, she and her sister tripped off to the chapel, which they
immediately entered. Much about the same time their brothers arrived,
mounted, certainly, upon a pair of magnificent hunters, and having
handed them over to two lads to be walked about until the conclusion of
Mass, they also entered the chapel, for the priest was not now more than
three or four hundred yards; distant.
The jest practised so successfully upon our friend the Buck occasioned
a general laugh at his expense, a circumstance which filled, him
with serious mortification, if not with actual resentment, for it so
happened, that one of his great foibles was such a morbid sensibility to
ridicule as was absolutely ludicrous.
"Bedad, Mr. English, you wor fairly done there; in spite o' the tall
English, you're no match for the ladies. Miss Julia fairly gev' you the
bag to hould."
The Buck's eye glittered with bitterness.
"Miss Julia, do you say?" he replied; "why, my good friend, the girl was
christened Judy--plain Judy; but now that they've got into high-flown
life, you persave, nothing will sarve them but to ape their betthers.
However, never mind, I'll see the day yet, and that before long, when
saucy Judy won't refuse my assistance. Time about's fair play, you
know."
It may be observed here, that Buck English happened to forget himself,
which he almost always did whenever he became in earnest: he also forgot
his polite language and peculiar elegance of pronunciation. To a vain
and weak mind there is nothing more cutting than the consciousness of
looking mortified in the eyes of others, and under these circumstances
to feel that the laugh is against you, adds one not important item to
"the miseries of human life."
The Buck, now that the priest was at the chapel door, walked, with a
stride that very much resembled the mock-heroic, towards the place of
worship; but, in the opinion of the shrewd spectators, his dignity was
sadly tarnished by the humorous contempt implied in the practical jest
that had been so adroitly played off at his expense.
CHAPTER II.--The Proctor's Principles and His Family.
For a considerable time previous to the scene described in our last
chapter, a principle of general resistance to tithes had been deepening
in and spreading over the country. Indeed the opposition to them had,
for at least half a century before, risen up in periodical ebullitions
that were characterized by much outrage and cruelty. On this account,
then, it was generally necessary that the residence of that unpopular
functionary, the tithe-proctor, should be always one of considerable
strength, in order the more successfully to resist such midnight attacks
as hostile combination might make upon it. Purcel, as well as other
proctors of his day, had from time to time received threatening notices,
not only of a personal nature, but also of premeditated attacks upon
his house. The man was, however, not only intrepid and resolute,
but cautious and prudent; and whilst he did not suffer himself to be
intimidated by threats that for the most part ended in nothing, he took
care to keep himself and his family well provided against any attack
that might be made upon them.
The history of Matthew Purcel is soon told. It is that of enterprise,
perseverance, and industry, tinged a good deal by a sharp insight into
business, a worldly spirit, and although associated with a good deal of
pride and display, an uncontrollable love of putting money together, not
always under circumstances that were calculated to render him popular,
nor which could, in point of feeling or humanity, be at all defended. He
had commenced the world, as has been already intimated, in character
of a hardware pedlar. From stage to stage of that circulating life he
advanced until he was able to become a stationary shopkeeper in the
town of C------m. The great predilection of his heart, however, was for
farming, and in pursuance with his wishes on this subject, he took a
large farm, and entered upon its management with considerable spirit and
a good deal of skill. His success was beyond his expectations; and, as
the spirit of agriculture continued to gain upon him, he gradually lost
his relish for every other description of business. He consequently gave
up his large shop in C------m, and went to reside upon his farm, with a
capital of some thousands, which he owed to the industry of his previous
life. Here he added farm to farm, until he found himself proprietor of
nearly six hundred acres, with every prospect of adding largely to his
independence and wealth.
It was now that his capacity as a man peculiarly well acquainted with
the value of land, and of agricultural produce in general, induced him
to accept of offers in connection with the collection of tithe, which
were a good deal in accordance with his ability and habits. In short, he
became a tithe-proctor, and in the course of a few years rented tithes
himself to a very large amount.
Such is the brief history of Matthew Purcel, at the period when he makes
his appearance upon our humble stage; and it only remains that we add a
few particulars with regard to his family. Out of eleven children only
four survived--two sons and two daughters--all of whom were exceedingly
well educated, the latter accomplished. Purcel's great object in life
was more to establish a family than to secure the individual happiness
of his children. This was his ambition--the spirit which prompted him,
in his dealings with the people, to forget too frequently that the garb
of justice may be often thrown over the form of rapacity, and that the
authority of law is also, in too many instances, only another name for
oppression.
It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to find in their native
province four such children as called him father. His two sons were,
in symmetry of figure, strength, courage, manly beauty, and gentlemanly
bearing, almost unrivalled. They possessed the manners of gentlemen,
without any of that offensive coxcombry on the one side, or awkward
affectation of ease on the other, which generally mark the upstart.
In fact, although they understood their own worth, and measured their
intellectual powers and acquirments successfully with those of rank and
birth, they had sense enough to feel that it would have been ridiculous
in them to affect by their conduct the prestige of either; and they
consequently knew that both discrimination and delicacy were necessary
in enabling them to assume and maintain that difficult bearing in
society, which prevented them from encroaching on the one side or giving
up their proper position on the other. So far so good. Their characters,
however, were not without some deep shadows. Whilst we acknowledge that
they were generous, resolute, liberal, and of courage, we must also
admit that they were warm, thoughtless, and a good deal overbearing to
many, but by no means to all, of the peasantry with whom they came in
contact. From the ample scale on which their farming was conducted, and
in consequence of the vast number of men they necessarily had occasion
to employ, they could not but detect among them many instances both of
falsehood, dishonesty, and ingratitude. These vices at their hands never
received any favor. So far from that, those whom they detected in the
commission of them, were instantly turned adrift, Very often after
having received a sound horse-whipping. Much abuse also occurred between
them and the country people with reference to land, and especially
tithes, in which they gave back word for word, and too frequently met
concealed or implied threats either by instant chastisement or open
defiance; the result of all was, as the reader may perceive, that they
had the worst and least scrupulous, and consequently, most dangerous
class of persons in the country for their enemies. The name of the elder
was John, and the younger Alick; and, soothe to say, two finer-looking,
more spirited, or determined young fellows could not be found probably
in the kingdom. The relative position, then, in which they and the
people, or rather the worst class of them, stood to each other, and the
bitter disparaging taunts and observations with which the proctor and
his sons were treated, not only on the chapel green, but almost wherever
they appeared, are now, we trust, intelligible to the reader.
Of the daughters, Mary and Julia, we have not so much to observe.
They were both very beautiful; and, as we have already said, highly
accomplished. Both, too, were above the middle height and sizes, and
remarkable for the singular elegance and symmetry of their figures.
Mary, the eldest, was a dark beauty, with a neck and bosom like snow,
and hair black as the raven's wing; whilst Julia, on the contrary, was
fair, and if possible, more exquisitely rounded than her sister. Her
eyes, of a blue gray, were remarkable for an expression of peculiar
depth and softness, whilst Mary's dark brown were full at once of a
mellow and penetrating light. In other respects they resembled each
other very much, both being about the same height and size, and
altogether of a similar bearing and figure. Mary's complexion was
evidently inherited from her mother, who was, at the opening of
our narrative, a black-haired, handsome woman, with a good deal of
determination about her mouth and brow, but with a singularly benevolent
expression when she smiled. She, too, had received a good, plain
education, and was one of those naturally well-mannered women who,
whilst they are borne forward into greater respectability by the current
of prosperity, can assume, without effort, the improved tone of better
society to which they are raised.
There were few women in her sphere of life, or indeed in any sphere
of life, who dispensed more good to the poor and distressed than Mrs.
Purcel; and in all her kindness and charities she was most cordially
aided and supported by her admirable daughters. Within a wide circle
around her dwelling, sickness and destitution, or unexpected calamity,
were ever certain to be cheered by the benevolent hand of herself or
her daughters. The latter, indeed, had latterly relieved her, in a great
degree, if not altogether, of all her distant and outdoor charities, so
that little now was left to her management but the claims of such poor
as flocked for assistance to the house.
Mass having been concluded, and the benediction given in the chapel of
Red Ridge, Mr. Purcel and his family soon appeared among the crowd on
the green, preparing to return home. The car was driven up opposite the
chapel door, to the place where they were in the habit of waiting for
it. The two brothers came out along with their sisters, and signed to
the lads who had been holding their horses to bring them up. In the
meantime, Buck English, unabashed by the rebuff he had received,
once more approached, and just as the car had come up, tendered his
gallantry--as he called it--with his usual politeness.
"I trust, leedies, that as you were not kin-descending enough to let me
have the gallantry of helping you off, you will let me have the pleasure
of helping you on?"
"That lady behind you appears to have prior claims upon you, Mr.
English."
"Behind me!" he exclaimed, turning about. "Why, Miss Joolia, there's no
leddy behind me."
In the meantime she beckoned to her brother who, while the, proctor
was assisting his wife to take her seat, helped up both the girls, who
nodding to the Buck, said--
"Thank you, Mr. English: we feel much obliged for your gallant
intentions; quite as much, indeed, as if you had carried them into
effect."
This joke, so soon played off after that which had preceded it, and
upon the same person, too, occasioned another very general laugh at the
Buck's expense; and, beyond a doubt, filled him with a double measure of
mortification and resentment.
"There you go," he muttered, "and it was well said before Mass, that if
you set a beggar on horseback he'll ride to the divil."
"To whom do you apply that language?" asked Alick Purcel.
"To one Michael Purcel, a tithe-proctor, an oppressor and a grinder of
the poor," returned Buck, fiercely.
"And, you insolent scoundrel, how dare you use such language to my
father?" said the other. "I tell you, that if it were not from a
reluctance to create an unbecoming quarrel so near the house of God, and
so soon after his worship, I would horsewhip you, you illiterate, vulgar
rascal, where you stand."
"I would be glad to catch you making the attempt," replied the Buck,
with a look of fury; "because I would give you such a lesson as you
would never forget. I would let you know that it isn't your father's
unfortunate tenants and day-laborers you have before you--and that you
scourge like hounds in a kennel."
Purcel was actually in the act of springing at him, whip in hand, when,
fortunately, the priest interfered, and prevented a conflict which, from
the strength and spirit by which the parties were animated, must have
been a fearful one.
[Illustration: PAGE 374-- The priest interfered, and prevented a
conflict]
"What is this?" said the worthy man; "in God's name, what does this
scandalous conduct, in such a place, and on such an occasion, mean? Come
between these madmen," he proceeded, addressing the crowd, which had now
collected about them. "Keep them asunder!"
The two men were separated; but as each felt himself under the influence
of strong resentment, they glared at one another with looks of fiery
indignation.
"You had better keep out of my way, you impudent scoundrel," said
Purcel, shaking his whip at him; "and hark ye, make no more attempts to
pay attention to any of my sisters, or, by the heavens above me, I will
trace you through all your haunts, and flog you as I would a dog."
"I'll take care to give you the opportunity before long, Squire Purcel,
or rather Squireen Purcel," replied the Buck; "and what is more, I'll
see you and yours in my power yet."
"You're too ready wid your whip, Mr. Purcel," said several voices from
among the crowd; "and you do think it's dogs you have to dale wid, as
Mr. English says."
"No," said Purcel, with scom; "I deny it; my whip is never raised unless
to the shoulders of some slavish, lying, and dishonest scoundrel, whom I
prefer to punish rather than to prosecute."
"Take. care it doesn't come aginst you, then, some o' these days," said
a voice.
"Ay," added another, "or some o' these nights!"
"Ah, you ungrateful and cowardly crew," he replied, "who have not one
drop of manly blood in your veins, I despise you. Like all thorough
cowards, you are equally slavish and treacherous. Kindness is thrown
away upon you, generosity you cannot understand, for open fight or open
resentment you have neither heart nor courage--but give you the hour of
midnight, and your unsuspecting victim asleep--or place you behind the
shelter of a hedge, where your cowardly person is safe and invisible,
with a musket or blunderbuss in your hands, and a man before whom you
have crawled in the morning like reptiles, you will not scruple to
assassinate that night. Curse upon you! you are a disgrace to any
Christian country, and I despise, I say, and defy you. As for you,
Buck English, avoid my path, and cross neither me nor any member of my
family."
"Alick Purcel," said English, "mark my words--I'll put my thumb upon
you and yours yet. I say, mark them; for the day will come when you will
remember them to your cost."
Purcel gave him a stern look, and merely said--"I'm prepared for you;"
after which he and his brother John mounted their horses and dashed off
at a rapid pace towards their father's house, followed by the groans
and hootings of the people--far above all whose voices was heard that of
Buck English, in loud and contemptuous tones.
On relating the occurrence at home, the father, as was his custom, only
laughed at it.
"Pooh, Alick," said he, "what does it signify? Have we not been annoyed
for years by these senseless broils and empty threats? Don't think of
them."
"I, father!" replied his son; "do you imagine that I ever bestow a
second thought upon them? Not I, I assure you. However, there is one
thing would most unquestionably gratify me, and that is, an opportunity
of cudgelling Buck English; because, upon second consideration,
horse-whipping would be much too gentlemanly a style of chastisement for
such a vulgar and affected ruffian."
"I regret very much, however," said his sister Julia, "that I have been
the cause of all this; but really, as Mary here knows, the absurdity of
his language was perfectly irresistible."
"Yes," replied her sister; "but, in fact, he is constantly annoying and
persecuting her, and very few would bear such nonsense and absurdity
from him with so much good-humor as Julia does. I grant that it is very
difficult to be angry with so ridiculous a fool; but I do agree with
Julia, that it is better to laugh at him, for two seasons: the first is,
because he is a fit object for ridicule; and the second, because it is
utterly impossible to resist it."
"I don't think he will annoy Julia again, however," said Alick.
"Not until the next opportunity," observed his brother, "when, you may
take my word for it, he will be as ridiculously polite and impudent as
ever."
"Not a doubt of it," said the father; "the rascal's incurable, and
little did I imagine when I asked him once or twice to dine here that I
was preparing such an infliction for poor Julia. Julia didn't he write
to you?"
"I certainly had the honor of receiving a very elaborate love-letter
from him," replied Julia, laughing, "which I will show you some of these
days; but, for my part, I think the fool is beneath resentment, and it
is merely on that principle that I have treated him with good-humored
contempt."
"He is certainly as good as a farce," said the father; "and if the
rascal had kept from making love, I should have still been glad to have
him here from time to time to amuse us."
"How does he live at all?" asked Mrs. Purcel; "for, by all accounts, he
has no fixed place of residence, nor any known means of support."
"Faith, Nancy, that's a subject upon which we are all aiqually
ignorant," replied her husband; "but that the fellow lives, and can live
comfortably--ay, and has plenty of money, there can be no earthly doubt.
At the same time, that there is much talk about him, and a great deal of
mystery too, is a sure case on the other hand. Well, never mind, Jack;
I asked your old tutor, M'Carthy, to dine here to-day; he has come home
to the country after having gained a scholarship, I believe they call
it, in Trinity College."
"I'm glad you did, father," replied John, "and I'm much obliged to you.
Yes, he has gained first place, and I knew he would."
"He intends going to the bar, he tells me."
"He will be heard from yet, or I renounce all claims to common sense,"
replied the other. "There is, unquestionably, a brilliant career before
him."
"I would rather, in the meantime," observed Mrs. Purcell, "that he had
continued steadfast to his religion. They tell me that he has become a
Protestant."
"Why, I believe he couldn't gain a scholarship, as you call it, Jack,
without becoming a member of the Established Church."
"No, sir, he could not."
"Well, then," proceeded the proctor, "what great harm? Why, I believe in
my soul, that if it weren't for the bigotry of priests and parsons, who
contrive to set the two churches together by the ears, there would be
found very little difference between them. For my part, I believe a
good, honest Protestant will go to heaven when a scoundrel Papist won't,
and vice versa. The truth is, begad, that it's six of one and half a
dozen of the other; and sorry would I be to let so slight a change as
passing from one religion to the other ever be a bar to the advancement
or good fortune of any one of my children!"
"I would much rather not hear you say so, Mat," replied his wife; "nor
do I ever wish my children to gain either wealth or station in the world
by the sacrifice of the highest principle that can bind the heart--that
of religion."
"Pooh, Nancy, you speak like a woman who never looked beyond the range
of the kitchen and larder, or thought beyond the humdrum prayers of your
Manual. I wish to see my children established; I wish to see them gain
station in the world; I wish to make them the first of their family; and
I do assure you, Nancy, that it is not such a trifle as the difference
between popery on the one hand, and Protestantism on the other, that I'd
suffer--that is, if they will be guided by me--to stand between them and
the solid advantages of good connection, and a proper standing in the
world. I say, then, boys and girls, don't be fools; for, as for my part,
I scarcely think, to tell God's truth, that there's to the value of
sixpence between the two creeds."
"Father," said Mary, laughing, "you're a man of a truly liberal
disposition in these matters."
"But, papa," said Julia, with an arch look, "if there be not the value
of sixpence between the two creeds, perhaps there is more than that
between the two clergy?"
The proctor shook his head and laughed.
"Ah, Judy, my girl, you have me there," he replied; "that goes home
to the proctor, you baggage. Devil a thing, however, like an endowed
church, and may God keep me and all my friends from the voluntary
system!--ha! ha! ha! Come, now, for that same hit at the old proctor,
you must walk over here and play me my old favorite, the 'Cannie
Soogah,' just to pull down your pride. The 'Cannie Soogah,' you know, is
the Irish for Jolly Pedlar, and a right jolly pedlar your worthy father
was once in his days."
"By the way, papa," said Mary, "talking of that--what has become of
the pleasant man that goes under that name or nickname--the pedlar that
calls here occasionally?"
"I saw him in the market yesterday," replied her father, "and a fine,
hale fellow he is of his years. For a man of fifty he's a miracle of
activity and energy."
"They say he is wealthy," observed John, "and I shouldn't wonder. You
ought to give a good guess at that, father--ha! ha! ha!"
"Right, John, I ought, and I think he is. You don't know how money
gathers with a successful pedlar, who is up to his business. I am
inclined to think that the Cannie Soogah is the only man who can throw
any light on the history of Buck English."
"Who the devil is that impudent scoundrel, father? for it appears that,
as regards his birth, family, and origin, nobody knows anything certain
about him."
"And that is just the position in which I stand," replied his father.
"It is a subject on which he himself gives no satisfaction to any one.
When asked about it, he laughs in jour face, and replies that he
doesn't exactly know, but is of the opinion that he is the son of his
father--whoever that was; but that, he says, he is not wise enough to
know either, and then, after another laugh at you, he leaves you."
"How does he live?" asked John, "for he has no visible means of
support--he neither works nor is engaged in any profession, and yet he
dresses well."
"Well! John;" exclaimed Julia.
"Perhaps I ought not to say--_well_, Julia; but at all events, he is
very fond of being considered a buck, and he certainly dresses up to
that character."
"He admits that he was eight years in England," said his father;
"although, for my part, it's just as likely that he spent seven years
of that time in Botany Bay; if not, I should have no objection that
something should occur to make him spend the remainder of his life
there."
"Why should you wish the man so ill, papa'?" asked Mary.
"Why, Mary--faith for a very good reason, my dear child; because I don't
wish to see your sister annoyed and persecuted by the scoundrel. The
fellow is so impudent that he will take no rebuff."
"By the way, father, where does M'Carthy stop, now that he is in
the country?" asked Alick, with some hesitation, and a brow a little
heightened in color.
"For the present," replied the other, "he stops with our friend,
O'Driscol, the new magistrate. Faith, it's a shove-up for O'Driscol to
get on the Bench. Halloo! there's M'Carthy's knock--I'm sure I know it."
The proctor was right; but notwithstanding his quickness and sagacity,
there was another individual in the room at that moment who recognized
it sooner than he did. Julia arose, and withdrew under some pretence
which we cannot now remember, but I really because she felt that had she
remained until M'Carthy's entrance, her blushes would have betrayed her.
"M'Carthy is a very handsome young-fellow," observed John--"would he
think of entering any pretensions to Katherine O'Driscol?"
"What d--d stuff you often talk, John--begging your pardon," replied his
brother; "he has hard reading, and his profession to think of--both of
which he will find enough for him, setting Katherine O'Driscol and love
out of the question."
"Very good, Alick," said John. "Ha! ha ha! I thought I would touch you
there. The bait took, my boy; jealousy, jealousy, father."
Alick, on finding that he was detected, forced himself into a confused
laugh, and, in the meantime, M'Carthy entered.
Nothing could surpass the cordiality of his reception. A holiday spirit
was obvious among the family--at least among all who were then visible.
Secretly, however, did his eye glance about in search of one, on whose
reception of him more depended than a thousand welcomes from all the
rest. In about twenty minutes Julia made her appearance, but to any
person in the secret, it was obvious that she was combating with much
inward, if not with some appearance of external confusion and restraint.
After the first greetings were over, however, she gradually recovered
her self-possession, and was able to join in the conversation without
embarrassment or difficulty.
CHAPTER III.--Mountain Legislation, and its Executive of Blood.
After dinner that day, and while the gentlemen were yet at table, Mary
and Julia, who, as we have said, had relieved their mother of those
benevolent attentions which she had been in the habit of paying to the
neighboring sick and poor, proceeded on their way to the cottage of
a destitute woman in the next village, who was then lying in what was
considered to be a hopeless state. The proctor himself, while he exacted
with a heartless and rapacious hand the last penny due to him, was yet
too good a tactician to discountenance these spontaneous effusions of
benevolence on the part of his wife and daughters. With a good deal
of ostentation, and that peculiar swagger for which many shrewd and
hard-hearted men of the world are remarkable, he actually got the
medicine himself for the helpless invalid in question, not forgetting at
the same time to make the bystanders in the apothecary's shop acquainted
with the extent of his own private charity and that of his family
besides. The girls had proceeded a part of the way on their charitable
errand, when it occurred to them that the medicine, which their father
had procured on the preceding day, had been forgotten, and as the sick
woman was to commence taking it at a certain hour that evening, it was
necessary that either one or both should return for it.
"You needn't come back, Julia," said Mary; "I will myself run home and
fetch it. And accordingly her sister went back at a quick step towards
her father's house. The spot where Julia stood to await the return, of
her sister was within a few yards of a large white-thorn double ditch,
on each side of which grew a close hedge of thorns, that could easily
afford room for two or three men to walk abreast between them. Here
she had not remained more than a minute or two, when, issuing from
the cover of the thorns, and approaching her with something of a stage
strut, our friend, Buck English, made his appearance.
"Miss Joolia," he exclaimed, with what was intended for a polite bow,
"I hope you will pardon me for this third liberty I teek in offering to
spake to you. I see," he proceeded, observing her rising indignation,
"that you are not inclined to hear me, but I kim here to give you a bit
of advice as a friend--listen to my proposals, if you're wise--and don't
make me the enemy of yourself or your family, for so sure as you reject
me, so certainly will you bring ruin upon both yourself and them. I
say this as a friend, and merk me, the day may come when you will oll
remember my words too late."
There was a vehemence in his language, which could admit of no mistake
as to the fixed determination of his purpose; his lips were compressed,
his eyebrows severely knit, and his unfeeling, hyena eye scintillated
with a fire that proceeded as much from an inclination to revenge as
affection. Julia Purcel, however, though a women, possessed no whit of
her sex's cowardice; on the contrary, her bosom heaved with indignant
scorn, and her eye gave him back glance for glance, in a spirit that
disdained to quail before his violence.
"Do you dare to threaten me or my family, sir?" she replied; "I think
you should know us better than to imagine that the threats of a ruffian,
for such I now perceive you to be, could for a moment intimidate either
them or me. Begone, sir, I despise and detest you--until this moment,
I looked upon and treated you as a fool, but I now find you are a
villain--begone, I say; I scorn and defy you."
"You defy me, do you?"
"Yes, I have said it, I defy you."
"Well, then, so be it," he replied, "you must take the consequences,
that's all, and let your favorite, M'Carthy, look to himself too."
Having uttered these significant words, ha reentered the double ditch,
along which a common pathway went, and in a minute or two was out of
sight.
Mary, on her return, at once perceived, by the flushed cheek and kindled
eye of her sister, that something had discomposed her. "Why, goodness
me, dear Julia, you look disturbed or frightened; what is the matter?"
"Disturbed I am," she replied, "but not at all frightened. This worthy
lover of mine, whom nothing can abash, has honored me with another
interview."
"Is it after the scene between him and my brother to-day?"
"Certainly," she replied, with a smile, for she now began once more to
look upon the matter in a ludicrous point of view, "and has threatened
not only myself, but the whole family with destruction, unless I favor
his addresses--ha! ha! ha! He has one good quality in a lover, at all
events--perseverance."
"Say rather effrontery and impudence," replied Mary.
"Yes, I admit that," said her sister; "but at any rate, they very often
go together, I believe."
She then related the dialogue that took place, at which her sister, who
was equally remarkable for courage, only laughed.
"The fellow after all is only a fool," she observed. "If he were
anything else, or if he had any serious intention of carrying such
threats into effect, he most assuredly would not give expression to
them, or put you on your guard against them. No, he is only a fool and
not worth thinking about: let him go."
They then proceeded to the cabin of poor Widow Cleary, to whom they
administered the medicine with their own hands, and to whose children
they brought their mother's orders to attend the house, that they
might be relieved with that comfortable food which their destitute
circumstances so much required.
On their return home, the relation of the incident which we have just
narrated very much amused the family, with the exception of M'Carthy,
who expressed himself not quite at ease after having heard English's
threats. "There is an extraordinary mystery about that man," he
observed; "no one knows or can tell who he is; you can call him a fool,
too, but take my word that there never hung mystery about a fool yet; I
fear he will be found to be something much worse than a fool."
"Nonsense," replied the proctor. "The fellow is only ridiculous and
contemptible; he and his clipped English are not worth thinking of--let
him go to the deuce."
M'Carthy still shook his head, as if of opinion that they underrated the
Buck's power of injuring them, but the truth was that neither Purcel
nor his sons were at all capable of apprehending either fear or danger;
they, therefore, very naturally looked upon the denunciations of English
with a recklessness that was little less than foolhardy.
During the last few years they had been accustomed to receive threats
and written notices of vengeance, which had all ended in nothing, and,
in consequence of this impunity, they had become so completely inured to
them as to treat them only with laughter and scorn.
It has been already intimated to the reader that M'Carthy was residing,
during a short visit to the country, at the house of O'Driscol, the
newly-made magistrate. It was pretty late that evening when he took
leave of the Purcels, but as the distance was not far he felt no anxiety
at all upon the subject of his journey. The night, however, was so
pitchy dark, that even although well acquainted as he was with the
road, he found some difficulty in avoiding the drains and ditches that
enclosed it. At length he had arrived within a couple of hundred yards
of O'Driscol's house, when as he was proceeding along suddenly found
himself come unexpectedly against some individual, who was coming from
an opposite direction.
"Hillo! who is here?" said the voice, in a kind of whisper.
"A friend," replied M'Carthy; "who are you?"
"What's your name?" inquired the strange voice, "and be quick."
"My name is M'Carthy," replied our friend; "why do you ask?"
"Come this way," said the stranger; "you are Francis M'Carthy, I think?"
"Yes, that is my name--what is yours?"
"That doesn't matther," replied the voice, "stand aside here, and be
quiet as you value your life."
M'Carthy thought at the moment that he heard the noise of many feet, as
it were in the distance.
"You will not be safe," said the voice, "if you refuse to take my
advice;" and as he spoke he partly forced M'Carthy over to the side of
the road where they both stood invisible from the darkness of the night,
as well as from the shelter of a large whitethorn branch, which would,
even in daylight, almost have concealed them from view. In a few
minutes, a large body of people passed them with that tread which always
characterizes the motions of undisciplined men. There was scarcely a
word among them, but M'Carthy felt that, knowing them as he did to
be peasants, there was something dreadful in the silence which they
maintained so strictly. He could not avoid associating their movements
and designs with some act of violence and bloodshed, that was about to
add horror to the impenetrable gloom of night, whose darkness, perhaps,
they were about to light up with the roof-tree of some unsuspecting
household, ignorant of the fiery fate that was then so near them.
Several hundreds must have passed, and when the last sounds of their
tread had died away, M'Carthy and his companion left their hiding-place,
when the latter addressed him as follows:--
"Now, Mr. M'Carthy, I wish you to understand that you are wid a
friend--mark my words--avoid the man they call Buck English, for of all
men livin' he hates you the most; and listen, whenever you come to this
country don't stop in procthor Purcel's, otherwise you may draw down
ruin and destruction upon him and his; and, if I'm not mistaken, you're
the last man livin' who would wish to do that."
"By the way," asked M'Carthy, "who is Buck English?"
"I don't know," replied the stranger, "nor do I know any one that does."
"And may I not ask who you are yourself?"
"No--for I've good raisons for not telling you. Good-night, and mark my
words--avoid that man, for I know he would give a good deal to sit over
your coffin--and you in it."
We shall now allow M'Carthy to proceed to his friend's house, which he
reached without any further adventure, and ask the reader to accompany
the stranger, who in a few minutes overtook the body we have described,
to which he belonged. They proceeded in the same way, still maintaining
a silence that was fearful and ominous, for about a mile and a half.
Whilst proceeding, they met several persons on the road, every one of
whom they stopped and interrogated as to his name and residence, after
which they allowed them to pass on.
"Why do they! stop and examine the people they meet?" whispered one of
them a young lad about nineteen--to him who had just warned McCarthy.
"Why," said the other, "is it possible you don't know that? It's aisy
seen you're but young in the business yet."
"This is my first night to be out," replied the youth.
"Well, then," rejoined our friend, "it's in the expectation of meetin'
an enemy, especially some one that's _marked_."
"An' what would they do if they did?"
"_Do_? said the other; "_do for him!_. If they met sich a one, they'd
take care his supper wouldn't cost him much."
"Blood alive!" exclaimed the young fellow. "I'm afeard this is a bad
business."
"Faith, an' if it is, it's only beginnin'," said the other, "but whether
good or bad the counthry requires it, an' the Millstone must be got rid
of."
"What's the Millstone?"
"The Protestant church. The man that won't join us to put it down, must
be looked upon and treated as an enemy to his country--that is, if he is
a Catholic."
"I have no objection to that," replied the youth, "but I don't like to
see lives taken or blood shed; murdher's awful."
"You must set it down, then," replied the other, "that both will happen,
ay, an' that you must yourself shed blood and take life when it
come your turn. Howanever, that will soon come aisy to you; a little
practice, and two or three opportunities of seeing the thing done, an'
you'll begin to take delight in it."
"And do you now?" asked the unsophisticated boy, with a quivering of the
voice which proceeded from a shudder.
"Why, no," replied the other, still in a whisper, for in this tone the
dialogue was necessarily continued; "not yet, at any rate; but if it
came my turn to take a life I should either do it, or lose my own some
fine night."
"Upon my conscience," whispered the lad, "I can't help thinkin' that
it's a bad business, and won't end well."
"Ay, but the general opinion is, that if we get the Millstone from about
our necks, a few lives taken on their side, and a few boys hanged on
ours, won't make much difference one way or other, and then everything
will end well. That's the way of it."
This muffled dialogue, if we may use the expression, was now interrupted
by a change in their route. At a Rath, which here capped an eminence of
the road, a narrow bridle-way diverged to the right, and after a gradual
ascent for about a mile and a half, was lost upon a rough upland, that
might be almost termed a moor. Here they halted for a few minutes, in
deliberation as to whether they should then proceed across the moor, or
wait until the moon should rise and enable them to see their way.
It was shortly resolved upon to advance, in order that they might lose
as little time as possible, in consequence of having, as it appeared,
two or three little affairs to execute in the course of the night. They
immediately struck across the rough ground which lay before them, and
as they did so, the conversation began to be indulged in more freely, in
consequence of their remoteness from any human dwelling or the chances
of being overheard. The whole body now fell into groups, each headed by
a certain individual who acted as leader, but so varied were the topics
of discourse, some using Irish, others the English language, that it was
rather difficult to catch the general purport of what they said.
At length when a distance of about two miles had been traversed, they
came out upon one of those small green campaigns, or sloping meadows,
that are occasionally to be found embosomed in the mountains, and upon
which the eye rests with an agreeable sense of relief, on turning to
them from the dark and monotonous hue of the gloomy wastes around them.
They had not been many minutes here when the moon rose, and after
a little time her light would have enabled a casual or accidental
spectator to witness a fearful and startling scene. About six hundred
men were there assembled; every man having his face blackened, and all
with shirts over their outward and usual garments. As soon as the moon,
after having gained a greater elevation in the sky, began to diffuse
a clearer lustre on the earth, we may justly say that it would be
difficult to witness so strange and appalling a spectacle. The white
appearance of their persons, caused by the shirts which they wore in the
manner we have stated, for this peculiar occasion, when contrasted with
their blackened visages, gave them more the character of demons than of
men, with whom indeed their strange costume and disfigured faces seemed
to imitate the possession of very little in common, with the exception
of shape alone. The light was not sufficiently strong to give them
distinctness, and as a natural consequence, there was upon them a dim
gleamy look--a spectral character that was frightful, and filled
the mind with an impression that the meeting must have been one of
supernatural beings, if not an assemblage of actual devils, in visible
shape, coming to perpetrate on earth some deed of darkness and of
horror.
Among the whole six hundred there might have been about one hundred
muskets. Pistols, blunderbusses, and other arms there were in
considerable numbers, but these were not available for a portion, at
least, of the purposes which had brought them together.
After some preliminary preparation a light was struck, a candle lit,
around which a certain number stood, so as to expose it to as little
chance of observation as possible. A man then above the middle size,
compact and big-boned, took the candle in one hand, and brought it
towards a long roll which he held in the other. He wore a white hat with
a low crown, had large black whiskers which came to his chin, and ran
besides round his neck underneath. The appearance of this man, and of
those who surrounded the dim light which he held was, when taking their
black unnatural faces into consideration, certainly calculated to excite
no other sensations than those of terror mingled with disgust.
"Now," said he, in a strong rich brogue, "let every man fall into rank
according as his name is called out; and along with his name he must
also repate his number whatever it may be, up until we come to a
hundred, for I believe we have no more muskets. Where is Sargin Lynch?"
"Here I am," replied that individual, who enjoyed a sergeant's pension,
having fought through the peninsular campaign.
"Take the lists then and proceed," said the leader; "we have little time
to lose."
Lynch then called over a list until he had reached a hundred; every man,
as he answered to his name, also repeated his number; as for instance,
"Tom Halloran."
"Here--one!"
"Peter Rafferty!"
"Here--two!" and so on, until the requisite number was completed, and
every man as he responded fell also into rank.
Having thus got them into line, he gave them a rather hasty drill; and
this being over, hundred after hundred went through the same process
of roll-call and manoeuvre, until the task of the night was completed,
so-far, at least, as that particular duty was concerned. Other duties,
however, in more complete keeping with their wild and demon-like
appearance, were still to be performed. Short rolls were called, by
which selections for the assemblage of such as had been previously
marked down for the robbery of arms, were made with considerable
promptitude. And, indeed, most of those to whom, such outrageous and
criminal attacks wera assigned, seemed to feel flattered by being
appointed to the performance of them.
At length, when these matters were, arranged, and completed, the whole
body was ordered to fall into rank, and the large-man, who acted as
leader, walked for a times up and down in front of them, after which,
as nearly opposite their centre as possible, he deliberately knelt
down, and held his two open palms across each other for some seconds, or
perhaps for half a minute.
A low fearful murmur, which no language could describe, and no
imagination conceive--without having heard it, ran along the whole line.
Whether it proceeded from compassion or exultation, or a blending of
both mingled with horror and aversion, or a diabolical, satisfaction, it
is difficult or rather absolutely impossible to say. The probability
is, however, that it was made up of all these feelings, and that it
was their unnatural union, expressed under such wild and peculiar
circumstances, that gave it the impressive and dreadful effect wo have
described.
"What does he mane?" said some of the youthful and inexperienced portion
of them, in the accustomed whisper.
"There's a death to take place to-night," replied an older member;
"there's either a man or family doomed, God knows which!" He then
arose, and going along the front: rank, selected by name twenty-four
individuals, who were made to stand in order; to one of these he
whispered the name and residence of the victim; this one immediately
whispered the secret to the person next him, who communicated it in his
turn, and thus it went round until the last had received it. This being
accomplished, he stood apart from the appointed murderers, and made them
all, one after another, whisper to him the name and residence as before.
"Now," said the leader, "it's my duty to tell you that there's a man to
be done for tonight; and you must all know his crime. He was warned by
us no less than four times not to pay tithe, and not only that, but he
refused to be sworn out to do so, and wounded one of the boys that wor
sent by me one night to swear him. He has set us at defiance by publicly
payin' his tithes to a man that we'll take care of some o' these nights.
He's now doomed, an' was tried on the last night of our meetin'. This
night he dies. Them that has his life in their hands knows who he is an'
where they'll find him. Once and for all then this night he dies. Now,
boys, such of you as have nothing to do go home, and such of you as have
your work before you do it like men, and don't draw down destruction on
yourselves by neglectin' it. You know your fate if you flinch.--I have
done."
Those who were not on duty, to use a military phrase, returned across
the moors by the way they came, and consequently reached the bridle road
we have spoken of, together. Such, however, as were set apart for the
outrages and crimes of the night, remained behind, in order that the
peculiar destination of their atrocities might be known only to the
individuals who were appointed to perpetrate them.
On their return, our unknown friend, who had rendered such an essential
service to M'Carthy, thus addressed his companion--that is to say, the
man who happened to be next him,--
"Well, neighbor, what do you think of this night's work?"
"Why, that everything's right, of coorse," replied the other; "any man
that strives to keep the Millstone about our necks desarves his fate; at
the same time," he added, dropping his voice still lower, "I'd as soon
not be the man to do the deed, neighbor."
"Well, I can't say," returned our friend, "but I'm a trifle of your way
of thinkin'."
"There's one thing troubles me," added his companion, an' it's
this--there was a young lad wid us to-night from my neighborhood, he
was near the last of us as we went along the road on our way to the
mountains; I seen him whisperin' to some one a good deal as we
came out--now, I know there's not on airth a kinder-hearted or more
affectionate boy than he is; he hasn't a heart to hurt a fly, and is
loved and respected by every one in the neighborhood. Very well! God
of glory! isn't it too bad, that this one, handsome, lovin', and
affectionate boy, the only child of his father and mother,--_fareer
gair_ (* Bitter misfortune.)--my friend, whoever you are, isn't it too
bad, that that boy, innocent and harmless as a child, will go home to
his lovin' parents a murdherer this night?"
"What makes you say so?" asked our unknown friend.
"Why," replied the man, "he stood beside me in the ranks, and has been
sent to murdher the man that was doomed."
To this our friend judiciously avoided making any reply, the fact
being that several individuals in high trust among these Whiteboys were
occasionally employed to sound suspected persons, in order to test their
sincerity. For about half a minute he spoke not; but at length he said,
with something like sternness--
"There's no use in sich talk as this, my friend; every man that joins us
must make up his mind to do his duty to God and his country."
"It's a quare way of sarvin' God to commit midnight murdher on his
creatures," responded the man with energy.
"I don't know who you are," replied our friend, "but if you take my
advice, you'll not hould such conversation wid every man you spake to in
this body. Wid me you're safe, but at the same time, I say, don't draw
suspicion on yourself, and it'll be betther for you."
"Who is this man?" asked the other, who appeared to have been borne away
a good deal by his feelings, "that commands us?"
"Don't you know Captain Midnight?" replied the other, somewhat
evasively.
"Why, of coorse I know the man by that name; but, at the same time, I
know nothin' else about him."
"Did you never hear?" asked his companion.
"Why, to tell you the truth," said the other, "I heerd it said that he's
the _Cannie Soogah_, or the Jolly Pedlar that goes about the country."
"Well," said the other, lowering his voice a good deal in reply, "if I
could trust you, I'd tell you what I think."
"I'll give you my name, then," replied the other, "if you doubt me;" he
accordingly whispered it to him, and the conversation proceeded.
"I know your family well," returned our friend; "but, as I said before,
be more on your guard, unless you know well the man you spake to. As for
myself, I sometimes think it is the _Cannie Soogah_ and sometimes that
it is not. Others say it's Buck English; but the Buck, for raisons that
some people suspect, could never be got to join us. He wishes us well,
he says, but won't do anything till there comes an open 'ruction, and
then he'll join us, but not before. It's hard to say, at any rate, who
commands us when we meet this way."
"Why so?"
"Why the dickens need you ax? Sure it's not the same man two nights
runnin'."
"But I have been only three or four times out yet," replied his
companion; "and, sure enough, you're very--right--they hadn't the same
man twiste."
They had now reached the road under the Fort or Rath we have alluded
to, and as there was no further necessity for any combined motion
among them, and as every man now was anxious to reach home as soon
as possible, their numbers diminished rapidly, until they ultimately
dispersed themselves in all directions throughout the country.
CHAPTER IV.--Mirth and Murder--A Tithe-Proctor's Office.
The next morning, when our proctor and his family assembled at
breakfast, their usual buoyancy of spirits was considerably checked by
a report which had already spread over a great portion of the country,
that a very industrious and honest farmer, who lived within about four
miles of them, had been murdered in his own house the night before, by
a party of fellows disguised with blackened faces, and who wore shirts
over their clothes. The barbarous and brutal deed, in consequence of the
amiable and excellent character of the man--who had been also remarkable
for resolution and courage--had already excited an extraordinary
commotion throughout the country.
"Boys," said Purcel, "I have been in C------m this morning, and, I'm
sorry to say, there's bad news abroad."
"How is that, sir?" asked Alick,--"no violence, I hope; although I
wouldn't feel surprised if there were; the country is getting into a bad
state: I think myself the people are mad, absolutely mad."
"You both knew Matthew Murray," he proceeded, "that lived down at
Rathkeerin?"
"Certainly, father," said John; "what about him?--no harm, I hope?"
"He was murdered in his own house last night," replied his father; "but
it's some consolation that one of the murdering villains is in custody."
"That is bad business, certainly," replied John; "in fact, it's
dreadful."
"It is dreadful," said the father; "but the truth is, we must have
the country, at least this part of it, proclaimed, and martial law
established;--damn the murdering scoundrels, nothing else is fit for
them. We must carry arms, boys, in future; and by d--n, the first man
I see looking at me suspiciously, especially from behind a hedge, I'll
shoot him. As a tithe-proctor I could do so without much risk."
"Not, father," said Alick, "until he should first offer, or make an
attempt at violence."
"I would not, in the present state of the country, wait for it," replied
the determined and now indignant proctor; "if I saw him watch me with
arms in his hands, or any dangerous weapon about his person, by d--n I'd
put a bullet through him, with no more remorse than I would through a
dog, and, if the animal were a good one, I think he would be the greater
public loss of the two."
Just at this moment, the females of the family, who had been giving
breakfast to a number of poor destitute creatures, made their
appearance.
"Where have you all been?" asked Mrs. Purcel, addressing her husband
and sons; "here have we been waiting breakfast for you during the last
half-hour, and finding you were none of you within, we went and gave
these poor creatures without something to eat."
"Ay," responded the angry proctor, "and it's not unlikely that the son,
or husband, or brother of some of them may take a slap at me or at one
of our sons, from behind a hedge, before these long nights pass off.
D--n me, but it's throwing pearls before swine, to show them either
kindness or charity."
"Something has angered you, papa," said Mary; "I hope you have heard
nothing unpleasant; I am not very timid, but when a whole country is
in such a state of disturbance, one may entertain a reasonable
apprehension, certainly."
"Why, I am angry, Mary," replied her father; "there's as decent and
quiet, but, at the same time, as spirited a man as there ever was in the
barony, murdered this morning--Mat Murray of Rathkeerin; however, as I
said, it's a great consolation that one of the murderers is in custody."
"And who is the wretch, papa?" asked Julia.
"One that nobody ever could have suspected for such an act," replied
Purcel--"a son of one of our own tenants--honest Michael Devlin's
son--James."
"Utterly impossible, father," exclaimed Julia, "there must be a mistake;
that quiet and dutiful boy--their only son--never could have been
concerned in the crime of murder."
"Well, perhaps not, Judy; but, you silly girl, you talk as if you were
in love with him. Why, child, there is such a system abroad, now that a
man can scarcely trust his own brother--no, nor does a father know, when
he sits down to his breakfast in the morning with his own son, whether,
as Scripture says, he is not dipping his hand in the dish with a
murderer."
"Mat," said his wife, "you ought not to be out late at night, nor the
boys either. You know there is a strong feeling against you; and indeed
I think you ought not, any of you, ever to go out without, arms about
you--at all events, until the country gets quiet."
"So I was just saying, Nancy," replied her husband;--"hallo! who's this
coming up to the hall-door?--begad, our old pleasant friend, the _Cannie
Soogah_. Upon my troth, I'm glad to see him. Hallo! _Cannie!--Cannie
Soogah_, my hearty,--Jolly Pedlar, I say--this way! How are you,
man?--have you breakfasted? Of course not. Well, go to the kitchen and,
if you don't show good eating, it won't be for want of materials."
"God save you, Misther Purcel," replied the pedlar, in a rich, round
brogue; "God save you, young gintlemen. Oh, thin, Misther Purcel, by
my sowl it's your four quarthers that has a right to be proud of your;
family! And the ladies--not forgettin' the misthress herself--devil the
likes of the same two young ladies I see on my whole bait, an' that's
the country at large, barrin' the barony of Bedhehusth, where these
cruel murdhers is committed; an' devil a foot I'll ever set into it till
it's changed for the betther."
"Well, be off," said the proctor, "to the kitchen; get your breakfast
first, and then we'll chat to you."
"I will; but oh, Misther Purcel darlin', did you hear what happened last
night?"
"Is it Murray's business?"
"What do you call Murray's business, Misther Purcel? 'Tis Murray's
murdher, you mane?"
"Certainly, I have heard it all this morning in C------m."
The pedlar only shook his head, looked upwards, and raising his two
hands so as to express amazement, exclaimed--"Well, well, what is the
world goin' to! troth, I'll not ate half my breakwist in regard of it!"
So saying he slung his huge pack upon his shoulder as if it had been a
mere bag of feathers, and took his way round to the kitchen as he had
been desired.
The _Connie Soogah_, for so the people universally termed him, was in
person and figure a fine burly specimen of manhood. His hair was black,
as were a pair of large whiskers, that covered the greater portion of
his face, and nearly met at his chin. His arms and limbs were powerfully
made, and what is not always the case in muscular men, they betokened
great activity as well as unusual strength. Nobody, for instance, would
look without astonishment at the ease with which he swung a pack, that
was weighty enough to load an ass, over his shoulder, or the lightness
and agility with which he trotted on under it from morning till night,
and this during the very severest heat of summer.
M'Carthy, on reaching O'Driscol's the night before, had come to the
conclusion of not making any allusion whatsoever to the incident which
had just occurred to him. O'Driscol, who was only a newly-fledged
magistrate, would, he knew, have made it the ground-work of a fresh
communication to government, or to his friend the Castle, as he called
it, especially as he had many other circumstances of less importance
since his elevation to the magistracy. One indeed would imagine that
the peace and welfare of that portion of the country had been altogether
left to his sole and individual management, and that nothing at all of
any consequence could get on properly in it without his co-operation
or interference in some way. For this reason, as well as for others,
M'Carthy prudently hesitated either to arouse his loyalty or disturb the
tranquility of his family, and after joining him in a tumbler of
punch, or what O'Driscol termed his nightcap, he retired to bed, where,
however, he could not for a considerable time prevent himself from
ruminating, with a good deal of seriousness, upon the extraordinary
interview he had had with the friendly stranger.
After breakfast the next morning he resolved, however, to communicate to
his friends, the Purcels, who were at all events no alarmists, and would
not be apt to make him, whether he would or not, the instrument of a
selfish communication with the government, a kind of honor for which
the quiet and unassuming student had no relish whatsoever. He sauntered
towards the proctor's, at whose house he arrived a few minutes before
the return from the kitchen of our friend the Connie Soogah, who had
been treated there with an excellent and abundant breakfast, to which,
in spite of the murder of Murray, he did ample justice.
"Now, Mr. Purcel," he exclaimed, tossing down his pack as if it had been
a schoolboy's satchel, "by the lomenty-tarry you have made a new man of
me! Whoo!" he proceeded, cutting a caper more than a yard high, "show
me the man now, that would dar to say bow to your--beg pardon, ladies,
I must be jinteel for your sakes--that would dar, I say, to look crucked
at you or one a' your family, and maybe the Cannie Soogah wouldn't rise
the lap of his liver. Come, young ladies, shall I make my display? I
know you'll buy lot o' things and plenty besides; I can praise my goods,
thank God, for you see, Miss Mary, when the world comes to an end it'll
be found that the man who couldn't say three words for himself, and
one for his friend, must be sent down stairs to keep the fire in. Miss
Julia, I have a shawl here that 'ud make you look worse than you do."
"Worse, Cannie!" replied Julia, "do you call that a recommendation?"
"Certainly, Miss Julia, you look so well that nothing on airth could
make you look batther, and by way of variety, I've gone to the Well
o' the world's end to get something to make you look worse. God knows
whether I've succeeded or not, but at all events, we'll thry."
So saying, he produced a very handsome shawl, together with a rather
large assortment of jewelry and other matters connected with the female
toilet, of considerable taste and expense.
"Here," he added, "are some cotton and silk stockins'--but upon my
profits, it's not to every foot an' leg I'd produce them. I'm a great
coortier, ladies, you must know, and am in love wid every purty girl I
meet--but sure that's only natural; however, as I was sayin', it's not
to a clype or a pair of smooth-in' irons I'll produce such stockins' as
these! No, no, but a purty foot an' leg is always sure to get the worth
o' their money from the Cannie Soogah!"
"Well done, Cannie!" said the proctor, "dix me, but you're a pleasant
fellow--come girls, you must buy something--handsel him. You got no
handsel to-day, Cannie?" he added, winking at the pedlar to say no.
"Barrin' the first foundation in the kitchen within," he replied; "for
you must know that's what I call my breakfast, handsel of any kind
didn't cross my palm this day."
"In that case, the girls must certainly buy something," added Purcel.
"But we've no money, papa."
"But," replied the pedlar, "you have what's betther--good credit with
the Cannie Soogah--och, upon my profits I'd rather have one sweet
coaxin' smile from that purty little mouth of yours, Miss Julia, than
money in hand any day! Ah! Misther Purcel, darlin', isn't it a poor
thing not to have an estate of ten thousand a year?" and here he looked
wistfully at the smiling Julia, and shrugged his shoulders like a man
who knew he was never likely to gain his wishes.
"I would buy something," said Mary, "but, like Julia, I am penniless."
"Never say so, Miss Mary, to me; only name what you'd like--lave the
price to my honesty, and the payment to my patience, and upon my profits
you won't complain, I'll go bail."
"Yes," observed Julia, "or what if papa would treat us to something?
Come, papa, for the sake of old times; let us see whether you have
forgotten any of your former, craft."
"Good, Judy! ha! ha! ha!--well done! but Cannie, have you nothing for
the gentlemen?"
Now, we must pause for a little to state, that the moment M'Carthy, who
was now present, heard the jolly pedlar's voice, he started, and felt
considerably surprise. The tones of it were neither familiar to him nor
yet were they strange. That he had heard them somewhere, and on some
occasion, he could almost have sworn. Occasionally a turn of the man's
voice would strike him as not being new to him, but again, for the next
minute or two, it was such as he could not remember to have ever heard.
This we say by way of parenthesis.
"For the gentlemen! Lord help you, Mr. Purcel, I never think of them
when the ladies is before me--who would! However, I'm well prepared even
for them. Here is a case o' razors that 'ud cut half an inch before the
edge; now, if you find me another pair that'll do the seem--hem!
the same--I'll buy the Bank of Ireland and give it to you for a
new-year's-gift."
"Don't you know this gentleman?" asked the proctor, pointing to
M'Carthy.
"Let me see," said he--"we'll now--eh, no--I think not, he is neither
so well made, nor by any manes so well lookin' as the other;" and the
pedlar, as he spoke, fixed his eyes, but without seeming to gaze, upon
Julia, who, on hearing a comparison evidently so disadvantageous to
M'Carthy, blushed deeply, and passed to another part of the room, in
order to conceal what she felt must have been visible, and might have
excited observation.
"No," proceeded the pedlar; "I thought at first he was one of the
left-legge'd M'Squiggins's, as they call them, from Fumblestown--but
he is not, I know, for the raisons I said. They're a very good plain
family, the M'Squiggins's, only that nobody's likely to fall in love
wid them--upon my profits, I'm half inclined to think he's one of them
still--eh, let me see again--would you turn round a little, if you
plaise, sir, till I thry if the cast's in your eye. Upon my faith, there
it is sure enough! How are you, Misther M'Squiggins? I'm happy to see
you well, sir. How is your sisther, Miss Pugshey, an' all the family,
sir?--all well, I hope, sir?"
"All well," replied M'Carthy, laughing as loud as any of the rest, every
one of whom actually in convulsions--for they knew, with the exception
of Julia, who was deceived at first by the pedlar's apparent gravity,
that he was only bantering her lover.
The proctor, who, although a man that loved money as his God--with his
whole heart, soul, and strength--was yet exceedingly anxious to stand
well with the world, and on this account never suffered a mere trifle
to stand between him and the means of acquiring a good name, and
having himself been considered a man of even of a benevolent spirit.
He consequently made some purchase from the pedlar, with whom he held
a very amusing and comic discussion, as touching the prices of many
articles in that worthy's; pack. Nay, he went so far as to give them a
good-humored exhibition of the secrets and peculiarities known only to
the initiated, and bought some small matters in the slang terms with
which none but the trade are acquainted.
"Come, boys," said he, "I have set you a good example; won't you buy
something from the jolly pedlar?"
John and Alick bought some trifling things, and M'Carthy purchased
a pair of bracelets for the girls, which closed the sales for that
morning.
"Well, now," said the pedlar, whilst folding up again the goods which he
had displayed for sale, "upon my profits, Misther Purcel, it's a perfect
delight to me to call here, an' that whether I dale or not--although I'm
sure to do so always when I come. Well, you have all dealt wid me now
for payment, and here goes to give you something for nothing--an, in
truth, it's a commodity that, although always chape, is seldom taken.
'Tis called good advice. The ladies--God bless them, don't stand in need
of it, for sure the darlins' never did anything from Eve downwards, that
'ud require it. Here it is then, Misther Purcel, let you and your sons
do what the ould song says--'be good boys and _take care of yourselves.
Thighin thu?_ (*Do you understand.) An' this gintleman, if I knew his
name, maybe I'd say something to him too."
"This is Mr. M'Carthy, Cannie."
"Ay, M'Carthy--troth 'tis a good ould name. Well, Mr. M'Carthy, all I
have to say to you! is, that _if you happen to meet a man that gives you
good advice, TAKE IT_. An' now God be Wid you all, an' spare you to one
another!"
So saying, he slung his huge pack over his shoulders almost without an
effort, and commencing a merry old Irish song he proceeded lightly and
cheerfully on his journey.
"Well, boys," said the proctor, "now that we've had a good hearty laugh
with the _Cannie Soogah_, let us proceed to business. I see by your red
coats and top-boots, that you're for the hounds to-day, but as I'm in a
hurry, I wish before you go, that you'd see those sneaking devils
that are hanging about the place. Hourigan is there again with fresh
falsehoods--don't be misled by him--the ill-looking scoundrel is right
well able to pay--and dix me if I'll spare him. Tell him he needn't
expect any further forbearance--a rascal that's putting money in the
saving's bank to be pleadin' poverty! It's too bad. But the truth is,
boys, there's no one behind in their tithes now entitled to forbearance,
and for the same reason they must pay or take the consequences; we'll
see whether they or the law will prove the strongest, and that very
soon. Good-bye, boys; good-bye, M'Carthy--and I say, Jack and Alick, be
on your sharps and don't let them lads do you--d'ye mind now?--keen's
the word."
He then got on his comfortable jaunting-car, and drove off to wait,
according to appointment, upon the Rev. Jeremiah Turbot, D.D.
"Mogue Moylan," said John, "will you go out and tell them fellows that I
and Alick will be in the office presently--and do you hear? tell them
to look like men, and not so much like murderers that came to take our
lives. Say we'll be in the office presently, and that we hope it's not
excuses they're fetching us."
"I will, Misther John; but, troth, it's the worst word in their cheek
they'd give me, if I deliver the last part of your message. 'Tis my head
in my fist I'd get, maybe; however, Misther John, between you an' me,
they're an ill-looking set, one an' all o' them, an' could pay their
tides, every tail o' them, if they wished."
"I know that very well," replied the young fellow, "but my father's not
the man to be trifled with. We'll soon see whether they or the law's the
strongest; that's all."
Moylan went over to where the defaulters were standing, and putting up
his hand, he stroked down his cheek with great gravity. "Are yez in a
hurry, good people?" said he.
"Some of us is," replied a voice.
"Ay, all of us," replied others; "and we're here now for an hour and a
half, and no sign of seein' us."
"Yez are in a hurry, then?"
"To be sure we are."
"Well, to them that's in a hurry I've a word to say."
"What is it, Mogue?"
"Why, it is this, take your time--ever an' always, when you happen to be
in a hurry--take your time."
"Maybe, Mogue," they replied, "if you were widout your breakfast, as we
are, you wouldn't say so."
"Why, did'nt yez get your breakfasts yet?"
"Devil a morsel."
"Well, to them that didn't get their breakfasts I have another word to
say."
"What is it, Mogue?"
"Why, have patience--ever and always when you're hungry, have patience,
and you'll find it a great relief; it'll fill you and keep you in good
condition--that I mayn't sin but it will! But, sure, I've got news for
yez, boys," he added; "Masther John bid me tell you that, after about
a month or so it'll be contrary to law to get hungry: there's an act
o' parliament goin' to be made against it, you see; so that any villain
disloyal enough to get hungry, if it's proved against him, will be
liable to transportation. That I mayn't sin but it'll be a great
comfort for the country--I mane, to have hunger made contrary to act o'
parliament."
Mogue Moylan was, indeed, a fellow of a very original and peculiar
character. Grave, sly, and hypocritical, yet apparently quiet and not
susceptible of strong or vehement emotions, he was, nevertheless, more
suggestive of evil designs and their fulfilment than any man, perhaps,
in his position of life that ever existed. Though utterly without
spirit, or the slightest conception of what personal courage meant, the
reader not be surprised that he was also vindictive, and consequently
treacherous and implacable. He could project crime and outrage with a
felecity of diabolical invention that was almost incredible. He was,
besides, close and cautious, unless when he thought that he could risk a
falsehood with safety; and, in the opinion of some few who knew him,
not merely dishonest, but an actual thief. His manner, too, was full
of plausible assumption of great conscientiousness and simplicity. He
seemed always calm and cool, was considered rather of a religious turn,
and always expressed a strong horror against cursing or swearing in any
shape. Indeed he had a pat anecdote, which he occasionally told, of
a swoon or faint into which he usually fell, when a youth of about
nineteen, in consequence of having been forced to take a book oath,
for the first time, another act against which he entertained a peculiar
antipathy. Now, all this was indeed very singular and peculiar; but he
accounted for it by the scrupulous love of truth with which not only
he himself, but his whole family, many of whom he said had given their
lives for their country, were affected. The only foible that could be
brought to the charge of honest Mogue, was a singular admiration for his
own visage, which he never omitted to survey with remarkable complacency
several times a day in a broken piece of looking, glass, which he kept
for that especial purpose. This, and its not unnatural consequences
a belief that almost ever female who spoke to him with civility was
smitten by his face and figure, constituted the only two weaknesses in
a character otherwise so spotless and perfect as that of Mogue Moylan.
Mogue was also a good deal subject to the influence of the pathetic,
especially when he alluded to the misfortune, glory be to God, which
had befallen the family, in the person of a lone line of ancestors, and
especially in that of big poor, simple father, whose word, as every
one knew, was as good as his oath; and, indeed, very few doubted that
remarkable fact, but who, notwithstanding had been transported during
the space of seven years for suspicion of perjury; "for didn't the judge
tell him, when he passed sentence upon him, that if he had been found
guilty all out, or of anything beyant suspicion of it, he would be
transported for life; 'an' instead of that,' said the judge, 'bekaise
I persave,' says he, 'that you're an honest man, an' has been sworn
against wrongfully in this business, and bekaise I see clearly that you
love the truth, the sentence of the coort is,' says he, sheddin' tears,
'that you're to be transported only for seven years, an' you lave
the coort an' the counthry,' says he, 'widout at stain upon your
character--it's only the law that's against you--so, God be wid you,'
the judge went on, wipin' his eyes, 'and grant you a safe and pleasant
voyage acrass,' says he, an' he cried for some minutes like a child.
That an' the unjust hangin' of my poor, simple ould grandfather for
horse-stearin'--that is, for suspicion of horse-stealin'--is the only
two misfortunes, thank God, that has been in our family of late days."
So much for the character of worthy Mogue, whom we must now permit to
resume the delivery of his message.
The last words were uttered with so peculiar and significant a gravity,
not without a good deal of dry sarcastic humor, that the men could not
avoid laughing heartily.
"But," he proceeded, "I have better news still for yez. Sure Masther
John desired me to let you all know that his father won't ax a penny o'
tithe from one o' yez: all you have to do is to call at the office there
in a few minutes, and you'll get aich o' you a receipt in full; (*
By this he means a horse-whipping.) that is, if you don't keep civil
tongues in your heads."
One of Mogue's qualities was the power of gravely narrating a fact with
such peculiar significance, that the very reverse of it was conveyed to
the hearer; for the fellow was a perfect master of irony.
"Ah! well done Mogue; many a day o' reckoning _he_ has had wid _us_, but
maybe _our_ day o' reckonin' wid _him_ will come sooner than he expects,
or wishes."
"Don't be thinkin' ill," said Mogue, "but keep yourselves always free
from evil. What does Scripthur say? 'One good turn desarves another,'
says Scripthur. Boys, always keep Scripthur before you, and you'll do
right. 'One good turn deserves another,' says Scripthur! and you know
yourselves, I hope, that many a good turn you received at his hands.
That I may be happy, but it's good advice I'm givin' you!"
"Divil a betther, Mogue," replied Hourigan, with a significant scowl,
and "it's we ourselves that'll be sure to take it some fine night."
"Night or day," replied Mogue, "it's always right to be doin' good,
whether we sarve our country or religion. God prosper yez, at all
events, and grant you success in your endeavors, an' that's the worst I
wish you! There now, Masther John's in the office, ready an' willin' to
give sich o' yez a resate in full as will--desarve it."
The situation in which the parties stood, during this dialogue, was at
the rear of the premises into which the proctor's office opened, and
where the country people were always desired to wait. They stood at the
end of the stable, adjoining a wall almost eight feet high, on the
other side of which was the pig-sty. Here, whilst the conversation just
detailed went forward, stood a pretty, plump-looking, country-girl,
one of the female servants of the proctor's establishment, named Letty
Lenehan. She had come to feed the pigs, just in time to catch the
greater portion of their conversation; and, as she possessed a tolerably
clear insight into Mogue's character, she was by no means ignorant
of certain illusions made in it, although she unquestionably did not
comprehend its full drift. We have said that this girl understood his
character very well, and scarcely any one had a better right or greater
opportunities of doing so. Mogue, in fact, was in love with her, or
at least, pretended to be so; but, whether he was or not, one thing we
write as certain, that he most implicitly believed her to be so
with himself. Letty was a well-tempered, faithful girl, honest and
conscientious, but not without a considerable relish for humor, and with
more than ordinary talents for carrying on either a practical joke or
any other piece of harmless humbug, a faculty in which she was ably
supported by a fellow-servant of a very different description from
Mogue, named Jerry Joyce. Joyce, in fact, was not merely a strong
contrast to Mogue, but his very reverse in almost every point of his
character. He was open and artless in the opinion of many, almost to
folly; but, under this apparent thoughtlessness, there existed a fund of
good sense, excellent feeling, and quickness of penetration, for which
the world gave him no credit, or at least but very little.
Jerry and Letty, therefore, between whom a real affection subsisted,
were in the habit of amusing themselves, whenever they could do so
without discovery, at Mogue's expense. Such, then, was the relative
position of these parties at the present stage of our narrative.
When John Purcel was seen in the office, the tithe defaulters, for such
they were, went to the outside of the window, where they all stood until
it became the turn of each to go in. Although they went there to plead
their inability to pay, yet, in fact, there were a great proportion of
them who exhibited, neither by their manner nor appearance, any symptom
whatever of poverty. On the countenances of most of them might be
read, not only a stern, gloomy, and resolute expression, but one of
dissatisfaction and bitter resentment. As they turned their eyes upon
young Purcel, and looked around at the unequivocal marks of great
wealth, if not luxury itself, that were conspicuous in every direction,
there was a significance in the smiles and glances which passed between
them, that gave very appropriate foretaste of the convulsions which ere
long took place in the country. John Purcel himself had remarked these
appearances on almost every recent occasion, and it was the striking, or
rather startling, aspect of these men, that caused him to allude to it
just before sending Moylan to them.
It is not our intention to detail, at full length, the angry
altercations which took place between them, as each went in, from time
to time, to apologize for not paying up his tithes. Every possible
excuse was offered; but so well and thoroughly were Purcel and his sons
acquainted with the circumstances, of, we may say, almost every family,
not merely in the parish, but in the barony itself, that it proved a
matter of the greatest difficulty to mislead or impose on any of them.
Nay, so anxious did the shrewd tithe-proctor feel upon this subject,
that he actually got himself proposed and elected a governor of
the Savings' Bank, which had been for some time past established in
C------m. By this means, he was enabled to know that many of those who
came to him with poverty on their lips, were actually lodging money in
these economical institutions.
"Well, Carey," said he, to a comfortable-looking man that entered, "I
hope you have no further apology to offer for your dishonesty?"
"Sorra thing, Mr. John, but that I'm not able to pay. I expect the
landlord to come down upon me some o' these days--and what to do, or on
what hand to turn, I'm sure I don't know on airth."
"You don't say so now, Carey?"
"Troth I do, Misther John; and I hope you'll spare me for a little--I
mane till the hard times that's in it mends somehow."
"Well, Carey, all I can say is, that, if you don't know on what hand to
turn, I can tell you."
"Thank you, Misther John; troth an' I do want to know that."
"Listen, then; before you come here to me with a barefaced and dishonest
lie in your mouth, you ought to have gone to the C------m Savings' Bank,
and drawn from the sum of two hundred and seventy-three pounds,
which you have lying there, the slight sum of seven pounds twelve and
nine-pence which you owe us. Now, Carey, I tell you that you are nothing
but an impudent, scheming, dishonest scoundrel; and I say, once for all,
that we will see whether you, and every knavish rascal like you, or the
law of the land, is the stronger. Mark me now, you impudent knave, we
shall never ask you again. The next time you see us will be at the head
of a body of police, or a party of the king's troops; for I swear that,
as sure as, the sun shines, so certainly will we take the tithe due out
of your marrow, if we can get it nowhere else."
"Maybe, then," said Carey, "you will find that we'll laugh at the law,
the polis, the king's troops, and Misther John Purcel into the bargain;
and I now tell you to your teeth, that if one sixpence of tithe would
save the sowls of every one belongin' to you, I won't pay it--so do your
worst, and I defy you."
"Begone, you scoundrel. You are, I perceive, as rank a rebel as ever
missed the rope; but you won't miss it. Go home now; for, as I said this
moment, we will take the tithe out of your marrow, if you had thousands
of your cut-throat and cowardly White-boys at your back. Don't think
this villainy will pass with us; we know how to handle you, and will too;
begone, you dishonest ruffian, I have no more time to lose with you."
In this manner almost every interview terminated. Purcel was a warm and
impetuous young fellow, who certainly detested everything in the shape
of dishonesty or deceit and here he had too many instances of both to be
able to keep his temper, especially when he felt that he and his family
were the sufferers. Other cases, however, were certainly very dissimilar
to this; we allude especially to those of real distress, where the means
of meeting the demand were not to be had. With such individuals the
proctor's sons were disposed to be lenient, which is certainly more than
could be said if he himself had to deal with them.
"Jemmy Mulligan," he said, to a poor-looking man, "go home to your
family. We don't intend to take harsh measures with you, Jemmy; and you
needn't come here again till we send for you."
"God bless you, sir; troth I don't know why the people say that you're
all hard and unfeelin'--I can say for myself that I never found you so.
Good morning, sir, and thank you, Misther John; and God forgive them
that blackens you as they do!"
"Yes, Jemmy, I know they hate us, because we compel them to act
honestly; but they will soon find that honesty, after all, is the
cheapest course,--for we shall take d--d good care to make them
pay through the nose for their knavery. We know they have a gang of
firebrand agitators and hungry lawyers at their back; but we shall make
them feel that the law is stronger than any treasonable combination that
can be got up against it."
A third man came in. "Well, Tom, you're not coming to plead poverty, I
hope?"
The man looked around him with peculiar intelligence. "Are we safe?" he
asked; "and may I spake widout danger?"
"You may, Duggan."
"Well, then, I came to say that I'll call over to-morrow evenin' and pay
it, but I daren't now."
"Why so, Tom?"
"Bekaise the most of us all have the tithe in our pockets, but as a
proof that we did not pay it, we will, every man of us, be obliged to
show it before we go home. I might pay it now, Mr. Purcel; but then, if
I did, it' very likely I'd be a corpse before this day week. Sich is the
state that things ha' come to; and how it'll end, God only knows. At any
rate, I'll slip over afther dusk to-morrow evenin' and pay; but as
you hope for mercy, and don't wish to see me taken from my wife and
childre', don't breathe a syllable of it to man or mortual."
"I shall not, indeed, Tom," replied Purcel, "but I really did not think
that matters were altogether so bad as you describe them. The people
are infatuated, and will only draw the vengeance of the law upon their
heads. They will suffer, as they always do by their own misconduct and
madness."
Duggan had scarcely withdrawn, when our old friend, Darby Hourigan,
thrust in his hateful and murderous-looking countenance. "God save you,
Misther John."
"God save you kindly, Misther Hourigan."
"Isn't it glorious weather for the saison, sir?"
"I have seen better and I have seen worse, Mr. Hourigan; but Darby,
passing the weather by, which neither you nor I can mend, allow me to
say that I hope you are not coming here for the twentieth time to palm
us off about the tithe."
"Troth, then, and, Mr. John; I can't afford to pay tide--I'm a poor man,
sir; and, as it happens that I never trouble the parson in religious
matthers, I don't see what right the parson has to trouble me for my
money."
"Ah! you have got the cant, I see. You have been tutored."
"I have got the truth, sir."
"Ay, but have you got the tithe, sir? for I do assure you, Mr. Hourigan,
that it is not your logic, but your money I want."
"Begad, sir, and I'm afeard you'll be forced to put up wid my logic this
time, too. You can't take more from the cat than her skin, you know."
There was an atrocious and sneering spirit, not only in this ruffian's
manner, but in the tones of his voice, that was calculated to overcome
human patience.
"Darby, we have let you run a long time, but I now tell you, there's an
end of our forbearance so far as you are concerned. If you were not able
to pay I could feel for you, put we know, and all the world knows, that
you are one of the most comfortable and independent men in the parish.
Darby, you in short are a d--d rogue, and what is worse, a treacherous
and mischief-makin scoundrel. I am aware of the language you use against
our whole family, whom you blacken whenever you have an opportunity of
doing so. You are not only dishonest but ungrateful, sirrah."
"No man has a betther right to be a judge, and a good judge of
dishonesty, than your father's son," replied Hourigan. "Why didn't you
call me an oppressor of the poor, and a blood-sucker?--why didn't you
say I was a hard-hearted beggarly upstart, that rose from maneness and
cheatery, and am now tyrannizin' over hundreds that's a thousand times
betther than myself? Why don't you say that I'd sell my church and my
religion to their worst enemies, and that for the sake of filthy lucre
and blackguard upstart pride? I now come to tell you what we all think
of you in this country, and what I believe some of us has tould you
already--that you may go to hell for your tithe, and make the divil your
paymaster, what he'll be yet. We will pay you none, and we set you and
your upstart ould rogue of a father, with the law, the polis, and the
army, all at defiance. I don't choose to say more, but I could if I
liked."
Purcell's hunting-whip accidentally lay on the table at which he sat,
but he did not take it up immediately after Hourigan had concluded. He
quickly rose, however, and having closed the door and locked it, he let
down the windows, and deliberately drew the blinds.
"Now, you scoundrel," he replied, taking up the whip, and commencing to
flog Hourigan with all his strength, which was very great, "I will give
you, by way of foretaste, a specimen of what a ruffian like you deserves
when he is insolent."
With such singular energy, good will, and admirable effect did he lace
Mr. Hourigan, that the latter worthy, after cutting some very antic
capers, and exhibiting in a good many other respects several proofs of
his agility that could scarcely be expected from his heavy and ungainly
figure, was at last fairly obliged to sing out,--"Oh, Misther John,
Misther John! you will--Misther John, darlin', what do you mane, you
murdh--oh, oh, d--n your soul--dear, what do you mane, Mr. John, dear?
I say, what are you at? What do you baste me this way for--oh, may the
divil--the Lord bless you, an' don't--here I am--here, Misther John,
I ax your pardon--hell pursue--Misther John, darlin', I go down on my
knees to you, an' axes your pardon--here now you see, I'm down.--Och
murdher, am I to have the very sowl welted out o' me this way?"
Mr. John, having now satisfied himself, and left very visible marks of
his attachment and good will to Hourigan, upon that individual's face
and person, desired him to get up.
"Now, my good fellow," he exclaimed, "I trust I have taught you a lesson
that you won't forget."
"No, Misther John," he replied, rising and rubbing himself in different
parts of the body, as if to mitigate the pain which he felt; "no, I
won't forget it--I won't by it's a lesson I'll remember, and so will
you."
"What do you mean, you cowardly villain?" asked Purcel, once more
raising his whip. "You are threatening, are you."
"No, Misther John, not a bit o' that--divil a threat--me! I wouldn't
threaten you if there wasn't niver another man in Europe. Let me out, if
you plaise--let me out, and may the div--the Lord lov you!"
"Now," said the other, raising the blinds and afterwards opening the
door, "you may go about your business, and mark me, Mr Hourigan--"
"I do, sir," replied the other, bolting out "oh, God knows I do--you
have marked me, Misther Purcel, and I will mark you, sir--for--" he
added muttering in a low voice to those who stood about him--"one good
turn desarves another, anyhow."
We shall not now dwell upon the comments which young Purcel's violence
drew from the defaulters on their way home. Our reader, however, may
easily imagine them, and form for themselves a presentiment of the
length to which "the tithe insurrection," as they termed it, was likely
to proceed throughout the country at large, with the exception only of
the northern provinces.
CHAPTER V.--A Hang-Choice Shot--The "Garrison" on Short Commons.
When our merry friend the pedlar left the proctor's parlor, he proceeded
at a brisk pace in the direction of the highway, which, however, was not
less than three-quarters of a mile from Longshot Lodge, which was the
name Purcel had given to his residence. He had only got clear of the
offices, however, and was passing the garden wall, which ran between him
and the proctor's whole premises, when he was arrested by Mogue Moylan.
"Ah! merry Mogue," exclaimed the pedlar, ironically, "I was missin' you.
Where were you, my cherub?"
"I was in the barn 'ithin," replied Mogue, "just offerin' up a little
pathernavy for the protection o' this house and place, and of the
daicent, kind-hearted peeople that's in it."
"An', as a joint prayer, they say, is worth ten single ones, I suppose,"
returned the pedlar,--laying his fingers on his lips and winking--"you
had--ahem--you understand?"
"No, thin," replied Mogue, brightening up with excessive vanity, "may I
be happy if I do!"
"Why, our fair friend, Letty Lenehan--begad, Mogue, she's a purty girl
that--says she to herself," proceeded the pedlar; "for I don't think she
knew or thought I heard her--'If I thought he would like these rib-bons,
I'd buy them for myself.' 'Who do you mane, acushla?' says I, whisperin'
to her. 'Who,' says she, 'but--but Mogue himself--only honor bright, Mr.
Magrath' says she, 'sure you wouldn't betray me?' 'Honor bright again,'
says I, 'I'm not the stuff a traitor's made of;' and so you see we both
laughed heartily, bekaise we understood one another. Mogue," proceeded
the other, "will you answer me the truth in one thing?"
"If I can I will, Misther Magrath.
"I know ye will, bekaise you can," replied, the pedlar; "how do you come
round the girls at all? how do you make them fond o' you? I want you to
tell me that, if it's not a family saicret."
Mogue gravely drew his fingers and thumb down his thin yellow jaws,
until they met under his chin, and replied--
"It can't be tould, Misther Magrath; some men the women's naturally
fond of, and some men they can't bear--throth it's like a freemason's
saicret, if you wor a man that the women wor naturally fond of you'd
know it yoarself, but not bein' that, Mr. Magrath, you could not
understand it. It's born wid one, an' troth, a troublesome gift it
is--for it is a gift--at least, I find it so. There's no keep in' the
crathurs oft o' you."
"Begad, you must be a happy man, Mogue. I wish I was like you--but
whisper, man alive, why don't you look higher.
"How is that?" asked the other, now apparently awakened to a new
interest.
"Mogue," said the pedlar, with something like solemnity of manner, "you
and I are both embarked in the same ship, you know--we know how things
are to go. I'm now provin' to you that I'm your friend. Listen, you
passed through the back-yard to-day while I was in the parlor wid the
family sellin' my goods as well as I could. Well, Miss Julia had a
beautiful shawl about her purty shoulders, and as she seen you passin,
she started, kept her eyes fixed upon you till you disappeared, and
then, afther thinkin 'or some time, she sighed deeply. Whisper, the
thing flashed upon me--that's that, thought I, at any rate--and devil
a doubt of it, you're safe there, or my name's not Andy Magrath, better
known as the Cannie Soogah-Hurra, Mogue, more power!"
A richer comic study than Mogue's face ould not possibly be depicted.
His thin craggy jaws--for cheeks he had none--were winkled and puckered
into such a multiplicity of villanous folds and crevices, as could
scarcely be paralleled on a human countenance; and what added to the
ludicrous impression made, was the fact that he endeavored to look--and,
in fact, did so successfully--more like a man who felt that a secret
long known to himself had been discovered, than a person to whom the
intelligence had come for the first time.
"An' Misther Magrath," he replied, once more repeating the survey of his
puckered laws; "is it by way of information that you tould me that? That
I mayn't sin, but you should be ever and always employed in carryin'
coals to, Newcastle. Troth, since you have broached\the thing, I've
known it this good while, and no one could tell you more about it, if
I liked. Honor bright, however, as poor Letty said, troth, I pity that
girl--but what can I do? no--no--honor bright, for ever!"
"Well, anyhow, now that we've thrown light upon what I noticed a while
ago, let us talk about other matters. The house is still well armed and
guarded, you say?"
"That I may die in grace, but it 'ud take me half an hour to reckon all
the guns, pistols, and blunderbushes they have freshly loaded in the
house every night."
"Well, couldn't you assist us, you in the house?"
"No--for I'm not in the house; they wouldn't allow any servant to sleep
in the house for fear o' traichery, and they say so. If they'd let me
sleep in the house, it 'ud be another thing; I might wet the powdher,
and make their fire-arms useless; but sure they have lots of swords and
bagnets, and daggers, and other instruments o' that kind that 'ud skiver
one like a rabbit."
"Well, but you know all the outs and ins of the house, the rooms and
passages, and everything that way so thoroughly, that one could depend
upon your account of them."
"Depend upon them--ay, as well as you might upon the Gospel itself;--she
was fond of M'Carthy, they say, and they think she is still; but, _be
dhu husth_, (* Hold your tongue.) there's one that knows betther. You
don't like M'Carthy?"
"To be sure I do, as the devil does holy wather."
"Well," proceeded Mogue, "I've a thing in my head about him--but sure
he's in the black list as it is."
"Well, what is it you have in your head about him?"
Mogue shook it, but added, "Never mind, I'll think it over again, and
when I'm made up on it, maybe I'll tell you. Don't we meet on this day
week?"
"Sartainly, will you come?"
"I intend it, for the truth is, Misther Magrath, that the Millstone must
be broke; that I may die in pace, but it must, an' any one that stands
in the way of it must suffer. May I be happy, but they must."
The pedlar looked cautiously about him, and seeing that the coast was
clear and no person visible, he thrust a letter into his hand, adding,
"you may lave it in some place where the ould chap, or either of the
sons, will be sure to find it. Maybe it'll tache them a little more
civility to their neighbors."
Mogue looked at the document, and placing it securely in his pocket,
asked, "Is it a notice?"
The other nodded in the affirmative, and added, with a knowing wink,
"There's a coffin and a cross-bones in it, and the name is signed
wid real blood, Mogue; and that's the way to go about breakin' the
Millstone, my man."
"That I may never do an ill turn, but it is. Well, God bless you,
Misther Magrath, an' whisper now, don't forget an odd patther-anavy
goin' to bed, in hopes that God will prosper our honest endayvours. That
was a hard thing upon young Devlin in Murray's murdher. I'm not sure
whether you do, but I know that that act was put upon him through
ill-will; and now he'll hang for it. But sure it's one comfort that
he'll die a martyr, glory be to God!"
The pedlar, having assented to this, got on his pack, and leaving Mogue
to meditate on the new discovery which he had made respecting Julia
Purcel, he proceeded on towards the highway to which we have alluded.
Purcel himself, in the course of a few miles' drive, reached the
parsonage, in which the Rev. Jeremiah Turbot ought to have lived, but in
which, for several years past, he had not resided; if we except about a
fortnight twice a year, when he came to sweep off as weighty a load of
tithes as he could contrive to squeeze out of the people through worthy
Mat Purcel, his proctor.
For a year or two previous to this visit, there is no doubt but the
aspect of ecclesiastical affairs was gradually getting worse. Turbot
began to feel that there was something wrong, although he could not
exactly say what it was. Purcel, however, was by no means reluctant to
disclose to him the exceedingly desperate state to which not only had
matters been driving, but at which they had actually arrived. This, in
truth, was our worthy proctor's version of ecclesiastical affairs, for
at least two years before the present period of our narrative. But, like
every man who tampers with, simple truth, he began to perceive,
almost when it was too late, that his policy in antedating the tithe
difficulties was likely very soon to embarrass himself; and to deprive
the outrages resulting from the frightful opposition that was organized
against tithes of all claim to novelty. He had, in fact, so strongly
exaggerated the state of the country, and surcharged his pictures of
anti-tithe violence so much beyond all truth and reality, that when the
very worst and most daring organization did occur, he could do nothing
more than go over the same ground again. The consequence was, that
worthy Turbot, so long habituated to these overdrawn narratives, began
to look upon them as the friends of the boy who shouted out "wolf!" did
upon the veracity of his alarms. He set down his intrepid and courageous
proctor as nothing else than a cowardly poltroon, whose terrors
exaggerated everything, and whose exaggerated accounts of fraud,
threats, and violence had existed principally in his own imagination.
Such were the circumstances under which Purcel and Dr. Turbot now met.
The worthy rector of Ballysoho was a middle-sized man, with coal-black
hair, brilliant, twinkling eyes of the same color, and as pretty a
double chin as ever graced the successor of an apostle. Turbot was by
no means an offensive person; on the contrary, he must of necessity have
been very free from evil or iniquity of any kind, inasmuch as he never
had time to commit sin. He was most enthusiastically addicted to hunting
and shooting, and felt such a keen and indomitable relish for the good
things of this world, especially for the luxuries of the table, that
what between looking after his cuisine, attending his dogs, and enjoying
his field sports, he scarcely ever might be said to have a single day
that he could call his own. And yet, unreasonable people expected that a
man, whose daily occupations were of such importance to--himself, should
very coolly forego his own beloved enjoyments in order to attend to the
comforts of the poor, with whom he had scarcely anything in common. Many
other matters of a similar stamp were expected from him, but only
by those who had no opportunity of knowing the multiplicity of his
engagements. Such persons were unreasonable enough to think that he
ought to have occasionally appropriated some portion of his income to
the relief of poverty and destitution, but as he said himself, he could
not afford it. How could any man afford it who in general lived up to,
and sometimes beyond, his income, and who was driven to such pinches
as not unfrequently to incur the imputation of severity and oppression
itself, by the steps he was forced to take or sanction for the recovery
of his tithes.
In person he was, as we have said, about or somewhat under the middle
size. In his gait he was very ungainly. When walking, he drove forward
as if his head was butting or boring its way through a palpable
atmosphere, keeping his person, from the waist up, so far in advance
that the _a posteriori_ portion seemed as if it had been detached from
the other, and was engaged in a ceaseless but ineffectual struggle to
regain its position; or, in shorter and more intelligible words, the
latter end of him seemed to be perpetually in pursuit of his head and
shoulders, without ever being able to overtake them. Whilst engaged in
maintaining this compound motion, his elbows and arms swung from right
to left, and vice versa, very like the movements of a weaver throwing
the shuttle from side to side. Turbot had one acknowledged virtue in a
pre-eminent degree, we mean hospitality. It is true he gave admirable
dinners, but it would be a fact worth boasting of, to find any man at
his table who was not able to give, and who did give, better dinners
than himself. The doctor's face, however, in spite of his slinging and
ungainly person, was upon the whole rather good. His double chin, and
the full, rosy expression of his lips and mouth, betokened, at the very
least, the force of luxurious habits, and, as a hedge school-master
of our acquaintance used to say, the smallest taste in life of
voluptuousity; whilst from his black, twinkling eyes, that seemed always
as if they were about to herald a jest, broke forth, especially when he
conversed with the softer sex, something which might be considered
as holding a position between a laugh and a leer. Such was the Rev.
Jeremiah Turbot, to whom we shall presently take the liberty of
introducing the reader.
The parsonage, to which our friend Purcel is now making his approach,
was an excellent and comfortable building. It stood on a very pretty
eminence, and consequently commanded a beautiful prospect both in front
and rear; for the fact was, that in consequence of the beauty of the
scenery for miles about it, some incumbent of good taste had given it a
second hall door, thus enabling the inhabitants to partake of a double
enjoyment, by an equal facility of contemplating the exquisite scenery
of the country both in front and rear. A beautiful garden lay facing the
south, and a little below, in the same direction, stood a venerable old
rookery, whilst through the rich, undulating fields flowed, in graceful
windings, a beautiful river, on whose green and fertile banks sheep and
black cattle were always to be seen, sometimes feeding or chewing the
cud in that indolent repose which gives to the landscape, in the golden
light of a summer's evening, such a poetical and pastoral effect.
Purcel, on coming in sight of the parsonage, instead of keeping his
horse to the rapid pace at which he had driven him along until then, now
drew him up, and advanced at a rate which seemed to indicate anything
but that of a man whose spirits were cheerful or free from care. On
reaching the front entrance he discounted very slowly, and with a solemn
and melancholy air, walked deliberately, step by step, till he stood
at the hall door, where he gave a knock so spiritless, depressed and
disconsolate, that it immediately communicated itself, as was intended,
to the usually joyful and rosy countenance of the rector, who surveyed,
his agent as if he expected to hear that he either had lost, or was
about to lose, half his family or the whole of his wealth.
"How do you do, Purcel?--eh, what's this? Is there anything wrong? You
look very much dejected--what's the matter? Sit down."
"Thank you, sir; but I really do not think I am well--at least my
spirits are a great deal depressed; but indeed, Dr. Turbot, a man must
be more or less than a man to be able to keep up his spirits in such
times."
"Oh! ho, my worthy proctor, is that all? Thank you for nothing, Purcel.
I understand you; but you ought to know I am not to be caught now by
your 'calamities'."
"My calamities! I declare to goodness, Dr. Turbot, I could rest
contented if they were nobody's calamities but my own; unfortunately,
however, you are as deep in them as I am, and in a short time, God
knows, we will be a miserable pair, I fear."
"Not at all, Purcel--this is only the old story. Raw-heads and
bloody-bones coming to destroy the tithes, and eat up the parsons. Let
me see--it is now three years since you commenced these 'lamentations.'"
"Three years ago; why we had peace and quietness then compared to what
we have at present," replied Purcel.
"And what have we now, pray?"
"Why, sir, the combinations against tithes is quite general over the
whole country."
"Well; so was it then upon your own showing. Go on."
"As I said, sir, it was nothing at that time. There is little now but
threatening notices that breathe of blood and murder."
"Very good; so was it then upon your own showing. Go on."
"But of late, sir, lives have been taken. Clergymen have been threatened
and fired at."
"Very good; so was it then upon you! own showing. Go on, I say."
"Fired at I say, and shot, sir. The whole White boy system has turned
itself into a great tithe conspiracy. The farmers, the landholders
of all descriptions, the cottiers, the daily laborers, and the very
domestic servants, have all joined this conspiracy, and sworn neither to
pay tithes themselves nor to allow others to pay them. They compare the
established church to a garrison; and although the law prevents them
from openly destroying it by force, they swear that they'll starve it
out."
"Eh!" said Turbot, starting, "what's that you say? Starve us out! What
an infamous and unconstitutional project! What a diabolical procedure!
But I forgot--bravo, Purcel! This was all the case before upon your own
showing."
"Well, sir," returned Purcel, "there was at least this difference, that
I was able to get something out of them then, but devil a copper can
I get out o' them now. I think you'll admit, sir, that this fact gives
some weight to my argument."
"You don't mean to say, Purcel," replied the other, from whose chin the
rosy tint gradually paled away until it assumed that peculiar hue which
is found inside of a marine shell, that is to say, white with a dream
of red barely and questionably visible; "you don't mean to say, my good
friend Purcel, that you have no money for me on this occasion?"
"By no means, sir," replied the proctor. "Money I have got for you, no
doubt--money I have got certainly."
The double chin once more assumed its natural hue of celestial rosy
red."
"Upon my honor, Purcel," he replied, "I have not temper for this; it
seems to me that you take particular delight in wantonly tampering with
my feelings. I am really quite tired of it. Why harass and annoy me with
your alarms? Conspiracy, blood, and massacre are the feeblest terms in
your vocabulary. It is absolutely ridiculous, sir, and I beg you will
put an end to it."
"I would be very glad to do so, sir," replied Purcel; "and still more
satisfied if I had never had anything to do with the temporalities of
your church."
"I don't see why, above all men living, you should say so, Purcel; you
have feathered your nest tolerably well by the temporalities of our
church."
"If I have, sir," replied the proctor, "it has been at the expense of my
popularity and good name. I and my family are looked upon as a part and
parcel of your system, and, I may add, as the worst and most odious
part of it. I and they are looked upon as the bitterest enemies of the
people; and because we endeavor to get out of them the means of enabling
you to maintain your rank in the world, we are obliged to hear
ourselves branded every day in the week as villains, oppressors, and
blood-suckers. This, however, we could bear; but to know that we are
marked down for violence, brutality, and, if possible, assassination, is
a penalty for which nothing in your establishment could compensate us.
I and my sons have received several notices of violence in every shape,
and we are obliged to sleep with our house half filled with arms and
ammunition, in dread of an attack every night in the year."
"Well, well," replied Turbot, "this, after all, is but the old story;
the matter is only an ebullition, and will pass away. I know you are
constitutionally timid. I know you are; and have in fact a great deal of
the natural coward in your disposition; and I say natural, because a
man is no more to be blamed for being born a coward than he is for being
born with a bad complexion or an objectionable set of features. You
magnify the dangers about you, and, in fact, become a self-tormentor. As
for my part, I am glad you have got money, for I do assure you, I never
stood so much in need of it in my life."
"The very papers, sir," continued Purcel, who could not prevent himself
from proceeding, "might enable you to see the state of the country."
"Oh, d--n the papers," said the parson, "I am sick of them. Our side is
perpetually exaggerating matters--just as you are; and as for the other
side, your papist rags I never, of course, see or wish to see. I want
six hundred now, or indeed eight if you can, and I had some notion of
taking a day or two's shooting. How is the game on the glebe? Has it
been well preserved, do you know?"
"I am not aware," said the proctor, "that any one has shot over the
glebe lands this season; but if you take my advice, sir, you will expose
yourself as little as you can in the neighborhood. There are not two
individuals in the parish so unpopular as Dr. Turbot and your humble
servant."
"In that case, then," replied the other, "the less delay I make here the
better--you can let me have six hundred, I hope?"
"I certainly told you, sir," replied Purcel, with something of a
determined and desperate coolness about him, "that I had money for you,
and so I have."
"Thank you, Purcel; I must say you certainly have, on all occasions,
exerted yourself faithfully and honestly in support of my interests."
"Money, sir," pursued the other, without appearing to look to the right
or to the left, "I have for you. Would you venture to guess to what
amount?"
"Well, under the circumstances you speak of, less, I dare say, than I
expect."
"I have been able to get, within the last six months, exactly fifty-nine
pounds thirteen and sevenpence!"
If the ebb which we have described before of the blood from the doctor's
double chin was a gradual one, we can assure the reader that, in this
case, it was rapid in proportion to the terror and dismay conveyed by
this authentic, but astounding piece of intelligence. The whole face
became pale, his eyes at once lost their lustre, and were, as he fixed
them in astonishment upon the proctor, completely without speculation;
his voice became tremulous, and, as he pulled out his handkerchief to
wipe away the unexpected perspiration which the proctor's words had
brought out upon his forehead, his hands trembled as if he had been
suddenly seized with palsy. In truth, Purcel, who had a kind of
good-natured regard for the little man, felt a sensation of compassion
for him, on witnessing the extraordinary distress under which he
labored.
"I am sorry for this," said he, "for I really know not what is to be
done, and, what is equally distressing, our prospects are not at all
likely to improve."
"You don't mean to say, Purcel, that circumstances are as bad as you
report them--as bad--as desperate, I should say--and as ruinous?"
"I fear," said Purcel, "they go beyond the gloomiest and most desponding
views you could take of them. The conspiracy, for such we must term it,
is, in point of fact, deepening down to the very foundations, if I may
use the expression, of society. Every day it is becoming more dangerous
and alarming; but how it is to be checked or mitigated, or how we are to
stand out of its way and avoid its consequences, heaven only knows, for
I don't."
"But, Purcel, my dear friend, what am I and my domestic establishment
to do? Good God! there is nothing but ruin before us! You know I always
lived up to my income--indeed, at best, it was too limited for the
demands of my family, and our habits of life. And now, to have the very
prop--the only one on which I leant--suddenly snapt from under me--it is
frightful. But you are to blame, Purcel; you are much to blame. Why did
you not apprise me of this ruinous state of things before it came
thus on me unawares? It was unfeeling and heartless in you not to have
prepared me for it."
The proctor actually imagined, and not without reason, that the worthy
doctor was beginning to get beside himself, as it is termed, on hearing
such a charge as this brought against him; and he was about to express
his astonishment at it, when Mr. Temple, his curate, who resided in the
parsonage, made his appearance, and joined them at Dr. Turbot's request.
"Temple," said he, as the latter portion of his body began to pursue
the other through the room, "are you aware of the frightful condition to
which the country has come?"
"Who can be ignorant of it?" replied Temple; "how can any man live in
the country, and not know it?"
"Yes, sir," replied Turbot, tartly, "I have lived in the country, and,
until a few minutes ago, I was ignorant of the extent to which it has
come."
"Well, sir," said Temple, "that is odd enough; for, to my own knowledge,
your information has been both regular and authentic upon this subject
at all events. Our friend Purcel, here, has not left you in ignorance of
it."
"Yes," said Turbot, "but he had the country as bad three years ago as
it is now. Was this fair? Why, I took it for granted that all his alarms
and terrors were the mere play and subterfuge of the proctor upon the
parson, and, consequently, thought little of it; but here I am stranded
at once, wrecked, and left on my bottom. How will I meet my tradesmen?
how will I continue my establishment? and, what is worse, how can I
break it up? You know, Temple, I cannot, unfortunately, live without
luxuries. They are essential to my health, and if suddenly deprived
of them, as I am likely to be, I cannot answer to society for the
consequences."
"Sir," said Temple, "it is quite obvious that a period of severe trial
and chastening is at hand, or I should rather say, has already arrived.
Many of our calling, I am grieved I to know, are even now severely
suffering, and suffering, I must add, with unexampled patience and
fortitude under great and trying privations. Yet I trust that the health
of the general body will be improved by it, and purged of the grossness
and worldly feeling which have hitherto, I fear, too much characterized
it. Many, I know, may think we are merely in the hands of man, but
for my part, I think, and earnestly hope, that we are in those of God
himself, and that He chasteneth no only because He loveth."
"This is most distressing to hear, my dear Temple," replied his rector;
"but I trust I am as willing and as well prepared, from religious
feeling, to suffer as another--that is, provided always I am not
deprived of those comforts and little luxuries to which I have all my
life been accustomed."
"I am very much afraid," observed Purcel, "that the clergy of the
established church will have a very fine opportunity to show the world
how well and patiently they can suffer."
"I have already said, Purcel," said the doctor, "that I am as willing
to suffer as another. I know I am naturally of a patient and rather an
humble disposition; let these trials come then, and I am prepared for
them, provided only that I am not deprived of my little luxuries, for
these are essential to my health itself, otherwise I could bear even
this loss. I intended, Temple, to have had a day or two's shooting on
the glebe lands, but Purcel, here, tells me that I am very unpopular,
and would not, he says, recommend me to expose myself much, or if
possible at all, in the neighborhood.
"And upon my word and credit I spoke nothing," replied the other, "but
what I know to be truth. There is not a feather of game on the glebe
lands that would be shot down with half the pleasure that the parson
himself would. I beg, then, Dr. Turbot, that you won't think of it. I'll
get my sons to go over the property, and if there's any game on it we
shall have it sent to you."
"How does it stand for game, Temple, do you know?"
"I really cannot say," replied the good man. "The killing of game is a
pursuit I have never relished, and with which I am utterly unacquainted.
I fear, however, that the principal game in the country will soon be the
parson and the proctor."
"It's a delightful pursuit," replied the Rev. Doctor, who did not at
all relish the last piece of information, and only replied to the first,
"and equally conducive to health and morals. What, for instance, can be
more delicious than a plump partridge or grouse, stewed in cinnamon and
claret? and yet, to think that a man must be deprived of--well," said
he, interrupting himself, "it is a heavy, and awful dispensation--and
one that I ought to have been made acquainted with--that is, to its
full and fearful extent--before it came on me thus unawares. Purcel here
scarcely did his duty by me in this."
"I fear, sir," replied Temple, "that it was not Purcel who neglected his
duty, but you who have been incredulous. I think he has certainly not
omitted to sound the alarm sufficiently loud during the approach of this
great ordeal to which we are exposed."
"And in addition to everything else, I am in arrears to you, Temple," he
added; "and now I have no means of paying you."
Temple was silent, for at that moment the necessities of his family
pressed with peculiar severity upon himself--and he was not exactly
prepared for such an intimation. The portion of salary then coming to
him was, in truth, his sole dependence at that peculiar crisis, and this
failing him, he knew not on what hand or in what direction to turn.
After musing for some time, he at length replied, "If you have it not,
Dr. Turbot, or cannot procure it, of course it is idle for me to expect
it--although I will not deny, that in the present circumstances of
my family, it would have come to us with very peculiar and seasonable
relief."
"But I have not a pound," replied the doctor; "so far from that, I am
pretty deeply in debt--for I need hardly say, that for years I have been
balancing my affairs--paying off debts to-day, and contracting other
to-morrow--always dipped, but and rather deeply, too, as I said."
He again got to his legs, when the pursuit of the latter part of his
person after the rest once more took place, and in this odd way he
traversed the room in a state of extreme tribulation.
"What is to be done?" he asked--"surely the government cannot abandon
us?--cannot allow us to perish utterly, which we must do, if left to
the mercy of our enemies? No, certainly it cannot desert us in such a
strait as this, unless it wishes to surrender the established church to
the dark plots and designing ambition of popery. No, no--it cannot--it
must not--it dares not. Some vigorous measure for our relief must be
taken, and that speedily;--let us not be too much dejected, then--our
sufferings will be short--and as for myself, I am willing to make
any reasonable sacrifice, provided I am not called upon--at these
years--fifty-eight--to give up my usual little luxuries. Purcel, I want
you to take a turn in the garden. Temple, excuse me--will you?--and say
to Mrs. Temple to make no preparations, as I don't intend to stop--I
shall return to Dublin in an hour at farthest; and don't be cast down,
Temple; matters will soon brighten."
"It is not at all necessary, sir," replied Temple, "that you should
adjorn to the garden to speak with Mr. Purcel. I was on my way to the
library when I met you, and I am going there now."
"It is not so much," he replied, "that I have anything very particular
to say to Purcel, as that I feel a walk in the fresh air will relieve
me. Good-bye, then, for a little; I shall see you before I go."
"Now, Purcel," said he, when they had reached the garden, "this, after
all, is only a false alarm, or even if it be not, we know that the
government could by no means afford to abandon the established church
in Ireland, because that would be, in other words, to reject the aid
of, and sever themselves from all connection with, the whole Protestant
party; and you, as a man of sense, Purcel, need not be told that it is
only by the existence of a Protestant party in this country that they
are enabled to hold it in union with England at all."
"But what has that to do with our present distresses?" said the proctor,
who, as he probably began to anticipate the doctor's ultimate object
in this conversation, very shrewdly associated himself rather in an
official spirit with the embarrassments of his friend, and the church in
general.
"It has considerably," replied Dr. Turbot; "for instance, there will be
no risk whatsoever, in lending to many of the embarrassed clergy sums
of money upon their! personal security, until this pressure passes away,
and their prosperity once more returns."
"Oh, ho, doctor," thought his sharp and wily companion, "I believe I
have you now, Well, Dr. Turbot," he replied, "I think, the case, even as
you put it, will be attended with difficulties. What, for instance, is
personal security from a poor or a ruined man? very little, or rather
nothing. Still it is possible that many, relying upon the proverbial
honor and integrity of the Irish Protestant clergy, may actually lend
money upon this security. But then," he added, with a smile, "those who
will, must belong to a peculiar and privileged class."
"Why," asked Turbot, "to what class do you allude?"
"To one with which," said the proctor, "I unfortunately have no
connection--I mean the class that can afford to lend it."
"Purcel," said Dr. Turbot, "I am sorry to hear this ungenerous
observation from you; I did not expect it."
"Why do you call it ungenerous, sir?" asked Purcel.
"Because," replied Turbot, "it is obvious that it was made in
anticipation of a favor which I was about to ask of you."
"If I can grant you any favor," replied the proctor, "I shall be most
happy to do so;--if you will only let me know what it is."
"You must be particularly dull not to perceive it," replied the parson,
"aware, as you are, of the unexpected state of my circumstances. In
short, I want you to assist me with a few hundreds."
The proctor, after a pause, replied, "You place me in circumstances of
great difficulty, sir; I am indeed anxious to oblige you, but I know
not whether I can do so with honor, without violating my good faith to
another party."
"I don't understand you," said Turbot.
"Then I shall explain it," replied Purcel; "the sum I can command is one
of four hundred, which is at this moment virtually lent upon excellent
security, at an interest of eight per cent. The loan is certainly not
legally completed, but morally and in point of honor it is. Now, if I
lend this money to you, sir, I must break my word and verbal agreement
to the party in question."
"Very well, sir," replied the rector, who, notwithstanding the love
he bore his "little luxuries," was scrupulously honorable in all money
transactions, "don't attempt to break word, or to violate good faith
with any man; and least of all, on my account. I presume I shall be able
to raise the money somewhere else."
Purcel, who had uniformly found the doctor a sharp, but correct man
in matters,of business, and who knew besides the severe pressure under
which he labored at the moment, was not exactly prepared to hear from
him the expression of a principle so high-minded. He paused again
for some time, during which he reasoned with himself somewhat to the
following effect:--"I did not expect this from the worthy doctor, but
I did, that he would at once have advised me to break the agreement I
mentioned and lend himself the money. I cannot think there will be
much risk in lending such a man a few hundreds, especially as no such
agreement as I allude to exists." He then replied as follows:--
"Doctor," he proceeded, "I have been thinking over this matter; I know
you want the money, and I am sorry for it. That I have myself been a
gainer by my connection with you, I will not attempt to deny, and I do
not think that I should be grateful or a sincere friend to you, if I saw
you now in such grievous and unexpected embarrassments without making an
effort to assist you. You shall have the four hundred, if you consent to
the same rate of interest I was about to receive for it from the other
party."
"Then you will break faith with him," replied the doctor. "I thank you,
Purcel, but I will not have it."
"I break no faith with him," replied the proctor; "he was bound to have
let me know, on yesterday, whether he would require the money or not,
for the matter was conditional; but as I have not yet heard from him, I
hold myself at liberty to act as I wish. The fault is his own."
"And on these conditions, so you are; I well, thank you again, Purcel, I
accept this money on your terms, eight per cent. Nay, you oblige me very
much; indeed you do."
"Well, then, that matter is settled," said the proctor, "do not speak of
it," he proceeded, in reply to the doctor's last observation; "I should
indeed be unworthy either of your good opinion or my own, if I held
aloof from you just now. I will have a bond prepared in a day or two,
but in the meantime, if you will call at my house, you may have the
money home with you."
The doctor once more thanked Mm, and they were in the act of returning
to the house, when the noise of a pistol was heard, and at the same
moment a bullet whistled light between them, and so close to each that
it was utterly impossible to say at which of the two individuals the
murderous aim had been taken. The garden, a large one and highly walled
in, was entered by two gates, one of which led into the back yard, the
other into a corner of the lawn that was concealed from the house by a
clump of trees. The latter gate, which was not so large as the other,
had in it a small iron grating a little above the centre, through which
any one could command a view of the greater portion of the garden. It
was through this gate they had entered, and as no apprehension of any
attempt of assassination had existed in the mind of either, they left
the key in the outside, not having deemed it at all necessary to secure
the door, by locking it within.
The proctor, to whose cowardice the worthy clergyman had not long before
paid so sincere, but by no means so flattering a tribute, did not wait
to make even a single observation, but ran with all his speed towards
the gate, which, to his surprise and mortification, he found locked on
the outside. Apprehensive, however, of a second attack, he beckoned to
his companion to hasten towards the other gate, which was not visible
from that through which the shot had been fired, and in the meantime,
he himself ran also towards it, in order to try whether it might not
be possible to get some view or trace of the assassin. He had a case of
pistols in his hand, for we ought to have told the reader that neither
he nor his sons ever traveled unarmed, and on reaching the back-yard,
he was obliged to make a considerable circuit ere he arrived at the spot
from which the shot had been fired. Here, however, he found no mark
or vestige of a human being, but saw at a glance that the assassin, in
order, to secure time for escape, had locked the door, and either taken
the key with him or thrown it where it could not be found. It was in
vain that he ran in all directions, searched every place likely to
conceal the villain; not a clump of trees or ornamental shrubs remained
unexamined. The search, however, was fruitless. No individual was seen,
nor any clue gained on which even a conjecture could be founded. The
only individual visible was our friend the _Cannie Soogah_, whose loud
and mellow song was the first thing that drew their attention to him, as
he came up a back avenue that led by a private and winding walk round
to the kitchen-door. Purcel, on seeing him, signed hastily with his
hand that he should approach, which the other, observing the
unusual agitation betrayed by his gesture, immediately did at a pace
considerably quickened.
"Here, Cannie," he shouted out to him, ere he had time to approach,
"here has been an attempt at murder by some cold-blooded and cowardly
assassin, who has, I fear, escaped us!"
"Murdher!" exclaimed the pedlar, "the Lord save and guard us!--for
there's nothin' but murdher in my ears! go where I will of late, it's
nothin' but bloodshed;--sure I cannot sing my harmless bit of a song
along the road, but I'm stopped wid an account of some piece o' murdher
or batthery, or God knows what. An' who was near gettin' it now, Misther
Purcel? Not yourself, I pray Jasus this day!"
"I really cannot say, Cannie; Dr. Turbot and I were walking in the
garden, when some damnable villain discharged a pistol from the gate
here, and the bullet of it whistled right between us both."
"Whistled, did it!--hell resave it for one bullet, it was fond of mirth
it was; and you can't say which o' you it was whistling for?"
"No, how could I?--it was equally near us both."
"Bad cess for ever saize him for a murdherin' villain, whoever he was.
You have no notion, Masther Purcel, darlin', where he went to?"
"Not the slightest, Cannie; the villain wouldn't have got off so easily,
only that he had the diabolical cunning to lock the gate outside and
conceal the key: so that whilst I was coming round to the place, he
escaped. Did you meet or see nobody yourself?"
The peddler shut his right hand, slapped it quickly into the palm of his
left. "By the Lomenty tarry," he exclaimed, "I seen the villain! By the
high horicks, I seen the very man, if I have an eye in my head! A big,
able-bodied villain, wid a pair of thumpin' black whiskers that you
might steal my own out of--and I don't think I can complain myself. He
was comin' up the road from the Carr, and he was turnin' over towards
the bridge there below, so that I only got a short glimpse of him; and
faix, sure enough, as he passed the bridge, I seen him throw something
over the wall of it into the river, which I'd lay my head against the
three kingdoms was the kay o' the gate."
The proctor paused a little, and then observed, "Ay, faith! I'm sure
you're right, Cannie; I've heard of that villain, and know him from your
description. He is the cowardly ruffian who's said to be at the head or
bottom of these secret combinations that are disgracing and destroying
the country. Yes, I've heard of him."
"And what did you hear, Misther Purcel?" asked the pedlar, with
undisguised curiosity--.
"No matter now, Cannie; I haven't time to bestow upon the murdering
ruffian: I have my eye on him, however, and so have others. Indeed, I'm
rather inclined to think the hemp has already grown that will hang him.
What dress had he on?"
"Why, sir, he had on a whitish frieze coat, wid big brown buttons; but
there could be no mistakin' the size of his murderin' red whiskers."
"Red whiskers!--why, you said a moment ago that they were black."
"Black! hut tut, no, Misther Purcel, I couldn't say that; devil such a
pair of red thumpers ever I seen, barin' upon Rousin' Redhead that was
sent across--for--for--buildin' churches--ha! ha! ha!"
"Why, I'd take my oath you said black," rejoined the proctor--"that is,
if I have ears to my head."
"Troth, an' you have Misther Purcel, as brave a pair as a man could
boast of; but the truth is, you wor so much feflustered wid alarm, and
got altogether so much through other, that you didn't know what I said."
"I did perfectly: you said distinctly that he had black whiskers."
"Red, by the hokey, over the world; however, to avoid an argument, even
if I did, in mistake, say black, the whiskers were red in the mane time;
an', as I sed, barrin' Rousin' Redhead's, that was thransported, a never
laid my eyes on so red, nor so big I pair."
"He can't be the fellow I suspect, then--for his, by all accounts, are
unusually large and black."
"As to that, I can't say, sir: but you wouldn't have me give a wrong
description of any villain that 'ud make an attempt upon your life. Are
you sure, though, it wasn't his reverend honor that the pistol was aimed
at?"
"I am not; as I told you, it is impossible to settle that point. There
is neither of us very popular, certainly."
"Bekaise, afther all, there is a difference; and it doesn't folly that,
although I'd purshue the villain for life and death, that 'ud attempt to
murdher you, that I'd distress myself to secure an honest man that might
free us an' the country from the like o' him;" and he pointed over his
left shoulder with his inverted thumb.
"Cannie," said the proctor, somewhat sternly, "I've never heard you give
expression to such sentiments before, and I hope I shall never again. No
honest man would excuse or tamper with murder or murderers. No more of
this, Cannie, or you will lose my good opinion, although perhaps you
would think that no great loss."
"Throth, I know I was wrong to spake as I did, sir, bad cess to me, but
I was, an' as for your good opinion, Misther Purcel, and the good of all
your family too, devil a man livin' 'ud go further to gain it, and to
keep it when he had it than I would; now, bad cess to the one."
Whilst this dialogue was proceeding between the pedlar and the proctor.
Dr. Turbot, in a state of indescribable alarm, was relating the
attempted assassination to his curate inside. The amazement of the
latter gentleman, who was perfectly aware of the turbulent state of
the country, by no means kept pace with the alarm of his rector. He
requested of the latter, that should he see Mrs. Temple, he would make
no allusions to the circumstance, especially as she was at the period in
question not far from her confinement, and it was impossible to say
what unpleasant or dangerous effects an abrupt mention of so dreadful a
circumstance might have upon her.
In a few minutes Purcel and his patron were on their way to Longshot
Lodge, the residence of the proctor. At the solicitation of the parson,
however, they avoided the direct line of road, and reached home by one
that was much more circuitous, and as the latter thought also more safe.
Here, after Waiting for the arrival of the mail coach, which he resolved
to meet on its way to the metropolis, he partook of a lunch, which,
even to his voluptuous palate, was one that he could not but admit to be
excellent. He received four hundred pounds from the proctor, for which
he merely gave him a note of hand, and in a short time was on his way to
the metropolis.
CHAPTER VI.--Unexpected Generosity--A False Alarm.
At this period, notwithstanding the circumstances which we have just
related--and they were severe enough--the distress of the Protestant
clergy of Ireland was just only beginning to set in. It had not, as
yet, however, assumed anything like that formidable shape in which
it subsequently appeared. To any scourge so dreadful, no class in the
educated and higher ranks of society had been, within the records of
historical recollection, ever before subjected. Still, like a malignant
malady, even its first symptoms were severe, and indicative of the
sufferings by which, with such dreadful certainty, they were followed.
On that day, and at the very moment when the mysterious attempt at
assassination,which we have recorded, was made, Dr. Turbot's worthy
curate, on returning home from the neighboring village of Lisnagola,
was, notwithstanding great reluctance on his part, forced into the
following conversation with his lovely but dejected wife:
"Charles," said she, fixing her large, tearful eyes upon him, with a
look in which love, anxiety, and sorrow were all blended, "I fear you
have not been successful in the village. Has Moloney refused us?"
"Only conditionally, my dear Maria--that is, until our account is paid
up--but for the present, and perhaps for a little longer, we must deny
ourselves these 'little luxuries,'" and he accompanied the words with
a melancholy smile. "Tea and sugar and white bread are now beyond our
reach, and we must be content with a simpler fare."
Mrs. Temple, on looking at their children, could scarcely refrain from
tears; but she knew her husband's patience and resignation, and felt
that it was her duty to submit with humility to the dispensation of God.
"You and I, my dear Charles, could bear up under anything--but these
poor things, how will they do?"
"That reflection is only natural, my dear Maria; but it is spoken,
dearest, only like a parent, who probably loves too much and with
an excess of tenderness. Just reflect, darling, upon the hundreds of
thousands of children in our native land, who live healthily and happily
without ever having tasted either tea or loaf-bread at all; and think,
besides, dearest, that there are, in the higher circles, a great number
of persons whose children are absolutely denied these comforts, by
advice of their physicians. Our natural wants, my dear Maria, are but
simple, and easily satisfied; it is wealth and luxury only that corrupt
and vitiate them. In this case, then, dearest, the Christian must speak,
and act, and feel as well as the parent. You understand me now, love,
and that is sufficient. I have not succeeded in procuring anything for
you or them, but you may rest assured that God will not desert us."
"Yes, dear Charles," replied his wife, whose black mellow eyes beamed
with joy; "all that is true, but you forgot that Dr. Turbot has arrived
to receive his tithes, and you will now receive your stipend. That will
carry us out of our present difficulty at least."
"My dear Maria, it is enough to say that Dr. Turbot is in a position
immeasurably more distressed and dreadful than ours. Purcel, his
proctor, has been able to receive only about fifty pounds out of his
usual half-yearly income of eight hundred. From him we are to expect
nothing at present. I know not, in fact, how he and his family will bear
this dreadful privation; for dreadful it must be to those who have lived
in the enjoyment of such luxuries."
"That is indeed dreadful to such a family, and I pity them from
my heart," replied his wife; "but, dearest,Charles, what are we to
do?--except a small crust of bread, there is no food in the house for
either them or you." As she uttered the words their eyes met, and
his gentle and soothing Maria, who had been sitting beside him, threw
herself upon his bosom--he clasped his arms around her--pressed her
with melancholy affection to his heart, and they both wept together.
At length he added, "But you think not of yourself, my Maria."
"I!" she replied; "ah! what am I? Anything, you know, will suffice
for me--but you and they, my dearest Charles--and then poor Lilly, the
servant; but, dearest," she exclaimed, with a fresh, and if possible,
a more tender embrace, "I am not at all repining--I am happy with
you--happy, happy--and never, never, did I regret the loss of my great
and powerful friends less than I do at this moment, which enables me
to see and appreciate the virtues and affection to which my heart is
wedded, and which I long since appreciated."
Her husband forced a smile, and kissed her with an air of cheerfulness.
"Pardon me," he said, "dearest Maria, for two or three minutes I wish to
go to the library to make a memorandum. I will soon return."
He then left her, after a tender embrace, and retired, as he said,
to the library, where, smote to the heart by his admiration of her
affection and greatness of mind, he sat down, and whilst he reflected on
the destitution to which he had brought the granddaughter of an earl,
he wept bitterly for several minutes. It was from this peculiar state
of feeling that he was called upon to hear an account of the attempted
assassination, with which the reader is already acquainted.
Our friend, the Cannie Soogah, having taken the town of Lisnagola on
his way, in order to effect some sales with one of those general country
merchants on a somewhat small scale, that are to be found in almost
every country town, happened to be sitting in a small back-parlor, when
a certain conversation took place between Mr. Temple and Molony, the
proprietor of the establishment to which we have just alluded. He heard
the dialogue, we say, and saw that the mild and care-worn curate had
been, not rudely certainly, but respectfully, yet firmly, refused
further credit. By whatever spirit prompted it is not for us to say;
at all events he directed his footsteps to the glebe, and--but it is
unnecessary to continue the description, or rather to repeat it. The
reader is already aware of what occurred until the departure of Dr.
Turbot and the proctor.
Temple, having seen them depart, walked out for a little, in order to
compose his mind, and frame, if possible, some project for the relief of
his wife and children. In the meantime, our jolly pedlar, having caught
a glimpse of Mrs. Temple at the parlor window, presented himself, and
begged to know if she were inclined to make any purchases. She nodded
him a gentle and ladylike refusal, upon which he changed his ground,
and said, "Maybe, ma'am, if you're not disposed to buy, that you'd have
something you'd like to part wid. If you have, ma'am, bad cess to the
purtier purchaser you'd meet wid--shawls or trinkets, or anything that
way--I mane, ma'am," he added, "things that arn't of any use to you--an'
I'm the boy that will shell out the ready money, and over the value."
Mrs Temple had known little--indeed nothing--of the habits of such a
class as that to which our gay friend belonged; but be this as it may,
his last words struck her quickly and forcibly.
"Do you make purchases, then?" she said.
"I do, ma'am, plaise your honor," replied the pedlar.
"Stop a moment, then," she replied. "I have some superfluous articles of
dress that I may dispose of."
The whole mother rushed into her heart at the thought; the tender and
loving wife forgot everything but the means of obtaining food for
her husband and children. She went to her dressing-room, and in a few
minutes returned, accompanied by Lilly Stewart, her own servant-maid
previous to ker marriage, to whom their recent distresses had been
no secret, and who was deeply and deservedly in the confidence of the
family.
Whilst she was, absent in her dressing-room the pedlar resumed his song,
as was his custom when alone--a circumstance which caused Mrs. Temple
to remark, as she and Lilly went down to, the parlor--"Alas! dear Lilly,
what a mistaken estimate does one portion of mankind form of another.
This poor pedlar now envies us the happiness of rank and wealth which
we do not feel, and I--yes, even I--what would I not give to be able to
carol so light-hearted a song as that which he is singing! Who is this
man, Lilly, do you know him?"
"Why, ma'am, if all they say is true, every one knows him, and nobody
knows him. He's known as the _Cannie Soogah_, or jolly pedlar. They
say, that although he prefers this kind of life, he's very wealthy.
One person will tell you that he's a great rogue, and would cheat
Satan himself, and others say he's generous and charitable. In other
respects," continued. Lilly, blushing, "he's not very well spoken of,
but it may be false. I have always found him myself very civil; and them
that spoke harshly of him were people that he kept at a distance."
The pedlar ceased his song as soon as they made their appearance in
the parlor, into which Lilly admitted him for the sake of mutual
convenience.
"Here's a shawl--a beautiful shawl, Mr. ---- what's this your name is?"
"The name that I have for set days and bonfire nights," he replied, "is
one I seldom tell," and at the same time there was a dry air of surprise
about him on hearing her ask the question; "but the name I am generally
known by is the _Cannie Soogah_, which manes, ma'am," he added,
addressing himself in a respectful manner to Mrs. Temple, "the jolly
merchant or pedlar."
"Well, Cannie," said Lilly, pronouncing the word with more familiarity
than could have been expected from their apparent unaquaintance with
each other, "here's a beautiful shawl that my mistress made me a present
of."
"No, Lilly," said her mistress, with severity--for she neither could nor
would sanction the falsehood, however delicately and well intended--"no,
do not mislead the man, nor state anything but the truth. The shawl is
mine, my good man, and I wish to dispose of it."
The pedlar looked at it, and replied, in a tone of disappointment,
"Yes, ma'am, but I'm afeard it's beyant my manes; I know the value of
it right well, and it's seldom ever the likes of it was in my pack. What
are you axin', ma'am? it's as good as new."
"I think it cost twelve or thirteen guineas, as well as I can remember,"
she replied; "but it is not what it cost, but what you are now disposed
to give for it, that I am anxious to know."
"Well, ma'am, you know I must look upon it as--hem--as a second--ha--at
all events," he proceeded, checking himself with more delicacy than
could be expected from him--"you must admit that it isn't new."
"Certainly," said she, "it has been more than eight years in my
possession, although, at the same time, I believe I have not worn it
more than half a dozen times."
"Well, ma'am," replied the pedlar, "I know the value of the shawl
something betther even than yourself. If you will take six guineas for
it, we will deal; more I cannot afford, for I must at once tell, you the
truth, that I may carry it about these twelve months before I find any
one that knows its value."
Mrs. Temple was by no means prepared, any more than her servant, for
such a liberal offer; and without any further hesitation she accepted
it, and desired Lilly to place the shawl in his hands, and in the
meantime, with equal consideration and good feeling, he handed Lilly six
guineas, adding, "Give that to your mistress, but in troth, ma'am," he
proceeded, respectfully addressing her; "it is just robbing you I am,
but I can only say, that if I dispose of it at its proper-value you'll
hear from me again. Troth, if I wasn't a great rogue, ma'am, I'd give
you more for it; but bad cess to the one o' me--ever could be honest,
even if I wasped for it."
"I do not think you dishonest, my good, man," replied Mrs. Temple; "on
the contrary, I am not displeased with your, plain blunt manner. Lilly
give him some----"
She checked herself at once, and passed, a significant but sorrowful
glance at Lilly; as she went up to the drawing-room.
She had no sooner gone, than the peddler, with a shrug of satisfaction,
exclaimed, in a subdued but triumphant voice: "Oh! by the hokey I've
done her, and for that you must suffer, Lilly darlin'. Come now, you
jumpin' jewel you, that was born wid a honey-comb somewhere between,
that purty chin and beautiful nose of yours--throth it must have a
taste, for who the dickens could, refuse the _Cannie Soogah_, and before
Lilly, who, by the way, was nothing, loath, could put herself in an
attitude of defense, he had inflicted several smacks upon as pretty a
pair of lips as ever were pressed.
"Upon my word; now, Mr. Magrath, you're very impudent," she replied, "I
wonder you're not ashamed, you great strong man you, to be kissing girls
in this manner, whether they will or not. Look at the state you have my
hair in; you're very rude, Mr. Magrath, and I'm really angry with you;
you've broken one of my side-combs, too; you're a great rude man, so you
are."
"Broke your side-comb, did I? Well, then, you couldn't be in better
hands, darlin', here's a pair I make you a present of, and maybe they
won't set you all off to pieces; here, darlin', wear these for my sake."
"But are you making me a present of these beauties, Cannie?"
"Troth an' I am, Lilly darlin', and wish they were betther for your
sake--what's that I said? a present! oh the sorrow bit, I must have my
payment--aisy now, darlin', my own sweet Lilly; there now, we're clear."
"Upon my word, Mr. Magrath, I don't know what to say to you, but you're
such a great strong fellow, that a poor weak girl like me is but a child
in your arms; are these real tortoise-shell though?"
"You may swear it; do you think I'd offer you anything else? But now
listen, my darlin' girl, take this shawl, it's 'worth five-and-twenty
guineas at least, troth, poor thing! it wasn't since their marriage it
was bought; take it, I say, and go up widout sayin' a word, and lay
it just where it was before, and if she seems surprised on findin' it
there, tell her you suppose I forgot it, or if she won't believe you,
and that all fails you, say that the _Cannie Soogah_, although she
knows nothing about him, is a man that's undher great obligations to her
family, and that he only tuck that method of payin' back a debt to her
that he honestly owed to them, for, afther all, isn't she one of them?"
Lilly shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears, at the manly and
modest generosity of the pedlar.
"Little you know then, Mr. Magrath, the load you have taken off my
dear mistress's heart, and the delight you have brought upon the whole
family."
"Well, Lilly dear, sure if I did, amn't I well paid, for it? thanks to
your two sweet lips for that. Sure, bad cess to me, but it was on your
account I did it."
A vile grin, or rather an awkward blank smile, forced by an affectation
of gallantry, accompanied the lie which he uttered.
"Oh, yes, indeed," replied Lilly, "on my 'account, don't think to
pass that upon me; however, I can forgive you a great many things in
consequence of your behavior--just now."
"And yet you abused me for it," he replied, laughing, "but sure I knew
that a purty girl always likes to be kissed; bad cess to me, but the
same behavior comes naturally to me."
"Go now," said Lilly, with a comic and peremptory manner; "go your
rounds, I say; you know very well that I mane your behavior about the
shawl, and not your great strong impudence."
The pedlar, after winking and nodding meanings into her words that she
had never thought of, slung his pack over his shoulder as usual, and
proceeded on his rounds.
We have always been of opinion that there is scarcely anything more
mysterious than the speed with which popular report travels apparently
with very inadequate machinery throughout a large district of country.
Before the day was more than half-advanced, fame had succeeded in
circulating a report that Matthew Purcel and Dr. Turbot had been both
shot dead in the garden of the rectory. This report spread rapidly,
and it is with equal pain and shame we are obliged to confess that in
general it was received with evident and undisguised satisfaction. John
and Alick Purcel, on their way home, were accosted at a place called
"Murderer's Corner," by two of the men who had attended at their
father's office that morning, and informed that he and Dr. Turbot had
been murdered in the course of the day, a piece of information which
was conveyed by them with a sneer of cowardly triumph that was perfectly
diabolical.
"God save ye, gintlemen!" said one of them, with a peculiar emphasis on
the last word; "did ye here the news?"
"No, Jemmy, what is it?" asked John.
"Why, that Darby Hourigan is very ill," he replied, with mock gravity.
"No thanks for your information, Jemmy," replied the other; "if you told
us something of more interest we might thank you."
"Never mind him, gintlemen," replied his companion, "there's nothing
wrong wid Darby Horaigan, barrin' that he occasionally rubs himself
where he's not itching, but there's worse news than that before you."
"What is it, then?" asked Alick; "if you know it, let us hear it, and
don't stand humming and hawing as if you were afraid to speak."
"Faith, an' it's no wondher I would, sir, when it's to tell you that
you'll find your father a murdhered corpse at home before you."
"Great God! what do you mean, sir? asked John.
"Why, gintlemen, it seems that himself an' Parson Turbot wor both shot
in the parsonage garden to-day. The parson's takin' his rest in his own
house, but your father's body was brought home upon the car. The bullet
entered your worthy father's breeches' pocket, cut through a sheaf of
notes that he had to pay the parson his tides wid, and from that it went
on----"
Human patience could not endure the ill-suppressed and heartless
satisfaction with which the fellow was about to enter into the details,
and accordingly, ere he had time to proceed further, John Purcel turning
a hunting-whip, loaded for self-defense, left him sprawling on the
earth.
"Now, you ill-conditioned scoundrel," he exclaimed, "whether he is
murdered or not, take that for your information. Alick, lay on Hacket
there, you are the nearest to him," he added, addressing his brother.
Hacket at once took to his heels, but the other, touching his horse with
the spurs, cantered up to him, and brought the double thong of his whip
into severe contact with his neck and shoulders. When this was over, the
two fiery young men exclaimed:--
"There, now, are our thanks, not merely for your information, but for
the good will with which it was given, and that to the very sons of the
man whom, by your own account, you have murdered among you. If his blood
however, has been shed, there is not a drop of it for which we will not
exact a tenfold retribution."
They then dashed home, at the highest speed of which their horses
were capable, and throwing themselves out of the saddle, rushed to the
hall-door, where they knocked eagerly.
"Is my father at home, Letty?"
"Yes, sir, he's in the parlor."
"In the parlor," exclaimed Alick, looking keenly into her face; "what is
he doing in the parlor, eh?"
"Why, he's readin' a letther, sir."
"Reading a letter, is he?"
"Yes, sir."
"Thank God!" exclaimed both the young men, breathing freely; "that will
do, Letty--here, Letty, is half-a-crown for you to buy a ribbon."
"And another from me, Letty, to buy anything you fancy."
The girl looked at them with surprise, and for a moment or two seemed
at a loss how to account for such evident excitement. At length she
exclaimed: "By dad, I have it; you won the hunt, gintlemen."
"Better than that, Letty," they replied, nodding, and immediately
entering the parlor.
"Well, boys," said the father, "a good day's sport?"
"Capital, father! are you long home!"
"Since about two o'clock."
"How did you come?"
"Why, boys, ye must know that either Dr. Turbot or I was fired at
to-day. A bullet--a pistol bullet--whistled right between us in the
parsonage garden, and the poor frightened doctor refused to come by the
usual way, and, in consequence, I was obliged to take the lower road."
He then entered into a more detailed account of the attempted
assassination, and heard from them, in reply, a history of their
intelligence and adventure at Murderer's Corner with Hacket and Bryan,
for so the fellows were named.
"Well," said the proctor, "thank God, things are not so bad as they
report, after all; but, in the meantime, the plot appears to be
thickening--here's more comfort," he added, handing him the notice which
Mogue told him he had found upon the steps of the hall-doer, where,
certainly, he had himself left it. John took the document and read as
follows:--
"TO PROCTOR PURCEL AND HIS HORSE-WHIPPIN' SONS.
"This is to give you notice, that nothing can save yez. Look back upon
your work an' see what yez desarve from the counthry. You began with a
farm of sixty acres, and you took farm afther farm over the heads of the
poor an' them that wor strugglin', until you now have six hundre' acres
in your clutches. You made use of the strong purse against the wake man;
an' if any one ventured to complain, he was sure to come in for a
dose of the horsewhip from your tyrannical sons, or a dose of law from
yourself. Now all that I've mentioned might be overlooked an' forgiven,
for the sake of your wife and daughters, but it is for your conduct as
a Tithe Proctor that you and your sons must die. Don't think to escape
me, for it can't be done. There is not a day in the week, nor an hour in
the day, but I have you at my command. Be prepared, then, for your fate
is sealed; and no earthly power can save you. There is the sign [three
coffins] and the blood that marks my name is from my own veins. You and
your sons must die.
"Captain Terror,
"The Millstone-breaker."
"Tut," said Alick, "we have received far worse than this; it has been
written by some hedge schoolmaster; as for my part, I despise it."
"Well, boys, at all events," proceeded the proctor, "be a little more
sparing with the horse-whip. The scoundrels deserve it to be sure; but
at the same time it is not a thing that can be defended."
"Why, it's impossible to keep it from them, father," replied John;
"their insolence is actually more than flesh and blood can bear. But had
we not better make some inquiries into this precious production?"
"Where is the use of that?" said his father, to whom such communications
had lost all their novelty and much of their interest; "however, you may
do so; perhaps some accidental clue may be found that would lead us to
discover the villain who wrote it."
Mogue was accordingly called in.
"How did this letter come into your hands, Mogue?" asked the proctor.
"It didn't come into them, sir," replied Mogue, with a smile which he
intended to pass, for one of simplicity; "it was lyin' I got it, upon
the hall-door steps."
"Did you see any strange person about the place, or near the hall-door
to-day?" he asked.
"None, sir, sorra a creature--well now, wait--that I may never sup
sorrow, but I did--there was a poor woman, sir, wid a whack of a son
along wid her."
"Did you see her near the steps?"
"That I may be happy, sir, if I could take it upon me to say--not
wishin' to tell a lie--but she might a' been there, the crathur."
"What kind of a looking woman was she?" asked John.
"A poor woman, sir, as I said."
"I do not mean that; of course, I know she was; but what dress had she
on, and what kind of features or complexion had she? Was she big or
little?"
"I'm just thinkin'," replied Mogue, seemingly attempting to recollect
something, "was it to-day or yesterday I seen her."
"Well, but answer directly," said Alick, "what was she like?"
"The son of her was a bullet-headed _ownsha_," replied Mogue, "and
herself--well now, that I may never die in sin, if I could say rightly.
I was fetehin' some oats to Gimlet Eye, an' didn't take any particular
notice. The _ownsha_ had black sooty hair, cut short, an' walked as
if his feet were sore--and indeed it strikes me that he had kibes--for
these poor people isn't overly clane, an' don't wash their feet goin' to
bed at night, barrin' at Christmas or Easther, the crathurs. But, sure
the Lord look down on them, they have enough to do to live at all!"
"You couldn't say what direction she came from?"
"Well, then, no."
"Nor the direction she went by?"
"Well, no sir, I could not."
"But are you certain it was to-day, and not yesterday, you saw her?"
"Then that's what's puzzlin' me--eh! let me see--ay--it was to-day--an'
I'll tell you how I know it. Bekaise it was to-day I brought the oats to
Gimlet Eye--you know he was harrowing the black park yestherday and was
in care of Paudeen Sthuccaun. But sure, sir, maybe somebody else about
the place seen them."
An investigation was consequently held upon this reasonable suggestion,
but we need scarcely assure our readers, without effect; the aforesaid
"poor woman" having had existence only in the fertile imagination of
stainless and uncorrupted saint Mogue.
The latter had scarcely retired, when a gentle knock came to the door,
and Alick, on opening it himself, found their friend and neighbor, Darby
Hourigan, standing outside.
"Well, Hourigan, what do you want now? have you repented, and come to
the resolution of paying your tithes?"
Darby gave no direct answer, nor indeed any answer at all to these
questions, but simply said, "There's a bit o' paper, sir, for Misther
John."
"What is this? Oh, oh, a summons!--very well, Mr. Hourigan, my brother
will attend to it."
"This is where John Purcel lives, sir?" proceeded the man, according to
some form which he supposed necessary to give effect and reality to the
service; "you acknowledge that, sir, do you?"
"Live here!--why, you scoundrel, don't you know he does? Where else did
he ever live?"
"Ay, but you are only answerin' one question by another," replied
Hourigan; "and I'll sarve you wid another to-morrow if you don't speak
the truth."
"John," shouted his brother, "you're wanted. Here is your old friend
Hourigan, anxious to get another--ha! ha! ha!--he is off like a shot!"
he proceeded, addressing his brother, as the latter entered the hall;
"but in the meantime," he added, handing him the summons, "this document
is intended for you."
"Well," observed John, laughing, "unless our friend O'Driscol is
somewhat change"! I need not much fear Mr. Hourigan."
"He is changed," observed the proctor; "the fellow is beginning to run
with the hare and hunt with the hounds. If you wish to secure his favor,
however, you ought to try and put him on the trail of a Conspiracy, or
anything that will give him a tolerable justification for writing to his
Friend the Castle, as he calls it! He is a regular conspiracy hunter,
and were it not that he is now awfully afraid of these Whiteboys, and
naturally cowardly and easily frightened, I think he would be the plague
of government as well as the country."
It would indeed, be extremely difficult to find a family so resolute and
full of natural courage, and consequently so incapable of intimidation,
as that of our friend the proctor. And what was equally striking, the
female portion of them were as free from the weakness and timidity of
their sex, in this respect, as the males.
CHAPTER VII.--A Shoneen Magistrate Distributing Justice.
On the morning but one afterwards, John Purcel proceeded to the house of
his friend and neighbor, Fitzy O'Driscol, as he was usually termed for
brevity. O'Driscol was rather a small man--that is to say, he was short
but thick, and of full habit. He was naturally well made, and had
been considered well-looking, until his complexion became a good deal
inflamed from the effects of social indulgence, to which he was rather
strongly addicted. His natural manner would have been plausible if he
had allowed it to remain natural; but so far from this, he affected an
air of pomp and dignity, that savored very strongly of the mock heroic.
On the other side, his clothes fitted him very well, and as he had a
good leg and a neat small foot, he availed himself of every possible
opportunity to show them. He was, like most men of weak minds,
exceedingly fond of ornaments, on which account he had his fingers
loaded with costly rings, and at least two or three folds of a large
gold chain hung about his breast. His morning gown was quite a tasteful,
and even an expensive article, and his slippers, heavily embroidered,
harmonized admirably with the whole fashionable deshabille in which he
often distributed justice. He carried a gold snuff-box of very massive
size, which, when dining out, he always produced after dinner for the
benefit of the company, although he never took snuff himself. This, in
addition to a tolerably stiff and unreclaimable brogue, and a style
of pronunciation wofully out of keeping with his elegant undress,
constituted him the very beau-ideal of what is usually known as a
_shoneen_ magistrate.
John, on arriving, found him reading a paper in the breakfast-parlor,
and saw Hourigan waiting outside, who, by the way, gave him such a
look as a cat might be supposed to bestow upon a mastiff from whom she
dreaded an attack--a look which, in Hourigan's case, combined as much
ferocious vengeance and sullen hang-dog cowardice as could well be
brought together on the same features.
"Well, Jack," said the pompous distributor of justice, addressing young
Purcel, "how do you do? Take a seat--by the way, is it true that your
father and my excellent friend, Dr. Turbot, were shot at yesterday?"
"True enough," replied John; "the bullet whistled right between them,
and so close that each felt the wind of it."
"The country is getting into a frightful state, friend Purcel, eh? Upon
my honor now, yes! it is so--it is so."
"Why there is no question of it," replied John; "it is already in a
frightful state."
"It is, Mr. Purcel, and in my opinion, the _crame_ of the matter will be
blood--blood--my dear John--that is what it will come to."
"Certainly you speak, Mr. O'Driscol, like a man that knows the country,
and can feel the pulse of the public officially--I mean, of course, as a
magistrate--for it is now, and in times of such turbulence, that men--I
mean magistrates--of your stamp--will prove themselves serviceable to
the government of the country, and to the country itself; intelligent
and determined men--I mean magistrates--who know not what fear is, and
who will do their duty at the risk of their lives."
"True, John, it is such men, or rather magistrates, who can render
the most important services to government. The duties of a loyal and
attached magistrate are not a mere raycrayation during these times. And
yet, John," he added, sinking his voice into a confidential whisper,
"I protest to my honor that the life of a man--I mane, as you say, a
magistrate--who resolves firmly to perform his duty, is not extramely
safe; why then should a man--I mane a magistrate--unnecessarily expose
himself to the fate of Going,* when he might much more safely remain
snug and quiet, without putting either himself or his neighbors to
inconvanience by an over-strict discharge of his duty?"
[* The name of a magistrate and clergyman, I think, who was
assassinated.]
"If everything be true that I have heard," said John, "the government
would scarcely expect to hear such sentiments from the intelligent and
determined Mr. O'Driscol."
"Ha! ha! ha!--well done, John,--I drew you out. Upon my honor, I am glad
to find that you are loyal, at all events, and that is a rare virtue
among most persons of your creed;--excuse me, but, except in name, I can
scarcely consider you as belonging to it.
"Why, sir," replied John, "I trust I am a firm, but not a bigoted
Catholic."
"Roman Catholic, John, always say, if you plaise; we claim to be the
true Catholics you know; and for that raison it is better always to
avoid confusion."
"As to that, we shall not quarrel about it, I trust," replied Purcel;
"but with respect to another point, there is only one opinion, Mr.
O'Driscol, and that is, that you are a most resolute and determined
man."
"Magistrate you mane, I think, John; so magistrate, if you plaise--ha!
ha!' ha! By the way will you touch the bell? Thank you."
"I beg your pardon," proceeded Purcel, having touched the bell, "I
should have said magistrate: because it very often happens that
whilst the man is a coward, the magistrate is as brave as the Duke of
Wellington."
"Upon my honor and conscience, there may be some truth in that," said
O'Driscol, nodding, but at the same time not exactly appropriating the
category to himself; "but how do you make that appear, John?"
"Why," replied Purcel, who, between ourselves, was a bit of a wag in his
way, "it proceeds from the spirit of his office. Take a magistrate, for
instance, as a man--a mere man; place him in the ordinary situations of
society; let him ride home at night, for instance, through a disturbed
district like this, which, if he is wise, he will avoid doing, or let
him be seen in an isolated position even in daylight without protection,
and you will find him a coward of the first shaking. On the contrary,
place him, as a magistrate, at the head of a body of police or military,
and where will you witness such courage? That, then, is the individual,
I say, who being naturally a coward as a man, goes through his duty
with courage as a magistrate; I say this is the individual whom the
government should reward with especial favor."
"By the way, will you touch that bell again?--oh, here he comes. Sam,"
he said, addressing a servant, "get me up a bottle of soda-wather. Will
you have a glass of soda, John? I dipped a little too deep last night."
"No, sir, thank you," replied Purcel, "I was moderate last night; and at
all events soda is rather cold for such a day as this is."
"Well, then can't you stiffen it with a little brandy?"
"No, thank you, I won't touch anything at present. I almost wish, as
I was saying," he proceeded, "that there was the slightest touch of
cowardice in you, naturally; because if it could be proved in connection
with your official intrepidity, you would deserve everything that a
government could bestow upon you."
"Faith and honor, that is certainly putting the argument in an extremely
new point of view, and I agree with you, John; that is--that--let me
see--the more cowardly the man the braver the magistrate. Well, I don't
know that aither."
"No, no!" replied John, "I don't mean that."
"Well, what do you mane? for I thought I undherstood you a while ago,
although find that I don't now."
"I mean," proceeded the other, "that when a man who is naturally
cowardly--I don't mean, of course, a poltroon, but timid--proves
himself to be firm, resolute, and intrepid in the discharge of his
duties as a magistrate, such a man deserves a civic crown."
"A what?"
"A civic crown. Of course you know what that is."
"Of coorse I do, John; and upon my honor and conscience there is great
truth in what you say. I could name you a magistrate who, I believe, as
a magistrate, could not very aisily be bate, and yet who, without being
a downright coward, is for all that no hairo to his valley de sham, as
they say."
"My father was talking about you last night, sir, and I think before
long he will be able to put you on the scent of as pretty a conspiracy
as was ever detected. He had some notion of opening a communication with
government himself upon the subject; but I suggested--that is, I took
the liberty, sir, if you will excuse me, but if I erred I assure you Mr.
O'Driscol, my intentions were good--I say I took the liberty, sir, of
suggesting that it would be better to place the matter in your hands,
as a person possessing more influence with your friend, the Castle, and
more conversant with the management of a matter that is too important to
be in any but official hands. I have time at the preset only to allude
to it, for I see Mr. Darby Hourigan there waiting to prosecute, or as he
says to take the law of, your humble servant."
"Hang the scoundrel, what a hurry he is in! How did you quarrel with
him?"
"Faith, sir, in the first place, he was insolent and offensive beyond
all patience."
"Yes, my dear John," observed O'Driscol, with a good deal of solemn
pomp, especially as the magistrate was beginning to supersede the man,
"all that is very provoking, but at the same time you know the horsewhip
is an illaygal instrument."
"I beg your pardon, sir," replied Purcel, with a smile, "I believe not."
"I mane, John," said the other, "an improper use of it is. You should
be more cautious, John, in using it, for the punishment of any animal
barring a horse. I have heard, by the way, many complaints against you
on that head."
"Yes, sir, but you are not aware that it is from a principle of humanity
I horsewhip the scoundrels."
"How is that now, John? for upon my honor and conscience I can't for the
life of me persave any great humanity in it."
"Why, sir," replied Purcel, who, as the reader must be aware, was
humbugging the worthy magistrate all the time, "I appeal to yourself
whether it is not better for any one of these rascals to get a
horsewhipping from me than a citation to the Bishop's Court from my
father."
"Ay, but do they never happen to get both, John?" returned the
magistrate. "But what has a horsewhipping and a citaytion to the
Bishop's Court to do with aich other?"
"Simply this," replied the other, "that when my father hears I horsewhip
any of them, he takes no further proceedings against them; and
whenever I wish, consequently, to keep a fellow out of that troublesome
situation, I horsewhip him from pure kindness."
"So that you look upon that as a good turn to them?"
"Precisely, sir. As I said, I horsewhip them from motives of humanity."
"Faith and don't be surprised, John, if they should happen to put a
bullet through you from motives of humanity some of these days. However,
do you think it is of importance?"
"Is what, sir?"
"The conspiracy. I beg your pardon--come into the office till I see what
I can do for you at all events."
He accordingly preceded Purcel to his office, accompanied by Sam
Finigan, a kind of thorough male domestic who acted as his clerk. Here
he took his seat with a good deal of ceremony, hemmed several times, and
desired Hourigan to be admitted. Just at that moment, and while Hourigan
was coming in, a young lad, or tiger, a son of Finigan's, by the
way, who had been in the habit of carrying letters to and from the
neighboring post-office, now entered and presented him with one, to the
following effect:--
"TO O'DRISKAL, THE SHONEEN MAGISTRIDGE.
"Sur this is to let you no that if you go an givin wan la for the poor
and anud'her for the rich you will soon get a bullet through you as
Tandrem af Tavnibeg got. If you wish to bay safe thin bay the poor man's
friend--oderways it'll be worse for you.
"Kaptn Jostige."
O'Driscol having read this communication, became desperately disturbed
for about a couple of minutes, after which, as if struck by some sudden
thought, he appeared to recover himself considerably, but by no
means fully, as was evident from the agitation of his voice and the
involuntary tremor of his hands.
"I hope, sir," said Purcel, who could not help observing the commotion
into which the notice had put him, "that you have received no ill
tidings. You seem agitated and alarmed, or rather distressed, if one can
judge; I hope there's nothing wrong."
"Why, no," replied the magistrate, "not exactly wrong; but it is
certainly an infamous country to live in. I am an impartial man, Mr.
Purcel--I mane, sir, an impartial magistrate; but the fact is, sir,
that every man is marked whose life is valuable to the government of his
country. I know no man, Mr. Purcel--mark me you, too, Hourigan--I know
no man, sir, in my capacity of a magistrate--hem--hem!--only according
to the merits--I am as much the poor man's friend as I am the rich
man's, and of the two more: if I lane at all, which I don't, it is to
the poor man; but as an impartial man--magistrate I mane--I know naither
rich or poor. On the bench, I say, I know naither poverty nor riches,
barring, as I said, upon the merits."
"Beggin' your pardon, your worship--an' before you begin--as I was
comin' down here a while agone," said Hourigan, "I seen a strange and
suspicious-lookin' man inside the hedge at the shrubbery below; he was
an ill-faced villain, plaise your reverence, an' I thought I seen his
pockets stickin' out as if he had pistols in them. I thought it better
to tell your worship."
The worthy magistrate had scarcely recovered from the first fit of
agitation when this intelligence threw him into an immediate relapse.
Indeed so ludicrous was his distress that he actually wiped the
perspiration from his forehead.
"Sam," said he, after a fit of tremulous coughing, into which he forced
himself, in order to conceal the quaver which terror had given to his
voice, "Sa--am--hugh! ugh!--go-o--an-n-d--ugh! ugh! ugh!--get a ca-a-se
of doub-uble pis-pistols--ugh! ugh!--da--amn this cough--ough--and
place--them-em on the table here--we--we--will at least pep-pepper the
villain--if--if--he--he should dare to show his face---ace. I
trust I--I--know my duties as--a mag-istrate--my cour--urage and
in-trep--id--ity as such--ugh! ijg'h! ugh!--are no saycret now, I
think."
"I don't believe," observed Purcel, "that there is one syllable of
truth in what he says. I can read the falsehood in his eye. However,"
he added, "if you will postpone this matter of Hourigan's for a few
minutes, I shall soon see whether there is any one there or not."
"Here, then," said the magistrate, "take these pistols" (pointing to
those which Finigan had just laid on the table). Purcel declined them
with a nod, taking a good case at the same time out of his own pocket.
"No, sir, thank you, I never travel without my two friends here, with
either of which I can break a bottle at the distance of thirty yards.
You will be good enough to tell that to your friends, Mr. Hourigan, and
also to reflect upon it yourself."
Having examined his friends, as he called them, he started out and
proceeded directly towards the shrubbery, where, however, there was no
trace whatever of any one. On his way home he met Fergus O'Driscol, who
had been out that morning cock-shooting through the grounds, and to whom
he mentioned the story told by Hourigan. "Why, the lying scoundrel,"
exclaimed Fergus, "I saw him myself speaking to a new laboring lad whom
Mr. Arthur, the steward, sent in there this morning to gather and remove
the rotten underwood. He has only vamped up this story to frighten my
heroic father, and between you and me it is not difficult to do."
"I dare say you are right, Fergus, but between you and me again, who is
this new-comer you mention? for you may rest assured that if he be
very intimate with Darby Hourigan, you had as good keep an eye upon him.
Darby is one of the good ones."
"I don't even know his name yet," replied Fergus, "but if we are
to judge by appearances, he is somewhat of Darby's kidney, for a
worse-looking young vagabond I have seldom laid my eyes upon. At all
events I know Hourigan's story to be a lie, for as he came up the avenue
I was in the shrubbery, looking for a cock I shot, which dropped among
the hollies, and there was certainly nobody there but this strange
fellow and Hourigan, both of whom chatted to each other for some
minutes across the hedge; and, by the way, I now remember that they kept
watching about them suspiciously, as if they did not wish to be seen
speaking together. The fact, now that you have mentioned the case, is
evident; I could not be deceived in this matter."
"Well then," said Purcel, "I will tell you how we shall bring that
circumstance to a test: get the strange fellow to walk my horse up and
down the avenue, so as that he must necessarily come in Hourigan's way,
and if they refuse to speak in my presence you may accompany me down
the avenue if you wish--we may take it for granted that there is an
understanding between them and on this account we will say nothing on
our return, but that we failed to see or trace any one, which will be
the truth, you know."
Whilst this conversation took place between the two young men, our
worthy magistrate, now that he had an opportunity of recruiting his
courage, withdrew for a moment, accompanied by his servant and clerk,
Sam Finigan. "Sam," said he, in undisguised trepidation, "my life's not
worth a week's purchase."
"That was a threatening letter you received, sir?" said Sam,
inquiringly.
"The same, Sam. Upon my honor and conscience, they have threatened me
with the fate of Tandrem of Tavnibeg, who got five bullets into him, not
fifty yards from his own door. Get me the brandy then quick, and another
bottle of soda-wather. Good Lord! Sam, see what it is to be an active
and determined magistrate."
"Well," said Sam, after he had placed the brandy and soda-water before
him, "it's one comfort, plaise your honor, that if they shoot your
worship, government will take a glorious revenge upon them. The three
kingdoms will hear of it."
"Ay, but, Sam--good Lord!--here's God grant us a long life in the
manetime! but upon my honor and conscience it's not revenge upon my own
murdherers I want, but to be made a Stipendiary. Revenge! Good Lord!
what is revenge to a murdhered man, Sam, maybe with five bullets in him!
Now, Sam, this is not want of courage in me--but--but--mere distress
of mind on looking at the state of the country. A suspicious-looking
villain to be lurking in my own shrubbery, with the very pistols
sticking out of his pocket! Good Lord! I believe I'll take another
half-glass, Sam; I think I feel somewhat more intrepid--more relieved.
Yes, pour me out another half-glass, or a whole one, as your hand is in,
Sam, and take another for yourself."
"Thank your worship," said Sam, who never called him anything else when
exercising, or about to exercise his functions as a magistrate, "here's
the same, your worship--God grant us both--your worship at any rate--a
long life!"
"And a happy death, Sam; there is no harm to add that to it."
"And a happy death, your worship!"
"Well, Sam, here's the same! And now I think in a few minutes my natural
courage will return; for indeed I'm too kind-hearted, Sam, and too
aisily made feel, as you persave, for the traisonable state of the
country, and of the misguided people. However, I only feel these things
as a man, Sam, as a kind-hearted man, but not as a fearless and resolute
magistrate, Sam: as a magistrate I don't know what fear is."
"That's well known, your worship; when you're at the head of a body
of polis or military, every one knows what you are; isn't dare-devil
Driscol, your worship, the best name they have for you?"
"True enough, Sam; d--n them; a man, especially a magistrate, couldn't
be courageous unknown to them--they'll be sure to find it out. I'm a
good deal relieved, Sam, and--hem--hem--let us proceed to investigate
this important matter of Hourigan's. These Purcels are--hem--ahem--too
much in the habit of violating the law, Sam, and that's not right--it's
illaygal--it's illay-gal, Sam, to violate the law; I say so, and I think
I can't allow such breaches of the"--here, however, the thought of the
conspiracy occurred, and swayed him in a moment against Hourigan. "To be
sure Hourigan's a scoundrel, and deserves a horsewhipping every day he
rises."
"True enough, sir; and sure if the Purcels break the law, it is only
upon the people, and arn't the people, your worship, as ready to break
the law as the Purcels! Sorra warrant, then, I'd grant against Misther
John this bout."
"And what would you do, Sam?"
"I'd bind Hourigan over to keep the pace."
"I believe you're right, Sam; he's a bad bird, Hourigan; so I think the
best thing to do is to tie his hands up for him."
"And if we could tie his tongue up too, your worship, it ought to be
done."
Here, on the other hand, the notice he had just received stuck in his
throat, and reduced him to a new perplexity.
"But then, Sam," he added, "think of the revengeful spirit that is
abroad. Good Lord! it is awful! Haven't I this moment a threatening
notice on my table? Well," he added, "if ever a man suffered in the
cause of government as a public man and an active resolute magistrate,
I do; indeed, Sam, if I had known the cares, and troubles, and
responsibilities of my official situation, I am not certain whether I
would not have preferred a private station; but you see government will
find out men of talent and public spirit. If I had less of either, it
isn't threatening letters I'd be resaving this day. Come, then, let us
go to the discharge of our duty, Sam, fearlessly and impartially, as a
man entrusted with great public authority."
He accordingly proceeded to the office, a good deal recruited in
courage by the brandy, but by no means altogether relieved from the
apprehensions consequent upon the receipt of the notice and Hourigan's
narrative.
Fergus and Purcel, on their way from the shrubbery to the house,
fell upon a simpler plan by which to detect Hourigan's falsehood,
and ascertain whether there existed any personal acquaintance or
understanding of any sort between him and the new-comer.
"Well, John," said O'Driscol, after once more placing himself with his
usual pomp in his magisterial chair, "have you been able to find any
account or trace of the assassin?"
"None whatever, sir," replied Purcel; "neither tale nor tidings of him
could I find."
"When did you see him, Hourigan?" asked Fergus; "was it on your way
here?"
"Yes, sir."
"In the avenue?"
"In the avenue, sir, about fifty yards inside the hedge, jist opposite
the hollies."
"Why did you not speak to him?"
"Troth, sir, he had too suspicious a look; for how did I know but it's a
bullet I'd get into, me, if I was only seen obsarvin' or watchin' him?"
"Then you did not speak to him?" asked Fergus.
"Faith, you may swear that, sir; that is not the time to pick up strange
acquaintances."
The two young friends were now satisfied of Hourigan's falsehood, and
perhaps of his treachery; and a very slight but significant glance to
that effect passed between them.
"Well, well," said the magistrate, "we--I mane myself, at any rate--are
well able to protect ourselves. I shall not in future travel unarmed,
and he that--hem--ahem--he that will mistake me for a timid man will
find out his error maybe when it's too late. Come, Hourigan, what charge
is this you have against Mr. Purcel?"
"Plaise your honor, he abused, and assaulted, and bate me until I didn't
know for a time whether I was alive or dead."
"How was that, Hourigan, sir?"
"Bekaise, your honor, I had not my tides for him."
"Now that I look at you, you certainly have the marks of violence about
you. Well, but did you give no provocation, sir? It's not likely
Mr. Purcel would raise his hand to you if he had not resaved strong
provocation at yours."
"Sorra word, then, your honor, ever I said to him,--barrin' to tell him
that I hoped he'd have compassion on me and my little family, and not
drive us to ruin for what I wasn't able to pay. He then asked me, was
that the answer I had for him, and not his money, and he does no more
but ups wid his whip and laves me as you see me."
"Why, now, you d--d scoundrel!" exclaimed John, "how can you--"
"Pardon me, Mr. Purcel," said the magistrate, interrupting him with what
he intended to be dignity, "you forget what is due to the court, sir.
There must be no swearing nor abuse here. The court must be respected,
Mr. Purcel."
These words brought a sneer of secret triumph upon Hourigan's features,
that was unquestionably very provoking.
"I beg to apologize to the court," replied Purcel, "if for a moment I
have forgotten what is due to it; but, in fact, your worship, there is
not one word of truth in what he says. His language was insolent and
provoking beyond the limits of human patience. He told me that both my
father and myself were dishonest--that we were oppressors of the poor,
and blood-suckers; called us hardhearted and beggarly upstarts, and that
we would sell our Church and our country for filthy lucre and upstart
pride. Instead, your worship, of promising to pay his tithes, he said we
might go to hell for them, and make the devil our paymaster, what he'll
be yet. And further, he said he'd never pay a farthing of them, and set
law, lawyers, police, military, and magistrates all at open defiance.
Now I beg to know, your worship, what loyal and peaceably-disposed
man, that wishes to see the laws of his country, and those respectable
magistrates that administer them, respected--what man, I say, fond of
peace and quietness, could bear such language as that? It is not what he
said of either myself or my family that I contain of, but of the abuse
he heaped upon the law at large, and the independent magistrates of the
country. I certainly, in the heat of the moment, so far resented the
affront offered to the most respectable magistracy of this fine country
as to give him a few slight touches of the whip, more like one in jest,
I assure your worship, than like an angry man."
"Hourigan," said O'Driscol, swelling up to a state of the most pompous
indignation, "this is infamous conduct which he relates of you, sir. How
dare you, sir, or any impudent fellow like you, take the undaicent and
unjustifiable liberty of abusing the independent and loyal magistracy of
Ireland? It is by fellows like you, sir, that traison and sedition are
hatched. Your conduct was gross and monstrous, and if Mr. Purcel had
come to me and made affidavit of the language stated, I would have
consithered it my duty to commit you. Such language, sirra, was
seditious!"
"Yes," replied Hourigan, "and you would be right; but there is not one
word of truth in what Mr. Purcel says, your worship; for instead of
that, plaise your reverence, when I threatened to come to you to get the
law against him--'I'll go to Squire Driscol,' says I, 'and that's
the gintleman that will give me justice at any rate.' 'You and Squire
Driscol may go be hanged,' says he; 'I don't regard him a traneen; he
thinks, since he has been made into a justice of pace, that the ground's
not worthy to carry him,' says he. Can you deny that, Mr. John?"
Purcel's limbs began to move, and his very flesh to creep with
indignation at the impudent but artful falsehoods of Hourigan, who was
likely to succeed in touching the magistrate's weak points with such
effect as to gain him over to his side.
The worthy official shook his head with a kind of very high-minded
pride, as much as to say, I am far above the level of such observations.
"Mr. Purcel," said he--"he--hem--hem--I am sorry to hear that you could
give way to such extramely indiscreet and disrespectful language as
this."
"Swear him, sir," said Purcel, "and let him be put to his oath, for I
protest to heaven, Mr. O'Driscol, and as I am, I trust, an honest man,
I never once mentioned your name, nor was there the slightest allusion
made to it--none, sir, whatever."
"The truth is, I should think it very, strange, Mr. Purcel, and very
odd, and very unfriendly and disenganious in you to spake of any
magistrate in such a style as that. However, Sam, take the book and
swear Hourigan."
Sam accordingly took the book, and putting it into Hourigan's hand,
said, "You shall make true answers to such questions as shall be put to
you, and swear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God, and one-and-sixpence to me!"
"Never mind the one-and-sixpence at present, Sam," said his master, "he
owes you nothing now. Proceed."
Hourigan's thumb had the genuine angle on the back of the book, but it
did not escape Sam, who said, "You intend to kiss your thumb, Hourigan,
but it's no go; here, sir, stand there, so that the book won't be a
screen for you; turn round--there now--proceed."
Hourigan, finding that the evasion in this instance was impracticable,
gave it a strong, derisive smack that might be heard outside the room.
"I hope," he added, "you are satisfied now, Mr. Finigan."
"I see," replied Sam, "that you've kissed the book when you were made to
do it; but I see jist as clearly that the sorra much truth are we goin'
to get out of yoU."
The case then proceeded; but as it would prove, probably, rather
tiresome to the generality of our readers, we shall not give it at
length. It was quite evident, however, that the plaintiff and defendant
both were well acquainted with the vacillating and timid character of
the magistrate, who in the case before us was uniformly swayed by the
words of the last speaker; and it was equally evident that each speaker
so shaped his arguments as that they might the more effectually bear
upon O'Driscol's weak points.
"Hem--hem--this, I persave, turns out to be a very important and
difficult case, Mr. Purcel--a very difficult case, Hourigan--a--a--a
case indeed that requires great deliberation and coolness. Here is
strong provocation on one hand, and prompt punishment on the other. Can
you swear, Mr. Purcel, to the accuracy and substance of the language you
say Hourigan uttered?"
"Certainly, sir, without hesitation."
"Because if he does, Hourigan, I shall be obliged, according to Act of
Parliament, sir--"
Hourigan interrupted him by a groan, and a rather significant shrug.
"What do you shrug and groan for, sir?" asked the man of law, who felt
both acts incompatible with the respect due to the court.
"Mavrone!" exclaimed Hourigan, "acts of Parliament! oh! thin many a
bitther piece of cruelty and injustice has been practised upon us by Act
o' Parliament!"
"Ho, you traisonable villain!" exclaimed the other--"what sedition is
this?"
"It is sich Acts o' Parliament," said the adroit knave, "that gets
good men and good magistrates shot like dogs, an' that has brought the
counthry to the fearful pass it's in, I wisht myself I was out of it,
for the people is beginnin' to single out sich magistrates as they'll
shoot, as if their lives worn't worth a rat's."
"Ah!--hem--hem--Hourigan, you are a d--d ras--hem simple-hearted fellow,
I think, or you wouldn't spake as you do.
"But an I to get not justice sir, against the man that left me as you
see me. Is the poor man, sir, to be horse-whipped and cut up at the will
an' pleasure of the rich, an'not to get either law or justice?"
O'Driscol's face was now a picture of most ludicrous embarrassment and
distress.
"Certainly, Hourigan, I shall--hem--I shall always administer justice
impartially--impartially--no one can question that. Your case," he
added--(for we must say here that Hourigan's language brought back to
his mind all the horrors of Tandrem's death, as well as that threatened
to himself in the recent notice)--"your case, Hourigan is a difficult
and peculiar one, poor man!"
"Hourigan, my good fellow," said Purcel, "take care of what you are
about. Don't be too certain that some of your neighbors won't find you,
before you are much older, in the centre of a deep-laid conspiracy; and
perhaps the government of the country may have an opportunity before
long to thank and reward those who will have it exposed and broken up.
Do you understand me?"
Purcel, while he spoke, kept his eyes fixed very significantly upon the
magistrate, to whose imagination a long and interesting correspondence
with his friend, the Castle, started immediately forth, appended to
which were votes of thanks, flattering testimonies, together with a
stipendiary magistracy, with a full retiring pension, and an appointment
for his son, in the background.
"He has made use of that language to intimidate your worship," proceeded
Purcel, but I think he ought to know you better."
"Sir," said O'Driscol, addressing Hourigan, "what did you mane by
talking about shooting magistrates? Do you think, sirrah, to frighten
me--Fitzgerald O'Driscol--from discharging my duty?"
"Frighten, you, sir! oh! bedad, your honor, you aren't the gintleman for
that."
"No, sir, I believe not--I believe not, Hourigan; no, my poor man, I am
not indeed. Hourigan, you are not an uncivil person, but why refuse to
pay your tithes? You are well able to do it."
"Why, bekaise I daren't, sir; if I did--talkin' about shootin'--it's
a round lump of lead I would find in my stomach instead o' my poor
breakfast, some o' these days."
"I don't doubt but he is right enough there, your worship," observed
Purcel, "there's a conspiracy--"
"Yes," exclaimed the magistrate, "oh! ay!--yes!--hem--a conspiracy!
Well--no matter--let it rest for a little. Well--as this case is one
of great difficulty, involving several profound points of law, I would
recommend you to make it up, and be friends. Hourigan, you will forgive
Mr. Purcel, who is hasty but generous. You will forgive him, I say, and
he will give you something in the shape of a--salve for your wounds.
Come, forgive him, Hourigan, and I will overlook, on my part, the
seditious language you used against the Irish magistracy; and, besides,
you will make me your friend."
"Forgive him, sir!" said Hourigan, shrugging himself, and putting up his
hand to feel the welts of black and blue which intersected each other
upon his countenance and shoulders. "An' maybe it's half-a-crown he'll
threwn me."
"No, no, Hourigan, I'll guarantee for him that he'll treat you
liberally: one good turn deserves another, you know."
"Well, then, let him say what he'll give me."
"There's a pound-note for you," said Purcel, flinging it across the
table. "If you take that, you may, but if not, I'll give no more.
Your worship, this, you perceive, is cross-case, and if you receive
examination on the one side, you will, of course, upon the other?"
"True," replied O'Driscol, who had not thought of this, and who
seized upon it as a perfect relief to him; "true, Mr. Purcel, it is a
cross-case, and so I understand it. Let me recommend you to take the
money, Hourigan."
"Well, then, your honor, I will, on your account, and bekaise, as your
worship says, bekaise one good tarn desarues another, an' ought to get
it. I'm satisfied for the present." And as he spoke, he turned, in a
skulking, furtive manner, such a look upon Purcel as we will not attempt
to describe.
"Now, Hourigan," said O'Driscol, "I am glad I have settled this matter
in your favor. If I had taken Mr. Purcel's informations, you would have
certainly been transported; but the truth is, and I trust you have
seen it this day, and will allow it, that in my magisterial capacity,
although just and impartial I hope, yet, still, whenever I can with
raison, I am always disposed to lane towards the poor man, and be the
poor man's magistrate--hem--ahem!"
"Yes, plaise your honor," said Hourigan, rather drily, "but it's so hard
to make the people at large believe the truth, sir. Good-mornin',
your worship, an' many thanks for the illigant justice you gave me.
Good-mornin' you, too, Misther Purcel; I hope we'll be betther friends,
sir."
"And I hope you will pay your tithes, and keep a civiler tongue in your
head," replied the latter, as Hourigan left the office.
Before this weighty matter was determined, Fergus O'Driscol, although
satisfied that Hourigan and their new laborer were acquainted, resolved
to corroborate his evidence of the fact, if possible, and for this
purpose he sent the fellow, as had been agreed on, to walk Purcel's
horse up and down the lower part of the avenue, near the entrance gate,
which was somewhat secluded and not within view of the house, for the
avenue was a winding one. In the meantime he stationed himself in a
clump of trees, to which he went by a back walk in the shrubbery that
was concealed from that part of the avenue. Here, we say, he stationed
himself to watch these worthies, but, unfortunately, at too great a
distance to hear their conversation, should they speak and recognize
each other. On this subject he was not permitted to remain long in
suspense. Hourigan soon made his appearance, and, on approaching the
stringer, looked cautiously about him in every direction, whilst the
latter, who had been walking Purcel's horse towards the house, suddenly
turned back, and kept conversing with Hourigan until they reached the
entrance gate, where they stood for about ten minutes in close and
evidently confidential dialogue, as was clear from their watching in all
directions, to make certain that they were not observed. They then
shook hands, cordially, and Hourigan bent his steps towards the town of
Lisnagola. Fergus, who had seen all their motions most distinctly, took
occasion to pass up the avenue a few minutes afterwards, where he met
the stranger still leading Purcel's horse.
"What's your name, my good fellow?" he asked.
"Phil Hart, sir."
"Do you know if the man who summoned Mr. Purcel before my father has
gone out?"
"I don't know, plaise your honor."
"Did any person go out within the last few minutes?"
"Yes, sir, there went a man out; maybe it was him."
"You don't know Hourigan's appearance, then?"
"No, sir. Hourigan, was that his name?"
"Yes. Are you a native of this county?"
"Not exactly, sir; but I have friends in it."
"Who are they?"
"The Ahernes, sir, up in the mountains behind Lisnagola beyant."
"And who recommended you to Mr. Arthur?"
"His brother-in-law, sir, one Frank Finnerty, in the mountains above;
that is, they're both marrid upon the two shisthers, plaise your honor."
"And what caused you to leave your native place?"
"Why, sir, my father houlds a bit o' land; he owed some tithe, sir,
and--"
"Would not pay it; they consequently took proceedings--you resisted the
execution of the law, and then you had to run for it."
"Well, not exactly, sir."
"How was it, then?"
"Why, sir, we paid the tithes; an' whin this was discovered, I, at any
rate, had to run for it. The people, your honor, found out that it was I
that ped them, an' I was glad, of coorse, to fly for my life. I'd thank
you, sir, to keep what I tould you to yourself, for even if it was known
in this neighborhood that I ped them, I wouldn't be safe."
"You don't know Hourigan, then?"
"How could I, sir, and me a sthranger?"
"Faith, and whether you do or not, it seems to me there's a strong
family likeness between you and him."
"Maybe so," the fellow replied, with a grin. "I hear my father say that
he sartinly was down in this counthry when he was sowin' his wild oats:"
and with this observation he passed on with the horse he was leading.
CHAPTER VIII.--An Unreformed Church
--The Value of Public Opinion--Be not Familiar with the Great
Recent circumstances have, unfortunately, shown us the danger of
tampering with, and stimulating, the blind impulses of ignorant
prejudice and popular passion beyond that limit where the powers
of restraint cease to operate with effect. At the period which our
narrative has now reached, and for a considerable time before it, those
low rumblings which stunned and frightened the ear of civilized society,
like the ominous sounds that precede an earthquake, were now followed by
those tremblings and undulations which accompany the shock itself.
But before we describe that social condition to which we refer, it is
necessary that we should previously raise the vail a little, which time
has drawn between us and the condition of the Established Church, not
merely at that crisis, but for a long period before it. This we shall
do as briefly as possible, because we feel that it is an exceedingly
unpleasant task to contemplate a picture which presents to us points of
observation that are, from their very nature, painful to look upon--and
features so secular and carnal, that scarcely any language could
exaggerate, much less distort them.
The Established Church in Ireland, then, in its unpurged and unreformed
state, was very little else than a mere political engine for supporting
and fostering British interests and English principles in this country;
and no one, here had any great chance of preferment in it who did not
signalize himself some way in favor of British policy. The Establishment
was indeed the only bond that bound the political interests of the two
nations together. But if any person will now venture to form an opinion
of the Irish Church from her gorgeousness and immense wealth at that
period, he will unquestionably find that what ought to have been a
spiritual, pure, holy, self-denying, and zealous Church, was
neither more nor less than an overgrown, proud, idle, and indolent
Establishment, bloated by ease and indulgence, and corrupted almost to
the very core by secular and political prostitution. The state of the
Establishment was indeed equally anomalous and disgraceful. So jealous
was England, and at the same time so rapacious of its wealth, that it
was parcelled out to Englishmen without either shame or scruple,
whilst Irish piety and learning, when they did happen to be found, were
uniformly overlooked and disregarded. All the ecclesiastical offices of
dignity and emolument were bestowed upon Englishmen; upon men who lived
here with reluctance, and but seldom--who had no sympathy with the
country or its inhabitants--nay, who looked upon us, in general, with
feeling of hostility and contempt; and who, by example or precept,
rendered no earthly equivalent for the enormous sums that were drawn
from a poor and struggling people. It is idle to say that these
prodigious ecclesiastical revenues were not paid by the people, but by
the landlord, who, if the people had not paid them, would have
added them to the rent. But even so--the straggling peasant reasoned
naturally, for he felt it to be one thing to pay even a high rent to the
landlord, whose rights, as such, he acknowledged, but a very different
thing to pay forth out of his own pocket a tenth of his produce to the
pastor of a hostile creed, which had little sympathy with him, for
which he received no spiritual equivalent, and on which, besides, he was
taught to look as a gross and ungodly heresy.
But this was not the worst of it. In the discussion of this subject, it
is rather hazardous for the champion of our former Establishment to make
any allusion to the landlord at all; the fact unfortunately being, that
in the management and disposal of land, the landlords, in general, were
gifted with a very convenient forgetfulness that such a demand as tithe
was to come upon the tenant at all. The land in general was let as if it
had been tithe-free, whilst, at the same time, and in precisely the same
grasping spirit, it so happened, that wherever it was tithe-free the
rents exacted were also enormous, and seen as--supposing tithe had
not an existence--no country ever could suffer to become the basis
of valuation, or to settle down into a system. In fact, such was the
spirit, and so profligate the condition of the Established Church for a
long lapse of time, both before and after the Union, that we may lay
it down as a general principle, that everything was rewarded in it but
piety and learning.
If there were anything wanting to prove the truth and accuracy of our
statements, it would be found in the bitter and relentless spirit with
which the Established Church and her pastors were assailed, at the
period of which we write. And let it be observed here, that even then,
the Church in this country, in spirit, in learning, in zeal, and piety,
was an angel of purity compared to what she had been twenty or thirty
years before. The course of clerical education had been defined,
established, and extended; young profligates could not enter the Church,
as in the good old times, without any earthly preparation, either
in learning or morals. They were obliged to read, and thoroughly to
understand, an extensive and enlightened course of divinity--to attend
lectures and entitle themselves, both by attendance and answering, to
a certain number of certificates, without which they had no chance for
orders. In point of fact, they were forced to become serious; and
the consequences soon began to appear in the general character of the
Church. Much piety, activity, learning, and earnest labor were to be
found in it; and indeed, we may venture to say, that, with the exception
of her carnal and debasing wealth, she had been purified and reformed to
a very considerable extent, even then. Still, however, the bloated mass
of mammon hung about her, prostrating her energies, secularizing her
spirit, and, we must add, oppressing the people, out of whose pockets it
was forced to come. When the calamity, therefore, which the reader
may perceive is partly upon and impending over, the Protestant clergy,
actually occurred, it did not find them unprepared, nor without the
sympathy of many of the very people who were forced by the tyrannical
influence of party feeling to oppose them publicly. To their sufferings
and unexampled patience, however, we shall be obliged to refer, at a
subsequent period of our narrative; and for that reason, we dismiss it
for the present.
Such, then, was the state of the Protestant Established Church for
a considerable length of time before the tithe agitation, and also
immediately preceding it; and we deemed it necessary to make the reader
acquainted with both, in order that he may the better understand the
nature and spirit of the almost universal assault which was, by at least
one party--the Roman Catholic--so furiously made upon it. At the present
period of our narrative, then, the population of the country, especially
of the South and West, had arrived at that state of agitation, which,
whether its object be legitimate or not, is certain, in a short time, to
brutalize the public mind and debauch the public morals, by removing all
the conscientious impediments which religion places against crime,
and consequently all scruple in committing it. Heretofore, those vile
societies of a secret nature, that disgrace the country and debase
the character of her people, existed frequently under separate
denominations, and for distinct objects. Now, however, they all
consented to abandon these peculiar purposes, and to coalesce into one
great conspiracy against the destruction of the Establishment. We do not
mean to assert, however, that this general outcry against the Church,
and its accompanying onslaught on her property, originated directly with
the people. No such thing; the people, as they always are, and, we fear,
ever will be, were mere instruments in the hands of a host of lay and
clerical agitators; and no argument was left unattempted or unurged to
hound them on to the destruction of the Establishment. From the Corn
Exchange down to the meanest and most obscure tribunal of agitation
throughout the kingdom, the virtues of passive resistance were
inculcated and preached, and the great champion of popular rights told
the people publicly and repeatedly that they might not be afraid
to follow his advice, for that it mattered little how oppressive or
stringent any act of parliament in defence of the Established Church
might be, he would undertake to drive a coach and six through the very
severest of its penalties. Nor were the Catholic priesthood idle during
these times of storm and commotion. At the head of them, and foremost
in both ability and hatred of tithes, stood the late Dr. Doyle, the
celebrated J.K.L. of that day, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin; a man to
whose great intellectual powers the country at large chiefly owes the
settlement of that most difficult and important question. This able
prelate assailed the system with a fiery vehemence that absolutely set
the country in a blaze, and reduced the wealthy Establishment to a
case of the most unprecedented distress. Who can forget that memorable
apothegm to the Irish people on the subject? "Let your hatred of
tithes," he said, "be as lasting as your sense of justice."
Unfortunately it is an easy task to instruct or tempt the Irish peasant
to violate the law, especially when sanctioned, in that violation, by
those whose opinion and advice he takes as the standard of his conduct.
Be this as it may, the state of the country was now becoming frightful
and portentous; and although there had not, as yet, been much blood
shed, still there was no person acquainted with the extraordinary pains
which were taken to excite the people against the payment of tithe,
who was not able to anticipate the terrible outburst and sanguinary
slaughters which soon followed.
We have already detailed a midnight meeting of the anti-tithe
confederacy; but so confident had the people soon become in the
principle of general unanimity against the payment of this impost, that
they did not hesitate to traverse the country in open day by thousands;
thus setting not only law, but all the powers of the country by which it
is usually carried out and supported, at complete defiance.
Threatening letters, and notices of violent death, signed with blood,
and containing the form of a coffin, were sent to all such as were in
any way obnoxious, or, what was the same thing, who were in any way
disposed either to pay tithes or exact them.
In this state matters were, when, one morning about a week after the
scene we have just described in O'Driscol's office, a dialogue to the
following effect took place in the proctor's immense farm-yard, between
our friend Mogue Moylan and his quondam sweetheart, Letty Lenehan.
Letty, of late, that is since the morning of the peddler's conversation
with Mogue, had observed that some unaccountable change had taken place
in his whole manner, not only towards herself, but in his intercourse
with the rest of his fellow-servants. He was for instance, much more
silent that he had ever been: but although he spoke less, he appeared to
think more; yet it might be observed, that whatever the subject of his
thoughts was, it evidently had diffused a singular degree of serenity,
and a peculiarly striking complacency through his whole manner. With
respect to herself he had ascended from the lover into the patron; and
although she had been amusing herself at his expense throughout their
previous courtship, if it could be termed such, yet she felt no less
puzzled as to the cause of such a change, and quite as anxious to
ascertain it.
On the morning in question, Mogue and Jerry Joyce had been engaged in
winnowing a large quantity of wheat in the barn. Jerry, whose manner was
ostensibly that of a soft, simple young fellow, and whom but few looked
upon as possessed of the ordinary run of common sense, was treated by
Mogue, and indeed by most, but not all of his fellow servants, as one
would treat a young lad who had not yet arrived at years of discretion,
or maturity of judgment.
"Jerry," said Mogue, "why but you do be cortin' the girls, man alive?
That I may never sin but it's a great thing to have them fond o' one."
"Ay," replied Jerry, who was perfectly well aware of his foible, "if I
had the art of sootherin' and puttin' my comedher an thim like some o'
my acquaintances; but, me! is it foolish Jerry Joyce they'd care about?
Oh, no! begor that cock wouldn't fight."
"Your acquaintances!" exclaimed Mogue, seizing upon the term, in
Jerry's reply, which he knew referred to himself, "and which of your
acquaintances, now, does be sootherin' an' puttin' his comedher an'
them, eh, Jerry?"
"Oh! dear me, Mogue," replied the other, "how droll you are! As if you
thought I didn't mane one Mogue Moylan that they're tearin' their caps
about every day in the week."
"Tearin' their caps! arrah, who is, Jerry?"
"Why, the girls."
"The girls! Och! man, sure that's an ould story; but I declare it to
you, Jerry, it isn't my fault; it's a nateral gift wid me, for I take no
pains to make them fond o' me; that I may never do harm if I do."
"An' how does it, happen that they are? Sure there's Letty, now--poor
Letty Lenehan--an' God help her! sure, for the last week, she appears to
me to be breakin' her heart. She doesn't say af coorse, that you're the
occasion of it; but doesn't every one of us know that you are? Have you
been could to her, or what?
"Why thin, now, Jerry, I declare it to you that I'm heart sorry for poor
Letty; but what can I do? I amn't my own man, now, do you hear that?"
"Sure you don't mane to say that you're married?"
"Not exactly married; but listen hither, Jerry--you don't know the man
you're spakin' to--it's a gift that God gave me--but, you don't know the
man you're spakin' to; however as for poor Letty, I'll provide for her
some way--the poor affectionate crature; an' she's good-lookin' too;
however, as I said, I'll do something for her some way," and here he
nodded and winked with most villainous significance.
If Jerry had not fully comprehended the scoundrel's character, it is
very probable that this language would have caused him to give the
hypocritical villain a sound drubbing; for it must be known to our
readers, that Jerry and Letty were faithfully attached to each other--a
circumstance which was also known to the whole family, and which
nothing could have prevented Mogue from observing but his own blind and
egregious vanity.
"But what do you mane, Mogue, when you say you aren't your own man!"
"I can't tell you; but the thruth is, Jerry--poor, good-natured
Jerry--that every man ought to look high, especially when he sees the
regard that's for him, and especially, too, when God--blessed be his
name--has gifted him as some people is gifted. There's a man hereabouts
that thinks he could put my nose out o' joint. Oh! it's a great thing,
Jerry, to have nice, ginteel, thin features, that won't spoil by the
weather. Throth, red cheeks or a white skin in a man isn't becomin'; an'
as for larnin', Jerry, it may require a long time to take it in, but a
very little hole would soon let it all out. May I never do harm but I'm
glad that job's over," alluding to the employment at which they were
engaged. "Oh! then, but that's a fine cast o' whate!"
"It is," replied Jerry; "but in regard to the larnin' I don't
undherstand you."
"No matther for that, Jerry, I may be a good friend to you yet; ay,
indeed may I--poor good-natured Jerry; an' when that time comes, if you
have any scruple in axin' Misther Moylan to countenance you and befriend
you, why it'll be your own fault my poor, good-natured Jerry."
"Many thanks, Misther Moylan," replied Jerry, assuming a gravity
which he could scarcely maintain, "remember that you don't forget your
promise. I'm goin' over to get the sacks from Misther John; an' by the
way, aren't you goin' out to-day to shoot wid Misther M'Carthy?"
"Well, I declare, I believe I am; I know the mountains well, an' I'm
fond of seein' fun, or of hearin' of it, any way."
Jerry then departed, and Mogue, now left to himself, exclaimed in
a soliloquy, "Ay, an' if I don't see it this night, I'll hear of it
to-morrow, I hope. Mr. M'Carthy, you're in my way; but as I said to that
poor _omadhawn_, although it took many a year to get the larnin' into
that head of yours, one little hole will soon let it out again." As
Mogue uttered the last words, the ear of Letty Lenehan was somewhat
nearer him than he imagined. She had come to call them to breakfast, and
seeing that the back-door of the barn was open, she approached it, as
being nearest to her, and on peeping in, half disposed for a piece of
frolic, she heard Mogue utter the soliloquy we have just repeated; but
as he stood with his back towards her, he was not at all aware that she
was present, or had heard him.
Immediately after breakfast, Mogue and M'Carthy set out for the
mountains, the latter furnished with all the necessary equipments for
the sport, and the former carrying a game-bag and refreshments; for
as M'Carthy knew that it must be the last day he could devote to such
amusements, he resolved to have a good day's sport, if possible.
"Now, Mogue," said his companion, "you are much better acquainted with
these mountains than I am, and with those places where we may be likely
to find most game. I, therefore, place myself in your hands for the
day."
"Well, indeed I ought, sir, to know them," replied Mogue, "and I believe
I do; and talkin' of that, you have often heard of the great robber and
rapparee, Shaun Bernha?"
"I have heard of him, and of his Stables, which lie up somewhere in
these mountains."
"Exactly, sir; an' it is what I was thinkin'; that we might take a look
at them in the coorse of our sport to-day; in regard, especially, that
there's more game about them than in any other part of the mountains."
"Very well, then, Mogue," replied his companion, "so be it; you are, as
I said, my guide for the day."
"But do you know, sir, why he was called Shaun Bernha?"
"No, I can't say I do."
"It was odd enough, to be sure. Howandever, may I be happy but they say
it's true! You see, sir, he was called Shaun Bernha bekaise he never had
a tooth in his head; an' no more had any of his family; and yet, sir,
it's said, that he could bite a piece out of a plate of sheet iron as
aisily as you or I could out a cake of gingerbread."
"Well, Morgue, all that I can say to that is, that he had devilish hard
gums, and stood in no fear of the toothache."
"Well, then, we'll sweep around the slebeen hills here, keepin'
Altnaveenan to our right, and Lough Mocall to our left; then, by going
right ahead we'll come to his stables; and indeed they're well worth
seein'."
"With all my heart, Mague, never say it again." And they accordingly
proceeded at a vigorous pace to the mountains, which were now distant
not more than a mile and a half from them.
In the meantime we shall leave them to pursue their game, and beg our
readers to accompany us once more to the house of our friend, Fitzy
O'Driscol, who, what between the dread of assassination on the one
hand, and the delight of having a proper subject to justify him in
communicating with the government on the other, passed his time in
alterations, now of fear, and again of his peculiar ambition to be
recognized as an active and fearless magistrate by the then existing
powers, that were, to such as knew the man and understood his character,
perfectly ludicrous. On the morning in question, he was, as usual,
seated, in his morning-gown and slippers, at the breakfast-table,
reading a country paper, in which, by the way, appeared the following
paragraph:--
"TURBULENT STATE OR THE COUNTRY.--We regret to say, that the state of
the country is every day becoming more and more unsettled. A few
days ago, whilst one of our excellent and most resolute magistrates,
Fitzgerald O'Driscol, Esq., was engaged in his office, determining an
important case of assault that came before him, and which he did, as he
usually does, to the perfect satisfaction of the parties, he received, a
threatening notice, couched in most violent language, in fact, breathing
of blood and assassination! Why a gentleman of such high magisterial
character as Mr. O'Driscol should have been selected as an object of
popular vengeance, we do not understand. Mr. O'Driscol combines in
himself all those qualities that are peculiarly suited to the discharge
of his duties in such distracted times as the present. Whilst firm and
intrepid, almost to a miracle, he is at the same time easy of access,
impartial, and kind to his humble countrymen, to whom he has uniformly
proved himself mild and indulgent, so far as justice--which by the way,
he always tempers with mercy--will allow him; and in consequence of
this, he is uniformly known, and deserves to be known, as the poor man's
magistrate. It is true, he is known also to be a man of highly loyal and
constitutional principles; a warm friend to order, peace, and a resolute
supporter of the laws of the land--qualities which are looked upon as
crimes by the resolute and disloyal among our kind-hearted but misguided
people. Of one thing, however, he would beg to apprise the mistaken
individuals who have ventured to threaten him, and that is, to take care
how they attempt to put their foolish threats into execution against so
daring and desperate a man as Mr. O'Driscol is when provoked. He goes
well armed, is a dead shot, and would feel deeply grieved at having the
blood of any of his mistaken countrymen on his hands. This we say from
what we know of Mr. O'Driscol, both as a man and as a magistrate. In
further connection with the state of the country, we cannot think but
that government, if made properly acquainted with it, would place some
mild, firm, but fearless and resolute stipendiary magistrate in our
neighborhood; we mean, of course, a man who is capable, by the peculiar
qualities of his character, to make himself an instrument of great
public good, both to the people and the government. Such a man we know;
but as we are writing without either his knowledge or consent, we do not
feel ourselves called upon to pursue this important subject further.
All we can say is, that the violent opposition which is now organized
against tithes, and which is already beginning to convulse the country,
will, and even now does require, the active courage and decided
abilities of such a man."
"Well, now, Catherine," said he, addressing his daughter, who sat near
him, "upon my honor and conscience that was a friendly paragraph of my
friend Swiggerly--extremely so, indeed. The fact is, a dinner and a good
jorum is never thrown away upon honest Swiggerly; for which raison I'll
ask him to dine here on Thursday next."
He then handed her the paper, pointing out the paragraph in question,
which she read with something of an arch smile, and which, on her
brother Fergus (who had been to Lisnagola) joining them, she handed to
him.
"Fergus," said she, looking at him with an expression of character
still more comic, but yet sufficiently subdued to prevent O'Driscol from
observing it, "is not that paragraph very complimentary to papa?"
Fergus, who at once reciprocated the comic glance alluded to, replied
rather significantly, "It is certainly very gratifying to him,
Catherine."
"And very creditable to Swiggerly," added O'Driscol.
"Yes, father," replied Fergus, "but I think he ought to preserve, if
possible, a little more originality. The substance of that paragraph has
been regularly in his paper, in one shape or other, three or four
times a year during the last couple of years. I ought to except the
introduction of the threatening notice, which certainly is a new
feature, and the only new one in it."
"Fergus," said the father, whilst his round, red, convivial features
became more inflamed, "you are super-critical this morning."
"Not at all, sir; but you will excuse me for saying, that I think a man
who is seeking to ingratiate himself with the government, what is more,
to receive substantial favors from it, ought not, from principles of
self-respect, to suffer these stereotyped paragraphs to appear from
time to time. Government is not so blind, sir, but they will at once see
through the object of such paragraphs."
"Staryrayotyped! What the devil, sir, do you mane by staryrayotype?
Do you mane to make a staryrayotype of me? That's dutiful, Mr.
Fergus--filial duty, clane and clear--and no doubt about it. But I tell
you, sir, that in spite of your staryrayotypes, it is such articles as
the able one of my friend Swiggerly that constitutes the force of public
opinion. Government! Why, sir, the government is undher more obligations
to me than I am to them. It was my activity and loyalty that was the
manes, principally, of returnin' the son of the gustus ratalorum of the
county for the borough of Addleborough. He was their own candidate; and
if that wasn't layin' them undher an obligation to me, I don't know what
was. You may say what you like, but I repate, it's a right good, thing
to have the force of public opinion in your favor."
"Yes, of public opinion, I grant you; but surely you cannot pretend,
father, that such gross and barefaced flattery as that can be termed
public opinion?"
"And why not, sir? Upon my honor and conscience, things is come to a
pretty pass when a man--a magistrate--like me, must be lectured by his
own son! Isn't it too bad, Catherine?"
"I am no politician, you know, but I think he doesn't mean to lecture
you, papa; perhaps you ought to say to reason or remonstrate with--"
"Raison! remonstrate! And what right has he aither to raison or
remonstrate with a man--or rather a magistrate--such as I am known
by the government to be. He calls that paragraph gross and barefaced
flattery, and myself a staryrayotype! but I tell him now that it is no
flattery, nor anything at all but the downright naked thruth, and no man
ought to know that better than I do, for this good raison, that it was
myself wrote every line of it, and got Swiggerly only to correct it."
A deep and crimson blush overspread his daughter's face on hearing this
mean and degrading admission; and Fergus, who was in the act of bringing
a bit of ham to his mouth, suddenly laid it down again, then looked
first at Catherine, then at his father, several times in succession. The
good-humored girl, however, whose merry heart and light spirits always
disposed her to look at the pleasant side of everything, suddenly
glancing at the red, indignant face with which her father, in the heat
of argument, and in order to illustrate the truth of public opinion in
this instance, had made the acknowledgment--all at once, and before
the rosy blush had departed from her beautiful face, burst out into
a ringing and merry laugh, which Fergus felt to be contagious and
irresistible. On glancing again at his father, he joined her in the
mirth, and both laughed long and heartily.
"And so, father," proceeded Fergus, "you bring us a paragraph written by
yourself, to illustrate the value of public opinion; but believe me,
my dear father, and I mean it with all respect, these puffs, whether
written by one's self or others--these political puffs I say, like
literary ones, always do more harm than good to the object they are
intended to serve."
"Never you mind that, Fergus, my boy, I know how to play my game,
I think; and besides, don't you know, I expect a snug-morsel from
government for yourself, my boy; yet you never consider that--not you."
"But, my dear father, I never wish to hear a respectable man like you
acknowledge that he is playing a game at all; it reminds me of the
cringing, sycophantic, and prostitute crew of political gamblers and
manoeuvrers, by whom, not only this government, but every other, is
perpetually assailed and infested, and amongst which crew it would
grieve me to think that you should be included. As to myself, if I ever
get anything from government, it must not come to me through any of
those arrangements by which trick and management, not to say dishonesty
and conniption, are, to the shame of all parties, so frequently
rewarded. With a slight change upon Pope, I say--
"'Grant me honest place, or grant me none.'"
"Pope! What the devil do I care about his opinions? let him preach and
stick to his controversy with Father Tom--from whom he hadn't so
much to brag of--but as for you, Fergus, you are, to spake plainly, a
thorough ass. What d--d stuff you have been letting out of you! Go and
find, if you can, some purer world for yourself to live in, for, let
me tell you, you are not fit for this. There is no perfection here,
Catherine, is there?"
"Oh, yes, Papa! certainly."
"There is--is there? Well, upon my honor and conscience, now, this is
the first time I've heard that argument used. Come, then, how do you
prove it--eh?"
"There is perfection, papa, occasionally at least, to be found
among women, and--you certainly, sir, cannot deny the truth of
this--occasionally, too, among magistrates--ha ha! ha!"
"Ah! Kate, I know you of old! Very good that--extremely good, upon my
word However, as I was saying, if you don't act and think as the world
about you acts and thinks, you had as good, as I said, get a betther one
if you can. Here, now, I see Mat Purcel coming up the avenue; and as
I want to have some private conversation with him, I must be off to
my office, where I desire you to send him to me. There's a time for
everything, they say, and a place for everything--I hope, Fergy, you and
I will have occasion, before long, to say, a place for some--ha! ha! ha!
Well, as I said, there's a place for everything! and I don't think it
would become me to spake upon official business anywhere but in my own
office. We must not only do our business properly, but look like it."
Purcel found our pompous little man enveloped, as we have already said,
in a most fashionable morning-gown and embroidered slippers, and at the
same time busily engaged in writing.
"How do you do, Mr. Purcel?" said he; "will you excuse me for about
three minutes, till I finish this paragraph, after which I am at your
service?"
"Certainly," said Purcel, "I'm in no hurry, Fitzy, my boy."
"Here," continued the other, "amuse yourself with that paper. By the
way, there's a flattering notice there of your humble servant, by our
friend Swiggerly, who certainly is a man of sound judgment and ability."
"I won't interrupt you now," replied the proctor; "but I will tell you
my opinion of him by and by."
The magistrate then proceeded to finish his paragraph, as he said, by
his important manner of doing which, Purcel, who thoroughly understood
him, was much amused. He frequently paused for instance, placed his chin
in the end of his half-closed hand, somewhat like an egg in an egg-cup,
looked in a meditative mood into Purcel's face, without appearing to see
him at all; then went over to the library, which ought rather to have
been pronounced his son's than his; and after having consulted a book--a
Latin Horace, which by the way he opened at the art of poetry, of which
volume it is, we presume, unnecessary to say, he did not understand
a syllable, he returned to his desk seemingly satisfied, and wrote on
until he had concluded the passage he was composing. He read it once in
silence, then nodded his head complacently, as if satisfied with what
he had Written, after which he rubbed his hands and closing the desk
exclaimed, "D--n all governments, Mr. Purcel, and I wish to heaven there
never had been a magistrate in Ireland."
"Why, what kind of doctrine is this, Fitzy," exclaimed his friend,
"especially from such a loyal man and active magistrate as you are."
"D--n loyalty too, Mr. Purcel, it's breakin' my heart and will break
it--I think I'll emigrate to America before they kill me here."
"Why, to tell you the truth, my dear Fitzy, I was a good deal alarmed
when I heard of that ugly notice you got; but it's not every man would
have borne the thing with such courage as you did."
"Thank you, Mister Purcel, I feel that as a compliment coming from you;
and by the way, I haven't forgotten to mention you with praise in
my correspondence with the Castle. However--ha! ha! ha! you rather
misunderstood me--I mane to say that the life is worn out of me, by our
present government--Good God! my friend, surely they ought to know that
there's plenty of magistrates in the country besides myself, that could
give them the information they want upon the state of the country, and
the steps they ought to take to tranquillize it, as well as I could; I
can't, however, get them to think so, and the consequence is that that
d--n Castle can't rub its elbow without consulting, me."
"Well," replied Purcel, "you are to blame yourself for it; if you were
not so loyal, and zealous, and courageous too, as you are, they would
let you alone and leave you to peace and quietness, as they do other
people."
"Upon my honor and conscience, it's little pace or quietness they
leave me, then; but I agree with you, that the whole cause of it is
my well-known loyal principle and surprising activity in keeping down
disturbance and sedition. Widow Cleary's affair was an unlucky one for
me, and indeed, Mat, it was the activity and resolution that I displayed
in making herself and her spawn of ragged brats prisoners at the head
of the Possy Comeatus, aided by the military, that first brought me into
notice with the Castle."
The proctor, who feared now that he had mounted his hobby, and that he
would inflict on him, as he was in the habit of doing after dinner, a
long-winded series of his magisterial exploits, reminded him that he had
expressed a wish to see him on very important business.
"I wouldn't care," he added, "but the truth is, Fitzy, I am pressed for
want of time, as I should have been at the bishop's court, where I
have cited several of these tithe rebels long before this. What is the
business, then?"
"It is a matter, my dear Mr. Purcel--"
"Why the devil do you Mr. Purcel me?" asked the proctor, warmly. "It was
formerly Mat and Fitzy between us, and I don't see why it should not be
so still."
"Hem--ahem--why it was, I grant, but then--not that I am at all a proud
man, Mr. Purcel--far from it, I trust--but you see--hem--the truth
is, that to a man as I am, a magistrate--trusted and--consulted by
government, and having, besides, to meet certain low prejudices against
me in the country, here, I don't think--I'm spaking of the magistrate
now, Purcel--not of the man--observe that, but the truth is--d--m the
word, for I don't think there's in the whole catalogue of names, so
vulgar a one as Fitzy--and be d--d to it."
The proctor laughed till the tears came from his eyes, at the dignified
distress with which the great little man resented this degrading
grievance.
"Ha! ha! ha! and so," said he, "I'm not to call you Fitzy; well, well,
so be it--but I have been so long in the habit of using it in our
conversation, that I shall, find it a difficult matter to change the
practice. But upon my conscience, Fitzy--I beg pardon, Mr. O'Driscol,
I must say--I think it great weakness in your worship, to let such a
trifle as that annoy you."
"It may be a weakness," said the other, "but before we go further, I
make it a personal request, that you won't use Fitzy to me, and above
all things, in the presence of strangers. I entrate and implore that you
won't."
"Very well, then--a bargain be it--but I must insist that you never call
me Mat, or anything but Mr. Purcel, again."
"Why, but you know you are not a magistrate, Mat."
"Never mind, Fitzy--hem--never mind, your worship, call me whatever you
like--unless a rogue--ha! ha! ha! well, but to business--what is this
you want with me?"
"A business that, if well managed, may be a beneficial one to you and me
both."
"Out with it, though--you know I'm in a hurry."
"Why now," proceeded the little man, relapsing unconsciously into a
sense of his violated dignity,--"curse me, if I'd for fifty--no, not
for a hundred, that the Castle should come to know that I was addressed
as Fitzy."
The proctor's mirth was again renewed, but after a moment or two, the
serious part of the conversation was resumed by the magistrate.
"Your son John, the other morning," he proceeded, in a low
and confidential tone, "hinted to me that you had partly
discovered--hem--ahem--a very important circumstance--in short, that you
had partly, if not altogether, discovered a--a conspiracy."
The proctor stared at him with unaffected surprise, which, by the way,
did not escape the magistrate's notice. "A conspiracy!" he added, "and
did John tell you this?"
"Why, not exactly," replied O'Driscol, fearing that the young man, as
we have already hinted, had been indiscreet, and consequently wished
to keep him as much out of blame as possible; "not exactly, my dear
Mat--hem--my dear Mr. Purcel, but you know that I am rather sharp--a
penetratin' fellow in my way, or I would not be of the commission
to-day--he seemed merely to drop the expression accidentally only."
"I pledge my honor to you," replied the proctor, who at once saw through
the hoax that his son had played off upon him, "that the young rascal
had no authority from me for mentioning a single syllable about it."
"Well, but, I trust, my dear Ma--Mr; Purcel, that you are not angry with
him, especially for having mentioned it to me at any rate."
"Why, my dear friend," said the other, "if the time were come, you are
the first man to whom I would disclose the circumstance, but the fact
simply is, that it is not ripe yet."
"Even so; you will have no objection, I trust, to let me know something
of the nature of it--even now."
"It is impossible!" replied the proctor, "quite out of my power; if I
breathe a syllable about it, the whole matter must be blown before the
proper time, and then--"
"Well, and what then?--proceed."
"Why, neither you nor I would be one moment safe; and in that case, it
is much more prudent that you should not know it--God forbid that I,
above all men, should be the person to involve you in risk and danger.
Your own ardor and excessive loyalty expose you--to dangers enough, and
too many."
"You promise, however, when the proper time comes, to make me acquainted
with it?"
"Certainly, when the proper time comes; and if the thing ripen at all,
you shall hear of it."
"But listen," asked O'Driscol, licking his lips as a man would when
thinking of a good dinner; "is the matter you allude to a real, actual,
bona-fide conspiracy?"
"An actual live conspiracy," replied the proctor; "and as soon as it has
reached maturity, and is full grown, you shall have all the honors of
the discovery."
"That will do, Mat--hem, that will do my dear friend. I shall have the
Castle dancing with delight--and whisper--but this is honorable between
ourselves--any advantages that may result from this affair, you shall
partake of. The Castle and I understand one another, and depend upon it,
your name shall be mentioned with all the honor and importance due to
it."
"This, then, was what you wanted with me?"
"It was, and upon my honor and conscience, you and yours, and I
and mine, will have cause to rejoice in it. Government, my dear
Mat--ahem--is a generous benefactor, and aided by it we shall work
wonders. We shall, I trust, all be provided for--your sons and my own
fool--M'Carthy, too, we shall not forget.
"All that will be very pleasant, I acknowledge," replied the proctor,
dryly, "and in the meantime good-by, and may God spare both you and me
long life and happiness--until then, and as long after it as we may wish
for."
Our friend M'Carthy, who was little aware of the liberal provision which
the benevolence of his friend had in contemplation for him, was in the
meantime likely to be provided for in a very different manner, and upon
principles very much at variance with those of that political gentleman
yclept the Castle, an impersonation which it would be exceedingly
difficult to define.
CHAPTER IX.--Sport in the Mountains.
In the course of that day Letty Lenehan, who had been musing over
Mogue's soliloquy in the barn, felt that kind of impression which every
one has felt more or less under similar circumstances. The fellow's
words left a suspicion upon her mind that there was evil designed
against young M'Carthy by this smooth-going and pious hypocrite. How to
act she felt somewhat at a loss, but as the day advanced, the singular
impression we have mentioned deepened, until she could conceal
its existence no longer. After dinner, however, she seized upon an
opportunity of consulting her friend and lover, Jerry Joyce, who, by
the way, had also been somewhat surprised at an expression which
escaped Mogue in the morning. On comparing notes, both came to the same
conclusion, viz.,--that there existed in the bosom of Mogue some latent
hard feeling against M'Carthy.
"I am sure there does," said Jerry, "and I think I know why too--Mogue
isn't the only person that has a deadly hatred against Mr. M'Carthy; and
indeed, Letty, I have raisons to fear that the poor young gintleman, for
so he is by family and blood at all events--is in great danger. However,
if it will make your mind aisy, I'll see what can be done to get him
safe over it this night."
"This night, Jerry? why what do you mane? what about this night more
than any other night?"
"Hut! you foolish girl," replied Jerry, "sure you ought to know that
it's only a way of spakin' we have, when we say this night or this day."
"Ay," replied Letty, with great shrewdness and in a spirit of keen
observation, "if you had spoken that way, you'd have said this day, and
not this night, bekaise it's not night yet."
Jerry smiled, and resolving to put an end to the conversation,
exclaimed, "Troth and I'll have a kiss from your lips, this day, and, if
you vex me much more, another this night too;" and as he spoke, with a
face of good-humor and affection, he contrived to suit the action to the
word, after which Letty sprang beyond his reach, but pausing a moment
ere she disappeared. "Jerry, listen," she proceeded, "don't let Mr.
M'Carthy come to harm either by night or day, if you can--still an' all
remember that your own life is a dearer one--to--to--yourself, at any
rate, than anybody else's is."
Jerry nodded, and was about once more to lessen the distance between
himself and her, when she immediately took to flight and disappeared,
which was precisely what he wanted.
"God protect the young man!" he exclaimed, after she had gone, "for if
that sleeveen villain is bent on doin' him harm, or, as I ought to say,
of bringin' him among them, and especially to him that hates him like
hell, this is the very night for it, and he has him on the spot too;
well, we'll see whether they'll be back in time or not, for as Mr.
M'Carthy is to dine here, Mogue at any rate must and ought to be home a
little before dusk. I'll make preparation, however, and what can be done
for him, I will do."
In the meantime we shall follow our two sportsmen into the mountains for
a time, in order to render justice to poor innocent Mogue, who little
dreamt that a human being had suspected him.
M'Carthy, on entering the mountain, at first expressed a doubt to his
companion that the circuit or sweep road by Shaun Bernha's stables was
rather extensive, and would occupy too much time, besides bringing them
farther out of their way than it was his (M'Carthy's) intention to go.
"You know, Mogue," he observed, "I am to dine with Mr. Purcel to-day,
and, if we go so far, I shall never be home in time for dinner."
[Illustration: PAGE 421-- Just trust yourself to me]
"Never mind, sir," replied his companion, "you don't know all the short
cuts of Sloebeens as well as I do. My life for yours, I'll take care
that you won't want your dinner or your supper aither, sir, I'll go
bail. Just trust yourself to me, and if I don't bring you to where the
grouse, snipes, and hares is in thousands, never put faith in me again."
M'Carthy, who had every confidence in Mogue, and, also, more than
usual respect for him, in consequence of his apparent love of truth
and religion, accompanied him without the slightest hesitation; feeling
satisfied that his intimate acquaintance with the whole wild locality
around them, was a proof that he would be able to keep his word.
The scenery of those mountains, though wild, as we have said, is,
nevertheless, remarkable for that poetic spirit of beauty which our
learned and accomplished countryman, Dr. Petrie, infused, with such
delightful effect, into his landscapes. Even the long stretches of level
moor, which lie between the hill ranges, present in summer that air of
warm repose which the mind recognizes as constituting a strong element
of beauty; but it is at evening, when the crimson sun pours a flood of
golden light upon their sides and tops, turning the rich flowery heath
with which they are covered into hues of deep purple, that the eye
delights to rest upon them. Nor is the wild charm of solitude to be
forgotten in alluding to the character of these soft and gracefully
undulating mountains. Indeed we scarcely knew anything more replete with
those dream-like impressions of picturesque romance which, in a spirit
so perfectly solitary, sleep, still and solemn, far from the on-goings
of busy life, in the distant recesses of these barren solitudes. Many a
time when young have we made our summer journey across the brown hills,
which lay between us and the mountains we are describing, for the
express purpose of dreaming away whole hours in their contemplation, and
steeping our early imagination in the wild and novel beauty which our
heart told us the spirit of solitude had impressed upon them.
How far our sportsmen proceeded, or in, what precise direction, we
are not in a capacity to inform our readers. That they proceeded much
further, however, than M'Carthy had wished or contemplated, will soon
become sufficiently evident. What kind of sport they had, or whether
successful or otherwise, it is not our present purpose to say. Be the
game abundant or scarce, we leave them to pursue it, and request the
reader to accompany us in a direction somewhat removed, but not very far
different from theirs.
It may be necessary, however, to state here previously, that these
mountains are remarkably--indeed proverbially--subject to deep,
impervious mists, which wrap them in a darkness far more impenetrable
to the eye than the darkest nights, and immeasurably more confounding
to the reason, by at once depriving the individual whom they chance to
overtake, of all sense of his relative position. At night the moon and
stars may be seen, or even a fire or other light at a distance; but
here, whilst enveloped in one of those dark and dismal fogs, no earthly
object is seen within two yards of you, and every step made is replete
with doubt or danger, and frequently with death itself, in the shape of
deep shoreless lakes and abrupt precipices. The night had now set in for
about two hours, and one of the deep fogs which we have just described
began to break into broad gray fragments, which were driven by the wind
into the deeper hollows, dissipated almost at once into the thin
and invisible air. Sometimes a rush of wind would sweep along like a
gigantic arrow, running through the mist, and leaving a rapid track
behind it like a pathway. Sometimes again a whirl-blast would sweep
round a hill, or rush up from a narrow gorge, carrying round, in wild
and fantastic gyrations, large masses of the apparently solid mist,
giving thus to the scene such an appearance as would lead the spectator
to suppose that some invisible being or beings, of stupendous power,
were engaged in these fearful solitudes.
The night, we have said, had set in, and the mist was clearing, or had
altogether cleared away. Up far in these mountains lived a herd, or
caretaker and gamekeeper, all in one, named Frank Finnerty. He was a man
of bad character--gloomy, sullen, and possessed of very little natural
feeling. The situation in which he resided was so remote and solitary,
so far from the comforts and conveniences that are derived from human
intercourse, that scarcely any other man in the parish could be induced
to undertake the duties attached to it, or consent to live in it at all.
Finnerty, however, was a dark, unsocial man, who knew that he was not
liked in the country, and who, on his part, paid back to society its
hatred of him with interest. He had been engaged in many outrages
against the law, and had been once sentenced to transportation for
manslaughter--a sentence which would have been carried into effect were
it not for a point made m his case by the lawyer who defended him--His
wife was a kind-hearted, benevolent woman naturally, but she had been
for years so completely subdued and disjointed, that she was, at the
period we write of, a poor, passive, imbecile creature, indifferent
to everything, and with no more will of her own than was necessary to
fulfil the duties of mere mechanical existence.
It was now near ten o'clock; Finnerty and she had been sitting at the
fire in silence for some time, when at length she spoke.
"Well, I hope there was no one out on the mountains in that mist."
"Why," said he, "what is it to you or me whether there was or not?"
"That's thrue," she replied, "but one wouldn't like any harm to come to
a fellow-creature."
"Dear me," he exclaimed, in harsh tones of hatred and irony, "how fond
you are of your fellow-cratures to-night! little your fellow-cratures
care about you."
"Well, indeed, I suppose that's thrue enough, Frank; what 'ud make them
care about me or the likes o' me, and for all that whether they may
think o' me now, I remimber the time when they did care about me, and
when I was loved and respected by all that knew me."
There was a touching humility, and a feeble but heart-broken effort at
self-respect in the poor woman's words and manner that were pitiful and
pathetic to the last degree, and which even Finnerty himself was obliged
to acknowledge.
"But where's the use of thinking about these things now," he replied;
"it isn't what we were then, Vread, but what we are now, that we ought
to think of."
"But, sure, Frank," said the simple-minded creature, "one cannot prevint
the memory from, goin' back to the early times, when we wor happy, and
when the world was no trouble to us."
There was a pause, and after a little she added, "I dunna is the night
clearin'?"
Finnerty rose, and proceeding to the door, looked out a moment, then
went to the corner of the house to get a better view of the sky, after
which he returned.
"The mist is gone," he observed, "from the mountains, and I suppose the
boys will soon begin to come."
"Throth, Frank," she replied, "I hate these nightly meetin's that you
hould here--all this plottin' and plannin' isn't nor can't be good."
"You hate them! an' who the ould diaoul cares whether you do or not? I
allow them this house to meet in, bekaise it's large and far from the
polis. A house down in the country, where they might pop in on them,
wouldn't be so safe; here, however, no one would suspect them of
meetin', and from the way the house is situated, no one could come upon
us widout bein' known or seen. You hate! that indeed!"
"An' what do they meet for, Frank? if it's a fair question!"
"It's not a fair question, an' you have no business to ax; still if you
want to know, and if it can make you anything the wiser, you shall hear.
It's to break a Millstone they meet."
"To brake a millstone, _inngh!_ Oh, sorra a word of that I believe. Sure
there's no millstone here?--if you want to break millstones you must go
farther up--to Carnmore, where they make them. Sorra millstone's here, I
know."
"You know--oh, how much you know! I tell you, there's a great Millstone
that covers and grinds the whole kingdom, or at least the greatest parts
of it--that's the Millstone we want to brake, and that we will brake."
"When did you hear from Mark Ratigan, or see him?"
"Mark Ratigan is snug and comfortable as a laborin' boy wid Magistrate
Driscol that's in--hem--but listen to me, now if you should meet Mark
anywhere down the country, you're neither to call him Mark nor Ratigan,
otherwise you may be the manes of hangin' the poor boy."
"Throth, an' by all accounts, he'll come to the gallows yet."
"Well, and many a betther man did. I expect him and Hourigan both here
tonight."
"An' what name does he go by now?" she asked.
"By the name of Phil Hart; and remember when there's any stranger
present, you're never to call him anything else--but above all things,
and upon the peril of your life, never call him Mark Ratigan."
"And do you think," replied his wife, "that I won't take care not to
do it? But, Frank, tell me what was Mogue Moylan doin' here the night
before last?"
"Only to let me know that he and a Misthor M'Carthy--a great friend
of his and of two good creatures--Magistrate Driscol and Procthor
Purcel--wor to come out shootin' on the mountains to-day and to ax if I
would prevent them."
"An' did you give them lave?" she inquired.
A very peculiar expression passed over the dark grim features of her
husband. "Did I give them lave?" he replied; "well, indeed, you may take
your davy, I did. Why would I refuse a dacent gintleman, and a friend of
Mogue Moylan's lave to shoot? Poor dacent Mogue, too, that loves thruth
and religion so well--ha! ha! ha!--whisht!--here's some one."
The words were scarcely uttered, when our friends, M'Carthy and Mogue,
made their appearance in the caretaker's house, both evidently in a
fatigued state, especially M'Carthy, who had not been so well accustomed
to travel over mountain scenery as his companion.
"Well, blessed be God that we have got the roof of a house over us at
last!" exclaimed Mogue. "Frank Finnerty, how are you? an' Vread, achora,
not forgettin' you--my hand to you both, but we're lost--especially this
gentleman, Mr. M'Carthy--a great friend of Mr. O'Driscol's and Procthor
Parcel's--but a betther man than either o' them, I hope."
"I am fairly knocked up, I admit," said M'Carthy--"in fact, I am more
jaded than I ever was in my life."
"Take a chair, sir," said Finnerty; "you are welcome at all events,
and I am glad to see you, or any friend of Mogue's; take this chair,
sir--and--here, Mogue, do you take a stool; you must be both in a sad
state, sure enough."
"Thank you, Frank," replied Mogue, "oh, then, bad cess to it for a dirty
mist--God pardon me for cursin' the poor mist though, for sure it wasn't
it's fault, the crathur of a mist we oughn't to curse anything that
God has made, but indeed I'm a great sinner that way, God forgive me;
howandever as I was sayin', only for it afther all, Mr. Francis, it's
atin' your comfortable dinner, or rayther drinkin' your fine wine you'd
be now at Mr. Purcel's illigant table, instead of bein' here as you are,
however, sure it's good to have a house over our heads any way."
Finnerty and his wife heaped more turf on the fire, and the poor
woman, with that kind spirit of hospitality and sympathy for which her
countrywomen are so remarkable, told them that they must necessarily
be hungry, and said she would lose no time in providing them with
refreshment.
"Many thanks," replied M'Carthy, "it is not refreshment, but rest we
require; we have had more refreshments of every kind with us than he
could use, and it is well we were so provident, otherwise we never would
or could have reached even this house alive. Such a day I have never
spent--we have done nothing but wade through this d--d mist for the last
six or eight hours, without the slightest knowledge of whereabout we
were."
"Well, well, Mr. Francis, sure it's one comfort that we're safe at all
events," said Mogue; "only I'm frettin' myself about the onaisiness
they'll all feel at home, I mane in Mr. Purcel's, about you. Do you know
now, that a thought strikes me, sir; I'm fresher than you are a good.
deal. Now what if I'd run home and make their minds aisy in the first
place, and get Jerry Joyce to bring the car up for you as far as the
mountain road? You can rest yourself here in the manetime, and Frank
Finnerty will see you safe that far. I'll carry the gun and things with
me too--so that you'll have a lighter tramp down the hills."
This arrangement was precisely what M'Carthy could have wished.
"Thank you, Mogue, for thinking of this--you are a considerate kind
fellow, and I cordially admit that I owe my life to you this day.
Had you not been with me I must have lost my way and perished in the
mountains."
Mogue and Finnerty exchanged glances, which, however, did not escape
the observation of the wife, who thoroughly understood those changes of
expression, which reflected her husband's darker and sterner purposes.
"Why, then, Misther Frank, that I may be happy but I am glad I was with
you, so I am, for indeed only for me I don't think, sure enough, that
ever you'd see this house to-night. There's some spirits left here
still, and as I'm for another stretch, I don't think a glass of it will
do me, or for that matther, Frank Finnerty here, any harm. You can see
me down the hills a piece, Frank; and you, Mr. Francis, might throw
yourself on the bed a while, and get an hour's sleep or so."
This too was agreed to--Mogue and Finnerty took each a glass of whiskey,
as did Mrs. Finnerty, by permission of her husband, and in a few minutes
she and M'Carthy were left by themselves.
After the two worthies had been gone a few minutes, she proceeded to the
door, and as the night had now become tolerably light, she looked out,
but with a great deal of caution. At first she saw no person, but in
walking in the shadow of the house, along! the sidewall to the left, she
was able to observe five or six persons coming towards her husband
and Moylan in a body; she saw that they stopped and were in close
conversation, pointing frequently towards the house as they spoke. She
returned to M'Carthy with the same caution, and, approaching him, was
about to speak, when dread of her husband supervened for the moment, and
she paused like a person in doubt. The peculiar glare and the satanic
smile which her husband gave to Mogue, who, by the way, seemed perfectly
to understand it, oppressed her with an indistinct sense of approaching
evil which she could neither shake off, nor separate from the strange
gentleman to whom their glances evidently referred. She remembered also
to have heard her husband say upon one occasion when he was drunk,
that Mogue Moylan was the deepest villain in the barony--ay, or in the
kingdom; and that only for his cowardice he would be a man after his own
heart. 'Twas true, she knew that he had contradicted all this afterwards
when he got sober, and said it was the liquor that caused him to speak
as he did, that Mogue was a good kind-hearted crature, who loved truth,
and was one of the most religious boys among them.
This, however, did not satisfy her; the impression of some meditated
evil against their temporary guest was too strong to be disregarded, and
on recollecting that Mogue had been up with her husband only the
evening but one before, as if to prepare him for something unusual, the
conviction arose to an alarming height.
We have said that this woman was a poor passive creature, whose life was
a mere round of almost mechanical action. This, to be sure, so far as
regarded her own domestic duties, and in general every matter in which
her husband's opinions and her own could clash, was perfectly true. She
was naturally devoid, however, of neither heart nor intellect, when
any of her fellow-creatures happened to come within the range of her
husband's enmity or vengeance, as well as upon other occasions too, and
it was well known that she had given strong proofs of this. Her life in
general appeared to be one long lull, but, notwithstanding its quietude,
there was, under circumstances of crime or danger, the brooding storm
ready to start up into action.
"Sir," said she, on returning into the house, "I'm a plain and ignorant
woman, so that you needn't feel surprised or alarmed at anything I am
goin' to say. I hope you will pardon me, sir, when I ax if you seen my
husband before, or if you know him either more or less?"
M'Carthy did feel surprised, and replied in the negative to both points
of her question--"I do not know your husband," he said, "nor have I to
my knowledge ever seen him until to-night; may I beg to inquire why you
ask?"
"It's not worth your while," she replied, "it was a mere thought that
came into my head: but you and Mogue Moylan never had a dispute, sir?"
"Why, what can put such a notion into your head, my good woman?
Certainly not. Mogue and I have been always on the best of terms."
She paused again for some minutes, after which, she said, in a voice not
audible.
"There's something in the wind for all that.
"Sir." she proceeded, "you'll think me odd, but will you let me ax if
you wor ever threatened or put on your guard, of if you know of any
enemy you have that would wish to injure you?"
M'Carthy now started, and, looking at her with a gaze of equal curiosity
and astonishment, replied, "Your language, my good woman, is beyond
doubt very strange--why do you ask me these questions?"
"Answer me first, if you plaise," she replied.
"I have certainly been put on my guard," he returned, "and informed
that I ought to be cautious, for that I had an enemy and that danger was
before me."
"When, and in what way did this happen?"
"I shall make no further communication on the subject," he replied,
"until you speak more plainly."
"Then," she proceeded, "I'm afeard there's danger over you this night,
if God hasn't said it."
"Not, I trust, while I am under the protection of your husband and Mogue
Moylan."
She shook her head. "If you haven't something better to depend upon,
I wouldn't think myself overly safe; but you didn't answer the last
question I axed you. How wor you warned, and who warned you?"
He then gave her a brief account of the rencounter he had with the
Whiteboys, and alluded to the unknown but friendly individual who had
put him on his guard.
"I knew it," she exclaimed, "I knew it; I couldn't mistake the look that
passed between them. Now, in God's name," she said, "if you're able to
drag a limb afther you at all, start out o' this and save yourself, and,
let what will happen, I entreat, for the love of God, that you won't
mention my name."
This he faithfully promised; "But," replied he to her warning, "I really
am not able to escape, and I cannot think that your husband would injure
a man who never offended him."
"But that's not the way they do sich things; it's not the man you
offended that will injure you, but some blackguard stranger that he gets
to do it for him, and that you'll know nothing about. In God's name, I
say, be off out o' this. Even as a stranger you can hardly be safe, and
if you wish to know why, whisper," and she spoke so low as only barely
to be heard, "there's a meeting of Whiteboys to be here to-night;
anyhow, you're the friend of O'Driscol and Procthor Purcel, and that
same would be enough to make them give you a knock. Don't face home,"
said she, "or you'll be likely to meet them, but take the mountains wanst
more on your head. Get out upon the road at Altanaveenan and you may be
safe. God of Glory!" she exclaimed, "here they are--but watch my face
and be guided by me--here, throw yourself into that bed below and
pretend to sleep--I'll do what woman can, but I'm afeared we lost our
chance."
M'Carthy distinctly heard them laughing as they approached the door,
and, in accordance with the advice he had got, he went to the lower
part of the house and lay down on the bed, where he closed his eyes and
breathed like one asleep. He now began to investigate Mogue's conduct,
in persisting to bring him by so circuitous a sweep such a distance out
of his way, and decidedly contrary to his wishes. He hesitated, however,
to inculpate Mogue, who certainly could not have anticipated or brought
on the fog, which had occasioned them to wander for such a length of
time among the mountains. Then, on the other hand, he deprived him of
his gun and ammunition, but might not that also have been from motives
of kindness?
In the meantime, eight or ten men came into the house each and all with
their faces blackened, and some of them as before wearing shirts outside
their dress; and this he could see from the position of the bed where he
lay. The chat among themselves and with Mrs. Finnerty was not, as is the
case in romances, either mysterious or awful. On the contrary, it was
light and pleasant, and by no means calculated to heighten McCarthy's
fears; who, to say truth, however, although resolute and full of
courage, would as lief been spending the evening with his friend the
proctor.
"Well, Vread," said one of them, "any news in the mountains?"
"News in the mountains!" exclaimed Vread, "well, indeed, that's good."
"Any deaths or marriages among the grouse, eh?"
Vread, as we have said, had got a glass of spirits, a circumstance
which, to a low heart but a kind one like hers, may probably have
accounted for a portion of her energy, as well as of her sympathy with
the apprehended danger to M'Carthy.
"Troth," she replied, with more vivacity than might have been expected
from her, "when you spake to a dacent woman it ought to be with a clane
face at any rate."
"Why, Vread, how can you say it's dirty," replied the fellow, "when you
know I washed it before I came out?"
"It must be in the divil's basin, then," she replied, "for if one can
judge by their eyes, you're more like one of his childre than your
honest father's, whoever he was or is. Troth, I'm afeard it's a dirty
business you're; all about to-night, if a body is to take you by your
looks."
"Why, then," observed another, "who 'ud think that poor die-away Vread
had so much spunk in her? Vread," he proceeded, "you must a been a great
beauty wanst upon a time; a very purty face you had, they say."
"Whatever it was," she replied, "I thank God I was never ashamed to show
it like too many of my neighbors."
"Don't be too sure that we're your neighbors, Vread."
"Troth, I hope not," she returned; "I don't think my neighbors 'ud be
consarned in sich disgraceful work, as I'm afraid brings yez out. Faugh
upon you all! its unmanly."
Her husband, accompanied by six or eight more, now made his appearance;
a circumstance which at once put an end to the part that his wife was
disposed to bear in their conversation.
Other chat of various character then took place, in which, however,
M'Carthy, who now watched them closely, could observe that they did not
all join.
"Whisht," said one of them, "is there anybody asleep in the house? I
think I hear some one snorin!"
"There is," said Finnerty, "a gentleman that was out shootin' to-day wid
a servant-man of Mr. Parcel's the procthor--named Mogue Moylan."
"And a very great scoundrel is Mogue Moylan," said one of them, with a
wink at the rest.
"Well, no," said Finnerty, "I think not--poor Mogue's a daecnt, quiet
crature, and has a great regard for truth and religion."
M'Carthy, from his position the bed, had, by means of a fortunate rift
in the blankets, a complete view of the whole party, and he could mark
with accuracy, in consequence of their black faces, every grin now made
distinctly visible by their white teeth.
"Who is the gentleman that snores so beautifully?" asked another of
them.
"He is a gentleman named O'Connor," replied poor Vread, anxious, if
possible, even at the risk of much subsequent abuse and ill-treatment,
to conceal his name.
"Ay," said Finnerty, corroborating her; much, indeed, to her
astonishment, "he is a Mr. O'Connor, I believe, a very handsome-lookin',
fine young fellow."
"What the blazes," said another of them, "keeps him? Surely he ought to
be here before now. Had Mr. O'Connor good sport?"
"How could he," replied Finnerty, "wid the fog that was on the
mountains?"
At this moment an individual made his appearance, whom it was impossible
to look upon without being most forcibly struck by his figure. He was
a broad-shouldered, muscular, powerful man, with immensely large limbs;
his hair was black, and a huge pair of whiskers of the same color
stretched across his cheeks, met at his chin, and ran down in an
unbroken line round a huge and remarkably well-set neck. The moment he
entered, and before he had time to speak, two or three of them instantly
placed their fingers significantly upon their lips, as if to indicate
silence, apprehensive, as M'Carthy at the time thought, lest his voice
might be recognised. Another of them then whispered something to him,
and whatever the secret was, it caused him to glance for a moment, and
involuntarily, towards the bed. All that he spoke afterwards was uttered
in whispers.
CHAPTER X.--The Sport Continued.
Finnerty's house, which had been built for more purposes than were
necessary for the accommodation of a caretaker or gamekeeper, was simply
a plain apartment, tolerably large, with room enough in it for a
couple of beds; to this was added a shooting-lodge for the owner of the
mountains, which consisted of three or four bed-rooms opening from a
well-sized dining-room, and a kitchen distinct from the apartment which
constituted the dwelling of the gamekeeper, being that which Finnerty,
as such, then occupied. It was in the dining-room of the shooting-lodge
that the Whiteboy meetings were uniformly held, although of late it had
been usual for those who attended them to sit in Finnerty's house until
the hour had arrived for commencing business, when they adjourned to the
other. We should say that the gamekeeper's house, though under the same
roof, as it is termed, with the shooting-lodge, was distinct from it
in other respects; that is to say, there was no internal communication
between them.
"Who was that fellow that we met with you a while ago?" asked one of
them a second time, as if having forgotten his name.
"Poor Mogue Moylan," replied Finnerty, "and sadly bate down he was wid
this day's Work; I advised him to go to bed as soon as he could, and
refresh himself by a good sleep."
"Advise!" said a voice, that almost made M'Carthy start, "it's aisier
to give good advice than it is to take it; Mogue's not the only fool in
this world that won't take good advice when it's given."
There could be no mistaking his voice. M'Carthy at once recognized
that of the unknown friend who had warned him of danger on the night he
encountered the Whiteboys, as already described.
"Come," proceeded he, "it is time we should commence business and settle
the affairs of the nation at wanst; throth," he added, with a laugh, "if
I was the same nation, and had a pair of good legs undher me--"
"Of what?" said the person with the black whiskers, who was evidently
their leader, "of what?"
"Of ginerals like Bonnypart and Sarsfield, I'd soon have the country
clear and the millstone pavin' the roads under our feet, as it will be
before long, plaise God. Come, then, to business."
They accordingly proceeded to the adjoining house, with the exception of
Finnerty himself, who, whether for the sake of safety, or rather for the
purpose of watching M'Carthy, remained at his own fireside. His wife, on
seeing this, pretended to be engaged with some domestic matter about
the dresser, on which she placed a freshly lit rushlight, and availing
herself of her position behind the back of her husband, who sat with his
face towards the bed, she slightly raised her hands and eyes, as if to
intimate that escape, she feared, was impossible.
It is incredible, the reaction which a new sensation, especially of joy
or terror, or, indeed, of any feeling that is strong, superinduces
upon the spirit, under circumstances of peculiar danger or interest.
M'Carthy's fatigue, for instance, had now as completely departed from
him as if he had not been abroad that day, and in consequence of
the significant hint which he had received through the voice of his
mysterious friend, he felt that if an opportunity were only offered him
he would use the two legs to which his friend had alluded, when checked
by the stern voice of their leader, with as much agility as ever they
possessed during his life. It was this hint which made him feel certain,
for the first time, that he was in imminent danger.
Half an hour had now elasped, and it was evident, from the listening
attitudes and frequent stortings of Finnerty, that the debate in the
lodge was high and serious. At length, one of the society hurriedly made
his appearance, exclaiming; in a kind of condensed and agitated whisper,
"Come in and help us--they won't stand the thing, there's only three for
us." Finnerty took the candle; and, after signing to the person to
go out, brought it close to M'Carthy's eyes, who opened his mouth and
assumed with singular success all the deep insensible relaxation which
characterizes heavy sleep. Finnerty even shook him, and said, "Hadn't
you better get up, sir, and come to meet the car?" He addressed a log,
however, and after another more careless and evidently satisfied glance,
he laid down the candle, and then said to his wife, in a whisper, which,
however, M'Carthy could hear; "The moment he wakens let us know."
Vread, who would not seem to attach any importance to the circumstance,
simply nodded, by way of acquiescence, and her husband, went to join
those in the lodge.
In every country whose political, commercial, or social relations, are
not properly settled, or in which there exists a struggle between
the principles at variance with civil order and those of enlightened
progress, there will always be found a considerable portion of
the population ripe and ready for violence and crime. This is an
undisputable fact, and one the more dangerous too, inasmuch as crime is
usually stripped by these misguided wretches of its inherent guilt, and
looked upon as a necessary instrument, or, in other words, as a means
to work out an end. It is true, the relative portion of the reckless
and guilty is, in this country at least, considering its population,
exceedingly small, for we all know how miserable the number of those
who are at any time necessary to involve the character of a district at
large, or inculpate the moral reputation of a whole country. At the same
time, we must unquestionably admit, that, if we contrast the population
of the country at large, and the frequency of crime in it, joined to
its character of cool and deliberate atrocity, with that of the sister
countries, we must candidly acknowledge, that the conduct of the people,
even taking the proportions I have mentioned into consideration, is not
only without parallel in modern times, but that religion is not merely a
name, but, in every sense, incapable, whether by its internal spirit
or maladministration, of discharging to society those great functional
duties which mankind have a right to expect from it. But now to return.
Finnerty had joined the meeting; his wife, approaching M'Carthy, said,
in a low whisper--
"They have some argument about you, whatever it is. However, with God's
assistance, I'll venthur to do a thing that may be dangerous enough to
myself, at any rate; but what do I care about that, if I can save an
unoffendin' fellow-creature from harm?--Stay where you are then, till I
come in again."
She went out as she spoke, and after an? interval of about six or eight
minutes again made her appearance.
"I can't hear them plain enough," she said, on her return, "but whatever
it is, I can undherstan' that the most of them all is against it. In
God's name, at any rate, stay where you are--they're risin' to go
home, and as the night's light they'd be sure to pounce upon you if
you attempted to escape. Whatever I can do to save you from harm here I
will."
The poor woman's escape from detection, while performing the friendly
office of listening, was indeed very narrow. Short and hurried as her
last advice to M'Carthy was, the words in which she conveyed it had
scarcely been uttered, when her husband, accompanied by three persons,
their faces still blackened, made his appearance. They took seats in
silence around the fire, and one of them, handing over a bottle of
whiskey to Finnerty, merely nodded, as much as to say, pass that about.
Finnerty accordingly did so, and each of them drank a glass or two,
after which they were silent as before. This silence, to M'Carthy, began
to wear a solemn and a fearful aspect, especially as he knew enough of
the habits of the people to be aware, that in drinking whiskey is often
resorted to in order to deaden their moral, perceptions, or, in other
words, as a stimulant to crime.
At length, after about a quarter of an hour had elapsed, and three of
them--that is to say, two of the strangers and Finnerty--had each drank
three glasses of spirits, the fourth, who had taken only one glass,
beckoned to the other two to follow him.
"I think," said he, "they are all gone, and the coast is clear."
In this man's voice, M'Carthy, to his infinite delight, once more
recognized that of his unknown well-wisher. Be this as it may, he and
the other two left the house, and, as the reader is no doubt interested
in their movements, we shall permit him to follow them to the
dining-room of the shooting-lodge, where the meeting had just been held.
"Very well, then," he proceeded, "it is so best, as none of us can
become a traitor against the rest. Shew me your pistols; for, as I'm an
ould soger, I'll regulate them for you better than you'll be able to do
yourselves."
He accordingly took their pistols, examined them closely, fixed the
powder in the pans, adding' a fresh supply of priming from a little
goat's horn which he carried in his-pocket. He then took out his own,
which he simply looked at, and again returned to his pocket.
"Now," said he, "our best plan is to take him about the small o' the
back, when he's before us, one only at a time; you," said he, addressing
the tallest, "will fire first; you,"--to the other--"next if he misses
him; and, as I'm the boy that doesn't miss my mark, I'll take him down,
never fear, if he should escape either of you. Come now, let us go in
and get him to his legs, that we may start."
On making their appearance again, Finnerty approached M'Carthy, and
exclaimed as before, but on this occasion with a loud and earnest voice,
"Come, sir, get up if you plaise; it's time for you to meet the car." To
this M'Carthy made no reply.
"Come, sir," repeated Finnerty, "bounce; hillo, I say, Mr. M'Carthy; up
wid you, sir, the car will be waitin' for you;" and he gave him a slap
on the shoulder as he spoke.
"Hallo!" exclaimed the pretended sleeper, "have a care--easy,'
easy--what's that? who are you?--eh--aw--oh, dear me, where am I?"
"In a friend's house, sir; get up, you know Mr. Purcel's car is waitin'
for you at the mountain road below."
M'Carthy started to his feet, and on looking about him, exclaimed, "How
is this, Finnerty? why are the faces of these men blackened?"
"Never you mind that, sir," replied Finnerty, "they are two or three
poor fellows that's on their keepin' in regard to havin' paid their
tithes against the will o' the people; an' they don't wish to be known,
that's all."
"Well," replied M'Carthy, "that's their own affair, and neither yours
nor mine, Finnerty. Come, then, are you ready? for I am."
"These boys, Mr. M'Carthy, has promised to take the best care of you
while in their company, an' as they're goin' to the mountain road,
where your're to meet the car, they'll bring you safe, sir."
"Most certainly not, Finnerty," replied the other; "I shall be escorted
by no person or persons ashamed to show their faces. If you refuse to
come, you break your word with me; but, in any event, I shall not
travel with these men. I am too well aware of the disturbed state of the
country, and that, being a friend of Mr. Purcel, I may not be popular. I
consider myself, however, under your protection and under the protection
of your roof, and for this reason I shall hold you accountable for my
safety; and, at all events, unless you insist on expelling me, I shall
remain where I am until morning."
"Why, if you insist upon it, I'll go," replied Finnerty, and four
friends about you will be betther and safer than one; but in troth, to
tell you the truth, Mr. M'Carthy, I'm a'most fairly knocked up myself,
havin' been down the counthry and through the hills the greater part of
the day. I have a great number of cattle to look afther, an' am seldom
off my foot."
"Don't, sir," said his wife, in tones which were now perfectly
intelligible to him, "don't ax poor Frank to go wid you tonight; you'll
be as well widout him, especially as the night's so bright and clear;
he's tired indeed, and, be the same token, I don't like to be here in
the clouds of the night, wid nobody wid me but myself."
"If you're a gentlemen, sir," said the friendly voice, "you won't take
this honest man from his wife at such an hour o' the night. If you take
my advice too, I'd recommend you to come along wid ourselves at wanst."
There was no mistaking the friendly voice embodied in these words, as
well as in those of Mrs. Finnerty. M'Carthy accordingly replied:--
"Very, well, Finnerty, I will proceed with these men. I should indeed
be sorry to cause you any additional fatigue, or to fetch you from your
house at such an hour. I will therefore put myself under the protection
and guidance of these worthy fellows, who, I hope, will remember
that although a friend to Mr. Purcel personally, yet I am none to any
harshness he may have resorted to for the recovery of his tithes."
"There's nobody here," replied the still friendly voice, "inclined
to offer you any offense, bekaise you happen to be a friend to Mr.
Purcel"--and there was a marked emphasis laid upon the name--"so now,"
the voice proceeded, "you may make your mind aisy on that head."
A singular but significant laugh proceeded, from the other two, which,
however, was repressed by a glance from "the friend," who said, "Come,
boys, turn out; now, sir, the sooner we get over this journey the
betther."
"Well, Finnerty," said M'Carthy, "many thanks for the hospitable shelter
of your house, and to you also, Mrs. Finnerty, for your kindness and the
trouble I have occasioned you."
Mrs. Finnerty's voice had now nearly abandoned her; and, as our young
sportsman, after having shaken hands with her husband, now paid that
compliment to herself, he perceived that the poor creature's hand was
literally passive and cold as ice, whilst the words she attempted to
utter literally died away unspoken on her lips.
Having got about a mile from the house, his unknown friend began to
become loquacious, and related several anecdotes of successful escape
from the meshes and minions of the law, a theme in which his
two companions seemed to take singular delight; for they laughed
immoderately at every recorded victory in outwitting the legal
functionaries aforesaid.
"I was wanst upon a time," he proceeded, "taken up for a resky; (* a
rescue) the case bein' you see, that we wanted the rent and the landlord
wanted patience; so begad, at any rate, we gev the bloody bailiffs a
thrifle for themselves, and the consequence was that we brought the cows
back to a neighbor's place that belonged to another property, and the
four bailiffs, poor creatures, lay upon the ground lookin' at us, an'
never said ill we did it, for a raison they had; do you undherstand,
boys?"
"Ay, we do undherstand; the bloddy thieves; divil break his neck
that invinted rint, anyhow; sure there's no harm in wishin' that, the
villain."
"Ay, an' tides," (* Tithes) replied the other; "however, we'll settle
that first, and then the rents will soon follow them; an' sure there's
no harm in that aither."
"Well an' good:--no, divil a harm's in it;--well an' good: to make a
long story short, they grabbed me in a house up in the mountains--not
unlike Finnerty's, I think that's his name--where I was on my keepin';
so what 'ud you have of it, but we were comin' acrass the hills, jist as
it might be said we are now--only there's none of us a prisoner, thank
goodness--hem! Well, I said to myself, hit or miss, I'll thry it; I have
a pair o' legs, an' it won't be my fault or I'll put them to the best
use: an' for that raison it'll be divil take the hindmost wid us. Now
listen, boys; I started off, an' one fellow that had a pistol let bang
at me, but long life to the pistol, divil a one of it would go off; bang
again came the other chap's, but 'twas ditto repaited, and no go any
more than the other. Well, do you know now, that the third fellow--for
there was only three af them, I must tell you--the third fellow, I'm
inclined to think, was a friend at bottom; for the devil a one of him
struv to break his heart in overtakin' me. Well, by that manes, I say, I
got off from two of as double-distilled villains as ever wor born to die
by suspin-sion."
This narrative, the spirit of which was so acceptable to his two
companions, and, if truth must be told, equally so to the third, was
treasured up by M'Carthy, who felt that it ingeniously but cautiously
pointed out to him the course he should adopt under his own peculiar
circumstances. The consequence was, that on coming within about a couple
of furlongs of a dark, narrow, thickly-wooded glen, through which he
knew they must pass, he bolted off at the top of his speed, which,
although very considerable for a man whose strength had been so
completely exhausted by fatigue and the unusual slavery of that day's
wandering through the mountains, was, notwithstanding, such as would
never have enabled him to escape from his companions.
He had not gone a perch when the click of a pistol was heard, but no
report; the fact having been, that the pistol missed fire, and did not
go off.
"D--n your blood!" exclaimed the "friend" to the other, "fire, and don't
let him escape;" the ruffian did so when click No. 2 was heard, but as
before no report.
"Aisy," said the fellow who had fired first, pulling out a long Spanish
dagger; "an inch or two of this is as safe as a bullet, any day; and
by japers he won't escape it." He sprang after M'Carthy as he spoke,
followed by his companion. The third man stepped a pace or two to the
right, and levelling a long double-barrelled pistol, deliberately fired,
when McCarthy's first pursuer fell; the second man, however, with that
remarkable, quickness of wit which characterizes the Irish, in their
outrages as well as in their pastimes, suddenly stooped, and taking
the dreadful dagger out of the hands of the wounded man, continued the
pursuit bounding after his foe with a spirit of vengeance and ferocity,
now raised to the highest pitch. The stranger, seeing that M'Carthy was
still in equal danger if not in still greater, for the now infuriated
ruffian was gaining upon him, once more levelled his pistol--fired--and,
as before, down came the intended assassin. He himself then sprang
forward, as if in pursuit of M'Carthy, exclaiming, "Hell and fury, why
did yez keep between me and him--I think he's hit; give me that dagger,
and I'll go bail I'll make his body soon put six inches of it out of
sight," and having uttered, these words, he rushed forward, as if in
pursuit of their victim.
After he had left them, the following brief dialogue took place between
these two worthies:--
"Hourigan, blazes to me but I'm shot."
"Hell's perdition to the unlucky villain--so am I--where are you shot,
Mark?"
"By japers, the blood's pourin' out from me in the thigh, an' I'm afeard
I'm done for--blast his unlucky hand, the villain; I wisht I had my
dagger in him. Where are you shot, Darby?"
"Oh, vo--vo--on the right hip--but--oh, sweet Jasus, what will become
of us if we're to die here--may the devil clap his cruibs (* Talons;
claws) in the sowl of him that done it!"
"Amin, I pray the blessed Saviour this night! Do you think, Darby, he
was a traitor, and done it a purpose?"
"Oh, mavrone, oh!--if I die widout the priest, what 'ud become o' me,
an' all the sins I have to answer?"
"I say, was the villain a traitor, do you think?"
"Mavrone, oh!--blessed Lord forgive me--well--I can hardly think
so--didn't he volunteer along wid yourself an' myself--oh, sweet Jasus!
what a life I lead--oh, Mark Ratigan, Mark Ratigan, what will become o'
me!---I swore away the lives of two innocent men--I proved three alibis
for three of as black villains as ever stretched a rope or charged a
blunderbush! 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy
kingdom come'--oh, Lord! forbid that yet a while! could you join in a
_Leadhan wurrah?_"
"Blast you, you thick-headed vagabone! don't you know it's wrong to call
me Mark Ratigan--isn't Phil Hart my name now?--no, I tell you, that I
can't join you in a _Leadhan wurrah_--nor I didn't think you wor such
a d--d cowardly hound as you are--can't you die--if you're goin' to
die--like a man, an' not like an ould woman? Be my sowl, Darby, my boy,
afther this night I'll never trust you again. It's yourself that 'ud
turn traitor on your country and her cause, if you got the rope and
hangman at your nose."
"Holy Mary, mother of God! pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death, amin! Oh, sweet Jasus! have parsecution on me this night, an'
spare me if it's your blessed will, till I get time to repint properly
anyhow. Mark, darlin', are you gettin' waker, for I am?"
"To blazes wid you, and don't bother me--no, I'm not--I've tied
my handkerchy about the place I was shot in, an' stopped
the blood--eh--here--well done, Mark--hem--Phil Hart, I
mane--bravo--see--that now--instead of bleatin' like a dyin' sheep, I've
stopped the blood, an' here I am able to stand and walk. Come," said he,
approaching his companion, "where are you shot?--let us see?"
He stooped down, and on examining the Wound by the light of the moon,
perceived at once that it was not all imagination and evil conscience.
He consequently forced him to his legs, then bound up the wound with the
fellow's handkerchief just as he had done his own, and in a few minutes
they were able to resume their journey, slowly, it is true, and on the
part of Ratigan, whose wound was the more serious, with a good deal of
difficulty and pain, notwithstanding his hardihood.
In the meantime, M'Carthy was soon overtaken by the friendly Whiteboy,
whose speed; of foot was indeed extraordinary. On seeing, the dagger
in his pursuer's hand--for such he deemed him to be--he had prepared
himself for resistance, the fact being, than in consequence of their
blackened faces, and the state of perturbation and excitement in which
he felt himself, he was in no condition to recognize any of the party
unless by their voices.
"Don't be alarmed," exclaimed the stranger, approaching him, "I have
saved your life for this night most likely, by takin' the, life of them
that intended to murder you."
"I certainly feel," replied M'Carthy, "that I owe my life to you, and I
know not what return I can make you for it. But why should I speak so,
since I am ignorant of your name, as well as of everything whatsoever
concerning you? As to the other two persons, I cannot understand why
they should attempt to murder me, as I am not conscious of having given
offence to, any person."
"You have never given offence to them," replied the stranger; "but
unfortunately this, part of the country's in such a state of feelin' at
the present time, that it's as aisy to find one man to murdher another
as it would be to get a man to shoot a dog. No, sir; you never offended
these men, but they were set on to take your life by a man who hates
you."
"Well, since you have been on more than one occasion so generous to me,
can you not let me know who that person is?"
"No, sir; that man has a hundred--ay, ten hundred eyes through the
counthry--in the shape of spies--and five times as many hands any time
he may wish for them. You may thank a friend of yours for sendin' me to
save your life this night. Your family have been friends to him and to
me too, although you don't know it. As for me, I go with him heart an'
hand in puttin' down the tithes, but I'll always save the life of a
friend, if I can; and indeed I have been forced to shoot these two
men, in ordher to save yours to-night. I must go now and see what state
they're in--whether alive or dead; but before. I go, listen:--tell
the procthor that he has a fearful account to meet, and that soon; let
neither him nor his sons be fool-hardy; say to him, that the wisest
thing he can do is to remove himself and his family into the town of
Lisnagola; or, if he won't do that, to keep his house half-filled with
fire-arms; for I tell you now, the time is not long till he'll need them
all. Tell them not to go out at night at all, or even by day,
unless well armed; and do you yourself take the same advice; and now
good-night. But, listen again: there, you see, is the spot below there,
where the car was to meet you; but there's no car in it, and even if
there was, I wouldn't recommend you to go on it; and if you're goin'
to O'Driscol's don't go up the avenue, but by the back way, behind the
garden, for it's very likely there's another man--and a fearful man, on
the look-out for you, in case you should be missed by us. Farewell, for
the present."
A few minutes brought this kind-hearted Whiteboy back to the spot where
Hourigan and his companion, who was also his cousin, fell. He was a good
deal surprised, but still highly gratified, at not finding them where
they had fallen, as it was a 'proof to him that his aim at either had
not been fatal, as he certainly had no intention of taking their lives,
or of rendering them any greater injury than the infliction of such
wound as might put an end to their pursuit of M'Carthy. On advancing a
little farther, he saw them proceeding, by a different but shorter
path towards the inland country; and being now satisfied, from their
appearance, that they had not been mortally wounded, he left them
to reach home as best they might, and proceeded himself in another
direction.
CHAPTER XI.--The Sport Still Continued.
It is necessary to say here, that Moylan had not the slightest intention
of sending Mr. Purcel's car to meet our friend M'Carthy, inasmuch as he
never for a moment supposed that this devoted youth was likely to leave
the mountains alive. His own egregious vanity, engrafted on a cowardly,
jealous, and malignant disposition, prompted him, ever since he had
been induced by the pedlar, out of a mere banter, to suppose that he had
engaged the affections of Julia Purcel, to look upon this young man as
a person that ought to be got out of his way. In this manner there was,
indeed, a peculiar combination of circumstances against M'Carthy; for
it so happened that Moylan, whilst anxious to wreak his own jealousy and
hatred upon him, was, at the same time, executing the will of another
individual who stood behind the scenes. On every side, then, M'Carthy
was surrounded by mortal dangers that were completely veiled in
obscurity. During this very night it was resolved to assassinate him,
be the consequences what they might; and if he should escape, in the one
instance, he was to be sought after in whatever house he took refuge,
with the exception only of Purcel's, which his enemies were, for the
present, afraid to attack. Every avenue and road leading to it however,
was watched, with a hope that if he escaped elsewhere, they might shoot
him down from, behind a hedge.
The condition of all secret and illegal societies in Ireland is, indeed,
shocking and most detestable, when contemplated from any point of view
whatsoever. In every one of them--that is, in every local body or
branch of such conspiracy--there is a darker and more secret class,
comparatively few in number, who undertake to organize the commission
of crimes and outrages; and who, when they are controlled by the
peaceably-disposed and enemies to bloodshed, always fall back upon this
private and blood-stained clique, who are always willing to execute
their sanguinary behests, as it were, _con amore_. In other cases,
however, as we have stated before, even the virtuous and reluctant
are often compelled, by the dark and stern decrees of these desperate
ruffians, to perpetrate crimes from which they revolt. It was,
therefore, in pursuance of these abominable principles that the
arrangements for M'Carthy's murder were made on the night in question.
Jerry Joyce perceiving, as he had feared, that M'Carthy did not return
to dinner, at once came to the determination that he would go to
Finnerty's, where, from his connection with Whiteboyism, he knew that
a meeting of them was to be held on that night. He accordingly armed
himself with a ease of pistols, which he had been allowed to keep for
the preservation of his master's family and premises, in case they
should be attacked. He had not gone, however, within two miles of the
mountains, when he met Mogue on His way home, carrying M'Carthy's, or
rather John Purcel's double gun, and other shooting gear.
"Why, Mogue," said he, "how does this come? Where's Mr. M'Carthy from
you?"
"Oh! that I may never sin--but sure I know I will--for I'm a great
sinner--God forgive me!--but anyhow, that I may never sin, if I'm worth
the washin'! Oh! Jerry, darlin', sick a killin' day as we had I never
passed, an' I'm well accustomed to the mountains. Sure, now, Jerry, if
you have one spunk of common charity in your composition, you'll take me
up on your back and carry me home, otherwise I'll lie down on the road,
and either die at wanst or sleep it out till mornin'."
"But that's not tellin' me where you left Mr. M'Carthy," replied Jerry,
whose apprehensions were not at all lessened by this indirect and
circuitous answer. "Where is he, and what has become of him?"
"Of all the mists that ever riz out o' the airth, or fell from the
blessed heavens above as--glory be to the name of God! we had it on the
mountains this whole day. Why, now, Jerry, a happy death to me, but you
might cut it with a knife, at the very least, an' how we got through it,
I'm sure, barrin' the Providence of God, I dunna. But indeed we're far
from bein' worthy of the care He takes of us."
While speaking, he had, as an illustration of his fatigue, taken his
seat upon the grassy ditch, which bounded in the road, and altogether
enacted the part of a man completely broken down by over-exertion.
"But, Mogue, my pious creature, you're not tellin' us where you left--"
"Why, then, salvation to you, for one Jerry, do you think it's ait him
I did? Sound asleep in Frank Finnerty's I left him, where he'll be well
taken care of. Oh! thin, if ever a poor inoffensive young gintleman--for
sure he's that by birth, as we say, at all events, as well as by
larnin'--was brought to death's door with this day's work, he was. I
thought to flatther him home if he could come, but it was no go. An'
thin, agin, I thought it was a sin to ax' him; an' so for a afraid
they'd be alarmed at home, I was on my way to make all your minds aisy.
An' whisper hether, Jerry--not that I look upon Frank Finnerty an the
man he ought to be, for we all know the narrow escape he had for the
murder of Tom Whisky's son--still an' all, he's safe wid Finnerty,
bekaise he knows that we know where he is, and that if anything happened
him we'd hould him accountable."
"Well," replied Jerry, affecting a satisfaction which, however, he did
not feel, "I'm glad he's safe; for, as you say, Mogue, although Frank
Finnerty is pretty well known, still what could tempt him to harm Mr.
M'Carthy?"
"I know that," said Mogue; "still an' all, the nerra foot I'd brought
him to his house, only we stumbled on it out o' the mist, by mere
accident, an' by coorse it was the next to us. Goodness' sake, Jerry,
carry these things home for me, will you? I'm not able to mark the
ground--do, avick, an' I'll offer up a pathran avy for you before I lay
down my head this night, tired as I am."
"Well, begad, it's myself that would, Mogue, but you see, as I'm out for
a while, an' so near my poor mother's, throth I'll slip over and see
how she is, the crature; only for that, Mogue, I'd lighten you of the
shootin' things wid a heart an' a half."
"But sure you can see your poor mother, the crature, any other evenin'?
Do come back, Jerry, an' I'll do twiste as much for you agin. Oh!
oh! milia murther! I'm not able to get on my legs. Give me your hand,
Jerry--oh! oh!--well, well--what's this at all? Jerry, achora, don't
desart me now, 'an me in the state you see. I'll never get home by
myself--that's what I won't--mavrone, oh! what's this?--I'm fairly
kilt."
"Well, but the thruth is, Mogue," replied his companion, "that I got
a message from my mother, sayin' that she's not well, and wishes most
partiklarly to see me about my sisther Shibby's marriage. Now, Mogue,
you're a pious and religious boy, an' would be the last to encourage me
to neglect a parent's wishes: ay, or that would allow me to do so, even
if I intended it; throth I know it's a scoulden' you'd give me if I
did."
Mogue's flank was completely turned; he was, in fact, most adroitly
taken upon his own principle; his egregious vanity was ticked by this
compliment to his piety; and, as he was at no time a person of firm
character, he gave way.
Thought Jerry to himself, as he left this plausible hypocrite, to
proceed home under his affected fatigue, "I know there's mischief on
foot to-night, for if there wasn't I an' others 'ud be summoned to this
meetin'; there will be nobody there, I suppose, but the black squad or
the bloodmen. It'll go hard wid me, at any rate, but I'll send one there
that'll bring Mr. M'Carthy from among them without suspicion; an' so
here goes to lose no time about it."
He then plunged into the most solitary and remote fields, and pursued
his way, anxious, if possible, to meet no one, much less any of those
who belonged, as he said, "to the black squad."
Of late, the state of public feeling upon the subject of tithes had
become so violent and agitated, that Mr. Purcel's immediate friends
found it almost a matter involving their personal safety to dine with
him. At all events, such of them as accepted his hospitality took
care to leave his house very early, and to keep themselves well armed
besides. On the evening in question, no one had been invited but
M'Carthy and Fergus O'Driscol. The heroic magistrate, however, ever
since the receipt of the threatening letter, would not suffer his son
(who certainly participated in none of his father's cowardice), to dine
abroad at all, lest his absence and well-known intrepidity might induce
the Whiteboys, or other enemies of law, to attack the house when its
principal defence was from home. The evening, therefore, hung heavy on
their heads at Longshot Lodge, which was the name of Purcel's
residence, especially upon that of the fair Julia, who felt not merely
disappointed, but unusually depressed' by the unaccountable absence of
her lover, knowing as she did, the turbulence which prevailed in the
country. She scarcely ate any dinner, and in the course of a short time
retired to her own room, which commanded a view of the way by which he
should approach the house, where she watched, casement up, until
she heard a foot in the avenue, which, however, her acute ear, well
accustomed to McCarthy's, soon told her was not that of her lover. On
looking more closely she perceived, however, that it was Mogue Moylan;
and, unable to restrain her impatience, she raised the window still
higher, and called down as Mogue passed under it, on his way round to
the kitchen, but in a low, earnest voice, with, as Mogue thought, a good
deal of confidential in it, "Is that Mogue?"
"Eh!" he exclaimed, struck almost on the instant into a state of
ecstacy; "Is that Miss Julia?"
"Yes, Mogue," she replied, in the same low voice, "I do not wish to run
the risk of speaking to you from this; stay there, and I will go to one
of the windows of the front parlor."
"Well," thought Mogue, "it is come to this at last? oh, thin, but I
was a blackguard haythen an' nothing else ever to think of you, Letty
Lenehan, or any low-born miscreant like you. The devil blow her aist,
waist, north, and south, the flipen' blazes, and to think o' the
freedoms she used to take wid me, as if she was my aquils; but sure, dam
her cribs! whatever I intended to do, it wasn't to marry her, an' can I
forget, moreover, the day she gave me the bloody nose, when I only went
to take a small taste o' liberty wid the thief."
In the course of a minute or two, Julia made her appearance at the
window, with, in fact, a blushing face, if it could have only been seen
with sufficient light. Now that she stood within a couple of yards of
Moylan, she felt all the awkwardness and embarrassment of the task
she had undertaken, which was to inquire, without seeming to feel any
personal interest, as to the cause of her lover's absence. In addition
to the prevailing agitation, and the outrages arising from if, she had
heard of so many accidents with sportsmen, so many guns had burst, so
many explosions had taken place, and so many lives had been lost, that
her warm fancy pictured his death in almost every variety of way in
which a gun could occasion it. Owing to all this, she experienced
a proportionable share of confusion and diffidence in managing her
inquiries with proper address, and without betraying any suspicion of
her motives.
"Mogue," said she, "I--hem--hem--I hope you don't feel fatigued after
your sport'?"
"Ah, then, there it comes," thought Mogue; "how the crature feels for
me! an' even if I did, Miss Julia, sure one kind word when I come home
is fit to cure it."
"And you are sure to get that, Mogue," replied Julia, who took it for
granted that he referred to Letty Lenehan, "but whisper," she proceeded,
still speaking in a low voice, from an apprehension of being heard
making the proposed inquiries by any of her family, "are you alone?"
"I am, indeed, Miss Julia," he replied in a tone of such coaxing and
significant confidence, as would have been irresistibly laughable had
she understood why he used it, "I am alone, Miss Julia, and you needn't
be either ashamed or daunted in sayin' whatever you like to me--maybe I
could guess what you're goin' to say, but I declare to you, and that
my bed may be in heaven, but, say what you will, you'll find me--honor
bright--do you understand that, Miss Julia?"
"Well, I think I do, Mogue, and if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have
watched your return to-night as I did, or been here to speak to you on
the subject you say you--know."
"An' sure, Miss Julia, you might a known, for some time past that I knew
it; didn't I look like one that was up to it? An' listen hether, Miss
Julia, my family was all honor bright; we wor great people in our day;
sure we owned a big sweep of country long ago an' wor great sogers. We
fought against the Sassenaghs, the dirty English bodaghs, an' because
there was a lot of us ever an' always hanged from time to time, that's
the raison why we have sich a hatred to the English law still, one an'
all of us. Sure my grandfather, glory be to God, was hanged for killin'
a Sassenagh gauger, and my own father, Miss Julia, did his endeavors
to be as great as the best of them, knowin' no other way for to vex and
revinge himself upon the dirty Sassenaghs of the country; for sure, you
know yourself, it's full o' them'--ay, about us in all directions. Be
borried a horse in a private way from one o' them, but then he escaped
from that; he next had a 'bout at what they call'd perjury, although it
was well known to us all that it was only his thumb he kissed, and, any
how, the thing was done upon a Protestant Bible; but, at all events, he
went an' honest and honorably, as far as gettin' himself transported for
parjury. I hope you understhand, Miss Julia, that I'm accountin' for any
disparagin' observations you might a' heard against us, an' showin' you
why we acted as we did."
"But, Mogue," said she, smiling at this most incomprehensible piece of
family history, "I hope you don't intend to imitate the example or to
share the fate of so many of your family!"
"You really hope so; now do you really hope so, Miss Julia?"
"Unquestionably; for granting you marry, as, I dare say you intend,
would it not be a melancholy prospect for your wife to--"
"Why, then I do intend it; are you not satisfied, Miss Julia? and what
is more, although it's my intention to violate the law in a private and
confidential way, still I have no intention of bein' either hanged or
transported by it; that I may be happy if I have--No, for the sake of
that wife, Miss Julia, do you understand, it's my firm intention to die
in my bed if I can; I hope you feel that there's comfort in that."
"To whatever woman you make happy Mogue, there will be. Well, but,
Mogue, tell me; had you a good day's sport?"
"Sorra worse then; God pardon me for swearin'," he replied. "There riz
a mist in the mountains that a man could build a house wid, if there was
any implements to be found, hard and sharp enough to cut it. All we got
was a brace of grouse and a snipe or two."
"And--hem--well but--hem--why Mogue, you give but a very miserable
account of the proceedings of the day. Had you any one with you?--Oh,
yes, by the way, did I not see Mr. M'Carthy go out with you this
morning?"
"Yes, Miss Julia, you did; he went out wid me, sure enough," replied
Mogue, drily, and with rather a dissatisfied tone.
"He is a--hem, does he shoot well?"
"He shoots well enough, Miss Julia--when he pulls the trigger the gun
goes off; but as for killin' birds, that my bed may be in heaven but
they fly away laughin' at him."
"He came with you as far as O'Driscol's," she said, at once putting a
query in the shape of an assertion, "and I suppose sent some apology to
my father and brothers, for not having been here to dinner."
"Hem! come as far as Mr. O'Driscol's?" exclaimed Mogue; "troth he's
about the poorest piece o' goods ever carried a gun--God help the
unhappy woman that'll get him; for sorra thing he is but a mere excuse
for a man. I left him lyin' like a half-hung dog, up in the mountains
above."
Julia started, and almost screamed with terror at this account of her
lover. "Gracious heavens, Moylan, what do you mean?" she exclaimed--"up
in the mountains!--where and how in the mountains? Is he ill, or does he
want aid or assistance?"
"No, Miss Julia; but the truth is, he's a poor cur of a creature that's
not able to undertake a man's task at all; he's lyin' knocked up in
Frank Finnerty's; moanin' and groanin' an' yowlin', like a sick hound; I
had to carry or drag him over half the mountains; for, from the blessed
hour of twelve o'clock this day, he wasn't able to put a foot undher
him, an' he did nothing but blasphayme' an' curse every one he knew;
your fathers and brothers, your sisther, and mother, and yourself; he
cursed and blasphaymed you all, helther skelther; I could bear all,
Miss. Julia till he came to run you down, an' 'tis well for him that
I hadn't the gun in my hand when he did it, that's all; or, that I may
never do an ill turn but I'd a' given him a touch o' the Moylan blood
for your sake--an' now, Miss Julia," he proceeded, "I hope we understand
one another. As for him he's a pitiful whelp!"
"Are you in jest or earnest?" she inquired, changing her tone.
"That luck may flow on me, but I'm in airnest, Miss Julia--but no
matther for that, don't you let you spirits down, think of our great
family; and remimber that them that was wanst great may be great agin.
Plaise God we'll have back the forwhitled estates, when we get the
Millstone broke, an' the Mill that ground us banished from the counthry;
however, that will come soon; but in the mane time, Miss Julia, I have a
saycret to tell you about him."
"About Mr. M'Carthy?" she asked, sadly puzzled as to the tendency and
object of his conversation, but at the same time somewhat awakened to an
indistinct interest, respecting this secret concerning her lover.
"Yes, miss; listen hether, Miss Julia; would you believe it that he, Mr.
M'Carthy, is sworn, or any way as good as sworn, to take your father's
life away?"
"No, Mogue," she replied firmly, but with good humor, "not a syllable."
"Well then," he proceeded, "if he did not swear to do it in plain words,
he did as good. You won't braithe a syllable of this, Miss Julia; but
listen still--You know the ruction that's through, the counthry aginst
tides?"
"I do, I am sorry to say."
"An' that the whole counthry is sworn Whiteboys, and that all the
Whiteboys in sworn, of coorse, to put an end to them. That's the oath
they take now, miss, by all accounts."
"So they say Mogue."
"Well, miss, would you believe it, that that fellow, the ungrateful
hound that he is, that same Francis M'Carthy, is at the head of them, is
one of their great leaders, and is often out at night wid the villains,
leadin' them on to disturbances, and directin' them how to act; ay, an'
he doesn't like a bone in Mr. O'Driscol's body, any more than in your
father's."
"Ha!--ha!--ha! very good, Mogue, but make it short--ha!--ha!--ha!--and
who's your authority for all this?"
"Himself, miss, for a great part of it; it was this day, he wanted
myself to become a White-boy; but I had the grace o' God about me, I
hope, an' resisted the temptation. 'Mogue,' says he, 'you are a good
Catholic, an' ought to join us; we're sworn to put down the tides
altogether, an' to banish Protestantism out o' the counthry.'"
"But is not M'Carthy himself a Protestant?" said Julia.
"Not he, miss, he only turned to get a lob o' money from the Great
College in Dublin above; sure they provide for any one that will turn,
but he's a true Catholic at heart; air when the time comes he'll show
it."
"And you say he joins their meetings at night, Mogue?"
"That I may be blest, but he does, miss; and since you must know the
truth, he's at one o' them this very night."
"Then you have told me a falsehood with respect to his fatigue?"
"He put me up to it, miss; and bid me say it; howandever my mind wasn't
aisy undher it; and now you know the truth."
"And does he blacken his face as well as the other Whiteboys?"
"That hurt or harm may never come near me but he does that same; I have
it from them that seen him and knew him, in spite o' black face an'
all."
"Ha! ha! ha!--well good-night, Mogue, and many thanks for your most
important and truthful secret."
"Before you go, Miss Julia, one other word; listen, there a man worth
a ship load of him, that's in grate consate wid you--remember the ould
families, Miss Julia, an' them that suffered for--for--their counthry.
Now here' the kind o' man I'd recommend you for a husband; don't let
a pair o' red cheeks or black eyes lead you by the nose--an' what
signifies a good figure, when neither the handsomest nor the strongest
man can keep off a headache or a fit o' the blackguard cholic--bad luck
to it--when they come on one. No, Miss Julia, always in the man that's
to be your husband, prefer good lastin' color in the complection, an'
little matther about the color of the eyes if they always smile upon
yourself--then agin, never marry a man that swears, Miss Julia, but a
man that's fond of his prayers, and is given to piety--sich men never
use any but harmless oaths, sich as may I be blest, salvation to me, and
the like--that's the kind o' men to make a husband of, and I have sich a
man in my eye for you."
"Thank you, Mogue," said Julia, who was too quick-witted to
misunderstand him any longer. "Many thanks for your good advice--and
whisper, Mogue--who knows but I may follow it? Good-night!"
"Good-night, darlin'," he whispered in a kind of low triumphant cackle,
that caused her to shake her very sides with laughter, after she had
closed the window.
Julia Purcel, who could attribute Moylan's extraordinary conversation to
nothing but a more than usual indulgence in liquor, did not for a
single moment suffer herself to become influenced by the unaccountable
information which she had heard respecting M'Carthy. But even if it had
been true, she was so peculiarly circumstanced, that without disclosing
the private conversation she had had with Moylan, she could not without
pain communicate it to her family. As it was, however, she placed no
confidence whatever in any portion of it, and on further reflection,
she felt all her apprehensions concerning M'Carthy revived. If she
experienced anything in the shape of satisfaction from the dialogue, it
arose from the fact that if M'Carthy had suffered injury, Mogue would
not have been so much at ease on his return. When his return was
made known, however, to the family at large, Mogue repeated his first
version, and assured them that he, M'Carthy had laid down in Finnerty's
for an hour or so to recruit his strength. He supposed he would soon
be home, he said--or for that matter, maybe as he found himself
comfortable, he would stop there for the night. Mogue himself had come
home to make their minds easy, and to let them know where he was, and
what had kept him away. To a certain extent the family were satisfied,
but as M'Carthy had communicated to the male portion of them the
friendly warning he had got from the Whiteboy, they said, that although
he might have been, safe enough when Mogue left him in the mountains,
yet considering the state of the country, and that he unquestionably
had enemies, he might not be free from danger on his way home. There
was scarcely a night in the week that the country was not traversed by
multitudes of those excited and unscrupulous mobs, that struck terror
to the hearts of the peaceful, or such as were obnoxious to them.
Accordingly, after waiting a couple of hours, Alick Purcel got a double
case of pistols, and proposed to go as far as O'Driscol's, where they
took it for granted, as he had not been able to come to dinner, they
would find him should he have returned.
"Alick," said the father, "after all the notices we have got, and
considering the feeling that is against us, it is ridiculous to be
fool-hardy--don't go by the road but cross the fields."
"Such is my intention, sir," replied Alick; "for although no coward,
still I am but flesh and blood, and it is death you know, for mere flesh
and blood to stop a bullet. Give me my enemy face to face and I don't
fear him, but when he takes me at night from behind a hedge, courage is
of little use, and won't save my life."
On arriving at O'Driscol's, he found that M'Carthy had not come, and
after waiting till one o'clock, he prepared to take his departure. At
this moment, a female servant tapped at the drawing-room door, and after
having been desired to come in, she communicated the following startling
particulars:--She had forgotten her washing, she said, and gone out a
little time before to bring it in, and in doing so, she spied several
men with black faces and white shirts skulking about the house. She was
not sure, she said, on having the question put to her, whether she had
been seen by them or not.
This communication, which was given with every mark of alarm and terror,
completely altered the posture of affairs at the magistrate's. Katherine
O'Driscol's face became deadly pale as she turned a glance upon young
Purcel, which he well understood. "Alick," said she, "under these
circumstances, it would, be absolute madness to attempt going home
to-night. It is very likely they have discovered that you are here, and
are watching for you."
"But if I do not return home," he replied, "it is equally probable that
John and my father, wondering at my delay, may come to look for me, and
in that case they might meet these ruffians--or rather might be waylaid
by them."
"Purcel, my dear fellow!" said the magistrate, who was now pretty deep
in his cups, and consequently somewhat pot-valiant--or at least disposed
to show them a touch of his valor--"Alick, my dear fellow, you are
courageous enough, I admit, but at the same time, you must put yourself
under the guidance of a brave and loyal old magistrate, who is not to be
cowed and intimidated by a crew of midnight cut-throats. You'll gee now,
Alick, my boy, what a touch of loyal courage can do. Upon my honor, and
conscience, I will myself escort you home."
"By no means, sir," replied Purcel, "I could not think of putting you to
such a risk, and inconvenience at this late hour."
"But I say by all manes, Alick--and as for inconvanience, it is none at
all."
"But Mr. Purcel will expose neither himself nor you, my dear father,"
said Katherine; "he will be guided by good sense, and remain here
to-night."
"Tut! you foolish cowardly girl, go to bed--you play loo very well, and
have won seven-and-sixpence from me to-night. That's your province.
No, upon my sowl and honor, I'll see him home. What! is it for the
intelligent and determined O'Driscol, as your brother John said--and who
is well known to be a very divil incarnate when danger's before him--is
it for such a man--the terror of evil-doers--to funk from a crew of
White-boys! What would my friend the Castle say if it knew it?--divil
resave the line ever it would correspond with me again. Get me my
pistols, I say--a case for each pocket, and the blunderbush under my
arm--then come on, M'Donough, as the play says, and blazes to him who
runs last." Here he gave a lurch a little to the one side, after which
he placed himself in something intended for a military attitude, and
drawing his hand down his whiskers, he inflated himself as if about to
give the word of command, "Soldiers, steady,"--here he gave another
lurch--"recover omes (arms)--charge bayonets--present--halt--to the
right about--double quick--:bravo--you see what I could do, if placed in
a military position."
"We do, sir," said Fergus, laughing; "not a doubt of it." The latter
then whispered something to Purcel, who smiled, and immediately turning
to the doughty magistrate, said:--
"Well, sir, since you insist upon protecting me home--"
"Good--that's the word, Alick--steady boys--shoulder omes."
"I will feel very happy, sir, in your escort."
"Yes, Alick--yes--exactly so--but then we are time enough, man--the
night's but young yet--we must have another tumbler before we go--if it
is only to put terror into these villains."
"I am exceedingly sorry that it is out of my power to wait, sir. My
father and John may possibly come over here, and if they do it is
difficult to say what these blood-thirsty villains, who care so little
about human life--especially, sir, when that life belongs to either a
tithe-proctor or a magistrate, may do. You will oblige me very much,
sir, by coming with me now. I wish to heavens I had your courage, Mr.
O'Driscol, and that I-was such a wicked and desperate dare-devil as you
are."
"Good, Alick, upon my honor and conscience, you've hit me off
there--hallo--what is this?--put these pistols and that blunder-bush
aside, and be d--d to you, we don't want them yet awhile;" this was
addressed to the servant who had brought them at Fergus's suggestion. "I
am a hospitable man, Alick--a convivial man--and I tell you that I don't
wish a guest to leave my house with dry lips--and what is more, I won't
allow it--sit down then, and take your punch, or if you're afraid of
these fellows why didn't you say so?"
"I am then, sir," replied Alick, who thought that by admitting the fact,
he might the sooner bring matters between himself and the magistrate to
a crisis.
"What!" exclaimed the latter, "you admit your cowardice, do you?--Well,
upon my honor and reputaytion, Alick, I'm extremely surprised at you--a
young fellow like you--and a coward! Now I'll tell you what, Alick, I
hate a coward--I despise a coward, and d--n me if any man who is mane
enough to acknowledge himself to be one, shall have the benefit of
my escort this night. Then stay where you are, sir, and take your
punch--but you are not entitled to any protection; no, confound me if
you are! A nice office for a man of my mettle to escort a coward!--no,
no--take your punch, I say--you are safe under this roof, but as
touching my protection, no fellow of your kidney shall resave it from
me, unless in honest open daylight with a body of police or military at
my elbow; and, besides, you have declined my hospitality, Mr. Purcel,
and with the man--but man you are not--who declines my hospitality,
I will keep no terms. Here's the 'Castle!' long life to it, and may
it never have occasion to read me a lecture for protecting a coward!
Steady, men--shoulder oines!--ah, I'm a pearl before swine here:--upon
my honor and conscience, I'm nothing else--hurra!"
Whilst this manifestation of courage and loyalty was proceeding, his
daughter had sent a little girl by a lonely and circuitous way across
the fields to Longshot Lodge, with a message to the effect that they
had prevailed upon Alick to stop for the night, and that he would also
breakfast there the next morning. The little girl's absence was very
brief, and on her return, Alick had no hesitation in remaining. The
heroic magistrate, having taken another tumbler, began to get drowsy,
and with some assistance, was prevailed on to go to bed, where he almost
immediately fell asleep. The two young men then got together all the
arms and ammunition in the house, which, having made ready for an
attack, they went also to bed, taking only their coats off, where for
the present we leave them--but not asleep--and return to M'Carthy, for
whose absence, no doubt, the reader is anxious that we should account.
CHAPTER XII.--Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire.
M'Carthy on that night had not gone far, after having separated from the
friendly Whiteboy, when he was met by a powerfully-formed man, who, he
thought, bore a considerable resemblance in shape and size to the fellow
who had been invested with authority not long before in Finnerty's. On
seeing that it was M'Carthy, the stranger, whose face was blackened,
and who also wore the white shirt outside, approached him coolly but
determinedly, and laying his hand upon his shoulder, said--: "Your name
is Francis M'Carthy'?" and as he spoke, M'Carthy could perceive the ends
of a case of pistols projecting from his breast within the shirt, which
was open at the neck.
"As I have never knowingly done anything that should occasion me to deny
my name, I acknowledge it--you know me, of course."
"I know you well. I meek it a point to know everyone who is worth
knowing. In the meantime, M'Carthy, you'll come along with me, if you
pleese."
"It is not at all clear that I will," replied M'Carthy; "you are a
perfect stranger to me--at least your disguise makes you so. You are out
on illegal business, as is evident from that disguise, and you are armed
with a case of pistols. Now, under these circumstances, happen what may,
until I know more about you, and who you are, I will not walk one inch
in your society, except as a free agent."
"Hear me," replied the other; "you were singled out for murdher this
night, and you only escaped by a miracle--by the assistance of a man who
is a warm friend to you, and who got information of the danger you wor
in from another friend who suspected that you were in that danger. Two
pistols wor loaded to settle you, as they say. Well, the person that
saved your life damped the powder in these pistols--both wor snapped at
you, and they didn't go off--am I right?"
"You are right for so far, certainly."
"Well, then, the other two who followed you--one of them with a long,
sharp dagger--were shot down--d--n your friend that didn't send the
bullets through their brains instead of their hams and limbs; however,
they fell and you escaped--am I right?"
"Perfectly correct," replied M'Carthy; "and you must have had your
information only from the person who befriended me."
"Well, then, have you-any objection to come with me now?"
"Every objection; I wish to go either to Mr. O'Driscol's or Mr.
Purcel's."
"Listen. I say if you attempt this night to go to either one house or
the other, you will never carry your life to them. If I was your enemy,
and wished to put a bullet into you, what is there to prevent me now, I
ask you?"
"All, my good friend," replied M'Carthy, "that argument won't pass with
me. Many. a man there is--and I dare say you know it well--who feels
a strong scruple against committing murder with his own hands, who,
notwithstanding, will not scruple to employ others to commit it for
him."
"Do you refuse to come with me, then? because if you do to-morrow
mornin' will rise upon your corpse. Even I couldn't save you if you were
known. There's a desperate and a dreadful game goin' to be played soon,
and as you stand in the way of a man that possesses great power, and has
a perticular end in view--the consequence is that you are doomed. Even
if you do come with me, I must blacken your face, in ordher to prevint
you from being known."
"Will you answer me one question candidly," said M'Carthy--"if it's a
fair one? Did I see you to-night before?"
"Ask me no question," replied the man; "for I won't answer any I don't
like, and that happens to be one o' them. Whether you saw me this night
before, or whether you didn't, there is no occasion for me to say so,
and I won't say it."
"I think I know him now," said M'Carthy; "and if I judge correctly, he
is anything but a safe guide."
"Come," said the huge Whiteboy, "make up your mind; I won't weet another
minute."
M'Carthy paused and deliberately reconsidered as coolly as possible all
the circumstances of the night. It was obvious that this man must have
had his information with respect to the recent events from his friendly
preserver--a man who would not be likely to betray him into danger after
having actually saved his life, by running the risk of committing two
murders. On the other band it was almost clear, from the manner in which
the person before him pronounced certain words, as well as from his
figure, that he was the celebrated and mysterious Buck English of whose
means of living every one was ignorant, and who, as he himself had
heard, expressed a strong dislike to him.
"Before I make up my mind," said M'Carthy, "may I ask another question?"
"Fifty if you like, but I won't promise to answer any one o' them."
"Was I brought to Finnerty's house with an evil purpose?"
"No: the poor, pious fool that brought you--there--but I'm wrong in
sayin' so--for it was the mist that done it. No, the poor fool that came
there with you is a crature that nobody would trust. He thinks you're
lyin' sound asleep in Finnerty's this minute. He's fit for nothing but
prayin' and thinking the girls in love with him."
"Well," replied M'Carthy, "at all events you are a brother Irishman, and
I will put confidence in you; come, I am ready to accompany you."
"In that case, then, you must suffer me to blacken your face, and for
fear your shoot-in' jacket might betray you, I'll put this shirt over
it."
He then pulled out an old piece of crumpled paper that contained a
mixture of lampblack and grease, with which he besmeared his whole face,
from his neck to the roots of his hair, after which he stripped the
shirt he wore outside his clothes, and in about two or three minutes
completely metamorphosed our friend M'Carthy into a thorough-looking
Whiteboy.
"Come along now," said he, "and folly me; but even as it is, and in
spite of your disguise, we must take the lonesomest way to the only
place I think you'll be safe in."
"I am altogether in your hands," replied M'Carthy, "and shall act as you
wish."
They then proceeded across the country for about two miles, keeping
up towards the mountainous district, after which they made a turn and
entered a deep valley, in whose lowest extremity stood a long, low
house.
"Now," said the stranger, "before we go in here, remember what I'm goin'
to say to' you. If any one--I mean a Whiteboy,"--here M'Carthy started,
struck by the peculiarity of the pronunciation--a circumstance which
by no means strengthened his sense, of security--"if any of them should
come across you and ask you for the pass, here it is. _What's the hour?_
Answer--_Very near the right one. Isn't it come yet?_ Answer--_The hour
is come, but not the man. When will he come?_ Answer--_He is within
sight_." He repeated these words three or four times, after which he and
M'Carthy entered the house.
"God save all here!" said the guide.
"God save you kindly, boys."
"Mrs. Cassidy," he continued, "here's poor fellow on his keepin' for
tithe business and although you don't know me, I know you well enough
to be sartin that you'll give this daicent boy a toss in a bed till
daybreak--an' a mouthful to ate if he should want it."
"Troth an' I will, sir; isn't one o' my poor boys in Lisnagola goal
for the same tithes--bad luck to them--that is for batin' one of the
vagabonds that came to collect them. Troth he'll have the best bed in my
house."
"And listen, Mrs. Cassidy; if any of us should happen to come here
to-night--although I don't think it's likely they will, still it's hard
to say, for the country's alive with with them--if any of them should
come here, don't let them know that this poor boy is in the house--do
you mind?"
"Ah, then, it would be a bad day or night either I wouldn't."
"Will you have anything to ate or dhrink," asked the guide of M'Carthy..
"Nothing," replied the other; "I only wish to get to bed."
"Come, then," said the colossal Whiteboy, "I'll show you where you're to
lie."
They accordingly left the kitchen, passed through a tolerably large
room, with two or three tables and several chairs in it, and entered
another, which was also of a good size. Here there was a bed, and
in this M'Carthy was to rest--if rest he could under a series of
circumstances so extraordinary and exciting.
"Now," said his guide, for such we must call him--"observe this," and
he brought him to a low window which opened at the back of the house,
"press that spot where you see the frame is sunk a little--you can feel
it, too, aisily enough in the dark--very well, press that with your
thumb and the windy will open by being pushed outwards. If you feel or
find that there's any danger you can slip out of it; however, don't be
alarmed bekase you may hear voices. There's only one set that you may be
afraid of--they're on the look-out for yourself--but I don't think it's
likely they'll come here. If they do, however, and that you hear them
talkin' about you, there's your way to get off. Come, now, I must try
you again before I go. What's the hour?"
"Very near the right one."
"Isn't it come yet?"
"The hour is come but not the man."
"When will he come?"
"He is within sight."
"Now, good-bye, you may take a good sleep but don't strip; lie just as
you are--that's twiste your life has been saved this night. In the mane
time, you must give me back that overall shirt--your danger I hope is
past, but I may want it to-night yet; and stay, I was near spoilin'
all--I forgot to give you the right grip--here it is--if any of them
shakes hands wid you, mark this--he presses the point of his thumb on
the first joint of your fore-finger, and you press yours upon the middle
joint of his little finger, this way--you won't forget that now?"
"Certainly not," replied M'Carthy, "I will remember it accurately."
"Very well," he proceeded, "take my advice, get to Dublin without
delay--if you remain here you're a dead man; you may never see me again,
so God bless you." and with these words he left him.
It is difficult to describe M'Carthy's state of mind on finding himself
alone. The events of the night, fearful as they were, joined to
his singular and to him unaccountable escape--his present state of
uncertainty and the contingent danger that awaited him--the fact that
parties were in search of him for the purpose of taking away his life,
whilst he himself remained utterly unconscious of the cause which
occasioned such, a bitter and unrelenting enmity against him--all
these reflections, coming together upon a mind already distracted
and stupefied by want of rest, and excessive weariness--succeeded in
inducing first a wild sense of confusion--then forgetfulness of his
position, and ultimately sound and dreamless sleep. How long that
sleep had continued he could not even guess, but be that as it may,
on awaking, he heard, medley of several voices in the next room, all
engaged in an earnest conversation, as was evident, not merely from the
disjointed manner of their pronunciation but a strong smell of liquor
which assailed his nose. His first impulse was to arise and escape by
the window, but on reflection, as he saw by the light of their candle
that the door between the two apartments was open, he deemed it safer
to keep quiet for a little, with a hope that they might soon take their
departure. He felt anxious, besides, to ascertain whether the party
in question consisted of those whom the strange guide had mentioned as
being his enemies. In the meantime, the following agreeable dialogue
greeted his ears and banished for the moment every other thought and
consideration.
"It was altogether a bad business this night. He was as well set as man
could be, but hell pursue the pistols, they both missed fire; and thim
that did go off hit the wrong men. The same two--we can't names boys,
won't be the betther of it for some time. We met them, you see, in the
mountains, where we wor goin' on a little business. Here's that we may
never ait worse mait than mutton!"
"More power, Dick--Dick, (hiccup) you're a trojan, an' so was your
father and mother afore you; here's your to--toast, Dick, that we
may ever an' always ait no worse mait than--praties an' point,
hurra!--that's the chat, ha!--ha!--ha!--ah, begad it's we that's the
well-fed boys--ay, but sure our friends the poor parsons has been always
starvin' in the counthry."
"Always starvin' the counthry!" exclaimed another, playing upon the
word, "be my sowl you're right there, Ned. Well sure they're gettin' a
touch of it now themselves; by japers, some o' them knows what it is to
have the back and belly brought together, or to go hungry to bed, as the
sayin' is; but go on, Dick, an' tell us how it was."
"Why, you see, we went back when we heard that the house was to be
attacked, and only he escaped the way he did, it wouldn't be attacked;
howaniver, you know it's wid O'Driscol--a short cooser to him, too, and
he'll get it--it's wid O'Driscol he stops. So off we went, and waited in
Barney Broghan's still-house, where we had a trifle to dhrink."
"Divil resave the bet--bettherer spirits ever came from--a still--il
eye, nor dar-lent Bar--ar--ney Brogh--aghan makes--whisht!--more
power!--won't the counthry soon--be our--our--own--whips!"
"Ned, hould your tongue, an' let him go 'an; well, Dick."
"Afther waitin' in the still-house till what we thought was the proper
time, we went to O'Driscol's, and first struv to get in quietly, but you
see we had no friends in the camp, for the men-servants all sleep in the
outhouses, barrin' the butler; an' he's not the thing for Ireland. Well
and good, although among ourselves, it was anything but well and good
this night; however, we demanded admittance, an' jist as if they had
been on the watch for us--a windy was raised, and a voice called out to
us to know what we wanted.
"'Neither to hurt or harm any one in the house,' we said, 'or belongin'
to it; but there is a stranger in it that we must have out.'
"'Ay,' said another voice, that several of us knew to be Mr. Alick
Purcel's; 'here I am--you scoundrels, but that's your share of me. If
you don't begone instantly,' says he, swearin' an oath, 'we'll shoot you
like dogs where you stand.'
"'We know you, Mr. Purcel,' says we, 'but it isn't you we want
to-night--your turn's to come yet; time about is fair play. It's
M'Carthy we want.'
"'You must want him, then,' says young O'Driscol, 'for he's not here;
and even if he was, you should fight for him before you'd get him--but
what might your business be wid him?' he asked. 'Why,' says we,
'there's a man among us that has an account to settle wid him.'
"'Ah, you cowardly scoundrels,' says he, 'that's a disgrace to the
counthry, and to the very name of Irishman; it's no wondher for
strangers to talk of you as they do--no wondher for your friends to
have a shamed face for your disgraceful crimes. You would now take an
inoffensive gintleman--one that never harmed a man of you, nor any one
else--you'd take him out, bekaise some blackhearted cowardly villain
among you has a pick (pique) against him, and some of you for
half-a-crown or a bellyful of whisky would murdher him in could blood.
Begone, or by the livin' Farmer, I'll scatter the contents of this
blunderbush among you.' He that wishes to have M'Carthy done for was wid
us himself, and tould us in Irish to fire at the windy, which we did,
and on the instant slop came a shower of bullets among us. A boy from
the Esker got one of them through the brain, and fell stone dead; two
others--we can't mention names--was wounded, and it was well we got
them off safe. So there's our night's work for us. Howaniver, the day's
comin' when we'll pay them for all."
"I think, boys," said a person, whose voice was evidently that of a man
advanced in years, "I think you ought to give this procthor Purcel a
cardin'. He lifts the tithes of four parishes, and so far he's a scourge
over four parishes; himself and his blasted citations to the bishop's
court and his blasted decrees--hell purshue him, as it will. Ah, the
Carders wor fine fellows, so were the Sextons."
"Bravo, Billy Bradly, conshumin' to me but I'm--I'm main proud, and that
we met you com--omin' from the wake to-night; I am, upon my sow--owl."
"I believe, Billy," said another voice, "you had your own fun wid
procthors in your day."
"Before the union--hell bellows it for a union---but it has been a black
sight to the counthry! Amin this night--before the union, it's we that
did handle the procthors in style; it isn't a cowardly threatenin'
notice we'd send them, and end there. No--but I'll tell you what we
done one night, in them days. There was a man, a procthor, an' he was
a Catholic too, for I needn't tell you, boys, that there never was a
Protestant procthor half as hard and cruel as one of our own ralligion,
an' thas well known. Well, there was this procthor I'm tellin' of, his
name was Callaghan; he was a dark-haired I'll-lookin' fellow, with
a squint and a stutther; but for all that, he had a daicent,
quiet, well-behaved family that offended nobody--not like our proud
horsewhippin' neighbors; an', indeed, his daughters did not mount their
side-saddles like some of the same neighbors, but sure we all know the
ould proverb, set a beggar on horseback, and we needn't tell you where
he'll ride to. Well, I'm forgettin' my story in the mane time. At that
time, a party of about sixty of us made up our minds to pay Callaghan a
nightly visit. The man, you see, made no distinction betune the rich
and poor, or rather he made every distinction, for he was all bows and
scrapes to the rich, and all whip and fagot to the poor. Ah, he was
a sore blisther to that part of the counthry he lived in, and many a
widow's an' orphan's curse he had. At any rate, to make a long story
short, we went a set of us, a few nights afore we called upon him--that
is, in a friendly way, for we had no intention of takin' his life,
but merely to tickle him into good humor a bit, and to make him have a
little feelin' for the poor, that he many a time tickled an' got tickled
by the sogar's bagnet to some purpose; we went, I say, to a lonely
place, and we dug sich a grave as we thought might fit him, and havin'
buttoned and lined it well with thorns, we then left it covered over
with scraws for fraid anybody might find it out. So far so good. At last
the appointed night came, and we called upon him.
"'Is Mr. Callaghan in?' said one of us, knockin' at the door.
"'What's your business wid him?' said a servant girl, as she opened the
door.
"'Tis to pay some tithe I want,' says the man; and no sooner was the
word out of his mouth than in we boulted betther than a score of us; for
the rest all stayed about the place to act accordin' to circumstances.
"'How do you do, Misther Callaghan?' says our captain, 'I hope you're
well, sir,' says he, 'and in good health.'"
"'I can't say I am, sir," said Callaghan, 'I haven't been to say at all
well for the last few days, wid a pain down my back.'
"'Ah, indeed no wondher, Mr. Callaghan,' says the other; 'that's the
curse of the widows and orphans, and the poor in general, that you have
oppressed in ordher to keep up a fat an' greedy establishment,' says he,
'but in the mane time, keep a good heart--we're friends of yours, and
wishes you well; and if the curses have come down hot and heavy on your
back, we'll take them off it,' says he, 'so aisily and purtily, that if
you'll only shut your eyes, you'll think yourself in another world--I
mane of coorse the world you'll go to,' says he;--'we have got a few
nice and aisy machines here, for ticklin' sich procthors, in ordher to
laugh them into health again, and we'll now set you to rights' at wanst.
Comes, boys,' says he, turnin' to us, 'tie every sowl in the house,
barrin' the poor sick procthor that we all feel for, bekaise you see,
Misther Callaghan, in ordher to do the thing complate, we intind to have
your own family spectawthers of the cure.'
"'No,' said one of them, a determined man he was, 'that wasn't in our
agreement, nor it isn't in our hearts, to trate the innocent like the
guilty.'"
"'It must be done,' said the captain.
"'No,' said the other back to him, 'the first man that mislists a hair
of one of his family's heads, I'll put the contents of this through
him--if this onmanly act had been mentioned before, you'd a' had few
here tonight along wid you.'
"Well, sure enough, the most of us was wid the last speaker, so, instead
of cardin' the sick procthor before his own family, we tied and gagged
him so as that he neither spoke nor budged, and afther clappin' a guard
upon the family for an hour or two, we put him on horseback and brought
him up to where the grave was made. We then stripped him, and layin' him
across a ditch, we got the implements, of the feadhers as we call them,
to tickle him. Well, now, could you guess, boys, what these feadhers
was? I'll go bail you couldn't, so I may as well tell you at wanst;
divil resave the thing else, but half-a-dozen of the biggest tom-cats we
could get, and this is the way we used them. Two or three of us pitched
our hands well and the tails of the cats into the bargain, we then, as
I said, laid the naked procthor across a ditch, and began to draw the
tom-cats down the flesh of his back. God! how the unfortunate divil
quivered and writhed and turned--until the poor wake crature, that
at first had hardly the strength of a child, got, by the torture he
suffered, the strength of three men; for indeed, afther he broke the
cords that tied him, three, nor three more the back o' that, wasn't
sufficient to hould him. He got the gag out of his mouth, too, and then,
I declare to my Saviour his scrames was so awful that we got frightened,
for we couldn't but think that the voice was unnatural, an sich as no
man ever heard. We set to, however, and gagged and tied him agin, and
then we carded him--first down, then up, then across by one side, and
after that across by the other. * Well, when this was done, we tuk him
as aisily an' as purtily as we could.
"D--n your soul, you ould ras--rascal," said the person they called Ned,
"you wor--wor 'all a parcel o' bloody, d--n, hell--fi--fire cowardly
villains, to--to--thrat--ate any fellow crature--crature in sich a way.
Why didn't you shoo--shoo--oot him at wanst, an' not put--ut him through
hell's tor--tortures like that, you bloody-minded ould dog!"
To tell the truth, many of them were shocked at the old carder's
narrative, but he only, grinned at them, and replied--
"Ay, shoot--you may talk about shootin,' Ned, avick, but for all that
life's sweet."
"Get on--out, you ould sinner o' perdition--to blazes wid you; life's
sweet you ould 'shandina--what a purty--urty way you tuk of sweetenin'
it for him. I tell--ell you, Bil--lilly Bradly, that you'll never die on
your bed for that night's wo--ork."
"And even if I don't, Ned, you won't have my account to answer for."
"An' mighty glad I am of it: my own--own's bad enough, God knows, an'
for the mat--matther o' that--here's God pardon us all, barrin' that
ould cardin' sinner--amin, acheerna villish, this night! Boys, I'll
sing-yes a song."
"Aisy, Ned," said one or two of them, "bad as it was, let us hear Billy
Bradly's story out."
"Well," proceeded Billy, "when the ticklin' was over, we took the scraws
off of the grave, lined wid thorns as it was, and laid the procthor,
naked and bleedin'--scarified into gris-kins--"
"Let me at--at him, the ould cardin' mur--urdherer; plain murdher's
daicency compared to that. Don't hould me, Dick; if I was sworn ten
times over, I'll bate the divil's taptoo on his ould carkage."
"Be aisy, Ned--be aisy now, don't disturb the company--sure you wouldn't
rise your hand to an ould man like Billy Bradly. Be quiet."
--"Scarified into griskins as he was," proceeded Bradly looking at Ned
with a grin of contempt--"ay, indeed, snug and cosily we laid him in
his bed of feadhers, and covered him wid thin scraws for fear he'd catch
could--he! he! he! That's the way we treated the procthors in our day. I
think I desarve a drink now!"
Drinking was now resumed with more vigor, and the proceedings of the
night were once more discussed.
"It was a badly-managed business every way," said one of them,
"especially to let M'Carthy escape; however, we'll see him 'igain,
and if we can jist lay our eyes upon him in some quiet place, it'll
be enough;--what's to be done wid this body till mornin.' It can't be
lyin' upon the chairs here all might."
M'Carthy, we need scarcely assure our readers, did not suffer all this
time to pass without making an effort to escape. This, however, was a
matter of dreadful danger, as the circumstances of the case stood. In
the first place, as we have already said, the door between the room
in which he lay and that in which the Whiteboys sat, was open, and the
light of the candles shone so strongly into it, that it was next to an
impossibility for him to cross over to the window without being seen; in
the second place, the joints of the beds were so loose and rickety that,
on the slightest motion of its Occupant, it creaked and shrieked so
loud, that any attempt to rise off it must necessarily have discovered
him.
"We must do something with the body of this unlucky boy," continued the
speaker; "divil resave you, M'Carthy, it was on your account he came to
this fate; blessed man, if we could only catch him!"
"Here, Dick, you and Jemmy there, and Art, come and let us bring him
into the bed' in the next room--it's a fitter and more properer place
for him than lyin' upon chairs here. God be merciful to you, poor Lanty,
it's little you expected this when you came out to-night! Take up the
candles two more of you, and go before us: here--steady now; mother
of heaven, how stiff and heavy he has got in so short a time--and his
family! what will they say? Hell resave you, M'Carthy, I say agin! I'm
but a poor man, and I wouldn't begrudge a five-pound note to get widin
shot of you, wherever you are."
It would be idle to attempt anything like a description of M'Carthy's
feelings, upon such an occasion as this. It is sufficient to say, that
he almost gave himself up for lost, and began to believe, for the first
time in his life, that there is such a thing as fate. Here had his life
been already saved once to-night, but scarcely had he escaped when he is
met by a person evidently disguised, but by whose language he is all
but made certain that he is a man full of mystery, and who besides has
expressed strong enmity against him. This person, with a case of
pistols in his breast, compels him, as it were, to put himself under his
protection; and he conducts him into a remote isolated shebeen-house,
where, no doubt, there is a meeting of Whiteboys every night in the
week. The M'Carthy spirit is, proverbially, brave and intrepid, but we
are bound to say, that notwithstanding its hereditary intrepidity, our
young friend would have given the wealth of Europe to have found himself
at that moment one single mile away from the bed on which he lay. His
best policy was now to affect sleep, and he did so with an apparent
reality borrowed from desperation.
"Hallo!" exclaimed those who bore the candle, on looking at the bed,
"who the devil and Jack Robinson have we got here? Aisy, boys--here's
some blessed clip or other fast asleep: lay down poor Lanty on the
ground till we see who this. Call Molly Cassidy; here, Molly, who the
dickens is this chap asleep?"
Molly immediately made her appearance.
"Troth I dunna who he is," she replied; "he's some poor boy on his
keepin', about tithes, tha' _He_ brought here to-night."
"That's a cursed lie, Molly; wid' many respects to you, _He_ couldn't a'
been here to-night."
"Thank you, sir, whoever you are; but I tell you it's no lie; and he
was here, and left that boy wid me, desirin' me to let him come to no
injury, for that--" and this was an addition of her own, "there was
hundreds offered for the takin' of him."
"Why, what did he do, did you hear?"
"He whispered to me," she replied, in a low voice, but loud enough for
M'Carthy to hear, "that he shot a tithe-proctor."
"We'll see what he's made of, though," said one of them; "and, at all
events, we'd act very shabbily if we didn't give him a share af what's
goin'; but aisy, boys," he added, "take care--ay! aisy, I say, safe's
the word; who knows but he's a spy in disguise, and, in that case, we'll
have a different card to play. Hallo! neighbor," he exclaimed, giving
M'Carthy a shove, who started up and looked about him with admirable
tact.
"What--what--eh--what's this? who are you all? what are you about?"
he asked, and as he spoke, he sprung to his feet. "What's this?" he
exclaimed again. "Sweet Jasus! is this Fagan the tithe-proctor that I
shot? eh--or are you--stay--no--ah, no--not the polis. Oh, Lord, but
I'm relieved; I thought you were polis, but I see by your faces that I'm
safe, at last--I hope so."
"Ay, to be sure, you're safe--safe--as--as the bank (hiccup). You're a
gintlemen, si--r you're a Con Roe--the ace o' hearts you are. Ay, you
shot--like a ma--an, and didn't card--ard him wid tomcats, and then put
the poo--oo--oor (hiccup) devil into a grave lined wid thorns; ah, you
cowardly ould villain! the devil, in the shape of a to--to--tom-cat
will card you in hell yet; an' moreover, you'll ne--never--ever die in
your bed, you hard-hearted ould scut o' blazes; an' that you may not, I
pray Ja--sa--sus this night--an' God forgive us all--amin, acheema!"
"Hould your drunken tongue, Ned," said he who seemed to assume authority
over them; "we want to put this poor boy, who died of liquor to-night,
into the bed, and I suppose you'll have no objection."
"None at all at all," replied M'Carthy, assuming the brogue, at which,
fortunately for himself, he was an adept; "it's a good man's case, boys;
blood an' turf, give him a warm birth of it--he'll find it snug and
comfortable."
They then placed the corpse on the bed but changing their mind, they
raised him for a moment, putting him under the bedclothes, pinned a
stocking, about his head to give him a domestic look; after which they
returned to the tap-room of the shebeen-house, for such in fact it
was. The latter change in the position of the corpse was made from an
apprehension lest the police might come in search of the body, and with
the hope that he might pass for a person asleep.
"You'll drink something wid us," said the principal among them; "but,
before you do, I suppose you are as you ought to be."
M'Carthy, who really was in a frightful state of thirst, determined at
once to put on the reckless manner of a wild and impetuous Irishman, who
set all law and established institutions at defiance.
"You suppose I am as I ought to be," he exclaimed, with a look of
contempt; "why, thin, I suppose so too: in the mane time, an' before you
bother me wid more gosther, I'd thank you to give me a drink o' whisky
and wather--for, to tell you the truth, blast me but I think there's a
confligration on a small scale goin' an inwardly; hurry, boys, or I'll
split. Ah, boys, if you but knew what I wint through the last three days
an' three nights."
"And what did you go through it all for?" asked the principal of them,
with something of distrust in his manner.
"What did I go through it fwhor? fwhy, thin, fwhor the sake o' the
trewth--I'm a Gaaulway man, boys, and it isn't in Can-naught you'll
fwhind the man that's afeard to do fwhat's right: here's aaul your
healths, and that everything may soon be as it ought to be."
"Well," said the other, "you are a Can-naught man sartainly, that's
clear from your tongue; but I want to axe you a question.'
"Fwhy nat? it's but fair,--it's but fair, I say,--take that wit j'ou,
an' I'm the boy that will answer it, if I can, bekaise you know, or
maybe you don't--but it's a proverb we have in Cannaught wit us--that
a fool may ax a question that a wise man couldn't answer: well, what is
it?"
"Who brought you here to-night?"
"Who brought me here to-night? fwhy, thin, I'll tell you as much of it
as I like--_He_ did."
"Be japers it's a lie, beggin' your pardon, my worthy Cannaught man.
_He_ couldn't be here to-night. I know where he was the greater part
of the night, and the thing's impossible. I don't know you, but we must
know you--ay, and we will know you."
"Trath an' I must know you, thin, and that very soon," replied M'Carthy.
"Come into the next room, then," said the other.
"Anywhere you like," he replied, "I'm wit you; but I'm not the boy to be
humbugged, or to bear your thricks upon thravellers."
"Now," said the other, when they had got into the room where the corpse
lay, "shake hands."
They accordingly shook hands, and M'Carthy gave him the genuine grip, as
he had been taught it by the Whiteboy.
"Right," said the man, "for so far; now, what's the hour?"
"Very near the right one."
"Isn't it come yet?"
"The hour is come, but not the man."
"When will he come?"
"He is within sight."
"It's all right; come in and take another dhrink," said the man; "but
still, who brought you here? for I know _He_ couldn't."
M'Carthy replied, winking towards the kitchen, "Troth she'll tell you
that story; give me another drink o' fwhiskey and water. Oh, I'm hardly
able to sit up, I'm getthi' so drowsy. A wink o' sleep, I may say,
didn't crass my eye these three nights; an' I'd wish to stretch myself
beside the poor boy widin. I'm an my keepin', boys, and fwhin you know
that the law was at my heels fwhor the last foive weeks, you'll allow I
want rest: throth I must throw myself somewhere."
"Go in, then, poor fellow, and lie down," said the same individual, who
acted as spokesman; "we know how you must feel, wid the hell-hounds of
the law affcher you: here, Jack, hould the candle for him, and help
him to move over poor Lanty to make room for him; and Mrs. Cassidy," he
called m a louder voice, "bring us another bottle."
"Faith, to tell you the truth," replied Jack, "I'd rather not; I don't
like to go near a dead body."
"Here," said the person called Dick, "give me the candle: poor fellow!
it is rest you want, and God forbid we wouldn't do everything in our
power for you."
They then entered the apartment, and M'Carthy was about to lay himself
beside the corpse, when his companion tapped him significantly on
the shoulder, and, his finger on his lips pointed to the window and
immediately whispered in his ear: "I will leave the windy so that it will
open at wanst: three of us knows you, Mr. M'Carthy I will sing a song
when I go in again, which they will chorus; fly then, for it's hard to
say what might happen: the day is now breakin' and you might be known--in
that case I needn't tell you what your fate would be."
He then returned to his companion having carefully closed the door after
him so as to prevent, as much as possible the motions of M'Carthy from
being seen or heard. On rejoining them he observed "well, if ever a poor
boy was fairly broken down, and he is--throth he was no sooner, on the
bed than he was off; an' among ourselves, the sleep must be heavy on him
when he could close his eyes an' a dead man in the bed wid him."
CHAPTER XIII.--Strange Faces--Dare-Devil O'Driscol Aroused
We have already stated that the proctors daughters had relieved their
mother from the duty which, that kind-hearted woman had been in the
habit of imposing on herself we mean that of attending and relieving
the sick and indigent in her immediate neighborhood. On the morning in
question Juli Purcel, who, together with her sister, for some time past
been attending the bed of an interesting young female, to one of her
father's workmen, had got up at an early hour to visit her--scarcely
with a hope, it is true, that she would find the poor invalid alive.
Much to her satisfaction, however, she found her better, and with some
dawning prospects of ultimate recovery. She left with her mother the
means of procuring such comforts as she considered might be suitable to
her in the alternative of her convalescence, and had got more than home
when she felt startled for a by the appearance of a person who seemed
to have been engaged in some of these nightly outrages that were then so
numerous in the country. The person in question had just leaped from an
open breach in the hedge which bounded the right-hand side of the road
exactly opposite where she was passing. The stranger's appearance was
certainly calculated to excite terror, especially in a female; for
although he did not wear the shirt over his clothes, his face was so
deeply blackened that a single shade of his complexion could not be
recognized. We need not again assure our readers that Julia Purcel
possessed the characteristic firmness and courage of her family, but
notwithstanding this she felt somewhat alarmed at the appearance of a
lawless Whiteboy, who was at that moment most probably on his return
from the perpetration of some midnight atrocity. This alarm was
increased on seeing that the person in question approached her, as if
with some deliberate intent.
[Illustration: PAGE 445-- Alarmed at the appearance of a lawless
Whiteboy]
"Stand back, sir," she exclaimed. "What can you mean by approaching me?
Keep your distance."
"Why, good God! my dear Julia, what means this? Do you not know me?"
"Know you! No, sir," she replied, "how could I know such a person?"
She had unconsciously paused a moment when the Whiteboy, as she believed
him to be, first made his appearance, but now she pursued her way home,
the latter, however, accompanying her.
"Why, my dear Julia, I am thunderstruck! What can I have done thus to
incur your displeasure?"
"You are rude and impertinent, sir, to address me with such
unjustifiable familiarity. It is evident you know me, but I am yet
to learn how I could have formed an acquaintance with a person whose
blackened face indicates the nature of his last night's occupation."
The person she addressed suddenly put up his hand, and then looking
at his fingers, immediately disclosed a set of exceedingly white and
well-formed teeth, which disclosure was made by a grin that almost
immediately quavered off into a loud and hearty laugh.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, on recovering his gravity, "it is no wonder, my dear
Julia, that you should not know me. Since I went out to shoot with Mogue
Moylan, yesterday morning, I have gone through many strange adventures."
"What!" she exclaimed, with evident symptoms of alarm and vexation,
"Frank M'Carthy!" and, as she spoke, the remarkable conversation which
she had had with Mogue Moylan, and the information he had given her with
respect to M'Carthy's connection with the Whiteboys, instantly flashed
upon her, accompanied now by a strong conviction of its truth.
"Explain yourself, Mr. M'Carthy," she exclaimed, in a tone of voice
which indicated anything but satisfaction. "How am I to account for this
unbecoming disguise, so much at variance with your habits of life and
education?--perhaps I should not say your habits of life--but certainly
with your education. Have you, too, been tempted to join this ferocious
conspiracy which is even now convulsing the country?"
"No wonder you should ask, my dear Julia," he replied; "but really the
incidents, which have caused me to appear as you see me, are so strange,
and yet so much in keeping with the spirit of the times, that I must
defer, until a more convenient opportunity a full account of them."
"Do so, sir," she replied quickly; "allow yourself full time to give
the best possible explanation of your conduct. I probably have put the
question too abruptly; but, in the meantime, you will have the goodness,
either to go on before me, or to fall back, as I presume, you will grant
that it is neither delicate nor becoming for me, who wear no disguise
and am known, to be seen at such an hour holding conversation with a
Whiteboy."
The impropriety of the thing struck him at once, and he replied, "You
are right, Julia; but I perceive that something has given you offence;
if it be my appearance, I tell you that I can afford you a satisfactory
explanation. Proceed now--I shall remain here for a time;--whether with
black face or white, I should not wish it to be supposed that we held a
clandestine meeting at this hour."
She then bowed to him with more formality than she had probably ever
used, and proceeded home at a quicker pace.
She had just turned an angle of the road, and got consequently out of
sight, when he heard a strong, but sweet and mellow voice singing the
fine old Irish song of the Cannie Soogah, or Jolly Pedlar; and, on
looking behind him, he perceived that worthy person approaching him at a
tolerably rapid pace. The pedlar had no sooner glanced at M'Carthy than
he grasped his tremendous cudgel with greater firmness, and putting
his hand into his breast, he pulled out a pistol, and with these
preparations approached our friend, still continuing his song, with the
same careless glee, and an utter absence of all fear.
"'I' m the rantin' cannie soogah'--
"God save you, neighbor! you forgot to wash your face this mornin'."
"That's its natural color," replied M'Carthy, willing, now that he
was out of all danger, to have a banter with his well-known friend the
pedlar.
"If you take my advice then," said the pedlar, "you'll paint it
white--it's a safer color in daylight at any rate. I'm thinkin' now, that
if you met a party of peelers on pathrole, they might give you a resate
for turnin' the same color red and white; however, _glunthoma_, (* Hear
me) if you have any design upon the Cannie Soogah, I can only tell you
that I never carry money about me, and even if I did, I have a couple
o' friends here that 'ud standby me; ay, in throth, three o' them, for
I have brother to this fellow (showing the pistol) asleep in my breast
here, and he doesn't like to be wakened, you persave; so whoever you
are, jog on and wash your face, as I said, and that's a friend's advice'
to you."
"Why, Cannie Soogah, is it possible you don't know me?"
"Throth I've been just thinkin' that I heard the voice before, but when
or where is more than I can tell."
"Not know your friend Francis M'Carthy?"
"Eh, Mr. Francis M'Carthy! and, Lord o' life, Mr. M'Carthy, how do
you come to have a black face? Surely you wouldn't belong to this
business--black business I may call it--that's goin'?"
"Well, I should hope not, Cannie; but, for all that, you see me with a
black face--ha!--ha!--ha!"
"I do indeed, Mr. Frank, and, between you and me, I'm sorry to see it."
"You will not be sorry to hear, however, that my black face saved my
life last night."
"Arra thin, how was that, sir, if it's a fair question?"
M'Carthy then gave him a brief, and by no means a detailed account of
the danger he had passed.
"Well," said the other, "everything's clear enough when it's known; but,
as it's clear that you have enemies in the neighborhood, I think the
wisest thing you could do would be to lave it at wanst."
"Such, in fact, is my determination," replied M'Carthy; "no man, I
believe, who is marked ought to remain in the country; that is, when he
has no local duties that demand his presence in it, as I have not."
"You are right, sir; start this very day if you're wise, and don't give
your enemies--since it appears that you have enemies--an opportunity of
doin' you an injury; if they missed you twice, it's not likely they will
a third time; but tell me, Mr. M'Carthy--hem--have you no suspicion as
to who they are?"
"Not exactly; indeed I cannot say I have; the whole matter is shrouded
in the deepest mystery. I am not conscious of having offended or injured
any one, nor can I guess why my life should be sought after; but sought
after unquestionably it is, and that with an implacable resentment that
is utterly unaccountable."
"Well, then, Mr. Frank, listen:--I met about a dozen men--strangers they
wor to me, although their faces weren't blackened--not more than twenty
minutes ago; and one, o' them said to me, 'Cannie, every one knows' you,
and you know every one--do you know me?'"
"'No,' says I; 'you have the advantage of me.'
"'Do you know any one here?' says he again.
"'Well, I can't say I do,' says I; 'you don't belong to this part of the
country.'
"'If we did, Cannie,' said the spokesman, 'it isn't face to face, in the
open day, we'd spake to you.'
"'An' what is it you have to say to me?' I axed; for, to tell you the
truth, I was beginnin' to get unaisy someway.
"'Nothing to you; but we've been tould that you're well acquainted wid
Procthor Purcel, and that you know a young man, by name M'Carthy, that
stops for the present wid Mr. Magistrate O'Driscol.'
"'I do,' says myself; 'I'll not deny but I know them all well--I mane in
the way o' business--for I call there often to sell my goods.'
"'Well,' said the spokesman, 'will you give that letther,' handin' me
this, 'to Mr. M'Carthy?'" and as the pedlar spoke he placed the note
in M'Carthy's hands. "'Do so,' says the fellow, 'as soon as you can--if
possible, widout an hour's delay. It consarns himself and it consarns
me--can I depend on you to do this?' I said I would: and now there's the
letther---my message is delivered."
M'Carthy read as follows:--"Francis M'Carthy, as you regard the life of
the man that saved yours last night, you won't breathe a syllable about
seein' a young man's corpse last night in the shebeen-house, nor about
anything that happened to you in it, till you hear further from me. If
you're grateful, and a gintleman, you won't; but if you're a traitor,
you will. Your friend, as you act in this."
"Now, Mr. Frank," said the, pedlar, "as you know the danger that's about
you, I say that unless you get out o' the counthry at wanst, you'll only
have a hand in your own death if anything happens. You're, goin' now,
I suppose, to Mr. Purcel's; if you are--if it wouldn't be
troublesome--jist say that the Cannie Soogah will call there in the
coorse o' the mornin' for breakfast."
He then turned off by a different road; and M'Carthy proceeded at, a
very slow pace towards the proctor's, which lay in a right line between
the house to which the White-boy had brought him and O'Driscol's. As
he reached the back yard, by which he intended to enter, anxious to get
himself washed before any of them should see him--he was met by Mogue,
who after a glance or two recognized him at once by his shooting-dress.
"Why thin, good fortune to me, Misther Frank, is this you?"
"It is, Mogue; but I have no time to speak to you now. Only get me soap
and a towel till I wash my face at the pump here. These are strange
times, Mogue, and that was a very suspicious place of refuge to which
you brought me; however, it will go hard or we shall make Mr. Frank
Finnerty speak out, and to some purpose too. Get me soap and towel
quick---I do not wish to be seen with this diabolical-looking face upon
me."
"That I may be blest, sir, but the same face surprises me. Wisha, then,
Mr. Frank, might one ax--"
"No," replied M'Carthy, "do as I have desired you--some other time you
may hear it, but not now."
At this moment, Mogue, who was very circumspect in all his looks as well
as in all his motions, saw by a side glance that Julia, on coming down
the stairs, saw M'Carthy--a circumstance which delighted his very
heart, inasmuch as he resolved to so manage it, that it might be made
to confirm the hint he had already thrown out against M'Carthy--if that
could be called a hint which was a broad and undisguised assertion. He
accordingly watched until an opportunity presented itself of addressing
her apart from listeners; and in the course of the morning, as she went
to look after some favorite flowers in the garden, he met her at the
gate.
"Miss Julia," said he, "I wish to spake one word to you, i' you plaise,
miss."
"Well, Mogue, what is it?"
"You know what I tould you about poor Misther Frank last night; and what
I want to say, miss, is, that you aren't to put any trust in it; truth,
I believe I had a sup in--don't be guided by it--it was only jokin'
about him I was--that I may never do an ill turn but it was--now."
"You need make no apology about it, Mogue," she replied; "I am not at
all interested in the matter; but I now know that you told me truth;
and as a friend and well-wisher of Mr. M'Carthy's, in common with all my
family, I am sorry to find it so."
"Oh, well now, miss, what will I do at all? wisha, but that's the way
wid me ever and always; when the little sup is in--and indeed it wasn't
much I tuck--the truth always come out--if it was the killin' of a man,
my heart always gets the betther of ma then."
"I saw him, Mogue, with his face blackened."
"Wisha, wisha, but I was a haythen to mention it at all. The truth is,
I like Mr. Frank--but then again, I don't like anything like desate, or
that carries two faces--only as you did see him, Miss Julia, if you're
loyal to me and won't turn traitor on me--you've but to wait for a
little, I'll be able to tell you more about the same foolish--I'd rather
say foolish for the sake of settin' a Christian pat-thern, than wicked
or traicherous--och, ay--for sure we all have our failins--howandiver
as I was sayin', I'll soon be able, I think, to tell you more about
him--things that will surprise you, miss, ay, and make the blood in your
veins run cowld. Only I say, if you wish to hear this, and to have it as
clearly proved to you as what I tould you last night, you musn't betray
me."
This was spoken in such an earnest, and at the same time in so simple
and candid a manner, that it was actually impossible to suspect for
a moment that there was falsehood or treachery intended. Nay,--his
pretended effort to undeceive her as to M'Carthy's connection with the
Whiteboys, was such a natural step after the drink which she supposed he
had taken on the preceding night, and when cool reflection had returned
to him, that she felt an indescribable curiosity--one attended with
pain and terror--to hear the full extent of her lover's perfidy. Beyond
all doubt, Moylan's treacherous adroitness, and the simplicity and piety
under which he contrived to veil his treachery and revenge, were perfect
in their way. As it was, he succeeded in banishing peace, and trust, and
cheerfulness, from the heart of generous and affectionate Julia Purcel.
M'Carthy found the young men up, and after simply stating that the
previous night was one of danger and adventure, he said that he wished
to go to bed for a while, and that he would describe these adventures at
more length after he had refreshed himself by some sleep. This, indeed,
they perceived to be absolutely necessary, from his exhausted and pallid
look. He accordingly went to rest--and, sooth to say, the sense of
security, joined to his complete exhaustion, and the comforts of a warm
good bed, gave him such a perception of luxury as he had never conceived
before. In a few minutes he fell into a dreamless and unbroken trance.
Breakfast was postponed an hour on his account; for as he had extorted
a promise from John Purcel, that he should either call him or have him
called when the time for that meal arrived, they did not wish to disturb
him so soon. In the meantime, there was many a conjecture as to the
cause of his absence, and as the fact of his black face could not
be concealed, there was consequently many an opinion given as to the
circumstances which occasioned that unexpected phenomenon. Julia did
not at all appear, but pleaded indisposition, and Alick had not yet
returned-from O'Driscol's, so there was only the proctor, his son John,
his wife, and Mary, to discuss the matter. At length, about half-past
ten M'Carthy made his appearance, and after the usual civilities of the
morning, he gave them a pretty clear, but not a very detailed account
of the dangers he had undergone. After a good deal of consideration, he
resolved, in accordance with the wish of his unknown friend, to suppress
all mention of the attack upon O'Driscol's house, and of the young man
who had been shot whilst it was going on.
Breakfast had not been concluded, when the _Cannie Soogah_, who had
already got his hansel, as he called his breakfast, in the kitchen, made
his appearance at the parlor window, which was immediately thrown up.
"God save all here," he exclaimed, "long life and good health to every
one of you! Here I am, the rantin' Cannie Soogah, as large as life; and
upon my profits maybe a little larger if the truth was known."
"Cannie," said the proctor, "dix me, but I'm glad to see you--and how
are you, man?--and do you carry your bones safe--or your head upon your
shoulders at all, durin' these wild times?"
"Troth, and you may well say they're wild times, Mr. Purcel, and it'll
be wisdom in every one to keep themselves as safe as possible till they
mend. Is it thruth, sir, that you're makin' preparations to collect your
tides wid the help o' the sogers and polis?"
"Perfectly thrue, Cannie; we'll let the rascals that are misleading the
people, as well as the people themselves, know whether they or the law
are the strongest. They cannot blame us for the consequence, for we're
forced to it."
"There will be bad work, thin, I'm afeard, sir; and bloody work, I
dread."
"That's not our fault, Cannie, but the fault of those who will wilfully
violate the law. However, let that pass, what's the news in the world?"
"I suppose you hard, sir, that the house of your friend and neighbor,
that man that hears nothin'--" here there was the slightest perceptible
grin upon the pedlar's face--"was attacked last night?"
"You don't mean O'Driscol's?"
"Upon my profits, I do--an' nobody else's.
"Hillo! do you hear this, girls? O'Driscol's house was attacked last
night!"
"Heavenly father! I hope Alick is safe," exclaimed Mrs. Purcel, getting
pale.
"Well, Cannie," inquired the proctor, quite coolly, and as if it was a
matter of mere business, "what was the consequence? I hope nobody was
hurt?"
"Why, that his son Fergus, sir--that fine young man that everybody was
fond of--"
"Good God!" exclaimed the proctor, now really shocked at what he
supposed the pedlar was about to say; "what is it you are goin' to tell
us? I hope in God--"
"What is this!" exclaimed John; "heavens, Mary, you have spilled all the
tea!"
"Mary, my child," exclaimed the mother, running to her; "what ails
you?--in God's name, what is the matter?"
"A sudden faintness," replied the girl, recovering herself as if by an
effort; "but it is over, and I--I am better."
"His son Fergus, sir--I hope Miss Mary is betther, sir--that his son
Fergus and his father, by all accounts, gave them a warmer reception
than they expected."
"But was none of O'Driscol's family hurt nor anybody else?" asked
Purcel.
"No, sir, it seems not--and indeed I'm main glad of it."
"D--n you, Cannie," exclaimed the other, between jest and earnest, "why
did you give me such a start? You told the affair as if Fergus had been
shot--however, I'm glad that all's safe in O'Driscol's;--but about the
night-boys? Were there any lives lost among them?"
"It's thought not, sir," replied the pedlar. "They left the marks o'
blood behind them, but the general opinion is, that there was no life
lost; I hope there wasn't--for, indeed, I have such a hatred against the
shed-din' of blood, that I don't wish even to hear of it."
"What was their object, have you learned, in attacking O'Driscol's
place?"
"Well, then, I didn't hear; but anyhow, they say that a new workin' boy
of O'Driscol's, that dogged them up beyant Darby Hourigan's, was wounded
by them, along with Darby himself, in regard, of his having joined the
young fellow in dodgin' afther them."
"Are they seriously hurt?" asked John.
"Throth that's more than I can say, but I hope they're not, poor
fellows; at any rate, I'm sure Mr. O'Driscol will have them well taken
care of till they're recovered."
"Certainly," observed the proctor, "if he thinks it his duty he will: my
friend O'Driscol will do what he conceives to be right."
The pedlar nodded significantly, and honored the observation with, a
broad grin. "Well, sir," said he, changing the conversation, "he may do
for that as he likes, but I must look to number one. Come, ladies--and,
by the way, where's my favorite, Miss Julia--from you?"
"She's not quite well this morning, Cannie," said her mother; "she has a
slight headache, I believe."
"Well, Miss Mary, then? Any purchases to-day, Miss Mary?"
"Not to-day, Cannie--the next time, perhaps."
"Cannie," said Purcel, "you praised your razors very highly at your last
visit;--have you a good case this morning?"
"Haven't I, sir? Wait till you see them."
He then produced a case, which the proctor purchased, and thus closed
his sales for that day.
The pedlar, however, notwithstanding that his commercial transactions
had been concluded, seemed somehow in no hurry. On the contrary, he took
up his pack and exclaimed, "I must go back to the kitchen, till I see
what can be done there in the way of business; hearin' that you were
finishin' breakfast, I hurried up here to sell my goods and have my
chat."
"Very well, Cannie," said the proctor, "try the folks below, and success
to you!"
The pedlar once more sought the kitchen, where he lingered in fact more
like a man who seemed fatigued than otherwise, inasmuch as his eyes
occasionally closed, and his head nodded, in spite of him. He kept,
however, constantly watching and peeping into the yard and lawn from
time to time, as if he expected to see somebody. At length he got tip
and was about to go, when he said to Letty Lenehan:--"Ah, thin, Letty,
afore I go I'd give a trifle that Miss Julia 'ud see a bracelet I got
since I was here last; divil sich a beauty ever was seen."
"Very well, Cannie, I'll tell her if you wish."
"Then, Letty, may it rain honeycombs an you, an' do. I'll go round to
the hall-door, 'say, and she can look at them there; an' see, Letty, say
the sorra foot I'll go from the place till she sees it: that it'll be
worth her while; and that if she knew how I got it, she'd fly--if she
had wings--to get a glimpse of it."
He had not been more than a minute or two at the hall-door when Julia,
struck by the earnestness of the man's language, which lost nothing in
the transmission, made her appearance.
"Well now, Cannie," said she, "what wonderful matter is this you have
got to show me?"
"Here it is, Miss Julia," said he, in his usual jocular and somewhat
loud voice, "here it is, I'll have it in a minute--listed, Miss Julia,"
he added, in a solemn and impressive undertone: "what I'm goin' to
say is more to you than aither life or death. Don't go out by
yourself--don't go at all out early in the morning or late in the
evenin'."
"Why so, Cannie?" she asked.
"Why, miss, it came to me by accident only; but the truth is there's a
plot laid, it seems, to carry you off to the mountains."
"By whom, Cannie?"
"That's the very thing, miss, that I don't know; but a strange man met
me on my way here this mornin' and tould me that he was a friend to your
father--who was wanst a friend to him--and that, if I'd see you, to put
you on your guard against goin' either to the poor or sick at the hours
I spoke of; and he bid me say, too, that th |
