The latter drew rein, seeing that the creature under the pine-boughs was some old crone whose grief seemed more bitter still than his own.
"What is wrong, mother?" he cried cheerily. "Are you from one of the Bertragh farms?"
The tattered heap moved slightly, and a wrinkled, withered face peered up at him.
"Nay, I come from farther than that," and to his surprise there was a mocking note in her voice, though it was weak. "That is a good horse of yours, _ma boucal_; he must trot sixteen miles to the hour, eh?"
"All of that, mother," returned Brian, wondering if the old crone was out of her senses. "Was it you whom I heard wailing a moment ago? Where is your home?"
The old woman broke into a cackle of hideous laughter.
"My home, is it? Once I had a home, Yellow Brian--and it was in Dungannon, with Tyr-owen and Cormac and Art and the n.o.blest of the chiefs of Ulster to do me honor! Have you forgotten me, Brian O"Neill, since we met at the Dee Water?"
Then Brian gave a great cry, and swung down to earth, for now he recognized the Black Woman. But as he strode toward her she tried to rise and failed, and forth from the midst of her rags came a quick gush of red blood. Brian leaped forward and caught her in his arms, pitying her.
"I knew you," she gasped out weakly, clutching at his shoulder. "I knew you, son of Tyr-owen! You had yellow hair, but your face was the face I once loved, the face of the great Hugh--"
She stopped abruptly, and her words were lost in a choking gasp as blood came from her mouth. Brian swore.
"_Mile Mollaght!_ What has happened here, woman? Are you wounded?"
"Aye, those dogs of O"Donnells," she moaned feebly. Then new strength came to her, and she peered up with another cackle. "But did I not tell wisely, son? Have you not found Cathbarr of the Ax and the Bird Daughter even as I foretold?"
"Yes, yes," returned Brian impatiently. "Where are you wounded, mother?
We can take you--"
"Peace, avic," she cried. "They came on me last night, and my life is gone. You shall take vengeance for the old _calliagh_, Brian--but first I must talk. Do you know who I am, avic--or who I was, rather?"
"How should I know that, mother?" answered Brian. "Old Turlough Wolf, yonder, swears you are some witch--"
"Turlough!" The hag raised herself on his arm, cackling. "So the old Wolf is still living! Do _you_ know me, Turlough? Do you remember the sorrowful day of the earl"s flight?"
Old Turlough, who had ridden closer, bent over and looked down, fear in his face. Suddenly he straightened up again with a wild cry.
"Noreen of Breffny! By my hand, it is the earl"s love!"
"Aye, the earl"s love!" she gasped out, falling back. "I was his love in truth, Yellow Brian, and he loved me above all the rest, though another"s hand closed his eyes and laid him to earth in Rome. I knew you would come, Brian--I saw you at Drogheda, though you saw me not, and I bade you come here into the West, and I have watched over you--"
She coughed horribly, clutching at Brian"s arm. He stared down at her in amazement, for the incredible story seemed true enough. This old hag had been that Noreen of Breffny of whom he had heard much--the fairest maid of the North, whom the great earl had loved to the last, though the church had not blessed their union.
Brian"s old Irish nurse had often told him of the "Breffny lily," and it was bitter and hard to realize that this ancient hag, withered and shrunk and done to death by the Dark Master"s men, had been the fairest maid in Ulster. She gasped out a little more of her story, and Brian found that his wild surmises had been true; after seeing him and recognizing him for one of the earl"s house, she had instantly led his mind to this part of the country, being aware of the strife between O"Donnell and Nuala O"Malley. It had been a crazed notion enough, and since then she had kept as near to him as possible in the half-sane idea that she might help him.
How she had managed to do it ever remained a mystery to Brian, since his marches had been none of the slowest, but she had done so.
"Where are--your men?" she exclaimed after a little. Brian told her what had chanced at the castle, and she broke out in a last wild cackling laugh.
"Tyr-owen"s luck!" she cried. "Betrayed and blasted, betrayed and blasted--but the root of the tree is still strong, Yellow Brian--give me your blessing, master--give Noreen your blessing before you go to Rome, Hugh _mo mhuirnin_--"
Brian"s face blanched and his hands trembled, for he saw that her wandering mind took him for his grandsire.
"_Dhia agus mhuire orth_," he murmured, and with a little sob the Black Woman died.
Silence fell upon the dingle, as Brian gazed down at the woman his grandfather had loved, and whose love had been no less. Then Turlough pushed his horse closer, looking down with a shrewd leer.
"Said she not that it would be a black day when you met her again, master?" he queried with awe in his voice. "I think--"
"Keep silence!" commanded Brian shortly. "Get down from that horse and dig a grave."
"But the ground is frozen--" began old Turlough in dismay. Brian gave him one look, and the old man hastily dismounted, crossing himself and mumbling.
Brian joined him, and they managed to scoop out a shallow grave with knife and sword, laid the old woman in it, and covered her up again. It was a sorry burial for the love of the great earl, but it was the best they could do.
Shaken more than he cared to admit, Brian mounted and rode on in silence. As he had thought, there was nothing supernatural about this weird Black Woman, except, perhaps, the manner in which she had contrived to keep close to him. She had warned him at the Stone Mountain, and she must have been keeping close to Bertragh ever since, unseen by any, with her unhinged mind driving her forward relentlessly.
"Poor woman!" he thought darkly, gazing into the hills ahead. "There has been little luck to any who ever followed an O"Neill or loved an O"Neill! And now it seems likely that the same ill luck of all my family is to dog my heels, bringing me up to the heights, only to cast me down lower than before. Well, I may fall, but it shall not be until I have dragged down the Dark Master. If I fall not I may yet best the ill-luck and conquer Millhaven for my own."
With that his mind leaped ahead again as the plan outlined itself to him. The O"Donnell pirates must have brought their whole force to the Dark Master"s aid, and if he could but cut off that camp of theirs between the castle and the sh.o.r.e, Nuala O"Malley might bring her two ships against the weakened four and take them all.
Then, when the castle had fallen, he could sail north to Millhaven, reduce the stronghold there, and let fly his own banner at last. It was a good plan, but it hung on many things.
With a short laugh at his own fancies he turned in the saddle as the voice of Turlough broke into his musings.
"I mind the last time I saw the poor woman back yonder, master. It was just before the great flight, and I mind now that she was not so ill-looking even then, though she was well past her youth, and that was forty years ago. Tyr-connall"s bag-pipe men were blowing as we marched to Lough Sw.i.l.l.y, and two earls rode in front when the poor _caillin_ rushed out and flung herself under Tyr-owen"s horse--oh, _Mhuire as truagh, Mhuire as truagh_ for the old days! And when the earl died, her name was on his lips, and I came home again to find her disappeared. Oh, what sorrow for the old days! Would that I had died in Rome with the princes--"
"Stop that wailing," interrupted Brian sternly, for the old man was lashing himself into a frenzy of grief. "Put spurs to that horse of yours, Turlough, for we must reach Cathbarr"s tower by noon if possible in order to start the men off over the hills. It"ll be a long night"s march, and I"ve no time to be idling here on the road."
Upon which he dug in his spurs and urged his steed into a gallop, and in order to keep up, Turlough Wolf had to give over his laments and do likewise. Brian forced himself to bend all his energies toward carrying out his final desperate plan, but he silently vowed that the old woman who had so foully been cut down by the O"Donnells should not die unavenged.
On they galloped without pause, gained the head of Bertraghboy Bay, and swung to the east on the last stretch of the trip. The storm which had arisen so inopportunely was now dying away, and the sun was breaking through the gray clouds; when they turned out from the main track into the hill-paths that led to Cathbarr"s tower, the rough ground made them slow their pace. When they were still three miles from the tower, however, Brian gave a shout.
"Men, Turlough! Cathbarr has sent out men to meet us!"
So, indeed, it proved, and five minutes later a dozen men met them with yells of delighted welcome. From these overjoyed fellows Brian quickly learned that Cathbarr was at the tower and that Nuala O"Malley had just arrived there.
So, leaving them to follow, he and Turlough went on at their best speed, and twenty minutes later they topped that same long rise from which Brian had first gazed down on the little promontory where stood Cathbarr"s tower. But now, as he saw what lay beneath, he drew up with a shout of amazement.
For around the tower and at the base at the neck of land were camped a goodly force of men, while at anchor near the tower lay--not Nuala"s two ships alone, but also those other two of her kinsmen!
"Those two O"Malleys have returned from the south," exclaimed Turlough in wild delight. "That means more men and ships, master--we will cut off those Millhaven pirates to a man!"
Brian sent out a long shout, but his arrival had already been noted. As he rode down the slope, men poured from the camp and tower, and ahead of them all came Cathbarr of the Ax, with Nuala and Lame Art and Shaun the Little behind him.
"Welcome!" bellowed the giant with a huge laugh, pulling Brian from his horse with a great hug of delight. "Welcome, brother!"
Brian escaped from his grip and bowed over the Bird Daughter"s hand. As he rose, he saw that her face had lost its ruddy hue, and that her eyes were ringed with darkness. Before he could speak she smiled and gripped his hand.
"The birds came safe, and we know all. Yesterday arrived these kinsmen of mine, and their force is joined to our own, Yellow Brian--"
Brian held up his hand, halting her suddenly, and silence fell on the men who had crowded around. For a moment he gazed into her deep eyes, then flung up his head and his voice rang clear and stern in the stillness.