"Don"t promise them anything of the sort," he said. "If they were to obtain it, they would be seizing every gentleman they could get hold of.
Their object is not money, or they would have robbed us before this.
Do as I tell you, and be on the watch to escape while they are trying to hang me. I"ll take care to give you a good chance."
While he was speaking they were throwing the ropes over the bough, and ostentatiously making nooses at the end of each of them. They were not very expert, and failed several times in throwing the other end over the bough. The ends of each of the ropes were grasped by three men, who looked savagely at us, as if they were especially anxious to see our necks in the opposite nooses, and apparently only waiting the order from their chief.
"If you have prayers to say, you had better say them now," cried the leader of the outlaws.
"It"s time to speak to you now, Dan Hoolan," said my uncle, as if he had not heard the last remark. "Whether you really intend to hang us or not, I can"t say; but if you do, vengeance is sure to overtake you. To kill an old man would be a dastardly deed, but doubly accursed would you be should you deprive a young lad like this of his life. If you have no pity on me, have regard to your own soul. There"s not a priest in the land who would give you absolution."
"Hould there, and don"t speak another word," shouted Hoolan. "I have given you the chance of praying, and you wouldn"t take it, so it"s yourselves will have to answer for it. Quick, boys, bring them along."
Our captors were leading us forward, and, as I had no wish to lose my life, I was looking out for an opportunity of obeying my uncle"s instructions, when, with a strength which those who held him could not have supposed he possessed, knocking down one on either side, he threw himself upon Hoolan, who, not expecting such an attack, was brought to the ground. At the same moment the major, drawing a knife which the ruffian had in his belt, held it as if to strike him to the heart. The hunchback, seeing the danger of his leader, regardless of me, rushed forward to his a.s.sistance; when, finding myself at liberty, I darted towards my horse, which was held by one only of the men, who, eagerly watching the strife, did not observe me. Twisting his shillelah from his hands, and s.n.a.t.c.hing the reins, I was in a moment in the saddle; but I had no intention of deserting my uncle. Firmly grasping the shillelah, I laid it about the heads of the men who were on the point of seizing the major. Hoolan, however, was completely at his mercy; and had they ventured to touch him, one blow of the knife would have ended the villain"s life, though probably his companions would have revenged his death by shooting us the moment after. But just then loud shouts were heard in the distance, and a party of men on horseback, whom no one had observed, were seen galloping at a tearing rate towards us.
"Hoora! hoora! Tim Phelan"s gained his cause!" shouted a horseman.
"He"s proved an alibi, and been set free by the judge."
Our captors, on hearing the shouts, turned to greet the new-comers, forgetting for the moment their previous intention and their leader, who lay on the ground, the major still holding his knife at his throat.
Presently, who should I see riding out from the crowd but Larry Harrigan himself.
"Thunder and "ounds!" he exclaimed. "What were they going to do to you?
Shure I never thought they"d have ventured on that."
He now came up to Hoolan with my uncle bending over him.
"Spare his life, major dear," he exclaimed. "He never intended to kill you; and if you"ll let him go I"ll tell your honour all about it by and by."
"Is this the case, Dan Hoolan?" asked my uncle. "On your soul, man, did you not intend to put your threat into execution?"
"No, I didn"t, as I"m a living man," said the outlaw, as, released by my uncle, he rose to his feet.
"I"ll tell your honour. I wanted to see how you and your young nephew would face the death I threatened; and I intended at the last moment to release you both if you would promise to take a message to the judge who was trying Tim Phelan, swearing that he was free of the murder of Mick Purcell, and knows no more about it than a babe unborn; for there"s one amongst us who did the deed, and they may catch him if they can."
This announcement completely changed the aspect of affairs. The outlaws brought us our horses, and with many apologies for the trouble they had given us, a.s.sisted us to mount.
"I"m not the man to harbour ill-feeling against any one," said the major, turning to the crowd of apparently humble-looking peasants.
"But, my boys, I"d advise you to follow a better calling without delay.
And now I"ll wish you good morning. If we ever meet again, may it be under pleasanter circ.u.mstances."
Though the greater part of those present didn"t understand what he said, the rest interpreted it in their own fashion: the outlaws and the new-comers raising a loud cheer, we rode off, followed by Larry, and continued our journey as if nothing particular had occurred.
"And what made you keep behind us, Larry?" asked my uncle, who summoned him up alongside.
"I"ll tell your honour," answered Larry. I was sleeping in the stables after I"d attended to the horses, when I heard three or four boys talking together; so I opened my eyes to listen, seeing it was something curious they were saying. I soon found that they were talking about Tim Phelan, who was to be tried in the morning. I thin recollected that Tim was my father"s second cousin"s nephew, and so of course I felt an interest in the fate of the boy.
"Says one to the other, "If the alibi isn"t proved, shure we"re bound in honour to try and rescue him."
""There are a hundred at least of us bound to do the same," answered the other, "and of course we"ll find many more to help if we once begin."
""Thin I"ll be one of them," I cried out, starting up without thinking that yer honour would be wanting me to continue the journey this morning. Blood is stronger than water, as yer know, major dear, and with the thought of rescuing Tim Phelan, I forgot everything else. When I joined the boys, I found a dozen or more met together, and they made me swear a mighty big oath that I would stick to them till Tim Phelan was acquitted or set free if condemned. So when the morning came, I knew that I could overtake yer honour and Maisther Terence by making my baste move along after the trial was over. As soon as yer honour had started, I went back to my friends, and after some time, while talking to them, I heard that Dan Hoolan was on the road to carry out another plan of his own, in case Tim should be condemned. What it was I didn"t find out for some time, when one of the boys tauld me that Dan intended to get hold of one of the lawyers, or a magistrate, or a gintleman of consequence, and to threaten to hang him if Tim was not set free. I was almost shrinking in my brogues when I thought that Dan Hoolan might be after getting hold of yer honour, but my oath prevented me from setting off till the boys came rushing out of the court saying that Tim was acquitted. I thin tauld them about all I was afraid of, so they jumped on the backs of the horses without waiting to cheer Tim or carry him round the town. It was mighty convanient that we arrived in time; but, major dear, you will see clearly that if I hadn"t stopped behind, there would have been three of us to be hung by Dan instead of two; so well pleased I am that I found out that it was Tim, my father"s second cousin"s nephew, who was going to be tried."
"Well, master Larry, it"s well for us all that you had your wits about you, so I"ll say nothing more to you for neglecting your orders, which were to follow close at our heels," observed the major.
"Thank yer honour; but you"ll be after remembering that I didn"t suppose that Dan Hoolan was really going to hang yer honour, or I"d have been in a much more mighty fright at hearing that he was going to have a hand in the matter."
This little incident will afford some idea of the state of my native country at the time of which I write.
After Larry had given this explanation for his non-appearance, he dropped behind, and my uncle and I rode on side by side, talking of various matters, and whenever the road would permit, putting our horses into a trot or a canter to make up for lost time. Darkness overtook us before we reached the town at which my uncle proposed to stop for the night. I confess that I kept a look-out now on one side, now on the other, lest any more of Dan Hoolan"s gang might be abroad, and have a fancy to examine our valises and pockets. We rode on for nearly three hours in the dark, without meeting, however, with any further adventure.
We reached Timahoe, where there being no event of importance taking place, we found sufficient accommodation and food both for man and beast, which was promised on the sign outside, though, to be sure, it could not be seen in the dark, but I observed it the next morning as we rode away.
I must pa.s.s over the remainder of the journey till we had got over the greater part of our journey to the fair city of Cork. We had been riding on like peaceable travellers, as we were, when we reached a village, through the centre of which, having nothing to detain us there, we pa.s.sed on at our usual pace. It appeared quiet enough. The children were tumbling about with the pigs in the mud, and the women peered out of the half-open doors, but seeing who we were, drew in their heads again without addressing us, or replying to any of Larry"s most insinuating greetings.
"There"s something going on, though what it may be is more than I can tell," remarked my uncle.
Just as we got outside the village, though not a sound reached our ears, we caught sight, coming round a corner on the right, of a party of men, each armed with a shillelah, which he grasped tightly in his right hand, while he looked keenly ahead, as if expecting some one to appear. They had started forward apparently at the sound of our horses" feet, and stopped on seeing who we were.
"Good evening, boys," said my uncle, as we rode on. They made no reply.
We had got a little further on when I saw another party on the left coming across the country at a rapid rate. One of them, running forward, inquired if we had seen any of the boys of Pothrine, the name, I concluded, of the village we had just pa.s.sed through.
"Not a few of them, who are on the look-out for you, boys, and if you"re not wishing for broken heads, you"ll go back the way you came," answered my uncle.
"Thank yer honour, we"ll chance that," was the answer, and the man rejoining his party, they advanced towards the village. Scarcely a minute had pa.s.sed before loud cries, whacks, and howls struck upon our ears.
"They"re at it," cried my uncle, and turning back we saw two parties hotly engaged in the middle of the road; shillelahs flourishing in the air, descending rapidly to crack crowns or meet opposing weapons. At the same time Larry was seen galloping in hot haste towards the combatants. My uncle called him back, but the noise of the strife must have prevented him from hearing the summons, for he continued his course. I rode after him, being afraid that he was intending to join in the scrimmage, but I was too late to stop him, for, throwing his rein over the stump of a tree which stood convenient at one side of the road, he jumped off, and in a second was in the midst of the fray.
I had often seen faction fights on a small scale in our own neighbourhood, but I had never witnessed such ferocity as was displayed on the present occasion.
Conspicuous among the rest were two big fellows, who carried shillelahs of unusually large proportions. They had singled each other out, being evidently champions of their respective parties, and it was wonderful to observe the dexterity with which they a.s.saulted each other, and defended their heads from blows, which, if delivered as intended, would have crushed their skulls or broken their arms or legs. In vain I shouted to Larry to come out of it, and at last I got so excited myself, that had I possessed a shillelah, I think that, notwithstanding the folly of the action, I should have jumped off my horse and joined in the battle. At length one of the champions was struck to the ground, where three or four others on the same side were already stretched. It was the one, as far as I could make out, that Larry had espoused, and to which the men who had spoken to us belonged. Presently I saw Larry spring out from the crowd, his head bleeding and his coat torn.
On seeing me he shouted, "Be off with yer, Maisther Terence, for they"ll be coming after us," and running towards his pony, which the tide of battle was approaching, he took the reins and leaped on its back.
Knowing how annoyed my uncle would be if we got into any trouble, I followed Larry"s advice, but not a moment too soon, for the defeated party came scampering along the road, with the victors after them, shrieking and yelling like a party of madmen let loose.
"On, on, Master Terence dear!" shouted Larry, and galloping forward, I soon overtook my uncle, who had turned back on hearing the hubbub, to ascertain what had become of me. On seeing that I was safe, he again turned his horse"s head, and as he had no wish to get involved in the quarrel, he rode forward, closely followed by Larry. The howls, and shouts, and shrieks grew fainter as we advanced.
"That boy will be brought into proper discipline before long if he gets on board the frigate," said my uncle when I told him what had occurred, "and that love of fighting any but his country"s enemies knocked out of him, I"ve a notion."
It was growing dusk when the lights of the town where we were to stop appeared ahead. Suddenly it struck me that I didn"t hear the hoofs of Larry"s steed. Turning round to speak to him, he was nowhere visible.
"Larry, come on, will you?" I shouted, but Larry didn"t reply.
"The boy can"t have had the folly to go back with his broken head to run the chance of another knock down," observed my uncle. "We must go and see what he has been after."
We accordingly turned round and rode back, I galloping ahead and shouting his name. I hadn"t gone far when I saw his pony standing by the side of the road. As I got up to the animal, there was Larry doubled up on the ground. I called to him, but he made no reply.
Leaping from my horse, I tried to lift him up. Not a sound escaped his lips. I was horrified at finding that to all appearances he was dead.
My uncle"s first exclamation on reaching me was, "The lad has broken his neck, I"m afraid; but, in case there may be life left in him, the sooner we carry him to a doctor the better. Help me to place him on my saddle, Terence."
Stooping down, notwithstanding his weight, my uncle drew up his inanimate body, and placed it before him, whilst I led on his pony.