Grace O'Malley. Machray Robert
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We did not, on our side, stir out of the castle, for whatever advantage, if any, had been reaped from the sally had been purchased at too heavy a price. Grace O’Malley rightly had come to the conclusion that we had everything to gain by sitting still, and that Sir Nicholas, seeing that he could do nothing against us without ordnance, would soon grow tired of this futile business, and so go back to Galway.
Whether he had heard in some way that the vessel he had expected had been wrecked, or feared that events had happened which had prevented it from being sent at all by Winter, the English Admiral, I know not; but one night he stole away from Burrishoole, and when the morning was come, lo, there was not an Englishman anywhere to be seen.
It was an unfortunate coincidence in one respect that the very morning which saw the siege raised should also have witnessed the arrival of Richard Burke, attended by fifty horsemen and more than a hundred gallowglasses, for if we could have counted on such a number of fighting men in addition to our own, we should certainly have again attacked the Governor’s forces and not stood so much upon our defence.
But in another respect it fell out luckily enough for us, and this was that we might now pursue him with some hope of overtaking him, and of stopping him from plundering the country, owing to the assistance of the Burkes. There was nothing more certain than that Sir Nicholas, as he retreated towards Galway, would drive before him all the cattle and horses of the land, and thus he would, after all, unless prevented, gather an enormous spoil, depriving us, and those who looked to us for protection, of a great part of our wealth. And already he had done us a vast amount of injury and harm.
So soon, therefore, as Richard Burke, who was sorely disappointed that he had not reached Carrickahooley sooner, had come into the castle, and had been received and entertained by my mistress, from whom he heard a narrative of what had recently occurred, Grace O’Malley proposed that he and I should set out with a large force to endeavour to recover from the English the plunder they were taking away. And to this the MacWilliam gladly assented, observing that no proposal could please him better than to take part in getting back her property for her.
“And,” continued he, “as it is impossible for Sir Nicholas to move quickly, hampered as he must be with many herds of cattle and bands of horses, we can catch him up before he has gone very far.”
“You will also have many opportunities,” said Grace O’Malley, “of which I am sure you will not fail to make the most, of coming upon detached bodies of his troops as they struggle through the thick forests and the passes of the mountains, and of cutting them off. You can harass and harry him nearly every step of his retreat, so that when he at length reaches Galway it will be with greatly lessened forces, and with so slender a spoil that he will not care to boast of it.”
“You would not offer him battle?” asked I.
“You must be the judges of that for yourselves,” said she; “but Sir Nicholas is a fine soldier, and as wary as a fox in warfare, and I think you can do him far more deadly hurt by acting as I have said. You will risk but little, and may gain much.”
Then Grace O’Malley and Richard Burke began talking of what prospect there was of a general rising of the Irish against the Queen, and of the help that might be looked for from Philip of Spain, and of other matters, some of which, I suspect, lay even nearer the heart of one of them, at least.
But of this I cannot tell, for when they commenced to speak of affairs of State I went out from the hall in which they were, to get my men in readiness to pursue the English. And welcome to me was it that our expedition, and its hard service, held out the promise of drawing off my thoughts from Eva and de Vilela.
I was eager that we should make a start at once, but the Burkes were weary and footsore with their long, toilsome journey. For that day, then, they rested, Grace O’Malley giving them and all in the castle a great feast, filling them with food and wine, while her harpers stirred their souls with songs of the mighty deeds done by the mighty dead.
Songs, too, they made to music now sweet, now fierce, in honour of my mistress, acclaiming her as not the least in the long list of a line of heroes! Whereupon the castle rang with tumultuous shoutings of applause. Then the minstrels cunningly turned their themes to the Burkes of Mayo, English once, but Irish now – ay, even more Irish than the Irish themselves.
And so the day passed.
In the morning we left Carrickahooley with a hundred horsemen and a hundred running footmen, besides horse-boys and others. Behind us came many of the fugitives who had come to us fleeing from before the English, and who now were returning to their homes, or to what poor, charred remains of them might be found.
As we moved swiftly on, we saw many evidences of the havoc wrought by the ruthless invaders; here the hut of the wood-kerne, who lives by hunting, there the hovel of the churl, who tills the fields, burnt to the ground; while over all brooded the silence of desolation and death.
It was not till evening was upon us that we knew by many indications that we were close on the enemy. Then we halted and waited till the night had fully come, sending out in the meantime our spies to see what the English were doing.
Softly, like thieves, they returned with word they had discovered that Sir Nicholas and the greater portion of his army were not to be seen, having apparently gone on, but that a small company of English soldiers and most of the O’Flahertys of Aughnanure were camped some two or three miles away, having in their charge great droves of cattle. Having no thought that they were being followed up by us, they had made no preparations for defence, and therefore might easily fall into our hands.
Leaving our chargers to the care of the horse-boys, we divided ourselves into two bands, Richard Burke being in command of the one, and I of the other; and, going very circumspectly so as to give no hint of our approach, we burst upon the enemy, many of whom were slain at the first onset, but a far larger number escaped us in the darkness. We spent the rest of the night in their camp, having secured the cattle; and when daylight made manifest everything to us I saw that we had accomplished all this victory without the loss of a single man, there being but few wounds even among us.
Then we rode on that day and two more, now and again falling in with scattered companies of the enemy, whom we slew or dispersed, and recovering from them whatever plunder they were taking out of the land. But Sir Nicholas we did not meet with, as he had gone on day and night without halting, having heard, as I afterwards learned, that the Burkes of Clanrickarde, under Ulick, the son of the earl, had brought together several hundred men, including many Scots, and that they were even now threatening Galway itself.
As we were not purposed to go on to Galway after the Governor, we returned to Carrickahooley at our leisure.
And now, as we journeyed northwards, Richard Burke’s talk to me was all of his love for my mistress. How brave, how strong, how great she was! And of how wonderful a spirit and so wise withal! Did I think that she had a regard for anyone in especial? Or, that he might have a chance with her?
And thus he talked and talked, until I, who had my own love trouble, and found it hard enough, was first constrained to listen, then to utter words of sympathy, and, last of all, was unfeignedly glad when our arrival at the castle put a stop to the outflowing of his eloquence.
CHAPTER XVI.
“OUR NATURAL LEADER.”
“The Earl of Desmond,” said Grace O’Malley to me, “is our natural leader against the English, and I wish you to go and see him.”
These words my mistress addressed to me shortly after Richard Burke and I had returned. She and I were alone, and, indeed, she had sent for me expressly, so that I knew it was of some matter of importance she wished to speak to me. I had not anticipated, however, that it would be this.
“Yes,” I said. “When do you desire me to go? De Vilela will hardly be able to be moved for some time yet, and I suppose that he will accompany me.”
Don Francisco was better, but several weeks would have to elapse before he would stand on his feet, or even be moved from his bed with safety.
“No,” said she. “I do not think it prudent to wait so long a period as may have to pass before de Vilela has sufficiently recovered. You must take Fitzgerald with you, and set out at once for the Desmond stronghold at Askeaton. Fitzgerald is now nearly well, his wound being all but healed. He possesses something of the confidence of the King of Spain, which Don Francisco enjoys to the full, and is therefore in a position to speak with Desmond, and to find out what his intentions are.”
“As you will,” said I, not without gladness, for it would be a way, and that a perfect one, to enable me to keep my resolution with regard to Eva and de Vilela – if I were out of the castle altogether, then indeed would the field be left to him alone. But, at the same time, there was a gripping about my heart that certainly was not caused by pleasure.
“It would be most unwise to delay,” continued she. “Sir Nicholas Malby will come against us so soon as he can raise a large army; if not Sir Nicholas, then another; if not this year, and he will scarcely do so now the winter approaches, then next year. And thus will the contest go on till the end has come. Under Desmond, the head of the Geraldines, the greatest noble of the South, all the Irish people will rally.”
My mistress’s voice was full of excitement; but I was not so sure of Desmond, and so made haste to remind her that he had been out against the Queen before, and had got nothing but imprisonment and grievous loss for his pains.
“It is not the same now,” replied she, with her ardour undiminished; “for Philip of Spain will throw his sword into the balance. When Desmond understands that he will be backed up by the ships and the soldiers and the money of Spain, he will throw off all irresolution, and show himself to be the great prince he is. Tell him that we are with him heart and soul. Tell him that the Burkes, both the Upper and the Lower Burkes, will forget their feuds, and unite for this one common purpose. Tell him there will be no lack of treasure; and as an earnest of this we will now go to the Caves of Silence, and take from thence the chest of gold found on the Capitana– I have spoken to de Vilela about it – and some gems as well, as a present from me.”
My mistress’s mind was made up, and vain would it have been for me to try to cause her to change her determination. And why should I try? Was not what she said true? Was not Desmond a prince in the land? If he could not be depended upon to lead us against the English, then on whom could we depend? So I stifled whatever of doubt I felt. Grace O’Malley was my leader, and if she were content with Garrett Desmond, then so was I.
We went together to the Caves of Silence, and brought away from them the chest of gold, a casket richly chased and adorned with rare jewels, and a dagger, the handle and sheath of which were studded with precious stones.
“What hatred of the English may not accomplish,” said my mistress, “gold will. Many a good sword may be bought when neither love nor hate would affect aught; many a waverer made steadfast on the rock of gold.”
I was to sail early next morning in The Cross of Blood, and in the evening when I sat in the hall, she straightly charged me that I was on no account to adventure the ship or myself in any sort of peril, and that I was not to attack any vessel, however fair and goodly a prize it might seem; nay, on the contrary, I must keep out of the track of ships as far as was practicable.
When the two ladies left us for the night, and I rose to bid them farewell for a time, I held Grace O’Malley’s hand, and she pressed mine warmly. I would have given all that I had in the world, or ever hoped to possess of it, if Eva would but have clasped my hand with something of the same fervour, or that I could have held hers and caressed it with a lover’s fondness.
And the eyes of my dear, too, were soft and kind, so that my heart cried out for a token, but my debt to de Vilela stood between us, and I only touched the little hand.
She looked at me somewhat strangely, I fancied, as if the coldness of my manner made her marvel, and I think that there perhaps was a faint gleam of laughing malice in the face of Grace O’Malley, who stood by. But in the morning, there, at the window high up the tower, were to be seen both my mistresses, with their fingers to their lips kissing me good-bye, as the galley was pulled out from the harbour.
It was now October, a month of storms, and we had to encounter head winds, heavy seas, and much stress of weather, so that our progress southward was slow. Keeping close in shore, we took advantage of whatever protection the coast, or the islands along it, afforded us, having frequently to put in and stop in one or another of the bays of Connaught.
A full week was thus taken up before we had gotten through the South Sound between Inisheer and the mainland, and, with the exception of some fishing boats, we had had the sea to ourselves.
As we passed down the rocky, mountain-crowned coast, we were sorely buffeted and wrought upon by the winds and waves. By the time we were abreast of the Cliffs of Moher, so furious a tempest was raging that I feared never would we live through it.
The stoutness of the galley, however, and perhaps some skill of seamanship, brought us safely to the Head of Cregga, which we essayed to round, but experienced so great a travail in the doing of it, albeit we did it, that we were well-nigh exhausted with the labour. But, once round the Head, we found ourselves in a stretch of water which, by comparison with that we had gone over, was as a quiet pool, to wit, the Bay of Liscanor.
And here we remained for some hours, looking for such an abatement of the storm as would allow us to proceed; but in this our hope was not to be realised as soon as we had expected, for the night fell, and the fury of the tempest was not spent.
The first object that met our gaze when the light of morning had come was a ship, all her masts gone, and the waves sweeping over her, go driving to her doom on the rocks of Cregga. As now her bows, now her stern was lifted up, so that we got a full view of her hull, there was that about her that seemed to me not unfamiliar, but I could not say then what it was. Clutching the ropes and bolts on and about what remained of her bulwarks were a few men, clinging desperately in the face of death to their last hold on life.
There was no possibility of the ship being saved, and there was hardly a greater likelihood of saving the lives of any of these miserable sailors, but I resolved to make the attempt, at least.
Bringing up The Cross of Blood as near as I dared to the Head, and having made ready to lower her two small boats, I waited for the moment when the vessel would crash upon the rocks, and be crushed and broken upon them. As she neared the cliffs, the spume of the waves shooting high and white in the air, the foaming, roaring waters, dashed back by the rocks, caught and twisted her about, so that, as her side was turned to us, I saw her name in letters of white and gold.
She was The Rosemary, a shot from which had caused the death of my master, Owen O’Malley, a few months before, and well did I remember how I saw her sail up the Shannon on her way to Limerick, with the two eerie figures shadowed against her canvas.
For an instant I felt an impulse to stand off, and to make no effort to avert the fate of any of her men – it was uncertain, I told myself, whether at the best I could render them any assistance. But, after all, we had no quarrel with these wretched mariners, about to be swallowed up by the ever-hungry sea, and, if we had had, this extremity of theirs was of a kind which we could not look upon as our opportunity and have been worthy of the name of men.
Therefore, when The Rosemary rose to the waves for the last time, and was borne aloft on the black edge of a huge roller, and then shattered to fragments upon the rocks, did we keep a sharp look-out for the bodies, living or dead, if any, which might appear on the water near where we were.
And five poor souls, by means of our boats, did we save alive, or, being as the dead, did bring to life again – and one of them was a woman.
Surely this was the queerest trick that fate ever played upon me, for the woman was none other than Sabina Lynch! Nor do I wonder that, when she had come to herself and, seeing me, knew upon whose ship she was, she did imagine she had but escaped from one kind of calamity to meet with another, and that perhaps worse: for she had to be restrained, and that by force, from casting herself back into the sea, preferring death to being in my hands.
And, verily, I was in a grievous quandary with regard to her.
She would not eat nor drink nor rest nor sleep, but only cried and sobbed and moaned, till she fell into a sort of stupor. Recovering after awhile, she did naught but cry and sob and moan again, and was so distraught that I felt a pity for her. Then, what was I to do with her? True, I could keep her a captive, and take her back with me when I returned to Carrickahooley, and give her over to my mistress, who would doubtless accord her the grimmest of welcomes. And this, perhaps, was my duty. If it were, I failed in it.
Urged on by a woman’s spite and jealousy, Sabina Lynch had played a treacherous and cruel part in regard to Grace O’Malley, and she was, in a measure, the cause of our quarrel with Sir Nicholas and the English. Sure was I that my mistress would not be merciful to her, nor would she expect me to be. Why, then, should I have been?
I have no other answer, if it be an answer, except that I was deep in love with Eva O’Malley, and that my love for her made me feel certain that Eva, much as Grace was to her – as to me – would have told me to act as I did towards this woman. For I determined to let her go free.
It is not in me to explain this matter further, nor to tell how often I argued it with myself, ever coming back, however, to what I conceived would be the desire of Eva – to let Sabina Lynch go. And if the other course was my duty, there was meted out to me, as will be seen, punishment out of all proportion to my fault.
Having come to the conclusion that Sabina Lynch should be set at liberty when a suitable opportunity presented itself, I acquainted her with my decision. She could scarcely believe her ears, and was not convinced that I meant what I said until I informed her that she might move about the galley as she pleased, and that I would put her ashore at Liscanor if she wished it, or take her on with us if that was her will.
When she saw that I did not intend to deceive her, nor to do her any hurt, she told me that she was going to Limerick. Inquiring why she had left Galway, I now heard of the rising of the Upper Burkes under Ulick, the son of the Earl of Clanrickarde, which had caused Sir Nicholas to hurry back to that city – as I have before recorded. It appeared that the people of Galway were in the extreme of terror, as nearly all the fighting men of the place had been withdrawn from it, and from Athlone, where was the next English garrison, as well, for the expedition against Grace O’Malley, and the city was thus left without defenders.
The Burkes had met with no resistance on their march to Galway, and the city was in great danger of being taken and sacked. A way out, however, remained, by the sea; and so grave was the state of affairs that Stephen Lynch, the mayor, had gladly availed himself of an opportunity of sending his daughter away for safety by The Rosemary, which happened to be leaving for Limerick. Along with her had also gone several ladies of Galway, but they had all perished in the wreck.
I now informed Sabina Lynch that I was bound for the Shannon, and that I would put her ashore at some point on the river near Limerick, if our voyage had a favourable termination, but that I thought it would be better for her to land here at Liscanor.
However, she replied that she had friends at Limerick, but knew no one in Liscanor, and so begged to be allowed to remain on The Cross of Blood. She prevailed upon me with her entreaties, and I consented – wherein, God wot, I was weak enough, though nothing short of her death could have prevented what was to occur.
There is a saying among us Celts, “What will be, already is,” and this saying is true.
The day which succeeded that on which The Rosemary was destroyed saw us out of the Bay of Liscanor, and, the weather being propitious, the next found us entering the mouth of that most beautiful of all the beautiful rivers of Ireland, the Shannon. But it was not until two days later that I brought the galley into the bay of the creek upon which, some miles inland, stands Askeaton, the fortress of the Desmonds.
During this time, being fully occupied with the working of the ship, I had seen little or nothing of Mistress Lynch, who, however, had had many conversations with Fitzgerald, and often did I hear them laughing and jesting, the one with the other, as if there were no such things in the world as bad weather and storms, and shipwrecks and war, and the deaths of men.
Now the bay in which the galley lay was no great distance from Limerick, and as it would have been the height of madness to go any nearer that city, which could not but be very hostile to us, I told Sabina Lynch that our journey was at an end, and that she was free to go. Whereupon she thanked me, and along with Fitzgerald, who had offered himself as her escort for part of the way, and who was well acquainted with the country – for it was all the territory of the Geraldines – left The Cross of Blood.
On his return, he and I, accompanied by some of our men, and taking with us the presents sent by my mistress, set out for Askeaton, where we were received by the Earl of Desmond.
The castle was one of the largest and most formidable in Ireland, consisting of several towers and strongly built houses and stables, the whole surrounded by high walls around which flowed the waters of the creek, so that it looked like a town on an island in the middle of a lake. A village, with a church at one end of it, stood on the rising ground that led up from one of the banks of the stream over against the castle.
When the drawbridge was lowered – Fitzgerald making the matter of an entrance easy for us – and we had passed within the walls, I saw in the yard a considerable number of the gallowglasses of the Geraldines, some having arquebuses, but most of them only spears or battle-axes and swords.
One of the knights of the Earl’s household approached us, and said that his lord was ready to see us. Fitzgerald and he – they were cousins, it appeared – began at once to talk, and they introduced me to several other gentlemen whom we met. And so we went into the presence of the Earl.
Grace O’Malley had said that he was “our natural leader” against the English, and narrowly did I scan the features of Garrett Desmond as he rose from his chair to offer me his hand.
My first impression was that of extraordinary disappointment, for I could see nothing very notable about him. Then, as he spoke, I noticed a twitching of the lips that strongly savoured of indecision, to say the least, and also that his eyes roamed restlessly, not settling fixedly on man or thing for a single instant. And as I observed him the closer, the keener was my disappointment.
Yet this noble was a great power in the land. Once the Desmond war-cry was sounded forth from Askeaton, thousands would shake their spears in ready response. He had but to say the word and the whole South-West of Ireland would spring to arms. He had said it once and might say it again, but I distrusted and misliked him from the first.
Courteously, however, did he receive me, and graciously the gifts which I presented to him in the name of my mistress. He inquired of me many things respecting her, to all of which I replied to the best of my ability. Indeed, during the time I spent at Askeaton, he never appeared weary of hearing about her and her exploits, which seemed, he said, incredible in one so young.