The crowd surged and muttered. It was extraordinarily still for an
Irish mob. No man spoke to his neighbor, but all kept their eyes
steadfastly fixed on the vanishing lines of the railway;
nevertheless, through the whole mass there ran the troubled
undertone, the uneasy stir of a ground-swell in the Atlantic. Every
minute men came dropping in by twos and threes and took their places
in the serried ranks, till the cut leading to the railway station of
Lisnamore was packed from end to end with two banks of solid
humanity, leaving a broad avenue down the middle. Each man, as he
fell into his place, bent his eyes upon the horizon, and assumed the
same attitude of tense and feverish expectation.
It was the twelfth of July, the anniversary of the Battle of the
Boyne. The manufacturers of the distant town of Belrush had selected
the Northern day of rejoicing to give a holiday to their mill-hands,
and by some unlucky chance the workmen had chosen to spend the day by
the seaside at Lisnamore. Two train-loads of them were coming--six
hundred Catholics and six hundred Protestants. So the Catholics of
Lisnamore and the surrounding districts were now assembled in their
thousands to express their disapprobation of the indecent presence of
Orangemen in their town upon that day. Every fist held an ash-plant
or a blackthorn stick, and every pocket was filled with jagged pieces
of limestone.
Suddenly a rumor--a whisper--flashed down the ranks and died out like
a sigh: 'The polis.'
The rhythm of disciplined feet crept upon the ear; and the dark-green
tunics and brown rifle-barrels of the Royal Irish Constabulary
rounded the corner and came into view. Amid a silence of death they
marched steadily up the centre of the avenue--twenty-four stalwart
men and their officer--and behind them rode the resident magistrate
on his big roan horse.
Straight up the cut they strode, until they reached the mouth of the
station-yard, and then came the order sharp and decisive,--
'Right wheel!--Halt!--Front turn!--'Tention!--Ready!--Fix
swords!--With buckshot--Load!'
The policemen were now between the crowd and their approaching
victims. The two lines of glittering bayonets rose aloft in the
sunlight; and as the snap of the rifle breeches ceased upon the
sullen air, the magistrate raised his voice and said in a dry,
official tone,--
'I call upon this meeting to disperse.'
No one moved.
The magistrate then took off his hat, and, looking intently into the
crown of it, proceeded to read the Riot Act, which he had printed on
the lining. He gabbled through his duty with a meaninglessness born
of frequent repetition.
When he had ended, the crowd laughed. But it was an ugly laugh, with
the sough of a winter storm through it.
Fitzgerald, swift to recognize the temper of a mob, and loth to begin
a conflict which, once started, no man might say how it would end,
glanced hastily round him.
His eyes were attracted by an unexpected sight, and remained fixed.
Round the corner of the road furthest from the station came a pair of
horse's ears, and they were decked with orange lilies.
A big man standing opposite Fitzgerald in the crowd, the centre of a
group of men in dark-blue jerseys, who looked like fishermen,
followed the direction of his gaze, and exclaimed,--
'Troth, I wudn't be the man what's behin' them orange lilies for
somethin'. The boys will tear him limb from limb.'
Slowly the ears lengthened into the shape of a fat cob, foreshortened
by the turn, which paced sleepily along regardless of the throng; he
drooped his head, overcome by the noon-day heat, and shook it from
time to time at the flies, with a rattle of his bit. Behind the cob
came a small phaeton, and in the phaeton was sitting a young girl;
she carried a knot of orange ribbons on her whip, and in her breast a
cluster of the lilies.
As the girl drove deliberately forward, she flashed indignant glances
from side to side. Abreast of her, along the face of the rows, there
wavered a ripple, as though each man had a mind to hide himself
behind his neighbor's back.
'Holy Mother! it's Miss Kitty,' ejaculated the big man.
'Miss Desmond,' said Fitzgerald, with a gasp of relief.
Kitty Desmond was the daughter of the vicar of the town, and in spite
of being a Protestant, was beloved by the peasantry for miles around.
Even more than by the assistance she was always the first to render
them and their wives, she was endeared to the men by her beauty, her
high spirits, and her winning manner. She knew every man, woman, and
child by name upon the countryside, and always had a friendly word
and a cheerful smile for them. She was loved by the women, but the
men worshipped her. She had an absolute recklessness and abandonment
of temperament which dominated them. For, except when supported by
others, your peasant is prone to be cautious. She was the only soul
in the town that thoroughly knew them, and the only one that dared to
cross them in their blackest moods. In fact, she was at heart a
coquette, with the fearlessness of a coquette. She did not disdain
to practise her fascinations upon the meanest of them all. She knew
her power and enjoyed it, and they enjoyed it too.
She halted her pony now opposite the police force, and, standing up
in the carriage, addressed the mob in her cheerful, audacious tones.
'Now, then, boys, you needn't think that I don't know what you are
doing here; for I do. And what you've got to do is to go straight
home. So, go!'
There was an automatic movement in the crowd, as the habit of
obedience to her asserted itself, and for a moment the meeting was on
the point of dissolving. But then the sullenness of their temper
returned upon them: the men stood fast, shuffled their feet doggedly,
and upon their brows gathered the brooding obstinacy of the Celtic
character.
Kitty watched the success of her experiment flicker and die out.
Then the blood surged hotly over her face and neck. She was not used
to having her influence questioned, and here where it was needed, as
it had never been needed before, it had failed. She was General
enough to recognize that her best chance lay in a direct command.
She had staked all upon a single throw--and lost.
She knew better than anybody there, even than Fitzgerald himself, the
danger of the mood that could make these men resist her, and she grew
sick with apprehension. For she could see no possibility now of
averting a great riot, in which probably many lives would be
sacrificed. For herself, she did not stop to fear, and at least she
would utilize her woman's privilege and give them a piece of her mind.
As these thoughts flashed through her brain, she stood upright, still
leaning upon her whip; then she began to speak again, but this time
her voice was cutting, and her face was white and scornful,--
'And you call yourselves men?' she said; 'you gather here with sticks
and stones, and lie in wait for unarmed and unsuspecting
holiday-makers. If they were as many as you are, you wouldn't dare
to touch them. You never have the pluck to fight unless you are two
to one, or get the chance of kicking a man when he is down. If you
want to fight fairly, why don't you throw away those sticks and
stones, and use your fists like men? But you don't want a fair
fight, not you. Shall I tell you what I think of you? I think you
are mean, cowardly savages!'
She left off, gasping, with the tears of indignation in her throat,
and a hoarse threatening murmur rose vaguely round her.
'Oh, you needn't think I am afraid of you, you miserable idiots,' she
said, with infinite scorn. 'I only hope they'll--they'll knock hell
out of you,' and she stamped her foot viciously.
'Ah, be aisy now, Miss Kitty,' implored the big man; 'shure, the boys
are only afther a bit ov fun.'
'And is that you, Dan Murphy? You hulking scoundrel, and you dare to
look me in the face? What business have you here, I should like to
know?'
'Troth, Miss, I'd like nahthin' better nor to be ahlways lookin' you
in the face. For it's fine an' purthy,' declared the giant,
skilfully turning her flank.
Kitty's heart was softened by the blarney of the good-natured
fisherman amid the prevailing rebellion of her subjects; she got out
of the phaeton, and walking up to him, laid her hand upon his sleeve,
and said,--
'Now, Dan, dear Dan, you'll get them to go away, won't you, for my
sake?'
She looked up at him with a pleading gaze in the violet eyes beneath
their fringe of long, dark lashes, eyes that had melted many a
stouter heart than poor Dan Murphy's.
'Ah, now, Miss Kitty darlin',' he stammered, 'ye know that it's
yersilf can do more wid the boys than any wan bar the praste, an'
he's not here the day; foreby, he's backin' them up. Divil a hate
wud they heed me. They'd as soon ate me as luke at me if I crossed
them.'
'Dan, you're just a soft lump,' she spat the words at him spitefully,
and returned to her seat.
Seeing that her mediation had failed, Fitzgerald now came forward and
said, 'I am afraid this is no place for you, Miss Desmond, and I
shall have to ask you to go home, if you don't mind.'
'But I do mind,' she replied pettishly; 'I'm going to stop here.'
'But,' said the D. I. perplexed, 'you can't. You forget what a
difficult position you are putting me in. If any harm happens to
you, your father will hold me responsible. And your presence here
hampers me in the performance of my duty. For God's sake, be
reasonable,' he concluded in despair.
'I am reasonable,' she replied in a defiant voice, 'perfectly
reasonable. I don't stir afoot from here. If those brutes want to
throw stones, they must stone me too. And if you want to shoot them,
you must shoot me too.'
'But this is absurd,' replied the officer, angrily taking hold of her
horse's head to turn it; 'I insist upon your leaving this at once.'
At his action a murmur arose from the listening crowd, and two or
three voices cried menacingly,--
'Quit a hoult ov her, or we'll make yous. Ye can just let her be.'
She was their idol, and though, like all savage worshippers, they
might trample her under foot themselves in the heat of their fury,
meanwhile they would let no one else touch her.
Fitzgerald turned his eyes upon them, and regarded them tranquilly;
it was no part of his policy to precipitate a conflict before it was
absolutely necessary. Once it began, he knew that his handful of men
would be immediately swamped. Meanwhile there were all the chances
of the fickleness of an Irish mob, and every chance counted. But, on
the other hand, it would be absolutely fatal to let them imagine he
was afraid of them. He said to Kitty disgustedly,--
'Very well, I wash my hands of you entirely,' and strode gloomily
back to his men. Then he drew his forces a little further off. She
would be safer by herself.
Once more every one settled down to wait. A strained hush prevailed.
The midges buzzed round the horse's ears. No sound broke the
stillness but the rattle of a bit, the clink of a cleaning-rod, or
the grinding of a rifle-stock in the roadway as a policeman shifted
his position, except the vague rustle that is inseparable from the
breathing of a great multitude of men. The white limestone dust,
ground into powder beneath so many feet, hung in a halo about their
heads; throats grew dry and parched; and close packed beneath the
sweltering heat of the sun the crowd began to give up the strong odor
of humanity. And still the train tarried.
At last it was more than ten minutes late, and a faint sprout of hope
began to push its head into Fitzgerald's thoughts. He had
telegraphed to the excursionists at the junction that the town was
up, and advised them to return home. Perhaps they had taken his
advice.
Hardly was the hope born before it was destroyed. A jet of smoke
spouted upon the horizon; a cry went up of 'Here she comes;' and the
grip upon ash-plants and blackthorns tightened.
'Mother av Moses,' said Dan, 'but yon's a powerful long thrain.
There's two injins till it, wan in the middle. Av them's ahl
Orangemin we'll cop a most thremenjeous hammerin'.'
The train steamed deliberately into the station, and behind the gates
of the barrier there rose the clamor of many voices, and the tread of
innumerable feet. Gradually the confusion died down, words of
command could be heard, and the procession could be felt arranging
its order.
Outside every man held his breath. There was only one question now
left to decide. Would this first train contain the Protestant or the
Catholic contingent?
Every mouth was opened, and every arm was raised--to shout if the
green banner came forth, to cast if it were orange.
The gates were thrown open wide. And out of them came two banners.
And one of them was green, and one was orange.
In the silence the clash of teeth could be heard, as the jaws of the
crowd snapped with disappointment. But the arms still remained
threateningly aloft.
Kitty drew her pony to one side, and the ranks of police parted in
the midst and fell back upon either hand.
Down the centre of the avenue the bearers of the green and orange
banners marched shoulder to shoulder, their eyes fixed vacantly on
the horizon. Behind them came eight fife players; every alternate
man had a green favor on his breast, and every alternate man an
orange favor; they looked steadfastly in front of them, and strode
forward with their heads on one side tootling for all they were
worth. Next came two big drums; and one was decked with orange
streamers, and one with green; the drummers walked side by side, and
banged each more lustily than the other. Then more fifes and
kettledrums, and lastly came the procession. Twelve men abreast with
linked arms, green alternating with orange, with the even tramp of an
army they marched resolutely forward, and looked neither to the right
hand nor to the left.
The feeling of townsmanship had triumphed over religious difference;
the two trains had joined; and the two processions had come forth
mingled in one. To harm the Protestants now it would be necessary to
attack the Catholics; and the two together made a formidable mouthful.
Still in dead silence down the centre of the avenue they went. And
the mood of the crowd wavered to this side and to that. But when the
banners had nearly reached the head of the cut, that sense of humor
which is never far distant from an Irish mob rose to the surface, and
a great wave of laughter broke and surged down the banks of men.