I found a very pleasant party assembled around the bishop’s
breakfast-table at Killala. The bishop and his family were all there,
with Charost and his staff, and some three or four other officers
from Ballina. Nothing could be less constrained, more easy, or more
agreeable, than the tone of intimacy which in a few days had grown up
between them. A cordial good feeling seemed to prevail on every subject,
and even the reserve which might be thought natural on the momentous
events then happening was exchanged for a most candid and frank
discussion of all that was going forward, which, I must own, astonished
as much as it gratified me.
The march on Castlebar, the choice of the mountain-road, ‘which led past
the position occupied by the Royalists, the attack and capture of the
artillery, had all to be related by me for the edification of such
as were not conversant with French; and I could observe that however
discomfited by the conduct of the militia, they fully relied on the
regiments of the line and the artillery. It was amusing, too, to see
with what pleasure they listened to all our disparagement of the Irish
volunteers.
Every instance we gave of insubordination or disobedience delighted
them, while our own blundering attempts to manage the people, the absurd
mistakes we fell into, and the endless misconceptions of their character
and habits, actually convulsed them with laughter.
‘Of course,’ said the bishop to us, ‘you are prepared to hear that
there is no love lost between you, and that they are to the full as
dissatisfied with you as you are dissatisfied with them?’
‘Why, what can they complain of?’ asked Charost, smiling; ‘we gave them
the place of honour in the very last engagement!’
‘Very true, you did so, and they reaped all the profit of the situation.
Monsieur Tiernay had just told the havoc that grape and round shot
scattered amongst the poor creatures. However, it is not of this they
complain--it is their miserable fare, the raw potatoes, their beds in
open fields and highways, while the French, they say, eat of the best
and sleep in blankets; they do not understand this inequality, and
perhaps it is somewhat hard to comprehend.’
‘Patriotism ought to be proud of such little sacrifices,’ said Charost,
with an easy laugh; ‘besides, it is only a passing endurance: a month
hence, less, perhaps, will see us dividing the spoils, and revelling in
the conquest of Irish independence.’
‘You think so, colonel?’ asked the bishop, half slyly.
‘_Parbleu!_ to be sure I do--and you?’
‘I’m just as sanguine,’ said the bishop, ‘and fancy that, about a month
hence, we shall be talking of all these things as matters of history;
and while sorrowing over some of the unavoidable calamities of the
event, preserving a grateful memory of some who came as enemies but left
us warm friends.’
‘If such is to be the turn of fortune,’ said Charost, with more
seriousness than before, ‘I can only say that the kindly feelings will
not be one-sided.’
And now the conversation became an animated discussion on the chances of
success or failure. Each party supported his opinion ably and eagerly,
and with a degree of freedom that was not a little singular to the
bystanders. At last, when Charost was fairly answered by the bishop on
every point, he asked--
‘But what say you to the Army of the North?’
‘Simply, that I do not believe in such a force,’ rejoined the bishop.
‘Not believe it--not believe on what General Humbert relies at this
moment, and to which that officer yonder is an accredited messenger!
When I tell you that a most distinguished Irishman, Napper Tandy----’
‘Napper Tandy!’ repeated the bishop, with a good-humoured smile; ‘the
name is quite enough to relieve one of any fears, if they ever felt
them. I am not sufficiently acquainted with your language to give him
the epithet he deserves, but if you can conceive an empty, conceited
man, as ignorant of war as of politics, rushing into a revolution for
the sake of a green uniform, and ready to convulse a kingdom that he may
be called a major-general, only enthusiastic in his personal vanity,
and wanting even in that heroic daring which occasionally dignifies weak
capacities--such is Napper Tandy.’
‘What in soldier-phrase we call a “Blague,”’ said Charost, laughing;
‘I’m sorry for it.’
What turn the conversation was about to take I cannot guess, when it was
suddenly interrupted by one of the bishop’s servants rushing into the
room, with a face bloodless from terror. He made his way up to where the
bishop sat, and whispered a few words in his ear.
‘And how is the wind blowing, Andrew?’ asked the bishop, in a voice that
all his self-command could not completely steady.
‘From the north, or the north-west, and mighty strong, too, my lord,’
said the man, who trembled in every limb.
The affrighted aspect of the messenger, the excited expression of the
bishop’s face, and the question as to the ‘wind,’ at once suggested to
me the idea that a French fleet had arrived in the bay, and that the
awful tidings were neither more nor less than the announcement of our
reinforcement.
‘From the north-west,’ repeated the bishop; ‘then, with God’s blessing,
we may be spared.’ And so saying, he arose from the table, and with an
effort that showed that the strength to do so had only just returned to
him.
‘Colonel Charost, a word with you!’ said he, leading the way into an
adjoining room.
‘What is it?--what has happened?--what can it be?’ was asked by each in
turn. And now groups gathered at the windows, which all looked into the
court of the building, now crowded with people, soldiers, servants, and
country-folk gazing earnestly towards the roof of the castle.
‘What’s the matter, Terry?’ asked one of the bishop’s sons, as he threw
open the window.
‘Tis the chimbley on fire, Master Robert,’ said the man; ‘the kitchen
chimbley, wid those divils of Frinch!’
I cannot describe the burst of laughter that followed the explanation.
So much terror for so small a catastrophe was inconceivable; and whether
we thought of Andrew’s horrified face, or the worthy bishop’s pious
thanksgiving as to the direction of the wind, we could scarcely refrain
from another outbreak of mirth. Colonel Charost made his appearance at
the instant, and although his step was hurried, and his look severe,
there was nothing of agitation or alarm on his features.
‘Turn out the guard, Truchet, without arms,’ said he. ‘Come with me,
Tiernay--an awkward business enough,’ whispered he, as he led me along.
‘These follows have set fire to the kitchen chimney, and we have three
hundred barrels of gunpowder in the cave!’ Nothing could be more easy
and unaffected than the way he spoke this; and I actually stared at
him, to see if his coldness was a mere pretence, but far from it--every
gesture and every word showed the most perfect self-possession, with a
prompt readiness for action.
When we reached the court, the bustle and confusion had reached its
highest, for, as the wind lulled, large masses of inky smoke hung, like
a canopy, overhead, through which a forked flame darted at intervals,
with that peculiar furnacelike roar that accompanies a jet of fire in
confined places. At times, too, as the soot ignited, great showers of
bright sparks floated upwards, and afterwards fell, like a fiery
rain, on every side. The country-people, who had flocked in from the
neighbourhood, were entirely occupied with these signs, and only intent
upon saving the remainder of the house, which they believed in great
peril, totally unaware of the greater and more imminent danger close
beside them.
Already they had placed ladders against the walls, and, with ropes and
buckets, were preparing to ascend, when Truchet marched in with his
company, in fatigue-jackets, twenty sappers with shovels accompanying
them.
‘Clear the courtyard, now,’ said Charost, ‘and leave this matter to us.’
The order was obeyed somewhat reluctantly, it is true, and at last we
stood the sole occupants of the spot, the bishop being the only civilian
present, he having refused to quit the spot, unless compelled by force.
The powder was stored in a long shed adjoining the stables, and
originally used as a shelter for farming tools and utensils. A few
tarpaulins we had carried with us from the ships were spread over the
barrels, and on this now some sparks of fire had fallen, as the burning
soot had been carried in by an eddy of wind.
The first order was, to deluge the tarpaulins with water; and while this
was being done, the sappers were ordered to dig trenches in the garden,
to receive the barrels. Every man knew the terrible peril so near him;
each felt that at any instant a frightful death might overtake him, and
yet every detail of the duty was carried on with the coldest unconcern;
and when at last the time came to carry away the barrels, on a species
of hand-barrow, the fellows stepped in time, as if on the march, and
moved in measure, a degree of indifference, which, to judge from the
good bishop’s countenance, evidently inspired as many anxieties for
their spiritual welfare as it suggested astonishment and admiration for
their courage.
He himself, it must be owned, displayed no sign of trepidation, and in
the few words he spoke, or the hints he dropped, exhibited every quality
of a brave man.
At moments the peril seemed very imminent indeed. Some timber having
caught fire, slender fragments of burning wood fell in masses, covering
the men as they went, and falling on the barrels, whence the soldiers
brushed them off with cool indifference. The dense, thick smoke, too,
obscuring every object a few paces distant, added to the confusion, and
occasionally bringing the going and returning parties into collision,
a loud shout, or cry, would ensue; and it is difficult to conceive how
such a sound thrilled through the heart at such a time. I own that more
than once I felt a choking fulness in the throat, as I heard a sudden
yell, it seemed so like a signal for destruction. In removing one of
the last barrels from the hand-barrow, it slipped, and, falling to the
ground, the hoops gave way, it burst open, and the powder fell out on
every side. The moment was critical, for the wind was baffling, now
wafting the sparks clear away, now whirling them in eddies around us. It
was then that an old sergeant of grenadiers threw off his upper coat and
spread it over the broken cask, while, with all the composure of a man
about to rest himself, he lay down on it, while his comrades went to
fetch water. Of course his peril was no greater than that of every one
around him, but there was an air of quick determination in his act which
showed the training of an old soldier. At length the labour was ended,
the last barrel was committed to the earth, and the men, formed into
line, were ordered to wheel and march. Never shall I forget the bishop’s
face as they moved past. The undersized and youthful look of our
soldiers had acquired for them a kind of depreciating estimate in
comparison with the more mature and manly stature of the British
soldier, to whom, indeed, they offered a strong contrast on parade;
but now, as they were seen in a moment of arduous duty, surrounded
by danger, the steadiness and courage, the prompt obedience to every
command, the alacrity of their movements and the fearless intrepidity
with which they performed every act, impressed the worthy bishop so
forcibly, that he muttered half aloud, ‘Thank Heaven there are so few of
them!’
Colonel Charost resisted steadily the bishop’s proffer to afford the
men some refreshment; he would not even admit of an extra allowance of
brandy to their messes. ‘If we become too liberal for slight services,
we shall never be able to reward real ones,’ was his answer; and the
bishop was reduced to the expedient of commemorating what he could not
reward. This, indeed, he did with the most unqualified praise, relating
in the drawing-room all that he had witnessed, and lauding French valour
and heroism to the very highest.
The better to conceal my route, and to avoid the chances of being
tracked, I sailed that evening in a fishing-boat for Killybegs, a small
harbour on the coast of Donegal, having previously exchanged my uniform
for the dress of a sailor, so that if apprehended I should pretend to
be an Ostend or Antwerp seaman, washed overboard in a gale at sea.
Fortunately for me I was not called on to perform this part, for as my
nautical experiences were of the very slightest, I should have made a
deplorable attempt at the impersonation. Assuredly the fishermen of the
smack would not have been among the number of the ‘imposed upon,’ for a
more sea-sick wretch never masqueraded in a blue jacket.
My only clue, when I touched land, was a certain Father Doogan, who
lived at the foot of the Bluerock Mountains, about fifteen miles from
the coast, and to whom I brought a few lines from one of the Irish
officers, a certain Bourke of Ballina. The road led in this direction,
and so little intercourse had the shore folk with the interior, that it
was with difficulty any one could be found to act as a guide thither.
At last an old fellow was discovered, who used to travel these
mountains formerly with smuggled tobacco and tea; and although, from
the discontinuance of the smuggling trade, and increased age, he had for
some years abandoned the line of business, a liberal offer of payment
induced him to accompany me as guide.
It was not without great misgivings that I looked at the very old and
almost decrepit creature who was to be my companion through a solitary
mountain region.
The few stairs he had to mount in the little inn where I put up seemed
a sore trial to his strength and chest; but he assured me that, once out
of the smoke of the town, and with his foot on the ‘short grass of the
sheep-patch,’ he’d be like a four-year-old; and his neighbour having
corroborated the assertion, I was fain to believe him.
Determined, however, to make his excursion subservient to profit in
his old vocation, he provided himself with some pounds of tobacco and
a little parcel of silk handkerchiefs, to dispose of amongst the
country-people, with which, and a little bag of meal slung at his back,
and a walking-stick in his hand, he presented himself at my door just as
the day was breaking.
‘We ‘ll have a wet day I fear, Jerry,’ said I, looking out.
‘Not a bit of it,’ replied he. ‘Tis the spring-tides makes it cloudy
there beyant; but when the sun gets up it will be a fine mornin’; but I
‘m thinkin’ ye ‘re strange in them parts’; and this he said with a keen,
sharp glance under his eyes.
‘Donegal is new to me, I confess,’ said I guardedly.
‘Yes, and the rest of Ireland, too,’ said he, with a roguish leer. ‘But
come along, we ‘ve a good step before us;’ and with these words he
led the way down the stairs, holding the balustrade as he went, and
exhibiting every sign of age and weakness. Once in the street, however,
he stepped out more freely, and, before we got clear of the town, walked
at a fair pace, and, to all seeming, with perfect ease.