THE WHISPERING ROCKS.
The air was cool and the light clear as I stepped briskly along from
the village in a northerly direction, up over the high, wooded lands
that lie on that side of Galway. From an open space I obtained a view
of the town and its harbour, and was well pleased to note that no
ship of war, or large vessel of any kind, rode at anchor in the bay.
Plainly, the English admiral, Winter, had not yet arrived.
Then I struck across to the east, and so fetched a compass round until
I came upon the road that leads to the great gate of the city, and
there, no distance off, was the gate, open. Two carts, going to market
with provisions, were passing in, and their drivers were stopped by the
watch and interrogated.
Now, I had no overweening confidence in the completeness of my
disguise, and it was evident that what the village priest had told me
was true as to the care exercised in the admission of anyone within the
walls, so I drew off and tarried awhile, to see if chance would not put
some opportunity into my hands.
I reflected, too, with perturbation, that I had no weapon with me
except a dagger--the robe I was wearing making it impossible to conceal
a sword beneath it. But then, again, came the thought that, however
well I might have been armed, I was but one man with one life, and that
I was about to adventure it in a city full of my enemies. Yet is there
that in the mere grip of the cold cross of a sword that keeps the blood
a flowing fire in one’s veins, and I regretted that I had had to leave
my good blade behind.
While I was thus communing with myself, I saw two Franciscans approach,
going towards the gate, and I straightway resolved to join them. They
were talking loudly, as if there were a bone of contention between
them, and, when they observed me, they both, in one breath, as it were,
addressed me, each one asking me to give a decision in his favour on
the subject they differed about, which was--Whether St. Patrick were an
Irishman or not?
I answered craftily that I should like to hear the arguments on both
sides of the question, and requested them to choose which of them
should be the first speaker. Whereupon, they halted in the road,
disputing which should have the preference, and were like to have spent
the morning before they had settled this, as neither would yield to the
other, if I had not made a movement towards the gate.
“Sir,” said I, turning to one of them--they had now ranged themselves
on either side of me as we walked on--”what say you? That the holy
Patrick was----?”
“I say he was an Irishman,” burst in the other, on my left, before I
had finished the sentence.
“An Irishman!” exclaimed the Franciscan on my right, “an Irishman! Not
he. He was a Scot!”
“I say he was an Irishman!”
“And I maintain he was a Scot!”
“An Irishman!”
“A Scot!”
Their voices rose into shoutings and roarings, as they glared across me
with angry eyes.
“St. Patrick was never born in Ireland,” cried the one.
“St. Patrick was never born anywhere else,” retorted the other.
“I tell you, by the Mass, that St. Patrick was a Scot.”
“I tell you, by St. Peter, he was not.”
And thus they wrangled until we had reached the gate, where I perceived
the noise they made had already attracted the notice of the watch.
Without appearing to pay any attention to the soldiers, I nodded now to
the Franciscan on my right, and now to him on my left, as if I followed
their words intently.
All my senses, however, were on the stretch, and my heart throbbed and
fluttered in my breast, for the danger was great.
“’Tis Father Ambrose and Father Gregory,” I heard one of the soldiers
say, “and another of the fathers.” Then he glanced at me inquiringly,
but only asked, “To the Church of St. Nicholas, fathers?”
“Yes,” was the reply, and we were passing in when an officer of the
Governor’s came down the street, and, scowling at us, bade us halt.
“Whither go ye?” he demanded gruffly.
“To the Church of St. Nicholas,” said we as with one voice, for I had
made up my mind to go thither also.
“There be too many priests in Galway already,” said he, with stern-knit
brows, “and, had I my way, I should hang ye all. Know ye these men?” he
called to the watch.
I held my breath. Father Ambrose and Father Gregory they appeared to
know, but as to myself, what would they say?
“Yes, sir,” said the soldier who had spoken before, and as soon as I
heard this, I moved on, the Franciscans accompanying me, and beginning
their dispute over again.
And so on we walked to the Church of St. Nicholas, while I could
scarcely credit having thus fortunately made my entrance into Galway.
Having arrived at the church, I directed my steps to the shrine of my
patron saint, where, on my knees, with more than the devoutness of many
a monk, I offered him my gratitude for his favour and protection, and
implored a continuance of the same.
Thus engaged, I had not at once observed that someone had come up
behind me, and was kneeling two or three paces away. When I looked up I
saw the figure of a woman, but her face I could not see for the shadow
of a pillar that intervened.
Somehow, the form seemed familiar, and when she rose up from praying
and turned to go, I was startled to find myself gazing at Sabina Lynch.
She glanced at me curiously, but, beholding only a friar, passed on
sedately out of the building, little thinking at the moment that she
had ever been carried, and that not too gently nor so long ago, in that
friar’s arms.
To keep up the character I had assumed I began begging, according to
the manner of the order of mendicants, from door to door, so soon as I
had quitted the church, hoping in this way to light upon someone from
whom I might safely ask if Richard Burke were lodging in the town.
And in this it appeared altogether probable that I should have no
success, for in many instances I was driven from the doors of the
people without ceremony, or paid no heed to whatever. Indeed, the whole
town seemed to be agog with something, and, as the streets were now
filled with soldiers marching in companies, it was easy to be seen that
there was good reason for the excitement.
When I inquired of a man who had given me an alms, and who was of a
friendly disposition, what was the cause of all this moil and stir, he
replied that surely I must be a stranger not to know that Sir Nicholas
was bringing an army together in the town with which he meant to punish
the rebels of Connaught.
“What rebels?” asked I innocently.
“That pestilent and notable woman,” said he, “Grace O’Malley, and all
her tribe of robbers and murderers and pirates.”
Then he told me how she had destroyed the wine fleet of Galway, and so
had come near to ruining the trade of the port.
“She is a devil,” quoth he, and he crossed himself, “and the Governor
will kill her and her people.”
“A woman!” cried I, with a great show of being astonished beyond
measure.
“Ay, a woman,” said he, “but she must be a devil.” And he crossed
himself again. Then he added: “If she be not the very devil in the
shape of a woman, there is with her a man, a giant--a great, strong
giant--whom she calls her brother, but who is said to have come out
of the sea, and is no man at all, but a devil too. Some say he is a
Redshank of the Scots, but I tell you he is a devil too.”
And thus the fellow maundered on, while I found some trouble in
restraining myself from bursting into laughter in his face. Having,
however, thanked him civilly for his alms and information, I gave him
my blessing--a devil’s blessing--and so left him.
We were devils!
What, then, were those who thought nothing of breaking a safe-conduct,
or of poisoning the wine at banquets to which they had invited their
victims as loving guests? Yet the first had happened in the case of my
mistress, and the second had been the fate of many an Irish chief.
We were devils, and so to be feared! It was no such bad thing at that
time and in that land to be counted as devils, for men who had no fear
of God before their eyes, nor of his saints, were afraid of devils.
I had now come to the tavern that is under the sign of the Golden
Eagle, and from inside proceeded the sound of eating and of drinking,
of festivity and of mirth. Entering in, I was about to beg for alms,
when I saw among the company a man whom I recognised as one of the Mayo
Burkes, a gallowglass of the MacWilliam’s. Him I at once addressed,
incautiously enough, asking if his master were well, and where I would
find him, as I had a message for his private ear.
“Richard the Iron,” said he, “is lodged in the North Street; and who
are you, father, that know not that?”
“I have been there,” said I, lying boldly, “but he is away from the
house.”
“If he be not at the mansion of the Joyces,” said he, “then I know not
where he is.”
So Richard Burke was at the mansion of the Joyces in the North Street.
Here was good news indeed, and, having said some fair words to the man,
I went out of the tavern; but when I reached the North Street I found
that my falsehood had this much of truth in it--that Richard Burke was
not there. I sat down on a bench in the courtyard of the mansion, and
waited impatiently for his return. Tiring of this, I walked up the
street towards the Little Gate, and whom should I meet on the way but
Richard Burke riding with Sabina Lynch.
Well did I recall what Richard Burke had said to me some weeks before,
when he had come secretly to _The Cross of Blood_. He had declared that
Sabina Lynch loved him, but that he only cared for Grace O’Malley. Yet,
as I looked at them, it seemed to me as if he were paying Mistress
Lynch no little court, and they appeared to take pleasure in each
other’s society.
But when I thought of the messenger he had sent to Carrickahooley,
and of his service, though unavailing, to us before, I conceived that
he was playing a double part, holding that love and war, perhaps,
justified any means so long as the end were gained. And, for that
matter, I, the false friar, was no better than a cheat myself.
I was determined to get speech with him without further delay--the
feeling of impatience was so strong upon me--and, as I was casting
about in what way I should accomplish this, Sabina Lynch tossed me a
piece of silver as an alms, while I was yet three ells’ length from the
horses.
“Take that for the poor, father,” cried she merrily.
It happened that the coin after it had struck the ground, rolled in
front of Richard Burke’s horse, and I rushed forward to pick it up
before it was trampled into the dust. I also trusted that under cover
of this action I should be able to say a few words which would make me
known to him, without being perceived by his companion.
As I stepped into the street, he was compelled to rein in his horse,
and then to pass by the side of me.
“What a greedy, clumsy friar he is!” laughed Sabina Lynch.
In truth, I was as clumsy as clumsy could be, for as I drew myself up
and tried to stand erect I hit my shoulder against Richard Burke’s
foot, whereupon he stopped.
“Father,” said he, good-humouredly, “have you no care for yourself?
Then, prithee, have a care for me.”
And he smiled; but when he had looked into my face, and had met my
eyes, I saw the blood suddenly leave his cheeks, and knew that he had
penetrated my disguise.
He gave so great a start that his horse leaped up under him, and, as it
did so, the friar’s cowl, which covered my head and partially hid my
face, was thrown back, and there stood I, Ruari Macdonald, disclosed
and discovered, before Sabina Lynch.
She gazed from the one to the other of us in silence, then, striking
her horse violently, galloped off, exclaiming: “Treason, treason!”
Richard Burke was in a maze.
“Ruari!” he gasped, and could say no more.
“I have come to Galway,” said I quickly, “that I might have knowledge
of the Governor’s intentions against us. This is no place for us now,”
cried I, to rouse him, for he was like one that dreamed, “come, come
with me before the hue and cry is raised.”
And I seized the bridle of his horse and turned its head, and led it
towards the Little Gate.
“Not that way,” said he wildly. “I have just come from thence.”
Then he gathered himself and his wits together.
“The Great Gate is best. Ay, this is no place now for me any more than
it is for you. Well said you that. We will go together; but let us not
go too swiftly, otherwise the watch, suspecting something is wrong,
will not let us pass. We have a few minutes to spare before the gates
can be closed. Do you walk a little way behind me.”
I had replaced the cowl about my head, and, hardly knowing whether to
be glad or sorry at what had fallen out, marched at a rapid pace after
him up the street of the Great Gate.
Richard Burke was well known to the watch, and no objection was made to
our passing out. As long as we were within sight of the walls we went
at a walk, but when a turn of the road had hid them from us, I grasped
the saddle-cloth and ran beside the horse, which its rider now urged
along at the top of its speed.
We had gone about two miles, and had gained an eminence partly
sheltered by trees, when, looking back, we saw the figures of horsemen
spurring after us out of the city. On we sped again, until I could run
no more. Then I besought Burke to leave me as I was spent and blown.
But this he would not hearken to at first.
“It will be a strange thing,” said I, “if I cannot conceal myself
somewhere in the trees and bushes, or among the rocks, for the night.
In the morning I will make my way back to the galley.”
And I persuaded him to ride on towards his own territory, but not
before he had told me that Sir Nicholas had drawn a force of a hundred
men from Athlone, everyone of whom was a trained and hardened soldier,
and with these, his own men, and the gallowglasses of Sir Morrough
O’Flaherty of Aughnanure, who had promised to support him, was about to
set out at once for our overthrow.
The Governor was terribly enraged against us, and in his anger at the
destruction of the wine fleet had sworn he would make an end of us all.
His wrath burned not only against Grace O’Malley, but against many
others of the Irish, and there had been such a killing and a hanging of
those who were thought hostile to the government as had never before
been seen or heard of in Galway.
Richard Burke had only escaped because of his friendship with the Mayor
and his daughter Sabina Lynch, but his every act was spied upon.
“I remained in the city for no other reason,” he declared, “than to see
if I could not afford some help to you in one way or another.”
As he departed, he said, as he wrung my hand, “I shall cast in my lot
with yours, and, if it can be done in the time left to us, I shall
bring all the Burkes of Mayo to your assistance. Should you reach
Carrickahooley first, tell your mistress that.”
Then he swung himself again into the saddle, and was gone.
He was hardly out of sight, when I heard the sound of hoofs beating on
the road, and creeping in through the bushes that lined a small stream
by the wayside I laid me down to rest, and soon I was listening to the
voices of the men in pursuit of us as they drew near. They made no
pause, but swept on past the spot where I lay.
I was about to emerge from my place of concealment, when again the
tramp of horses fell upon my ear, and, looking out, I saw Sir Nicholas
and several of his officers come riding slowly along. They stopped
quite close to me, and, dismounting, made a survey of the land all
around, but, my star favouring me, they moved to the further side of
the stream.
“Let the camp be pitched here,” said Sir Nicholas, “and do you remain
until the men come up.”
I guessed that he had been told of my presence in Galway, and had
immediately ordered the soldiers to set out to catch me so that we
should have no advantage from our being warned of his purpose.
My position was now one of extreme peril; I was cut off from returning
to my galley; and I could see nothing for it but to remain where I was
until the soldiers had gone on on their journey, unless I took the
chances of the darkness.
There I lay, and, as the night fell, the men of Sir Nicholas marched
up and lit their watch-fires not more than a stone’s throw from where
I hid. For hours, not daring to move, I heard them singing and talking
and jesting with each other. When, at length, silence came upon the
sleeping camp, I stole as softly as I could out of the bushes, and
moving on, like a cat, so that each step of mine was no more noticed
than a puff of wind, I managed to gain the road that leads past Oorid
and Sindilla at the foot of the mountains. I walked fast, and sometimes
ran, until the day broke, when I turned aside, and, having sought
for and found a dry cave on the side of a hill, fell down utterly
exhausted, and ere long was in a deep slumber.
I was awakened many hours later, for it was dark again, by a strange
sort of cheeping noise at my very ears.
I started up, and the noise ceased; I lay down, and the sound began
once more. As I listened, my face to the rocky floor of the cavern, I
fancied I could distinguish words, but, as it were, coming from a great
way off.
Now, thoroughly aroused, I listened yet more earnestly, and I made out
that there were two or three voices, and that the sound of them was
not coming from the inside of the cave, nor yet from the outside, but
seemed to issue, like a thin whistle, through the rock itself.
I moved stealthily towards the far end, and, lying down again prone,
applied my ear to the ground. I now heard quite distinctly, the words
being audible, though faint, and with an extraordinary effect of still
coming from an immense distance.
I then understood I was in one of the chambers of the Whispering Rocks
as they are called, for a wonder of nature has so constructed them that
it is possible to hear through them, when all around is still, whatever
is said within these caverns. And how this miracle comes to pass I know
not, but I had often heard of it; otherwise I might have thought that
these sounds came from the spirits of the mountain, and so might not
have discovered the vile plot that had been hatched for our ruin.
For, as the voices grew more and more clear, I found myself listening
to the story of how these men who were speaking were to present
themselves at the castle of Carrickahooley in advance of the English
army, and, having gained admittance on the plea that they were fleeing
to Grace O’Malley for protection, were treacherously to betray her and
the castle into the hands of the Governor by secretly opening the gate
as soon as the attack began.
I gripped my dagger in impotent rage, for, placed as I was, I could do
nothing. After a time the voices ceased, and, moving noiselessly to
the mouth of the cave, I saw that the night was clear and starry, and,
feeling refreshed by my long repose, I made on towards Ballanahinch,
which I reached in the morning, and where I obtained milk and the
flesh of a kid from the wife of one of the kernes, who took me for a
wandering priest, and gladly supplied my wants.
For two days and the greater part of two nights I toiled over the
mountains and through the forests, seeing no indication of the English,
until I came to the fiord of the Killery, where some of our own people
dwelt under Muilrea. From thence they brought me round to Clew Bay in
a fishing boat, and I was back again at Carrickahooley, more dead than
alive from the fatigues I had undergone, inured though I was to all
kinds of hardness.