BRIAN RIDES TO VENGEANCE.
"Then you are intent on this vengeance, master?" asked Turlough
thoughtfully.
"Yes," answered Brian. "I here take oath that I will never cut hair nor
beard again until I have seen the Dark Master dead."
"You are not like to have a chance at your hair very soon," laughed out
Lame Art O'Malley. "But that is a good oath, Yellow Brian."
"Then I think this is a better plan," spoke up Turlough Wolf. "Give me
ten men, Brian, and I will go to Galway. I will soon get traces of
O'Donnell; and if he goes into the north to get men of his own sept"
(tribe or family), "as I think most likely, I will send back word, and
we can follow him."
"Do it," said Brian, and Turlough was gone that night.
This discussion took place in the hollow, where the fight was soon over
after the flight of the Dark Master. Out of the six hundred who had left
the castle, two hundred had been O'Donnell's men. Half of these remained
and took service with Brian at once. Of the four hundred pikemen, three
hundred had gone down fighting like the stubborn south-country men they
were, and the rest took service with Nuala O'Malley. They were most of
them Kerry men, and well disposed toward ships and piracy.
Brian had lost in all fifty men in that battle, while the Dark Master
had given Cathbarr a goodly thrust through the shoulder, which had let
out most of the giant's vanity and promised to give the huge ax some
time to rest and rust. So, then, Brian found himself heading two hundred
and fifty men of his own, with Nuala's hundred O'Malleys, when they rode
down again to Bertragh Castle.
This had been left in charge of a hundred men under Red Murrough, who
had not been slain, but only wounded by Cathbarr's fist, that night in
the great hall. Having left a party to bring in the wounded in wagons
from the farms, they arrived before the castle shortly after noon.
Cathbarr was left in charge of the camp, and Brian rode up to the gates
with Nuala and her two kinsmen, with a flag of truce.
Murrough and his men were put into consternation by the news Brian gave
them. After much stroking of his matted beard, Murrough proposed to
surrender the castle on condition that he hold his post of lieutenant.
Brian laughed, for he had other views on the subject.
"You sold your master, and you will have no chance to sell me, Murrough.
I will give you the ten pounds I owe you and a good horse. Refuse, and I
slay you when we storm the castle."
The end of that matter was that Murrough assented. An hour later he
opened the gates, his men taking service with the rest under Brian.
Then, having obtained his ten English pounds and a horse, he waved
farewell to his men and rode away; and what became of him after that is
not set forth in the chronicle, so he comes no more into this tale.
Nuala loaded her fifty men into her carack, and sent them home that
night to Gorumna in case of need, proposing to follow later with Lame
Art, Shaun the Little, and her Kerry recruits. The O'Malley cousins
intended going south, since their affair had been so unexpectedly
ended, and picking up a Spanish ship or two before returning home.
"And now, what of your plans?" asked Nuala, as she and Brian sat
together that night before the huge fireplace in the hall, where Brian
had been burned and where Cathbarr had fought so well. "Of course, we
can settle rents later on."
"When there are farms to gather rents from," laughed Brian, stretching
out easily. He lifted his bandaged left hand, gazing at it. "First, I am
minded to rest here and wait for news from Galway. The bones in this
hand of mine are not broken, from what I can make out, and it will soon
knit. As soon as may be, I shall ride after the Dark Master; when I have
paid my debts, I will then be in shape to look for a castle for myself."
"Then you are determined to kill O'Donnell?" and she looked at him
sidewise.
"He has my Spanish blade," said Brian. "It is good Toledo steel, and I
want it back again."
"You have three hundred and fifty men here," she observed. "Can you feed
them?"
"You have food in Gorumna--send me some. When I am well again I shall
ride with most of them, which will lessen the burden. With the spring I
will take lands between here and Slyne Head, for now I am strong enough
to defend what I take."
"I shall also send you some of my pigeons, Brian. They are born and bred
on Gorumna Isle, and if you tie a message to them they will--"
"I know," nodded Brian. "I have seen them used in Spain."
With that she described how she used these pigeons, and Brian saw that
it was not by strength alone that this girl had maintained her position.
She kept men in Galway, Kinvarra, and elsewhere, as far south as the
Shannon and as far north as Erris, with others at Limerick and Tuam and
Castlebar. In this wise she got news of what was passing in Connaught
and Munster before most men had it, and more than one foreign ship had
found her caracks waiting for it through the same means, since she held
a privateer commission given her by Blake to legalize her sea-roving.
Also, she had pigeons which carried return messages, chiefly to her
kinsmen in Erris.
"And what is your goal, Bird Daughter?" Brian turned to her, his blue
eyes clinching on her violet ones. "What will the end of all this wild
life of yours be?"
"I do not know," she answered him, and turned away from his eyes to
stare down into the fire. "In the end I may be forced into marriage,
though I think not, for I have some will of my own in that regard." She
laughed out suddenly and looked up. "Two years ago Stephen Lynch sent me
a fair screed in all the glory of his chevron and three shamrocks and
wolf crest, saying that he was coming in one of his ships to marry me."
"And did he ever come?" smiled Brian.
"Yes; but I took his ship from him and sent him home again by road, tied
to a horse," she rippled out merrily. "Poor Stephen! The Bodkins never
let the Lynches hear the last of it until Stephen fell fighting against
Coote, and there was an end of it and him, too. When are you going to
tell me your name, Brian?"
At the sudden question Brian was tempted, but forbore.
"When I have slain the Dark Master," he laughed.
"Then you are likely to be bearded worse than Cathbarr," she mocked him
gaily. "Unless, indeed, you break that oath you swore this morning."
"Not I," returned Brian shortly. "I am not given to light oaths or light
pacts, Bird Daughter. I think I shall get me a ship and go cruising some
day."
"Come with me," she said, rising, "and you may win food and wine without
begging from your overlord. Well, now for that chamber Cathbarr fixed up
for me. _Beannacht leath!_"
Somewhat to his surprise, the next morning Brian found that Nuala was
extremely businesslike and even curt. Knowing little of women, he tried
to find wherein he had offended; failed utterly, and gave over the
attempt on seeing that Nuala preferred the company of Cathbarr.
Then, remembering that kiss she had given the giant aboard ship, he
concluded that the Bird Daughter was drawn by the physical magnificence
of the man, which gave him a little bitterness. So he merely set his jaw
the harder and said nothing of the thing that lay in his heart to any
one. For that matter, he was not quite sure himself what the thing was;
but he knew that he had never seen a woman such as the Bird Daughter in
all his life, and was not apt to find another.
Turlough having departed on his mission, Brian fell back on Cathbarr to
act as lieutenant; with Nuala herself, the work of getting the castle in
shape proceeded apace. The Bertragh hold was built on a cliff that rose
from the plain on the one hand, and sloped down to the water on the
other; had the Dark Master not fallen into Turlough's trap, he might
have turned out the pikemen to shift for themselves and have held the
castle with his own men for as long as he wished.
Indeed, Brian found that the removal of danger and the taking of the
castle had somewhat puffed up his men, lessening their fear of him. So,
on the second day, he quelled a free fight that rose among them, hanged
ten of the worst, and after this the others became as lambs before him.
Upon exploring the castle, Brian was delighted to find it well equipped
in all things except prisoners. The Dark Master had had little use for
captives, it seemed, and his dungeons were in sad disrepair. However,
there was good store of powder, provisions in moderation, a well within
the castle, and no lack of arms and munitions of war. Brian promptly
took the chamber of O'Donnell for his own use--a large tower-room well
furnished in English style, and having the luxury of a fireplace
besides.
The construction of the building was simple--a large stone structure
with embattled walls, running down close to the sea behind and rising
above the plain in front. Save for the courtyard, the walls were not
separated from the building proper, and there was one high tower, on
which the flagstaff had been shattered since O'Donnell had taken the
place, for he was not given to flags and display. Besides a dozen of the
large bastards, there were five falcons, with plenty of ball.
Therefore, Brian had good reason to be satisfied with his new home. The
only thing that rankled was that he held it not for himself, but for the
Bird Daughter; and he was determined that when he had settled scores
with the Dark Master he would only remain here until he had secured a
hold for himself, free of all service.
But settling with O'Donnell Dubh was the first duty he had. Brian
recalled his torture and the agony of Cathbarr every time he entered the
hall. The iron rings that had been in the floor he had already torn out,
while Nuala had taken for her own the lonely wolfhound, which had been
left behind by the Dark Master. But Brian, who put all his desire for
vengeance in the wish to "get back his Spanish blade," could hardly turn
around without having some phase of his sufferings brought back to him.
The men who had been thrown out along the roads had fetched in word that
the Dark Master had ridden for Galway, so Brian had great hopes that
Turlough would bring back some definite news. If O'Donnell settled in
the city, he was determined to go in at all risks and seek out his enemy
face to face; the O'Malleys were on good terms with the Bodkins, who in
old Galway played _Capulet_ to the _Montague_ of the Lynch family, and
he would be able to command some help in that quarter.
* * * * *
On the fifth day after the castle had been taken, a galley came over
from Gorumna Castle bearing news. Cromwell had failed before Duncannon,
and promised to fail again at Waterford, and hope was rising high among
the royalists, while O'Neill's Ulster army was biding its time in the
north until a new leader was chosen by the Confederacy to make head with
Ormond against the Parliament armies.
Upon this the O'Malley rovers were impatient to revictual at Gorumna and
be off to the south after plunder, so Nuala decided to leave Bertragh
the next morning. That night, after Cathbarr had drunk himself asleep
and the O'Malleys had sought their ships, the Bird Daughter unexpectedly
became very cordial toward Brian once more, and they sat up late before
the fireplace.
Brian did not understand it, but he was quite willing to accept it, and
when the talk turned on personal matters he was careful to ask no
questions concerning Nuala's plans for the future. Instead, he told her
tales of his life at the Spanish court, which interested her vastly,
until in the end she broke forth with a passionate outburst.
"Oh, I wish I were a man!" she cried softly and eagerly, looking into
the red embers. "All my life I have been among men, and yet not of them;
I have had to do with guns and ships and powder, and I think I have not
done so ill, yet I have had dreams of other things--things which I
hardly know myself."
Astonished though he was at her sudden unfolding of herself, Brian
looked at her gravely, his blue eyes very soft as he pierced to her
thought.
"Yes," he said gently, "you are a woman, Bird Daughter--and if you were
a man I think that you might have gain, but others would have great
loss."
"Eh?" She looked straightly at him, unfearing his half-expressed
thought. "I do not seek idle compliments, Yellow Brian, from those who
serve me."
Brian flushed a little.
"It is hard to receive compliments gracefully," he said, and at that she
also colored, but laughed, her eyes still on his.
"There, give grace to my rude tongue, Brian! Of course you meant it--but
why?"
"Because there is no woman like you, Nuala--so able to weld men into
union, so vibrant with inner power, and yet so womanly withal. It is no
little honor to have known you, to have--"
"I wish you would tell me your name, Yellow Brian!"
There was woman's cunning in the placing of that answer, and it took
Brian all aback. For a moment he was near to blurting out his whole
story; then he took shame for letting a girl's face so run away with
him. None the less, he knew well that it was her heart as well as her
face, and her spirit as well as her heart, that had captured him; yet,
because he had had no dealings with women since leaving Spain some
months before, he told himself that if the Bird Daughter had other women
near by to compare herself with, less attraction might be found in her.
But he did not pause long upon that thought, sweeping his blue eyes to
hers in a smile.
"If you had been a man, Nuala, you had never had fealty from me."
"So--then it _was_ pity?" and swift anger leaped into her face.
"Was it pity that drove Cathbarr to proffer his life for mine?" parried
Brian, his eyes grave. He felt a great impulse to speak out all that was
in him, but crushed it down. Her eyes met his, and held there for a long
moment. Then she spoke very calmly:
"When will you take that cruise with me, Yellow Brian?"
"When I have won my Spanish blade again," he smiled, and after that they
talked no more of intimate things, yet Brian's heart was glad within
him.
With the next morning the Bird Daughter said farewell and went aboard
Lame Art's carack. Sorry was Brian to see her go, for he had come to
count much on her fine backing and inspiring courage, and knew not if he
would ever see her again. As the ships raised anchor, Cathbarr suddenly
let off the bastards with a great roar and raised on the shattered
flag-pole an ensign he had secretly obtained from Shaun the Little. The
ship-cannon barked out in brave answer and hoisted ensigns likewise; but
as Brian looked up at the flag overhead, his despondent mood was not
heartened. The three-masted ship of the O'Malleys flew above him, where
he had much rather flown the red hand of his own house.
"When I have slain the Dark Master," he thought, watching from those
same sea-facing battlements where he and Cathbarr had descended, as the
two caracks leaped off to the south, "and when I have established myself
in some hold, be it never so small, then I shall take back my name again
and let the red hand hold what it has gripped. But not until these
things have been done, for Brian O'Neill will give fealty to none--no,
not even to the Bird Daughter herself."
Thus he thought in his proud bitterness, reckoning not on what the
future was to bring forth. However, he had lost his idea that Nuala
might love Cathbarr, and had great gladness of it.
Now there was work to be done, and Brian soon found himself too busy to
bother his mind with thoughts of bitterness. Cathbarr had done no little
drinking, so that his wound was turning bad, and in no little alarm
Brian banished all liquors from him and tended him carefully. Taking a
lesson from Red Murrough, he washed out the wound with vinegar, and
found that this had its effect.
Since Brian was irked at having to rely on others for his supplies, he
rode to all the outlying farms and sent off the families there under
escort, with sufficient money to keep them and take them to their homes
in the north. Many of them chose to remain, and certain of his men knew
of women-folk they wished to bring hither, so that Brian saw he would
not lack for farmers and settlers. Enough fodder was obtained to keep
his horses for a time; but as this did not satisfy him, he set forth
after four days on a cattle-raid to the northeast, riding past the
Manturks toward Ashford with ninety men.
He was gone on that raid five days; found to his great joy that his
strength had returned to him, and also found a small party of Royalist
horse near Lough Corrib. These had been buying up cattle for the Galway
garrison, and had collected fifty head; but on Brian's approach they did
not stay for dispute, but fled.
So Brian cheerfully sent the fifty head of cattle home with as many men,
and with the others swept around through the mountains. With him were
two of Cathbarr's axmen, and they led him to the hold occupied by
Murrough O'Flaherty of the Kine, where Brian stayed half a day. He
concluded a friendship with the mountaineers, promising them powder in
exchange for cattle, and they promised, in turn, that within three weeks
they would fetch a hundred kine down to Castle Bertragh.
Having thus assured himself of both food and stock for his farms, he
rode home again, to find great news awaiting him.
First, there had come a galley from Gorumna with wine and stores. Nuala
sent word that her men in Galway had informed her the Dark Master was
there, but in no high favor with Lord Burke and the other commanders.
Second, one of Turlough Wolf's men had come in with news which had
caused Cathbarr to have the men in all readiness against Brian's return.
The Dark Master was indeed in Galway town, and had made small head with
his suit for men, having related that Vere and his pikemen were lost.
However, he had been promised some help, provided he could gather any
force of his own and would hold Bertragh for the Royalists. Cromwell had
been driven back at Waterford, but Cork had risen for him, and his men
had entered there.
So the Dark Master was going to the north to get him men in Sligo, as
Turlough had predicted he would do, and his plan was to raise a force,
bring down those Donegal pirates with whom he was in alliance, and set
on Bertragh by sea and land, as Brian himself had aimed at doing.
Turlough said that he was following, but would leave men at Swineford
and Tobercurry with further news of what happed.
"Good!" cried Brian joyfully. "Cathbarr, have a hundred and fifty men
saddled at dawn--what is this?"
Turlough's messenger handed him a paper. It was a safe-conduct issued by
the Confederacy and Royalist leaders in the name of one Stephen Burke,
and where the wily Wolf had gotten it the messenger did not know. But it
might come in useful, since there were few parliament men in Sligo and
Mayo, and Brian tucked it away with a laugh.
"Then to the north at dawn--and O'Donnell shall not escape me this
time!"