In the mean time a circumstance occurred which scarcely any person who
heard it could at first believe. About twelve o'clock the next day the
house of Lamh Laudher More was surrounded with an immense crowd, and the
whole town seemed to be in a state of peculiar animation and excitement.
Groups met, stood, and eagerly accosted each other upon some topic that
evidently excited equal interest and astonishment.
LAMH LAUDHER OGE HAD CHALLENGED THE DEAD BOXER.
True. On that morning, at an early hour, the proscribed young man waited
upon the Sovereign of the town, and requested to see him. Immediately
after his encounter with the black the preceding night, and while Ellen
Neil offered to compensate him for the obloquy she had brought upon his
name, he formed the dreadful resolution of sending him a challenge. In
very few words he stated his intention to the Sovereign, who looked upon
him as insane.
“No, no,” replied that gentleman; “go home, O'Rorke, and banish the idea
out of your head; it is madness.”
“But I say yes, yes, with great respect to you, sir,” observed Lamh
Laudher. “I've been banished from my father's house, and treated with
scorn by all that know me, because they think me a coward. Now I'll let
them know I'm no coward.”
“But you will certainly be killed,” said,the Sovereign.
“That's to be seen,” observed the young man; “at all events, I'd as soon
be killed as livin' in disgrace. I'll thank you, sir, as the head of the
town, to let the black know that Lamh Laudher Oge will fight him.”
“For heaven's sake, reflect a moment upon the----”
“My mind's made up to fight,” said the other, interrupting him. “No
power on earth will prevent me, sir. So, if you don't choose to send the
challenge, I'll bring it myself.”
The Sovereign shook his head, as if conscious of what the result must
be.
“That is enough,” said he; “as you are fixed on your own destruction,
the challenge will be given; but I trust you will think better of it.”
“Let him know, if you please,” added Lamh Laudher, “that on to-morrow at
twelve o'clock we must fight.”
The magistrate nodded, and Lamh Laudher immediately took his leave. In a
short time the intelligence spread. From the sovereign it passed to his
clerk, from the clerk to the other members of the corporation, and, ere
an hour, the town was in a blaze with the intelligence.
“Did you hear what's reported?” was the general question.
Lamh Laudher Oge has challenged the Dead Boxer!
The reader already knows how bitterly public opinion had set in against
our humble hero; but it would be difficult to describe, in terms
sufficiently vivid, the rapid and powerful reaction which now took place
in his favor. Every one pitied him, praised him, remembered his former
prowess, and after finding some palliative for his degrading interview
with Meehaul Neil, concluded with expressing a firm conviction that he
had undertaken a fatal task. When the rumor had reached his parents, the
blood ran cold in their veins, and their natural affection, now roused
into energy, grasped at an object that was about to be violently removed
from it. Their friends and neighbors, as we have stated, came to their
house for the purpose of dissuading their son against so rash and
terrible an undertaking.
“It musn't be,” said they, “for whatever was over him wid Meehaul Neil,
we know now he's no coward, an' that's enough. We musn't see him beat
dead before our eyes, at all events, where is he?”
“He's at his aunt's,” replied the father; “undher this roof he says
he will never come till his name is cleared. Heavens above! For him to
think of fighting a man that kills every one he fights wid!”
The mother's outcries were violent, as were those of his female
relations, whilst a solemn and even mournful spirit brooded upon the
countenances of his own faction. It was resolved that his parents and
friends should now wait upon, and by every argument and remonstrance in
their power, endeavor to change the rashness of his purpose:
The young man received them with a kind but somewhat sorrowful, spirit.
The father, uncovered, and with his gray locks flowing down upon his
shoulders, approached him, extended his hand, and with an infirm voice
said--
“Give me your hand, John. You're welcome to your father's heart an'
your father's roof once more.”
The son put his arms across his breast, and bowed his head respectfully,
but declined receiving his father's hand.
“Not, father--father dear--not till my name is cleared.”
“John,” said the old man, now in tears, “will you refuse me? You are my
only son, my only child, an' I cannot lose you. Your name is cleared.”
“Father,” said the son, “I've sworn--it's now too late. My heart,
father, has been crushed by what has happened lately. I found little
charity among my friend's. I say, I cannot change my mind, for I've
sworn to fight him. And even if I had not sworn, I couldn't, as a man,
but do it, for he has insulted them that I love better than my own life.
I knew you would want to persuade me against what I'm doin'--an' that
was why I bound myself this mornin' by an oath.”
The mother, who had been detained a few minutes behind them, now
entered, and on hearing that he had refused to decline the battle,
exclaimed--
“Who says that Lamh Laudher Oge won't obey his mother? Who dare say it?
Wasn't he ever and always an obedient son to me an' his father? I won't
believe that lie of my boy, no more than I ever believed a word of' what
was sed against him. _Shawn Oge aroon_, you won't refuse me, _avillish_.
What 'ud become of me, _avich ma chree_, if you fight him? Would you
have the mother's heart broken, an' our roof childless all out? We
lost one as it is--the daughter of our heart is gone, an' we don't know
how--an' now is your father an' me to lie down an' die in desolation
widout a child to shed a tear over us, or to put up one prayer for our
happiness?”
The young man's eyes filled with tears; but his cheek reddened, and he
dashed them hastily aside.
“No, my boy, my glorious boy, won't refuse to save his mother's heart
from breakin'; ay, and his gray-haired father's too--he won't kill us
both--my boy won't,--nor send us to the grave before our time!”
“Mother,” said he, “if I could I--Oh! no, no. Now, it's too late--if I
didn't fight him, I'd be a perjured man. You know,” he added, smiling,
“there's something in a Lamh Laudher's blow, as well as in the Dead
Boxer's. Isn't it said, that a Lamh Laudher needn't strike two blows,
when he sends his strength with one.”
He stretched out his powerful arm, as he spoke, with a degree of pride,
not unbecoming his youth, spirit, and amazing strength and activity.
“Do not,” he added, “either vex me, or sink my spirits. I'm sworn, an'
I'll fight him. That's my mind, and it will not change.”
The whole party felt, by the energy and decision with which he spoke
the last words, that he was immovable. His resolution filled them with
melancholy, and an absolute sense of death. They left him, therefore, in
silence, with the exception of his parents, whose grief was bitter and
excessive.
When the Dead Boxer heard that he had been challenged, he felt more
chagrin than satisfaction, for his avarice was disappointed; but when he
understood from those members of the corporation who waited on him,
that Lamh Laudher was the challenger, the livid fire of mingled rage and
triumph which blazed in his large bloodshot eyes absolutely frightened
the worthy burghers.
“I'm glad of that,” said he--“here, Joe, I desire you to go and get
a coffin made, six feet long and properly wide--we will give him room
enough; tehee! tehee! tehee!--ah! tehee! tehee! tehee! I'm glad,
gentlemen. Herr! agh! tehee! tehee! I'm glad, I'm glad.”
In this manner did he indulge in the wild and uncouth glee of a savage
as ferocious as he was powerful.
“We have a quare proverb here, Misther Black,” said one of the worthy
burghers, “that, be my sowl, may be you never heard!”
“Tehee! tehee! agh! What is that?” said the Boxer, showing his white
teeth and blubber lips in a furious grin, whilst the eyes which he
fastened on the poor burgher blazed up once more, as if he was about to
annihilate him.
“What is it, sar?”
“Faith,” said the burgher, making towards the door, “I'll tell you
that when I'm the safe side o' the room--devil a ha'porth bar-rin' that
neither you nor any man ought to reckon your chickens before they
are hatched. Make money of that;” and after having discharged this
pleasantry at the black, the worthy burgher made a hasty exit down
stairs, followed at a more dignified pace by his companions.
The Dead Boxer, in preparing for battle, observed a series of forms
peculiar to himself, which were certainly of an appalling character. As
a proof that the challenge was accepted, he ordered a black flag,
which he carried about with him, to wave from a window of the inn, a
circumstance which thrilled all who saw it with an awful certainty of
Lamh Laudher's death. He then gave order for the drums to be beaten,
and a dead march to be played before him, whilst he walked slowly up
the town and back, conversing occasionally with some of those who
immediately surrounded him. When he arrived nearly opposite the
market-house, some person pointed out to him a small hut that stood in a
situation isolated from the other houses of the street.
“There,” added his informant, “is the house where Lamh Laudher Oge's
aunt lives, and where he himself has lived since he left his father's.”
“Ah!” said the black, pausing, “is he within, do you think?”
One of the crowd immediately inquired, and replied to him in
affirmative.
“Will any of you,” continued the boxer, “bring me over a half-hundred
weight from the market crane? I will show this fellow what a poor chance
he has. If he is so strong in the arm and active as is reported, I
desire he will imitate me. Let the music stop a moment.”
The crowd was now on tiptoe, and all necks were stretched over the
shoulders of those who stood before them, in order to see, if possible,
what the feat could be which he intended to perform. Having received
the half-hundred weight from the hands of the man who brought it, he
approached the widow's cottage, and sent in a person to apprize _Lamh
Laudher_ of his intention to throw it over the house, and to request
that he would witness this proof of his strength. Lamh Laudher delayed a
few minutes, and the Dead Boxer stood in the now silent crowd, awaiting
his appearance, when accidentally glancing into the door, he started as
if stung by a serpent. A flash and a glare of his fierce blazing eyes
followed.
“Ha! damnation! true as hell!” he exclaimed, “she's with him! Ha!--the
Obeah woman was right--the Obeuh woman was right. Guilt, guilt, guilt!
Ha!”
With terror and fury upon his huge dark features, he advanced a step or
two into the cottage, and in a voice that resembled the under-growl
of an enraged bull, said to his wife, for it was she--“You will never
repeat this--I am aware of you; I know you now! Fury! prepare yourself;
I say so to both. Ha!” Neither she nor Lamh Laudher had an opportunity
of replying to him, for he ran in a mood perfectly savage to the
half-hundred weight, which he caught by the ring, whirled it round him
two or three times, and, to the amazement of the mob who were crowded
about him, flung it over the roof of the cottage.
Lamh Laudher had just left the cabin in time to witness the feat, as
well as to observe more closely the terrific being in his full strength
and fury, with whom he was to wage battle on the following day. Those
who watched his countenance, observed that it blanched for a moment, and
that the color came and went upon his cheek.
“Now, young fellow,” said the Boxer, “get behind the cabin and throw
back the weight.”
Lamh Landher hesitated, but was ultimately proceeding to make the
attempt, when a voice from the crowd, in tones that were evidently
disguised, shouted--
“Don't be a fool, young man; husband your strength, for you will want
it.”
The Dead Boxer started again--“Ha!” he exclaimed, after listening
acutely, “fury of hell! are you there? ha! I'll grasp you yet, though.”
The young man, however, felt the propriety of this friendly caution.
“The person who spoke is right,” said he, “whoever he is. I will
husband, my strength,” and he passed again into the cabin.
The boxer's countenance exhibited dark and flitting shadows of rage.
That which in an European cheek would have been the redness of deep
resentment, appeared, on his, as the scarlet blood struggled with the
gloomy hue of his complexion, rather like a tincture that seemed to
borrow its character more from the darkness of his soul, than from the
color of his skin. His brow, black and lowering as a thunder-cloud, hung
fearfully over his eyes, which he turned upon Lamh Laudher when entering
the hut, as if he could have struck him dead with a look. Having desired
the drums to beat, and the dead march to be resumed, he proceeded along
the streets until he arrived at the inn, from the front of which the
dismal flag of death flapped slowly and heavily in the breeze. At this
moment the death-bell of the town church tolled, and the sexton of the
parish bustled through the crowd to inform him that the grave which he
had ordered to be made was ready.
The solemnity of these preparations, joined to the almost superhuman
proof of bodily strength which he had just given, depressed every heart,
when his young and generous adversary was contrasted with him. Deep
sorrow for the fate of Lamh Laudher prevailed throughout the town; the
old men sighed at the folly of his rash and fatal obstinacy, and the
females shed tears at the sacrifice of one whom all had loved. From
the inn, hundreds of the crowd rushed to the church-yard, where they
surveyed the newly made grave with shudderings and wonder at the
strangeness of the events which had occurred in the course of the day.
The death music, the muffled drums, the black flag, the mournful tolling
of the sullen bell, together with the deep grave that lay open before
them, appeared rather to resemble the fearful pageant of a gloomy dream,
than the reality of incidents that actually passed before their eyes.
Those who came to see the grave departed with heaviness and a sad
foreboding of what was about to happen; but fresh crowds kept pouring
towards it for the remainder of the day, till the dusky shades of a
summer night drove them to their own hearths, and left the church-yard
silent.
The appearance of the Dead Boxer's wife in the house where Lamh Laudher
resided, confirmed, in its worst sense, that which Nell M'Collum had
suggested to him. It is unnecessary to describe the desolating sweep of
passion which a man, who, like him, was the slave of strong resentments,
must have suffered. It was not only from motives of avarice and a
natural love of victory that he felt anxious to fight: to these was now
added a dreadful certainty that Lamh Laudher was the man in existence
who had inflicted on him an injury, for which nothing but the pleasure
of crushing him to atoms with his hands, could atone. The approaching
battle therefore, with his direst enemy, was looked upon by the Dead
Boxer as an opportunity of glutting his revenge. When the crowd had
dispersed, he called a waiter, and desired him to inquire if his
wife had returned. The man retired to ascertain, and the Boxer walked
backwards and forwards in a state of mind easily conceived, muttering
curses and vows of vengeance against her and Lamh Laudher. After some
minutes he was informed that she had not returned, upon which he gave
orders that on the very instant of her appearance at the inn, she should
be sent to him. The waiter's story in this instance was incorrect;
but the wife's apprehension of his violence, overcame every other
consideration, and she resolved for some time to avoid him. He had, in
fact, on more than one occasion openly avowed his jealousy of her and
O'Rorke, and that in a manner which made the unhappy woman tremble for
her life. She felt, therefore, from what had just occurred at Widow
Rorke's cabin, that she must separate herself from him, especially as
he was susceptible neither of reason nor remonstrance. Every thing
conspired to keep his bad passions in a state of tumult. Nell M'Collum,
whom he wished to consult once more upon the recovery of his money,
could not be found. This, too, galled him; for avarice, except
during the whirlwind of jealousy, was the basis of his character--the
predominant passion of his heart. After cooling a little, he called for
his servant, who had been in the habit of acting for him in the capacity
of second, and began, with his assistance, to make preparations for
to-morrow's battle.