STARTLING NEWS.
"What do you think is the best thing to be done now doctor?" Ralph
asked.
"I don't know," he replied. "I don't see how on earth we are going to
get them over these rocks and up to the top. A slip or a fall would
cost either of your friends their limbs, and that poor fellow his
life. I don't see how it is to be managed. It's hard work for a man to
climb those rocks, and how a litter is to be carried I can't see. If
it were anywhere else I should say build a hut for them; but it would
be a tremendous business getting the materials down, and I don't think
it could possibly be managed by night."
"I am sure it couldn't," Ralph said, shaking his head. "I think,
though, if we got two long poles and slung a piece of canvas like a
hammock between them we may possibly get them down to the shore. You
see we have plenty of strength to get them over rough places."
"We could manage that easy enough," Lieutenant Adcock, who had some
time before joined the party, said. "There are some sixteen-feet oars
in the boat and some sails. We could easily rig up the hammock. I
suppose you mean to take them off in the boat, Mr. Conway?"
"Yes; that's what I meant," Ralph said. "Then you can land them in
your cove, and they might stop in the village till they are fit to be
moved."
"That would be an excellent plan," the doctor said. "Let us set about
it at once."
In half an hour the sailors brought up the hammock.
"I will go first," Captain O'Connor said, "as I am the heaviest. You
will see how you manage to get me down. If it's done pretty easily you
can bring down the two others; if not, they had better stop in the
cave for to-night, and we will get a hut for them to-morrow. By the
way, Conway, you had better get the dead carried out and taken down to
the seashore. Have them laid down out of reach of the tide. Some of
them belong about here, and their friends will wish to give them a
decent burial. Our own dead had better be put in the boat, if Mr.
Adcock will allow it, and taken to the village with us. Then they can
be carried over to Ballyporrit for burial. A corporal with four men
must be left for to-night in charge of the caves."
"I shall want my men to row the boat," Lieutenant Adcock said. "In the
morning I will send over a warrant officer and four men to take charge
of the cave till I can take its contents round to our stores."
Captain O'Connor was now lifted into the hammock, and six sailors
carried him down to the water. They managed it excellently, easing him
down with the greatest care over the rocks, and succeeded in getting
him down to the sea without a single jerk. Lieutenant Desmond and the
wounded soldiers were then taken down in the same way, while the men
carried down the dead bodies of their three comrades and of the
peasants who had fallen.
"I will take charge of the wounded," Lieutenant Adcock said, "and see
them comfortably housed and cared for. I suppose Dr. Doran will go
with us."
"Certainly," the doctor said, stepping into the boat. "I shall not
give up charge of them until I see them all safely in bed."
"I shall come over and see you O'Connor," Ralph said, "as soon as I
get the company back to the village. Shall I write a report of this
business, or do you feel equal to doing so?"
"I will manage it, Conway. I can dictate it if I don't feel up to
writing it. But you had better not come over to-day. There will be a
good deal of excitement over this capture, and no doubt several of the
killed and prisoners belong to Ballyporrit; so it wouldn't do for you
to leave the detachment without an officer. Be sure you have a strict
guard put over the prisoners, and keep an eye upon them yourself. You
can send over to inquire about us, but till you have got them off your
hands you had better not leave the village. If a party are wanted for
still-hunting send Sergeant Morris with them. I shall dispatch my
report to-night, and no doubt the colonel will send an officer out to
help you as soon as he gets it."
The boat now pushed off. A corporal and four men were told off to
occupy the cave until relieved by the revenue men, and then, with the
prisoners in their center, the party climbed the cliff, and again,
having been joined at the top by the rest of the company, marched to
Ballyporrit. They found the village in a state of excitement. The
soldier who had gone to fetch the doctor had brought the news that a
fight had take place down on the face of the cliff, but he could not
say whether any had been killed. As soon as the detachment returned
with the prisoners in their midst many women flocked round with cries
and lamentations, and exchanged greetings with the prisoners.
Ralph at once took possession of the stables at the inn, and saw that
the prisoners were all handcuffed, the Red ruffian's legs being also
securely bound. Then he placed two sentries inside and two out. The
news that some of the men had been killed soon spread, and many of the
villagers who did not see their relations among the prisoners hurried
off toward the scene of action. Ralph informed the landlord that the
dead had all been placed together on the seashore, and that their
friends were at liberty to remove and bury them without any questions
being asked. He then sent a corporal over to bring back news how the
wounded men had borne the journey, and how they were disposed. But
before his return the doctor drove up in a trap that he had borrowed.
"Adcock has put up the two officers in his own house," he said, "and
his wife will look after them, so you need not worry about them. The
other poor fellows are in the cottage next door. It belongs to the
coxswain of the boat, who is also a married man. So you need be under
no uneasiness about any of them. As far as I can see, they are all
likely to do well. I shall go over the first thing in the morning, and
will bring you news of them as soon as I get back."
Ralph had given orders that Denis Moore was not to be treated as a
prisoner; and he now told the sergeant to send him in to him.
"I have been thinking it over, Moore," he said; "and it seems to me
the best plan will be to allow you to go quietly away. Your conduct in
the fight in the cave in itself showed that you were not voluntarily
with the others; and I do not think, therefore, that it is necessary
to report you among the prisoners. I suppose the Red Captain's gang
have not done any unlawful act beyond taking part in the still
business since they took you away from home?"
"No, your honor. We just came straight down here, traveling at night
and hiding away by day."
"Very well. In that case you can give no special evidence against
them. It is probable that at the trial evidence may be required from
Galway as to the deeds that that red-bearded scoundrel committed
there; and it is possible that you may be summoned with others, but I
should think that the evidence of the constabulary will be sufficient.
So, if you will give me your address there I will take it upon myself
to let you go at once. In that case you can join your wife this
evening and travel back with her."
"Thank you, sir," Denis replied. "I have no objection at all to give
evidence as to what I know, so that it does not come out it was
Bridget who tould you where they were hiding."
"You need not be afraid of that, Denis. Captain O'Connor gave her his
word that her name should not be mentioned. At the same time I have no
doubt he will claim for her the hundred pounds reward that was
offered; and if he obtains it he will send it to you, so that nobody
will be any the wiser."
"I should not like to take informer's money," Denis said.
"Not in ordinary cases," Ralph replied. "But you see she spoke out,
not for the sake of money, but to get you out of their hands. And
considering how much mischief those fellows have done, and how much
more they would have done had we not laid hands on them, it is a very
different case from that of an ordinary informer. None of your
neighbors will know that she has had anything to do with the capture
of these men, therefore no one will be any the wiser, and no doubt a
hundred pounds will be very useful to you. I am sure you deserve some
sort of compensation for being dragged away from home, and for the
risk you ran in that fight; for a bullet might just as well have
struck you as any of the others. I know that if I were in your place I
should accept it without the least hesitation. And now, as I don't
suppose they have left any money on you, and as your wife is not
likely to be very well provided, I will give you five pounds on
account; and remember that I shall always feel your debtor for the
manner in which you saved my life by springing upon that ruffian just
at the critical moment."
"You will deduct it from the other money, your honor?" Denis said,
hesitating.
"Certainly I will, Denis. I should not think of offering you money for
such a service as you rendered me. Now, if you will just give me your
address in Galway I will make a note of it; though I don't think it at
all likely you will be wanted at the trial. They will most likely
proceed against him on the charge of shooting his officer and
deserting; for they will have no difficulty in proving that, as the
regiment he belonged to is in Dublin."
Denis started at once to rejoin his wife, highly pleased to have got
away so quickly. Two days later Captain Morrison and Mr. Stapleton
arrived from headquarters.
"I congratulate you, Conway," the latter said heartily. "We all pitied
your being ordered away to this dreary place; and now you have been
getting no end of honor and credit. O'Connor's report speaks in the
strongest terms of you, and says it was entirely owing to your
promptness and courage that the band was captured, and his life and
that of Desmond saved. The Cork papers are full of the affair; and the
capture of that notorious scoundrel, the Red Captain, created quite an
excitement, I can tell you. The only bad part of the affair is that we
have had to come out here, for I am afraid there is no chance whatever
of another adventure like yours."
"Oh, I fancy there are plenty more stills to be captured, Stapleton;
and that's good fun in its way, though it involves a good deal of
marching and hard work."
"And how are O'Connor and Desmond getting on?" Captain Morrison asked.
"I had a very good report of them this morning from the doctor, and
now that you have come I shall take a trap and drive over and see them
at once. I had O'Connor's orders not to leave here till you arrived."
"You are to go back yourself to-morrow morning, Conway," Captain
Morrison said. "You are to take the prisoners in with an escort of a
corporal and ten men, and to hand them over to the civil authorities;
which means, I suppose, that you are to take them to the prison."
"I suppose I shall come straight out again?" Ralph asked.
"I should think so; for with all this still-hunting business three
officers are wanted here. But of course you will report yourself to
the colonel and get orders. Here are the orders he gave me to give
you. You are to start early, make a twenty-mile march, halt for the
night, and go on again the first thing in the morning. You are to hire
a cart for the wounded prisoners, and to exercise the utmost vigilance
on the way. The men are to carry loaded muskets. It is not likely
there will be any attempt at a rescue; but such things have happened
before now. If anything of the sort should take place, and you find
that you are likely to get worsted, your orders are that you are not
to let the Red Captain be carried off alive. Put a man specially over
him, with instructions to shoot him rather than let him be taken away
from him. The colonel will hold you harmless. The scoundrel has
committed too many murders to be allowed to go free."
"I understand," Ralph said, "and will carry out the orders; and now I
will be off at once, for it will be dark in an hour."
Ralph was glad to find that the two officers were going on better than
he had expected. Lieutenant Desmond was already up, with his arm in
splints and a great patch of plaster across his forehead. O'Connor was
still in bed, and was likely to remain so for some time. The
regimental surgeon was with him, having left the other two officers at
the turn of the road leading to the village.
"I am glad to see you, Conway," Captain O'Connor said cheerfully. "I
was expecting you. The doctor said Morrison and Stapleton had gone on
to Ballyporrit. None the worse for your brush, I hope?"
"Not a bit," Ralph said. "The bump on my head caused by that musket
blow hurt me a bit the first day or two, but it's going down now. I am
glad to see you and Desmond looking so well."
"Oh, we shall soon be all right; though I am afraid I shall be kept on
my back for some little time. Desmond is rather in despair, because he
is afraid his beauty is spoiled; for the doctor says that cut on his
forehead is likely to leave a nasty scar. He would not have minded it
if it had been done by a French dragoon saber; but to have got it from
tumbling down a chimney troubles him sorely. It will be very painful
to him when a partner at a ball asks him sympathizingly in what battle
he was wounded, to have to explain that he tumbled head foremost into
a peat fire."
Desmond laughed. "Well, it is rather a nuisance; and you see Conway,
the ashes have got so ground up in the place that the doctor is afraid
it will be a black scar. O'Connor chaffs me about it, but I am sure he
wouldn't like it himself."
"Why, my dear fellow, it's a most honorable wound. You will be able to
dilate upon the desperate capture of the noted ruffian the Red
Captain, and how you and that noble officer Captain O'Connor dashed
alone into the cavern, tenanted by thirteen notorious desperadoes.
Why, properly worked up, man, there is no end of capital to be made
out of it. I foresee that I shall be quite a hero at tea-fights. A
battle is nothing to such an affair as this. Of course it will not be
necessary to say that you shot down into the middle of them like a
sack of wheat because you could not help it. You must speak of your
reckless spring of twenty feet from that upper passage into the middle
of them. Why, properly told, the dangers of the breach at Badajos
would pale before it."
"I am glad to see that you are in such high spirits," Ralph said when
the laugh had subsided. "There's no fear of your being lame after it,
I hope?"
"No, Dr. Doran says it is a clean snap of the bone, and it will, he
thinks, mend all right; and as Macpherson, who has been examining it,
says the same, I hope it is all right. It is very good of the colonel
sending the doctor over to us; but I think Doran understands his
business well, and has made a capital job of both of us."
"How is Rawlinson going on?"
"Oh, I think he will do very well," the surgeon said. "Of course he's
a little down in the mouth about himself. It is not a pleasant
prospect for a man to have to go about on two wooden legs all his
life. Still it's been done in the service; and as the fight was a
sharp one, and such an important capture was made, he will get his
full pension, and I shall strongly recommend him for Chelsea Hospital
if he likes to take it. But he tells me he was by trade a carpenter
before he enlisted, and I expect he would rather go down to live among
his own people. His wooden legs won't prevent him earning a living at
his trade; and as he is rather a good-looking fellow I dare say he
won't have much difficulty in getting a wife. Maimed heroes are
irresistible to the female mind."
"That's a comfort for you, Desmond, anyhow," O'Connor laughed. "That
black patch on your forehead ought to add a thousand a year to your
marketable value."
The next morning Ralph marched with his detachment, and arrived at
Cork without adventure. Here he handed his prisoners over to the civil
authorities of the jail, and then marched up to the barracks. He at
once reported himself to the colonel, who congratulated him warmly
upon the success that had attended the capture, and upon his own
conduct in the affair.
"I will not keep you now," the colonel said, "for the mess-bugle
sounded five minutes ago. I shall see you again in the morning."
As Ralph entered the messroom the officers had just taken their seats.
He was greeted with a boisterous outburst of welcome. His comrades got
up and shook his hand warmly, and he had to answer many inquiries as
to how O'Connor and Desmond were going on.
"Sit down, gentlemen!" the major who was president of the mess
shouted. "Conway has had a twenty-mile march, and is, I have no doubt,
as hungry as a hunter. Let him eat his dinner in peace, and then when
the wine is on the table he shall relate his adventures in detail. By
the way, Conway, I hope you have lodged that ruffian safely in jail?"
"Yes, sir, I have handed him over, and glad I was to get him off my
hands; for though I had him handcuffed and his feet tied, and brought
him along in a cart, I never felt comfortable all the way. The fellow
is as strong as a bull, and as he knows what is before him he was
capable of anything desperate to effect his escape."
"I remember the man well," one of the officers said; "for, as you
know, I was in his regiment before I exchanged into the Twenty-eighth.
He was a notorious character. He had the strength of two ordinary men,
and once or twice when he was drunk it took eight men to bring him
into barracks. I am heartily glad he is caught, for the poor fellow he
killed was one of the most popular men in the regiment--with the
soldiers as well as with us--and if they could have laid hands on this
fellow I believe they would have hung him up without a trial. I shall
have real pleasure in giving evidence against the scoundrel for I was
present at the time he shot poor Forrest. I wasn't five yards away,
but it was all over and the villain was off before I had time to lift
a hand."
After dinner was over Ralph gave the full history of the capture in
the cavern, of which Captain O'Connor had sent but an outline.
"It was a sharp fight indeed," the major said when he had finished;
"for, for a time you were greatly outnumbered, and in the dark
discipline is not of much avail. I think on the whole you got very
well out of it, and O'Connor and Desmond were lucky in having got off
with a broken limb each."
Ralph was detained some days in Cork, as he had to be present at the
courthouse when the prisoners were brought up before the magistrates.
After giving his evidence as to the capture, his attendance was no
further required. All with the exception of the Red Captain were
committed at once upon the charges of working an illicit still, and of
offering a forcible resistance with arms to the authority of the
king's officers. The Red Captain was charged with several murders, and
was remanded in order that evidence might be obtained from the
regiment to which he belonged in Dublin, and of the constabulary and
other people in County Galway. Ralph then returned to Ballyporrit.
A fortnight later the detachment was recalled, the colonel having
received the news that the regiment would be shortly under orders for
America. Lieutenant Desmond was able to travel to Cork at once,
although still unfit for duty; and the surgeon reported that in
another fortnight Captain O'Connor would be also fit to be removed.
Ten days later definite orders were received for the regiment to be
ready for embarkation, as soon as the two transports which had been
ordered round from Plymouth arrived. Soldiers are always fond of
change; and although there were few more pleasant quarters than Cork,
there was a general feeling of animation and excitement at the thought
of service at the other side of the Atlantic. All officers and men on
furlough were at once recalled. The friends of many of the officers
came across from England, to be with them till they sailed upon what
was then considered a long and perilous voyage. Balls and dinners were
given to and by the regiment. Officers overhauled their kits and
belongings, getting what new things were required, bargaining with
brokers for their furniture, and making all preparations for a
prolonged absence from England.
"Ah, Stapleton," Ralph said, as the young ensign came into his
quarters one day in high spirits, "there will be a sad change come
over you before long. You almost wished you might die on your way
round here from London. What will be your feelings when you have to
face the waves of the Atlantic?"
"Don't talk about it, Conway. The very thought makes me feel queer.
However, I expect I shall get on better now than I did last time. What
an ass I was, to be sure, on that voyage!"
"Well, I do think your four months with the regiment have done you a
world of good, Stapleton. You certainly were a stuck-up sort of
personage when you came on board in the Thames. I think it is an awful
mistake for a fellow to be educated at home, instead of being sent to
school; they are sure to have to suffer for it afterward."
"Well, I have suffered for it to some extent," Stapleton said. "The
lessons I got at first were sharp ones; but they certainly did me
good."
"There is no doubt about that," Ralph agreed; "and I think there is a
good deal of credit due to you, Stapleton, for having taken things in
the right way. I wonder where we shall be stationed in America, and
whether we shall have any fighting? Upon the whole we have no very
great reason to be proud of our feats of arms in America; but I hope
we shall do better next time. You see, in the last struggle we knew
nothing of their tactics, and were at a great disadvantage; but after
fighting its way through the Peninsular, I don't think there is any
fear of the regiment not giving a good account of itself, if it is
called upon to do so, out there."
The next day an orderly came into the room just after mess-dinner had
commenced. He whispered to the adjutant, who at once rose.
"Mr. President," he said to the major who was at the head of the
table, "I must ask you to excuse me leaving the table. The colonel
wishes to see me immediately at his quarters."
"What can be the matter now?" one of the officers said. "It must be
something of importance or the colonel would never have called
Hallowes out in that way."
"Heard of some still away among the hills, I suppose. That means a
night's tramp for some of us. Too bad to be put to this sort of work
within a week of sailing on foreign service," grumbled another.
Various guesses were made as to the nature of the business, and
several wagers were laid on the subject. In ten minutes the adjutant
returned. He was evidently excited, and all listened with great
interest as, instead of resuming his seat, he remained standing.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I have great news for you. A vessel has just
come in from Plymouth with dispatches. Napoleon has escaped from Elba.
He has landed in France, and been received with enthusiasm. The troops
have joined him, and he is already close to Paris, which he is
expected to enter without opposition. The King of France has fled."
For a moment there was silence, then the major leaped to his feet.
"Three cheers, gentlemen!" and all of those present joined in a hearty
cheer.
Then a sudden silence fell upon them. The first idea that had struck
each man was that the news meant their again taking the field for
another stirring campaign. Then the dismal thought occurred to them
that the regiment was under orders for America. It soon found
expression in words.
"Why, major, they surely won't be sending us across the Atlantic now
this news has arrived. The Powers will never permit all their work to
be undone, and Napoleon to mount the throne of France again. Why, in a
short time all Europe will be in a blaze, and how is England to take
the field again? The greater portion of Wellington's army are
scattered over the world--in America, India, and the Colonies. I don't
believe there are half a dozen of the old fighting regiments
available, and even their ranks are half-filled with raw recruits.
Almost all the regiments at home are mere skeletons. Surely they will
never be sending us away at such a moment?"
"That I can say nothing about," the adjutant replied. "Certainly no
counter orders have reached the colonel this evening. I don't suppose
anything will be decided upon for some time. The Powers will all
exchange notes and hold councils and spend weeks in talk before they
make up their mind whether anything is to be done, and if so what; and
long before they come to any decision on the subject we shall be on
the other side of the Atlantic, and then, possibly, after all the
trials and monotony of perhaps a two months' voyage, we may land there
only to be fetched back again. I quite agree with you that England can
put nothing worth calling an army in the field, and that it would be
madness to send a fine regiment out of the country at the present
moment. But everyone knows the lack of wisdom with which we are
governed, and the miserable slowness of our military authorities. It
is not likely even to occur to any one to countermand our orders, but
it will certainly be disgusting in the extreme to have to start just
at the present moment."
"Beside," another officer said, "it will be maddening to be two months
at sea without news, and to know that perhaps all Europe is in arms
and tremendous events going on and we out of it altogether."
"I should think nothing will be done just at present," the major said.
"Every country in Europe has been disbanding its armies just as we
have since peace was proclaimed, and it will be a long time before any
of them are ready to take the field in anything like force. Even
Napoleon himself, great organizer as he is, will take some time to put
all France under arms again. An army is a machine that cannot be
created in a day. The soldiers have to clothed, arms to be
manufactured, the cavalry to be mounted, the artillery to be
organized, and a field train got together. No, I should say that at
least four months must elapse before fighting begins in earnest. With
anything like a favorable wind we should be across in America in a
month. If orders are sent out a month after we start we may be back in
time for the opening ball. Judging from the past, it is likely to be a
long business unseating Napoleon again, and if we are not in for the
first of it we may be in plenty of time for a fair share of the
fighting, always supposing that the authorities are sufficiently awake
to the merits of the regiment to recall us."
"How is the wind this evening?" one of the officers asked.
"It was westerly when we came in," Lieutenant Desmond said. "Why do
you ask?"
"Why, as long as it blows from the west there is not much chance of
the transports getting in here."
"That is so," the major agreed. "The question for us to consider is
whether we ought to pray for a fair wind or a foul. A fair wind will
take us quickly across the Atlantic and will give us a chance of
getting back in time. A foul wind may possibly give them time to make
up their minds at the Horse Guards, and to stop us before we start. It
is a nice question."
"There is no hope whatever, major, that our government will make up
their minds before the wind changes, not if it blew in one quarter
longer than it has ever been known to do since the beginning of the
world. Especially, as not only they, but all the governments of Europe
have to come to a decision."
"Oh, if we had to wait for that it would be hopeless; but at the same
time, as it must be evident to any individual of the meanest capacity
that something or other for which troops will be required will have to
be done, surely a month ought to be sufficient for the idea to occur
to some one in authority that it would be as well not to be sending
soldiers abroad until matters are finally settled."
"I agree with you," the adjutant said. "Therefore I think we had best
decide that our hopes and wishes shall be unanimous in favor of a
continuance of westerly winds."
Never were the weathercocks watched more anxiously than they were by
the officers and men of the Twenty-eighth for the next fortnight. The
elements certainly appeared favorable to their wishes, and the wind
blew steadily from the desired quarter, so that it was not until ten
days after they were expected that the two transports which were to
convey the Twenty-eighth to America dropped anchor in Cork harbor.
Captain O'Connor rejoined the regiment on the evening before the
transports arrived. He walked with two sticks, but this was a measure
of precaution rather than of necessity.
"I feel like an impostor," he said, laughing, as he replied to the
welcome of his comrades. "I believe I could safely throw away these
sticks and dance a jig; but the doctor has laid his commands on me,
and my man, who has been ruling me with a rod of iron, will not permit
the slightest infringement of them. He seems to consider that he is
responsible for me in all respects, and if he had been master and I
man he could not have behaved with grosser despotism."
"I am glad to see you looking so well, O'Connor," Ralph said, shaking
his captain warmly by the hand.
"I don't know whether I do right in shaking hands with you, Conway,"
O'Connor said. "I have been thinking it over while I have been lying
there, and I have come to the conclusion that it's you I have to thank
for this affair altogether."
There was a general laugh. "How do you make that out?" Ralph asked.
"It's clear enough, now my eyes are opened. It was you who discovered
that passage, and when you did so you said at once to yourself, now, I
will get O'Connor and Desmond to go down this place, they are safe to
break their necks, and then I shall get all the honor and glory of the
affair. And so it came about. There were Desmond and I lying on the
top of each other with the breath knocked clean out of our bodies,
while you were doing all the fighting and getting the credit of the
affair. I appeal to all friends here if it is not a most suspicious
affair."
There was a chorus of agreement. "We did not think it of you, Conway;"
"A most disgraceful trick;" "Ought to be sent to Coventry;" "Ought to
be drummed out of the regiment;" mingled with shouts of laughter.
"By the way, the trial of those fellows comes on next week," one of
the officers said when the laughter subsided; "so if the transports
don't come in you will be able to see the last of them, O'Connor."
"I shall have no objection to see that red rascal hung; but as to the
other poor devils, I should be glad enough for them to get off. An
Irish peasant sees no harm in making whisky, and it's only human
nature to resist when you are attacked; beside it was the Red
Captain's gang that set them to fighting, no doubt. If it hadn't been
for them I don't suppose there would have been a shot fired. I hope
that's the view the authorities will take of it."
As it turned out this was the view taken by the prosecuting counsel at
the trial. The Red Captain was tried for the murder of his officer and
for the shooting of two constables in Galway, was found guilty, and
hung. The others were put on trial together for armed resistance to
his majesty's forces, and for killing and slaying three soldiers.
Their counsel pleaded that they were acting under the compulsion of
the gang of desperadoes with them, that it was these and these only
who had fired upon the soldiers as they ascended the rocks, and that
the peasants themselves had no firearms; indeed, it was proved that
only five guns were found in the cave. He admitted that in their
desperation at the last moment the men had defended themselves with
pikes and bludgeons; but this he urged was but an effort of despair,
and not with any premeditated idea of resisting the troops. He pointed
out that as all the soldiers had fallen by gunshot wounds, none of the
prisoners at the bar had any hand in their death. The counsel for the
crown did not press for capital sentences. Two of the men, who had
before suffered terms of imprisonment for being concerned in running
illicit stills, were sentenced to transportation. The others escaped
with terms of imprisonment.