Part 53 (1/2)
”Why not, you villain? I have been directed here, and told that I would find my game under your roof.”
”In the first place,” replied the old man, with a firm and intrepid voice, ”I am no villain; and in the next, I say, that if any man directed you to this house in quest of a priest, he must have purposely sent you upon a fool's errand. I am a Protestant, Captain Smellpriest; but, Protestant as I am, I tell you to your face that if I could give shelter to a poor persecuted priest, and save him from the clutches of such men as you and Sir Robert Whitecraft, I would do it. In the meantime, there is neither priest nor friar under this roof; you can come in and search in the house, if you wish.”
”Why, gog's 'ouns, father,” exclaimed one of the men, ”how does it come that we find you here?”
”Very simply, John,” replied his father--for such he was--”I took this cottage, and the bit of land that goes with it, from honest Andy Morrow, and we are not many hours in it. The house was empty for the last six months, so that I say again, whoever sent Captain Smellpriest here sent him upon a fool's errand--upon a wild-goose chase.”
The gallant captain started upon hearing these latter words.
”What does he say,” he asked--”a wild-goose chase! Right--right,”
he added, in a soliloquy; ”Strong is at the bottom of it, the black scoundrel! but still, let us search the house; the old fellow admits that he would shelter a priest. Search the house I say.
'There was an old prophecy found in a bog, Lillibullero, bullen ala, &c., &c.'”
The house was accordingly searched, but it is unnecessary to add that neither priest nor friar was found under the roof, nor any nook or corner in which either one or the other could have been concealed.
The party, who then directed their steps homewards, were proceeding across the fields to the mountain road which ran close by, and parallel with the stripe, when they perceived at once that Smellpriest was in a rage, by the fact of his singing ”Lillibullero;” for, whenever either his rage or loyalty happened to run high, he uniformly made a point to indulge himself in singing that celebrated ballad.
”By jabers,” said one of them to his companions, ”there will be a battle royal between the captain and Mr. Strong if he finds the parson at home before him.”
”If there won't be a fight with the parson, there will with the wife,”
replied the other. ”Hang the same parson,” he added; ”many a dreary chase he has sent us upon, with nothing but the fatigue of a dark and slavish journey for our pains. With what bitterness he's giving us 'Lillibullero,' and he scarcely able to sit on his horse! I think I'll advance, and ride beside him, otherwise, he may get an ugly tumble on this hard road.”
He accordingly did so, observing, as he got near him, ”I have taken the liberty to ride close beside you, lest, as the night is dark, your horse might stumble.”
”What! do you think I'm drunk, you scoundrel?--fall back, sir, immediately.
”'Lillibullero, bullen ala.'
”I say I'm not drunk; but I'm in a terrible pa.s.sion at that treacherous scoundrel; but no matter, I saw something to-night--never mind, I say.
”'There was an old prophecy found in a bog, Lillibullero, bullen ala;
That Ireland should be ruled by an a.s.s and a Dog, Lillibullero, bullen ala;
And now that same prophecy has come to pa.s.s-- Lillibullero, bullen ala;
For Talbot's the Dog, and James is the a.s.s, Lillibullero, bullen ala.'
”Never mind, I say; hang me, but I'll crop the villain, or crop both, which is better still--steady, Schomberg--curse you.”
The same rut or chasm across the more open road on which they had now got out, and that had nearly been so fatal to Mr. Brown, became decidedly so to unfortunate Smellpriest. The horse, as his rider spoke, stopped suddenly, and, shying quickly to the one side, the captain was pitched off, and fell with his whole weight upon the hard pavement. The man was an unwieldy, and consequently a heavy man, and the unexpected fall stunned him into insensibility. After about ten minutes or so he recovered his consciousness, however, and having been once more placed upon his horse, was conducted home, two or three of his men, with much difficulty, enabling him to maintain his seat in the saddle. In this manner they reached his house, where they stripped and put him to bed, having observed, to their consternation, that strong gushes of blood welled, every three or four minutes, from his mouth.
The grief of his faithful wife was outrageous; and Mr. Strong, who was still there kindly awaiting his safe return, endeavored to compose her distraction as well as he could.
”My dear madam,” said he, ”why will you thus permit your grief to overcome you? You will most a.s.suredly injure your own precious health by this dangerous outburst of sorrow. The zealous and truly loyal captain is not, I trust, seriously injured; he will recover, under G.o.d, in a few days. You may rest a.s.sured, my dear Mrs. Smellpriest, that his life is too valuable to be taken at this unhappy period. No, he will, I trust and hope, be spared until a strong anti-Popish Government shall come in, when, if he is to lose it, he will lose it in some great and G.o.dly exploit against the harlot of abominations.”
”Alas! my dear Mr. Strong, that is all very kind of you, to support my breaking heart with such comfort; but, when he is gone, what will become of me?”
”You will not be left desolate, my dear madam--you will be supported--cheered--consoled. Captain my friend, how do you feel now?