The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain: The Works of William Carleton, Volume OneCarleton, William
General
The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain: The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
The night was agreeable, and nothing worth recording took place until
they had come about five miles on the side of ------, when a loud voice
ordered the coachman to stop.
“Stop the coach, sir!” said the voice, with a good deal of reckless and
bitter expression in it; “stop the coach, or you are a dead man.”
Several pistols were instantly leveled at both coachman and guard, and
the same voice, which was thin, distinct, and wiry, proceeded--“Keep all
steady now, boys, and shoot the first that attempts to move. I will see
what's to be had inside.”
He went immediately to the door of the “Fly,” and opening it, held up
a dark lantern, which, whilst it clearly showed him the dress,
countenances, and condition of the passengers, thoroughly concealed his
own.
The priest happened to be next him, and was consequently the first
person on whom this rather cool demand was made.
“Come, sir,” said the highwayman, “fork out, if you please; and be quick
about it, if you're wise.”
“Give a body time, if you plaise,” responded the priest, who at that
moment had about him all the marks and tokens of a farmer, or, at least,
of a man who wished to pass for one. “I think,” he added, “if you knew
who you had, you'd not only pass me by, but the very coach I'm travelin'
in. Don't be unaisy, man alive,” he proceeded; “have patience--for
patience, as everybody knows, is a virtue--do, then, have patience, or,
maybe--oh! ay!--here it is--here is what you want--the very thing, I'll
be bound--and you must have it, too.” And the poor man, in the hurry and
alarm of the moment, pulled out one of the baronet's pistols.
The robber whipped away the lantern, and instantly disappeared. “By the
tarn, boys,” said he, “it's Finnerty himself, disguised like a farmer.
But he's mid to travel in a public coach, and the beaks on the lookout
for him. Hello! all's right, coachman; drive on, we won't disturb you
this night, at all events. Gee hup!--off you go; and off we go--with
empty pockets.”
It happened that this language, which the robber did not intend to have
reached the ears of the passengers, was heard nevertheless, and from
this moment until they changed horses at ------ there was a dead silence
in the coach.
On that occasion one gentleman left it, and he had scarcely been half a
minute gone when a person, very much in the garb and bearing of a modern
detective, put in his head, and instantly withdrew it, exclaiming,
“Curse me, it's a hit--he's inside as snug as a rat in a trap. Up with
you on top of the coach, and we'll pin him when we reach town. 'Gad,
this is a windfall, for the reward is a heavy one.--If we could now
manage the baronet's business, we were made men.”
He then returned into the coach, and took his seat right opposite
the priest, in order the better to watch his motions, and keep him
completely under his eye.
“Dangerous traveling by night, sir,” said he, addressing the priest,
anxious to draw his man into conversation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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