'I thought you would,' cried Betterton; 'so now for the terms.'
After much altercation, these articles (written by Betterton, with his
pencil, and signed by him and the warden, who went down for the
purpose) were agreed upon by the contending powers.
Art. 1.
All the prisoners, at present in the castle, shall be forthwith
released.
Art. 2.
The troops of the contending powers shall consign their arms into
the hands of the respective leaders.
Art. 3.
The commandant of the besieged army shall evacuate the castle, at
the head of his men, and take a northerly direction; and at the
same moment the commandant of the besieging army shall lead his
forces in a southerly direction.
Art. 4.
The Lady Cherubina De Willoughby shall depart from the castle as
soon as both armies are out of sight; and she shall not hold
communication, direct or indirect, with the warden, for the space
of twenty-four hours.
Art. 5.
The minstrel, Higginson, shall be permitted to remain with the Lady
Cherubina, as her escort.
(Signed) BETTERTON.
SULLIVAN.
While Betterton returned to his army, for the purpose of announcing the
peace, I fixed with Jerry to meet him in London at the expiration of
twenty-four hours.
I now perceived Susan running towards the castle, with all her men; and
as soon as she got under the walls, she cried:
'No peace; no peace; but bloody, bloody war! Come down here, you wretch
with the steel bonnet, till I tear your eyes out;--you special babe of
hell, that robbed me of the only friend I had on earth!' And she ran on
with the most horrible imprecations, and vows of vengeance.
'Arrah, and is that Susy?' cried one of my men, leaning over the
battlements.
'Patrick O'Brien!' exclaimed she. 'Oh! Patrick, Patrick, are you so
faithless as to be taking part with my mortal enemy?'
'I am taking part with my countrymen,' cried Patrick; 'and we have just
made a peace; so by gog, if you break it, 'tis yourself will be my
mortual innimy!'
'Dear, dear Patrick!' said she, 'don't let that vile woman decoy you
from me, and I will do whatever you desire.'
'Then I desires you to go back this moment,' said Patrick.
Susan retired to the main body, without uttering a word.
The several articles were then executed in due form. The prisoners were
liberated: the soldiers on both sides laid down their arms. I
distributed all my remaining money amongst my men: they thanked me with
a shout; and then, headed by the warden, issued from the castle. At the
same time, Betterton and his party marched off the field.
When Jerry had got almost out of sight, he halted his men, faced them
towards the castle, and all gave three last cheers. I waved my
handkerchief, and cried like a child.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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