The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume TwoCarleton, William
General
The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Alick Purcel almost immediately joined the family in the parlor, to
whom he related a full and somewhat ludicrous account of the seige of
O'Driscol Castle, as he called it--or Nassau Lodge. As our readers,
however, are already aware of the principal particulars of that attack,
we shall only briefly recapitulate what they already know, and confine
ourselves to merely one portion of it, in which portion our doughty and
heroic friend, the magistrate, was most peculiarly concerned.
“Having tested the martial magistrate's courage,” he proceeded, “by a
hint from Fergus, who was as much amused by it as I was, and finding
that it was of the oozing or Bob Acres quality, we resolved, on hearing
that the house was surrounded, to examine, and prime and load all the
fire-arms in the house, as the case demanded. Some had been already
loaded, but at all events we looked to them, and such as were uncharged
we loaded on the spot, and then threw ourselves on the bed without
undressing, in order that we might be ready for a surprise. Fergus
and I, after having lain awake for a considerable time, taking it for
granted that they had given up all intention of attacking the house,
at length fell into a kind of wakeful doze from which we were at once
aroused by a loud knocking at the hall-door. We quietly opened the
drawing-room windows, and in a firm tone demanded what they wanted, and
the answer was, that a friend of M'Carthy's wished very much to settle
an account with him. We replied he was not in the house, and that even
if he were, they should fight for him before they got him. We also told
them our opinion of their conduct, and said, that if they did not leave
the place, we would scatter the contents of a blunderbuss among them. I
should state that they knew my voice, and said that they didn't want
me then, but that my turn would come soon. When we had done speaking,
a strong mellow voice, which I'll swear was not strange to me, said
something to them in Irish, and the next moment the windows were
shivered with bullets. Fortunately, we kept ourselves out of their
range; but at all events, we had light enough to see them put their
fire-arms to their shoulders, and time enough to stand aside. We
returned the fire instantly, but whether with any fatal effect or not
we could not say. When the smoke cleared away they had disappeared, but
early this morning traces of blood were found on the spot. A servant of
O'Driscol's, named Phil Hart, says they received no injury, for that he
followed them at a distance up as far as Darby Hourigan's, near whose
door they fired a couple of shots. Darby, it appears, joined Hart,
having been aroused by the report of fire-arms; and both, on being
discovered on their track, were fired at and wounded. Hart says it is
his blood that is on the lawn, and perhaps it may be so, but I rather
think the fellows did not escape scot-free at any rate.”
“But where,” asked John, “was the magistrate all this time?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account