The Music Makers
Page 25
Caroline frowned. ‘This battle has already taken place a long way from here. You cannot possibly do anything to help now. Do you think it is either sensible or necessary to become involved?’
Nathan Brock had taken the bridle of Caroline’s horse and he deemed it wiser to allow Liam to argue his own case. Saying he would take the horse to the stables, he walked away with the animal, leaving Liam and Caroline together.
‘You have far too much to lose by becoming involved in an act of rebellion, Liam.’
‘I have nothing more to lose than a career as a coastal fisherman. It is far more important that I find Dermot. There are many young men in Kilmar who would willingly give up a boring life to follow Dermot and the others if they were fed enough romantic rumour.’
‘You will not always be a fisherman if Eugene Brennan has his way, Liam.’
‘He has said nothing to me. I haven’t seen him since he left for Dublin – to see Sir Richard.’
A pained expression crossed Caroline’s face at mention of her husband. ‘I am sorry, Liam. I thought Eugene had already spoken to you. I should have said nothing.’
‘Said nothing about what, Caroline? You are talking in riddles.’
Having said so much, Caroline could hardly refuse to say more – and she wanted to dissuade Liam from going to the Wicklow mountains.
‘Eugene told me he would like to see you take a seat in Parliament. As an Irish MP you could one day take his place as leader of the All-Ireland Association.’
The statement took Liam completely by surprise.
‘An MP? But I am just an ordinary fisherman.’ He had dreamed of following in Eugene Brennan’s footsteps, but that had been a lover’s dream and had nothing to do with reality. ‘As for taking over the All-Ireland Association, I am not even a member!’
Caroline smiled at his confusion. ‘Eugene will have taken that into consideration, I am sure.’
‘Was this Eugene’s own idea … or yours?’
Caroline returned his look defiantly. ‘It was Eugene’s idea.’ It was quite true. She had merely told the old MP that Liam was wasted as a fisherman in Kilmar.
‘I can hardly believe it … but there will be time enough to think of such things in the future. Right now I have more urgent matters on my mind. For my mother’s sake I must find out what Dermot is doing. He is a hot-headed young fool, but he is her son, and my own brother.’
‘Are you sure it is Dermot you are concerned for, Liam? What about this girl who nursed him back to health … I believe her name is Kathie? Nathan Brock told me you were very close to each other before she went away.’
‘She and my brother were married the day before the fight with the soldiers,’ said Liam quietly. ‘So it would seem she was closer to him.’
‘I am sorry, Liam. I did not know.’
She was not sorry. She was happier than she had been at any time since she prised the information about Kathie from the reluctant Nathan Brock and it showed in the way she smiled at him when he returned from handing the horse over to a stable-hand.
‘Has it been decided? Am I to go with Liam?’
Caroline nodded. ‘Yes, and I want you to take care of him, Nathan. Keep him out of trouble. He will be an important man one day. Now you had better go and let Shelagh know what you will be doing while I have some food prepared for you both to take with you. There will be little to be found along the way.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lying in the bushes beneath a wooded ridge in the Wicklow mountains, Liam and Nathan Brock watched the soldiers searching the slope on the far side of the valley. They were out in considerable force with a long line of scarlet-coated infantrymen beating their way through the gorse and fern and ahead of them more than twenty blue-uniformed hussars, mounted on fine horses, probing the secrets of the undergrowth with drawn swords. Above the slow-moving troops a full company of riflemen armed with the latest-model percussion rifles commanded every vantage-point, ready to shoot any Irishman flushed out by the military ‘beaters’.
Liam was alarmed at the scale of the search, but Nathan Brock reassured him.
‘What we are seeing is probably the whole of the search party,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen it all before in these mountains. It is an opportunity for the English to exercise their soldiers and they use as many as they can find. They will search the open country over and over again for weeks, then they will go away and all the fugitives will come out of the forests where they have been hiding.’
‘Why don’t the soldiers go into the forests?’ To Liam it seemed the obvious thing to do.
Nathan Brock chuckled. ‘If they did that, they would lose the advantage of numbers and be picked off one by one, like apples from a tree. Oh no, Liam. You won’t get soldiers looking for Irish rebels in a forest. They learned a hard lesson many years ago, and learned it well. For that reason we’ll be safe from them while we stay in among the trees, and sooner or later we will meet up with Dermot and the others.’
Proof that Nathan Brock knew what he was talking about came on their second day in the forest. Two ragged men, armed with crude pikes of green wood tipped with rusty iron, stepped from the bushes ahead of them and barred their way, demanding to know their business.
‘What is that to do with you?’ asked Liam. ‘If your intention is to rob us, then you are wasting your time. We have little money – although there is some food that is yours for the asking.’
‘We’ll have the food,’ said one of the ragged pikemen. ‘But we still want to know your business.’
‘We are looking for someone,’ said Nathan Brock. ‘For Dermot McCabe. Do you know him?’
The two men were busy cramming food in their mouths, but both nodded. Swallowing hard and choking on a crust of pie, one said, ‘We are his men. Have you come to join him, too?’
‘You are his men? You are not from Kilmar. Who are you?’
The other man brought the point of his pike up close to Liam’s face threateningly. ‘We are the ones who ask questions. Who are you?’
‘You are talking to Dermot McCabe’s brother,’ said Nathan Brock hastily. ‘I am a friend. We have come from County Wexford to see him.’
‘He don’t look much like Dermot McCabe,’ said the pikeman, eyeing Liam suspiciously. ‘How do I know you’re telling the truth?’
‘It’s easy enough to prove,’ replied Liam. ‘Take me to Dermot, if you know where he is.’
‘All right,’ agreed the pikeman grudgingly. ‘But you’d better be who you say you are. We know what to do with spies.’
Tucking the remainder of the food from Liam’s pack inside his dirty shirt, he said to his companion, ‘You lead the way. I’ll follow on behind and keep an eye on these two.’
The less aggressive of the two pikemen led the way along a path that ran through the undergrowth beneath tall forest trees that kept our the sun.
‘What is all this talk of spies?’ Nathan Brock asked Liam.
‘For the answer to that we will have to wait until we meet up with Dermot. I have given up trying to guess what he is doing. Nothing makes sense any more.’
After about half a mile the leading man turned from the path and began pushing his way through the undergrowth. The other men followed him and soon the trees became farther apart as the undergrowth thinned.
When the sound of a waterfall became loud, the group was challenged by two more men, and one of these carried a musket.
Liam and Nathan Brock were subjected to the same suspicious scrutiny as before, the holder of the musket commenting that they appeared too well dressed to belong to the brotherhood of the Wicklow mountains. He allowed them to pass after warning their escorts to guard them well.
‘Dermot must have gathered an army of men about him,’ commented Nathan Brock as they were prodded on their way.
‘An army made up of all the footpads and thieves in these hills by the look of those we’ve seen,’ said Liam.
Further conversation was made impossible for a
while as the path narrowed between huge mossed boulders. A few minutes later the path ended abruptly in a large clearing beside a stream tumbling down from the peaks above in a series of waterfalls. Here, Dermot had his camp. It was a sprawling shambles with shelters of every shape and size, made up from branches, fern, grasses and turfs. It was a thoroughly disorganised camp, and the smell rising from it indicated it was also an unwholesome one.
Their captors now began to shout for them to hurry up and the more aggressive of the two emphasised his words with his pike, catching Nathan Brock off balance and knocking him to one knee.
The pikeman repeated his blow, calling upon the ex-prizefighter to get up.
Nathan Brock rose slowly and turned to face the other man. ‘If you touch me with that thing again, I will take it from you and break it over your head.’
The pikeman blustered, going red in the face, but Liam was more concerned with his silent companion. He had not seen what had happened. All he knew was that Nathan Brock was adopting a threatening attitude toward his companion. He drew back the pike, about to thrust it at Nathan Brock’s back when Liam hurriedly stepped between the two men.
‘Liam! What are you doing here?’
The shout came from Dermot as, pushing aside a crowd of men, he hurried toward them. The pike of the man facing Liam was lowered and the dangerous moment was over.
‘And Nathan, too!’ Dermot threw his arms about his brother and pounded him on the back gleefully. ‘Have you both come to join the army?’
When Liam failed to respond with the same enthusiasm, Dermot stood back at arm’s length and scrutinised his brother’s face. ‘There’s nothing wrong? Mother is all right?’
‘Yes, mother is well. She’s worried about you, of course. We’ve heard so many rumours.’
Dermot snorted. ‘Rumours! No doubt they’ve been spread by the soldiers to confuse our supporters and prevent the uprising they know is coming.’
Seeing the two pikemen still standing uncertainly by, Dermot called, ‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on guard somewhere?’
‘We brought these two in. We found them in the woods.’
‘Found them? Didn’t they tell you who they were?’ Dermot slipped an arm about Liam’s shoulders. ‘This is my brother.’
‘I know, but—’
‘No “buts”. It only needed one of you to show them the way here. The other should have stayed on guard. The whole English Army could have come through the forest while you have been wasting your time here. Get back to your posts and stay there until you are relieved.’
As the men went away, grumbling, Dermot turned back to his brother and Nathan Brock. ‘I am surrounded by fools, but I’ll make an army of them and we’ll take Ireland back from the English when I’m ready.’
‘With what? Sticks and stones?’ Liam was looking at a ragged miscellany of men who were undergoing some form of training in marching manoeuvres. Their ages ranged from fifteen to sixty and they were ‘armed’ with pointed sticks, two of the younger boys also carrying slings and bags containing stone missiles.
‘We’ve got a few muskets.’ Dermot frowned at Liam’s criticism. ‘We’ll take more from the soldiers as we beat them in battle.’
‘Dermot, be sensible!’
Liam stopped before they came within hearing-distance of the men about the cooking-fires in the centre of the clearing.
‘Not three miles from here we saw soldiers searching the hillside for you. They had infantry, cavalrymen and riflemen – yet they were just one small search-party. They have thousands more to call upon, yet that one search-party could wipe out you and every man here.’
‘That’s just what the soldiers thought they were going to do when they raided our camp,’ replied Dermot scornfully. ‘But we beat them, just as we will beat all the others. Men are flocking to join us from all over Ireland. When we march the whole country will rise and join us.’
Liam knew that by the end of the summer the whole of the cottier population would be too involved in harvesting potatoes to be interested in anything else and most of Dermot’s ‘army’ would have gone back to the land. He decided to say nothing of this to Dermot; it was not what his brother wanted to hear. Time would pass on Liam’s message for him.
‘We heard about the fight with the soldiers. We also received news that you and Kathie were wed.’
Dermot gave Liam a quick uncertain glance, once more the younger brother, not certain he had Liam’s approval.
‘It was never meant to be a secret. We were married the day before the raid. It was Kathie’s own idea.’
‘Where is she now?’
Dermot looked about the clearing. ‘She was here a few minutes ago. I expect she’s gone to get cleaned up. We don’t have many visitors here.’ He grinned. ‘Nobody who matters, that is.’
Kilmar men were coming to greet Liam and Nathan Brock now, eager for news of their families. While they talked a fight broke out at the edge of the clearing, and as men moved in that direction Dermot sent two of the fishermen to the scene to restore order.
‘How does Kathie cope with the ruffians you have in your camp now?’ Liam asked his brother.
‘You need have no fear for Kathie; she can look after herself as well as any man.’
Proudly, Dermot told Liam and Nathan Brock of the soldier she had killed, and how she had shot Eoin Feehan in the knee.
Liam shared none of Dermot’s pride. It was difficult to believe these actions had been carried out by the girl he had last spoken to on the ridge above the mountain camp. But nothing up here made sense any more. This place … Dermot … Kathie.
‘Ah! Here is Kathie now.’
It had taken a great deal of will-power for Kathie to come here to greet Liam. She had seen him and Nathan Brock enter the clearing, and her first reaction had been one of panic. She had wanted to run and hide. Instead, she had run to the makeshift shelter she shared with Dermot and tidied herself as best she could while she composed herself for the meeting she accepted as inevitable.
‘Hello, Liam. Nathan.’
It came out as barely more than a whisper, but Liam was too shocked by Kathie’s appearance to take notice. Her efforts at improving her appearance had met with little success. True, her beautiful long hair was pulled neatly back behind her ears, but her clothes were dirty and there was a new air of wildness about her. It showed in her eyes and the gaunt lines of her face.
Aware that he was staring at her, Liam did his best to gather his thoughts together.
‘How are you, Kathie?’ He gripped her by the upper arms and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Welcome to the McCabe family.’
Colour flooded to Kathie’s drawn face. ‘Thank you, Liam.’ She was close to tears.
There was a loud roar from the crowd about the two fighting men and one of the Kilmar fishermen called for Dermot. Excusing himself with the remark that he was the only man capable of maintaining control over his followers, Dermot strode to the scene of the conflict. After a cheery wave at Kathie, Nathan Brock went with him.
‘You keep a rough camp here,’ said Liam to Kathie.
‘The men need to be rough if they are to do what lies ahead.’
‘What lies ahead for you and Dermot, Kathie?’
‘I don’t know and it doesn’t matter much, as long as we kill soldiers. English soldiers.’
‘Is that what all this is about – killing soldiers?’
‘That will do for a start. Kill enough of them and they will leave Ireland. Then we can turn to other things.’
Dermot had almost reached the crowd of shouting men when the fight between the two men erupted into a battle as friends joined in on both sides.
‘Is this to be the foundation of your new Ireland, Kathie?’ Liam nodded toward the brawling men.
‘These and the others who will join us when we are ready to march.’
‘That is Dermot’s dream. You don’t really believe it can come true. You told me so yourself, remember?’
‘It’s what Dermot wants.’
‘That isn’t what I asked.’
Kathie turned to look directly at Liam. ‘I am Dermot’s wife now, Liam. Whatever he wants is what I want.’
‘What happened to you back there, Kathie? What has made you like this?’
‘Nothing happened….’ Her voice faltered. ‘Nothing happened,’ she repeated.
Liam would have questioned her further but Nathan Brock was returning and so he said nothing, giving her time to regain her composure.
Nathan Brock could see that both Liam and Kathie were upset, but the reason for it was none of his business.
‘If Dermot can teach this rabble to fight the English as well as they fight each other, he will have a formidable army, but as they are Irishmen I doubt if he’ll ever succeed.’
Nathan Brock smiled at Kathie. ‘Young Jeremy must have done his task well. I was hoping I might see him here and persuade him to return with me, but I expect he was in a hurry to get to Dublin and make his fortune.’
Kathie immediately forgot her own troubles. ‘Oh! I thought you must know. He was arrested for theft in Rathconard. They held him in the lock-up and I went to see him the night … a few nights before the fight with the soldiers. There was nothing I could do about it. I’m sorry, Nathan.’
Nathan Brock was filled with concern for the boy. ‘What has happened to him since? Is he still in Rathconard?’
‘I don’t know, but there is no need to be too concerned for him, Nathan. Jeremy told me himself he would probably get away with a flogging. He’ll soon get over that. He told me to tell you he still intends becoming a champion prizefighter one day.’
‘Not in this country, he won’t. Jeremy has been in trouble with the law before and he has no chance of it being overlooked. He will carry the lashmarks with him to the grave.’
‘What does that mean?’ asked Liam.
‘It means he will be transported for at least seven years.’