Kitabı oku: «Grace O'Malley. Machray Robert», sayfa 5

CHAPTER VII.
THE DIE CAST

That night I reflected with joy that the die was cast, as, after our breaking out of Galway, there could be no peace between Grace O’Malley and Sir Nicholas – at any rate, until the matter was composed in some definite fashion.

I trod the deck with a feeling of extraordinary buoyancy, and sniffed the salt air with delight as the galleys headed for Inishmore, the largest of the three isles of Arran, which have been thrown for a protection by the hand of God, almost in a straight line, across the entrance to the bay of Galway.

All that I cared for in the world was held in these ships, now speeding over the water under the leadership of Tibbot the Pilot.

It was with deep satisfaction that I went over the events of the evening which had brought us with such success out of the town, and I looked forward with wide-eyed eagerness to the morning when I should meet my mistress, and hear her narrative of all that had passed when she and Eva were prisoners in the mansion of the Lynches.

Eva, who had kept up so bravely while the danger was greatest, had become faint and unstrung when the peril was past. Grace O’Malley would suffer no one but herself to tend her, and thus I had had no opportunity for conversing with either of them after we had made good our escape.

When we had arrived at the island, and had let go our anchors in a fair depth of water in a small bay, which was sheltered from the full shock of the Atlantic by a range of abrupt craggy headlands, I went on board The Grey Wolf to see my mistresses, but Grace O’Malley received me alone, her foster-sister not having altogether recovered from the fatigue of the preceding evening. There was a new hardness, even a harshness, both in the face and voice of Grace.

At first, however, she was in no mood for recounting her experiences, and could do nothing but lament the fact that Sabina Lynch had managed to get away when the gate was forced. Indeed, her escape appeared entirely to overshadow in her mind her own escape and that of Eva.

“Had it not been for her plottings and schemings,” said she, “I should have brought the Governor round to my will. I had several interviews with Sir Nicholas, and at the beginning he was inclined to grant my suit, but soon I felt I was being thwarted by one more subtle than Sir Nicholas. How that woman hates me! I did not suspect her at once, for I had given her no cause of offence.”

“Did you find out,” asked I, “why she hates you?”

“’Tis from jealousy,” said she. “Sabina Lynch would be Queen of Connaught, but she thinks that as long as I am free and powerful I am her rival.”

“Is there no other reason?” inquired I, remembering the words of Richard Burke. “Is there not between you two a cause more personal?”

“There may be,” she replied thoughtfully; “for clever as she is, she was not sufficiently so to conceal from me her predilection for the MacWilliam. But what is that to me? Richard Burke is nothing to me.”

“You may be much to him, however,” I answered, whereat she grew more thoughtful still. Being a woman, I said to myself, she could hardly have failed to read the signs of his regard for her. Then I told her of the midnight visit he had paid me, saying nothing, nevertheless, of what Richard Burke had confided to me in regard to his love for herself.

“He is a friend,” said she, after musing for awhile, “and I may have need of many such.”

“Tell me what passed between you and Sir Nicholas.”

She paced the floor of the poop-cabin with quick, uneven steps; then she stopped and spoke.

“After our first meeting,” said she, “he was much less open with me, asking me many questions, but giving no expression of his own views with respect to the ships. Two things, however, he impressed upon me. One was that he considered that I should make immediately a suitable marriage – ”

“A suitable marriage!” I exclaimed.

“The other was that it was common report that my father had left great riches behind him, and that, as he had never paid any tribute to the Queen, I must now make good his deficiencies in that respect.”

“Tribute,” said I blankly.

“He proposed to marry me – for he declared I was in reality a ward of the Crown, and, therefore, at his disposal – to Sir Murrough O’Flaherty, a man old enough to be my father – and our enemy. I would have none of it. I fancy I have to thank Sabina Lynch for suggesting it to Sir Nicholas, and I replied to him, with indignation, that I was a free woman, and would give my hand where I pleased. It was then that I discovered that I was no longer at liberty, for it was told me that I must on no account leave the Lynches’ house without the permission of the Governor, but that no harm would come to me if I consented to his terms. I spoke of the safe conduct which Sir Nicholas had given me, but that was of no avail; and ’reasons of State,’ said he, overruled any safe conduct.”

“This is how they keep faith!” I cried, bitterly.

“It was no time for railing,” continued Grace O’Malley, “as I was in the Governor’s hands, and could see no way of getting out of them. Therefore I made as though I were about to submit myself, and I desired to see the Governor again with respect to the tribute to be paid to the Queen. My request being granted, Sir Nicholas acquainted me with his determination, demanding a thousand cows and two hundred mares, or their equivalent in gold and silver, by way of payment of the arrears, and two hundred cows each year for the future.”

“To all of which you said No!” cried I.

“Nay, Ruari,” replied she, “I had to match my wits against his power over me – was not I his prisoner? – and so I returned him no immediate answer, but, on the contrary, besought that I might have a week to deliberate in, bemoaning my hard fate, and protesting that I should never be able to comply with his demands, yet that I would do what was within my ability to compass.”

“And then?” I said.

“He pondered long and deeply, hesitating and doubtful; so, knowing the covetous nature of the man,” said she, “I took the cross I was wearing from my neck, and, giving it to him, begged that he would grant me the delay I sought.”

“Your jewelled cross?” I said.

“My case was an evil one,” replied she, “and I did it not without pain, for the cross had been my mother’s, and was, besides, of great value.”

“He consented?”

“He became very gracious because of the bribe,” replied she, “and then asked me to be present at the revel. ’Why,’ said he, ’should you not take part in it, if you would care so to do?’ As I was resolved to humour him, I was complaisant, and replied that nothing would be more agreeable to me; but even as I uttered these words, some inkling of the plan for our deliverance which we carried out was forming itself in my mind. My woman afterwards managed to leave the Lynches’ unobserved with the letter I wrote you, and gave it to the captain of the Scottish ship we passed on our way to Galway. My only fear was that he might inform the Governor, and so our plans would have been frustrated; but he has proved himself a true man, and one who may be trusted.”

“There is no confidence to be put in Sir Nicholas,” said I.

“The man is hard, stark, relentless,” said she, hotly, “but he shall find I am as hard, stark, and relentless as he is himself. Vengeance – vengeance, and that speedy, will I take!”

Never had I seen Grace O’Malley so carried away by passion as now. Her eyes were blazing fires; the line made by her lips was like the edge of a sword, so clear and sharp it was; the cheeks lost their colour and roundness, and, as she restlessly moved about, her black hair flew round her head like a coronal of quivering water-snakes.

“Vengeance – vengeance!” she cried.

Her vehemence bore me along as upon a fast-flowing tide.

“Vengeance – vengeance!” I shouted, so that my voice rang out far beyond the galley.

“It is in our own hands,” she said, more composedly. “The wine fleet from Spain is expected in Galway to-day or to-morrow – at any moment we may see their sails on the southern edge of the sea. Then, then,” cried she furiously, her anger rising again like the sudden, fierce blast of the tempest, “shall I teach Galway and Sir Nicholas to fear and dread my name.”

The wine fleet! This was a quarry, indeed!

For each year at this season there set out from Cadiz for Limerick and Galway a goodly fleet of galleons, each of which carried a burden more to be desired than a king’s ransom. These ships were laden with many barrels of the wines both of France and Spain, with rolls of silks, with bales of fine leather, with suits of raiment and shirts of mail, and blades of Toledo, and with other articles of price, the products of Europe, and, even, to some extent, of the mysterious Orient, where Turk and infidel held their sway. These were exchanged against the fish – for which our island was famous – the hides, salt, meat, wheat, and barley of the country.

Grace O’Malley’s vengeance on Galway was to attack, capture, or destroy that portion of the wine fleet, as it was commonly spoken of, the destination of which was that town. The boldness and daring of the project took my breath away; but I could conceive of nothing that was so likely to cause consternation and terror as its successful issue to the great merchants of the city, and to mortify and enrage the Governor.

It was a great enterprise – this attack – and one which, if the event went against us, would probably be the end of us all. But there was one thing that gave us an advantage, which, skilfully used, could not fail to be of such importance as to be almost in itself decisive. This was that the wine fleet had arrived safely at Galway year after year, without falling in with any danger other than that which came from the ordinary risks of the sea. Hence the immunity they had so long enjoyed would breed in them a feeling of complete security, and dispose them to be careless of precautions.

Still I was staggered; and what was passing through my mind being seen in my face, Grace O’Malley inquired, a trifle disdainfully:

“Think ye, Ruari, the venture too much for me?” – and the accent fell on the last word of the sentence. “I tell you, Nay!”

“Nothing – nothing,” exclaimed I, wildly, “is too high for you! As for me, it is yours to command – mine to obey.”

Then we took counsel together, first having summoned Tibbot the Pilot, and the other chiefs and officers who were in the galleys. When Grace O’Malley had made her purpose known there was at first the silence of stupefaction, then there followed the rapid, incoherent, impulsive exclamations of fierce and savage glee.

While we were occupied in this manner, a fishing smack had come into the bay, and on it were the pipers Phelim and Cormac and some others of our men, whom we had been forced to leave behind, but who had made their way out of Galway, being secretly helped therein by the fisher-folk who dwelt in a village by themselves without the gates. These brought word that the city was in a state of great alarm, and that the Governor had declared that he would not rest until he had sent out an expedition to raze Grace O’Malley’s castles to the ground, to destroy her galleys, and to blot out her name from Ireland.

Nothing had been needed to add to our determination, but, if need there had been, here it was. We were now all proclaimed rebels and traitors, so that we could look for nothing but torture and death at the hands of the English. A price would soon be placed upon our heads, and whoever wrought us a mischief or an injury of any kind would be considered as doing the Queen a service.

Such was our situation. To most of our people the Queen of England was no more than an empty name, and even to those of us who appreciated the might and resources of that princess, it appeared better that we should be aware of who were our foes and who were our friends, and if her representative, Sir Nicholas Malby, were our open enemy, as we were now well assured he was, we knew with whom our quarrel lay, and what we might expect from him.

When all was said, the Governor had no overwhelming force at his disposal, and he was without ships, so that we felt no whit downcast with our lot; contrariwise, there was such gladness amongst us at the promise of the fighting with which our circumstances were pregnant that the hearts of any who doubted were uplifted and made firm and steadfast.

As we were discussing our affairs Eva O’Malley entered the cabin. As our eyes met she smiled upon me, and held out her hand in greeting.

“’Twas well done,” said she, referring to our escape from Galway, her thoughts still dwelling on the adventures of the past night. But when she heard of what we had been speaking, and of the proposed attack on the wine fleet, her sweet face became pale and troubled.

“Darkness and blood,” said she, turning to me. “Oh! Ruari, the words of the Wise Man are to be fulfilled.”

“What must be, must be,” said I, “and there is none can gainsay that.”

She shook her head.

“Eva,” said Grace O’Malley, “the end is as it is appointed from the beginning.” Then she began to reason gently with her foster-sister, and to show her that if the English found they had good reason to fear her they would gladly consent before long to make peace, and to concede what she had asked of Sir Nicholas.

But it was easy to see that my dear was sad and heavy of heart. Grace, ever most tender to her, put her arms about her, and made her sit beside her on a couch, and said many loving words, so that Eva was comforted, albeit some of her brightness vanished from that day, never to return. Although she had already shown how brave she was, and was to exhibit a courage far greater than my own or that of any man I ever knew – her courage being that born of the spirit and ours but of the body – she sure was never made for that hard life of ours.

Gentle and sweet was she, yet the strain of the O’Malley blood ran in her veins, and made itself felt whenever the trials of her strength came.

Leaving the two ladies together, each went to his place in the ships. Some of my men, who had been ashore, now returned and informed me that they had learned that it was the annual custom to light a great fire on the headland of Arran, on which stand the ruins of the ancient castle called Dun Aengus, as soon as the vessels of the wine fleet hove into sight.

The smoke of this fire, if it were day, or the flame of it, if it were night, was a signal to the merchants of Galway, who, as soon as they saw it, made preparations for the reception of the ships – this being the chief event each year in the life of the town. To the end that the office of this beacon should be better fulfilled, they had placed a small body of soldiers and others in huts that stood between the crumbling walls of the old fort.

I debated with myself whether it would not be more prudent to have the lighting or the not lighting of the fire in my own power, but, being in no little doubt, put the matter off until later in the day. By the middle of the afternoon, however, there were abundant evidences that the weather, which had for days past been fine, was about to change; and as the sun fell, dark clouds were gathering sullenly in the sky, the wind from the south-west was blowing stormily across the island – though our galleys felt it not at all, being under the lee of the land – and already we could hear the thunder of the waves as they rushed upon the further coast. And all the night through a tempest of terrible violence raged.

When the morning came, the fury of the gale rather increased than diminished, and so that day and the next, when the winds and waves began to subside, we remained at anchor in our harbour, safe from the storm. On the night of the third day the wind died down to a breeze, and the moon struggled fitfully through the scud and drift of the clouds.

Uncertain as to how the storm might shift, the galleys had been kept ready to put out from the shore at any moment, and therefore it fell out that nothing had been done by us with regard to the Galway men at Dun Aengus. In the middle watch, it being very dark save when the moon shone out, to be hidden again as fast as it appeared, we saw a bright tongue of flame shoot up, flashing and shining brightly against the blackness of the sky. Quickly raising our anchors, we made off past the island of Inishmaan, and on by Inisheer until we ran close in by the point of Trawkeera.

I wondered how it was that on such a night the watchman at Dun Aengus had made out the coming of the fleet, but discovered as we went upon our course, that another beacon had been lit far down the southern coast, and as soon as they had seen it they had set a torch to their own. Thus were we also apprised of the coming of the wine fleet, and that by the hands of the people of Galway themselves, as it were. As the day began to dawn, greyly and drearily, a large, unwieldy Spanish galleon entered the South Sound, about half a league outside of Trawkeera. Not more than half her sails were set, and she rolled heavily from side to side in the swell left by the storm. A few sleepy sailors stood in the waist of the ship, and no armed watch was to be seen.

It had been arranged between Grace O’Malley and myself that I was to attack the first vessel that came in sight, and in the still, spectral light, we stole silently out from the shadow of Inisheer, the one great mainsail of The Cross of Blood being set, and the oars shipped until the word was given.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAPTURE OF THE CAPITANA

As we crept on towards the unsuspecting merchant ship, I noticed that she presented a battered appearance, as if she had felt the full fury of the storm which we had ridden out so safely, and that she had not come out of it without much damage.

The foremast had been broken off, and now a great spar lashed to the stump had taken its place. About the middle of the vessel the bulwark showed a breach some five feet in length, and a piece of rough sailcloth had been fastened carelessly over it, so that the ragged edges of the broken wood were plainly seen jutting out from under it.

Doubtless the sailors were worn out with the stress of the working of their ship through the tempest, and this also accounted for the slackness of the watch and the ghostly quietness on board.

Otherwise, she was a splendid ship, the like of which was seen at no other time in these seas, save only when the wine fleet came each year to Galway. She was built with high castles both at the stern and at the bows; and she was, perhaps, of two hundred tons’ burthen, according to the measure of the English.

Her name, cut out of solid wood and painted a deep blue, was the Capitana. She flew the flag of Philip of Spain, and along with it at the stern were to be seen the ensigns of some gentlemen adventurers, who were in her, and who probably commanded her fighting men, or who had accompanied the expedition merely for the sake of seeing another part of the world.

For the galleon’s defence against the rovers of of the sea, who were to be found in great numbers off the French and English coasts, she showed her teeth in the guise of the black muzzles of twelve cannon, all formidable ordnance, and, armed with this equipment, as compared with that of The Cross of Blood, looked as if she might devour us at her leisure and with the utmost ease.

But it was not my purpose that these guns should ever be pointed at us, and so high were they out of the water – far above us, in fact – that there was no such terrible danger to be apprehended on this score. Besides, we were now too near her, and she was, in any case, unprepared.

When we had approached within four hundred yards of the Capitana, I gave orders that the sail of The Cross of Blood should be lowered to the deck quickly, and yet as quietly as might be, and that the rowers should get them to their oars, and speed us with all their might towards the Spanish ship.

So well was this effected that we were but, as it seemed, a stone’s throw from her, and the beak of the galley, as she rose to the swell, pointed straight for the breach made by the storm in the waist of the galleon, when the watch on board of her had their suspicions all too tardily aroused. If they had heard the noise made by the running of the tackle when the sail was got down, they had not grasped its meaning; but they could hardly fail to guess readily enough what our appearance indicated as we dashed towards them, our deck showing an array of arquebusiers and spearmen, standing to their weapons.

The men of the Capitana began to rush to and fro, and suddenly the clear notes of a trumpet blared forth from her poop – the all-too-late summons to arms. Her helmsmen, now alert to the danger which menaced them, endeavoured to swing her round on her heel into the wind, so as to keep us off.

We had stopped rowing, and our men were resting with their hands on the heads and handles of their oars, waiting for the order to ship them, when, as the Spaniard went about, her side caught the oars on the right side of the galley, and I heard the sharp cracking and splintering of the wood of which they were made as they were broken in pieces, and the piercing cries, most lamentable to the ear, of the rowers as they were knocked from their benches and jammed together, a huddled, mangled mass of shrieking and cursing, of wounded and dying men.

Amid the din and outcry which attended this disaster to us, there arose the voice of Calvagh O’Halloran, the master of the rowers, encouraging, directing, and calming the others. What had befallen us was a serious matter, as it deprived us of any hope of getting away from the Capitana if our attack should prove unsuccessful.

I ran along the deck, telling our people to be of good heart, as all would yet be well; and, as nothing so inspired them as the war-cry of their tribe and the lust of fighting, I shouted loud and clear —

“O’Malley! O’Malley! O’Malley!”

The swinging of the Spaniard fended the galley off from her, so that there was a clear space for the breadth of a couple of oars, or a little more. As Calvagh got the rowers at work again, and The Cross of Blood went forward, the sides of the two ships grated together with a shock. They ground apart once again, and the water swished and swirled between them, foaming white and flecked with red as the blood of the rowers who had been injured dripped from the galley.

“On board, on board!” I cried. “A ring of gold to him who first boards her!” and I threw my battle-axe among her sailors. “Follow that!” I said.

The Irish were howling about me like hungry wolves, and The Cross of Blood shivered and trembled like a living thing as the rowers, Calvagh at their head, rushed from the benches, eager to revenge themselves for the death of their comrades of the oar, yelling hoarsely —

“O’Malley! O’Malley! O’Malley!” – the words stinging the ear like blows.

Now the sides of the vessels strained and groaned as again they smote together. The grappling-irons were fastened as they touched each other, and, regardless of the thrusts made at us, we together clambered up the Capitana’s side, entering by the breach over which the sailcloth had been stretched, and were immediately engaged in a hot and bloody fight, the issue of which stood in no kind of doubt from its commencement, as we far outnumbered the sailors in this part of the Spaniard.

One burly fellow came at me with a pike, but so uncertainly that I caught it from him with my left hand, and ran him through with the sword in my right. He dropped without a sound at my feet.

But while this contest was going on, and we were sweeping all before us, we soon were made to feel that, while so far successful, we were yet in a position of the greatest peril; for we were now assailed by shots from arquebuses fired down upon us both from the castle at the bows and that at the poop as well, and the air hummed with the arrows of our foes.

As there was no cover or protection of any kind where we stood, divers of our men fell sorely wounded, and some were slain outright. What the event was to bring forth then seemed nothing but our destruction, for we were caught, as it were, in a trap, and that one of our own making.

The doors leading into the castles were both shut, and, I conjectured, barricaded by this time against us. However, to remain where we were was to be slaughtered like cattle, and the attempt had to be made to force these entrances. The principal array of the enemy was in the poop castle, and I instantly decided that it must be stormed, else we should all perish miserably, and to break in the door was the readiest way.

Calling on the Irish to follow me, I strode across the slippery deck, a bullet narrowly missing me, to the arched doorway through which lay the way to the castle on the poop.

Whether it was that our assault had been so little looked for, or that what had already taken place had occupied so brief a breath, as one may say – for who can take count of time in the heat of battle? – I know not; but this entrance had not been strongly secured, for hurling myself impetuously with all my force against the barrier I burst the door open, and that so violently and quickly that I had much ado to keep myself from stumbling, and so being trampled upon and killed by my own men. Recovering myself with an effort, I found myself in a wide chamber, in which there were tables and chests and other furniture, but not a single soul was to be seen.

At one end of it was a flight of steps leading up to the deck of the castle. Stopping my men, I bade them wait in this sheltered room while I ascended the steps, and reached another large cabin, also deserted as far as I could see, while above me I heard the trampling of many feet. Summoning my followers, I dashed up a second flight of steps, the Irish, who gave tongue like bloodhounds tracking deer, pushing in and swarming up behind me.

I was like enough to have paid for my rashness with my life, for as I emerged upon the deck of the poop, the point of a sword flashed off my body-armour, and I received so shrewd a buffet upon my shoulder from a mace or battle-axe of some kind, that I nearly lost my footing, and, as it was, would have done so but for the press of men behind me.

As I appeared a crowd of Spaniards rushed upon me from all sides, praying to Our Lady and all the saints for their aid, and above all naming “Santiago.”

Now sweeping my sword in a great shining circle round my head, now stabbing and hacking and cleaving, while my strength seemed to grow with my necessity, I held them at bay, albeit in what way I escaped the deadly thrusts of spears and pikes, and the bullets aimed at me at such close quarters, I cannot tell.

Two or three slight wounds did I receive, and the sight of my own blood drove me into a perfect fury of killing, and rendered me regardless of myself; but as for the wounds themselves I heeded them not, and indeed in the fiery heat of that encounter scarce felt them at all. Soon, however, would I have been overborne and destroyed, if I had not been joined by Calvagh and the others, who charged upon the enemy with inconceivable fury.

Nothing could have stood before the tremendous outpouring of such incredible rage.

The gallant men of Spain fought on, and met us bravely, brave with something more than the courage which is born of dark despair. For, to say the truth, never yet saw I any of that nation – even of its commonalty – that might be called a coward.

It is my belief, and good reason have I for it, that no more doughty men ever wielded sword or pike than those of Spain, nor were there any better sailors in those days in all the world. There be many, who, having regard to what she was – this great power of Spain – and considering what has happened to her, and how she is now shorn in no small degree of her glory, can account for it in no other way than by saying that she lieth under the Wrath of God. Howbeit, this is too high a matter for me. Only know I full well that the crew of the Capitana, whether fighting men or sailors, made such a stern and grim battle against us that grey morning in the Bay of Galway, as the most valiant knights could not have bettered.

Near the centre of the poop there rose up a mast, and around this our enemies gathered in a cluster, among them being some half-armed men whom I took to be the adventurers whose ensigns floated beside the standard of the galleon, and who carried themselves with an air.

They had had no time to have their armour put upon them and fastened with proper care, but as they proved themselves to be accomplished swordsmen they made a determined resistance to us. If they had come at me when I appeared at the top of the steps, I should never have reached the deck of the poop alive; they had, however, tarried too long in the attempt to be clothed with their harness.

They were surrounded, and, though I offered them their lives, declaring that they would be held for ransom and would be well treated by Grace O’Malley, they would not listen to me, preferring rather to die, fighting, so long as the breath was in them, like the valiant men of Spain they were.

One only, who appeared to be the captain of the ship, I commanded to be taken alive – a business which was done with difficulty, so madly did he struggle, notwithstanding that the blood flowed in streams from several of his wounds.

“Yield yourself,” said I, “Señor Captain, for the ship is ours, and further fighting is useless. Give me your parole.”

But he refused, snarling and showing his teeth like a mad dog. Then I ordered him to be bound, and laid on the deck for the present.

The greater part of the galleon was now in our hands, but there still remained a band of Spaniards in the forecastle, who galled us with the fire from their pieces and the arrows of their bows. When they saw how their comrades had been overcome on the poop castle, they cut down the spar which had been lashed to the broken foremast, and using it and the sailcloth about it as a kind of barricade went on firing at us from behind this shelter.