CHAPTER XVIII.
BRIAN YIELDS BERTRAGH.
"I dare not trust birds alone in this strait, Cathbarr. Go to thatgalley with the two O'Malleys and hasten to Gorumna. Bid the BirdDaughter stay and wait further word from me; but take those hundred menof mine with her galleys, and hasten back. If the beacon on the tower isburning, I will be here; if not, and if I can make terms, I will meetyou at that tower of yours. Now hasten!"
"But--"
"For God's love go, or my heart will burst!"
Brian sank down on the horse-stone with a groan, and Cathbarr, catchingup his ax, fled through the open gates and was gone into the night.Brian gazed up after him, and on the hills he saw that dim beacon-fireheralding the Dark Master.
The six men guarding the galley, two of them being O'Malleys, and threemen who had watched on the tower, were all that remained alive inBertragh besides Turlough and Brian. The men had drunk deep of thatpoisoned wine; when Con Teague and his men tried to get away after a fewhad died, they were slain. But so swift was the poison that only one ofthe O'Malleys had lived to reach Brian.
The fires still burned brightly, and before some of them meat wasburning. Sitting in blank despair on a horse-block, Brian saw the deadbodies of a few less than a hundred men lying there. Turlough Wolf andhis six gave over trying to put life into any of them, and now the oldman came and put his hand on Brian's shoulder.
"Where has Cathbarr of the Ax gone, master?"
Brian told him dully, and Turlough nodded approval, having at lengthlearned all the story of how that galley had been taken.
"Master, there was deep cunning in this. O'Donnell sent that galley toyou, or, rather, to the Bird Daughter, and he had spies watching. Hadthe Gorumna men drunk of that brew, he would have fallen on there; buthere came the galley, and now he comes over the hills. And we are few tomeet him."
"We will be more when the men come in from the hill-roads before him,"and Brian rose up with heavy heart, forcing himself to the task. "Sendout a man to haste them in and to warn what men there be at the farms.Also let him send a wagon or two, that these dead may be carried outbefore the Dark Master falls on us. Send two men to the tower to build abeacon, for Cathbarr will not be back before to-morrow night."
Brian went to the stables where the three carrier-pigeons were caged,and fetched the cage to the great hall. Here he wrote what had happened,with his plan, in small space, fastened it under the wing of a bird, andlet loose the pigeon from the courtyard.
Stunned though he was by the sudden and terrible blow, Brian had seizedon the only course left him. If he could make shift to hold the castleat all, he would do so; if not, he must make terms and get off toGorumna that he might take vengeance for this dastardly stroke that hadbeen dealt him.
Nuala had nigh three hundred men in her castle, and he felt that all wasnot yet lost, even should he have to yield Bertragh. The Dark Masterwould hardly have a large force with him, and he would know nothing ofthose hundred men Brian had loaned Nuala; so Brian reckoned that if hecould get away, O'Donnell would think him a broken man who could do nofurther against him.
"Well, that's looking too far ahead," thought Brian very wearily."Perchance I am broken, indeed, since I have lost two hundred and a halfof men without gain."
An hour later rode in a score of men with wagons, and fell to workgetting the dead out of the castle, though for burying there was notime. This score, and two more who came in later, were all the men leftto Brian; they reported that the Dark Master would be on them bydaybreak, with two hundred Scots troopers and one horse cannon.
"His friends proved niggardly, then," laughed Brian drearily. "We havebut to hold the place till to-morrow night, friends, and the O'Malleyswill relieve us. Now, one man to watch and the rest of us to rest, forthere is work ahead."
Brian, indeed, got some sleep that night, but it was shot through withvisions of those poisoned men of his, and their twisted faces gibberedat him, and he thought they shrieked and howled for revenge. When he wasroused at dawn, he found the meaning of those noises, since a greatstorm was sweeping down out of the west, and the farther wore the day,the worse grew the storm.
"Is Heaven itself fighting against us?" he thought bitterly, watchingthe sea from the battlements. "Against this blast Nuala cannot reach me,if she will."
He got little time to brood, however. Before he had broken his fast theDark Master's horsemen came in sight--two hundred braw Scots, withwagons and a cannon following after. It was no large force, but Brianfound afterward that it was the best the Dark Master could get, sincethe Galway Irish cared nothing whether the Scots lived or died.
They halted and spread out, half a mile from the castle, and Brian sawthat the men were being quartered on the farms round about. Bitterly hewished that he had his lost men, for with them he could have sent thoseScots flying home again; but now he was helpless.
With the gates shut and the bastards loaded with bullets to sweep theapproach, Brian sent his twenty men to the battlements and watched, withTurlough beside him. It was plain that no offensive operations wereunder way as yet, and an hour passed quietly; then ten men rode down tothe castle under a white flag, and foremost of them was the Dark Master.
"Now, if I were in your place, master," said Turlough, slanting his eyesup at Brian in his shrewd way, "I would loose those bastards and sweepthe road bare."
"You are not in my place," said Brian, and the Wolf held his peace.
The Dark Master looked at those bodies piled between the castle and theshore, and it was easy to see that he was laughing and pointing them outto the Scots. At that Brian heard his men mutter no little, and hehimself clenched his nails into his palms and cursed bitterly; but heforbade his men to fire and they durst not disobey him. The party rodeup under the walls, and the Dark Master grinned at Brian standing above.
"You have great drunkards, Yellow Brian," he called mockingly. "Have allyour men drunk themselves to death?"
Brian answered him not, but fingered his hilt; even at that distance theDark Master seemed to feel the icy blue eyes upon him, for his leervanished.
"Yield to us, Yellow Brian," he continued, shooting up his head frombetwixt his shoulders. "I do not think you have many men in thatcastle."
"I have enough to hold you till more come," answered Brian.
"Mayhap, and mayhap not," and O'Donnell laughed again. "Keep a watch toseaward, Yellow Brian, and when you see four sail turning the headland,judge if those two caracks of the Bird Daughter's are like to help you."
"If you have no more to say, get you gone," said Brian, feeling theanger in him rising beyond endurance. The Dark Master looked along thewalls for a moment, then signed to his men, and they rode off throughthe driving snow again.
Turlough looked at Brian and Brian at him, and the same thought was inthe minds of both. If those Millhaven men had four ships driving downbefore that storm, as seemed probable enough, the Bird Daughter's twolittle caracks would never land men under the guns of Bertragh.
About noon the snow fell less thickly, though the storm had risen togreat power, and Brian made out that the Scots were bringing forwardthat cannon of theirs. Having some little knowledge of artilleryhimself, he drew the charge of bullets from a bastard and put in morepowder, then put the bullets back, a full bag of them. He did the samewith two more of the bastards on that wall, and when the Scots hadhalted aimed all three very carefully, and set men by them to fire athis order. The Scots were turning their cannon about, a score of menbeing in their party, and Brian judged that they were eight hundredpaces away--just within range of his bastards.
"The Dark Master lost this hold because he had too many men," he said toTurlough, "and we shall lose it because we have too few; but we willmake better use of these shot than did he. Fire, men!"
The three men brought down their linstocks and ran for it, having seenthat extra charge of powder set in the cannon. But none of the piecesburst, though they roared loud enough and leaped at their recoil-ropeslike mad things
. When the white smoke shredded down the wind, Brian'smen yelled in great delight, for those Scots and horses about the cannonwere stricken down or fleeing, and the piece had not yet been loaded.
"They will get little joy of that cannon," said Brian grimly, and wentin to meat.
During the rest of the day the cannon stood there silent, dead horsesand men around it; nor was any further attack made. Brian knew well thathaving found him prepared, the Dark Master would now attack at night andhard did Brian pray that the storm might abate from the west, or atleast shift around, so that Nuala's ships could come to his aid.
Instead, the gale only swooped down the wilder, and seemed like to holda day or more, as indeed it did. About mid-afternoon Turlough came andbeckoned him silently out to the rear or seaward battlement and pointedout.
No words passed between the two men, nor were any needed; beating aroundthe southern headland were four flecks of white that Brian knew forships coming from the west with the storm, and he saw that for once theDark Master had told the truth.
"I have some skill at war," he said to Turlough that afternoon when theyhad seen the four ships weather past them and anchor a mile up the bay;"and since the Dark Master's troopers are also skilled at that game,they will fall to work without waste of time or men. We may look to havethe dry moat filled with fascines to-night and our gates blown in withpetards. At the worst, we can hold that tower, where the powder isstored."
If he had had more men, Brian would have slung the bastards down fromthe high walls and set them in the courtyard where they could sweep thegates when these had been blown in. But they weighed a ton and halfeach, and there was no time to build shears to let them down, even hadthey had spars and ropes at hand. So Brian set them to cover theapproach, and had the smaller falcons brought down to the courtyard, allfive, where he trained them on the gates and loaded them with bulletsheavily.
"Turlough and I will fire these ourselves," he told his men that eveningas they made supper together, the men looking forward to the night'swork with great joy. "Do the rest of you gather on either hand by thestables, with spare muskets and pistols."
So this was done as he said. Because of the storm Brian did not lighthis beacon after all, but he stocked the tower with food and wine, andtold his men to get there, if they could, when the rest was taken. Thattower had Brian's chamber in the lower part and a ladder in the upperpart, where was great store of powder.
The five falcons were set in front of the hall doorway, where once Brianhad come near to being nailed. Brian loosed another of the pigeons,telling Nuala how things chanced, and of the four pirate ships, and setthe last bird in the tower in case of need, which proved a lucky thingfor him in the end.
Brian and his men slept after meat, while Turlough Wolf remainedwatching. It was wearing well on to midnight when the old man woke themall, and Brian went to the walls to hear a thud of hoofs and a murmur ofmen coming across the wind to him. He sent off men to loose the loadedguns on the outer walls at random, and then suddenly flung lightedcressets over the gates.
A wild yell answered this, and bullets from the men who were filling thedry moat, while others scrambled across it and charged up to the gateswith small powder-kegs and petards ready. This was not done withoutscathe, however; Brian's men loosed their muskets, and one by one theheavy bastards thundered out across the snow, though the result was hardto see in the darkness.
There came a ragged flash of musketry in reply, and that abandonedcannon roared out lustily, though its ball passed far overhead. Brianstood on a demi-bastion that half flanked the gates, and after firinghis pistol into the men below, he leaped down the steps into thecourtyard and joined Turlough behind the falcons.
"One at a time, Turlough. They'll have the gates down in a minute."
While he waited for the storm to fall, Brian saw that two or three ofhis men had been hit. He wondered dully that the Dark Master had notmade a general assault, and concluded that he must wish to save men. Itwas a long moment that dragged down on him; then a splash of light burstup, the gates were driven inward and shattered, and with a great roarthere fell a rain of riven beams and stones and dirt.
Sheltering in the hall doorway, Brian and Turlough stayed unmovingthrough an instant of black silence. Out of it broke a wild Scots yell,and in the light of the courtyard cressets a wave of men surged up inthe breach. Brian's linstock fell on a falcon, and the little gun barkeda hail of bullets across the Scots; Turlough's gun followed suit, andthe first lines of men went down in a struggling mass.
The Dark Master was not to be beaten this time, however. Another wave ofScots swept up, with a mass of men behind them. While some of Brian'smen tried to get the two falcons reloaded, a storm of bullets sweptacross the courtyard, and Brian saw Turlough turn and run for it throughthe doorway, while two of the men fell over a falcon.
But as the first line of men broke into the courtyard, Brian fired theremaining three cannon as fast as he could touch linstock to powder. Thebullet-hail tore the front ranks to shreds, but through the darklingsmoke-cloud he saw other men come leaping, and knew that the game wasup.
On the next instant his men had closed around him, muskets were stabbingthe powder-smoke, and Brian fell to work with his Spanish blade.O'Donnells and Scots together heaved up against them, but Brian's pointweaved out between cutlas and claymore and bit out men's lives untilthe mass of men surged back again like the backleash of a wave thatcomes against a wall.
Brian heard the Dark Master's voice from somewhere, and with thatmuskets spat from the gloom and bullets thudded around him. One slappedhis steel cap away and another nicked his ear, and a third came so closeacross his eyes that he felt the hot breath of it; but his men fared inworse case than that, for they were clutching and reeling and fallen,and Brian leaped across the last of them into the hall with bulletsdriving at his back-piece.
As he ran through the hall he knew that his falcons had punishedO'Donnell's men heavily, and that his twenty men had not fallen withoutsome payment for their lives. None the less, Bertragh Castle was nowlost to him and to the Bird Daughter; but he thought it likely that hewould yet make a play that might nip O'Donnell in the midst of hissuccess.
In this Brian was a true O'Neill and the true luck of the Red Hand hadseemed to dog him, for he had lost all his men without suffering adefeat, and now that he was beaten down, he was planning to strikeheaviest.
He gained the tower well enough, and found Turlough there to receivehim, with food and wine and loaded pistols. They soon had the door ofthe lower chamber fast barred and clamped, and Brian flung himself downon his bed, panting, but unwounded to speak of.
"Now sleep, master," said the old man. "They will search elsewhere, andfinding this door closed will do naught here until the morning."
Brian laughed a little.
"It is not easy to sleep after fighting, Turlough. I think that now Iwill send off that last pigeon, so give me that quill yonder."
With great care Brian wrote his message, telling what had passed, andsaying that he hoped to ride free from the castle next morning. In thatcase he would be at Cathbarr's tower before evening came, and he toldNuala to have all her men landed there at once, since she could hope todo nothing by sea against the pirate ships.
When the writing was bound to the pigeon's wing he loosed the birdthrough the seaward casement, and bade Turlough blow out theirflickering oil-light.
After eating and drinking a little, they lay down to sleep. Men came andpounded at the door, then departed growling; but Turlough had guessedaright. The Dark Master was plainly speeding the search for Brianelsewhere, and since there was no sign of life from the powder-tower, hedid not molest this until close to dawn. Then Brian was wakened by ashock at the door, and he heard the Dark Master's voice outsidedirecting his men. Still he seemed to have no thought that Brian wasthere, but wanted to get at the powder and into his own chamber again.
Brian took up his pistols and went to a loophole opening on thebattlements, while Turlough st
ill crouched on the bed in no little fear.Finding that the Dark Master stood out of his sight, Brian fired at twoof the men under the door, and they fell; then he raised his voice abovethe shouting that came from outside.
"O'Donnell, are you there?"
The uproar died away, and the other's voice came to him.
"So you are trapped at last, Brian Buidh! Now yield and I promise you aswift hanging."
"Not I," laughed Brian curtly. "There is no lack of powder here,O'Donnell Dubh, and one of my men holds a pistol ready for it."
At this he glanced at Turlough, who grimaced. But from outside came asudden yell of alarm, and Brian saw a few fleeing figures, whileO'Donnell shouted at his men in furious rage. Brian called out to himagain:
"Give me a horse and let me go free with the one man left me, or else Iwill blow up both tower and castle, and you will have little gain for mydeath."
"Would you trust my word in this?" cried the Dark Master. Brian smiled.
"Yes, as you must trust mine to leave no fuse in the powder when I amgone."
Then fell silence. Brian hated O'Donnell, as he knew he was hated inreturn; and so great was the hatred between them that he feltinstinctively he could trust the Dark Master to send him out free. Itseemed to him that the other would sooner have him go broken and crushedthan do him to death, for that would be a greater revenge. Moreover, theDark Master could know nothing of those men at Gorumna and would havelittle fear of the Bird Daughter.
And it befell exactly as Brian thought.
"I agree," cried the Dark Master, stepping out in the dawn-light boldly."You shall go forth empty as you came, Yellow Brian. What of thosetwo-score men you owe me?"
"The time is not yet up," returned Brian, beginning to unbar the door,and he laughed at the mocking voice.