CHAPTER XX.
THE STORM BURSTS.
"Now, the first thing is to see what force of men we have," said Brian,after the midday meal. They were all gathered in Cathbarr's tower beforea log fire, and were preparing the plan of campaign.
"I have my hundred and eighty men," said Nuala. "When that last pigeoncame from you I set out at once. With the hundred men under Cathbarr, wehave close to three hundred. You can take them all, for my kinsmen herehave enough and to spare to handle my two ships as well as theirs."
"Good!" exclaimed Brian, as the two O'Malleys nodded. "I think that bystriking at dawn we shall find most of the O'Donnells ashore or in thecastle, and if you time your sailing to strike on their four ships atthe same time we may easily take castle, camp, and ships at one blow."
"If all went as men planned we would not need to pray Heaven for aid,"quoth Shaun the Little sententiously. Brian glanced at him.
"Eh? What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing," returned the wide-shouldered seaman with a shrug. "Exceptthat there may be more to it than we think, Brian."
"The Dark Master will not suspect your return so suddenly," spoke upNuala. "Pay no heed to Shaun, Brian--he was ever a croaker. When thinkyou we had best start?"
"I am no seaman," laughed Brian. "Get there at dawn, that is all. I willsend on my men at once, then; since we have only two horses, Cathbarrand I will ride after them later and catch them up. Will you take themen, Turlough, or bide here out of danger?"
"I think it will be safest with the Lady Nuala," hesitated the old mancraftily.
"Little you know her, then," roared Lame Art, his cousin joining in thelaugh.
So Turlough had decided, however, and he stuck to it. Brian thendescribed closely how the four pirate ships lay in the bay underBertragh, while Shaun went out to arrange the distribution of his men onNuala's ships.
The arrangements having been perfected, Brian saw his three hundred mentroop off on their march over the hills, after which he told Nuala atgreater length all that had taken place in the castle since his partingwith her at sea. Bitter and unrestrained were the curses of theO'Malleys as they heard of how his men had been poisoned, while Nuala'seyes flamed forth anger.
"There shall be no quarter to these O'Donnells," she cried hotly. "Thosewhom we take shall hang, and the Scots with them--"
"Not the Scots," exclaimed Brian quickly. "They are honest men enough,Nuala, and may serve us well as recruits. If we find them in the castle,as I think we shall, we may leave them there until we have finished theMillhaven men; however, it is possible that my men will find the castlealmost unguarded, and so take it at the first blow. However that turnsout, the Dark Master shall not escape us this time."
During the afternoon, when the two O'Malleys were busily getting theirships in order for the coming fray, Brian sat in the tower with Nuala.He told her freely of himself, and although neither of them referred tothat reward of which he had spoken at their meeting, Brian knew wellthat he would claim it.
He did not conceal from himself that the Black Woman had guided him tomore than conquest by sword. The Bird Daughter was such a woman as hehad dreamed of, but had never found at the Spanish court, and he knewthat whether there was love in her heart or not, his own soul was in herkeeping.
Perhaps he was not the only one who knew this, for as Lame Art rowed outwith his cousin, the latter nodded back at the tower.
"What think you of this ally, Art Bocagh? Could he be truly the Earl'sgrandson?"
"I know not," grunted the other. "But I do not care whether he be BrianBuidh or Brian O'Neill or Brian the devil--he is such a man as I wouldfain see sitting in Gorumna Castle, Shaun!"
And Shaun the Little nodded with a grin.
When the sun began its westering, Brian and Cathbarr rode back from thetower with food and weapons at their saddle-bows, and they paused at thehill-crest to watch the four ships weigh anchor and up sail, then wenton into the hills. They were to meet their men at that valley where theDark Master had been defeated and broken in the first siege, and joggedalong slowly, resting as they rode.
"Brother," said Cathbarr suddenly, fingering the haft of his ax andlooking at Brian, "do you remember my telling you, that night after wehad bearded the Dark Master and got the loan of those two-score men, howan old witch-woman had predicted my fate?"
"Yes," returned Brian, with a sharp glance. In the giant's face therewas only a simple good-humor, however, mingled with a childlikeconfidence in all things. "And I told you that you were not bound to myservice."
"No, but I am bound to your friendship," laughed Cathbarr rumblingly. "Ican well understand how I might die in a cause not mine own, since I amfighting for you; but I cannot see how death is to come upon me throughwater and fire, brother!"
"Nonsense," smiled Brian. "Death is far from your heels, brother, unlessyou are seeking it."
"Not I, Brian. I neither seek nor avoid if the time comes. Only I wishthat witch-woman had told me a little more--"
"Keep your mind off it, Cathbarr," said Brian. "In Spain the Moriscoessay that the fate of man is written on his forehead, and God is just."
"What the devil do I care about that?" bellowed Cathbarr. "I care notwhen I die, brother--but I want to strike a blow or two first, and howcan that be done if death comes by water and fire?"
"Well, take heart," laughed Brian, seeing the cause of the other'sanxiety. "You are not like to die from that cause to-night, and Ipromise you blows enough and to spare."
Cathbarr grunted and said no more. The last of the storm had fled away,and the two men rode through a glittering sunset and a clear, coldevening that promised well for the morrow.
They traveled easily, and it was hard on midnight when a sentry stoppedthem half a mile from the hollow where the men were resting. Brian notedwith approval that no fires had been lighted, and he and Cathbarr atonce lay down to get an hour's sleep among the men.
Two hours before daybreak the camp was astir, and Brian gathered hislieutenants to arrange the attack. Thinking that the Dark Master wouldbe in the castle, he and Cathbarr took a hundred men for that attack,ordering the rest to get as close to the camp as might be, but not toattack until he had struck on the castle, and to cut off the O'Donnellsfrom their ships. Then, assured that the plan was understood, he andCathbarr loaded their pistols and set out with the hundred.
Brian ordered his men to give quarter to all the Scots who would acceptit, if they got inside the castle, and as they marched forward throughthe darkness he found to his delight that O'Donnell seemed to have nosentries out.
"We have caught the black fox this time," muttered Cathbarr, after theyhad passed the camp-fires without discovery and the black mass of thecastle loomed up ahead. "They will hardly have repaired those gates bynow, brother."
Brian nodded, and ordered his men to rest, barely a hundred paces fromthe castle. Since there was no need of attacking before dawn, in orderto let Nuala come up the bay, he went forward with Cathbarr to look atthe gates.
These, as nearly as he could tell, were still shattered in; there werefires in the courtyard, and sentries were on the wall, but their watchwas lax and the two below were not discovered. They rejoined thehundred, and Brian bade Cathbarr follow him through the hall to thatchamber he himself had occupied in the tower, where O'Donnell was mostlikely to be found.
"Well, no use of delaying further," he said, when at length the graynessof dawn began to dull the starlight. Since to light matches would havemeant discovery, he had brought with him those hundred Kerry pikemenNuala had recruited after the dark Master's defeat, and he passed on theword to follow.
The mass of men gained the moat before a challenge rang out from above,and with that Brian leaped forward at the gates. A musket roared out,and another, but Brian and Cathbarr were in the courtyard before theScots awakened. A startled group barred their way to the hall, thenBrian thrust once, the huge ax crashed down, and they were through.
Other men were sleeping in the hall,
but Brian did not stop to battlehere, running through before the half-awakened figures sensed what wasforward. A great din of clashing steel and yells was rising from thecourt; then he and Cathbarr gained the seaward battlements and rushed atthe Dark Master's chamber. The door was open--it was empty.
For a moment the two stared at each other in blank dismay. With a yell,a half-dozen Scots swirled down on them, but Brian threw up his hand.
"The castle is mine," he shouted. "You shall have quarter!"
The Scots halted, and when two or three of the Kerry pikemen dashed upwith news that the rest of the garrison had been cut down or givenquarter, they surrendered.
Brian's first question was as to O'Donnell.
"Either at the camp or aboard one of his kinsmen's ships," returned oneof the prisoners. "They were carousing all last evening."
At the same instant Cathbarr caught Brian's arm and whirled him about.
"Listen, brother!"
So swift had been Brian's attack that the castle had been won in a scantthree minutes. Now, as he listened, there came a ragged roar ofmusketry, pierced by yells, and he knew that the camp was attacked.
With that, a sudden fear came on him that he would again be outwitted.There was a thin mist driving in from the sea which would be dissipatedwith the daybreak, and if the Dark Master was on one of the ships hemight get away before Nuala's caracks could arrive. Brian had been socertain that he would find O'Donnell in the castle that thedisappointment was a bitter one, but he knew that there was no time tolose.
"Come," he ordered Cathbarr quickly, "get a score of the men and to thecamp. Leave the others here to hold the castle if need be."
As he strode through the courtyard and the sullen groups of Scotsprisoners, he directed the Kerry men to load the bastards on the wallsand give what help might be in destroying the pirate ships. Then, withCathbarr and twenty eager men at his back, he set off for the camp at arun, fearful that he might yet be too late.
The day was brightening fast, and from the camp rose a mighty din ofshouts and steel and musketry. Brian's men had charged after one hastyvolley, but their leader gave a groan of dismay as he saw that insteadof attacking from the seaward side as he had ordered, they were pouringinto the camp from the land side.
O'Donnell must have landed the greater part of his men, for Brian'sforce was being held in check, though they had swept in among the brushhuts. Over the tumult Brian heard the piercing voice of the Dark Master,and with a flame of rage hot in his mind he sped forward and foundhimself confronted by a yelling mass of O'Donnells.
Then fell a sterner battle than any Brian had waged. In the lesseningobscurity it was hard to tell friend from foe, since the mist wasswirling in off the water and holding down the powder-smoke. Brian savedhis pistols, and, with Cathbarr at his side, struck into the wild,shaggy-haired northern men; they were armed with ax and sword and skean,and Brian soon found himself hard beset despite the pikemen behind.
The Spanish blade licked in and out like a tongue of steel, and Brian'sskill stood him in good stead that morn. Ax and broadsword crashed athim, and as he wore no armor save a steel cap, he more than once gavehimself up for lost. But ever his thin, five-foot steel drove home tothe mark, and ever Cathbarr's great ax hammered and clove at his side,so that the fight surged back and forth among the huts, as it wassurging on the other side where was the Dark Master, holding off themain attack.
Little by little the mist eddied away, however, and the day began tobreak. A fresh surge of the wild O'Donnells bore down on Brian's party,and as they did so a man rose up from among the wounded and stabbed atBrian with his skean. Brian kicked the arm aside, but slipped in bloodand snow and went down; as a yell shrilled up from the pirates, Cathbarrleaped forward over him, swinging his ax mightily. With the blunt end hecaught one man full in the face, then drove down his sharp edge andclove another head to waist. For an instant he was unable to get out hisax, but Brian thrust up and drove death to a third, then stood on hisfeet again.
At the same instant there came a roar from across the camp where hismain body of men were engaged, and Brian thrilled to the sound. As heafterward found, it was done by Turlough's cunning word; but up over thedin of battle rose the great shout that struck dismay to the pirates andheartened Brian himself to new efforts.
"Tyr-owen! Tyr-owen!"
With a bellow of "Tyr-owen!" Cathbarr went at the foe, and Brian joinedhim with his own battle-cry on his lips for the first time in his life.The shout swelled louder and louder, and among the huts Brian got aglimpse of the Dark Master. In vain he tried to break through theMillhaven men, however; they stood like a wall, dying as they fought,but giving no ground until the ax and the sword had cloven a way,although the remnant of the twenty pikemen were fighting like fiends.
Suddenly a yell of dismay went up from the O'Donnell ranks, and theybroke in wild confusion. Leaning on his sword and panting for breath,Brian looked around and saw what had shattered them so swiftly.
While the stubborn fight had raged, the eastern sky had been streamingand bursting into flame. Now, sharply outlined against the crimsonwater, appeared Nuala's four ships close on those of the pirates. Evenas he looked, Brian saw their cannon spit out white smoke, while frombehind came a deeper thunder as the castle's guns sent their heavy ballsover the pirate ships.
These were anchored a hundred yards from shore, and Brian saw the dangerthat betided as the stream of fugitives swept down toward the boats.Nuala's ships were undermanned, for he had counted on cutting off mostof the pirates in the camp; should the Dark Master get to the ships withhis men, things were like to go hard.
"To the boats!" cried Brian to Cathbarr, and leaping over the dead, thetwo joined their men and poured down on the shore.
The Dark Master himself stood by one of the boats, and others werefilling fast with men as they were shoved down. Brian tried to cut hisway to O'Donnell, but before he could do so the Dark Master had leapedaboard and oars were out. Fully aware of their danger, those of thepirates who could do so got into their boats and lay off the shore,while others splashed aboard; Brian led his men down with a rush,cutting down man after man, splashing out into the swirling water andhacking at those in the boats, but all in vain. Some half-dozen of theboats got off, crowded with men, while the remnant of the pirates heldoff Brian's force that their master might escape.
Drawing out of the fight, Brian pulled forth his pistols and emptiedthem both at the figure of O'Donnell. He saw the Dark Master reel, andthe rower next him plunged forward over the bows, but the next momentO'Donnell had taken up the oar himself and was at work in mad haste.Brian groaned and flung away his pistols.
Those aboard the pirate ships had already cut the cables and werestriving to make sail, for there was a light off-shore breeze in theirfavor, with an ebbing tide. The O'Malley ships were close on them,however, and as the cannon crashed out anew the masts of one O'Donnellship crashed over. But the Dark Master's boat was alongside another ofthe ships, whose sails were streaming up, and now his cannon began toanswer those of Nuala.
But Brian stood in bitterness, unmindful of the wild yells of his men,for once more the Dark Master had escaped his hand at the last moment.Shaun the Little had been correct in his "croakings."