The Tithe-Proctor Part 42

The advantage was, consequently, all on one side; the Purcels, when the gate was demolished, saw the crowd clearly and distinctly, but the crowd could not at all see them. Feather-beds and other defenses had been placed at the windows, in such a manner that the firing from the house could be delivered with almost perfect impunity to the inmates, but with dreadful and deadly effect upon the a.s.sailants. The latter, having accomplished the destruction of the gate, were in the act of entering, when, all at once, such a well-directed volley was poured among them as caused every man of the front ranks to fall dead. Four blunderbusses had been discharged among them--three by the proctor and his two sons, and one by his eldest daughter Mary. The fatal effect with which this fire was delivered caused a momentary pause, and the aggressive crowd was forced to rush back in a kind of wavy motion, that resembled the undulations of a retreating serpent. An immediate return, however, took place; and, in about half a minute, those in front, however reluctant, were forced forward by the pressure from without. Again did a well-directed fire bring down those who were thrust forward, and the consequence was that a back action took place, which enabled those in front to retire for the present from what they clearly saw was certain death.

So far the proctor's family were triumphant, and would have been so, were it not for the conflagration of the offices, which every moment threatened their own house with destruction. There was not now one among the crowd hardy enough to attempt an entrance by the open gate-which entrance they knew to be only another name for death. Two circ.u.mstances, however, were at work against the brave and intrepid proctor and his equally brave and intrepid sons. Crowbars had been procured, and three breaches were being made in those parts of the wall which the windows of the house did not command, and what was still equally, if not more dreadful to the besieged, was the fact of the dwelling-house having taken fire, from the flames that were wafted to it by the conflagration of the adjoining offices. The breaches having been effected, the a.s.sailants precipitated themselves into the yard; and now commenced the work of destruction in reality. The latter were shot down in scores; whilst at the same time, the windows of the house from which this destructive fire was kept up so ably, received fifty discharges to one that had been made from them. The house was immediately surrounded, and guards were placed at the doors and lower windows, with strict and fatal orders to allow none of the family to escape, with the exception of the females--one of whom was to be secured, as the reader knows, for a particular purpose, and the rest as chance or pa.s.sion might direct.

The Purcels, in the meantime, ably served and a.s.sisted by Mrs. Purcel and her daughters, continued to deal death and destruction on the parties outside, without being yet either fatigued or disabled. At length the terrible light of the roof that was burning over them, and the stifling heat which began to oppress them, startled the proctor into a state of feeling so awful, that it obliterated from his awakened conscience all external impressions of the dreadful havoc of human life which was taking place about him. The feeling was deepened by a discovery that the gate had been broken and breaches made in the walls, as well as by the incredible mult.i.tude of armed persons about the premises, most of whom were now distinctly visible by the glare of the conflagration.

The life of Matthew Purcel, though unstained by any of those gross crimes which separate man from his fellows, or draw down the punishment of the law upon those who commit them, was, nevertheless, in a singular degree, unfeeling, oppressive, and rapacious. Though plausible and clever in his manner, and anxious to stand well with the world, he was, at the same time, relentless and implacable, a tyrant within the petty sphere of his influence, a despiser of all those principles that were not calculated, no matter how, to elevate and enrich. He ground the poor, and wrung, by the most oppressive extortion, out of their sweat and labor, all and much more than they could afford to give him. With dest.i.tution and poverty in their most touching and pitiable shapes, he never had one moment's sympathy, nor did the widow or orphan ever experience a single act of benevolence or mercy at his hands.

There was now a short pause in the work of destruction, but it was evident to him and his family that some new element of action was at work among the mult.i.tude, though of its character and object they could form no possible conjecture. The Purcels had now a short s.p.a.ce for reflection, and but a short one, for they all felt, by the increasing heat that proceeded from the burning roof, that they could not long abide under it. Alick and the females had joined John and his father in the top room, and the latter now saw clearly that fate, in its most dreadful and appalling shape, was on him and his whole family, for it was clear, as matters stood, that neither he nor his sons, at all events, could escape the vengeance of the infuriated mult.i.tude. In this condition, his veins swollen, and the perspiration standing in large beads upon his forehead, he took one fearful and agonizing glance upon his past life, and felt, now that he stood on the verge of eternity, that the retrospect was like a glimpse of h.e.l.l. The change that came over his features was frightful beyond all belief; his face became nearly black, and his eyes, which grew bloodshot almost in a few minutes, had, notwithstanding, a sharp delirious expression of terror that no language could depict.

"Great G.o.d! father," exclaimed his son John, who first noticed, this change in his appearance, "what is the matter with you?"

"We are lost!" he exclaimed; "oh, my past life! Great Heaven! if I had but one act of kindness to look back upon, I could dare death. Children, the tortures of h.e.l.l are upon me! Here is death at my throat, but how will I die? Hallo--look!" he exclaimed, "do you see it?--it is all black--black and b.l.o.o.d.y--black and b.l.o.o.d.y--that life of mine!

Crimes--crimes--crimes against the poor--against the widow and the orphan! Why did I do it? Eh, why did I oppress, and grind, and murder!

Ay, murder!--where's Widow Flanagan's son?--where's all the blood I was the means of shedding?--where are the rotten corpses that are now festering in the grave, because I was rapacious and an oppressor?

Hallo! I say, don't curse me--or rather, do curse me--d.a.m.n me--d.a.m.n my soul--d.a.m.n my soul--ha! what am I saying?--who brought me to this? Who?

why who but the black and d.a.m.nable parsons--ay, the parsons and their d--d heretical church! However, I'll have my revenge, for h.e.l.l is lined with them--paved with them--circled with them; and there I'll find them in burning squads to welcome me--ha! ha! ha! Welcome, Proctor!

t.i.the-Proctor! G.o.d's Perdition! what a name! what a character?

t.i.the-Proctor!--that is rogue, oppressor, scourge, murderer!--and all for what? For a dead, lazy, gross, overgrown heresy! Ay, lazy parsons that I brought myself to this for, to perdition for! But then I was proud too--oh, it was a great thing to creep up from poverty and cunning to broadcloth and top-boots, to saddle horse, then a jaunting-car, to shake hands with the great parsons, who despised me all the while and made me their tool and scapegoat! Oh, yes, and to have my sons able to hunt in red coats and top-boots, and my daughters to ride on side-saddles--how do you do, gintlemen?--ladies, your most obedient!

but, where are we?--what is this? Is this the light of h.e.l.l, and these the devils with their black faces? And yet, I did intend to repent and to be merciful to the poor; and now here comes d.a.m.nation! and why? have I not murdered you all?--where am I?--who am I? I am not Matthew Purcel, the t.i.the-Proctor, I hope--make that clear, and I'll give you--or could it be a dream?--no, no, it is real, a real fact; and the gulf of d.a.m.nation yawns for me! Ha!--well--come, then, let us die like men; give me the blunderbuss; now, down with the villains--down with the villains!"

His family had been standing between the shelter of two windows, almost transfixed into stone with horror at the blasphemous agonies under which his frantic spirit was raging and writhing. The truth is, that the frightful certainty of death to himself and his family, in such an unprepared state, together with the rapid glance of his ill-spent life, joined to his exertion and the suffocating heat of the room, had, all combined, induced what may be well termed this insane paroxysm of despair and guilt.

On seizing the blunderbuss, he rushed, now distinctly visible in the light, and forgetful that the mult.i.tude were on the watch for him, over towards one of the unprotected windows, where he was followed by his son John, for the purpose of being dragged out of danger. He had just discharged the blunderbuss at their leader, who was on the point of making his way to the hall-door, when the ruffian fell stone-dead, and almost simultaneously, he and his son John were literally perforated with a shower of bullets.

"We must die, also," exclaimed Alick to his mother and his sisters; "we must die,--but let us die firmly. Any death, however, is better than one of fire; here we cannot stay longer. Stoop now, so that we may pa.s.s that part of the wall that is beneath the windows, until we reach the lower floor; if we expose ourselves only for a moment, we must share their fate. Great G.o.d! what a fate and what a night!"

By following his advice, they reached the lower floor in safety, and had scarcely done so, when the burning roof crashed in upon the bodies of the proctor and his son, of whose remains nothing but a few cinders were found the next morning. The falling in of the roof was accompanied by a considerable explosion, owing to the powder which they had left behind them, and the noise of which caused the crowd that was now hemming in the house to pause for a moment, but only for a moment; for they knew now by the explosion, that the ammunition of their enemies was gone, and that "the old fox and his cubs," as they called them, were probably incapable of further resistance; a reflection which, as it stood not in the way of their cowardice, seemed to increase their fury.

"Revenge now, boys," shouted a hundred voices; "they have shot our leader along with the rest. Come on then, sledge in the doors an'

windies, an' if we lave a single inch of the villains together, may we be hanged like dogs! Come on, then, they are helpless now; their ammunition's gone, an' they can do us no harm. Blood for blood as far as they go; it's into inches we must hew them--into inches--come on, then!"

A furious a.s.sault instantly commenced at the doors and windows. It was, indeed, a frightful thing to see these men, with their white s.h.i.+rts and black visages, fiercely at work; panting and inflamed with ungovernable rage and vengeance, the red turbid blaze of the burning building lighting them into the similitude of incarnate devils, let loose upon some h.e.l.lish mission of destruction and blood. Their own fury, however, impeded their progress, for as they pa.s.sed onwards to the door, urged by the worst pa.s.sions of man, it was found that their violence, thus broken and diminished by the struggle, had prevented them from making anything like a rapid progress in breaking in the powerfully-fortified door.

There was consequently another slight pause, during which a circ.u.mstance occurred that added a terrible sublimity to the scene.

We have said, that the sky looked angry and portentous, and such was the fact. During the pauses that now occurred, the distant darkness of the surrounding country was momentarily dispelled by a stronger and more terrific fire than that which now shot up its red and waving pyramids from the burning houses before them. All at once the black sky opened, and from the chasm of angry clouds a sheet of red lightning flashed, lighting up the darkness of the country around them in a fearful manner; but above all things, and what gave a super-added horror to the scene, was the influence which that light, that seemed to proceed from the vengeance of G.o.d, had upon that which proceeded from the vengeance of man. The sheeted volume swept down, and for an instant poured over the blazing roofs, the tottering walls, the bleeding corpses and the black-visaged men who stood in mult.i.tudes about the place, panting with the mad intoxication of crime; it poured upon them, we say, a light so strong, penetrating, and intense, that its fearful distinctness was enough to paralyze the heart, and awe those who were present from the prosecution of their vengeance. It was, in fact, as if the Almighty Himself had sent down His avenging angel from the heavens, to pour His light upon them, in order to bear testimony against the dreadful work of blood in which they were engaged. Nor was this all. Ere the pause was broken, a burst of thunder, so deep, so loud, and so terrible, in such an hour, pealed from a point of the sky on their right, taking its course in the direction of the proctor's house, where, in one terrific explosion, it seemed to burst exactly over their heads. Some were awed, but we all know that companions.h.i.+p fortifies the heart in the commission of crime, and in a few minutes the Almighty, His fires of vengeance,--and His midnight thunders, were all alike forgotten.

The a.s.sault on the door was now renewed with, if possible, more ferocious violence; and it became evident to the unfortunate and now helpless inmates, that they must soon fall into the hands of those from whom they could expect no mercy. We say they were in a helpless state; and this was occasioned by the explosion, which left them without ammunition, even if they had had their firearms. Such, however, was their hurry in escaping from the falling roof, joined to the shock and stupor caused by the death of John and his father, that they thought not for a moment of anything but mere self-preservation. Owing to these causes they brought no weapons of defence with them; and now, in consequence of the fallen roof and explosion, their fire-arms were beyond their reach, and useless. They stood now ghastly--their features rigid like those of the dead--calm and without a tremor--but with a melancholy fort.i.tude that was as n.o.ble as it was rare and unprecedented.

At length Mrs. Purcel spoke:--"Alick," said she, "you must save yourself: we may receive some mercy at the hands of these men, but you will not; hide yourself somewhere, and, when they come in, we will say that you perished with your father and brother."

"No, my dear mother," replied her son, "while I have life I will not separate from' you and these dear girls."

"This is madness," observed Julia; "what can you expect? Have we not witnessed bloodshed enough to-night already?--or are you determined that we shall be compelled to witness your murder before our faces? Oh, dear Alick, be advised by my mother; by secreting yourself, you may escape; but if you are found here, you will be instantly shot."

"Dear Alick," said Mary, "by the love you bear us, and by the blood of those whom these murdering ruffians have sacrificed, we implore and entreat you to conceal yourself; and, if that fails--then, by the love of G.o.d, do as we desire!"

She had scarcely uttered the last words, when a single Whiteboy, with blackened face, made his appearance at the end of the kitchen stairs, and approached them, waving his hands with a mingled expression of distraction and entreaty.

"Dear John," he exclaimed, "be patient; and Julia, be calm, and hear me.

I am," he added, in a low and guarded whisper, "Frank M'Carthy: as you hope for mercy from G.o.d and life from man, listen! The door will be broken in in a few minutes; but if you are guided by me, you may yet be safe. Blacken your face forthwith, Alick; and here is a s.h.i.+rt marked with blood too--a circ.u.mstance that will give you more security--which I have brought you."

"Frank M'Carthy," exclaimed Julia, "and a Whiteboy! Oh, yes, be advised by him, Alick; as for me, I care not how soon death comes--I have little to live for now!"

"If there was time, dear Julia, for explanation, I could soon satisfy you; but, alas! I fear to ask for your father and John."

"They are both murdered, sir," she replied; "they have fallen victims to men who are in the habit of wearing white s.h.i.+rts and black faces--with, I fear, blacker hearts."

"Great G.o.d!" he exclaimed, "is this so? but time now is life: I must bear your suspicions, Julia, until a fitter occasion. You, Alick, as you will not and wish not to leave your mother and sisters unprotected, follow me--follow me, or, as I hope for G.o.d's mercy, you are lost, and your sisters--I dread to think of it."

"It is enough," said Alick, struck now with absolute impatience: "I consent, Frank--what do you wish?"

He brought him at once to the kitchen, where he took soot from the chimney, which he moistened with water, and, in a couple of minutes, blackened his face and put the b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+rt over his dress. The change was so completely and quickly effected, that the females for a moment took it for granted that they were strangers who had forced an entrance by some other way.

"Now," said M'Carthy, placing a loaded pistol in Alick's hand, "the pa.s.s-word for the night is '_the Cannie Soogah_'--you won't forget that?--but, above all things, don't think of using your pistol, whatever may happen, until you hear me shout, '_the Cannie Soogah to the rescue!_' and even then, wait until you see and speak to him--the brave, the n.o.ble, the glorious fellow!"

"Good G.o.d! and is he here?" asked Alick.

"He's here--he's everywhere," replied the other: "he's here, at all events, before now, I hope: the manner in which I shall call upon his name is this--first, I shout 'the Cannie Soogah!' the very mention of which will be followed by a general cheer; then, when he appears, I shall call out, 'the Cannie Soogah to the rescue!' After this you must be guided by me, as I must be by the Cannie Soogah and circ.u.mstances.

Come, now, it is safer to open the door and admit these ruffians."

"And remember," added Alick, turning with a look of agony to the females, "that the men have all been shot, and are lying in the upper room!"

The ruse of M'Carthy succeeded. The Whiteboys, on being admitted, took it for granted that those who opened the door belonged to themselves and had got in by some other entrance. The house was hastily searched; and the fact of the Purcels having been killed in the upper room, was corroborated by the limbs of John and his father being visible among the burning pile. The state of the house now rendered a hasty retreat out of it necessary. A sudden trembling of the walls and upper joists was felt, the crowd rushed out, and the next moment the whole building was one fallen ma.s.s of smoking ruins.

The females now found themselves prisoners; but still their brother and M'Carthy kept near them, and seemed to act as a portion of those to whom their guardians.h.i.+p! had been entrusted. Julia found herself committed, as if by general consent, to the care of one individual, who kept her a little in advance of the accompanying crowd--to! whom, from time to time, he waved his hand without looking behind him to intimate that they should not press close upon them, but afford him an opportunity of holding what he wished to be considered some confidential conversation with her.

"That I may be blest, Miss Julia, but you're a lucky girl this night--an' I think I may say that I'm a lucky boy myself. I'm to take care of you, and to bring you to a safe place; which I'll do, never fear. You know what I told you afore about my family--how we wor ever an' always doin' our best against the Sa.s.sanach Laws--an ould family it is--an' sure ould blood is betther than riches any day--an' it isn't complexion aither, Miss Julia, that a--this way, darlin'--this way--an'

how long now is it since you fell in consate with me? Well, darlin' that I may die a happy death in a good ould age, if I can blame you for not spakin'--especially afther havin' lost your father and two brothers this night. Howandiver, we can have a lob of their wealth, anyhow, yourself and myself--this way, darlin', there's a party of friends waitin' for us--wisha' thin, but I'm lookin' forrid to a happy life wid you--but sure you might say a single word to me, darlin'--jist to let me know you hear me."

Whether Julia heard this one-sided dialogue or not, it is difficult to say. She seemed pa.s.sive and inattentive, and walked on with an abstracted and mechanical motion. Her brother and lover could only get near her occasionally, having found it necessary to watch her mother and sister also. They could perceive, however, not only that the crowd which followed Mogue appeared to be a good deal in his confidence, and under his sway, but that it increased so rapidly as he went along, that they became alarmed, especially as the Cannie Soogah had not yet made his appearance.

At this moment they were met by a body of men, who on looking at Mogue and Julia, exclaimed, "You are bringing her the wrong way--you are breakin' your ordhers--you know that our captain laid it out, that you should bring her in the other direction, and to where the guard is waitin' for her."

"Ay," replied Mogue, "but you know our captain had been shot, and is lyin' stiff inside the gate there behind us."

"But livin' or dead," they replied, "do you observe your duty--it's a bad an' dangerous example you're settin'."

"But sure if the captain was alive," said Mogue, "it 'ud be a different thing--that I may be happy, but I'm bringin' her the right way, and to the right place, too--amn't I, boys?" he exclaimed, turning to his followers.

"All's right!" they replied; "to be sure you are--go on, and more powers!"

About a minute or two before this, a mounted Whitefoot had rode up, and having heard the words, he replied to Mogue, in a loud voice, "No, sir!

our captain is not shot, but is safe and sound." And scarcely had the words proceeded from his lips when the very individual, as it seemed, who had led them during the night, galloped up to the place of altercation.

"Who says I am dead," said he; "I don't look like a dead man, I think.

Meek way there till I speak to this man," pointing to Mogue. "Why, sir, did you dare to disobey ordhers by taking this lady to the wrong place?

Answer me that?"

Mogue, seeing that his support was now powerful, looked at them, and asked aloud--"Am I bringin' the lady the wrong way, boys?"