THE HANGING OF JUDAS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 17, 21 August 1896, Page 25

THE HANGING OF JUDAS.

(By John O'Shea..) •« I SAY, HBrty, old fellow, will you come for a stroll along the quays? Twill freshen us np, my dear boy. After that crowded room I feel stifling. Tis a glorious night ; no lanterns or link-boys wanted. Come along." The speaker was a jovial-looking man, of handsome rubicund face and rich mellow voice, fall of ttie delicious southern Irish brogue. He was attirjl in full even.ng dress, with a frilled shirtfront, in which a diamond breast-pin glittered in the moonlight. There were diamond buckles in his thoea and buttons of the same costly material shon* aling the edge of his gold-braided purple coat. " Nonsense, Tivy," replied the gentleman addressed , '' 'twould be tempting fate. In this rig we wonld not walk very far wi hout being set upon and robbed," 11 Bobbed 1 Get out, you greU bulking son of Anak. I would like to see the three dare-ievih who would undertake to rob jou. And we with our pinking-irons, too ! A good joke, by the Lord Harry I There's Miss Gould waiting for her chair. Come, lot as bare another look at ber before she gets in — a goddeße, sir -a goddess." "'lit no joke at all, Tivr," remonstrated the big man, wi h a desperate attempt At gravity, as the two descended tbe steps of the Assembly Booms ; " tne city is full uf sturdy beggars »nd fellows from the mountains, and every night there is somebody robbed or attacked." "Well, I don't mind running the risk as long as I have you for company," said his companion, in a mock soothing tone. "For while you are settling accounts with any half-a-dozen that may happen to come up, I can run to call the watch ; don't you see, Harty ! " " Get oat, yoa incorrigible fire-eatsr 1 you ran to call tbe watch 1

Wby, to tell tbe trnlb, my friend, my only dread about going along with yon is that yon may get me into a shindy." Tbe speaker glanoed complacently at bis gigantic nether limb*, • lad in shining silk stockings, and not nnwortby of a^oroicg an Apollo Belvidere, as he thrust one elbow pleasantly into bis friend's nearest ribs. The two cronies laughed hilariously and made their way up the street, to the side entrance to tbe Assembly Booms. where tome ladies and their male escorts were waiting the arrival of their respective sedanchairs.i There was a musiotl buzz of talk, punctuated by ripples of silvery laughter, a shimmering of satins, a flattering of lace and a flashing of jewelled sword-handles and glittering shoe-buckles as the gay throng stood at the wide porch, waiting their turns of exit. It had been a musical evening at the Assembly Booms. The great Handel had corns down from Dublin to give a eelsction in aid of the local charities— for tbe time was marked by one of those periodical famines which round off successive epochs of maladminis* tration in Ireland. All the elite ot Cork— that is, the ascendancy aristocracy— were there, for the great musician came down ander the pationage of the Countess of Cork and the Oountesi of Bandon, Lady Jeffreys and other aristocratic personages. "By Jjve, Tivy, but she's a dangerous Papist 1 " whiipered Harty, bending over the shoulder of his companion and crushing his left biceps in a grip meant to be affectionate, but which made ita victim wince. " Confound you, but you're a far more dangerous Protestant," cried Ttvy, shaking himself free and wriggling. " You've turned my arm into pulp, man alive I If all Papists have &nch an effect upon you, I'll go in at last for their extermination." " You will when the river Lee runs up St Patrick's Hill, but not till then, Tivy. I'd swear you love your Papist brother-in-law, Shandy, a thousand times more than bis brother, Ludlow, who cnt him out of the property by conforming." " You might swear it, old boy. By Joys, Harty, I'd rather have hiß little finger than the other's whole anatomy I I don't believe there's a bit of sincerity in that fellow, not to mention religion." " Religion ! Faugh ! Don't mention it, Tivy. Snch religion as we see consists in the endeavour to get hold of your neighbour's possessions and say that you are excused because you are one of the saints. But there sbe goes 1 What a vision of loveliness I Enough to make a fellow torn Mahometan if ehe only asked him." " There's nothing on the statute book about Mahomet, so that a fellow like you might safely make the sacrifice. But what about a Papist? eh, Harty? Do yon think you wonld join tha idolaters if she asked yon ? " 'Good faith, I Would, if she were to be tbe idol — and I could do that this minute without making any change at all," said Harty, enthusiastically. " But I suppose that matter is already settled beyond alteration. That French fellow with ths long, queer name—" " Count de la V<.rrha— Verrhay de— " " Ye?, that's about enough. He, it seems, has carried all before him— confound him for a frog-eating Johnny Crapaud ! He has tbe title, you see." "And he'll have the Goold too — eh, Harty?" interjected tbe other with a merry cackle at bis owoorthoepical witticism. " There, she's landed now — safe at home ; and well she may thank her start for It with such a wild pack around her, and when i.'s quite the fashion to run away with heiresses, whether they have beauty or not." " Ay, and when it means hanging, maybe ; or at least tranapor* tation to Van Diemen's Land, if you're caugbt at it — and faith ooly it did I might be also tempted,' returned Harty a little moodily and bitterly. '■ It's too bad to see those foreign bspgars coming over here and capturing every pretty Papist girl that's worth the taking." "It ie maddening, my dear boy ; but what can you do ? Unleii you get Papist heiresses included in the Act of Parliament which en.bles yju to demand a Papist's horse for five pounds, I don't see any help for the grievance." " A good idea, by Gemini 1 and 1M see about getting up a deputation of eligible bachelors to press it on our city members' attention." While this dialogue was goi.g on, the fair girl who whs tie subject of it and an elderly lady whose chair had led tbe way, had mounted a flight uf steps which led up to the Gould mansion ; a stream of lignt hid issued from the open door, and a oroucbing figure which bad been concealed by tbe flight of steps drew back a pxe lest its rays might reveal his presence. As soon as the door was shut and the chair-bearers were about to move off, the figure darted forward to the foremost man. Harty and Tivy, who stood at the opening of a narrow laneway close to the house, could eaiily hear his eager half-whisper : "My friend, tell me— are you a Catholic." '• A Catholic 1" was thj antonished reply. " Wby what else 'ud I be ? Wby do ycu ask ?"

4 " Becinsa, my frie id, lam * Catholic priest, and there is a party «ut hooting (or me. I implore yon, for the love of G id, to talc* me into your chair and fiad some means of getting me on board a Portuguese vessel that's lying just below the Custom housa. Yju do not believe me — see, there's my stole." The man and his companion hid stood hesitating and incrjdulojs, bat now their doubts were removed. "That's enough, your riverence," »aid tha man first addressed. " Get into the chair, and then we'll see how 'tis to ba done Tis likely enough there's a watch kept on the ship, so we'll go about it ■one other way. In wii you, and than my mate an' I will fix upon some plan." The fugitive stepped into the stuffy reoptab'e, and the speaker dosed the door after carefully shutting its little windows and drawing the blinds. The bearers lit their pipes and begin conversing in low tones preparatory to starting. It was on tfce thoroughfare known as tha South Mall that th"cc incidents transpired. The Custom bouse was situated at the extreme end of the Mall, not a very great distance off ; but the Mall was by no means deserted. An exceptionally brilliant moonlight flooded the wide street, and groups of wayfarers sauntering leisurely along could be teen for a considerable distance. The tramp of armed patrols, too, at times broke the stillness, for the city was under a modified martial law, and the air had been full of rumours of the return of the " wild geese " ever since the rout of the Eng ish by the avenging brigade at Fontenoy, some ecore of years before: " There's a chance for yoo, Tivy," chuckled the big dandy, ■' If yon want to get yourself into good graoes with th« Government, now is your time." " Much obliged to yon for the compliment," retorted Tivy a trifle stiffly. " But if my Buccess io life is to depend on my turning informer, priest-hunter, or thief- taker, I'm content to jog along as lam." Harty justified his cognomen by the genuine character of his outburst of mirth at bis friend's annoyance. He laughed so long and io loudly at the success of bis " feeler " as to attract the attention of a couple ot distant wayfarers, who, ont of cariosity, turntd their ■teps in the direction of tbe hilarious sounds. Warned thus of tht necessity of getting away from the spot, the chair-bearers to whom tbe fugitive priest bad entrusted himself took up their burden hastily and moved off wi h it at an easy, swinging pace. An odd figure now approached the other two carriers — a little old man, dressed in a tattered naval uniform ani wearing a threecornered hat, with a ragged semblance of gold edging here and there on coat and hat. He limped along with the help of a stick. •'Good night, Admiral Ben. How are you, old b>y ?" were the greetings with which the two carriers rec jived him. " Good night and good luck," he returnei eh erily. " I'm finely, tbaoks be to God— only ]JBt a little bit tired, boys Tis hard work, you know, reviewing all thesj ihips the whole day long. But duty must be done — duty moat ba done " " Thrue for you, admiral. Maybe you'd like a lift home now." "I wouldn't object, boye ; I don't mind if I confer on you the honour of carrying home an admiral ; and miybe I'll wn'e to the king to get him to decorate you for distinguished service in tbe presence of the enemy ," "The inimy, admiral. Yerra, tell us where the enemy is. I can't see him at all," replied one of the carriers, laughingly. "There he is, coming along there with a couple of bis gangthat hangman, Kuox. He's on tbe prowl for somebody to-night, and when I couldn't give hi aa the inform v iou he wanted be kicked me oat of his way." "He did, admiral ? And what did you do ?" " I did what any gentleman should. I asked him fur an explanation of his intentions, aid i- steed of giving me any be only cursed me. I'll report him to the king and have him reprimanded. Hie behaviour is entirely unbtcouaing." "Why don't yon fight him, admiral ?" "Fight him 1 You forget my rank, boys. An aimiral cannot fight with a low fellow like that — a common priest-hunter !" " Glory to you, a'mirall You wouldn't diry your bootß with him. That's tbe gentleman all out, Htre, get in, ao' we'll take you home safe and sound." "Thank you, boys. I want to be up early in tbe morning. They're going to hang Judas on that Portuguese ship below there, and I'm to be there to review the ceremony.' 1 "What's that be said about hanging Judas, Tivy ?" said tbe big beau, as tbe carriers moved off with " ihe admiral." 11 Oh I 'tis a custom tbe Portuguese ships always carry out on XQooA Fiiday," answered bis companion. " To-morrow — or rather today, for that's one o'clock going by Bhandon— they will tv] iy this religious pastime. Did you never see them at it ? ' " No ; I'd like to sea the performance." "Well, drop In on me iv the forenoon, and we'll both go down to the quay. Perhaps they'd let us on board the ship if we're civil." " Faugh 1 Garlic and olive-oil 1 I think I'd forego tbe honour."

"All right; we can stay avhors then. Bat come away; tha fellow Knoi seems to be coming over." " Scop. I've a notion. Let as hear what he bas to say." '•Hd'sa repulsive scoundrel ; the sight of him makes me sick. Oae of those wretches who turn>d Protestant io order to get hold of his pour old father's property; amid— — d much good it did him. Too lazy to work at his blacksmith's forge, he's a loafer now— waiting for something to turn up in his line — iomething dirty to do." " All the better for our fun. If we don't manage to play a trick on Lim, I'll stand a magnum of port." "All rigtr, then ; but, mini, I'll have no hani in it. I deapise tbe creature so much that I cjuldn't trust myself to spaak to him." " L3ava it all to me, then. Here he comet." I Sjparatiog hinnelf from a couple of ill-looking fellows who accompanied him, a gaunt, slouching, larga-headecl, black -a vised man came over to the spot. "Gjod-aight, gentlemen," said he, Tivy made no reply, but promptly tnrned his baok npon tha speaker. Harty, hj waver, returned the salutation. " Well, what's the matter, Kuox ? Anything up to-night I What rogues, rebel', or rapparees are you after now!" l( I'm after a vile traitor of a Jesuit priest, an emissary of France, 1 ' answered the fellow gruffly and eagerly. "What's his name!" "Oh 1 he bas a dozen names. Lingley, I believe is his right one* He's in the city, I have positive information ; and his purpose is to get away oa a Portuguese ship that's down there by tht Ouitom* house quay." " And you want to present such a misfortune and at the same time earn a hundred pounds ?" "I want to uphold the law and serve the king," returned tha other surlily. " You didn't see any suspicious-looking parson about here— did you 1 One of my men is certain that he ran him to earth in this neighbourhood." "Now that you spjak of it, a very questionable sort of character was about here a little while ago. He's gone off in a chair down there towards the shipping." " What was he like, Mr Harty ?" "Hird to describe him ; but I wouldn't be at all surprised if ha was one of those erring Fathers whom it is the duty of pious sons like you to enlighten or lighted. Thiggin thuV Knox scowled an almost audible scowl, it was sd expressive. Ha would doubtless hava vented his rage nore freely, if be dare i. Ha walsed off qiickly as if afraid to trust himself, and with his companions started off in punuit of the second aedai chair. It hal got a good start, however, ani it ioA him a quirter of an hour's run to coma up with it. Waea he had brought ihd beuers to a atand-still and found that the occupant of the chair w.is the balf-wittel "admiral" upja wbjca be hai lately vaated his spleen tor some trifling pleasaatry, he executed soana feats in profanity, aad would have pulled tbe pur old creitara oitof tie vdhiolj to abuse him further but for the interference of tie ciftirmon. Meanwhile Father L^ngljy had b^an b>raa «S. to the hou9j of a well-known merchant at tie farther en 1 of O J Ghorge'a street, close to Warren's PUc. From ih.-noj to tha Omtom-hjuae quay was only a matter of a few hundred yards. It was the only bjma ia tru s'^eit on which light was visible. As the owner was oae whose business, that of ship-chiudler, necessitated frequent nigheduty, hj hvi be j u ace jr i;i ihe privilegj deniel to bis neighbjurs who hal no suci exeme M >reovar, he was a Pro. testant, and a citizen beyond suspicion or reproich. Oae of tbe chairmen rang the bell, ani tin summons was soon answered by tbe merchant himielf — a venerable, cheery-looking man whose silvery curia gave his ruddy, hjiiest faca a look as of the pre. siding deity of active business. '< Mr Wycherley," said one of the men, touching his hat with an unfeigned air of respect, " we have taken the liberty of bringing to you a poor gentleman who is in danger. To put it plainly, sir, he is a priest, and there are people on tbe look-out for him. He wants to get away to-morrow by that Portuguese ship below there, and if you would bd so kiud as to shelter him for a few hours 'tis all he'd ask Them's no fear of anyone coming here to look for him. Georg3 Wycherlwy Io ikjd at the faca of the man inside 'he chair before be m-ide answer. He was one of those who depend a good deal upon what they read iv the human countenance. In the gentle, patient and refinai face of the hunted pritist he read enough to satisfy him. " My friends," he said to tbe chair-bearers, ' you have paid me a compliment higher than anything you could say in bringing thi. genlteman to my house. Come in, sir, if you pleass, and make your. self perfectly at home." He extended a welcoming band as he spoke, to assist the priest from tbe vehicle, and led him up the steps into tbe house. The p'iest Ya\ offered the men some money, but they wonld take nothing fiom in in but a b'eaiiug. Mr Wycherley insisted on their accepting a crown from him,

George Wycherley was a type of a noble-hearted few ffbose generosity lighted the gloom of the penal days. His mother had been a Oitholic, and his father so liberal a Protestant, and so respected as an honourable man, that a neighbour of his, who had bsen proscribed after the Williamite war, had left him his persona property in trust for his children ; and most faithfully was the trust discharged. To emulate bis paren's in charity and justice bad been George Wycherley 'e great ambition through life. He made no attempt to gain any knowledge of tbe business which had brought his guest to Ireland, He knew full well that that business was connected with the interests of the proscribed religion. He never for a moment had given ear to the many concooted tales of popish plots with which the enemies of the old creed filled the public mind for the basest of pnrposes. He preserved too tender a recollection of his gentle mother, and her wise and loving counsels, to believe ■be conld be so firmly attached as she was to a religion co gross and mundane in its objects as Catholicism was represented to be by its detractors. He brought bis gnest into the back parlor of his boose, put out < the lights in tbe front, so as to remove all suspicion, and sat with bim nntil daybreak listening delightedly to tbe learned prieat's conversation while ha did the honour of the table. At daybreak they started for the ship, Mr Wycherley drawing bis guest's arm within his own. They met nobody bnt the sentries outside the Custom bouse. A solitary boatman was stationed at tbe slip below Warren 'b Place. A few hundred yards dowa the river lay the craft of which Father Langley was in quest. She was a scooped-out-looking sort ' of a ship, whose mid-deck line lay very close to tbe water's edge, while her bow shot up obliquely like a bird's bill, and a squat, tbrse-windowed coup* war perched top-heavy. looking at ber stern. They hailed the boatman, who wan nodding at bis ferry, and in • brief space they were clambering np the ladder which the men of tbe San Pedro had let down tbe ship's side. In a few words Father Langley, who spoke in Spanish, made known bis mission to the mate, and the mate roused tbe captain. Then the captain roused the cook, and then the cook roused the crew, and although it was Good Friday morning, there was quite a joyous bustle on board the ship. Only tbe blue peter showed on ber mizzen-mast, the visitors observed as they approached. Now the captain had the flag of Portugal run up on ber main-mast as well. The mists of the morning soon lifted from tbe bosom of the river and began rolling up the beautiful wooded heights of Glanmire and Tivoli. By and by people began assembling on the quays at eitber side of the river, in expectation of the carious spectacle of the hanging of Judas in effigy, The swarthy Portuguese mariners, dressed in bright fantastic costumes, assembled on the deck about ten o'clock, and proceeded to hold a solemn court over the culprit, Judas. A. very life-like figure of a man represented the arch-traitor. Ooansal for prosecu'ion and defence spoke briefly, and then the judge, the ship's mate, delivered sentence. Judas was to be keel-hauled, whipped, and hanged at the yard-arm, as often as his stuffed figure could stand 'ha puniahmen*. Chanting a weirdly mournful sea-hymn, the mariners bore the culprit off >o his doom. They suspended him from the yard-arm, ducked bim in the river, and then hauled him up and gave him the rope's end unstintedly. Then they chanted another pathetic melody i and dragged him from end to end of the ship and under the keel. Then they hitched him up again to the yard-arm and sang another vociferous requiem. All this they went through with the same gravity and earnestness as if the figure bad been a real thing of flesh and blood undergoing a merited punishment. Messrs Harty and Tivy were in the crowd that in the forenoon watched this quaint " mystery " from the quay. As they stood there they saw a boat row over to the side of the ship which lay ready to weigh her anchor?, in the middle of the s'ream. "There goes Koox, by Jupiter 1" oried Harty excitedly. " He's got on tbe priest's Bcent, and there's going to be trouble." What transpired then was plainly visible to many. Oaly one man was allowed to got aboard the ship from tbe boat, and this was Knox. Tbe captain stood at the gangway warning the others off, with a few of the crew armed with mirlin to repel them in case they invaded bis vessel. Knox was seen expostulating with tbe captain and gesticulating with much vehemence. Then a cry of rage could be distinctly heard by those on shore, as Knox moved over to a quiet-looking man and seized him by the collar. A rush was made upon him, he was flung upon ibe deck, and in tbe twinkling his hands and feet were bound and he was run up to the end of tbe yard-arm. Then the quiet-looking man cime forward, and appeared to be expostulating with the men. They waved him respectfully away, and in a moment or two tbe stuffed figure bad given place to the real one. Knox, tbe priest-hunter, was allowed to take the part of Judas Iscariot 1 They soused him into the water and keel-hauled him until be wai nearly dead . Were it not for tbe intercession of Father Langley,

they would probably have finished the performance according to their ideas of poetical justice, by hanging him in earnest at thoV y«rd-arm. / While the startled onlookers were witching these moremants in fear and wondsr, the vessel had got ready for sea, and before Knox could be rescued from his danger the vessel was out of reach. Toward evening Koox was picked up by a carman, as he was wandering in a sorry plight toward Passage West. There a boat from the Ban Pedro had put bim asbor™. He was found gazing ruefully upon a placard containing the speech of King George 111 enonnraging all loyalists to uphold " the Proteitant interest. 1 ' "The Protestant interest," muttered Knox bitterly. " Much good it was to me when I was nearly drowning. I'll go borne and set up my forge and work at my trade for the future, and let the Protestant interest look After itself."— Catholic World.