THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 7

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

r W', CHAPTER XXXIX. —-(Continued.) +i r Three long and weary years—oh 1 but they seemed three ages ! the young Hugh pined ‘in the grated: dunf GO ™ of that +1 Bermingham Tower,”, which still stands' in Dublin Castle yard. How the fierce hot spirit of the impetuous northern youth chafed in this cruel captivity! He accustomed daily to breathe the free air of . his native lulls in the pastimes of the chase, now gasped for breath m the close and fetid atmosphere of a squalid cell I ,J He the joy and the pride of an aged father— strong hope of a thousand faithful clansmen— now the helpless object of gaolers insolence, ■ neglect, and persecution! Three years and three months,” the old chroniclers tell us,—when hark there is whispering furtively betimes as young Hugh and Art Kavanagh, and other of the captives meet on the stone stairs, or the narrow landing, by the warders gracious courtesy. Yes; Art had a plan of escape. Escape! Oh ! tho thought sends the blood rushing hotly through the veins of Red Hugh. Escape! Home! freedom on tho Tyrconnell hills once more! O blessed thrice blessed words! . v.- • , , # ’

It is even so. And now all is arranged, and the daring attempt waits but a night favorably dark and wild—■ which comes at last and while the sentries shelter themselves from the pitiless sleet, the young fugitives, at peril of life or limb, are stealthily scaling or descending bastion and battlement, fosse and barbican. With beating hearts they pass the last sentry, and now through the city streets they grope their way southwards; for the nearest hand of succor is amidst the valleys of Wicklow. Theirs is a slow and toilsome progress; they know not the paths, and they must hide by day and fly as best they can in the night-time through wooded country. At length they cross the Three Rock Mountain, and look down upon Glencree. But alas! Young Hugh sinks down exhausted! Three years in a dungeon have cramped his limbs, and he is no longer the Hugh that bounded like a deer on the slopes of Glen ! His feet are torn and bleeding from sharp rock and piercing bramble; his strength is gone; he can no further fly. He exhorts his companions to speed onwards and save themselves, while he secretes himself in the copse and awaits succor if they can send it. Reluctantly, and only yielding to his urgent entreaties, they departed. A faithful servant, we are told, who had been in the secret of Hugh’s escape, still remained with him, and repaired for succor to the house of Felim O’Tuhal, the beautiful site of whose residence is now called Powerscourt. Felim was known to bo a friend, though he dared not openly disclose the fact. He was too close to the seat of the English power, and was obliged to keep on terms with the Pale authorities. But now “the flight of the prisoners had created great excitement in Dublin, and numerous bands were despatched in pursuit of them.” It was next to impossible certainly full of dangerfor the friendly O’Tuhal, with the English scouring-parties spread all over hill and vale, to bring in the exhausted and helpless fugitive from his hiding place, where nevertheless he must perish- if not quickly reached. Sorrowfully and reluctantly Felim was forced to conclude that all hope of escape for young Hugh this time must be abandoned, and that the best course was to pretend to discover him in tho copse, and to make a merit of giving him up to his pursuers. So, with a heart bursting with mingled rage, grief, and despair, Hugh found himself once more in tho gripe of his savage foes. He was brought back to Dublin “loaded with heavy iron fetters,” and flung into a narrower and stronger dungeon, to spend another year cursing the day that Norman foot had touched the Irish shore.

There ho lay until Christmas Day, December 25, 1592, when; says tho old chronicle, “it seemed to tho Son of tho Virgin time for him to escape.” Henry and Art O’Neill, fellow-prisoners, were on this occasion companions of Hugh’s flight. In fact tho lord deputy, Fitzwilliam, a needy and corrupt creature, had taken a bribe from Hugh O’Neill to afford opportunity for the escape. Hugh of Dungannon had designs of his own in desiring the freedom of all three; for events to be noted further on had been occurring, and already he was, like a skilful statesman, preparing for future contingencies. He knew that the liberation of Red Hugh would give him an ally worth half Ireland, and he knew that rescuing the two O’Neills would leave the government without a "queen’s O’Neill” to set up against him at a future day. Of this escape Haverty gives us the following^ account; — V. | “They descended - by a rope through a sewer which opened into tho Castle ditch; and leaving there the soiled

outer,*garments, they were conducted by a young, man, named Turlough Roe O’Hagan, the confidential servant or emissary of the Earl of Tyrone, who was sent to act as their guide. Passing through the gates of the city, which were still open, three of the party reached the same Slieve Rua which Hugh had visited on the former occasion. The fourth, Henry O’Neill, strayed from ■ his companions in some way—probably before they left the citybut eventually he reached Tyrone, where the earl seized and imprisoned him. Hugh Roe and Art O’Neill, with their faithful guide, proceeded on their way over the Wicklow mountains towards Glenmalure, to Feagh Mac Hugh O’Byrne, a chief famous for his heroism and who was then in arms against the government. Art O’Neill had grown corpulent in prison, and had besides been hurt in descending from the Castle, so that lie became quite worn out from fatigue. The party were also exhausted with ■hunger, and as the snow fell thickly, and their clothing was very scanty, they suffered additionally from intense cold. For awhile Red Hugh and the servant supported Art between them; but this exertion could not long be sustained, and at length Red Hugh and Art lay down exhausted under a lofty rock, and sent the servant to Glenmalure for help. With all possible speed Feagh O’Byrne, -on receiving the message, despatched some of his trusty men to carry the necessary succor; but they arrived almost too late at the precipice under which the two youths lay. ‘ Their bodies,’ say the Four Masters, ‘ were covered with white-bordered shrouds of hailstones freezing around them, and their light clothes adhered to their skin, so that, covered as they were with the snow, it did not appear to the men who had arrived that they were human beings at all, for they found no life in their members, but just as if they were dead.’ On being raised up, Art O’Neill fell back and expired, and was buried on the spot; but Red Hugh was revived with some difficulty, and carried to Glenmalure, where he was secreted in a sequestered cabin and attended by a physician.” Mr. Mitch el describes for us the sequel. “O’Byrne brought them to his house and revived and warmed and clothed them, and instantly sent a messenger to Hugh O’Neill (with whom he was then in close alliance)) with the joyful tidings of O’Donnell’s escape. O’Neill heard it with delight, and sent a* faithful retainer, Tirlough Buidhe O’Hagan, who was well acquainted with the country, to guide the young chief into Ulster. After a few days of rest and refreshment, O’Donnell and his guide set forth, and the Irish chronicler minutely details that perilous journey;—how they crossed the Liffey far to the westward of Fitzwilliam’s hated towers, and rode cautiously through Fingal and Meath, avoiding the garrisons of the Pale, until they arrived at the Boyne, a short distance west of Inver Colpa (Drogheda), 'where the Danes had built a noble city’; how they sent round their horses through the town, and themselves passed over in a fisherman’s boat; how they passed by Mellifont, a great monastery, 'which belonged to a noted young Englishman attached to Hugh O’Neill’, and therefore met with no interruption there; rode right through Dundalk, and entered the friendly Irish country, where they had nothing more to fear. One night they rested at Feadth Mor (the Fews), where O’Neill’s brother had a house, and the next day crossed the Blackwater at Moy, and so to Dungannon, where O’Neill received them right joyfully. And here ‘the two Hughs’ entered into a strict and cordial friendship, and told each other of their wrongs and of their hopes. O’Neill listened, with such feelings as one can imagine, to the story of the youth’s base kidnapping and cruel imprisonment in darkness and chains; and the impetuous Hugh Roe heard with scornful rage of the English Deputy’s atrocity towards Mac Mahon, and attempts to bring his accursed sheriffs and juries amongst the ancient Irish of Ulster. And they deeply swore to bury for' ever the unhappy feuds of their families, and to stand by each other with all the powers of the North against their treacherous and relentless foe. The chiefs parted, and O’Donnell, with an escort of the Tyrowen cavalry, passed into Mac Gwire’s country. The chief of Fermanagh received him with honor, eagerly joined in the confederacy, and gave him 'a black polished boat,’ in which the prince and his attendants rowed through Lough Erne, and glided down that ‘pleasant salmon-breeding river’ which leads to Ballyshannon and the ancient seats of the Clan-Conal. • " U ;T “We may conceive with what stormy joy tile tribes of Tyrconnell welcomed their prince; with what mingled pity .and wrath, thanksgivings and curses, they heard of his chains, and wanderings, and and beheld? the feet that used to bound so lightly on the hills, swollen and crippled, by that cruel , frost, by the crueller fetters of the Saxon, A But little ■ time, was now for festal rejoicing or the unprofitable luxury of cursing; for just then, Sir Richard Bingham, the English leader -in Connaught, relying on the irresolute nature of old O’Donnell, and not aware

■; S 5- W2.&fi B -- ' £1 -K -■ ■? “ Kv , .;3 £|V tv .:4 j;,',£ i-j, J;? jsi gv -f> of Red Hugh’s return, had;sent:2oo men by sea to Donegal, where they— took. by surprise the Franciscan monastery, drove away ; the monks (making small account of their historic studies and learned annals), and ! garrisoned the buildings for the Queen. The fiery Hugh could ill endure to hear of; these. outrages, or brook, an English garrison upon’ the soil of Ty r council He collected the people in hot haste, led them instantly into Donegal, and commanded the English by a . certain day and hour •to betake themselves with all speed back to Connaught, and leave , behind them the rich spoils they had taken; all of which they thought it prudent without further parley to do. And so the monks of St. Francis returned to their home and their books, gave thanks to God, and prayed, as well they might, for Hugh O’Donnell.” r (To be continued.) ' '