An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain Page #10

"An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain" is a historical novel by Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, set during the tumultuous times of the English Civil War. The story follows Hardress Fitzgerald, a valiant Royalist captain, as he navigates a world filled with intrigue, loyalty, and betrayal. The novel explores themes of honor and duty while depicting the struggles between royalists and parliamentarians. Le Fanu weaves a tale rich in atmospheric detail and character development, highlighting the personal and political conflicts of an era defined by its fervent loyalty and passionate disputes.

• Fiction

								


'Hurrah!' I shouted; 'try it again, my boy.'

And away we went at a gallop, which bid fair to distance anything like
pursuit.

Never was spur more needed, however, for soon the clatter of horses'
hoofs, in full speed, crossing the bridge, came sharp and clear through
the stillness of the night.

Away we went, with our pursuers close behind; one mile was passed,
another nearly completed. The moon now shone forth, and, turning in the
saddle, I looked back upon the road we had passed.

One trooper had headed the rest, and was within a hundred yards of us.

I saw the fellow throw himself from his horse upon the ground.

I knew his object, and said to my comrade:

'Lower your body--lie flat over the saddle; the fellow is going to
fire.'

I had hardly spoken when the report of a carbine startled the echoes,
and the ball, striking the hind leg of my companion's horse, the poor
animal fell headlong upon the road, throwing his rider head-foremost
over the saddle.

My first impulse was to stop and share whatever fate might await my
comrade; but my second and wiser one was to spur on, and save myself and
my despatch.

I rode on at a gallop, turning to observe my comrade's fate. I saw his
pursuer, having remounted, ride rapidly up to him, and, on reaching the
spot where the man and horse lay, rein in and dismount.

He was hardly upon the ground, when my companion shot him dead with one
of the holster-pistols which he had drawn from the pipe; and, leaping
nimbly over a ditch at the side of the road, he was soon lost among the
ditches and thornbushes which covered that part of the country.

Another mile being passed, I had the satisfaction to perceive that the
pursuit was given over, and in an hour more I crossed Thomond Bridge,
and slept that night in the fortress of Limerick, having delivered
the packet, the result of whose safe arrival was the destruction of
William's great train of artillery, then upon its way to the besiegers.

Years after this adventure, I met in France a young officer, who I found
had served in Captain Oliver's regiment; and he explained what I had
never before understood--the motives of the man who had wrought my
deliverance. Strange to say, he was the foster-brother of Oliver, whom
he thus devoted to death, but in revenge for the most grievous wrong
which one man can inflict upon another!
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