An Adventure of Hardress Fitzgerald, a Royalist Captain Page #2

"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

								

me to avenge his companion. With my hand I put aside the blade of the
sword, narrowly escaping what he had intended for me, the point actually
tearing open my vest. Without allowing him time to repeat his thrust,
I struck him in the face with my clenched fist so sound a blow that he
rolled back into the room with the force of a tennis ball.

It was well for me that the rest were half drunk, and the evening dark;
for otherwise my folly would infallibly have cost me my life. As it was,
I reached my garret in safety, with a resolution to frequent taverns no
more until better times.

My little patience and money were wellnigh exhausted, when, after much
doubt and uncertainty, and many conflicting reports, I was assured that
the flower of the Royalist army, under the Duke of Berwick and General
Boisleau, occupied the city of Limerick, with a determination to hold
that fortress against the prince's forces; and that a French fleet of
great power, and well freighted with arms, ammunition, and men, was
riding in the Shannon, under the walls of the town. But this last report
was, like many others then circulated, untrue; there being, indeed, a
promise and expectation of such assistance, but no arrival of it till
too late.

The army of the Prince of Orange was said to be rapidly approaching the
town, in order to commence the siege.

On hearing this, and being made as certain as the vagueness and
unsatisfactory nature of my information, which came not from any
authentic source, would permit; at least, being sure of the main point,
which all allowed--namely, that Limerick was held for the king--and
being also naturally fond of enterprise, and impatient of idleness, I
took the resolution to travel thither, and, if possible, to throw myself
into the city, in order to lend what assistance I might to my former
companions in arms, well knowing that any man of strong constitution
and of some experience might easily make himself useful to a garrison in
their straitened situation.

When I had taken this resolution, I was not long in putting it into
execution; and, as the first step in the matter, I turned half of the
money which remained with me, in all about seventeen pounds, into small
wares and merchandise such as travelling traders used to deal in; and
the rest, excepting some shillings which I carried home for my immediate
expenses, I sewed carefully in the lining of my breeches waistband,
hoping that the sale of my commodities might easily supply me with
subsistence upon the road.

I left Dublin upon a Friday morning in the month of September, with a
tolerably heavy pack upon my back.

I was a strong man and a good walker, and one day with another travelled
easily at the rate of twenty miles in each day, much time being lost
in the towns of any note on the way, where, to avoid suspicion, I was
obliged to make some stay, as if to sell my wares.

I did not travel directly to Limerick, but turned far into Tipperary,
going near to the borders of Cork.

Upon the sixth day after my departure from Dublin I learned, CERTAINLY,
from some fellows who were returning from trafficking with the soldiers,
that the army of the prince was actually encamped before Limerick, upon
the south side of the Shannon.

In order, then, to enter the city without interruption, I must needs
cross the river, and I was much in doubt whether to do so by boat from
Kerry, which I might have easily done, into the Earl of Clare's land,
and thus into the beleaguered city, or to take what seemed the easier
way, one, however, about which I had certain misgivings--which, by the
way, afterwards turned out to be just enough. This way was to cross the
Shannon at O'Brien's Bridge, or at Killaloe, into the county of Clare.

I feared, however, that both these passes were guarded by the prince's
forces, and resolved, if such were the case, not to essay to cross, for
I was not fitted to sustain a scrutiny, having about me, though pretty
safely secured, my commission from King James--which, though a dangerous
companion, I would not have parted from but with my life.

I settled, then, in my own mind, that if the bridges were guarded
I would walk as far as Portumna, where I might cross, though at a
considerable sacrifice of time; and, having determined upon this course,
I turned directly towards Killaloe.

I reached the foot of the mountain, or rather high hill, called
Keeper--which had been pointed out to me as a landmark--lying directly
between me and Killaloe, in the evening, and, having ascended some way,
the darkness and fog overtook me.

The evening was very chilly, and myself weary, hungry, and much in need
of sleep, so that I preferred seeking to cross the hill, though at some
risk, to remaining upon it throughout the night. Stumbling over rocks
and sinking into bog-mire, as the nature of the ground varied, I slowly
and laboriously plodded on, making very little way in proportion to the
toil it cost me.

After half an hour's slow walking, or rather rambling, for, owing to
the dark, I very soon lost my direction, I at last heard the sound of
running water, and with some little trouble reached the edge of a brook,
which ran in the bottom of a deep gully. This I knew would furnish
a sure guide to the low grounds, where I might promise myself that I
should speedily meet with some house or cabin where I might find shelter
for the night.

The stream which I followed flowed at the bottom of a rough and swampy
glen, very steep and making many abrupt turns, and so dark, owing more
to the fog than to the want of the moon (for, though not high, I believe
it had risen at the time), that I continually fell over fragments of
rock and stumbled up to my middle into the rivulet, which I sought to
follow.

In this way, drenched, weary, and with my patience almost exhausted, I
was toiling onward, when, turning a sharp angle in the winding glen, I
found myself within some twenty yards of a group of wild-looking men,
gathered in various attitudes round a glowing turf fire.

I was so surprised at this rencontre that I stopped short, and for a
time was in doubt whether to turn back or to accost them.

A minute's thought satisfied me that I ought to make up to the fellows,
and trust to their good faith for whatever assistance they could give
me.

I determined, then, to do this, having great faith in the impulses of
my mind, which, whenever I have been in jeopardy, as in my life I often
have, always prompted me aright.

The strong red light of the fire showed me plainly enough that the group
consisted, not of soldiers, but of Irish kernes, or countrymen, most
of them wrapped in heavy mantles, and with no other covering for their
heads than that afforded by their long, rough hair.

There was nothing about them which I could see to intimate whether their
object were peaceful or warlike; but I afterwards found that they had
weapons enough, though of their own rude fashion.

There were in all about twenty persons assembled around the fire, some
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