1798 by Joe Murphy

Author:Joe Murphy [Joe Murphy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1798_tomorrow_the_barrow_we_ll_cross
Publisher: Liberties Press
Published: 2012-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Sitting on the threshold of their little bivouac, Dan watched Tom come sauntering across the slope. It had been three hours since Perry’s arrival and Tom had decided to go and reconnoitre the state of the rebel army.

He sat down heavily beside his brother and said with an air of genuine disbelief, ‘Ten thousand. There are at least ten thousand armed men on this hill.’

Dan’s eyes widened and he flung his gaze out over Enniscorthy and into the blue haze of the copse-studded countryside beyond. The county must be emptied, every man who could hold a pike or hayfork must be rallying to them. His heart fluttered in his chest in involuntary excitement. The vast sweep of field and forest before him was crawling with moving bands of men and not one wore the crimson coat of the King, not one soldier or yeo marred the scene with even a fleck of red. Browns and greys and, above all, greens were the colours that filled his vision. Every scrap of pasture, every dusty length of roadway was unburdened by the crushing weight of an alien authority. For the first time in his life Dan looked out on a country free and unbowed.

So filled was he by the momentous nature of this vision that Tom’s next words almost passed him by.

‘The camp is restless, though,’ Tom was saying. ‘The men are anxious to be off. They are filled with a high confidence that must be merited considering the successes of the past day or two.

‘What troubles me is that the late arrivals seem to be striving to make up for their tardiness through unwarranted zeal. They are demanding revenge against phantom Orangemen and scouring the country for any poor soul hiding in the fields who could not keep up with the general exodus out of Enniscorthy.

‘To make matters worse some of our veterans from Oulart and Enniscorthy think that we have the country won already or that our leaders cannot make up their minds what to do next. There’s been people leaving already, heading back to their homes, the fools, thinking the job is done. Roche must do something soon or we risk losing a number of good, experienced men from the ranks.’

He looked at Dan in exasperation, ‘Are you even listening?’

Dan nodded distractedly, ‘So what are you saying, Tom?’

Tom shook his head, ‘I’m saying, you day-dreaming idiot, that things are not as rosy as they appear. If we do not regain momentum, and soon, our army is in danger of coming apart at the seams. Dixon’s followers will find more innocents to sacrifice and a counter-attack from Wexford or New Ross will disperse us like quail.’

At this Dan nodded gravely, his attention finally coming back to considerations of the practical, the here and now of the sun-honeyed slopes of Vinegar Hill. ‘Roche will move,’ he said confidently. ‘He knows what is at stake.’

‘Your belief in Roche is admirable, Dan,’ said Tom. ‘But neither himself nor the priest has done anything to halt the execution of loyalist prisoners.

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