As I looked from Martin to his dead comrade, and from him to my poor bruised Tim, from whom, as I feared, life was rapidly ebbing away, my mind was filled with the pathos and a sense of the useless suffering of it all. Addressing the two men who only a minute or two ago were his assailants and mine, but who now stood with downcast faces, I said,—
“Boys, I don’t doubt that ye are both acting from what ye consider to be a sense of duty to old Ireland, and maybe even to your Maker, in all this terrible bloodshed and unhappiness. To my thinking it’s a sadly mistaken sense of duty, and will only land you and the dear country in shame and misery. But that is not here or there. Let us part without hatred. You will find a passage here to the sea,” said I, showing them the opening by the fireplace through which I had entered the room; “and in a cave at the end of the passage you will find a boat. Carry your dead to it, and see them taken to their places.”
Both men said gravely, as in a chorus, “God save Ireland!” to which I could utter, though in a different sense from theirs, “Amen!”
Then they did as I bade them, and laboriously carried away their dead comrades.
I turned to Tim. He was stirring slowly and feebly. I took off my coat and rolled it into a pillow for his head. Presently he opened his eyes, and a smile like the smile of an angel passed over his face.
“Barry,” said he, “dear old Barry, and is it you, my brother?”
I bent over him and kissed his cheek.
“Methinks, Barry dear,” said he, “I have struck my last blow for beloved Ireland. God bless her! But it has been a paltry, poor bit of work—all that I have been able to do.”
“Cheer up, Tim, my boy, keep up your heart; we’ll soon have you right again,” said I, though my own heart misgave me as I spoke. “Do you know, Tim, that I have just heard that Kit is here, in this house, now—”
“Kit? Dear old Barry!” He took my hand in his and held it there, but all the strength was gone from his grip. I saw that he read my secret. “Now that her father is dead, Barry, this is her house,” he said, trying to smile.