It
is not a pleasant job; they have done it to three or four of the men
already. One of them stood it well, but the others cried a thousand
murders. O'Flaherty has promised me a drink of whisky and water before
they do it, and just at present I feel as if I would let them burn all my
limbs at the same price. It is sorry I am, Terence, to hear that your
father is hit so hard, but O'Flaherty says he will get through it all
right. Well, he will get his majority, though I am mightily sorry that
Harrison is killed; he was a good boy, though he was an Englishman. Ah,
Terence, my heart's sore when I think what I said that evening after the
fight at Rolica! I did not mean it altogether, but the words come home to
me now. It is not for meself but for the poor boys that have gone. It was
just thoughtlessness, but I would give me other arm not to have said those
words."
"I know that you did not mean it, O'Grady, and we were all feeling sorry
that the regiment had not had a chance to be in the thick of it."
"Here they are, coming this way with the pitch kettle. You had better get
away, lad, before they begin."
Terence was glad to follow the advice, and hurried out of the barn and
walked three or four hundred yards away. He was very fond of O'Grady, who
had always been very kind to him, and who was thoroughly warm-hearted and
a good fellow, in spite of his eccentricities.
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