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For around the tower and at the base at the neck of land were camped a goodly force of men, while at anchor near the tower lay not Nuala's two ships alone, but also those other two of her kinsmen! "Those two O'Malleys have returned from the south," exclaimed Turlough in wild delight. "That means more men and ships, master we will cut off those Millhaven pirates to a man!"
Now the combat resolved itself into a desperate struggle for possession of the quarterdeck, which Brian and Cathbarr held. The Dark Master's men swarmed up at them bravely enough, but the ax and sword flashed up and down, and time after time the Millhaven men fell back, unable to win a footing.
He was very worn and weary, but when he had eaten and drunk he refused to sleep yet a while, and told how that storm had fared north and what had come of it. "So I have lost a hundred and fifty hard-won men," he concluded gloomily. "I would not grudge them if the Dark Master had fallen, but he is in Galway, and the Millhaven pirates will be down to meet him, and that means war on Bertragh."
If we find them in the castle, as I think we shall, we may leave them there until we have finished the Millhaven men; however, it is possible that my men will find the castle almost unguarded, and so take it at the first blow. However that turns out, the Dark Master shall not escape us this time."
If the Dark Master reached Galway town in safety, those O'Donnells from Millhaven would be around by sea to meet him, and the royalists would lend him men and guns to go against Bertragh in their cause. "Is there any likelihood that the Dark Master will miss those scattered men of his?" he asked Turlough, who rode on his right hand. "Little, master.
"It says that O'Donnell bides alone by the Black Tarn, and that his horsemen from the north are camped two miles beyond the mountain, waiting for him, and that he has made pact with the Millhaven pirates and they have left for their stronghold. Answer me whence came this? It is written in good English writing, man!"
Brian gazed up at the gray-jutted crags, but his thoughts were not all with the Dark Master. Him he already accounted slain, and he was thinking of that Millhaven stronghold. One day his own banner should fly there, he told himself.
It lay only another day's march ahead of them, and there was some danger that their quarry would descry their coming and flee away to Millhaven. "This is my rede, master;" said Turlough, "that you and I ride ahead with a few men to see how things go, and leave our men to follow.
The third message was from Galway itself, and said that the Dark Master was biding the coming of those Millhaven men, and had been promised both horsemen and shot if they came, so that Bertragh might be taken and held for Ireland against the Parliament. "It is not taken yet," laughed Nuala as old Turlough came shuffling up, and they gave him the sele of the day merrily enough.
He saw that the Dark Master must have sent this galley out to meet the Millhaven men, and that the crew had taken the two caracks for those pirate ships. "We are the O'Donnells from Millhaven," he shouted, and ordered the seaman to cast down ropes to the galley. Her master, a stout man with bushy black beard, waved a hand in reply, and after another moment the two craft ground together.
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