Conal

“ You, Duncan, shall be acting third mate, and Conal I'll rate as auxiliary. You haven't neglected your studies, have you?"
"No, sir, and both myself and Conal mean to go in for our first exam, as soon as we get to London."
"Bravo! But I won't hinder you longer. Frank shall stay on with you a bit, and I expect you all to come and dine with me to-night at my hotel. Can you?"
"All but me," said Conal. This wasn't quite grammatical, but it was truth. "One of us must be ship-keeper."
"That's right. Never shirk your duty for anyone or anything. ”

“ He endured Davey's company, but there was that in his mind against him which one man does not easily forgive another. As they drew nearer Wirreeford, and the thoughts of each took the same track, the latent animosity vibrated between them again.
Conal lost no time in getting out of the township and taking the road to the hills, Davey, conscious that it was Conal, and not he, who would stand well in the eyes of Deirdre and the Schoolmaster when the story of the road was told, lingered at Hegarty's. ”

“ Conal said restively, glancing at the waning sky. "If you could keep him busy, playing cards and drinking—let him think we weren't upset at seeing him and he Seems to be settlin' down and looking foolish findin' we're all about—I might walk out after a bit. I could get the beasts, with Davey and that blithering half-breed. Sally's easily worth a couple of men with cattle." ”

“ Frank was reminded of these remarks by his fellows some time after this, and after a thrilling adventure, in which he happened to be first-person-singular.
"But I say," he added, "what shall we call ourselves? Crusoes? Eh?"
"I think," said Conal, "that a Crusoe must live on an island."
"Hermits, then."
"No. You can't have a plurality of hermit. A hermit is a hermit, and he is all by himself. If a lot of people come and live in the same place he is a hermit no longer."
"Solitaires," suggested Duncan.
Conal laughed aloud. ”

“ His face was turned towards her, humble and mysteriously moved, a strong light in his eyes.
So absorbed were they that they did not hear, or if they heard, paid no attention to the grind of wheels on the gravel before the shanty, the yelping and snarling of dogs that announced the arrival of a vehicle at Steve's, and such late arrivals were not usual.
"I've had my way with women. They've told you tales of me, I know," Conal pleaded. "But there's never a woman I've cared for but you, Deirdre. ”

“ Only if M'Laughlin brought a tracker would he be able to follow Deirdre.
Farrel wondered how word had reached McNab, and what foolhardiness had led Conal to bring these branded calves to the paddock below Steve's. For a moment the idea that Conal, baited and maddened with drink, might have given some hint at McNab's of the beasts being in Steve's paddock, occurred to him. And then there was Davey. For a while his mind brooded over what had happened to him.
"It was only mad with drink, Conal could have shot at a man in the dark," he told himself. "The open fight is his way." ”

“ Conal II., the grandson of Conal I., who was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, next ruled over the tribes of Cantyre and Argyle; but Dungal, of the race of Lorn, having obtained the government of the tribe of Lorn, questioned the right of Conal. He did not, however, carry his pretensions far, for Conal died, in undisturbed possession of his dominions, in 652, after a reign of ten years. To Donal-duin, or the brown, son of Conal, who reigned thirteen years, succeeded Maolduin, his brother, in 665. ”

“ You're right. It'll be better to wait till the morning," he said, with, for Conal, a strange quietude. "I want to give the mare a rub down and a feed. Are there any bones for Sally? Throw a shakedown by the fire for me. I'll be in directly."
CHAPTER XLIV
Conal was early astir. Deirdre heard him moving in the kitchen and then out of doors.
When he came in again, she had spread a cloth on the end of the table. Bacon and eggs were spluttering in a shallow pan on the hearth, a pot of porridge was ready for him, the kettle steaming. ”

“ No one smelt mischief brewing quicker than he. He had seen McNab's face. He knew Young Davey's temper and the sort of man he was growing. He knew Conal, too, and that no love was lost between them. It was an urgent matter would send Davey looking through the town for Conal that way, he guessed, and knowing something of the business they had in hand, as an old roadster always does, imagined the cause of the urgency. ”

“ But Conal knows his business. It'll be all right, I suppose. There's nobody goes Narrow Valley way but Cameron's men, and they're not likely to be going this time of the year—seeing the rains are due. Conal had a look at the fences when he was up a couple of days ago, didn't he? Though fences aren't much good. Seen a wild cow fly like a bird when she wants to. Good thing Conal got away before the rains, Dan. ”

“ The Schoolmaster, coming back from the stables, called Conal.
"McNab's been to see Deirdre," he said. "He's got an idea something's in the wind, she seems to think. It's just as well we fixed for to-night, Conal. It won't give him any time to get busy. But hadn't you better be getting down to cover before it's much later?"
"It's only a couple of miles, by the track Teddy goes. There's time enough yet," Conal replied, his eyes on the open door, gaping dark against the brightness of the sunshine.
Davey followed Deirdre indoors. ”

“ The mob went slowly eastward, grazing as it moved, and was in prime condition when Conal handed it over to Maitland in Cooburra, on the New South Wales side. Maitland was a big man in the district, head of the well-known firm of stock dealers; no difficulties were made about the turn-over. When Conal had had some talk with him, and Davey and he had loafed about the town for a day or two, they went out again with half a hundred poor beasts from a drought-stricken Western run. ”

“ Conal spun from his chair. His oaths startled the birds from their night perches under the roof.
"He'll not do that, Deirdre!" he cried. "Not while there's life in me. Rot him—the crawler! To come here scaring the wits out of you. I'll screw the last breath out of him, before—"
He made for the door. Deirdre went after him. She put her hand on his arm.
"You'll do no good now, Conal," she said. "You're done yourself. Rest till morning. Then you can go to McNab. If he knows there's a man about to stand by me, p'raps he won't dare to do what he said." ”

“ So there they sat and chatted--ship-master and man, with their tumblers of hot grog on the top of the stove--till six bells in the middle watch.
Then the boys and Viking retired.
"I say, Conal," said Duncan that evening, just before turning in, "I think I should like to be a sailor."
"Well," replied Conal, "I should like to visit far-away countries, where hardly anybody had ever been before, and try to make some money just to be able to help father in his difficulties."
"Poor father, yes. Well, young fellows have made money before now." ”

“ Now, we have nothing."
"Nonsense, Conal; we have clear heads, we have a good education, and we have a pair of willing hands each. That makes a good outfit, Conal, and many a one has conquered fate with far less."
The voyage to London was a long and tedious one, for they had to struggle for days against head-winds, and tack and half tack isn't the quickest way to a port.
But long before they reached the mouth of the Thames, and were taken in tow by a tug-boat, the boys had cemented quite a friendship with Captain Talbot and his mate Morgan. ”

“ Never mind, Duncan received no less than three hearty encores, and surely that was enough to please anyone.
"What a lonely life to lead!" said Conal next day at breakfast.
"Yes," said Morgan, "and I shouldn't care to get spliced and settle down here all my life, pretty and all as the girls are."
"Well, you would live long and be healthy anyhow if you did," said Captain Talbot.
The mate laughed as he helped himself to another huge slice of barracouta.
"Never mind that, sir. I wouldn't marry and live in Tristan if they gave me three wives."
"But aren't these girls shy?" said Frank. ”

“ Teddy and I ran up a yard near the old hut in Narrow Valley. That's what's been keeping me. Steve's goin' to send tucker and fire-irons down to-day."
"What about young Cameron?" the Schoolmaster asked.
"We'll have to keep an eye on him. You don't suppose he'll blab, do you? You say he knows the game already and hasn't. But we can't afford to take chances."
"But he's not to be dragged in, Conal!"
Conal threw back his head, laughing.
"Well, I want another man," he said. "As for being dragged in, he won't be dragged in. ”

“ Here he struck the suitor under the chin.
"Hol' you head up, Choo-ka!" he cried. "De white man no eat de likes ob you!"
Choo-ka would have blushed if he hadn't been black.
"Is Lily willing?" said Conal, laughing.
"Oh ees, sah, she plenty willin' 'nuff."
"Well, consider it all arranged."
So Conal lost his nurse, and Choo-ka gained a bride. As, however, the girl had taken a great fancy for Jeannie, Frank gave the gorilla to her as a wedding gift, and Duncan presented her with a string of beautiful beads. ”

“ Eugenius III, Buchanan's forty-sixth king, said by him to have reigned 525–58 A.D., to have been the son of Congallius (Conal) and the successor of Goranus (Gabhran) , is equally unknown to these authorities. Conal and Gabhran appear to have been real kings, but Gabhran was succeeded by a Conal II, son of Conal I.
Eugenius IV, Buchanan's fifty-first king, who reigned, according to that writer, 605–21, was a son of Aidan, the king ‘ordained by St. ”

“ If you and your sons will get me the brown horse of the king of Lochlann, you shall get the souls of your sons."
"Why," said Conall, "should not I do the pleasure of the king, though there should be no souls of my sons in dread at all. Hard is the matter you require of me, but I will lose my own life, and the life of my sons, or else I will do the pleasure of the king." ”

“ He was Abbot of [Pg 7] Durrow in Ireland, but was obliged to leave his own country, because he had been engaged in a feud with some of his kinsfolk, in which his side was worsted. He came over to the new colony on the coast of Alba, and Conal, who was then King of the Dalriads, welcomed him, and gave him I, or Iona, an islet about a mile and a half long and a mile broad, lying west of the large island of Mull. ”

“ At these words there was great rejoicing amongst the lords of the Red Branch and all those who listened, and Conor, glad at heart, said, "My three best champions shall go to bring them back from their exile," and he named Conall the Victorious, Cuchulainn, and Fergus, the son of Rossa the Red. Then secretly he called Conall to him and asked him what he would do if he were sent to fetch the Sons of Usna, and, in spite of his safe-conduct, they were slain when they reached the land of the Ultonians. ”

“ The ring [92] of Conall's sword was heard throughout the battalions on both sides at that moment of time. However, as soon as they heard the music of Conall's sword, their hearts quaked and their eyes fluttered, and their faces whitened, and each of them withdrew back into his place of battle and of conflict and of combat.
40 However, it is then that Conall glanced behind him, and he saw approaching him Mes Dead son of Amairgin. "Good my life," said Conall, "O Mes Dead, the battle on thy favour and on thy protection." ”

“ The king's gillies came to seek the bran, and they took the four sacks with them, and they emptied them before the horses. The servants locked the door, and they went away.
When they rose to lay hand on the brown horse, said Conall, "You shall not do that. It is hard to get out of this; let us make for ourselves four hiding holes, so that if they hear us we may go and hide." They made the holes, then they laid hands on the horse. The horse was pretty well unbroken, and he set to making a terrible noise through the stable. The king heard the noise. ”

“ A brief digest of Conall's revenge is contained in the Book of Leinster, but modern copies of much longer and more literary versions exist, and there was no more celebrated poem amongst the later Gael than that [Pg 352] called the Lay of the Heads in which Conall Cearnach returns to Emer, Cuchulain's wife, to Emania, with a large bundle of heads strung upon a gad, or withy-wand, thrust through their mouths from cheek to cheek, and there explains in a lay to Emer who they were. ”

“ Reeves, that Conall gave and Brude confirmed the grant as a superior king, or perhaps because Iona lay on the confines of the Pictish territory. On the death of Conall, Columba ordained Aidan, the son of Gabran (the king who preceded Conall) , as his successor, apparently in conformity with the law of tanistry. In the year of Conall's death a battle, recorded by Tighemach, had been fought at Delgin in Kintyre, in which Duncan, son of Conall, and many of the kin of Gabran were killed, probably by the Picts, who were endeavouring to crush the rise of the Dalriad kingdom. ”

“ And there were sent then intelligencers and messengers from him to his absent friends, through the Gallic lands, to the foreign-lands of the foreigners. It was then that there was made a gathering and muster by them too; and their stores were prepared by them also, and their ships and their galleys were secured in order; and they came to the place in which Conall was.
9 It was then that Conall sent intelligencers and messengers from him to the lands of the Ulaid, that the Ulaid might not be in much-concern of preparation against [for] their foes and their enemies and their foreigners. ”