Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/590

570 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. above the water. The cracks in the rock were filled with masonry, presenting a smooth front of stone on every side. If attacked only from the land, and by the old methods, it might have stood a siege for a hundred years. But times were changed. The ships lay out- side at anchor to prevent the garrison from escaping in boats. Half a dozen heavy guns were landed and placed in position, and a fire was opened so terrible to the unpractised Irish ear, that the annalists say there was not a glen from Killarney lakes to the far parts of Clare where the roar of these unknown and wonderful cannon was not heard. Down fell the barbican, down fell the walls of the keep, forming in heaps against the side of the rock, and opening a road to a storming party. A hundred English soldiers waded over when the tide fell, carried the castle in an hour, and slew every one that they found in it, Julian only being allowed a few hours* shrift to tell who he was and whence he came. 1 Ashketyn was to have been taken next ; but Desmond's people, terrified at the fate of Carrigafoyle, blew it up with powder and fled. Mut- terings of dismay began to be heard among them. Where was the promised help ? Why were the Span- iards so slow ? A little more delay, and their friends, when they came, might find them all dead. Pelham, at Elizabeth's order, wrote to Lady Desmond, offering a pardon to herself and the Earl, if Sanders and Davell's 1 Pelham to the Queen, from the camp at Carrigafoyle, April 6 : MSS f