Part 7 (1/2)
About the middle of June, 1849, Captain Mayne Reid, in company with the revolutionary leader Hecker, and others bent upon the same errand, sailed in the Cunard steamshi+p ”Caledonia” for Liverpool, to aid the revolutionarythe legion raised in New York, were to follow in another steamer
On arrival at Liverpool, Captain Reid and Hecker received the intelligence, which had just arrived, that the Bavarian revolution was at an end They were therefore to proceed direct for Hungary, so soon as their men should arrive Their plans had been toleave of his friend Hecker, Captain Mayne Reid appointed to join him in London in about a week or ten days Mayne Reid then took the first boat leaving for Warren Point, to visit his native ho on his perilous expedition He landed in Ireland on theof July 12th, and at once took a car to Rathfriland, so it about er to Ballyroney to break the news of his return to his fa left Aht have upon his mother, for _la joie fait peur_
The Captain quickly followed on the heels of his ine this reunion after so long an absence He had left hoh lad welcos were saddened with the reflection that he hbours vied each with the others in doing honour to the hero
Captain Reid, aht over froht of these weapons caused no little consternation at Ballyroney
The tireed upon with Hecker expired, and Mayne Reid bade adieu to his houst He at once threw all his energies into the Hungarian cause
Shortly after his arrival in London a publicwas held at the Hanover Square Rooary as a nation
Mayne Reid was present, and the following is a report of his part in the proceedings:
”Colonel Reid, United States, moved the next resolution, and announced himself to be at the head of a band of bold Americans, who had arrived in this ary, to place their swords and lives at the disposal of her people The resolution he overnary by this country is no less demanded by considerations of justice and policy and the commercial interests of the two States, than with a view to putting a stop to the effusion of hu the prospect of the fearful and bloody sepulchre of a soldier' 'Gentlemen,' he said, 'let us hope that this result may never be--let us pray that it may never be; and before I resume my seat I will offer a prayer to the God of Oe of the eloquent Curran: May the Austrian and the Russian sink together in the dust; yar walk abroad in his own majesty; may his body swell beyond thefroenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation'”
But Captain Mayne Reid was not destined to fight in the cause of Hungary, any more than in the Baden insurrection Fate held different purposes for him to fulfil
Before the expedition had started caust 9th, 1849 Kossuth had been compelled to abandon his position and flee into Turkey, and the subjugation of Hungary was soon after coion, and Captain Reid helped the to America
To raise sufficient funds for this purpose he sold ht over
Captain Mayne Reid now finally sheathed his sword, once an those marvellous tales of adventure which have made his name famous
CHAPTER NINE
HIS FIRST ROMANCES
Captain Mayne Reid now sought to find a publisher for his first roers,” which he had written at Donn Piatt's house in Ohio, and to which he had now put the finishi+ng touches in London
To find a publisher for a book by an unknown author was no easy task
Eventually the as published by Williauinea, on an agreement to pay the author half the profits The preface to ”The Rifle Rangers” is as follows:
”The incidents are not fictitious, but allowancewhich fancy has doubtless ih ure under fictitious names; they are portraits nevertheless”
The book was dedicated to his friend, Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart
”The Rifle Rangers” became at once a success, and the reviews in the press were of thedescription The _Observer_, April 7th, 1850, says:
”Two extraordinary volu with varied Mexican adventures, and written by no everydayto his own analysis of himself, what Byron wrote of Bonaparte:
”'And quiet to quick bosoms is a bell!'