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Barrels rolled down wooden chutes onto wooden decks with a
deafening
clatterA steamship blew its piercing whistle; another rang its
clangorous bellA row of barefooted loaders moved across a
gangplank,
carrying bales of cotton and singingFlags in bright colors and gaudy
decorated pennants snapped in the windGulls swooped and
squawked
Their driver stood up and cracked hiswhipThe buggy jerked forward,
scattering a crowd of gaping pedestriansScarlett laughed into the
gusty windThey careened around a phalanx of barrels awaiting
loading, clattered past a slow-moving dray, and pulled to a jouncing
halt"I hope you're not expecting to be paid extra for the white
hairs you've put on my head," Colum said to the driver
He jumped down and held up his hand to Kathleen to help her down
"You've not forgotten my box, Colum?" she said"All the traps are
here betimes, darlingGo on over, now, and give your cousins a kiss
to say goodbye He buy chanel bag pointed towards Maureen"You can't miss that
red
hair shining like a beacon When Kathleen ran off, he spoke quietly
to Scarlett"You'll not forget what I told you about the name, now,
Scarlett darling?"
"I won't forget She smiled, enjoying the harmless conspiracy
"You'll be Scarlett O'Hara and no other on this voyage and in Ireland,"
he had told her with a wink
"It's nothing to do with you or yours, Scarlett darling, but Butler is
a powerful famous name in Ireland, and all of its fame is heinous
Scarlett didn't mind at allShe was going to enjoy being an O'Hara
for as long as she couldThe Brian Boru was, as Colum had promised,
a
fine, shining shipHer hull was gleaming white with gilt scroll
trim
Gilt trimmed the emerald-colored cover of the gigantic paddle wheels
as
well, and her name in gilt letters two feet high was painted on them in
a frame of gilt arrowsThe Union Jack flew from her flagstaff, but a
green silk banner prada bags cheap decorated with a golden harp waved boldly from her
forward mast
She was a luxury passenger ship, catering to the expensive tastes of
rich Americans who travelled to Ireland for sentiment-to see the
villages where emigrant grandfathers were born-or for show-to visit, in
all their finery, the villages where they had been born
The public rooms and staterooms were oversized and overdecorated
The crew was trained to satisfy every whimThere was a
disproportionately large hold, compared to the usual passenger ship,
because Irish-Americans carried with them gifts for all their relatives
and returned with multiple souvenirs of their visitsThe baggage
handlers treated every trunk and every crate as if it were full of
glassIt was not unknown for prosperous
third-generation American Irish wives to light every room in their new
houses with Waterford crystal chandeliersA broad platform with
sturdy railings was built across the top of the paddle cambon chanel wheel on which
Scarlett stood with Colum and a handful of adventurous passengers to
wave a final goodbye to her cousInsThere'd been time only for hasty
farewells on the dock because the Brian Boru had to catch the
outgoing
tideShe blew excited kisses to the massed O'HarasThere'd been no
school this morning for the children, and Jamie had even closed the
store for an hour so that he and Daniel could come down and see them
offSlightly behind and to one side of the others stood quiet
StephenHe raised his hand once in a signal to ColumIt signified
that Scarlett's trunks had been opened and repacked en route to the
shipAmong the layers of tissue paper and petticoats and frocks and
gowns were the tightly wrapped, oiled rifles and the boxes of
ammunition he had purchased in BostonLike their fathers and
grandfathers and generations before them, Stephen, Jamie, Matt,
Colum,
and even Uncle James were all militantly opposed to black chanel handbag English rule over
IrelandFor more than two hundred years the O'Haras had risked
their
lives to fight, sometimes even kill, their foes, in abortive, ill-fated
small actionsOnly in the past ten years had an organization begun to
growDisciplined and dangerous, financed from America, the Fenians
were becoming known throughout IrelandThey were heroes to the
Irish
peasant, anathema to English landowners, and to English military
forces
revolutionaries fit only for deathColum O'Hara was the most
successful fund-raiser and one of the foremost clandestine leaders of
the Fenian BrotherhoodBrian Boru moved ponderously between the
banks
of the Savannah River, pulled by steamdriven tugboatsWhen at last
it
reached the Atlantic, its deep whistle saluted the departing tugs and
its great sails were loosedThe passengers cheered as the ship's prow
dipped into the gray-green waves at the river's mouth and the
tremendous paddle wheels began to chanel pearl necklace ch |
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