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soldiers came.
    A troop of red-coated British soldiers marched into the
        BLOODLINES 15
     
    town, their officer on horseback. The officer rode to Father Moran and
    accused him of sedition. Fury and resentment ran through the congregation,
    but the priest held up his cross.
        "Go peacefully about your ways," he called to his flock. They fell
        silent, but stayed to watch for the safety of their shepherd. Jamie,
        standing with Sean, was aware of a deep and awful anger in his friend,
        and Sean glared at Jamie. -
        "Was it you who told?" he whispered furiously. Jamie swore not, but Sean
        was not convinced.
    "You knew," he said. "And someone told."
        Father Moran was arrested and tied to the posts of the village well. The
        old priest was flogged mercilessly in front of the people, and then
        dragged away. A palpable fury ran through the Crowd as they witnessed the
        flaying, and they jeered the soldiers, but the time was not right for
        rebellion. Some few lads threw stones and clumps of earth at the sol-
        diers, but were chased and beaten for it.
        As they walked home, Sean kicked the ground in his fury and frustration.
        Jamie tried to say something to comfort him, but Sean rounded on him, and
        asked him if he was proud of his rich, Protestant ruling class now. Jamie
        protested. He had been horrified by what he had seen, but did not know
        what they could have done to prevent it.
    "We must fight," Sean said. "We must be rid of them."
        Jamie could not see how they could win. The soldiers had guns. The
        peasants had only pitchforks.
        "It is enough," Sean insisted. "We are many and they are few, and it is
        better to die for what you believe in than live in bondage."
        He looked at his friend, who was not, at that moment, his friend.
    "Would you die for what you believe in?"
        Jamie felt guilty, because he was not sure that he would. The violence
        of the soldiers, and their blatant abuse of their power, had frightened
        him.
        Sean saw the fear and doubt in his eyes. "Living up there in your fine
        mansion, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you don't even know what
        you believe," he said disgustedly, and turned away.
    It was true, Jamie thought. He loved Sean and his family,
    16 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
     
    and Jugs and old Quinn, and his heart bled for their Ireland. He loved his
    sisters and brothers, and respected his father and what he had achieved.
    Above everything, he knew he loved being alive, and shuddered at the
    prospect of laying down his life for a cause he did not believe could
    triumph. The temporary souring of his friendship with Sean made him
    examine his heart, and he was shocked to discover that there was nothing
    he believed in that was worth his life. And not having such a cause, and
    lacking his friend, he was lonely, and sought for some passionate faith.
     
    Jamie returned home to be greeted by his father's wrath. James knew his
    son had attended the mass, because Dacre Hamilton had told him. He knew
    that a visiting English business friend had been assaulted, on leaving the
    Jackson mansion, by some peasants as a reprisal for the beating of Father
    Moran, because Dacre Hamilton had told him. He knew that his standing
    within his small, privileged community was threatened by the various
    actions of his children, because Dacre Hamilton had told him.
        James Jackson also knew that his business could not survive without the
        patronage of the British. He didn't need Dacre Hamilton to tell him this;
        it was the law of the land. There was an embargo on all Irish commerce
        and trade unless a British agent was involved. If it was decided that
        James was a Catholic sympathizer, or an Irish collaborationist, the
        agents would find other sources of supply for