He walked
with a tolerably steady step, and uttered the response, 'Lord, have
mercy upon us,' in a firm voice."
Next to him came Larkin, in whose appearance confinement and anxiety
of mind had wrought a striking change. His physical strength seemed
shaken, and he required to be assisted by one of the warders in
ascending the long wooden stair that led to the scaffold. Last of
all came O'Brien, whose noble, firm, and dignified bearing won the
approbation of everyone who beheld him. A partition running in the
line of the wall divided the scaffold into an outer and an inner
platform, a small door opening between them. Allen and O'Brien, and
their attendants, having reached the top of the stair, waited on the
inner platform until Larkin and the rest of the attendant warders and
officials came up. Then, all being ready, the door was flung open,
and the boy-martyr was first led out upon the drop. His face, which
was deathly pale, appeared working with the effects of strong mental
agony. The high priest of English rule over Irishmen, Calcraft, came
forward, placed the treacherous noose around Allen's neck, pulled a
thin white cap over his ashen face, and then stooped, and securely
tied his feet together. The pinioning of the arms, which had been done
in the cell, allowed his hands, from the elbows downward, sufficient
freedom to clasp on his breast a crucifix, which ever and anon, as he
spoke aloud the responses of the litany, the poor young fellow seemed
to press closer and closer to his heart.
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