About
noon
`` You here ! Sergeant , here 's one prisoner for you , at any rate . '' Two soldiers seized me , and I was marched away towards Dublin . About noon the party halted , and the soldiers lay down and chatted on a patch of grass , while my own thoughts turned sadly back to the friend I had known . Suddenly I heard a song sung by a voice I knew , and afterwards a loud clapping of hands . Darby M'Keown was there in the midst of the soldiers , and as I turned to look at him , my hand came in contact with a clasp-knife . I managed with it to free my arms from the ropes that fastened them , but what was to be done next ?