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    The Musicians
    The Musicians
    The Musicians
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    The Musicians

    By Liam McAuley

    ()

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    About this ebook

    It is 1846 when twelve-year-old street urchin Ian Walsh and his eleven-year-old drummer friend Danny Higgins decide to abandon their hardships and travel from Ireland to America. With hopes of landing jobs building a railroad in California and finding the lost cities of gold, Ian and Danny board a cargo ship bound for New York.

    As the ship sets sail on the sea, Dannyaffectionately nicknamed Smiles by the crewis happier than he has ever been. Once Ian finds his sea legs, he contentedly spends his days perched at the bow of the ship writing in his diary. After a twenty-three-day journey across the Atlantic, the ship docks in the port of New York. The two boys soon learn that the United States is at war with Mexico and that the President is calling for volunteers to meet the Mexican threat. There is no questionIan and Danny feel compelled to help and sign up as drummer boys in the First New York.

    As the two boys begin a new life in a country in the midst of great change, they learn to rely on their instinct, scrappiness, and most of all, courage.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateNov 24, 2010
    ISBN9781450276085
    The Musicians
    Author

    Liam McAuley

    Liam McAuley, a Huntington, New York, native, earned a bachelor of arts degree in geography from the State University of New York at Binghamton. A former member of the United States Air Force, he currently lives in Bradenton, Florida, where he enjoys reading about history.

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      Book preview

      The Musicians - Liam McAuley

      Copyright © 2010 Liam McAuley

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      ISBN: 978-1-4502-7607-8 (pbk)

      ISBN: 978-1-4502-7609-2 (cloth)

      ISBN: 978-1-4502-7608-5 (ebk)

      Printed in the United States of America

      iUniverse rev. date: 11/18/10

      To Goran Blaznic and Predrag Milicevic,

      the Bosnian boys whose courage inspired me

      Contents

      Foreword

      Dr. Joseph Stephen Schon, former professor, University of New York in Prague and the Anglo-American University of Prague, and former director of international affairs of (National Registry of Environmental Professionals).

      Out of Ireland

      Getting Our Drums

      The War

      A New Lifestyle

      Growing Up in Charleston

      The High Seas

      The Coward

      Epilogue: Jack Shaw

      Foreword

      My friend Liam, the author of this book, asked me to read one of the last printed copies of the first edition. During our conversation, he stated that he is somewhat puzzled as to why his eighty-three-page used paperback book is presently being sold over the Internet for $135–$185. As I read the book, I realized the appeal, and I discovered that it was hard to stop until I reached the very last page. The Musicians is easy and enjoyable reading for almost all ages. This book chronicles the adventures and misadventures of two Irish boys in America before and during the Mexican War and before and during the Civil War, as well as their trip as cabin boys on a large cargo sailboat from Belfast to New York. Although the story itself is fiction, it reflects many historical details from American history. In my opinion, as well as the opinion of my wife, Maya, this book is an excellent piece of work and a pleasure to read. I am glad that the author is preparing a second edition, as I will buy the first copy of that book!

      Dr. Joseph Stephen Schon

      Former professor,

      University of New York in Prague and Anglo-American University of Prague, and former director of (National Registry of Environmental Professionals).

      Out of Ireland

      It all started on a street in Belfast. I was the typical Irish kid, with black hair and blue eyes and a round face with dimples. It was 1846, and I was only twelve years old, begging for some money. A couple came by. They were all dressed up in fancy clothes, and the missus had plenty of jewelry on. She was also loaded up with that sweet-smelling stuff called perfume. I went up all polite and asked them, I beg your pardon, miss; could you spare a halfpenny?

      Harry! the missus cried. Get this street urchin away from me! She continued to scream. I realized that my bruised lip had scared her, rather than bringing out sympathy; I had been in a fight earlier with some Protestant boys.

      Harry gave me a push. Get out of here, you piece of filth, he shouted.

      I responded in anger. Your missus is the one who uses that sweet-smelling stuff to try to hide her stench, not me, I told him.

      Harry raised his hand to swing at me, but I ducked it and ran around the missus a few times as she screamed. Harry was still trying to catch me, so I decided to get out of there before a constable came.

      As I ran down the street, I heard someone call my name: Ian, Ian!

      I turned around and saw my friend Danny Higgins.

      Ian, your lip … you got into another fight with the Protestant boys, didn’t you?

      Aye, it took four of them to get me down, I told him. I landed a few good hits on them before they knocked me down. I could tell immediately that he wasn’t really interested in the story of my fight. He was hopping from foot to foot and excitedly waving a newspaper in the air.

      There is a story about America in the paper. Will you read it to me? he asked.

      Danny had grand thoughts about America and dreamed of going there. He was only eleven; his mother had died when he was very young, and his father was too drunk to care about him. He spent most of his time with me, on the streets, and I took care of him.

      Okay, Danny, let me see the paper, I told him, and he handed it to me. They’re talking about building a railroad from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast—a place called California.

      Isn’t California where the lost cities of gold are?

      Yeah, I said, there are seven of them. The Indians hid them from the Spanish. I knew what he was leading up to: going to California and searching for the cities of gold.

      Sure enough, he said, Ian, we could go there and look for them. I was down at the docks and saw all these ships getting ready to leave for America. I asked a sailor, and he said they were going to New York, where we could take the train to California.

      We could, Danny, but I don’t think the trains will be running for a while.

      You could get us on a ship going to America, Ian.

      He had much more faith in me than I did. I did not know how I was going to pull it off, but I said to him anyway, Let’s go see the ships, Danny.

      All right, Ian … but first let me play a new drumbeat that I heard the British soldiers marching to. He pulled out two sticks that he had whittled to resemble drumsticks and began rapping them against the side of a building. He loved the sound of drums and would follow the British soldiers around just to hear them. With his two sticks, he would try to imitate the drumbeats he had heard. I don’t know how he did it, but it sounded good.

      What do you think, Ian?

      It is good, Danny, but the ships are waiting.

      We set off for the docks.

      Everything was just as Danny had described. I had never seen the docks so busy; ships were being loaded up everywhere we looked. But what amazed me most was the cargo. They were packing people into the ships like cattle. I figured at this rate, Ireland would be empty by Christmas. Maybe Danny was right; maybe it was time to leave.

      See, Ian? All these ships are going to America.

      Aye, I do believe you are right.

      Looking around, I saw a sailor coming up from the docks and stopped him to explore the possibilities. Excuse me, sir.

      What is it, son? I’m in a hurry, he said gruffly.

      Me and my friend wanted to become cabin boys; we are hard workers. Do you know a ship that might need some?

      Can’t help you, son. Like I said, I’m in a hurry.

      He started

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