The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue by Trish Hanan (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

of all kinds. Cast-iron fences were the most common and the most welcomed. Cast-iron anything was the most welcomed. Ennis ships brought all that they could and miners worked twenty-four hours to meet the demand.
The foundry worked twenty-four hours a day putting out cannons and shots were fired off every day tested them. The citizens of Jamestown would flinch with pride every time they heard the boom of the cannons.
“There goes another one!” they would exclaim proudly as they cut meat in the butcher shop.
“My Billy’s on a cannon at the Fort,” one mother told another proudly at a dress shop. “He’s going to be stationed at Pembroke waiting for the Hamish to come back. He hopes to sink a warship.”
“You must be so proud,” the other mother gushed and hugged her.
Danny and Ryan sat on the battlement of the fort where they could watch the cannon testing going on. They loved to see the balls sailing off into the ocean. Sean had discovered a way to put the powder in little cloth bags instead of just stuffing it down the barrel, it was neater and you got a more concentrated boom. The balls went farther. So now they stuffed two, three or four bags down the barrels depending on how far they wanted the cannonballs to go. Sean put a bunch of old boats in Jamestown harbor with distances on them and targets for the men who were called cannoniers to aim for. The old men loved to watch them aim and try to figure out how many bags were used with each shot.
“Ah, that had to be a four bag one, that went three hundred yards,” Ryan said as he peered through his binoculars. Danny peered through his and nodded.
“He missed the boat though; he was too far to the left,” he muttered and they both laughed. Sean sneaked up behind them.
“Do you lads think you could do better,” he teased them. They both turned around and grinned.
“Don’t you go and spoil our fun, Granddad, we’re old men,” Ryan said. Sean laughed.
“I wasn’t going to spoil you fun, I was just teasing,” he told them and sat down on the chair next to them and sighed. It was the first chance he had all day to get out of the office. “And to think I used to think farming was hard work. Paperwork is damned hard work.” The two men laughed at him.
“Got a cramp in you hand, do you?” Danny teased. Sean grinned at him.
“If I sign General Sean Donoghue one more time, I swear I’ll scream,” he declared. Just then Young Sean came running up the stairs.
“Granddad,” he shouted holding up a clipboard. “You need to sign this so we can send a dozen cannons to Pembroke,” he told him and handed him the clipboard with papers on it. All three men burst into laughter. Young Sean looked confused.
“What?” he said. Sean just shrugged.
“Nothing, lad, here, I’ve signed away my life to you, now run off and get those cannons to Pembroke, it’s been a year and four months and those Hamish bastards should be showing up any day now,” he said and his Captain ran off. Ryan nodded.
“Do you really think they’ll come back?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“It was winter and cold so most of them didn’t get a real good look at my cannons so all they’re thinking is we go lucky and all we have is rifles,” he explained. “So they’ll go to Ennis and get some rifles, load up their ships with men and come back thinking with rifles the playing field is even and they’ll be plenty mad that we beat them so quickly. They’ll be back, but we’ll be waiting and we’ve got nearly a hundred Donoghue cannons waiting for them.” Sean leaned back in his chair and laughed. Ryan and Danny heard the roar of a cannon and lifted their glasses to see where the ball went. The boat at three hundred and fifty yards exploded. The two men cheered.
“Three hundred and fifty feet, that was a four bagger for sure,” Ryan exhorted. Danny giggled. Sean grinned and closed his eyes.
Sean was in his office signing paperwork a month later, it was hot August day, the fourteenth and the ceiling fan was working overtime. Captain Donoghue was pouting because his senior officer was making him do his paperwork too. Sean looked over at Young Sean and grinned. At twenty-one the lad was a handsome lad and the girls flocked to him like bees to honey. They were both bored today though. Suddenly the office door banged open and Corporal Kevin Donoghue raced in and rushed to Sean’s desk. He stood before it and saluted.
“Begging the General’s pardon but Major Jefferies wanted you to know that three ships are coming close to the harbor and they’re flying Ennis flags but he says they look like Hamish warships to him,” he said in a rushed excited voice. Sean and Young Sean quickly got up and picked up their hats.
“Thank you, Corporal, man you battle station, alert the Fort, we are under attack,” Sean informed him and Kevin grinned.
“Yes, Granddad,” he said and ran out. At the door he paused. “They sure took their sweet old time getting here didn’t they?” he asked with a big grin. Sean grinned back.
“That’s the Hamish for you, lad, they don’t do anything easy,” he informed him and they all left the office.
Sean took his position on the battlement and peered through the binoculars his Major handed him.
“Well, well, look at what we have here,” he said loudly so all his men could hear. “Three Hamish warships flying Ennis flags, do they really think we’re going to fall for that old trick?” All of his men laughed.
“They’re lowering long boats and those Ennish sailors are wearing purple and gray Hamish soldier uniforms, General,” Major Thomas Jefferies informed him. Sean laughed.
“Are the cannons prepared to fire?” he shouted. His question was relayed down the line to all eight cannons. Answers were relayed back. The Major turned to him.
“Cannons are loaded and ready to fire, General,” he answered. Sean nodded.
“All cannons fire on the ship that’s ahead of them, cannons one, two and three on the ship to their right, three and four to the middle ship and four, five and six to the one of left, Four bags gentlemen, let’s get them with one shot,” he ordered. The Major shouted the order. A minute later eight cannons fired with a roar that was heard in the President’s office. Henry looked up from his desk.
“That’s not a test, send someone to the Fort and see what’s going on,” he demanded of his secretary. The man nodded. Just then five hundred soldiers appeared in the street outside and quickly surrounded the Presidential office. Four soldiers appeared in the office.
“Mr. President, I’m Major Donoghue and General Donoghue sent me and my men to inform you that the Hamish have attacked and we are here to protect you,” he stated and saluted. Henry nodded. John came out of his office.
“What are all these soldiers doing surrounding the building, it’s like we’re under attack,” he asked. Henry nodded.
“The Hamish have arrived, John,” he informed him. “Sean has sent his men to protect us.” John grinned.
“I knew he’d be on top of things but does he really expect that many of them to make it to shore?” he teased. The Major shrugged.
“No, Sir, he does not, but Granddad likes to be prepared for anything,” he informed them and then asked them to stay in the building for now and he’d let them know when it was safe. He left soldiers guarding the doorways. The secretary smiled.
“I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but I feel a whole lot safer knowing they’re here,” he said. Henry nodded and he thought of maybe getting some kind of men on a regular basis after the Hamish war was over to guard the offices. Sean was right; it never hurt to be prepared for anything.
The first eight cannonballs hit their targets and the decks of the Hamish ships exploded with a fury as masts and men were tossed into the ocean like toys. The men on the battlements cheered. Sean nodded.
“Aim lower, gentlemen. Let’s sink those ships, four bags and fire again,” he shouted. His orders were relayed and the cannons roared once more. This time the balls hit the bows of the ships and big holes appeared as the ships were torn apart. There was no hope for them or the sailors on them as they quickly sank. Sean ordered his long boats put to sea to look for the wounded and survivors. Soon the fort was packed with men dying and getting patched up. Women volunteers helped the wounded and green-leaf paste was put on the wounded. All Hamish rifles were rounded up, they didn’t work once dipped in the ocean water but Sean figured once they were dried out they would be fine. He put the senior officers in the cells in the Fort and visited them with President Adams.
“You fired on friendly ships, you Anamylians are monsters,” General Westinghouse declared as he sat in his still damp uniform from his ocean trip adventure. Sean peered at him between the bars and laughed.
“General Westinghouse, you were a Hamish warship flying a Ennis flag trying to fool us into thinking you were friendly so you could land your soldiers on our shores to kill us, did you really think we were going to fall for that old trick?” he asked him softly. The officers behind the General had the grace to look ashamed.
“For all you know we could have been an Ennish trader,” the General insisted. Sean laughed.
“When we saw the long boats with the purple and gray soldiers; General; we knew you weren’t a friendly Ennish trader,” he informed him. The General flushed. A Major spoke up.
“What was that thing you were firing at us, that blew a hole in our ships?” he asked. The others nodded. Sean smiled.
“That, my friends, was called a Donoghue cannon and you’re looking at the man who invented it,” he told them. “It fires a steel cannonball up to five hundred yards and as you can see, can sink a ship. We have over a hundred of them guarding our coast and any attempt of the Hamish to land a force on our shores will be met with a greater force. You can tell that to King William when you get home. Anamylia is a free country and it will stay free.” President Adams nodded.
It took them a month to get enough ships to get the Hamish out of their country but once they were out they figured they were out for good this time. Sean handed the fort over to General Richard York who was a career soldier and happy to have five cannons at his command. Sean took his first cannon home with him as a souvenir and of course two of them as promised to the Malweenahs. He visited the President before he left Jamestown.
“I can’t believe you’d leave the Fort to go home to the