Short Story: Donoghu’s Hour

This story was found in the middle of a book called “Stories Without Women (and a Few with Women)” written by Donn Byrne and published in 1915.  The book is a collection of short stories written about men doing manly things such as boxing, big game hunting, flying combat aircraft, etc.  It’s a real precursor to the adventure pulp magazines that were just starting to appear and would grow in popularity in 1920’s and continue to be what all really cool “men among men” read well into the 1960’s.   Byrne was an Irish writer (Brian Oswald Patrick Donn-Byrne) who started with poems and short stories and later full length novels.  This story is a study in Irish pride and describes an officer commanding Seneglese troops involved in some mad scramble (vs. British troops) for territory in the central Sudan.  When he was younger he joined the British Army but poor treatment by fellow British officers quickly sends Donoghu to join the Foreign Legion.  After his five years in the Legion he becomes an NCO and then makes it into the officer corps as a commander of native troops and eventually a fifteen year veteran of the desert known as Ce bon Irlandais.  Not much action but a good case study on how one man (could have) came to join the Legion.

Donoghu’s Hour