a peremptory order on the commission in Dublin, to stay all proceedings
in the matter of Captain Davenant's estate near Bray, which was on the
list of confiscated properties. I am forwarding this by one of the royal
messengers, who leaves with despatches today, and, when I visit Dublin, I
shall do myself the pleasure of calling on Mrs. Davenant, and of setting
her mind at ease."

While Walter had been at his worst, his father had been away for only a
few hours. After his interview with Sarsfield in Limerick, a messenger
arrived from that general, ordering Captain Davenant to bring his troop
into the city at once. It was four in the afternoon when he arrived, and
he at once went to General Sarsfield's quarters.

"Let the men dismount, Captain Davenant, and let them and the horses
feed. We have a long ride before us tonight. I have just heard that
William's siege artillery is coming up, under a weak escort, and I mean
to get round in the Dutchman's rear and destroy it. He shall find that
Limerick is not to be taken as easily as he expects.

"He has had a disagreeable sample of our quality today. A deserter
brought in news of the exact position of his tent, and our artillery have
been giving him such a peppering that, from the church tower, we see that
he has been obliged to move his camp."

As soon as it was night, four hundred cavalry were in the saddle.
Sarsfield placed himself at their head, and rode twelve miles up the
Shannon to Killaloe. Crossing the river there, he made a wide sweep with
his cavalry, until he was in the heart of the Tipperary mountains, in
rear of William's camp.

Quietly as the expedition had been carried out, it was impossible that so
large a body of horse should ride through the country unperceived, and a
gentleman of county Clare, named O'Brian, thinking that he would gain
honour and advantage by reporting their passage to William, set out for
the British camp. Being unknown there, he was a long time before he could
get access to the king. The officers to whom he spoke paid little
attention to his story about a body of Irish horse passing through the
country, and were much more interested in gaining information from him as
to the state of the stock of cattle, sheep, and pigs in his part of the
county; for, owing to the terror excited by the conduct of William's
soldiers, the people for many miles round had driven off their stock and
left the villages, and provisions were already becoming