ng to speak lightly. "My boy Larry has been trying to
scare me about the rapparees, and, although I do not think that there is
any danger to be apprehended from them, I do think that it would be just
as well to hurry on your preparations, as much as possible, and for you
and Claire to go in to Limerick tomorrow afternoon. We can finish the
packing up of the goods you wish to take, and any we cannot get off
tomorrow can be sent in the next day."

Mrs. Conyers looked grave.

"But we have heard of no rapparees in this neighbourhood, Walter," she
said. "We have heard of sad excesses in some parts of the country, but
nothing in this neighbourhood."

"There has been small temptation for them about here," Walter said, "for
every house within miles was stripped by the Williamites. Catholic or
Protestant was all the same to them. Besides, they knew well that
Sarsfield's horse would soon have put a stop to that sort of thing. Now,
I do not wish to alarm you in the slightest, and I do not think that
there is any real cause for anxiety. Even if they are in the
neighbourhood, the rapparees will hardly venture an attack upon a house
occupied by even a few of our troops. Still, it is always wisest to be
prepared, and therefore, I should like for us to arrange exactly what had
best be done in the event of an attack. Of course, I shall see that all
the doors and the lower windows are securely fastened, and I shall have
the men from the stables into the house, so we shall be nine or ten men
in all; enough, I hope, for all circumstances. Still, merely as a matter
of discussion, let us suppose the worst. Let us imagine the house
surrounded, the doors burst in, and the resistance on the point of being
overpowered. What would be our best plan for making our escape?

"Do not be frightened, Claire," he went on, seeing how pale the girl had
become. "Every general, when he is going to fight a battle, however sure
he may be of success, decides upon the route by which his army shall
retreat, in case of a defeat, and I am only taking the same precaution."

"If there is to be a retreat made at all," Mrs. Conyers said, "I prefer
that it should be made now. Do you really think that there is any real
danger of attack?"

"I think that there is danger of attack, Mrs. Conyers; but I have no
reason for supposing that there is any particular danger this night."

"Then Claire and I will at once start for the town, under the escort of
two of your men.