llected under the sun. I must say that the
contrast between our army and the Irish is very great, and that, although
many bloody deeds are performed by the rapparees, there has never been a
single complaint brought against the Irish troops.

"Anyhow, Mr. Davenant, I think you cannot do better than fall in with
Colonel L'Estrange's plan. There will be no difficulty in getting out,
and, indeed, I will send a troop of cavalry to see you well beyond our
lines."

Walter spent the rest of the day with Colonel L'Estrange, and told him
all that had taken place since they had last met.

"It is difficult to believe that it is but three years ago," he said,
when he had finished.

"No, we judge the flight of time by the incidents we crowd into it. The
most uneventful days pass the most unheeded. Now to me, it seems but
yesterday that I stood on the deck of the ship, and knew that she was
sure to go to pieces, and that the chance of anyone reaching that rocky
coast alive were small, indeed; when I saw what seemed little more than a
black speck approaching, and you and your fisher boy made your way over
the wave.

"By the way, how is he? Doing well, I hope?"

"He might have done well, if he liked. The present that you left in my
father's hands, to buy him a boat when he was old enough to start as a
fisherman on his own account, would have made a man of him, but it is
hidden somewhere in the thatch of his father's cottage. When my father
first went to the war, he handed it over to Larry, as he could not say
what might happen before his return. Larry was at first delighted with
the thought that some day he should have a boat of his own, and a boat,
too, larger than any on the shore; but when I accompanied my father,
Larry insisted on going with me.

"'It will be time enough to buy a boat, when the war is over,' he said.

"And as I was very glad to have him with me, and my father did not
object, Larry had his way, and he has been with me ever since. He is
enrolled in the troop now, and, when he thinks there is any chance of
fighting, he takes his place in the ranks, but at other times he acts as
my servant."

"Tell him I have not forgotten him," Colonel L'Estrange said. "While you
have been doing so much, I have had a quiet time of it. I could have got
a regiment at once, had I cared for it, but I disliked the thought of
fighting over here. It was too much like civil war. Six months ago, when
things were going badly with us o