ome off, and when.

"In the first place we must arrange with the coast-guard to have a
well-manned boat somewhere along the coast to cut the scoundrels off
if they try to escape by sea. The attack must be made by daylight,
that is evident, for half the men would break either their legs or
their necks if they tried to get down in the dark. I think it will be
best to place half the company along the top of the cliffs, posting
two or three men at every point where it looks possible that they may
ascend, then with the other half we will go down on this track she
speaks of and search the whole place thoroughly. If they are there we
must find them sooner or later; and find them we will, if the search
takes us a week."

"Who is this Red Captain?"

"I believe his real name is Dan Egan. He was mixed up in some brutal
outrage on an inoffensive farmer, had to leave the county, went to
Dublin, and enlisted. He went out to Spain with his regiment, was
flogged twice for thieving, then he shot an officer who came upon him
when he was ill-treating a Portuguese peasant; he got away at the
time, and it was months before he was heard of again. It was thought
that he had deserted to the French, but I suppose he got down to a
port somewhere in disguise and shipped on board a vessel for England.
The next thing heard of him was that he was back again at his native
place. The police here were of course ignorant as to what had become
of him from the time he disappeared; but the fellow made no secret of
what he had been doing, and boasted of having shot the officer.

"The regiment was communicated with, and by a comparison of the date
of enlistment and the personal description there was no doubt that the
man who had enlisted as Mark Kelly was Dan Egan. Of course every
effort was made to capture him, but in vain. I believe the peasants
would have informed against him, for he was hated for his violence and
overbearing way, but he soon established a sort of terror in the
district. He was joined by three or four of the greatest ruffians in
County Galway, and unless the whole of these had been captured at one
swoop, vengeance would be sure to fall upon whoever had betrayed him.

"He has killed four or five police officers at various times, and I
should say twice as many peasants who have ventured to offend him. He
and his band levied a sort of blackmail in the district, and woe
betide the small farmer who refused to send in a sheep or a bag of