a town you are
besieging; stood knee deep for hours in mud, soaked to the skin
with rain, and with the enemy's shot coming through the parapet
every half minute or so; you will see that it is not all fun and
glory.

"Then, too, you see, we have no particular interest in the
quarrels between France and Germany. When we fight, we fight
rather for the honour of the Irish Brigade, than for the glory of
France. We have a grudge against the Dutch, and fight them as
interested parties, seeing that it was by his Dutch troops that
William conquered Ireland. As to the English troops, we have no
particular enmity against them. Cromwell's business is an old
story, and I don't suppose that the English soldier feels any
particular love for Queen Anne, or any animosity against us. And
after all, we are nearer in blood to them than we are to the
Germans, Austrians, or Spaniards, for there are few, even of our
oldest families, who have not, many times since the days of
Strongbow, intermarried with the English settlers. At any rate,
there are still plenty of adherents of King James in England and
Scotland. We speak the same language, and form part of the same
nation, and I own that I would rather fight against any foreign
foe than against them."

"So would I," Desmond said heartily. "Our only point of difference
is that we don't agree as to who should be king. We want a
Catholic king, and the majority of the English want a Protestant
king. We have fought on the subject, and been beaten. Next time,
we hope that we may succeed. If the king were to land in England
again, I would fight heart and soul in his cause; but whether the
French beat the English, in the present war, or the English beat
the French, will not, as far as I can see, make much difference to
King James; who, Father O'Leary tells me, is, in his opinion,
supported here by the French king from no great love for himself,
but because, so long as James has adherents in Ireland, Scotland,
and England, he is able to play him off against the English
Government."

The other young men laughed.

"For heaven's sake, Kennedy, keep such sentiments as these to
yourself. It is a matter of faith, in our brigade, that we are
fighting in the cause of King James, as against the English
usurper. Now that William is dead, and James's daughter on the
throne, matters are complicated somewhat; and if the Parliament
had settled the succession, after Anne, on her brother, there
might have bee