came over, carrying fire and sword through
the land, and divided half the country among his followers; next,
when Dutch William did the same. I am loyal to the Stuarts, as I
said, but I am still more loyal to Ireland, and would rather that
King James remained all his life at Saint Germain, than that those
scenes should ever come again."

"That's true for you, sir; and when I come to think of it, I
should be just as easy and comfortable in a snug little cot in
Killarney, which is my county, whether King James or Queen Anne
was ruling it in England."

"Quite so, Mike; and if I had, as you say, a snug little cot to go
to, and an income to live comfortably in it, and no fear of being
hauled off to prison and hanged for joining the brigade, I should
not be sorry to settle down.

"We start back for Badajos tomorrow morning."

"Faith, your honour, it has been so hard getting away from there,
that I should not have thought you wished to put your foot inside
the place again. You might not be so lucky in getting off, next
time."

"We are going in a different way, Mike. Colonel Crofton's regiment
of Irish dragoons is going with us, and a French infantry regiment
from Toledo."

"Then I am well content to go back, your honour, and I hope we
shall see that murthering governor hung."

"I think you have a good chance of seeing that, Mike, if he has
not taken himself off before we arrive there; which I think he is
pretty sure to do, directly he hears we have got through safely;
for he will know that, as soon as my report is handed in, he is a
lost man."

"Bad cess to him! At any rate, I hope I shall light upon him some
day, sir, and pay him out for sending those fellows to kill you at
night, and to hinder us in the hills. As to his cheating the
Spaniards, that is their business, and they can reckon with him
for it; but I should like to pay our debt myself."

"I don't suppose there is much chance of your having an
opportunity of doing that."

"Then why are we going back, your honour?"

"To carry out my original orders, Mike--survey the roads, and
passes, and bridges. The duke cannot rely upon Spanish testimony
in these matters, and it is most important that we should
ascertain, accurately, how good are the roads by which he would
advance with the army into Portugal, or where best to oppose the
enemy if they cross the Guadiana."

"I am glad to hear you say so, sir, for I was afraid that we were
going to have a long sta