and faced the giant, sharply bidding him kneel. Cathbarr had been all
for rushing forward to Brian, and obeyed with an ill grace, when Nuala
quickly leaned forward and kissed him on the brow.

"That is for bravery and faith," she said. "Truly, I would that you
served me!"

Poor Cathbarr grew redder than the Bird Daughter's cloak. He started to
his feet, gazed around sheepishly, found all men laughing at him--and
did the best thing he could have done, which was to go to his knees
again and put Nuala's hand to his lips.

"While my master serves you, I serve you," he blurted out, and this
answer must have pleased Nuala mightily, for she flushed, laughed, and
bade all down into the cabin.

Brian greeted Turlough with no little joy, but beyond assurances that
all went well, gained no knowledge of what had happened. Nuala had sent
for the O'Malley chieftains, and proposed to hold a conference at once.

The O'Malleys arrived from the other ships in a scant five
minutes--dark, silent men who spoke little, but spoke to the point. Art
Bocagh, or the Lame, had had one leg hamstrung in his youth, but Brian
took him for a dangerous man in battle; while his cousin Shaun the
Little was a very short man with tremendous shoulders.

Nuala took her seat at the head of the stern-cabin table, and the
position of affairs was gone over carefully.

It seemed that no sooner had Turlough learned from Cathbarr of what had
taken place in the castle, and that Brian was safe on shipboard, than
he drove his men down pell-mell on the camp, just before dawn. Any other
man would have been exhausted by the events of that night, but Cathbarr
had led them in the assault. The result had been that, with hardly any
resistance, they had slain some four-score of the pikemen, and would
have captured or slain them all had it not been for the Dark Master's
cannon which drove them back.

The better part of the royalist officers had fallen, either then or
under the ax of Cathbarr in the hall of the castle. In fact, after
learning that he had slain some nineteen persons on that occasion,
Cathbarr had taken no few airs upon himself. Vanity was to him as
natural as to a child, and Brian hugely enjoyed watching the giant
strut. However, what remained of Vere's five hundred pikemen were in the
castle, joined to the Dark Master's men; and Turlough's advice was that
since there must be some seven hundred mouths to feed, the safest plan
was to bide close and forc