d I am skilled at many
things. Take my service and you will not regret it."

Brian hesitated. After all, he considered, the thing came close to being
uncanny. The Black Woman by Dee water; Owen Ruadh himself, and now this
Ulysseslike Turlough Wolf--whither was fate driving him? Was he really
to meet such persons as the Bird Daughter and Cathbarr of the Ax, or
were they only the figment of a crazed old woman's brain?

So he hesitated, gazing down into those clear gray eyes. And as he
looked it seemed to him that he found strange things in them, strange
urgings that touched the chords of his soul. After all, adventure lay in
the west, and he was young!

"Good!" he said, gravely extending his hand. "To-night we ride to the
west, you and I. Come; let us see O'Reilly about horses."

And this was the beginning of the storm of men that came upon the west.

CHAPTER III.

THE DARK MASTER.

"There are two things, Yellow Brian, for you to mind. First, you must
have men at your back who know you for their master; second, you must
stand alone, giving and receiving aid from no man or party in the
land."

Brian nodded and stored away the words in his heart, for in their three
weeks of wandering he had learned that Turlough Wolf was better aid than
many men. It was his doing that, when they had chanced on a party of
ravagers beyond Carrick, Yellow Brian had been led into strife with
their leader. The upshot of that matter was that there was a dead rover;
Yellow Brian had a dozen horsemen behind him and money in his purse, and
of the dozen none but feared utterly this silent man who fought like a
fiend.

To the dozen had been added others--four Scotch plunderers strayed from
Hamilton's horse and half a dozen Breffnians from Ormond's army, who had
been driven out of Munster by the rising of the Parliament men there.
They were a sadly mixed score, of all races and creeds, but were
fighting ruffians to a man, and were bound together by Brian's solemn
pledge that he himself would slay any who quarreled. The result was
peace.

So now, with a good score of men behind him, Yellow Brian had ridden
down into Galway, was past Lough Corrib and Iar Connaught, and was hard
upon Connemara.

There was a thin snow upon the hills, and the bleak wind presaged more;
but the score of men sang lustily as they rode. Two days before they had
come upon a dozen strayed Royalist plunderers, and had gained great
store of food and drink--par