any other mortal thing at Pat's bidding."

"If you are so good a brother as that, your complaisance is likely
to bring you into trouble, Mr. Carroll. Come along, Jones, I've
got pretty nearly what I wanted from them." Then when they were in
the street, he continued speaking to Frank. "Your brother is right,
though I wouldn't have believed it on any other testimony than one
of themselves. That man Lax was here in the county yesterday. A more
murderous fellow than he is not to be found in Connaught; and he's
twice worse than any of the fellows about here. They will do it for
revenge, or party purposes. He has a regular tariff for cutting
throats. I should not wonder if he has come here for the sake of
carrying out the threats which they made against your poor brother."

"Do you mean that he will be murdered?"

"We must not let it come to that. We must have Lax up before the
magistrate for having been present when they broke the flood gates."

"Have you got evidence of that?"

"We can make the evidence serve its purpose for a time. If we can
keep him locked up till after the trial we shall have done much. By
heavens, there he is!"

As he spoke the flash of a shot glimmered across their eyes, and
seemed to have been fired almost within a yard of them; but they were
neither of them hit. Frank turned round and fired in the direction
from whence the attack had come, but it was in vain. Clayton did
bring his revolver from out his pocket, but held his fire. They were
walking in a lane just out of the town that would carry them by a
field-path to Morony Castle, and Clayton had chosen the path in order
that he might be away from the public road. It was still daylight
though it was evening, and the aggressor might have been seen had he
attempted to cross their path. The lane was, as it were, built up on
both sides with cabins, which had become ruins, each one of which
might serve as a hiding-place. Hunter was standing close to them
before another word was spoken.

"Did you see him?" demanded Clayton.

"Not a glimpse; but I heard him through there, where the dead leaves
are lying." There were a lot of dead leaves strewed about, some of
which were in sight, within an enclosure separated from them by a low
ruined wall. On leaving this the Captain was over it in a moment, but
he was over it in vain. "For God's sake, sir, don't go after him in
that way," said Hunter, who followed close upon his track. "It's no
more than to th