k, and once
more the boat sped on her course; while Mark cheered them with a shout
heard even above the storm, and with a deep, mellow voice chanted out
the rude verses of a song--

"The fisherman loves the rippled stream,
And the lover the moon-lit sea,
But the darkening squall
And the sea birds call are dearer far to me.

"To see on the white and crest'd wave
The stormy petrel float,
And then to look back On the stormy track
That glitters behind our boat."

"Avast there, Master Mark, there's wind enough without singing for
more," cried one of the fishermen, who, with the superstition of his
craft, felt by no means pleased at Mark's ditty; "and there comes a
sea to poop a line of battle-ship," and as he said the words, a wave
mountains high rolled past, and left them labouring in the deep trough
of the sea; while the lurid glare of sheet lightning showed all the
ships of the fleet, as, with top-sails bent, they stood out to sea.

"There they go," said one of the fishermen, "and that's all the good
they've done us."

"Pull hard, boys," cried Mark, passionately, "it may not be yet too
late, strain every arm--the fate of our country may rest upon those
bending spars--together, men, together; it is not for life now, it is
Ireland is on the struggle:" thus cheering the drooping courage of
the men, and eagerly bending his glance towards the sea, his own heart
glowed with enthusiasm that made every danger forgotten; and at last,
after an hour of desperate exertion, with strength all but exhausted,
and nearly overcome by fatigue, they beheld the dark hull of a large
ship looming above them. By firing his pistol, Mark attracted the notice
of the watch on deck; his signal was replied to, and the next moment the
boat was alongside, and Mark clambering up the steep side, stood on the
quarter-deck.

"Will the troops not land," said Mark, as the officers crowded eagerly
around him--"is the expedition abandoned?"

"Don't you think the hurricane might answer the question, young man?"
said a weather-beaten officer, who appeared in command--"or are you so
ignorant in naval matters as to suppose that a force could disembark in
a gale like this?"

"It might scare a pleasure party," said Mark, rudely, "but for men who
have come to give and get hard knocks, methinks this need not disconcert
them."

"And who is to aid us if we land?" said the first speaker--"what forces
are in arms to jo