by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XI.
STILL-HUNTING.
"Now, sergeant, the men may as well fall in," Ralph said cheerfully,"and then we will set about finding this path. On which side do youthink it is most likely to lie, Mr. Fitzgibbon?"
"I really can't give an opinion, sir. You see there is not a breath ofwind to help us, and in this sort of light there is no telling wherethe sun is, so I don't know at the present moment which way we arefacing."
"Well, we will try to the right first, sergeant," Ralph said. "I willlead the way. Let the men follow at a distance of about ten pacesapart. I will keep on speaking. Do you stand at the left of the file,and when the last man has gone ten paces from you pass the word along.By that time I shall be about two hundred yards away. If I have notfound the path then we will come back to you and do the same thing onthe left. If we don't light upon the path itself we may come upon somerise or bog or something that will enable Mr. Fitzgibbon to form anidea as to where we are."
This was done, but beyond finding that the ground on the right washigher than that on the left no index as to their position wasdiscovered.
"You see, Mr. Fitzgibbon, we are on sloping ground rising to theright. Now, does that help you at all?"
"Not much sir. The country here is all undulating."
"Very well, then, we must try a march forward. Now, sergeant, placethe men five paces apart. Do you put yourself in the center. I willmove on three yards ahead of you. I shall go as straight forward as Ican, but if you think I am inclining either to the right or left yousay so. The fact that the ground is sloping ought to be a help to usto keep straight. I wish it sloped a little more, then one would beable to tell directly whether one was keeping straight. Let the menspeak to each other every few paces so as to keep the right distancesapart."
Mr. Fitzgibbon placed himself by Ralph's side, and they started. Forhalf an hour they kept on, then Ralph cried, "Halt. I am certain I amgoing downhill, it may be because I have changed my direction, or itmay be because there is a change in the lay of the ground. What do youthink?"
"It's impossible to say," Mr. Fitzgibbon replied. "It seems to me thatwe have been going straight, but when one can't see a yard before oneone may have turned any direction."
"How long do you think that this rascally fog is likely to last?"
"It may clear up as the sun gets high, sir, but I must acknowledgethat it may last for days. There is never any saying among thesehills."
"Well, at any rate you must give up all idea of making a raid on thisstill, Mr. Fitzgibbon. That has become a secondary object altogethernow. What we have to do is to find our way out of this. Hitherto Ihave tried what we could do in silence. Now I shall give that up. Now,sergeant, get the men together again. I will go ahead, and shall, if Ican, keep on descending. If one does that one must get out of thesehills at last. When I get about fifty yards I will shout. Then yousend a man on to me. When he reaches me I will shout again and go onanother fifty yards. When I shout send another man forward. When hegets to the first man the first man is to shout and then come on tome, and you send off another. In that way we shall make a regular linefifty yards apart, and I don't think any one can get lost. Should anyone get confused and stray, which he can't do if he keeps his head, hemust shout till he hears his shouts answered. After a time if hedoesn't hear any answer he must fire his gun, and we must answer tillhe rejoins us. But if my orders are observed I do not see how any onecan miss their way, as there will be posts stationed every fiftyyards. You remain till the last and see them all before you. You quiteunderstand? When each man comes up to the one in front of him he is tostop until the next man joins him, and then move on to the man ahead."
"I understand, sir."
"They must not be in a hurry, sergeant; because moving ahead as Ishall, I shall have to move to the right or left sometimes so as tomake as sure as I can that I am still going down. Now, Mr. Fitzgibbon,if you keep with me, between us we ought to find the road."
The plan seemed a good one, but it was difficult to follow. The fallof the ground was so slight that Ralph and the officer often differedas to whether they were going up or down, and it was only byseparating and taking short runs right and left, forward or backward,that they arrived at any conclusion, and even then often doubtedwhether they were right. The shouting as the long line proceeded wasprodigious, and must have astonished any stray animals that might havebeen grazing among the hills. So bewildering was the fog that the mensometimes went back to the men behind them instead of forward to themen in front, and long pauses were necessitated before they got rightagain. Ralph, finding the cause of the delays, passed the word downfor the first man to keep on shouting "number one," the second "numbertwo," and so on, and this facilitated matters. The line of shoutingmen had at least the advantage that it enabled Ralph to keep a fairlystraight course, as the sound of voices told him if he was deviatingmuch to the right or left.
"We may not be going right," he said to his companion, "but at leastwe have the satisfaction of knowing that we are not moving in acircle."
After some hours' marching Ralph, to his great delight, came upon ahill rill of water.
"Thank goodness," he said, "we have got a guide at last. If we followthis we must get somewhere. We need not go on in this tedious way, butwill halt here till all the men come up."
It was half an hour before the sergeant arrived.
"We have got a guide now, sergeant, and can push on. I suppose youhave no idea what stream this is, Mr. Fitzgibbon?"
"Not at present," the officer admitted. "There are scores of theselittle rills about. They make their way down from the bogs at the topof the hills, and there is nothing to distinguish one from the other."
They now tramped on briskly, keeping close to the little stream.Sometimes the ground became soft and marshy, and it was difficult tofollow its course; but they went straight on and after three morehours' marching came upon a road that crossed the stream over a littleculvert. There was a cheer from the tired men as they stood on hardground again.
"Now, the question is shall we turn to the right or the left, for wehave not the faintest idea as to the points of the compass. What doyou say, Mr. Fitzgibbon?"
"I should say that it is an even chance; but at any rate whichever waywe go we are sure to come in time upon a hut or village, and be ableto find out where we are."
"Very well, then; we will take the right," Ralph said. "Form fours,sergeant. We shall get on better by keeping in step. Now, sergeant, ifany of the men can sing let him strike up a tune with a chorus. Thatwill help us along."
There was a little hesitation, and then one of the men struck up asong, and with renewed life and energy they all marched along. It wasnearly an hour before they heard the welcome sound of voices close by.Ralph halted his men and proceeded toward this sound, and thendiscovered what the fog had prevented them from seeing before, thatthey were passing through a village, the voices being those of somewomen who were brought to their doors by the sound of music, and whowere somewhat puzzled at the, to them, mysterious sounds.
"What place is this?" Ralph asked.
"It is Kilmaknocket."
"Bless me!" Mr. Fitzgibbon exclaimed, "we are twenty miles away fromBallyporrit if we are an inch."
"Then it's evident we can't get there to-day," Ralph said. "We musthave come more than that distance since we halted in the night. Now,my good woman, I have a party of twenty men here, and we have lost ourway in the hills, and must stop here for the night. How many housesare there in the village?"
"There are ten or twelve, sir."
"That is all right, then. We must quarter two men on each. I will payevery one for the trouble it will give, and for something to eat,which we want badly enough, for we have come at least twenty-five ortwenty-six miles, and probably ten more than that, and have hadnothing but a bit of bread since we started."
"It's heartily welcome you will be, sir," the woman said, "and we willall do the best we can for you."
The men were
now ordered to fall out. The sergeant proceeded with themthrough the village, quartering two men on each house, while Ralphwent round to see what provisions were obtainable. Potatoes and blackbread were to be had everywhere, and he also was able to buy agood-sized pig, which, in a very few minutes, was killed and cut up.
"We have reason to consider ourselves lucky indeed," Ralph said, as hesat down with the excise officer half an hour later to a meal ofboiled potatoes and pork chops roasted over a peat fire. "It'shalf-past four now, and will be pitch dark in another half-hour. If wehad not struck upon that stream we should have had another night outamong the hills."
Ralph's first measure after seeing his men quartered in the villagewas to inquire for a boy who would carry a message to Ballyporrit, andthe offer of half a crown produced four or five lads willing toundertake it. Ralph chose one of them, an active-looking lad of aboutfifteen, tore out a leaf from his pocketbook, and wrote an account ofwhat had happened, and said that the detachment would be in by twoo'clock on the following day. Then directing it to Captain O'Connor orLieutenant Desmond, whichever might be in the village, he gave it tothe lad, who at once started at a trot along the road in the directionfrom which they had come.
"He will be there in four hours," Mr. Fitzgibbon said. "It's a regularroad all the way, and he can't miss it even in the dark. It's lucky weturned the way we did, for although it was taking us further from homeit was but two miles along the road here, while, if we had gone theright way, it would have been six or seven before we arrived at thenext village."
"I think we are lucky all round," Ralph said. "An hour ago if any onetold us we were going to sit down at half-past four to a hot dinner ofpork and potatoes we should have slain him as a scoffer. It would haveseemed altogether too good to be true."
Ralph had no difficulty in purchasing whisky, and he ordered thesergeant to serve out a tot to each man with his dinner and anotherhalf an hour later, and by seven o'clock there was scarcely one of thetired men who was not already asleep. The next morning they started ateight o'clock, having had a breakfast of potatoes before they fell in.Ralph rewarded the peasants generously for their hospitality, and themen set off in high spirits for their tramp, and reached Ballyporritat half-past two in the afternoon.
"You gave us a nice scare yesterday, Conway," was Captain O'Connor'sgreeting as they marched in. "When twelve o'clock came and you didn'tcome back I began to think you must have lost yourselves; and a nicetime we had of it till your messenger arrived at eight. It was no usesending out to look for you on the hills. But I went out with a party,with two or three men to guide us, to the end of a valley, up which apath went; beyond that there was no going, for one couldn't see one'shand. I stayed there an hour, firing off guns once a minute, and asthere was no reply was sure that you must be a good distance off,wherever you were; so there was nothing to do but to come back andhope you had found shelter somewhere. Come in, lad; I have got somehot lunch waiting for you. Come in, Mr. Fitzgibbon. It's lucky Ididn't catch you yesterday, or I should have considered it my duty tohave hung you forthwith for decoying his majesty's troops among thehills."
"Well, Conway, you didn't bargain for all this when you offered tochange places with me," Lieutenant Desmond said when they were seatedat table.
"No; but now it's all over I am glad I did change, in spite of thetramp we had. It has been an adventure, and beside, it was a goodthing to learn how best to get out of a fog."
"How did you manage, Conway?" Captain O'Connor asked; "for once lostin such a fog as that on those hills there really does not seemanything to be done."
Ralph related the various steps he had taken, and how, eventually,they had come upon running water and followed it down to a road.
"Well, I really think you have done remarkably well, youngster. Ishouldn't be surprised if we have some more tramps before us, for Ihad a letter this morning from the colonel saying that the fellowknown as the Red Captain, a notorious scoundrel who has been with hisgang committing all sorts of atrocities in Galway, has made the placetoo hot for him at last, and is reported to have made his way down tothe south coast, somewhere in this direction; and we are ordered tokeep a sharp lookout for him. He is an unmitigated ruffian, and adesperate one. He has shot several constables who have tried tocapture him, and as he has three or four men with him nearly as bad ashimself I expect we shall have some trouble with him. There has been areward of a hundred pounds for his capture for a long time, but so farwithout success. One man, whom he suspected rightly or wrongly ofintending to betray him, he killed by fastening the door of hiscottage and then setting the thatch alight; and the man, his wife, andfour children were burned to death."
That evening, just as dinner was over, the sergeant came in and saidthat a woman wished to speak to the captain.
"What does she want, sergeant?"
"She won't say what she wants, sir; only that she wishes to speak toyou privately."
"Show her in then, sergeant."
The sergeant brought in the woman and then retired. As soon as thedoor closed behind him the woman threw back the shawl which hadhitherto almost covered her face. She was about twenty-five years old,and strikingly pretty.
"What can I do for you?" Captain O'Connor asked. "The sergeant saysyou wish to speak to me on some particular business."
"Yes, sir; sure, and it is very particular business."
"You don't wish to speak to me quite alone, I suppose?" O'Connorasked, seeing that she hesitated.
"No, your honor; seeing that these gentlemen are all officers there isno reason in life why they should not hear what I have to say. But,sure, sir, it's little my life would be worth if it were known outsidethese walls that I had been here. My name is Bridget Moore, sir, and Ibelong to County Galway. Well, your honor, there was a desperatevillain, they call the Red Captain, there. He was hiding in the hillsfor some time near the little farm my husband holds. We did not knowwho he was--how should we? but thought he was hiding because therevenue officers were after him on account of a bit of a still orsomething of that kind; but we found out one day, when he had beentaking too much of the cratur and was talking big like, that he wasthe Red Captain.
"My Denis was troubled in his mind over it. Av coorse he was not oneto inform, but he had heard so much of the Red Captain and his doingsthat he was onaisy at the thought of having him as a neighbor. Hewasn't one to pretind to be frindly when he wasn't, and the captainnoticed it and took offince, and there were mighty high words betweenthem. One night, your honor, he and his gang came down and broke inthe door, and tould Denis he was a black-hearted informer, Denis saidit was a lie, and they were nigh shooting him, but at last they saidhe should have the choice either of joining them or of being shot; andDenis, being druv to it, and seeing no other way to save his life, wasforced to agree. Then the villains made him kneel down and take agreat oath to be faithful and secret.
"I was away off; for I had caught up the child and run out by the backdoor when they came in, but I crept round to a broken window therewas, so that I could hear what was said. When they took him away widthem and went off, I followed at a distance, for I wasn't sure whetherafter all they didn't mean to murther him. But they went up to the hutwhere they lived at the edge of the bog, and as they seemed morefriendly like I went back to see after the child, who was left allalone. The next morning I took it over to a neighbor and asked her tokeep it till I came back. Then I went up to the hut again and found itwas empty.
"A day or two after that I found out from a man who run a still, andknew the Red Captain well, that he had made up his mind to lave Galwayand come down south, where he had some friends; so I just shut up thehouse and walked down here. Now you know, your honor, that I don'tcome here for the sake of the reward. Not a penny of it would I touchif I were dying of hunger, and sooner than be pointed at as aninformer I would throw myself over them big rocks. But they have gotDenis, and either they will make him as bad as themselves--which Idon't think--or they will shoot him; and if they don't shoot him h
ewill be shot one of these days by the soldiers. What I want you topromise, your honor, is, that if I point out where you can lay yourhands on the villains, you won't say who tould you, and that you willtell your soldiers not to shoot Denis.
"You will know him aisy enough, your honor, for he is a dacent-lookingboy; and when the time comes you will find he will do what he can tohelp you. I found out who the people were that the Red Captain hadcome down to, and I watched and watched their place, till one day Isaw him come there. Then I followed him and found out whereabout theywere hiding. I kept about till, that evening, I had a chance ofspaking to Denis for a minute. He is broken-hearted, your honor, buthe daren't lave them. He said they had sworn if he ever tried to runaway they would hunt him down; and the Red Captain said that he wouldsend information to the poliss that it was Denis who helped him firethe hut when those poor cratures were burned, and would say, he hadbeen in the thick of it all along; and how could he prove the differ?So he daren't for the life of him move, your honor; and tould me tokeep away and go home, for I could do him no good, and if they caughtme spaking to him they would kill the two of us."
"I promise you willingly," Captain O'Connor said, "I will not say whopointed out their hiding-place, and if your husband does not join inthe resistance he certainly shall receive no hurt. If he is caughtwith them I am afraid that I shall be exceeding my duty in letting himgo; but surely he would have no difficulty in proving that he had onlyaccompanied them in consequence of their threats."
"That's what he couldn't prove, sir. That's just what they tould him:if they were caught themselves they knew there was no chance for them,and they would all swear together that he had been with them allalong; and how could the boy prove that he wasn't?"
"Well, Mrs. Moore, I will try and strain a point," Captain O'Connorsaid. "You see, people sometimes escape after they are taken, and Ithink we shall be able to manage somehow that Denis shan't appear atthe bar with the others; and if it should turn out that cannot bemanaged I will engage to make such representations to the authoritiesthat your husband shall get off free."
"Very well, sir; then I will tell you where they are to be found. Ican't take you there, your honor, but I can tell you whereabout it is.There is a footpath turns oft from the road at the end of the village,and goes straight down to the top of them big rocks that come out ofthe sea. Well, sir, a few hundred yards to the right of that there isa sort of break in the rocks, and there is a track goes down there.You won't see it onless you look close for it, and it gets lost alittle way down, becase the rocks are all broken about and heaped oneach other. It's down there they go. There's always a man on watch notfar from the top; and there is generally a gossoon from their friendshere somewhere at the edge of the bog behind, who would run forwardand tell the man on watch if he saw any soldiers coming from here. Soyou will have to be mighty careful; but they are down there, sureenough, somewhere.
"Denis tould me there was no chance of their being taken, for theyhave got a little boat hid away down among the rocks by the water, andif the alarm was given they would make off in that. I can't tell youany more than that, you honor; but I should think that may be enoughto help you to find them."
"I should think so too, Mrs. Moore. And what do you propose doingyourself?"
"I shall go off, sir, at once. Folk have been wondering at me, andasking where I came from and what I was doing here, and I want to getaway. If it came to the Red Captain's ears there was a woman about hemight guess it was me, and if he did he would like enough shoot Denisand make away. I can't see as I can do any good by stopping, and I maydo harm; so I will go over to Dunmanway and stop there till I hearwhat your honor has done. If I find Denis has got hurted I shall comeback, if not I shall go home to the farm. Maybe your honor will tellhim I shall be expecting him there."
Captain O'Connor accompanied her outside to see that no one spoke toher, and when he saw her disappear in the darkness he returned to theroom.
"I think you have had a lucky escape, Conway," he said as he entered."The matter is explained now about your being watched and questioned,and it is very lucky that they did not quite make up their minds youwere a spy; for if they had you may be sure they would have had nomore hesitation in putting an ounce of lead into you, and throwing youover the cliff, than they would in shooting a sparrow. Well, this isan important piece of news. The authorities have for a long time beentrying to lay their hands on this scoundrel and his gang, and if wecan catch him it will be a feather in our caps, for he has defied alltheir efforts for the last three years. Now, we must arrange the lineof battle, how it is to come off, and when.
"In the first place we must arrange with the coast-guard to have awell-manned boat somewhere along the coast to cut the scoundrels offif they try to escape by sea. The attack must be made by daylight,that is evident, for half the men would break either their legs ortheir necks if they tried to get down in the dark. I think it will bebest to place half the company along the top of the cliffs, postingtwo or three men at every point where it looks possible that they mayascend, then with the other half we will go down on this track shespeaks of and search the whole place thoroughly. If they are there wemust find them sooner or later; and find them we will, if the searchtakes us a week."
"Who is this Red Captain?"
"I believe his real name is Dan Egan. He was mixed up in some brutaloutrage on an inoffensive farmer, had to leave the county, went toDublin, and enlisted. He went out to Spain with his regiment, wasflogged twice for thieving, then he shot an officer who came upon himwhen he was ill-treating a Portuguese peasant; he got away at thetime, and it was months before he was heard of again. It was thoughtthat he had deserted to the French, but I suppose he got down to aport somewhere in disguise and shipped on board a vessel for England.The next thing heard of him was that he was back again at his nativeplace. The police here were of course ignorant as to what had becomeof him from the time he disappeared; but the fellow made no secret ofwhat he had been doing, and boasted of having shot the officer.
"The regiment was communicated with, and by a comparison of the dateof enlistment and the personal description there was no doubt that theman who had enlisted as Mark Kelly was Dan Egan. Of course everyeffort was made to capture him, but in vain. I believe the peasantswould have informed against him, for he was hated for his violence andoverbearing way, but he soon established a sort of terror in thedistrict. He was joined by three or four of the greatest ruffians inCounty Galway, and unless the whole of these had been captured at oneswoop, vengeance would be sure to fall upon whoever had betrayed him.
"He has killed four or five police officers at various times, and Ishould say twice as many peasants who have ventured to offend him. Heand his band levied a sort of blackmail in the district, and woebetide the small farmer who refused to send in a sheep or a bag ofmeal once a month. Their cattle were killed and their ricks set onfire; and so in a short time he had the whole neighborhood under histhumb. Whenever a party went in pursuit of him he was sure to obtainearly information. Not from love, but from fear; for it was a wellunderstood thing that any one seeing a body of police and failing tosend instant word would suffer for it.
"Just as we left I heard that a company of foot and a troop of cavalrywere to be sent from Galway to search every hut and hiding-place inthe district, and I suppose that it was this that drove him down here.He has red hair and beard; and it is this partly, and partly no doubtthe fellow's murderous character, that has gained him the name of theRed Captain. He is a prize worth taking, and if we can lay hands onhim and his band together we shall have done better work than if wehad unearthed a hundred illicit stills. At any rate we will lose notime. I will write a letter at once to the revenue officer at thecoast-guard station. I shall mention no names, but say that we hope tomake an important capture to-morrow morning on the cliffs here, andasking him to send a well-armed boat at daylight, with instructions tostop and arrest any boat that may put out from the shore. If therevenue cutter happens to be lying off his
station, or within reach ofa messenger, I will tell him to have her off the shore if possible."
Captain O'Connor at once wrote the letter. "Sergeant Morris," he said,when the non-commissioned officer came in, "I want you to take thisletter yourself to Lieutenant Adcock at the coast-guard station in thecove three miles along to the east. It is of the highest importance. Iwant you to see the officer yourself and obtain an answer from him.Take a man with you, and carry your side-arms. Don't go along thecliff, but keep to the road till you come to the lane that leadsdirect to the village in the cove. Just tell the landlord to comehere, will you?"
"Landlord," he said, when the host appeared, "I want you to lend acouple of long greatcoats and two hats or caps of any kind. I amsending two of my men off on a mission, and I don't want them to benoticed. It does not matter how old the coats are so that they arelong."
"I will get them your honor. I have one that will do, and will borrowthe other for you in no time."
"You see, sergeant, I don't want your presence in the village to benoticed. You know how these fellows hang together. The sight of twosoldiers in uniform there would be sure to attract attention. Choose aman you can rely on to play his part cleverly. I tell you to take yourside-arms, because I happen to know that there are men about who, ifthey suspected your mission, would not have the least hesitation inknocking you on the head. This is no question of finding a still,sergeant, but of making the capture of one of the most desperate bandsin the country; and it is well worth taking the utmost pains andprecaution to insure everything going well."
"I understand, sir. I will take Pat Hogan with me; he has plenty ofthe brogue, and can talk the language too. So if any one should speakto us as we go along he can do the talking, and no one will suspectthat we are not a couple of countrymen."
"That will do very well, sergeant. It is just seven o'clock now. IfLieutenant Adcock is in when you get there you ought to be back, well,before ten. It's about four miles by road. I would borrow a couple ofheavy sticks if I were you. I don't think it at all likely there willbe any occasion to use them, but it is just as well to be prepared.If, when you get near the village, or on your way back, you comeacross any one who questions you inquisitively, and seems to you to bea suspicious character, I authorize you to make him prisoner and bringhim over with you. Knock him down if he attempt resistance. You may aswell take a pair of handcuffs with you and a short coil of rope. Theobject of the rope is, that if you capture any one on your way to thevillage you had better handcuff him, gag him, and tie him up securelyto a tree or some other object at a distance from the road, and pickhim up as you come back. I need hardly say that you are not to go intoany house in the village, not to speak to any one beyond what isabsolutely necessary."
"I understand, sir, and you can rely upon me to carry out yourorders."
"You had better fetch Hogan in here, sergeant. Tell him what he has todo before you bring him in, then we can see the disguises on you both;and it's better for you to start from an inn, where people are goingin and out, than from one of the houses where you are quartered."
The landlord returned with the disguises almost immediately after thesergeant had gone out, and in a few minutes the latter came in withHogan. The greatcoats were put on, the hats substituted for militarycaps, and with the collars of the coats turned up and the addition oftwo heavy sticks, the disguise was complete, and the two smartsoldiers would pass anywhere as peasants.
"You had better take your gaiters off, sergeant. You look too neatabout the feet; although that would not be noticed unless you wentinto the light. Here is the letter, put it carefully inside yourjacket. There, now, I think you will do."
It was nearly ten when the two soldiers returned. "Here's a lettersir, from the revenue officer. He quite understands what is wanted,and will have a boat off the cliffs at daybreak with a well-armedcrew. He does not know where the cutter is at present. She touchedthere two days ago, sailing west."
"You met no suspicious characters, sergeant?"
"No, sir. We spoke to no one until we got to the village, beyondasking a woman which was the turning from the main road. There didn'tseem to be a soul about in the village, and we had to wait about sometime before I could get hold of a boy to tell me which was the revenueofficer's cottage. I left Hogan outside when I went in; but he saw noone, nor did any one speak to us on our return beyond one or two menwe met passing the time of night, which Hogan answered."
"All the better, sergeant. The great object is secrecy. Now, leavethese things here and put on your caps again. If you go to the bar thelandlord has orders to give you a glass of grog each. Don't say a wordas to where you have been, Hogan, but get back to your quarters. Whenyou have had your grog, sergeant, look in again before you go."
When the men had gone out Captain O'Connor opened the letter, whichmerely confirmed what the sergeant said. When Sergeant Morris returnedCaptain O'Connor told him that the company were to parade an hourbefore daylight.
"Don't give the order to-night, sergeant; but go round from house tohouse yourself in the morning, rouse the men, and tell them to fall inquietly without beat of drum.
"Everything is going on well, boys," he said when the sergeant hadleft, "and I think we have a good chance of laying these scoundrels bythe heels to-morrow. However, we must insure that word is not sentfrom the village, when the troops begin to get up. A stir an hourbefore the usual time is sure to excite remark, and as it is certainthese fellows will have arranged with some one in the village forearly news of any unusual movement, we must take steps to prevent amessenger passing. I propose that you two shall be astir half an hourbefore the troops; and that you shall, before any one else is moving,go along the path leading to the cliffs, stop a couple of hundredyards beyond the village, and arrest any one who may come along."
"Yes, I think that will be a very good plan," Lieutenant Desmond said."No one shall pass us, I warrant."
"Don't forget to take your pistols; it is likely enough you may haveto use them before the day is over. These scoundrels know they fightwith ropes round their necks, and are almost sure to resistdesperately. Now we will have one glass more, and then be off to bed.The day will begin to break about seven, and I will impress upon thelandlord the urgent necessity of calling you both by five."
"I suppose we are to stay where we take up our station till you comealong with the company, O'Connor, whether we take any prisoners ornot?"
"Yes, that will be the best way, Desmond. If you have caught any one Iwill send them back with a guard to the village. No, it would not dofor you to move before we come up, for there is no saying what time amessenger will go along. They may not take the alarm until just as weare starting, or even until they see which road we are taking. By theway, you may as well take that pair of handcuffs the sergeant has lefton the table with you, otherwise if you do get a prisoner you wouldhave to keep your hands on his collar, or he might make a bolt anymoment. There is nothing like being on the safe side.
"You had better take up your post at some place where your figureswill not be seen by any one coming along the road till he is close toyou, or instead of coming straight along he might make a bolt round;and some of these fellows can run like hares. We must not let thesmallest chance escape us. If we succeed in the affair we shall get noend of credit, beside the satisfaction of freeing the country of asdesperate a band of ruffians as any that infest it, and that's sayinga good deal. Now, here's success to our work to-morrow." O'Connordrained his glass and placed it on the table, and then rising andtaking up his sword made his way to his room, his companions at oncefollowing his example.