see if they were
coming; but, putting a bold face on the matter, called out the only few
words I knew of Irish, 'Go de-mat ha tu.'

The peasants looked at each other; and whether it was my accent, my
impudence, or my strange dress and appearance, or altogether, I cannot
say, but after a few seconds' pause they burst out into a roar of
laughter, in the midst of which my two comrades came up.

'We saw the sheep feeding on the hills yonder,' said I, recovering
self-possession, 'and guessed that by giving them chase they'd lead us
to some inhabited spot. What is this place called?'

'Shindrennin,' said a man who seemed to be the chief of the party; 'and,
if I might make so bould, who are you, yourselves?'

'French officers; this is my colonel,' said I, pointing to Charost, who
was wiping his forehead and face after his late exertion.

The information, far from producing the electric effect of pleasure I
had anticipated, was received with a coldness almost amounting to fear,
and they spoke eagerly together for some minutes in Irish.

'Our allies evidently don't like the look of us,' said Charost,
laughing;' and if the truth must be told, I own the disappointment is
mutual.'

'Tis too late you come, sir,' said the peasant, addressing the colonel,
while he removed his hat, and assumed an air of respectful deference.
''Tis all over with poor Ireland this time.'

'Tell him,' said Charost, to whom I translated the speech, 'that it's
never too late to assert a good cause; that we have got arms for twenty
thousand, if they have but hands and hearts to use them. Tell him that
a French army is now lying in that bay yonder, ready and able to
accomplish the independence of Ireland.'

I delivered my speech as pompously as it was briefed to me; and although
I was listened to in silence, and respectfully, it was plain my words
carried little or no conviction with them. Not caring to waste more of
our time in such discourse, I now inquired about the country--in what
directions lay the highroads, and the relative situations of the towns
of Killala, Gastlebar, and Ballina, the only places of comparative
importance in the neighbourhood. I next asked about the landing-places,
and learned that a small fishing-harbour existed, not more than half a
mile from the spot where we had landed, from which a little country
road lay to the village of Palmerstown. As to the means of transporting
baggage, guns, and ammunition, there were few horse