ther suspect not. Certes,
they were too polite to express any semblance of distrust of what was
told them with all the air of truth.

It was amusing, too, to see the candour with which each party discussed
the other to his face--the French general criticising all the faulty
tactics and defective manoeuvres of the Royalists; while the English
never hesitated to aver that whatever momentary success might wait upon
the French arms, they were just as certain to be obliged to capitulate
in the end.

'You know it better than I do, general,' said the major of dragoons. 'It
may be a day or two earlier or later, but the issue will and must be--a
surrender.'

'I don't agree with you,' said Humbert, laughing; 'I think there will
be more than one "Castlebar." But let the worst happen--and you must
own that your haughty country has received a heavy insult--your great
England has got a _soufflet_ in the face of all Europe!'

This, which our general regarded as a great compensation--the greatest,
perhaps, he could receive for all defeat--did not seem to affect the
English with proportionate dismay, nor even to ruffle the equanimity of
their calm tempers.

Upon one subject both sides were quite agreed--that the peasantry never
could aid, but very possibly would always shipwreck, every attempt to
win national independence.

'I should have one army to fight the English, and two to keep down the
Irish!' was Humbert's expression; and very little experience served to
show that there was not much exaggeration in the sentiment.

Our week at Castlebar taught us a good lesson in this respect. The
troops, wearied with a march that had begun on the midnight of the day
before, and with an engagement that lasted from eight till two in the
afternoon, were obliged to be under arms for several hours, to repress
pillage and massacre. Our allies now filled the town, to the number
of five thousand, openly demanding that it should be given up to them,
parading the streets in riotous bands, and displaying banners with long
lists of names doomed for immediate destruction.

The steadiness and temper of our soldiery were severely tried by these
factious and insubordinate spirits; but discipline prevailed at last,
and before the first evening closed in, the town was quiet, and, for the
time at least, danger over.

CHAPTER XXIII. THE TOWN-MAJOR OF CASTLEBAR

I am at a loss to know whether or not I owe an apology to my reader for
turning away