ky voice, which I well knew to be
Dowall's.

'The general in command of the town,' said I firmly--'General Serasin.'

'Maybe I'm as good a general as himself,' was the answer. 'I never
called him my superior yet! Did I, boys?'

'Never--devil a bit--why would you?' and such like, were shouted by the
mob around us, in every accent of drunken defiance.

'You 'll not refuse General Serasin's invitation to confer with your
commandant, I hope?' said I, affecting a tone of respectful civility,
while I gradually drew nearer and nearer to him, contriving, at the same
time, by a dexterous plunging of my horse, to force back the bystanders,
and thus isolate my friend Dowall.

'Tell him I've work to do here,' said he, 'and can't come; but if he's
fond of a bonfire he may as well step down this far and see one.'

By this time, at a gesture of command from me, the corporal had placed
himself on the opposite side of Dowall's horse, and, by a movement
similar to my own, completely drove back the dense mob, so that we had
him completely in our power, and could have sabred or shot him at any
moment.

'General Serasin only wishes to see you on duty, commandant,' said I,
speaking in a voice that could be heard over the entire assemblage; and
then, dropping it to a whisper, only audible to himself, I added--

'Come along quietly, sir, and without a word. If you speak, if you
mutter, or if you lift a finger, I'll run my sabre through your body.'

'Forward, way, there!' shouted I aloud, and the corporal, holding
Dowall's bridle, pricked the horse with the point of his sword, and
right through the crowd we went at a pace that defied following, had any
the daring to think of it.

So sudden was the act and so imminent the peril, for I held the point of
my weapon within a few inches of his back, and would have kept my word
most assuredly too, that the fellow never spoke a syllable as we went,
nor ventured on even a word of remonstrance till we descended at the
general's door. Then, with a voice tremulous with restrained passion, he
said--

'If ye think I'll forgive ye this thrick, my fine hoy, may the flames
and fire be my portion! and if I haven't my revenge on ye yet, my name
isn't Mick Dowall.'

With a dogged, sulky resolution he mounted the stairs, but as he neared
the room where the general was, and from which his voice could even now
be heard, his courage seemed to fail him, and he looked back as though
to see if no chance of