d he, with a half-dogged
scowl beneath his brows.

"What number of them may we reckon on in the neighborhood?" repeated the
colonel.

"'Tis mighty hard to say; many of the boys was gone over to England for
the harvest; some were away to the counties inland, others were working
on the roads; but if they knew, sure they'd be soon back again."

"Might they calculate on a thousand stout, effective men?" asked
Charost.

"Ay, twenty, if they were at home," said the peasant, less a liar by
intention than from the vague and careless disregard of truth, so common
in all their own intercourse with each other.

I must own that the degree of credit we reposed in the worthy man's
information was considerably influenced by the state of facts before us,
inasmuch as that the "elegant, fine harbor" he had so gloriously
described--"the beautiful road"--"the neat little quay" to land upon,
and the other advantages of the spot, all turned out to be most grievous
disappointments. That the people were not of our own mind on these
matters, was plain enough from the looks of astonishment our discontent
provoked; and now a lively discussion ensued on the relative merits of
various bays, creeks, and inlets along the coast, each of which, with
some unpronounceable name or other, was seen to have a special advocate
in its favor, till at last the colonel lost all patience, and jumping
into the boat, ordered the men to push off for the frigate.

Evidently out of temper at the non-success of his "reconnaissance," and
as little pleased with the country as the people, Charost did not speak
a word as we rowed back to the ship. Our failure, as it happened, was of
little moment, for another party, under the guidance of Madgett, had
already discovered a good landing-place at the bottom of the Bay of
Rathfran, and arrangements were already in progress to disembark the
troops at day-break. We also found that, during our absence, some of the
"chiefs" had come off from shore, one of whom, named Neal Kerrigan, was
destined to attain considerable celebrity in the rebel army. He was a
talkative, vulgar, presumptuous fellow, who, without any knowledge or
experience whatever, took upon him to discuss military measures and
strategy with all the assurance of an old commander.

Singularly enough, Humbert suffered this man to influence him in a great
degree, and yielded opinion to him on points even where his own judgment
was directly opposed to the advice he g