ny means of communicating
their thoughts by speech, they seemed to acquire an instinctive
knowledge of each other in an instant. If the peasant was poor, there
was no limit to his liberality in the little he had. He dug up his
half-ripe potatoes, he unroofed his cabin to furnish straw for litter,
he gave up his only beast, and was ready to kill his cow, if asked, to
welcome us. Much of this was from the native, warm, and impulsive
generosity of their nature, and much, doubtless, had its origin in the
bright hopes of future recompense inspired by the eloquent appeals of
Neal Kerrigan, who, mounted on an old white mare, rode about on every
side, addressing the people in Irish, and calling upon them to give all
aid and assistance to "the expedition."

The difficulty of the landing was much increased by the small space of
level ground which intervened between the cliffs and the sea, and of
which now the thickening crowd filled every spot. This and the miserable
means of conveyance for our baggage, delayed us greatly, so that, with a
comparatively small force, it was late in the afternoon before we had
all reached the shore.

We had none of us eaten since morning, and were not sorry, as we crowned
the heights, to hear the drums beat for "cooking." In an inconceivably
short time fires blazed along the hills, around which, in motley groups,
stood soldiers and peasantry mingled together, while the work of cooking
and eating went briskly on, amid hearty laughter and all the merriment
that mutual mistakes and misconceptions occasioned. It was a new thing
for French soldiers to bivouac in a friendly country, and find
themselves the welcome guests of a foreign people; and certainly the
honors of hospitality, however limited the means, could not have been
performed with more of courtesy or good-will. Paddy gave his "all," with
a generosity that might have shamed many a richer donor.

While the events I have mentioned were going forward, and a considerable
crowd of fishermen and peasants had gathered about us, still it was
remarkable that, except immediately on the coast itself, no suspicion of
our arrival had joined currency, and even the country people who lived a
mile from the shore were ignorant of who we were. The few who, from
distant heights and headlands, had seen the ships, mistook them for
English, and as all those who were out with fish or vegetables to sell
were detained by the frigates, any direct information about us