n was then in gaol, but that he
was allowed to be torn from the midst of a people for whom he had
perilled his life, without a hand being raised in his defence. We then
returned to the scene of our former meetings, and met, for the last
time, beside a little brook near the Waterford slate-quarries. My
ambassadress had also returned, and there were present three or four
others. The reunion was gloomy. But one question remained for
discussion: Was there any hope left? The message I received as to the
means of escape was dark and discouraging. Nothing remained but the
hazards of some desperate enterprise. What had chiefly animated our
hopes for the few days was the knowledge that disaffection and
conspiracy existed in the ranks of the British army. But among other
intelligence of evil omen that reached us was this, that the conspiracy
had been discovered. Whether this were true or not, our means of
communication were suspended; and, unable to learn what had occurred, we
naturally concluded it was the worst. It is not quite correct to say,
_we_, as far as the proceedings of these days in that neighbourhood were
concerned. Neither Stephens nor myself was in communication with more
than the one friend, to whose honour and heroism we would commit the
liberty of the world. Never yet lived a man of more sanguine hope or
intense patriotism. All the vigour of a gigantic intellect, aided by the
endurance of great physical strength was tasked to the uttermost in
attempting to rouse the broken energies of the country. He generally
spent his nights in interviews with the chief men of the surrounding
districts, while his duty by day was to communicate the result to us,
and secure a place of safety for the ensuing night. Our last conference
was of course the longest and most anxious. There was no chance within
the range of possibility we did not discuss. Of the intensity of our
feelings, some idea may be formed by the fact, that the one woman who
was of the party, whose sole stay on this earth I was, as well as the
sole stay of her sister and a most helpless little family, never uttered
one word of remonstrance against any project, however desperate, which
was proposed. We concluded an interview of several hours, by referring
the entire question to the sole decision of our friend. After a short
silence, during which the agony of his mind was extreme, he solemnly
advised and adjured us to provide as best we could for our own safety,
while