with torchmen before and behind them they emerged into the
cold night air again and climbed upward, coming to a gate in the wall of
the upper castle. This stood open, but it clanged shut behind them, and
after crossing a steep courtyard they entered a second and broader
corridor.

Muiertach led them up a long flight of stairs, then another, and finally
flung open a heavy door. It was evident that they were lodged in one of
the towers.

"Rest sound and fear not to eat our food," said the seneschal.
"_Beannacht leath!_"

"Blessing on you," responded Brian and Cathbarr together, and entered.

For a wonder, Brian found that the chamber was lighted with candles,
which Cathbarr examined with no little awe. Also, it contained a very
good bed, on which the giant looked with suspicion. The hard stone walls
were hung with tattered tapestries, and before they had settled well
into their chairs two men entered with food and wine of the best.

"Not so bad," smiled Brian as they ate. "How come your wounds, brother?"

"Those scratches? Bah!" And the giant gurgled down half a quart of
Canary at a stretch. "You are not going to sleep on that bed of cloths?"

"That I am," laughed Brian, "and soon, for I am overweary with riding.
Try it, Cathbarr, and you will be glad of it."

"Not I! Since there is no bracken here the floor is good enough for me.
Eh, but this sea-woman will have a thought in her mind over your
message, brother!"

Brian chuckled, but he was too weary with that day's work to talk or
think, and when the remnants of their meal had been removed and their
door shut, he gratefully sought the first bed he had known for weeks.
After some laughing persuasion he prevailed on the suspicious Cathbarr
to blow out the candles, and upon that he fell asleep.

When he wakened it was broad daylight, and Cathbarr was still snoring
with his ax looped about his wrist as usual. Brian, feeling like a new
man, went to the open casement and looked out.

He found himself gazing through a three-foot stone wall, and as he was
doubtless in one of the towers, this argued that the lower walls were
twelve feet thick or more. The lower castle was hid from him, but his
view was toward the upper bay and included the harbor. The two larger
ships, which were small caracks, but large for the west coast in that
day, bore six guns on a side, and Brian saw that they were being
scrubbed and made shipshape. The Bird Daughter must be a woman of some
s