eard one fellow say in Irish, which language I understood, 'Maybe he
is a spy.'

They then whispered together for a time, and the little man who was
their spokesman came over to me and said:

'Do you know what we do with spies? we knock their brains out, my
friend.'

He then turned back to them with whom he had been whispering, and talked
in a low tone again with them for a considerable time.

I now felt very uncomfortable, not knowing what these savages--for they
appeared nothing better--might design against me.

Twice or thrice I had serious thoughts of breaking from them, but the
two guards who were placed upon me held me fast by the arms; and even
had I succeeded in shaking them off, I should soon have been overtaken,
encumbered as I was with a heavy pack, and wholly ignorant of the lie of
the ground; or else, if I were so exceedingly lucky as to escape out of
their hands, I still had the chance of falling into those of some other
party of the same kind.

I therefore patiently awaited the issue of their deliberations, which I
made no doubt affected me nearly.

I turned to the men who held me, and one after the other asked them, in
their own language, 'Why they held me?' adding, 'I am but a poor pedlar,
as you see. I have neither money nor money's worth, for the sake of
which you should do me hurt. You may have my pack and all that it
contains, if you desire it--but do not injure me.'

To all this they gave no answer, but savagely desired me to hold my
tongue.

I accordingly remained silent, determined, if the worst came, to declare
to the whole party, who, I doubted not, were friendly, as were all the
Irish peasantry in the south, to the Royal cause, my real character and
design; and if this avowal failed me, I was resolved to make a desperate
effort to escape, or at least to give my life at the dearest price I
could.

I was not kept long in suspense, for the little veteran who had spoken
to me at first came over, and desiring the two men to bring me after
him, led the way along a broken path, which wound by the side of the
steep glen.

I was obliged willy nilly to go with them, and, half-dragging and
half-carrying me, they brought me by the path, which now became very
steep, for some hundred yards without stopping, when suddenly coming to
a stand, I found myself close before the door of some house or hut,
I could not see which, through the planks of which a strong light was
streaming.

At this door