the
troops that should at that moment be disembarking. The success of my
mission might all depend now on a little extra exertion, and so I at
once engaged a guide to conduct me to the coast, and having fortified
myself with a glass of mountain whiskey, I felt ready for the road. My
guide could only speak a very little English; so that our way was passed
in almost unbroken silence; and, as for security, he followed the least
frequented paths, we scarcely met a living creature as we went. It was
with a strange sense of half pride, half despondency, that I bethought
me of my own position there--a Frenchman, alone, and separated from his
countrymen--in a wild mountain region of Ireland, carrying about him
documents that, if detected, might peril his life; involved in a cause
that had for its object the independence of a nation; and that against
the power of the mightiest kingdom in Europe. An hour earlier or later,
an accident by the way, a swollen torrent, a chance impediment of any
kind that should delay me--and what a change might that produce in the
whole destiny of the world. The dispatches I carried conveyed
instructions the most precise and accurate--the places for combined
action of the two armies--information as to the actual state of parties,
and the condition of the native forces, was contained in them. All that
could instruct the newly-come generals, or encourage them to decisive
measures were there; and, yet, on what narrow contingencies did their
safe arrival depend! It was thus, in exaggerating to myself the part I
played--in elevating my humble position into all the importance of a
high trust--that I sustained my drooping spirits, and acquired energy to
carry me through fatigue and exhaustion. During that night, and the
greater part of the following day, we walked on, almost without halt,
scarcely eating, and, except by an occasional glass of whisky, totally
unrefreshed; and I am free to own, that my poor guide--a bare-legged
youth of about seventeen, without any of those high-sustaining illusions
which stirred within my heart--suffered far less either from hunger or
weariness than _I_ did. So much for motives. A shilling or two were
sufficient to equalize the balance against all the weight of my heroism
and patriotic ardor together!

A bright sun, and a sharp wind from the north, had succeeded to the
lowering sky and heavy atmosphere of the morning, and we traveled along
with light hearts and brisk steps, b