kfergus.

There I suddenly missed him, and heard he had had so sorry a time
serving her Majesty thus far, that he had skulked so soon as ever the
ship came to land, and made for the hills, where no doubt he meant to
lie till he could go back the way he had come.

Whereat I laughed, and ordered my men to horse.

At the town gate, much to my vexation, we were met by a guard, who
ordered us to report ourselves to the English governor. I had looked to
get a fair start of the other troops going west. But now, so far from
that, two days passed idle on my hands before I even got audience of the
governor, and by that time many companies had started westward. For the
panic of the Spanish invasion was very great among the English soldiery
at Knockfergus; and every man that could be had was being hurried across
the country.

When I saw the governor and told him my orders, he said, shortly:
"Captain Merriman has already had orders to go forward to Tyrone's land,
and will have left Castleroe before now. You will join him sooner by
sea than by land. Be ready to sail three days hence. Till then, leave
not the town, but abide at the hostel for further orders."

This was a thunderbolt to me. I knew the Captain well enough to be sure
that, if he had indeed left Castleroe, he had either not left it alone
or had left worse than desolation behind him. He was too well-known to
his comrades in these parts to leave much doubt of that; and when that
same night I heard by chance that Turlogh for a month past had been away
in Dublin, leaving the protection of his castle to this English champion
of his, I made sure, what I had feared all along, that I was come too
late.

One thing I was resolved on. Come what would, I would make for
Castleroe and learn the worst for myself. 'Twould be better even to be
hanged for a deserter than live a day longer in this misery and
suspense.

So I bade my men, if they were minded still to serve me, be ready and
stand by for the first chance of escape.

It came soon enough. Bands of soldiers were coming in and going out of
Knockfergus all the night long; and while we sat in the hostelry and
watched them depart with longing eyes, like prisoners through a dungeon
cage, I suddenly found myself calling myself a fool and starting to my
feet.

"Follow me," I cried to my men, and led them to where our horses stood,
still saddled, in the stable.

"Mount," I said, "and stay under the shadow of this w