t of open insurrection, filled her
mind as she went, and thinking of it in every shape and fashion occupied
her for miles of the way. The desolation, far as the eye could reach, was
complete--there was not a habitation, not a human thing to be seen. The
dark-brown desert faded away in the distance into low-lying clouds, the
only break to the dull uniformity being some stray 'clamp,' as it is
called, of turf, left by the owners from some accident of season or bad
weather, and which loomed out now against the sky like a vast fortress.

This long, long day--for so without any weariness she felt it--was now in
the afternoon, and already long shadows of these turf-mounds stretched
their giant limbs across the waste. Nina, who had eaten nothing since early
morning, felt faint and hungry. She halted her pony, and taking out some
bread and a bottle of milk, proceeded to make a frugal luncheon. The
complete loneliness, the perfect silence, in which even the rattling of
the harness as the pony shook himself made itself felt, gave something
of solemnity to the moment, as the young girl sat there and gazed half
terrified around her.

As she looked, she thought she saw something pass from one turf-clamp to
the other, and, watching closely, she could distinctly detect a figure
crouching near the ground, and, after some minutes, emerging into the open
space, again to be hidden by some vast turf-mound. There, now--there could
not be a doubt--it was a man, and he was waving his handkerchief as a
signal. It was Donogan himself--she could recognise him well. Clearing the
long drains at a bound, and with a speed that vouched for perfect training,
he came rapidly forward, and, leaping the wide trench, alighted at last on
the road beside her.

'I have watched you for an hour, and but for this lucky halt, I should not
have overtaken you after all,' cried he, as he wiped his brow and stood
panting beside her.

'Do you know that they are in pursuit of you?' cried she hastily.

'I know it all. I learned it before I reached the village, and in
time--only in time--to make a circuit and reach the bog. Once there, I defy
the best of them.'

'They have what they call a warrant to search for you.'

'I know that too,' cried he. 'No, no!' said he passionately, as she offered
him a drink, 'let me have it from the cup you have drank from. It may be
the last favour I shall ever ask you--don't refuse me this!'

She touched the glass slightly with he