woman that does
for you."

She left the room, and stood, her hands on her hips, staring into the
street.

"We're well rid of her tongue," said Donald.

Before the travellers' appetites were half satisfied she was with them
again. She ran into the kitchen with every sign of terror in her face.

"They're coming," she said. "I seen them coming round MacCance's corner,
and they have men with them and led horses. I seen them plain, and one
of them is Rab MacClure, of Ballintoy. Away with you, Neal Ward, away
with you. I'm thinking that them that has Rab MacClure and his feet tied
under the horse's belly will be no friends of your father's or yours."

Donald Ward rose to his feet and stretched himself.

"The woman's right, Neal." He showed no signs of hurry in his speech.
"I'm thinking it will be safer for us to be out of this. Here, mistress,
what's the reckoning?"

"Not a penny, not a penny, will I take. Are them murdering devils to
drink without paying and me taking money from the son of Micah Ward
or any friend of his? But for God's sake get you gone. I'll keep them
dandering about the door for a while, and do you get your horses and
out by the back way into the field. You can strike the road again lower
down."

It was late in the evening when Donald and Neal, with weary horses and
wearier limbs, came close to Antrim. Neal was unused to riding long
distances, and Donald complained that a voyage across the Atlantic left
a man unfit for land travelling. They accosted a stranger on the road
and asked his guidance to the best inn. The man answered them in a civil
way. He spoke with a northern accent, but his voice was singularly sweet
and gentle, and his words were those of a cultured man.

"I am on my way to the Massereene Arms," he said. "I think you will find
the accommodation good both for yourselves and your horses."

He walked with them, chatting about the weather and the condition of the
roads. He said that he himself had that day walked from Ballymena, and
intended to spend the night in Antrim. He asked no questions and seemed
in no way concerned with the affairs of his chance acquaintances.

Donald and Neal took their horses to the inn yard and saw them rubbed
down, stabled, and fed. Then they entered the public room of the inn,
sat down, and ordered their supper. The man who had guided them to the
door sat at a corner of the table eating a frugal meal of bread and
cheese. Beside his tumbler stood a larg