ecisive--Pat Loftus trotted to the door--some light luggage was
placed in the carriage, and three brace of pistols deposited in its
pockets. A meaning look was interchanged between the innkeeper and his
fellow-guest.

"Colonel," said the former, "I hope you will not need the tools. If
you do, the fault will be all your own."

"If required," returned my father, "I'll use them to the best
advantage."

The villains interchanged a smile.

"Pat," said the host to the postillion, "you know the safest road--do
what I bid ye--and keep his honor out of trouble if ye can."

"Go on," shouted my father--the whip cracked smartly, and off rolled
the carriage.

For half a mile we proceeded at a smart pace, until at the junction of
the three roads, Loftus took the one which the finger-post indicated
was not the Dublin one. My father called out to stop, but the
postillion hurried on, until high hedges, and a row of ash-trees at
both sides, shut in the view. He pulled up suddenly.

"Am I not an undutiful servant to disobey the orders of so good
a master as Mr. Dogherty? First, I have not taken the road he
recommended--and, secondly, instead of driving this flint into a
horse's frog, I have carried it in my pocket," and he jerked the stone
away.

"Look to your pistols, Colonel. In good old times your arms, I
suspect, would have been found in better order."

The weapons were examined, and every pan had been saturated with
water. "Never mind, I'll clean them well at night: it's not the first
time. But, see the dust yonder! I dare not turn back, and I am half
afraid to go on. Ha--glory to the Virgin! dragoons, ay, and, as I see
now, they are escorting Lord Arlington's coach. Have we not the luck
of thousands?"

He cracked his whip, and at the junction of a cross-road fell in with
and joined the travelers. My father was well known to his lordship,
who expressed much pleasure that the journey to the capital should be
made in company.

Protected by relays of cavalry, we reached the city in safety, not,
however, without one or two hair-breadth escapes from molestation.
Everything around told that the insurrection had broken out:
church-bells rang, dropping shots now and then were heard, and houses,
not very distant, were wrapped in flames. Safely, however, we passed
through manifold alarms, and at dusk entered the fortified barrier
erected on one of the canal bridges, which was jealously guarded by a
company of Highlanders and tw