"It's glad I am to see you, Master Walter, entirely. I have been
listening ever since you went, and, when I heard the tramp of feet, I
made sure it was the boys."

"But I gave orders that there was to be no resistance, Larry."

"And I wasn't going to resist, your honour; but I thought I might just
frighten them away."

"Now, Larry, get up a pint of wine for each of these good fellows, and
what victuals you can find in the house. We need have no fear of an
attack tonight."

When the soldiers had finished their supper, they lay down in the hall.
Walter placed a sentry at a window, at each side of the house, and he
then lay down on a sofa, for the ride to Limerick and back had greatly
fatigued him, much to his surprise, for he had no idea how far his
strength had been pulled down.

He was aroused, just as day was breaking, by a loud knocking at the door,
and at the same moment a shot was fired from a window above. The soldiers
had started to their feet, and seized their arms as he ran out and bade
them follow him upstairs. He threw up a window.

"Who are you? And what do you want?"

"Never mind who we are," a voice replied. "We want the door opened, and
you had best do it quick."

"Look here, my man," Walter said in a loud, steady voice, "there are