peasants had rushed suddenly down the hillsides, armed with scythes and
pikes, upon the convoy as it passed below them. Several of the cavalry
had been killed, and the rest were riding off, when Walter with his
troopers dashed up. They continued the pursuit for a mile, cutting off a
few stragglers, less well mounted than the rest, and then returned to
Kilcowan, where the peasants had just arrived in triumph with the rescued
carts of potatoes.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, when the excitement of the welcome,
accorded by the women to the captors, had subsided a little. "You may
expect a strong body to be sent out, tomorrow, to punish you for this."

"It's the general's own proclamation, your honour. Didn't he say,
himself, that his soldiers were not to stale anything, and that they
would be severely punished if they did? And didn't he guarantee that we
should be paid for everything? He could not blame us for what we have
done, and he ought to hang the rest of those thieving villains, when they
get back to him."

"I wouldn't be too sure about it," Walter said. "He issued a good many
proclamations before, but he has never kept the terms of one of them. If
I were you, I would leave the village--man, woman, and child--for a few
days, at any rate, and see how the Dutchman takes it."

But the villagers could not be persuaded that the Dutch general would
disapprove of what they had done, and Walter, finding his arguments of no
avail, rode off with his men to the village they had left, an hour
before; with the parting advice that, if they would not follow his
counsel, they should, at any rate, place watchers that night on the roads
towards Ginckle's camp, to bring them news of the approach of any body of