determined to await further reinforcements, and, meantime, to secure some place of shelter and defence.  The crowd, with Mr. O’Brien, immediately rushed from their position and hung fiercely on the policemen’s rear.  Captain Trant ordered a retreat, or those under his command adopted that precaution without his authority.  The armed leaders among the people, Messrs. MacManus, Stephens and Cavanagh, hesitated to fire on troops flying for their lives.  But they urged the pursuit so rapidly, that, by the time the police took shelter in Mrs. M’Cormick’s house, they were hot upon their track.  The crowd surrounded the house, and Mr. O’Brien, approaching one of the front windows, called on Captain Trant to surrender.  The latter demanded half an hour to consider, which Mr. O’Brien unhappily granted.  Pending the half hour, the crowd became furious and began to fling stones in through the windows.  Some of the men inside were knocked down by the stones, and the officer hurt.  Seeing that their own leaders could no longer control the people, and believing the destruction of himself and his party to be inevitable, Captain Trant gave orders to his men to fire, which presented his only chance of escape.  Mr. O’Brien immediately rushed between the people and the window, on one of which he jumped up, and once more demanded the officer to surrender.  But the order to fire had been given and executed with deadly effect.  Two men fell dead, and several were badly wounded.  The crowd fell back; but Mr. O’Brien remained still in front of the house.  There were several windows in front and two small ones only in the rear; parallel with the rear was a barn, in which there were two still smaller windows.  Messrs. Stephens and MacManus took possession of this house, and, placing three or four sure marksmen inside for the purpose of taking down any of the police who should appear at the back windows, they proposed to burn the house in which the police took shelter.  They carried bundles of hay and placed them against the back door and roof.  The police seized on Mrs. M’Cormick’s children, and held them up to the windows, to terrify or appease the people.  At this juncture the Catholic clergymen appeared on the scene.  Either, being appalled by the scene of death before them, or being personally cowardly, or feeling that to continue the conflict would be productive of useless slaughter, they exerted themselves to the utmost to disperse the crowd.  Whatever may have been their motives, it is certain that, although Mr. O’Brien was in the neighbourhood since the previous Wednesday, they had not in any way interfered, and only came upon the scene to attend to the dying and the dead.  Mr. O’Brien and his comrades, finding themselves beset by this unexpected difficulty, retired a short distance, to consider what was best to be done.  The people were again quickly forming around them, and all were hurriedly preparing to storm the house, when a fresh body of police was seen approaching from