“I only came out here with my regiment a month since, but I am heartily sick with what I see going on.  It was terrible to see the ruined villages on the road from Dublin.  I have seen fighting on the Continent, but nothing to equal the wholesale brutality with which the war is conducted here.  How God can continue to give success, to an army which behaves as this one has done, is altogether beyond me.  Of one thing I am resolved, whether we take Limerick or not—­and I own I see but small chance of it—­I shall exchange, if possible, into a regiment serving in Flanders.  If not, I shall resign my commission.

“And now, how is your father?  I rode out from Dublin to see your mother, and was very glad to find her, and old Mrs. Davenant, well.  I was glad, too, to find that, owing to the influence of Mr. Conyers, they had not been troubled; and I was fortunately able, myself, to bring some influence to bear upon the council, who seem to be bent upon squeezing the last drop of blood from the Irish veins.

“But the men are falling in, and I must put myself at the head of the regiment.  I will hand you over to the care of an officer, and, if we march out, you will, of course, go with us.”

When the men were again dismissed, Colonel L’Estrange rejoined Walter.

“Ginckle has thought better of it,” he said.  “I fancied he would not venture to push matters further, for the loss of the one division he can really rely upon would be fatal to all his hope of success to the campaign.  Ginckle is a passionate man, but he is not a fool, and he must have seen that, if the matter had been laid before the king, his conduct would not have been approved.  I don’t say that ours is right, in a military sense, but I am sure that public opinion would have approved of it.  The tales that have been circulated, of the doings of the army over here since the commencement of the war, have already roused a very strong feeling of irritation throughout the country.”

Colonel L’Estrange now took Walter to General Hamilton’s tent, and, after formally introducing him, he told the story of the wreck, and of his rescue by Walter from certain death.

“What do you mean to do with him, L’Estrange?” General Hamilton asked.

“My intention is, unless you see any objection to it, to pass him through the lines this evening.  I will provide him with a good horse, and see him well away.  After what has happened Ginckle will, I should say, feel obliged for our thus rendering him a service by getting rid of his prisoner.  There are not likely to be any questions asked or remarks made afterwards.  I am not without influence at court, and there is a very strong section, who are bitterly opposed to Dutchmen being placed in every post in the king’s gift, and there would be no difficulty in getting up such a hostile feeling against Ginckle, in relation to this affair, that it would cost him his command.”