Tyrconnell now issued commissions to several of the Catholic nobility and gentry, to raise troops for the king’s service, and as the people responded to the call readily, some fifty regiments of foot and several troops of horse were soon raised.  But though men were forthcoming in abundance, there was a great want of arms and all munitions of war.  There were, in the government stores, only twenty thousand arms, and most of these were old weapons, that had been returned to store as unserviceable, and only about a thousand muskets were found to be of any use.  There was no artillery or ammunition, and no money with which these necessaries could be purchased abroad.  The gentry would have willingly contributed, but all had been well-nigh ruined by the confiscation of their property, and could do little towards filling the treasury.

Never did a nation enter upon a war so badly provided with all necessaries as did Ireland, when she resolved to adhere to the cause of her king, and to resist the power of England and Scotland, aided by that of Holland and the Protestant States of Germany.

Mr. Davenant had been one of the first to respond to the invitation of Tyrconnell, and had set about raising a troop of horse.  He had no difficulty in getting the number of men in Bray and the surrounding villages, and the difficulty in mounting them was overcome by the patriotism of sundry gentlemen and citizens of Dublin, who willingly contributed their spare horses to the king’s service.

Their arms were various.  Some had swords, some short pikes, while a few only had pistols; but the smiths everywhere toiled hard converting scythes and reaping hooks into swords and pikes, and before they were ready to take the field, the whole troop were provided with swords.

Walter had eagerly begged his father to appoint him cornet of the troop, and Mr. Davenant might have yielded, had it not been for his wife’s entreaties.  Even old Mrs. Davenant, intensely loyal as she was to the cause of James, sided with her daughter in law.

“Of course, Fergus, you will do your duty to the king.  It would indeed be a shame for a Davenant to hold back; but, at Walter’s age there can be no occasion for him, as yet, to take a commission.  I am ready to give my son, as I gave my husband, to the king; and when Walter becomes a man, he too must go, if duty demands it; but for the present, assuredly there is no reason why such a boy should mix himself up in this unhappy struggle.  Besides, if aught befalls you, it is to him that his mother will have to look in the future.  There are hundreds and thousands of strong and active men in Ireland, and the necessity has not yet come for boys to take the field.”

So Walter, to his intense disappointment, was refused the cornetcy of the troop, but his father, who fully entered into his feelings, finally told him that, when the troop took the field, he should accompany him.

“You are not to carry arms, Walter, or to mix yourself up in any way with it.  You will be a sort of camp follower, you know; but you will see all that goes on, and will be able to prepare yourself to take your place in the ranks, if the war should, unhappily, go on for any time.”