the slightest benefit to the cause they advocate.  If we beat the English, of course those places must finally surrender.  If the English beat us, they will get their Dutch William as king, without any effort on their part.  I think, myself, that it will be very unwise to attempt anything against those two places.  The people there can shut themselves up in their walls, as long as they like, and by so doing can in no way harm us.  If we take their towns, it will only add to the bad blood that already exists.  Better by far leave them to themselves, until the main battle is fought out.”

On the 23rd, the news came that the king was to arrive in Dublin the next day, and Mr. Davenant, or, as he was now called, Captain Davenant, went over, with all the gentry of the neighbourhood, to meet him.

King James was received with enthusiasm.  Addresses were presented to him by the several public bodies, and by the clergy of the Established Church.  His answer to these addresses gave satisfaction to all.  He promised favour and protection to the Established Protestant Church; issued an invitation to the Protestants who had fled the kingdom to return to their homes, and assured them of safety and his particular care; and he commanded that, with the exception of the military, no Catholics should carry arms in Dublin.  Finally, he summoned a parliament to meet him in Dublin on the 7th of May.

One day, a messenger arrived with a despatch for Captain Davenant.

“We are to move into Dublin, tomorrow, Walter,” he said when he read it.  “We are to take the field at once.  The king himself is going to march in command of us against Derry.  I think his majesty is wrong; and I know that Tyrconnell has argued strongly against his intention.  There are three reasons against it.  First, as I told you, I think it were better to leave Derry alone, until the main issue is settled.  Secondly, King James has no military experience whatever, and if ought goes wrong with the expedition, he will lose prestige.  Thirdly, although it were well for him to be with the army when it fights a foreign foe, it were better that he should not lead it against men who are, however much they may rebel against him, his own subjects.

“I know Tyrconnell has set forth these objections to him; but, unhappily, obstinacy is a fault of all the Stuart race, and it generally happens that they are most obstinate when most wrong.  However, I trust that when Derry sees so strong a force marching against it, it will open its gates without resistance.  A siege can only entail horrible suffering on the town; and that suffering will, in the end, tell against James’s cause, for it will excite the sympathy of the Protestants in England and Scotland, and make them all the hotter to conquer Ireland.”

The following day, the troop was mustered in front of the castle, and, after a tender farewell to his wife and mother, Captain Davenant placed himself at their head and rode off.  A quarter of an hour later Walter, with Larry Doolan on a rough little pony by his side, rode after the troop.