“It seems to me that it would have been much better to have left Derry alone, father,” Walter said.

“It would have been better, as it has turned out, Walter; but had the king taken the place, as he expected, without difficulty, he would have crossed with a portion of the army to Scotland, where a considerable part of the population would at once have joined him.  The defence of Derry has entirely thwarted that plan, and I fear now that it will never be carried out.

“However, it has had the advantage of making soldiers out of an army of peasants.  When we came here, officers and men were alike ignorant of everything relating to war.  Now we have, at any rate, learned a certain amount of drill and discipline, and I think we shall give a much better account of ourselves, in the open field, than we have done in front of a strong town which we had no means whatever of storming.  Still, it has been a frightful waste of life on both sides, and with no result, beyond horribly embittering the feeling of hatred, which unfortunately prevailed before, between the Catholic and Protestant populations.”

The mortification and disgust, caused by the failure of Londonderry, was increased by a severe defeat of a force under General Justin McCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, at Newtown Butler, on the very day that Derry was relieved.  General McCarthy had been detached, with a corps of six thousand men, against the Enniskilleners.  He came up with them near Newtown Butler.  Although but two thousand strong, the Enniskilleners, who were commanded by Colonel Wolseley, an English officer, at once attacked the Irish, only a portion of whom had come upon the ground.

McCarthy, who was a brave and experienced officer, sent orders to the cavalry to face to the right, and march to the support of the wing that was attacked.  The officer gave the order “right—­about face,” and the cavalry turned and trotted towards the rear.  The infantry, believing that they were deserted by the horse, at once lost heart and fell into confusion.

McCarthy, while endeavouring to remedy the disorder, was wounded and taken prisoner, and the flight became general.  The Enniskilleners pursued with savage fury, and during the evening, the whole of the night, and the greater part of the next day, hunted the fugitives down in the bogs and woods, and slew them in cold blood.  Five hundred of the Irish threw themselves into Lough Erne, rather than face death at the hands of their savage enemies, and only one of the number saved himself by swimming.

After leaving Derry, the army returned to Dublin, where the parliament which James had summoned was then sitting.  Most of the soldiers were quartered on the citizens; but, as the pressure was very great, Captain Davenant easily obtained leave for his troop to go out to Bray, where they were within a very short distance of his own house.

The day after his return home, Walter went over to give Jabez Whitefoot and his wife news of John, from whom they had heard nothing, since a fortnight before the siege had begun.